Chapter 4- Bill

It had been relatively quiet in the whole wizarding community for the last year. It had been nearly 2 years since Fred died and there had been no more attacks on the Weasley family. Harry had seen this as a good omen and asked Ginny to marry him. She of course said yes and they were now eagerly anticipating it. Ron had been protective at first. As Ginny's first older brother and being so close with her it was hard to accept Harry going out with her but Ron eventually saw that Harry was better than some random stranger right? Plus he was the greatest wizard ever. She was supposedly safe with him.

Harry came rushing through the door into Ron's bedroom where he was changing.

"Uh Harry." Ron said his ears turning red as he clutched a shirt to his chest.

"Ron." He said breathlessly. "London."

"What?" Ron asked pulling the shirt over his head.

"Voldemort" Harry spat out. Ron stuck his head out of the shirt and looked at him. There was a breif pause as Harry caught his breath and Ron waited until he continued.

"What are we waiting for then?" Ron asked picking up his wand.

They apparated to a London street. They walked down to the corner and peered round it. To any muggle walking past they looked pretty suspicious, but the street was empty. This part of London just after lunchtime shouldn't be so empty Ron thought as they walked down it. Ron started to hear screaming and shouts and he swallowed hard.

"Harry" Ron said tentivly.

"Don't worry" Harry muttered reassuringly. "It'll be fine"

"Yea I just don't want to be the forth Weasley to die" Ron smiled at his best friend.

"Well nor do I" Harry laughed. They stopped at another corner. Ron could see smoke billowing from behind the wall and sharp lights shooting into the sky illuminating it, orange, red, purple and Ron gulped- green.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"Of course" Ron nodded in agreement. "Let's go"

It had started off as it always did. Everyone relieved that Harry Potter was there to save them all and they all started to slack in their spell work. Harry couldn't use the element of surprise becasue before he even knocked back a death eater everyone had heard that Harry was finally there. Ron tried to ignore the nagging worry about his siblings in the back of his head. Instead focusing it on his spellwork, he worked hard and under his own decision fought back with killing curses. Ron had came across Luna quickly and found she was injured but not that badly. He made a portkey and sent her to the burrow hoping his mother would be there to care for her. Soon after Bill had arrived by his side.

"Luna told me," Bill shouted over the sound of cars being over turned. It was a massive battle. Ron was sure Voldmort himself was at the end. Ron meerly nodded and looked around.

"Why didn't you?" Bill asked pulling Ron away from a stray curse.

"With the new baby I thought it was best if you were home right now." Ron shrugged and pulled up a repel charm around them.

"Ron stop thinking you're the oldest." Bill muttered. "See you back home."

"Righto" Ron called as he yelled another curse at the masked death eater running towards him. He saw Bill flash an angry glare behind him at Ron's casualness but that was the only way Ron could process.

The battle lasted another hour or so. Ron had a gash across his chest cutting into the muggle shirt he was wearing. Blood had soaked into the white and the front was crimson. His jeans were singed where they had caught fire but other than that he was fine. He seemed to be defending the lower part of the road and saw many of his fellow allies go down. Dean Thomas had smiled at him as he collapsed. He had saved Lavender from a fatal blow to her head and moved her out of the way. She just smiled in thanks and was off to fight more. He looked past the smoke and coughed as a blast of fire came his way. A wash of red hair was flying in the distance and he ran to help Ginny out. He thought they were out numbered but this just urged him on to work harder.

A muggle helicopter was circling above the smoke. Neville had lit more fires to disguise the distruction, but it wasn't helping the visibility. The battle was still raging and Ron heard on the grapevine that Voldmort had fled again.

"He hasn't got much bottle as e?" Seamus Finnegan asked walking along side Ron.

"No I spose he asn't" Ron sighed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve.

"Where's the blood coming from?" Seamus asked worriedly.

"Goyle threw something sharp at me." Ron laughed. "Wasn't very good aim though."

"Well what do you expect from that oaf?" Seamus asked. The pair laughed and kicked pieces of rubble away so they could walk through. The battle had lost many people and now that Voldemort had gone the death eaters weren't as brave and had lost interest. Many had fled and soon there was so little death eaters the DA didn't know what to do. Ron had even seen one of his own messing with a death eater's head.

As they got closer to the middle of the road Ron noticed that many more bodies lay on the ground. Dust was settling above them and covering them in a thin grey layer.

"Ron?" A dash of ginger amongst the grey staggered over to him.

"Bill!" Ron said worried. "Your hurt."

"No." Bill shook his head defiantly but clutched at Ron's arm weighing him down.

"Bill." Ron said to him sternly feeling his back bend as Bill sunk to his knees. "You have to go to St Mungos."

"No death eaters took it over last Thursday" Seamus said to his right grabbing onto Bill to help Ron. "Better going to the burrow and then getting a mediwitch."

"Right." Ron nodded and grabbed a stone. Making his second portkey of the day.

"Ron." Bill whispered as Ron handed him the rock, looking down to him as Bill came up to his waist.

"Yea." Ron said looking up. "One"

"I love you." Bill whispered. "After Charlie you were my favourite brother. You know I protected him like you protect Ginny. When you said no revenge on Charlie's death I hated you. But now I understand."

"Two" Ron said his voice cracking as his eyes smarted to the dust and the pain Bill was doing to his arm and shoulder. His whole weight was pressed on his now. He was sure he was drawing blood.

"You are so brave, when you were younger you used to aspire to be like Fred and George. You never wanted to play with me. I was always too old for you. I'm sorry Ron." Bill said tears pouring down his cheeks. "I never meant to hurt you. Or kill anyone. I wanted to be young and carefree. I was jealous you know. Of you. Of Ginny. Of Hermione. Even Neville and Seamus and Dean and everyone. All your friends. You all had Harry by your side 100. There were times I was scared of you. Remember up by the trees. I knew you were far more powerful than me. Far superior. I'll never forget it. The look in your eyes. Like you were alone against the whole family. Betrayed by us, by me."

Bills fingers dug deeper into his arms. His left foot was wonky and to the side. Ron looked at him. Kissed his forehead and whispered.

"I love you too Bill. I forgave you a long time ago." Bill looked up into his eyes. "Three"

Bills fingers dragged at Ron's arms. He yelled out in pain as Bills fingers pulled skin from his shoulder right down to his elbow and then to his wrist. Deep cuts formed and started to bleed. And then he was gone.