Good Tidings

[Preston Paine]

By now, Preston had already become fully aware of how much fun HNZ parties were. As he ascended the steps towards the Great Hall, Preston could already here the noise and feel the slight vibrations from the bass in the music. His vest hung up, showing the clean white shirt he had on under. There were certainly other students who were much more dressed up than he was, but he thought he had done a good job of making himself look presentable. Brushing a hand through his spiked up hair, the Slytherin stepped into the Hall, the smile growing as he glanced at the displays. Ice sculptures and Christmas trees were up around the room, making the room look quite festive. Picking up a piece of chocolate as it floated by on a tray, Preston popped it into his mouth before continuing on. The boy nodded his head and waved to many of his classmates and even several of the older students he had befriended. Anyone who looked at the boy would think he had been here for more than just a couple of months. Already, the place felt as much like home as his old school had felt and Preston was sad that he was going to have to leave for a couple of weeks to spend the holidays with his parents. They never really did anything and he would probably spend the time shuffling alongside them as they went to one holiday dinner after another. Still, he hadn’t seen them in ages and he missed them both.

As the music continued to play, Preston nodded his head to the beat. He didn’t dance much but this he could do easily enough. After a moment, when the music changed to something a bit slower, Preston headed to the tables where different drinks and snacks were lined up. Preston joined a line, not quite sure what was at the end of it, but if there were enough people waiting, it had to be good. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and he tapped the shoulder of the person in front of him, a fellow Slytherin though she was a few years older. As she told him that there were fresh gingerbread cookies, Preston smiled and thanked her. He continued to wait, watching as a bunch of mistletoe slowly bobbed on top of a couple who giggled and then gave each a quick kiss.

 

[Josefina San Buenaventura]

Josefina walked into the Yule Ball alone. She wasn't much for boys at the moment so she hadn't gotten around to asking any of the boys in her house. She knew some were going to be there and she would spend her time with them, her fellow Slytherins. Looking around the room she noticed one upper classman was wearing the oddest dress she'd ever seen, it showed her stomach and looked awful. Taking a closer look Josefina nodded as she reconized the Hufflepuff prefect Kate Moon. Smirking the girl joined a line for freshly made food. The girl noticed a fellow Slytherin first year infront of the couple that was in front of her. She laughed lightly when he asked what he was in line for. The wait was not that bad and the food like yummy certainly the Gingerbreadmen.

Alot of couples seemed to present at the dance which made Josefina roll her eyes. Getting something to eat she found a place besides the Slytherin boy. "So sense when it smart to get in line for something you don't even know for?" She asked. She knew Preston from classes, he seemed to have a thing for looking at the blonde Gryffindor who seemed to be attached at the hip to the weak Gryffindor boy. Josefina didn't understand why he would be looking at the girl, other than to comment in his head how ugly she was.

 

[Preston Paine]

It wasn't long before Preston held a still warm gingerbread in his hand. He glanced down at the icing, admiring how closely the gingery man looked like a Gryffindor student and then he bit off its head, the irony of the moment not lost on the young boy. Turning his head, he smirked at the girl, a first year that he knew from classes and the common room. He rather liked her. She had a sister, a twin he thought, but the other one was much quieter and he didn't think she'd have come up to him for a random chat since they knew each other less. This had to be Josefina. "Since I figured out this was the food table" he replied with a smirk, biting off some of the icing. "You can't go wrong with any of the food here" he added. He'd already long decided that the food at this school was superior to his old school.

Preston turned his body so that he was facing her and took a better look at what she was wearing. He had never seen her so dressed up, never seen most of the school as dressed up as they were now. It suited her. "You look nice, Josefina" he complimented her as he bit off an arm. Preston picked up a drink that looked sort of like eggnog and took a sip. It was. The music once again sped up, and Preston was glad he was still on the side. He didn't want anyone knocking his drink or cookie over. Both were too good.

 

[Josefina San Buenaventura]

Josefina was in a short black dress, the top half was lacy but not revealing. She was only 12 after all, she knew it was not right for her to be showing off body parts she did not really have yet. The girl was glad she didn't choose a long dress and had her hair up. Despite the theme being winter, it was summer here in New Zealand and therefore warm. She rolled her eyes at the boy. It seemed all they cared about was food. She was hungry mostly because she spent most of the day sleeping and then getting ready to come here. Not much time to leave the Common Room to get something to eat. She took a bite of her Gingerbreadman. The taste wasn't very pleasant to her so she placed it back on the plate.

The young girl smirked at his compliment. "I know," Josefina replied. The girl spent much of her afternoon getting her hair perfect and then getting makeup on her face, which was the hardest part. She wasn't used to wearing makeup but she realized it did enhance her features. "You don't look to bad yourself," she added to the conversation. She wasn't the nicest person on the planet like her younger sister, Josefina knew this. But he was a Slytherin and she knew better then to get an enemy in her own house. She looked around and spotted her younger sister alone in a tan dress. She wondered if many knew they weren't twins.

