A/N: Another chapter, another lengthy conversation. The following happens at roughly the same time as Hinny in the ROR; a long overdue heart to heart for Ron and Hermione. PTSD is a bigger focus here.

It should be noted that I type with a single finger because of a physical disability so if updates seem inconsistent that is probably the reason, it takes me several days to write and revise.

I should also note to all the readers that I recently changed my pen name again I think it will permanent (AllKindsOfFanfiction) I needed something more generalized because I jump between many different IPs when writing fanfics. I write what I feel and right now I'm focused on Harry Potter. I am American but am making a real effort to write British because I want to stay as true to the series as I can and that includes wording and phrasing at least with character dialogue.

Because I am paranoid, I'll call this chapter M-Rated.

Review if you could it helps me know if I'm doing service to the characters and universe.

Ron sounded uncertain. "Do you think Harry will be okay?"

Hermione sighed deeply with a melancholy expression. "I don't think he's going to be okay anytime soon. I don't think any of us will be. Eventually yes, but it will take years to get there.

They were sitting in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room. It seemed that McGonagall told the entire school, not to disturb Harry, Ron, and Hermione or the Weasleys for the next 12 hours and that the Gryffindor common room was off-limits during that time. That meant the rest of her house, or at least those of whom stayed to fight, slept in the Great Hall in sleeping bags. Nobody in Gryffindor minded this because they were all of age and had experience being displaced from the common room when Sirius was on the loose. However, the rest of the school was very frustrated by this temporary decree because they were clamoring for tales of how the trio brought down Voldemort for good.

Her response "If anyone questions Harry Potter or his friends about the year they have sacrificed to put an end to more than two decades of tyranny from Voldemort, I will make you sleep in the Forbidden Forest every night for the next year, and it should be noted that technically, the current year is still in session!" They deserve at least a day's worth of time to themselves for saving the world!"

Sadly, nothing prevented Molly Weasley from being overprotective, stubborn, and menacing. that meant that she did eventually pry Harry and Ginny's whereabouts out of Neville. It took five or six people, including Mcgonagall and her husband talking her down, but she eventually relented from going to interrupt them.

Ron looked at his mother sleeping on the sofa. He sighed whispering. "Thank Merlin she finally fell asleep, Mum hasn't ranted and paced so much since Percy's falling out with the family. You'd think with Fred gone she wouldn't have the energy."

"I know…Ginny is her youngest and only daughter, it's understandable, but I wish she would stop being so stubborn or overprotective. Harry needs Ginny right now and he needs to tell her everything, so she completely understands because next to us, it's emotionally affected her the most."

"Yeah, I know, that's why I came around to their side."

Hermione turned a little in Ron's lap looking at him kindly. "Are you sure you don't want to survey the castle with your dad and brothers?"

Ron shook his head his vigorously. "There's five of them they'll be fine." He sighed heavily. "I just can't look at all the death and destruction. I know we won but it feels so hollow. I feel like a prat not staying to help Harry. I don't blame him, I just couldn't— "

Hermione rested her left hand on his face she cut him off soothingly. "I know and he knows too don't worry about Harry, Ginny has him. How about we go up?" Ron nodded.

They made it to the fork dividing the girl's dormitories from the boys. Ron turned to go up the boy's staircase when Hermione called after him with a tone of longing. "Stay with me, please."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "I would, but boys aren't allowed up in the girl's dormitory…"

She took his hand smiling. "They are if the girl brings them, and I'm bringing you; I want... No, I need you, Ron."

He nodded and squeezed her hand. "Lemme leave a note for Mum just explaining that you didn't want to be alone, just in case…"

Once he came back Hermione led Ron up the girl's staircase and into the seventh year dormitory of four-poster beds.

He responded shyly scanning the room. "This is a bit weird." She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, uh not being up here with you." He said quickly. "Just being up here in general, being back at all really, we have been gone the entire year, you know?"

Hermione nodded and leaned against his chest scanning the room too and sighed. "It does feel like a lifetime ago honestly. Now, I have more comfy clothes in my bag." Hermione walked over to a bedside table and set her bag down rummaging through it.

Ron watched with captivation. "You're brilliant you know, you were on top of everything the whole time and I left you, both of you, like a prat." He hung his head shamefully sitting down on one of the beds, just as Hermione found the casual clothes she was searching for, she turned around setting them aside.

