Neither Harry nor Hermione were looking forward to lunch. All the Weasleys would be present and since deciding yesterday that both would be leaving soon, this was the occasion they selected during which to break the news. The entire family would be there so they would only have to explain themselves once and there would be a buffer between them and the three parties they anticipated would object most profusely to their impending departure: namely, Molly, Ron and Ginny.

Once the meal was over, Harry grasped Hermione's hand beneath the table and felt her squeeze it in support. The next part wouldn't be as easy.

"Guys, Hermione and I have something we each need to tell you and it's not going to be easy for us, so please, just hear us out before you hex us or kick us out." Harry began.

"Harry and I are leaving. Harry's moving to Hogsmeade so he can look after Teddy full-time and Professor McGonagall has offered me the Defence Against the Dark Arts post at Hogwarts so I'll be moving into the castle." Hermione continued.

"What?! Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this NOW?! Our brother just died and you two want to leave us too!" Ginny quickly exploded.

Ron carried on in the same vein, "Are you two sleeping together? Is that why you've been going off together and leaving me and Ginny behind? I thought you loved me, 'Mione, and Harry you're supposed to be with Ginny! That's how it's meant to be! You're not meant to break up with both of us and run off to bloody Scotland!"

"No one's breaking up with anyone," Harry roared back, unwilling to let the situation get further out of hand, "and no one's sleeping together! All Hermione and I are saying is that we've planned the next step in our lives. I asked you to hear us out but you didn't and now you've managed to get the wrong end of the stick."

Hermione saw her opportunity to weigh in, looked at Ron seriously and continued, "I love you, Ron, and I don't want what we have to end but I cannot stay here and play nursemaid indefinitely to your family. Nor can I rely on my savings to survive. I need - no, I want - to work and I've always wanted to teach so when Professor McGonagall talked to me about taking the Defence professorship, I knew I would accept it."

"And I, I never expected to survive that battle, Ginny," Harry confessed, looking into his girlfriend's sparkling brown eyes, "but now that I have and I have you as well, I need to start living, properly living. There's no fight waiting for me and I'm not expecting to die. I just want to work out a life for myself that isn't about war, grief and looking back. Teddy is my godson and I need to start being his godfather. I need to start looking forward to my - our - future as a family and I hope that when you get around to thinking about your life and what you want in life again, you'll include Teddy and me in that picture."

Hermione and Ron stared at the other member of the Golden Trio with open mouths. Where Hermione's speech had been dumbed down and simple in its tone and intent, Harry's in contrast had been almost poetic. His words to his fiery (in more than her hair) girlfriend were moving and made Hermione's image of Harry settling down with Teddy with Ginny behind him almost seem like a dreamscape. She fathomed that for him, such a vision probably was one that featured in his dreams. Merlin knew he needed a reprieve from his night terrors.

"While what you've both said is very compelling," Molly Weasley's shrill voice intoned, "do we have any say in your plans? What if you're needed here? Does that mean nothing to you?"

The words 'after all we've done for you' remained unsaid but both Harry and Hermione could hear the Weasley matriarch thinking them excruciatingly loudly. Both knew that this pressure might arise, particularly from her, but they knew they couldn't give in if they were to live their own lives in the post-war world at all.

Harry grunted, "I think you're all misunderstanding us and our intentions. The idea is not that we bolt and abandon you, the people we love and the people we care for dearly. I, of course, will come back often and see Ginny and Ron. I'll even bring Teddy for a visit if you guys are up for it, but I won't be here 24/7 sharing a bedroom with Ron and away from my godson. Hermione? You've been quiet. Care to weigh in?"

She heard the irritation at being the lead speaker and nodded, "Yes, I'm sorry. I've been thinking. I feel much the same way and I'm so, so grateful for everything you've done for me. And part of me hopes that Ginny, you might want to return to Hogwarts and finish your studies in the future, and I'll be there for you, but I'm sorry I cannot stay at the Burrow any more. Harry and I," as she gave her closest friend a thought, she realised she still had his hand gripped in hers and gave it a squeeze for strength, "cannot play Weasley any more. We are so sad that Fred's gone and we do feel your grief, but he was not our brother or our son and you all need time, as a family, to come to terms with that and what you're going to do now that the war's over. Just know that we both love all of you and if you need us, all you have to do is owl or floo and there'll be nothing that stops us from coming for a visit."

