February 14th, 1890
Sweethearts & Sunsets Valentine's Ball
Wellingtonshire
Tybalt Kirke

It was with a sour taste in her mouth that she'd agreed to attend this silly event this evening, but Elsie felt like she was under close watch these days and it irked her to say the least. That close watch also led her to be much more agreeable to whatever it was her mother suggested or even hinted that she do these days. It took a lot to really anger Elsie, but the maid that had started spreading rumors around town was certainly worth her ire. The girl had poor work performance and was never on time with anything, which was the reason she was let go, after several warnings and chances. To simply go around town spilling snippets of information she knew nothing about for petty revenge was slightly maddening.

Just thinking about it was making her scowl a little. However, barely halfway through the evening, she was ready to go home, but unwilling to ask and earn herself any more disapproval. Fortunately she had seen a friend or two from Hogwarts and that had helped pass the time, but there were at least fifteen different places she'd rather be. Elsie also had a sneaking suspicion that there was something a little off about this evening, but she hadn't the curiosity or the interest to really put much thought into it beyond when would be an acceptable time to leave.

Also quite fortunately, she hadn't come across Mr. Adlard this evening, though she certainly wouldn't mind his company, as they had saved one another a time or two before this, she knew it would have been incredibly awkward if they had crossed paths now. Elsie was taking great care not to chat too long with any gentleman, though that hadn't been too common this evening either. Really, though she knew he would be here at some point this evening, she was only looking forward to seeing Tyb, however briefly and superficially it would be, she simply needed the comfort of his presence to get through the last leg of this ball.

Elsie eyed the large grandfather clock from across the room and sighed, admittedly dramatically. She took of sip of her champagne slowly, stiffening as a hand on the small of her back both startled her and brought her out of her reverie. The following slow curve of her lips couldn't be helped, but she kept the smile reasonable so as not to give herself away. "And where have you been hiding?" She chuckled quietly from behind her champagne flute, casting a look in Tyb's direction over the rim of the glass.

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   Melody Crouch

---

MJ always makes her so pretty

He had heard the rumours. It would probably be most sensible, he had decided, to stay away.

But he didn’t have the constitution for it, and so when a convenient moment had finally arisen, he wove his way to Elsie. A touch at her back was the most discreet manner of closeness he could manage, and even then the split-second of contact before he withdrew his hand was disappointingly brief.

“At a respectable distance, where your mother can’t see me,” Tyb replied wryly, having found the evening so far torturous for that fact alone. He wouldn’t have minded a bit of food and drink and a few dances with girls he knew if Elsie hadn’t been here, but knowing that she was and not being able to spend the whole time in her company? It made everything else feel like such a waste.

But he hadn’t been able to wait forever, and he had passed a room or two (not a library) set a little ways down the hall that seemed perfectly undisturbed, and although he had been hoping to cross paths with her there, in the end Tybalt had had to settle for approaching her in plain view of the party.

But they were old friends, so they were allowed to catch up briefly with each other. And, Tyb thought, as he returned Elsie’s look with a warm look he tried to keep restrained, no one around them seemed to be taking any notice of their conversation, anyway. “I’d ask you to dance,” he added lightly, trying to understand quite why their conversation seemed on a different wavelength to the rest of those around them, which had all faded to some indistinct murmur, “but I imagine your dance card is probably quite full.” He only meant it as gentle teasing, paired with a fleeting grimace of sympathy; after all, it was not like she came to balls like these for fun, and he didn’t know what consequences she was facing at home, but he had the sneaking suspicion news of her refused suitor hadn’t gone down wonderfully well.

The news of precisely who that unnamed suitor had been - plastered over the pages of Witch Weekly, too - hadn’t been a particularly pleasant pill to swallow for Tyb, either. (What if he bumped into handsome Mr. Adlard in the Ministry hallway one day? How would he not feel awfully guilty? How would he keep a straight face?)

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   Elsie Kirke, Melody Crouch

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Elsie had to give him that one- "Me too," She chuckled. Though Elsie knew her mother simply had her best interests at heart, this whole debacle with the rumors and Mr. Adlard had brought her actions and choices under keen inspection, which was not something Elsie had ever planned on. In fact it was why she'd been so quiet in her small rebellions, so complacent to go with the flow for the most part. She recognized her mother had been rather lenient in her guidance, but no longer- or so Elsie gathered.

