Imogen's Outfit // Duchess' Outfit // Lord Fluffybutt's Outfit

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Tonight was an important evening. For Imogen, it meant having her first real date, even if that date kept flitting away every now and then to talk to other girls. Callum was still being very nice to her that evening, and more attentive than he usually was. And to top off all the excitement of the evening, Imogen's cat, Duchess Marie Elizabeth Abigail Consuela Marsh (though she usually went by Duchess), had a date as well! A very handsome (if small, in comparison to Duchess' ample girth) date, too.

His name was Lord Fluffybutt, and he was just the cutest kitten alive! He belonged to Imogen's friend Winnie, who was a Hufflepuff but not usually as annoying as the other badgers. She understood things like tea and cat royalty and dresses and how very exciting it was to be betrothed before all your friends. You know, the important things. So Imogen graciously allowed the girl to associate with her.

She would have had to, now, even if she hadn't wanted to. Because Duchess and Lord Fluffybottom were girlfriend and boyfriend and had a love that no one could tear apart. Or something.

That evening Imogen had decked Duchess out in her finest costume, this beautiful red satin dress. It had been a pain to get it on because Duchess had gained a bit of weight since the last time she'd worn it (to Imogen's birthday party, back in December), and because Duchess was apparently not in a wearing clothes kind of mood. The large tabby cat had done a fair bit of hissing, but Imogen had been determined and at last the dress was on and the cat had been hauled out to the tent. Now she was waiting off to the side of the dance floor, Duchess thumping her tail on the floor at her feet, waiting for Winnie to arrive with Lord Fluffybutt.

Outfit

Winifred had been really bummed that she didn't have a date for the dance. She had daydreamed all week about some handsome older boy asking her if she would like to go. It had been incredibly romantic. She had been lounging in the common room, failing miserably at her wand work and had accidentally set the couch aflame- and he had come along, using augmenti to douse the fire and then putting out her skirt. Following that dream-boy would make sure she wasn't hurt, and then confess it had been no accident he'd saved her- he'd been looking for her all over the castle just to ask her to the dance!

... But that hadn't happened. She had managed to set the common room on fire- but she had put it out rather quickly. And no dream-boy had come along to rescue her from her own mistakes and dreamily gaze into her eyes to ask her to the dance. A seventh year boy had, however, glared at her and cursed and pushed her down as he stormed out of the common room to study for a test.

IT WAS OKAY THOUGH! Because Winnie was meeting Imogen at the dance so that her cat- Lord Fluffybutt- could have his date with Duchess A Gazillion Names. Duchess and Lord Fluffybutt were boyfriend and girlfriend, and Imogen and Winifred were already plotting for them to have kittens someday so they could be grandparents- preferably by their fourth year. So she had owled for an outfit for him (typically Winifred did not dress up her cat, but Imogen had insisted).

After getting her little obsession charm, obtaining some punch for she and her friend, Winifred tottered over, careful not to step on Lord Fluffybutt (who was being dragged alongside on a leash). "Imogen!" she exclaimed, "you look just like a princess!" Winnie placed the punch on the table and then placed a top hat on Lord Fluffybutt's head, ignoring the claws that pawed at her when she put the elastic under his chin. "I love your dress! And look at Duchess! That's a lovely dress! I hope Lord Fluffybutt's tuxedo is appropriate. I don't know anything about tuxedos."

One of the reasons that Imogen enjoyed being friends with Winnie was that it made her look good. As a halfblood and a Hufflepuff, it made Imogen look charitable and tolerant to be seen associating with her. But it wasn't just good for her reputation, it was good for her physical image as well. Winnie wasn't ugly (Imogen made a point of avoiding ugly things), but she wasn't pretty enough to make Imogen feel her position as Most Important Person In The Room (as she generally thought herself to be) was threatened. And standing next to someone who dressed as oddly as Winnifred did, Imogen couldn't help but look better by comparison, she thought. It was pretty much a win/win situation as far as she was concerned. She got to look good and feel superior to others, and Winnie got to bask in the reflection of Imogen's lime light.

