9:30PM

The Yule Ball was something that Winifred had been greatly looking forward to! She had managed to get a date- none other than sixth year Hufflepuff prefect Zel Trumble. He was the sort of date people did not forget you having, and his specific affliction made it seem all the more like a night straight out of a romance novel. She fluffed out the skirt of her dress as she stood next to Zel. Winifred had been smiling brightly throughout the evening thus far, and had been by Zel's side the entire time.

At the moment she was clinging to his arm, her free hand occupied with a cup of punch. "Oh, I'm having such a fun time! Aren't you having fun?" she asked Zel. "You're a much better dancer than I expected you to be! I mean that in the nicest way, of course." He couldn't help his awkward moves, he was quite tall, after all. Winifred might not be particularly short, but it was hard not to be considered short in comparison to Zel Trumble.

He'd been a wonderful date! Very attentive, had danced all she had wanted, and had even managed to suffer through the questioning of her older brother Earnest... (Who was a fellow sixth year Hufflepuff.) And he didn't seem to be totally miserable, which was an even bigger surprise! Winnie wasn't used to boys hanging out with her for so long. (Except for Ambrose, of course, but he didn't count.)

Tonight had been quite fun, at least up until this point. Ambrose had been an attentive date, she couldn't fault him that, but it had been way too long since he had left her to go to the loo. She waited several minutes past what she considered a reasonable restroom break and, frustrated, Cy was left to debate if she should leave her spot to go look for him. After a couple more increasingly impatient minutes, Cyhirae  left the spot where Ambrose had left her to go looking for him.

She weaved through the crowd as she tried to find out where her missing date had gone. 'Where is he? It's been way to long for just a visit to the loo, even if there was a line.' The dance was packed with students, teachers and the who's who of the British wizarding world, which made it hard to see around her. She spotted a familiar albino head across the way and she new his date was nearby. "Winnie!" She shoved her way through the crowd to their location, "Winnie have you seen Ambrose?" She pulled a lock of hair behind her ears, "Recently I mean. He went to the loo, but it's been forever and he's still not back."

Believe it or not, Zel was actually having a good time with Winnie—and it wasn’t just because she seemed to love having him around. She was actually… Fun! And he enjoyed being around someone who was comfortable doing most of the talking. Dancing had been awkward at first, as Winnie’s head reached just above Zel’s nipple, but he had learned to lift her up at different points in dancing to make it less awkward.  When they walked together, especially if she was clinging to his arm (like she was doing now), Zel slouched so he wouldn’t feel like she was hanging off of his arm, literally.

His free hand didn’t have punch, no—instead he rested it on Winnie’s hand while it was on his arm, so as to help her keep her balance. Merlin forbid that she trip and spill that punch all over her gown! Zel was going to bend down and ask Winnie if she would like him to top off her punch glass when Professor Trishna’s daughter came up. He had forgotten that Cyhirae and Winifred were friends. He gave her an awkward smile.

“You can’t find him?” Zel frowned, “I-if you want, I could look for you.” He then glanced at Winnie, “If it’s alright with you, Winnie?”

Ambrose wove in and out of dancers in finery to work his way around the Great Hall. With all these people in it, it seemed to get bigger - perhaps it was magically enhanced that night, he wouldn't put McGonagall past the extraordinary enlargement abilities. Oh Merlin, where was Cyhirae? He'd not planned on being that long by any stretch.

On the way to the loo he'd collided with his brother, Tim, who was a second year Ravenclaw. His brother had mentioned already spotting their father and Gabrielle Murray, close family friend, and just the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-Operation...! Realising that if he didn't go and say hello, it would have been deemed impolite, he'd headed round to see them on the way back. If he saw them both now, it allowed him to slip off and spend... well.. more time with Cyhirae. If he was lucky, perhaps away from all the hustle and bustle, and somewhere quieter.

He sniffed at himself in surprise at the fact he thought like that - after all, it had only been earlier that year he and Winnie had practised kissing, and it had seemed all awkward.

Suddenly - he spied the beautiful Cyhirae Trishna, well, actually, he'd spotted Zel Trumble first, but she was right there with him. What - Zel was trying to steal another of Ambrose's potential dates? Then, he spotted Winnie there too and his shoulders lowered as he realised everything was fine.

"I'm sorry," He addressed Cyhirae, "Met Tim and he mentioned Dad was about and wanted to say hello. Er, I thought you might want to skip that embarrassment, went to say hello quickly - didn't mean to be as long." He leaned towards Cyhirae gently, going to kiss her on the cheek in apology.

