Author's Note: I'm not from England. So if it sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about in this chapter, I probably don't. Enjoy!

Harry lay in the tiny shack on the edge of some woods, listening to Ron and Hermione breathe. He knew neither of them were asleep, but none of them were talking, the events of that day still looming darkly in their minds.

They were investigating Lewes, a town outside of London that day, searching old antique shops for what they knew to be Rowena Ravenclaw's golden abacus. They'd heard from a reliable source (if you want to call a certain pipe-smoking drunkard a reliable source) that there were rumors of this rare object in an antique store somewhere around the London area. After looking around Cambridge, Hertford, and Canterbury, they found themselves in the town of never ending old-tyme shops.

"Here's an idea," Ron grumbled, after looking through their sixth shop of the day. "How about we wait until tonight when everyone's safely in their warm beds, then blow up every bloody shop in this town." He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt off of his head to wipe the sweat off of his neck. "We're bound to destroy the stupid thing then."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. She reached up and pulled the hood back on his head. "Stay in disguise!"

It was Hermione's idea that they stay disguised on their travels. They wore clothes that would cover their identity, such as hooded sweatshirts and hats in the muggle towns, and dark cloaks with hoods to cover their faces in wizarding communities. Arguments about this were numerable between Ron and Hermione, but as Hermione said, "It's better we stay uncomfortable in heavy clothes than be recognized and dead."

"We can't do that, anyhow, Ron," Hermione huffed, walking to the next antique shop that was conveniently down the road. "If we start blowing things up just to be rid of them, we'll be no better than the Death Eaters."

"Oh, calm down, Hermione," Ron argued. "It's not like I was serious."

"Well you should watch what you're saying, anyone can take you—"

"Well you should watch what you're saying," Ron mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh yes, very mature, I'm glad to see that you're showing your age once again."

"Well if I'm going to be treated like a child—"

"You aren't—"

Harry walked away from yet another bickering match between his two best friends. A lot has changed since they've been hunting the horcruxes. Hermione had acquired a new scar when they destroyed the locket from Grimmauld Place. Ron still limped from the attic he fell through in an old country shack when they thought they were on the trail of Hufflepuff's cup. All of them had stopped smiling somewhere along the way, finding nothing of amusement or enjoyment. However, the bickering was a constant in their lives. No matter the dark situation or the mortal peril they may be in, it was a guarantee that the fights between Ron and Hermione would be there. Not that it hurt their friendship at all. In ways, it helped remind them of the life they used to live and what they were fighting for--a life without Death Eaters, horcruxes, and Voldemort.

Harry walked into the next shop, tiny bells chiming as he opened the door. His eyes widened in a shock when he say the state of the store. The building was chucked-full of old things—lamps, chairs, tables, books, figurines, bookshelves…there wasn't a bare space in site. He sighed, thinking of how long it was going to take to shuffle through all of these items, but began nonetheless. After all, he had always found ways of entertaining himself while search through large piles of antiques. It was the only time he allowed himself to reminisce about what truly made him happy—a fiery red-head that was currently at Hogwarts…

Halfway through his search of the store he found himself in front of a large wardrobe. He opened it up and began picking through all the items in it when he came to a sudden halt. He froze, believing that his eyes were betraying him. He closed his eyes and shook his head just to be sure his wanting imagination wasn't making this up. But when he looked again, it was still there. At last, they had found—

"You haven't grown up since you were twelve years old, Ron! I wouldn't expect anything more—"

"What are you on about? I've grown at least a foot or so since—"

Harry heard his best friends coming towards them, but was too afraid to look up in case it would disappear…

"My apologies, let me use words your little brain will be able to handle. You're still a moron!"

"Oy! I am not! I happen to be quite smart! I scraped in a good number of OWLs!"

"Oh yes, you're 'quite smart.' You should tell me how 'quite smart' you are sometime. When I can possibly degrade myself to go down to your level!"

"Degrade? You would have you—OOF!"

Harry stuck out his arm to stop his best friends from walking, accidentally striking Ron in the stomach.

