The Grand Ball, all are welcome!

[padfoot!]

Welcome Back Ball
1-28-09 until 2-20-09
Location, Great Hall

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There are several big events that happen every year at Hogwarts, but this year there was a new one. A ball would be taking place that evening, about an hour from now actually. People were hurriedly getting ready and trying to make them selves look nice for their dates. Up in the Gryffindor dormitories, there were two boys getting ready for the nights events, talking amongst themselves while the others got ready on their own.

“Think Cameryn will flip shit when she finds out Sophie and I are dating?” asked a boy with dark red hair as he combed through it absentmindedly. He already had on a nice set of black dress robes that were brand new, his old ones he had long out grown, he was rather tall, and as is the boy he was talking to.

The muscular boy next to him was towel drying his dark brown hair off when he answered. “I have no clue, she’s your sister. You’d know better than me, aye?” The red haired boy shrugged and watched Sirius Potter as he pointed his wand to his head and his hair was instantly dried and looking pretty much perfect.

“Eh, I suppose,” Chase Weasley said, though in his gut he was still nervous. His new girlfriend was his sisters’ best friend. Neither of them had told Cameryn yet, so she was likely to get mad. She had quite the temper on her, she did.

Sirius pulled on a nice set of fiery red dress robes, and looked himself over in the mirror. He supposed it was good enough, it’s not like he was trying to impress anyone. After all, the only girl he wanted to go with tonight he probably couldn’t go with anyway. She probably had a date by now, and he had not seen her since the night they accidentally met by the lake when he was drunk as fuck about two weeks ago.

With a heavy sigh he turned to his cousin. “You ready?” –Chase nodded and the two boys made their way down stairs.

Meanwhile, in the Ravenclaw Common Room, Cameryn Weasley was doing up her long, thick red hair, observing herself in the mirror as she did so. When she got her hair al pulled up the way she wanted it to, she made sure she would be able to stow her wand somewhere. Even though Chase said he had a date, she had still forced him into agreeing to some trouble at the ball.

Making sure her hair and make up looked okay, she pulled on her pale blue dress, which was floor length and strapless. With that she looked around the common room, and finding no one there that was not pairing off with someone else, she left to see if anyone was downstairs yet.

When she reached the ground floor, she was Sirius and Chase talking to someone else, a little shorter than both of them, but still taller than herself. When she was close enough to see the Gryffindor red streak in the front of his hair, which was slightly longer than usual tonight, she realized it was Teddy Lupin. “Ted! Chase! Sirius!” she called out, catching all their attention and she ran up and hugged Teddy. “I haven’t seen you since the train! Did you talk to Tori yet?” she asked him excitedly.

Teddy grinned and said, “Yeah, I did. We’re together again, thank god!” he said with a look of relief on his face. Cameryn knew that he had been worried she might have found someone else. “She should be meeting me down here soon,” he mused as he scanned the crowd with his as always, bright blue eyes.

“Where are your dates?” Cameryn asked the other two boys.

“Don’t have one,” Sirius shrugged, getting a very shocked look as a response from his cousin Cameryn.

“And you?” she asked turning toward her brother.

“She’s coming…” he said and left it at that.

Waiting up in the Hufflepuff common room, was a boy with dark blond hair, and bright blue eyes. Tristan was wearing a set of black dress robes, which were rather simple and not unlike Chase Weasleys. Tristan was digging his fingernails into his palms as he awaited the arrival of Tyler. They had decided to meet in the common room for the ball, and go down together.

Tristan was still apprehensive about everyone knowing that he and Tyler were together, but he figured it was the only way he could be happy. He was tired of always meeting Tyler in secret as he had for the past half a year. It was just time… He had told his sister, she had not been happy that he had hidden that from her. Although, she was accepting of it, she was not happy he had hidden it.

That was not the reaction he expected from everyone else, from them, he expected more of a … freak out response because he was the popular Quidditch player, and he was now dating a guy. Tristan did not care anymore, he just couldn’t wait to see Tyler come down stairs, he himself had been ready for quite a while.

Downstairs, Teddy Lupin caught site of Headmistress McGonagall and she nodded at him to start the excitement. He put his wand to his throat, and magnified his voice before he said, “Welcome to the very first Welcome Back Ball here at Hogwarts! Welcome your live entertainment,” –he pointed at the band at the stage- “And what do you say, lets get this party started?” he said, and with a loud roar from the people already there who had been talking and stopped when they heard his voice. He lowered the lights in the decorated Great Hall, and the night of fun had begun.

