The Grand New Years Ball

Luciana angrily twirled a strand of her hair around her index finger, looking up at Lexi and Ambrose, "No, not really, Lexi," She nodded over to the Vipers, glaring at them, "They think they're so high and mightly and shit, it literally makes me sick.."

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She gave Ambrose a eyebrow raise, obviously annoyed by what had occured earlier, "If enjoying the festivities includes almost throwing up by how cheap these people can be.. really, vodka is just.. low. I wouldn't of minded if it was wine, but.. it's just gross."

Balls were always a good thing in Ed's eyes. Music, dancing, socializing, even a chance for romance. It made him giddy just thinking about it. Not that he was a romantic of any kind. He preferred getting on the dance floor rather than sneaking away to make-out with someone. Besides, he doubted anyone would be interested in him anyway. "Beanpole" was just one of the many nicknames he had earned through his years. Although by the time he made his way into the Great Hall, it looked like he hadn't missed too much. The music hadn't started yet and the kids were just talking to each other while the teachers quietly looked on. Alright Eddy boy, this is your first year teaching here. First impressions are always important. Feeling confident about himself, he scanned the room for a second, hoping to find someone to introduce himself too. He spotted John not too far off, although it seemed like he was looking for someone. Curious, he made his way over. "Hey buddy," he greeted. "Lost your date?"

Lianna continued to drink punch, she always had more fun when she was drunk, it loosened her up. She was always so tense, and a little beer always gave her a free, light hearted feeling. Her heels added about four inches to her height and she felt gloriously tall. She noticed a group of girls standing nearby who looked like Slytherins, but she couldnt be sure and would kill herself if she walked over to a bunch of lame mud blood hufflepuffs.

(ooc: XD shes so nice... shes standing next to the vipers btw)

Lexi recognised Ambrose instantly from Quidditch, she eyed him dubiously, she was not used to associating with slytherins.
"I think I'd enjoy a poke in the eye more, " Lexi replied bluntly. " I take it you're enjoying yourself?" Lexi questioned, analysing his bright smile.
Lexi smiled to herself at Luciana's comment, "I know vodka, how low, I wonder what idiot spiked the punch."

Asyra stepped into the room cautiously, poking her head in first and upon seeing the breathtaking decor did she fully travel inside. Her holiday had been pleasant, a bit rough in the beginning and the end with her mother's tantrums about her leaving to return to Hogwarts but other than that it was quite pleasant indeed. She walked carefully in her shoes, making sure to refrain from anything larger than a small heel to keep from tumbling about on the dance floor, her small drain drop shaped charm hanging around her neck and coincidentally even seemed to match her dress. Her long blonde hair was tied up loosely held up by a dried starfish clip she had made a couple years ago. She gulped quietly, her pale irises taking in all the people who were here, and got the slightest bit of a social anxiety complex, quietly shadowing herself against the wall. However this did not dampen her mood in the slightest, she swayed back in forth happily to the music with a brightened smile on her face.

"Mmm, true," Asami replied, agreeing with Aquata's statement. "But it does make your head buzz, and that's what I like." She took another sip, already feeling a bit looser. Even though she wasn't part of the Vipers, she didn't feel intimidated by them as most people did. They had their own way of having fun, and Asami had hers. Sometimes she felt like maybe she was similar to them in some ways, but she wasn't about to beg them to join their group. Besides, better to flit her way between people and cliques rather than belong to just one. She noticed Lianna not too far away, who seemed not sure if she should join or not. "There's always room for one more," she called out to her, grinning and waving her half-empty cup.

Richard couldn't actually say what he thought. He never wanted anything to end so badly in his life. He hated things like this. It just reminded him of really, really bad memories...

"I'm excited too." Dick stated, trying to smile at his crush. It just... wasn't happening. He tried to at least not scowl. He could accomplish that.

"so... what do you want to do?"

Julie just rolled her eyes before smirking a bit.

"Exactly." She said, before making a little face at the last thing she said. "Heh.. a brave soul asking me to dance? That's a dream for any man. I don't dance.. and I will never dance. I rather just stand here and watch thank you." She said, before giving her a look.. A look only Aileen knew.

Though the look went away fast as she went back to gazing at the dance floor.

"So.. is there any guy your eyes are on?" She said, trying to make the talk a little less boring.. Though it was rare for her to ask these things, but she was desperate.

