10:20

The Yule Ball had, so far, largely met with Aisling's expectations. Some of the music was rather inappropriate, and a few of the scattered students had chosen poorly with their attire, but it was not her issue to deal with. Even if Tarron would grumble about it later.

Her objective to meet several of the Professors had progressed nicely so far, even if a few minutes of conversation weren't quite the window to the soul one might hope. Just a beginning. Mix that with the occasional comment to an important guest, along with keeping an eye on Tarron in case any intervention was required to retrieve him from the tedious attentions of certain diplomats.

Professor Kesali was a rather distinctive figure, even among all the fancy dress, with pale hair and white clothing blending together at a distance. Aisling made her way about the edge of the room, avoiding a few of the more energetic dancers before greeting him with a smile. "Excuse me, Professor, but would you have a moment?"

Nightingale stood as if he were made of stone, a cold mountain amongst the stars covered in snow and unyielding. On a bored of black and white he didn’t feel as much like a pawn—not tonight. Yet, he couldn’t place himself the king. Gale felt that on this night he stood nothing more than part of the castle—a rook. His place here was to protect his students, encourage them, and pull them back when they got too far. However, tonight it seemed that every little last detail pinned proper manners, and all the elegant attire brought forth happy smiles even on those who often felt out of place—everything he could remember the Yule Ball was supposed to be.

It brought him more joy than he could explain to see it all put back together again. All the kings horses and all the kings men worked hard to restore more than just the stones. These sort of events were never his thing, even as a child, but standing now like a statue of spider-spun silk he was happy to be here.

’Excuse me, Professor, but would you have a moment?’

“Of course,” He spoke to her still with his spine straight, his shoulders back, and he kept his cold gaze on the room. It was out of his character to be so stoic, and upon realizing it wasn’t a student speaking Gale tried to keep this mask on.

“What can I do for you Madame, Knight?” Gale had to fight the urge to turn and even make sure she was even speaking to him, but instead he folded his white gloved hands before him to regard her carefully.

A gaggle of students, or adults just a year or so out of school, sped by, and Aisling stepped away from them and towards the outside of the room, next to Professor Kesali. She was, she had to admit, rather surprised that he had recognized her. For such parties most tended to limit their attempts to remember such information to the actual dignitaries themselves, not including their spouses.

She looked down a little, posture and expression carefully displaying the demure idea of I don't wish to intrude. "I don't wish to take too much of your time, but well, it is my daughters' first year at Hogwarts." Fingers traced across the eagle ring on her hand. "And I find that my own memories of the school have become rather distant over the years."

There was a certain twist to her smile, the faint touch of sadness along with joy. "I would appreciate hearing anything more recent about its status. You're far more familiar with Hogwarts than I." Just how far distant her experiences there were, well, she had no wish to think too deeply on that.

Half of his heart felt as if fire had stolen it, it burned heavily with the anger that perhaps she was only asking this of him to test him. Was he good enough to be instructing her children? A question he knew people wondered well enough on their own, but so few out right asked. His reputation wasn't as high as some of the other Professors, and he wasn't well liked by many. He often came across as snippy and rude, but of all his faults he was a master with his wandwork--a title Gale knew kept him here. However, on the other hand, that other dark part of his heart wanted to remove this fear to bother him. Gale wanted to shake it from her, tell her to stand up right, and to demand the answers from him--these were her children after all.

There was a certain twist to her smile, the faint touch of sadness along with joy.

Gale bent his head enough to catch her eye, and offered her a warm friendly smile. The sort of gesture that painted a soft little peachy blush on his face, and made him look almost human.

"I'm actually just reacquainting myself as well. With the school that is." He corrected, "I went to school here yes. I fought a battle here. I lived and died here, and all the while feeling as though my soul had never left even when I myself refused to come back. That's the great thing about this school. That no matter where you roam, or what distance you travel away--when you come back, you are home."

Don't frown...I can't handle the sadness.

"Do you remember your first Yule Ball?" He asked with a grin, one that he had to try and bite back as he bit his bottom lip. "How nervous you felt about it, and excited? I got the privilege of teaching the first and second years to dance, so I got to relive that again. You should have seen them, even your more quiet child bouncing around on the ends of her toes."[1] He laughed lightly as his good eyes scanned the room for her children now.

"Do you often have occasion to dance, Madame?"

