Tate quickly entered the great hall, checking her dress one last time. She was a little late so the festivities had already begun. It was a beautiful sight, students all getting along and dancing with one another, eating and chatting. Tate then saw a familiar face, and twirled her way over to .

"Hey there girl! You look absolutely gorgeous!" Tate said, giving Poppy a hug. Looking at the stranger next to her , She introduced herself. "Hi there! I'm Tate, Ignore the color of my attire, I'm actually a slytherin" They all giggled at her last comment.

Megan arrive at the ball rather late as she was trying to have her hair fancied up. She had discovered a charm to make your hair longer and darker and unfortunately, she grew it longer than she'd meant so she had been spending the last couple of hours trimming it to the right length. When she stepped into the Great Hall her mouth dropped at the beautiful scene around her. She marveled at the stars and cosmos that came to life in the Hall; an area of interest she'd pondered following but chose rather to keep it as a hobby.

Regaining her composure she looked around to find a table uncluttered and sat down, her goblet filling immediately with butterbeer. Taking a sip she watched the scenes around her as couple danced and other ate or drank. It was a merry sight to behold and she was glad to be a part of it.

((OOC: sorry on the late post guys! Couldn't post 'til now))

Vin knew that he obviously wasn't going anywhere as far as social standards went just standing towards the corner of the room as more and more people started to show up to the great hall. He did hear two girls talking about who he assumed was himself, but he didn't pay it much mind. He scanned the room for a couple people that weren't too... Glamorous. He eventually spotted the girl who was previously one of the few people dancing () as well as one of the girls that was talking about him (). He scratched the back of his head, and after a moment of wondering whether or not he should approach them, he decided to walk over to the two, trying not to bump anyone in his way.

"Hey, um... I haven't exactly been to a ball, so I was wondering if one of you guys could explain to me how this kinda works." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to seem too awkward, but he assumed he was doing a pretty bad job of it. He knew he should have enrolled into a magic school before going to something like this.

Rox heard how the band said they were going to take a break. It seemed like they only really played just a handful of songs. As she loved music she loved listening to them and she was hoping that they would come back soon.

She noticed how the flutist was still on the stage and then heard her say through the microphone that she had lost a shoe. Rox wondered how she had done that, but started to look around inside the Hall, to see if she could see a shoe somewhere. She was hoping someone would find it soon. It would be hard to stand on the stage without shoes.

When the band came back only moments later, she saw how the flutist was still standing barefoot. Seemed like no one had found the shoe so far, but she also saw that it didn't really bother her too much, so she decided to start listening to their beautiful music again.

She heard the slow song the band had started to play now. Great she thought to herself, there's not much you can do when you don't have a dance partner. She turned around to MG (). "I really hope they will start playing a faster number again soon, I wanna dance".

Rox complimented her dress and MG smiled! MG agreed that she would like to dance to a faster number with her friend rox. She turned to "Maybe we can put in a request?" MG looked around the room and noticed more people were coming in, and felt a bit smaller.

Thana's hands were trembling. The pale girl stood before the entrance, only half noticing as other latecomers trickled past her and into the hall.

Everyone will see you, her mind unhelpfully suggested. [I]They'll all know.[/i]

Her breath caught in her throat, an uncomfortable lump that threatened to choke. Thana swallowed anxiously, forcing herself to study the myriad decorations. The distraction technique worked - the hall was dressed to perfection.

Just a room. A beautiful room. Full of beautiful people. she told herself as she squinted into the brighter light of the hall. Music reached her ears, a tune that she was surprised to find familiar; memories of a morning walk through a frozen garden with this song as the theme, a stolen moment of happiness at her home.

Now or never.

Thana almost chose 'never'. She was surprised to feel herself moving forward, her feet carrying her through the doors and into the crowded hall. She avoided the dancers, of course - people in general, in fact, she managed to slip past - and propelled herself straight towards a more shadowed area. But despite this reluctance to engage with others, Thana was proud of herself.

Baby steps, she thought, settling away from the lights, eyes upon the band and their dancing audience.

[img align=left]http://s26.postimg.org/e2p0qbk3t/Fade_Ball2.png[/img]Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Fade waited around the open doors to the Great Hall for . He had a feeling she would be upset if he jumped in without her on his arm. Even if they were going as friends, they agreed to go together and so waiting became necessary. Not that Fade minded. Large groups made him nervous, and his cat wasn’t allowed to attend the ball. Having a friend with him would make it much easier, especially someone as outgoing as Gaia. Glancing around the doorway at a few other apprehensive faces, he felt relieved to not be the only one who had butterflies in his stomach.

