OOC: Anyone and everyone, please feel free to join the conversation, cause mayhem, etc.!

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8:30 PM, The Great Hall

outfit

After a feast full of mashed potatoes, candied sauces, and mulled cider, Lua was in high spirits. The dance reserved for the International cast of champions had lead way to more and more students joining the dance floor, and now the buzz of excitement that had hummed through the Entrance Hall earlier in the evening permeated the Great Hall.

Looking for juice, the fourth year found herself near a massive pine whose many fragrant fingers were coated with sugary, soft snow and hung with delicate baubles. She poked her head around the branches, discovering the end of a short queue. The first or second year on the other side of the branch was dressed in fine yellowish-gold dress robes; in front of him was a lanky Salem student in a suit, and in front of him, a brunette French girl who looked like a cake Lua had once seen in a shop window. The Taylor girl very much admired her dress. She disentangled a rouge strand of hair from the pine as the queue shuffled forward, and caught sight of a familiar face.

“Kelvin!” Lua waved animatedly in the Ravenclaw’s direction from her spot in the line. She fished up two goblets of fancy holiday punch and floated off toward her fellow fourth year. “You look very nice,” she said, offering him one of the goblets. “Have you danced yet? Do you want to try to get near the stage later?” She asked, only a tiny bit conspiratorially, motioning toward the where the musicians were currently playing classical music; it was rumored that later in the evening, they would be replaced by any number of pop-and-rock stars. At Halloween, a sixth year had managed to climb onto the stage and cling to the singer’s leg, despite a very layered floor-length Bride of Frankenstein gown and two attentive security guards. Hogwarts was full of very talented teenagers.

Outfit

Fidgeting with the ascot tied around his neck, Kelvin watched the dance floor.  He thought he looked like a fool, he had wanted to get a plain set of dress robes, but his brother had insisted on the tailcoat and the rest of it.  He was going to let his brother have it for dressing him up like this tomorrow when he saw him.  Nothing to be done now, tonight was supposed to be fun and tomorrow he'd be in London and not wondering if he could innocently dance with--better not to even think that.

He waved back when he heard Lua call his name from the line for punch.  She joined him after filling two goblets with punch.  "Thanks, you do too."  He said, taking the offered drink and trying not to fidget with the coat, though his free hand tugged on the bottom of his vest.  He took a sip of the punch, not spiked yet.  "No I haven't."  No, I've just been over here fidgeting with my clothes and not looking for my best friend, he thought to himself.  Best to keep that to himself.  "Sure, why not." He answered the last.  He would push his way up to the front with her, though he couldn't recall if she actually liked the Wild Beings, who were up there now, and he couldn't remember if there was supposed to be another group later.   "Do you like the Wild Beings?"

“Are you alright?” Lua asked, tilting her head a bit, mane spilling over her shoulder as she studied Kelvin for signs of illness or distress. Maybe he just wasn’t used to wearing formal vests. Plenty of her roommates had seemed reluctant to leave the mirror, even. They seemed to be doing alright now, though. That hardest part had been climbing out of the porthole, making sure not to trip over dress hems, heels, or robes. “You should definitely dance,” she announced jovially, with a confident-but-perhaps-somewhat-overly-optimistic grin. “I’m sure Durmstrang wants to see what Kelvin Watkins can do in his dress shoes.” The smile turned somewhat knowing, but still very well-meaning, and encouraging in a classically Lua-ish way as the girl raised her cup to her lips.

