for this dance we move with each other [anna]

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Today, Oscar and Anna were going to dance. Oscar had to admit that he was a little nervous about the prospect; he had learned how to dance, a long time ago, but he hadn't danced with a partner in years. They were going to be dancing in front of hundreds of people for the first dance of the night, and while Oscar normally craved attention, he wasn't sure that he wanted to perform like that. Add to the equation that he was pretty sure that he had feelings for Anna, and Oscar was actually more than a little nervous. He was only a few steps short of a nervous wreck, but trying his best to hide it, if only because he knew that Anna was just as nervous as he was, if not more. But that was why they had to practice - it was better to be nervous now than to be nervous later. They had agreed to meet in the Room of Requirement for a practice dance - or dance lesson, depending on how you looked at it - and since the room (which had styled itself into a grand ballroom) was empty, Oscar assumed that he had gotten there first. He was using the time to practice on his own, whispering soft waltzes beneath his breath while he moved in circles holding an imaginary partner.

@annelise

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Anna was nervous. Beyond nervous, actually. She knew that the Yule Ball was actually quite far away. In fact, she had more than a month to prepare, but now that she was going with Oscar she was even more nervous. She didn't know how to dance. Sure, some of her family members liked to dance, but she'd never been interesting in joining them. Now she was regretting that decision. She didn't want Oscar to think she was silly for not knowing how to dance. He'd probably been doing it for years. Still, they were going to practice together, which made her feel a little better, but still very nervous. What if she was terrible at dancing? Oscar would be the first to know.

She arrived at the Room of Requirement and took a deep breath before reaching forward. She really hoped that Oscar was already there because she was so nervous she just wanted to start already. See if she was any good at this or not. Hopefully it wouldn't be as hard as Potions. She opened the door quietly and walked in, marveling at how grand the room looked. And there was Oscar, dancing on his own. He was so handsome. Most of the time, Anna didn't get the chance to really look at him because he was looking at her, but right now he didn't know she was there, so she took the chance to watch him. Anna bit her lip as her eyes followed him for a bit. It looked like he was a good dancer, at least like he knew what he was doing. It looked so natural to him and she hoped she'd do all right at it. "Hey Oscar," she said quietly after watching him for a little while. She gave him a small smile. "Are you ready to teach me how to dance?"

@oscar

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Oscar had been so distracted by his practice that he hadn’t heard the door to the room open – his first indication of Anna’s presence was her voice. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard her, grinning sheepishly. “Hello, Anna.” He responded, unsure why he was so embarrassed to be caught dancing on his own. He was just practicing so he wouldn’t do something silly like step on Anna’s toes. “How long have you been there?” Oscar asked, the embarrassment he was feeling creeping into his voice. Hopefully it hadn’t been long – his dancing had been choppy at first, and had only started to smooth out and feel natural a half a minute before. Realizing that he was halfway across the ballroom, and that wasn’t exactly conducive to dancing, Oscar jogged towards Anna.

“Oh, mamour.” He said, shaking his head fondly. “There is much to learn before we get to start to dance.” Oscar paused to let that sink in – he was sure that Anna had been expecting just lessons on the actual dancing, but there was much more to it. “For example: we must learn how to properly hold each other first.” It seemed silly to Ozzy that you weren’t allowed to hold your dance partner in the way that made you both most comfortable, but customs were strange things. Oscar stepped closer to Anna, closing the gap between them that had been appropriate for conversation, but not for dancing. He extended his left hand, palm up. “You put your hand in mine.” He told her softly, though he assumed that she would be able to guess that. “And then put your hand on my shoulder, while I put mine on your waist.” Oscar hesitated for a moment before placing his hand where he said he would, in the curve of Anna’s waist. He had been close to her before, in the kitchen and when she had hugged him, but this felt different, and it made him nervous. “Now we can learn how to dance.” He whispered.

