Julian was never exactly comfortable at these sorts of things, he thought as he tried to think of what it was he was going to be for Halloween. He hated costumes, that was kids stuff. Not something for someone like him. But if this was mandatory, or at least the costumes, he would oblige. He had actually been torn between the idea of dressing up and putting on a masquerade mask or going as one of those American cowboys. Or he could always try to transfigure his face and see what he could do from there. So once he actually figured out what he wanted to be, he did a little wand work to see how he could get it to look authentic. No horse smell though. He hated how much everything about of the cowboys seemingly made him think of the smell of horse, dust, hay and all of that made him sneeze. Though if he were to be honest he probably could wrangle a thestral or something of that nature in the forbidden forest and go with that. There was no time for that honestly. He was not in the best of moods as he grouched at himself in the mirror and looked at the picture, adjusting that massively silly hat atop his head. Julian felt down right ridiculous. He adjusted the sleeves of his long, leather duster and brushed off some dust of his brown leather pants. David Bowie eat your heart out, to be honest, he had seen a picture of David Bowie from some muggle movie once before and it was the only thing that terrified him more than failure. Muggles had no sense of class.

Julian usually would wait for his sister, but he was not in a paitent sort of mood. So he left the common room with out her and headed up to the great hall. The sooner he got there, the sooner he could leave. He could only imagine what his father would think, him dressed in such a gettup. Julian spotted @dion and @ujin. They were both team mates, one of them was his fellow beater. But both boys were older than he was, sitting in their seventh year, so the only time they had really spoken before was on the pitch or in passing in the common room. "Evening." Julian stated as he slid next to one of the only people in the room that he really had any aspirations to talk to this evening. Though to be honest he'd see where the evening lead. Maybe he'd try to talk to some other girls. Though the Headmaster and the teachers were already here, Julian felt as if he was being judged horribly.

costume

She'd gone with friends, as she was wont to do. Dressed as a hesperide, she felt more relaxed than she had in ages. Perhaps it was the bare shoulders, maybe the way the gown hugged her body. She felt more like herself than she had since Atha had stopped talking to her.

Oh, and there her brother athazaz was in his painted skeleton that was really more morbid than it might have been. Was it to make a statement that he was Bones, of the Bones that died, of Potter's parents, to dress up? She couldn't quite be sure, but she supposed that was well enough. Still, he did look rather good with @nick, which was well enough. Carin was as some pink ... thing that was likely Muggle, so hopefully unrecognizable. Lizzy was a. . .cat lady of sorts, she supposed, and Kamil a. . . jinn, Ifrit, most likely. Lily as a bride, escorted by. . .hmmph. She didn't expect her heart to pinch as it did.

But that was what she got for feeling, which was rather inconvenient. She palmed her apple, giving it a light toss and catch, the mild charm on it pulling a First year's eyes to it. There was Ava over there, and @petrova with some company. All seemed to be going well in the ball, and therefore she was free to take care of herself. What was a nymph of the sunset without her drink, after all? She took a cup, hoping it was already spiked. If the dance was similar to the last one. . . well, she had enough practice at dissociation.

Peacock

She didn’t want this, she didn’t want to be here. She had so much to do, so much sleep she needed to catch up on. She had her NEWTs, societal rules that she had to learn, names, faces too that she needed to learn so that she didn’t cross any lines or offend the wrong person, it was hard, but her cousin was helping where he could. Her position as an intern at the Ministry of Magic was helping her as well, she didn’t worry about things there, for most of what she was being assigned was paperwork, but she was doing everything that she could to learn from those around her.

It was hard stepping into a world that she hardly knew, people who had looked down on her for so long, assuming she was muggle born trash, or a half blood. She had promised herself that she would not let it get to her, that their words were just that, words. However, she still felt the burn of them. She didn’t worry about being accepted, because she knew that they would never really except her, so she just guess she wanted to have friends, and get to know some of those that were her family.

Someone knew who her father was, someone was related to her, and she was determined to meet them. She wanted to know her people, and have the life that she should have had. She was not all that enthralled with the idea of the forced ball, but she was there nonetheless. She had purchased everything that she needed and here she was, dressed, as a peacock. Flicking some of her bangs from her eyes she moved into the hall. She saw @hamish with his girlfriend, and a few others, though she didn’t know them all that well. She moved into the room further and was looking for the punch bowl, and the food. Figuring she would do what she always did, and sit there alone, eating all night.

She saw a few of her housemates and then over by the Head boy @lasimir she spotted @caerus, with that peculiar girl @petrova. She nodded her respect to the Minister’s son and smile softly before adjusting the mask, hoping the charms and pins would hold it in place all night.

