The Junior Magizoology New Year's Ball (Mimosa)

The gift has turned out to be something that Nikolai struggled to remain mad at Mimosa's lack of enthusiasm for their activities in his dorm room. It had been an hour after Mimosa had left, a very frustrated, cold shower later that had brought the boy back before the flat envelope the witch had given him. The room still shone like the underwater world Mimosa had created as Nikolai brought the envelope to himself and carefully undid the seal.

What lay inside, Nikolai would never have guessed at. It had left him thoroughly perplexed as he sat looking at the highly expensive parchment dumbfounded.

It has made it impossible therefore not to seek the witch out the next morning on the way to breakfast. Mimosa had tried to ignore him, but after carefully extracting the witch from the group, Nikolai had apologised to the witch for his actions the night before, and for what he'd said.

That hadn't been quite enough, and the princess that was Mimosa Harrington-Clement had been ready to tell him.

Nikolai had cut in before she could, though, denoting she was the most important witch in the castle to him, and that he really couldn't stand her being mad with him. After all, Nikolai had said, playing with the witch's simplicity, how would he manage without her showing him how to do everything? That lie had been enough to bring out the Mimosa he'd been banking on coming out to play. The witch had turned to her torrent of self appreciation, and the rest, as they always said, was history. The duo had returned to their friends hand in hand, and the matter had been forgotten.

Until early December when Mimosa had started to insist they decided what they would be wearing to the event. Nikolai had not known how to reply to that statement having not considered taking Mimosa with him. As the witch drawled on about the 'in' colour, and what she would look good in, Nikolai had found himself wondering.

Did he need Mimosa there?

Would it help his case if he turned up with the Clement Ward?

Was his own research enough to get his place?

Did money really make that much of a difference?

The agonising had continued for weeks, only being pushed to a firmer conclusion upon the meal in Hogsmeade with all the Slytherins present. Jacques Clement had arrived with presents for everyone, denoting he'd been told well in advance. The question of why Nikolai was stealing 'mon chouchou' on New Year's Eve had shown that perhaps the man wanted Nikolai to assure him Mimosa could stay at the Palace, but Nikolai hadn't thought before opening his mouth.

"I can't go to a Ball without a date," the boy had said with confidence, watching the older man's eyes move ever so subtly over his person. The finality of the conversation had been that whatever made Mimosa happy made him happy. Not rolling his eyes had been Nikolai's greatest achievement in that moment.

Christmas had come and passed with the usual celebrations in the Kessler household, though perhaps with a little less joy than normal. The elephant still hung in the room, and Nikolai found it almost impossible to be alone in the house for longer than five minutes without one family member or another checking up on him, or asking him to do something.

By the time New Year's Eve arrived, Nikolai was massively in need of getting away from it all. Thankfully the event of the Junior Magizoology Society started at eight in London. The Corinthia hotel had been an eye opener for Nikolai upon his Google search, and had made his eyes water at the price of staying for an evening. A twin room had been booked for Mimosa and himself to get ready in, and Nikolai had arrived just after seven to find the room bustling with people. Mimosa's people.

And Jacques.

Nikolai had been ushered off in to an adjoining room to be readied, his hair pulled this way and that until it sat far too neatly atop his head than was normal. An array of colognes had been offered to the boy, and an air of arrogance had met the features of the man aiding him when Nikolai had declined them all with the claim of not wearing such things. From there, Nikolai had been pushed in to a heavily tailored suit that had been made, he could only guess, to compliment Mimosa's dress with the coloured tie and pocket square.

The boy had been prodded and pulled and generously ruffled by the time they were done, but the image in the mirror would never collude such crimes. In the mirror stood a young man who looked much too tidy, and much too rich to be called Nikolak Kessler. The cufflinks on his wrist glinted too much in the light to suggest he could afford them, and the suit fit too perfectly to look like the other shop bought suits he owned.

The reflection was not his own.

Nikolai had turned towards the door at that point to collect Mimosa and head down to the party.

"She ees not ready!" The much too soft, and far too French voice of the man beside him informed, placing his hand across Nikolai to stop him from moving forth. "We wait 'ere."

With thar, Nikolai resigned himself to waiting, chewing nervously on his lip.

The world would always have to wait for Mimosa Harrington-Clement.

