Ravenclaw Common Room
The Ravenclaw common room is a
very inviting and cozy room; even the nostalgic student would feel more at home
upon entering this room.
The walls are painted a deep blue, trimmed with
shimmering bronze paint, representing the colors of the Ravenclaw
house. The room is square, with stairs
and halls leading off to the dorms. A
few tall windows are placed around the room, iridescent bronze-colored curtains
letting the sunlight filter in. The
'mascot' of Ravenclaw, a beautiful grey eagle, has
been portrayed in a banner, which is draped high above the stone floor. An inviting fireplace has been installed in
the western most part of the room, and comfy bright blue armchairs have been
placed in a circle around the room where the students of Ravenclaw
may mingle.
Two open doorways lead to staircases which lead up and
down to two other rooms attached to the common room, which are the boys and
girls dorm rooms. The third door in the
room leads you back out to the hallway.
Eriol is looking into a mirror,
getting his dress robes ready for the Yule ball... Fidgeting like a newborn
calf... He's nervous like you WOULDN'T believe...
Cho comes down from the Girl's
Dorms, wearing a brilliant blue dress robe with her hair done up in an elaborate
style. She pauses to look back and smile at one of her friends, but unlike the
excited whispers of her usual friends, she looks rather... indifferent. And reluctant.
Eriol smiles and turns as the
current Keeper for your Quidditch team turns a nervious eye to you, "Cho-chan....
How... Do I look?" his hands are shaking.. Gods its so cute... Of all the
things he's tackled in his life... A DATE seems to be what would defeat him...
Cho stops as her name is called
out and smiles at the fellow Quidditch player. Even if it is a rather distant smile. She, unfortunately, is
not looking forward to tonight. She'd skip it if she could. "You look
fine. The dress robes suit you."
Eriol says, "Ne... Are you alright, Cho-chan?"
he asks... Suddenly his rush to get dressed is forgotten as he sighs and looks
at you... A housemate in distress is something he can't deny, "Listen...
If.. You need someone to talk to... I'm a good
listener..." he smiles that 'I do care' smile at you.
Cho shakes her head a bit. If
only she had a Sickle for every time she heard that question, she'd have a Firebolt by now. "I'm fine. Just...
tired." She is tired, but that has nothing to do with her distress.
"Thank you though." She knows people care, but right now she just
wants to get through tonight.
Stella plays with her hair nervously.
Eriol nods slightly to Cho and shakes his head, "If you need to run
away..." he adds.. I'll help you... I know how
going to balls like this is... And.. You're a
housemate and my friend... And the best darn seeker in the Hogwarts league...
If anything happened to you or any of my new friends here... Even
if it was caused by another student... I would come to their aid.. Just so you know, Cho-chan..."
gods.. He DOES care..."
Cho raises
her eyebrows at all of what Eriol says, then her
first genuine smile of the night surfaces. He does care, probably too much for
his own good. "That's very nice of you." She is /hardly/ the best
Seeker though. Might be if she had a better broom than her Comet, but as it is
she just can't meet the speed of Gryffindor or Slytherin,
and for Seekers, speed can win the entire match. She glances over at Stella,
"Good evening, Stella." The distant look is back almost immediately,
though the smile is still there.
Stella jerks out of her dreamy reverie and smiles. "Hi Cho!"
Eriol looks over at Stella and
is kinda irked that it seemed he was getting to Cho for a moment... But.. Its
better this way he thinks... If she needs him, she will come get him.. At least he HOPES that is the case...
Stella looks a bit chagrined. "So, plans for
tonight, everyone?"
Cho moves to sit down on one of
the free arm chairs, "I plan to go, have fun, come back here, and
sleep." That's her big plan for the night. Though she
left out the fact that she's supposed to be meeting someone at the dance.
If not someone that most people will suspect. Though
there may have been whispers about it yesterday. Something about her going over
to the Slytherin table for a few minutes after
breakfast.
Eriol nods, "We're going
to the Yule Ball I'd assume.." he looks up,
fixing his dress robes, "Tomoyo-chan said she
was making some new form of dress robes for the occasion... I must say I am in
anticipation..."
Stella shakes the bun out of her hair.
Cho pauses, looking over at Eriol, "Tomoyo? Is she the
girl you're going with?" One of the side effects of not looking forward to
this event is she's managed to avoid some of the gossip. She has no idea who is
going with who. She wasn't even planning to go at all until just a few days
ago.
Stella says, "I wish I didn't -have- to go. I think
my date from last year is going with a certain someone who finally managed to
charm the acne off her face."
Eriol nods, "Daidouji Tomoyo.."
he smiles, "A new first year from Hufflepuff
house.." he blushes and smiles, "She is like the angels singing on a
war day in spring..." he blushes softly.
Cho refrains from commenting on
the state of her date from last year. For a moment her eyes tighten, and her
smile fades, but then Eriol breaks into poetry and
she looks over and smiles again. "I'm sure she says the same thing about
you."
Eriol says, "If only that
were the case...." he sighs softly.
Stella chuckles gently at Eriol's
conceit then suddenly turns scarlet, then plum. "I'm sorry Cho, I'm going on and on about last...year. Don't know what
I was thinking about."
Cho shakes her head and tries
to reassure Eriol. "Give her time. She's only a
first year. It may take her a while." And Stella gets a forgiving look,
"It's all right." She pushes herself up. "When do you think we
should head out?" She's getting into one of those 'I want to get there and
get it over with' moods now.
Stella touches her cheek absently, perhaps in an attempt
to get the color out of it. "I just need to get dressed..." She
offers Cho a sincere smile of apology, then wanders
off to make good on her promise.
Eriol reaches into his robes
and pulls out a pocket watch in TRUE englisman fashion
and blinks, "Dear lord.. its
less than 25 minutes away!" Eriol's stomach
RE-KNOTS back up...
Cho smiles back at Stella, and lets her hurry off to get
dressed. At the announcement of less than 25 minutes, she actually sighs. 25
more minutes until it starts. Again, she's in one of
those 'sooner it starts, sooner its over' moods. And it's over the second she
gets what she's going for. "Don't worry, Eriol.
Just... take deep breaths."
Eriol does as Cho suggests, closing his eyes and
trying to clear his mind... Starting to mutter a matra
in Japanese.... Which will probably make Cho
feel more... Relaxed around the newest keeper of Ravenclaw...
Cho had just started to pace
when the mantra hits her ears. She stops and looks at the young man, and
somehow... she does feel more relaxed. It at least makes the wait bearable for
a while longer.
Eriol smiles and wonders if he
ever fully introduced himself to Cho... "You
seem surprised that I speak Japanese?" he asks, though he seems to speak English
too proper for a Japanese boy, "Well, my father may have been a English nobleman but my mother IS a Shinto shrine
maiden..." Eriol smiles, "Not many here
know that.." he entrusts to Cho.
Cho shakes her head, "Not
exactly surprised, but you do speak English very well." She continues to
smile, then starts to get agitated again. She peeks around Eriol
to check her hair in the mirror, though it's practically magiced
into place, so there's no real need to worry about it. She smiles that he seems
to have entrusted her, "Well, now one more person does at least."
Eriol smiles, "If you
can't trust your own housemates, "Who can you trust indeed?" he
smiles that deep, warm smile that he gives all his friends, "I hope this
goes well... With the latest news about Azkaban, I hope this stays relitivly Dementor free."
Stella re-enters the common room proper, now dressed for
the Ball. She looks rather pleased with herself, having used several magical
shortcuts in getting her hair perfect. "Ready as I'll ever be," she
says, mostly to herself.
Cho nods. She'd heard about
that. Dementors showing up would certainly not be her
idea of a good time. "I'm hoping for event free myself." The Ball
itself is heartbreaking enough for this girl. No need to compound it more. She
glances to look at Stella and smiles (though it's still distant), "You
look wonderful."
Stella nods graciously. "Thank you, Cho."
Eriol says, "We should get
going... Or we will be late."
Cho nods. "Let's go."
Hopefully a certain person will be there early and she can leave before the
dancing and everything starts up.
Great Hall
The Great Hall certainly seems to be the heart of
Hogwarts, as every day the four houses of Hogwarts and professors alike join
together in this magnificent corridor.
Even the elitist wizard or witch would be bedazzled by the sheer
brilliance of this hall.
The room seems to be lit by an endless number of candles
floating atop the five tables set up here.
Four of the tables are evenly placed beside each other, measuring at
least a hundred meters each. These
polished tables seem to possess an endless number of golden goblets and
platters, which are empty at the moment, but rest assured; any decent magical
institution would fill them with many eats as breakfast, lunch, and dinner each
roll around. The walls adjacent with the
four tables are decorated with elaborately ornamented flags of the four houses:
Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw,
and Slytherin.
Of course, seated at these four tables would be the students of these
houses.
At the front of the room is another table, identical to
the other tables in the room except for the fact that the professors at
Hogwarts dine there. Above that table is
the crest of Hogwarts, proudly displayed in all its glory. The occasional suit of armor is placed around
the room, as well as a few framed pictures, but it's not like the room really
needs to be decorated by things such as those.
Above the tabletops is a magnificent ceiling, if it's a
ceiling at all. It seems to be the
starry sky itself; the ceiling stretches upward so
high, it certainly is hard to tell if there's a rooftop covering the room or
not. Although someone who has been
reading his or her books about Hogwarts would tell you it's bewitched to look
like the sky outside. Nevertheless, the
room as a whole certainly is a breath-taking place.
Eriol awaits
calmly at the entrance... blushing softly as he stands with his housemates.
Cho stands with the Ravenclaw crowd, taking slow, deep breaths and trying not
to look as bad as she feels. And pulling it off rather well.
Except for having a tightness around the eyes and a
thin smile that makes her lips pale. Her dress robes are a brilliant blue, and
her hair is done elaborately. She glances around every so often, as if looking
for someone, who she doesn't seem to find.
Stella nudges Eriol gently and
indicates Tomoyo with a subtle tilt of her head.
"Is she the one you've been talking about? She's -very- cute." Stella
smiles mischievously. "Maybe I can help out somehow? I know -plenty- of Hufflepuffs."
Eriol adjusts his retrimmed robes as he is sans the large boat hat tonight...
Also forgoing the shawl of his outfit and wearing the formal blue robes of his
house proudly, he strides into the hall with his house proudly and looks
around, trying to find his date... Till Stella unsubtly nudges him and he
blushes brightly, "Hai..
that’s her..." he blushes brighter, "Is she not a vision?" he
asks as he produces a purple flower corsage that he has in a box in his hands,
apparently stored inside his robes, and starts to advance on Tomoyo, holding the box towards her as he arrives.
Cho glances to get a look at Tomoyo, and then nods lightly. "Good luck," she
wishes her fellow team member before he's too far away. At least he's sweet.
That's a good trait in boys. She looks around again. Still, her dark hazel eyes
don't seem to find whoever it is she is looking for.
Tomoyo walks in rather timidly,
remembering back to the great excitement over her house sorting. o_o She looks around, hoping to
see someone she knows..until
she spots Eriol walking over. She smiles and waves.
"Good evening, Eriol-kun!" Her cute upswept
hair bounces slightly. Aww.
