Amelia gazed around at the noise her classmates were making. Sure she wasn't happy with the situation at hand, but she was a seventh year and quidditch captain - she had to set a good example. Rae was counting on her, right?

Hesitating a moment, she walked over to the trunk and squatted down to look for a formal robe in the trunk. "For you Professor, that's why," she murmured in a barely audible voice. Besides, after six years of true defense training, it wasn't like one etiquette class would kill her. Pulling out one an elegant gold and black robe, she stood up and held it against her. "Is there a mirror or something?"

It was lucky Melly's mouth was so small or it would be now touching the floor. Had she just heard the word 'etiquette'? No, she couldn't have had! She was supposed to have classes related to magic! Not... etiquette! Sure, it was always necessary to know what one should do and should not do but surely it was not necessary to steal time from normal lessons to learn that, right? RIGHT?

"B-but..." She mumbled, staring at the professor in pure disbelief. Obviously, she didn't have the guts to contradict the Headmistress or any adult but still... Ugh! What was this all about?

Biting her lip once the woman started to open the trunk, Melly hoped will all her heart that the professor was going to tell her she was joking. And she did so to no avail. However, the news that the older woman gave them was too much for her little heart to handle.

Dresses? They could wear dresses? Silly or not, the first year couldn't help but let out a tiny squeal, holding her hands together and placing them under her chin as she stared at the robes that were on the professor's hands. DRESSES! She was going to wear one! And then she could be one of those princesses from the fairytales she loved so much!

"I'll take a dress robe, Professor!" Sheeta piped up enthusiastically. Even if she was the only one with a dress robe on, Sheeta desperately wanted to do something that took her mind off of the problems being made by the ministry. How her father had survived working for them for so many years made her head hurt.

Oh crap Kayla thought she had hurt the Professor's feelings. "I'm sorry Professor I didn't mean to appear rude..."she sighed and then gritted her teeth, only for the Headmistress would she do this..."do you have one in red" she added quietly. Thank Merlin there are no boys here to see this.

Steelsheen took a peek into the trunk. Dresses. Ick. Her second least favorite thing in the world. She looked over at Kayla protesting. She could definitely feel her pain.

"Professor" Steelsheen raised her hand "perhaps you could teach us the mending spell without us having to wear the dresses?" she suggested, trying to find a compromise.

Nikita didn't like to see the professor upset - however slight. It wasn't the professor's fault that she had to teach etiquette, and Nikita didn't see much wrong with dressing up. Dressing up wasn't much to her tastes, but she saw a midnight blue robe that would be fine. She walked up to the professor and picked up the one that she had her eye on.

"Thank you, Professor," she said, trying to sound appreciative. Suddenly worried, she couldn't help but asking, "Do you happen to know if all of your lessons will be like this?" Nikita was hoping that wasn't the case, and this would be a one time occurrence.

Anna didn't think it was possible for her jaw to drop any more than it'd already dropped, but lo and behold - it did. They were going to play dress-up now? Nice. So, they may get cursed and killed by the Dark Arts, but at least they'd go down looking pretty and knowing how to set a table. Psh. Whatever.

She leaned over a bit and surveyed a few of the dresses she could see poking out of the trunk. She saw a pretty lavender one. Then there was a pretty rose pink one. Ewww. Was she turning into a softy over these dresses? She hoped not.

Anna heard a soft sigh coming from nearby and looked over to Kat, looking as excited as Anna about the lesson - which amounted to no excitement whatsoever. She shot Kat a smile, knowing that if she'd stayed quite so far, she must be planning on being a good sport about "dress-up time" after all.

Anna jumped a bit as she heard someone nearby protesting the lesson quite loudly. She looked back and forth between the professor and the student, wondering what the reaction would be.

"Thank you," Rae said with a grateful smile, and she gave the girl a sideways hug. "Remember that you do not HAVE to dress up, but if you want to, there are robes available. There's a mirror in the corner, and if you find the robes too long, please point your wand in a line at the level you'd like the robes to be and say, Resarcio. You'll find that a fine line of stitching will appear there, drawing your robes up to that level. With practice, you'll learn to use this stitching spell in other ways."

