The Grand Enterence

The blush that was already present on Viper's face deeped even more, making Viper glad she had decided to forgo any other make-up besides a dramatized version of her trademark eyeliner. After all, who needed artificial blush to tint one's face when their date made them blush with every look and word given. She smiled softly at the compliment before giving him an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

The smile grew at the prospect of learning Russian, as she whispered in reply. "I'll teach you Parseltongue if you teach me Russian..." Though flirtation was lightly sprinkled on her words, it did nothing to conceal the hint of sincerity in them. "Think of all the fun we could have with no one knowing exactly what we're saying!" she added deviously.

Eyes widened, their owner intrigued by the prospect of leaving early as a smirk formed on Viper's face. "I was about to suggest the same thing, actually, though I would have dragged you along regardless of your answer." she teased lightly, leaning into the contact.

As the rose corsage appeared into view, eyebrows rose in suprised delight. "They're perfect!" she breathed out before leaning forward to kiss Sevastyan in thanks.

Amy continued to look through the crowd of People looking for Nick and eager to break up any date he had been sucked into.

Aiden just followed his sister as he didn't have a date or a girlfriend .

((lol poor Aiden))

Nicolas and Helena were quietly talking in the hallway when Helena spotted Amy. "Nick, look! It's Amy."

"What?" Nicolas' voice went higher with delight. "Where?" He turned his head to see her.

"Go on, go to her." Helena urged. "I think she's dateless."

"But... you...?" Nicolas said.

"You'll make it up to me later, besides I'm going to sabotage the devil." Helena said with the gleam in her eyes.

"Go already!" Helena pushed him... not that he needed it. He headed for Amy straight away.

"Hello there." Nicolas said to her.

Amy seceretly smiled, when she saw Nick, however on the outsid she rasied her eye brow.

"I have been in bed for weeks getting well so I could come to this to see you and all you can say is .. "Hey there"? she said tapping her foot.

She managed to hold her glare for a total of 10 seconds before she wraped her arms around and hugged.

"I missed you"

Relieved to be relieved of the death stare, Nicolas hugged her back tightly. "I missed you too... How are you feeling? I'd have visited you more but the Nurse wouldn't have it."

Boris turned his head the moment he heard the doors open again. An almost icy neutrality crossed his face when he spotted Darien, but other than a less-than-friendly-glare the Russian teenager made no other move.

While biding his time, Boris noted the decor and the couples gathered. Though he attempted to make it seem as though he wasn't fixated on observing his cousin and - according to Kazimir - one of his lovers, it was by no means as furtive as he would have liked. After a moment, he attempted to see how many of the Conquistadors actually arrived on time. Boris counted as many as three before Diana had finally made her appearance.

Immediately he left the wall to its solitary, wall-like existence. "Good Evening, Diana," he replied and bowed to his date, reaching for her hand to place a kiss on top of it. Perhaps it was an outdated gesture these days, but it was something the Kaminski's, at least, still practiced. "You look vonderbar, as alvays," Boris added.

((I'm going to have Boris ask Diana if she would like to dance... but I'm going to have him do so on the appropriate thread. =D ))

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Sevastyan couldn't help but smile at the deeper blush that crossed Viper's cheeks or the kiss on the cheek he'd earned for the comment made. Sometimes there just wasn't any need for words, with them. Now just happened to be one of those times. Actions spoke louder than words, or so it is claimed.

The smile slowly transformed into a grin. "It is a deal," he whispered in reply, lightly but also sincerely. "And that vould be fun..." Sevastyan trailed off, gaining a mischievous look to his storm-cloud orbs. "Though, Professor DeLanquar knows a bit of Russian... so ve'd have to be 'careful' around her..." he added in an even quieter tone. That didn't keep the amusement from his voice, though.

A snicker crossed his lips at her teasing tone. "I vould not reqvire dragging... Besides, is it not counterproductive to leaving early if ve tire ourselves out before even getting to a more intimate location?" he returned in kind, relishing how she leaned into his touch just as much as he leaned into hers. "I enjoy carrying you, anyvay..." Sevastyan added, hinting at how they might be leaving the ball.

Viper's surprised delight made his heart soar. As their lips met, Sevastyan instinctively deepened the kiss just a little. It was still decent, but not so innocently chaste as the kiss he'd greeted her with. Anyone watching could tell - if they weren't already aware after the rumors likely flew about both of their deliberately-discovered snogging sessions - that there was something going on between the two professors.

"Vot vould you like to do first?" Sevastyan asked after separating from the kiss with an obvious reluctance.

Amy smiled lightly as she pulled away, her arms were still hanging around his neck however.

