Chapter 7: The Dress
When Estela awoke the next morning, she was still shaken by the nightmare that haunted her thoughts for most of the night. She willed her mind to forget that horrible snake-like face, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get it out of her mind.
She walked over to the window and sat on the window sill, observing the sight before her. The sky was painted cerise and the sun was just peeking out behind the mountains.
Her mind managed to stray away from the nightmare as she thought of the upcoming Halloween Ball. Something within her flickered in excitement as she remembered she was going dress shopping with Cayra. Then, just as quickly as it came, the excitement vanished. Nobody had signed her permission slip for Hogsmeade.
She didn't bother sending the slip home to her adoptive parents, Grace and William, to sign because she didn't ever usually attend the Hogsmeade trips, because she usually didn't have anyone to go with.
Disheartened, she went down to the Common Room and realised her appetite had gone. The October morning was cold around her, so she made her way over to the blazing fire and let its flames warm her skin. She sighed and gazed up to see the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw looking down at her as usual. The woman in the portrait was sternly beautiful, her expression austere yet calming.
The sound of shuffling feet made her turn, and she saw Anthony hobble down the stairs from the boy's dormitory. He looked half-asleep as he rubbed his eyes and yawned widely. Estela laughed quietly to herself when she noticed his hair; one part of it was sticking up wildly, making him resemble a unicorn. Their eyes met and Anthony didn't hesitate to give her a warm grin.
"Morning," he chimed.
"Good morning. I'm liking the new look. The hairstyle really brings out your eyes."
He looked puzzled for a moment before he realised and flattened his hair, flashing Estela an amused smile as he made his way over to her.
More students began flooding into the Common Room, and most of them headed straight for the Great Hall. Amongst these was Cayra, who spotted Estela and Anthony and sat down in besides them.
"Morning! I had a dream about the Halloween Ball last night," she said whimsically. "And if it's anything like it was in my head, it's going to be amazing."
"I can't go," Estela said.
"What? Why not?" Cayra asked immediately.
"I don't have a permission slip to go to Hogsmeade to get a dress," Cayra frowned and eyed Anthony.
"We'll ask Flitwick to sign it for you - I'm sure he'd let you. After all, you're one of his favourite students."
Estela shook her head. "It's against the rules. He wouldn't allow it."
"I'm sure we'll work something out," said Anthony. "Come on, let's go and get breakfast. I'm starving."
"Ugh yes, I'm so hungry I could eat a hippogriff!" Cayra said as she got up eagerly.
"I'm not hungry, you two go," Estela said.
Anthony and Cayra glanced at each other before Cayra placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't stress about the ball, Estela. We'll work something out. See you later!"
The room fell silent once they left, and the tower seemed to be empty. Estela had been looking forward to the Ball - perhaps the one social event that could have turned out well for her - and she couldn't go. She leaned backwards in the armchair and stared up at Rowena's portrait when she noticed the painting was pointing at something. Estela blinked before she reacted, utterly bewildered at the strange sight, before she looked behind her to see where she was pointing.
She turned behind her and saw nothing unusual, just the usual astronomy trinkets and the grandfather clock. But then she heard the faintest sound break the silence that surrounded her. It was like a slow rumble coming from every direction, and her eyes darted as she tried to find the source of the noise.
Then she saw it" the stone wall behind her seemed to be vibrating. It was slow at first, barely visible, but then it grew more forceful and clouds of dust were falling from the ceiling. Estela directed her wand towards the wall, ready to attack whatever may be causing the solid walls to rumble.
One of the the large stone blocks disappeared, revealing a large gap in the middle of the wall. Estela squinted to see, her vision obscured by the cloud of dust that hung in the air around her. Slowly, her wand raised, she made her way over the the wall.
"Lumos," she said as she reached it, peering inside and seeing nothing but darkness. But as she held the light of her wand above the hole in the wall, she saw something within reflect the light that was coming from the tip of her wand.
She hesitated, her mind racing through all of the bad things that may happen if she reached inside. But her curiosity got the better of her, and so she did, and her hand didn't come in contact with anything that stung, burned or bite, but rather something that cooled her skin in a silky soft sensation.
She grabbed the strange material and pulled it out and was disheartened to see nothing but a blur of blue fabric in the palm of her hands. At first she thought it was a tapestry or some kind of flag, but at she held it up, she knew she was wrong. It was a striking, deep blue gown.
She looked back at Rowena's portrait to see the woman nodding her head towards the dress and smiling warmly at Estela.
She looked back at it, running her hand over the sleek, silk material when her palm came in contact with a hard gem that was sewn onto the dress. When she looked closer, she could just about make out the initials RR carved onto the heavy stone.
"RR," Estela said quietly to herself. "Rowena Ravenclaw. This was yours?" She asked the portrait. But when she glanced back up, Rowena had left her painting.
She didn't know what to do. She couldn't keep it! It was evident that Rowena had overheard her conversation with Cayra and Anthony, but this was a historic artefact! This belonged in a museum of somesort, not to her. She knew it wasn't right for her to keep it, despite how beautiful it may have been. So she took it to the only person she thought might have answers: Dumbledore.
She went instantly to Dumbledore's office and saw him sitting at his desk marking long pieces of parchment. She even noticed an extra quill which was helping the professor mark the paperwork.
"Sir," she said. "Sorry to bother you, but something extremely odd just happened."
She took out her wand and pointed it at her bag, and out came the midnight-blue dress which floated in mid-air in front of them both. Dumbledore simply stared, wide eyed, at the dress for a moment, his blue eyes darting towards the large jewel with the initials, and he smiled very slightly at Estela.
"It appeared in the Ravenclaw Common Room, sir. The portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw, well it was as though she wanted me to have it. She must have heard that I didn't have a dress for the Halloween Ball. But surely I can't keep it."
