A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. There is dialogue direct from the book on occasion, I do not claim to own that either.

The euphoria from the victory of the Quidditch Final seemed to last the rest of the week, and even the weather seemed to celebrate. As June approached, the skies were cloudless and sunny. It would have been a perfect time to go on a date with Hermione, as they have not gone on an official date since the match.

They couldn't though, and even if Harry wanted to, he couldn't guarantee Hermione would even want to right now. The stress of the final exams was getting to everyone, and Hermione was feeling the stress more than everyone. She never left the common room. For the first few days, Harry tried to get Hermione to come down for meals at least, and she refused, leading Harry to just bring her food up.

Today was day 4 of this mood. Everyone was in the common room. Even Fred and George were seen studying as they had to take their O.W.L.s. Unsurprisingly the only other student who was as stressed as Hermione was Percy Weasley, who was taking his N.E.W.T.s. He was giving even harsher punishments than usual, however Hermione was still more anxious. The only person who was not seen studying was Ron.

In fact, since they got into the fight, Ron was rarely seen doing any homework. This led to Harry and Hermione being summoned to Professor McGonagall's office a few weeks ago.

Flashback- 3 Weeks Ago

"Thank you two for coming." McGonagall grinned at her two favorite students. They reminded her so much of James and Lily in their seventh year. She just hopes that they realize their feelings soon, as her bet on when they would get together was placed on the night before the Quidditch Final.

"What can we do for you, Professor?" Hermione questioned as they sat down.

"I don't think we have done anything wrong." Harry gives her the half smirk that his father was famous for.

"It's not actually about you." McGonagall told them. "I want to approach Ronald about this too, however I feel like I should hear from you two about it first. What happened between you and him? Normally it is none of my business, however Ron has been failing every quiz and refuses to do any homework since you two stopped being friends."

Harry glanced at Hermione, before explaining what happened. How Ron reacted when McGonagall took the Firebolt. How Ron accused Crookshanks of killing Scabbers, how he tried to sabotage Harry in the match against Ravenclaw, and how he called Hermione a Mudblood.

After the last revelation, McGonagall stood up in rage, walked out into her private office, and started to curse up a storm, her Scottish accent coming through even more as she did so. A deep breath was heard, before the door opened again.

"I apologize about that." she said, sitting down. "I always thought that the Weasley's were better than that."

"I don't think that they are that bad." Hermione put in. "It is just Ron. He is jealous Harry has money and fame, and that now he has a Firebolt. He hoped that Harry would let him use the Firebolt, and reacted badly when it was taken. One thing led to another."

McGonagall nodded in agreement. "I originally called you here to see if you could mend things with him, but I won't ask you for that now that I know what he did."

"You said this is about his grades, right?" Harry reaffirmed, sitting up. At McGonagall's nod, Harry continued, "Why not try to get Percy to help him out? They are family."

"That may be, but not only is Percy Head Boy, he also his N.E.W.T.s are coming up. I could not ask him to do that." McGonagall sighed. "I will probably have to write home to his mother. I fear our hall will once again feel the wrath of one of her Howlers, however that may be the only way to get his attention. Of course I will have to write about his behavior as well, so I'd expect your name to be mentioned."

Present Day

There had been silence since. Both Harry and Hermione had expected the Howler the next day, but none came. It was odd, as they never thought Mrs. Weasley could hold in her temper.

It was almost Lunch, and Harry shook his head as Hermione stayed in her seat instead of getting up. He stood up, walked up to her, and gave her a giant kiss. This past week they had many lip pecks, but nothing like their first kiss. This time, he stood her up, and as Hermione made a sound of protest, he gave her one even bigger than their first.

When they broke apart, Hermione was blushing like a red tomato.

"Shall we go to lunch m'lady?" Harry grinned at her, holding out his hand to her. Hermione, still flustered from the kiss, did not argue and took his hand as they walked out of the common room.

The couple were about to walk out of the common room when the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to reveal Ginny Weasley. When she saw who was in front of her, her face broke out into a huge grin.

"Hey there you two." She smiled at them. "How is Hogwarts's golden couple doing?"

"Hey Ginny." the two said in unison, causing her to scowl.

"Please don't do that." She begged. "I get enough of that from Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum over there." she said, motioning to Fred and George.

"Which one is Dee and which one is Dum?" Fred gasped.

"Of course I'm Dee." George grinned. "Though I thought I was Gred."

"Nah I'm Gred. You are Forge." the other twin stated, causing Ginny to groan.

"Come on." She motioned, as the couple followed her out, followed by Neville. They walked a short way before Luna jumped out of the shadows.

"God Luna!" Hermione gasped, clutching her chest. "Don't do that!"

Harry just laughed as Neville and Ginny grinned.

"It's good to see you out and about Hermione." Luna smiled. "I'm glad Harry figured out that suction is the best way to get rid of Wrackspurts."

The couple blushed as they continued to walk.

"Hey Ginny, thanks for being so cool about us dating." Harry nodded to her. "Your brother has done nothing but glare at us."

"Well I'm sorry he is such a prat." Ginny sighed.

