‘A Warwick bringing a girl of her class’. That was what he had said. And for a moment Scarlett hadn’t recognized the sharp pain that was in the general vicinity of her heart. And that brought her hand up to rub at the offended spot, unconsciously trying to ease that ache. She could have honestly said she didn’t care what all those purebloods with money thought of her, she was fairly sure that she thought even less of them. But a Warwick? Now, that had brought things down to a place where she did care, that was one of her best friends. And Will hadn’t been prepared for him to spell out that obvious truth to her. She couldn’t sneak in to their party, because she was so obviously lower class. Nat was ‘a Warwick’, and she was sure that meant something else to some other witches and wizards, he said it like it did. Though for her it just meant that he was the boy who’d let her crawl into bed with him and warmed her toes and closed his book when she was too tired to listen to him flip pages. Scarlett tried to muster up a smile for Nat, but it was unsure.

Scarlett didn’t run into many chances to feel that way, not good enough. But hadn’t Nat gotten right into the heart of the matter? Wasn’t that why she’d asked Nigel and Nat? They would know if she couldn’t pass for acceptable. She felt both sets of eyes on her, and tried her very hardest to swallow down her blushing.

“Yeah, I guess they’ll be able to tell straight off, right?” She shifted on her feet and looked at Nigel; it had been his comment about trying to sneak out of the parties that had made her laugh. But she could tell that by asking about going to a pureblooded party that she’d hurt his feelings. And she’d not wanted that.

 "Of course, Will."

“You will?” That was surprising, though he’d been trying to tell her that he was willing to shake up the silly people at a party she hadn’t actually considered that Nat would agree so readily. Scarlett collapsed down to her knees next to him as he started to tick off exactly what his requirements were going to be, while Nigel seemed to take a handful of students off away from them to shoot at, leaving Will to take in all the stipulations that Nat was giving her for this adventure.

"But, you're going to have to let me buy you a outfit. You can't steal Nigel's clothes for this. And I get to introduce you to everyone as La Princepessa Margherita Isabella of Lecce. And we have to disappear for about an hour, just to keep them talking.”

She was already shaking her head, resting her elbows on her knees and placing her chin in the palms of her hand. That action seemed to shake her whole body back and forth with the force of her denial.

“I can buy my own things.” Scarlett wasn’t going to have Nat paying for her dress. She didn’t even like it when she received birthday gifts from him. The most the boys received from her were bookmarks painted with watercolors or little portraits of this and that, drawings she’d spend her time on and color if something came to mind. But Nigel and Nat never had any problems spending an obscene amount of money on her, (Not to mention Nat’s sly trick of tucking galleons into the pants pockets of Nigel’s pants when she was going to wear them).

“I have some money saved.” That was a lie, but she could figure something out. There wasn’t enough money to save was the problem. But Will never bought things for herself, her trainers were the same as they’d been two years back, except with a few patched holes here and there and she was squirreling away the money for glasses. But she’d have this, she needed it.

And at the obnoxious name that Nat threatened to give her, Scarlett did laugh, wrinkling her nose with disgust but agreeing none the less.

“Yeah, you can’t go with Will from Wales.” She told him, since he’d explained as much to her earlier. “I just want to get in, not embarrass you.” The blush she’d fought down earlier did start to come back when he’d mentioned disappearing for some length of time, but she put her hands over her cheeks and ears to try and hide it, though her face was so close to his it was a wonder he couldn’t feel the heat from it. She’d been about to ask him for what, and why someone would talk about that. But then she did make the connection before she could open her mouth and make an arse of herself. Though why Nat would want that was beyond her, she had no intention of staying long enough to make that an issue.

“Lastly, You can't be mad at me if you have a horrible time. Those are my terms."

She’d been about to agree to them when Nigel came back. Scarlett wasn’t so clueless that she didn’t know why he’d left. Nat had the uncanny knack of hurting feelings and being absolutely astounded that anything he said could do so. Not that she thought that her insistence that it be a pureblood event had been any easier for him to hear. But when he offered her the bow she did stand up and take it with a nod, and just wanted to explain one last thing. Because this also was the only reason she was even asking, and Nigel had to know it wasn’t because of blood. Well, it was, but not in the way he thought.

“I just want to see my Dad, he has to be there.” Neither of them had asked why she wanted to go, Nat seemed far too willing to accommodate what she wanted without question and Nigel didn’t seem to have one opinion or another. With that Scarlett scampered away to grab one of her soft tipped arrows, taking the time to get into position again and let it fly.