The first month after the war had been won was incredibly strange for everyone.

Fred spent that first month in hospital recovering from his physical injuries. His broken bones were so extensive that they took several days to heal even with powerful magic, his punctured lung took a fortnight of hard spell work and complex potions before he could breathe through it again, but knitting the nerves in his spine back together took the longest. It was difficult and exhausting work for both Fred and the medical team but by the start of his third week in the hospital he was able to move his toes for the first time and by the end of that third week, thanks largely to his grit and determination, he was taking his first steps with George by his side acting as a walking frame. Finally, after four full weeks in St Mungo's, Fred was allowed to go home, the medical team were so proud of everything he had achieved, and how remarkable quickly he had done so, as he was now able to walk again against all odds. The Weasley clan, led by George and Arthur, repaired and rebuilt the twins' flat so that when Fred finally left the hospital he was able to return to the home he and George had worked so hard to build, they thought that being there would give him a purpose and help his recovery.

Hermione, Ron and Harry had all moved back to the burrow following the final battle. They rarely ventured out of Weasley land, flooing between Weasley safehouses when they were in need of different scenery, due to the recognition they received in public. By the end of that first month the public were all aware of the true story of how Voldemort had been defeated and the war had been won, right back to the golden trio's first year at Hogwarts. The worshipping attention they received following this was even more difficult to stomach than the unfriendly welcome they'd initially had from the misinformed crowds and the best friends began living in the muggle world whenever they left the safety of Weasley properties.

Hermione and Ron had kissed during the final battle and had decided to work on building a relationship together. With the intensity of their lives so far they tried to take things slowly but having been best friends for eight years their natural progression was still fairly swift and soon Hermione and Harry were swapping rooms every night after Molly was in bed.

The school was being rebuilt by any who wanted to offer help, which included many Weasleys and others who fought in the battle as well as other members of the wizarding community who wanted to give thanks to the fighters for freedom being returned to their world. By the end of the first month repairs were well on their way and McGonagall had a project plan in place to get everything back up and running before the first day in September. Sadly there were now even more wizarding orphans who considered the school to be home, along with those children in unhappy or unsafe living situations like Harry had been for so many years, so the headmistress was determined that they be allowed to return to the castle as normal.

The ministry was undergoing a full investigation and restructure under Kingsley Shacklebolt. It was still months away from being a truly safe place for muggleborns to work in though, as it took a lot of time for a thorough check to be performed for every employee, each of whom was then either retained, promoted, fired or sentenced to imprisonment in Azkaban. Arthur and Percy Weasley were two of those who were, deservedly, promoted.

The Weasleys tried to muddle through each day as best they could, relying on the same principles they had relied on throughout the two wars for raising seven strong children, love and openness.

…

At the end of the first month after the battle St Mungo's entered its second wave of healing from the war. The first month had been focussed on life saving and major battle casualties only but had still been overrun, now that these patients had either been admitted to long term wards for further care or discharged and sent home, like Fred, they had the capacity to care for the next most urgent cases. Those who had been affected by the cruciatus curse.

Late one Saturday evening in June, Fred found himself wandering the corridors of St Mungo's alone. He had just been for a check up at the spinal ward and was taking a little walk around to clear his head before returning to the flat above the shop, he and George were part way through rebuilding the store and its stock but both twins were finding it to be exhausting work physically, magically and emotionally.

Hermione had been to visit Fred, alongside Ron, several times while he had been living in the hospital but Fred had always watched them come and go as a couple. Apparently they had become even closer over the last year and, following their first kiss during the final battle, were both trying hard to build a stable relationship now the war was over. It had broken Fred's heart to see them together but he wouldn't stand in their way. She seemed happy enough for someone who had just been through a war and she shared such a deep rooted history with his youngest brother Ron and a strong mutual trust from their experiences together that Fred felt that he could never compete with the younger red head.

And now Ron was a hero to boot.

Everyone fawned over all three members of the golden trio whenever they set foot in wizarding public and Fred was well aware that the majority of the magical world saw Ron as a much better Weasley than he was. Ron wasn't the forgettable youngest brother anymore, he was the strategic, courageous, generous young man who had been at the forefront in defeating the greatest dark wizard of all time for the past seven years. He was a hero, even to Fred.

