Hogwarts Yule Ball - All Welcome

Briony had been badgered and badgered by Richard to finance another ball, it seemed that the students were dissappointed that she didn't place one on for Halloween like she had done last year, at the moment she thought that there were better things to spend the schools money on, but when she did something she didn't do it by halves, so no scraggly decorations for the hall, no no, no awful little cocktail sausages on stick just to try and conserve some cost.

For the first time in a while Briony was holding little Raven in her arms, and she felt oddly light and happy to have the baby with her, even though she was far from a baby now, she was almost one and a half after all, and she was beginning to try and make some words, much to Briony's delight, and she had taken her first steps a few weeks ago, soon the baby proofing wards would have to come out.

Gazing around the hall, for the first time in a long time the scowl on her face broke into a happy expression and she nodded at her handiwork, feeling proud of herself. The music blared through the pillar speakers lining the four corners of the room, now all they needed was some students.

The Great Hall Decorations

Richard walked into the hall wearing the suit he had bought for the occassion. He supposed that soon he'd have to stop buying them and just wear the same one twice or something but not for now he thought to himself. He looked around the hall, very happy with the decorations as they were beautiful and showed that a lot of care had been taken in preparing for the ball.

Seeing her beautiful wife holding their cute little daughter in her arms, Richard beamed happily as he made his way over to the two special girls in his life. He kissed Briony softly on the lips before kissing little Raven on the head,

"You know these decorations are beautiful right? But there's something much more beautiful in the room at the moment." he told her before gently kissing her again, "You."

The Doctor walked into the Great Hall of Hogwarts for the first time in years and couldn't help but smile. It looked so different from the last time he'd seen it. Although the last time he had seen it the hall had been the place of a battleground so that wasn't saying much but still, it looked a hell of a lot better than it had done back then.

Seeing both Richard and Briony Romain waiting at the end of the hall, along with their small child, Raven. Thankfully the child was taking after her parents and not her namesake. The world was a better place for it in his opinion, even if he did like the older Raven and greatly enjoy her company. He bowed his head,

"Hallo Romains!" he greeted them with a wide smile, "I must say that it is an honour to stand in Hogwarts as a guest and not an invader."

Leon breezed through the doors to the Great Hall, the crowds of students and other party goers parting as he walked. Whether it was because they didn't like him or if they were afraid of him he didn't care. It all had the same end result after all.

Moving up to where The Doctor was greeting the Romains, he stood stiffly in front of them. He did not bow his head like The Doctor had,

"I thank you for my invitation to this ball Mrs Romain, considering our past differences." he said formally, bowing his head ever so slightly. He glanced at Richard, "Good to see you Dick."

Briony's eyes landed on the Doctor, a man who she had a lot of respect for, but her eyes instantly lost their happier glaze of before, there was no room to be happy infront of Germans, they might use what they see making you happy for their own advantage, but, she was pretty sure that Doctor wouldn't stoop that low.

"Nice to see you Doctor, I think I prefer it this way around too." she smirked, her black eyes dancing with humour "I trust you prefer this sleeping Raven to the rather more manic one you are used to? Would you like to hold her?"

As soon as she saw Leon making his way over to her, Briony's grip, tightened on Raven and she fixed him with the most unamused look she could muster, she invited him because she felt she needed to, not because she wanted him there.

"You are most welcome, Mr. Becker, please do try not to make our Minister upset the next time you come to talk to him, he is in attendance tonight." she spoke almost in a warning tone.

Aquila was impressed by Hogwarts efforts and creating a magnificent setting for a ball - though she was sure Durmstrang could have easily done better. Nonetheless, she was appreciative of all forms of beauty and acknowledged that a lot of effort and hard work must have gone into something that slightly took her breath away. She brushed her hair out of her face - she'd left it down, after quickly casting a gentle waves charm over her hair. She liked curls, but hers had been a little extreme that morning in reaction the coldness in the atmosphere and she'd had to tame them to their normal, gentle waves.

