Rince Draíochtach

Disclaimer: I just own the story. I don't own the characters, JKR does. As with anything you recognize from JKR's world. Technically, I don't own a lot of the terminology in this-my dance teacher does… So basically, I just own the story.

Summary: Life has been hard on Hermione. She's gone up against Voldemort and death eaters 3 times now? Not to mention that breakdown her best friend had the other year; that must have been a bit tough. It was during this turmoil, that she discovered the underlying beat of it all. A jump, a turn, a stamp. And that pulsing music. Come dance with her.

Miss Brown's Fancy

"Hello, Maureen Houlihan for the Houlihan School of Irish Dance!" a voice highly flavored by a rich accent rang into my ear. My breath caught in my throat trying to remember what I had planned to say.

"Hello?"

"Oh, um, sorry, Hello," I stuttered, mentally kicking myself for sounding so inarticulate.

"How can I help you?"

"Yes… My name is Hermione Granger. I recently was given a CD of Riverdance and did some research and your school name came up. I'm really interested in Irish dance, but I won't be able to take lessons, unfortunately. But I was wondering if you could give some information about Irish dancing…?" I asked tentatively.

"Naturally! May I ask why it is that you wouldn't be able to take classes?"

"I go to a boarding school in Scotland for most of the year and they tend to have a… rather tight security policy."

"Ah, I see. Well it's good you're taking an interest in the dance anyways! Well, Irish dance, as the name would suggest, originated in Ireland and there have been records of it as far back as the Roman times. It has been used as a means of social bonding, religious ceremony and as a political took in its history. It is, of course, characterized by the strict lack of arm movements that has made it so unique in the world of dance. However, it also involves pointed toes, crossed legs, turned out feet and immaculate posture.

I have to say that it's very hard to describe it over the phone. I wonder… Would you be interested in coming down to our studio today? I could give you some more, better, information if you come down…"

I'd have loved to come to their studio! I would have loved nothing more at that moment. There were a few things that could have topped my going down to that studio and they were things I had to fight for with my life to get. Bring on the parentals!

"I would love to come down! Assuming I can, when about should I come down?"

"Well our largest class is from 5-7, so feel free to stop by anytime then!"

"Great, hold on a minute," I said excitedly, putting the phone down and running into the living room where my parents were sitting watching the telly. "Hey Mum, Dad, are we doing anything from 5-7 that I need to be here for?"

"No, dear, I don't believe so. Why?" my mum responded.

"You know that CD, Riverdance, that you gave me?"

"Mmm…yes. You researched that yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and I found a dance school in town that will let me come in for a class today. For research, you know."

My mother turned to look at me curiously and nodded slowly after a moment. "Alright, you're still going to the Burrow tomorrow though, right?"

A huge grin appeared on my face. "Thank you! And yes… I am… One minute, the teacher is still on the phone." I just about ran back to the phone. "Miss Houlihan?"

"Yes, I'm here. Can you come down?"

"I can come! Should I bring anything in particular?"

"I'm guessing you'd want to dance, correct?" she asked sounding more excited than I would have expected.

"Um, yeah, if that would be alright…"

"It would be lovely. We're a small school, so glad to help out. Just wear some shorts and a T-shirt. Do you have old ballet shoes or something like that?"

"Er, no. I have never been a real artsy person…"

"That's fine, just bring some sneakers. I think we have some extras in the studio. Oh, speaking of that, I never told you where the studio was, did I? You know St. Mary's in town? It's in the basement, we rent it out for classes."

"Yeah, of course. So 5?"

"Yep, 5! Hope to see you there, Hermione!"

Great, you will! Thanks again," I exclaimed, a grin carved into my face. My mother was right there when I hung up the phone.

"So you're going to that dance studio, then?" she inquired as she filled the kettle with water. I smiled vaguely.

"Yes, thanks to your inspiration. I never would have learned of any of this without your care!" I kissed up to the best of my ability. I knew I was ripping her heart out by going to the Burrow, but inactivity was not in my repertoire. My mum smiled lightly as she turned the kettle on.

"You know we'll really miss you here," she murmured as she took out a mug. Her face was kept conspicuously away from me.