John was a bit preoccupied with trying to subtly get Vanessa's appearance that he was somewhat startled by the male voice addressing him. Pursing his lips slightly, John turned around to see a Hufflepuff teacher almost equal in lengthy height. John smiled, recognizing the young man from his years at Hogwarts. "Hey Ed," He greeted, glad to see a familiar face; he didn't see many, save for Vanessa. When Ed asked if he had lost his date, his ears reddened a little bit. It wasn't particularly common knowledge that he and Vanessa had... something, whatever it was, but they weren't exactly public with it. There wasn't enough to be public about, and it was slightly awkward for a 29 year old teacher to be dating a perpetually 15 year old ghost. "What? Uhm... no, haha... not, uh, lost..." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "So, how have you been?" He changed the subject quickly, a smile still on his face.

"Hello Belle," he greeted the petite brunette, choosing to ignore her 'wallflower' comment. He looked his friend over, she was wearing a spectacularly poofy pink dress.

"What are you wearing?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk,"expecting a prince to whisk you off your feet?"

Not that she didnt look great, but her dress served to remind him how underdressed he was and he tugged at his tie nervously.

Ambrose laughed, nudging Lexi slightly. The two poor things really did seem to be having a rough night, though he could not help but smile at the fact that Lexi certainly did not look ready to speak to him.

"Well, it's far more enjoyable now that I've found the two of you, I assure you," he said, adding an over-the-top wink. "Come on, it's a ball, ignore them. I'm sure you have something else on your mind than what other people have to say"

Knox walked in with a slight pout hanging on his features, his mother and father had actually come to Hogwarts today to make sure he looked decent for the ball. His mother spend the majority of the time sobbing and proclaiming that he was getting too big, while his father merely helped fix his suit and fix the gelled and combed down disaster his mother tried to make him wear. After being embarrassingly littered with kisses and squeezed until he was sure that some sort of internal organ was now damaged, the two finally left, and Knox could only gratefully sigh. He had run into the bathroom and wet his hair to get rid of the combed over look and abused it until his hair was its naturally shaggy self, grinning a bit into the mirror then made his way to the Great Hall.

He gulped at the amount of people, recognizing a good few of them but his eyes first landed to Jessica and the pout quickly disappeared from view and was replaced with a crooked smile. He made his way over to her, weaving in and out of people carefully.

"Jessica!"

He called as he got to her side.

"I like your dress! You look great!"

{Sorry Jessica you were the first one I saw! xD}

Lianna looked up suddenly as she saw Asami waving her over. She took a deep breath and walked over to join them, standing beside Asami. She leaned on one leg, sticking her hip out.

"Hey," she said in a normal voice, she hadn't had enough to drink to be happy-go-lucky.... yet.

[[No problems, Jess is happy for some company ]]

Jessica flinched a little, surprised to hear someone shouting her and smiled a little when young Knox came up to her.

"Aren't you looking all dolled up?" she said, looking at him. "Honestly, if I'd have put in half the effort you did... enjoy it at all?" she asked, looking about. "I can't tell if this is entertaining or excruciating"

Ed blinked, noticing John tripping over his words a bit. Did he hit a nerve or something? Ed glanced about a bit, wondering if a teacher had stood John up or something. At least, that's who he assumed was John's date, if he had one at all. Although he had heard that if some professors happened to be married, they brought in their spouses to parties and stuff. But John didn't seem to be married yet. Or maybe he had eloped since Ed had last seen him. Ed, shut up. Thinking like this is going to make your head explode. Thinking that to himself seemed to clear his head a bit. At least he hadn't said any of it out loud. "The usual, I guess," he said, shrugging. "I'm hoping they start the music soon. I hear it's supposed to be really good this year."

"Something else on my mind?" asked Lucie curiously, the girl folding her arms, "Oh, like the fact that I can totally tell you're trying to flirt? No, really, I'm just trying not to get swamped. I was walking down here earlier and I had a guy that was holding onto my ankle. Like, he refused to let go.. so I kicked him. Where, I'm not sure, but I think my heel left a mark.." Lucie shrugged. It was obviously a common occurence, but she wouldn't say how bad it scared her. The guys in France never acted that beastly..

