Pas De Deux

[October Alcott]

A solitary moment at the barre was like a gift in the stressful hustle and bustle of Hogwarts. October had tried to keep up with her practice on her own, but she was missing classes terrible, and the load of homework had meant sacrificing a few of what would have been her usual dance days to get essays done on time. But for now everything was turned in and finished, and there was nothing for her to do but relax, unwind, and dance. Focusing on keeping her back straight, and the roll through the foot, October rose up to releve, eyes closed and hands rested gently on the smooth, familiar wood of the barre. Finally focusing on nothing but her movement and the steps she had practiced countless times, October felt free to breathe.

Lowering slowly through her feet, October turned to begin working on her tendus, eyes still closed. She focused on every movement of her muscles as her leg extended, breathing through the motion, mind slipping to visions of herself on stage. Wowing the crowd with dizzying turns, elegant limbs and breathtaking jumps. Ballet had always been a hobby she genuinely enjoyed, but here in this new place, away from everything else familiar, October couldn't help but cling to it tighter than she ever expected to. Not having a proper teacher here meant that her dreams of the stage would never go further than dreams, but it still felt nice, as she brushed her leg up in a grande battement, to imagine the elegant tutu and the admiration of the crowd she would never know.

 

[Odette Madison]

The year was almost over and Odette was starting to feel slightly panicked at the idea of going back home. She had barely done any of the training her mother had told her to do in letters and during the Holidays, enjoying her freedom at school too much. Now she was facing a harsh few weeks of sharp comments and extra training to make up for her slacking if she didn't catch up. Her private teacher would still notice how she hadn't trained enough, but maybe if it wasn't too bad she wouldn't say anything to her mother.

Of all her dance training, classic ballet had been her favorite but also the one she found the hardest. Odette never minded a challenge, but she did hate failing at things. So when she saw a girl already practicing in the room she wanted and doing the exact type of dancing Odette had been going to do. She felt her mood sour. Clearly, this girl hadn't been slacking, her form looked perfect to Odette. She was tempted to leave, thinking of how much worse she would look in comparison, but then realized that neither her mother or her tutor would see her next to this girl. It didn't matter how she looked now, but she did need to at least be able to perform decently when she was home. "You there," she snapped, hoping a little to catch the girl off-balance. "I'm practicing here too." She dropped her bag on the floor with a thud and walking over to another part of the room with a different barre. "Just stay on your part and we'll be fine." She added, hoping it would make up for the rudeness of her first sentence a little. She didn't really care what this girl thought of her, but she couldn't show her uglier emotions on the outside too much. With a sigh, she started to stretch the way her ballet tutor had taught her.

 

[October Alcott]

October was so caught up in her daydreams of the stage that she didn't realise she wasn't alone anymore until a voice cut through her peaceful thoughts, bringing her abruptly back to the present. She paused mid grand battement, leg held steady high in the air as she surveyed the other girl, lowering it slowly back to fifth as the other girl spoke. Never a moment alone in this place, and now her rare moment of peace had been snatched away by this rude intruder.

October took a deep breath, trying hard to see the positive. Judging by her shoes, the other girl was also here to do ballet, so at least she wouldn't be noisy. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Having another ballet dancer around could even feel like class back home, if she really focused. And if the other girl did stay quiet. "Just don't make a racket and we'll be fine." October said snippily, seeing no reason to be polite to someone who hadn't been especially polite to her thus far.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette's interruption had startled the girl but it hadn't made her jump. Instead, to Odette's frustration, the girl held her leg steadily in the air. Something she herself had never managed quite like this. Her annoyance grew, if this girl had been older it would have been one thing, but she seemed the same age as Odette and that infuriated her. She couldn't stand anyone outshining her, even if there wasn't anyone else to see. But she had to practice.

The girl also wasn't as timid as Odette had hoped her to be, she snapped right back at her which set her slightly on edge. She decided against answering back, looking away haughtily as if the other girl wasn't even worth a second of her time. She started to do her stretches at the barre, trying to clear her mind. Occasionally she sneaked glances at the other girl, wondering who she was. She was pretty, Odette could see, which made her initial dislike even sharper. With a small sigh, she started doing her standard exercises.

 

[October Alcott]

Godmod approved

October pursed her lips and looked away from the other girl, returning to her exercises, trying to regain her sense of calm as she began to sweep her leg around in wide, arcing rond de jambes. It was harder to drift away into daydreams though, when she could so clearly hear the other girl across the room getting warmed up. It had been so long since she'd shared a studio that the sounds of someone else shuffling around were strange and unfamiliar to her now.

