Nothing to Win

[Simon Vanity]

Simon had in the last school event actually won something. He’d gotten some points for his costume which had been rather wild. But, this event didn’t have any competitions bar the ones he made for himself. However, he was still very determined to have a good time. Perhaps he should’ve asked Charlotte to attend with him again, they’d gone in first year and he liked her but maybe not in that way? They were young and he didn't understand why others in his year were pairing up with people when they had classes and things to do first, that was more important than anything else. He would have a good time, since Simon knew how to relax, honestly, he did. He didn't always appear as though he knew how, but he knew how. He straightened out his jacket as he stepped into the room, perhaps it was time to find others and become friends with more people so he wouldn't be so lost as he stepped into the room and looked for someone to spend the night with, but for now, he just opted to find a drink and get himself a bit settled before he did any real exploring of the room.
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[Gabriella Tillington]

Gabriella never quite felt at ease at these events, but she still went every time. She wasn't sure why, but every time she told herself this one would be different. Maybe now she wouldn't be too awkward and uncomfortable to talk to anyone for long. Maybe she would actually dance and have a good time like most other students seemed to have. But so far, that hadn't been the case. Wearing a long black dress, Gabriella felt like she blended in quite well with the other students as she looked around the great hall. It looked amazing as it did every time, though she did think the snow a bit silly and childish. After wandering around aimlessly for a little while, Gabriella decided to get herself a drink. At least that would give her something to do with her hands while she looked around for anyone familiar. She hoped to see Patrick or Chante, or maybe Alexis who she seemed to run into at parties. Frankie would be a welcome sight too, but she knew her sister had her own group of friends. As she got herself a drink, she spotted someone she knew from her classes, though she wasn't sure they had ever had a proper conversation. Realizing nothing was going to change if she didn't do anything different, she decided to talk to him. "Hello, Simon." She said, giving him a small smile. Immediately, she regretted her decision. He was probably waiting for someone else, maybe he had no idea who she was. They were in the same year, so he probably at least recognized her. She knew him mostly because he seemed to be the best in all her classes, something she had quietly felt envious of for a while. "Are you here with someone?" She asked, giving him an out if he wanted to leave the conversation.

 

[Simon Vanity]

Simon was happy with just getting himself a drink and was surprised when someone else spoke to him. He glanced at them, a girl, in his year, not his house, spoke to him. Simon knew her name, it was on the tip of his tongue. He was sure there were two of them though, twins, he didn't want to get it wrong but without a uniform he didn't know which was which. The boy smiled at her though, "Hello, are you Frankie or Gabrielle?" he was sure he had the names correct, but Simon was rather singularly focused upon his classes that he was sure he maybe had it wrong. at the second question he shook his head, "Nope, didn't want to ask anyone," the boy gave a small shrug, fairly blunt in what he said, "Are you?" he returned the question to the girl, Simon could see this maybe being quite nice, talking to someone and maybe she'd dance a little, but really the company would be enough. The question asking her to join him sat on his tongue, but he didn't want to say anything until he knew she wasn't with someone at this event, he didn't want to be too forward and get rejected though he could hardly help himself with it. He could just feel the question bubbling.
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[Gabriella Tillington]

Gabriella was a little taken aback by the boy's question. She hadn't grown up with Frankie, so she had never really had to deal with this before. The two of them weren't identical. They weren't even twins, though she could understand why most people probably assumed so. They were a little lesst han a year apart which caused them to be in the same year. Gabriella supposed they did look a little similar. What bothered her more was that the boy said her name wrong. Her mouth twisted slightly in annoyance, though she tried to keep it off her face as much as possible. "Gabriella." She said, with only slight emphasis on the last letter of her name. She was a little surprised to hear him say he didn't want to ask anyone. But maybe that was normal. Gabriella herself didn't really want to go with anyone in particular either, though if anyone had asked she might have said yes. But no one had, so there was no point lingering on the thought. "No, I'm by myself," she said, glad to hear he hadn't made some excuse and walked away. So far, this conversation wasn't going badly, as long as one ignored the name mistake. But she had no idea what to say next. Scrambling for something to say, Gabriella looked around. "Who do you suppose put up all the decorations?" She asked, though she really didn't care that much about the answer. It was just something to say to avoid an uncomfortable silence.

