Before going to bed, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat gathered on the floor in the bedroom Harry and Hermione slept in and just talking, all ready for bed.

"How have you been, mate?" Ron asked.

He looked good, considering. Almost too good, but still in a Ron kind of way.

"You know, great except for breaking the reality part."

Ron grinned. "Yeah… but we'll fix it. We always do, right?"

"I don't know. I can't make you guys come with me, and I'd understand if you wanted to stay here instead."

"Honestly Harry, you should know us better. We'll follow you anywhere", said Hermione.

"Like we've always done", said Ron, leaning back against a chair, with his hands behind his head. He had the facial expression of someone reminiscing about the good old times. "We've done some mental things haven't we?"

Harry fiddled with his wand. He was thinking it would be useful for what was coming.

"Yeah."

"But you were the one that did most of those things", Ron frowned like he was misremembering things.

Harry shook his head. "That's not true, Ron."

"C'mon. Remember when you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who?" Ron smiled fondly, staring into space. "Or when you killed the Basilisk or saved Sirius from the Dementors?"

"Without you and Hermione I would've gotten nowhere."

It was strange, it felt like time had passed but at the same time no time had passed at all but yet it was nostalgic to think about.

Harry felt Hermione take his hand.

"You won the Tri-Wizard Cup however", she said.

"I had help from you guys then too, even if things got a bit – rocky for a while", said Harry, remembering how Ron got mad at him for putting his name in the Goblet even if he didn't do it, and how much he and Hermione prepared for the tasks… and Cedric's death. And how he had become good friends with Cho Chang – Cedric's girlfriend – only for her to tell Umbridge about the D.A meetings.

"What about Dumbledore's Army?" Ron said with a bigger grin. "Seriously Harry, once all of this over you should become a teacher."

"Precisely. Harry, you are a remarkable teacher. You would be a natural", said Hermione.

"I don't know", Harry scratched his neck with his free hand. "I wanted to become an auror but now I'm not so sure. Maybe teaching wouldn't be so bad."

"Auror sounds like fun but Fred and George said I might want to consider joining their joke shop in Diagon Alley. Or maybe the Avengers, I heard you do get paid but not in galleons though", said Ron so low he was almost mumbling. "What about you, Hermione?"

"I think it's too early to think about getting jobs. The world is still ending", said Hermione.

"No, come on", Harry teased. "We're pouring our hearts out here Hermione, and you're giving us nothing."

Hermione gave him an unsure smile and then rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'd like to just have a pleasant stable job at the Ministry in a department where I can make a difference."

Ron murmured in agreement and nodded. "Nice and simple. Sounds nice."

Harry hadn't felt this close to his friends in a long time. Something made him reach out for Ron's hand, who took it with a facial expression mixed with confusion and amusement. Hermione took Ron's other hand.

"We'll beat this thing. And then if your family are willing to put up with us, we could live in the Burrow for a while, Ron."

"I don't think mum would argue with that", smiled Ron.

"Then it's a deal."

Hermione smiled and nodded.

Harry couldn't help but smile. He lightly squeezed their hands.

"I love you guys", the words came unexpectedly out of his mouth.

Ron's facial expression just became confusion and he immediately burst out laughing so hard that he fell down on the floor, causing Harry and Hermione to laugh with him.

They laughed so loud and for so long they probably woke some people up but that thought instantly escaped Harry's mind, and instead he pulled his best friends in for a big hug and instead of laughing, he started crying. But he wasn't sad, he was just happy to have them as his closest friends and they were about to go and risk their lives for him.

He heard Hermione crying too, and eventually Ron started sobbing and shaking.

Maybe a part of them knew this would be the last time they'd get to just be friends before the battle.

It felt like such a long time they were just sitting there, huddled together crying. Harry never wanted this moment to end.

That night was quiet for the most part, except Harry had a strange dream about glowing Christmas decorations that were supposed to save the world, and several clones of him that he had to defeat, keeping the decorations to themselves.

