Snowless Yule

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire Fontaine had never expected to be asked to the Yuleball, she had never seen herself as really pretty enough to be asked to such a lovely and fun thing, but she had. By none other than Perseas, and really Victoire was incredibly nervous about that. Mostly since she could now admit that she had a little bit of a crush on the older boy. Victoire had been busy with exams, and her revision, but the knowledge of the Yuleball had loomed over her. Now it was finally here. She had managed to go out and get a dress for the occasion, and after spending most of her day relaxing as other girls began to go get ready, Victoire decided it was finally time for her to go and get ready. She had spent a long time looking for a dress that suited her, and it was now sat on her bed. She wanted to impress Perseas, she wanted to wear something that suited her and made her look pretty. Victoire was for that reason feeling a little nervous. Nervous as she took a shower, and styled her hair into loose waves. She applied a little bit of make-up, because all she had was a little bit anyway. She didn't have more than necessary, though she wondered if it was perhaps time to invest in more make-up. Not that this kind of event would occur very often but it was happening right now. Just after an hour and a half getting ready, Victoire finally slipped on her dress, and put on the few final touches. She didn't need her bag, or her wand, so all she had to do was put on a small amount of jewellery and then she was good.

Victoire felt her nerves grow as she made her way to the Great Hall, they had agreed to meet in the entrance hall, perhaps it might've been easier to meet in Gryffindor, but that didn't really matter. Victoire felt nervous as she walked down. Unsure why, this was just a night between friends. They were just friends, and Perseas was older than her, he probably would never see her as anything other than a friend, so it was pointless to be nervous. But, Victoire reasoned that unlike last year, because she had a date she was nervous about others seeing her with him. She was nervous at people looking at her in her dress. What if no one liked it. And she was the only one who thought the dress looked nice. That wouldn't be fun in the slightest. She was generally not bothered by people looking at her, or judging her on her clothes, but she had really tried, and Victoire was actually looking to impress at the very least the person she would be attending with. Finally, Victoire was at the entrance hall, and she couldn't really spot Perseas anywhere. She glanced around at all the people, pushing her way through the small crowd in case he was in a corner. But she couldn't spot him, so instead of continuing to try to spot him, Victoire stopped and waited by the doors to the great hall, where Victoire reasoned that she would be easily spotted.
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[Perseas Stratis]

The last few weeks before the ball seemed to fly by for Perseas Stratis and before he knew it he was standing in the common room, glancing at the clock on the mantle above the fireplace and tugging at the collar of his shirt every few seconds. A prolonged sigh of frustration escaped his lips as he was failing miserably to tie the bow tie draped around his neck and grasped its ends with exasperation. Perseas' stomach was in knots but he couldn't figure out why. This year he had made sure to keep drama away from this special night. He had asked Victoire Fontaine to accompany him to the ball, thinking that he was going to have a great time with a friend than with the kind of date that most students were going to show up tonight. He really liked the girl. It was fun socializing with her but he had found himself worrying that she wasn't going to enjoy their time at the ball. Perseas wasn't really into these kind of festivities and he was feeling like a fish out of the pond. On the other hand, it was one of the few events of Hogwarts, attempting to disturb the hateful school routine. He decided to give it a second chance and maybe this year he was actually going to enjoy himself. After five additional minutes of struggling with the bow tie, he sweared and threw the bow tie in the empty fireplace and stormed out of the common room before grabbing the single rose he had left earlier on one of the tables.

