Chapter 1: I Would. Gladly.
"Wait!" Bellatrix Lestrange snapped sharply, as the Snatchers made to take away the prisoners to the cellar of Malfoy Manor. "All except... except for the Mudblood."
Greyback gave a grunt of pleasure.
"NO!" Ron Weasley bellowed. "You can have me, keep me!"
He half expected Bellatrix to slap him across the face or silence him in some other fashion. Bellatrix never liked being upstaged, and she certainly never liked being told what to do by anyone other than Voldemort. But, instead, the wild Death Eater peered at Ron. And then, quite suddenly, she began to laugh.
"You would give your life... for that?" And she pointed her wand sharply at Hermione, the tip bobbling a little before its target. "A Mudblood?"
Ron felt Hermione's eyes swivel to his. He could feel the shock there, the fear begging him to be quiet and not draw any more attention to himself, the wondering if he really...
"I would," Ron testified solemnly. "And gladly."
Bellatrix's expression was difficult to read in that moment. She appeared all at once curious, amused, and even... impressed. But that last one couldn't be right; only the Dark Lord seemed to impress Bellatrix Lestrange.
"You really are a blood traitor, aren't you?" Another thought struck her. "Oh, this is just precious... the Weasley brat has fallen in love with the Mudblood!" Greyback and even the Malfoys roared with laughter; however, Draco remained oddly subdued. "Very well, blood traitor. I shall have you first."
"No, Ron! I can't let you do this!" Hermione trembled desperately.
Ron's gaze was even. "And I can't let you die..." he whispered simply.
"But, if you do this, then you will die!"
"Hey: it's gonna be all right." And he sent her that easy smile that made Hermione's stomach do flip-flops.
Procuring a silver knife, Bellatrix cut Ron free from the others (in the process unbinding Harry and Hermione from each other) and forced him into a standing position. Pinning the boy's arms sharply to his side, she spun him around and dragged him back into the center of the room, as Greyback began to tug Harry and Hermione out of the drawing room and towards the cellar.
Ron's gaze locked with that of a disbelieving Hermione. She appeared the most terrified he had ever seen her. He had actually done it. Sacrificed himself for her. It was now or never... she might never get another chance...
"I LOVE YOU!" she cried out desperately.
Ron just nodded gently. "I know. I love you, too."
Then, several things happened at once. Hermione sent a well-placed elbow into Greyback's face. He roared in angry pain and loosened his grip enough for her to leap forward and run for Ron.
"Stop her!" Greyback growled, but as he made to lunge, Harry sent his heel back right into Greyback's crotch. The werewolf howled in pain and fell to his knees, sweet spot throbbing.
Bellatrix stiffened, wand pointed, but Hermione simply threw herself at Ron, cradled his face in her hands and kissed him - a long, slow, sensuous kiss that parted his lips. A kiss to tell him all she felt that she could not put into words. A kiss to give him strength. And Ron had never hated Bellatrix Lestrange more in that moment, for were it not for her, he would wrap his arms around the woman he loved and kiss her back good and proper.
"Come here, ya little -" Then Greyback had Hermione by the hair and he was yanking her and Ron apart.
"NO!" Hermione screamed, thrashing in the grasp, tears splashing down her front. "Ron! Ron!"
Ron's eyes locked with Harry, and they silently communicated. Take care of her, you understand?
On my honor.
Ron was swiveled around again, the pressure of Hermione's mouth still tingling. Staring down Bellatrix as she forced him to his knees, Ron all at once began to laugh. He was smiling, beaming, almost.
Bellatrix's one eye twitched. "What are you smirking at, boy?" she screeched.
But Ron felt that with Hermione's goodbye kiss, he was invincible. And so it was with a bravado he did not know he possessed that made him look the evil sorceress in the eye and say, "Do your worst, bitch."
"With pleasure," she growled.
And the torture began.
Harry and Hermione were thrown to the cellar floor by Greyback.
"I'll be coming back for you, dearie," Greyback promised lecherously. And his heavy trod thudded up the stairs.
Harry grasped Hermione's hand and squeezed it. "He won't have you. Not on my watch."
"Never!" Hermione vowed briefly. "Only Ron will." Realizing what she said, she blushed pink. Harry just smiled, trying to give her courage.
"You both have my blessing. We'll get him out, Hermione. I promise."
Just then, there was a bellow from above that sent Hermione's heart plummeting into the depths of her stomach. And made her lose all composure.
"RON!" She ran for the barred door and rattled the unyielding metal desperately. "Ron! Ron!"
Harry rushed to her side. "No! Hermione! Shut up, we have to come up with a plan..."
"Ron! Ron!"
Though a little out of a focus, Bellatrix's voice could be made out just well enough from one story above. "I grant your wish to spare your little mate, blood traitor, and this is how you repay me? With lies! CRUCIO!"
Ron's roars of pain sent convulsions through Hermione's body, almost like electric shocks. For Ron's grief was her grief. Ron's pain was her pain... "Ron! Ron! ROOOOONNNNNN!"