Inside the decorations glittered enticingly and the music seemed very upbeat. Chatter and laughter could be heard above the musical melodies, along with the clinking of glasses as toasts were made among the groups within. Squinting he tried to identify a few of his friends, but dressed in finery it made it difficult to spot anyone familiar.

Gaia walked down the steps still fixing her shoes. She knew she was late but Fade was probably waiting. She reached the entrance to the Great Hall and notice the now combed blue hair and knew instantly it was Fade (). She walked towards him while he was distracted "I see you managed to tame your hair!" Gaia giggled a little "You look great! I love what you did to you hair! Sorry I kept you waiting, have you been here long? I wanted us to come together from the common room, but my hair charm backfired the first time. I ended up with a buzzed head!" Gaia giggled some more. "Have you seen our friends? I missed the band didn't I?"

Gaia looked around quickly taking in all the decorations and all her friends spreading through out the Hall.

[img align=left]http://s26.postimg.org/e2p0qbk3t/Fade_Ball2.png[/img]Fade jumped slightly but covered it smoothly with the clearing of his throat. “Thanks, nothing too extreme, just some pomade from home.” He didn’t include the part about having to wash his hands for five minutes using a magically enhanced hand soap to get the sticky residue off his fingers. But if it looked OK he supposed all the trouble was worth it. Just never again. "You look amazing." Honestly Fade was a little jealous that is was socially acceptable for girls to wear yards of glittering fabric without any ridicule. "That hair color is very nice on you."

“Haven’t been waitin too long, the band just came back from a break.” Glancing over the room again he shrugged. “It’s hard to tell who is who under all that fabric and glitter, but the common room was dead so they must be in there somewhere.” Holding up his arm and trying his best not to blush Fade gestured toward the Grand Hall. “Shall we?”

(( ))

Gaia blushed at Fade's compliment. "Thank you, I figured a contrast from every day colors would work!" She curtsied and giggled. "Are you ready?" Gaia said while placing her hand on Fade's arm. () "We will have fun, would you like to find our friends or get something from the refreshment table?"

[img align=left]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd186/boldaslove11/ball%20ha1.png?1444167258090&1444167259182&1444167263935[/img] "Nice to meet you! My name is Amanda. Aren't the decorations gorgeous?" she said as she gestured to the room around her. Looking the girl over she added happily, "Your hair looks very lovely. Feel free to join us if you want! We don't bite!" she said giggling again.

"Wizard bands are amazing! They add some extra flash to the stage that is so exciting! I hope you enjoy your first wizard concert!"

Amanda noticed Gaia and Fade entering the room. Finally! She jumped up and went to go say hi to them; she was getting a little hyper from all the punch. As she approached she said, "Wow! You guys look great together. So much purple! I love it!!!" She gave them each a quick one armed hug as she said all this. "You guys should definitely try the punch, it's amazing."

[img align=left]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/theatticbox/fdb7af60-1fa1-491e-8bf8-6b314cbf19c1.jpg[/img]For a while, everything was going off without a hitch. The punch bowls kept refilling, the band kept playing, and the students laughed and danced. Professor Persnickety was pleased with herself. She swayed back and forth to the music until she distinctly heard the sound of banging pots. She sighed heavily.

Peeves had decided to invite himself to the ball, along with a dozen pots and a dozen wooden spoons. Professor Persnickety watched as the students covered their ears and shouted at the poltergeist. The band stopped playing as well. Having achieved his goal, the pest began to sing:

Ickle students all around. Don't like Peevsie swooping down! Yell, they do, and whine and scream! Peevsie laughs at them all with glee! With chalk and thorns and banging pots, Peevsie will annoy the lot!

“Peeves!” the Headmistress shouted at him. “If you wanted an invitation, you should have asked.”

“No fun in that, Headsie!” He cackled and swooped down upon the band. He grabbed the microphone and swung it around in the air. “Need to answer riddles to get Peevsie to leave!”

Appoline Persnickety sighed. This was going to be a long night.

“First! This shrieking beastie plagued the shrieking shack. He’ll shriek no more; he’s never coming back! Not quite a full blown beastie, what kind of beastie was he?”

He did a few loops in the air before settling back in the same spot mid-air. Professor Persnickety opened her mouth to reply, but Peeves made a rude noise.

“Not so fast, Headie! I have a second riddle too! Strawberry, raspberry, lemon creme! Spinach, pepper, grass of green! Reach in the bag and pull me out, and pray I don’t taste like sprouts!”