Jade picked out a simple, black robe and pulled it on over her clothes, happy with the fit. The cut was flattering for anyone, the sleeves long and flaring at the end, and the color seemed to be so black that it drained the light from the air around it. She smiled slightly, looking down at herself and, while she hadn't really caught anything the professor had said, was happy to have something interesting to do. She pulled her hair back into an elastic to show off her jawline, which was accented by the neck of the her formal robes. Frowning slightly at the hemline, she raised her hand and asked, "Professor? Will that work to make the robes longer?"

*Seeing so many girls already going to get dress robes, Sheeta decided to just take the initiative... since so many others already were. Sheeta, when she could take a look at the trunk full of robes, rummaged through until she could find one that complimented her hair color... a much darker red than her hair with black frills and lace.*

*Sheeta heard the teacher mentioning a spell to be used and she immediately became happy without having put the robe on yet. A spell? Even more than she wanted to learn hair potions, Sheeta wanted so much to learn different spells to use her wand. Unfortunately, when she checked in the mirror, the dress robes were in fact just her size.*

"Flobberworms!" Sheeta silently cursed to herself. Oh well! She made a mental note of the spell and put on the robes.

"Can we sit at the table yet, Professor?" Sheeta asked politely.

Squealing again as she heard Issy, Melly couldn't help but quickly walk (though for her, due to her small legs, she was running) towards her friend. She was going to dress up! She was going to dress up! Oh, she hadn't done it for so long! Last time she had done that it was in Hallowe'en and then no-one had let her wear a flowy, pretty dress or anything. They had forced her to dress herself as a pumpkin. A pumpkin for Merlin's sake!

"It iiiiis!" The eleven-year-old said, absolutely in love with the dress Issy had picked. "I love it!," She proclaimed in pure adoration. "You have to help me find one, Issy!" She beamed, looking down at the trunk and staring at the dresses, too scared to take one out.

Kayla dragged her feet slowly over to the trunk and looked inside. "Oh" she whispered looking unhappy. "Is that the only red one there?" she asked rummaging through the rest of the dresses, she was not wearing pink and that was definite.

"I can assure you that this is my only lesson on etiquette. I'll be sure there's lots of opportunity to use your wand in the next lesson, I promise."

"Only if there is an existing hem," Rae shrugged. "If you need some length that doesn't already exist, that would take a stretching spell or an addition spell that is a bit more complicated. We can discuss it later. For these purposes, I think the hemming spell should work."

"Please pick a dress if you want and return to the wall."

So they didn't have to dress up, but eh, in the spirit of things - and because everyone else seemed to be - Anna walked forward and chose a set of lavender dress robes. She was a shorty, so no doubt she'd be putting Recarcio to good use. She slipped her dress robes on and proceeded to the mirror they'd been directed to. She looked like a lollipop. Lovely. Tha's just what every 15-year-old girl desires to be - a lollipop.

She used to wand to work up a good place for the robes to be hemmed to, then muttered, "Resarcio!" Hmmm, it actually worked. If anything, at least she'd learned that spell.

Seeing Amelia lead the way towards the trunk, Rapunzel shrugged and decided to follow. She was so excited about the robes that she almost skipped there, but stopped abruptly when she remembered the rules. Really. That was the most bothersome rule in the whole school - no skipping. Hmmph.

Upon reaching the trunk, Punz dived right in and started sifting through them. So many soft, silky materials...so many colors....ah! But there it was - an orchid one. Long, flowing, and with little silver sparkles woven right in. Perfect.

She slipped the robe on and shook out her shoulder-length hair. And it looked like it was her lucky day too - the robe was just right for her. No hemming needed.

Feeling pretty, Rapunzel refrained from skipping back to the wall. Instead she practiced walking with perfect posture. She could get used to the princess life....

Jezz reached down and grabbed a nice robe. She put it on and looked into the mirror, making a face. The robe was too long. She pulled out her wand "Resarcio!" She hated that she was so small, but it gave her an excuse to use magic. She wondered if the teacher knew how much of a sacrafice this was for her, but she wanted to be a good rolemodel to the younger students. Still, it was pink.

"I'm sure I saw other red robes in there." Sheeta smiled nervously and returned to the wall as she had been instructed.