Who: Ellie Bell and Antonin Dolohov
What: Secret dancing lessons that take literally a month to finish. And then there's some toppling at the end.
Where: Manchester Dance



It was such a relief to teach someone competent for a change.

There were just some people in this world that were not born with the sensibility to dance and do it well. Even after being shown what to do time and time again, there would always be some people for whom it just did not register, and they never really understood how moving your body with grace and rhythm was supposed to actually work.

There were a lot of people like that who came through Manchester Dance, and when they began to realize they were failing, or their parents began to realize their children were failing, Ellie got to hear about it, because it could not possibly be that they could not dance. That their little princess just did not have it in her to be a ballerina when she grew up. It was her, the teacher---while she had no problem admitting that good instruction was quite a factor in the success of students, she had plenty who could attest to her skill as a teacher that she was certain that it was not her that was the problem.

So, when she had discovered that her new private student actually did understand how to not fumble all over himself at every spin and step, Ellie had been elated. It was only the third lesson, but she had found very quickly that she actually quite looked forward to her time in the studio with Antonin Dolohov.

Ellie came out of the final spin of the dance, and regarded her partner with an impressed smile. "You're quite the quick study. I can't believe we got through the waltz so fast, it's usually such a struggle for some people."

He wasn't a completely pitiful case. There had been years of his youth dedicated to dance; it was what every proper young pureblood heir had to learn. Of course, that went to complete shit when his parents died and he was sent to his terrible living environments, but Antonin wasn't one to dwell. He found it more than easy to get back into the literal step of things, kind of like riding a broom after you'd been off one for a while. He also found it ridiculous that his supposed friends found it so hilarious that he needed to acquire the skill again; with such a society as theirs it should've been an embarrassment that he didn't know the proper techniques.

The fuckers, all of them.

"I'm a natural." Antonin would never try to be humble about his skills; he was completely over being quiet about his life (well, certain aspects of it would never be revealed). He had spent seven years muttering under his breath and scowling greatly, why should he force himself to shut up? Antonin didn't care if people tried to get close anymore; he knew he could push them away with a simple, sometimes literal swish of his wand.

He checked up at the clock, noticing they had a bit more time. It wasn't as if he was enjoying the lessons (though he did enjoy the praise), Antonin was just happy to be out of the flat and away from Barty and everything that reminded him of work. Did he really need to go home and get bitched at because of some dishes he might've left? No, he was going to make this worthwhile.

"The Spanish minister of magic is visiting next week," he commented. Surely he wouldn't have to explain that he would like to know something--or some step--that could surely impress the visitors.

Ellie's brow shot up under the fringe of her hair. "The Spanish Minister?" she repeated, clearly impressed. Well, even with a famous brother, it wasn't like she knew anyone who visited with foreign ministers of magic.

Then again, he was a pureblood. Didn't they all seem to know everyone important this side of the globe?

She supposed that he wasn't really mentioning it just to gloat, though. He was there re-learning how to dance because of his job, and Ellie supposed that in a job like that impressions meant a lot, which meant the dancing was to make an impression on these special guests like this aaaaand so that clearly meant that he wanted to know something special.

See, she wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing.

Usually though, she hated it when people came in and just wanted to know how to do something fancy, because that meant they were generally impatient and you just couldn't jump right into dance like that without sticking around for a good while to learn the basics. But well---Antonin seemed to know what he was doing, and despite the slightly inflated ego she did appreciate his motivation as a student... what the hell. It had been a while since she had danced with a competent partner anyway.

"Think you're strong enough to lift me?" she ventured.

What kind of question was that? She was a tiny little twig of a person, of course he could lift her. Though he did pause before responding; she was asking for a reason, which meant that there were probably some other things that went into this whole lifting business. Antonin pursed his lips and shrugged affirmatively, not trying to show any more interest than just getting it over with. He hadn't seen much fancy dancing at these galas and balls (that were terribly boring, but even more so when you didn't know the steps), so he had very little idea of what Ellie (Elspeth? He didn't feel at all right with the nickname) was going on about.

He turned his neck to stretch it out, feeling ridiculously sore from all this mess. Antonin hadn't thought that relearning dances would be hard, but it was proving more exhausting than anything. Adding onto the fact that every time he rubbed one of his joints or muttered about aches, his roommate would cackle about the delicateness of the trade, so it was a physical and mental abuse he was going through, just so that he didn't look like a fool in front of his colleagues.

Beautiful. "Let's go."

Well, alright then.

Turning on her heel, Ellie began to put a few meters between herself and Antonin, all the while wondering if this was actually a good idea or not. It had been a while since she had done something this potentially stupid---throwing yourself at an untrained dancer without warning was a pretty dangerous move if he didn't have the sense to catch her... or the strength. She had a feeling that there weren't many men in the world when asked if they were strong enough to lift a girl would admit it if they couldn't.

Merlin, she hoped he wasn't just putting on a show. She really didn't need to be breaking her leg right before spring recital rehearsals were about to begin. Ellie turned back around to face Antonin and took a deep breath--she should probably do this now before she lost her nerve.

1, 2... "Okay, catch me!"

There was a twig of a person rushing at him, and Antonin couldn't help but let out a flustered sound as she jumped and---catch me? Catch her? This wasn't lifting! Catching was definitely different than lifting, how could she use both terms so loosely? Lifting was--one, two, lift. Catching was...you caught quaffles, you didn't catch people.

He supposed he should probably pay attention to the ballerina basically flinging herself at him before they both ended up with broken bones and bruises.

Antonin winced greatly as his arms shot up, but he did grab hold of Ellie's waist, and he did manage to lock his arms to lift her---okay, he supposed this was the lift part, but holy fucking shit this was not what he expected. Not at---all, not at all---Antonin tried to hold back the grunt he let out as he stumbled, stuttered backwards, but still maintaining to keep Ellie up in the air. This was stupid. This was really stupid.

