Disclaimer: All Characters and things associated with Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. This writing is purely for entertainment only.

Summary: Harry died in the Forbidden Forest and Ron and Hermione must find a way to finish his mission in a world where Hermione and her blood status leaves them both in incredible danger.

Chapter 2

Another month has passed and the Wizarding World was only growing worse. Trials were ramping up, the camps of Muggleborns and traitors alike were filling up and more and more Muggleborns were being cast into servitude as the families of those most loyal to Voldemort were given bountiful riches.

Yet in the tent, things had hardly changed. Hermione and Ron had grown more comfortable in their routine and around each other, sharing chast kisses and continuing to share a cot each night. As the summer heat bore down on them, Ron had grown accustomed to working outside the tent with no shirt on and Hermione couldn't help but notice how much more muscular he had grown.

She would often laugh at herself when her thoughts went there; that inspite of everything teenage hormones would arise within her. Seemed so silly, given their circumstances, but she couldn't help but notice him in that way.

That day was no different. Ron had taken to cutting wood the "muggle-way" as he put it and so he was chopping away with his shirt off to make sure the stove had enough wood for a Hermione to cook dinner. Hermione was watching him from the far side of their clearing as she gathered some wild blueberries.

In moments like this, they both almost felt normal. They could pretend that they had just chosen a simple life, and in some ways it felt like they had.

They spoke of Harry less and less. Ron listened to the radio less and less, and talk of killing the snake had almost become non-existent. In a way, it was easier for them to just try to forget what was happening in the world outside of their hidden encampment.

Ron wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead as he looked over at Hermione. She was wearing a simple t-shirt her thin arms kissed by the summer sun.

Thin. Ron had noticed over the last few weeks that Hermione looked thinner than she had in a long time. He himself had to pull the notches on his belt a bit more. He knew it would be time for him to go gather food in a muggle village soon but truthfully he hated going alone. He hated being reminded there there was an entire outside world.

"We're going to need more food soon, yeah?" Ron called out across the clearing.

Hermione sighed and looked over at Ron. "Yes, probably. I'm running low on bread and meats."

"Alright...I can go tonight," Ron said simply.

"If you want...I can go with you," Hermione shrugged looking back down at the blueberries in her hand.

"No," Ron said quickly. "It's too dangerous."

Hermione sighed. "Ron, if we go at night and use the invisibility cloak it's fine. Honestly, I hate being left here alone wondering if you are ever even coming back when..."

Ron sighed. He also hated being away from Hermione on those nights, worried if he didn't make it back how she would manage completely alone but also worried that something would happen to her while he was gone.

"Ron, please? I'm going mad here a bit..." Hermione said. She hadn't left the camp once since they had gotten there and while she didn't necessarily want to be reminded of how cruel the rest of the world could be, she wouldn't mind being able to pick out her own tampons, which Ron still didn't quite understand. She also meant what she said. She had grown so accustomed to Ron's company that the dread that crept up inside her when he left on those nights was almost becoming too much for her.

After a long moment Ron sighed and nodded. "Alright...yeah...as long as we are quick and stay hidden."

Hermione got up and walked the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him and planting a kiss square on his lips.

When they broke apart, Ron smiled down at her and could see her blush. "What was that for?"

"Do I always need a reason?" Hermione asked back, feeling slighting bullish against his shirtless chest.

Ron laughed and kissed her forehead. "No, you don't."


It was dark out when Ron and Hermione disapparated to any empty alley a busy part of Muggle London.

Immediately, the sound of cars, people, and music overwhelmed Hermione's senses. She has grown so used to the quiet of the Forrest that she flinches, feeling the need to cover her ears.

"Happened to me too the first few times. You'll get used to the noise again," Ron told her, pulling out the invisibility cloak and wrapping it around both of them.

Hermione felt overwhelmed under the cloak. She had not used it since the Horcrux Hunt, and it still smelled softly of Harry. She felt tears threaten her eyes at the thought of her dead friend but she quickly pushed them down as Ron led her out of the alley and through the crowd.

They moved undetected through crowds of people and ducked into a dimly lit but crowded grocery store. Ron quickly got to work, yanking essential off the shelves and pulling them into a small bag he had under the cloak.

