Anna looked up at him and smiled, following him, still fighting back the nerves. She looked up at him “Bit of an odd song for me to hear.” She gave a small laugh, “It was Mom and Dad’s wedding song… One of the old family videos we use to watch all the time.”

She laughed and smiled, laying one of her hands on his shoulder, “I told you I would be.” Annaleecia smirked at him and gave a small giggle. She looked up at him and smiled weakly. She really didn’t think the night could get any better… She had him by her side and she couldn’t be happier with it. She smiled then looked down before making up her mind and looked up at him again, kissing him lightly.

… And then the music stopped, along with her pulse she was sure… She quickly pulled back, “I… I’m so sorry…” She looked down mortified with herself and quickly pulled away from him, feeling like an idiot for slipping up. She heard his question but just shook her head weakly quickly running in the opposite direction, blinking away tears. She felt like such an idiot… She knew he didn’t feel the same way and she still… She couldn’t fight a small sob but kept going in the other way, not wanting to look back to see him probably filled with disgust at what she’d done.

And he could have another wink AFTER he got off that stage, too. Some compliments as well if he was lucky.

"Untrue. It's a real number. Numbers that aren't real are, like... the square root of negative one. Or something." Alice scrunched her nose up some more in defiance, the habit still overtaking her expression. "I'm holding zero apples now, aren't I? And zero hands." And she wanted zero dances, too, but that obviously wasn't happening.

Well, to be honest, it was a stretch talking about weight gain right now. While this whole aging thing hadn't affected her appearance in terms of hair color and wrinkles, it had the seventh year dropping pound after pound. Her body had gotten far too sparse in places she was NOT meant to be sparse in... maybe she could do with the grease today? Yeah. "Eh. I'll find something better after that dance." That ONE dance.

Wholehearted approval of the Queen and Lady Antebellum selections here. Who'd picked those ones? The Aerosmith song was a bit out of her range of taste, but Alice still swayed to them slightly as she slipped out of her shoes for her dance with her best. Dead Kneazles were good, they were, and she was most definitely enjoying their first set. Until she got another look tossed her way, that was.

Make up? Really? That was the best Dora could do? "Stop making excuses for her. She's doing it again, see?" And the lioness still had no idea why. But she did find it very annoying that Vesper was content to just stand there and shoot her nasty looks while on stage, especially when Alice was clueless as to what she'd ever done to receive so much dislike from her. That was just... cowardly. And mean.

And she somehow liked the Ravenclaw's singing a lot less now.

There was still a Dora dance in order, though. Too bad the set was over. "S'no fun moving to sound system stuff. During their next set. Promise."

That reaction? Yeah, it was as amusing as Penelope thought it would be. A smirk appeared for a bit, but it quickly melted back into a genuine smile when Delilah finally spoke again. "Yeah, I am." For so many reasons. The other girl might have said it mostly because he was good-looking, but there were so, SO many other reasons that Penelope knew she was lucky to have him. He was pretty amazing.

She wasn't about to get all sappy and mushy though, even if it was Valentine's Day. It seemed Delilah had her Valentine now anyway too, so Penelope would let her be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict (Post 11561888) As they got a good way into their first set of music, Ascanius did catch a glance at his girlfriend in between all of the head banging that was not NECESSARY with drumming but did add a level of finesse that he felt they needed. It was about mid-way between a riff on his cymbals when he shot her a smile. The kind of smile that playing live was giving him. Bright and full of excitement.

Penelope sort of took turns between eating her pizza and dancing/swaying along to the rhythm of the songs, watching each band member at various times, though her eyes did linger the most on Ascanius even though he was positioned mostly behind the others. There was something about watching him seeming to get lost in his drumming that was really cool. She beamed up at him as she caught that smile he shot her way. He looked SO excited, and she was excited for him.

West and Nigel and Vesper were all really incredible too. They were really nailing these songs, even a couple she hadn't heard before but now liked quite a lot. And it was fun watching them get so into the music too. The love and passion for it really showed, y'know? Probably part of what made them so good.

