Next thing he knew, Harry's hands sank down in wet sand. His head hung low, close to the sand. He smelled sea, heard the soft rumbling of waves. Muscles were aching, wounds drubbing and stinging. The sun had already set and night had fallen.

He heard stumbling footsteps in the sand. Someone fell by his side. He looked up and saw Ron, his injured arm limp by his side.

Ron looked at him with a frightened expression, his breath fast but slowing down.

"You okay, mate?"

"Yeah, just need a minute."

Harry saw the two Peters approaching them in his peripheral vision, slumping down by his side.

Both of them had pulled off their masks. Harry could see the distress on their faces.

"Take down the roof?" panted Peter. "Really?"

A sudden voice yelled from afar. "Ron? Harry! Is that you?"

Harry ripped off his broken mask and threw it in the sand, then he looked up and saw Ginny, mrs and mr Weasley hurrying towards them even though the sand slowed them down and their feet kept sinking.

Harry heaved himself up on his feet. He wasn't exhausted, but he definitely needed a nice warm bath… or a nap. Draco was standing a couple of steps away from them with his hands in his pockets, uncertainty reflecting on his face.

"Are you okay?" said mrs Weasley, but she quickly saw that they weren't, and noticed Harry's wounds and Ron's limp arm. She covered her mouth as she gave away a tiny surprised shriek. She reached for Ron's shoulder, quickly retracted her arm as if she didn't know what to do.

"Ron, your arm…"

"It will be fine, mum", grimaced Ron.

He was right, it would be, but the pain on Ron's face was chiseled into it.

"Come on boys", said mr Weasley firmly, acting as though he experienced this kind of situation every day. He stared down Harry before he walked towards the way he had come, beaconing them to follow.

Harry could tell the exact feelings people were harboring towards him right in this moment; they thought he was stupid and reckless for instead of helping everyone else to fix reality, he went to rescue one of the people he didn't feel complete without.

Neither the Peters or Ron, being coddled by mrs Weasley, protested and did as they were told.

Ginny stayed behind. She gave Harry a curious look, and then a smile spread across her face. "You did a good thing, Harry. Come on, let mum take a look at your face. Wouldn't want Hermione to see that."

Harry nodded and followed her. Draco lagged behind. After a short walk they reached a small cottage standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. It was a very normal looking cottage except for its walls were made out of white, glistening seashells. The salt-smelling air was quite refreshing to breathe in, the sand under felt nice under Harry's feet, though the soft rumbling of the sea made him wish for a nice soft bed to fall asleep and listen to the sound.

They entered the cottage; it wasn't super spacy but very cozy.

"Where are we?" Harry asked as they walked down the hall.

"Shell Cottage – Bill's and Fleur's house", Ginny answered. "I've been here before, and they would never shut up about moving here."

In the kitchen sat Tonks and Lupin sat by the table, Lupin's eyes bagged and tired. In his hand he held a bottle of what Harry assumed was something much stronger than pumpkin juice.

"About time", Lupin said, his eyes stuck on Harry. "Was it worth it?"

Harry scoffed. He couldn't believe the nerve.

"Not now, Remus! Bill and the girls are sleeping!" hissed mrs Weasley in a whisper. "Harry and Ron, sit down and I'll take a look at you. It won't take long."

Harry and Ron sat down by the table, Lupin's stare piercing them both. Mrs Weasley took out her and wand with just a few waves with her wand, the gashes on Harry's face and torso shut themselves and disappeared like they never had been there.

Although the two Peters weren't badly injured, she still offered to heal them but they politely declined.

Mrs Weasley noticed Harry's broken suit as she turned from the Peters. "I think there should be clothes for the boys to use in one of the guest rooms", said mrs Weasley.

"I'll get it", said Tonks and ran off.

She soon enough came back with a few sets of folded clothes and handed them to Harry and the Peters, the last pair she sat down in front of Ron.

Mrs Weasley looked around at the very crowded kitchen.

Harry felt very anxious to see how Hermione was doing.

