Find Light in the Beautiful Sea (Cecelia)

[Deleted]

Not having a date to the Yule Ball wasn't of any concern to Chantal. While she wouldn't have minded having had someone beside her as she entered the Great Hall, she knew that she didn't need a dance partner in order to have a wonderful time. Possibly because it was Christmas, everyone seemed to be in a happy mood, and—although she hadn't seen Cecelia yet—she hoped that even she would be able to find something to enjoy about the night. (Though, considering that she and Ramsey Naidoo appeared to be getting quite close to one another, Chantal didn't think that she would have any problems there.)

Hogwarts's Professor Longbottom began the traditional Champions' Waltz, and Chantal watched from the perimeter of the floor, brushing off the fluttery cape detailing on her seafoam-hued robes with a smile on her face. Against her better judgment, she had decided to wear the same heels as the ones that she had worn to the dance party in the Room of Requirement, although she had had enough sense to modify their size with a few spells so that they no longer made her feet ache. Thus, if anyone did decide to ask her to dance, she could.

@cecelia

[Deleted]

Coming to the Yule Ball with Ramsey was a dream. It was a dream come true, more like, because they were going together, and wow. Cecelia hadn’t believed a month ago that she was capable of happiness, but she was. She was capable of being happy, and there were two people in the world who constantly reminded her of that. One was Ramsey, of course, but the other was Chantal. While Cecelia had come to the Yule Ball as the former’s date, she had no intention of abandoning the latter. After being sure that she danced at least once with Ramsey, Cecelia began to search for Chantal in the crowd. Her friend wasn’t hard to find, mostly because she was wearing a beautiful seafoam green that was different from the deeper gem tones that many others, including Cecelia herself, had decided to wear. Cece approached Chantal with a smile on her face, extending her hand. “May I have this dance, my lady?” She asked as the music sped up for a salsa.

@chantal

[Deleted]

The music had changed to a more upbeat sound, and a hand reached towards her. Cecelia had come out of nowhere to ask her to dance. For a minute, Chantal wondered why Cecelia wasn't dancing with Ramsey, though she was sure that she would have no difficulty in finding her for plenty of dances later.

More than anything else, she wished that she could have captured the expression on Cecelia's face. She looked happy for the first time in months, and Chantal refused to deny her a dance if that was what she wanted. “May I have this dance, my lady?” Cecelia asked her.

Because the question had been in English, Chantal responded likewise, though her giggles made it difficult to think clearly about what she was saying. “Yes!” she smiled enthusiastically; since it was a one-word answer, it couldn't be misconstrued very easily.

She took Cecelia's hand, prepared to move out onto the dance floor and follow her lead.

@cecelia

[Deleted]

Cecelia had been to more balls in her life than she could count, and had loved dressing up in beautiful ballgowns since she was young. But those parties were nothing compared to this one. For one thing, Cecelia had never chosen to attend any of them, and the Yule Ball had been her choice. Furthermore, once she was at said parties, she was generally paraded around or forced to dance with any number of pureblood boys in hopes that she would catch one of their eyes. Now, though, she was simply allowed to be Cecelia, and dance with whomever she wanted – even if that person happened not to be a male.

“Are you having fun?” Cecelia asked as she lead Chantal out onto the dance floor. She was surprised that they were playing such an upbeat song when the Yule Ball was, for all intents and purposes, a way for the Hogwarts students to have a formal date with their significant other, complete with copious amounts of slow dancing, but Cecelia was fine with the change of pace – there was no better way to show off her footwork, after all.

@chantal

[Deleted]

“Are you having fun?”

The ball had only just begun, but Chantal wasn't sure how anyone couldn't have been having fun. It wasn't as strange to have the Ministry of Magic officials there as it might have seemed; mostly, it looked like the adults were keeping to themselves, and so were the students. Her parents had been in attendance at plenty of functions over the years because of her father's position as a member of the International Confederation of Wizards, but Chantal couldn't recall a party meant for both government officials and students.

“Bien sûr!” Chantal replied over the sound of the music. As for the song itself, it wasn't one that she recognized, though that didn't stop her from moving her feet to it. She followed Cecelia's lead to avoid stepping on her feet, but her primary focus was on making the night enjoyable. “Et toi?” she asked while dancing, hoping that Cecelia's happiness wasn't just for show.

@cecelia

[Deleted]

Chantal replied to her in French, and Cecelia supposed they were switching languages. Which was a shame, because even in her first tongue, Cecelia didn’t know how to describe how good of a night she was having. She was floored. There was dancing and there was food and there was champagne, but also, for the first time in her life, Cecelia wasn’t thinking about how she was presenting herself. There was no Desirae or Braelynn peering over her shoulder and making her feel as if she ought to be acting in a way that made her family proud. Cecelia as beaming and already slightly flushed from the glass of champagne she had had and the effort of the fast-paced dance. “C’est la meilleure nuit de ma vie!” Cecelia finally responded, slightly breathless. It felt wrong to have the best night of her life in the same year that she had lost both of her sisters, but with great highs had to come great lows. That was how the world stayed balanced.

@chantal

[Deleted]

“C'est meilleure nuit de ma vie!”

Chantal shrieked with laughter, smiling broadly as she continued to dance with Cecelia. “C'est… waouh!” There was no other way to describe the night except to say that it was “wow”; the people at Hogwarts knew how to throw a party.

As the song to which she and Cecelia had been dancing began to die down, Chantal teased, “T'as déjà embrassée Ramsey? Je parie qu'elle embrassait bien, hein?” They must have kissed already; she didn't know why else Cecelia would have been so overjoyed.

@cecelia