Several weeks later, nearly all of those who'd been on the light side during the war with Voldemort turned out for the Dedication Ceremony. Kingsley Shacklebolt gave the dedication, praising all those "whose efforts had saved the wizarding community and the muggle world from slavery and genocide".

The dedication speech had been given in the Great Hall, after which attendees were invited to view the portraits in the dedication room. A dinner was to follow.

The Weasleys made a beeline for the section where the portraits of Fred and Ron were hung.

"Mum!" the portrait Ron said, grinning widely. He was dressed in his Quidditch uniform, with the Quidditch pitch in the background of the portrait. "It's so good to see all of you!"

Ron looked at the rest of his family gathered round, with George standing closest to the portrait of his twin. Noticing the heavily pregnant Ginny, he said, "So. You and Harry went ahead and got married, I see!"

"Yep," Harry confirmed, smiling. "We couldn't stand to wait."

"I've missed you so much," Molly said to her sons, her voice trembling with emotion. "We've ordered duplicates of your portraits for the Burrow, so we'll be able to talk whenever you like."

"And I'll have another of you for the joke shop," George told Fred's portrait. "You'll never be able to get rid of me!"

"I'm looking forward to harassing the customers," Fred said, smirking.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron said quietly to Harry, who was now directly in front of his friend's portrait. "I know she's not dead because her portrait isn't in this room."

"Er, ah, uh," Harry stammered, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Looking away from his friend, he mumbled, "Hermione couldn't be here today, mate. She really wanted to be here and told me to promise you that she'd be up to visit in a few days, but she had a prior engagement today."

Ron, puzzled and hurt, knew there was something his best friend wasn't telling him.

"What is it, Harry?" he demanded. "What's wrong with Hermione?"

"You might as well tell him, Harry," Ginny said, exasperated. "He's got to find out some time and better to hear it from you than from one of the other portraits."

"I suppose you're right," Harry agreed reluctantly. Turning back to Ron's portrait, he said slowly, "Well, you see, Hermione has moved on; she's got another man."

"Why should that be a problem?" Ron said. "It's not as if I would have ever expected her to spend the rest of her life pining away fof me. She should have brought him along so that I could meet him. Who is it, by the way? Is it anyone I know. Or is it a muggle and that's why she couldn't bring him?"

Harry and Ginny exchanged pained glances. They both knew he had a right to know, but neither could think of a good way to tell it.

"Who is it?" Ron demanded. "Tell me!" Noticing the sick expressions on their faces, Ron guessed, "Is it Malfoy? Is she with the ferret?"

"Err, you're half right," Harry reluctantly admitted. "It's Malfoy senior."

"Lucius bloody Malfoy!" Ron exploded. "How in the hell did that happen?"

"It's kind of a long story," Harry said, "But she's pregnant by him and has only got a few weeks to go before the baby is born."

Ron stood there stunned in his frame for a long moment. Finally, he croaked, "I think I'd like to be alone now, if you don't mind." Not waiting for the answer, he simply walked out of his frame, leaving only a blank Quidditch pitch in the background of the portrait.

Noticing a similarly stunned expression on Harry's face, Ginny said, "It couldn't be helped. He had to be told, and you did it as gently as you could. He'll get over it -- I'll bet he'll be spending a lot of time in his portrait at the Burrow talking to Mum."

After realizing that Ron wasn't about to come back to his portrait any time soon, Harry and Ginny moved along to visit with the other portraits. Though Harry had nice visits with the portraits of Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and his parents, his day was effectively ruined, as he couldn't get Ron's hangdog expression out of his mind.

---

Two days later, Lucius and Hermione came to Hogwarts to visit the Memorial Room. Hermione paused as she stood in the doorway, dreading the inevitable confrontation with Ron. Harry had owled her and told her that he'd ended up having to tell Ron about her and Lucius, because he didn't want Ron to find out from someone else who likely would have been much less diplomatic about it.

"Remember, it's just a portrait," Lucius reminded her. "It's not the real Ron."

"I know," Hermione said. "But it will have most of Ron's emotions. Harry told me that as soon as he told him about us, that the portrait Ron left his frame and wouldn't come back." Squaring back her shoulders, she said, "Well, time to face the music. This feeling will only get worse if I put it off."

Lucius squeezed her hand and murmured, "I'm right here for you."

Hermione squeezed back, looking up at him with love. Taking a deep breath, she moved into the room, toward the section where Harry had told her where Ron's portrait was.

The portrait Ron was busily eating a large sandwich as the Malfoys approached him. He didn't notice them at first, as he was intent on his meal.

Hermione timidly stepped up to the portrait, while Lucius remained discreetly in the background.

