The Editor's Dance

[Beth Titus]

The interviews now over, Beth sat down at one of the few tables, reading over her notes. Her dyed black hair slipped forward over her face. The night wore on, though the girl hardly noticed, her eyes remaining fixed upon the pad of parchment as she flicked through it, correcting spelling mistakes and re-writing a few sections as sentences. It was only when she felt eyes upon her, that Beth looked up, sweeping her hair aside; several people were watching, some obviously unsure of what she was doing, others just looking at her for not having danced even once that evening.

Beth ignored them, at first, returning to her notes to continue the editing- but it slowly became more and more difficult to concentrate as she saw several people dancing around nearby. The music was still soft and beautiful, easily floating through the air and curling around the ankles of anyone it could find. Beth briefly glanced across the room, noticing that several members of staff were dancing as well. It was a sight of smiles and glitter, but Beth, again, hardly noticed. She was back to her notes, though she was now simply doodling swirls around the words. She'd have liked to join in the fun, to have had a dance at her very first Yule Ball, but she had not the partner with which to dance. Of course she could have danced alone, had the music been different. It would soon be changing to something more rock and roll. For now, however, all sorts of delicate instruments were singing as one.

 

[Thomas Smith]

It had been a somewhat quiet night for Thomas but he didn’t expect much else when he attended the Yule Ball on his own. He probably wouldn’t have come if he wasn’t a prefect and had to fulfil his duties as such. Because of this he felt not having a date was a good bonus as he didn’t have to worry about leaving anyone on their own, while he patrolled the Great Hall on the look out for any trouble makers. At big school events like this there was always some people who tried to ruin the night for others who just wanted to enjoy themselves. It was mostly the younger students though, he was lucky that the younger ones seemed to be a pretty good bunch as of late unlike some of his own year when the first started off and even years after some were still causing havoc around the school.

Finishing his duties for the night with as little stress as possible he grabbed himself a drink and made his way over to the seats. Sipping on his punch he looked around the dance floor and saw all the couples enjoying themselves. Setting his drink down for a moment he took of his tie and undid his top button, it was almost the end of the night so he didn’t see much point in remaining in full Yule Ball gear. Memories of Yule Balls past came into his mind, with Autumn and Isabella. He hadn’t thought about the time when they had been together for a while after both relationships ended, one on very bad terms and one on good terms. It was strange for Thomas to think how he thought he had loved both girls when he knew now that at his age how could he really know what love was? Shaking his head he caught a familiar face not too far from him. Getting up he walked over to Beth, one of his very few friends in his year and house. “You still working?” he asked her with a small laugh, looking down at her with her notes. He had seen her floating around the hall all night, interviewing a number of different people. He knew that she was the new editor in chief of the Hogwarts Monthly after Isabella, so at least it showed she was dedicated to her job.

 

[Beth Titus]

Beth looked up at Thomas. She had great admiration for him as he was a prefect and, in her opinion, an all round brilliant student. She nodded in reply. "Well, what else is there for me to do?" Beth asked, the saddest part possibly being the honesty with which she said this. "It's not like I'm any good at-" she didn't get to finish the sentence as a sudden screaming horde of students ran towards the stage. The band was on. Beth looked over, didn't recognise them, and looked back to Thomas. She was in a perfectly cheerful mood, regardless of what her body language said as her foot began to tap in time to the beat. This music was far easier to dance to than the ballroom music, but Beth still didn't stand. It was a little more difficult to talk with such a racket, and she was relying on lip-reading and body language.

"And I suppose you've been dancing all night?" she said, raising her voice and an amused eyebrow. Still, she couldn't blame him- this ball was supposed to be fun and full of dancing, laughter and happiness. It was a chance to unite the school in a beautiful display of music and light. And what contribution had Beth made so far? Well, she'd interviewed a bunch of people and then sat down by herself to continue working. Perhaps not the greatest night of her life. Beth was a fairly laid back individual, accepting people as they were and befriending everyone, but she did have trouble switching off from any work she was currently undertaking, yet her desire to dance was becoming more and more obvious as she bobbed her head along to the music.

 

[Thomas Smith]

Thomas frowned slightly when Beth replied with ‘what else is there for me to do?’ Was it just Thomas or were they at the biggest dance the school held every year. There was plenty to do other than just work. He had seen her going about the Hall most of the night interviewing people so that was something but it was still working and then sitting and going over ones notes was not the best way to conclude the night either. When Beth said that it she wasn’t any good at, and without finishing her sentence he knew that she meant, dancing. Not many were good at dancing and Thomas could see that quite clearly from where he was standing most of the night. As he watched the little first years with their dates trying to slow dance, it was rather a disaster for the most part but the cuteness of little 11 or 12 year olds dancing mad up for it; he wondered if that’s what he and Autumn looked like back in their first year.

Thomas heard the change in music, he didn’t like when the band came as much as he liked the slower music. He found that as the years went on his dancing in general started to improve and he much preferred to slow dance as it was easier for he and his date to talk instead of just...well however you described the way everyone was dancing now to the faster music. Sitting down beside Beth now so as to make it easier to hear her he shook his head at her question. “Nope. Been doing my Prefect duties, just making sure everyone was behaving themselves.” he told her, it wasn’t very exciting but at least it allowed him to be at the Ball without the embarrassment of having no partner and all his friends having one. “Anyway, no partner.” he told her with a wink of his eye. After his past two relationships failing somewhat miserably he couldn’t see himself going out with anyone for a while.