[Katie]

"Shit!" Tori Weasley cried out as she ran around her small little apartment that was attached to her office and classroom looking for her shoes. She was suppossed to meet Teddy in the Great Hall but of course being as she was a procrastinater, waited until the last minute to get ready and now she was stuck scrambling around looking for her black peep-toed heels. Tori was a bit of a shoe fanatic and had loads of them but she had to find this particular pair because they went perfectly with her dress. She laid down on her floor on her stomach and searched around under her bed. Exasperated, she stood up and grabbed her wand. " Accio shoes ." she said with a flick of her wand. But of course, being as she wasn't specific enough, all of her shoes came flying at her at once. "Aagh!" she screamed as she was pelted with shoes.

Once the shoes were settled she started looking for her heels but with her luck, she couldn't find them. 'Ugh! Stupid shoes..." she mumbled and then flicked her wand again " Accio black peep-toed heels " she said. And finally her shoes appeared. "Took you long enough!" she muttered and sat down on a chair to put them on, she stretched out her long legs and put on her shoes and for a finishing touch, her gold ankle bracelet that had a "V" charm on it. she stood up and made her way over to her mirror where she checked her appearence. She had her blonde hair up in a French twist with a black ribbon tied around her head like a head band. she looked at her dress which was a dark purpleish-pink short, strapless cocktail dress with black lace underneath. She let out a whistle. "I don't look half bad.' she said turning around to examine herself from the back. "Ah! I almost forgot1' she said and grabbed a tube of red lipstick which she quickly applied. She puckered up her lips to the mirror and satisfied with her appearence, headed out the door.

Victoire quickly walked towards the nearest staircase and made her way to the Great Hall and of course with her luck, ran into some of her former school-mates and now students who of course had to wolf-whistle at her to bust her chops. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just remember who'll be grading all of your Charms work." she mumbled and before finally arriving at the Great Hall. Her brown eyes scanned the vast room for her date, Teddy Lupin. She saw him with her cousins Sirius, Chase and Cameryn and smiled. "Oi! Teddy!" she called out and waved to him.

[Tyler]

Tyler was rather late getting ready. Sometimes technology doesn't work as you planned it. His alarm went off a few hours behind. Therefore, Tyler was rushing to get everything just perfect. Although the ball was a complete surprise, a better surprised happened to Tyler just school year. Tristan and he finally started to date, in secret of course. Even though their relationship comprised of sneaking into an unused classroom to have dinner with each other, Tyler still loved Tristan for his cute personality and his drop-dead good looks. Who knew that the “sports guy” could turn out being bi?

Tyler, up to this point, didn’t have pants on. He was in his underwear, a nice set of boxer-briefs. He looked around the bathroom and found them almost dipping themselves into the shower. He quickly grabbed them and rushed them on. He looked in the mirror. Reflected back at him was someone who almost didn’t look like Tyler at all. His suit, a stylish muggle suit, had gold-orange trim and buttons, while the tuxedo was a rather light, yet dark blue. The vest underneath matched his tuxedo and his collared shirt was a sky blue colour. The belt he wore matched the trim and button. The pants, which were slightly tight, however gave just enough breathing room were a normal black. Tyler’s outfit was put together and well thought out. Now that he thought about it, not even Tristan has seen this outfit. ~He is going to freak.~ Tyler thought to himself as he threw some gel into his hair. It was parting to the right, perfect.

Tyler grabbed a bottle of hairspray and started pumping the liquid into his hair. He used just enough to give it hold, yet not enough to make it look like it had hairspray and gel in it. Tyler looked back at himself in the mirror. For once in his life, he didn’t have a pimple on his face. He winked at himself, laughed a little and went out into the dorm room. There was no one in sight. ~Must be the last ones.~ Tyler thought as he descended the stairs. He walked rather slowly as if to show off his outfit, and finally turned the bend to see Tristan waiting ever so patiently in the common room. Without waiting for his reaction to the outfit Tyler quickly ran and gave him a large hug.

[jana]

At the moment, as she gazed at her figure as she stood in front of the full legnth mirror, Sophie felt excatly like a princess. Her critical blue eyes swept over the princess-like dress she wore that had been sent to her just yesterday by her mother. It was the first time she was seeing it on herself. Sophie smiled softly, her eyes studying the dress.

It was absolutely perfect.

After a few minutes of work, Sophie's hair looked almost perfect. She kept it down, frowning to herself slightly for a moment. Sophie stared at herself in the mirrow, admiring the dress and how she now looked. Finally satisfied enough, Sophie left the now-empty dorm. A few Ravenclaw girls were ahead of here as she headed for the door of the common room, and their nervous giggles and whisperings was all she heard in the otherwise empty room.

