A/N: It still isn't mine. Enjoy this last chapter! Please review!

Chapter 7

Ron was pacing nervously back and forth in his room, vaguely aware of the fact that he was probably wearing a rut in the carpet at this point. His palms were sweaty and clammy, and he was beginning to wonder if he was going mental.

Now was certainly not the time to talk to Harry about this. Mad-Eye Moody had just died yesterday, how could he dare to talk about this less than twenty-four hours later?

"I can't do it," he croaked nervously to himself, and the ghoul in the attic groaned loudly in response. "I just can't do it-"

The bedroom door opened with a creak and Harry stepped in. "Can't do what?" he asked, a somewhat bemused look on his face. "Talking to yourself, are you, Ron? You know that's the first sign of insanity, don't you?"

"Ha," he laughed weakly, feeling his stomach flip over in a nauseating manner. "Very funny, Harry."

He looked at him warily. "What's got your knickers in a twist, mate? You seem all wound up."

"It's just… it's just that- I want to talk to you about something," Ron forced himself to blurt out rather quickly.

"All right," said Harry rather calmly, and Ron was impressed that Harry had managed to understand him.

Ron took a seat on his bed, and Harry took a seat on his own. "What's going on, Ron?" Harry pressed on. "Just spit it out."

Ron sucked in what he hoped would be a deep, calming breath. It did absolutely nothing to calm him, but he plowed onward anyway. There was no turning back at this point. "."

"Now that I cannot decipher," Harry said, chuckling a bit. "Come again?"

Ron forced himself to breathe. Slowly, he forced out, "I want to ask your permission to ask Sandy to marry me."

Harry opened his mouth to reply almost immediately, but Ron cut him off.

"I know what you're thinking," he said, running a hand through his red hair nervously. He jumped to his feet and began pacing back and forth once more. "Now isn't the time- there's a war going on! How can I even thinking about something stupid like this! But I- but I think-"

"Ron!" Harry interrupted loudly, seizing Ron by the shoulders to make him stop talking. "Shut up, and let me talk, will you?"

Slightly taken aback, Ron sank back down onto his bed, mouth slightly open, and nodded mutely.

"Thank you," said Harry, relieved. "Of course you have my permission to propose to Sandy. Why would I say 'no'? You're the only bloke she's ever been with, and she's always going to love you. And I know you feel the same about her. You make each other happy, and that's all I want for my sister. I want her alive, and I want her happy. As for the war going on- well, Bill and Fleur are getting married in a few days, aren't they? I think that in times like this… it's even more important to have things like weddings. I mean… we can't let Voldemort take everything away from us." He rolled his eyes when Ron flinched at his use of the name. "We have to prove that we're still going to love each other, still going to continue living, no matter what he does. He cannot control us. Don't let him tear you two apart. Don't let him keep you two from living. That would be the worst thing you could possibly do."

"So… so you approve then, mate?" Ron said weakly, standing up so that he was almost eye-to-eye with Harry.

"Of course I do, Ron," replied Harry. "If I didn't approve of the two of you together, I would have beaten you to a pulp the minute you looked at her the wrong way."

"But… I was eleven."

"Your point being?" asked Harry. "Ron, she's my sister. I have to protect her. She's all I have left of my family. I know we say that a lot, but it's true. And you… I know you'll care for her, and I know you'll protect her. I trust you. I've been hoping you two would end up together since second year."

Ron had never felt so relieved in his entire life.

IIIII

"Look, why don't we stop in that diner and discuss what we're going to do?"

Sandy pointed across the street to a diner, one of the few places still open at this time of night.

"All right," Ron said, slipping his hand into hers.

"Wait!" Hermione cried, grabbing Sandy's shoulder before the two of them stepped into the crosswalk. "You and Harry can't just waltz around in plain sight. You two are being hunted. Here!" Digging through her beaded purse, she pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and thrust it into Sandy's hands.

"Oh, fine," she huffed. "Come on, Harry." Reluctantly, she pried her hand from Ron's grasp and threw the Cloak over Harry and herself. "Let's go."

The four of them made their way across the street, a difficult task given that two of them were invisible. Ron held the door of the diner open and Harry and Sandy went through first, followed by Hermione and Ron.

Ron and Hermione slid into one side of a booth, and Sandy and Harry slid, invisible, into the other side. "So what are going to do?" whispered Hermione, after the waitress took their orders.

"I dunno," murmured Ron, trying to direct his response both at Hermione and at the invisible twins. "I hate this, this is too weird… can you two hear me?"

"Yes, Ron," snapped Harry. "We're invisible, not deaf."