Ginny and Ron were reeling from what their lovers (though both had yet to see some action) were telling them. Yet, it seemed that more planning was necessary if they were hoping to dent Harry and Hermione's vision for their futures. Both appeared resolutely determined not to be diverted from their plans today, but Hogwarts was still being repaired and Harry did not have custody yet. There was ample time to construct a strategy to bring their partners back to them and the fold.

"Well," Ginny eventually said, breaking the awkward silence, "I don't like it, Harry, but if you want to move out and play happy families with Teddy, I won't stop you."

Ron echoed his sister's passive aggression and addressed Hermione, "If you think that teaching and school is what you need right now instead of being with your family and your boyfriend, I guess that's your call, 'Mione, but like Ginny said. I don't like it."

With their sentiments fully out in the open, the youngest Weasleys rose from the table, nodded at their mother and went upstairs together. Harry elbowed Hermione gently in the ribs and shook his head for her to accompany him outside so they could talk away from Mrs Weasley's derision.

"We're just popping out for a chat, Mrs Weasley," Hermione announced, "don't wait for us for supper if we're still gone by then."

With that the two thirds of the Golden Trio walked out of the Burrow, their hands still entwined. Before Harry knew where precisely he and Hermione were going, he felt an all too familiar yank behind his belly and a whirlwind of air swirl around him as he was being apparated away from Ottery St. Catchpole.

"What the hell, Hermione?" Harry exclaimed.

"Sorry. I just thought we could get a bit further away from there than you anticipated to think. Don't worry though, we're safe here." She said with her typical confidence.

"Where exactly is here?"

Hermione breathed and realised she had been holding her breath from the anxiety of talking to Ron, "We're at my parents' house. We're in Exeter, Harry, it's not too distant from the Burrow, but it's far enough."

Harry marvelled that he'd never been to Hermione's house. She'd always been careful about her parents' involvement in the wizarding world and it turned out it was for good reason, but Harry felt privileged he was finally getting some insight into his female best friend.

"Has Ron ever been here?" Harry asked, though certain he knew what her answer would be.

She scoffed, "No."

Without further ado, she extracted her wand from its holster and murmured a quick anti-disillusionment charm which revealed a slate grey house that was neither large nor small sitting behind a flowery front garden. She kept hold of his hand as they went through the gate and up the path towards the building.

"I had to hide it, just in case Death Eaters came and got a bit miffed because no one lived here anymore."

Harry nodded but was too busy drinking in the sight of her family home to form words. The Grangers' home was simple, almost surgical, but from the way Hermione was smiling as she unlocked the front door, Harry guessed that the interior was where the heart of the place lay.

They made their way quickly into the living room which was full of pictures of the Drs Granger but were absent their daughter's presence. A side effect of her obliviation...

"Oh, 'Mione..." Harry cooed as her eyes grew misty as she inspected the photographs as well.

Feeling herself being drawn into a strong embrace was all it took for the brave witch to crumble and melt into floods of tears. She had not been in her own house for almost a year and a half, not seen her parents or felt her family's love. She let a bit of her grief out then, knowing that Harry was there to catch her as she fell, but when they were curled on the maroon carpet together, him holding her as she sobbed, she was glad she had come home and let her guard down with Harry.

"I'm sorry," she said, pulling herself together, "this was just a bit...unexpected."

"I'll say."

Hermione chuckled, "We should talk about how that went. You know, with Ron, Ginny and Molly."

"My thoughts are that it didn't go quite the way I'd hoped but it could have been so much worse. No one was hexed, which is always a plus!"

"Harry, be serious!" Hermione chided, not really looking to reprimand, more to jest.

His positivity dissipated and he donned his serious face, "I just feel...disappointed, I guess. I hoped that they'd see more from our point of view rather than focusing on how what we want will be affecting them and their plans for us."

Hermione curled into his side, "I know. I don't know where the idea of breaking up came from. It frightened me though, how quick Ron was to accuse me of cheating and wanting to leave him specifically just because I disagree with him about what my life looks like. I've never given him reason to think I'm unfaithful, which is more than I can say for him."

Harry winced, recalling the fears Ron had that were played out by the fragment of Voldemort's soul which Ron destroyed, "He doesn't think you're cheating. He knows you're not, but it's something he's always feared: losing you to someone else."

"Someone like you, you mean?" Hermione blurted out before she understood why she'd said it.

Harry turned to look at her with inquisitive eyes, "Well, that's what he saw that night in the forest but remember, that's his own fault and we're not to blame for where his mind wanders. He left us alone. He abandoned us and went home for his mother's hot meals. I had to carry on and I wasn't about to babysit him and you," his voice suddenly became soft, "you stayed. You didn't go with him, even though you were in love with him."

