12 Grimmauld place saw 3 tired and worn out adults rise from their beds once more, hours before the sun rose-as was their normal routine, still, two months after the war had ended.

Their bodies might not be as old as most, only 18 years old, but mentally, they were wiser, and more grown up, than most any other witch or wizard you might find. This of course is with good reason, none had been through more than Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.

So it was understandable, that they were often prevented from having a good night's sleep by the nightmares that would not be kept at bay.

They each knew that the others did not sleep well. Though none knew the particulars of what each saw when they closed their eyes, the three friends knew why Grimmauld place was so eerily quiet in the mornings.

With lead feet, each made their way downstairs to the kitchen. Harry took it upon himself to begin cooking breakfast. He could, if he wanted to, ask either Kreacher Dobby, who both survived the war and the final battle that ended it and now served the most noble house of potter dutifully and faithfully, to make breakfast for them. But Harry liked doing it himself, so he might have a few minutes to himself facing away from the others to calm his expression, and the house elves knew that. So they made themselves busy elsewhere in the house in the early hours of the morning, cleaning, repairing, doing laundry, tending to Hedwig and Crookshanks, or otherwise, until the trio was finished eating.

While Dobby and kreacher were making themselves sparse, and Harry was making breakfast, Ron handed Hermione a tissue, and began to fix a cup of tea for her, because he knew it helped to calm her nerves and shaking hands. And Hermione began to fix a cup of hot chocolate for both of the boys. For Ron, because she knew it helped to warm him up after he had inevitably woken up in a panic induced cold sweat. For Harry, because she knew it was one of the few things that made him feel closer to someone he'd lost, and brought one of his rare happy memories to mind.

When the drinks were ready Hermione and Ron sat down at the table to wait for Harry, who joined them a few minutes later when the breakfast was finished. Most mornings the three ate silently, and then calmer and put together enough that they could be their old, unburdened selves once more, headed upstairs to get ready for the day. This of course took Harry slightly longer than the rest, because he had a nearly 3 month old godson to get ready as well.

The end of Voldemort had not immediately meant the end of the war. Some of the more brazzen and brave death eaters had staged attacks. After seeing the dark lord come back once before, none wanted to be caught betraying him a second time, and so remained loyal, or afraid. Either way, these attacks did not last long.

The auror department began to rebuild itself, with Harry at the head replacing the death eater that had been head auror. With larger numbers, it became easier to arrive at the attacks early on, before too much damage had been done, and apprehend those responsible. After a couple of weeks word caught wind that Harry potter had helped to put nearly half a dozen death eaters in azkaban, and the rest went into hiding.

Unfortunately, before the attacks had come to an end, one took place in diagon alley the day that Harry was meeting his godson, Teddy, and his godson's grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, for some lunch. He assured that they were both safe, before running into the fray. Andromeda Tonks, who had already lost so much of her family to the war, could not lose anymore, and so she placed Teddy in the arms of the nearest elderly shopkeeper, and she too ran to fight.

Harry, young, quick, and experienced left the battle with a few wounds that would need to be treated in hospital. They same could not be said for Andromeda Tonks, who, though experienced, was no longer as young and agile as she had once been. And so, Hary become his godson's legal guardian, and Teddy became apart of the Trio's new normal.

Normally, did not come true on this morning. A few minutes after they'd begun eating, the feeling of their skin and blood being ice cold returned to the boys. They were caught off guard by this feeling returning so soon after finishing their hot chocolates. This feeling, chased away by their warm drinks, usually did not return until the next morning.

Nonetheless, after a moment or two each the boys rose from the table and set about preparing a second batch of their normal remedy for this problem. It was this unexpected movement that drew Hermione's eyes to them to see what the matter was, eyes that widened in panic and shock at what she saw in front of her.

"Harry...Ron, what's happened to your hands?"

Both boys looked down at her comment and saw something worrisome, something very different from what hermione saw, but still, worrisome regardless.

Hermione saw a bright white light, which did not actually bring any additional light into the room, covering Harry and Ron's hands from her view, and slowly making its way up their arms.

Both Harry and Ron, did not see this light, they just saw their hands, except their hands looked faded. The longer they looked, the more faded they became, until their arms, also now beginning to fade, ended at their wrists.

They looked up at Hermione in shock, only too see the same white light that she saw surrounding them, now surrounding her.

" 'Moine! Your hands've gone all white," Ron shouted out in shock!

She looked down at her hands, and saw them fading, just as the boys had seen a moment ago.

"What's happening to us" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Here. Come 'ere, both of you. Lock arms with me."

Harry's command was met with hurried movements across the room, and a frantic rush to link elbows, before their elbows were gone also.

Now standing side by side, Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited with bated breath to see what would happen when they'd completely faded from view. As the white light covered the last of their now indistinguishable forms from view, Hermione felt a somewhat familiar, but also entirely new, tugging sensation. Unaware that the two boys were also feeling the same thing, she cried out in fear of what would happen next.

"HARRY-!"

But they were gone before she could finish her sentence, leaving behind a warm breakfast and shards of empty mugs on the kitchen floor.