Ever After

Dedicated to Benji because she came up with the crude beginning of this lovely plot.

Disclaimer: Yea if it looks familiar that's 'cause it's JKR's.

A/N: Okay here's the deal people… This is my take, my lovely take, on Harry, Ron and Hermione's seventh year. I don't really need to say much more 'cause, you're about to read the story.

xxx

All he could see for a while in front of him was darkness. Well, that would make quite a bit of sense, considering it was night time. What he meant to think, was all he could see around him was dark, shadowed ruins of a neighborhood that looked once very peaceful. Yes, Harry Potter had not been here since he was a year old. He hardly remembered Godric's Hollow as it used to be, but the seventeen year old was quite sure that it was never as bleak and dismal looking as it was right at the moment. Houses were old and abandoned, some had very visible holes in various places, some were hardly standing- it was a very sad sight for poor Harry, whose own parents had been murdered in one of these very houses. Which one, he couldn't remember at all; however, he did know all too well, that somewhere in one of them was where his parents were killed.

Harry slowly ambled down the dark path, waiting for his two best friends who were accompanying him on this journey to appear. He looked around at his surroundings one last time and shivered. The young man hadn't really planned on it being this cold out, so he was out there in a pair of jeans, held up by a belt of course, a slightly baggy green short sleeved shirt and a very lightweight black jumper. Raven hair fell into his emerald green eyes as he looked ahead at the path and adjusted his glasses. Where could they be? He thought, sighing, wishing Ron and Hermione would just show up already. How long does it take for them to just Apparate here? We were only coming from the Burrow… He let out another frustrated sigh and frowned, beginning to get lost in thought again. His thoughts, however, were interrupted by one small pop followed by another very loud one as his two best friends appeared in front of him.

"Sorry about that, mate, Hermione insisted on bringing a few books, and being her boyfriend, I was morally obligated to wait with her." A redheaded boy said, grinning. Yes, one of the two people that were supposed to meet Harry there in Godric's hollow was Ronald Weasley, who looked very happy, if he did say so himself. Maybe that was just because very recently, he and their other friend, Hermione had become a couple. The tall and gangly read head moseyed over to his best friend as they watched the rest of their company and listen to her ramble on about why they needed the books that she had insisted that she bring.

"Well because Hogwarts closed down and all, I figured that we still have a bit to learn in the Defense Against the Dark Arts field, so I went to Diagon Alley and bought a few books that I thought we would find helpful. Don't you give me that look, Ronald Weasley…" Hermione warned, throwing a glare to her boyfriend, who was staring at her as if she had three heads. The girl pushed her bushy, brown, curly hair off her shoulders and crossed her arms, looking at her two best friends. "Well, let's go then." She said with a bossy air. "Harry, which one was yours? Which house, I mean." Her big brown eyes connected with his green ones for a moment before she looked down the path with a small frown on her face. Harry seemed so distant lately, it wasn't something she was used to. Of course, she couldn't blame him for being upset and angry, but this was probably the worst time to be so standoffish. Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by Ron.

"Look, there's a pub down here! We should go!" Ron exclaimed, happily. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other again. Both of them knew that ever since Ron had turned seventeen he had been dying to try firewhiskey. And now, a pub in the middle of old broken down Godric's Hollow seemed to be the best place to go. Harry couldn't help but think, why the hell is there a pub in Godric's Hollow when the whole little… neighborhood is deserted and broken down? The only thought on Hermione's mind, though, was, Ron is not going anywhere near firewhiskey as far as I'm concerned. But it wouldn't hurt to take a look inside the pub to see if there's anything worth looking at in there…

Hermione arched an eyebrow and looked from Ron to Harry. "I think it's worth going there, but neither of you, do you hear me? Neither of you are going anywhere near firewhiskey. Do you hear me?" She asked, giving Ron another one of her looks, knowing he was more likely to go for firewhiskey than Harry was. Both of her friends nodded and began heading toward the pub. Ron was practically running to it, and Harry and Hermione both hung back.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, pushing her hair out of the way again and shoving her hands into the pockets of her pink fleece jacket. It was much colder than she had expected, if she had known she would have worn more than jeans, a white sweater and her jacket, but she could deal with the weather for the time being. Though she was sure, with the cold wind whipping at her face her nose and cheeks were fairly red, and she resembled something like a muggle clown. Or perhaps a Quaffle.

