The Ball

(Here is the main thread in which you can post in the ball. If you can keep track of your posts then you should be okay. Quoting helps.)

The Masquerade Ball. A time for fun, dance, and hidden identities, you could be speaking to anyone at all, find you like them, and never know who it was. Slytherin's could act like Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs could reveal their Slytherin tendencies. Anyone could act any way they wanted, and whatever was behind the mask.. well they stayed behind the mask, and whoever came out from behind it.. was never seen again.

Faith had spent hours making sure she looked appropriate for the ball. Her hair was curled and more crazy then anything it had ever looked like. Unfortunately it's flaming red color didn't exactly help her hide from anyone who knew her. Her dress hung down around her feet, huge and puffy, flaring out at her waist, and curling to the floor. Her mask on the other hand, tied around the back of her head, so she wouldn't have to hold the little stick thing. Feathers curled up around the top of her head, and a butterfly rested against her forehead.

Faith had decided to go with a butterfly theme for the ball, her jewelry included a butterfly ring on her middle finger, and a butterfly necklace, while her shoes were flowers, as though a giant butterfly had landed upon a single, tiny flower.

Faith stood off to the side, watching the people mill around. It was a beautiful time, the party hadn't quite started yet, and she was nervous. Balls always made her nervous, but she hoped that maybe she'd be able to make a friend tonight, and be.. well not Faith.

Normally Ryo wouldn't bother going to these things at all. They just weren't his "thing". Especially because there was always someone who ended up recognising him somehow and they would harass him about it later on. But he figured that this time it was fine to go, especially because it was a masquerade, no one would be able to tell it was him under the mask that covered the top half of his face. He had been careful in hiding the mask so that no one would find it and find him there. The half mask was enough to cover most of his face, so no one would know it was him, so that was good.

There was another thing that would keep him from being discovered. He had a date to this thing. That's right, a date. If he was alone, people would know it was him, because he was usually that kid in the background that went to things alone, or was left alone after he was dragged into going in the first place. Although he had to admit that it was a bit uncomfortable wearing the tuxedo he'd chosen. He wasn't used to wearing formal clothes. He pulled at the cuff of his sleeve and adjusted the bow tie that was around his neck, before tugging on the collar of the tux uncomfortably.

Not many people were there yet but the room was quickly filling with people who were just arriving. Ryo had shown Rise the mask he was going to be wearing when he asked her to come with him, so she should have no problem finding him out of the people who were there, but he wouldn't be able to tell who she was until she came up to him. He just had to sit there and wait for her.

Ryo Hiroku wrote:Normally Ryo wouldn't bother going to these things at all. They just weren't his "thing". Especially because there was always someone who ended up recognising him somehow and they would harass him about it later on. But he figured that this time it was fine to go, especially because it was a masquerade, no one would be able to tell it was him under the mask that covered the top half of his face. He had been careful in hiding the mask so that no one would find it and find him there. The half mask was enough to cover most of his face, so no one would know it was him, so that was good.

There was another thing that would keep him from being discovered. He had a date to this thing. That's right, a date. If he was alone, people would know it was him, because he was usually that kid in the background that went to things alone, or was left alone after he was dragged into going in the first place. Although he had to admit that it was a bit uncomfortable wearing the tuxedo he'd chosen. He wasn't used to wearing formal clothes. He pulled at the cuff of his sleeve and adjusted the bow tie that was around his neck, before tugging on the collar of the tux uncomfortably.

Not many people were there yet but the room was quickly filling with people who were just arriving. Ryo had shown Rise the mask he was going to be wearing when he asked her to come with him, so she should have no problem finding him out of the people who were there, but he wouldn't be able to tell who she was until she came up to him. He just had to sit there and wait for her.

Risé wasn't exactly the biggest fan of balls. In fact she knew that Ryo wasn't either, but hey.. why not? They were going to end Hogwarts soon anyway, why not get one last run in at the things the others normally did during school.

Risé had poured way too much of her money into this ball, even if the stuff was just rented, she had thrown away quite a bit. Her dress was beautiful and floor length, her mask was lace and hardly hid her face as it was, but it enough that no one would be able to tell it was her.. at least at first. It tied around the back of her head for convenience.

Risé knew who to look for as she entered the room and turned her gaze to the people around her. He had shown her his mask, but he had no idea who she was, and it was slightly exciting. The one good thing about her dress, was that it completely covered her chest, and that night, she was no different than anyone else in the room.

Finally, Risé spotted Ryo and casually made her way to his general direction, standing about five feet behind him, her eyes roamed over his body, taking in his uncomfortable-looking, but stylish suit.

"You look like a business man..." Risé said lightly from behind him, still looking him over blatantly. "But your ass looks nice at least." Risé slowly looked up at him, grinning and brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. "Nice to see you made it."

This was a time when he wished that you didn't have to dress up to go to balls or any kind of dance like this. He really didn't like these clothes, they kept somehow sticking to him and it actually hurt a bit when he pulled it away from his skin. This is why you never saw him in these types of things. But still, it was his last year at Hogwarts and he needed to at least do something that would make him seem normal. Not that he was. And he wasn't afraid to accept that he wasn't a normal guy, everyone pretty much knew it anyways, so what was the point? He just tried to act normal so that some people wouldn't get all freaked out when they were near him, that was it.

More people had come into the room and among those people was Rise, not that he knew. Ryo had been pulling on the cuffs of his sleeves again when he heard a voice coming from behind him that was addressing him. He turned around and faced Rise, smirking at her comment. "Um, thanks I guess?" he half asked her after she said that his ass atleast looked nice. He was talking it as a compliment, but he wasn't sure if it was actually meant as one.

