Confetti Falling

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie had no intention of going to the Yuleball to begin with, with still no word from his mother, and the prospect of spending the holidays alone, without Lucien or Bothie it made the teen feel heavy with a sadness he couldn't shake off. He had been trying all that he could, trying to concentrate, but it too was becoming equally hard, the bubblehead charm kept failing when he was in the water and his mind got distracted. He had stopped doing it altogether for a little while, just because he couldn't get it to work properly and he needed it to work for him. Avie felt lonely like he'd never felt before, he felt like things weren't always going to be rock throwing and fun, and it scared him. Hogwarts was his home, it was all he had left if his mother didn't write to him any more. If she didn't return from her trip soon. Considering how unhappy the teen had been, going to the Yuleball had been the last thing on his mind, but on the day itself, when once again no post had arrived for him, he decided that he would at least try to have a little fun. He would attempt it, attempt to forget about all his worries, or at least eat so much candy that his mind was too busy to be able to focus on anything.

However, he didn't have any fancy clothes, all he could find was a shirt and the bow tie his mother had given him last year, which he hadn't worn. The teen got quickly dressed in as formal clothes as he could find, and then headed straight to the Yuleball, he was not dressed as formally or as well as others, but Avie wasn't bothered by this in the slightest. He pushed through the crowd of people until he got to the food table, the amazingness of the hall, and the amount of food in front of him, that just looked delicious was really enough to take his mind off everything else. He had his camera in his pocket so that he could take pictures for the yearbook, and suddenly with all of these things going on the teen was feeling pretty amazing, he was feeling excited, he was feeling happy, he was feeling over the moon about everything. Even if he felt like his mother might never write to him again, and he had no clue where she was but now he felt like that would all be okay. He ate a few bits and pieces of candy before taking out his camera and beginning to take pictures, looking out for any of his friends, Kris, Esme, Lucien, Emily, Bothie, just anyone he could share in these moments of happiness with.
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[Esme Lancaster]

This years Yule Ball was going to be a little different from Esme's previous attendances. In prior years, she had turned up to the Great Hall alone and spent the entire night much the same way. It wasn't exactly easy to find someone, no one had met her standards for a date she would willingly be seen in public with. Few people had asked her as it was, for the Slytherin girl was hardly the most approachable of people. But the handful of students who weren't intimidated by her still didn't quite hit the mark she was looking for. She couldn't go with anyone she deemed physically unattractive, nor could she go with someone who she'd pale to in comparison. Then there was the matter of blood status, finding a student with very little to no muggle background who still met her requirements. She'd briefly considered Jakobe, but she didn't find him outwardly appealing, nor did she want to be seen with him once he'd ingested sugar. Plus, she assumed he'd go with that good-for-nothing Scarlet wretch.

Not accepting another year of standing alone, nor willing to look second best compared to the other girls, Esme had decided to find a date and requested a new dress to wear. Her mother knew a seamstress who was able to tailor one to her measurements for a price, and it had arrived by owl earlier in the week. The witch hadn't taken it from the safety of its packaging until the very night of the ball, afraid that it might become damaged or ruined in some way. Who knew what could happen within the chaos that masked itself as a school. With an hour until the ball would commence, Esme unwrapped her package and changed from the day's school robes into a slim, black dress that wore like a second skin. It was surprisingly light and comfortable. Her shoes matched her dress in colour, with heels that could potentially break a person's toes if she felt it necessary. After touching up her makeup and applying a small portion of Sleekeazy to her hair, the witch let it cascade over one shoulder before exiting her dormitory to meet up with her date.

Unwilling to arrive alone, Esme had asked Lucien to accompany her to the ball. She wasn't sure if it was really his kind of thing, but he'd at least agreed. She found him waiting for her in the Dungeons, pleased to see that he looked rather dashing. Some boys didn't know how to dress well. They approached the Great Hall together, Esme voicing her judgement on the other girls attire as they entered its doors. Her eyes scanned over the faces of the other students, wondering if she'd see anyone she knew. "If you manage to "accidentally" spill a drink on a girl with a nicer dress than me, it'd make the night worthwhile." She commented to Lucien from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes finally stopped on a familiar face holding a camera. "I can see Avie. Let's go say hello." She suggested, nodding her head toward their friend. She made her way toward the table he stood by, raising her hand in a small wave. Merlin's beard, what was he wearing? She tried her best to avert her eyes from his choice of clothes and focused on his face. "Hey Avie. You aren't going to spend the whole night just taking pictures for the yearbook, are you?" She asked, glancing briefly to either side to see if he'd brought a date, or came alone. It appeared to be the latter.

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[Lucien Snow]

After the death of someone in his family, Lucien Snow was a little on the distant side. He knew that there would be no coaxing Bothizar Styx into coming to the Yule Ball. They could cause some trouble, and bring some havoc, but Bothizar refused to get out of his bed. Lucien was actually asked to the Yule Ball, which was surprising for him. However, considering who it was, Lucien did not want to say no. For one, Esme was hot. There was no denying that. He was not about to say no to her, especially at a chance to see her in a tight dress. They were also friends, and he did not want to risk anything from saying no. Lucien straightened his suit or tux, whatever they called this, he walked out to find who he was looking for, and like a gentleman, waited for Esme. As soon as his saw her, he had to keep his eyes from popping out of his head. Wow, that dress was something else. He knew that there were tight dresses for women, but holy hell.

