Elite
The exterior of the building was splendid, unmatched in its splendour. There were studios where each and every one of the walls was made of glass, displaying the uniform dancers inside. There was a large park with beautiful gardens that had a pathway leading through it to the student housing. However, if the outside had been gorgeous then heaven only knows what the inside was. Despite appearing grand and old on the outside the interior was modern. There was a café in the reception area where many students sat dutifully writing their work into notebooks with cups of steaming coffee next to them. Off to the left was a corridor leading to a library where even more students sat preforming their studies. And of to the right was another corridor leading to the shared preformance space that was used for both theatre shows and ballets. Regulus took a peek inside the doors of the auditorium, he was breathtaken. He surely had never danced anywhere as amazing as this, and most likely would not have if the audition hadn’t gone in his favour.
He walked over to the desk in the reception and rung the small silver bell to call for assistance. A beautiful young woman with pale skin and white blonde hair walked, no, floated over to the computer and smiled warmly at him, her name tag read ‘Pandora Lovegood’. Her dress was light and flowing behind her, she had flowers woven into her hair and a small key hung around her neck by a thin silver chain. Her eyes were a soft baby blue and her pale cheeks were flushed with a rosy colour.
“Hi,” Regulus said nervously “I’m new here, I was told to come to the reception and collect information about my classes and lodgings, is that correct?” He asked, while explaining the situation that he was in.
“If you tell me your name then I will be able to print out your information in a jiffy,” she chuckled, he was such an idiot. How was she supposed to know who he was if he hadn’t told her his name.
“Black, Regulus Black,” he said “you may know my brother, Sirius Black.” He added looking down rather ashamed, he didn’t hate his brother as such, but Sirius had always been rather too loud and outgoing for Regulus even as young children.
Sirius liked being thrust into social situations, Regulus however did not. That’s why Sirius was always going to be the heir, even if Regulus was older, he just couldn’t do the talking and communicating parts of being the next in line to inherit everything that existed within the Black family line.
“Ah, yes i do know your brother,” she said dreamily “bright young man, he could go far if he went into an academic career, but he is a beautiful dancer too.” She finished before going and picking up the papers that had been deposited into the tray of the printer behind the counter.
She handed them over, her delicate hands just brushing the dark haired boy’s, as he took the pieces of paper and skimmed through the various pieces of information on them.
“It’s a pity,” she said, waiting for a reply that didn’t come, so she continued anyway “we don’t appear to have any classes together, but to be honest you don’t seem like the theatre type, ballet suits you much more.”
A look of sudden realisation dawned over Regulus’s features. She was a student, a theatre student. Now it made sense, her age, the way that she spoke. And on second glance her name tag was not the professional kind that was issued to all of the staff members, but rather a handmade one with embroidered flowers to match the rest of her outfit.
“You’re a student?” He asked quizzically. Pandora laughed lightly before pulling a small notepad and pen out of a concealed pocket in her dress.
“Yes,” she replied writing something down on the paper “second year, musical theatre. I help out here whenever I’m not in classes, my boyfriend Xenophilius asked me to help him out one day by covering his shift - he studies classical civilisations and had to attend to his studies- and I fell in love with the work, so here I am.”
She ripped the page that she had been writing on out of the book, then she handed Regulus the piece of paper. He looked down at it, it was her address and phone number, for if he wanted to contact her and any point. He made a silent promise to himself to call when he next got the chance to.
And then he checked the time on his watch, he needed to get to his first ever class. It was on the other side of the school and it would take at least five minutes to get there.
“I’ll have to be off then Pandora ,” he said before moving away from the counter and in the direction of his class.
“I am sure that I will see you around, Regulus Black,” she replied as he left.
He couldn’t believe it, he had made a friend already, and she was lovely. He only had to hope that the rest of the people within his class were just as friendly as Pandora. He once again looked through his papers until he came to a list of the students who would be partaking in the first ballet class of the day. He would be sharing class with his obnoxious brother and his band of cronies. However, he was not about to let this small insignificant thing ruin his time there, he would treasure it and enjoy it at all costs.
Only when he arrived at the studio, the natural light streaming into the room, with mirrors and a barre lining one wall and windows ever else did the full force of his situation hit him.
