A/N: Thank you so much for your continued support! Every review I get makes me want to sing with joy, but I'm a terrible singer so I try to resist the urge. Anyway, we're laying off a bit on the Granger drama in this chapter and focusing more on the mystery plotline - hopefully you'll find it enjoyable. :)

Also - happy anniversary, Deathly Hallows. It's been six years since we had to wonder what would happen when it ends, and I'm so happy to say that we haven't had to let go of the ones who we call friends.

Disclaimer: Honestly, I am so sick of coming up with these when literally all of you know that I'm a twenty year old American who's broke as fuck and just wants to sit around and think about Harry Potter all day because J.K. Rowling is my hero.

Monday morning came faster than anyone would have liked. Sunday brunch at the Burrow had been about as relaxed as it could have been, given the circumstances, though Ron's mind was constantly jumping back to thoughts of the day before. Still, after the disaster that had been their afternoon at the Grangers', it was nice to be around people that were not inclined to shout at them every time they caught sight of Hermione's engagement ring. In fact, his mum had almost overwhelmed them with the amount of wedding planning she wanted to discuss, so much so that Hermione had promised to leave work early the following day to look it all over more fully. After a bit of pushing, Ron had agreed to come straight away after his shift as well.

That evening, they'd eaten leftover pizza for dinner, watched some television, and, much to Ron's delight, had a brilliant shag. But the relaxing end to the weekend was not enough to prepare him for the gigantic headache that would come his way Monday morning. The minute he walked into the office, he was greeted with a stack of papers in his face courtesy of the bloke that was meant to be his best friend.

"That's everything we've got on the case compiled," Harry said shortly. "Read it fast; we're bringing the victims in before noon. You've got Lavender."

"What?" Ron asked incredulously. "Why?"

"Well, it'd be pushing the boundaries if you interviewed Hermione, so I'm taking her," Harry explained. "Then Isaac and Bryce chose theirs and stuck you with Lavender."

"Isn't that some sort of a conflict of interest?" Ron complained, throwing himself into his desk chair and glancing through the stack of papers morosely, but Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Awkward isn't a conflict of interest, and you broke up more than two years ago," he said, as though he were speaking to a small child.

"Right, so I'll set up your talk with Cho for this afternoon then?" Ron retorted, raising an eyebrow so as to make his point.

"You'll be fine," Harry told him unsympathetically. "You're marrying someone else, I'll have you remember, so I think you can handle it."

"Oh right, I'm marrying the girl that this one thinks I cheated on her with," Ron mocked. "You're right, all better!"

"Yes, well, I think Lav got over it after Hermione saved her life," Harry pointed out. "Just read your papers and quit your whinging, will you?"

Ron spared him one more glare before reluctantly going through and reading the case file. There wasn't much written that he didn't already know, but it was protocol to make sure everyone working on the case was up-to-date on everything that had happened before talking to the victims. And besides, it helped to have a clear-cut outline so that he could prepare his questions for Lavender. He didn't want their meeting to take any longer than it had to. The last time he'd had a real conversation with this girl had probably been long before they'd broken up; in fact, the more he searched his thoughts, the more he realized he might never have had a real conversation with her. At any rate, their relationship had been a mess, he'd been an arse, and some part of Ron had sort of hoped he'd never have to speak to her again.

But alas, at half past eleven Isaac appeared at Ron's desk with a half-hearted smile. "Well, I've just finished with Bones. Didn't learn a whole lot, but we'll discuss it this afternoon. Brown's here for you, Weasley."

"Fantastic," Ron deadpanned, pushing himself away from his desk and gathering his notes with a heavy sigh.

"Try not to look too excited," Isaac said, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway, we'll all meet up in the back room at one to compare."

"I'll send Hermione your regards, then?" Harry called after Ron as he trudged out of the office. Ron responded only with a rude gesture that left Harry laughing and Isaac even more confused.

Lavender was waiting outside in the small lobby area, reading through a magazine and looking almost exactly as she had during their days at Hogwarts, but for the Healer robes she was wearing and the pattern of light pink scars across her face. Based on his knowledge of Bill's injuries, Ron suspected that Lavender used beauty charms to make them less noticeable and ghastly, and honestly, he was glad for it. The last time he had caught a glimpse of her had been in the hospital wing almost immediately after the battle, and he knew that had the scars been left in their natural state, he wouldn't have been able to focus properly on anything else.

