7 May, 1891 — Hogsmeade Ballroom — Rainbow Ball

Typically Ford might have been opposed to an event with a cover charge — or at least, he might have if they had any alternative invitations they could accept instead — but the tickets for this hadn't been expensive, and the ball was so fun that he was having a hard time regretting it. His sisters (Verity, at least) had been more interested in the fashion element than the liquor, of course, but Ford wasn't disappointed with either. He didn't have much experience with Jewell's because he had an aversion to firewhiskey and scotch and things in a similar sort of vein, but this was much different from what he'd expected. It was sweet and didn't leave his mouth burning. Although Ford wasn't typically one to over-indulge on anything, alcohol included, he couldn't resist taking a sip every time it changed color, so that he could try and guess the flavor before he took a drink.

As a result, he was starting to feel a little bit of a buzz, though it wasn't enough to be worrying yet. It was barely enough for him to recognize it, but he did make a mental note that when he finished this glass perhaps he should take a few minutes before retrieving another. He was here as a chaperone (as he always was, at any social event), so it wouldn't do to start getting clumsy or sluggish. Nevermind that he didn't actually enjoy the idea of being drunk in the first place. There were too many things to keep juggling all the time, now that he was the head of the family. He couldn't afford to let loose in a way that didn't allow him to reel himself back in on short notice.

But this was fine — he was only a little tipsy, and after this drink he could wait before he got another. The liquor was just so tasty that he'd had too much too quickly without thinking about it, but now that he was thinking about it, it wasn't going to be a problem at all. Besides, he wasn't the farthest gone in the ballroom — or at least, he assumed intoxication had played at least some part in the fashion accessory that suddenly came flying towards him and bounced off his chest. Probably someone had tripped and lost it while falling — that, or someone was throwing things at him. Maybe the fellow that he and Penelope Fawcett had hit in the head with a peanut at the masquerade last month...

At any rate, he was now in possession of a piece of someone's wardrobe, having caught it against his chest on reflex (and spilled some of his drink on his hand in the process), so now he supposed he'd have to figure out where it had come from.

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Set by Lady!

Zinnia had wanted to come and so had Senna and normally this was right up Daffy's alley. She just prayed she could get through the evening without embarrassing herself somehow by running into Noble. She had been the one to call things off, or pause them, or whatever it was that put her where she currently stood, but that didn't mean she was proud of it; she missed him like hell.

Tonight though, she could put on a happy face for her sisters and get through the evening, hopefully with minimal incident. She and Zinnia were watching the fashion show for a few minutes when Daff thought she saw a familiar face; a more welcome one at the moment. Mr. Grimstone's sudden appearance in her garden last week had been quite jarring, but more for him than for her. However, she had quite enjoyed the interaction and would welcome the distraction of a conversation at this point. She excused herself from Zinnia quickly, turning to see if she was indeed correct, but before she could get too far, she slipped on a spill on the floor.

Daff managed to catch herself, but felt her bracelet go flying from her wrist. She couldn't even blame the alcohol, she'd only had one so far! It was quite tasty, but she knew better than to partake in too much. Distracted from her initial course of action, she instead found herself looking for the silver cuff that had gone on a little jaunt. It was one of her favorites, daffodils engraved into the metal, a gift from Noble on her seventeenth birthday.

It didn't take her long to find it and she grimaced internally at who happened to be holding it. If that was who she thought it was, this had the potential to be all kinds of awkward. Hopefully she could get in and out of this interaction quickly. "My apologies, unexpected slip, sent it flying." She apologized with a guarded smile, brushing some stray hair from her face, careful of the blooms arranged in her up-do.

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Ford supposed he was lucky that this had come from someone so nearby and not been dropped on him from one of the upper areas of the ballroom, because the bracelet that had hit him was small enough and heavy enough that it might have left a real mark if it had the chance to pick up any speed. As it was, it had startled him, but it hadn't really hurt. Hopefully the same could be said of the young woman who'd approached him for it — startled but not hurt — since she'd evidently fallen with enough force to send it flying.

"No trouble," he said easily, holding it out for her to take. "I hope the slip wasn't too much of an ordeal. Though you look to be in one piece?" he continued with a playful smile. It was just the sort of casual playfulness he often affected at balls, nothing more, but she seemed like maybe she could have used it — he wouldn't have been able to say exactly what it was about her expression or her body language, but he didn't get the impression she was enjoying herself at the moment. Perhaps predictably, if she'd just nearly fallen — but if she was embarrassed about it, at least he could clue her in that he wasn't the sort to mind a bit of clumsiness.

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Set by Lady!

