End of the Year Ball: Main Thread

Lights, floating chandeliers in the ceiling brought the whole room to life. The little clear crystals creating an effect that brought warmth and celebration as the clear theme. The walls were painted eggshell white making the room look bigger than it already was.

The history was clear within the design of the grand ballroom; from the two stories, that were defined by the grand staircase, that brought a glamorous feel to anyone entering. Below, were the tables, along the side, round to create a welcoming atmosphere. Gold table cloths over each of them and behind them.

On the opposing side, was a winding staircase that lead to double doors that was a second ballroom for students who wanted to chat instead of dance. The dance floor was smaller, the music was able to be heard through it all, simply softer. And along the sides was the food, welcoming anyone who had an appetite for food rather than dancing. If one were to walk through the other side of the room they would find themselves another staircase leading towards the balconies, on one side it overlooked the main ballroom, the other side lead to the balconies that showed the grounds of Salem, in all it’s beauty.

While not as old as Hogwarts, its own. It was big enough to hold more than the invited students and faculty, bring the celebration of the end of the year to everyone.

For Tess, this was all a very surreal experience. Having left Benjamin with a kiss on his forehead and a wish to get better, Tess immediately floo'ed towards Salem with Mycroft. It was a small goodbye, and soon she was alone in the castle. Mary McNeely was a kind girl, that much was what she could get from the way she gave her a walkthrough of the castle. She had been to Salem once, three years ago and never once did she step into the castle.

The pleasantries ended as soon as they began to work. Both were on the same page on many things, which made Tess all the more enthused about it, and slowly did she come out of her shell. Both also carried more weight since their Head Boys weren't on their toes, either, sealing a bond, from two overachievers. From lighting to color scheme both were glad to get everything in order. And at the end of the week, everything looked in perfect order. The professors had helped them out immensely, with support, encouragement, yet enough discipline to restrain them when they went too crazy.

Tess looked at herself once more making sure everything was on point before she could find herself entering the ball. Planning was one thing, representing Hogwarts was another. Her hair was pinned back in an older style fashion, smiling softly as she touched the ends of the curls. Looking down, she looked a her gown, the white and gold color that she had chosen. The variety of colors hadn’t grabbed her attention like the white one, it was so simple yet her. She also wanted to represent herself, the unity rather than her school or her house. Walking towards the hallway, she waited patiently for Mary to arrive, clicking her heel nervously, realizing this was it.

Spoiler:

The week went by so fast and when Mary thought back to it, it was more or less a blur of a thousand things pushed together. It was a lot of fun though, working with Tess Holmes and transforming their old boring school into something glamorous and lovely. The British witch had an impeccable taste and Mary was incredibly glad for that, as she made everything look more fancy and nice. She also understood that it was important to work hard in order to achieve their goals, even if their goals were currently making the castle pretty.

The dress she would wear was sent to her by her Aunts and the Head Girl was absolutely astounded by it. It was so beautiful and a bit terrifying at the same time and it was, actually, everything that she's ever wanted in a piece of clothing. She wrote back to her Aunts, thanking them immensely and promising to take and send loads of pictures. It fit her perfectly and she felt confident in it, which was a huge plus.

The witch put on her dress, applied make-up, looked herself over once again and then walked down to where she agreed to meet Tess. It was odd, walking around her school, all dressed up, wearing high heels, with her hair done all fancy. It was also very odd thinking these were her last weeks, days at the school, but she pushed those thoughts aside. Tonight was about having fun and meeting new people, not for feeling sad and nostalgic.

Finally, Mary arrived at the meeting place and she smiled at the other girl, who looked stunning. "Hey, Tess." she greeted her, giving an awkward wave. There were butterflies in her stomach suddenly, realizing that very soon, she'll be representing her entire school, that people will actually see her in the dress and oh goodness, what if the Hogwarts students and Professors won't like Salem. Thoughts were buzzing through her mind and she had to remind herself that everything will be okay and if somebody wouldn't like Salem, that would be entirely their problem and not hers.

