Open A Proposal

[Salem Lee]

Open After Daph posts with Natalia

Halloween was easily one of Salem's favourite times of year. She loved the costumes and the lollies and how different cultures all celebrated the dead in some way. It had always been a fun time when she'd been travelling, and while Hogwart's own celebrations got a little same-y, Salem wasn't going to turn down a chance for a party. She'd taken the chance this year to dress up all fancy, having always wanted to wear a bowtie and and top hat. She knew some girls liked to use Halloween to dress up like princesses and fairies in gorgeous dresses but even when Salem was pretending to be something she wasn't, she still couldn't feel comfortable dressing up like that herself.

Traversing the room in a sort of shuffling two-step she'd convinced herself was akin to some sort of wedding dance, Salem let out an excited gasp when she spotted Natalia dressed in a bright wedding dress, hurrying over to her. "Hey! We match! Well, sort of, like bride and groom, right?" She said excitedly to her, doing a quick lap around Natalia to take in her dress before coming back to a stop in front of her and pointing excitedly at her own top hat in explanation.

 

[Natalia Novak]

Natalia had finally caved and had decided to go to the Halloween Feast. She had avoided it for her first two years at Hogwarts, as it had felt more like a muggle celebration than a proper wizard way to celebrate Halloween. But the thought of sitting in her dormitory by herself again while everyone else was out having fun had been unbearable. Creating her costume had been easy. She'd had a white dress, all she had to do was style her hair and make-up and add a veil. The feast itself was a bit overwhelming. The decorations were a lot, and Natalia ducked away from someone hitting the grindylow piñata just in time. There was a lot happening, and everyone else seemed to be having a great time already. While Natalia hadn't loved the idea of sitting in her dormitory by herself, she also knew that she usually spent the events by herself as well. Natalia hadn't been very good at being social.

So when someone hurried over to her and started talking to her, she was a bit startled. She took in Salem, taking a moment to realize what the Gryffindor meant. "Oh." She finally said, recognizing that Salem was dressed in a suit and was clearly meant to be a groom. She blushed a bit at the strange implication. "I suppose we do. Coincidentally" She finally said, taking a step back.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem just gave Natalia an encouraging smile as she processed what she'd said, nodding along before another idea occurred to her. "Oh! We should enter the contest together, it's perfect," she said. It'd been awhile since Salem had played pretend wedding like she'd done when she was a little kid, but she still remembered a few things from typical Western weddings. "You can borrow my bouquet too, if you want," she added, holding up the flowers to Natalia's face, hoping it'd sweeten the deal. Salem knew she didn't like wearing dresses or skirts, but there were still a few things she didn't want to give up just because she'd dressed as a groom, namely the bouquet. How could anyone turn down flowers?

 

[Natalia Novak]

Natalia didn't want to admit she hadn't known there was a contest, and she struggled to find a way to ask about it without sounding stupid. She finally settled on some slight contempt to hide behind. "Why would anyone enter the contest? What can you even win with it?" She asked, hoping Salem would buy she simply didn't have any interest in the contest, rather than not knowing anything about it because no one told her anything. Natalia looked at the flowers and frowned, then glanced at Salem. "Why would you give that to me?" She asked, wondering why the Gryffindor would trust Natalia with part of her costume. Especially if she hoped to win the contest. If Natalia wanted, she could just grab the flowers and crush them. Though she didn't particularly want to.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem opened her mouth to respond to Natalia's questions before pausing, furrowing her brow. "I don't.. Know what you win," she said after a moment. "I think there's a trophy? Maybe? But you enter cause it's fun. And cause we match," she repeated, gaining some momentum back now that she was returning to her previous argument. She glanced down at her bouquet, wiggling it temptingly at Natalia when she seemed hesitant to take it. "You'd look nice with it. And flowers are cool. All very important parts of winning costume contests too," she said, wiggling the bouquet at Natalia. "I can hold it too it you really don't want it," she added, wondering if maybe Natalia had hay fever or something.