Hermione gazed out the window at the cloudless, pure blue sky. The sun was high in the air now, and everyone was outside in the sun, enjoying the warmth. It had been a cold and harsh few months after the war, ones that she wished she could forget.

But she couldn't.

The Weasley family had been kind enough to let Hermione and Harry take the two guest bedrooms as their own, and allowed them to stay with them as long as they wished. Hermione had transformed her bedroom into something that she was more than comfortable in. She had bookshelves stacked with books lining the walls, chairs and beanbag seats to lounge in and a beautiful green bedspread to sleep on, all of which she had payed for herself of course.

When the war had ended Hermione had learned a handful of terrible news. Despite the memory charms and magical spells she had casted on her parents, the Death Eaters had not only found Hermione's parents at the tail end of the war, but had killed them off after torturing them for information. When Hermione received the owl, she had refused to leave her room, and she wouldn't let anyone in. She didn't want to hear them tell her it was all okay. It wasn't.

She cracked her window during the day to let some air into the room, and Mrs. Weasley would levitate food into her room in the hopes that Hermione wouldn't starve. Hermione ate all of it, thankful for Mrs. Weasley and all of the people who cared for her. She hoped that the day she was mentally able to say anything, the first words from her mouth would be those of thanks. They didn't have to, but they helped her anyways.

Any one of them could apparate into her room and refuse to leave until she came out and talked to them, but they didn't, likely because they wanted her to come out in her own time. They had all done the same thing with George.

As she thought about all of this, she looked around her room at the mess that she had made. Drawings and papers with meaningless words were torn and crumpled up, half of them not even making it into the garbage can when she tossed them, and none of them getting picked up when she missed. Books were everywhere- she had read so many of them in her hours locked up.

And then there was a knock at the door. She hadn't heard anyone knock on her door in weeks. They had all stopped trying to get her out, let alone communicate with her. She glanced quickly out the window at the huddle of people, and counted six redheaded Weasleys, Ron, Ginny, George, Mr and Mrs Weasley, and Percy, and found that there was no black haired boy with them.

Sure enough, his voice called to her from the other side. "Hermione. Can I talk to you, please?" She considered answering him, when he continued. "I- I miss you. A lot. I miss you all of the time, to be honest. The others keep telling me to take my mind off of you in here alone, and that you will come out in your own time... but I can't. I want to see you. I was out there with everyone and they were all having a good time, and I couldn't, because you weren't out there. Please Hermione."

The last few words sounded so sad and heartbroken, that Hermione instantly felt bad for cooping herself up in here. She hadn't really thought about the possibility of her behaviour making them sad. She thought they were merely frustrated with her. She gets to her feet and unlocks the door, opening it wide to see his face.

And then he pulls her into a tight hug, one that she falls straight into without any hesitation. The same kind of hugs that she used to give Harry and Ron when she saw them sad, or just wanted them to know how much she loved them. How much she cared for them.

"I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I know you tried to keep them safe, and I'm sorry that they're gone. I wasn't really old enough to comprehend what the loss felt like when I was younger, and I'm sorry that you have to. I'm so sorry." He says, over and over again, apologising into her hair as he hugs her in the door frame. "I'm so sorry."

Eventually she pulls away, and she feels as if an entire universe of hurt and sadness had been lifted off of her shoulders, and she felt lighter than before. Not quite happy, but much, much better. And then she sees the other Weasleys on the stairs behind him, looking at her in shock, having not seen her in forever.

"Hermione, dear..." Mrs. Weasley says.