Now the Wild Beings were playing. That meant adventuring through the dance floor to the stage. (When it was a Wizarding stage, that made it all the more an adventure). “They’re great. I love this song!” She raised her voice to answer as the crowd howled a delighted echo of the guitars opening notes. She took another, more lengthy sip of punch before setting it on a floating tray of empty cups making its way around the hall (it would eventually end up in the kitchens), and grabbing the crook of Kelvin’s arm lightly to pull him toward the edge of the crowd before letting go. Leading the way through jungle of cheering, screaming, dancing, chattering students, Lua spoke over her shoulder to her Ravenclaw friend. “This was playing on the Wireless last night in the common room when we were hanging popcorn over the fireplace.” Gryffindor was in a festive mood; any excuse to party or avoid homework was welcomed with open arms. Even when there wasn’t an excuse, one seemed to materialize out of thin air, along with butterbeer, cakes, and a Wireless radio. Lua hummed along. “That looks like Connor’s hair,” she observed, gesturing at a flash of whooshy gold that had come out of nowhere like a snitch and disappeared from sight again. Similarly, arms, legs and other human obstacles seemed to appear from thin air before them as they weaved through the crowded dance floor. Lua ducked beneath an exceptionally tall Hufflepuff’s outstretched arm, looking back with an unconcerned grin. She was having a great time.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kelvin said, dropping his hand from the edge of the vest. Too late to do anything about it.  He was wearing the clothes and it wasn't like he had another option at this point.    Best to just forget about it and enjoy the once in a lifetime Yule Ball, and dance.  No getting out of the dancing part it seemed, it was a ball after all.  And Lua was certainly the safest of his friends to dance with.  "I doubt Durmstrang wants to see that." He laughed.  He was kinda surprised the the Durmstrang students were there.  Though he supposed that they had to make a showing.  He just hadn't thought that fun was something they did.

He smiled as the band started a song he liked, and he started to say he loved the song right as Lua said the same.  He was laughing as he felt a light tug on his arm.  He hurriedly pushed his cup on the tray of empty cups floating by as he was pulled toward the crowd.  He followed her through the mass of students, waving to some other friends he saw as they passed.  "I have the record at home. I'd bring it and a record player but I don't think my housemates would like it."  Some of his housemates would probably hex him into the hospital hut if he played music in the common room.  He might be able to get away with it in the dorm room. Maybe not.  At the mention of Connor, or well Connor's hair, Kelvin had a moment of panic.  He wanted to see his friend.  But he didn't.  It was very complicated.  He wasn't paying attention and nearly ran into large fifth year Slytherin before ducking around him and pushing past a couple younger students to catch up to Lua.  He was going to enjoy the night.

“Good!” It would be terrible if Kelvin didn’t feel well enough to stay and dance, chase down the rockstars, and find the rest of the fourth years with whom they generally adventured. Being unwell or sad at the holidays was a particular kind of bummer, and Lua was determined not to let her friends feel that way.

"I doubt Durmstrang wants to see that."

“I think that’s a lie.” she said, laughing with him. “I think you’re probably a brilliant dancer. And I know they have souls somewhere in there.” She scrunched her face in curiosity and looked around. Even if the militaristic bunch in swaths of red seemed hard-pressed to join the masses over the dementors (though Lua had never seen a dementor), she was sure they could come around to having fun and standing less... properly. Everyone liked to dance-- some people just didn’t know they liked it. (Lua’s oldest brother would claim there was a cure for that, and it began with alcohol.)

It was a very good thing Kelvin also loved the song. That they had had the same thought at the same time was part of why they were friends. Weaving through the others in front of the stage might have been the Third Task-- maybe they were all secretly participating right now. Lua was phased. “Is Ravenclaw house quiet all of the time?” She asked, raising her brows, mouth forming a quizzical o. She had assumed they had secret parties like everyone else. (Gryffindor’s parties were not secret.) “What if you got an elevator remix version?” She pressed past a neon orange gown, giving the girl a quick compliment on the dress. “I guess it wouldn’t be the Wild Beings if it were in an elevator,” she added in the shout-whisper way of talking that became necessary at concerts... and Yule Balls.

Lua was looking forward now, trying not to get her hair tangled again, and if Kelvin’s momentary panic at the mention of Connor were visible, she didn’t notice.

Brilliant dancer was not something Kelvin had ever thought would be applied to him, and he was sure that he'd be proving Lua wrong in no time.  He wondered how many times he'd end up stepping on her feet before she realized he wasn't.  "Souls, you think they have them still?  Don't they give them up as payment to go to Durmstrang."  He said loudly enough for Lua to hear, thankful that the students he was talking about weren't in the bunch around them.  He didn't fancy his chances against one of them.

