Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

When three became two.

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A/N The tent scene in italics is taken from JKR's DH, I added it so that several of my regular readers who continually complain Ron was not bad tempered and was not cruel to Hermione, could see how volatile Ron's anger always was, and how bad he treated Hermione, in the scene written by JKR herself the red haired powder keg actually accused Hermione of lying about their whispered conversations. Just another reason why she would have never chosen Ron as a life mate, being called a liar is something a girl like Hermione would never forget. Nor would she forget that Ron in his unreasonable anger pulled his wand out intending to hex their best friend showing just how unstable and dangerous he was.

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Freezing cold and still wet from retrieving a sword from an icy pond Harry Potter watched as Ronald Weasley raised the sword he had just handed to him and then he stepped back in surprise when a scene like a hologram formed, emitted from the evil red eyes that looked at Ron from the locket they needed to destroy. Ron was staring at the image in front of them, an image of Harry and their best friend the girl Ron fancied, Hermione Granger. They were naked and making love and whispering I love you to each other, then the image Hermione was telling Ron just how useless he had been, how he had never once actually helped them in anything they had ever been through, how he was always the useless prat who held them both back in what ever they did, she then went on to say what a wonderful lover Harry was and he did not make her feel sick when she ate at the table with him, not like you do Weasley with your disgusting manners, oh yes you need to bathe far more often as well because you always stink of stale food from your disgusting eating habits.

As Harry watched the image Hermione berate the boy who had deserted them weeks before and had only just returned a few minutes ago, he found him self agreeing with the image that Ron had indeed always been useless, he never studied, he never help with their research. All he ever did was cause them pain, his constant jealousy making Harry tip toe around him lest he do or say something that set him off, and saying things that always brought Hermione to tears. All he had done through this year as they searched for the evil items of Lord Voldemort was eat all their food and moan about everything.

Harry thought back to what had led to Ron leaving them and the way Hermione had ended in tears once again.

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"Yeah, and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them—nowhere effing near in other words."

"Take off the locket, Ron," Hermione said her voice unusually high. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."

"Yeah, he would," said Harry, who did not want excuses made for Ron. "D'you think I haven't noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?

"Harry, we weren't..."

"Don't lie!" Ron hurled at her. "You said it too; you said you were disappointed, you said you'd thought he had a bit more to go on than…"

"I didn't say it like that… Harry, I didn't!" she cried.

The rain was pounding the tent, tears were pouring down Hermione's face, and the excitement of a few minutes before had vanished as if it had never been, a short-lived firework that had flared and died, leaving everything dark, wet, and cold. The sword of Gryffindor was hidden they knew not where, and there were three teenagers in a tent whose only achievement was not, yet, to be dead.

"So why are you still here?" Harry asked Ron.

"Search me," said Ron.

"Go home then," said Harry.

"Yeah, maybe I will!" shouted Ron, and he took several steps toward Harry, who did not back away. "Didn't you hear what they said about my sister? But you don't give a rat's fart, do you, it's only the Forbidden Forest, Harry I've-Faced-Worse Potter doesn't care what happened to her in there…well, I do, all right, giant spiders and mental stuff…"

"I was only saying… she was with the others, they were with Hagrid…"

"Yeah, I get it, you don't care! And what about the rest of my family, 'the Weasleys don't need another kid injured,' did you hear that?"

"Yeah, I…"

"Not bothered what it meant, though?"

"Ron!" said Hermione, forcing her way between them. "I don't think it means anything new has happened, anything we don't know about; think, Ron, Bill's already scared, plenty of people must have seen that George has lost an ear by now, and you're supposed to be on your deathbed with spattergroit, I'm sure that's all he meant…"

"Oh, you're sure, are you? Right then, well, I won't bother myself about them. It's all right for you, isn't it, with your parents safely out of the way…"

"My parents are dead!" Harry bellowed.

"And mine could be going the same way!" yelled Ron.

"Then GO!" roared Harry. "Go back to them, pretend you're got over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you up and…"

Ron made a sudden movement: Harry reacted, but before either wand was clear of its owner's pocket, Hermione had raised her own.

"Protego!" she cried, and an invisible shield expanded between her and Harry on the one side and Ron on the other; all of them were forced backward a few steps by the strength of the spell, and Harry and Ron glared from either side of the transparent barrier as though they were seeing each other clearly for the first time. Harry felt a corrosive hatred toward Ron: Something had broken between them.

