Well another year has come and gone and what a year it has been. I turned fifteen, faced more exams than I have ever had to in my life and unfortunately have been neglecting this story. This chapter is dedicated to all of the people who have stuck by this story and supported me over the last year.

Hermione rocked back and forth on the Burrow's dilapidated yet water tight roof, reflecting on a happier time. One where the mere sight of the Burrow's grounds filled her with a sense of warmth that she had never come across in any other dwelling (except perhaps Hogwarts), but now everything down to the mismatched cauldrons on the lawn reminded her of the life she could no longer have. Hermione swung her legs restlessly allowing the summer breeze to whip her already bushy hair into a halo of chaos that matched her confused and pained state. 'How easy it would be to end it all now.' she thought, gazing wistfully down towards the blackness of the grass below her 'One push and it would all be over.' As she thought this Hermione felt her hands grasp the roof tiles tighter, whether to push herself off of her precarious spot or to help keep her balance she wasn't quite sure.

It didn't matter what happened to her now she realised: her death had already torn the Weasley family apart losing her the one crumb of comfort she had been holding onto during her painful ordeal. The Weasley's were the closest thing she had ever had to a family – even her biological parents had never appreciated her magical gifts, often greeting her with fear rather than compassion when she returned home for the holidays. Now she had no one. Hermione winced in pain as she thought back to that agonizing moment at dinner; George's cracked voice, Ginny's tears, Mrs Weasley's furious accusations... It was too much handle even without the ugly scar that marked her for a death that had not come. She gasped as her scar gave another painful twinge as more memories came flooding back, memories that she would rather remained forgotten.

She slumped back allowing the first of many tears to trickle slowly down her dirt smudged cheek, feeling dust become dislodged from cracks between the roof tiles as she did. Hermione wanted to scream, to let out the anguish and hurt that had been building up inside her over the last few hours but she knew that it would do no good. If anything it would only attract attention from the Weasley family who she could hear were still shouting in the kitchen below. She was unable to hear any of the words but her acute sense of hearing could pick out Mr Weasley's quiet reasoning, Fred and Mrs Weasley's shouts and a faint sobbing which could only be Ginny. Hermione felt as if she had just run a marathon, the guilt was eating her alive. Her heart was beating faster than she had ever felt in her life and her breath was coming out in short, painful bursts like that of a choked animal. She wanted them to stop, it was too much for her to take though she knew that she couldn't return to the kitchen, not when half of the Weasley family were out for her blood.

She cursed under her breath. Hermione knew why it was so difficult for the Weasley family to believe her story after everything they had gone through – her death, Harry and Ron's departure and Lupin's leg. It still didn't make it easier to cope when she was forced to deal with her own disbelief at the revelations let alone those of her surrogate family. She shut her eyes trying to blot out the world and the continuing shouts but it was to no avail so she forced herself to open them again and stare at the cloudless sky above her. For a few moments she tried to take her mind off of things by scanning the heavens for her favourite constellations but after reciting them in alphabetical order twice under her breath she could not shake off that feeling of dread that had accompanied her ever since she read her own obituary just twelve hours earlier.

The full moon hung over the lake, illuminating the clear water and the surrounding trees. Hermione felt her breath catch somewhere in her chest as her eyes alighted on the now bloomless cherry blossom trees beside the lake beneath which stood her marble white gravestone. Suddenly the airless feeling of being trapped overcame her once more and she had to blink a few time to remove the feeling of suffocation, whether from memories of the coffin or the lake she wasn't sure.

The full moon reminded her of Lupin and the painful transformation he had undoubtedly undertaken mere hours ago. She wondered dully whether it could be more painful than the way her heart ached for the feeling of sanctuary that she had once felt but that seemed like a long forgotten dream. Hermione smiled bleakly, recalling those happy snapshots of the past that could never happen again; picking flowers in the front yard with Ginny, doing her homework with Harry under the stars or brewing some potion or another in the twins' bedroom. She smiled thinking back to her last happy summer with the twins, standing on the roof a few feet away from where she was sitting trying to conquer her lifelong fear of heights...

Flashback

"I'm not sure this was such a good idea." Hermione clung onto one of the Burrow's mismatched chimneys as Fred and George stood either side of her. They sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. They had been up on the roof for the last hour trying to convince Hermione that there was nothing to be scared of. They had tried almost everything they could think of - from coaxing to threatening. At one point they had even tried to pick her up; George could still feel the bruises forming on his back from where she had kicked him.

