Disclaimer: I LOVE HARRY, wish he was mine, but he's JKR's so…yeah…too bad for me! *goes and sobs in the corner over her not-owning-Harry-ness*

Chapter One: A Necessary Conversation

"Bye Harry!" Ginny called.

But he had already turned and gone.

The group of five looked at each other worriedly. They sat in silence for a minute, before Hermione spoke up.

"Do you – er – do you think he'll be alright?" she asked quietly.

"No," answered Ron, still staring at the door, "and he won't be. Not for a while anyway."

Hermione stared at Ron. He had large bags under his eyes and his hair was untidy. It looked as if the only reason he was still awake was the energy from the chocolate frogs he continued to stuff in his mouth. Perhaps he couldn't sleep either…

Ginny flopped back on Hermione's bed where she had been sitting. Her eyes were shut very tight, as if she thought maybe if she opened them again that they would all be in a different place and the events of the past few days wouldn't have happened.

"I'm sure Harry will be fine," Luna Lovegood said in her dreamy voice from behind The Quibbler. "The pain will leave him eventually."

Ron looked kind of angry that she was treating the matter so delicately, but Hermione caught his eye and gave him a look that said something like, "Save it."

"I feel like…well…nevermind," Neville injected lamely. He was sitting in a chair in between Ron and Hermione's beds in the Hospital Wing. He looked just as depressed as everyone there felt – except maybe Luna, who seemed perfectly fine.

"Like what Neville?" asked Hermione, massaging her sore ribs carefully.

"Like, it's kind of my fault that all this happened," he said, staring at the floor and blushing slightly. "I mean, I broke the Prophecy…"

The group, all except Luna, who was entranced by her magazine, busted out telling Neville how wrong he was, how it wasn't his fault any more than anyone else's, but Neville just shook his head and continued to stare at the floor.

"I like the idea of it being my fault more than Harry's," he answered them.

"It isn't Harry's fault either," said Ginny with a sigh, still lying flat on her back. Then she added, "God, I wish there was something we could do for him. He can't get a break can he?"

Luna said something or other, Ron didn't quite hear. He was watching Hermione stare out the window, biting her lip as if trying not to cry. He felt himself wishing that he hadn't gotten in the way of that curse in the Department of Mysteries, then when Hermione had nearly gotten killed, he could've done something more then laugh like a lunatic. He could have been her hero…

It wasn't the first time Ron had thought this since they had come back from their adventures at the Ministry of Magic. And he felt guilty every time the thoughts ran through his head. Here he was, days after Sirius had died, when Harry needed him, when they had all nearly gotten killed, wishing that he could've grasped the chance to show Hermione how much she meant to him. But no, he was always in a deep sleep in the bottom of a lake, or lying in the Hospital Wing with a broken leg, or under some crazy spell that made him see everything so lightly, and Harry always got to do the saving. But then he remembered where Harry stood in the big scheme of things, and felt grateful for what he had.

"The best thing we can do for Harry is just be here when he wants us to be, and let him have time to himself when he needs it," Ginny was saying. "It's all we can do for him."

Just then Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office, looking stressed as usual.

"All right, everyone who isn't a patient of mine at the present moment needs to leave immediately!" she said sternly. "Chop, chop! Get moving! Weasley, how's the ankle? Longbottom, are you still feeling all right? Miss Lovegood – well, er – yeah…"

"My ankles perfect, Madam Pomfrey," Ginny said, getting up from her seat.     

"The side affects of the curse have worn off I think, ma'am," Neville said, getting up quickly and knocking the chair over.

"Life is well, thank you for asking, Madam Pomfrey," Luna said in her goofy tone.

Ginny gave Hermione a quick hug, and then gave Ron one too before exiting with Luna and Neville.

"Time for your two o'clock potion, Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey said handing her a glass of a smoking liquid which Hermione stared at revoltingly. "Weasley, am I going to have to confiscate the sweets? You're going to make yourself sick!"

"No, I'll quit eating," said Ron, throwing the wrapper of his tenth chocolate frog in the garbage bin.

"Fine by me," said Madam Pomfrey. Then to Hermione, "Finish all of that potion, Granger, or you'll be up half the night in pain."

As Madam Pomfrey headed back to her office, Hermione muttered something that sounded like, "I think that'll happen anyway," and drank the liquid in one horrible gulp. She gagged.

"Is it that bad?" asked Ron.

"I'll get over it," Hermione replied, setting the glass down on her night table and flopping back on her pillows with a groan of pain.

Ron couldn't bring himself to tell her. They were alone (except for the delusional Umbridge opposite them), which was something that didn't happen often. The common room was so noisy, the library so quiet, and now that they were all alone he couldn't tell her how scared he was when he woke up and she was unconscious next to him. So instead he asked, "How are you doing? Okay?"

Hermione started to nodd her head up and down, her eyes squinted tightly shut like Ginny's had been, but she didn't get through a whole motion before she started shaking her head violently side to side.

