"I hardly changed the course of anyone's life," Severus demurred.

"Well, I might not have appreciated Potions back then, but I learned a lot about who I wanted to be," Hermione argued. "I learned that it's not the mistakes you make that are important. It's what you do when you realise they were mistakes. I learned the difference between real bravery and bravado. I learned that it's not the mask people present to the world that matters. It's their actions."

"I'm no saint, Hermione," Severus sighed. 

"I know that," she replied exasperatedly, "but you are the bravest person I know."

---

Severus rose from his seat and crossed to the condensation-misted window, looking out without seeing.

Her words made him feel clean for the first time in long months. He had conscientiously followed through on his promise to Dumbledore, but every day without reassurance had left him weighed down with further guilt and doubts until he trudged forward as much from habit as from conviction.

Her petite hand settled over the back of his, her fingertips curling under his palm, and she gave a brief squeeze.

In their shared stillness he remembered what it was to be a part of humanity.

---

Finally, it was Hermione who whispered into the silence. "Severus, you know the memory you showed me, where you were treating Dumbledore in your room?"

"I am aware of it," Severus replied, and she knew without looking that his lips had given the brief upward twitch that in his case passed for a smile.

"Was that the night he broke the ring?"

"It was."

"Severus, do you know how he did it? It's important."

His head turned towards her for the first time, his concern etched into every line. "I could make an informed guess."

"Tell me?"

Severus barely nodded.

---

Viktor stared at the brown sludgy liquid with distaste, and his expression didn't improve after Hermione added a long auburn hair, making it give off clouds of smoke before it turned a deep violet.

Hermione measured out a single dose and then poured the remainder into a hip flask.

With obvious reluctance, Viktor picked up the glass and threw back the contents in a single gulp. His hair lengthened and spilled down his back until it was almost as long as Ginny's.

Hermione watched him tie it into a black-ribboned ponytail, before smoothing her hands down her borrowed voluptuous form.

---

"Marcus!" exclaimed Arthur Weasley, greeting his 'long-lost cousin' with an enthusiastic hug. "And Helena," he added as he wrung Hermione's hand.

Viktor twined Hermione's fingers with his as they made their way to a seat on the groom's side, leaning in to whisper in Hermione's ear as they walked. "I think Moody has been talking. Mr Weasley wants to talk to me later."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll have a word with him."

"Wotcher!" came a cheerful voice as Remus Lupin took the seat next to Hermione.

"Hello," Remus added as his wife settled next to him, eyeing Viktor curiously.

 

---

Hermione's eyes narrowed, and she pressed a hand into Remus's chest, preventing him from leaning across her to shake hands with Viktor.

"Before you say a single word, just remember that I know how often Tonks had breakfast at Grimmauld Place," she hissed. "And I'm not naïve enough to suppose that she was always coming off duty."

Lupin swallowed, and then, as Hermione sat back in her seat, he leaned across and extended his hand to Viktor. "Remus Lupin. Glad to make your acquaintance. This is my wife, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, still known to most as Tonks."

"Charmed," Viktor replied.

---

"Do you, Percy Ignatius Weasley, take Penelope Clearwater..."

Hermione watched the service, feeling strangely detached, no more a part of the proceedings than the bored-looking waiters who stood at the back of the room. Her mind drifted to Viktor's proposal, and she found herself wishing that she could have accepted. However, even if you discounted the fact that she might have to leave with Ron and Harry at a moment's notice, there was still one major problem. When she imagined herself in a white dress, saying the vows that Penelope was saying, it wasn't Viktor she pictured at her side.

---

Hermione slipped from Viktor's arms with a tacit nod. She followed Mr Weasley as he escorted Mrs Clearwater back to her seat, cutting in before he could rejoin Molly.

She led him onto the dance floor. "Mr Weasley, I know what you want to say to Marcus, and I do appreciate the concern behind it, but this situation is my fault.

He already asked, and I said no. He'd marry me in an instant, but there's someone else, and unless I can get over him, I can't marry anyone. I wish I could. I hope I will... just not yet."

---

"This other man..." Arthur probed.

"It's impossible." Hermione didn't elaborate. Let him think that it was someone who was already married. "Mr Weasley, we're not all lucky enough to have what you and Molly have, but I do care for Marcus. Maybe in time, if I give it a chance, the rest will come, but it wouldn't be fair to either of us if I married him without being sure."

"Perhaps you should move back—"

"Don't you see? He's given up everything for me. I can't give him the commitment he wants, but I can give him this much."

---

"You know that Molly won't be so easily pacified?" Arthur asked.

"I know," Hermione admitted.

"Or Ron," he added.

Hermione sighed. "I love Ron, but he needs to learn that he can't run my life. Harry will understand. He'll back me up."

"What about your parents?"

"My parents lived together for years before they got married. Vik— Marcus is a great guy who cares about me. When I was younger they might have worried about the age difference, but not now. I can't risk visiting them, but, from their letters, they're happy for me."

Arthur smiled. "Then so am I."