Hermione sighed but started doing the same. She felt guilty not paying for their items but she knew there was no way they could risk it. As they made their way back towards the door, however, Hermione let a little Muggle Money slip out of her hand and into the floor near the register, hoping someone who worked their would pick it up.

Once they were back onto the street, they moved quickly again, though the sidewalk seemed less crowded and Hermione could actually take in her surroundings. She saw couples strolling on dates, friends in groups heading into bars. She saw smiles, heard laughs; she saw people enjoying themselves, unaware of what was truly happening in the Wizarding World, though Hermione knew there were hints of problems from the papers Ron would steal her. Crime had ticked up and she knew it was only a matter of time before the Muggle world was affected too. But for now, they all seemed blissfully unaware and she was jealous and sad. She realized just how much she had truly lost while she watched the people around her seem so happy and carefree.

Once they made it back to the alley, Ron flipped the cloak off of them and was surprised to see Hermione's facial expression. She looked terribly sad.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked, thumbing her cheek.

"Fine," Hermione nodded against his hand and then looped her other arm through his to disapparate them back to the tent.


Ron and Hermione unpacked their goods in silence. Although silence typically didn't bother them anymore, Ron felt like there was a different weight to this silence.

He glanced over at Hermione to see that, while she was changing the sheets on the cot they shared, her eyes were looking off in the distance and her thoughts were clearly elsewhere.

"Hermione, something bothering you?" Ron asked, knowing his question sounded ridiculous out loud. Of course there were things bothering her. Their entire world as they had known it was over.

Hermione merely shrugged, finishing flattening out the top blanket of their cot.

"Hermione..." Ron pressed.

Hermione glanced up at Ron and he could instantly see her eyes swelling with tears. He had seen that look on her many times by now, especially over the last few months. She was fighting back a total meltdown.

He moved quickly across the tent and without so much as a word engulfed her in his arms. She instantly allowed the weight of her body to rest on his broadcast and she let out a small sob.

"You're alright, Hermione...I'm right here..." Ron spoke into her hair as he tried to calm her down.

They stood there for a long while, silent besides Hermione's cries which softened to sniffles after a while. Finally, Hermione pulled away to look up at Ron.

"Feel better?" Ron asked, wiping a stray tear from her face. He knew sometimes she just needed to cry just like sometimes he just needed to go off and scream at the sky. It was how they coped.

Hermione nodded a little and sat down on the cot, patting the spot next to her for Ron to sit down. He complied and she took his hand in hers, staring down at their entwined fingers.

"Going out there today...seeing the Muggle world...seeing other people who were happy and smiling and going about their lives...it just hit me so hard..." She explained.

Ron nodded, he understood the feeling because he felt it every time he went. It was just pure jealousy. "I know..."

"Ron, I want a chance for us to have that. I want a chance for us to be happy...or as close to it as we can get. I want a real future. Don't we deserve that?" Hermione looked up at him now.

Ron nodded sadly. She did deserve that, but he saw no way of giving it to her. Their future not only seemed to be about merely surviving.

"I'm so sorry I can't give you that, Hermione..." His voice was barely a whisper.

She shook her head fiercely. That wasn't what she had meant at all. She wasn't blaming him for any of it. "No, Ron...you did already give me so much...you got me out of there, you kept us alive and safe...had we stayed..."

Her voice trailed off, thinking about she had one in the fight against him when they were at Hogwarts and they had stayed. She knew what her fate would now have entailed as a Muggle-Born who had been so close to Harry. Death would have been the best option for her at that point.

"I just want something real...something good..." Hermione added, her eyes locking with Ron in an intense way.

Ron could see she was making a decision, he just didn't know what it was about. His brow furrowed as he felt her eyes bear into him in almost a ravenous way, a way he had never seen Hermione look before.

And Ron was right, she had made a decision. Was out so much as a word she drove in for a kiss and it wasn't just a chaste kiss like they had been sharing in the tent the last few months, or a desperate kiss like they had shared at Hogwarts. This was a kiss full of conviction and repressed feelings. This felt like their first real kiss.

Ron was taken back for a moment but certainly didn't fight Hermione, in fact he met her lips with just as much force.

They were lost in a moment of passion and understanding that neither wanted to end, and so Hermione made no objection as Ron laid her down on their shared bed, and he didn't stop her from grabbing at his belt.