Ron looked at the calendar that hung on the dormitory wall beside his bed. The days had been crossed off, a large "X" over each box representing twenty-four hours, up to June 20 - today. Only six days remained in the school year. He sighed. It'd been seven whole years since the day he met his best friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, on the Hogwarts Express. They'd been through so much together; helping to stop Quirrell from retrieving the Sorcerer's Stone, figuring out the mysteries the Chamber of Secrets has hidden, discovering that Sirius Black wasn't so horrible after all. Helping Harry through the Triwizard Tournament, fighting in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, battling the Death Eaters once more inside Hogwarts itself.

Now, in his final year at Hogwarts, Ron was apprehensive about leaving and life afterwards. He was worried that he, Harry and Hermione would become separate and distant, and lose contact. They had assured him that that wouldn't happen, but he was still afraid that it would.

That was Ron's greatest fear that no one had any knowledge of - losing his friends was, in his opinion, the worst thing that could happen to him. That was why he was so loyal to Harry and Hermione - he worried that any wrong move he made would lose them forever. May it be either getting in a huge argument or putting their lives on the line due to selfishness, he was more worried about that than anything else.

Ron turned and looked at the rest of the dormitory, sighing. Dean, Neville, Seamus, and Harry's beds had all neatly been made by house-elves ducking in and out as Ron slept late into the afternoon, remaining as quiet as possible as to be sure not to wake him. Finally, when the room grew hot and damp from the hot, humid air, and the curtains could finally not contain the sunlight, Ron awoke, finding he'd slept away more than half of the day. He didn't really mind - he didn't want to face his ending days of school. On the other hand, he didn't want to waste away his last days here, so he forced himself out of bed just as lunch was ending, slipping out of his pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. He changed his socks, and put on his sneakers. Yawning, Ron ran his fingers through his hair, wishing it were cooler.

Suddenly, there was a bang. Ron turned to see Harry had pushed the door open with such forced that it slammed against the door beside it. Harry held a few books in his arms, several rolls of parchment piled on top. He had a quill stuck between his teeth, and a bottle of ink clutched in his fist. He dumped it all on his bed, and wiped his brow. It then seemed as if Harry had just realized Ron was in the room, and said, "Oh, hi, Ron. I was just in the library - Hermione's convinced I need to label all the parts on a bowtruckle about four times, even though we learned that in, what, third year? Fifth at the latest?"

Ron nodded solemnly, trying to make it seem as if he wasn't too upset.

"Wow, I can't believe N.E.W.Ts start tomorrow. Seems like just yesterday we were being sorted, doesn't it?" Harry said as he took a seat on his bed.

Ron nodded, recalling the day he was sorted -

"HA! Another Weasley. You're a bit different than the rest, it seems, though. Yes, you're much less of a trouble-maker than either of those twins, not quite as determined at the one just two years above them...Percival, his name was...No, but you're fiercley loyal, perhaps Hufflepuff? No, no, you don't seem just enough to be a Hufflepuff. No, no...better be...GRYFFINDOR!"

Then, Ron decided, maybe leaving Hogwarts wouldn't be so horrible after all. Look at Bill, he thought. He's perfectly happy working for Gringotts in Egypt. And Charlie loves his job with dragons in Romania. Maybe, Ron thought, I'll end up in Scotland, organizing the next Quidditch World Cup, instead of an Auror. But there was just no knowing. He would go where life took him.