As she approached the entrance hall, Sophie recongized an odd feeling for the mood of the night. Nervousness. Yet the mood of the entrance hall, already excited, overruled the nervousness for a while. Sophie smiled once to herself, then set a faint, soft smile on her face and made her way through the crowd as Professor Lupin's voice announced the beginning of the ball. The students around her were all dressed in their finest; girls in beautiful dresses that they labored over picking for ages and ages, boys in dress robes, looking better than they ever have. Her eyes glanced around, trying to find Chase. When she spotted him - the bright red hair was impossible to miss - a smile flitted across her face until she saw Cameryn Weasley there as well.

It was a weird emotion for her at the moment, nervousness. Why should she be nervous around Cam? Not only was Cam her best friend, but neither Chase nor Sophie had told her yet about them going out. Cameryn had a temper - everybody knew that. But Sophie had never been at the recieving end of it, and she didn't want to be, whether it was her or Chase. Biting her lip, she hesitantly approached them after a pause.

ooc; bad post x.x sorry i had no idea how to end it.

[Holly]

"I still don't see why we're going to this, Allison! It seems stupid." A pretty, raven haired girl was sulking as another girl helped her into dress robes. "It's good for your social life, Bel," she replied gently doing up the back of the dress robes. She rose and smiled at her friend's reflection. "Gorgeous,"she said. Isabel tugged at the front of her dress robes, "Nonsense, Allison. I look horrid. Your turn."

Allison sighed and slipped into a pale green dress that matched her eyes perfectly. She smoothed the silk and sighed. Yanking her hair into a tight bun she began to work on Isabel's tangled, dark hair. She'd get to her own hair later. Isabel was completely hopeless when it came to doing hair in anything but a messy bun or ponytail. Allison wanted Isabel to look special and pretty tonight.

Isabel let out an exasperated sigh. Allison was always making her go to these balls and stuff. Plus, Isabel was still mad at Tristan; not because he was bi, but because he never told her. She had always made a point of telling Tris everything and here he was not telling her anything. She was literally pulled back to reality as Allison tugged on her hair. She blinked at her reflection, her hair was braided back and it looked.....actually sort of pretty.

"Whoa. Thanks, Allison,"she said. She pulled at her dress robes again. They were sapphire blue and looked amazing on her. Of course, Isabel was totally oblivious to it, but she much preferred robes to dresses. Allison was carefully smoothing her hair back and humming softly. "Ready?"she asked finally when her hair was smooth enough. "Ready as I'll ever be,"Isabel said grimly. "This better not kill me."

Allison tipped her head back and laughed, "You'll be fine, Bel. Plenty of people will want to dance with you." Isabel rolled her eyes, "Let's get it over with." The two girls stepped out of the bathroom they'd been using and walked arm in arm down the stairs.

[Holly]

O.J. carefully straightened his dress robes. They were hand-me-downs from his dad, as they were a little tight on money right now. They fit him well, although his shoulders were a bit broader than his father's. Shrugging, he made a scary face into the mirror and laughed. For some reason funny faces always made him laugh.

He sighed left the dormitory. As he walked through the Common Room, Gabby McKessie gave him a sickly sweet smile and he resisted the urge to shudder. Gabby McKessie,better known as Gabby the Great, had had her eye on O.J. for a while. He did not like her, partly because she was just coming on too strong and partly because he agreed with Isabel and Allison that she was some what of a whore.

Shouldering his way past some first years, he climbed out of the portrait hole. O.J. hurried down to the Great Hall and froze when he got there. Allison and Isabel were standing nearby, casually chatting. Both of them looked beyond beautiful; especially Isabel. "Hey, Bel. Allison. You both look lovely,"he said, grinning. Isabel rolled her eyes but Allison flushed with pleasure, "Thanks, O.,"she said sweetly.

"So are we gonna do this thing or what?"Isabel said looking extremely pissed. "Yes, I guess so,"he said. He hoped she'd dance with him at least once. She didn't seem like she wanted to be there. Probably it was Allison's idea to drag her along.

"Ok, O.J. no hogging Bel-Bel for the ENTIRE night! Save a dance for me and some for some other girls. And Isa is gonna dance with me at least 10 times,"Allison said firmly, smiling in a teasing way. Isabel laughed, "Like I'm going to dance that much, Allison. No one else is gonna ask me to dance." "The way you look, of course they will,"she shot back. "Whatever,"Isabel said. She tapped her foot, waiting for something to happen. She was bored already.

[Eri]

Estrella Malfoy and Rose Weasley busy in the sixth-year Ravenclaw dorm room. A full-length mirror had been erected on one of the room while a dark wood vanity had been conjured at the other.