"Leave the Horcrux," Harry said.

Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket into a nearby chair. He turned to Hermione.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you staying, or what?"

"I . . ." She looked anguished. "Yes… yes, I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help…"

"I get it. You choose him."

"Ron, no… please… come back, come back!"

She was impeded by her own Shield Charm; by the time she had removed it he had already stormed into the night. Harry stood quite still and silent, listening to her sobbing and calling Ron's name amongst the trees.

After a few minutes she returned, her sopping hair plastered to her face.

"He's g-g-gone! Disapparated!"

She threw herself into a chair, curled up, and started to cry.

He remembered how he felt that something, the bond between them had been totally destroyed during that argument, Ron had pulled his wand to use on him and that was the action not of a friend but an enemy. Once again Hermione had been left in tears thanks to the volatile uncontrolled anger and jealousy of their former friend.

Harry was distracted from his thoughts as he saw a once more rage filled Ron turn the sword on him, he thought of shouting at his former mate to get his attention away from the hate surrounding the locket and the image it displayed, when the thought that Ron being back would mean he would lose the closeness with Hermione that he had become accustomed to over the past weeks. He would lose the girl he had fallen in love with to this red headed waste of time who was liable to hit her during an argument over nothing. He wanted Hermione for himself, he knew the thoughts that suddenly entered his mind were not his own, and that they came from the locket but he did not care, they were the truth and he was not going to go back to being the odd one out as they got together, his Hermione and the deserter.

Harry watched as the red head swung the sword and began to quickly move in his direction. The furious jealous red head believing what he was seeing from the locket attacked, his face contorted in hate and rage. Harry lifted the wand he carried and with a quick flick of his hand he changed the direction the sword was travelling. He watched as the sword swung from Ron's hand and it changed the direction of the arc toward his head instantly, almost reversing its direction and then it pierced the forward rushing red heads chest, straight through the heart.

Ron Weasley looked down in shock as he realised what he had been about to do, he had tried to kill Harry. As he sank to his knees he looked down again at the sword embedded in his chest and then looked up at Harry, his last words were "I'm sorry mate." He then fell to the side his young life at an end.

Harry stood in shock, not really sure if what had happened was a terrible accident and his avoiding the sword had not gone as he had wanted or whether he had actually willed the sword to move the way it had, he quickly realised however he had not had time to think, what he did came from the normal self preservation built within all creatures. He was then pulled from his daze by the evil of the locket that began to taunt him about killing Ron for a mere mudblood woman. Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts, he knew that he had had no real choice in what had happened, if he had not stopped Ron he would have been the one that was dead, and had they both survived Ron would no doubt lose his temper again and again until someone was killed. Ron Weasley had been a dangerous bomb simply waiting for an excuse to explode. Stepping forward he pulled the sword from Ron's chest and wiped the blood from the blade on Ron's jacket before he turned and with one swing he destroyed the locket and the evil that resided in it.

It took Harry just ten minutes to levitate Ron's body around the small pond and into a deeper part of the surrounding woodland. Using his magic he quickly created a hole eight feet deep thee feet wide and seven foot long. Levitating Ron's body one last time he lowered his former best mate into the hole and then with a wave of the wand the hole was filled and all traces of it being a grave were gone.

Walking back to the tent they were using to live in, the sword in one hand and the destroyed locket in the other, after Ron's attack something inside him had changed and felt more in control of things. He knew he would never reveal what had just happened to anyone, especially not Hermione. Ronald Weasley would simply vanish to become just another victim of the war they were fighting. Harry also decided that they needed to change the way they were doing this stupid search, they needed the warmth of somewhere comfortable to live, good food and drink, and above all they needed some real help. Neither he nor Hermione had any real idea of where or what all the horcruxes of Voldemort were or even where to look for them.

Having reached their small camp site Harry was sitting outside the tent for most of the night going over what had happened and if there was anyway it could have been prevented, in both his head and his heart he knew he had been in a kill or be killed situation with the irrationally jealous Ron, if it had not been there at the pond it would have happened somewhere else. He knew after finalising his plans for the next week or so, it all came down to two simple things he needed to do to end the nightmare he lived in. Contact the Goblins to see if they knew of anyone who could help, and let Hermione know he wanted her as more than a friend, that he was in love with her had been for some time. For the second part of his plan he had a very good idea, one he was sure would work or at least he prayed it would.

