A/N: Yay! New penname! I'm keeping my old one and I'm not telling you what it is because this is going to be my place for pointless drabble that I just want to get out of my head. If I posted it under my other name I would get reviews saying, "Yeah, it was good and all buy why aren't you updating your other story?" Sorry if I'm sounding really mean right now. I'm actually quite a nice person. Enough with my pointless drabble and onto my other pointless drabble (see below)

Disclaimer: All JKR's.

I'd been dreaming for this moment for years, and now that it's here I almost wish it wasn't happening.

Almost.

Dumbledore is dead. The harsh reality still hasn't completely sunk in. I keep expecting him to waltz humming into this group of people gathered around his tomb, let out a laugh, and then with a flick of his wand make the tomb disappear into a thousand white birds that would fly into the heavens full of joy, and life, and hope.

But he won't. And a little logical voice in the back of my head is telling me he won't even though I'm trying my hardest to ignore it. So I'm sitting here, bawling into Ron's shoulder. I'm crying for the end of the greatest wizard the world had ever seen, for the confidence this would surely give Voldemort, for how Harry must be feeling, for the fear that they may shut down Hogwarts, and for the feeling of hopelessness that has settled on my chest since Dumbledore's death. If Albus Dumbledore couldn't survive Voldemort, what makes any of us think we can?

On the bright side, Ron is holding me the way I always dreamed he would. He's not embarrassed, he's not holding anything back, and I know he's feeling how I'm feeling.

Complete.

"Ron?" I sniffed.

"Yeah Hermione?" He croaked, pushing some hair behind my ear.

I shivered involuntarily. Luckily Ron didn't seem to notice. "What's going to happen to us? What if Hogwarts closes? I'll go back to my house, and you'll go back to the Burrow, and Harry…I don't know where Harry will go. He'll probably go back to the Burrow with you, and then the two of you will go off on some grand adventure to slay Voldemort and leave me all alone with my parents. And then what if Death Eaters come to my house? I mean, I think I can handle three or four, but if droves came…what if they hurt my parents… or me?" I started to cry again.

"Hermione." Ron breathed, tilting my chin up so I was looking into his puffy red eyes. "I would never, never let anyone hurt you. And Harry wouldn't either. And I'll never leave you alone, and we'll never lose touch, even if Hogwarts does close."

I smiled shakily at the boy who filled all my happy memories at Hogwarts. "Thank you." I said softly, and kissed him on the cheek.

Ron blushed as he wiped my tears away. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"For being you, for putting up with me, for being the best friend I ever had, for being an overprotective git—"

"Ok, ok, you're embarrassing me now." Ron said chuckling, as he put a hand over my mouth.

The breeze picked up, rustling the leaves on the forest trees and making Ron's hair look windswept. I giggled.

"You look like you've just finished a Quidditch game." I said, gesturing to his hair.

"Oh do I?" Ron said absently. "I'm going to miss Quidditch if the school closes."

"You could do a try out for the Cannons." I said, nestling myself into a more comfortable position in the crook of his arm.

Ron smiled at me and pulled me closer to him. "Thanks Hermione, but I know I'm not that good."

"Of course you are!" I said indignantly, but with a smile on my face. It felt so good to be bickering over something trivial again. "When you have your confidence you're a brilliant Keeper!"

"Thanks Hermione." Ron said, and resumed stroking my hair. "But I'm not on that level, even when I am on form. And besides, if the school does close we'll have to stay with Harry. As you said, he'll probably want to go on some grand adventure to slay V-V-Voldemort and we can't let him do that without us."

"True." I sighed. "But I'm going to miss Quidditch."

"Hermione Granger miss Quidditch?" Ron said incredulously. "Surely you meant to say 'the library' or 'homework' or 'History of Magic'."

"No." I said, shaking my head. "I meant Quidditch. But not so much the sport as watching you and Harry play. You both were so happy, and carefree, and…and…" I began to sniffle again. "It just made me think that maybe, just maybe if there was no dumb prophecy…that would be what you and Harry felt like all the time. But no, Voldemort had to go and ruin all our childhoods."

"He didn't ruin mine." Ron said sincerely. "My childhood that is. I met the two greatest friends I will ever know. I found loyalty beyond what I thought was possible, I learned that even I could contribute to something great, I discovered some things are more than worth dying for, and I found my place in this world."

"Well when you put it like that…" I admitted. "But still, we've had to grow up so fast, we've had to give up so much, make so many sacrifices."

"It's worth it." Ron said firmly. "If we fight now our children won't have to grow up with this over their heads."

