Event The Fall Ball (Masquerade)

Suit ✰ Bracelets ✰ Shoes

Reducio Languages: English in Blue French in Red Irish in Green German in Purple Veela in Pink

Reducio Plot Section: Meet Starlee Get Bullied By Liz and Florian Dance w/ Earl Post Tracker: xxx

Reducio Ability: Comprehend Languages Stamina: 7 Evasion: 4 Strength: 7 Wisdom: 7 ArcPower: 5 Accuracy: 5

Reducio Interacting with: Mentioning: @Starlee Kennedy as Florian, @Earl Gray & @Elisabeth Erner as Rosa Swann

Emile didn't know what had overcome him. Usually he would be all over apologizing and trying to stay on Florian's good side. Florian was taller than Emile, by kind of a lot. Emile had, like his cousin, inherited the LeDoux shortness. In fact he was like a carbon copy of what the perfect LeDoux would look like, minus the blonde hair. He had the unnerving large eyes (The one's that Bethy had told him about her Rival calling Bug-eyes), he had the shortness, and the soft voice. But he didn't act like the rest of his family. Yes he loved his wealth, but he could live without it. And he could definitely live without the blood purism. He was also not as abrasive as his cousin or almost anyone else in his family.

This is why it was so weird to him that he felt a sudden defiance rise in him. Florian was a bully and Emile was his victim. A good victim at that. Usually. Emile did feel his characteristic fear return when Florian understood his insult. His eyes grew large for a moment and he cowered in fear under the other males dangerous gaze. He was on the edge of apologizing, until Florian continued. The raven-haried male had decided to call Emile his, pretty, and little. Emile stared, mouth held slightly open on the edge of an apology.

Had he just called Emile pretty? Wait...was he making fun of Emile for his preferences towards men? For his slight crush on Florian? Florian had never gone there before and Emile had solidly believed he never would.

"Excuse me? EXCUSE ME? What did you just say to me? I never thought...in a million years you would stoop that low? Did you run out of things to say? Are you that UNORIGINAL? Are you okay? Do you need lessons in bullying? Jesus, I knew you sucked at Broom Racing and Flirting, but I guess bullying is also hard for you too. The fact that YOU would attack anyone for their sexuality. I mean look at you. You are so ugly, at least I have someone (Earl) who cares about me. Who do you have? No one. Look at that, where's your date? Out dancing with some other boy. Probably cause she was bored of you. Dumb twat. God I hate you so much. I mean seriously though. What is wrong with you? Wow I really hope you never find anyone. The fact that you would stoop so low. You little ugly-" He continued on swearing violently in Veela, a language he knew Florian had no way of understanding.

He was closer to Florian, glaring up into his face, swearing non-stop, until he finally finished his spiel with very angry choice word in French that the other male could understand.

Action: Cussing Florian Out

Mentions : @Kyle DeRook and others involved in the fight
Interactions : @Santario Martin

What a terribly poor choice of phrasing and metaphor for the second year to make towards Illowy and her family. It lit a fire in her, sparking an anger she hadn't had to deal with for a long time with each word that spilled from the other snake's lips. Truthfully, she didn't know what Santario knew. By the phrasing she was using, Illowy couldn't help but assume that her housemate knew about her cousin's illness, and thus such phrasing felt like the biggest insult. The insinuations, the threats, the warnings; it fanned the flames of her anger to the point that she was shaking, gripping her readied wand white knuckled. Never had she felt such an urge to kiss someone's face with her fist.

Was she about to defend Kyle for bullying someone? Of course not. She'd dealt with similar problems all through her first year and most of second. She knew Kyle was having issues like this, though mostly by rumor. She was already in the process of doing her best to guide her cousin towards a better path, and it wasn't as easy as one might expect. Not with the sheer amount of anger and turmoil and self loathing that needed to be worked through; but what would someone like Santario Martin know about that? Clearly nothing. After all, Illowy was just a kid. They all were. Dealing with issues and dangers they should have never had to deal with; but that wasn't the reality of the situation. Illowy was doing the best she could to save Kyle from himself, while at the same time trying to navigate her own problems that were far beyond her own understanding and bandwidth.