Regulus was finally there. He had finally been accepted into the school of his dreams. Years of intensive training and rehearsal had carried him through the painstakingly hard audition process. Not only had he danced in front of the head teacher multiple times but he had also taken interviews with other people to make his that he was right for the opportunity, and now that journey had left him standing in the middle of the main studio. Soon the space would be flooded with classical piano music and chatter in a language shared only between dancers, despite being so far away it felt as though he was coming home. Hogwarts was the most well known elite ballet school, top in the country, his brother had already been been accepted the year before and now he would be attending classes with him. He would always be training, it was only a short walk from where the students lived so he knew that he would never be far from a rehearsal area.
Ballet had been Regulus’s passion since he was a young child, he had always wanted to be professional, but now he was really here he somehow knew that he would no longer be top of his classes. He would have to work harder, push himself further just to get up to speed with the other students. But he was willing to do it, he was willing to do anything if it meant that he could keep his place here. That was the only thing that truly mattered to him in that moment, not his future, not his parents, not his family, it was only him and this school in all of its splendid glory.
He went to the sleek grey changing rooms and deposited his bag full of his clothes and shoes into one of the many lockers available for him to use. Before removing his hoodie and making sure his hair was out of the way, he then made his way quietly back into the studio, as if not to disturb the crisp silence that had settled upon the space. He renterd the studio only to find that three of the students in his class had already arrived and were there warming up in the middle of the room.
The first girl was wearing a forest green leotard, with a lace skirt of the same colour, and had the most beautiful red hair tied into a bun at the back of her head with a ribbon that matched the rest of her outfit . She was impeccably neat, not a single strand of hair strayed away from the place in which they were meant to be. She was knelt on one knee leaning over her foot and tying the ribbons to one of her pointe shoes.
The other girl was pushed right down into the splits, her bleached blonde hair tied in a bun that was no where near as neat as the redhead’s, there were random pieces of hair that just flied all over the place. She was wearing a black leotard and a matching ribbon in her hair, although Regulus noticed that unlike her friend she had decided to forgo the skirt. She was talking animatedly as the other girl nodded, laughed, and occasionally added her opinion on the matter too.
The boy was doing his stretches on the barre, he had dark skin and bleached blonde hair, he was strong and muscular. His tight shorts and large tank top showed off his arms perfectly. He was smiling fondly as he watched the exchange between his two friends, he looked as if them just being in the room with him had made a huge improvement to his day.
A few minutes after the first three had arrived another boy sauntered slowly into the studio, he was the picture of grace and beauty and everything that a dancer should be. He was tall and slender, although he didn’t appear to have much muscle you could tell that he was strong just by the way he carried himself, as if he were as fluid as water itself. He had his mess of strawberry blonde hair pushed back away from his face using his headphones. He moved towards the two girls, grinning widely and waving an animated hello as he slung his bag down next to him before lowering himself into his stretches beside the blonde girl, not even bothering to remove his baggy t-shirt and joggers. Any of Regulus’s old dance teachers would have thrown a fit at just seeing the boys appearance, yet nobody spared him a second glance, let alone react to his distinct lack of dancewear.
“You look utterly snogged,” said the redhead to the boy as she gently pushed his arm. After all, he wasn’t hiding it well, his cheeks were flushed and his eyes had a rather dazed looking that one could only achieve by being passionately kissed for a long time.
“Hmm?” He replied turning his head to the side, and looking at her, with a slightly confused expression, removing one side of his headphones from his head.
“She said it looks like you’ve been shagged,” said the blonde bluntly as she pushed her stretching further “who was it?” She asked. The messy haired boy looked down at the ground contemplating what his reply should be.
“Please don’t completely freak out about this,” he said pleadingly as he looked between his friends from his spot on the floor.
“Why would we be mad at you?” Asked the boy at the barre exasperated. It was as if he had had this very same conversation too many times and did not wish to be having it once again.
“It was Avery, Avery Mulciber…” admitted the boy looking ever so slightly ashamed to say it out loud.
“Obviously I’m not one to judge but Avery doesn’t have the best history when it comes to treating his lovers well,” the red head offered as she stood up and began her warm ups “all I’m saying is that I don’t want you to get hurt okay.”
“Okay,” he replied courteously before turning back to stare straight ahead, and blocking out the rest of the world around him with whatever he was listening to using his headphones.
Regulus took the moment of quiet as the perfect opportunity to sit down next to the boy and start pulling his shoes on. The boy turned the other way and looked at him and extended his hand towards him.
“Haven’t seen you around before,” he said.
“I’m new here , this is my first class,” he replied looking over at the boy who had just spoken to him.
