BlossomFest The Learning of an Art

Marissa watched all the others get into partners. She was sometimes jealous on how some people can find socialising to be so easy. It was not for her, but why was it for them? She saw Anatole and Rosie get together which she thought was cute, they seemed like a possible couple. She did realise that they do spend a lot of time together. She snapled out of her thoughts! It was not her business to stick her nose into people’s relationships.

Mari noticed James walk into the room after a small crowd. She smiled shyly and waved towards him, hoping he would notice her. He was the only person she could really recognise, expect from Rosie and Anatole of course. Since she did not have an answer, she moved back towards the wall and plopped down on the floor. She was still wearing a simple baby blue dress that stopped just above her knees with black slip on shoes. Her hair was up in a neat bun so her hair would not get in her face. She crossed her legs and watched all the others get into partners. She wondered if anyone would be willing to dance with a socially awkward mute girl who could barely say a word.

James spent some time looking around in the considerable size of the crowd, before he started recognizing different people he knew. One specific one that he saw was Marissa. She was sitting against the wall, looking around at everyone else. James had a soft spot in his heart especially for his shy friend, Marissa. He made his way over to her, ready to make a simple hello. The thought of finding a partner and dancing had temporarily skipped his mind.
James found himself standing in front of Marissa, and he held a hand out to help her up. He was about to say something to greet her, but then realized that if the world was muted, it would look like he was asking her to dance. So, the words that actually came out of James’ mouth were:
“Hey, Marissa… do you wanna dance?” he asked.
He wondered what she would say back. James hadn’t been prepared a moment ago to ask her to dance, but he figured he would just roll with it now. Marissa didn’t talk much, if at all, but for some reason, she would talk to James; and that really warmed James’ heart. The main words she had said to him were “Sorry” and “Friends?”.
James pushed these thoughts away as he waited for Marissa’s response.

Alina chewed her lip nervously. A bad habit she swore she was going to break but still found herself doing in times of high stress. She was in the ballroom. A ballroom for goodness sake. She doubted she ever stepped foot in one of these outside the Pureblood parties her mother made her go too. But still, nervousness toiled within her and she found herself fiddling with the patterned skirt of her maxi dress nervously.

Surrounding the dance floor were skilled dancers, at least more skilled than her. She recognized a lot of familiar faces and smiled softly whenever they made eye contact. She didn’t know if she could do this. She hasn’t danced professionally like this in years. But a boy, with ruffled hair and a white smile encouraged her to step out among her peers and show off what she had.

How she wished she stayed a wallflower. But he lead her around the floor skillfully and she let him. She dipped when she needed to, curtseyed and dipped low. Luckily this boy knew exactly what he was doing and she found herself getting swept up in his magic. All of a sudden, flashbacks of her previous years attending dances like this came back. And with that, the memory of a boy with the wandering hands.

Alina pushed back against her partner. Smiling awkwardly and mumbling something incoherent. Along the lines of “I don’t feel good”, before stumbling ungracefully off the dance floor. She felt his hands on her skin. Not her current dance partner but the boy from the last dance part she went to. When she was 10. Him and his wandering hands and fake smiles and promises. Oh, his promises.

Alina shivered at the memory before turning to smile and chat shortly with a friend she recognized. They went their own way and she left the hall, shaken and short breathed. This had been a bad idea.

Max entered the Ballroom out of curiosity, wondering just how many people were taking lessons in preparation for the end of the festival. He, himself, knew how to dance adequately - it was considered a high art and his family had naturally made him learn it because certain dinner parties came with dancing. But that didn't mean he liked it much.

The extent of his experience was dancing with much taller female cousins who kept insisting he take the lead despite his being a foot shorter than them. And even if they had gone easier on him and taken the lead, he still would've been uncomfortable with the close contact. Maybe that was what had really brought him here; if anything made him even the slightest bit uncomfortable, he forced himself to do it to prove that he could.

Stubbornly going along with that, he forced himself to walk into the Ballroom so he could pick a spot to watch people coming and going, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall as he studied the people who were paired up. He had a couple of enemies out there, but he doubted they'd started anything in a room full of people. There were also a couple of girls he knew from around the school who he might've asked to dance but, unfortunately, they were already paired off. Oh well. If there was no one to dance with, he didn't have to push his comfort limits after all. Instead, he'd watch Blackburn and Barrows demonstrate the craft - though he knew the basics of dancing, there was always much more to learn.

Mariah laughed when Cel commented on her lone dancing skills, but stopped noting a boy walking in. She supposed she could ask him to dance, but she didn't know him, didn't know how he would react. Then again, she wouldn't want to leave her friend partnerless. So Mariah nudged her gently and nodded her head toward the boy leaning against the wall staring at the two professors.

"I think I spotted you a partner," she said with a grin. "He's looking lonely and forlorn, I bet you can swoop in and rescue him." Mariah laughed again and took back her invisible partner. .She supposed she could have asked the boy herself and danced with him, but that would have made her feel awful. Besides, she could be perfectly happy playing pretend. Who needed real boys anyway? Antoine the Pirate said everything that he was supposed to say and never did anything Mariah didn't want him to do.

She knew she was being silly, imagining a partner, but it was a lot more fun this way. Everyone who absolutely needed someone to dance got one. Even if that meant Mariah was dancing with air and chatting with absolutely no one anyone could see.

