"So, you're really not coming back?"

"Nope." Ron grinned,"You guys'll be fine without me next year. You'll have Gin and Luna to keep you company. Besides, Mum said you can both come and stay at ours once the work's all done here."

It was almost eleven o'clock in the morning, and the Hogwarts Express was about to leave for London King's Cross station. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were standing just outside the Gryffindor common room, saying their goodbyes.

"Come along now, Ron, or the train'll leave without us!" Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum," Ron moaned,"why do we have to take the train? It would be way faster if we just Apparated home."

"Because, for the umpteenth time, we are a family! Families are supposed to do things together, like train journeys and...and hiking! We should go hiking! Anyway, we shouldn't just be sitting around for days on end, only moving off of our bottoms to play a little Quidditch in the garden. We need to get out more, Ronald, that's why we're taking the train. Now, would you please hurry up!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Honestly!" He whispered to Harry and Hermione,"Mothers, am I right? Anyway, I guess this is goodbye, for the time being, anyway. See you in the summer!"

"Bye, Ron."

"See you in the summer."

Arthur, Bill, Charlie, and Percy waved the rest of their family off and begun making their way down to the Great Hall to meet Professor McGonagall. Hermione made to follow them, but Harry caught her hand before she could walk away.

"Hermione?" Harry burbled as she turned to face him,"Do you want to talk about your parents now? It's just, you said yesterday that you didn't want to talk about them in front of anyone, but, you know, they're gone now, and we've got a little while before we need to be in the Great Hall. I mean, if you don't want to, then that's fine, but-"

"No, Harry, it's fine." Hermione replied, on the verge of amusement at Harry's struggle to talk,"We can talk about it." She paused.

"You do realise that you kind of need to start the talking if we're going to talk about it, right?"

Hermione gave him a small smile as the pair began to. "Well, I've been thinking about it for a while," she said anxiously,"and I...well, I wanted to ask you something."

"Fire away." Harry said as the pair started towards the Great Hall.

"It's just...do you think it would be selfish of me-?" Hermione began.

"To go and get them back?" Harry replied incredulously,"Of course not, Hermione!"

"No, not to go and get them back." Hermione said in a small voice,"To leave them."

"Oh." Harry nodded with understanding, taking Hermione's hand,"I...um...I-I guess. But, why would you want to do that?"

Hermione took a deep breath,"Well, when I left them, they were happy and married and fulfilling their life's ambition together. They don't know about me, and they don't want another child of their own. They're Wendell and Monica Wilkins and they have a wonderful life, and I've got no idea whereabouts in Australia they are, but they're happy, Harry, happy." She suddenly looked very troubled and quite exhausted,"Just think, if you were them-?" Hermione trailed off suddenly, standing still and looking forwards blankly.

"Hermione?" Harry grabbed her shoulder,"What's the matter?"

She didn't answer, so Harry followed her gaze to find Parvati Patil, scowling at Hermione. Harry glared at her, but she didn't look at him. Without taking her eyes off of Hermione, Parvati stalked past the pair. Harry noticed that she looked quite tired, and her lip was trembling just a little. It was hard to look at.

"What was that all about?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

"She was Lavender's best friend." Hermione whispered back,"Of course she's going to be upset; her best friend was killed!"

"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean she has to take it out on you!"

"Oh, Harry, she wasn't taking it out on me." Hermione started walking again,"You remember, don't you, how much her and Lavender always used to make fun of me? Well, she always seemed a bit like Lavender's shadow, if you know what I mean. She's feeling lost and she still doesn't like me, but she doesn't know what to say to me. She just needs a hug but I'm not the person to give her one."

"Oh." Harry nodded,"Right. Sorry."

"You don't have to be." Hermione took Harry's hand and squeezed it,"Where was I? Oh, right, my parents. So, would you prefer what they have now - that happiness, love and fulfilment - to a broken marriage, a daughter you were terrified and ashamed of, and hardly any money left because you'd blown it all on drinking and dating other people to take your mind off of everything else that was going wrong in your life?"

"Hermione," Harry said gently, rubbing Hermione's hand to calm her down,"of course your parents aren't ashamed of you; they love you very much, even if they don't know who you are..."

"But?" Hermione demanded as the pair reached the Great Hall.

"But...I see your point."

"Good." Hermione nodded.

The Great Hall was very empty. All of the staff were up at the front of the room, and the four, long tables were hardly full at all. Harry and Hermione took their seats next to Mr. Weasley as Professor McGonagall cleared her throat to address the small crowd.

"Good morning, everyone. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all here today, and would like to direct your attention to the list Mr. Filch has put up for us by the door." She gestured towards the back of the Hall,"It contains every individual area that requires restoring, who shall be working on it, and when it is to be started and completed by. Professors Flitwick and Vector - who have very kindly helped me put together this list - suspect the overall project will take us to no further than the beginning of July. The list will change itself as tasks are completed, so do not hesitae to check it once you are finished with your first projects. Another copy of this list is hanging up in the Entrance Hall for those of you working in that area of the school. Now, I do not believe I have forgotten anything, so please do not hesitate to get started, and the best of luck to you all!"

As the last to enter the Hall, Harry and Hermione were the first to reach the door. They scanned the list for their names, hoping that they would be working together.

"Here!" Hermione said a little too loudly,"'Quidditch Pitch...Harry Potter...Hermione Granger...Hestia Jones...Fleur Delacour...Rubeus Hagrid...Start: 3rd May...End: 12th May.' Harry, we're working with Fleur and Hagrid!"

Harry beamed,"That's brilliant! But, Hermione, we should probably move out of the way. Everyone else is behind us."

***********

"Hagrid!" Harry and Hermione beamed as Hagrid joined them at the ruins of the Quidditch Pitch.

"Well, 'ello, there, 'Arry, 'Ermione!" Hagrid said merrily.

Everyone (aside from Parvati, of course) had been in oddly high spirits that day. Harry suspected it was the way the war was taking its toll on people, but he had really missed being surrounded by a mutual happiness from everyone around him. It was a truly wonderful feeling.

"Unbelievable!" Someone grow from behind Hagrid.

"Yes! Oui! C'est scandaleux!" Someone else added furiously.

"That'll be the others, then." Hermione sighed.

Hagrid stepped out of the way to reveal the owners of the two angry voices. It was Fleur and Hestia. Hestia was a short woman with a very business-like appearance and a bossy voice. She was scowling at the Quidditch Pitch so hard that her impeccably neat bun was wobbling on the top of her little round head.

"It is simply outrageous," Hestia fumed,"that I am shunned from department to department in the Ministry and get around one decent job a year, and the moment I am presented with an opportunity to show just how magically skilled I am, I get put on Quidditch Pitch duty, of all things!"

"How unfair," Fleur continued,"zat, of all ze idiots zat are 'ere, we is doing zis!"

"Exactly! No regard for us whatsoever! This is child's play compared with what we are capable of!"

"Um...hello, there." Hermione gave Hestia a small smile,"Are you all right?"

"No!" Hestia rolled her eyes, gesturing madly at the Quidditch Pitch,"I am way above than this, they just refuse to believe it. And Minerva McGonagall has the guts to deny me a better job when I take time out of my day to go and speak to her about it?"

Hermione nodded uncertainly. "You must be Hestia." Hermione held out her hand for Hestia to shake,"I'm Hermione Granger. It's a pleasure to meet-"

"Dear Merlin!" Hestia almost screamed,"Is it really you?"

"I...um...sorry, what?" Hermione stammered.

"Oh, no, not you dear." Hestia said,"I was talking about him!" She pointed at Harry,"Harry Potter, has it really been a year since I saw you last? How far you have come, how different you look!"

Harry tried to grin at her as she gaped at him,"Er...thanks. How's Dedalus been doing?"

Hestia didn't seem to have heard him,"You agree with us, don't you?"

"I...what?"

"You agree that we are too good for this? That we deserve better treatment than this? We are perfectly capable witches and can do a hell of a lot more than half of those other wizards Minerva's put on the bigger jobs." Hestia gasped,"Of course! Fleur, why didn't we think of this? It's because we're women! Minerva doesn't think we can do a good job because we're women!"

"Ah, of course, zat is it!" Fleur exclaimed.

"Um," Hermione cut in,"you two do realise, don't you, that Professor McGonagall is a woman, too?"

Hestia sniffed,"I don't know what you're getting so defensive about. You're a woman too, you know. You should be fighting for womankind everywhere and standing up to the people that try to put us down!" She said bossily.

"But I don't mind working on the Quidditch Pitch with Harry and Hagrid." Hermione frowned dangerously,"And don't you dare question my loyalty to women ever again, or I might just have to hex your mouth shut."

"Well, then!" Hestia fumed,"Come on, Fleur, at least we're standing up for what we believe in!"

And with that, Hestia and Fleur turned on their heels and stormed back up to the castle.

"Pleasant woman." Hermione sighed irritably.

"Who is tha' woman?" Hagrid asked, glaring at Fleur and Hestia's backs as they reached the castle.

"Hestia Jones." Harry told them grimly,"Works at the Ministry. She's the one that visited me with some bloke called Dedalus Diggle last summer to escort the Durselys to their safe house. Seemed a lot nicer back then, to be honest. All right, well, I suppose we'd better get started on the Pitch, or we'll never finish, especially without the other two."

***********

"Thank you, everyone, for helping us through the restoration process. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you." Professor McGonagall beamed at the Hall of people looking up at her.

It was July 29th, and the restoration work had only just been completed. Despite Professor Flitwick and Professor Vector's calculations, the work had taken almost three months to complete, as many of those who had been staying at first had quickly decided to pack up their things and leave (Fleur and Hestia Jones included). Harry and Hermione had had a wonderful time, as McGonagall had assigned them all of their tasks together, and most of their tasks with Hagrid. Everyone had gotten up quite early that morning, as the Hogwarts Express was coming to collect them at eleven o'clock, but McGonagall had wanted to make one final speech.

"Now," she began,"to those students who wish to continue their educations here at Hogwarts in September, I assure you that the only changes that will be made shall be necessary. For example, there will need to be a few changes in staff, and Hogsmeade trips will be postponed until the village's residents are comfortable enough to allow children back onto their streets. The Hogwarts Express will be leaving in an hour, so I would kindly ask you to be punctual about making your way to Hogsmeade station - especially those of you who have not had the pleasure of riding the train for some time." McGonagall smiled to herself,"Of course, those of you that are of age may feel free to Apparate, though I would really rather like it if you would come and say goodbye to me and the other faculty members before you left. I think that's everything, but does anyone have any questions?"

Harry raised his hand,"Just one question, Professor."

"Of course, Harry." McGonagall smiled serenely.

Harry grinned; he couldn't remember the last time McGonagall hadn't called him 'Potter' or 'Mister Potter'. "Who's going to be Headmaster next year?"

"Me." McGonagall said simply,"And that's Headmistress to you, Potter."

As the laughter died down, McGonagall dismissed the Hall and told them to go and have a thorough check that they'd packed everything before leaving for the train. Hermione, having already done this to both her and Harry's trunks three times already that morning, sat straight down on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room.

"I can't believe Professor McGonagall's going to be Headmistress. It's brilliant!"

"There's no one better." Harry agreed, sitting down next to Hermione and putting his arm around her shoulders,"Only one year left at school."

Hermione nodded with a heavy sigh,"I know. Oh, I don't ever want to leave this place."

"Me neither. I mean, what are we going to do once school's over?"

"Well, first of all, we need somewhere to stay."

"As in 'live' stay or just 'stay' stay?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

Hermione grinned,"'Stay' stay at least, but preferably 'live' stay."

"Mrs. Weasley'll let us 'stay' stay with her for as long as we need to, so we've got that sorted." Harry said.

Hermione shook her head at him,"You still have 12 Grimmauld Place, remember? And you'll have the whole of next summer to fix it up before you're going to need to think about work."

"Ugh." Harry groaned,"I forgot about work."

"And we've got our N.E.W.T.s next year." Hermione reminded him,"Don't you forget about those. Anyway, if you need help next summer with Grimmauld Place, just let me know and I'll be right over. Maybe you'll be able to get Mrs. Black off of the wall, and Kreacher will help you, too. Oh, and I'll come over to help you sort out Sirius' bedroom, if you don't want to do it alone, and I can-"

Harry kissed her to stop her from talking. "Hermione," he pulled away,"I'm not going to 'live' stay anywhere without you. Ever."

"Oh." Hermione went pink,"I love you, Harry, did I ever tell you that?"

"Yeah, you did." Harry grinned,"Loads of times, actually. You can say it again, though."

"I love you, Harry."

"I love you, too, Hermione."