Work Text:
“Do you know where James is, Sirius?” Regulus asks, appearing out of nowhere as he tends to do and making Sirius absolutely jump out of his seat.
Sirius furrows his brows, “Why would I know, aren’t you his boyfriend?”
“I am, but you happen to be his best friend and share everything with him.” Regulus shoots back, tilting his head a bit.
“Well I don’t know where he is either way. Why did you need him?”
“No reason.”
Sirius frowns, a look akin to disgust befalling his face, “Gross.”
“Oh hello boys,” Effie’s sweet voice fills the room as she walks into the room that the brother’s are currently in, levitating a couple large vases of red and white flowers, “What are you two talking about?”
“I asked where James was.”
“Oh,” the woman smiles, pausing to let the vases float gently to the ground, barely making a sound against the wood flooring, “He went out with Marlene and Peter to go shopping to get ready.”
“Get ready for what?”
“For Christmas!” The woman smiles, gesturing to the vases that she was bringing in.
To which Sirius looks over them and frowns slightly, “Are you already changing out the flowers? I thought you brought the new ones last week.” He gestures to where one of the vases that Regulus painted when he first arrived is sitting with the same arrangement that can be seen in almost every room in the Potter household--blue hydrangeas, blue and white marbled morning glories, and pure white cosmos as the brothers had been informed.
Effie had a knack for nature and specifically flowers and had quite the extensive greenhouse so she could have as many flowers as she wanted growing at any time of the year. She tends to change them with the month, holiday, or season and adores it when people ask about her arrangements.
“No, I'm not changing the flowers in here. These are for the party!”
“What party?”
But it seems that either Effie doesn’t hear Regulus’ question or she ignores it entirely because she’s pulling out her wand once again and muttering a charm to do something to the flowers around her. Then she looks up and smiles at the brothers, “I believe that James, Pete, and Marlene were going to the shopping district downtown if you want to go find them and help them out. I need to take care of these flowers here.” Then she’s levitating the vases once again and walking out of the room, leaving the two Blacks bewildered.
After a couple seconds, Sirius speaks up, “So… do you want to go find those three? See what they’re up to.”
“I have to admit that I’m quite curious.” Regulus hums, “I don’t know what decorations they might be getting in the shopping district. Isn’t the one she was talking about mostly clothing.”
“That’s why I’m confused. So are you coming with me or not?” Regulus shrugs and nods and Sirius pushes himself to a stand. Together, they don their coats and hats and walk out of the house, beginning their journey towards the shopping district their friends are at.
Once there, they pop into several of the shops trying to find them before they finally find them in one of the more fancy shops--with ball gowns and suits and everything in between sitting in the window displays. The store is well-lit with soft lighting and full to the brim with beautiful evening clothes that the boys would’ve never dreamed of when they were in Grimmauld Place--yes, they dressed family but it was in the very boring palate of black and gray, in which they still primarily wear today. But this store, it’s got gowns and suits of all sorts of colours and styles and cuts.
They finally find their friend when they hear a gasp and Marlene’s distinctive voice, “James! Pete! Don’t you think this dress would look fabulous on Mrs. Valerie?” The two brothers follow the sound of her voice and, when they round the corner, they see Marlene holding up a gorgeous green ball gown and James turning around from another dress rack he was looking at as Pete walks towards them, a couple suit jackets thrown over his forearm.
James looks at his and he smiles, “I think that would look amazing on her.” And while neither brother knows who ‘Mrs. Valerie’ is, they both agree that it would look stunning on anyone who wore it. The skirt is a beautiful emerald green colour that goes out in a full ball gown and the bodice is white with a large pink rose going down the center of it as well as many mini pink roses going along the waist between the white and green. It’s got full sleeves that flow around and shift as Marlene maneuvers it.
Marlene grins, “And do you remember that story that Mr. Thomas was telling us a couple years ago?”
“Which story?” Peter asks, walking up to the dress to feel the material of the skirt then look at the size of the dress, “He’s told us a lot.”
“The one about Mrs. Valerie.” Marlene says, her tone almost critical, “How the day that he fell in love with her she was wearing almost this exact colour of green.”
“Oh yeah!” James says, “He bought her the thing in the same colour, didn’t he.”
“Yes!” Marlene cheers. She asks Peter the size and hums when he tells her, walking over and placing it into a rolling rack that they had clearly been given that has several over gowns and suits on it. “Now, what do you think we should get for Mr. Thomas?”
James hums and stares at the dress for a moment before turning and walking towards the suits. He comes back with a ruffled white button up, a light green vest with light pink flowers embroidered into it, and a green velvet suit jacket that matches the colour of the skirt almost perfectly. He presents the three together, “How about this.”
“Perfect!” Marlene cheers. She walks over and grabs the three articles of clothing, “He can decide the pants, but I would recommend a nice either black or white for him when we give it to them.” She puts them on the rack alongside the dress then turns back around to the dress rack.
As she’s doing that, she makes eye contact with Sirius and jumps. After letting out a yelp that grabs the attention of the other two boys that had also turned to do their own thing, he places a hand over her heart and glares at the two brothers, “You guys scared me! Curse you and your quiet footsteps.”
“Blame mother for that one,” Regulus informs her, strolling towards James to press a kiss to his cheek, “What are you three doing?”
“We’re getting stuff for Christmas.” James informs him, sweeping in to press a kiss to his forehead--although Sirius is alright with their relationship, the two of them are respectful enough to never actually kiss in front of him.
“Mum said the same thing.” Sirius whines, “What do you mean?”
To which Marlene turns to her two childhood friends, “Have you never told him about the gala?”
“Y’know,” Peter starts, “I don’t think we have… oops.” He shrugs and turns back to sorting through the rolling rack.
“What gala?” Regulus pushes.
James smiles and quickly grabs a dress to look at it before putting it back, “Every five years my family hosts a Christmas gala for all the underappreciated wizards. Those who were cast out, those who don’t have enough money, etcetera. Basically all the people not included in the Sacred 28 or richer wizarding families.” He pulls out another dress and spends some more time analyzing it, “It’s just a nice day where we provide anyone that can’t afford formal clothing to wear and where people don’t have to worry about anything.” He puts the dress back as he finishes his statement.
Marlene hums, “It’s like a really big thing, which is why they only have it every five years because it takes a lot of planning. But Effie has put us on clothing duty for the past several years. We get measurements and requests from everyone who needs us to get something for them and pick out clothing.” The blonde gestures to the rack that Peter is still sorting through, “And get our own clothes during it.”
“I’ve never heard of you guys having a gala or party of any sort.” Regulus frowns.
“Because the Blacks don’t like my family. They hate that the Potters interact with muggles and lesser wizarding families, you know this, so we try to keep it on the down low so it doesn’t get crashed and your family never talks about the parties that we do throw.” James moves to another rack of dresses and starts looking through them as well, “Any party we have, we invite all of the Sacred 28 as a courtesy. You can imagine how many RSVPs we get from them.”
“None.” Sirius snorts. Then he looks over the rack, “Are we able to go to the party?”
“We kind of assumed you were.” Marlene informs him, “But I thought that you knew about the party. That’s why we’ve just been talking about ‘Christmas’.”
