The hardened auror would never admit out loud that she actually enjoyed dressing up and feeling feminine on occasion. She spent most of her time around men who she felt the constant need to remind that just because she had breasts it didn’t mean she couldn’t put them in their place within the blink of an eye. Thankfully moving back into her old department meant that she didn’t have to be nearly as intense as she was in Russia. Of course that didn’t stop her from still maintaining her rough exterior while working. Though it seemed at the school she relaxed a good bit more, allowing more of her base personality out. She had even begun to make friends with those that weren’t in her primary career. It was freeing really to let the softer side of her out that was typically reserved for family and close friends.

She made her way into the hall with a bright smile on her face, looking forward to some sort of normalcy before all hell broke loose over the summer. She glanced around immediately spotting her niece sitting at a table with a group of friends. As much as she knew the Slytherin hated it, she was very much like her aunt, down to her ability to easily socialize when need be. Persephone smiled in her direction, it didn’t matter how angry Bells was with her, her niece looked absolutely beautiful and she loved her more than she could ever fathom. As much as she wanted to pretend that this all was normal, it wasn't. Even during this dance she was still acting as an auror, only she got to have an excuse to look 'pretty'. She glanced over at the Heamistress with a brief nod. "Good evening, Headmistress." 

The auror looked around spotting a familiar face and her smile widened even more. ”Fancy seeing you here.” She said to @daisy with a chuckle as she gently nudged her colleague with her elbow. She looked around at the other group of professors spotting her old classmate Davina Rhiannon Yaxley and gave her gentle smile. ”Well it has certainly been far too long since I’ve seen you.” She said knowing that they really should get together at some point and catch up. Persephone knew the names and other various information on them, it was part of her detail to know as much as she could about those working in the school. ”Gods, I’m rude.” She said with a light laugh as she turned her attention to her fellow head of house, @samuel. ”Persephone Petrov, Head of Slytherin house, and Defense against the Dark Arts professor.” She said offering the man her hand. She really did need to make it a point to formally introduce herself to more colleagues.

Dress

Trey had been quite proud of himself, for this little plan he had cooked up to further destroy his cousin’s life. The little slag Roman had been dating was far too easy to manipulate. He would be lying if he didn’t say the prospect of getting the hot little piece to shag him wasn’t a big motivator for his plan. He had been careful not to mention anything about the blackmail in anyone’s presence with the exception of the girl. If this were to work properly that meant that discretion was priority. He had made it abundantly clear that if the slag told anyone he was blackmailing her he would go right to his tosser of a cousin and tell him what the bint had been hiding from him. The Slytherin knew she would do anything to prevent that from happening.

There was only one little problem. The Gryffindor still hadn’t broken things off with her poor excuse of a boyfriend. He had given her more than enough time to do so, and she was still dragging her ass. That was absolutely unacceptable as far as he was concerned. He typically went to dances just to troll for a piece of tail, but this mission he felt would be far more fulfilling than getting a desperate bint beneath him. Hell, maybe by the end of the night he could have the girl begging for him to shag her.

He entered the hall standing tall, with smooth even steps. He moved his fingers nimbly to button his suit jacket as his eyes carefully moved over the hall to find the slag. He caught sight of her just as she moved to sit at a table with a couple of his housemates. He could feel a smirk move across his face at the sight of her in a tight dress. Trey casually leaned up against a wall within her field of vision waiting for her to look over at him before beckoning her over with his finger. They had things to discuss.

@cecilia

Suit

Evan thought that it might be slightly difficult staying at the ball for long when he knew that seeing his girlfriend dressed up would make him incredibly tempted to leave to explore other manners of fun. But he hadn’t realized just how quickly that would happen, as he would surely be all right with leaving the Great Hall immediately. However, he supposed that they didn’t come all this way to turn around and leave… or something. They could stick around, at least for a little while. But since that more than likely meant trying to think about something other than his current wandering thoughts, Evan turned his gaze back to Ezekiel in time to hear him speak. He nodded in acknowledgment, though the bloke luckily seemed distracted by something else. That worked pretty damn well for Evan since he didn’t necessarily enjoy polite small talk when he just wanted to pull his girlfriend from the room. Ruby speaking again distracted him from his once again wandering thoughts, thankfully, since he supposed they had to stay for a least long enough to hang out with Isabella’s friends. That was probably the point of coming to something like this. “Well enough, just ready for this bloody school year to be over,” he stated, shrugging. It would forth a whole new set of issues, but Evan was still anticipating a break from all of the nonsense that the school provided.

Only moments later, Ezekiel was heading back over with a younger year, though Evan noted that Cecilia was approaching as well. He hadn’t thought that she coming to the ball, but that had been previous to her boyfriend and Isabella at least … not hating each other anymore—so perhaps that was what had changed her mind. However, he didn’t see Roman, so who bloody knew, really? Those thoughts only distracted him momentarily from what was really on his mind, and he found himself glancing over at Isabella again. “How long is one expected to stay at a ball?” He asked quietly, chuckling under his breath.