Estrella was currently sitting on the cushioned stool before the vanity. Rose stood behind her, her wand raised as she curled and tweaked Estrella’s hair. With a final once-over Rose pronounced Estrella’s hair to be done and turned away to put on her dress. Estrella, who had had her eyes closed and her mouth clamped shut (she was very tender headed), opened her eyes and leaned forward to inspect her hair.

Rose had done a magnificent job on it. Her brown-black hair was pulled back in tiers, almost like a many level ponytail but you weren’t able to see the bobby pins, and instead of it being it’s normal wild straight self it was glossy, smooth, and curled. Her make-up, compliments of Rose, was perfect too with just enough eye-liner to make her eyes stand out but not be ridiculous and a natural look everywhere else.

Rose watched out of the corner of her eye as Estrella admired herself in the vanity mirror. She really had done a good job on her. No thanks to Estrella who had been fidgety and tense. That bit was normal—Estrella always got that way whenever some one messed with her hair—but she seemed abnormally anxious about looking good.

Rose toyed with the idea Estrella had a guy in mind as she put on her emerald green dress. It really wasn’t that impossible, she thought strapping on her clear high heals, she had been much more cheerful than normal and it had shown in her pranking as she had come up with even cleverer ideas than before.

Once done dressing Rose turned to view her own reflection in the full-length mirror. Her dress was a bright green halter tap that hugged her tight down to her waste then poofed out into a floor length skirt. Her make-up consisted of black eye-liner, blue eye shadow, mascara, etc. Her blood red hair had been straightened then flipped at the ends and let down to hang in a soft waterfall down to the middle of her back; all in all Rose felt that she looked rather stunning.

Estrella turned away from the vanity in time to see Rose admiring herself in the full-length mirror. Getting up, she walked up behind Rose and stood by her side, their reflections shoulder-to-shoulder. “You look absolutely amazing, Nymphy,” Estrella said looking Rose up and down. “I love your dress choice,” she added with a wicked grin.

Rose wrapped an arm around Estrella’s waist and said with a smile, “You’d better get you dress on too, Trix”

[/color]

Estrella bowed her head in ascension and made her way over to Rose’s bed where she changed into a royal blue one-shoulder dress with black 1-inch heels. The torso of the dress was gathered in the front until it tapered at the waist. From the waist down it was silky and flowing, getting a lighter blue as it neared the floor.

Once finished putting together her outfit Estrella made her way back to Rose and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her once again as they each examined their own reflection. After a few minor adjustments and the adding on of jewelry the girls were ready to go.

The two best friends hooked their arms together and began the journey down to the Great Hall. The walk seemed shorter than usual and by the time they just about ready to descend the marble stairs both dearly wished they were back in Ravenclaw Tower.

Rose, who had very, minor crushes on about half the male student population, was positive that something would go wrong; that she would rip her dress or spill something all down her front or do something equally embarrassing. [/color][/font]

Estrella was just as nervous as her companion but for other reasons. Graceful on a broomstick, she was almost downright clumsy on foot and Sirius Potter (for who she’d harbored a secret crush ever since she found him drunk that memorable night) was bound to be down there. She knew that he did not have a date, having overheard a group of very disappointed Hufflepuffs earlier, and that more than likely he was already in the Great Hall.

Gripping each other’s arm still more firmly the two stepped to the edge of the marble stairs and began their descent. Rose seemed to glide down the very center of the staircase, like some fairy tale princess, her dress trailing behind her elegantly. Estrella tried to match Rose’s grace but then gave up, deciding it was better to just do things her way.

Finally they reached the bottom of the stair and Estrella dragged Rose over to a group consisting of one boy and two girls. One of the girls was Isabel Peakes, a friend of theirs, and the other was Allison McLaggen who was a housemate of Estrella’s. Rose and Estrella greeted the girls cheerfully.

Once Rose had greeted Isabel and Allison she let her eyes wander around the Hall. Many boys were eyeing her and Estrella, both being a bit too popular for their own good, as Sirius had once told her. Rose smiled flirtatiously at one fourth-year boy who blushed scarlet before turning back to her own little group.

Realizing that she was standing beside a boy she had never met Rose said hastily, “Hullo. I’m Rose and that is Estrella—” she gestured to her friend who was currently in a rather animated discussion with Allison and Isabel—“and you are?” she asked in a rather flirtatious tone.[/color][/center]

OOC: Oh dear. Rosie is quite the flirt XP

[Holly]

O.J. smiled easily as two girls joined their little group. Isabel was quite popular and these seemed to be two of her friends. "I'm O.J. Wood. It's a pleasure to meet you two. I assume you know Isabel and Allison?" he said courteously.