Ron cleared his throat awkwardly as he approached her. "Erm…Lavender?"

"Oh, hi Ron!" she said brightly, looking up from her reading material, which he noted was the latest Witch Weekly, and smiling at him pleasantly. "How have you been?"

"Well. And you?" he asked stiffly.

"Oh, I'm doing well," she replied happily. "I'm glad it's you questioning me, you know, I was afraid it'd be some old dolt. So where are we doing this, then?"

"Erm…well, we've got rooms downstairs," Ron replied, gesturing toward the staircase that led to the interrogation rooms. "There are a couple that look less criminal for witnesses and victims, so…"

"Alright then," Lavender said cheerfully, stuffing the magazine into her oversized purse as she stood and picked up a cup of coffee she'd set on the small table beside her chair. Ron made an awkward move toward the staircase and she followed him, a bit of a bounce in her step. "I didn't know you'd become an Auror," she remarked as they made their way down.

"Erm, yeah," he muttered. "And you're at St. Mungo's, then?"

"Yes, I'm just finishing up my first year of training. I really do love it," Lavender gushed. "I'm so excited about it; Healing's all I've wanted to do, ever since this happened anyway," she continued, gesturing toward the scars on her face. "It's not very pleasant down here, is it?"

"No, not really," Ron answered with a bit of a laugh as he led her down the dungeon-like corridor til they reached the room with the artificial window. "This one's the least like a prison cell," he said, ushering her in hastily.

"Right, so, I've got a few questions to ask you about the threat you received last week," Ron continued as he approached the table and pulled out a chair for himself. Lavender brushed hers off with a bit of a scowl before sitting across from him. "Erm, it said in your file that you were home at the time-"

"This isn't awkward, is it?" Lavender interrupted, taking a sip of her coffee and staring at him intently. "You don't seem quite yourself."

"It's fine," Ron said hurriedly, not quite meeting her eyes. "Anyway, the threat-"

"No, you're uncomfortable," Lavender cut in knowingly.

Ron sighed heavily and leaned backward in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can we just-"

"We snogged for six months when we were sixteen, and you were in love with one of my roommates the whole time," Lavender continued matter-of-factly, and Ron was almost comforted to see that she hadn't given up the annoying-as-fuck habit of interrupting anything he ever tried to say.

"Well, I was kind of-" he began.

"An idiot?" Lavender finished for him. "That's alright, so was I. I called you 'Won-Won,' for Merlin's sake. I can't believe you didn't go running faster than you did."

Ron couldn't help but ease up a bit and laugh at that. "So you admit that was bad, then?"

"We're all stupid when we're sixteen," Lavender dismissed with a laugh. "It's a bit embarrassing now, isn't it? The whole thing, I mean."

"Yeah," Ron admitted. "Not that being with you was embarrassing, just-"

"No, I know," Lavender said kindly. "I wasn't the one you wanted to be with, anyone with eyes could see that. That's probably why I clung on like some sort of parasite. Sixteen and stupid, indeed."

"I was still an arse," Ron replied guiltily. "I'd take it all back if I could."

"So would I," Lavender admitted. "I mean, that necklace I gave you for Christmas…"

"I don't know if I hated that or 'Won-Won' more," Ron responded honestly, pulling a face that made Lavender laugh again.

"But you're with Hermione now, right?" she asked after a moment. "I saw her at the hospital once last year while she was volunteering. I finally got to apologize and thank her for, you know, what happened during the battle."

"Yeah, she told me about that," Ron remembered, casting his mind back to last Christmas Eve, when Hermione had insisted on going to St. Mungo's to volunteer. He'd been a bit alarmed when she'd come back talking about his ex-girlfriend, but it had apparently gone well. "But yeah, we're together," he continued. "Getting married this autumn, actually."

"Oh, you are?" Lavender gushed excitedly. "That's wonderful! I always knew it!"

"Did you?" Ron asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, not always," Lavender admitted. "But it's meant to be, of course! I'm so happy for the two of you!"

"Thanks," Ron said with a grin. He couldn't help but feel his heart soar a bit as he got confirmation from another person, his ex-girlfriend no less, that he and Hermione were meant to be together. It was comforting to know that was the dominant opinion in the face of the opposition they'd got from her parents. "Are we done now?"

"We haven't started yet!" Lavender protested jokingly, taking another large sip of her coffee.