Dumbledore stands before the school's students, clearing
his throat in order to speak to everyone.
He raises his arms from his sides, hoping to get everyone's
attention. "This evening of yet
another Yule Ball is one of celebration, and not of long winded speeches. So, without further adieu, this old man will
speak no more." He gestures to the
hired orchestra. "Let the music and
revelry begin!"
Minerva sits rigidly next to him. Her eyes are also
scanning the room, as she is preoccupied.
Her fingers tap lightly on the table as she resides in silence.
Sakura enters the hall with Yukito-san,
blushing greatly as she walks nervously beside him. She's really excited, but she's never really
danced with anyone before!! Oooh, she should've asked Tomoyo-chan
about things like this. '.'
Half wondering what he is doing here, Lee Jordan scans
the room for Gryffindor students but doesn't see many he's so comfortable with
that he'd be able to have a good conversation with. So he is content on leaning
against the walls, staring at the odd swaying of the crowd. He too seems to be
looking for someone but, after realizing their presence is not there, he stays
put and waits for either Fred or George to come down in their usual noisy yet
funny entrance. It's almost odd having his dreadlocks out of clasp, yet it's
easily dismissed. Lee spots the familar face of the
Japanese Hufflepuffs and smiles towards Eriol's advancing. He messes absent mindedly with the hem
of his dark, red dress robe's sleeve. He notices Cho
looking distantly into the crowd, saddened almost, a finds himself frowning
himself. Poor Cho.
Yukito nervously enters the
hall with Sakura-chan. What a beautiful sight to
behold! He turns to Sakura and bows. "Care to have this dance, Sakura-chan?" he asks, extending his arm to her.
Stella closes her eyes and lets the music calm her
nerves. She is triply embarrassed: by her own insensitivity, her natural
awkwardness and lack of a date, in that order.
Minerva is relieved to finally see young Mr. Potter make
an appearance. Instinctively she rises
and goes over to speak to him. "Excuse us, Weasley,"
she says. "Potter, if you can, here's your opportunity to speak to
Dumbledore."
Eriol smiles and bows to Tomoyo, "Shall we?" he offers in a gentlemanly
manner bowing deeply inviting his young camera mistress to a dance.
Sakura nodnods
excitedly to Yukito-san, "H-hai!" she answers, forcing
the answer out from her lips and taking Yukito's hand
gently. Bright red
faced, she wavies to Eriol-kun
with her free hand. "Hi hi, you look very nice, Eriol-kun!"
Al says, "Yule ball... Yule ball... hmm... what's a yule?" Al wonders to himself as he enters the room
shivering. Yes, the cold weather has taken its toll on the boy. He pauses
briefly to renew the heat charm he casts beneath his cloak. "..." He
looks around.
Cho continues to cast eyes
around, getting up on her toes every so often in order to attempt looking over
some taller people. Of course, nearly everyone who isn't a 1st year is taller
than Cho, so this happens quite a few times. Whatever
it is she's looking for, she still doesn't seem to find it. Still, despite the
obvious strain she must be under, she looks rather nice in her blue dress
robes, and hair done up with gem encrested combs
stuck in to hold it in place.
Ron enters slowly in front of Harry, looking awkward but
slightly.. proud? in his dress robes. They look improved from last year, to
say the least. He scans the hall and mutters to Harry, "They aren't here.." Where -are- those girls. I
mean, yes, they had to deal with the twins taking forever to get ready last
year, but this is ridiculous. He wants to suggest they just go back up to the
common room to wait.. but
Professor McGonagall steps in. Giving half a nod, since he knows it doesn't
really matter if he 'approves' or not, he sighs and starts to head for the
nearest corner to stuff himself in. This is not going
at all as planned.
Tomoyo smiles and nods. "Hai, Eriol-kun!" She
looks over towards the doors before taking Eriol's
hand and grins towards Sakura and Tsukishirou. 'Oh
how cute they both look, I must get some footage later!' She adjusts her robes
and takes his hand. "Ready?"
Yukito takes Sakura to the
dance area and glides her gracefully across the floor. He smiles and notices
Sakura's hair. "Ah, I notice you're wearing the barrettes I gave you! They
look very nice in your hair, Sakura-chan," he
says, smiling his best Yukito smile.
Harry has no clue where the girls are at. Do you reckon
we've done something to put them off and they might be snubbing us? Hopefully
they're just tied up in fixing their hair. As McGonagall approaches and speaks
to him, he blinks, "Err.." He was going to
wait until afterwards. This is hardly the time or place. I mean, it's a smart
party n'all. But he really can't mouth off at
McGonagall.
Eriol nods and smiles, "Hai.." he nods and takes her
hand in turn and gently tries to guide her out to the floor..
Stella looks toward Cho.
Summarily ignoring her own discomfort toward the moment she walks over to Cho. "Who're you looking for?" she asks quietly.
Minerva meant to say that he should approach Dumbledore
later or afterwards, whenever he could get a chance. "I'm sorry," she
says, realizing this must be the third time she's apologized to young Mr.
Potter today. She's still rather preoccupied. "Have you heard from
Granger?" she added in a half-whisper.
Lee, despite setting that he'd wait for the twins, was
implied by the boredom of waiting for the two fiery redheads. Letting go of the
cold wall, he walked past a few random Slytherins
laughing in their usual cocky tone and towards Cho,
trying his best to offer a smile to the sad girl looking girl, dressed in the
blue that might as well have conveyed her feelings rather than her house.
"Hello, Cho! You look grand this evening,"
Lee spoke in his cheery tone, seeing if he could manage a true smile from the
set forced one of the Ravenclaw seeker.
Sakura blushes profusely!
"Hai! Thank you, Yukito-san!" She follows him across the dance floor,
concentrating very hard on not tripping over her own feet. "You look really handsome tonight." she says to him, looking
away as she does so.
Dumbledore has himself a seat behind the lone table that
remains in the Great Hall. He is a bit
too old to be dancing along with everyone else, but that doesn't mean he can't
enjoy the music and take part in the celebration by watching the students enjoy
their evening. Besides, he can't stay
all evening, so he means to take in as much as possible while he is.
Cho blinks, eyes moving to
Stella as she settles down on her heels. "No one.
Just.. seeing who all is
here." Yes, that's it. Too bad she's a horrible liar. There's no telling
who she's looking for, but whoever it is she hasn't seen them yet. And she's
saved from elaborating by everyone's favorite announcer. "Hello, Lee.
Thank you." Her smile becomes less tight, but she's still distant-eyed.
"You look nice."
Yukito smiles and nods. "Arigatou, Sakura-chan! You
look wonderful. Did Tomoyo-chan make that robe for
you? It looks very..Tomoyo-esque,"
he says with a laugh, as he dances a bit more with the young girl.
Ron grabs a goblet of punch on the way to the furthest
corner table he can find and then promptly seats himself there, nursing the
fruity liquid somberly. Not much else to say. Though he does
seem to be rolling something between his fingers, like a small ball of some
kind. And he just waits.
Tomoyo smiles. "I'm so nervous...I haven't really danced
before Eriol-kun." She laughs a bit, and shakes
her head. "I'm sure I'll be all right though. You look...very nice tonight
Eriol-kun." She smiles and brushes a strand of
hair from her face.
Harry shakes his head at the Professor, "No m'am. I haven't." Would it be rude to start edging
away from one's own head of house? He does dart glances around the room every
now and then, trying to see if Hermione and Ginny have arrived. He does spot Cho, and his eyes widen a bit in surprise. o O ( I didn't think that she'd be
here.. ) He glances towards Ron, err, professor, can he go schmooze now? Pretty please?
Sakura nodnods
to Yukito-san, looking up at his face when she does. It's hard to dance with Yukito-san! He's so much bigger than she is! So she's concentrating a lot, (probably too
much) on her steps. She catches a
glimpse of Cho and company nearby in the hall, and wavies fast in midstep.
Eriol smiles and bows softly,
"That’s alright, Tomoyo-chan..
I don't know much about dancing either... But I'll endure if you step on my
feet.." he smiles with a DEEP blush and tries to tap into the dance that
the band is playing, When Tomoyo is ready to begin.
Minerva sighs. "Very well, Potter, but this won't be
the last time I come speak to you." She is slightly worried that Professor
Major and a majority of the other professors are missing and heads back over to
the high table to sit down.
Al takes a glass and eyes the fruit punch. Rubbing his
hands together in what could look like an attempt to warm them up he
concentrates. "..aquam vium..." he mutters. A small stream of punch flies
from the bowl and into his cup. He blinks in surprise. "Hey... it
works." A smile crosses his face.
Tomoyo breathes a sigh of
relief. "I had the nightmare you were you probably a wonderful dancer, but
I don't feel so alone now!" She smiles and nods at Eriol.
"Let's begin, whether we'll be good or bad," she says with a giggle.
Lee simply grins in response to Cho's
compliment. "You wouldn't believe that these are about 40,000-odd years
old, hm? I suppose if you wear them only once a life
time, they don't age. This one actually got worn twice by this
Stella nods, though a slight twist in her mouth indicates
her skepticism. She looks suddenly solemn. "Please take it easy, Cho." she says, retreating. She looks as if she wants
to say something more, but refrains, instead heading for the table of
refreshments.
Yukito poses a curious look on
his face to see who Sakura is waving to. He turns his head and sees Potter-kun
and Weasley-kun. He waves to them and smiles. He
turns his attention back to Sakura and notices her nervousness. "Ah, gomen ne, Sakura-chan..I kind of forgot I'm quite
taller than you," he says, sweatdropping. "Ah..but..do
loosen up, Sakura-chan! I don't want you to be more
nervous than I am!"
Seeing the girl she met during the impromptu practice the
other day, Cho returns the wave in a friendly
fashion, but still, the mood isn't raised for this girl. She gets up on her
heels and looks around again. She sees Harry, who earns the same slight smile,
but she looks on before she settles down. Lee though... earns only raised
eyebrows (Sorry Lee). "I..." It seems for a moment as if she actually
has no idea what to say... This doesn't happen to her often. And then Stella
goes and leaves. It looks as if Cho might try to stop
her, but she refrains after a moment. "Lee.. thank you, but.." She looks away, takes a breath. When
she looks back she says, "All right." Once dance can't hurt anything,
can it?
Al says, "Uh-oh..." Al puts down another cup.
He's filled three already, and his spell isn't stopping! Once more he puts another
punch cup beneath the stream of punch. "...why won't it stop?" he
watches the cup fill and quickly swaps in another cup. Four
cups. Five cups. He looks mildly panicked as he
swaps in another cup. "Ergh..."
Ron has drained his cup of punch and is staring at
whatever small object is in his hand..
Harry errrs
at Professor McGonagall and nods. He just can't avoid trouble can he?
Heaving a sigh, he crosses over towards Ron's table, stealing glances towards Cho as he does. Aah! She smiled! o O ( Should I go ask her to
dance..? Naah.. she'd just say no. 'Sides, I feel like a prat
enough as it is..) And to add to that, Lee's talking
to Cho. Must resist urge to kick things.
He plops himself down at Ron's table and mutters, "Sorry 'bout that."
