A Dance To Remember PV Finished

@Hjørdis Jensen

@Jake Morris @George Henry participating

It wasn’t every day that the head of your house asks you for a favor. The self-dubbed “Scamander Squad” had been personally asked to deliver a special message in a spectacular fashion. Jack was flanked on both sides by the two other members of the squad - George and Jake, each one dressed up in the finest clothes that Jack could provide them. It was a significant upgrade from their previous outfits from the Blossom Ball. The Warren family was starting to run short on owed favors from their go-to tailor in Dublin. The boys were adorned in classic black double-breasted suits, with silver chains running from the breast pocket to waist side pocket. Two tails pulled from the ends of the coats, resting lightly behind the boy’s knees. Skinny ties run down the front of their shirts, and white butler-like gloves are pulled over their phalanges.

George hovered in the back, picking up the needle on the gramophone and hovering it over the record. Jake rushed into position, his rehearsal cut short. After a few moments of awkward stillness, George cleared his throat, rallying the listless badgers as he turned to look at Jack. ”Guys, go! That’s her!” he hissed toward Jack, dropping the needle onto the record. A few moments later, the song began.

Jack stood in front of the trio, with his usual air of annoyed silence. If a single word about this came out to the general student body, there would be more than just hags to worry about in the Hogwarts grounds. With a sigh, the prefect glanced behind him at his two friends. “Positions, fellas- let’s get this over with-” He grumbled on. He spoke softly to keep the audience(aka Nora) unaware of his severely apathetic attitude. On cue, the other two boys hurried into place, striking their poses and waiting for Warren to start them off.

The three boys moved as one, their synchronized moves dazzling to behold. They grooved and moved to the beat, stepping, and sliding, putting on the performance of their young lives. They hadn't had very much time to learn it. It had been a herculean effort. Design a brilliant dance routine to wow the Slytherin head of house and melt her heart in just a matter of hours. This proved easier for some of the boys than others.

"Left, right, step, kick," Jake muttered, hurrying to keep up with the beat, and his badger brothers. "left-right-step-step-right-left oof---" the boy took one too many lefts and ended up bumping his shoulder against George, who subtly corrected that misstep by stamping down hard on the younger boy’s foot. ”Oops,” said George.

"Ow!" the smallest badger exclaimed, hopping as his foot throbbed. "Hey!" he complained, pouting up at George, pain quashing his shame. He forgot for a moment that he was supposed to be side-stepping, until the oblivious Jack side-stepped into him, sending him stumbling. A none too subtle glare directed itself from Jack directly at the young boy. The footwork wasn’t even that difficult! How could Jake forget that it should be LEFT RIGHT STEP STEP RIGHT LEFT STEP STEP! It was just too easy- Jack had dumbed down the routine as much as he could, but still, people messed it up. He couldn’t even help but shake his head.

Unfortunately, Jack has had more experience than he would ever admit in dancing. Two years. Two horrible years. His mother wanted him to be ‘cultured’. Her idea of culture was ballet. Two years of unending scorn from friends in Dublin. However, he had been prepared for this moment for ages. It was quite obvious that things were starting to fall apart, so Jack made the quick decision to lean upon the most advanced dance move in his repertoire. Pressing himself up on the ball of his right foot, Jack swung his left leg from behind his right to its natural position. With the leg up, his left toe pointed at his knee. The boy began to spin. Every rotation was followed by a slight bend in the boy’s leg and a kick out with the left leg, which only continued to propel the spinning further. There was only one obstacle in his way… he was starting to get severely dizzy. YET THE SPIN MUST GO ON. He needed to pull attention away from the terrible things the other boys were doing.

George didn’t know what move he needed to do, but he knew he had to dance. He lost track of the choreography entirely, despite any efforts to salvage the performance. Recalling a classic move his mother had taught him, George half-squat down and began to shimmy, waving his hands in front of his eyes, fingers parted in a V shape. He couldn’t match the spectacle of Jack’s spins, but he at least distracted the audience from whatever Jake was doing.

Jake had been trying in vain to keep up after remembering what the whole point of this was. What he couldn't remember anymore was the dance steps, and it seemed like something had changed, because he definitely hadn't learned what the others were doing, and his tries to mimic it didn't go very well. He couldn't just stand there though, he had to keep dancing, so he began to do something resembling the macarena which wasn't what he'd been told to do but was the only thing he knew how to.

George stepped back to the gramophone and lifted the needle. ”I give up!” he shouted, waving Jake forward with his other hand. ” Give her it, she’s nearly done.”

Jake looked up when the music stopped, and George gave him impromptu stage directions. He rustled through his pocket and grasped the friendship bracelet they'd been meant to hand out, and stepped forward blushing. Nothing had really gone like it was supposed to, or like they'd practiced, and he thought that maybe it might have been his fault. "Um... hereyago," he mumbled, holding up the bracelet (this one with the letter ‘R’) towards Professor Jensen and hoping she liked the half of the dance that she'd got to see even if they'd never quite made it to the big finish.

Finally, Jack pressed a palm to his face. “Just-” He sighed in between words “Just go in there” the prefect jammed his thumb in the direction of the great hall. Please, he just wanted her to leave, so that he could end his suffering.