"Well, this is ... odd." The witch commented on the whole situation, grinning nervously at Tess. "You look gorgeous, by the way."

Mary's Dress:

Tess smiled immediately as she saw Mary. She was relieved to have the girl arrive on time and looking so beautiful. The dress was so rich in color and the detail had her feeling very feminine for fawning over it. She almost went for a ball gown but found herself taking into the simplicity of her dress. Their dresses couldn't be farther apart, yet she took joy in knowing that, both representing something bigger than the two of them.

"Mary, you look beautiful too" she replied graciously, her cheeks reddening at the compliment. "Come on, we should go greet those that are already there!"

She grabbed Mary's hand and tugged her towards the staircases. There were people already there, faces that she didn't recognize. Her classmates had yet to appear, already expecting the Floo network to be busy and working to it's full capacity. She was nervous, for the ball, for everything to go well, and to have every possible outcome in order. She saw her brother signaling them to greet.

"Welcome to the End of the Year Ball. My name is Tess Holmes. We should first thank Salem and the salem professors, who has so graciously allowed us to hold the celebration, as we say goodbye to the end of the school year, and goodbye to our graduating classmates. May wherever you choose to go bring you nothing but success and happiness. Have fun, dance the night away. Cheers!"

Looking over at the girl she smiled before walking down the stairs and mixing with new people. And trying to get her mind out of the boy she'd left behind.

Estelle wound herself over and over again for this ball. She had gone into town and requested a dress that would suit her as she had no idea what to wear. She placed her trust in the seamstress that it would be appropriate. When Estelle saw the dress, shoes, jewelry and makeup, she almost fainted. It arrived on the morning of the ball and it was too late to go back and request a different dress. The dress was short, strapless and it made her feel naked. She couldn't deny that the dress was stunning but she worried about her dress showing her scars. She could cover it up with makeup, she supposed. The shoes, were the worst. How on earth was she supposed to walk in high heels? That was a morning spent walking around in click clacky shoes.

In the end, she found a charm to stop blisters and found balance when she walked.The jewelry wasn't so outrageous but was quite sharp and pointy. At least people would ward away from her and may see her as someone to not talk to. If there was one thing she learnt in the girls bathroom, it was how to put on makeup.

The evening came and she wore her dress, slid on her shoes, placed her jewelry on and arranged herself into hair and makeup. When she looked in the mirror, she almost didn't recognise herself. She was still her but this was a prettier Estelle. It took her breath away. It felt abnormal but she felt that it would get herself out of her shell. So, Estelle forced herself to descend to the stairs.

Standing at the top of the stairs in front of all those people was daunting. She felt like the ugly duckling in the sea of beautiful women and handsome men. Deciding to not be one of those corny people and linger at the stairs before walking down them, she casually walked (trying not to trip) down the stairs and into the main ballroom. In among the room were Hogwarts students and Salem students with adults chaperoning the event. Estelle made a beeline for the beverage table and held a glass of water. Shuffling off to the side of the room, she was content to just watch everyone and everything go by.

Spoiler:

Arriving in Salem alone, he looked around nervously, unsure of how to navigate this new place. Brooke had finally agreed - after much pestering on his behalf - that he could go first. Luckily, there were a few students nearby who helped to usher him towards the main ballroom, and his hesitant, faltering footsteps were a dead give away to exactly how he felt. He had never before worn a suit, and the material was oddly comfortable, not choking or itchy as some of his house mates had claimed.

Entering the room, he let out a soft gasp, taking in the decoration and how expensive everything looked! Starting down the stairs, he looked at the people below him, trying to spot Victoria. He only had one picture of her, but he had committed it to memory, having glanced at it so often during their correspondence. She wasn't there, but he knew that she was the type of person to keep her word - and she had promised.

Standing awkwardly by himself at the foot of the stairs, he fidgeted with his bow tie, wondering when she would come.

Tristan's Suit:

He wasn't kept waiting for long, and only a few minutes later, he saw a figure appear at the top of the steps. At first, he couldn't really see who it was, but at the person descended, he began to make out the person as the Salem student with whom he had written to faithfully to. His eyes widened as the distant, blurred person became clearer and more detailed. She was far more beautiful then he had thought.

