Jake was tugging on his tie with one hand while holding Anya's hand in his other when the couple entered the tent. It didn't bother him - he was used to wearing ties, of course - he was actually just self-conscious. He was wearing purple. Sure, he owned the shirt and had brought it to school for this sort of occasion, but he'd never actually worn it before. Tonight, the girl whose hand he was holding had picked up his clothes. Jake didn't mind, really, because she told him he looked good. Still. Purple...

As he continued walking, music reached his ears. Music. So there must be... Yep. If he wasn't mistaken, that was a dance floor. The Prefect glanced sideways at the girl beside him and flashed a quick smile. Without a word he changed their course. Once at the edge of the dance floor, Jake took a quick glance around and found the band. It was a group of older guys, but they seemed to be doing alright so far. So they wouldn't be bad to dance to.

Turning back to Anya, Jake offered his free hand while still holding one of hers. "May I have this dance?" Cue charming smile.

Carter grinned happily as he held Destiny's hand. He enjoyed being back at Hogsmeade. Weirdly enough, he hadn't returned here since graduation. And he missed it. Maybe he should come back more often. He did have a sister in school and he was at the school for board business fairly often.

And everyone knew the cheesecake here was amazing.

He nodded to the dance floor and then looked at his wife. "Shall we?" he asked. And then, without waiting for an answer, Carter led them over in that direction.

Anya grinned at the guy holding his hand. Totally handsome. Yes he was. That was a fun shirt too. It wasn't his normal style, but, there was to be dancing, and dancing pretty much required something awesome to wear. Hence, the pretty pink purple shirt.

She made a mental note to name that color later.

Anya smiled as he directed them over to the dance floor. She could have giggled if not for the whole 'being in public' thing. She hated giggling in public. She silently took his hand, still beaming a smile that was a mile kilometer long.

That was a yes, by the way.

Ella was trying really hard not to worry about things. Like the state of Hogwarts or the heels she was wearing. She was going to totally fall walking on these things, she knew. Instead she thought on the positives...like the lovely food and all the people coming to raise money for the school and the lovely music that was currently playing. The blonde smiled a little at that last part, watching those on the dance floor while she swayed a bit herself. She really did love to dance.

After a few minutes the blonde's green eyes looked away from the dance floor in search of a certain hair ruffler. She knew he was here, probably checking out the food table in search of ice cream or something. Grin. She knew he wasn't that fond of dancing but maybe just maybe....

Shuffle.

There was music playing. And music meant one thing, more or less. Dancing.

And sure enough, when the sixteen year old turned to face a certain place where the music was playing from -- oh HEY band he had never heard of before! Wave! -- his grey-blue eyes landed on the dance floor. Uh oh. Did he have to dance? Really? He practically had two left feet and whoever his partner was, they'd probably go away disgruntled and clutching their feet afterwards. ... Poor person, whoever they-

... OH HEY GIRLFRIEND.

Alec reached up a hand to ruffle his hair as he walked over towards her. Yeah... her poor feet. His eyes flicked down towards her feet and he looked at them for a minute or two, as if he was sending telepathic advance apologies to them. That was important. YEP. His eyes flicked back up to her face and he channelled Astro Man straightened out his tie. This was important too!

"You're not trying to match me in height, are you?" he asked just as he reached her, a small grin playing across his face. You know, if she was actually wearing heels to make him feel not-so-tall. ... Oh right. He was forgetting something! He cleared his throat and, still grinning, turned to the girl to ask, "Does the lady want to dance?"

Gentlemanly-ness. He had that. Maybe.

BOYFRIEND!

Was she smiling like an idiot? Probably. She couldn't help it, though. Handsome boyfriend was handsome. And...staring at her feet which was maybe a little weird? She was okay with weird, though. She liked Alec's weird. Loved it, even.

