yuletide festivities

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera looked at herself in the mirror before leaving her room. her eyes making contact with her reflection, as she locked a stray pice of hair out of the way, she was happy with how she looked tonight. then she headed down the many steps to the great hall. tonight was the night of the yule ball. although she wasn't a student any more she was looking forward to it, she hadn't been to it as often as she could have. however this year was different. for the first time she was going with someone, as friends, but still it was better than being on her own. she was dressed in a red and black dress. it certainly had a slightly gothic feel to it, it wasn't that she was goth but she did like the (true gothic) style of clothing.
at the entrance to the hall she paused not sure if she should proceed in or wait for icarus. she checked the great hall for him but didn't see him so she decided to in the entrance hall. this room was filled with students, the girls in pretty dresses chatting cheerfully to each other, and the boys in suits all seemed slightly self conscious. there was the usual groups of friends, couples and people on their own, she just hoped they would all have a good time. and there would not be any rule breaking that had to be sorted out, she didn't like having to sort out those who had broken rules, the knew if anything went down she would let a more senior teacher sort it out.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Icarus had started panicking, running up and down in his messy room as he was trying to combine several tasks at the same time. Not really unusual for him, he was out of time as he had overslept. Now he was trying to dress up as quickly as he could. He disliked his bad habit of being late and unable to manage rightly his time. In that night's case, he was even more mad with himself because he was going to make Elvera wait. They were going to attend together at the ball as friends but still Icarus didn't like the idea of her waiting for him. He cursed under his breath as his stumbled on an open chest as he was searching for his tie. He grabbed his suit's jacket and wore it as he was closing his room's door behind him, giving up on his lost tie.

He rushed down the staircase, buttoning his suit as he was passing by smart dressed students, heading as well down to the great hall to enjoy their night. Before turning down to the main entrance, he slowed down to fix his wheaten hair. He walked at the entrance hall, completely cool, like he had never ran down the staircase. He spotted easily Elvera in her red, black dress, matching her raven black hair. "Good evening Elvera." he greeted his friend, kissing her on her cheek. "You look fantastic!" he complimented her beautiful but also unique appearance.
"Are you ready?" he asked as he offered to her his arm.

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

Out of Character:

i dont know why i keep doing this, posting with the wrong account. sorry. This is meant to be Elvera

Although she was facing the hall giving it another scan to see if she had missed him first time she saw icarus coming down the stairs. she turned around and there he was coming down the stairs again. she headed in that direction weaving her way among the crowds of students doing the same thing she was doing, waiting for their partner or friends to arrive. "Hello Icarus" she greeted him. she was surprised when he kissed her, she could feel a slight blush forming and hoped that the little makeup she was wearing was enough to hide it. she wondered briefly if she she should kiss him back she decided not to but hugged him instead. she smiled at the compliment, "you look very handsome yourself" she said taking his arm in her gloved hands (she didn't loose the gloves eve for the ball, but she just wore fancier ones) and she started to walk towards the great hall where the feast was being held ignoring the looks some of the students (especially the first and second years) who were looking at them as if to say, you aren't allowed to go together, you are professors, old and not able to have fun like we are.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Icarus accepted her compliment with a smile and guided her towards the great hall, following the slow music in the background. The hall was packed with students and professors, the long houses tables were gone, replaced by some circular ones and buffets loaded with drinks and champagne. He was already feeling uncomfortable in a suit and now the hundreds gazes of students were making it even worse. He didn't let it show however as he managed to keep his cool. It was quite different from the balls he used to attend as a students. This one was more formal but at the same time had some of christmas charm. "It's actually better than I thought." he murmured to her as they were getting closer to the dance floor. Dancing was another thing that he wasn't that good at. He was adaptable however and if his date wanted to dance, he would dance. Or at least try.
Being his first time at a yule ball, he didn't know exactly what they were supposed to do. "Would you like to dance or have a drink first?" he asked, wondering what Elvera would prefer to do.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