"Honestly," said Fred "for the brightest witch of the age you can be unbelievably stubborn." Hermione went red but still didn't move.

"Come on Mione, you were the one that wanted to go into the astronomy tower without feeling like you're going to barf." George said, tapping his foot impatiently but stopped quickly when the tile crumbled beneath his shoe and skittered down off the edge of the roof. Fortunately Hermione didn't notice. She was too busy burying her head into the side of the ash covered chimney.

'Change tactics,' mouthed George and Fred nodded. They moved away from the chimney towards the edge of the roof and stared across the grounds pretending to ignore the frightened girl behind them. "Come on Fred, this isn't worth our time" George said out loud "Who would have thought it Hermione Granger, our bookish goddess, a coward." Fred smiled as he heard Hermione's shuffling footsteps as she looked up and edged cautiously towards where they stood, determined to prove them wrong.

"I guess she isn't worthy of our wit, charm or dashing good looks" said Fred as Hermione came up beside them looking somehow pale despite her ash covered face "Even if she does look unbelievable beautiful in black." Hermione blushed as Fred winked at her before realising what his words meant. George laughed as she reached up to wipe her face only to find that her hand was even blacker. With identical movements Fred and George both conjured a handkerchief from up their sleeves and handed them to her with a magician's flourish. She took them and let out a small giggle before catching sight of the four story drop and turned pale again. Fred looked at her concerned and raised his eyebrows infinitesimally, a signal that the twins had agreed long ago was their cue to lighten the mood. George nodded.

"So should I set all of your girlfriends on fire in future then Freddy dearest." George asked mockingly. "I wondered why Angelina looked cross at the Yule Ball, had you just lit her robes?" Fred smirked at the memory of his date's charred dress and her furious expression as sparklers and whizzbangs continued to circle around her.

"Forgive me for wanting the party to end on a bang! How was I supposed to know that dress robes are highly flammable." He replied indignantly, "We all laughed about it afterwards, when the fireworks had been vanished. Anyway, you can talk, remember when you tried to pick up that fifth year in Honeydukes! Who tries to chat up a girl by saying 'Hi there, you have the same name as my girlfriend.'" George's ears went scarlet but he held his ground.

"Come on, it actually worked!" Hermione burst out laughing, clutching onto Fred for support.

"Touché Forge, touché" Fred shrugged in defeat and clapped his twin on the back as Hermione sat down on the tiles laughing harder than she had in a long time.

"Did you really manage to pick up a girl like that?" she asked as George nodded, wiping away tears of mirth "How did your girlfriend react?" Fred laughed harder as George recounted the short yet eventful tale of Laura Jenkins turning his ears into antlers as he returned to the Gryffindor common room holding hands with Laura Hughes after they'd been snogging in Hogsmeade. The girl had been so furious that she had refused to remove the charm for a week forcing George to walk through doors sideways and watch out for any portraits he might accidently rip.

"Even McGonagall refused to change them back, thought I might actually learn a lesson from it. All I learned is to stay away from people called Laura." George finished as they sat on the edge of the roof, Hermione and Fred either side of him swinging their legs, carefree.

"On the bright side, at least everyone could tell us apart." Fred said as they shared a group high five. Hermione laughed and wiped her eyes. They sat there in silence for a few moments, watching Harry and Ron attempting to degnome the garden which was the worst it had been in some time. Ron turned around after tossing a particularly fat one over the hedge and spotted them perched on the roof. He nudged Harry and they both waved cheerfully. Hermione waved back and smiled contently.

"I don't think heights are so bad after all." She said slowly, smirking slightly as she watched a gnome bite Harry's finger as he bent down to tie his shoe laces. Fred and George grinned at each other and high fived behind her back, careful not to scare her and undo an hour's worth of hard work.

"You know what Gred, we might be able to get her on a broom at this rate." George punched her lightly on the arm and she smiled casually.

"One step at a time boys, one step at a time…" Hermione hugged them both then stood up, pacing back towards the open sky light. "I think lunch might be ready soon, I can smell bacon."

"Oi" The twins shouted in unison and Hermione turned in time to see them pounce. "You aren't getting away from us that easily." They tackled her onto the roof tiles and began mercilessly tickling her, becoming coated in tile dust in the process. Their laughter echoed around the grounds, filling every nook and cranny with its uplifting sound - the ghost of a happy day.

