Yule Ball 2029

[Quintus Ophelic]

The year had seemed to progress at a slower pace than usual, but that was all the more reason for Quintus to decide that this year the Yule Ball should be especially spectacular. Accompanying the events of the dance itself would be a week long carnival that students would get time off from their usual classes to attend. Not only students, but Hogwarts alumni and parents as well were encouraged to attend, just as it was with the Yule Ball.

This year the ball was to be held, not in the Great Hall, but out on the grounds under the stars. The entire area where it was to be held was enchanted so as the temperature would remain pleasant. The snow that fell would disappear the instant it touched a surface or an attendee ensuring any dampness would not occur. The ground itself was lightly dusted in snow, but with a similar spell cast. There would be no slipping, large drifts, or snow in anyone's shoes.

The dance floor itself was surrounded in a ring of blue flames which served as all the illumination the party would need. There was no need to worry about the safety of such a thing as the flames could not catch and would not burn. Outside the inner ring was the setting for the catering and tables to sit and eat or mingle. Finally surrounding that was another wall of fire, though it consisted of not only blue, but varying shades of purple, green and pink. Overall the Headmaster was quite pleased with how it had turned out.

[Brielle Coleman]

Brielle had done nothing but look forward to the Yule Ball since getting back to Hogwarts. It was her favorite time of year, due in no small part to it being the best party and her best chance to get a gorgeous gown. This year the dress she picked out was definitely her most mature, though still very tasteful. The burgundy gown was covered in sequins which made a lovely damask pattern. The top halter went around her neck, forming a keyhole back. The rest was fitted until just at her thigh where it flared out in a trumpet style. The instant she finished curling her hair and put it on she felt like she was back in California, ready for a red carpet.

The Gryffindor was going alone to this dance, although she didn't mind. She'd had offers, but this year she didn't want to be tied to a single person. She knew she'd get many offers to dance and she wanted to accept as many as she could, and maybe out of those offers she'd meet one special boy who she'd maybe grace with more than just one dance.

It was surprising to have the dance not in the actual castle, but the second Brielle saw the dance area she knew she couldn't complain. It was beautiful after all, and surprisingly comfortable for being out in the winter night of the UK. No doubt there was much magic involved and she was grateful for it. It would be a shame for this dress to be hidden beneath a coat. Brielle knew she was a little earlier than usual, but she wanted to make the most of the night. She walked over to the punch bowl to get herself a drink as she waited for more of her friends and classmates to arrive.

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[Justine Vance]

The Yule ball was something Justine always loved going too. Even when she had been a student at Hogwarts it was always the best event of the year. Maybe that was because she loved Christmas so much or maybe it was because it was an excuse to dress up and dance the night away with friends. Whatever the reason it was still the best event the school put on and she was very happy to be going back again this year.

It was always nice to see old professeors and old friends. It was also a good way to meet new people and build contacts, especially within the Ministry. Not that Justine needed any more contacts. She was pretty happy with her job and felt more settled than ever doing it. Arriving at the castle, Justine glanced down at her watch,frowning a little. She was early, not to early but early enough that probably only a handful of people would have arrived and they were most likely to be students.

Dressed in a red velvet dress and hair losely curled, Justine entered the hall smiling. It was decorated beautifully, it always was and she was really impressed with how different the decor was to lasts years. Glancing around she had been right at her prediction. Not many people had arrived yet and those who had she did not know. Still smiling, Justine made her way more in the hall and settled beside one of the side tables.

[Heidi Palomo]

It had been an interesting start to the year. Heidi was still adjusting to her new role as captain. Given all her recent physical work she'd definitely gotten better at the game and since pretty much everyone else was too busy to take on the role she hadn't really minded. It had been a surprise though. But tonight was a night that she didn't really have to think about school or any other responsibility and for that the Gryffindor was grateful.

Heidi hadn't really decided until just the week before whether or not she would be going to the Yule Ball. Ultimately the decision had been made with the idea that she would maybe be able to see some of the friends she had outside of Hogwarts...which was pretty much the only place she had friends aside from Barry and Silvia? Maybe?

Given the last minute she had been pretty surprised that she'd been able to get an outfit in time. The dress she'd found though she thought was very suited to her style. The deep midnight blue dress made her feel elegant and her intricately braided hair was the perfect touch. At least she thought so. She wasn't always super up to date on what the kids were calling "fashionable".

