A WELCOMING OF ALL. || SW thread

[CJ KENNEDY]

All was well. CJ was finally back at Hogwarts and ready to begin a long and what he hoped to be exciting school year. But then Dumbledore announced a dance. "Of course," CJ murmed under his breath. Of all the things in the world it was a dance. Why not a dueling tournament or something? Dances were girly and he wasn't planning on being apart of it. "No way im going to this,"CJ whispered to his friend.

However, when CJ looked around, it semmed lots of girls now were smiling and chatting amongst themselves. A thought occured to CJ, finally a chance to see the girls without long black robes on. That couldn't be too bad. "On second thought, I better go get my bow tie."

It was five minutes until eight and CJ was slowly unpacking and readying his room for the school year. His friend busted through the door, all suited up, and said,"I've been looking for you everywhere, where have you been?" "Go on ahead, save some girls for me," CJ replied simply. He smiled and his friend slowly left the room. CJ knew you never wanted to be the first people at a dance, so 8:15 felt like a nice time to go in.

He unpacked his bag and finally got around to putting on his suit. He tied the tie the way his uncle showed him and carefully put on his jacket. "Showtime," he said simply and made his way to Grand Hall.

It was 8:14 and CJ was right on time as he made his way down the steps. He heard the music playing loudly, saw the lights flashing, and groups laughing and smiling making their way in the dance. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. He slowly made his way into the hall and quickly looked around. "Wow."

[ron]

Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. The word rang through with every step Ron took to the Great Hall. At Dumbledore’s announcement, all of the girls went completely psycho and ran to change. Ron went to the common room just for a way to waste time. He combed through his hair, but did not see the point of changing his outfit. He briefly thought about wearing the dress robes that Fred and George bought him. Seeing that no one else wore dress robes, Ron just decided to go in his everyday attire. Who was he trying to impress? Hermione. Her name pushed through to the front of his mind and even just the thought made his ears turn a little red. He wondered if she would dress up again. She looked brilliant last year at the Yule Ball. Too bad she had that Krum attached to her arm the entire night. Not that Ron would have asked her to dance. If he asked her to dance, she would know how he felt and then she would probably laugh at him. There was no way Ron could deal with that. The thought of it made him sick. Maybe he should stay in the common room all night. Dumbledore said attendance was not mandatory. But it seemed like everyone was going. He would have to spend the entire night alone. Not letting himself worry again, Ron walked straight out of the dormitory, leaving Harry to finish dressing alone.

Ron’s thought process as he walked was this: if he went, he could spend the night with Hermione. If he kept talking to her all night, no other guy could dance with her. It was a perfect plan. If he stayed in the common room, some other smarmy guy could talk to her all night and dance with her all night and… No, Ron did not want to think like that. He had to go if only to keep Hermione safe. He was only going for her. Not that he would tell anyone that. They would think the wrong thing. People always thought that Ron liked Hermione. He did not fancy Hermione. He was just being a good friend, Ron thought as he leaned against the wall at the dance. He watched people come to the dance, but Hermione’s bushy hair was nowhere in sight. He kept looking, wondering if maybe she would do something to it again and he wouldn’t recognize her. He hoped she kept her hair looking normal. He liked the curls. When she straightened her hair last year, it was very pretty, but it wasn’t Hermione. Again, something he would never tell anyone.

But where the bloody hell was she?

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione despised dances. She, of course, did not have a date due to the fact that the dance was impromptu, and Hermione was not often the first one asked to them. She sighed on her way out, instantly deciding that she would spend her evening reading a nice book by the fireplace, while everyone else went and wasted their time. Hermione honestly did not see the point of having a dance for no apparent reason. For international magic cooperation, yes, but just because they felt like it, no. Hermione was going to pass on that one. She did not have a date, so she would be alone while all of her friends were off with their dates, and Hermione did not really favour that type of dance. She could understand if she had had a date, and that would not happen in the short time between the announcement and the dance. Who would ask her? Ron? Yeah, that would go over well, just like it had at the last dance. She scoffed at the idea. She would never get asked by Ron, he did not have feelings for her.

