A/N: A few things before we get started. I loved all of the HP books and the seventh is without a doubt my favorite. But I always hoped that somehow Harry and Hermione would end up together. I knew it probably wouldn't happen but when Ron left them in DH I saw the opportunity so this is my version of what I think should have happened after Ron left. I am trying to follow most of the same story lines that Ms. Rowling went with but adjust them to fit my story. It's rated mature just in case things gets a little interesting later on. Obviously I own nothing and I give all of the credit for the characters and the world to Ms. Rowling, just the story is mine. I'll try to post at least a chapter a week, more when I have more time. So please read/review/enjoy.

Chapter 16: A New Dawn

Harry awoke the next morning after not sleeping well. He looked to his left and saw the locket sitting on the table where he had left it after Ron had thrown it to the ground. He looked right, expecting to see Hermione in the bed beside him but he found it empty. Perking up his ears he heard the crackling of a fire outside and pulled on his cloak and headed out of the tent to find Hermione idly poking at the fire. "Morning," he said blinking at the rising sun, something they hadn't seen in weeks.

"Morning," she said softly in return.

"You didn't sleep at all did you," Harry said noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

"No. I tried but every noise I heard I thought it was Ron finally wising up," she replied hoarsely.

"He'll come back," Harry said. "Once he get's a few of his Mom's home cooked meal in his stomach he'll be back and better then ever.

"How?" Hermione asked. "We have to leave this place today, we've already been here nearly a week. Once we leave he won't know were to find us."

"Maybe we could stay a few extra days," Harry said searching for hope.

"No, he's not coming back, he won't back," Hermione said convincing herself.

"Why don't you get some sleep, I'll keep watch," Harry said. Hermione finally gave up her internal fight and walked back into the tent as Harry stirred the fire. He sat and watched as the sun came up over the lake they were camped beside. He thought it was ironic that the first nice day they had had since they left on their journey was the first after Ron had given up the fight. As the sun began to heat the ground Harry pulled off his cloak. For several hours he let the sun heat his body, feeling truly warm for the first time in weeks. As he sat he thought about their journey thus far. Ron had been right about one thing, they were really no closer to defeating Voldemort then they had been since they left the ministry. And yet in spite of that Harry felt his spirits lifted slightly. With just the two of them it would be much easier to move around. The two of them could easily fit under the invisibility cloak so getting food would be an easier task as well. And planning, well finally it would unencumbered by Ron's useless complaining. Maybe now they would be able to think clearly and just get to work.

As he thought about this he saw a fish jumping in the placid lake and it gave him an idea. Stripping off his shirt and pants and casting a warming charm on the water he dove in. As he swam through the slightly murky but not all together too bad water he felt free. He began to swim back and forth along the little beach that they had camped at doing different strokes. Once when he came up for air he heard from the shoreline, "Harry what are you doing?"

He looked over to see Hermione smiling over at him. "Come on Hermione, it feels incredible."

"But I don't have a bathing suit," she replied.

"Neither do I, just go in your knickers. Don't worry I won't look."

"But Harry it looks awfully dirty."

"Hermione we haven't showered since we left Grimmauld Place, you really think cleanliness should be our main concern?"

"Oh all right," she replied. As she began to pull her shirt up Harry spun around and looked back out of the lake as he continued to tread. A few seconds later he heard a loud splash and a few seconds after that Hermione broke the surface right beside him. "Oh Harry this feels so wonderful." For the next hour or so they swam around and for a few minutes almost forgot all about the problems they faced. Finally they decided they had better get a move on. While Harry turned around again Hermione made her way to shore. After a minute she called back to Harry, "Okay you can come in now." He spun around and began to swim to shore and was a little shocked to see Hermione still pulling up her pants. He couldn't help but notice her black knickers and he immediately felt ashamed for the thoughts he was having. She's your best friend, you can't think of her like that, he thought as he pulled on his clothes. As she made her way back to the tent he caught himself staring at her, come on Harry she's practically your sister.

