Justice Candy Open finished

Ileen gave Colin a surprised smile when he pulled out his instrument and charmed the situation with his sweet sounds. The smile deepened as her white knight and the girl hesitantly began to dance. She truly felt like in a fairy tale. Completely enchanted and in another world.
She closed her eyes briefly and let the peace seep through her skin, into her breath, into her soul. That's what she needed. After all the effort, the fear, the darkness. After him.
"Thank you Sir, that is wonderful." When she opened her eyes again, they sparkled with pleasure and she bowed her head politely and majestically toward Colin. She had not chosen this role, but now she enjoyed it.

But after all too short a time, her orchestrating role was promoted to active participation. Somewhat uncertain, she looked at the young Gryffindor, who was now looking at her, offering her a dance. But that was part of it, wasn't it? "I- sure, why not? It’s fun, isn't it?"
So she hesitantly put her hand in his, if he would allow it, and led him to the enchanting dance floor. She almost wished she had a ball gown - it would have suited this situation just too well. At least she should have taken her camera with her. But perhaps the ephemeral was also part of the magic of this moment. They were all in a soap bubble, just as colorful and iridescent as the ones that surrounded them floating. And the bubble would just as easily burst and throw them to the cruel real world.

But not yet. Ileen smiled at Kim and took up a dancing posture. She would run that he put the other hand on her shoulder blade and led the dance. The young Slytherin could dance more badly than well. But good enough for simple turns in a circle. And it was worth it. She also gave her knight a big grin. The day had turned out so very differently than expected. And that had been a pleasant surprise. She could use such days more often....

Interacting with everyone

The music flowed from Colin's fiddle and surrounded them. Music was a kind of magic that even muggles could work. It translated one, from wherever they were to another world entirely. Even the simplest of nursery songs could bring one out of the real world of everyday and into the worlds of marching soldiers or cows leaping over the Moon. How much more when the children themselves were already magical and the real world they inhabited was one of magic?

Here, no longer were they in Scotland at Hogwarts, no. The music translated them to Elsewhere, a kind of other world. A faerie, a place of delight and peril paired. The magic set it apart, set them apart. Few could enter Faerie, without the right key or the correct word of command. Yet music brought all three peoples together, the mundane, the magical and the fae.

And they danced upon the grass. And Colin, his eyes elsewhere, recited a poem as his fingers danced upon the ancient wood of the fiddle.

O’DRISCOLL drove with a song,
The wild duck and the drake,
From the tall and the tufted reeds
Of the drear Hart Lake.

And he saw how the reeds grew dark 5
At the coming of night tide,
And dreamed of the long dim hair
Of Bridget his bride.

He heard while he sang and dreamed
A piper piping away, 10
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.

And he saw young men and young girls
Who danced on a level place
And Bridget his bride among them, 15
With a sad and a gay face.

The dancers crowded about him,
And many a sweet thing said,
And a young man brought him red wine
And a young girl white bread. 20

But Bridget drew him by the sleeve,
Away from the merry bands,
To old men playing at cards
With a twinkling of ancient hands.

The bread and the wine had a doom, 25
For these were the host of the air;
He sat and played in a dream
Of her long dim hair.

He played with the merry old men
And thought not of evil chance, 30
Until one bore Bridget his bride
Away from the merry dance.

He bore her away in his arms,
The handsomest young man there,
And his neck and his breast and his arms 35
Were drowned in her long dim hair.

O’Driscoll scattered the cards
And out of his dream awoke:
Old men and young men and young girls
Were gone like a drifting smoke; 40

But he heard high up in the air
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.

And on Colin played for the young ladies and gents to dance by. And it was like a dream, for the music and magic swirled around them and Colin knew he was no longer in Hogwarts. The five of them, sweets and trees and grass and all, were translated to some far place. Cool and soothing was the gentle breeze and warm the Sun overhead. Colin wept for the beauty of the spell they had created together. It was a magic unlike anything they would learn in school. For, how could mere magic create a true place, and open the doorway to that place? No, this was a magic beyond!

And the music ended.

And the dancers stopped, catching their breath.

Colin felt it in his heart first. A calling. From Outside of Candyland, this little faerie that five youngsters had created. Colin wept no more. The transfiguration was broken. The magic dispelled. He knew the voice that was calling and his heart raced!

With a suddenness that might have seemed uncouth among such courtly and high company, for two beautiful queens and two gallant knights certainly are high company!, Colin packed up his things. He did not forget his manners entirely! He twirled quickly, and bowed to the company. Following Kim's lead, he took first Sophia's then Ileen's hands and kissed them before flashing the boys a smile. And with no more ado than a twinkle in his green eyes, Colin turned and left the company amongst the fading shrouds of deep magic.

His bare feet skipped through the grass as he heard someone calling his name: "COLLLIIINNN!!!"

With a joyful yip, Colin threw his arms into the air and charged forward at a full run, his satchel and shoes and fiddle case bouncing along merrily as his own heart. "LIIIAAAMMM!!!"

Colin has left this most excellent and beautiful thread.

Reducio

Host of the Air (1899), William Butler Yeats

@Ileen Knight | @Kim Sato | @Xailah Alptraum | @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | @Sophia Nelson

Departing thread unless stopped.
@Kim Sato @Ileen Knight @Colin McCoire