Chapter Five: Funerals and Funds

Ron and Hermione did not leave their room for two days. Hermione was still upset over the falling out with Mrs Weasley, and Ron stayed to comfort her. During their down time, Kingsley, along with Bill, had gone to Gringotts to speak to the goblins. Bill had been correct in his hypothesis in telling the goblins about the Horcrux hidden in their bank, and about them wanting the bank back in their sole control. Bill had taken the lead in the discussion. He had been given the same Agnitio Vial by Sirius that Ron had used to be able to speak Gobbledygook. He had also been able to deposit the cheques belonging to Ron and Hermione into Ron's vault and adding Hermione's name to the vault on their behalf.

Ron was in the kitchen playing chess against Remus who had Teddy sitting in his lap. Dora was sitting next to Remus offering him moral support as he and Ron did battle. However, for all her support, Remus was still going to lose.

Draco and his mother entered the kitchen and Ron ignored them as he and Remus made their final moves before Ron declared Checkmate. Not wanting to be in the same room as two people who stood idly by as his beautiful, sweet, wonderful Hermione was mercilessly tortured by Bellatrix, he walked out of the kitchen without another word.

Remus looked up and saw them and said, 'Do either of you play?'

'Yes,' replied Draco, 'though I'm not sure I'm as good as Weasley.'

'That's all right. I might actually win a game this morning. Have a seat, Draco,' said Remus, as he indicated the seat just vacated by Ron.

Draco sat down and helped Remus manually set up the board for another game. Draco chose the black pieces before Remus made his first move. As they played, Draco found himself curious about Teddy. 'Professor, can I ask you a question?'

'I haven't been your professor in quite some time, Draco, so please call me Remus. And yes, you can ask me a question.'

'Is your son going to be werewolf?'

'No, Draco. It doesn't work like that. A person only becomes a werewolf when they're bitten, and that's only during the full moon when they've transformed, your move.'

Draco made his next move and asked, 'Does it hurt? When you transform?'

'Draco!' scolded Narcissa.

'No, it's quite all right, Narcissa. Yes, it is very painful. But the transformation is easier to bear when I take the Wolfsbane Potion. I also keep my mind when I have transformed, therefore, I am not as dangerous.'

The rest of their game passed by in silence before Remus declared victory. To his surprise, Draco offered his hand in defeat and they shook hands before starting another game. This time, they played to a draw and Draco said, 'I've often wondered how good Weasley was at this game. But having watched him defeat you, and then you defeated me, I know now that I am not as good as he is.'

'Don't worry about it, Draco. None of us are as good as Ron. He even defeated Albus a few years ago. I won a nice sum of gold on that game as Sirius gave out good odds. In fact, Ron is the best player I've ever played, so it's no shame in losing to him.'

Ron, meanwhile, was upstairs with Hermione. She was still asleep and so he sat down on the bed and pulled down the duvet. She was still naked as yesterday they had stayed in the room and did whatever it took to make one another feel better. Her backside was still red from the spanking he had given her. The back of her thighs were still red with marks from the hairbrush she had asked him to use on her. Yesterday, they had wanted to get lost in each other, and in one of their role-play fantasies. He began to gently apply the instant salve to all her red marks. She did not stir and carried on sleeping. When the red marks were gone, he began to caress her backside and kissed the soft, now white again cheeks.

'Ron, what are you doing?' she asked groggily.

'I'm literally kissing your arse, my Angel,' he replied.

'Did you use the salve to heal me?'

'Yeah, I used the salve. Mm, love you, love your arse, love your legs,' he said as moved his lips down to her thighs.

Hermione could not help the giggle that escaped from her.

'How are you feeling? Are you up for leaving this room today, Angel?'

'Well, some fresh air would be nice,' she said into the pillow but Ron still heard her.

Ron then pulled her onto all fours before sliding one of his fingers into her arse.

'Oh, Ron …' she moaned.

Ron then used his other hand to finger her pussy.

'Oh, God, Ron …'

'Do you like that?' he asked.

'Yes … more … please, Ron!'

Ron told her to move into a kneeling position on the bed and she did so leaning against him as he pumped three fingers in her pussy and one in her arse.

'OH, FUCK, RON … YES … SO GOOD …'

'Are you going to cum for me, my Angel?' he asked in her ear.

'YES … RON … OH … OH, FUCK … OH, GOD … RON, I'M GOING TO CUM … OH, FUCK, ROOOONNNN!'

When her orgasm was over she told Ron to sit on the chair before kneeling in front of him. She then unbuttoned and unzipped Ron's jeans and brought them down along with his boxers to reveal his throbbing cock. Then, without another word she took him in her mouth.

'Mm, Hermione … so good … suck my cock …'

Hermione bobbed up and down his shaft faster as she used her tongue to lick off the pre-cum.

'God, Hermione … that feels so good, love … you love sucking my cock, don't you?'

Hermione replied with a throaty 'MMM,' as she gave him pleasure.

Ron's hands were in her hair and he began to guide her head down gently before saying, 'I want to fuck your mouth, Hermione …'

Hermione's response was another throaty moan and so he began to thrust into her mouth as she sucked on him faster.

'Put your hands behind your back,' he commanded her.

Hermione complied as he thrust his cock in and out of her mouth before blowing his load into the back of her throat with a growl of her name.

'Show it to me,' he demanded.

Hermione looked up at him and opened her mouth to reveal his seed on her tongue.

