Open chaos and revelry

Mikael Nightray, unlike his sister, did not care for gatherings such as this. In fact, he'd never actually attended the school events until Eurydice entered Hogwarts New Zealand. He only started to go to keep an eye on her, for good reason in his opinion. This year, however, he was not attending for his sister and was instead present so he could go to the Yule Ball for the first and last time with his boyfriend. Even now, it was a bit of a sore point that Elio was older than him by more than a year, which was why his boyfriend would be leaving the school a year earlier than Mikael was. While he didn't particularly care about attending events like this, he did prefer to spend time with the Gryffindor - especially when he wasn't being such a headache. A rare occurrence. Perhaps, though, this was also a time to ask Elio if he wanted anything for Yule. Mikael hadn't exactly figured out yet what to get his boyfriend for a gift. "Have you seen Eurydice yet?" he asked as he handed Elio a drink that he got for him. He hadn't seen her come in yet, and if he didn't see her in half an hour, he was going to have to ask Elio if he'd be willing to go up with him to the Hufflepuff Common Room to check on her because his sister willingly missing a ball would definitely be raising a couple of flags on top of everything other flag that he'd noticed surrounding her this semester. Still, there was no use worrying for the moment since he was also here to spend time with his boyfriend.​

"No, but she's probably fine," this was probably exactly why Eury didn’t like telling her brother things, and honestly it was usually even worse when he was out of the loop, since it meant he worried about things. The problem of course was that Elio didn’t know what to say, because he didn’t actually know if what he was saying about Eury was actually correct, since she didn’t really talk to him anymore like she used to. He took the drink from Mikael and quickly downed it before wrapping his arms around him. “Don’t worry about your sister, let’s dance that’s what Yule is for, you can’t make me stand in the corner or not and watch for your family,” he said, pouting. If he was going to come to a party he wanted it to be a party.​

Mikael wasn't exactly sure if both he and Elio believe that Eurydice was fine. Between Primrose Kaster telling him that Eurydice was likely being bullied, approaching Terror of all people, a Hospital Wing visit, and clinging to both he and Elio every now and then, he was pretty sure that his sister was not fine. But it was frustrating because Eurydice was also stubbornly keeping quiet on the matter. Still, his boyfriend was also probably right that she was likely going to be fine tonight. If she were to show up tonight, which he was sure she would, it would likely be with that little sh!t William Potter-Cade, who he was at least sure was not bullying his sister. "Very well," he said with a small nod. For as long as Eurydice showed up and stayed cheerful in the Ball, he would not interfere with her night with the Gryffindor. Even with Elio's arms wrapped around him, he offered his boyfriend a hand to take, "Would you do me the honors of a dance?"​

The thing about yule balls, or balls in general was that they seemed to make mikael all kinds of sentimental. He knew that Kael was probably worried about Eury, but since there wasn’t much they could do, he wasn’t sure there was much point in trying anything tonight. She would probably be with that boy that was related somehow to Professor Cade if his last name was any indication. He looked down at the hand being offered to him and laughed slightly. “Why do you always insist on asking me things so formally?” His boyfriend was really a drama queen. More than a drama queen. He didn’t know what was higher than a Drama Queen he supposed, but maybe a Drama King? Only the title didn’t really suit him he thought. “Okay. We can do that.” he said, putting his hand in Kael’s.​

"Because it occasionally amuses you," Mikael said without missing a beat. There really was no other reason at this point for him to do so. The first time he did it, he would never admit it to Elio, but he had been floundering. It wasn't like he'd immediately known how to talk to Elio when they'd become a couple from family friends - which was honestly a very, very generous label for their initial relations - he still didn't know how to communicate with Elio most days. But that first time he'd formally asked Elio for something, it amused the Gryffindor, and he'd decided to do that for as long as he could get away with it. Still, his boyfriend would respond to it with laughs and exasperation and so, he would continue to do that. He took Elio's hand and led them to the dance floor. Once they were there, he decided against a formal dance and so moved both his hands to Elio's waist, pulling him close so they can sway to the music.​

“You’re such a nerd,” but he was a nerd that knew what he wanted and it was a goal that, whilst Elio didn’t necessarily agree with, he’d also stopped trying to oppose him, it was so much simpler just to be there and do what he could to get Mikael across the finish line. He’d decided after their last fight that he wasn’t going to keep pushing him, because the last thing he wanted was to push Mikael to breaking point that they wouldn’t be able to come back from, that was just make him sad. He was sure it would make both of them sad. As they got to the swaying, Elio moved his hands up to Kael’s shoulders, resting his head against his boyfriends. He was taller, but it didn’t really matter right now, he just liked having time like this with him, since this was his last Yule ball and all. It wasn’t going to be his last ball by any rate, but it was the last one that Mikael could be truly relaxed at, since he had no need to worry about people trying to foist him out of his position right now. “This is nice, isn’t it?”​

"You. Calling me a nerd," Mikael told his boyfriend rather incredulously. He was pretty sure this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Besides, his boyfriend was a much bigger nerd than he was. If anything, his boyfriend cared a lot more about studies and grades than Mikael did. Granted, he had a number of worries and goals that he was prioritizing over grades, but he still maintained that Elio was more of a nerd than he was. He closed his eyes for a moment as Elio leaned his head against his, just taking in the moment. It was loud in the Great Hall, with noises from other students and the music surrounding them. There were people brushing against either of them every now and then, but there really wasn't anywhere he'd rather be than here. He agreed this was nice. "We should do this more often," he said softly without opening his eyes.​