Ridin' Solo

[Asaiah Murphy]

With the Slytherin's two best friends going together and Zara already going with someone else, Asaiah Murphy decided to go to the Yule Ball solo this year, and see what the night had in store for him. He prepared himself in the common room and smiled happily at the reflection of himself wearing a black and white suit in the mirror. While walking towards the Great Hall the Slytherin quickly ran his hand through his hair one more time, making sure it looked nice enough for an event like the Yule Ball. At first he didn't like going alone but after giving it much thought Asaiah didn't see the problem in going solo. Last year was fun, a lot even, but there wasn't much energy in him left the next day. He unbottened his black suit jacket once he walked into the Great Hall and started looking around, hoping that he'd see someone familiar.

 

[Diane Winters]

If there was one thing Diane liked it was dressing up. She wasn't very girly on a normal day but she loved an excuse to put on a dress and show off. Growing up the daughter of a single dad who spent most of his time at work there wasn't a lot of chances to dress up so the Slytherin was excited there was an annual ball at Hogwarts that gave her an opportunity to let all her girliness out in one day. Diane had bought her dress without any kind of approval from her father, she had taken an opportunity when he was off looking at some new fandangled telescope over the holidays to try on dresses and the one she found was perfect. It was a sparkly blue floor length number. She hid the purchase because she knew as soon as she laid eyes on it that her father wouldn't approve. Thankfully he wasn't around at Hogwarts to disapprove or judge. Diane finished getting ready and made her way out of the dorms and up to the entrance hall. She felt a pang of jealousy for the people who were meeting their dates before going in. Mostly because she liked the idea of meeting up with someone and making their jaw drop, she didn't care much for the messiness of dating, she was still young after all. She just wanted someone to look at her and thing, wow.

Diane made her way inside the hall and was once again impressed with the interior. She had been truly blown away her first year so she wasn't too excited to see it again. Though it was similar in someways to the previous year it was still a spectacular sight. Diane wandered over to the drinks table and grabbed herself an orange juice, she hadn't taken to the foul pumpkin juice everyone seemed to love drinking. She noticed one of her fellow Slytherins on his own and decided to walk over to him. "No date?" She asked querying his standing alone.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Even though the Slytherin had been to the Yule Ball last year, the decorations were absolutely magnificent and it almost made him forget that it was summer once you'd stepped out of Great Hall. Somehow some teacher made it look like snow was falling on their heads, which was a spell that he would seriously love to learn, especially with Christmas coming up. There were also several huge Chrismas trees in the Great Hall which made him wish he could have one of those back home. All in all, he wished that Hogwarts would organize something like the Yule Ball more often. His head moved from the decorations to a girl he knew standing next to him. He smiled, and while eyeing the girl to look what she was wearing, the Slytherin's cheeks slowly changed colours and he found himself becoming nervous - something Asaiah rarely was. He couldn't quite figure out why he thought it but she looked really pretty in that dress. He nodded his head at her question and asked, ''You?'' Hoping the colour on his cheeks wasn't visible anymore.

 

[Diane Winters]

Diane was surprised to see that her interaction with the boy seemed to illicit a strange colour in his cheeks. Was he blushing? She wasn't aware boys could even do that, much less that she could be the cause of it. She giggled as she noticed the change but it didn't last long, which was probably a good thing for the boy. She smiled at the boy as she gave him the once over, he looked very handsome in his suit, she had seen him before, around the common room and in classes, he was a good looking boy and was impressive on the Quidditch pitch, she liked that. She nodded at his question which was just a one word answer to her own. "Yes, can you believe no one asked me?" She asked with a cheeky grin plastered on her lips. Diane had not been very social since leaving the Quidditch team so she could probably count the number of people who were aware of her on her hand. The only other boy she knew was Xavier and he seemed more interested in his bugs than going to the Yule ball with someone. "I'm Diane," She said offering out her hand.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah closed his eyes for a moment and let a small smile appear on his face. She had definitely seen the change on his face. There was a part of him that felt embarrassed that the girl had seen him blush over the way she looked but there was also a part of him that actually didn't care at all. She looked lovely, and somehow that was the only thought stuck in his mind for the moment. He was usually really bad at remembering faces but hers he did remember somehow. Asaiah smiled once more, this time at her answer. ''Guess I should have asked you then.'' He told his fellow classmate. He vaguely remembered seeing her at the try outs in their first year at Hogwarts and had to hand it to her that for a first year she seemed to be pretty good at it. With the deal the Slytherin made with Freya and Marisol and Wyatt probably somewhere dancing with each other, Asaiah was happy that he someone to talk to about Quidditch if the subject was ever brought up. ''I'm Asaiah,'' He told her and shook her hand gently. ''I'd offer to get you something to drink but I see you already have some.'' A charming smile on his face appeared while he was talking.