She grabbed a book from her dormitory room, and sat down on the couch, beginning to read. The chaos of people getting ready and chatting about the dance was so loud that Hermione could not possibly focus on her reading, and she rolled her eyes. Queue an unexpected visit from Mrs. Weasley to Ginny, and the gossip about that, and Hermione had had enough of the commotion. No more would she sit down in the Common Room. Hermione took a frustrated look around, not spotting Ron or Harry, and then stomped up to her dormitory room. nearly suffocating from the array of perfumes and products other girls were using. She weaved through the clusters of girls getting ready and entered her own dormitory room. Ginny was already gone, probably down with Michael Corner, having a good time. Hermione smiled a bit at the thought of her female best friend having a good time with her boyfriend. Hermione sat on her bed, and noticed her white dress peeking out of her wardrobe, as though somebody wanted her to go to the dance. Hermione sighed. She would probably be in misery by now, because Ron would be off with a very pretty girl, much prettier than Hermione, dancing and having a wonderful night while Hermione moped and plotted the demise of the Ron's girl in her head. Again, Hermione sighed, looking at the picture of her parents on her bedside table. They always told her they loved her no matter what she looked like or what she was, and Hermione valued that. They would have pushed her to go to the dance and socialize at least, though. Hermione mumbled under her breath about how unfair it was to be pushed into going to a dance.

The white dress still sat there, taunting her to go. Finally, she gave up the war with herself not to go, and slipped on the dress, slipping on a pair of off white shoes to match, and put a small black bow in the side of her long brown curls. She tidied up her curls, not putting the hair potion in like last year, but instead keeping her curls but without the frayed, frizzy addition. Hermione put a little bit of non stick lip gloss on, keeping her makeup to a minimal but applying a bit. Might as well look decent while going to a dance she doesn't want to attend. She finally looked at herself in the mirror, and went down the stairs, preparing herself for the dance. She breathed in and out once outside of the doors of the dance, looking around inside. Hermione could not tell if she had been spotted yet, so she stepped inside, looking around at the faces. Everyone was so beautiful, she felt not so pretty in comparison, but was not ashamed of her appearance. She just hoped she could find someone she knew well, and soon, before she left.

(HERMIONE'S DRESS)

[/justify]

[ron]

When Hermione walked in, Ron decided that it was absolutely worth the wait. The best part was that she looked completely alone. That did not mean that some smarmy guy did not already ask her for a first dance, but if she was alone now, she might still be dateless. He abandoned his post at the wall that was starting to get warm from his body heat for standing against it for so long. He pushed a rather indignant second year out of the way to get closer to Hermione. She still had not seen him, so he rushed over to her side, falling into place like a puppy dog. He glared at any nearby men, whether or not they were even looking at Hermione. Nobody would get near Hermione tonight unless he let them. Harry was safe. Ron’s brothers were safe, too. And annoying little midgets like Colin and his weird brother. Other than that, nobody. Not even Neville was safe. He tried asking Hermione last year. You could never trust the dorky little kids. They sometimes had backbones that surprised people.

“Hermione!” Ron said loudly, unnecessarily, since he was next to her. He realized now that if he was supposed to keep her attention all night without dancing with her then he would have to think of things to talk about. Why did he not think of that earlier? He could have used the waiting time a bit more wisely. He could have things to talk about, but right now he had nothing, so he blurted the first thing that came to his mind, “Where did you get that?” Ron cared absolutely nothing about clothes. He realized that he never had good ones because he was poor, but that was all he knew about them. Now she would probably spend the entire night talking about how she bought the dress in Diagon Alley. No, wait, this was Hermione. She wasn’t like Padma who kept talking about her dress last year (well, that’s what Ron thought she talked about. He blocked her out after a couple of minutes. It took him an hour to realize she left.) That was one of the great things about Hermione. She did not talk for ages about clothes or make-up or other girly things. Well, she talked about house elves too much. Hey, there was a good topic idea. If they ran out of things to talk about, he could mention how great house elves were and how mistreated they were, and he would have her talking all night. He would not even have to pay attention.