“The only condition.” Peter pipes up, finally pulling away from their rack of clothes, “Is that you need to come with a date. It doesn’t matter the gender but you need to come with a date… which is something that I need to sort out.”
“We need to come with a date?” Sirius furrows his brows.
James nods, “I don’t know why, it’s just something that my parents have always required. It’s the strictest thing about the party. And if you don’t have a date then my parents will set you up with someone they think you’d be compatible with. It doesn’t matter if you actually stay with that date the entire night and you’re not obligated to dance with just them…”
“So you both have dates?” Regulus asks, looking between his boyfriend and Marlene.
Marlene nods and squeals when she pulls out a stunning dress and holds it up to herself in the mirror, immediately putting it on the rack, “Yup! James and I have gone together since we were of the age to need a date. I’m planning on inviting Dorcas, but she’s going to have to find another date since I’m going with James already.”
“If Dorcas agrees,” Regulus pipes in, already starting to help James look through the dresses--though he doesn’t actually know what kind of dresses he’s looking for, he’s got enough taste that he thinks he can pick out a couple items of consideration, “then I’ll be her date.”
“I’ll let her know when I ask.” Marlene smiles. Then she looks at Sirius, “What about you? I assume you’ll invite Remus.”
“I mean, of course.” Sirius smiles, “We’ll probably need to buy him a suit.”
James nods, “We tend to worry about our own things afterwards. Unless, like Marlene just did, we find something we really love. Our main priority is everyone who needs it. We can bring Remus out then and look for something for him.”
“That works. Who else are you planning on inviting?”
James hums, “We thought about Mary, Lily, and Pandora. Barty and Evan can come if they like, but Reggie would probably have to invite them.”
“Don’t forget Alice and Frank!” Peter calls from where he’s disappeared into the suit section again.
“Oh and Alice and Frank are coming…” James trails off, pulling out a dress and showing it off to Marlene, listing who it could be for. Marlene walks over and starts examining the dress, eventually nodding and moving to put it on the rack, “Other than that and a few people from Hogwarts that have been before, that’s all the people that you guys might know.” Then he goes back to sorting through the dresses, muttering to himself about something or other.
The five friends get to work--once again even though Sirius and Regulus aren’t fully sure of what they’re looking for, they get the hang of it eventually--of looking through dresses and suits and finding good matching colours schemes, allowing the childhood friends to find people that they would work for and Marlene occasionally pulling out a sheet of measurements and Peter pulling out a measuring tape to make sure that they’d fit the right people.
At one point Sirius finds a beautiful, full-length dark red velvet dress with a sweetheart neckline and decides that he absolutely needs it and he throws it on the rack next to Marlene’s dress.
They eventually leave the shop with an ungodly amount of formal clothing spelled to fit into a bag that James carries and that cost way too much money for Regulus’ tastes.
And when he brought it up, James just nudged the shorter’s hip with his own and grinned, “That’s part of the reason that this only happens every five years. It’s not only a lot to set up, but it’s also just a shit ton of money.”
~~~~~
Remus agrees to go with Sirius (though no one doubted that he would), Dorcas agrees to be Regulus’ date to the dance, Lily, Mary, and Pandora all agree to going and Pandora suggests that she goes with Pete since she wouldn’t have a date either if Mary and Lily go as dates, and eventually Barty and Evan agree--although they’re reluctant to go for whatever reason. The sets of people going with dates that’s not their own partners sit down and decide a theme for both sets of partners so as to work all together.
And with that all settled and decided, the large friend group meets at the shopping district downtown from the Potter house and all split their own ways to find their outfits. Since Marlene and Sirius already have their outfits decided, they decide to moderate and be the opinion of everyone else’s and the girls and boys split. James and Peter lead Sirius, Regulus, Remus, Barty, and Evan to the more masculine shops and they start looking through the different options that they have; Marlene doing the same for Pandora, Lily, Mary, and Dorcas.
And since Marlene and Sirius, outside of the people that they were with originally, decided to keep their full outfits a secret outside of the theme everyone else does too. Sirius is the only one of the guys that gets to know what each person is wearing other than Remus, who has James slip into his dressing room to help him out with his outfit--and Sirius instantly regretted the idea of everyone keeping their outfits a secret when he heard James wolf-whistle almost immediately upon entering the dressing room.
Similarly, Marlene was more than willing to help all the girls with their outfit, other than Dorcas. Pandora had walked into the dressing room with Dorcas and Marlene could hear all the compliments the girls were sharing. She even tried to get a peak at what her girlfriend had picked out for herself but Mary pulled her away with an eye roll, muttering something about the honour system.
Though Marlene has no honour.
Unfortunately for her, when she did get the chance to peek in, Dorcas had already changed back into her clothes and hid the dress from her view.
The group finishes their night by paying--those who could afford their own outfits paid for themselves and Sirius distracted everyone that James was paying for so they didn’t hear the final price of their attires. Then the group takes their individual outfit back to the Potter house where they all sit around the muggle TV with four boxes of pizza that Monty got them.
~~~~~
From then on, Sirius and Regulus hardly see the Potter family outside of them filtering through the house with various objects and such. At one point James walks into the room that Regulus is reading in holding a box of candles and a bunch of candle-holders balancing on top of the box, presses a kiss to his lips, then walks out of the room with a shouted ‘love you!’.
The only time that the family calms down is after Effie sets up a spell to start cooking a large stream of food--she does prefer cooking all her food by herself, says it tastes better, but it’s easier to cook a feast by magic--so they all have time to get ready.
Everyone that went shopping together meet up at the Potter house to start getting ready, splitting into five rooms--three for the girls and two for the guys so as to separate the dates. James, Sirius, Barty, and Peter all set their things down and start changing. Peter changes with his back to everyone else, getting into a basic black suit with a light pink tie decorated with mint green embroidered leaves. Barty, while he doesn’t try to feign modesty in the way that Peter does, gets into his suit in his own corner; a basic dark green button up with a black bowtie that he forces Peter to tie for him--because despite him being the son of a rich Sacred 28 family, he still can’t tie a bowtie to save his life.
Meanwhile, James helps Sirius get into his dress and starts to put his own suit on while Sirius slips on a cropped black suit jacket over it. Sirius grabs his makeup bag and starts working on his makeup in front of the mirror, Barty wolf whistling when he catches sight of the ravenette.
To which Sirius grimaces, “Don’t do that, you’re my brother’s best friend.”
“To be fair,” Barty throws back, “Your brother is dating your best friend.”
James chuckles and finishes tying his tie, white with golden stars then slips on his suit jacket, it’s a pure white over a black button up. To match Marlene’s dress, Peter pins a light blue flower onto his chest. Meanwhile, Sirius finishes his makeup--just some eyeliner and a nice blood-red lipstick--while grumbling about Barty’s comment.
Once the four of them are finished getting ready, they head out of the room and into the living room to wait for everyone else to finish. The other four boys come out next, Remus coming out first with Frank just behind them then Regulus and Evan a couple steps behind them--Evan is harshly muttering something to Regulus.
Sirius wolf whistles and pushes himself from the couch he settled on when he sees Remus; whos’ wearing a black button up tucked tightly under a deep red dress--almost perfectly matching Sirius’ dress thanks to James--which are both underneath a sleek black suit jacket. He looks incredible, albeit a bit reluctant from the fact that this is definitely leagues away from his normal style.
