Summary: Hermione Granger had been waiting for 5 years. She would never give up hope; never admit that he could be dead. It seemed that from now on that was what life had in store for her…just waiting. Always waiting until she could tell him. R/H

A/N: Well there you have it. Waiting is a chaptered piece that's also my first…. I'm not sure whether it will be great but try it out and see how you like it.

Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling nor will i ever be. The use of her characters are for enjoyment purposes only.

The massacre. It was all Hermione Granger could think about late at night. The wails of the children were guaranteed to haunt her for the rest of her life. Even after 5 years the images were still vivid in her mind. Children and adults, magically bound, enduring countless cruciatus curses for the sole reason that they were Muggle-borns.

Thousands of children were left orphaned after their parents had been taken away to the torture chambers. Most of them were killed, but the babies and toddlers were mainly given to the orphanages before the parents were ordered to the prison camps.

The world was in chaos for five months. Their hopes were resting in the hands of three seventeen-year olds. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the ones who set out to destroy Voldemort, the starters of all the massacres.

Nearing the end of the war Hermione had altered a spell to allow Harry Potter to destroy all of the horcruxes (pieces of Voldemort's soul) without having to sacrifice parts of himself. Once they had gathered all the horcruxes and destroyed them they knew it would be easier to defeat Voldemort. That didn't mean it wouldn't be tough though. With all the pain and suffering was going on around the world, Harry summoned up the courage to defeat the Dark Lord. While Ron was working with a team of Aurors in Germany, Harry conquered Lord Voldemort with the spell Abomino Abduco. The spell drew all the hatred out of Lord Voldemort and replaced it with love. Naturally Voldemort couldn't survive when all hatred is substituted by love, so he faded away. He was gone for good.

The war was over. All the Death eaters were killed instantaneously at the death of Lord Voldemort, and that left a lot to clean up and fix. It would take the wizarding world years to recover from this massive blow. Bodies plagued the streets like garbage, leaving plenty of work for the volunteers. The number of missing people was also at dangerous high levels. The list went on and on. One name stood out highlighted for everyone to see was Ronald Weasley. He wasn't at the final battle since he was on a mission with the Aurors in Germany. Unfortunately, none of that troop had been found, despite of bitter search. The search was called off after five months and Ron was assumed dead.

That was at least, for the general public. The Weasley family in addition to Harry and Hermione refused to give up hope for as long as they live. Hermione was knocked hard by the thundering news. She's always loved, Ron but now it was too late for her to tell him. Who was to say that he would come back? Even though the prospects of him living were slim, she always kept a sliver of hope at the back of her mind.

Before she could get over it though, Hermione went through a stage of depression, often drinking nightly and crying herself to sleep. Ginny Weasly had been the one to pull Harry and Hermione up. Harry too, was blaming himself harshly for Ron's disappearance, but after Ginny, he realized that there was nothing he could have done about it. That's not to say that he still didn't still blame himself, but he came to terms with it. With Ginny's help, Hermione was still different from before, but she too, learned to deal with it.

With the support from Ginny, Hermione soon became a fully-fledged healer and worked at St. Mungo's doing what she does best at helping others. She may not have been able to save Ron, but she could always help others in place of him. From then on, every time she gave a healing potion or mended a broken bone, she always had Ron in her mind. Things seemed to look better for her.

Then Hermione strained to watch as Ginny and Harry's romance flourished from a bud to a full-bloomed rose. She missed Ron dearly and she needed to escape the suffocating loneliness that was closing in around her.

That's when it started. Hermione had always helped out with the orphaned children at the London's many orphanages by donating money, but she had never visited one. Naturally, one day while she was in London at a healer conference, she decided to visit The Sky Is Clearing Orphanage For Young Children With Magical Abilities before her meeting started. If a muggle were to look at the building, it would appear to be a closed down bookstore but to a wizard it would be a large building with colorful murals that were painted along the walls. It seemed …happy.

As Hermione stepped inside through the magical door, the first thing she heard was the sound of laughter. It washed over her like a wave of happiness and for the first time in a long while, an almost genuine smile crept onto her face. She shook her head and swiftly sauntered over to the receptionist's desk.

'Hello, how may we help you?" asked the receptionist.

" I was hoping to visit some of the children. You see… I am a frequent donor to this orphanage and I wanted to see where my money went." replied Hermione

" Oh not a problem. Thank you for taking the time to visit us. We don't tend to get many visitors. The children will love to see you. Is it all right if I call one of our nurses to give you the grand tour?" the receptionist asked politely.