And then...break time? Already? It hadn't felt like very long, but Penelope glanced down at her plate and realized she had in fact already eaten all of her pizza. Huh. Well okay. Time for more then. And maybe some lemonade or something too 'cause she was thirsty.

And then maybe a dance if Ascanius was up for it? Or it could wait until another break later if he wanted to chat with his bandmates and relax for a bit.

Hope listened as Leah chimed in with her own thoughts on the school dance debate. She just shrugged. "I guess it would get boring. However, I would think that if I ever got the chance to help plan one I would love it. It would be so much fun." She was just a little crazy when it came to planning things. Everything. It was her job. Unofficially anyway.


Hope laughed and nodded. "Agreed. It isn't really the greatest holiday out there." Hope rolled her eyes playfully at Leah. "I guess if you want to look at like that." She was just stuck in the cootie phase still. Maybe. Just the thought of dating made her palms sweat and her stomach queasy and obviously she hadn't brought anyone to the dance and no one had asked her anyway.

The band was getting ready to start up and she shifted in her seat to give them her attention. "How cool is it that they actually have their own band formed just of Hogwarts students."

"Sounds good to me," Sophie chimed, rising to her feet to give a big stretch of both arms upward, then she tugged down her jacket and stretched out her hips a bit. Rusty. Oh, Tobes had a friend - Soph smiled as the Hufflepuff came over and Tobes introduced her. "S'nice to meet you, Marigold. Cool name." She was getting deja vu, as if she'd already had this conversation once before with this girl she'd definitely seen around in classes - but her mind was foggy, and she wasn't sure if they'd ever properly met. Didn't matter, really, though.

A boy joined the Marigold girl, then, and they seemed to be dates for the night, so Sophie turned her attention back to her own sort-of-but-not-really-but-kind-of valentine, just as the band was wrapping up their first set. She gave them a long glance up on stage, clapped a bit, then smiled at Tobes and shrugged, "Yeah, s'long as you don't mind dancing to the tunes over that stereo system. Looks like the band's taking a break." She was still on her feet, though, and held out a hand expectantly to the third year. They were still gonna dance, right? "You've got moves to show me." Griiiin.

Dora shrugged. "Square root numbers might as well be zero which isn't real." See how that worked, Alice? Totally sound logic there. She deserved two dances for it. "You're making a face. And you're holding no apples, not zero apples." And she was getting more than zero dances, yes.

Finding food after the dance was okay with Dora too, since food never was a big priority of hers. She might end up grabbing a butterbeer before the night was over though.

Yes, that was the best she could do. Truth was she didn't really know why Vesper was giving Alice looks, and she also didn't care to. Didn't need to be having fights with another one of her closest friends, especially one she shared a dorm with. No thank you. "Just ignore her. Look at all the pretty boys up on stage instead." Like her boyfriend, he was looking dapper, yes? And Nigel. Dora would never be able to tell Blue enough how lucky she was to snag him. And of course Ascanius was a mighty fine looker himself, but she was never telling him that. Didn't need that over-sized ego of his being fed.

But what? Dora pouted a bit. In a totally mature way. "But I wanted to dance now. Aliiiiiiiice." She made dramatic grabby hands at her best.

When the last notes of the song faded away, Vesper shifted her emotional look into a beaming one, directing it at West...because how awesome was all this? They were doing so great and everyone looked to be enjoying themselves...but on that note, she needed to disappear for a moment. Regroup, get water...talk to Lottie...All those things.

In her excitement, the Ravenclaw did momentarily throw herself at Ascanius, giving him a HUGE hug...and then ruffling Nigel's hair before bouncing off the stage, not daring to look at West just now. Ves needed regrouping first...in the loo, maybe...without eyes on her. After that performance, they were sure to be...


A few moments later...

