Ron turned the tap water on and the clear water that gushed through was instantaneous. He turned to face his friend Hermione, who was already grinning at him. “I think it’s safe to say that it’s working again.”

“You’re really good at all these repairing spells Ron,” Hermione commended. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. This apartment is falling apart.”

“You’ll probably have to call Mr. Attenbrough to look at it.” Ron replied, referring to the wizard who owned what muggles would refer to as a plumber shop.

“And that would be costly.” Hermione smiled. “I’d rather pay a friend who doesn’t overcharge me in the first place.”

Ron shook his head. “A cup of tea would be enough, I’m quite thirsty.”

Hermione frowned. “That wouldn’t be enough. What about a dinner?”

Ron bit his lip, unsure of what to say. Noticing his uncertainty, Hermione added, “I’ll make a huge dinner for everyone at the Burrow, how’s that? You can ask Fred and George to drop by and it’s been awhile since I see Harry and Ginny.”

Ron smirked. “And you’ll be cooking for us?”

“For your information Ron, I’ve been rather good at cooking some decent dishes ever since I’ve been living on my own.” And as if to prove this, Hermione magically poured him a cup of hot tea.

Ron sat facing her on the small dining table and took a sip of the tea. Hermione studied her friend while he wasn’t looking. Even though Ron looked healthy and normal by appearance, there were tell tale signs of sleepless nights in the form of heavy eye bags and how his shoulders would hunch when he wasn’t busy doing one thing or other. And no matter the amount of grins or smile he put on, his eyes had always been a dead giveaway.

Ron Weasley was tired.

“Well?”

He nodded as he put the cup down. “I think it’s a good idea. It’s been awhile since the kitchen smell of any real cook food.”

Hermione forced a smile. Ever since the war ended two years ago, she had tried everything to get Ron to open up to her but to not much success. He would decline her friendly offer of a night out after work or even small offers of helping him dengome the garden. But the one thing Hermione missed most was his laughter. Ron hardly ever laughs anymore.

“Great, then it’s settled. Can we send an owl to Harry and Ginny now?”

Ron shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

“Let me get the parchment and quill.” She thought she saw an amused smile but Hermione was too excited to take a second look. Ron had never been this easy to be persuaded into something and for some odd reason, she felt if she had even taken a second to self-doubt, that Ron would turn around and cancels everything.

Entering her small bedroom, she grabbed for a blank parchment laying on her desk and her favorite self-ink quill. It was a present from Ron during what would be their seventh year if they hadn’t skipped it altogether to go horcrux hunting with Harry.

A framed picture sitting on her desk caught her attention. It was of Harry, Ginny, Ron and herself at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. They were all dressed up for the occasion and even with Dumbledore’s death still fresh on their minds, they had put all grieving aside to celebrate the special occasion. Even Harry and Ginny were suspiciously close; the fact that Harry had broken things off with Ginny didn’t seem to matter to the both of them.

And then there was Ron and herself. They had their arms around each others’ waists, huge smiles on their faces. Only the night before, they had found the opportunity to slip through the chaos that was the Burrow and talked things through by the lake. She remembered being in the kitchen, crying her eyes out from peeling too many onions as Mrs. Weasley and Ginny fuss about the dishes they’d be serving after the wedding; when Ron came in and whispered in her ears to come follow him. Both Weasley women were too busy discussing about the choice of soup that they hardly missed her disappearance.

By the lake, Ron had let everything out. What surprised her most was that, there was not a hint of the famous Weasley blushed cheeks when he told her he needed to make things right.

“I feel so grown up all of a sudden, weird that.”

“I think I know what you’re feeling. I feel really old.” She said almost in a whisper. The lake looked calm and undisturbed and she took comfort in that. “I don’t feel seventeen.”

“Nothing is certain anymore. All these,” Ron said as he waved his hands to refer to their quiet surrounding. “they might not be here tomorrow.”

“Are you scared?”

Ron took a deep breath and sighed. “Terrified.”