[tonks]

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=style,background-image: url('http://i53.tinypic.com/wb98wn.jpg');,true] ROLLING IN THE DEEP ! Nymphadora kept to the sides of the Great Hall. She kept her coat on but it was unbutton, revealing her dress. Perhaps she should button it up. She hadn't decided yet. As the minutes passed by the Great Hall was becoming more crowded as the students began to arrive with their friends and dates. You could see the different styles and types of people as they walked in. The guys weren't exactly wearing dress robes. Some wore suits and with some you could tell that they put an outfit that worked together. As for the girls, the dresses varied per person. Some dress were longer than others. Some more elegant while others were a bit simpler. Some dresses were flashier than some that were more subtle. Then there were some dresses that were possibly a bit too revealing. She sighed. It must be the fashion of the time. She didn't exactly follow fashion. Nymphadora only wore what she liked and that was that. After a while though she looked to see who else was coming through the door. It just so happened that at that moment Harry was coming in with a girl on his shoulder. She was a pretty one but Nymphadora didn't know who she was. She wondered who she was? What did catch her eye was what Harry was wearing on his head. It amused Nymphadora for she actually owned one of those hats too. It was a muggle type hat that she had thought was rather fascinating. She was trying to remember what it was called. It started with the letter f. It was the tip of her tongue. Ahhh, now she remembered. It was called a fedora. She should have thought about wearing hers. That would have been something extra to her outfit. He made it work though. Not long after that she saw Ron coming in, she wouldn't have been surprised if Ron had decided not to come but considering how many people were there she had figured he just didn't want to be left out. Then Hermione came in with a beautiful dress on. Hermione was stunning but she was a beautiful girl after all. Nymphadora sighed. So far things were quiet, technically speaking. She only hoped that it would stay like that the rest of the night. Of course she wanted the kids to have fun but that doesn't mean that they had to go all crazy. In all honesty though, there were only two people she was really worried about. A set of ginger haired twins. She eyed them curiously. She smiled and decided that she was going to talk to them for a moment. She started walking over to where the twi10ns were with their friends. One of them being Angelina Johnson. "Evening. You look beautiful Angelina." she said softly with a smile towards Angelina. Then she looked the boys. "Hello boys. Have anything interesting planned for the dance?" 489 WORDS , TAG:Open , OUTFIT , ANY NOTES KEEP IT SHORT!

table by california dreaming @ caution 2.0

[ALICIA SPINNET]

Could she have been more embarassed by her appearance? It was entirely possible, but not something that Alicia wanted to think about at the moment. It was bad enough that she had convinced herself to stand there in that ridiculous dress, an outfit that probably made her look out of place and completely different from normal. And not in a good way either. She could hardly imagine herself in dresses that were not the same shade of grey as her school uniform, nor in anything other then the Quidditch kit that marked her as a member of the Gryffindor House team. And yet there she was, standing just outside the Great Hall as she debated whether to actually enter or just run back to the common room like nothing had ever happened. And of course, leave it to Angelina to make her entrance right at that moment. "Hey," she smiled, momentarily forgetting her rather dressy state. Angelina's compliment caused the colour to return to her cheeks, flushing from embarassment. "Not bad for a Quidditch rat, huh?" she asked in a weak attempt at a joke.

A hand automatically lifted to pat her hair gently, reassuring her that it was still in place at the back of her head in the loops she had set almost an hour before. Satisfied that it hadn't fallen into shambles yet, she tried taking a few deep breathes in order to steady her nerves. Was this really so bad, she wondered? The idea of people seeing her in a dress? Only when she looked up again and spotted two familiar red-heads did she change her mind and fight the urge to flee. Was this really how she wanted Fred and George to see her? As a girl? She mentally kicked herself. Well of course she was a girl, they couldn't be that dense, she told herself. But....ugh, why was this so complicated?

She was spared from having to answer herself when another person wandered over to say hello, a woman she was fairly certain was in the Order with Fred and George's parents. Being a muggleborn witch, she knew precious little of the Order, but was as loyal to it as she could possibly be while still a stupid. Giving the woman a small smile, she glanced back at the twins and rolled her eyes a little. Oh yes, they most definitely had something planned for tonight.