Ron paused and realized the implications of his words. "I-I-I didn't mean 'our children' as in our children, I just meant when we grow up, we'll have a child or two, not with each other per se, but still…" Ron sputtered, blushing again.

I ignored his embarrassment. "When we grow up? That sounds nice. It's nice to think that we will grow up, that our lives won't end in the next year or two."

Ron smiled at me. "Yeah. It does."

I smiled back. "That's why I love you Ron." Ron gulped, but I continued. "When I'm with you I forget about being muggle-born, I forget about the danger we're all in. Everything seems so right and easy. It's like I can't lose when you're with me. As long as you're beside me nothing can go wrong. Do you know what I mean?" Before he could answer I laughed. "Of course you don't, I'm just being silly."

"I do know what you mean Hermione." Ron said, beginning to play with a ring on my right hand. "I feel the same way when I'm with you."

We sat in silence for a few moments. I was trying desperately to figure out if Ron had meant that comment in the way I had.

"Want to go rescue Harry from Scrimgeour?"

I smiled up at him. "Sure."

Ron disentangled himself from me slowly and stood. He reached his hand down to pull me up and I accepted the gesture. We stood side by side for a moment in silence yet again. I finally broke it.

"I'm going to miss it here."

Ron regarded me for a moment, obviously having some internal conflict. I cocked my head; this was very un-Ron-like behavior…he was actually thinking about what he was about to say.

"I guess I am too."

My jaw dropped. "That's it?" I blurted out.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked quickly…too quickly.

"You were going to say something else. Don't even bother denying it." I searched his face for anything that would reveal his emotions. Maybe now, after years of dancing around this we would finally confront it head on…

Ron paused, then grinned cheekily down at me and tweaked my nose. "You're really too smart for your own good. You realize that, right?"

I smiled, but in my head I was screaming "JUST SAY IT!"

Ron continued. "I guess what I meant was I know I'm going to miss the Quidditch pitch, the Great Hall, the common room, and even the library…yes you heard me right…but—"

"Yes?" I prodded.

"Sorry Hermione." Ron apologized, running his hand through his hair frustratedly. "But this is bloody hard to say."

"Language." I snapped subconsciously.

"I know." Ron sighed. "Fine, here it is. I'm going to miss the library because it's where I could always find you. I'm going to miss the Quidditch pitch because of how I felt when you ran up praising me after this year's trial. I'm going to miss the Great Hall because that's where you kissed me for the first time. And I'm going to miss the common room because that's the first place I admitted the thing that's been eating me from the inside out for as long as I can remember."

"And what's that?" I breathed, hoping beyond hope that he was talking about what I thought he was.

"That I—"

"Hello Ron, hello Hermione."

Ron and I both looked up at Percy in disbelief. Before this moment I strongly disliked Percy for what he did to the Weasley family. Now I loathed him for what he had just done to me…and Ron.

"What do you want?" Ron said gruffly.

"I simply wanted to say hello to the pair of you." Percy said, not at all fazed by the open hostility his younger brother was showing him. For a moment I felt for him. This open hatred was common for him now. "It's dismal circumstances to meet in, of course, but…" Percy looked saddened. "I just wanted to say hello."

"Well you've said it." Ron snapped. "What else do you want to say? Have I tied my shoes wrong? I'm sorry if I didn't use the Ministry-approved guidelines."

Percy bristled. "Although we may have different views on current events I am still your older brother and demand a certain amount of respect—"

"Respect!" Ron exclaimed derisively. "Is that what you showed Mum and Dad when you walked out on them? Is that what you showed our entire family when you refused to as much as look at us? Is that what you showed Dumbledore when he told your Ministry V-Voldemort had returned? Is that what you showed Hermione and I when you interrupted our conversation? Don't tell me to respect you when you don't even know the meaning of the word!"

"Ron." I murmured, placing a placating hand on his shoulder.

Ron continued to glare at Percy for several seconds before grabbing my hand.

"C'mon Hermione. Let's go find Harry."

As Ron began to pull me away Percy called after us.

"You can't go now. The Minister is speaking to Harry Potter at the moment."

Ron and I both stopped in our tracks. The bubbling rage that had been inside me from the moment Percy interrupted Ron finally boiled over. I spun around to face the disowned Weasley.

"Is that why you came up to us? Not because you haven't said as much as ten words to your brother for almost two years, not because you wanted to apologize for all that you've done wrong, not because you realize if your Ministry had only acted sooner we might not be having this awful funeral right now…no. You came up only so you could delay Ron and I getting to Harry. You began talking to your youngest brother, not because you love him, but because the Minister requested it so he could get a private audience with Harry."

