A/N: Sorry for the long delay. Check my profile for more info.

A/N2: I've decided to include some of DH.

DISCLAIMER: You know…

O X O X O X O X O X O

WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

Well… to say that the last couple of months had been a wonderful experience had never truly understood the dangers of that ancient Chinese Proverb: May you live in interesting times.

Hermione leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her head in the vain hope that she might relieve some of the stress she could feel built up in her back and shoulders. At hearing the tiny snaps of her spine cracking, she shifted back into a normal pose and returned her gaze to the mountain of books that lay across the library table. She had always been a true believer in the fact that books held the answers… a lie that she had been forced to learn over and over again since that fateful night with Harry.

Harry. Harry Potter.

Had it been so few months ago that he had been her entire world?

Closing her eyes and rubbing at the bridge of her nose, Hermione took a deep breath and fought the internal battle that resided deep inside of her soul at how far she had drifted from her best friend and once potential life mate.

It had been a mistake. Kissing him, so close to his having lost Tonks. And for what came after.

Blinking away the spots from her eyes, she reached over and closed the book she had in front of her, the idea of trying to read even one more word bringing about such a rush of… what? Revulsion, maybe? That she could actually picture a future without books at the moment. No. Now all she wanted was to find a way again to rewind time and do things the right way.

Why was God punishing her?

Everything from that night had spiraled further and further out of control until she was as lost as she had first been upon arriving at Hogwarts seven years ago.

Hermione laid her head down on her arms, refusing to look around the empty library and wished, not for the first time and (as things seemed to be going not for the last).

It could have just been a kiss. A quick snog. Harry was hurting. His current girlfriend was gone and he was vulnerable… a fact that Hermione knew too well. She had been there when he'd learned that horrible truth, after all. She could have been just a friend. An ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on. No. She's let her heart just flutter and fall along with Harry. His need for contact, no matter how big of a mistake.

But to be honest with herself… she'd barely fought. Okay… truthfully… she'd gone into it willing. And from there it had degenerated to a whole new low for her.

Fine. She slept with him.

No, there was very little actual sleep involved. Try, rather, a lot of naked skin against skin, heavy breathing, exchange of bodily fluids. Cries of passion. The calling of each other's names in-between the grunting and groaning. Very, very messy, to tell the honest truth.

And absolutely everything that she wanted it to be. Sort of.

Again, Hermione felt the tears start to run down her cheeks. She chided herself for being so… such a… well… girl. It had been amazing, after all.

She had remembered nearly nothing of the induced time with Ron, a blessing she was sure. And while she had technically not been a virgin when she and Harry had been together, in her heart she had felt that she was giving it up to him… her first love. The man she hoped to be her last love.

In the darkness of the night, hidden from the rest of the world in her bedroom with the blankets twisted around them both, his arms around her as their bodies cooled, the sweat drying, she had a moment of true bliss. Everything she wanted from life could be held in that single moment. Hermione had prayed for time to stop, to allow her this one thing forever.

Life refused to answer her pleas.

Morning had come all too quickly… and it was from there that she destroyed her happiness. Destroyed it before The-Boy-Who-Lived could do it himself.

Looking back, she could see now that telling him it had all been a mistake first thing in the morning, the moment his eyes awoke to a new day, had not been her brightest decision. Sure, her words had been better than that, but he was able to understand what she was saying.

Harry had looked betrayed. Well… he did at first. She had watched as he had opened his mouth, maybe to argue, but she watched as his beautiful green eyes, sparking, had slowly dulled. She couldn't help how jealousy seemed to swarm over her… he had been so knowledgeable of what to do, how to play her body so well… and that was something he could only learn with another: Tonks.

She had felt like a fool, caught in the morning light. During the cover of darkness, it had been easy to fall along with everything they were doing together, to go along for the ride, but it was a blow to her ego when she allowed her mind to catch up with everything they had done.

So Harry had left to the safety of his room and she was left with nothing but her tears… and the realization that her heart breaking was her own fault. As she sat there in the bed, the bed she and Harry just hours earlier made love in, she could hear Lavender's mocking voice. Lavender telling her that she had failed.

And that voice was right.

Shaking her head, Hermione decided to head for the Gryffindor common room. Maybe she could talk someone into a game of Snaps or something

Walking through the corridor, ignoring the snide comments that the portraits along the wall were yelling at one another, she couldn't help but continue down memory lane since that night. To say that any progress she had made with Harry before sleeping with him was gone would be the greatest of understatements.

