Well that simply wouldn't do. Hermione frowned, staring in the mirror. Or, rather, staring at the mirror, as her unfocused eyes didn't actually see the reflection. How could she have forgotten such a fact? Such an incredibly important, unforgettable fact?

"Hermione! Hurry up!" Harry was pounding on the door. "Mrs. Weasley said we could go to Hogsmeade, supposing we're back in an hour. Don't waste our hour!"

"Wha—oh, yes," Hermione said. She actually looked at herself, and shrugged. Same old Hermione, bushy hair and all. The war didn't change everything, she thought, though one hand did stray toward the pearly scar on her neck.

She opened the door, and Harry nearly fell in, one hand raised, presumably to knock again. She smiled at him and glanced over his shoulder, looking for one of two everpresent redheads, but there was nobody behind Harry.

"Where's Ron?" she asked, and before Harry had a chance to smirk knowingly, "and Ginny?"

"They're downstairs," Harry said. "Ron's in the kitchen, packing up food." Hermione raised her eyebrows. Packing food for a one hour trip?

As they walked downstairs, Hermione considered how to tell her friends the news. Specifically that she wouldn't be able to go with them to Hogsmeade, and more specifically, that she didn't know exactly when she'd be coming back.

Sure enough, there in the kitchen was Ron, apparently trying to pack every bit of food present into a satchel. Ginny was watching him, arms crossed, an amused look on her pretty face. Harry coughed conspicuously, and Ron looked up, a red flush spreading across his face as he did so.

"Oh, hey," he said, immediately tossing the satchel over his shoulder. "Ready to go?"

"Really, Ron," Hermione said. "Do you need to pack all of that food? It's only going to be an hour." Well, for them, that was. She wasn't quite sure how long she'd be out for.

"Right, erm, about that," Ron said with an almost guilty look now. "Listen. . .Hermione, I need to talk to you about something."

"Talk when we're in Hogsmeade," Harry said, and his words cut through the pleasant buzz of emotion that had built up in Hermione at her friends words. "Come on, now, grab me, you all can Side Along and that way we'll all end up in the same place."

Hermione laid her hand on Harry's shoulder, as Ron and Ginny did the same. Harry grinned, spun, a dizzy flurry of motion, and Hermione found herself in the center street of Hogsmeade, right in front of the Three Broomsticks.

"Wicked," Ron whispered approvingly. "Good job, Harry."

"There," Harry said. He grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her toward the Three Broomsticks. "Now you two can talk. We'll be in there."

This, Hermione realized, was going to make her task a bit easier. She could tell Ron what she was planning to do, and he could break the news to Harry and the rest of the Weasleys. That would be infinitely easier.

"Hermione, I was thinking," Ron said, and the way his face was screwed up had to mean that he hadn't been thinking anything good. Hermione froze, and that excited ball of emotion in the pit of her stomach suddenly stopped whirling. Of course, she thought bitterly. It was just the excitement of the moment. Just a kiss in the midst of death, a way to say I love you to a friend. She'd been silly, thinking it had been more. She should have figured it out, the way things had gone back to normal after the battle. She'd been giving him time, thinking he needed to cope with his grief.

"Hermione?" Ron was staring at her intently, and she realized with a start that she hadn't heard a thing she'd said. She could feel warmth in her face, knew it was that dratted ugly blush that made her hair look crazier than ever.

"Sorry, Ron, I don't know where I was. What did you just say?"

Ron bit the inside of his cheek, whether in amusement or nervousness she didn't know.

"Look, Hermione, I'm not heading back to the Burrow after this and I. . .I don't think you should, either."

Her mouth was hanging open. That was hardly dignified. With a snap she closed it, though she knew her eyes were still bugging out of her head. "What in heaven's name are you talking about, Ronald Weasley?"

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Hermione, I know that you've been trying to be supportive, and I appreciate it, really, I do, and Mum does, too, it's just. . ."

"Just what, Ronald?" she asked, tapping her foot now. The ball was back, but it was an angry ball now. She was casually considering what hex to send at him when he told her to get out of his house.

"It's just that your parents are still in Australia and they don't remember anything and you should go to them," he said, the words all coming out in a rush. He stared fixedly at the ground.

One moment she was considering whether a Bat Bogey hex would be too much, and the next her arms were around her neck, and his were wrapped around her waist. "Oh, Ron!" she breathed, and planted a fierce kiss on the side of her mouth.

"You're not mad at me?" he asked, disbelieving, and she thought she felt the pressure of his lips on the top of her head. She drew back a moment, and peered into the long-nosed, freckled face.

"Ron, I was going to tell you that today," she said softly. "That I had to leave for a bit, to go find my parents. I mean, I need to stop in the bookshop for a moment to look up the counter-spell to the memory charm that I put on them, but then I was going to Apparate straight to Australia. I do hope that it isn't too difficult to retract the charm, though I suppose it will be difficult for them either way. After all, an entire year, oh my. I hadn't really prepared for that, they might have lost their jobs. . ."

"Hermione, you're rambling," Ron said. "Come on, no need to wait around. I left a note for Mum—easier than talking to her, she'd probably put a full Body Bind on me or something—and I packed plenty of food, we should be all right."

Hermione nodded, and hurriedly wiped a sleeve across her eyes, which were rapidly filling with tears. Luckily, Ron didn't seem to notice as he grabbed his hands in hers.

"You know," he said musingly. "I've never been to Australia before."