Somehow, somehow... the young man whose face was disguised behind a mask had ended up wandering on his own. A habit, he supposed, borne of being a prefect for so long. He tended to end up walking around, eyes flicking over other students without noticeable interest, just taking into account that they were indeed here.

Were wandering about a profitable career, he should have looked into it.

His pace slowed as he moved through clusters of tables, his form thin enough and his movements fluid enough that he managed to not knock onto anyone who happened across his path. His hands were tucked nonchalantly in his pockets, only sneaking out every so often to push the same lock of long, nearly black hair back behind his ear. Brown eyes, two spots of shiny brightness amongst the dark black fabric that hid everything around them, simply moved from one student to the next as he slipped between groups of people and tables.

It was nice, being anonymous. He paused near a table that nobody had yet occupied, fingertips tracing over the flat surface.

Hmm.

She stood there glaring over at all the beautifully decorated tables. She walked with silence through the crowd the only sound she could hear was the beating of heart and the breathing of her lungs. She paused just short of an empy table and noticed an older student had approached it.

"I'm sorry, Ill get another one" she replied her vocie was as sweeter than the smell of roses. She looked him over. He was a good looking student but she could hardly tell with the mask shelding his eyes. "Im Rene"

He snickered at her question. She knew him too well. "Oh just a few small explosions here and there and maybe setting a dragon loose in the backyard." He told her nonchalantly. He was sure his dad would have another hatchling they could take care of and play with. The last one burned down the pool house to his and JoJo's amazement and their mother's dismay. He was pulled out of his daydream as Selena continues talking. "Are you going to spend some time with me?" he asked her. She seemed to have a full summer that didn't include hanging out with him and he had to admit he was a tinsy bit jealous about that.

He looked at her searching her face for any sign that she wasn't being honest. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, and he knew she was hiding something from him, but he wasn't going to push her. When she wanted to talk to him she would. "The pie is good," he told her taking another mouthful.

The hall was crowded with students either dancing, eating or taking a breather. Moving slowly through the crowd trying to find someone that she knew, the young girl adjusted her outfit as she sidestepped a student who was about to stand on her bare foot.

Deciding it might be safer to find somewhere to sit until she got her bearings, Mia made her way over to the seating area. Usually she would she just plop herself down in the first vacant seat she could find regardless of who was sitting at the table but figured she would sit somewhere on own for the time being.

She had just spotted one and curled her fingers around the back of a chair ready to pull it out when a young man in a mask reached the table at the same time. Something about him was familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Seems we both had the same idea." She said looking across the table at him, a small smile on her lips. "I can find another table if you've already called dibs on this one."

Selena smirked at that. See, different definitions. "Oh alright, well, don't blow up anything important," she giggled. Wait... what... dragon!? DRAGON!? "Wait, a dragon?" she asked, eyes wide. Lucky Diggy. Hers flew off. Somewhere... She had a suspicion that it had something to do with an angry mother and a tired stepfather. Pfffft. "Of course I am!" she said, as if the idea of not spending time with him was ridiculous. Which, now that she thought about it, was ridiculous. How could she just not spend time with him? That was absurd!

She took another bite of her own pie and smiled and nodded. When in doubt of feelings, just smile, nod and pretend everything's okay. Even if they weren't. "That's nice," she said.

He was lost in thought, wondering if he could get away with sitting here and not at the Champion's Table. If nobody knew who he was, then he could probably, right? He could hang around these tables, or the ones over there and-

Huhwhat? The boy looked up, hand immediately lifting from the table's surface and fingers curling in, as if he'd been caught touching something he wasn't meant to. He really had no clue if there was like, some kind of assigned seating, or if groups had been given a table and told to seat themselves at it, or anything like that.

Oh. Mia.

"Er... no, that's okay," he murmured, shaking his head. "I didn't... and even had I, there's only one of me and a lot of chairs, isn't there."

She could sit. He gestured for her to do so; he probably wouldn't linger around here for very long anyway. He glanced at a nearby set of people, eyes lingering for only a moment before going back to Mia.

She didn't know it was him, did she. Which meant that the mask was definitely more effective than he'd ever hoped it would be. Heh.

