"Er... yes. I am," Risu said, taking a deep draught of his pumpkin juice. It felt very good. He had to resist the urge to wipe his sweaty brow with his sleeve. His dress robes (the male ball attendees were wearing a colourful mix of those and Muggle suits) were neither particularly fancy nor expensive, a research fellow not being the line of work that supplied fat cheques at the end of the month, but they did fit him well and Risu had cared well for them, so smearing a line of sweat onto the arms was not in.

He smiled, feeling a little like an athlete being complimented by his coach after a particularly successful run. "Thank you," he said. "Opportunities to dance are few and far between, but when they do come up, I like to, er, rise to the occasion. I need a break now though before I can rise again."

He flashed the Potions professor another smile before she wandered off to pull another teacher into their little group. Risu used the brief pause to gulp down more pumpkin juice. "Professor," he added his own greeting with a courteous nod when Hecate arrived with the man in tow, and stepped back a little to enlarge their circle.