"Thank you, Daff offered him a soft smile as she slipped the bracelet back onto her wrist, looking down at it fondly for as moment.

"Quite alright thank you," Daff flushed slightly, which wasn't normal for her, but these weren't exactly the circumstances she'd thought she'd be meeting Noble's family under. Maybe it was better if Fortitude thought her an awkward, clumsy mess...

She went on before she could stop herself, "There was a spill in the floor I didn't see, slid a little, but I didn't go all the way down." Why she was explaining herself, she couldn't fathom, but she wasn't this self-conscious generally either. Something had shifted in her personality over the last month and it wasn't for the better.

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Ford saw her flush and thought he must have guessed correctly that she was a little embarrassed about this. He smiled easily at her in return, hoping that would put her a little more at ease. He understood that women in this age range were more or less trained to see every interaction with a man as a potential source of anxiety, but there was really no way anyone ought to feel that way around him — even if he had been in a position where he might be looking for a wife, the idea that he could make anyone feel embarrassed about their own social foibles was, frankly, ridiculous.

"Well, I'm glad for that," he said. Had he not already been on his second drink in less than an hour, he probably would have left it at that, because he didn't even know her name and this interaction didn't really need to go any further, particularly if she was already flustered. There was something in the way that she looked at the bracelet as she slipped it back on that had stuck out to him, though, and since he was tipsy there was less hesitation to work through before he commented on it. "You could have that tightened a bit, you know. There's a jewelry store on the edge of High Street that could do it in maybe ten minutes, so it fits a little better. I'm guessing you wouldn't want to lose it," he said with half a shrug. It was the way she'd looked at it that had clued him in; it seemed sentimental, maybe, or at least it was one of her favorites. If it was loose enough to go flying when she hadn't even properly fallen, it could probably benefit from a better fit before something worse happened to it.

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Set by Lady!

Though everything in her head shouted at her to cut the conversation short, she simply didn't have it in her to excuse herself and be rude. Mr. Greengrass was simply being kind when she was all out of sorts.

"Thank you for the idea, it's a little simpler than that," She simply hadn't tightened it enough when putting it on. She had slim wrists, slim everything really, but sometimes it did make the cuff a little loose. Daff held her wrist up and showed Mr. Greengrass that it was indeed fairly tight this time. The gap between the ends of the cuff itself was minimal now, hopefully it would stay on.

"Should be safe for the rest of the night as long as I keep my dance moves to a reasonable enthusiasm." Which shouldn't be a problem, Daff was not one to bring too much attention to herself, as long as she didn't have any more to drink.

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Ford laughed at the mental image her statement had conjured, of a particularly enthusiastic dance. The music they were playing right now didn't really lend itself to that — he hadn't really been paying attention, but he thought this one was a waltz — but he could picture it all the same. A debutante throwing her arms around wildly, clearing space on the floor as others moved back to avoid being accidentally struck, while her partner watched in disbelief and awe.

"Are you known for your enthusiasm on the dance floor?" he teased lightly, shaking his head. She didn't seem the type, to say the least.

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Set by Lady!

Daff smiled on reflex; his laugh somewhat reminded her of Noble's and that brought on a fresh little pang of guilt, that she had to cover up somehow. It was a relief though, that she hadn't entirely lost her confidence in social situations.

"Though these drinks would make it quite easy, not at events like this." These kinds of balls and parties called for the traditional decorum. Daffy had however, attended both family functions and what would be considered a working class dance or two in the past where it was much more common place to actually have enthusiasm while dancing.

"A ceili or a family party is a different story." They had Irish heritage somewhere on her mum's side and Daff had spent some time with her distant cousins on a visit once. It had been a wild ride.

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Ford glanced down at the drink in his hand as she mentioned it, almost as though he'd forgotten about the drinks. His had turned bright pink, which was sort of a shocking shade, and he took a sip out of curiosity. It tasted like some sort of fruit, sweet and very distinct, but he didn't recognize it; maybe something exotic or foreign that he hadn't had a chance to try before. Speaking of foreign...

"A — kay-lee?" he repeated, quirking an eyebrow. "Did I pronounce that right? I don't think I've heard that word before, and I don't know what it means," he admitted. "Enlighten me?" Ford was genuinely curious; he liked listening to people's stories, and now that she was relaxing a little bit from her initial embarrassment she was pleasant enough to talk to, so he saw no reason not to get her to say more.

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Set by Lady!

Daff nodded at his pronunciation. "It's traditional set dancing," She thought back to how one of her cousins had explained it when she visited. "Like a quadrille, there are typically four couples, so eight dancers moving in a circular set of steps. It's like an organized jig." It was the best way to describe it. A quadrille was a common dance at a ceili, though the Irish took it to a whole new level.

