Standing on the Sidelines [open]

[severus]

Severus Snape entered the Great Hall wearing his usual black robes. He didn't see the point in dressing up in a suit, he didn't even own one. He stood on the threshold of the door, taking a glance around the decorated hall. It had been changed dramatically. It looked like someone had painted the hall with silver. Ice sculptures were distributed through.

He began to walk towards the front of the hall to stand with the other proffesors and staff members. He did not bring anyone with him. He didn't ask anyone and was sure no one would want to go with him even if he paid them to. On a good day, he was unpleasent and snarky. Traits which others do not consider to be good.

As he arrived at the oppsite end of the hall he sighed, and turned towards the students and various staff members dancing. All of them seemed to be enjoying themselves, not having a care in the world. He had enough to think about. Although he had finally gotten the Dark Arts job, he did not find life easiler. It had infact been getting worse as the years went on. Nothing seemed to be going right.

[sttran]

Jean-Jacques rushed up to his dormitory shortly after finishing his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. He was about to go to bed early when he realised that the Yule Ball was tonight. He didn't particularly want to attend it, as he did not have any friends to dance with and he despised dancing (physical contact with other people terrified him), but he felt that it would be rude not to at least show up. He was about to don his usual suit and tie, but decided to be a bit more formal and put on his navy blue dress robes.

As he was leaving the dormitory, he stopped for a brief moment in front of the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair to make it neater, and then hurried down to the Great Hall.

Upon entering, he was amazed at how much it had changed in the few hours since he had last seen it. He decided that all he would do would be to go to the refreshment table, eat a bit of food, stay to watch one dance, and then leave. Thus, he saw the refreshment table at the opposite side of the hall and made straight for it. As he was walking towards the table, he observed the dancers absentmindedly. He wished that he could have fun as easily as they; he lacked social skills and was viewed as the person who cared more about school than anything else.

Because he was looking in the other direction, Jean-Jacques failed to notice that Professor Snape was standing only feet in front of him. He therefore walked straight into Snape and, caught by surprise, temporarily had trouble registering the professor's face and name. After spouting meaningless nonsense for a fraction of a second, Jean-Jacques said, "Excuse me; I didn't see you there."

[severus]

After regaining his balanced, Snape shot an icy glare at the boy. He wasn't expecting any student to run into him. "Mr. Moreau," He said to him. "I would advise you to watch where you are walking," he said with anger in his voice.

He stood there for a moment trying to read the boy's mind but couldn't concentrate with all the noise coming from the dance floor."I believe you deserve a detention. The saturday after the holidays," Severus did not want to deal with a student over the holidays. Dumbledore had too many things he wanted him to do. "And let me see ... 5 points from ravenclaw as well," he added with a smirk. Snape glanced over his shoulder at the hour glasses. Slytherin were in second, but not too far behind the first place house.

**ooc-sorry its taken so long to reply, i forgot about this thread**