9The Dance
Summary: My take on the dance that will happen between Harry and Hermione. H/Hr FRIENDSHIP! Hints of R/H and H/G.
Note: Cannot stress this enough peeps! This is Harry and Hermione friendship! If you are looking for a romance, you have come to the WRONG place. Harry thinks about Ginny for a while in this and the whole point of Harry coming up with the idea is because Hermione is upset over Ron.
Harry stood outside the tent, not sure whether he should enter or go back outside. What was inside made him nervous, to say the very least.
Everyone cried. Harry wasn't stupid, and he knew this. Still, seeing Hermione cry was…scary. He felt like a little kid who had just walked in on one of his parents crying. Hermione had cried sure, but Harry could count that number on one hand. It was definitely less than the number of times he remembered crying, really crying. Harry thought it was even less than the number of times R-
…another person had cried.
Harry sighed. He wanted to go in and comfort her. She had been agonizingly patient with him the last couple of days, keeping look out longer if she felt Harry was too upset and comforting him when the loss became a bit too much. The least he could do was pat her back.
And yet Harry stopped himself. Hermione wouldn't really appreciate a pat on the back. Besides, Harry didn't just want to comfort Hermione – he wanted her to stop crying. Sitting next to her, hugging her, that would only make it worse. What could he do?
Harry sat on the ground outside the tent, trying to block out Hermione's quiet sobs as he thought.
What could he possibly do to take Hermione's mind off of R...off of the thing that was upsetting her?
Now, because Harry was a teenage boy, his thoughts tended to shift to other topics at the drop of a hat. Thinking about that person made Harry think about another red-headed person which made Harry think about countless hours spent by the lake at Hogwarts, just he and Ginny, sitting together, their hands brushing up against each other ever so slightly while others were around. When those others would walk away…Harry's thoughts travelled back to the precious minutes they had shared in her room. In Harry's teenage mind however, nobody burst into the room (Harry had wanted to clobber the nameless person over the head for that for many days) and Harry and Ginny could continue doing…doing…
Harry mentally cursed himself and shook his head, in hopes that he could shake the thoughts of Ginny Weasley out of his mind. Unfortunately, he had no such luck and after a few more moments of concentration, his thoughts strayed back to the freckled girl.
This time he was imagining all the things they could have done if he had realized his feelings for her earlier. Trips to Hogsmeade, holding hands under a table at The Three Broomsticks and praying that Ron wouldn't notice…Valentine's Day curled up on a chair together in front of the roaring Gryffindor fire…taking Ginny to the Yule Ball in his fourth year even, dancing all night together-
DANCING!
Hermione had had a wonderful time at the Yule Ball – although Harry had known long before she or Nameless that Hermione would have had much more fun if she had went with Nameless instead of Krum, but he kept this thought to himself – and was very rarely seen off of the dance floor, even if she wasn't exactly the best dancer in the world. Harry wasn't a good dancer by any stretch of the imagination but Krum hadn't been very good either.
Harry stood up, sure of what he was going to do.
Silently, he walked into the tent and stood next to Hermione. The bushy haired girl looked up and quickly wiped her eyes.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry! You shouldn't have to see me like this! I know you're just as upset and-"
Harry held out his hand. Hermione stared at it, back at Harry, back at it, then back at Harry. Harry made a face that said, "Well, what the bloody hell are you waiting for?" but still Hermione stared.
"What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.
"Well, I'm trying to dance with you," Harry said, emphasizing the word "trying."
"Why?"
"Because I feel like dancing that's why!" he said indignantly. She still stared, but Harry noted – quite gleefully – that her tears were drying up. "But if you're not going to take my offer, I guess I'll just have to dance by myself," he continued. Hermione gave a bemused look as Harry straightened up and held his arms out as if he had an actual partner. Knowing he looked like a complete and total idiot, Harry started moving about the tent, humming something that sounded like a cross between a waltz and a very bad Disney song. As Harry spun he caught side of an amused look on his friend's face and smiled to himself. After a few more seconds of this Harry bowed to his imaginary partner, and then turned back to Hermione. "Madam?" he asked in a very bad imitation of a French accent.
"Yes Monsieur?" she asked in an equally bad accent.
"May I 'ave zis dance?" he asked, a goofy grin on his face. Hermione giggled before answering.
"Why, of course you may!" She took his hand and Harry pulled her up and against him.
"Zank you Madam," he said and got another small giggle. Harry proceeded to prance about the room, dragging a laughing Hermione with him. They knocked into the beds and the dressers and their clothes and Harry was pretty sure he would have a nasty bruise on his foot for stepping on her bag, but they didn't stop.
Harry spun her around and around in circle after circle, with Hermione shrieking in delight. After about five minutes straight of dancing, they collapsed on one of the beds, their sides aching.
The pair moved farther up on the bed so they weren't hanging off, still smiling. Hermione snuggled closer and Harry felt his eyelids start to droop.
It was in that moment that Harry's heart felt suddenly light.
Voldemort, Nameless, Snape, Dumbledore, his parents, everything that was troubling him were all gone in that moment. For the first time in weeks, Harry felt like they had a shot at winning the war and that all was not lost.
"Best. Dance. Ever," Harry told Hermione. He heard her chuckle quietly.
"Thank you Harry," she whispered. "I…I just…well, you know," she said even more quietly. Harry nodded.
They could do this. They could win this war.
In honor of the movie coming out tomorrow!
For those who like Harry/Ginny (although I don't there will be many...) I'll be posting a story for them tomorrow evening.