End of Flashback

Those days were over. Hermione started to realise the truth of what the war could do. It had wrenched her from everyone she held near and dear so she felt like a stranger in her own home. The Weasley's shouts were proof enough of that. She winced as she remembered her escape from the kitchen; the accusations, the shouting, her attempts at an explanation that fell on deaf ears. Eventually she did the only thing she could do, run. She had slipped from the kitchen in the confusion relying on their heated emotions to prevent them from noticing her absence. So far it had worked. She had run through the house until she had reached the only place she felt remotely safe – the roof. She smiled coldly at the irony.

It was only then that she realised something was wrong. The shouts that had been echoing up to her for what felt like hours had gone replaced by mutters so quiet that she could not make out who was speaking. This could only mean one thing, they had reached a decision. Hermione felt a sense of trepidation, wondering whether her family would see her as a friend or foe when they eventually found her. She sighed deeply as the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs reached her ears, resigned to her fate. Hermione hoped that if Fred and George had turned against her that the Weasley's would have enough mercy in them to kill her quickly. She did not think she could bare living if she no longer had them at her side.

Hermione didn't turn when she heard the creek of the skylight opening behind her nor when she felt the steady flow of dust against her back as someone came down towards where she sat. She didn't turn when she heard Fred's voice slowly calling to her either or when he sat down beside her.

"Have you come to kill me" she asked quietly allowing the last of her tears to flow knowing she may never cry again. "Or to let me live?" Hermione's heart ached, dreading the response. For a minute he didn't do or say anything. His cheeks were red and his normally jovial expression was now etched with sadness. Then he reached over and hugged Hermione tightly as if he were afraid that if he let go she would disappear. She buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed scared of what would come next.

"It's alright love, no one blames you." Fred said soothingly, rubbing his girlfriend's back as they rocked back and forth. "Even mum and dad believe you're telling the truth about Ron even if they don't want to."

"They were so angry" she choked out between sobs remembering Mr Weasley's normally calm face contorted in rage. "I think they wanted to kill me." Fred looked at her sadly wishing he could tell her otherwise but the truth was the last few hours had been him and George pleading for her life. Neither parent wanted to believe they had raised a would-be murderer that was now wandering around with the wizarding world's only hope of salvation.

"Yeah, and I wanted to kill them for threatening my girl" Fred tried to lighten the mood. Hermione looked up and smiled sadly unsure whether to believe what she was hearing.

"What happened down there, you were shouting for so long." She asked softly

"More of what you saw earlier. I was so relieved when you got out ok, I've never seen dad that furious before in my life, not even when we turned Auntie Muriel's hair pink at Christmas. He kept threatening you over and over, thought you were a death eater in disguise all over again. Mum didn't want to believe that her son could ever do such a thing for jealousy because she couldn't believe that anyone could be dense enough not to see how much we care about each other." Hermione smiled slightly but then winced, her hand flying up to her scar at the mention of Ron's name. "Are you ok?" Fred asked, concerned.

"Fine," Hermione lied "Just a headache from all of the shouting." Fred didn't look convinced but decided not to press it. She had been through so much over the last twenty four hours that he didn't want to make things worse. Hermione changed the subject. "Is Ginny OK? She was sobbing so hard." Fred remembered his little sister's expression of pure anguish as she sat silently in the kitchen chair and shivered.

"She's calmed down a bit now." Hermione sighed in relief. "We were worried she was going into hysterics at one point. I think Ginny blames herself for all of this because she played Quidditch with me, George and Harry rather than going with you."

"George, Harry and I" muttered Hermione under her breath and Fred laughed softly.

"Same old Hermione, always there to correct our mistakes." Hermione blushed and turned back to stare at the moon above them allowing it all to sink in - she was free.

"So is that it then; am I safe?" She asked slowly.

"Everyone's still a little shaken. Me and George – sorry –George and I defended you as best we could but it's still difficult even for us to cope." Fred trailed off. He could feel the anger pulsing through his veins and balled his hands into fists, thinking of everything Ron had done to them. Eventually he couldn't hold it in any longer. "How could that git do something like that? You're his best friend." He shouted suddenly causing some birds that were nesting in a nearby tree to take flight and for Hermione to flinch back in alarm. "Sorry Mione, I just needed to let it out." She snuggled up to him again realising only then how cold she was.