elvera could feel looks of the students on the back of her neck and she knew that Icarus could to and it was making him uneasy. "It is always nice, but i think the decorators have outdone themselves this year" she said looking around. there was snow falling from the ceiling, but not getting close enough to the ground to get in peoples hair or make the ground slippery. and the traditional christmas trees were no longer there instead native version was taking up their spots with its vivid red blossoms. they skirted around the dance floor. at the offer of drinks or dancing there was no decision for Elvera. she had always been shy, and even though she was more outgoing now than she had been before she would still rather drinks than dancing, at least until there was a few more people on the near empty polished wooden dance floor. "I think a drink will be a good start, dancing has never been my favourite thing." she said leading him towards the refreshment table as they were still arm in arm.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Icarus nodded to agree with Elvera about the hall's decorations. He might haven't been in Hogwarts castle past years during christmas time but he could tell that the decoration could have surpassed any past attempts to impress the guests. However, what had impressed Icarus wasn't the physical decoration but the magical one. He looked up at the enchanted ceiling that was holding the cloudy, night sky. Flakes of snow slipped like a caress on his cheeks and he felt like a six year old child that was ready to start a snow fight. Instead, he felt somewhat better when Elvera confessed to him that dancing wasn't exactly her thing. "Nice to know that I'm not the only one." he let a sign and then a wide grin. "But we are going to dance anyway, you can't avoid it." he said as his grin transformed into a playful smile. "Don't worry. I'm not good at it either. It's like I had a fight with rhythm and now pay backs me into a terrible dancer." he humoured his dancing skills, an attempt to make her feel comfortable as he could feel her uneasiness as well, even with zero divination skills. "Drink it is then." he smiled and guided her towards the closer drinks buffet by holding her hand. It took them a minute or so as they squeezed through the crowd that was waiting for a drink as well.

The buffets were covered with velvet, ivory-colored cloth. On the top were placed crystal glasses of different shapes and sizes for the equivalent drinks. The champagne glasses were all filled with the golden drink under the refilling charm and bowls were full of different colored fruit punches with fruit chuncks in star shapes, floating on the drinks' surface. "My favourite drink is the fire whiskey but it would be a bad idea for a summer night I guess." he commented as he was trying to make a decision. He caught a glimpse of some shot glasses filled with red, green, yellow or blue liquids. "I guess these are houses shots. Would you like to try some as pre-drinks?" he asked, unsure about their taste.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera was glad that he hadn't been desperate to dance. it was probably going to be more fun when the sugar in the students systems peaked, given if that just meant it would be less embarrassing for them. "I am sure you are not that bad. we can dance later, when a good song comes on then i will find out." she said. she didn't have a particularly opinionated taste in music, but the stuff that was currently playing was not designed for dancing.
by the time they had reached the drink table she felt a lot more comfortable. "I doubt there will be firewhisky here anyway, as most of the attendees are underage, only staff, seventh years and some sixth years are" she said glad that there would be nothing stronger there than butter beer. she had had a little alcohol once before, not much, and it had messed her up quite a bit, she hadn't felt right for days afterwards. she guessed it was probably a seer thing, but it could just be an elvera thing. she looked at the shots that he was pointing to. they seemed to be new this year, probably different flavoured soda stacked on top of each other. the res was probably strawberry, the green either lime or grape, the yellow could be lemon or pineapple, and the blue she wasn't sure on, maybe bubblegum. but then again she could have been a long way off with all of them "they look pretty cool" she said picking two of the small glasses up, hopeing that she was right about alcohol not being served.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

