He was back. After months of worrying, months of suffering at Hogwarts without him through this war. And then just like that he was back. I don't know what I expected. I suppose deep down I wished him to come back and for everything to be the same as when he left. But it wasn't. The war had changed him. Hell, it has changed me, and I don't think ill every be the same again. I had grown up. I'm no longer the baby of the family, I cant keep up the act of being the feisty red head, who just shakes everything off. Because there's to much to shake off. After the final battle, I lost some important people. Fred, Tonks, Lupin. And there is no bringing them was colder. The fight that showed in his eyes, the passion to do what was right was gone, and I know why. He had killed. Murdered. For all the right reasons, but in his mind it didn't matter. It still changed him. I don't know him anymore. And he doesn't know me. The distance he put between us is still there, even though he's back, and its killing me more than when he had left. He's close enough to touch, and I still cant reach him. We might as well be strangers.----------------------------------------------------------------------------"What are you thinking?"I was sitting in the garden at the Burrow, my childhood home, staring out on the landscape. We had just finished with Fred's funeral. Everyone was inside, properly drinking themselves into oblivion. In fact I don't think George had been sober for a week. My heart broke for him, and for me as we mourned the loss of a brother. I had been sitting there wondering why I hadn't cried at the funeral. It was almost as if the war had hardened me. And then his voice broke into my thoughts. He, who although we had been in the same house for two weeks had not once looked at me, spoke to voice caught in my throat, and I felt in relief the tears start to pour down my face. Relief that I could grieve, that the war had not broken me. Hearing my tears, he sat down beside me, but not as close as he use to. I turned to look at his face. It seemed…..empty. There was no life in his face, not even loss or sorrow, nothing. It was as if he had lost the ability to feel or express emotion, and it stilled my tears at turned to meet my gaze, with a questioning look." I cant tell what your thinking anymore" I whispered, the truth and reality of the statement hitting looked at me blankly, as if id not even uttered a word and it broke my heart." I could always tell you know, " I continued, " just by the look on your face what you were thinking, what you were going to do, but now…….. I don't know you anymore. I don't know how you feel , what you think. I don't even know how I feel, what I think."We sat in silence once more, gazing out at the stars. I felt like the silence was suffocating me, and the need to leave him, leave this peaceful place overwhelmed me. Standing up, I wiped my eyes, and began to make my way towards the house." I don't know who I am anymore".He spoke softly I wasn't if I had imagined it, but I stilled, and he continued." I don't know if I'm who you fell in love with before I left. And you deserve better than that. I think its best if we spend some time apart."Without answering I continued walking towards the house, hoping that he couldn't hear my tears, or the sound of my heart breaking, at the realisation that we really were strangers to each changes people. Usually wars bring you closer to the people you love, but it drove an empty space between us. Maybe one day we would cross that space, but for now it was to big too try