A/N: Alright people, good day to you. Now I know I haven't finished my other stories but I'm working on them. However, I'm already halfway through writing the next chapter for this story for that should be up soon.

So we pick up where The Deathly Hallows left off after the Battle of Hogwarts. I am completely disregarding the Epilogue since to be honest it's always the guy get the girl and good always wins blah blah blah. Personally I support the many people who wish to see Hermione and Ginny get together. So if you don't like lesbians (I don't see how people don't. What is wrong with them?) then this isn't the fic for you.

This is dedicated to my best friend (I won't name fingers and point names for the sake of privacy) because she is amazing and I love her like a sister. It is also dedicated to my wonderful Aunt who is the closest thing I've had to a mother my whole life. I don't know what I would do without those two wonderful women.

Enough with the sappy stuff, let's get on with the story!

It was over. The war was finally over. Everyone cheered at the sight of Voldemort's defeat, even she did, a little. But the recovery had only just begun, she knew that. All had lost people they knew and cared about. It would take weeks, perhaps months or even years for things to back to what was considered normal, even long for the emotional scars to fade. After dealing with this stuff for so long, Hermione didn't know what normal felt like anymore, the torture at Malfoy Manor was definitely going to take time to fade.

Ginny came running over and gave her probably the biggest hug she had ever received. She could barely breathe, but it was most definitely needed after the past few months she'd had. So she gave a ginormous hug make and smiled, deciding to rejoice a little. Ginny, although a year younger, had held her own against Bellatrix Lestrange, and Hermione knew that deserved a reward on its own. Not many had gone up against the Dark Witch and lived to tell the tale.

Then there was the matter of her parents. She had modified their memories of her so that they didn't remember her and she knew of a way to get their memory back but how would they react when she told them what had happened? She was sure the Weasly's would give her a place to stay so that she could become part of their big happy family if things went wrong but that gave one problem she just wasn't ready to deal with yet: Ron. She loved him, she really did, it's that she just wasn't sure what that love was though. At the moment, it was leaning towards the kind of love she'd give a brother, not a lover. She hoped he would understand if she told him that she needed time to cope with a big change, but she doubted it.

Ginny saw her friend thinking hard, as she didn't seem as happy as everyone else.

"What's the matter 'Mione? Everything okay?"

"It's nothing."

"It is most certainly not nothing Hermione Granger."

"I'm breaking up with Ron." She stated simply.

"Why?"

"It's going to take some time for me to adjust to not being on the run, finding horcruxes, breaking into Gringotts, being tortured by insane witches." Her scar flared with pain briefly at the memory.

"I know what you mean. That whole mess with Tom messed me up for a while." Ginny comforted, understanding her friends position completely. "What are you going to tell Ron?"

"The truth. That I need time and space. Knowing him he'll probably take it the wrong way though."

"Don't worry, it's only until you re-adjust. If he becomes a massive prat though, let me know and I'll send a bat-bogey hex his way."

Hermione smiled, knowing full well Ginny would indeed hex him. The thought made her giggle a bit, Ginny joined her. Ron, seeing them giggling came over to see what they were giggling at. He still had a couple wounds from the battle that he had insisted wait until those with more serious injuries had received medical attention.

"What's going on here?"

The girls immediately sobered up at his appearance.

"I'll leave you two alone." Ginny walked off to go find Luna and check how he was.

"Ron we need to talk."

"OK." He replied, slightly unsure about what his girlfriend need to talk to him about.

"After everything that's happened I need some space."

"What do you mean?" He asked cautiously.

"I need some time away from a relationship Ron. After the torture and the battle I need some space."

"You're breaking up with me?"

"Yes."

"Don't you love me?"

"Of course I love you it's just…"

"Then why are you breaking up with me?!" he raised his voice, drawing the attention of a few people.

"Ron I told you, my emotions are very sensitive right now. I need to find my parents anyway. Can we talk about this after I get back?" She half asked, half pleaded.

Ron thought for a second, then answered. "Who is it? Are you leaving me for someone else? Is that it? Have you been cheating on me?"