Perhaps this wasn’t exactly the best idea, as she inevitably couldn’t put this off forever. She had already been avoiding @isabella, @evan, and Roman since this situation had revealed itself. That had been because she clearly doubted her capability of acting normal around them. But hell, she was quite an actress at home, acting for the most part like her mother and stepfather wanted her to. If she could do that, then surely she could act like nothing was wrong now, especially since people were seemingly progressively distracted, which would work for her. “Just thought I’d make an appearance,” she said, breezily, after @ruby had spoken. That was believable enough, she supposed, or at least, she did… until @ezekiel shifted over slightly to speak to her. “Me? I’m fine,” Cecilia replied offhandedly, thankful when moments later both of the Fehus became distracted by new entrants into the Great Hall. Thank bloody Merlin, she thought, before letting an amused smile grow across her face at Isabella’s words. “Ball-like, you’ve quite the way with words, babe,” she stated, shaking her head. Only moments later, she heard Evan’s muttered words to Isabella, and knew that her friends probably wouldn’t be long for the ball anyhow, which didn’t work quite so well her waiting to distract herself. However, she was beginning to think she’d be better staying in her dormitory in any case.

As if to prove that point as true, Cecilia caught a glimpse of arguably the last person she’d want to see heading into the Great Hall. She didn’t let her gaze focus on him, obviously, instead trying to stay focused on the conversation around her. It seemed that Trey’s sole focus must be on the ridiculous idea he had to piss off Roman which was apparently just the only thing he did for fun; it had to have been for the amount of time he put into it, but she had really thought coming here tonight would be one last way to avoid the reality of the situation. The reality that had just walked in the damn door. Maybe she should just leave now, go find Roman and tell him everything, she mused. Maybe that actually would be better than this alternative. Yes, he would hate her because of the whole Death Eater father debacle, and probably hate her for keeping it from him this long—but then he wouldn’t hate her for dating his cousin and being a bloody tramp, apparently. That would also avoid her actually having to be around Trey for any extended period of time. But even just thinking it, she knew that Roman hating her for dating his cousin and probably thinking of her as some attention-seeking whore was a far less momentous option than learning all about her father.

But her mind switched again, as it had been all damn week. She didn’t want to lie to him. Breaking up with him to date Trey would be a lie and she’d feel like shit about it and it would be @trey bloody winning. So she’d tell him—she just had to tell him and just not change her bloody mind. He would hate her but it would at least be for the damn truth. “I’ll be right back,” she said, to no one in particular, though she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be back. It was just be a far less suspicious response than already up and leaving. But before she could even get to her feet, she unintentionally made eye contact with Trey, noting that he had certainly been watching and waiting for a moment to get her attention. Rolling her eyes, she pulled herself to her feet. She might as well tell him to fuck off face to face, after all. “What?” She snapped, crossing her arms once she had stopped in front of him.

The hall was filling rather quickly, and everyone looked lovely in Kiki’s opinion. When @isabella had waved to her, she was able to get a better look at the dress the girl wore, and it looked gorgeous. Red was surprisingly suiting for the Slytherin. She noticed the crowd that seemed to surround the girl. Among them, was a red headed girl that Kiki believed to be the same girl in the picture that Zeke had shown her, therefore, being his sister Ruby. She looked darling as well with the way she styled her hair showing off its wonderful color.

It wasn’t until she heard @caleb speak that she stopped looking around the room. She giggled at his comment. It was a bit of an inside joke between the two in reference to her own horrible herbology skills. “Oh if only we had a bag to hide it in. We wouldn’t have to wait for a Hogsmeade trip after all,” she said with a sarcastic smile. The Hufflepuff girl was very grateful that her friend had agreed to accompany her. Sure, Kiki could have fared just fine on her own, but having Caleb there with her just made it even better.

Of course, the disadvantage to having her best friend with her is that he was keen to catch every little subtle thing she did that seemed unlike her. It was, therefore, unsurprising that he was able to catch her sudden silence when she had gazed upon the Gryffindor boy. In a way it was funny to even think that Kiki, the bubbly, loud, outgoing creature that she was, could be rendered speechless. “What,” she asked with an inquisitive look. “Believe it or not, I do have the capability of being quiet every now and then. I just chose not to,” she smiled as she smoothed out her dress and kept her eyes locked on the boy. The brunette watched him smile and she could feel the rhythm in her chest go awry. Did he just smile? At me? No, I’m reading too much into it. Nevertheless, just in case she was wrong, she did smile back at him.