Her expression was practical. "Hang on, just to make sure we aren't interrupted by anyone…"

Hermione took out her wand casting a silencing charm over the entire space, as well as an impediment charm on the entrance. Then she moved the spare clothes, also leaving her wand on the end table just next to the bed she had claimed. The truth was the spells were really for the off-chance Mrs. Weasley woke up; this conversation was private and they had a lot to work out between them that had been set aside for the sake of the war.

Hermione spoke calmly when she finished the privacy spells, looking at Ron with indifference. "It was the locket you came back eventually and would have immediately if not for the snatchers. It's okay, it worked out."

Ron still looked and sounded disgusted with himself. "I shouldn't have left in the first place, if either of you had died, I never would have forgiven myself…"

"Horcruxes are evil magic, Ron. Your sister was possessed by one. How can you blame yourself for what the Horcrux made you feel?"

Ron sighed. "Because it just brought out what I already felt."

Hermione sighed asking delicately. "Something else is going on. What happened when the Horcrux put up a fight?"

He swallowed hard. "Dark echoes of you and Harry rattling off every insecurity I have ever had, and then…the shadow you and him started…snogging."

Hermione could tell that Ron's insecurities were seeded very deeply and it was the only thing that allowed her to keep both a serious face and her stomach at the sudden mental image of herself and Harry Potter snogging.

Her voice was delicate but blunt. "Listen, Ron...I love Harry I do, but I am not nor have I ever been in love with him or even fancied in the slightest and I know he feels the same way. If it seems like I am closer with him sometimes it's because we don't have siblings. I love him like the little brother I never had.

He nodded looking downcast. "I know that now, he told me after I destroyed the damn thing. It's just...I'm hung up on my own shit like I have been my whole bloody life." He put his hands on his face. "I can still hear it, the insane versions of Harry and you. The evil jeering and laughter in my head at night and can't shake it...

'Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter… Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend… Second best, always, eternally overshadowed… Who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the Boy Who Lived? "Who wouldn't prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing…'

Ron's anguish was masked by silent tears and the way he forced his hands to cover his face as he fought back them back. Sometime during his long retelling of the Horcrux's torturous monologue, Hermione had moved to sit next to Ron. She was shocked that he had bottled all this up, but it seemed that he, who she had always known to be stoic or else in denial about his insecurities, had finally reached the breaking point. Ron couldn't hold back the tears any longer and they fell in a rapid pace from his cheeks, clearly audible now, though his hands still prevented them from being visible. The weight of Ron's biggest disgrace finally caused his emotional wall to crumble to nothing.

Hermione spoke with an emotionally sympathetic response. "All the fits at night, have you been having them since you destroyed the Horcrux?"

Ron's voice was angry amid the tears. "I can't—get—a— grip! Those things are evil, he was so effing evil! I can't get rid his damn voice! He's dead but for the rest of our effing lives, we're left to cope with all he's done! I don't know how Harry is still right in the head Hermione, I'm a mess…"

"Oh Ron why didn't you tell me then I could have been helping you cope the whole time."

"Ron finished in a flat, choked voice. "I—I want to be enough for you but we're so different that—I'm afraid I won't cut it."

Hermione was quiet yet certain. "You do cut it, Ron!" She slowly took his hands away from his face and then held them with hers. "You're going to be okay, come on." Hermione pulled Ron into a tight embrace. Her hand soon moved along his arm eventually coming to rest on his face. She sounded emotional. "I'm with you, whatever happens."

He took a calm breath, for the first time in a while and managed to stop crying. "Thank you, we should get some sleep."

She shook her head giving a quiet but insistent response. "That can wait."

The emotional stare he was getting left Ron in a state of confusion. "Are you okay?" He asked, worried they were about to have a row.

Hermione answered him with all the emotion she felt. "What matters, is that you are okay Ron." Her hands moved gently up and down against his back.

He sighed. "I'm not, not a bit. Between the nightmares about the Horcrux, and now Fred's death too, I'm in a bad way."

Hermione pulled her hands back without leaving his eyes, an emotional fire in hers now. "I can't do anything about Fred's death but that effing Horcrux, I'm going to make sure you forget the rubbish you heard!"

Ron gave an appreciative smile. "You're the most brilliant which of our age, but memory charm charms are unpredictable— "

"Magic? I don't need magic to make you realize that all the stuff swimming around in your head was and is just the Horcrux!

