Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter ... that would be the genius JKR :O (surprise, surprise)

Now is All That Matters

Ron's mind was racing; despite the many things happening at once within Malfoy Manor, only one thing mattered at the moment: Hermione, who was unconscious in his arms. Oh my god, Hermione. He had to get her out of there… he knew what he had to do. Clutching his new wand, whoever's it was, he turned on the spot, focusing all his efforts on escaping the horrible scene.

Destination, determination, deliberation, destination, determination, deliberation.

He came to land on a soft patch of grass, and heaved a sigh of relief when he was certain that nothing was splinched this time. He carefully supported Hermione's weight in his arms and surveyed his surroundings. He relaxed a little; he made it to the right place.

"Ron!"

He turned his head towards the familiar house that perched on top of a nearby hill. Four figures were rushing down the hill in a frantic towards him.

His brother, Bill, got there first. "Ron! Thank god you guys made it!" he panted, "Wait… where's Harry?"

"He's… he should be coming," Ron replied, obviously distracted. He was pulling Hermione's limp body closer to him, brushing her hair from her face. Still no sign of consciousness. Dammit!

Bill bent down to his level and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder and said kindly, "It'll be okay, lil' bro. Go get some rest- Fleur will take good care of her, I promise. I'll take her inside for you."

Behind him, Fleur nodded and Bill made a movement to take Hermione from his arms, but Ron jerked away.

"No… no, I'll do it. I want to."

Fleur was about to open her mouth to speak when a loud crack was heard close by.

"I'm guessing that would be Harry?" came Luna's voice from beside Dean.

Ron slowly got to his feet, still supporting Hermione's body and turned towards the group. "Go help him out, I'll bring Hermione inside." The others, seeing Ron's determination, complied, and scurried over to Harry's side.

Ron trudged up the hill, through the door, and into the cluttered living room. He gently placed her on an unoccupied sofa, pulled up a chair for himself beside it, sat down, and watched her. Part of him wanted to look away- he didn't want to see her so pale, so lifeless... yet another part of him couldn't divert his eyes- even in a circumstance such as this, he was at awe with her beauty, and besides, he needed to be ready the moment she woke up.

"Bloody hell, Hermione," he whispered, taking her limp, smaller hand in his larger one. Lightly, he brushed his thumb along her knuckles and lost himself in his own thoughts.

He could have lost her; he had come that close to doing so. Sure, she was safe now, but it was just pure luck wasn't it? Hermione could have died, and he couldn't have done a thing. Nothing. Powerless. Useless. He couldn't stop her pain, couldn't stop her screams, couldn't help her at all. He heard her pleading, heard her sobbing, heard that bitch Lestrange torture her over and over, and it was all he could not to break down in that cell and cry. Each scream had been a stab to his heart, each one thrust deeper than the previous. It was unbearable to hear the pain that she had to endure, the pain that he couldn't lessen. He couldn't do anything but yell her name and hope with all his heart that she would come out of this alive and sane, and hope that she knew he loved her more than anything else in this world.

Part of him wanted to blame Harry for this; he was the 'Chosen One', the one who had dared utter You-Know-Who's name. He was their best friend, the reason they were in this situation in the first place. But then Ron realized how unfair that was: Harry hadn't asked for any of this… and he and Hermione had willingly chosen to help Harry out voluntarily.

Lost in his train of thought, he didn't realize that she had woken up until she had weakly squeezed his hand, the one that was still tightly gripping hers.

"Ron…" she whispered hoarsely.

"Hermione!" He quickly and carefully helped prop her up against the soft array of pillows. He then proceeded to sit down next to her and wrap a protective arm around her. No one was ever going to hurt her again if he could help it.

Hermione, worn out and exhausted, laid her head against Ron's shoulder. After a moment of quiet, she asked, "Where's Harry?"

"Oh… he's outside," Ron replied, and after catching Hermione's look of worry, added, "he's fine, or Bill would have had him rushed into the house. Besides," he looked at Hermione again and lowered his voice, "you're a bigger priority at the moment. I had to know that you were alright."

Taking a shaky breath, Hermione didn't reply, but simply sank deeper into Ron, eyes glazed over as if she was deep in thought.

"So are you?"

"… Yeah, I'm fine."

He turned to her and wasn't surprised to see stray tears sneaking away from her brilliant brown eyes, the ones that had so much influence over him. "Hermione… it's okay to not be okay sometimes."

With a shaky breath, she started in a quiet voice, "Well… I am."

He pulled her closer to him.

"I mean… we're all alive; that's all we can ask for isn't it? It's amazing that we even achieved that… and I'd say I'm pretty lucky that I-" She stopped, and her tears were now falling freely. Ron knew that they were both thinking about Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Hermione… I'm sorry I couldn't do anything back there. If I could do anything to hurt that bitch for what she did to you, I would," he said for lack of anything better to say.

She looked appalled. "It's not your fault, Ron! If anything, it's You-Know-Who's - that's why we have to continue to help Harry! We'll figure it out; it'll all be over soon."

The unspoken lingered in the air. Of course they wanted this to be over, but how much would that cost? The lives of many of loved ones? Their own lives? However, no one worded these thoughts; the short outburst seemed to have taken the remainder of Hermione's energy, and Ron simply hated the notion that a war was about to break out.

Ron sighed and slipped his hands around Hermione's waist, so that she was nearly sitting on his lap. Silence ensued for a long while as the two of them merely sat in each other's presence. Eerily quiet as it was, it was still a rather comfortable silence. Come what may, all that mattered to the both of them at the moment was that they were able to share this valuable time together. Who knew if they would have another opportunity like this again?

After what seemed like an eternity, Ron finally spoke up. "Hermione?"

He did not receive an answer.

With a look of amusement on his face, Ron leant over and saw that she had fallen asleep, her chest rising and falling steadily against his. Despite all that had happened within the last hour, she still seemed so serene and peaceful. He kissed the top of her head and let out a barely audible whisper.

"I love you."

In her sleep, Hermione smiled.

End

A/N: thanks for reading :) and of course, reviews would be greatly apprecated :)