Hermione was greeted by both Esme and Draco when she arrived the next day. Esme had a piece of parchment in her hand.
"Hi, Hermione," she said. "I thought you might like to see this. Look on the back."
Hermione studied the parchment which was a notice for the competition. On the back was a running order with participants' names and Esme pointed to a couple half way down the page.
"Beth Anderson and William Patch dancing to Le Caracture," Hermione looked up. "That's the dance William and I were doing."
Esme nodded. "I know. It would seem they haven't bothered to learn another dance – they are just going to use the one that William was doing with you so we may have to change our approach and not use very much of that dance. We can't risk you all using the same moves because the judges would spot that immediately."
"But it's your choreography!" Hermione protested. "How dare they use it!"
"That's what I said," Draco commented, quietly.
"It is a bit of a cheek but there isn't much we can do. We do need to change our dance though so I'm afraid it will mean you learning some more. The section we've been working on is the one from your dance with William so we will need to scrap it I'm afraid. I've already worked out some new steps though and I really like the part where you swung around William...now Draco of course. But they're bound to use that so I have had to alter it a little so it remains unique. So I thought instead of you just swinging around him, Draco could lean over a little and you could put your back against his and use him as support to swing over. As you come back round to the front you can link arms and do a full turn and then a pulled jump back together." She turned to Draco. "Let me try and show you."
She pulled Draco closer and then began the swing around him that Hermione was familiar with. She then pushed Draco so that he was bending forward slightly and put her own back on his, using him as support so she could lift her feet and roll over him. "That was good but you must lock arms or Hermione could go flying off. The next part means a full turn by me." Esme did this. "Then, keeping our arms locked I will lean back – you will be taking my weight." She did this slowly until Draco understood what she meant. She was now leaning right back with Draco holding her. "Now pull me back in, swiftly and with a small lift." She made the movement and then leant back again so that Draco could pull her in as well. They ended up chest to chest, Esme's feet almost off the floor and Draco holding her tightly around the waist. Their faces were inches apart and they stared at one another until Hermione almost felt like she should look away. She then remembered this was her and Draco's dance lesson so she cleared her throat pointedly and they both now turned to look at her. Esme moved away quickly, looking uncomfortable but Draco's face was expressionless.
"Right then, let's get the two of you doing that then," she said and Hermione stared over at Draco dubiously. She wasn't sure she could do that or more to the point she wasn't sure it would look like that. "If you could start your swing as usual, Hermione and I'll help you with the roll over the Draco's back."
Hermione bit her lip anxiously and got into position. She kept her gaze low, not wanting to stare at Draco and then she moved into her swing, lowering her body. Esme was standing behind them and as Hermione turned she helped her lift herself and roll across Draco's back like a jive move. Hermione found this fairly easy but dismounting and completing the full turn whilst leaning away from Draco was more difficult and ended up elbowing Draco in the ribs. He bent over with a groan and Hermione bent over him.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?" she asked.
"Just fabulous, thanks," Draco answered sarcastically. "You're not dismounting a bloody horse, Granger. Try and keep the elbows in!"
"Well excuse me for not perfecting the move first time!" Hermione stood up, indignantly. "I didn't do it on purpose but maybe I should have!"
"It's called respecting another person's space," Draco answered and Hermione huffed at him.
"We're dancing together! How on earth can I respect your space! Surely the point is that we don't respect each other's space? It's all about our connection, remember?" Hermione pulled a face at him and he glared back at her.
"Last time I checked our only connection was our mutual dislike for each other!" Draco spoke abruptly and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So much for working together on this then? What happened to our truce? I should have known that Draco - up my own arse – Malfoy wouldn't be able to act in a mature fashion and put our history to one side!"
"Now, stop it you two..." Esme tried to intervene but they both ignored her.
"What do you think I have been doing?" Draco demanded. "I've been here every night for almost two weeks while we practise this bloody dance over and over. I've bit my tongue every time you take a hundred attempts at getting even the simplest steps correct. I've not once insulted or teased you and I've worked bloody hard!" He leant closer. "So don't tell me I haven't acted maturely, Granger! You're the one with a foul temper that you can't control!"
"Isn't it strange that my temper only seems to surface when I'm with you!" Hermione answered. "You're so critical of me as if you have some perfect life that I should be jealous of! Well, that's no longer the case is it, Malfoy? So maybe it's time you got down off your high and mighty pedestal and realized you're no better than the rest of us." This was below the belt but Hermione had lost her temper and didn't care.
"That's enough!" Esme interrupted again and Hermione turned to her.
"Yes, it is! Nothing is worth all this. I quit!"
"No! Hermione!" Esme grabbed her arm. "Don't be ridiculous, you know you don't want to quit. You just need to calm down."
"She's like a toddler, having a bloody tantrum!" Draco commented and Hermione stopped half way to the door and turned back to him. "You can't quit and we all know it so stop being an idiot!"
Hermione turned back to him, ready to retaliate but as she did so she knew he was right. She couldn't quit! But right now she hated him so much that she would have happily hexed him on the spot.
"Hermione?" Esme gently said her name as a question and Hermione slowly nodded to indicate that she was going to stay. She glared at Draco for a moment and then walked back over, her arms folded. "I need you both to stop this because we can't be productive with this atmosphere in the studio," Esme said. "I can't understand why you have to argue so much? You dance very well together, it looks great. I think you have a chance of winning if you really put your minds to it so what a waste of energy arguing is!"
"Winning?" Hermione and Draco said the word in unison and then frowned at each other.
"Yes, winning. Technically you're not perfect and probably still won't be in the short time we have left but the way you look dancing together is wonderful. I don't know what it is but you have a chemistry together..."