"Mrs Weasley", he looked at mrs Weasley as she was healing up Ron and wanted to ask her – she interrupted him.

"In the guest room to the right. Don't wake her, she's needs to recover. Unfortunately, you two will have to share room with Ron and Ginny."

"And Luna", added Ginny.

Harry nodded. "That's alright." He was not in the mood for any conversation with either of them, not even Ron. "Night, everyone", he said as he passed by Peter.

He heard a few scattered replies before he vanished to the right and into the room, he presumed mrs Weasley talked about.

The room was dark and so silent he could hear breathing. He closed the door behind him and tried to navigate himself to the bed where a familiar shape lay under a blanket.

Inching closer to the shape, he made sure it was who he thought it was; it was indeed Hermione, her bushy hair making it unmistakable.

As quiet as he could manage, he lied down next to her.

She was sleeping soundly, and he'd hate to wake her up but felt the urge to feel her. He reached out his hand and touched her hair, looking at her pale face.

Looking at her sleep, he realized he hadn't seen Hermione sleep so deep at least in recent memory – there was always something keeping her awake, be it homework, an upcoming exam, general worry or him.

But now she was sleeping without a single care in the world, and it swelled Harry's heart knowing that fact.

He took out his contacts and let his hand slide down to her waist, let it rest there and was rocked to sleep listening to the crashing of the waves in the background.

Early in the morning, Harry woke up to the sight of Hermione sleeping, her face still turned to his. He couldn't tell if she had moved at all since last night, but she definitely seemed closer to him.

He put on his glasses and then snuck his way out of the room without making too much noise. After breakfast, Harry spent all of morning outside, crouching on a cliff overhanging the sea, feeling the water occasionally spraying in his face and kept his eyes on the horizon.

The strange lightning strikes and warped reality seemed to have lessened for now, though instead there was a yellow sort of glow, reminding Harry of Strange's magic; it had to be the work Strange, maybe that's why he wasn't here with them.

From here he could see the window to the bedroom where Hermione probably still slept. The cottage was so crowded though, that he preferred the outside. And Lupin's ever burning gaze, of course.

It was nice out here, minus the whole impending doom situation. The sun was shining bright today, not a single cloud in sight and the water that reached out endlessly, sparkled in a mesmerizing way while the waves ebbed out against the rocks below.

He could vividly imagine him and Hermione having a home out here, living as neighbors to Bill and Fleur, but the sad truth was that there wasn't a single building around to be swung from, or any crime – what use was he out here in that case? He would always be Spider-Man, whether he liked it or not.

Unexpectedly he heard footsteps closing in on him, and spotted Ginny walking up the rocky hill to reach him.

"How's Ron?" asked Harry.

"He keeps moaning about his arm, he'll be fine", said Ginny, smirking. She sat down beside him.

"Yeah that sounds like Ron", Harry looked at her for a few seconds before returning his eyes to the horizon.

"What are you doing up here anyway?" she asked.

Harry shook his head. "Just clearing my head. You know where Strange and Dobby went?"

"Strange had something to take care of. But Dobby just came back with your aunt from Grimmauld Place. She's not happy that she was left behind."

"It was for her own good", said Harry.

"I suppose it was", said Ginny before standing up again. "Come on. Mum made lunch, and I think someone wants to see you."

Harry enthusiastically followed her back down into the cottage. As they entered the very crowded kitchen, and compared to the outside it was very loud, full of talking and laughter, Harry regretted that he had not just waited; there wasn't even enough room for everybody around the table, some walked off into other rooms with their food.

Mrs Weasley immediately spotted him amongst the thin crowd and handed him a tray with two plates filled to the brim with chicken and leek pie, a small jug of pumpkin juice and buttered slices of bread. "Oh Harry, there you are. Be a dear and give Hermione something to eat, will you?"

"She's awake?" said Harry, hopeful.

Mrs Weasley was about to sit down but hesitated, and exchanged a worrying look with her husband.

Mr Weasley shook his head and she sat down.