Barty does something similar to the ravenette, strutting over to Evan and pulling him to his body by his wrist. Evan, wearing a black button up and a green tie underneath a light brown vest underneath a dark brown suit jacket, chuckles and presses a kiss to Barty’s lips. When they part, Evan whispers something to his boyfriend that makes him go bright red and James is glad that he wasn’t anywhere near the two of them to hear what was whispered. And judging by Remus’ face, he’s sure that he heard what was said.
Frank, who through all this flirting, has decided to just sit back and watch the others interact. Peter jerks his chin in the direction of the older, leaning towards James to whisper, “I didn’t realize he could look that hot.” And he’s not wrong. Frank is wearing a pristine white button up underneath a frosty blue corset vest with white velvet details swirling around it paired with a nice pair of black slacks.
James smiles, “You do realize he was my gay awakening second year, right?”
Pete doesn’t respond for a second before he tilts his head and hums, “Makes sense. Alice is lucky.”
“No, I’m lucky.” James responds, his tone a mere whisper because he’s finally gotten a look at his boyfriend. Regulus, the god that he is, is standing there in a dark gray double breasted vest and a black suit jacket over a white button up. Adjoining that ensemble is a black cravat with golden suns on it and several rings on his fingers--similarly to his brother. His hair is tied up in a half-ponytail which reveals the jewelry dangling from his ears.
Pete follows his gaze to look at Regulus, whistles under his breath, and pats James on the back. Regulus finally looks up from where he’s been burning holes into the ground and stormy eyes meet brown ones. The younger offers his boyfriend a smile and starts walking over to them, making Pete mutter something and step away to talk to Frank.
James smiles when Regulus is within arms reach of him, reaching out and pulling the ravenette to his body by his waist, “Hi love. You look good.”
Regulus’ smile turns into a smirk and he runs his hands over James’ chest like he’s smoothing out his suit coat so as to feel him up, “You do too. Regretting not inviting me to go as your date?”
“Nah, Marlene’s pretty hot.” James throws back, matching the younger’s smirk, “And it’s not like I have to spend my night with her. The second the first couple’s dance is over, I’m heading your way.”
“First couple’s dance?”
James hums, “Yeah, I’ll talk about it when the girls are out here.” He then leans down and presses a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. Regulus huffs a laugh into it but kisses his back, his hands going from James’ chest to around his neck, fingers slipping into the hair at the back of his head.
From somewhere behind Regulus, Sirius fake gags and Remus says something to him. James smiles and pulls away, watching as the younger rolls his eyes at his brother’s antics.
Shortly after, Marlene, Lily, and Alice walk into the room chatting with each other, eyes shimmery and hair in unique updos that James couldn’t name if he tried.
Marlene, wearing a floor length, light blue tulle dress with a leg slit going to a point on her leg that is just barely acceptable for the event they’re going to. There’s a gradient closer to the end of the dress that fades into a deep green where the dress brushes against the floor even with her heels on. The bodice is covered in golden flowers that lessen as they go down towards the skirt and make up the off-the-shoulder sleeves that she quickly covers up with a fluffy shawl matching the green at the end of her dress. She smiles when she walks towards the two of them, doing a small twirl when she’s close.
“You look amazing, Marls.” James tells his childhood friend, “Ms. Dana’s going to throw a fit.”
Marlene laughs and throws her braid over her shoulder, “I live for the day that she stops trying to one up me.”
“Who’s Ms. Dana?” Regulus asks, thrilled to hear any drama.
“An absolute bitch that the Potters insist on inviting to the gala because she’s the daughter of someone James is related to.” Marlene rolls her eyes, “Several years older than us and a pure clothing police. She’s invited over to like Potter family dinners that I’m invited to because she’s also ‘technically family’ and would throw a fit if my outfit was too tight against my chest or I was wearing a skirt that went higher than the knee. Started calling me a slut because I dress too ‘provocatively.’” Regulus makes a face and looks Marlene up and down. He’s known her and, while yes she’ll sometimes wear something more revealing, nothing that people should scoff at.
“There was one time Marlene was wearing a pretty conservative collar,” James adds, “and Ms. Dana threw an absolute fit. Tried to get my parents to kick Marls out of the gala because she was ‘tempting all the men in the room’. You literally couldn’t even see the top of her tits.”
“She was only upset about that because she was dating the dickbag that cheated on her and he wouldn’t stop looking at me.” She makes a face of pure disgust and makes eye contact with Regulus, “He was 27, she was 22, and I was 15.”
“Nasty.” Sirius adds in, probably having heard the conversation.
“That’s what I’m saying,” James says, before turning back to his boyfriend and his childhood friend, “The past couple of times we’ve seen her, she’s taken to trying to one up Marlene in attractiveness while also demeaning her for what she’s wearing.”
“Is she even that good looking?”
Marlene snorts, “We’ll let you decide that for yourself.”
“Are you talking about Ms. Dana?” Alice asks, walking towards them with her arm linked through Frank’s. She’s wearing a frosty blue princess dress with bundles of silver jewelry all along the skirt. Where the skirt is a crepe material, the bodice and long sleeves are a velvet in a matching blue to the skirt with lace details along the top of the bodice.
“Of course we are.” Marlene smiles, “Do you have any stories to share?”
“Not me,” Alice shakes her head, “Because I don’t interact with you two a lot while at the galas, I’m not sure she knows I exist. But Frank, didn’t you talk to her once?”
Frank nods and sighs, “Yeah. I was getting Alice and I drinks at the last gala and she walked up to me, put her hand on my shoulder, and started trying to convince me to dance with her. When I told her that I was just getting drinks for my girlfriend and I and that I was several years younger than her, she just got more insistent. Then she watched me walk back to Alice and found me in private again to tell me about how she was so much prettier than Alice.”
“Wow, she’s a character.” Lily sighs from where she’s standing, “What’s her opinion on lesbians?” She’s currently in front of the hallway mirror and putting bobby pins in her hair to finish it off. She’s wearing a pink chiffon, off-the-shoulder dress with bishop sleeves. The bodice has boning to make it look like a corset and is covered in light green embroidered leaves. There’s a golden belt sitting around the connection between the bodice and the skirt.
“Dunno.” James shrugs, “She’s only met Marlene, Peter, Frank, and I. And all of us had a date of the opposite sex.”
“It’ll be a fun game to play then, won’t it.” Evan finally adds to the conversation, smirking.
“Sure will.” Marlene says, matching his expression.
“What will be fun?” Pandora asks, walking out into the room with Mary and Dorcas. She’s pinning the last butterfly in her hands into her hair as she walks out. The front of her hair is sectioned out, braided, and pulled back over the crown of her head and meeting in the middle. She’s wearing a sage green chiffon dress with light pink flowers all over it, a boned bodice that is separated from the skirt with a pink belt, and a white fluffy shawl draped over her shoulders. Her dress is almost the same as Lily’s though the colours are inverted.
Evan snorts, “Messing with a possibly homophobic entitled bitch.”
“Love that for us.” Dorcas smiles. She struts over to Marlene and places a kiss on her cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark when she pulls away. Marlene smiles at her, not caring about the lipstick mark on her cheek, and looks her girlfriend up and down.