"Maybe I'm tired of being so short compared to you?" She offered with a small smile, nudging him gently in the arm. Besides, if she wore heels then maybe it wouldn't be so hard to kiss him dance with him, yeah? Speaking of dancing, Ella smiled broadly as the boy asked her if she wanted to. Nodnod. "I'd love to." Did he even have to ask?

And taking his hand in hers, Ella laced their fingers and led him on to the dance floor, all smiles and excitement. She just really liked dancing, okay?

The sound of music and voices talking and laughing caught Ronnie's attention, and she had to know what was going on over there. After following the sound, she found herself on... a dance floor! Eeeeep! This was awesome!

She stood off to the side, watching as everyone danced. Wow, this was a brilliant idea! She'd always wanted to go to a dance! As she watched, she wondered to herself if Jory was around here somewhere. *gasp* What if they slow danced?! Her heart fluttered at the idea. Hopefully he'd want to if he was here...she glanced around herself, searching for him.

Blonde haired girlfriend was looking happy today! GRIN. It was good to see her so happy so... keep it up, Captain!

At the girl's words, Alec let out a small chuckle and shook his head. "I like that you're shorter than me. It means I can pick you up," You know, if the two of them were having a minor disagreement on things. This... could be his strategy. Maybe. And he could finally win the pillow fights/tickle fights/poke wars they had.

... "You look beautiful, by the way," He almost wanted to ask her whether she had spent long doing her hair just to make himself feel better for how long he had taken perfecting his hair. ... Only... to end up ruffling it like mad. Speaking of, did it look okay?

"Awesome!" he said, giving her hand a small squeeze and following her to the dance floor. Reaching an empty spot, he turned to face her, his hand still holding onto hers. "Do you have any music requests?" Because... he could speak to the band and request something. Nicely. They'd be able to play Imagine, right?

Ella looked down and smiled to herself when he laughed at her. He did that a lot, laugh at the things she said or did. Did this mean she was being a comedian again? Edric had said she did that a lot but she was never aware of it. "I don't know why you like picking me up so much, Alec." Poke. "Not that I mind or anything. It's a nice way of getting around." GRIN.

BLUSH. She figured that was coming but it didn't make her any less flattered by it. The butterflies were back too. "Thank you," She said quietly, stepping forward and straightening his tie a little. "You look really handsome, y'know." And his hair did look great. She always thought that about his hair, though. He had great hair, Alec did.

Ella squeezed back and looked down at their hands with a smile as she followed him to an open spot on the floor. Her smile widened at his question and she shook her head, stepping a bit closer to him. "No, this music is lovely. Perfect for dancing." It was sweet of him to offer, though. The blonde let go of his hand and placed her arms around his neck instead, head tilted to the side. "Thanks for doing this. I know it's not your favorite. The dancing, I mean." It meant a lot that he'd offer to dance anyway.

Lucky Ella was lucky to have him. Really, she was.

When she'd first heard of this thing, she'd half expected to be forced to work at it. You know, like was a waitress or worse, busgirlboy. But then, when she found that parents were invited, that fear went straight out the window. The Headmistress wasn't going to make them work in front of their parents and the alumni. So, she'd spent a good amount of time figuring out what to wear. She figured that it wouldn't be too formal a party, considering that that would make people wonder just how poor the school really was. Which had brought her around to what she was wearing now. She'd left the jacket with her aunt for now, and made her way to the dance floor. Where she realized that she no one to dance with. But, since this is where it seemed that most of her peers had gravitated, here she was staying. Besides, she really liked the song playing. And that caused her to start to dance.

Why......was she standing in the Dance Floor again?

Oh. Right. After sending off her donations, she Beezus was now searching for....people. One was Jonathan because he promised her that he would attend the fundraiser and she wanted to show him that she wore the dress he sent for her. It wasn't too bad, right? Her...wearing a dress and looking somewhat acceptable at this Ball? Although, compared to other girls out there...she was definitely underdressed. Not that she minded...she preferred to be simple.