"I know, mum. I know," I sighed quietly, "It's hard for me too. You know I'd rather be here."

My mother gave me a teary grin and crossed the room. In seconds she was hugging me like a baby hugging a teddy bear.

"I just don't want you hurt," she muttered still holding on to me.

"I won't, don't worry. You know I'll always come back, always."

Dinner was a full roast chicken that night.

It was an old brown wooden door that led to the Houlihan School of Irish Dance's "studio". I had examined every knot in that old door before I opened it.

An avalanche of heat, speckled with voices and bound by an obscene amount of moisture buried me as I took a step into their studio. I fought my way out, trying to get accustomed to the bizarre atmosphere.

"Hermione?" a St. Bernard with a strong Irish accent was pulling me out.

"Yes, Miss Houlihan?" I replied, still a bit overwhelmed. Girls were lacing up shoes and beginning to stretch in the background. The lady in front of me looked to be in her late 30s and outfitted in an old T-shirt, black leggings and a pair of what I would later know were referred to as soft shoes. She gave me a grin.

"Yep, I'm so glad you decided to come down. Real class starts in about 5 minutes; they're just stretching out right now. I'll give you a bit of an introduction now if you'd like," she explained, moving to turn up a stereo.

"That would be grand, thanks," I responded, now able to examine the studio clearly. A waxed, uneven wooden floor had been covered by large wooden planks taped awkwardly down by duct tape. Mix-matched dance bags, shoes, water bottles and pieces of clothing were thrown haphazardly along a wall. Girls, and a few boys I noted, were stretching out to a rock song.

"Christina, come up and lead stretches for a bit while I do this," Maureen demanded to a brown haired girl and gestured for me to follow her into a small side room. She fished through a box of shoes throwing shoes that looked like large tap shoes out of the way. "What size did you say, again?"

"About a 30…"

She pulled a pair of soft shoes out and held them up to the light. "Here, try these on. They might be a bit small at first, but they'll do for today. Oh, let me lace them for you," she said distractedly, seeing me fumble with the shoes, "Right. You can stretch out with the class for a start. I'll introduce you."

Maureen pulled me out of the room and indicated to a free area near the edge of the planks. Fooling around with my legs for a bit, I tried to get them into the same position the rest of the class was in. It was then that I discovered I could never be a gymnast.

I was already in pain when Maureen turned off the blaring music. "In case you haven't noticed, we have a new student with us, Hermione. I'll trust you'll welcome her like the good children I know you are," Maureen almost ordered giving the class a stern look that received some smirks in return, "Right then, reel drills. Now, that is! Up, you lazy lumps-rows of 4! Hermione, come here a minute." She turned on an accordion packed song and turned to me. "You can stay with me during this and get a basic idea of things. We'll start dancing after this."

In all my years of teaching and learning, I have never found a method as affective. It took me about 10 minutes of watching these drills to figure out what to do and what not to do. A screaming Irish woman is unique in that matter. Little did I know that it would be much harder to put the theory to practice.

"Water then up in two minutes! Christina, come here," Maureen commanded, "This is Hermione. I want you to teach her some basic jigs and maybe some reels if she picks it up quickly. Make sure to know that she knows how to do 1-2-3s, 7s, and back-2-3s. She'll be doing ceili with us today." I felt like I was hearing Sanskrit. I assumed the other girl knew what Maureen was talking about, because I certainly didn't.

The girl named Christina smiled at me as Maureen walked away. "Hey, come with me for a second. I just need to grab some water before I can start dancing again…" she gasped between breaths. She grabbed a bottle and muttered a few words to the girls sitting down by her. They all started laughing and giving her a knowing nod before she rushed back to me, water in hand.

"Crazy kids," she explained and took a swig of water, "She was working us hard today. You chose a good day."

Not sure if she was kidding I replied with a simple, "Oh, alright." Christina put the water down and chuckled.

"Guess I should get to work, then. What you saw us doing before were just basic drills. They're moves that come up a lot in dances, but you won't be doing a lot of them. So, she said jigs, right?" She paused trying to think, "Yeah, jigs. Alright, let's try this one. It's pretty simple."