Arms shaking terribly, Antonin looked up at her with a glare, gritting his teeth, "Is this right?"

The only thing keeping Ellie from laughing out loud was the fact that she was currently very precariously balanced in the arms of a relatively untrained dancer. Which wasn't to say that she wasn't extremely impressed that he'd managed to catch and hold her, but she was indeed not stupid enough to think that the even the littlest chuckle wouldn't shake her enough to cause him to drop her---or that it wouldn't be enough to get him embarrassed enough to drop her purposely. Antonin certainly didn't look thrilled with the little trick she'd just pulled on him.

"The technique begs further work, but--" she spoke with a smile, but her voice was tight, as if she were trying to hold her breath. "--yes, this is right. Now---manage to put me down and you get a gold star."

Of course, in the awkward hold he was using, the chances of both of them not falling on their asses was slim to none, but at least she could try to coax him to attempt to be gentle about it. "It may help to get down on one knee."

How was he supposed to do that? Antonin grimaced as his arms continued to send tremors throughout his entire body, and--right, fine. Might as well embrace the fact that he was about to drop to the ground and probably break one of this girl's bones; it was not his problem, that she decided to leap into the air. He didn't have to catch her, you know.

Of course this wasn't as easy as she made it out to be. Really, for a dance instructor, Bell was not giving any more instruction than someone wou---to tie your shoe. Getting down on one knee was clearly a vital part to shoe tying, so of course that would lead into waltzes and ballet and all this rubbish why was he doing this? Why. There was no reason to be standing here, his bones ready to rattle out of his skin, and try to put this tiny doll of a person down. No reason whatsoever.

That's probably what his knees were thinking, as they basically collapsed underneath him as he attempted to bend, and the thud of his head on the dance floor was more than enough to get rid of the pain in the rest of his body.

"Get off," he groaned harshly, pulling himself out from under Elspeth. Great, now he looked like an ass.

Yep, there they were, just like Ellie had predicted--on their asses.

Or, well... Antonin was on his arse. And her arse ended up in the air, because she had ended up on top of him. Which was what happened when you released the wrong way, in the wrong direction, but that didn't make it any less of an awkward position to be in.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" she apologized quickly, a light blush accompanying her words. Not that she knew why she was apologizing considering it was the lifter's call how they came down, but---She still had the right to be a little embarrassed for landing in such a position on a man she barely knew---and she had run at him in the first place and---

Ellie scrambled to roll off of him and get to her knees, and she held out a hand to help him to sit up. She had heard that bang against the sprung floor, and she had a feeling that it hadn't been good. "Jaysus, are you alright? I didn't expect that you'd trip backwards or I would have tried to bend the other--oy, sit up slowly, let me see your head---you don't feel dizzy, do you?"

This was not good oy oy oy oy not good--she had never hurt a student before, and even though she knew what to do, now she was panicking inside because---because this was not good. She shouldn't have tried a lift with an amateur, she should be fired, bloody hell--

"I'm fine!" he snapped, sitting up far too quickly and having to put a hand on the floor behind him. His glare at Ellie was nowhere near as strong as he would've liked it to be, but it was still there and Antonin was glad he hadn't knocked that skill straight out of his head. Bloody ridiculous, the whole thing; and to think that he may have been enjoying this, somewhat. Well! Well too bad, there was no way he was ever going to come back here, and there was indeed no chance of his ever speaking or looking at this bloody Bell character again.

"I'm---fine," Antonin said again, turning his head away to look like he was fuming, but he did know that he needed a moment before he tried to stand on his own. What was even the point of all of this? Did dancing well impress anyone? It had to do more than not dancing well, but this was a stupid, stupid idea, and he just had to become the aide of the one guy in the bloody Ministry that fancied himself a trot around the dance floor.

He turned back to Ellie, still frowning deeply. "I could sue, you know." There was no reason to let her think for a second that he wasn't ridiculously mad. Which he was, just not--that mad. He still needed to come back.

"I--I know, I know, oh gosh--"

Crap crap crap she didn't know what to do! What if he did sue, what then? She was going to be fired, because--he was a rich pureblood, wasn't he? With really good solicitors and stuff? Because rich purebloods had those, they had all this money and all these solicitors on their sides to make life hell for anyone who pissed them off and she'd clearly pissed him off and oh jaysus what would she do if he sued? She had crap for a salary working here and Davy was little more than a starving artist and she couldn't expect him to help her with that it wasn't like he was her husband or something, like he wasn't obligated to her like that and---

She was going to hyperventilate oh my god, she needed water or---air---yes, yes breathing would be good.

But! Oh god, her life was over if she didn't stop him walking out of here all angry, so she didn't have time to breathe!

"I'm really sorry, I--shouldn't have, but I--I didn't think you'd go backwards like that! I'm so sorry, it was--stupid, I'm so stupid, I---oh Merlin, please don't sue, this place doesn't have the money, I--I don't have the money, I need my job--"

Antonin pushed himself to his feet, pushing off his robes and sides and---patting down his hair. That was enough for the day. He looked down at Ellie with a look of disdain, though more than slightly amused at how panicked she was. Well. She hadn't really done much wrong, maybe just sitting in the terror of the potential of being sued was enough of a punishment for her. Yes, he could definitely do that, and with a quick sniff of his nose, Antonin lifted his chin in his most pompous of attitudes.

"I'll be seeing you, Miss. Bell," he said in a tone that put forth the idea that it would be for not so good reasons. Antonin didn't wait for her reaction and turned on a heel (albeit a more skilled spin than he'd ever been used to before) and stalked out of the dance studio. Ha. Well.

Maybe he'd get free lessons out of this.