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After the impossibly weird interaction between Mimosa and Squid Boy on the night of his birthday, the young witch had seriously considered going home for a little while. Why not? People got to go home for Christmas, so why couldn't she be allowed to go home a month early? For that night, the castle had felt almost suffocatingly small, and she couldn't get rid of the feeling of Squid Boy's hands on her body. It had not been a nice feeling.

But then she had texted her Jacques who had suggested she find Miss Azalea. Mimosa didn't know why she hadn't told him what had happened. She told her Jacques everything. But somehow, somehow deep inside her, the brunette felt as if she would let him down by telling him. Like when she lost at Quidditch (through no fault of her own) and he found out in the stands. This felt worse than losing at Quidditch because at least that was never her fault. This time, there were only two people involved.

So it must be Squid Boy's, the child decided as she walked to Miss Azalea's rooms. The Potions substitute had been very sweet and inviting, but then again she was probably happy to see Mimosa at her doorstep. Who wouldn't be? The Slytherin didn't really want to tell her anything so she just said she couldn't sleep and hereafter, the two had stayed up talking. Miss Azalea was cool for not sending her back to the common room, she even let Mimosa sleep in her bed when the young witch grew too tired and helped her sneak back up to the common room in the early hours of the morning.

Breakfast found Mimosa refreshed but firmly avoiding Squid Boy and his stupid boy-ness. With the sole exception of her Jacques, Mimosa was learning that boys were all stupid and she didn't have time for any of them. Fortunately for Squid Boy, he completely agreed, begging for her to show him how to do things properly and the generous witch let him back into her circle out of pity more than anything else. He really was helpless on his own. Mimosa would just have to resign herself to making him her long term project.

Which started with teaching him how to be properly socialize.

The all Slytheirn pre-Christmas Christmas dinner had been a great idea, and inviting Jacques had just been the icing on top. Miss Azalea had organised the whole thing, booked a nice place in Hogsmade and invited all the Slytherins who wished to attend. Her mood had soured slightly at seeing Lilac Capulet among those invited but when Mimosa had appeared at the top of the stairs in her ensemble, no one had been looking at stupid Lilac anyway. Who wore yellow to a Slytherin party? Stupid people, that's who!

Mimosa and Squid Boy had left the castle hand in hand, walking to the carriages moved by invisible horses. He had even helped up to her seat before taking his, almost as if he was trying to be less himself. And on any other day, his mannerisms would have been noted and even looked favorably upon but not tonight. For tonight, as the door to the restaurant opened to reveal Jacques Clement already there, Mimosa's entire face lit up and she began her usual sprint, meeting the Frenchman in the middle as he picked her up and spun her around, coat and all.

For the rest of the evening, the teenager had no eyes, ears or patience for anyone else. Catching up with Jacques and telling stories about Jacques, barely even glancing at her "date" for the night. It was alright though, Squid Boy would know she couldn't sit with or talk to anyone else if her Jacques was around. In the periphery, the brunette was aware the two boys had covered some but she wasn't sure about what. not that it mastered, of course.

That evening on the way back to the castle, if Squid Boy was a little off, she didn't notice. There were plenty of people to hold her hand and she wanted to walk with Miss Azalea anyway. The older witch had on a pretty pair of earring and Mimosa wanted to know where she could get them too.

Christmas came and went with its usual grandeur at the palace, Mimosa standing proudly with the rest of the Clements, waving from the balconies to uproarious cheers and fanfare from the people gathered below. the pile of presents she received were always too many to truly open but she did manage to open the most important ones.

Her grandparents were not happy at having to spend New Year's Eve without her but Mimosa assured them she would be there the very next day. She just had to help someone out who couldn't manage a single thing without her. Jacques must have done the rest of the explaining because no one asked her about it any further.

Of course, helping Squid Boy was easier said then done. He needed so much work that when the palace designers had first looked at his photos to determine a silhouette, the senior tailor had almost fainted, muttering something in old French about tall bean poles and how could any color go with his eyes. In the end, the designers had to play on her looks, trying to make her into something he would look nice against. Lots of clean lines, maybe a splash of geometrical shape and a cardigan as required by the palace dress code.

