Spring Formal ((Main Thread))

Twas the night before the spring equinox, and every corridor in Hogwarts had been filled with excitement and anxiety as the annual Spring Formal finally arrived. Many students spent the day down in Hogsmeade preparing for the big night while others worried that it’d end up a disaster just like the pre-season dance. What if the horde of toads returned to invade the Great Hall? What if someone else ended up being dramatically outed over the PA system?

Although Camille had been working hard to make sure this would be a night to remember, there were many concerns in the back of her mind. She was afraid that the community was beginning to lose confidence in her, which meant this was her one shot to prove them all wrong. If both students and staff were happy, the Board of Governors and parents would be happy, which would let her be happy. This needed to go well and be the best night Hogwarts has ever had!

As usual, the Great Hall’s ceiling showed off the starry, starry sky that cloaked the castle. All around the hall were arrays of blooming gargantuan flowers that let off a pleasing aroma, similarly to what one would find from Amortentia. The lighting was dim with streaks of purples, blues, and pinks illuminating the glittery, starlike floor that glowed with every footstep. Around where the usual podium and staff table would be was a stage for  a live band to perform all sorts of popular songs both wizarding and muggle. In another corner of the Great Hall was a caricature artist and opposite of the artist was a professional photographer. To her, it was a guaranteed safe and fun way for the students to have fun mementos to remember the night.

Stepping to the podium, Camille tested the microphone with a wide smile. Then, she waved and looked over at all of the students, chaperones, guests, and governors as she began her speech, "Welcome everyone to the annual Hogwarts Spring Formal!" Despite the starry theme, there were plenty of flowers to be seen within the crowd of couples. "The past few weeks and months have been nothing short of eventful, but our Hogwarts spirit allowed us to get through it without being knocked down! As we near the end of term, finals, examinations, and the summer holiday, take a moment to congratulate yourself and your peers for all of the progress made in all of your years here! Tonight is all about fun and rewarding all of you for your hard work! Have fun, be safe, be kind!"

As soon as the speech ended, she waved her wand and a disco ball dropped down to commence a long night of dancing and debauchery. The live band started to perform a lively cover of Weird Sisters “Do The Hippogriff”.

Although there was already a professional photographer in the Great Hall, Aquila wasn't deterred. She skipped around in her somewhat gaudy, colorful glittery dress holding tightly onto her camera. One thing that the professional photographer wasn't doing was capturing all of her peers in the moment. Her photos were completely candid!

Spying one of her classmates nearby, she approached them with a wide grin. "Hi! Look at the camera and say 'spring formal'!"

As usual, Reed was chaperoning the formal to make sure the kids at least kept the PDA to a tolerable amount and ensure the punch didn't immediately get spiked. His suit was the same one he wore when he attended formals years ago as a Hogwarts student himself; a simple grey, striped suit with a yellow tie. It was certainly more flattering to his form than the gym uniform he had to contend with...

"Hey! Don't dance like that!" he yelled out towards a couple who was dancing too intimately for comfort. Reed pulled out his wand and cast a spell to separate them by a few feet; he was in charge, and those students had to know that he's the boss!

Knowing that he would likely be the only boy not wearing a suit, it had taken a lot of willpower to remain dressed the way he was. The inner robe was a very pale, duck egg blue colour; folded over and tied at the waist with a long, decorative sash and matched the long, silk over jacket which was hand painted with flowers and blossoms in a deeper shade of blue. It was very elaborate, and very noticeable amongst the plainer suits and dress robes, although he may have blended more with the women in this instance.

Standing with Atticus and playing the waiting game, Lien couldn't quite look anyone in the face. He was looking just below everyone else's gaze, his cheeks as pink as the blossoms that adorned his jacket. Why did he let Atticus bully him into this? British wizards certainly didn't understand it.

Discordia walked into the Great Hall wearing one of her typical ensembles: a long, lacy Victorian-styled dress with bell sleeves and a corset to make it appear slightly more formal than usual. Her hair draped over her eyes almost menacingly as she took in all of the decorations that adorned the Great Hall. Her sisters were bound to look beautiful, but her eyes were on the fruit skewers at the refreshment table.

Smiling slightly, she walked over to the table and examined each of the skewers before picking one up. She began to feast on the treat, strawberry juice running down her chin.

He wanted to smother him with kisses. He'd hardly said a word since they'd entered the hall, but he kept side glancing over, thinking he was far prettier than a lot of the girls tonight. Lien was beautiful, like an oil painting, but he wasn't his partner. He was James's.

Atticus realised he shouldn't be thinking about Lien or James: he'd invited Delilah from America. She should be the person he gives his undivided attention to tonight. He just hoped she was okay with sharing Cherry's room to get ready, as he'd asked Cherry the night before, and she seemed okay with it. Perhaps he'd just unwittingly pissed both of them off!

