BlossomFest The Learning of an Art

Winifrey laughed lightly at Asteria's remarks. She had never thought of the idea that dancing could be used to train girls to be elegant. It almost sounded.... wrong, in a way. The small brunette had always considered it something to have fun with, where one could express themselves and laugh while doing it. It was almost hard to imagine Asteria being forced to dance. It saddened her a bit that the thought of dancing had been tainted in her friend's mind.

These thoughts only strengthened Winifrey's desires to go as a group. She was sure it would be fun. They would get to experience a ball at Hogwarts, and not only that, but do it without having to hang out with the opposite sex. She didn't mind hanging out with boys, she had done it the whole time while in muggle school. But there was something better about hanging out with her dorm mates. And Winifrey only hoped that Asteria would join them as well.

Winifrey shifted on her feet as she stood, a small grin on her face. "Oh come on, Asteria. It could be fun if you try," She smiled, although her eyes were silently pleading. In reality, she had been itching to dance. It had been ages since the small brunette had done so. "Don't let your lessons with your grandmother ruin the beauty and grace of dancing," She smiled brightly, holding out her hand to the red head.

Her mother always commented on how well Winifrey picked up dancing. Their family "dances" were always something Winifrey had looked forward to whenever her dad had been home. The would skip around in the kitchen while her mother's old record player sounded in the background, doing their best not to bump into anything in the small apartment. Winifrey's heart warmed at the memory.

Flustered, Anatole paused and looked Rosie in the eyes. Everyone else was fluidly moving, waltzing across the floor with such unimaginable grace, and one of the couples suspected to have some of the best dancing skills were just standing to the side, discussing things out of worry. Well, the worry was more of Anatole's contribution.

Every girl must have had a hair tie around their wrist, unless their hair was as short as his or shorter. Everyone in the room was dignified, and most even came fancy for a ballroom lesson.

Hence why Anatole was worried. He wasn't fit for the situation and ran, well, danced the risk of tripping. That's why he asked her for that stupid hair tie. It's not like ballroom dancing was too much of a workout. "Hey, thanks." He reached down, grabbing the bottom ends of his robe and tying them up behind him. For a second, it looked like he had a tail sprouting out of his behind. Crimson and black. "Adam'll hate me for this..." He tried to laugh it out, resuming his stance and reaching out towards his partner. "You ready?" They jinxed each other. "Suppose it's a yes! Let's get this started."

He began to lead her across the floor again, the "tail" waving to the rhythm in their heads. It was kind of funny, and Anatole really wanted to distract himself from the evident fact that he looked like an idiot. "I really like your dress, by the way."

Emmett felt like he was going to die this moment, right here, right now. There were multiple reasons that could lead him to death now. And frankly, he wasn't exaggerating that death part. First, his dress shirt's collar was about to kill him. Second, he was so nervous he was sure that this was the end of his life. He had come here to practice dancing, because he didn't want to be left out and not attend the ball. Then again, the idea of dancing with the opposite sex was quite terrifying to him. Emmett's idea of dancing involved playing AC/DC with the highest volume possible from his mom's speaker back at home, and jump around like an idiot. That kind of spontaneous dancing (if you could even call aimless jumping and screaming dancing) made him happy to be alive.

Ballroom dancing? Embarrassing. He wasn't confident in his ability at all. He was usually the most cockiest of the students that you would find around in here. When it came time to showcase his skills in how well he could count to three and move around the floor, he found his palms getting sweaty. Great job, Emmett!

The boy wiped his hands on his pants and inhaled sharply. He looked around the room to see everyone already pairing up. Heck, some of them were already dancing. He felt the panic rise and a lump form in his throat. No matter how much he tried to swallow it away, it seemed to be quite stubborn. Emmett ran his fingers through his hair revealing his nervous habit. That, along with chewing his lips. He was a restless person already, and these nerve-wracking situations made him want to escape badly.

For his and the rest of the boys' advantage, there were far too many girls compared to boys. But was that an advantage, really? Emmett didn't know who to ask, how to ask, and he was so afraid of getting rejected in front of everyone. Besides, girls were scary. At least his mom was, and she was a girl.
Wrapping his thoughts over cooties, he shook his head visibly at the childish thought.