Shaking her head, bemused smile hid behind her glass, she sighed again, more softly this time. There was no denying the sense of comfort she found in having him around, even at a respectable distance. Perhaps it was the fact that she was glad to see him, despite the circumstances surrounding them still, but it felt almost as if the rest of the party had faded away to the background now that she had him. "I believe my dance card has been both physically and metaphorically tossed into a corner somewhere to be long forgotten." Thank Merlin for that. She highly doubted anybody wanted to dance with her anyway, with everything that had been said recently.

"Enjoying yourself?" She questioned after a small sip of her drink, enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling spreading through her, though it made the urge reach out that much harder to resist. Rationally, she knew she shouldn't but it seemed like when things felt the most desperate the more she wanted to just escape from it all. The notion was ridiculous of course, but the desire was still there.

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The following 2 users Like Elsie Kirke's post:2 users Like Elsie Kirke's post
   Melody Crouch, Tybalt Kirke

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Tyb was already having trouble not grinning too fiercely at her, but with the way Elsie kept drowning her smiles in her champagne he was truly struggling to keep his amusement to himself. “You little rebel,” he teased under his breath, looking at her knowingly. In truth he was fairly pleased to hear that she was not due to be swept away in another minute or two for another quadrille, and that she wasn’t to be bullied into too many encounters with the next suitor-to-be lined up. Adlard was one thing, but he didn’t know how she would manage to duck out of the next proposal.

(Unless it happened to be his. Hopefully she wouldn’t want to duck out of that one, however many hundred years away it seemed from here.)

Enjoying yourself? Elsie asked; and Tyb tilted his head at her, looking deceptively casual. “Oh, I don’t know, it’s been a bit forgettable so far,” he mused (if anyone had heard him, they didn’t seem to leap to the evening’s defence!), “but there’s still time to make something of it, wouldn’t you say? You’ll have another?” He added swiftly as a waiter came along carrying drinks, plucking Elsie’s nearly-gone flute out of her hand and snatching two new flutes from the tray before she could answer. Which, besides quenching his thirst, gave Tybalt a quiet opportunity to let his hand linger a little on hers as he pressed the new glass into her grasp.

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   Elsie Kirke, Melody Crouch

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Biting her lip to hide the smile this time, she turned her head to look around the room to see if anyone was paying attention to them. The room suddenly got louder for just a moment, until she caught Tyb's eye again. "I was not the best example, but I was still a Gryffindor, after all." Her Gryffindor traits were not overly dominant, but they were there, hiding for when she needed them.

Before she could protest, her not-quite-empty-glass was being snatched from her hands, a fresh one replacing it just as quickly. Even the briefest of grazes of his fingertips sent a little jolt of electricity through her, causing her breath to catch just the slightest. If she didn't remember where they were and that it was quite public, they were going to get in deep(-er) trouble. "I see your quidditch reflexes aren't lost yet." She teased, humoring him with a small sip of the new glass, scrunching her nose a little at the sensation of the bubbles.

"Speaking of, how is the Dueling Commission treating you these days?" It was a perfectly safe topic for a party and she was genuinely interested. Whenever they were alone, work was the last thing either one of them wanted to talk about, so this seemed like a perfectly good opportunity. Absentmindedly she took another sip of champagne, catching herself at the last minute and lowering the drink so it was less tempting. Her head was a little fuzzy at this point, this would definitely have to be the last glass. It certainly was not helping the longing bubbling up inside. Not in the slightest.

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The following 1 user Likes Elsie Kirke's post:1 user Likes Elsie Kirke's post
   Melody Crouch

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MJ always makes her so pretty

Like he didn’t know that. She was a Gryffindor through and through, he’d known that since their schooldays. ‘Course, he’d also known since then that she was the brighter one between them - alright, admittedly anyone who knew either of them was likely to guess it - but she was also supposed to be the better behaved one, and knowing all her most rebellious moments... intimately... Tybalt wasn’t actually sure how much faith he had in her capabilities at the latter.

In which case, he probably oughtn’t be testing any boundaries, not least when she’d had rumours surface in recent weeks and they happened to be in the midst of a party. What he would prefer to do would be to get out of here, however he did have the presence to be aware that not being here might end up looking even worse.