"For yer sake, Martin, ye better stop talkin' about things ye don't know a bloody damn thing about." she spoke, her voice low and her Irish accent thickening, "An' ye don't tell me anything about hags. I'm perfectly aware of it. But ye wouldn't know that would ye? Ye don't know everything, poppet." she assured, daring to take a couple deliberate steps closer towards her co-captain to close the gap between them, "If ye have a problem with my family, then ye may come directly t' me. It's my family, I'll handle it, and ye know well enough how to find me." the older snake informed, "In the mean time, ye don't dare talk about him like that, an' ye don't ever raise a wand to him like that again. Ye don't know a damn thing about me, or him."

Illowy lowered her wand slightly, eyes still narrowed with distrust, "Now then, why don't ye settle down yer people, I'll settle mine, and we'll both try to salvage what's left of this night."

For Moderation :
Actions: trying to end the fight somewhat diplomatically
Abilities: Lovely Creature
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 8 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 9 | ArcPower: 7 | Accuracy: 9|

Interacting with @Elizabeth Isaacs as Emile LeDoux
Mentioning @Elisabeth Erner as Rosa Swann
Closed to other Interations
Bolded Text: French | Regular Text: English | Color: #BF4040
Post Tracker: X | X | X | X

What. The. Beep.

This show of extreme emotion and intense anger was not what Florian had expected from the small boy. Perhaps the taunt really got to him... It certainly was the first time that Florian had commented on the boys' crush on him. Perhaps Emile thought he wouldn't notice? How could he not with all those passing stares?

All Florian could do was stand towering over the smaller boy as he yelled all sorts of things at him. He couldn't care less about his broom race performance, of course, he had been worse than he could have been, he wasn't allowed his broom from home for heaven's sake! Although, he was a little hurt by his words about Rosa... surely, she wouldn't be dancing with someone else... surely not. She was a respectable girl from a respectable family. She would never do that to him... or... would she? His confidence and swagger began to waver a little. Emile continued on in some strange language he had never heard. What in the world was he saying!?! How did this boy know so many languages? He knew that it was a rather pureblood thing to do, but still. There was no way whatever Emile was saying could be positive with that look in Emile's eyes. Emile inched closer, trying to make himself appear bigger in Florian's large wake. His eyes were like daggers piercing through his face, and he finally stopped his strange language ranting, ending it with one of the worst French insults you could.

Well... this simply would not do.

Florian took a deep breath, trying to hide his wavering confidence, and said, "Can't say I didn't warn you." He pulled back his arm, winding it up for a punch, and attempted to punch Emile right in the gut of his little pink suit. Now THAT would teach him a lesson.

Action: Punching Emile in the gut
Stats: Stamina: 5 - Evasion: 7 - Strength: 4 - Wisdom: 9 - Arcane: 4 - Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Foulplay

As Maximilien de Fostoncy | owl for interactions

English | French | Outfit

Interacting with Elise Laurent (@Scarlett Aden)

It was quite weird that he could see nothing but normal windows. Why, the ghost just broke in…and a bunch of things had happened. He rubbed his eyes. Had he missed something? Something that was useful to understand what’s happening around?

He didn’t know why, but something told him that not only the rider was suspicious tonight. Some other things were around as well. He wasn’t fully convinced, but he supposed so — due to his persistence training in dueling. Maximilien de Fostoncy had never failed yet. At least…at least he hoped so.

“Indeed we should.” he told her, growing more suspicious over time. He didn’t wish to tell her that he had attempted an investigation just now, and unfortunately, had failed. Clearly Maxi knew that another investigation might be useless, but he just wanted to try. He knew that something was happening, and that’s all.

“How weird.” These words were in English, since the boy was quite convinced that Elise wasn’t very good at the language. He didn’t want her to panic, by all means. “I wonder —”

His grey eyes gazed. What’s that? What’s happening over there? Did that ghost come back again? Or some other things were happening beside that? He wondered. Though maybe no clue would be founded out successfully, he still wished to observe. In order to protect themselves better, which was definitely needed. Maxi was never a hero. He usually wouldn’t get time to care about others, but instead, he’d make sure that people around him were okay. Or maybe more specifically, the people he loved.

Hogwarts was definitely not a safe place. Time to take care of themselves.

Action: Observing the ballroom
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 8 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 8
Abilities: Lovely Creature | Perfectionist

[1][2][3][4]

Mod Posts
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth

Anyone who had been enticed by the ghost's warnings were now gone, and there was a significant drop in the number of remaining dancers. Those who had stuck to the sidelines and those who had already had a nice spin around the dancefloor were all relatively content to write off the apparition, either as a trick of the Halloween variety, or a wild goose chase. Was it either of these things? They would have to ask the participants later, so long as they survived the ordeal in one piece.

