"I don't think there's ever going to be a time when I'm not tired in the morning. Wake me up when the professor walks in," Bonnie talked as I shook my head. She was about to lay her head on my shoulder as comfort, but the dance professor had walked in. "Or not," Bonnie groaned as she sat up straight, muttering to herself angrily as I chuckled.
"Alright my lovely students my name is Penelope, it is my greatest pleasure to be the ones preparing you for the dance competition," a lady in a bright purple skirt spoke as she had her dirty brown hair twisted into a low bun with the help of her wand. "Now keep in mind when I say preparation, I don't mean multiple but only one," she stated as I raised a brow and gave Bonnie and Amelia a look who sat a seat down.
"This completion is purely based on what your inner ability is, if the professors start helping you along each and every step, it won't be your powers at all, so all of you will just get a teensy bit of heads up before the competition begins," she talked as all eyes of the ten students competing were on her, listening to each one of her words. "Today you'll be sorted with the person you'll be preparing your dance steps with. They'll all be randomized, so you are new to your environment which makes it more efficient to see your hard work and your teamwork skills."
As she finished her sentence, ten random students walked in together, forming a line next to each other as the room went silent. "Each participant will be assigned with the students in front of you, so get used to an uneasy feeling already," she said as some students were already familiar to me. "Blaise Zabini you'll be assigned with Luna Lovegood, Draco Malfoy will be assigned with Susan Bones, Hermione Granger will be assigned with Zacharias Smith, Bonnie Wright will be assigned with Michael Corner, Amelia Brooks will be assigned with Neville Longbottom, Hannah Abott will be assigned with Dean Thomas, Padama Patil will be assigned with Seamus Finnigan, Parvati Patil will be assigned with Theodore Nott, Ginny Weasley will be assigned with Adrian Pucey, and lastly Evelyn Young will be assigned with Cormac McLaggen," she spoke as my eyes widened at the fact that McLaggen was going to be my partner, this was my doom. I put on a fake smile as we all stood up and stood in front of our partners and McLaggen continued to creepily smile at me. I found it hilarious that Malfoy was paired with a Hufflepuff, they'd be an interesting duo as the rest of us were slightly comfortable at the thought we knew a few people around us.
"Now keep in mind, you'll be practicing your dances with your partners for the competition and if either of you fails to show up, it'll impact both of you and a possible elimination from the competition," she spoke as I wanted to chokehold the universe for pairing with me McLaggen, it's alright I got this. "Alright now, one hand on each other's shoulder and the other on each other's waist," she explained as we all took a step forward, bowing before we did as she talked.
"McLaggan, the professor said hands on my waist not my thighs," I spoke as he looked down at his hand position. "Forgive me, Evelyn, I didn't realize, I was too busy looking at your eyes," he said in a flirty tone.
"If you're trying to flirt with someone the least you can do is put on some nice perfume and use better pickup lines McLaggan and besides those don't work on me so don't even try anything," I spoke as he cleared his throat to think of saying something else. "You're very high-spirited, it's attractive," he took his second attempt to flirt with me as I practically rolled my eyes to look towards the other contestants as they were doing perfectly fine except for one, Malfoy.
I watched as the Hufflepuff girl struggled to work with Malfoy. She was more annoyed by the fact she was paired with him than the fact he was in Slytherin. They practically bickered as to where their hand placements are as his annoyance made me chuckle, the professor continued to instruct us on how to work with our assigned partners.
"Now to change it up a little we'll mix you guys around with each other for fun since that's what dance is mostly about besides the competition involved," Penelope spoke as we all moved away from each other, letting out a sense of relief that we weren't touching each other anymore. "Since all the partners are unfamiliar, it's a little awkward, so I'll mix you guys around with other pairings to feel comfortable," she gestured as we all faced her direction, waiting for further directions.
"Why don't you go with her," she pointed at Theodore to move towards Bonnie. "Mr. Zabini you can go with Ms. Brooks, Ginny Weasley with Dean Thomas," she continued to assign pairs as each of them went one by one to the middle floor. I continued to talk with Bonnie by mouthing words as the Professor called out by name. "Ms. Young you can go on with Mr. Malfoy."
I dragged my eyes to meet hers as she gestured to us to move towards the main floor, not wanting to waste any more time since we hadn't had much left. I nodded as I looked towards Malfoy who obviously looked completely oblivious of what was happening. "If you're done daydreaming, we're partnered up," I spoke in a loud enough tone for him as he snapped out of his thoughts, just simply nodding as it sort of left me—confused. We walked up to the main floor as I hesitated before taking his hand into mine remembering what happened last time I touched him.
"I don't bite," he spoke in a tone just enough for me to hear, "unless you ask for it." I rolled my eyes at his childish commentary as I took his hand, intertwining it with mine. He placed his hand on my waist as I took an unnoticed sharp intake of breath, placing my left hand on his shoulder blade. "She said to take the step forward and backward method," I said as I looked up at him. His relentlessly cold stare filled with every type of emotion as it shuts off with contact. His eyes were like the fog on a winding road, they were deep—filled with lustrous darkness, his cold hands sending a piercing sensation as I felt his icy rings colliding with mine.