She looked over at the adults and smiled politely, before her eyes widened at the presence of their Got Des Assistenten. She shook her head and walked straight towards the wall. It was something she often did at social events like these. Aquila leant back against the wall and her eyes scanned the area. People were slowly trickling in, and she felt a little twinge of jealousy at some of the long, swooping, magnificent dresses. They were pretty, but the jealousy was soon dispelled as Aquila reminded herself how ridiculous she would look in one.

She liked her dress, though her mother disapproved of how short it was - honestly, that woman would be the death of Aquila. She shook head head just thinking about it and drummed her fingers against the wall as she looked around for someone familiar to talk to.

When Charity had found out there was a ball, she'd panicked and immediately owled her mentor informing her of this horrible situation. Her mentor had been very persuasive and convinced Charity this would be good for her to deal with social situations. Charity had reluctantly agreed to go, and was a little bit excited as she sat in front of the mirror with her dress/shirt on, knee-length boots and her hair in a neat, high ponytail.

Her mentor had used her own money to buy the lovely outfit for Charity - much to the Hufflepuff's protest. She was very grateful for it though, and was grateful to her mentor for knowing her so well and knowing she'd like something like this. It was plain, yet pretty. Charity smiled half-heartedly at her reflection and slowly made her way down to the Great Hall.

As she stepped inside, she gasped. It was magnificent, it was breath-taking, she was utterly awestruck. She slowly made her way inside and moved to one of the tables. She slid into a seat and fidgeted with the fabric of her dress as she looked around for Charlotte.

Now this is a ball, were Airen's first thoughts as he entered the Great Hall. He looked around, awed by the formal look of the place. He looked around at those in attendance, a small smile forming at the Germans that were already present. He liked this peace that had settled over the area. However, he was wary of the Durmstrang professors. A few of them had caused quite a ruckus in his first year.

Deciding to forgive and forget. Airen made his way to the refreshments. He grabbed himself a glass of water and made his way to the nearest table. He looked to the door and waited for his date, Charlotte, to arrive.

Melody wore the same long sleeved black dress she had worn with her cat costume last year.She also wore the same black sneakers as aside form not having a pair of high heels she had heard that high heels were bad for feet. She made her dress longer to hide the sneakers which made it hard to walk without tripping over her dress.She was beggining to wish she had never come a feeling which faded slightly when she saw the food.

Charlotte happily walked into the Great Hall, it looked so beautiful and she couldn't help but laugh lightly to herself, she was in for a wonderful night, nevermind that she had pricked her fingers to hell putting the sequins onto the dress last night, she had used some healing lotion and they'd healed right up.

Her green velvet heels clicked on the floor as she made her way towards Airen, he stood out of the crowd for her ever time, but now more so in his stunning white suit and red tie, a Gryffindor through and through she thought with a small grin.

"Airen!" she called, wandering towards him and dodging some other students, when she reached him she gave him a large hug, her eyes had been changed to the same deep green as her dress, different from her usual red, "You look so wonderful tonight, do you want to come with me to meet one of my friends?"

Giving Charity a friendly wave, Charlotte waited to see what Airen was going to do and she wandered over to her, sitting down on one of the chair beside her;

"Charity your dress is so lovely, it's nice to see you here I was wondering if you were going to come."

Charity let her eyes fall back to her lap as more people entered and she just kept her head bowed, hoping that if Charlotte saw her she would come to her. She heard someone exclaim 'Airen' and she looked up, immediately seeing Charlotte.

She smiled softly as Charlotte gave her a wave and slowly lifted her hand to wave back, not really sure what the motion meant. Was it friendly? Charity had never waved to someone before.

"It is nice, isn't it? My mentor bought it for me. You look magnificent." Charity replied in her usual, soft tone. "I was hoping i'd see you here, and Lucinda - my mentor - thought it would be a good idea to go to a social event."

Airen turned when he heard Charlotte call his name. He smiled and embraced her when she reached him. He kissed her soundly on the lips as a greeting. When he withdrew, he noticed that she had changed her eyes to an emerald green like her dress. He smiled at the small change that she had made to match her dress.

