BlossomFest The Learning of an Art

 The woman was always attentive when it came to listening to Ackerley speak. Her ears always had wanted his voice to grace them, after all. And now finally, after almost ten years, she was able to hear it. Even if his speech was not directed at her, nor was new news to her, she wanted to absorb every last word he spoke. 

 She definitely hadn't expected him to take her by the hand and invite her to come along and dance with him, as it was not quite planned out for them that day. She still laughed though, because she would take dancing with Ackerley over teaching her actual class any day. She let Ackerley rest her hand on his shoulder, and take her other one in his own hand. It was a stance she was used to finding herself in, especially since she came back in contact with Ackerley. She would drag him to the ballroom from time to time, simply to dance with her. She loved it.

 The fluidity of the movements that the pair took was beautiful. Something that looked as though it could only come naturally. Her eyes flickered from her hand on his shoulder to his face, and a grin took over her features. It was things like this - the simplest form of happiness - that she enjoyed endlessly. 

 Her cheeks could be described as tinted. Tinted with a pink shade that came with dancing in front of a crowd. She was used to dancing privately, spare the times where she attended balls and such by Ackerley's side in Beauxbatons. Her heart thrummed against her chest in an out-of-rhythm tempo, and she wanted nothing more than to lay her head on Ackerley's shoulder and hide her face, yet she still looked up at him with a ridiculous smile.

 His voice rang out as he gave more instructions to the students, and it gave her a moment to close her eyes, take a breath, glancing to the children in the room. She listened to his counting afterwards, tuning out of the real world if even for those few moments. Because dance was like that. It was a distraction from the reality of things, and when you dance with someone special like Ackerley was to Matilda, it makes everything else fade away.

Waiting is one of the most challenging tasks to complete in daily life. You just stood there or sat down, or whatever position you were even in, wishing something would happen.

And most of the time, it was painfully awkward, especially in front of judgmental eleven-year-olds. Anatole only knew about half of the group, and those he knew certainly wouldn't approve of him if he revealed his excitement about dancing, for school. For Rosie.

Unlike other students, his hands stayed steady on her waist as they dragged themselves through the floor. It was a simple triplet to him, one that he had practiced alongside this lovely curly-haired girl for quite a good bit of his free time. Side to side, they tried to move, partially ignoring Ackerley's instruction. Anatole assumed he didn't need it. He considered himself a professional (when in reality, the boy was nowhere close).

Down, up, up, down, up, up...

The boy watched his feet, his cloak draping dangerously close to his shoes. This would be the worst time to trip, in front of most of the academy. Right on his face, staring up with a sorry expression as he dusted himself off and with a nervous smile, would go back to dancing. If that ever happened, it would embarrass Rosie even more.

As the man of the duo, he was supposed to lead.

Abruptly, Anatole ceased the pair's movement. "Hey, uh, Rosie, sorry!" He held out his hands in case she fell from the sudden halt. "Do you...have some sort of hair tie or something? I'm a little worried about my cloak..."

The practical thing to do would be to just take off the cloak, but it made him feel insecure. Almost naked, in a sense. Princes would wear cloaks, right? Taking it off, even though he was sweating like a sad dog left in a hot car, could seriously lower his mood.

In his mind, the image was worth less than the function.

It was a rare thought that came around a few times every few years.

Winifrey nodded at Asteria's response. "Makes sense. It's such a big school I can see how it is overwhelming," She smiled, encouragement shining in her eyes.

"I suppose there aren't that many," Winifrey spoke to Asteria, although it was quiet and half to herself. Her blue eyes glanced around, taking in the numerous amounts of students from each house. There were not many looking for partners, in fact, maybe there were none at all.

"But it's still fun to watch," She smiled, nudging Asteria gently to cheer her up. "I think it's very elegant the way they glide along the dance floor. Plus, I find it funny to see the boys' nervous faces," She giggled lightly.

By the time she had finished her sentence, Aurelia had come and sat next to her, giving her a greeting. "Yes, I was just telling Asteria that it is still fun to watch. And maybe we can just go as a group instead of finding a date," She smiled, except her face scrunched up lightly at the word date. She always had a hard time understanding that concept. She was only twelve of course.

Then Deputy Blackburn began talking again as he moved on to different movements of dancing. He danced fondly with Professor Barrows, the two looking quite wonderful as they danced gracefully.

Winifrey wished she could dance like that.

