[Anna Brooks]

A loud crack broke through the frosty silence of the night, and out of the shadows stepped a superhero. Dressed entirely in black, two small ears poking out the top of her head- it was none other than Catwoman. She took a strong, purposeful stride towards the gates, and began walking up towards the castle. Silhouetted against the well-lit castle, it would come to no surprise to anyone that she was there on a mission. With little under fifty metres into the castle, she paused, and suddenly she was no longer Catwoman, but a thoroughly nervous Anna Brooks.

This is ridiculous. She'd been given the 'special' job of reporting on Hogwarts' Winter Ball. Ridiculous really, but the Ministry was leaning heavy on the puff piece, and her boss had given her the dirty work. Naturally she'd had no choice but to accept it, but really, did she have to come in costume? The answer was a firm 'no', spoken by her boss on more than on occasion… and so here she was- dressed as Catwoman. It was so stupid, she'd been planning as coming as a Princess, a generic, easy-to-make costume, but no. She had to tell Lizzie that going, and had been stuffed into the uncomfortable costume. She just felt so- inadequate. She was Anna Brooks, a reporter, not Catwoman. She was no sex symbol, no superhero- and now she had to go 'undercover'- a hard enough job in the first place, let alone whilst dressed as Catwoman.

She glanced up at the castle, where students had started milling around the great hall. Everyone dressed up, a sea of colour- and, most noticeably, smiles. When she'd been asked to report on student morale, she'd expected it to be low, but as she glanced around at the students piling into the Great Hall, she entertained the possibility that it was exactly the opposite. The ministry were seeing what they wanted to see, and by placing her at a Ball- the time of greatest happiness in their school year… Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. After all, there were going to be adults there, she could relax, have some fun. Perhaps…

She reached down, pulled her wand out from the holster on her calf, and summoned her tape recorder. It appeared in her hand with a neat pop!, and, after making sure the tape was rewound, carefully pressed the record button. The tape started whirring, and Anna, satisfied, contemplated where to hide the recorder. It wasn't big, but not small enough to hide it up her tight sleeve without nobody noticing. She knew what she had to do. Grimacing, she shoved it down her cleavage- not nearly as real as she'd have liked, and hid it out of sight.

Satisfied no one would notice, she summoned every ounce of courage she had, and walked up the stairs into the Entrance Hall. The students, all busy amongst themselves, barely noticed her. One person, whom Anna could only assume was a teacher, caught her eye, and Anna nodded a greeting in their direction. The steely gaze was held for a moment before Anna had had enough. She tore herself away in the most conceited fashion she could muster, and entered the Great Hall.

After wandering around for ten minutes, pausing to listen to some casual conversation, and take in the general splendour of the place, Anna decided it was high time for a drink. Of course, as she reached the bar, it occurred to her that they probably weren't serving alcohol. Dammit. Instead she took whatever the person in front had ordered, and crossed the room with her drink. She glanced down at her watch- it had only been fifteen minutes… this was going to be a long night. Sighing she leant against the wall, taking a sip of her drink.

[Alice Enid Longbottom]

COSTUME!
Plus purple and sparkly, stethoscope, shoes and mask

'hot damn' the whisper escaped Sam's lips as he saw a very... nice looking girl dressed as catwoman cross the dancefloor. "Excuse me," it was too bad he was going to have to leave his two best friends, but DAMN! She was smokin'!

He took off his hat and smoothed down his already gelled hair, considering this situation from all angles. He could walk up behind her and surprise her, but then she might drop her drink and get mad, or he could be up front, yeah, that sounded right. Mystery had never been his forte.

Replacing his hat he sidled around the dancefloor until he was standing right next to the leather clad woman. He tapped her bare shoulder, "Excuse me," he coughed, "But would you like to dance? I've checked every other girl in here and none of them look as pretty as you,"

'smooth...

{OOC: eugh, short post, but if we do shorter posts we can get more done before you go away)

[Anna Brooks]

Anna turned around as she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Just taller than she, he was dressed as a surgeon... maybe on acid. It was hard to tell. The sparkly purple hat was accompanied by a stethoscope, and mask- all sparkly. Okay... Anna raised an eyebrow at his attire, but then he spoke. "But would you like to dance? I've checked every other girl in here and none of them look as pretty as you."

Anna gave a small laugh, surveying him closely. She knew there were some adults here, dressed up too, but it would really be a problem if she mistook a seventh year for one. After all, she was here to work... But something in the doctor's smile (or maybe just in his hat) tempted her, so instead of questioning him, she smiled, saying, 'Let's just hope you're legal.' She took his hand, and they walked towards the dance floor.

[Samuel Duke]

"Lets just hope you're legal."

Sam couldn't believe his luck. It usually took him hours of work to get a girl to dance with him at a party and today it only took one sentence! As she took his hand he made a quick mental note to wear his obviously lucky hat more often.