On the way toward the Great Hall, Lucien agreed with the way Esme judged the other girls. They were truly not very good at dressing themselves. Very little appealed to him, but he would not have much appeal unless he had an understanding of their magical background. Esme's little statement made him smirk, "That'll be hard. Finding a dress better than yours." That must was true. Lucien's eyes were almost glued to her dress before she said that she could see Avie. Lucien gave a short nod, before he walked after Esme to go see Avie. Avie was in a difficult place, and Lucien was starting to suspect something about his mom. Avie did not really have a suit or tux to wear, which was somewhat sad. He raised an eyebrow at his outfit. He figured that the camera must be distracting him. Lucien gave a short nod before he looked toward the crowd, to see if he saw anyone else he knew. AKA Jean with that one girl that really dressed horribly on Halloween.​

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Despite being at this event alone and all the recent things which had been going on, he easily found himself having fun. He stopped one of the girls from Halloween and took a picture both with her and of her, before moving on. The boy knew once the sugar had popped in slightly more he would be off like a lit firework bouncing around the room, just whizzing around, doing his best and creating a little bit of a mess. Perhaps showing a few of the people who were around him how to have fun. He wished he had managed to persuade Bothie to come to the yuleball, they might've been able to throw rocks at people then hide within the crowds. That would've been great fun, Avie found himself laughing at even the thought of it, just the look of annoyance on people's faces but being unable to find out who'd done it. That was the most perfect fun task in Avie's mind but getting Bothie to do anything as of late was hard. His sister had died, and from what Avie gathered dead meant never coming back, sort of like his mother, but Avie's mother had passed, that wasn't dead, that meant she was coming back. So he could understand a little of what Bothie was feeling, though he thought it wasn't entirely the same. Unlike Bothie's sister, Avie's mother was coming back, he was certain of that. He was begging for that to happen.

The slightly darker thoughts cleared quickly from his mind when both Esme and Lucien turned up in front of him. Avie pulled down his shirt slightly as he noticed Lucien's far fancier clothes, but Avie got him mother to send him a suit and this time even his aunt hadn't provided it for him, so the clothes he wore was as fancy as he could get, and really Avie had scrubbed all the dirt out from underneath his nails so he knew he'd made an effort. However seeing them together, made him wonder if they were a couple, "Are you guys........a couple?" Avie made a disgusted face, ignoring her question as he shook his head at them, he leaned into them, "Are you going to have to kiss?" Avie almost spat out the last word disgusted at even the thought of missing, whispering the rest of what he's said. Avie leaned out and then held up the camera, "Want me take a picture of you guys?" Avie didn't like kissing, but they were his friends, he would do that for them, and they were here together and it was part of his job as the yearbook photographer to take pictures for people. Avie grinned at them both, "You guys going home for the holidays? I can't go home, but I can't wait for Christmas!" he told them excitedly, almost jumping up and done as he spoke to them.
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[Esme Lancaster]

At Lucien's compliment, Esme allowed a smile to touch her lips, her confidence raised even higher than it already was. Not that she felt she had much competition to begin with. There were some horrendous outfits, dresses in awful shades of pink, skirts that looked like they'd been torn from a curtain. One boy was wearing a leather jacket, while another girl resembled a chick with the amount of feathers decorating her dress. They were awful. It was hard to ruin some of them any further even if she'd wanted to. Her smile soon turned into an 'o' of surprise, after Avie's first greeting was a question as to whether she and Lucien were a couple, before the witch burst into laughter. He was seemed so much younger than them at times. "Oh, Avie, no.." She shook her head, suppressing the laughter into a quiet titter. She hadn't even considered such a thing between them. She enjoyed Lucien's company and liked the person he was, especially compared to the other students in the school, but the idea of a relationship with him, or anyone else for that matter, had never crossed her mind.

"He should be so lucky." The girl continued in response to Avie questioning if the two would have to kiss. She'd yet to kiss, or be kissed by a boy so far. Plenty of people her age had, but Emmett had always told her that the first time should be memorable. "But I do expect a dance sometime over the course of the night." She glanced sidelong at her date, her expression clearly conveying that she wouldn't take no for an answer. She wasn't going to stand by the snack table all night, she wanted some time on the dance floor. Though she wasn't an expert at dancing, she knew her steps and didn't want to let the night go to waste. Her eyes returned to their friend at his next question, noting the camera he held up. "I don't see why not. You might as well have at least one good photo. Something tells me you won't get many." She glanced briefly at the people nearby in obvious distaste, before putting an arm around Lucien's waist to pose. "I'll be going back for the holidays, if only to see my brother. But wait, why are you staying here Avie? Can't you stay at your aunts?" Esme didn't want to bring up his mother, but she was surprised that there seemed to be still no word from her. She'd been gone for so long, would she not be home for Christmas?​