Playing her
Little Game
Author: Santhea Fennally
Date: 06-27-03 04:32
Santhea spun around, a sweet smile on her face. 'Now, now, Malfoy. I'm your second choice, am I? I'm not sure I like that...' Raising an eyebrow, something she had adapted after seeing it done by Professor Snape, she questioned the blond Slytherin, "How very kind of you. However," her eyes fell on a Ravenclaw, Fynn was his name if she recalled correctly, who stood alone in the shadows, "I feel generous right now. I think I'll have to decline your kind offer..." With that she swept away, leaving a rather stunned Draco behind. No one had ever dared to decline him anything. Who did she think she was?
Santhea had reached Fynn whose face had lit up as she approached him. "All alone, Greenleaf? Your girlfriend must have forgotten you. So sad really. Maybe she treasures the Ravenclaw values more than you and is stuck in the library. That is," she spotted Hermione Granger on the dance floor, "not even Granger seems eager to study right now." Fynn's face fell. Of course, she was a Slytherin, she had only come to gloat. "Care to dance?"
The Ravenclaw looked at her, trying to read her expression. "Beg your pardon?"
Santhea shrugged, "Well, unless you'd rather wait for Ms. Chang all night..." Before she could finish her comment, Fynn had offered her his arm, moving towards the dancing couple. For a short moment, Santhea caught Malfoy's eye, smirking. 'You think you're irresistible, don't you? Well, you're not...'
Fynn was a good dancer, she had to admit. From what she had heard about him, he was very much like a Slytherin, only he eagerness to study had landed him in Ravenclaw. 'Poor guy,' she mused. 'At least he's not in Gryffindor...' However there was one thing that was to her dislike about him, he was sticking to McGonagall's orders to the letter. 'Maybe I should dance with Malfoy after all. I'm sure he doesn't mind causing a little scandal...'
Once the music ended, she thanked Fynn and turned to where she was sure Malfoy was still standing. And sure enough, there he was, gazing at her somewhat taken aback. "Well, if you still want to dance, I'd be ready to do so now." She could see that he was considering every way he could respond, but in the end he simply held out his arm to her, taking her back to the dance floor. While passing Fynn, Santhea could have sworn she had seen Draco smirk at the Ravenclaw. Softly she chuckled to herself. 'I'm still up to scratch it seems...'
Romantic Dinner
Author: Briar Rose
Date: 06-27-03 09:09
Briar sighs as Julian gives yet another snappish reply. So far their cozy Valentine's dinner has been anything but romantic. Briar has been patient with Julian's moodiness and been supportive of him as he works through his grief over Chyler but when Julian acts like an utter bastard to Briar over the most minute things, as he has all evening, continued patience is becoming harder to manage.
Hearing her sigh, Julian barks out, "What was that for?"
"Nothing, Julian."
"Don't give me that. Your martyr act is starting to wear thin." This is said with biting sarcasm.
"Excuse me?" Briar raises an eyebrow at Julian.
Julian says nothing, choosing to glare at Briar instead. As the silence stretches out uncomfortably, Briar finally breaks by quietly saying, "I'm trying to be supportive and understanding, Julian. But you're making that hard to do."
Julian's eyes become even harder as he nastily spits out, "Understanding? How can you be understanding? You don't know what real loss is."
"Oh? Losing both my parents and my adoptive parents aren't real losses?"
"Pardon the hell out of me. How could I forget? Poor little orphan. Parents incinerated before her eyes."
"I never told you that. How do you know about it?"
Julian rapidly changes the subject. "Chyler was my sister. You can't possibly understand the bond we had or what her death is doing to me."
Briar, angry and upset to the point that she's now shaking, "Fine. Just fine. I'll quit being the loving, supportive fiancé."
She stalks to the door and flings it open. "Leave and don't bother contacting me again until you're done being an absolute jackass."
Julian snarls, "And a happy Valentine's to you too!" He snatches up his coat and storms out the door.
Romance -
Yuck!
Author: Jet
Date: 06-27-03 09:19
Jet scowls at all the dancing couples and represses a shudder at all the romance in the air. He'd like nothing more than to take this opportunity of everyone occupied at the dance or the party to spend time in his private sanctuary. With all the extra security these days, Jet prudently decides that much as he loathes this dance, it's better to stay here in the Great Hall and avoid his room as much as possible. Jet wanders over to the long table of refreshments and as he piles a plate high with food he thinks that at least the food is good and there's plenty of it.
Something
to Drink
Author: Australia Kingston
Date: 06-27-03 13:32
Australia approached him with a smile and two glasses of punch. "Hey." was all she said.