Eriol smiles and nods, kicking
his left foot to get in sync with the music as he tries to get in rhythm with
the music... He's better than he let on but he isn't Fred Astare...
But he's easy to lead and very forgiving in his hold... But most off.. He just smiles and looks down at you. Trying to lock his
eyes... Filled with emotion on Tomoyo's...
Sakura smiles cheerfully up at Yukito-san. "Hai, I'm
sorry. I've just.. I'm.. I'll try, ne?" she finally manages to say, blushing something fierce. "And it's ok. About the tall thing." she says, falling in
a bit closer to her dance partner.
Stella glances amusedly at a young man who seems to be
having trouble with the punch bowl, and eager to test one of her homemade
charms digs her wand out of its pocket and mutters a few words sharply under
her breath, anxious to see if it works.
Yukito smiles warmly at Sakura.
"You're a very good dancer, Sakura-chan!"
he says to his surprisingly wonderful dance partner. "Sakura-chan, if you want some punch or something, just let me
know, all right?" They both turn to look at the punch bowl and notice it's
little..fiasco. "On
second-thought, Sakura-chan, perhaps punch can wait a
moment?"
Tomoyo smiles. "Sugoi!
Dancing like this is a lot easier than I thought!" She laughs merrily and
continues onward. "Wow Eriol-kun..you're
an excellent dancer.." Tomoyo blushes and hopes
she doesn't step on anyone's toes. She looks around and notices that a lot of
the others are standing around... "Anou.. Eriol.."
she looks at him and blushes again. "Hardly anyone is dancing, but that's all
right." At least Sakura and Yukito are!
Ron glances up as Harry joins him and shrugs, "It's
okay.." Rolling the small..
bead?..between
his finger and thumb he asks, "What do you need to see Dumbledore about?"
He's curious, yes.. even if
the interest in his voice has been lowered to a monotone.
Eriol is trying his BEST to not
feel awkward and HOPEFULLY set an example for the others here... Wondering
himself what is wrong... He nods slowly to Tomoyo,
"Yes.. But Sakura-san and Yukito-san
seem to be enjoying themselves..." he smiles softly, and tries his best to
work around your feet... Leading is easier in this situation and he starts to
up the pace, seeing as you seem to be taking to this like a duck to water,
trying to add some flare and bounce to the maneuvers.
Harry tries to get a glance of the bead, "What's
that? Oh.. Professor McGonagall wants me to see him
about my headaches." He props his head in his hand, and looks around the
room, still no sign of the two Gryffindor girls. He leans over to whisper to
the red headed boy..
It wasn't attraction that made Lee ask, though Cho was pretty in her own way. It was simply something
inside of him hated to see that awful smile.. so forced and so sad under the subtext. Sadness was the last
thing the world truly needed added to its already heavy burden. "Right,
then," his tone was still cheery and hummy as he
led her towards the dance floor. He knew that ever getting Cho
to leave that sadness was impossible.. He knew the
feeling deep down.. but that
was a long time ago, he said, berating himself and took Cho's
hand as they did a rather simple four step dance.
Sakura waiis! *n.n* Praise from Yukito-san always makes her feel warm inside. She blinkblinks
at the punch bowl happenings.
"Eep, what's happening over
there?" o.o
She slows and stops her step to see if she can get a better look,
but she's much too short to get a good view!
Tomoyo nods and looks towards
the two. "They look so cute together!" She dances with Eriol, following his steps, and eventually gets the hang of
it. "Ahh, this is lovely, Eriol-kun."
She people,
more room to dance, I suppose!
Cho wants nothing more than to
not have to force the smile. But unfortunately this is not a place where that
is likely going to happen. Get her down to the Quidditch
Pitch and maybe! She takes slow breaths as she moves out onto the dance floor
with the slightly older announcer. She settles into the dance carefully, the
same smile still there. She glances towards the doors every so often; still not
seeing whoever it is she is looking for. Her eyes return to Lee. She tries to
think of something to say, finally she asks, "So what do you think of the
recent changes to the house teams?"
Tomoyo nods and looks towards
the two. "They look so cute together!" She dances with Eriol, following his steps, and eventually gets the hang of
it. "Ahh, this is lovely, Eriol-kun."
She smiles and continues onward, following the light dance. Less people, more
room to dance I suppose!
Yukito notices Sakura's stop in
dancing, and her trying to look. "Here, Sakura-chan,"
he says, lifting her up a bit. "I believe they're trying to fix.. a small problem with the punch
filling the cups," he says, laughing.
Eriol blinks as he suddenly
notices Sakura and Yukito stopping and pauses
himself, looking over at the pair as he quickly looks down at his date.. TRYING to fight back that blush, "Something must be
amiss..."
"Interesting, actually," Lee says with a still
sweet smile. "But a lot more work for me.. New people on the teams means new moves and new moves means
a whole lot more memorization for me. I'm a walking Quidditch
Moves book." It wasn't hard to dance with the one year younger girl, since
she seemed just graceful on the dance floor as on the Pitch..
Which was good news for Lee. He remembered
thoughtfully about a girl whom he had danced with last Yule that left him with
very sore feet from her sharp, wooden heels. He half glanced at the interesting
flurry or red and blue their robes made then struck up a different topic, perhaps
a bit more touchy but it could feel better for her to open up, that is, if she
was willing...Which again he was suspected was no. But that was alright. "I didn't think you would've come, Cho."
Al notices the punch thicken as he puts down his seventh
cup. Pretty soon the eighth cup's punch has the consistency of glue. "Well
at least it's slowed..." he blinks, sensing the presence of a charm other
then his. "Who... did that?" he looks
around.
Tomoyo notices Eriol look over to Sakura and Yukito,
and then to the punch bowl. "Anou, Eriol-kun...what's going on over there? And why does that
young man look so confused, yet startled?" Tomoyo
hardly realizes that their dancing has almost halted to watch the scene unfold.
Stella rests her wand in her hand and bites her lip,
trying to decide whether or not to take credit for her partially successful
evaporation charm. It occurs to her in hindsight that the same charm that dried
her hair so nicely wouldn't work quite the same on fruit punch.
Sakura eeps softly as she is
lifted up above the crowd to see. "Oh, something is wrong with the
punch..." Guess she won't be having
any tonight!" she
glances quickly at Eriol-kun, her gaze narrowing a
little, as if she just remembered something.
o.o"
Yukito nods and sets Sakura
back. "Ah, well, that was entertaining! ...Are you tired of dancing yet,
Sakura? Would you like to sit down?" he asks in his oh-so-charming manner.
Al fills a ninth cup with punch that's more like gulp
then something liquid. He glances over at the table and realizes he's running
out of cups! "Someone... ah... help?" He yelps.
Cho nods to Lee's words,
"And you seem quite good at it." He certainly whips out those
comments quickly. Even if he sometimes gets a little carried
away. She glances towards the doors again, but is able to keep her feet
from stepping all over Lee's toes. At the question, she looks back at him. Her
answer comes reluctantly, "I wasn't planning to, honestly." She only
decided to come a few days ago. "But.." She
shrugs her shoulders and puts on a slightly better smile. "Did you have
someone to come with?" She finds it hard to believe he would come without
someone. She has reasons of her own for being alone.
Eriol suddenly feels for some
strange reason the sword of damoclese is hanging over
his head as Sakura stares at him... But he happily shrugs and looks to Tomoyo, "Shall we continue..
I'm sure the problem will be resolved shortly.."
he blushes BRIGHTLY.
Minerva is sitting at the staff table, watching the young
students dancing and seemingly enjoying each other. She takes a sip of her own
glass of pumpkin juice and survey's the room, and then shocked at what she sees
by the punch bowl rushes over.
Fuu slips into the great hall,
sticking close to the wall as she moves around the edge of the room ... hoping
she doesn't earn demerits for being late, but nobody reminded her about the
Yule ball until after it had started ... and then she had to get something which
would pass for formal robes.
Sakura pulls her stare off Eriol-kun,
and takes a moment to catch her breath, finally looking back to Yukito-san. "..
h-hai! Hai, my feet are
tired!" she
nodnods.
"Can we rest a little bit?"
She is tired. Yukito-san
is very tall. @_@ Hoeee.
Ron stares at Harry a moment, the bead left unattended to
in his hand so that Harry could easily see that it's a seed. Smooth, dark, and
round. Why he has it, is a whole nother question. And
no questions concerning the object in his hand are answered by the red head as
he narrows his eyes, about to ask something - but Harry beats him to it.
Listening intently to the other boy whisper he frowns, and leans across to talk
quietly.
Tomoyo turns her head back to Eriol and nods. "Aa, hai hai Eriol-kun.." she can't help but wonder what exactly *was* going
on over there. She begins dancing with Eriol again,
and notices Yukito and Sakura leaving the floor. Wow,
Yukito is a lot taller than Sakura! "The music
is so nice, isn't it Eriol-kun?"
Harry glances over at Lee and Cho,
and promptly looks away lest he accidentally kick Ron or something. He shakes
his head, raking a hand through his hair. It doesn't matter that his hair is
more tousled now as he made no attempt to flatten it before coming downstairs.
He whispers back to Ron..
Stella looks very serious then raises her wand again, and
aims it directly at the flowing punch. "Finite Incantatum!"
she says firmly. A spell with which she has heard, if not
performed before. She looks expectantly at the punch bowl.
Minerva mutters 'finite incantum'
under her breath, stopping the flowing of the liquid. She then whirls around
to. "Five points from whoever started this." she fumed. It wasn't
that she had wanted to take points away, but after going a few weeks without
doing so really didn't fit with her.
Yukito nods and leads Sakura to
nearby chairs. "I'm sorry your feet are hurting, Sakura-chan! I feel so bad!" he exclaims. He's just trying to
be a good date for little Sakura. And now her feet hurt! Ack.
Lee, also quietly keeping step-to the dance, simple as it
was, looked at Cho intently for a moment, but decided
it might be better to pursue such a tender subject. In the silence for that brief
moment, he reasserts his smile, though it seems itself more
feeble now then it's former bold self as the two dance across the floor.
At the mention of date, the smile might have faltered more, but he tried to
maintain it, knowing it was weak as is. "No, actually."
After the previous night’s events, he found himself being put off by the object
of a 'date.' Poor Natalie.. No, not
poor Natalie. She didn't want his sympathy. He had more reasons to be
upset then her. Lee frowned the second time this night. He let his eyes flash
across the teacher's table.. still,
no sign.
Eriol nods and smiles as he
feels Tomoyo's attention wander again to her
obsession, Sakura... With a sigh from his lips he smiles, "Would you like
to take a break or carry on?" he asks his date..
Whom try as he might.. It seems winning the full heart
of.. Is next to impossible...
Al's charm terminates at the very last cup. There's still
punch left, but not much. Most of it is in the cups which Al filled... except
maybe for the three last which looks more like fruit syrup then juice. He looks
at Stella... then at Minerva and then hangs his head. "I did this...
sorry..." he sighs.
