Single Again ((Anyone))

[Sara Malvagio R4]

Another year, another Valentines Day approaching. It wasn't that she was entirely against the idea of a romantic holiday for couples but it made not being in a couple all the worse. Sara had never had much luck in the relationship department and her self esteem seemed beyond repair at this point in her life. A few days ago she had discovered the Valentine's Day "Blind Date Dance" and mentally and verbally berated herself for not finding signing up sooner. Here was a dance where she didn't have to go and find a suitor to take her, one would be randomly matched for her.

Sara had not checked the bulletin board in time to sign up but that didn't mean she didn't want to go to the dance. She had heard that some students were going to the dance alone in hopes that matches didn't work out an they could then find a date. Sara wasn't normally bold enough to go by herself but after her room mates begged repeatedly she finally relented and let them give her a make over before the dance.

Sara inwardly criticized the idea of inter-house relationships. As a Ravenclaw she was spared the animosity an intense house rival could bring and felt more open to date whomever she pleased, even a Slytherin. She knew however that the dislike between the Slytherin House and the Gryffindor house rand deeply and it would take more than a dance to fix them. If nothing else this night could prove incredibly entertaining as one of the couples was sure to be an awful match (preferably a hulk of a Slytherin boy and a small, though prideful, Gryffindor boy).

When Sara arrived in the Great Hall her breath caught for a moment. The large room was decorated so magnificently it was hard to imagine that just a few hours ago it had been used for meals. The large room glowed with an ethereal beauty of a forest at twilight. Everywhere one looked was bold greens and vegetation. The ground remained hard like the Great Hall and if one stared intently they could still see the stone beneath it.

Sara nervously adjusted her dress. She had chosen against wearing a full sized gown and instead she had chosen a rich blue dress that hugged her slight curves and contrasted nicely with her light skin. She had always felt more comfortable in a shade of blue, a reason she loved being a Ravenclaw. Her matching shoes, charmed to have more cushion then normal stilettos, gave her two to three extra inches of height. Her dark makeup her dorm mates had insisted on, though comparatively it was fairly mild, made her feel slightly uncomfortable but she felt able to "suffer" for one night.

As soon as the entered the room the girls she had entered with spotted a friend and ran away. One had turned and smiled apologetically but Sara shrugged it off, she had never been particularly close with them anyway. Sara took a seat at one of the tables, also charmed to fit into the forest scene, and for a moment she imagined that she truly was in Shakespeare's play, surrounded by fairies and their Queen, instead of alone at the Valentine's Dance.

[Woodrow Winchester R4]

( I'm going to post as if this is exactly after my post in New beginnings. Although I am awaiting Sandy, I mean my blind date, I believe Woodrow is, in Ron Weasley's words, a free agent. :

Wandering about the Great Hall, Woodrow was still admiring it's dazzling changes and that it no longer smelled as though every student in Hogwarts were in it. There were already people dancing, and he was hoping that soon, his partner would show up, but a small voice in the back of his mind said ' What if she doesn't show, won't you look the fool?' Desperately trying to shake the thought out of his head, he watched as a pair of Gryffindors swept pass him. He believed the two looked like a good match, but he was not really a good judge on that as he had the relationship knowledge of an teaspoon. Watching the two in wistful silence, he began once more to walk around, checking out the other people, and reassuring himself that all would go well tonight.

After the dance he had been watching was over, he began to walk torwards the tables, where he hoped to get a glass of pumpkin juice for his quickly drying throat. Looking at the tables, he was quite shocked to see that there were a good number of tables taken up by either, girls without dates, or couples who looked like they had no need for anyone to show up. He spotted one, however that appeared to be almost deserted, save for a girl who looked vaguely familiar. Walking torwards this table, he registered the girl in his memory as a fellow Ravenclaw, although he had only seen her in the common room or at the Ravenclaw table. It dawned on him as he neared the table, that she was very pretty, which was not good for his nerves. Steeling himself to keep going, he proceeded to walk at a brisk pace.

Reaching the table at last, he sat down across from the girl, hoping she wouldn't say anything in the way of his needing to leave immediately. He said, very quietly, " Pumpkin juice." and it appeared in the middle of the table, much to his dismay. He reached out a hand to take the goblet of juice, but his nerves were causing his palms to sweat, and once he took the goblet in his hand, it slipped out, spilling the juice torwards the girl. His face immediately donned that look of horror one gets when faced with their worst fear. He sat there stunned, hoping he hadn't stained her dres, forgetting momentairily that he knew the very spell to siphon juice off the dress. He said the only words he could say at the moment were, " I am so sorry.", in a very sincere, albeit horrified, voice.

[Sara Malvagio R4]

Sara had been enjoying watching the dancers for the time being. She lounged back in her chair, in the most lady-like manner she could muster, and watched couples looping around the floor. Many couples looked incredibly uncomfortable as they waltzed around, probably because it was the first time that they had ever spoken. Some though looked as if they were enjoying themselves, despite house differences. The couple in front of her looked very much in love leading Sara to believe that not everyone had signed up fro the blind date portion, some students were treating it as a normal dance.

After a while even the twists and twirls of dances didn't entertain her and Sara began regretting coming downstairs at all. Being at a dance alone was always pretty lonely, but a Valentine's dance was just pathetic. She sighed as she looked around the bosky Great Hall and searched if any of her classmates she knew were lounging around. Sara was unsurprised by the vast amount of girls who were sitting, grouped, at the tables. They looked at the dance floor with longing expressions but not as many boys had chosen to come, at least not of their own free will.

Sara looked up in time to see the boy walking towards her. She knew she had seen him around the common room but didn't remember ever having a conversation with him. He seemed to be walking in her direction but she didn't register that until he was only a few feet away. From close up she could tell he was younger then her, but not by much, and his skin still had the look of adolescence but perhaps a few stray hairs of missed stubble. She smiled as he offered her pumpkin juice but when his hand failed and he dropped it on her she got up with such a loud yelp that people looked around.

"I am so sorry," the boy had whispered in a scared voice with a horrific look on his face. She was not upset. It had been an accident and she was just glad for some human contact at last. "It's fine, It's fine," Sara replied quickly as she siphoned the liquid out of her dress and made the stain vanish. When she was done the dress looked good as new. "See no harm done at all," she added with a smile, hoping to quell the look of horror on his face. "I'm Sara Malvagio," she said.

[Woodrow Winchester R4]

The yelp from the girl was enough to shake him out of his reverie, and he almost reverted to his regular self, suppressing his laughter at the look of shock on the faces of the people around them. It did however bring a smile to his face, which greatly settled his nerves. He still felt quite shaken by what had transpired, but was better suited for the aftermath of it. However, the girl wasn't angry, in fact, she seemed quite the opposite. She said that it was fine, and then siphoned off the stain. With an inaudible sigh of relief, he looked at her, the horrored look off his face.

" Nice to meet you Sara, I'm Woodrow Winchester," he replied, his voice once more having it's confidence, " and I'm glad you knew that spell, because my mind drew up a blank." The shadow of a smile was on his face, for he was calming down, conversation was one place he couldn't falter, or so he believed. He raised his left hand to his head, and ran it through his hair, letting it go back to his side when he finished. It was something he usually did whenever around girls, because it was something to do with his hands.

Now that he had calmed down a bit, he really could see how pretty Sara was. He had noticed before, but it had been a fleet recognition one might have when passing a masterpiece of artwork. Smiling shakily at her he wondered what he could ask her that would entice an conversation. Going to one of his most basic of subjects, music. " Umm, do you like music?" he asked, his voice having a whisper of curiousity in it.