And James understands. She looks hot. She’s wearing a princess dress with the same dark green tulle that’s at the bottom of Marlene’s dress draped over a golden satin layer. Her bodice consists mostly of mesh that has a phenomenal colour match to her skin--the person that customised her dress for her is an actual goddess--with two strips of matching green fabric crawling up her abdomen to cover over her breasts and connected by the mesh and it’s all overlaid with golden flowers and accents that bleed onto her skirt and down her back to give an open-backed look. She’s also got a shawl similar to Pandoras to cover her shoulders, though it’s currently resting on her elbows and the ends are long enough that the fur brushes the floor.
Regulus smiles at his friend, “You look delightful, Cas.” Dorcas smiles at him and tilts her head a bit, “Thank you.”
“Did you say she was homophobic?” Mary asks, waltzing up to where everyone else has formed a sort of circle in the room to talk. Her dress reminds James of the one of the princesses from a muggle movie--Belle, he thinks her name is. It’s a solid yellow dress with a princess skirt and an asymmetrical slit going from her lower left leg and slowly making its way up to end right by her right thigh. The sleeves are a tulle bishop sleeve and there are large pink roses with sage green leaves draping over the top of the sleeves in the way an off-the-shoulder sleeve would.
“Possibly,” Marlene shrugs with one shoulder, “We’ve never made it known to her that the people she insists on harassing are gay. Not until today.”
“Speaking of today and dates.” James starts, “Just like with the mandatory date thing, there’s another thing with that that we have to do. At the beginning of the night, after everyone has shown up, my parents will do a dance, then Marlene and I will get on the floor to dance and eventually everyone else will join us on the floor. You are required to dance, and you have to dance with the partner that you’ll be introduced with. It’s the only time we have to strictly be with our partner. I don’t know why we have to do it, but we do. After that, you don’t have to join in on the dancing and you don’t have to dance with your partner. Marlene and I do this dance then only sit down to eat together.”
Peter nods, “Speaking of eating together, we’ve gotten ourselves a specific table where we’ll be technically sitting with mum and dad but they’ll probably be walking around and eating instead of sitting down with us. Also James, Marlene, and I will have to go around several times so don’t expect us to be able to be with you at any given moment.” He turns to Pandora, “A lot of people like to meet the girl that I bring since I bring a different one every time, so you’ll probably have to walk around with me. Just try to be pleasant and kind.”
“Oh Pandora’s horrible at that.” Regulus throws it at him.
“Point taken.” Peter rolls his eyes.
James sighs, taking Regulus’ hand, “Alright, we have to get there early so we have to leave. I’ll apparate Reg, Marlene will do Dorcas, Peter can apparate Pandora, Frank and Alice if you want to apparate other people, you can. We can always get mum and dad to help with the transportation.” The others nod and he takes Regulus’ hand, Marlene walks to Dorcas, and Peter extends his hand out to Pandora who gingerly takes it. The six of them disappear. Shortly after, Frank takes Sirius’ arm and Alice grabs Lily’s hands and they apparate as well. A couple seconds later, James, Marlene, Peter, and Frank all come back to grab the other four and take them to the ballroom.
By the time that all of them are there, Regulus has begun to look around the room that they’re in. It’s absolutely beautiful, even if it is just the entrance. There is a pair of grand dark oak double doors behind them and a deep red velvet carpet leading from the door to a large, arched open entrance that has long vines of wisterias acting like curtains. The walls are a pleasant beige colour, washed in a warm glow coming from candles that are lining the walls at consistent intervals and a chandelier hanging from the grand curved ceiling and several paintings with elaborate wooden frames sit in arched sections of the wall. Between the tables that hold the candles are large pots of blue hydrangeas, blue and white morning glories, and white cosmos.
James takes his boyfriend’s hand and smiles at him, whispering, “Like it?”
“It’s beautiful. What era of architecture is it? Like how old is this building?”
James hums, “I think mum was telling me that it’s baroque. We barely use it.”
“It’s…” Regulus says, not louder than a whisper, trailing off as he looks around.
“It gets better.” He loops his elbow through Regulus’ and pulls him through the archway. Immediately out of the entryway is a grand christmas tree decorated with almost an overwhelming amount of lights and fake snow. The baubles are large and mostly red or white but there are several clear ones and a couple green ones in the mix. Atop the tree is something that looks remarkably like a grand shatkona and Regulus is sure that the only reason it remains on the tree is through the same magic that enchants the rest of the hall.
As the group walks around the tree, they officially enter the main ballroom. Similarly to the entryway, the ceiling is primarily grass and held up by grand marble pillars throughout the room. Several strands of greenery drape from the ceiling as well as down the pillars and stemming from the strands of green are snowdrops and foxgloves that seem to glow from the inside, lighting the room beautifully. Adding to that, there are candles floating around in their holder above where anyone could reach so as to keep out of the way. In front of each pillar are large vases, though this time they hold red and white marbled camellias, red peonies, and bauhinia acuminatas--the flowers that Effie was carrying. There are several lavish couches sitting against the walls for people to rest at with wooden tables against their arms.
The floor is made up of shining golden tiles that reflect the soft lighting of the room stunningly and they lead to two curved staircases on either side of the tree draped in the same red carpet that was in the entryway. The balcony that the stairs lead to is hard to see past the top of the tree, but James takes Regulus towards one set of the stairs and up onto the balcony.
Once they’re on the balcony, Regulus sees rows and rows of tables that reminds him heavily of the great hall during Christmas time. There are glass chandeliers over the top of each of the tables--in which there are five that Regulus can see that stretch over almost the entire room. In the center of each table at five different points are centerpieces where the center of the flowers are balls of light and in front of each seat is a table setting.
James leads them all to the table closest to the balcony’s edge, “This is our table, exclusively. Like Pete said there will be several of us who come and go but that’s the disadvantage of helping host this party. This is the safe point, no one will touch your things here and we can all come here for water or wine or anything in between whenever we want. There’s going to be people walking around with trays of food and drinks.
“Down those hallways are bathrooms,” James says, pointing to grand doorways on either side of the room, “If you need anything else just come find one of us that knows this place better.”
“Anything else?” Remus asks.
James hums then nods, “Yeah, when everyone is here then we’ll all line up on either side of the stairs and be introduced. Like, everyone does this. Then the dance happens. Just stupid formal things.”
“They’re not stupid, James,” Says a calm voice from behind him, “It’s tradition.” When the group turns around, they see Effie. She looks absolutely stunning. Her hair is tied up in a braided bun and she’s wearing a two-coloured dress. The skirt is a cream-coloured chiffon skirt that spreads around her and drags just slightly on the floor. Stemming from the bottom of the bodice and ending about halfway down the skirt is golden lace details. The bodice is red velvet with a shelf layer and one of the golden lace pieces extending up part of the bodice and ending just under the shelf velvet. She’s wearing cream gloves that end just under the flowy off-the-shoulder sleeve her bodice has.
“Traditions can be stupid too, mum.” James informs her, turning around. He smiles upon seeing her anyways, “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you,” She smiles, “You look good as well. And you should see your father.”
“Speaking of, where is he?”
“I’m right here,” Monty says, coming up the right staircase. He’s wearing a red button up under a white suit jacket. His hair is expertly done--understandably--and he’s got a charming smile on his face. “I was just getting everything ready with all the helpers.” He looks over the sea of young adults and smiles, “You all look great!”