The music was continuing its manicured rhythm, the choice in mood over time much like a poem written by the arranger. Now, the modern aesthetic continued with the introduction of the evening's disc jockey, still accompanied by a soloist. A continued air of spookiness was given the slow dance treatment. One could take this as a sign that things were mellowing out, perhaps a good time to head to bed for the evening if they were prone to sleepiness as it neared their usual bedtime. This was the time for the night owls to dance the night away. Or fulfill their greatest evil desires, as it may be.


Of course, the attempted felling of @Quinn Healy was still happening, even though now it was obscured by spooky smoke. At this point, no one outside the conflict would know exactly what was happening. That's probably a bad thing. But it would make it harder for everyone to punch each other, so that was a good thing! @Kyle DeRook would finally feel the relaxing of his magically convulsing muscles. The fight continued, arms flying amidst the smoke like in a cartoon, to save money on animation. Would it save the combatants?

@Amara Dragamior smartly left the cloud of smoke, as well as they fray altogether. Her and her dueling partner had tried to diffuse the situation, and perhaps it had done some good. Either way, she had no horse in the fight. @Illowy Magnard did though, a werewolf-shaped horse. Her attempt to disarm @Santario Martin had failed, as the dodgy witch turned back around for a lecture. Santario knew exactly how it felt to be punched by a werewolf, weirdly. We don't talk about fight club. Would Illowy agree to help stop her cousin, rather than help him?

No one could see clearly through the smoke, but Kyle's keen animal-like senses weren't thrown off. In fact, he must have been at some kind of advantage, because he threw out an absolutely devastating punch. Quinn, despite having relied on his seemingly endless stamina and strength all his life, found himself actually having the wind knocked out of him. He fell backwards onto the ground with a loud thud, breaking a few floorboards on impact. Everyone would hear that, at least.

@Nico Shymane tried to flip @Erin Ryan again, but there was no such luck the second time. Both her and her boyfriend would find the blonde bombshell impossible to nail down. As the smoke cleared, everyone would see the captain toppled, barely hanging on to consciousness. The underdogs weren't looking so 'under' any more.

Nearly as soon as @Flash Holmwood punched @Vladimir Athanatos, he was joined by a self-appointed bodyguard, who kicked him in a vulnerable spot on his back in a fluid motion that clearly showed dedicated training.

It was never going to be a brawl. Flash just wanted one punch, and he got it. Selim got the chance to show his allegiance by attacking his dorm mate in Vladimir's defense. No sparks were flying, though, Flash walked away and nothing changed. Perhaps it was just a nice meet cute for the new Seldimir ship to sail upon. Either way it seemed fairly free, Vladimir was perfectly content to ignore the transgression, as much as his date seemed to be looking for an adult to tattle to.

That didn't mean the violence was over, as not far away, a few Beauxbaton boys were letting old heat flare. Tears, insults, cusswords, and finally... a punch.

One gut punch, served up by a crush. Extra painful! The way the aggressor, (@Starlee Kennedy) Florian LeRoy, was so big and the victim, (@Elizabeth Isaacs) Emile LeDoux was so small, this would appear like a clearly unfair match. Though as most of their conversation had been in French, most would have no idea where this beef came from. Anyone watching would have seen them barely bump into each other to begin with. Would anyone intervene now that it came to blows, or would it also end in one punch?

There was one doll, a lover, being fought over by two girls. Its heart belonged to only one of them though, and his knife belonged in the other. Fully confident in its ability to slice Meenauh into sashimi, it snatched the weapon cleanly, and pointed it at his victim as she once again tried to retrieve it magically.

From across the room, the heroic @Xailah Alptraum would try to save @Meenauh Silmataurea from herself and stop the kill-happy loverboy in place. Two spells came flying at the creature at once, cast correctly yet intrinsically opposed forces. In the end, Meenauh's magic was more powerful, the blue light sparking from Xailah's wand seeming to glide away from a clear hit target. Her concentration, or perhaps her will, made stopping her spell impossible. Because of that, the deadly blade came lunging at her, pointed directly at her heart.

Unfortunately for the admirer, it was a dumb pile of nasty rags and had only been alive for a short time, so cut it a break when I say it was wielding a fake dagger. (Rolled to see which weapon Admirer found: @Jack Burnett's fake Peter Pan dagger. Permission granted to steal it). Fairly easy to swipe, by the way the imp was floating around room, dragged unwittingly around by his pesky fairy.

