I looked down at my trembling hands as I stopped removing my clothes. The battle had been won; we had been successful. The world was finally rid of Voldemort and I supposed that I should be happy. I just couldn't bring myself to be so.

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as I turned off the many water faucets. I hadn't had a warm bath for longer than I could bare to remember, so after asking permission, Professor McGonagall had given me the password to the Prefect's bathroom. I felt a great deal of guilt, though. How dare I relax when so many were distraught; when so many were…dead.

I wiped away the tear that made its way down my cheek furiously. It wasn't fair. It really just wasn't fair. How could these good and brave people, who were so much better than anyone who'd supported Voldemort, die? I thought of Collin Creevy, how young he was. He was much too young to die. I immediately felt horrible for all of the times that I had internally complained about how annoying he was. He was someone to look up to. Someone that I should want to be like. My thoughts turned to Lupin and Tonks, how they had just brought a little boy into the world and they would never get to hold him again. That little boy would grow up without a mother or father. It just didn't seem right. How could this seem right to anyone?

I removed my remaining clothing and shakily lowered my abused body into the hot water, gritting my teeth against the pain. I sat there for a moment, and thought of Fred. The tears broke free from my eyes and fell into the steaming water. I grew up with this boy. The greater part of my childhood and teenage years were spent knowing him. I mourned for Fred, for George, for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I mourned for the whole Weasley family. But most of all, I mourned for him. I mourned for Ron.

I'd never seen someone so broken. His beautiful blue eyes didn't have their usual glow and his lips, the one's I had finally had the chance to kiss, were pressed together so tightly, I wondered if they'd ever turn up into my favorite crooked grin again.

A loud sob that had built up in my chest broke free, echoing throughout the marble room. I held my aching chest tightly, feeling broken. Things would never be the same again. I knew that we had never been normal, that none of us had ever experienced a safe year whilst we'd known each other, but we hadn't experienced pain such as this. This was too much to bare.

I sat there for what seemed like eternity, the bath water fading from hot to luke warm. I took a deep breath, taking the shampoo and scrubbing my head as hard as I could, following that by taking a harshly rough washing pad and rubbing my skin until it was red and raw. I felt so dirty, as if I'd never be clean again.

I drained the tub and got out, letting the chilly air hit my wet body as I stood there, staring at myself in the mirror. My body was covered in cuts and bruises; I knew my parents would be mortified if they saw me.

'They wouldn't know who I was' I reminded myself. I prayed I'd be able to find them and reverse the spell. Before I could dwell on these thoughts too much, there was a quiet knock at the door. I jumped staring at the door, unable to speak. I grabbed my wand and quickly wrapped a towel around my body.

"'Mione?" A broken voice called from the other side of the door. "Are you alright?"

I didn't even think before I sprinted over to the door and tugged it open. My heart ached when I saw him, still dirty from the battle. Dried blood covered various parts of his body and there were steaks on his blackened face where the tears had fallen. His wand was gripped in his hand and once he saw me, he lowered it, his whole body seeming to relax.

"Oh, Ron." I hugged him around his middle, holding him tight. I felt his body tense up as he wrapped his arms back around me. We stayed that way for a while before I remembered that I was only in a towel.

"You should probably get dressed." He echoed my thoughts quietly.

I looked up at him, seeing a tad bit of pink under the dirty on his cheeks. I felt myself blush as well before I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the bathroom with me.

"'Mione, what are you-" He stuttered.

"Neither of us needs to be alone right now." I told him as I grabbed the clothes that a house elf had brought me. Even though they had been told that they had a choice to leave or fight, not a single one had abandoned us. Even now, with some of their fellow elves dead, they lived to serve. I ignored this; the last thing on my mind right now was S.P.E.W.

"I'll turn around." He whispered. He did so, standing almost completely still, the only movement coming from his shoulders moving with every shaky breath he took.

I quickly put my clothes on, ignoring the protests from my pained body. I could deal with all of that later. Right now, I only needed Ron. I grabbed my wand and pointed it at my head, muttering a simple spell that would detangle and dry my hair for me. "I'm finished." I told him.

He turned back around and it broke my heart, seeing his eyes watering again. He sniffed and refused to look at me.

Part of me was unsure of what to say, or if I should say anything at all. Instead of thinking about it, I just took another step towards him and started trying to pull his shirt off.

His expression immediately changed as he looked down at me with shocked eyes. "'Mione?"

