"Get in there. Come on," Hermione grumbled inaudibly. She was sitting in front of the mirror on her dresser with a few hairpins sticking out of her mouth and taking one by one to stick in her hair in order to keep it pinned up. Without a doubt the rest of her hair would be accompanying the few pieces that were hanging by her cheeks that refused to go into her messy bun, but at the very least it shouldn't be happening now.
After Hermione felt satisfied with her hair, she spat out the remaining two hairpins from her mouth and stood up so she could make her way over to her full-body mirror. Her dress was red and strapless with a bit of a flare that reached just below her knees so that when she walked it swished and swayed.
"Perfect for dancing," Hermione commented as she fished out her black shoes that matched the black sash that was wrapped around her waist and outlined the hem at the bottom of her dress. Just as she had put the shoes on her fireplace ignited, and she could hear her name being called from the living room.
"I'm coming!"
Hermione left her bedroom and out to the living room to see Ginny standing in front of the fireplace and angrily wiping soot off from her black dress.
"Why did I Floo? Why did I Floo?" She was mumbling and Hermione, though she knew why Ginny was being so obsessive, couldn't help but laugh. Ginny looked up and her cheeks tinged massively. She held her hands in front of her and shrugged her shoulders. "I've gotten soot just about everywhere."
"Yes, and you've a wand too." Hermione smiled. She took out her own wand and pointed it at Ginny's dress. Though it was black, soot stains were still a tad visible, but completely cleared with a spell. Ginny thanked her and pushed some of her hair behind her ears. "Gin, it's just a little dance class."
"Oh, easy for you to say," Ginny chuckled. "You're a natural. Rodney's going to think I'm horrible. You know I've got two left feet."
"I doubt you stepping on his toes will make him take back his marriage proposal with only three months until the date. Besides, your first dance with him will be great no matter what. Now let's get going."
Ginny groaned as Hermione took her hand in order to disapparate. They landed in Millbury, a small wizarding community nicknamed "Instruction." It was so named because the place was filled with places to learn many different things. There was a pottery shoppe, Knitting Nancy's in order to learn how to knit, dueling classes, how to ride a broom with flare, and much more. Among the many places to learn a craft was a dancing studio, and it was there Hermione had signed herself and Ginny up for a dancing lesson.
Ginny was getting married soon and from the moment she had gotten engaged and began planning the wedding, she was griping and moaning about the wedding dance. She complained about not knowing how to move to a tune and about how she looked like a complete idiot on the dance floor. "No one will remember the ceremony." Ginny had whined. "They'll only remember me tripping over myself."
To shut Ginny up Hermione said that she'd do a dancing lesson with her. To that Ginny only had more negative things to say. "Do you want me to feel self-conscious? You know what you're doing out there!" Hermione had rolled her eyes to that and promptly ignored her. Ginny made her out to be a pro, but that definitely wasn't the case. As a child, Hermione's mother's dream was to have her daughter learn ballet. And so that turned out to be the case. And for a little while Hermione had also been introduced to ballroom; those lessons having been interrupted when her Hogwarts letter came.
And so Hermione could brag and say that she knew how to stick to a beat and how to twirl without getting dizzy and falling down and how to move with a partner, but any more than that? She was no champion dancer.
Truth be told, aside from trying to assuage Ginny's fear of dancing, Hermione wanted to get near the dancing teachers. Every time she passed by the dancing studio, the storefront window was covered by a beige shade and, perhaps enchanted to do so, the silhouette of the dancers could be seen. It was an attractive sight –to never see the faces of the dancers, but just their shadows? It made dancing alluring, anonymous even.
Hermione had passed by the studio so many times that she had even begun to be able to tell the silhouettes apart –from teacher to student and from among the different teachers. There was one teacher in particular Hermione had gotten to know. He was the best of them all. He had a way of making the worst student a prodigy. How? Hermione wasn't certain. But she was hoping that she would find that particular teacher tonight.
"Good evening everyone!" a tall, slightly aged, slender brunette addressed the room. She was in charge of the dance studio and oversaw all of the lessons, but never in particular showed anyone how to dance. Rumor had it that she had injured herself years ago, inhibiting her dancing feet. But that injury didn't do anything to her mouth. Her dancing abilities didn't just inhabit her feet, but the woman lived and breathed it. She instructed her dancers by mouth alone and gentle bodily adjustments with her dainty fingertips.
A true teacher, if Hermione didn't say so herself.