Faroese Mazvetta

Hair newly choppily trimmed, she raked her hand through it once more. There was so much less than usual; it was so much lighter, and the empty absence felt like a wound, like home. She'd regrow her hair, she knew, but it wouldn't feel as real. That was, after all, four years of growth that had seen her through Hogwarts and through the some of the years with Shaera.

But that was enough distaste. It was cosmetic only, it was only hair. She pulled the snout of the mask down, the Mazvetta's face covering her own. Oh, she'd still stand out well enough to friends-- not many people had purple eyes (that was, if people actually looked) and even fewer had eyes in her own shade. People often altered their eye color for Halloween, but there were few enough other girls roughly her height and build who were Indian (much less girls who were roughly half-ish), so she would at least be a semi-hidden Prefect. If anything happened, there probably wouldn't be much seeking out her-- they'd go to Truly or Amelia or Blue or LJ or Young.

And there @bluebird was, with @ujin the Seeker. She supposed she ought to start getting to know him better, even through all the divides of culture and thought-- after all, she was a Chaser to his Seeker. Later tonight, she decided, glancing at her ring. Until then, she'd hang out with @rory and probably @scarlett -- and there Rory was, interacting with @dion . It would be a little Quidditch party later tonight, wouldn't it? Oh, @jay was there too, which meant it wouldn't be quite so awkward.

She grinned, the mask's charm flaring the nostrils. Oh, she missed Glæma. Just two months or so until the winter holidays and then she'd be able to watch her again for long days on end, maybe feed her something if Glæma wasn't in a limb-snapping mood. Pity that Glæma wasn't likely to be a mother anytime soon-- Rhaelle was hoping Glæma would find a Hebridean, but it was somewhat unlikely that both dragons would fly away unscathed if it was to happen naturally, and the Ridgebacks were far too far away. If Glæma ever did have eggs, they would probably be from another Mazvetta-- which, she supposed, would have to do. With less Mazvettas than what they were used to while they were in the British Isles, unless more Mavettas could come, the dragons had to be trusted to their cousins back home.

"A Beater and a Keeper and a Chaser," she drawled as she approached the three of them. "Beginning of a joke, isn't it?"

The Goddess Selene

It was an insane and busy day. She had class at Hogwarts, dance class, and rehearsal to juggle, and then in place of when she usually went to the Academy, she had a ball, which had thrown the whole plan into a mess. It was fucked up and she was not happy about it, but mandatory was mandatory. The Headmaster was very handsome, and she was not going to knock it, she would do what he asked of her, mainly because she didn’t want to put herself, or her family in danger any more than they already were for bearing the name of Weasley. She was a halfblood, and was safe for now, but her father was a blood traitor and sooner or later she feared that they would come for him.

She refused to live her life in fear, like so many of her family members and she was determined to make sure that that she had what she wanted from life. The first of that being her dancing, the second being her twin and the third being Bash. Though she feared that one of them would not always be in her life, but she could never put her finger on to whole. She had put lots of time into her outfit, researching the goddess that she was going to portray. Luna aka Selene was known as the mother of Vampires, and the Goddess of the moon.

Her father would faint if he saw the outfit, but it wasn’t overly done or anything. She had thought about Morticia Addams but that was overly done. So she had settled on this. She made her way down to Great Hall, moving slowly, showing off the way that the dress clung to her body, showing off the way that ballet had toned her form. Stepping inside she nodded to her fellow Ravenclaw @murdina.

Robin Hood

Ellis was in a precarious position, he wanted to be there for Katie, for his child and for the future that could be lingering there. However, he had his alliances, and keeping the two separate was going to be seemingly difficult but her personally felt up to the challenge, after all family was everything to the man. It was why he took care of his children, because he was not about to allow himself, or anyone else have control of his family. He would raise his child. He would teach them the ways of the world. Katie wanted him in her life, and so he would be there, for as long as she wanted him, but he was not going to cut his child out of his life because of his mother. If anything, Ellis would try and bring her thinking over to their side. Even if she was just made neutral it would help.

He had to be here, his kids were here too, so it wasn’t like he was missing taking hem trick or treating or anything. He had done that all before had. It was fine with him. He didn’t care. He ran a hand over his blond slicked back hair once more before pulling over the hood. The last thing that he wanted was to cause a fuss, or for this ball to be like the end of term was. God knows that was a big enough mess to have to deal with.

He wanted, if nothing else, for this to go smoothly. He needed it to, really, so that he could go home. He nodded to @sebastian when he came in, a smirk on his face as he walked in looking at some of the inventive costumes, and some of the not so inventive. He rolled his eyes at a Jack and Sally before smiling and nodding to @caerus, @petrova and the Head Boy one @lasimir. All good kids in his estimation.

