Open; The Quidditch Gala

[daphne_x]

Getting back into the swing of things at work was exactly what Daphne Greengrass needed to put her time in the cabin behind her. It was always easy to get lost in color schemes and floral arrangements, the dark secrets of her past and present just fading into background noise

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[nnnoah]

Though he didn't actually remember volunteering for or agreeing to anything, Noah had somehow found himself, in the week leading up the gala becoming a real upcoming event rather than just a vaguely planned notion (things had stopped being vague, it seemed, the moment the contract had crossed Daphne Greengrass's desk), pulled in to consult on and assist with random bits of Department-related planning, from gathering up items for the extended historical collection meant to be put on display to seeking out off-duty officials and lining up liability contracts for the more live-action parts of the exhibit/gala combination.

The first time in years when he actually would have liked to have those oddly scheduled off days and random bits of downtime to spend trailing one specific camera-ready face around the planet, and here he was, having found himself drafted into racking up overtime

[aliciajade_x]

Attending events had become more of a chore, being carted from one party to another for appearances by her manager. Somebody was always dressing her in a new label or putting a new product in her hand, hoping that she'd be photographed with it. The conversations often felt flat and stale, forced and scripted in hopes of keeping her attention.

It had been a long time since she felt so excited to be getting ready to go out into the public eye, putting on a new blush colored dress that was form fitting and hit just above the knee.

As she stepped into the lobby of the museum, barely even noticing the flashing of photography bulbs anymore, she realized that this would truly be her first public appearance with Noah. It may not have meant much to many but Alicia knew what that meant for the tabloids and gossip rags, how public really meant public and open for the entire community when it came to her life.

She just hoped he was ready for that.

[nnnoah]

If Noah hadn't already been on the lookout for Alicia's arrival, the sudden increase in the number and intensity of photography flashes should have done a good enough job of alerting him as she stepped inside, looking unsurprisingly stunning and perfectly unaffected by the frenzy of the media staff.

It took him a moment to pick his jaw up off the floor, knock back what was left of the watered-down drink he had been passing the time with, and sneak his way through the crowd to meet her before anyone else had the chance to intercept.

"Hey you," he greeted her, having already given up whatever chances he had of fighting the thousand-watt grin that had started tugging at his lips at the sight of hair, catching her hand and tugging her further into the room, away from the madness of the cameras crowding the entrance. "You sure know how to make an entrance."

[aliciajade_x]

Alicia had lived her life in the spot light for so long now that she hardly even noticed, only when she was starting to edge herself into something new with somebody. Most guys either couldn't handle it or ended up being interested for all the wrong reasons.

But then there was Noah-

Sweet, puppy eyed Noah who had the widest smile on and didn't even notice the cameras.

Her heart fluttered.

"I wanted to make sure you noticed me," she reasoned, lacing their fingers together in a way that was incredibly innocent and twisted her stomach up in knots at the same time.

[daleysabrina]

The day after the full moon was always rough, though it somehow got easier over the years. Sabrina suspected that was mainly because she knew what to expect, learned how to move so that her limbs ached a little bit less and figured out what to eat to rebuild her muscles the quickest.

But this particular day was rough for a very different reason.

It was the night of the Quidditch Gala, an event that she actually found herself excited to attend after so many weeks of dreading the outside. Not everyone had been as open minded and polite about her return since the article had come out, the evil glares not unnoticed as she walked through the streets (on the rare occasion she found herself in the public eye). But it was at an event similar to this, just perhaps not quite so formal, that she had run into Dean again and shared their first kiss. It seemed romantic.

It took her hours to get ready, the perfect dress sitting in her closet for almost a week after having it tailored perfectly to her shape. Martha had actually found a way to

[deantom]

Though Dean's initial instinct had been to offer to skip the event, despite the fact that it was all anyone at the Ministry with any kind of vested interest in Quidditch and the upcoming finals (read: everyone) had been talking about for weeks, Sabrina's enthusiasm and excitement had been enough to keep any concerns he might have had, relating to both the post-moon day and the current political tensions, under wraps. These days, anything that made her smile, or helped her forget, or at all lifted the weight that seemed to have settled on her following the were-related news disasters was a thing he would get behind

[daleysabrina]

The last thing that Sabrina wanted was for Dean to see her like this, her dress all smeared with sticky ice cram and the perfect lines of her eyeliner already starting to run as a few stray tears fell from her doe eyes. She must have looked like a little girl, all dressed up in clothes that weren't quite right for her and ended up just messing the entire thing up.