Famous last words. Not since Quidditch class have I been so annoyed with myself. After about 15 minutes, I got the dance down and could do it, but it looked nothing like Christina's. Her jig had elegance and energy. Mine had stiff legs and pigeon toes. But progress was being made. After I got the first one, the next ones were a lot easier. Christina seemed pretty surprised with the speed I could pick the dances up and suggested we moved onto reels.

Reels are faster, livelier. I picked these up very quickly, but in all fairness they were a lot easier than the jigs. And they involved the mysterious dance steps Maureen had talked about earlier. The hardest was the back-2-3 move. I felt like I had lost control of my legs doing it. And my legs could never bend at just the same angle that Christina's did. When she did the move, she jumped a foot in the air as she brought her foot back. I was having problems bringing my leg back.

Eventually, after getting the steps down, Christina came down on my style.

"Cross your feet." "Turn those feet out!" "Hit your bum when you bring your foot back… No, the other side!" "Up on your toes." "Watch those arms, don't fly away on me!"

I found that I could easily understand what the steps were, but getting them to look right was something much more difficult. Biting my lip, I went to work trying to figure out what it felt like when I did it right. Christina even placed my feet in the right positions at times to show me. Still… I couldn't get it exactly right.

I imagined I had sweated a gallon when Maureen finally came over. "How're you doing over here?" she asked with a sly grin on her face, "Tired yet, Hermione?"

Christina laughed and I almost wanted to smack her one. Maureen handed me a bottle of water. "Ah, we're only teasing you; take a break for a bit. Christina can introduce you to some of the girls and tell you a little about classes while we do slip jig," Maureen stated with a more sympathetic smile. Christina led me over to where a few girls and the only boys were sitting.

"Hey, guys, this is Hermione. She'll be doing ceili with us in a bit so I'm supposed to give her a heads up as to what she's in for, eh!" Christina laughed and took another swig of her water bottle. "Hermione, this is Katie, Shannon, Erin, Ryan and Matt. We're all reels, so we don't have to dance right now."

"Not that we ever do…" Katie interrupted with a wink. Shannon hit her on the head with a shoe.

"Don't say that! You'll scare her away!" Shannon replied indignantly. "We love to dance, but we're just a bit lazy at points, you could say." Sarah snickered behind Shannon.

"Yeah, you could say that. We can dance alright when we're dancing. It's the getting to the point that's the issue…" Sarah commented, keeping her eyes on the girls dancing. I lifted my eyes from the girls talking to the girls dancing, to examine the actual dancing for the first time.

The dancers were relatively similar to the ones I had seen in the videos, probably the same girls for that matter. However, watching a dancer at practice was far different than watching a performance. Dancers at practice had more spirit, more emotion. They were pushed harder and stretched to their limits. Those smiles that had been plastered onto the dancer's faces in performances were replaced with grimaces and faces of pure determination. There were faces gasping for air, struggling to get through the last few bars of the dance. At performances, the dancers were primped and polished, curly hair, make up and elaborate dresses. At dance class, the girls were in old shorts and sweatshirts with sweat running into dripping hair and any remnants of make up slinking down their face.

I was invigorated by breathing the same air and being in the same building as girls who could leap 4 feet into the air like they were walking. The lack of body movement made it look exceptionally easy when they did it. Just running, a little twirl, turn and LEAP INTO THE AIR. All the time without their upper body moving an inch. Well, the best of them anyways. There were a few whose posture was sloppy at best and whose toes turned in like mine. And all variations in between. But when the best dancers took the floor, they demanded power and attention. Watching them for 5 minutes, I decided that the one thing I really wanted to learn was how they manage to hang in the air like that.

And I was astounded that even the best dancers, Maureen would be able to scream something at.

"Hey Hermione, we're doing Ceili now. Alex decided not to show so you'll be in our group today," Christina said, indicating to herself, Shannon and Sarah. Excited, I stood up quickly. If I was honest, I had no idea what a ceili was, but it seemed like a big deal from what they were saying. For some reason, it hadn't come up in my research.

"Great! Forgive me for knowing nothing, but what exactly is a ceili?" I asked as we walked over where the rest of the class was organizing into groups of 4. Christina laughed and hit Shannon.