Once they had arrived at the hotel (Mimosa having flown via private jet with her Jacques), the two Slytherins only had a few moments to meet and greet before they were ushered into separate rooms. Mimosa would have felt bad for the team handling Squid Boy if she as more attentive or compassionate. instead, she was having too much fun with her Jacques choosing shoes. Maybe... just maybe... she could wear heels now. A notion Miss Kiranjeet fully agreed with when they called her up to video chat and wish her a happy almost new year.

Jacques left soon after, insisting that he had another engagement and that he couldn't accompany them to the Junior Magizoologist Society's gathering. He did remind her though that she would have lots of friends there including their distant cousin Cloude and their friend Jaime Zeverai.

Happy and cheery once again, Mimosa disappeared to be made ready, handled as carefully as ever by the staff until she glistered and shone to perfection. Instead of fancy hairstyles, the team had chosen to give her big, lustrous waves that twirled softly around her face and down her back, her polished brown locks shimmering in the lights. Her dress may have been slightly above the knees to comply with palace protocol but they were not in Versailles, they were in some random, unimportant hotel. The jewelry that graced her figure was matched carefully and her shoes, to the witch's joy, did contain small kitten heels that made her maybe an inch or two taller. The designers had insisted she needed them to make "the abnormally tall one" look presentable.

Her one act of rebellion through the night however, was when the moved to drape the cardigan over ehr shoulders. the witch resolutely shook ehr head, sending erh curls cascading down one, bare shoulder. Someone, at some point, tried to object but Mimosa knew how to handle that. Channeling erh Grandmere's tone, the young witch narrowed her eyes said "Je dois avoir mal entendu, parce que je ne peux pas t'entendre essayer d'insister pour que je porte quelque chose que je ne veux pas?"

No arguments came after that.

When the witch was ready, perhaps a little later than she should have been, she stepped out to of the room to see Squid Boy was already dressed.

And finally, for the first time in his life, looking proper.

The witch made a note to tell him to dress like this more often.

And together, hand in hand, the duo proceeded to the limousine that would take them to the Junior Magizoologist Society's annual New Year Eve's Ball.

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The Junior Magizoology New Year's Ball (Mimosa) Rsz_mi10

The Junior Magizoology New Year's Ball (Mimosa) Rsz_ja12

The Junior Magizoology New Year's Ball (Mimosa) Rsz_rs13

Waiting for Mimosa to get ready was a test of patience, and as the minutes turned in to ten, Nikolai took a seat, drawing out his phone and scrolling through the mindless phenomenon that was social media. People wishing one another a happy new year, people posting about all the cool things they were doing for the holiday. Charles on a yacht somewhere hot before he returned to Hogwarts that he had, of course, not shut up about for even a moment.

But eventually, after what felt like hours, but had only been twenty six minutes, Mimosa emerged from her room.

And Nikolai's breath was taken away.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise, really, Mimosa looking as beautiful as she did in that moment. Her dress beautifully complementing the colour of her skin, and her dark locks curled neatly around, framing her face and down her back. The dress wasn't how the boy had expected at all, and to say he'd gaped would have been an understatement of the century.

It had been the soft clearing of one of the staff's throat that had brought Nikolai back to the moment, and a much too smug grin touched the boy's lips as he moved to take the witch's hand in his own. Yes, bringing Mimosa Harrington-Clement had been the best idea he'd had when it came to this function, the boy thought as he stuffed his other hand in to his suit pocket out of habit.

The walk down to the event wasn't too long -- thankfully -- as Mimosa had started to talk about something he didn't care to listen to. The fifteen year old's focus was a million miles away -- well, actually, it was back up in the room they'd just vacated, hopefully not too many hours from now, with Mimosa -- and not in any rush to come back to the event they were supposed to be attending. Nikolai Kessler had never been a sociable kind of person, he much preferred his own company, or that of a book, so anything away from the event would be great.

But, he wanted -- no, he needed -- to be a part of the Junior Magizoologist Group if he hoped to ever break in to the field later in his career.

Which meant suffering through events he couldn't care less about.

"So," Nikolai chimed in, breaking off whatever Mimosa had been talking about because he didn't care. "I need tonight to go well. I need people to like me, so that I can be apart of this group. Please don't say anything stupid, about the Giant Squid not being real, or anything like that." He finalised, just before they entered in to the ballroom filled with people he most certainly didn't know, and their dates for the evening. All under the age of twenty one, all looking to get something out of tonight.