She shouldn't have come at all. This was all a mistake.

"No, no. I can fix this-" she said, her lips and voice trembling as she shook her head.

Dean was already so tense about this whole issue, ever since her name had popped up in the paper. She didn't want to ruin his night or see him storm off to 'make it right'.

But when she looked up him she felt like collapsing right there into his arms, cheeks burning with embarrassment and insides tugging into terrible knots. It was all so overwhelming.

[deantom]

Dean stopped himself before his wand had properly slipped back into his hand, the quiver that shook her voice clawing at him, tearing him between wanting to systematically sweep in and fix everything he could, because even just one more second of torment was more than he could even witness her handling, and stepping back to allow her that bit of self-controlled independence she deserved-

"Hey-" he muttered again after letting a few drawn out breaths slip by. He slipped a hand to loosely drapped around the back of her neck, his thumb sofltly nudging against her chin to urge her gaze up to meet his. Between that flare of anger and the confusion of concern, it had only taken hearing her speak to put the former on the backburner.

"It's okay. You can fix this. Yeah?"

[marloww]

This was an impossibly big night for her brother and everyone in the Linney-Kirke family knew it. She felt as if the majority of the guests were related to her in some way, shape or form- whether it be her bevy of cousins roaming the event or Jemma, her soon to be cousin-in-law if Drew would make the dive already and ask her to marry him. And while she was crossing her fingers for Jonah and the rest of the Bats to pull a victory, thoughts she was absolutely keeping to a minimum when in the presence of Lavender and Roger, she was really only on the lookout for Zacharias.

It had been an odd few weeks- with Zacharias returning to work more fervently now that the weather was nicer and Marlow officially taking sabbatical form Hogwarts, they'd had a sort of disjointed time away from each other- Marlow moving into her own place while Riah was Apparating all around the world with other pretty models (something that didn't bother her at all. Nope.)

And she was excited to see him.

So excited that she had even bought a new dress for the

[rockinriah]

This was the first day in weeks where Zacharias felt like he could properly take a break. Between shoots in the most bizarre locations and a callback from some post-apocalypse film he'd auditioned for months ago, he hadn't been in one place for very long.

Technically, he still wasn't on a break. Events meant press which meant he was expected to put in an appearance to make sure his name kept getting mentioned and he stayed current. Personally. he thought that was terribly ridiculous since this was a Quidditch event and shouldn't have anything to do with him

[marloww]

She wasn't easily flushed.

At least, not when it came to cheesy pick-up lines and cat-calls, things she'd heard numerous times before. She was a woman in London. It happened.

She could see through the pretty words and the raised eyebrows and nearly always answered them with a scowl or a roll of her eyes.

But with Zacharias, it was impossible not to believe everything he ever told her. There was just something so honest in him- so unabashedly sincere- even if his reputation of womanizing far preceded him. It almost made her giddy to know just how much he cared about her.

She couldn't help but tug at the lapel of his tux.

"I'm pretty sure it's just because we don't see nearly enough of each other-" she told him, sighing. "You're forgetting what I look like-"

[rockinriah]

"Maybe I am. Maybe I need to get you in front of a camera more often so I can carry you around every where I go." Zacharias purposefully laid it on thick, going overboard with their brief separation, and it was brief, honestly.

It was just longer than he'd have liked.

He stepped closer as she tugged at him, leaning down to catch her lips while his were still curled into a grin. They were in public and there were cameras, which he was overly aware of, but it still took effort not to let the slide of their lips get out of control.

[jemmadorny]

She felt ready to pop.

Even if she did have three months to go. She just felt so huge. And this gown didn't help, even if Marlow swore up and down that it looked good on her. She had gone shopping with Skylar, trying to find something that was going to be flattering and comfortable but still pretty. And there weren't many maternity options that actually looked more than just bedazzled mumus.