She arrived at a time that most would probably still consider early, which was fine. Why did it really matter anyways? She had never understood the concept of being fashionably late. In most instances late was just rude wasn't it? She quickly found a table that was well, as far away from the other tables as one could be when they were all arranged in a circle. Not very far, but it was the best she could do. She wasn't quite hungry yet, and certainly not brave enough to go out and dance by herself, so she was content waiting where she was for the time being.

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[Matthew Cooper]

Matthew had debated with himself so many times over this. He still wasn't sure why he decided to come back. he had made a promise to himself that he would try and be better with keeping in contact and joining in with things but he was finding it difficult. He supposed now would be a good time to start since he was seriously considering joining the Magical Creature department at the Ministry. The Yule Ball would be definitely a good place to speak to former and current Ministry employees. Feeling rather nervous about being back, Matthew stood outside of the great hall, trying to decide if he really wanted to go in or not.

There was positive and negatives running through his head. The negatives were pretty simple, he had not been a very good friend over the last few years but he had tried his best to make up with friends. the positives, well it was the Yule Ball and Hogwarts always did put on a good party and of course there was always the food. He was looking forward to getting a good meal. Taking a deep breath and making sure Bowe was asleep in his pocket, Matthew decided to go in. He would stay for a while then leave.

Walking in to the Great Hall , Matthew smiled. Looking around he was very impressed with the decorations this year. They were always good but there was something about this years that were pretty spectacular. Glancing around, Matthew noticed Heidi. They were friends and he had lost contact since leaving school and he felt bad for it. Approaching Heidi , Matthew smiled.

" Mind if i join you?" he asked nervously.

[Anaïs Beaumont]

Any dance was one that Anais was looking forward to. Before it had been a good chance to just have genuine cut loose fun with her friends. Now it was a good chance to have genuine cut loose fun with her friends. Nothing had changed. Not really. She'd promised herself to Nolan, but that wasn't really much different either. He was always with her before that as her closest friend and that was exactly what he was now. That's why she intended to marry him once they were both out of school.

Ana had made the Gryffindor promise to meet her at the dance instead of meeting her inside to walk her down. She was still a perfectionist after all and she didn't want her primping to keep him waiting in a boring hallway while he could be having fun with some of his other friends. Honestly though when she was done she realized he probably could've just waited for her. She got everything right on the first try and was completely satisfied with her appearance in record time. All the better. It meant they'd have more time to spend a fun evening together.

The hem of her high-low peach gown just barely trailed the floor behind her as Ana made her way to the outer ring of the ball. She spotted Nolan in no time and made her way to his side, ready to commence with what was sure to be a lovely evening.

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[Heidi Palomo]

Heidi was lost in thought as she was most of the time lately it seemed. Aside from now having her Quidditch duties on top of her homework and occasional body guarding (which thank Merlin was becoming less frequent) she didn't do a whole lot. She'd taken to writing a little bit since that was a good way to spend one's time when they were doing nothing but constantly far off in their head anyways. Given as her mind had wandered as usual the Gryffindor was almost surprised that she even heard the familiar voice addressing her.

Out of all the people that Heidi had wanted to talk to most lately Matt was pretty high up on the list. They'd been getting to be better friends in his last year at Hogwarts, but since he'd been gone she hadn't heard well anything from him. It had almost made her worry that he really didn't want a friendship with her, but she'd finally managed to convince herself that it was likely him getting used to being out in the actual world. After all, he probably had a job now, maybe his own flat. There were plenty of things to keep you busy once you had to live like an adult. His approaching her now brought a smile to her face, thinking that for once maybe she'd been right to assume good about someone.

"Be my guest," she replied, her face brightening even further. Even a brief hello was making her think that it had been worth coming tonight. "I'm really glad to see you. How have you been?"

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[Avalon Volkov]

Avalon was about as excited as she usually was for the Yule Ball. It was fine, but it meant winter which meant no strength training in the Great Lake. That was always the disappointment that came with winter. This at least was something fun that didn't replace her desire to train, but at least it gave her something to do and look forward to.

The dress she'd chosen was fairly simple, but it suited her style. It was different from a lot of the dresses she'd seen in the past and she really enjoyed the double layered skirt. Her updo complemented the look perfectly. When she finished dressing and looked in the mirror she had to admit she looked good. She grabbed a tiny clutch before deciding she was ready and headed down.

When she arrived she was quickly surrounded by a group of her fellow Equiano students. Most had attended Hogwarts with her her first year, some had come a little later on. All were in various states of amazement. It did look beautiful, but she was more interested in having a good time than spending the night gawking at the decor. With a smile she pulled her friends to the cleared inner circle to dance.

