When Hermione got up, later than she would normally rise but still well before midday, she was surprised to find her mother was the only other person in the house. Her father had gone off somewhere to ensure that everything ran smoothly now that Dumbledore was out of the way, while Harry had gone off to visit with his godfather. To be honest, Hermione was disappointed with both of them leaving without saying anything to her. She'd yet to speak with her father about events of the previous day, and she would have quite liked to have known his plans moving forward.

As for Harry, she would have liked to have offered him her support as he faced Sirius. However, even she had to admit that her presence with Harry's godfather likely wouldn't have been a good thing. While Sirius might be able to find it in his heart to forgive Harry, she doubted the same could be said of her. In all honesty, she suspected that if Harry could save a relationship with his godfather, it would have to be kept separate to the one he had with her, and the one he had with her family. Although, even after she'd accepted that her presence wouldn't have helped Harry's cause, she was still slightly miffed that her best friend hadn't at least spoken to her before leaving. Even if all she'd been able to do for him was to wish him well.

Luckily for Hermione she wasn't left to dwell on Harry going out without speaking to her, as Draco arrived. Her boyfriend arrived hobbling slightly, and he swiftly settled down with his leg propped up, but he also assured Hermione that there was no permanent damage to his knee. He was just going to be sore for a few days, just like she was with her arm.

Draco's presence distracted Hermione for a while as the couple chatted and started to make plans for the future. However, as lunchtime came and went and the afternoon started to pass, she began to get worried about Harry. Her mother had said he'd left early, shortly after he'd had his breakfast, so Hermione had expected him back by now.

"Harry can look after himself," Draco assured his girlfriend. "He did spend all those years in the lion's den alongside you."

"Yes, but no-one had any inkling he was a danger to them," Hermione shot back. "It's different now. What if Sirius has done something to him?"

"You think he would hurt him?" Draco asked in genuine surprise. Granted, he didn't know Sirius, despite the fact they were technically family, but he'd seen him the previous evening and he would have sworn that he'd genuinely cared for Harry.

"No, nothing like that," Hermione replied with a shake of her head. "But what if he's trapped Harry in some way? What if he think he can save him from us? What if Harry has walked into a trap?"

"I still say, he can take care of himself," Draco repeated. "Let's not panic just yet. Give him a few more hours before we even think about raising the alarm."

"Let's hope a couple more hours isn't too late," Hermione remarked, giving her boyfriend a warning glare.

Draco rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's dramatics, but deep down he knew she meant the silent threat she had sent his way. If her worries were right and something had happened to Harry then Draco suspected she would never forgive him for not taking her worries seriously. However, he was convinced that Harry was just fine and he would come waltzing back home as though nothing had happened when he was good and ready.

Forty minutes later, Draco's confidence was slowly starting to dwindle, although he made sure not to let Hermione know he was also starting to have doubts about her best friend's safety. Luckily, before he buckled and admitted his doubts to Hermione the front door opened and Hermione flew out into the passageway to see who was arriving. Since Voldemort tended to arrive by apparition, Draco suspected the arrival was Harry, and it was confirmed moments later when he heard his girlfriend cry out her best friend's name.

"We've been worried about you," he then heard her hiss, followed by a thud which he was guessing was her hitting him.

"I wasn't worrying," Draco called out to Harry. "I knew you'd be just fine."

"At least someone had faith in me," Harry grumbled as he walked into the room, rubbing at his arm as Hermione stalked in behind him.

"I have faith in you," Hermione protested. "I just wasn't putting it past Sirius to try some underhand trick like locking you up and keeping you a prisoner, thinking he was saving you from us."

"He might have tried something like that if he'd been thinking straight and didn't have a massive hangover," Harry admitted, rather grateful that he'd chosen to visit Sirius when he had done, rather than wait for him to get his head together. Maybe if he'd gone later, Sirius might have had the presence of mind to try and find a way to save him.

"So what did happen since he didn't try and save you?" Draco asked.

"We talked," Harry answered with a slight shrug. "I explained my position, and while I'm not sure he will ever understand some of the choices I made, I do think he was starting to see what initially drove me into the arms of the dark."

"What will happen next?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry answered. "I made my position clear, and I left Sirius in no doubt that I stand by my choices. I left him to think things over, but I promised him that if he wanted a relationship with me, I wouldn't object. Although I also made it clear that I would understand if he chose to make clean break and never see me again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"I think there's going to be a few instances of waiting to see what happens," Hermione remarked. "We're all assuming that this war is virtually done and dusted, but that's not necessarily the case. The remaining Order could still choose to fight back. There could still be more trouble to come."

"There could," Harry agreed with a nod. "But I passed a message along from your father while I was with Sirius. I told him that unless anyone provoked your father and caused trouble, he would leave them alone. I told Sirius to pass the message on, so if there is any more trouble, the Order can't say they haven't been warned."