Reemerging with a beam back in place, she casually approached the Lottie, gesturing towards the food table. Ves was starving. "So.......?" Her face hurt from all the smiling. "How was it? Was it awful?" EEP!!!

Seeing water bottles, she snagged one. Water for her...and one would be making it's way back to the stage with her...

"Zero squared is zero. And zero is a real number, because you can take the root of it, see?" They were talking in circles, Alice's argument being more logical and her friend's being more about common sense (none of which she had, so this debate was valid). "None and zero are the same thing. They're both quantities of nothing." Like she wanted zero dances? No dances worked just as well.

And if she was an avoider, she wasn't really sure what Dora was. It was rather hard to keep the frustration with her best off her face, though Alice tried. Just another thing she shouldn't talk about. But the seventh year wasn't good as ignoring things like this, especially from people she had no affiliation with, so she was quite inclined to find out why. Planned to ask, even, when Vesper came down off that stage. Why not?

"Fine. Let's dance." At least then it'd be over with.

"Oh it was? Hmm..i approve of the song." he smiled. "To be honest i have NO idea what my mom and dad's wedding song was." he said still dancing with her and swaying to the slow song. He saw her smiling and laughing and was glad to be with her tonight. It seemed like she needed it.

When the music stopped, he felt her soft lips press against his. He was too stunned to do anything. He just stood there at a loss for words. When they broke apart, then he heard Anna speak and she apologized. She didn't need to feel sorry. But now she was even crying? He didn't think she needed to cry, "Anna wait!....." he called out but she was already running. He ran to keep up with her. He eventually caught up with her and asked, "Anna...can we at least talk?" he asked her. "Here sit down at one of the tables i will get you some water and you can compose yourself?" he suggested.

She looked up at him, then down giving a small nod to his request. She slowly sat down and tried to keep the tears away just feeling embarrassed… She’d reminded herself throughout the night not to get ahead of herself… to remember that someone like him wouldn’t want to be with someone like her… She just felt stupid for the slip up.

Annaleecia gently wiped a few tears away and tried to get herself to calm down and breath. She couldn’t let this bother her like this, but at the same time, she couldn’t help it. Stupid, stupid, stupid… That was the only word that kept running through her head. She tried to force it to stop but she wasn’t having any luck. She just couldn’t help it, she knew Kace didn’t feel the same way… She knew she didn’t stand a chance in swaying that... and when she pulled away from that kiss she just knew it was probably the most idiotic thing she could do in her young life. She let her feelings get the better of her and she knew that was wrong. She sighed, Why couldn’t I just learn my lesson when Mom and Dad kicked me out? I’m an outcast… I’m meant to be alone… Some magic school isn’t going to change that…

"No, not real." Because Dora was sticking with the tangibility argument. A faulty one, maybe. But she didn't care. She paused for a moment to consider Alice's argument before responding with a bit of finality. "Two dances." Yes, she'd won.

Dora wasn't an avoider of virtually anything except this. No. She didn't want to talk about it, and Alice wasn't going to make her. She gave her best looks that where a mix between pleading and apology. Later, if they had to, she'd talk about it. Because she was certain Alice wouldn't let this go for long.

And she wanted a happy Alice for her dance, but whatever. She supposed she should be happy with whatever she could get in this moment. Dora took her hand and gave her a few tugs closer.

Heh. Casually.
 

"Here...here..." he said giving her tissues to wipe away her tears. He just wanted to be helpful and to be honest he didn't even know how to start this conversation. He never dealt with a situation like this before. I mean it was his fault, he probably led her on and sent the wrong signals. He smiled and then took a deep breath and began,

"Look Anna...don't be upset. You did what your heart told you to do and you can't apologize for that. I understand and i kind of knew for a while that you liked me.." he grinned towards to get the awkwardness out of the air. "Plus it is probably my fault that i sent you the wrong signals. I am sorry for that." he guiltyly grinned. "It should be me the one crying. Not you..." he said giving her a tissue and wiping off a tear off her cheek. But should we let a little kiss like that stop us from having fun? What is done is done and come on i want one more dance." he demanded her.