“Me too.”

“But the worst thing that could happen is if I…die…and I left things unsaid.”

“Ron, don’t say such things!”

“Well that happens in wars doesn’t it? People die and who’s to say for certain if we’d survive all that?”

“I know…but I just can’t…”

“We have to make sure Harry kills him and if it means sacrificing myself, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“I would too.”

“I’d rather you not.”

“Well you don’t have any say in that.”

“I wish I’d married you, then I’ll have my say.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well…my mom might be the hot tempered one but she always listen to Dad in the end. I reckon cause he’s the man of the family and all that.”

“That’s such a man thing to say Ron.”

“That’s good to know, cause, well, I am one.”

“I have you know that if I ever get married, I’d like to have a say in how things are run in the family.”

“Sounds like mom. She has the final say in a lot of things.”

“But she’d listen to your dad as well?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you reckon that?”

“Because I think she knows, at the end of the day, Dad is just looking out for her best interest at heart. And probably cause he wouldn’t be able to survive looking after us without her. Mom runs the burrow and always makes sure we’re all fed and stuff. Besides, that’s what you do if you love someone more than life itself. You’d stand your ground and take all her yelling and screaming if it means she’d relent in the end and you know she’d be out of harm’s way.”

“So…you want me out of harm’s way.”

“If I have my way.”

“Which you don’t.”

“I know, but I reckon Harry will never find those horcruxes if we keep you in some hiding place.”

“Oh really?”

“Of course. You’re the smart one. Besides, we’ve gone through all those adventures as a trio, why stop now, right? Strength in numbers, they say.”

“We’ll keep each other alive. We’ll have each others’ backs.”

“And still nothing is ever certain, is it?”

“Yeah…”

“I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner, but I guess things are meant to happen the way it happened and for a reason.”

“Ron, what are you talking about?”

“I love you.”

“I know that, you told me already when I helped fixed that essay of yours, remember?”

“I mean, I really, really love you.”

“Well, I love you too. I hope you know that, because we wouldn’t be friends if I-”

“I love you the way my Dad loves my mom.”

“Hermione?” Hermione’s eyes flew open and she swung around to find Ron standing on her doorway. “Are you out of fresh parchment?”

“What? No, no…I just forgot where I kept them but…” She waved the parchment enthusiastically in front of him. “Found it.”

“Ah no, don’t tell me you’re forgetting things already?” Ron teased. Hermione rolled her eyes. “Nice room by the way. I can’t help noticing how orange it is.”

Hermione blushed. “Totally Harry’s fault.”

“How so?”

“Harry and Ginny wanted to help out when I first moved in and I told them they can chose one thing they’d want to do and have total say in it and Harry chose to paint my bedroom. And I have no say in what color it’d be either.”

Ron nodded. “And what did Ginny do?”

“She gave me a knitted throw for my sofa.”

Ron moved into the living room and for the first time saw the throw draped lazily on the sofa. It was maroon and it reminded him so much of his mother.

“Ginny wanted something that’d remind me of the Burrow.” Hermione said, almost in a whisper. Ron turned to look at her and for a second, Hermione thought she saw a glint of blinked tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t around to help you move in.”

Hermione waved it off. “You were busy with more important stuff than helping me move in. Besides, you’re always here to help me with the broken pipes and what not.”

Ron smiled, because that was what Ron would do when he had nothing to say. It happened quite a lot these days. Ron just smiled through conversations rather than say what was on his mind. As he walked back to the dining room, Hermione noticed the slight limping. It tore her heart knowing what exactly had caused it.

“This won’t be long, can I get you another cup of tea?”

“No no, you sit down and write that letter, I’ll get my own tea.”

Hermione knew not to make a big fuss over it, so she sat down and started writing.

Dear Harry & Ginny,

You’re required at the Burrow this Friday for dinner. I’ll be cooking, not Ron, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing but I assure you no food poisoning will be involved. And yes, it’d be a full course dinner, not sandwiches and tea, if you’re wondering.