"Even if there is more trouble, it's likely going to take some time to brew," Draco predicted. "Even if they choose to fight on, it's going to take time for them to regroup. Not only have they lost their leader, but they've also lost their saviour. Not to mention a big chunk of the Order consists of Weasleys, and they have now lost two of their number, and must surely be scared of losing more. I say that for the moment, we've got some peace and quiet to look forward to."

"Peace and quiet sounds good to me," Harry said with an appreciative moan.

"In that case, the choice is yours," Draco said with a grin. "France, Italy or Greece?"

"What?" Harry asked in bewilderment, looking towards Hermione for some explanation as to what he was being asked to choose.

"We've been talking about taking a holiday," Hermione explained. "We thought the three of us could do with getting away, and we can even invite a few of Draco's other friends. So the choice if yours, Harry? Where do you want to go?"

"I have no idea," Harry admitted. "I've never been abroad before. The Dursleys often used to go on holiday to Spain, but I was never invited." In fact, on more than one of those occasions, he had stayed with Hermione and her mother with the Dursleys permission as they hadn't realised Harry's friends had been magical.

"That settles it then, we do all three," Draco declared with a clap of his hands. "We'll spend a week in France, then move onto Italy for a week and finally a week in Greece."

"Can we get away for three weeks?" Hermione asked with a slight frown.

"I don't see why not," Draco replied with a shrug. "You and Harry are fancy free now you're away from the Order, and I can't see The Dark Lord needing much of my services over the next few weeks. And as for work, I do work for the family business so I'm sure father can spare me for a few weeks."

"What about your friends?" Harry asked. "I doubt they'll be able to drop everything for three weeks."

"Perhaps not, but if we're doing three weeks, we can give them the dates we're in each location, and they can join us as and when they can," Draco replied. "The pair of you need to stop making problems, and just say yes. Let's get away and have a well-deserved holiday, and then we can start looking to the future and carving our paths in this new world Hermione's father is planning on building."

With such persuasive arguments, Harry and Hermione happily agreed to Draco's suggestion and soon the three of them were planning a holiday to remember. It was the least they deserved after all the years of hard work they'd contributed to aiding Hermione's father get rid of Dumbledore. A short break before the rest of their lives started sounded like the perfect plan.

While Hermione, Harry and Draco were busy planning their holiday, the Weasleys were slowly coming to terms with losing a second member of the family. At the graveyard hard choices had been made, and mere seconds before the fighting began, Bill had ordered his younger siblings to leave. Charlie had outright defied him there and then, and shockingly Percy had also opted to stay and fight. The twins had been much more torn about leaving as they'd known staying to fight might result in their parents losing all their children. As it was they had decided to leave, but not before an unsuccessful attempt to get to Ginny. In the end they had left, hoping one of their siblings could get to their sister before something bad happened to her.

Although returning home first didn't prove to be an easy option for the pair either, as it meant it was up to them to explain to their parents that not only was Hermione Voldemort's daughter and betrayed them all, but Harry was also siding with the dark as well. As shocked as Molly and Arthur were about Hermione, it was the revelation about Harry that truly broke their hearts, and they'd still been digesting the news when Percy had arrived home, pretty badly beaten up.

Percy had delivered the news that Dumbledore had been killed, but that was all he'd been able to say before he'd passed out from his injuries. Dealing with Percy had obviously taken priority, but once he was safely tucked up in bed and Molly was satisfied he wasn't going to succumb to his injuries, attention had turned back to the three members of the family still missing.

Although it wasn't a long wait before a battered and bruised Bill and Charlie arrived home, with Ginny's body clutched tightly between them. The loss of her only daughter had sent Molly spiralling into a pit of despair, and Arthur had been forced to send for a healer to sedate his wife. Although the rest of the family also grieved Ginny's loss, as they struggled to come to terms with the fact the youngest two members of their family were now gone, and it was in large part thanks to people they have considered friends.

By the afternoon following the final battle in the graveyard, all the Weasleys were gathered around the kitchen table to talk about what happened next. Percy, Bill and Charlie were all still battered, bruised and in Percy's case in a considerable amount of pain, but not one of them complained about their injuries as they knew how lucky they were just to have survived. Molly was also at the table, although her stare was vacant and quite honestly none of her remaining children quite knew if she was taking in everything that was going on.

"It's a note from Sirius," Bill said, explaining why he had suggested they speak. "He's had a message saying that there will be no more trouble from You-Know-Who, if we don't start it. He will retaliate against any move against him, but he won't instigate one against us."

"And how does Sirius know this?" Fred asked.

"Harry," Bill answered shortly. Sirius's note didn't go into details, but reading between the lines he was guessing that Sirius had spoken to his godson.

"And why should we believe anything that comes from him?" Arthur asked sharply as Molly hissed venomously at the name of the boy she'd once considered an honorary son.

"I didn't say we should believe it, I'm just passing on the message," Bill replied cooly.

"I think we should ignore it and carry on as normal," Arthur said. "If we do nothing, the dark will wipe us off the face of the earth, that I can guarantee."