"You could have just asked me to stop talking, mate," Ron gasped, holding his hands over his stomach. "I would have—"

But before he could continue, Hermione gasped as well. Tearing his eyes away from what he was staring at, he looked at Hermione, who realized what they had just found.

They were both looking at an ancient abacus, golden in shade, with an eagle frozen to the base, sculpted to look as though it were in flight. On the top of the frame on each side was an "R." The beads, though now pale white from age, looked as though they had once had a blue tint to them.

"Oh my," Hermione whispered. "I can't believe it." She gave a tiny laugh of amazement. "We've never had such an easy time finding one."

Harry, picked up the abacus and opened his mouth to agree, until he heard Ron moan, "Oh no…"

Ron was staring at the doorway, where several tall, dark-hooded figures walked into the shop. They looked around the store, trying to find the trio, not yet realizing that the three people towards the back of the building were they.

"Backdoor," Hermione barely whispered, crouching as low as she could while still moving along quickly. Harry tucked the abacus close to his body and both boys followed Hermione. They made their way through the stuffed area towards a storage room door, quietly slipped in, and closed the door behind them. They rose from their crouch and ran to the back of the dark storage room to another door that led outside.

Once they reached the fresh air of the outdoors, Hermione took the abacus from Harry and put it into the backpack she had began carrying during their travels. Before she could zip it up, however, footsteps came from around the corner and there, standing like a wall in front of them, were twenty-five Death Eaters.

Hermione wasted no time. She was at Harry's side in a flash and whispered, barely moving her lips, "Keep them distracted. I'll warm the Galleon."

It had been Ron's clever idea to give his and Hermione's charmed Galleons from fifth year to Moody and Tonks, so that if they were in trouble, the two Aurors would know. Ron astounded Hermione even more by asking her if there was a charm that could send Moody and Tonks instantly to where they were. Hermione quickly found a way to tweak the Portus charm, so instead of taking the Aurors to a predestined location, they would be transported to the trio's exact location in a time of need. And there was certainly no greater time of need than right now.

"So," Harry began, trying to distract the Death Eaters and keep their attention away from Hermione. "You found us."

The Death Eaters said nothing, instead watching the three friends in quiet intensity. It was quite unnerving, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept on brave faces, not letting them know their intimidation tactics were succeeding very well.

"You should tell your boss to be more careful with his souls," Ron mocked. "Ending up in a junk shop? Tsk, tsk. It's like he wants to die or something."

"Give us the horcrux," a Death Eater hissed through his mask, holding out his hand.

Harry laughed and crossed his arms defiantly. "He actually let all of you know about the horcruxes? Wow. You must be the elite."

"The best of the worst," Ron laughed, a devilish smirk playing across his face. "Congratulations. Although, I'm not sure if that makes you worse than the dirt on my shoes, or worse than the scum below the dirt…"

"Oh, definitely worse than scum, that's for certain," Hermione chimed in.

"Give us the horcrux," another Death Eater said slowly, as though he were talking to unintelligent children.

Harry leaned forward. "No," he drew out, shaking his head slowly.

Before they could blind, twenty-five wands were drawn and pointing at their faces.

"Stupefy!" yelled a voice in the crowd. Harry closed his eyes, ready to be hit, but instead heard a thud in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw a Death Eater lying face down in the dirt.

Behind the dark robes were five figures: Tonks and Moody, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, and oddly enough, Percy Weasley. The two opposing groups looked at each other for a moment…. then all bedlam broke loose.

Harry fought the Death Eaters, his back against Ron and Hermione's. They ducked stunning spells, broke away from Killing Curses, and narrowly avoided potentially deadly jinxes. The bag with the Rowena Ravenclaw's horcrux in it was quickly forgotten in all of the confusion, but remembered once a particularly large stray Death Eater began running towards it. Harry cast a Trip Jinx on the Death Eater, making him fall heavily on the backpack. They heard a loud 'crack' as the follower fell. What happened next was something that the trio had seen once before, yet didn't make it any less shocking.

