Chapter 8-The Hold

"Stand Still!" she said as she turned around to look at them again. Malfoy crossed his arms across his chest and stood there, staring at her as if she had sprouted another head. Medusa he murmured. Hermione on the other hand was confused and stood there awkwardly with her hands by her side. Ms Amanda drifted over to them. "tsk tsk tsk… bad posture. I shall correct your posture before I start." Hermione stared down at herself, bad posture? This was the first time someone told her she had BAD posture. She was unable to realize what was so bad about her posture. Just then, a wooden stick touched her chin and shifted it upwards. "Stare straight ahead." Ms Amanda instructed. Then, the same wooden stick touched her back as Ms Amanda told her to straighten her back. After a few more taps by the wooden stick, she finally came to the perfect yet awfully uncomfortable position. She was standing there with her chest popping out and legs extremely straight feeling as if she was a metal pole, so rigid and stiff. Then, Ms Amanda moved on to Malfoy.

WHACK

"Ouch! Bloody hell, I can sue you for that! Do you know who my father is? He's…"

"Close your legs! You're not peeing in the toilet now!"

Whack

"now you better not continue hitting me with that stick or…"

"Stand straight! Your backbone is not there for nothing!"

WHACK

"hey, I told you I didn't like that stick you're holding."

"Chest out."

Ms Amanda lifted her stick once more and before she went for Malfoy's chin, he immediately lifted his head up.

"Good." She walked away from them and turned around just in time to catch Malfoy slacking, returning to the lazy posture of his. With a wave of her wand, Ms Amanda sent her wooden stick out at Malfoy as it automatically whacked him at certain parts of his body to correct his posture. Finally, with a loud thud on his head, she summoned her stick back. "You are to behave yourselves at all times." She warned, not a single expression on her face.

"In the short amount of time that I'm given, I'll be teaching you ballroom dancing and more specifically, waltz. If time permits, I'll be teaching you tango, foxtrot and quickstep. I require full attention while I'm teaching."

"Waltz is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, flowing movements, continuous turns, and rise & fall. It is a very graceful and elegant dance. I repeat, graceful and ELEGANT." She emphasized as Malfoy started to get restless of his standing position. Startled, he immediately went back to the original posture. Hermione stifled a giggle. "What's so funny Granger." Malfoy hissed at her. Shaking her head slightly, she looked ahead seriously.

"Waltz dancers glide around the floor almost effortlessly."

Guess that would be the perfect dance for ghosts. Maybe it originated from the supernatural…Malfoy thought.

"The expressive quality of the music often invites very powerful and dynamic movement from dancers. The first lesson would be on the hold. The closed ballroom hold requires the maintenance of five points of contact between the partners while they are dancing… yes Ms Granger?"

"Pardon me but is there something such as a distance hold or far hold or… no hold?"

"Rubbish. The closed hold is the most basic skill dancers ought to have. And no, there's no such thing as a distance hold or whatever you said. If there's no contact present, it won't be called a hold anymore."

"oh man…" she sneaked a peek at Malfoy, "Groossss." She exclaimed, a bit too loudly.

Ms Amanda, who obviously heard her, continued, "There's no way you can dance waltz without having any contact. Now, get into your positions!"

Puzzled, they stared at her blankly.

"All right all right. Let me teach you. First, turn to face each other."

They did just that, giving each other the oh-so-familiar disgusted stare. Noticing the tension between them, Ms Amanda ordered, "SMILE at each other."

Hermione squeezed an extremely forced smile onto her face while Malfoy just smirked.

"The five points of contact consist of three hand contacts. First, the man's left hand holding onto the lady's right hand. Come on! Do it!"

Malfoy stretched out his hand and held onto Hermione's wrist, as if it was a stinking fish.

"I meant her hand, Mr Malfoy. Do it before I use my wand. Now now, don't be shy. Good! "

"Next, the lady's left hand must be resting on the top of the man's right upper arm."

Hermione did so with such great force, slapping her whole palm on Malfoy's arm that Malfoy hissed in pain and gave her a killing stare. Hermione sticked out her tongue and pretended nothing happened.

"Then, the man's right hand should be placed on the waist on the back of the lady. " Ms Amanda paced around the room as she said so. Grabbing the chance for revenge, Malfoy slapped his hand hard on Hermione's back. Caught unprepared, Hermione was thrown off balance and fell onto Malfoy chest. She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. Then, it became obvious to her that she was leaning against Malfoy. She immediately stepped backwards and cleared her throat, acting as if nothing happened. Malfoy, also shocked by the effect of his action, looked away. Oblivious to what had happened, Ms Amanda continued pacing around the room and as if reciting her ABCs, "In addition to those 3 hand contacts, there are 2 other areas of contact. The lady's left elbow must rest on the man's right elbow. Lastly, the right area of the chest or each partner touches that of the other." Both Hermione and Malfoy were very unwilling to carry out the last action. They stood there looking away from each other. Ms Amanda turned to look at them, and sighed. "Young kids. Childishness. I'd expected this to happen. Now, shake off that embarrassment. It's no big deal, it's just like hugging each other." She stated, as if it was a piece of cake. Easier said than done…Hermione thought, stepping only an inch closer to Malfoy. "Alright alright. If I don't do something, you'll stay there in that position for the rest of your life. On the count of 3, I'LL do it for YOU. 1, 2, 3. Fine. " She went over to the duo and pushed them together. Hermione leaned backwards, determined to keep her distance. Ms Amanda shook her head and pushed Hermione closer towards Malfoy. "Done!" she announced, before walking off. Hermione shuddered. She could feel Malfoy's breathing above her. Malfoy's heartbeat could almost be heard from where she was. She had the urge to sneak a peek at him, to find out what his reaction was. This was the first time they had such close contact for such a long time. Malfoy's heartbeat skipped a beat. He looked down at Hermione, she was looking sideways. He could feel her breathing against his chest. He felt himself flushing. It was the first time he had was so close to Hermione and honestly, the feeling was not bad. "Let go of your hands!" Ms Amanda commanded. They let go slowly, both still dazed by theis first experience. "Get back to your hold again!" Ms Amanda commanded. Startled, they rushed back into the hold again. "Let go!" "Get back!" "let go!" "Get back!" She kept on telling them in that irritatingly sing-song voice while jumping across the room, as if having fun. After about 20 minutes of holding and releasing, both Hermione and Malfoy were panting and perspiring like crazy. "Great! That's the end of our first lesson! The next lesson, you'll be learning the proper dance! This lesson is only to get yourselves familiar and most importantly comfortable with the hold. You are dismissed!" As Hermione and Malfoy walked together out of the dance room, they were speechless for a moment. As they came to the part where they had to go separate ways, Hermione heard Malfoy said ever so softly, "Night." She turned to look at him who was not looking at her. "Pardon?" she asked. "Remember our deal tomorrow." He said, his back towards her as he continued walking. Hermione stared at the back of Malfoy, full of queries about this guy who had always been her most hated enemy. He would always be a mystery to her. She tried to shake all the confusions out of her head as she made her way to her dormitory. It was indeed a tiring night, yet she was unsure whether it had been a good or a bad experience.

Hey ppl! =D Sorry for the late update! Been very busy with school stuff. This is quite a troublesome chapter for me. I had to do quite some research about ballroom dancing. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it! =D pardon my tenses if I made anymore mistakes!

Pls review! It would be greatly appreciated! I'm aiming for about 50 reviews. It would be a great motivation for me to continue writing! =D and thx for those who reviewed!! =D