Tip Toe Dance [Reserved for Kyle]

[Anwen Sawyer]

Her legs were spread across the floor and she leaned to one side trying to stretch her legs and her toes curled toward the floor. Anwen raised her arms above her head and leaned to the other side and then pushed herself to her feet. She grabbed her left leg and lifted it straight up and pulled it toward her stretching even further. Once she was stretched she started in first position and went through all of them before finishing with a Plie.

Anwen had invited Kyle up to the music room so she could ask him a very important question. But while she waited, she put some music on to work on her ballet. She hadn't really practiced much as of late and she didn't want to lose her skill or lose the ability to dance point. The longer she put it off the more likely she was to lose the ability to dance point. Her heart was racing, partly due to the fact that she was dancing and the other was because she was afraid he wouldn't show. Or it could have been she was afraid he would show and she would really have to go through with the question she had for him.

The music switched and she started the real dance, after the warm up. She closed her eyes for a moment feeling the music. The music was from Swan lake, and she started dancing to it, feeling the music and up on her toes down, to the full dance. It was painful at first, as her toes were out of shape but it was worth it because she didn't want to lose it. With her being lost in the music she wouldn't hear anyone approach the music room.

[Kyle Winters]

A distance away in the stairwell, Kyle was pacing back and forth anxiously, wringing his hands as he ruminated over what he should do or say. When Anwen had asked to meet him in the music room, he kinda had an inkling what it might be about, but the incorrigibly insecure part of him still couldn’t quite believe that something like that might actually happen to him. He had something to say to Anwen too…and if what she said wasn’t what he was thinking she might want to say, then it might be really awkward for him to suddenly broach the topic. But he couldn’t not say what was on his mind either.

“You’re in my way.”

An annoyed voice from behind derailed Kyle’s train of thought. Startled, he jumped and spun around, and found himself looking at his Quidditch team’s captain, Evelyn. She was staring daggers at him, with a pissed off expression on her face.

“You’re still in my way,” she intoned again, the false calmness in her voice belying the fact that she most certainly did not want to have to repeat herself for the third time.

Nor would Kyle want her to do that. “Sorry,” he apologised hastily and shuffled to one side, allowing Evelyn to pass.

“Please, get a hold of yourself, Winters, and quit acting like a nitwit.” The exasperation in her voice was apparent, and just in case it wasn’t, the way she rolled her eyes was more than enough to send a clear message to Kyle. “And if you ever behave like this on the pitch, I’ll kick you off your broom, and then the team.” With that, Evelyn carried on her way, ascending the stairs and leaving Kyle alone yet again.

Eve’s right… I need to get a grip on myself. There was no point fretting about how thing would go between Anwen and him if he was just going to pace around in the stairwell and not meet her. Taking a deep breath to ground himself, he finally worked up the courage and headed for the music room.

As he approached, he could hear the strains of music emanating from the room, some kind of classical piece that he didn’t recognise. Wondering what the music was all about, he opened the door and was greeted by a breathtaking sight. In the middle of the room, Anwen was performing a ballet dance, moving in time to every rise and fall in the music with such grace and beauty that even someone as uncultured as him could appreciate the performance.

Not wanting to interrupt Anwen, he quietly slipped into the music room and watched her entrancing dance.

[Anwen Sawyer]

Anwen hadn't heard Kyle come into the room. She was lost in the music and the movements of the dance. Her body moved with grace and elegance as she finished the last move and the music came to and end. A small smile spread across her lips as she relaxed into a normal position. She face the mirror still unaware that Kyle was there. "Mm...messed up that last rotation..." She scolded herself before turning to see if he had arrived. She jumped a bit and latched onto her chest letting out a small yelp. "Oh! Kyle, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

She felt the heat in her face and the color rushed her cheeks as she took a few graceful steps towards him. "Sorry...hadn't had time lately to practice my ballet and they say if you don't use it, you'll lose it. They weren't wrong. My toes and feet have lost a lot of the muscle and tone they had." She frowned and looked down at her feet. "My even have some nail breakage..." She trailed off and looked back up at him. "But you don't want to hear about that! Sorry, just trying to get back into the dance routine. I....I did ask you here for a reason." He had shown up. Her heart was racing and not because she had just performed a difficult dance number. No, it was because Kyle Winters was standing in front of her.

