?????? ???? | Lucius Malfoy

The second day of winter break, Isobel, Lacey, and Bridgette had gone shopping for dresses to wear to the Malfoy Christmas ball.

Lacey had decided she wasn't going to be there, and she was instead going to spend Christmas Eve with her muggle boyfriend and his family, but wanted to buy herself a nice dress anyway.

Pansy and Onyx had agreed to meet up with the three of them for lunch, and soon enough, 27 dresses later, they showed up.

Bridgette spoiled the girls by taking them to the fanciest place she could find, before letting Isobel go off with her friends to pick out a couple more options.

Pansy had picked out a black velvet dress with rhinestone straps. It stopped mid-calf and had a slit up to mid-thigh.

Although it was a stunning dress, it was definitely made for a curvy figure, so she gave it to Onyx to try on who, sure enough, looked like a goddess in it and decided immediately that this was the dress she would wear to the Ball.

Pansy then very quickly found the perfect dress for herself. It was floor length, and made of emerald green silky fabric. Its flowwy skirt and fitted top looked perfect on her, and she absolutely adored the low v cut of the neckline.

Then, they picked out another 3 dresses for Izzy, knowing how indecisive she was and how many times she'd change her mind.

The first was a pale yellow backless dress, also made of a soft silk fabric, that had slightly wide straps that crisscrossed at the back. The second, a huge light pink ball gown, that vaguely resembled the dress from beauty and the beast.

The third was a pale blue dress, with off shoulder straps, a low waist, and a rather large skirt that flowed as she moved.

Izzy insisted on paying for the dresses that Pansy and Onyx had picked out, saying that it was part of her Christmas gift to them.

On their way to meet back up with Bridgette and Lacey, they stopped at a few different places, the first of which was a muggle makeup shop, picking out a new everything for the day of the ball.

At the next, they all got new coats to wear with their dresses. Due to Onyx's protests about wearing real fur, they had to go to a vintage shop to find something made at least 20 years earlier. If it was older than onyx, she didn't have a problem with it, there was nothing she could've done back then.

Somehow, that philosophy made sense to her. So, they each picked out coats in different colours.

Onyx chose a dark brown one that stopped at the same place as her dress would, while Izzy chose a big, white, floor length coat.

Pansy decided to get a fancy looking leather jacket, deciding that furs weren't her thing.

Just as they were approaching Izzy's mother and sister, she dragged her two friends to a stop outside a muggle nail salon, but unfortunately, no amount of money or begging would make those two trust a muggle with their nails - despite how much they compliment Izzy's when she gets them done.

The five of them went to two more stores, each picking out a pair of shoes and a purse.

Onyx went for black stilettos with rhinestone straps along with a small purse, also black with a rhinestone handle. Pansy chose black kitten heels, and a basic black leather purse. And Isobel picked out white satin ballet heels, with a bit of a chunky heel, and ribbons that went just past her ankle, to match the white satin clutch she had picked out.

Soon enough, Onyx and Pansy had to get back to the manor, and apparated there after bidding goodbye to the Thornton girls, who also figured apparation was best considering how many bags they were holding.

While the girls had been dress shopping, Blaise, Draco, and Lorenzo had all picked out the first suit they saw.

Lorenzo chose a basic, black suit with a white shirt, with a bow tie. Blaise had picked a dark blue one with a white shirt, and Draco's was like Lorenzo's, only with a regular tie.

By the time everyone was back to the Manor, the boys were tipsy and the girls were so exhausted that they went to bed almost immediately after dinner.

At the Thornton house, Lacey, Bridgette, and the oldest daughter Priscilla, watched with a glass of Baileys as Isobel tried on all of her new dresses, giving everyone a fashion show as muggle pop music played on the radio.

She narrowed it down to seven dresses, but was sure to wear the others on separate occasions.

It came down to the pink ball gown, that was quickly taken by Bridgette as her dress for the Ball, even if she did need magic to slightly alter it to fit her.

As well as the blue dress, the yellow backless, and a sheer black dress (that was quickly confiscated by Alexander, saying she could get it back after Christmas because there was no way in Merlin's name that he would let his youngest daughter wear it to a ball with half of his business associates).

So, it came down to five.

The other three included a white dress with an empire waist and long sleeves, but just as she put it back on, her brother, Stefan, came through the door asking "Why are you wearing maternity clothes?"

She threw a book at him, and looked at the last two. One was dark green, the other was black.

Though she loved matching with her friends, this was a night where everyone wanted to stand out. So, she decided against both of them, and was left with the blue.

Isobel announced to her family which dress she had picked, and hung it up on her wardrobe, shoving the rest of the dressing onto hangers as fast as she could to get to table before her brother ate everything.