He had a hard time defeating the clones as they were just jumping around on pogo sticks and avoiding him.

Voldemort eventually stepped in and just laughed him, but Ron slapped him away with a giant flyswatter and Hermione held a very brief funeral ceremony that involved a pie-eating contest.

Harry ate so much pie that he ended up getting a stomach ache and more he didn't remember.

When he woke up, he felt like something was lying on his chest. First, he thought he was still dreaming, but it was just Hermione on her stomach lying on his chest. Her hair messily covered half her face.

He glanced towards the window. Outside, it was dark and cloudy. Today it was his birthday and he didn't know how to feel about that. His seventeenth birthday.

He looked back to Hermione. He gently stroked her hair out of her face. She mumbled something muffled and inaudible.

"You're awake?" Harry whispered.

"Been for a while", she answered with her eyes still closed and gave him a sleepy kiss on his lower lip but he turned his head slightly and kissed her back. Hermione put her hands behind his head, he put his on her upper arms. He felt her warm breath against his face, and a soft tingle inside his chest.

It was slightly sluggish and clunky since it was so early in the morning but he wouldn't have it any other way. For a foggy moment it felt like they really existed as one person.

Sneakily, he moved his hand under the shirt of her pyjamas and tickled her belly. She shuddered and pulled away giggling, still not entirely awake, "Stop it, Harry."

He kept tickling her, making her laugh uncontrollably. Her hands snuck in under his shirt and he was sorry when she got her payback.

The birthday celebrations were quite loud and crowded, and mrs Weasley insisted on Harry not having to do a single thing for the entire day that resembled work.

Breakfast consisted of fried eggs, crispy bacon, sausages, baked beans and tomatoes.

Fred and George had casted a spell that caused constant glittering confetti to slowly rain and scatter all over the room, while Hermione conjured bright colorful balloons shaped like a big Quidditch game taking place in the air above the and mrs Weasley made a giant yellow cake shaped like a Snitch.

A big pile of presents laid next to the cake but before they dove into the cake, Harry together with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George and even Peter played Quidditch on a bunch of old brooms inside since they couldn't go out.

Most of the game took place in the stairway since there was a lot more room there, but it became some sort of variation of Quidditch instead of actual Quidditch since they didn't have a lot of horizontal space and they used the stair railings as make-shift goals.

After a messy, dangerous game of Quidditch they joined a large feast which was a mixture of food dishes; baked potatoes, various puddings, roast beef and at least two different kinds of pies.

After dinner and cake, Harry opened the presents with the anticipation reminiscent to that of a little child's and very aware that this might be his last birthday and among friends.

Out of one of the packages he picked out a golden watch, although it was a bit dented and had stars showing the time instead of hands.

"It's tradition to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age, although it is not new like Ron's and belonged to my brother Fabian. It's a bit dented and he wasn't careful with his possessions in the slightest but it's still in working order."

Harry opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. "T-thank you but mrs Weasley, I can't accept this. It belongs to your family."

Mrs Weasley's facial expression turned stern. Kind, but stern. "Yes you can. No one else will have a use for it and it is much better off with you than in my home."

Harry thanked her for at least two more times and moved on to Hermione's present.

"Shopping is very hard during the end of the world", said Hermione with a nervous smile. "I had a hand in getting it out of the store."

Pete met Harry's eyes but immediately looked away with a very neutral expression on his face and pretended to be very interested in the cake, which just made him look suspicious.

She looked scared out of her mind and kept itching her own palm with her thumb. What could've she possibly have given him that upset her so much?

He opened her present and inside was just a small square black box. Harry's heart skipped a beat and he looked up at Hermione.

She actually had tears in her eyes. Mrs Weasley screamed with pure happiness. Aunt Petunia just gave him a wide and warm smile, like she was genuinely happy. Harry didn't see her look that that happy often, the few occasions he could remember was whenever uncle Sirius had been around and when he and Hermione first got together and possibly when he got his letter to attend Hogwarts.