Her friends had been somewhat sympathetic to her plight, at first. The Patil twins and Lavender freshly released from the infirmary). Susan and Hannah, too. When Hermione had talked about sleeping with him, they had used words like mistake and rebound. Too soon, Susan had stated in a matter-of-fact fashion. That support had crumbled, though, when she explained how she had basically kicked him out the next morning.

"You continue to amaze me." Lavender had finally stated into the quiet after Hermione had told them all that had transpired.

"What?"

The gorgeous blonde had simply brushed her hair back over her shoulder, her face wincing as she tenderly ran a finger over a bandage still covering her neck. "You have to be just about the smartest dumb person I have ever met."

With all of the other girls nodding in agreement, Hermione huffed. "How? It was a mistake… you all agreed."

"It was a mistake, Hermione," Padma explained. "But you compounded that mistake with an even bigger one."

Susan continued to nod her head. "Going straight into his bed was bad. He has to heal some. Get Professor Tonks out of his system…"

"But to sleep with him and then kick him out?" Pavarti sighed. "Now he thinks you don't want him."

"And while playing hard to get… make him earn your love again might have worked before," Lavender finished up. "You ruined that by sleeping with him. Now it looks more like you were just using him… or letting him use you in his grief."

"Not to mention that maybe you don't want him."

Hermione could only stare at Hannah at her words. "So… so what do I do now?"

As the group all looked at one another, a silent exchange that Hermione seemed somehow left out of, it was Lavender that finally sighed and looked back at her.

"I think you're going to have to just wait for your chance to explain…"

And it had been fairly sound advice. Supposedly. Not that she had ever gotten a chance to put the theory into practice. No, she and Harry had danced around one another, both avoiding each other. Her heart had never felt heavier as she continued to watch, as he seemed to fall further and further into some funk. After a week, she couldn't take it anymore and was determined to talk to him. Make him understand how much she loved him but was determined to also protect herself. Hermione had tracked him down to the Room of Requirement… and walked into a disaster.

What looked to be the remains of stone columns were shattered, heavy gray dust and chips of stone lay everywhere. Burn marks and spell residue was all over the room, barely an inch in any direction looked to have escaped the damage. In the middle of the room, Harry stood, his chest heaving and his clothes sticking to him from the sweat that made what skin she could see glistening. Even with the signs of several cuts and trails of blood dancing from wounds caused by the stone exploding throughout the room, it was a scene that could have fueled a thousand wet dreams.

Anyone else might have been scared. Terrified to approach the volatile scene. Not Hermione, though. She knew that Harry would never hurt her.

"Harry?"

At first, she had thought he had not heard her, lost in his own world. Taking a careful step further into the room, Hermione had to pause, as his voice seemed to cut through the echoing silence.

"It's not the last one."

"What?"

"The stone. It's not the sixth Horocrux."

She felt the breath leave her. "Are you sure? Maybe there's som…"

"No." His hard laugh cut her off. "We tested it and checked the results. So much time wasted."

Moving closer, Hermione drew near enough to place her hand on his shoulder. That he didn't pull away was a step in the right direction, but he also made no move to acknowledge her. Sighing, she racked her brain for some comfort she could offer. Words of comfort, that is. Sadly nothing had come to mind.

"I was so sure that Draco's idea would be right." She watched as he shook his head and ran a hand through his messy hair. "It seemed so right."

"Where do we go from here, then?"

Harry had finally looked at her. "Back to researching the Founders, I guess."

So… she had been forced to watch, as Harry had to suffer through the betrayal of his adoptive family… followed immediately by the pressure of seeing Professor Lupin in such a bad state. Then the losing of Tonks, followed by what he misunderstood as the losing her and then losing what he thought had been the final piece of the puzzle before facing Voldemort. Hermione had hated watching sink even deeper into despair. Nothing seemed to help. He was alone…

It had taken a lot for her to pull herself up, drawing on all of her Gryffindor courage, to finally approach him again. To maybe help him to understand that she, at least, was not lost. How he could ever think she would not choose him. She was his forever.

But fate had decided that Harry hadn't been broken enough. In the span of two days (of course, before she could tell him that everything would be okay), three more hard punches slammed into him.

