Dancing in the street ((open))

[jess4ever]

Rachel yawned as she walked through the hall, rubbing her eyes. It had been a long day, where she had to make difficult decisions, and she was tired but she didn't feel like going back to her dorm and going to sleep. She was too fidgety. She twirled on the spot, and danced a few steps, her robe flicking out and falling back softly onto her legs. Rachel loved to dance; she loved all types of dance, but her favourites were ballet and contemporary. Rachel loved the elegance and grace of ballet, and the energy of contemporary.

She danced another few steps, stretching out as far as she could go. Muttering a basic beat, she began to make up a new ballet routine, closing her eyes and just enjoyed how her body felt. Suddenly she could hear footsteps approaching. Stopping immediately, she spun around.
"Is anyone there?" She called out. Normally she wouldn't care if anyone saw her, and would actually encourage them to watch her. She knew she was a good dancer. But even though it was 'just a dance', it felt real and raw to her, and conveyed her every emotion.
"Who is it?" She demanded.

[ksmilesallroundk]

Richard was lost in his thoughts as he wandered the halls. He had just had the most wonderful day, in which he had made some new friends, including Patricia. Thinking about Patricia, Richard smiled. He really liked her. She was smart, funny and nice, and they had so much in common. Up ahead, he saw somebody dancing. She was so graceful and full of life, and he wondered if he should interrupt her by walking past, or just turn around and go the other way. Suddenly she stopped and called out. Richard cleared his throat, the girl was Rachel, Patricia's best friend.
"Hi, Rachel," he said shyly. He didn't want her to stop, she was a great dancer. And he hated to think he had interrupted her.
"Please, I can leave if you want. I don't want you to stop," he said, smiling. He had met Rachel only briefly, and she was really friendly.
"I'm really sorry for interrupting you," he said, hoping she wouldn't be upset.

[jess4ever]

"Oh, Richard, it's you," Rachel said in relief at the sight of the guy she had met that day. The guy she kind of liked, but had let Patricia have a shot with. She was really, really trying to be a better person, and figured this was what good people did. She looked at him for a moment and then looked away.
"No, it's OK, I'm finished. I was just...trying some new steps, you know? Anyway, what are you up to?" She asked, desperate to change the subject. Rachel didn't want to dance for Richard. It would just be weird.
"Oh, wait that's right. You went out with Patrica tonight. How did that go?" She asked curiously. Patrica had said she'd had a wonderful time, and of course her behaviour in the Common Room only confirmed this to Rachel, but she wondered how Richard liked it. She hoped he had; she really wanted them to be happy.

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony was heading back to the Hufflepuff commonroom with tired eyes; she really should have gone to bed earlier the night before, but Dori had kept her up again. She had spent almost half an hour playing with her kitty, as well as trying to make good use of the time to revise some notes she had gotten in Arithmancy. However, Harmony deeply regretted it now. She hated days without enough sleep, and today was one of them. She could barely concentrate and smiling seemed almost impossible. None of the Arithmancy stuff had actually gone into her head either, so it had been a total waste of time. Oh well. At least Dori was contented.

Silencing a rising sigh of fatigue, Harmony continued to walk dreamily down the Hogwarts corridors, when suddenly she heard voices up ahead. Turning the corner, she saw what looked to be two older teens, a boy and a girl, up ahead, talking. She didn't want to interrupt them, but she had to get past to go to the commonroom. She recognised the girl with dark hair was a Slytherin, and with a defeated sigh, continued onwards. She didn't have anything against Slytherins, but she hoped she wouldn't annoy this girl, or the boy for that matter. All she wanted right now was to flop onto her bed and sleep till morning.

[jess4ever]

Rachel was waiting for Richard to answer when a younger Hufflepuff walked past, a strange expression on her face. Not sure what the girl was looking for, and, throwing an apolgetic look at Richard, she turned to her with a smile.
"Sorry, did you need anything? I wouldn't ask except you look...like you're searching for something," she said, flashing a brilliant smile. Rachel knew she could be very intimidating, but she hoped she wasn't at the moment. Not in front of the girl, who looked nice, and definately not in front of Richard. She hoped they could be good friends; he was really interesting. And sweet.
"Can I help you with anything?" She asked earnestly.

[ksmilesallroundk]

Richard smiled to let Rachel know he didn't mind her talking to the other girl, and watched her. He admired how Rachel was so at ease, and hated that he had interrupted her when she was dancing. She was incredibly beautiful. He didn't think of her that way, he liked Patricia, but he really hoped they could be good friends. Richard thought she was intelligent, and fun, and the three of them could have a good time. Trying to break free of his shyness, he smiled at the younger girl.
"Yeah," he said. Then, realising how pathetic that sounded, he closed his mouth and just nodded.