So now Meenauh was in the possession of a very stabby doll. It stabbed and stabbed and stabbed... it would be a horrifying bloodbath for sure, if the soft blunted toy didn't bounce off her skin like the soft paw of a persistent puppy. If only love were a knife, its sharpness would have sliced her in twain! Alas, it wouldn't even work as a blunt instrument. Upon closer inspection, Meenauh could see it was exactly the doll she thought it was, and it undulated around in her fingers like a writhing insect. She would have to act quick before it learned form its mistakes.

Either way, as @Breana Oliveire got the bright idea to move to somewhere safer, the pursuer was not far behind. A bundle of beautiful blue cloth draped around it, it hitched a ride on the back of a massive floofy dress, the perfect transportation. See you all in the Costume Party~!

Something felt off as time crept on, like one by one, the seed of animosity had been sewn into the atmosphere like spindling threads of a web. There were echoed sounds of pain reaching across the immaculate acoustics of the ceiling, a chilling reminder to any within earshot that they all had such breakable bodies. Was there something else in the crowd? Something pulling the strings? There were some creatures who would be glad to feed on the itching feeling of fear creeping out from the edges of the shadows. More of the students looked around the room, sensing that there was something wrong about the ball. Two of the people who were trying their hardest to catch a whiff of trouble caught a face full of glitter instead. As @Ruka Burnett-Tân flew out of the Ballroom, his abundance of glitter sparkled with him, which unfortunately got in the face of Amara and (@River Dewlight) Evanore Fairclay, making them temporarily unable to see anything.

Most were unsuccessful, but (@Anastasia Beckett) Alexei Petrov and (@Lindsey Springhall) Maximilien de Fostonsy saw something out of the ordinary. If they were't mistaken, a girl dressed in plain clothes was fighting a doll by the entrance. Not only that, but the doll had a big dagger. Looked like it was trying to stab her, was it some kind of enchantment? A prank? Or were all the rumors about Hogwarts true?

River Dewlight had her eyes wide open, she was also a discerning prefect. What would catch her eye was the fight that had ended just as it began. @Selim Faust had wielded a set of chopsticks threateningly, and they glinted in the candle light. There was no way a child brought a concealed deadly weapon to a ball, right? Perhaps the Dhampir would be able to write this off, or feel like letting it go, since he promptly put them away again once the fight disseminated. Since they were an unusual fare, she would need to look at them directly before she could be certain, but the way he used them was unmistakable.

Would these observations lead to anything? Would the current fights be resolved? Would there be more fights? At least there aren't any fires, right?

Actions this round
Pursuer moved from the Masquerade to the Costume Party.
@Annie Morgan (NPC Milosh Renquist) leaves the ball.
@Breana Oliveire moves from the Masquerade to the Costume Party.
@Bridget Collins leaves the ball.
@Caelan Stewart moves from the Costume Party to the Hunt.
@Callista Lovis moves from the Costume Party to the Hunt.
@Dealla Prince moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Flash Holmwood leaves the ball.
@Jade Sunshine moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Jake Morris moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Jess Malters (NPC Silvia Ventress) moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Lydia Cooper (NPC Alexander Ward) moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Mars T'ien moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Martyna Romero moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Opeila Winters moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Paisley Brown moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Piérre Marchonné (NPC Romeo Marchonné) moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Rafael D'Spacito (NPC Hanzo Fransson) moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Rohan Fog moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Ruka Burnett-Tân moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Santario Martin (NPC Angélique de Clairmont) leaves the ball.
@Sarah Lightwood moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Starlee Kennedy moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Elizabeth Isaacs moves from the Masquerade to the Hunt.
@Quinn Smith moves from the Costume Party to the Hunt.

[font=Monotype Corsiva]For your consideration[/font]

• There will be a mod post every Friday, meaning the next mod will be on November 20th.
• There are two parties going on simultaneously, the Masquerade in the Ballroom and the Costume Party in the Rehearsal Room. Both are on the fourth floor of Hogwarts, so travelling between the two does not take much time. For ease of moderation, please clearly denote when you are going from one to the other. During moderation, this takes a full action.
• Your characters are no longer able to join the ongoing Hunt. People who have already joined the Hunt can still travel between all three locations, but each movement will still take a full action unless otherwise stated.
• Because changing parties is considered an action, this means you can switch once a week, though that also means you won't be able to take another action until the next mod.
• Actions besides changing parties are any attempt to do something to someone else such as attack, investigate, cast any spell, or generally anything that has a chance to fail depending on your stats. Minor interactions that are agreed upon between two players are free to take as much as you like. If you're unsure whether your intended plan involves an action, you can feel free to message me for clarification. Please do not roll your own actions even if they are minor.