@annelise

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Anna smiled when Oscar stopped and turned to look at her, embarrassed. It was nice that he was embarrassed for once. She felt like she was always the one saying stupid things. She shrugged, her smile sly when he asked her how long she watched him dance on his own. "Long enough to see that you're really good at it," she told him, not giving him a time frame on purpose. She watched as he approached her. "You sure you want to do this? I've never danced before, I might break your toes," Anna's worries escaped her, though she never actually wanted to say that out loud. Darn.

She cocked her head to the side curiously when he told her there was more she needed to learn before they started dancing. Her expression said, "Like what?" but she didn't feel like it need to be said out loud. Surely he was going to explain. When he said they had to learn how to hold each other first a shiver ran up her spine and when he closed the gap between them, Anna's heart started to race madly. She looked into his eyes, waiting nervously, but also with a bit of excitement now. She lifted her hand, placing it in his when he told her to do so and then looked up to his eyes once more. At his instruction, she lifted her other hand and placed it softly on his shoulder without breaking their eye contact. She was doing this right, right? Anna wasn't sure if she'd be able to dance, her body was practically tingling because of his close proximity. "This right?" she asked quietly, wanting to make sure she was doing it correctly, even though there shouldn't be a way for her to mess it up yet. She smiled when he said that now it was time to learn how to dance. "What do I do now?" Anna wondered if he could sense how crazily her body was reacting to him. She felt more alive and awake than she had in ages, but it was in a good way. She didn't want it to end. Luckily for her, their lesson was just beginning.

@oscar

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Ozzy shook his head when Anna said he was a good dancer. It was easier to look like a good dancer when he was the one making his own music and there was no partner to make it obvious when he messed up. She made a joke about breaking his toes, though, and Ozzy managed a small smile. “Not if I break yours first.” He replied mischievously. He greatly doubted that either of them would get their toes broken, all things considered – they would probably have to try to do that sort of damage to each other, and while Oscar and Anna’s relationship hadn’t started on the best foot, they weren’t going to do anything of the sort to each other now.

Anna’s hand was soft in his, and Ozzy was slightly upset that he could just stand there, close to her, holding her hand. But they weren’t going to be standing still on the night of the Yule Ball; they had to dance. Anna asked what happened next, and Ozzy had to clear the haze in his head in order to get out his next few words. “Well, the most important part of dancing is to make sure you’re doing it in time with the music. So first we listen…” The Room of Requirement seemed to realize that it was needed, and a lilting waltz began playing, filling the space with music. “One two three, one two three, one two three…” Ozzy said, counting out the tempo so Anna could hear it, even if she wasn’t the most musically inclined herself. “And then, we move.” Ozzy applied the slightest bit of pressure to Anna’s waist, urging her to follow him when his feet began to move. He was just going straight backwards, instead of doing the normal box of the waltz. They could do that later. “The one is a long step, and then two and three are short ones.” He told Anna as he began to pull her along. “If you get lost, just squeeze my hand, and we can stop and start over.” Oscar offered. They needed to have some sort of safety net, should either of them get confused during the real dance. Neither of them wanted to look like fools.

@annelise

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Anna made a face at Oscar, "I seriously doubt that," she argued even though she knew that if he wanted to, he could definitely do just that. Still, Oscar wouldn't do that on purpose. Neither would she, but she was still nervous about hurting him. 

Anna was biting her lip nervously as she waited for him to explain what was coming next. He explained that the timing was important and Anna nodded. That made sense. She closed her eyes when music filled the room of requirement. She was trying to focus on the music, but it wasn't easy with Oscar so close. Still, having her eyes closed helped. At least she wasn't staring into his gorgeous eyes. She listened to him counting and noticed that he put a slight emphasis on the one each time. That must mean something, but she was positive he'd explain it. She gasped slightly and her eyes opened, focusing on his face when he pulled her waist gently to make her take a step forward. She nodded quickly when he explained the steps to her. The first few steps seemed to come naturally and Anna felt her nervousness fading slowly. Apparently she could dance. Then something happened and everything felt wrong. She must have gotten off beat somehow and before she could even squeeze his hand like he'd instructed, she ended up stomping on his toe.