A warm laugh left Icarus lips, even his eyes had a laughing sparkle. He had remembered his first time at a ball which was a true disaster back then. Now it seemed to him so comical that he could laugh every time he was bringing those moments in his mind. "I might be slightly better from back then at least." he said with a chuckle.
"When I was fourteen I had my first date at that festival that was held at my school. I think I mentioned it to you when we were in the Makutu mall." he reminded her before continuing. "I managed to get the girl I liked. I was actually quite impressed that she didn't rejected me. I wasn't that good-looking back then." he sarcasted with a wide grin. "Anyway, I can remember that I couldn't even breath. She was looking so good, she was wearing also one of those long dresses that were mopping down the floor. Bad dress selection for a dancing festival." he said and shooked his head. "As I mentioned I was...well I am a terrible dancer, so when we stepped on the dance floor, I managed to step on her dress and rip a part of it off. The next thing I remember was colorful butterflies as she slapped me and left me there. It was so embarrassing back then but now it seems so hilarious to me." he ended his bad experience, the reason why he was avoiding usually balls.

"Yeah I guess you are right. I wouldn't like to see my young cousin trying that anyways." he mentioned as he had a look around to see if young Minoas was going to attend the ball. From the little he had come to know him the past few months, he would doupt that. He just hoped that he was at least behind the safety of the castle's walls.
"I think I'll try a gryffindor shot then." he said and took a red shot in his hand. With a sip he consumed the red liquid. The sweet, woody fragrance that filled his taste buds, indicated the presence of cinnamon. "I thought it was strawberry." he commented and left his empty shot glass on the buffet. An automatic scourgify spell was casted on it and then the shot glass was filled again with the red drink. "I'm really terrible.I actually never asked you which was your house?" he asked her quite embarrased for neglecting to ask her that question during the first time they were met.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera could see that Icarus was remembering something. and it didn't take long to find out what it was. she listened to him as he explained what had happened during his first ball. she said "yes i remember, it was the vine flower festival wasn't it" she confirmed tying to remember its name. as he told his story, she could see some of it happening in a film before her eyes, most seers saw the future, and Elverea could see the future but she enjoyed looking on the past too. it was always more certain, and a lot form the future could be told of the past was seen right. she smiled as she saw a much younger Icarus stepping onto the dance floor. and almost winced as a sharp slap sounded inside her head. "I am sure someone could have repaired that dress, no matter how pretty it was, it certainly didn't giver her the fright to do that, especially as it had been a mistake." she said
"your cousin goes here what year is he in?" she asked curious as to if she had met him. when Icarus picked up the shot she caught a smell, cinnamon, obviously they were going to try and make them taste christmasy. "I would have thought strawberry or raspberry too." she said picking up a blue one. blue was a hard one to guess the taste of as there was very few foods that were blue. before she could try it though Icarus asked her a question. "that is not a terrible thing to have missed, but i thought it would have been easy to guess. I was in ravenclaw, which is obviously the best house, not that i am meant to take sides any more, but old habits die hard." she said before taking a mouthful of her drink. it was an odd taste, not really a taste at all more a sensation. "I think that that was snow or ice, sort of cold and almost burning spiky. "did you have houses at your school?" she asked wondering what he was in, she guessed they wouldn't be the same as here, but there amy be similar virtues to them which may be comparable.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

"Yes, exactly. Is quite similar with this ball, although it takes place outdoors and there is plenty of wine. The best part was the pranks you could play on the drunk caretaker." he chuckled as he was taking a hufflepuff shot now.
With a sip, the tropical shake of bannana and pineapple, refreshed his whole body. "Mmm, better than the gryffindor one." he whispered to her as he didn't want his comment to be overheard by the nearby gryffindors.
"Of course she repaired right that time but I think it was the embarassment and the long cut that made her instinctively to burst on my cheek." he said with a smile as the incident, didn't matter him anymore.

Icarus had another look around him to scann quickly the crowded hall for his cousin. "Minoas is in second year, in the house of gryffindor. I think second years don't have divination so you probably haven't met him. Good kid, clever but too energetic. I can't believe that last year got to fight acromantulas in the forbidden forest." he said almost praising the reckless courage of his cousin. He insisted that it was bad of him that he hadn't asked her before about her house. It was the most common question you could ask in wizardry community. "No, don't justify me. I should have asked you as you are my friend." he shook his head. "I could guess though that you belong in ravenclaw." he added as her eyes were spoiling her intelligence and secretiveness.

