Paulie shifted a little as he waited on her answer..

And... she said 'yes'!

A smile spread across his face. "Cool! Thanks." Hopefully she didn't mind having him as a partner; he really couldn't tell. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Mackenzi." Mmmmhm. He glanced over at Mr. Stryker. Yep - he asked Bentley, and Paulie TOTALLY called that! He almost grinned a little, then turned back to Mackenzi again.

"Do you go by 'Kenzi' or anything? I haven't ever really ballroom danced before, too.. just so ya know." So, in case she wanted to back out, now was the time to do it.

"Oh, I have been around," Samuel said, "checked out the pear by Hufflepuff, and you were right, it has sign." Then Samuel stood there awkwardly, "So, how do we do this dancing thing?" He said with a slight blush.

"Should be pretty simple, I'm thinking we are going to be doing the Waltz. But I'm not sure..." Jayden replied.. "I think we have to wait for Mr. Stryker to instruct us. He apparently doesn't dance, so I'm not sure what's gonna happen.." Jayden said with an airy laugh.

"Well, At least this should be an interesting class," Samuel said with a grin. Then he stood there waiting for the Professors instruction.

Justin looked at Faven while she laughed. ' She's really cool. I hope we can be friends. ' he thought. " So, where you from ? " Justin said trying to make small talk.

" I will partner with you" Willaim told Eris. " My cousin Rex Trigwell is about to become a ballroom teacher with his own school" William said to Eris. 'Ask about Rex and all the girls knew he is a good dancer plus he won competetions, too" Willaim explained to Eris. " I might have a few moves in me" Willaim laughed.

"Well," Eino began after giving her question some thought, "last year Lord Borr assigned us several physical exercises as part of our curriculum, so I am inclined to believe he is repeating that this term." Last year they had to jog several miles, touch their toes, practice karate, and all sorts of strange things. Eino preferred dancing classes. Even though they would make them look silly, at least they would all look silly together. Last term, most people didn't want to admit to completing several of the assignments because some of them were embarrassing, to say the least. Eino then drew closer to Aspen and whispered. "I have heard that Lord Borr also has a particular interest in humiliating people, and a knack for it, too." He drew back and discreetly nodded towards the Groundskeeper. If he had to guess, the purpose was to humiliate the the poor man, but he was handling himself and class very well and most people seemed to be enjoying it, so the joke would be on the Minister.

Oh crud...

Now to partner up to actually practice...and Gideon was remembering why he was originally planning on opted out of the class. Looking around for familiar faces it seemed even Selina had disappeared from being near him during the course of the the first half of the lesson. At least a friend would have been a good option to pair up with. Now he might be struck with a stranger and nothing was a worse bad impression then dancing and running the risk of hurting someone accidentally.The fourth year continued to watch as the others paired off wondering if he should just sit..or more correctly stand this part of the lesson out.

Eris grinned, she remembered Will from the train and the great hall.

"I learned from my dad...and a few extra things from my cousin" the dark haired witch replied. Then again, she shouldn't repeat most of the things her older cousin had taught her....

"I'm not very good though...." she admitted, "I've never been to a dance contest either...sounds fun..." she chuckled.

"Switzerland, though I have been staying with my aunt for the past year, in England." Faven answered him. "How about you? Where are you from?"

" Sounds good that you learned from your dad and yoru cousin" William told Eris." We are here to learn and have fun" Willaim said to Eris. " Niwther if us has to be expert dancers, just decent ones" Willaim explained to Eris. " If Rex gets in another dance contest, I will invite you to come and see him" Willaim smiled.

"Sounds good to me!" Eris smiled. This was the second time he had invited her somewhere, she had a feeling if he kept on doing this, his house was going to be packed with people from wall to wall.

She sat down and patted the seat next to her, waiting for the professor to give more instructions.

" Well, I was born in the U.S. ,but my mum works for the Ministry so we came back to England as well. I don't mean to be foward , but are you pureblood ? I don't care either way . I don't even know about myself. " He shrugged. ' I'm such an idiot! ' Justin thought to himself.

Presley was fully aware that nobody could see her short frame through everyone else in the room, so she raised her hand high. "I still need a partner! I'm a good dancer, promise!" And she was. Presley lived and breathed dance. She wouldn't step on anybody's toes.
Through the sea of people, she noticed a boy, a couple years older than herself, standing alone. She walked over to him. "Hey, I'm Presley. Do you have a partner yet?" She crossed her fingers. Please say no, please say no.