"My name is Magnolia Byrnes. You may simply call me Maggie. You're here for a dancing lesson to which I applaud you. I'd like to take the time out to remind you that this is an informal and therefore free event. For more formal and thus more practice in dancing, you may sign up for private sessions at the end of this workshop. Now, up and on your feet, please!"
Hermione smiled while Ginny forced hers. Maggie went on to encourage everyone to spread out and to grab hold of a partner.
"I'd like to assess what dancing you can and cannot do." Maggie announced. "After that my experienced dancers will work with you all one-on-one."
"Will your prodigy be one of the experienced dancers?" someone from the crowd giggled anxiously. Maggie smiled to that and answered the young woman's question by saying that he was running a bit late, but would be arriving there shortly.
Hermione found herself being asked if she had a partner yet by a man who was old enough to be her father. She politely smiled and told him no, striking up the customary dancer's position by placing a hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand. Maggie announced that the song she was about to play was one made for the Waltz.
"Dance according to how you feel a Waltz should be danced." Maggie urged everyone. "Not from what you might have seen or heard of it."
"Just let me know if the Waltz is a fast or slow one." The older man laughed, and Hermione laughed along with him. She was generous enough to tell him that it was a slow dance, also going as far as saying that it had a light and airy feel to it.
"Let yourself go while doing it." Hermione helped. The music came on booming, yet delicate as well. Usually the man led, but in this case it was the opposite turn of events. Hermione led the gentleman's feet. She counted out loud. She went even slower than the music so the man could feel comfortable. Truth be told he wasn't all that bad. A few more lessons and maybe he'd be able to dance without looking down at his feet and checking to see if he was stepping on his partner's toes.
The music ended just as quickly as it has started. The man thanked Hermione for being his partner and she did the same. Everyone's attention was being brought to Maggie who was clapping her hands and smiling.
"That was great everyone, thank you. I managed to get a casual look at all of you while you were dancing, as well as my fellow dancing instructors who snuck into the room while all of you were distracted."
"Sneaking up on people sounds so rude, Maggie." a voice said; the holder of that voice emerging next to her. Maggie laughed and then gestured her hands to him.
"Everyone, this is, as someone pointed out earlier, the prodigy of this studio as well as my second in command. Draco Malfoy,"
Hermione was stunned. She stood there, staring at him as he smiled perfectly –showing off the top row of abnormally white teeth –and fixed the collar of his black, loose-fitting button-up shirt that was neatly tucked into his black slacks. After having not seen him for at least eight years, the last time being a chance meeting in Diagon Alley and him promptly ignoring her, this was the absolute last place she imagined him to be.
Ginny, who had disappeared into the crowd after the previous dancing exercise, materialized next to her. She, too, had a look of surprise on her face. "Who would've thought Malfoy would've turned out to be a ballerina?" She scoffed.
Hermione rolled her eyes. There were few times where Ginny made her become short-tempered and this was one of them. Clearly she had never watched a dancing competition with real professional dancers. No one would dare call them ballerinas in such a tone. The women were meant to outshine the men with their colorful and sometimes revealing outfits, but the couple was meant to be looked at as a couple. But even then, when Hermione used to watch these competitions with her parents she found that she could never pry her eyes away from the men. It was amazing to her how they could look so masculine, and yet dance with such precision and form. In fact, she considered it the most masculine thing she'd ever seen.
And now Hermione was curious. Maggie called Draco her prodigy, as did someone else name him so. Could he of all people resemble one of those mesmerizing professionals? She would soon find out for herself, so it seemed, as she watched Draco roll up his sleeves.
"Now, as much as I make fun of Maggie for sneak attacks, I commit a few myself." Draco smiled. "One of the few reasons why people hate to dance is the feeling of being watched. They over-think things. And yes, there're a few technicalities in dancing, but in order to learn those technicalities, you need a feel for the music first. You need to feel comfortable with it. Only then you can learn why that comfort comes so easily.
'And so, with that said, I think it's time for a show. Ava, if you don't mind?"
Hermione heard several of the women in the room groan out of jealousy. Out of the line of instructors that were standing against the wall a slim blonde approached Draco. She was smiling, as if taunting those in the room who wished to be in her position at the moment, and stood about two feet away from Draco. She was holding herself, her eyes closed, and head pointed towards the direction of the floor. Draco stood erect, his gaze casted to the floor as well. Soon music filled the room and Hermione knew at once what dance they were about to perform.