"You should take a bath, y-you'll feel much better." My arms fell slightly, but my hands were still gripping the damaged fabric. I'd do anything to make him feel better and it seemed that the bath had helped me, at least for a minute.

He watched me for a moment, his eyebrows pulled together. He simply nodded and placed his hands over mine. "I'll do this if you'll run the bath for me."

The lump in my throat came back and I squeezed his hands before turning around and hurrying over to the tub again. I sat there and watched the water falling, wishing that it could clean the inside of us too. When the bathtub was a little more than 2/3 of the way full, I turned the water off.

"W-will you close your eyes?" He asked nervously.

"Yes." I promised, closing my eyes tight. We were rather close, as was expected after what we had been through, but there was still that awkward feeling between us at times. I welcomed it with open arms, as it reminded me of when things were much simpler. I heard him get into the water and sink into it.

"You can open your eyes now." He said softly.

I did without saying anything and just looked at him. The bubbles didn't reach as far on him as they did when I was in there, only coming up right over his bellybutton. I could see the clearly defined muscles in his arms and chest. I could tell where this shirt had been, as there was an obvious line between his pale and freckled skin and the blackened skin from the battle. I noticed that he'd rubbed his face with the water and only a little of the black was still there.

"You're staring, 'Mione." The corners of his lips turned up ever so slightly, making my heart nearly jump out of my chest.

"Sorry." I said quickly, adverting my gaze immediately.

His wet hand reached out and laced his fingers with mine. I smiled at the gesture and looked back up at him.

"I was worried about you." He told me.

I felt my eyebrows pull together. Of all things, he was worried about me? "What?"

"You just disappeared." He explained me. "No one knew where you went so I was worried."

"I didn't think you guys would have wanted to be bothered." I whispered.

His face hardened and he looked away for a second. "You can't bother me."

I sat there a minute and watched him, before getting up and walking over to the drawer, pulling out a clean washcloth. He watched me as I walked back and gave me a questioning look. "You've got dirt on your nose." I told him matter-of-fact-ly.

He chuckled, taking me by surprise. I just raised an eyebrow. He shook his head and smiled at me softly. "That was one of the first things you said to me."

I felt myself grin, "I remember that. It was so long ago."

"A lot has changed." He added, still smiling. I saw a tiny spark of light in his eyes and it make me want to kiss him, but I held myself back. "Are you glad we did it?"

I looked back at him, shocked. "Of course I'm glad, Ron! I don't know what I'd do if he were still out there!"

He shook his head. "I meant earlier…"

"You mean… Oh." He was talking about the kiss. "Of course I am." I repeated in a smaller voice.

"I wish it had happened sooner." He told me, hesitating slightly before taking my free hand. "I'd wanted to do that for a while."

"Me too." I chuckled. I thought back about how strange it would have looked to an outsider, me dropping everything and throwing myself at Ron, kissing him full on the mouth. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I know after everything that's… it might seem strange… tacky in some ways, well, I just, you know what I mean right?"

I sat there and stared at him. "Not exactly…"

He took a deep breath. "Well, I mean people die," He paused for a moment, looking pained, "and stuff… I just think I'd be silly of me to not ask you to be with me out of fear."

I smiled. "You want me to be your girlfriend?" I ignored how childish the word 'girlfriend' sounded right now. I knew that what Ron and I had was more than your typical teenage fling.

"Well, yeah…" He blushed, "I mean, I'd understand if you said no, a lot has happened and there's still a lot to do and-"

I placed a finger on his lips. "I'd love to."

His face lit up, almost back to how he used to be. "You're serious?"

I nodded, smiling as I took the wash cloth that was still in my hand and dipped it into the water, then brought it back to his face and wiping the black off of his nose. A year ago, if this had happened, I would have seemed all too strange, but now it just seemed… normal.

He watched me and I did this, smiling. When I removed the wash cloth, he shook his head. "I don't know what I'd do without you, 'Mione."

I felt my heart rise in my chest. "Well, we know you surely wouldn't accomplish your homework. That's a fact."

For the first time in a long time, we both laughed, true, honest to goodness laughs. It made me realize that despite everything that happened, everything would be alright.

"I love you." He told me out of nowhere.

I ignored the urge to scream out in joy and leaned over, pushing my lips to his once more. It was nothing like the kiss we'd had earlier. This was soft and slow rather than harsh and panicked, like we had all the time in the word. After a moment, we parted and I smiled softly at him. "I love you too, Ron."