Ron shook his head, there was a dismissive look on his face. "It was right though, you deserve better than me and Merlin knows I don't deserve you at— "

She was sharp over him. "Stop thinking that rubbish!" Hermione was calm but full of emotion her eyes ablaze. "I couldn't properly do magic while you were gone, I could barely function. I felt no happiness at all… like a Dementor was living in my heart and my soul affecting my magic completely. My protective enchantments weren't as powerful, Harry had to do those and then at Godric's Hollow... Harry's wand was nearly blasted to bits because instead of using my head to get us away from Voldemort and Nagini, I cast an out of control blasting curse because I was terrified of dying without you, so I don't give a damn if you think you deserve me or not, you're as vital to me as oxygen is Ronald Weasley!"

Hermione hadn't ever stayed this level-headed about their relationship before, but Ron's willingness to tell her what happened with the locket's Horcrux meant she had complete clarity now. He had always been afraid of not being enough for her, not good enough in life. She knew that her critical nature made this long-standing insecurity worse. It was rooted so deeply in Ron to have no self-worth that she was determined to change his everyday mindset.

He was insistent. "But you're settling- "

"No, I am not! You have been stuck on the most simplistic definition of falling in love. Couples that are alike and always get along. Love is more complex than that. It's not easily understood, or we would have understood our feelings when we were 11. There was not much in my life that I found challenging until I met you! I would rather have all sorts of conflict with you than be with anyone else. That's why I'm not settling for you, I'm in love with you."

Hermione finally seemed to have gotten through to him with those words.

Ron looked emotional now. "I am in love with you too, I have been since our second year after I went after Malfoy for calling you a Mudblood. I knew what it meant, and I wanted to kill him, but I didn't know anything powerful enough.

Hermione melted, dropping her head on his shoulder. "I never knew that."

He sighed. "When you were petrified it was hell, it was overwhelming how much I missed you, even with all our bickering. After you recovered, I wanted to tell you how I felt, but my personal self-worth has always been in the toilet Hermione and that always kept me from telling you that I was in love with you. I'm sorry it took seven years, but you're a saint for waiting on me. You knew my problem the whole time…was me."

Hermione grabbed Ron's face, turning into it so their lips were inches apart from one another. "You think too highly of me and too little of yourself Ron. I'm no saint." She kept his gaze with a smile that was full of emotion somewhere between gratitude and sadness. "Still I'm glad you finally told me what happened with the locket's Horcrux, I knew you felt overshadowed, but…" She suddenly threw her arms around his neck in regret. "If I knew all these years how much I made you feel inferior to me… I never meant…I'm so sorry!" She buried her head in his chest and dissolved into anxious sobs. It was true, it seemed, that only one person between any couple fell apart at a time.

Ron was extremely taken aback and gently consoled her. "Hermione you shouldn't blame yourself."

Hermione responded in a shaky, emotional stuttering voice. "B—but it's m—my f-fault! All I've d—done since we were 11 is c-criticize your a-abilities and make you d-doubt yourself! I really am an i-insufferable k-know it all!"

Ron was shocked and rubbed Hermione's back soothingly. "Merlin's beard Hermione... Please don't let my bad habit rub off."

Hermione sniffed with a regretful devastated look on her face now. "I'm sorry, it's just that I didn't realize how much I was hurting you. For the Horcrux to torture, you like that I made you feel that way in your soul. I gave you an inferiority complex so deep you became the worst version of yourself."

Ron shook his head adamantly dismissing this with quiet emphasis. "You did not cause this Hermione, it was a part of who I am for ages before we met."

She was determined to blame herself as her eyes shone with fresh tears. "I made it so much worse."

Ron gave her a small smile and was gentle. "You made me want to try harder too you know... I couldn't have knocked out that troll or done so many other things without you being the way you are. If you promise to cheer up, I'll help with SPEW a bit now and then." He wiped her slowly falling tears away.

Hermione returned his small smile her expression having brightened some. "That's nice of you Ron."

Ron stroked her hair gently. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you. I suppose it doesn't do much good to dwell on things, but that goes for you too then. We have enough to cope with without attacking ourselves."

Ron smiled squeezing her hand. "Yeah when you say it like that, it's stupid to fall apart over this stuff when there's been so much death and destruction."

Hermione kissed Ron's forehead. "We should wash up, haven't done it properly since Shell Cottage." She stood with him. "They're separate rooms, in the back past the hallway from the beds."

