Magical Hogwarts

Dragobetele formal dance || Saturday, 12th February2005

Personally, Rei was beyond relieved to learn that the rather misogynistic (at least, in her opinion) tradition of boys ‘kidnapping’ girls for Dragobetele was done-away with this year… but the alternative – a girls-ask-boys formal dance – was more than a bit intimidating in its own way.

The Fifth Year had gone back and forth for weeks on who to ask and what to do (including just asking Anna or Zoya to be her ‘date’), considering there wasn’t really a boy she wanted to ask that really stood out in her mind. In the end, she’d gone ‘solo’ with a small cluster of friends who’d chosen to do the same (and also some who hadn’t) because there was absolutely no way that Akiyama Rei was missing a party for something as trivial as not having a ‘date’. After much deliberation and a few letters home, she chose a pink-and-gold satin dress with a rhinestone-studded tulle overlay.

At present she was fiddling with some of those rhinestones as she (impatiently) lingered by the refreshment table, waiting for a friend who insisted she’d be “right back” before hurrying off to talk to one of the Krov boys. Rei suspected it might be a while, but it was no matter. She swayed to the beat of the music as she scanned the crowd congregated in the area vaguely designated as the ‘dance floor’, trying to decide where she wanted to go.

Dzmitry was less than pleased with what happened for Dragobetele this year. While, on one hand, he had been excited at the prospect of the girls-ask-boys dance, and taking the “pressure” off of him, as the boy—he was a little frustrated that someone in particular had not asked him. He had gotten a few offers, actually, which was more than he had honestly expected. He had told them “maybe” in a tactful way, but soon began realizing that Zoya Chernova was not planning on asking him. Or, if she was, she was certainly taking her time doing it. So, the angry boy had done what any stupid, angry boy would have done in his shoes. He had taken up the offer of the prettiest girl, the one he hoped would annoy Zoya most, and dressed for the occasion in his dress uniform. His date, also a Drakonya Krov, and a fellow quidditch athelete, had chosen an emerald green dress with gold accents which coordinated wonderfully with the Drakonya Krov colors that Dzmitry planned on wearing anyway. He was thankful that he didn’t have to try to play matchy match with her.

Dzmitry picked her up in the common room and escorted her down to the Grand Hall for the dance, hoping there would be food there. He was not disappointed. He made a beeline for the snacks, leaving her to catch up with a few friends for a moment. Then, they reconnected for a few dances and she glued herself to his side for a good portion of the night. When she finally went to the powder room with a few other girls, Dzmitry was able to take in the scene around them. The décor was nice, the food had been good, and the music selection wasn’t garbage. That didn’t mean he was in a better mood, though. He felt hurt and rejected, somehow, and was bitter about it.

When he saw Rei standing alone, he was certain Zoya would be close by. He didn’t see her, though, and was almost afraid to poke the bear—almost. Trust Dzmitry to poke the bear.

“Looking ravishing this evening, Rei.” He smiled as he approached her, a little flirty. His date, while clingy, was not really letting him be all that handsy, which he was annoyed by even though he would have not expected any girl to really let him be handsy. It wasn’t as though he had ever done “things” with girls before. The closest he had gotten to amorous attention had been a few very close encounters with Mats, which ultimately ended up going nowhere. “Love the rose gold on you. How are you doing tonight?” He wondered.

Yulia considered not going to the dance. It was 'girls ask boys', which she took to mean that you would probably ask someone you liked, but there was no boy that she liked. Not in that way, anyway. She was slower about most of how these things went normally, and she did not believe in fairytales where everyone ended up happily in love, much less someone who could love her in the same way.

In the end she decided to go, because she overheard some other girls in the dorms talking about going together for 'solidarity'. After a few days of wishy-washy-ness, she decided to go, but not wear anything special so people wouldn't think she cared too much, because she did not. The dress uniform would do fine.

And in the end of the end she sort of regretted going. Standing in a extravagently decorated grand hall, wearing clothes that she did not feel comfortable in, watching boys being gross to girls... Yulia frowned almost imperceptibly when she overheard (she seemed to be doing that a lot recently) Dzmitry greet Rei. She did not know the younger girl well, but she was sure she (Yulia, not Rei) wanted to be friends with her (Rei, not Yulia). So even if it was not for the 'solidarity' that the other girls were talking about, she felt she should intervene.

"Hello Rei. Do you want to... go get a drink with me?" Yulia's cheeks were warm. Now it sounds like she was the pestering boy who did not know how to take no for an answer.

@Dylan  @Olivia I had her purposely miss the vibes lmao am sorry!

An all-too-familiar voice made her reflexively glance up – but, catching sight of the smirk he was already wearing, she immediately wished she hadn’t. She didn’t dislike Dzmitry… but they weren’t exactly friends, either, and in any case she was staunchly Team Zoya. And if that meant playing it a little chilly in her interactions with her Krov Yearmate… then so be it.

“Hello to you, too, Dzmitry. Shouldn’t you be telling your date that?” she answered, studying her nails. Before she knew better, Rei used to feel flattered by these types of comments – but now she knew he said things like this (with various degrees of flirtation) to every girl.

She did, however, choose to address the least flirtatious comment.
“Fine, just waiting for a friend.” A brief pause – then, so as not to seem completely uncivilized: “You?”

Just then Rei heard her name in a different familiar voice; she turned to find her older Housemate approaching.
“Ah, here she is,” she told Dzmitry over her shoulder – even though Yulia was not, in fact, the specific friend she’d been waiting for. They weren’t close, but were on friendly terms after several years of sharing a Common Room.

“Hi!” she greeted as the Sixth Year approached. “Sure, a drink sounds great.”

She almost felt guilty about giving the Krov boy the slip so readily when, all things considered, he really hadn’t been that bad… at least, not yet. Rei considered simply about-facing and walking away – but that seemed overly harsh.

Instead, she lifted a hand to ripple her fingers in parting.
“See you around…?”
Her inflection betrayed her, turning up slightly at the end to morph what was intended to be a statement into a softer rhetorical question that bordered on an open invitation.

feel free to have him invite himself along @Dylan hahah, couldn't think of another way to keep the thread open without Rei overtly breaking her Team Zoya pledge 😂