"Speaking of." Hermione said. "Why are you so cool about us? I know last year you had a huge crush on Harry."

"After the incident with the Chamber," Ginny started, wincing at the memory, "I decided to grow up past Childhood crushes. Of course that doesn't mean that I wasn't obsessed with you at first immediately after, but Mum made me realize that you were just doing the right thing. That you are a person to, not a monument. She and Daddy had worked with Professor Dumbledore to get me a mind healer, as the Chamber had really messed me up. That along with my mum helped me."

The other four immediately engulfed her with a giant hug.

"I am so sorry Ginny." Harry told her. "I should have thought about that. I would have helped you out too."

"It's not your fault Harry. You were going through stuff as well." Ginny reasoned as they walked into the Great Hall.

They arrived just in time to see Errol, the Weasley family owl, crash into a bowl of fruit in front of Ron, who was pigging out at the Gryffindor table. They could just make out the red letter in his beak. Ron, however, didn't notice as he was currently stuffing his face. The letter started to smoke as Errol dropped it, before flying off. The entire hall covered their ears as the Howler exploded, finally drawing Ron's attention.

"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU CALL HERMIONE THAT NAME! WE TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT! HOW DARE YOU TRY AND SABOTAGE HARRY!" Mrs. Weasley's voice yelled. "I GOT A LETTER HOME ABOUT YOU FAILING CLASSES, YOU BETTER NOT FAIL THESE EXAMS! IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE STUCK AT HOME DOING CHORES ALL SUMMER, AS YOU WILL HAVE TO REPEAT THIRD YEAR. MAYBE YOUR SISTER WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH YOU BETTER! I'm sorry my son called you the M-word, Hermione dear. And I am sorry about the sabotage attempt Harry."

The silence once her voice ended was more deafening then the actual letter. Now the entire school knew that Ron had said Mudblood. The Weasley's who did not know looked at their brother in horror as the entire school started talking again at once.

The Heads of House then walked through the hall, handing out their exam schedules. Ginny, who did not know about Hermione's intense schedule, looked at her exam schedule confused.

"Hermione, they must have made a mistake." She told her. "You can't sit two exams at once."

"Of course not." She said, not looking up, as Harry got a letter from Hagrid.

"The Appeal is set for June 6th." He told them, as Ginny looked at them, confused. Quickly they explained the situation and motioned for Luna to join them at the Gryffindor table. "Looks like they are bringing an executioner."

"They what?" The girls shouted in rage."

"That sounds like they already made up their mind." Ginny gasped.

"It's the Malfoy's." Harry growled. "They get whatever they want by bribing people."

The exams went decently well. Lupin's exam consisted of an obstacle course that he and Hermione flew through. Snape's exam went about as good as it could with having a teacher that hates you. The exam for divination consisted of making up a lot of random things, however, as he left the room, Trelawney spoke in a loud, harsh voice.

"It will happen tonight."

"Sorry?" Harry asked, turning around. However, his words happened upon deaf ears, as Trelawney seemed to not be listening.

"The Dark Lord, alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... The servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with a servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Wisdom and Time will alone save the day. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..."

Before Trelawney could recover, Harry booked it from the tower. He ran straight to Gryffindor Tower, where the rest of his group was.

"Trelawney..." He panted. "Just told me..." However, before he could continue, he saw that they were crying.

"Hagrid just sent us this." Neville said, his fists clenched. Hermione flung herself at Harry, sobbing into him as Harry read the note. Buckbeak had lost the appeal, and the execution was set at sunset.

"We'll use the cloak." Hermione stated, standing up. "We need to be there for Hagrid."

"Cloak?" Neville and Luna asked in unison as Harry ran up to get it.

"My father's invisibility cloak." Harry explained as he showed them. "I feel like it is enchanted to fit more than one person as the Cloak seems to be small until we try to put it on, and then we fit."

The four put the cloak on, and walked out of the common room, walking close together so no one could see them. They hid in an empty chamber off the entrance hall, and waited till it was silent. Once it was, they snuck over to Hagrid's hut.

"You shouldn't have come." Hagrid frowned as he let them in. The five sat down for tea, conversation eluded them all. As Hermione grabbed the milk bottle, she screamed. "Scabbers!"

"What?" the rest said, standing up as Harry got closer. It was indeed Ron's rat, Scabbers sitting inside the milk jug.

"I'll hold on to him." Luna told them. "Ronald really doesn't know I exist, but he would be least angry at me returning him."

Hagrid was not paying any attention as he looked out the door.

"They're coming." he muttered. Indeed, Albus Dumbledore, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, and the Executioner Walden Macnair. "Go on, out the back. They can't see you here."

The four snuck out, waited for the front door to close, and trotted back up to the castle. Scabbers was becoming more and more restless, and Luna was having a hard time holding on to him.

As the five were almost up at the castle, they heard the unmistakable swoosh of an axe, followed by a thud. Hermione swayed on the spot, as Harry grabbed her to keep her steady. Hermione started sobbing again as Harry hugged her. Neville was holding Luna, yet both the boys were trying to keep it together for their girls.

"They did it." Neville said, shocked.

"They actually did it." Luna said, shaking.