'Swallow it, Hermione,' said Ron.

Hermione obeyed and she moved into his arms as he pulled her on to his lap.

'I love you,' he said softly as he stroked her back.

'I love you too,' she said just as softly as she kissed his neck.

There was a knock on the door.

Hermione jumped off of Ron's lap and put on a dressing gown as Ron opened the door.

It was Harry.

'Alright, Harry?' asked Ron.

'Yeah, I'm fine. I just received a letter from Kingsley. He said that the mass service will be taking place tomorrow at Hogwarts at ten am. We're to wear dress robes or in the girls' case, an appropriate dress for the occasion. Are you both up for going?'

Hermione who was wearing nothing except for a dressing gown that stopped at her knees, just nodded and Ron agreed with her.

'Good. Right, well, I'll leave you to it. See you later,' said Harry before leaving the room.

The next day the trio and Ginny, along with the rest of the occupants of Potter Manor, with the exception of Snape, Narcissa and Draco, all Apparated to Hogsmeade and made their way up to the school. In the few days since they had seen it last, the condition of the grounds and some of the infrastructure of the castle had been repaired.

'Wow,' said Harry, 'it's like Hogwarts is repairing itself.'

Ron and Hermione chuckled and Ron said, 'Well, in a way, she is. After all, this castle has survived for over a thousand years and I'm sure magic has a lot to do with it.'

'Not to mention, the castle survived World War One and World War Two,' said Hermione.

Harry rolled his eyes and they were all directed to seats near the front. When they had sat down, they spotted Mrs Weasley with Arthur, but they ignored her. Once everybody had sat down, Kingsley Shacklebolt stood at the podium in front of the congregation. He pointed his wand to his throat and said, 'Sonorus!

Good morning to you all and thank you for coming here. A few days ago, Lord Voldemort's reign of terror came to an end, here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Final Battle that took place here took many lives. The first and second wars have taken many lives. We are here to give thanks to those who lost their lives, those who died so we may live in a free and just world – a world without tyranny, oppression, and bigotry. We give thanks to those who did what must be done. We give thanks to the heroes of our victory. A victory, that came at a cost. In a war, there are heroes on both sides. In times of war, the law falls silent. History is written by the victors. Today we honour those who fought bravely and valiantly – even those who were on the wrong side, even those who died during the first war. Let us now have a moments silence for all who fell.'

The whole congregation observed the moment in perfect silence.

'Thank you all for the respect you have shown. And now, a list of the fallen shall be read,' said Kingsley.

The list was long. Names like Colin Creevey were read out. The boy had been underage and yet had snuck back to the battle to fight for his school, his friends, and his right to live freely. Alastor Moody, Albus Dumbledore, James Potter, Lily Potter, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Dorcas Meadows, Regulus Black, Benjy Fenwick, Emmeline Vance, were joined by Tom Riddle, Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, and Lucius Malfoy.

Once the list was finally over, Kingsley addressed the congregation once more.

'Today was our way to show respect for those we have lost. Today, we said goodbye. Today, we promised to live for those we loved and lost, and those we called friend. Today was one of first days of peace, and long may it continue. Thank you.'

The service was over and people began to leave. The group from Potter Manor tried to leave as inconspicuously as possible, but were still hounded by the press.

'Mr Potter, what are your plans now?'

'Mr Potter, who is the lovely young lady you are with?'

'Miss Granger, what are your plans now?'

'Mr Black, are you and Madam Bones going to get married?'

'Mr Weasley, are you and Miss Granger going to get married?'

Ignoring the questions from the reporters, they managed to get to Hogsmeade to Apparate back to Potter Manor.

Over the next few days, the trio attended the funerals of Colin Creevey and Alastor Moody. There were simply too many to attend and some were on the same day at the same time.

Fred and George soon realised it was time to get the shop going again, and Ron offered to help them when he and Hermione came back from Australia, Fred and George were taken aback slightly, and accepted as Harry agreed to help in any way he could too. Sirius gave Hogwarts a donation of several million Galleons, to go along with the one Harry had made, for new equipment, and a Magical Construction Team to help with the rebuild.

Harry and Ginny stayed at Potter Manor to keep out of the public eye, as did Ron and Hermione, and Sirius and Amelia. Kingsley was a frequent visitor to the Manor as he was becoming a closer friend all the time, and to check on Draco and Snape.

A week after the funerals, Ron received a letter from Gringotts bank and he showed it to Hermione as her name was on the account too. The letter was a statement detailing the funds of their vault. The current balance, including their share of the reward given to them by Harry, came to over Twenty-Two million Galleons. Ron suggested that they start to think about getting their own place, or design their own house with loads of rooms and have it built. Preferably on land somewhere close to her parents' house, and Hermione agreed, but the talk of her parents reminded her that they were still in Australia, still with no memory of her or their true identities, and so Ron suggested that they make a plan to go and fetch them home. Hermione gladly accepted his suggestion and she thought having a second honeymoon would also be a good idea, not to mention, time away from everything would give them a chance to discuss where they would go from here.

Would they go back to Hogwarts together to finish their educations, or, join the Aurors, in Ron's case, or, in Hermione's case, join either, the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, or, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? But as they planned for Australia, Hermione was leaning towards finishing school, and Ron was leaning towards joining the Aurors. They did not discuss their leanings just yet, there was still plenty of time to make up their minds, and so, they concentrated on their trip to Australia.