Fireworks

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon had been both looking forward to and dreading for the last two months. she had attended before, in first year she had met and danced with Ty before he left for another girl in his year, last year she had enjoyed herself again. this year she was nervous. she had agreed to to to the ball with one boy before her best friend had asked her. she had had to say no but since then she was regretting it and wishing she was going with him. she dressed in a pink dress and was happy that she looked good and calm despite her inner confusion. realising that they hasn't decided where to meet be knowing that as they were not in the same house it would be highly unlikely to be meeting in the hufflepuff common room, not that she put it past him to be watching the hufflepuffs and figuring it out how to gain accent to their fourth floor sanctuary. regardless of that she made her way down to the ground floor and she looked around the hall and didn't se the familiar face at all, well she saw a lot of familiar faces but not the one (or two) she was (secretly) looking for. as the doors to the great hall opened she followed the crowd in and found a part of the room where she could wait and see the door. She took a seat and waited as people passed in groups, and pairs. her eyes on the door. Time passes and she started to feel like an idiot. was she being stood up? or was she just too early arriving as the ball started, was it normal to be half an hour late? She looked around to see if she had missed him and he was waiting for her. seeing that there was a drinks table nearby she took her wand out of the sneaky pocket of the dress and summoned a cup of soda over to her. and kept waiting, pat of hr hoping that someone would talk to her, even though she guessed she hadn't been the most sociable as of this semester.

 

[Theseas Stratis]

Theseas exhaled in an attempt to expel his anxiety while standing in front of the mirror. The boy looking back at him was dressed formally with his light brown hair greased neatly back. His once soulful, grey eyes were looking at his reflection with uneasiness, almost wondering who was that guy in the suit. It took him by surprise how good he was looking in it despite his initial denial to wear one. But it wasn't his attire that make it hard for him to recognize his own self. Theseas wasn't anymore the timid boy who had been constantly manipulated by his much bolder twin brother. He had discovered an inner power, long buried somewhere inside him, and he had started finally living. The sorting hat had placed him in Gryffindor three years ago but he had hardly showed any traits bravery until a couple of weeks ago. Finding his hidden reserves of courage, he asked the girl he liked to be his date for the Yule Ball. Rhiannon McGowan had stolen his attention from the first day he had set a foot at Hogwarts. The two of them had barely exchanged a few word unlike his twin brother Perseas who seemed to have developed a friendship with her. It was after a class when he approached her and finally asked her. Rhiannon's positive response had gave him a new pair of wings and ever since that day, he was looking forward for the Ball although he generally wasn't fond of overcrowded places.

A glance at his watch and he knew he had to hustle if he didn't want to stand up Rhiannon. Just when he left the common room he realized they hadn't decided a meeting point. Not sure what should be wiser, he decided to go straight to the fourth floor where Hufflepuffs were residing. Theseas knew it was on that floor but not where exactly. He spent a lot of time doing circles, following random students in hope to see among them his date. Seeing it was futile to wander around like an idiot, he figured out she would have been waiting at the ground floor like most people attending the Ball. And he was right. When he reached the last stairs, he show from there Rhiannon waiting for him. His body instantly responded at each step he was taking closer to her. His heart was racing and he could feel his cheeks getting hot. He tried to breath slowly as he was now in front of her.
"Hello Rhiannon." Theseas greeted the girl, feeling his throat suddenly dry.
"I'm so sorry for being late. I was searching for you at the fourth floor." he explained to her. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Theseas was prepared for long periods of silence between him and her. The two of them hardly knew each other.

As the first wave of silence settled over them, Theseas managed to deal with it successfully. "By the way, you look great." he complimented with a sincere smile. Now his cheeks had gotten ridiculously hot. In an attempt to break even more the ice, he searched for something in his pocket. "This is for you. I made it." Theseas granted her a cascading charm filled with multiple hues of amber stones, attached to a multiple-strand leather bracelet. "I call it the 'dragon's tears'. I hope you like it." Theseas tried to discern her enthusiasm or any other reaction on her face but then he thought he might have been putting her in an awkward position already. "Looks like the party is heating up. Shall we go and check it out?" he didn't want to be pressing either but as music reached his ears, he thought it would be better to go to the Great Hall.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