How exactly he was succeeding to be always late was really something to wonder about. He used his usual secret passageways to reach the ground floor faster while making sure to stay away from the damp walls and the cobwebs. He jumped off the opening revealed behind the portrait of the fangless vampire and neared the Main Entrance which they had set as their meeting point. Muffled conversations became noisy as he climbed down the last stairs and he found himself disappearing into the crowd. He squeezed his way through the jam with his intelligent eyes scanning the area for the second year. He spotted her in the distance waiting by the doors of the Great Hall and his mouth fell open slightly at the sight of her. Merlin help me he thought and approached her with his heart drumming unexpectedly behind his chest.
"Hey." he greeted her warmly with a charming smile. "Are you really the girl I was snow fighting with the other day?" he chuckled as she looked staggering in her icy blue dress, with her characteristic, blonde waterfall of shimmering curls cascading down her shoulders. "Erm...this is for you." he handed her the rose, just realizing he had been squeezing its stem in his hand. Perseas blinked, snapping out of the daze she had unintentionally put him, and realized that they were just standing their in awkward silence. He coughed slightly to clear his throat and break the ice. "Ready to party?" he asked with a glint of playfulness in his grey eyes.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire did not mind waiting for Perseas, she took enjoyment watching all the other people heading into the Great Hall, with or without partners. All she could think was that she wasn't that dressed up, that she was being shown up by the other students. Victoire glanced down at her dress and smiled regardless. She liked the dress she had, and maybe it wasn't as fancy as everyone elses. It was still nice, that much was clear. She had a dress which suited her still slim and undeveloped frame. She was young, she had time to grow. Her blonde hair, was sitting neatly over her shoulder in blonde lose curls, she smiled to the people that were passing her. She didn't mind waiting for him, but she hoped that he would arrive soon. She didn't want to make it seem like she was waiting alone outside for so long that someone took pity on her and didn't believe that she was actually waiting for someone. She knew that Perseas would be here soon, she just wished it was now. Victoire fiddled with the end of her dress and was a little startled when she heard a voice saying hey. She looked up to the sound, just to see if the voice was actually addressing her. Which is was, because there before her stood Perseas. She smiled happily at him, and glanced him, and found herself blushing furiously at what he said. "Merci. It was much colder than day" she replied her eyes on the floor, embarrassed at the blushing that her cheeks were showing.

Glancing back up at him, she smiled shyly, "You look pretty different too." She felt like she should say this, and he was. He was much tidier, like he was. Clearly they both cleaned up nice. Victoire was just blushing furiously as he spoke and handed her a rose, she took it and smiled at him. She didn't know what to say to him, she couldn't really believe this was even happening to her, she could admit that she had a crush on him, that much she knew but she'd always believed it had been completely one sided, she thought that he only saw her as a younger sister. A good friend and nothing else. She smiled her thanks, "Thank you, Perseas" She said with a bright smile, as she then bent the stem of the rose slightly, and got rid of the thorns, before sliding it in behind her ear, and then in her hair. Fiddling with it a little bit, before looking up at Perseas with a there we go expression. "How does it look?" she asked, and then he asked if she was ready to party, to which she nodded. She smiled at him, and then wondered into the hall, taking a small hold of his wrist to lead him in. She wanted to have fun, and she was sure that he too wanted to have fun. "We're going to dance, come on" She glanced at him and smiled. Hopefully he was looking to have as much fun as she was. it was the end of term, surely that's what most people were looking to do.
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Hope you don't mind the small, slight godmod.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas gave her a strained smile when she commented about him looking different than usual. For an instance, he wanted to ask if he was looking that bad in a tuxedo because he was indeed feeling uncomfortable wearing one. He was used to a more casual dress code and this kind of attire was bringing bad memories from Christmas Eves with family and guests. They were so unexciting for the hyperactive child he was. Especially when he was forced to wear a tuxedo and sit silently at the corner of a sofa while elderly aunts were coming one after the other to pinch his cheeks and comment about his development. "Thank you." he replied politely, shoving away the unwanted memories, brought back each time he was looking at his leather suit.

Perseas almost felt guilty for the rosy glow on her cheeks. He didn't want to put her on the spot but even though she was his friend, she still was a girl and knew really well that girls liked such kind of things. He couldn't help but observe her as she bended the stem of the rose he gave her and elegantly placed it behind her ear. He glanced inside the Great Hall for a moment so it won't look like he was checking her out. "Mooi ." he replied 'beautiful' in Dutch, pretty sure he butchered once more the accent. He was going to offer his arm and let her wrap her own around it but instead, she took a hold of his wrist and led him into the Great Hall. His lips lifted upwards after his initial astonishment and followed her.

