Dancing with fire. [A Severus Snape fan fiction]

A changed man

Phoenix

I was in the great hall clearing the tables away to the sides of the room. The haunting words of Severus were echoing through my mind. He wanted to leave Hogwarts. I felt my heart constrict painfully at the thought. I drew in a deep breath, and tried to mentally gather myself together. I was going to introduce my class to the romantic rumba and I had to at least make an attempt to get into the mood.
As the Christmas performance was literally a few weeks away, I had the costumes ready to start practising in. I knew this would cause a lot of excitement as the girls had been begging me for weeks to let them see them. The thought of their faces lighting up made me smile, despite the heavy black cloud that seemed to permanently reside over me. I had already changed into my costume. It was made of pure white chiffon. The bodice was covered in tiny clear snowflakes that sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight. The sleeves were long but the back of the dress was open. The skirt was tasselled and it danced around my thighs everytime I moved. Some of my students were filing into the hall. I smiled as they dumped their bags onto the tables.
"wow professor you look amazing!" breathed a Hufflepuff girl named Diana Hunter.
"Thank you Diana." I replied giving her a little twirl. I knew I shouldn't have favourites, but this class was such a pleasure. They really made the effort. As more students came pouring in, I started to feel my spirits rise. Finally, when they were all in, I swished my wand at the doors and they closed. The hall was buzzing with excited conversations. My smile broadened. "As you are all aware the Christmas performance is almost upon us." I paused to make sure I had their undivided attention. "so, I thought it was about time you all got to see the costumes you will be wearing." As expected, squeals of pure delight erupted throughout the great hall. "Also," I continued as I raised my voice slightly, "today I wanted to introduce you all to the romantic and sensual dance of the rumba." I wiggled my hips as I spoke these last words. I could feel the excitement growing to fever pitch. There were no boys in this class, which was a pity but I guess fifteen year old boys have a tough enough time without being caught dancing by their friends. The girls were watching me with rapt attention. I could tell this is what they had been waiting for. "But, first things first, it's time to warm up." I pointed my wand at my magical music system and a fast tempo beat echoed through the hall. At once the girls span on the spot and their uniforms disappeared to be replaced by their dance costumes. Which consisted of a white leotard and black shirt. Then they leapt about the hall twirling and stretching their bodies. I followed their lead and before I knew it the music had stopped. They were ready.
"Right girls, the rumba is a dance that is fun, lively and most importantly, romantic. Translated it literally means 'party' so, what I want to see from you all is pure energy!" I scanned the room. "To me, the rumba is like a story of love and passion between two people." I span around and grabbed hold of Dianas hands. She squealed as I twirled around with her. "The rumba is fun but you can throw some seriously flirtatious and slow movements into it aswell." I grinned at the excited expressions on their faces. "Now, I'm going to pair you up." I walked through the class putting different houses together. "Professor" said a tall blonde haired Slytherin girl named Arabella. "Yes" I answered, "wouldn't it be better if our partners were...You know...boys." she asked shyly. I gave her a warm smile. "Yes it would be nice to have some males in the class, perhaps you may be able to persuade a few? " she looked down at her feet, but didn't reply. "Now, I'm just going to show you a few moves then you can practise them with your partners." I sauntered into the middle of the room and pointed my wand at the music player. I took my stance. My head was back, my eyes were closed. I had one arm up in the air with one leg held slightly apart from the other. I could feel my body flooding with anticipation.
Then the door creak open.
I could hear light footsteps making their way towards me. I could also hear the confused whispers from the class.
Then I felt hands wrap themselves around my waist and warmth as his body pressed firmly against mine.
The whispers stopped.
I knew it was him.
The music started playing. The beat was slow and incredibly sexy. My eyes snapped open as he grasped me firmly by the hand and spun me away from him and back again into his waiting arms. " What are you doing?" I hissed as we moved our bodies to the rhythm of the music. "The rumba is ours" He growled into my ear. I bit my lip hard to distract myself from the wave of lust flooding through me. I pushed myself into his body as I slowly wiggled my hips against his. He ran his hand down my face and arm then flung me out again. I twisted around so we were face to face. I leaned in as if to kiss him then I twirled away. We span, danced and twirled our way around the great hall. We would be so close to kissing then shy away at the last minute. It was the most intense rumba I had ever danced to. I didn't dare look at my students. As the music was coming to its finale I leapt apart from Severus and took a few steps backwards, before launching myself onto his waiting arms. He slid me onto his leg as I slowly leant backwards so my hands could almost reach the floor. He very slowly let his hand travel between my breasts and across my stomach. Then he pulled me up into his arms, our eyes locked, his lips were centimetres from mine. The music stopped. At first there was a deathly silence, then all of a sudden a deafening roar of applause spread throughout the hall. All the girls were standing and cheering. "Now that's more like it! " whooped Arabella. I took a shaky step away from Severus, who was avoiding everyones gaze, and beamed at my class. "Now girls, I want you and your partner to come up with a love story that you can express using the rumba. I will check up on your progress in ten minutes. Go on, give it a go." As the class spread out across the hall, I pulled Severus to one side.
"Severus, are you ok?" I asked nervously. Never in a million years would I have pictured Severus dancing with me in front of students, I was worried this would end in him walking away for good. He was looking at the floor. I was waiting with baited breath.
"I'm not the man I used to be." He replied simply.
I looked over my shoulder at my students. They were all absorbed in their dance routines. So I threw caution to the wind and kissed him very gently on the cheek. He looked up at me. I felt like I could walk on air. "Can I see you tonight? " I whispered softly. The corners of his mouth twitched. "I thought you'd never ask." He muttered as he gave me a small wink. He turned to leave, "oh one last thing," He added in a loud voice, "if there is any mention of my dance skills outside of this Hall, I will see to it that the person or people responsible will serve detention with me every night for the rest of the school year." and with that, he swept out of the doors.