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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"No, you really shouldn't," Cassie agreed and leaned in, returning the slow and deep kiss with a soft hum. She had never expected to find someone like this who she felt so comfortable and at ease with, who she sometimes couldn't get enough of. Cassie stepped in closer to Draca and deepened the kiss slowly.

She didn't care about them being caught or what risks there were. She just wanted to have this moment with Cassie. All too soon things would be over and they would be out in the world and who knew when they could steal moments like this.

Groaning softly, shifting to press Cassie back against a wall, cradling her in her arms to protect her as she gave into that kiss and how delightful it was. Dressed so wonderfully, the belles of the ball.

Cassie grinned when she felt her back press against the wall and slid her other hand down to the other girl's hip, bringing her in closer to her as she deepened the kiss.

"Draca," she murmured, licking at her bottom lip before nipping at it playfully. "Let's leave." It was a very sudden thought and she wasn't thinking of just the ball. She was thinking of leaving the tournament, Hogwarts... perhaps it was running away but only until they could sort out this mess that was rapidly approaching. She knew her girlfriend though and knew her loyalty to her Family. A loyalty that Cassie also felt since they were an extension of her family through the Blacks and Malfoy's own care to her over the years.

Still. They knew what was coming. Even if neither of them wanted to think about that tonight.

There's something about those words that gives Draca pause. A gravity to them that spoke of more than sneaking back to the dorm or to some dark shadowed and empty classroom.

Draca withdraws slightly, her hands moving to cling to Cassie's. "What do you mean?" The kissing had been hot but this was something else. Scary and exciting and maybe just a tease, a hope. Or maybe it was something more.

"What do you mean when you say leave?"

Because much as she feels loyal to her family, she also feels terrified for what's to come and their odds of surviving it.

When Draca started to withdraw a little bit, Cassie's heartbeat quickened and for a split second, she was worried that Draca would dismiss it... dismiss her. When her hands clung to hers instead, Cassie clung onto them and brought them up to her mouth to press kisses to.

"We can go... leave Hogwarts," she whispered, looking at her. "We know what's coming, Draca. We can go and ask for protection with the ICW. As a Malfoy and as The Girl Who Lived, they'd be hard-pressed to say no. Everything we should be learning... they can teach us."

And not just how to be a pureblood woman and the dark arts.

"I know this would mean leaving your family but... I'd rather see us both safe first before we are asked to fight in a war that started before either of us were born."

It's madness. It's absolutely crazy and Draca knows it. This war that started so long ago is meant to be fought by them. She knows it. Her family expects it. The wizarding world expects it of Harry. But why are they doing it? Why would they give in to that?

"Do you think we could?"

She whispers it so softly, stealing furtive gazes around them. She's positive someone is going to hear this, that they're going to try and stop them, but it's an amazing thought that she can't help but truly wonder if they could make it happen.

"Do you think they wouldn't return me to my parents if they demanded it?"

The last thing Cassie Potter had ever expected was to be drawn into a war when she (re)entered the wizarding world. She'd wanted to learn magic and go about her life but whatever you wanted to call it had other plans. Voldemort had other plans. The wizarding world as a whole had other plans.

If you asked Cassie (and no one truly had), she wanted to make her own plans. If she was supposed to fight a world for the betterment of their society, then she wanted to do it on her terms. And bring Draca with her, if she so chose to.

Merlin she hoped she would.

Perhaps she wouldn't have thought about it quite like this but after the winter holidays spent at Malfoy manor and the confidence that Draca drilled into her, Cassie knew she had to do it her way. Their way.

Whatever Dumbledore may or may not have planned (because surely the Headmaster didn't tell her) was obviously not going to work for her. The lack of communication and clear plan said enough.

Whatever the Malfoy's and Voldemort had planned was... well, it didn't suit her and the world was already backward enough without adding even more blood supremacy to the mix.

When Draca asked her if they could, Cassie smiled. "I know we could," she whispered, looking at her with a confident look. "Look at who we are - they'd be ridiculous to say no. We just can't rely on the British Ministry, they're going to side with one or the other. We've seen that. We have to go to France, Rome... anywhere but here."

Cassie paused and considered that. "Maybe not if we seek asylum and explain our case. But... I don't know that, yet." Her mouth twisted up. "I can't decide if what I'm proposing is the most Slytherin thing or the most Gryffindor thing but all I know, Draca... is that this tournament isn't right. It's a tournament for those of age participants and clearly I am not, yet here we are."

There had been a time when Draca had been proud to be in this war, to be part of her family and to follow in her parents footsteps. That had been before things had turned like they had and Cassie had come into her life. That was before she started thinking for herself and realizing she could have a future.

Her heart is racing, pounding like mad in her chest. Her hands fairly shake as they clutch at Cassie's, holding tight as if afraid as if she'll lose her even as they discuss this.

"We know someone set you up," she hisses. "And they claimed that couldn't happen, and the twins tried and failed and..." She leans in closer to her. "I think Dumbledore is the one that did it. If not, he let it happen. He's the most powerful wizard in this place, he set all the traps and they were enforced by others. Who else could have done it? Or let it happen."

That is the thing to Draca. Whoever did it, Dumbledore had to have let it happen.

"We have to figure out how to get out of here." She pauses, considering Cassie for a moment. "Without letting them know until its too late."

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."

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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