Inside the tent Hermione woke up and quickly busied her self with making a pot of tea, hoping that the movement and the beverage would warm her up a little in the freezing conditions within their hideaway. After pouring out two mugs of black tea, having no milk or sugar left to add thanks to Ron. She looked at the few meagre supplies that had not been consumed by Ron. She huffed a little at the thought they did not really have much of anything left after Ron had feasted on their supplies at every chance he got. She thought about how they had had provisions enough for three normal people for several more months when they started out, but they had not really taken into account the utter greed of Ron, over the past few weeks she had begun to see so many faults in the red head she had ignored before, and each day he seemed a lot less desirable as a romantic partner.

That thought started a chain of thoughts about how Ron had been ok while he was able to simply grab some food when ever he felt like it, but as soon as he had practically eaten everything they had he had started to whisper and complain behind Harry's back, and he had dragged her into his whispering and complaining every time they thought Harry could not hear them. She found her self praying that Harry had not believed Ron and had believed her when she said she had not said things the way Ron made it sound, a heavy feeling of guilt swept over her making her feel like a truly poor friend, that feeling quickly gave way to thinking of Harry in a new way, she rapidly found her self wondering what kind of lover the raven haired young man would be. She tried to still those thoughts for now as she thought about the complaints she and Ron had shared. It was not to long that something neither had thought of at the time came to her mind.

Both she and Ron had known everything that Harry knew when they started this endeavour and yet they still complained to each other about how their friend was making no progress at all, that they were simply wasting their time with him. It was then she saw the boy she had wanted as a boyfriend would have been the worst choice she could have ever made; there was something wrong with someone who had absolutely no desire to do anything but eat complain and play quidditch added to that he was bone lazy and had no real regard for his supposed friendships. No Ronald Weasley would not have been a good choice for a boy friend.

It was not only Harry who was making no progress, they them selves had made none, in fact they had made things so much harder for Harry by practically forcing him to work everything out while they just waited on their leader and grumbled. Ron had been completely useless, refusing to research with them or to read and improve him self as Harry tried to do.

Suddenly she could see no reason why she ever thought she could be with him, how could someone with her passion for knowledge and enjoyment of hard work possibly be with someone who had absolutely no wish to learn anything, someone to lazy to do anything for him self. To greedy to think of others, as he should have done instead of eating everything they had. This morning by the time she had reached Harry out side the tent she knew she had made the right choice when she had chosen to remain with the best friend who treated her well, and she was happy she had not gone off with the ex-friend who had never treated her well or even respected her.

It no longer bothered her in the same way that it had that Harry might die soon; she chose to take what life they had and make the best of how ever long it might be. She still hoped they eventually lived long and even happy lives but even if they did not, she would do her best to make sure what they did have was the best she could make it. She decided if Harry was to show any interest in her in a more than friendly way then she would grab at the chance of some happiness with him for how ever long it lasted, she finally admitted to her self that she had more than friendly feelings for him, feelings she had repressed since that day of the Yule ball when he had looked at her as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Harry took the hot mug offered by Hermione as she sat down next to him in front of the small dead fire, he could feel her shiver with the cold. Snow and frost covered everything in their small campsite and as he looked around he made a final decision on what he had considered before, they needed to get out of this downward spiral as soon as they could.

Placing his arm around her shoulders he pulled her close to share their body heat, "Hermione, as soon as we have finished our breakfast," he almost laughed as he lifted his mug slightly and nodded at it, "we should pack up, we are moving. We are going to go back to being in the Muggle world; from there we need to enlist some help." He lifted the sword of Gryffindor to show her first and then he lifted up the now broken locket. "I found the sword in a small pond back in the woods, who ever placed it there must have been completely crazy. They sent a patronus that led me to the pond, the damn pond was frozen solid, you have no idea how hard it was to get the sword and destroy this bloody thing, especially with the soul piece showing something like a hologram full of lies and pictures to try and save it self." He did not bother to try and clarify his meaning for her any further.

That afternoon the two very tired hungry and cold teens entered a small inn on the out skirts of a small village that was close by their previous camp site. The inn was the first one they found and it looked so inviting. Harry led Hermione into the inn and asked if they could get a room and maybe a bite to eat. After a delicious meal Harry booked them in as Mr and Mrs James, and after a little discrete wand work had convinced the inn keeper they were married, he paid out thirty pounds for each of them for the room and ten minutes later they entered the room.