1.	Let me know if that needs changed.

His words of the Yule Ball brought Aisling just a bit of confusion, which showed itself only in a slight querying look in her expression, followed by the quick chime of pleased laughter. Such compliments were hardly unwelcome, unintended though they might be. "There were no Yule Balls during my schooling, no grand tournaments. Such were brought back long after I left these halls. Though their shadows are still long."

Her daughters, her family, had happened far later than they did for most, and yet she couldn't regret that. Not with everything she had now. "So I suppose that this is my first Yule Ball. Youthful excitement would be rather out of place. Though I am enjoying it."

She looked up, sending her earrings swaying, the mention of her daughter bringing the flash of a proud smile. "Sophia, however, was thrilled about the event. Such formal occasions have always enthralled her. It is good to hear she found joy in the preparation as well."

That last question, though, that was a touch strange. How could she not, with a position such as hers. And yet, perhaps the question wasn't meant as that simple. "I have had some such occasions scattered about, more recently than there once were."

"I see," He said quietly, thoughtful, his good eye still on the room, "I was raised in long shadows, Madame, so you have my sympathy." When the top switched back to her children, Gale took a moment to enjoy her smile--he envied her for it, for he wanted nothing more than to know such pride. All of the students were in many ways 'his own' but not in the same way that parents held them. Every internal clock was heavily ticking along, sounding off alarms of how he wasn't getting any younger. Gale had vowed that when his mind was in it's right place, he would take a lover, and after ten years now he finally found a perfect place to start.

"They are very bright young ladies, and such wonderful students." He smiled kindly to her again, "Rowena keeps us laughing often, she is such a character. So full of life. Sophia too, but she is much more reserved. I don't often hear her talking. Nothing I have to tell you, I'm sure." Gale folded his hands behind his coat, the gypsy in him wanting nothing more than to join in the dancing couples, but his nerves were shot. The thought to ask her hadn't even occurred to him, but something spurred his manners.

"Can I offer you anything? A drink? A dance? A vigilantes attempt at an escape for some air?" He extended his gloved hand to gesture towards the exit, and the many faces that were between them.

"Sophia has always been quieter. It's not uncommon for her to be mistaken for the elder of them, much to their frustration." It seemed as if they'd adjusted to school so very well. And that they had found their own spaces there while remaining such respectable young women.

They had certain earned those kittens. From all accounts, they were still as excited about the small, fuzzy things as they had been when they'd left for Hogwarts.

His offer made Aisling look at him with a grateful smile and the smallest shake of her head. "I would not turn down another drink, and perhaps a dance afterward. The offer of air is gracious, but there is no need. The years have left me with some familiarity with similar functions."

Those were some of the perils, or privileges, depending on the day, of Tarron's position.

A fine gentleman this night, Nightingale wore the mask well. He didn't have as many reasons as she to ever attend such events, but he did spent his good deal of time entertaining guests in the estate of an old lover. A great lover of art, he couldn't help but admire her still. She seemed so confident, and kind. Though there was a shadow about her that made him want to know more, but everything about this plan had backfired on him so many times--he tried to fight it.

A gloved hand extended to escort her, and he would tuck her hand in the bend of his arm to see their way across the floor.

"I'm still adjusting," He meant to the room, "Grew up in the wild, Madame, rooms like this were meant for emptying the purses of the wealthy, and stuffing pockets full of free food." He smiled out at the room, "But my time with the Ministry as well Hogwarts beat that out of me." Upon reaching the service, he got their drinks in time to watch the many couples across the room.

"Suppose I shall have to get used to them again." A sheepish look cast over his features, "Just can't help but feel rather small in the room no?" He took a drink of his far too fruity mixture, and wished he could slip away to his office for a bit of the stronger stuff.

There was a certain contract to Professor Kesali, one exemplified in those moments by the combination of his genteel escort across the floor with his words. Though her slight lift of the eyebrow in response was quite polite, the silent equivalent of the accepting 'oh'. "Most here have gone through similar adjustments. Such behavior is learned, no matter what age that may occur at."

Her glass of wine, once obtained, was nursed a bit as per her wont. The dancers on the floor proved an impressive sight, dresses in so many shades of color contrasting with suits both dark and light. "Hogwarts can make us all feel so small. As if  in the sight of the school, we're just one tiny generation blurring in with those both past and future."

Something in the words, or perhaps the thoughts behind them, had sent her voice to softly fading. "And yet even the tiniest of feet echo on these floors."