He floated in silence--well, as much as one could be silent when banging pots and pants--seemingly done giving his riddles. It was time to give the answers.

(OOC Note: members can sMail with any solved riddle answers for 10 House Points each! Non-members can as well, but only members will be awarded points for correct answers. Please do not post the answers here. Also thank you to for her Peeves poem from our writing challenge a few weeks back. You’ll be awarded 10 extra points at the end of the ball.)

Ceilidh smiled brilliantly at Rose. "Hey! Yeah, thanks!" She busies herself with getting Rose some of the Butterbeer. She offers it to her. "Some of it's old fashioned crafty work, but I did charm it, too." She stretches her back some, which made the previously static wings flutter softly in response.

(())

Megan looked around as Peeves came banging pots and covered her ears as best as she could while he continued banging loudly near her table. She removed her hands once she saw Peeves mouth "riddle"; she always was fond of puzzles. She listens to the riddles and upon hearing them shakes her head because it didn't feel like a challenge, just a way for Peeves to insult the intelligence of everyone in the Hall.

Sighing to herself she got up and wandered to the table of sweets and finds on filled with and smiles to herself remembering how during Easter she gets as many as she can. Picking one up and taking a bite she closes her eyes and enjoys the moment before turning back to the crowd to watch the dancers move.

Rox looked around where the noise came from and discovered Peeves at the same moment the headmistress shouted at him. She covered her ears for the noise, but was also very curious as to what Peeves would be up to. So she removed her hands quickly after that to be able to hear him and she heard him saying 'riddles'. She had always been fond of puzzles, so she knew this was something for her. She listened closely to the riddles and began to think about possible answers, which didn't really took her that long, as the riddles weren't actually that hard.

She turned around towards the table with refreshments, ready to go and grab another Butterbeer from it.

[img align=left]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2I_RkgfvFCI/VhF63p1A8AI/AAAAAAAAAAo/-ZgBjHF2lkc/s250-Ic42/Wizarding%252520Ball%252520Elune.png[/img]Elune smiled at when she introduced herself. As they danced to the last song, she watched as the stage's fireworks cast an abstract glow on Goldy’s dress.

She jumped as Rin snuck up behind her just as the music stopped. Twirling around, she exclaimed, "I'm really glad you came. You look beauutiful!" Then, because she knew Rin well enough, she muttered, “I don’t think anything is e-lec-tron-ic here.” She still wasn’t sure what that word meant, but she knew that it encompassed things that didn’t run off magic.

Elune waved toward Max, who made his way over in such dashing robes. She introduced Rinoa and him to each other. Then, she turned toward Vin to catch his name.

“Actually, this is my first ball too,” she muttered, realizing how anxious she was now that the music had halted. “I’m not certain of what’s expected either. But everyone I’ve met here is very friendly. I hope you’ll feel welcome to mingle.”

Her eyes brushed by the door as Peeves slipped into the room. Elune plugged her ears as he flailed his pan about and yelled. She overheard someone attempting to speak over his madness, and turned toward Amanda (). "Well, it would make sense if Peeves stole the shoe too," she heard her exclaim. She smiled at her, although it probably turned out looking more like a grimace due to all of the unwanted noise.

Lapis rolls her eyes at the petulant poltergeist frolicking tauntingly in the air. Any Ravenclaw worthy of their house had to answer a daily riddle just to enter the common room, and the two Peeves had just asked were hardly up to par with the Brass Eagle. Having already formulated her answers, Lapis made her way over to the refreshments for a butterbeer.

Turokai Watched as a pale girl glided gracefully toward the darkened table where she sat, nearly invisible in he dark boyish clothes. Even the orange disaster of her spell lengthened hair was muted since she had extinguished the glowing globes near her chosen seat.
She wished, not for the first time, that she hadn't been concerned about loosing house points for Slytherin, and chose to obey the no pets edict. She missed the familiar weight of Chua coiled around her neck.

() Gaia so Amanda approaching and grinned. "Hi! You can say we are purplelicious" Gaia laughed at her joke and then took another look around. "I think it is time for a dance!" Gaia looked at () Fade "would you like to dance? You can just move from side to side?" Giggles "Amanda I think you should come with us! Time for twirling! Just like we practiced in the common room!" Gaia grabbed both her friends hands and excitedly brought them a little into the dance floor. "I wonder where Beth () and my friends and Emma () are!" Gaia started feeling the beat of the music you could tell by her head bopping and feet shuffling.

At that moment the band stopped and Gaia noticed Peeves. Laughing Gaia pointed to the floor () "Peeves you dropped a spoon!"