"Harry…", said mr Weasley severely sitting at the table, letting his mouth stay agape as though he didn't really know what to tell him and instead, he smiled. "You know what, be yourself, just try not to saying anything upsetting."

"Meaning what, exactly?" said Harry, raising his voice, annoyed at how they treated her like a broken piece of furniture that no one wanted to deal with. "You think Hermione's damaged? That she might never recover, and when all of this is over, she'll be put into Mungo's for the rest of her life?"

The picture he painted for himself was frightening. Visiting Hermione from time to time, watching her delve further into insanity and all he could do was watch. Maybe one day he would move on from her, grow old and marry someone else.

Mr Weasley had the facial expression of someone that might want to tell the reality of the situation, but felt the need to soften the blow for whatever they were about to say.

"That's not what I'm saying at all; I have no doubts that she will be back to normal, given time to recover."

"Arthur is right, Harry", said Lupin, who were sitting in a corner on a chair, hardly touching the plate resting in his lap. "The mind is a very complex thing, but Hermione's stronger than she gets credit for. She'll make it through just alright."

Then why wasn't she sitting with everyone else? Why did they keep her in a room, afraid they might be catch it too like some kind of contagious virus?

Ron, who sat around the table with Bill, Fleur, Fred, George, mrs and mr Weasley helped himself to an immense amount of pie to his plate. "If you ask me, she's nuttier than usual. I was returning her wand and she didn't even seem to know I was there until she did and jinxed me! Something is wrong with her head."

Mrs Weasley threw him a scolding look that would make anyone's very soul recoil in fear, which very clearly reflected on Ron's face.

Harry felt a small urge to hit him in the back of his head, but didn't do it.

Ron looked to Ginny for support, but she was just about to head out of the kitchen.

"Some friend you are. She's obviously on edge", she scoffed while walking off into another room with her food.

Ron avoided his mother's gaze and instead focused on digging into the food on his plate.

"Ronald Weasley!" said Fred, both him and George imitating mrs Weasley's scolding look, staring at Ron.

"How dare you speak that way about your friends?" continued George mockingly.

"What?" said Ron with his mouth full of food. "It's true! She's gone completely mad."

Bill glanced up at his brother while chewing his food. "Can you blame her?"

Ron didn't look like he knew how to answer that question and instead shrugged awkwardly, mouth still filled with food.

"Yeah Ron. If you entered my room, I would jinx you too", said Fred.

"Exactly – because we have", said George.

Harry was getting upset at all of the things they were saying about her and just wanted to see her already, so he headed into the bedroom she was in with the tray in his hands. And there she was, sitting at the floor by the foot of the bed, engrossed by a book in her hands like nothing had ever happened.

Several other books sat in messy piles around her. Her hair was tied behind her head and her face was still very pale although the sun was shining in through the window.

The excitement to see her again was drowned out by genuine worry for her. He took mr Weasley's advice to heart and approached her just like he would normally do. Hermione noticed him, glanced him at him but her eyes hastily navigated back to the pages. "Hi."

He didn't say a word as he sat down next to her and placed the tray on the floor. There was a flash of doubt in her eyes as she looked at him, and then she smiled.

"I promise you, I'm not damaged", she said, her smile getting bigger.

"You heard that?" Harry

"Everyone heard that, Harry", said Hermione.

"They weren't exactly saying nice things about you, Hermione."

"They're just overreacting."

Hermione picked up one of the plates and started eating, although very slowly.

Harry leaned his head on her shoulder.

"I've been worried about you. How are you holding up?" he asked.

"Decently. I just feel strange, distant. Maybe I need to go outside, but mrs Weasley have been keeping me in here all morning."

"Shouldn't you be able to decide that for yourself?" said Harry, glancing up at her.

Hermione shrugged softly. "You know how she is. Overprotective."

"Is that why you jinxed Ron?" asked Harry and picked up one of the bread slices; he wasn't very hungry.

She looked at him, her lips parting just a tiny bit.

"I mean, he probably deserved it", he added, afraid he had said something wrong.

Hermione's smile diminished and her facial expression completely switched; she suddenly appeared very distressed and uncomfortable.

