"Um." Blink. "Sure, okay."

Alli beams. That was way easier than she was afraid it would be. Cute boy: success! "Wicked!" She jumps down to give him an impulsive brief but enthusiastic hug. "Okay, you've got practice, I know, I'll get lost. Thanks Matt! See you soon!"

"See you!" he calls after her with a bemused wave.

Alli bounces straight back to Slytherin in search of Vivian. Sure enough, Vivian's on her bed reading a book Alli doesn't recognize but suspects is for Magical Runes. "Viv, Viv, Viv! Stop doing homework, this is better. I have a date!" she announces, bouncing on the end of Vivian's bed.

"Congrats!" Vivian says, managing a smile. It's adorable how excited Alli is, she's pleased for her friend, but it's hard not to think of how much she wants a date. And has very poor odds at getting one. "The- what was his name? Pip?"

"No, the other one, Matthew," Alli corrects her, returning to flop on her own bed with a blissful smile. "I think I cornered him into it but whatever, so cute don't care."

Vivian actually laughs at that. She turns to face Alli but her eye catches on Emma's books next to her bed. "Oh! Before I forget. You're good at Potions, right? Can you help me with my hair?"

"My one skill," Alli jokes, reaching over to snag one of the books. "Sure." She skims over a few chapters. "Oh, wow, this is some book. What color?"

"Well, I wanted red at first, but with the ball and Emma's robe I thought- maybe purple?"

Alli flips through the book a few more times, scrunches her face at a couple options, but finally nods. "Yeah, I can do this. Shall we?"

"Your hair looks nice!" says Karen.

"Thanks!" Vivian says. She knows she shouldn't be this delighted but she can't help it, okay, Karen likes her hair.

"Very nice," Emma agrees. Internally she pictures her mother's face if she learns what her fancy hair potions book was used for, and suppresses a hysterical giggle.

"I love the purple!" Jenny adds, then stops as she's reaching for toast. "Er, Vivian? Are you cold, or... being weirdly fashionable, orrrrr something?"

Vivian turns a dark red. "I.. Apparently you're supposed to use gloves?" She tugs her right glove off partway; her palm is mottled the same purple as her hair.

"You're always supposed to have gloves when you handle potions. I can try to fix it if you want?"

"I knew while I was brewing, but then we were done and I thought the dyeing part would be okay?" She sighs. "I know, lesson learned. If you know how to fix it, yes please? I was just going to go to Madam Pomfrey later today if it didn't start to wear off."

"That's what everyone with potion damage does, so I've seen it a couple times and I have a good guess what she'll try first," explains Miranda, pulling out her wand. "But it might not work and then I'll find out what she'll try second, I guess." Tap. "Nonvenenum."

The purple lightens a little, and Vivian brightens, but it's still very much visible. When she realizes it's not going to lighten further, Vivian shrugs ruefully. "Thanks, but I guess I'll be in gloves a bit longer."

"Sorry. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have a second go-to."

"Not your fault. You helped more than I did, anyway."

"That's what the internship's for."

"There's a joke about dyeing in here somewhere," Alli says as she sits down next to Jenny, "but I'm way too excited about my date to come up with it. Pass the sausage?"

Emma groans. "It's too early for puns. Bad puns."