Snape Dragons and Dance Lessons

As the students filed into the grand dance hall for their dance lessons, soft jazz filtered through the room from somewhere unknown and the instructor sat on top of her desk, still slouched around a cup of coffee even though it was two hours after lunch.

“Come place your essays on my chair!”She called out to the group, using her wand to levitate her chair around to the front of the room so the students could place their essays on them. After a few minutes all the essays were on the chair and the students were separated to the two sides of the classroom, Slytherin and Gryffindor. Sighing softly she uncoiled herself from her ball on the desk, placing the cup of coffee onto the desk and walking out into the middle of the room. She had once again changed from her rumpled appearance that morning, now wearing a three quarter sleeve black dress that clung to her figure, typical dancing heals on her feet.

“Right now, today we will actually be dancing, I will first require a partner…” she looked over towards the Gryffindor side of the room. “Fred Weasley?” she called out and both the Weasley twins started to shove one another.

“I’m Fred!” one of them said.

“No I’m Fred!”

“Shut up George!”

“I’m not George, I’m Fred!”

“Malfoy get over here!” Allegra snapped, annoyed at the two twins fighting over who was who. The blonde pure blood instantly shot from the Slytherin side of the room to stand in front of her. “Right so pay attention, I will show you once and then I will expect you all to do this.” The room instantly quieted and Allegra faced a widely smirking Draco Malfoy.

“First you will either bow or curtsey to your partner.” She said loudly and turned her sharp gaze to Draco. “I trust you know how to properly bow.” She growled as she stepped back, brushing her leg in a wide circle before dipping low into a curtsey, Malfoy bending into a bow. Allegra smirked as they both righted themselves.

“Next the man will offer his left hand to the lady, and the lady will gratefully accept.” Malfoy held out his left hand and Allegra placed her hand in his. “You will stand closely, but not too closely.” She turned her stern gaze on everyone in the room. “The man will then place his right hand on the area between the lady’s shoulder blade and waist, and the waist is not lower than the hips.” She snarled through her teeth as Draco’s hand dipped down to rest on her rear, squeezing softly. “Ten points from Slytherin.” She said loudly and the Slytherin side of the room groaned. “Next,” she brought the attention back to the task at hand. “the lady will place her hand on the man’s right shoulder. And you will now find yourself in the perfect dancing position.” She pushed herself away from Draco and strode to the front of the room.

“Pair up, and get in position.” She commanded as she once again grabbed the coffee mug from her desk and taking another draw from the steaming liquid. The students scrambled to get with people from their own house, god forbid they be paired with their rival house. “Step back and respectfully great your partner.” She commanded and the group as a whole stepped back and awkwardly swept into a bow or curtsy. Allegra sighed, it would do for now. “Now get into your dancing position.” She commanded and on the Slytherin side she noticed a few boys roughly yank their girls into them, pressing them along the length of their body. “Five points from Slytherin for each of you, and Detention tonight at 8.” She said pointing at them and they groaned and released their partners so that some space was between them.

“Alright, Mr. Malfoy, I require your assistance again.” She said some time later after she had made the couple practice their proper greeting a couple more times, dance was nothing if not polite and respectful. Draco Malfoy eagerly leapt from his partner, a pug faced girl with a glare in her small beady eyes, and came to rest before Allegra.

“Now since you all handed in an essay today I suppose that you know that I all forms of dance, the man leads the woman.” The boys in the room smirked and looked at their partners. “But,” she interrupted their moment of glory. “It is the woman’s choice to either accept or deny the movement.” The girls in the room sent the boys their own smirk of victory. “Now that you’ve all had your little power trip, it is time you learn your first basic waltz.” She walked to the center of the room, Draco trailing after her like a love sick puppy.

“It is a simple movement, Mr. Malfoy, if you would please assist me.” She held her arms in position and Draco slid into them, Allegra adjusting the height of her arms to accommodate his shorter height, once again grabbing his hand and hiking it back to her waist as it started to slither lower. Slowly the two moved in a basic waltz, a box shape, keeping the foot work simple and clean enough for everyone to follow. As they danced Allegra instructed the couples on the ‘lead-and-follow’ roles of the waltz, how the man would lead and what the woman would do in response to follow. After demonstrating a couple more times Allegra finally set the couples to it, seeing a couple of people getting it here and there.