“Well, in that case, I’d better introduce myself. I’m Batemius , but everyone calls me Barty.” He introduced himself with the slight hints of a Scottish accent that he could only just notice.
“Black, Regulus Black,” he said in reply “I have honestly no idea what I am meant to be doing right now,” he admitted afterwards.
“Well,” Barty replied “we’re meant to be doing warm ups but they can wait while I introduce you to the group.”Lily Evans is the redhead,” he said.
“How do you do,” said Lily holding out a hand for Regulus to shake.
“I’m Regulus Black,” he said introducing himself.
“Younger brother to Sirius Black?” She asked, he nodded “my god, you really do look just like him don’t you.”
“I get that quite a lot,” Regulus sighed “although I assure you, the similarities stop after looks. We could not behave more differently,” he finished. Was that a look of relief on Lily’s face?
“And Marlene McKinnon is the blonde,” he gestured to the other girl who simply looked up at him and nodded. “and the other one is my darling roommate and best friend that I’ve ever had, Evan Rosier. The other boy turned around to face Regulus and gave him a cheerful wave before getting back to his exercises.
“I suppose I’ll show you around the rest of the campus later but I guess you should probably warm up before class starts or your muscles will pay for it in the morning ,” he gave Regulus a conspiratorial grin before getting back to his own warm up, leaving the boy largely to his own devices.
They settled back into a comfortable silence once again. That silence was short lived and was soon disturbed by none other than Sirius Orion Black and his gaggle of ballerinas. They were talking and shouting and laughing about something or other, and then Sirius began bounding towards Regulus and scooping him into a tight hug. When he finally let Regulus drop back down to his feet he brushed himself off.
“Hello Reggie,” he said far too cheerfully than an should be at seven o’clock in the morning.
“Good morning brother,” Regulus greeted coldly.
“You remember James, and Remus, and Peter, don’t you?” He asked. Of course he remembered them, they were the boys that stole away his brother, and he had hated them for it, but that was a while ago now, as of the present moment in time it was a little more general dislike.
Granted he and his brother did happen to look oddly similar, only Sirius had longer hair. And Regulus hated it, his entire life had been spent as Regulus, the younger brother to Sirius, he spent every living moment in the shadow of his brother. He just wanted to be his own person but all that people saw when they looked at him was his brother, all the damn time.
Barty stood up on the other side of the room and started gradually removing his layers, stripping down to only his leotard and tights in preparation for the start of the class, walking past the boys to take what Regulus assumed must be his usual place on the barre.
“Oh Crouch,” Sirius jeered as he went past, tapping his shoulder “don’t you think you’re putting on a little weight? Wouldn’t want the star pupil to set a bad example, letting himself go and suchlike, would we ?”
Rosier snarled at him and walked towards his shaken friend, putting an arm around him and whispering something in his ear. Although, he clearly wasn’t taking the offer of comfort because he brushed Rosier off almost immediately after he made contact.
Regulus always knew that his brother was a bit of a git, downright horrible at times, but this was a new low. What he had said was cold and calculated, he knew exactly what effect it was going to have on the boy. Regulus watched as Barty sunk into himself for the rest of the warm up.
He was in no way what Sirius had just called him, why, you could practically see his ribs poking out of his clothing, to call him overweight was frankly ridiculous. The taller boy with a scar stretching across his face, whom he remembered to be called Remus leaned over to him and said something scolding to Regulus’s brother before making his way over to where the younger of the Black brothers was stood.
“I’m sorry about what your brother said, and im sorry that the rest of them just stood and watched,” the taller boy said. “Y’know sometimes we just aren’t thinking properly, so yeah, I’m sorry.”
“Not me you should be apologising to,” Regulus replied, sparing Barty a glance. He was clearly checking his body in the mirror not even trying to hide his intentions behind looking at his form or posture.
“I know.”
“So why do you choose to stay with them then?” Asked Regulus. Looking into the eyes of Remus Lupin.
“I guess they were the only people who saw past my physical appearance,” he sounded ashamed. “And then after what happened last year well… he’s a target I guess.”
“What happened last year?” Asked Regulus.
“Not my place to say,” said the taller boy.
“I bet that Barty would’ve looked past your physical appearance,” said Regulus passive aggressively.
“I was already friends with this lot before Barty joined, by that point it would have felt unfair to ditch them, and I didn’t want to risk loosing the only friends that I had here.”