"I was his best friend." She said slowly looking up at him. "We've always known Ron was the jealous type; I mean look at the Yule Ball. If he had just asked me out in the first place then none of this would have happened – I would never have become friends with you and George, we would never have started dating, I would have never died." Fred opened his mouth to say something but Hermione shushed him. "I also would never have learned to laugh, or pranked a teacher, or have fun rather than spending my life pouring over books and doing other people's homework. I have no regrets"

"It's all my fault." Fred whispered, staring across the moonlit lake and the pearly headstone that marked where Hermione had been buried alive. "If we had just left you alone that day, if I had never asked you out, If I had just told Ron that we were a couple rather than just presuming he knew then – then –"

"Shh…" Hermione said and held him close. "I'm alive now because of you. If it weren't for that locket I really would be dead and buried. You save my life, Fred Weasley, I won't forget that. One day I'll repay the favour"

"Hopefully you'll never have to love." Fred reached down, cupped her face and pulled her into a tender kiss that seemed to last forever even if was only a few seconds long.

"Oi you two, get a room" said a familiar voice from behind and the couple broke apart. Hermione whipped around suddenly, drawing her wand, to see a grinning George poking his head through the skylight. His expression changed quickly to one of terror as he stared up at the deadly weapon she was pointing at his face. "Woah Hermione, it's only me." She lowered her wand much to George's relief and reached down to help him climb up to join them on the edge of the roof.

"I think you'll find that we had a room George until we were so rudely interrupted." Hermione punched him playfully on the arm and George grinned back, relieved to see that she was ok.

"Did you want something Georgie, we were kind of busy up here and I'd like to continue where we left off." Fred wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Hermione turned crimson. George's expression suddenly became more serious.

"Um… yeah actually, mum and dad wanted me to fetch you. They want to apologise." The twins looked at her nervously as Hermione's eyes grew wide. They sighed in relief as she stood up and shook her head to clear it of dust the bits of tile that had become lodged there.

"Thanks George, I'll see you later." She said quietly and climbed back through the skylight. George sat down beside Fred silently swinging his legs unsure what to do or say. They looked at each other.

"You ok mate?" George asked noticing his twin's sombre expression.

"No idea." Said Fred honestly "So much has changed, I'm not sure whether it's good or bad."

"I know. I mean, Ron is the world's biggest prat but this…" He shook his head with supressed rage "I just want to kill him." George said, surprised at his determined tone. "Even if Ron is family I for one know what's important to me and that's Hermione."

"Glad I'm not the only one" Fred smiled slightly. "She needs us." They sat there for a moment both imagining how they could exact their revenge on Ron, each idea more torturous than the last. Just as Fred was fantasising trapping him in a crate with fifty blast-ended skrewts George spoke again.

"Do you think things will ever be alright again? I mean where the worst people have to worry about is our products rather than their own mortality."

"No idea, mate. We can hope though." They slowly got to their feet and made their way back up towards the large chimney.

"Let's see how Hermione is, she could probably use some cheering up." Fred jumped through the open skylight closely followed by George and landed in Ron's now empty bedroom. They paused a moment, both trying to contain the rage that coursed through them every time they remembered what Ron had done, how he had betrayed them.

They emerged into the brightly lit kitchen five minutes later, not bothering to apperate, to see Hermione, Ginny and their parents sat quietly around the kitchen table. There was a smashed bowl in the corner of the room where Mrs Weasley had dropped it and all of the dinner plates were piled messily on top of each other in the corner, uneaten dishes lining the work surfaces. The group were talking calmly enough although they all seemed a little wary of each other. Ginny's face was still quite red and Hermione's eyes glistened slightly in the light. They all looked up just as Hermione was about to hand Mr Weasley a small phial she was holding in a slightly shaking hand.

"How's it going?" they asked together warily taking seats either side of Hermione. Ginny smiled at them contrasting with her tear streaked cheeks.

"Hermione was just giving us her memory of the day it… happened." Said Mr Weasley roughly, staring at the small bottle which would prove his son's guilt. Hermione handed it over to Mrs Weasley while Arthur muttered an incantation under his breath. Ginny jumped when the table she was leaning against started shrinking, becoming circular and slowly filling with a swirling liquid.

"Hey I didn't know we had a pensieve" she exclaimed. Fred and George grinned mischievously at her.

"Dad installed it so he could find out whether we'd been pranking or not." Fred said

"Yeah, if we'd covered up our memories then we were guilty." Added George

"Like we weren't always," They said in unison and high fived. Hermione and Ginny laughed while Mrs Weasley tried to keep a straight face as runes started appearing around the edge of the stone basin.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" said Mrs Weasley slowly as Mr Weasley poured the memory into the liquid and sighed in trepidation.