She was also looking for Mo, since he had invited himself to come with her.....sort of. She wasn't sure if he was actually showing up but she thought it would be fun to have a Ravenclaw with her...especially if it was Mo. He was always fun to be with....kinda like a brother to her now. Plus...she wanted to keep an eye on him granted he's going through a critical phase in his life.

Puberty. Pssh.

.....And of course, she was also seeking the presence of her Slytherin. They didn't made any plans but she expected that he would attend. So...yeah. She was hoping he'd come and preferably out of his grumpy state.

Putting her hands on her hips, she scanned the area....no signs of the people on her list......but there were Jake and An- Mrs. Keller.......Alec and Ell- Mrs. Summers...
Hmmm...

She didn't know why he liked picking her up so much? ... Did he even know why he liked picking her up so much? ... Not really. "Erm... you're just small and it's just fun?" he said before sticking his tongue out at her at her poke. ... "You're not expecting me to carry you around all the time, are you?"

We see the blush, girlfriend, yes we do. "Anytime," he whispered back, watching as her fingers went and started straightening his tie, "You really think so? Thanks! I spent a lot of ti-... erm... I mean... I'm glad you think so," No mention of the hair fiasco. Nope.

"Awesome!" he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. So... they were going to be slow dancing, yeah? Alec looked down at his feet, making sure that they were close to Ella's but not stepping on hers. When she started speaking, he looked back up at her, grinning slightly. "You don't have to thank me, yeah?" Just saying. "Erm... well... maybe this won't be that bad?" The dancing part. The being with her part was going to be awesome. Nodnod.

"I'm not that small, Alec." Just saying. And the sticking his tongue out at her thing? "Heyyyy, that's not nice." Giggle! She did it back too before smiling broadly at him. Perfectly acceptable fundraiser behavior, yeah? "Course not. I wouldn't want you to hurt your back carrying around someone so big and strong." GRIN.

"You spent a lot of?" Ella asked, her head tilted to the side. Had he spent a lot of time getting ready for this? If so, that was adorable. It was nice, y'know, that he wanted to look nice. Which he did. Really, really nice. "I always think that you're...I mean...you are handsome so of course I'd say...that." She was rambling, wasn't she? It was because they were standing so close. She couldn't be that close to him and have her brain work properly. It just didn't happen that way.

He was looking at her feet again and Ella watched, confused. "Did you want to borrow my shoes sometime or?" She asked with an amused expression. Joking, of course. "I know I don't." But she wanted to thank him. He didn't have to dance but he was because she wanted to and that was really nice of him. "I think it'll be brilliant," She replied, grinning at him. The blonde then began swaying slowly, eyes locked on Alec's.

...Did she mention he had really nice eyes?

Mo pulled up along side Bee and stared at the dance floor too. He'd known all along that he'd invited himself along on this jaunt where he wasn't exactly wanted. Not unwanted, not by Bee, but not... first choice. Never first choice.

But he could win her over for today, at last. Mo bumped Bee with his elbow and offered her his hand with a grin.

"You should dance with me. It turns out I'm a fantastic dancer, and your boyfriend can't get all mad at me for picking you up and throwing you when we're dancing."

It was a nice feeling...watching your friends dancing and having fun. She was actually having fun herself just by doing so. She hadn't really realized as much until now. But it wasn't long until she was pulled out of her reverie by a nudge from her side.

Marcus Orion Branxton.

One from her list was finally here...and he was offering his hand? What was this?

Oh.......he was asking her to dance with him. Beezus returned the grin with one of her own, tucking some strands of hair behind her ear. "We really don't go with greetings, hmm? Kind of straight to the point at once?" By this time, she accepted his hand. "Nah...boyfriend's not here......yet." She didn't where he was at the moment. Saaaad. .....Not really. She was going to dance with Mo, so it wasn't sad. "And....fair warning, pup...I'm not a great dancer." But HeadGirl!Ness had been teaching her so....she wasn't at all horrible?

