On the dance floor, Alvis found himself at a bit of an impasse. The sort that included fierce battles of introspection with lots of shouting between warring internal monologues and blood spilled on both sides.

Don't look her in the eye.

If I don't look her in the eye, she's going to think I don't like her.

If I do look her in the eye, I'm going to start reading her mind. It's invasive and rude and inappropriate and I don't want to do that to her.

As they slid into an uncertain turn -- really, he was rubbish at leading -- he risked a glance at Zoe's face. She looked absolutely stunning in that beautiful dress adorned with roses, make-up delicately applied in complementary colors, nothing too garish or overdone. She looked a fair sight better than he did, stiff and uncertain in the fanciest set of robes he'd ever worn. They were patterned to match her, so perhaps people would regard him as an accessory rather than judging his clumsy steps and ruffled hair.

He caught Zoe's eye for the barest of seconds, offered a shy smile, and quickly looked away. Dancing like this was the closest he'd been, physically, to someone who wasn't a blood relative in months, and it was the closest he'd been to anyone since speaking with Mr. Griers of Beauxbatons. He might not be able to control his innate legilimency...thing...just yet, but he could limit the damage it did. At the very least he tried.

This was not a situation Alvis had ever imagined himself in. Not the legilimency thing -- that was to be expected, no one in their right mind would imagine anything like that -- but the whole Ball and its fancy clothes and him, dancing with someone as brilliant as Zoe. Attending the Ball had never even crossed his mind before she'd asked him. Even without worrying about where his gaze wandered, Alvis was lost.

Aren't you're supposed to talk while you're doing this?

What the hell are we supposed to talk about? I can barely hear myself think over the blasted music.

Tell her how nice she looks.

I've done that a dozen times! And he had. It'd been the first thing to fall out of his mouth when they'd met in the common room upstairs, and he'd marveled for the longest time at how different she'd seemed from the simple, studious girl in class. Her finery was so brilliant and so immediate, it'd been the only thing he could grasp onto since the music began.

Alvis groaned at himself, suppressing the urge to cringe.  I must be the most boring date in the world...

To his great relief, the song -- which felt like it had been going on forever -- finally came to an end. There was a smattering off applause from those who'd remained on the sidelines, presumably for the benefit of the band. Alvis sighed in relief, letting his arms drop. They were numb and tingling and his feet were sore. His head felt wrapped in cotton balls. He didn't think he could take another round, not crammed in here with everyone else.

"I could really use some air," he said, raising his voice a little to be heard over the low rumble of the chattering crowd and the band warming up for their next number. He grasped Zoe's hands in both of his own, his cheeks going shiny red from both nerves and the exertion of the dance. "Do you want to go for a walk? Out in the courtyard. I've heard it's lovely tonight."

Lovely, and relatively less occupied.

Dance after dance, each awkward, stiff. Zoe couldn't blame Alvis for not being a good dancer, she wasn't the best either, yet it was something else that made her get increasingly flushed with annoyance. Everywhere around her, dancing couples looked lovingly at each other, communicating with few to no words, only facial expressions. Yet Alvis refused to look at her and, last time she checked, she didn't have a spider on the bridge of her nose.

This was the night she was supposed to be treated like a princess, or so it was said.

At times like this, Zoe was sure that the girls in those muggle movies she watched at home, the ones with the 'proms', would do something like scream, 'Fine, don't look at me!' before closing her eyes and passionately kissing the boy she was dancing with, only to stomp off. The kissing, she guessed, was so the boy would actually come back.

The very thought of these ridiculous characters' ridiculous actions made Zoe smile, and she was smiling when Alvis looked at her for no other reason. By the time her mind registered Alvis had even looked at her, he was looking away, and Zoe suppressed an upset sigh. He hadn't even given her a chance to see into his eyes.

Zoe lost her dancing stance when Alvis did, though, to show her remaining affection, reached up and brushed a piece of hair sticking out back into place. She let her fingers linger along his ear, like she had seen Mum do to Dad. However, her fingers continued down to his chin, lightly encouraging his head to turn towards hers.