As she shot her spell into the fair nothingness to summon the doll, she heard her friend's lovely voice... Or in the circumstances of the noise around, she felt it. Her hand seemed to vibrate a bit once the doll was acquired by the spell and sent her way. Was there a clash of spells? Did the two wands connect? Was it possible? That was what she thought before she noticed the doll coming at her with something bigger this time. A huge weapon was drawn from nowhere. Was is a conjured weapon?

Her eyes widened in shock as the doll touched her hand and she involuntarily tried to evade the hit of the blade by stretching herself backwards. It was not enough and the blade hit her in the chest...

A second later, she was just standing there, coming out from a shock, and watching the poor doll trying to stab her with a fake dagger. Such a pitiful picture, if not funny.

"BURN IT!" cried one voice.
"CUT IT!" cried the second one.
"Calm it," the third voice that spent the most time resting in her head reasoned her to not have recourse to violence, while her mind was already switching from one spell to another.

"Immobulus!" she said calmly this time instead of her friend with her wand pointed, or maybe pierced through the thin fabric of the wriggling creature. Was it really it?!

Did Xailah really want to talk to it?

Action: after a very quick observation of the attempted murder, pierce the wand through the doll and immobilise it.

Kyle felt the "ticking" Finally ease from his body and he Rolled his shoulders and stretched out some eager to finally be free of it's grip. Sure he couldn't see but he knew where the Half Giant was amidst all the smoke, and when he threw the punch...he felt it connect. A few moments later there was the heavy sound of Quinn smashing into the flood boards and as the smoke wafted away once again leaving the air free breath he could see for the second time he managed to lay out the half giant with a single well placed punch. This was going to do wonders for the boy's self esteem and confidence. He was aware of the chaos around him, people yelling and casting spells, and this and that but he couldn't be bothered to pay attention to it, not yet. Once Quinn was Neutralized then he could take stock into his surroundings.

He then walked closer to where the Giant had fallen, and crossed his arms looking down at him. "How about you stay down? Quit trying to break girls bones and we can stop meeting like this Yeah?" Kyle was hoping to end things here and now before any more fighting or spells needed cast. They proved their points in his eyes, the big man was knocked flat and he was giving Quinn the chance to salvage his dignity and choose to stop fighting and accept defeat with grace. But, if he pushed the matter Kyle was willing to keep going and make the half-giant stay down if he had to.

Kyle shot a glance towards Erin now that he could see "Hey Starling, You ok?"


Interacting with: @Erin Ryan, @Quinn Healy

Her mind cloudy with panic of what ifs and what was yet to come, the dhampir tried to aim at the blonde. Yet Erin had learned to not stay still for too long. That was possibly her mistake last time Nico did manage to hit her. Letting out a frustrated grunt the redhead eyed down at her wand. Why didn't she flip her away from her beloved giant? She wanted to protect him so desperately.
Maybe it was the fog and the sounds of students exlaiming in surprise or horror around her that threw her off. This time though, it wasn't Erin who would land a succesful blow on Quinn.

It was Kyle.

Almost making her way over to Erin to hopefully get a better aim, Nico could hear a loud sound of something hitting tables and chairs. Next to her, the smoke would reside and there stood Kyle. His fist was still in the air. H-He? What... Who did he hit? Her gaze dropped from the raised first to the huge figure laying on the floor, limbs sprawled around him. 'Q-Quinn! Oh Merlin, Quinn!' The way he laid there, something about it looked... defeated. Exhausted. Was Quinn okey? If that noise earlier was her dearest hitting the floor because of a punch of Kyle... Who could ever hit a Part-Giant with such force... Making it look like it was so easy? The Gryffindor walked up to the close to being knocked-out Badger. For a moment Nico couldn't move. She felt so uncertain... Was he going to give him a finishing blow? Was he?

The dhampir couldn't hear the voice of the assaulter as she dashed over to her fallen hero. Her accessoires lightly jingling as she moved with quickness and grace. Dropping on her knees next to Quinn, letting her eyes dart over his body, not sure if he bled anywhere. She didn't smell anything so that should be okey then, right? H-He was... Her pale hands rested on his big hand before she slowely turned towards Kyle. Her iceblue hues, red tears already sliding down her ever pale cheeks. 'Wh-What the fuck is wrong with you?' Again with the cursing. It happened in utter times of despair. Of things she didn't understand. Why would they attack Quinn... ? Why?

