DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter series; it belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I also do not own the name Halestorm, or any of the lyrics I have used as headers for each chapter title. I am not making any profit from my writing and no copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Hey there readers! I know some of you are probably impatiently waiting for the next chapter of Never Alone, and I promise to have it out soon, but I HAD to get this plot bunny out of my head! This story is fairly short, each chapter about 1,500 words or less, with 8 different chapters. It was inspired by the self-titled first album of the band Halestorm. If you've never heard of them GO LOOK THEM UP ON YOUTUBE RIGHT NOW! They are amazing! Anyways, I hope you enjoy. I should be posting one chapter each day, maybe more or less depending on how busy I am with school and work.

WARNING: Character death. Canon. Yeah, sorry. Also, slash sex in later chapters. Yup, this is slash. And not my usual! It's Ron/Harry. Strange, yes? Just read! You'll like it!...I hope.

P.S. You should look up each song on Youtube, or what have you, and listen to it before or as you read the chapter. I think it helps with the feel of the story!

Chapter One:
Love/Hate Heartbreak

Between love, between hate
Shake the silence back but it's too late
And it haunts you, and it haunts you
It's a love hate heartbreak

-Halestorm

Everyone says that tragedy brings people closer together. In a way, they're right. The need for comfort and reassurance often brings out deeply hidden things; things people never wanted exposed. In the face of hardships, barriers fall away and the raw, naked truth is displayed. No one knew this better than Harry Potter, except perhaps his best friend, Ron Weasley.

The funeral had been very small, very quiet, and very quick. They were all sitting ducks, targets waiting to be attacked while they sat and mourned for their loss. That they couldn't even take the time to mourn properly made Harry and Ron even angrier and grief-stricken. One of the hardest moments of their lives, burying their best friend and telling her goodbye, and they only had time to wipe their tears before they were rushed off to be hidden once more.

Ron had cried for days after Hermione was killed. He just laid there, sobbing until he had no tears left to cry, and then he would just shake with silent agony until he passed out from sheer exhaustion. Harry had tried to be strong for his friend, had tried to hide some of his own pain out of respect for Ron's misery. In the room across the hall from Ron's at Grimmauld Place, Harry would cry out his own grief while Ron slept, and then put his brave mask back on when Ron would wake up the next day and refuse to eat, again.

Ginny had been trying in vain to help them both, but her own sadness only made matters worse. After the second time Ron told her to get the fuck out of his room and not come back, Ginny had given up on her brother. She tried then with Harry, bringing him food, making sure he was sleeping, asking him if he wanted to talk about it. Harry would thank her for the food and take a bite or two to appease her stern gaze, assure her he was getting enough sleep to get by, and tell her that no, he did not want to talk about it. He hadn't talked to anyone about it. Why?

Because it was Harry's fault, of course.

They'd been on the hunt for the Horcruxes, camping out in random places to avoid the Snatchers, to keep anyone tailing them from predicting any sort of pattern. The locket was gone, the cup destroyed and the diadem located. Under the veil of Harry's invisibility cloak, the three friends had snuck into Hogwarts through the tunnel underneath Honeydukes. Thinking it was the lesser of two evils, Harry had insisted that Hermione stay guard outside of the Room of Hidden Things while he and Ron went in to find the diadem that Harry knew he had seen the day he'd hidden the Half-Blood Prince's book.

Harry's yell of triumph when he found the diadem was drowned out by a horrible, gurgling scream that had Ron running back to the door of the Room of Hidden Things, his wand at the ready. His wail of despair was enough to tell Harry that Hermione was gone; there was nothing they could do. Her throat slit. Quick, efficient, devastating. It had taken every ounce of strength Harry had to get Ron out of the castle, clutching Hermione's limp body in his arms.

So much had happened that night that Harry was still shocked to hear some of what went on. Even after four months, Harry still didn't know the full story. Neville had killed Nagini? Molly Weasley killed Bellatrix Lestrange? Harry had killed Voldemort! Everything was in a sort of hazy fog, like Harry had been drunk and drugged the whole time and was only able to recall snippets. The black of Snape's eyes as the life drained out of him, the tang of blood in his mouth after Harry had died and come back. The way his parents, Sirius and Remus had looked so haunted, yet so welcome. Harry had gone numbly through the motions, and was amazed he had done any of the things people claimed he did.

After the funerals, the arrests, the trials and the clean up, many Death Eaters were still on the loose, which meant Harry was still very much in danger. The Ministry had raided Grimmauld Place and arrested the few Death Eaters they found hiding out there, and then restored the building to Harry.

He had been vehemently opposed to even stepping foot inside the door ever again, but they had nowhere else to go. With Headmistress McGonagall as the new Secret Keeper, Harry, the Weasleys and a few of the Order members moved back into the dilapidated old house, hiding once more from the things they had fought against, lost loved ones to.

Harry hated this damn house. It would forever be associated with grief, loss and despair for him, and many others. The hardest part of all, though, was watching his friend fall into such a deep depression that it was as if Ron had died along with Hermione. Harry felt like he had lost both of his friends, and it tore him apart.

A/N: Please review and let me know what you think. I know it's short and kind of cuts off, but there's lots more to come!