Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters

The next day Madame Pomfrey gave Hermione the okay to be up and around. Since high stress seemed to be what kept landing her flat on her back she was instructed to keep the stress level as low as possible. What constituted a low stress level was currently a bone of contention between her and Harry.

"Hermione I don't think this is a good idea. This is one of the most stressful things you could possibly do."

Hermione shook her head as she pulled a jacket on in the Great Hall. "I need to do this Harry. I want to see, more than that I need to."

"I still think it's too soon."

She laid her hand on his arm gently. "I appreciate your concern Harry, I really do, but I won't break. "

He sighed. "There's no way I can convince you not to do this is there?"

"No there's not," she told him with a smile.

Harry shook his head and pulled his jacket on as well. "Then I'm at least going with you. Come on."

They walked together out of the castle and across the grounds. At the edge of the forest they came to the newest edition to the grounds, the graveyard where all of the casualties of the war had been laid to rest. Hermione walked from grave to grave, crying silently as she read the names written on the stones. Harry stood stoically beside her the entire time while never uttering a word. Though she resolutely put it off she knew at last that it was time to see where Ron was buried.

"Harry…"

He cut her off with a simple nod of his head and led her to the far corner of the walled in graveyard. There it was, standing solitary under a newly planted tree. The stone bore the name Ronald Weasley, his dates of birth and death and a simple inscription: Brave to the last, a hero through and through.

"The inscription fits. I never told you, how he died I mean."

She turned her tear stained face to look at him. "Tell me now."

"I wasn't there, everyone told me later. Apparently Luna had broken her leg and couldn't walk. One of the Death Eaters was coming towards her and she couldn't move, couldn't find her wand. The Death Eater cast the killing curse but Ron jumped in front of her and took the curse for her. She apparently grabbed Ron's wand and finished the Death Eater. But she died a couple of hours later."

"He really was a hero," Hermione managed to whisper.

"Yeah, he was."

With tears badly blurring her vision she groped for Harry's hand. For a long while they stood hand in hand simply remembering. Slowly, Hermione's thoughts turned towards life. She began to contemplate how lucky she was to be standing there at that moment. Though she would have to deal with the pain and grief of losing so many friends, she was there. In that moment she made a decision.

"I want to talk to Zabini," she announced.

Harry shook himself out of his thoughts and stared down at her. "I figured you may want to, but he's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

He shrugged. "He left yesterday without saying a word to anyone. He just took his stuff and went.

"I really feel like I need to say something to him Harry. Is there any way to find him?"

"I'm not sure but I'll see if I can find anything."

"Thank you." She looked down at the stone one last time and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again they were sad but clear. "Come on, let's go."

Two months later nobody had seen or heard from Blaise Zabini since the day he'd left Hogwarts. Most people had given up on finding him, but Hermione was determined to talk to him. Because Harry knew it he had contacts all over trying to locate the Slytherin. Meanwhile he and Hermione were sharing an apartment while she trained to be a healer and he trained to be an auror.

Unfortunately there was no longer any way for Harry to escape recognition in the wizarding world. He couldn't take two steps down the street without someone stopping him to thank him profusely for what he'd done. Half of his auror trainers and his fellow trainees assumed that he already knew everything there was to know so he was barely doing anything. He was growing increasingly frustrated and it all came to a head one day when he went to visit Lupin at Grimmauld place. The old house had been radically changed since he'd sold it to Remus and Tonks right after the war.

Harry and Remus were sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee, talking about anything and everything and eventually the subject of training came around.

"Tell me Harry, how is training going?" Remus knew immediately that it was a bad question to ask.

Harry's eyes flashed dangerously. "It's absolute shite."

Lupin sighed but decided it was best to continue the conversation. "And why is that?"

"I'm not doing anything! Everyone just thinks I already know how to do everything! That plus the fact that half the people I'm training with can't even look at me without falling all over themselves is enough to drive me up a wall!"

"It must be difficult for you Harry, but I'm honestly not sure what you expected."

Harry slammed his hand down on the table before standing up to pace. "I don't know either, but it couldn't have been this."

"You vanquished the most terrible dark wizard in history Harry."

"I know that! I better than anyone know that. But I never asked to be anyone's savior. I'm not The Boy Who Lived or the chosen one. I'm just me. I'm not a hero, I'm not an angel. I'm just a man Remus, and that's all I want to be."