The large hall had its usual Christmas decorations of white and silver colors but from the enchanted ceiling no snow was falling. A cloudless night sky was flying above them with several constellations like chandeliers, twinkling against the dark blue. Whiteness was also missing from the four, large Christmas trees standing at each corner of the hall. Perseas was sure that Victoire was also glancing at them with a certain feeling of something not being right. They were both used to see snow on Christmas trees' branches but he had come to get used to it. In addition, it was so warm in there for someone to wear a tuxedo and he really fought the urge to take off the jacket and stay with the shirt as she was guiding him to the dance floor. "Of course." he responded with an awkward smile when she told him they were going to dance. There was just a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice. He knew he was a dreadful dancer but at last year's ball, he learnt at least the basics thanks to Victoria Chase. She did something useful at least, he thought while remembering what a fiasco was this night last year. They finally made their way through the crowd and at the center of the stage set for the particular night. Couples were already slow dancing. A group of guys with no dates were goofing around as well, dancing together but Perseas glanced at Victoire. He must have been looking slightly nervous but he flashed another smile and tried to calm his racing heart. He placed a hand around her waist and as they started dancing, he relaxed immediately. "This isn't so bad." he admitted with a chuckle after a minute of swaying under the soft, flickering reflection provided by the hovering candles. He couldn't help but notice the softness of her skin as he was holding her hand. He also liked the sweet smell of her perfume. When he realized it had actually an intoxicating effect on him, he decided to start a conversation as they kept dancing and distract himself. "Going back to Belgium for holidays?" he asked. Feeling a little adventurous now and a little bit more confident, he invited her to twirl and held her left arm up.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire was blushing too much to have even noticed Perseas' discomfort about her small compliment. She was too busy placing the rose in her hair, and then smiling back at him, her smile growing as he spoke Dutch to her. It was making her smile, she liked that he had gone to such an effort for her, and she felt a little bad that she had not yet done the same for him. She couldn't help but blush further at what the word meant. It was strange, they were just friends, was this how friends acted on a night like this or was something else there? Victoire knew she was young, she knew that she wasn't going to be the kind of person he was interested in but why was there such a reaction from him. However, Victoire didn't allow herself to think on it any more. Instead she gathered herself, and then went into the hall, bringing Perseas along behind her. She was always in awe of this hall. Of the way it was made to look just so beautiful, even if it did lack the snow, and a number of other things that Victoire was much more used to, and really she found it difficult to even deal with the fact that it was warm at this time of year, though Victoire reasoned that it was just because she hadn't spent enough time in New Zealand to get used to it. Surely after another few years things would be more normal. Well, that was the hope really. Victoire wanted to be there though, already at that point.

Victoire was glad that he was letting her drag him out on to the dance floor, Victoire thought that because it was still early in the night they'd have plenty time to get food and drinks, and this night should start off with some energy, break the ice a little. She smiled at him and then stopped at an empty space on the dance floor. Not sure how to really begin dancing with him. Since she'd never really danced with a guy before and wasn't sure how it worked. The song was a little slow too which didn't help, and Victoire was surprised when he put his hand on her waist, but quickly recovered to put a hand on his shoulder. Swaying with him to the music. Smiling at his words. "Not so bad at all" she agreed with a small smile. It really wasn't that bad. She hadn't expected this night to be horrible, but it was already better than she'd thought. He was polite and handsome, he was a good guy and she liked him. She just couldn't stop smiling, stop smiling at the situation, or even at him. She let him take more of the lead, and smiled a little at the question, and as she'd been about to reply, she twirled when he invited her to, finding herself giggling just a tiny bit as she was facing him once more and returned her hand to his shoulder. "No, I wish I was, but we don't get enough time to merit going back, it'll just be a quiet, snowless Christmas" She admitted, she didn't mind living in New Zealand, or in Australia during the holidays, but it was at christmas tie, knowing that the rest of her family the extended part would spend the day without them. "What about you, any plans?" She figured he likely had more than her, just because at least he had members of his family that could apparate where she did not.
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I'm sorry this is terrible..

 

[Perseas Stratis]

The genuine smiles she was flashing could only be contagious because they made his lips lifting every time. He actually surprised himself when he performed his part of the twirl without treading on her feet or twisting her wrist. In contrary, he was as gentle as he could. He had definately improved from last year and that brought a grin on his face. A grin of confidence and self-content. He immediately empathized with her when she revealed, she wasn't going back to her home country but instead staying in New Zealand. "Same as you." he replied with a soft grimace and a hint of bitterness in his voice. "The bright side is, I'm going to watch the Quidditch match of Moutohora Macaws versus the Willowong Warriors." he said and his expression softened again. "My cousin plays for the Macaws. He's a Keeper. You know, the one who blocks the red ball from scoring." he explained, not sure if she was familiar with the sport's terms. Icarus had gave him three tickets in case he wanted to invite a couple of friends. Perseas had already invited Rafael, who was going to stay over his place for the weekend of the match. But he still had a ticket left. At first, he had considered the option of inviting Rhiannon McGowan but he dismissed it soon later when he remembered that the Hufflepuff was actually having her muggle classes during holidays. Plus, he wanted to enjoy the match and she was going to keep commenting on how dangerous it was and the rules should change.