"We need to find a place to stay," said Sandy, struggling to keep some semblance of peace between the two boys. She glanced down at the engagement ring on her left ring finger, which Ron had just given to her at the wedding before it was disrupted by the arrival of Death Eaters. She wanted to tell Harry and Hermione the news so badly…

"-a place where Voldemort can't find us," Hermione was saying as Sandy snapped back to reality.

The door open and two workmen stepped in.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione continued their discussion, but Sandy stared at them from under the cloak. There was something oddly familiar about one of the workmen… she felt like she had seen him before…

Then suddenly she knew what the workman was going to do before he did it. As his hand dove into his pocket, she threw the Cloak off of her and Harry with a flourish and cried, "Get down!" to Ron and Hermione.

"What are you doing, are you mental?" Hermione screeched, looking frightened.

Harry, however, immediately knew what his twin was thinking. Both Potters drew their wands and pointed them at the workmen.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried.

At the same time, Sandy shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Sandy's spell hit one dead on, but Harry's missed. The workman, whom she now recognized as the Death Eater called Rowle, snarled and pointed his wand at Sandy, shouting, "Sectum-"

Enraged, Ron drew his wand and cut him off. "Stupefy!"

Two jets of red light hit Rowle at once and he fell to the floor. Looking around, Ron realized that Harry had cursed him at the same time. While Harry and Hermione made their way over to the Stunned Death Eaters, Ron went to Sandy. "Are you all right, love?" he asked, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"I'm fine," she nodded. "Thanks." She leaned against him, their bodies fitting together perfectly. "How did they find us? Is it… Is it Harry and me?"

"No, of course not, love," he told her firmly. "It must be something else. I don't know how they found us, but it's not because of Harry and you. So don't you dare think of abandoning me again."

She nodded and bit her lip, thinking guiltily of the end of their sixth year, when she and Harry had tried to leave Hogwarts without Ron and Hermione in the middle of the night.

"So where are we going to go? Hermione's right, we do need somewhere safe. Someone safe from You-Know-Who," Ron said, trying to draw the conversation away from the attack.

"I… I don't know," she admitted, shrugging. "I have no idea what we're going to do. Well, let me talk to Harry."

He resisted the urge to snap at her as he had done so often before. Why was it always Harry?

He had been perfectly capable of saving her from Rowle just now, but Harry had to go and steal his thunder by Stunning Rowle as well.

Would Harry always mean more to her than he did?

IIIII

"Sandy… love, are you in here?"

Ron knocked on the door to Sirius' old room, pressing his ear against it. There was no response, but he detected the soft sounds of crying. He tried turning the doorknob, but it was locked. Sighing, he pointed his wand at it and said softly, "Alohomora."

Opening the door, he found Sandy sitting on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest and crying softly. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pressing a sweet kiss into her hair. "I'm here, love. Tell me what's wrong."

She said nothing, but continued to cry into his shoulder for several minutes. When she was a bit more composed, she said shakily, "I c-can't believe Lupin w-would abandon T-tonks like that."

Ron bit hit lip. Marriage had always seemed like a sacred thing to her, something that could never be violated or broken. Lupin's attempt to abandon Tonks and their unborn child had apparently shaken her faith.

"He's scared, love," Ron told her. "He's scared, and he feels guilty. He feels like… like he doesn't deserve her." I feel like I don't deserve you. I never have, and I never will. How could you possibly stand to be with me when you deserve so much more?

"H-how could he?" was all she said. "I- I thought that husbands were never supposed to leave their wives. I thought that they were supposed to stick together. They're family. Family is supposed to stay together." She was trembling in his arms, so he ran his hands reassuringly up and down her back.

"Shhh," he whispered soothingly into her ear. "Sandy, I promise, I promise that I will never abandon you. Not now, not once we're married, not ever. We are a family. No matter what."

IIIIII

Pain wracked every single inch of Ron's body. He screamed out, his mind and his senses blinded by the sheer intensity of it all. With a jolt, he realized that his arm was no longer attached to his body, and the realization made the pain ten thousand times worse.

"Ron! Ron!"

Sandy's voice caught his attention, and some of the pain subsided slightly. Her face hung over him, as though suspended in midair, some of her hair brushed against his cheeks. He could feel himself shaking and trembling, and a loud groan of pain escaped his lips against his will. "Ron, shhhh," she said, stroking his hair. "It's okay, I'm here." She sounded tearful and terrified, and tears were shining in her eyes. She bit her lip to keep herself from crying; she had to hold herself together for Ron.

"Harry!" she snapped. "Get me that bloody dittany!"

"I'm trying!" her twin replied testily. "But this bag is bloody endless! Oh, damn it all- accio dittany!"

"This is going to hurt," Sandy warned him, bending down and pressing a kiss to his sweaty forehead.

