Howdy y'all! I had so many great reviews, THANK YOU so much. I'm glad to know my stories occupy insomniacs. After I read them all, I did my little "Happy Dance". It's cute. Oh, and Draco did purpose, but I just didn't show that part. Part of the whole surprise thing, ya know. Oh, and anyone can use the surprise wedding thing, I'm glad to be inspiration! I'm keeping this short due to my extremely long author's note last chapter. So, on to the Story!

Chapter 20: What does yours say?

Harry and Ron quietly went into the compartment. Then they stared at the letters for a minute. Harry was the first to speak.

"So…should we read them?"

"Well…you don't think she'd curse them, do you?"

"I'd hope not. Do…Nah, she wouldn't do that." They sat there for another minute.

"Well, aren't you gonna open it?" Harry motioned towards Ron's letter.

"Why do I have to? You do it, after all, you faced off with…V-Voldemort."

"Oh come on Ron! Fine, I'll open it first."

Harry looked at the letter for a second more and then slowly opened the envelope. After glancing at Ron, he began to read the letter. After a minute or so, Ron opened his letter and began to read also.

Harry,

Hey. I'll bet you're wondering why I'm not on the train, sitting next to you right now. Am I right? I guess I'll never know, will I? I suppose I'll get straight to the point. Procrastination only works for so long. First of all, I want to say, do not blame anything on yourself. Ever. You had nothing to do with my decisions. For you see, I've left. I'm going to travel the world with the man I love. But I'll get to that. Harry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I always kept you at such a distance. Though you never knew it, it was always there. There's a part of me that I never showed you. A part of me you'll never know. But there's nothing I can do about it now. I want you to know, I always considered telling you. But after the fight with Ron, I realized that I wasn't nearly attached to you as I thought. I mean, I followed you to places where there was sure to be danger, and you couldn't even tear yourself away from Ron to talk to me for more than a few minutes. That hurt more than I thought it would. So know I get to that part about me traveling and everything. Well, I'm married now. I'm going to travel the world, and I don't know if I'll ever be coming back to England. I won't tell you who it is I've married for the fact that you won't like it. I'll be in touch.

Hermione

Harry looked at Ron, only to find Ron looking at him. At the same time, they said.

"What does yours say?" They both chuckled to themselves a bit. But it was a sad chuckle. They traded. Harry sat back and started to read Ron's letter. He abstractly noticed that it was shorter than his was.

Ron,

Hey. There's so much I could say to you right now. So much I want to say. But I won't. I'm gonna keep it short. Ron, we always fought. I really wasn't surprised when you asked me out. I just never did anything about it, because we were friends. And I'm sorry to admit you were right when you thought there was another guy. I wasn't going out with anyone, but I had already given my heart to someone. But Ron, you have to understand, it hurt me so much when you insulted my pride and integrity like that. I realize that I hurt you when I said no, but Ron, I couldn't go out with you. It wouldn't have been real. And at that point in my life, I needed a relationship where I could be real. And that was never going to happen with you. I can't say anything else to you without going on and on, so I'll stop right here. I'll be in touch.

Hermione

Harry just stared at Ron. What was this all about?

"Ron…"

"Your letter was longer."

"Ron, I really don't think that's impor-"

"She liked you better. I can't believe this."

"Ron, look –"

"Harry, stop. I just…I'm going for a walk."

Ron got up and left the compartment, flinging Harry's letter down on the seat as he walked by. Harry folded up Ron's letter and set it on his seat, picking up his own. He folded it, put it back in the envelope, and put it in his pocket. Then leaned back onto the seat, sighing. As much as he wanted to, he just couldn't be mad at her. He did wonder, though, who it was she'd married. And then his mind was drifting, and with the train's constant movement, he found it hard to stay awake.

The Granger's were not in a pleasant mood when they came home that evening. (They had been released from Hogwarts near Easter.) They had spent two hours at the train station, looking for Hermione, and she never showed. Needless to say, matters did not improve when they came home to find Beth passed out on the kitchen floor. They were sitting in the living room, talking, when the owls arrived.

"Honestly, this is so irresponsible of her! If I didn't know better, I'd say she's finally taking after Beth!"

"Now don't get all worked up. I'm sure Hermione has a perfectly good reason why she wasn't on the train." Just then the owls flew in the open window. "Look, right there. It just took a while for them to find us. I'm sure there's a logical reason, and Hermione will be home soon."

