AN
I suggest getting cozy and pressing play on "O Children" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for this one, setting it on a loop to get soaked in the ambiance.
I've always loved the dancing scene between Harry and Hermione in the movies. I remember watching it as a kid and thinking "That's the kind of friendship I want." It was such a special moment, a simple fragment of peace. The Harry Potter universe has always been my safe place and getting to mentally enter it for this specific moment, and write out the scene with my own character incorporated is deeply personal and just...it meant a lot. I could see it so clearly in my head, hopefully I wrote it well enough for you to go through it, too.
As always, lots of love,
s
__
"THAT WAS MENTAL!" yelled Selena the second her feet hit the ground. "Mental! We just got attacked by bloody giant snake!"
Selena didn't like snakes. Her friends and George knew that, which is why when she stormed off into the forest while cringing, they gave her a minute to calm down.
"I reckon you'd be the same if we encountered an acromantula," Fred told Sarah, squeezing her shoulder and smiled when he felt her shudder at the word.
The whole landscape was white. There was snow everywhere, Sarah felt her the corner of her mouth curl up. It was beautiful, peaceful, never minding the fact they just escaped another attack meant to kill them. It was becoming routine at this point.
Harry wandered off by the lake next to them, the wind carrying the freezing water downstream. He was still shook from what he just went through, and Hermione had curled up against a tree, clutching a book and staring blankly at the ground.
"Let's set up the tent, Georgie," offered Fred, eyeing the group.
A lot of it was done in silence. In a short space of time, Fred lifted the tent poles with a wand movement and George took care of staking the tent into the ground, most likely charmed the spikes so they stay in place because the ground was frozen.
Afterwards, they knew the drill. They had to change and dress warmly for the night. With the time spent packing up and Godric's Hollow, they hadn't ate much today. Sarah thought regretfully of Ron, who would have reminded them of that constantly. She wouldn't have heard the end of it for letting them all starve today.
She was worried for him, out there, all alone. She hoped he'd found his way back to his family somehow, just like he wanted and he was safe.
Having experienced first hand the effects of the locket, she knew in his mind everything he said was bitter, partly true, and she knew he was right about Fred, George and Selena getting caught up in all this without meaning to. They should be with the Order right now, not with her and two other teenagers, achieving the spectacular, which would be not to be killed.
It wasn't fair, a lot, if anything, wasn't fair right now, she knew that.
As soon as they could walk inside the tent, she took out the small pot and pointed her wand at it.
"Aguamenti," water shot out of Sarah's wand, still a grim and sinking feeling in her chest. Hermione made her way towards her and Selena, disclosing of some information from a book she picked out of that house, something about a certain Grindelwald.
"It is really tragic for the real Bathilda. No one was there for her, she died alone, and now she's still alone..." Sarah pursed her lips thoughtfully, her two friends mirrored her desolated look, knowing there wasn't much they could do.
"It's so frustrating to be unable to do anything. I for one really feel useless," Hermione told them, fidgeting her leg, suddenly she looked down and frowned like she was trying to hold back tears, "And...Ron..."
"We know," Selena assured her.
"I just...if he knew..." Hermione trailed off, "Harry's my best friend, he's the brother I never had, but Ron, he-there's this unspoken connection that I know is there, we both do but he's always been in the background, whether it's because he's Harry Potter's friend or just 'another Weasley' to join Gryffindor and live at the Burrow...if he knew how much I care for him, maybe he would've stayed. I should've told him that night, that he's not in the background, that I've always noticed him, always looked for him, I should've told him that, I should've found the words to tell him I love him, maybe he-"
Sarah and Selena exchanged a discreet glance when they heard her and Hermione covered her mouth, stared at them with eyes so wide they looked ready to fall out of their sockets. They knew of course, long before this moment where she decided to accidentally blurt it out, but they were still surprised she had.
Hermione tried to talk again but turned crimson when Fred and George walked closer. She breathed a little easier when she saw they didn't show any sign they'd heard anything and looked down at her knife and potato, continued peeling it.
"George, our ladies here seem a bit grim," started Fred with an obvious voice, gesturing to the three girls standing before them.
"Why don't we do what we know best to cheer them up?" George offered, leaning towards Fred with his arms crossed, both of them sharing a complicit grin.
Fred grinned pleasingly and nodded, "Georgie, I've been thinking exactly the same thing."
George took out his wand and the potato Hermione was peeling flew out of her hands, with a swift flick, the peel came off and he made a spiral out of it, Transfigurated it into a brown feather that tickled her nose before flying up and exploding into confetti, making Hermione chuckle and abandon that sad pout she kept on all day.
Fred took something out of his pocket and tossed it up, it looked like a million little fireworks, exactly like those they made back in their fifth year to cheer Sarah up after she'd been hurt. Each spark reached a potato and made it levitate above their heads.