And, of course, all of the people in the room had the one thing Nikolai didn't.

An unlimited source of wealth to achieve their dreams.

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Squid Boy sometimes had a difficult time with words, Mimosa had noticed. Noticed and sidelined as one of his many inadequacies when it came to being a generally respectable person. For example, it was natural than when a lady walked out, one kissed her and and told her how lovely she looked. Her Jacques would have done so in in a heartbeat. Squid Boy though, even dressed and groomed as he was today, was no Jacques Clement. Only staring at her as if she was one of his mythical creatures come to life.

Thank goodness he remembered to take her hand as they began their walk, Mimosa nudging him to remove his other fist from his pocket lest it looked like he was walking with a lump in his trousers.

"I need tonight to go well. I need people to like me, so that I can be apart of this group. Please don't say anything stupid, about the Giant Squid not being real, or anything like that."

"Relax," the girl assured him with a dazzling smile that showed off her features brilliantly. "I won't tell anyone you believe in things like Dragons and Mermaids. But you have to make sure to be polite to everyone, and answer questions politely, and address people by their titles when necessary," she reminded him as they entered the grand ballroom that was to be their venue.

The set up wasn't completely impressive but it wasn't too terrible either. The thing that made Mimosa grin however was the blond that approached them as soon as they entered.

"Mimosa, darling, how I had hoped to see you here. My New Year's celebrations came early tonight," Jaime Zeverai, spoke, affecting his usual charm as he leaned forwards to press a kiss to her cheek in greeting. The Austrian ignored Squid Boy completely as Mimosa knew he would, until she introduced him.

"Jaime, I'm so glad you're here. how are Aunt Alys and Uncle Tarragon, and I do miss Shiera. We haven't spoken in ages," she responded, following the social ques she had learned from a very young age before shifting the focus to her date.

"Jaime, I'm sure you remember Squid Boy from the Quidditch World Cup, Squid Boy, Jaime Zeverai, son of Lord and Lady Zeverai of Austria."

Once the boys had said hello, Jaime introduced his own date, a foreign exchange student from Russia who was in her final year at Durmstrang and visibly older than Jaime. "Meet Natalia, first daughter of Kiev, she is currently researching the migrating patterns of Augeries."

"I am indeed," Natalia replied, leaning forwards to kiss both Mimosa and Squid Boy on the cheek, demonstrating the ample cleavage available to ehr from the front of her slash necked gown as she did so. "What about you Mr... Boy? What are your areas in interest?"

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The venue was stunning, almost as stunning as the witch holding his hand. The boy couldn't help but look around in wonderment, not in the slightest capable of disguising when he was in a place as expensive as this one. Mimosa ended up tugging him along a little ways before he caught back up, putting his eyes back in their sockets and following her in to the room.

The mingling came quickly as Mimosa was greeted by a blond haired male. It took a moment for Nikolai to place Jaime Zeverai, and only another moment to look thoroughly unimpressed with the excitement on the older boy's features at seeing Mimosa. Likely, he would have been ignored entirely if Mimosa hadn't pointed out he was there, forcing the two of them to greet the other in kind. Something about Jaime Zeverai just didn't sit right with Nikolai, whether it was the infinite amount of money the boy probably had, the way he spoke of his life at home in Austria and all the lavish things he did with his sister and parents, or whether it was just because he had that much too hansom face that required a good punching, Nikolai couldn't say.

And even worse?

Jaime's date was introduced next. A Russian witch -- a first daughter of Kiev, what in Merlin's name did that mean? -- by the name of Natalia. Nikolai smiled politely to the witch, not really knowing what else to say, but Natalia leaned over to kiss both their cheeks, and in the process... Nikolai couldn't help but notice how... Eyes quickly moving up from the witch's chest, Nikolai tried to catch up with where the conversation had gotten to.

"I'm sorry... umm..." the boy paused, his mind filling in the bits he missed. "Magizoology." Nikolai replied to the question, which brought forth a laugh from Jaime Zeverai which clearly had the undertone of 'idiot' laced through it.

