"Oi, Harry!" shouted Ron from his spot under a tree by the lake. It was one of the few still standing after the turmoil that ensued during the battle. Debris still littered the grounds.

Harry jogged over to Ron and threw himself onto the ground, glad to be happy once more. "Hey mate, how're you doing?" Their jovial exchanges were a welcome lapse amid the stifling sadness.

"Can't complain," replied Ron. "You?"

"It's strange being here, you know? It's like it's not ours anymore."

"Well, it isn't. You have the Burrow, and me, I've got Grimmauld Place and Kreacher."

"But you'll be bloody lonely with no one but that little toerag for company, no matter how good his treacle tart is," protested Ron.

"Yeah, I know. So I've been thinking you, Hermione, and Ginny could move in after all of the burials?"

Ron considered it very briefly. "Yeah, seeing as Mum's liable to burst into tears whenever anyone mentions Fred, and Dad just sort of stares into space a lot. It won't be the same at home for a bit."

"It's settled then. You'll all come live with me for a while. It will be just like when we were out searching for Horcruxes...'cept I'll have Ginny..."

Ron coughed and looked towards the castle. "Speaking of," he observed. "Here come Hermione and Ginny now."

Indeed, Hermione and Ginny were deep in conversation, their faces illuminated by the setting sun. Ron and Harry sat transfixed until Hermione spotted them. The girls-or now, this came as a startling shock to Harry and mostly, Ron—women turned toward them and made their way over until they had settled beside their respective boyfriends.

Harry had a sudden wave of memory crash upon him as he laced his fingers between Ginny's. It was a recollection of the time Sirius had asked him to come to live with him—on those very same shores. Harry remembered the bliss, the hope; a feeling now magnified a million times by the absence of fear. Though the words they spoke were tainted with sadness, the overwhelming hope suppressed the pain.

Harry flopped back onto the grass and one by one, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione followed suit. They gazed up at the peachy clouds and Harry spoke.

"Hermione, Ginny…Ron and I were just thinking and-"

"Uh oh," interrupted Hermione, grinning.

"Thinking?" remarked Ginny, "Ron, don't you remember the last time you tried to think?" The two young ladies giggled.

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, though they were secretly relieved that this proof of Hermione and Ginny's remaining girlhood had surfaced.

"Anyway, I want all of us to live at my place. Grimmauld Place, that is." The girls seemed to wrap their minds around that thought for a moment.

"Well I think it's a lovely idea Harry," said Ginny. Harry grinned sheepishly at her.

"It'd make for a lovely summer," agreed Hermione.

"We'll start our new life all together, and with Kreacher at our beck and call-" began Ron.

"Ron!" scolded Hermione. The tips of Ron's ears flushed scarlet as he remembered her fondness for house-elves.

"Of course we'll pay him and let him work when he wants to and those sorts of things. . . " Ron humored Hermione before shaking his head nearly imperceptibly to Harry. The two obviously were going to take advantage of Kreacher's cooking and bed-making services clandestinely.

"Speaking of food, it's nearly time for dinner," added Ron, staring longingly at the castle.

"Ginny and I ate at the Three Broomsticks," said Hermione. "But go on, I can hear your stomach from over here."

"I may as well go along," said Harry, feigning indifference. He stood and pulled Ginny away from the other two for a word. "We'll see each other later?"

"Of course Harry. But now that the Room is occupied, where can we go that won't be quite as packed?" asked Ginny worriedly.

"I've thought about that too, Ginny. Ask Hermione if she knows the password to the Prefects' Bathroom. It's the only place I could imagine would be untouched by the battle."

"Okay," said Ginny, eyeing him curiously.

"Fourth door to the left of the fifth-floor statue of Boris the Bewildered, nine o' clock." And Harry kissed her forehead as Ron said his hasty, hungry goodbye to Hermione.

Ginny rejoined Hermione and the pair watched Harry and Ron's retreating backs affectionately as Hermione pondered aloud about Ron's assertions, "We were speaking of food?"