He smiles at her with immense affection.

The beginner class is separated out after that, so he won't be there for -

"Wow, Duck, so things are going really well with Serafin!"

"I guess so. He's been helping me practice and stuff."

"Oh good! You'll have the chance to be really happy together before you break each others hearts!"

"Oh! Nonono it's not like that - "

"Miss Duck!"

" - sorry sir."

She'll just focus on the lesson and not try to finish convincing Lilie, then. Lilie believes lots of weird stuff. The important thing is that she's getting more shards of the prince's heart back all the time, and she's practicing enough that she's not going to be on probation again any time soon.

She shows up to practice with Serafin after class is over.

Serafin has no knowledge of her friends' ongoing misconceptions and is just happy to dance with her! Lampy can watch.

It's not obvious that Lampy can watch, but it's a nice thought. Dancing is nice, too.

They're not the only ones using the practice room today. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Rue is going to end up dancing Swanhilda's part, but she's not going to let that become a reason not to practice. She's gotten Mytho to practice with her, too, and that's pretty nice in itself.

"Are you trying to dance Swanhilda's role?" she asks, eventually, when both she and Duck are taking a momentary break.

"Oh! Not really - I mean, I am, but only so Serafin has someone to practice with, I'm not good enough to do it for real."

"You will be someday," says Serafin, smiling at her.

"You think so?"

"If you practice," cautions Rue.

"Well, yeah. But I can help with that! I'll help you dance and you help me read and then we'll both learn things we wouldn't have otherwise. Having friends is great."

"Is it?"

"I mean, maybe not if all they do is lock you in closets? Being friends with Duck is great, anyway," he amends.

"I see. Are we friends, Duck?"

" - yeah, of course!"

"I see."

" - so, Mytho, which part are you going to try out for?"

"I'm not sure. Rue thinks I should dance Franz's part."

"I'm probably going to try out for both Franz and Coppelius, but being a huge idiot and almost getting murdered definitely seems more my style than being smart and mysterious and crazy," Serafin says cheerfully.

"And it has nothing to do with wanting the largest male role in the ballet?"

"Eh? No," he says, blinking at her with complete apparent sincerity.