The rest of Hermione's year at Hogwarts went by without any major events, catastrophes or magical disasters, which was a definite improvement on her other six years at school.
As the students started to preparing for their upcoming NEWT exams, and the last couple of weeks as school, another important date was looming over the castle; the final Quidditch match of the season. Both Gryffindor and Slytherin houses had played a strong season and in true Hogwarts style, whoever won this game would win the house cup.
The morning of the game, Hermione found herself pacing the entrance hall to the castle. As Captain, Ginny had already escorted the team down to the pitch to start getting ready; but Hermione had decided to wait for Ron and Harry to turn up. She was fretting that they weren't going to show up - their Auror training had been even more demanding than they'd expected and they had unintentionally missed the last couple of opportunities to meet up.
Hermione let out a heavy sigh and checked her watch one last time, figuring they just weren't going to show up. She felt sad, although she knew she couldn't be mad at them; their work was often unpredictable and anyway, the exams would be over in two weeks and then she'd be on the train back to London where she planned to stay for good. She had just been so excited to finally see Ron and she missed him terribly; two months was a long time.
She turned and started to make her way sadly down to the pitch, but she didn't get far before a familiar voice called to her.
"Oy! Where do you think you're going?"
Hermione grinned and turned on her heel, taking in the sight before her. Both boys had considerably bulked up in the two months since she'd last saw them. They had remnants of bruises and cuts on their faces but to Hermione, it was the best sight ever. She let out an excited squeal and threw herself at them, gathering them both into her arms and pulling them tight to her.
"Oh I missed you two so much!" She tightened her grip on them, not willing to let them go.
"Yeah but you missed me more, right?" Ron pouted at her. She loosened her grip on Harry slightly and turned more towards Ron, pressing a hard kiss against his lips.
"Of course I did..." She kissed him again, letting go of Harry properly so that she could wrap both arms around Ron. She grinned against his lips as he scooped her up, and she wrapped her legs around him without breaking the kisses.
"Gross..." Harry muttered, but smiled. He tolerated the kisses for a bit longer before frowning. "Okay, if you could put each other down now that would be great. We are here to watch the Quidditch..."
Ron sighed but put Hermione back on the floor, slipping his hand into hers. "Oh yeah, Quidditch. That's what we're here for. Come on then, let's go watch Ginny smash the Slytherins..."
Hermione led them both down to the pitch, her hips bumping against Ron's in an attempt to stay close to him. She sought out Luna, who was holding their seats for them and they squeezed through the crowds to get to her. Once seated, she leaned into him, her arm hooked over his thigh. She took every opportunity to touch him during the game; pressing herself tight to his side during the tense moments and jumping up to hug him every time Gryffindor scored.
It was a close game and Hermione could feel the electricity coursing around the pitch. The whole castle had emptied for the game and the trio were relieved that all the attention seemed to be on the game rather than them. Both teams fought hard and the score was almost tied throughout. Finally, the snitch was caught by the Gryffindor seeker and the pitch erupted in loud cheers. Ron scooped Hermione up and held her closely until Harry cut in, hugging them both.
As the crowds started to disperse, Harry hurried off to find Ginny, leaving Ron and Hermione alone in the bleachers. After promising Luna that they'd be back in the Gryffindor common room for the celebrations, Ron took Hermione's hand and led her down to pitch level before walking out towards the Black Lake. They walked in silence, until they came across a large oak tree. Ron sat down with his back against the tree and pulled Hermione into his lap.
"Hi..." He smiled as he rubbed his nose against her cheek.
"Hey you..." She smiled back. "I was worried you weren't going to come..."
"Like I'd miss it! Harry has been telling anyone who will listen that Ginny had scouts at the game today. I've had it booked off for months. We were late because Bill and Fleur came over with Victoire and Harry will not put that baby down!"
Hermione laughed softly. "Thank you..." She kissed his cheek then tangled her fingers with his. "I've missed you so much."