But with Drew's upcoming job transfer and the fact that Jonah was being celebrated that night with the play-offs, she knew she couldn't miss it.

She squeezed Drew's hand, turning to face him with a steady smile.

"You ready for this?" she asked him.

[drewkirke]

"Are you ready for this?" he asked, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow and eyes that were all concern.

Drew had insisted for days, ever since the promotion had become official, that Jemma didn't have to come to this event with him. There would be plenty of more parties later down the road, after the babies were born and she was more comfortable.

Honestly, he had no idea how she was comfortable putting on a gown tonight, even if she did look beyond gorgeous to him.

"I just need to show my face, meet a few people, then we can go, okay?"

[jemmadorny]

"We can stay as long as you want-"

She didn't mean to sound so firm- it just sort of popped out that way. She felt so stupidly proud of him, she'd wear a bloody banner announcing his new promotion. She just couldn't help the way her heart swelled to see him here, his eyes scanning the room as she knew what he was about to embark on.

It never felt better than to go to a job you actually loved rather than tolerated.

"I feel great-" she told him, nearly meaning it. She did feel as if that motherly glow was finally catching up to her skin and her hair was shinier than it had ever been before. "And this gown took me half an hour to get into-" she added with a wrinkle of her nose.

She leaned up to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"Let's show that handsome face of yours, alright?"

[drewkirke]

In Drew's eyes Jemma was the most gorgeous woman here and all he wanted to show her off to his new team. He felt more comfortable with her there, knowing that she'd pick up the conversation where he left off and squeezing his hands as they approached somebody new.

It was just nice to have that finally, to have her.

"You're amazing," he told her, a wide smile pulling at him lips as he looked down at her. He looked a little bit goofy but he really didn't care.

"Do you want to grab a soda first? Check out the appetizers?"

[scilicette]

Hannah hated getting dressed up. Absolutely abhorred putting on make-up and heels and everything that was considered black tie. It made her feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic and absolutely vulnerable. She was used to jeans and tee shirts and sneakers, mostly, barely slipping on anything close to a dress. She owned a bar. It didn't lend itself to much more than things that could be spilled on.

But she knew this night was incredibly important to Noah and that the rest of the gang was going to be there and well, she didn't want to be the odd one out.

So, she went shopping. She found a dress that was decent enough and she let Megan do her make-up.

And for the most part, she felt fine- until she spotted Astoria across the dance floor with an older bloke, his arm wrapped around her waist.

[so_astoria]

Astoria didn't often make it a point to do much actual 'escorting' in her capacity as what, yes, those of a more polite persuasion would indeed call an escort. And while it most likely wasn't considered particularly good form to make that rare exception to attend an event stamped with her sister's planning seal, a paying customer was, after all, a paying customer.

(And frankly, between trying-to-make-the-newly-remarried-ex-wife-jealous, graying but still considerably tolerable-looking and decently well-mannered wizard and the much more unsavory, overweight-slob-with-a-babying fetish that had also attempted to book her that evening, it had been an easy enough decision.)

So here she was, keeping the eye rolling to a subtle minimum, putting on her most coquettely demure disposition in her leave-not-much-but-still-plenty-to-the-imagination dress as Harold paraded her around the room, introducing his 'date' (she had drawn the line at anything straying near the 'girlfriend' label) to any and all of his and his ex-wife's mutual

[scilicette]

Hannah was a typically nervous individual, her body prone to the sort of odd tingles one got when they were feeling uncomfortable. In fact, it happened so often, it had become a thing she had become accustomed to- her own little survival instinct to avoid the awkward or weird. But with Astoria- she felt like those little tingles were something different entirely

[so_astoria]

Never mind the fact that she was skipping out on what amounted to a business engagement, or that this was the most blatantly public setting, the kind that brought out all manners of spying eyes and judgements, in which she had found herself face to face with Hannah since Hannah had become a person that somehow factored into her life - Astoria couldn't quite help the lingering once-over she gave the other woman, the initial shock of her unexpected appearance now replaced by that lowly buzzing sort of thrill, the kind so unusually removed from smugness or expectation, that she had almost gotten used to brushing off