Ron catches Harry's previous look and glancing about
finds the source of it. He frowns vaguely at the dark headed boy for more than
one reason, now. Well this is a fine celebration. -.-
"I don't blame you.." he murmurs, looking disgruntly
at his empty cup. "Tell me, ya know.. if it gets worse." Not that
he can -do- anything, but.. least
he can listen. He spins the small seed on the table and sighs, "You want
some pumpkin juice?" Ron needs a refill.. though, actually, "Wish they had some good butter beer
at this thing.." And wish they had some good DATES at this thing. He's gonna kill his sister and then Hermione. Blood
before beauty. Not.. that..
Hermione's a beauty.. or.. anything. Ugh. Butter beer, where are you..
Tomoyo shakes her head.
"No, it's all right! I enjoy dancing with you a lot, Eriol-kun.
The music is so relaxing." She smiles and continues dancing, making sure
that Sakura gets all the time she can with Yukito. 'I
wonder if I'm a horrible dancer...'
Cho is glad to see she's not
the only one looking for someone tonight. She catches Lee's eyes casting
towards the teachers table and follows them for a moment. Hmm.
She sees someone missing as well, but this is a happy missing. She doesn't know
if she could handle the sight of a certain Assistant Professor causing a
haunting mental replay right now. She's having enough trouble keeping her smile
one as it is. Even if she's only looking for something to say at this moment,
she asks, "Who are you looking for?" And the bit about being dateless
surprises her, but she'll stay off the subject. She certainly doesn't have one
either. Of course, she said no to anyone who asked her.
Sakura sits, stretching and kicking her legs a
little. "Wai
wai,
thanks Yukito-san." she leans and tilts
her head to try and get a view of the punch bowl. She's curious what's going on!
Stella notices the punch stop, then looks over her
shoulder to Professor McGonagall. She quickly tucks her wand away and wonders
whether she should expect a point deduction as well. Well...she was only trying
to help.
Harry nods to Ron, "Sure thing..
you'll probably be the first to know if it does get
worse." He fusses with the clasp on his robes and nods, "Sure, I
could use a drink." Yeah, why don't we have butterbeer
here? Amen about the date business too.
Minerva looks towards the voice. "Next time, don't
start spells that you aren't familiar with.
Don't you know how to end them?" Throwing her hands up into the air
more annoyed with herself if anything she storms back
to the staff table. Where are all the Gryffindor students? she
thinks, still slightly upset and she sits back in her place
next to Dumbledore, taking a sip of her drink.
Yukito smiles. "You're very welcome, Sakura-chan." Well, maybe he's not doing so bad after all! He spies over at the punch bowl. "Ah,
Sakura-chan, it seems the problem has been
fixed," he says, giving a thumbs up to Sakura. He
then looks at the floor nervously, hoping Sakura is having fun.
Lee, broken from the concentration of scanning the
teachers table, falters at the quick question he hadn't expect. "Hmm? Oh.. Just.. nevermind,
it's nothing," he says dismissively. Need he delve right now into his
relationship with a certain teacher whould cause Cho to probably gasp and look oddly at him.
Not to mention the length of the story, it being hideously long, and well.. fine, she most likely knew
anyhow. "Professor Snape,
actually." His voice doesn't break, he's a bit used to this by now,
"I'm sure that you're heard the story by now."
Al isn't, unfortunately. "...at this rate, I'll
never master the magic..." he sighs defeatedly,
tucking his hands into his pockets and looking down at his feet.
Stella looks toward Al. "All-in-all I say you got
out of that pretty well. Five points?" Stella thinks of all the messes
she's gotten into in the past years. "Could've done much
worse."
Cho raises her eyebrows at the
mention of the Potions Professor. Not quite a coincidence, but almost one. Snape and Lee?
She wracks her mind, and is able to call up some vague rumors. Not enough to
know really, but she nods. She won't pry into the story,
since he seems as reluctant to talk about it as she would be to talk about the
person she happens to be scanning the crowd for. She glances towards the rows
of tables and asks after a moment, "Would you mind if I go sit down? Thank
you for the dance, but.." She'd rather like to
sit down.
Al turns to look at the girl talking to him.
"R-really?" he says. He manages a small smile. "All I wanted to
do was to practice fluid aproportion..." he
pauses. "Wait a minute... you were trying to help
me back there, weren't you?"
Ron is so very tempted to hit the twin's stash upstairs.
Make -something- good of this night. But he just nods to Harry and stands, seed
in hand, to go get some drinks. Though he does pocket the
seed for safe keeping. Approaching the refreshment table he looks
between the students there and leans past the ton of filled fruit drink cups to
reach the pumpkin juice. He pours two cups slowly, eyeing Al's lament. Ahh,
hasn't Ron felt that way many a time. Scooting past the two he nods in a
friendly manner and returns to Harry, setting his cup down in front of him,
"I hate these things more than ever, now. I swear,
if those two don't show up soon, I'm going to bed." Sounds like a pretty
loose threat, though. You bet he'd stay all night in the hopes she might come.
Stella shrugs and smiles. "If you can call it that."
she says, "Didn't work really, did it? Maybe I
should have tried a drought charm...of course it would help if I knew the
Finite Incantatum better. That would have saved a
-lot- of trouble." She nods back to Ron with a quick smile then squints
suddenly. "I don't think I know your name...?"
Lee was himself about to ask the same question. He now
felt slightly awkward. "Oh, sure. It was a
pleasure, Cho," Lee says, trying to regain his
note of cheeriness though it seems to have dried out, if possible. Dropping her
hands softly, he gives her a quick waves before folding his arms across his
chest and walking towards the two rather upset looking boys gorging down cups
of punch.. or rather, that
was only Ron. n.n; "Hey, Ron..
Hasn't Hermione come yet," he asks slightly amused but with a dash of sympathy.
Harry was about to get up and tag along after Ron, but
doesn't get a chance to follow. He picks up the cup of juice, taking a drink,
"That sounds like a good idea." As if he'd go upstairs on the off
chance Ginny shows up, he's not here, she gets upset, then
her brothers get upset and knock him upside the head. He was about to ask Ron
about that beadlike seed when Lee heads up, "Hey Lee."
"Thank you," Cho says
with the most genuine smile she's had down in this hall today (though still not
as genuine as it could be away from this event), speaking of both the dance and
the fact that it's ending. Once he's moving away, she walks over to a empty area of a table and sits down, laying her hands on
the table in front of them and looking at them. She takes deep breaths as if
she's trying to compose herself again.
Al says, "It's Alty... of
House Gryffindor. I... well... thanks for helping me. I'm really bad at those
water incantations." He pauses, "And you are?"
Yukito watches all the lovely
people dance about and in all just look cute. He looks at his watch. And then
promptly yawns. Poor Yuki. No matter how much he
sleeps, he's always tired..
Minerva simply shakes her head as she watches the
students. She is feeling entirely bored,
wanting even more for this evening to be over and done with. But no, someone
has to keep an eye on the students. Not
only that, but her mind's gone numb. She just took points away from her own
house? Well, it was expected at any rate. No Nelville, no Hermoine, and even the Weasley
twins were missing. She'd even want to deal with THEM about now.
Stella smiles, blushing slightly.
"Don't mention it, really. No one's perfect. I'm Stella Fawcett, of Ravenclaw. How do you do?"
Eriol sees THAT and his eyes
narrow... Yukito Sooner or later... It will come to
that something MUST be done.. But
for now...Sensing Tomoyo's tiredness helps her to sit
down for now.
Lee laughs in his tender tone and pats Ron on the back sympathetically.
"I'm sure she's just late or what not," Lee pauses to look around and
then at Harry. "Ginny isn't here either?" He then ends this comment
with a frustrated sigh before pushing more a wire dreads from his eyes.
"If I don' find that clasp soon.." he says
in a warning tone to particularly non one, he half grins as he sits in a chair
next to Ron. "We have tough breaks, mates. At least your only choice
wasn't a second year or a girl who seems to have disappeared from the face of
the earth."
Harry shakes his head at Lee. That's a definite no sir.
He just sits there, not saying much and drinking his punch, stealing an
occasional glance in Cho's direction.
Tomoyo smiles at Eriol. "Aa,
arigatou Eriol-kun."
She can't help but notice he seems a bit ...distant. "Are you ok Eriol-kun?" She certainly hopes he is. "I hope
you are having as much fun as I am." She smiles again.
Al smiles. "Feeling much
better now, Stella." he picks up a cup of fruit syrup that was punch. "Drink? Err... I mean..." he fumbles for a more watery
cup.
Minerva tiredly glances towards the doorway from her
position at the staff table. Why - it's Hermoine Granger..?
So she decided to come after all. She glanced at Harry.
Eriol nods and smiles down at Tomoyo gently and nods, "Hai!
I'm having alot of fun... Just..." he sighs,
"There seems to be something wrong with Yukito-kun..."
he knows JUST whats wrong..
Ron stares as Stella and Al continue the conversation as
if he hadn't just said his name - thus, making it more of a..
Ron talked to no one kind of situation. Oh, his favorite kind, really. He
cringes and turns back around, laying his forehead on the table. This just
isn't his night. He takes his seed out for condolence, holding the tiny thing
as he mumbles, "Yeah, well.. we're
all losers, then." A table of losers. He frowns
at his seed.. such big plans
for you, little one. But you may never see them ._.
Harry glances over at Ron, "Oi.. sit up there.. Least you can
look like a loser sitting up straight and proud about it like the rest of
us." Okay, now he's getting REALLY curious, "Ron, what is that thing
anyway?"
Cho sits at a table, pretty
much by herself at the moment. After a bit, she looks up from her hands and
somehow has composed herself again. The tightness is still there in her eyes,
but her smile is less thin, though still forced. She scans the area she can see
again.
Stella flinches as Al goes for a cup of super-concentrated
punch. "I think we should stick with the pumpkin juice for the rest of the
night," she says, absently tapping her foot in time with the music.
"That way there's no more opportunity for mishap, right?"
Sakura glomps onto Yukito-san's arm, "Hai, it
does! I'm glad you came with me, Yukito-san!" she blinks. "Ne, Yukito-san,
daijobu?"
she asks, concerned when he seems to doze
off. "Yu-ki-to-san!"
o.o
Tomoyo looks at Eriol's face and glances over casually at Yukito. "Will he be ok, Eriol-kun?"
She hopes that Yukito will be all right, she wouldn't
want him to miss anymore of the ball. "Mou, Eriol-kun, I'm getting a bit tired.."
she says, blushing though. "I don't exactly want to go just yet."
Fuu continues to lurk quietly
near the door, sipping a glass of pumpkin juice - she hasn't gone near the
punch yet - and looking for familiar faces which she can engage in conversation
... unfortunately, the two most-familiar faces to her aren't here, and nobody
else she knows has wandered into conversational range yet ...
Al says, "Yeah. You're right." he puts down the
cup and walks over to get Stella a glass of pumpkin juice. "So umm... how
long have you been here? I'm kinda new myself... this is my first..." what was that word?
"...winter... here at Hogwarts."
Yukito looks tiredly at Sakura.
"I'm fine, Sakura-chan, really!" he says,
trying to obtain a perfect smile. He feels like someone is staring at him. He
looks around, and notices a dark haired boy with glasses. He smiles at Eriol, although sleepily.
Eriol smiles, "I don't
want tonight to end either..." he blushes softly and gently reaches up to
run a hand through the young camera girl's hair gently, "Perhaps a rest
near the punch bowl will return your energy?" he's worried for both of Yukito AND Tomoyo...
