28 May 1895 - COB, Great Hall

Cad had never been to a ball before, and he found that he wasn’t exactly missing out – there were too many people around, too many fancy robes, suits and dresses, and well… he’d much rather be back at the farm, tucked away in some nook or cranny with a book or helping with some kind of chore than be here. It wasn’t like he stuck out like a sore thumb and all eyes were on the debuting girls rather than someone like him, but he still couldn’t help but feel out of place.

He lingered near the food table, soon realizing that the Coming Out Ball was a) incredibly dull, b) most of his friends had skipped the event so he didn’t have many people to hide with. Cad wasn’t sure if he was allowed to leave, not until all the graduates went across the lake in the boats at the end of the night, so he felt… stuck. Cad shifted from foot to foot, trying not to look too obvious as he loitered beside the table. He eyed the small triangle sandwiches on a tray but didn’t reach for it because he wasn’t quite sure what was in them.

His dark eyes swept across the ballroom, finally landing on a familiar face – Miss Millie Potts. She didn’t look out of place in her blue dress and her hair all done up in a way that looked nice, but there was no one around her. Cad abandoned the table as he made his way toward her, hoping that he could stand with her for at least a minute to ease some of the weirdness he felt about being here. They weren't friends, not exactly, but at least they had some things in common to talk about.

He saddled up next to her without thinking about it, although quickly stepped back when he felt he was too close to her. “You look nice,” Cad offered, and immediately regretted it. His voice came out strange, like it didn’t belong to him.

---

Millie Potts

---

The following 2 users Like Cadogan Glynn's post:2 users Like Cadogan Glynn's post
   Greta Gillenwater, Millie Potts

---

By now, the dress Millie had worn to the ball was doing a better job of wearing her instead. How many dances had it been so far? She could hardly tell by her dance card, where only one name still adorned the specially-made card around her wrist, nor by the sheen that ran up her arms and down her neck to cling awkwardly to the cotton layers beneath the skin of her dress.

Taking a well-deserved respite was about all the young witch could do at the moment, still lingering in the Great Hall while dances continued just a little ways away. She wasn't willing to let go of the magic of the night, not yet. And as it would be dreadfully uncouth to consider undoing some of the layers of her dress, there was nothing left to do but endure. Millie hesitated to gulp down another glass of refreshments for fear of rushing off and away from the evening's delights, which left her ind desperate want of a fan. She made do, when no one was looking, with the sturdy paper of the dance card instead.

"Oh! Mr. Glynn, you nearly startled me," Millie almost jumped at the surprising words coming from her fellow, typically reticent, Ravenclaw. The little breeze stopped, leaving her keenly aware of the warmth on her cheeks that always seemed to arise whenever Cadogan was around. She wouldn't mind sharing the top marks in their house with another, even another boy, just anyone other than Cadogan Glynn. If he managed to get the same grades that she did on their OWLs, or worse, surpass her, the young witch couldn't know what she would ever do.

Besides hoping he never took notice that she only really blushed around him...and Benedict.

"Are you enjoying the evening so far?" She had to force out the question before it caught in her throat, making the interaction even more awkward. That seemed like the right thing to say, at least, something Millie was grateful for at last. The evening had filled itself to the brim with uncertainty and unfamiliar steps, in one of the dances she and Ben had been left hopelessly behind while trying to copy others around them. "Everything here seems truly magical! "

Of course, being at Hogwarts, everything always did.

---

  

---

Cad couldn’t help but blink at her, just once, a slow owlish one like he wasn’t entirely sure what to say to her. He hadn’t meant to startle her, although he didn’t feel bad that he had; they weren’t friends, not really, but at the moment Millie was his lifeline to not be alone at the Coming Out Ball so he really hoped she didn’t just walk away for whatever reason. While he’d never had a chance to come to something as grand as this before, Cad was quickly realizing that social events with music loud enough to drown out any thought were something that he’d never enjoy.

”Sorry,” he mumbled. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

He glanced sidelong at her, just enough to catch the flush across her cheeks, although he assumed it was from dancing. His fingers curled around the sleeve of his robe. “Well, I mean… no,” he admitted softly. “Not really.” It was magical for her, maybe, but then again Millie would be amongst them in just two short years. Cadogan would return home, or better yet, join the work force instead of being subjected to this.

