"Hey cutie. So what did you have to ask?" she said sliding her pancakes toward him so they could share. She still blushed when he kissed her in public. She wasn't used to this kind of affection.

Travis smiled as she blushed, she always looked cute when she blushed, "Oh well I was wondering if you would like to come with me to the Hogwarts Alumni Ball," he said with a grin, "So what do you say darling would you like to go with me?"

"I would love to!" she said grinning huge. She kissed him briefly and hugged him tight. Her cheeks turned super red but she didn't mind.

Cadence plopped down moodily at the Hufflepuff table... all alone. Which was rare. She generally could find someone she wanted to sit with and talk to, but these days, all people wanted to talk about with the ball. She put some stew on her plate and poked angrily at a potato. Cadence wasn't going to go to that stupid ball. She had no date, and there was no way she was going to sit there and watch everyone else dance and not be able to dance herself... especially when she could have danced circles around any of them. It would be too heartbreaking to see everyone dance and not have partner to dance with.

She pushed some food around on her plate and stared down at it, lost in a world of her own thoughts, secretly hoping that no one would notice her and come over to show her pictures of their ballgown or anything.

Torin plopped right down besides Cadence before grabbing a few pieces of toast and placing them on his plate. He had come here for a reason, and that reason was the upcoming ball.

"You're coming to the ball," he told her plainly. She would, because he said so and he was always right. "You're coming, and we're going to dance together at least once." Yep.

At first, Cadence was just going to ignore whoever sat down beside her, but as she took in a breath to let out a sigh, a familiar scent filled her nose: Torin's cologne. Turning to look at him, she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Once he spoke, she raised an eyebrow at him and opened her mouth to protest. "Oh? And what am I going the rest of the night other than the 3 minutes you promise to dance with me?" she asked in a sarcastic tone. Finally, she sighed and turned away from him. "I'm not going without a date, Torin. You know how much I love to dance. I can't just go and watch other people dance all night," she explained quietly.

He smiled at her sarcasm, not in the least put off by it. He knew that he could get her to come, he just needed to convince her. And she loved him, so she would enjoy going with him. Which gave him an idea...

"You can come with me. I mean, not like as a date date obviously, but as an unofficial date. We can go together as friends while I'm also Brody's date." He had a feeling that Brody wouldn't really mind if he did that. She would understand.

Cadence didn't look back at Torin as he continued to try and convince her to go. She was going to remain resolute in this stance. She would not go unless she had a date, a guaranteed someone to dance with most of the night. Still not looking at him, she shook her head. "No, Torin, this night should be special for you and Brody. I don't want to tag along as a third wheel..." she said, quietly. Cadi just didn't get it. She was a good dancer, she'd be a good date. Why wouldn't anyone ask her? Was she really that terrible of a person or that ugly or something?

Okay, that wasn't working on her. Shame really as he was sure that Brody wouldn't have minded really. She wasn't the kind of person that would have objected to him wanting to help a best friend out.

Now he needed to think of something else.

"But it's my last year here. And I want to dance with my best friend there. See what it's like to dance with the biggest ballroom expert in the castle." If that didn't work, he was resorting to begging on his hands and knees.

Uuuugh the guilt thing. It was his last year here, and who knew if they'd ever get the chance again? She turned to look at him, frowning in thought. When he talked about wanting to dance with her because she was a ballroom expert, though, her frown broke and she giggled slightly. "I wouldn't say I'm an EXPERT, buuuut, I am pretty great at it," she said still giggling. Then she turned back to her plate and poked at her food some more. She still wasn't sure about all of this. "I don't know, Torin, I mean... you're going to be dancing with Brody most of the time, and then who will dance with me? No one's asked me to be their date, so I doubt anyone will ask me to dance..." she said, glancing at him slightly.

hehe. He was in. Or pretty well in.

Flattery and a bit of a guilt trip always worked. "I'm sure that you can find other people to dance with when not with me. I'm dancing with a few people." And Brody might be too if she wanted to. And that was fine with him.

"You can always dance with Nymphy," he teased. He couldn't resist.

Cadence still wasn't entirely convinced. "I... don't know, Torin..." she said uncertainly. She thought it over carefully. If she went alone, she'd probably spend a lot of time sitting by herself seeing as how she would refuse to ask a guy to dance. His suggestion of her dancing with Nymphy, though, caught her off guard, and she laughed very loudly. "Torin! That's not funny!" she said through her laughter. Once her giggles had subsided, she sighed and said, "Alright, I guess I'll come, but if I spend more than 2 songs without someone to dance with, then I'm leaving." There, that was a pretty fair agreement, wasn't it? She would probably go, be there for 3 songs, and then leave because no one would dance with her.

Yeah, she was having a bad self-esteem day...

Pfft! This girl needed to make up her mind already.

He grinned as she started to laugh about the Nymphy thing. He knew that she wouldn't really be mad at him for saying that. "I'm sorry. But it's so obvious that he has a thing for you." And that was fine and everything, just fun to tease about really. hehe. "That's fine with me, Cadence. I jsut want you to have fun. You shouldn't be cooped up when everyone else is at a ball."