"Oh, thanks, Ron. Now don't we all feel
special," Lee murmurs before standing up from the table, giving another of
his half waves. "I dunno guys,
I don't feel like being a loser for too long. I might leave soon." He
didn't feel so peachy, anyhow. The events in the dungeons rather zapped his
energy. Turning from the two sulking boys, Lee walks slowly towards the door;
looking like he'd rather not leave but also he'd love to. He finally contradicts
both a settles for sitting back at an empty table nicer placed towards the
door. Oh well, if there was a sudden attack of titanic sized, flesh eating
slugs with purple poka-dots, at least he'd be the
first to get out.
Tomoyo blushes. "Anou...the punch bowl seems a bit..
occupied. Let's go get some pumpkin juice, ne?" The excitement of tonight has seemed to wear down
Tomoyo a bit, but she wants to be able to stay a bit.
She gets up and begins to walk to the juice.
Stella looks slightly disappointed but smiles anyway.
"This is my fifth year. Hard to believe I'm still botching spells isn't
it? And we Ravenclaws are supposed to be so clever. Your first winter, huh? Well, here's hoping it only gets
better." She grins.
Ron sighs as Lee leaves the table. He waves, but he's
looking bad about it. Great, now he's run off one of the losers. Ron's an uber loser. He does sit up now, though, at Harry's suggestion.
"You're right, Harry. I should be proud that I've been stood up." He
glances down at his little seed and smiles, though a faint blush is appearing,
"Well.. I had planned to..." He meets his friend’s
eyes and shrugs, "It's what I wasn't going to tell you before. But I guess
it doesn't matter anymore.." He doesn't explain
fully, yet, though.
And speaking of things entering and leaving the hall,
here comes Hermione, looking like she's torn between being excited about the
ball and kicking herself for being late.
Well, it's not her fault her train came in late! She's dressed in some nice looking
silvery-blue dress robes, and her wavy hair is under control. The witch scans
the hall for any sign of Ron, biting her lip nervously... oh dear, oh dear, oh
dear.
Fuu blinks as someone enters
the great hall after her own fashionably late arrival ... and someone she
recognizes, as well. "Granger-sempai ... ?"
Al says, "Well after being used as a kickball by
some of the Slytherin boys, I guess it only
can." he chuckles uneasily. "What kind of magic do you like to
do?"
Harry snerks,
"Heck, both of us." He's surprised about this turn in events
really, it might have been expected with other people than Hermione and Ginny.. "eh? What? Go on and tell
me, I'm not going to laugh." He glances around the room again then nudges
Ron, "Or better yet, just tell me later. Look who
just came in." Go get her tiger.
Sakura nodnods
to Yukito-san, and then points towards Tomoyo-chan. "Ne ne,
maybe if I get you some pumpkin juice, you'll feel a bit more awake, ne?" she patpats him on the shoulder.
Minerva rises up from the staff table after noticing the
two girls enter. Well, here was Miss
Granger all looking better than when she
had last seen her, and the girl she was
speaking with the other day. It would certainly be better than sitting around
the table. Casting another glance towards Harry she walked over.
Eriol nods and walks over to
the pumpkin punch bowl with Tomoyo, smiling brightly
as he smiles and like the TRUE gentleman he is fills a cup for her FIRST then
him second... In the back of his mind her wonders.. Is
she really with the person she wants to come to this dance with... Try as he
might.. It seems Tomoyo's
heart is distracted... BUT.. He will not be
discouraged.
Stella gives Al a sympathetic glance. "Ah, Slytherin," she lowers her voice, "Bunch of
disrespectful gets in my opinion. As for what sort of magic I do...all sorts I
suppose. They give us quite a well-rounded education here." she laughs
knowingly. "I like charms the best though."
Cho seems to be perfectly fine
sitting alone at a table. But then the only reason she's here... well...
nothing to do with dates or anything, so it's not like she's being stood up.
She'd just like it if she could leave. Her reasons for staying are enough to
keep her content.
Yukito shakes his head.
"No thanks, Sakura-chan..I'll
be okay," he says yawning. All right, so he lied. He slowly gets up from
his chair and locates Eriol. He makes some hand
motions as to tell him he's going to go sleep. He then waves to Tomoyo and Eriol, and then turns
to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, I've had a lovely time!
I think, however, that I'm going to turn in for tonight. I'll see you later. Oyasumi, Sakura-chan," he
says, kissing her hand.
Ron's rubbing his forehead, eyeing the small object as he
tries to explain to Harry what he was planning for it, "Well, you see.. tonight.. I was going to-"
But his friend cuts him off. Looking up briefly he sees no reason for him to
not tell Harry now.. so he
glances back to the boy before doing a double take. There she is again. Looking
nothing like herself, yet everything she really is. Ron gulps, falling to the
side a bit with Harry's nudge. "Oh..." He stands slowly, since that
must be what he should do.. and
heads towards his date. Though, he can tell he's not the only one as he catches
McGonagall out of the corner of his eye and Fuu
approaching her. Okay, uh, now what.. He decides to
just continue forward, clasping the seed in his hand and shaking off the
jitters.
Tomoyo smiles. "Arigatou Eriol-kun!" She takes the cup and sips it slowly. She
blinks a bit, and rubs at her eyes. "Gomen nasai Eriol-kun, I'm awfully
tired. ...and Tsukishirou-kun is making weird hand
gestures at you." o_O "I think I'll retire
for the night...I had a lot of fun dancing though.." she kind of trails
off, wondering what to say next.
Eriol nods and smiles,
"Then allow me to escort you to your room then?" Eriol
offers his arm.
Al says, "Charms... I'm decent in those.. it's those stupid potions I'm
not good at. I really don't know how I passed the Potions midterms really...
maybe only by Professor Valeth's pity." he
chuckles. "I... umm..." he says. "C-could
I ask you something?" he blushes.
Harry just shakes his head as Ron takes off. He sits by
himself for a few moments before summoning up his courage and getting out of
his seat, heading for Cho's table. Approaching the
table, he stands there a bit nervously, ".. Hey.." He was about to say he was surprised she came, but
that might be the wrong thing to say, so, he goes with, "Can I uh, get
anything for you?"
Tomoyo smiles and nods. "Ariagtou!" She takes his arm and walks towards
the door.
Lee seems to share a lot of similarities with Cho tonight. He barely blinks as a ghost whooshes through
the wall beside him, though he feels his skin prickle for the sudden cold. Lee
had sort of gotten over the shock of people coming from the walls or the nasty
chill that came with them. Leaning back in the chair, he watched the door of
the Great hall with interest.
Eriol turns to everyone and
bows out, "Take care, my friends.. and enjoy the party.." He nods to them and smiles
softly, escorting Tomoyo to her room.
Stella nods sympathetically. "I had to study for
ages to get decent in potions. I still wish I were better at them. Really useful, if time-consuming." She seems to
mentally shift gears to address the second part of Al's question. "Please
do," she says, looking anxious despite herself.
Hermione spots on, her eyes lighting up
a bit as she prepares to rush over and apologize a thousand times, but... ack. She
stops to greet the two, smiling anxiously. "Oh, h-hello Fuu, Professor McGonagall! Uhm... how are you
doing?" The witch rocks slightly on
her heels, hoping she'll get the chance to leave in a few moments. Let's keep talking to a minimum, please? x.x Please please?
Oh, if he only knew the reason she came to the Ball
tonight... Cho glances over at the voice, "Oh,
Harry. Good evening." Her smile is there, but still, rather thin, "I
guess a drink would be nice, if it's not too much of a problem." Her
throat is rather dry and tight. She reaches up to tighten one of the combs in
her hair.
Al says, "If it's okay with you... I mean... but if
you're here with someone else... I understand..." he speaks quite fast;
perhaps his nervousness has caused his brain to delete the question he was
going to ask.
Minerva has a concerned expression. "Really, Miss
Granger, I was quite worried about you." She notices the girl's hurry.
"Are you all right?" Oh
goodie. More students to look after. At least the
others were leaving.. wait,
no, that wasn't how she felt at all. Hopefully they were in good spirits.
Stella shakes her head quickly. "I'm not." her
voice is calm enough, but her blue eyes look ready to bug out of her head. She
starts to say something unflattering about a certain Hufflepuff,
but stops herself.
Fuu bows politely to
McGonagall-sensei as well, hoping - again - she won't be penalized for lateness
to the ball. "I'm doing well ... although," she glances around,
"I'm somewhat feeling my status as an outsider ... I've hardly had the
chance to meet so many of the people here. And nobody I would have asked on a
date ..." Well, there's one person she would have gladly come to the ball
with, but the last time she saw him was literally in another world.
Ron stops halfway to Hermione and the stupid boy program
loads into his little mind. What is -he- doing rushing towards her? She's the
one that's late. She's the one that left him worrying and doubting and at the
self-proclaimed loser table. He has half a mind to just turn around and stalk
back to his table and make -her- do the running. But, glancing back to the lost
table, he finds it empty. Besides, his seed does need a chance.. (all of the sick minds in the
house, please shut up :p) Frowning he just waits where he is, leaning against
the wall.
Harry nods to Cho and tries to
not look too eager about being able to do something so little for the elder
girl. He crosses back over to the refreshment table, getting a glass of pumpkin
juice for Cho and another one for him. He then
returns to Cho's table, handing one of the glasses to
her, "...Here you go... Uhm, enjoying yourself?"
Hermione nods to Fuu and the
professor, and for a moment, chances a glance over at Ron, who's looking a bit sour there, leaning against the wall. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. She turns her attention back to the two
ladies, and forces a smile, "I'm sorry, Professor, I was spending some
time with my parents in
Fuu nods quietly, "I
imagine your date is probably wondering what held you ... enjoy the ball,
Granger-sempai." n.n
Cho does not seem to notice if
Harry is overeager or not. Once he returns, she accepts the drink and sips on
it a total of three times before she responds, "It certainly is nice.
Lovely decorations, everyone looks good in their dress robes." Is that the
best she can come up with? Well, it's good enough, isn't it.
She glances towards the doors and then around the room, muttering something unintelligible
under her breath before she takes another sip. After a moment she asks,
"Are you enjoying yourself?"
Minerva turns her head quickly, to notice the very sullen
looking Mr. Weasley. Weasley? Surprised, she
turns back around, slightly flabbergasted. "Well, well, all right."
She says, sounding disappointed.
Al says, "Oh! In that case umm... w-would you like
to dance?"
Ron refuses to meet Hermione's eyes as he waits, instead
memorizing the pattern of stars up above.. though, since it is the night sky he realizes it's not a pattern
and ventures instead to check up on his best friend. Talking with Cho? That's a good start, Harry... he smiles faintly. He
hopes this will help the scarred boy accept that he's not to blame for...
events. Chasing the thought away he manages to look at Hermione and find her -
blushing? At that he blinks.. and
finds she looks even prettier that way.. Argh, shake
it off, Weasley. Shake it off.
Stella says, "I certainly would."
Harry nods... "Yeah..." Well the decorations
are always nice here at Hogwarts, and he hasn't really paid too much attention
to everyone's dress robes. "May I have a seat?" He may be a clueless
boy most of the time, but he's polite. "I suppose I am..." That'll
have to suffice for an answer on that he guesses.