"Huh!" Draco grunted and Esme turned to him.
"You can grunt at me all you like, Draco but believe me it's there. Hermione is most definitely the best dance partner for you and vice versa. You may not like hearing all this but it's true! So if we can all keep our tempers in check I'd be grateful because it's not only your time you're wasting it's mine as well!" Esme sighed. "We've wasted half an hour so if you're both willing I suggest we take a quick break to calm down..." she emphasised the words. "Then we'll do another half hour. I'm going to leave you for a few minutes and then we'll try that manoeuvre again." She walked to the door. "If possible it would be useful if you try not to kill each other while I'm away!"
Hermione lowered herself to the floor and grabbed her drink. She felt exhausted but it wasn't from dancing – it was from the sheer effort of being in the company of Draco Malfoy. He was over the other side of the studio and she glared at his back with vindictiveness. What an arrogant, ignorant, selfish...She tried to stop her thoughts in that direction because they weren't productive. She was to blame as well because she seemed to find it impossible to rise above it and ignore him. He seemed to be able to press her buttons but she needed to stop it. She realized this wasn't the first time she'd had this silent conversation with herself!
It was then that she saw a hand in front of her face and she looked up to see Draco standing above her, his hand held out to her. She stared at it for a moment before looking up into his face ready to tell him to shove off – she'd dance with him when she had to – when Esme was back. But the words never left her lips because the look on Draco's face silenced her. He looked pale, upset almost and his hair was a mess from him running his hands through it. His lips were set into a line but his expression was soft and warm. All of this Hermione may have been able to ignore but she couldn't ignore his eyes. They were a deep grey, the little flecks of gold clearly visible and they held an expression of complete compliance without an ounce of accusation or coldness. He moved his hand a little closer, indicating that she should take it and to her own surprise she did exactly that. He pulled her to standing but didn't break eye contact and Hermione felt absolutely no inclination to resist. She didn't know how or why he was doing this but she was powerless against it. She was worn out from the tension and arguments and this felt right and natural. And now Draco surprised her again because he slid his arms around her waist and moved really close, far closer than they were usually when they danced. Hermione was bewildered by her own reaction to all this and asked herself why she wasn't resisting him, why she wasn't slapping him away when only a few minutes ago she had been ready to hex him. She didn't have an answer except that she wanted his closeness and that she was so tired of fighting that she didn't think she could do it anymore.
Draco made a few tentative steps obviously testing if she would move with him, which she did. It wasn't there dance routine but the steps were the same and Draco quickened the pace a little, moving them both across the studio but keeping close to her. Hermione didn't remember doing it but her hands were on his chest, not in their usual position because he had her pulled to close for that and she could feel his warm skin under her palms. She suddenly had the overwhelming urge to lean her cheek against him but she resisted. Draco swung her around a little now, keeping her hips close to him but moving her upper body away a little and then he pulled back and made her do a twirl under his arm before grabbing her and dipping her low and back up again. Without warning this made Hermione giggle and she gave a little chuckle as he repeated the move on the other side.
And then they were dancing again, without any music and now it was their familiar steps and movements but done in a less formal way, their hands joined, their movements fluid and natural. Hermione recognized the part they had been practising was approaching and when Draco didn't appear to be about to stop she just went for it, swinging around him and then rolling over his back. Her dismount was perfect and she leant backwards, happy to let him support her before he pulled her forcefully back to him so that they ended in the position that he and Esme had been in just a few minutes earlier.
Hermione stepped away quickly, remembering how this position had appeared to her as an onlooker. She lifted her eyes to Draco and he gave her a little, wry smile.
"See, I knew we could do it," he said and his voice had breathy quality to it that Hermione wasn't familiar with.
"We?" Hermione questioned his pluralisation and he nodded.
"Yes, Hermione. We can do it," he answered her, emphasising the 'we' and using her first name. Hermione felt her face redden. How ridiculous that she should feel embarrassed by just hearing her name from his lips but she couldn't help it, as it sounded intimate. Draco shuffled a little and she was surprised to see him look awkward. "Sometimes it's best if you just ignore me..." he said and he looked down at his feet. Hermione watched with interest because this was a rare moment to hear Draco Malfoy admit to being partly to blame. "My bark is worse than my bite – you of all people should know that," he looked up at her now, his dishevelled hair flopping into his eyes and gave her a devastating grin which set a hundred butterflies off in her stomach. "You're not going to dump me are you? If we believe Esme then I'm not likely to win this completion with anyone but you..." His question was spoken quietly with a hint of amusement and she stared at him. He never ceased to amaze her and not always in a good way but this was refreshing and a whole new side of him that she didn't know existed. He was being conciliatory and almost admitting to being at blame. She lifted her head a little, not wanting to let herself be manipulated by his easy charm.
"I'll try to keep my temper..." she said. "And I'm not going to dump you."
Draco gave a little nod. "Good." He gave a little, false shudder. "I'm not used to being dumped."
"I'm sure you're not," Hermione went along with his small joke. "I imagine you're an expert giving it out though!"
Draco's grin widened and he moved his hands down himself. "This perfection is too good to belong to just one girl for too long."
"I'd better prepare myself for the devastation of being rejected at the end of this then," Hermione gave a little grin. She put her hand over her heart in an exaggerated fashion. "I just hope I'll be able to get over it quickly."
Ooh - it really is love/hate at the moment! Hope it's flowing nicely and that you are still liking them arguing because I really think they would be still arguing as neither of them really want to do this. I haven't forgotten the night on the bridge - it will be brought up again soon. x