A Turn on the Dance Floor

[Anmoch Marcach]

The Yule Ball was about as much excitement as a ghost could get himself into these days. Gone were the times when The Dark Rider would wander over the glens and remember his mortal life. The years had whittled his memory down to the few precious thoughts of a time now past. Once he would be welcomed at the feasts of his people, the comforts of his Lord thrashed about in ways he could never understand, but it was all so different now. The thought of attending the ball had not been a simple one and he'd talked it over within himself many times before coming to a final decision. Now he sat upon his steed and looked down over the Great Hall as it was decorated and pushed to conform with their simple ideals of beauty and decadence. The Dark Rider had memories of much grander affairs than this, but chose to allow the children their dreams. Who was he to come into them and talk them down so fiercely anyway.

The celebrations were coming to a height soon and so he turned his horse and made his way back out of the hall. If he was going to be attending this thing, he was not to be attending alone. Despite what he was sure many of the younglings would think, The Dark Rider was not accustomed to attending these functions alone, once he had a family, though they were long since gone, he retained much of his pride and went off in search of some company. He discovered it in the form of another Ghost, Gladys Wright, someone he had not spent much time with. Not that he spent any particular amount of time with anyone. He much preferred to be by himself, or out on the grounds remembering the feeling of when he was alive. It was the knowledge of being a ghost that haunted him now, his life was so long ago that he often forgot just how long ago it was. He did not know of any ghosts, older than he was now. "I find it rather strange, the fabrics they weave into coverings. I never imagined sights such as these in my days as a mortal." The comment was to Gladys, but he did not care to notice if she'd heard him. He was rather preoccupied trying to figure out if one of the dresses on a student was actually a dress, or a very short tunic.
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Out of Character:

Please remember that students will not know his name unless he gives it to them.

 

[Professor Gladys Wright]

As a student herself, albeit of the original Hogwarts Scotland, Gladys never had the privilege of attending a Yule Ball. In ghost terms, she was quite young. Many of the partially departed were old, hundreds of years so, some even thousands. She'd been dead for not even fifty. It wasn't until sixteen years after her graduation that the Tri-Wizard Tournament was revived and the first Yule Ball since 1792 was held. Now, 46 years later, it was going strong as an annual event hosted independently from the tournament, and it was one of the most exciting events of the year. Robbed of her chance to wear a beautiful gown and dance in both her youth and life, Wright ensured she spent her eternity attending every Ball she could, even if she remained floating off to the sidelines to sway by herself.

As with the previous years, Professor Gladys Wright expected the 2040 Yule Ball to be the same. It came as a pleasant surprise when instead, The Dark Rider, Ghost of Slytherin House, invited her to accompany him. It had been a long time since anyone had asked her to anything, so she gladly accepted. Gladys was fond of patterns and routines, and was content with her life, or more accurately death, falling into one, but she embraced the change in formula. Hovering slightly higher from the floor than she was accustomed too, as her partner was on horseback, the ghost entered the Great Hall as the ball came into swing. If her body had not been pearly-white and mostly transparent, her cheeks would have been touched with a slight shade of pink. She spent so many years keeping to herself and avoiding too much attention, yet here she was with the enigmatic Dark Rider, a man who's real name not even she knew. "I couldn't possibly imagine what it would have been like during your stage walking the earth. Even in the short span of time since I shuffled off my mortal coil, so much has changed. The world passes us by, yet we stay the same." She breathed a small sigh, unable to take her eyes off of the gowns the girls wore, so different from the attire worn during her teenage years. In recent times, less appeared to be more. ​

 

[Lady Helena the Brave]

Lady Helena never attended a Yule ball during her life and that was always a disappointment to her. Of course she had attended many formal occasions during her life but to have done it at school. Now of course the Yule ball was an annual event at the New Zealand branch of Hogwarts and the Gryffindor house ghost considered the students very lucky that they had an annual event such as this to look forward to. Lady Helena always enjoyed the Yule ball, it was good for her to watch on as the students enjoyed themselves, enjoying their youth and life.

