Saturday morning Sirius begged off the first half the day's shopping because he needed to do some paperwork and planning for his estate. Beth decided to call her mother and Lia who had agreed to serve as maid of honor for dress shopping. The first shop they went to didn't have any dresses that caught Beth's fancy. The next store they went to had a much larger selection.
Harry found it interesting how Maryanne, Lia, and the shop assistants at both stores ignored him but if he was nearby when Beth came out with a dress on she would look at him. If he shook his head no she would find fault with the dress. So far every dress she had tried on had a basque or v waistline that hit her a little below her natural waist and it just didn't seem right. Harry slid on a pair of gloves that the store offered to protect the dresses from dirt and oil on the customers hands and started looking. He was looking through the closeout dresses when he found it.
Meanwhile Beth was getting discouraged every dress she tried on was gorgeous but none of them seemed right. They were all too... too. She looked for Harry. Her mother had asked her what was she thinking bringing a young boy with her when she was dress shopping but Beth said "Harry's excellent company while shopping Mother. He helped me find that green dress I got on my vacation that I wore to the White House." Maryanne had subsided. But where was Harry?
Her question was answered a second later when he appeared carrying a dress. "I found a dress!"
Lia found the resentment on the faces of the shop assistant and Maryanne amusing as Beth took the dress from the boy, and took it to the dressing room to try it on.
Four minutes later when everyone saw Beth step out of the dressing room there was no longer a question why she insisted Harry come along. It was the only dress he had asked her to try on but it was clearly the dress for Beth. When Beth saw herself in the mirror she suddenly seemed to light up. It was a diamond white, A-line with an empire waist accentuated by a satin sash that angled from just below her breasts back to her natural waist in the back. The back was corseted not buttoned. The dress itself was lace that had small seed pearls and crystals to highlight the lace's elaborate fleur de lis medallions over a silk underdress. The simple v neck had a small lace insert for modesty and had simple cap sleeves, it was completed by a small train. It was a simple classic design and it looked exquisite on Beth.
Beth reached out and pulled Harry into a hug. "Thank you Harry!"
"Sirius is going to get that dopey look again you know."
"I hope so."
"We found your dress can we go get lunch now? I'm hungry, and we still have to get clothes for me and Sirius."
"How about we look at veils for just a bit then we'll go."
"Okay."
Twenty minutes later Beth had found a simple veil Harry approved of and paid for everything. Because her dress was on closeout, she was essentially buying it off the rack. The shop was going to clean and press it and she would pick it up Thursday.
Beth, Lia, and Maryanne continued to dress shop for the rest of the wedding party after lunch while Sirius and Harry left to see about their wardrobes.
On Monday morning Harry and Sirius pulled up to the gates of the Stuart-Cavanaugh Academy.
Harry grinned as he read the school's motto "teaching the leaders of tomorrow today". Sirius had read the brochure and thought the school sounded absurdly advanced but Harry seemed to have fallen in love with the challenge it offered already. After they parked the car, they walked into the school, they were met by two people a woman and a man.
The woman stepped forward first. "Mr. Black? I'm Rebecca Fortourney the assistant principal. This is Carson Beckett he's one of the school's counselors and he be administering Harry's entrance tests while I get you to fill out paperwork and show you around the school and explain how we operate."
Harry cheerfully went with the man.
Sirius followed the assistant principal to her office and spent the next hour filling in paperwork when he was almost finished she stepped out for a few minutes when she came back she had a couple of papers with her.
"You'll be pleased to hear Harry meets our basic eligibility requirement. His recall actually tests out at ninety-five percent."
"That will make him happy."
"I get the feeling you're not sure about our academy."
"I read your brochure, it sounds like your school is focused on cramming as much education...knowledge into kids as possible not leaving them time to be kids or develop social skills or outside interests."
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