"Very real. You're getting one." Dora might have won another dance if she was less grumpy but... not tonight.

And she wasn't going to try to make her. Alice said nothing in response, ignoring the pleading and apologetic looks. They didn't really mean anything, did they? And she didn't want to talk about it with Dora anyway. Wasn't worth it or whatever. If her friend wanted to be oblivious, she could be.

Letting herself be tugged, she tried to listen to what was on the sound system over the buzz of chattering students. 'Something' by the Beatles, it sounded like. It was one she liked... but Alice still didn't dance, so she just stood there and looked at the Ravenclaw.

She looked up at him as he spoke then shook her head, “Kace, you didn’t do or say anything wrong…” She rubbed her arms, not cold… just trying to calm herself down, “I’m not the best at hiding my feelings, so I’m not shocked you knew or anything… but I knew you didn’t feel the same way… and I just feel like such an idiot for what I did…”

She looked down and tried to blink away a few more tears, “And it’s not that I feel bad about it… just like I said, I feel stupid… I’ve never just jumped into doing something, especially if I knew the other person wasn’t there with me…” And maybe that was a little bit of a lie, considering she’d taken her sister back home without asking her permission but that was eons away from this situation. She looked up at him and gave a weak nod to his question though, still clearly embarrassed though. Anna had always wanted that first kiss to be special… and for her it was, it just kinda sucked for her that she couldn’t say it was that magical kiss that made everything change and made her life turn around… Hey she was still young after all, that’s kind of how she always pictured it happening.

"Exactly! Oui! It is always the pastries, 'ow ever did we trust zhem?" Justine said, laughing along with the Ravenclaw boy, finding it nearly impossible to keep a straight face, partly because of how silly they were being, but partly because Andrew's laughter was seriously infectious.
Justine was delighted when Andrew not only went along with her ploy of accusing the macaroons, but even continued on to admonish them with the same enthusiasm and silliness that she had herself accosted them with. It was really refreshing to see someone who didn't care about being seen as unusual or strange.

"Well said Andrew, I zhink, per'aps, in this case, it was warranted, possibly even necessary!" Justine said, her dark eyes narrowing in distrust as she gazed upon the offending macaroons (though she had eaten many, there were still quite a few left on her plate, which seemed extraordinary to the young woman). "I do believe, zhey will need punishment, of zee 'ighest order, what do you suggest?" Justine asked, raising up the plate for Andrew so that he might deliver the verdict.

And now he was complimenting her accent again, telling her it was gorgeous, that it made her sound unique and special, and what was he getting at? And why was she blushing? She didn't blush, she wasn't that sort of girl, blushing and flirting and... Oh for Circe's sake, she was flirting, she hadn't realized it, but now that she actually thought it through, her coy smiling, playing with her hair, and blushing? Yep, she was flirting, what on earth had come over her. She suddenly felt very self-conscious, a feeling as foreign and unfamiliar to her as having a tail would feel. Just relax, stop acting so weird. Justine thought, slightly admonishing herself. "You really are too kind Andrew, I cannot possibly accept such praise," Justine said, smiling softly up at the young man, suddenly uncertain as to what she should do with her limbs. "You 'ave a very nice accent as well, w'ere are you from?" the French girl asked, quite aware that she had barely asked the young man any questions about himself.

When Andrew laughed, she knew immediately she must have said something wrong, her feeling was confirmed when the boy playfully corrected her by using the correct term. Justine laughed at her error, her hand reaching up to her mouth in a slightly embarrassed gesture. "Oui, zat is wat I meant, why, wat did I say?" Justine said archly, with a haughty look that did not reach her green eyes, which practically sparkled with mischief.