"We have to know the truth." Arthur turned towards Hermione. "Are you coming with us?" She nodded tensely. They all lined up in silence one by one plunging their faces into the memory.

When they emerged a few minutes later every one of them had shock and anger written across their faces. Mr Weasley's hands were balled into fists and Fred and George were consoling a sobbing Hermione while resisting the urge to seek out Ron themselves. Ginny went over to her mother and hugged her close. They stayed this way for a few moments, allowing the truth to sink in.

"So he really did it then." Ginny said slowly letting go of her mother and sitting down in her familiar seat by the now re-transfigured kitchen table. "I couldn't have been someone in disguise?"

"No." said Hermione sadly "He answered my security question. Only Ron and Harry know the answer." They all pondered this in silence, trying to come up with a way that meant that Ron wasn't the guilty one but it was no use. Everything that he did afterwards made sense even down to his manner at the funeral.

"Well that's that then." Said Mr Weasley as Molly reached down and hugged Hermione to the point where she would suffocate whispering mismatched apologies as she did. Hermione just nodded silently as her face became redder and redder much to the amusement of Fred and George. Finally Mrs Weasley released her.

"Can you forgive us for what we… almost did."

"Already have." Hermione smiled and went over to stand next to Fred and George who gave her a quick hug. Mrs Weasley glanced up at the Weasley clock sighing as she saw all of the hands were still pointing towards 'Mortal Peril.' She then glanced at the real clock above the door and started in surprise.

"Goodness me, look at the time, I expect you all must be starving." She said apologetically as everyone's stomachs let out a loud rumble. Mrs Weasley hurried to the counter and started dishing out mountains of food onto dinner plates and heating them with a flick of her wand.

"I'll help Mrs Weasley." said Hermione coming up to join her.

"No don't be silly dear, sit down. You've been through more in twenty four hours than most have been through in a life time." Hermione hugged Mrs Weasley and went to join the rest of the family around the table.

"So what now?" asked Ginny pushing aside her empty plate and declining her mother's offer of seconds. "Will things ever be the same?"

"I don't know Gin." Said Hermione and everyone stared at her. "What?" she asked

"Hermione Granger, our bookish goddess, not knowing something." Said George in mock horror

"Quick call St. Mungo's!" added Fred reaching for the muggle telephone Mr Weasley kept on the counter. They all laughed, feeling like a family again.

"Shut up!" Hermione muttered under her breath making everyone laugh harder.

"Seriously though, we need to do something." Ginny said as the laughter subsided. "If Snape is going to be headmaster of Hogwarts and the death eaters are taking over then we need to do something about it.

"For now Ron isn't important" Hermione agreed taking a deep breath and rubbing her aching scar. Even the mere mention of Ron's name was causing it to twinge; she could finally sympathise with Harry. Hermione ignored the pain and continued. "People will die if we sit back and do nothing. I say we restart Dumbledore's Army." People looked up at her some in shock others in excitement.

"But I'm not sure we can. We aren't the same people we were two years ago." said Ginny quietly not looking Hermione in the eyes. "I'm not sure I'm the same person I was last week." Fred and George glanced at his sister surprised before realising the truth of her words. The month's events had taken a toll on all of them and even the twins had to admit that they were no longer the same jovial pranksters they once were. Hermione looked over at the them and noticed their identical thoughtful expressions.

"You're right Gin, everything is different now, everyone is different now and we will never be the same people that we once were. But think of everything we've been through, think of all we've overcome." Hermione smiled at all of them and was relieved to see some of the congregation nodding back at her. "Just because murder changes us all doesn't mean we are any less the people we were last year or the year before. We are stronger than ever and we'll create an army to match." Mr Weasley stood up and raised his glass of firewhiskey prompting everyone else to follow suit.

"Dumbledore's Army" He toasted and everyone followed suit the chink of glass on glass reverberating around the room.

"So what's the plan, Mione?" The twins asked in unison. Hermione looked around the room at all of the faces staring up at her and downed her glass of pumpkin juice.

"Finish your drinks everyone: we have work to do."

Hey guys, I'm going to end this story here and hopefully post up the sequel soon entitled 'Dumbledore's Army, still recruiting" featuring the rise of D.A. as our favourite trio infiltrate Hogwarts :)