"I missed you too..." Ron pressed a soft kiss against her lips then started their usual catch-up chat. The conversation came easy and it was if they hadn't spent more than a day apart. They sat like this for an hour, just catching up and being with each other.
Eventually the conversation tapered off naturally and Ron's smile was replaced with a contemplative look.
"Shall we go join the Gryffindor celebrations?" Hermione watched him with a small frown. When he didn't answer, she reached up and kissed him softly on the lips. Ron brought his gaze to hers and gave her a small smile.
"What's up?" Hermione shifted so she was facing him properly, watching Ron carefully. She didn't like it when he looked like he was thinking; usually it meant he was in trouble or was hatching a plan that would get them into trouble.
"You love me, right?" Ron avoided her gaze for a second. "And you promised me forever..."
Hermione nodded slowly, feeling her stomach lurch. His moments of self-doubt had been getting rarer as the year had progressed. Auror training had helped his confidence, no doubt helped by the fact he was still coming top of most of his classes.
"It's okay..." Ron took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "This isn't bad, I promise..." He dropped her hand and dug out a folded piece of parchment from his pocket. He unfolded it with a sigh and passed it to Hermione.
"What's this?" Hermione frowned as she read it. She easily identified Harry and Ron's writing from years of helping them with their essays, but most of it didn't make sense. It just seemed like a long list of place names and dates, mixed with names she didn't recognise.
"Your parents..." Ron muttered, looking sullen and downright depressed. "You stayed behind last summer to look after Harry and I and we know you wanted to go and find them. We wanted to do something for you..." He let out a heavy sigh and pointed out a pair of circled names and what looked like an address. "Wendell and Monica Wilkins... last seen in Patchewollock, North-West Victoria. This is the address of their Dentists Surgery..."
Hermione let out a loud gasp and dropped the parchment as if it had burnt her. Her thoughts had often drifted to her parents over the past year. She hadn't forgotten about going to look for them, but she had been putting it off as she was scared of being disappointed if she couldn't find them, or if the countercharm to replace their memory didn't work.
"You found them?" She gazed up at Ron with tears shining in her eyes.
Ron shrugged slightly and looked down at his hands. "We've been learning how to track in Auror training and then we went to a muggle library and used the Googley. We had to do a lot of asking nicely at the Ministry too but yeah... there they are!"
"You're amazing! I've been putting it off - I hadn't even worked out how to start trying to look for them or what to do when I found them..."
"Well yeah..." Ron took a long breath. "McGonagall has been helping me work that out for you too! She said she'll spend some time with you after exams so you can learn the countercharm..." Ron pulled away and made eye contact with her. "I want you to go 'Mione. Harry said he can exchange some galleons to pay for the flights and at home we have a collection of maps and stuff. Australia looks amazing!"
"You'll come with me?" Hermione smiled at him. "We can do this together..."
"Ah yeah, that's the catch..." Ron looked so deflated and heartbroken that it took Hermione by surprise "I asked Robards and because I've already had the time off to look after you, he won't let me take any more. Training is ramping up this summer and there's only three more Death Eaters to catch and Robards wants all hands-on deck. I'm sorry Hermione..."
"Oh..." Hermione sat back, chewing her lip thoughtfully. "I guess that's okay..." She finally said in a quiet voice. "You're busy with training you won't even notice I'm gone. If I go straight after school finishes then it shouldn't take me too long to find them since you've already done all the work. I can hopefully bring them home before the NEWT results are released. Then we can start looking for a place of our own..."
Ron nodded solemnly and pulled her close to his chest. "You promise me?" He rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes.
"Cross my heart... you're going to make me a Weasley, remember?" She played with the ring on her right hand with a small smile.
"Granger-Weasley..." He kissed the top of her head and held her close, sighing frustratedly as a few tears escaped his eyes.
What? You didn't think I'd let them be happy did you?! ;-)