“It’s loud. And hot. And it feels like everyone read some secret rulebook I missed out on.” And it wasn’t like Cad failed etiquette class, although even after being forced to take it he was still woefully unprepared for life outside of Hogwarts. His fingers curled tighter into the fabric of his sleeve. He wished he had a book. Or a reason to go.

---

The following 1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post:1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post
   Millie Potts

---

Not enjoying a delight might have been a truly miserable experience, Millie decided. Though she herself had found a quiet respite away from the swirling faces, smiling madly enough to give her pause, her heart was still out there on the floor. Ben was out there still, spinning around her friend and classmate, but in her heart that was her dance as well. A spirit divided, the young witch considered Mr. Glynn without a tangible thought of what to say at the moment.

She nodded. It saved her for the moment, and the drink she tipped to her lips again with another long, refreshing pull. The punch, not an adult's yet but with enough tang to earn the name, left a tingling in her mouth that seemed to demand something of her. Not another swallow, though she tried that first, it seemed the sensation could only be appeased with a word. "You might be less alone than you think for that rulebook."

Her arm raised to show him the card that dangled from her wrist, so unlike all the other dance cards on other women in the hall. It was the brightest spot of Mr. Hunter's silly omissions, and if only he might stand here next to her again, he, too, could find someone who had missed out on the secret rulebook. "Perhaps we, ladies, were the only ones who did pay attention to the dancing lesson days in etiquette."

Millie meant it as an observation, yet the words that left her mouth had more punch than she meant them to. Her tongue moved around inside her mouth, still feeling tingly if only a bit lesser now. To anyone else, the young witch would feel a deep shame in speaking so openly with harsh words.

Cadogan, whose prefect badge and academic scores had always felt like he was trying to outmatch hers, seemed resilient enough to handle it.

"It might be too late to hope for another class. It's definitely too loud to read the rulebook," Millie agreed with him, but that didn't mean she couldn't remind him of his dire circumstances. This might be the one place that she could finally outmatch him, edging ahead of her rival, fellow Ravenclaw. If only that thought felt better than it did to the young witch, who couldn't stop looking at Cadogan's long hangdog face. "Perhaps you just need someone to practice with for a little practical learning."

And even if he caught up, Millie was still ahead of him by time and dances, something that would satisfy her more than filling up the whole card tonight.

---

  

---

Cadogan glanced at her wrist as she lifted it, blinking at the dance card dangling there. If she hadn’t shown him, he wouldn’t have noticed that it was different than the other ones – it wasn’t like he’d asked anyone to dance, or had plans to. He wondered where she’d gotten it, although it wasn’t like Millie owed him any explanations so he didn’t ask her. Even if he had planned on asking her, her next words were so sharp that any response died behind his teeth before he could speak them.

“I…” Cad cleared his throat and gave the ghost of a shrug, eyes dropping to the space between their shoes. He took the classes that were important seriously, but etiquette… after graduation he’d never use it again. Millie would attend balls and dance with others, she’d smile pretty and bat her eyelashes in hopes of landing a husband who would ensure she’d never have to work a day in her life; she had to know how to dance. But him…? He’d spend his days working and his nights quietly, probably, in some cramped study somewhere, pouring over parchment until his eyes hurt.

His ears felt hot. ”The only thing I remember from etiquette lessons is not to trip over your partner.” Cad managed a small smile. Millie was smart and their marks were competitive; Cad wasn’t sure if she was mocking him, but he didn’t feel like digesting her words at the moment; Millie could say something halfway nice and still lace it with thorns.

Cad held his hand out to her. “If you don’t mind me potentially stepping on your toes.” The truth was, Cad didn’t actually want to dance, but it was better than standing around feeling completely out of place all night.

---

The following 1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post:1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post
   Millie Potts

---

He'd smiled at her.

When that bashful boy had finally found his courage, and Millie knew enough how difficult that could be, it came with a smile. She nearly recoiled, less out of fear than simple confusion. There was no telling what she had done to earn Cadogan's admiration here, and a steady part of herself was ready to question it. It was the same steady part of herself that kept her from falling right into his arms without a second thought.

