Winter Wonderland

[James Woodlock]

Given that his wife was at home James wasn't all that excited by the prospect of the Yule ball. The Profesor stood in front of his mirror in his living quarters as he put the finishing touches on his suit, his shirt was pristine and his tie perfect so he slipped on his jacket and fastened the buttons. He knew only one thing would make this night better, and she was miles away. James made his way out of the office and over to the Great hall. As a member of staff he arrived at the ball a little earlier so students were yet to start arriving.

James made his way inside the Great hall and took in the beautiful decorations, the snow fall from the ceiling was magical and almost made you forget it was summer outside. James made the rounds of the room greeting Ava and the other Professors, as always his fellow staff had brought their A game and no doubt put some of the students to shame. It wasn't long before the buzz of students began to arrive. James grabbed himself a drink and began to walk around the room as the festivities began.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Anybody who had conversed with Monty for longer than five minutes knew that he was not a serious man. Such formal occasions as the Yule Ball were terribly intimidating to him, and on account of this he was one of the last staff members to arrive. Smoothing down the collar of his emerald green jacket one last time, he crossed the great hall, where he immediately recognized the Herbology Professor, James Woodlock. If you discounted pleasant small talk at staff meetings, which Monty did, the two colleagues had not yet properly acquainted themselves; and since the other Professors already seemed deep in discussion with their closer friends, Monty thought it a reasonable opportunity to amend this.

Pouring himself a drink, Monty followed in the direction James had taken, overtaking him at the juice table. "Hello!" he said, smiling warmly and taking a sip of his drink. "We haven't introduced ourselves properly, have we? It's James, isn't it? I'll be dashed if I'm wrong - you grow some of the ingredients I use in my classroom. Anyway, sorry, I'm rather getting ahead of myself." To his embarrassed blush, the Potions Professor sipped his drink again and turned his head out to the nearly empty dance floor.