Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or the HP universe obviously. If I did, Draco would've got his redemption arc and Luna would be in every chapter because SHE'S A LEGEND!

Pls review, constructive criticism is always appreciated :) and if you like it that's always nice to hear too. This is my first story so I can't promise much tehe! But pls check it out anyways! LOVE YOU ALL xxx

Hermione stared bleakly at the debris surrounding her. She wasn't usually a furniture smasher, that was a habit usually reserved for more primitive people, like Harry, and Hermione normally preferred to conduct herself in a more refined manner, but exceptions had to be made because the love of her life was dead. Ron was gone.

The words didn't make sense in her head. And yet they were true. Two years ago, during the Battle of Hogwarts, only a couple of hours after Ron had knelt before Hermione on one knee and asked her to marry him, she had watched him die. It had only taken a few muttered words and the slightest flick of his wand for Voldemort to extinguish the light which illuminated Hermione's life. The joy which should have prevailed after Harry had finally defeated the dark lord had been tainted irrevocably by the loss of their best friend. Harry and Hermione had sat side by side, on the steps leading up to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and stared numbly into the distance, whilst the celebrations erupted behind them, the plastic ring that Ron had used for his impromptu proposal fresh on Hermione's finger. The one thought that ran ceaselessly through Hermione's mind on that day was how little time she and Ron had had together.

A brief three months they had had, after he'd finally manned up and told her he was in love with her whilst she, Harry and he were hunting horcruxes during their seventh year. They had squeezed every moment together they could out of it, cherished every second in each other's company, all too aware that every moment could be their last. Nights they'd spent in each other's arms, Hermione trying to memorise every freckle on Ron's body, whilst Harry cringed in another room. Days spent with their fingers intertwined, trying to learn everything they could about each other. Yet it hadn't been enough for Hermione. She'd wanted to spend every minute of the rest of her life with him.

She'd known deep down that it was entirely possible that he would die, and still some part of her refused to believe it, had held on to the hope that the world couldn't be that cruel. And yet it was. She'd been left with nothing but her memories of him and a box of trinkets of everything he'd ever given her. And even after two years, she still wasn't over his death. She still couldn't let go. So she found herself here, curled in a ball on the kitchen floor of her tiny muggle apartment in the middle of London, hopelessly lost and hurting, and surrounded by her smashed up furniture. Her deluge of depressing thoughts was interrupted by the sound of someone flooing into her apartment. There was only one person who that could be.

"Come on, up you get." Ginny pulled her to her feet. With a flick of her wand, the chaos surrounding Hermione began putting itself back together. Hermione wondered sadly whether there was a spell that could do that to her heart. "Breaking everything in your apartment, Hermione, really? That is such a Harry move." Ginny half-dragged, half-carried Hermione to the kitchen table and plonked her into a chair. "Cup of tea? Mum always says a cuppa cures all woes." Ginny chattered brightly, as though Hermione's emotional breakdown was an everyday occurrence. She flicked her wand and a few seconds later two steaming mugs of tea floated down onto the newly repaired kitchen table. Ginny took a seat opposite Hermione and cradled her mug. "Now Hermione, what seems to be the problem?" Ginny's calm tone, and her expression of concern reminded Hermione so much of Molly Weasley that she very nearly burst into tears, but she controlled herself.

"I have to go back to the Ministry on Monday." Hermione offered up by way of explanation, reaching for her own mug. After that fateful battle two years ago, Hermione had gone back to school. No amount of heartache was going to prevent Hermione Granger from getting her qualifications. The school year had passed Hermione by in a wave of numbness. She and Ginny had spent nearly every moment of their waking life together, supporting each other through the emotional trauma of what they'd been through the previous year. Ginny had been Hermione's rock, her last remaining strand of sanity in an increasingly mad world. And Ginny had lost so much. Percy, Ron, and then, to finish it all off, Harry had left her.

He'd abandoned them all. Ron's death, the death of his best friend in the world, had been the last straw for Harry. He had bought himself a house with the money given to him for 'saving the wizarding world' and shut himself away inside it, casting every protective spell he knew around it. He'd become a recluse. The message was clear. Harry didn't want to be found. The last words he'd said to Hermione before he abandoned her to deal with the loss of Ron by herself, were 'it should have been me'. He'd left Ginny without saying a word to her, and Hermione knew that it was this betrayal that had wounded Ginny just as much as Ron's death had wounded Hermione. The fact that Harry had willingly chosen not to be with her had broken Ginny's heart. And Hermione found it difficult to forgive him for it.