Hopefully.

Minerva had made her way to the dance floor. She liked this fundraiser idea. Anything to help the school, she just wish she could help more, but with her grandparents being lower middle class American muggles it was just difficult to help more then she could, but supporting and trying to help any other way was right up her alley. Plus any chance to get dressed up and go somewhere other then Hogwarts with Ethan was a great thing.

Now she was in the middle of the dance floor and why was she there again.... She had over come the dance issue, but at the moment she was out there alone.. Looking around she tried to figure out where Ethan went off to, he wasn't trying to get out of dancing now was he?? No she didn't think he would do that, he seemed to like dancing with her, well she hoped he did at least.

Tap.. tap.. tap...

She found herself tapping her foot to the slower music, oh what a great song to dance with Ethan to, she hoped he would come along soon.

"Greetings are for people who are just meeting after a long time or for people who are oddly formal with each other. We're neither of those things," Mo offered sagely as he pulled Bee out onto the dance floor. It seemed like only lately that he'd realized what a boon it was his mother had foisted dance lessons on him because his sisters had been taking them.

And now look... he got to waltz with pretty girls. Not that this was a waltz. It was more fast-paced and less orderly, and Mo threw himself gladly into making up steps. And making sure that Bee was neither stepped on nor stepping on anyone around them. Including him.

"Lucky for you they only let bad dancers in this place. Look, I call this move the Chaser Lift." He grabbed her easily around the waist and lifted her a few inches off the ground before setting Bee down again.

Jory heard the music as he made his way over to the dance floor. He wondered if his Ronnie was there already. He would love to dance with her even if he made himself look like an idiot. He laughed to himself as he pictured himself dancing clumsily while Ronnie danced to perfection.

Oh lookie! There were a few people there already including Alec and Ella. And Min too. His eyes stopped at the girl standing not far from him. Ronnie! He was always sure because of her vivid red hair. Jory walked over to her, fidgeting with his tie and hoping he looked okay. "Hi, my angel,'' he whispered in her ear. "You look gorgeous.'' He took her right hand and kissed it. Jory thought he had never seen anyone look prettier than Ronnie in that dress.

He was a genuine Branxton, no doubt about it. The way he talked would always remind her of the younger 'Claw's older sister. Their kind of reasoning was questionable but all the same acceptable...and in more than one occasion, she chose to side with the latter.

"We're neither of those things, yep." said the brunette as she allowed Mo to usher her further into the dance floor. Time to get the moves up a notch, yea? The music was lively, and that directly meant that this wasn't a formal dance they'll be doing. Good thing too, she hasn't really been learning any formal dances just yet so she jived to the music, trying to build up rhythm with Mo.....not really working but....it wasn't too bad.

Not to mention she wasn't stepping on anyone yet. So far, so good.

Then suddenly, Mo had her by the waist.... She was about to say something but didn't have the chance to as he lifted her off the floor before setting her back down again. GIGGLE. "Chaser Life, hmm? .....How about some Chaser Twirl?"With that, she stretched out her hand from him, pointed the spot with the toes of one foot and twirled back towards him.

She obviously didn't get the memo to dress up... obviously. Not that she cared though, Ariana was always dressing up for the smallest of events and this time she didn't want to. The chilly air made that an easy choice on what to wear. Pulling her sweater down around d her hands she stood by the dance floor biting her lip looking for anyone she might know.. Oh there was Min.. Hi min. She waved to her oh and Ronnie, She hadn't seen her all term waves for you Ronnie you and that mystery guy.. heh. Where was everyone elae?

Where on earth did that girl run off to? Ethan had been walking with Minerva to the fundraiser event, but it seemed that she had been walking faster and faster until he somehow got separated with her when his attention was distracted by someone he was sure looked just like his mother over by the donation station.. but he didn't think she would be here anyway thankfully.

