"What color is my dress tonight?"

"Granger, don't you know anything?" Pansy rolled her eyes and led her out to the wardrobe. "Narcissa Malfoy's New Year's party has been a Black and White gala for the past decade."

Hermione flushed. "Ah. She might have mentioned it."

Pansy opened the bag with a flourish. Heavy black satin and tulle poured from the bag onto the floor like a flood. Hermione's head tilted down and up again as she gaped at the sheer amount of fabric. Especially in comparison to what she usually wore to Edinburgh.

"I… this is… elaborate," she finished lamely.

"Well, I should hope so." Pansy pulled the dress out and hung it up on the wardrobe door. It seemed to double in size.

"So what is 'Giuliana' wearing this evening?" Hermione asked, reaching out to run her fingers over the satin.

Pansy lifted a condescending brow. "This isn't an evening at Edinburgh. Slaves are not going to be in attendance."

Hermione's mouth opened. "But…"

"The New Year's Eve Gala is a high society event. The Death Eaters you usually see with a teenager grinding on their lap will have their wives on their arms tonight." She turned back to the dress, fluffing the skirt fondly before her features hardened again. "You'll see several debutantes coming out tonight, hoping to snag a June wedding. More marriages have been arranged at Malfoy Manor than at any matchmaker's offices."

Something sank from her throat to the bottom of her gut. "So, I'm just… decoration."

Pansy gave her a tight-lipped smile. "More of a trophy, I'd say."

Pansy left shortly after laying out her undergarments and pointing out the bag of jewelry she was expected to wear ("Put on everything, Granger!"). Hermione tried to sort through the new information she'd learned about the tattoos, but there was no time. And the nerves in her stomach were overwhelming.

She knew what to expect at Edinburgh. But tonight was entirely new.

Before long, Hermione was slipping into the gown, gasping as it magically closed around her ribs without the help of a zipper or fastenings. The skirt fell to the floor around her heels, puffing out around her hips after cinching at her waist.

She opened the jewelry bag, and when her hand pulled out a choker necklace embedded with hundreds of diamonds she almost dropped the whole bag on the floor. Hermione didn't know much about jewelry, but she knew this might have cost as much as she did. The necklace lay perfectly above her collarbones, between the thin straps of her black dress. There were diamond earrings to match, a diamond bracelet, and two diamond rings.

At half past eight, someone knocked on her door. She squared her shoulders and flung open the door to find Lucius Malfoy standing in her doorway, wearing a white tuxedo with black lapels. At first, there had been a wild moment when she'd thought he was someone else. She had to shake off the sudden wave of grief when her mind registered that although he resembled him, it wasn't.