Thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows, guys! It really makes me so happy-you have no idea. To have people actually enjoy what you are writing! Also just a note: this story will be semi reflective of some issues that I have been going through for years and as such will be updated as frequently as possible but DO NOT DESPAIR-I will see this story through to the end! On to the story :D

Hair was ripped from her head as she was dragged along by Bellatrix.

"CRUCIO!"

"TELL ME!"

A sharp cold knife at her throat.

"TELL ME!"

Hermione awoke with a scream on her lips to find the whole common room staring at her. Some had tears in their eyes. A sixth year whose name she didn't know spoke up.

"We tried to wake you, but-"

Hermione's pillow felt wet. She got up and hurried into the bathroom to confirm her suspicions.

A frightened little girl stared back at her. She let out a ragged sigh. Merlin, they'd had to grow up so much during the war, especially the past few months. Still, in many ways she felt like a child, afraid and looking for comfort in the dark.

She desperately wanted to hug her parents again but thought it might be safer to wait to go to Australia until it had been declared safe by the new Ministry to travel. They were still rounding up the remaining Death Eaters who had either not been in the battle or had escaped during the fighting after they saw the tide beginning to turn.

She splashed water on her face and gently patted it dry. Her eyes were bloodshot and reminded her of countless times she had spent studying until the wee hours of the morning. Only these eyes spoke of more than a fear of failing an exam or disappointing a professor by not fully explaining why a bezoar should not come into contact with mandrake root under any circumstance. Hermione gave a low bitter laugh. What she would give to have such problems be the source of her anguish now!

Dreading the looks of her dorm mates she slowly opened the door and eyes straight ahead made for her four poster and began to dress. She felt all their eyes on her until she gathered her things and quickly left the room.

Hermione found a few early risers in the Common room. Harry, who sat staring into the fire, Neville, curled up on an armchair thoroughly engrossed in a Herbology text, and Ron, who seemed to have been playing a game of chess against Harry and now sat with the abandoned board and pieces strewn around him on the floor.

"Hello, everyone."

Neville looked up immediately. "We heard...that you were screaming in the girls dorm when you woke."

Ron turned to her, brow creased, an unspoken question of concern on his lips.

"I'm...fine, Ron."

He visibly relaxed at her reassurance. Harry on the other hand, continued to stare intensely into the fire, as if he could see something the others couldn't. Hermione approached him cautiously,

"Harry, are you...alright?"

He finally turned and met her eyes. Hermione was taken aback by the naked emotion and guilt she saw in them. He swallowed but said nothing. Instead he stood up and hugged her tightly.

"'Mione, I-", Harry choked. He seemed unable to say much more than that so Hermione merely gave him a small smile and a nod.

"I know, Harry."

Ron got up off the floor, spilling the chess pieces on his lap. They both looked at him.

"Well, you're not going to leave me out, are you?"

The three friends chuckled and embraced. Their bond went deep, past flesh and bone and into their very souls. Hermione didn't know what would've become of her if not for that troll in first year that brought them together. Well, said a nasty voice inside her, You wouldn't have been tortured-

She silenced the voice but part of her still latched onto to that traitorous thought.

When they finally came out of the hug Ron was first to speak, a slight grin on his face:

"So, I'm starved. Everyone up for a bit of breakfast?"

A "bit" of breakfast, for Ron that is, turned out to be a full plate of bacon, several heaping spoonfuls of fried eggs, a large apple and a towering goblet of pumpkin juice. Hermione could barely stomach even looking at his platter. He turned to her, mouth full,

"Oo ooo eyes 'ant ooo oh on ah idditch itch?"

Ginny snickered across the table and in a perfect impression of her mother said, "Ronald Weasley! Have you still not learned manners by now!? Swallow your food before you speak!"

Ron gulped loudly and gave his sister a guilty look.

"You're much too good at that, you know."

Ginny nodded and she was annoyed when she spoke next, "Well I ought to be, haven't I? Stuck around Mum the whole of the War while you three got to go around saving the world and what not."

"It wasn't that simple, Ginny," Harry said, frustrated. "It was...you should be glad that you were not forced to make the decisions we had to make-"

Ginny's face reddened and Ron knew what came next before it happened.

"Of course! Because you all thought Ginny was 'too young and precious, poor innocent Ginevra'-can't let her be soiled by the mere THOUGHT of anything other then setting the table and watching everyone else have a real part in the war!"

After her tirade was over, Luna came over before she could start up again. "Why don't we try to levitate some of the rubble, they really need help over by the lake. It seems the Squid has been injured and I think maybe Snorkacks are involved..."

Luna had taken hold of Ginny's arm and was leading her away. Ginny glanced back at the table giving all of them a very hard look, but she grudgingly let Luna pull her in the direction of the Hall's main doors. When they were out of sight, Ron gave a sigh of relief.

"Merlin, I thought she was going to go on forever; she really has learned well from Mum."

Hermione laughed lightly. "She certainly has. But you shouldn't be too judgmental of her Ron, I can't imagine what it must have been like for Ginny and all the students here at the castle while we were gone. They must have felt so helpless, so...hopeless..."

She trailed off and looked at her friends. Ron was staring moodily down at his now empty plate. Harry was idly twirling his spoon in a bowl of jam, the same despairing look on his face as earlier in the Common Room. Hermione wanted to say something to him, but didn't know exactly what to say and how. Ron broke the silence.

"So, like I just said, anyone up for a game down at the Quidditch pitch?"

Hermione wondered how Ron could think about playing Quidditch after all that had happened. There were still repairs to be done, students to grieve-

"That doesn't sound bad, actually," said Neville, "I heard last night that the teachers were going to allow a few practice games this morning, perhaps on and off all summer, to help...lighten the mood, I 'spose."

Ron's eyes brightened. Hermione began to smile in spite of herself. She turned to Harry, expecting a similar reaction, but found him already standing and making to leave.

"Where are you going, Harry?" said a very confused Ron. Harry looked down at his shoes and back up at his three friends.

"I have...erm, something I have to take care of, Ron. 'Mione, Neville, I'll see you all on the pitch later, maybe. Alright?" He was walking away before any of them could respond.

~~~A/N~~~~~

Next is a Harry chapter! Thanks for reading! And...please review :3