The door opened, and the teacher stepped in.
Minerva McGonogall was a fierce and formidable woman, she had the grace to match that of a swan and the temper that could rival that of an enraged rhinoceros. But she was the best at what she did, and for that alone everyone was grateful.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I do hope that you had a lovely weekend, as most of you probably know we will be working towards our next show, Romeo and Juliet. It is to include every student from the childrens Saturday classes, right up to your level.” She announced to the class.
This was news to Regulus, he had always wanted to preform in Romeo and Juliet, and he was finally getting the opportunity to, and as his first production with the school too.
“Today I will be talking you all through the audition process due to the fact that the main cast will be made up mostly by people in this room. So please could you use this class as a stretching period while I brief you on what will be happening,” she said after marking everyone present. The rest of the students ran over and dropped into their stretches, Regulus followed. Barty was sitting next to the teachers small table and as far away from Sirius as was possible within the space.
McGonagall sat herself into the circle next to Barty, she waited until the chatter had died down and everyone was looking at her from their various positions on the floor. However, just as she was about to open her mouth two other girls came running and giggling into the room. When they saw who was in the studio they both suddenly stopped in their tracks. Lily smiled and waved at them.
“Miss Meadows, Miss Mcdonald, please do check your timetables, rehearsals for the play are taking place on the other side of the school,” McGonagall said, annoyance present in her voice. The girls muttered their apologies before rushing back out of the studio to wherever their class actually was.
“Now then,” she continued after the sudden intrusion “as I have already said, our production is Romeo and Juliet, and every single student will be taking part in it. As you most have guessed I will be directing and casting it this year, so things will be done my way.”
Regulus looked at the other’s faces for any hint as to what doing it her way meant, exactly. Everyone’s face was rather expressionless, all apart from Barty whom still looked slightly under the weather mood wise.
“That means that I will be casting you in roles regardless of gender, we may very well have both a female Romeo and Juliet, or we could have Juliet played by one of the boys. The way I see it, as long as you are able to dance to the ability of the character then why should you be stopped from preforming. As of right now it is January, so we have until December to have the full show prepared, although I shouldn’t worry, if we all work to the best of our ability then we will be more than ready at the end of the year,” she explained.
This was exiting, they could have any role they wished as long as they were good enough. This was to be new and modern and progressive, and beautiful, as all ballets were. Regulus just knew that his first show with these people was bound to be an amazing one.
“Before we actually get dancing I would just like to tell you that auditions will be in two weeks on Thursday, now please move to the centre and I will teach last week’s combination to our new student,” she instructed. Everyone got up off of the floor and took a place in the centre of the studio as the professor began speaking though the combination.
“Pas de chat, pas de chat, pas de chat, changement, sauté, relevé down,” she ordered as the students danced “repeat three times and then jeté, ton lève, jeté, ton lève, pas de chat, and down into classical pose to finish. That’s simple enough, so I would like you to dance it one at a time. Regulus, you can go last so that you can watch everyone else do it and get a better idea of how it want it to look,” she finished as the students lined up in an orderly queue.
She gently tugged Barty to the front of the line, saying something inaudible to him, he smiled softly and nodded before taking his place by himself in the centre of the room.
He preformed the combination perfectly, his technique was the best that Regulus had ever seen. He was graceful, so incredibly graceful. Although his legs were moving about and he was leaping and jumping his top half was perfectly still. When he stopped and stood, statuesque there was a stunned silence as everyone stared as he walked to stand beside Regulus at the back of the queue.
“Well done Mr Crouch,” the professor congratulated him with a nod before beckoning the next student forward into the wide open space.
“He wasn’t even that good,” muttered James Potter bitterly as he looked towards the floor.
The professor made a move to open her mouth and scold him for what he had just said when Lily walked past him to prepare herself in the space.
“What, is your ego bruised, Potter?” She asked teasingly , punching him lightly on the arm.
Everything went well until it was Rosier’s chance to preform the combination. He had reached the ton lève and had landed awkwardly, he fell to the ground and his hands immediately flew to clutch his ankle. Rosier was not an expressive person so the fact that there were tears threatening to spill over his eyes meant that it was very bad.
McGonnagall and Barty both hooked Evan’s arms around their necks and lifted him up onto a chair.
“You absolute idiot,” Barty said to his friend and roommate as he was being lowered onto the chair “you might not even be recovered for the audition.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll assign you a role based on what I have seen you do in your classes,” she reassured him gently.