rhiannon didn't even recognise Theseas as he entered the hall, and it wasn't until he was infront of her when she realised that he was him. he looked so much more good looking than the boy who she had met in the chaotic day getting lost on the way to the dorm. when he introduced himself she couldn't help but smile widely and she felt bad for feeling guilty for saying no to Theseas. and even worse when he said that he had been looking for her on the fourth floor. "Sorry, we should have organised where to meet up, it is chaos around here" she said around the door there were people coming in and out shouting and calling to each other as they tried to meet their mates or dates.
She blushed slightly when he said she looked great, she blushed slightly, it was not often when people said she looked good, and if they did it was more likely to be her family than other people, usually she did have the whole geek thing going on. she shuffled awkwardly as he started to look for something in his pocket. that was slightly uncomfortable, she had not thought about getting him anything. When he reached out a bracelet for her she smiled. "wow Theseas, that is beautiful." she said examining it. Amber was a beautiful stone, and a stone that was underrated at the best of times and forgotten at the worst, yes despite all of her academic focus Rhiannon was the kind of girl who loved jewellery, and was getting fairly good at silver work. "dragon tears, i love it" she said before awkwardly looking down "I didn't get you anything I am sorry i didn't realise that was what was the norm" she said. She would have to get him something over the break.
"I think that is a good idea. it is so busy this close to the doors. she stood up unsure if she should hold his had or something so she just stood there awkwardly trying to fasten the bracelet. "umm, what do you want to do, sit somewhere a little out of the way, dance or eat? she said.

 

[Theseas Stratis]

It was her simplicity and humbleness that made the corner of his lips rose. She even apologized for something it wasn't her fault. It was him who had asked her to become his date and he should had also mentioned where they should have met. "We found each other, right? No reason to worry about it." Theseas flashed a hearty smile which got only wider when she looked genuinely impressed with his gift.
"Glad you like it." he said, happy that Rhiannon even liked the name he had gave to it. Then a rush of guilt interrupted his joy. "No, nothing like it." he broke in when he saw her feeling sorry for not getting something for him. "I just made it the other day and as I'm not wearing jeweleries obviously, so I thought of giving it to someone who would actually make the best of it. You didn't have to get something for me." he explained to her and hoped she wouldn't bother her mind with it any longer. Theseas had actually made the amber jewellery for her in the first place but he certainly didn't want anything else in exchange. Just the enthusiasm she showed before when he gave it to her.

Soon the two third years stepped inside the nicely decorated Great Hall. A band was playing a jazzy song at the end of the vast room and several students were singing along. A lot more students were huddling with their friends, laughing, enjoying themselves and a few others had already started unfolding their dance moves. Theseas had never tried to dance and he would have preferred something more slow for his first dance with a girl. He didn't want to step on Rhiannon's fine shoes. "I'm actually quite thirsty." he said, feeling his throat dry from the nervousness he had earlier. "Let's go and grab something to drink first." he suggested and leaded the way to the buffet. Theseas grabbed a couple of punch glasses and looked at the different punch bowls placed on the buffet. In the end, he served himself a citric-flavored punch from the bowl with the floating slices of oranges and lemons and a berry punch for Rhiannon from the bowl with the scarlet liquid. Both non-alcoholic. He guessed she would like better the sweet taste of the forest fruits rather than the sour flavor of citrus fruits he preferred. "Here you go." he gave her the glass with the darker drink. "To Christmas holidays." he toasted with a grin and raised slightly his own glass. Then he took a sip and felt his taste buds tickling pleasurably. "Looking forward for your holidays? Any special plans?" he asked her, deciding to start a conversation in the meantime.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon realised that feeling guilty was going to throw the tone of the evening off and when Theseas said that it didn't mater if she hadn't got her anything and it wasn't the norm she smiled widely at him very grateful for the bracelet and its prettyness. "well thank you very much" she said very grateful. She went with him into the hall and like always with the feasts at the school she was blown away with the decorations. the hall was decorated with beautiful white and silver colour scheme. and snowflakes fell from the ceiling and there were enough christmas trees around to make the hall look like it was in a forest glen. it did momentarily take her breath away. and then the people, there were a lot of them dressed in everything from black and white tux's to lavish and brightly coloured ball gowns. she looked around wondering if there was anyone she recognised there but didn't then realised that she didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. instead she followed Theseas to the drinks table. She waited as he joined the group of people by the drinks returning a few minutes later with punch glasses one with a pinky red punch and one with a yellowy looking drink. She took the one offered to her, the berry one and smiled. "good choice, it won't show up if it gets knocked on my dress" she said trying to dissolve some of the tension. As Theseas made a toast to the holidays, Rhiannon saw the one person she was hoping not to see at the food table. Perseas. she raised her glass "to holidays" she echoed taking half a step to the left so theseas was unknowingly in the way and hopefully blocking her from direct sight. she took a sip of the drink and smiled, it was so sweet but so delicious "that is really good" she commented. it was an amalgamation of all sorts of berries that exploded like summer in her mouth.
when asking if she was looking forward to the holiday she nodded "of course. i haven't got much planned except spending time with my family mainly my brother and catching up with my work" she said. Coming up to exams her muggle work had slipped a little not that it mattered immensely she always had the holidays to catch up. the advantage of the christmas holidays were that it was also muggle school holidays so it was more of a break than the other ones. "what do you have planned?" she asked. she didn't really know what people did with their breaks in the magic world, actually she wasn't really that expert on what people did with their breaks in the muggle world as it was all too normal for both her and her brother to be studying.