“You do too, dad.” James says. Then he turns around and picks a place for him to put his things down. Regulus follows behind him, having not said anything yet but James notices that his eyes are shiny when he places his own things down at the place next to James’. James gives his boyfriend a look, “You alright Reg?”
“Yeah, I’m alright.” Regulus smiles, “Just… this building is breathtaking.”
“It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?” James smiles back, “Mum and dad do an amazing job decorating it.”
“Don’t forget that we helped.” Says another voice with an American accent. James and Regulus look up and see two girls walking out of one of the hallways. One has half black, half red hair that reaches her collarbone and intense makeup on her pale face. She’s wearing a floor-length dress where black tulle lays over a burgundy satin underlayer. The bodice has a sweetheart cut and off the shoulder sleeves that drape to sit halfway down her upper arm. The skirt has a slit that’s draped over itself and only shows when she holds herself in a certain way and there’s a black scarf looped around her neck and sitting so it drapes over her shoulders.
The girl with her is just slightly shorter than her and has shorter light brown hair and much lighter makeup compared to the girl she’s with. She herself is wearing a dark purple, satin off the shoulder dress with a train that brushes the floor about 30 centimeters behind her. There’s a long slit extending from the bottom until about halfway through her thigh and the sleeves are tight to her elbow before they bell out.
The two of them are walking hand-in-hand as they approach James and Regulus. The girl who spoke before, the one with black and red hair, jerks her chin in the direction of Regulus, “This your boyfriend Jay?”
James nods, “Yeah, this is him.” He gestures towards the girl that was talking, “Reg, this is Ryan and her girlfriend Skye. Ryan is another childhood friend of mine.”
“One of your childhood friends is American?” Asks Pandora, who had apparently walked towards them at some point.
Ryan smiles, “We were pen pals as children and Skye and I have been living here for several months. We’ve been helping out with planning and decorating the hall.”
“They’ve also helped with getting clothes for everyone that needs it.” Marlene adds. She practically glides towards the two girls and air kisses either side of their cheeks. When she pulls away, she looks both of the girls up and down, “You two look amazing.”
Ryan smiles, “So do you Marls. Where’s the girlfriend you’ve been talking about?”
“I’m right here.” Dorcas says, “The name’s Dorcas.”
“Nice to meet you.” Skye says, extending her hand.
“You as well.” By now, everyone has finished talking to Monty and Effie and have made their way to the table, which apparently Ryan and Skye are also sitting at, and the two girls re-introduce themselves to the rest of James’ friends.
And after introductions are done, Barty leans towards James and stage whispers, “Your parents are hot dude.” There are various sounds of laughter and agreement and James sighs.
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Marlene cheers, throwing her arms in the air.
James huffs, “Can everyone stop thirsting over my parents all the time?”
“You realize that you had to get your looks from somewhere, right?” Regulus says, “I imagine your parents were as popular as you were in school.”
“Yeah, well that was when they were in school.” James pouts, crossing his arms. His boyfriend laughs and presses a kiss to his forehead, rolling his eyes.
From then on, it’s a matter of waiting for the gala to officially start. Everyone takes to their own groups and some people choose to just sit at the table and talk while others move around the hall and explore the area with James, Marlene, and Peter occasionally breaking off to help out Monty, Effie, Skye, or Ryan with something and greeting the guests when no one else can. James, for his part, tries to stay with Regulus--which becomes easier when the younger just decides to keep to him for a while--and tells him all sorts of stories about the ballroom and the parties that they’ve thrown, throwing in the occasional tidbit of history that he knows about the place.
“So,” Regulus asks, leaning against one of the pillars with a glass of champagne in his hand as he and James watches a couple more people filter in, “You’re telling me that one of your distant grandfather’s had this entire place designed and built as a wedding gift to his wife because she mentioned her dream of dancing in a place like this once.”
James hums, “That’s what I’ve always been told. She told him that on their first date too.”
“No wonder you treat me so wonderfully,” Regulus huffs a laugh and takes a long drink, “I mean, I’ve seen the way that your dad treats your mum but… to build something like this… just because your future wife wanted to dance in a ballroom.”
James smiles softly at his boyfriend and moves to lean against him, “Unlike the shithole you grew up in, my family adores the idea of love. And we’re willing to use our wealth for those that we love.”
“And you use that money even for people you barely know.”
“It’s the right thing to do.” James sighs, though it’s fond. He’s quiet for a moment, his eyes just gazing across the dance floor and taking in all the people that have already filtered in, “It brings together a community and you’ll never believe the stories and the laughter and the smiles that we get through this.”
Regulus offers his boyfriend a soft smile--even if James isn’t looking at him--and reaches for his hand with his own free one, “It’s an amazing thing that you and your family do.”
“James,” Marlene says to their side, rapidly walking towards them, “Ms. Dana is the last one to arrive, unsurprisingly, but someone just got word that she’ll be here soon so I’m collecting everyone to do the entrance.”
James nods and pushes himself off the pillar, “Alright. Where’s Dorcas?”
“She’s at the table. I’ve just got to get Barty and Evan so you both can head up there as well.” James nods and the girl breaks off from them, disappearing into the large crowd. James grabs Regulus’ arm and begins pulling him up one of the flights of stairs.
True to Marlene’s word, everyone is sitting up there minus Barty, Evan, and herself. James sets down his glass, making Regulus do the same, and turns to the table, “Alright. Mum, dad, Marlene, Pete,” he turns to Skye and Ryan and quickly asks them a question, getting a nod in the affirmative, “Ryan, Skye, and I are going to pass out slips of paper to everyone. You’ll write your name on the paper, first and last, and when we get to the staffmen on either side of the bottom of the staircase, you’ll hand them the slip of paper and they’ll announce your names. We’re doing this in dates, so I’ll be with Marlene and Reg will be with Dorcas, etc.”
James walks over to where Skye and Ryan are putting small slips of paper into several boxes alongside several writing utensils so Peter takes over, “Everyone goes before James, Marls, Effie, and Monty so you guys can get in line at whatever order you want, but Pandora and I need to stick close to being the last people.” Ryan hands him one of the boxes and he takes the time to pass out the papers to each person at the table before he, James, and the two girls split off to start handing the papers.
And before long, Regulus finds himself with his arm linked in Dorcas’ standing at the very top of the right staircase with Peter and Pandora right behind them and Ryan and Skye the last ones on the left staircase with Frank and Alice just in front of them. The name announcement is going surprisingly fast, with the man on one side announcing his couple then the man on the other doing the same just after and vice versa--clearly using Sonorus. Before he knows it, Frank and Alice have been announced and Regulus and Dorcas are handing their slips of paper to the smartly dressed man at the bottom of the staircase. He takes them with a small smile, clears his throat, and turns to the room, “Mr. Regulus Black and Ms. Dorcas Meadowes!” Just as they had with his brother, Evan, and Barty, the hall erupts into small murmurs at the name but otherwise doesn't do anything.
Regulus takes Dorcas to the side where their friends that took that same staircase have pulled off to just as the other man announces Ryan and Skye. By the time that they’re settled with their friends, the man closest to them calls out, “Mr. Peter Pettigrew and Ms. Pandora Rosier!” The murmurs are quieter this time and Regulus isn’t sure whether it’s because Pandora has a better reputation than her brother or if it’s because she’s with one of the main hosts of the party--but he doesn’t dwell on it too much because now it’s time for the Potters and Marlene to be announced.