Anna pulled herself out of his arms instantly, nervously. "Oh, I'm so sorry," Anna said, blushing from embarrassment. Of course that had to happen when things were going great, didn't it?

@oscar 

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With all that Anna had said about how horrible she was at dancing, Oscar had been expecting utter disaster when they began to dance. Nothing horribly disastrous happened, though. Anna did step on his toes, at which point Oscar jerked his foot away from her out of reflex. Anna jumped away from him, though, so Ozzy’s reflex wasn’t even needed. He frowned when she apologized, and stepped towards her, closing the gap between them. “It is fine.” He replied easily. The momentary pain he had felt when she had first stepped on him was already receding. Nothing was broken, which was already better than Anna had expected, though Oscar knew better to make a joke and make Anna’s nerves even worse. “We all make mistakes every once in a while.” Oscar would have been more surprised if Anna never made a mistake once in their lesson – that would make her a dancing prodigy. “One misstep does not make you a bad dancer, Anna.” Oscar told her firmly. He didn’t want her to get nervous, because that just meant that she’d be more tense and therefore make more mistakes, and it would all be a downhill spiral from there. Oscar replaced his hand on Anna’s waist, and offered his other hand to her again. “We will try again.” He told her firmly. He wasn’t going to let her give up – Anna Weasley was too good to let something as simple as dancing get the better of her. The room’s music, which had stopped when the dancing did, began again, and Oscar allowed Anna to decide when they would start, not wanting to trigger her nerves again.

@annelise

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Oscar didn't let her step away from him. Before she realized it, he was right beside her, telling her that it was fine and that making mistakes was normal. Well duh. She knew that, but she really wanted to be good at this, wanted to be able to spend her time enjoying the fact that she was in Oscar's arms instead of worrying about stepping on his toes. She nodded as he extended his hand for her to take. "Thank you," she muttered quietly, still not looking him in the eyes. He was right. It was natural to not dance perfectly the first time, so she just needed to relax. Her pulse started to race when he put his hand on her waist again. She took a deep breath and squeezed his hand, "I'm ready," she said, unable to keep herself from looking down at her feet as they started dancing once more. Maybe if she watched them she would be able to make sure they did what she wanted them to. Also, she was too embarrassed to look at Oscar yet. It was ridiculous, but true. This time, her feet were sure and actually staying in time quite well and she started to smile, still watching them.

@oscar

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When Anna took his hand again, Oscar squeezed it softly in reassurance. They were going to do this, and they were going to do it well – together. Anna seemed to do better when they had time to regroup and start again. Either that, or the Room of Requirement had slowed the music down a little and neither of them had noticed. Oscar was fairly certain that their first dance, the one they had to do with only the other Champions and their partners, would be fairly slow. They didn’t want to make anyone look bad, and somehow Oscar didn’t see Elias Greyback – or any Durmstang student, actually – as a good dancer. While she was doing well at dancing, Anna didn’t seem to want to look up from her feet. Oscar could tell she was smiling, and she seemed to be having fun, and it killed him a little that Anna wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “Chin up, Anna.” He said softly. “So I can see your beautiful smile.” True, it would be harder for him to focus when he could see her face and be distracted by it, but it was a risk that Ozzy was willing to take.

