June 1998

The Burrow, once bustling and warm, felt increasingly cold and empty lately which hurt Ron the most. He thought his family should be there and he was frustrated with all of them. It had only been a month and a half since Fred's death and he felt like everyone had completely abandoned his mum and George, leaving them to grieve on their own.

After frequent complaints to Hermione, she agreed to take a break from their travels to Australia for a while. They had been attempting to recover her parent's memories for the last week and they felt like they had been making some good progress, so it made Ron feel incredibly guilty when Hermione offered to return home with him.

She had assured him countless times that she was fine to return to England for now, "It's important to be with your family, Ron. I can see how guilty you've felt since we left. We can come back to Australia soon, let's go home." Ron really admired her, she was incredibly selfless and compassionate.

The couple had arrived at The Burrow the previous evening. Molly cried tears of joy and pulled them both into suffocating hugs when they unexpectedly entered the front door. Hermione felt it was incredibly rude of Ron to not send an owl letting them know they would be visiting, but he brushed her off, he knew his mother wouldn't mind.

"You see how happy she is? Sending an owl would've ruined the surprise wouldn't it?" Ron said nudging Hermione with his shoulder as she rolled her eyes at him in response.

Though it was just Molly, Arthur, George, Hermione, and Ron in the house, Molly cooked a large meal for them as if it was a family Christmas. Their return to The Burrow had sparked a sense of joy inside Molly. They sat around the table late into the evening sharing some heartwarming stories, though George mostly listened rather than spoke. Things started to feel a little more normal again, even if it was only for a moment.

Hermione was the first one awake the next morning, it was a beautiful and warm Sunday. In the past Molly would have been the first one to rise, but she had grown used to sleeping in late recently. For years she was constantly putting all her energy into caring for everyone in the house, but now they all felt that she deserved the extra rest so there were never any complaints about not waking up to breakfast and a hot pot of tea.

Hermione felt as if the air inside the home was especially heavy recently and was suffocating all of them, so she opened the window to let some fresh air in before boiling water for her tea. She leaned against the counter behind her and closed her eyes, the only sounds in the kitchen were the sounds of birds chirping outside the window and the water boiling inside the kettle. Hearing The Burrow be so silent and calm was eerie to her, it certainly had changed.

She grabbed three mugs out of the cabinet and set them on the counter for the others in the house before taking one for herself. She poured the water into her mug and let the tea steep in the silence of the kitchen.

She hadn't been sleeping very well between the stress of recovering her parent's memories and the sadness she felt for The Weasleys. She desperately needed the caffeine and once satisfied with the strength of her tea she picked up the mug and decided to go into the living room and read until everyone else woke up. On her way she passed by the clock in the hallway that had shown all of their locations and paused to look at it.

Hers and Harry's names were added at some point between their fourth and fifth year in school. Once Voldemort had returned during the Triwizard Tournament Molly was taking no more chances not knowing about Harry and Hermione's safety at all times, they were also her children as far as she was concerned.

Ron, George, Molly, and Hermione's name were all sitting next to one another pointing towards "Home". But what caught Hermione's eye was that Fred's name was also pointed at home as well, but his name would stay there forever.

"The lot of them are gits, aren't they?"

The sudden voice behind Hermione made her jump and she spilt a bit of tea on the floor in response. "Ronald, when you enter a room could you please make a bit of noise first?" she scolded as she pulled her wand from her robe and waved it at the rug beneath her feet to clear up the tea that would have inevitably left a stain.

"What are you on about anyway?" she asked as she turned to face him, returning her wand to her robe pocket.

"None of them are ever here." he groaned gesturing vaguely in the direction of the clock.

"You know they still care, everyone grieves differently. " she reassured him and snaked an arm around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. He grumbled and then laid a gentle kiss on the top of her head. Ron felt very differently about the situation than Hermione did but he didn't have the energy to argue with her about it, he too had been getting very little sleep over the last month.

They stood together silently gazing at the clock, though Hermione didn't point out Fred's name she knew Ron had noticed when she heard him sniffle and clear his throat. Together they looked around each section of the clock making mental notes of where every member of their family was right now.