Between the seams of the backpack, a black mist rose. It ascended slowly and silently, but was enough to make everyone in the confusing fight stop and look at its presence. There was something dark about the simple mist, something sinister enough to make even the most ruthless Death Eater shudder.

Hermione, once again on top of things, wasted no time in pointing her wand to the mist and shouting, "AMINO EVANESCO!"

The affect was immediate. The black mist drew out, growing thinner and thinner, until it simply vanished. On their travels, they found that destroying the souls within the horcruxes was simple enough with the right spell, yet another concoction of Hermione's.

The large group was more shocked than ever when the soul disappeared, not quite sure what had just happened. The Death Eaters, however, knew that whatever it was couldn't have been good, and started Disapparating. The Aurors threw a few more stunning spells in hopes of capturing some of them, but instead found themselves facing only the trio when the popping noises ceased.

Harry looked around to survey the damage. Lupin was on the ground, breathing heavily. Tonks immediately went to his side, touching different parts of his body to make sure he was all right.

"I'm fine," he wheezed. "Just got a little winded."

"You don't get winded, old man," Tonks replied gently. "Come on, let's get you to—"

"Tonks!" Kingsley shouted urgently. Everyone looked over to see him kneeling over a prone figure, his horn-rimmed glasses lying beside him…

"Percy!" Ron shouted, running over to them. He dropped to his knees and starting gently slapping Percy's face. "Perce, come on! Wake up! They're gone, you can get up now!" He took a hold of Percy's shoulders and began to shake him. "Wake up, Percy! Come on! You have to get up! Mum wants to see you! You have to wake up so she can see you again!"

"Ron," Kingsley said quietly. He took a hold of Ron and lifted him away from Percy's lifeless form.

"No!" Ron shouted, struggling against Kingsley. "No! He has to wake up! Wake up, you stupid git! Get up!"

Harry couldn't look. He heard Hermione beside him, muffling her sobs with her hand. Ron continued to struggle against Kingsley, who had a firm hold on Ron. He kept shouting at Percy, telling him to wake up and stop acting, until his voice was horse. The reason Percy wasn't opening his eyes then hit him at full force. His brother was dead. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

Hermione walked silently over to Ron, lowered herself, and placed her arms around his shoulders. He gave a stuttering breath before he leaned into her, hiding his face in her shoulder. Harry walked towards the three Aurors and Lupin as she began rubbing his back and whispering in his ear.

"What was he doing here?" Harry asked quietly.

Moody answered gruffly, "We, that is, Tonks, Remus, Kingsley and I, were at Hogwarts discussing some Order business with McGonagall. Then young Weasley barged into the office, hollering something about the school and how the Ministry wasn't happy for some garbage reason or other."

Remus continued. "As Minerva was trying to usher him out of the office, Tonks and Moody felt their Galleons warm up. They informed Kingsley and myself of what was happening and we began to leave. Percy caught up with us out on the grounds and said that he wasn't going to let his little brother get hurt on this 'ridiculous mission'…" He stopped to put an arm around a sniffling Tonks.

Harry lowered his head, silently seething with hatred for Voldemort and his Death Eaters. His resolve to destroy that murderous bastard was quickly renewed. He knew he wasn't going to stop fighting until he killed Voldemort, or died trying. But first…

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley…" Harry moaned, dreading the thought of telling them the news.

"We'll take care of that, Harry," Lupin said kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But Ron…"

"Right," Harry nodded. "He should go." He walked over to where Ron was still in Hermione's arms. She looked up at him, her own tears sliding from her eyes. He knelt down and placed a tentative hand on Ron's shoulder. "Ron…"

"I'm not leaving," he said quietly, his face still against Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione leaned back a little so she could see his face. "Ron—"

"I'm not leaving," he voiced, loudly this time. He stood up, ran a hand over his face to rid himself of the tears, and said, "I told you I would help you get rid of him, Harry. I'm not backing down now."