Ron rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "So the threat that you received. Can you tell me what happened, please?"

"Well, I was sitting at home studying for my next round of healing exams," Lavender recalled slowly. "My boyfriend, Scott, was the one that actually got the owl, but it flew away before he could catch a good glimpse of it. Anyway, he'd been in the kitchen and I was in the bedroom, so he brought it in to me. I was studying, like I said, so I ignored it for about an hour. I opened it right as Scott called for me; he works in Diagon Alley as a chef at The Goblins' Cavern, you see, and he'd cooked me a nice dinner as a surprise. So I opened the letter on my way to the table, and, well, you saw what was in it, and we brought it straight to the Ministry. It was quite strange, you know, that they said 'half-breed.' I don't transform."

"So it probably wasn't someone you know well, then," Ron finished, scribbling down a few notes as she talked. "But whoever it was knew enough about your history to know Greyback attacked you."

"Yes," Lavender confirmed. "There are a lot of people that know about that, though. Nearly anyone that's seen my face in the past year could at least guess what's happened."

"But you haven't received any more threats or noticed anything strange since the initial letter, is that right?" Ron asked, looking through the rest of the file briefly.

"Yes, that's right," Lavender said earnestly. "So why am I being questioned, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Yours wasn't an isolated incident," Ron replied, "and the other victims were all in our year at Hogwarts. Is there anybody from school that would have known about the attack, but wouldn't know that you don't transform?"

"Well, I don't know," Lavender said thoughtfully. "I think everyone from Gryffindor knows, and I can't see any of us doing something like this."

"Any of the Slytherins?" Ron prompted. "We have reason to believe whoever's behind this could have ties to the Death Eaters."

"Hmm," Lavender hummed, tapping her foot as she thought. "I don't know that I've seen any of the Slytherins from our year since we left school."

"None of them have come through your ward at St. Mungo's?" Ron asked, a bit desperate to find any sort of new information.

Lavender bit her lip and thought for a moment. "I suppose it's possible, but I can't recall…well, I had the younger Greengrass for a few days last year, I guess."

"Really? Tell me about that," Ron said excitedly, picking up his self-inking quill again to jot down some more notes.

"Well, it was a mild case of dragon pox. Her sister never came to visit her, though; it was quite strange, really. I don't think she had a visitor at all. I don't remember her first name, either, so I suppose that's not much of a help-"

"Nah, something's better than nothing," Ron said enthusiastically. "So Greengrass' sister definitely would have seen your scars?"

"Yes, I think so," Lavender confirmed. "That's really the only thing I can think of, though."

"That's great," Ron reassured her. "Is there anything else at all that you think we should know?"

"Well, you ought to tell whoever's surveying our flat what Scott looks like," Lavender said matter-of-factly. "He said he nearly got hexed trying to come home last night. He'd forgotten his key, and the Auror watching the place thought he was trying to break in."

"He could have been polyjuiced," Ron pointed out, but Lavender wasn't having it.

"It's simply because he's so big, I think, he probably intimidated whoever was on watch," she rattled on. "But that's one of his best attributes, you know; he's like my own personal bodyguard! I mean, his muscles, I'm telling you!"

"Right," Ron said uncomfortably as he stood up, pulling a face as she started gesturing with her hands just how large Scott's biceps were. "Well, that's all then. I'm glad to hear you're doing well, Lav."

"Oh, I'm so glad you're doing well too! And you and Hermione, getting married! It's so wonderful!" Lavender exclaimed, jumping up and hugging him briefly.

Ron awkwardly patted her on the back in return. "We'll let you know of any new developments in the case, then."

"Alright!" Lavender said brightly, leaving the room as Ron held the door open for her. "And do tell Hermione that I want to see her ring, will you? Oh, I bet you bought her a lovely diamond, didn't you?"

"Erm."

"I'm sure she loves it! Do you know how she's going to do her hair for the wedding? I wonder if she'll use that potion in it again, wouldn't that be nice?" Lavender gushed as Ron showed her down the corridor and up the stairs again.

"I-"

"Well, of course you'd think she's lovely either way, wouldn't you? You simply must tell her to come visit me; I do love weddings!"

"I'll let her know," Ron said as cheerfully as he could, relieved that they had at last made it back to the lobby. The meeting hadn't been terrible, no, but he'd forgotten just how much Lavender could babble when she got going about something. Somehow it was significantly less cute than Hermione's tendency to do the same thing. "Thanks for your help."