"Did I mention you look absolutely fabulous, tonight?" He smiled gently at Cyhirae and smiled kindly. Thanks Dad, Ambrose thought in his head, Pepper senior could be quite the polite charmer, and Ambrose for all his vomit-noises in the background, remembered quite a few. It wasn't that he didn't mean it - she did look absolutely incredible. Well, she always did really, Ambrose just hadn't taken so much notice over the years, but of late it had been hard to tear his eyes from Cyhirae in those final classes before Christmas.

"Hi Winnie, Zel, how's the punch?" He addressed the other two, smiling from Winnie to Zel. A voice in the back of his head wondered if he should have complimented Winnie too, but it was taking all his concentration and care not to be a complete idiot in front of Cy tonight...

Winnie redirected her attention from showering Zel in attention when Cyhirae came up, asking if she had seen Ambrose. At first Winifred had been... confusingly annoyed at the idea of Cyhirae and Ambrose going to the ball together. But after the idea had settled in, she had decided it was actually pretty awesome. Cy and Ambrose were both her best friends- and if they decided to fall in love and get married, then it would be like having one giant best friend rolled into one. Which was awesome. And maybe Cy could help make Ambrose less bad at everything- which was the way Winifred thought it worked if you dated someone smarter than you were.

She thought for a moment- had she seen him? Winifred didn't recall, but she'd been paying lots of attention to Zel. She had wanted to be a very attentive date so that Zel would have fun and not feel bad or awkward. "I don't think I have seen him!" she said. "Maybe he fell in? Or maybe Myrtle is being extra distracting tonight? I know that if I was a gross ghost stuck in a toilet pipe I'd be pretty awful to anyone who came into the loo tonight."

When Zel offered to go and find him, Winifred's face fell for just a moment but she quickly put her smile back on. "That would be alright," she said. She didn't need to be by his side every moment of the evening, did she? And besides, Zel was a prefect. It was his job to rescue people like Ambrose from the evil clutches of Moaning Myrtle's loo abductions.

But it didn't matter. Because Ambrose arrived and was telling Cyhirae how pretty she looked and that meant Zel wouldn't have to go and try to fight a ghost. Naturally he would win, though. Werewolves always won. It was came with the territory of being furry once a month. "It's actually quite good," she said to Ambrose. "But I've been so very thirsty all night! We've done so much dancing and I've done a lot of talking! Zel is a very good listener." Which worked out well for Winnie. She never knew how or when to shut up.  "Are you and Cy having a good time?"

“You can’t find him?” Zel frowned, “I-if you want, I could look for you.” He then glanced at Winnie, “If it’s alright with you, Winnie?”

"Oh would you? If you're fine with it Winnie of course. Maybe we could all look for him?" Zel's height would make it easy to see above the crowd. However she need not have worried. As if on queue Ambrose appeared, pushing his way through the crowd towards them.

"I'm sorry," He addressed Cyhirae, "Met Tim and he mentioned Dad was about and wanted to say hello. Er, I thought you might want to skip that embarrassment, went to say hello quickly - didn't mean to be as long." He leaned towards Cyhirae gently, going to kiss her on the cheek in apology.

"Oh. Well in that case that's alright," she tilted her head slightly away to make it easier for Ambrose to kiss her.

"Are you and Cy having a good time?"

"I'm having a good time." Cyhirae smiled at Ambrose, "Ambrose has been a very attentive date." She hooked her arms around Ambrose's left and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. There were some benefits to having a date who's height was around hers. "Are you two having a good time as well?"

The voice inside Ambrose's head was jumping around and punching the air every time he got to sneak a kiss to Cyhirae, or see her smile. Evening made of win!

"I'm having a good time. Ambrose has been a very attentive date."

"Oh, thank you." The Gryffindor mumbled politely, taken by surprise by the compliment.

Cue blushing - yep, right on time. Ambrose's cheeks coloured and Cy snuggled up to his left side, resting her head on his shoulder. If he died tonight, he'd die happy, Ambrose decided, gently reaching to squeeze Cy's arm in affectionate response before tilting his head a little to better accommodate a head on his shoulder. Cyhirae seemed more touchy-feely than Winnie did with Zel, was that normal? Ambrose wondered, but it wasn't his place to complain, not when he was enjoying it.

"Are you two having a good time as well?"

"Mm have you been dancing together, or did you do partner swapping? All the Professors seem to be dancing with each other." Ambrose remarked, having observed earlier, wondering if he'd have to suffer the mortally embarrassing moment of his father dancing with one of the female Professors....

Looks like there was no need to disappoint Winnie and look for Ambrose-- he appeared right on time. Zel was relieved. Even though he was tall and could probably find Ambrose,  his vision wasn’t very good and there were so many other people around, that he would have had a hard time finding Winnie and Cyhirae again once he found Ambrose.  Zel blushed when Winnie called him a good listener-- it wasn’t hard to do. He was naturally quiet, and it was easy for him to just let her do all the talking.

