The war was over. Many had died fighting Voldemort, but many more would have died if not for their sacrifice. Harry was going up to the dormitories. Hermione and Ron walked silently through the many corridors, not all too sure where they were going, but taking solace in each other's company. They both had wounds, in their hearts and on their bodies that would take long to heal.

Hermione stopped short, catching Ron by surprise when he took a few more steps and saw that she wasn't beside him. He turned back to her, shocked by the distant look in her brown eyes.

"She's gone" she whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"Who's gone?" Ron asked, stepping closer to her.

She blinked and her eyes focused on him, as if she were coming back from somewhere else, "Oh… sorry Ron, I guess everything that's happened has made me a bit… out of it." She looked away from him and started to continue walking, but he put his arm out to stop her.

"Who's gone Hermione?"

She refused to meet his eyes, "Voldemort's gone Ron."

"You weren't talking about Voldemort Hermione." He stepped in front of her and gripped her shoulders, but she still refused to look at him.

"I…" she finally met his fierce gaze, her eyes brimming with tears "Alright, Bellatrix is gone. She's dead, your mother killed her, and I'm bloody happy she's dead."

Under normal circumstances, Ron would have been overjoyed to hear Hermione curse, but he could hear the stress in her voice and said gently, "Yes, she's gone. So is You-Kno… Voldemort and a hell of a lot of other bloody Death Eaters whom I won't be missing." Then he added in a tone of bitterness, "A lot of our people our dead too. Lupin, Tonks, Colin and… Fred. But that's not what you're talking about Hermione, is it?"

She stepped back quickly, out of his grasp, "I… I'm so sorry Ron… about Fred… you don't need to be bothered with what's troubling me. No one does. There is far too much going on for my… for my small issues. Really, I'm fine Ron." She turned away from him, staring at the ground; "You should… go be with your family Ronald. They need you I'm sure."

He stepped up to her and quickly wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened for a moment, but relaxed into him within moments.

"I'm fine right here. Tell me Hermione. I thought we were done playing these games with each other."

As soon as the last word came from his mouth, Hermione spun around and kissed him. Their first kiss had been passion, fire, and adrenaline fueled by the knowledge that they may not live so to do it again. Whereas this one was slow, deliberate, and with an undertone that Ron couldn't quite grasp. He responded eagerly, moving his hands down to her waist.

Her kiss became stronger and more demanding as her hands wrapped up in his ginger hair. Not to be outmatched, Ron started moving forward until he had her pressed up against the wall of the empty corridor and began moving his hands up and down her sides, reveling that he could finally touch her.

It was then that he realized what the undertone was: sadness, and pain.

Ron pulled away to see tears running down Hermione's cheeks, "Hermione?"

She stared deep into his bright blue eyes and pleaded, "Please Ron… please just help me forget."

He pulled back even more and wiped a tear away from her face with his thumb, "Forget what? Please Hermione, I need you to tell me. I can't… I can't do this alone. I need you to help me with… with everything. But I need to help you too."

She closed her eyes and sighed, and didn't open them as she whispered, "I didn't realize how what happened at Malfoy Manor would affect me. Ron I… when it was over, I got so caught up with planning to get into the vault at Gringotts and with everything that was happening and all that we needed to do that it just seemed like the whole ordeal didn't even faze me. But just now I got a chill, and for that moment it felt that Bellatrix was looming over me again, that I was going to die. I had to remind myself that she was dead, that she is never coming back…

She opened her eyes again, "It doesn't seem like it's all over does it? We still have so much to do, so many things to fix, so many people to heal. There are still Death Eaters out there that escaped. The Ministry is in shambles. And look at me. I'm going on and on like a mad woman about something that doesn't matter…" she pushed past him and started walking down the corridor at a brisk pace, and called over her shoulder, "You really should go be with your family Ron, stop fretting about me."

When she rounded the corner, Ron broke out of his daze and began to follow.