"He surprised me is all. Sometimes it feels like I'm walking around in a fog and I just react in a terrible way when I momentarily get out of it."

"If you want, we can go outside. The weather's warm, great for a swim – I think you would like it."

Hermione nodded slowly, but she seemed focused on something else entirely.

"You don't think I am damaged do you, Harry?" she said. She had stopped eating and just looked at him, tears in her eyes.

"Of course not, that's ridiculous", he reached out his hand to wipe the tears rolling down her jaw.

"Stop lying. Everything is so—I don't know! I'm not feeling like myself. You must notice that something is off. I don't know why you even bothered coming back for me. What use am I to anyone in this state?"

Harry raised his head from her shoulder and clutched her free hand. She avoided looking at him.

"Hey—where is this coming from? Come on Hermione. You know that's not true.", he said.

"Isn't it?" she swallowed.

"Hermione, you've experienced all of the horrible things alongside me for years and during none of those things you caved. You kept going, even if the odds kept getting worse. After the graveyard, you and Ron brought me back from the same place you're in right now. It's a terribly lonely place, and I don't want you to be stuck there. I know how you feel, but shutting yourself off from the rest of the world won't make the pain less bad. But if you need time, take it. But I know you're stronger than this, Hermione."

Hermione's face out of nowhere, twisted into something resembling anger. Violently she slammed her plate down so hard into the ground that it shattered and in the process the shards sliced open her hand; Harry recoiled backwards. Blood poured out of the gash, all over her clothes and the floor. She clenched her hand and cursed at the top of her lungs.

"You're such an arse, you know that?" said Hermione.

"What do you mean?" said Harry. Her sudden outburst freaked him out.

"Oh I don't know! Maybe because the world is about to end? I will never see my parents again; they will never know about anything that happened. For them, the world will just end! And here you are, pretending to be some kind of big shot hero! All I want you to be is yourself, instead of putting on a mask and act like a complete utter idiot!"

"So you're blaming me for all of this?" said Harry.

"Yes! Yes, I do! You meddled with things you don't understand! Magic isn't just some accessory you can put on! And everyone and everything will die because of you!"

Harry felt hurt, but there was a chunk of truth in what she said.

Hermione broke down sobbing and let her body gravitate towards the floor, it was like she didn't have the energy to keep her body straight up anymore.

Harry was ready to catch her when she fell into his arms, a miserable sobbing mess.

Her bleeding fist dripped blood at a worrying pace; he tried to stop it but only made it worse, his hand slipping in her blood and getting it over himself too.

He felt sick to his stomach, not because of the blood but because this wasn't her; he didn't want to see her suffer.

She shook and cried where she was supporting herself against his chest, just about to slide out of his grip into his lap.

Harry held her until she somehow got enough strength to sit up, supported by the bed behind her.

He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but it would be stupid because obviously she wasn't okay.

"You should get that fixed. Harry took out his wand and placed it in her hand. He didn't want to start a fight, and she was bleeding pretty badly.

In silence, she opened her hand, resting it in her lap. With a slow and steady movement with the wand, her wound closed itself.

She looked remorsefully at him as she handed his wand back to him. The broken plate that lay there in several shattered pieces amongst the scattered food on the floor resembled that of the atmosphere between them.

He looked on his hand, slowly twisting and turning the ring on his finger.

"I'm sorry", she said. It was barely a whisper. "I need time to think."

Harry nodded. "Here", he pushed his plate her way, the look she had in her eyes was that of someone who might have been intruding on someone's personal space and now regretted it. "I'm not hungry", she said.

"Eat anyway."

He wanted to leave the room, but he was far from comfortable to just leave things like this. He swallowed a nasty spike-like ball in his throat with his gaze in the floor. They sat together in a moment of silence, occasionally broken by the sound of Hermione's fork clanking against the porcelain plate.

This was not the reunion he had imagined in his head.

He glanced at the broken mess on the floor, then at Hermione and decided to go clean it up, before heading for the door.

"Harry?" said Hermione. He heard her shuffle around just as he turned.

