Catch The Snitch

Camellia let out a dramatically grievous sigh when the barred door opened that covered the dungeon classroom door. She placed a key in the slot and gave it a good, spiteful turn until the lock disengaged and the door opened. The professor took a few steps in and looked around, tossing her hands into the air in defeat.

"Of course they didn't come down here to help out... should've fed them to the chomping cabbages when I had the chance... worthless house elves... " With that, Camellia pulled out her wand and gave it a good flick about as lights shot from its tip around the cold, stony room. The tables and benches flew to the sides of the room, creating almost bleacher-style seating. Cobwebs began to disappear and the grime from the floors seemed to melt down into the crevices. Oh well, it was Slytherin. They were used to the conditions of the dungeon. Fah looked around and noticed there was rather limited seating. She'd be sure to tell the students to thank those pesky elves when their feet got tired.

Why couldn't Silverberg teach her classes instead of Lover Boy Forrester's anyway? Rumor had it they had a good snogging in some tucked away study when they were students. That's probably why. Nothing to do with the fact that Silverberg was a Ravenclaw herself. Yeah. Fawning over him to this day. Sad.

Camellia was lost in vindictive thoughts for a moment when an echoing droplet of water splashed down on the bricks nearby. She shook her head and made her way to the front of the classroom. She old classroom was lit in a cooler flame light, not that golden orange flame that most had. The room wasn't far from the Slytherin common room and it, too, had windows that peered out into the Black Lake's waters. She placed her hands on her hips and waited for some students to arrive.

"Come in. Come in. Take a seat... somewhere. As my instructions said, if you have a partner, sit with them. Otherwise, we'll go around the room and pick a partner for you. Don't worry. I'm not an option." She laughed at her quip and waited for the others to arrive.

Monique sighed quietly as she made her way into the Potions classroom. Suddenly spotting the professor standing nearby, she smiled and nodded as she made her way over to an empty desk and sat down, pulling out everything she might need for the lesson that day. As she was pulling out her parchment, one of her quills fell out onto the floor, attracting dust to its otherwise pristine feather.

“Great.” she grumbled, trying to clean the feather. “Way to announce that you’re an ickle firstie, Hillbrand. Let’s hope the rest of the day doesn’t go like this!”

Miral strode into the room, not because she needed any sort of lesson, but similar to Nathaniel, she sought to be an example as she was a prefect. Plus, she was dragging Nautica by the elbow into the room. Nautica didn't necessarily need to learn how to dance but she did need to find a partner for the event. As they walked into the room, she spotted the first year sitting down and walked over, patting her on the shoulder, "Dearie, you won't be needing all that for today," she assured her, "You probably want to get more practical practice for this kind of lesson."

"It's dancing, not a lecture," Nautica grumbled, crossing her arms, not being as polite, which got her a look from the prefect. Nautica shrugged with a defiant look in return before looking to the professor, "We should have just like demanded the Great Hall or something. For once they could pretend we're not contagious."

"Hard to do with half the house acting like the other houses smell like rotting corpses or something just at a mere look," Miral sighed a little, shaking her head.

"Maybe we look that way because they look down on us," It wasn't Nautica who quipped that thought, but Josephine, who strode into the room with a ramrod straight back.

Nautica scoffed, "Sticking your nose up higher won't change that, Miller," she said before flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking to find a place to sit.

Miral pinched the bridge of her nose, seeming like a frustrated mother listening to bickering children. Before Jo could say anything more, Miral snapped her fingers and pointed to a seat, ending the discussion.

Juniper entered the classroom, still in disbelief that she was even doing this. For one, she hated parties, dances, anything with large crowds actually. Two, she knew how to dance. In fact, she was very proficient at it, having taken dance lessons since she could walk right up until she was ten years old. Sure, she was rusty, but she was also certain it would come back to her, like riding a broom, you never forget how. And three, she didn’t have a partner and she was not the type to ask anyone to be her partner. Despite all this, she was here… at her father’s bequest. Somehow word had gotten to him about Juniper’s slightly antisocial ways at school and he was unimpressed, according to him it was not how a Pureblood lady should act. She was a Dorcus for thinking she could get away with it without him hearing about it. She hadn’t attended a social event since starting Hogwarts. She wasn’t sure how he had heard but she knew he had eyes everywhere, keeping tabs on all his children. Overly protective? Perhaps, but Juniper knew he was really protecting their family name. She greeted the professor, gave a small smile to her fellow Slytherins and followed Professor Fah’s instructions, taking an empty seat at a desk where she reluctantly settled in with a slight scowl. She would much rather be reading her epic adventure novels.