Lady Helena glided into the Great hall and took in the surroundings. The modern day decorations still amazed her year upon year despite all the years of attending royal events and balls. She glided past students who were beginning to congregate on the dance floor. Lady Helena spotted in the corner of her eye two familiar apparitions. The house ghosts of Ravenclaw and Slytherin were also in attendance at the ball, she glided on over to them. "A rather pleasant evening wouldn't you agree?" She asked the two once she arrived in front of her fellow ghosts.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie loved the Yuleball, he loved the yuleball so much, he didn't have any real fancy clothes he was wearing his usual school trousers and his school shirt, he'd added the same time as last year, and he had his pockets filled with various sweets that he'd snatched from the various tables. He had his camera around his neck and was doing his duties as the photographer while mixing in various amounts of dancing and fun, he'd spotted a few of his friends amongst the crowd and he waved happily at them, but couldn't find his best friend in the crowd, and he didn't know if Lucien would attend, but he really hoped that he might run into him, since he loved seeing his best friend.

Avie eventually stopped in front of three ghosts and he all but screamed in excitement at the ghosts, and he felt himself reach immediately for his camera, taking a quick picture of them, "Can I be a ghost too?!" the boy jumped up and down excitedly at them, clapping his hands excitedly, "do you come every year? Can you eat sweets? Here," he held out some sweets to the ghosts. He was brimming with excitement, he loved seeing Vex, and he was so excited to meet more ghosts, "I want to be young forever!"
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[Anmoch Marcach]

The Dark Rider steadied his horse, patting the side of his head to calm him. They'd been through a lot together, dying with his horse was more than an honour. He turned to look towards his companion as she spoke, and nodded slightly. "I tend not to dwell too much these days, but certainly we lacked colour such as this. We did not have the technologies to create patterns and colours. I'm afraid it was mostly whatever we happened to find at the time. Browns and the like." He distinctly remembered brown, though there may have been other colours. It was thousands of years ago now, he didn't care anymore and most of those memories lay idle in the back of his mind. His time had long since passed and all he could do now was watch the world move on without them.

Another joined them, the Gryffindor house ghost and the ghost of Slytherin nodded down to her. She was much younger in appearance than the rest of them and though he did not know her story, he could guess. He'd heard talk of it, but he was not one for idle conversations and so tended to stay away from the other ghosts in the castle. She spoke about the evening, but Anmoch did not answer as he had no opinion on the matter. Certainly it was a change from his nightly wanderings through the walls, but he was not sure it could all together be called a pleasant evening, considering the light tendencies of some and the fact it was only in its infancy. "The night is still in its infancy, Helena, I trust you remember this?" Who knew what could happen. It wasn't long until something did happen. They were suddenly joined by an excitable boy from his own house. The Dark Rider cast his gaze at the boy, this one was mentioned often in the corridors, he was no stranger to the ghost. "I suppose if you got blown up or make a bad potion." He did not understand why anyone would choose to be a ghost. After all, he had not chosen this life, but he had not wanted to die either. This was his only option. He needed to protect his heritage after all.
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[Professor Gladys Wright]

The Ghost of Slytherin's words caused some reassurance for the Arithmancer. While she was confident with everyone else's capability to move on with their lives, she had nothing to move onto herself. All that she had left of her life were her memories, and with an eternity left to roam the earth, she had been concerned about losing even those, but listening to her companion talk of how he remembered his life so far in the past, those concerns were quelled. The woman glanced down toward her gown, as translucent and pearly white as the rest of her being. "Browns and the like would be a nice change. I do quite miss the colours."

The appearance of Lady Helena was a nice addition. Rarely did the representatives of the house have an opportunity to come together. The only one missing to their ethereal quartet was Evan. The woman glanced between the two ghosts, before offering a smile. "But of course the night, even in its infancy, has been pleasant. Nights like these are among the highlights of the year. All of this energy in one place reminds me of when..." She trailed off, her eyes falling on an approaching youth, standing out from the other attendees by his attire, or lack thereof. "Oh dear." She sighed, shaking her head. The Slytherin boy was not the brightest. He embodied everything Ravenclaw wasn't. The woman folded her hands in her lap, floating silently until the Rider had finished speaking. "Listen, dear." Gladys descended from the air, floating a mere few centimeters from the ground. "Being a ghost is not a state of being you want to be in." Her hand passed through the sweets to further make her point. "It's not a glamorous existence. Your life is one you only get once. Hold onto it for as long as you can."​

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