BlossomFest Blossom Ball 2018

Isabella hurried up the stairs, slightly tripping over in her too tall, borrowed heels. She sighed as she almost fell flat on her face. She had come alone. None of her close friends had wanted to go, leaving her alone. She had stalled doing her hair for as long as possible before leaving, not wanting to go to the ball. She hadn't been planning on it until a few days ago, when someone had told her that as a prefect she had to go. She panicked slightly when she realized it was too late to send a letter home asking for a dress, as she hadn't brought any to Hogwarts. She had almost cried out of relief when Ava Silver had approached her and offered her a dress. She was grateful, even if it was a bit too short for her liking. She pulled at the hem, thinking it would some how make it longer. She hesitated when she reached the top of the stairs, fiddling with her earrings.

'Maybe no one will notice I'm not there?' She thought desperately to herself, trying to find a way to get out of going. 'I could just slip off before anyone knows I'm here and go back to the dorms.' Shaking her head at her thoughts, she leaned against the doorway. She never really was one for balls. Halfway through the last one she had been too she had ended up crying underneath the refreshment table. Snapping herself back into reality, she pushed herself off the doorway and stepped inside. Cursing her shoes as she almost tripped over again.

"What the..." She muttered under her breath. Inside was complete chaos. She instantly regretted not turning around and going back to her dorm when she had the chance. She whimpered slightly as she saw the tables on fire, having a flash back to the time when she had almost scorched herself and a few others when she set the common room ablaze. Taking a step back into the wall she watched as the Transfiguration professor stepped forward and put out the fire before shouting at a Slytherin boy and sending him out of the ballroom. She dug her nails into the palm of her hand and cursed her first reaction.

Ignoring the people who had been set alight, and drenched by water, in the blaze, she looked around for someone, anyone she knew. Tears pricked to her eyes as she saw that while she did know some people, she didn't know them well enough to go up and talk to them. She fought them back, refusing to let them spill. Sighing, she looked around for the emptiest part of the ballroom. She smiled as her eyes rested on an almost empty corner of the room. She forced herself to move off the wall and made her way through the crowd.

She leaned against the wall, relief flooding her body when she reached the almost deserted corner. She smiled, thinking how typical it was of her to find the quietest place in the ballroom and immediately going there. She just hoped that she'd be able to remain there, undisturbed, for the majority of her time in the ballroom.

Mentions: Max Avery, Charles York, Dorothy Do

... She wasn't serious, right? Rosie? A professor? She looked like a five year old much less a MSAV professor! What was Dorothy thinking? Rosie turned to her and grimaced, before turning back to the musicians who didn't think the joke was very funny. "... Haha-"

"INCENDIO!" A voice boomed.

Rosie whirled around and felt her eyes widen as she watched the tables set on fire by a very angry looking first year, she felt her adrenaline sky rocket and the fear inside of her froze her. Why... Who? She slapped Dorothy's arm in alarm and backed up a bit, her chest rising and falling. She almost felt herself sigh big out of relief when the Transfiguration professor come over to solve the problem. She almost felt herself giggle as some of the other students get drenched.

She'd be lying if she said Mr. Yornikovych didn't make her skin crawl when his voice boomed loudly for... Charles, Charles was his name, to go to the head-master's office. Good riddance. She had heard rumors around him holding some kinda cult-Pureblood thing. Rosie didn't usually hope for people to get expelled, but people with a borderline over nationalist personality where "oNLY THE STRONGER BLOOD SHOULD BE ALLOWED IN A PRESTIGE SCHOOL SUCH AS THIS", or something like that, just made her angry.

Everyone deserved a chance at Hogwarts, she hadn't met someone who put down other bloods like that since... Max, but Max was kind of okay now. He didn't bother her as much as he used to. Rosie couldn't help but wonder where he went.

Replying to James Lachoneus.

Mentioning Serena Towers and James Lachoneus.

James look nervous. Now that, was a first. He seemed a bit nervous at the practise ball, but this.. this was completely nervous. She could not help but smile a little bit. Marissa always thought she was the shy one, but the way James was acting could have taken the crown. She smiled lightly as he started to walk over to her as he fixed his tie, even though it did not need fixing. Another nervous tick? Check.

At first he spoke quietly, making Marissa lean in slightly to hear. But when he spoke properly, Marissa stood up straight as she smiled. He sounded cheerful and more confident, which was more usually like him. "I-I'm fine, t-t-thank you. Y-you look v-v-very h-hands-some." She regretted the handsome part, was that too weird? Her mother always called her father handsome, so she guessed it was normal. His yellow tie stood out from his normal white shirt and black pants, she kept staring up and down at him as she looked at his outfit. Marissa quickly snapped out of it when she realised she was staring. She blushed slightly, realising what she was doing.

All of this ended when a loud voice boomed through the ball. "INCENDIO!" and in an instant, two tables caught on fire. Fire. Marissa instantly got flashbacks to the Hufflepuff campout, the woods on fire, people screaming and running away. Serena, unconscious and hurt. Marissa stood there, frozen like a deer in headlights as she watched in horror. Before she knew what was happening, Mari looked down to her hands. They were shaking. She was shaking. She felt like she could not breath, maybe it was the smoke? No. This was something she dreaded even more. A panic attack. Not now! Not in front of everyone! Marissa could not speak as silent tears rolled down her cheeks, reliving the campout all over again. Her breathing became laboured as she could not concentrate.

