[Great Hall] The Tournament Ball (For All)

[Loren Hayes]

Loren gave Bog a firm punch on the shoulder. 'I'm joking!' She laughed reassuringly, a playful glare on her face. 'I never went out to hurt him. I just didn't really talk to him. And bear in mind whose fault this all was in the first place,' she added with raised eyebrows, suddenly serious. 'I think three weeks of being ignored makes up for humiliating me. Tsk, you Hufflepuffs!' Loren shook her head, smiling.

The Ravenclaw turned her head away to stifle a laugh as Bog began to make a spectacle for himself in the name of Professor Starsmore, feigning drunkenness and dancing over to the other man. 'Leave it! Come on, give it a rest haha!' she giggled excitedly, grabbing his arm and dragging it toward her so she could get the vial. 'He'll probably floor you if he thinks you're stealing it! Here you go, sir -' Loren went to hand the vial back to Professor Starsmore, only to change her mind at the last minute and move it toward Professor Hubbles. As much as she hated the head of Hufflepuff, she could bare to think of how badly Professor Starsmore would trash the Ravenclaw common room later on if he managed to drink anymore.

Bog, still pretending to be intoxicated, accidentally bashed into Loren's arm, the vial's contents consequently spilling out down the front of Professor Hubbles robes. 'Sorry!' Loren said with a grimace, although she was smiling on the inside.

[Henry Boggleworth]

As the vial of vile drink spread all over the robs of Professor Hubbles, Boggleworth laughing said "dreadful Ravenclaws eh sir? They'll do anything to try and make us look bad, just because we look so dashing doesn't mean you need to slosh drink all over us." Bowing to his Head of House he turned to Starsmore and uttered another aplogy for his friend "and she thinks I'm drunk eh?" he declared in a still half drunk manner, not wishing to arouse the anger of the Defensive professor, especially when in such a drunken state. "I'll buy you an extra large drink later sir" he offered with a wink.

Believing it best to leave the professors and not incure their wrath all the more he offered his arm to Loren, but being impatient to dance once again slipped an arm round her waist and dragged her off into the dancing melee once again. Though really wishing for a chat he therefore remarked in between his dancing antics of whirling her about
"Us Hufflepuffs eh? What about you Ravenclaws spilling the poor man's drink, look he's heartbroken." He laughed gesturing towards the panic striken Professor sadly put out by his lack of drink.

"You know the best way to get under the skin of a man don't you? Thankfully you wouldn't dare try it with me," he declared with a wry grin and a twinkle of mischief in his eye.

But soon running out of puff and believing it best to deliver Loren back into the safety of Dax's arms he began to urge the dance in his direction...

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan noticed that Starsmore was approaching him with a vile in his hand. Not even wanting to think what substance could even be in their, Dan tired to avoid eye contact with the man. This soon failed as he stumbled over waving his bottle around, but before Dan could even say no it was no longer there, and then out of no where it hit him in the chest. The green liquid came flying out ran down his top.

Glancing down at the damage he raised his gaze to see who the culprit was only to see Loren standing with a guilty look on her face. Dan tried to reach out and grab her but Boggleworth took her away, dancing once more.

“MISS HAYES!!!”

Dan roared her name above the music, scanning around the bobbing heads to find her. He spotted her and Boggleworth approaching Dax. Dan began to push his way through the crowd towards the Ravenclaw, his heart pounding in his chest while doubt flew through his mind. He could not decided if he was over reacting, but what ever it was he was in such a rage with this Ravenclaw that thought did not stay in his mind for long.

Pulling out his wand he pointed it towards Loren, his hand was trembling as his eyes fixed on the girl. His nostrils had flared as he breathed deeply through them.

[Dax Simmons]

Dax and Girty danced around the room, They did share a few laughs in the expensive of some unfortunate Ravenclaw’s seem seemed to have managed to trip over each other and in turn ripping their cloths. However apart from that the two simple danced around following the orders of their head of house.