Unlike with everyone else, the two couples still standing on the balcony split up. James drops Marlene’s hand so he can reach out to Effie and hook his left hand in her right elbow. The woman smiles down at her son and they walk over to the right staircase while Monty does the same with Marlene, guiding her to the left staircase.
The orchestra that Regulus can’t say he noticed before begins playing a fast-paced but very royal-sounding song as the two couples make their way down the stairs before they reach the bottom with perfect synchronization--which makes Regulus wonder just how much they’ve had to practice doing this. The man at the bottom of the left staircase calls out, “And I present to you, the esteemed co-hosts of our ball, Ms. Marlene Mckinnon!”
The man on the right staircase follows him up almost immediately with, “and Mr. James Potter!” With the practiced poise that Regulus would never expect from the two of them, they both step from the bottom step at the exact same time and turn to walk towards the Christmas tree between them, their steps somehow perfectly aligned. When they’ve almost met in the middle, James bows with his left hand curled to his chest which makes Marlene curtsy. When they both straighten, James reaches out his left elbow and Marlene hooks into it.
They both stand perfectly in the middle, not leaning over to whisper something to each other in the way that Regulus assumed they would. Instead, they gently turn their heads towards the man at the left staircase, which makes him nod and begin his next statement, “And finally, Mr. Fleamont Potter!”
“And Mrs. Euphemia Potter!” The crowd bursts into clapping while Monty and Effie follow the same procedure that James and Marlene had just before; however instead of reaching out his elbow, Monty remains in his bow and extends his left hand, saying something that Regulus can’t hear but assumes is something along the lines of ‘may I have this dance’. Effie smiles back at him and takes his hand in her right.
As the two of them straighten, the orchestra begins another song and Monty leads the two of them to the middle of the dance floor where they begin their dance. After the first couple of more aggressive chords, the song softens out into something slower, beginning to build intensity before toning back down. About a minute into the dance, the song changes into something more upbeat, causing Monty and Effie to change the way that they dance. After several minutes of them expertly gliding across the floor, the song changes once again and this time James leads Marlene out into the floor.
The song that the younger couple join in on starts soft and slower than the previous one, taking much longer to build intensity to the one that Monty and Effie solely danced to. James and Marlene have large smiles on their faces and Marlene has her eyes closed, allowing James to effortlessly guide her around the room, especially as the song builds in a crescendo--both in intensity and volume.
The two couples use nearly the entire dance space, gliding and twirling in beautiful movements that Regulus hadn’t known James was capable of. The song comes to a stop and Regulus watches Peter take Pandora’s hand and begin leading her onto the dance floor nearly at the same time that Ryan extends her hand to Skye across from them. When Peter and Pandora have pulled themselves into the proper position for the next dance, Peter sends a nod in Regulus’ direction. The younger nods back and extends his hand towards Dorcas, who gingerly takes it with a teasing smile.
Regulus guides Dorcas through the new song in the way that they were taught, which may be more intense than the gentle song is asking of them. No one seems to mind, however, as before long, nearly everyone is joining them on the dance floor, skirts of varying colours beginning to twirl around them in various waltz styles that Regulus helpfully keeps Dorcas from colliding with.
The crowd continues dancing to one song after the next. Eventually Regulus and Dorcas get tired of dancing and head up the stairs. James, Marlene, Lily, Mary, and Frank and Alice are already sitting at the table. James has a freshly refilled glass in his hands and he’s gesticulating wildly to a story that he’s telling happily.
By the time that Regulus and Dorcas reach them, James has calmed down and is taking a sip of his drink when the ravenette slips into his chair. The older sets his glass down and turns toward Regulus, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek, “Hello, love. How has the ball been so far?”
“It’s been great.” Regulus smiles back, a small ghost of a thing but James can see it nonetheless, “Exactly what I’d expect from a ball. A little… warmer than the parties that we’d have in Grimmauld Place and with cheerier music too.”
James laughs, “Yeah, when your family isn’t a line of wretched Blacks, it tends to feel that way.”
Dorcas butts in from where she’s got Marlene clinging to her arm, “It’s very enchanting.”
“Probably because half of this place is controlled by magic.” Ryan smiles, coming out of nowhere. Skye is a couple steps behind her. The taller points to one of the floating candles that has wandered over to the balcony, making it spin a couple times.
“Even the music is magical.” Skye adds on. She gestures to a small balcony on the other side of the hall from them where an orchestra of instruments play without a human to man them. And it almost seems like the instruments themselves are dancing, two of the violins are spinning in lazy circles with each other and one of the violas is twirling around the bass cello. Another viola is bobbing up and down in time with one of the cellos.
“That’s why I didn’t see anyone come in here with instruments.” Lily hums.
James nods, “Yeah, it took a while to figure out but dad managed to charm the instruments so that they could play any song on command so long as he knew the song.”
“I’ll have to talk to him about that,” Regulus hums, “That sounds fascinating.”
“Always the one for learning something new.” James rolls his eyes. Despite that, his hand slips into his boyfriend’s underneath the table.
“You know it.”
There’s a voice from behind them just as Skye and Ryan slip into their seats further down the table. When Regulus and James turn around, Regulus sees a woman that he presumes is Mrs. Valerie judging by the dress that she’s wearing. Shortly behind her is a man that he assumes is Mr. Thomas. The woman is maybe in her late sixties and she’s got a small, motherly smile on her face as she approaches them.
James offers the woman a smile of his own, “Hello Mrs. Valerie! Are you enjoying the party so far?”
Mrs. Valerie leans forwards and presses a kiss to James’ forehead, “I’m loving it, like always. You and your parents and friends put on the best balls every time.” She leans back and does a little twirl, “And I thank you all for this beautiful dress!”
“Of course!” Marlene cheers, “You look amazing! And you look just as handsome as always, Mr. Thomas.”
The man in question pulls on his suit coat, playfully puffing out his chest, “Thank you! I do enjoy the colour that you got for us.”
“We figured that you would.” Marlene smiles, “And I agree with the choice, the green looks delightful on the both of you!”
Mrs. Valerie walks over and pulls the blonde into a hug before looking over the table and gesturing to their friends, “I know they were announced, but who are these lovely people you’re sitting with?” Marlene happily introduces each of their friends before telling her that there are more that are on their way.
“Oh it’s lovely to see you with all your friends!” Mrs. Valerie smiles, clapping her hands a couple times, “Oh, but when is food going to be out, I’m getting hungry?”
James hums and takes a minute before he shrugs, “Mum and dad wanted it out by about seven, I think the lineup has two more songs before they start serving food so… Maybe twenty minutes.”
“Alright. We’ll leave you alone now, stop bothering you youngins with our age.” Mrs. Valerie gives off a friendly laugh before walking away.
Lily watches her disappearing figure, “I like her, she’s fun.”
Marlene hums and nods, “She’s always been fun. She would watch over us and Pete when we were younger.”
“Oh you have got to tell us stories of young James and Peter.” Mary says, leaning towards the blonde. Marlene nods eagerly and starts regaling stories of their childhood.
