Getting Ready

"Alright, let's get your dress on now before we do makeup," Ginny told Hermione while attempting to pull off the heavy wedding dress that was hanging up. They were in the Bridal Room, and the colour red adorned it.

Hermione ran over when she saw Ginny trying to haul the dress off. "You sit down, Ginny. You still have a few months to go, and you need to take care of your baby!"

Ginny glared and sat down on the bench. There was one of those benches in every dressing room.

Luna had been sniffing a plastic plant but as soon as Hermione got the dress off the hanger, she strolled over to help.

"Okay, Hermione, you undress, and I can help you put this on." She examined the dress from top to bottom as Hermione was getting ready. "This really is beautiful, you know. I hope I can have one as lovely as this one day."

Luna was dating Neville and had been content with where their relationship was. However, recently, she seemed to be wanting to move forward a little more, and for both of their sakes, Hermione hoped Neville would take the hint and get a move on if he wanted to stay with Luna. Hermione loved the couple and hoped they would be able to tie the knot someday soon.

"Alright," Hermione began, picking up the bulky wedding dress, "Luna, could you help me, now?"

Ginny was scowling, clearly jealous that Luna was helping and not her.

"And Ginny, would you please help me, too?" Hermione added, laughing at her friend.

Ginny looked at her.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "I just want you to be careful!"

Ginny smiled and stood up, evidently having forgiven Hermione. She picked up a smaller portion of the dress that wasn't as heavy and put it over Hermione's head while Luna did the heavier part.

Once it was over her head, Hermione walked over to the mirror and stared at herself. It still felt strange to see herself in the dress. She never expected this to happen in her life, and she couldn't have been happier. The dress was an ivory/honey colour, v-line, mermaid silhouette, long sleeve, with a long trail. Normally long sleeves weren't her style, but it was more of a netting material with random spots of lace on top. The price tag had been outrageous, and she would never have bought it, but Narcissa had forced her to.

Ginny and Luna buttoned up the dress and the fit was perfect. Luna grabbed Hermione's shoes which were an ivory colour with flowers carved on the side and a ribbon to tie them on. Yet again, Narcissa's insistence. Ginny took Hermione's hand and dragged her to the vanity in the corner of the room to apply her makeup.

"Don't make me look like someone I'm not, okay, Luna?" Hermione said anxiously, as she watched Luna bend down to look at all of the makeup spread out on the glass top.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Luna shrugged Hermione off. "I know just what to do." She grabbed the eyeliner first, and Hermione tensed up. Luna could apply makeup, yes, but it was pretty eccentric when she put it on herself.

Ginny grabbed her wand and started doing Hermione's hair.

"Ginny, that'll take forever with all of my curly hair. You know that, right?"

Ginny smirked and she reached for something on the vanity. "Not with this stuff, missy!" She held up a hair potion and Hermione laughed. It was the same one she tried using for work the day she literally ran into Draco. It hadn't worked well.

She pointed to the bottle in Ginny's hand. "Ginny, that stuff doesn't work on my hair. I tried it months ago and-"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know, your hair went everywhere, and Malfoy helped you fix it. I remember. You don't know, Hermione, that you were using it wrong. Look." She handed over the bottle. "Read the instructions." Hermione examined the bottle and gasped. When she used it the first time, she had only applied one dollop of the potion instead of two, which made a huge difference in these products.

"Yeah, so I think this will work," Ginny grinned.

Ginny continued on with Hermione's hair, and Luna started on the eye makeup. About 30 minutes later, they both stopped. Hermione felt her hair, and it was completely straight. She had never been able to do it before, not even at the Yule Ball, where she ended up having to curl it to make it presentable. This time there was no sign of a wave or bump.

"Ginny!" She exclaimed as she touched her perfect hair.

Ginny grinned, crossing her arms. "I know, it's great, isn't it?" She bent down to Hermione's level, and they looked in the mirror together.

Hermione smirked. "Very, Ginny." She couldn't stop feeling her flawless hair and then realised that her makeup was done, too, which was also immaculate. Luna gave her a smokey eye with winged eyeliner. Not too extreme, but gorgeous. Definitely a surprise there, because Luna never did anything close to this on herself.

Hermione faced Luna who was looking at a mascara tube. "Luna! It's beautiful! Thank you!"

Luna smiled. "I'm glad you like it! I tried to keep it like something you would wear." Her eyes darted to Hermione's straight hair. "I quite like this look!" She began playing with it but Ginny glared at her.

"No more touching!" Ginny swatted Luna's hand away. "Let's get this up and then put your veil in it!"