𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝑋𝐶𝑉𝐼𝐼.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙮-𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

THE NEXT FEW days and nights were painfully quiet. Hermione was sad about Ron, so she kept to herself, often electing to sit outside. Caroline just read from her book of poems, trying to remember who she was before the horcrux took hold of her soul. Ron's radio was turned on by Hermione before she left the tent to be by herself.

        Caroline perked up as a particular song came on. It was her father's favourite song. He played it constantly. Harry watched Caroline sit on her separate bed from a chair a safe distance away, noticing her reaction. He was at her house for all of holiday during fourth year, listening to Andy Jones play the song over and over to get a rise out of Eloise.

        Closing her book, Caroline just listened to the song play. It calmed her, more than anything had in months. It was like her father was with her, holding her small hands as he taught her to dance in their living room when she was little. Andy Jones was the best father. It was like Hector Taylor handpicked the American man to take care of his little girl and raise her when he couldn't.

        Andy Jones learned how to do African-American hair the day he and Eloise brought Caroline home from the orphanage. As she got older, they learned complex styles together. She learned how to braid from her father. That was his thing. Hair, traditional dancing (because he thought it was funny) and baseball. Caroline didn't take much to baseball, instead giving that role to Jacob.

        Harry knew what this meant for Caroline, and he wouldn't let things be awful between them while she held that expression on her face. Harry stood and walked over to where Caroline sat on her bed beside the radio, seeing that she was wearing one of his jumpers. He extended his hand towards her, and with teary eyes, Caroline looked up. "What are you doing?" she asked.

        "Take my hand." Harry whispered simply, a teasing smile on his face, and Caroline just looked at him. He was perfect. Absolutely perfect. She took his hand like he said and he pulled her to her feet, away from her bed.

        He stood close to her, breathing with her. Harry reached out and straightened Caroline's two necklaces, making sure they were perfect before pulling her braids out of the jumper. His hands trailed down her arms while she looked at him, taking her hands, leading her into the centre of the tent, where there was space. "Don't make me." Caroline said as he started forcing her to dance.

        Harry smiled that smile he only shared with Caroline. "We never got to dance at the wedding." Harry said simply, pulling and pushing Caroline to the beat of the music.

        Eventually, Caroline cracked a smile as he turned her around. The smile grew and they started laughing as they continued dancing through the tent, nothing else on their minds besides each other. It was the most they had both smiled in a long time. Caroline almost fell and Harry caught her, so they laughed again, spinning around, just being the teenagers that they were. When the song began to end, Caroline pulled herself close to Harry, her head resting on his shoulder as they continued dancing, slower.

        The song ended and Caroline wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, unwilling to be apart from him. "I'm sorry," Caroline said so quietly that only Harry could hear. "I shouldn't have shouted. It's not your fault the horcrux does that to me." she said.