And don’t worry, this is not a trick. I owe Ron a favor because he fixed my broken pipe…again.

Yours,

When Hermione looked up again, Ron had two cups of tea in his hand and he pushed one to her. “I’m heading to St. Mungo’s soon to bring dad home, his check up should be done by then. Are you heading to work soon?”

“Actually I’m heading there myself.” Hermione replied as she thanked him for the tea with a smile. “I have an appointment with the Head Mediwitch about some financial issues of one of the families under my care.”

Hermione worked for the Ministry of Magic, and headed the new department for Wizarding Family Welfare. After the war, the wizarding world was in ruins. Thousands were left homeless and buildings were in ruins. There was an on going project to rebuild the Wizarding world and re-housing homeless wizarding families. Hermione’s job was to make sure that each and every family were taken care of and none were left to defend for themselves.

“Well, we can go together then.” Ron offered.

It took a lot in her not to grin so widely. She had to pretend as if such an invitation from Ron was normal when in fact, Ron hardly ever invited anyone to go anywhere with him. The only person he seemed to still give a little leeway was Harry, and even that had been far and between.

“Of course. Let me just get my things and then we can apparate there together.”

Ron nodded and Hermione made for her room once more. Grabbing her file, cloak and wand and checking her appearance on the mirror quickly, she went back to the kitchen, where Ron was now busy scribbling away on the letter that Hermione had written for Harry and Ginny.

“Hope you don’t mind, I added a little something in there.”

“Of course not.” Hermione smiled. “Can I read it?”

“It’s no secret ‘Mione.”

Hermione almost forgot how to breathe again. ‘Mione was Ron’s way of showing his endearment to her, and often done when there were no one else around. Ron was far from a romantic. He never calls her ‘love’ or ‘sweetheart’ or ‘baby’ and the one time he had heard Harry called Ginny ‘babe’, he had smacked him upside the head and said, ‘my sister has a name and it’s not babe’. Ginny had told her brother to lay off and that she loves being called ‘babe’ by her boyfriend.

The last time Ron had called her Mione, was, amazingly enough, during the final battle. There were a lot of uncertainties back then, but at least she knew that he was her boyfriend. She wasn’t sure what Ron is to her these days. Or what she is to him anymore.

“If we get separated, I’ll come back for you.”

And he came back, right when she needed him the most.

She had found herself standing back to back with Ginny, being rounded by a group of Death Eaters that had apparated out of nowhere. Being outnumbered, she remembered yelling at Ginny that it wasn’t the time to hold back, that they should do anything within their ability to get rid of them all. And they had fought like there was no tomorrow to look forward to. Curses and spells flew in all directions and Hermione thought they had it under control.

And then Ron came out of nowhere, yelling for her. “Hermione get down!”

Next thing she knew, she was on the ground, and in her place was Ron. The Death Eater had thrown a cutting curse and it had hit his left side. Hermione threw a stunner at the Death Eater and was just in time to catch Ron’s fall.

Harry had come, along with Charlie and George to help Ginny fight the remaining Death Eaters. By then, Hermione couldn’t care less what was going on around them. The cut was deep and within seconds, there was a pool of blood where Hermione had laid him down. She tried every spell she had learnt to stop the bleeding but nothing seemed to work.

“Why isn’t it working!” She cried to herself, frustration setting in. She took off her cloak and started dabbing at the open wound but when it began to soak through, Hermione knew it wasn’t enough.

“Hermione…”

“I can do this! I know the spells!” Hermione said as she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. She had used all the spells she knew hadn’t she? Surely she had memorized all of them.

“Mione, look at me.”

“Is my handwriting that bad?”

She blinked and then looked up to meet his gaze. “What?”

“You’ve been staring at the letter for awhile now and I know I had written just one line.”

“Oh.”