[/justify][/size]

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione looked around, stepping in a bit further as she noticed how beautiful everyone was. She noticed both George and Fred Weasley, and Alicia Spinnet (who, she must admit, Hermione had hardly ever seen in a dress). Looking around further, Hermione saw Harry, talking to a girl, but she couldn't see because a rather tall Seventh Year was blocking Hermione's view. No sight of Ron. I might as well sneak out of here while I can. Hermione thought to herself, thinking she could probably get some silence in the Common Room by now. Before Hermione could step away from her spot, though, Ron joined her. She smiled, and looked at his outfit, and noted it was the same one he had been wearing earlier. Hermione suddenly felt overdressed. Very overdressed. He proceeded to yell her name, causing her to jump away slightly in alarm and a lot of people to look their way. But she didn't feel like yelling back for once, or causing a fight. He had rushed to her side. He didn't have some dense girl who would bore him with talk Ron did not want to listen to. Some daft girl who would date him only because he was close to Harry. She could not help but to smile a bit. "Hello Ronald." She said, laughing a bit.

Hermione blushed a bit when Ron asked her where she got her dress. She knew then that she must have been overdressed. But by spotting Ginny and others out of the corner of her eyes, she realized others wore dresses much like hers, more dressy than some of the others had decided. "Is my dress not the right type for this dance? I can go change." Hermione asked rather insecurely, looking around and crossing her arms under her chest in a vulnerable manner, suddenly feeling like all eyes were on her. It was like last year, except now, she didn't like the attention. She hated the attention, except from Ron. The way he had practically ran to her side, and had glared everywhere else. She felt safe by him, but she felt vulnerable to the judging eyes of everyone else. Perhaps for one night, that night, they could focus on themselves and not worrying about Harry, because it seemed that he was having fun of his own with a girl. Perhaps they could have a night together of talking and dancing without worrying. Harry was fine, they were fine. But she did not know what Ron was thinking. "You look nice, Ron." She spoke to him. Yes, it was the outfit he had been seen wearing earlier, but he looked good in it. She may as well compliment him while she was on good terms with him.

[ron]

This was how friendship should be, Ron thought. If he could just always get her to smile and laugh when she said hello to him, life would be perfect. Unfortunately, he knew better than that. He knew that they would fight soon, but not tonight. Tonight was a special night and Ron refused to start a petty fight. He would keep his temper in check. He had to. If he was mean, she would go find some other guy to spend the night with, and Ron could not stand that. No, he would do whatever it took to calm down if he had to. Why was he getting so nervous though? They had not said one mean thing to each other yet. True, they had not really made it past ‘hello’ yet, but they were getting there.

Oh, well, that did not take long to say the wrong thing at all. Ron’s ears turned red as he realized that he made Hermione self-conscious, but the best part was, she was not mad. Perhaps she promised herself that she would not fight either. But even if she wasn’t mad, he did not want her to feel bad about herself, “No,” Ron said, his voice very quiet. He had his eyes trained on her shoes and his ears turned more red, “No, you look…. Pretty. Don’t change.” Oh yeah, now was the time the floor could just eat him because he was pretty sure he could never look at Hermione again. He didn’t want to tell her that she looked pretty, but how could he let her think she was dressed wrong? When she complimented his outfit, for a moment he forgot about his embarrassment, looked at Hermione and laughed, “I’m wearing what I wore today. I was going to wear my new dress robes,” Ron emphasized the new so that Hermione knew that in no way would he ever wore those frilly ones again. He had slowly burned them last year. It felt great. “But then I saw Harry and he wasn’t wearing dress robes, so I figured no one else was. Actually, I don’t know what Harry’s wearing. So to be safe, I just wore what I wore to class.” Now Ron was the girl talking about her clothes. But he felt a little self-conscious, too. Maybe he should have changed. But, looking around (still glaring, in case any guys got any ideas), he could tell that the guys had no idea what they were doing. There was such a mismatch on the appropriate level of dress. Since Hogwarts made them dress up in nice clothes for class, he figured he was somewhere acceptable. No one seemed to be yelling at any rate.