Harry stood as well. He took a step towards his friend and said, "Ron, your parents—"

"Can deal without me." He turned around and began to walk down the street, heading towards the inconspicuous shack they had been staying in. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, neither knowing what to say to get their friend to go mourn with his family.

Harry sighed and turned towards the Aurors and Lupin. "Thank you for your help. We would have been…" he gulped and looked down at his shoes, not wanting to continue his sentence in light of what just happened. "We'll try to get Ron to go home. Tell the Weasley's that…." His thought immediately turned to Ginny. He could only imagine how she'd react. He wanted to be there for her, to comfort her in a time of need…

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder again. He looked up to see Remus looking kindly down at him. "We'll take care of everything, Harry. Don't worry." Harry nodded once, then felt arms wrap tightly around him.

"Be careful, Harry," Tonks whispered, sniffing into his shoulder. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her back and assured her he'd be as careful as possible.

Moody and Kingsley walked over to Percy's body, Kingsley gently taking a hold of one of Percy's wrists. Moody pointed his wand at the Galleon in his hand and mumbled, "Portus." He held it out to Kingsley, who put a finger on it, and they disappeared.

Remus and Tonks said goodbye to Harry and Hermione one last time, and repeated what Moody and Kingsley just did. They silently followed Ron up to the shack, where they now found themselves.

Harry sighed and turned over on his side, looking at his two best friends. Ron lay facing the wall. He had been like that when Harry and Hermione came into the shack. They thought it best to leave him be for now, and lay down to rest as well. Hermione was against the wall adjacent to Ron, unabashedly staring at Ron. She had been like that for the past hour, as though she were willing him to talk to her.

Harry sighed again, about to turn against the wall and reflect on future horcrux hunting, when he saw Ron sit up very quickly. He looked straight ahead, his eyes wide. Hermione sat up as well, concern written on her face.

"Ron—"

"I love you."

He was looking right at Hermione, whose mouth fell open and eyes widened at his statement.

"You…what?"

He scooted over to her on his knees and cupped her astonished face in his hands. He continued frantically, "I…I love you. And…I want to tell you now, because I know we were supposed to wait…"

Breaking from her daze, she put her hand up to his mouth and signaled with her head towards Harry, "Ron…"

"I don't care," he said, taking her hand away from his mouth and holding it in his, "I mean," he said, looking at Harry apologetically, "I'm sorry, mate, but—"

"No, it's fine," Harry grinned.

"But I'm not going to pretend that we're just friends anymore." He let go of her hand and put both of his on her waist. "My brother…he…" He put his forehead against Hermione's and took a deep breath. "I don't know what's going to happen to us, there's no way of knowing. Anything can happen to any of us at anytime and that means we have no time, not right now." He was once again frantic. "I need you to know now that I love you. I couldn't bare it to think that if I…that you would never know that I loved you. Because I do love you. I love you." He continued to whisper the three words, wanting Hermione to know he truly meant it.

Hermione stared at Ron, tears shining in her eyes. She knew he was right. She looked at Harry while Ron continued to whisper, trying to relay with her eyes that this didn't change what he meant to them—that he could still come to them about anything, and they would still always be there for him. Harry smiled his first genuine smile in months, and nodded. He understood.

She turned back to Ron, his eyes closed, although he was still whispering. She put a finger over his lips to still them, and he looked up. "I love you, too," she whispered, then replaced her finger with her lips. It was a chaste kiss, but one that didn't hide anything they were feeling for each other. He wrapped his arms completely around her waist, and her arms reached behind his back to hold him. Together, they laid down, wrapped in each other, not wanting to let go.

Harry lay down once again and faced the wall to give his best friends some semblance of privacy.

I can't lose, he thought. I have to win this fight against Voldemort. Ron and Hermione deserve to have a happy future together, and it won't happen until he's dead. He thought of Percy dying to protect his brother. He thought of Hermione and the time she's losing learning everything she can to get her a top-notch job at the Ministry. They've both given up so much for me. I have to kill Voldemort for them. It's the least I can do. And with that thought, he drifted off to sleep.