He could do nothing but stare at her, transfixed completely.

"Hi. I'm Victoria, but you know that... You look amazing Tristan!"

Swallowing dryly, he tried a smile, but it came out wrong, lopsided and awkward. "H-h-hey," he stuttered, trying to think of what to say. "You uh... Y-you're amazing, too."

Originally Carson had been very unimpressed with the idea of a joint ball between the two schools and had intended very much so to skip it. However he was strongly urged by the professors to attend, as a prefect he was supposed to be there to help should there be any trouble to arise. The thought was almost laughable to him, after all Carson himself was kind of trouble. Not feeling the need to go and buy anything new for an event he really had no interest at being at, even the one thing he'd been looking forward to, asking Victoria to the ball, had been stripped from him too as the girl already had a date. So when it came time to get dressed for the event Carson just threw on the shirt and vest from his sisters debutante ball. The grays in the shirt complimented his eyes almost as well as the vest complimented his body, and the pewter slacks and dress shoes he wore with it tied the look together. Carson had to admit that even for such little effort he looked damn good.

Making sure his wand was firmly secured on his person, and his flask aptly hidden in his back pocket, he headed out from the Belladonna common room down to the ballroom. The first thing he noticed was how stunning the room looked, a far call from what it normally was. He was almost so distracted by the beautiful decorations he nearly missed the handful of beautiful women in the room. Immediately he was drawn over to Victoria, the Wormwood girl had some kind of a pull on him that he couldn't explain. She was standing besides a young Slytherin boy and Carson knew he should have let them be, but he couldn't. Approaching the girl with a smile he took in the full beauty of her appearance. "My my my you really are a princess." He smiled charmingly at the boy before bowing slightly to Victoria and kissing her knuckles. "It's a shame  I missed my chance to escort you to this shindig. Do save me a dance dear."

Flashing a bright smile at her he stood straight and walked off, knowing that before the night was over he'd be back to Victoria. Strutting up to the Head Girls he extended his hand, "Ladies, you're looking gorgeous this evening. I'm Carson Harper-Conrad, Belladonna Prefect, may I have the pleasure of having the first dance with one of you?"

Carson's attire

"You can go ahead and start! I'm here!" Pronyma shook like a leaf inside, but tried to show some sort of confidence, even if it came off as bragging. She wore a long white dress, green jewels, her hair braided the width of her head, and emerald green shoes that matched her green jewels on her dress. She had been going to this school for about five years now, this marked the end of the fifth, and she finally felt sociable enough to come to one of these dances and events. When some music hit, she had found a broom, not a riding one, but one meant for cleaning, which probabl belonged to a squib. She picked it up, and twirled herself around the floor. "Hi" she said ending up by Victoria. "Hey uhh..I don't think you've met my date. Cleaning broom." She said with a straight face, then cracked a smile to indicate a joke. "Sorry to interupt anything. I don't mean to. I guess I am the only one a little to late to ask someone on a date here." She shrugged and hung around Victoria.

After recieving her orders Marilyn had moved to the Main Hall, eyes scanning the perimiter, noting everyone she saw, but thankfully people were still arriving so she hadn't missed many. Her wand was concealed in a hidden fold in her dress, ready to be grabbed in an instant and her earpiece was hidden in her hair. This was a huge responsibility and she hoped that Waters would be sent to her soon, so she wasn't alone. It would be much more difficult to patrol once the room was full.
But Louis had said to look like they belong so she went to Jake after having checked the floor for suspicious behavior, pretending to look for him.
"Well hello handsome," she drawled walking up to him, "Having fun?" she greeted with a smile.