Mia's eyes danced with amusement as she watched him, so clearly lost in thought not appearing to have heard a word she had said. So while he was miles away, she took the moment to study him. The mask was good and it hid most of his facial features but she knew that she had seen him before, even spoken to each other.

Her eyes flicked to the colors swirling around his head and body and it was then it started to dawn on her who it was under the mask. But it was when he spoke that it confirmed it for her.

A broad smile broke across her face as she took the seat he had gestured to and she waved at the one across from her. She had been hoping to run into him so that she could congratulate him.

"Nice costume." She said, looking it over properly this time. "Are you going for the mysterious look? Or I want some peace and quiet type of look?" Mia lent across the table and looked up at the Prefect. "It really does suit you."

Joe spotted Tori in her costume, he was wearing a very handsome prince charming costume "wow...." Joe said with a smile "you look beautiful Tori" he said as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it, like a prince would.

The smile was enough to confirm that she'd figured him out. Raiden was pretty sure that his anonymity wasn't going to last the night if he kept talking. Thoughtfully, he touched his exposed throat, flicking aside a lock of the long brown hair as he took the seat she'd indicated.

"My voice, right? I think that's what tipped Nia off, too..." Maybe there was a spell or something that he could do, to make it sound different for the night.

The eyes that had focused on the table went back to Mia, and he half-smiled. She was pretty close to right.

"It's more of an 'I'd rather people not know who I am right now' thing, I guess." He shrugged. "But peace and quiet fits in that too."

It suited him? He touched his overly long hair, wondering which part of his 'costume' she meant. Was it that, or the black clothes, or the mask? Hmm.

"You're one of those genie things, aren't you?" His eyes took in as much of her costume as he could see, with them both sitting down. "From faerietales."

Another smile touched her lips and Mia nodded her head at him. "Correct." And your aura but she decided to leave that part unsaid. She didn't want to have to answer questions about that all night.

Her gaze slid past Raiden's for a moment and rested on certain person on the dance floor. She gave an internal sigh and gave an imperceptible shake of her head. She needed to get over that one.

Returning her attention back to Raiden, she smiled. "Well I promise that your secret is safe with me." Even though she was curious as to know why he was so eager for this anonymity but she wouldn't pry. If he wanted to tell her then he would.

Mia laughed and nodded once again. "You're right. But don't expect me to grant you any wishes." She leaned forward a little more and lowered her voice. "I kinda haven't worked that part out yet." She gave him a wink and reeled back across the table.

"Oh before I forget." And she was very likely to as well. "Congratulations on your achievement in the tournament." Even though she thought he so should have won but she figured that is not something he wanted to hear right now.

Hmmm. Right. That was definitely going to be a problem, then. His forefinger tapped against the adam's apple of his throat twice before he dropped his hand; there was nothing to be done about it. Or, rather, there was nothing he was willing to do about it. Casting spells on your own body was tricky business, as evidenced by the fact that his hair was several inches longer than it had been that morning. He wasn't going to mess with his voice and end up mute.

"Thanks for that. So far it's just Nia that's figured me out." He tapped his cheek, just under his eye, finger making no sound against the mask. "Well, and you. I'd like to think it's doing its job..."

Hehe. Wishes? That coaxed a grin out of him, and Raiden leaned on the table.

"Don't worry. If I can't grant my own wishes, I sure don't expect others to try, y'know?"

Her next words managed to make him wince however. That. That was part of the reason his costume included a mask. He knew it would come up, considering the ball was for that, but... he didn't want to think about it.

Still...

"Thanks." She was being sincere, he could tell, and it would be rude to not thank her. "You must be happy... don't have to hug the Durmstrang Headmaster."

Always a plus.

Now that she had her Butterbeer, Wesley needed only one more thing to make her night complete.

A place to drink it!

Giggly grin exagerated by the dabs of red paint on her cheeks, the tiny Hufflepuff made her way through the dancing croud, carefully cradeling her bottle of golden liquid. Rounding a very colorful Iris and...that one boy who barfed in Divination - Evan, both in deep conversation, Wesley scouted for the perfect table.

Nope.

Nope.

Ye - Nope.

The brunett rocked back on her heels, biting an already chapped and scabbed bottom lip.

Some. Where.

THERE!

