Prelude [Champions and dates ONLY]

[Deleted]

Neville looked out at the assembled crowd of students and adults. The Ministry being present had made this year's Yule Ball a much bigger affair than ever before. They had had to magically expand the Great Hall more than they had before; luckily, the founders had anticipated increased population in the future, and the hall was enchanted to handle nearly any reasonable expansion.

He stepped forward on the stage, in front of the orchestra that would soon begin to play the Champions' Waltz. The Headmaster rarely dressed up; even now that he wasn't rooting around in the greenhouses all day, he tended to be seen in his faded old robes with dirt on them somewhere from messing with his beloved plants. But tonight, he looked every inch the regal Gryffindor, dressed in deep red robes with gold embroidery. Even the cuff links he wore were in the shape of lion's heads, and with his dark brown hair and beard, broken up here and there by strands of gray, he looked like a high king. It didn't take any effort for him to gather everyone's attention tonight.

He pressed his wand to the side of his neck.

“Welcome, students, to the Yule Ball. And, for the first time, welcome to the Ministy of Magic, as well.”

“The Yule Ball is meant to celebrate the purpose of the Trizwizard Tournament, the spirit of international magical cooperation. Tonight, your house doesn't matter. Your school doesn't matter. Tonight, forget all of that. Mingle. Talk to people. You might surprise yourself when you find where you can make friends. If you can, for just a moment, let go of the idea that position or place matter, you'll find they never really did to begin with.”

“Age matters, though. There's an Age Line around the corner bar to prevent our younger students from drinking, and the bartenders on duty have been instructed to use their own judgment to cut off students before they can get drunk. And those bartenders were trained at the Leaky Cauldron, so I KNOW they're very good and can't be bribed. Keep that in mind.”

“And now, the Champions will please step forward with their partners to open the Yule Ball with the traditional waltz.”

As the orchestra prepared and the champions moved out onto the great dance floor in the center of the hall, Neville slipped off the stage to stand with Hannah. The two of them would need to begin dancing partway into the waltz to signal that everyone else could join in.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldd6LgNhHI0
@annelise && @oscar
@jill6 && @margaux
@emile && @ripley
[Champions will dance the opening dance in this thread. Post in whatever order you like, but champions should post first, dates second. Once everyone has posted a round, Neville will post again to close out the thread (and Hannah if she likes <3)]

[Deleted]

@margaux
@emile && @ripley
@annelise && @oscar
@superluigi64 && @jill11
OOC: Elias' Outfit <3
<3

Here it was. The Yule Ball. Elias had taken way too long getting ready, thanks to Maria at least. She was making sure his hair was absolutely perfect for this day. Hair down, curls beautiful. Elias felt like he had sat in that chair for the longest possible time. His back was hurting, but she finally allowed him to stand up to go put on his dress robes. He had picked something quite simple that would match Margaux nicely. Fancy grey suit with a checkered undershirt. Typical Elias.

They stood outside the door, awaiting the Headmaster's cue. Elias was not nervous as he was a great dancer, more so nervous to just be in front of all of the schools like he was a few months ago. He motioned for them to go, and Elias grabbed Margaux by the hand, pulling her onto the floor, smiling at her. God she looked stunning. He suddenly became excited, just staring at her. As Elias placed his hands in the correct position, he kissed her cheek. "Let's do this."

[Deleted]

Margaux had taken her time getting ready for the evening ahead; she was of course a Champions date so she simply had to look her best! She had entwined her hair into an elegant updo as her dress had a low back with diamond strands criss-crossing; there would be no hiding the delicately seductive aspects of her dress that evening. Tiny specks of diamonds were placed strategically in her bun, so that it twinkled when she turned her head. She had shown Maria the dress she was wearing, so she had faith that Elias would know how to match her, especially with his cousins’ help. As she entered the hall, she swept over to Elias’ side and gave a small smirk towards both Emile and Oscar. She found it rather amusing that both men had been former partners of hers, with Elias as one of her currents. It was almost like being a collector!


Margaux allowed Elias to lead her onto the dance floor; she gave a little giggle as Elias kissed her cheek. She had obviously pleased him with the way she looked that night at least. “Bien sur mon cher,” she purred, twirling out then back in as she rested her free hand on Elias’ shoulder. “You will not let me fall?” she asked, raising a brow as they began to dance the waltz.


@jill6

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Anna was not one to generally spend a lot of time getting ready for something. That just wasn't who she was. Of course, she liked to look good, especially when she was spending time with Oscar, but spending hours doing her hair and makeup simply wasn't something she was interested in. Still, she made sure to give herself plenty of time to get ready. If she finished early she could always read a book or something. So she curled her hair and put on a little more makeup than she normally did. 

Anna was a little nervous about her dress. It wasn't floor length, mostly because floor length dresses weren't her thing. All right that's a lie! When she went shopping for dresses with Andy, she'd been nervous that she would trip on a long dress, so she ended up getting a knee-length white dress with lace. She mostly liked it so much because it didn't clash with her hair, which was Anna's main concern when it came to the Yule Ball. Well, that and falling on her face, but Oscar reassured her repeatedly that he wouldn't let that happen, so Anna believed him. At least, she was trying to. 

Completely on time- for once, Anna met Oscar in their spot on the third floor corridor. Really, there wasn't anywhere else for them to meet. She was nervous about his reaction, but not too much. They were dating. She already knew that he loved her, so why would her dress make any difference with that? She grinned at him, "I'm ready if you are," she said with a smile, reaching forward so she could take his hand as they left their spot and made their way to the Great Hall. 