"Go on, open it!" Ron insisted.

Harry opened it and felt extremely overwhelmed seeing a ring in the box, scared even. It was a silver ring with a very simple black pattern.

She is proposing to me, he thought over and over. Not me proposing to her. She is proposing to me.

In Harry's mind, he always thought it was the other way around in this sort of fairy tale way where the guy proposed to the girl. He felt detached from reality. Happy, but detached like he was dreaming and watching himself pick out the ring.

He thought he blacked out for a very very brief moment and felt his heart jump again. He wanted to say the words but he was paralyzed.

"Mate, are you there?" said Ron with a light chuckle.

Harry looked up and saw that everyone was just looking at him, anticipating him to say something.

Peter sniffled, but he looked happy for his sake. Pete patted him gently on his back. "It's okay man, let those emotions out."

"Thanks man", Peter's face warped between the edge of being about to start crying to a smile.

"I don't know what to say – I – you want me to marry you?" Harry felt slightly numb, and Hermione quickly nodded, noticeably having a hard time herself trying not to cry. "I – yes. Yes."

Hermione looked at him. "You mean it?" She tried to hide the fact that she wiped her eyes, considering how many people were looking at the two of them.

Harry blinked hard, still trying to understand the information his brain was processing. "Yes. Hermione. I love you."

"I love you too", Hermione threw her arms around him and burst out sobbing. He was ridiculously aware of how many people's eyes were on them, like all his senses were heightened.

He heard a collective "aww" mixed with clapping and Fred and George's wolf-whistling.

Before letting him go she gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. Fred and George slammed down a big orange box infront of him. It wasn't wrapped, purple logo saying 'Weasley's Wizards Wheezes'.

It took up so much space that Harry no longer saw the people sitting opposite of him. Inside the box was a massive amount of all kinds of joke articles, it was filled to the brim with the most senseless things Harry had seen; trick wands, weather in a bottle, sticky trainers, screaming yo-yo's, headless hats among many many other things.

Harry was impressed, because it was clear their shop had been a hit. He received many more presents; a magical razor, a pair of gloves that kept them either warm or cool no matter what and allowed him to hold a quill or other things without hindering his movement; a very thick book about mechanics and a lot of other scientific stuff that Harry didn't quite understand but very much wanted to learn; a magic stress ball that returned to the thrower like a boomerang and didn't break; lots of shirts; a Gameboy that fit neatly in your pocket (Hawkeye had given him it and said it helped him focus before a mission), and many other very thoughtful gifts.

When there were no unopened presents left, Harry noticed Ron hadn't given him anything. "Here you go mate", Ron handed him a rectangular package in reflective light-blue wrapping with a smile. "It's embarrassing but I guess I have no choice now do I?"

"It's actually a very cute gift", teased Ginny and when Harry looked questioning at her she answered his look. "I helped with it."

Ron crossed his arms, visibly annoyed at his little sister. "Shut up, Ginny."

Now Harry was excited to see what was in the package. He ripped the wrapping open and inside he picked out a big album.

Harry took a deep breath and looked at Ron. "Is this another marriage proposal?" He said jokingly.

Ron's facial expression said "what do you think of me?"

"I'm kidding."

"Yeah I know", said Ron with a slight smirk.

Harry opened the album, inside there were moving pictures of not just him but Ron, Hermione, the Weasley family, D.A and many of them were group photos. There were more photos than Harry ever remember being in or ever taken; you could see him, Ron and Hermione growing up through-out the years and even Hagrid was there on some.

They were so small in their first year at Hogwarts. And Ron still had Scabbers – Pettigrew on his shoulder or poking his head out of a pocket.

"I thought about what you said yesterday", said Ron. "I had to wake up early and apparate to a few people to gather the pictures. Ginny helped finding a bunch at the Burrow. George with his camera – he held on to most of them, I don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of creepy."

George blew a raspberry.

