Graduation Banquet {7th Years}

[Albus Dumbledore]

The end of the year was always exciting. It was exciting to see the happy faces of students who couldn't wait to get home and see their parents; to hear the summer plans of excited students who were planning to see the world and travel over seas; to watch the faces of those who were just happy that they didn't have any more 9am starts to worry about for a few weeks. But the best part? The best part was looking at the seventh years who were about to graduate, and remembering how they were when they started the school all those years ago, scared faces peering up as they waited anxiously to be sorted into their houses, and compare them how they were now: grown up and maturer, ready to step out into the real world and take on life one day at a time. That, was what made the job of being a professor so much fun - seeing them all grow up ready to tackle whatever challenges may face them, and with the dark days they were facing now with the rise of a dark force, those challenges were bound to be many.

For now, though, it was a night to celebrate a school career coming to an end in the best way possible. The other students would still have their feast, but this night was just for the seventh years. Around the Great Hall, the long tables had been replaced with a number of smaller, round ones, allowing students to mix and mingle, and to sit with their friend groups, so they weren't restricted to their own house. At the end of the hall there was a long table laden with food of all kinds for students to pick at their will through out the night, and the rest of the hall? Well, that was for dancing. Little did they know, a famous wizarding band were getting ready in a little room behind the hall, preparing to hit the students with some of the most current songs going in the wizarding world today. There would be other events going on, too, but most of the entertainment was going to take place in this room.

(OOC: This stuff is just for 7th years to celebrate their graduation. Feel free to use this thread as a group thread to start you off, but you are not restricted to it. This whole board is for 7th year celebrations, so whether you want to plan a thread between two characters, or whether you want to set up an event that's taking place around the Great Hall, do all of that here. Keep a look out for open threads started by our other admin accounts that you can get involved in, and be warned, the Marauders may have a little bit of mischief up their sleeves tonight And why not? It's not like you can get detention for causing trouble, right?)

[Deleted]

Mary had never felt so uncomfortable in her life. Or at least, that's how she felt in that particular moment. Mary wasn't exactly the girliest of girls, but a graduation ball? That required more than a pair of jeans, for sure. Or that's what he roommates had insisted when they'd all but shoved her into the blue dress she was wearing. She'd grudgingly accepted the dress but the heels? They were a no no. And Mary felt so paranoid about the fact the dress strapless that she'd pulled a shrug on just to cover her shoulders she that she didn't feel so exposed.

It had taken a lot of internal pep talking before she finally mustered up the courage to leave her dorm and head downstairs, but eventually she made it to the great hall, awkwardly tugging at the hem of the dress which really, really didn't feel long enough to be appropriate, though she knew it came past mid-thigh on her. It didn't take much to make Mary feel uncomfortable in what she was wearing, which mostly stemmed from her atrocious lack of confidence. But, she was there now, and there was no turning back. This was the last big event she'd get to experience as a Hogwarts student and she wasn't going to waste it, regardless of what she was wearing. Though for now, just sitting at a table seemed like more than enough.

[Deleted]

A ball? An actual ball? Like where you'd have to get dressed up and impress females. Or in Dylan's case both sides of the fence with fancy clothing and/or dancing. He didn't mind the dancing part, hell when he was living at the orphanage one of the caretakers had made it her responibility to teach them all kinds of things, dancing being one of them. He never really had to dancing infront of others before, but he didn't doubt his ability to bust a move as they say.


He had spoken to a few of his male friends and they had suggested he dress up, but he didn't really own anything nice. Besides a few button up shirts, but he wore those almost everyday under his robes, or whenever they had a Hogsmead week. The only nice button up that he hadn't worn was sitting in the very bottom of his trunk and was being saved for Graduation...But who was he trying to impress? He had no family. Might as well.


Within a few minutes Dylan was dressed in a white button up shirt with a silver bowtie, and a silver vest with black slacks and black dress shoes. He had walked down to the Great Hall and took a deep breath. Well, this was it. Maybe with this get up he could get a bit lucky and meet someone nice. Yeah right! He told himself as he smiled and walked through the door. He could always hang with his friends if need be.


He noticed Mary, a fellow Gryffindor, sitting at a table by herself and decided to join her. "Hello Mary. Mind if I sit? This monkey suit is making me a bit uncomfortable."

[Deleted]

With one final look in the mirror, looking for any imperfections, Arabella decided that she quite liked the outcome of her look for the evening. Her pale face was surrounded by golden curls, hanging evenly down to the middle of her back. Her makeup was done to utter perfection, making her already shockingly blue eyes stand out even more. Ari's dress was black, fell to just above her knees (her mother deemed it appropriate for her age), and was made of a satin-like material with black lace overlaying it. Her shoes completed the look perfectly. Now Arabella normally wasn't the kind of girl who liked to be all done up, though she did it as she was always taught it was a necessity, but she didn't mind it this time. In this moment she felt like the beauty that she really was. An excited "You look beautiful Arabella." From one of her roommates of the last seven years, Norena Wilkes she believed, only confirmed what she already knew. Still, raised to be polite when complemented, Arabella turned to the mousy haired girl and smiled, giving a genuine "Thank you, you look lovely as well." While looking the normally plain girl over. Tonight was an exception to her rather boring look, Noreena actually looked stunning for the nights festivities. Her emerald green dress brought her eyes out, and even her dull brown hair shone and looked healthier than Arabella had seen it over the last few years.