Alvis's sugggestion came as a relief. Zoe smiled, an honest smile, and not just because he held her hands while asking. "Yes, that sounds lovely, Alvis." It was an activity that made it less awkward if they didn't meet eyes, as, presumably, they'd be looking the same direction. "C'mon, let's get out of here before the next song." She took her hands from Alvis, instead linking her right arm in his left. For once she lead. Straight through the gathered people, out of the Great Hall.

With the opening of he doors came a rush of cool night air. Zoe gasped slightly from the change of temperature, using her free hand to pull the her cloak closer in, instantly regretting shortening the sleeves of her dress robes. She hoped Alvis wouldn't noticed the gooseflesh forming on her bare arms.

"It's so beautiful..." Zoe glanced around at the display of lights, lighting up the snow on the grass. and casting shadows of others in the courtyard. "The decorating team really did an amazing job." Probably for the Tetrawizard Tournament, but none the less. Zoe slowed, no longer leading Alvis, letting him lead her.

"So..." Zoe began softly. "Dancing isn't your thing, right?" She rested her head on Alvis's shoulder. "But I dance like I have two left feet as well, really should have attended one of those dance lessons..." At the time, it had just seemed like an activity with the sole purpose to embarrass the involved individuals.

Words came to Zoe's lips, but a breeze blew through the courtyard. Zoe bristled for a moment, before settling into silence instead.

"To be honest, none of this is really 'my thing.'"Alvis chuckled, shaking his head in self-depreciation. "The dancing, the clothes, the posh atmosphere...it's all a bit rich for my blood. Even the weddings back home never get this fancy." A second after Zoe's head met his shoulder he lowered his own to meet her, resting his cheek against her hair. "I think your dancing was fine. You just had a rubbish partner, is all."

Already the walking arrangement was much nicer than the dance. Out here the closeness felt natural, more like the brief touch that left his face tingling warm than the stiffness of their positions while the music played. And without the overwhelming scent of the crowd, she smelled nice too. Alvis couldn't tell if it was her shampoo or some kind of perfume, but he liked it all the same.

They drifted into a momentary silence as a cold wind blew through the lit courtyard. Zoe bristled, which gave Alvis pause. "Are you cold?" Those were fairly short sleeves she wore...Alvis slipped his left arm out of her grip and put it around her shoulders, trying to offer a bit more warmth. "I'm sorry, I probably should've thought about that. It's just so hard with that many people around...You could take my jacket if you'd like. My sleeves are long enough that I can do without."

"Oh..." Zoe said softly, closing her eyes for a second. She had done this with her mum before, one resting their head on the other's shoulder and the other resting their head on the first's head. It was so relaxing compared to the dancing. "You're not that bad." But bad compared to whom? Compared to the ideal partner, yes, he was terrible. Compared with a realistic partner and he was okay.

The silence afterwards was nicely accepted, as she didn't have to explain to Alvis what she was thinking and whether or not what she had said was a lie.

If someone was to offer Zoe their jacket on most circumstances, she'd turn it down, and Zoe opened her mouth to do so, but closed it. Finally. He was doing something fairytale dates were supposed to. "Are you sure? It's... well... if you insist, yes. Thank you." Alvis, of course, had insisted nothing.

Merlin, this whole Yule Ball thing was a night of pretending. Completely useless. For a second Zoe thought Alvis wise to have not seemed to have plans to attend, but of course he had to. Anyone who didn't would be nice topic of conversation.

"How did your Divination thing go?" Zoe asked after the jacket was situated over her shoulders. "That thing with the bird and that pendulum." She partially asked out of curiosity, though mostly from doubt that staring at a pendant over a bird statue would get you anything. Yes she believed in Seers, but that was about it. "Did you recover the memories or the meaning that you were looking for?"

Alvis beamed as he pulled off the long coat and wrapped it around Zoe's shoulders. Under the sleeves of his fine shirt his skin immediately prickled into goosepimples, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Once she'd gotten the coat settled he put his arm back around her shoulder, enjoying the closeness.

"Hm? Well..." He thought back to what he'd been trying to do that night in the common room and shrugged his free shoulder. "Honestly, it didn't really go anywhere. I'm not sure what I thought I might find, to be honest. Dowsing's not good with memories and past things. It's more for in-the-moment problems. Lost things. Hidden places. Missing people. That sort of thing.

"But, I took your advice. About getting someone to take a look at my mind. I mean, it wasn't Saint Mungo's or anything, but I went to Gries from Beauxbatons. He's an expert in mind magic. He said..."