Justine's eyes were as wide as dinner plates as she listened to the young man, his parent spoke five languages? And she had thought she was accomplished for speaking two. "Five? Une, deux, trois, quatre, cinq? My goodness, but zhey are very talented, i see now why you 'ave such a good ear," Justine exclaimed, quite impressed by his parents knowledge and evident love of learning. They seemed like very clever and fascinating people, much like their son. "Obviously, you inherited zeir intelligence and love of learning," Justine said, speaking quite sincerely. Not to mention rather cute, no really, where had that thought come from? Justine wasn't sure, but that didn't stop her from placing the blame on those delicious, but obviously evil macaroons.

"Pensez-vous? Vous m'avez vraiment impressionné maintenant." Justine said, speaking in her native French to give the boy a very small, playful test.

"West likes to practice a lot. So, we were more than prepared...but it's different in front of a crowd." The adrenaline was still coursing through her body; her hands shaking slightly with the excitement. Oh, yes. The excitement had yet to wear off...Vesper was convinced she could perform everyday for the remainder of her life and be okay with that. As long as this feeling never went away...

...and Lottie was telling her she was talented. Well, that meant a lot coming from the Hufflepuff girl. "I just do my best." Even with all the confidence in the world, Vesper would never be completely comfortable with compliments about her talent. She was funny like that. "I think we're all better together...than we would be alone." Individually, you know?

...and gosh, that got a massive blush...A blush, but also a wide grin. She'd hoped people thought so. West had told her as much...but BLUSH..."Shhhh..." Vesper glanced around, slightly alarmed. Had anyone heard that? It wasn't surprising being asked about the flowers, though. Ves did wonder when she'd get asked about them. Her face relaxed. "....I spent about...three hours sketching these out on my skin, charmed them to stay in case sweating happened..." Like those henna tattoos she'd gotten before. Ves lifted her right arm to show the ones scattered there "There's a charm on them, too, to make them flash from red to pink...I needed something to fit the party theme..."

Valentine's day was stoopid. Her mind wouldn't be changed.....which reminded her..."Where's Tag? at?" Lottie was seeing Tag, right? Why wasn't he here with her? "Does he think Valentine's day is lame, too?"

It really had been a last ditch effort to try and save the situation from completely falling apart, but Lily figure dif her simple request hadn’t worked, Austin could go hide. She wasn’t sure what else she could do. She’d tried to explain her earlier irritation, which had waned a little as the band had continued playing their set. Obviously it didn’t matter if her boyfriend had interrupted her conversation when said conversation had ended. She was still curious what he would say if she actually did get invited to jam with West sometime, but then she knew it was innocent. Just music, and no different from any of the other times she’d played for people, aside from the fact nobody else had really been playing along with her before. Singing didn’t count. She rarely sang for people anyway, although somehow that rule had sort of been broken a little since she’d sang for Alec and Abbi since she’d been at Hogwarts. Not really anyone else though, so it still counted as a general rule. A general rule that she’d started to realize had counted toward Austin, and that seemed weird. He’d sang for her after all.

Maybe that manners thing went both ways, but she knew she’d still had a point. He shouldn’t alienate his dorm mates, if only because he’d still have to live with them for another year after this term. She might not have really talked much to her own dorm mates, but she was open to it if they’d wanted to talk to her. “You just need to find a way to show them that you aren’t a bad guy. I know you aren’t, but sometimes people don’t want to spend the time digging,” she replied, even as he had seemed to relax a little as they’d started sort of dancing. She still didn’t think he needed to necessarily talk to them. Just acknowledge they existed. The rest of the discussion hadn’t really needed to be responded to, especially as the Aerosmith song had finished and then Vesper had started singing the Lady Antebellum song. Instead of talking, she’d just moved closer to Austin until she could rest her head on his shoulder, and she’d stayed that way until the song had finished and West had announced they were taking a break between sets. At that point, she’d lifted her head again and stepped back a little. “What do you want to do now?”

yes we were here all along shh
 

Dora was okay with the one dance too, or at least she was until the dance actually started and Alice was acting very much indifferent to the dancing or anything really, more so than before. She looked back at her best for a moment before dropping her hand and deflating a bit.