A loud sneeze reverberated through the old classroom, followed by a very sheepish apology. The source of the noise was Kyle Winters, whose nose had instantly disagreed with the dank and dusty air when he first stepped into the old classroom. Though social events and dancing weren’t his thing at all, the Seventh-Year seemed happier than most of his peers to be here, and for good reason: he was attending the Winter Solstice Dance with Anwen, and the dorky grin on his face and the lightness in his footsteps betrayed the fact that he was beyond chuffed.

Kyle had entered just in time to catch enough of the conversation between the other Slytherins. “To be fair, none of the other houses are using the Great Hall either,” he remarked, though his wry smile and resigned shrug did suggest that he felt shortchanged by the condition of their classroom.

“Which means it’s available.” Another voice spoke out, and its sharp tone identified its owner as Evelyn Darke Goldman, the famously prickly and dour captain of the Quidditch team. Like many she was obliged to be at the event against her wishes, but at the very least she did have an idea who she would ‘attend’ it with – or more specifically, linger just long enough to fulfil said obligation.

Evelyn’s gaze swept across the classroom, hoping to find who she was looking for… but to no avail. She’d have to pick a dance partner from whoever was present, and she wasn’t too keen on dancing with anyone here. Eventually her eyes settled on a slightly startled Kyle, who didn’t have a valid reason to refuse her as his partner wasn’t a Slytherin and thus wouldn’t be here, and because he was easy for her to boss around.

Sensing that he still had a chance to ‘escape’, Kyle broke eye contact and took stock of who had arrived before he did. The friendliest face here seemed to be Juniper Kyteler, a Fifth-Year whom Kyle wasn’t too familiar with, but at the very least she didn’t seem to have a dance partner yet. Returning Juniper’s smile, he took one last look at his fellow Slytherins before moving towards an empty seat beside the Fifth-Year. “Mind if I sit here?” he asked. “And by any chance, do you have a dance partner for today’s lesson?”

Juniper listened to the chatter going on around her about the Great Hall but didn’t contribute. It did seem a little ridiculous that a dance class was being held in a classroom. There didn’t seem to be all that much space, but she was sure they could make it work. Watching the silent interaction between Kyle and Evelyn made her smile. She recognized them both of course but never had much to do with them. The interaction reminded her of a dragon scanning the land for prey, she couldn’t help but give a small smile. Despite watching them she did not expect for Kyle to approach her let alone ask to sit with her. No one sat with her. She was a nice person most of the time, but she often seemed closed off and people often mistook her quietness with coldness, which didn’t bother her usually. She was happy with her books but sometimes the loneliness did creep in, maybe this was her chance to strike up a friendship, if she could only lower her guard and open up. ‘Juniper, you need to be more sociable, this will be important once you’re done school, your husband will expect you to run the social aspect of your lives’, her authoritative fathers voice rang in her head causing her to almost roll her eyes. Catching herself so that Kyle wouldn’t think she was rolling her eyes at him, instead she beamed and replied “Please do. I definitely don't have a partner for todays lesson. I didn’t really think about a partner until I got here, oops.”

A relieved smile spread across Kyle’s lips as Juniper confirmed his guess earlier; he had presumed that she didn’t have a dance partner yet because she was sitting alone. “Oh, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” he said. He didn’t quite know the Fifth-Years as well as the other batches, for he had been hospitalised and when they first joined Hogwarts as First-Years, and when he was discharged he wasn’t at all in the mood to socialise and get to know them.

“I’m Kyle…” he began, halting for a moment before continuing. “… Winters.” How long more was he going to use his current surname? His parents’ split seemed inevitable: his mother was dead set on filing for a divorce again instead of waiting for another year until the five-year separation clause kicked in, and his father didn’t seem to be taking any action to repair their relationship.