As if. Come on Emmett, you're not that young of a kid. Just ask someone and get it over with.

Easier said than done. His eyes started scanning for lonely girls that had lowered their standards enough to actually accept someone like Emmett. He wasn't a bad dancer, actually. Playing instruments was something he was familiar with. His mother forced him to those dreaded piano lessons from a young age. The result was that he could actually count into three with an ease. He even knew a few dances as well. The famous waltz, polonaise, tango, swing...

But how was he going to manage if most of his experience was either watching someone? Granted he sometimes jokingly danced with his mother, but there was no pressure. No one was wearing a dress shirt tucked into your pants, almost choking on your spit in a room full of people.
Brushing those thoughts away, he noted a group of girls leaning against walls and talking to each other. He could name two of them, Asteria and Aurelia. The third one was foreign to him, as he hadn't gotten acquainted to her just yet. Perhaps today would be the day.

It was easy for him to pick which one he would ask. Asteria had been nice to him earlier, the shy girl who had to witness his fits of giggling at Madam Malkin's. She probably had a very different image about him, since the last time he was a confident, friendly and a bit wild of a guy. Emmett decided to keep that image and put a smile on his face. That awkward smile that he always sported. The other girl was Aurelia, the evil girl from the common room who had exiled him from her sofa-territory. He had to wrestle her, but ultimately failed to claim his place as the king of the sofa. Taking that hesitant first step, he tuned out the teachers for now. They seemed to be completely in their own world, both of them.

Walking across the room he looked very out of the place. Approaching the three girls, he rehearsed his lines inside his mind. 'Hey Asteria, care to join me and dance?'
And that would be it. As simple as that. It was cringy, he wanted to disappear inside the ground right now, but there weren't many options. Beggars can't be choosers. He couldn't bear the idea of just standing there while everyone else danced.

He stopped in front of the girls and cleared his throat quietly. Emmett was looking at his own feet, still as scared as ever. Chewing on his lower lip for a while, he finally said something. His left hand suddenly was on his neck, and if you had any idea about body language, you would know that his body was trying to get the message of 'I'm uncomfortable and nervous' to the others.
"I, ehm, as in.. Aurelia, care to join me for a dance?" he messed up the names because of his damned nervousness. His tone was pretty confident, but his body gave a whole another feel.

Taking his time to realize his mistake, he lifted his gaze from the floor to meet Aurelia's eyes for once. Crap, what had he done? He tried to pound his options about what he could do. Of course he was a cruel person, but not that cruel to suddenly say 'Sorry, my mistake. I meant Asteria. I'm way more into her.'
He would die from shame if he did so. Sliding his hand from his neck, he had no other option than to suck it up. Emmett would later scold and beat himself about it, now he had to quickly act.
Offering his hand for her to grab, he stared at her mercilessly. He was already ready for rejection. How could she possibly say yes if they were almost like rivals! Gulping, he was already thinking about the worst scenarios, playing them out in his head. His hands were no longer sweaty. They dropped cold the moment that he muttered her name.

Aurelia was starting to get restless. She needed to move on her feet and dance. Her two roommates, Winifrey and Mardella were dancing with each other joyously. It wasn’t that she didn’t mind dancing with someone of the same gender, but it was because she couldn’t find anyone she was familiar with. She stood up and leaned against the wall beside Asteria. Asteria seemed in no mood to dance with her eyes seeming like she was in a daze and her mind was thinking about something else. Aurelia didn’t bother talking to her. She could even say she felt the same way. Why did she attend the lesson in foolish hope for somebody to ask her for a dance?

Her eyes were fixed on the deputy headmaster dancing with the divination Proffesor Barrows. They danced beautifully, with grace, she was sure that they had danced together many times in their years. The students on the other hand seems to be inexperienced with dancing, stumbling over each other’s feet. Not everyone could get the steps right, it probably took the adults a lot of practice before they could dance flawlessly like how they did now. Though she smiled slightly at the thought of Proffesor Blackburn tripping over a woman’s foot.

She was so engrossed in there perfect twist and turns that she failed to notice Emmett until he said,

"I, ehm, as in.. Aurelia, care to join me for a dance?