Stella swings her arms, waiting for Al to take the lead,
her face belying her extreme happiness at this turn of events.
Cho motions towards the seat
beside her with a thin smile "Go right ahead. I should have offered,
sorry." She's not really in her right mind tonight, understandably. She's
trying though. And perhaps company isn't too undesirable after all. It might
help take her mind off things. "You're planning to stay during the
vacation, aren't you?" she starts with some small talk.
Hermione breathes a sigh of relief. Not that she doesn't want
to spend time with her favorite Professor and the new student which
she's taken a liking too, it's just... well, right on the nose there, Fuu. n.n;;
"Thank you... have a good night!
I'll talk to you soon!" She
then turns on her heel and begins to walk over to Ron, her stomach doing
flips. Please don't be mad. ._. Feeling rather nervous, Hermione stops a few
good feet away from Ron, and speaks, jumping right into an explanation. "R-Ron? I'm...
I'm really, really sorry... my train came in late, and I only got here a few
hours ago... and that was at Hogsmeade... I'm so
sorry, Ron, I didn't mean to be late..."
She drops her head to the ground, almost in tears. ._.
Minerva turns towards Fuu.
"I was speaking to you the other day," she begins, allowing Hermione
to escape from the conversation. "Are you still curious?"
Fuu nods to McGonagall-sensei.
"Yes, I am ... I'm sorry that we were interrupted, Sensei. But ..."
She hesitates briefly, looking around as much of the hall as she can see for
*any* sign of her two closest friends on Earth. "... I think it's
important that I learn what I can in this area," she continues quietly,
choosing her words carefully; she doesn't want to spook any of the other
students.
Minerva nods. "This isn't the time or place. But you
do seem a little distanced." She nearly bit back on that last part.
Concern was concern, after all, but she was supposed to represent
strictness. Out of all of the Yule Balls
she had been too, this one was different; she frowned, glancing around the near
empty all, feeling immensely weary.
Ron listens intently as Hermione speaks, his eyes
brightening as she does. Hell, they brightened when she walked in the room. A
faint smirk begins to grow at her heightening fumbling and apologetic nature.
He's never seen her like this, and he doesn't like it - because she's becoming
upset. He gently places his hand over hers and says, "No worries, Hermione.." He turns her hand palm-side up and sets the seed
he's been carrying all night (and the past two weeks) in the center of it. Then
he says quietly, but with the upmost attention to the
inflection of his words because he knows he only has one chance to surprise and
impress her, "Paliurus cresco."
To his great relief the tiny seed trembles and then rocks before cracking open
and releasing a few green stems. They grow eagerly in Hermione's hand, curling
upwards until a stem sprouts leaves and finally a bud. The bud quivers a moment
and then it begins to bloom, resulting in a lovely violet iris. Ron is blushing
furiously - part from the chance is taking and partly from excitement that it
actually worked. He grins goofily and says, "Whadya
know... I did it." So THAT's what the dolt's
been stressing about.
Al says, "R-really? Okay!" he smiles and offers
his hand, bowing slightly in a very refined and courtly manner.
Harry eases into the offered seat, "No need to
apologize." Don't feel alone in not being in the right mind. He nods in
response to Cho's question, "I always stay during
the holidays. I wouldn't dream of disrupting my aunt and uncle's Christmas
holiday with my presence." And
since he's so busy trying to not sound like a dork while making a tiptoe
conversation with Cho, he misses Ron's little
display.
Fuu raises her eyebrows
slightly as she spots Ron's little bit of magic ... sugoi
desu wa
... ^_^
Stella takes Al's hand and blushes furiously to the tips
of her ears.
The fact the dor wasn't moving
made it even MORE boring and Lee was tempted to fall asleep right in his chair.
But that was boring too! Darn it, there simply wasn't a way out of this. Lee sighed;
taking a bag of chocolate frogs (as he seems to always have an endless supply
SOMEWHERE in a pocket) from his robes and basically lets them wriggle right out
of their packages. Okay, that's a teeny bit more interesting. A large herd of
chocolate frogs now seem to be jumping down from the table and hopping under
tables and.. if convenient,
robes. Whoa. o.o;
Minerva turns around to see what has been distracting
Miss Fuu and blinks at Ron's little display.
Shrugging slightly, she turned back around. "Things like that, for
instance, are out of the ordinary, and I'd normally say something, but I'm just
too weary." She turns back towards the High Table, which is practically
empty and frowns. Spotting Harry across the room, she excuses herself from Fuu and walks over to whisper to Harry not to forget to
speak with the headmaster. She's so tired that she nearly tripped over her
robes.
Fuu follows the Transfiguration
professor's path with her gaze for a moment, and - finally - she sees someone
she recognizes ... and never mind, he's talking to a girl. And she doesn't want
to interrupt. . o O ( At
least if Hikaru-san and Umi-san
were here I'd be able to talk to *them* ... )
Cho tilts her head at the
mention of his family. She doesn't ask though just saying, "I'm staying
this year myself. Maybe we'll be able to get a couple more practices in."
She has a thought, but the arrival of Professor McGonagall delays it, and she
is given a polite smile.
Al leads Stella to the dance floor. Taking her by the
hand he begins to dance a waltz in a very elegant manner, like something out of
the renaissance. Of course, the dance steps are completely unfamiliar. He
doesn't notice the frogs. Yet.
Hermione raises an eyebrow curiously at Ron's actions,
her cheeks growing more pink as he puts the seed into
her hand. "Ron, what--" But Hermione's questions are answered as she
watches that bit of magic, the pretty flower now resting her hands. And, needless to say, Hermione looks very
pleased. *n.n* Uhm...
pleased that Ron managed to work a spell like that. Yes, that's it. "Oh... really Ron, you
didn't have to, I mean... that was a good bit of magic, you know, I've heard of
that spell but I've never actually tried it before, it's an advanced bit of
magic... what I mean is... thank you."
Hermione gingerly picks up the flower from her palm, still smiling.
"It's just lovely."
Lee now looks on rather wide eyed as more frogs appear from
now where out of the ten or so frogs. Can.. can chocolate frog MULTIPLY? "All right!"
He grins as the floor suddenly is flooded with more then just ten.. now it's twenty.. and thirty? Oh, this is GRAND!!! Lee watches from his seat
at the table as they beginning hopping everywhere. Some seem to be now swimming
in the punch while others are hoping over the table and on girl, some of which
are shrieking, thinking them real frogs.
Minerva shakes her head, and returns to the doors.
"I can't leave this place unsupervised," she thought to herself, even
though knowing full well that Dumbledore would make her leave herself. As long
as he was still here and the children were behaving.. she heads towards
the doors but not before shouting to Lee that he lost them 10 points. Minerva
fumes. On second thought... "Make that 20!"
Stella picks up the rhythm of the waltz and settles into
the dance, a blissful smile on her face, until she steps on something that
squashes under her heel, and something else. She starts to trip...
Fuu blinks as something begins
hopping up her legs ... her first thought: Peeves. Which is impossible, he
would make a nuisance of himself. Fortunately whatever it is hasn't gotten past
her knees before she reaches down, using the side of her cloak to keep her legs
covered, and plucks the ... mobile sweet ... off of her boot. o.o "Kore wa, nan desu
ka ... ?"
Ron nods tauntly, folding his
arms over his chest, "Yeah, I worked on it for a bit." Night and day for three weeks straight. "Just thought, ya know, might want flowers or
whatever... Mmn, it doesn't normally last long, since
it didn't grow from dirt or have water.. but, it's charmed to last at least a week." Thanks to
Professor Sprout. He's not sure if he'll ever let you know what all went into
this little token, but he's certainly glad you like it. That smile and blush
made all the work worth it. If only you could get him to work that hard for
tests! "I'm...I'm glad you made it, Hermione. I was -" But whatever
he was going to say is cut off my a chocolate frog leaping up his robes (which
look brand new by the way - same style as last year, but.. improved? Darker,
hemmed..) and he acks! stumbling a bit to grab the
creature and laugh.
Harry is getting to where he's a bit blase
where his aunt and uncle are concerned now that he's in his fifth year at
Hogwarts. "You're on. I'll be glad to get in some more quidditch
practice with you.." wha..
what's with the polite smile.. eh?
He looks up and notices Professor McGonagall's approach, then her walking back
off.. and...an audible groan escapes.. Gryffindor is NEVER going to win
the cup this year. Should he just hang up his firebolt
and say to heck with trying to win?
Al says, "You're really good at this." He
smiles and then notices Stella stumbling forward. "H-hey!"
The boy moves to catch Stella before she can fall onto the floor.
Lee just sits in his chair when the Professor, grinning
brightly and shout after her, "C'mn, Professor!
We needed some spicing up!" The frog, meanwhile, are creating pleasant
havoc in the refreshments and Ron's robes, as it appears..
there are six or so crawling up them.
Cho hears the groan, and
happens to see the cause. Her very own dance partner from
before making trouble. And for some reason that little bit of trouble
makes her smile just a little bit more. She takes another drink and then starts
to stand up, "Do you want to dance?" She's asking him to dance? Well,
yes. The way she figures it'll keep her mind off some things and hopefully make
the time pass by quicker. Now if only she knew a few quick fast-forwarding spells...
And hopefully this dancing partner won't go and lose Gryffindor twenty more
points less than an hour later. Speaking of losing points, she notices the
trouble that Stella happens to be having and adds, "That is if we can with
all those frogs jumping around."
Fuu continues to eye the
struggling candy between her fingers .... and she recognizes it after a moment, a choco-kaeru.
(That's the Japanese equivalent of 'chocolate frog,' yes.) The question on her
mind is whether, having hopped across the floor from wherever, it's still
edible ... and after another moment, she spots the grinning boy with the
dreadlocks. . o O ( Ah. )
She starts walking between the tables towards Lee ... her expression not
entirely legible: amused, at least, but what else?
Stella braces for impact by putting her arms out but is
relieved not to make contact with the flood of frogs crossing the floor.
"Thanks," she says to Al, standing quickly. She would love, just
love, to find the responsible party and get a bit of revenge.
Al looks down at the floor. "What the heck... slime
toads!" instinctively responding to what he perceives to be danger, he
flicks his wrist and sends a bolt of flame into a couple of nearby toads, which
vaporize into clouds of fragrant milk chocolate. "Are we being
attacked?" Sniff. Sniff. "Doesn't smell like it..."
Ah, but the responsible party is a little to humored to
bother with revenge as he attempts to count the number now. A hundred and fifty!
Lee scoops one of the frogs from the table and grins at it through his dreads.
Ah, this was interesting! They multiply! "Man, uber-cool! Who knew!"
Fuu holds her captured choco-kaeru in front of Lee. "Please forgive me if I'm
interrupting anything," she smiles pleasantly, "but I was wondering
if this wandering candy was something of which you had prior knowledge ... ?" ^_^ "I've never seen choco-kaeru
show quite this much activity ..." She blinks, looking down, and murmurs a
short phrase of Japanese, creating a strong breeze at floor level ... just
enough, concentrated around her feet, to sweep away another couple of choco-kaeru.