But now wasn’t the time to worry over such matters, nor was it his place to do so. Returning his focus back to the present, he continued. “By any chance, are you good at dancing? I’ve never danced before. And on top of that…” Giving a sheepish smile, he pulled up the right leg of his trousers, just high enough for Juniper to see his prosthesis. “Yea, that’s… um… well, Bob’s your uncle, I suppose.”

Juniper took note of Kyle’s momentary pause before his last name but made no mention of it, her father had always told her to be observant and to keep mental notes on everyone she met, ‘you never known what information you might gain just from simply observing’ his sly words repeated in her head. She was not prepared for what came next as Kyle continued talking and showed her his right leg prosthetic, her mouth opened the slightest bit and then closed, taking another mental note. The Slytherin girl had had no idea despite having seen Kyle around.

Her first reaction was to ask what happened, but that of course was none of her business, they had just met really. So instead, she gave Kyle a small smile and replied, “It’s nice to meet you Kyle, I’m Juniper Kyteler. You’ll be happier than a Niffler in a Gringotts vault to hear that I do know how to dance. I was put in dance classes pretty much as soon as I could walk. I’ll help you through it.” She left out the part about how she hadn’t danced in years, not since her mother was alive. A sadness filled her eyes at the thought of her mother but she quickly blinked it away. Juniper had never been particularly fond of dancing but then again, she had never actually done it for fun, only partaking in rigid lessons for her parents sake and so that she could put that skill on her ‘proper lady resume’, she almost rolled her eyes at the thought but managed to stop herself. She had never liked being in the spotlight and of course the whole point of dancing was to be in the spotlight. Despite this, she had been good at dancing, and she hoped those skills would help her through this situation. Looking around the classroom at the Slytherin students she truly hoped she wouldn’t make an embarrassment out of her and Kyle in front of their house mates.

Camellia acknowledged the students as they entered, repeating the instructions to find a seat with each new group. As she saw Nautica and Miral acknowledge the first year, she found herself amused at the little one's eagerness to learn. First years were unpredictable, but she half expected them to be over this whole experience by now. She turned her attention to Juniper and Kyle as they both entered, offering a 'bless you' to the latter after he sneezed. As the groups all entered and seemingly slowed down, she scanned the room, noticing the first year girl was no longer around. Perhaps she was scared off. Very unfitting for a student sorted into such a great house.

"Settle down, settle down." She said with a quirked brow and a pause, as if emitting the standard that she would not repeat her repeated words again. As the noise from the chatter morphed into the echoes of water dripping on the stone floors, Professor Fah continued, "Now then, with the Winter Solstice Dance quickly approaching, it was decided that the Heads of House could put on classes to teach their students how to dance in a formal setting. As you can see, we were given this dank, dark dungeon to practice... hmm... " Fah looked around the room, noting the damp crevices of the brick where moss was growing.

Slytherin deserved more, Josephine was correct, and Professor Fah was going to add a little flair for her students. With her wand, she gave another flourish around the room. The moss transfigured into a colorful assortment of blue and purple camellias, lilies of the valley, and glories of the snow, along with vines. They were all seasonally accurate flowers that would add some flare to the space instead of some magical snow and ice -- and it was more her style. "Perhaps a little decoration will make this space more fitting" Fah paced around the room, taking a look at the students. ""And as luck would have it, we have an odd number of students."

With a shrug she stepped over to some of her flowers and plucked two from the decor followed by a few of the vines. She placed the flowers and vines into two spots on the floor, positioned with the flowers as the heads and the vines making the appearance of stick figure bodies. Professor Fah pulled a small vial from her pocket and poured just a drop of its contents onto each figure before taking her wand and giving it yet another wave. "Florum Vita" Each figure began to grow and stand, taking on a human topiary-like figure with the corresponding flowers dotting throughout it. They were topiary golems, who would be able to fill in as the missing dance partner for herself and one lucky student.

"Partner up, and the lucky odd man - or woman - out can join me with a topiary golem. We'll begin with a standard waltz. Before you join hands, we'll work on the foot work together. Just remember ONE two three ONE two three... " Her emphasis on the 'ONE' was joined with a larger step followed by small steps with the softer "two three" beats. For now, they were simply stepping side to side. One big step apart two small steps together. "Practice your steps and touches. I want to hear you count... ONE two three... "