Let Down My Guard Tonight

[Diana Hollis]

After the descriptions her older sisters had given her about the parties at Hogwarts, Diana was quite excited for this ball. She had dressed up and was eager to see what the night would bring her, though she knew she wanted to avoid her sisters. She wanted to hang out with her own friends or make some new ones. Maybe she would even find some interesting information, surely parties like this were filled with drama. Diana couldn't wait. The decorations were pretty nice, and she smiled at the sight of the fake snow falling down. It didn't make much sense in the southern hemisphere, but she couldn't help but admire it. She liked winter better anyway. There was nothing sadder than dancing alone in her eyes, so she looked around for someone to talk to. She saw her friend Sapphire but she was with a boy. Diana eyed them from a distance, taking in the details of who she was with. Perhaps this was one of the boys she had mentioned? Diana took note to ask her later. For now, she headed over to the table for a drink. Maybe she would find someone there she could talk to. She wasn't here to be seen standing alone like a loser, after all.

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei was excited about the dance. She'd never been to one before, though she had read about them. She was so excited, that her parents had given her some extra money so she could buy herself a new dress. The Hufflepuff wasn't attending with anyone, though she was sure she'd meet up with Zennon. Even if she didn't, she was fine observing. She wasn't planning on actually dancing, even though she did at the Halloween dance, that was because her new friend had encouraged her to join him. The Yule Ball seemed like a dance for dates, and Analei knew she was too young to date, so would rather go and enjoy the food and watch the beautiful couples dance. The blonde made her way to the drinks table (after spending a few minutes gaping at the decorations). There were quite a few people there already, but Analei managed to squeeze in and get herself a cup of whatever drink was the closest. She glanced around at the people around her, her eyes falling on a familiar face. Analei smiled at her, before taking a sip, recognizing her from some classes; they were obviously in the same year.
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[Diana Hollis]

It wasn't long until Diana saw a familiar face, a girl she recognized from her classes and the truth or dare game they had played after flying one time. So it was obvious this girl was a first-year just like her. Diana saw the girl look at her and smiled back before heading over, giving the girl a small wave. "Hi, I'm pretty sure we're classmates." She said with a smile. "Are you enjoying the party? I wish the great hall could look like this all the time." She said, gesturing at the beautiful decorations around. "I haven't seen many people from our year yet, mostly older students." She paused, realizing she didn't know the girl's name. Hopefully, that was mutual. Otherwise things might get awkward. "I'm Diana, by the way."

 

[Analei Westwick]

When the girl spoke to her, Analei beamed. She hated starting conversations, she never knew what to say and quite often tripped over her words. The blonde figured it was because she didn't have much practice talking to people other than her parents when she was younger, being an only child that didn't like going out meant there weren't many people around to talk to, especially none her age. Analei nodded her head in response to them being class-mates, but let the girl continue her speech before she replied. "I'm Analei, and no, me either." She said in response to there not being many students in their year. She gestured to Diana's dress. "Your dress looks - you look nice."
​

 

[Diana Hollis]

The other girl seemed pleased to be talked to, and Diana was glad too. The girl wasn't a Slytherin, but Diana didn't know much else about her. She smiled graciously and did a little spin to show off her dress after the girl's compliment. "Thank you, I like your dress a lot too. Purple is one of my favorite colors." She said with a smile. "Which house are you in? I'm sorry, there's so many students that it's hard to keep track." She said apologetically. "All I know for sure is that you're not in Slytherin like me." She said honestly. As she spoke, she kept an eye on her surroundings. This girl wasn't the most interesting person she had met so far, and she still hoped someone else would show up and make the night more exciting. Though perhaps this girl was more interesting than she seemed. Analei just seemed shy, which in Diana's opinion was kind of boring.

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei grinned as the girl did a spin to show off her dress. At Diana's comment, she looked down at her own dress, wishing she had the courage to do a spin as Diana had. Analei smiled back at the girl. "I'm in Hufflepuff. I couldn't find a yellow dress though." She stated. It had been a rather short shopping trip. Analei watched as the girl looked elsewhere, and she panicked, thinking she wasn't being entertaining enough. What did girl's their age talk about? What was girl talk? "So...anyone here you fancy?" Analei tried.
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[Diana Hollis]

Diana raised her eyebrow slightly at Analei's statement. "Purple looks better anyway. There's no reason you have to dress the color of your house." She said, shaking her head. "Green isn't all that bad, but yellow..." She wrinkled her nose in clear distaste. As she glanced back at the Hufflepuff, she saw the girl looked worried. Her question made Diana's eyebrow raise a little higher, but also made a smile appear on her face. "Me? No, not yet. But if you're asking this... does that mean you fancy anyone?" She glanced around again, this time with much more interest. "You can tell me, I won't tell." She lied.

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei nodded her head as Diana said that they didn't have to dress to their house color. It made sense, and looking around, Analei could see that not many people did dress to their house color. She felt stupid for bringing it up. The blonde bit her lip as Diana seemed disgusted by the color yellow. "Yellow's alright..." Analei muttered, shrugging her shoulders. She didn't think it was such a bad color. Analei shook her head as Diana turned the question on her. "Oh no, no no no. Boys this age are too...gross. I don't really know anyone anyway." She said, trailing off. Even if she did like someone, she was starting to feel slightly off about this girl, and probably wouldn't have told her anyway.
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[Diana Hollis]

Diana decided not to argue with the girl when she said yellow was alright. Let her live in that dream-land where it would ever look good on her, Diana was just glad she didn't have to wear the color herself. Her eyes were on the girl's face as she talked about not liking someone, taking in her expression. She denied it quite vehemently, which made Diana think there was more to it. At her exact wording, the girl couldn't help but smile. "Boys this age are gross? Does that mean you like an older boy?" She said with a grin. "Like, a third year? Fourth?" At this point, she was more digging for a story to tell others than anything resembling the truth. The idea that this Analei girl might like a boy that was much older than she was, was definitely a juicy story to talk about with Domi later. "You don't really have to know someone to like them, you can have a crush from afar." She added innocently. "That's okay."