The two said their goodbyes and Ron returned to the office, happy to see he had some time to eat the lunch Hermione had packed for him before their group meeting.

"How was it, Won-Won?" Harry asked with a smirk when Ron sat down.

"You're worse than George," Ron retorted, pulling his sandwich out of his lunch bag. "It wasn't that bad, anyway. Have you not gone to talk to Hermione yet?"

"No, I did," Harry replied. "She just kicked me out after about three minutes, said she had 'important work' to do. I thought she'd stopped working through her lunch hours?"

"Yeah, but she's leaving early today," Ron recalled. "She's working on wedding stuff with my mum."

Harry snorted. "How'd you manage to get out of that one?"

"Didn't. I'm headed there whenever we're done," Ron sighed. "I don't know why she needs me there, to be honest. She's already made almost every decision there is to make, and I told her I'm okay with whatever she wants. It's like she just wants somebody there to listen to her talk."

"Well, she's a girl," Harry reasoned. "And she's Hermione. She's probably been planning and preparing for this since she was about seven."

"Right," Ron said with a snort. "She has put me in charge of choosing a honeymoon spot, actually, but we can't go til the week after Christmas."

"D'you know where you want to go yet?" Harry asked, digging a brown paper bag out of his desk and retrieving an apple from it.

"I dunno. Someplace warm," Ron said distractedly, reaching into his bag for his second sandwich.

"And that's why you're not making the decisions," Harry declared with a laugh.

Ron glared at him. "You're spending too much time around my sister, mate. It's not becoming of you."

Harry was about to retort, but they were interrupted by Bryce. "If you two're done, we ought to get a move on. This is the only case I've got to work on today, and I want to go home early. Timmy's got a cold and I'm sure Mary's about ready for a nap by now. You'll learn soon enough, Weasley, a happy wife means a happy life."

"Right, we can do it now," Ron replied, shoveling down the rest of his sandwich in two bites and gathering his notes. "Where's Isaac?"

"Already in the back room," Bryce said, ushering Harry and Ron toward the far end of the office.

"I've got a feeling this is going to be quick," Isaac greeted them when they entered the room, which Ron suspected had originally been a storage closet but now functioned as a makeshift meeting room. A table filled almost the entire area of the room, and they had to squeeze and slide along the edges to make their way to the empty chairs.

"Then you lot didn't get much either?" Harry asked disappointedly. "I didn't get anything from Hermione except what Ron had already told us, but I had sort of been expecting that much."

"The Bones situation was almost exactly the same," Isaac added. "You all saw her note; it was essentially identical to the one Weasley and his girl got yesterday, marked up engagement announcement and all. The only difference was that it came to directly to her home, which I'm guessing has got to do with the protective charms."

"Yeah, we've got a version of the Fidelius Charm on ours; most people wouldn't," Ron confirmed.

"Thomas was a bit different," Bryce offered. "The owl came to his mum's, but the place didn't have any sort of protection around it whereas his flat did. He's got no idea what could have provoked it, but he did say everyone in your year would have known his mum's a muggle."

"Yeah, and come to think of it, he was with us at Malfoy Manor," Harry added. "That could point back to Malfoy then, couldn't it?"

"Weren't you the one that said he wouldn't try anything?" Ron asked, but Isaac nodded in agreement with Harry.

"It's not likely they had a direct hand in it, but they are essentially the only known Death Eaters not in Azkaban or in the ground, so there's a good chance they've heard something at the very least," Isaac said seriously.

"You're right. Two of the victims were held at their home last year, and they've got some connection to the other two. That's not to mention the kid's relationship to Parkinson. It's not enough to drag them in here right away, but if we send in a request we could probably talk to them within the week," Bryce continued. "Did you get anything else, Weasley?"

"Well, I thought it was interesting that Lavender didn't see the owl that brought the message," Ron offered as he looked back through his notes. "Hermione and I didn't see it either."

"Come to think of it, I don't think Bones did either," Isaac remarked.

"And Thomas' mum brought his to him as well," Bryce added. "So the only people that saw the owls were muggles?"

"Lavender's boyfriend's a wizard, actually," Ron said apologetically, sorry to shut down one of the only theories they'd begun to form. "He's apparently a bodybuilder that works in a restaurant on Diagon Alley."

Harry shook his head in confusion. "What?"

