"If I only could,

Make a deal with God…

Get him to swap our places.

Be runnin' up that road

Be runnin' up that hill

No problem"

-Running up That Hill

Chapter 3: Calling All Shattered Ones

Disclaimer: I own the plotline, nothing else.

Hermione Granger sat on the wooden stool in front of her massive piano. She felt so small compared to it…She felt incredibly small compared to just about anything lately, actually.

Since Ron's death, she had felt so lost and confused. Hermione usually had some sort of control over everything in her life. If she didn't have control over the matter, she at least had the time to brace herself for whatever was going to take place. For example, when Ron was prepared to sacrifice himself in order for Harry to be able to rescue the Sorcerer's Stone, she at least knew what was about to happen. She didn't like it, but, still, she knew. Knowledge was everything to Hermione…and she most definitely did not see her best friend's death coming. So, nobody, not even her parents, had been successful in consoling her. It wasn't surprising, though. Hermione had just lost one of her best friends of five years and there was not a single thing she could do about it.

So, for the time being, the young Gryffindor sat in front of her piano, playing it lifelessly, hitting random keys, not finding it in her heart to form any sort of rhythm.

"Ron asked me what a piano was once," she thought to herself, "and I never told him…" silent tears began to make their way down her cheeks as she stared on, blankly. Her parents stood at the doorway, their heart breaking at the very sight.

Jean was about to step forward and break the silence when a small letter was suddenly pushed through their mail-slot. Curious, Hermione's mother walked over and picked it up, "Mail on a Sunday?" she thought as she went to break the seal.

Even though Hermione had taken no notice, her father was just as curious and soon joined his wife to see just what the piece of paper said.

Dear Hermione, Mrs. and Mr. Granger,

Fred and I (the Weasley twins in case you forgot) were wondering if the three of you would be willing to visit the Burrow tomorrow afternoon. Our mum thought it would be nice to get a few of Ron's old friends together to talk about…well, you know. We think it would help everyone to get some things off their chests and to try and move past this. (If you're wondering who 'we' is, Fred and I are also inviting the Lovegoods, Longbottoms, and Harry)

(Fred here) Please let George and I know as soon as possible if you will be coming. All you need to do is write your response on the back of this letter and Errol (the owl probably sitting outside of your door) will bring it back to us.

We would really like to see the three of you, so please do try and make it.

Hope to see you soon,

Fred and George Weasley

"What do you think?" Jean asked her husband, "Should we take her?"

He looked back over his shoulder to where his depressed daughter currently sat and soon after nodded his head. "I think it would be best. She could use some fresh air and interaction."

Also looking at their daughter, Jean agreed, "I'll write our response. Will you go and fetch the owl?" she asked, not at all wanting to touch the large bird. The idea of tying a piece of paper to its foot did not sound at all appealing.

Her husband merely smiled, "Of course, darling." He then made his way outside with absolutely no idea as to how he would catch the darn thing.

...

Dirigible Plums. Luna currently sat outside her house trying to harvest them. Unfortunately, the small Ravenclaw was having absolutely no luck in doing so. She supposed the reason was because picking these plums took a great deal of concentration and her mind was currently elsewhere. Her father seemed to notice her troubles as well. After several moments of watching his daughter struggle, Xenophilius walked outside to help.

"Is everything quite alright, sweetheart?" he asked as he made his way next to her.

Luna nodded her head, "I should think so," she told him, "but I don't…"

Xenophilius sighed. He hadn't seen his daughter acting this way since her mother's death. He had hoped he would never have to again…

"Why don't you head inside and start a pot of tea?" he suggested, "It appears as though it will be raining shortly," he added.

Despite the fact that the sky was entirely clear and the sun was shining brightly, Luna made her way back inside, and just as her father was also about to enter their house, a brown barn-old flew over and landed upon his shoulder.

"What have we here?" he asked the bird while untying the letter from its foot. Errol simply nipped at his ear in response once he began to read it.

As it turned out, the Weasleys wanted to have them over for tomorrow afternoon. Being that they lived just over the hill and more so that his Luna desperately needed to get out of the house for a while, Xenophilius quickly responded, agreeing to pay them a visit.

...

Over at the Longbottom residence, Neville could be found out in the backyard tending to his garden. His Gran had tried getting him to go to Diagon Alley with her, but he had refused. Lately, he hadn't been up for going out anywhere. Actually, Neville would have been perfectly content with just staying either in his room or out in his garden until the next school year started up. After what happened over at the Ministry of Magic, he couldn't find it in his heart to face the Wizarding World again. He was ashamed.

Neville simply could not get over the fact that he once stood in the same room as Ron, forced to watch as the red-head died at the hands of his parent's tormenter: Bellatrix Lestrange. If he thought he hated that woman before, well now…now he truly despised every fiber of her terrible being. Just the thought of that pathetic death-eater had caused the Gryffindor to viciously attack the innocent patch of sunflowers in front of him.

Augusta Longbottom watched sadly as her grandson brutally hatched away at his small garden. It didn't matter what she told the boy, he had yet to manage getting over his friend's death. She hadn't even been able to get Neville to attend the other boy's funeral. It was quite unfortunate.

Moments after stepping out onto the patio to look after her grandson, a small letter dropped from the sky and into her hands. Looking up, Augusta saw what she knew to be the Weasley's owl. Wondering what they could possibly need or want, she opened the piece of parchment.

The old woman did not even hesitate in writing her response to Fred and George. One look at Neville was all it took to reassure her that he needed to be amongst his friends. It didn't even matter what the boy wanted. Both Neville and Augusta would be leaving for the Burrow tomorrow, and that was that.

A/N:Please Review! It's what keeps me updating.

Next: Harry reacts to a letter from the twins.

Until Then...