And then Hermione cries.

~~~~~

Weeks later, Hermione was practically back to normal, and Harry was more than relieved to have her back at his side. He sat with Ginny on the couch, his arm draped over her shoulders, waiting for the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione to wake up.

"So, Harry, how had Hermione been?" Ginny asks from beside him, and Harry sighs.

"She's been doing great, actually. I'm so happy to have her back, you couldn't imagine." He says, and gives her a small kiss on her nose. "I missed her a lot. Thank you, for helping me through all of that pain, by the way."

Ginny gives him a soft smile. "Of course. I would help you any time. But Harry... there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about..." She trails off, looking rather uneasy. He frowns.

"What's wrong?"

But before she can answer, George and Ron come down the stairs in a loud conversation, and she falls into a relieved silence. They glance at the pair, and a familiar old smirk falls onto George's face.

"Aye, are we interrupting anything important here?" He says, a teasing gloat in his voice. "Because it looks like the two of you are rather busy... like the last time I came downstairs in the morning and you were eating each others faces."

Ron laughs and Ginny turns the exact shade of her hair, and Harry was sure he wasn't much better. He tried to change the conversation quickly.

"So, what were you two discussing so loudly that the people in Bulgaria could hear?" He asks, and Ron smirks happily along with George.

"Oh, we were discussing the dance that McGonagall was going to through as a welcome back sort of thing for our last year at Hogwarts." Harry nods, remembering how all of them had decided to go back for their seventh year. "Ronnykins here wanted to take Hermione, and I was saying that maybe he wasn't the best guy to take her." George states.

"And when I asked who he thought should take her, he said he should, but just as friends, because maybe she wasn't ready for my intense romance yet, what with her losing her parents and all of the loss she had." Ron rolls his eyes. "Bloody pile of horse rubbish, if you ask me."

Harry frowns, and feels a sudden urge to tell the pair of them to back off of Hermione, which he suppresses and say something else instead. "You both want to take Hermione to the ball? Why?"

George shrugs. "I want to take her because before she found out her parents were... up with Fred, she was a huge help to me. Really supportive and nice and everything... she was awesome. And, she's not exactly ugly, either. Probably one of the prettiest girls I've seen. She's the whole package."

Ron scowls at him. "I thought you said you wanted to take her as 'just friends'?" He demands.

George shrugs. "Well, yeah. I was sort of hoping that something would bloom after our time together at the ball. But it's going to be hard, because I heard that in her days at Hogwarts, a lot of guys had their eyes on her, but never said anything because of..." He snorts then.

Now curious and slightly frustrated, Harry removes his arm from around Ginny to sit up. "What? Because of what?"

George chuckles. "Apparently Fred had a thing for her too, but he did the old James Potter move and told a whole bunch of guys to lay off her, even though he didn't see her too much. I see why he liked her so much. She turned out well." He frowns then. "Now that Fred isn't here to chase all of the guys away, they'll be flocking her."

Then Mrs Weasley comes down the stairs, smiling and rubbing her eyes, followed by Hermione, who had a case of bed head and looks incredibly tired. "Morning guys. Want some breakfast?" Mrs Weasley asks, moving into the kitchen.

"I am." Hermione says, following her, George and Ron trailing after her and leaving Harry extremely flustered.

~~~~~

George stared at the chess board hard, while Hermione smirked. He finally made a move.

"CHECKMATE SUCKER!" Hermione yells out, jumping up from her spot at the table and dancing in a circle. "I win! I win! I've never won before but I win!"

George watches her in amusement, Ron and Harry doing the same on either side of him. "Yes, Hermione, you do win. Thank you for rubbing that in my face."

She taps his nose with her finger. "You're welcome." And then she gets back up and dances into the kitchen to tell Ginny the news.

When she is finally out of earshot, George stretches and gets to his feet as well, glancing outside the window to see the dark night blanketing the hilltops. "Do you guys want some cocoa?"

"Sure. Do you want some help?" Harry asks, getting to his feet. George shakes his head quickly.

"No, no, it's alright. I got it." He whips up four steaming mugs of cocoa, and then Harry watches him dump something powdery in one. He sees Harry watching suspiciously and grins. "Secret ingredient."

Hermione comes skipping back in, alone now. "Alright, who else wants their arse kicked in chess- hey is that cocoa?" She dashes over to the mugs sitting on the countertop, and grabs the one that George had added something powdery to. She takes a sip carefully, and when she sets it back down, her eyes are filled with love.

"George, did you make that cocoa?" She asks him sweetly, smiling happily. "It was amazing."

George grins. "I did Hermione, and thank you. Oh... I've been meaning to ask you something... can you come with me for a second?" She follows him into the living room, and Harry frowns, getting up to look at the 'secret ingredient' George had added.

It was a container of Miss Tilly's powdered love potion.