Hermione

I was disturbed sometime in the early hours of the morning by a particularly loud hoot. He must have woken the others as well, as I heard Ron cursing under his breath. Seeing that no one else was going to pick up the letter, I did and read the name. I read Harry's name on the front and handed it to him. I watched him open it, his green eyes scanning the page, his face blank the whole time. He looked up when he finished reading and said,

'Kingsley wants Ron, Hermione and me to meet him in McGonagall's office to discuss something.'

'When?' I asked. Harry glanced down at the letter again and said,

'As soon as possible.' I nodded and stood up pulling Ron with me. I saw Harry lean towards Ginny, so I pulled Ron to the portrait hole as he glared at the pair. A few seconds later, Harry caught up with us and we walked in silence to the Headmistress' office. When we entered, Kingsley asked us to sit and we obeyed glancing at each other. Kingsley began and I focused all my attention on him.

'First off, I would like to congratulate and thank the three of you for finally finishing this war and getting rid of Voldemort. Now, on to business, I have called you here to discuss your near future. I have three options that you may choose from, but I first need to know what you would like to do.' I turned a slight pink at this because I knew that once Harry and Ron heard what i wanted to do they would bug me to no end about it. I realised Harry had started speaking so stopped my train of thought and listened to him.

'I wanted to be an auror,' he said slowly. Kingsley nodded and turned to me.

'I er, I wanted to help improve the lives of house elves.' Kingsley nodded and said,

'That would put you in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.' I nodded to show I understood. 'And you, Mr. Weasley?' I saw his ears turn red.



'Well, I er, I wanted to be an auror as well, but I er, I wanted to help my brother in his joke shop for a bit first...' He trailed off looking down at his shoes as I took his hand. Kingsley nodded and said in a sympathetic voice,

'I'm sorry about your brother. He could make us all forget about the war for a moment or two.' Ron swallowed and nodded. I stroked his hand with my thumb as Kingsley started to speak again.

'Now, your three choices are, one; you may all start your jobs right away. Two; we can find someone to teach you what you missed over the past year, basically like tutoring. The last option is to come back to Hogwarts for your last year.' At once Harry said,

'Hogwarts.' I looked at him surprised. I sat and thought about it as did Ron. Hogwarts was by far the most appealing option to me so I said,

'Hogwarts,' at the same time as Ron. We shared an amused grin. Kingsley smiled and replied,

'Very well. You will each get a letter before September.' We nodded, shook hands with Kingsley and headed for the door. Before we left, Kingsley said,

'One last thing, Harry?' Harry turned. 'Good luck with the fans.' Harry grinned and said,

'Thanks, I'll need it.' As we headed back to the Common Room, I happened to glance at Harry and noticed something. He had a strange look in his eyes and that's when I realised something. While we were in hiding, he would be quiet for long periods of time and he would have that look in his eyes. He also had that look in his eyes when he said he would come back to Hogwarts for his last year. But what could it mea-, I've got it! It's happiness, love, joy. It all ties in with Ginny also! He would be thinking of her in hiding during those long silent periods, Hogwarts... he would be with Ginny at Hogwarts! I can't believe I missed this! I wonder if Ron noticed. Probably not. He's clueless with these types of things. Anyways, he would have mentioned something by now. When we got to the portrait hole I said,

'Um, Harry, would you mind if Ron and I went for a walk?' I don't want him to feel left out, even though he has Ginny, it wouldn't make him feel very well if we just left. I want to tell Ron about my discovery. Harry looked bemused as he said,

'Okay, see you later?' I nodded and Harry continued into the Common Room. When the Portrait Hole closed, Ron and I started heading for the grounds. Once we were further away from the Common Room, I asked,

'Ron? Have you noticed anything different about Harry?' I have to be careful. I don't want to upset him. Ron looked at me and said,

'Well, of course I've noticed something different about Harry. He is Harry Potter after all.' I shook my head. See, clueless.

'No, Ron, I mean er, have you ever noticed how he acts around Ginny?' He was quiet a bit and when I started to wonder if he had heard me he said,

'No...' very slowly. I sighed.

