Hermione ran into her bedroom and locked the door behind her. She stood panting for a minute then burst into tears. In one movement she landed on her big, four-poster bed and buried her head into the pillow.

"Why do boys have to be so stupid?" she said aloud in between sobs.

With that her thoughts unintentionally roamed to her two best friends. First to Harry, whom she worried about so strongly that her heart could probably burst and then to Ron, who her heart had already burst for but in a totally different way.

Her thoughts kept roaming until they landed at Hogwarts, the only place she had ever really fit in and been called gifted instead of a freak – and now Hogwarts was gone! Well not literally but to Hermione, Ron and Harry it had died along with Professor Dumbledore.

"How can he be gone?" she thought. It was just inconceivable.

During her last few days with Harry and Ron she had tried to put up a brave face but now, alone in her room, Hermione cried like she had never cried before. An incredible feeling of hopelessness filled her. With the only man Voldemort had ever feared dead, there was no-one to stop him from taking over the world! No-one that is except for her and Harry and Ron. Well the Order too but what could they do? Dumbledore was gone and with him their greatest chance of defeating Voldemort!

Hermione kept crying for the rest of the day then, when the warning signs of dusk had reached her window, she got up from the bed and started pulling her books out of her trunk. She carried them over to her bed along with a quill and parchment and started frantically reading. She pored over each book, all the while jotting down notes and making corrections.

"I may not know how to kill Voldemort or stop this war, but I can at least assist those who can!" she vowed and continued to read.

All through the night she wrote down useful spells and instructions for potions. By midmorning the next day she was completely exhausted but she wouldn't stop. When she had finally finished reading all her books, Hermione copied her list down three times. She put two copies in an envelope with 'Harry and Ron' on the front and placed it atop her gift for Fleur and Bill.

The next day Ron was coming to take her to the Burrow in preparation for the wedding. Although Fleur had countless other family members willing to take her place, Bill had insisted that Hermione be one of the bridesmaids.

With nothing left to do and a need to keep moving, Hermione opened her closet and took out her bridesmaids dress. It was silver – the colour of Fleur's hair – with a V neckline and Spanish ruffles at the bottom of the luscious skirts. Hermione fingered the material. It seemed to heave a soothing effect on her. She hadn't had a chance to wear the dress before due to unfortunate events (i.e. Dumbledore's funeral) so this was as good a time as any to try it on. Hermione quickly changed into the dress and stood in front of the mirror admiring it.

Just then someone knocked on her door.

"Hermione, there's someone here to see you!" her mother called.

Hermione walked to the door and turned the knob. Standing, rather awkwardly, next to her mother was Ron. He gazed at Hermione his mouth hanging open.

"R…Ron! What are you doing here?" Hermione managed to spit out before turning bright red.

Ron, even redder than Hermione, replied "But I told you I was coming! Bill and Fleur are getting married in a week and you told me to come and collect you today!"

"I think I'll leave you two alone!" said Mrs Granger with a wink and headed downstairs. Hermione suddenly seemed to realise her rudeness and invited Ron inside.

"No! You told me that you were coming tomorrow!" she insisted as Ron stepped into her room.

"I didn't! I said I was coming TODAY!" Ron stated indignantly, all embarrassment seemed to have left him.

"No you didn't. It's tomorrow! I wrote it down somewhere…" Hermione trailed off and started leafing through a bunch of papers on the desk before finally locating the invite.

"Ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly "It says, Ron will be coming on the 28th to collect you! So there!"

"But Hermione, it is the 28th!" he cried.

"What? No it isn't it's the 27th! I'm sure of it!" she walked over to her alarm clock. In big white numbers it said 28th of August.

"What are you looking at?"

"It's an alarm clock! It wakes you up in the morning by making a loud noise and… it tells you the date." she added reluctantly.

"And the date is…" he prompted

"The 28th!" Hermione grumbled.

"Ha! Hermione the Great is finally wrong!" Ron taunted.

"Just laugh it up! How could I have lost a day? Wait, I know! Yesterday I didn't leave my room at all so I must have lost track of time!"

"Why didn't you leave your room?"

"I was feeling a bit low alright! Can't you just drop it?" Hermione turned her back on Ron and started to pull clothes out of her drawers.

"Well I've got to pack now so either help me or leave!"

Ron stood up and grabbed the pile of books that Hermione had left on her bed.