All the Weasleys got more fame now than they used to but the little children in Diagon Alley didn't ask Fred about his thriving joke shop anymore, they asked him about his youngest brother.

He was proud of Ron, he really was, but seeing Ron's arm around Hermione's shoulders at the burrow's kitchen table, her sitting in his lap in the lounge arm chair, his lips on her temple on the wonky staircase, her hand entwined with his wherever they went...it was hard to swallow.

The trio were rarely ever seen by outsiders, and even more rarely seen apart, however tonight when Fred stumbled around a corner in the winding, sterile corridors and glanced through an open doorway his eyes fell on one third of the golden trio, in public without the other two thirds. Her face was pallid and she looked like she was sweating although she did not remove her sweater despite the summer heat. Fred's eyes roamed over her poised form trying to assess her for injuries before his eyes flickered to the room's other inhabitants trying to gather context. The fiery ginger hair of Ginny Weasley rested on the back of the chair beside Hermione's brunette curls and Fred recalled his sister's words when she had popped by the flat earlier than afternoon.

"I won't be at the burrow this evening for our usual quidditch game after your check up Fred. Perhaps you can play with Harry and Ron instead? I'll be at St Mungo's, those who suffered the cruciatus curse over the last year have been called in for assessment." His youngest sibling had told him apologetically.

He knew that Ginny and numerous other students had suffered weakened versions of the unforgivable curse as punishment at Hogwarts. Thankfully, with his own intervention of trinkets smuggled in via Madam Pomfrey that were charmed to prevent the caster from focussing and therefore significantly weakening the curse's effects, alongside Professor Snape's own strategies to minimise the use and effectiveness of the unforgivable curse, the Carrows were unable to inflict serious harm on any of the students. Despite this there were still well over a hundred teenagers who had suffered far more from the still excruciatingly painful spell than they should ever have done.

Small eleven and twelve years old with fear plain across their faces that mingled with awe as they stared wide eyed at Ginny, Luna and Neville, who had all protected the younger students as best they could and were now sat beside a firm faced Hermione. The first years hadn't met Hermione before and gazed at their hero in reverence, but even the older students in the allocated hospital waiting area, and spanning the years up to and including Hermione's own, were watching her with tangible respect and wonder. The goody two shoes bookworm who defied the ministry of magic, broke numerous laws to stand up for what was right, fought as a front row soldier in a war and saved the world.

"Miss Granger?" A young blonde girl spoke up eventually, finally breaking the heavy silence that had fallen across the room like a thick fog. "May I ask why you're here? You weren't in school this last year like the rest of us."

Hermione seemed to appraise the nervous looking younger girl, her piercing eyes analysing and evaluating her words, tone, inflections, facial expressions and body language in a split second before her brain clicked onto a decision and she nodded slightly.

"I suffered the cruciatus curse outside of the school during my mission." She replied slowly before taking a look around her audience.

Every face was turned to her in anticipation and they hung on her every word. Hermione was still finding it difficult to adjust to her new level of celebrity but as she saw the shadows in each pair of eyes which, like her own, were far too young to have experienced war like this, she made another decision.

"What's your name?" She asked the original speaker kindly.

"Alys, I'm about to go into third year, Hufflepuff. I was cursed a few times for sneaking others up to the hospital wing to receive unauthorized medical care after their own detentions and for shielding Slytherins who disagreed with You-Know-Who and didn't feel safe in their own common room or dorms. We took them into the Hufflepuff areas and the house elves helped us to look after them." The girl wasn't boasting, she was clearly detached from the facts she voiced. Detachment and seeing the events as abstract information was a coping mechanism that many of the students present had adopted over the past year.

Hermione looked at the younger girl with kind but cold eyes, she should have felt sadness, pity and anger but the war was over now and she was finding it hard to process what had happened to her too. Her eyes scanned the room and for the first time it clicked that each of these teenagers around her had suffered horrifically in ways they should never have even thought of let alone lived through. Many of the faces seemed detached, they had distant looks in their eyes as though they too were feeling empty and numb. Others seemed embarrassed and retreating into themselves, as though they should hide what they had been through and their scars.

