Chapter 2
As Hermione and Ginny climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor common room timetables in hand, Hermione thought about the many missing students that were either struck down during the war or the many that were just too traumatized to come back for their final year. Many students had even gone as far as moving away from the United Kingdom all together with their families, no longer trusting their government and institutes to keep them safe from possible future danger. Once Voldemort was vanquished, the wizarding government had gone through absolute hell trying to correct their public image and restoring the public's faith by giving as many orders of merlin to as many people as they could along with publicly arresting Umbridge and exiling her from Wizarding Britain. This was one decision Hermione was thankful for as she had intimate knowledge that Umbridge was gunning for her, especially after the stunt she pulled with Hagrid's half-brother, Grawp in the mysterious forest. Hermione had half hoped that Umbridge's wand would have been snapped in half, alas she had too many connections as well as secret supporters for her to be completely banished.
Many of the Death Eaters had been either captured or killed in the final battle, however some had escaped and were still at large. This was another reason Hermione had decided to return to Hogwarts, she felt safe there, protected, as well as comforted by the familiarity of it.
"I've never seen it so empty..." Ginny said in a somber tone, referring to just how empty their common rooms looked and felt. Never had seen it so barren and untouched, devoid of laughter and warmth. As the girls sat on the couch and lit a fire, they both fell silent, each lost in thought.
Hermione was the first to break the silence as she remembered their male counterpart "Neville will be here soon and hopefully Luna will pop by to visit once in a while. I thought they both looked rather cozy together don't you?" Asked Hermione with a cheeky smile.
Ginny laughed "Yes they did, after her father died Neville spent most of his time restoring her home and keeping her company, they both lost so much in such a short period of time." At this they both fell silent for a minute.
"What about you and Harry?" Asked Hermione.
Ginny looked into the fireplace and sighed "He's too busy chasing the last remaining Death eaters to really give a shit about us. I think he thinks I'm always going to be waiting for him, always within reach. He promised once the war was over, we would finally have the chance to be a "real couple" as he put it. But now he and Ron are off God knows where, doing God knows what since he never sees fit to tell me where he's going and what he's doing, he just jets off and expects me to stay put." Ginny huffed and sank deeper into the couch. "I just wish he would stop, just for a minute. I think the thought of stopping and being alone with his thoughts and the overwhelming grief of losing Remus, the last remainder of his father's chosen family is just too much. Long story short, it's complicated between us, we have so much history together and still so much love, but right now that's just not enough"
At Ginny's words, Hermine felt a sense of connection to her own situation with Ron. Like Ginny, she and Ron had so much history, not all of it good. It had taken years for Hermione to gain her self-confidence back after Ron had shamed her for going to the ball with Viktor. Ron had even been downright cruel to her at times during their friendship, especially during the earlier years. But he could also be incredibly kind, loving, and loyal. When the war ended, Ron had taken Hermione back to the borrow with him. He had comforted her throughout many sleepless nights and through countless nightmares. He had tried to cheer her up when she had failed to bring her parents memories back and also gave her space when she needed it, with some difficulty.
The only problem is that she had never truly been able to express the full extent of the betrayal she had felt when he had left both her and Harry in the woods for months at a time. They had simply not had the time to properly hash it out and because he had brought back the sword of Gryffindor he felt as though all should be forgiven, as it was all the necklaces fault as he put it. Harry seemed to have been able to get past it which made Hermione feel guilty for still feeling resentful for the time Ron had been able to have to spend with his family, to sleep in a warm bed, and eat Molly's cooking as she had to scrape and ration whatever food she and Harry had left.
As Hermione and Ginny pondered their own respective love lives, the bell announcing the start of the first period rang. Both girls jumped from the couch, grabbed their time tables and to their horror, saw that potions was to be their very first class to which they would late to.