It was dark and I was remembering everything and nothing all at once. I wanted it to all be a lie, all of the war and the fact that Ron had left, but I couldn't just blink it away. Down at the riverbank, I saw Harry leaning into the water, his body caving. He had held the Horcrux far too long and if he kept on like that for long, he would not know who he was. I ran to him down the hill and suddenly came to a halt.
There he was, down beneath the water: Ron Weasley. His red hair was floating in waves about his head and he looked into my eyes, just before he rose out of the water. He was raised from the water by some other force, not using his wand or any other means of visible magic; He was also dried within seconds.
For a moment he was swimming in golden light, looking just as happy and young as he was in his first year at Hogwarts way back when we were eleven, but that effect swam away from him and back into the river I thought I knew so well. The river had helped him and I gave it a quick glance of wonder and thanks before I turned back to the dark Ron we had come to know, Harry and I. His eyes were sunken, his skin pale, his hair scarlet, and his eyes an ashen pale blue. Every color that used to make him Ron was drained and he seemed only a skeleton of the Ron I have grown to love the past few years.
He looked at me and I could recall what he saw. He saw me, but with my hair limp, my eyes a turgid shade of brown, my skin just as pale or more than his. I had changed, yes. We were all changing so much because of the war and the hiding and the loss of connection and happiness from our lives.
"Ron." I muttered. His eyes glowed a shadow of their past sky blue as he turned his head my way. I ran to him, so happy to see him. I was happy to see him and I shut my eyes and hugged him tight, trying to remember the Ron I used to have. I remembered the tall, lean, strong Ron. I recalled the Ron with wavy bright red hair, bright blue eyes and a toothy grin awaiting me around every corner. I remembered his tone of sarcasm and play, the voice that made me inadvertently fall in love more and more every time I heard it. I remembered all of the times we went through scares and laughs together and I smiled brightly for the first time in what seemed like ages.
He cleared his throat and he wrapped his arms around me, caressing my frail body with his own lanky arms. I leaned into him, opening my eyes to the reality of Ron Weasley, the reality of the war. He was no longer the sporty little guy in love to the bone with Quidditch. He was grim, looking to me with sadness I could not myself hide. His smile was no longer there, far from his old charming grin.
"Hermione, It has been too long." He said, his eyes falling to mine fully. That was the last straw, the final split from his old self. His voice was hallow, empty of glee and jest, full of pain and longing. What he longed for, I did not know.
As Harry came over to us, the first smile on him that I had seen in far too long, he looked at us in our embrace, his eyes filling with a sadness that made me feel guilty for loving anything or anyone. He glared at our hands which had come together in a hold without either of us knowing. He looked into my eyes, then into Ron's. He eyes were the most caved, his skin the most pale, his scar bright upon his head, the only thing in this life that was brightening rather than fading.
"I am glad you too are happy." Little did he know how sad we were. Ron held me close and Harry gave us one last look before he threw the locket around his neck upon the forest floor and ran from us clumsily as he was hit with the pain of not being able to see his love.
"Ginny has been fading faster than the rest. She needs to see Harry just as much as he needs to see her. She even hurt herself the other day just to feel a different pain than heartache…" Ron said in a weak sigh of exasperation. "Harry has been offering to end his life by the hand of Voldemort for days. He just wants to die if he does not have her in his life… I have actually been feeling very similar to that without you. I am glad to know you were with family and now what you had to leave for, for Ginny…" I said, feeling the tears well in my eyes.
"Oh Hermione, I have been wanting to see you for so long now. I have been shaking in my sleep in nightmares of you falling to your death and other ways. I can't leave you again. I'm so sorry.." Ron said in a shaky tone, tilting my chin up to meet his eyes. "I do love you, Hermione Granger." He sighed, smiling slowly. "I do love you, Ron Weasley." I whispered, just before his cold, cracked lips met mine, just before our cold, cracked hearts became one.