Still, did she even know how impossible it was to be in her company and pretend to only show the appropriate level of enthusiasm? Torture with her, torture without - it was Valentine’s day and life was so tremendously unfair.

He drew back from her hand before it could turn indiscreet and drowned his sorrows briefly with his champagne, steeling himself for a conversation in which he was nothing but well-behaved. “‘Course they’re not.” He said cheerfully, and then let her steer the conversation towards work like the tedious acquaintances they were doomed to disguise themselves as. “Excellently, actually,” Tyb answered, falling for the question in spite of himself, and maybe glad that he could say so honestly, even in such quick succession from a mention of his past love. “Pity you didn’t come to duel in the tournament, Miss Gryffindor, or you’d have seen how it was treating me,” he joked lightly. He would’ve said that to any friend. “I was on fine form, in fact -” He broke off mid-sentence, brow furrowed, scanning the room and then meeting her gaze again quizzically to test a hypothesis. “You know, I don’t think anyone can hear us.” Which made very little sense in a room full of people, but even speaking at a usual volume, no one in the vicinity seemed to even care that they existed. How strange.

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   Elsie Kirke, Melody Crouch, Ophelia Devine

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The smile shared between them held too many secrets and she had to look away again, the noise level in the room changing again for just a moment. How odd. Elsie scanned the room are large, looking to see if her mother had spotted then yet, before she met his eyes again. Dangerous territory really, but she couldn't help herself. The got such precious little time together, she had to take what she could get.

The discussion of his work was a good distraction from the heat rising in her cheeks, no doubt thanks to the new glass of champagne. "Dueling, much like quidditch, it's not my strong suit, though I'm quite pleased to hear you're enjoying it." She meant it too and she tried to convey that in the ensuing smile. So far, rumors aside, his having to quit quidditch was the worst part of this whole debacle and she was pretty sure she'd never stop feeling guilty about it.

His pause and following question had her eyeing him dubiously, but maybe that would explain why things kept changing volume around them. How odd indeed. The fact of the matter was, even if nobody could hear them, which would be delightful as they wouldn't be stuck talking of light matters and trivial things, people could still see them, which was the real problem, wasn't it? "I wonder... I think I overheard one of the staff saying something about hidden rooms earlier too, but thought I'd misheard." What kind of party was this? "Do you think there's something... off about the ball itself?" This was exactly why Elsie didn't  like attending these kinds of things in the first place! Too many crazy amortentia scandals and mistletoe mishaps to even count!

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   Melody Crouch

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MJ always makes her so pretty

He’d expected that answer from her, hadn’t imagined she would submit herself to a duelling tournament, any more than she would have signed up to play quidditch for Britain in the next world cup. So he merely smiled back, trying not to look too overly fond, because whether they could be heard or not it would be just his luck if someone saw straight through them, even like this.

“Maybe,” Tybalt said appraisingly, not going to pretend his curiosity wasn’t piqued by the oddities. “Do you think they put something in the drink?” He said, sipping some more champagne and trying to taste anything unusual in it. (Tasted normal. He downed the rest of it.)

“I’d say we should investigate, but...” he trailed off with an innocent shrug, determined not to tempt anyone into trouble that could end up having a million bad consequences. Nope, he could stand here all evening and tell her innocuous stories from work if that was what Elsie wanted to do. He looked at her again, the very picture of nonchalance. “Anyway, I already found one of those hidden rooms earlier.”

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   Ophelia Devine

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Elsie lost all taste for the champagne in her hand, but watched Tyb with mild astonishment as he downed the flute swiftly. The little "oh" of surprise only widened when he said he'd already found one of the hidden rooms. Well, that was the end of wondering about it. The temptation to take advantage was far higher than it should have been and after the library incident with Lucinda, she was not dumb enough for a repeat event, but...

"Oh, I see how it is, you've already found one, hmmm." She eyed him with a quirk of a smile, eyebrow raised curiously, teasing him of course. If there was anything Elsie was secure about these days, it was how they felt about one another and their dedication to each other.