“Oh, that’s rich Ronald.” Hermione said rolling her eyes. She rolled the parchment quickly and called for Rouge, an owl that was given to her by the MOM and which she had spent hours trying to find the perfect name. Once she had given the owl the instructions, it flew out of her kitchen window. With her back now facing Ron, she let herself give a well-deserved smile. Ron had made a joke! Could it really mean he was slowly trying to let them in?

“I was thinking, maybe instead of apparating, we could walk there instead?”

This had Hermione by surprise. Did he really say that? “Well…are you sure?”

“Not all the way obviously. There’s a new Bed & Breakfast opened a couple of blocks down, they have a fireplace that allow us to floo straight to St. Mungo’s. But if you’re already running late for the meeting, we can just apparate from here, it’s no big deal.”

“Oh no, my appointment wasn’t for another hour. I wanted to go in early to see Neville and Luna. I got an owl from Neville a few days ago, he said he had some kind of breakthrough that he wanted me to see. I’m not too sure what that’s all about but I’m kind of curious now.”

Ron nodded and smiled. “Neville is doing a lot of good for himself and everyone else for that matter. Is it true he’s seeing Luna now?”

Hermione grinned. “Looks like it. I didn’t out right ask them.”

“Well then, shall we?”

-

It was almost noon when they stepped out of her apartment and into the busy streets of Hogsmeade. The wizarding town wasn’t as colorful as it used to be before the war, but it was slowly gaining back the color.

Hermione had always wanted to live in Hogsmeade, it had went as far back as in third year, when they were allowed to go for Hogsmeade weekends. She could still remember vividly her first trip there. They had gone together, hadn’t they? She had seen a different side of Ron on that trip, a side that pleased her very well.

It was her first trip to Honeydukes. Being a daughter of dentists, Hermione was barely exposed to the world of candies. Most of the candies she had tasted had been the sugarless types and Hermione had never complained about it seeing how there was a perfectly logical reason why she was taught candies are bad for her teeth.

“So, what do you want?”

“I’m not sure if I want anything,” She said, shrugging. “Can we go to Flourish & Botts after this? I want to buy some new parchments.”

“Okay, but only if you let me buy you a candy.”

“What is it with you and candies?”

“They’re not like muggle’s sweets Hermione. Trust me, you’ll love them!”

“Okay fine. As long as they don’t taste like ear wax, I’ve heard of those every flavored beans.”

He smiled and went searching for that candy. Hermione followed him through the crowd, unsure if she should just wait by the side. The store was busting with students, everyone trying to stock up on their candy to bring back to school.

Ron kept moving from one candy to another, constantly shaking his head and mumbling ‘nope’. Hermione didn’t realize it was that difficult to pick just one.

“What’s wrong with that one?” Hermione asked out of boredom and then read the label. “Five ever changing fruit flavors lollipop. That’s nice enough.”

“Well, yeah…but…it’s not good enough.” Ron smiled sheepishly and then urged her to move forward.

“Well then, what is good enough Ronald? We’ve been here for awhile now.”

Ron remained quiet and looked through every candy bottle on display. Hermione decided if she was ever going to get out of here, she should try harder to help quicken the search. It didn’t take long for it to dawn on her while they were silently walking next to each other, passing yet another type of candy, that all the candies Ron had reached out for, had quite the hefty price tag.

“Oh.”

“What was that?” Ron asked absentmindedly.

“Nothing.” Hermione sputtered. “Um, Ron, I know this is supposed to be your choice and all, but I think this place really makes me want to have a taste of cotton candy, do they have those here?”

Ron’s eyes immediately widen. “Of course they do! They’re one of the common ones though, nothing really, um, magical about them.”

“That’s okay, I think I should start slow.” Hermione assured him with a smile. “After that, you can show me all the ones that you and Harry like, he gave me some money to get him something from Honeyduke.”

“He did?”

“Yup. I almost forgot about it, but he wanted to ask you to buy it for him since you’re obviously an expert in the candy business, but you were busy being tormented by the twins just now.” Hermione lied. She didn’t know she had it in her.

