Thanks for the reviews guys, really. Oh, and I forgot last time to apologise for any mistakes with the lyrics. I'm pretty sure they're acurrate, but mistakes happen. Same goes for any type-os. I try, but sometimes this stuff slips past me.

Background Music

6. Breathe – Taylor Swift – Fearless

And we know it's never simple, never easy

Never a clean break, no one here to save me

You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand

And I can't breathe without you, but I have to

She didn't bother trying to lean on Harry. Her guys – and they were hers, would always be hers, no matter what – weren't exactly great with the emotional side of things. She'd learned, over the years, to handle her own feelings, to fight back the tears whenever possible, and, if she had to be emotional, to lean on Ginny.

Now, though, there was no Ginny here, and Harry was hurting, too. She hated Ron. Sometimes. Sometimes it was easier to hate him, easier to hold onto the anger, rather than the hurt.

But she was hurting. And suffocating. She was the smart one, the one who should be able to figure all of this out. And now, she didn't feel smart, didn't feel skilled or capable. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and one of the only two people she felt able to count on right now had left. And Harry, well, it wasn't fair to lean on him, not when he was under so much pressure, most of all from himself. And, if she was brutally honest, she didn't think he'd be any good to her anyway.

Hermione closed her eyes, and forced herself to breathe, carefully, deliberately, and told herself she could do this. She had to.

Hope you know this ain't easy,

Easy for me.

x

7. Can't Stop, Gotta Date With Hate – Lostprophets – Liberation Transmission

A moment feels so out of place

As we're left standing in disgrace

Paint your fingernails at night

Style your hair in the bathroom light

She brushed her hair slowly, her eyes fixed on her reflection in the mirror. The sunlight filtered through the window, providing the best light in the house. She could hear the sound of the sea, faintly, and the sounds of Bill downstairs, fixing breakfast. She'd ordered him to eat, knowing he wouldn't unless she made him. Then she'd come up here to get ready. And, as she started to style her hair, she despised herself for it. As if it mattered how she looked, today. As if it mattered how her hair was styled, whether or not she was wearing make-up.

This was her brother-in-law's funeral. No one cared how she looked, not even herself. And yet, she wanted some sense of normality. Some routine, some familiarity. So she prepared herself, taking care with her appearance, and hated it. One day, one day she wouldn't feel guilty over such a normal act. But today...

Beautiful, she thought, studying herself in the mirror and hating herself for it. Just beautiful.

Hatred never looked this good

Whoever thought it could?

x

8. Why – Go: Audio – Drive to the City B-side

It's been two weeks since I heard your voice

But it echoes in my mind

Your lipstick marks still on my cup

That you left behind

Damn it, there were pieces of her everywhere. Draco snarled as he threw the cup across the room, and glared at the shattered pieces as they scattered on the floor. The act might have made him feel better, except he could still see, ever clearly, the mark of Astoria's lipstick. There were other little signs of her, too. Her jacket, still hung over the back of a chair. A pair of her earrings on the little table in the living room. The toothbrush that she had shyly found a place for in his bathroom.

God, he could still remember that moment, the way he'd fallen, head over heels, for that shyness. Was that what had always drawn him to her? The innocence, the shyness? There had been something, from the moment he saw her, and he still couldn't get her out of his head, two weeks after he'd let her go. For her own good, because he loved her and didn't want to hurt her. He'd hurt her anyway, he knew. By letting her go, he'd hurt her. But that was better, surely that was better, than keeping her and destroying her?

If only he could stop this craving for her, stop being desperate to get her back. Stop feeling the loss of her everywhere, every minute, stop hearing the silence.

He repaired the cup, and set it back on the counter, exactly where it had been for the last two weeks. Then he walked away, suffering.

Nothing compares to the way I felt

With you there, that night

x

9. My Last Breath – Evanescence – Fallen

Closing your eyes to disappear

You pray your dreams will leave you here

But still you wake and know the truth

No one's there

Her eyes flicked open, and she'd sat up and hit her wand, murmuring for light, before she was fully awake. Ginny blinked and looked around the room, confused for a moment. And then she sighed and laid back down. She'd had the dream again. The one where Fred was stood, talking to her, joking, teasing, laughing. The one where he was alive.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly. It had been almost a year since his death, and she'd thought she was coping with it, handling it, almost...well, getting over it, as much as possible. And now she found herself dreaming of Fred, alive, so vividly that waking up was like another loss. She understood why. The one-year anniversary was getting closer, so her brother had been more so in her thoughts. Though the wound was raw, it was healing, and so she felt guilty for moving on. For feeling happy sometimes. She supposed that, subconsciously, she was reminding herself of all she'd lost.

And, almost as bad as reliving that loss every time she woke, was the way it left her feeling after. Just as mixed-up and damaged as she had in those first few months after the war. Just as paranoid. Her gaze flickered automatically around the room, just to make sure she was safe. It worried her, angered her, that she was losing her sense of safety again, when she'd only just gotten it back after so long. And it worried her, angered her, that there was a part of her that wanted to keep dreaming those dreams, to spend time with the brother she missed so much.

She laid back down, shut out the wand-light, and stared at the ceiling, just a little afraid, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of. And then, as she slipped back into sleep, she saw Fred's face, smiling and telling her not to be afraid.

Say goodnight

Don't be afraid

x

10. Emergency – Paramore – All We Know Is Falling

I've seen you cry

Way too many times

When you deserve to be alive

Alive

She gripped his hand. She didn't know what else to do for him, what else she could do for him.

Nothing would change the facts. Nothing would bring his brother back, or erase everything they'd seen, and done. For either of them. She was trying to be selfless, to be strong and there for the people around her, but every time Hermione closed her eyes, she ended up replaying some fractured moment of the battle. Seeing a death, hearing a scream. Feeling the burn of a jinx skim by her, and feeling the horror as she sent a curse at someone and watched them fall. She'd never forget a moment of it.

Ron considered just walking away from her. He was afraid that if she kept trying to hold him up, he'd lean on her and just breakdown. But he didn't quite have the strength to release her hand; so he gave in and tightened his hold.

He wanted to tell her they'd be OK. That they'd get through this. That everything was going to be fine. But he didn't know whether or not that was true, and didn't have the energy to lie. Instead, he looked at the scar on her hand, wondering idly where it had come from.

They all had a lot of scars, now, in every sense of the word.

These scars, they will not fade away