Taking a sip of the champagne despite herself, Elsie realized what she was doing and quickly set it down on a passing tray. No more of that. "Besides," She continued airily, eyes watching him intently, keen to see his reaction. If people couldn't hear them, it didn't matter what she said, as long as whatever it was she did looked proper. "I think I'd rather wait until later, to break any rules." Trouble for certain, and maybe it was the champagne talking, but not nearly as bad as trying to sneak away now.

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The following 2 users Like Elsie Kirke's post:2 users Like Elsie Kirke's post
   Melody Crouch, Tybalt Kirke

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MJ always makes her so pretty

“Well, I have to amuse myself somehow,” Tybalt quipped back with a grin, just as teasing. That much was true - it was terribly easy to be bored at these sort of things, because these sort of things only lent themselves to small talk and this event didn’t even have any figurine-quidditch to preoccupy himself with like Prewett’s do last month.

(Apparently what this event had was a very keen staff, and some extremely convenient ruses to create some rare privacy. Honestly, he couldn’t quite fathom why, unless the hostess of the evening had a history of scandal of her own, and was weirdly sympathetic towards people in stupid situations like he and Elsie were. Or was merely waiting to catch them out. Oh, he didn’t know. It was difficult enough to bring himself to care.)

Because he had still been grinning at the way she’d stopped drinking the champagne and then apparently forgotten that tactic before giving the drink up for good. About to say something snarky about that, Tyb could not even pretend to have been expecting what Elsie said next, and narrowly avoided spraying out the last bit of champagne on his tongue in surprise. “Wait, later? What are we doing later?” Tybalt asked, an eyebrow shooting upwards intently, sure he couldn’t be imagining the suggestion in the word. He bit down on his lip to contain the sudden thrill of anticipation - and the expression on his face, hopefully, too.

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   Melody Crouch, Ophelia Devine

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Pursing her lips to hide the mirth that threatened to spill over into laughter, Elsie almost wished she hadn't ditched the champagne simply for something to do with her hands and for something to hide behind. He seemed to miss her implications entirely, both of them, the first of which was alright, the second though, she didn't quite even know exactly what she meant by it. What she did know was, that whatever it was was in the champagne was playing fast and loose with her judgement. That spelled trouble. Lots of trouble.

Trying to find her more properly behaved side was extremely hard with him there right next to her, close enough to reach out and touch. "Well nothing, if you're going to be that obvious about it." She teased lightly, trying to keep her expression neutral and barely managing. This was far too difficult. She was going to have to go pretend to enjoy herself appropriately after this to make sure that this seemed like a perfectly benign pair of old classmates catching up, especially if they didn't get themselves under control, and soon.

"But technically you do live alone so..." She let the suggestion hang in the air for a moment, curious to see his reaction. She was supposed to be the level-headed one, the one who played by the rules and the stakes were of course higher now with her name being splattered in the pages of Witch Weekly (it was much more amusing to read about Tyb in the gossip mags after all), but honestly, she just missed him too much to take some times. The question was would he find the sense to behave this time or was she treading on thin ice and taking him down with her?

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MJ always makes her so pretty

“Elsie Beauregard, you absolute tease,” Tyb exclaimed, the words almost a whine - and would have been far too loudly spoken, if he hadn’t been gazing directly at her. He wanted badly to laugh, but knew he couldn’t, not here, not at a conversation that probably wasn’t supposed to be riotously funny. (Anyway, this wasn’t funny in the least, this was excruciatingly frustrating and he desperately hoped she wasn’t joking about coming over later, because Tybalt could barely stand to keep these two feet of respectable distance between them now and if a little intense eye contact was all he had to go on until the next event he was going to waste away, he knew it.)

But that was what they had to do, wasn’t it? Live on crumbs for now. Tybalt shouldn’t even complain: it was enough of a risk to talk to each other in public, just in case someone was observing a little too closely and guessed something they shouldn’t. He was grateful, really - and besides, a few meaningful looks between them could say more than they could write in letters.

So he managed to suppress the smirk before it slipped onto his face, and absently thumbed along the hem of his jacket to stop himself doing anything else he wanted to. (He wanted her to come over tonight. And Elsie was right: better there, a better chance of not getting caught. And if they’d managed it before -) “And you’d risk another rumour in Witch Weekly?” He replied mildly, with the briefest quirk of an eyebrow; and tempted as he was, he wasn’t entirely joking. It was not the magazine, necessarily, but that fact that if there were rumours already, people would be primed and ready, just waiting for something worse to happen. And Tybalt was much less worried about Witch Weekly than he was her mother. If she found Elsie’s room empty in the early hours of the morning, and apparently not for the first time, well - he didn’t like to think.