Hermione was just about to say that she likes your new
robes, Ron, but it looks like the lot of chocolate frogs has taken her
attention. "Oh, honestly..."
She bites her lip for a moment, but, oddly enough, begins to laugh a
moment later. "Really! Ron, you'd better watch out, they're
crawling... crawling up your robes..." n.n;; Hermione pulls a
ribbon out of her hair (yes, she put ribbons in her hair, isn't she cute?), and
pulls out her wand, muttering something, and the ribbon fastens itself around
the delicate flower and straps it around her wrist. Wizard's corsage! Just so the frogs won't get at it.
Stella lifts the hem of her dress and frowns. Chocolate
has melted onto her dress robes. "Oh-oh. These
were a gift from my mother," she laments, drawing out her wand. "Ablutio!" she says, and the chocolate stains disappear
instantly. "That's one charm that works most of the time," she says
to Al, smiling weakly.
Ron doesn't seem a bit bothered, which is odd since he
gets horribly bent out of shape about his new school robes. You wouldn't be
able to tell perhaps, but these are last years dress robes - after some charm experimenting
by himself and Harry. He chuckles, handing Hermione a chocolate frog that's
lost its kick, "Care for one?" Ten more are climbing up him as he
speaks.. or tries to speak
through laughter. Not at all the night had he planned, but he kind of likes this
one better.
Harry rubs at his forehead, sighing. "Like we need
to lose more poi.. eh?"
Thanks Cho, he just blew a circuit. Wha? You
can see the dos prompt flashing a failure to run autoexec.bat or something
similar. "... S..sure.."
As long as you lead, he can't dance period. Frogs?
What frogs? Uh... pardon him as his mind is still reeling and trying to
recover. He's able to get his mind working enough to get him to stand up at any
rate o.O;
Lee looks at Fuu with his
golden-brown eyes, sparkling with semi-delight. "Yes, I was, Lady Fuu," the older boy grins in his Lee-like manner,
taking the frogs (wasn't it just on frog before? ;D)from
Fuu and placing them in their packages. "I just
thought it was etting drull
in here! Who knew!" Whipping his hand out, he
snatches a few as the try to skip across the table and hands one to Fuu, grinning. "They're good, if you can catch
them."
Al says, "Yeah... sorry I had to make you use it." he says. "I thought those things were...
slime toads..." he looks out on the dance floor and around the hall where
the hopping things are moving around. "Who's
doing this? It isn't very nice you know!" he calls out.
Fuu says, "I didn't want
to try eating one which had just hopped across the floor ... but I believe
they're interfering with some of the dancers," she observes, adjusting her
glasses briefly as she looks at said dancers. She does accept the offered frog,
and slips it into her mouth ... and a couple of crunches later, it stops
moving; fortunately she knew that it was a magically-animated confection rather
than an animal. "And would you have been less bored if you had a companion
for the Yule Ball ... ? I believe 'date' is the proper
term?" ^_^ She'd still rather that Ferio were
here ... and just the thought of the bishounen
swordsman causes her to melt a little bit before her control reasserts itself
... but in the meantime, Lee Jordan seems to be an interesting and good-natured
person. She just hopes that this won't encourage him to perform more pranks the
next time there's a formal occasion.
Cho seems to have that effect
on Harry, doesn't she? She can't help but smile at his reaction (which probably
doesn't help much), then she reaches over and takes his hands, leading out
towards the dance floor. She looks around to find an area fairly free of frogs
before she helps him position his hands properly. It's fairly obvious that he's
nervous, but she either is good at ignoring it, or really doesn't mind. It's a
distraction at least! One of the frogs nears her feet, but she sees it and
lightly nudges it with the toe of her shoe so it slides away across the floor,
"The frogs certainly added a little excitement. I'm sure you'll earn the
points back," she says once they're ready to start dancing.
Hermione smiles, shaking her head.
"No thanks. Err... Ron, maybe you
should get those off, they seem to be... multiplying..." She giggles a bit, her eyes sweeping towards
the dance floor for a moment, and in turn, Harry and Cho.
"Oh, there's Harry! Isn't he
dancing with the Ravenclaw seeker? Did Ginny not come? Oh..."
Harry, did you dump Ginny for Cho? And even worse, Ron, were you going to do the
same if she didn't show up? But never
mind that, it didn't happen so there's no need to fuss. n.n;;
Not that Lee isn't good natured, etc, etc.. But he's one of those whould
prefer not to be someone's second choice. Of course, these thoughts won't be
conveyed until the subject it, and for now he tends to at least getting the
frog population down. He swishes his wrist a little, 'Accio
chocolate frogs!' said broadly. What's even more interesting
then chocolate frogs flooding the Yule Ball? When all those frogs are fly! The frogs pop from underneath robes, dress, tablecloth,
and the punch bowl flying towards Lee's open bag that seems more and more to
have no bottom to it as all the frogs seem to neatly fit in the bag. Lee places
the dark bag back into the pocket whence it came from, leans back, and looks as
if nothing had ever happened, content with smiling.
Stella inspects herself, and then, satisfied, turns her
attention back to Al. "Slime toads?" she asks, raising her eyebrows.
"What're those?" She looks around, looking for the perpetrator as
well as anymore misguided pranksters. There were times for pranking,
like during boring potions and then there was -Yule Ball-.
Fuu ducks away from the storm
of chocolate frogs, letting Lee take care of catching them ... in a bag of
holding. Quite interesting. o.o
"Are you certain that your ancestry doesn't include a few kitsune?" she smiles, her question partly joking.
Ron grins, standing up and eyeing the frogs curiously,
"Yeah, I guess you're right.." He goes to
munch on the frog in his hand, but - whoop! - There it goes with the others,
flying back to Lee. He watches it sadly, since it is his favorite treat, but Fuu was probably correct in thinking it not smart to eat
frogs that had hopped around the ground. Save for a few chocolate smudges Ron
seems to be in order as he licks his fingers and follows Hermione's gesture.
Whoa o.o Didn't expect that!
He didn't think Harry would have the guts to ask Cho
to dance.. Ron had no trouble in believing Harry could
handle Voldemort, but asking a girl he liked to
dance? That's a brave boy. In fact, Ron watches him a bit enviously, "Yeah.. Cho Chang.."
he murmurs before glancing back to Hermione, "Mmn?
No.. she never did. I really
wonder what's up with her. I thought Ginny'd never
miss a night like this." He's sure she's been dreaming about it for ages. x.x;
No, smiling at Harry didn't help, nor did taking his
hands o.o; He just dumbly lets
himself get led out onto the floor by Cho, not that
he's going to complain one bit. He doesn't mind this at all... nope. ACK! He
didn't dump Ginny! She didn't show up! AUGH! "Sure..." frogs.. points.. yeah..
Huh? ".. we've kinda.. lost a lot of points." Kinda
all Malfoy's fault really..
And this isn't a dumping matter either! It's just a
dance! Cho isn't with anyone here. Really.
She was dancing with Lee earlier! (ahem, anyway) She
continues to lead him in the dance as best she can. She's not used to leading,
so this is odd, but it certainly seems as if the dance would go nowhere if she /didn't/ lead. "There's still a lot of time left to
make them up." She spares a second to glance towards the door and around the
room.
Al says, "Nasty creatures that like to jump on warm
things. The small ones will make you itch like crazy if they jump onto you. The
big ones can kill you with poison then eat you. Thank goodness I was
wrong." he looks around. "Where do you think these... chocolate frogs
are coming from?"
Stella inclines her head and brushes a few stray hairs
behind her ear. The evening is beginning to wear on her; nonetheless, she tries
to look fetching. "I see...shall we try again?" she asks, as a storm
of frogs fly by, no doubt returning to their source who happens to be...Lee
Jordan. She cuts her eyes at him but forgoes any revenge for a later date. For
now, she just wants to try to enjoy herself. Is that so awful? "Someone
who ought to know better," she says in response to Al's query, shaking her
head.
Fuu ducks away from the storm
of chocolate frogs, letting Lee take care of catching them ... in a bag of
holding. Quite interesting. o.o
"Are you certain that your ancestry doesn't include a few kitsune?" she smiles, her question partly joking as
she looks at Lee. Oh, she recognizes that he's entirely human, if neither European or Japanese in descent, but he's got a tricksterish streak which she can't place.
Lee smiles at Fuu as he stands
up, his eyes still sparkling over the interesting frog event. "Nah, I'm
pretty sure I'm full-blood Jamacian. But you'll have
to excuse me, my lady. The bed calls and it is very overpowering." Lee smiles , pushing open the door and head quietly up to the
boys dorm. Really, that was interesting.. At least he
was in a better mood then when he stepped in.
Al says, "Should we go talk to him?" He looks
just as annoyed as Stella is. It IS his first dance in Hogwarts after all, and
for it to be ruined by chocolate frogs...
Fuu sighs quietly as Lee makes
good his retreat. "Sleep well, then ..." She shakes her head a
little, her smile gone as she looks around the great hall again, once more
completely on her own. Perhaps she should see about retiring for the night as well
... all of the friends she has who are actually *here* are engrossed in their
own conversations, most of them with dates.
Even though the chocolate frogs were fun, Hermione seems
to be a bit relieved that they're off the dance floor. "That certainly was
an interesting twist." She watches
Harry and Cho for a moment, and then turns to Ron,
smiling with slightly blushed cheeks. "Well... would you like to
dance?"
Stella shakes her head. "I'm not going to..."
she pauses, unable to come up with a clear explanation.
"It could've been worse. They could have been those...Slime Frogs
you were talking about, right?"
Ron watches after Lee with a bright grin. Now there goes
a guy who can make a party interesting! He's so busy snickering at the couple
getting miffed about the frogs that he's not quite sure he heard Hermione
right. "Heheh.... pardon?" >.> He
catches her eyes with his own and coughs, a faint tint growing on his own
cheeks, "Mmn.. yeah.. sure." Oh he's so glad you asked, because he was
wondering how we'd get to this part. After an awkward pause he offers his arm
to one of his best friends before leading her to the dance floor. Well, just
following along, really.
Harry glances down, making sure not to trod
upon Cho's foot. Sorry he doesn't lead.. there's been no reason for him
to try dancing. Maybe it's time he learned? Erhm. "Maybe
so. I'm definitely going to try and do what I can to regain the
points." Since he's lost 100 easily for Gryffindor? Heheehe.
Al says, "I'll do it maybe... later." He snaps
his fingers and looks up at the great hall and gets an idea. He smiles.
"Quick, Stella! What's your favorite color?"
Stella looks a bit startled by the question but answers
on reflex, "Ah-ah, blue? Lots of people's favorites
actually. My mum got me these robes in gray because she said it's a good
color for my eyes. My house's colors..." she pauses and looks at Al oddly,
"Why do you ask?"
Fuu sighs faintly; settling in
at a table near the dance floor and watching the couples make their way around.
She's this far from the door, anyway; she might as well stay and enjoy the
view, even though her smile's much fainter now - if indeed it's still there -
than it was a moment ago.
Al smiles and reaches into his robes and quickly pulls
something out, a bolt of white light shoots up from his robes high into the ceiling
and bursts into a fire flower of blue light... no damage folks, just fireworks.