Natalia was a little more gracious, though, letting out a polite laugh before asking him again what his area of interest was.

"Oh, marine magizoology. I've been working on a project at Hogwarts in to the marine life there." He explained, feeling his cheeks grow warm with the memory of his original answer and his current attendance of the Junior Magizoologist New Year's Ball. Jaime Zeverai was already not listening to him, though, already turning back to Mimosa to denote that her cousin was in attendance, and if she needed help steering clear that he would be her man, and then talk moved away from anything relating to magizoology, and Nikolai found himself listening on the periphery of the conversation that didn't interest him in the slightest.

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Completely oblivious of Squid Boy's blunder, Mimosa continued to speak to Jaime, waving away his offer of trying to run interference between her and her cousins. "Oh but why would I not want to meet dear Raphael, he was perfectly charming at our Christmas Ball." More polite laughter, more social chatter as said cousin did find them and come over and was introduced to Squid Boy as Lord Raphael Clement of Nice, one of the lesser families that still go to enjoy the name.

Presently, their group of five was joined by two almost identical brunettes though one boy and one girl. Mimosa introduced them as Lady Gabrielle Souniers the Third and her cousin the young Lord. Daereon. The two did not look much older than the taller Slyherin in age.

"Well, cousin and betrothed," Daereon corrected gently with a proud smile, making Mimosa squeal where she stood. Lady Gabrielle merely nodded, subtly showing off the huge diamond that adorned her finger.

"We meant to announce it after all the honors but I think Daereon got a little too excited at seeing you Mimosa. How is Monsieur Jacques these days? And the Lord and Lady Clement?"

Moe conversation transpired, this time accompanied by glasses of champagne that had began circling through the crowd. Off to one corner, trips of Jaime's safari to Africa a few months previously played on a lop from a giant projector while to the right, the podium stood empty for now.

Some talk indeed was about magizoology, not that Mimosa was interested in that. But eventually, the podium was filled and an official sounding throat was cleared to demand everyone's attention. A silver haired man was now on stage, smiling benignly at all the young guests.

"Ah, boys and girls, how fondly I remember being your age," the President of the Magizoology Society began. "Good evening ladies and gentleman, and fear not. I will most certainly not stick around to ruin your fun all night. I am merely here to congratulate both our young members and those aspiring to join our ranks today. you have made it here, you have cleared the first step!"

A polite round of laughter and applause rang through the ballroom before he continued.

"For those unfamiliar with our ways, we always like to put our new entrants on the spot. But first, go off and make merry, dance the night away, indulge in some of our scrumptious foods. But once the party is over, a list of each candidate seeking to join our ranks will be laid out and each candidate called upon this very podium. A brief introduction to his or her area of research will be introduced and all our current members will decide via votes if they are impressed enough to give this candidate a chance to learn from us, learn among us."

Another round of applause sounded through the room. Natalia leaned sideways between Jaime and Mimosa, whispering "I feel to nervous, I hope I make the cut.", revealing she too was on the slit of hopefuls tonight, along with Squid Boy.

"So in closing, no matter what the result, go off and enjoy tonight to your heart's content my young friends. you have earned it."

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It was when the cousins had arrived that Nikolai had started to pay attention again. Not because he wanted to, but because of what they'd said. Cousins, and betrothed. What was this, the middle ages? Who said betrothed? And... the boy had to work hard to keep the disgusted look off of his features at the thought of marrying your cousin. Wasn't that incest in some way? Or... well, just deeply wrong? The boy didn't want to know exactly what it was, truthfully, just that he definitely didn't need to know any more than that.

Thankfully, and oddly Nikolai felt glad, the topic of Jacques Clement came up, and Mimosa's boringly excited tone that came with mention of him drowned out any further conversation on the upcoming nuptials.

But, that didn't last long before they were interrupted, and Nikolai found himself tuning in to the speaker on stage with a curiosity that always came to him when studies were involved. Ah, a welcoming speech -- finally -- which meant the event would soon be under way, and they could excuse themselves sooner from the party. Hopefully.

Nikolai's laughter joined in politely as the speech denoted it's pause, perhaps he'd made it far enough now, he'd gotten his invite, he'd attended the Ball, his paper had been submitted. Surely that meant he was in, right? You didn't just get invites to these things, did you?

