Rating: K

Category: Harry Potter

Pairings: Past Hermione/Ron and in between the lines Charlie/Hermione.

Warnings: Suicide, pregnancy out of wedlock, and sad themes.

Summary: Ron took the easy way out. They all knew it. Oneshot.

Credits: To J.K. Rowling for writing Harry Potter in the first place.

A Falling Grace

Chapter 1

The Victims

"I was going to propose to her that night," Ron said sadly. "I had it all planned out. I was going to take her out to the lake and tell her about the times at Hogwarts. About how I had fallen in love with her. Harry helped me pick out a ring. I was going to get down on my knees and ask her to marry me. I wish she was here with me."

Charlie barely had the chance to react when Ron turned his wand on himself.

Charlie stared at his brothers lifeless body. He could feel tears streaking down his face as the healers rushed to check on him. Charlie numbly walked over to the floo and flooed home. Ginny immediately rushed to her brothers side. Charlie noticed her concerned face.

"What happened," asked Ginny as she helped him to the nearby couch.

"R-r-ron turned his wand on himself," said Charlie. Ginny sighed. He looked at her confused. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Ron inflicted the curses on himself, Charlie," said Ginny. "He wanted to take the easy way out. He thought that we were doomed and he ran inside and tried to kill himself. If Harry had not noticed Ron missing he would have succeeded in killing himself. Don't blame yourself. It was Ron who turned the wand on himself." Charlie nodded. Ginny jumped up when she heard a loud peck on the window.

"Loretta, get down here this instant," Hermione called up the stairs. "We're going to be late." Hermione looked at her watch. Ron's funeral was in twenty minutes. Her new friend, Loretta Lawrence was helping her raise her daughter, Ronnie Granger. Her name sake was because of her ex-boyfriend, Ron Weasley.

"I'm here," said Loretta joining her at the door. They headed to the apparatition point and they apparated to Hogwarts where the funeral was being held. Ronnie gurgled when she looked up at her mother. They three took seats near the back. Hermione could of sworn she saw Charlie wink at her. Harry stood up to give a speech as Ron's friend and the minister.

"Ron did not die a hero," Harry solemnly said. "He did not die fighting for what he believed in. Instead he cowered into his childhood home and tried to kill himself but that is not what I want him to be remembered by. I want him to be remembered from when he went with me to try and retrieve the sorcerers stone. For the time when he went down with me into the chamber of secrets. For when he went with me to capture the rat that betrayed my family. I also want him to be remembered for when he turned the other way when I was chosen by the Goblet of Fire. The time he and my friends stood loyally by me in the Department of Mysteries and the Final Battle. Today will be remembered not as Ron Weasley's day but as the War Heroes day. For the fallen heroes we have not had the time to mourn for as we fought back. I would like to take a moment to remember those who had fallen." Silence through out the hall. The silence was broken when Ronnie burst out crying. Hermione gave Ronnie a tired look.

"Do you want me to take her out," whispered Loretta. Hermione nodded numbly. Loretta took Ronnie from Hermione and she left the hall. She turned back in time to hear Ginny invite her forward to the stand. Hermione took a deep breath. She went up to the stand.

"I was horrified," said Hermione. "I was so horrified to find out my best friend and ex-boyfriend would do that to himself. I so badly wanted to remember him as the little boy who had finally confessed to me he loved me. I couldn't and I bolted. He was not the brave boy I had meet in my first year in Hogwarts. He was another casualty for the ongoing war. I got a letter last week telling me about the funeral of Ron Weasley. I looked and poked around for a joke. I had thought that maybe they were trying to get me out of hiding. They weren't. It was real. Ron had the guts to take his own life. I miss him. I will admit it but I will not try and remember the way he went but the way he lived. It is not in good remembrance of a friend for a friend to remember the way they died but it is nothing but heaven to remember how they lived and loved." Hermione took a step down and went over to Harry. Hermione hugged Harry and then hugged Ginny. She then left the room to go find Loretta and Ronnie.

Charlie was numb as was everyone else in the room. Hermione's last words were something to be remembered. Charlie stood and rushed out the hall. Hermione was talking to an older woman as she took back the child who had broke out crying in the Great Hall.

"Hermione, wait," Charlie said as he ran to catch up with her. He pulled out the ring Ron had intended on giving to Hermione. He handed the velvet box to her. "Ron was going to propose to you that night. He had thought that they had taken you and last week when I told him you had left he turned his wand on himself. You were his everything. I don't agree with what he did but I wanted you to know that he loved you." Hermione shook her head.

"If he loved me he wouldn't of killed himself," Hermione said. Her voice was shaking as tears began streaming down her face. "He would have gone after me and he wouldn't of gone and went the easy way out." She bit her lip as though considering something. She gave him back the velvet box and Charlie's jaw locked in place. "Charlie, he did propose to me. Right before the attack. I said no because I was in love with someone else." She turned to leave but Charlie grabbed her arm.

"Who were you in love with," Charlie asked. Hermione bit her lip again.

"Do you remember when I was kidnapped," Hermione asked. Charlie nodded. He had been the one to save her. "I fell in love with the one who saved me. I was NEVER in love with Ron. It was admiration not love. Even he knew that but he was desperate to keep me away from you." Hermione pulled her arm from his grip and left with her friend and child. Was Ronnie his child or Ron's child? Ron's selfishness had left more victims then intended in the beginning. Ron had not been the only victim. Charlie was too a victim of not only loss but heartbreak.