Smiling as Ivy returned his greeting, Theodore glanced over. Why wasn't she with that guy, whatshisname? Oh yeah, Dallin. Dallin was... with Ellie? Interesting. Something told him that Dallin and Ivory had something more than friendship going on, but part of him felt like he was wrong. They seemed more like partners in crime than anything romantic. Welp, then that left Dallin to Ellie? It was all too confusing for Theodore to ponder while he prayed not to be picked on to dance in front of the class.

Looking over at Alfie as she participated, Theodore couldn't help but grin like a dumbstruck idiot. It was surprising that people never tired of how much of a hopeless romantic he turned into whenever she was around. Had he been a cartoon character, his heart would have been pounding out of his chest and hearts would have been in his eyes.

♥_____♥

Someone's foot scuffing on the floor snapped him out of his reverie.

The professor's words spurred him into action. Standing from his beanbag chair successfully on his second attempt, because those buggers sucked you in like quicksand, Theodore brushed off his trousers. One hand behind his back like a proper country gentleman, he made a motion of leaning over and offering his hand to his girlfriend. "May I have this dance, madam?" The curly-haired teen inquired in his most snobby voice. He felt like Amadeus Kipling, which nearly made him double over in the throes of laughter. Waltzing would be embarrassing, but doing it with his love would make the experience all the more memorable and easy.

Before she knew it, everyone was getting up and coupling to start the actual dance portion of the lesson, chatter filling the air. Alfie's eyebrows rose at this commotion, her large blue eyes scanning the crowds in a gentle stare as they often did, before she was suddenly distracted by a hand in her peripheral vision. Alfie quickly directed her gaze to this, following it upwards to find the features of her boyfriend, none other than Theodore Dumble. The warmest of smiles spread across her features as he asked to have this dance in a snobby sort of voice, getting a genuinely amused chuckle to fall from her lips. "Why, of course you can," the Ravenclaw beamed, setting her hand in his own in order to stand. But due to her location in a bean bag, she couldn't very daintily stand up as one might be able to pull off in a normal chair. So Theo was really moreso pulling her up from the depths of the sand pit that was a bean bag chair.

Falling into a string of soft giggles at the simple task of standing up, Alfie stood before him, turning her blue eyes over to him with pure amusement shining behind them. "I'm up, first step!" she chirped with a soft chuckle. Stepping away from the many bean bags on the ground, the pair stepped a bit more towards what had apparently been dubbed as a make shift dance floor. Standing as they waited for the instruction to start, Alfie stood right before Theo, one hand still entwined with his, but the other seeming completely out of place dropped at her side. "Do you know where I put this?" the blonde asked, holding up her free hand to show him with pure confused innocence behind her gaze. Of course, she'd never danced a waltz before, so she had no idea where the proper placement of her hands would be, so this question was completely legitimate. It was only as she registered her own question that she let out a sheepish sort of chuckle, realizing how silly it sounded.

Yay! House points accomplished. Although it was just ONE...it was a start. Marilyn would tell all the weird and unusual facts she knew about dancing if that's what it took...

The next few words out of the Professor mouth, however, had her pausing.

Partners?!

Closing her eyes, Marilyn sighed. Of course, this would happen...and it would be just her luck that Carter was busy with Quidditch stuff. Who else would even be an option to dance with?

Josh was with Evelyn, of course...Jai with Caroline, unfortunately...Marilyn also wanted to do whatever dance well. So, looking for someone who moved well was key...

Pay attention? Whoops. Seren blushed slightly, she didn't have the longest attention span, and with all the excitement of meeting new staff-- well new to her, and greeting everybody that came, she was EASILY distracted.

They were pairing up? Oh no!!! This is what she was dreading.

Chad would never dance with her again after this!... in fact, nobody would.
"Certainly," she said smiling as she rose from her cushion. This will be interesting to say the least.
"I appologise in advance..." she whispered so that only he could hear.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Why did they really need to list the types of dances there were? Pshh wasn't like they'd be samba-ing right? So really, there was no point to this Professor guy's question. Therefore he kind of turned his brain off, and his thought process leered off in the direction of making sure to order new sheet music when he got the chance. His attention was suddenly brought back to Professor dude when he heard the words: 'find a partner'.

WHUUUUUUT?!?

Erm.

Did he have to?

Pleasesayno.

Will eyed the girl's around him and started feeling slightly intimidated. There appeared to be more girl's then guy's which made him an attack-worthy target. Fortunately, most of them were younger, which probably made them feel intimidated by him instead.

He looked over at Vashti and that weird deer boy kid, Ana-somethin. It's not like he really cared to remember. Anyway, the brunette looked unsure of herself because that guy didn't look like he was going to offer his hand to her any time within the next minute. That meant only one thing.