"I am as good as new, and I complained day in and day out about the crapy visisting hours. I think they were finally glad to be rid of me... So what did I miss?"

"Hey look, the twins are back from the hospital wing." Darien nudged Ana, before glancing around behind him.
"ugh...Celina'll be looking for me soon."

Ana sighed. "Then why did you invite her?!"

"...Because I didn't want to be a loner." Darien replied. "And it might make Diana hurt too."

"You are so immature."

Genevieve Lasharna blushed. She had forgone her usual heels, since she had no desire to tower over Kazimir and with her flat footwear she could look straight into the Russian Headmaster's eyes.
"Il est très flatteur d'être comparé à une émeraude. Et merci aussi pour m'avoir invité à me joindre à vous. Je suis sûr que nous pouvons recevoir les uns les autres." ((It is very flattering to be compared to an emerald. And thank you for inviting me to join you. I am sure we can entertain each other.))
She smiled broadly and folded her gloves hands. Gesturing out toward Headmistress Kiara and her date, Ciaran McConn, she rolled her eyes.
"Regardez-les, totalement inconscients du tout autour d'eux. Les jeunes l'amour est stupide, n'est-ce pas." ((Look at them, totally unaware of everything around them. Young love is stupid, is not it.))

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Bella smiled broadly and pulled Michael slightly toward the tables laden with food and drinks. "Something small before a dance, eh?" she asked, her eyes dancing with delight. There was something wonderful about being at the Yule Ball...something childishly thriling. Wonder if there is any mistletoe, she mused.

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Edwin spotted his favourite professors and took off to show them his lion costume, with Toliver more dragging behind him than running.
"Wok at me!" he shouted, tackling Sevastyan's knees. He had been firmly warned by his Mama to not jump on any of the lady's because of their dresses, but he supposed that Sevastyan's pants would be fine.

-------

Ciaran sighed and led Kiara toward the dance floor. "Shall we dance, me lady?" he asked, bowing to her.

((continue on the other thread))

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Horatio was feeling terribly bored at the moment. Eglantine had declined his offer to dance and he felt it was too early to pig out at the dessert table...
"I promise not to spin you." he begged. The resolute professor ignored him. She had actually told him "in a while"... which in Horatio's mind translated to "not now not ever".
Patient and impatient people often suffer from miscommunications of this sort.

Eglantine had noticed that Edwin had "made a dash for it", but she had refrained from hurrying after him, due to his destination. No doubt he would be returned to her if he caused any trouble...

"Sie müssen Geduld, meine Liebe. Geduld, bitte." ((You need patience, my love. Patience, please)) Eglantine muttered, chuckling slightly at the bewildered look that crossed Horatio's face.
"Und da kann man nicht verstehen..." ((and since you cannot understand)) She whispered, as he leaned down so she could whisper into his ear. "Ich habe eine Überraschung für Sie zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt auf. Aber Sie müssen warten..." ((I have a surprise for you later on. But you must wait))

Horatio needed no translator to pick up on the meaning of the words, as her tone practically dripped with love. He longed to be able to speak German... but alas... maybe it was better that he only could guess what she said, he mused, chuckling.

Viper giggled softly in response, leaning closer to Sevastyan. "Then I suppose we'd just have to speak parseltongue when she's around. Or cast a spell or two." she joked.

Two eyebrows rose in intrigue at the flirtatious tone. "Happy Christmas indeed..." she sighed before deepening the kiss.

She shrugged at his question with a smile, slightly disappointed at the broken kiss. "Where you wish to go, love. I'm yours for the-" but the rest of her words were cut off by the appearance of a toddler tackling her date. She blinked in mild amusement. "Good evening, Edwin. What an...interesting...costume." she greeted the boy kindly, though her nose crinkled slightly at the Gryffindor mascot costume.

Teasingly she turned to her Sevastyan, merriment illuminating her eyes. "Eww! Now you have Gryffindor cooties!" she declared in childish mock disgust.


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Eleonore entered with a rather snobbish, unimpressed expression wearing a long blue and green gown, the latest style from Paris with her hair gently curled upwards at the edges. Surrounding her was her group of Beauxbatons friends, or as others would phrase it, her "minions", for she was after all the Queen Bee.

"Hmmph. Zis is nothink compared to Beauxbatons! Zey call zis decorations? Eet looks so common!" she exclaimed in disgust.

"Oui, Oui Eleonore! Eet is 'orrible!" the minioons chimed in.

"What would you like to do Eleonore?" her escort for the evening Aldric, best described as the "King Bee" asked her.

"Montrons à l'Anglais comment danser!" Eleonore commanded, leading the group towards the dance floor.