"Thanks, I wasn't sure if it's the same as the boys and didn't want to go wandering around looking for them, see you in a bit then."

Ron was always thankful that there were showers in the dormitories, especially as he grew taller, using a tub just wouldn't work with his height. He'd been showering for around ten minutes and turned the water off when he heard noises nearby…muttering. He thought it was just Hermione entertaining herself by reciting books and whatnot, until he realized that the muttering sounded anxious…scared, it was quickly getting louder.

"No, please don't I don't want…" The words dissolved into increasingly painful wails.

"Hermione are you okay? If you don't answer I'm coming to you." Nothing… he quickly clothed himself and followed the distressed noise to her.

What Ron saw made his face go white as a ghost. Hermione was laying in a ball on the floor of the shower hugging herself tightly, clearly terrified. He ran to Hermione, disregarding the water he had to weave through and knelt down trying to get a look at her.

"It hurts, I'm begging you, please…NOO! STOP! "

One look at Hermione's wide, unfocused, glossy eyes told Ron all he needed to know. Her mind was trapped in the torture she endured during their capture at Malloy Manor, begging for release from pain that was strictly in her mind. Ron had to steel himself to keep from panicking. Suddenly his insecurities felt like nothing compared to what Hermione was still coping with. What could he do…? Healing spells would do nothing, no magic could fix this sort of thing, but he had to snap her out of it. He did the only thing he could think of, dropping himself level to her face as she lay in the fettle position and kissed her. It took a minute but Hermione calmed down as her arms and body relaxed, and she pushed back into the kiss as her mind was united with her body again.

Ron pulled away only a little as he felt Hermione's hands lazy around his neck, emotional relief all over his face. "Bloody hell Hermione, you scared me to death!" She pushed herself into a sitting position hoping it was more dignified.

Hermione was completely unfazed that she was naked in front of Ron, which was somehow less embarrassing than him witnessing her altered mental state. She was subdued. "Now you know why I didn't want to be alone. I'm going mad Ron, like Neville's parents."

He was vigorously shaking his head now, reassurance in his voice. "You wouldn't have been right again if you were that far gone."

"I guess so." She stood up and turned off the water.

He nodded intending to wait for her outside. "I'll let you get dressed— "

"Don't leave me alone, please!" She said this very anxiously, running to him when she saw him leaving.

Ron embraced Hermione as she threw her arms around him, patting her gently on the back "Okay, okay I'm not going anywhere. Where'd you leave your fresh clothes?"

"I must've forgotten them on the end table by accident."

"Then let's get you a towel." She nodded and he guided her gently, she was shaking…not, Ron guessed, from cold. He wrapped her snug rubbing her back in comfort. "There we go, you'll be alright Hermione."

"I don't know, I lose my mind when that happens, it's so scary." She said timidly.

Ron was softly reassuring. "I'll be with you no matter what happens. I swore to myself and now I'm swearing to you, I will never leave you again."

Hermione dropped her head on Ron's shoulder a grateful breath escaped her lips. "The way you insist on looking out for me. You have been doing that since we were 11 and you knocked out that troll."

Ron kissed her forehead. "I have never been able to take it when you're upset. Not even then, I felt awful about what I said, and even more awful when we tried to get you before you ran into the toll but instead ran the troll into you by accident."

Hermione laughed. "I thought I heard the lock click as the smell hit my nose. Anyway, I do not fault what you thought of me then. I was so condescending it's embarrassing."

Ron shrugged. "None of us knew what we were doing at 11 Mione."

She looked at him with a curious smile. "Is that meant to be a cute nickname?"

"Err yeah, your name is kind of long, so I've been thinking about how to shorten it. and it is not like I'd use Hermy, since Grawp has that one. 'Mione' is what I could come up with, it is basically the middle bit of your name, with the I and E silent. If you don't like it…"

"No, I love it! She melted, kissing him with a tickled look in her eyes as he grinned.

They had made it back to the circle of four-poster beds, holding hands along the way. Ron used magic to dry his PJs of whatever water remained and turned away from Hermione to give her some form of privacy as she changed, leaving her charmed by his chivalry.

"Thank you."

"Right well I didn't want to stare, you know."

She laughed. "I meant for helping me back, and honestly, I don't care, it's not like you didn't see it all while I was going mad."