Standing there, looking cute as ever. She took in a deep breath and chew on the inside of her cheek. "I erm..." She sort of stood there, her one foot back, toeing the ground. Her hands behind her back and she sort of swayed back and forth. Her eyes didn't met his as they were looking at the ground for a brief moment before she got the courage to ask him. "Well, as you may know...the uh...winter solace is coming up. Everyone is talking about it and I um...." She mumbled the question but made sure it was loud enough for him to hear. "I wanted to know if you'd like to go with me?" She felt the heat in her face once more and she looked down at the ground again. Please don't say no...... She thought to herself. She already had the dress, now she just needed the date. If he said no, she wouldn't be attending, he was the only one she wanted to go with.

[Kyle Winters]

Anwen was not the only one lost in the moment; her performance had Kyle completely spellbound up till the very last second. As the music came to an end, Kyle was still trying to figure out a way to gently make his presence known, when Anwen turned around and jumped in surprise.

“I—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologised instinctively. “I didn’t want to interrupt you earlier. You were so… pretty and graceful.”

Despite knowing next to nothing about ballet, he could relate to what she was saying about losing it if one didn’t use it. “It’s definitely true,” he agreed. “I used to be really good at footie.” He didn’t need to say anything more, for the implication was clear: the combination of him focusing more on Quidditch and his accident four years ago meant that his skills had deteriorated to a point where it was no longer worth mentioning.

He tensed up a little as Anwen changed the subject, though he tried to maintain his composure. Her body language had changed, and she stood there looking all shy and bashful, with her eyes on the ground. Was she going to say what he thought she would say? The maelstrom of thoughts that he had been caught in earlier was whipping up again, and he waited expectedly with bated breath for her to speak.

The mere mention of the Winter Solstice Dance made his heart skip a beat. Even before Anwen finished asking her question, he already had an answer for her. “Yes!” he exclaimed in elation, his face lighting up as the broadest grin spread across his lips. “Yes, I—I’d absolutely love to!” Swept up by his surging emotions, he couldn’t help but step forward to take her hands into his. “I wanted to invite you to the dance too, but I was so, so afraid that you’d say no that I didn’t dare to ask…”

As he looked into her hazel eyes – her kind and understanding eyes that were so beautiful that he could drown in them – he found himself at a sudden loss of words. He wasn’t good with them to begin with, not at all, much less now with his heart pumping furiously and threatening to jump out of his chest. “I…” As he fumbled uselessly for the right thing to say, something came over him, and he wrapped his arms around her in an embrace before he found his voice again. “Thank you… for inviting me.”

[Anwen Sawyer]

Normally she was alone when she danced and she must have lost track of time. It wasn't that Kyle was scary by any means or that she was embarrassed that she was dancing, just that she hadn't expected to see him standing there. Dancing often helped her confidence level and after what she had decided she was asking Kyle, she would need that boost.

She quickly shook her head. "No, it's alright. I just didn't know you were standing there." He called pretty and graceful. But the word that stuck in her mind, was pretty. She blushed a bit and bit into the the side of her lip. "Th-thanks." She hadn't been called pretty very often, sure her friend Lorin said she wasn't hideous but that was NOT the same thing. She was starting to second guess her friendship with Lorin all together. Perhaps she wasn't really a friend, but someone that kept Anwen around to feel better about themselves.

She smiled and nodded. "My mother insisted on giving me lessons in ballet as well as Jazz. I dabbled in tap a bit, but I can't...erm do the foot work for that very well." She didn't show pity towards Kyle when he mentioned that he used to be good at footie. He didn't want it nor did he deserve it, pity was a gross thing. Even when given out of kindness. "Yes, well Quidditch seems to be your sport anyhow." She grinned.

He didn't even wait for her to finish the question before she got a resounding yes. Her smile widened and she threw her arms around him. She wasn't sure why she was even nervous about asking him. Perhaps it was the past traumas that made her believe this was all too good to be true. "Oh, Kyle. Why in the world would I say no to you?! You're the..I mean...I only ever want to go with you. To be honest you're the only person that seems to really 'see' me." With her hands in his she smiled. This was the only place she wanted to be right now.

She found herself lost in Kyle's eyes as he looked back into hers. He stumbled a bit before finding the words to say. "Thank you for saying yes." She smiled and hugged him back tightly. This was the best day of her life.

[Kyle Winters]

Hearing how Anwen used to attend lessons for ballet, jazz, and even tap dancing… that felt like a lot to Kyle. “Whoa,” he said – and it was pretty much the only thing he could say, as astonished as he was by the number of extracurriculars she used to take. And that was probably on top of all her other hobbies like photography. “How did you find time for all of that?” he asked.

