The Dance

Disclaimer: It’s JKR’s not mine, so if you are a lawyer don’t even bother.

A/N: This was sort of inspired by the meaning I draw from Garth Brooks’ song “The Dance.” If you haven’t heard it before take some time and look it up it has a beautiful message.

It hadn’t exactly been the stuff of golden peace that Harry had hoped, but Bill and Fleur’s wedding had been a happy albeit subdued affair. It clenched at him painfully, the fact that his world was upside down, and had been for what seemed to be his entire life. Less than a month ago he had been caught petrified and helpless on the Astronomy Tower as he watched Severus Snape kill his mentor in cold blood. Of course, things hadn’t been exactly happy since then as he had to spend a week at the Dursleys, before finally receiving notification that Dumbledore had written a will and he was a primary beneficiary. Harry thought of it as his final reprieve from the Dursleys at the hands of Albus Dumbledore, and something in his heart told him that the old man knew it was all going to happen this way.

He had met Hermione and Ron at Grimmauld Place and there was an indefinable tension in the house even after their safety had been guaranteed when Harry, at Hermione’s instruction, had cast the Fidelius and chosen to act as the house’s secret keeper. Most of the tension in the house had been coming from Hermione and was aimed towards the two boys. It was almost as if she was fighting herself, and the two boys just so happened to be her primary issues of debate.

It had been a week from the wedding and two weeks into the horcrux hunt when Harry found Hermione and Ron in what amounted to a knock down pull out the stops brawl that left Ron with a flaming red handprint on his face, Hermione bawling her eyes out as she ran up the stairs in Grimmauld, and Harry with one less houseguest as he took Hermione’s side and asked Ron to leave until after the wedding and feelings could settle. He had no idea why Ron had given him such a filthy look when asked, but in hindsight he realized it really didn’t matter. Ron hadn’t been doing much in the two weeks he had been there aside from itching to start a fight with Hermione, and avoiding Harry at all costs.

The one problem after Ron’s departure, aside from finding and destroying Voldemort’s soul, had been this horrid awkwardness with Hermione. In a way he found it worse than the terse intensity they had shared during the previous year. Hermione’s constant way of showing she had cared had been one of the things he relied upon Harry had realized in hindsight, and he had no idea how to articulate this to her. That he had Hermione’s unconditional support and she had his protection and friendship, had been the best thing about his life and now it was gone, gone to where everything other good thing in his life went.

“Harry, what are you thinking about?” Hermione broke into his depressing musings as she glanced out at the dance floor somewhat longingly before giving him her full attention.

Swirling his glass of sparkling grape juice Harry sighed, “Just thinking about how so many things changed this past year, and how most of them were for the worst.”

Hermione smiled sympathetically and said, “But there were some good things, weren’t there?”

Harry shrugged, “If you’d asked me that a week ago I would have said yes, I mean my time with Ginny was amazing, but on the other hand it was like I was living someone else’s life. Actually, that was kind of how the whole year was. I felt like I became a stranger, you became a stranger, and Ron became….well ‘Won Won The Amazing Wizard Plunger Boy’.”

Hermione giggled before she sighed heavily. Harry frowned and asked, “I know I’ve kind of let you be these last couple of weeks, but what was that row between you and Ron about?”

Hermione’s eyes wandered back over the dance floor before she said, “Come on, I’ll tell you if you dance with me.”

Harry pulled at his collar for a moment, in an subconsciously nervous movement, before he agreed with a nod and took Hermione’s hand before he led her onto the floor. Placing his hands on her waist they began to sway to the melody of the song before she looked up into his eyes and said, “What you saw was me correcting a mistake and Ron realizing that he wasn’t his mother’s puppet.”

Harry glanced around nervously, expecting Molly to pop out of the nearest shadow and hug them into submission, before he shook his silly thoughts from his mind and asked, “So you and Ron giving it a go was a mistake?”

Hermione nodded as she moved closer to Harry and said, “We went out for two weeks Harry, and we didn’t kiss once because it was so awkward and horrid. I mean everyone always told us we had this tension between us, so I figured we would have some kind of passion and chemistry between us. But, compared to Ron and Lavender there was nothing there for either of us, at least not really in any of the ways that really mattered.”

Harry nodded as he pulled her slightly closer, in another subconscious move as he asked, “So there was no passion at all? I mean there was some between you and Krum, right?”

Hermione sighed as she leaned back to look into Harry’s eyes, in the process her lower body coming into contact with Harry’s and looking into his green eyes before she said, “Contrary to what you’ve heard, Viktor and I never snogged. He might have wanted to, but it just wasn’t the right time or place to start something for either of us.”