"Don't ask," Ron said dismissively. "She said he didn't get a good glimpse of the owl, anyway."

"So none of the actual targets saw the owl carrying the message?" Isaac confirmed. "Maybe we ought to bring in those that saw it, then. Any glimpse is better than none. I dunno that'd get us anywhere, but it'd be something."

"I'll deal with it during my shift tomorrow," Bryce offered. "I don't fancy being put on duty when Timmy's under the weather."

"Brilliant," Isaac said. "At any rate, either it's a coincidence or the person behind this was watching the homes closer than we thought."

No one particularly wanted to comment on that chilling thought, so Ron continued. "Lavender also said she treated Daphne Greengrass' younger sister at St. Mungo's last year. The elder Greengrass never visited, but it's still something that's connecting them, and it's possible that could be how they knew she'd been a werewolf victim."

"Her letter did tell her to quit her job, didn't it?" Harry added, looking back through the files. "So that fits together, if Greengrass knew where she was working, too."

"And Greengrass and Parkinson were good friends in school," Ron pointed out.

"That's a lead, then," Isaac remarked. "Still, it'll be much like the Malfoys' situation - we can try to get her in, but it might be a few days since our probable cause could be dismissed as circumstantial guesswork."

The four men sat in the back room for another hour, closely examining their notes and recopying everything they'd learned, looking carefully for anything they'd missed. Eventually, they decided there was nothing more to be done immediately. Bryce promised to look into the other witnesses, and Harry and Ron were sent to file the official requests to interview Malfoy and Greengrass.

"I wish we had something more concrete," Ron remarked to Harry as they dropped the forms off in the supervisor's office. "I'd rather get this done before going back on duty."

"Least we're doing something about it. That's more than Price wanted," Harry said half-heartedly as they trudged back to their desks and gathered their things. They were allowed to leave early only because they weren't on duty and they'd finished their casework for the day.

"How long do you think it'll be before the old bat retires?" Ron asked Harry in a low voice.

"Dunno. The sooner the current supervisors are gone, the better, wouldn't you say?" Harry muttered back. "We need to be out with old attitudes as soon as we can."

"I don't mind Robards," Ron said fairly, packing a few papers into the briefcase Hermione had bought for him when he'd finished training. "He's the only one on management level that's got any sense of what really goes on. Still, it'll be better when you're running the place."

"Me?" Harry asked incredulously. "I won't be that high up anytime soon."

"Well, not immediately," Ron remarked fairly, nodding as they made their way out of the office. "It's going to be you eventually, though. You did more before your eighteenth birthday than half the supervisors did in twenty years in the department."

"Fine. Then I'm putting you second in command," Harry said grudgingly, though it was clear that he didn't actually think the situation would arise.

"Just shove all the paperwork on someone else for me, will you?" Ron joked, and the two joked around laughed heartily the rest of the way down to the fireplaces.

-000-

"This is what I'd been thinking for the reception menu, then," Mrs. Weasley said, handing Hermione a stack of recipes. "Ginny and I would be willing to do all the cooking, of course, you wouldn't have to worry about a thing."

"Would we?" Ginny asked worriedly from her spot across the table from Hermione.

"Yes, we would," Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "How does it look, dear?"

"That would be lovely, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione replied politely, paging through the recipes, "but are you sure we'll be needing all of this food?"

"Oh yes, dear, the Weasley cousins will eat it all up," Mrs. Weasley insisted. "I'm sure we can convince a couple of Arthur's sisters-in-law to help us with the logistics of it as well; all you've got to do is approve the menu."

"Well, it looks fine to me," Hermione said carefully, looking through the recipes one more time. "Chicken Kiev is one of Ron's favorites, so I imagine he'll be pleased."

"It's settled then!" Mrs. Weasley declared. "There's another thing off your list, dear. Now, you've finished the guest list, haven't you?"

"Yes, and I addressed the envelopes last week. The invitations are being printed tomorrow, so they'll be sent out by the end of the week," Hermione explained.

"Lovely, lovely. Alright, I think the last thing on my list for the day will be the decorations and set-up. Does that sound alright to you, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked kindly, and Hermione nodded.

"What about your dress?" Ginny asked suddenly. "We ought to go shopping this weekend, don't you think?"

"Yes, well, I want to ask my mum to come," Hermione said shyly. "I'm having dinner with her on Wednesday, so I can let you know after that when we'll go."