"Fast-paced and intricate, quite a treat to watch and try. I spent some time with cousins in Ireland after I graduated from Hogwarts and I learned a little bit. I found it to be immensely entertaining actually and much more fun than this," Daff motioned to the dance floor with its changing colors and classical music. She was by no means an expert, but by the end of her stay had been able to keep up. A quadrille still gave her fond memories to this day.

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Ford was laughing again at her description, but in a gentle, good-natured way. He wasn't laughing at her, but he couldn't help that the image it conjured up in his mind was a little funny — and the word jig was just meant to provoke smiles, he was sure. No one could say jig in a serious way. But it did sound fun, the way that she talked about it, and he agreed with her that it would at the very least be more interesting than what was currently happening on the dance floor.

"Well, I'll have to take your word for it, about it being a treat to watch," he said with a rueful smile. "I'd offer to go goad the orchestra into playing one for you, but unless you've got seven cousins strewn about the ballroom it wouldn't do us any good, would it?"

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Set by Lady!

Her smiled blossomed into something more genuine as she glanced at the musicians. "Oh I doubt that violinist could pull off a fiddle reel." She chuckled. Just by the way he held the bow all stiff like. There was something so captivating about the fiddle itself and those who played it, always with their whole bodies and such ease.

"Sadly no, none of those cousins are present," The Potts family was big enough, never mind adding in her mother's side as well. "My sisters and I would be able to fill the majority, but only two of six are here this evening." Maybe Daff should organize a visit, get out of Hogsmeade for a little while. It might do her some good to get a little... distance. Clearly she wasn't doing well with that as she stood here conversing with Noble's brother, quite amicably, as though nothing at all was wrong in her life.

She'd often thought about how she would get along with the other members of the Greengrass family, which so far was alright, though it didn't matter anymore. It was another twist of the knife she'd stabbed herself with.

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   Fortitude Greengrass

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"Six!" Ford repeated, raising his eyebrows. Six was not a good deal more siblings than the Greengrass family had, but it was remarkable that they were all sisters, wasn't it? Unless there were more than six, and only six of them were girls. The only family he knew of that was big enough for that was the Fisks, but he knew Nemo Fisk only had one younger sister, so she couldn't have been one of them. This did mean the chances were high, though, that he would have known at least one of her sisters. She was closer to Noble or Verity's age, he guessed, but unless she was the oldest one or more of her sisters had probably been in his Hogwarts classes.

"I'm one of five," he said, taking another drink of the bright pink liquor in his glass. "So if we joined forces we could manage it. But you'd have to teach us all first, so not tonight."

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Set by Lady!

The sheer size of their family was nothing too impressive, but seven daughters was a lot for most people. Daff smiled fondly at the thought of the mixing of the Greengrass and Potts families, had thought it an inevitability once up on a time. "We'd make almost two full circles." She chuckled. Add in her sisters' husbands or any parents and they'd be all set. What a party her wedding would have been after all.

"No, not tonight. It's not the same without Paddy pipes anyway." She agreed, her smile fading a little and she looked out over the dance floor to give herself a moment. Not ever, unfortunately. "Hopefully you get a chance sometime." She managed after a moment, attempting a better smile. Merlin she needed a drink. 

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Her expression seemed to dip for a moment, which Ford noticed but wasn't sure what to make of. He'd thought her flushed cheeks earlier had been from embarrassment about having fallen, but surely they were past that now. What had affected her, then? It was only for a moment, and then she was smiling again, so it wasn't as though he could ask, but he kept a mental note of it all the same.

"Hopefully?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Does that mean you're not going to teach me, then? How disappointing," he teased lightly — less for his own sake and more because of whatever had passed over her features a minute ago. If he could make her smile and forget about whatever that had been, so much the better. This dance was too colorful and these drinks were too tasty for anyone to spend the night half-sulking and only pretending to have fun.

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Set by Lady!

Daff was very well-aware of how easy it was to talk to Fortitude, almost as easy as Noble. She chuckled quietly as he persisted on teaching him how to participate in the ceili. "It would be rather tricky this evening," She conceded gently. Looking out over the dance floor once more, she had to wonder what was next in the rotation of dances.

"If you can quadrille however, you can probably handle it." They weren't too dissimilar anyway. The real problem was that Daff didn't know quite how to lead, even if the opportunity arose; she had always been a capable learner when led by somebody who knew what they were doing, but she wasn't super confident in her ability to really take on the challenge.

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