"It's easy to forget insignificant photos when you're focused on living the life", said Fred.

"We were going to give them to you eventually, Ron. Maybe. Or we could've let them gather mold in the attic for a few more decades and let them increase in value before selling them to the highest bidder."

Harry took his time with browsing through the album; him during his first Quidditch match flying on his broom out and in of the frame; the three of them standing in front of Hagrid's hut alongside a reluctant Hagrid who didn't look comfortable on photo and kept stomping in place; Hermione and Ron laughing something off camera – Harry remembered this vividly, this was when he had showed up to scare them with his Invisibility cloak, Harry and Hermione not being able to keep a straight face and looking insanely in love – Harry thought he looked so very idiotic – standing next to Sirius in one of the rooms in the very house they were in right now. There were many more photos filling the entire album.

"That's amazing, Ron and Ginny", Harry didn't know the words for it, he was at a loss for words, just 'amazing' came up in his head, "Thanks a lot, mate. You've collected so many great memories." He kept browsing. He noticed how much he was missing during their sixth year. Probably when he was out web swinging. He was there but he wasn't present nearly as much compared to the rest of the photos.

"I would be hugging you right now but this cake is in the way", he said.

Laughs scattered across the table.

"Ah that's alright. We can hug it out later."

After eating the most delicious cake Harry had eaten in recent memory, he was surprised by a sudden dance party in the living room. Furniture had seemingly been cleared out and a white glittering ball spun hovering in the air, emitting a soft white light. On a table in a corner stood glasses, drinks, food and candy. "Where did that thing come from?" Harry pointed at the ball.

Fred just passed by on his right, smirking. "Guess."

"Be grateful, birthday boy", George passed by on his left. "We just turned your party from grandma's get-together for knitting night to the hottest party in town."

They went to mess with an old vinyl player standing on a table. Soft and quiet music soon started playing in the background.

"Eh, that will do", said Fred.

"Decent warm up", shrugged George.

"Come on", Hermione took Harry's hand and took him out on what essentially acted as the dance floor.

"I haven't danced in at least two years", Harry warned her.

"That's okay", she smiled mischievously and put her hands on his shoulders as he gripped her waist. As they started dancing, more and more people joined them.

It was a very calm and intimidate dance; Harry was enjoying himself and could tell Hermione was doing so too.

From time to time, they walked over to the table and took a few glasses of a bottle of 'Fire whisky' that just burnt like actual fire in Harry's throat. It wasn't good and Harry actually would've preferred Butterbeer.

The song ended with them pressing their noses against each other, completely submerged in each other's eyes. A strong tint of red stood out on her face and she seemed to be in a very non-Hermione mood.

And then suddenly the music got loud and energetic, and the spinning ball turned into many colors, scaring the ever-living life out of them both.

"Okay enough of that drab lovey-dovey stuff!" roared George over the room.

Hermione didn't hesitate for a second to just completely ignore any etiquette, logic or reason and break out in an insane dance that Harry was sure was being completely made up on the spot. It looked ridiculous but Harry wasn't far behind to join her.

Doing a completely made-up dance meant it was inevitable they bumped into other people or each other a lot more often than they intended. Or even falling over.

His spider-sense was just getting in the way and he didn't mind falling over and picking himself back up. Just for one lousy night, let it be turned off, he thought.

The time was past midnight when he felt like he was running on fumes and he had too many glasses. "A 'right I'm out, Herm. 'Tis spider gotta snooze."

Hermione froze, mid-movement with awfully furrowed eyebrows like she had been snapped back to her senses.

"You're not feeling well?"

"Nope."

"Okay, go and rest."

He gave her a very wet kiss and gave her a tight hug, and walked towards nearest places to lie down. His stomach was churning and he didn't want to throw up all over the floor so he had to lie down, preferably amongst less feet stomping on him.

The furniture had been stuffed into a corner. The only words in Harry's brain were 'lie down', he couldn't physically do anything more and his eyes fundamentally hunted for the nearest sofa to crash down in.