"You and your mum are getting along then?" Ginny asked encouragingly.

"Yes, we are," Hermione replied. "She's more tactful than Dad, you see."

"Are your parents still worried, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she returned to the table with another huge stack of parchment.

"They just want to be sure we aren't rushing it," Hermione said dismissively, having no desire to discuss her relationship with her parents at the moment.

"Well, you are," Ginny pointed out fairly. "It's just that it's you and Ron, so it doesn't really matter when it happens."

Mrs. Weasley tutted disapprovingly. "That's not quite what I'd say, Ginny. Ron and Hermione are right for each other. Besides, the two of you have been together nearly two years now, haven't you?"

"Not exactly," Hermione muttered as Ginny laughed loudly.

"They only just got together last summer, Mum," Ginny explained. "Course, it had been a long time coming. That's why it seems like so much longer, I think."

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said slowly, a bit of a frown crossing her features. "Well, it's no matter. Now, Hermione, what do you think about this sort of a seating plan?"

A few minutes later, the women were interrupted by the sound of someone Flooing into the sitting room. "Mum? Hermione?"

"We're in the kitchen!" Hermione called, a smile spreading across her face at the sound of her fiancé's voice. "How was your day?" she asked as a weary-looking Ron trudged in and threw himself down in the chair next to her at the table.

"Alright. I'll tell you about it later," he said shortly, pecking her on the cheek and leaning his head on her shoulder heavily.

"Naptime, is it Ronnie?" Ginny smirked.

"M'tired," he mumbled, glaring at his sister.

"Well, you're just in time, dear," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully. "We've just been going over the decorations for the wedding!"

"Goody," Ron muttered sarcastically, sitting up straight and blinking several times as if to clear his thoughts. "So what're we doing, then?"

"Well, we're going to set up the tent like we did for Bill and Fleur," Mrs. Weasley began, but Hermione could tell Ron wasn't listening in the least. His eyes indicated that his thoughts were far away, and he was simply nodding along to everything that was being said without even the slightest of a snarky comment. After about ten minutes, she finally decided to cut in.

"Mrs. Weasley, I've just remembered that I need to be getting home," Hermione interrupted politely as the elder woman went on for the fifth consecutive minute about tablecloths. "I've got a big presentation coming up, and I really need to get a head start on it."

"Oh, of course! We'll continue this over the weekend then, shall we?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"Perfect," Hermione responded, smiling at Ginny, who was dramatically mouthing words of gratitude. "I'll let you know what my mum says about dress shopping; I'd love for you both to be there."

"Now that I wouldn't miss," Ginny said happily.

Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione had Flooed back to their flat. Ron immediately sank down on the sofa and yawned, stretching widely. Hermione watched him for a moment, a small smile on her face, before she, too, sat on the sofa and curled into his side.

"I thought you had a presentation thingy?" Ron asked lazily as he wrapped his arms around her in a way that made her suspect she wouldn't be working soon even if she wanted to.

"Yes, well, I've been ready for ages, but you looked like you wanted to come home," Hermione said simply.

"Thanks," Ron replied gratefully. "It was a bit of a frustrating day."

"Did you learn anything new?" she asked, tracing patterns along his arms. "I don't think I told Harry anything he didn't already know."

"Not a lot," Ron said honestly. "Bryce is going to talk to the other witnesses tomorrow - that includes your dad, I'm sure he'll love that. We're questioning Greengrass and Malfoy, too, but the system's sort of getting in the way. We've got to put in requests for that since we haven't actually got any evidence against them that isn't circumstantial."

"That's something, then," Hermione said encouragingly, though she knew it really wasn't much to go off of. Ron didn't bother correcting her. Instead, he drew her closer and kissed the top of her head lightly.

"Lavender wants to see your ring, by the way," Ron said suddenly. Hermione twisted to look at him and raise an eyebrow. "I had to interview her today," he clarified. "I told her we were getting married, and she said she wants to see your ring."

"Okay," Hermione laughed. "She can see it at the ceremony, I suppose."

"You invited her?" Ron asked incredulously. "Won't that be strange?"

"No, it would be strange if we didn't invite her," Hermione replied matter-of-factly. "I lived with her for six years, you know, and we're inviting the rest of the DA."

"Did you invite Krum, then?" Ron asked. Hermione was impressed not to hear any trace of real jealousy in his voice.

"No, I think that would be weird," she said thoughtfully. "I haven't really written to him since our fifth year, and he wouldn't know anybody very well."