He looked her over, from head to toe, and smiled. "You look beautiful." he told her softly, stepping closer to her. "I wouldn't miss it. I'm here for you anyways." he said.

((OOC: I put it into a spoiler tag because I can't post direct links))

Spoiler:

Jessica wouldn't usually be seen at these things, because she had body issues, not actually anything wrong with her body, she just thought it was ugly and fat, although this wasn't true. She had gone to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions two months ago, and paid a fair amount out of her savings for Madam Malkin to hand-make a beautiful dress along with suede/leather shoes and a fascinator for the back of her hair. She looked extravagant and beautiful she dare say, she was looking for her boy. Today her depression had slowly faded, although she knew it would come back tomorrow.

As soon as she entered the room, she gasped there were huge chandeliers, and the ballroom was huge, she sat down at one of the tables waiting for someone to talk to.

Having her fill of fun on that Halloween night, Lily transformed her costume into her ball gown- transitioning from a skeleton costume, to a black and white dress with heels. She paused outside of the Great Hall, affixing her ornate mask to her face, flicking her wand at her hair. The poof went away from her bushy hair and fell sleek against her head. She pulled out a pin and pinned it up.

Quick changes were fun.

She slipped inside of the ball, glancing around, feeling a level of happiness beginning to rise within her, a happiness she did not typically feel when she was within the confines of the school's walls. Too many people here knew her too well. Her name was a being all to itself. It was nice to be anonymous, just another body moving through a sea of people.

Lily breathed easily.

She glanced around, spotting The Wall. There was always a wall. Where the dateless girls, and the pathetic guys stood and waited. There always seemed to be more girls at these things, so if a boy was dateless and not dancing, something was sincerely wrong with him. The girls had an excuse- the girl to boy ratio was severely unfair for the female population.

With a little heavy sigh, Lily stood amongst the girls waiting for a date. Just while she regrouped. Just while she figured out her plan for the evening.

Kingsley Shacklebolt sat at the table at the end of the great hall, waiting. Usually, Shacklebolt would simply deliver a speech, and then leave the Ball, he hadn't danced in a vet, very long time. Kingsley did not have to deliver a speech now, but he was still there. It was occurring to him now just how bad an idea this was. Hogwarts didn't usually allow adults into the castle, and although all the other parts of the castle were closed to them by a certain spell, the whole student population would be right in this hall. The majority of the hall was filled with students right now, he could tell that much by their heights and satisfied smirks, but the graduates would arrive soon, and Kingsley had to stay for that. Call him insane or whatever, Kingsley found that it was always safer to be paranoid.

Spoiler:

Last time Ne'Os walked through these halls they were on fire. Since then he had joined one of the most powerful dark wizards, betrayed him, dueled him in the ministry of magic, became the dark lord and then lost his title to the current dark lord. To say the least it had been a stressing year. Today however was not of business but pleasure.

As he entered the great hall he checked over his outfit. His silver tux almost reflected light. His wand was in a silver holster on his hip. His mask was a special artifact he had created special for the ball. When not in use it was white and featureless but when he fed his magic into it it would appear in any form he wanted. At the moment it appeared in a form that some could find unsettling . It was his face. Or rather his face from before he was killed. The youthful 19 year old vampire with his handsome features given to him from generations of pure blood breading. He knew it didn't hid his identity very well but he didn't care. He was here for pleasure not business, and if he needed to he could just change his face.


He scanned the room he wondered if he would recognize anyone. He knew they would recognize him. He walked around the edge of the ball room making no moves to not be seen.

The October evening that provided a backdrop to the big Halloween event that the Wizarding World was hosting was a chilly one and had been since morning had dawned and the sun had risen – the latter doing little to take the edge off of the biting winds. For Helene Delacour, precious little of her day had been spent preparing for the Masquerade ball and so in the end it was something of a rush to ensure she was dressed and ready for the event on time. It was six o’clock before she’d even caught her breath and allowed herself to reflect on the busy day she’d spent in paediatrics. Before she could even paint her toenails, her hair had to be up and curled and the dress had to be squeezed into – and her feet slipped into closed-toe shoes.

Several warming charms were cast over her skin before she departed from the flat she had in London that was far too large for one person and still a real draw on her salary. Helene looked down at the dress, desperately wishing it away, embarrassed by the fact that it was a repeated wear. But, upon reassuring herself that no one would have seen her in it before anyway, Helene lifted her gaze to her reflection in the mirror mounted on the wall above the entrance hallway table. She took the keys out of the porcelain bowl that was sat beneath a vase of late-blooming roses and exhaled heavily, wondering whether it was a good idea to attend at all. It wasn’t often that she attended such functions and though she knew she would most probably regret it come the morning when the hospital called, she did not often treat herself and so after smiling at the mirror, her reflection beaming back, the young woman apparated from her house and to the masquerade ball.

Helene appeared with a crack in Hogsmeade, the little village that was just outside Hogwarts and not one that she was particularly familiar with. It was from there that she took a carriage up to the school; deftly avoiding having to share the carriage with anyone else. The young woman arrived at the school not ten minutes later and found herself in the hall, busily making sure that everything was in order – mask and all. She wondered for a moment whether she’d see her siblings there – Gisele and Julien. It had been too long since she had seen them and she found herself searching the crowd for them.

There were very few graduates at that point in time – you could tell by the height, or lack thereof. Helene found herself feeling someone disappointed but decided that instead of wallowing, she’d go and find herself a drink – and so set about to do just that.