Jayden entered the ball room, a large smile on his painted red lips. This was the first ball he had been to in years, and he was going to make the most of it! Which is why he decided to dress in style. Or rather in drag.

He wore a floor length, black, ruched mermaid style dress, which showed off his 'figure' (courtesy of his hip pads and 'breasts'), plain red pumps, and a wig as red as his natural hair. It was mid-back length and fell down in ringlets. His make was simple and feminine, making him look very much like a woman, even though it was obvious by the many gawking stares, that many could tell who he actually was.

After listening to the arrogant ministers speech, he immediately went off to find Eli. He couldn't wait to see his reaction to his look.

Laura hugged his arm a little bit, before smiling a bit more. She then looked around after he asked her his question.. And when she figured out what she wanted to do, she smiled.

"How about we dance?" She asked with a smile. She really wanted to dance with her crush..

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"Oh come on, no need to be so tense," Asami said to Lianna. "Drink up. It is a party, after all." Although these balls usually didn't start getting wild until the music started picking up, and that hadn't even started yet. But talking to everyone was nice enough. At least nobody had pissed Asami off yet. "Parties are only good if you loosen up a bit, right Aquata?" She nudged her friend, smiling.

"Aren't you looking Lovely Lianna," Aquata commented, unlike some of her housemates she preferred to play nice, it made for much better traps, like the lantern fish that lured in its prey with that bright happy flow before devouring them.

"though I do believe our esteemed minister killed the party mood with that dry speech of his," she added with a giggle.

"Flirt? Me? Luciana, I'm insulted, this is nothing less than perfected wooing, I'll have you know." He laughed at the image of a young boy clinging onto her foot. "Well, that's the punishment you get for being so charming, I suppose. You must take the curses alongside the gifts, mustn't you?"

John nodded casually and then smiled. Yes, Ed had always enjoyed music. "Ah, yes. If I was musically talented at all, I may sit in, but alas... I am not. Spoons, maybe, I can handle spoons, but that's it," John chuckled. It was then, he realized, that he wasn't quite sure what Ed was teaching. He was so absent minded that he often forgot such things.

"What subject are you teaching then?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow. He honestly hadn't seen Ed in so long; they really had some catching up to do. How was his he doing outside of school? What kind of jobs did he have? Had he had any? Was he seeing anyone? Engaged? Married? Did he have kids? Oh, the questions were endless, but he'd bring them out slowly and maybe not even all tonight.

Belle laughed. "Who knows? Maybe he will. Looks like we've got some new teachers here." Not that Belle was expecting to find her true love in one night, but it was nice to dream. "At least things are still civil," she commented. "I wonder if things will get crazier once the music starts hyping everyone up. It seems like teenagers go nuts when they have a lot of energy."

Knox's jaw dropped slightly at her dolled up comment, quickly reaching up to grab his hair, making sure it hadn't magically combed back over since he left the bathroom and was relieved when it hadn't; that would have been just his luck! He then looked down at the suit, biting his cheek slightly and fighting back a laugh.
"It wasn't by choice, trust me!"
He said with a nervous grin as his parents quickly appeared in his thoughts, his over dramatic mother flailing about about her son's first dance, even though he was at a tender age of twelve started swearing him off women, while his father only smiled and laughed. The image did bring a smile to his features, ruining the nervous one he had before.
He looked back up at her with the said smile and placed his hands on his hips playfully.
"Hey now, that should say something in itself shouldn't it? I had to put effort into it, you didn't."
Regardless of if she wanted to or not, Jessica would be getting complimented, no matter how much she tried to turn it around. But he then looked out into the crowd, it seemed pretty quiet for now, well, not quiet but relaxed. Everyone was greeting and coming back together after the holiday so he was hoping it would spruce up soon.
"Maybe its like potions class . . . excruciating until someone blows something up and in becomes entertaining? . . . erm . . . not that we should be blowing stuff up though . . ."
He said, fumbling with his words a bit towards the end.

Lianna smiled, "Why is he here anyway? Shouldn't he be off, i don't know, leading the wizarding world?" Lianna asked in a sarcastic voice, looking up at the man. She would love it if he just fell off the stage, she knew who should be in power, not this fool.

"Besides Asami, whoever spiked the punch did not pour enough in, I'll have to drink a cauldron full if I want to get drink-happy," Lianna said absentmindedly, glancing around the room at all the dresses.