Evianna pushed open the door to the ballroom and stopped on the threshold. Having frequented dance studios since the age of seven, she thought she knew what to expect. However, she wasn't in any way prepared for the spectacle of the Hogwarts ballroom. Tables ringed the dance floor, which was filled with couples made of both skilled dancers and clumsy beginners. A few people sat at the tables and stood by the walls. Among the smaller students, two of the teachers swept around gracefully, moving with ease among the giggly teens.

Moving further into the room, Evianna couldn't help but notice a Gryffindor boy standing against the wall, watching both the dancing and the people entering and exiting the room. She almost approached him; there was something in his eyes that made her want to avoid him, though, so she moved away and stood with her back to the wall, watching the dance floor.

She'd always loved dancing. Ballet had made her feel light, graceful, and beautiful during the days in primary school when the Muggle children had insulted and harrassed her in an effort to get her to do magic. She'd always wanted to perform a pas de deux, but she was too young. This was the closest thing she'd get at Hogwarts; all she needed was a partner.

This was torture. Plain and simple. He clearly had no clue what he was doing, and Reyna resisted the urge to slap him across the face. He was a bumbling idiot, no doubt about that. A bumbling idiot who clearly has something for Serena, Reyna thought, remembering how his eyes had practically tracked her best friend across the dance floor, far too interested in her for Reyna's liking. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on him... Reyna thought, pulling her attention back to the idiot in front of her. "You put your hand here," Reyna instructed, trying to move his hand towards her hip, but his sights were elsewhere.

He was staring towards Serena. Again. But this time, something was... off, different. There was a boy dancing with the Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw. They both seemed happy, and Reyna grinned to see her friend enjoying herself. The boy next to her clearly felt different, for he was glaring daggers at the Ravenclaw her friend was dancing with. He had a deadly gleam in his eye, as though he were about to pummel someone - particularly the person that Serena was dancing with now.

"Listen here buddy," Reyna started in a hushed whisper, jabbing her finger at Siege's chest, words forming in her head. "I don't know what's going on with you and Serena, but she's my friend, and if you hurt her, I will personally see to it that you go to Hell. Get it?" she growled, a threatening undertone to her words and an animalistic protective gleam in her eyes. She could be quite scary when she felt like it, and when it came to her friends, Reyna was not willing to let anyone hurt a hair on their heads without them getting through her first.

"Now as I said, let's get back to dance," she said, plastering a fake smile on her features with an overly sweet tone, her eyes conveying a different message.

Delilah had heard there were dancing lessons and to be honest she was a little scared, but she went along anyway. Upon entering the ballroom she saw a few of her friends but they were already dancing with people, so instead of going and meeting someone new she decided to stand against the wall, observing what was going on, she watched as quite a few couples got ready to dance, including the pair of Professors. She looked over, there was quite a large amount of people and Delilah didn't have a partner, she hadn't even planned one before hand and she didn't see any boys she knew that didn't already have a partner, so she just stayed leaning against the wall, doing nothing, just watching, hoping that somebody she knew would walk in.

Delilah didn't plan on asking anybody random, so she would have to be asked by somebody else, that was unless she knew them, and hopefully the person who asked her wouldn't be too tall, after all she was a tiny brunette. So she just watched her friends and the strangers dance, mildly surprised that anybody had the guts to ask anybody else, they were just children after all.

Aurelia had very little experience with dance. She only danced when she was much younger. Her Mother and Father knew how to but never properly taught her how to. The only taste she got was when she was at an adult’s waist tall, screaming joyously as her Father spun her around. It was one of her fondest memories of her childhood. Though sometimes she envied how well her Mother could dance with him when she couldn’t. Her Father said the reason was because her Mother was tall and she wasn’t. Aurelia always pouted at the excuse he gave her.

She only recently heard that was a dance lesson taking place in the halls of Hogwarts. She was giddy with excitement. This was her time when she would be able to learn how to dance as skillfully as how her parents did. She also heard that the event was hosted by Proffesor Ackerly Blackbourne and Professor Matilda barrows. Aurelia never knew they could dance and she was impatient to see how they would dance.

Aurelia put on the only dress she could find in her trunk and went to the lesson’s location. It was a red dress that was a little above the knee and wasn’t very formal. She hadn’t pack anything too presentable before the train to Hogwarts as she never expected there to be an event like this. She would have to buy a new dress and make up before the actual ball. She wanted to look as presentable as possible for her first dance.

In the hall, she scanned around for anyone she knew. Her friends weren’t there. The Proffesors had instructed them to pair up. She had to muster the courage to ask someone or else she wouldn’t get to learn how to dance. She took a deep breath and started searching for someone that didn’t have a partner yet.

Amadea had yet to learn how to dance. It was something she never bothered to learn back when she was in London, not really seeing the point in it. She hadn't even meant to come into the ballroom, but she had seen all of the students inside and her curiosity couldn't be quenched until she figured out what was going on. As she entered, she saw students dancing together while others stood awkwardly without a dance partner. She didn't know what to do now. She had no experience dancing and had even less experience asking people to dance with her. Not to be old school, but weren't the guys supposed to ask the girls anyway? She looked around trying to see if she recognized anyone. Unfortunately, no one caught her eye. She saw a few Hufflepuff ties, which reassured her a little bit. Maybe she could find someone from her house to dance with. It still would be very awkward, but maybe it would be less awkward knowing they had at least one thing in common.

She stood at the side of the room, waiting for someone to approach her, or waiting for someone she knew. The people on the floor were dancing; some looked elegant and graceful, others definitely were not. She stifled a laugh as she watched, knowing that if she was asked, she would definitely look like a klutz.