She tugged down on her jumper sleeve subconsciously, it was already covering her scarred arm but she regularly twitched like this in public. She felt ashamed of and embarrassed by her scars and noticed a few others twitching their clothing to cover their own scars, following the lead from their hero.

That made her feel ashamed for a whole different reason.

Here were over a hundred students who hadn't asked to be involved in a war, many of whom wouldn't have been directly affected due to their blood status but still stood beside her, Ron, Harry and all those others who fought for what was right instead of what was easy. They looked up to her, the golden girl, Gryffindor's princess, the brightest witch of their age. She was a role model, whether she wanted to be or not, and she had to decide right now how she wanted to act, to live, to be.

Looking around she considered the resourcefulness those around her had demonstrated, the love they had shared, the incredible sacrifices they had made and she knew what she would do. She wanted them to be proud of what they had achieved, to step forward and to own what had happened to them, to be seen as warriors not victims.

Standing up slowly Hermione drew the attention of the last few students who had been staring off into space. Tugging at the hem of her jumper, she took a deep breath to steady herself, gathered her Gryffindor courage and lifted the knitted fabric over her head.

"My name is Hermione Granger." She began in a calm but carrying voice "I'm here because I was captured by snatchers while on my mission last year and taken to Malfoy Manor where Bellatrix Lestrange tortured me for information with the help of Fenrir Greyback and other death eaters. She repeatedly used the cruciatus curse on me for several hours, she physically assaulted me, dragged me around by my hair, restrained me, hit me with other painful curses, did many other things I don't fully remember through the pain of the cruciatus curse and carved into my arm with a dark magic knife imbued with the cruciatus curse."

Hermione twisted her arm to show the dark red, raised lettering. Fred felt like he was about to vomit, he was still hidden behind the door so thankfully Hermione didn't see his reaction and misinterpret it. He wasn't repulsed by her scar at all, he thought it showed her bravery, resilience, fortitude and so much more, instead he was repulsed by the fact she had been tortured. His Hermione had been tortured and he had had no idea about it.

"She carved the word mudblood" Hermione continued, apparently unfazed "because my parents are muggles. I am proud of them, and I am proud of me. I never gave up the information she wanted and was finally rescued by Dobby the house elf. Dobby was a hero who gave his life to save me, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Garrick Ollivander and a goblin named Griphook from further torture and death. I am proud of my scars because they show that I fought for what is right. You should be proud of yours too, they show that you are warriors, that you stood up and defended our freedom. I am proud of each and every one of you. Thank you for standing beside me."

She really was a remarkable public speaker, Fred would have marvelled at how she might become minister for magic one day, but right now all that was echoing around his head was the fact that she had been tortured. He hated himself for not keeping her safe, he hated the fact that he never would have even tried to keep her locked away and safe, she was too incredible to be caged. He just could not process this. Turning on his heel Fred ran back to the hospital entrance and disappeared with a crack.

He missed Hermione answering questions about the purple scar that poked out the top of her now exposed cami top and he missed the way the others with scars grew confidence and pride in them. He missed the others taking it in turns to introduce themselves and reveal their own scars that had each been carefully hidden away but were now proudly on display. He missed every single member of the group waiting until late that night when the last one had been seen by the healers so that they could all walk out together as one united front.

He missed Hermione walking right past the journalists, who followed her wherever they could and so had been waiting by the main entrance for her to leave, as she carried her jumper in her hand with her head held high, a smile on her face and her scars on display.

Instead his knees hit the flat's lounge floor with a crack as his legs gave way upon landing.

...

Author's Note

Thank you so much to everyone who is reading this and special thanks to Nomisrael, fear-the-dark, Tiffany, YaeliEZ and Le soleil brille pas pour toi who all left a review! It really does brighten up any day to hear from you so thank you.

Thanks especially for staying with me while a went for a little break, I've been away lots over the summer but now we're back to autumn in the northern hemisphere (or fall) I'll be updating much more regularly again, and the break let me get a lot more chapters ready to go!

I am considering going back someday and massively extending Chapter 29, the reason why it's so short at the moment is that I use my writing to help deal with my own PTSD and I'm just not ready to write in detail about war just yet. However one day I will be and that Chapter will become mammoth - I'll let you all know whenever that day comes :) thank you for your support.

Love to you all,

Wishin Girl x x