hogwartsexpressed | You Are Cordially Invited to the Yule Ball!

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You Are Cordially Invited to the Yule Ball!

The Yule Ball

How to play
① Tag in
② Go to RNG and roll 1-10. That's your scenario!
③ Tag around!
④ Have fun. :)

Cross-canon/canon/oc's are all welcome! Just note how your character has been invited to the ball or if they're a student! We welcome it all. ♥

Scenarios
① Ask Your Date to the Yule Ball - Invite that special someone or ask your best friend. There is nothing wrong with going as friends!
② Dress Shopping/Dress Robe Shopping - It's time to find that perfect outfit! Or have one mailed to you and ask someone to alter it for you if need be.
③ Getting Ready - It's time to get ready for the ball, do you feel that nervous flutter?
④ Picking Up Your Date - Go and pick up your date, the ball is about to start!
⑤ The First Dance - It's time for the first dance. Are you ready?
⑥ Refreshment Table - Let's hope ~~someone~~ no one spiked the punch! We're looking at you Marauders. We see that flask, Sirius...
⑦ The Courtyard - Need a break from dancing and people? We get that. Go into the courtyard and get a breath of fresh air. Just be sure no teacher catches you making out with your date.
⑧ Wardrobe Malfunction - The absolute worst timing, a wardrobe malfunction! What do you do?
⑨ Chaperone - Are you a chaperone for the evening? How'd you get stuck with that gig? Better make sure the Marauders aren't creating havoc or spiking the punch!
⑩ Free Choice - You know what, you do your thing!

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There is such a mixed moment of anger and pain. Seamus has those moments when he just wants to hurt people so badly for the things they did to children. Bad enough the teenagers that threw themselves at him, but then they destroyed children. Their children.

His fingers stroke over Roland's palm, drawing a small charm.

"We'll get rid of it then. Some might see a scar but if they try and look at it seriously, they won't be able to see what it is. Just a scar, that's all they'll know or realize."

He glances at Dean and McGonagall. "Go get them now? We can use the potions classroom and have the few items we need. We can take care of things without anyone knowing."

She looks between the older boys and then nods. "Go then, Mr Thomas. We'll be in the potions room," she says, gesturing for the other two.

Seamus gives Dean a smile and a nod, he wants to say more but things are serious now.

Cassie didn't notice how tightly Draca was holding onto her hands because her grip was just as tight. Worried that if she let go for even a second that Draca could disappear on her or even worse.

She nodded in agreement, feeling her heart prounding in her chest.

"At the very least, he allowed it to happen," she agreed in a whisper. "Or it happened between it leaving the Ministry and it arriving here. Either way, I should not have been allowed to enter and at least should have been given the bloody choice."

Her words were far from elegant, she knew. Although she'd survived one of the trials, she was still (understandably) upset that she'd been forced to compete in this competition.

"Agreed," Cassie nodded. "First thing tomorrow, we'll find someplace hidden and plan." As far as she saw it, she didn't trust anyone on staff currently and their housemates were out of the question. Most of them had been like them and were thrilled with their parents Lord returning.

If they only knew.

"I'm glad you're coming with me," she admitted, tightening her hands around Draca's for a moment before leaning in and pressing a deep kiss to her mouth.

"I won't believe he didn't have a hand in it," she says in a soft, low voice. "Nothing happens in Hogwarts without him knowing. Nothing would have entered this place tampered with without him knowing."

Draca's tones are fierce, angry even as she thinks about it. She's really worried about what they would do if they learned she was going to take Cassie away from all of this. And she is. Now that they've had this talk, there's no going back. She won't stop. Not here and now. She's never going to leave Cassie to them. Not again.

"No, I'm glad. I don't want to stay here another moment." Not with her families. Not with Hogwarts and Dumbledore. "But I don't want to make mistakes. I want to plan it out. Make it perfect. Make it they can never find us."

Cassie nodded. "Unless the wards have degraded so much but I believe he's still fully responsible for it. I can't imagine Hogwarts being pleased by the shite he's allowing through," she agreed, her voice low.

"No, we're not going into this have cocked. We need to be very thorough." She paused for a moment. "It makes me wish at times like this that we could trust Padfoot but... I'm not sure how much Dumbledore is influencing him. Not that he's the greatest at planning." He had left her with Hagrid on Dumbledore's orders after all.

She cleared her throat and looked at the other girl. "Tomorrow we start planning. We're doing this the right way. The only one I'll really miss is your Mum... I'm sorry." Cassie never wanted to take Draca away from her parents but with Lucius being who he was, Voldemort would surely go to the Malfoy's after he came back. It was really only a matter of time.

"He notices everything else. Doesn't seem they've degraded that much," she points out, tones bitter and dripping with an anger she's held back for so long.

"I can think of one way to find out," she says, having thought about this before. Since getting close to Daisy and learning what he had been through and not just what Draca had been told by her parents and others. "I want to ask him about why he wasn't given a trial and whose decision that was. Why did Dumbledore let that happen when he could have stepped in? He let him take the fall. Why back him then?"