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Ron seriously just called her pretty? Hermione's blush crept across her face, she could feel her cheeks get heated and then cool down as the blush vanished. Ron did not often call Hermione pretty - in fact, he never had at all. So, the fact that he had pulled her in a direction she liked. She smiled to him, glad the blush was gone and hoping Ron nor anyone else had not caught it. "Thank you, Ron. Did you come here with a date? I don't want to keep you if you've got a girl waiting." Hermione assured him, hoping he'd say he didn't have a date but in full knowledge that if he did, she would have to suck it up and move on alone. It would be terribly difficult, and Hermione would take some time to get over it, but she would move on. It seemed a bit obvious that Hermione did not have a date to go with, seeing as nobody had come up to claim her presence other than Ron himself, and she had not excused herself to meet somebody else. She wasn't really looking for a date; Ron sort of came up and started talking. If people wanted to think they were each other's date, they could. Hermione wasn't going to bother telling every person the situation of how they came to be together at the dance. It was delightful having Ron's company without a fight, relieving even.

Ron mentioned the new robes he had for the dance, and Hermione remembered back to the frightening ones he'd worn to the Yule Ball the year before. She stifled a giggle thinking about them and how silly he had looked. At least he'd tried to look fashionably suited, and had worn them to the Ball. Hermione would have at least tried to Transfigure them into better looking robes. Mentioning Harry, Hermione remembered spotting him talking to a girl off in another area of the Great Hall. "You shouldn't change, you look fine in what you're wearing, better than the robes you were wearing at the Yule Ball last year." Hermione mentioned, unable to control what she'd just said. She laughed lightly after she spoke, thinking again of the frilly, faded salmon color robes. Hermione hoped dearly that Ron would not take offense to what she had said, and that he would maybe joke back and/or laugh. "There's Harry. In the top hat, talking to a girl. I don't know her name, but they've been talking since i've been here." Hermione said, pointing to where they were in an other part of the room. In that process of pointing, she'd unintentionally moved closer to Ron to show where Harry was. She hadn't realized it until she looked at Ron again. He smelled good. She moved away, back to her original position, hoping Ron had not noticed. Hermione was now nervous, trembling slightly.

[harryjamespotter]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background-image: url(http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u62/King_Giana/Harry%20Potter/harry_potter_bgbw.jpg); -moz-border-radius: 250px; border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; border: 0px solid #414141] A Welcoming of All Harry grinned fetchingly as Astoria giggled and took his arm. "Bought it at some shop in Diagon Alley. The closest thing to something modern in the entire store, let me tell you," Harry informed Astoria pleasantly as he laid his hand over hers. For some reason, behaving like a gentleman with Astoria came naturally - there was none of that intense awkwardness he had felt with Parvati, nor was there any of that horrified aching feeling he generally got around Cho. It wasn't like dealing with Hermione or Ginny either, but Harry felt it worked well enough. Leading Astoria toward the Great Hall, a bemused feeling overcame Harry as he wondered mildly if this was how the Marauders had felt before some sort of grand prank. There was no fear about repercussions for arriving with a Slytherin in Harry's mind; he knew they would come, but he was still perfectly content with arriving with Astoria. In a way, he felt it was like taking a stand. Slytherin had a reputation that Harry had come to feel was not justly deserved. The more he had reflected on the house and how he himself could have fit within it, Harry had come to find a sense of respect for Slytherin as it should be, as well as a feeling of indignation for those Slytherins that upheld what the house truly stood for who were looked down upon because of the actions of others who had also been, or currently were, members of that house. Meeting with Astoria had felt like a proof of Harry's beliefs about Slytherin, and he was actually rather proud to consider her a friend. Escorting her to the ball felt like making it completely clear that if he, Harry Potter, did not hate all Slytherins despite how many had wronged him in the past, perhaps others should give the house a bit of a chance as well. That, and Harry secretly wanted to admire the looks on Ron and Hermione's faces when he arrived. A bit of his darker sense of humor that he worked so hard to hide rearing its ugly head, really. At the door, Harry noticed Tonks and grinned in greeting before he picked out Ron and Hermione in the crowd and with a comforting wink to Astoria, led the way over to them. "Hey guys," Harry greeted cheerfully, as though there was nothing odd whatsoever occurring. "Enjoying the ball thus far?" Tag: Astoria/Ron/Hermione/Open Outfit

