Closed Repeat Performance

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke's semester was going about as smoothly as a bludger to the stomach and it was all she could do to hold her composure as she muddled her way through her OWL classes. She wasn't a prefect, wasn't a club leader, was barely holding together her grades, and her plan to become widely popular and successful from the previous year had still failed before it'd really even began. Brooke needed to do something, and quickly, before she became a complete and total outcast.

Striding through the hall, she smiled when she spotted Niklaus, adjusting slightly so she could casually join him at the Ravenclaw table. One of the few bright spots she'd had at Hogwarts had been attending the ball with him and she was sure she could manage a repeat if she asked him again. Niklaus was clever, polite, and looked good in a suit. On paper, he was perfect, and right now that was exactly what Brooke needed to pull of a win before her first semester ends. "Hey, are you busy," she asked as she sat, brushing her hair over her shoulders to toy with it idly, giving Niklaus a gentle but demure smile.

 

[Niklaus Eliot Easterling]

Nick had a plan of not going to the Yule Ball as he had no idea who to go with. He wasn't the one to also go with any of his relatives, he would consider to go with Roxie but she seemed to be his little version and not enjoy all the public events, well, it was sweet that she was like him. Maybe Nick had a thought of inviting Brooke to the Yule Ball again but they hadn't talked in awhile and he had no idea if he hadn't messed everything up, so he simply put the thought away, she seemed to be busy anyway.

So Niklaus had put the thought about the ball away, sat by his house table with a book about Ancient Rome, it was quite a difference after him always being with arithmancy books. He had found something that caught his interest, it was history and art. "Oh, not at all, just reading," Nick gave a light smile at her, quite surprised that she decided to sit with him but not letting it show on his face. "How are you?" he easily asked as he put the book away, trying to be polite as always.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke smiled, running a hand through her hair as Niklaus set his book aside to talk to him; a positive sign. "Oh I'm doing well, you know how it is. OWLs and everything," she said with a small laugh. Truthfully, usually when Brooke said things like that she was lying about being busy with work, but this year OWLs had really taken her by surprise and she was trying not to dwell too hard on how much harder the work suddenly seemed compared to before. "I was just thinking about the Ball coming up and all and I thought, maybe you were free that night?" She asked demurely, brushing her hair back over her shoulder and giving Nick what she hoped was innocently engaging smile. She didn't think Niklaus would turn her down, but the chance still lingered at the back of her mind and Brooke wasn't sure her ego could handle the rejection right now.

 

[Niklaus Eliot Easterling]

Nik gave a nod in agreement, well, he didn't study more because of it but he paid more attention in class for that. If before he didn't care about getting good grades and all that, then this time, even he knew he had to catch up with everything, so he understood Brooke who had always made an impression of perfectionist. "Oh, Yule Ball... I was planning to skip it but sure, why not? Last year was good," he half smiled at her in agreement. He didn't see any reason why not to agree, it Brooke, he already knew her, he knew what to expect, he wouldn't sit in his dorm and she wouldn't go alone, better for everyone, right? "Have you thought about what you will wear? Y'know, so we could match," he politely asked. If he was going, he wanted to be sure that they will look good together not just some mess up, last year he didn't like that he had no idea which suit to wear because he had no idea which color he had to match to. So it was just a lucky coincidence that they managed to wear something that looked good combined.

 

[Brooke Townsend]

Brooke's fingers hesitated in her hair when Niklaus mentioned he hadn't been planning to go the ball, already trying to decide if she could subtly tease or goad him into going with her anyway when he agreed to join her anyway. "Well, I don't want to twist your arm over it," she said with a small laugh, somewhat less than impressed with his lukewarm reaction, but she supposed that was rather part of Niklaus' appeal. It wouldn't do to go out with someone who was too over-eager anyway. And she had a date, which was excellent. She smiled even more when Niklaus asked about her dress, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Really, Nick was arguably the perfect date in that regard. "I was just going to do something classic. Black," she said simply. Black was easy to match and, she thought privately, really brought out her eyes.