May I?

[Professor James Cade]

Misha was stunning and James was thrilled to be at the ball with her. During their time together James had come to like Misha a lot and had even invited her to spend Christmas with his family, though he wasn't too comfortable with her being under the same roof as Ezra. He really didn't trust his brother around his girlfriend. Misha had ventured off somewhere to get drinks but she taking longer than James would have thought, perhaps she had bump into someone she knew and she was chatting along in her high pitched voice the way she did.

James decided to use his time alone to take a look around the hall, it was beautifully decorated as it always was but it never ceased to amaze the Gryffindor. Through the crowd he spotted the one person he was nervous about seeing at the ball. It was Maddie, and she was alone. He was surprised that she didn't have a date. James looked around to see if there was any sight of Misha on her way back. There wasn't, he was in the clear. James straightened out his collar on his suit and made his way over to her. Several different speeches rattled through his brain as he walked across the hall, but the closer he got the less he could think, she was so beautiful and he never had much luck concentrating around her. Forgoing any kind of speech he just stood behind her and cleared his throat catching her attention. He smiled and held out his hand, "May I?"

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie walked into the Great Hall with Felix and marveled at all of the decorations in the hall. It was beautiful and magical and everything that Hogwarts was. Maddie thought that she would not be happier than she was at that very moment. She turned to Felix and smiled at him and told him that she was going to get them a couple of drinks. She sweeped over to the crowded drinks table and grabbed the first two glasses of juice that she could find. However, a voice behind her made her drop the glasses that she had picked up. She knew who it was and she had completely forgotten about him in all the excitement of the ball. She turned around to face the voice, a blush creeping across her cheeks. They hadn't spoken or seen each other since the meeting outside their Potions Professor's office.

Maddie's face must have been a picture "what?!" she burst out. "You want to dance with me?" "Talk about mixed signals" she thought. James was such a hard person to read and she couldn't believe that he actually wanted to dance with her after what was said in their previous conversation. Maddie was convinced that the two would never talk again, let alone share a relatively intimate moment. In spite of herself, Maddie couldn't resist dancing with James. She knew Felix would be expecting her back anytime soon but she supposed that one dance between the two Gryffindors wouldn't hurt. Felix was probably busy talking to Silus or something anyway. Maddie raised her eyebrow at James and shrugged "yeah, I guess so" she said, answering his question. She took his hand and followed him to the dance floor, hoping Misha wasn't anywhere near them.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James knew that after what had happened outside Professor Pendleton's office there would be some risk in asking Maddie to dance. She could flat out reject him, slap him, get her date or whoever he was to punch him or all of the above. Thankfully none of these things happened, the way Maddie reacted to his voice and his presence both surprised and pleased him. He had never made a girl drop what she was holding before by simply speaking to her. It was certainly an encouraging start. He wasn't sure if he had managed to distract her from her date or if she had just agreed to dance to pacify him but he would take it all the same.

He took her hand and took her out to the dance floor, it was planned as something light hearted, a more pleasant memory between the two before they left for the holidays but Merlin appeared to have other plans. As James got Maddie out on the dance floor the music changed. It was slow, romantic even, James tugged on her hand to pull her in closer to him, he held their hands up and placed his other hand on the small of her back. He had only ever held her so close when they hugged outside the potions masters classroom, he hoped it would end better than that."Of course I wanted to dance with you, look at you, you're absolutely stunning," He smiled softly at her. His whole demeanor different since their last encounter. "Maddie, you are easily the most beautiful girl in this room, I hope he knows how lucky he is," James said acknowledging her date or boyfriend or whatever he was for the first time.

 

[Madeline Walden]

A million possibilities ran through her head about how to react to James' dance proposal and she decided on being polite. It wouldn't be good to make a scene at an event like this anyway, even if James did deserve it (in her opinion) for what he said to her outside Professor Pendleton's office. Her feelings for the Gryffindor boy won over what she was thinking in her head. If she followed her head she would have told him to leave and go and find Misha and she would return to Felix. But her heart was telling her to accept James' hand and have a dance with him. She chose her heart even though it might have been wrong to and she would have to face those consequences. Besides, this would probably be the last time they would share in a moment like this anyway and then they would both go home for Christmas and Maddie could forget about James and start the school afresh, with the only boy on her mind being Felix.