"For those unfamiliar with our ways, we always like to put our new entrants on the spot."

The colour drained from Nikolai's features in that moment as he listened to the speaker explain that they would have to deliver a speech on their proposed field of study. A sickness was building deeply inside of him as the explanation continued. He'd been a little more than foolish to think he'd done enough already... The wizard barely noticed Natalia's admission that she would also be doing this, his brain overthinking everything.

Nikolai Kessler was not a public speaker. He was not good at speaking in front of a crowd of strangers, and especially not... not people like this...

"Cheer up, Nicky, you'll be fine!" Jaime told him, thumping him hard on the back for good measure which all but knocked the breath out of Nikolai's lungs in that moment. A grimace of a smile touched Nikolai's lips in that moment as he looked to the older boy, but no reply came. The music started up in the next moment, and like the suave son of a bitch Jaime Zeverai was, he offered a hand to both the girls, and asked them both to dance with him.

Mimosa barely gave Nikolai a second thought as she followed the older couple to the dance floor, leaving Nikolai on his own in a room full of people he didn't belong to. A room that was growing more and more stifling the longer he stayed in it.

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"So in closing, no matter what the result, go off and enjoy tonight to your heart's content my young friends. you have earned it."

Mimosa did not need telling twice, she was here to have fun. Well, she was chiefly here to make Squid Boy look good but she could have fun while doing it. As she took Jaime's preferred hand and followed him and Natalia to the dance floor, the teen witch only hoped her date for he night wouldn't squander the opportunity to mingle. The votes you received at the end depended on how many people knew out and if Squid Boy just skulked in the corner all night, no one would know him when he got up on the podium at midnight.

"Darling, you really have poor taste in dates," Jaime interrupted her thoughts, having already spun Natalia out to another partner and now dancing solo with her alone. "You must allow me to suggest a gym membership for the lad, such a tall frame turns awkward when not accompanied by the right built."

"I am working on teaching him Quidditch," Mimosa offered just as politely. Jaime was okay but he could be silly sometimes. But then again, everyone was a little silly sometimes, except for ehr of course. "He's just too focused on the Giant Squid in our lake."

"Well, I'll give old Nicky that, the quid is fascinating," Jaime agreed. but before she could point out the squid wasn't real, the blonde added "Not nearly as fascinating as you in this dress however, Mimosa dear." And with that, her attention was swayed.

The dancing comtineud well through the night, Mimosa making sure to mention Squid Boy casually every single boy she danced with. It was tiring but she supplied she could do him the favor. After all, the taller Slytherin would never make it on his own. It was only when she found herself in Dareon's arms that the conversation changed slightly.

"Gabby is already panicking trying to organize a wedding straight after school. I've been told if I value my life, I mustn't interfere."

Mimosa merely laughed politely at the joke, as was expected in such situations.

"Though speaking of weeding bells, should we clear our dates for the heir Clement's? Gabby insists he is very serious about his new courtship."

"I'm afraid Gabby is terribly misinformed," Mimosa replied, spinning out and then in to the young man as dictated by the live orchestra playing music for the event. "My Jacques isn't courting anyone." Nor will he ever, she added silently in her head, her smile still perfectly in place.

"Oh come on dear, we're practically family," Dareon insisted with a conspiratory grin. "And we can read. It's all over the British tabloids. And to be honest, Miss Kiranjeet seems perfectly quint for someone who... works..."

A giggle escaped Mimosa at the notion. "I'm sorry, Gabriela believes Jacques is courting Ms. Kiranjeet?"

"I think half the world believes that," Dareon replied, his face deadpan. The music came to stop just then and Mimosa curtsied politely, thanking him for the dance.

Before leaving the dance floor to find Squid Boy. Something inside her was feeling off and the young brunette didn't like it one bit.

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Nikolai Kessler was not made for this setting, and that much was made clear only a few moments after Mimosa had left his side. The boy was left looking between the other guests -- all of whom seemed to know one another -- and trying to work out where he could possibly step in. The Slytherin male had not really lucked out on just being picked up by another awkwardly waiting person at the group, and instead just watched on awkwardly as Mimosa danced.

And danced.

And danced.

