A/N: This is my first ever story for Harry Potter so please be nice. Also, this was written in the space of about an hour so please don't judge too harshly.

It was over. Done. Voldemort was gone. She knew it should fill her with happiness and relief, but it didn't. All she could feel was grief and sadness. So many people had died fighting to protect the castle, Ron had lost a brother, Harry had lost the only father figure he had left in Remus and she'd lost a friend in Tonks, it seemed to her that everyone had lost someone.

Which was why, whilst everyone else slept in the Great Hall, she found herself stood outside, staring at the utter destruction before. This was never how she'd pictured Voldemort's end. Naively she'd assumed that happiness would fill the now destroyed castle and the whole wizarding world would be celebrating not grieving.

Hermione shivered a little in the early morning chill and pulled her jacket around her a little tighter. She saw Hagrid's Hut, destroyed and blackened, and it was then that she felt the tears that had plagued her all night return. She half sat, half collapsed onto the cold stone step as she remembered years ago how she, Ron and Harry had sneaked down to the hut under the invisibility cloak, or how in her third year she'd slapped Draco Malfoy on the grass just in front of where she stood. She could still picture clearly the night, only a year ago, that Dumbledore had died. She could still feel Ron's warm arms wrapped around her, her tears creating a damp patch on the front of his shirt.

They felt like they were someone else's memories now, the life of another, now lost to the war. They were all different people now, all three of them, changed by what they'd seen, what they'd done, who they'd lost. She knew now, as she sat there all alone on the cold stone steps that lead down to the grounds, that nothing would ever be the same again. No longer would she be the bushy haired first year, that had first stepped through these doors six years ago. That realisation made her feel strangely lonely, as if she'd lost a sister.

Looking up at the castle that towered above her, she closed her eyes and tried to remember that feeling, the one she'd had seeing it for the first time across the lake, the feeling of a new world about to unfold right in front of her. But it wouldn't come, not any more. From now on her strongest memory of Hogwarts would be what she saw now, holes blown into the walls, smashed windows, debris everywhere and bodies all lined up in the Great Hall, covered in white blankets.

Suddenly she felt a warm body appear next to hers and through her tears she caught a blur of red hair. Ron wrapped his warm arms around her and pulled her close. For a few moments she closed her eyes and allowed herself to get lost in him as tears continued to cascade down her cheeks. But then she remembered, he'd just lost his brother she had no right to cry like that in front of him. Hastily, she pulled away from him and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"Ron, I'm so sorry. You've just lost a brother and here I am crying into your chest. I've got no right to..." Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.

"Don't be so stupid, you've every right to cry."

She looked up into his bright blue eyes and it was then that she saw tears dripping down his long nose. She reached up and brushed them away gently, before placing a soft kiss on the end of his nose. Ron pulled her to his chest and buried his face in her hair; she could tell by his breathing that he'd succumbed to his tears. Hermione felt her tears return as they sat there, just needing to hold each other, needing to feel someone close.

She didn't know how long they'd sat there before she spoke again.

"Do you think things will ever be like they were?" she asked, seeking comfort. She didn't know how she expected him to answer, or even if she wanted him to answer at all.

Slowly, Ron pulled away from her and his blue eyes met her brown.

"No." He said honestly, "but things will get better, I promise." Softly, he brushed his lips against her forehead.

"Ron," she asked burying her head in his neck "you'll never leave me will you? I've lost so many people today and the thought of...of..." Tears stopped the end of her sentence.

"Of course not," he said kissing her hair "I'd be lost without you, those few weeks in third year and the months in sixth year where we weren't talking were some of the worst of my life. I need you, Hermione. The only thing that's stopped me from breaking down with grief is the thought of you, I love you."

She couldn't help but smile into his neck at this confession; Ron never talked about feelings, ever. So she knew for him to tell her this was a privilege.

"Good," she said, "because I love you too."

She looked up once again to see tears in his eyes, but before she could say anything else, he pulled her into a kiss. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers, they were a little chapped and dry but that didn't make it unpleasant.

And that was the first time in long time that she allowed herself to think that everything would be alright, in the end.