Just A Little Dance Finished

Rosie giggled as Anatole started to step while dancing, finding it cute he was taking it so slow. At this point, it was clear that Rosie knew how to dance, so she found Anatole struggling just a little bit funny. Nonetheless, she was having a good time as she danced around with her new friend. "You know, you're not too bad at this." She commented, smirking.

"Ah, were the shows good? I think I've watched one once or twice, I end up ditching half way through." She sighed, her forearms resting on his shoulders as she lowkey talked with her hands. "But yeah, I danced a lot at home. I was in ballad for a bit, and my mom danced to music when I was little while she cooked. I got to dance on her feet." She smiled, recalling the memories. "And no! Don't worry, you're doing fine. I like dancing with you." Rosie replied, flashing a grin in his direction.

It was nice that someone was here to fill the silence with Rosie, she didn't feel alone in a big ol' room anymore. And someone who was willing to dance with her without accusing her of cooties. That was always hard.

Anatole laughed along with the Hufflepuff as they strode across the floor. Her bright, cheery tone always seemed to bring a smile out of him, no matter how atrocious he was feeling that day. Well, we can just forget about the conversation in the Greenhouse, when he hated her at first.

"I'm not?" He croaked, his voice cracking. "I mean, surprisingly I'm not. I suppose those shows have done me well." He chuckled. "Not surprised you didn't like the documentaries. Like dancing, those shows, and being friends with girls, such as yourself, I hated them at first then grew to love them." Argh, he spoke wrong again. "No, well, I mean I don't love girls, I just like being friends with girls and I love dancing even though I can't do it well, and those documentaries made me want to become a prince one day." He blushed again, looking back into her eyes. "Sorry, sometimes I get a little bit flustered. As you might have been drawn to, I can usually control my words well...however, sometimes they slip out." Anatole laughed, but it came out awkward and nervous.

At the compliment, Anatole smiled. "Thanks. You're not terrible yourself, either!" He giggled again. "I suppose experience pays off."

Anatole might've figured Rosie would've been confused with him tripping over his words, but Rosie let out a laugh, flashing a grin at Anatole. "You're fine! I like girls too. They're cool. Boys are cool too. I like everyone! I wanna be everyone's friend." She rambled on, spinning Anatole around a bit. "I love dancing too! As you can tell, I guess. It's more fun with someone else is around," she winked, referring to the boy himself. But then realized her phrasing. She blushed and laughed. "Not like that! Just in general, dancing is more fun when you're doing it with others." She hummed. "Wanna try twirling me?" Rosie offered.

Rosie took in the atmosphere of the room, she couldn't help but stare at the chandelier and the windows that were bringing in light. The room was big, full of space to do a performance maybe, or just to hang out. Rosie wondered why people weren't in here more often, maybe they.... Weren't allowed to be in there in the first place.

Oh well!

She continued to sway around with Anatole as they talked, enjoying every minute of it. Friendship development was probably her favorite thing ever. Besides her bunny back at home. She loved nothing more than Snowball.

He kept leading, his chin slightly faced toward the gorgeous ceiling. Lunge, step, step. Lunge, step, step. The same rhythm got him going, and one misstep would cause him to trip. Hopefully, he kept in time. "I get you. Here so far, I've only become close friends with girls, oddly enough. I expected more fellows to reach out to me, but I suppose not!" Anatole laughed again as he spun and twirled.

He kept moving, gripping her tighter. "I'd be more than ecstatic to try a turn, but I want to go ahead and jump in to one moving, since we're at it. Maybe even going into a dip?" The two of them began to waltz towards the corner. "Trust me, but not too much! Gravity might help your spin."

As they approached the corner, Anatole held up his hand, Rosie turning close to his shoulder. Since their hands were probably sweaty (you know, eleven-year-olds frightened at the thought of romance and all), Anatole struggled with his grip. He grabbed her hand the wrong way and as she turned, he struggled to catch her.

Lunge. Lunge. Don't let her go. Don't let her fall.

Anatole clutched onto her waist, pausing the motion as the two dipped. It was almost picturesque, the morning light in a diamond shade behind him, his face looking into hers.

But it wasn't love.

Because that was gross. Ew.

Rosie looked back up at Anatole, a big smile on her face. She was leaning back on her foot and holding the boy awkwardly, she giggled. "Good! That was good." Rosie said, frozen in her position. She felt silence take over the room once again as the two children stared at each other. Her face was pink and she was panting a little bit because of how much they had been moving. Rosie wasn't against it. She was having fun! "Maybe we can try something else now?" She asked, leaning back up slowly and returning to be close to Anatole, her arms back on his shoulders. "If you want, of course."