"Yeah?"

She stood up and walked towards him. For a moment he was almost prepared for another irrational outburst, but instead she threw her arms around him, sobbing over his shoulder as she held him in a tight grip. Surprised by her sudden change of heart, he unmade the tie holding up her hair, let it fall down and buried his hand in her soft hair.

Her body was shaking, her warmth pressing against his body, and her pain becoming part of him. Momentarily they were wrapped around each other while Hermione's sobbing got quieter.

Harry was about to let go of her as Hermione tore herself from his grip and instead kissed him. The kiss was messy, wet and hummed of desperation.

He let his hands rest on her hips, she staggered and pulled them stumbling backwards.

Hermione's fingers promptly began nagging at his belt, attempting to get it off. He didn't try or want to stop her; he was just as desperate as she was.

The belt inevitably fell off along with his jeans and while the two of them sort of stumbled around the room kissing, they lost more and more clothing.

Harry felt confused, and uncomfortable knowing only a wall and a door separated them from a dozen people, but kept going.

Kissing and half undressed, they bumped into their bed and Harry fell down on his back, Hermione on top of him. Her bare stomach touched his. Her chest and stomach moved rapidly as she breathed.

He shuddered feeling her touch. He propped his hand behind her head, wanting to get a good look at her, to see if her heart was really in this.

Hermione's warm brown eyes peered into his, her breath labored, fogging up his glasses. Blood pounded in his ears. His fingers trembled as they uncontrollably slid across her face and then rested on her cheek.

Hermione's cheeks turned red. She smiled, but her body was still shaking. Her trembling hands hesitantly moved to her own trousers, got them off and let them slide down on the floor along with her undergarments.

He could see in her eyes the same confusion he felt, and how she distanced herself from her own body, not truly being there and just letting things happen. He had a feeling she wasn't exactly fully aware of her actions, or at the very least ignored every bit of logic in her head.

He knew that she didn't genuinely want this, she wanted an escape and wanted to forget. But they both were hesitating to do anything else than look at each other.

"Hermione?" he said.

"Yes?" He felt her fingers going through his hair. She was very visibly uneasy.

Although they often messed around, they always made sure no one would walk in on them and definitely not in the middle of the day. This seemed a bit risky. What if Ginny or Luna walked in? Or Ron?

Even worse, what if mrs Weasley wondered how they were doing and came into the room in this very moment?

Sure, there had been plenty of intimate moments between them during the years they had been together but it used to be much more restrained and scarcely stripped down naked.

There used to be some sort of logic behind these moments, something that built up over time, something that was pure – this was just desperation.

Harry didn't know Hermione as the girl who happily jumped into bed with him, and honestly, he didn't see it as a major part of their relationship because they didn't need to compensate for something.

Of course he wanted to, no matter how forced this felt, because frankly he had missed her.

"I think… we need to stop here", he said. He gently stroke her upper arm.

"Why?"

"This isn't us, Hermione."

A muscle in Hermione's face twitched and it got even redder. "Of course, you're right. I'm sorry."

"It's fine", said Harry, his heart about to beat out of his chest. He was scared out of his mind, but he couldn't very well tell Hermione that.

He sat up as she withdrew herself from him and covered both of their bodies with the blanket.

His heart was beating and his hands wouldn't stop shaking, but Hermione smiled.

"What is it?"

"Just shut up."

She leaned in so far that she pushed him over, and kissed him. They rolled around in the bed, still wrapped in the blanket.

After lunch, Harry took Hermione out to the beach in the warm sun, despite mrs Weasley's loud protests.

Eventually she gave in after a very short argument. "Okay, but don't wander off too far. Ginny and Ron will come with you – won't you?"

Ginny and Ron responded almost at the same time. "Sure", "Right now?"

"Yes, right now Ron", said mrs Weasley.

Ron groaned and lazily got up from his chair.

"I can come with too", said Peter enthusiastically.

Harry noticed that both Lupin and Tonks were gone, he assumed they had gone away to do something, maybe joined Strange in whatever he was doing.

