"You know I really would have liked to be asked BEFORE the last possible minute to do this." Nick said as he weaved a grand illusion over the great hall. Dumbledore had apparently gotten the brilliant idea of getting the schools resident illusion specialist involved in decorating the great hall for the ball right before said ball. The great halls were already extravagant to begin with with streamers , fancy tables and cutlery and even the floor transfigured into a smooth mirror glossed finish. Add on the enchanted ceiling that showed the stars overhead and it was quite a memorable sight.-

However Dumbledore wanted to push it even further and thus had Nick , who the entire Hogwarts staff recognized as an expert of illusions , brought to make things truly unforgettable. Flitwick may be a charms master but his field of study was physical charms so while he knew his share of illusions he was far behind Nick who actively studied and pushed the subject further. Nicks illusions were terrifyingly realistic as well since at one point in time he made it appear as though an army had suddenly appeared outside Hogwarts when he was testing an illusion spell in his free time.-

The sight , sound , feeling and even smell of an army was all there and it was only thanks to the illusion detecting ring that Snape had ordered years prior that the residents of the castle hadn't made fools of themselves , including Dumbledore. Needless to say quite a few students in the school were suddenly Enlighted about the greatness of illusions and the tomes on the subject were unavailable for quite some time afterwards. It was at that point that the entire staff of the school recognized Nick as the expert in the subject within the walls of the castle.-

For the ball what Dumbledore wanted was to extend the illusion from the enchanted ceiling to cover all the walls so that it appeared that they were standing in the sky itself. Nick agreed to the matter with only a little complaint at the short time he had to work with. After all this wasn't some static image that he was conjuring up that may as well be fancy wallpaper. No he needed to add a feeling of vastness , movement and synchronicity with the enchanted ceiling overhead so that the desired effect could be achieved which required serious control and precision to pull off.-

"And done." Nick stated as the spell was fin ally done and took effect as the surroundings shimmered and changed to match the ceilings appearance. The really difficult part was to make the illusion truly reflect the heavens above that he couldn't actually see. Thanks to the long hours of staring at them because of the twilight style however Nick had nearly every star in the sky memorized. "Marvelous work my boy!" Flitwick said excitedly while looking around him. "I am in agreement with Filius , you have truly outdone yourself!" Dumbledore said with a pleased smile.-

"I would certainly hope so considering I spent nearly half my entire energy pool on it." Nick said with a half hearted complaint. This illusion was both not simple and it needed to last for a considerably amount of time so naturally the cost to create it was quite heavy. "I imagine those attending the ball will start arriving shortly right?" He asked changing the subject. Dumbledore nodded "Indeed they should be and I do hope that you enjoy yourself during this time as well." the old goat said right when the other judges started to arrive. -

Nick was quite surprised to see that Sirius himself had shown up with Amelia Bones hanging on his arm. It was a strange image as her personality was almost the exact opposite of his in that she preferred to be serious(pun not intended) at all times and wasn't a fan of pranks or jokes. While the war with Voldemort and subsequent decade in Azkaban had mellowed the man out considerably Sirius was still very much a fun loving and carefree person. One thing the man had on his side however was good looks as once he recovered he had a rough charm to him that apparently even worked on woman like Amelia.-

After that was Ludo Bagman who either decided to go stag or just couldn't get a date for the event not that Nick could tell which one with how the large man was acting. Ludo acted as though he was high on life just existing in the room as he was all smiles and amazement at the scenery in the great hall. After that it was time for the students of Hogwarts to start arriving as they began to appear from the fourth year and beyond.