"My parents used to dance like that, when my dad was home," She told the two girls sitting next to her as she watched the dancers. If she closed her eyes, she could almost see it again. Her mother and father laughing as they attempted to dance in the small space that they had. But they still looked beautiful together. She missed it.

Rosie figured the two didn't need too much guidance, they both had practiced a few times on their own, it was their bonding. So the instructions the professors gave out were really just so familiar to her. She confidently took her position and smiled brightly at her partner. Dancing put her in such a free, and careless mood. She felt like nothing else mattered when she felt herself guide around the floor. It felt so much more when she danced with others. Especially with one of her closest friends. He had already done so much for her in such a small amount of time, she wondered if it was just in his nature to be so nice.

But anyway, Rosie perked up when Anatole said something, "Hey, uh, Rosie, sorry! Do you...have some sort of hair tie or something? I'm a little worried about my cloak..."

"Uhh, I should." She reached down her arm and took one off her wrist. "Yep! I do, here you go." She held it out.

Unlike Anatole, Rosie had... Dressed up for the occasion. Her color was gold, it always had been. Hufflepuff just seemed to fit her like that. The dress fit her perfectly, and it made Rosie giggle whenever she spun around in it because the dress just seemed to follow her. When Anatole probably put the tie on, she held out her hand again. "You ready?"

Mariah decided that dancing by one's self was marginally easier than if she had a partner. All she had to worry about was getting her steps right. There was not shuffling awkwardly against another person, stepping on toes and knocking knees. She was sure they would both be a lot of conking heads when they looked down to watch their feet at the same time.

As it were, Mariah was enjoying herself immensely, stepping as the professor instructed. She felt a small twinge of insecurity as her arms grew tired from holding the steady position in the open air. She glanced around, deciding maybe it would be better to have a partner so the ache in her arms would ease. Yet, still, there was no luck. She wondered if it would be this way at the dance, with everyone taken, no one to dance with there like there was no one here. She could always grab one of the girls off the wall and practice with them. She figured it would probably be more fun to dance with a girl anyway. There would be no pressure one often experienced when accompanying the opposite sex in said events. It was worth a shot.

Amadea looked around at everyone who had begun dancing with their partners. She was a bit surprised, if she was being honest. She thought there was going to be more time to find a partner. She looked around, hoping for a bit of divine intervention, or at the least, someone she could dance with. At the same time, she was almost glad there was no one who wanted to dance with her. It wasn't like she was a professional ballerina, and whoever was subject to dance with her would probably end up with multiple toes broken. It wasn't her fault that she was so clumsy, it just was a part of her personality...not one of her defining qualities, she hoped.

She scanned the ballroom and at last spotted another girl across the room, dancing by herself. Amadea smiled to herself as she watched the girl. She wished she had enough confidence to go out and practice the moves on her own. She wondered if the girl could use a dance partner. She was a Hufflepuff, if Amadea could go by the tie around her neck. A fellow Hufflepuff. She would make a good dance partner, Amadea thought. And maybe it was better not to dance with a boy during practice. Amadea took a deep breath and braved her way across the room to the girl.

"Hi," she said hesitantly. "Would you be interested in having a dance partner?"

One, two, three; one, two, three. Adam counted out the rhythm in his head, determined not to stumble into Serena after she'd been nice enough to get up and dance with him. Adam wasn't the most coordinated of guys, but it was easy enough to follow the pattern that Professor Blackburn had laid out for them. He and Professor Barrows seemed like natural dancers, and he wondered if they had done it before. They must have, to be that good. He tried to remember what the man had said about dancing, and how to do it well. Move together as one individual. It was a bit weird to do that with someone he didn't know very well, wasn't it? They were only eleven! He tried not to worry too much about what was happening, and focused on looking happy so as not to cause Serena any worry.

The Hufflepuff girl, in stark contrast to Adam, was doing great. She didn't seem to be having much trouble at all in finding the steps and staying on time, but it might have just appeared that way to Adam. After all, anyone that didn't nearly trip over their own feet was practically a pro in Adam's opinion. He smiled at her as they danced together and apologized for his shaky movements. "Sorry I'm so bad at this, Serena. Hope I didn't step on your foot!" He laughed weakly and hoped she wasn't regretting her decision. "You're doing great, though! Have you ever danced before?" They turned again, following the patterns of the rest of the couples swirling around the dance floor. One, two, three.