"Je suis sûr que nous pouvons…" ((I am sure that we can...)) replied Kazimir with a rather rare smile. He followed the gesture Madame Lasharna made, setting his dark eyes on Kiara and... an unknown man he'd not seen too many times before. Well, that put a slight kink into his theory of their being a love triangle. Unless the man was a friend of Sevastyan's and allowed the red-haired man to escort the Headmistress as his date for the evening? Regardless, he would still go through with the plan provided he had a willing accomplice or two... the possibility of there being something between the Hogwarts Headmistress and his former pupil was to be merely a secondary pleasure.

"That it is... and they're not the only vones..." he answered, nodding his head toward Sevastyan Kaminski and Amaranth Viper, who had just kissed before even getting to the dance floor. "Is this Christmas or Valentine's Day, I vonder?" There was a slight amusement to his voice, which he did not bother to keep down.

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"Sure," Michael agreed with a grin and allowed Bella to lead him by the hand toward the table with food and drinks.

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Sevastyan chuckled at her joke, and nodded his agreement. "Or all of the above, for good measure," he added, the amusement in his voice all too clear. The fact that Amaranth had leaned closer was not lost on him. A notion of leading her right onto the dance floor crossed his mind, among other less-than-pure thoughts.

At her shrug, one of the tendrils of hair she allowed to hang down went to hang down her back. Sevastyan, preferring the raven locks draped across her shoulders, gently guided the hair back to its former position. He smiled at Viper's willingness to do just about anything, though the gray orbs looked rather surprised upon hearing a shout of 'Wok at me!' in a familiar, small-child's voice. Sevastyan had mere seconds to secure his footing before a small body launched itself at his knees. Unlike the last time when the boy had tackled him, the Russian wizard did not lose his balance and instead remained on his feet.

"Evening, Edvin," Sevastyan chuckled and reached down to ruffle the boy's hair. What he found was that the three-year-old was wearing a costume. A lion costume, in fact, which explained the mane having covered up Edwin's real hair. Now Amaranth's comment made sense. "It is an... interesting costume, isn't it?" he remarked, knowing full well that Professor DeLanquar and Amaranth were the Heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively.

The Defense Professor laughed at the cootie remark from Viper. "Here, I'll share them vith you!" he teased and reached for to pull her into a semi-sideways embrace.

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Kazimir's brows furrowed at the antics between Sevastyan and his date. Naturally, he was curious about the child. There's no way it could be there's unless they used a spell to accelerate the boy's growth... a risky business, to be sure. "I'm not sure vich couple is vorse..." he muttered to the Beauxbatons Headmistress.

Madame Lasharna rolled her eyes, glaring at Viper and Sevastyan as they embraced around Professor DeLanquar's son. "Valentine' zay inzeed. Anz that iz a dizicult queztion. Perhaps zay are all bad." she chuckled. "Ze boy is Profezor DeLanquar's son. Zy he is zit zem iz vondering to me."

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Edwin giggled before releasing Sevastyan's knees and picking up a sleepy Toliver. "See my pwuppy!" he stated, happily.

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Horatio finally could stand it no longer. He bowed slightly to Eglantine and carefully wrapped his arm around her waist. She sighed, but allowed him to pull her toward the dance floor.

Viper smiled in response, closing her eyes as she felt Sevastyan's hands move her hair back. True, it was a simple gesture, especially when compared to the other displays that had passed between them. But considering the amount of affection and gentleness in it, however brief, Viper couldn't help but appreciate it and savour the contact. She sighed as the moment vanished and she was once again reminded of the young toddler who had decided to make his prescence known.

She gaped in mock horror at being 'infected by Gryffindor cooties'. "Eww! You meanie!" she whined jokingly in a childish tone before adding in a rather suggestive tone. "Now I'll need the antidote..."

"Yes, he's adorable, Edwin. And you look... interesting... " Viper complimented the kid, looking him over. Briefly, she wondered if Eglantine would mind Edwin in a snake costume instead. "Hey, Edwin, how would you like a costume that changed into another costume, and alternated between the two costumes? For example, your lion costume and say, a snake, maybe?" Viper suggested with a hopeful note. If the kid was going to hang around Viper and Sevastyan for the evening, Viper would rather not be hanging around the rival house's mascott...

Edwin's nose scrunched up in a puzzled expression. "Wa a awidote?" he asked, dropping his puppy, who seemed thrilled to be released from the death grip.
"YAY! a snak is nweat!" he spung about happily and gently hugged Viper, what his mother had warned him about the dresses first in his mind.

Amy sighed.

"So now what? Are we going to dance or did I get all dressed up to wait in the hall?" she asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

____

Aiden rolled his eyes as Amy talked with her lover boy, he look around seeing if he could find Ana anywhere.