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[Kendall Gladwyne]

Dresses sucked! Everything about dances usually sucked though and Kendall didn't know why she kept going to them. Probably because other people dragged her along. She wasn't going to wear a fancy dress without a lot of bribery. This year's Yule Ball dress was nice because it was mostly black to match the teen angst in her soul. It was sort of sassy too with its off the shoulder whatnot so it was about as okay as dresses could get with the Ravenclaw. As usual though no one could get her to prissify her hair or wear anything other than her high top sneakers.

The Eagle sat sullenly at one of the tables set up, occasionally picking at her food, hoping and praying that her allotted amount of time she'd allowed in her (empty) schedule ran out quickly so she could leave without being pestered. The only thing that could make this night worse would be if her family didn't heed her owl and decided to attend anyways.

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[Matthew Cooper]

Matthew was happy that Heidi was happy to see him. He had been worried that she would be mad at him for not really being in contact since leaving Hogwarts. To be fair a lot had happened since he had left Hogwarts and a lot of it had been good stuff. He had his own place, his book was doing good and there was talk of a second and he was finally going to take up a position as the Ministry. Realising he hadn't replied back yet and that he was just standing there with a stupid smile on his face, Matthew relaxed and zoned back in to what Heidi was saying to him.

"I'm really glad to see you too" he said softly. " I owe you an apology, i know i stopped writing but things just got busy, I've been really good actually the best i have been in a long time" he said proudly.

" I'm going to be taking a position in the Magical Creatures Department". He was proud, he was feeling the best he had been in such a long time and now he was glad he decided to come tonight.

"What about you? how have you been, congrats on getting Captain this year, i know your going to do amazing" he said smiling once more.

[Heidi Palomo]

Heidi shook her head, dismissing the notion. "You don't owe me anything. I figured you were probably just busy. At least I'd hoped that was the reason." She dropped her eyes and tried hard to fight the pink rising to her cheeks and hoped desperately that her insecurities wouldn't make their conversation too awkward. She was just honestly glad to get to talk to him and to see that he was in fact doing very well for himself.

The Gryffindor still didn't think very highly of the Ministry since the whole getting arrested thing, but she was impressed with his news. It was no small thing to secure a job there, and at least the division that dealt with other magical creatures was pretty on the up and up as far as she knew. "Congratulations! That's great news! When will you be starting? What will you be doing?" Heidi caught herself and tried not to barrage him with more questions, though she was genuinely interested in all of it.

The girl shrugged. Her life was far less interesting than his appeared to be. "I've been fine for the most part. It seems like the end of the year can't come fast enough." She smiled ruefully. "Thanks. I'm still not entirely sure they made the best decision making me captain. But I guess everyone with more experience was busy and my schedule is as open as the middle of the ocean. But I've gotten better so hopefully I can inspire the team a little..."

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[Solera Palomo]

Solera was practically bouncing off the walls to go to the Yule Ball. It was pretty much all she'd been able to talk to Cat about for the last month. The dressing up was fun, the fancy food was a plus, but it was really the dancing that Sol was looking forward to the most. She wasn't the best at it, but the Ravenclaw rarely cared what anyone would think of that. It was just about where the music moved her, even if it made her look like one of those strange dancing air men that muggles put outside of their businesses.

Even though her sister hadn't known whether or not she was going to go Heidi had been able to help Sol get a dress that she wanted. The sleeves had just the tiniest bit of pouf, and the skirt was multilayered iridescent chiffon. It was a little bit more girly than mature, but Sol adored it, and Heidi had told her it suited her well. Finishing the look off with a cute hairbow the Ravenclaw all but skipped down to the area of the grounds that was sanctioned off for the Winter Carnival and the Yule Ball.

Sol immediately went to get herself one of the little desserts they had. She spotted her sister at a table with one of the students who'd graduated the year before. Observant as she was Sol knew that Heidi had harbored a crush on another graduate who had been in Ravenclaw, but since he'd chosen another girl she knew her sister hadn't heard much from him. Personally, Sol was hoping that the Gryffindor had healed enough to let herself look elsewhere. Maybe that person could be closer than she thought...maybe.

But Sol was not there tonight to worry about her sister's boy drama. She was there to have a good time! Finishing off the little cake she'd picked up she made her way to the dance floor to do what she came to do. Tonight she had a destiny to fulfill, and that destiny was to dance!

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