Duck Out of Water

[Madeleine Backus]

Open to ideally a male - any age, class or blood, I have an idea for this thread if anyone wants something other than a generic meet and greet.

Maddie, is wearing, donated by a UC friend, and 'Cinderella-ed' to look like a slightly different gown - but many will be able to tell it's a hand me down. It has this this, and imagine a bustle of some description.

This was Maddie’s first ever coming out ball, she had been rather desperate to attend last year, but hadn’t had anything suitable to wear, and had been forced to peek through the bannisters with the others students, and had made more than one pass of the hall door, under the guise of her perfectly rounds. This year however, she was actually here! One of the Hufflepuff 7th years, a sweet girl, who worked hard but had struggled with some of the more complex wand work needed for her NEWT’s had been comforted, and indeed tutored by Maddie during more than one dark evening.

The hall was beautiful, the girls coming out where beautiful, the older women who were out and confident in society were flitting around the room like brightly coloured butterflies. They looked so elegant, so poised, and so at ease that Maddie could never imagine having that amount of personal poise. The band struck up and new song, and the blonde Hufflepuff clapped her hands in delight as the men and women took to the floor in a beautiful dance that was a swirl of fabulous gowns and dashing gentlemen.

She had been so engrossed in watching the spectacle on the floor that she wasn’t really paying attention to the wandering of her feet, her eyes being firmly glued to the dancefloor. ’ooh’ she exclaimed, as she bodily collided with another very solid form. Panic filled the working class girl, as she realised she had potentially affronted someone of extreme importance. ’Oh, I am so sorry!’ she flustered, ’Are you alright?’

  

[Tom Grant]

It had been decided earlier in the day that Tom would be acting at Anna's chaperone at the Coming Out Ball since their father had to deal with some things in regards to the shop. That suited the pair of siblings just fine since they enjoyed each others company the most and rather detested their parents. The debutantes all looked very lovely in their gowns and the castle had been decorated quite nicely.

Anna had been swept off to dance with a gentleman that they were both acquainted with which left Tom sipping on a glass of champagne on the sidelines since he didn't feel any particular need to dance at the moment. It had not been long enough that it would be considered odd. At any rate, it wasn't like he was some older bachelor seeking a bride like many of the men in attendance were doing.

Tom frowned slightly as a young woman bumped into him, causing his drink to spill on his shirt. "I'm fine but I cannot say the same for my shirt," he said, his frown letting up a little. "Though a quick bit of spellwork should fix that so no worries, Miss." He was hardly going to give heck to a girl he didn't know when it was clearly an accident on her part. Even so, he did so hate looking less than presentable.

  

[Madeleine Backus]

'Oh' Maddie cried, producing her wand from her pocket. She was rather a wiz at charms and in the moment she had rather forgotten that for a witch no stain was permanent, save perhaps dragon blood. With a deft, and practiced swirl of her wand she corrected the ruined garment. 'Never let it be said that we Backus women forget ourselves in a crisis' she smiled, trying very hard to comport herself as an upper class girl would. The dress she wore had all the halls marks of the upper classes, having come from a wealthy girl who was grateful to the hufflepuff for her tutoring. She had worked very hard to have the one night, one night, where she could pretend that she was not lower class, that she was the middle class girl she might have been.

'Might I know the name of the gentleman I accosted?' she asked, Maddie only vaguely recognised his face as someone who had perhaps been in the school a few years before but certainly not someone she had known intimately, and she had assuredly been too young then for anyone in the upper school to have taken much notice of the bright eyed hufflepuff girl, no matter how bubbly she might be. She offered the young man a curtsey, 'My mother always told me that if one is to assault someone you should always know their name.' she let out a light laugh, and a jovial smile, as she tried to enjoy her first ever ball.

@'Tom Grant'