Dancing Beats Chess

[Rose Holland]

As she grew older, Rose felt more and more comfortable embracing her girly side. She no longer felt embarrassed about being excited to dress up for the ball, though she also wasn't totally confident she knew what she was doing. Tonight she was happy about the end result, though, and she hoped Charlie would like it too. They had gone together last year too, but this time it was different because they were actually dating. Hopefully it wouldn't be awkward, but so far nothing really had been. She enjoyed spending time with the Ravenclaw a lot and was very excited about the evening ahead of them. She waited near the entrance of the great hall, a hand moving up to play with her hair as she looked around for her boyfriend in the crowd of people entering the great hall.

 

[Charles Abberline]

He didn't think that he would be this nervous about attending the ball with Rose this time, especially since last year had been so much fun, but she was his girlfriend now and he felt like he needed to do a better job of entertaining her tonight. However, because the boy forgot all about time whilst going over his notes, was running late and now had to quickly change into his Yule Ball attire. Charlie quickly headed down to the entrance hall. Running late was very uncharacteristic of him and he was sure that Rose was already waiting for him downstairs. Fixing his tie one more and buttoning the middle button of his jacket, the boy jumped down the last two steps and looked around the hall for his girlfriend. It didn't take too long for him to spot the girl and walked over to her, smiling brightly. ''Hi,'' Charlie said as he approached Rose, hoping that she hadn't been waiting for him for a long time. ''You look pretty,'' he added, blushing slightly before he planted a kiss on her cheek.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was starting to get a little nervous. Had she missed Charlie? Was he inside already? Was he looking for her? But then she felt relieved when she spotted him approaching, her smile widening to a grin. "Hi!" She said happily. "Glad you found me." She blushed a little too at his compliment, leaning closer as he kissed her cheek. "Thank you... you look really nice too." She said softly. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she reached for his hand and took it in hers. "Let's go inside." Somehow this felt more serious than last year. Was it really just because they were dating now? She hoped it wouldn't start feeling uncomfortable, but so far it was nice.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charlie was happy that she thought that he looked nice. He would not have put time and effort in his attire normally but given the fact that they were dating now and that this could be considered as a date, the boy knew that he couldn't just show up in some ridiculous outfit. He smiled at Rose when she reached for his hand and happily followed her into the Great Hall. ''Sorry for being late, by the way,'' He said, turning his head to her. ''Kind of lost track of time whilst studying my notes for Defence Against the Dark Arts.'' She didn't seem upset when he arrived earlier but still felt like he needed to apologise for keeping her waiting. The hall looked festive as ever, and the snow falling from the skies reminded him that soon he'd be having a snowball fight with his father at home, as surely snow would've fallen in England by now.

 

[Rose Holland]

Even though Rose had seen the decorations for the yule ball plenty of times now, she still looked around in amazement. Her eyes scanned the crowd for her sisters automatically, and she was a little sad she couldn't see the look on Alice's face a she saw this all for the first time. But being here with Charlie was fun too, and she knew her sisters could take care of themselves. She couldn't help but laugh slightly at his reason for being late. Charlie was so different from her, but she really liked that about him. She liked that he spent his time studying, even on the night of a dance. And she liked that he used words like 'whilst'. "It's okay, I was a little late myself so I wasn't waiting for long." She said with a small shrug. As much as she tried to be on time, Rose was usually running a little late for everything. "Do you want to dance?" She asked him with a smile, still holding onto his hand.