Icarus took now the navy blue shot that belonged to the house of ravenclaw. It was indeed burning cold, fused with an orange-like flavour with varying degrees of bitterness. "You are right. I can also taste a touch of blue curaçao." he said as he was looking at his empty shot glass, trying to distinguish the ingredients.
"Yes, we had as well, although there are only three houses instead of four that you have. Dios, Poseid and Plouton. Houses of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades respectively. I belonged to Poseid house. It's a combination of ravenclaw and hufflepuff." he explained to her. "What do you think? Should we try to imprrss the rest of the castle with our dancing moves?" he asked with a grin as more and more people were heading to the dancing floor.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elver wasnt sure on the shots so she gook a glass and filled it with some of the fruit punch. that was more her cup of tea (although a cup of tea was her favourite drink). she laughed as he aid back at his school they woud play pranks on the drunk caretaker. "I can think of a few students here who would enjoy doing that" she said laughing. she watched as he took another one, the yellow one this time. and nodded as he looked around before saying he preferred that to the gryffindor one. "meh, she would have caused a lot less embarrassment if she had just fixed it without making a scene" she said although she must admit, even if it sounded embarrassing at the time, looking back on it she could see why it was humorous. "no, second years don't do divination, Its an elective from third year, but the youngest i teach are fifth years" she said when he mentioned the acromentula she was a little shocked. "a first year fighting acromentula, I wouldn't want to face them now, how ever did he get away?" she asked surprised that he had been able to fight the flesh eating spiders, and she was sure e would have had to have a pretty good plan, or some help to get away in one piece.
"okay i wont justify you, though i always think it sounds a little judgemental when the first thing people ask is what house are you in." she said, it was like they were making sure they weren't doing anything wrong, or betraying your house before talking to them. she saw him take the blue shot, obviously he wanted to try them all. she took another mouthful of her fluty punch as he said what he thought was in it. "blue what?" she asked she had never heard of curaçao before. as he explained the housed at his school she nodded. "a mixture of ravenclaw and hufflepuff, that must have been a pretty good house." she said. she had never had any friends in hufflepuff, but she knew that it was a nice house, and the people were easy to get along with, as for ravenclaw that had been her use so it was obviously the best.
st the suggestion of dancing, she smiled, why not, we will ether impress them, or more likely judging by your story scare everyone away, just let me finish this"[/b] she said taking a couple more mouthfuls of the drink. she hoped that he wasn't as bad a dancer as he made out to be, but even if he was, she didn't really mind, as long as they had a good time.

Out of Character:

do you mind if i briefly bring Briar in for a second, as i want to "talk" to her

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

Out of Character:

i am going to guess as you haven't been on much and when you have been on you haven't replied that that is okay. plus i need to get it done before the ball closes