The boy had barely moved, in truth, not knowing where to go, or who to talk to. He'd almost resigned himself to just leaving -- who was he kidding anyway, he didn't belong here -- when a small group of people decided to throw him a lifeline. The group was made up of two guys and three girls, all from Beauxbatons and all much too good looking to really want to include Nikolai in their group. The French students had pretended to be interested in him, to start with, but then their questions had turned to Mimosa, and how he knew the witch, and what she was like. For a moment, Nikolai had considered excusing himself -- he wasn't here to talk about Mimosa -- but then the realisation hit.

People loved Mimosa.

And she was his date.

He'd fallen in to talking about the witch quite easily, and the group had expanded from the five French students to include a couple from Spain, a Portugese student, and then a witch from Monaco, too. Nikolai had been slowly accepted as the access to information about Mimosa, and after a while... it was almost comfortable. He had their attention, and... perhaps an opening he needed. Even if it hadn't been magizoology related.

But just as the boy was growing comfortable, he noted out of the corner of his eye, that Mimosa looked... well, not very Mimosa-like. The idea of excusing himself wasn't one that Nikolai wanted to do after only just getting comfortable around the people before him, but... he also didn't want Mimosa to ruin what he'd managed by himself already...

"Look, Mimosa's coming back over," Nikolai acknowledged the witch's direct route towards him, making the circle open to accommodate the witch once she'd arrived. "Everything alright?" Nikolai asked, wrapping his arm around the witch to show without a doubt that she was his date, and he was with her this evening.

But before the witch could answer that question, he continued on. "These are my new friends from Beauxbatons, we were just talking about you, actually." Nikolai explained, grinning at the witch. "They were just asking about the Palace, and Jacques." He added, catching Mimosa up to the current conversation. "Now you're here, though, you can tell everyone about it. I've only been once, and it was a lot to take in!"

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Any novel feelings of unease growing inside the witch from Dareon's words vanished almost immediately as Squid Boy ushered Mimosa into his little group of fans. The teen witch wasn't the least bit surprised to hear they had been talking about her. The young model was acutely aware that she was the most interesting topic of conversation in any room and the opportunity to speak of her palace and her Jacques and her family slowly inched like warmth into her body, replacing the beginnings of cold dread from earlier.

The young Slytherin had been in the middle of describing the tours Grandmere sometimes gave as a treat to visitors of the palace when the announcement was msde . It was half an hour to midnight and all aspirants were expected to prepare themselves to be called. The brunette could see the conflict in her admirers faces. To stay and listen to her or go prepare for their various showcases and miss the chance. Fortunately for them, the Clement ward was a kind and considerate soul and excused herself along with Squid Boy politely, insisting they had to get ready.

Once they were sufficiently sequestered away in a corner, she turned to the taller Beater. "Okay, you have to pay attention now," she began, her perfectly symmetrical face turned up to his and her hands reaching out to grasp his so he would comprehend the seriousness of the situation. "I've been talking you up all night, now you just have to go up there and say some Magizoology stuff, it can't be that hard. But please, please don't mention any imaginary things like mermaids or the Giant Squid, they'll laugh you off the age."

She could see his face beginning to contort in a stupid response, making her speak before he could interrupt. "Just go up there, introduce yourself, talk about why you like all the water animal stuff and you can even talk about me, it doesn't matter. Just don't say anything stupid. You only need to be there for five minutes and you're-"

"My my, are we giving Old Nicky a last minute etiquette lesson? First time up on stage eh old boy?" Mimosa didn't need to turn around to recognize Jaime Zeverai. Nor the tone of infinite superiority in his voice.

And that would not do.

Only she was allowed to talk to Squid Boy as if he was stupid, because he was. But that was besides the point.

"Actually Jaime, I was telling him I won't wish him good luck,' the young model trilled breezily, a beatific smile on her face. "Seeing as he doesn't need it. His research is excellent and speaks for itself." And with that, she turned to the other Slytherin and leaned forwards, placing a polite kiss on his cheek. "Let's show them how it's done."

Somewhere, the gong rang, a traditional signal for all aspirants of the society to get ready, before the first name was called.

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» A Study in Mimosa, Part Two (Mimosa & Open)
» E-mails to Mimosa (Mimosa and Loni)
» The Main Ball
» The Christmas Ball
» A Ball to Remember (Delia)