Estela was taken aback to see Dumbledore still smiling at her, as though he knew exactly what was going on, and the fact that a dress over a thousand-year-old belonging to one of the most famous wizards in history didn't faze him at all.
"Look closely at the initials on the jewel, which I feel I must point out is made from pure diamond and sapphire. The initials RR. This dress belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw herself. Rowena wore this dress with superiority to many important events. It was meant to be passed down to her daughter, Helena, but due to certain measures, she was unable to obtain it. It is now perceptible that Rowena hid the dress until the next worthy person should come across it."
"Well then surely I'm not, as you say, 'worthy'."
"The dress was presented to you by Rowena herself. I'm sure this tells you that you are extremely worthy," said Dumbledore with a wink. Estela was still confused, but Dumbledore insisted she would understand before long.
As Estela walked back to her Common Room she could hear the sound of multiple footsteps from around the upcoming corner, accompanied by a chorus of low, almost whispering voices.
As she rounded the corner, she was met with four boys dressed in their crisp Slytherin robes. Avery was the first to notice her, and his well-carved features broke into an unnatural grin.
"Look what we have here, boys," he said, grabbing the attention of his friends who turned to face her. "A lone witch wandering the lonely halls of the castle."
"Shut up, Avery, you poetic idiot," Abraxas jested, pushing himself to the front of the group. His cold eyes landed on the bit of navy fabric escaping her bag. "What's that you've got there? Looks expensive. Did you steal it?" Malfoy's eyes were agleam, and Riddle moved over and positioned himself by Malfoy's side, coolly examining the fabric of the dress that was showing.
"Get a life," Estela said as bravely as she could, despite the nerves and intimidation she felt because of the boys looming over her so closely. She made to walk past them, but Malfoy's movements were astonishingly swift, and he'd grabbed the bit of fabric and tugged it right out of her bag.
"Ooh, it matches your eyes," Rosier quipped as Malfoy held up the dress. He scoffed and threw it to Avery who caught the fabric, holding it up against his body.
"I think it suits me better," he said, and the boys snickered. Tom, however, seemed distant; taking no notice of his friends and placing his full attention on the fabric they were throwing about.
"Give it back!" Estela said, her anger rising. They had no idea how much worth that dress had. They had no idea that it belonged to one of the wisest, most powerful witches of her time.
"Give it back to her," Tom said, his voice a thunderously low demand. The boys froze, their faces falling, but Estela was looking at Tom whose expression was alive with a strange omniscience that she didn't like at all.
Unwillingly, Avery threw her the dress, and Estela shoved it back into her bag. She cast them all one last glower of disgust before pushing past them and fleeing down the corridor.
***
Malfoy looked uncertainly towards his leader. "What was that all about? Is everything all right?"
Riddle's gaze was fixed on a point in the far distance as a grin full of scheming slyness. "Everything is marvellous, Malfoy. Absolutely marvellous."
The boys exchanged glances at first. It was odd,they hadn't seen Riddle grin like that in a while. And they all seemed to tense the tone of sly delight in Riddle's voice, for each of their lips curved into a shady smirk of all-knowing, as though they were on their way to a secret carnival that only they knew about.
***
Estela sat in the Common Room with Cayra, Anthony, Eve Meadows and Meredith Fox. They were all huddled on the sofas around the fireplace, a tray of hot chocolate steaming on the table before them.
"She was very beautiful, wasn't she?" Eve Meadows said distantly, looking up towards the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw that was hanging above the mighty fireplace.
"She was," Cayra agreed, admiring that painting as she took a sip of hot chocolate. "Helena's the spitting image of her, too."
Estela glanced upwards from the book she was reading to consider this.
"I wonder what it would've been like to be around at the time of the Founders," Anthony said. "Must've been interesting."
Cayra sat forward. "I wonder whether or not there was any romance between the Founders."
Eve and Meredith tittered, but Anthony rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant at all..."
"I know, but my question is more interesting," she said, flashing him a grin. "I reckon Godric and Helga had something going on between them."
"No, no, no, my bets are on Rowena and Salazar. There had to be something going on there," Meredith said, waving a hand at Cayra's suggestion.
"Don't you think Salazar would be too conceited to consider romancing with a rival house?" Eve suggested, playing with her hair. "I mean, we all know how proud and how driven by power and glory he was."
Estela listened, closing her book with curiosity at the conversation that would ensue.
"Yes, but I think Slytherin would have been drawn to her mind. To her wit and her cunning, you know?" Meredith said.
Everyone considered this, a few of them nodding in agreement.
"Imagine that," Cayra said. "Two of history's greatest minds pairing together to rule the world." She rolled backwards onto the sofa and sighed thoughtfully, as though she was thoroughly captivated by the notion.
Anthony raised a finger in objection. "Sorry to ruin your fantasy, Cayra, but I think that Rowena would highly disagree with Slytherin's desire to purge the school of 'unworthy' attendants, don't you?"
"She wouldn't agree at all," Eve said, considering this thoroughly. "But I think she would have been drawn to his brilliance and his mind. I bet she'd never met anyone with a brain that could compete with her own. I'd guess there was definite competition between them. And that could've drawn them together."
"I wonder if he showed her his chamber..." Meredith wondered.
"Is that a euphemism?" Cayra asked, laughing, the others joining in.
Estela laughed to herself but kept quiet on the matter. She looked up at the portrait of Rowena and wondered if anything had gone on between her and Slytherin. She was intrigued by the thought, that was for sure, and was enchanted by the romanticised thought of the power-hungry Salazar Slytherin finding a weakness in the brilliance of Rowena Ravenclaw, and her wit that could outmatch his own.
Author's notes: I'm SO sorry I haven't updated in AGES! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I will try my absolute best to update regularly! Until next time, nox