"Of course. I'd love to meet a new friend," he said, following her as she led him to the other Hogwarts student who was already there. He took the seat on the opposite side Charlotte and set his glass on the table.

"Hello, Charity, is it?" Airen asked, extending a friendly hand for her to shake.

Melody spotted Charlotte and and decided to walk over to her.Thankfully her sneakers were enchanted to look like high heels so people would think that she couldn't walk in heels which was hopefully less embarrassing then she couldn't walk in a long dress.
"Hi Charlotte,"Melody greeted.Then she turned to the two near Charlotte."Hi I'm Melody."

[[A Slytherin, a Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw. We're like the ultimate awesome foursome xD]]

Charity felt her face pale slightly as it seemed Charlotte had brought a boy along. She was already un-comfortable with the strong, wand-wielding men around the room as well as the women, and now she was face to face with a boy?! Her father had always been far more physically cruel than her mother, meaning she was far more terrified of males.

And then, lo and behold, Charlotte's popularity attracted someone else, a girl who didn't look very old but Charity still felt terrified and she wasn't any good at hiding the fear clear on her face. She gulped and looked at Charlotte in panic, then at the out-stretched hand.

Deciding to do what the voice in her head - which sounded a lot like Lucinda - told her to do, she took his head in a feather-light grip and shook it once before letting it drop. "Y-y-yes, Charity," her voice was barely more than a whisper. She cleared her throat. "What's y-your n-n-am-e-e?"

(Yes! Ultimate awesome foursome. We could also be used as the beginning of a joke. A Hufflepuff, a Slytherien, a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw walk into a bar...). The way Charity looked around as if she expected one of the people at the ball to suddenly attack was making Melody nervous.

Charlotte suddenly felt like it might have been a bad idea to bring Airen over, but she hadn't want to leave any of them on their own, it was rather a difficult situation, but when Melody too came over she knew that she was going to need to give Charity some subtle reassurance that everything was going to be okay.

"Yes Charity, this is Airen, my boyfriend." she introduced and when Melody introcuced herself she smiled gently, wondering what the four of them were going to do now "Well I think that it's lovely that you're here maybe we can all get up and have a dance later on."

Looking around the hall, Charlotte's eyes fixed on some of the German adults there; "W-wow I didn't think that Germans were invited to the ball." she whispered.

Lucian had not wanted to be anywhere near people at this time, however, he knew that Aquila was going to the ball at Hogwarts and there was no way she was staying in Britain on her own, he was going to go with her and make sure that she was alright, in case a fight broke out.

Wandering into the Hall, he whistled lightly, it was a nice place that was for sure, and when he walked into the hall his eyes fixed automatically on one person in particular, Aquila, she looked lovely and he smirked lightly as he walked over to her.

His eyes survaying the rest of the hall, Lucian stopped stock still, when he saw Leon Becker. His eyes automatically darkened and he had to stop a feral growl from rising in his throat, automatically his desires conflicted, from tearing the bastards throat out, and making sure he did that on another occassion, letting Aquila have a nice night.

Haley had realized that during the last few months, she had been seriously unpleasant to everyone she had left to care about. She couldn't remember the last time she had talked to her remaining friends. It was like she was pushing them away, fearing that if she kept them close, she'd lose them all.

She sighed and adjusted her dress. She didn't look good in it; it didn't fit the person she was. But she'd make the best of it. She walked out of the Hufflepuff common room and to the Great Hall. She was mesmerized by the beauty of the room, but beauty was a lost concept to her. Nonetheless, she smiled and pretended to be having a good time.

She saw Charlotte talking to a fellow Hufflepuff that Haley had yet to get to know, and she saw Airen. Those two were about the only ones she had left that she could call friends. And they were her friends, whether they liked it or not. She walked slowly over to them, a small smile on her lips. "Hey, you guys look lovely," she said, nodding to all four of them, noting with humor that there was one Hufflepuff, one Gryffindor, one Slytherin and one Ravenclaw there, not counting herself.