My tirade was met by Percy's awkward silence that made his true intentions glaringly obvious. Ron let out a stream of oaths and curses that would have made Mundungus blush. Surprisingly, I didn't try to stop him. When he was done the two of us turned on our heels and walked briskly to catch up with Harry.

We fell into silence yet again. I considered asking Ron what he was about to say earlier, but I knew the moment was gone. In our relationship, timing was key. I don't know when the next chance to admit our feelings would present itself, but I did know that one was gone.

Finally we drew in step with Harry.

"What did Scrimgeour want?" I said softly.

Harry shrugged. "Same as he wanted at Christmas. Wanted me to give him inside information on Dumbledore and be the Ministry's new poster boy."

Ron turned to me roughly and said loudly, "Look, let me go back and hit Percy!"

"No." I said firmly as I grabbed his arm.

"It'll make me feel better." Ron argued.

Harry burst into laughter and I smiled weakly at Ron. He could always make me happy, always make me laugh. He wasn't my rock in the traditional sense, we fell out too much for that, but he was what lit up my days, he gave me the strength to carry on when I wanted to just give up, he was there for me to defend me, to protect me, always…

I looked up to the castle, and thought back to what Ron said earlier, about what he would miss. I would miss not being able to make any more memories here. "I can't bear the idea that we might never come back. How can Hogwarts close?"

"Maybe it won't." Ron said, speaking with such optimism it bordered on stupidity. "We're not in any more danger here than we are at home, are we? Everywhere's the same now. I'd even say Hogwarts is safer, there are more wizards inside to defend the place. What d'you reckon Harry?"

"I'm not coming back even if it does reopen."

Although Ron and I had discussed this it still hit me like a Bludger to the stomach. By the look on Ron's face it had the same effect on him. I sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. But then what will you do?"

"I'm going back to the Dursleys' once more, because Dumbledore wanted me to." Harry answered. "But it'll be a short visit, and then I'll be gone for good."

Ron and I exchanged looks.

"But where will you go if you don't come back to school?"

"I thought I might go back to Godric's Hollow. For me it started there, all of it. I've just got a feeling I need to go there. And I can visit my parent's graves. I think I'll like that."

"And then what?" asked Ron.

"Then I've got to track down the rest of the Horocruxes, haven't I? That's what he wanted me to do, that's why he told me all about them. If Dumbledore was right – and I'm sure he was – there are still four of them out there. I've got to find them and destroy them, and then I've got to go after the seventh bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit that's still in his body, and I'm the one who's going to kill him. And if I meet Severus Snape along the way…so much the better for me, so much the worse for him." Harry's eyes were blazing by the end of his speech.

The three of us gazed silently across the grounds. I took in the Quidditch pitch, imagining a redhead encircling the golden hoops without a care in the world. Voldemort had robbed all of us of that privilege, but he would not ruin our children's lives. I stared up at the Quidditch pitch imagining a child…Ron's child…my child…flying around the hoops, laughing joyfully, without fear, or pain, or responsibility lurking in the back of his mind. Suddenly Ron's breath was playing around my ear.

"You saw him too, didn't you?" Ron asked so quietly I wasn't completely sure if he actually was talking to me, or if I was simply imagining it. I looked up at him to see the sincerity in his eyes, and at that moment I know both of us understood completely how the other felt. I also knew what we must do, and from the look on Ron's face he did too.

Ron gave me one last, reassuring glance before breaking the silence.

"We'll be there Harry."

"What?" Harry said, startled.

"At your aunt and uncle's house. And then we'll go with you wherever you're going." Ron fixed Harry with a steady, even gaze that quite clearly said there was no changing his mind.

"No—" Harry said quickly, but I cut him off.

"You said to us once before, that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. "We've had time, haven't we?"

"We're with you whatever happens." Ron affirmed. "But mate, you're going to have to come round my mum and dad's house before we do anything else, even Godric's Hollow."

Harry looked confused. "Why?"

Ron smiled. "Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"

Harry looked at Ron, a smile slowly spreading across his features. "Yeah, we shouldn't miss that."

I looked over at the Quidditch pitch and thought back to the little boy that would one day fly there free of the shackles of fear and uncertainty. I smiled for the thought of a pure, unadulterated childhood for him and all his classmates. And then I knew. Voldemort's reign of terror was near its end. Soon my fantasy would be a reality. I smiled up at the golden hoops, and then turned to Ron. He was smiling at me. I smiled back, and then we mouthed in unison:

"Do it for him."

A/N: So I'd really like my debut on my new penname to be a success. I think this is a good story to start out on. I'm proud of it at least. Ah one shots. How I love them. Do you love them too? Why don't you tell me? A chocolate frog for all those who review!