"Ron I…"

"I knew it! You filthy little…"

"Ronald!" Molly's voice echoed across the courtyard, someone had obviously informed her of the scene her son was creating and having lost a son not too long ago didn't help matters one bit. By now everyone was silent, watching the exchange as Ron's voice had gotten louder and louder. She stormed over to them, furious at her son for daring to make such insinuations against Hermione. "Ronald Bilius Weasly! I raised you better than that. You apologise this instant."

Ron walked off, all but refusing to apologise. Molly thought about yelling at him to turn around, come back and apologise but knew that it wouldn't help the situation.

"What happened dear?" Molly hugged Hermione.

"I needed some space and wanted to take a break in the relationship. He, as always, took it the wrong way and decided I was cheating on him. You heard the rest." She sniffled.

Ginny rushed over with Luna, both stunned at Ron's immature behaviour. Luna had a couple of injures, like everyone else, sustained by the fighting. She patted Hermione on the back and began to speak. "You know, you could do much better than him." No-one noticed Ginny blush only slightly.

"Yeah 'Mione, nobody needs that prat."

Hermione had started sobbing and released Molly so that the older Weasly could go heal some others. She faced her friends and drew them into a very large hug. They hugged her back and let her get all the emotions she had bottled up for months out. They sat her down on a piece of fallen debris so that she didn't have to stand. It took a while for her to calm down a little bit, and Ginny and Luna were happy to give her a shoulder to cry on. They knew that it was a good thing that she were letting all her emotions out, so they sat there until Molly came over to tell them that it was time to go home. Hermione managed to calm herself down.

"Hermione dear, you can stay in Ginny's room. I'll make sure that Ronald won't disturb you and if he does, well I'm sure Ginny wouldn't mind casting one of her Hexes, would you dear?"

"I have permission to Hex my brother? Awesome."

Hermione smiled a little bit at the thought of Ron with bats coming out of his nose.

"Hey look, a smile!" Hermione's smile widened some more, she let loose a small giggle. Luna and Ginny started to giggle as well. "Come on 'Mione, we should get going."

The Burrow – Ginny's room

Ginny lay in her bed, watching Hermione fall asleep. This is what she did if she herself couldn't sleep, this was one of those nights. She didn't know why she liked watching the older girl sleep, but she did. Very often it would help her drift off. Ginny had just about closed her eyes when a shriek filled the room. Her eye shot open where she saw Hermione flailing around and screaming as if she were in pain.

The young Weasly rushed over to her friend and began shaking her, when that didn't work, she decided just to hold Hermione, hoping that her arms may give some sort of security. It took several minutes but eventually she had Hermione spooned against her. The brunette had calmed down some but still whimpered. Ginny whispered calming words and cooed.

It was at that moment the Molly Weasly decided to come into the room to check on them and see what had caused the screaming. She looked at Ginny with a questioning look, who made a shushing motion with her finger and said quietly "I just managed to calm her."

"Ok, if she wakes up get her some tea."

"Yes mum."

Hermione's dream started off fine. She was back at Hogwarts before the Battle with Ginny, Ron, Harry, Luna and Neville. They were walking towards the courtyard, which was filled with a lot of dark figures. They all wore black robes. As they walked through the gathering, she saw that they was all Death Eaters. Her heart rate quickened, however it didn't seem to affect the others.

In the next instant she was alone, turning round she found herself back in Malfoy Manor. An insane laughter filled the room, the laughter of Bellatrix Lestrange. Turning round again, she saw Ginny, Ron, Luna and Neville being held in the same way they were in the Department of Mysteries, by the same Death Eaters with no sign of Harry. Bellatrix started circling her.

Her arm began burning in pain where the scare was. Looking down she saw it open up, once again reading 'mudblood', where a single line of blood ran down her arm. The next moment she was screeching in pain at the cruciatus curse. She heard Bellatrix laugh again, using the curse several times. Hermione couldn't breathe. It was as if she was drowning. She tried to recall what her teachers had said about controlling dreams but it was no use, she couldn't remember. The pain stopped, and she heard the madwoman speak.