"I have still one ticket left. Would you like to come?" he asked reluctantly. He thought right after that her muggle parents probably won't let her attend an event they hardly knew about and he decided to support his suggestion. "We'll go with a bunch of my cousins. Most of them are adults. We could come and pick you up from your place and apparate to the stadium. When the match is over, we could get you back home." he offered her a nice argument to give to her muggle parents. Adult supervision could make them feel slightly more comfortable and let their daughter join them. "You can always say that you need to watch the match in order to finish an essay on flying techniques." he added with his typical half smile showing the mischievous thoughts swirling in his head. At least that was what he would have said to his parents if they weren't allowing him to go and watch the match but he didn't encourage further this thought. He was mostly joking. Mostly. "So what do you think?" he wondered if she was at least going to consider it. The music changed into a cool, upbeat tune but Perseas only knew what to do in slower beats. With the corner of his eyes, he tried to figure out what the other couples were doing and mimic their moves.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire was surprised by how easy dancing with him was, she was glancing at her feet a little. But aside from that, she noticed that dancing with Perseas was not that difficult at all. Of course there was the small issue that she had never danced with a boy before and so had nothing to compare this too, but Perseas was older. So that had to mean that he knew what he was doing and was better than she was. Happily, Victoire kept smiling and allowing the elder of the two to take the lead. She glanced down at the space between them as he spoke. For some reason she believed that anyone who could would go back to their families and country of origin, especially considering they were easily able to which was different from her, but maybe she was wrong about such things since Perseas was also staying essentially put. She grinned at him and had thought the issue would be put to rest but then he continued, telling her that he was going to a quidditch match that his cousin was playing. She didn't know the teams or any of the players but she assumed it would likely be a good team. She was also more than a little glad when Perseas explained a little about which ball was which. While Victoire had been to quidditch games in school and done some reading she was still not very good at it. She sometimes struggled to remember what things were. "That'll be exciting. I've never seen a quidditch match that wasn't a school one and those are already really exciting." she said happily with just an ever so slight friendly tone of jealousy. Wishing that she could have at least one family member who was like her. So that they could take her to games.

As Perseas spoke, Victoire tried to not look too shocked. She stopped dancing as much and then started up again trying to hide her surprise. Was he actually offering this to her. Victoire loved quidditch, she wasn't very good at it but she really enjoyed watching it. She would love to come but persuading her family that she should be allowed to go was an entirely different matter. She wanted to go, but felt like she'd likely have to turn him down. But then he continued. Giving her the best amount of arguments to put to her parents to let her go to the game. She heard the song playing in the background change to something a lot more upbeat, but her focus was not on that but on him. "I think that I love quidditch and would be crazy to turn this down. But I would need to ask my parents first. And there is no guarantee that they'll say yes." she nodded her head slightly, and gave a small smile, she wasn't dancing yet, having stopped because the songs had changed. "They might say no, I mean they've been accepting of everything so far but I don't really talk about this world around them, so while I'd love to go, they might not be so keen." Victoire was glad that he'd asked her even if she wasn't sure what their response would be though, she was fairly optimistic. Instead of lingering on it, Victoire just started to dance though it wasn't really dancing because it was difficult to do that when with someone. She just found the rhythm and started bouncing and swaying to the music. "Thanks for inviting me Perseas" she said and this was not just in reference to the fact that he'd invited her to quidditch.
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[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas pursed his lips in comprehension. He could imagine how complicated it would be for her to be talking to her muggle parents about all the magical stuff she was encountering and receiving back a little, if none understanding. From what they had discussed, Perseas had gotten the impression that Victoire was trying to heal her bonds with her family and the last thing she wanted was another magical topic to widen the gap between her and her parents. "I understand." he cracked a smile and blinked his grey eyes with a nod. "You can discuss it with your parents, tell them even the little lie about the school project..." he paused and tried to contain the mischief already forming another half smile on his face. "...and you can always tell me later when you'll know" he reassured her that it was fine. "The ticket is going nowhere. The offer is open" he added with a chuckle.