And she thinks there's a lot of people they could go to like that, people who might have a saw in things as well. As if when you started opening your eyes, you saw so much more.

Draca's expression fell, nodding at that with a pained look. "I wish I thought she would leave too, but I truly don't think she would. Even if she doesn't stand by their beliefs anymore, she stands by my father." She pauses a moment before adding. "I think she would help us though, and even understand. But maybe not tell her, so she can lie but she'll understand."

"True but he didn't seem to notice there was a troll our first year until Quirrell came running in. It shouldn't have been here in the first place or even allowed on the grounds," she said and paused, considering the previous years before she shook her head.

Cassie slowly nodded in agreement. "So... once we leave or find a safe place, we find a way to contact him and ask. Maybe it'll wake him up and realize he can't trust the headmaster anymore than we can." Because if the Headmaster is as powerful in society as he seems to be, he could have gotten Sirius a trial. But obviously, that seemed to be at the bottom of his list.

Which just upset her even more than she already was regarding the entire farce of a tournament.

"One day, when it's safe again, we'll reach out to her," Cassie promised Draca before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her mouth quickly. "For now, we've got to focus on getting out of here."

"Yeah, there's that. Though... what if he did? I mean, what if it was just not important enough to him to care until Granger got involved." Or until he couldn't pretend and he could blame others. Draca doesn't know but she hears a lot about this subject.

"We'll do what we can. Us. Not letting Dumbledork lead us around by the nose like he has everyone in the wizarding world for so long."

Her hands grip Cassie's tightly.

"One day, but for us that day is soon. Where do you want to go? If you could go anywhere, where?"

Cassie thought about that before nodding. "I can see it," she agreed before releasing a breath. "I think he's just being a manipulative old man who isn't getting his way." Because she'd been sorted into Slytherin and had made friends (and more) with the Malfoy Heiress.

Her mouth quirked up at the nickname and nodded. "Us," she agreed with a sigh. "Rome," she said, looking at her. "If we can get to Rome, we can see if we can appeal to the ICW for assistance - asylum from the old man and his cronies. But getting off the continent will be a good first step."

"You?"

"They all are," she whispers as if afraid she'll be heard. "They're all crazy and power hungry and they are using us as pawns. I'm not dying for their war, and neither are you," she says, her voice all but a hiss as she says that to the one person that matters most to her.

"Italy it is then," she says with a grin, cheeks flushed. "I love Rome. You're going to love it," she says, squeezing her hands again. "We're going to do this. We aren't letting them get us killed."

She nods in agreement. "I have no plans to die in this damn war," she agrees before continuing. "Neither of us is."

Cassie grins, squeezing the girl's hands. "We're doing this. We start planning, tomorrow. We can go to the Room." She froze momentarily when she heard footsteps walking closer to their location in the gardens.

Hopefully, it was just another couple looking for a snogging location.

Draca is about to answer when she hears the footsteps. She goes still, all a rabbit under the watchful eyes of wolves. Except it isn't a wolf who steps out of the shadows, but rather a cat.

Or a woman that could well be a cat.

"Perhaps if you're planning to discuss mutiny, you should do so in your private rooms," McGonagall says, prim and proper and looking peaceful despite her words. "Or at least under a dampening charm."

She withdraws her wand from her sleeve and gives it a swirl and the pressure is there, making it clear that there's a silencing spell around them.

"Good evening, Ladies." She glances back to where the others are and then to the girls. "I will assume then you're not having a good time. Perhaps I could help?"

Cassie opens her mouth to somehow convince the professor that they weren't doing or discussing any sort of mutiny but then she feels the dampening charm and closes her mouth.

"Good evening, Professor," she says watching her then looks at Draca before returning her attention to McGonagall.

How much did she hear? How much could she say? "The ball is fine. It's the tournament itself that leaves much to be desired..." And the rest of the wizarding world as it stands.

Draca tenses, reaching for her wand. She stops herself though, realizes who their company is. She stares at her, shifting slightly as if she's putting herself between Cassie and the professor.

"We needn't any of that, Ms Malfoy. I wouldn't harm either of you and, well... Lets just say that I'm much more on the side of my students than anyone else."

Which is why she's here and already considering what she might be able to do for them.

"Are you serious about leaving then?"

Cassie blinks in surprise and glances at Draca before focusing on the professor before her.

"Yes," she says. And while she knows that her parents would have stayed and fought - they were adults. She and Draca were teenagers and she was fighting in a tournament that she shouldn't be fighting in because her name had slipped through.

"If I'm going to be fighting in a future war, Professor, I would like to do it on my own terms and with someone who can train us better."

She pauses. "No offense to you..."

"No offense taken, Dearie. Trust me. I know where my limitations are in these walls, and there are many of them."

It's the most she might admit to how she's feeling about things, but that doesn't change that given the chance she will help them as much as she can.