Macmillan was attending the formal with Meredith, but he had no real sense of being a good date. He should've escorted and accompanied her into the Great Hall, but instead he wound up being near his friends to join their wait.

"Hey, bros," he greeted, cleaning up rather nicely. His suit was decently sharp, but that was all of twat's doing. Indigo didn't trust him to pick a nice suit, so he wasn't completely comfortable with what he was wearing. "It's stuffy in here."

The night had barely begun and he was already taking off his jacket.

@Lien Chang @Atticus Nott

Jeneva had been looking forward to this night since the end of last term; it was finally the spring formal, the most important time of every school year. She was, unfortunately, still dateless, but it wasn't going to stop her from being the most stunning girl to grace the corridors of Hogwarts that night! The entire day had been focused on getting ready for the formal. She began her morning by finally ingesting the potion Dahlia made that could stop her period for an entire 24 hours. Lucky her, it was working wonderfully! No worries about blood or bloat, check. Nails done? Check. Hair done? Check. Makeup? Check. She was ready to have the spotlight all on her!

Strutting into the Great Hall, Jeneva brushed her fingers against her flower-adorned beehive styled hair as the back of her purple, floral high-low dress dragged against the floor. She felt euphoric, on top of the world as she definitely was going to make Alayna Nott look haggard in comparison! Now she just had to catch the attention of some cute boys for dances!

Unlike the last event, Ptolemy was going to be on his very best behaviour tonight: no tricks, no games, no ploys. He had Alayna at his arm and looked extraordinarily proud about it, holding his head aloft to the air as he walked with her across the floor. They had come such a long way together since the beginning of the year, and there was so much more to anticipate, but all he wished to focus on tonight was her: her happiness, her spotlight.

Loosening his arm and taking her hand, he kissed the back of it and smiled at her. "Would you dance with me, Alayna?"

@Alayna Nott

As both the Head Boy and Girl were preoccupied, with each other, Jerome had volunteered to be on duty for tonight to help the Professors. It was just the beginning, but he had a feeling something more than touchy-feely dancing was on the agenda (and he hadn't the heart, like Jackson, to tell couples off for that).

Standing beside the refreshments in his pale grey suit, he looked out to some of his peers. Alayna looked nice. Chang was wearing a dress. Ptolemy wasn't.

He sighed, then looked at Jeneva Avery, who he certainly shouldn't be looking at. She seemed to have taken the theme quite literally by covering herself in flowers, and head-to-foot it seemed quite a lot. Still, she was carrying it off well. He hated to think it, but she was.

@Jeneva Avery

As he was an out-of-school guest, James had to take a special portkey over to Hogwarts. Why couldn't he have just apparated and gone through the secret passage under Honeydukes? Sure, it would've taken longer, but he could use the exercise as he was going to have the sprog to run after soon enough. A part of him considered wearing a hanfu, just like his bloke, but he chose to just wear a dressier version of what he wore to the previous dance... He didn't want to worry about struggling in the bathroom; he had his priorities.

He entered the Great Hall anxiously; Merlin, he was about to be a father, how is he supposed to dance when Evelyn could go into labor at any moment now? Grimacing, his features relaxed as his eyes wandered upon Lien and Atticus. Macmillan was there too. They both looked so handsome...

Approaching them, James immediately pulled Lien into a hug and gave him a sloppy kiss. "Mmm, how's me sexy bloke?"

This was supposed to be a fun night, he had to set his worries about fatherhood aside for now.

@Lien Chang

"Hello!"

He was glad Macmillan showed up to break the silence between he and Lien. For some reason it was awkward, and now it wouldn't be!

"Whoa, you look really go-- ah wait, don't do that!" He'd only gone and taken off the sodding jacket after fifteen seconds of being in there. "Awwh." He still looked good, of course. "You should let Indigo bully you into wearing those kinds of suits more often!"

@Hyacinth Macmillan

Spotting Estrada looking at her, Jeneva gave him a stank face.

Ugh, as if that mudblood would be staring at her!

@Jerome Estrada

Macmillan chuckled, throwing his jacket elsewhere in the Great Hall. "Nah, bro. I don't know how the twat does it. The moment I put on a sweater, it feels like my skin's ready to melt off!"

Flexing his muscles, he unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and shoved them up his arms. There, much better. He was feeling more like himself now that he was dressed slightly more casual.

"I think I'm gonna hit the pool later."

@Atticus Nott

Millicent stood within the Great Hall observing her surroundings and the decorations Professor Voclain had put up; they weren't awful, but they didn't match up to just how grand the Great Hall was when she attended Hogwarts. Some bars were just too hard to exceed... She couldn't hold it against her, but it definitely dampened her already-poor judgment. Her children, and others she's known over the years, deserved something more ornate than what was being presented to them.

