May 28th, 1895

It hadn't been too long since Antoinette was at her own Coming Out Ball. It was mostly tradition--she hadn't entertained the idea of finding a husband at the ball, mostly since she knew she wanted to focus on the AiT program first. But she'd been trying to get on with her mother, and that meant attending the ball.

Now she was attending for an entirely different reason: to celebrate the graduation of her friend, Ada. And her stepping into debutante life, but Annie had always thought of that as a bit less important. Not that she would let that on. She had faith that, if she wanted to, Ada could be the best debutante there was through sheer stubbornness.

After the end of a dance, Anne approached Ada as quickly as she could so that the two of them could avoid being trapped into another dance. Sometimes it was fun, but now Annie wanted to talk. She didn't get much time for it, especially not when Ada had been at Hogwarts and Antoinette had been busy with her training.

"You look lovely," Annie started off, "Refreshments?"

She wiggled her eyebrows a little. Hopefully they'd get to talk about some of the people in attendance, but really, Antoinette just wanted to hear what Ada thought of the ball.

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Edelweiss Prewett / Philomena Sprout

  

The Coming Out Ball was entirely delightful - swirls of colors followed Ada’s vision as she danced, and despite her nervousness in the weeks leading up to it, the now-debutante was finding she was having a more splendid time than she thought she would. She was able to converse with friends and even dance with a few new people that she hadn’t interacted with before.

But mostly she was looking forward to seeing those she hadn’t in quite some time. Ada searched through the crowd for various faces as the dance came to an end. She curtseyed to her partner and clapped for the orchestra before exiting the dance floor where she ran into one such familiar face.

“Annie!” She greeted, her expression brightening as she moved forward to embrace her friend. She dipped her head graciously, blushing at the compliment and nodded eagerly at the mention of refreshments. She’d spent quite a lot of time at the table already after every dance. “Yes please,” She responded, moving to link her arms with the soon-to-be-auror.

Wren Burroughs | Antoinette Stokes

  

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Annie grinned when Ada seemed happy to join her at the table. She pulled her friend slightly closer to her, a half-hug through their linked arms while they walked over.

"You must tell me everything," Annie declared, "I'll trade you some stories, if you would like."

It was hard to imagine that they were both moving into new stages of their lives. Sometimes Antoinette still felt rather young, especially when she was around the more experienced aurors. She would have to admit that standing around Hogwarts students and recent graduates made her feel somewhat superior.

"Any good dances so far?" Anne herself wasn't much interested in the social scene, but she knew her mother would be asking her all about it when she saw her.

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Thank you for the set, Bee!

From all the socializing she’d done today, Annie was one of the people she was most pleased to encounter. Not only because she was a familiar face like Lydie but because Annie represented the outside world - she was proof that a woman could succeed outside. It had been done before. And while Ada certainly didn’t have many aspirations that aligned with her friend’s, it still proved to her that if Annie could do it, so could she.

“Oh yes, let’s.” Ada agreed, walking over to the refreshment table. Shuffling her skirts around so she wouldn’t bump or trip Annie took some practice, but soon Edelweiss was able to pour herself and her friend some of the punch.

“I’ve danced with a few of my classmates, but I don’t think I’ve gotten asked to dance by many interested suitors,” She conversed. “Still early days and all that, you know.”

Wren Burroughs | Antoinette Stokes

  

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