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[ron]

Did Ron have a date? The idea was laughable. No, he did not have a date. How could he? He only found out about the dance an hour ago, “No, no date for me.” He said with a forced laugh, “I’m pretty sure all of the girls would refuse to be my date after last year anyway.” Ron probably should have felt worse about the way he treated Padma, but… he didn’t. Good thing he went with Padma and not Parvati. At least he didn’t see Padma day in and out like Harry had to see his failed date. Oh well, Ron was pretty sure the girls had found other dates that night. At least, he thought they did. After his fight with Hermione, he really did not remember too much after that. He remembered what she said, about next time asking her before someone else could. The thought made Ron’s ears turn red. Was he supposed to ask her to dance? No, he would not do that.

“Do you have a date?” Ron asked, looking around to see if any other guy was approaching her. He did not see anyone, but that did not mean some other guy could show up at any moment. He just hoped it wasn’t Neville. He did not want to lose to Neville of all people. When Hermione mentioned his dress robes, he gave a half-smile. His pride was just a little bit hurt, as he knew he looked ridiculous in those robes, but he could not afford any better. However, he refused to fight today, so he would just let the comment go. He was saved from having to respond by Hermione talking about Harry and his date. He looked to see if he recognized her, but as he figured, he did not know anyone Hermione did not know. She was better with names than he was. He shrugged, but watched as they approached. Had they heard Hermione talk about them?

Smiling bravely, as though they were just not talking about him, Ron enthusiastically greeted Harry, “Hey, Harry!” He really needed to learn to use his indoor voice. That was the second time he greeted someone too loudly, “Oh yeah, having a great time.” His voice at least was a normal volume, “How about you?” He looked at the girl in confusion since he did not recognize her. “Harry, how did you manage to find a date? We only knew about this an hour ago? Did Dumbledore tell you about it privately?”

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Ron's laugh was strained between his sentences. It made Hermione wonder what alternate feelings he felt in response to her question. She knew fully well that Ron was not the most confident of boys at Hogwarts, but he would not be so down on himself about not having a date for a silly little ball, would he? But then he proved her wrong by saying that no girl would go with him as his date. Hermione was a tad surprised; usually Ron didn't say that sort of thing to Hermione, unless they were fighting. For once they weren't fighting, and Hermione was now still feeling bad about Ron. "I'm sure a lot of girls would love to have you as your date. I mean, you've got to be a much better date than some other boys would be." Hermione blurted out. She then cursed herself in her mind, thinking she should not have said so much. Ron might have noticed. She had to control her speech before she went too far and told him she liked him. Then the dance would take a turn for the worst for Hermione. She would probably have to transfer schools from the humiliation Ron and the rest of their friends put her through. It would be like First Year all over again, being talked about behind her back and crying all day in the bathroom stalls.

She shook the horrid thought and memories away as Ron asked her if she had a date. Hermione almost laughed at him. Hermione, have a date to a ball that was announced an hour previous? As if Ron would even ask that, even think that Hermione would be asked. "No, no, I didn't actually plan on coming in the first place. So I didn't get asked. Figured I might find someone interesting to talk to here anyways." Hermione confessed, and smiled to him. Ron may as well take it as a compliment while the two were on good terms. Hermione didn't often give out compliments unless someone deserved it; she cut Ron some slack for all the fights she had started in the past and was trying to keep a light peace between them, keeping conversations happy and airy and not serious and angry. Harry and his date began to approach Ron and Hermione right after Hermione had dropped her pointing hand to her side, and thanked the heavens she was so lucky. It was rude to point, that was common sense. Hermione had not been caught in the act by the people pointing. But the small blush rolled onto her face and then away moments later. "Hello Harry." greeted Hermione (less loudly than Ron, he seemed to have difficulty with a normal volume level), smiling cautiously to the girl who was Harry's date. Hermione was not being a snob; she just simply did not know the girl from a crowd of people and was wary of what the girl's motives were for being with Harry.