Suddenly, the two were approached by the red-headed girl that Kiki believed to be the sister of the Gryffindor boy that had caught her attention. She greeted Caleb immediately, and Kiki couldn’t help but to quirk an eyebrow at him and give a grin that indicated genuine intrigue in what was going on between the two. Hm, wonder if he was planning on telling me about this any time soon. Kiki only hid her expression when the girl addressed her by name and said that Zeke had mentioned her. She tried to fight the crimson that was rising to her cheeks and continue on casually as if nothing had happened. “Oh has he, now? Well then, would it be safe to assume you’re his sister @ruby? I thought you might be when I saw you over there. He showed me a picture of you the other day, and I have to tell you, your hair is so beautiful. Wouldn’t you agree, Caleb?” With her last bit, she gazed out of the corner of her eye at her fellow Hufflepuff with a mischievous grin.

Ruby invited Kiki and Caleb to join her group. Kiki didn’t want to assume that Caleb would want to join, but she knew she certainly didn’t mind it if it meant she was able to just be a little bit closer to Ezekiel. “I think that’s a splendid idea,” she said as she walked over calmly to the group and gazed behind her to see if Caleb would follow. Truth be told, she didn’t want to wander off too much without him. It was only fair that she make sure he was having fun since she did sort of force him to come with her.

As she approached the group, she couldn’t help but to divert all of her attention to @ezekiel. “Well Zeke, don’t you clean up nice,” she said rather teasingly. While she was trying to play it off that she was cool and collected, she really wanted to tell him that she thought he looked absolutely handsome. However, she was still sort of new to this whole “liking” someone thing. In their last meeting, she had speculated that he had been flirting with her, but she was unsure, and it had left her unusually, well quiet. Usually Kiki could stride confidently and conquer anything without nerves getting in the way. Zeke on the other hand made her feel completely at a loss, but she didn’t necessarily find that to be a bad thing.

Caleb chuckled at Kiki’s response and put a thoughtful expression on his face. “Remind me the next ball we go, to put an extendable charm on my pockets” he winked at her before he glanced briefly at the refreshments table. The blonde boy noted that the hall was steadily getting fuller as more people arrived. He looked up at the ceiling and was amazed again at what the elves had achieved. If ever happened to catch up, he would convey how impressed he was with their decoration skills. He was glad to be at the ball with his best friend even if hadn’t wanted to show up in the first place.

The Hufflepuff watched the girl beside him very closely, practically scrutinizing everything about her stance and expression. He looked back at Ezekiel again before looking back @kiki and arching a brow at her answer. “Yeah right and I’m Merlin’s third uncle” he muttered under his breath in his newly discovered sarcastic tone. He didn’t miss her flattening out her dress, obviously she fancied the Gryffindor he had met a few days ago and Caleb wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

When he saw @ruby on her way over to them he stood a little taller in an effort to show he wasn’t nervous in the least bit. Whereas, his stomach was well into its somersaults by now. He was not expecting her to hug her would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. He cleared his throat. “Er, Hi Ruby” he smiled at her as confidently as he could manage. He could feel Kiki’s eyes on him and decided to avoid her glance for now. No doubt he would be questioned about this later on if he had to guess what his best friend was thinking. But his ears did pick up that she and Ezekiel had been speaking recently especially if she had seen a photo of Ruby the other day…… a million questions filled Caleb’s mind almost immediately and he would put each of them forward to his fellow Hufflepuff soon enough. His head whipped over to Kiki as she asked him something and his narrowed slightly before he looked back at the red head. “Yes…..Ruby….you look lovely” he could have used a few others but not with his friend standing right there.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed Kiki over to the table, trying to look at anything else but Ruby as he walked over. He saw that other people in his year were also at the table along with a much younger student who he presumed was a first year. “@ezekiel nice to see you again mate” he nodded at the boy but also gave him the ‘explain yourself’ look.

Caleb looked over at Kiki as she went to speak with the Gryffindor boy as he himself went to stand next to Ruby. “So……I’m surprised you haven’t tripped over yet since you said it’s your speciality” he teased her, out of earshot from Kiki and her brother.

If he didn’t know any better, Todd Sutherland would swear that he was sick. It was very unlike him to want to go to something so formal that would require him to dress up or be around a lot of people. Merlin forbid, dancing. But perhaps the refreshments would at least be worth while. He doubted that there would be much else that he found to be interesting at the event. The Ravenclaw had only agreed to go after his step-sister had made a big fuss in a letter she sent him about how worried they had been that he wasn’t socializing enough or some shit like that. Apparently, his father had been fairly popular, and his other had been going on and on about how his dad had a friend that had helped keep him and his mother safe. He could practically hear his mother now reminding him of how he needed to confide in his fellow wizards and share in that with some people, since he was now the only wizard in their family.

