Open Oh, What a Night

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique couldn't believe that she had actually convinced someone to go to the Yule Ball with her. She had merely looked at every boy around her age in every house and then narrowed it down to a small list of around eight or maybe it was fifteen boys to ask based on their perceived relationship status, known academic acheivements, and interests. Thankfully, number three on her list said yes after she asked him at breakfast, and that allowed her to actually start planning her outfit for the event. She wanted to look her best so Michael would be extra impressed because a date might lead to more dates and then more dates might lead to a boyfriend. But as her mother said, she was probably getting ahead of herself.

Either way, Veronique had curled her hair and found a bodycon type blue-green dress, much to her mother's dismay. Adding some jewlery and a pair heels to give herself a little more height, the Hufflepuff made her way down to the Great Hall, spotting Michael as she entered the dance. "Hi, Michael!" she said cheerily, plopping herself in front of him. @Michael Watson

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael hadn't expected to be training this hard for Quidditch - in all honesty, he hadn't expected them to beat Gryffindor, as much faith as he had in his team. But he'd been keeping himself busy, and not putting himself out there as much as he should have, so he was quite pleasantly surprised that Veronique had asked him to the ball. It was a bit of a failing on his part that he hadn't taken any initiative to ask anyone out but at least Veronique was pretty and played Quidditch too, so he doubted it would be a boring night. Dating someone might be a bit much at school, he thought, but it was good to not go to events alone especially now he was in fourth year. He'd at least worn his good shirt and suit jacket for the occasion. "Hey," he greeted, grinning as he saw Veronique approach. "You look really nice," he complimented, a little awkwardly but earnestly nonetheless. He wasn't exactly a casanova type or had the greatest way with words outside of sports reporting, but he tried. "Uh, did you want to dance?"

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique twisted one of her curls around her finger as Michael complimented her. "Oh, thanks so much," she giggled, trying not to blush. She was glad that he had complimented her because she had spent way too much time picking out the right shade of silver glitter for her eyes. "You nice, tooImean, you look really nice, too," she said, hoping he didn't think she was a total dork for fumbling over her words. "Anywaaay, dancing would be fun," Veronique started, listening to the music. It was actually some upbeat music, and the Hufflepuff was hoping that a slower song would come on soon. "But would you maybe want to go get one of the gifts before the good ones are taken?" she asked, now hoping Michael wouldn't think she was being too pushy.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael couldn't help but smile a little self-consciously. He didn't really know what to think of Veronique, but she was certainly cute and seemed pretty cool, even if she did play for Hufflepuff which automatically made them sworn enemies or something. (As if he'd take house rivalry that seriously!) He also didn't actually know how to dance properly so he was kind of relieved she suggested checking out the presents. "Sounds good, boss," he joked. Was he supposed to offer his arm or something? He sort of did as he started slowly moving towards the tree, though he wasn't sure the best way to go about it and ended up just having his arm sticking out a little bit for Veronique to take if she wanted to. "Do you, uh, think they're all gonna be the same thing? Or lucky draw, you reckon?" Maybe he'd have to have the incredibly awkward conversation with his mother about how to go about dates to school events. It was times like these he wished he had a big brother.

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique was glad that Michael agreed to go look at presents and smiled as he offered his arm, putting hers in his. This felt like a real date. "Well, all the boxes are different sizes, so I'm guessing they're all different. But I guess they could have changed all the box sizes and kept the gifts the same to trick us because, you know, magic," she said, wondering if Michael's assumption was right. They ended up at the tree, and she looked down at the boxes, picking up a pretty average sized box. "What if we picked out each other's boxes?" she suggested, holding out the box for Michael to take.