Out of Character:

I think now would be a good time to bring the two threads together so we can get some RP before the ball closes

 

[Victoria Chase]

continued from here for victoria & perseas!

Whilst Rhiannon and her date were talking, Vee put on her best innocent expression with Perseas on her arm, or rather, Victoria on his. Vee let go all of a sudden when they were nearby and gave Perseas the briefest of glances telling him by her expression to wait. She just wanted to get in between the two of them, which was the best way for them to be noticed. Well, Perseas could thank her later for this. Since they were on very close to the table of drinks, Vee unhooked her arm from the other Gryffindor and walked slowly to the table of the drinks, convincingly looking like she was out to get herself something delicious to drink on. Really, right now Victoria just had her sip of water so her interest in drinks or anything edible related was low. She stopped her slow pace when she was right in the middle of Rhiannon and her date, whom she still did not take a good look at. In between them, her eyes were firmly set on what it seemed a bowl of sweet liquid with ice cubes floating about.

"Excuse me, you're blocking the way." Vee stated, looking at Rhiannon and then onto her date. She faced him to flash a smile, but when their eyes connected Victoria felt utterly surprised. Her shock flushed into her veins quickly and for a moment she lost her train of prepared speech. She recognized Rhiannon's date as her classmate. In fact, he was in their year, in Victoria's house and the most important of all - Perseas' twin. She looked down to cover her initial shock about Rhi's date and instead looked at the two with her friendliest eyes to begin with. Now was the time for the kill, because the thrill that she felt when she discovered Theseas Stratis was the Hufflepuff's date was glorious. She wanted to smirk at Perseas, thinking that some twin rivalry won't hurt at all tonight. Oh no, this was better than watching any game than before.

Within the precise moment, she concealed her shock with something less and pleasantly, she smiled to show her realization of all of this. "Oh my God, aren't you guys my classmates? It's great seeing you both here," exclaimed the brunette. Vee didn't even move towards the bowl of liquid, forgetting all about it in an instant. She looked at Rhi and Theseas respectively, before introducing herself. "Shame - we never actually talked before. I'm Victoria Chase and this is my date." Whatever light they saw Victoria in - whether they knew she was quite the supremacist or she was one snappy b!tch, she did not care. Tonight she would carry herself in the heartiest manner... Well, she would try so. Victoria looked over her back to see Perseas, motioning him to come in the conversation. Her green eyes searched Perseas' to perceive any kind of reaction towards Rhiannon's date and when she did, she smirked at him knowingly.
​

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas could see Victoria's lips moving but he wasn't focused on what she was saying. He took another bite of the cauldron cake and nodded his head to her reply as he scanned once more the place. It was going to be a boring night if he was going to be stuck with her. Girl's like her enjoyed talking about fashion, boys and gossiping in general. Perseas cared nothing for all three. Then suddenly her arm slipped away and he tried to decipher the look she gave to him.
"Now what..." he mattered to himself as he watched her walking away. He didn't thought she just had enough of him and decided to leave him alone. He knew that kind of look on her face. He had the same one when he was up to something. His heart started racing when he recognized the people he started talking to. Victoria had finally found Rhiannon and her date. Perseas was for a surprise when he recognized the guy next to the Hufflepuff.

His twin brother, Theseas turned out to be Rhiannon's date for tonight. Perseas shook his head with a smirk and left the half eaten cauldron cake on the buffet, on a napkin. His appetite was now gone. Rhiannon was the first person that Perseas would talk to at classes. They were also studying together from time to time if she wasn't getting on his nerves the particular days. Perseas' brother should have noticed that and got envious. As always, he was trying to get something that Perseas had set his eyes on first. Perseas didn't try to distinguish what Victoria was telling them. He walked over to them when she glanced at him. They might weren't getting on well with the talk but they were communicating better with simple glances. Perseas was going to make sure that his dear brother wasn't going to get what he wanted. "There you are." he said behind Victoria and wrapped his arms around her waist. He even kissed her softly on her cheek before glancing at the people she was talking too. His face acquired a surprised look as well, like he hadn't saw them there before. He turned out to be a really good actor. "Oh, hey Rhiannon." he beamed first to the Hufflepuff. It needed something more than acting skills to do the same with his brother. "Good to see you here, with my brother." his silver grey eyes pierced through his twins' darker ones but then he cracked one of the heartiest smiles he could employ at that moment.

The two brothers looked nothing each other. Not only they weren't identical twins but they were different in colors. Perseas had dark hair with his lighter, grey eyes contrasting while Theseas had fair, brown hair while his eyes were a darker hue of grey. They seemed though to be liking the same things. They had been fighting over the same toys in the past and know it seemed they were going to fight over a girl. "How come you asked Rhiannon for tonight? I never seen you guys talking before." Perseas couldn't win over his curiosity and made the question swirling in his head. He was still wearing a genuine expression on his face and an arm was still wrapped around Victoria's slim waist.

Out of Character:

continued