Shaking his head he followed Hermione into the tent and they began to pack everything up. They went through their now very familiar routine of cleaning up any evidence they had ever been there. Finally when everything was packed away into Hermione's bag they grasped each other's hands. Each took one final glance towards the spot where Ron had disparated from before, in a blink, they were gone. Harry looked around to find that Hermione had taken them to a small clearing in the middle of a dense forest and he set his things down to begin casting the protective enchantments around their camp. He looked back to see a small tear trickling down Hermione's cheek and he walked over and put his arm around her. Much to his surprise she responded by holding him close. "That unbelievable prat, how could he just leave us?"

"It's okay Hermione, we'll be okay," Harry said softly.

"I know Harry, as long as I have you I know that I'll be fine. I just can't believe he left."

"I guess it was just too much to ask of him," he replied.

"We're better off anyway, come on, let's get to work." And with that not another word was mentioned of Ron. They quickly got their camp set up and each went to work at studying the notes they had been making. Everything that Harry had down kept pointing him to Godric's Hallow but he knew Hermione would never approve of going there. He spent the next several hours writing out his case as to why they needed to go there, making sure that he had everything in order and that all of his arguments seemed completely logical. He was just about to begin his statement when Hermione piped up, "I think we need to Godric's Hollow."

"You what?"

"I think we need to go to Godric's Hollow," she reiterated.

"But I thought you said that he would be expecting that," Harry replied.

"And he may very well be but it just makes too much sense. I mean Dumbledore lived there, it just seems like the natural connection between you two. I doubt that Voldemort knows that part. There's got to be something there," she stated.

"I was thinking the same thing. I mean what other options do we have at this point?"

"But it'll be dangerous. We'll need to plan. We need to be smart about this."

"That'll be a right bit easier without Ron with us now won't it?" Harry said smirking.

"Boy won't it ever," Hermione said sharing Harry's grin.

"Alright what's the plan?" For the next three days they planned. Hermione was able to get a map of the town from one of her history books and they went about deciding where to go and where the most likely places there would be something hidden may be. It felt invigorating to finally have a set plan. While neither of them had any clue what they may be looking for they both seemed reenergized just to be doing something with a purpose.

There were three places they kept coming upon. The first seemed to be the most obvious in connection with Dumbledore, his old home. From what they understood he lived there from the time he was a young boy, around 10 or 11 until the time that he left to teach at Hogwarts leaving him plenty of time to find a few places for things to hide.

The next most obvious place was Harry's old home, the place his parents had been murdered and supposedly where a moment still stood. They knew that Dumbledore had been in contact with them around that time and even that he had helped them set up their home there so it seemed he would have had a chance to make that connection.

Finally there was the graveyard in Godric's Hollow. From reading through the history books they sumized that that's where both the Harry's parents and Dumbledore's mother and sister were buried in addition to several other prominent witches and wizards from throughout history. Harry knew that hiding things within graves was something that Riddle was keen to do and he thought that maybe Dumbledore would have used that idea to his advantage as well.

The next thing they had to figure out was what it was they were even looking for. All the while they had been so concerned with how to open the locket they had really forgotten to concern themselves with the other horcruxes. "Hufflepuff's cup, the snake and something from Ravenclaw," Harry said repeating what Dumbledore had shown him.

"Well it's like we've been saying, the snake is going to be with him and we have no idea what he may have gotten from Ravenclaw so let's focus on the cup," Hermione stated.

"Oh great so all we have to do is narrow our search down to places that could hold a cup, that shouldn't be too hard," Harry said sarcastically.

"Well it's a start," Hermione mentioned.

"And that's right better than we had to go off before," he replied.

"Alright so are we ready then?" she asked.

"We go tonight, midnight, when no one else should be around," he suggested.

"I think we should apparated to the graveyard, no one will be there at that time of night," Hermione said.

"Then we're all set," he stated. "Let's start getting this place cleaned up."