Epilogue: Harry

Harry Potter just couldn't understood. His two best friends and a man he had grown to respect and like over the years were all dead. His heart felt like it had been wrenched in two, like it had when Sirius died, or when Fred died. Hadn't life took enough away from him already? The majority of people he cared about had been taken away from him, all of them brutally. It wasn't fair.

Of course he still had his family, and Ginny. His beautiful red headed wife. She was a brilliant wife, an amazing mother and just an all around fantastic person. Like him she had literally crumpled at the news. They had fell on each other, the tears just pouring out. They had wept for hours. They had both ignored work, ignored family – only focusing on this loss that echoed through them like an empty cavern.

They had both lost family that day. Ginny had literally lost a brother and a woman who had felt like a sister, Harry had lost the two people who had been there for him through thick and thin. The people he had first thought of as family. When they finally recovered enough to leave the house, they found the whole wizarding world was wild with the news. Two war heroes, dead. An important business tycoon, also dead.

Both he and Ginny refused to comment, as did the rest of the Weasley/ Potter/ Malfoy family. Rose and Hugo were in shock. Refusing to speak to anyone, just staring blankly into space. They felt like a vital organ had been ripped out of them. As did everyone. Yet, the adults were used to loss. It was difficult, but Harry felt they could make it through.

The thing that hurt the most, was that no one had thought Ron capable of it. Funny, sweet Ron. Yes he got angry sometimes, yes he had done bad things before, but this. This was not Ron. Yet Harry felt he should have seen it coming. He knew Ron better than anyone. Ron was irrational, difficult to calm down and never admitted he was wrong.

From the day Hermione had left him, he refused to admit he was in the wrong. He blamed it all on Draco. Yet, Harry had been secretly thanking Draco – for being there for Hermione when Ron couldn't. Ron was his best friend, he always would have been. But Ron had developed a problem over the years.

After the war, it was a minor problem. Insignificant. Everyone had their own way of dealing with trauma, and Ron's was drinking. It wasn't a surprise, it was Ron after all. The problem had just kept getting worse and worse, sure it got better for a few worse when he and Hermione got married and had a few kids – but it never went away. When the children went to Hogwarts it got worse again. With both Hugo and Rose gone, he had nothing to occupy him. Hermione worked a lot, Ron barley worked. Being a war hero had its perks.

Ron had started being a violent drunk. He would go on intoxicated rages, throwing objects – breaking things. He never hurt Hermione, not physically, but he scared her. He terrified her sometimes. Then he started squandering money, wasting it on gambling and alcohol. Hermione was at her wits end. She loved Ron, she didn't want to leave him.

Then Draco Malfoy got involved. Being the socialite he was, he somehow got wind of the problems and tried to help. He tried to get dear Rose into an amazing wizarding university. Rose was brilliant, she deserved to go, and Draco knew it. What he didn't know was how Ron would react. Ron was convinced he was trying to steal his daughter, get into her knickers. It was common knowledge that Draco was a lonely man after his divorce.

Draco was shocked. He had never liked Ron, but he'd never expected Ron to be this way. He'd tried to do what he thought was best, he's tried to get Hermione out of the marriage. He thought Hermione deserved better.

Hermione did, but Harry was convinced Ron could change. Draco was still naive, he knew nothing about how much work real relationships needed. He didn't understand how much Hermione loved Ron. What he did understand though, was that he had fell in love with Hermione.

Noone blamed Hermione for what happened next. Hermione found herself falling for the rich blonde too. With Ron becoming more distant and more violent with every coming day, she didn't think she had a choice but to leave him. She knew Ron wasn't a bad person, he would always be her first love. The drinking was just too much.

Harry didn't blame her for leaving, he just wished she'd tried harder. He didn't blame Draco for getting together with her, he just wished he hadn't. He didn't blame Ron for Hermione leaving, he just wished he hadn't drank so much. He'd tried to keep out of it. They were all adults and could sort out their own problems, he just wished he'd got more involved.

Ron was not a bad person. He was just irrational and drank too much. Hermione was not a bad person. She had just expected too much from Ron and had not been prepared for his way with dealing with life. Draco was not a bad person. He had just fell in love and was powerless to stop himself.

But Ron had died a bad person. He had murdered two people, two people who, yes, had hurt him beyond belief, but two people who hadn't meant to hurt him – who had fell in love due to his neglect. Harry felt as though this whole thing was a nightmare, a bad dream he just had to wake up from.

His best friend was not a killer. He just wasn't. In Ron's angry, confused, irrational mind he might not have meant to be a killer, and it may even have seemed reasonable. But Harry couldn't come up with excuses for what Ron did. Even if he had been hurt, there was no excuse for what he had done.

Standing at his funeral, Harry had tried to justify what Ron had done, but he had came up with nothing. Standing at Hermione's funeral, Harry had once again tried to rationalize what had happened, but again drew a blank. Then, once more, at Draco Malfoy's funeral he had tried to defend his best friend – but nothing.

Harry had lost faith in the world, and everyone was to blame.

A/N: The reviews were wondering why Hermione would leave her family, so I explained. Hermione loved Ron, and this is not Ron bashing. I love Ron. But his irrational mind would have led to somewhere like this. Hermione only left him because she had no choice, and I think her children and family understood, everyone apart from Ron. Also, yes Draco was in the wrong. Harry just likes to think of people from a positive point after death. Harry in this chapter is just trying to rationalize why Ron could do such a horrific thing.