10:30 PM

Rowena's hair had started to fall out early into the evening, and there were now numerous strands of curly red hair framing her face. For the last several minutes she'd been watching the dancers. The older students and the adults looked so dignified; well, at least the ones that weren't wearing stupid dresses. She didn't understand how anyone could think those short ones were appropriate!

She also couldn't see very much, being shorter than most of the people there. Maybe she should have asked Mum for heels. There was no way she'd find anyone to dance with at this rate.

Then she caught sight of one of her house-and class-mates. "Yadira," she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. "Do you know anyone to dance with?" What else did you do with parties and fancy dresses, after all?

Yadira was not having fun at the ball. First, she was wearing the silliest dress she could imagine. Her mother thought she looked darling in it. Yadira did not share the feelings. It was a white, tea-length ball gown with a gold sash that tied in a big bow in the back.

I look like a flower girl, she thought darkly as she smoothed out the satin of her skirt.

She stood awkwardly to the side of the dance floor and looked around. This was a ball and there was supposed to be dancing. Tonight, though, it seemed mostly like the first year boys were not interested at all. She heaved a sigh. It was supposed to be the boy’s job to ask the girl to dance.

Suddenly she heard her name. Turning around, she spotted Rowena Knight, one of her housemates and a fellow first year. She had a pretty dress; it looked like it belonged in a castle. Yadira grimaced as Rowena asked about dancing.

We can’t be the only ones who actually want to dance, she thought.

“Not off the top of my head,” she said, grinning as she thought up a little plan, her new quest forming in her mind. “But I have an idea as to how we could find someone.”

She turned around, not waiting for Rowena’s reply and began scanning the crowd for two likely looking targets. If the boys were not going to ask them to dance, they might as well ask the boys.

So far, the Yule Ball had been pretty uneventful. There had been plenty of couples dancing ... and ... kissing. That wasn't a thought that Michael wanted to concentrate on so far. As it was, he was simply a first year so far. But, that was what was typically happening all around him in the Great Hall.

In his dark red dress robes, Mike had occasionally been eating throughout the night to pass the time at the Gryffindor table. He had seen other first years running around a bit before, but chose not to partake in their shenanigans at the time. Yet, now, he was getting awfully bored just sitting around and not doing anything. He could swear that this ball was intentionally planned for the first years to have nothing to do.

With a sigh, Mike got up from his seat and decided to make a quick walk around the room. Perhaps he could find a few other first years to be with. Since he was shorter than probably most of the people in the room, it was very hard for him to look around in any particular direction. Shrugging, he continued to walk around a bit. Within a few moments, he spotted two Gryffindor first year girls talking to each other. Walking up to them, he smiled. "Hey Rowena, Yadira," he greeted both girls loudly to make sure they heard him, "What's going on?" He was generally curious, considering that Yadira was looking around.

"Ideas are good." Rowena just followed Yadira's look around the room with a little smile. At least, some ideas. Her parents were there after all, unlike those of most of the other students. And they looked so proper and important that Rowena would hate to embarrass them.

It was good to have another housemate show up, and she smiled at Michael when he appeared. "Hello, Michael! I don't know, though. Maybe dancing?" There was something hopeful in her voice. He looked respectable in his dress robes.

"You enjoying yourself?" It seemed the right sort of question to ask, though she didn't see how anyone could not be having fun with dancing and pretty clothes and food everywhere.

Yadira smiled predatorily as Michael walked up to her and Rowena. He would do nicely. He looked like a proper gentleman in his dress robes, particularly standing next to Rowena.  If anything they should be dancing already, but maybe, just maybe, Michael needed a little push in the right direction. 
“Oh, nothing is happening yet.” She looked at the dance floor and sighed dramatically. “It’s kind of been a slow night. I think…” She leaned in close to Michael to whisper in his ear. “You should ask Rowena to dance.”

When he had walked up to Rowena and Yadira, Michael was completely oblivious to the fact that they were looking for dancing partners. Of course, he did notice all the couples on the actual dance floor dancing. But, he didn't connect their searching to their desire to dance. One thing that he did notice was that both Rowena and Yadira looked nice in their dresses, which was a complete change from the uniforms that they were typically required to wear.

Rowena's mention of possibly dancing passed right over his head, completely missing the hopefulness in her voice. Instead, he nodded, focusing on answering the question poised to him. "Yes. It seems pretty lively so far," he added. He didn't mention that he just spent a majority of the time still munching away at food. Oh the benefits of an active metabolism!

Michael nodded to Yadira's sentiment. "Indeed." He had just been thinking the same thing. The night had been pretty slow, and it seemed as if the time passed even slower than normal. Was that even possible? He had absolutely no idea. But, he didn't have too much time to dwell on the idea, as Yadira whispered to him that he should ask Rowena to dance. "Dance?" he whispered back to Yadira, sounding completely surprised like it was some foreign word. But, he knew that he certainly wasn't going to stand there whispering all night.

Without giving the idea another thought, Michael took a quick glance at the dancing crowd near them. "Well, I'm sure that the night would pick up," he exclaimed before turning his attention momentarily to Rowena, "So, Rowena, Would you like to dance?"

"I would love to, thank you." Rowena nodded fervently at Michael's question, causing a bit more of her hair to escape its bonds. It never quite behaved, no matter what she did. Perhaps she needed to invent a nice hair-restraining potion!

But not on the night of the Yule Ball. That would just be silly.

She felt just a little bit of guilt, and turned to look at Yadira, then back to Michael. "But I'd hate to leave Yadira alone." Her forehead wrinkled as she thought. This was difficult. And very confusing. Why would anyone not want to dance? They were all dressed so nicely!

