Hogwarts Ball - Arrivals
Date: Saturday, 03 March, 2001
Time: 5:00pm
Location: Hogwarts
Rating: PG
Characters Involved: Anyone who wishes to attend
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Time: 5:00pm
Location: Hogwarts
Rating: PG
Characters Involved: Anyone who wishes to attend
( Read more... )
"So I've been told," he admitted, glancing about the room and spotting Molly Weasley. He would have to make a point to stop and speak with her, since it had been she, so many months ago, who had told him to stop dressing like a... "Someone suggested to me that I ought to stop dressing like a Vicar.
"My estimate of an hour was more a compliment to your intelligence than your ability to stay on your feet - I assumed someone capable of becoming an Auror would know when prudence was the better part of valor and remain seated as long as possible. Then again, you were a Gryffindor, so this is likely another concept which escapes you."
He arched a brow at her back-handed compliment, and his lips curled into a smirk which was just a titch nasty. What he wouldn't give to tell her that he and Remus were 'together', just to watch the look of horror on her face! It was just a passing impulse - he would leave that revelation to Remus, if he chose it.
It was impossible for him to see the changes in himself, which had been gradually occurring over the last twelve months. The truth of the matter was that he was more relaxed and content than he could ever recall being in his life. This was not only due to Remus, though he was a large part of it. The simple reality of honest freedom - despite the collar at his neck - and a houseful of individuals who had become more 'family' to him than his real family had ever been, had altered him more than he realised.
He was still sarcastic and grumpy and all the rest - but he no longer wore the perpetual scowl for no reason at all. Nor did he actively start each day dwelling on all the miseries of his life.
"Thank you," he said sardonically. "I must admit to being 'better than usual', so there you are.
"If you plan to brave the dance-floor in those ridiculous shoes, perhaps you will deign to grace me with your presence during a dance."
It would be at least one dance in which she could not be prowling about after Remus!
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She couldn't help but smile a little wider at his admittance. "Whoever had the good sense to tell you that should give themselves a firm pat on the back. It wouldn't be all that difficult for you to look just a tiny bit more comfortable in your environment, really. It makes all the difference as to your approachability." Which, she figured, he was trying to manipulate anyhow. But regardless.
"I'm here on the unofficial business of making sure no one blows up the place, so sitting down for the entire evening is unfortunately completely out of the question, and believe me when I say I would love the opportunity to do so." For now, however, she'd suffer. "Besides, I hadn't realised when I bought the bloody dress that when I do sit down, it shows a little more than it ought to, so I'm doing it for the sake of decorum, if nothing else."
Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, she glanced over Severus' shoulder at a couple that'd just entered before returning her gaze to him. "Well, good. You deserve to be better than usual. I think we all do, at this point." Although deserving and having were two completely different things, she reminded herself bitterly before forcing the thought out of her mind. While everyone else seemed to be moving on with their lives to places they could've only dreamt about before the end of the war, she was stuck. Stuck in the same job, with the same flat and goldfish and daily routine. The only major thing that had changed in her life, really, had been the loss of a three-year relationship, and that hardly changed anything for the better, although she doubted she'd feel much different about everything if they'd stuck it out.
So there she had it. Stuck. Going nowhere fast, and with her only potentially positive turning point now in Romania for Merlin only knew how long. Not that she was dependent on romantic relationships. But still. It was nice not to be alone. She was used to it now, but given the choice, she rather thought she'd prefer to be part of something instead of just herself, standing alone in the Great Hall, nursing a glass of alcohol the entire evening. And hopefully that wasn't how it'd turn out.
Genuinely surprised at his offer, she considered it for a moment before saying, "You haven't, by any chance, suddenly stopped taking any anti-depressant medication in the past few days, have you?" she quipped in a sort of self-depricating way. "Dancing with me is like dancing in a pit of cobras. There will be pain, and probably lots of it. And it's questionable whether or not you'll walk away from it alive.
"But," she added, "if you insist--and feel no obligation to do so, because I suppose it's not your fault you didn't know any better than to not ask me--then yes, I'd love to. If I haven't broken my ankles by then, that is."
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"Don't be ridiculous - I do not meddle in Muggle remedies," he replied with a snort. "If I had become suicidal, I know a plethora of effective techniques which would not involve breaking my neck or ruining the shine of my shoes.
"As for pain and danger, I've had my share of both. I'll risk it. I am not afraid of you. I am however, rather intimidated by Minerva, who would be seriously annoyed with me if I was not making good-show at being sociable this evening, so there you are. We will dance, later."
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Shifting from one foot to the other in an attempt to relieve the pain in her insteps and toes, she tugged nervously on the same lock of hair she'd been twirling. She wasn't anxious about anything in particular, merely how the night would go. It'd be lovely to see her favourite band perform, but if the only conversation she was going to have was with Severus, well, then perhaps next time she'd have to wear the pink dress, if only to get noticed for the sake of a little interaction.
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