Ron was again a gentleman. "Well, I wasn't thinking about that honestly, you were in a really bad way."

"Well, I meant it when I said I don't like being alone anymore. My mind…drifts back…" she stopped, a downcast look on her face.

"Bellatrix…" Ron finished delicately.

Hermione was quiet. "I can't stand it, you know. Losing my head. I'm terrified that one day it'll just be gone for good, like Neville's parents."

"I reckon you'll get stuck in that sometimes, but you've still got your marbles. It's nothing to be ashamed of, I'm here and I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but you're going to be okay Mione."

"Maybe, as long as you're with me, come here."

Ron turned back around when he realized what Hermione had said… She was still in the towel not bothering to grab her fresh clothes to get dressed. He held her shoulders gently, embracing her from behind. She turned around and met Ron's lips in an emotional kiss.

Hermione soon paused the kiss keeping her head against Ron's and began to slowly undress him, taking off his newly worn clothes attentively until he was left in just his trousers.

"Are you sure? It might be better to take a dreamless sleeping potion and go to bed." He asked quietly.

Hermione shook her head with a sad smile. "I don't think those potions work all that well if my mind gets stuck in the memory and it happens even when I'm awake. I believe it is called PTSD, a step above fits and magic cannot fix what Muggles term, mind-body problems. That is why Neville's parents and Lockheart cannot be cured. Their minds… well, one is childlike and the other two are so fractured they often have the same behavior endlessly."

"Can't they just fix their brains?" Asked Ron sadly.

Hermione was just as melancholy. "Nobody can say with any certainty whether the mind and brain are the same things or entirely separate things. It's one of the few things that the Muggle world studies more thoroughly than the magical society does."

"Do they mention this in Muggle Studies?"

She chuckled. "Oh no, there is no way that Hogwarts or any other magical school would accept that the Muggle World could know more about human life than witches and wizards do, but never mind all that. I went way off my point." There was an emotional emphasis on her face again. "I did all the waiting I could handle those weeks you were gone." Hermione let her hands slide from Ron's back onto his waist and took them off while Ron pulled the towel free of her body as both fell to the floor beneath them.

They let themselves take in one another's now nude frame from head to toe. Ron had been far too preoccupied during Hermione's mental distress… Now, however, he was able to fully appreciate her like this. The way her always bushy brown hair was longer than ever, flowing chaotically in all directions including down her back, though this was because she had not bothered to shorten it in such a long time. Her breasts complimented her slimmer, shorter frame perfectly. Hermione had always thought of her looks as average, not ugly, nor stunning. She never hid from the fact that she was a bookworm and that there were plenty of girls who looked more beautiful yet, she was still comfortable with herself. Ron had always found her much closer to stunning than she found herself though, and he loved that her bookworm nature masked her unmatched spirit and fire, Hermione was one of a kind.

Ron may have had a gangly quality about him but that did not diminish how handsome Hermione found him. He was toned in an athletic way which made sense given he liked quidditch whether it was casual or not. She figured that nearly a year on the run had contributed to this a lot too. The eyes of Ron Weasley were the most beautiful that she had ever seen in her life, there was one thing that Hermione was always distracted by when looking at him. Even now when she had other, more obvious aspects of him that could have taken her attention, she never left his eyes. Brilliant blue to the point of losing herself in an ocean when she stared into them, just like right this very moment.

"You're so beautiful, you know." Said Ron, as his fingers through her hair with a genuine smile.

"I'm flattered, it's nonsense but I'm flattered." Hermione had a bright smile, appreciating his sentiment, knowing it was biased… Ron had said years ago that her time as a human cat was cute. He'd always been oblivious to how average she actually looked and it tickled her heart.

"Come off it, of course, you're beautiful!" He said emphatically and wrapped his arms around her while he kissed her forehead.

"Fleur is beautiful. I look like a human beaver, which means at best I'm cute, It's okay though, I don't actually have an issue with how I look aside from my previously massive front teeth which is why I got rid of them in our fourth year after they got cursed."

He chuckled. "You don't look like a human beaver Mione. Not even before you fixed your teeth." Ron rested his left hand against her heart. "Bill can have Fleur I love you and will always be more beautiful than anyone to me. Phlegm is nothing special, just like the rest of the Veela are nothing special."

Hermione giggled with a relenting sigh. "You always manage to make me laugh… Do you think it's okay to feel happy with everything that's happened?"