Too tired to be bothered about the fact that there was just one bed, they took turns having a hot shower instead of a cold or at best a luke warm one for the first time in weeks and changed into their night wear then climbed into bed together. They were both fast asleep within a minute or so of their heads touching the pillows.

Waking up Hermione felt slightly flustered as she felt a body behind her, it took just a few seconds for her brain to fully engage. She knew exactly what is was she could feel while pressed tightly up against her best friend. Even though she had read about the state young men often woke up in she could not help feeling pleased that what she felt could be caused by her presence. Then there was the extremely comfortable feeling of a warm hand gently massaging her breast. Without even realising what she was doing she reached down and using her hand she checked to see if she was correct in what she though. Her need to know everything she could had taken control and the only thing on her mind for a few moments was 'I wonder if it is' as her hand subconsciously reached out for the answer.

Harry woke and almost instantly knew where he was, he was about to pull back to remove his usual morning arousal away from Hermione before she woke and felt it, he could not even begin to imagine what she might think of him if she knew. One thing he did know was that it was an amazingly comfortable feeling to wake up with his arms firmly wrapped around her, and having one ofher breast pressing into his hand felt exquisite. Before he could pull away however he felt Hermione's small hand as it snaked between them. There was no way he could have resisted the reaction of his body and the small groan that escaped him "God Hermione if only you knew."

"If I only knew what?" Came Hermione's voice quietly, surprising him that she was awake.

Harry answered with his hormones in full rush and before said hormones allowed him to engage his mind he said "How many times I have wanted you to do that, or how long I have loved you, and wanted to make love to you." Were the words that flooded out of his mouth, the latter few words said in a whisper she only just managed to hear.

Hermione could not believe what she had heard and could not resist as she asked "Is this because of me?"

She heard as Harry sucked in a deep breath, "Please Hermione, don't say things like that, it makes me so want to make love to you."

Hermione wore a huge smile "Harry if you really want me like that, and if you do love me then don't you think we should get up and brush our teeth first. I mean I'm quite sure you would prefer to kiss me if my breath was fresh."

She chuckled when Harry practically leapt from the bed before she had let go of him. She could hear him talking to him self as he quickly made his way to the bathroom; he was quietly praying that she was not just joking because of how they had woken up together, he really wanted her and to show her how much he loved her.

She felt like chuckling again as she was about to tell him she was indeed joking, but some thing in his voice stopped her, giving her an odd feeling of want and need. Did she really want to have sex with her best friend as much as she felt she did; she had never done it before and thoughts of how it might be painful or how it might make things awkward after flitted through her mind. She had wondered what it would be like with Ron once or twice while at Hogwarts, but now that Harry had revealed his feelings for her, and she had faced her own feelings the day before she asked herself what it would be like with Harry. And then the desire for him actually over rode all her reservations so she remained silent as she waited her turn in the bathroom.

By the time Harry had finished in the bathroom Hermione was getting rather impatient as she thought about sex with him, not as a best friend but as someone who loved her. By the time he had returned to the bed she was as aroused as he had been and obviously still was. The very clear desires rushing through her made her rush through her shower and even her tooth cleaning regime, surprising herself she admitted she was eager to find out what sex was like.

Returning to the bed where Harry was sitting waiting for her, she sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly she was getting really nervous. "This is really strange, don't you think?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"In a way yes, but while you were in the bathroom I was doing some thinking. We have been a couple for almost seven years; we just haven't got around to the snogging and all that. I think we would have got to it sooner or later, but I mean if you have changed your mind we could just do a little kissing for now see how we feel, see how it works out." Was his quiet reply.

While Hermione was thinking about it Harry gently pulled her back onto the bed and seconds later they were kissing passionately, not many minutes had passed when she realised she did indeed want him, she wanted him completely. Ten minutes after finding a very comfortable position on the bed both of them were completely nude and their hands were wandering all over each other. Together they were learning each others likes and dislikes, what it was that pushed their body that bit closer to the final act.

As they lay on the bed cooling off she realised making love had given her far more pleasure than she had expected and together they slowly began to drift off to sleep, she whispered to him as her eyes drooped closed "Harry coming here was the best thing you ever thought of, and Harry I think I love you." She whispered as she leaned forward and kissed his ear.

