A/N: This story is a prequel to another tentatively named A Quiet Year with Harry and Hermione returning to school before it turns to fucking HELL! the majority of that storyline is being integrated into my AU. I have most of the next year complete and will eventually finish and post it but for now I wanted to throw up this one. It IGNORES a lot of canon and I rework it in a subsequent chapter so save questions about canon until then.

Prologue:

He stood in the ruined section of the castle he had once thought of as his true home and remembered the moment in the pensieve. Hogwarts was just as much Tom's home as Harry's, yet the thing had destroyed it.

He looked to the floor of the great hall. His eyes couldn't pull themselves from where Ron and George had lain, two more people he loved above all else dead.

A hand on his shoulder broke his concentration and he turned. Eyes of chocolate, gold, and just the hint of flecks of green as deep as his stared back into his. Arms wrapped around him and she buried her face in his neck. "Harry," Hermione murmured. "Will you come with me?"

"I'll never leave you again," he whispered into her hair. "I swear."

She took his hand and once she stepped back enough, he took her in fully. Pink. She was always in pink when she wasn't wearing her uniform. And Harry realized he could never love Red and Gold more than he loved pink.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"I love pink."

She looked confused for a moment then looked down at her smoke, blood, and dirt caked clothing. The last battle had been over for a week before. She was still wearing the same clothing. She knew she reeked. Her hair was caked with filth. And he was looking at her like she was a chocolate frog he had to consume utterly.

Her cheeks are such to a lovely shade of pink, he thought as she said "I'll never wear any other color then."