A lot of girls pursued Harry for the fact that he was "The Chosen One" or because of the fame that had been thrust upon him, or both. Hermione was always nervous about the girls who entered Harry's life other than the ones she knew well and were friends with. But Hermione kept the looks to herself, unlike Ron, who was looking at her pointedly in confusion. Hermione fought from rolling her eyes, trying to keep the peace between herself and Ron, but feeling as though she may fail. He just had to mention Dumbledore possibly mentioning the dance to Harry privately. "Ron." Hermione said incredulously, with a hint of warning in her tone. She made up for her tone by speaking to the girl. "Sorry about him. I'm Hermione Grange, I don't believe we've met." Hermione introduced herself to be kind, but had alterior motives. She wanted to know who the girl was.

[lavender]

“Now remember, fashionably late is totally in fashion again!” Lav reminded her best friend Pav as the pair clicked and clacked their way to the Great Hall on their party heels, at least fifteen minutes past the forty-five minute deadline. “Not that it ever works on McGonagall, but it’s more of a party thing anyway!” The pair paused dramatically outside the Great Hall doors and Lavender gave Parvati a once over. This was their last chance to tell the other about any bras sticking out of their dresses, or lettuce in their teeth! Or worse, lipstick on their teeth! “You’re gorgeous! This is going to be so much fun!” Lavender was practically jumping up and down in excitement. Not a very good idea on towering heels, so she managed to refrain. Barely. The blonde Gryffindor had decided to straighten her long curls. A curtain of blonde fell down her back, held back on one side with a flower clip borrowed from Parvati. Her makeup was simple, there hadn’t been enough time for much else after doing her hair. But it worked with her dress. In keeping with a simple theme, Lavender only had on a necklace to accessorize. It was multi-coloured, with tones from her dress, as well as some blues, greens, and pink. It wouldn’t be a signature Lavender outfit without something pink!

Taking a deep breath, Lavender led the way into the Great Hall, already scanning for any eligible bachelors. She was determined that this dance would be absolutely amazing for the infamous Gryffindor pair. While nothing could live up to the fun Lav had had at the Yule Ball, this dance had to be better than the Yule Ball had been for Parvati. Therefore, they had to avoid Harry Potter the Terrible Date. Even if he was with Ron Weasley the Hilarious. Lavender would have quite liked to chat with him, he always made her laugh. But no! He was surrounded by Harry and Hermione, like always, and some girl Lavender was certain was a Slytherin. Instead, Lav made a beeline for her friend CJ, certain Pav would follow.

“CJ! Hi! Isn’t this gorgeous! Who do you think decorated? I bet it was Flitwick! He has amazing taste you know. So, have you got a date? We’re going stag, forty-five minutes is not enough time to find a date and get ready! I don’t know what Dumbledore was thinking. It’s easy for him, with his crazy purple dress robes and everything, but we have to do our hair!” Lavender could certainly talk once she got going.

Outfit and necklace!
Notes: Aly said I could introduce Parvati too, since they're pretty much inseparable! (:

[PARVATI PATIL]

Parvati nodded with Lavender’s advice, “Right. And we’re not even that late, so we didn’t miss anything important. No drama will happen for at least another hour when guys get bored with their dates and try to move on to cuter girls who went stag,” She paused, thinking about how that sounded, “But not us, because we’ll find someone to dance with as soon as we get there. I’m sure Dean and Seamus are waiting for us. We probably should have waited a minute so they could have asked us, but that’s OK. We needed the time to look this absolutely gorgeous. They’ll totally appreciate it.” The foursome was an odd bunch. Lavender and Seamus had a sort of thing last year following the Yule Ball because that lucky duck did not have to wait until a few days before until the worst date ever asked her to go. They never became official because obviously Seamus was way too immature for that sort of thing. He was fourteen at the time but acted (and looked!) much younger. Shortly after that, Parvati and Lavender decided it would be absolutely perfect if best friends married best friends so they could all be best friends, so Parvati started liking Dean. She never told him, but she giggled around him a lot and touched his arm whenever she could. Obviously he had to know what that meant. It was only a matter of time that both of the boys realized they had to ask out the girls. An impromptu dance was the perfect place for it to happen.

