Hermione wandered out into the sitting room, nervously glancing over her shoulder at the kitchen door. She couldn't hear a sound, which either meant that there was no yelling occurring on the other side of the door, or the much more probable explanation: someone on the other side had silenced the room because an argument had quickly escalated.

She sat down on the sofa next to Harry and Ginny, both of whom didn't seem to even notice her presence. Ginny turned and snuggled up closer to Harry, practically throwing her leg over his lap and slipping her fingers down the front of his buttoned shirt, whispering something in his ear. A huge grin spread across his face and he jumped up, almost knocking Ginny over onto the floor. He grabbed her hand and the two of them made a beeline up the stairs.

Hermione sighed, left alone in the sitting room. She gazed out the window, and seeing that there was still a glimmer of light out, decided to go for a walk. She made her way out the door and slipped her shoes off, content to feel beneath her feet the luscious green grass that surrounded the burrow. She heard an owl hooting off in the distance, and some ducks splashing around and quacking in the pond. She smiled, thinking to herself that she had not been able to be out in nature and thoroughly enjoy it without the threat of starvation or hypothermia in a long time.

Just then, she saw a movement just by the tree that signaled you were getting close to the ward boundary line. An animal, but it's movements were unlike any of the other undomesticated animals that roamed around the burrow. It was quick, and calculated. She froze, her mind jumping to conclusions that her eyes could not yet confirm. She took off in a sprint, toward the animal, tears already streaming down her face at the prospect of what she thought being true.

Behind her, she suddenly heard Ron screaming her name, and his voice was getting closer. "HERMIONE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? COME BACK HERE!" She kept running, though. Ron would see her stop in a few moments and realize everything was fine.

She was close enough now to see, and started sobbing even harder. "Crookshanks!" She shrieked, half sobbing and half laughing. Her beloved cat turned at the sound of her voice, and ran towards her, jumping into her arms. She seized him and buried her face into his coat and held him tightly, dropping to her knees from the emotion of it all. "Oh Crookshanks! I thought I would never see you again!" She said as she clumsily petted his hair. Crookshanks purred and nuzzled his head into her neck. She sat down fully on the ground, and began to sob even harder.

Hermione had believed her beloved pet to be dead for some time now, and had tried to accept the fact that he was gone. She had left him at the burrow when they had escaped from the wedding, but believed he would be in good hands because Ginny had promised to feed him and take care of him should she have to make a hasty departure. But when the Weasley's had to leave the burrow and seek refuge at their Aunt Muriel's, Crookshanks had been left behind. Ginny had confessed to her in tears a few weeks ago that she had searched and searched for him upon their return, but he was gone. Hermione assumed that he had ventured outside the wards and wandered off into the wilderness, unable to fend for himself due to the fact that he had always been a domesticated cat. But here he was, purring at her and licking her face without a care in the world.

"You brilliant boy, you! You've fended for yourself for all this time! Good boy, Crookshanks!" Crookshanks sank down into her lap and closed his eyes, and she stared down at him, stunned that after everything that had happened her cat had some how managed to survive the war.

Ron's screams were getting closer now. She could hear his footsteps. Suddenly, he was right by her side, panting and throwing his arms around her chest, as one would in an attempt to restrain someone. "Hermione! What's wrong? Whatever has happened, please don't run away! I can help you! If you don't like it here, I'll go anywhere with you! We can leave right now if you want, just please don't go by yourself." He was so frantic that it appeared as though he had not yet noticed the bundle of fur in her arms.

"Ron!" She sobbed, and he looked at her with terrified eyes. "Look! It's Crookshanks! I thought he was dead!"

Ron finally glanced down at her lap, and let out a sigh of relief, sitting down on the grass next to her in apparent exhaustion from his sprint to catch up to her.

"I'm sorry that I worried you, but I saw him and I just, I had to hold him!" Hermione said, feeling guilty that she had just made Ron believe that she was running away from the burrow like a mad woman.

"I've never been so glad to see this fuzzball," Ron wheezed.

"Oh, do give him a pet, Ron. He hasn't had any love in so long!"

Ron looked uncertain, but then tentatively reached his hand out and lightly stroked Crookshanks's back. Crookshanks gave him the side eye, but then glanced at Hermione and allowed Ron to pet him. "Good Crookshanks. You two boys are going to have to reconcile your differences," she said. Ron looked like he didn't much care for that idea but had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. Crookshanks must have spotted something to chase in the grass, because he made an attempt to wiggle out of Hermione's grasp. "Okay, but don't go too far," she said, not wanting to part with him just yet.

They watched Crookshanks scamper off, and Ron laughed. "What do you reckon he's been eating? Hopefully the gnomes." Hermione cast him a disapproving look but couldn't help but let out a quiet giggle. She leaned up against the side of the tree that sat facing away from the house, and Ron joined her, grasping her hand and squeezing it. "Bloody hell, now I've got cat hairs all over my hands," he said, rubbing his hands against the grass. She laughed and cast a hand washing charm that Fleur had taught her on both of them. "Thanks," Ron said, smiling at her. She nodded, but continued to stare into his eyes.