He teased one of her cheeks with the fingers of his left hand. "It's necessary I reckon, and I can help with that, but I want to make absolutely sure this is what you want." He said gently.

Hermione was beaming now. "I'm more than ready Ron, in fact… Besides what I have studied, I've never been more ready for anything in my life."

Ron scooped Hermione into his arms kissing her passionately, much as she had in initiating their first kiss hours ago. The difference now was they didn't have to restrain themselves. Her legs slid to rest over his hips while he moved toward a bed and fell gently onto it with her once they came up for air a few minutes later. He resumed kissing her, this time focusing tenderly on both sides of her neck, using his hands to shift her hair as needed. Hermione felt as though her chest was going to burst from happiness just from this small bit of affection. She pulled Ron gently into her body eliminating all space between them and set after his neck too. Her right hand interwoven in his while her left brushed lightly through his hair and then eventually down his back. It came to rest on the curve of his spine, which created a sensation that made Ron stop in his tracks like there was magic in her fingers, she felt his member come to life, hard against her skin. It brought a smile to her face and she shifted enough for him to slide inside her. Hermione let out a calm breath as they joined sexually for the first time and they both let melted into each other's eyes, letting the feeling of their new union wash over them for a while.

Ron's newfound contentment was soon interrupted by a lightbulb in the head realization. "Mione I've just thought of something, we forgot about protection… There is this plant I think, but I can't remember— "

"There is it's called Sylphion, used by Romans ages ago very effective, but it has to be stewed and then drunk. I think Sylphion is the reason that the shape of a romantic heart looks the way it does. The seed pod is the same shape, which in the Roman world was, ironically associated with preventing procreation before the modern world made it synonymous with romance." She said all this information like it was in a Herbology textbook that she read.

Ron chuckled. "Can't get more ironic than that… What should we do? Stop to brew that? I really don't want to have to get off you, your very comfortable." Ron's eyes were begging for another solution.

"A very precise shield charm will work. As much as I do want us to have a family someday it is too early for that. Lucky that unlike the products Muggles use, magical means of protection never fall."

"I wish we had gotten here sooner if I hadn't been such an idiot—"

"Shush, it doesn't matter anymore Ron. We're here now." Hermione let her forehead fall gently against his, their lips inches apart now.

He nodded. "Yeah, I know, but we still have the same problem; I don't want to get off you."

Ron began to nuzzle her neck and soon chest, with routine, tender smooches. Hermione let out a playful giggle while Ron kissed her upper body, especially when his tongue came out of hiding around her breasts.

Hermione was excited by Ron's sudden burst of affection. "Me either… Lucky for both of us, I can do nonverbal, wandless magic, and took care of our protection already."

He was inches apart from her face again. "Really?"

She blushed a little now. "Um, what you felt a bit ago wasn't because I was rubbing your back. That was just sleight of hand with good timing."

Ron was suddenly remembering the specific sensation that he had felt earlier. "You really do think of everything and you're just so bloody brilliant!" He held her jawline gently, gazing awestruck into brown eyes.

Hermione shrugged, clearly tickled by Ron's captivation. "I can do many essential and basic spells and charms and such, but I wasn't comfortable with my skill to attempt anything of the sort during the war. A mishap could have gotten us killed."

"Yeah probably good not to risk it."

"But the point I keep getting off of is that we can shag without anything to worry about." She said in an enticing, seductive whisper.

The air of anticipation that had hung over them for a while suddenly burst into a blazing flame, as Hermione met Ron's lips again in the passion of another kiss. Things quickly escalated and they were heavily engaged in snogging each other their hands moving briskly along each other's bodies until they both came up for air from the kiss and began to move together at a slow pace… Every minute Hermione felt like their shagging was soothing. For many young couples, it would have been about satisfying a sexual itch… Not in this case, this was about the emotional scars caused by Ron's absence. She had forgiven him of course, but Hermione was overwhelmed all the same… She had longed for this with him. It was the ultimate demonstration of actions speaking louder than words. Showing Hermione what had been so difficult for Ron to express since they were 14 and had been budding even longer between both of them. He loved her, was in love with her and she with him.

At some point, Hermione felt herself let go emotionally and emphatically cried out his name with emotional heat. "Oh, Ron! This is...I—" She was ready to increase the pace, but the instruction vanished from her throat because she was overwhelmed in the best way.