Little feet. Those few words made his chest tighten around his heart with such a want that he could almost taste the moth like wings of his wishes in the back of his throat. Someday. Someday, he would too would have little feet here, he was determined. Gale's biggest most inner conflict with his affections came down to the very need to have children. He would be happy to adopt, but not as much as he would to see his lover's face in another little figure. Chaz, with his big blue eyes and warm grin made him want to see that in another. However, those things were complicated, and often very expensive. It would have just been easier to suppress his natural needs, for the sacrifice for a child.

"I came in the middle of the term, so I missed a lot of that first reaction to the school, but I still consider your daughters my first students. I'll be here to grow along with them, and work beside them, encourage and defend them. I want to make sure you know that, I will and forever have your children's best interests at heart." He smiled and flushed while lowering his voice, "No matter what you may hear about me." It was a joke, only half way, but he sat still again to watch the floor; and stole a glance back to the table of the other professor's-- happy to be away from there.

"Before this I worked for the Ministry. I'm not at liberty to say what I did, but I can say that it was great training for this. Is that what you do Madame Knight?"

"It must have been difficult, coming to such a role at that point within the school year. It seems as if it would be far different than any position within the Ministry." Aisling met his gaze when he returned his eyes from their attention towards the other Professors, her lips softly curved into an encouraging smile.

"Most of my work is with the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee. It is, at the least, never dull. Though I find myself hoping for just a few weeks of quiet." Quiet enough to return home a little earlier, to help Rowena put up new Quidditch posters, to pore over books of runes with Sophia. All the small things she had missed so much over the last few months.

She sipped at her wine, turned her eyes to the floor in hopes of catching a glimpse of her daughters, the flash of hair and smile. Then back to him once again. "The Department has been rather occupied recently, it seems near time enough for a respite."

"It was...I missed a great deal, but they were in a pinch, and I'm pretty sure it's how I even landed the job. I worked for the Accidents and Catastrophes Department, Madame, I was well prepared for this roll." He mused quietly as someone else had mention that this night, "It's actually a lot easier to deal with. Though, there are less tears." He made students cry a good deal, but unlike the other staff who put on their cold and calloused mask to keep up the facade, Gale cried along with them. He hated punishing them, and hated it when they failed.

"I do hope you get that, the peace and quiet. I know the girls are looking forward to being home. I am as well, but I'm sure I'll be counting down the days until I see them again. Especially Rowena. She's a character. Keeps me laughing constantly, and I think you can attest that laughter is a very powerful medicine. Especially for the soul."

"Yes, it is. Very much so." A flicker of memory in her eyes, some moment of joy with her daughters now passed.  Their estate had never been loud, but the loss of those two young voices had sent it towards dour, dark wood and old books. With such lightened only by the occasional rose set in an old vase or the clink of chess pieces as her and Tarron played.

Just the prospect of the girls returning home had made it seem more cheery, recently. "And I am glad to hear that the shift was not as difficult as it may have been. Hogwarts seems, in recent years, to be plagued with many such changes. I can only hope that it will prove calmer in the future."

McGonagall was an old hand at such matters, at the least. If only her ascension back to it had not been prompted by such tragedies. "But perhaps a peaceful break is somewhere to start."

"It's very nice to see peace here, to see the walls so filled with nothing but the concern of getting good grades and learning. Nothing other than making new memories and ever lasting friendships. I'm handling it a lot better than I ever thought I would. Do not get me wrong, I wouldn't have taken the position had I thought I couldn't preform my duties, but after the events there wasn't much that would have made me ever want to come back." Gale smiled slightly looking around, and shuffled his feet. Though his shoulders kept a good solid stance he was growing weary of holding his head up, his spine straight.

"But what about yours, M'lady? You speak about Hogwarts having such a fine calmer future, but what is it you look forward to the most?" He spotted Sophia out of the corner of his eye and gestured towards the young Ravenclaw with her suitors. "In many years, many many years. Will you look forward to having grandchildren?"

Aisling set her glass down, and gave her companion a rather curious look. With the shuffling, he had the appearance of being somewhat uncomfortable. Not that she could blame anyone for being a bit uncertain at such a massive event. "I can hardly guess at what my daughters will want from their lives next month, let alone a decade or more later. I may only hope that they will find joy in it."

She followed the gesture towards Sophia and smiled. "But I think that I might be ready for that dance now, if you still have the interest. The Yule Ball is a rare opportunity for such."