"Hi." he said back to her. "No date for tonight?"
"No. No date. Like a glass of punch?" she offered her hand with the glass.
He took the glass and sipped from it while gathering his thoughts. "Umm.... Australia, would you care to dance?" he asked quietly. He prayed that she'd say yes. When she did, he all but fell to the floor.
"Oh, my. You have no idea how much I was hoping you would ask me to dance. You know, I've had a crush on you since the start of the term. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to find myself dancing with you." she said softly hoping she didn't sound to much like a little girl with her first crush.
"And I've been the same about you Australia. Will you please make me the happest man here tonight and do me the honor of having this dance?" he all but begged.
"Oh, of course. I'd love to dance with you Mr. Clearwater. You've made my dream into a reality just by asking me to dance. Oh yes. I'll dance with you." she answered.
And with that, Prescott led Australia out onto the dance floor. Without realizing the music was not slow, Prescott pulled Australia against him and started dancing in their little corner away from everyone else. When the song ended, they didn't notice. They just kept dancing with each other.
After several dances and talking about anything and everything they could think of to talk about, Australia raised her head and gently kissed him. Before she could pull away, Prescott had deepened the kiss so deeply that when he finally let her go, she had to brace herself against the wall to stay standing.
"What was that for?" she asked, still out of breath.
"That was for the drink. This is for me." he said, as he pulled back against him and kissed her again.
Vixen
Author: Draco Malfoy
Date: 06-27-03 20:25
Draco twirled Santhea around the floor, bemusing inwardly at the young woman's audacity to turn down an offer to dance in order to accompany another guy, a Ravenclaw, onto the dance floor. Had she done it out of spite? Probably. She was Slytherin, after all.
As the song neared its end, Draco spun Santhea one final time and when he drew her back in he asked, "Will I see you at the Quidditch match tomorrow morning, or will you have a better place to be?"
Displaying a mysterious grin, Santhea teased, "Maybe, maybe not. Guess you'll have to wait and see."
Draco smirked characteristically and led Santhea by the hand to the table where Brady, Alexis, Pyrrhus and Isolde sat. The fourth year Slytherin immediately sprang from his seat and offered Santhea another dance, who accepted readily. Pyrrhus and Isolde also took to the floor, apparently having finished their conversation with Alexis about Azaelia Bramble.
With just Alexis and Draco remaining off to the side, Draco extended his hand and asked, "Shall we?"
I Spy
Author: Alexis Black
Date: 06-27-03 22:03
Alexis raised her eyebrow and smirked at Draco as she took his hand.
"What's up?" He asked, confused.
"Draco and Santhea sitting in a tree, F-U-C..."
"Now wait a second." He said indignantly.
"Only joking." Alexis said quickly, "and I'm sorry in advance if I step on your feet or anything equally embarrassing."
She looked around awkwardly for a place to put her rose, then ended up pulling out her wand to magically stick the rose to the front of her black dress robes. Nodding satisfactorily, Alexis turned back to Malfoy and followed him out onto the floor.
A slow dance had come on and Alexis and Malfoy were nearly an arm's length apart to begin with, but Draco soon pulled her closer and Alexis swallowed any resistance and smiled at him. Isolde and Pyrrhus whirled past them and Isolde winked at Alexis, and Alexis found herself wishing she had their grace on the dance floor.
Alexis opened her mouth to apologize to Malfoy for her lack of dancing expertise but thought better of it and promptly shut her mouth again. Draco looked at her quizzically but her Alexis' relief didn't pursue it any further. The beat picked up as a new song played, and wiped her long, loose black hair from her face as she and Draco parted. By then, Alexis had gained a little more confidence and went into the faster dance not really caring if she looked stupid. After all, most people there did. Besides, Alexis thought rationally. The thought made her laugh aloud and Malfoy gave her a startled look.
And now my date thinks me insane! She couldn't help it, and laughed harder.
New Haircut
Author: Cho Chang
Date: 06-28-03 11:53
Cho, Sykra, and Aradia hurried in breathless and giggling, as usual. Sykra had touched up her purple highlights again and was also wearing a purple ensemble for the dance, the silver and amethyst necklace from Cho around her neck. Cho shoves Sykra back, "For the thousandth time, would you mind walking on the floor and not my foot?"
Sykra rolls her eyes, "I'm sorry! I'm in a hurry, it's not my fault we're late, is it?"
Aradia rolls her eyes, "We did give you the chance to go before us."
Upon ending the conversation with a mock sniff, Sykra broke off to hunt down some punch and go watch the window for Orlando who'd promised he'd stop by if permitted.