"Thanks. I'm Melody." She noticed that the girl didn't look all that comfortable in her dress. It was a nice dress though."What's your name?"

Airen shook Charity's hand. He noticed that she seemed a bit afraid of all the people around her. He decided to be gentle in his approach. He smiled softly, and nodded his head at Charlotte's answer for him. Laying a hand on hers, he puffed out his chest in mock-pride.

"As Charlotte said, I'm Airen Auditoren. Piacere (A pleasure) to meet you Charity," he said, his Italian accent shining through. Looking over to Haley, he smiled friendly at her. "Salve (Hello), Haley," he said, inclining his head.

Charity's eyes flickered over to Melody and she stared at the Ravenclaw with hesitance. "H-h-hi, Melody," she responded to the girl, before looking back at Airen and being relieved as he dropped her hand. She was glad that he didn't seem to poes any threat to her. Charity's eyes widened as he spoke a bit of Italian and her mouth popped open.

Immediately, she felt far more relaxed around Airen. Italian was the language her mother had spoken to her in to lull her to sleep, and it was a source of comfort to her. Before she was taken away, her mother sighed and whispered to her whilst their father was busy, "Essere sicuri la mia demonio" Which had translated into 'Be safe my devil'. Though her mother had called her a devil, it was how Charity had known that her mother still loved her even just the tiniest little bit.

"Lei parla italiano?" She tilted her head at Airen, her voice gaining some volume. However, her little confidence vanished as Charlotte's popularity attracted yet ANOTHER person, and she could feel the panic rising. She felt claustrophobic surrounded by so many people, and she immediately reached out, grabbing Charlotte's hand and holding it so tight it might've been painful to the Slytherin.

[[Lei Parla Italiano = Do you speak Italian?]]

Apparently Charity was more comfortable speaking Italian than English. She noticed Charity grabbing Charlotte's hand when Haley showed up, the poor girl looked terrified again.Maybe she should leave although if being around four people was so much for Charity to handle why did she go to the ball in the first place?
"Um, what language are you guys speaking?"

Lucia took on her dress and straightened it out, wondering what would happen today what with all invited and stuff. But she hoped that there wouldn't be any drama. The students had seen enough action for a lifetime, and so had she. She walked down the steps from the infirmary and to the Great Hall.

Upon reaching it, she was mesmerized by the wonderful decorations. She then saw Briony and Richard standing further off with some of the teachers there. She hadn't seen either of them before, but one, she recognized as the Doctor. She frowned and started walking that way. It didn't take a lot of medical skills to see that Briony was not looking at the other one with a coldhearted glare. And Lucia hated seeing Briony like that.

She put a smile on her face and walked all the way up to them. "Hello there," she said happily, "It's really beautiful here, you really have got a splendid taste, Briony."

Essantha had never been on a ball before, she'd only heard about them, so to say that she was excited was an understatement. However, she was also very curious as to how it would go to have a ball with the British people. It wouldn't be much fun if it broke into a fight. If it did, she'd be ready.

She apparated to Hogsmeade and walked up to Hogwarts with soft steps, her feet getting wet in the snow, but she didn't really care about that. She walked up the stone steps and was let into the castle. She crossed the entrance hall and into the Great Hall. For a moment, she was stunned by the beauty of the room. Then she didn't know what to do. She could only see her boss there that she knew, but she didn't know anyone well enough to simply walk over to them. So she decided on sitting down by a table, taking a drink.

Cain wandered into the Great Hall, after accepting the position as the new Divination Professor at Hogwarts, he didn't know what he was going to do at this party, there would be nobody here that he knew after all, but he had decided to come after all, maybe it would be a good chance to make some new acquaintances.

Looking around the Hall he spotted a large group of students in a discussion and a rather large group of Professors, it seemed as if they were all a little involved with each other, so when he spotted one professor he didn't know, sipping at a drink all alone, he decided it would be easier to converse with her.

Trotting over to the table, Cain merely stood next to the young professor;

"Greetings, I have not had the pleasure of making your acquaintance, my name is Cain Valerian." he introduced with a small smile on his lips.