Allison rolled her eyes. O.J. was such a flirt. Too bad he wasn't flirting with her.....Smiling, she turned and faced Rose and Estrella. She instantly became self conscious of her soft green dress. In comparison, it was quite modest. It was simple and strapless, but not too low-cut. Her small waist was tied about with a thick black ribbon. She looked gorgeous, but she was too shy to notice.

Isabel smiled as Rose and Estrella walked up. As usual, Estrella was a klutz, but Isabel had always known this about her friend. "Hey Rose, Stella. You guys look sweeettt,"she drawled, grinning. "I look a mess, but if Allison hadn't helped I would of looked worse." She smoothed her dress robes; they were simple, dark blue and fit her nicely. Combined with her braid, Isabel looked very pretty and put together.

[padfoot!]

Just after he announced to the entire room that the party events had just begun, the band started to play loudly and everyone began to sing and dance to the songs they played. Teddy could not keep his foot from tapping along with the music and almost having the urge to air-drum to the song for he had taken up drumming a long time back but had abandoned it because he knew it would not get him anywhere.

Soon he caught site of his most gorgeous date, Victorie Weasley. When she called his name out, he looked up to show her he had seen her, and when she reached him, he smiled and put an arm around her. “Lookin’ amazing, baby girl,” he said and kissed her cheek. “Just in time,” he said, and he tickled her side with a small pinch where every girl seems to be ticklish, but none of the laughed and reacted as cute as she did.

“Wanna go dancing, Tor?” he asked, and looked at his other friends. “We’ll see ya out there, I suppose,” he told them and took Victorie by the hand to lead her out to the dance floor. For supposed “chaperones” the two were very much still students attending a dance. All the teachers were supposed to make sure the students upheld the rules, but his friends knew that he would not tell when the trouble broke loose.

Upstairs in the Hufflepuff common room, Tristan was starting to get a little more apprehensive with every passing minute he spent alone waiting on Tyler. He was about to change his mind on the whole thing, right up until he saw Tyler running down the stairs, in his completely stylish muggle attire. Even if it did not really match what everyone else was wearing, Tristan was not too worried about that.

When the boy he cared about so much ran down the stairs and immediately hugged him, he put his arms around his skinny frame and hugged him back. “Lookin good,” he said softly into his ear before he pulled away. He then looked up at Tyler and said, “So, now or never, eh? I guess now we go down stairs?” and with that he stood up to be just a little taller than Tyler, looking down at him nervously.

Scanning the room every so often, Chase was getting more nervous about never having told Cam about his new relationship. He knew that Sophie would get there and all hell would break loose, or that’s what he was anticipating. He had never been so sure that he might have made a mistake, not by asking Sophie to the ball, and to be his girlfriend, but by not telling his twin, whom he was closest to.

Cameryn noticed the uneasiness of her brother, and said, “Hey, what’s up with you? I’ve never seen you act… Nervous? Especially for a simple date, usually you’re looking forward to it. You look like your dreading something.” She stated simply, hoping he would not take it as an insult but as an act of concern.

“Hmm?” Chase said, turning towards his twin sister. “Oh, no, I’m… Fine,” he said, though not as convincing as he had wanted it to sound. With a sideways glance at his sister, he knew he would be in some big trouble with her but he figured it would happen and he would have to deal with it now. When he caught site of his blond haired beauty, he watched closely as she walked up to them, with the same amount of nerves written all over her.

“You worried about your date too?” Cam asked Sophie, and without waiting for a response she said, “I swear, if I didn’t know you two better I’d think…” With that statement left unfinished her mind started to spin and then she came to a realization she was not exactly sure she liked. “Chase Matthew Weasley, what have you been neglecting to tell me?” she said with her coldest glare turning on her younger brother.

This was exactly what Chase had been dreading and now it had come to life without him or Sophie even having to say anything. He figured Cam might figure it out, she was after all extremely intelligent, and tended to notice things others did not. He knew it had only been a matter of time before she figured it out and with that he just kind of awkwardly looked at her and pleaded, “Oh, common’ Cam! Don’t be mad at me—,” he said but was cut off mid sentence.

“Oh Chase, I’m not mad at you,” she said with a bittersweet smile. “I’m furious.” She said even colder than when she had addressed him by his full name. “I would not have been mad. Maybe slightly creeped out by my brother and best friend dating, but I would not have been mad. Not if someone had god damn told me!” she said, her temper and voice rising with every passing word. “No Chase, I am pissed because you thought either that I’d be better off knowing and would never catch on, or that I would react better by you not telling me all week who your date was.”

“And you,” she turned on Sophie. “I can’t believe we share a dorm and you didn’t bother to tell me! All this week, when I asked you about the ball, and wanted to know who your date was and you said nothing. You never really even specified you even had a date, but I’m not stupid. I knew you got asked out! I was waiting for you to get all happy and tell me, but instead you practically ignored me!” Cameryn’s face was turning slightly red with anger, though it looked brighter in contrast to her already red hair.

