DISCLAIMER: All known Characters belong to JKR. I own nothing.

Authors note: If you are patient, this really is a HGSS fanfic, despite how this is starting out. Please be kind since this is my very first fan fiction and I don't have any beta readers. I have another 2 chapters finished already I am just trying to fine tune them. I apologize in advance for my poor grammar and punctuation. Also if you have a real attachment to RW you may want to skip this fanfic.

A big thanks to my sister Whitney, who so sweetly listens to all my blabbering and ideas.

Chapter 1

Hermione gazed down at the courtyard from the window in the Gryffindor common room. She watched the tiny robed figures scurrying around below. Somehow she had thought that things at Hogwarts would return to normal after the battle was over, and for most of the students it had.

Sure the damage to the buildings had been repaired and if it were not for the Memorial honoring the witches and wizard and other creatures who laid down there lives, standing tall in the middle of the courtyard, one might think it had all been some dreadful nightmare.

But it wasn't…anyone needing proof need but look around…people were missing… people dead and buried. Hermione shivered, her warm breath leaving a shimmering mist on the cold window pane.

In the months following the battle, she and Ron had hardly spoken. His brothers death had changed him terribly. He drank too much these days and now he had acquired himself an entirely new set of friends.

Hermione touched her heart, as if she could rub away the sharp pain that ravaged her chest. She loved him still. She leaned forward, resting her head against the cool glass. Even closing her eyes could not stop the burning tears from escaping her lids, they fell from her thick lashes, scalding a wet path down her pale cheeks.

She was going to tell him tonight. She had too. Unfortunately, she could think on the subject no longer for she had one remaining class to attend. Advanced Potions. She took in a deep breath, as if trying to gather enough life within herself to face her potions master.

After gathering enough inner strength, Hermione slowly began making her way toward the gloomy underbelly of Hogwarts. It was a fitting place for her, given her current mood.

"HERMIONE!" Hermione turned to search for the voice that called out to her from the sea of students clogging the stairway. Harry's face bobbed in and out of view as he made his way toward her. He threw his arm around her shoulder and began walking beside her. "Aren't you excited", he teased. "Overjoyed", she replied sarcastically .

"Imagine you and I, and even Longbottom in Advanced Potions together" "It should be utterly fascinating to see how you two manage, She said dryly.

"Cheer up Hermione, its just like old times, you and me and Longbottom and the infamous Professor who lived." "Stop calling him that, its ridiculous." "Its true though", Harry said defensively , "and besides I think it is, truly a clever name." "Only because you're the Dunderhead who made it up Harry".

Harry clutched his stomach, as he was seized by a laughing fit, "Dunderhead" , he gasped between spasms, "Coming from you Hermione…that is a bloody compliment." Her annoyance with Harry melted away at the sound of his laughter. Over the years she had such little opportunity to hear him laugh as he did now. She stopped and looked up into his eyes, they shone with happiness. With Voldermort dead and the death eaters all but disbanded, the war was over.

Released from the weight of circumstance that laid so heavily upon his young shoulders he was finally free to be the joyous young man he was always meant to be, the joy and youth Voldemort had stolen from him.

If only Ron were able to feel such joy and freedom. As much as Hermione tried she could not suppress the pain. Harry's laughing stopped short as he looked down at Hermione, her brown eyes glistening with unshed tears.

He grabbed her in his arms and spun her out of the crowd, pulling her to the side of the hall. He held her tight against his chest. "Its Ron isn't it", he whispered in her ear, not letting her go.

"I am so sorry Hermione, I didn't even think of how you must be feeling". " I truly am a Dunderhead", He said, as he planted a kiss on the top of her head. Hermione sniffed in between sobs. "Ginny and I both have tried many times to talk sense into that thick head of his, I know he still cares for you Hermione".

"I am not so sure Harry" "Sometime I …I wish that I had died too, at least he would have still loved me then", she choked out. " Don't Hermione, please don't say things like that I couldn't bear to lose you or Ron for that matter".

"We have lost him already Harry." "If he were only happy I could live with the fact that he doesn't love me anymore, and at the very least no longer wants to be our friend, but to see him self destructing before our eyes…I….I." Harry gently tilted Hermione's chin so that she looked up at him "Listen, we have done all that we can do to help Ron, at some point he has to help himself.

The hall was nearly empty now. "Come on", Harry said as he wiped Hermione's cheeks with his sleeve, "we had better get moving or we are going to get 50 points each from our beloved Professor. Hermione sighed deeply. "Besides we can discuss what to do with our cheeky friend tonight at the Order meeting, did you forget that we are inducting two new members. Hermione nodded her head in agreement and they hurried down the hall hand in hand.