"I didn't know what it would be like - but I guess I never pictured anything like this." Harry said glumly, swishing his butterbeer around in his mug. Ron and Hermione muttered their assent.

It had barely been a month since the battle at Hogwarts, and the Golden Trio was hiding in a little-known wizarding pub in a dark corner of London. In the first three or so weeks after the death of Voldemort, the three had been hailed as heroes - to the exclusion of all else. There had been a mass funeral for those who had died in the final battle, and then they were never mentioned again outside of the families they left behind. The Ministry devoted it's time to worshiping the three, particularly Harry. They wanted him to become their new poster boy, and the face of their new campaign to rid the wizarding world of darkness. The main problem (besides the unwanted publicity and hero worship, and the complete lack of privacy!) was their method of deciding what was darkness.

They were planning to basically kill off all the pureblood wizarding families and build an empire of muggle-borns and half-bloods. Once the purebloods were all dead, the wizards and witches who remained were going to be forced to marry Ministry approved partners so that no more purebloods could possibly be born. Half-bloods would have to marry muggle-borns or muggles. Preventing the rise of new purebloods would ensure prevention of the rise of old prejudices. At least, such was the reasoning. All "creatures", such as giants, werewolves, and veela, were to be exterminated as well, since many creatures had allied themselves with Voldemort in the last battle. Even the centaurs were to be killed, despite the fact that they fought with the light side.

Not only were all the purebloods and creatures going to be wiped out, but everyone who was related to a Death Eater as well, up to relatives as distant as second-cousins and great-great-grandchildren. That way none of the "poisoned ideals" of Voldemort and his followers could possibly survive.

Needless to say, Harry wasn't exactly thrilled with this idea. He smiled and nodded to get as much information as he could, and then promptly leaked the entire plan to the press. For once, Rita Skeeter proved to be useful. Word of the planned purge spread far and fast. The Ministry retaliated by outlawing Harry and saying that it was all his idea. While all who knew Harry personally or had been directly involved in the war loudly proclaimed this to be absolute nonsense, others were not so believing. The hue and cry was raised, and the Golden Trio was wanted for high treason and planned genocide. Orders were to kill on sight.

Which explained why the three were under multiple layers of glamours in a run-down out-of-the-way pub.

"This isn't going to die down." Ron said glumly. "Everyone is paranoid after Voldemort, and no one is willing to risk the rise of a Dark Lord even more powerful."

"Of course." Hermione said, picking up the train of thought. "Voldemort was bad enough, but Harry must have been even more powerful if he was able to stop him. If they think that there is even a chance of Harry turning against them..."

"The Ministry knows better." Harry grumbled.

"Of course they do." Hermione said. "They know you would never turn on the people like that, especially now that you've exposed their plan. But they won't risk popular opinion turning against them now that the game is up, and you're a perfect scapegoat. All they have to do is feed people's paranoia - and viola! The public will do their dirty work for them."

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "It never changes, does it."

"They're wizards." Ron snorted. "You know, we never looked down on muggles in my family. But we never understood them, either. And Dad's fascination with all things just taught us that they were interesting things to be smiled at once in a while. Like cute little kids running around playing make-believe, you know? Or maybe some kind of weird bug that catches your attention and you ooh and ah, and the girls shriek cause they think it's gross. That's not what Mum and Dad meant to teach us, but its kind of how it came across. But I think I understand better now - if anything, the wizards are the little kids. As a sub-species, or whatever we are - we're not exactly the brightest."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "That's very insightful, Ron."

He looked injured. "Again, the tone of surprise."

Harry grinned at his friends' banter. "I think you're right, Ron. Wizards are getting behind the times. It's time for them to take a step into the modern ages."

"They'll never take that step on their own." Ron replied, shaking his head.

"No, I guess not." Harry sighed. "Well, that's someone else's problem. What we need, is to figure out what we are going to do."

"Well that's obvious, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "We're going to disappear for a while."

Harry looked pensive. "If I'm going to disappear, Hermione, I think I'd rather it be permanent."

After a beat of silence, Ron asked, "What do you mean, mate?"

"I think it's time we grew up. Leave the kids, and join the adults."

"You want us to live in muggle world? Permanently?"

Harry shrugged. "Sort of. Muggles with magic, I guess. If we stayed in the muggle world, only contacting the wizarding world when we need something we can't get or make ourselves - how bad could it be?"

Hermione was grinning. "I'd love to go back to school. Hogwarts was great, but it only taught us magic. I want to learn the things that I would have learned if I had stayed in the muggle world."

Ron snorted. "Naturally. And here I thought we were finally done with school."