With a frustrated look on his face, Chase was left without a thought in the world that could make his sister less angered with him at the moment. He knew this would happen when he neglected to tell her about him and Sophie but the two of them thought it might be too weird for her and that maybe they shouldn’t date. They wanted to take a stab at it before telling her the news, so that if it didn’t work out, things would not be awkward. Now Chase was slightly regretting that choice. Not the choice to ask out Soph but to not tell Cam. “Cam…” he said with a soft sigh in his tone.

Cameryn looked from her brother to her best friend, and with a sigh she took in several deep breaths. She was not sure what to do now. She was still very angry at both, but it would be horrible to ruin their night because of her anger at them. Plus how was she supposed to pull of her pranks on her own? Knowing that would not work, she looked back up at them with a flicker of annoyance still present on her face. “Don’t let me ruin your night…” she said softly, and crossed her arms, not sure what to do next.

When the fight had broken out between Cameryn, Chase and Sophie, Sirius had ducked out trying to find something else to do. He had come across the raven haired beauty but was not sure what to do. He had stopped dead in his tracks, and habitually ran his fingers over the pocket of his dress robes, making sure his flask was in his pocket. He always had it handy at the dances incase they got boring. But now that he saw Estrella with his cousin Rose and some friends of his, he was not sure what to do.

One of the kids that were there when she had walked up was O.J. Wood, a player on his Quidditch team. He figured that was reason enough to walk over there, that and to say hi to Rose. Even if there were other motives behind that, he figured it would not look suspicious. He did not even know if Estrella had ever wanted to talk to him again, even though she had seemed to enjoy the night. Of what he remembered, he remembered kissing her, and how much he had just wanted to do it again and again. Not only a hormonal impulse but one from his heart as well, which still confused him.

“O.J.!” he called as he walked over there. “Rose!” he called just after that. When he reached them, he stood between Rose and O.J. “How’s it going?” he asked with some real curioucity and some of just wanting to start a conversation to keep him over here. For two reasons, one, because he wanted to possibly talk to Estrella and he also wanted to stay away from the drama over by his cousins and their friend. "Sorry for being rude..." he then said, realizing he probably jumped into a conversation uninvited. "If you want me to go, I will..." he said, hoping that would not be the case.

[Holly]

"Sirius! What's up, man?" O.J. said, grinning as his friend walked up. Secretly, he was glad that he wasn't the only guy any more. "Sure you can stay. If it's ok with everyone else, I guess. I have no problem; how bout you guys? Allison? Bel?"

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Duh we don't mind having him here," she said, rolling her eyes. She laughed and winked at Sirius, "Don't mind my dumb friend. He's just a little slow. We love Quidditch players, don't we Allison?"

Allison nodded, blushing slightly. "Hi,"she said shyly. She wasn't very good at being around other people who she wasn't close to. Especially not school 'celebrities' like Sirius. "Of course you can stay,"she murmured, looking at her feet.

[Katie]

Victoire was grinning when she had finally manuvered her way through the crowd of people and found Teddy. "You don't look to bad yourself, hot stuff." she said with a wink. She felt like the luckiest girl in the whole room because she was with him. She saw some of the female students give her the eye as their beloved Professor was now taken. "Oh dear, it looks like some of your fans don't look too happy." she giggled. She couldn't help but spazz out lightly when Teddy pinched her "Ack!"she laughed and pinched him in return. She saw that some of her cousins were there as well. "Hi guys!" she said as Teddy dragged her towards the dance floor. "We'll talk later!" she called out and then turned to face her date.

"You know I love to dance, Ted." she said, her face glowing. As much as she hated the dressing up part of balls, the acctual dancing was always so much fun. She grabbed his hand once they were situated on the dance floor and began to sway back and forth in time with the music. She couldn't stop staring at his eyes, they were so hypnotizing. She kissed him gently on the cheek and said "It's nice to see everyone so happy, right?" and then she looked at her cousins and bit her lip "Well, almost everyone." she replied to herself and motioned towards Cam and Chase. "Do you think we should go see what's going on?" she asked not wanting to leave but at the same time, not wanting a war in the Weasley family.

[Eri]

Rose smiled at O.J. as he flirted back with but didn’t even seem to notice. The guy was cute, nice, and sweet, every characteristic she could want in a guy, but Rose wasn’t blind. Anyone with eyes could see that there was a love triangle going on here. Allison obviously liked O.J. but he seemed to like Bel, and Bel was oblivious to it all. If they weren’t her friends she would have found the situation cause for hilarity rather than worry. As it was, they were her friends and she definitely did not want any trouble.

