You Are Cordially Invited to the Yule Ball!

[xoxohogwarts]

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!

Comments

hermione granger

[reparo]

[can be year 8 OR a different ball than one at hogwarts if you wanna go with adults OR she'll be a chaperone.]

fleur delacour

[beaubaton]

[i am VERY MUCH voice testing so i will tag anything]

lily evans

[lancifolium]

[ here for student aged shenanigans or aued as a professor for chaperoning fun ]

neville longbottom

[nev]

[ student or professor, whatever is clever ]

bill weasley

[raresteaks]

[ voice testing, here for everything ]

(another) hermione granger

[germione]

[ student or professor is cool with me ]

Cassie Potter (Fem!Harry)

[minhalilia]

[student/professor - whichever! Here for all the things.]

Harry Potter (Slytherin!AU)

[coreofaphoenix]

[ He still may not be the best dancer but here you go! Student/Professor/Special Guest - here for it all.]

Sirius Black

[canemstellam]

[Feels very called out but here for the said shenanigans. Students... or, Merlin forbid, as a chaperone.]

Andromeda Black/Tonks

[dromedablack]

[Student but could be a chaperone. Open to all the things!]

Eldrine Abernathy (OC)

[eldrineabernathy]

[ Here for any of it. m/f or f/f]

9. les chaperons (but they are not le married) (or even le together)

[beaubaton]

Hogwarts is never going to stop feeling weird to her, even later. It was a strange enough experience to be living here while the Triwizard Tournament was going on, and perhaps even stranger to come back to help with the efforts after the end of the war, but one thing never changes: a castle full of hormonal teenagers at a ball?

Weird.

In Beauxbatons, they usually throw a similar party at the end of every school year, just a little something to allow the students to relax and unwind. In this school, it all feels much more...stuffy. You have the usual: the boys refusing to dance, the girls being upset about it, and the chaperones being at their wits' ends trying to keep students from spiking the punch.

This is the third time she has chased Ginevra and Luna away from the punch table with a warning glare now, and Fleur really, desperately needs a smoke.

"William," she says, stepping up to the young man who is supposed to be acting as chaperone with her. "If I step out into the courtyard for a few minutes, will you be able to cope on your own?" And then, a bit more wryly, "Because your sister keeps trying to spike the punch."

2. wow apparently i have feelings

[beaubaton]

She doesn't mean to eavesdrop, honest to Morgana. The curtains at Madam Malkins are extremely thin - maybe on purpose? Modistes love their gossip - and she is trying out the dress for the upcoming Yule Ball, when she hears a familiar voice.

There are four champions - though there should be only three - and the youngest of all, Harry Potter, he has a friend who is always around him. She reminds Fleur of this little busy bee, although not unkindly. Hermione Granger, she is called, and the girls in the Ravenclaw Tower have called her a few other unkind things, but Fleur has not seen any of the smug know-it-all attitude she is infamous for; she's decided long ago that the girls in Ravenclaw might just be jealous.

There is a degree of sympathy, and maybe even camaraderie - Hermione's good name has been dragged through the mud by a newspaper, of all things, and she is too young to be involved in this. In fact, she should not have to go through this at all - and Fleur knows a thing or two about people assuming things about you just based on your blood, or your looks, or your skills.

She knows what they say about her. That Beauxbatons is only participating in the Tournament because they need a third school, not because of talents; that she is the weaker link, because she is neither a Quidditch star, nor a golden boy, nor a Chosen One.

Anyway - bottom line - pardon her French: fuck them.

She isn't eavesdropping, but she hears Hermione Granger talking about the shade of her dress with Madame and Fleur pulls her curtain aside. "You look lovely, Hermione," she says, with a small smile, flinching at how she's probably managed to mangle up her name.

10. i made her to play f/f and thats what imma do

[beaubaton]

"Oh, thank gods," she mutters, sneaking behind a tall shrubbery, out of the line of sight of the chaperones and the press, to take a deep breath. This dress is insufferably tight, and she has felt more glares at the back of her head in the past hour than in seven years of school.

What is wrong with the women in this school? Who has hurt them so - who has been so terrible that they have become accustomed to being such...little bitches to other women? It's sad and it's disappointing, and Fleur is very tired already.

She has a packet of cigarettes in the pocket of her dress, which she spells back up to normal size, and with a low level Incendio, one is lit and she takes a deep drag. Thank gods Gabrielle isn't here, the little love. She would likely lecture Fleur about how bad these are for her health.

"But better for my nerves," she mutters to herself, and with a dry laugh takes another drag.

6, but make it marauder era

[reparo]

Let's make one thing very clear: nobody asked Hermione to chaperone, and even if they had she is a student herself, and does not qualify as one as it stands. But it's a matter of principle, in this particular case, because she can see Black lurking by the refreshment table with a look on his face that spells trouble, and she will be damned if she is forced to deal with her dormmates drunk and giggly tonight.

"Don't even think about it," she hisses, manifesting at his side, like a curse.

three!

[reparo]

Lavender and Parvati are giggling in the bedroom, presumably because they've figured out how to apply make-up with the help of a spell, and in the meantime, Hermione is having an existential crisis in the girls' bathroom.