"I know understand all of that, but you're Harry Potter. You'll always be famous, and like it or not you'll always be the redeemer of the wizarding world."

Harry sunk back into his chair. "I know that, but I wish everyone could just understand. They see me as the great savior but nobody really understands how I feel."

"Try to make me understand Harry."

He shook his head. "I did what I had to do Remus. What Voldemort did to my family and friends made it so it was what I had to do. But people died because of me. People who were following me were dragged off the battlefield."

"People make their choices."

"I know that, but people I love died because of me." His voice broke a bit. "Sirius and Ron died because of me."

Lupin's heart broke a bit at the words but he spoke sharply. "You no more caused Ron and Sirius' deaths than I caused myself to be a werewolf."

"I've already heard it all Remus, trust me."

"Well then you're going to hear it again," he said with a frown. "Do you honestly think that Ron wouldn't have been out there no matter what? Even if the two of you had never met he still would have fought. His family have been opposed to Voldemort all along, and even if you had never come along Ron would have been on that battlefield, so don't for a moment think that you were the cause of his death. And as far as Sirius, we both know that there was nothing that could have stopped him going to the Ministry that night. He was always strong willed and ruthlessly determined. There wasn't anything you could have done."

Harry stared at Lupin for a long moment before he spoke. "Everything you say makes sense in my head, but I still can't reconcile everything."

Remus shook his head and decided to move on from that particular topic. "Have you told Hermione how you feel about all of this?"

He frowned. "No I haven't. She went through enough and I don't want her to worry about this."

"And you don't want to burden her. You should talk to her Harry. She may have gone through a lot but she's a tough girl."

"She's tough but I won't have my worries on her shoulders."

They both went silent for a moment and Remus studied his young friend for a moment before deciding to dive in. "Have you ever considered telling her that you love her?"

"Of course I have but it never…" He caught himself and trailed off with a frown. "That was tricky of you wasn't it?"

"I suppose it was, yes," he said with a smile. "Tonks and I knew the moment she came into the Great Hall that day, and I'm serious about letting her know"

"I know you are, but I've thought it over millions of times and I always come to the same conclusions. She's my best friend, and I wouldn't destroy that friendship for anything in the world."

"What if she feels the same?"

"I don't think she does, and it's not a chance I'm willing to take. If me not telling her can keep her happy for that much longer then I'm prepared to do that. I'm all about self sacrifice remember?" he said wryly.

Remus ignored Harry's little dig at himself and smiled. "When did you become such a grown up?" he asked.

"You know I've been wondering that myself lately."

"I just want to tell you that I'm proud of you Harry. You've done well with your life under extraordinary pressure and in extreme circumstances. You've become a very good man."

Harry smiled a genuine smile for the first time that day. "Thank you, it means a lot to hear that from you." He paused. "Dad."

They both laughed out loud and Remus let out a sigh. "Dad, oh Merlin I'm old."

"Hey if you're dad does that mean I get to call Tonks Mom?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Not if you want to live much longer," Tonks piped up from the doorway.

Both men turned to look at her and Harry smiled, noting that her hair was green today. "Okay, okay. How about Auntie Tonks?"

"Don't bet on it," she said with a giggle. As she crossed the kitchen she tripped over a stray shoe and with a muttered oath went tumbling. Thankfully she was within arms reach of Remus and he reached out and pulled her into his arms before she could hit the floor.

He settled her on her lap with a smile. "Now isn't that handy?" he asked innocently.

"Very handy," she said seriously, bending to give him a kiss.

Harry laughed and rose from the table. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. Thanks Remus." He was halfway to the door when he heard Remus shout.

"Tell her Harry!"

When he had gone Tonks stood to make herself some tea. "He still hasn't said anything to Hermione then?"

Remus rose with a sigh and came to stand behind her. "No, he's too bloody stubborn. Sometimes he's entirely too much like Sirius."

A moment later Tonks squealed as she distinctly felt someone pinch her bum. She turned and did her best to muster up a dirty look, but found she couldn't quite get there. "Sometimes so are you."

Author's Note: When Harry talks about just being a man, that line is from a song by the amazing Josh Groban called "In Her Eyes". The original line is "I am not a hero, I am not an angel, I am just a man."