Turning around to do her rond de jambes on the other leg, October caught a glimpse of the other girl struggling to hold her balance in retire. It was a problem another girl in October's class had had, and she could see what the girl needed to fix right away. After a moment of internal debate, October spoke up. "Your shoulders are too far back." She said slowly, a hint of her accent creeping into her speech as she studied the other girl's posture. "You need to think straight up from the head, straight down from the shoulders, and hold your arms slightly higher to keep your balance." October stepped easily up into retire to demonstrate, keeping her body in as neat a line as she could manage.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette could see the other girl was annoyed by her presence but she didn't care. She tossed her hair back in defiance, Odette had as much right to be here as this stranger did and she would deal with it. As she did her basic exercises, she immediately noticed that she really hadn't practiced enough. Things she had done with ease before caused her to struggle now, her muscles straining. She grit her teeth and tried to hold retire without losing her balance. Then, the other girl spoke up again and made her lose her focus. It was advice. Advice. Who did this girl think she was? A teacher? Did she think she was better than Odette? Just because she was more advanced than her didn't mean Odette was going to listen to her advice. If anything, this girl was probably giving her bad advice on purpose to look even better by comparison. And Odette could finally place the slight accent this girl had, French. Of course it was French, how disgustingly fitting. She put her foot back down on the ground and turned to her. "Did I ask for your input?" She asked coolly. "In case you imagined I did, no, I did not. I don't know who you think you are, but you are not my tutor, nor are you better than me." She looked her up and down. "Someone with a form as sloppy as yours has no right to speak to others about theirs." She added. It was a complete lie, but anything to get this girl off her high horse was welcome.

 

[October Alcott]

October faltered, startled by the other girl's sharp tone, and lowered from her releve, daintily dropping her lifted foot back to fourth. "There's no need to be defensive." She said snippily, eyeing the other girl. "If you want to improve advice is advice no matter where it comes from. Of course, if you'd rather struggle to stay upright be my guest." She raised an eyebrow, watching her silently for a long moment. "Of course, if my technique needs correcting feel free to tell me exactly what I should fix." She added challengingly. October knew she wasn't a perfect dancer, she was young, and had only been practising on her own out of classes for the whole year, but she was fairly confident that she wasn't as sloppy as this other girl was saying, and doubted she would be able to name any specifics to work on.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette was growing increasingly frustrated by this girl's refusal to cower at her words. She didn't even want to be in a fight with this random girl, but she couldn't back down now. Her superior tone was making Odette furious, she hated being talked down to, especially by an arrogant girl like this. "I'm not rude enough to give unsollicited advice, but if you are asking for it... your hips weren't square." She couldn't think of anything better to say, and it wasn't even true. It was unfortunate, but this girl really seemed to be better at this than Odette. "By the way, your accent is ridiculous." She snapped, moving to a different tactic. She put on a horribly fake french accent as she continued. "Just leave me alone, yes? You're not as perfect as you think."

 

[October Alcott]

October snorted slightly at the other girl's assertation. It was a weak critique. October knew that her hips had been square, but she humoured the girl and stepped up into retire again, smiling condescendingly. "Am I square now?" She asked in an insincerely simpering voice. "Honest critique is how we learn."

October couldn't hold back a laugh of disbelief as the girl switched targets abruptly to her accent. October had heard about every insult in the book about her accent, down to people who outright thought she was faking it to seem fancy. "Is there something wrong with the way I talk?" She asked innocently, switching languages to her native tongue. "I could say things about how perfect you seem to think you are, beyond any kind of help to improve, but that wouldn't be very polite now, would it?"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette scowled, this girl was making fun of her. She seemed to be perfectly aware that her hips had been square. For a moment she felt a hot flare of jealousy for the girl's confidence. Odette was good at faking it, but she didn't think he would ever be able to dismiss critisism that easily, even when it was fake.

Then the girl switched to fluent french and Odette nearly yelled in frustration. Yes, she got the message, this other girl was better than Odette. Her mother had attempted to teach her French as a child but it had been in between so many other things that it had barely stuck, she could only make out a few words. But the tone of her voice and her smug face said enough. Odette grabbed her bag angrily. "Fine, if you're going to be this rude you can have this space to yourself. But if this is how you act to others, I hope you'll enjoy having only your ballet shoes as your friends." She snapped.

 

[October Alcott]

October faltered and dropped back to two feet abruptly. She hadn't even intended for this to turn into an argument but when it did, she hadn't expected the other girl's words to ever actually sting. But sting they did... it was as if she knew that October hadn't managed to make a single friend thus far at Hogwarts. But that wasn't her fault, she had barely even talked to anyone, and she was quite certain that she hadn't been rude to any of them. She collected herself quickly, frowning slightly at the blonde. "I only wanted to help you." She said calmly, doing her best to keep her tone neutral. "I wasn't trying to argue or push you out, just give you some advice. If being helped is somehow offensive to you then I'm sorry, but there was no need for you to talk to me the way you did."

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette could tell her last comment made some sort of impact. Finally. This girl had been like a wall so far, no cracks to be found. But she had found one. Still, she didn't want to stay here now, not when she so clearly had the upper hand when it came to dancing. "I didn't ask for your help." Odette told her coldly. She shouldered her bag and tossed her hair in one fluid movements. "I'll find another time to practice. That is, if you ever leave here. Unlike you, I have more things to do." She smiled. "Like talk to people." With that, she turned and walked out of the room. She would wait to practice next time until she was alone, if she really was this bad, no one needed to see that so they could talk about it behind her back.