@annelise

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Anna could hardly believe she was doing this! Dancing in the Room of Requirement with Oscar. Obviously it was something they planned on doing together, but she didn't think she would start to get the hang of it so quickly. Well, after stepping in his foot, that was. But he wasn't upset, so there was no reason for her to be either. Her confidence started growing and then Oscar asked her to look up at him so he could see her face. She wasn't sure how well she'd be able to focus on the dance if she was looking at him, but she wanted to see if he was enjoying himself like she was. So she looked up, a small blush obvious on her face. "Oscar, I'm doing it!" She grinned, not even trying to hide her excitement. She was looking right at him and not messing up. If she could do this here, then she definitely wouldn't have much to worry about at the actual Yule Ball. "Thank you so much for teaching me," she added, wanting to give him the credit he deserved. Then she just focused on the feeling of dancing with him, gliding slowly around the room in his arms. It was fabulous! Her smile fell slightly when a sudden thought occurred to her. There was no way this was all that they would be doing. Her eyes narrowed and she watched him closely, searching for his reaction. "This isn't all, is it? What else are we going to have to do?" She was nervous about learning more, but at the same time she wasn't. She'd already stepped on Oscar's foot and he didn't seem to mind, so how much worse could it get really? Besides, she was starting to feel really confident with the way they were moving around the room. Her feet were naturally moving where they should be and she felt excited to learn more. Surprisingly, she was more excited than nervous and she knew Oscar had everything to do with that.

@oscar

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When Anna looked up at him, the joy on her face was so plain and so beautiful that Oscar almost stopped dead in his tracks. He managed to keep dancing, but just barely, and he grinned back down at her, unable to conceal how happy he was with this moment, this dance, this relationship, this world. Things were going right, for once, and a laugh bubbled out of Oscar’s throat. “Yes, Anna!” He replied gleefully. “You are doing it! You are doing it wonderfully!” Ozzy hardly even cared that he was the one to teach her. He cared, of course, because if he hadn’t been her teacher he wouldn’t be there with her, but he didn’t care that her success was a reflection of his excellent dancing, or his excellent teaching, or anything of the sort. He just liked that he had been the one to make Anna smile, to make Anna’s cheeks flush, to make Anna’s eyes shine. Oscar found himself at a loss for words, suddenly behind in their conversation. He was aware that Anna had asked him a question, but for whatever reason, his brain was refusing to process that question until he did one deceptively simple thing. It was easy, since they were already so close; all Oscar had to do was bend his head, and his lips were right next to Anna’s. He didn’t think, just breathed in, and kissed her.

@annelise

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Even if she wanted to, Anna wouldn't be able to stop herself from smiling. She really couldn't imagine this going better than it was at the moment. Oscar was happy, smiling down at her and laughing, which just made her day. Add to that the fact that she was actually dancing, and doing it wonderfully according to Oscar. She was so delighted that she was actually speechless, a rare occurrence for Anna. So she simply watched Oscar, waiting for him to answer her question. But ... he wasn't answering her question. He was just staring at her, smiling. Granted, the fact that he was actually smiling just at her felt like a miracle in and of itself. How did she ever manage to become his friend in the first place? Thinking about it logically, it didn't make sense, but Anna didn't care. Still, why wasn't he answering her question?

Then he bent down closer to her and Anna froze when he kissed her. He kissed her. A guy that she actually cared about kissed her. Her hands tightened where they were, around his hand and his shoulder and she felt like her whole body was tingling from excitement. All she wanted was for this moment to last forever. She never imagined that Oscar would actually kiss her; she thought her feelings for him would remain unrequited, like they always had been with anyone else she had feelings for. She leaned into him, all thoughts of dancing gone instantly. What was she supposed to do now? This was Anna's first kiss and she didn't know what to expect. Was he going to kiss her again or would they just continue dancing like nothing happened or ...? Her brain felt like it was thinking a million thoughts a minute, but at the same time it felt like she was focused on one thought. "Oscar kissed me." She couldn't keep herself from smiling now. It wasn't possible.