Aradia looked gorgeous in green, her copper locks curled away from her face adding to her natural beauty. She teases Cho, "I doubt he'll even recognize you."
Cho frowns slightly, this evening dressed in red in honor of the holiday. In the last five minutes in their dorm room, Cho had decided to chop off a goodly amount of her hair, leaving her with a spunky pixie cut, "Oh Fynn will. And if he doesn't, all the more fun." She grins, pointing in a random direction, "Look! There's Golbez, he's waving you over!"
Aradia perks up and looks around, "Where?" Cho gently shoves her in the direction she pointed, slipping into the crowd with a smile.
Without either of her friends to tease her, she searches for Fynn, not finding him in the middle of all the hullaballoo, as she expected not to, she moves to search the edges. She catches his figure with her eye leaning against a pillar and slowly makes her way over, hard to miss in bright red. As she gets closer, she frowns, he didn't seem at all happy, or even pretending to enjoy the festivities. Once in range, she touches his arm, concerned, "Hey sweetheart, I'm terribly sorry I'm late. Is everything all right?"
Happy Valentine's
Author: Lucius Malfoy
Date: 06-28-03 13:16
A malicious smile mars Lucius's face as the man before him screams in agony. When the sounds end, Karkaroff is panting and on his knees. Lucius waits all of two seconds before hitting the man with another Cruciatus curse. As Karkaroff once again begins to scream, Lucius gleefully says, "This is a labor of love, you know. It's Valentine's Day."
Intermission
Author: Captain Electron
Date: 06-28-03 17:18
As Siobhan took the floor for one of her slow, coupley-dance numbers, Electron rushed offstage to discard his sweaty robes. He balled them up and dropped them aside to be picked up and packed away later, then turned to grab the new one which was set out ready for him, and promptly tripped over two of the Toms.
"WHAT THE HELL-" he boomed, forgetting he was still under Sonorus, and clapped a hand over his mouth. He indicated in fluid signing that the Toms should take themselves elsewhere and let him change, and, muttering apologies, they did so. He couldn't be angry with them, though. Hastily, he pulled on the new robes - royal blue; he didn't want to be dressed up like a sweet ALL night - and leaped back onstage in time for his next song. He flicked his wand to make pink smoke curl up from the floor in front of him.
As he was singing, he caught a slight difference in the music, and glanced suspiciously over his shoulder to see that the gang had put their instruments to play themselves while they lined up behind him and did a ridiculous parody of a boy-band dance routine, stepping in perfect time while occasionally sticking their arms in the air, cocking their heads or hopping sideways. Electron found it quite difficult to continue the song without cracking up laughing. It was worse when he happened to look to the side and caught the Toms doing the same dance with a lot more enthusiasm there. He managed to keep himself together though. After all, the show must go on...
Observations
from the Floor
Author: Albus Dumbledore
Date: 06-28-03 19:29
For the last hour, I have been circulating around the perimeter of the dance floor, occasionally tapping a couple on the shoulder and quietly suggesting they "Come up for air!" Saint Valentine's Day has a strange effect on people, most especially on young people. Some get all "moony" and want to be with their special someone. Others seem to be quite put off by all the open display of affection. As for myself, I have more or less left all that behind me. At any rate, when I was a lad, "proper" dancing was done with at least a foot of space between the partners. Ah! But times change. Now, I would have great difficulty sliding my wand between most of the couples on the floor.
All evening, I have been bombarded with the music of Captain Electron and his group. For a while, I thought I would need to use a spell to shield my ears, or at least, stuff a bit of cotton in them. Now, I discover that some of his material is rather good. It's much better than that "Disco" craze that struck some years back. Never could see the point of throwing your partner into the air and catching her just before she hit the floor. Seemed rather dangerous to me.
I see Minerva across the room, and I smile and nod as she glances in my direction. She has busied herself all evening with putting a stop to some of the more "outrageous" styles of dancing. Not all of her comments are taken with good grace. I watched with some amusement as one young lady stuck out her tongue as soon as Minerva had turned her back.
I stop by the refreshment table and sample the punch. As long as they know I am on my guard, I am hoping no one will try to add anything "special". It was during my early years as Headmaster, that one of the lads pinched a gallon of alcohol from the potions stores, and added it to the punch. Unfortunately, this was not detected until a number of the students were quite "giddy!" We had a near riot on our hands when we dumped it out.
As I stand here musing about bygone days, my long-time friend and assistant approaches. "Good evening, Minerva!" I greet her. "Would you care for a cup of punch?" I hand her one of the freshly-filled cut-crystal cups.
"Why, thank you, Albus," she replies, taking a small sip. "Are you having any problems?"
