Within fifteen minutes, Harry and Jane had been pulled through the rails upon rails of clothing and into the back of the shop, where Vera told them that the private fitting rooms were. And then Jane had been pushed into one of the velvet-curtained rooms with beige ball of material and emerged in a swimsuit like get up, Madam Vera directing her up onto a wooden platform.
Then she was dressed in all sorts of things, from jeans that were too wide for her legs and were folded at the end, embroidered flowers and stars decorating them, flower-patterened or creamy blouses, the odd pastel coloured cardigan and far too many skirts.
Of course, and who would Jane be without her many dresses, which had just as much range as the other clothing Vera had picked out, made and fitted for her.
"Just one more dress - and I daresay this is the most important one!" Vera smiled, helping unpin Jane from a particularly pretty dress with criss-cross abnds down either side of her torso and sliding it off of her shoulders.
"Important?" Jane repeated, stepping out of the material pooling at her feet and glancing at Harry in confusion, then back up at Vera.
"Your dress for the house warming party of course!" Vera replied, lifting up the material and holding it up by the shoulders, reaching for the hanger. "I've been keeping this one in my office - no way for it to get crushed there - so I'll just go and get it now."
Vera hurried out, and with wide eyes Jane stepped down from the platform, stumbling slightly and being caught by Harry. Her hand remained holding onto his forearm, still feeling a little wobbly.
"A house warming party?" Harry repeated the seamstress's previous words. "Flora is having a house warming party?"
"I have no idea... but now that I think of it, it was rather strange for Jerry to bring so many table that one time." Jane mused. "I hope you can come, I don't know anyone else here."
"We can ask Flora." Harry offered, although there was a nagging feeling that he either wouldn't be allowed by Jane's guardian, or his own would forbid him.
"Come on, chop chop!" Vera reappeared holding a garment bag, Harry leading Jane back around and her grasp moved down to his hand, holding on as she pushed herself back up onto the platform.
The final dress was a work of art. It was a cream colour with a dipped neckline, gathered bodice, a sinched waste and bluebell shaped sleeves and consisted of a silk slip dress with layers of fabric and tulle over it. The skirt was made a little fuller this way, but the main focus was the final layer - a dress of tulle and covered in embroidered flowers.
A wrap over her bust met in her middle, a butterfly stuck in the center, and the sleeves were covered in a similar way, sticking to sage green and cream coloured 3D butterflies.
Harry's eyes widened when she first turned around, and he had to physically stop his jaw from dropping. It suited her perfectly, hair seeming to glow against the paler colours and curls flowing over the sleeves.
"You'll want to keep it tied back if you don't want it catching in the butterflies." Vera said, reaching for several boxes she had brought in with her. "It's a shame really.. but the matching hair pieces would work better with an updo.
Jane barely had time to react to the first box being opened and several butterfly clips were revealled when Vera pulled open another box, a pair of sage green dane heels, a tiny heel on them and a butterfly imprinted on the sole.
"Wow.. I have no idea what to say." Jane's eyes were so full of wonder that she didn't even know where to look. "Thank you so much Madam, you're so incredibly talented."
"Oh - no worries dear." Vera said in a warm tone, features flooding into a smile and a light blush across her cheeks. "It's no problem - when Flora contacted me I could barely believe it, she's always wanted a child you know but never got the chance to. Devoted her life to a special cause, I presume. So for me to have the honour of dressing you, well it was my pleasure."
"Either way, thank you so much." Jane said, flashing a grin at Harry as Vera helped her out of the butterfly dress and sent her over to the changing rooms to get back into her previous outfit.
And with the Everleigh girl disappearing behind the velvet curtain, Vera turned to Harry with her hands on her hips. "Now you." She said, smiling. "The boy who lived - I could barely believe it either when Flora told me that."
"Me?" Harry blinked. "But what about me?"
"You don't think Flora would let you go to that party in jeans and t-shirt do you?" Vera grinned, holding out a folded pile of clothes. "You'll be glad to know that I'm not making you change to swimwear. Now go try them on and get back out here so I can fit you."
Harry had never smiled so wide.
✧
a/n hi this is the dresses i've based it on!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