Looking back down Hermione leaned her head against Harry’s chest as they continued to sway to the tune, which had become an upbeat Irish jig of some sort. While the others were reveling in the throes of an alcohol induced buzz as they did an energetic dance, Harry and Hermione stayed on the fringe of the party content to continue as they were.

Harry’s chin was now perched atop Hermione’s head as he scanned the dance floor to see Ron and Gabrielle Delacoer somehow managing to dance, which was amazing because Ron appeared to have some success in failing to succumb to the younger girl’s Veela heritage. Ginny was dancing, although grinding would be putting it accurately, with a dragon herder friend of Charlie’s and Harry realized with a start that he much preferred the sweet warmth of Hermione to Ginny’s fiery passion.

Hermione murmured into his chest, “I’m sorry for how I acted last year Harry.”

A week ago, Harry might have come back with something snarky or sarcastic, but now he merely replied, “I reckon I’m sorry for how I treated you too. But, not just for last year. I’ve been thinking that Ron and I have taken you for granted for as long as we’ve been friends. I mean, I should know by now to trust that you have my best interests at heart, but I just couldn’t see past that book for long enough to even listen to you. At least, until I used that spell on Malfoy, then I guess I knew that you were right.”

Hermione was silent for a long time; it felt as though she was trying to lose herself in his embrace. Steeling herself she shook her head, the shiny ringlets of hair atop her head swaying gracefully as she said with a faint smile on her face and a sad smile in her eyes, “Maybe, but I should know by now to trust your instincts.”

The song shifted again to a couple’s dance, but Harry and Hermione kept swaying to that same silent melody as Harry tensed slightly before he mumbled, “I was wrong about Sirius.”

Feeling a jolt or perhaps it was a stab of guilt Hermione realized that she had pulled away from Harry during a year that he needed her support more than ever. Harry had been rather standoffish about Sirius’ death and the events at the ministry at the end of their fifth year, but she never thought he held the kind of pain that was currently projecting from his eyes.

She knew there was something she should say that would be the typical Hermione answer, but she realized now that they had changed as people for better or for worse in their year long estrangement and this was their chance at a new start. “With Sirius, you weren’t going on instinct Harry; you were following your heart. I know that someone telling you that it was Voldemort’s fault won’t help you any Harry. But, how is Sirius coming after you any different than you going after him either in our third year or our fifth year. I mean we did it that night when we saved both him and Buckbeak. Do you think he would have felt guilty the rest of his life because you made a choice?”

Harry shrugged, “He felt guilty about my mum and dad dying because he switched secret keepers.”

Hermione nodded, “You’re right Harry he did feel guilty, but I don’t think he actually thought he outright killed them and felt he was responsible for their deaths. He blamed Wormtail and Voldemort for that, didn’t he? There’s a difference between responsibility and guilt Harry. You weren’t responsible for Sirius’ actions, but feeling guilty and sad about his death is perfectly understandable.”

Harry’s eyes sparkled with grief and sadness for a moment before he buried his head in Hermione’s hair and let one painful sob loose before he pulled away, red eyed but looking more peaceful than he had in a very long time.

Something easily as painful rose in his eyes and instead of breaking down as he had done a moment earlier, one solitary tear escaped his eye and trailed down his cheek as he said, “I though you died.”

Hermione sucked in a deep breath as her mind ran wild with the implications and emotion behind that single statement. Finally she said, “You’re talking about after Dolohov hit me with that spell, aren’t you?”

Harry mutely nodded and Hermione couldn’t help but notice the foreign and wonderful emotion that was just waiting to be released from within him. She wondered if he even knew how often he wore his emotions on his sleeves, and if he knew why that was as likely as any other reason for why he failed Occlumency. Taking a chance she had almost taken back in her fifth year, when she wasn’t nearly as wise about her own feelings, she stood on her tiptoes and gave Harry a light but loving kiss.

As she pulled away a gust of wind swept through the canopy covered area and a tendril of hair escaped from behind her ear. Harry lifted a shaking hand from her waist and tucked it behind her ear before he pulled her flush to his body and murmured into her ear, “Did I ever tell you that you’re a really good dancer.”

Hermione laughed feeling happier than she had ever felt before in her life. After a moment she squeezed Harry tightly to her as their music continued, but their dance had actually just begun.

A/N: Something to tide some of you over until we get DH in July. I’ve long wondered why the events at the end of OOTP were ignored in HBP, and I guess the wedding seemed as good of a time to deal with them as any other.

I don’t see Ron going for Hermione, because she is too cerebral and also doesn’t fit his profile of beauty. I think we all saw Hermione going for Ron in HBP, but considering the only other inkling she might have shown of interest in him was a yelling match at the end of the Yule Ball I think we have to question why.