'Ron. Whenever he's around her, talks to her or thinks of her he gets this... um, this special... look in his eyes. Ginny makes him really happy, Ron. Didn't you ever notice anything different about him while we were in hiding? How he would be quiet for those long periods of time? I think he was thinking of her. He missed her. Or even last year, while they were together. He was happier than he had been for such a long time. Don't you realize now?' After five minutes I asked,

'Ron?' He started and said,

'What? Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking, and... I think you're right.' I smiled. We walked the rest of the way to the Entrance Hall in silence. When we got to the Entrance Hall, however, we were engulfed in such a strong hug; I thought my ribs would snap.

'Hermione, dear! Ron! How are you two? Where are Harry and Ginny?'



'Uh,' I said thinking fast. 'We've just er, been resting somewhere, and er, when we left Harry was sleeping and er, Ginny had just woken up when we left.' Mrs Weasley nodded and said,

'We've decided to leave tomorrow. Meet here at eleven in the morning. Make sure you pass it on to Harry and Ginny.' We nodded and had no choice but to turn around and head back to the Common Room. When Ron and entered the Common Room, I immediately spotter Harry's unruly black hair and the Ginny's red hair. I started towards them but stopped when I heard someone give a sob. Were we walking in on something private? I turned around to head back out when Ron walked right past me. He obviously didn't hear them. I groaned quietly and followed him to the other two. What I saw broke my heart but also put a smile on my face. Ginny was crying into Harry's chest, and Harry was rubbing her back, whispering in her ear. When we sat Harry noticed us and gave me a 'can-we-be-alone-for-a-minute' look. I nodded and grabbed Ron's hand, dragging him up to his old Dormitory.

Good thing I put a silencing charm on the door before we entered.

'Bloody hell, Hermione! Why is my sister crying?' I had hoped he wouldn't ask that question. I sighed and bowed my head.

'I think, er, I think she's finally realised that, that Fred's gone...' I said quietly.

'Oh.' He said, and he put his head in his hands. I sat down and hugged him. I've never lost someone as close as an intermediate family member, so I don't really know how to help. I need to ask Harry how he coped. I listened a hard as I could to figure out if Ginny had calmed down or not. I couldn't hear anything so I lead Ron down to the Common Room. Ginny had tears running down her face but she wasn't making a sound. Harry had pulled her into a hug and was rubbing her arm. I gave a small smile at the couple. They were so perfect together. I sat Ron down beside Ginny and watchd as Harry let Ron comfort her. Harry stood up and motioned for me to do the same. We walked up to the boy's Dormitory again and Harry lay down on what I remember as his bed while I sat on Ron's

'I thought we should let those two be alone for a bit,' he said. I nodded and watched him. He closed his eyes but stayed awake. He then sat up and started running his fingers over his scar.

'Is it still hurting?' I asked concerned. He jumped a bit and said,



'No. Just trying to let the fact that it'll never hurt me again sink in.' I nodded. After a while I said,

'Mrs Weasley said we're leaving tomorrow at eleven in the Entrance Hall.' Harry looked slightly crestfallen at this news.

'What's wrong?' I asked him.

'Nothing, I'm fine.' I was smarter than that but let it go. After a while we both ended up falling asleep.

Harry

When I walked back into the Common Room, I was thinking of how happy Ginny would be when she found out that I was coming back to Hogwarts, but apparently, she had something different in mind. I could see her sitting on the sofa, but she was silently shaking. I hurried over to her and saw that she was sobbing. I don't know what came over me, I'm usually not very good with sobbing girls, but, somehow I knew what to do for Ginny. I hugged her to me and she clung to my shirt front. I felt my shirt get wet as she started sobbing even more. I rubbed her back and whispered nonsense words into her ear, trying to calm her. Even though she didn't say anything, I knew what was wrong. Fred's death had hit her just now. I kept whispering to her and didn't notice Ron and Hermione enter until they sat down across from us. I gave Hermione a 'can-we-be-alone-for-a-minute-please?' look. She nodded and dragged Ron up the stairs to out Dormitory. Ginny had calmed down a bit so I said,

'It's fine to cry Ginny. Everyone's lost someone, and everyone deals with it differently.' I felt my eyes water a bit thinking of Sirius, but didn't let the tears fall. After a while, Hermione and Ron came down. I let Ron comfort Ginny an tears fell down his face. I don't think I've ever seen him cry. I guess there's a first for everything. I defiantly know that.