Where that pink person sat!

The perfect table!

Scurrying over, the short fifth year took a place in front of the cute, little table and the pretty fairy. "Lori!" she announced in greeting, dark eyes crinkling in a smile of recognition.

Because everyone knew: Pink = Lori.

Mia was tempted to say that if your girlfriend couldn't work out who you were then there was a problem. But she kept her mouth shut because even though there had been rumours she really didn't know whether Raiden was actually seeing the Ravenclaw in that sense.

"Well it's working really well. I just don't how you are going to disguise your voice though because that's a dead giveaway. Unless you go with that whole mystery thing and don't talk all night." Which surely couldn't be fun but maybe that's what he wanted.

Letting out a small laugh, Mia nodded in agreement. "So very true. And besides I am more than likely to set you on fire. And believe me you do not want that." Yes she was speaking from experience and it was not fun.

Whups!

She had hit a nerve there and she hadn't been intending to upset him or anything. If she had known that the results of the tournament were why he was hiding then she would never have said anything. But of course she didn't know that.

The mention of the Durmstrang Headmaster had her bursting into laughter. "No, thankfully I don't. But it didn't matter anyway because Nik let me off before the tournament finished." Her eyes once again went to the dance floor and she raised an eyebrow as she watched him dance with the very sexy looking Durmstrang female.

"But I may have to go back on my deal and make him eat those flobberworms yet."

Tori giggled as Joe kissed the back of her hand, "Thank you. You look rather dashing yourself, Prince Charming."she remarked with a dazzling smile,"You really are the charmer." She looked up at him and saw strength and a sparkle that was bright enough to light up anyone's day.

"So where to first, my Prince?"she asked him.

That was an option. Just... not talking all night. Unfortunately, it wasn't a viable option, because he would forget himself, and say something, and the he'd be given away again. Maybe if he just spoke quietly... Eh. Eh. It didn't matter.

"Either I'll figure something out or... I won't talk much, yeah. Not like there's a lot of people who'll walk up to a complete stranger and start conversation anyway." And with the mask, he could be pretty much anyone. Hopefully it'd make people more tentative about approaching?

Hah. She'd light him on fire? Surely she wasn't that bad at magic. Nobody could be that bad.

"It wouldn't be the most surprising thing to happen to me, I'd guess." He'd actually prefer being lit on fire, than some of the things that he'd been put through. "At least fire can be put out easily enough."

Ahhhh. Nik had let her out of the bet? He followed her gaze to where the guy was dancing and bit back the grin forming on his face. He was a good guy, Nikolai. At least, that was what Raiden assumed from the short while that he'd spoken to him. He'd been a bit adamant about Raiden getting fixed by the Healer before she moved on to others.

Hmmm?

Turning his eyes back to Mia, he frowned; the expression was largely hidden by the mask. Why would she... hm. HMMM.

"...Mia... do you like Nik?"

Well actually that was exactly the type of thing that Mia would do. But she was quirky like that. Many a time she would approach strangers and talk to them much to the frustration of her father. "Well may I suggest a little bit of aloofness that will be sure to keep the people away."

Mia almost snorted. He had never been on the end of her fires. Not so easy to put out. But she had to admit that since being at Hogwarts it hadn't happened for quite a while now. "Still I prefer not to try magic on other people. Not yet anyway."

Raiden's question almost made her fall off her chair. Had she been that transparent? Nobody knew how she felt about Nik. Well except maybe Nik himself but she hadn't really elaborated on everything to him.

She was about to shake her head and tell him NO! But she had never been good at lying especially when asked an outright question like that. Mia fiddled with the material on her outfit for a moment and doing her best to avoid looking at Raiden.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke in a soft voice. "If my heart skipping a beat and my stomach doing flip flops when I see him and thinking about him all the time means that I like him. Then I guess I am guilty of it."

She raised her eyes to meet Raiden's and gave him an imploring look. "Please don't tell anyone. I haven't told anyone how I feel and quite frankly I never expected to actually feel like this about anyone. It was one of my rules."

Even though she didn't know Raiden that well she was pretty sure that she could trust him with her secret.