"So, when you're depressed, you play dress-ups?" Ron asked annoyingly.

Hermione looked down, finally realising what she was wearing, and turned bright red all over again.

"No, I was just trying it on! I haven't had a chance to before and I had to make sure that it fit or the whole wedding could be ruined…" Hermione babbled then stopped suddenly to add "Why? Don't you like it?"

Surprised by the question, Ron answered before thinking "No… I mean YES! You look bloody brilliant!" his face turned into a giant tomato when his words finally caught up to him. Hermione opened her mouth to thank him but couldn't so she changed the subject.

"This will take forever by hand! I wish I could just use magic!"

"Well why can't you?" Ron seemed just as ready to change the subject as Hermione.

"Well the Ministry of course! They'll find out and then I could be expelled…well, I guess not anymore! I forgot, we're not going back so they can't expel us! Well then…" she waved her wand and all the clothes and books packed themselves neatly up into her trunk. She placed the present in last and stood up. With another wave of her wand, she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and the dress was lying folded in her arms. With everything packed in her trunk, Hermione grabbed the handle and pulled it to the door.

"You could be a gentleman and carry this for me!" Ron quickly got up and started lugging the suitcase down the stairs with Hermione closely following.

"You could be a good friend and shrink this for me!" Ron mumbled under his breath.

…o…O…o…

The whooshing sensation from apparition had finally stopped. Ron and Hermione landed just outside the front door of the Burrow. Even from outside they could smell something delicious cooking. Ron, still holding Hermione's suitcase, tapped on the door three times. Mrs Weasley cautiously opened the door a crack. Seeing Ron, she started throwing open the door but a big hand stopped it from fully opening.

"Molly! Wait until we've identified them!" Arthur Weasley said before turning to Ron "How many Outstanding's did you get last year?"

Embarrassed, Ron replied "None Dad!"

"Ah good, it is you! Well, I don't know anything to ask you Hermione but I'm sure that Ron has already questioned you?"

"Right, of course Dad!" Ron lied before pushing the door open and dragging the trunk through. Hermione followed him into the living room.

"Well you'll be staying with Ginny again, dear," Mrs Weasley said kindly. "So Ron, you can put her things in Ginny's room. Then come back downstairs and you can greet everyone."

They took Molly's advice and headed upstairs. After wrestling the trunk into Ginny's room, Ron waited awkwardly for Hermione.

"What's the matter? Haven't you ever been in your sister's room before?" Hermione teased.

"No – I mean yes but not for ages! Ever since she learnt magic, she's been keeping us out!"

Hermione laughed and Ron's ears turned crimson.

"It's not funny!" he cried "My little sister's better at magic than me!" Hermione stopped laughing.

"Oh Ron, come on, your not that bad! And Ginny's not better than you!"

"Yeah right! You can talk! You and Ginny and Harry always going off to your precious 'Slug Club' meetings!"

"Ron! You're not still sore about that are you?" Ron didn't answer so Hermione continued. "Well, you needn't worry anymore! We'll probably never even see Professor Slughorn again! Now that Dumbledore's gone, he'll be back in hiding!"

This was the first time that either of them had mentioned Dumbledore since the funeral. Ron stopped looking jealous and the mood of the room changed dramatically. Hermione sat down on Ginny's bed. Tears began silently running down her face. Ron didn't cry, he just stood and watched her for a few moments then walked up next to her and pulled her close. They stayed like that for what seemed an age before Ginny opened the door. Hermione wiped her eyes and Ron moved away from her. Ginny pretended not to have noticed.

"Mum was wondering if you'd gotten lost!" she said, a little too brightly. "Come on, we're all waiting for you guys!"

They left the room and headed downstairs. When they reached the living room, it was almost too crowded to walk. Red and silver flashed everywhere. The combination of the Weasley's and the Delacour's was a blinding sight. Of the many faces rushing past, Hermione recognised Fred, George, Charlie, Bill, Fleur, Mr and Mrs Weasley and Gabriella (Fleur's little sister). Fred and George pushed themselves through the crowd. They were each wearing magenta dragon-skin suits, which set their heads on fire (not literally).

"Business still booming then?" Hermione inquired.

"Even more than before!" Fred answered grandly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Fred began, but a warning look form George stopped him. "Never mind that! So…are you lot hungry?"