'You attacked a Prefect! And an innocent student! Are you right in your fucking head?' Overcome by anger and confusion, red dots appeared in her iceblue eyes as she glared at Kyle. 'Can someone fucking explain themselves? I knew that Erin was strange, but to attack someone... To attack Quinn!?'

Stats
Stamina: 13 | Evasion: 8 | Strength: 4 | Wisdom: 6 | ArcPower: 2 | Accuracy: 8

Abilities :
Lovely Creature & Unsettling Aura (ON)

Suit ✰ Bracelets ✰ Shoes

Reducio Languages: English in Blue French in Red Irish in Green German in Purple Veela in Pink

Reducio Plot Section: Meet Starlee Get Bullied By Liz and Florian Dance w/ Earl Post Tracker: xxxx

Reducio Ability: Comprehend Languages Stamina: 7 Evasion: 4 Strength: 7 Wisdom: 7 ArcPower: 5 Accuracy: 5

Reducio Interacting with: @Starlee Kennedy as Florian Mentioning:

Emile felt a punch connect with his gut. Florian had looked slightly confused when the smaller male had argued back. Emile didn't know if his confidence was wavering, although that seemed unlikely, or what was going on. The taller male just looked really confused. Emile felt a little shocked in himself when he had finished off with that strong a word. He was not known for cursing or fighting, he often tried to avoid fighting. Especially with Florian.

Florian looked like he was having a mild stroke at the words coming out of Emile's mouth. But of course he had quickly recovered. Emile had barely had a chance to register what he said before a punch was thrown that hit him directly in the gut. He let out a loud cry of pain and doubled over. He stumbled backwards and gasped for air. Damn his diaphragm. He hated the feeling of drowning that had hit him along with that punch. His gasps turned quickly into sobs.

His tears from earlier had finally bubbled over. He had ruined his friendship with Earl and on top of that had now been punched. He was still bent over, arms around his mid-section, when tears started to flow. This was unfair. All he could do was stand there and watch his tears hit the floor. He did not want to look back up at his aggressor, the tears would just be one more thing for Florian to bring up over and over.

"I-I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. I am really really sorry Florian.", he sobbed out. He hated how he had to revert back to his weak self after feeling so inspired to fight back for once. He lifted his head up slightly, just enough that he could catch a glimpse of the taller boy, but not enough that Florian could see the full effects of his punch.

Action: Apologizing to Florian

The moment Lucia re-entered the Ball, she looked around and tried to figure out what she'd missed.
It seemed like nothing had happened, appart from some wierd smoke cloud hanging around one corner and the noticeable drop in the number of dancers.
Oh, and the fight.
She neatly skirted around the two both whom she didn't recognise - thank Merlin, or she might have felt obligated to step in - and looked around for someone she did.

She didn't see anyone.
It looked like all of Lucia's friends had gone into the corridors, like responsible people, rather than chicken out. Which was what Lucia herself had done.

For a moment, the part-Veela considered trying to find André, the boy whom she, Scarlett and Lily had so unceremoniously abandoned to follow the ghost cat (because that had worked out perfectly) and talking to him for a bit. Another moment removed that option from her mind - she didn't want to explain how she'd let everyone else face Doom And Tragedy without her.

The next option was to just leave. Maybe she could go and find Briar - the younger girl would be glad of her company, Lucia was pretty sure. But then again... Hadn't she seen the librarian as they had passed the Costume Party? So was the library even open, or was Briar in her common-room? In which case, Lucia would just be left by herself in the Hufflepuff dorm rooms. And she hadn't seen Alina or Alexa all evening, so she who knew where they were.

Onto option three... Hang around by herself, looking like a loner.

Yeah, it looked like it was option three.

Stowing her wand safely away in her bag - Lucia didn't need it any more - and adjusting her mask, Lucia made her way to the dance area. Not the centre of it, oh no, but just the edge.

Wait.
How were you supposed to dance with a partner if you didn't even have one?
It was just as well that Lucia had grown up dancing by herself - Willow was too small for anything like this, and (as graceful as the Ravenclaw was) Briar didn't like dancing, and wasn't very good at it anyway.
Before she could really think about it, Lucia was holding her hands out as if holding an invisible partner, and was spinning away across the room, looking like a sad loner.

At least she was good at dancing.