A/N: I forgot this in Chap 1, so here it is; I don't own anything from HP, you have JK Rowling to thank for all the characters.

Again, the quote I used is in bold.

Silently the three collapsed on separate couches in the library of Grimmauld Place. There was no time to be jubilant, no time to relish in their accomplishments. They had just attended their final funeral, for Lupin and Tonks. They had agreed to put of the talk until they had buried the last of their friends. At first they thought they would wait a day, spend some time alone, but in the end they agreed that directly after the last funeral they would have the talk.

Hermione looked from Ron to Harry. All of them were looking much older than their years. Exhaustion and depression read on each of their faces. She had been on the verge of tears ever since she heard young Teddy babbling next to his parent's graves, not understanding they would no longer be in his life. Harry exchanged a glance, but quickly returned his gaze to the fire. None of them wanted to speak first. There was so much to say, but no desire to say any of it.

After sitting in silence for fifteen minutes Hermione decided to start the conversation. "What now?" she asked quietly. The question didn't really need asking. The whole point of the talk was to provide the answer.

Harry looked grateful that someone else spoke first. "I need to get away," he murmured.

Hermione nodded. "Where?"

"Sirius told me where he was hiding. I'm going to go there. Just by myself for a while."

Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement. They, especially Harry and Hermione, had spent more time with each other than was possibly healthy in the past few months. The only thing they would probably agree on all night was that they needed to be away from each other for at least a week or two.

"I'm going back to the Burrow," Ron threw in. "Get spoiled by my Mum for a while," he added with a faint attempt at a smile.

"Australia," Hermione said quietly. "To get my parents."

Harry glanced at her with a grim smile. "This isn't it, right?" he asked after a few moments silence.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we understand we all need some time apart, but we'll still be mates after this, right?"

Hermione placed a reassuring hand on his. "Harry, since I've met you I've been through a lot with you. I've stood by you through everything. While I admit I need to spend some time away from... you, Ron, everything, I would hope we never stop being friends."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Everything she said, mate."

Harry checked his watch. "I've got to catch my flight in a couple hours."

"Planned quickly, didn't you?"

Harry smiled. "I wanted to beat the Prophet and whoever else wants our interviews. They seemed to listen to our requests to wait until after the funerals, but the vultures are circling. I want to get away before they come knocking."

Hermione smiled, somewhat sorry she didn't think of getting out immediately herself.

"I just wanted to say thanks," Harry said, looking at the floor. "I really couldn't have done any of it without you."

"Wasn't much of a choice, mate," Ron said, holding up his hand when Harry opened his mouth to protest. "It wasn't. We've been there for you since we were puny little First Years, we'd be there to the end."

Harry smiled.

"How about," Hermione started apprehensively, "we meet back here in a month? If we want to see each other before then, that's okay, but if we want to be alone we can until then."

Harry and Ron nodded.

"Don't be mad if I don't answer any owls?" Hermione asked, looking from Harry to Ron.

"As long as you're not mad if I don't answer any, either," Harry smiled back. He stood and hugged his friends. They said their goodbye's and Harry left, leaving Ron and Hermione looking awkwardly at each other. Ron stood, walked over to the couch Hermione was sitting on, and sat next to her. He leaned forward and gave Hermione an awkward kiss.

"Is it supposed to feel...?" Hermione started.

"It feels kind of weird, doesn't it?" Ron said, his cheeks flushing pink.

Hermione bit her lip and looked at him.

"I don't get it. I liked you. I wanted you so bad for so long, and now that we can be together and not worry about Voldemort or school or anything like that... It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I'm not having the same feelings for you as I did."

"This hunt brought out the best in us, but we also saw the worst. There were points where I'm surprised we didn't just give up and go into hiding permanently or hex each other or something."

"Well, you did have that moment right after I came back," he smiled slightly.

Hermione blushed lightly.

"I've done some thinking in the past couple days, and I realized, when that thing came out of the Horcrux, that I didn't trust you and I didn't trust Harry the way that you deserve to be trusted. I knew neither of you would do anything to hurt me, but it just brought that whole thing to the front of my mind. And if I can't trust you, how can I be with you?"

