disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters
"And quite honestly… I've had enough trouble for a lifetime."
Harry, Ron and Hermione walked silently to the Gryffindor Tower. The exhaustion finally cached up with them. Harry went straight to the boy's dormitory while Ron hesitated on the bottom of the stairs. He looked at Hermione. She stared back.
"Do you mind coming with me. I don't really feel like being alone tonight?" – he asked hopefully.
"Of course."- they climbed together the stairs. Hand in hand.
Harry had immediately fallen asleep. Ron sat on his bad and put his head in his hands. He couldn't believe it was over. After all those years they were finally allowed to dream for a peaceful future. But on what price. All those people – dead. They couldn't dream anymore, they wouldn't be able to do anything anymore. Fred's lifeless body was stuck on Ron's mind. How could he get pass this? How his family was going to cope?
He felt Hermione sitting next to him, putting her small warm hand on his head. He looked at her. Her eyes were reflecting his own sorrow. She took her other hand and gently wiped his tears away. She didn't say anything, there was nothing to be said really. And Ron was glad. He didn't need words, only her. Forever.
She slowly lied back pulling him with her.
"It's Ok to cry you know. You don't always have to be strong one. I'm here for you."
She couldn't even imagine what he must be going through. She wanted to do or say something, she wanted to take his pain away. But she knew she couldn't. So the only thing left for her to do was just simply be there.
He lied next to her. Hermione put his head on her chest and wrapped her arms around him, stroking his hair. In that moment something in him broke. He remembered Fred, laughing and nagging him, he remembered everything. And suddenly it hit him. Fred was not going to burst through the door, laugh and say he was just joking. He was never going to play quidditch with him anymore. His brother had just died with the ghost of his last smile on his face and he couldn't do anything. Ron was sobbing now, he wrapped his arms around Hermione. She was his last hope. He felt like if he let go of her she might disappear. He knew that he should feel embarrassed to cry in front of her but she didn't say anything. She just kept running her finger through his hair.
She had never seen him like that. So broken, so vulnerable. She felt helpless. After a while the exhaustion found him and he fell asleep still with his arms clutched around her. Hermione was never so tired in her entire life but somehow she couldn't sleep. She kept reliving the last 24 hours over and over again. She hadn't been even crying yet. She thought that maybe she was still shocked and she still couldn't quite understand what had happened.
Ron woke up. The room was still dark. He rolled over in the bed, the memories of last night came back to him. And suddenly he realized Hermione wasn't there. With panic he sat up and looked around. With relief he noticed her next to the window staring outside. She had her back turned to him. He slowly stood up and walked towards her.
"Hi."- was the only thing he could think of. She gazed at him giving a small smile. She looked tired, big circles under her eyes. But what shocked Ron most were her eyes. They seemed to have lost their spark, the usual fire, their passion. It was heartbreaking.
"You haven't slept."- it was not a question.
"Too much on my mind"- she whispered.
"You need your sleep, Hermione."
"I'm fine."- her voice was impassive.
"No, you're not. None of us are. Come here." He pulled her in his embrace kissing the top of her head. He led her back to the bed and they lied together in each other's arms. She placed her head on his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I love you. You know that?" – Ron murmured. He knew he wasn't good enough for her and probably he never will but he also knew that he would move mountains for her if she asked him to.
"I know."- she managed to say. Those three words meant the world for her. She was already his, she knew she belonged with him. Forever.
"You damn know-it-all"-he chuckled.
"I love you too."-her voice was filled with tenderness he didn't know it could exist. - "I'm forever yours, Ronald Weasley. "Always have, always will." And suddenly they felt warmer. They felt like there still was a little hope somewhere in the world. And maybe that 'somewhere' was right there in their arms.
And in the darkness of the night and the uncertainty of the next day, or a weak, or a month, there were still two souls believing that maybe one day everything will be alright and when they think of the people who lost their lifes in the war they would be able to smile and say: 'Those people died for a better world filled with love, and dreams, and hope.'
Ron and Hermione drifted in sleep not knowing what would come next but knowing that whatever it was they were going to face it together.
"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours." - that's just a quote I really like a thought it might me appropriate.