Green eyes searched the immediate vicinity until he spotted his girlfriend right in the middle of the dance floor and he chuckled a little at her eagerness. She must have been excited to go dancing that she had to get started straight away and he stood back for a moment, just watching her and smiling. He still couldn't get over how stunning she looked.

He made his way over to her and stood in front of her, grinning. "Hey, gorgeous.." he said, stepping closer and slipping an arm around her waist. "Eager to start dancing already? I hope you weren't trying to ditch me for someone else.." he added with a wink, just joking as to why she was in such a hurry to get out to the floor ahead of him.

So Oakey got this this suit Owled to him by his GeeGee when word got out about this Fundraiser for the School was taking place at Hogsmeade. Feeling like he had to show up he slipped the suit on and made his way down to the village for the event. Not sure what to do, and not feeling so hungry Oakey just stood by the dance floor with his hands in his slack's pockets. and watched others dance.

He was going to get terribly bored if he just stood around. maybe his GeeGee showed up? She always liked these Fundraisers and had expressed her need to see his Professors on things. Should he find her before his Grandmother blew up on the staff?

Dylan had finally decided to speak to Oakey. Not without internal struggle, mind...but yea. He was ready to talk...and then it would be left alone. Gunter was making himself sick with all that crazy...and it was starting to make the Captain feel guilty. So, it had to come to an end. No more waiting around in corridors for him...or on the pitch....The Slytherin was going to insist...

Spotting him on the dance floor, he wasted no time in storming onto it, coat still on.

"You." That was all he was getting as a greeting.


Merlin...it had been so long since she'd dealt with these people. Marilyn, who was turning 23 this year, had finally been able to get over her past hatred and was making an appearance. She'd still read the papers...and had been in shock. It was hard for her to believe that the school that had once been her home was now broke....Robbed blind, apparently.

Seriously, what was the world coming to? Whoever had done it needed to be kicked in the face...with a stiletto. Facts were facts...and the former Slytherin had never sugarcoated.

Making her way in, trying not to draw TOO much attention to herself at first, the blonde seen someone she'd greatly missed. Time had done wonders for the once tiny brunette, though.

She tapped the girl on her shoulder lightly. "Hello."

So Oakey was going to give up on this Dance Floor watching thing. In fact off in the distance was Ariana who seemed to be waiting for someone...might as well make it him yeah? He was about to move across the dance floor before he was stopped midway by Dylan.
You? You who? him? Wait...him was he talking to Oakey, because if he was then WHAT TOOK HIM SO DAMN LONG all that waiting and stalking Dylan's usual hang outs for him to show up and speak to him about things was for nothing. "Me?"

You know after wanting to get things straightened out with the Snake for so long, he had completely forgotten what he needed to talk about because of this surprise. The 'You' was directed to him wasn't it?

Oakey looked around to see if maybe he was just standing in the Slytherin Captain's line of sight. Beezus was dancing with Mo. Maybe he was going over to them, and he just got in the way.

No, Dylan would have shoved him out of the way by now? This 'You' was directed to him for sure. "Yeah?"

How much time had passed since she got here? She had no idea but what she did know was she was swaying back and fourth slowly to the music, when had she started doing that? Shaking her head she found herself crossing her arms on her chest, really how were half these girls not Dieing from hypothermia or something by now in those dresses?! Freaks, That's what they were do be able to do that. Running her hand through her long hair that was now a little past halfway down her back, She shuddered as a chill ran over her. "freakin chilly" and that's what it was. And someone was touching her.....

" you better have a good reason for touching........... she Began to say as she turned around and practically had a heart attack at who she saw....." sjsbdkxjx." yes she did just sputter a bunch of nonsense "YOU... I.. gah. . Marilyn!?!?" was she right? Merlin she sure hoped she was it had been a long time but surely she didn't know anyone one else with that face, o it had to be her.

Just had to be.