Hermione shrugged and placed a hand on Ron's. "I love you, Ron, but I'm not sure if we're ready to be making any sort of commitment to each other. We've been forced to be around each other more than we wanted, forced to deal with more of our emotions than we should have. Things are going to change. Are we prepared to be in a relationship while all this stuff is going on?"

"I guess not," Ron replied, studying her face.

"Besides, now that you're some big shot you'll have all sorts of witches hanging all over you. You'll have your pick."

Ron gave a half smile. "Lets just agree to see where things go, right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Hermione nodded.

"Hey, I thought we were trying to avoid those."

She smiled at him, realizing how little her face had shown her happiness recently.

"See you in a month, 'Mione?" Ron said, standing and holding his arms out.

"Of course," Hermione replied, hugging him. They smiled at each other, and Ron headed for the fireplace. The flames burned green, and Hermione was left standing alone in the library of Grimmauld Place.

She sat on the couch and put her head in her hands, staring at the dancing flames. As much as she and Ron had wanted to be together, they had just agreed to be apart. Everything seemed so backwards. Maybe it would have been better if she was never a witch. Her life certainly would be a lot different if she had never set foot in Hogwarts.

"I saw Harry leaving," a voice sounded behind her. Sirius entered the room and placed a tea tray in front of her. "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah," Hermione replied, no energy to elaborate.

"Oh," Sirius replied, handing her a cup of tea. His mood had visibly darkened since Harry announced he was leaving and didn't want any company for a while. He sat across from her and started stirring his own cup of tea.

"I'm sorry we haven't been as enthusiastic about your return as we should have been," Hermione said.

"There's not much to be enthusiastic about, is there?" he replied. Lupin's death had hit him hard, and even more so because he had sat next to Andromeda and Teddy at the funeral, representing what was left of another family torn apart.

"It'll get better," Hermione said, reassuringly.

"Yeah, sure," Sirius muttered bitterly.

"Listen, Sirius, maybe you should get out for a while as well. You spent so long hiding out here before you fell through the Veil, you need to get out."

Sirius sighed.

Hermione thought for a moment. Reluctantly she asked, "Would you like to come to Australia with me?"

He looked at her. "I thought you wanted to be alone."

"Yeah, I do, but I figured we could get separate rooms or something, maybe do a couple meals together but we'd both be away from here on some sort of vacation."

"If you're OK with it, I think it would be nice to get away from this stuff. Rita Skeeter..."

"Ugh," Hermione blanched, not wanting to hear the name of any press member.

"OK, OK," Sirius chuckled slightly. "The bug is buzzing around me, wanting to hear details about everything, even though I told her to bugger off and that I didn't know what happened."

"I'm still trying to figure that out. Do you know exactly what time you woke up?"

"Well, that giant grandfather clock right in front of the Veil is a little off..."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I really don't know. All I know was by the time I made it to the lobby everyone was celebrating because Voldemort was dead."

Hermione's eyes slid out of focus as she was thinking.

"Seriously, Hermione, turn it off for a bit. You don't need the answer to everything."

"I know, but if you could come back from the Veil can anyone come back?"

Sirius stayed silent. Any response would only start Hermione thinking, and he didn't want to be the one to cause her any more stress. "When do you want to leave for Australia?"

"As soon as possible," Hermione replied, coming back to the conversation. "I was thinking I'd go see a travel agent tomorrow morning."

"Let me take care of it," Sirius said. "I know a Muggle travel agent, she'll take care of us."

"You really don't need to..."

"I want to, Hermione. You've gone through enough recently."

"Thank you," Hermione said, nodding slightly. "We can go to the bank in the morning, and I'll get my portion..."

"Not a knut, Hermione. Harry gave me everything back, save for what he wanted for his trip. If Ron wanted to get away somewhere I would have offered to pay for his, too. This whole thing is on me."

"You don't..."

"Must you really make this difficult?" he cut her off, crossing his arms.

"Yes, yes I do."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're extremely stubborn? You should really cut it out and relax."

She raised an eyebrow. "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are."

"Well, we can either butt heads all night, or you could just let me pay and be happy about it."

She sighed. "Thank you, Sirius."

"Ah, appreciation. Hurt yourself?"

She threw a pillow at him, smiling widely for the first time in days.

Reviews, please?