Adam remained oblivious to the deadly glares being fired into his back like daggers by the Gryffindor prefect dancing a short ways away. Adam had never met Siege before, but it seemed as if he'd made a poor first impression by dancing with Serena. It looked as if Adam was going to pay for his decision after they'd finished practice, but for now, he guided himself through the movements like all of the other couples in the room and struggled to grasp the concept of ballroom dancing before he'd need it at the end of BlossomFest.

One, two, three. One, two, three. He'd get it down. Eventually.

Mardella had joined the class late. People were already grouped up, couples swaying left and right whilst groups of students hung around the fringes nervously. It hadn't even been her idea to turn up, but well, dancing was a sport right, so practice would be best, especially if she wanted to have fun at the Bloomfest Ball. She slipped in the room, sidling along the wall as she tried not to be too obvious about being late to the lesson.

Professors Barrows and Blackburn had stepped away from each other to instruct the dancers on the floor, the Charms master counting out loud in steady tones whilst his dance partner moved around correcting students.

There were a number of students she recognised, Evianna Wilson the enthusiastic Quidditch player she'd met the other day, Phedra Stavrou (of course, she had to be here, cue eye roll), Alina Ambrosia a fellow Gryff, and, of course...

"My parents used to dance like that, when my dad was home."

Wini was just saying softly as she approached, something in her roommate's tone making her stomach twist. "Hey," She interrupted with a bright grin, dropping her bag to the floor and nudging it well out of the way the side of her foot. "Sorry I'm late? Having trouble finding partners?" It certainly seemed that way. Most of the boys in the room had likely been pounced upon by the other girls and there was a severe shortage of girls in their year anyways, she thought.

"I don't mind dancing the boy parts, probably taller than most of the boys anyways." She shrugged to the group at large before registering the unknown Gryffindor girl. "Oh, hi, I'm Mardella. Their roommate." She didn't know how she'd missed the red hair, honestly!

Regardless, she was probably going to dance the boy parts at the ball too, but she didn't much mind. As long as they had fun, she didn't mind going to the ball without an official partner.

Things were starting to get a little awkward standing there by himself while people snuck glances at him or even seemed to be whispering about him. Max realized he'd made a grave error in just standing there while other people paired up, and he cringed on the inside as he thought about what people would say about him doing nothing. Not able to get a date was the least of the rumours they could spread - with the way things went around here, he'd be a creepy stalker of some random girl in this room if he remained standing there.

Turning to the girls who'd appeared to be whispering about him, he considered asking one of them to dance. Would they accept, or were they whispering because they already thought he was odd? He turned it over in his mind, but before he could make a decision, he caught a glimpse of red near them. Oh thank Merlin. A slow grin spread across his face as he kicked off from the wall and made his way over to the familiar face, relief turning his grin genuine as he stopped in front of his immortality-seeking-partner-in-crime.

"M'lady," he said formally, sweeping into a bow that bent him in two at the waist. It was made all the more hilarious by the fact that Eris wasn't dressed to impress in the slightest; the lack of formality made it easier for Max to relax. Arching a brow, he reached out to take the tips of her fingers in his and brought her hand up to his mouth, close enough for her to feel his breath on her knuckles. He'd really perfected the whole 'kissing someone's hand but not really' thing. Still bowing, lifted his eyes to hers with an expression full of mischief. "May I have the honour of this dance?"

As James waited for the dancing lessons to begin, he managed to catch a glance of some other familiar faces. He caught sight of Max, who was asking Eris to dance with him. James' stomach churned with dislike towards the Gryffindor boy, but he pushed away those thoughts as quickly as he could. James didn't want to bother with him right now.
"Alright. Now that everyone has a partner, we will be working on specific parts of the dancing movement. Matilda already showed us the hand and body position. In that sense, I am expecting you to be able to do it right. Right now, I will be showing you the actual steps to take if you want to be able to follow the rhythm and to dance properly once the great day comes around."
James noticed that not everyone had a partner yet, as Professor Blackburn had said, but he ignored this and continued listening and watching.
"As you can see, we are moving together just as one individual. Just try to follow our footsteps. Three on each side. It will give you mobility, but also makes it beautiful for both dancers."
As James watched, he began to suspect that Professor Ackerley might like his dancing partner, Professor Barrows. He shook away his slight grin, and turned back to Marissa.
"Alright, let's try this..." he said to her. James began to follow the steps as best as he could, slowly at first, not wanting to go too fast for Marissa.