She followed James out on to the dance floor and responded to his lead. Unfortunately, to make things more awkward between them a slow song had just started playing. It seemed to not bother James though, as he reached for her to pull her in closer and Maddie let him. As they got close to each other Maddie felt her stomach do somersaults as they held each other. Together they moved slowly in time to the music and Maddie rested her head on James' shoulder just like she had outside Professor Pendleton's office. It gave her a chance to hide her face as she blushed when James complimented her. He sounded different this time, compared to their last meeting and Maddie guessed because this was their final goodbye.

Her head jerked up as he mentioned that whoever she was with was lucky to have her. Oh my gosh, Felix!" she thought as she scanned the room for her boyfriend and date. He was nowhere to be seen and Maddie didn't know if that was a good sign or bad sign. After she was satisfied that Felix was alright on his own, Maddie returned to James and she looked into his eyes. "Thank you for saying so, James" she replied, smiling at the Gryffindor boy. "You look amazing too, honestly" she said, complimenting him. "Misha is a lucky girl" she added. Maddie probably shouldn't have mentioned Misha at that moment in time but she couldn't get the idea of the two of them out of her head. If it wasn't for what Maddie had seen before their third year had started maybe everything could be different. However, she did see it and this was the consequence. James was with Misha and Maddie was with Fee, and she was happy.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James was enjoying the intimacy with Maddie. Even though he had come to the ball with Misha at that moment Maddie was the only girl on his mind. Dancing with her at the Yule ball could be the last time they really spent anytime together. There was something about that moment that felt like an ending. With in that mind James didn't want to let Maddie go, he wanted to hold her until the ball ended or before her boyfriend came back for her, which ever happened first. He wasn't sure how complimenting Maddie would go after their last meeting, no doubt she felt like he was giving her mixed signals, and he was. James didn't really understand his feelings for Maddie, they dwarfed anything he felt for Misha but how could he tell her that? Their nice moments together were so few and far between and being with Misha was simple and uncomplicated.

Having Maddie's head rested on his shoulder felt right, it felt comfortable, just like it had when he hugged her outside Professor Pendleton's office. It was different at the ball, they were on better terms, no one was raising their voice, no one was saying they didn't love the other one, no one was lying. "Thank you Maddie, I know Misha is a bit of a sore point for you, though I'm not sure why," He said quietly. Maddie seemed to bolt up and James wondered if she was looking for her boyfriend. "You need to go back don't you?" He asked. He didn't want to let her, he wanted to tell her he had lied and that he did love her, but he couldn't do it.

 

[Madeline Walden]

The slow song was coming to an end and Maddie knew that she would have to leave James' embrace soon and go to find Felix. She was grateful that James asked her for a dance because it was almost like she had experienced closure with him and with whatever it was between them. Maybe now she would be able to give her all to Fee and would be able to forget about James and forget about what he was doing and who he was with and why he wasn't with her.

The song ended and Maddie wished it hadn't, being in James' arms felt nice but she had other places to be and other people to be with and so did he. She suspected that he knew what they were doing couldn't last because they both had other commitments and as much as it pained Maddie she had to go and get over James because it appeared that he was doing the same. She decided that she would ignore James' comment about how Maddie felt about Misha. He would never need to know now anyway and she could close the book on their drama. She nodded at James' question and smiled apologetically "Yeah, I really do" she sighed looking into the crowd of people. Maddie grabbed James hand and looked him in the eyes, "thanks for the dance" she said smiling sincerely and with that she left the embrace and walked off into the crowd letting her hand fall naturally away from his. So many things were left unsaid but maybe it was for the best.

 

[Professor James Cade]

The song was over before James could really adjust to the idea that he was going to have to let go of Maddie. He was mourning her before she had even lifted her head from his shoulder. It was nice that their final moments together was them dancing rather than screaming at each other in a corridor. He was glad he was able to share such a nice moment with Maddie and maybe he would be able to move on, she was after all. James had caught glimpses of her with the boy she came in with. He wasn't quite sure where he had been all semester, or how he could have possibly been dating Maddie, but she was happy and that truly was all that mattered to him.

As the two began to pull apart, James planted a gentle kiss on Maddie's cheek, not the goodbye he wanted to give her, but he didn't want to give her any kind of goodbye. "Make sure he knows Maddie, make sure he knows what he has," He said mournfully. James didn't know what he had until it was too late, maybe Felix will cherish her the way she deserved to be. "No, thank you," He said as they held hands and each others gaze. Before he knew it she was disappearing into the crowd and James's hand was falling to his side. She was gone and there was only one thing left to do. He needed to find Misha.