The Boy and His Dresses

As he dragged his eyes across the dress, across Renny, Trowa began to pick up on the faults. The faults were not in her, never her, but instead in his work. Pursing his lips, Trowa tentively put his hands on her hips, smoothing the material down slightly. He took his hands away and watched as it expanded once more. He chuckled and clicked his fingers. His wand flew to his hand and he began to adjust the material by her hips almost immediately. He tightened bits of it so it hugged her hips. He was worried it would restrict her movement to a degree, though, so he loosened it in places.

“You are very small,” Trowa told her with a smile. “Tiny, even.” He chuckled again and placed his wand between his teeth. He pressed his fingers against the material and smiled when it didn’t move. Trowa took his wand out of his mouth and walked around so he could appraise Renny. Trowa nodded happily and suddenly, a look of inspiration appeared on his face.

The Ravenclaw turned and darted over to the box on the coffee table. He opened it up and began to rifle through it in search of what he wanted. He put his hands on them more or less straight away and he produced a pair of pearl earrings. Trowa rubbed them against his shirt, giving them a dust, and held them up for Renny to see. “I think these will match quite nicely. If you curl your hair and put it up into a bun then-” He grinned and pressed the earrings into her hands before turning around and going back to the box. This time he produced pearl pins and handed them to Renny. “Have those pressed in and maybe some flowers. I’m afraid I don’t have any of them.” Trowa looked at Renny again and decided what he was going to do. “Keep it,” he said decisively. “And don’t tell me no. I want you to have it. It suits you better I think.”

Renny looked down, watching him fiddle with the dress, particularly around her waist. She twisted and turned when appropriate, to help him get to the part of the dress he was working on at the time, being as helpful as she could be. He seemed to be done with it and she twisted a little, feeling the tightness around her sides. He seemed to have sensed this and he immediately loosened it.

At his words, she smiled shyly. "It's a family thing. In primary school, the nurse once called my aunt and said she was not feeding my sister and I enough. Almost reported it to the authorities. My sister was worse though. She liked to mess with the nurse and would pretend to faint around her." She shook her head and then stopped, deciding she did not particularly want to talk about Piper presently.

He handed her the pearl earrings and she obliged, gently putting them in. She took the pins and gently examined them, looking at them up until Trowa said Keep it. Immediately, she raised her head, her soft eyes meeting his in gentle surprise and confusion. "Keep it?" She managed to catch up. "Oh, but you put so much work into it, I just can't take it. That's too much, Trowa. Much too much."

As Renny spoke, Trowa continued to fiddle around with bits and bobs in the room, reaching around furniture to pick up pieces of material. He was drawing everything together again to make it a quicker pack-up time when he chose to go to bed. Trowa looked up when Renny mentioned then nurse. He chuckled and nodded in understanding, turning his eyes back to the fabric he was rolling up. He tucked it under his arm and picked up a large piece of purple material. Just like with the last piece of fabric, he began to roll it, listening to Renny speak.

“When I was at my pre-school, we had a nurse and she’d fuss over all of us. She was an elderly lady and she meant well enough. She made sure we were healthy and had our five a day and all that jazz. She was lovely, really...like a grandmother. When I go home, I’ll see her in the village. It’s strange but nice. They care you know, even if they do seem suffocating. Still, I expect it’s something to laugh about looking back on it now, right? Do I...know your sister? I mean to say...I’ve never really come across her and known who she was. I may have done just not...while aware?”

Trowa smiled sheepishly and dropped the material down on top of the stuff that had been rolled up. He straitened his back and crossed his arms over his chest, a look of amusement crossing his features as his eyes followed Renny’s movements. Her facial expression changed first – to one of what appeared to be mild horror. Her facial features were too gentle to have an exaggerated form of that. It was her version of mild horror; or at least shock. It made Trowa’s smile widen and he shook his head, his hair flapping around his cheeks as he did so.

“You will do as I say and take it,” He told her, walking across the room to meet her. Trowa’s fingers crept out and he took her hands in his. He gave her hands a squeeze and continued to grin at her. “It is my gift to you. Call it a belated Christmas/Valentines/Birthday present or whatever. It could be an early Easter gift or Christmas or Birthday or whatever gift so just take it and wear it you silly thing.”

Renny nodded eagerly, a gentle smile alighting her features as she continued his train of thought. "Yes, they seem so overbearing at the time, but looking back... they're like saints. Imagine, caring for all of those kids so much... And for what reason? They are not blood related! No relation at all. The kids certainly aren't grateful. It's care without cause. What a model to live by."