"Not all the time, but alot of the time."  Not that he was one to criticize, he told of louder members of his house when he was working last minute on an essay, usually revising but that was as important as the actual writing.  "Maybe we can ask them after to make a Ravenclaw album, quiet and good for studying."

"Souls, you think they have them still?  Don't they give them up as payment to go to Durmstrang.”

Lua’s face spread into a smile of oh, you, but to say it was anywhere near malicious would have been a lie.

“Like Gringotts for souls? Kelvin, they’re not all hopeless,” she insisted, having to do that shouty-whisper thing that concerts made necessary; the laugh was obvious in her throat even if the words were hard to hear. “They probably just need a hug.” Some of them, anyway. Lua wasn’t sure a hug impress all of them, but a few them looked like they needed some kind words and a shoulder to cry on.

As they wove through the crowd, she looked back every so often, pausing before linked arms, highly tailored robes, and fluffy dresses to carry on their conversation. “It could double as a breakup album,” she suggested. “My sister loves those.” Or, if tranquility was the key… “Maybe something that’s good for yoga.” She knew one Ravenclaw who seemed enthusiastic about the practice.

They were near the front now, where the music was loud and the rockstars were somehow even more glorious than from afar. The music— from the opening Champion’s Dance to the sets of various famed wizarding bands— seemed to change moods every few songs, allowing for all sorts of dancing, from the elegant, traditional couple-y sort to more or less jumping up and down with large groups of friends. After a while, it calmed down a bit more, and it was easier to exchange words without shouting. If she had spied a friend’s hair or another’s robes, finding them again in the crowd was a puzzle, but she was prepared to venture around the dance floor again. It would be easier with everyone dancing more slowly, slightly more spread out. “Do you want to dance?” She asked, not too pushy since he’d seemed a bit nervous before. Still, she thought he was probably a perfectly good dancer. “Then we can look for everyone!” Including the owner of the aforementioned trademark hair.

Kelvin wasn't so sure that they were not hopeless; he'd rather take his chances hugging a goblin.  Okay, maybe not hugging a goblin, but he wasn't about to go up and hug a Dumrstrang student, even if that was what they needed.  "You try hugging one, I'll get a healer for you."  Though it would probably be too late at that point since they probably had a class at Durmstrang in how to get rid of evidence.

He laughed at Lua's idea of a breakup or yoga album, "The point is to have music to study with, not music to cry with or fall asleep too."  He said as they continued making their way to the front, pausing briefly when he had to apologize to a Salem girl for stepping on her dress. 

They finally reached the front and then the music changed again to something slower, which meant the dancing changed yet again.  Did he want to dance, yes, especially now that they had managed to get to the front and dancing would be much less weird than standing around awkwardly among all the other people dancing.  "Yeah, sure." He said, stepping closer to Lua, offering her his left hand and a smile, and sending a silent wish to Merlin that he wouldn't step on her toes.  Surely there was a spell for that, he should have asked someone.

"You try hugging one, I'll get a healer for you.”

“I think I could get one of them to hug me without hexing me,” she said, rising to the challenge, but not in the let me poke the flames way that some of her housemates might have said it. “By the end of the school year,” she added, after pondering it for half a moment. Her grin spread wider still, and she looked around for one of the towering Northern or Eastern Europeans. There was one, easy to spot, a perma-frown on his sharp face even as he danced with a very attractive date. Maybe not him… hmm. Lua would work on it a bit, maybe consult her Divination book. If she got some homework done in the process of finding a Durmstrang student to hug by June, that was only a bonus!

“Maybe the Weasleys make something like that. I guess it would be sort of an anti-joke, studying.” She smiled at the girl upon whose dress Kelvin had tread, and looked back at him. “Not that Ravenclaws aren’t hilarious! I think sometimes your house is funny when they don’t even know they’re being funny.” Despite being the cleverest and sharpest of wit. Lua, at least, found some of their library etiquette accidentally hilarious. Not that all Ravenclaws were the same; Kelvin and Connor were plenty proof.

Lua took his hand, not nervous despite not being the best formal dancer in the world. They could always wing it. She thought lots of the students must have been making it up as they went along. Dancing was like that sometimes. Even if the Headmistress was very adamant about dancing lessons.