Which... was not to say he’d refuse Elsie anything if she came over tonight, obviously. Like he’d said, he just didn’t have the constitution.

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   Elsie Kirke, Holly Scrimgeour, Melody Crouch, Ophelia Devine

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It took all her willpower not to break out into a laugh at his retort, just the expression on his face would be enough to send her into a fit of giggles. She had to remember that just because nobody could hear them, didn't mean her mother or somebody else wasn't watching from across the room, and they needed to at least pretend to be casual about it. Allowing for a small smile and a little shrug, she again wished for a drink to occupy her hands with. Instead she folded them in front of her, smoothing out the skirt of her dress simply for something to do.

Trying to maintain the facade of nonchalance, she kept her eyes on his. Knowing the risk was higher now that people seemed to be paying attention to her, (ugh!) she had an idea or two to keep her mother and everyone else off her tail. Or so she hoped. The night was barely half over, if she played the rest of the evening right, stuck to the part of part-time debutante and wallflower, maybe people would see just how boring she really was and move on to some other gossip around town.

She could handle it, she thought. As corny as it sounded, she was willing to take the risk, because she'd do just about anything to spend time with him. "Though I'd rather leave you and your hair to Witch Weekly," It wasn't as if her mother was checking in on her in the middle of the night, as least not that she'd noticed, but maybe she should check her room for anything just in case. A little convincing stuffing of her bed could buy her a couple hours right...?  "I think a short, late visit might be alright." She raised one eyebrow just slightly at him. Just thinking about it now had her feeling a little giddy with anticipation. Merlin she really did hope nobody could hear them!

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   Elias Grimstone

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MJ always makes her so pretty

“- and so you should -” Tyb cut in promptly, feeling that Witch Weekly was far better suited to being his terrain, although Elsie was too clever to be reading such delicious drivel anyway. But in spite of any misgivings, he couldn’t help the rush of satisfaction that blazed up the moment she said it might be alright. Alright! The cheek of it; what a criminal understatement.

“Stop doing that, you’re going to make me blush,” he moaned, even though she had only raised an eyebrow the tiniest amount and was doing a great deal better at being subtle than he, even in arranging a secret midnight tryst! He chewed down on the inside of his mouth to stop himself even thinking about it, though he half wished people in the room could hear this for posterity, because look who was the corrupting influence here! Elsie had been ruined, quite ruined, and now she was wreaking her revenge.

“Mmm, yes, I quite agree, the Ministry, blah blah blah, indeed, very delectable regulations -” Tybalt said spontaneously, with perfect enunciation, spewing nonsense just in case anyone was extraordinarily nosy and happened to be able to lip-read a silent conversation. (Hopefully no one was a legilimens, either, or this was all useless anyway, because his mind right now was really not hard to read.) “Maybe don’t bother with the corset this time,” he advised.

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   Elsie Kirke, Melody Crouch, Ophelia Devine

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Elsie had to cover her mouth with her hand briefly to hide the smirk of success that threatened to curl her lips upward, feigning a cough to further conceal the movement.

Shaking her head in silent laughter, Elsie knew she wasn't going to last much longer in this conversation if he kept this up. She hadn't any idea where the jumbled up sentence about the ministry came from but it briefly reminded her of responsibilities before his next quip caught her further off guard. Her retort was better left for later, when she was absolutely, one hundred percent sure nobody could hear them, lest his reaction give them away entirely.

"If you say so," Els shrugged, but her smile likely gave her away. "On that note, I think I should probably go play the part mother wants me to for a little while longer, though now I've got something to help get me through the rest of the evening," Which would now, obviously go horrendously slow, but she had to keep up appearances. Dance with a few gentlemen her mother pointed out, try to look like she was enjoying herself. Couldn't be that hard, right? Elsie wasn't so convinced, but she did have a lot of practice with it at least.

"I'll see you later." She promised, with another smile, wishing they could go now, but holding on to the fact that there at least was a later to look forward to.

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   Melody Crouch

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MJ always makes her so pretty