" That would be lovely, thank you."

" Medi-Witch Mia will be here shortly. Please feel free to rest yourself until she arrives."

Hermione sank down into the plush blue couch and flipped through a copy of the Daily Prophet. She wasn't really paying attention to its contents, however. Her attention was focused on the sounds around her. Laughter and tears all leaked into her ears as Hermione savored the noise. Rarely did she ever hear anything so carefree after the massacres and it set her mind at ease. She scanned the room for the nurse and found her standing. She stood up and walked toward the young lady.

Mia was your average Medi-Witch. Clad in her pale blue uniform with a smile so warm and big, it stretched to her eyes.

"Hello, I suppose you already know my name, but I'm Mia," she said pleasantly.

" Hi, I'm Hermione Granger."

"Well I suppose we should continue with the tour shouldn't we?"

Mia led Hermione to the children's room. There were about 30 or so kids playing with their stuffed animals or toy broomsticks. There were a couple of the girls with Barbies. Yes, they were muggle toys but the kids could hardly notice the difference and were having a lot of fun.

"Feel free to play with the children for as long as you like. Just use your wand to tell me that you want to continue to the baby room," explained Mia.

"Thank you," replied Hermione.

She sat down with the girls playing with the Barbies. The girls were very shy at first but soon opened up to her. In 10 minutes Hermione knew Kayla and Maya very well. They were both six years old and their favorite game was Barbie's Wedding. Complying with their rules, Hermione soon became Ken and they were having a wonderful time. After some time, Hermione said goodbye to the girls and the rest of the children. She called Mia over and they visited the baby room

There were about fifteen cribs and perfect little angel sleeping deeply in them. Mia had said that they had just fallen sleep, so now was the perfect time to see each of them. Hermione walked past each of the cribs cooing at the babies (just a side question: if the babies are asleep, how come Hermione was cooing at them?). When she came upon the fifth crib she was astonished. To an ordinary person there wasn't much special about the little baby girl soundly asleep, but to Hermione it was like love at first sight. The baby girl was eight months old, she had the softest strawberry blonde hair and she was the only baby awake. She made no noise but she blinked inquisitively at Hermione with those dark blue eyes. She had seen such eyes on only one person in her life, but she couldn't recall from where. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean during a storm but so warm at the same time.

" Mia what's her name?" asked Hermione.

"Koral, it's pronounced like Coral. She's 8 months old and she is probably the best little girl we have. She never fusses and she is quiet. She loves it when people read her books and play with her hair. Isn't she a cutie?" asked Mia, with clear affection in her voice.

Mia and Hermione stood in a comfortable silence. Hermione just stood there astonished; she remembered those familiar eyes now. They belong to Ron. Hermione recalled sitting in the common room while Harry and Ron were playing chess and just getting lost in those eyes.

She automatically fell in love with Koral. She reminded her so much of Ron! Just then a thought slipped into her mind. What if I adopt her? I mean, it would be great for Koral and maybe I wouldn't be so…lonely. I can support her for with my salary and I'm sure Ginny would love her. What's the worst that could happen? Hermione thought with eager interest.

"She is an angel. Say Mia, how would one adopt one of these kids?" asked Hermione.

"It's fairly easy since we don't get that many offers. The massacres have left so many children without homes and it has wrecked so many people's lives so not many people are willing to adopt one. Basically, you must fill out a couple of forms and then we take a look at your living conditions like how much you earn, where you live so we can determine if you can raise the child." Explained Mia.

"I know this is sudden but I really love Koral. she's an absolute angel. Is there anyway I could fill out those papers right now to legally become her parent?"

'Oh! Thank You! On the way out we'll get you those forms and then we'll set a date for the inspection of your condition. If everything goes all right, Koral will be coming to you in less than three months!" Mia answered happily.

"Thank you so much Mia. Oh gosh! Look at the time I'll be late for that meeting I have! but trust me when I say I'll be back soon. Really Soon! I'll pick up the papers on my way out," Hermione spilled out. Kissing Koral on the forehead, Hermione literally ran to the receptionist to schedule and appointment about Koral's adoption. If everything went right, she would have Koral at home as soon as possible.

Weeks and soon months drifted by, and once everything was settled, Koral came home into Hermione's London flat. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were constantly fussing over and the rest of the Weasley men seemed to like her as well. Not only was Koral a real sweetie, she also brought a true smile onto her adoptive mother's face ever since her love was lost.

A/N…. so what do u think? Should I continue it…. Is it garbage? REVIEW and tell me.

Thanks