Getting Hermione out in the sun was the best decision he had made in a long while. She seemed genuinely happy outside, even if she had brought out a heavy book to read to keep herself busy with.

Ron and Ginny had gone into the water, though Ron didn't dare to go out as far as Ginny because of his 'still sore' arm.

Peter sat with Harry and Hermione for a bit, he too after some time jumped into the water.

It was in truth amazing to sit there with Hermione in the sunlight with sand between his toes and watching nothing in particular. Ginny splashed water in Peter's face, who laughed and splashed back, soon enough Ron joined in too despite complaining about his arm earlier.

Harry lied down in Hermione's lap and closed his eyes and just listened to the surroundings.

There was something about the sound of waves that calmed him.

"Hey Hermione?" said Harry.

She just made a noise to answer him, "Mhm?"

"I've been thinking", he begun, almost about to fall asleep to the rocking sound of the waves.

"About what?"

"You still want to get married?"

He opened his eyes, seeing her looking down at him from the pages.

"Obviously. I don't wear this as a fashion statement", she flashed a ring resembling his on her finger, except it was entirely in a blinding silver.

Harry smiled and reached up for her face. He let his fingers travel across her cheek and down her jaw. He became engrossed by caressing the same spot on her jaw. "So… you don't mind getting married here? Tomorrow?"

Hermione's face went red. "Tomorrow? That's a bit—"

"A bit sudden, I know. But I don't want the universe to end without marrying you, even if you are a bit mental", he said.

"If you want to, of course", he hastily added when he saw her eyes flicker with bemusement.

But Hermione burst out laughing.

His heart vaulted over itself and did a triple pirouette; he hadn't expected this reaction from her. A no would've sufficed instead of making fun of him. "I'm serious!"

"I'm sorry!" she laughed. "That was absolutely horrible! Do you say that to all girls you want to marry?

Harry attempted to save the situation, motivate his reason for saying those words, but the only thing coming out of his mouth was gibberish, causing Hermione to laugh even harder.

When she had stopped laughing, Harry felt like he was the biggest idiot on the planet for asking that at such a time. "Who's asking? Harry Potter or Spider-Man?"

"Are you still making fun of me?"

"A little bit."

"You know I'm serious about this."

"I know. I'm only teasing."

Harry tried yet again to say something, only to stumble on his words again. He was helpless under her spell; the way she teased him somehow short-circuited his brain. He was looking up at her eyes, looking mischievously back down at him.

"Ugh. If you want to wait, that's fine."

Hermione smirked. She was obviously very pleased with herself.

"Harry, I'm joking. Yes, I would too like to marry you before… before it's too late."

Harry was about to lift his head up and kiss her, but got interrupted by Ron shouting loudly at them. "Harry! Hermione! Come on, get in!" For someone that had a 'sore' arm, he was swimming around in the water with suspicious ease.

Harry hadn't noticed, but Fred and George had also gone in, joining Ginny in their ceaseless quest to harass Ron.

Harry raised his eyebrows. Why not?

Hermione, as if she understood him, shook her head. "I'll stay here. You go have fun, don't let me keep you."

Harry got up and undressed down to his trunks. "You sure?" He made sure to leave his ring with his other belongings.

Hermione's upper lip tightened. She heavily rolled her eyes, sighing. "Yes."

Harry chuckled, shaking his head. "Your loss."

"I'm sure", she said with a sardonic smile.

Harry looked at her, attempting to catch some sort of cue in her body language that told him why, but her face remained unmoving.

Hermione slapped his behind, urging him to go. "I'm fine, just go", she gave him a spontaneous giggle.

Harry shrugged and ran off into the water to join the others.

A.N: I know, I know. You almost experienced some spicy um hugging, and honestly I wanted to include it but use your imagination darn it. Maybe they did it, maybe not.

Maybe Harry and Hermione are into some kinky stuff, who knows, but I've made my choice. If I decide to write a vague sex scene, I'll do it but for now – this is all you get, you… sicko. I'm only jesting of course, I'm sure you have a lovely personality.