She put some pressure on his ankle and Evan winced. I was most likely a broken ankle in need of immediate medical attention, so the professor helped him up to take him to the nurse, as she walked out of the room with him she called back over her shoulder.
“Class is finished, oh, Regulus, Bartemius, I will see you both in my office once I have delivered Mr Rosier to the nurse. Don’t look so terrified, you aren’t in trouble.”
Everyone else filtered out of the class leaving only Regulus and Barty in the room together. Once the last person left the room and Barty put his clothes back on over his leotard and tights. Eventually he turned around to face the other boy.
“I suppose that you would want me to show you where the office is, wouldn’t you?” He asked putting his headphones back on his head.
“If you truly don’t mind,” replied Regulus as he shouldered his bag and walked out of the room with his new friend, if he could even be called that.
“Honestly it’s nice to meet someone who doesn’t know everything about me, it gives me the chance to get a fresh start,” he explained leading Regulus through the corridors of the school.
“I get what you mean,” explained Regulus “I’m always seen as a carbon copy of my brother but I’m really anything but,” Barty gave him an understanding smile that he did not expect to come from the erratic boy.
“Where are you from?” Inquired Regulus, Barty looked at him confused “I mean, you have a little bit of an accent, I was just wandering where it is from.”
“Glasgow, I was raised in Glasgow,” he explained “although I’ve been here for a few years now so the accent has lost its prominence over time.”
“Ahh, that’s cool,” Regulus paused before asking “did you have any family back there?”
Barty paused, considering his response “I don’t really have contact with my parents anymore, I do still speak to my brother though, he’s in the RAF so he’s never in the same place for too long before he goes somewhere else entirely, I haven’t seen him properly in around two years,” he finished.
They talked some more about their families and their interests, and their favourite things to do. They told each other stories of onstage mishaps. Barty had to get Regulus to repeat himself quite a bit, but he didn’t mind all that much. In what felt like minutes they were outside the office and sat down on the chairs where people waited for their appointments.
Eventually McGonagall stepped into the waiting area and gestured for Regulus to follow her into the office, leaving Barty behind and alone in the near silent waiting room with only himself and his thoughts.
“Please do take a seat Mr Black,” she said as she sat down in her chair. He took the chair opposite her on the other side of the desk.
“I’m sure that you will be glad to know that Mr Rosier, despite having broken his ankle will make a full recovery, and I do apologise for your first lesson ending in the shambles that it has,” she said, searching for something in her desk drawer.
“It’s fine professor, these things happen, and I am looking forward to the ballet at the end of this year, your method seems strange, but exiting,” he said earnestly.
“I am glad that you are looking forward to the show, but I have asked you here to discuss a matter involving your lodgings and roommates- ah!” She exclaimed as she pulled a small key out of the drawer “this is the key to your apartment, you will as a matter of fact be sharing it with both Mr Rosier and Mr Crouch, if that is fine with you,” she said looking back up to him as she handed over the small silver key.
“Oh no Miss, it sounds positively perfect, thank you so much,” he replied graciously accepting the biscuit that she had offered to him.
“There really is no need to thank me, but if there is anything that you need then certainly do not hesitate to ask me,” he said as she stood from her seat to see him out and call Barty into the small office space.
“Actually, If you don’t mind me asking. Mr Lupin said something about an incident and Barty being a target afterwards, I was wandering what he meant by that?” He asked, turning back to face her.
“That’s for him to tell you. And he will inevitably tell you himself when he wants to,” she replied calmly opening the door for him.
“Remus said the same thing,” he muttered quietly as he left, he closed the door to the waiting area just as McGonagall was leading Barty into her office after her.
He walked through and down the corridors, past the library and back into the reception. He passed the desk, waving to Pandora as he passed, he walked out of the building and to the entrance of the park and its beautiful gardens. He walked through the arch and around the winding paths until he reached the houses and flats. Eventually he found 221b Rosemary Street, it was a small squat building with five different flats. When he entered the room he realised that the room was divided into three by tape, one part had stuff everywhere, anything from clothes to cds and records. He automatically assumed that this was Barty’s section of the flat. The next part was neat and tidy, it showed practically nothing about the person that dwelled there other than the fact that they probably liked biology due to the books on the bed. And the other side was completely pristine, that must have been waiting for his arrival. He sank down onto the bed ready for his rest when he heard a person running into the room and screaming into a pillow.