"Right," Ron said. "Well, Lavender says she's got a boyfriend the size of a bodyguard now, so you might want to keep that in mind when you and Mum are planning the seating charts."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Isn't her boyfriend Scott Satter? He's not that big. She was probably just trying to impress you."

"Why?" Ron asked dubiously.

"That's what people do with their exes," Hermione explained matter-of-factly. "They don't want to be the one that's less happy. You're getting married, so naturally she's got to talk up her boyfriend."

"That's mental," Ron grumbled.

"Yes it is, Won-Won," Hermione teased.

"Not you too!" he moaned. "Can we please pretend that never happened?"

"You can call me Herm-own-ninny if it makes you feel better," she said, her voice full of mock sincerity. In response, Ron growled and pinched her sides. Hermione gave a great yelp and jumped, smacking him in the mouth with the top of her head.

"Ow," he muttered grumpily.

"Serves you right," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him before taking pity and kissing him lightly on the mouth. "I'll tell you what, though, I'll make you some spaghetti for dinner if you'd like."

"That would be brilliant," Ron said, allowing a contented grin to spread across his face.

The rest of the evening passed quickly; after they ate dinner, Hermione did end up sitting down to some work while Ron read the case files one more time, just so be sure he hadn't missed something important. He wasn't sure whether he was more relieved or frustrated when he realized he hadn't. Before either of them knew it, it was past ten o'clock and Hermione suggested they get some rest.

Several minutes later, after stripping himself of everything but his boxers, Ron crawled into bed after her and gathered her into his arms again. It was rather warm for body heat, but Ron found he wanted to keep her close more than he really wanted to keep cool. They lay together in silence for some time before Ron muttered in a low voice: "Didn't we fight a fucking war to be done with all this shit?"

It was a sign of their combined frustration that Hermione didn't bother correcting his language. Instead, she silently turned over in his embrace to press a kiss to his jaw.

"I know things are better," he continued, a small smile on his face as a result of her sign of affection. "It's just frustrating, you know?"

"Things were never going to be perfect all at once," Hermione suggested softly.

"I wish they were," Ron said automatically. "They should be, you know? Everything felt damn good for awhile there."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, we got through the worst of it, right? After last summer, with everything that happened, my family was getting through it all - we could talk about Fred and smile, anyway, and your family was finally back together," he explained, feeling an invisible weight lift from his chest as he told her everything that had been weighing on his mind. It crossed his mind briefly that the ability to be completely open with Hermione was probably the best thing about finally being in a real relationship with her - the sex coming in a close second, of course. "Then things started to look up, you know? And you agreed to marry me, which was the most fucking brilliant thing that's ever happened to me, right, and it just seems like everything should be falling into place."

"But it's not," Hermione said quietly, a sad smile on her face.

"But it's not," Ron confirmed, sighing heavily as he traced patterns on the small of her back with his right hand. "It's just…haven't we done enough?"

Hermione was quiet for a moment. "It's not fair," she whispered, unsure of what else to say. "We've got each other, though. We'll always have each other."

"Yeah," Ron said, leaning back far enough that he could look at her properly. "But that's why it's scary, though, that letter."

Hermione shivered as she thought back to the picture that had been attached to the letter - the red ink that had been slashed across her face. He was right; she'd thought it was over, too. She subconsciously brought a hand up to trace the scar on her neck that had been left by Bellatrix Lestrange's blade. Hadn't they done enough?

"Hey," Ron muttered, catching her hand with his and bringing it between them to rest over his heart. "I'm sorry. Let's not think about it anymore, yeah?"

"You don't need to be sorry," Hermione told him quietly. She leaned in to kiss him soundly on the mouth then, and he reciprocated happily. "But you're right, we ought to focus on the good things," she said when they pulled back several minutes later.

"I love you," he said sincerely, bringing his hands back to her waist as she flipped over again.

"I love you, too," she replied, twisting her head around quickly to smile at him, which he returned happily. It would be awhile yet before either of them drifted off to sleep, but the feeling of having each other, whole and well and close at hand, kept them calm until they did.

A/N: And that's that! I seem to have developed a habit of ending chapters with Ron and Hermione cuddling in bed. Oops. Anyway, I've sort of settled into a pattern of updating every four days, so Chapter 5 will likely make its appearance on Thursday. :) Thank you for reading!