Harry grinned at them again. "I'd like to do that too, Hermione. Think about it Ron. Your brothers have taken all the cool jobs in the wizarding world. If you want to have your own cool job, you'll have to look elsewhere. Right?"

Ron snorted again. "You suck at the whole manipulation thing."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

With a shake of his head, Ron refocused on what he saw as the main issue with their plan. "But if we use magic, any at all, the Ministry will be able to trace us. That's why we had George do the glamours."

"Not necessarily." Hermione started. "They can only trace Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley. But that doesn't have to mean that they can trace us."

"So what, we change our DNA?" Harry asked.

Ron just gave them a confused look. "DNA?"

"Don't ask. You'll learn about it in the muggle world, if we go through with this." Hermione told him quickly. "And no, Harry. That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"We change our identities! Just like in the muggle world. When a muggle goes underground, they change everything. They destroy the paper trail - the documents, you know - and forge a new one. They change their names, their life stories, their bank accounts, and their friends. Well? What's to say we can't do the wizarding equivalent?"

Ron looked confused by the muggle references, but seemed to get the general idea. "There's a spell you can use, an adoption spell. Once performed, the person adopted becomes a part of the adopting family. They may not have been born into it, but they might as well have. Magic recognizes them as part of that family, and as always having been part of that family."

Hermione nodded. "And there are spells to change your name and stuff, so that once you change it you are no longer, say Ronald Bilius Weasley, and you never have been. Magic recognizes you as someone completely else, and thinks that you have always been that person."

"If we combine them..." Harry started.

"Then we erase everything. Our names, our histories, our family records - all gone, as though they have never existed. And three new people will appear, new names, new records, new family history."

"That could actually work." Ron said slowly. "But I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I'm Ron. That's who I've always been. Ron Weasley - that is me. That is me. That's who I am. And it's about the only thing that hasn't been touched by this whole stupid mess of a war."

Harry nodded slowly. "My name is the only thing I have left that really ties me to my parents. They gave me my name. Its the only thing that they gave me that I ever got to keep. I know the cloak was my dad's, but he wasn't the one who gave it to me."

Hermione sighed. "I know. And I'm a Granger through and through. My parents are off in Australia, living under new identities, completely unaware that they have a daughter. The name they gave me is the only thing that proves they ever existed. But maybe it is time to let that go. I can't get them back - I knew that when I cast the spell that took their memories. I can't keep holding on to things that could have been - or even should have been. That will only hold me back, and maybe get me killed."

Eventually Harry and Ron agreed.

"But how does one go about choosing a new name that they will carry for the rest of their life?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. What names do you like? They have to be muggle." Hermione reasoned.

"James." Harry said. "That's muggle."

"But if Harry Potter disappears at the same time as a guy named James shows up, won't people put two and two together?" Ron asked.

"What about Jim?" Hermione asked. "It's short for James, but wizards don't use it. Wizards don't know it."

Harry considered for a long time, and finally agreed. "What about you, Hermione?"

She sighed. "I think I like to still have a Shakespearean name. It's not like any wizard would know the difference."

"Hang on, what about muggle-borns?" Ron suddenly asked.

"Most of the muggle-borns that would recognize it are the first, second, and third years. I doubt that they will be privy to this kind of information. Muggle-borns that have been in the magical world long enough to have high-ranking jobs at the Ministry have forgotten stuff like Shakespeare. And nicknames like Jim." Hermione decided. "I know how hard it is to keep up with both worlds. If you live in the wizarding world, it makes sense to let the other one go."

Ron acquiesced the point. "You'd know better than me. What name do you want, then?"

She considered. "Nothing too abnormal, I should think. After all, we won't want to draw undue attention, even in the muggle world. Maybe Juliet. That's a pretty common name, I think."

"Jewel for short?" Harry asked, teasing. "Or maybe Gem?"

Though he was joking, Hermione seemed to be seriously considering it. "I suppose Gem would do. After all, everyone knows that I'm not really a girly girl. Something like Gem is the last thing anyone would suspect."

"Gem it is." Ron grinned. "But what about me?"

The two with some muggle experience fired off name after name. Eventually Ron decided on Anthony. He would be Andy for short (which had nothing to do with Andromeda Tonks!) - and he wanted his new middle name to be Fred.

Eventually, they settled on these names -

Jim Daren Harrison

Juliet (Gem) Hannah Hermes

Anthony (Andy) Fred Bronsworth

That way each had part of their original first name in their new last name. They were happy to not completely give up who they had always been. As for Hermione's new last name - they knew it was a little unique, but she figured that she would always have at least one unique name.

"Are we really going to do this?" Hermione asked softly. "Once we do, there is no going back."