But it was that very same head of house that made Dax and Girty stop dancing. Well Dax had been distracted seconds before by the sight of Loren coming towards him. But that emotion had been cut short by the sudden interruption of Professor Hubbles, with his wand drawn. He felt Girty’s hand grip tightly onto his arm, she seemed just as shocked by this turn in character of her brother as everyone else in the hall did.

The pure sight of him pointing the wand at Loren was enough for Dax. Quickly drawing his own from his pocket Dax jumped in front of Loren and look straight at the Professor. He wanted to shout back but he had the slight problem that this was his head of house and also one of his best friends brother.

“I think you should lower your wand Professor.”

Dax managed to mumble a small replay, he was hoping desperately that someone else around him would stand up with him.

[Henry Boggleworth]

It seemed to Boggleworth that his illustrious and industrious Head of House was crying over spilt milk, a simple matter of a spillage easily eradicatd by magic seemed an unlikely thing to blow up over, and yet the Professor seemed to be in a towering fury wand pointing threateningly at two of his students. Detaching himself from Loren he stood with arms folded with raised eyebrows studying the scene which beheld his eyes.

"Cor blimey," breathed Boggleworth. He couldn't quite fathom why Dan Hubbles a man he respected and admired for his knowledge would suddenly round on a pupil in such a vicious manner, was he drunk?

But he reasoned even teachers are human really, they suffer from emotions just as much, if not more, than us. Now he had to try a timely intervention Dax drawing his wand and jumping to the rescue of his dearly beloved was expected and he admired that, but somebody needed a cool head, unforunately he barely had one himself, though he would try his very best.

"Calm down lads," he said gently putting a hand upon each wand and pushing it downwards "sheath your weapons as they say." he smiled warmly at his friends and whispered to Hubbles unwittingly both
"Whatever is the matter, making such a scene; watch the Huff reputation!" Beaming around he declared in his usual tone "that'll work perfectly for the play chaps, pure fury etched upon your faces, the cold wrath, ooh such passion, the tension, c'est magnifique!" he exclaimed happily using his half-decent french to good effect.

"The play will be an absolute hit," though the excuse was terribly lame he deemed it the best that came instantly to hand.
"Next time we go through it though let me get in between the two of you quicker, you ahrdly gave me space, far to close the audience needs to see your faces far more clearly, not the spittle flying between you." Laughing he realised the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle were slowly dispersing though chattering loudly amonst themselves, it was better than a deadly hushed silence.

[Bailey Griffiths]

Bailey had already become flustered even though the ball had not been active for very long. The queue to the bar, had been much longer than she had anticipated, and had left, annoyed and without a drink!

She Headed toward the dancefloor to find her cousin, after missing her first dance, she would have to go and apologise. However there seemed to be a large commotion taking place, including both Girty and Dan, as well as many more of her acquaintance. She decided to stand to the side until the commotion had lessened slightly, or until she was noticed.

[Loren Hayes]

With her obedient look of apology Loren had hoped to sway Professor Hubbles in favour of her assault not being on purpose, but as Boggleworth artfully swept her away, she caught over his shoulder the sight of the Hufflepuff head of house with his wand raised, pointing directly at her face. 'Oh no!' Loren gasped, quickly - and rather selfishly she knew - pulling Boggleworth in front of herself. Her defenses were only strengthened however as Dax arrived on the scene, choosing to stand between Loren and the threatening wand. 'No, Dax,' she hissed. 'There's no point in you getting in his bad books as well!'

Professor Hubbles attempted to step round Dax and Boggleworth, trying to get the Loren, and so the Ravenclaw clung onto Dax's back, peering over his shoulder with wide eyes at the murderous professor. Where's a Gryffindor when I need one? She thought loathsomely.

Boggleworth was now trying to cool the two males down, parting them with lowered hands and laughing it off. 'Dax, I hate you're head of house. He's nuts!' Loren whispered into his ear, gripping onto his shoulders all the more tightly. Oh, why did I leave my wand under my pillow? WHY?!