"Ah! Nothing too serious... I have observed that my feet have started tapping several times, but I have managed to get them under control before any of the students noticed!" I tell her with a smile.
Minerva purses her lips and rolls her eyes, to tell me what she thinks of my feeble attempt at humor. Together, we stand and watch the students, and sip our punch.
Moving
Author: Prof. Sorcha
Date: 06-28-03 21:36
That racket is too loud. Sorcha thought as she woke up. That Captain...Proton? ...Or was it Neutron? Or was it Electron? Well, whatever his name is should keep it down. Sorcha thought as she sat up. She heard Alisa move somewhere in the dark room.
"Ailsa, when did I turn into my grandmother?" Sorcha asked aloud. "I was just complaining about the volume of the music like I remember my grandmother complaining about how loud I was when I visited her just before she died."
Sorcha tried going back to sleep, but couldn't since the loud music kept her up. So she decided to get a cup of tea. She donned a robe and headed downstairs. After taking a few minutes to get down to the first floor.
As she was crossing the distance to the stairs to the kitchen Sorcha happened to see a house elf run past her towards the stairs. "Excuse me." She quickly called out. The elf stopped and turned around.
"Yes?" the elf asked.
"If you would be so kind, I would like a cup of Irish Breakfast, with sugar and milk please. Just bring it to me here." Sorcha asked.
"Yes, Professy Surka. Twisty be bringing tea to you," The elf replied before running off towards the kitchen.
After receiving her tea, Sorcha thanked the house elf and headed for the Great Hall. Even though it was loud, it would have more places to sit and sip the tea. Sorcha shuffled into the Hall and found a seat. She then took a sip of the tea.
She immediately found that the milk that was put in it was cold, not room temperature like it should have been. Oh well, Sorcha thought to herself, I guess I will just have to drink it faster so it won't become too cold.
Dances
Author: Fynn Greenleaf
Date: 06-28-03 21:51
"Wow," was all Fynn could say. Cho's arrival seemed to bring in a rush of warmth and happiness into the hall, making everything brighter. She had cut her ebony tresses in a short and thoroughly modern way, which made her look spunkier, gamine, absolutely different. And she was striking in red, obviously the loveliest in the entire room. At least to him. He admitted that it did make her rather different.
"How funky," he said, grinning as he mussed up her hair playfully. Though she smiled, that did not erase the look of concern on her features. "Are you okay?" she asked, kind eyes aglow with worry.
"Ah, I'm fine," he replied, as he led her by the hand to the crowd. Then he turned around to her, smiling.
"Care to dance, pretty pixie?"
An Approaching
Darkness
Author: Adriana Fairchild
Date: 06-29-03 12:20
A thick haze hung heavily in the air as Adriana Fairchild stepped off the train and onto a dirty platform. The deep bellow of the train caused her to jump, as it was not the romantic whistle of a those in the movies, but the loud atonal blair of a modern Amtrak. Dark circles lingered beneath her tired and mournful eyes.
A second woman, Helena Tufton, stepped off the train behind Adriana. Neither woman spoke. They no longer had to. The events of the past six weeks bound them together and dialogue only made the long hours more tedious.
Silently, the two weary travelers headed for the exit of the station, finding themselves in a blistering cold upstate New York.
Adriana's head swirled in contemplation. It was Valentine's Day and all she could to was think about Bill. She hadn't seen or spoken to him since the wedding fiasco. Helena, now aware of Adriana's secret thanks to an unfortunate New Year's Eve, was insistent that contact with Bill would only bring anger and pain. If she really loved him, she'd let him be. But Adriana's heart ached, and against Helena's better judgment and without her knowledge, Adriana had sent her true love a message:
As an unperfect actor on the
stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharg'd with burthen of mine own love's might.
O! let my looks be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.
Think and Speak the numeral which should decorate this sonnet, and on this simple lovecard will appear another note upon it.
Adriana coded her message wisely, as most wizards would not bother with Muggle literature, the rubbish that it was. If Bill correctly numbered the Shakespearean sonnet (which should not be difficult given it was one of Adriana's favorites), the real message would appear. A plea for forgiveness, vows of love, and a proposition.
Adriana shook her head of these thoughts as she and Helena trudged through the densely packed snow up a narrow mountain trail. It wasn't long before they reached their destination; a cozy rustic cabin where Adriana had spent many a happy weekend laughing and drinking with her college friends, back when she was innocent.
But she was no longer innocent. The horrific events of New Year's Eve proved it. If even a trace of innocence remained, it was merely her naivety that Bill could save her from her fate.