Mr. Granger took his letter, handed his wife's to her, and put Beth's letter on the counter for her to find tomorrow. The owls flew away, and they both sat down once again. As he began to read, his self-confident smile faded away until he was frowning. Glancing up at his wife, he realized she was crying.

Daddy,

Hey. I'm sorry, but I don't have a logical explanation for why I'm not home right now and why I wasn't on the train. I'm married now. I've found the love of my life, and we're going to travel. I'm sure you don't know why I left, so I'll tell you. You never were to keen to find out what was going on. Daddy, I was so sad. The rational side of my brain tells me not to blame you, but I can't help but want to. Mom always told me to be a good little girl, and I was. I was the good child. Every night my head told me you loved me, but my heart didn't know. I never felt loved. Well, now I do. And it doesn't have anything to do with you. You always just stood to the side, let Mom take control, but she couldn't handle it, so I was screwed. Daddy, I'll always love you, but right now I'm mad. And hurt. And I won't be coming back for a very long time. Don't worry about me, the man I've married is a good one, and he can take care of me. He can love me.

Hermione

Mr. Granger went over to his wife, slowly taking the letter away from her. He set it on the coffeetable and held her as she cried.

Mom,

There are so many things I want to say to you. So many things that you wouldn't hear when I was here. I'm gone. And I won't be coming back for a long time. I could never understand you, mom. I could never see your logic. I was good child. I got the good grades. I was well behaved. I didn't drink. I didn't do any drugs. I never slept around. I tried so hard to be your perfect little daughter. Yet no matter how good my grades were, no matter how hard I tried, I could never be what you wanted. Because you wanted Beth. You tried so hard to change her, mom, and you never realized that she wouldn't change if she didn't want to. And while you tried to change her, I grew up. I became a woman, right in front of your blind eyes. And all you ever gave me was more responsibility. And soon I realized that I could never be enough for you. But that didn't matter, because I was enough for myself. And that's all that really matters. When you couldn't be there for me, I was there for myself. When you weren't strong for me, I was strong for myself. The part that hurts me the most is the fact that I shouldn't have be strong for myself. The sad part is that I shouldn't have to be the one that tells myself that I'm good enough. You should be able to love me just the way I am. You should have been able to tell me that I was good enough. But you couldn't. Or wouldn't. I'll never know. And frankly, I don't want to. I don't care what you have to say anymore. I even wrote a poem for you one day, a long time ago. At the time, I never thought you'd be reading it, but I want you to now.

I'm Not Sorry

I can't be Perfect;
No one can,
So why do you push me?

I can't be Perfect
And I'm not sorry.

I won't be sorry
For the unachievable.

Yet you try so hard…
Don't you see?
I'm not sorry…
For being ME.

I'm not Perfect,
And I won't try.

When will I be enough?
When does Perfection end?

You should be the sorry one;
Not me.

Hermione
That night, Mrs. Granger fell asleep curled in her husband's arms, thinking to herself. "What have I done?"

The next day, late afternoon, Beth stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Thankfully, her parents had left the blinds closed. After all, that sunlight would've just been too much. She was halfway through her sandwich when she saw the letter addressed to her on the counter. She smirked to herself when she realized it was from Hermione. She began to read it aloud to the empty house in an amused voice.

Beth,

I hope you actually read this, but if not, I wouldn't be surprised. You can be bitch like that, ya know? Well, no I guess you wouldn't since you spent you whole life saying that I was the bitch. But this isn't what I wanted to write about. I just wanted to let you know I blame you. It was because of you that I never let anyone in. It was because of you, that I never let anyone get close to me. I was never good enough for your respect. And as soon as I realized that, life got a lot better for me. You see, Beth, I didn't always hate you. In fact, I used to adore you. I used to do anything for you. And that was before I realized that you never wanted a sister, you wanted a slave. You never wanted someone to laugh with; you wanted someone you could boss around. You'll never know how much it hurt me to realize that. But once I did, I didn't care about you anymore. Because I also realized that I was so much better than you will ever be. So, I just want to say, Karma's a bitch. You should get along great when it finally comes around.

FUCK YOU!

Hermione

Beth threw the letter away and went back to her sandwich.

Well? How were the letters? I would like to say, the poem is mine – I wrote it. If anyone wants to use it, or something like that, you can, and I'll just be happy if you put my name under it. Next chapter is the last chapter. Yes, that's right, the end is nearly here. I'll see you all soon.

Sarah