 

[Preston Paine]

Preston's smirk mirrored the female Slytherin's at her comment. She was definitely a Slytherin. He had found that most of the girls had similar confidence in themselves. Looking at his outfit as if he were doing his own assessment, Preston took in his vest and white shirt and slacks, knowing that he looked cool. "I tried." His eyes followed her, finding her sister after she had. She too looked nice and he wondered if she had come with anyone. So far, he had seen only a few other first years with dates. He wondered if they, like him, had been too nervous to ask a girl. Preston had only really begun to look at girls in that way, as someone to date and hang out with, but he still wasn't brave enough to actually ask a girl on a date or anything.

Finishing his cookie, Preston wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. A couple of Gryffindors that he knew from classes passed by together, which reminded him about Indiana. He wondered if she had come with that Tybalt guy. They always seemed to be together so he wouldn't be surprised. Glancing back at Josefina, Preston spoke again. "Wanna go hang out with your sister? Did she come with anyone?" he asked, making conversation. The girl seemed to be alone but if she had come alone, he was surprised that Josefina and her hadn't come together, not that he had seen them together much though. It just seemed like the sort of things sisters would do. Preston figured if she left that he would go try to find one of his roommates. It would be difficult in all of this but it would give him something to do rather than stand next to the food table all night.

 

[Josefina San Buenaventura]

Josefina rolled her eyes at the Slytherin boy standing with her. He most likely barely took half the time she had to get ready. For boys it seemed a lot easier for them to get ready for events like this. His vest was different that was for sure, it was white in the back with swirly designs, seemed more girly then he actually was. But in his outfit and her all black dress they seemed to fit together. Plus the darker choices seemed to fit in the Slytherin style. "Some tried to hard," she said glancing towards the bedazzled Hufflepuff Prefect Kate Moon. Josefina had been there and seen the Slytherin Beaters basically send that girl to bottom of the pitch during the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff game.

Glancing over at her housemate who seemed to be looking off towards her sister, the girl frowned. She knew most preferred her sister over her, but she hadn't done anything to Preston. She didn't even think Bituin knew who Preston was or vice versa. "She's fine on her own," the girl replied setting down her plate on a table. Most of the treats were eaten and the mention of her younger sister drained the rest of her ability to eat. "I want to dance, let's go," she said taking a hold of Preston's hand intending to bring him to the dance floor. She was sick of just standing there and it seemed like it would be fun, the dancing. She wasn't really sure how to dance but the older students seemed to do it well. Josefina planned on mimicing the least embarrasing dancer on the floor.

 

[Preston Paine]

Preston chuckled, a quick glance around telling him that Josefina's words were certainly true. He and Josefina were dressed pretty low key compared to some of the other students, especially some of the older students. Not that he was complaining. He was enjoying the eyeful he was getting. He also very much liked what Josefina was wearing. The young Slytherin nodded his head as Josefina proclaimed that her sister was fine. "Ok" he replied, not really caring too much either way. He didn't know Josefina's sister very well so he wouldn't have been eager to go entertain her. Not that he wouldn't have. Who didn't want to hang out with two pretty girls?

Putting down his drink as Josefina grabbed his hand, Preston followed her to the dance floor. "I don't really dance" he began, stopping when he realized it probably didn't matter. She had already decided that is what she wanted to do. As he headed towards the dance floor, Preston passed by Indiana. He gave her a little wave and then shrugged and gave her a sheepish grin. 'Catch you later' he mouthed as he turned back to Josefina. When they were on the dance floor, Preston looked to the guy on his left and began to mirror his steps, a simple side to side two-step. As the song changed to a muggle one he actually knew, Preston moved around some more. "I like this one" he yelled, leaning in to speak to her as the dance floor got more crowded and raucous.

 

[Josefina San Buenaventura]

Josefina was twelve and at her age she found anyone wearing anything that showed to much skin to be vulgar. Patting down her skin as they stood there she realized she wasn't having much fun talking about others. Especially about her sister. The younger sister kept to herself and her own common room eversince they got there. Josefina knew it was because her sister wanted to make her own friends at the school. Looking over at her younger sister with her hair straightened she found the dress to be a bit to revealing. Though it was nice to know that if she herself put on the outfit it would look nice. That was the plus of having a sister being practically a twin in looks and size.