Todd figured he should be appreciative that his mother made sure he had a suit to wear just in case an event like this arose. This stemmed from not having anything to wear at the wedding of his mother and stepfather until the very last minute. Now with two incomes, Todd’s mother could help Todd afford such luxuries as having a suit on standby, where in the past he had just grown accustomed to gathering whatever hand-me-down clothing he and his mother could come across.

Entering the hall, he became completely overwhelmed. Not only did the hall not even look like itself, the place was packed. Maybe if he wasn’t on the verge of an anxiety attack, he could appreciate more of the hard work the house elves had put into making the place look wonderful. Instead, he made his way to the refreshments table and began to nurse from a glass of butterbeer for some sort of reassurance in this chaotic mess in which he found himself. If his family or anyone for that matter expected him to actually go out of his way to talk to someone, they were sorely mistaken. Sure, he wouldn’t completely reject a conversation, but he wasn’t about to be the one that went out looking for one that was worth having. He sighed, longing for this night to be over, for this school year to be over. It would just be one step closer to getting home and becoming one with nature for a bit.

Outfit

Minerva looked around the hall, watching as students and staff began to trickle in. She kept a careful eye out for anything out of order. She didn’t anticipate anything wrong to happen largely, but there was nothing wrong with a little extra vigilance. Though her eyes picked apart every little thing about the room it was not apparent from the look on her face.

She smiled lightly as she saw the head of Gryffindor approach and greet her. ”Good evening, Professor @samuel. I hope you are doing well.” She said only a few moments later being greeted by the head of Ravenclaw. Her smile was slightly warmer as she still remembered the woman as a young girl, and her struggles in not only Transfiguration but her sisters as well. Minerva had been ecstatic to see her again as well as have the pleasure to see her teaching something she truly enjoyed. ”Good evening. Professor @daisy. It’s lovely to see you.” It seemed like the room was filling up quickly as more staff approached.

”They certainly have, Professor Davina Rhiannon Yaxley.” She greeted the Head of Hufflepuff before her eyes landed on the auror finally making her way through the hall. It was a slight relief to have a trained member of Law Enforcement present. She was still slightly skeptical given the woman’s age, but she had come highly recommended. ”Good evening, Professor @persephone.” She said with a nod. Minerva waited a few moments more before looking over at the band and smiling with a nod signaling them to begin playing.

Ruby beamed when Kiki asked if she was Ezekiel's sister and she nodded brightly, "That I am. I'm also known as the annoying brat and demon sister." Ruby said with a little chuckle, "It's so nice to finally meet you Kiki. And thank you, I quite like the colour. It's a bit of a rarity." She grinned. Her smile grew and she blushed a little when Caleb complimented her, starting to twirl her hair around her finger subconsciously again. She walked alongside Caleb as he approached their group table, trying her hardest to not give away how her stomach was filled with butterflies. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a boy she recognised from her house entering, she gave @todd a polite wave of acknowledgement before turning back to the group. Ruby couldn't help but giggle in embarrassment when @caleb reminded her of her tripping. "It's a new record, but at least I have you next to me to catch me if I do trip." She murmured to him in reply, with a wolfish smile.


Ruby was quick to notice how Ezekiel began paying his full attention to @kiki and Iz and Evan seemed occupied and even Cecilia had wandered off somewhere. It was her nerves that made her realise that the only person who she could probably sit and chat to was the one person she was feeling incredibly nervous to be around. Ruby nibbled on her lip and shuffled closer to Caleb, "Do you want to come and browse the buffet with me?" She asked, it was a lame request but at the same time it would mean that she could get to chat to him alone which may actually be a worse idea, but it would get her away from Zeke and his over-protectiveness, even though he was pretty caught up with the Hufflepuff beside him.

Trey knew his cousin was sulking around in the Slytherin common room in a mood, and it would be simple just to do down to the dungeons and tell him if it came down to it. It wasn’t like the girl would be able to get in there anyway. He still had the same mindset as he had the day he had offered her the deal, it wouldn’t matter to him which way she went with her decision though he felt they both could benefit quite nicely from it. It wasn’t like he would have any difficulty finding a quick shag elsewhere, this was just far more amusing.

His watched her with a sly smile as she approached, giving her a wink when he saw her roll her eyes. He had to admit he’d be slightly disappointed if he never got to see what she was hiding under the tight dress, but business came first. Granted, he was certain if she spent enough time around him she would eventually be begging for a shag. It would be a nice little bonus for him. He chuckled as she snapped at him gently shaking his head in amusement. ”Feisty this evening, are we?” He said crossing his arms over his chest casually. ”Word is you’re still with that little tosser. You’re time is almost up on my offer.” He added casually looking around as if he were already bored. If she said no he could probably go tell Roman his girlfriend’s little secret and still have time to come back and grab a quick shag if need be. ”I don’t particularly care what route you take, but my time is valuable, and right now you are wasting it.” He said done mincing words with the little bint. He was tired of waiting.