Rosie was enjoying her time. She didn't know why she wouldn't be, but of course she had the slight feeling Anatole would've been against dancing with her. For any reason that might be. Luckily, Anatole was nice! And she was glad she got to interact with him again. She silently wondered if he'd be entering quidditch, because she was also trying out. Rosie didn't wanna potentially accidentally knock him out of the sky. That'd be awkward. It'd be like Hey, remember that one time you beat me out of the sky? I do! We're not friends anymore.

Breathless, Anatole looked back at her. "Thanks, boy, that was kind of stressful..." He pulled her up, maybe a little bit too close, letting her take a breath. Their eyes were locked, their smiles wide. "I agree, that was fun. I...I haven't danced like that in a while, Rosie. Well, nor have I danced much at all." Anatole stood back from her. He was happy for once since he got here. It was like a fantasy novel, it was like the documentaries but in real life, he was the prince, dancing with a girl.

But minus the love.

Because that was gross.

"Yes, yes...I...I would like to do something else another time, or even still today if you like. There's nothing else I have on my schedule." He shrugged, smiling. "Suppose I can definitely say we are friends now. Definite."

He waited, taking a deep breath. Anatole just hoped no one thought they were more than friends, when they weren't. They were eleven. It would be weird.

Patricia had told him all about the stuff right before his eleventh birthday, when she got fired. He understood the dangers, and he wasn't planning on jumping in anytime soon.

That was gross.

But she was nice. They would be good friends.

When Anatole stepped back, Rose took that opportunity to stress and let out a happy sigh. "That was fun! I'm glad I got to dance with you, it was cool." She put her hands back in her robe pockets, shifting on her feet. "We should do it more often, you seem to have fun with it anyway." She smiled.

Rosie wasn't thinking romantically, fortunately. That was gross. She had kinda forgotten the fear of someone seeing them dancing, she was having too much of a good time to care anyway. So it was all good!

Besides, love was gross. Who needed that in 1st year?

Anyways, Rosie grinned when Anatole suggested to do something. "We are friends, and yeah! Sounds fun, I'd like to do something else with you, what did you have in mind? I'm up for basically anything that won't potentially get me in trouble. We could dance for a while longer, or study or something." Rosie rambled on for a bit, but she stopped when she thought she was going on for too long. Rosie covered her face and giggled. "Sorry! I'm rambling again, I'm just kinda hyped up right now. I hope you can excuse my excessive talking."

Anatole couldn't help keeping a smile with her. Her happiness was almost contagious, spread to anyone who did as little as even touch her. In some places (such as now), it was good. He wished it worked for all situations. "I agree. That was really fun, I would love to do it again." He snickered to himself. "Maybe we could convince them to hold a ballroom dancing competition. With a bit more practice, we could most certainly win." He got closer to Rosie. "And speaking of studying, that would be the one thing I would need to study. Dancing!" Anatole flashed a pair of pathetic jazz hands on the word 'dancing'.

Without a doubt, Anatole was sure he could be his beautiful, stupid self around Rosie. He didn't have to actually act like the noble, polite role model Patricia had always insisted upon him. He could dance like a grandma with arthritis instead of a classical prince, and she would still laugh and admit she had fun.

As for their next outing, however...

At first, he bid her the words "It's okay," in reply to her rambling. Like the contagion, it was alright in this situation. He smiled at her. "I am always up for anything you want," Anatole outstretched a hand, "friend."

Rosie was very eager to spread her optimism anyway, if the person she was speaking to was smiling, she would be too. It made her feel like she was doing her job. Was it perhaps a little worrying she felt pleasing people was a job? Probably. She shrugged it off as being outgoing. Rosie flashed a grin and spun around him, her arms spread. "You don't need to study about it that much, you're already great at it! Besides, I didn't fall. So, that says something." She placed her hands on his shoulders from behind and giggled. "You're not too bad," she observed.

Rosie came up in front of him and shook his hand. "Yeah, friend." She agreed. "We could do a lot of things, I don't really know what to do, considering I'm only here cause I got.. Very lost. It's fine." Rosie took her hand away and laughed. "I'm rambling again, you'll have to excuse it. I do it.. A lot. I'm just kinda excited! Cause, you're cool. And one of my first friends! So I don't wanna accidentally mess it up by creeping you out, you know?" Rosie moved her hands as she talked, but her eyes stayed on Anatole.