@oscar

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He had kissed Anna. The whole thing seemed impossible and strange and utterly wonderful, but Ozzy didn’t know how to feel. He had thought that he had loved girls before, but he had never felt the way he felt for Anna about anyone before. He hadn’t ever thought about the way Margaux smiled at him, just the way she kissed him and the way she looked at him. He hadn’t ever wanted to hold Margaux’s hand or kiss her forehead or do anything ridiculous and stupid like make crepes before. He hadn’t done anything like this before, and for Oscar, that was terrifying. The weight of the kiss fell heavy between them, almost like it was its own person, and Oscar found himself talking a step back, holding Anna further away than he had previously. He cleared his throat nervously, aware of the fact that practically every inch of his skin was flaming red with embarrassment. Anna had leaned into him, but did that mean she liked it, or was she just unaware of how to push him away? He didn’t know. Ozzy cleared his throat again, looking down at his feet. “The, uh…The tango.” He began, trying to steer them away from whatever had just happened. Anna hadn’t liked it. That must’ve been why she was so quiet, now – she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She was a good friend for that, and Ozzy just had to accept that was all she would be – a good friend. “Tango is five steps.” Oscar said, almost robotically. “Two long, three short. The three short are almost like a waltz.” It was awkward, trying to lead her while barely touching her, but Oscar was trying to focus, and he hoped that it was working.

@annelise

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It was an accident. It had to have been an accident, that was the only explanation that made any sense. Anna's heart plummeted, but she kept her smile on. She had no intention of losing Oscar's friendship because of a silly accident. She knew she was probably reading into it too much and tried to force herself to stop. No, it didn't matter that he kissed her. No, he didn't want more than friendship. Yes, that was worth it to her. That's it, just keep her thoughts to "no" and "yes". That made it simple enough to handle, right? Everything was black and white. Yes, they were friends; no, the kiss didn't mean anything to him. No, it shouldn't mean anything to her either. Yes, it still did.

Oscar was blushing bright red, which only served as further evidence that he hadn't meant to kiss her. It was the music or something, it must have been. He pushed her away from him, to the point where he was hardly touching her and Anna smiled through the resulting pain in her heart. Yes, it was all in her head. No, she wasn't going to make this more awkward than it already was. She swallowed nervously, nodding when he started talking about another dance. "The tango. All right," she didn't really need to say anything, but she felt like she did. She wanted to non-verbally tell him that she wasn't upset, that if all he wanted to be was friends she could accept that. But she couldn't say that out loud. 

It was hard to follow him, to figure out what she was doing when he was so clearly trying to not touch her. Her feet stumbled as she tried to figure it out and Anna's eyes narrowed as she looked down at her feet once more. Maybe if she could understand where they were supposed to go with her eyes, then she could transfer that knowledge to her feet. Even after restarting several times, she was still no good. She gave a soft chuckle and looked back up at Oscar, shaking her head. "Apparently my feet don't like the tango," Anna hoped the small joke directed at herself would ease some of the tension between them. She just wished ... no. She couldn't start thinking like that or she wouldn't stop. Yes, she wanted things to go back to the way they were before with him. No, she didn't know how to do that.

@oscar

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This was a disaster. Everything had been going so well, Anna had been dancing so beautifully, and then, he had kissed her, and everything was wrong. She must have been so repulsed by him that she couldn’t even focus, Ozzy thought glumly. She didn’t seem to want to touch him, either. Sure, Oscar had been the one to put the space between them, but Anna wasn’t doing anything to bring them closer together. A fake smile was plastered on Oscar’s face, just in case Anna should happen to look up from her feet to see what he was doing. He smiled, because at least then, she would know that he was okay, that the fact that she hadn’t kissed him back was fine, that he was fine. He had endured much bigger heartbreaks, and he had gotten over all of them, just like he was going to get over this.

Anna looked back at him, and Oscar had the resist the urge to whip his head away so he wouldn’t have to look her in the eyes. “It is okay.” He answered quietly. “The tango can be hard.” Oscar hadn’t been much good at it, either, but teaching was easier than learning, and if they were both sloppy at the tango, at least they’d be sloppy together. “Do you want to try something else?” Ozzy offered quietly. “Or we could…try again some other time.” After he had had the chance to process her rejection. Then they would be able to hold each other closer, and maybe things wouldn’t be so awkward and tense. It wasn’t ever Oscar’s preference to be away from Anna, but at this point, it seemed necessary.

@annelise