Seriously, he couldn't think of someone else who could come at the match. His older brother was the only option Perseas' had in mind but Minoas had turned down the offer already, claiming that he had to revise for exams. His twin brother had his own ticket and even if he didn't, Perseas wasn't sure if he was going to invite him. His beaming expression clouded for a moment as he remembered Theseas and his eyes scanned the Hall for any signs of him. Suddenly, he grew curious of who was his date. He was secretly wishing it wasn't Rhiannon for some reason. He had cleared to himself that Rhiannon was just a friend to him but still he didn't want Theseas around her. After a few moments of mechanically following Victoire's moves to the new upbeat music and glancing around him, he didn't spot Theseas but instead Rhiannon. Perseas wasn't appeased when he saw her coming at the dance floor with Tybalt Archer, a prefect and a Gryffindor Quidditch player. His eyes followed them discreetly and he couldn't help but feel daunted by the fact that he was much better than him in so many levels. Prefects and Quidditch players were always adored by girls but he on the other hand, was just known as the prankster and trouble-maker of the school. He continued looking at them, waiting to meet Rhiannon's eyes and wave at her but she looked like she was too occupied, having a good time with her date. He shrugged slightly and smiled at Victoire. He was going to do the same with her.

...

The next one hour flew by without realizing it. Perseas had no idea for how long the two of them were dancing together. The upbeat music had continued for quite long and it was replaced again with slower one. Perseas and Victoire had danced four or five love songs when another upbeat song was played by the band, which name was unknown to him. He was having a blast, thanks to her, but he was tiring out as well. "If your plan is to kill me from exhaustion, you should know that you're doing a great job. You could also jinx me with a Dancing Feet Spell for faster results." he joked, catching his breath and wiped the sheen of sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. "What about getting a drink, maybe grab something to eat?" he suggested in an almost begging, hilarious manner. His stomach was rumbling but thanks to the music, not even he could hear it. He didn't stop dancing. Not as long as she was keep dancing.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire was sure that the answer she gave him about quidditch was the one he had been looking for, but it was the only one she really had. Since she did have to talk it over with her parents. It would be easy to lie to them and say it was a school thing, but she didn't really enjoy lying to her parents about her new life. It was difficult to keep all the stories straight in her head. She was getting better at lying after all, she had to do it with the rest of the extended family, but with her immediate family she didn't really enjoy lying to them. But, it was just something that she had to do. Something that was necessary. Her brothers, of the two, only one she had noticed showed any signs of magic. But, she realised it might just be a delay in the magic showing. She didn't know. If anything she wouldn't know until either or got a letter from Hogwarts. She however, focused her attention back on Perseas and gave a warm smile. He understood, or at least he said he understood. "I promise, I'll get back to you as soon as I can" She promised him, knowing that he'd probably want to know pretty soon so that it was easier to make arrangements and everything the sooner the person knew. She had been about to tell him that she'd call when Victoire realised he likely didn't have a phone. Instead she just ignored it, and just continued to have fun with Perseas at this ball.

Victoire didn't even realise the time passing, she didn't notice that they'd been dancing for an almost full hour. She honestly hadn't had this much fun in a while. It was simple. She wasn't constantly laughing or thinking that this would be the best use of her time. She was just dancing away with Perseas leaving all cares in the world behind and just finding herself incredibly happy about it. She smiled as another song came to an end, and then Perseas spoke, while still dancing. She smiled slightly at him, listening to what he said, realising then how tired she was, and how glad that she had opted for shoes that were not really high heels. She couldn't imagine all that dancing in anything other than flats. She laughed slightly at his words. Drinking and eating seemed like a very good choice. It was the best choice. "Sounds good" she told him brightly, before finding the food table in the room, and walking off the dance floor and towards it. She smiled at him, getting to one of the food tables. "There is so much choice" she exclaimed happily, before taking a few small things and a drink, "There's an empty few seats there." she motioned to the table and then wandered off to sit down. it wasn't like she really had to wait for Perseas, and honestly she didn't want any one to swoop in and take it before they got to it.
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