July 24, 1997. Please review!

"Mum, it's Mad Eye and Dung," Ron called up the staircase. The two figures had appeared just outside the Burrow garden. Finishing his breakfast, he magicked it into the nearby sink, still feeling unbelievably powerful in doing so. Despite how horrible it may have sounded, there was something about knowing that he could do something that Harry was still unable to.

He stood up to help the new arrivals with their things. As he reached them, there was a loud pop to his left. Tonks and Lupin stood there, hands linked.

"Who's here?" Mad Eye asked gruffly.

"Erm, Bill'n Fleur already, so's Hagrid. Now I think it's just Kingsley and Hermione that haven't shown," Ron said, and then glanced over Mad Eye's shoulder expectantly, as though expecting the latter to show up.

"Wotcher Ron." He smiled halfheartedly at Tonks's greeting, then balked as he noticed something glittering on her left hand. "Did you off and get married?" He was answered with Tonks' returned beam. There was even a ghost of a smile on Lupin's otherwise taut face.

"Brilliant," he told them emphatically, then led them inside. However, just as he reached the doorway, he heard another pop. Grinning, he spun around in time to see a bushy haired brunette appear.

"Merlin, you're finally here!" he exclaimed, smiling easily. However, before he could give her a hard time about her lack of punctuality, he stepped close enough to see her expression.

She smiled at him, but her jaw was clenched in a way that was, unfortunately, familiar, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"What happened?" he demanded, rushing to her side. He had forgotten about the duffel bag he'd been carrying inside.

"It doesn't matter now," she replied, and for the first words he'd heard from her in months, they weren't nearly the tone he would have liked.

"'Course it does," he insisted, and reached gently for her arm to pull her behind the others, until everyone but they had gone in. "What happened?"

"My parents … are gone."

His eyes widened in alarm, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Oh Ron, nothing like that; they're still alive. I told you it's silly. I sent them to Australia … to live a happy, carefree, childless life – their memory – I knew that Voldemort would be looking for them so I..." she hicupped, then cleared her throat. "Their memories are gone."

"Hermione, Merlin Hermione, of course it matters," he shook his head at her and let go of her arm in favor of opening his just enough to pull her tightly against his chest.

Six months ago, this would have terrified him, but somehow, after Dumbledore's funeral, it seemed like the most natural gesture in the world.

Hermione apparently agreed, as she slid her arms under his and dropped her forehead onto his shoulder, seeming to exhale right into him. In spite of himself, he smiled. Comforting Hermione wasn't exactly a chore.

After a moment he pulled away a little and hooked one arm around her shoulders. "Just remember, Hermione, everyone here's your family too," he murmured into her hair. Even to him it sounded corny, and he felt his ears reddening.

Hermione glanced at him with an appreciative and affectionate, albeit puzzled, glance. As they walked into his house, arms around each other, he thought wryly that chapter six in "Twelve Fail safe Ways to Charm Witches," Making witches feel at home, had paid off.

"I'm coming," Ginny insisted again, her face set in a defensive scowl.

Hermione glanced at Molly, who looked ready to hex her daughter into compliance.

"It's not your choice to make," she told her firmly.

"I'm not a child, Mum."

Ron couldn't deny that he was impressed. Not many people he knew would have the guts to continue confronting his mum under a look like that. However, he couldn't deny that he was not siding with his sister on this one. Not willing to take any more of the heated exchange, he stood.

"Look Gin, you're sixteen for one so yeah, for all intents and purposes, you're a child. And two? If you're there, the chances of Harry actually agreeing with this plan are pretty slim, all right?"

She shot him a Molly-glare, and, after clearing his throat, he sat back down.

"Fine," Ginny snapped to the room as a whole, "Floo me when you've sorted out who's still alive when this is over, won't you? I'll be upstairs, sewing some new jumpers for my dolls, assuming the needles aren't too sharp."

She spun on her heel and stormed to the stairs. Ron cringed as he heard the pounding of each one.

"I know how she feels," Hermione murmured so that only Ron could hear. She stared after the stairs as though wishing she could follow Ginny. The rest of the order members continued their conversation from before.

"She's just being dramatic. She knows Mum is right."

Hermione looked hesitant, but finally sighed. "Yes, I know, but if you think about it, Harry's sixteen too. And no one treats him like a child!"

"But she's … Ginny," Ron insisted, shaking his head, "It's different."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up, and Ron cringed, knowing immediately that this had been the wrong thing to say.

"How is she any different Ron? We've done plenty more dangerous than this, starting long before we were sixteen!"

"You know Molly," Mad Eye interrupted gruffly, both of his eyes trained on Ron and Hermione, "Kingsley's yet to arrive. If he doesn't show, an extra volunteer would be convenient..."

"No," Molly, Arthur, Bill, Ron and the twins snapped in unison.

"Just a thought," he growled back, and continued planning as though nothing had happened.

The conversation flowed from there, everyone suggesting transportation options, the safest houses, who was going to go where and with who, would Harry come, would anyone suspect this?

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione sat silently in the back of the room. They would exchange the occasional glance at the more ridiculous ideas but, for the most part, kept to themselves.

Ron could only guess where her thoughts were – with Ginny, perhaps, or maybe her parents. Ron couldn't help but wish that before all of the chaos that was sure to ensue, and before Harry returned with them and they were all put in harm's way, he might have a few more days to spend with just Hermione.

He was startled out of his reverie by a sudden knock on the door.

Lupin and Mad Eye stood, wands raised, but weren't on guard for long. Kingsley, ("Or are you an impostor?" as Moody demanded, asking him a string of security questions) finally, had arrived.

As much as Ron would like it to be otherwise, it was time to go.