Alvis trailed off, uncertain. How much should he tell? Would Zoe be angry if she knew he'd been going through her mind all those times they'd talked, even if he didn't mean it? No, she was more reasonable than that. She would understand that it wasn't his fault. But would she still want to be around him, if she knew? He sighed, unconsciously pulling them just a little closer. Zoe deserved to know. And if she did decide afterwards that she didn't want anything to do with him, well. That would be her right.

"What he said...it's a bit complicated. Well, actually, it's not that complicated. It's just hard." He stared at his shoes, watching the thin layer of snow crunch between them and the sidewalk. Spit it out, dammit. Just get it over with. "There is something weird going on with my mind. Mr. Gries isn't entirely sure what, but I'd guess the memory I lost back then's a part of it somehow. The short version is...I'm a Legilimens. But I never learned how. I never got any training in it and I don't have to think about it either. It just happens. I don't know how to make it stop."

He scruffed the sidewalk with his foot, still not daring to look up and hoping that she wouldn't pull away. "I haven't told anyone else yet. I don't think I will either. But I wanted you to know because...I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I like you too much for that."

Alvis's robe-like coat was much warmer than her thin, for-show cloak. Zoe could even feel his body heat within it... Ok, too far, just focus on his arm around her shoulders.

As soon as Alvis told Zoe he had taken her advice and that his method didn't work, Zoe felt the wave of satisfaction that came whenever she was right about something. "Yes? What did he say?" It had to be something bad, really bad, if Alvis was this hesitant about it.

"You're a Legilimens? No training, no nothing?" It came out faster and more shocked that Zoe would have liked. "That's sort of neat. I've never heard of someone who became a Legilimens without training." Still, she sounded incredibly insensitive... Well, she'd messed that up. She put one of her own arm's around Alvis's waist as a sign of comfort.

Then he listed more facts, that he didn't know how to make it stop, he couldn't control it. He could be looking into her mind now, and she wouldn't know, nor have any protection. Zoe had never before attempted Occlumency, acquiring no more knowledge on it than what she had read it a book.

And he liked her too much. He wanted to protect her from... himself. "Oh, Alvis." Zoe drew him closer, even though their bodies were already against each other. "I'm not scared of you." Partial truth. "And you certainly don't have to feel ashamed about it."

"You're saying you're not thinking about training, but I'm sure training could help you control it." Zoe remembered when she'd first read the book on the mind magic she had wanted to learn it herself, and considered going to Professor Trishna, no way would she approach Storm about it, and beg him to teach her.[1] "I mean, you can't just solve something by doing nothing. I know this is hard for you, but I can't offer much more, sorry."

1.	Fun fact, I originally planned to have Zoe be a Legilimens from natural talent and training.

"...you certainly don't have to feel ashamed about it."

The relief that coursed through Alvis at that moment was palpable. He closed his eyes, lay his head against Zoe's again, and thanked whatever force of magic or the universe it was that allowed him to catch this brilliant, understanding girl's attention. He couldn't put the emotion -- somewhere in the nexus of relief, gratitude, and simply having a weight taken off his shoulders -- into words, so he held her a bit tighter and hoped that would do.

"I didn't say I'm not going to train it. I will, to get it under control." Though he hadn't thought of Professor Trishna. Heaven knew he'd be a million times preferable to Professor Storm. The thought of allowing Storm into his mind -- or vice-versa -- was petrifying. "I just...I'm still wrapping my head around the whole thing, to be honest."

"I know one thing for sure: It's stronger when I look people in the eye. That's why I --" He gestured vaguely, trying to wrap a dozen thoughts in one definition. Why he couldn't look her in the eye, why his gaze remained steadily focused on something ahead of them even now. Why he'd felt the need to tell her, even though it was dragging down the mood like a lead weight tied on the end of a balloon. "I just. Didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

He sighed, his breath visible in the chilled night air. His fingers were tingling, but he couldn't tell if that was because of cold or his nerves responding to the sheer relief. Or maybe he was holding her so tight now that he was cutting off his own circulation -- that wouldn't be good. He was about to maneuver them to a nearby stone bench that he thought might be more comfortable when a wayward snowball[1]  hit him up the side of the head. It burst into a cold mess of slush and knocked the glasses right off Alvis's face.

