Ron Weasley, Post-war, you will always be the one who left
iYou will always be the one who left/i. Bill's words at Shell Cottage had given him the punishment he knew he deserved. There was a comfort in repeating them to himself as he went through the motions with Bill and Fleur. He had a schedule, a rhythm, of chores and self loathing.
Sweep the porch.
iYou will always be the one who left/i.
Clean the dishes.
iYou will always be the one who left/i.
Degnome the garden.
iYou will always be the one who left/i.
It haunted his down time as well. He would be listening to Potterwatch and the words would echo in his mind and heart. The words had replaced the locket in keeping every insecurity and every flaw of his at the forefront. He snapped at Bill and Fleur. One time Bill threatened to kick him out and Ron packed his rucksack, prepared to go it alone. Bill had stopped him at the last second, saying he didn't mean it and that it was too dangerous to be alone out there.
Then Christmas Day he had finally left but this time he was running back. Part of him hoped he could run back enough to rewind time and erase what he had done, but he knew it was impossible. He hoped they would accept him, knowing if they didn't he would truly go it alone because there was no way he could go back to his brother's. So when Harry hugged him and didn't scream at him, Ron felt the words get buried. Every day he tried to make up for what he had done. When he began to lead them in the hunt, he could almost forget that he had ever left.
The moment the memorials were over and they could relax, however, the words came flooding back. Cuddling with Hermione on the sofa and playing chess with Harry or Quidditch with his siblings, they haunted him. Though Harry had told him that the Deluminator was given to him because Dumbledore knew he'd always want to come back, Ron couldn't really believe it. The articles about them being heroes rang false and though Harry and Hermione said that they didn't feel like heroes either, Ron knew they were and he wasn't. He never told them why.
One day Ron was flying alone over the pitch at The Burrow when Hermione shouted his name. He considered ignoring her so he could sulk, but he flew down to meet her instead.
iRon, what happened with the locket?/i she asked.
He dodged her question and asked how her reading for school was going, but she pressed on until he broke. She was crying when he finished relating to her all the things the locket had told him. Though he didn't tell her what Bill or Harry had said, she seemed to know what he was thinking.
iI'm glad you came back./i She said more than that, but those words resonated with Ron the most. They were as powerful as Gryffindor's sword. Slowly, her words became the foundation for everything Ron did the next year.
Help George with his shop.
iI'm glad you came back./i
Begin Auror training with Harry.
iI'm glad you came back./i
Ask Hermione to marry him.
iI'm glad you came back./i