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan could not believe what he was hearing and seeing. Hufflepuff’s were standing up to him, and then one even had the cheek to say he was damaging the Hufflepuff reputation. He could not tolerate this. Keeping his wand raised and pointed at were the Ravenclaw was Dan began to bellow out his feelings.

“I….I am damaging the Hufflepuff reputation? At least I stick up for what my house believes in….I protect my own. Starsmore is a drunk and hates his own students, Fagin teaches muggle studies, what happened to Slytherin ‘pure is best’. They are all fakes at least I…I.”

Dan broke off not knowing what to say. He knew he was acting like an idiot, the looks form Girty explained it all, and the small gathering of people around them showed that this would soon become a heated topic. Taking a deep breath Dan reached forward and tried to push Dax aside so that he could get a clear sight of Loren.

“I just hate you!”

[Ian Gray]

jacb said:

Jac watched the dance floor with less then any enthusiasm. She sighed heavily and she spotted Zachary & Mozess dancing together. A small smile wiped her lips and a slight twinkle sparkled in her eye.

Suddenly, a voice pulled her towards herself. She then noticed Ian sitting across from her, holding out an inviting hand. Jac smiled, almost gratefully, and reached for his hand. "Well, you know me," she said softly, "can't keep hold of that whistling pocket watch of mine." She giggled at herself and took Ian's hand in her cold one.

Ian grinned, slipping off his seat and leading her over to stand just off the middle, his awkward robes looking somewhat subdued on the dancefloor. Closing his hand over hers, Ian smirked and looked briefly around.

"Now lets see," he studied a boisterous dancing couple, and looked a bit pale. "Sorry if we'll have to do something quite plain in comparison." Letting a shy hand linger on her waist, he slowly began to lead the dance, looking at other couples for reference.

Feeling a bit more confident, he smiled challengingly at her and leaned in a bit. "So, who do you think will cause you the most trouble winning this tournament? Slytherin might cheat, eh?"

[Henry Boggleworth]

Maybe disspelling this mayhem wouldn't be quite so easy after all. Dan Hubbles really was quite agrivated to say the least, Boggleworth half expected spittle to cover them all. Thankfully it didn't though the heated words by his own head of House scolded, clearly he didn't like people standing up to him, all well and good.

"Well yeah that goes without saying sir, but the competition shouldn't be so fierce, what happened to inter-hosue relations is all I want to know," raising his arms defensively as the Professor glowered at him he gave a sheepish grin but knew he was far too commited now.

"Just calm down sir," he breathed as the man tried in vain to swat aside Dax to get at Loren. Perhaps the man really was drunk; what on earth caused such a hatred?
Standing defensively in the way now and pushing Loren back by their own steps backward as thier own head of house struggled to break past them; a flimsy barrier. All that stood between Loren and a raging Professor were two young men trying vain to hold him back.

[Loren Hayes]

'Sod inter-house relations!' Loren exclaimed, dodging Professor Hubbles and his swipes and dashing away with a little screech. There was a series of shouts and protests behind her and she realised the professor must have broken past her voluntary defenses, and so scurried through the crowds, shoving and knocking people out of the way as she rushed about in a panic, turning this way and that to escape her impending doom. 'Help!' she moaned hopelessly, daring a glance over her shoulder.

Of course, not looking where she was going, Loren bowled right into the towering display that had been erected in the middle of the Great Hall. Animated ice statues of the four founders of Hogwarts stood gazing from a shared stage. 'Ow!' Loren yelped as she ran straight into Helga Hufflepuff's arm.

Several people gasped and shrieked as the giant replica of the woman swayed. She gave a surprised 'Ohhh!' as she lost her balance at last, toppling into her three companions. 'Helga!' Godric Gryffindor shouted angrily as he was the first to fall, shattering against the floor in a thousand pieces...

[Dax Simmons]

Dax’s heart gave a small leap as he felt Loren place her hands around him. Trying to shake off the thought, Dax tried to listen to Boggleworth’s words. Slowly lowering his wand to his side, Dax looked at the Professor trying to stop himself form laughing for what Loren had said.

“He is not normally this….well aggressive.”