“That’s great! We should get him those chocolate frogs, he’s just starting his collector’s cards…”

“It’s so wrong not to have Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.”

Ron took a deep breath and smiled. “I can still smell all the sweets and the chocolates.”

“I missed the thousands of colors.” Hermione reminisced. “We need more color here.”

“I’m sure we’ll get it all back someday.” Ron assured her as they walked farther down the road. There were building constructions going around and small shop houses that were already up, were now busting with activities.

“Mr. Weasley, is that really you?” Hermione turned, much faster than Ron, and found an elderly woman with a young boy about nine smiling at them.

“Hello Mrs. Lynch,” Ron greeted the woman and reached out to ruffle the boy’s blonde hair. The kid seemed to know him too, and giggled. “I see you’re out for a bit of shopping.”

“It’s Kyle’s birthday tomorrow and I thought a little bit of celebration should be about right. The kids could do with a little bit of party around here.”

“That sounds lovely.” Hermione offered. “How old are you going to be Kyle?”

“I’ll be ten! Just one more year and I’ll be going to Hogwarts!”

Both Hermione and Ron laughed. “Yeah, I reckon Hogwarts will be open by then.”

“Well, we best be going now.” Mrs. Lynch said. “I just wanted to say hello. You’ve been a great help with fixing those pipes. That little pipe ring you attached really helped, I had no leaking ever since and the simple spell is handy for this old lady to remember.”

“That’s good to hear, I’m glad it helped.”

“You should really consider selling them, Merlin knows we need those little miracles.” She smiled. “Just like you Ms. Granger.”

Hermione was taken by surprise. This woman knew her name?

“Oh don’t look so surprised Miss. Everybody knows who Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are. Harry Potter isn’t the only hero in the last war, he has heroes for friends as well. And what you’re doing for the welfare of us normal wizarding folks didn’t go unappreciated. If it wasn’t for your department, I’d still be jobless and caring for my grandson. It was tough after his parents died in the war, did you know, I almost gave him up for adoption? I don’t know what I’d do if I had given Kyle away. My son would be terribly ashamed of me if he had been alive.”

By instincts, Hermione reached out for the older woman and they embraced in a hug as she wept on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Mrs. Lynch, if there ever is a problem, do find me, or Ron, we can help you and Kyle.”

“That’s good to know.” The older woman smiled, wiping her tears away. “Thank you so much, both of you. Please, don’t let me hinder your walk any further, we still have a little bit of shopping to do ourselves.”

After they bid the old lady and her grandson goodbye, Hermione and Ron continued their walk in silence. It didn’t feel awkward though, at least not for Hermione. They constantly waved or exchanged pleasantries to familiar faces they saw walking by, both entertaining to their own thoughts.

For Hermione, her mind was on Ron Weasley. They might be walking next to each other, their arms constantly brushing against each other, but she hardly knew him. It tugged at her heart that she had no idea what Ron’s day to day activities was like. She really missed her Ron. And she wanted to get to know the Ron who was standing next to her now. The one who seemed set to shut himself from everyone else. Even from her.

She stole a glance at him, wanting to really look at his profile without him knowing. Instead, she found him slightly frowning, and his shoulders a little hunched over. Her gaze dropped to his arm, which looked like as if he was holding on to his abdomen. His pace had slowed a little too.

“Ron…”

“There’s a clearing up ahead, just a little bit from here.” Ron cut in. He might have sounded calm but Hermione couldn’t help noticing the little grimace on his face as they trudged along. “Do you mind if we take a little break? The Bed & Breakfast would be another ten minutes from there.”

“Of course not. That’d be nice actually, it’s been awhile since I let myself take some time and appreciate the beauty that we still have left.”

Ron smirked. “Well then Miss Granger, isn’t today your lucky day?”

She smiled and bravely draped her arm around his waist. She was careful not to touch that sensitive area that was now hurting him. When Ron didn’t show any signs of protest, she bit back the urge to do a happy dance.

