Harry ushered Hermione up to his room, quickly and quietly as to not disturb any of his relatives. "How are you, Harry? I haven't seen you since you left to destroy the last horcruxes." Hermione began the conversation, not wanting to dwell on herself.

"Hermione, Voldemort's dead. I killed him. I only got home last night. I was leaving today, until you called."

"You did it! It's amazing that the Daily Prophet hasn't found out yet." Hermione was utterly relieved. Their world was no longer in peril.

"Yeah, you'd think they would have. Let me tell you the whole story. It started out that I destroyed the last horcruxes. The first one to bloody impossible to find, but the other ones were easy enough. The first one led me to them all. After I'd gotten rid of them all, Voldemort was really really weak, which made him easy to find too. But when he figured out that I had destroyed seven parts of his soul, he went after the Weasleys. He killed Ginny, Hermione. He killed her. The fact that he killed her only made me angrier, so I pursued him harder than ever. I followed him to a remote island in Siberia, where he had no help at all. I duelled with him for hours and hours, maybe even days, but we were equally matched. Finally, just when I had given up hope, he faltered, and I killed him. He's gone, but so are the people he killed."

"What did you do with his body?" Hermione asked. It was kind of a lame question to ask at that moment, but she wanted to know.

"I cremated him, and brought his ashes home. They turned green, just like the colour of the Dark Mark. I figured first of all that it's proof that he's dead, but it's also the closest thing I have to my parents' bodies."

"Have you talked to Ron or the Weasleys yet? They must be devastated." Harry ran a weary hand through his hair.

"Not yet," he admitted. I haven't been home for a long time."

"Right. Well, what are we going to do?" Hermione asked. Suddenly, Harry burst into tears.

"I don't know. All my life, I've been so protected, but now that no one's here to take care of me, I've got no idea what to do!" Hermione was shocked, but began stroking Harry's hair to comfort him.

"No one's taking care of me any more either Harry. We're both on our own." Harry just began sobbing harder. Soon, Hermione felt tears washing down her face as well.

They awoke in the late afternoon with crusted tears all over their faces. Harry hugged Hermione, and they both felt a little better. "So," began Harry timidly. "I do believe we've talked enough about me. When did you find out?"

"Almost the day after you left. Ginny…Ginny was there." Hermione choked on Ginny's name because Ginny was gone now. "I wanted so much for you to just be there so I could tell you. I was so scared in case you would die without even knowing anything. In any case, I owled my parents just before summer break started, and they practically disowned me." Harry moaned and covered his face in his hands. "Last night, I went home to try and convince them to take me back, but all they did was hand me a wad of cash and told me to sod off." Hermione was rather bitter when she said this. "I can't believe it. My own parents…I broke into my former room and stole, well took all my stuff and slept up against the garden shed. This morning I called you, and Dudley answered. I thought he would just laugh and slam the phone down, but he willingly agreed to fetch you for me. You cannot imagine how relieved I felt. Then, you know the rest."

"I can't believe your parents chucked you out on the doorstep. It's entirely my fault Hermione; I should have been there with you. We could have talked to them together. I'm so sorry."

"Harry! It's not your fault. You just about saved the entire world while I was at school trying to cope with myself and my parents. You should be proud. I know your parents would be." Harry leaned over and gave Hermione a hug. Hermione was just glad that Harry still loved her.

"Thanks Hermione. I don't know what I would do without you." Harry whispered in her ear. Straightening up, he said, "Today, we go to the Weasley's. Of everyone, they deserve to know what happened first. Can you still Apparate?" Hermione nodded. "Okay. Wait. I never want to come back here again, so I'm going to pack all my things." Hermione let out a small giggle. "What's so funny?"

"Well, I was just thinking that, you haven't seen the Weasley's in a coon's age, and now you're bringing everything you own, so they'll probably think you're moving in or something." Harry grinned.

"Oh well, can't be helped. I do need somewhere to live now…" Hermione glanced over, and saw that he was joking. She punched him lightly in the arm. "What?" Harry sounded very innocent. He flicked his wand at all of his stuff that was scattered around the room. It zoomed pell-mell into his school trunk in, which was lying open in the floor. Hermione sighed.

"Let me do it. It will fold itself if I do it." Hermione smirked. Harry grimaced. Hermione did a complicated little twitchy movement with her wand and everything folded itself and neatly packed itself in. Hermione noticed that Harry had accumulated several packages of U-No-Poo. "What're these for?"

"Erm…Fred and George enjoy sending them to me…" Harry looked at the ceiling.

"Sure they do." Hermione groaned. "I've just realized, we'll be arriving at the Weasley's with two full Hogwarts trunks, and an unborn child in tow. What will we do? Should we tell them?" Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, then declared,

"Yes. They deserve to know, after all they've done for us. If they shut the door in our faces, well, at least they know. Better than keeping them in the dark 'til it's obvious." Hermione sighed and nodded. "Are you ready, Hermione?" She nodded, and they apparated to the front door of the Burrow.