Circi | 2

FOURTEEN

"The Yule Ball"

December 1994, 3 months later

On the approach to Christmas, it was announced that a Yule Ball would be held. The teachers encouraged students to dress their best and there were dance workshops held.

The announcement was not the part the students cringed at upon reflection, it was the preposition provided by the head of houses that varied in trauma. Circi had heard stories of the youngest Weasley boy, apparently his name is Ron, demonstrating the waltz with professor McGonagall. And while the Slytherins were not humoured by Professor Snape in such a way, his countenance in the announcement was ingrained in their heads.

They were gathered in the common room one evening when Snape joined them. It wasn't unusual for him to stand by the entrance and observe them but this time he required their attention. The students in their dorms were summoned and they were all subjected to Snape explaining what a ball was and telling them step-by-step how to execute a waltz while standing as still as possible. Recognising his words were boring them, he simply left the room and understood that many of them had likely attended a ball before.

To an extent, this was true, Draco and Circi had enacted their own version when their parents were at a ball and their grandfather was caring for them. They knew how to waltz simply from their grandfather's instruction but they knew.

The common room was quiet and full of sniggering but Carmen soon stood and offered her services as a waltz instructor for she had, on many occasions, attended a formal dance with her parents.

No one had asked Circi to the dance and so, in solidarity, she had agreed with Mica that they would be each other's dates. The afternoon of the ball, Circi was in her dorm preparing with her dorm mates. The girls were excited, Fern was applying eyeshadow to Niamh as the two of them were singing a muggle song they claim was popular in muggle schools.

Circi, Myrna and Rhiannon, in the dark due to their purely magical upbringing, shrugged it off and were busy complimenting each other's dresses. Wearing her birthday dress, Circi was determined to wear it as much as she could and was certain everyone would love it as much as she did.

An hour later, they were lying back on their beds, talking to the ceiling. They had been taking turns telling stories from their childhood schooling and, when it came to Niamh's turn they all looked at her to see she had her dress shirt unbuttoned and she was drawing eyes above her navel with Fern's eyeliner. The latter screeched and snatched it back but Niamh was perfectly content as she grinned and pinched the fat on her stomach to make it look like her navel was talking.

After a moment of this the girls were laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

The moment was interrupted by a knock on the door. Isabell, with a frown on her face as usual, searched the room before heading towards Circi. She was dressed as though she was attending a funeral instead of a ball and her countenance held all of the sorrow of a funeral.

"Prott wants to talk to you." She crosses her arms as Circi dismisses her and responds to the question Myrna had directed her way. "Now, Malfoy." The sharp tone in her voice surprised the girls, eliciting a few 'oohs' from the others as Circi gathered herself from her bed and followed the older student out.

Isabell had abandoned her in the hallway, storming off to her own dorm.

In the common room, there were little to no students around. A couple sitting and whispering to each other on the couch acknowledged her briefly and nodded to the reading nook before turning their direction solely on each other.