 

[Diane Winters]

Diane certainly hadn't meant to imply that he should have asked her but his comment that he should made her blush which was unusual for her and wasn't sure she liked someone doing it to her. He smiled at him and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. She sipped the remainder of her orange juice and held the glass awkwardly in her hand. "Maybe you should have, you're cute I may have even said yes, but hey there's always next year," She grinned and nudged him playfully. He took her hand and she smiled at him when he told his name. "It's nice to meet you Asaiah, actually I'm all out so if the offer still stands I'd love another orange juice, or maybe we could dance first?" She smiled batting her eye lashes at the boy. It was always seemed to work for girls in movies so she wanted to see if her doing it had the same effect.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah chuckled at Diane's comment and playful nudge and said, ''Well then maybe you are going to be my date next year.'' His face slightly began to lit up as he was beginning to feel more comfortable around his classmate. Maybe it had something to do with aging because he had never really found girls pretty pretty but Asaiah couldn't stop thinking about how nice she looked in her sparkly blue dress. He didn't know what she was doing with her eyes, and to be honest it looked a little weird at first, but somehow instead of getting her and himself another drink, Asaiah removed the glass from her hand and put it down on a table near them. Whilst offering his hand to her and smiling the Slytherin boy said, ''Let's dance first, shall we? That's why we are here for after all.'' thinking that he could get her something to drink after they were done dancing.

 

[Diane Winters]

Diane smiled at Asaiah's comment about being his date to next years ball. "It's a date, but you still have to ask me," She teased. He couldn't let him get away with not actually asking her if he wanted to go with her next year. She watched him as he toom her empty cup from her and put it down on a nearby empty table and held out his hand, "You're right, we should dance," She smiled and followed him out onto the dance floor. She kept her hand in his and placed the other on his shoulder. "I hope you've done this before, these are new shoes I'd greatly appreciate you not standing on them," She smiled to keep the mood light but the shoes really were new.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled happily at the girls answer and said, ''I'm already looking forward to it.'' He'd definitely ask her to go with him to the Yule Ball next year if she would still be up for it then. Happy that Diane agreed to dance, Asaiah smiled as she put her hand in his and gently held on to hers, holding both their hands up at shoulder-level. The Slytherin looked at her when she put her other hand on his shoulder and placed his own free hand on the girl's left hip. ''As a matter of fact I have,'' the boy said whilst he slowly began to take lead. ''My parents made me take a few lessons so that I could dance properly at their wedding.'' As it turned out those lessons weren't a complete waste of time after all, which made him happy that he hadn't skipped the lessons like sisters had done.

 

[Diane Winters]

Diane nodded and smiled at his response, "Good, I'll hold you too it," She winked and when the music started she moved in time with him allowing the boy to lead as he seemed comfortable doing so. She was pleasantly surprised by his moves and when he told her that he took some dance classes for his parents wedding suddenly his moves made sense. "Very wise decision Asaiah, girls love a guy who can dance," She smiled as him as he continued to lead her. Diane hadn't expected to have as fun as she was having so far, she had half expected to be bored by the event so she was glad that at least so far she was wrong. "You really are a man of many talents aren't you, first Quidditch now dancing, tell me you have a third hidden talent hidden up your sleeve," She grinned wondering what he would come out with as he tried to pass himself off as a triple threat. Asaiah struck her as the type who would have at least one more thing he was good at, the question was what would it be?

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He chuckled slightly at Diane's response on the reason why he could slow dance and had to admit that he was definitely not the only one with moves as she was perfectly capable of following his movements. His cheeks burned up at her comment and said, ''Is that so? I certainly wasn't aware of that.'' not that he could have since it was the first time he had ever slow danced with a girl that wasn't one of his sisters. While the converstation between the two Slytherins was going on, Asaiah was swaying him and his dance partner back and forth in a circle not that more and more students joined them on the dance floor. The boy grinned when she complimented him, or at least he thought it was a compliment, and shrugged slightly. ''Is playing the guitar considered as a talent?'' He asked her after thinking about something for a moment. ''Because I've been playing guitar for quite a while now I think.'' Asaiah was happy that he found someone to have fun with since he wasn't sure if that'd be happening seeing his best friends being together. ''Enough about me,'' He said looking at her with a charming smile on his clean face. ''How about you, Diane? Other than Quidditch, tell me, what are your talents?'' Asaiah asked curious to know in what his classmate was good at.

