A White Christmas (CHRISTMAS DANCE)

After having ggone through a horrible ordeal in her life, Darcy had withdrawn into herself, trying to shut out reality. Ariel seemed to still be Ariel with darker hair, and thank Merlin for that, but Darcy had changed. They were both crushed, of course, but Darcy had changed. She wasn't the same. Her mind didn't percieve things in the same manner as before. Everything was darker now than before. She tried her best to keep a good mood for classmates and stuff, but she had slipped away from them, she knew, and she didn't mind. However, she had decided that she should do something for Ariel since their Christmas had been cancelled and their mother was going to stay with her own mother for a while.

Darcy was angry because of this. How could their mother leave them behind now? Darcy had vowed never to be as weak as that, and therefore she had taken over much of the responsibility of Ariel. No worries, though, she could handle it. Better than their mother at least. Anyways, a way to cheer Ariel up? Host a huge party and let her be social with whomever she wanted to be social with. And therefore Darcy was hosting a Christmas Dance. If she'd gone back in time and told her one year younger self that she would be hosting this, she'd laugh in her face.

So she had, with permission, closed off the Great Hall and was standing in the middle of the hall. Icicles? It was overused, but Darcy wasn't trying to outgo every other Christmas dance at Hogwarts, she only wanted a good evening. So she enchanted all the candles, so they grew blue, crystallized icicles that reached down towards her, but stopped four feet from her. She couldn't have tall people bumping into them. The ice spread upwards too, around the light from the candle and making a blue bulb around them that gave off a blue, sparkling light. She smiled to herself. It looked good!

She then turned to the long, oaken tables and waved her wand at them and they split into several smaller, round tables with a silken cloth on all of them in a beautiful white that only contributed to the light from the candles. She looked to the staff table. Would it be rude to change it? Darcy decided to take her chance. She didn't change it, though, she only removed it and made the platau into a snowy-looking floor where snow fell from the ceiling. She continued to make a blue carpet fall from the platau to a circle made with the tables outlining it. A bigger dancefloor.

And then the food. She had gotten loads help from the awesome house-elves and they had suggested a menu, which they had learned from older house-elves who had used it in the Triwizard Tournament. She had obliged and now a menu lay on all the plates around the room. There were two buffets with snacks and punch standing on either side of the Great Hall, one by the entrance from the entrance hall, and another by the door that lead to the Trophy Rooml. Looking around, she waved her wand around one more time, and music started playing and the huge oaken doors opened into the Hall.

Darcy had gotten ready before she went down. Her hair was wavy and falling well past her shoulders and a black dress fitted on her. She smiled and waited for the first people to enter. Hopefully there'd be some.

Aislinn took her time curling her long blonde hair. She them, put on her Christmas outfit - a red cocktail dress, dangling silver earrings, a golden infinity ring and some red strap sandals. Carefully, she applied bright red lipstick, smoky eyeshadow and black mascara. Her blue eyes shone brightly against the dark makeup.

Marching down to the Great Hall, she had a little bounce in her step. There was a party and she was not one to miss it. Aislinn may have seemed innocent on the outside, but in the inside, no one was sure. As she pushed opened the door and entered the beautifully decorated Hall, she smiled at the beauty and then quickly noticed that no one was there yet. Patiently, she walked around the area looking at the decorations.

When Ariel heard that Darcy - her sister, Darcy - was arranging a dance, Ariel almost sat down and cried and had a laughter fit at the same time. Sure, Darcy seemed to like parties, but she never arranged anything like them. She was the soccer girl who liked getting her hands dirty in games. Though everyone who looked at her thought otherwise.

And this was also the reason for why Ariel almost sat down crying; Darcy was doing this for her. Ariel knew that, and that meant loads to her. But she didn't want Darcy to take so much responsibility for her. Their mother's resignation and sadness was bringing them both down, but Darcy seemed to be trying really hard to fight it all, and Ariel didn't like it… But it was still awesome to have a brilliant dance to go to.

So Ariel picked out an outfit and put her hair back in a knot, deciding to go with a dark-reddish haircolor today. And then she walked the walk from the common room to the Great Hall. She made big eyes as she walked into the room and beamed as she saw Darcy looking as beautiful as ever and skipped over to her. "This is amazing!" she said happily and gave her sister a big hug.

She noticed another person, but Ariel couldn't remember having talked to her before. She seemed around her own age, maybe older. She wondered if she should walk over, but decided to stay with her sister, still half-way hugging her.