About to jump into whatever Estrella, Allison, and Bel where talking about, she heard over the dull roar of the crowd a voice call her name. Turning, she spotted Sirius, her cousin. Rose waved him over and greeted him energetically. “Watcha, Siri.”

[/color]

Estrella pulled herself out of her conversation with Allison and Isabel when she heard Rose greet some one who had just walked up. She turned her head slightly and caught sight of dark hair, a handsome face, and captivating blue-gray eyes. Sirius, her brain whispered and was immediately pulled back to that magical night down by the Lake when they had kissed.

She half expected him to come stand by her side and was rather hurt when he took a place between Rose and O.J. Hastily she changed her sad expression and said civilly, with neither a hint of friendliness nor hostility, “Hello, Sirius,” while trying to figure out why he had practically ignored her.

Finally reaching the conclusion that he either didn’t or didn’t want to remember the events of that night she was hard pressed to hold back a small tear. To cover up her moment of weakness she turned her head back to Allison, deigning to respond to Sirius’ worry that he was interrupting. [/color][/b]

When Sirius moved to stand between her and O.J. Rose watched Estrella anxiously. She, just like any other Hogwarts student and teacher, knew that Estrella and Sirius did not get along at all. It was a very rare occasion that the two met and there wasn’t a shouting match or duel. Discreetly she reached for her wand, ready to immobilize both if they started at it.

Rose was extremely surprised when Estrella greeted Sirius rather politely. Looking around she saw many other students staring at their little group with wide eyes, obviously just as surprised as she. Rose glanced back at Estrella’s face again and saw Estrella hastily rearrange her features to a look of polite interest from one of great sadness. This puzzled Rose even more and she resolved to watch Estrella very carefully for the remainder of the night.

When she heard Sirius offer to leave Rose quickly assured him that he didn’t have to, keeping her ears open for Estrella’s objection of him staying but she didn’t say anything. Rose looked around at Estrella again and saw her friend hastily try to hide her face, which confused Rose to no end. [/color]

Estrella blinked back her tear and tried to focus on what she was going to say before Sirius walked up. ”You look absolutely gorgeous, Bel,” Estrella reassured her friend, looking Isabel up and down. “You too, Al,” she added after noticing Allison giving her dress a discreet once over. “In fact, I’m feeling a bit over dressed compared to you.” [/color][/b][/center]

[Holly]

Allison's eyebrows furrowed slightly when she saw Estrella's expression. It was strange; Estrella's look was usually pure hatred around Sirius, yet she looked sad and then quickly her expression became polite. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Estrella was hurting in some way. Since she didn't seem to want anyone to notice Allison returned to the conversation, her brain whirling.

Isabel rolled her eyes as Esrella complimented her. "Thanks, I guess,"she said. "Can we please talk about something else? Quidditch perhaps?" Isabel hated to talk about girly stuff; it simply bored her to death.

O.J. laughed and said, "Yeah we can. We can talk about how Gryffindor's gonna kick ass this year! Ravenclaw and Slytherin can kiss the Cup goodbye, eh Sirius?"

[Eri]

Estrella, a Chaser and the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, hearing O.J.’s prediction, immediately jumped to her team’s defense. With a toss of her glossy black curls and a wicked gleam in her eye she said, “Oh really? What? Do you have a second team? Because…Well the team I’ve seen playing…all I’m going to say is this: your Chasers are uncoordinated, your Beaters can’t aim, and your Seeker looks like he’s riding a Comet 250.”

Rose had to cover her mouth to keep the exclamatory “Oh!” that usually followed a good insult from escaping. Estrella had just so thoroughly dissed the Gryffindor Team that Rose was surprised Sirius hadn’t strangled her yet. Not that Rose was surprised at Estrella’s comments. Words, whether being used to charm or insult, were a specialty of Estrella’s, after all.

Estrella, for her part, had placed her hands on her hips and was looking up at O.J. with a raised eyebrow, waiting to see how he would respond. From what she knew of the boy—which was the very little gleaned on the Quidditch Pitch and from gossipy friends—she figured he’d be interesting to argue with. Of course, not all of Estrella’s attention was focused solely on O.J. She kept one eye on Sirius to see his reaction as well.

[/font][/b]

Rose looked furtively at Sirius, worried that he would do or say something that would cause a row. She was puzzled, however that Estrella didn’t mention anything about the Keeper, Sirius, who she would have gone after right away normally. Eventually she came to the conclusion that Estrella wanted to avoid another fight like their last one. It had sent three first-year ignorant enough not to duck for cover when the two first bumped into eachother to the Hospital Wing and they’d both ended up with separate detentions because the teachers wisely decided that putting them in the same detention was a bad idea.[/color] [/center]

[padfoot!]