Lord Fluffybutt, on the other hand, shined all on his own. "Winnie!!" Imogen squealed, greeting her friend with distracted air kisses before immediately bending closer to the floor to get a better look at Winnifred's kitten in his little tux. "Oh my magic, he looks so sweet! We have to get their picture taken together. It'll be a moment they'll always remember!" She sighed, a dreamy expression washing over her face. Duchess had all the luck. She didn't even have to share her boyfriend. "Don't they look cute together?" She fawned over the two cats, who didn't seem, as yet, to be paying much attention to each other. Duchess was too busy eying the swishy fringe trim on someone's dress to notice Lord Fluffybutt. But that didn't matter. They were still adorable.

Imogen straightened once more and looked Winnifred over with a critical eye. Well, it could always have been worse, she supposed. At least the colors went okay together, this time. "You look very bright!" She told her friend with an encouraging, mostly sincere smile. "I like your, um...  shoes! The hair bow, though," she added, voice dropping to a whisper and eyes widening to show her genuine concern for her friend. "You're not afraid it's a bit too much?"

Winifred reached up and touched the bow on the top of her head. "I..." she trailed off, tugging on it gently. She left it in her hair and sighed. "I thought it was cute," she said to Imogen quite seriously. "It matches my dress. Without it my hair just looked very plain..." Winifred reached up again, fiddling with the bow. "Do you think I should take it off?" she asked. "I mean if it looks silly I can take it off. You'll have to fix my hair after I take it out though." Thank goodness she hadn't had her picture taken yet! "That way when we get out pictures made with the kitties we can both look just as cute as they do."

She looked down at the rest of her outfit, chewing her bottom lip. Winifred knew that her sense of style was very different from most other people's- but generally nobody commented. "Just my shoes?" Winnie added, lip jutting out. "That's all you like? Not my bag or my tights or my dress?" How dreadful! Winifred tugged at the fabric of her dress and groaned. "I... I look like a troll, don't I?"

As Winnifred's cheerful manner drooped a little, Imogen actually felt a stab of guilt. She didn't really want to make her friend feel bad. It was just the way that Imogen had been taught to interact with her girl friends. You always had to be the best, and make sure everyone knew it so that you could stay on top. The best way to establish this was to carefully point out the failings of others.

But Winnie wasn't a pureblood, she wasn't a part of that society, and she probably wasn't as used to that as Imogen was. And even if she had been, Imogen guessed she never really felt good after one of her friends delivered similar jabs, about her freckles or the way her hair clashed with certain shades of certain colors.

"No no no! You don't look like a troll," she quickly assured her friend. And it was true. Winnie didn't look that bad. Just... not as good as she could have. "I just think that sometimes less is more, you know? But don't worry! I can make your hair super pretty before the pictures - I have some hair pins in my purse," she waved it in the air a little, almost smacking a passing Hufflepuff in the head. Oops. "We will make you look FABULOUS. Okay?"

Winifred felt a little better when Imogen assured her she did not, indeed, look like a troll. "Alright," she said slowly, unpinning the bow from her hair. She dropped it on a table and sat down. Winifred had rather liked the bow, but she knew that Imogen knew a lot more than she did about what looked good and what didn't. Imogen was rich and she was a pureblood so she was very fashionable and that she would offer to help make Winnie's hair look fabulous made her very happy indeed.

"If we look super fabulous maybe I can find a fifth year fiancee too!" Winifred exclaimed. "It must be so exciting to have your husband all picked out for you. And so much easier. I'm going to have to find my own! That will be quite dreadful, don't you think?" The Hufflepuff asked her Slytherin friend.

Her attention was diverted momentarily from Imogen an the hair clips as she saw Lord Fluffybutt batting at the train of someone's dress. "Stop that," she hissed, jerking a little on his leash so that he would be pulled away. "That's rude. You're supposed to be paying attention to Duchess! You're not being a very good date, Lord Fluffybutt!" If she had been a pureblood like Imogen no doubt her cat would have better manners as she would have raised it properly. But most of what Winifred knew about lords, ladies, and propriety she read in her romance novels.