"Will you be a good little mudblood now? Hmm?" She pulled Ginny forward and began examining the young witch. "Oh yes she will do nicely." She began humming a light and happy tune, taunting Hermione as her fingers caressed Ginny's face, upon which was a look of pure terror.

Next thing she knew, Hermione was standing in the ruined courtyard facing the army of Death Eaters. Ginny was still being held by Bellatrix while Harry lay dead in Hagrid's arms. Voldemort was smiling evilly. When Hermione looked behind her she was greeted by the corpses of everyone, including Neville, Luna, Ron, Dumbledore, even that little Hufflepuff first years she met walking down the corridor. They were covered in blood. She turned back to the Death Eaters, where she saw Ginny slump to the floor, dead.

She screamed a bloodcurdling scream. As she looked back at the bodies, they began to rot before her eyes, turning to dust. Voldemort appeared behind her.

"It's all your fault. They all died because of you. You killed them."

"No!" she turned and backed toward the doors of Hogwarts. She tripped and fell into blackness but felt warmth flow into her body. Two arms had locked tight around her, and they made her feel safe.

Hermione woke up. When she made to move, she felt two arms holding her waist. When she turned, she half expected to see Ron, but what greeted her was the light red hair of Ginevra Weasly. Which was weird because she swore Ginny had been on the other bed when she went to sleep. She looked at the old clock on the table and saw it was just after one in the morning. She also needed the loo, but two, strong, Quidditch honed arms held her in place.

"Ginny? Gin wake up."

"Wha'? You're awake."

"Yes, and in desperate need of the loo."

"Sorry." Ginny opened up her arms to allow Hermione to get up and leave the room.

Huh, must have fallen asleep trying to calm her down.

Ginny stood up from the bed and stretched her arms before quietly making her way downstairs to grab the tea her mother had prepared. Yes, it was cold but it could easily be heated up back in the room. When she entered, she found Hermione climbing back into her bead.

"Mum told me to give you some tea when you woke up."

"Why?"

"You were screaming and we couldn't wake you up, so we had to let you do it on your own."

"How long ago was that?"

"'bout two hours ago, maybe less. The only way to calm you down though was by holding onto you."

"Uh, thanks."

With a quickly flick of her wand, Ginny had re-heated the tea. She handed Hermione a cup and took one for herself, sitting next to her friend. That sat in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, but it wasn't completely comfortable either. Ginny broke it first.

"I also had nightmares after the whole Tom Riddle thing you know. It was like it was happening all over again. I was given calming draughts and dreamless sleep potions, didn't do much good."

"It's all my fault."

"What? No Hermione, nothing is your fault."

"I had a time-turner, I could have gone back and stopped Tom before anything could happen. I could have stopped it."

"Hermione you listen to me and you listen good, if you had gone back everything would have been different. Neither of us have might be here, our parents might not have met, you might not have magic. So none of this, none of it, is your fault. Ok?"

"Yeah. I needed that." Hermione smiled and finished her tea, setting the cup back upon the try. Ginny finished hers and ran the tray downstairs. The rest of the night passed without any other nightmares from Hermione, nor did Ginny experience any, thankfully.

Hermione woke up the next morning, glad that she didn't have another nightmare. She decided that the next day she would leave to go find her parents and give them their memories back. She knew where in Australia they were, she had made sure it was somewhere she could find them after the war was over. She just didn't want to go alone.

Looking at Ginny's bed, she saw the red-head wasn't there. She quickly made sure that the younger Weasly wasn't in her own bed, even though she would have felt if she was, and felt only a small twinge of disappointment. It was so small that she almost didn't catch it.

The door to the room then opened and Ginny came in, freshly washed and ready to get changed. Hermione sat up, making the younger witch jump.

"Morning."

"Oh! I didn't think you were awake." She didn't look to happy, the beginnings of a frown on her face.

"No, I am. You know, I think I might go back to Hogwarts for my seventh year."

Ginny's mood instantly brightened, shown by the massive smile that spread across her face. "You're kidding."

"No, but I want to find my parents first. So I was wondering if you wanted to come and find them with me."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Australia."

"Where's that?"

"On the other side of the world. Of course, if your mother asks where that is, you didn't really know."

