14th February, 1894 — Love at First Sight ball, Wellingtonshire

“Alright, we’ve got to stop this somehow,” Theo said seriously, voice low, as they took their places for a third dance together this evening. Third accidental dance, he should say: he had taken a pink carnation, more to relieve the burden of having to ask anyone particular to dance than anything, and presuming he would diligently manage to avoid anyone’s gaze all evening by staring at the ceiling in boredom or by paying too much attention to the ugly decorated hors d’oeuvres. He had not bargained for this. The smile he gave her was half-abashed and half-exasperated. “This is getting ridiculous.”

Listen, the first time they had danced had been fine. Then they had bumped into each other a while later at the refreshments table, which had also been fine, but as they had rounded off that polka just now they had both had the same misfortune to circle back to the same place and lock eyes immediately again. Which was just stupid.

And obviously he had fully exhausted all the arsenal of ballroom small talk he possessed; and he was certain she wanted to get away from him too and dance with someone – anyone – new, so he felt comfortably at liberty to speak candidly now. Because what they really needed going forwards was a plan of action to avoid the enchantment getting them again.

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   Fortitude Greengrass

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It was a spiteful decision that saw Rosalie subtly swapping her white dance card for a pink one. The gimmick of the evening hit too close to old, barely scabbed over wounds for her to see it as anything other than ridiculous. Only a fool would find comfort or enjoyment from love at first sight. There was such risk in loving someone without knowing them, such grief and pain. Rosalie would never subscribe to such insanity again.

However, she'd spotted Ezra a short while ago with the same grin he'd use to grin at her and a pink buotonniere, and she refused to be caught unhappy by him again.

Which led to her now third dance with Mr. Gallivan. Rosalie laughed when their eyes met the second time and rolled her eyes at the third. The gimmick remained ridiculous, for she would hardly ever immediately fall for Mr. Gallivan, but he was a far better option than the alternative. "We'll have to designate sides to the ballroom." She said with a hint of a laugh. "So long as we keep to our respective side we should be spared a fourth dance."

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   Theodore Gallivan

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stunning set by Lady <3

At least Miss Hunniford wasn’t the most terrible person he might’ve had to dance with three times in one night. She’d used to live in Hogsmeade, and had been in Cee’s year, so he knew her vaguely; and she was sensible, thankfully, and she hadn’t been afraid to roll her eyes when it happened again, so at least she clearly didn’t care much for the occasion either. So maybe dancing with her was a bit of a mercy, as little as he might have meant it to be.

“Alright, but if we divide it here,” Theo said, gesturing discreetly with the hand he was clasping hers in as the dance turned them towards the halfway point of the ballroom, and grinning at her, “who’s going to get the side with all the punch?” He was only half joking at that. The refreshment table was along one wall, and although the punch was coloured to match the theme of romance, it still did the job of helping one swallow the evening pretty well.

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"The punch! I hadn't considered that." Rosalie quietly exclaimed, her amusement still obvious. Obviously, the half containing the punch was the greater half by far, for she would certainly require another glass or two before the evening concluded. And, while Mr. Gallivan was the gentleman in this situation and Rosalie felt as though he ought to simply allow her the punch side, she then added, "we'll have to devise a system to share it. A neutral territory if you will."

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stunning set by Lady <3

He ought to offer her full dominion over the punchbowl, but Theo was not nearly masochistic enough for that. If it hadn’t been a Valentine’s Day ball, maybe he could have suffered it sober. But the general atmosphere of the evening was too much to stomach, even if he had been unburdened of choosing dance partners.

At least this had given them something new to think about that wasn’t just grinning and bearing it, but a battle plan to devise. “What happens if we both end up there at the same time?” Locked eyes over the punchbowl and a fourth dance, no doubt. It would be their luck. “I s’pose we could take turns in that territory, or else switch sides every quarter of an hour... Though that’s hard to time if you don’t have a watch on you.” Most men could be counted upon to carry a pocketwatch, but he was less sure that ballgowns had pockets, or that young ladies were in the habit of wearing any useful timepieces with them.

Not to mention it would probably look diabolically rude to be checking one’s watch at parties.

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A fourth dance with Mr. Gallivan wasn't the worst possible outcome the evening could come to, but she understood his reluctance in being trapped together once more. The purpose of the evening was to meet other people and to dance with those one might ordinarily be too shy to approach. That they kept accidentally being paired might hold more significant meaning to an outside observer — like perhaps they were so madly in love they couldn't keep their eyes off one another.

"We'll have to time it by the music then. We'll swap at the end of every set." Rosalie suggested, as she most certainly didn't have a pocketwatch tucked into one of her gown's hidden pockets. "If you miss your turn you'll have to wait until the next." They would both have to keep focus on the music, but what other options did they have? "Or, we simply take the risk and come what may. You're a better dance partner than some others I've had tonight."

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Theodore Gallivan

  

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stunning set by Lady <3

Sets of dances. That should work well enough; and not paying enough attention would only mean missing out on a drink for a while, and the turn would come around again. Or – well, she was right, they could always take the risk. Theo had mostly been conscious of tiring of the small talk, and of the fact that Miss Hunniford probably wanted to do what most people wanted to do at balls, have fun and meet people (or something), and that dancing with him a few times in succession was throwing a large wrinkle in that. But if she didn’t actually care, then...

“Oh, well,” Theo said, with a more relaxed shrug and a wry grin, “if you’re sure you’re not bored of me yet.” If neither of them were interested in trying too hard to be social, he could certainly take that risk. He was a little curious if she was as interested in avoidance tactics at parties as he was, though. “But now I have to know – what are your requirements for a good dance partner?” Theo was fairly good at not stepping on toes, he supposed, but he was also hardly charming or enthusiastic, so she mustn’t have very high standards.