He looked up quickly when Cy kissed Ambrose’s cheek, as if there was something on the ceiling that was suddenly so interesting, that he couldn’t look away. When he was sure that the act of affection was over, he cleared his throat awkwardly and replied to Ambrose.

“We’ve been dancing together.” Zel stated, smiling down at Winnie. He didn’t expect her to be a graceful dancer, but she did better than he expected. Even when she stepped on his feet, it didn’t even hurt because his shoes protected his toes. Half of him was tempted to just let Winnie stand on his feet during a slow dance, but he was worried that might offend her, so he never brought it up. Zel wasn’t the best of dancers, but even he could sway back and forth to a slow song.

Winifred watched the way that Cy and Ambrose were hugging each other and touching and all that stuff. It was cute and affectionate, she supposed, but also annoying. Not because Winifred was jealous, but annoying because she wasn't getting to do that! But Zel didn't seem the sort to want to canoodle in public. And, surprisingly, Winifred respected that. Not to mention the fact that she and Zel weren't... well, it just wasn't right.

"Oh yes! Lots of dancing!" she answered enthusiastically. "It's been so much more fun that I thought it would be! I thought it would be all boring and stuffy and stuff cause of all the important people here. But it isn't like that at all!"

"I'm very glad that I got to come with Zel," Winnie said to her friends. "He's the best date I think I could have hoped for!" Especially considering he was older, prefect, and a werewolf she could eventually tame. That and he wasn't- well, he wasn't Ambrose. Winnie found she was liking Zel very much. He was nice. And their differences complimented each other. Just like how it always was in the romance novels she read all of the time!

"So is Ambrose your boyfriend now?" Winnie asked Cy. Insensitive and inappropriate to ask, perhaps. But he was giving her kisses on the cheek and she was snuggled up. You were only supposed to do that with your boyfriend, right? That's what Winnie thought anyway. "If he isn't, then he should be! Cause you two are totally cute together!" And they were. Her best friends! It was awesome!

“We’ve been dancing together.” Zel replied, which was considerably less detailed than what Winnie launched into just after.

"Oh yes! Lots of dancing! It's been so much more fun that I thought it would be! I thought it would be all boring and stuffy and stuff cause of all the important people here. But it isn't like that at all!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Ambrose found himself grinning at his best friend, nodding along at how they'd all wondered if it would be a little too uptight for their laughter and mucking about. They were teenagers after all - if more fun was to be had sneaking into another dormitory on such a night, then they might have reconsidered, but as it was - partners secured - the night was turning out very well indeed.

"I'm very glad that I got to come with Zel. He's the best date I think I could have hoped for!"

Ambrose tried not to give Zel a dirty look for that. A few weeks ago, Ambrose hoped that he was the best date Winnie could have hoped for, but in retrospect he wouldn't have Cyhirae hanging off his arm if he and Winnie had gone together. Also, with having discovered how much he liked kissing after that brief exploration with Winnie as a friend, he rather liked the fact that Cyhirae seemed to be enjoying kissing him as much as he did her. His embarrassed flushes aside, he was beginning to feel glad Zel had agreed to go with Winnie.

"How lucky for you!" Ambrose grinned, and perhaps with the slightest of sarcasm, patted Zel on the arm in congratulations. But if he did wrong of Winnie, Ambrose would find some way to get back at the Hufflepuff. Even if he was taller, older, more intelligent and a werewolf.

"So is Ambrose your boyfriend now? If he isn't, then he should be! Cause you two are totally cute together!"

Ambrose looked to Cy, realising he'd not really 'asked', but had been more preoccupied with the ball in general.

"Well, I er..." Ambrose's mouth began to answer before his head had engaged properly, "I mean, I would ... be ... er... glad to be called Cyhirae's boyfriend, if she would be? But, like, not if she doesn't want to..." The Gryffindor floundered.

"You'd be glad to be what?" Gigi was about as dolled up as she'd ever be, and was enjoying it more than she'd admit. Everything about her outfit was awesome, and she'd managed to snag herself a little bit of real alcohol. Not quite enough to make her wobble on those futuristic black and blue heels.

She looked Ambrose up and down as if evaluating how his skull would go with the rest of her outfit. Might need a bit of shrinking first. "Having fun, kids?" Zel might have been her age, but here he was hanging out with the fourth years. Always a good way to make yourself look immature. Not to mention his date.

"Hope you've been behaving, I'd hate to have to kick anyone's ass." That dark grin that spread across her face said quite the opposite. Those heels looked like they'd hurt.

