The Dance by mathiasgranger

Rating: PG13
Genres: Drama, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 20/03/2007
Last Updated: 20/03/2007
Status: Completed

In the dance of life, sometimes one dance can change everything.




1. The Dance
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**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.**