 

[Diane Winters]

It was quite nice dancing in small circles with Asiaiah, he was quite good and she was more than able to hold her own. Diane had been in dance lessons since she could walk so she was no stranger to a dance floor. "Oh please, don't be modest, modesty is overrated, you're good and you know it," She smiled at him. "Feel free to spin me or something, I won't break," She giggled, something she did very little of prior to that night. The Asaiah began to talk about his other talents Diane was quite impressed when he mentioned playing guitar, she looked up at him in disbelief, "Oh come on, sport, dancing and playing the guitar. How are you here alone?" She asked him grinning. It did seem like he was a boy of many talents and she was amazed he wasn't able to snag himself a date to the ball. "My talents? Oh you know Quidditch, I've been dancing since I could walk, not much else, we can't all be triple threats," She grinned.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah chuckled, ''You rather have me bragging on about it then?'' He asked his dance partner with a grin. ''Because I'm quite good at that according to my sister.'' Usually when Asaiah was slowly beginning to master something new he would let everyone in his family know that he could do it , especially his sister Hannah because he knew that she wasn't particulary fond of his bragging. He smiled when Diane suggested that he could spin her, damn was he happy that he hadn't skipped those lessons. When the girl asked him how he was going to the Yule Ball alone, he said, ''I did ask someone but she already went with someone else, so then I decided to go to the Yule Ball by myself. And I think I made the right decision by coming alone.'' He told her with a wink as he was leading them around the circle. Asaiah listened attentively as she was going through her talents and laughed. ''I'm sure you have a lot more talents.'' the Slytherin told her. Then he let go of Diane's hip and held their hands up and rotated his arm making her spin on the dance floor, and after a few spins dropped her quickly, still holding onto her with one of his hands around her middle. Their faces close to each other as he was bending over her.

 

[Diane Winters]

Diane giggled and nodded at Asaiah's question, "Yes of course, if you don't brag how will everyone know how good you are at everything?" She asked trying to keep a straight face. "If your sister already thinks so you should just go ahead and show her how good at bragging about stuff your good at," She laughed her straight face beginning to crack. Her laugh vanished when he told her that he had already asked someone to the ball and that she already had a date. "Ok, where is this girl, point her out so I can list all the reasons why she isn't good enough for you," She grinned at him, a faint blush appeared on her cheeks when he said he made the right decision to come alone and winked at her. She guessed it had worked out pretty well for her too, she had had fun, more fun than she had expected and it was down to her fellow Slytherin. Heading her advice he lifted their arms to allow her to spin, she did so under his arms then he went off script and dipped her. She was sure he said something about her having other talents but her mind had gone blank she opened her eyes and saw that he had leaned down with her, maybe she was overcome with some weird feeling or maybe she was just caught up in the moment up she lifted herself up ever so slightly and pressed her lips onto Asaiah's.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah soflty laughed at answer Diane gave to his question, ''I guess you're right,'' he said whilst thinking about the point she made. Besides, letting people know that you were good at something couldn't hurt, right? As long as it wasn't becoming annoying of course. ''What's the point in hiding the fact that you're good at something.'' With a grin on his face Asaiah turned the two of them around looking at the crowd from time to time to make sure they wouldn't bump into someone. ''Another time perhaps,'' Asaiah commented when she told him to point out Zara. ''We are having fun so let's not spoil it.'' Or at least he was having fun, a lot even. He noticed that a blush appeared on his face and looked away for a second, smiling slightly. He didn't know he could make some one blush, let alone a girl. The Slytherin boy stared right into her eyes as he was holding her tightly so she wouldn't fall on the floor though he had to admit that it was becoming slightly harder to keep her from falling. Asaiah's cheeks started burning bright red the moment her lips were pressed onto his and gently pulled himself and her back to a normal standing position, his lips still locked onto hers while his eyes were now closed. It felt strange but nice at the same time.