"So is Ambrose your boyfriend now? If he isn't, then he should be! Cause you two are totally cute together!"

Cyhirae flushed jerking away from Ambrose. "Winnie!" she sputtered. "We've been on one date. Just one.. Even though it's the Yule Ball it's only one date. That does not make us boyfriend and girlfriend." Whether that statement should have ended with a yet or not Cyhirae wasn't quite certain.

"Well, I er... I mean, I would ... be ... er... glad to be called Cyhirae's boyfriend, if she would be? But, like, not if she doesn't want to..."

Still flushed bit her lip and glanced at Ambrose before turning back to Winnie, "It's too early to know. And I..." '...I don't know if he still likes you, Winnie. I don't even know if I like him that way.' Before Ambrose had asked her out Cyhirae had never considered him in any kind of romantic way. His crush on Winnie had been obvious to her so he had never been on her radar. The last couple of days had changed things, but she still wasn't certain if she liked him that way. And she didn't want Ambrose to be hurt by her if it turned out she didn't want to date him.

"You'd be glad to be what? Hope you've been behaving, I'd hate to have to kick anyone's ass. "

Cyhirae's embarrassment rapidly disappeared in the wake of a new wave of irritation at Georgiana's interruption. "Gigi!" she cried. "What are you doing?"

"It's too early to know. And I..."

"You'd be glad to be what? Hope you've been behaving, I'd hate to have to kick anyone's ass. "

Georgiana Trishna was one of the most petrifying Slytherins in the school to Ambrose, and if it wasn't for the fact he was meant to be Cyhirae's brave date for the night, chivalrous man, he'd have leapt behind his classmate and cowered in fear. Instead he gawped in surprise, and clutched Cyhirae's arm.

"Gigi! What are you doing?"

"Hopefully not kicking anyone's arse..." Ambrose replied dimly, hoping Georgiana wasn't about to do that to him now she'd overheard Winnie's question. "Yes we've been behaving, we always behave!" He squeaked.

"One day is definitely enough to know if you like someone!" Winnie said. "That's how romance is supposed to work! Love at first sight and all that kind of stuff. I read about it all of the time. If you want I'd let you borrow my books and it would help you guys along, I bet!" She trailed off, though, as Gigi approached.

How Cy was so nice and normal and ended up related to someone as terrifying as Georgiana was beyond Winifred. She couldn't help the way she winced away from the Slytherin as she popped up and started threatening to beat people up.

Her excitement about the fact that Ambrose seemed to actually want to date Cy faltered immediately. Why did Gigi have to come along and ruin everything? Didn't she have other sixth year friends she could hang out with?  Instead of coming along and ruining the Yule Ball for the people who were trying so very hard to have fun?

Winnie took a step closer to Zel, and looked up at him. "You're going to let Georgiana just threaten to beat people up?" she asked him. "You're a prefect! Make her be nice or something! That's your job isn't it?" Certainly being mean and threatening to hurt people had to break some kind of school rule. Maybe if Zel fussed at Gigi or got her into trouble she'd just go away and let them have fun. She was probably just jealous because she didn't have a date! And she and Cy did and they were only fourth years. That wasn't their problem, though, so Georgiana shouldn't take it out on them!

As Winnie decided to engage in ‘is that your boyfirend’ girl talk, a part of Zel’s brain shut down and honestly, got distracted. He began to look around awkwardly,  hoping to catch a glimpse of his little brother. Hopefully, Lucas wasn’t doing anything too embarssing or offensive. That boy was well-meaning with a great sense of humor, but sometimes he pushed things just a little bit too far. The next thing he knew, a wild Georgiana Trishna appeared, playing the role of concerned/overprotective aunt-sister-thing. Honestly, he didn’t know what to do! Gigi was intimidating, with a strong personality and snarky attitude.

And Cyhirae looked irritated! Gigi’s presence, judging by the reactions of everyone in Winnie’s little party, was unwelcome.

He was going to have to intervene. He was feeling nervous and self conscious about it—but Winnie’s demands gave him the courage to speak up.

Zel cleared his throat and stood up straight, as if it would build his confidence. “Gigi..” He started, “This isn’t the time or place to petrify Cyhirae and Winnie’s friends.” He said clearly, hoping his voice didn’t betray the absolute terror that he felt. “They’re fine. Ambrose isn’t going to push Cy into the punch bowl” He shook his head, “Just—don’t threaten to kick anybody’s arse. That’s not polite. It’s not appropriate.  We’re just trying to have fun, and fun doesn’t usually involve being threatened.” 

His heart began to pound in his chest. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. What did he just do? Now she was going to murder him in his sleep!