HARRY POTTER ONESHOTS

two slow dancers

Warnings: angst, unedited

Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here?

It's funny how they're all the same

It's funny how you always remember
And we've both done it all a hundred times before
It's funny how I still forgot

When she found out Harry was going to be Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, she almost fainted. Her former lover, and former best friend— the boy who lived.

He of course knew she was going to be here. The two of them used to bond in their days at Hogwarts about how it really had become their second home. She didn't want to spend her life anywhere else. So after the battle of Hogwarts, she finished her last year with Hermione and became Hogwarts' new potions teacher.

But she avoided him like the plague, and Harry could tell. The two of them had a very special history that was hard to forget, and Y/N was on the verge of forgetting just before Harry would be coming back.

In their fifth and sixth year, the two of them had dated and spent lots of time together, but the worst of their relationship really began after the death of Sirius. The man becoming a father figuring for both of them and suddenly being gone did a lot to their mental health.

They tried to stay together for the sake of their friends, but it was hard. It was obvious Harry and finally started to like Ginny back. Which seemed to hurt the girl even more. Because he was staying with her for the sake of keeping Y/N happy, but it was only making it worse.

And finally one day after their sixth year, while Salazar Slytherin's locket lay on her chest, she had enough and screamed at him. In front of Ron, in front of Hermione. And that was the last time the two of them ever really had a conversation. Of course they talked after that, all four of them trying to get rid of the horcrux's. But it just wasn't the same.

And now, here she was, standing near the wall of Hogwarts' Yule Ball. A scene she remembered all too well from her time at Hogwarts. The old smell that came from the castle seeming all too familiar. When Harry had invited her nervously to the ball, but they still ended up having a great time. Even though they stepped on each other's foot every now and then.

She watched as the students slowly began to file out of the room, leaving only the few teacher chaperones left in the room. She was on her way out before she felt someone tap her shoulder, and she turned around and saw Harry.

Maybe it was alcohol, maybe it was unclosed doors that lingered within their past, but she smiled at him. "Hello Harry." He smiled at her response, and instead of pulling his hand away, he trailed it down her arm and grabbed her hand. "Mind dancing with me?"

She was a little taken aback by his bluntness, but she knew she would never be able to live a moment like this in her life ever again, so she nodded and put her drink down on the table.

He led her to the middle of the dance floor and began to dance. It was awkward and messy, like it had always been when they were teenagers, but they didn't seem to mind. She chuckled at how she seemed to forget how to dance. She only ever danced with him.

She forgot he was married to Ginny, to someone she knew so well growing up, but maybe she was just telling herself she forgot. Maybe she just wanted to relive this before she had to eventually part from him once more.

It would be a hundred times easier
If we were young again
But as it is
And it is
We're just two slow dancers, last ones out
We're two slow dancers, last ones out

Harry also laughed at their awkwardness, him not having danced with someone since his wedding with Ginny. It seemed like this was something they were able to ace so well when they were young, but everything had changed.