Galaxies Dance

[Ares Jeffreys]

Ares had never really had a yuleball date. He wasn’t sure anyone would want to spend that kind of time with him, but he felt rather good about himself recently. The semester hadn’t gone entirely to plan, but they’d won one quidditch game, his grades for the OWLs were predicted to be rather good and he was just so hopeful for the future. Quidditch was his goal, obviously but he knew that with good OWL grades he could get into good NEWT classes and if he got good grades there, he’d have a back up. A back up wasn’t always the best thing for dreams, but Ares wouldn’t stop himself with just the one. The teen wore his usual black suit as he stepped into the Great Hall, he wanted to look for Xavier, but within the crowd he was sure he wouldn’t spot his brother. For all Ares’ knew too, that boy was with someone at this. The teen ran a hand through his messy blonde hair as he walked about, glancing from the crowd to the door. He was kind of hoping to run into Damide, he had seen the boy about school since their interaction on the quidditch pitch but that was it. He hoped the boy would want to hang out more, even just as friends, but Ares would still enjoy the event.
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[Danielle Gates]

Yule Ball. Her last Yule Ball. With the Great Hall decked in the most beautiful decorations and lively music playing, everybody knew that this was the biggest event of the year. Danielle arrived at the Great Hall without a date and she was hoping to enjoy her last festivity. She was relieved to see that the students were enjoying themselves despite the recently finished exams. Looking around to spot any friends, her eyes landed on Ares Jeffreys, their Quidditch captain. Danielle played Alternate Keeper and was yet to play in an actual game.She made her way to him and greeted him with a friendly smile. "Hey, Captain. Looking good tonight.",she chuckled.Looking around at the throngs of students already there, she wondered whether he was waiting for someone. "Are you waiting for someone tonight?" as she smoothed the front of her dress.

 

[Ares Jeffreys]

Ares' attention was taken away from just staring at the door in the hope of catching someone he knew and to the girl who'd just spoken. Danielle! The alternate keeper that he felt somewhat bad about never putting in a game, but there would be at least one more game in the year that she could be a part of. He smiled and nodded at her, "Thanks Danielle, you look beautiful yourself," he returned the compliment, though of course he had no interest in women, he had spent enough time at these balls that he knew that they all looked beautiful. He would never not say as much, "Not waiting on anyone no, kinda hoped to see someone here, but I don't know," He admitted with a small shrug, looking towards the door before just turning back to her, "What about you?" He didn't know much about the lives of his players really, nor did he care much but this was the kind of event where he could take an interest in his players and get to know them just a little bit. Danielle was a new player, new to the team, so really Ares was interested in learning about her and the little tid bits of information that he could learn about her at such an event.
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[Damide Snow]

Damide had been hoping to see 'someone', too, which was why he was hanging out by the punch feeling like a fool as he usually did when he dressed up. The last time he'd attended the Yule Ball (some years ago), he'd gone alone, gotten jumped by his step-brother and forced to dance, and never turned up again. This year he had one special reason to go, one person in fact, who had reached out to him and made him feel normal for once in his life. He wanted that feeling again, and he wanted to see Ares when he was looking his best for the other teen. Damide stood taller than the average student at Hogwarts, so it was easy to spot Ares in the crowd, but by the time he'd waded through the student body to get to him, the Hufflepuff Captain had been approached by a pretty young woman a grade above him, and he automatically ducked away into an alcove in the hall and pressed his back against the wall.

"Sh**," muttered Damide, sighing and closing his eyes briefly. That's probably his date. What the hell were you thinking? Some vain hope, or perhaps masochism, induced him to stick his head out again just to watch them talk, and in some horrible twist of fate, he managed to make eye contact with both of them within seconds of each other. Damide couldn't pull his head back fast enough, knocking the back of his head painfully against the stone, but there was nowhere to go. Ouch. Sh**! First he catches you creeping on his Quidditch practice, and now apparently you're 'spying' on him and his date. If Damide could've Apparated himself into the lake at that point, he would have.​

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle smiled at Ares' compliment as she looked back at the crowd. She had never had a conversation with Ares before even during matches. When he answered that he was somehow looking for someone, she nodded in agreement. "Same here although I just wanted to enjoy my last Yule Ball.", she explained with a laugh. True, she was enjoying the ball and tried to see if any of her friends were there too. She hadn't seen her Ravenclaw friends Aion or Silus here yet but she saw her tutorial student, Rose Holland, having fun. When her eyes were roaming around, she noticed someone looking at them but he suddenly ducked out of sight. She frowned at this because he somehow looked familiar and she was sure that he was looking at them. Tapping Ares' shoulder, she pointed at the place where she last saw who she thought to be Damide Snow,maybe. "I think someone was looking at us. Or maybe looking at you. I don't know, he suddenly ducked out of sight.", she softly said.