"With the tournament in place, you will have to make plans to get away when even the castle defenses are distracted, but that they will not think to look for Ms Potter. Tomorrow they will be bringing in something special for the event. Hagrid will be helping with it,' she says, her expression darkening. "That will be your chance."

Truth was, she was sure if the situation was different, there was a lot they could learn from the Professor. Her skills in transfiguration were mindblowing. But here at Hogwarts, that wouldn't happen and she couldn't just take the risk of staying for a decent teacher.

She nods in understanding then looks at Draca. "Which means, we have time tonight while people are distracted with the ball to pack and prepare," she says softly.

There's pain on their professor's face, even as she nods at the girls.

"It would be for the best. I wish I had a better answer, or could do more but I will have to take care of things after you are both gone. It will not be pretty, I suspect. If I thought taking others with you would help, I would ask but let me just say this. If you see others after you leave, or while you're leaving, know you are not the only ones I have spoken to tonight."

He sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment.

"It isn't what should be done but it's the best I can do."

Cassie nods in understanding. "No, but I know you will do everything you can to protect the students to the best of your ability," she says then pauses. "As you're able to, look out for the Slytherins as well. Some of them don't want this any more than we do."

Did she need to tell that to her? No, likely not but Slytherin had been her house and while many of them put on a big show of it, none of them likely knew what would really happen the moment their parent's master shows up again. Because he would. She was sure of it.

"No, it's not what should be done but it's what we've been given and your help tonight has been valuable," she says. "Thank you, Professor."

"It's why I've stayed as long as I could," she says with a tight smile, glad that they see it. "I will do the best I can," she adds with a nod. "It's easy to see the ones that don't want to do this, and who are forced into it."

She looks at Draca then. "But I'll do the best I can."

She steps closer, taking one of their hands in each of hers. "You'll have only a few moments to get out. You'll know when. You have maybe an hour to grab what you can. If anyone asks, say your mother is sick, Draca, and you'll be going home. Cassie will be going with you for moral support."

Cassie tightens her hand on the Professors and gives her a nod. She looks at Draca.

"If we don't have much time then we should go and pack everything important. If you're sure," she says, staring at the other girl closely. Though, she knew that Draca wouldn't change her mind, not about this.

She only wished they could bring Narcissa with them.

Draca's expression is dark, the kind that many feared from the Malfoy heir but now it's determination. She's set on what she knows her future will be.

She nods at Cassie.

"I'm sure. This is our chance. We have to."

She leans in and kisses Cassie's cheek and then turns her attention to Professor McGonagall. "My mother... if you can..."

She nods at that. "I make no promises, Child, but if I can. Now. Go."

Cassie kisses her cheek with a little smile then looks at the Professor again with a nod.

Without another word, Cassie releases McGonagall's hand before tightening the one around Draca's and walking back toward the castle. In her head, she's already thinking of everything she needs to grab.

It was happening much quicker than either of them expected but they had to take it. Luckily for them, everyone was still enjoying the Yule Ball and paying not one lick of attention to either of them.

"The dorms are empty, we'll get a chance to snog all we want without our dormmates giving us a look," she says, giving the other girl a wicked smirk. She was not going to say anything serious inside the walls of Hogwarts for fear that they'd be overheard and reported on.

Draca can't help but laugh at that, wishing they could do just that. Just take time alone, but they would have time for that later. Later when their world wasn't opening up before them and ending at the same time.

Her hand squeezes Cassie's. "Shhh, someone might hear you," she teases, playing into it for their game in case anyone had followed or could hear them.

But Cassie had been right, the dorm was empty.

"Okay, whatever we have to have. Anything of value. Only good shoes," she teases but there's a seriousness there too. She's thought of this before now.

Cassie nods as she looks around the dorm before looking at Draca.

"We should take your trunk and I'll leave mine here. That way, if there's anything that he has put a tracker on, he won't know. Merlin, does this mean, I can't bring those fancy heels you bought me last Christmas," she teases.

As she asks though, she starts to gather everything of value, including the earrings Draca had bought her during the same time frame, the map, and the clothes she would need.

Before Hogwarts and meeting Draca, she hadn't had much to call her own. And although she was leaving things behind, she was bringing the most valuable items and things with her, including her relationship with Draca. "What else?"

"Maybe you can trust those? Since they're from me? Anything you got while with Hagrid or others from the school you can't trust. Your trunk and robes, your books." She pauses a moment. "I am not sure about Hedwig either.'

She hates telling her that but it's definitely a chance.

Gathering her things, she pauses to look around, considering the options.

"Anything else we need, we can buy. I have some of the family jewelry and we can sell them if we need to." Not the earrings but other things they could sell to help them get through things. "We're... we're ready then?"

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You Are Cordially Invited to the Yule Ball!

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and because I have a sirius living in my brain, he gonna live in this. :D

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We were going to bring in McGonagall to help them, right?

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