Cho continues to smile, though
she follows his eyes downward to look at their. So thoughtful to think of her
vulnerable toes, Potter. She isn't worried about
stepping on his, she's quite a good dancer, as he
probably had noticed last year, from watching her. Her eyes flicker towards the
doors again, before returning to the Gryffindor Seeker.
Stella grins despite herself. "That's
lovely," she dips her head to hide a blush, "Let me in on that spell
sometime, all right?" Stella brushes more hair behind her ears.
"I really should head off now..." She neglects to mention that her
intricate hairstyle is charmed and the charm is rapidly losing steam.
Al says, "Sure." he smiles and watches her. She
was nice...
Hermione takes Ron's arm, being careful not to wreck her
flower, and follows him out to the dance floor, flashing a smile at Harry and Cho. And being the
lady she is (since she's feeling quite ladylike tonight), she waits for Ron to
lead her into the dance. Oh, uhm, small talk, right.
Hermione glances up at the ceiling everyone is under, her smile not
quite fading. "Oh, it's so nice out tonight..."
Ron stops once there at the appropriate dance floor area
and stands nervously for a moment. Noticing Hermione's
expectant look he 'oh's quietly and takes one of her
hands in his and slips his free hand on her waist shakily. Clearing his
throat he begins a simple step, pulling Hermione gently along with him. Now
Mrs. Weasley had taught all of her sons a general
dance step for such ocassions. She keeps just a
little tipsy at holidays and turns into a ballroom dancer sometimes. Thus, he
knows how to steer correctly, but it's hard for him to do so for some reason. Probably because he's never had to steer Hermione. Clearing
his throat he smiles and nods, "Sure is.."
Right, small talk.. ugh. He
hates small talk. Glancing down at his dance partners robes he manages to comment,
though, "You...yalooknice." Gulp. Blush.
Look away.
Al throws up some more fireworks in the great hall's
endless celing. Red.... yellow.... green... fire
flowers of various colors appear in the sky only to vanish after a few seconds
of showing their radiant beauty.
Harry did notice that Cho's a
good dancer.. He feels kinda
useless just letting her steer. But he's not going to dwell on that as well,
he's dancing with Cho! Starting to feel fairly
confident that he's not going to step on her toes, he looks back up at Cho, just noticing her glancing towards the doors. "..
If you're tired or something, we can stop?" Noooooooo.. ;.;
Fuu looks up at the flashes of
color, quietly admiring the fireworks ... it's not like she has anything else
to do at this point. Nobody to talk to ...
Cho shakes her head. "I
was just supposed to get something from someone, but he hasn't shown up
yet." Or if he has she's missed him. He had said he might be showing up
late though, so... But that's more than she's said about why she keeps looking
around all night, so there's something. "I can get it later if he doesn't
show up."
Al says, "At least that magic... I'm good at!"
he smiles confidently and then notices someone looking at him. "Miss Fuu..." he notices the other student and walks to her. "Hello! How've you been?"
Fuu says, "I've been well
... I wish there were more people here whom I could talk to, though," she
admits, looking around yet again. "Most of the people I know who are here seem to have companions for the evening."
Hermione follows Ron's lead, although she doesn't seem to
be quite as nervous as Ron is. But she's
still got a few butterflies. She returns
her gaze back down to Earth, and her dance partner, smiling. "Oh... thank you, Ron," and here
comes that blush. "I got them while I was in
Ron ahhs..
and grins proudly, leaning back a bit to show them
off, "Not new, just fixed up! Harry helped me." He smiles at your
blush, but.. the more you
dance and the more you talk the easier it becomes. This is Hermione, one of his
best friends in the world. Sure, she's beautiful right now, but beneath the
straight hair and new robes it's the same friend he's had for over four years.
Turning with her and holding her a little closer, but with no tension in his
hands as they dance he asks casually, "How was
Al says, "I don't have one either. I... just wanted
to meet more people that's all." he shrugs and
shivers. "Brrr... I don't like this weather...
it's too cold." he makes a gesture with his hands to renew the charm.
Harry ohs! Err, he didn't sound
too relieved there did he? Because you know, he's more than happy to continue
dancing for as long as Cho wants. Not that he's big
on dancing mind you, because he's not! "Okay then." He's a bit
curious about who this 'he' person is, but he won't
pry. Over Cho's shoulder, he flashes a wiiide grin at Ron and Hermione.
Fuu says, "Well ...
perhaps you and I can talk, or maybe even dance ... ?"
n.n
Cho certainly doesn't mind the
distraction of the night. It helps her forget some things, and continually
making sure he's moving in the right direction adds to it. She tries to
continue with the small talk as well, to add to the distraction. She notices
him glancing towards his friends, "How did you do on your exams?"
Asking something non-Quidditch related for a change.
Hermione grins back at Harry, and would wave her hand but
it likes being on Ron. Eheh. n.n;;
"
Al says, "Which would you prefer, Miss Fuu?"
Fuu asks, "I saw that you
were dancing up until a little while ago ... perhaps sitting and talking, for
the time being?"
Ron rolls his eyes at Harry's grin, but can't help but
mirror it. His attention is really on Hermione, though. He listens quietly,
turning her correctly and keeping her gently in place, his hand shifting a bit
so that his arm almost supports her. He laughs at her question, shrugging
lightly, "Nope.. nothing
really happened while you were gone." It really wasn't that long, though
it felt like ages to Ron. Well, Harry's had some new..
news.. but he doesn't want to
bring that up right now. Nothing can be done about it at a dance. "Maybe a
few snowball fights, I slipped some hair growing tonic in Fred's soap, and I
beat Harry at chess again. Nothing out of the ordinary." n.- He's upset Fred hasn't shown up.. but
hopes it's because he looks like a red Big Foot.
Al nods and leads you away from the floor to one of the
tables. "So, have you seen that furred, foul-mouthed boy who we met in the
forest again?"
Fuu was already sitting at a
table by the dance floor, although if Al had staked out a table at more of a
remove from the dancing, she's quite willing to follow him.
"Unfortunately, I haven't had that opportunity ... I wonder if he's still
in the forest, and all right."
Harry grins at Cho, "I did
alright. Not sure I want to even look at what I got in Potions. I probably was
failed for it." Unless someone intervened and actually graded him based on
his classwork. "What about you? I'm sure you've
passed your exams without a problem." Like a teacher with a vendetta
against you that started only because your father happened to be the nemesis of
said teacher.
Cho pauses for a moment,
"I did well enough." Though probably not as good as the year before,
just because of the added stress. She isn't about to tell him that though, no
need to make him get worried or anything. "Potions is
actually one of my better classes, as it involves remedies a lot." Herbology and Potions are the ones she's best in. Of
course, she's not the daughter of Snape's nemesis
from the past, so that probably helps too! "Though I still had to seek
some... outside help in a project I was working on."
Al says, "I wouldn't know... I mean... it IS the
forbidden forest." He pauses, passing by the pumpkin juice table to get a
drink for both himself and Fuu. He looks somewhat
distracted. "Have you ever been in the lower levels of Hogwarts?" he
asks. "I hear there's supposed to be a great magical repository somewhere
there."
Fuu bows slightly in appreciation
of the glass which Al hands to her. "I haven't had the opportunity to go
exploring the depths of the castle," she responds. "I'm sure that any
such 'repository' would be well-protected, however ... and it would probably
mean many points lost and detention for the remainder of the term, or worse, if
any student was able to find that treasury, much less enter it by some means
..."
Al says, "...yeah but... I heard there's a spell
there which will allow you to contact other dimensions..."
Hermione smiles approvingly, and nods, still revolving
around on the dance floor with her friend. "That's good to hear. Well, maybe not the soap... I imagine Fred
won't be too pleased, will he? But I
suppose you have to get back at him for the... err... glue." Boys. She does notice Ron's care in dancing
properly with her, though, and decides to comment on it. "You know, you're
a good dancer, Ron." n.n
Fuu stops and blinks, looking
at Al. "Other dimensions ..." She pauses, turning that over in her
head as she sips her pumpkin juice. "I wasn't aware," she almost-but-not-quite-lies, "that magic existed
which made it possible to establish any kind of contact with 'other' dimensions
than our own. And if such magic exists, I'm sure it would be considered very
dangerous indeed ..."
Ron chuckles darkly and nods, "I certainly do.." 18 hours glued to these floors is not quickly
forgotten. Uh huh, Hermione.. don't
mention the good dancing, for then he will falter. Stumbling a bit to avoid
stepping on your toe he blinks, "Really?" He knows you mean besides
that little foul up, but still he flushes with a shrug, "Mum taught us.." And it is just a simple step. Four pivot waltz. No
big deal. Besides, you fit pretty well in his hold, which always makes it
easier. And apparently he is concentrating to keep it up. He swings you back
into the rhythm, "Your only as good as your
partner, she always says." Hoping that comes out as a compliment.
Al nods. "But..." he weighs things over. She is
a good fighter that he's seen. Maybe he can trust her? But what would he tell
her? That he's from another dimension himself? She'd never believe him. He
sighs, homesickness is taking it's toll. "I guess
you're right..."
Fuu peers at Al for a moment.
"Ano ... you're not thinking of trying to find
that repository yourself, are you ... ?"
When Harry's not procrastinating with a few diversions
(few??) he does throw himself into his class work. Yes Hermione, he actually
does study and do his homework. (At the last minute, but
hey.) But it's actually good to have something to concentrate and focus
on. "That's good.. There's nothing wrong in
seeking outside help. Depending on the assignment I work better with
help." Like, oh say, Divination. Thankfully, he's not hearing Fuu and Al's conversation, because he'd be forced to tell
them that hidden chambers within Hogwarts are pretty overrated. No, really,
they are.
Al says, "I... am. I... there's someone who I want
to talk to..."
Fuu blinks quietly at Al.
"Someone ... in another dimension ... whom you wish to talk to?" She
raises her eyebrow slightly. "I see ..."
Al says, "Yeah..." he pauses.
"I... kinda miss him."
Cho has no patience for
Divination. She only took the class because she likes Astronomy and was hoping
that Astrology would be fun, but... No. Plus, the present is bad enough without
having a teacher that reads dark omens everywhere mucking up the day. That's
the reason she doesn't take that class anymore. And Mrs. Weasley
teaches the kids how to dance? Could she teach Harry? (Kidding, kidding.)
"I think I'm going to step outside and get some air for a little while.
Perhaps we can dance again when I get back?" It /is/ a welcome
distraction, since a certain someone hasn't made an appearance yet, but she
really needs a few moments to compose herself again, before it slips too much.
Harry doesn't even know why he continued taking
Divination, other than it's.. kind of fun, making up
all sorts of tragedies, not like he needs any help plotting things for his
doomed future o.O; At Cho's
request, he nods, "Alright.. I'd like that." It's not obvious is it?
".. You look nice.. by
the way." Augh! Where'd that come from?
Cho starts to pull away, and
then stops as she's complimented. Her smile brightens for a second and she
says, "You look nice too, Harry." It's her way of returning the
compliment and saying thank you at the same time. And she didn't giggle! Bonus. She turns and starts towards the door to get that bit
of fresh air.