She thought that of all the places in this castle that they could have been tonight, this was probably going to be the easiest to get out of. No one was going to look twice when they started slinking off into the night. They would think that they had just bored of the party, and were going back to the common room. At least, that was what they were going to want to think, and so, as most adults did, they would let it go at that. No one would have to think twice about what was happening. It wasn’t worth it. And they were going to have all the peace that they could want to do whatever they pleased with the rest of the evening. Rory thought that she was just going to have to suffer through however much time they had to spend in this Hall before they could disappear to somewhere a little more enjoyable, with a whole lot less people. The only benefit to staying in here at all would be if something came along to entertain her, and she thought that if anyone was likely to find a way to entertain her while they were trapped in here, it was @dion . The rest of the quidditch team was slowly trickling in as well, and she thought that since everyone was required to make an appearance, they would all show face sooner or later. She hadn’t seen Scarlett though, which was surprising. She thought that her Gryffindor counterpart would have at least taken it upon herself to show up by now. There was no doubt that she had seen her gaze linger a little too long in places that it shouldn’t, and Rory knew the rumors that went around.

Supposedly there wasn’t a girl in the school that didn’t want a certain professor in bed, and she thought that that was rather ridiculous. She could think of a couple off the top of her head that wouldn’t have been caught dead in Rosier’s bed. But she didn’t think that Scarlett was one of them. She though that her honorable little Gryffindor might have just been caught up in that snake den. But she wasn’t going to say anything. That wasn’t her place. She was just incredibly observant when it came to other people, and she thought that there were a few people that she wouldn’t look twice at in that situation. There were a few people that she thought she’d rather not know as well. Looking around the room at the array of costumes she was glad that she had settled on Morgana. It was a little more fitting than anything else she could have come up with, and it hadn’t been hard to get her hands on this dress either. Having a fashion editor for a boss came in handy. Even if the witch hadn’t been in the office all that much as of late. At least in the afternoons. She was there in the mornings, and so Rory had missed her on a number of occasions. But she had still managed to get the costume she had asked to borrow. “Well damn, no one’s ever accused me of being all that nice…” The brunette witch smirked up at him and then smirked when he offered her the flask.

A quick sip of it told her that it was rum, and she supposed that she should have expected nothing less. The rum burned down her throat, and warmed her even more in the already too warm hall. She handed the flask back to him with a raised eyebrow as he mentioned fun. His kind of fun was usually the kind that she wanted to entertain herself with in this place. It would have been stiflingly boring otherwise. Rory couldn’t help but chuckle under her breath at the idea that he had seemingly come up with on the spot. “I’m a better wingman anyway.” She winked at @jay and then looked around to follow Dion’s gaze. She was sure that he had already picked a target after all. Watching his gaze find @lily and @cyrus . That would be fun. She knew that Lily thought that she was a good deal better than the rest of them when it came to certain things. Rory found it easier to ignore the blonde most of the time. But she wasn’t going to deny the fact that the girl was indeed pretty. Her attention was diverted by Rhaelle Senya Maenlarys appearing before them, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Too bad we can’t just all walk into a bar…”

"Me neither. A regular dance with a date is bad enough. They never leave."He had been here all of 5 minutes and already he wanted to leave out of sheer boredom and stifling heat. There was a time and place for temperatures like these, and being crammed into one room with the entire school populus wasn't it. By far. He noted as more of the team began to trickle in; @ujin and @bluebird were together (obviously, that had been months of bedroom eyes and denial he had been about ready to stick two wands in his eyes to avoid) and his brows jumped meaningfully at them as a smirk crept onto his face watching them walk further into the room. He might gravitate over later, but not now. Then @hamish appeared as... whatever that was... with whoever that was... and @lily had finally shown with some Hufflepuff. Lily was a good looking witch, admittedly, but he hadn't really been in a situation to explore that thought. Besides, he preferred redheads usually. A quick glance at Dion and suddenly the Wizard was talking again- to @rory... and... what?

He looked between the pair, eyes narrowing at whatever they were planning. Luckily they were leaving him out of it; drama or whatever they were up to was something he wanted nothing to do with. He continued lounging against the wall, wishing not for the first time that he had some decent glogg instead of this.. rum? Whatever it was inside the flask. Rory seemed to like it, whatever it was. "Jævla helvete, you two work fast. Whatever. I wouldn't like to take the spotlight from the pair that apparently need it." He replied teasingly, slightly amused as he directed his attention away. No doubt he would end up watching, but that was only because it stood to be more interesting than staring at a wall till he could leave. He saw @julian appear in his peripheral, brows rising slightly at his chosen costume but otherwise didn't react. He could say nothing; he was a pirate. A faen sexy pirate, but still. He winked back at Rory, but mostly on reflex. "Being a wingman isn't all that fun anyway. Enjoy yourselves."