Crossing her arms, she shook her head at that professor's poor attempt at being a figure of authority. They let anybody become a professor these days...

When he saw James approaching from the corner of his eye, his head whipped away from Macmillan and went straight to him. Shit - he looked so good in that suit, and the way his lips smacked against Lien's was already making him feel warmer than what the temperature actually was. He hadn't heard what Macmillan had said, but he should have. This was their night, after all.

... the pool later...

Atticus mentally shook himself from the trance. Macmillan had said something so Macmillan-ish, it relieved all the tension by making him laugh. "Please tell me you've got your swimming shorts on underneath your trousers too."

@Hyacinth Macmillan @James Potter

Damn - she'd caught him looking. Although she gave him a look that suggested he was a dropped, used napkin; Jerome gave her a quick smile before diverting his attention elsewhere.

Who was that large woman looking at Professor Voclain as though she was an insect? He'd never seen her before. Perhaps she was one of the Professor's wives? But which one? Riddle? Hmm... she didn't remotely resemble Mackenzie, Meredith or any of his other daughters, though...

@Jeneva Avery @Cousin Skeeter

"Bro, I'm always prepared for a good swim."

It didn't matter the time of year or day; he was pool-ready. And once summer arrived, he'd be surf-ready all-year-round. It. Was. Going. To. Be. RAD.

Macmillan had already forgotten about the fact that he was on a date.

Looking over at James and Lien, Macmillan whispered to Atticus, "I think bro just remembered there's more to life than books!"

@Atticus Nott

It was difficult not to attend the formal when the school was abuzz for the entire day, and all anyone seemed to ask was whether he'd be in attendance. So, deciding that he needn't be there for the duration, Hector made an appearance and was slightly wary that he had. The Great Hall looked good enough, he supposed, but it was nothing compared to the spectacular enchantments that were put on for balls their family had attended. For Christmas, there had been a snowglobe at the centre of the room, which transported them to a charming, snowy scene as though it were inside an elaborate postcard.

This was nothing...

And with the company of lessers...

As he helped himself to one of the beverages on offer, which happened to be a fairly pleasant elderflower, he noticed his Mother amongst the crowd. His lips paused at the second take of the drink. Taking another in his hand, he approached her. "Would you like a drink, Mother?" he said pleasantly, holding the flute to her.

@Cousin Skeeter

She had been looking to see where her children were and was pleasantly surprised to see her eldest, Hector, come up to her. At least one of her children were carrying themselves well... Millicent nodded, answering, "That would be nice. Thank you, Hector." She lightly grabbed the flute and took a small sip of it.

"Have you and your siblings been keeping up on your studies?" Although she already attended the recent professor's conference to check on her children's progress, Millicent was taking advantage of attending in her husband's place to see how her children were doing before the Easter holiday.

@Hector Burke

Alayna was pleased to be attending the formal with Ptolemy. She loved him more than anything. She held tighter onto his arm when he asked her to dance, "I'd love to." She knew even in her pregnancy, he would be able to guide her perfectly along the floor. Her dress was perfect for ballroom dancing as well the way it flowed and swished around her. 

@Ptolemy Rowle

Meredith wasn't too pleased that Macmillan didn't meet her at the common room to escort her into the dance. It wasn't very gentlemanly of him. She walked into the ball room and managed to find macmillan in the crowd. She walked over to him and stood behind him, "Macmillan." 

@Hyacinth Macmillan

Pandora entered the ball and looked around at who was already there. She saw Alayna with Ptolemy, of course. Meredith riddle was with Hyacinth Macmillan. Odd pairing, but acceptable. She approached the punch bowl and poured herself a glass

As he chatted with Atticus, his thoughts about how cool and refreshing the pool would feel after being in such a restrictive, unbreathable suit were interrupted by his er..? Date. Right, he had a date for the night.

Macmillan turned his attention over to Meredith and smiled slightly, trying his best to be more gentlemanly. He was always a bit too casual for one of his standing. "Hey, Meredith. I got you this."

It was a standard corsage: white flowers and a blue ribbon to represent Ravenclaw. Simple enough.

He should've worn jeans; it would feel more comfortable than these slacks.

@Meredith Riddle

Winter would've preferred to haunt around Hogsmeade or elsewhere in Britain to find a willing victim to feast on for the night, but she instead was stuck being one of the professor chaperones for the formal. It did give her a chance to keep an eye on her brothers and sneak them drinks although she wouldn't quite mind witnessing a good bloodbath... It'd been a while since she had plenty to feed off of at once.

Stirring her Bloody Mary glass, she eyed the Great Hall and the people in it. Her eyes locked onto her colleague, Professor Jackson, who looked as if he had plenty of blood to go around. She sipped her cocktail and slithered her way through the crowd until she was in the shadows.