Hermione knelt beside Ron's grave and laid a bouquet of daisies, which she had conjured with her wand, at the base of the headstone. The headstone was simple alabaster with a picture of Ron smiling and waving set into it. Beneath the picture there were words engraved in the stone:

RONALD WEASLEY

BELOVED SON, BROTHER, AND FRIEND

1980—2008

She let her fingers lightly trace the words and felt a tear slide down her cheek. Whatever else they had been to each other, and not been to each other, they had always been friends. They had once been more than that, and he had not been able to let that go and move on, and this made her sad. They could have shared so many more good times together if he had only been able to let her go.

"I did love you once," she murmured. "I'm so sorry Ron. So very sorry."

"You should be," Ginny said, striding up behind the headstone and glaring down at her. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Hermione. And bringing him with you."

Hermione looked up at her and saw that she was pointing a finger angrily at Draco, who just smirked. Hermione slowly got to her feet. Behind Ginny, Harry was hurrying after her, herding their four little children along with him.

"Why the devil did you run off like that?" he asked his wife. Then he saw Hermione and the two men standing behind her and said, "Oh. Hello Hermione."

She smiled. "Hello Harry. I've missed you."

"Er—yeah. I've missed you too," he said, ignoring the annoyed look his wife sent him. "James, stop that," he scolded his six-year-old son, who was tugging on his twin sister's braid. "You're hurting Lily. That's not nice."

"Got your hands full, eh Potter?" Draco said, eyeing the youngest of the red-headed children, Margaret, who was yanking on the hem of his robe and gesturing for him to pick her up.

Ginny swooped in and lifted the child into her arms and away from him. Hermione couldn't help but grin at how relieved he looked by this.

Harry glared at Draco and picked up his youngest son, Arthur, and held him on his hip. "What are you doing out Malfoy? I didn't think they let Death Eaters out of prison."

"I actually have you to thank for that, Potter," Draco said.

"How's that, Malfoy?"

"See, it was Zabini here who got me out," Draco said. "If you hadn't paid him to defend Granger, I'd probably still be rotting in Azkaban."

Hermione didn't miss the shocked, angry look that Ginny gave her husband, and neither did he, though he chose to ignore it. "I was under the impression that I hired you to help Hermione, Mr. Zabini," he said.

Zabini smiled and glanced at Hermione before he said, "I did Mr. Malfoy's case pro bono."

Hermione lifted a brow at that. Clearly, Zabini had been reading up on his muggle terms.

"You see, I discovered a gross miscarriage of justice in his case," Zabini said. "It was enough to have the whole case dismissed and Mr. Malfoy immediately freed."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What kind of 'miscarriage of justice'?"

"It's called false imprisonment, Mr. Potter," he said, obviously enjoying himself. "This comes about, as you may know, when one is arrested and imprisoned without sufficient evidence and are never tried for their crimes. In Mr. Malfoy's case, he was put in Azkaban and conveniently forgotten. He was arrested strictly on the basis that he was branded with the Dark Mark. I believe Mr. Moody 'caught him' when he and several others raided Malfoy Manor, and he did not put up a fight, but asked for their help. This would suggest that he was not, in fact, working with the Death Eaters, but their captive. Mr. Malfoy tells me that his father was trying to convince him to join with Lord Voldemort, but that he had refused."

"Of course he would tell you that," Harry said, eyeing Draco with profound dislike.

Ginny drew closer to Harry's side. "What are you doing here? You don't belong here." She looked directly at Hermione and added, "None of you."

"I'm innocent, Ginny. Didn't you hear," Hermione said softly.

She glared. "I did hear, and it's a load of rubbish in my opinion. Just some clever little trick of yours to avoid paying for what you did to my brother."

Hermione nodded silently and turned away from them. "Goodbye Harry. Thank you."

But Ginny wasn't finished. She grabbed Hermione's arm and made her stay. "You killed him, Hermione. I know you did. I don't know how you convinced the Wizengamot that you didn't, but I know you did it. I know it."

Hermione looked down at her hand, but she didn't remove it. Ginny tightened her grip just a little, trying to hurt her.

Hermione looked down at the twins, Lilly and James, named after Harry's parents. They were so sweet, with huge green eyes and freckles along the bridge of their little button noses. They smiled up at her.

"Ginny," she said softly, fingering her new wand in a fold of her robe. "Ginny, don't make me hurt you. Not in front of your kids. Please let go."

"You wouldn't dare," Ginny said in an angry hiss.

"I don't think you want to wager on just exactly how much I'll dare," Hermione said, meeting her eyes steadily. She was in that cold place again. "I think you know me better than that."

"Don't do this, you two, please," Harry said. "You're friends. You don't want to hurt each other. Especially not here, over Ron's grave."

Ginny suddenly let her go, though Hermione didn't think Harry's peaceful words had much to do with it. "I'm sorry," she said, though she didn't look sorry. She looked mad as hell. "Harry, let's go home, please."

"No need," Hermione said. "We're leaving."

She met Harry's eyes over Ginny's shoulder and he gave her a single curt nod. It said as plainly as any words 'we're done now, you and I', and she felt like crying all over again.

"Goodbye Hermione," he said.

She couldn't speak, she couldn't bear to say it, to close that door forever. She just nodded her head and walked away.

Draco walked beside her, though he didn't touch her or say anything for a while. Zabini followed calmly behind them, for all the world as if he were just having a leisurely stroll through the park.

"Why the hell won't she believe that you're innocent?" Draco finally asked. "You proved it, didn't you? I thought you were friends. Shouldn't she forgive you, or apologize, or something?"

She sighed. "Ginny's testimony was one of the deciding factors in my case. She was a character witness. She described my relationship with Ron as controlling. She said I was too demanding, that I made Ron's life miserable, and that he left me because I changed. Because the war changed me. All of which is perfectly true, and when taken out of context, was pretty damning."

"You made Weasley's life miserable?" Draco said doubtfully.

"We made each other's lives miserable," she said. "We were not compatible really, but he refused to admit it, and because it mattered more to him than it did to me, I let him go on pretending that it was working. That we were in love."

"That still doesn't explain why she won't believe you and apologize," he said.

"Doesn't it?" she asked. "Sometimes it's easier to forgive someone else for being wrong than to forgive yourself. I think maybe Ginny does believe me. She just can't bring herself to say it yet."