Sarah, Selena and Hermione we're looking up with bright smiles at the little show, the vegetables flying around like they were doing a cute little dance.
"You two took 'Don't play with your food' to a whole new level," said Sarah through a giggle, Fred flicked his wand and the potatoes were peeled again, George gathered them into a small bowl Selena had set it up for this specific use and they concentrated solely on the spirals made of out potato peels.
Harry had heard and seen some sparks so he ran inside intrigued, also to make sure nothing was wrong, the scene he stumbled upon made him smile, too. When George saw him, he sent a potato peel towards him and it blew up in sparks around his head, making Harry duck but laugh at the same time, joining Hermione's side. It was the first time he saw her smile since Ron had left.
While they all gazed at the confetti and sparks shooting across the tent's canvas, George and Fred had rinsed the peeled potatoes, cut them up and set them in the boiling water.
When the show was over, the twins bowed, being circled by their signature small sparks shaping up in 'W' and the four people audience started clapping and cheering them on.
"There we go, mate," Fred slung an arm around Hermione and Harry, George did the same with Sarah and Selena and chortled, "That's more like it."
"We almost forgot how beautiful your smiles were," grinned Fred, looking at all four of them, lingered particularly over Sarah and winked at her before continuing, "We had to do something, didn't we?"
"Settle down, will you? We'll take care of cooking tonight," George squeezed his girlfriend's and Sarah's shoulder, gently pushing them towards the bench to sit down.
Harry and Hermione had reconvened on the benches, discussing something she'd discovered on the first page of her book. Some sort of triangle, looking like an eye, someone had intended to draw it inside the book. That, along with Sarah's pin and the manuscript seemed to be a lot of pieces that at first sight didn't fit together at all, but it was part of something. It had to be.
Sarah stepped towards Fred with a loving smile that he returned. She was beautiful and smiling at him, somehow his bright sun ray through all this darkness and he wanted to start skipping to meet her halfway. While he debated whether to do that or walk normally, she reached him and set an arm around him, leaned her head against his shoulder.
They walked a few steps away to check on the fire. Fred glanced back at Hermione and brought Sarah closer by the waist so he could whisper against her ear, "She loves him?"
Her eyes went wide suddenly and she poked his chest, clearly not joking in any way, "Not. A. Word."
Fred grinned at her and glanced back again, "Still-"
"I mean it, Fred. Not a word. Promise me," they had a stare-down while Fred tried to figure out exactly how serious she was. She stood her ground, whatever Hermione and Ron had going on wasn't any of their business, although Fred would have loved to throw in a little innuendo. "Okay," he nodded and kissed her cheek, "I promise."
_
The light mood George and Fred had created slowly dissipated, even they were a bit tired, now. After eating, Sarah settled on her shared bed with Fred and took out the pin from her pocket. She was intrigued by it, almost worried, she had no idea what to make of it.
"You know," Fred suddenly plopped on the bed, making her bounce slightly and look up at him. "I just realized that I'm dating an older woman. We have a difference in the digit, McCauley." There was an over the top self sufficient grin on his face that made her scoff in annoyance.
"We're only three months apart, Weasley," she mumbled with a frown.
Fred leaned in and pressed a kiss between her brows, making her whole face relax and the way her eyes opened wide to meet his after he pulled away definitely made his heart skip a beat. He slid closer to her and set her legs over his lap, "Still, let me enjoy the idea. It won't happen again for another ten years."
She rolled her eyes and shook her head fondly, unlike when they were just friends, she found it difficult now not to smile when he was bugging her. Because she knew the implicit thought coming along with it and that he never really meant it.
"Still no idea what this means, huh?" Fred tapped the pin with his finger, his other hand resting on her calf.
"Not in the slightest, and what even was that? A living cloud? Why did it have eyes?" she cringed suddenly, "In the spur of the moment, I wasn't even afraid, I somehow knew it just wanted to talk to me and not hurt any of us. Now, I'm left wondering why."
She looked down at the pin again, two shorter strands of hair escaped her low ponytail on either side of her face, so she tucked them behind her ears, face wrinkled anxiously. "I'm sick of not having answers."
"I know, love," Fred crooned, giving her calf a gentle squeeze. He slowly started massaging it, moved down to rub her feet. She had at least two pairs of socks on to prevent the cold when she wasn't wearing her boots. She set her head on his shoulder with a soft sigh, "How did you know my feet hurt?"
"I'm not gonna disclose all my secrets, McCauley, where's the fun in that?" he chuckled softly against her hair.
She couldn't help a small snort against his zipped up jumper, closed up over his neck, "You're dying to tell me, I just know it."
"Just relax," he smiled and continued, replaying the scene back at Godric's Hollow in his mind as well. It seemed strange to him, especially that pin she was left with.