Nicolas smirked. "Merlin I've missed you."

He took a few steps away from her and turned around so that he could face her. He then put on his high 'noble' look and gave her a princely bow.

"May I have this dance?"

Amy smiled "Thought you would never ask" said taking his arm and curtsing.

"Lead the way Prince charming" she said with a smile

((to the dance foor?))

((Yes indeed))

Ana sighed and remained where she was.

Why had she bothered turning up?

Kazimir chuckled in kind to Lasharna's statement. He was still surprised that his former pupil wasn't attending the ball with the Headmistress. Perhaps Miss Viper did not like the idea of one man asking two women to the exact same event... or she didn't know... Hmm... now that was an idea. "Perhaps ve could find a vay to break up the lovebirds and make it look like it vos only a matter of time," Kazimir suggested quietly and sneakily, curious to see what Madame Lasharna thought of the plan. After all: she did not like the other Headmistress, and Kazimir himself was none too fond of either his former student or the woman he had selected to bring to this event.

The wizard also thought it was rather odd that it was Professor DeLanquar's son with them. "I vish I knew the answer to that vone as vell..." he admitted, curious.

"But for now... Est-ce que je peux avoir cette danse?" ((May I have this dance?)) Kazimir asked, extending his arm for her to take.


((If you'd like, Merci, they can talk & dance in the dancing thread... ^_^))

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"I seen him the day I met you... it certainly looks like he has grown a great deal since then," the wizard beamed at the boy's pride over his costumed pet. He wasn't quite sure who he felt more sorry for: the person that had to get the costume on the canine, or Toliver himself.

Sevastyan laughed merrily at Viper's childish exclamation. At her flirtatious remark regarding and antidote, he had something just as suggestive for her, but paused a moment to answer Edwin's question. "An antidote is something you give to somevone to make them feel good," he explained simply, trying to keep Viper's veiled meaning... veiled.

"Now, is that the antidote that reqvires periodic dosages throughout the evening... and vone before beditme?" he asked Viper in a tone that matched the intensity of the meaning behind his words. There was a slight quirk of a brow before Sevastyan kissed her full on the mouth, for the moment decent yet passionate at the same time.


Sevastyan chortled at Viper's clever suggestion. He wondered precisely how often the costumes would change, or if they'd change at a person's whim. At the back of his mind, the wizard thought of a similar idea with someone else's wardrobe, though it was hardly appropriate enough for this author to specify.

He smiled at how gentle Edwin was with his hug to Viper. Yes: Eglantine had raised the boy well thus far and would no doubt continue to do a fantastic job, Sevastyan mused. However, costuming wasn't exactly his strong suit, so he would leave that to Amaranth.

Lasharna loved the idea before it was even completely said. Break up the Slytherin brat and the Russian misfit, sure why not. It sounded lovely. Almost too lovely and too much fun.
"Zound lozly!" Lasharna smiled, as if he had suggested a game of chess. Eglantine, in her opinion was too close to the rest of the Hogwarts staff than she should have been. The man she seemed enamored with was no doubt old enough to be her grandfather and Kiara... she visibly scowled in the woman's direction. Words could not account for the hatred that she was beginning to form toward the young bother.
"Bien sûr!" ((certainly!)) She gushed, happily allowing the headmaster to escort her toward the dance floor. She had much she desired to discuss with him and if the dancing made it more convenient...who was she to say no. Not to mention she wanted to...

((Sounds lovely))

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Edwin beamed happily at the explanation, oblivious to the adults' deeper meanings.
"Wike chwocate?" he asked, releasing Viper and only moments later pretending to gag as they kissed.
"Ew...Viper!" he giggled, not nearly disgusted as he showed on his face. "Dwot awt wike Esis!"

Ana started wandering fairly aimlessly around, looking out for anyone she knew.

And trying to avoid everyone she didn't...And Darien.

Aiden looked around bored finding little to do in the ball, when he saw Ana.

She looked pretty if he was perfectly honest and he was, he also found himself wondering if she had a date.

Walking up to her instead of talking to her in her mind, he asked, "What are you doing Ana?"he asked conversationally, from behind her.

Ana fought to control her jump...And partly failed.

Trying to retain some dignity, she turned round.

"Being bored. You?" She paused. "And I did not just jump."

Aiden chuckled when she jumped, he found it cute, not that he would ever tell her that.

"I am being dragged along... I don't have a date, only reason I am here is because Ams had to go with her Lover boy over there" he said pointing to the love birds.

" And if you say you didn't jump I guess I could go along with you." he said with an amused smirk.