"Ron? What was that? Did you seriously think that I was running away?"

"Well what the hell was I supposed to think, Hermione? I look out the window and see you sprinting towards the border line like a crazed maniac. I didn't know if your anxiety had made you snap or something…" She was silent, contemplating what she would say next, when he continued to speak. "And, it's not like I wouldn't have deserved it."

She snapped her head back towards him, now angry. "What is that supposed to mean, Ron?"

"You know what it means," he said solemnly.

"This isn't an eye for an eye sort of thing, Ron! You were all but possessed! You don't deserve me leaving you when we've only just started out, when we've come so far to get to where we are...after all we've sacrificed...after all you've proven. You don't deserve that."

"You didn't deserve what I did to you." He sniffed, and she turned to see a tear trickling down his face. She shifted, throwing her leg over his lap, straddling him. She took his face in her hands, brushing the tear away with her thumb.

"Ron." He looked down in his shame and guilt, but she grabbed his face more firmly and made him look into her eyes again. "Ron, listen to me. We have to move past that. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Hermione, but I just think-"

"Listen, if you want to explain it to me, let's talk later tonight when we're inside and calmed down, okay?"

He nodded. "I love you so much," he whispered.

She nodded back at him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He traced circles along her back, and then said, "It's settled. I'm coming with you." She had almost forgotten what he had been discussing with his parents in the kitchen.

"Really?" She said with a smile.

"Yup. Mum still isn't too thrilled, but I laid it out on the line for her and she stopped screaming at me at least."

"What did you say?" She asked, curious.

"I said that I'm in love with you. That we sacrificed so much and wasted too much time to be torn apart now. That you're the most important person to me. That I'd follow you to the end of the earth if you asked me to, Hermione. Because I would. I would do it in a heartbeat. I won't ever let you go, now that we have each other."

"Oh, Ron…" She sighed, touched by his words. "I don't ever want to be apart from you. Last time it nearly killed me. I don't think I could do it again."

"You won't have to. I promise." And with that, he was kissing her forcefully and possessively, grabbing her hips roughly and grinding her down on him. She laced her arms around his neck and pressed her entire body against his, wanting to be as close to him as possible. His one hand slid up her thigh and under her skirt, rubbing her through her knickers, while the other one grasped one of her breasts. She moaned, and roll her hips in time with his touch. He broke the kiss abruptly, and leaned back to look her in the eyes, silently asking her if it was okay to continue. She nodded, and he slid her knickers to the side, finally touching her skin on skin. He began rubbing her like she had taught him to, and she began moaning his name, spurring him on. Then, he did something that he hadn't last night. He began to slowly trace her entrance with one of his fingers and she gasped, surprised at how good it felt. Without thinking, she pushed herself down onto him. "Fuck…" he moaned, "You're so tight…" She nodded her head against his shoulder in agreement, and then on pure instinct began lifting her hips and slamming back down over and over, rising and falling as quickly as she could.

"More!" She screamed, at this point not caring if someone back at the house could hear her. He obliged, and added another finger, and she continued to move at a rapid pace as he helped her by moving with her. "Oh, Ron. This feels too good...I think I'm going to…"

"That's it, Hermione," Ron whispered in her ear. "I want you to feel good. I want to show you how much I love you. I only ever want to make you feel good."

She was fighting to hold off, but at the same time she couldn't stop herself from continuing to move in this way that felt so natural and primal. Surely they could stay in this moment forever, loving each other under the seclusion of this tree and surrounded by the beauty that was dusk, far away from the reality of grief that resided in the house.

Her attempts at making the moment last were futile, so she gave in and let out a sob of happiness as she climaxed, overwhelmed by the intimacy of it all. He hugged her and kept his fingers there until she stilled.

She began to cry. Ron looked at her, startled, but she smiled at him and just let the tears flow. His face looked more and more alarmed, until she mustered up some energy to speak. "I'm fine, Ron. That was just so…" She trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence at the moment.

He looked at her for a second as if she were crazy, but then smiled. "Is this some barmy woman thing that I won't ever understand?"

She chuckled, but then tried to voice her feelings again. "That was so beautiful, Ron."

He was beaming at her now. "You're right, Hermione. You deserve beautiful."

Just then, Mrs. Weasley could be heard calling their names from the house. Hermione sighed. "I don't think I can move," she said, only half joking.

"So don't," Ron replied, rolling her to the side gently, standing up, and then bending back down to easily scoop her up into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his chest as he slowly walked them back to the house.

Author's note: I've always wondered what became of Crookshanks, and like to think that Hermione was reunited with him. I wanted to portray some of their raw emotions in this chapter, and how they have a whole knew way of dealing with it now that they are together.