It seemed her thoughts had transferred to him somehow. She kept her eyes closed, her shoulders dropped and slow breaths in and out against Fred's neck while he kept thinking for the time they spent in silence.
"Isn't it weird that it chose that particular tombstone to hind behind?" Fred wondered, actually thinking out loud more than anything else. "From where it formed, it would have made sense to choose one that was closer, if the sole intent was to hide. But it flew away towards that strange one on purpose. Also, didn't its eyes flicker towards the writing?"
She lifted her head to look at him, trying to recall the details of it all, "Yeah. I'd forgotten about that. I tried to read what it said but it was unreadable, corroded..."
"You couldn't read it but that's because your handwriting is readable. Mine is gibberish to anyone aside from me and I've quite mastered deciphering the unreadable writings. It said—if I remember correctly— " his eyes shifted towards the ceiling trying to recall and piece the information back together "R&I, together through life, never in death" but it doesn't make much sense, I know-"
Her eyebrows shot up suddenly, "R?"
Fred nodded in agreement at first then he realized and gasped, "R!"
"Why would it give this to me? It doesn't mean anything to me- Wait," her head snapped towards the other side of the tent, "Hermione, what name did you come across at Grimmauld Place? The bloke who discovered the Horcurxes."
"Regulus Black," Hermione answered her in a heartbeat.
She turned back to Fred completely puzzled, "Regulus-R. Does this have something to do with him?"
"Well if that's the case, what does the I stand for?"
"That's a good point," Sarah nibbled on the inside of her cheek while she thought. "Maybe it's his wife or something. The love of his life."
"But then, wouldn't it be together through life and death. Like not even death would tear them apart."
"Godric, my brain feels like it's on a leave of absence or something, I don't understand one bit," she rubbed her temples, trying to get some of the wheels turning but nothing happened, she was too tired, too overwhelmed, it was all just too much.
"I remember something else I think, some kind of weird drawing, an eye, maybe?" Fred thought out loud, staring at the ground while he replayed the images in his mind.
"An eye?" questioned Sarah, getting even more confused, now.
"Not an eye, per se, but a triangle, and with a circle inside," Fred drew the shape with his finger, "It looked like an eye, a bit creepy if you ask me-"
She stood up on her knees and stared at him intently, "With a line crossing in vertically?!"
He nodded, a confused look in his eyes, taken by surprise from her sudden hold on his face.
"That's what was drawn in Hermione's book! What she saw back at the graveyard- Some name starting with..." her jaw dropped, "With an I."
"Ignore-Ignite-Something...Urgh, why won't it work-" she tapped her temple, really disappointed in herself for not remembering the details.
"Ignotus Peverell," Hermione filled in the missing piece of information again and Sarah nodded gratefully at her. She turned towards Fred and brought his face close to hers, pressed a kiss on both his eyelids, "Bless your eyes, Weasley."
"Did we figure out something?" Fred asked, an eager and hopeful look in his eyes, also fighting a flushed smile from her kisses.
"Yes!"
"What is it?"
Sarah parted her lips, about to answer him but nothing came out, her shoulders ultimately dropped, "I don't know..." she shook her head and laid it down defeated in Fred's lap.
"Selena, could you slap me? Maybe it'll get my brain to think again," mumbled Sarah.
"Sure," Selena made to stand and Fred quickly stretched out his arm, shook his head and frowned deeply at Selena, warning her to stay where she was with a protective hand over Sarah's head.
"You just need to sleep, you haven't in over thirty hours, now." Sarah sighed deeply and Fred stroked her hair as an attempt to comfort her, hoping if he was delicate enough, he'll see her eyes flutter closed. They didn't.
They spent a while in silence, none of them felt like talking, they had a lot on their minds. Sometimes small looks were exchanged, followed by sad smiles and looking away.
Pass me that lovely little gun
My dear, my darling one
They're knocking now upon your door
They measure the room, they know the score
They're mopping up the butcher's floor
Of your broken little hearts
When Ron left, he also left the radio. It was still Christmas Eve, and for the first time in what seemed like months, they heard a song. The guitar strums seemed to accompany them in their sulking.
O, Children
Lift up your voice, lift up your voice
Children, rejoice
Rejoice
Sarah tilted her head up to look at it, Hermione was sitting curled up next to the radio, probably zoned out, thinking of a million things again, a million things they had absolutely no power over. They couldn't do anything now. They had no leads, no hope.
Here comes Frank and poor old Jim
They're gathering 'round with all my friends
We're older now and the light is dim and you are only just beginning
We have the answer to all your fears
It's short, it's simple, it's crystal clear
Harry noticed the way everyone's eyes kept shifting towards the radio and didn't think twice about it. Years of being best friends with Ron, he knew his brothers as his own, it took a simple exchange of looks between the three to understand each other.