First was the arrival of the Headmistress to take Harry out of Charms class, her face grave. She would learn later after searching nearly the entire castle twice over for Harry that he had been taken to the infirmary to say his final goodbye to Remus Lupin. The werewolf had fought valiantly, but the silver poisoning had been just too much in the end.

The next two would come the following morning, both on the wings of Harry's closest friend: Hedwig. The beautiful snow white owl had swooped through the Great Hall and sought out her master… his appearance that morning at breakfast had been a shock to all, everyone respecting his need for solitude and allowing him to sit quietly at the end of the table.

So it was that everyone was watching as Harry had smiled softly at the bird that nibbled his ear affectionately while he took the two letters from her outstretched leg. Hermione could tell he was upset, the way his brow drew towards his eyes, his hands shaking ever so slightly. It was not going to be good news.

And it wasn't.

It had taken nearly the rest of the week to discern the content of the letters he had so carefully read at the table. She knew that the first had been bad, as he had thrown the letter to the tabletop ignoring it for the moment while he savagely ripped into the next. It was only after reading the second that he had stood, the waves of energy emanating from him warning off any that might have even an inkling of daring approach. This time he vanished from sight for several days. Even the professors had refused to divulge where he was.

Hermione had called on every favor owed to her, every informant that she had cultivated… every possibility at her disposal. She had to know. And all of her effort had been wasted, all for naught, as it had been Harry that had finally included her into his misery.

The first had been a letter from the Weasley family. Ginny was being removed from Hogwarts for the foreseeable future due to the severity of her injuries after Wormtail's attack. Apparently, while the bastard had not made it so far as to complete the rape, the youngest Weasley had been sexually assaulted to such an extent that she was beyond any immediate help.

Ron would be returning, having been excused from classes for the duration of the family's needs, but Ginny would not. Hermione had cried, her first friend now gone. When she returned to school next year, if she did, Hermione would be gone. And when you factored in the difficulties that were between herself and Ron, as well as Harry's distancing himself from them… it would be hard for any strong bond to remain.

Worse, however, was the next letter.

The missive was a quandary for Hermione. In many ways, she wondered at Harry's allowing her to look at it. There was the immediate pain she knew that her love felt at its contents, but there was an underlying self-doubt that Hermione suffered through at the ramifications behind the letter.

The parchment had been of the greatest of quality. Professional. The ink was thick and smooth, the type she had seen Draco Malfoy using. It was not the simple ink that Hemrione, as well as almost every other student, used. No, this was something important… and after reading it, Hermione could not for the life of her understand why Harry wanted her to see it.

Was it to show that there was hope for the future? Or was this a slap in the face after her pushing him out of her bed?

O X O X O X O X O X O

Harry James Potter

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Great Hall

Dear Mister Potter:

This missive is an order to cease and desist all actions on your part, as well as of those acting in your interest whether directly or indirectly hired by yourself, in determining any and all information in regards to Miss Nymphadora Katherine Tonks. This includes but is not limited to her current location, past locations, general welfare, et cetera.

Please be aware that this Order of Restraint has been submitted with both the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Ministry of Magic's Auror Division, as well as a copy forwarded to the Headmistress' Office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Failure to immediately comply with this request will result in our firm taking all measure of legal action, both criminal and civil, to insure that the interests of the Tonks household, as determined be the Head of said Household, is safe from your unwarranted and unwanted attention.

Any questions that you might have in regards to any part of this correspondence can be forwarded to the address listed below.

Your immediate compliance with the request of the Tonks family will be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Gip Montegra

Davis, Jemmison and Tonks, LLC

O X O X O X O X O X O

Harry Potter stared out the window of his room, wondering who else might be looking up at the same stars that he was.

As much as he hated to admit it, Draco was right. What the Hell was he doing playing Quidditch and dancing around with Tonks and Hermione and everyone else? The world was at stake.

Turning from the nighttime sky, Harry walked over to the table by his bed and picked up the photograph that had rested there since arriving at the castle for his seventh year. It warmed his heart to see that the figures shown, him and Dora, were both still holding on to one another, although he did note that the picture Tonks seemed sad, her eyes red.

He ignored how his own reflection looked.

Sighing, Harry quickly opened the drawer and negligently tossed the picture in, not caring that the glass cracked. As much as he hated that Tonks had been taken from him, he couldn't let himself be distracted from his mission. There might be time to find her after Voldemort was dead… if he himself survived the final confrontation.

It was time to get serious.