The war was over but it didn’t feel like they had won. Everywhere she turned, buildings were in ruins, bodies were still scattered around. Those who were strong enough to lift a finger, were doing everything they could to carry the fallen to the mortuary. Aurors were patrolling the streets, the first batch of authorities assigned to ensure some kind of law was in order. Riots were breaking out in different areas. Hunger and desperation led the homeless to rob one another just to survive another day.

Hermione entered St. Mungo’s early morning and the scene that greeted her didn’t seem to be any different than the day before. Everyone seemed to be rushing somewhere. Distant screaming of someone in pain could be heard. Someone’s mother, sister, daughter or wife was crying alone outside a closed ward. Mediwitches with dried bloo stains on their uniform were rushing from one room to another.

She walked pass them all in a daze, already memorizing her intended destination by heart. It was a routine to her.

Ron’s ward was right at the end of the third floor. It was a secluded area reserved for the critically injured.

There were four beds occupied when Hermione was there the night before. Now there were three occupants left. She quickened her pace, not wanting to find out what happened to the young wizard whom had occupied the empty bed the night before.

Ron’s bed was currently hidden behind closed curtains. Hermione could hear Harry’s voice, almost in a whisper, talking to Ron. She paused, unsure if she should intrude on them; but something Harry said then made her decide to wait for a little while more before making her appearance known.

“Ron, I really think I should get Nurse Caroline to do this.”

“No Harry please, you can do this for me.”

“I might hurt you! I don’t know what I’m doing Ron.”

“I’m always hurting Harry, what are you talking about?”

“It’s not funny.”

“No it’s not. But I don’t think I can stand seeing myself cry like a baby in front of a nurse again. You have to do this for me.”

“Maybe we should wait for Hermione? I think she’s better at this than I am.”

“Harry please. She had been crying her eyes out every time she came to visit me. I don’t want her to see this.”

“She’s been crying?”

“When she thought I was asleep. Anyway, I thought she really needed to let it all out since she’s always trying to show everyone she’s handling it well.”

“Okay fine…I’ll do this. Er…I think I should help you sit up.”

“Yeah, seeing how you’re supposed to bind the bandage around my waist and all.”

“You don’t make fun of the person who’s trying to help you.”

“Jeez Harry, lighten up.”

Curiosity won her over and ever so stealth, she took a little peek inside.

Ron was sitting up on his bed, topless, his hospital gown pulled down to his waist. His pale right arm resting on Harry’s shoulder while Harry was hunched over, working on cutting the old bandage.

“Right, what do I do now?”

“Undo the binding spell first.”

“But…but you’ll bleed!”

“And that’s a good thing for a bit…prevent blood clot and what not….at least that’s what Caroline keep telling me.”

“Ok, ok, fine.”

Harry muttered the counter spell and Hermione bit her lower lip when Ron let out a strangled gasp.

“Oh Godric, is it suppose to bleed that much?”

Ron nodded his reply.

From where Hermione was standing, it looked like Harry was dabbing at the wound.

“Ron…it’s STILL bleeding! What am I doing wrong here?”

“It never stops bleeding…that’s the bleeding curse I got hit with, gosh Harry you have to calm down or I’ll really bleed to death.”

“Right, right…okay…so…what’s next?”

“Take a handful of that salve and start kneading it in your palm until it gets really warm.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me to do that first! You’re going to bleed to death while I’m…kneading this thing!”

“Well excuse me Harry, but unless they find a new spell of some sort to undo this curse, I’m going to have to live with this, aren’t I? And one of these days mate, I’m going to have to go home and do this on my own twice a day and I will be bleeding while I knead that salve myself. Now if you can’t do that for me, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to do it myself!”

There was a stretch of silence as Harry kneaded the salve. The flex of muscles on Ron’s arm told Hermione that he was struggling to hold on to Harry. She debated for a while, wondering if she should just come out clean and helped them both. But Ron was a Weasley. His pride would take it as an insult. If they come off too eager, Ron would push them away. He was already beginning to do that to most of them and if keeping herself hidden meant that he would at least open up to Harry, she would do exactly that.