Luckily, he understood and began to thrust more quickly. Suddenly she wrapped her legs around his hips and they soon moved in speedy chaos together, making their breathing more ragged. Hermione was internally glad she had magically privacy-proofed the room long before they had started to shag because Ron was soon putting a ton of effort into leading the charge and she was getting loud, but just as suddenly they both hit a wall. They had a view of the summit but were steadily losing altitude, coming slowly back down to earth. They had used all their energy dealing with seven years of baggage and all too present PTSD, to make it to the finish.

Ron became limp against her body rather suddenly and it made him quite frustrated with himself. "Hell… I'm sorry Mione."

Hermione tempered Ron gently. "Sorry? We will be shagging plenty of times and if that's what we build from then we have lots more to look forward too. For a first go, that was wonderful Ronald." Hermione had a dreamy expression over her face that matched the tone of her voice. She held his right cheek in the palm of her hand with a girlish grin as she ran his hair between the fingers of her other hand. "Next time I'm going to try and return the favor."

Ron looked genuinely flattered, his mouth slightly open in surprise. "Blimey…and here I was thinking it went lousy like everything else I do."

Hermione sighed with something between annoyance and loving amusement. "You know, self-pity makes me want you even more and I'm starting to think you know that."

He shrugged. "I do it because criticizing myself is my default reaction. Like Harry's is self-blame. I'm making progress, but…"

She nodded in agreement. "Well, I meant what I said, this was wonderful, and I could care less that we stalled at the end." She put her arms around his neck and asked a question she could not help but ask Ron. "Have you…? I mean, last year… I was worried that maybe you might have done more than snogging her, that is why I set those birds on you." He shook his head no, Hermione was visibly relieved.

Ron continued as he played with several strands of her bushy hair. He was quiet. "No, that's why I wanted this to be perfect, but I know that wasn't likely. The first time ever and all that, especially on such awful sleep recently."

Hermione shrugged, her smile reassuring as she met his eyes again. "Exactly, stop putting so much pressure on yourself, and remember you are it for me too. We have all our lives to be together now."

He nodded smiling once more. "A lifetime with you, made saving the world worth it."

Hermione kissed him again and suddenly they were slowly rising several inches above the bed as if suspended in an invisible bubble. The covers pulled back neatly of their own accord before Ron and Hermione descended back down onto the bed.

"Do you know Legilimency?" Asked Ron with a mesmerizing stare. "Because I was just thinking, I wish we could get under the sheets without a fuss."

Hermione blushed. "I can manage it, but only what's on the surface of the mind and so far, I can only read thoughts, not sift through memories."

"I am worried Hermione, about the aftermath of the war and I can't sort it out. It sounds stupid to admit that out loud." She kissed his forehead.

"Hang on, I'll try and help you unpack what you're most immediately worried about before we get some sleep…" Hermione held Ron's face gently with both hands for better concentration and stared directly into his eyes in silence for a bit wearing a focused expression on her face.

Ron's thoughts were cluttered and moving quickly, but Hermione was able to scale them and eventually pinpoint the most intrusively recurring thought in his head… his Mum…this had many layers too, that all stemmed from Fred's death, eventually she spoke quietly aloud.

"Fred's death and how that will affect your Mum's already excessive behavior. You are worried she'll be too blindly stubborn and keep petering all the time and it will create a mess like Percy…?

Ron exhaled gratefully, pulling the covers over them both. " Terrified honestly, it took six people to stop Mum from blasting into the room of requirement and that's without her being completely aware why Harry and Ginny are in there. There are still loads of things that she has no idea about including us…" He took a deep breath trying to calm himself. "I wish you could have gotten inside my head last year. The locket's Horcrux really messed me up, Mione."

"I've been practicing for a month or two, but that... I wanted you to be willing to tell me what you went through yourself and know afterward that I was willing to help you sort it out." Hermione kissed him tenderly with her arms around his neck.

"You did help me; I just meant that you able to get inside my head years ago would've saved us a lot of problems because I have trouble letting stuff out without completely spiraling."

She chuckled a little. "I don't think I could have managed it back then. Even that little bit just now was difficult to read but I'm hoping to eventually be able to sift through actual memories."

He reassured her. "Well, you were spot on here so I'm sure you'll get to that if you keep practicing."

"Thanks… Honestly I know she means well but prying and being stubborn won't help and she might have to learn that the hard way."