Harry looked grim. "What about Teddy? And Ron, your family?"

"They'll let us go." Ron whispered. "They'll understand."

"We could take Teddy with us?" Hermione suggested quietly.

"Andromeda would never allow that. She would want him to grow up Theodore Lupin, in honor of his parents. And we could never hide a metamorphagus in the muggle world." Harry said despondently.

"Once we go, we won't be able to come back to visit." Ron told him. "They'll be watched. They'll expect you to come back for him, and they'll be waiting. If we come back, it'll have to be years from now. By then he'll have grown up, and he won't know you."

Hermione was thinking hard. "Do you suppose Andromeda would be willing to leave the country? If she moves to America, she'll be beyond the reach of the British Ministry. They can't legally track or monitor her there. If she takes Teddy there, she could raise him as Teddy Lupin, and you'd still be able to see him from time to time. Not too often, because even if they can't track her legally, she'll probably be watched. But in a new community, she'd be making new friends. To have a few unknown magical signatures around from time to time would be unremarkable, as opposed to here."

Harry and Ron nodded slowly, then Harry glanced at the red-head. "We should see if maybe George wants to come with us."

Ron shook his head. "He'd love to. It'd be a great prank - the greatest he's ever pulled. Which is precisely why he wouldn't - not without Fred. And he wouldn't leave England. Not while Fred's...Fred's grave is here." He blinked back a few stubborn tears, and Hermione put her hand on his shoulder.

"We've all lost in this war. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. I mean - we get a new start, don't we?"

"But what about everyone that we have to leave behind?" Harry asked, sounding broken. "This world, it's been all-but destroyed. Things will probably just get worse before they get better, you know that. How can we walk away from this?"

Ron shook his head. "But that's it. We've done our part. It's not our job to put the world back together. We saved it. Let somebody else do the work this time. We're just kids. I mean, we've had to grow up, fast. But that's not right. Dumbledore was a great man, but he made mistakes too. And his worst mistake, was to put the fate of the whole world on the shoulders of an eleven-year-old. And we're all still eleven, down inside. We had to grow up really fast, so in some ways we never really grew up at all." He paused. "If I could go back and do it over, I'd do it again, of course. But we should never have had to do it in the first place."

The others agreed, and Hermione smiled. "You're on a roll tonight, Ron."

"Well, I'm smarter than I look, you know."

"We know." Harry grinned.

"Hey - you basically just said that I look dumb!"

The three friends laughed together.

Three weeks later, their plans were set. They had managed a quick meeting with Andromeda as they stayed out of the Ministry's eye, and she agreed to move to America. They waited until she had gone before carrying out their plans, so that the Ministry wouldn't refuse to let her leave because "Harry Potter" suddenly ceased to exist.

They told George and Percy what they were going to do, but none of the other Weasleys. After the war they learned that Percy had been functioning as a spy in the Ministry, watching every move of Fudge and Voldemort and reporting back to the Order through Moody, and later through Tonks. He agreed to keep an eye on things at the ministry for them, promising to alert them if he heard of anything that could threaten Andromeda or Teddy in their new home. George supplied them with more Weasley Wizard Wheeze products than they knew what to do with, and was tasked with carefully telling Molly and Arthur that the Golden Trio was safe after the three had fled.

They also made a deal with the goblins that allowed Harry to seal his account away from the wizarding world. No one would be allowed access for any reason, without express permission from Harry - which would be nearly impossible to get. George and Percy were both authorized to access the vault, but only the five conspirators knew that. There was no way for the Ministry to trace Harry by his bank account.

After making these final arrangements and stocking up on every kind of wizarding supply they could possibly need in the next ten or so years (all purchases were made while they were Polyjuiced to look like random muggles), they considered their preparations complete.

The day of their identity change found them ready to get on a muggle airplane in Spain. Neville - who wasn't watched nearly as closely as the others - took them far out into the countryside by side-along apparition. He didn't know what was going on, but left them there at their insistence. Once he was gone, the three drew their wands.

"Are you ready for this?" Hermione asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Ron returned.

Harry just nodded.

They stood in a circle and put the tips of their wands together in the middle. In unison, they recited the necessary spells. Moments later, Harry James Potter, Hermione Jean Granger, and Ronald Bilius Weasley ceased to exist. They did not die. They were not eliminated. They simply - weren't. Alarms went off in the Ministry as all sorts of tracking and monitoring spells that were searching for the magical signatures of the three members of the Golden Trio suddenly stopped, since they were searching for something that did not exist.

Meanwhile, three friends lowered their wands.

"Well, Gem, Andy. Let's get a move on."