"Maybe you should dance with her first?" Rowena turned and looked out into the crowds, trying to find anyone else who might be willing to dance with them.

Yadira blinked and looked blankly at Rowena for a moment. "No... He asked you first."

Sometimes she didn't know what went on in Rowena's head, but it must be interesting.  Another slow song hand just begun, so she gently reached to take Michael's hand and place it in Rowena's. With a nod she turned around and picked her drink off of the table and took a long sip from it.

"I am going to find someone else so that we can all dance." She smiled and made a little shooing motion to her friends. "I've got it covered."

Michael smiled and nodded to Rowena's acceptance of his offer to dance. That was certainly a lot easier than what he thought it would be! It made him wonder why exactly the older students seemed to run around, fretting over who to go to the ball with. Nevertheless, now wasn't the time to start considering those thoughts, especially at the ball.

He was just about to start walking onto the dance floor, when he noticed that Rowena was looking at Yadira and then back at him. She didn't want to leave Yadira alone, and quite frankly he agreed with her. But, Rowena suggested that maybe he should dance with Yadira first. Yadira then seemed to insist that he had asked Rowena first.

Bah, girls were definitely confusing! No wonder the older years seemed to have so much trouble...

In all honesty, it hadn't even occurred on his mind about the potential conflict that Yadira had no one to dance with. It was after all her idea that he ask Rowena to dance. In his own crazy mess of a mind, he completely forgot about Yadira!

"By all means, I don't mind dancing with both of you," he added. But, at the same time? That would be very awkward. This was going to be a little bit difficult...

"You can dance with Yadira next!" Rowena smiled at the both of them. The problem was solved. She twirled a little, showing off her dress, and smiled up at Michael. "Or later. I don't think I'm supposed to dance anyone for too long, it's rude to...."

She couldn't quite remember the word-ah, there. "To monopolize someone. Though I'm looking forward to it!" Another smile. She was excited, it was just all confusing! And complicated. She offered Michael her hand.

The floor looked so pretty.

It seemed like Rowena had a quick answer to their little dilemma. Mike looked over at her as she stated that he could dance with Yadira next. It seemed like such an easy solution to their complex problem. It should have been one that he thought of, but he wasn't thinking that far in advance.

"Alright, that is fine by me," he responded with a smile. Then, nobody would get left out. He smiled and nodded when Rowena said that she was looking forward to dancing with him. "Likewise, so am I." After all, they were at a dance, and it was about time that he actually danced with someone.

Extending out his own hand, Mike held Rowena's hand as he led her to the dance floor.

Rowena was doing her best to remember all her lessons as she took Michael's hand and followed him out to dance. At first, her steps were slow, cautious as she attempted to feel out the movements. Her skirt was heavy enough to make it all feel a little odd. And to hide her feet if she stepped just a little wrong.

The sleeves were heavy too, and she lifted her arms slightly. The fur on them felt warm and soft against her skin. "Do you think they'll have a lot of balls, while we're at school? I've never been to one before." She smiled and tossed her head a little, to move the inevitable loose hair out of her eyes.

"Next time I want a red dress, though." It was a good color on her, on top of being the House color as well. Matched her hair.

As they began dancing, Michael couldn't help but to watch the movements of his feet. He attempted to recall the movements as they slowly danced at first. There were just so many steps, and he believed that maybe watching at first would keep his movements a little bit better. Besides, he didn't want to accidentally step on Rowena's feet. He just had to be careful on how he moved. 

After gaining enough confidence that he wasn't about to do any suddenly stupid movements, Mike finally looked up from the floor. "I think this ball is for the tournament going on, so who knows if there would be a lot of them. I haven't been to one either," he shrugged with his response. The ball apparently was to be such an important event. Look at all of the important people that he only heard of around the room.

He smiled as she admitted to wanting a red dress for the next one. "I'm sure you'll look just as amazing as you currently do in any dress." She did look nice in her current dress, and could only likely assume that she would look nice in a red one as well. Besides, wasn't he supposed to compliment a girl in this situation anyway? He assumed that it would only be right to do so.

Rowena was feeling more comfortable now, throwing little flourishes into her movements, and smiling a bit more even when her hair fell into her face. "It's a grand tradition of the Tournament, I think. But it's nice, and I even get to see my parents dance." She looked over to see if she could catch sight of them amid the crowds, and nearly missed her step.

She caught herself, though, and looked back at Michael. "Thanks! I'm trying not to get anything on this one. Mum isn't about at school to help me fix it." This brought on a bit of a blush, as she remembered all the times she'd come in from the garden scuffed and dirty and with tears in her clothes. The compliments about her dress didn't hurt the blushing either, in truth.

"And," she leaned in closer, "I'm dreadful at trying to fix them myself."

Michael smiled and nodded to Rowena's statement of the the ball being a tradition of the Tournament. "They'll probably have reasons to have balls at other times as well. Although, you probably couldn't watch your parents dance all the time," he added with a slight chuckle. It was suffice to say that he had no idea how often Rowena's parents danced or how often their family did anything fun together.

Ah yes, the mention of dirty clothes, an occurrence that young children couldn't keep from happening all the time. In his years before coming to Hogwarts, there were plenty of times when he would come home with his clothes all dirty. Even now at Hogwarts, he couldn't keep himself looking pristine and clean all the time.

"You've been successful on that so far, and I'll certainly try not to cause anything to get on it," he gave her a playful smile. "You're doing well with the spells in class, and fixing a dress shouldn't be too much different. Besides, there's plenty of people here who could probably fix it."