Secret Life of a Wallflower

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva Khulik did her best to put on a brave face, the girls in her dorm had helped with her hair and in choosing the dress to wear and she loved them for it. If it had been left to her own devices she would have stayed in her dorm sitting on her bed, snuggled up with her cat Odin and reading a book but ... Norton had said that he ... might see her here and they might hang out and ... that he was her best friend and how could she let him down after that! Ok, letting him down was a bit strong but she had never attended a Valentine's dance before and even though to her young mind it seemed a huge waste of time and effort, a part of her - albeit a small part, thought it might be ... fun!

She went to the great hall, walking tentatively in and sitting as far back as she could against the nearest wall and hoping that no one would see her here. With any luck people would just walk right in and head directly for whatever table they wanted to. Minerva wanted to hear the music, see the people, see the fashion and the romance of it all. Her parents were still madly in love after all of these years and even though it was never something that she had thought about before, she thought very briefly now that if someday she ever did marry, then it would be for love like her parents and someone she could share her hopes and dreams with. Someone she could be herself with!

With fingers on the seat edge, her feet tapped in beat with the music before it stopped and the headmistress spoke telling them all to enjoy themselves. Minerva stayed glued to where she was, not daring for even a second to stand up and mingle. She hadn't seen Elly yet, though she did hope that she was here somewhere and she didn't think she had seen Norton, April or Ethan either but they were all probably about. Just like Leif and Therese might be about but as Minerva was too short her view was obstructed by those standing and chatting nearby.

She wondered briefly if Alexander would be making an appearance and suddenly biting her lower lip, she hoped one second that he would and another that he wouldn't. That boy drove her nuts with his music and that was all, she told herself firmly letting her fingers drum along on the edge of the seat to the beat now. This was a little better than she had thought it might be but as one of the house ghosts passed by and gave her a smile and a wave, Minerva rummaged inside her dress pocket and removed the small pocket book of her absolute favourite wizarding book ever, a gift from her father who had been given it from his own father, an original edition of Beadle the Bard. Leaning back in her seat she let her feet continue to swing to the music that played as she became engrossed in the horrific fairy tales within the books pages.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

The day of roses had brought so much joy into Norton's day. It had started simply by being able to hand them out. It had continued in receiving some, beautiful roses with amazing sentiments behind them, Norton had been so warmed by it, it had meant his smile hadn't faded all day, and better, there was now a dance. He had said to Min that if they were both at it they could spend the time together and the young hufflepuff knew he would seek her out. Nortie knew that this was the second birthday without his mother, and though getting a lovely birthday card from just his father had been nice, he had felt somewhat sad at the fact his mother would never be able to find out how amazing a day Norton had had. Of course no one really knew that today, valentines day of all days was his birthday, but he was certainly enjoying it. Enjoying what it had to offer, enjoying that he could dance around, have flowers and just have fun. Giving out the roses had been incredible, he had loved seeing the faces light up, the way people smiled at the notes. He had enjoyed opening his notes.

There was nothing about this day that he wasn't enjoying and the fact he got to spend his energy at the dance was the best thing about it. He entered the hall, wearing of course the same suit as last time, a slightly too big for him suit, but it didn't matter, he had made it different just by the fact he had a rose in his hair and one in his top pocket, this wasn't a big difference but to Norton it was huge. He practically skipped into the hall and began walking inside, smiling and grinning at all the people he knew, waving towards Jess, trying to spot his twin, to give her another huge hug. He was looking for April, wanting to definitely spend the time with her, and he was also looking for Min. Since she was his best friend, it only made sense that he would look for her within all these people. Despite not immediately spotting anyone, he still wandered the hall excitedly, the wide grin on his face, the easy happy expression in every corner of his features. Eventually he spotted Minerva, who was apparently reading a book! A BOOK! When there was so much else to do, so much FUN to have. If he hadn't already been looking for her, he would've definitely gone over now, "MIN!" he called out as he skipped over to the girl, immediately and almost diving into the seat next to hers, "What are you doing reading?" he asked playfully motioning to the rest of the hall.
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[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva was reading the Fountain of Fair Fortune for what must have been the thousand time but it never grew old. So engrossed was she that she didn't notice anyone passing her name was called out and a very familiar someone sat into the chair beside her all exuberance and smiles. Minerva was instantly smiling up at Norton, he was infectious and suddenly she was looking at the rose in his jacket and the other behind his ear. He had gotten her rose then? or had he received lots of roses that he could only choose to wear two of them this evening. She couldn't help but smile at that, she could imagine him receiving hundreds of roses because he was such an incredible person and friend.

His question made her turn to regard the small pocket book in her hand and she blushed, reading wasn't a social norm at a dance obviously but dances weren't exactly her social norm whereas reading was.
"I was hoping to start a new trend" she grinned at him, "Happy Valentines Norton" she had never said those words to anyone before and felt a little self conscious doing it now as she hastily slipped the old worn well loved book back into her pocket.

