Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. However, we changed everyone's names (including our own). Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!
A/N: I wrote this with Jabberwocky, so if you recognize her style of writing, that'll be why.
Chapter 9
The next day, Lily was wakened up by pillows hitting her head.
"What the hell was that for?" she demanded.
"Happy Birthday Lil!" the other girls shouted.
"Dance today!" Yelled Kait.
"Shut up!" thundered Lily. But the others managed to drag her down to breakfast. Dumbledore stood up.
"Today you will start Dance. Your classes have been divided so that there is an even number of boys and girls in each class. Division 1 will go now, Division 2 will go in second period, Division 3 after lunch, and Division 4 at the end of the day. You will have Dance at this time every day until Christmas Holidays. When you return, we will have a New Year's Ball. These are the classes. First Years are Division 1, and Marckenda Malison, Heather Cranmore, and Jackson Adlecran. Division 2 is the second and third years, and Yvonne Malone and Rushmore Lyndom. Division 3 is the fourth and fifth years, with no additions. Division 4 is the sixth and seventh years, and Rachel McKinnon. Thank you."
Lily seemed in a very, very bad mood that day, despite all the presents she opened at lunch, including a fluffy striped grey cat she named Merlyn. She had always wanted one, too. But her mood had been soured by the prospect of dancing. She wasn't particularly bad, she just seemed to hate it. Maybe she didn't like the thought of some freaky guy (particularly Kirk L, despite his being a good dancer, as much as she hated admitting it) touching her, and her not being able to mercilessly attack him.
However, as all bad things do eventually, the end of lunch came. Lily came, but she complained and worried all the way to a smaller hall behind the Great one, normally used for special dinners, that was now their dance studio. McGonagall and Dumbledore greeted them as their dance teachers. They lined up in the line forming by a table with a magical sound system and a box of black cloth on it. When they got to the front, they were handed black leotards, pants, and split-soled jazz shoes. They were told to go down the hall and change in the room marked Girls, and that they were to use these clothes for dance from now on.
"Why in the world did Dumbledore spring for modern Muggle dance clothes?" asked Stephanie, although she looked really happy to have a reason to wear dance clothes again. She was missing dancing.
"Because Dumbledore is a freak, how should I know?" answered Kait.
They changed and scooted back into the hall. Everyone was sitting in front of the table, looking up at Dumbledore and McGonagall. The guys were in black t-shirts and loose sweatpants. And jazz runners. Some of the girls wondered why they got jazz runners and the girls didn't. However, Dumbledore began to speak.
"Hello, children. This is your first dance class. This is how it will work. Boys will pick a partner from the girls (all couples must be boy/girl), and you will stay with that partner all dance. However, you can pick your own partner for the New Year's Eve Ball, now, boys, go pick your partners"
All the boys got up and picked people. Tugger, as the girls called him, picked Kailie to be his partner, and the others waited, hoping to be forgotten. All too soon, however, feet appeared under their downcast eyes….
Ron had been watching Kait this whole time, and Terry had been watching Lily. Harry had passingly asked whom he should pick… if Ron maybe wouldn't mind him picking Ginny… he'd rather dance with someone he knew…. And Ron had said that was cool with him, best of luck. He and Terry, however, had become rather good friends lately - Ron had been trying to unobtrusively hang around Kait, and Terry had been doing the same regarding Lily, and since Kait and Lily were almost inseparable, they ended up seeing a lot of each other. And, because they both wanted the same thing from different markets, they decided to help each other out. Strength in numbers. So, when Dumbledore told the guys to choose partners, they very hastily planned what they were going to do. They'd walk over and ask. And if that simple plan backfired… Well, they really didn't want to think about that. So they got up and walked over to the girls. When they looked up, Terry and Ron simultaneously asked them to be their partners. Kait blushed, Lily looked skeptical, but, for lack of better partners, they agreed. The music that began to play was "Now you all join hands and you circle the ring…"; Lily yelped and hid behind Terry. `Adne was singing along. For some reason, she liked that song. Quite a bit.
Dumbledore called them all over to the center to explain the dance. However, all the GATE kids insisted they knew it already, and could dance it just fine, thank you very much, and they'd just drag their partners into place. Dumbledore agreed, and they all got into a circle and started the dance. It was pretty chaotic, because the GATE kids first had to remember exactly how to do the dance, and drag their partners along at the same time. And they kept dissolving in laughter, because Bruce, who called himself Jon after a famous kung-fu master, was singing "Oh me-ee, Oh me-ee, Oh!", rather than "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, oh!".
At almost the end of the period, they were all supposed to have a "free" slow dance. That was horrible. Most of the people kind of had their arm around their partner, as little as they could get away with. All except for Tugger and Kailie. Tugger seemed to have enough self-confidence to let everyone know he obviously had a crush on Kailie, and was taking the "bold" approach.
Ron and Terry, however, had decided that trying to be bold was going to scare Kait and Lily into hiding, and asking to be beaten up severely when they came out. So they were being very considerate and were giving the girls their space, however tiresome they (the guys) found it.