- Chapter 10 -

By Summer, Hermione is okay again. Not okay, okay, but okay enough that she can hold hands with Luna and stroll through the garden, share a chaste kiss here and there, and see Ron without falling apart again.

In fact, Hermione has grown in a few ways. Now, when she sees Ron, she talks to him, and though that may seem like something so much worse than when she'd just grieved him, it's better, because now Hermione can tell him that she still loves him, and she understands that Ron will never begrudge her happiness.

Even if it is with Luna.

"I miss you," Hermione says one day, when she's alone in the garden and Luna has gone off to the grocery store. "I miss you every day that you're gone."

The breeze is calm and warm, and the sun beats down on the back of her neck, but she doesn't mind. It's nice to be outside, feeling a combination of coolness and warmth all over her body.

"I wish you hadn't had to die." Hermione stares at the sky, and there's this little cloud, and it's pink and hazy and can only belong to that other world where Ron appears to her less and less often now.

It starts to take on a shape, and Hermione watches it, and talks to Ron, because that's her comfort now.

"I wish I could still hold you in my arms. I love you, Ron. And, maybe I'm happy with Luna too, and maybe I love her too, but I'll always love you, and miss the feel of your arms wrapped around me."

"He knows," the Kneazle says from its spot at her feet, rubbing up against her shin. The cloud morphs into Ron's face, and he's smiling, and Hermione smiles too, even though tears are dripping down her face.

"I know he does."

Luna kisses her, and it's soft and sweet tender in every way, so Hermione deepens it, threading her fingers through Luna's hair softly and tugging her closer. Luna doesn't question it, just kisses her deeper, and holds Hermione's cheek tenderly in her hand.

Hermione leads her to the bed, and when she pulls away, Luna's face is calm and serene and knowing, so Hermione unbuttons her shirt and drags her on top of her without a word, and lets Luna know that she's ready.

The happiness is evident in Luna's features, and Hermione just knows that she loves her.

"I love you too," Hermione says, and Luna smiles.

That's how Harry finds her. Almost a year later, he comes home, and he's battle scarred but whole. Hermione wakes up when she hears him shuffle into the room loudly, and then pause. She opens her eyes and Harry is staring at her in astonishment, because Hermione is wrapped around Luna, barley under the covers, and it's very obvious what they've been doing.

Harry doesn't say a word, just turns his back on her and leaves the room, and Hermione can see the hurt in his eyes.

She's not sure if it's because it took someone who had never been that close to them to heal her, or if it's because in his eyes too, she's betrayed Ron.

She'll never be able to explain that world that she sees to him, but she thinks she can explain what she's done.

So she follows him, untangling herself from Luna's warm body and yanking her clothes on. It comes to her only then how ugly she must look, and she wonders why Harry didn't look at her in disgust. How Luna didn't look at her in disgust. She scrubs her hands up and down her arms, and starts to cry.

"You're beautiful," Luna says, and when Hermione turns back to her, she believes her.

"How could you betray Ron like that?" Harry asks, and his face is devastated and hurt from where he stands at the bottom of her porch steps.

"I didn't betray him…" Hermione says softly, and a fire burns in her eyes. "I didn't betray him," she says again, only this time her voice is stronger, more like it used to be, before Ron died.

Harry stares at her, and his eyes are confused. He doesn't know what to make of Hermione now. Recognizes her, yet doesn't.

"Then what do you call that?"

"Moving on."

Hermione still sees Ron in her and Luna's world sometimes, and she's glad, because she can never fully let him go, but she has moved on. She feels whole again, and when she sees Ron, she can look at him and smile, and she can talk to him and be okay.

Sometimes she still feels like it was her fault that he died, and sometimes she still feels like she deserves to watch him burn alive, but Luna is always there for her when she needs her, and that's all that really matters.

Because Hermione was never crazy. And she still isn't.