Turning her attention from her reflection Arabella turned around to see the rest of the girls, Norena included, getting ready to leave. Another, Sarah Christianson, asked her if she was walking down with them, to which Arabella shook her head slightly "I'll be down in a moment, I have to send a letter home to my mother first." Okay that was a bit of a lie, but Arabella made it seem so convincing that none of the other girls seemed to question it. With short goodbyes from the others in her dorm Arabella let out a soft sigh as the door closed behind them. The reason, the real reason, that she hadn't gone down with them was that she  was feeling a little emotional. She would never openly admit it, but Arabella was sort of sad to be leaving Hogwarts. Yes, she may have complained about Dumbledore and some of the schools' policies, not to mention the sort of people that were allowed to attend, but Arabella also had a lot of memories here. For the last seven years Hogwarts has served as a secondary home for her, and it was going to be hard to leave. Saying goodbye to the castle, and the magic that it held, was like saying goodbye to a part of herself. Some of her best memories, and unforgettable faces, were made here. It was at Hogwarts where life started making sense, and what she knew would become of her became bearable.

'All good things must come to an end' Arabella thought bitterly while adjusting the choker around her neck before looking around at her dorm, unable to believe that this was the last night she would be sleeping in it. A part of her really wasn't in the spirit of going to the banquet, but this was going to be her last experience as a student. Not to mention that it was probably the first time she'd have the opportunity to set foot in the castle. Grabbing her wand from the nightstand beside her bed, Arabella left the dorm and closed her door behind her...just like the others had done not moments before. Nodding in the direction of some other Slytherins, those whom had managed to stay in her good graces, and left the Slytherin common room altogether. The walk from the dungeons to the location the banquet was being held was a very short one, so short that it hardly felt like Arabella had taken it at all. Having walked in silence the entire time, the soft click of her heels on the stone ground of the corridors, was oddly comforting for Ari. Poking her head into the room she knew would held the other seventh year students Arabella saw that some Hufflepuffs, a few Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and not so many Slytherins had all arrived. Seeing where Mary and Dylan were sitting Arabella decided that there were some things about Hogwarts that she wouldn't be missing all that much, walking passed them to sit with the few members of her own house that had made it.

TAGS: All seventh years
NOTES: Hi there
OUTFIT: CLICKy
WORDS: 760
CREDIT: MADE BY chellythecelly of CAUTION 2.0. DO NOT STEAL. Or i'll send my unicorn army after you.

[Sirius Black]

 

In a shocking turn of events, the reason Sirius was not altogether too thrilled about the Graduation Ball was not the dressing up nor the sentimentality, but the social event in general. That wasn't to say he didn't want to be social - that was never true, but the fact that it was a party put on by the school kind of diminished the whole 'party' aspect. And dances were unbelievably overrated, a ball sounded so formal and, basically, none of it at all sounded entirely appealing. Come on, how could you have a party with a curfew? Of course, it didn't bother him so much that he would miss it; he could and would take things into his own hands if things got dull as he was sure they would. What that entailed, he didn't know, but his best ideas were spontaneous anyway. There was always the predictable option of spiking the school-provided refreshments, but he was sure someone else would take care of that, and he meant to avoid heavy drinking tonight anyway, so he wouldn't force it upon others either.

Thus it was empty-handed that Sirius departed from Gryffindor tower for the Great Hall, uncharacteristically not drastically late mainly because it did not take him very long to get ready. He didn't dwell in front of a mirror any longer than he needed to after throwing on dress robes. As mentioned above, he didn't mind dressing up considering he didn't have to do it often, and he had too much of an ego to feel uncomfortable in anything. Even if it was thrown on hastily, which it certainly was tonight, as he was still wrapping a tie around his neck as he strode down the stairs, and finishing tying it up by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs.

While Sirius was not as late as he often was, he was far from the first person there, as the Great Hall was active by the time he entered, but not as active as his usual festivities which only supported his belief that this event in particular would not up to his standards. Nevertheless, he'd be good for the time being, he'd give it a chance. A quick look around told him that there were a handful of each house present. While he had no problem socializing with non-Gryffindors, or spending time with people other than his best friends, he targeted the Gryffindors Mary and Dylan who were seated together because they were two he didn't know all that well in the first place. He took the liberty of inviting himself to join their table, and as he sat he greeted them. "Rhodes. MacDonald. You look nice," he added to Mary with a small smirk. He couldn't ever remember seeing her in a dress before. "This place could use some livening up, if you ask me. Far cry from going out with a bang."

[Deleted]

Dylan looked over at Sirius as he seated himself at the table. He gave a quick nod in his direction to indicate that he had heard his greeting, but other then that he went back to watching the dance floor. There was barley anyone on it. It was a little sad really, but the few that were on it just looked silly and a little out of place. It was a little funny, but at the same time depressing to realize that this ball was a complet flop. Dylan was expecting something more lively. Maybe a fire work or two.

"This place could use some livening up, if you ask me. Far cry from going out with a bang." He heard Sirius say.


He turned back to his fellow Gryffindors and smirked a little. "I actually wouldn't mind if you and your friends did a giant prank right about now. This ball is... well, sad. Decent music can go a long way..." He took his wand out of his inner vest pocekt and twirled it around his fingers with a sigh. He had a quick idea of maybe setting the table cloth on fire, at least that would be more entertaining then this. He shifted his attention back to Black and gave him a questioning look, "Why don't you do something interesting? Are you always the one that goes over the top for...everything?"