Once they were on their way to the dance floor, Josefina rolled her eyes at the boys megers attempt to not dance. She wouldn't take no for an answer, they passed the Gryffindor girl that hung around with the Gryffindor boy Josefina bullied. The girl ignored the pretty blonde, it seemed to her that Preston knew the girl. She, herself, would never asiociate with the weak Gryffindors. She was sure the one that she actually had a normal conversation with would be the only Gryffindor she got on with. "I actually know this song," she replied back feeling out of place not knowing most of the English songs, let alone magic ones. Coming from a muggle upbringing the girl barely knew what half of the songs were about. But that didn't mean she couldn't dance to them. They still had the same beats as muggle songs.

 

[Preston Paine]

With a smile, Preston kept dancing. It wasn’t so bad once you got going. The guy who he was mimicking seemed to be a fairly good dancer. The girl who he was dancing with was smiling and laughing, so she seemed to be having a good time. Josefina seemed to be pretty good as well. Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to keep up with her. Talking while they were dancing proved to be difficult, mostly because the noise from the music was loud. He could feel the bass of the music in his chest. As the song finished, Preston expected it to move onto something else but instead it stopped. The brown eyed guy looked over at Josefina, a question in his eyes. A professor walked onto the stage and began to make some announcements.

“C’mon” Preston said, tugging on Josefina’s hand. As they had been dancing, he had spotted several students in a wayback corner of the Hall where snow was falling from the ceiling of the Great Hall. The snow had piled up so that it was nearly ankle deep and several of the students were making snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other. It seemed to be just contained to that area because, as he watched, a student with a big ball of snow in his hand was suddenly left empty-handed, the snow having melted away after he passed some imaginary line. Preston grinned. He was not going to miss an opportunity to frolic in the snow, real or not. “ Ever seen snow before?” he asked, knowing that some people lived in places where snow didn’t exist. He didn’t see snow very often, but he’d at least seen it before.

 

[Josefina San Buenaventura]

Josefina was enjoying the dance so far. She hadn't seen the annoying Gryffindor boy or the stupid Hufflepuff girl yet. That made her night entirely better of course. Though she had been annoyed that the Gryffindor girl was there, she seemed to be a weird one. Talking didn't seem to happen on the dance floor and she didn't really bother. Josefina did not know Preston that well, after all she spent most of her time out of the common room tormenting others instead. Still it didn't seem that bad of an idea to her to be seen at the dance with him. He was good looking, and even though she wasn't looking for a relationship at the moment he was the only Slytherin boy she actually knew. She was sure she'd get his attention when they were older, of course it would be a matter to keep her sister away from him till then.

After the song stopped and a Professor made some annoucements Josefina was surprised when Preston took her hand and dragged her off towards a corner. It was covered in white stuff and seemed to be pretty deep. Some were complaining that it was cold like the real stuff and then she knew what it was, snow. She had heard about the stuff before in movies but she came from a region were it was practically summer all year round. She stopped outside of the invisible boundaries that seemed to be keeping the snow in the corner. Shaking her head at his question the young Slytherin wondered if she really should take the step in and play in the snow. It was so outside her character, looking all white and innocent. But it did look like fun and the girl enjoyed having fun. Plus there was the chance her sister would see and become jealous of her having so much fun.

 

[Preston Paine]

A smile came across the first years face as he realized that Josefina had not seen snow before. It was an odd thing for the boy, though not unheard of since he knew that some people lived in places where snow was not an every day or any day occurrence. All thoughts of the ball and Indiana and everything left with the presence of the snow. It was easy to feel eleven when there was snow around. It was just so much fun. With another tug of her hand, Preston chuckled. “C’mon…it'll be fun! It won’t ruin your dress. Promise” he spoke, though he wasn’t exactly sure if that was true. He figured it was. Snow was just water, after all, and this snow seemed to be a product of some professor’s awesome magic skills.

Letting go of her, Preston bent down on one knee to pick up some snow, not at all surprised that the temperature and consistency was just right. He looked towards the girl he’d just been dancing with, wondering if she’d decide to join him or go off. He tossed the snow into the air, feeling as the flakes dropped back onto his hand and the sleeve of his shirt.

 

[Josefina San Buenaventura]

Josefina didn't really care to walk in the cold snow in the corner of the Great Hall. She hated the cold. She came from a place where this sort of thing never fell from the sky. But actually seeing it in person and not on a television screen, she had to admit to herself that it looked pretty magical. She knew people could be watching them, he did make a scene by dragging her through the crowd. And Josefina was much better then to show a weakness in front of people. Therefore she willingly let him pull her into the white wonderland. She watched as he leaned down and threw up a whole bunch of snow. It fell back down due to gravity and being the young girl she was Josefina held out her hands and watched as it fell into her open palms.

A smile broke her face, one of the few times it ever did. The coldness hit her hand and melted away leaving a small drop of water on her hand. She could feel the same happening to her face. Which is what brought a smile to her face. Despite what everyone told her, she was actually warm, warmer than the cold snow.