The Tango was a dance filled with romance and dripped of lust. Perhaps that's why every woman was seething with envy. Every woman except Hermione that is. She was jealous because of how Draco and this woman moved together. It started slow and precise. The pretty blonde removed her hands from her chest and pointed her fingertips to the floor; soon dragging her hands up her thighs. Draco brought his gaze to her, and soon he was advancing with calculated steps that went to tune.
She moved back as Draco moved forward, but she couldn't outrun him for long. Soon a hand was grasping hers, the other on her waist, her remaining hand on his shoulder and they kept to the music. One, two, three, a dramatic gesture of a head turn, a change in direction, or an envious leg that the blonde woman wrapped around Draco's waist.
Hermione watched with awe. Every move was intricate. Every move was flawless. And the longer she watched, the more flustered she became. Hermione had come to realize that Draco was that teacher she had been so intent on meeting. The silhouette she had been stalking –that she had intimately come to know –had belonged to him. There was no doubt in her mind about it, and at the end of the dance Hermione was clapping loudly; even more impressed now that her shadow had a name and a face.
"Well done, Draco. Ava," Maggie applauded. "And now everyone, don't let these two discourage you. You can be just as good as they are. With that said, I'd like for you to partner up yet again, except this time with one of the instructors. Draco and I will be walking around the studio and giving our two cents."
"I hate to admit it, but Malfoy was pretty good." Ginny said to Hermione as one of the dancing teachers approached her. Hermione had nodded in agreement. She had been staring at Draco indiscreetly, barely paying any attention when a teacher presented himself to her.
"Shall we get started then?"
Hermione nodded and smiled. She got into position with her instructor whose named she learned was Thomas. They would be continuing on with the Waltz, so he said, and went on to tell her how to position her body and her hands and how her feet should go. Hermione didn't bother to tell him that when she had taken Ballroom lessons for a short amount of time as a child; the Waltz being the first dance that she had learned. Not to mention that it was her favorite.
As they began to move to the music, Thomas was looking at her in surprise. He began to smile too and then laughed. "You've come to this session to support a friend, haven't you?"
"How did you know?"
"Your form," He grinned. "It's quite good. One would say that you hardly need lessons like these."
"But of course if she's mastered one dance, that doesn't mean that she's mastered them all." Came Draco's voice.
Hermione and Thomas stopped dancing. Draco greeted them both and then promptly told Thomas to take his place in doing rounds among those in the class. With him gone, it was just Draco and Hermione now standing in front of each other while everything around them was bustling. Draco wasted no more time. He held out his hand to her and with a small bout of hesitation, Hermione gave hers to him, and they both began to do the Waltz.
Immediately Hermione felt unpolished. She swore that she was stepping on Draco's toes or holding onto his shoulder much too tightly, but it was all in her imagination. Or maybe it wasn't and Draco was merely too polite to acknowledge her nervous gestures? Either way, the dance seemed to be moving flawlessly. Despite how packed the studio was, the two of them managed to take up a lot of dancing room as though no one was there. And though they were in each other's arms and in such a close proximity to each other than they'd ever been, eye contact between them was non-existent.
"…I hear Weasley's sister is getting married." Draco spoke. Hermione felt his hand tighten around hers; perhaps as a consequence of her placing extra pressure on his shoulder at his sudden speaking.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"Around,"
Hermione gave a contemplative "hmm," and nodded as they twirled. It was then that she noticed that many of the couples had stopped dancing and drifted off to a side of the room to watch them.
"The wedding's in August."
"Tell her I said congratulations."
Hermione made an effort to look at him. His gaze was steady and avoided hers. She pursed her lips and cleared her throat. "You can tell her yourself. She's here, you know."
Draco looked at her. He gave an almost unperceptive shake of his head as the music, and their dance, slowed to a halt. "I'd rather not."
Whether Draco would've said more or Hermione would've gathered words to reply was something that wasn't pursued. Everyone had quarantined themselves off to the walls of the studio and had been watching them. Now that the dance was over they were applauding them, and Draco bowed, Hermione following suit before leaving his side and finding Ginny who had her hands on her hips.
"Hey, I'm trying to build dancing confidence here." Ginny playfully scolded. Hermione laughed and swore that it was unintentional. As the pair of them continued to speak, Hermione stole occasional glances at Draco who was speaking with Maggie. He was talking about something rather serious with her, so it seemed, and then his gaze went towards her. Hermione quickly turned away, trying not to make it so obvious that she had been staring.
She was only too happy to have the session end some moments later.