She was immediately swept back to reality. Her eyes widened as she saw a hand extending to her. She gaped at the petitioner, it wasn’t because she was flattered but purely due to the fact that she would be the last person Emmett Park would ask for a dance. After their meeting in the common room, he’d surely would choke at her being his dance partner. She placed her palm on his just to appear courtous. Her mouth open to question him, “wh-” her words were cut as the brunette was pulled rather forcefully towards the dancefloor.

“Hey, slow down,” She yelped at the sudden movement. Her feet were not used to the inclined level she was at while wearing her heels and she almost tripped. It was fortunate she didn’t as it would be extremely embarrassing if it had happened, the young Gryffindor wouldn’t forgive the boy as he was the cause of the fall. She caught her step and they joined the sea of dancing students.

Her hand was placed on the boy’s shoulder like how Proffesor Blackburn had demonstrated to them earlier. Her other was tight in the boy’s grip. She wondered why he was holding it so tightly, maybe the reason was that he was nervous. She couldn’t blame him, it was her first dance too and she felt pretty jittery. What was worse was that she felt warmth creeping up her cheeks. Was she blushing? She couldn’t be, at least she convinced herself that her cheeks wasn’t turning a shade of pink. She also expected his hand to fall by her waist. It would be horrible if she had to tell him herself.

“Calm down, its just a dance and you needn’t pull me all the way here, I could have walked.” Aurelia hissed agitatedly but in a serious tone as if commanding him to do so. She didn’t want to look like those students who tripped and stepped over each other’s feet.

“Just move along, like how they are,” she whispered and jerk her chin slightly towards the two Proffesors.

Seeing her widened eyes, he was sure that he'd get decked or something. Bracing himself for the punch of the century, or perhaps a slap across his face for the dramatic effect. What would she choose?
Striking him as a person to rather slap him, he was ready. Or was she necessarily that dramatic? Would she cause a scene in the middle of the practice, risking herself just for the punishment of Emmett? However, the only thing that she did was look at him with slight agape, as if he just asked her for a dance. And guess what? He did. Accidentally.

Pulling her closer with his hand, she let out a small yelp. Emmett muttered his apologies under his breath and noted the heels she was wearing right now. "Judo reflex, the pulling." he said quietly. She was probably disappointed with her partner, having primped up herself for some awkward guy to gawk at her. She was wearing a red dress, and although he wasn't going to admit it, it looked nice on her. She looked..nice?
He felt funny when he caught himself thinking those kinds of things about his grave enemy. Maybe it was the red that did the trick. Emmett would probably think like that about every girl in here..right?

When she put her hand on his shoulder, he felt even more awkward. Regretting his birth for a while, he let his grip loosen up a bit. Not too much, but he didn't want her to have a blue hand in the end of this dance. Luckily for Aurelia, he didn't have to be told to put his hand on her waist. After the initial aversion he had towards girls, he let his arm fall on her waist. Cooties, the cooties.
Thank the heavens that no one was really paying attention to them, since everyone was too busy paying attention to themselves. Taking a last look at the professors, he looked back at her. Noticing something a tad bit different, he noted the pink shade on her cheeks.

Emmett suppressed the initial reaction to tease her about it. She would definitely slap him if he did. No risk-taking for today. He had quite white skin too, so if he would blush now, it would be pretty visible. Trying to control and tone it down a bit, he cursed in his mind. This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't blushed. Great, now his nose bridge and upper cheek were flaming red. Looking a bit down to hide it, he wished that his hair would cover the most of his face. He was wrong about that.

Waking up from his not-so-eternal slumber by her voice, he shyly lifted his gaze to again look at her. He thought it was rude not to look at her when she was speaking, or when he would reply. Basic manners, that he didn't dare to lack at this point. He had completely lacked any kind of manners when he was wrestling with her not that long ago in the common room. After this day, he'd probably avoid her and let her claim the sofa whenever, wherever.

"You probably wouldn't have if I didn't drag you here." he lifted one of his brows questioning her. It was a very indirect way to ask if she would have accepted his offer if he hadn't basically forced her to grab his hand. And he didn't want an answer either, well he did, but for the sake of his pride he didn't want to ask in a direct way.