"You look great" she blinked as a few rose petals drifted from the ceiling down to her hair and face before they disappeared before ever making it to the floor, "thank you for my rose by the way ... " she wasn't sure what to say after that so with a bout of enthusiasm as if she were still under the effects of that weird hugging potion in class, she gave him a big hug. It always seemed to feel right hugging her bestie and this thought comforted her and made her smile as she broke the hug and looked out at the room of people.

"Are ... are those house elves?" she stared at the short toweled figures with pointy ears and beakered noses with fake wings attached as they moved through the crowd of students, "it's a wonder they don't have them flying through the air shooting arrows!"

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton was over the moon to see her, and he grinned gleefully at her, unable to really stop himself from doing so. He shook his head at her, but did still chuckle lightly at what she said, thinking that if anyone could start a trend it would be her. She could manage it, but not today, "Happy Valentines Min," he returned with a soft smile, "Books later, no new trends tonight though. Tonight we have to celebrate, it's not just valentines day, its my BIRTHDAY!" he told her, the last part of his sentence being blurted out with all the excitement that he had in him. He was so excited about today about what the day might bring, and it had really gone above and beyond. He had known that the valentines celebration would probably fall on his birthday but he was just so excited for it anyway. This was the most fun that he could ever have had during the day, and really he hadn't done all that much, it had just been the fact he got to hand out flowers and received some too. Norton looked down at himself and smiled back at her, "So do you!" he returned easily, actually looking at his best friend, even though he knew she would be looking great as she always did!

Norton just smiled and nodded at her, "Yours too," but his words were somewhat lost in the hug that she gave him. He returned the hug of course, finding it easy to hug the person whom he called his best friend, he pulled away and smiled at her, before looking at what she was talking about. He had obviously come into contact at lot with the house elves but it appeared as though tonight they were dressed more as cherubs than normal. He was surprised that they weren't flying around, surely magic would've allowed for that to happen, though perhaps it was more that it would be a little dangerous, "Maybe we should go dance?" he offered glancing back at her, "We should dance for sure!" Nortie repeated, glancing between Min and the where others were dancing. He would understand if she didn't want to, but he knew to ask first.
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[April Ward]

April was so excited about the Valentine's dance. She was wearing the same dress she had worn to the Yule Ball, a simple white one, but she had accessorized it with a lot of colorful necklaces and bracelets, as well as yellow converse that weren't even nearly formal enough for this. She was flitting from one place in the Great Hall to the other, waving at people she only vaguely recognized and eating snacks from every table. She stopped when she spotted the face of a boy she had met in the Quidditch Stands and really wanted to talk to again. "NORTON!" She shouted from a distance, rushing over and giving him a hug, not bothered that he was sitting down. She beamed at him as she let go. "You look cute! I was looking for you!" Then she noticed the girl next to him and smiled at her too. "Hi Minerva! You look nice too." The other girl was so quiet that April sometimes forgot all about her, but they did share a dorm. "Are you having fun?"

 

[Minerva Khulik]

No books tonight! She almost died of fright at those words, but this was Norton, her best friend, she had to trust that he knew what he was on about because this sort of function was all new to her. Tonight they had to celebrate but Valentine's had never been a big deal for her before! Confused she turned to look at him as he informed her that it wasn't just Valentine's but his birthday too. Minerva's mouth hung wide open, this was definitely not a night to sit and read. Why hadn't he told her before? Playfully she nudged his arm and shook her head as she grinned from ear to ear.

"You should have told me, what if I hadn't bothered to come to this tonight and had missed your birthday?" she looked momentarily distraught considering that very possibility, she would have hated to have missed his birthday. She brushed aside his compliment with a swift thank you, she had never liked compliments much, had always felt self conscious of someone complimenting her looks whereas if it was a compliment to something she had worked hard on, she took them graciously.

The hug meant more to her for the very reason that he was her best friend and there wasn't a single hint of awkwardness about it, the awkwardness came when he suggested they go and dance! Minerva was considering it, she really was ... thankfully April came at that moment, hugging Norton and smiling all brightly at him. Minerva felt a distinctive twitch in the pit of her stomach at that and had no idea why, not recognising it for anything familiar she brushed it aside after momentarily considering it to be a slight delayed anxiety pang at having to dance in public.

"H ... Hi April" she smiled at her, pushing her hair behind her ear and looking abashed at being complimented twice now in the space of ten minutes, "you look wonderful ... I love your dress" the white cropped sleeve dress was very pretty and Minerva thought it suited April perfectly.

"Uhm ... I was ... but then Norton ruined it all by saying we should dance" maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they all went out to dance together, she could just mingle and hide behind people and look like she was dancing. She did dance, she loved to dance and she was a great dancer but not around people! She got far too self conscious. "and informing me far too late that today was his birthday!" she leaned to the side and shoulder bumped him, as if letting him know this was not going to be dropped or forgotten any time soon.

Out of Character:

so sorry for delay