Pierce eyed the mystery listening ear girl but couldn't help but smirk as he recognized the reddish -blonde haired girl as a fellow Ravenclaw. Unfortunately, her name slipped his mind in that moment making him feel like a real git.

"You don't know my name, do you?" she asked with a bemused grin.

"It has momentarily decided to leave my mind, but I'm sure I could recall it in a few short moments." Pierce told her.

"Right." she smirked sitting back in her chair and looking out at the dance floor. She wore a form fitting royal blue dress that went nicely with her complexion and complimented her eyes.

"You're in Ravenclaw though, correct?"

"Correct." she replied. "We're in the same year, Pierce Holmes."

"Right, I knew that."

"I'm sure you did. Just how well you knew my name?"

Pierce's face turned slightly red in embarrassment but truth be told, he didn't bother himself to learn the names of people he didn't often associate with. If he knew someone's name it was more than likely because they were brought up into conversations he was having. The girl beside him was not someone he associated with regularly nor did she come up in conversation, at least to his knowledge.

His eyes drifted back to the dance floor where he caught sight of Hermione dancing with Viktor, a smile on her face, making him wish even more that it was him who was making her smile like that.

"You know, you can still ask her to dance."

Pierce glanced over at the Ravenclaw girl once more.

"What?"

"I said, you can ask her to dance, even if she has a date. There isn't a rule against asking someone to have a dance even if they did show up with someone else."

"How do you.."

She gave him a look. "It's quite obvious that you have a thing for the Granger girl, a blind man could see it. Unfortunately, you've just been slow in your approach."

"I prefer the term respectful not slow." Pierce told her.

"Call it what you will, but she's dancing with someone else because you didn't make the move fast enough."

"Is that your excuse as to why you came here dateless as well?" he asked somewhat bitterly as the girl seemed to know a good way to get under his skin.

"No, I chose to come here dateless."

"As did I."

"Only because the girl who you wanted to take was already asked by someone else." she teased.

"I'm sorry, what business is this of yours of whether I got my date or not?"

"It isn't but you're still talking about it so it's become a conversation. I was only trying to help you by informing you that you could ask Hermione Granger for a dance seeing as there are no laws against, doing so."

"It would be rude to her date."

"Not if you ask nicely."

Pierce contemplated the idea as he looked over in Hermione's direction but seeing her have such a good time with Viktor, he quickly shook his head dismissing the idea completely.

"I can't." he said. "Viktor asked her first and she's his date. Plain and simple. I missed out."

"You truly are a gentlemen, aren't you?" The girl said to him.

Pierce shrugged. "I just know I wouldn't like it if I had mustered up the courage to ask a girl to the Ball only to have her dance with some other boy."

"So why didn't you accept any of the other girls who asked you?"

"Because I didn't want to go with any of them. I knew I would find myself bored and irritated by the end of the evening."

"Are you not bored and irritated now?"

"Not so much bored since I'm talking to you...irritated? Yes."

The girl laughed. "You poor thing."

"Thank you for your sympathy."

"Anytime."

"At any point during this conversation, are you going to reveal your name to me?"

"What happened to recalling it after a few short moments?" she questioned giving him an innocent look.

"Alright, so that wasn't entirely true. But I have a lot going on up there in-"

"In your mind palace. I know."

Pierce gave her an odd look, wondering how she knew about that as well. He glanced around in confusion before his eyes settled back on her. The smile on her face never faded and despite the fact that he didn't know much about her, he wanted to due to the sincerity in her eyes.

"May I ask you what your name is?" He asked her.

"Why do you want to know it?

"I'd at least like to know the name of the girl I'm about to ask to go dance."

He caught her, he witnessed her confident demeanor falter under his words, bringing a triumphant grin to his face.

He stood up and offered his hands to her.

 "May I have this dance..Miss?" He paused waiting for her to respond.

Her eyes scanned over his face before she placed her hand in his. 

"It's Nancy. Nancy Drew."