 

[Simon Vanity]

Simon listened as she said which she was and her name correctly, "Sorry, names and faces aren't really a strong suit of mine," he replied honestly, "Don't spend all that much time in classes paying attention to whose who," the ravenclaw gave a shrug, certainly not picking up on her annoyance about the whole name thing. He had just been apologising in a way for getting her name wrong. Simon nodded as she said she was by herself too, hadn't brought anyone like him, maybe that would be a good thing for spending a bit of time with her at the event, "I think the house elves do it," the boy looked up at the decorations, he couldn't see the professors doing it, and as far as he knew there weren't any other people who could do it. The house elves took care of the school, so why wouldn't they take care of decorations like this at an event like this, "Probably, I can't exactly see Professor Styx or Professor Kingsley wasting their time doing the decorations," the boy added with a shrug, maybe someone took care of the ceiling but that was about it. "What do you think?" the boy returned the question interested to know if she would agree with him or think it was someone else.
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[Gabriella Tillington]

Gabriella knew it was strange to get so annoyed about the mispronunciation of her name. But she liked her name, she liked it partly because it was something her mother had had a say in. Something she carried with her even though she hadn't seen her in more than a decade. That was the same reason she hated nicknames. Well, also because they always sounded silly and childish. She shrugged slightly when he excused himself by saying names and faces weren't his strong suit. She didn't want to seem hung up over it. His idea that the house elves did it made sense, but Gabriella still figured a human had to make the decisions. "I think perhaps the house elves put it in place, but someone has to give the instructions in how it should look. I assume." A slight smile graced her lips at the idea or Professor Styx decorating it. "I think we would know if Professor Styx was in charge. Judging by his classroom, the hall would be a lot darker."

 

[Charlotte Harper]

Charlotte was on her way to the great hall to attend the Yule Ball. She had been terrible in her first semester. She missed Matthew really much, and didn't felt like she would try and bond with her stupid half sister Odette. She had been laughing secretly when she had watched the Quidditch game. She had lost with her team and Charlotte could only laugh. She didn't liked her half sister at all and she still wanted to make her life bad. Charlotte hadn't spoken to Simon very long. He would rub in her face how good he did with classes and stuff but secretly the blonde liked that kind of conversations. It was always a game of who the best one was. She liked competing to him. And didn't liked it when others were in the middle of that. Charlotte entered the great hall and walked a bit further. She looked at the people dancing and stuff and saw a red head in the crowd. The blonde smiled shortly for a moment and noticed it was Simon. She walked over to him casually and when she got closer she noticed a blonde girl from their year. Charlotte had no idea who she was or how she called but she didn't even cared. '' Hi Simon!'' the blonde said with a big smile and looked at the other girl for a moment. '' And you might be?'' she asked to the other girl.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

Alexis had arrived at the Yule Ball with Xavier. The Hufflepuff just went to get them some drinks, leaving her free to wander around and meet some of her classmates. This was the second time that she attended the event with a date and so far, she was enjoying herself this year more than before. Soon enough, she saw Simon with Gabriella who was later joined by Charlotte. She did not know why but she liked annoying the Slytherin."Simon!Hey,you!", she greeted her fellow Ravenclaw with a brief hug. She found him friendly to be with and found their conversations interesting. Turning to the girls, she gave them a friendly smile."Gabriella,you look beautiful tonight.So are you Charlotte.", she added after a beat.
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[Simon Vanity]

