Title: Remembering

Rating: T

Pairing: Ron/Harry/Hermione

Summary: It was incredible, really; how the world could seem so perfect right before it came crashing down around your head.

The gate squeaked as he shut it behind himself, shoes automatically sinking into the moist ground. It was late. Or early, perhaps, depending on how you viewed things. With the gate shut securely behind him, he walked on, eyes roving over all of the different tombs. It didn't take long to find the one he was searching for.

Upon finding the familiar marble, he kneeled down. The inscription was something he had read hundreds of times over; something burned permanently into the back of his brain.

Hermione Jean Granger & Harry James Potter

September 19, 1979-April 5, 1998 July 31, 1980-April 5, 1998

"Their sacrifice will resonate forever.

We owe our lives to the greatest witch and wizard of the age."

A tear fell from his eyes as he ran his fingers over the markings. "Hey, mate. It's me."

His voice gave a slight echo in the empty graveyard.

"I know it's been a while since I stopped by. I'm sorry for that. Things have just been busy at home. Ginny had to take off work for a week because Harry has the flu, so I've been helping her out with her workload. You two should see that boy… He's gotten so big. He'll be going to Hogwarts soon. A Gryffindor, of course."

At this he laughed. But the laugh was hollow; empty. It had been that way for a long time.

"Harry, I dunno how you did it. That boy looks exactly like you. If I hadn't seen Ginny pregnant myself, I would swear it was asexual reproduction. He's smart, too. I'm assuming Hermione had something to do with that. How, I don't know. But I bet she'd find a way…

The truth is, I'm having a hard time. It's been ten years, and the rest of the world has all but moved on. But I can't… I just can't. I miss you so much. I don't know how to live with all of the pain. It hurts just to breathe. I needed the two of you… And you left me."

His voice broke. But it didn't matter. Everything else was broken, too.

"I just don't understand," he said, gritting his teeth and clutching at the ground. "I don't understand why I made it and you didn't. Hermione, you're smarter, Harry's braver. I should've died back there. But I didn't, and now I'm stuck here remembering constantly. I just want to stop feeling. I want to be able to accept things for what they are for once and move on. But I can't fucking do that!"

The cry sounded out through the cemetery. And honestly, it made him feel a little better to yell at them. For so long he had been carrying this pain while they sat comfortably in death. It was wrong.

"I came here to tell you something important," he said, his voice a fraction stronger. "I can't do this anymore… I can't keep coming back here and torturing myself."

The tears fell fast and hard, but his resolve remained. "This will be my last time to visit you. And I hope you understand why I have to do this. I need a life. One in the present, that doesn't center around the loss of the two greatest people I've ever known.

I'm proud to have been your friend. I'd like to think that you were proud to be mine, too. But I have one last thing to ask of you. Don't think poorly of me for my next choice."

With that, he leaned forward and kissed Hermione's name and ran his hand over Harry's.

"Till we meet again on the other side," he whispered.

"Obliviate!"

And just like that, Ron Weasley was finally able to stop remembering.