Aravis laughed at her cousin as she took down her braided hair. It was beginning to give her a headache due to being pinned and twisted so many times. "Yeah we sure are." She was just about to ask her cousin if she wanted to go ahead and meet some people when it happened. A voice yelled "Incendio." The fire quickly came from a wand and hit the food tables. The fire was so close to them. They had been right near the end of one of the food tables. 

Aravis found herself reacting on instinct. Her cousin might not realize why she was doing it at first but she would later. Aravis shoved Odette backwards away from the fire with all the force she could muster in her 11 year old body.

As she went to get herself out of the fire it burnt her leg quite bad. She opened her mouth to scream at the pain but couldn't make any noise. 

Soon the fire was put out by one of the professors. Aravis pulled herself to a puddle of water that had gathered on the floor before exammining her leg and her burnt dress. She could care less about the expensive gown she had. Her leg had at least a second degree burn and was hurting like nothing else. 

Tears of pain gathered on the young girls face. She almost never cried but this was certainly a reason to cry. She was about to touch her leg to see if it was real but decided that would make it hurt even worse. The black haired girl didn't even notice that the fire had burnt at least half of her long hair off. She would have to cut it at least to her shoulders for it to look decent. 

Verla wished she had one of the potions that could help with her anxiety. She couldn't remember how to make it, or what the name was, but she wanted to ask her potions teacher. But she didn't really like that teacher so much, so she could just ask a friend for help, maybe aravis would be willing to help if she got teacher permission. Maybe she wouldn't, she was too "judgy" in her words. She walked back shyly into the ballroom in a more longer dress, it was almost like bells dress, it was yellow but not too yellow, it was elegant, it had gold laces all over the gown part. She changed her hair style into just her natural curly hair.

She peaked her head in, hoping she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself. In her dress, she probably could have. She walked in, and moved her head up and down, looking for Rosie and Howie. She played around with the gloves in her hands. 
She felt more comfortable in this dress, and she was glad she changed and decided to come back to the ball. Today was the day thatbshe  out of her comfort zone and make herself some new friends. 

She was excited to make new friends and finally be someone she didn't feel she was, but still be able to show her true self. Maybe then people wouldn't judge her before they even know her.

When Aravis saw the girl in the golden dress she couldn't stand the sight of her. She walked in as if there was nothing wrong. Maybe she was just too oblivious to everything going on around her. People had been crying and coughing due to the smoke. 

Aravis had lost sight of her cousin unsure where the blonde haired girl had run off to. Aravis hoped she ran off for help. Aravis wondered who else had gotten scorched by the fire. She looked around noticing Aurelia from afar. The poor girl had gotten her arm burnt. Aravis didn't know much about her but felt bad for her arm.

The happy ballroom had turned into a nightmare. Aravis needed to get to the hospital wing. Unsure of how she was supposed to get there she started looking around for anything to support her as she stood up. The only thing near was the fried tables. Aravis slid over to one before gripping on to the still warm table a bit to tight. She pulled herself up which almost made the table raise up. She steadied herself and went to take a step. Almost as soon as she tried to walk she felt searring pain shoot through her leg all the way up to her heart. It felt as if the fire had entered her blood stream and crawled around in her veins and arteries before the reached the heart. Aravis knew that wasn't the case but it sure felt like it was.

She hopped over to the wall, her tiny fingers finding small cracks along the walls to hold on to for support. She wobbled and tilted and she slowly made her way over towards the one person she wanted nothing to do with. She opened her mouth to say one thing she never thought she would. Wincing in pain she spoke. "Verla, I need your help." 

When Eri heard someone yell Incendio she was standing next to the snack table. Then she saw the fire speeding towards the snack table. Who would do something like that? She didn't have enough time to move before the table next to her erupted in flames. She wasn't badly injured just her right hand got burnt, but the smoke was filling up her lungs and she was coughing.

Eri was glad someone put the fires out. Lots of people were coughing some were burnt. She needed to find all those who needed help. She could care less about her burnt hand. She needed to see if anyone else needed help getting to the hospital wing. 

Eri kept walking around feeling light headed and dizzy from all of the smoke. She kept coughing. And started to stumble along towards the nearest table. Her hand  was starting to hurt really bad. She was going to need to sit down before she could keep walking. The smoke had filled up a lot of her lungs. She still wondered who it was that casted the fire. She didn't see the person who casted the spell she only heard them. Still that wasn't right. Why did they have to burn some tables.

"Struck a nerve didn't I?" She sneered, this was too easy. She could not hold back the wave of laughter that followed. "If what you said was true, you'd have nothing to prove. So yes indeed, how dare I..." She shook her head at the indignant youth. 