Ron checked to see if Madam Pomfrey was looking, and then went and took Ginny's seat on the end of Hermione's bed.

"Can you believe that just a few weeks ago we were worrying about our OWLs?" Hermione said, her face screwed up with the effort of trying not to burst into tears.

"Well, you were worrying, I was something like near a nervous collapse," he said with a small grin.

Hermione let out a small chuckle, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked at her friend. There was fear and sorrow in her eyes. Yes, she was utterly terrified about what was going to happen to them all. Life had taken a sharp corner, and one of their friends had been thrown off to the side of the road…and the worst part was that they had to leave him behind.

"Do you think he was scared?" she asked, referring to Sirius.

Ron didn't answer right away. But finally he said, "I dunno. I suppose he's happy now. After all, he's back with his best mates again…and he isn't confined to a small space with Kreacher any more-"

"Ron?"

"What?"

"I'm gonna cry now, I just wanted to warn you."

"You didn't have to warn me."

"But I know you hate that."

"I think that's something I'll have to get over, too."

Hermione buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontolably. Before this point, Ron would've run from the room screaming. But not this time. He squeezed over next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders.

"It's all right, Hermione," he said soothingly. "Just let it out."

She turned and cried into his shoulder, and he put his other arm around her, trying to be a man and not cry himself. Sirius didn't deserve to die. And yet, here he was, holding the girl of his dreams in his arms, getting benefit from his death.

It was a horrible feeling.

"I'm s-s-sorry," Hermione said after a while. " I-I tried n-n-not to-"

"What are friends for?" Ron answered, rubbing her back.

Hermione had to admit, that sometimes she didn't think Ron was capable of much else but stuffing his face. But there were times when he really came through. She knew that, no matter where this journey would take them, Ron would always be with her, standing at her side until the end.

A girl could definitely do worse.

"I'm so scared, Ron," said Hermione, trying to dry her eyes on her shirt sleeve, "for all of us. But mostly for Harry. I mean, how much more tragedy can he handle? What will he do if he wakes up one morning and decides that he's just plain had enough? What if he-"

"Hermione!" Ron said, finally getting her to be silent. "Relax! Harry's not going to anything stupid."

"But how do you know that?" she said, tears filling her eyes again. "It's not like he's never done anything stupid before. Remember when we first met Sirius? Harry almost…"

Her voice trailed off.

"Killed him?" Ron said for her, his voice cracking a little in spite of himself. Recovering self-composure, he added, "Honestly, Hermione, we were in third year. You really think Harry was capable of murder then?"

"He might've been," she answered. "He just –I dunno- he just gets so angry sometimes…"

"Doesn't he have a right?"        

"This is getting stupid."

"What?"

"This conversation! I mean, Harry went somewhere just now, we don't know where. He'll be fine. He needs to be alone for a while…let off some steam I guess."

They were silent for a minute.

"Do you want me to go and find him?" asked Ron quietly. He didn't want to leave Hermione, but he didn't want to stay if all they were going to do was worry about Harry. They'd done enough of that for the past few – well – years really. It was time for a break. Even though he felt bad for Harry, he couldn't help thnking about himself some, and what he wanted…

It was really quite unlike him (a/n: if I may say so myself! ^^).

"I don't know if that would do any good," Hermione said, still shaking a bit with sobs. "I just wish I could wave my wand and make this whole mess go away…it works with everything else."

"Not everything," said Ron, remembering all the times they had fought over the past five years.

Hermione chuckled, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Well, life would be incomplete with out us fighting, wouldn't it?" she said sarcastically, wiping away a few more tears off her cheeks.

"No, life would just be incomplete without you," Ron said.

He took in a sharp breath and he felt his face growing hot. He hadn't meant to say that. Too scared to look at Hermione, he got off the bed and walked toward his own, thinking he'd pretend to fall asleep really quickly.

"Ron," Hermione said, "come back here."

Ron turned around. His face felt like a ball of fire. Hermione's face was still pretty wet from crying, but she was smiling as she tried to dry her eyes. She held her arms open, waiting for a hug.

He stepped forward and hugged her tight.

"You are really great, you know that?" Hermione asked.

My face is going to explode, Ron thought to himself. My body is going to turn into a mushroom cloud…

"Well – er – you know, we can talk like this – er – more often if you need to…" he said stupidly.


"I know," Hermione said.

They broke apart and Ron sat at the foot of her bed. His face was just starting to return to a normal color when he asked, "So, what do you think we should do…about Harry, I mean?"

Hermione thought for a minute and said, "I think we should find someone else to talk to him. I think he figures one of us will talk to him eventually, but, y'know, we know so much maybe he feels like…I dunno, maybe he just needs someone new to talk to."

"Like who?" Ron asked curiously.

"Well, now this is just a thought," Hermione added as if she thought Ron would object, "I was thinking about maybe Luna Lovegood."

[a/n: okay, that's the end of chapter 1! R&R everyone! The more reviews the sooner the next chapter will come! ^^ thanks everybody! Luv ya!]