"I would love to come. Oh and Ron never came home so it's safe to go downstairs to get some breakfast." Ginny grinned. Hermione grinned back.

"I did some reading last night on memory charms as well, I think I know how to restore their memories."

"Hermione that's great!" Ginny, smiled. "Now go have some breakfast, I need to get changed."

They giggled as Hermione walked out of their shared room and downstairs where the smell of bacon wafted up. She could here Mrs Weasly clattering around in the kitchen, probably trying to distract herself from Fred's untimely death the day before. It had hit them all hard, and she couldn't blame the Weasly Matriarch for trying to distract herself. Today would mark the first day of the clean-up operation around Hogwarts. The bodies of those who were killed in defence of the school would be given proper burials first, then the re-building would begin.

She watched for a minute and then grabbed some of the food laid out on the table, deciding it was probably a bad idea to interrupt her cooking frenzy. Although, she could put it to good use, asking the older woman to make some sandwiches for the next day. She finished her bacon quickly and left the plate next to the sink silently before sneaking back upstairs. She met Ginny halfway up to the younger woman room.

"Your mother is in a cooking frenzy."

"Can't say I blame her. We'll need to help around Hogwarts today, say good bye to Fred-" Ginny took in a deep breath in a somewhat successful attempt to keep away the tears and sobs that were threatening to overwhelm her. Hermione, on impulse, wrapped her arms around the young, redheaded witches frame. Ginny burst into tears, finally letting herself go. Hermione apperated them quickly into their shared room where they sat on the bed, Hermione holding onto Ginny, for at least ten minutes before the tears slowed down.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be acting like this…"

"Nothing good comes from holding in your emotions Gin. We will all miss Fred, so feel free to cry a bit, it's perfectly natural." Hermione comforted. "Tell you what, seeing as how I'm joining you, how about we come up with the perfect prank to pull in his memory. Yeah?"

Ginny giggled at the brunette's suggestion and replied. "I'd like that 'Mione."

Hermione and Ginny stepped off of the plane at 9am, Ginny being completely entranced by how it works and how it works without magic. Throughout the entire flight she was bombarded with questions about planes and other modes of muggle transport. Hermione didn't mind one bit, especially because it wasn't Ginny's father, Arthur asking the questions. He was quite obsessed with how muggle technology work, and ended up making it more complicated than it actually was half the time. So the muggleborn witch was more than happy that it was Ginny who was asking all the questions, partly because she didn't interrupt every five seconds with 'Are muggles incredible?' or 'These muggles are ingenious!' Instead, she absorbed every little bit of information she could glean.

She was also young enough as to not get too confused with how stuff worked. Yes, she was a little freaked at first at how an iPod contained so much music, but easily caught on to how it worked and how to work it. Hermione promised to help her create a wizard version. So they enjoyed listening to music while Hermione explained the principles of different muggle objects, like the ballpoint pen, the computer and, of course, the television. It filled the entire journey. They covered topics that had aroused Ginny's interest. They had touched down in Sydney, Australia just as Hermione had finished explaining how the internet and wireless worked.

The soon found where Hermione's parents had moved to, although Hermione insisted that they travel the 'muggle' way in a taxi. They eventually arrived and the Wilkins' home, the alias she had set up for her parents. She knew they were home, as always came prepared. Using the key she had secretly made, the entered the house. Her parents were in the living room, watching the cricket with a nice cup of tea. They door closed a little louder than expected.

"Did you hear that dear?" Monica Wilkins asked her Husband.

"Yes. Hang on." Wendell Wilkins stood up and made to move out of the room in the direction of the two girls.

Hermione, in a bold act, walked into the room and pointed her wand at them. She muttered a quick spell. Both she and Ginny watched as the couple froze for a moment. It took a few seconds but they came out of the stupor quickly. Mrs Granger turned around and looked at her daughter with her husband, finally recognising the girl they hadn't seen in nearly a year. Hermione spoke first.

"Hi Mum. Hi Dad."

So next time we'll see how the Grangers react and more to do with Ginny finding out and experiencing the muggle world. I wonder what will happen when she encounters a hairdryer of the first time…