When the Children Dance

A Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Fanfic by xAkix

Slight Harry/Hermione

A/N: Whoa. I'm alive. Hey guys. I randomly got inspired to write a fanfic. I'll get on writing the Inuyasha stuff eventually. But for now, please don't kill me. And enjoy this for now. May I just say that this will be my first HP fanfic since I finished writing them in 2003-04? Yeah. I'm sure you'll see the improvement. I decided to write this based on the scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 where Harry and Hermione dance in the tent after Ron's left. (And before anyone jumps on my case, yes, for the love of Christ, I have read all the books, multiple times. I've been an HP fangirl since I was 8 years old. I'm 20 now. I just felt like writing out this scene in the film because I was curious what sort of things would be running through Harry and Hermione's head's.)

Ron was gone. Just like that, he was gone. It shouldn't have even happened. Things weren't supposed to go this way. Harry and Ron were best friends. They shouldn't have argued like that. Neither of them was in their right mind. It had been a tense past couple of weeks. Then again, things had always been tense since they'd retrieved the Slytherin Horcrux from Umbridge at the Ministry. Ever since then, Ron hadn't been quite right; Harry had his moments, but they were nowhere near as bad.

If only he wasn't wearing that stupid locket! Hermione cursed silently.

The Horcrux weighed heavily upon her chest, the icy cold of the metal seeming to reach into her broken and bleeding heart, splitting the fissures wide open. She sat beside Ron's empty bunk, barely listening to the radio he had left behind, thinking of the last words they had shared. Being here, so close to where he was, it made the memories so much clearer and more painful.

"And what about you? You coming?" Ron had asked her. His voice had been so cold.

"I—" she had tried to answer him.

"Never mind. I see how it is. I saw you two the other night. I hope you have a nice life together."

"Ron! Ron, wait!"

She could remember the distinct sound of someone Disapparating and in that moment she knew Ron was never going to come back.

"RON!"

Hermione sighed, her shoulders slumping. It was time to accept the fact that she would probably never see Ron again, as much as it hurt to admit it. There was no way he could find them again, not with all the protective enchantments she had cast. She laughed humorlessly to herself. For all her talent with spells, there wasn't one she could use to bring Ron back. And even more ironic, it would be those same spells keeping Ron away, even if he did want to come back.

(O.o.O.o.O)

Harry stood outside, watching the flickering light of the lanterns inside the tent. His best friend was gone. There were so many things that shouldn't have been said, so many things that shouldn't have been done. He should've known better. Should've, could've, would've…it was too late now. What was done was done. There was nothing he could do to change it.

Damn it, Ron. Harry sighed. If only you knew what's happened…

Harry knew that Hermione had been crying, crying for weeks, sobbing quietly into her pillows at night, whispering his best friend's name over and over again. He had guessed that Hermione didn't want him to know the extent of the pain she was in. He knew she loved Ron. His two best friends had been denying that one inevitable truth for so many years. Harry could only imagine how she felt. He figured it was probably something comparable to having to leave Ginny behind, abandoning her at the wedding as the Death Eaters arrived.

How painful it must be, to be ripped from the one you loved.

Ron…wherever you are, I hope you can find your way back. We need you. Hermione needs you.

He heaved another sigh and slowly walked back over to the tent, spotting Hermione at her now-usual perch beside Ron's bunk. She barely glanced at him as he walked in. The distance and emptiness in Hermione's eyes was unsettling. He glanced at her neck, seeing the familiar chain of the Horcrux locket around her neck. It certainly explained a lot. No doubt the damned thing was making her feel even more miserable than she normally would be.

The radio was on, like it usually was when Ron was there. But instead of lists of names of the confirmed dead or missing witches, wizards, or Muggles, there was music playing. Harry crossed the room, collapsing into a chair, listening to it in silence.

"Pass me that lovely little gun,

My dear, my darting one

The cleaners are coming, one by one

You don't even want to let them start…"

Harry sat there listening, staring into space, the music fading out into background noise to his thoughts. His best mate had bailed and his other best friend was sitting across the room, a mere shell of the girl she used to be. There had to be something he could do. Hermione had been this way for too long. It felt like if he didn't do something to bring back the Hermione he knew and loved, she would be lost forever.

"…O children

Lift up your voice, lift up your voice

Children

Rejoice, rejoice…"

Suddenly, he was struck by a ridiculous idea. A really stupid idea, but if it worked, it would be worth the few minutes of looking foolish. Harry rose from his seat and crossed the tent, stopping at the steps where Hermione sat. She looked up at him, sadness in her eyes. He held out his hand, which after a moment's hesitation, she took.

Harry pulled her to her feet and reached up to her neck, undoing the catch on the locket, taking it off and tossing it onto Ron's bunk. He gently took both her hands into his own, pulling her arms forward and back, swaying in time to the music. Hermione regarded him with a look that seemed to say, "Are you serious?" to which Harry couldn't help but smile in response.

Grudgingly Hermione allowed herself to be led into the dance, moving in time, twirling and whirling around the tent, thinking of how ridiculous Harry looked, dancing so terribly. She swayed and pulled along, a smile starting to lift the corners of her mouth.

"Hey little train! Wait for me!

I once was blind but now

I see Have you left a seat for me?

Is that such a stretch of the imagination?"