He asked about her sister and she paused, her eyes glancing downward ever so slightly, before looking back up, a small smile on her face. "Her name's Piper, she's a fifth year Slytherin. She's tinier than me, but about a hundred times feistier." Feisty. That was the word Renny had settled on long ago to properly describe her sister without insult. "She doesn't hang out with people much, so I don't know that you would know her." Renny bit her lip, a little too sore from the nights events to say more about Piper.

At Trowa's words, she glowed a bit. This is what she was trying to convince her sister of, the inherent kindness of people to love each other. Trowa was giving her a dress! He took her hands and squeezed them and she smiled brightly at him, squeezing his hands back. "If you insist," she said, still smiling brilliantly. "Thank you so much, it's gorgeous. I'll have to make it up for you somehow."

Trowa couldn’t help but smile at Renny. Those women were selfless and they were people that Trowa always looked up to. He’d spent his time inside, sat beside them learning their craft. He’d discovered his art in the hands of a woman that could do anything. She proceeded to teach the soft-skinned child and now he was the pin-proof designer he was today. There was so much room for growth, too. He wasn’t at his peak, certainly not, and he wasn’t even close to his best. He hadn’t mastered it like many had before him. He was still learning and frankly he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“They are inspiring,” he agreed with a nod of his head. He continued to listen to Renny as he turned away, busying his hands with tiding once more. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and turned his eyes back to Renny when she said her sister’s name. It was familiar, Trowa would admit, but he didn’t know where he’d heard it before. Trowa closed his pin box and began to collect scraggy ends of material. “Doesn’t she get lonely?” He asked inquisitively, raising his eyebrows slightly. Trowa stopped messing with the fabric and he straightened up, his grin returning to his face as Renny brightened.

He tucked the pieces of material into his pocket and looked over Renny once more. “I don’t think it would suit anyone else, Renny.” He admitted. “It wouldn’t be right to give it to anyone else. Besides, it’ll be worth finding an excuse to dress up now. Look at that! You look fantastic!” Trowa clapped his hands together and bounced a little. Trowa laughed and joked, “I’ll have to take you somewhere just to show you off. You will cast a shadow over all of the other girls!” Trowa became slightly more serious and nodded. “You do look outstanding. But like I said, the dress compliments what is already there. They’re all meant to do that and this one, well, it clearly has!”

At his words, she sighed and shrugged, moving over to a bookshelf along the side of the room, searching for a book she had seen awhile ago she had only just remembered to go look for. "I dunno," she said softly. "She claims she prefers to be alone, but I have my suspicions. God forbid I ask, though, or offer to keep her company with my friends." She closed her eyes for a moment. "It seems the only person I can't help is my own sister."

She turned, opening her eyes to reveal the soft blue. "But I don't like to dwell. Everything works out in its own sweet time. Piper is strong-willed, is all." She smiled lightly, thinking how that was so much of an understatement it was almost a lie. But she did not like to speak ill of her sister, so that would have to do for the moment.

Trowa was about as pleased about giving the dress as she was for receiving it. She beamed with him and glowed at the compliments, bouncing with him as he did, allowing for a giggle or two. At his words about showing her off, she laughed and said, "Anytime, Trowa! You're a doll!" She smiled and once he got serious, she gave him a more reserved smile. "Thank you."

Trowa couldn't help but smile. Renny was easy to listen to. She didn't have one of those annoying voices and she certainly didn't act like her problems were the end of the world. They were just facts of life. There was no escaping that. Trowa understood this. He had siblings of his own, both as indignant as Renny's no doubt. He adored his siblings though and he would do anything for them if they were to ask.

Turning away again, Trowa took his wand from his pocket and flicked it a the rest of his things. He turned back as they began to pack themselves away and he smiled once more at Renny.

"I shall bid you goodnight,then. Perhaps I could actually make good on my offer and take you somewhere in a couple of weeks time."

Trowa began to pack things up and she glanced up at the clock. She felt her eyebrows raise in mild surprise. It was a lot later than she had supposed. She glanced down at the dress she was still wearing and then at the clothes she had shed. Best to change in the dormitory, where she could properly hang the dress up. She walked over and folded the clothes nicely, tucking them under her arm.

At Trowa's words she smiled warmly and stepped forward, giving him a friendly hug as she did with all of her friends, though she gave him an extra squeeze of gratitude for the random act of kindness he had shown her. "I would adore that," she said as she released him, smiling up at him. "Thank you." She began to walk towards the staircase before turning and beaming at him once more. "Good night, Trowa." And she retired.