Looking again at the professors when she jerked her head towards him, he was very very careful not to step on her or bump into others in the room. He'd die in that place, immediately. Starting to slowly move he hoped that she would at least try and follow.

You probably wouldn't have if I didn't drag you here.

He said. Aurelia didn’t like how prideful the reply sounded but at the sametime, it was the truth. She wouldn’t have went up to the dance floor if he had not forced her along. She never would have agreed to dance with a stubborn selfish spoilt arse, who only cared about himself. It would be a cruel of her to leave him in the middle of the dance floor.

His hand was placed on her waist. Her mind was screaming at her to turn back. She could screw this up and embarrass herself at any possible second. It was mostly his fault that he was here and she almost cursed aloud. She took a deep breath and exhale, she needed to calm herself down or else it would be more likely for her to accidentally make a wrong step. Emmett began to move and she followed, it was awfully slow at first but Aurelia didn’t mind.

She stared into his eyes, keeping a straight face. It was hard to do so as she kept looking down almost every few seconds to ensure that her feet were not on his.

She remembered what the headmaster told them, “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.” She repeated in her head a couple of times. Three steps each on each side wasn’t that hard to follow. As she told herself, her right foot stepped not long after her left did, it was three intervals each. She was starting to feel the rythm. She was surprised that she hadn’t tripped on Emmett yet, or worst, step on it.

Here feet began moving with the pace of the symphony of music, it was a tinge faster than what she was comfortable with. She thought that they were doing pretty well, not as graceful as the headmaster and the divination Proffesor, but the steps they made now flowed smoothly.

“Have you danced before?” Aurelia asked. The corner of her lips tilted up into a smile. She was quite impress with the progress they made from the past few minutes that seem to fly by swiftly. She had not danced in a few years, even then, her last dance was with her Father, dancing always lifted her mood in any circumstance she was in. It definitely included this one.

This class wasn't going the way he had planned. First of all, he had no idea what he had thought when he first decided to attend. Of course he should have asked someone beforehand. It was risky to come in here thinking that he'd find someone right away. He was still pretty angry with himself mixing up the names. Eventually cutting himself some slack, he comforted himself by 'it's not the end of the world' thought. But boy did it feel like the world was about to end when he chose his enemy over the acquaintance from before.

He was very wary of doing any major mistakes. He did not want Aurelia to have any teasing and ridiculing potential against him. From what he had seen, she had a sharp tongue that could probably rip his ego to shreds in seconds. The boy was aware that they were starting a bit slowly, but he would kill her if she mentioned it. He didn't want to hear about how he sucked at dancing.

Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad. They weren't tripping over themselves and laying on the floor in pain just yet. That was his worst fear right now, the dreaded 'yet'. He wouldn't allow himself to screw this up now. Gaining some confidence he looked back from his feet to her face. He was pretty sure he had some kind of a gist of what he was doing right now. Three steps to the side. Not that hard if you focused on it. Eventually it would feel natural, right? He sure hoped so. The professors looked so natural, compared to this awkward pair.

'One two three, one two three, one two th-' his thoughts got cut off and he almost lost the whole tempo in his mind. Looking a bit lost, he listened to her question. Even though the music was in the background, he could still hear what she was saying clearly. Maybe it was just him focusing on her solely right now.

"Me, danced? Well, if you could call incoherent jumping and screaming to rock music dancing, then yes." this time he seemed to stab himself with harsh words. Which was pretty unusual for someone as confident as him. He was showing a vulnerable side now, since he was pretty clueless about what was happening. Not liking how his reply turned out, he made a mental note to either praise himself or annoy her the next time she said something.

He felt a bit more relaxed when she was smiling. Emmett was bad at reading her, so he didn't know if that was a fake smile to reassure him. Why would she even try and reassure him? Perhaps so he wouldn't make them both trip. He was the one leading this after all. Although he felt like they would be better off if the more head-on and determined one of them was leading. Which was definitely not Emmett. Not in this situation.

"You?" he returned the question, not really knowing what else he had to say to her. Emmett had a pretty blank face, as if he didn't care. As if he danced every week with her. However, the steps revealed that it was his first time now.

