Hey Everyone, If you have ever run across this story before its because I started it along time ago under a different account. Unfortunately when my girlfriend and I got into a fight the night before, the next day I came home to all of my stuff engulf in flames on our front lawn, including my laptop, all of my flash drives that had backups of the story, and my black book of e-mails and passwords that had all of my information about every single account that I had. Sadly this was one of the sites that I stayed logged in to all of the time. By the time I got a chance to sign in I had not only forgotten the password to my account but to the e-mail that I had specifically made for that account. As you can probably guess we are no longer living together and she was forced to pay me back for everything that she ruined. It took a while but now I have a laptop again and im ready to start the story again( after a few tweaks of course.) It will probably be a week or two between chapters as I can't highlight and copy them from the website to my page and must type them all back out. I hope that this picks up pace like the other one did, and im sorry to all of those who thought that I left it abandoned. If this is your first time reading this well then ignore all of this and read away!

Chapter 1. The Departure

" What do you mean that you're leaving?" Harry shouted as he watched Hermione floating all of her luggage towards the door. She had invited him over to tell him something important, but that was the last thing that he thought that it would be.

Her flat was nothing fancy, just a normal sized apartment with two rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living area. All of the books that usually sat on the shelves on the wall were now gone along with what little furniture she had. The normally cozy apartment was now dark and gloomy and emotions ran high.

Hermione could see the hurt look in his eyes and it took everything that she had not to rush over to him and envelop him in one of her signature rib crushing hugs. " I cant stay here any more. I have to go now, and I felt that you should be the first one to know."

" I dont understand! Why are you leaving? After everything that we've been through me, Ron, and you have been through so much!" He begged. " Why are you abandoning me?"

" That's the reason why right there! Even when talking about us I always come last out of the trio! Harry, Ron, and then Hermione; that's the way that it has always been and I cant stand it anymore. Poor sidekick Hermione always overshadowed by the other two!" There was a type of venom in her voice that cut him deeper than any blade or spell ever had.

Harry stared at her in disbelief " What are you talking about? You're always the helpful one! You discovered the basilisk, helped save Sirius and Buckbeak in third year. All of the training you helped me with fourth year saved my ass in the tournament, not to mention you were there at my side when we stormed the ministry! Please dont go. . . I need you!"

Hermione's eyes started to fill up with tears at that last part. " No you don't, not anymore. Everything that I could have helped you with is finished. Voldemort is done and the war is over, now its time that if find a starting place for my own life."

" You're my best friend Hermione! You were the one that has been through everything with me no matter what! When Ron left it was just us and now you're abandoning me?" he pressed his back against the wall and sank to the floor. " How many years have we been friends?"

Her voice cracked as she answered. " Seven."

He looked up at her, " Then why are you throwing it away as if it was nothing!"

" Why dont you understand that I have to do this! You just became the unofficial leader of Magical Britain you could probably walk in Ministry and do anything that you please. Now you have a girlfriend and the Weasleys love you as if you were sporting the same red hair that they do! Where do I fall in line there? Do you know what I have?" she practically hissed through her tears.

" YOU HAVE ME!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. At this point there were tears falling down his chin onto the floor as he sobbed.

She looked down at him but turned back towards the door. " That isn't enough anymore. I have to find my place in this world thats not behind the shadow of the Boy-Who-Lived. I dont have a life of my own, ive just been your sidekick for as long as we've been friends."

" I never wanted to be the hero you know that right? I didn't need a sidekick, I needed a friend and thats what you were to me. I didnt want to have to fight a crazy dark lord until I was the only member left of my family. My parents, Sirius, Hedwig, even Dobby are all dead because of something that some seer predicted before I was even born. I dont have a family anymore, the Weasleys are trying to show me something that I never had before." he whispered in such a low and sad tone that it took Hermione a second to process what he had said.

" Harry that not what I me-" she started, but he cut her off before she was able to finish her thoughts.

" I never forced you to tag along, you always chose to of your own free will! I never once asked you to put your life on the line for me, or to endanger yourself in one of my adventures, but yet there you were every single time." He said, " You said you lived in my shadow but it was us living in yours. Hermione is the brightest witch of our age, number one in every class, always keeping a cool head and knowing what we should do next. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and now you are going to leave me behind."

She was speechless when he finished but her face took a determined look and she quickly retorted. " I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the fact that you saved me from that troll first year! I wouldn't have been much help on the other end of that club and even back then you were protecting me! I would expect you of all people to be happy that i'm trying to be independent here!"

He looked at her in shock, " You can stay and be independent!"

" No I can't! Everyone here already knows me as one of your closest friends and that means they would do anything to help me. If you asked them to they would probably make me the bloody Minister of Magic before you finished asking! Every door is open just because of my connection to you and I don't want that! I need to know that everything that I get is based on the fact that I was good enough to get there, not just because of your influence." She took a step back as he slowly got up off of the floor.

He walked over to the window and his outline was given more definition when a streak of lightning broke across the sky. Even from behind he looked ragged and worn down, the complete opposite of the cheery person who had shown up at her door less than an hour before. She couldn't remember a time that he had looked so tired and old as he did now. " Please Harry try to be happy for me. This will be a good thing for the both of us!"

" Then just leave! Go and live your life free of me and Ron, and bury all of us in your past! It's obvious that nothing that im going to be able to say is going to stop you from going so just go. I dont want to hear anything anymore." He pointed his wand at the door and it flew open just as Ron's figure appeared in the doorway. Hemione looked at him in shock and then back at Harry.

Not sensing the tension in the room the ever insensitive redhead just walked up to Hermione. " Hey you had something to tell me? And why is Harry here?"

" No reason Ron, I was just about to leave anyway." Harry said as he brushed past them and into the hallway.

Hermione stood there for a second before she started to chase after him. " HARRY WAIT!" she called as she ran down to the first level with Ron and her bags quickly in tow. Right as she pushed the door open to the outside, she saw Harry disappear with almost no sound whatsoever. Sinking to her knees, she just watched the place where Harry once stood and tried to contemplate how she just lost the best thing that she had in her life.