The band played a slow waltz as he lead her onto the dance floor. He took her right hand with his left and placed his right on her waist allowing her to put her leather gloved left hand on his shoulder. As he waltzed her around the floor, thanking his mother for those dance classes when he was 10, he stared into eyes, there was somehthing familiar about their pale blue iris.He shook it off though, he spent lots of time at Hogwarts, hanging out with his friends, he'd probably just noticed her when he went to the bathroom or something.

The song was a long one, the longer the better in his opinion. He leant his head forward, "You come to these sorts of parties often?"

[Anna Brooks]

Anna tried to ignore the man's apparent glee, and took his silence for a confirmation of his legality. The band stuck up a slow waltz, and as they clasped hands, his other one came to her waist. Her costume, skin tight, left very little to the imagination, and Anna was very conscious of that hand. But as he waltzed her around the room, her gloved hand resting on his shoulder, he stayed a gentleman, never letting that hand stray down.

She could sense him looking directly at her, staring into her eyes, but something in her couldn't quite meet his gaze. So while her movements were fluid, and she was mostly okay with the waltz, there was something lurking at the back of her mind, if only she could figure out what it was...

She knew this song- but it'd been rearranged, somehow. She didn't know who the band where, so she assumed it was a cover. One thing she did know, though, was that it was long. Perversely liking the warm hand on her waist, she willed herself to be right- that the song would go on.

'You come to these sorts of parties often?'

He speaks! She smiled at her little joke, though really, it wasn't all that funny. 'Not exactly. Work has kept me busy recently...' She was being evasive, and she knew it, but, she reminded herself, it is meant to be a masquerade ball..

'What about you? The hat makes me think you've been to quite a few.'

[Samuel Duke]

'Not exactly. Work has kept me busy recently..."

Darn, she worked a lot. It wasn't that Sam didn't like work, he quite enjoyed his work, annoying Anna until she exploded, taking pictures of pretty squirrels and trees, nice drinks parties when his new exhibition opened, yes, work was fun, but someone who worked a lot wasn't and ideal partner. Huh? What was he going into, he shook his head slightly, they were only dancing.

'What about you? The hat makes me think you've been to quite a few.'

"ahhh...." He said, trying to concentrate on her talking and waltzing at the same time, "I dabble around here and there, but I must say, none of them as pretty girls as this one."

He smiled what he hoped was a dazzling smile.

"But anyway, was the Cat Woman thing your idea? Because who ever came up with it is a genious "

[Anna Brooks]

Anna couldn't help but smile as the surgeon struggled with the talking and the waltzing. I dabble around here and there, but I must say, none of them have as pretty girls as this one. She laughed, as he smiled: the man was flirting, and, somehow, it was working. Serious Anna Brooks was falling for someone in a purple sparkly surgeon's mask and a funny hat. It didn't work like that, she had never expected it to. But the combination of the entirely forbidden and the way he held her made for something completely unexpected. Miss Brooks was being charmed. A blush found its way to her face, and she hoped that her cat woman mask was hiding it.

'But anyway, was the Cat Woman thing your idea? Because whoever came up with it is a genius.'

Any other time Anna would have snapped, replying with a cold comeback. But this Anna simply blushed, letting a giggle escape her lips. As she replied, the first thought of punch spiking crossed her mind.

'Thanks- yeah, the costume was my idea. It was just sitting at home, and I figured it needed some use.' She was lying, of course. The costume had belonged to her sister, the younger, more glamorous of the two, and had been lent it to the boring, older sister. But what was a little lie in an early conversation? Already having confessed her working habits, Anna needed to backtrack, so what else would do that more efficiently than a Cat Woman costuming hanging in her wardrobe?

Why she cared, she couldn't fathom, but the sensible Anna had long since disappeared. Memory of her work had all but vanished with the man- though it wouldn't be fair to not attribute some of the memory loss to the punch.

The punch had something else to answer for though, and she smirked at the man. 'I'm bored- let's go outside for some air.' She unwound her hand from his, and walked straight off the dance floor- her inner voice panicking and chastising herself, her outer self calm.

[Samuel Duke]

"Thanks- yeah, the costume was my idea. It was just sitting at home, and I figured it needed some use.'

WOW! a hot girl who just happened to have Cat woman costumes lying around, Sam's mind was made up, this was a girl he wanted to know better. They danced in silence, his eyes still fixed tightly on the mysterious woman's, he was still sure he knew her from somewhere...

'I'm bored- let's go outside for some air.' She lightly took her hand out of his grasp and began to stride purposely across the dancefloor. Sam began to run after her and by the time he had managed to catch up, they were already at the double doors.

He jumped ahead of her and opened one of them. "After you madame." he said in an extremely fake, posh accent. This night was just getting better and better