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She shrugged. Sure, he wasn't the most excitable partner but he also wasn't leering at her or ruining her slippers with every turn on the floor. Rosalie felt more or less safe with him, something that couldn't be said of all men there that evening. "How could I be bored? We haven't talked about the weather yet." She returned with another laugh.

"But a good dance partner - he must not be clumsy." It was the most obvious requirement she could list, as every other debutante present would echo her sentiments. "Besides that, someone who engages in an interesting conversation."

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stunning set by Lady <3

“Right, of course,” he said, laughing back. See, she had said clumsy first – so he was doing well just for having basic coordination, able to tell his left from his right. He supposed it was worse for women at balls, usually, because they didn’t even have many polite excuses to decline a partner if they were asked. In Theo’s next quick glance around the ballroom floor, he amused himself by looking out for any likely suspects in the bad dance partner category.

And conversation. “Well, you ought to know I always save the weather for my sixth dance with someone,” Theo said in mock-confession, with a teasing eye roll at the idea. “The fifth, if we really can’t wait.” (The real joke here was probably how often he did discuss the weather in more than the usual cursory way – you hadn’t heard real quidditch talk until you were discussing forecasts and cloud conditions and the chance of rain and how any of these might affect their upcoming games in real earnest depth. The people he knew might go on for hours, actually.)

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"The fifth then," Rosalie agreed. So long as they stuck to the plan of dividing the ballroom then they'd be able to avoid any conversation about the weather. For, despite loving the snow and cold weather, Rosalie didn't particularly desire to talk about the wind and whether or not it'd be an early spring. "And then we'll just have to pray there's not a sixth." At some point they'd have to abandon the hostess' intentions for the evening, lest there be some sort of rumors started about them being unable to keep their eyes off one another.

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stunning set by Lady <3

Praying had never done him much good, but maybe she usually had better luck than him. Anyway. And it would look worse than it would probably be, getting stuck together again after this – but as a side effect, at least he wouldn’t have to have the same three conversations again and again with anyone else?

“Worst comes to worst, we’ll just have to start stumbling around the ballroom with our eyes shut,” Theo joked, though obviously that wasn’t a real tactic worth trying. At least while they were dancing it was easy enough not to catch anyone else’s eye; the overly-decorated ballroom was just a vague turning blur of pink and red and people around them.

And if the weather was out-of-bounds until dance five, he would have to continue to be flippant now. “Do you think anyone actually enjoys Valentine’s Day?” Theo said in an undertone – or at least, he had meant to be flippant. There might have been a slightly bitter grimace under it. As far as holidays went – and he knew, he knew, he was begrudging about most of them – Theo was coming to the conclusion that Valentine’s must be one of the worst. Imagine finding this romantic and fun.

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"With our luck we'll collide and be forced into another dance." She added airily. It would be a comical end to a rather rough evening, but at least they'd both likely have an excuse to leave then.

Then, Mr. Gallivan had to go and mention enjoying Valentine's Day, and Rosalie immediately began hoping the dance would end soon. There was a single Valentine's Day she had enjoyed, years ago before all the misunderstandings and dramatics had ruined everything. One singular Valentine's Day that proved that some people did indeed enjoy celebrating. Her smile dipped on the edges, the light in her eyes dimmed as it all slammed back into her.

"Those with a reason to do, I suppose." Rosalie then said, her gaze now somewhere on his shoulder instead of on his face as it'd been only a minute before.

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stunning set by Lady <3

Oh. Theo felt something in her demeanour change almost at once, maybe in her eyes or her expression or the way she’d glanced away. She had – disengaged, even as she was still grasping his hand as they danced.

So he had put a foot wrong, metaphorically. And he – didn’t mind if she liked him or not, didn’t mind if this was their last dance of the evening, didn’t care what they talked about or if they just danced in silence, even. But he felt a little bad for it, for being cynical or bitter or disrespectful, and though he could ignore it, he didn’t want to leave things on a sour note. There was wallowing in his own misery, but he had never meant for it to seep out enough to infect anyone else with the feeling. “Sorry,” he said awkwardly, swallowing. “I’m just... I didn’t mean to – offend you.” He wasn’t sure that was the right word, but he had taken the mockery of the night too far, maybe, and he couldn’t exactly say sorry if you actually like Valentine’s Day.

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"I'm not - " Rosalie instinctively protested. It wasn't a subject she really meant to broach with him either, not when they barely knew one another and he likely wouldn't have cared to hear it. "I'm not offended." She added then, biting back the surge of emotions that swelled with what Valentine's once meant to her. "Love exists, is all. And some are lucky enough to experience it, they're lucky enough to enjoy the day." Just like she once had.

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stunning set by Lady <3

She wasn’t offended, maybe, but she was emotional about it. Theo couldn’t place it until she added love exists, is all – and then it hit him, washed over him all at once and made his shoulders slump with the force of it. He might have never enjoyed Valentine’s day for what it was, and he might not even count himself lucky, but – he understood now. He might have only said as much that night a month ago, but he had loved Cash for longer than that, and he had lost him too. Maybe he wasn’t bitter or rueful about it, actually – maybe he was just mourning it instead.

“Yeah,” Theo said quietly, in an entirely different tone. He felt his ribcage deflate as the sigh left him before he could quite stop it. I know. “Yeah. You’re right.” Those people were lucky, so lucky he almost hated them for it.

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Rosalie understood that tone far more than she would admit to in this company. The presumed sigh of defeat, the presumed despair weighing upon his shoulders. Rosalie hated that he likely knew and understood the ache in her chest. Before she could summon up a response, the music began to slow signaling the end of their dance. "I hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr. Gallivan," she said gently as she stepped away. Then, lighter and with a small smile she added, "and I sincerely hope this is our last dance of the night."

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stunning set by Lady <3