He did the opposite of what Professor Penelope had told us to do, I narrowed my brows at his technique. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't what we're—" I was cut off as he twirled me around within a second bringing me back to him, closer than before. "I know what I'm doing, Young, I don't need lessons from a second-hand teacher. Father—I was taught all these techniques since I was little," he hesitated between his words as I felt the closeness of his body to mine, almost feeling his heart thrumming as he looked at me. I noticed his face was paler than before, his eyes being tired. It wasn't the type of tiredness from schoolwork or overwork but something else as there were rings of shadowed bags of exhaustion.
"Give me a reason why I should trust you?" I asked as he breathed, pulling me further back as he twirled me away, pulling me back as his right hand was on my waist again. "I've given you plenty of reasons but you're right, why should you trust me?" he whispered as if it would be a crime for anyone else to listen to his words.
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him, trying to get an answer as I slightly raised my head to a level with him. He wasn't lying, there were multiple occasions on things I've entrusted him with things that run deeper than a dance competition. "It's not like I have a choice," I confess as he slightly chuckled, trying to make it go unnoticed as I tore my eyes away from his face, so my mind stopped wanting to learn every part of his.
We went by his technique a couple of times as I picked up on a few of his steps, the way he was a left-handed person, the way he was so elegant and clean with his steps. His focus face was entertaining to look at as I watched him struggle a couple of times here and there when he lost track. "Maybe you're not so bad at dancing Young," he spoke as I let out a scoff looking at him. "Why thank you, Malfoy, very generous of you," I held a sarcastic smile as his eyes trailed all over my face, observing.
He took my hand as we moved forward, almost colliding with the person behind us. I stopped backward as we stood balanced according to the professor's instructions. We went over it a couple of times again as he did the sudden twirl again, I caught onto it, feeling his hand above me as he was on the last twirl the other way around as he slowly moved forward with each step, balancing me. He pulled me in as I dived backward with him placing a hand on my lower back, allowing my body to not directly fall into the floor. My right hand caught into his shoulder as we stood in a position, his face close to him as his eyes blinked.
I could've sworn if we stayed like a couple more minutes I could've known the entire structure of his face, the way his jaw was defined, his smooth cheeks—a slight peach tint when he smiled. The way his eyes glinted as light reflected upon it. He pulled me back up as my eyes stayed fixed onto him as they trailed off to the people surrounding us that were focused on getting comfortable. My eyes met Amelia as Blaise was speaking to her—she gave me a smile as I raised a brow at her sudden mischievous smirk.
"Alright students," the professor spoke as we all moved away from each other, facing her way as the conversations died down. "Unfortunately our time is up now, from what I've seen and observed by watching you guys, you've been doing great and absolutely amazing, some still need work, but everything is possible," her soft tone once spoke as we all slightly shook our heads.
"It's been a great pleasure accompanying you guys practice, you'll be now practicing along with your assigned partners from the first pairing and getting ready for the semi-finale," her words were comforting but still scary as anxiety ran through me at the thought of messing up in front of hundreds and thousands of people. "I'll see you guys there, you're dismissed, have a splendid day," everyone began packing up as she was mid-sentence allowing her to pick up her things and exit the room.
Bonnie waved as she left with Theodore to talk over their dinner plan as I walked over to Amelia. "I can't tell if I'm excited or extremely scared for what's to come," I said as she agreed by shaking her head. "I'm terrified, but I guess that's what makes us stronger? I don't know wise words from Professor Dumbledore," she laughed as I joined her. "So you and Malfoy—"
"We were just dancing Amelia, just like you and Blaise and everyone else around us," I corrected her as she rolled her eyes at my comment. "Hmm, so when I can meet Mathew, the Hufflepuff dude that was responsible for basically marking your pretty little neck," she joked around as I turned my head to wonder who I was friends with for a minute. "That isn't going to happen."
"What? You've got to be kidding me, I want to meet the very mysterious Hufflepuff Evelyn. Where are you hiding him?" She questioned me as I thought to myself that I had no clue of the existence of a Hufflepuff named Mathew. "Or maybe you're lying because I did my research and there are no Mathews in Hufflepuff," she smiled as I blinked, completely confused. "The first thing I did was look for that certain Hufflepuff, but apparently he doesn't exist, doesn't that seem suspicious, Evelyn? Hm?"
"Even more suspicious that you came back to Hogwarts earlier than everyone. I know that because I was supposed to assist a guy named Elliot since I'm part of the Hogwarts prefect team," as she spoke my head shot up at the name Elliot. I didn't think I'd ever heard his name again as she talked about how she was supposed to help him. Not only that, but I couldn't help but think if I hadn't come back earlier he would have hurt her as he hurt me. I felt my hands begin to sweat slightly as my brain felt slightly dizzy at the mention of his hideous presence.
"Amelia I may have gotten the name mixed up, don't take it too seriously. It was just a one-night stand type of thing, and it isn't going to ever happen again, ever. So there's no need for formal introductions," I spoke at a fast rate as words just blurted out of my mouth as her face dropped. "I'm sorry it's just it didn't mean anything," I apologized as her lips formed onto a thin line giving me an apologetic look.
"You know if you ever, and I mean ever need to talk about anything no matter who the person is I'm here for you Eve. I know we only met a handful of months ago, but time doesn't matter, what matters is I love you, and I'm always here," as she finished her sentence I pulled her into a hug bringing comfort to the both of us as I restrained myself from wanting to break down and spill every single thing.
"C'mon we'll be late for Herbology lessons," I said as she nodded her head.
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