Having been brought into Wini's conversation Asteria didn't notice the new appearance of a boy "I, ehm, as in.. Aurelia, care to join me for a dance?" the voice said. Asteria turned to the source of the new voice. It was Emmett! Asteria didn't think Emmett would be interested in dancing lessons. Noting his body language, it looked like it wasn't something he was use too at all. Asteria smiled, she was pleased that Aurelia had finally found a partner. She seemed like she was ready to burst with restlessness. Watching the two head out to dance, Asteria noticed Wini and her roommate Mardella dancing happily.

Feeling slightly awkward  at just being here let alone by herself, Asteria contemplated her next move.She could sit here and watch the lessons, or she could use this as a chance to sneak away, no one would notice after all. Asteria wasn't even sure she'd go to the ball, she just decided to to attend the lessons as something to do. She wondered if she should return the festival grounds, or explore the castle. There were quite a lot of things to do and places to go here at Hogwarts, everyday was an adventure here.

Asteria made her choice then and there. While everyone was having fun dancing, she'd do a bit of exploring. Tonight also happened to be the Gryffindor celebration, she maybe she'd also pick out her outfit for that too. Getting up from her seat, Asteria smoothed out her dress and looked around. She picked up her bag and quietly headed toward the hall doors, not wanting to break anyone's concentration. Quietly, Asteria opened the doors and headed out and toward the staircase the lead toward Gryffindor tower.

Rosie giggled when they jinxed, taking his hand and guiding back onto the dance floor. And god, she tried. She tried so hard not to notice the tail but it was just there. Anatole looked like a Gryffindor Dinosaur of some sort.

She only lasted a good minute and a half before she burst out into laughter.

Rosie put her hands on her friends' shoulders and directed him towards the wall, still giggling. "I-I'm sorry, ma-" She laughed again, wiping her eyes from laughing too hard. "Wow." She let out a few more chuckles before patting his shoulder. "I'm sorry for laughing, you just look ridiculous." She smiled at him, trying to brush off the fact she was just cracking up at him. "Here lemme help, this is gonna be super awkward for like two seconds." She said as she dropped down to one knee and undid his hair tie. She had a bobby pin to keep her hair from falling in her eyes but she figured she'd have to sacrifice it for Anatole the Dinosaur.

She rolled up his robe like if she was rolling up a paper for a scroll. It didn't look that good, but it wasn't a tail. It rolled up in the back, Rosie took the hair tie and put it on her wrist again. "There, all better." She stood up fully and took Anatole's hands. "Sorry for dragging you out, you ready to go back out?" Rosie tilted her head as she asked, smiling awkwardly. She hoped he wouldn't be too mad.

It was a relief when Eris agreed to dance - he would've felt awfully stupid doing this for no reason. Peering up at her, he was beyond happy to see that she seemed just as full of mischief. He'd seen her eyes taking in Harringtom and Serena, and he'd been afraid that she'd say no because the way she looked at them was oddly angry. He didn't know much about crushes and the like, but he figured there weren't many other reasons for a girl to be scowling that hard at people dancing. Man, Eris must have poor taste in crushes if she had one on that guy.

"Much obliged," he said in a voice so smooth it bordered on satire, as he put the thought out of his head. Straightening up, he was amused to find that Eris's cheeks were a little more coloured than usual. That wasn't like any response he'd gotten from his cousins. Though her height proved that she was nothing like them, anyhow.

Shooting a quick glance at Blackburn and Barrows, Max kept his hold on Eris's hand and stepped closer, settling his other hand lightly on her waist. Looking down was a surprise, but it wasn't altogether unpleasant. Standing like this was much comfier than craning his neck upwards to glare at a girl much taller than him. It was still weird as hell to be this close to someone - and it made his shoulders tense slightly - but the fact that he knew her and was fairly certain she wouldn't punch him made it a little better.

"I don't know if you've done this before," he murmured in a voice only for her ears, stepping a little closer so they weren't all straight-armed and stiff. "But the best thing to remember is to relax. I can lead, so you just need to be in sync with me. I think the best way for both of us to be in sync is thinking about kicking Hufflepuffs. We're not dancing, we're softly beating up annoying kids."