“Harry…”

“Just awhile more Ron, hang on.”

“I call this bench our time out spot every time I send Dad for his check ups.”

Hermione smiled and sat down as Ron took a firm grip of the armrest before lowering himself down. “It’s lovely Ron, nothing but wide open space. It’s peaceful.”

Indeed it was. Shy away from the busy streets of Hogsmeade, the stretch of land ahead of them was now covered in healthy green grass. Ahead of them, a new building sat still and proud. Hermione assumed that was the Bed & Breakfast Ron was talking about.

“There used to be houses here though, before the war.” Ron continued. “I think once the soil is firm enough, they might just rebuild them.”

“So, you walk all the way here and then floo from the Bed & Breakfast all the time?”

“Most of the time, when Dad was strong enough to handle it. We walk through Hogsmeade, that’s how I got to know most of the families living around there. They like to stop and talk to my dad and share their problems. That’s how I got to assist people like Mrs. Lynch anyway. And I figured it’d be healthy for Dad to…go out.”

“What was that ring thing she talked about earlier? For the pipes?”

“Ah…it’s just a ring to sort of alert you if the pipe was going to burst. You just have to tap it once and say ‘fix’ and it’ll fix the problem before it burst.”

Hermione smiled. “That’s brilliant Ron! I know I said you’re really good at these repairing spells but wow, you’re more than just good.”

Ron shrugged, a tinge of blush now creeping up to his face and ears. “It’s nothing big really. You know how Dad loves his muggles artifacts. I figured if I could put his mind into working on something with me at home, he’d get distracted from thinking about…”

Ron waved his hands lazily and then sighed before looking at her. “So what about you Hermione? What have you been up to lately?”

“Work.” She laughed. “I guess that’s my distraction day in day out. It gets easier when you know you’re out there helping someone else’s life a little bit better.”

He nodded. “You’re doing a great job Mione. I’ve read a lot about your team’s work in the Quibbler.”

“You know if you allow yourself some downtime and hang out with me, you could find that out straight from the source.”

Ron smiled but offered no reply and this upset her a little. Was he no longer interested in her? What about that promise they made before the war? She had never brought the subject up out of respect but Ron seemed quite content on not touching about the matter himself.

There was the sound of something flapping in the air and before Hermione knew it, Hedwig had landed on her lap with a tiny scroll of parchment on her leg.

“Hey there buddy.” She greeted with a smile. “I’m sorry there’s no food for you right now.”

“Wait just a minute.” Ron interrupted. He shoved his hand deep inside the pocket of his jeans and pulled out something tiny wrapped in red.

Hermione laughed. “You’re going to give him a chocolate?”

“Hedwig loves chocolate!” Ron said defensively as he unwrapped the candy and raised his palm to the owl. Hedwig snapped it up in a second. “He used to eat all our stash back in Hogwarts.”

“You mean both you and Harry used to train him to eat one?”

Ron shrugged but couldn’t help the tiny smile he let escaped his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hermione shook her head and laughed while un-scrolling the little message. “It’s from our two favorite Aurors.”

“Well go on, read it.”

“Dear Ron and Hermione,” Hermione paused. How nice that sounded to her. Ron and Hermione…she missed that. “We would be delighted to take up on the offer. It had been awhile since we eat real food considering Ginny would rather prefer hex on things than cook them. We will be there with a bottle of firewhisky for good measure.”

Ron laughed and Hermione closed her eyes, cherishing this moment.

“Is that it?” Ron asked.

Hermione shook her head and continued. “P.S. the couch is on stand by for you in case of a fire big brother.”

Ron laughed again, clutching at his side as he did so and Hermione was too happy to hear the very sound that she had missed for too long to even utter a quick comeback. Perhaps not all is lost.