 

[Ares Jeffreys]

Ares remembered as Danielle said so that she was in her final year of Hogwarts. He was only a fifth year but his sights had been set upon graduating in the next few years, but he was still far enough away from it that he didn't have to worry about enjoying his last, "Well, remind me to offer you a dance before the end of the night," Ares offered in a friendly manner, he wasn't sure what her plans for the evening involved, if she would find some of the people from her year, but he didn't want to her to not dance within this evening. Ares' gaze shifted away from her and eventually actually met with a boy he had wanted to see, but upon meeting gaze he felt his drop to the floor, cheeks blushing. God, did he actually have a crush on the boy? He liked him sure, and he wanted to spend time with him, but never had Ares had a real crush, where he really wanted the boy to like him back.

Ares looked back over just Danielle told him as much. He noted that Damide seemed to walk into a wall, and he wished to go over to him, "Yeah," he trailed off as he spoke, and decided that he would go over to him, almost ignoring if Danielle would join him or not, "I'm going to over," he muttered mostly to himself, walking across the hall until he stood close to him. He had walked over quickly, not wanting to freak the other boy out in case he was trying to avoid him, but keen to talk with him even just a little, "Damide," he said tentatively, not suddenly so sure of this move. Hoping the other boy would want to see him, "Hey, you look nice," Ares spoke quietly, glad of the darkness so that his blush wouldn't be as obvious as it felt. This was not really how he imagined this interaction at the yuleball going. In his mind he had been far more confident, perhaps it was the growing feeling his heart, the warmth he felt for the other boy. An unfamiliar feeling.
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[Damide Snow]

Shrouded as he was in the alcove, Damide failed to anticipate Ares' approach and jumped slightly as the Hufflepuff rounded the corner and greeted him. Even in the low dance light, he could see that his friend (his friend? Were they really friends, or was Damide anticipating something more?) was flushed and shy, which was quite unlike him. The Ravenclaw felt a brief spark of hope that he quashed ruthlessly as he glanced over to Danielle, giving her an apologetic look at the interruption. He lifted his hand in a half wave with a sheepish look, mouthing 'Sorry!' across the floor at her. He wondered what Ares was thinking, abandoning his date to talk to him, but there was no denying that he was pleased.

"You look good, too," he murmured. For a moment it was awkward, but then a disquieting thought occurred to him. Is he sick? I've never seen him go red like that. Automatically the brunette reached out and cupped Ares' cheeks the way his father would to check for a fever, and indeed, he was very warm. "Are you feeling alright?" asked Damide gently. "Do you want to go somewhere quieter? You're very pink.​

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle smiled at her captain when Ares offered her a dance. "That's sweet of you. Then, I'll make sure to take you up on it.",she replied with a laugh. She was already having fun conversing with the people she knew her that she didn't need a dance was necessary. After she told Ares that someone was looking at them, she saw his stance changed. Like he was nervous or something else. Danielle just smiled when Ares told her to go over to the boy. The urgency she heard in his voice already told her a lot. "Sure. Go for it.", she encouraged, lightly pushing him to the direction.She didn't follow them and soon enough Ares was already across the hall and the person he approached looked over at her,mouthing an apology. As soon as she saw him, she recognized Damide Snow, a boy in Ares' year. She gave him a genuine smile and mouthed back,'It's OK!' showing an okay sign with her hand. What she saw was as clear as water, as she saw the exchange between the two but it was not her story to tell. She made her way to the snack bar to grab a bite and let them talk what they needed to talk about. One thing is for sure, she would hunt Ares down for that dance and even asked Damide for one too.



OOC: Danielle will exit at this point and come back after a couple of posts from Ares and Damide for that 'dance'.

 

[Ares Jeffreys]

Ares felt his blush easily grow at the compliment. But was very surprised by the fact that all of a sudden, his cheeks were cupped in the other boy's hands. He could feel the warmth of Damide's fingers on his cheeks, he could tell how soft they were, he couldn't help but blush even more, dropping his gaze slightly from him. God, what was happening? Was this what it was like to really like someone, to like like someone. He didn't know if Damide even played for his team and he was a little nervous to find out, what if it went horribly. What if he made any kind of move, even just telling him and Damide thought him horrible? He didn't want to find out. The boy was surprised by the question, "Yeah," he replied, a little embarrassed by the fact that damide had noticed his pinking cheeks. How to explain that it wasn't the warmth of the room, or anything of that sort but the very fact it was him. But, he would very much enjoy going somewhere quiet with him, "It's probably just the warmth of the room," he replied tugging on the end of his shirt sleeves, "But I wouldn't mind going somewhere quiet with you," he definitely wouldn't mind it, he did think some fresh air would help him. Maybe though, they could dance a little, he had never had many occasions to dance with someone at these things, maybe Damide would want to, "Maybe we could have a dance? Just one," Ares offered, picking up whatever confidence he had left and using it to ask his question and met Damide's gaze with a warm and smiling expression.
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