Simon nodded at what she said, it was true that someone else had to put the instructions in place to ensure it was done correctly and to ensure it always looked the same, ”That’s probably the headmistress who decides what it looks like,” he countered with a thoughtful expression on his face as he gazed up at the ceiling. He could agree that the event would be much darker if Professor Styx had been the one to organise it, ”Maybe professor Styx looks after the halloween stuff,” he was certain that the man probably didn’t, but given that he was a little more unpredictable there was maybe a slim chance of it. In any case, the Ravenclaw could imagine that if the man looked after any event it would probably be halloween, he’d been about to essentially repeat himself when a familiar and friendly face graced them, Charlotte, ”Hey Charlotte,” he smiled at her, he liked the other girl, she was bossy, bold and competitive, all things he greatly admired, however, he didn’t add much else, letting the other girl introduce herself, waiting to see what Charlotte or Gabriella might say. He was sure that Charlotte had plenty she wanted to say, but perhaps Gabriella wouldn’t be too put off by it. However there was little time, when they were joined by Alexis, he hugged her back and gave a friendly smile, "Hey Alexis," the boy added before looking between them. He knew that there was perhaps a little animosity between Alexis and Charlotte, but he just ignored it more of the time.
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[Gabriella Tillington]

Gabriella nodded in agreement when Simon said it was probably the Headmistress who decided. "I suppose that makes sense, though one would think she had more important things to worry about." She said with a small glance at the woman they were speaking about. She seemed very busy, and Gabriella was sure being the head of a school was a lot of work. She smiled slightly at the idea of Styx decorating for Halloween. "I think Halloween would be a lot scarier if he was." She said with a slight shake of her head. She couldn't help but glance around her. It would be bad to be caught joking about the scary Defence professor and have him overhear it. Before the conversation could continue on this track, someone else joined them. Gabriella recognized her from class, and knew the girl's name was Charlotte. Much like Simon, she often seemed to get good grades. Gabriella's eyebrows raised slightly at the unfriendly tone the girl had to her, and found it hard to believe she really had no idea who Gabriella was. Maybe she didn't know her name, but she had to at least remember her face from classes. "I'm Gabriella. We've been in classes for two and a half years." She said with a small shrug. She didn't mean to be angry or sarcastic, simply stating a fact. To soften her words she added, "you look nice, Charlotte." It seemed like she had chosen a popular boy to talk to, as yet another girl joined their little group. Gabriella wondered if either girl was maybe his girlfriend, and if she was about to get into some drama. Hopefully not. "Hello Alexis, you look beautiful too." She said, though her shoulders tensed slightly as she sensed some animosity in the air. Hopefully this would stay civil.

 

[Charlotte Harper]

Charlotte looked at Simon when he greeted her and was happy to see that he seemed pleasant to see her too. He didn't said anything about the grades yet, so she was happy about that. The other girl who Charlotte had seen in classes responded a bit too stubborn for Charlotte her taste so she raised her eyebrow for a moment. Ofcourse Gabriella knew her name, Charlotte was sure of that. But should that mean she needed to know who everyone was. Charlotte didn't actually cared, she only remembered names from people who were important or had use for her. '' You look nice Simon. Are you here alone?'' Charlotte asked her friend curious if this Gabriella figure was his date or not. It suprised her that she actually cared, but she still thought Simon had some vibe around him that interested her, she couldn't explain. The blonde turned to Gabriella and looked at her with a fake smile. '' You didn't made such a big impression on me than I'm guessing. But you can't help that. I'm terrible at names.'' Charlotte explained to the girl, with a bit of bitterness in her voice as usual. Charlotte just said what she was thinking and if the girl had to make such an remark that made her look stupid she could get a stubborn answer back. She had no intention in making a fight with the girl. When she got a compliment from the girl she smiled, this time more bright. '' That's nice of you Gabriella. I'm sure I will remember you name now. You look cute yourself too.'' Charlotte said to the girl with a grin. Perhaps this conversation would go the other way now.

She wanted to turn back to Simon but than an annoying other girl that she didn't wanted here hugged Simon a bit too much by her taste. Charlotte rolled with her eyes once more and when Alexis was done with acting like a young puppy she put her arms over eachother. Charlotte gave Alexis a fake smile when she got a compliment. Ofcourse she looked beautiful, someone like Alexis didn't had to say that to her. '' Alexis.. You are here! Again! It's like you stick with glue everytime we have conversation.'' Charlotte said while pointing at Simon and herself. She wasn't lying, everytime she was there. It was like she enjoyed coming between them.