The thought did come, however, and then another. The second came with anger, that he might have wasted far less time being so aloof and coy rather than just being kind. Not Cadogan, with his perfect grades and a prefect badge to mirror hers. Not a boy she had admired from around corners and across classrooms, but never daring to come much closer than an arm's length.

They stood at an arm's length now, and from hers dangled a card Millie had never meant as an invitation. She lowered it quickly, the quiet gasp too late to change what she'd done. It filled her with the third thought, a quiet dread that sent her eyes out to the dance floor where Benedict was already engaged with one of her friends. He was doing his part in reminding Millie why she had come tonight, and it wasn't just to stand by the refreshments looking as quite beside herself as she must now.

"Well, I..." Millie stammered out, and then managed to return the smile. That was something she had paid attention to in etiquette class, and to fix her eyes on her dancing partner. No matter how much that made the young witch uncomfortable, and it did so greatly. She could feel the dress still clinging to her skin, and part of her worried it would find ways to tear the delicate fabrics should she undergo the toil of dance maneuvers once again.

She shut her jaw and blocked that part out, giving her latest dance partner a nod.

"That may be the risk I take when you sign the card," the young witch suggested, her voice full of reason. Logic, reason, rationale, that was easier to juggle than the idea of Cadogan Glynn taking her into his arms and spinning her about. She didn't need her feet or dress to twirl in order to feel the room trying in earnest. And, to her surprise, it was an earnestness Millie felt when she raised the card again for him to do so.

Coming to a decision certainly helped steady herself a bit more, and a hand on his wrist —to avoid the card jittering too much, she told herself— brought her the rest of the way. Millie offered a verbal prayer for the both of them, "We'll simply have to find out how much we learned. No worse than taking a practice exam, right?"

If only Millie could hear the reason in those words herself.

---

  

---

Cad had never been rejected by a dance partner, although that was mostly because etiquette class required the girls to say yes when it came to dance lessons. He hadn’t considered, until he watched as Millie seemed unsure of if she wanted to say yes or not, that he might be rejected. Cad hadn’t accounted for this, although the way her lips curled into a small smile put him at ease. Or well, slightly at ease because Millie could easily just as tell him no with a smile.

Still, she hadn’t yet. And that meant something.

He could feel the weight of her indecision hanging between them like the tail end of a spell that hadn’t quite fizzled out. But then she nodded and Cad let out a small breath, giving her a nod in return. But then the Ravenclaw’s gaze dropped to the dance card still attached to her wrist. He felt something strange crawling in his chest, the kind of dread that came from answering a question wrong in class, made worse by the fact that everyone had seen it happen. At least if he fumbled a dance it was just Millie, but then again Cadogan didn’t want her to think she had a one up on him in a single class, even if etiquette was the one that mattered the least to him.

“Practice exams are useful,” he said, tone matching hers in its seriousness. Although he’d much rather take a practice exam than have to dance in front of everyone. Millie wasn’t out and he wasn’t an eligible bachelor, so luckily there would be little to no eyes on their exchange. Her touch was as light as a feather as she touched his wrist, and in turn he slowly, but reverently wrote his name on her card, as if it might disappear if he handled it wrong. He wrote his name in careful, slanted script – Cadogan A. Glynn.

“There, now it’s official,” he said, stepping back just enough to bow in the practiced way that Professor — had insisted upon during their lessons. (See, he had learned something.) He offered his hand, palm up. Waited. Cad looked at Millie, like they were the only two people left who had to finish the exam of dancing; he knew if he looked elsewhere, nerves might get the best of him.

“Shall we?”

---

The following 1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post:1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post
   Millie Potts

---

A small part of her wanted to tug the card away from him, the same part that looked out to the dance floor with a pang in her heart. Perhaps it was her heart out there, and her head here, in front of Cadogan. She kept her arm steady to let him write out his name, letting her head and reason win. The words rattled through her head, only a practice exam and practice exams are useful. They could both speak the words, but could they dance their meaning?