At some point, servers start coming around levitating platters of food that they put on each table. By the time that all the food has been served, the magicked instruments change their tune to playing some classical songs quietly and almost everyone has come to sit at their tables and chatter fills the room alongside the scraping of those serving themselves and eating.
Monty and Effie finally take the time to sit down at the head of the table with James to Monty’s side and Marlene to Effie’s. They sit down and join in on the chatter that the young adults have started amongst themselves, easily blending into the group like the beloved cool parents that they are. There are several times where guests that haven’t had the ability to walk over to their table with the plate and start up conversations with their hosts, with James, Peter, or Marlene jumping in on the conversation as needed.
When they all finish dinner, the music turns back into the waltz music that had been playing before the food was served. Several people stand up and head back downstairs and onto the dance floor and James seizes the opportunity to grab his boyfriend by the wrist, pulling him down the stairs so they can dance.
The song has started playing by the time that James has taken his boyfriend’s hand and pulled him onto the floor but he doesn’t seem to care much. It’s a unique song, consistently yet rapidly changing from something softer to something more intense and fast-paced. It’s a mixture of dark and stormy and light and floaty in a way that Regulus can’t keep up with; which is why he allows his boyfriend to lead him through this dance.
Not many people are dancing with them, considering most are still eating or are waiting for their stomachs to settle before they head back down the stairs. But Regulus can’t bring himself to care how many people might be watching them because the lighting is hitting James’ face in the most stunning way--casting a golden glow over dark skin and making his eyes dance with gold flecks from the floating candlelight. James is looking directly into his eyes instead of the floor around them--which he does understand is a danger, but Regulus couldn’t care less at this moment--and he seems to be just as lost in the younger’s eyes as Regulus is in his.
“I specifically requested we play this song.” James mutters, voice low, “Something about it made me think of you and I wanted to dance with you to it.”
“What is it?”
“Gold Und Silber by Franz Lehár.” James hums, “A whole eight minutes.”
“It’s a good one.” Regulus responds, “I wasn’t aware you knew classical music, let alone waltzes.”
Once again, the older hums, “Mum used to play the piano when I was younger and it got me hooked on classical music, being in orchestra didn’t help that much. Several years ago, when I was starting to take proper waltz classes, I took an interest in the different styles of waltz music. I just don’t talk about it a lot.”
“You were in orchestra?”
“Played the violin for several years, but I haven't played in a while.” He shrugs with one shoulder and twirls Regulus around suddenly. The action makes his heart flutter and butterflies take off in his stomach.
The ravenette hums but doesn’t say anything else, instead choosing to look around at the people dancing with them, “Do you guys teach everyone how to ballroom dance as well?”
James smiles softly and shakes his head, “No, for the first part of the night we play waltz music and no one really cares if people are properly dancing or not. But as it gets later, we switch to less traditional songs: some classical, more modern instrumental songs, the like.”
“Why’s that?”
“Most of the people that know how to waltz are our older crowd and don’t like to be here past ten at night so at 9:30 we play our last waltz song and they leave so the younger people have the opportunity to dance to a wider variety of songs. Just gives variety.”
“And how long are we expecting to be here?”
The older hums, “We finally kick everyone out at midnight. We don’t clean up immediately, just unenchant everything and make sure that the lights and stuff are all out.” He tilts his head a bit, “We’ll probably be getting home around one in the morning. Tomorrow after we’ve all woken up, we’ll head back over and start cleaning up.”
“Would you want me to help you?”
“You don’t have to. Pete, Marlene, Ryan, Skye, my parents, and I can get it done in a day with our helpers.”
“I’ll help you.”
“Are you sure?”
Regulus smiles back, something gentle and small, “Of course.”
“Thank you.” The song switches to intense once again and James responds in kind, changing their movements as well.
“Thank you for inviting me to this.” Regulus hums, “As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve always loved the lavishness of my parents’ parties and I’ve missed them- the parties not the company or the expectations.”
“Of course. We all deserve an excuse to dress fancy once or twice.” James smiles, “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” Regulus doesn’t respond, just allows his smile to widen a bit before he leans forwards and pulls James into a kiss. Their dancing stutters as a response but James is able to gently bring them back to proper form in a couple seconds after they pull away.
“We have a crowd.” James mutters, but he’s smiling when Regulus opens his eyes.
Regulus rolls his eyes, “I honestly don’t give a shit.” James offers him a bright laugh that makes Regulus’ heart soar and they finish the song soon after with an intense lead up and heavy drums, ending with James twirling his boyfriend and pulling him into another kiss.
When they pull away, the two of them make their way off the dance floor and back up the stairs hand in hand. They sit down at the table where most of their friends are still sitting. Sirius gives the two of them a look, “You two put on quite the show.”
James gives his best friend a cheeky smile, “Why thank you, Pads.”
“It looks like Ms. Dana doesn’t know how to react.” Marlene smiles, jerking her chin in the direction of the woman. James turns around as subtly as he can and he sees Ms. Dana, Regulus moving to look at her as well--he blatantly stares, though.
She’s quite pretty, Regulus has to admit, with beautiful long brown hair falling around her in curls. It’s half tied up with a bow in her hair and she’s got nice makeup on. The dress she’s wearing is stunning; red and tight-fitting to her entire body before spanning out at her knees. It’s only got one sleeve but that sleeve goes down to her wrist and it’s adorned by an assortment of golden jewelry.
She’s looking back at their table, primarily between James and himself--though she flushes and looks away when she meets Regulus’ eyes on accident. James turns around to ask his friends, “Has she talked to any of you, yet?”
Marlene shakes her head, “No, this is the first time I’ve seen her all night. I have a feeling she’s going to come up to one of us, soon, though.”
And the blonde is right. Because soon after, James excuses himself to the bathroom and disappears down one of the side hallways. Unbeknownst to him, the group watches as Ms. Dana moves and starts walking after him.
The woman catches up to him quickly, calling out, “James!”
James takes a deep breath before turning to look at her, giving her a smile, “Hello Ms. Dana. Are you enjoying the party?”
She meets him with just a fake smile of her own, “Like every year, you guys outdo yourselves every year.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course, who was that boy you were dancing with?”
“Oh, that was my boyfriend, Regulus. Why do you ask?”
“I just didn’t know you swung that way.” Then her expression turns to fake concern, “I always assumed that you and Mckinnon were together.”
James shakes his head, “No, we’ve always just been friends. My boyfriend’s date is actually her girlfriend.”
“Interesting arrangement.”
“We figured that it’d be easier for me to go with Marlene. I have a lot of things that I need to do and she’s used to them so there was less to teach Regulus about.”
“Speaking of Marlene, her dress is quite revealing isn’t it?”
There it is.
James hums, “I don’t think so. She’s an adult and can dress how she wants.”
“You don’t think that she’s distracting the men your age?”
“Not really. I mean she’s only interested in women, specifically her girlfriend, and most of the people our age are already dating someone.” James shrugs, “But you yourself look quite beautiful tonight. The red looks good on your skin.”
The woman flushes and comes to touch her neckline gently, “Thank you, James. My date seems to only have eyes for your friend, though.”