Cadence made a face when Torin suggested that Nymphy had a thing for her. "Torin, he's like... little," she said in disbelief. Nymphy was only 12. The thought of him possibly having a thing for her sort of made her shiver. That was just really, super weird. No, thank you. "Well, then I will come, but I'm not going to stay if no one will dance with me... and I'm pretty sure no one will, but I guess we'll see," she said, trying to hide any hint of being excited about going to the ball. Maybe once someone saw her dancing with Torin and saw that she could actually dance they would want to dance with her? And she would have to write her mum for one of her ballroom gowns. She was pretty sure she knew which one she wanted, but maybe she'd have her send more than one just to be sure.

Awwwwww shucks. Miranda's statement that she always had time for her made Roxxy's face turn tomato red. Not many people said that and meant it around her except maybe Miranda, Oliver and Grant. Shrugging she asked "Not falling asleep in class? Erm do you have late night quidditch practices or something?" Or there was some other reason for Miranda's sleepiness like Brant or other teenage stuff which Roxxy hadn't come into yet.

"Working on the quill is a lot of fun. I'm coming up with ideas, writing articles and interviewing of course. I absolutely love it." she piped up smiling broadly sucking in the compliment of being a natural. Applying for the school quill was one of the good things she had done this term. Thinking Roxxy said "Otherwise I’ve gone to classes and fallen into the big swamp on the fifth floor." she didn't add that it was her fault for falling in or the others involved just yet. Seeing Miranda's reaction to her swamp swim revelation would be interesting.

Simon smiled as he walked into the great hall, he had decided he would come into the great hall and get something to eat, he was starting to get a bit hungry, he went to his house table, he looked around to see if there was anyone he knew but he couldn't see anyone that he knew so he just sat in silence, whilest drinking some pumpkin juice.

Avery arrived in the great hall ready for some food. "Hello mind if I sit with you." Avery asked a random boy at the table. She had never seen him before, or rather never talked to him at the very least. Avery thought she'd make a new friend today. "I'm Avery Donner by the way" Avery smiled at him.

Simon looked at the girl and smiled. "Of course not." Simon smiled, he was glad that he had some company. "Hi Avery Donner." Simon looked at her. "That's a nice name." He then sat silence for a minute. "I am Simon Leonarder De Simpson." Simon took a sausage roll and bit into it. "But you can call me Simon."

Avery grinned when the boy said his name. She had all she could do not to snort into her goblet of pumpkin juice. "De Simpson? Are you royalty or something?" Avery was wondering what on earth she would do if he really was. She had never met a royal person before. "Well Simon it's nice to meet you." Avery blushed a little about him liking her name. She always thought it was little odd herself.

Simon smiled at Avery. "I am a Prince of Hollian." Simon laughed as he thought about things, he then heard Avery Snort and laughed. "What's the matter?" Simon looked at Avery and asked. "Where are you from?" Simon smiled as he drank a bit more of his juice, then he saw her blush and so he decided to change subject. "What year are you in?"

Smiling softly, Miranda found it cute how Roxxy took her compliment. Awww.
Ah, a question! "Oh, haha, no...Just been trying to keep up with everything." Which really shouldn't be that hard, but being Miranda, it was. Lazy. Hehe.

She was happy to hear how glad Roxxy was with working in the Quill - the newspaper was lucky to have her onboard. So everything was good with her, classes were good asweeeeell and the falling into swa...mps.

Squint.
"Erm, whatnow?" What had she said?? "Swamps? You fell into the swamp in the fifth floor?" Miranda raised her eyebrows and sat up straighter. But... "How??" And..."Who pushed you in??" Oh, she was going to go visit this someone... Hehehe.

Zach felt a little invisible, as always. How had he made it this far into the term without making any friends at all? He sighed. Here he was, at his own house table, and he wasn't talking to anybody. How did this happen?! He was disappointed in himself. He'd promised himself that this term would be different, and he'd make some friends, but this far...

Amy walked into the entrance hall, dragging her feet miserabley she went to her table, she plopped down with a little creak of the bench, grabbed a pumpkin juice and began to drink it, she cut herself a slice of bread and began to butter it, placed some thin slices of cheese and ham into it and cut up some tomatos, she put the 'lid' to her sandwich on top of the filling and began to eat, feeling thoroughly miserable.

When she had finished her sandwich she made another one, and buried her head into Lord of the Flies, finishing off her final chapter, silent tears slipping down her face as she read the final sad, terrible part. When she was finished she scrubbed her eyes and put the book away, and placed her head on the cool mahogany table, feeling the coolness of the wood chil her forhead, she shut her eyes and remembered home.

"Erm..." Zach said to a girl nearby. "Are you... Um... Okay?" He scratched his head nervously, biting his lower lip. He wasn't the most outgoing person in normal times, and "crying girl" didn't really constitute as normal. He wanted to make sure she was alright, though... He knew it wasn't really any of his business whether or not she was okay, but he figured he'd ask anyway. It couldn't hurt to try, right?

Hmm, Amy said, oh yeah I'm fine, she told him, scrubbing away the stray tear that was trapped on her eyelid, I'm fine, she said, nodding as she grabbed herself another sandwich, life sucks and then you die she thought as she bit into the sandwich, when she was finished I'm fine, really