Something Worth Losing | S.B

13: Fifteen Candles

(A/N: this chapter will contain underaged drinking and very very slight descriptions of injury)

The 21st of April 1976 wasn't a special date to anyone, except for Beatrice Alma Dupont, who was born at 12:05 in the morning 15 years prior. 

Beatrice always looked forward to her birthday fo a number of reasons. First of all, each year that passed was a year closer to officially being of age. Truth be told, the girls not being able to magic all summer was starting to take a toll on them. There was only so much trouble they could cause practically living like muggles.

Secondly, Evie and Grace (both of whom had connections to the upper years) always made sure that the Slytherin common room held a party for the occasion. This was cause for embarrassment for Beatrice, who didn't want to appear cocky and never really thought all the trouble was necessary. But Beatrice was widely likely (among the Slytherins at least) and everyone was more than happy to have the excuse for a night off.

The girls struggled to contain their smiles through breakfast, and when they returned to the dorms they were greeted with an unnecessarily large pile of gifts on Beatrice's bed from the Duponts. Ruth insisted that they open them then and there but Evie, ever the diplomat, convinced them that a detention from McGonagall for being late to Transfiguration wasn't worth it, and so instead they scoffed their lunch and ran back to the dorms before afternoon classes started to open them then. 

Regulus rarely left her side all day. He had gifted her three different muggle books that she had never heard of, with illustrations that had been charmed to move across the pages. Beatrice smiled and asked him where he got the idea. 

"If I'm being honest, Rachel gave me the idea." He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, about the enchantment at least. I know you said you were running out of books to read and Rachel's dad's a muggle and she told me about these." He smiled as she shuffled through the pages.

She also received a gift from Rachel, with whom she was becoming fast friends. She gave a golden necklace with the Taurus constellation on it.

By the time Potions ended, the girls were giddy with excitement. By 4:05 they were back in their dorms and by 4:15, the aforementioned dorm was a complete tip.

"Ok is it just me or does it feel like we go through this process every time there's a party?" Evie huffed, her nail getting caught in the zip of the dress she was battling with.

"I was thinking the same thing." Ruth implored, trying to shove her thick hair into a ponytail (to no avail) before eventually opting to leave is down as usual. "There's no way we've been to enough parties to have gone through every combination of the dresses we own. We're only fourth year."

Beatrice was having a similar struggle. She was lucky enough to have hair that cooperated with her, unlike Ruth, but was unlucky enough to have skin that seemed to reject a multitude of shades, unlike Evie, who's brown complexion suited practically everything. 

She had narrowed it down to two, after evaluating all aspects of the party. It was too formal for jeans, but not formal enough for a dress that she would feel comfortable wearing in her mother's presence. Not to mention, it was her birthday, which amounted an unnecessary amount of stress onto what should have been a relatively non stressful experience. 

One of the dresses resembled a prairie style dress only shorter, but Beatrice soon decided that the billowing sleeves were too unflattering and inconvenient, and the neckline far too modest.

This landed her with a seafoam green halterneck, with a loose cowl neckline that, somehow, managed to make Beatrice appear taller than the five feet and nine inches she already had on her.