Briar was just leaving the ball she had ran into Jaden, and another snake. it wasn't to bad with just Jaden, but the firsty had just been plain rude. and when they started talking about family she had taken it as her time to leave. she was going down to the quidditch pitch as it was a new moon and she had far to much energy to head to the common room and dancing just wasn't really her thing especially when most of the people dancing were couples. she scurried as quickly as she could around the edge of the dance floor however she wasn't paying full attention to where she was going and bumped into someone. just as her luck would have it it wasn't a student but a professor, in fact it was professor Le fey. the last time she had met her had been years ago when she had been pulling a halloween prank and the girl had been the victim. "I am so sorry professor" she said offering her a hand to help her up, preying that she wouldn't end up in detention. she then noticed who Professor Le Fey was with and cringed. "hello Icarus. sorry for nocking your date over" she said. hoping that she would be able to get away quickly.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera had just finished her drink and was heading towards the dance floor when she felt someone bump into her. she hadn't been expecting it and the force had sent her onto the floor. she looked up to see who the student was and was surprised to see that it was no other than briar Rowan. "it doesn't matter I'm not hurt." she said taking the girls offer and pulling herself up."actually Briar you are just the person i was hoping to bump into. I hadn't thought it that literally but there is no problem about that. she said. looked at the girls choice of clothing and realised that she was trying to cover up as much as possible. "Before you go I would like a quick word." she said. "I see you got the christmas present i got you. I know its a little early but i wanted to make sure you got it before you went on holiday" she said looking firstly at briar to see what her reaction would be, then looking at Icarus and making an expression as if to say sorry you probably wont understand a word of what i am about to say, but i need to say something to the girl, and i am afraid i wont be able to explain it to you afterwards.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Icarus was ready to follow Elvera to the dance floor. Nervousness made his heart pounding crazily but he managed to calm down as he convinced himself to enjoy the moment, even though dancing wasn't imprinted in his dna. He turned to follow his friend but Elvera was out of sight. In a matters of second, Icarus spotted his date on the floor. He also noticed another familiar face, that of Briars. His heart starting pounding again but this time for a different reason. "Hello Rowan!" he managed to utter. His reaction to help his date to stand up on her feet was too slow. Briar had helped Elvera to stand up while Icarus attention was drifted by Briar's rush.
"Are you okay Elvera?" he asked and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Mystified, he looked at Elvera that was talking to Briar. What she was saying was making no sense to him. He turned at Briar with a confused look on his face and then back to Elvera. "Do you know each other?" was the first question that slipped out of his lips. It seemed to him that Elvera had sent some kind of christmas present to Briar and that was indicating some kind of familiarisation.

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

Briar was glad that Professor Le Fey wasn't hurt. she was much less likely to be given detention if she hadn't hurt her, people fell over all of the time and there was nothing that she could do about it. she smiled as Icarus greeted her. however her attention went back to the female as she said that she had hoped to bump into her, she was curious to why. but at least the question of who sent her the book was answered. she played with her sleeves, realising that here was no point wearing long sleeves to hide the scars on her arm when eery time she was nervous and the topic headed that was she would play with them. unknowingly she got defensive. "you got me that book? I don't even read. I am not a claw like you were" she said feeling bad for being angry at the professor but it just came out.her anger more stured up more towards the professor than it had been all night including her conversation with jaden, she couldn't help herself, her instincts told her to get defensive and that is what happened. "you know about me? who told you?" she said a little more civil. she didn't want to leave a bad impression, one of her goals since being bitten was to break from the stereotype of the wolf, and getting angry wasn't helping that.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to Icarus. "I am fine, in fact i have been meaning to talk to miss rowan for a while, so now is a good chance." she said. before Briar sudden outburst made her look back. apparently was hadn't chosen the best present for her. still as calm as ever she frowned. "sorry i didn't think of that. but if you can think of another way i could have gotten the message across I would love to hear it." she said, not flustered at all by the outburst, she knew some lions could get hot headed easily, and she was really digging into briars weak area here. to icarus's question she nodded, "we met once or twice when we were students." she said, she could only remembered meeting briar once, and she had ended up covered in red paint. but she had been keeping an eye on her for a couple of months. since she had passed her one day leaving the great hall and had gotten a vision from her. "yes I know, no one told me, well i guess you unknowingly did, I'm the divination professor for a reason. Don't worry i haven't told anyone, and promise I wont" she said. then before either icarus o Briar could say anything she continued talking directly to the girl in a low voice almost a whisper. "be careful, within a few days of next term two people will work it out. one you will be thankful for, but one will make it hard for you. they may tell others so you have to decide weather to hide form it, or stand up and be proud" she said hoping that briar had caught it all. she wasn't going to say it again.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Icarus was getting more and more confused with every single word that Elvera was speaking. His eyes scanned the gryffindor for any signs of understanding. Briar looked like her personal space was suddenly intruded. She was absolutely understanding what Elvera was trying to tell her. His curiosity ignited instantly but unlike his younger cousin, he could surpress it for now. He let the two girls to talk, gathering information as he was listening, pretending to be watching a hilarious group of first years dancing waltz. In fact he wasn't really watching them as his attention was focused at the mysterious conversation of the girls.
What she could be possibly hiding? he wondered as he casted a concerned look at Briar.