Go ask her to be his partner.

Humiliating, he knew.

The seventh year took slow steps over to her, stopping and shoved a hand in his pocket, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. "I can't believe I'm asking you this Vashiti, but do you wanna...erm...be partners?" he asked her rather awkwardly.

Pleasesayyes, he thought to himself.

He didn't want no rejection to happen.

Well, if they were going to dance, Rafe needed the proper outfit. With a wave of his wand his outfit turned into a navy tux. "Much better," he said softly to himself. Now for a partner...

Rafe looked around and noticed he wasn't the only one without a partner. And luckily the person he really wanted to dance with the most looked rather lost. Rafe fixed his tie and slowly walked through the crowd and stood behind Marilyn. He let out a little cough before asking, "May I have this dance?"

Get in pairs? Oh good...now he definitely was going to step on someone's feet. Way to go.

He still asked himself why...WHY had he come here in the first place. Maybe to have a good time? The class was good and somehow interesting. But he had no dance skill and that was needed...kinda. Hmmm so, he needed a partner? Well, the girl he had in mind wasn't there. Pity.

It seemed that everyone had already a partner and he didn't...how come? He frowned until he found Emma whom, to his surprise, she had no partner. Oh well. He walked towards her and said "It seems we both don't have a partner" he commented "So...would you like to be partners?" he asked with a smile. "Oh and I apologize if I step on your foot, I have no dance skills. You have been warned" he told her.

Selina looked around the room as the word partners started to float about. If Hogwarts were more progressive she would have asked Kurumi to dance, then again maybe that would have raised some questions. They were close... just not that close. So her blue eyes looked around the room for a partner and then her eyes fell upon a familiar face who looked just as awkward in this situation as Selina did. She walked up to the boy and whispered in his ear as she tapped him on the shoulder, "May I have this dance Sir Gideon Gert, Knight of the House of Gryffindor?"

Gideon looked over as a younger Ravenclaw approached and asked if he had a partner. He couldn't help the ackwardness that welled up in him and he debated an answer...accept with all the nervousness or lie. No matter what he couldn't bring himself to do the second option. However he was about to answer when the felt a tap on his shoulder and turned a little to see Selina there, the fourth year smiling in amusement at the name and title she gave him.

"Yes..." he answered his friend, "yes you may." Remembering the other girl Gideon turned back looking appologetic. "Sorry...I had actually been looking for her," he appologized, not registering how it might sound to his fellow Gryffindor however true it was.

Vashti was honestly considering getting up and finding some place to hide when the professors weren't looking, and she might have started to stand up and execute her brilliant plan-

-when he came over.

Merlin. Why'd he come over to her? What happened to his "I can get any girl I want 'cause they all love me" or whatever he'd said? Were all the Hogwarts girls too smart for him? Saw right through him and knew how awful his personality was, did they?

Yeah. They probably did.

But...n'aww. He wasn't too bad when he was acting all awkward and stuff.

o___o

No. No, he was still awful and she still didn't like being around him, no matter how adorably awkward he was.

So of course, Vashti's first instinct was to say no and tell him to go away. But then a thought occurred to her. Who else would she dance with? She liked most people, especially Anakin, and even though she had sort of originially thought he might ask her to dance, she liked him too much to embarrass herself and stomp on his feet because of her horrible dancing. What if he cancelled their date to Hogsmeade because she'd stepped on his feet too much? Going to Hogsmeade with him was something she was really looking forward to and she didn't want that ruined.

On the other hand, she didn't like Will here. What did she care if she stepped on his feet while trying to dance? Maybe if she stomped stepped on them enough, he'd finally leave her alone forever.

Win-win, right?

All this went through her mind within seconds, and within that time, her glare at him slowly turned into something between a smirk and a smile.

"Sure," she said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

Pay attention? Whoops. Seren blushed slightly, she didn't have the longest attention span, and with all the excitement of meeting new staff-- well new to her, and greeting everybody that came, she was EASILY distracted.

They were pairing up? Oh no!!! This is what she was dreading.

Chad would never dance with her again after this!... in fact, nobody would.
"Certainly," she said smiling as she rose from her cushion. This will be interesting to say the least.
"I appologise in advance..." she whispered so that only he could hear.

Chad watched as all the students started to pair up with each other. "Oh, it is okay, Mademoiselle," he chuckled, turning towards the Herbology professor now. "I, after all, did ask you to assist me. So, I must assume the risk that can come with it. Besides, I am sure you are just fine."

He turned back to the crowd. "Does everybody have a partner?"