"I think I can handle a bit of that," he murmured, fingers tapping quietly against the tabletop. If there was one thing he was good at, or at least he hoped he was still good at, it was self-control. He could be aloof if he needed to, right? It was all a matter of keeping his urges in check. He looked from his fingers to her, a wry smile making its way onto his face. "Good idea, that. Not trying magic on people. Sometimes they don't appreciate it."

He had been on the receiving end of some stuff that he really wished he hadn't been, after all.

Her reaction to his question was almost... alarming, and Raiden glanced over his shoulder immediately, to see if there was anything behind him that would warrant the surprise. When he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he turned his head back, obviously concerned.

Ahhh. She really liked Nik, didn't she.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." He wondered if the other young man knew about Mia's feelings, and how dangerously close he was coming to a flobberworm supper. "Why would I tell anyone? It's none of my business who you like, after all. I shouldn't even have asked..."

But he had, and she had answered honestly. Which surprised him, because most people would probably deny deny deny if they didn't want others to know. And it seemed like she was rather unwilling about the entire thing. He knew how that was.

"It's okay to like him, you know..." One hand brushed through his hair, to find the stud in his ear, and he turned it thoughtfully. "It's not unthinkable, to like someone. You're allowed to..." His eyes narrowed behind the mask. "One of your rules?"

Self-imposed? Or was her family one of those that was strict about their children pursuing relationships with the people they grew to like?

Oh didn't she know it. Using magic on others had disastrous effects. Mia was sure that her poor father would never be the same again after being on the end of her rather unfortunate mishaps. But then he had been her teacher and it was to be expected, right?

"Yeah but sometimes it can't be helped. I don't have a terribly good aim." She looked over at him and grinned, "But I am getting better." She just had to confirm that so he didn't think she was a total klutz when it came to magic.

Mia felt like a total idiot now for making such a big deal out of it, she could see that Raiden looked uncomfortable now. "It's okay. It actually feels a little better telling someone instead of keeping it to myself all the time." And really even if she had of lied, Raiden would have seen straight through. Mia couldn't lie if her life depended on it.

She fidgeted in her seat as Raiden spoke and she let out a long deep breath. "I know that. It's just never happened to me before." Mia paused and a small smile played on her lips at his question. "I made myself a rule not to get involved with a boy. Well not yet anyway. I think I am far too immature for anything like that. I didn't want the mixed emotions that go with liking someone that much. You know the ups, the downs, the happy giddy feeling and then the heartbreak feeling. I liked my life to be simple and carefree."

Letting out a small groan, Mia tipped her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "But I guess my heart had other ideas." And trust her to pick the one guy that was going to be leaving very soon and she was likely never to see him again.

Looking back at Raiden, she gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry, you don't want to hear about all this." She chewed on her lip for a moment while thinking of something else to talk about. "So what are your plans once you graduate?"

Didn't have good aim? That meant what, that some poor soul had been standing nearby and gotten their nose turned into a tea kettle when she'd been trying a spell?

That was actually kind of... really funny. Still, not everyone was going to be good at casting. Sucked, but nobody was perfect. Mia's fault was just her aim; luckily for her, that could be worked on. And she had a few more terms at Hogwarts to do it, and good professors.

The entire her liking Nik thing wasn't surprising; after all, it would be weird if someone hadn't developed a bit of a crush on the visiting students. They'd surely developed feelings toward a few of the Hogwarts students, after all. But Mia was acting like it was a crime or something, really.

"There's a first time for everything, isn't there." He shrugged. "And having feelings like that, liking people and all that... it's part of growing up." Yes. At eighteen, Raiden was definitely an expert on growing up. Because, you know, he was so totally mature and experienced and worldly. "You don't always get to choose when it happens, and you definitely don't get to choose who. But it's not necessarily a bad thing."

It didn't bother him nearly as much as Mia seemed to think it did, but if she wanted to change the subject, he was more than willing to. He'd been in a situation where he'd liked someone 'against his will'. He hadn't wanted to like her, and he had never figured out how to make it go away.

...well he had, but he wasn't sure he wanted to go around kissing people to make himself stop liking them.

"I really don't know... there's a few different things I've been thinking about, but I'm not sure about any of them."

And there was always going straight to work after graduation on top of the things he was considering, but he was pretty sure that he'd skip that option. He wasn't sure he was ready for that just yet.

