The Main Ball

Mercy was quite proud of herself. Having no way of buying herself a costume for the ball, she had turned to her older housemates for help. She was not one to ask for donations, however, so she had opted to win the favour in a game of exploding snap. Taking on three seventh years, and with only a rudimentary understanding of the game, her first foray into gambling had been an astonishing success. Not once did it cross her mind that the older Gryffindors might have simply melted in the presence of an adorable, determined first year and let her win, with the intention of buying something for her anyway.

She'd asked to be a knight, with two requirements: 1) no skirts, and 2) a cool sword. They did not disappoint. Earlier that day, they'd returned from their shopping and handed her a bag, which she accepted with glee. Now she entered the ballroom her head held high and adorned with a golden plastic crown, a sword in one hand, and a shield in the other. Her red and gold livery bore a lion rampant crest, which the young Gryffindor wore with pride.

She headed straight for a bowl of sweets near the door, and stuffed a handful in her pocket. Then she looked around the room, taking in all the Halloween decorations, and the wide range of costumes sported by many people she did not recognize. She stood on her tip toes and craned her neck, searching for a familiar face. Mimosa said she was coming.

She hadn't seen the other girl in person since they'd first met in Diagon Alley, but that didn't seem to matter much. They'd clicked almost instantly, and they'd been texting quite a bit since then. She couldn't wait to see her again, and show her around the castle! She hoped Mimosa loved exploring, because there were a lot of things to see.

Sticking a caramel in her mouth, she finally spotted a flash of brown hair that looked about the right height. With a grin, she darted off through the crowd, holding her sword aloft and charging toward her friend, skidding to a halt at the last moment, and readjusting her crown, which had almost fallen off in her excitement.

"Mimosa!" she shouted, beaming widely.

Mimosa's excitement about the castle was something Jacques had never, ever shared. Hogwarts was a dismal place. Scotland was a disgustingly drab place. But, it wasn't France, it wasn't Versailles, and it most certainly wasn't the Palace. That had been what Jacques had liked about it. If you could call his tolerance for the castle a like in any shape or form.

Jacques kept such thoughts to himself, though, knowing his Maman would not condone his ruining of Mimosa's enjoyment of the evening.

"Et là je pensais que c'était moi." Jacques muttered to himself, not nearly loud enough for the young witch to hear him. Whoever this Michelle might be, Jacques doubted that anyone worth his attention would be someone Mimosa could know.

It was only a few moments, though, before Jacques was (embarrassingly) introduced to Michelle by the Clement ward. His eyes moved from Mimosa to the witch she'd introduced to him in that moment. A woman who was clearly not a Pureblood woman, but definitely could have been a source of entertainment had he not been landed with the nine year old witch stood beside him for the evening.

"It's a pleasure making your acquaintance Heir Clement... Or is it Lord?"

A smirk touched Jacques' lips at her words, taking in her choice of words before giving a small shake of his head. "Jacques is just fine. A friend of Mimosa's is a friend of mine." Jacques replied -- the words for the benefit of the child before him, not because he had any intention of befriending the woman before him. The Roux's... well, Jacques couldn't bring enough of substance to mind to be able to place the family name, so therefore didn't try to place her in the social hierarchy.

Everyone, after all, was below a Clement.

Before a forced conversation was pushed in to life, though, Jacques' attention was taken by another small child running at them, stopping abruptly, and shouting Mimosa's name. The Clement heir managed to contain the repulsed look -- when did children become so undignified?

That wasn't something he had the answer for, though, instead he turned to Mimosa. "Looks like you have a friend, Mimosa, care to introduce me?" He said, turning away from Michelle with the message clear, he did not wish to entertain her in the slightest.

Et là je pensais que c'était moi -- And there I was thinking it was me.

Mimosa had known Jacques and Michelle would instantly like each other, how could they not? They were both amazing people and Mimosa loved them dearly so it was only reasonable that they loved each other too. Any doubt the little witch may have had as immediately erased when Jacques confirmed that any friend of little Mimosa's as a friend of his. the child's smile stretched from ear to ear as he nodded enthusiastically.

"Michelle is also from France," the little witch explained, unaware that her chaperone may already know that. "I met her when I was visiting in the summer, when i missed your birthday," the brunette added, looking up at Jacques to see if he remembered. "Nanny Dupont forgot to take me home so Michelle brought me back. She met Grandpere and we all had tea." Mimosa hadn't seen the nanny after that day, the child wondered hat had happened to the hat loving older woman.

But before she could wonder long, another shout distracted her and, to her amazement, Mercy emerged dressed as a cross between a knight and a king. Clearly there as some mix up at the costume shop as they'd given her a boy costume instead of a girl one but Mercy looked good in it!

"Mercy!" the child called out, ehr voice raised in a squeal loud enough to be heard over the crowd. As she tuned, Michelle and Jacques on either side, Mimosa was temporarily blinded by more cameras going off in their direction before the Gryffindor was bounding up to them. The young brunette hugged Mercy fiercely before turning to introduce ehr to the group.

