The Yule Ball

Belle laughed and leaned against him as she turned her attention back to the room. Loving all the detail of the dresses and the way the girls had their hair styled. She felt rather plain now with all the fancy gowns and styles as she looked down at her own simple gown. "Are you sure I look all right Andrian?" She asked.

Amelia relished in the warm that surrounded her when Elijah’s arms closed around her, blocking the wind. She was surprised to find that the warmth also seemed to be glowing from within her, from a place that she hadn’t really noticed within herself before. It seemed that there were a plethora of unexplored parts of herself that Amelia had never noticed before, all of which seemed to come to light when Elijah was around. This was perplexing to Amelia, despite the fact that she had come to terms with her feelings for this one night.

The thing was, even though she had allowed herself to succumb to her emotions, she knew that the road after this night would not be an easy one. Not every night was the Yule ball, not every lighting was so forgiving, and not every moment was spontaneous for Amelia. She could not help but wondering if in the light of morning, Elijah would think all of this had been a mistake. Or if she would.

Don’t think about that now, Amelia’s subconscious insisted, pulling her back into the warmth of denial that allowed her to pretend that the night would last longer than the hours they had left of it. It seemed that these balls were the only times Amelia ever really came out of her shell, and as soon as they were over she was back inside her castle as if nothing had changed.

For now, though, Amelia would content herself with enjoying what time she had left as her alter-ego. She knew when Elijah mentioned her chill that he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it for fear that it would steal away precious minutes she had in a situation where she didn’t need to pretend to be anything other than what she was. Elijah’s hands kneaded the muscles of her back, trying to coax some warmth out of them, but she knew she would only steal his heat.

A girl with an icy heart doesn’t make much heat of her own, Amelia thought, nodding in response to Elijah’s suggestion to go inside where she would once again have to face the prying eyes of their peers. Although Elijah had somehow erased many of her inhibitions tonight, she would still be self-conscious under the scrutiny of the other ball goers. No doubt many of them had seen the pair departing for the balcony, and she could only begin to imagine to what dark recesses of fantasy their minds may have run off to.

Amelia began to follow Elijah as he turned them both toward the door, but was stopped after only a few steps when Elijah paused. When his arms left her she felt the full force of the winter air on her shoulders and chest, but her interest became otherwise piqued a moment later as Elijah produced something from his pocket. The cold was all but forgotten when Amelia’s eyes came to rest on the box, one that Amelia immediately worried would contain something valuable.

Moments later when Elijah flicked back the lid, Amelia found her fears confirmed. Inside was a beautiful necklace, made mostly of diamonds in a silver inlay, but at the very apex of the chain hung a red gem that had more facets cut into it than Amelia had ever seen in a single stone. Her mouth fell open at the sight of the necklace, taken aback by its beauty and the fact that Elijah had thought to bring it in the first place. She hadn’t exactly given any indication prior to this evening that they were anywhere near a relationship which involved gifts, but Elijah had apparently planned for any situation. Her eyes darted up to his as a small smile of confusion and disbelief spread across her features.

What is he- why did he- I can’t believe he- Amelia’s thoughts were no more than fragments, unable to complete a single thought. Even without knowing the greater purpose of the necklace, Amelia felt overwhelmed to be bestowed with it. She shivered involuntarily as Elijah’s warm fingers touched the back of her neck as he moved to put the necklace around her neck. The metal, which Amelia had expected to be cold, actually felt warm against her already icy skin, and if she looked down she could just see the red stone at the end of the necklace, though the diamonds were now hidden from her view.

Although Elijah’s words were now of a more joking manner - trying to downplay the gift, she thought – Amelia’s mind was still paused at the moment when he had opened the velvet case. He had seemed so anxious for her response, as if the wrong response would break him. Amelia was almost glad that Elijah hadn’t waited for her to eloquate a response, because she feared that in her state of shock she might have said exactly the wrong thing.

Now turning slowly to face him, Amelia raised her eyes from the necklace which now caught the light of the party within. Meeting Elijah’s darker eyes, Amelia paused before speaking, reviewing her words in her mind. This time, though, she was not reciting them in order to ensure that she did not say anything her mother wouldn’t approve of, or to make sure she didn’t accidentally let anything slip. This time, it was to make sure that the words conveyed at least a piece of what she was feeling, or at least the part she understood for the moment.