Sirius was smiling at the group of people who had gladly let him into their conversation uninvited. He was not sure if they had seen what they were rescuing him from, all he knew is he was happy they had knowing it or not. Sirius kept shifting his eyes away from the Slytherin Beauty he was in the presence of, knowing that he couldn’t keep his gaze there for two long for they had been enemies from the start of their school career and acting like he wanted to be near her would not help if she did not want anyone to know about last weekend. He honestly did not have a problem with it, so many worse things had happened while he was drunk and people found out about it, why should him having a kiss with her (which he thoroughly enjoyed) be a bad thing? He would do it again now if he were not so afraid of causing a riot.

The raven haired girl greeted him with a simple hello and his first name, which was an obvious shocker to her best friend and his cousin, Rose. “Hey,” he said back with a quick flash of his charming smile, but not lasting long enough for anyone to really notice, though he was pretty sure he had caught it. OJ meanwhile, had greeted him in much more to co-player way with the traditional jock, ‘what’s up?’ with the excited tone they almost always had. It was a curse, but they couldn’t really help it. “Hah, not a lot man, just kind of chillin. Came on my own tonight where as I see you’re quite the player, these two I believe are yours?” he smirked at the joke that he knew OJ would take as a joke as well about Isabel Peakes and Allison McLaggen who he was almost always seen with. When he said it was fine with him to stay he was glad, and then the other two went on to say of course he could stay and that made him feel even more welcomed which was good.

When Isabel said she wanted to change the topic to something a little less girly, Sirius grinned and said, “Fuck yeah, seriously!” and then the topic changed to Quidditch, where as that and alcohol were pretty much Sirius’s most knowledgeable subjects. OJ then said that Gryffindor would definitely kick ass with every team they played this year, and Sirius nodded in agreement. Of course, as the Captain he had extremely high hopes for his team and being undefeated was definitely one of them. Then Estrella jumped into the conversation speaking the most he had heard her all night. She started to insult his team and defend her own in only the way a captain would. Her comments were that their chasers were uncoordinated, the beaters can’t aim and the seeker seemed to be riding an extremely old broom. Sirius took notice that she did not once insult his skills whatsoever. As Rose took notice of the clear insult to her cousins team, Sirius took front and center stage of their little group and went on to retaliate and defend his team.

“Well,” he said, with his grey eyes looking as smug as ever. “First off, your chasers can’t throw the Quaffle half way across the pitch let alone past me. Your beaters, cant hit shit even if the Bludger was sitting still, your seeker can’t see past his nose, and the keeper couldn’t keep a goal out of the hoops if his life depended on it. I also realized you had nothing to say on my skills.” With that he waited for her to retaliate once more and he did not really want to make her angry or anything and he had wished he could have left out the part about the chasers but while Estrella was a pretty good player, (he would have let her on his time if she had been in his house.) the other two were not. He wondered if her leaving him out of it was simply because she honestly could not think of an insult on his playing skills, or she was thinking about last night. With a smirk he kept his gaze on her and said, “Tonight’s not the night to worry about this though, we can prove our skills on the Quidditch Pitch in a few weeks, if you feel you’re up to it, maybe we can have a pre-match scrimmage. Captain versus Captain, chaser verses keeper?”

With that offer on the table, Sirius then change his smug look to a much nicer one, his eyes going from defensive to charming in a split second. Since the others were behind him, except Rose, but he figured Estrella had probably already confided in Rose about the one night, if not then she would eventually, so he winked at her, and said, “Let me know if you want to take me up on that offer.”

On the dance floor, Teddy Lupin was happily slow dancing with the girl of his dreams. She mentioned how it was nice to see all the students seeming to be happy and putting problems aside for the night of fun. “Yeah, it is, I know wanting to make a night like this perfect was always motivation for me to get over my problems with who ever and just go have fun,” he leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I hope tonight is what you’ve been looking forward to, baby girl,” he whispered to her softly in her hear.

Then she added in, ‘Well, almost everyone…’ and motioned towards her cousins Cameryn and Chase, the twins that belonged to George Weasley and had definitely followed in his and his own twins footsteps with all the chaos the caused. They seemed to be arguing, or more like Cam seemed to be yelling. “Don’t worry about it honey, you know Cameryn has a temper, she probably just got a little angry at Chase for a prank he attempted on her. Not that that would have been a smart move on his part, but you never know. I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal… But if you want to, it’s up to you,” he said softly, but rested his chin on top of her head so he could smell her blond hair and he kissed the top of her head. This night was going so great he could not see anything ruining it.