Arthur and Percy spent most of their time, including many nights and weekends, at The Ministry as they attempted to clean up the mess created during The Battle of Hogwarts.

Bill and Fleur had been spending most of their time alone at Shell Cottage, despite Molly and Fleur's previous disagreements Fleur would grow frustrated with Bill's decision to not visit his family frequently enough anymore.

"You are being incredibly selfish, my love." she would tell him bluntly.

Harry and Ginny had been in London for the last week or so, looking for a flat for Harry. Even though it was safe again, 12 Grimmauld Place would never be a home for him, especially with the horrid portrait of Sirius's mother permanently stuck to the wall.

He and Ginny had already been discussing moving in together when she finishes her last year at Hogwarts, so that's why he wanted her to come along and have a say in where he lives. Hermione felt that the two of them were taking things too quickly, to which Ron would respond by telling her their own relationship wasn't moving much slower. She scoffed at the suggestion, but she knew had they not been traveling then the two would already be living together.

Charlie was in Romania until they noticed his name had started to move, knowing it would shortly land on Diagon Alley. He had been flying back and forth between Romania and London for the last few weeks since he had decided to help reopen Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes with the help of Verity, but he still needed to tie up loose ends with the Dragon Sanctuary before he could move back to England permanently.

They heard footsteps behind them, so Hermione looked up at Ron who quickly wiped his eyes nonchalantly as if he were only suffering from allergies. When he looked down at her she gestured her head towards the kitchen and Ron nodded at her in silent agreement. They pulled away from each other and entered the kitchen where they found George sitting and staring out the window.

"Morning George, would you like a cup of tea?" Hermione asked, reaching for one of the mugs she had already set out. She had been trying her best to sound as normal as possible around him, she didn't know if George even cared but she didn't want to be another sad voice in his ears.

"No thanks."

Ron sat across from his brother, his head now blocking George's view of the window, causing him to blink his eyes and adjust to the light in the room. The two sat in silence for a moment while Hermione stood near the stove and looked back and forth between them, tapping on the side of her mug with her fingernails nervously. The air in the room was awkward and tense.

"Charlie and Verity have been doing a bang up job keeping things going at the store, you know." Ron said in an attempt to break the silence and make some light conversation.

"Yeah well, they can keep it. I'm not going back."

Ron sighed, "I know mum would love you to stay here forever, but we both know you can't do that. You don't have to work, maybe just a quick visit would do you some good."

Ron especially had been encouraging George to get back to work lately, believing it would help distract him. In every owl he had received from Ron over the last month it ended with "Have you changed your mind about visiting the store yet?"

George missed the store, he couldn't deny that, but every inch of it reminded him of his brother. It was their dream to open up the shop together and a mere two years after accomplishing this Fred was taken from him. George couldn't even look at his own reflection without getting depressed, how could he possibly go back to the store they had built together?

"We could go today! Hermione and I will go with you." Ron offered and his girlfriend's eyes widened at the suggestion.

She didn't want to push George into doing something he didn't want to do and didn't particularly appreciate being pulled into something that could upset him. She looked at the side of Ron's head hoping he would feel her eyes burning into it and glance her way just so she could shake her head no, and telepathically tell him what an idiot he was to suggest they take him there, but Ron's eyes were intent on George's face.

George didn't respond at first, he didn't even meet Ron's gaze. Instead he just looked down at his hands that were clasped together and resting on the table. He mindlessly twiddled his thumbs as he considered Ron's suggestion.

He knew he couldn't avoid returning to the store forever, he already felt guilty that Charlie and Verity had been working so hard the last few weeks to get it back up and running without him. But he also knew that returning to the store would be the most painful thing he would do since his being at his brother's funeral. Maybe returning to the store could be the first step to return to a normal life, as normal as things could be when you no longer have your other half anyway.

Hermione inhaled ready to object to the idea when the silence became too deafening for her, but before she could speak George finally responded, "Alright."

Hermione let out a breath of relief and Ron beamed at his brother, "Great! After lunch then, we'll wait until mum is up and let her know we'll be out today."

"Okay."