Ron sat in a sofa opposite of him along with a drinking Peter. Lupin were there too, asleep in a dark brown chesterfield next to Harry. Ron appeared entirely within his senses except for his continually falling eyelids. Peter however absolutely had one too many drinks, sleepy looking face and all.

"Are you not feeling well?" Ron asked.

"Nope", he grabbed a big pillow, covering his entire face with it.

"Tomorrow's gonna suck huh?" Peter said but he laughed obnoxiously loud like he was becoming more and more unhinged.

The sound hurt Harry's ears.

"Don't remind me", Harry squeezed the pillow against his face.

"I can't lie, I'm bloody scared", said Ron.

Harry just groaned in response.

Footsteps were heard, someone sat down in another couch. "What's going on here?" said Pete's voice in the tone of a curious parent.

"Nothin'!" rumbled Harry.

"I'll sit here if that's okay."

"Sure, go ahead, brother", slurred Peter.

"You should take it easy, bud", Pete said in a slightly concerning tone.

"I'll be fine", murmured Peter. "Just drowning the pain."

In time, Harry got energy enough to lie down and talk even if he still felt drunk and physically drained, he got into a long discussion with Ron and the other Peter's.

"You do what now?" Harry asked Pete.

"I shoot webbing from my wrists", he seemed to be the most responsible person out of them all as he just had a big glass of ice-cold pumpkin juice. He furrowed his eyebrow from time to time, looking at the glass like he didn't like it but kept drinking it.

Hermione had joined a very strange dance where everyone danced in a line around the room.

"Yeah, we all do that", Harry said. His brain was foggy and he found himself laughing at things he probably shouldn't.

"No, I meant from my wrists, from my body", clarified Pete.

"That's gross", Peter made a grossed-out grimace. "So do you shoot webbing from anywhere else or—?"

"What, no! How do you create webs then?"

"From scratch. Making webbing is so annoying", groaned Peter.

"Agreed", mumbled Harry. "Except I can replicate it with magic."

"Can you replicate a few – let's say – thousand cartridges for me?" he slurred his speech pretty badly while downing another drink.

"Sure."

"By the way, who were those guys attacking us earlier?" Pete looked genuinely confused and concerned at the same time. "How are Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius alive?"

Harry wanted to care but the liquor swimming around in his brain told him not to. Besides, he had been busy trying not getting killed during that moment.

"No clue", said Peter. "I got decked by Electro and that's all I 'member."

"Electro?" Pete didn't seem to quite understand.

"He looked different, sure wasn't my Electro", Peter emptied his glass.

"How did he look like?"

"Long hair, beard. A real scrawny bastard in an old coat that I bet he got handed down from his homeless uncle."

"Oh. Not my Electro either then."

After a bit Hermione came over and fell down right on top of him; he gasped in pure surprise. His entire face got covered by her hair. "Ouch", muttered Harry. "Was that necessary?"

She just gave a drawn-out moaning noise and fell fast asleep.

"That doesn't look very comfortable", said Ron.

"It's no'", said Harry.

Author's end of chapter notes: This entire chapter was an emotional rollercoaster for me. After so many years I finally got back into the world of Harry Potter again.

Say what you want, but JK created a flawed yet beautiful world with relatable and human characters, and I just love exploring the bond between Harry, Ron and Hermione.

I never felt like they bonded as strongly as a group in the books or movies, but to me they view each other as family (I have to re-read Deathly Hallows, it's been too long).

On top of that I feel like Ron doesn't get the justice he deserves and ended up just being 'the sidekick that turns bad' in Broken Web so all you Ron fans can be happy I at least have good intentions. Ron is honestly underrated.

Also, I don't regret introducing Andrew Garfield's Spidey, even if I grew up with Tobey Maguire's version. While Tobey and Tom are great in their own respects, Andrew is the most relatable one and the one I feel the most for so maybe that's why I might be getting him the most right of the two.