When the night of the ball arrived, Scorpius Malfoy dressed in the privacy of the emerald-green curtains that surrounded his bed. At least he would be dressed well; his grandmother Narcissa had excellent taste when it came to fashion, and she had a reasonable idea of what he liked. The dressrobes she had sent him just over a week ago had been perfect; well-tailored, smart, sophisticated, and made of a rich fabric that felt divine to touch. It was all in black, of course. He wasnât one to wear bright colours, and black was the norm for most of the males in the school⊠with a few exceptions he was sure. With the dressrobes hanging from his shoulders, he pinned a silver brooch to his chest. It wasnât a family heirloom, he wouldnât have wanted people recognising him for one of those anyway, but it was something personal to him. A Scorpion, from the constellation Scorpio from which he was named. It even had the word âScorpioâ written in ancient Greek on it, which he was sure no one would be able to read. He only knew what it said because Narcissa had told him so in her accompanying letter.
Finally he put on his mask, the face of a dragon covering his eyes and the top half of his nose, also in black and silver. He liked the idea of taking on the appearance of a mighty dragon. It was his favourite type of creature. Sure, he was named after a scorpion, but it was the dragons that caught his interest, great soaring beasts, majestic and beautiful. It was why he had chosen a dragon portrait as part of an earlier prank of his, though he hadnât taken credit for it and didnât think it would matter now that he wore the face of a dragon to the ball. The anonymity spell would take care of everything else anyway. It was an amazing piece of work, in his opinion, and he planned to make use of the spell to its full extent. True, he could have gone to the ball with his soon-to-be fiancĂ©e, but she was part of the reason he hadnât been sleeping well and had spent his days wrapped up in his depression. This night would be for him, he decided; a night all for himself, without names or pressure to uphold the dying ways of a pureblood.
Two other boys were also changing behind the curtains as he left his dorm room, and as he passed through his dorm room he was barely noticed. Just about everyone was in costume by now, though not everyone had their masks on yet. He didnât bother to remember who was wearing what because he knew he wouldnât be able to recall it the moment he stepped into the hall. Following a steady stream of Slytherin students, he made his way to the Great Hall, soon joined by Hufflepuffs too as their paths joined. Some of the outfits truly were beautiful, especially the girlâs dresses. There was a small wait outside the doors to the hall. He had stupidly actually been on time, so he lurked in the shadows. It wasnât like he had any friends to meet up with beforehand anyway.
The doors opened and as he entered the Great Hall he felt the spell altering his mind. Everyone around him was a stranger to him while his mind told him that he knew them outside of the spell. And they were all gasping and making comments on the decoration in the great hall. Indeed it was beautiful, rows of hedges and flowerbeds, all shrouded in a soft mist that played about their feet under a sky of starts and floating lights. It really was gorgeous. If he hadnât known better, he would have said he was outdoors. There was music playing, the beginning of the first act. Malfoy wandered through the hall, moving to stand with his back to a hedge wall to observe the students now streaming in. He wanted to relax, and dance with someone⊠or two⊠or three. Because he could do that with the mask of anonymity. No one would be asking why he was acting strange or not dancing with someone as pureblooded as himself.
Eyes on the students entering the hall, Malfoy waited patiently to see if any of them caught his eye. Once in a while his subconscious thoughts would nudge him to be either attracted or repelled from one of the pretty girls who had just stepped in, as if trying to warn him of someone he knew quite well. The biggest alarm bell of all went off when a girl with the longest legs he had ever seen walked in, and as gorgeous as she was, he decided that it was best not to go there. His mind clearly had to be on to something. So he waited. There was still a few late-comers. âFashionably lateâ, he supposed, since that was supposed to be a thing. The next girl to come in seemed pretty, and that part of his mind that said yes or no was saying a very strong âyesâ. Well, he was anonymous, so why not?
Approaching the mystery girl, he stopped before her and held out his hand. âMay I have your first dance of the evening?â he asked. At least he didnât have to worry about dancing. He was actually very good at formal dancing, having been taught as a child and given refresher lessons every summer. Thatâs the kind of thing that came from being in an upper-class pureblood family like his. As for the girl, she was wearing green so his first guess was Slytherin. He had chosen green for his bowtie, amongst all the black and silver, though he would have preferred red. The reason he hadnât chosen red was because he didnât feel worthy of anything to do with red. He couldnât remember all the reasons now, but hey, the girlâs hair was red. That was interesting.
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