“Yea, I think I like Quidditch more than footie, to be honest,” he agreed. “It’s great to have a passion, something you love, innit?” Apart from footie in the past, and now Quidditch, he didn’t really have any other hobbies. “But I’ve just been drifting along, not really knowing what I want, not knowing what to live for.” As he spoke he reached out for Anwen’s hand and looked into her eyes. “Until I met you, that is. Since then I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want, how I want to spend the rest of my life. Things that didn’t cross my mind for a while.”

His worries suddenly sounded so silly, so unfounded when Anwen spelt it out for him. “You’re the only person who really ‘sees’ me too,” he replied. “Call it fate or summat like that, but maybe we’ve been ‘reserved’ for each other before we even met?”

(It was at this point in time that Sam came to his mind. That look she gave him onboard the Hogwarts Express, her remembering that he liked cauldron cakes and even leaving some by his bedside when he was at the hospital wing – he had been oblivious to all of those until recently. Perhaps there had been others who had liked Anwen too – and surely there must be, given how kind and beautiful she was – but like him she might not have noticed them before.)

Time seemed to stop for Kyle as the young lovers locked in an embrace. Naught else mattered to him now except for Anwen. He yearned to tell her how much he loved her with every fibre of his being, how lucky he was to have her, and that he’d always protect her and stand by her no matter what. But he had not the words to adequately express how he was feeling. Not that there was a need for any. A single tear escaped his eye – a tear formed from his overflowing joy – and rolled off his cheek and onto Anwen’s shoulder.

After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled away slightly so he could have a good look at Anwen again. “Anwen…” he began, as he beheld her gentle eyes. Her long and lustrous hair that framed her beautiful face The arch of her eyebrows, the shape of her nose, the curve of her lips… He wanted to commit her every feature to his memory, so afraid he was that he might lose her, that he might wake up the next day and find that everything had been but a dream. “I’m not good with words,” he continued a little awkwardly as he tried to express the whirlwind of emotions coherently. “I don’t know how to tell you how much I love you, so let me show you instead. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I treasure and cherish you.”

“I’m still not sure if I’m good enough for you, If there’s anything I’m lacking in, please teach me and guide me, and I promise I’ll do my best.” Already there was something he could think of. “Like dancing. I can’t even say I have two left feet.”

[Anwen Sawyer]

She shuffled her feet as she looked down at the ground. He was impressed with how much she had done. Her cheeks reddened and she shook her head. "It was nothing really. I just didn't have a lot of time for other things. It's okay though, dancing was my passion, but still sort of is my passion. I just dropped the tap shoes and I focus more on ballet." She also picked up a broom shortly after tap was dropped, but that was beyond the point.

She smiled and nodded in agreement. "I don't know a lot about footie, but I do know quidditch. I personally, can't imagine a better game. The thrill, the ride, the fun..." The excitement could be seen in her eyes if one bothered to look. Passion for dance and quidditch, and the boy standing in front of her. As he took her hands she felt the temperature in her body rise. Her cheeks flushed and she blinked a few too many times. His words struck something inside Anwen. Something she hadn't felt before. Her hands felt right inside his and she nibbled on the edge of her lip. "I..." She was speechless.

"Fate, destiny, whatever else is out there." She shrugged. "All I know is, the day I saw you climbing into the carriage, you had my heart." It was the first time she really said it out loud. Kyle had caught her attention and normally she didn't pay attention to boys, because most of the people around her told her that they would have no interest in her. Her friends and family alike. Kyle was different, that much was obvious.

The feeling inside her chest was welling up, like a balloon ready to pop. The pressure inside her chest, all of it was overwhelming. She cared so much for Kyle, more than she had ever cared about anyone. That included her family, they never seemed to care about her, but Kyle, he returned that kindness tenfold.

As soon as he pulled away, even slightly, she missed his warmth against her body. It was colder and it was as if her body craved his warmth. She blinked as he spoke to her. Words rang in her ears, filling her head with all kinds of ideas, fears, joys, and what-ifs. The future, what would or could happen. The rest of his life, love, cherish...She bit her lip again and tears started to well up in her own eyes. "Oh, Kyle. I...I love you, too." She never knew how to say it, how to put into words what she was feeling. The day on the quidditch pitch, the picture she took of him, it captured the love she had for him. Her heart was about to burst with the love she had for him. "I never knew how you felt, and I didn't want to come off as an idiot for saying so. But I do...I love you. You have my heart in your hands, and to be honest. Before you walked through that door..." She smiled. "I was dancing out my feelings for you."

She pulled him back into the embrace and shook her head. "Don't you ever doubt whether or not you're good enough. You are the kindest, sweetest person I have ever met." She giggled at his next comment and pulled back. "Dancing...I think I can teach you the basics..." She blinked a few times before leaning in and kissing his lips.