"I don't want the dance anymore."

"Thanks, Jer." Delilah said with a bright grin but she couldn't help but stare at him for a minute. He seemed.. weird. And blushy. OH. Why, exactly? Was it because of her? ... Wait, no. Why would be blushing because of HER? Yeah, no. The girl mentally shook her head.

"Um.. are you okay?" Because now he was staring right back at her. She frowned, wondering if she had something on her face.



Delilah just EYED Lottie but remained quiet. Now wasn't the time.. later. Dels had a few questions for her dorm-mate. "Yeah, I decided to come just for the band as well." And it totally turned out to be worth it. 'Cause The dead Kneazles were freaking brilliant. All of them. Really. Lottie knew she didn't have a Valentine..



Dancing lessons. Yes, Louis. What a waste! Thankfully for her, she kind of knew some basic dancing already so those lessons never really enhanced her dancing skills.. except that she got to dance with the pretty Nigel, which was quite enjoyable.

OKAY. So, they were going to be danciiiiiing. She blushed as Lou took her hand, hoping no one would notice that. Especially Lottie. Delilah placed the other hand on his shoulder and swayed to the song, smiling up at the boy. This was funnnn. Yeah. Wait, was she still blushing?

... And soon, it was break time. Sigh. Didn't they JUST start dancing? She pulled away, although her hand was still in his and she wasn't letting go. For now. "I'm hungry. Want to grab something to eat?"

After regrouping with his band, Ascanius' field of vision momentarily tore away from his bandmates and into the audience to look for a few faces. So when Vesper threw herself at Ascanius and pressed him into a tight hug, he was not only rushed at on the side...he was basically blindsided.

WOAH. Vesper was hugging him. He just awkwardly stood there until she let him go and moved onto Nigel. Gigs did weird things to all of them. He blamed the rush.



As soon as he was all done talking to his band and passing 'round congrats to their first set, Ascanius jumped down from the stage and beelined straight for the brunette in the front who he had seen throwing her hair 'round. Slipping his arms around her from behind, he set his chin on her shoulder and smirked, "Hey, nice moves."

He was gonna stay she moved to the drum beat, but that was just his ego.

And the truth.

Anyway, he didn't have long, but he wanted her opinion. It was important.



From behind Pen, he threw a glance at Alice and beamed. She looked a little sour, but he was on a performance high. Didn't notice.

Sorta sad Austily/Conversation
 

Dancing right now only quelled the frustrations that he was feeling from everything that had just gone on, Austin knew that without a question about it that Lily was right and honestly it would have been a pretty ridiculous idea to try to argue with logic. Let alone logic coming from his girlfriend. But without explaining the reason why he found it difficult to try to be open to people he didn’t exactly know, all of the logic in the world wouldn’t have made much sense. “The question though is how to do that, I mean the only reason that you know I’m not a bad guy is because we’ve talked a lot and plus I haven’t done anything to prove otherwise. Not that I plan on it either since you deserve not to be dealing with bad people.” he said, only continuing to dance which kept from any chance of getting annoyed by things. Sure all of this could have been avoided had he at least said hi to people but seeing as that was a challenge in of itself; wouldn’t really be happening anytime soon without finding some way which wouldn’t have ended up in a total disaster. Why did this have to be so confusing? It couldn’t have been straightforward like music was.

Not a single word was said as they kept dancing together, but there was nothing that needed to be said since right now practically had been as close to perfect as was humanly possible; he didn’t want to think about anything else that ruined the moment. Well until the band had taken a break for the time being which he clearly understood since there was no way that anyone could keep playing songs without needing a rest. “Well, why don’t we get something to eat and just talk some more? I think that there’s a lot I could tell you, some that can wait until later but at least it’s not silence.” he commented before moving his hands from her waist and simply taking her hand in one of his for now. There was nothing else that he had wanted to do, since leaving here wasn’t an option.