Before she could find out, Millie was forced to make her own use of the etiquette lessons today. There was no curtsy with Ben, but with Cadogan she bent a knee behind her as the girls had been taught. The folds of her chiffon skirt gathered in her hands, dipping once, before she restored them, and herself, back to normal. All that disarray simply to confer a wordless acknowledgement, but a mere warm-up for the pageantry that lay ahead of them.

"We shall, Mr. Glynn," the young witch returned, a classroom model of behavior. The etiquette felt more like playing pretend, yet the grip of Cadogan's hand on hers could be nothing but real. As they found a place on the dance floor, Millie ignored the desire to look out to the rest of it, she tried her hardest to ignore everything but the partner in front of her. Her eyes met his, or at least they almost met his, looking just a little above them to his brow. It was smaller, different, more shapely...no, it was only the brow of Mr. Glynn, and nothing was the matter with that.

The only thing that mattered was that she dance with him; an offer accepted was a promise Millie had to keep.

Millie kept her promises, just as well as she paid attention in class. She did at least try that much, and in their shared etiquette class it was much too difficult to do otherwise. Her feet had learned the steps, her arms had learned the movements, and however much she might lack in flourish or passion this time, her embroidered dress offered its own in recompense.

"Isn't this enjoyable?" she asked, almost breathless as they came together once during the dance. Millie couldn't that fathom it was his doing, not for this dance. Dancing with him wasn't making her lose her head like her first, no, this time Millie could feel herself hitting every step along the way, and only missing Cadogan when he was out of sync somehow. She knew what it was she felt dancing with him, and it made her want to ask all the questions they weren't permitted during a proper dance:

How were your OWLs?
What was your hardest question?
Do you plan to stay for NEWTs?
Which do you suppose you'll make it into?

And the one she could never bring herself to even consider asking: Why did it take you until tonight to be nice to me?

Instead, as etiquette demanded, Millie remained stuck on the easy questions. Just small talk, the patter of nothingness. It was, as the girls were taught, supposed to be a litmus test for the profoundly astute gentleman who could hold his own in words as well as wits. The young witch found it profoundly stupid, but asked something stupid regardless. "A little performance for a little practice...much better than spending a night in the stuffy tower, don't you think?"

---

The following 1 user Likes Millie Potts's post:1 user Likes Millie Potts's post
   Cadogan Glynn

---

Millie’s palm felt weird in his own, like it was too small and too smooth to be touching his, but Cad didn’t pull away despite his instincts telling him to as they made their way toward the dance floor. It was just like etiquette class, and if he could manage to dance well enough there for a passing grade then he could do it on the dance floor where nowhere was watching him with eagle eyes.

He let out a small breath and met Millie’s eyes, or well, he kind of did, staring between them, at the bridge of her nose. She had a button nose, which looked nice on her, although even Cad knew not to open his mouth and give Millie Potts that kind weird compliment, so instead he forced his feet into position and tightened his gip on her as they fell into place. It was easier that way, less of a concession than really holding her gaze, but enough to pass for politeness.

No. This wasn’t enjoyable in the slightest, but it wasn’t her doing, but rather Cad’s dismay for dancing altogether. They at least hadn’t hit anyone else and he hadn’t stepped on her feet, so really, Cadogan was calling this a win. Realizing then that he hadn’t answered her question, he cleared his throat. “Better than parchment,” he said, voice low but earnest. He’d much rather talk about anything else because it felt wrong to lie to her.

Millie Potts might be enjoying this, but Cad well… Cad wanted to sink into the floor.

(It wasn’t her doing. No. The more they moved across the dance floor the more the Ravenclaw was coming to realize that he didn’t enjoy twirling around the dance floor.)

Cadogan hesitated, long enough that it might’ve looked like he’d forgotten she’d spoken at all again. Their etiquette professor would be docking him point after point if she could see the way he was fumbling tonight. “Mm,” he hummed, eyes flicking downward before steadying on her shoulder. “I don’t think the tower is stuffy at all.” He realized at once how flat that sounded, so he added quickly, “But…practice is good too. More useful, I suppose.” His words tumbled over themselves, one thought chasing another until he pressed his lips shut to stop them.

She had to realize that while she would use dancing in her life beyond the castle, he wouldn’t. Right?

---

The following 1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post:1 user Likes Cadogan Glynn's post
   Millie Potts

---