"Ron?"

"…Hermione?"

"…We can't do this anymore."

The red haired man stared at his girlfriend, eyes wide and mouth agape. Hermione prayed that he wouldn't be so shocked as to drop his newly poured mug of coffee on the floor. Kreacher had seemed to be working extra hard lately.

After a moment of stunned silence, Ron came back to himself. Swallowing a couple of times, and looking quite like a goldfish, he sat next to Hermione at the table in the brightly lit kitchen. He remained sitting there, staring at the spotless floor, until Hermione finally felt the need to break the quiet tension.

"Oh, Ron," she sighed. "It's just… I simply… Well, I thought this would feel… right… you know? I thought that once we stopped dancing around each other and admitted how we felt, that everything would sort of… fall into place."

"And it didn't…" said Ron.

Hermione hesitated. "Exactly…"

He raised his blue eyes to her brown, and she was relieved to see he didn't look crushed, simply defeated. Not much of an alternative, Granger, she thought.

"I've got to admit, I've been feeling the same way. Like we've broken some sort of code by being together, like this isn't the way things were supposed to work out…" He chuckled hollowly, staring at his cup now. "But I thought it might be something we could fix."

Hermione smiled sadly and shook her head. "I thought so too, for awhile… But I don't think it's something that's fixable, Ron."

Silence descended between them once more, and Hermione raised her gaze to the enchanted windows she and Harry had installed in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. They were rather ingenious, enchanted windows in the basement kitchen that emitted a magical light, bathing the kitchen in artificial sunlight that was so realistic, Hermione could grow herbs and flowers on the windowsill. There was a fake field that stretched beyond the glass panes, which, when opened, let a warm breeze in that wafted throughout the whole house.

Hermione stared out at the all too real field, mesmerized by the color of the grass and the way it swayed in the breeze. Suddenly she had a desperate, violent urge to run out the door, down the street, past the neighboring apartments, and on. She felt as if there were someone, something, somewhere that needed her terribly, and soon. The rational part of her brain butted in, albeit very quietly, and whispered that she was probably only feeling pre-school jitters, that she was simply excited to be heading back to Hogwarts. But the untamed part of her that was awakened pushed the rational thought down until it was silenced completely.

She was just about to stand when a chuckle from Ron brought her back, crashing down to the Earth and into her seat at the table. She whipped her vision to the red-head's half amused, half saddened expression.

"What?" she asked, slightly breathless. "What is it?"

"'Mione, if you're getting that kind of look on your face, I know we're not supposed to be together."

Despite the fact that the entire purpose of the conversation was to convince Ron that she didn't think they belonged together, Hermione was injured and confused by his words. "What look? What do you mean?"

"Well," he said, scrunching up his nose as he tried to think of a way to describe it. "It's a sorta dreamy look, like the way Luna looks all the time, but with a wild tinge to it, like you're just gonna burst at the seams."

Hermione stared at him, thoroughly shocked by his insight. "That's… that's exactly how it felt… How did you…?"

"Know?" Ron shrugged. "I feel like that a lot of the time. Like there's somewhere you need to be really bad…"

"So… so you understand… why I think we should break up?"

He nodded, still sadly, but with a real smile this time.

"…Friends?"

He laughed at this, kissing her lightly on her brow. "Always, 'Mione."

There was a sudden burst of noise as the front door opened and closed and a man and woman's laughs echoed down into the kitchen.

"Are they really back already?" Hermione wondered aloud. She and Ron stood, heading up the stairs and into the entrance hall where a man with untidy black hair and a woman with flame red hair and freckles across her nose and shoulders stood close together, still laughing lightly about whatever joke they had shared. Ron cleared his throat and the pair separated. Harry at least had the good sense to look slightly abashed, but Ginny's demeanor didn't change a bit.

"Oh good, you two came up!" she said happily. "Ron, we need to get going, Mum said dinner would be at five."

Ron swore lightly, quickly heading into the living room, followed by his sister and two best friends. The four said their goodbyes, Ron giving quick hugs to his two best friends, Ginny and Harry sharing a chaste kiss before she moved on to hug Hermione tightly.

"Oof, Ginny!" Hermione protested. "I'll be seeing you on the platform tomorrow!"

"I know that," Ginny stated, pulling away and giving Hermione a piercing look that told her Harry Potter couldn't keep a secret from his girlfriend worth a damn. "You know you two are always welcome at the Burrow." Ginny continued. "Mum'd love to have you over for dinner sometime."

"Not tonight, Ginny," Hermione said, smiling. "Kreacher said he had something special planned for my last night at home."

"Sweet little sod," Ron laughed. "Sure has changed a lot over the past year!"

"Ron! Don't call Kreacher a 'sod!'" Hermione protested, and the four shared a small laugh, reveling in the feel of years gone by.

"Come on, Gin," Ron said finally. "If we don't get going, Mum'll stuff apples in our mouths and serve us up for dinner."

"Alright, alright," his little sister exclaimed, grabbing her own handful of Floo powder. "We'll see you two on the platform tomorrow!" And in two whooshes of green flame, the Weasley siblings were gone.

Hermione immediately rounded on her friend. "Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, resting her hands on her hips. "You couldn't keep one tidbit of information from your girlfriend until tomorrow?"

Harry winced slightly. The Dark Lord couldn't hold a candle to the wrath Hermione Granger could inflict on your life. "Come on, Hermione, be fair. I didn't need to tell her anything. She's one of your best friends, she could tell something was up."

"So you're telling me that you didn't mention one little bit of my plan to break up with Ron?"

"…"

"Harry?"

"I may have filled in a few blanks."

Hermione threw her hands into the air in exasperation, grabbed her book from the coffee table and plopped down on the couch. Harry sat on the couch across from her.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well, what?" she replied irritably, eyes trained on the page.

"You know 'well, what.'" When she simply scoffed, he sighed. "How did it go between you and Ron?"

"Swimmingly," she said, her voice dripping with acid.

"Really?"

"Yes… No…" She sighed, sitting up and putting her book aside. "Sort of."

Harry raised his eyebrows, steepling his fingers and looking at her over his glasses in such a Dumbledore like manner Hermione almost burst out laughing. Instead, she filled him in on her conversation with Ron.

"So he was okay with it?" he asked when she'd finished.

"Apparently. He at least understood what's going on with me. But I think we're both still sad that we couldn't fix it."

Harry nodded, spreading his fingers, separating his hands and leaning back. "Well, at least now you can work past whatever block you've been experiencing lately. Being with Ron while you're at school and we're traveling around doing errands for the Minister and the Auror's office would have been too stressful, especially since McGonagall gave you Head Girl. This'll end up being better for the both of you."

"You're right, of course, Harry," she said, smiling at her friend. "Though it still hurts now."

Harry smiled knowingly and held his arms out. She took the invitation, crossing over to where he sat and snuggling into the chest of the boy who'd been like a brother to her for almost eight years. "Remind me when you got so good at the whole counseling thing…" she said into his shirt.

He chuckled softly. "Guess I must have taken a leaf out of Professor Dumbledore's book…" he trailed off for a moment before pressing a kiss into her hair. "You know I'll always be here for you, Hermione."

She smiled, eyes watering slightly. "I know," she said softly, and he held her until Kreacher called them for dinner.