Open Unfashionably Late

[Peregrine Piper]

Peregrine was a mess. She had struggled getting roses delivered, ending up looking like she was slack when it was more that she was only a first year trying to navigate the school around classes. She didn't have a nice dress to wear, because her mother had gently told her that buying any expensive dresses when she was only eleven and bound to grow out of it sooner rather than later was not really wise - especially when she couldn't even hand it down to Percy. Not to mention her hair couldn't sit properly and had a bit of a lingering scent of gobstone about it. She'd washed the worst of it out, but the smell seemed to linger in her own nose.

As she walked into the Great Hall she had the urge to turn around and go back to the dorm room. But she was brave, and she wanted to see the ball for herself to satisfy curiosity. She fiddled with the skirt of her slightly too small and slightly too unfashionable pink dress and looked around the room, anxiety welling up in her chest. Peregrine desperately wished she hadn't sent Jasper a pink rose and had just gone with yellow like she'd first planned. She could see him with Tori, and wondered if they both thought she was silly or had laughed about it. Realistically she knew that wouldn't be the case, Tori was nice and looked kind of like she might have had other things on her mind anyway. If Jasper had any thoughts on it, he hadn't said anything and Peregrine was unsure whether that was a good or a bad thing. She could see Nia with Finley too, but wasn't about to go near them. It wasn't as though she disliked either of them, far from it - it was just unfortunate that she had issues with Lemon. Namely, that Lemon made her sneeze and her eyes water whenever she was near. And red, watery eyes and a runny nose were the last things Peregrine needed right now. She already felt like she was in a bad enough state.

Peregrine powered through, walking over to a food table, trying very hard to swallow the vague feeling of forboding that twisted her stomach into knots. She could do this. She was brave, and grown up, and she could handle anything that came her way.

 

[Kanako Kurosawa]

((ooc: I feel like I should apologise in advance because Kanako but it might actually go well, we don't know))

Kanako thought that love and crushes were stupid. Well, she thought that love or crushes with anyone who attended Hogwarts were stupid. There were plenty of good-looking boys (maybe girls?) to oogle at in magazines at least. She went to the Valentines' dance in the hope of laughing at any couples that broke up or had a fight, but so far, no dice. She wandered around the room, coming to some food set up and another girl she didn't recognise. Kanako eyed her up. "You here alone?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow, knowing fully well that she was here alone too but not caring in that moment.

 

[Christa Langley]

Christa had never been to an actual dance before, they didn’t really have these back home, not like this anyway. They had sort of annual festivals and some schools had year six dances at the end of the year but it was nothing like what they had here. She wondered if this was a Kiwi thing, or a magic school thing, but she had no one really to ask that question to. All of the Kiwis she’d met so far were magical, so they weren’t really the right people to ask. That said, because she hadn’t gone to the Yule ball, she’d decided she would come to the Valentine’s dance instead, which actually felt a little bit silly now, because this seemed like the kind of dance people brought dates to, that’s how she felt when she saw all the couples out on the floor. Finley and Nia were here too and she almost headed over to them until she saw Peregrine was with an older girl Christa didn’t recognise. “Hi Peregrine, are you enjoying the dance yet?” She asked, heading over and then turning to smile at the older girl. “Hi, I’m Christa!” She looked down at the food in front of them and snorted a little. “Wow, they really go all in on the Valentines day stuff huh?” She asked, pointing to the love candies not far away.​

 

[Kanako Kurosawa]

Kanako looked up at the intruder (in her mind she was an intruder) and attempted a fake smile. It was always good to try and get on people's good sides, she'd made a bad habit of doing the precise opposite. "I'm Kanako," Kanako said cooly. She looked at the candies and found herself agreeing. "They really do. It's kinda...tacky. But someone must like them." Kanako shrugged.