With great difficulty, the Adriana and Helena pushed open the creaking, rusting door. The shelter that their newfound home provided defended only against the wind, and the temperature threatened to drop even further below as the day drew to a close.
But Helena was quick to light a fire while Adriana sealed the windows and doors with a weather protecting charm. Even now, neither woman spoke.
Outside, the snowy sky thickened as the winter storm raged. Adriana felt a hot tear roll down her cheek. Helena made a sound, as if to say everything's going to be alright. But Adriana was not looking for comfort. Pulling herself together, she stared deeply into the darkness; a darkness that had already begun to consume her.
Goodnight
Sweetheart
Author: Brady
Date: 06-29-03 14:48
"Sorry to disappoint," Brady said, breaking the companionable silence he and Santhea had been sharing since their return to the dance floor. "No serious injuries, no deaths, nothing remotely exciting to speak of. All in all, a very boring Valentine's Day."
Santhea seemed to agree. She inclined her head and stifled a yawn with one of her hands as she allowed Brady to continue to guide her to the melodic music of Captain Electron and his band.
"I did, however, enjoy my time with you," Brady started, "and don't look at me like that. I don't mean it like it sounds and I certainly don't mean to be polite; it's not the Slytherin way, after all." His eyes flashed dangerously, suddenly alight with the kind of fire only the ambitious and most cunning possess. With an evil grin etched across his handsome face, Brady drew Santhea towards him and pressed his lips to hers in a smoldering kiss.
It meant nothing as far as emotions go, of course. He only wanted to see the look of surprise in her eyes, to witness the sharp intake of breath as her body went rigid from shock. She clearly looked baffled, if only for a moment after Brady parted from her, but she found her reflexes quickly. She moved to slap him, but Brady, anticipating something like this, caught her arm and said smoothly, "Happy Valentine's Day, Santhea."
He let her arm fall to her side and spun on his heel, catching sight of his friend Phil conversing with a random Slytherin over by the refreshments table. When their eyes met, Brady gave a brief nod of acknowledgement and continued on his way to the Slytherin common room.
All's Well
Again
Author: Cho Chang
Date: 06-29-03 17:13
Cho smiles, erasing the look of worry from her face, glad he liked her hair. She follows him willingly into the crowd, sticking her tongue out at Aradia as she passes, whispering, "He recognized me, I told you I didn't look that bad."
At his offer to dance, Cho grins, nodding and gleefully spins into his arms, "More than happy to." She chews her lip, debating on possibly spoiling the moment by rambling about how truly sorry she was she was late and that they hadn't been seeing much of each other lately. However, she was silenced as Fynn gazed down at her with those absolutely amazing eyes of his that always made her melt.
His deep, mellifluous voice made her heart skip, "I've missed you m'dear." He moved easily with the music, he'd always been a very good dancer, at least in her eyes.
Color blooms sweetly in her cheeks, "I've missed you too, I'm terribly sorry."
He shakes his head, "Don't be, school's tough this year and you're head girl and all."
She rolls her eyes, "Excuses, excuses. From now on we should make time to sit down and at least chat at least three times a week if not more. I'd prefer every day if possible, but schoolwork seems to be getting heavier the closer we get to end of year exams."
He laughs softly, nodding, letting her ramble on for a few moments before tilting his head, "Are you finished?"
She tries to pout but gives up as she giggles, nodding, "Aye."
Could This
Be Love?
Author: Prescott Clearwater
Date: 06-29-03 22:01
Prescott didn't want the night to end. He found a kindred spirit who was looking for exactly what he wanted...romance? Maybe! The time that he spent with her, he became more and more interested with her. Perhaps this was a habit with Prescott. He felt the same way with Bronwyn Dewhurst and Ginny Weasley, only to end up alone again, but he didn't care anymore. He threw caution to the winds and jumped into whatever it was he and Australia had started...
The dance slowly ended and couples broke apart to go back to the common rooms. Both being Prefects, Prescott and Australia decided to wait until almost everyone left the Great Hall. Prescott then escorted Australia to the Gryffindor Common Room.
When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Prescott said, "I don't want this to end...I...I."
She kissed him before he could finish and said, "Does that answer your question?"
She then whispered the password and said, "Good night!"
Prescott, who almost followed her through the portrait, said in a dreamy tone, "Good night!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When he reached Ravenclaw Commons, he saw the Grey Lady, who was with the Gyffindor Ghost Sir Nicholas. They pointed and giggled at him (they were at the dance).
Angry, he shouted, "Oh, shut up!!" He then went to sleep and dreamt that he and Australia got married and that Bronwyn, Ginny, Cho Chang and Australia fought over him.