 

[Charles Abberline]

He was happy to hear that she had been a little late herself and that she hadn't been waiting too long for him to arrive. With the hall being rather crowded already, the boy wondered if he would spot any of his friends from the chess club, and if so, if Rose would mind hanging out with them for a couple of minutes. For now, though, the Ravenclaw focused all of his attention on his girlfriend. Charlie figured that she would ask if he wanted to dance sooner or later, though much rather preferred it to be later in the hope that they would be having such a great time that she would have forgotten about dancing being a thing they could do also. ''You do remember that I am a terrible dancer, right?'' He replied, remembering the last time he tried to dance with Rose and how awful he had been at it.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was happy to go with the flow, though she hoped they would run into someone she knew so she could socialize a bit with other people as well. Right now, Charlie and their relationship felt pretty separate from her group of friends, something she wished to change in the long run. But Charlie was very different from most of her friends, much more serious and less rule-breaky. Would they even like each other? Maybe it would be best if they didn't meet tonight. Rose had to think a little more about how to make the two worlds meet each other. Charlie's comment made her smile, and she looked at him with a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Who cares how well you do it? It's not about how good you are, it's about how much fun you have." She said as she held up the hand she was still holding and twirled underneath it with a small laugh. "I'm not great at it either, but that doesn't matter!"

 

[Charles Abberline]

He smiled widely as she twirled around and found himself agreeing with Rose that he shouldn't care about whether he could actually dance or not. And so Charlie, though very awkwardly, started to move his body to the beat, trying to copy what he saw others doing. She had a way of convincing him that everything would be fine in the end. He even found himself wondering if he should explore the castle at night again thanks to her. He didn't really fancy breaking the rules, though the boy had to admit to himself that ever since he started hanging out more with his girlfriend, he cared less and less about breaking minor rules. His parents had raised him to take his studies seriously since they would help him to achieve what he wanted to become once he was older, but surely he did not have to be serious every of the day? Not sure if he was supposed to talk while dancing on a fast-paced song, Charlie kept his mouth shut and continued his very silly dancing.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose wasn't sure her words would be enough to convince Charlie to dance. Often, he still seemed very serious to her. Maybe dancing badly at a ball with his girlfriend was something he would hate, even if it was just for fun. But a grin quickly spread over her face as she noticed him start to move. Happily, she clapped her hands. "That's more like it! Wooh!" She yelled, probably attracting more attention than the Ravenclaw would like. Not one to leave him dancing on his own, she quickly joined in with similar moves, pulling silly faces at him to make him laugh and probably feel more at ease. It wasn't the most traditional way of dancing with a partner, but Rose was having a blast.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charlie was relieved to see that Rose joined in on his silly dancing and laughed at the faces she was making. He knew that she was doing and he appreciated it  a lot as it did help him feel a little more comfortable dancing around like an idiot. Normally the introvert, going to events such as this was not something he did very often as it was out of his comfort zone most of the time, but right now, Charlie was rather enjoying himself and he had Rose to thank for that. He didn't think that he would find himself on the dance floor again, but was happy that they had decided to go as dates once more since being here right now was way better than being cooped up in the common room with a book about defensive magic. Feeling a rush of gratitude towards her flow through him, he quickly kissed the girl's cheek and thanked her for the fun he was having so far. At the moment the Ravenclaw couldn't wish for a better person to spend the evening with.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was glad Charlie was laughing and having a good time. As much as she enjoyed pushing him out of his comfort zone, she didn't actually want him to be upset or uncomfortable in any way. As long as he thought it was fun, she would help encourage him to be more adventurous. The silly dancing really was a lot of fun, though Rose thought they were attracting a bit of attention. Personally, she didn't mind, but she hoped Charlie wasn't getting embarrassed. Before she could ask him how he was doing, he moved closer and kissed her cheek. Rose grinned and paused her dancing to put her arms around him. She kissed him on the lips briefly and smiled at him. "I'm glad we're here together." She said softly.

 

[Charles Abberline]

He wasn't aware of the attention the two of them were attracting by dancing in the silliest ways they could think of, and for the first time in years, it didn't really bother him that people watching. He was having fun and according to Rose that was all he should care about. It had taken him a while to be fine with being taken out of his comfort zone but with so many other students around them dancing and having fun, he didn't mind that much. He stared at her as she stopped dancing to put her arms around his neck and smiled back at the girl after she kissed him. Charlie nodded his head in agreement and replied, ''So am I.'' putting his arms around her waist. ''I am so glad I didn't stay in my dormitory and get some studying done before going to sleep.'' He added.