"Mercy, please meet my friend Michelle, and Jacques Clement, he brought me here tonight because I missed his birthday. Guys, this is my really, really, really good friend, Mercy Williams. She just started Hogwarts this year and is in Gryffindor - the red house." Mimosa was quite proud she at least had that one house down. Searching for presents for a Gryffindor student had definitely helped with remembering the name.

the queue forming behind them was getting long so they group moved indoors, towards the buffet tables and the dance floor constructed to one side of the large hall. Walking with the sway of the crowd, the group moved towards the dance floor. Mimosa chattering to Mercy non stop. "Have you seen Charles? is he here? Or Dia? I think she was coming with Aunt Tess but I don't see hrr? Where is your room? Can we see it?"

It was when they were finally standing in an intimate group just off the dance floor that Mimosa noticed something else, making her look up at Jacques uncertainly before she asked the question, confusion written in her glue grey gaze. "Jacques, where's Elenore? She's coming right?"

Dominique was excited as the Halloween ball was finally here. And she had begged her mother who she knew hat she could never tell her no. The perks of being an only child. And Dom found the perfect costume. As she was going to be princess Jasmine from the Disney movie Aladdin. She knew that Mim was going to be there and she was going to finally meet Mercy. Dom only knew her from a text message. But that wasn't the best way to get to know anybody. So it was hard for her to keep all the excitement in. As tonight was going to be magical. Tonight she was going to be at Hogwarts. It was a place that she knew about in stories. Now she was going to be seeing it with her own eyes. Meaning that it was going to be something that she wouldn't forget. As she would be attending Hogwarts next year.

As she walked in the main ball. Looking around as her mouth was open because of everything around her. Trying to hold in everything she looked around the room for her friend. She knew her mother would go off as she rusted he young girl.

When Cammie heard of the halloween ball, she knew it was an opportunity to meet new people and also to make new friends. She sighed to herself and began to stand up and looked for an outfit. She took out a dress and black heels. “Not too simple and not too flashy” she thought to herself.
She put on some light makeup and braided her hair. Finally she was ready for the ball.


As she entered into the room, her breath hitched as she saw many students with beautiful dresses and suits looking amazing. She suddenly became a little bit insecure of what she was wearing. She knew classes were about to start really soon so she knew that she needs to let loose and have a little fun. She saw students dancing, chatting and most of all they were having fun. If they can have fun so can she.


Cammie being Cammie went to the food aisle and decided to eat since that’s her party trick. She looked for her favourite food nachos and guac. She knew she’s going to be here for a little while so why not just start with amazing food.
 

The last ball she'd been to - Valetine's - Sophie had to dress up fancily. She'd suffered through the whole night in discomfort, but congratulated herself at the end for her endurance. She'd long since returned the dress to the friend she'd borrowed it from, and made her promise to never lend her any dresses ever again.

When the invitation for the Halloween Ball came, Sophie instantly rejected the idea, not even giving it a second thought. There was no way she was going, especially not if she had to dress up. The only thing she had that could even qualify for a Halloween costume was her stunt riding outfit. It was a pink monstrosity, but she had no say in the matter. Mack's Tack - a well-known tack store in her county that sold everything an equestrian could possibly need - had sponsored her stunt riding competition. If she'd known that it included having to wear a disgustingly pink costume, she'd have turned down the sponsorship. There was no way she was going to show up to the Ball dressed in...that.

But when she realised that fancy dress was optional and that she didn't have to wear a costume, Sophie decided she would go. Since fancy dress was required, that meant she could show up in anything she wanted. Of course, it wasn't difficult at all to assume that most of the students would be dressing up and she would probably be the only one wearing something so casual, but she couldn't care less. Dressed in blue jeans, a white tank top layered with a long-sleeved red plaid shirt, and brown boots, she made her way to the Ball, grabbing her black cowboy hat on her way out to complete her look.

Entering the hall, she grinned wryly to herself as one glance told her that almost all the girls present were clad in dresses. At least she brought variety to the table, and no one could tell her off for being informal. She'd just say that her Halloween costume was a cowgirl. That would shut them up nicely.

She made her way to the food table, stopping along the way to greet a few of her friends. By the time she reached the table, she was ready to fill her stomach. She grabbed a plate and began to fill it with the Halloween themed food. Once she'd satiated her hunger a little, she glanced around noticing that most everybody was busy chatting or talking with somebody else except for another girl - dressed in a sensible black dress - at the food table.

Not quite knowing who she was - since most of her time was spent with Phoenix and not meeting new people - Sophie decided to introduce herself. She was definitely an older year student, but probably not a Gryffindor. "Hi, I'm Sophie!" she began after catching the girl's eye.

[[OOC: For clarity, Sophie was addressing Cammie.]]