"My first instinct was also to keep fighting," Bill said, glancing towards Charlie as the two brothers shared a knowing look. While the rest of the family had been sleeping, or at the very least settled in their rooms, they had been talking and they were on the same page as to what they thought they should do next.

"Why do I sense a massive but coming," George remarked in a solemn voice. He knew usually his twin would have made some sort of crack about his choice of wording, but quite honestly neither of them was in a joking mood.

"Because there is one," Bill admitted. "Like it or not, we have to think about the bigger picture. We've been fighting all these years, but we've had plans and goals. Most importantly of all we had Dumbledore to lead us, and Harry to be our inspiration. We had hope because we had the Chosen One on our side."

"Things may look bleak, but they are not impossible," Arthur protested.

"Aren't they?" Charlie asked quietly. "We've known for years that we can only kill You-Know-Who if we destroy his horcruxes. Last night he claimed that rather that those we have destroyed, have resulted in his soul being returned to him."

"We don't even know if that's true," Percy pointed out.

"No, we don't," Bill agreed with a nod. "But we do know that we hadn't tracked them all down. Even if rather than destorying them, we were restoring his soul, if we got them all we could still try and kill him. But how many were we missing?"

"I think one of the only people that could answer that would be Hermione," Fred snorted. "She was in charge of all the research."

"And who knows how many false paths she led us down," George said. "Even if we can access her research, we can't trust it at all."

"So how do we find out how many more horcruxes we need to find and destroy?" Arthur asked.

"We don't," Percy answered in a faraway voice. "Because we won't find them all."

"How do you know that?" Fred asked.

"Hermione," Percy replied. "I don't know if any of you remember it, but way back when we were first told about the horcruxes there was a conversation about them and someone mentioned how lax he'd been to make so many. Power hungry I believe someone called it. Hermione said something along the lines of the way to truly utilise the horcruxes would be to have one and guard it so well that no-one, not even those closest to you, could get to it."

"And what? You think she was telling us her father's plan?" Charlie asked his brother.

"No-one would be that stupid," Arthur scoffed.

"Not stupid, cocky," Bill corrected. "You weren't there last night, Dad, you didn't see her. She loved revelling in how she'd pulled the wool over our eyes. I would say bragging about her father's plans, while all the time we were clueless, is just the sort of thing she would have done. It would have given her a kick."

"I agree," Charlie said with a nod.

"So we're saying that chances are he's down to one well-hidden horcrux?" Fred checked.

"That would be my guess," Percy said with a shrug. "But proving it is another thing."

"And if that is the case, getting to it will be next to impossible," Bill concluded.

"Has it slipped all of your minds that even with horcruxes in place, he has been defeated before," Arthur reminded his children.

"Temporarily," Charlie retorted.

"Maybe that's all we need for the moment," Arthur said hopefully. "Even a temporary defeat could be enough for us to refocus and regain ground. Let's not forget that last time he was defeated his Death Eaters crumbled. Without their precious Dark Lord, they scattered and put their own well-being first."

"But things are different now," Bill pointed out. "This time his daughter is right by his side. You can bet if he falls, Hermione will step up and take his place."

"And you think the Death Eaters will follow a slip of a girl?" Arthur scoffed. "A witch young enough to be their daughter? A witch none of them will know very well, if it all."

"Don't forget the Malfoys," George said. "I got the impression that there was something going on between her and Draco Malfoy."

"And Lucius Malfoy was there without his mask," Fred added. "He was pinning his colours to the mast this time around. I don't think either of them will slink away if he falls. I think they will stand with Hermione, and with their backing, I think she might well hold the Death Eaters together."

"So you all think we should give up?" Arthur demanded. "You all think we should do nothing and have Ron and Ginny's deaths be in vain?"

"We don't want to give up, Dad, but nor do we want to die," Charlie protested. "We all know that if we continue to fight, more of us won't make it. How many losses do we have to sustain before we put ourselves first? How many of us do we have to lose before we say sod everyone else, let's make sure not all the Weasleys perish in this blasted war?"

"If we want Dad, we could leave," Bill suggested. "I know it's a terrible thing to suggest, but it might be our only chance of survival. If you're determined to fight, then of course we'll stay with you and fight. But let's not pretend that way won't lead to more losses."

"No," Molly said quietly. "No more losses. I've lost two children, I won't lose anymore."

"Do you know what you're saying, Molly?" Arthur checked. "Do you know what this means for us?"

"It means I get to keep the family I still have," Molly answered softly. "I hate it as much as you do, Arthur, but it's the only way we will all survive. Maybe in the future there will come a time when fighting might give us a chance, but that time is not now. Our only option now is to put our family first, and if that means packing up and running away then so be it. I will not lose another child."

Even though Molly's words had been soft and quiet, they were lined with steel and everyone in the room knew that she had just delivered the final verdict. As much as it pained them all to do so, it was time to walk away from the fighting. It was time to concede defeat and protect themselves. It was time to accept that the dark had won and for the moment there was nothing they could do but protect themselves and ensure that no more Weasleys died at the hands of Voldemort and his followers.