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[Margo Fox]

Margo was feeling strange about tonight. It was already a year ago she had her argument with Valerius and she didn't want to relive that night at all. There would be no trips to the courtyard for her this year since it would be just her luck to run into him again after avoiding him rather successfully since. She scanned the room for her friends. Sometimes she really hated being in different houses since it made meeting up so much harder. But as she looked around and took in all the decorations she spotted Micheal and her stomach did a little flip. Even after patrolling together all semester she still felt shocked every time she saw him. She had hoped the feelings would fade or go away but they had become rather persistent. With Isadora and Cameron nowhere to be found she made her way over to the Ravenclaw and tapped him on the shoulder. "Fancy meeting you here." she said with a smile.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael felt a bit awkward at the Yule Ball, as usual. While it would have been nice to have a date, his previous experience showed he didn't really know what to do beyond that step. Getting ready for OWLs and prefect duties had kept him busy enough that he'd barely thought about the Yule Ball until they were suddenly there, anyway, and he found himself dressed in his nice pants and shirt feeling like he was doing more prefect duties, supervising students. He was quite surprised to be brought out of his stupor, moreso when he saw that it was Margo who'd approached him. His face reddened a little, as he quickly tried to play it off. "Funny how that works, hey?" he said, feeling like he'd done a terrible job playing it cool. "Wow," he added, after a moment of actually taking in Margo's appearance. "You look great!"

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo felt slightly pleased to have caught him off guard but then it was her turn to blush when he complimented her. She hadn't put much thought into her outfit but it was a new dress and she felt a little exposed now that he was looking at her. "Oh thanks." she said and ran her hands down the front of her dress, straightening it out slightly. "You clean up well." she teased. "I hardly recognized you." she said with a grin and moved to stand beside him. "So... are you meeting anyone?" she asked, keeping her eyes forward and was careful not to look at him. They had talked a lot during their patrols but it was never anything too serious but she was pretty sure he would have mentioned someone by now if he did have a date. But she was still a bit guarded about that subject so she thought she would ask.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael didn't really think he'd done that much, but he wasn't going to argue with a compliment when it made him feel nice. He'd have to put in more of an effort sometime, but this year he thought he was doing better than he had been. Part of that was because of the badge and his patrols with Margo, he felt motivated to try harder, but he wasn't necessarily going to admit that as it might sound a bit weird. "Me? Oh, uh, no," he looked a little sheepish, trying not to stare at Margo too much even though his eyes kept wandering back to her. "Kind of got caught up with everything else, so this feels a bit like a patrol," though he wasn't sure even that would sound right, and quickly changed the subject. "Are, um, are you?" She hadn't mentioned anything about it, but it would be just his luck that it would turn out Margo was going on a date with some amazing sixth year.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo felt a huge sense of relief when Michael said he wasn't waiting for anyone but she tried not to let it show too obviously. She smiled at his comment about patrols and blinked when he asked if she was waiting for anyone. "Oh, no." she said quickly, maybe a bit too quickly. Again she thought about how horribly last year had gone and she shook her head. "No." she repeated unnecessarily before trying to lighten the mood. "Since it feels like we're on duty we could go walk around and try and bust any couples getting a little too close." she joked as her eyes drifted to the dance floor. "Or we...could just...dance." she said without really thinking of the implications. She was grateful to be looking forward because she was sure her face was red again.

 

[Michael Watson]

Would it be weird to ask her to dance now, Michael pondered, laughing a little at the comment about busting couples. "I stopped playing beater, so I've got less options for self defence if the couples get angry at us," he joked, though it was a pretty terrible joke in all honesty. Besides, he was a wizard, but his brain seemed to never work as well as it could when he was around Margo. He thought he was getting better about it, but being here at the ball was throwing him off. It seemed she beat him to the punch, though, and he nervously cleared his throat and offered out his arm. "Would you like to dance? Er, well, you were the one who suggested it, but still..."

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo grinned. "I think we could out run them if they turned on us." she said playing along. Even with the authority of a prefect badge she was still rather short and it was hard for her to demand any kind of respect. "Oh." she said softly when Michael offered his arm. She had been the one to suggest dancing but now her brain was trying to catch up with what was happening. She felt herself hesitate but only for a moment until she looped her arm around and placed her hand gently on his elbow. "Sure." she said and followed him to the dance floor. Margo wasn't a very good dancer and the upbeat music playing made her panic for a moment. She even considered suggesting they do something else when the music changed to a slow song. Some of the tension left her shoulders as she nervously turned to face Michael, hesitant to reach up to put her hands on his shoulders.