"I stayed because you needed me to. I don't want to be another person in your life who leaves you. You have been hurt so much by that trend and I could not have faced myself again if I joined the line: your parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Remus, even Snape and Cedric. I won't leave you until you send me away."

Hermione's words rendered him speechless. She had more or less professed her love for him right there. He knew it was the best kind of love shared between the closest friends but she was so sure in her words and their meaning that he felt safer in a world where he had this witch by his side and her promise that she would be on his side.

"What about the Weasleys?" Harry asked, their name coming out of nowhere.

"What about them?"

Harry sighed, "Are we sending them away? Are we doing the right thing or are we being selfish bastards who are just looking to get away from an unpleasant obligation to people who are basically our family?"

"They're not though!" Hermione erupted without warning.

Harry was about to tell her to calm down and not get so worked up but before he had the chance she was off on a rant similar to the one she'd had at him and Mrs Tonks.

"They're not our family! Our families are dead, Harry! Your parents, my parents are all gone! They've lost a brother, and Molly lost her brothers years ago but they still have people to turn to. I know we'll probably end up married to Ron and Ginny at some point down the line and I'll be one of the many Mrs Weasleys but that still won't make them magically into my flesh and blood. I've never said this, Harry, and I won't to their faces but I hate it! It started that summer before fifth year at Grimmauld Place. I am not theirs to be ordered about and treated like a daughter. I know they only did it because they apparently see me as family but I am not a Weasley. I'm nothing like them and as much as they want to change me and want me to settle down, marry Ron and birth a hundred stupid children who just want to play Quidditch all day and eat until they drop, I am not that person! I love Ron, I do but I wonder if he sees me for me or if he's seeing me the way his mother and the rest of his family do. I just want my freedom now, Harry. I'm of age, I fought and I survived. None of the Weasleys can deny me the life I want if not even Voldemort could, right? He denied me my own parents as he did yours and no one can take their place no matter how much they want to, right?"

At the end of her vociferation, with her two questions, she sounded so small and so unsure of what her lot was in life that Harry nearly wept for her. He had come to terms with his orphan status long ago, but for her the loss was still too near and too painful. His own loss still stung but he had made his peace with it during his years at Hogwarts when he had found the school he would call home and the most loyal friends he knew whom he saw as family.

"Of course you can have whatever life you want, sweetheart," Harry said, relishing in the smile that his own term of endearment for her caused, "and no one can take the place of your parents. I know the Weasleys try to. They tried with my parents and they tried with Sirius, but they have no right to our parents' places in our hearts. Yes, they've sheltered us and helped us and fed us, but we've thanked them and they've been paid in full for their help and service. They received a lot of compensation both from the Ministry and from Sirius and Remus' vaults. I promise you that for each and everything we've received from them, they've received it twice over. We have no debt to them and we most certainly do not owe them the rest of our lives, even if we are in relationships with Ron and Ginny."

Hermione felt a mammoth burden lift from her tired shoulders as Harry reassured her. She knew that they'd got some money from the Ministry of Magic; all those who had fought over years against Lord Voldemort had received pecuniary compensation but she had no knowledge of the Marauders' contribution to a growing Weasley fortune. Even though the money they handed over was no doubt for the Weasleys' treatment of their best friends' son, she felt better knowing it had been of an amount where she was at liberty too.

She breathed a sigh of immense relief and let her upper body fall from Harry's shoulder onto his lap so that her head rested comfortably on his upper legs.

"You didn't say 'in love'?"

Harry's brow furrowed in confusion, "Pardon me?"

Hermione nestled further into his warmth as she elaborated, "You didn't say that we are in love with Ron and Ginny, you said in relationships. Are you unsure of your feelings or have you not told Ginny you love her?"

"What are you talking about? I said it at the Burrow right before we left!"

Hermione laughed and it sent enchanting vibrations through Harry's body, "I remember you saying some vague nonsense about people we love at the Burrow, but that's not a declaration of love. That's a platitude."

As always, she was right, but Harry did not want to go into his mixed feelings towards the only Weasley daughter.

"Well, she knew what I meant and I do love her." He said curtly.

"Do you really? Enough to spend the rest of your life with her constantly by your side? In your bed? If you do, I'm almost jealous of you, because I wish I felt that sure about Ronald."

Hermione virtually never called their other best friend by his full first name. Harry was flabbergasted by her divulgence of the uncertainty of her amorous feelings towards her boyfriend, though, especially seeing as she had been blurting out her love for Ron passionately earlier at the Burrow.