"Ron?" Hermione said hesitantly. "It's me, Hermione."

Ron's head jerked up at the sound of her voice. Eyes narrowed at the sight of her heavily pregnant figure, he said, "Oh, it's you. Finally decided to get out of bed with that git Lucius Malfoy and come see me, huh?"

Hearing this, Lucius smirked, then rolled his eyes in exasperation, but otherwise remained silent.

Hermione was temporarily rendered speechless, but Ron's smoldering anger finally burst forth, ending the brief silence.

"Why did you do it, Hermione?" Ron spat out. "I didn't expect you to moon over me for the rest of your life, but why did it have to be a Death Eater; Lucius fucking Malfoy! Did he use Imperius on you? Did he rape you? After all my family did for you, why did you have to betray them...and me...like that. And why isn't he in Azkaban where he belongs?"

Lucius rolled his eyes again, expecting no less from the spawn of Molly Weasley.

"First of all, Ronald Weasley," Hermione began, gaining a head of steam. "How dare you accuse me of even thinking of entering a relationship with someone who had raped me, let alone have his baby. You should know me better than that."

Knowing his consort had it well in hand, Lucius said, "I think I'll leave you two to work things out in private. I believe I'll go pay a call on Horace -- you can find me in his office when you're ready to go home."

Briefly acknowledging Lucius with a smile, she kissed him on the cheek, then whispered, "I'm fine now. I'll see you later".

Turning back to Ron, she continued in a somewhat softer tone, "Things have changed quite a bit since the end of the war. There's a lot about Lucius that you and your family don't know about. He regrets becoming a Death Eater, but I'll not bore you with the details, except to say that I believe what he told me." After a pause, she added, "And obviously, the Wizengamot believed him, too, because they chose not to send him to Azkaban."

"Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater," Ron grumbled. "I can't believe they bought what he said, but Malfoy has always been able to squirm his way out of everything. He's a typical Slytherin. He's probably just using you to buy his way back into respectability."

Hermione sighed loudly, having heard this particular refrain many times before.

"So, did you even wait for my body to get cold before you married the git?" Ron demanded.

"We're not married," Hermione admitted quietly.

"He's using you!," Ron spat. "Just like I said."

"Well, you see, he's still married to Narcissa," Hermione added.

"Using you!" Ron repeated in a sing-song voice.

"You don't understand, Ronald," Hermione said, employing the tone of voice she typically used to explain things to stupid people. "After the war, the Ministry legalized what they called "consort relationships", in order to facilitate the repopulation of the wizarding world. The Ministry especially wants purebloods and muggleborns to have children together to reduce squib births, and they legalized consort relationships so that married people would not have to divorce their spouses in order to comply with the policy."

"Why didn't you just pick a single pureblood to marry, then," Ron demanded. "Neville is a pureblood! My brothers are purebloods! Nearly anybody would have been better than Lucius bloody Malfoy!"

"It's not that simple, Ron," Hermione replied. "For one thing, the Ministry wants as many new babies as possible, and there are simply not enough single purebloods around for every muggleborn or half blood. And I can't think of Neville or your brothers in that way; they're like brothers to me."

"And you do think of Malfoy in 'that way'?" Ron asked.

"Yes, Ron," Hermione said proudly. "I love him.'

"I'll bet Narcissa Malfoy is thrilled to know that," Ron said, smirking.

"Actually, she's been wonderful," she replied. "It's worked out well, and I wish you could be happy for us."

"Did you ever love me, Hermione?" he asked sadly. "The woman I love wouldn't make a mockery of our relationship, by taking up with an ex-Death Eater at the first opportunity after my death."

"Yes, Ron, I did. I still do, on some level," she told him. "I wouldn't be here today if I didn't care. But I've got to go on and live my life, and I've got to do what's best for me, not what your family thinks is best or what you would have wanted me to do. There will always be a place in my heart, in my memories, for you, Ron, but my life and my heart now belongs to Lucius. And it always will."

"I don't think I really even knew you at all," Ron said slowly. "Please don't visit again. Let me go on in this portrait with the fantasy of how it used to be."

"I won't," she promised, not telling him she really didn't have any desire to visit again, anyway. "This is goodbye." Kissing the tips of her fingers, she then pressed them to the lips of the portrait.

"Goodbye, Ron." Without waiting for a reply, Hermione turned away and walked rapidly out of the room, eager to find Lucius, feeling relief at the sense of closure. Ron Weasley was now securely in the past and she wouldn't look back again.

--
A/N Thanks to all my readers and reviewers who have stuck with this story all these months.
A/N Next chapter: Luna's Dilemma