When screaming started to eco throughout the corridor, he broke into a run.

Around the corner, Hermione was on the floor and curled into a ball screaming like she had in Malfoy Manor.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted, kneeling beside her, "Someone help! Hermione hold on, hold on I'll get help, just hold on. Everything is going to be fine."

Her screaming abruptly stopped, leaving her unconscious and pale on the floor, scaring Ron even more than when she had been screaming. At least when she screamed that meant she was alive.

Quickly, but as gently as he could to avoid injuring her further, Ron scooped her up in his arms and began jogging down the corridor. As he ran, his mind fell back to another time, not to terribly long ago but seemed like a lifetime, when he landed heavily on the beach at Shell Cottage next to Hermione who he had just pulled from the wreckage of a chandelier at Malfoy Manor. She had been unconscious then too, and looked as if death was very near to pulling her into its grasp. He had pulled her into his arms and had ran, just as he was now, to get help.

"Ron!" He heard someone shout; he turned wildly to see Neville, bruised and bloodied but obviously exulted from their victory, jogging towards him. His smile faded quickly into an expression of fear as he saw Hermione, lying limp and seemingly lifeless in his arms, "Oh no Ron. No she can't be… not after all of this…"

"She's not!" Ron snapped venomously, "She just… well I don't know, but she's not dead! Stop gaping and get help!"

As he said this, Professor McGonagall rounded the corner briskly, worry evident on her face, "What is all the yell… oh heavens, Ms. Granger. Is she…"

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" Ron shouted, shaking with fury and fear, "BUT SHE MIGHT BE IF SOMEONE DOESN'T BLOODY HELP HER!"

Though his shouting didn't seem to faze her, McGonagall paled as she stepped closer and saw the state Hermione was in, "Follow me Mr. Weasley, the Hospital Wing is still mostly intact and not far from here and St. Mungo's Hospital staff are helping Madam Pomfrey heal the injured." She spun on her heel and marched down the hall with Ron and Neville following right behind, "She will be top priority I assure you. She did not live through all of that to die now."

The Hospital Wing's doors had been blasted off of their hinges, and the wall in the northwestern corner had crumbled away, but a large majority of the giant room was as it had always been with the exception that there were far more beds filled that usual.

"Lay her here Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said; gesturing to an empty bed in the corner, "I will go get Madame Pomfree."

Ron did as he was instructed and gently set Hermione on the hospital bed. She was deathly pale, and looking at her unconscious form made Ron realize how small she was. Their months on the run had taken their toll on her, making her thin and worn looking. The scar on her neck from Belatrix's knife stood out stark against her pale skin, and she had other various cuts and bruises as a result from the battle. She also had blood spatter on her robes, and Ron knew a large majority of it was not her own.

"What happened Mr. Weasley?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

Ron jumped, he hadn't realized that the matron and McGonagall had returned, "Uh, she was acting really strange, kept saying something about..." Ron stopped, deciding that Hermione might not appreciate it if he went blabbing about her torture at Malfoy Manor when she could barely bring herself to mention it; "the battle. And then she walked about the corner. Then I heard her screaming and when I got to her she was on the ground unconscious but screaming like… like she was being Crucioed or something."

Pomfrey stepped closer to Hermione and cast a few silent charms over her, "Well there is no physical damage of any sort…" she said quietly, "I believe that all that she is suffering is purely mental."

"No," Ron growled, "She's not mad, she perfectly fine…" his voice lost its severity, "She is fine right? She's Hermione, she can't be mad."

"No, no Mr. Weasley, she's not mad. It's just the aftereffects of war and trauma I'm afraid, it will take a long time for many of us to heal, but in the meantime…" she flicked her wand over Hermione once more and muttered, "Rennervate"

Ron let out a sigh of relief when Hermione's eyes opened again.

"You both should get some rest," Pomfrey said, "take care my dears; there will be a long road to recovery."