Harry was digging through the beaded bag frantically, doing things that made no sense: shaking a Snitch, talking to a shard of mirror. Hermione felt she was at least being more productive, running her fingers along the walls as she searched for a secret exit, rattling the bars, pounding the bricks with her fist, half-sobbing.
"When were you in my fault at Gringotts? Where did you get this sword? Tell me the truth, blood traitor, or I will call up your disgusting mate and make you watch as she dies!"
"You can have... anything you want. Just... don't harm my Hermione!" Hermione's heart briefly alighted when she heard Ron refer to her as his.
"The truth, then, quickly now! Where did you get this sword? CRUCIO!"
Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms, sobbing. "I can't lose him, Harry, I just can't! I can't..."
Harry could only hold her and rock her, as his mind struggled to find a loophole to a problem that appeared unsolvable.
Then, voices pinged out into the darkness.
"Harry?"
"Hermione?"
"Luna? Dean?"
A sharp CRACK! made everyone jump and Harry saw a little creature that he had never expected to see.
"DOBBY?!"
He was on fire. Burning. He had expected his body to be alight like this at the time when he finally made sweet, tender love to Hermione.
Only this kind of heat was not of pleasure, but of pain. Not from heaven, but from hell.
Even so, a warmth of a much more soothing kind had settled in the pit of Ron's stomach, in his heart, fueled by Hermione's kiss. A warmth at the knowledge that she was safe, and that all that either of them had wanted to say had at least been said. Nothing was unspoken.
Ron contorted and twisted as he yelled in agony. As long as Hermione was safe, he no longer cared what happened to him. All he had to do was keep Bellatrix distracted, lie convincingly enough so that she would leave the woman he loved alone. If he died in that process, so be it. Despite all the evil the locket had whispered in his ear, he knew he could trust Harry to take care of Hermione...
But then, he heard a plaintive cry. A woman's voice - a voice that was the sweetest sound he had ever known, calling his name. "Ron! RON!"
And with that, Ron felt his strength renewed. He had to survive. To kiss Hermione again. To tell her he loved her. To marry her. To make love to her in his bed as they both moaned in bliss. To watch her stomach become round and laden with his children - their children, little redheaded Weasley babies.
And so Ron gritted his teeth and rode the pain like a wave. A dangerous gauntlet.
And just thinking about the brilliant witch who had his heart prompted a crazy lie to fall into his head.
"It's not your sword! It's a copy! Just a copy!"
"A likely story!" Bellatrix sneered derisively.
CRACK!
"What was that?" Lucius bellowed as the Cruciatus Curse abruptly stopped. "No, send Wormtail! Make him go and check!"
Harry and Hermione had jumped Wormtail as soon as he appeared in the door of the cellar. Wresting his wand away, the pair had crept up the stairs and back to the drawing room.
When Hermione saw the sight, she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sob. Or her sudden urge to vomit. She couldn't decide which impulse was stronger.
Her beloved Ron lay sprawled at Bellatrix's feet. He was bloodied, bruised, looking like a corpse already. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest suggested otherwise.
"I think... we can dispose of the blood traitor," Bellatrix was saying. "Greyback, bring me the Mudblood, and when I'm through with her, you may have your fun with her."
Greyback grinned licentiously, and turned only to find a wand pointed in his face.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry had never cast the Killing Curse before, but this one lifted Greyback of his feet and slammed him into a windowpane. Harry passed the wand to Hermione as she yelled, "Expelliarmus!", disarming Bellatrix and taking her wand.
A fierce duel between the two prisoners and the Malfoy family now began.
"DROP YOUR WANDS!" The skirmish froze. Bellatrix was supporting all of Ron's weight, her eyes wild and desperate as she held a knife to his throat. A move so frantic, it was as though she knew she was losing this game, or was about to lose it, and so she decided to shit all over the board.
"I said drop them!" And she pressed the blade into Ron's skin until a sheeny bead of blood appeared. "Or your boyfriend will be skewered like a Muggle pig!" The last was hurled at Hermione.
Harry and Hermione angrily threw down their wands.
"Excellent! Draco, pick them up!"
Draco scuttled to retrieve the wands, his eyes briefly meeting those of his classmates. Hermione glowered at him, Harry's mouth was in a blank line, though the disgust in his eyes was apparent. Could it be a trick of the light, or did Draco's lips move to mouth something like, "I'm sorry"?
"And now," Bellatrix squealed with glee. "To call the Dark Lord!"
The snap came from nowhere, followed by a scream of tumbling metal, drowning out Bellatrix's own shriek as she abandoned Ron to spare her own sorry skin. The chandelier crashed right on top of the poor Weasley boy.
"Ron!" Hermione dove forward, and using all her strength, she dragged her... she-didn't-know-what clear of the wreckage and back towards Harry, who was now sprinting back to their side of the drawing room after Draco Malfoy had practically chucked the surrendered wands back to him. Dobby was standing by the Trio's side.
Harry turned everyone on the spot. There was a flash of silver and time seemed to slow. But then, everyone was mercifully pulled into oblivion, and the gloom of the Manor disappeared, hopefully forever.