Once Hermione had graduated, with flying colours, as was to be expected from 'the brightest witch of her age', she'd got a job at the Ministry in the department of magical creatures. But a month ago, Hermione had had a breakdown and been granted time of work in which to heal her broken heart. And Hermione had tried, but her heart remained stubbornly in pieces. The problem was that the Ministry held so much trauma for Hermione. At Hogwarts, she'd managed to get by, leaning heavily on Ginny and remembering the good memories she had at the school. But the Ministry had been the sight of so many bad occurrences that Hermione had struggled to concentrate, with the amount of thoughts which circulated her mind and drowned her.

Ginny understood Hermione, even in a few simple words. "I see." She said. There was a moment of thoughtful silence. "Come on." Ginny suddenly decided, "Let's get out of here." She grabbed Hermione's arm across the table, and before Hermione even had the chance to protest, Ginny had apparated them away with a pop.

They were on a hill, with a sweeping view of the whole of muggle London laid out before them. The sky was painted candyfloss pink. Hermione sat down, forgetting her troubles for just a moment whilst she appreciated the view. Ginny sat beside her, her arm around Hermione's shoulder. Hermione leaned her bushy head against her shoulder, and Ginny's auburn hair whipped around them in the wind.

"I miss him." She murmured to Ginny, "So much. Every second of every day. It's been two years. I should have healed by now. But I haven't." She did. She missed every part of him. His ginger hair she liked to run her fingers through. His sense of humour. That easy smile that won her over from the moment she'd met him.

"You know, they always say 'time heals all wounds', but it doesn't. You just learn to live with the pain." Ginny squeezed Hermione's shoulder. "It will get easier, I swear to you, 'Mione."

"All I keep thinking is, if he was here, we would be married by now. We'd have our first child on the way. And I wonder, what would we call them? We'd argue over names, that's for certain. He'd suggest something ridiculous, like Spike, and I'd tell him that over my dead body would any child of mine ever be called Spike." Hermione chuckled, even though she'd made this scenario up in her head. But she and Ginny had been friends for so long, that she knew Ginny wouldn't pass judgement. Ginny already knew Hermione was crazy. "There was a time, after he died, that I kept on hoping he'd given me his child. That I could at least have that. But he hadn't, months went by and I knew he hadn't…"

"You know, I never really wanted to know that much about my brother's sex life." Ginny joked, and Hermione laughed. This was why she loved Ginny. She made her laugh, no matter how awful things might seem.

"Do you still love him?" she asked suddenly, knowing that Ginny would understand what she was asking.

Ginny sighed. "You know, I wish I could tell you no. I wish I could say I was over him. But the truth is, I've loved him for far too long for it to be as simple as that. I don't know whether I'll ever stop loving him." Hermione looked up at Ginny. Her eyes had that faraway look they always got when she talked about Harry. To leave her, without saying a word. It had been a dick move on Harry's part.

"I'm so sorry, Gin." Hermione took her hand and squeezed it. Harry and Ginny had seemed perfect for each other. A few years ago Hermione had imagined that one day she would be attending their wedding, with Ron sat beside her, all choked up at the sight of his little sister getting married. That perfect future was far from the painful reality. Hermione had always thought defeating Voldemort would solve all her problems, and yet here she was.

"I miss having you around, y'know." She said suddenly, "At Hogwarts, we supported each other through this stuff. It was the only way I could survive. I guess that's why I find it so hard at the ministry. You're not there." They lapsed into thoughtful silence. Both women had a lot on their mind. A few minutes later, Ginny broke it.

"Well, how about…" she began carefully, "I move in with you?" Hermione peered up at her, to check if she was joking. Ginny's facial expression told Hermione she wasn't.

"What?" she said after the seconds it took her to process what Ginny was asking of her, "Are you crazy?"

"No." Ginny said defensively, "It's a good idea. I'm lonely. I live by myself. You're lonely, and unstable." Hermione opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't unstable, then remembered the carnage Ginny had walked in on earlier and snapped it shut. "You say having me around makes you more stable. So therefore, it follows that I move in with you." Seeing Hermione was about to argue, Ginny continued hurriedly, "You'll barely even know I'm there. You've got a spare room, don't you? And I'll help with all the chores and the cleaning and the cooking. Plus, I'm away for ages with the Holyhead Harpies. It would be perfect!" Hermione stared at her, trying to work out whether Ginny was serious.

"No way." She said firmly, "Absolutely no way."