Harry looked at her for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly. "Hermione, I reckon you know the answer to that already." He said quietly, looking away from her when he spoke. There was just something about her, something that made him never really know what to say, and never want to look at her when they spoke. Perhaps it had always been like this. No, in fact, he knew quite well it had just come to be this way very recently, just around the end of last year. Perhaps it was just that during his internal struggle with himself he had come to realize that maybe, no, it wasn't even a maybe anymore, he fancied Hermione. But of course, being Harry Potter, nothing, well hardly anything ever went the way he planned it to, and she ended up with Ron instead of himself.

Hermione sighed and looked at her forlorn friend. "I'm sorry Harry… I didn't mean to upset you, I just…" She trailed off and stared down at her light pink trainers, acting like much less of a seventeen year old than she should be. She couldn't help it, though. Even if Harry was one of her best friends in the whole entire world, she couldn't help but find him a bit intimidating ninety nine percent of the time that she was with him. Her eyes trailed to Ron who was halfway down the road to the pub already, almost skipping like a very small school boy. She knew that sometimes she questioned her and Ron's relationship, whether it wasn't the best thing for either of them, and perhaps she fancied someone else. This thought was always readily pushed away by other thoughts telling her, of course you like Ron, if you didn't, you wouldn't be dating him.

"Don't be sorry, Hermione, I should be sorry for being snappish with you." Harry replied, immediately feeling remorse for having been standoffish with her. "You know I don't mean anything I say, Hermione." He added, sighing and finally looking at her. There was a moment of silence, where he thought he might burst and tell her how he felt about her and how beautiful she was, even with a bright red nose and matching cheeks. "Let's go catch up with Ron then," He started, breaking the silence. "He's acting like an excited six year old for his Christmas presents."

This made Hermione laugh. "Too true. Yes, let's go then." She said, looking over at him as well, catching his eyes with hers for a moment. The pair walked down the path quicker than they had before, catching up with Ron in about a minute. "A little eager there, are we, love?" Hermione asked, smiling at Ron as they approached the pub.

Ron grinned and looked up at her sheepishly. "Just a tad." He said, looking the place up and down. It was a dingy little place, he would definitely give it that. It was small, and the sign which he imagined once had the name of the place on it was hanging to a short post by only one rusty iron ring, though it looked like there had once been one on the opposite side as well. This was excellent, he couldn't wait to go in and get his hands on some of the firewhiskey. Even if Hermione said he wasn't allowed to have any, he'd find a way, didn't he always?

Harry, on the other hand, whose mood had lightened a bit from before, dropped right back down to where it had been when he heard Hermione call Ron love. Perhaps he and Ron could both get their hands on some firewhiskey, with the mood he was in, he would certainly be needing some if the three of them planned on having a civil, and possibly even fun night together. He sighed and looked up from his trainers to his best friends. "Shall we go in then?" He asked, attempting to remain as civil as he could in the state that he was in. Of course she called him love, they are dating. You should love someone if you're dating them… I'm overreacting to this, it's all just silly… Harry thought waiting for one of his friends to respond.

"Right, go in." Hermione said, as if she had been taken aback by this statement. She had been too busy thinking about how much she really did not want to go in here. It was so shabby and dingy looking, must they really go in? Well, there was no talking Ron out of it, so she and Harry were both obliged to go in with him. Though, Harry didn't really look like he was objecting to going in here either, so now she would be the only one that didn't want to go in here. Well… Perhaps it wasn't as bad inside as it seemed. But one thing was definitely for sure; this was going to be a very long night.

xxx

A/N: I haven't written fan fiction in like, a million years, so if this isn't that good, it's because I'm a bit rusty. I hope you liked it though, because I've had some serious brain blockage, this took a lot of thought and a bout a week to write. So if you do like it- don't expect new chapters every day. Well yea.