I Do Believe in Fairies ☽ 𝗔 𝗛𝗣 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 [1] ✔️

xiv| The Art of Dance

With a long day of teaching over, and a certain band of boys put in detention for filling the great hall with circus monkeys, Maria headed up to the seventh floor, stooping just opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She let one thought circle around in her head as two wrought iron doors appeared.

The floors had transformed into a hard maple wood, perfect for dancing, including an old 20's radio in the corner playing soft, classical music (with the help of some fairy dust). Maria stood in the centre of the room in front of the mirrors, waiting for the usual student to trickle in.

"Change in your respective changing rooms," She told them as they walked through the doorway. "I expect you to be dressed and ready in ten minutes. No dilly-dallying." They rolled their eyes playfully as they headed in to change into their leotards.

The class was made up of roughly sixteen students, fourteen girls and two boys. Surprisingly, the boys didn't take to dancing as much as the girls, which was beyond randomly as the art of dance was a key skill that one should have in life, in Maria's eyes anyway.

As her dancers changed, Maria took this opportunity to warm up, doing some pliés, her posture perfect as danced. In Alfea, ballet class was mandatory for all fairies, Maria was quite gifted in the art of dance. Soon enough Maria became lost in the music, using her magic to change into something a bit more appropriate. Her usual long dress and heels, morphed into a light white leotard, paired with a white knee-length tutu and her original, pale pink Capezio pointe shoes. With another flick of her wrist, her curls bundled up to form a tight bun, a few strands framing her face.

It took a few more minutes for the class to emerge from the dressing room, laughing and joking about the uneventful potions class they just before the break.

Maria stood before her students, holding a perfect first position with her arms gracefully at her sides. "Good afternoon class," she greeted them, allowing them to reciprocate the welcome before continuing," We're going to continue with Swan Lake, and this time I want you to do the turns right!" They huffed, heading over to the bars to warm up. Maria went around, making sure that each move was perfect.

"Finish up your warm-up, each of you. You have ten minutes. Then we move onto Swan Lake. Chop, chop!" The rest of the class went by rather quickly, though Maria had to stop a few times to show them what they were doing wrong and how to correct it.

The students were very talented, one girl, in particular, Elenor Rigby, a muggle-born witch. She danced with grace and elegance, reminding Maria of herself in a way. The purpose of this class was to see who would play the lead roles of Odette, Prince Siegfried, Odile and Rothbart.

After around three hours of dancing on pointe, Maria called it a day knowing that her students were wrecked, their sloppy footwork could vouch for that. " Alright, finish up what you're doing, go have an early supper," Her class let out a sigh of exhaustion, grabbing their stuff and heading into the changing rooms. Maria sent them off from the doorway of the room of requirement, hovering for a minute before heading back in.

She enchanted the old radio to play Mendelssohn's Symphony No.5 in D Major. Then with a few spells and some nature magic, a dance partner materialised out of gold from the floor, offering his hand for her to take. Maria bowed before taking his hand, allowing the statue to guide her to the centre of the room.

Her pliés were precisely perfect, her posture never staggering. Maria moved fluidly across the room, never missing a beat or pausing as her partner drifted through the air.

Maria allowed her right foot back into the prep position, bending her legs into a deep plié, then shooting up on pointe. Her partner disappeared, leaving her on her own in the large room.  With a deep breath, she pliéd deeply and launched up, rotating with such speed that her head whipped around. Maria rotated around and around, allowing the breeze she created to fan her face. She cleanly landed on her eight-rotation pirouette.

Her partner reappeared, challenging her as he began to pirouette. He spun once, twice, three times,  completing eight rotations. The pair then began to synchronise their moves, still competing against each other. Each was very determined to outdo the other, yet it was a harder task to accomplish than either anticipated. Maria was a brilliant dancer, with the golden statue matching her as he was her creation.

The two tied in fouettés;  Maria's arabesque higher than his, but his jeté battu was better than hers. Once both had finished, Maria was smiling, surprisingly; and when she looked over at her partner, she saw the slightest of smiles tugging at the corners of his lips as well. This was not over.

They both went to a corner of the room, ready to perform a grand jeté. Once in the corner, Maria composed herself, reaching her right leg back and pointing it. Looking over at her partner, Maria smirked at his daring look, almost expecting her to fail.

"Don't look so cheeky, I can easily make you disappear as fast as I created you," Maria teased, and with that, she launched herself into the low, moving plié of a chassé, then pliéd before leaping into the air, her legs moving up and up until she was in splits in the air, her arms gracefully positioned above her head. Maria landed perfectly, gesturing to the statue to do his best.

He chased perfectly, then leapt into the air, going slightly higher than Maria but landed with a slight wobble. The two met back in the middle, his hands travelling to her waist as he lifted her into the air, spinning around before letting her back down and moving into their finishing positions.

Maria let out a deep breath, her partner joining her side, "Now you must go," the statue gave her a look of sombre just as Maria delicately waved her hands, leaving her alone once again.

It was moments like these where Maria truly missed her family, no dance partner she materialised could ever live up to him, waiting for the day she was to return to dance into the sunset.