(Marilyn's Look)

Mary followed the Slytherin, smiling at everyone, trying to be confident, but somewhat failing. The Salem students have seen her in disheveled clothing for the past few months, due to studying and trying to fulfill all her responsibilities and just not caring what she looked like in general. And now she was wearing this beautiful dress that, quite frankly, drew attention to her cleavage and the witch didn't really know how to feel about it. Instead she focused on looking around to make sure everything was in order. She could feel her wand pressing up against her outer thigh in the thigh holster she purchased especially for this occasion. The dress was designed so there wasn't a place for her wand, so the witch had to think outside of the box.

Tess gave her speech and Mary nodded along and kept smiling. After she was done, the Salem Head Girl also spoke up. "Welcome to everyone, especially our esteemed guests from Hogwarts. I know your castle is older and thus more beautiful, but I hope you can enjoy your evening here nevertheless. So, see you on the dancefloor!" The witch concluded her speech, trying not to blush too much.

Looking around, she saw Victoria with a boy, unfamiliar to her and she thought about waving to the witch, but decided against it. The younger Wormwood seemed quite invested in the conversation and Mary didn't want to come in-between them. She only smiled fondly as she took in the witch's beauty and wondered when exactly Victoria grew up so much.

Not long afterwards, Carson came up to them, his usual attitude still intact. "Evening, Carson. I suggest you take this one, Tess," Mary commented kindly. "I've had the pleasure of meeting Carson already and you haven't." Her tone suggested that if the other Head Girl wouldn't like to dance, Mary would be more than happy to take over.

"Jake!" Mary greeted her friend with a wide grin. He'd been so much help over the past week and Mary honestly appreciated it. Even though both Tess and her worked hard, they couldn't have pulled it off without the help of faculty members.

"Well, we are representing our schools, we couldn't just show up in our pajamas." the Head Girl teased and   couldn't help but think how cozy and comfortable that would be. "You look amazing yourself." she returned the compliment, smiling. At Jake's comment towards Carson, Mary had to restrain herself from snorting or laughing. Carson may have been a Prefect, but she knew he caused more trouble than prevented it.

A very beautiful witch then appeared and greeted the man. Mary smiled politely at her and saw who it was. Mari. Mary froze, a million thoughts running through her mind. This was the girl that broke out of a concentration camp equivalent, who fought hard and survived, who had scars to show... But it was also Mari, her friend, the girl who jogged and worked out with her, who joked around, who danced... Before Mary realized what she was doing, she was hugging the other woman, wrapping her arms around her tightly, whispering her name softly as her brain was trying to tell her that it was, in fact, all true. Mari was here and... and Mary was hugging her. She let go, backing away with a soft blush on her cheeks.

"It's good to see you." The witch said, trying to seem casual and hating how her voice shook.

"Well it was a close call, but I think I prefer dancing with you-" she jibed before she was suddenly pulling to an embrace by a witch whispering her name.
Marilyn froze, shooting Jake a paniced look as the other witch let go. Only then did she realise who it was.
"Mary- you- You look great- I didn't recognize you, I'm sorry-It's good to see you, too." she managed with a small smile, moving closer to Jake absently, as usual when she was uncomfortable. It was quite a shock to see her, but she should have known. She should have remembered the Witch's age and noticed she'd be there. So her shock was her fault and as an auror she needed to compose herself.
"And thank you," she turned to Jake, "You look great. Nice tie." she smirked. It had been nice to get dressed up, despite her prior doubts. She hadn't even touched her scars with makeup, she was getting used to them.

With her orders, she left for the ballroom, where she had been assigned to work with Mari. She walked briskly, high heels clacking on the hard ground, which gave her the air of confidence that in no way matched her nerves. She kept a neutral expression on her face as she entered. The one thing that eased her nerves was that she would be working with Mari, who was in every way as competent as she was.

She wore a dress that normally, she wouldn't even try on. It was short, and extremely tight, and sequinned. But tonight, she wanted to try something different, something new and refreshed. And it did slightly help her confidence. She looked around the ballroom and spotted Mari, who was with Jake and a younger girl whom she didn't recognise, and instantly made her way over, glad to not be alone in the room of people.

"Hey," she said, smiling in relief when she approached them.

"Mary- you- You look great- I didn't recognize you, I'm sorry-It's good to see you, too."