Yet another Quidditch team mate appeared and Jay rolled his head to the side to look at Rhaelle Senya Maenlarys as she appeared in front of them. He frowned, confused at the statement, and even more confused at Rory's reply. What joke? Why was this funny? Why would they walk into a pole? Merlin British people still confused him after all this time. So he remained silent. Silence was his usual reply; usually towards Dion but this time he was generous and was extending it to his teammates.

She nodded at Jay. They'd shared school and team for years, but she'd never quite-- it was worth some short, after all. "Taler du kun norsk?" She knew some scattered words, enough to have a rough idea what he was saying, even if she didn't quite know the idioms.

English idioms she understood-- having an English mother did that, and spending her childhood and summers at home meant she'd learned Faroese and Danish from a young age. Faroese, really, had more similarities with Norwegian, if only for the five hundred years it had been Norwegian, and that they were both offshoots of a Norse language-- Old West, if she remembered correctly. Grammatically, there were more similarities with Icelandic which she ...used to be better in (it was, after all, the third-most common language, and she was a Maenlarys),but her years in Hogwarts had lapsed it. Oh, she could still read it well enough, pronounce it, maybe conjugate a few simpler words, but the understanding was inferior to what it had been seven years ago. If she ever returned, she had to work on that.

"The bar would have a good array of drinks." She grinned at Rory, the nostrils of her mask flaring again. "Are you being our goddess of mercy tonight?"

---

Taler du kun norsk: Do you only speak Norwegian?, Danish

"Don't I know it." He smirked at @rory and leaned closer, drawing up a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. His expression was anything but soft, though, counteracting the seemingly sweet gesture. He had an idea, and it was just on the fun side of mean. He'd gotten a hint of this being fun during his quick tryst with @lily some weeks ago. Or had it been over a month? He didn't quite recall. She was good, sure, amongst the better girls he'd been with, but she wasn't the best. The arrogance she had was amusing back then, but it was a much larger target for other times. Especially times when she was accompanied by a date who she obviously had plans for. From what he'd heard about @cyrus , he wasn't the type that would keep her attention for very long. He was too nice for it. "Well, that's the only thing that's fast. I'll have you know, Taar."

A bored Dion tended to be a dangerous Dion, or at least a very annoying one. He very much liked getting on people's nerves in general, since he often tended to poke at sensitive subjects on purpose. There were few people who were exempt from that treatment, and none of them were in this room. Rory and @jay dealt with it less, as did Kim, because he had relationships of mutual gain with them. It was why, tonight, despite being bored and more than willing to walk into the Black Lake, he decided to get his amusement at someone else's expense. Oh, sure, Rory would be fun and all, but he was referring to a different kind of entertainment. One he could get in the Great Hall with the teachers around, before the moment for his inevitable departure arrived.

"Those jokes aren't usually funny anyway. If you want fun, keep an eye on me... and try to keep it from drifting to the goods, yeah?" He offered Rhaelle Senya Maenlarys a smirk and an exaggerated wink. His hand was still resting on the side of Rory's neck, and he leaned slightly closer to pretend to whisper to her. Of course, both of the others could still hear them. "So, you'll have noticed by now that lovely little Lily has some... confidence issues. Sources say she likes all sorts, including girls. A secret she's keeping 'cause mummy dear won't like it. How about you flirt with her a bit, huh, Rory? I'll see if Cyrus likes boys after all. You know I prefer brunettes anyway. She'll hate being ignored."

He winked over at Rhaelle and Jay, taking his flask back from Rory and taking a swig. Then he passed it over the the newest addition. She and Jay could keep each other company, if the didn't want to come over to watch. Merlin knew Jay could -and had- done worse than the Maenlarys bird, and she was married for fuck's sakes. Couldn't be too bad company, and they were chasers together. Probably had something other to talk about than Quaffles, though Jay was a sucky conversationalist anyway. If push came to shove, they could go and interrupt Lachlan and Kim instead of him and Rory -and Cyrus and Lily, though he doubted the Puff would dare to do anything other than hold her hand. Quite a waste of a pretty hand, from what he could tell from all the way over here.

"Stop fucking talking amongst yourselves in those freaky languages and pay attention to what's about to happen. Either that or go dirty talk each other elsewhere." He pointed at the two before turning back to Rory. "Got the plan?"