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

Briar listened to professor Le Fey, however her eyes kept darting around making sure no-one would hear. why on earth did she think the best time to talk to her about this was in the middle of the ball. everyone cold here. but then she realised that there was enough background noise with the music and everyone elses conversation that no one would pay hers the slightest conversation exept Icarus, and he had met enough magical creatures to probably work it out. "maybe you could have called me into your office to tell me not just give me cryptic clues" she said a little put out but not to annoyed. although she knew that if she had gotten a note form professor Le Fey she would have thought she had get the wrong person, as she had no intention of taking divination and ad avoided it since she had arrived at the castle. when the professor said that she had told her indirectly and she was the divination teacher she scowled. "so you saw me in your crystal ball. or something. did you ever think that it mightn't be true" she said trying to dismiss it, but she knew full well that Elvera knew that it was true.
At the warning though her expression fell and she briefly put her face in her hand before looking up, despair in her eyes. "I guess i should say thank you for the warning. do you know if there is anything i can do to stop them finding out?" she asked even though she knew the professor probably wouldn't have the answer to that question.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera turned to Icarus. she guessed that he wouldnt have a clue what they were talking about, she hoped that he wouldn't for Briars sake "I am sorry about this, I just had to give her a little bit of forewarning about something that will happen to her over the break" she then looked back at Briar who was reacting to what she said with a load of questions. that may have worked, but i thought you may wonder why i wanted to see you and try and find a way out of it, you always seem busy, work, quidditch and prefect duties, i didn't know when you would be free." she answered truthfully. she must be one of the busiest students in the school. she smiled and nodded when she mentioned the crystal ball, "something like that, and i have been keeping an eye on you since, and i trust what i saw" she said not wanting to go into details. the look on her face after the warning shook elvera slightly. she looked like she had seen a bogart, but then again maybe people finding out about her condition was her bogart. "I cant recommend any way to stop it, maybe being extra cautions may help, but i recommend you start thinking about how you should react when people find out and be ready just in case you cant stop it" she said. she didn't know what else to recommend, she had never had that problem, sure she was not normal, but her difference was a gift. she would tell people and they would be more likely to ask her something than shun her. she looked at icarus again. and then back to Briar "sorry to be the one to tell you that. but i have told you all that i know." she said letting the girl go if she wanted to

Out of Character:

sorry for making you the third wheel for that, but it had to happen. and i didn't want to RP with just myself

 

[Icarus Stratis]

His gaze might was fixed on the opposite direction but his hearing was trying to catch words from their little conversation. Music, conversations and yells were mixed in the background, acting like a seal, preventing him from hearing everything the two girls were talking about. From what he had managed to hear, Briar was under some kind of condition and Elvera with the gift of the seer had managed to see it. Which was the condition however was completely unknown to him. Why do you care that much? he mentally asked himself, while his face formed a soft frown. He shook his head in an attempt to scare off the answer that was slowly starting forming. He didn't want to enter into that trip with a student although she was just two years younger than him.
This one is for you. Look at her she's beautiful, intelligent and mysteriously charming. What else you could ask? the fight in his head continued without answering his own questions with any answers. He moved closer to them as they were now silent and awkwardness was prominent. "Everything's alright?" he asked both of them with an encouraging smile, without a hint of what was happening in his head a moment ago

Out of Character:

it's alright, it gives me some future ideas as well...