14th August, 1893 — Twilfit & Tatting’s, Hogsmeade
It was an entirely dull errand, but one that could not be done without her in body. Mattie was obligingly here with a housemaid in tow, getting all her hems altered, dresses and robes one by one. She had only gotten slightly taller in the last year, and everyone said it was doubtful she would grow anymore, but she was inching ever close to her debut, and her hems were getting lowered, gradually, on the way from being a girl to being a woman.
There was only so long she could stand on the stool and wait for seams to be unpicked and fabric to be pinned over and over, and Mattie had already tired of sending Betsy to fetch gloves and parasols from across the shop for her to decide between. So, when she spotted a familiar face from school, her face lit up. A timely distraction indeed!
“Miss Potts! Millie!” she called, standing upon her tiptoes, never mind the seamstress at her feet, to follow the younger Ravenclaw’s progress through the racks and waving her over to this section of the shop. “What are you doing here?” The same sort of thing, probably, perhaps; but Mattie grinned all the same and said, in a more confidential whisper, “I’m dying of boredom. I’ve been up here for ever. How’s your summer been?”
There was only so long she could stand on the stool and wait for seams to be unpicked and fabric to be pinned over and over, and Mattie had already tired of sending Betsy to fetch gloves and parasols from across the shop for her to decide between. So, when she spotted a familiar face from school, her face lit up. A timely distraction indeed!
“Miss Potts! Millie!” she called, standing upon her tiptoes, never mind the seamstress at her feet, to follow the younger Ravenclaw’s progress through the racks and waving her over to this section of the shop. “What are you doing here?” The same sort of thing, probably, perhaps; but Mattie grinned all the same and said, in a more confidential whisper, “I’m dying of boredom. I’ve been up here for ever. How’s your summer been?”