"Ah...!" Alvis's hand snapped to knock off the slush, shuddering at the sudden rush of icy cold. His world immediately went out-of-focus, transforming the ground at their feet into a maze of shadow and white. Half-groaning, "My glasses..." Alvis unwillingly detangled himself from Zoe and knelt to grope for his lost lenses. However, his annoyance at the first year's mischief quickly died as his fingers failed to find metal in the snow. He chuckled, half at the timing and half at himself.  "Merlin. I'm pretty pathetic, aren't I?"

He smiled up at the blur of peach, lilac, and blue that was Zoe, feeling somehow less self conscious despite the cold slush dripping down the side of his neck. "I'm sorry. That whole conversation got too heavy too quick. Let's talk about something else. Anything else. What're your plans for the holidays? Back home, I mean. Obviously." He laughed again, feeling both awkward and somehow relieved. The glasses, though he didn't realize it, where about five inches from his left hand. He still wasn't finding them.

1.	Courtesy of these guys -- blme Ted.

Zoe's breath caught in her throat. Strongest when he looked in her eyes, that's why he refused to look at her. Zoe opened her mouth to say, 'Alvis, I'm not afraid of you. You can look at me.' but bit her lip to close it because, frankly, she had had so many thoughts that night  that she'd died had anyone been able to see them. Merlin, why did the truth have to be so contradicting to what people would like to hear?!

Silence enveloped them and, for once, Zoe had no idea whether to break it or not. It didn't feel too bad. Maybe she'd just let things happen as they did, just re-

"Ee!"

As a snowball exploded on Alvis, a burst of snow hit Zoe's exposed neck. She shivered, trying to flick off the melting snow, which dripped into the neckline of the coat. "Oh for Merlin sake..." Alvis pulled away from her and Zoe looked down at him, searching in an empty spot of snow for his glasses. Zoe's faced warmed with anger at whoever had thrown that snowball, but Alvis's words and the cold liquid now sliding down her back cooled it.

Instead she laughed, picking up Alvis's glasses before flopping into the snow next to him. "There, now we're equally pathetic." Alvis's coat fell off, and Zoe shivered again. She drew close to Alvis, putting an arm around him, letting his body heat warm her. Was she trying to cuddle in the snow with him? ... Maybe. "Oh, and here's your glasses."

"Over the holidays? Well, the rest of my family is coming over to my house like each year for a Christmas dinner. And I'm spending the first week with a Hufflepuff third year named Hexy, she's coming over. And other regular Christmas stuff like decorating a tree. You?"[1]

1.	Sorry for the HUGE delay!!

Alvis laughed again, gratefully accepting the glasses when she handed them over. He hadn't expected her to plop into the snow beside him, descending in a graceful pile of skirts, lace, and frills. Any protests he might have made about ruining her dress were silenced as she snuggled close enough that he could clearly see her face even without his glasses. If she was looking for heat, she found it -- his temperature rose perceptibly as a blush crept from his collar and gradually covered his face.

He lay his glasses on his knee and returned her embrace, dragging over the abandoned coat so they'd have something to sit on besides the cold, wet snow.

"Hexy? That's an interesting name. I don't think I know her..." "Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun, though. Are their many people in your family? Are they all older than you?"

He knew of many pure-blood families whose reunions were extensive, calling together aunts and uncles and great-aunts and great-uncles....and cousins. As the only child of only children, he'd always been a bit jealous of classmates who had cousins and siblings and relations their own age. It seemed to him like built-in, easy friendships.

At the inquiry of his own plans, Alvis shrugged. "The usual holiday rituals I suppose. Like you said. Though it is our turn to host the Christmas party for the village wizards -- duties switch off every year between us and Cavendashes down the hill. They've got a nice house and we've got a bookshop. Only places in town with enough room. Not that we need a lot, it's not a particularly large village and two-thirds muggle to boot."

He shifted in an attempt to keep them both warm and comfortable. Most acutely aware of her bare arms, he cupped one of Zoe's hands in both of his own and brought it up to his lips. He blew between his palms, catching the warm breath and trying to rub the heat into her skin. On the second breath he caught her eye and shyly ducked his head. "Wouldn't want you to get too cold."