He had of course lost control, drew his wand and started casting likely one of the only spells he knew. He was reckless. A danger to teach more spells too. After all, all one had to do was look at him. A few 'unkind' remands could set the unstable first year into an interminable rage. It was hilarious. Whatever chances of ascension he might have had here at Hogwarts, opportunities to be favored by a Professor, an honored family, or be named a House Prefect even for a short time was lost to him. 

Flames would ignite the tables behind her, setting the linens ablaze. She would make no attempt to evade disaster, why should she? In a crowded room full of people, most of all professors. So many witnesses. So many capable of intervention. What did he hope to achieve? To make a statement. To demonstrate his prowess as a neophyte wizard? She was in no peril, any damages done to her would be fleeting. Did she have the upmost confidence in the Professors, of course. She might have even taken a half step in the direction of the flames, in fact she did. Let's just say she was 'disoriented' perhaps 'scared' by how he had changed. Such a bully she should have known better. She did not know that simple words, a simple verbal altercation would result in violence. That was what she would claim, after all she was just a scared little girl overwhelmed and terrified by this alleged pureblood who certainly seemed less than pure.

Poor Erin...

Believe that one and I will of course tell you another lie.

Her dress would catch fire. Of course, she wanted it to. She did not care about a few rags she recovered from her trunk. She knew how this would go, she had done this before. Endure to ensure their suffering. A strange but telling mantra. She had won the moment he lost himself to the rage and passion. She did not scream, it would not last long enough that she would lose control. 

She was not as weak as he was. Not nearly as insecure. The threads of her hem would burn away, the radiant heat searing. Don't panic. Don't react. Yet time would slow.It always slowed in times of terror and in times of pain. The good times seemed to move faster, not that there were many or perhaps time moved so fast that they happened already and she forget as the experience was so brief. That is as opposed to anguish which was seemingly more protracted.

She would step towards Charles all the same as he shouted the same incantation carelessly. It would seem mad but it was in fact rather clever. He needed to know something, something only he should hear. He would be able to feel the heat coming off of her, like a great calefactor. She would lean towards him to say, "your rage exceeds your ambition. Tsk... Tsk... little snake." 

Providence found in Professor Yornikovich, Charles' wand would assumedly be knocked away by the superior duelist. Before she could say anything more a blast of water soaked the flames as well as her, it felt as if she was being hit by a firehose. Yes, it knocked her away but she hardly cared. Once for the dramatic she let herself fall over. She might have been taken by the water all the same, these heels were not meant for walking.

The Professor rebuked the errant Slytherin, she eyed his wand. She would pull herself to her feet, potentially accepting the assistance of a student if given such but otherwise she would gracelessly return to her feet, allowing herself to appear as disheveled as nature might have allowed. She would seek the discarded wand, her soaked dress leaving a trail of ashen water as she tried to find it. 

If she recovered the wand and was not prevented of course, she would take the slender piece of wood into her possession, tucked into the corset of her gown and then approach the darling Professor. "Professor Yornikovich, a word?"

Verla gasped at the nightmare as someone started a fire in the ball room. She ran around, asking people if they were alright. Then her dress had caught of fire. She screeched and tried to step it out. Who had set the ball room on fire any way? She couldn't get the fire out, and it began to scorch her legs. She tore off the skirt, finding herself in her lower skirt which poofed out the normal skirt. She saw her legs were burnt, but she pushed through the crowds of people running out, looking for Rosie and Howie, she needed to make sure they were alright.

When she spotted them, she ran up to them. They both noticed her burnt legs, but Verla ignored their concerns and had to get everyone out of there. Verla made sure that they got out safely. The ballroom was entirely in flames, she ran around,  hoping everyone got out. She was scared, she began to think of the burns on her legs which were minor, but they still ached. But adrenaline took over again when she heard a scream of help which came from the corner of the ballroom. She took out her wand and made a path over to them. When she got stuck on the corner of the table, her mini skirt ripped and her body fell into flames.

She screamed as they covered her. Then she ran out of the ball room, scanned the room once, and went out of the ball room, onto the floor and began to roll as the flames still covered her. She knew that the burns would become scars, then no one would love her when she was older, with her burdens. 

When the flames were dead, she looked at everyone who were mainly shaking, "is ev-everyone...alright?" 

Aravis sighed as she was ignored by Verla. Aravis had been right in thinking she wouldn't be of any help. She leaned onto the wall to examine her right leg once more. It no longer looked like a second degree burn. The blistering black section of her leg had to be a third degree burn. At first she hadn't thought it was all that bad, though it hurt like nothing she had ever felt before. As she looked at her leg she noticed the burning blisters went from her ankle all the way to her knee. At least if hadn't gone any further.

She watched as Verla had rushed around. It was like she had a delayed reaction to everything. She asked people around her if they were ok. "No you idiot girl! Some of us obviously need to get to the Hospital Wing." She shouted towards the curly haired Hufflepuff. Normally she wouldn't have called Verla that but she was afraid and hurt. After all, monsters were most dangerous when they were afraid.

She was lucky that she still had her leg. Aravis wondered if fire could even burn a leg off. She assumed it could. She didn't notice that her hair had been burnt. Aravis sighed annoyed and upset. She had burnt her hair and would have to cut it to her collarbone at least. Not only that but she had basically ruined her leg.