This was where Anna really started to get nervous. Professor Longbottom started giving a speech, but all she wanted was to get the opening dance out of the way. She didn't want to step on Oscar's feet or trip or do something equally embarrassing and she knew that she would be nervous about it until other people were dancing with them. As the music started, she looked up into Oscar's eyes as she placed her hand on his shoulder and got ready to dance. She bit her lip nervously, "We can do this, right?" She asked, really only hoping that he would assure her somehow.

@oscar
@emile

her dress 

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It was finally the evening of the Yule Ball. Oscar had been waiting for this moment since he had arrived at Hogwarts, practically, but he had been waiting even more anxiously since he had asked Anna to attend with him, and more anxiously still since he had started officially dating her, and they weren’t just going to the Ball as friends. He had spent the better part of two hours preparing, carefully placing each hair on his head so he was photo-ready, and then slipping on his dress robes, a white flower pinned on his shoulder to match with the white dress that Anna was going to be wearing. Oscar wasn’t nervous, not really, but he knew that Anna would be. It would reflect much more poorly on her than it would on him if either of them were to mess up. But they weren’t going to mess up, because they had practiced, and they trusted each other, and those were the only two things that were necessary to make a good dance.

Anna looked beautiful. Oscar was glad that she spoke first when they met, because he was rendered dumbstruck by her, and the way her red hair contrasted with her white dress. He had joked that he was going to look like a crow next to her swan, but Oscar hadn’t realized until that moment how real that sentiment actually was. He considered himself a handomse person, but even the most handsome person in the world paled in comparison to Anna in her Yule dress. “I am ready.” Oscar said with a smile when he finally regained his voice.

Oscar didn’t pay attention to the headmaster’s speech. He couldn’t, really, because Anna was the only person in the room that he knew how to pay attention to. Every time he tried to put his focus elsewhere, like on what the headmaster was saying, he was inexplicably drawn back to Anna. Everything else was fuzzy except for her, and Oscar didn’t know if that was a product of nerves that he denied having, or if he simply loved Anna so much in that moment that there was nothing else that he could do. He and Anna moved into position, and Oscar rested a light hand on her waist. “We can do this, Anna. I believe in you.” All there was left to do was wait for the music to start and prove to Anna that he was right.

@emile

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@ripley

Here it was, the Yule Ball. Technically Émile was the leader in the tournament so far. His victory in the first task had been a breeze, albeit a close one with the Hogwarts girl finishing right behind him. In his defense, he had to fight a manticore and climb over a magic sapping tree, which he had learned about after the fact. Apparently both of those should have easily killed him. Apparently luck was on his side though. The same could be said about Ripley Krum going as his date. Émile knew she would say yes, but there was still that little thought in the back of his head that said maybe she wouldn’t. He was in the clear now, and maybe the events of the first task and afterwards had driven the final stake into it, so all was good on his end. When he had first met her, he had pegged the girl for being the kind to not want settle down for something; in this case, going to a dance with him as a dance. In the end there wasn’t anything to worry about and Émile won like usual. He never should have doubted his abilities in the first place.

The Hogwarts Headmaster went on and on, like usual, and Émile took the time to look at Ripley and roll his eyes. She had to suffer through this all the time, how could anyone do that? If he hadn’t been one of the champions, he definitely would have yelled something out. The same level of impatience had hit him right before the first task. Almost everything the headmaster said was immediately tuned out and ignored. Why should he care if there’s an age line around the bar, or how to mingle with the Ministry members there? “Feel like showing off a little out there?” He grinned at Ripley. “Margaux might be a challenge, but I don’t think Oscar and Whatshername can beat us.” The doors opened and they were waved into the hall, which looked completely different from normal. At least Hogwarts knew how to do that right.

[Deleted]

@emile
@superluigi64

as she stood with emile outside of the great hall, ripley reached up to toy with the earing that was dangling between her fingers. her mother had picked them out for her when they'd been shopping for the dress, just simple drop earings with a single jewel on the end. her mother had said that because her dress was so decorated she hadn't wanted anything too fancy on her ears. who was she to argue with her mother? she let her hand drop and she smiled as emile rolled his eyes. she knew professor long bottom could get long winded at times, often talking longer than a lot of students thought he should but he was a nice enough person. she was lucky enough to have met him once or twice out of school due to her parents running in the same circle. “Feel like showing off a little out there? Margaux might be a challenge, but I don’t think Oscar and Whatshername can beat us.” she laughed and brought one finger to rest on her chin as she studied the other champions and their dates. she didn't know much about any of them apart from anna and she wasn't sure if the weasley girl could dance. she tried to remember if she had ever seen the fellow red head do more than walk or run or fly but she didn't think she had. "i don't think we'll need to show off too much to be better than them." she said with a smile as she tucked her hand into his arm as they walked into the great hall when they were waved through. she felt the fabric of her dress moving around her legs as they took up their spaces on the floor. she loved the dress more than she thought she would. while she had no problem wearing dresses and skirts, she liked them to be short and above the knee to make moving easier. this dress had layers that went to the floor and still managed to be feather light so she knew it would be easy to dance in. "ready? let's show them you're better on and off the field." she said with a smile as she put her hand on his shoulder and waited for the music to start.

[dress]