“Oh boy, this is going to be one long class.” She groaned as she grabbed the coffee cup from her desk, knocking back the rest of the black liquid before she dove into the crowd, fixing every mistake she came across. She just finished correcting the last couple when the bell for class to be dismissed rang loudly, students scrambling to gather their stuff.

“I expect another 6 inches on another form of dance before Friday, and I also expect you to practice the basic waltz you have learned today!” she called over the noise of the students before turning to the Slytherin side and walking towards a group of boys. “And I will see you lot tonight at 8 in detention.” She turned crisply on her heal and walked over to her desk, grabbing the coffee cup and using her wand to refill it, levitating the stack of essays off of the chair and making it follow her from the classroom, her lessons done for the day.

The large stack of essays dropped next to an identical, but much larger, stack of essays from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class she had taught earlier that day. It seemed that the desk in the office of her rooms had been taken over by the essays and Allegra sighed, now she remembered why she had always hated school, all the homework. She swept into her bedroom, flicking a fire to life in the hearth and kicked her shoes off, pulling the dress from her body she settled for pulling on a hair of comfy black yoga pants and a grey billowy tank top along with some yarn knit fluffy socks. Padding back out to her office she settled down into an overstuffed emerald chair, grabbed a red inked quill and pulled the first essay from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff pile, she had to reink her quill twice before she had finished with the first paper.

A small knock at the door brought Allegra’s tired eyes up from the small writing she was currently trying to decipher. Sitting back with a yawn she looked over at the clock, reading the time to be seven thirty, she knew she had to leave for detention soon.

“Enter.” She called to the door and the door opened only slightly before a small house elf appeared at her side.

“Oh Womby knew the nice Ms. Sabria had returned!” the small house elf cried with delight, the plate of food in his hands instantly making Allegra’s stomach growl. “Oh, forgive Womby, misses, he brought you dinner.” The platter of food appeared on the small empty space left on her desk and Allegra smiled down at the house elf.

“It is nice to see you again Womby, tell me, are you in charge of my rooms?” she questioned and the small elf nodded quickly. “Will you please draw a warm bath for me before I return from detentions?”

“Oh, yes, misses! Womby make a nice warm bath for the misses!” he said quickly as he backed all the way out of the room and quickly shut the door in his own face. Odd creatures, house elves, but hey they are what they are. Allegra picked at the food on the plate, not so hungry as she thought about the detention she would soon have to give. She supposed she could correct the essays in that time, but instead she desperately wanted to fall asleep, still tired from her late night arrival. Waving her wand over the mug on the corner of her desk, coffee instantly appeared into the white mug and Allegra pulled the twenty eighth cup for that day to her lips.

“You would do well to shut up in detention.” Allegra said sharply from her seat at the front of the dance class room. Instead of taking the typical approach to detention, which is making them write some silly lines, she had gone for a more practical approach, making them wash the floors of the dance hall with tooth brushes. So she was a little bit of a sadist, so what everyone has a little of that in them. Allegra was almost done with the stack of Slytherin and Gryffindor papers, having spent the better part of an hour reading Ms.Granger’s completely unnecessary two foot essay on different theories of waltzing.

Finally it was time to let the little cherubs serving detention go, with only twenty minutes to make it back to commons before curfew she dismissed them, warning them that if they pulled the same thing twice they would be cleaning the floors with their tongues. With the last essay completely marked and bleeding red from the red ink of her quill, Allegra placed all the essays into her desk and securely locked the drawer. Standing she let out a large yawn, her arms raised into the air as she arched her back and stretched as far as she could, the tank top she was wearing slid up to reveal her mid drift before once again sliding back down. Blinking slowly and running her fingers through her hair Allegra slowly began the journey back to her rooms, convincing herself she would take a bath before she dove into the covers of that nice, warm, inviting bed. Allegra was so engrossed with her thoughts of warm water and toasty satin sheets she didn’t notice the moving shadow behind her, a certain Severus Snape.