"I reckon you're right, but it could get ugly. She was already overprotective and smothered Ginny and me, with Fred dying, it will be even worse. Be ready for a massive row."

Hermione was stony and unfazed. "Don't worry, if your Mum thinks she is going to boss us around or know anything of what the four of us have had to deal with over the last year, she has another thing coming. The press will be down our throats enough very soon, I will not let the people we know act like that too. It is our business and things we will have to cope with for the rest of our lives, long after they are gone. The things we have had to endure, many things I refuse to share with anyone else and it will not help your Mum or dad or anyone else to hear them."

"Yeah, but I reckon Mum is going to be trying to pry stuff from all of us for a long time. I have been thinking all four of us should stick up for ourselves together. Mum's divide and conquer strategies are more of a pain to deal with."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Your Mum and so many others cannot possibly understand the burdens we dealt with this year. Harry the most of any of us, and despite what they might think about not knowing, ignorance is, in fact, bliss in this case. I do not regret the memory charm I put on my parents."

"I love you for being willing to push back against it all Mione; Ginny and Harry will be grateful too. My mother could give the press a run for its money honestly." He held her hand tightly, something important occurred to him at the last of what she had just said. "Listen, I want to go with you when you're ready to go to Australia to fix your parents memory."

Hermione was emotional. "I wasn't even thinking of doing that for at least a few years. I am worried about angry followers of Voldemort coming after them if I restore their memory so soon after the end of the war and I am not just talking about surviving and escaped Death Eaters. Voldemort's death creates a power vacuum and that could be more chaotic than anyone is prepared for." Hermione felt tears stream down her cheeks. "I'm not going to restore their memory unless I know that they will be safe. You would really come with me?"

"Of course, I already said I was not leaving you again and that includes things like this. You should not have to do it alone. I reckon a year will be plenty of time to wait before you reverse it. He gently wiped her tears. "I know you're nervous about sleeping but I'll be right here."

She put her head on his chest. His heartbeat a calming effect on her. "Ron, thank you, for finally letting me in completely. We might be far from an ideally suited couple, but I do not care. I love you so much."

"I love you too Mione."

Now laying intertwined in each other under the covers. They held hands over the top of them, it was very reminiscent of when they were staying at Number 12 and fell asleep together…

After they did, rays of dawning sunshine fell upon them through a castle window, as if rejoicing at their informal union. People may have said that they were ill-suited for each other, Mrs. Weasley was sure to be angry for lots of reasons, just like with Ginny and Harry, in fact, Ron and Hermione would probably have it worse. Still, it seemed that the heavens approved of these two as a couple and knew that they would indeed have a family someday.

For now, it was the dawn of a new era and they, like everyone else would wake up and continue having to cope with the scars the war left on them. Little did they know the world already was idolizing those who had ended Voldemort's reign and the burden and annoyance of fame would soon be much worse than at any point before his death.

A/N: When I think about the second war, PTSD seems like it would be unavoidable, characters, especially these four and their friends have suffered through, to paraphrase Lupin; true horrors other people can hardly imagine. Things that would leave behind hence the name of the story. It would be impossible to cope with such things while the war was being fought. That is why much of my story will be focused on what they go through mentally now that it is over. I got emotional several times while writing this chapter. Ron and Hermione had a lot of baggage that needed working out. I went in knowing that they would tire out as soon as the pace picked up, it is dawn after all, and I thought it would be way more realistic that way. 17 is still young love after all. The bit about magical birth control is from a Reddit comment thread, Sylphion an ancient but very real plant that was also used to cure headaches and sore throat. Its other names are "Laser" and "Laserwort" It just felt like it fit right in with Herbology so I mentioned it even though I settled on a precise shield charm, which I guess didn't matter but the point was more that Ron and Hermione are conscious of protection.

If you like the traditionally plot-driven story, mine is probably not the right one for you to read. Conversations will drive it because I am going to place a much larger emphasis on characters working through their issues. Some conversations will be couple to couple like these first two chapters, but I plan to have several other paradigms of conversations throughout the story, the plot will be secondary to character dialogue for this reason but I really hope people still want to take the journey.

There will be a heated confrontation between Mrs. Weasley and both pairs of couples next chapter, maybe simultaneously… Just imagine the fireworks, both magical and verbal! Plus I will start peeling back the press fallout from the aftermath war. It will take a few days I will try to work as fast as one finger typing allows.