“You too!” Parvati said as she gave her best friend a very thorough look-over. Sure, it may look a little bit not straight, but Parvati refused to let her friend make a fool of herself because she was afraid to see if Lavender was about to pop out of her top. After making sure that Lavender looked perfect, Parvati looked at herself. She had done this in the mirror several times already, but she was quite pleased with the rush job she did. She had three dresses saved in case this sort of thing happened and she had decided on her aquamarine dress. It was simply stunning. It had a v-neck that did not cut down too low since she was still at school and she was only 15, so she was not yet ready to show off her not completely finished chest. Right above her stomach material of the same colour wound completely around, tightening the dress to give her an hourglass figure. It gave a bit of difficulty when she had to breathe, but that was the price of beauty. Besides, she read that sounding breathless was sexy. Her dress aired out down to past her knees so that if she twirled, it wound spin around her. Obviously Parvati would never do that though because twirling in a dress was so immature. Well, she only did it once in front of the mirror, and she did it very quickly. On her feet, Parvati wore nude heels. Luckily, she had spent a good day practicing walking in them over the summer or she would be a mess.

Parvati’s hair had been done by Lavender, very well, in a mess bun. Loose tendrils curled at the nape of her neck. It gave off the look like she had just thrown this outfit together, but looked too great to not be impressive. Her makeup was very light, just an aquamarine eyeshadow with just a hint of glitter. Her lips were a very girly pink. Her blush gave the appearance that someone had just told a slightly inappropriate joke that she was afraid to laugh at. In essence, for only having about an hour, Parvati was extremely happy with her outfit.

The girls walked in together and looked in separate directions. Lavender saw Harry and Ron, also known as the worst dates ever. Parvati saw Seamus and Dean. She was about to pull Lavender over to talk to them when she realized they were chatting up other girls! Those jerks! Parvati looked on horror and was about say something to Lavender, before she realized the girl already left. Looking around, she spotted her friend walking over to CJ. Well, at least he looked single. Maybe they could share him for a night. Oh great. This was night was turning into one as bad as the Yule Ball. Sighing, Parvati put on a fake smile for CJ, trying to pretend as if she were enjoying the night, “Hi, CJ,” Parvati finally said when Lavender took a moment to take a breath.

Outfit: www.lechateau.com/style/browse/shopByLooksDetail.jsp?productId=prod230097&categoryId=cat220125

[CJ KENNEDY]

Putting his hands in his pockets, CJ exhaled slowly and looked around. Dances were madness, kids everywhere and loud music. You could barely hear yourself think. He scanned the floor for a familiar face, but it seemed everyone was occupied. However, before he had time to think of a game plan, Lavender Brown approached him.

The first think CJ noticed was her necklace and she looked very comely in her orange dress. It distracted CJ at first so when he finally began listening it seemed she was already on the second question. He wanted to ask what she had said but now she was on question number three and he had already missed the first two. When she finished, CJ hesitated for a second but decided on,"You look very nice tonight, Lavender."

She seemed cheery and the type of girl who liked dances, so he quickly added,"Oh yeah, dances are great." He wasn't sure if that answered any of her questions, but he preferred to let the girls talk. Usually talking just gets him into trouble.

Parvati then appeared behind Lavender and he braced his self for another round of questions. But, she simply said hi and CJ breathed easy. "Hi Parvati, I like your dress," CJ replied simply. Lights flashed, and CJ quickly glanced at the stage. A song was playing he didn't recognize. Avoiding more questions, CJ quickly asked,"So, you guys want to get a drink or something?"