Harry kept grinning foolishly at her, still dancing, genuinely seeming to enjoy it. Unable to take staring at his playful, boyish grin any longer, Hermione found herself smiling. It was alright, for now, to indulge in this simple, childish pleasure.

"Hey little train! Wait for me!

I was held in chains but now I'm free

I'm hanging in there, don't you see

In this process of elimination"

They twirled together, first Hermione, then Harry. And for the first time in a long time, they were laughing. Hermione realized that she was happy, truly happy. It was the first bit of happiness she'd had in what seemed like forever. The power of the locket made time and sadness flow together, making those feelings of sorrow feel endless.

It was odd, feeling lighter, feeling happy, after so much darkness, after so much pain.

The pair of them kept dancing, smiling and laughing, swinging and swaying with an occasional twirl, gradually growing closer. Soon, they were holding one another close, Hermione resting her head on Harry's shoulder, gently moving from side to side as the music continued to play.

"Hey little train! We are all jumping on

The train that goes to the Kingdom

We're happy, Ma, we're having fun

It's beyond my wildest expectation…"

The song started to wind down and Hermione raised her head, looking directly at Harry. They stopped dancing, staring into one another's eyes. In that moment that their eyes met, both of them could see it—that possibility of settling for what they had.

Ron wasn't going to come back. Ginny was out of reach.

They were alone here in the countryside; no one would ever find them. They could stay here forever, grow old together. They could forget about it all, about finding the other Horcruxes, about Voldemort, about the world. All of it could fade away. To hell with the world, to hell with what Dumbledore had left them to do, to hell with it all! They could stay here and build a life for themselves, away from the world, away from their responsibilities and their priorities.

It would've been easy, effortless, to let go. They couldn't have the ones they wanted, they were gone now, and they weren't coming back. They would never see them again. They knew that they loved one another—it wasn't that kind of love, but it could be. For now, Hermione was like a sister, and Harry was like a brother.

But if they crossed that line, that invisible boundary separating friend and lover, they knew that it could work out. It wouldn't be the true happiness they had wanted, the happy ending to their lives that they yearned for after the war was over, but it would be enough. They could go on, satisfied, but not happy, with their lives.

Still…it was all a possibility, an alternate path in their lives that had never been available to them before. And there it was, laid out before their feet. It could easily leave the realm of possibility and become a reality. All they had to do was move on, move forward, and accept that the ones they yearned for and loved would be forever unattainable, and cross that line.

A simple touch, a kiss, that was all it would take. The boundaries would be shattered, the lines broken, and the new path that the two of them had found would take hold. The rest would be history.

Harry and Hermione held one another's gaze, and in those few seconds of time, they considered it all, crossing the line, moving on. Slowly, the seconds ticked away…

If I could love Hermione, truly love her, what would happen in the future? How much would change, if anything at all?

If I could forget about Ron, where would my life end up? Would it be like I had hoped? Like I'd planned? Or would it be something entirely different? Something I'd never wanted?

Would Ginny understand? Would she forgive me?

Would I be able to start a new life with Harry? Can I really leave all my memories of Ron behind?

Can I love someone else? Can I let Ginny go?

Can I live with myself? Can I do this to him?

Will I be able to go through with this? Can I do this to her?

No.

Never.

Ron…

Ginny…

I can't. I love you too much.

I'm not letting go, Gin.

The moment ended as swiftly as it began; the other life that they had seen disappeared. Hermione looked away first and walked to the opposite side of the tent, sadness creasing her brow. Harry blinked his eyes against the haze that had clouded his mind, his expression pensive. The music faded in, trailing its final verse:

"Hey little train! We are all jumping on

The train that goes to the Kingdom

We're happy, Ma, we're having fun

And the train ain't even left the station."

They had stayed idle for too long. It was time to press on. Dumbledore left them a job to do. It was time to get it done, with or without Ron. Time was against them. Voldemort would need to be stopped, and Harry knew that he would have to be the one to do it. If not him, who else would step up to the call?

Neither could live while the other survives…

A/N: Don't murder me please. I love you all. This was my first HP fanfic since I last wrote my 5, 6, 7 series. Hopefully the writing doesn't get too scattered or crazy toward the end. I finished this hours after I took my French final exam today and I'm running on less than 3 hours of sleep so I'm really tired. New readers, hiya. Go ahead and crucify me if you feel the writing is horrible. Old readers currently marveling at my apparent return from the dead, nice to see you again, like I said before, please don't kill me. Feel free to spam me about writing more for the IY fanfic. Just please note that I doubt the spam will do you any good, other than having a chance to yell at me for my inactivity.

I'm on my third year at the university so I've been really busy and, if you check my profile page regularly, I update there with status reports every couple of months. For those of you that don't know, I've been working on a novel of my own since June 30, 2009, so my own characters have been running rampant in my mind and all but kicked out my IY OCs from their place of residence.

Anyway, review, love it, hate it, whatever, I don't care. Don't expect me to come back out of the woodwork like this again anytime soon, unless by some miracle or act of God intervenes on my behalf and makes me write IY fanfiction. I've finished my fall quarter as of today, so I'm on winter break. I'm going to be spending those three weeks with my characters. I'm almost done with my novel and I'd really like to finish it and start editing as soon as possible. I'm hoping to get published.

So I shall see all you people in another life. Bye, bye for now! Love, Aki

PS: Song is "O children" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds