To Hogwarts.

This is a post-Deathly Hallows fan fiction; none of the characters are mine.

Three cheers to my wonderful beta, Writermerrin.

Chapter: 2... To Hogwarts.

How was she to live without him? She did not know. She had never thought... It always seemed forever.

She believed it was; she'd loved him for so long, since she was a child of thirteen. Hermione didn’t know how to go on without him beside her. Everybody else had gone back to their own lives; Rosie was back at school. Everywhere she looked, everything she touched was full of her memories of him. Every breath she took, she expected him to burst though the door, saying it was a very bad joke he was pulling on her, none of it was true, and to kiss her to oblivion.

However, Ron did not come back for her, and she saw no point in carrying on. Hugo was with Molly. She could not take him away from the grieving mother. Hugo was her son’s last legacy. Hermione felt lonelier without him but had not had the heart to deny Molly, not when she was in such poor health. Hermione sank into a deep depression. She stopped going to work and forgot when she last ate a real meal, for she saw no point in cooking; it only reminded her how much Ron had loved good food. All her books were scattered in the study; none of the words seemed to make sense. She got up, took their wedding photo to bed, and drifted to sleep talking to her funny, cheering, charming Ron.

That was how they found her--Harry, Ginny and Professor McGonagall. Ginny took one look at her and forced Hermione to take a bath while she fixed up something to eat. Harry called Kreacher to tidy up the place. Professor McGonagall pressed her lips tight, shook her head, then set up tea for four out of nowhere with a flick of her wand.

A shock-shower, soup, and a sandwich later, Hermione found herself facing Harry Potter’s rant:

"This can’t go on, Hermione. Look at YOU. What are you doing to yourself? Do you think Ron would be happy to see you like this?”

“Did you even think about the kids? You're not seventeen anymore, you know,” Ginny added.

Of course, she knew she was not seventeen anymore. Ron would have been with her if she were, would he not? Maybe all she needed was her old Time-Turner back, and she could have fixed it, as they had in their third year. She told them that.

The three of them shared a look, then Harry got up, knelt in front of her, took her hands in his, and said, “If it worked that way, don’t you think I would have tried? I have so many to bring back, including Ron. Don’t you think I would have done that all ready? I know how hard it is for you, I really do. Still, you need to be strong, if not for yourself, for Hugo and Rosie. You do remember--how hard it was for me to grow up without my mum and dad, and I had you and Ron by my side to support me through the hell and back!”

McGonagall said, “Hermione, dear, it doesn’t work like that. You can not bring back the dead.”

“I would have brought back Mum, Dad, Ron, Sirius, Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks…”

“Fred, Moody…” Ginny added.

“Yeah, Fred, Moody, Snape… Hell, I would’ve brought anyone back who wasn’t Voldemort!"

“Oh shut it, Harry! How am I supposed to move on? How am I supposed to be happy without him? What have I got to look forward to?”

“Ron would’ve wanted you to be here for the kids, Hermione. They are his gifts to you. He loved you crazily; that love didn’t die. How can he be happy if you are suffering?” Ginny explained with the patience of a Hogwarts Head Girl to a particularly stubborn first year wanting to go home in the middle of the night.

“I think you need a break from your surroundings. We'll rent out the house, and you can move away from England,” Harry decided.

“What?”

“I have a post ready for you to take over at Hogwarts,” the Headmistress added.

“What?”

“Poppy is leaving; her health is not what it used to be.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no… no, no, just no! I am not leaving this house. This is our house… Don’t you remember, Harry, how hard Ron had worked, so we could move into it after the wedding? Ginny? No way am I letting anyone else in here.”

Ginny could not help her tears anymore. Harry took over. “Then don’t. Leave the house the way it is. I will take care of everything. Even if you don’t want to go to Hogwarts, go someplace else. Take a vacation.”

McGonagall decided to take the Slytherin approach. “Look, Hermione, we at Hogwarts need your help. Even if Ronald were alive, I would have asked you to come, both of you, if not for a long time. I have never thought you would deny your old teacher. I had approved Poppy’s leave in that faith; so if you will excuse me, I have to say ‘no’ to my sick medi-witch. I cannot trust my students to just anybody. I would have taken any chance with my eyes closed if Severus was here…” She rose from her seat.

“Wait.”

That was how Hermione Weasley ended up at Hogwarts nineteen years later.