“It is beautiful,” she finally said, her voice sounding oddly human, “I am only sorry I have nothing to offer you. I guess I didn’t think- er, I mean I wasn’t planning-”

Amelia stopped herself after the second stutter, realizing that the mental planning hadn’t paid off at all after the second sentence. She was now treading into unknown territory, trying to impose logic where it didn’t belong, and to analyze what she did not yet fully understand. Amelia’s eyes darted away for just a moment, a splash of colour rising in her cheeks before she looked back up to meet Elijah’s eyes.

“Perhaps we should just go back in,” Amelia said, her embarrassment at the stuttering showing in her voice and by the small, awkward smile which tugged at her lips. “If Shacklebolt’s beard is going to be set aflame, he’ll no doubt be blaming the prefects if no one is around to put it out,” she added, reverting to Elijah’s tactic of joking distraction to get off the topic of her making a fool of herself by rambling and stuttering.

That was a terrible joke. But hey, practice makes perfect. And you, madam, have had no practice.

Somehow, her subconscious always had to get its two-cents in.

((Wow. Sorry for the loooong post. I didn't realize how carried away I had gotten until I copied it from Word. Oops.))

Scorpius Malfoy wrote:Scorpius entered the Great Hall wearing a black suit. He was quite clearly late, he had mistaken the time that the dance was starting at. Still, he doubted Ginevra would get angry at him for being a bit late. As he entered, he saw his sister leaving, obviously looking quite sad. He frowned, wondering what the problem was, but he guessed he would ask later. For now, he had to find Gin.

Standing where she was, it wasn't long before she saw Scor entered. Truth be told, it was really long instead. Not angry, she was patient enough and she wasn't the biggest party-peson, therefore wasn't concerned on how much of the music she had missed out on. Walking over to him, she smiled. "There you are." enfolding her arms around him, she gave him a quick hug and pulled back, waiting to see what he was going to say. Adding, "You look good." to the end of her sentence, she was content.

Belle Fey wrote:Belle laughed and leaned against him as she turned her attention back to the room. Loving all the detail of the dresses and the way the girls had their hair styled. She felt rather plain now with all the fancy gowns and styles as she looked down at her own simple gown. "Are you sure I look all right Andrian?" She asked.

Andrian looked around as she leaned against him, suddenly he heard her voice speaking beside him. He quickly turned his head around to capture every word she said. "You look like a princess," smiled Andrian kissing her lightly on the fore head. He knew exactly what she had been feeling, so plain now that she had seen the other girls wearing fancier dress. "Don't worry, I still love you no matter what you wear," he told her. He didn't care how fancy a girl was, just as long they were nice and caring. Not rude and filled with hatred but he couldn't blame them. "Will you do the honour of dancing with me? he asked to dance as he held out an extended hand in front of her.

"What happens if they get in trouble with the alcohol I can't just let them get punished when I, Rosalie was also involved." Rosalie quickly walked back down the steps into the Yule Ball. She saw Shacklebolt about to question Julia.

"oh no!" she whispered. She ran to the table and sat next to Julia.
"What? There's alcohol in the punch? Who ever put that there must have been clever. Julia and I could never be that smart."

Rose walked shyly into the Yule Ball by herself, she didn't mind coming without a date. As she looked around the Great Hall she smiled. Rose was wearing a blue dress that dragged on the floor when she walked and her hair was pulled back and with elegant curls fallling down her back. As she walked over towards the punch bowl she got her some punch and took a sip of it.

"Yes you probably couldn't.." Shacklebolt said with a glare at both of them. Why did Rosalie come from so far just to defend Julia then? But she was right, they might of been involved, but they probably weren't the main think tank. "It was your friend Mr.Krum, wasn't it?"

Christabelle Whittle wrote:Christabelle laughed a bit as they got away from the headmaster. "I really thought he was going to give you a detention for that." she said still laughing a bit from it when she saw Ana. She smiled, "Thanks. So do you." she replied sweetly to her. "Thanks for pulling me away Danny I really didn't want to have to hear what he had to say just yet."

"Hey no problem," he said calmly and looked over at Shacklebolt again. A shakedown or something? Odd. "I'm just glad his anger distracted himself"

Julia looked up as Shacklebolt asked her about the alcohol, and Rose speeding down to defend her. She nodded as Rose defended, glad that Shacklebolt fell for it.

"Elijah didn't do anything to the punch, either. Pardon me if I'm wrong, but you should give him... well us, more credit than that." She explained. "Excuse us, please" She said politely and pulled Rosalie aside.

"Thank you so much, Rose" Julia said. She had noticed that Rosalie seemed upset, and more or less angry. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yes I'm fine.Rosalie didn't want to lie to Julia but she felt it was not the place nor the time to be telling her how she really felt. Right now it was time to save Eli and tell him that Shacklebolt was looking for him.