"Why? You said you loved him over and over again earlier when we were talking to them. What's changed? And just so's you know, I don't know about Ginny, so there's no need to be jealous, I just know that she could be the woman I want to have in my bed and be a mother to my children. We've only been back together a few days. It's too soon to be ringing the wedding bells just yet."

"I did say I love him but we were fighting on so many fronts, Harry, with Molly and Ginny there, and then Ron came out with that crap about shagging you and I thought if I said how much I love him a couple of times, he'd at least put that thought out of his mind. It's just there was all that...heat during the fight and after we kissed and I feel like we went from arguing to kissing to tied together forever before I've even had a chance to breathe."

"Then breathe here, now, with me," Harry offered, "work out what your heart wants and I'll do the same right next to you. This is our time to regroup before we go back to the Burrow."

They sat, or Harry sat and Hermione reclined across his lap, while they meditated on what their hearts were saying to their brains and what was going on in that conversation. It seemed like no time at all had elapsed before the pair met each other's eyes and smiled, having figured the conundrum out.

"I love Ginny, but I'm not going to he the Boy Who Lived or the Saviour of the Wizarding World for her. She can be part of my life but I'm not going to let her run my life. She's not you."

Hermione smiled at that last statement but took Harry's hands in hers and replied, "I do love Ron, so much, but I don't think he truly knows me enough to know if he truly loves me yet. He's not you."

Harry pulled her into a hug, thanking Merlin, Buddha, Brahma and whatever other higher beings there were for sending him this creature for a friend. He knew she was his greatest gift. He felt his muscles seize as he realised he thought so and had done since he was stuck in Devil's Snare as a small, scared eleven year old. He wasn't in love with her but there was something so special shared between him and the girl in his arms. She had given him so much of herself to safeguard him and make sure he reached his destiny and he wanted to share something with her and only her that would cement her place in his life and high in his esteem.

"Hermione, can I ask you something...personal?" Harry inquired tentatively.

"Anything, though consider my interest piqued."

He took in a deep breath before taking the plunge, "Are you a virgin?"

She blinked five times before her tongue came back to her, "Why would you want to know something like that?"

"Just answer the question, please."

She grimaced, "Yes, I am. So what? Are you?"

Her last question was meant just to make a point, but he replied that he was and that he had another question to ask her.

"You know I love you, as a friend, my best friend. Yet I cannot say I love you as a sister. I know why now. I do love you, and I know that on some level I value your presence in my life more than I do anyone else's, even Ginny's and I love her. I always knew I'd have my first time be with someone I couldn't stand to live without and before we left to find Horcruxes, I though that person would be Ginny, but since we spent all that time in that tent and coming back and staying at the Weasleys' with only each other for non-redhead company, I know that that person is you. So I want to be the person you share your first time with. I want you to share in my first time. They say you never forget your first time and though I've searched high and low for the right way to describe you - since friend, best friend, sister, confidante are all insufficient to describe our relationship - I want to call you my first."

Hermione Jean Granger was rarely caught speechless. Usually, she was the complete opposite, but having your best friend (though now that term was sour in her mouth) proposition you sent her synapses into overdrive. She had no clue what was the right thing to do when your oldest friend told you he loved another woman but wanted you to be his first in the same breath. She knew life before Hogwarts with the Dursleys, losing his parents and Sirius and the constant need to fight to survive sometimes made Harry's mind work in different and unfathomable ways but this idea of his was bordering on insane.

"Harry, sweetheart," she murmured, using his own endearment to ply him with, "do you know what you're asking? Or has your heart run away with your tongue before your brain got a word in?"

He chuckled at her way of putting things, "No, 'Mione, all three are working together and came to that conclusion: that I want you."

She did admit to herself that hearing those three words, physical and lust-filled words, gave her a rush and she felt a surge that spread from the depths of her belly into every nerve in her body. She knew then, that her heart aside, she wanted him too. She would have Harry James Potter as her first.

Without more words, she kissed him - chastely - on his slightly chapped but handsome lips and sank further into his arms as though she could drown there. She felt joy as he moved against her and swung her leg over both his own so she sat astride him while he plundered her lips without mercy. Within seconds she felt his hardness grow beneath her own moistening core and set about disrobing the both of them.

As one kiss turned to another and dusk began to settle, Harry Potter found himself plunging in up to his hilt inside his first and Hermione Granger found herself paralysed from the pleasure as she came undone around his cock.