“I don’t understand why.” The words are genuine, James has always thought Ms. Dana was beautiful but she’s not his type--she’s also seven years older than him so he’s never been attracted to her--and he does feel a bit bad that she can’t land a good man. He supposes that her personality might be the repellent for good men, but he doesn’t dare let himself think that means, “Who is your date, anyways?”
Ms. Dana sighs, “A boy from my work. I genuinely liked him but I think he only said yes because he knew there was going to be free food and younger women.”
“I’m sorry.” Is all that James can offer, “Maybe next time, mum and dad can set you up with a date who’ll treat you better.”
“Or, next time Marlene can cover herself like a self-respecting woman.”
James now remembers why she struggles to keep good men. Her jealousy is abysmal.
“Marlene is perfectly covered up.” Is all that James says, and he does it in a way that marks the end of the conversation. He turns on his heel and disappears into the men’s bathroom. He comes out a couple minutes later and makes his way back to the table where all of the girls are gossiping and Regulus and drinking his widened eyes.
James slips into his seat and elbows his boyfriend lightly, “What’s going on?”
Remus is the one to answer him, jerking his chin in a seemingly random direction, “She’s going on.” James follows the motion and turns to see… Ms. Dana.
Wearing a completely different dress than she was before.
This one is a light blue, floor length dress with a similar skirt to Marlene’s except for the slit up the side of it. The bodice is a shelf one and it’s separated from the skirt with a silver belt. Her hair is no longer in a half-ponytail and is now, instead, in a large bun. Her clothing has been clearly transfigured quickly and fall or fit oddly in some places.
James sighs, “I even told her that she looked nice.” He rolls his eyes, “All that she cares about is if men are looking at her and they’re distracted enough with Marlene.”
“And apparently all of the girls at the table.” Regulus says, gazing at the group of five girls talking--Alice and Frank are dancing currently, “She came over and started talking to all of them about their dresses.”
“She’s just insecure about her appearance.” Marlene says, pulling from the group.
“I don’t get why, though.” James sighs, “She’s beautiful and I know people tell her that.”
“Insecurity doesn’t just go away with a couple compliments.” Regulus chides him.
“Well neither does a bad personality.” Peter mumbles, making the people at the table laugh.
But they move on from the woman quickly. The next part of the night is filled with friends standing up to go and dance to a song that pleases their fancy and coming back down to drink and grab some food off the table. Peter, Marlene, and James wade in and out of the crowd, easily starting and engaging in conversations with people.
Eventually, James is standing around with Barty, Regulus, and Dorcas with a drink in his hand when Ryan walks up to him and presses a gentle hand to his shoulder. When the older turns to look at the girl, she smiles, “The next song is the final waltz.”
James nods and thanks her, watching her nod back and turn to walk away. He turns to Regulus, “I have to lead the final waltz this year, do you want to do it with me or should I go and find Marlene?”
Regulus hums, “Do we dance alone or?”
“We’ll dance alone for maybe a minute or two but then everyone else will join. I just have to start it because of some symbolism or something.”
“Sure, I’ll do it with you.”
“You don’t have to do it with Marlene?” Dorcas asks, furrowing her brows.
James shakes his head, “Nah, I only have to do the first dance with her. Since we’re already in our couples and that’s how we’re introduced, everyone has to do it with their partner. Other than that, it’s not required that I do any dance with her. I normally do but since you two are here…” he gestures towards his boyfriend and the girl, shrugging.
Shortly after, Monty’s voice fills the room with sonorus, “And now, for the final waltz. If James and his partner would make their way to the dance floor while you all clear out…” While everyone does as he asked, James grabs his boyfriend’s hand and walks him towards the middle of the dance floor. Once again, Regulus allows the older to take the leading position while they wait for the music to start.
Like with all the other songs, this one starts out quieter and gentler. However, it only takes a couple seconds before all the instruments create an explosion of noise. Their moves at first are minute, following the short intervals of noise during the song before the violins come in and continue to play. James brings him into the first crescendo and everyone begins to fill the dance floor around them in the silence that it fades into before the song picks up again. Regulus can understand why this is the final waltz song as they continue to dance to it, there is an air of finality about the way that instruments play. A grand goodnight to a ball, the ending song of a ballet.
The song eventually comes to a close and James pulls Regulus off the dance floor, bringing him towards the entrance hallway where Monty and Effie are standing, explaining that they’re going to bid farewell to everyone that’s leaving.
“Is this the first time that anyone is leaving?” Regulus asks.
James hums, “Probably not.” He sweeps towards a clipboard that’s sitting on a table right by the entrance and looks at him, “No, several people have left. We usually have someone standing here to check everyone out but mum and dad like to do this after the final waltz because a lot of people leave at once.” He then jerks his chin in the direction of the ballroom, where a group of people are walking down the stairs or coming towards them as they finish their dance.
Effie smiles at the people that are walking before looking at Regulus, “It’s just more polite that the hosts greet and bid farewell to the majority of guests. And it’s nice to catch up and throw out a couple compliments on the way through.”
“I suppose.” Regulus shrugs. Then begins ten or fifteen minutes of him and his boyfriend standing on one end of the entrance, engaging people in conversation, giving out compliments, offering polite pleasantries, etc. The ravenette doesn’t speak much outside of the occasional introduction to someone or small comment in one of James’ quick conversations, instead he spends most of the time admiring his boyfriend who’s standing with his back straight and a formal, kind smile on his face. Sometimes he grabs the hand of the women and presses a kiss to them, other times he leans to press a kiss to their cheek. He is the perfect definition of poise and formality--thing exact thing that he and his brother had hammered into them since childhood, only in a light and a manner that was more genuine and willing.
After the last person is checked out and has disappeared either through apparating or through the grand doors at the other end of the hallway, James pulls Regulus back into the main part of the room and up the stairs, collapsing into his chair when they’re at their table.
“Tired?” Regulus asks.
“Always am at this point.” James shrugs, “I have to dance several times all night, I’m constantly up and around talking to people, and we’re gonna be here for ours.”
“I’m sorry, love. Do you have to do any dances for the rest of the night?”
“Not unless you want to do a dance with me.”
Regulus hums, “Probably not tonight, I can only do so much at one party.”
“Then probably not.” James smiles. He leans his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder and takes a deep breath. Regulus smiles and reaches to run his fingers through James’ hair.
The rest of the night is a blur with a lot of the same actions as the previous hours. Eventually, the last person has thanked their hosts and left the event, leaving the Potters, Marlene, Peter, Ryan, Skye, Regulus, Sirius, and Remus--most of their friends left earlier for their own reasons. The family and two American girls go around unenchanting all of the candles and instruments and everything in between before all of them gather and apparate back to the Potters’ house.
James’ movements are sluggish and tired as he pulls his suit off his body, Regulus doing the same. The ravenette is removing the small traces of makeup on his face as James collapses back onto his bed.
When the younger joins his boyfriend, James immediately sighs and curls himself around him, “Thank you for coming tonight.”
“Thank you for inviting me.” Regulus hums, keeping his voice just as low as his boyfriend’s--though his words are a lot less slurred, “It was lovely.”
“’ll have to take you back to the hall when it’s clean an’ no one’s around so you can explore properly. Lotta hallways were blocked off.”
“I’d love that, Jamie. Now go to sleep.” James hums but doesn’t say anything and, soon after, his breaths even out and Regulus allows sleep to pull him under as well.