O, Children
Lift up your voice, lift up your voice
Children rejoice, rejoice
It all happened at once, Harry went to dial the volume up on the song and took Hermione's hand to make her stand, took off the Horcrux around her neck and tossed it on the bed where it couldn't hurt anyone for a while.
Poor Jim's white as a ghost
He's found the answer that we lost
George stood up from the bench and offered his hand to Selena, brought her against his chest and started swaying.
We're all weeping now, weeping because
They're ain't nothing we can do to protect you
Fred slid down from the bed and pulled on Sarah's hands to make her sit up. She shook her head at first, a small wrinkle forming between her eyebrows after hearing the lyrics, she indeed felt like weeping right now. Fred nodded in response and propped her up while she let out a small whimper of protest, joined George and Harry who were swaying to the slow rhythm.
O, children,
Lift up your voice, lift up your voice
Children, rejoice, rejoice
"I can't have you crying on your birthday, darling," Fred whispered against her ear before stepping back.
He tugged on her right arm, making her upper body shift, then on her left, trying to get her to smile. The corner of her mouth indeed twitched, and Fred gladly took the small win. He continued tugging on one hand at a time, making her shift from left to right as he bounced his head to the rhythm.
Hey little train we're jumping on, the train that goes to the Kingdom
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
The train ain't even left the station
Fred twirled her around twice instead of once making her lose balance and stumble onto him, that made her smile properly and she started responding to his touch, to his attempts at lifting the heaviness that weighed on her heart.
George had his fingers intertwined with Selena's and he turned her around, her back against his chest for a few moments, when he turned her back, he was the one with his arms crossed, she giggled softly at him when he frowned down confused, trying to make sense of how this could have happened.
Harry was also moving amply and ridiculously, his feet getting crossed over, trying whatever he could think of to make Hermione's tears vanish from her eyes. He brought her closer to him, both their arms stretched to their sides, then stepped back bringing their joined hands between them like they were in a ballroom dance. He did this a couple times and spun her around.
Hey little train, wait for me
I once was blind but now I see
Have you left a seat for me?
Is that just a stretch of the imagination?
The music was carrying a slow rhythm, melancholic. With every beat drum and harmony, they moved easier, their lips curled effortlessly, up to a point where enjoying the moment wasn't that much a stretch of the imagination after all.
Sarah tried to make Fred twirl around but he had to duck under her arm, the first attempt had failed completely and it left them both smiling. The second time he ducked ridiculously low, much lower than he needed, but the thought of a frown or a scoff was far, far away from her. The beautiful choir was carrying that thought far, far away, as she threw her arm around his neck.
Hey little train, wait for me,
Was held in chains but now I'm free,
I'm hanging in there, don't you see,
In this process of elimination
Soon they had stopped messing around, the girls had small smiles drawn on their faces while dancing with their best friends. They had made everything in their power to get all seven of them to stay alive ever since they'd started this hunt. Now was time for a shift, to repay them in the only was they knew how.
That was their power, these boys they loved so, through a simple hold around them, taking them away, almost like it wouldn't matter where they were, as long as they had them. That was the beauty of love, whatever form it took, be it romantic or platonic. It carried their sorrows away for a moment, and in their minds, they'd hopped on that train.
It seemed whatever heaviness, whatever desperation and hopelessness were left on the deck at the station while they embarked on the train. Their ticket was the melody, it allowed them to step further inside, the clear destination and assigned seats written in black ink across a music sheet, as real as it will ever be.
Hey little train we're jumpin on, the train that goes to the Kingdom
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
Beyond my wildest expectations
The rushing feeling of going back to somewhere you know but haven't seen in a while, wondering what changed, what stayed the same. What changed? The answer was everything. Everything. The words were calling out to them, making each heart secretly weep for the home they've lost. They were still children in many ways, running on short legs, shouting after those who lingered behind because they didn't want to miss it, naively trying to hang on to a stream of water, to a cloud of smoke, to something as frail as hope. The nagging thought of their dreamlike victory. How could it be? Could their world handle being blown to pieces once again? What sort of reality will they have left once it was all over?
Hey little train we're jumpin on, the train that goes to the Kingdom
We're happy, Ma, we're having fun
The train ain't even left the station
Hey little train, wait for me,
I was blind, but now I see
They could see it, the landscape passing them at full speed, looking through the smudges and scratches on the window, wondering how many had been there before them, with opportunity and youth filled hearts. If they looked in hidden places on that wagon, would they find carvings in wood, stating "Lily way here", "Prongs was here", "Padfoot was here", "Moony was here", "Jester was here", "Lyana was here". Would they dare to add their own? "Dumbledore's Army"? The music had ended, but they were still captivated by the sound of the engine running, the sound of their escape, the assembled pieces of six dreams that kept the wheels turning, leading them someplace else, towards more, towards a world they could still call their own.