Paying a visit to Gringotts was not easy, death eaters were roaming the Alley as if they owned it, and in a way they did, their master having taken over the Wizarding government. After their first attempt to enter Diagon Alley had failed before they even got to enter the Leaky Cauldron, there being three death eaters actually standing out on the muggle side of the famous pub. The two teens returned to their lodgings and began to plan their next moves.

They now knew that the death eaters were in control of magical Britain, something they had not expected to happen quite so soon. Hermione was the one to work out that Voldemort had taken advantage of the chaos that Dumbledore's death would have caused, and had probably just walked into the ministry unopposed. Life for Muggle born witches and wizards was now obviously far from safe.

It was early morning when an ancient looking old man helped his wife through the Leaky cauldron and out into Diagon Alley, both of them seemed bent over with age and as they made their way to the bank several of Voldemort's servants stepped out of their way to allow them clear passage.

Harry, huddled up to Hermione in his disguise, was fighting his body's instincts all the way along the Alley as they made their slow progress toward the bank. He felt uncomfortable inside the rubber mask of a wrinkled old man that he wore and his back was aching a little from remaining hunched over. Gringotts had never seemed so far from the Cauldron before and he almost desperately wanted to break out in to a run to get there quicker.

Getting help from the Goblins was far easier than the two teens had expected, but the Goblin they spoke to informed them of the damage the new government was causing their business. Few if any customers paid a visit to the bank because they feared for their lives if they were to enter the Alley. Even the Goblins were relying on Harry destroying Voldemort

Even while they were still in talks with the head Goblin the vaults of all the known death eaters were being searched for any horcrux that might be hidden there. The Goblins also had a rather simple ritual of exorcism that destroyed such evil and gave the two young ones the address to a safe house where they could take any horcrux they found to have it destroyed.

It took them a further four months after meeting with the Goblins to find and destroy all the soul pieces of the maniac who called him self Voldemort. With the last of those soul pieces destroyed both Harry and Hermione were supplied with two hand guns each by their last Goblin contact. They spent a week learning how to load and unload the magazines, mainly from watching a variety of programs on the Muggle TV.

By the time they finally faced Voldemort and his inner circle Hermione was rather large around the waist due to them having forgotten to use any contraception on that first day they made love.

The last confrontation with Voldemort could have been called a total massacre as the two teens with their two weapons each and a belt full of spare ammunition clips decimated Voldemort's death eaters. Both Harry and Hermione were spurred on by the knowledge of what had been happening to the muggle born witches at the hands of the death eaters.

Voldemort him self was killed as the two teens emptied their clips into him from different directions and at a distance to far for the maniac's curses reach them. The last of their bullets were used up inside the office run by Delores Umbridge, the office that was responsible for the disposal of so many witches and wizards.

Delores Umbridge was the last in that office to die as Hermione used her last round of ammunition on the evil woman. The bullet took away the back of the undersecretaries head and spread it over her office wall.

Before leaving the Wizarding world to marry and raise their child, Harry James Potter left the new minister with a warning. "Do away with the pureblood supremacy and bigotry and the corruption in your government or we will come back and put an end to this world for good."

The backward Wizarding world had no idea how the two teens had killed seventy three death eaters and Voldemort in the space of an hour, and that was enough to instil in them a fear that if things did not change then the golden duo would return and carry out their threat. The changes were quick and complete, by the end of the year all magical beings had a say in the government and the underage restrictions on muggle born practising magic were lifted. The ministry even went so far as to drop the age of entry into the magical world to five years old. The twenty first century had come calling on the Wizarding world and it came to stay.

Hermione Jane Potter gave birth to Rose Potter in St David's magical hospital Conwy North Wales with her husband of six weeks holding her hand. After a visit to Australia to retrieve Hermione's parents it was a very happy family that settled down to live a rather quiet yet happy life in the village of Harry's birth, Godrics Hollow.

Harry and Hermione had two more children after moving in to the small Welsh village. They were joined by the elder Grangers in the village and Hermione who had grown up an only child welcomed a little baby sister late in the autumn of their second year as residents of Godrics Hollow.

Harry lived a contented man with the thing he had always wanted, a family of his own and the woman he had loved for as long as he could remember knowing what love was.

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