"I think this is your subject, Shan," Christina remarked with a smirk, "Shannon is our Ceili master extraordinaire." Shannon gave her a look, but didn't do anything to dispute the fact.

"A ceili is a group dance. The most ancient of Irish dances since it evolved out of social bonding and that's always what comes first! It actually does involve hands to make figures, which is why another name for a ceili is a figure. Um… We're doing a 4 hand which actually involves 8 hands, but regardless, it's 4 people and a shorter dance than if you were dancing with 8 people. We'll show you what to do. Just…don't mess up," Shannon attempted to explain a ceili and gave me a very scary look at the end which left me wondering if she was kidding about the end or not. Erin doubled over in laughter at my reaction.

"Aw, she won't really hurt you if you mess up. She's just a bit obsessed." Erin commented trying to overcome giggles that had taken over.

A bit obsessed was a good way of describing Shannon's attitude on ceili. While the others were rather patient with me, Shannon insisted that I be her partner so the she could help me get it right. Helping me get it right involved her pulling me violently if I ever went the wrong way. However, I eventually roughly figured out what it was I was supposed to do. The style was completely off and my timing was still wrong, but I knew what I had to do. That was the important thing.

After 5 times of doing it, I was dead tired, but wanted to do it again. As I figured out what it was I needed to do, I began to realize that the connection with the other girls was producing something amazing. I began to see the shapes and figures in the dancing and I could feel one energy pulsing in the group. My realization of that was almost as great as the very first time I did magic. A shocking, gasping sensation that sent chills down my spine. I just did that?

But the ultimate in thrills came when I watched the class's 8 hand. I couldn't imagine a more perfect thing. They were lined up and spinning and moving and catching hands in exact unison. I had seen that kind of thing in things like synchronized swimming or ice skating, but I had never experienced the kind of awe I had for these dancers. They were perfectly to time. It was one of the few times that I caught all of them smiling as they danced. It seemed like the smile spread across the group until they were all almost laughing and yet, they kept dancing. And it was still perfect.

They could even talk and keep in line! Their multitasking astounded me. I was even more shocked by the fact that they were never caught.

At the very end of class, Maureen invited me to do a reel and jig for the class. I was as nervous as I had been for taking my OWLs. Or, close to that nervous, anyways. Once she turned the music on, all my fears disappeared. All their faces were encouraging and smiling. I knew nothing at that moment but my steps and I danced them. All my fears from the Wizarding world disappeared in that moment, I was so focused. Knee-out-hop back-2-3-4… I felt like I was on top of the World.

Thanking the school very much and promising to call whenever I was in town, I took off my shoes and gave them back to Maureen.

"Ah, keep them! They're old anyways and they'll fit you grandly. You'd be a great dancer, you know. Something inside you sparkled doing that last reel," Maureen commented, taking off her own shoes. I smiled, filled with melancholy.

"Thanks, I wish I could. I'll call whenever I'm in town. I really appreciate you helping me out. I thought it was so interesting that I had to have some experience in it," I replied, wrapping the laces around the shoes, "Well, I have to go. My mum would be worried if I came home late! Thanks again!"

"No problem, Hermione, anytime."

Christina and Shannon were walking out the same time I was. "So will we be seeing you around again?" Christina asked. I shrugged.

"Hopefully!"

"Well we'd love to have you. You'd be awesome in our group," Shannon added. I laughed, tossing the empty water bottle into the trash.

"Thanks, I'll see you soon."

As I turned to walk the short distance to my house, I realized that I would be seeing them soon. Or as soon as I could, anyways. I was totally and inescapably hooked.

The Irish had me.

A/N: I hope you liked that. Hermione finally gets into the dance. My longest chapter so far by a while! I'm hoping to keep them around this length for a bit. Hopefully that will elongate the story and get the detail and emotion I want into it. I decided to put the author's notes at the end for now, keeps it a bit cleaner. That's really it and I am still looking for a beta, so feel free to email me. Reviews would be lovely too, even if you hate it. Say so, but say why and tell me what you think would make it better. This is by no means a set in stone story, if you feel something would be better another way, feel free to say so! And with that, I'm out! Until next time!