Anathema doesn't actually super like dress robes - she's feeling like a muggle-style dress, maybe.

Perfectly doable.

(It also gets them out of Diagon Alley for the longest and most involved step - especially given how much Anathema likes to try on clothes - at a time when the dominant gossip is the attack yesterday.)

Ellie ends up feeling most comfortable in a trim three-piece suit, with a bronze silk shirt and blue velvet jacket and pants.

Wow. Yeah. That is. Very excellent on her. Extremely. Ellie will definitely have guys falling all over her.

(Anathema spends a bit eyeing a deep red dress with a swooshy skirt, before spotting a clingy dress in a similar blue to Ellie's jacket. A bronze scarf and shoes to go with it, maybe. It is such a pretty color scheme, appropriate to their house... Some new matching jewelry, too, she hasn't really outgrown the kids' stuff, but she's developing an appreciation for some less tacky pieces...)

Ellie does need cufflinks now...

There's some pretty ones here, in a lighter bronze than her jacket.

Ooh, pretty. Maybe with the sapphires, like this necklace?

Oh, yeah! They've got a really nice sparkle...

Then they can match.

Perfect! The effect will be ruined if they get mismatched dates... Though Anathema's not sure who she'd ask, anyways, so she'll probably go single. Dance with anyone standing awkwardly on the sidelines. 

Shrug.

Plenty of time to worry about that later.

True.

They're as prepared as they can be, for now.

Pretty much.

She's curious about the multi-school event coming up - but it sounds like details will be announced at the opening feast.

Maybe it'll be exchange students.

"That'll be cool... We're in that school system network thing with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, right?"

"Those are the ones."

"Maybe we'll have a giant regional Quidditch tournament."

Ellie giggles. "Krum's at Drumstrang, isn't he? Might not be much of a tournament..."

"You could probably challenge him."

"Depends how they tune the Snitch..."

She laughs. "I'll be Beater this year, so I can give you an edge."

"An important factor to consider."

"It's really the team that carries the game."

"True enough."