Honestly maybe she is a fool, trying to straighten her hair and make an effort to actually look girly, so nobody who looks at her tonight will mutter about why on earth she is Viktor Krum's date, but she is not feeling so sure. Her dress feels itchy, and her hair feels...like it is a sneeze away from curling up again, wilder than before.

At least Cassie, with her last minute robes and her fairly last minute date, doesn't seem to be faring any better, and it's almost...uplifting?

Until Hermione spots the dress, a gorgeous thing in green that makes Cassie's eyes stand out brilliantly, and she feels a churn of envy and something else.

"You look brilliant..."

We're absolutely going with adults. Also I rolled a 1, so you're getting it.

[plantdad]

There are situations in Neville's life when he knows something is going to be a godawful idea even before he does it - but he can't quite stop the momentum. It's like being on a train, and having your hand on the brake as you come closer and closer to a broken track. Could he hit the brake and stop everything? Technically yes, but the perspective of train wreck is too mesmerizing.

Speaking of train wrecks.

"So, you see, it's an tradition my nan has, and I normally try to stay in Hogwarts for Christmas, but I caved this year. It's like... It's a fun party, I promise. If you like parties, and I think you do. It's not as grand as the Yule Ball, no more than fifty people, but there is actual booze, so that helps. I thought it would be nicer to go with a friend. What do you say?" He lets out a shaky breath, then winces. "Fuck. It's like I haven't gained a single social skill since we were fourteen. Terrifying, really."

In his defense, he is kneeling in front of the fireplace in his Hogwarts office, his head floating in Hermione's living room, and he is really nervous. Which is ridiculous, because they are thirty years old, and way past the teenage drama of asking each other out. He just thought he'd invite his best friend to the Longbottom Boxing Day Reception, because it's a nice thing to do - and then he caught juvenile awkwardness from his students, and made everything weird.

"Do you think there is a chance you could pretend I asked you like a coherent person?"

[reparo]

"I do hope you don't slip up with that language in front of your students, Neville. Teenagers can be vicious little fucks," she jokes, staring at his image projected in her living room with wry amusement. She has, over the years, tried her very best to stay in touch with classmates from Hogwarts who were not total dicks to her, but few of them would've qualified not only as friends but close ones at that.

Her expression softens though, and mentally she checks her diary - Boxing Day is free. There will be the usual Christmas Day meal at the Weasleys, because Molly is a stickler for routine even now that Hermione has actually attended Ron's wedding to someone else, and on the twenty-fourth she plans to get gloriously drunk with Harry and Ginny, but other than that?

"Alright, I'll come with. Do I need to dress up fancy?"

[plantdad]

"It's nine in the evening, my students can mind their fucking business," he says without skipping a beat, relieved that she decided to tolerate his awkwardness. "Dress up... Honestly, yes. It's quite formal. Is that okay?"

[reparo]

"I know we mostly see each other at pubs, but I'm still capable of cleaning up nicely," she jokes, trying to not mentally start writing a list of all the things she has to do.

"So this party, is it like...a thing with friends?" Does Augusta even have friends, or is it mostly just people she intimidates into obedience? "Or is it political?" Because she has been, as he well knows, aiming to climb up the ladder within the Ministry and although she will go to any kind of party with Neville, she does need to know what game to bring.

Chaperones sound so fun!

[baby_deer]

"So let me see if I get it right." Harry takes a good look at his dress robes, only vaguely terrified. They're probably not as uncomfortable as they look... but close enough.

"Our job is, number one, make sure that no one underage gets drunk and or pregnant before midnight. Number two, shoo them to their dorms at around midnight. Number three... Get to the after party and do shots with Flitwick?"

In hindsight, he should have known there would be an afterparty. He has no idea why he assumed there wouldn't be. But this is his first year teaching, and apparently he still has the capacity to be surprised.

[plantdad]

"I mean, I clean up reasonably well too, but that doesn't mean I don't hate it," he points out, and tries to make himself more comfortable on the floor. There's gotta be a more comfortable way of calling people. Maybe muggles are on to something with smartphones.

"And it's... Soft politics? There might be an odd Head of Department, but there's gonna be more matchmaking than schmoozing. Expect Healers and artists and the likes. Oh, and McGonagall. They were in the same year in Hogwarts, she is invited every year."

[reparo]

"I better clean up really well, then," she concludes because - imagine McGonagall not thinking Hermione is up to the expected standards? "Is it traditional robes? Dressing gowns? Any other etiquette I need to know of? Also should I bring a gift for your grandmother?"

[plantdad]

"Oh... No, no gift - that's on me. I mean. On us, but you're my plus one, so... One gift per couple, and obviously I'll take care of it. And yeah, dress robes, but the house rule is we don't wear any of the Hogwarts colors, because people used to get really obnoxious about that. Other than that, I don't... think so? I don't know, I don't really go to any other parties, so I don't know if ours is strange."

[reparo]

She lets out a little laugh. "I might come dressed in green then, really surprise everyone." She likes wearing green, really, she just isn't a big fan of Hogwarts alumni acting as if Houses have ownership of colours.

It's just a damn colour.