When Charlie woke up the next morning it was to a pleasant weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and looked down to see a mass of brown curls resting there. Hermione was using him as a pillow; she had somehow squirmed around during the night and one of her legs was now resting across his as well. He had always had a tendency to laugh when uneasy and, as the potential awkwardness of the situation struck him he fought to contain the laughter that wanted to erupt.

Despite his best efforts (which he was sure would soon crack one his ribs) Hermione was woken by the shaking of his chest. She opened one bleary eye and groaned. "Sleep" she muttered and buried her face back in his chest.

"Hermione?" he said tentatively, he wasn't sure whether or not she was a morning person and really didn't want to find out the wrong way

"mph?"

"I have to be able to get up"

She opened both her eyes and looked around drowsily, then she did a double take as she realised just how closely she was wrapped around him. She jumped backwards, towards the far wall so quickly that she hit it with an audible bang.

"Sorry" she blushed "when I get cold in the night, I tend to get as close as I can to the nearest warm thing"

"I noticed" he teased "It's alright, I don't mind but I do have to get going soon" he began to get changed, she tried not to look

"Back to the reserve?"

"Yes, I'm afraid I won't be back again now until the actual wedding"

"Have you got time for breakfast?"

"Not really, I'll grab something when I get back"

"I'll see you in a couple of weeks then" she smiled faintly as he shrugged on his dragon hide jacket and wondered why his leaving so suddenly bothered her.

"I'll write" he grabbed his bagged, pressed an absent-minded kiss to her forehead and left so fast that Hermione could have sworn that he created a breeze. She pulled the covers back over her head to hide her embarrassment.

The rest of the day crawled by, it seemed that everybody except Hermione was hung over. She had never before had to distribute so many hangover cures in one go. After breakfast, everybody else dragged themselves back up the stairs to "sleep it off". Hermione was left to wander around listlessly only now realising how much she missed the company of Harry and Ginny. She would miss them even more when she was in Romania.

Before now, Hermione had not allowed herself to cry. It was stupid to feel sorry for herself when everybody else was in the same boat, besides it wasn't fair to Charlie. They were quite good friends at the moment and he had been so lovely to her that she didn't want to appear ungrateful. Here, though, in the silence of the sitting room, with everybody else asleep, she allowed herself a really good cry. It didn't take long for her to get it out of her system but she felt loads better for it.

Some time later, two owls flew through the window, both carrying letters for Hermione. The first was a hastily scrawled note from Charlie. He apologised for leaving so quickly, he said it was because he didn't want her to feel embarrassed and that he would write a longer letter later but one of the dragons had just thrown a temper tantrum.

The other was from Ginny

'Dear Hermione,

Having an absolutely fantastic honeymoon! Hope you are doing ok, Harry says 'Hi'. Spain is beautiful. Have to go now; Harry wants to do some sightseeing. See you when we get back

Loads of love

Ginny'

Hermione knew her well enough to know that Ginny didn't underline words for emphasis, if she had underlined a word, it had a double meaning.

Time seemed to slip uncontrollably away until the wedding. Every wedding she attended brought her closer to her own, she attended everyone but, without Charlie, she found that she was asked to dance less and less. Oddly, she also missed sharing the bed with him. There was no heat source in the bed, and no one who was still awake reading as she fell asleep. Before she knew it, it was the day before her wedding and she found herself sat on the bed in Charlie's/her room back against the wall knees drawn up to her chest as she watched the sunset.

There was a gentle knock on the door and she looked up to see Harry and Ron watching her, smiling slightly, her boys.

"How are you doing?" asked Ron as they sat down on either side of her, both slinging an arm around her shoulders

"Not too bad, actually, I thought I'd be worse than you two were on your wedding days but I don't really feel anything"

"So this is it then" sighed Harry, staring out the window too "we're all going in different directions now" he turned to Hermione "I know Ron and I are already married but it really feels like tomorrow will be a parting of the ways"

"Don't say that" Hermione whispered, her voice cracking a little "I don't like to think about it, it makes me want to cry" she rested her head on Harry's shoulder

"It's not the end, though is it?" said Ron warmly, without braking his gaze out of the window "I mean, things will be different now, we've all got separate lives but we'll still be the three of us even when we're all old with Grandkids and stuff. We've been through far too much together to let it all fall apart"

Hermione looked at him; sometimes she was still startled by how sweet he could be at times. "Yes, we have" she smiled, her eyes watering a little as she fought to hold back the tears "I do love you both, you know that don't you?"

"Of course" said Harry "and we love you too" she kissed them both on the cheek, held Ron's free hand and rested her head on Harry's shoulder again

"Besides" said Ron, grinning "who else are we going to go to for relationship advice?"

A/N: Sorry this is quite short, it's been a while again since I last updated, I'm planning on updating again in a coupke of days, I'm going to try to upload a few chapters in quick succession now because the holidays are nearly over and I suspect that once they are, life may get a little hectic and it will be harder to update often. Anyway, I'm going to try my hardest. I do have some more chapter ready to upload but I can't always get to a computer.

Also, I cannot thank you enough for the lovely reviews...I have enjoyed writing this story but it has been difficult and at the moment I'm experiencing writer's block in chapter 15 but your encouragement has kept me going and is the best motivation I could ask for. so thanks :)