The Salem Head Girl let out a nervous chuckle, because she had no idea how to reply. It was so weird seeing Mari again and she was incredibly conflicted as to how to act. She blamed this on exams and the stressful year, if she had gotten more sleep, she'd be more collected and would maybe know what to say.

"You look amazing." she blurted out, instantly wincing at her words. "So... You two, huh?" were the next words coming out of her mouth and she just wanted to smack herself. 'Get a grip, will you,' the witch told herself desperately.

"Oh, Tess Holmes, Mari Caldwell. Mari, Tess. She's the Head Girl at Hogwarts and is mainly the reason our school looks so beautiful." Mary told Mari, smiling at Tess. Another girl approached them and Mary smiled politely at her, nodding her head in greeting.

His hand on her hip gave her the reassurance she needed to set her face into a pleasant smile. However that was soon over with when Mary made a comment that made Mari's stomach clench slightly, but before she could respond that they were friends, Jake beat her to it...enthusiastically.
The witch turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "No need to sound so defensive, Newbury. But yes, we're friends." And now she stayed a certain distance from Jake, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and ignoring the tiny sliver of hurt at how absurd the idea had seemed to him. Rude. She didn't want to date him, so it wasn't because He was the one who'd said it, but how he'd said it. Right? Right. Hush.
Then she saw Scarlett and forced her jaw not to drop. Oh no, no Mari, no, don't go there...but it was not quite hidden that she was impressed by the witch's attire.
"Waters- Scarlett. I'm glad to see you here. I'll be needing you tonight," She meant for Auror Duties, but since they were some sort of undercover she added, "to keep me company since my date seems less enthused." she rolled her eyes and laughed, "You look absolutely gorgeous by the way." The witch added with a smile, then smiling warmly at Mary, determined to not seem awkward.

Mary raised her eyebrow at Jake's quick response and even though she felt a bit sorry for the man, she was glad she wasn't the only one who felt awkward. "Okay..." she commented with a soft smile.

She listened to Jake as he explained who the girl was and then she took another look at her and really took in her dress and her general appearance. Good lord, was she hot. "I almost feel sorry I didn't go to Hogwarts." Mary commented in a low voice, looking Scarlett over and blushed. This dress was making her feel more confident and she was very aware she would never have said anything like that otherwise.

"Nice to meet you, Scarlett. I'm hoping to get into Auror training next year." she told the former Ravenclaw, just to have something else to talk about and at least try to ignore the awkward vibes coming off of Jake and Mari.

At his soft apology she just shook her head slightly, her eyes scanning newcomers of the party, seeing another slytherin enter, nothing suspicious, yet. The witch decided firmly in that moment to focus on her job, completely, chastising herself for not doing it from the get go. Better that than think about anything ridiculous like why on earth that had hurt like it had. Not thinking about it! Not thinking about it, she told herself in her mind.
"Mary, you're joining the auror squad? That's great. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, it's hard, but rewarding. And you're joining with Jake, that's good. A good partner is key, I'm glad Scarlett here is my partner." She added, making small talk and mentally cursing Jake for leaving her alone, knowing how difficult social situations were for her.
'Dios mio, Maritza..' she thought, 'get a grip' The witch kept her eyes on the entrance for a moment, checking perimiter again.

After being wrestled into a dress and groomed and pampered all day Louise was starting to wonder if the maids just tricked her into playing dress up for the evening. After much work had been done to make her look 'presentable' she was allowed to travel through the floo and stepped out with relief. Managing not to fall over or even wobble in place, she held herself properly and acted the part but couldn't hold back a smile seeing Josh there. "I apologize for my lateness. You look very handsome tonight." Which he did, even more so than usual, which was quite the achievement. Later she'd try to figure out where that thought had come from but at the moment she just wanted to see this ball over and done with, gracefully of course. She checked her emerald satin dress hadn't been damaged or messed up anywhere and held her arms in front of her expectantly. she hoped she was doing this right, waiting for him to offer his arm before heading into the ballroom.