He thought about what Rachel had said. Yes, he had had a great time with Patricia that night, and wanted to see her tomorrow. And hopefully Rachel could join them. He smiled at Rachel, unable to contain his excitement at the thought of them all doing something the next day.

[jess4ever]

Rachel watched as Richard smiled at her and suddenly looked excited. She smiled at him, and then turned back to the younger girl.
"Sorry, how rude of me. I'm Rachel Mason," she said, sticking out her hand. The girl looked really nice, and Rachel decided to use this opportunity to meet somebody new.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," she said, smiling.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass walked down the corridor with heavy feet. Tired from a long day, she was overly perturbed that she was now having to patrol the corridors for curfew breakers. Truthfully, it was a bit ironic that Cassandra Blackfire, fifth year Gryffindor Prefect and Quidditch Captain, was put into any type of position where she had to be a paragon of virtue for younger students. For one, Cass had broken curfew more times then she could count. In her third year, she remembered clearly being caught with Kris Grass in the Forbidden Forest at night. Hardy had flipped her lid, and taken away eighty points from Gryffindor. Then, less than twenty four hours later, Pyro and Cass had been caught sneaking into Snape's classroom. There went another fifty points. Cass had lost 130 points for her house in less than one day. So, the last thing she had expected when she received her letter from Hogwarts was two shiny gold badges. One badge had declared her as Quidditch captain, and the other declared her as Gryffindor's new Prefect.

At first, the power trip had been wonderful. Now, the work load was just exhausting. Most days started early since she had to make sure that the younger Gryffindors got up for breakfast. That meant Cass had to be dressed and ready for class before every other student in Gryffindor. A busy day of classes usually followed, and since the big Slytherin match was coming up, Cass had scheduled Quidditch practice for every night that she didn't have animagus lessons. At about eight in the evening, she had to help clear the hallways of lingering students since all of them had to be in their dorms by nine. As a prefect, she then had to help patrol the halls until about ten. Luckily for her, McGonogall had noticed how tired she had been the other night and let her off. However, tonight it was back to business. Truthfully, Cass was pretty sure that McGonogall had given her the job because she thought it would be the best way to keep her in line. For some reason, Cass embraced responsibility, and she never wanted to fail someone who had given her a chance to prove herself.

Coming around the corner, she groaned as she saw a few younger students playing in the corridor. Cass hated doing the whole Prefect thing. You know, keeping other students in line and giving out detentions. Cass truly hated being the prude. Checking her watch, she saw that it was only a few minutes to nine. "Okay, guys." She stood over the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff while attempting an intimidating stare. " Do you have any idea what time it is? You've only been back to school for a few days, and you are very close to breaking curfew. Why don't the three of you get on back to your dorms?"

[jess4ever]

Rachel jumped when she saw a Gryffendor prefect suddenly standing before them. Glancing apologetically at both the girl and Richard, she leant forward to Richard.
"Sorry, I don't really want to get another detention," Rachel murmured before turning to the prefect.
"Yes, sorry, we were just about to go back," she said, before turning around. Giving a small wave to both Richard, the girl and the Prefect, she walked back to her dorm. It had been a strange night.

[ksmilesallroundk]

Richard nodded as he realised how much time had passed since he started walking.
"Sorry," he apologised, blushing. He had never been out this late before, it was strange. In fact, he'd never been in trouble or warned before.
"It really won't happen again," he apologised profusely. Giving Rach a wave as she began to walk away, he began to walk away himself.
"Goodnight, Rach! Goodnight," he said to the other two girls and began for his dorm.

[Harmony Chan H6]

((Um... This thread still confuses me, but it looks like the end of it anyway!))

Harmony was almost past the Slytherin and Ravenclaw, keeping her head bowed low to avoid eye contact, when an older Gryffindor prefect appeared out of nowhere and reprimanded them with a not-so-pleased tone for staying up so late. Almost jumping in fright, Harmony found herself afraid and hoped she wouldn't receive a detention; she had never been involved in detention before, and she didn't plan on starting any time soon. Realising it looked like she was with the other two, Harmony kept her mouth shut, and with a quiet apology to the prefect, turned and tried to walk away quickly. Well, at least she was glad she hadn't gotten involved with the Ravenclaw boy and Slytherin girl, and thanked the fact the Gryffindor had discovered them when she did. Tiredly rubbing her eyes, Harmony almost jolted in shock as the only boy amongst them cast a friendly smile to them all, said goodbye to his friend from Slytherin, and walked away in the opposite direction. Without replying, as he was already almost out of sight, Harmony gave a small smile at the courtesy, and hastily made her way back to the Hufflepuff common room herself.

((I don't know why I bothered, and it is kind of short, but... um... end of this thread! ))