"I'm open to suggestions, though, if you've got any."

Diggy smiled. "I can't really promise that. Paris has some nice stuff always laying about. Its really fun to see her face." Though it wasn't so much fun when she caught up with him. He was getting better at dodging her spells though. He nodded, "Yeah sometimes my dad is given a hatchling to watch over for a few months. We have a dragonhold in the backyard and everything. The last one burned down the poolhouse." He was way more excited about that than the situation warranted. "Ok good. Because I can take my appriation test over the summer. So maybe we can go on a holiday somewhere." And not have to take my annoying big sister along, he thought silently.

He took another bite of his pie. He was sure that something was eating Selena and he couldn't bear to see her not being her usual bubbly self. "Sel, what's the matter?" he asked gently. If something was wrong he would do his best to fix it.

Joe smiled "anywhere you want...princess" he said as he looked at Tori completely "damn, you are rather dashing tonight" he said with a giggle "bonita" he complemented Tori which was Spanish for beautiful.

Playing with the tassels on her outfit, Mia listened while Raiden spoke and she nodded her head and chewed on her lip. He was right of course. She already knew that. She just hadn't expected to fall for someone so soon.

"I know what you're saying is true Raiden. I don't know, I just guess I don't want to get hurt, you know?" Which when she thought about it now was inevitable considering that Nik would be leaving soon. And she couldn't stop her feelings for him now even if she tried.

She looked passed Raiden and back onto the dance floor and she sighed softly. "I've made a fool of myself so many times in front of him already, I guess one more time is not going to make a difference." Mia couldn't believe she was actually thinking of doing what she had always said she wouldn't.

Mia guessed that it would be hard decision to make, trying to work out what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. She was just glad that she had a few more years to even think about what she wanted to do.

Raiden was asking her for suggestions? She blinked a couple of times totally surprised that he would even ask her. "I wish I could help you out in that department Raiden but I don't even know what options are out there for witches and wizards. I suppose it depends on what your strengths are and what moves you the most."

That's what everyone was afraid of. Getting hurt. He nodded along quietly; it would have been, and had been, enough of a reason for him to stay quiet about his crush at her age. But he'd seen how that had worked out... yeah. Yeaaaaah.

"If you don't say anything to him, nothing will change," he said with a shrug. "You won't get hurt, but it'll still be there."

Well... she probably would get hurt, in the long run. If it didn't go away sooner or later. He'd gotten hurt, but surely every situation was different.

Hopefully.

"Girls are actually kind of endearing when they do silly things." He leaned back in his seat, arms stretching in front of him to loosen up the muscles; his shoulder gave a quiet popping sound, which he ignored, and his hands dropped back into his lap.

Heh. He didn't really expect her to give any suggestions. Most people didn't seem inclined to. Giving a small grin, he resigned himself to it. He had no idea what he was doing after he left Hogwarts, and nor did anyone else. There was only so far you could go in a secondary school before you had to pick a speciality. He could probably get by taking general courses for a term...

"There's too many things to be done in this world, it's not easy to pick one."

Maybe he'd just stay here and be a student forever.

Well here she was. After taking a, lets just call it a break, to think about certain 'things' Miss Trixie Malfoy was most certainly back. Heck seeing as she had a few weeks to prepare a costume before the ball, the 16 year old had bought something herself before the occasion. Which is why when she walked through the doors, she came fully blown in Gold as GOLDILOCKS!

Yeah she didn't exactly have to do much, she was always called Blondie anyway, a few curls in the hair, throwing them up in bunchies with gold ribbons, her makeup simple yet pretty, gold high heels Which she might have gone just a little TOO pricey with her gold Choker and her short Gold dress. In her clutches was a small brown teddy, just to complete the look. She looked the part, and well, she FELT the part.

But she was dateless....

An aspect which devastated her. So with a small huff, the Slytherin sat alone at the seating her eyes scanning around for someone she knew, in fact ANYONE. Poor little Goldilocks

*Pout*

"Hello I'm Joey Starr"are you related to emma malfoy is my cousin.I'am adpoted but my little sister a Malfoy.Taking a small bite of her food.Well tonight its lovely.