Dax whispered back over his shoulder, making sure to keep a close eyes on the Professor. The green stain on his shirt became much more noticeable as he came charging towards them, shouting out how he hated Loren. Trying to put up the best defence possible he was soon pushed aside and fell on the floor.

Everything turned sideways, and trough the legs off the other students he could see that of Loren’s running through the crowds. He noticed that she stopped, and silence seemed to fall over the hall followed by a loud smash.
Thinking that the worst had happened and Hubbles had done something Dax stood up as fast as he could only to see the glass statues falling over and smashing. Dax’s mouth hung open slightly as he watched the destruction happen in front of him, and the head of Slytherin skid across the floor and under a near by table.

Knowing he need to act quickly Dax left forward and pushed his way though the crowd and ran towards the stationary figure of Loren. Taking hold of her hand Dax continued to run as the final statue fell to the ground.

“In this current situation I think running is the only way out of this.”

[Loren Hayes]

Loren stood frozen on the spot, her eyes wide and her hands moving from her eyes to her mouth to her ears, all in a futile attempt to block out the scene of destruction she had just caused. 'Well, that was uncalled for!' Rowena Ravenclaw's mouth bellowed from the middle of a fruit salad at one of the tables. 'And you call yourself a Ravenclaw - I'm utterly ashamed!'

'Ooooh Merlin... the headmaster will murder me!' Loren moaned as Dax appeared at her side looking flustered and in a hurry. Confused, Loren looked behind her, only to realise she had completely forgot why she was running in the first place. Professor Hubbles had thankfully also stopped in his tracks as the statues had fallen to their untimely deaths, but now his eyes suddenly shot back on her, and she grabbed Dax's wrist, shouting incoherently in his face in an attempt to inform him that they should run, completely ignoring the fact he had already suggested so.

Several people ran out of the way as Loren pelted toward the Great Hall doors, Dax's almost dragging on the floor behind her.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan could not understand in his blind rage why Hufflepuff’s were protecting a Ravenclaw. The idea of inter house relations was rubbish in his mind and at the present moment the only thing on his mind was bringing Loren to justice. The list of offence against her only grew as the statues began to fall and Simmons began to run away with her.

He knew that he would be unable to curse them, there were far to many people about, he would have to use brute force. Clenching his fists, Dan broke out into a run and start to push past many students, sending the small ones flying. He was catching up with his two run away convicts. They seemed to be hindering each other. Dax seemed more worried about making sure Loren was safe that he was slowing her down.

With a glint in his eyes Dan ran ever closer before launching himself into the air and wrapping his arms around Dax’s waist. They both fell to the floor with a bump, and his satisfaction only increased as Loren fell to the ground too.

“Got you.”

[Henry Boggleworth]

Amazed at the absurdity of the situation Boggleworth raised his eyebrows at Girty imploring her to "get your bleedin brother out of here," only the next minute all hell broke loose still further, with not just statues smashing but students sent crashing to the ground by the rampaging Professor, he was clearly out of his senses, now was the time for more forceful measures.

Swiping a glass of water from the grasping hands of a Gryffindor he aplogised as he ran onwards "I'll get you something stronger." Wanting to pick up speed to catch up with the three quickly, he found himself unable to, as crowds once more gathered like crows to a corpse; gapsing and exclaiming in horror and excitement. Dodging between flailing hands and ducking under a pair of Hufflepuffs dancing away lost in each others arms he reached the scene near the great oaken doors themselves.

Dashing the water into the face of one porud Dan Hubbles, he pushed him roughly aside, after summoning up his strength, quickly lifting Loren to her feet he coaxed her firmly towards the door allowing Dax to tustle with the Professor and cried "run for it, we'll hold the madman off." Pushing her along he began to turn to face off against the Professoer when a large impact sent him hurtling forward pushing Loren further along. Landing awkwardly he grabbed hold of the robes of whosoever had pushed him dragging him to the ground with him. Unfortunately it was Dax
"whoops sorry mate," he breathed as Hubbles stood over them triumphant; wand raised...