I'llI couldn't find anything like this anywhere, so I decided to write this myself. It's sad but happy. I suggest reading this while or after listening to "O Children" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
It was Christmas. The year was 1999. They had just finished eating and everyone was sitting around in the living room. Everyone was quiet. Muggle radio was playing some distance song. They all sat around lost in their own thoughts. But all centered around the same thing. George stared forlornly at the empty space next to him on the couch. Andromeda stared at the so-familiar features of Teddy's sleeping face, too young to be burdened by loss. Molly glanced at the faces of her family. Hermione rested her head on Ron's shoulder and he kissed the top of her head gingerly. Harry looked down at his hands entwined with Ginny's.
The song ended and a song very familiar to Harry started playing. He saw Hermione's lips quirk up in a small smile. She obviously recognized it too. He stood up and walked over to where Hermione sat with Ron. He extended his hand slightly just as he did that day in the tent when they were kids trying to stop someone else's war that they were thrown into at such a young age. Hermione grabbed his hand and stood up. All eyes were on them, confused.
He pulled her to the radio and swayed. They danced with grim faces just as they had that day in the tent when all hope seemed lost. Harry spun her around and she laughed. They were both smiling. It was a slow dance that had lethargic, deep sways. He spun her around and she spun him and he dipped her and they both spun. And they were seventeen years old again and Ron had just left them and Voldemort was reigning over the Wizarding World and there was a ransom over their heads and they didn't care about anything besides the next line of the song.
Harry flung Hermione out and pulled her back in. Now they we were full-out laughing. There wasn't a Burrow; there was a tent. And there was no one but them. And Harry was just trying to make Hermione smile after the love of her life left. They swayed in slow, sleepy ways. Deep, sleepy, fun ways.
Hermione hugged him close and rested her head on his shoulder as the song came to an end. They slowly swayed back and forth. The song ended. They stopped swaying and Hermione started sobbing on Harry's shoulder. He rubbed her bag as she cried. Because they were three, now two, seventeen year old kids with the weight of an entire world of people on their shoulders.
She stopped crying shortly after. They pulled apart and sat down next to Ginny and Ron once more. Ron spoke up first.
"What the bloody hell was that about?"