Ron managed to let out a groan that sounded like acknowledgement of her words, and she began to administer the dittany to his Splinched arm. He cried out loudly in pain, and Sandy flinched visibly, terror splashed clearly over her face. Spasms of pain wracked his body, and he began to flail about uncontrollably. "Hermione, hold him still for me, please…" said Sandy, sounding desperate.

Ron felt two hands gently yet firmly holding him down to the ground. "Ron, stay still," said Hermione's soft voice. "You've got to stay still."

It took every fiber of his self-control to stay still and not to cry out as Sandy continued to splash drops of dittany on his arm. After what seemed like hours, she put the stopper back on the bottle and handed it to Hermione. "I think that should be all," she murmured wearily. She collapsed on the ground next to Ron as he blacked out.

When he awoke, the first thing he was aware of was a warm body next to his. Looking to his right, he saw that Sandy was snuggled up to next to him. She had somehow managed to charm his bunk to make it big enough for the two of them. Her wand was clutched in her hand, which was laying directly on top of his chest in a protective manner.

He allowed himself a small smile.

Turning to glance at his damaged arm, he tested it out. Trying to move it slightly, he gasped aloud at the resulting pain and grimaced horribly. He would not be able to use it properly for a while, he guessed. "Are you okay?" Sandy asked urgently, bleary eyed. Apparently his gasp had woken her up.

"Yes, love," he lied, lifting his head slightly to kiss her forehead. "Go back to sleep. I'm fine."

"All right," she murmured, laying her head back down and drifting off almost immediately.

For the umpteenth time, Ron thanked fate for having her in his life.

IIIII

"What are we going to do?"

"I honestly don't know, Sandy… Dumbledore didn't leave us much to work with to be quite honest…"

Ron watched jealously from the flap of the tent. The twins were on guard duty, nestled together in the cold. Sandy was leaning against her brother in a dependent sort of way, as though she were terrified and she sought protection from him, Harry.

Why did she not seek out protection from him, Ron?

Ron felt the green monster that was jealousy clawing at his rib cage, and he fought to drive it out. Sandy's done so much for you, he tried to remind himself. As has Harry. They both mean a lot to you. Why should you be jealous? You know that they have to stick together. Especially because of the prophecy.

He felt sick to his stomach as he remember that Sandy may not survive her final encounter with You-Know-Who.

He had always been somewhat possessive when it came to her, and now that she may not survive, he wanted her all to himself. But now it seemed, she wanted to spend all her time with her brother. And he could not stand it.

Why was he never good enough?

Why did she always put Harry first?

Why was he always more important to her?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Ron wasn't sure how much more he could take.

IIIIII

Ron was in hell, of this he was certain.

He had regretted walking away from Harry, Sandy, and Hermione the minute he Disapparated, but there was no way to find them. They would cover their tracks perfectly; besides, would they want him of all people to find him anyway? He highly doubted it.

He had betrayed her. He had promised never to abandon her like Lupin wanted to abandon Tonks, he had promised he would never leave her.

And now he had done just that, knowing full well that by doing so, he may never see her again. At least… not alive.

Every day, he checked the Daily Prophet, fearing the worst. Every morning, he woke up, scared that the headlines would proclaim their deaths and Voldemort's triumph. And he would be to blame.

He would never know if, by staying, he would have helped them on their way to victory.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw the hurt, the betrayal, the pain beyond words written across her face.

He could not even speak her name without bringing tears to his eyes. Bill and Fleur had stopped bringing her up as well, only speaking of Harry if they wished to talk of the twins, for they, too, had grown tired of Ron storming off in tears from the dinner table.

Bill's silent judgment was almost worse than Fleur's screaming and shrieking. He understood why everyone hated him for leaving them, especially her.

"'ow could you leave zem? Zey are your friends, I thought!" Fleur had shrieked angrily, when she had realized that Ron was alone. "'ow could you 'urt Sandy? She iz ze sweetest, most vivacious girl I 'ave ever met! You should be ashamed of yourself! You do not deserve her!"

Bill had, after a few more minutes, dragged Fleur into another room to calm her down, but the damage had been done.

Fleur was right, of course.

How could he leave them? What kind of friend was he?

How could he leave her? What kind of fiancé did that? He had broken all his promises to her.

And, as he had always suspected, he did not deserve her.

IIIIII

Ron stared sullenly at the cold ground, trying to keep himself warm as he and Harry kept watch.

He had not expected Sandy to jump back into his arms the minute he returned, but he certainly had not expected her to hate him either. Being around Sandy but not with Sandy was almost as bad as not being around her at all.

Almost.

He clung to the desperate hope that he could wear her down, that she would, eventually, forgive him and take him back. He could only hope that she would act against all reason, because reason and logic said that she should never take him back. He had hurt her far too deeply for that.

"Ron," Harry said, drawing his best mate back to reality, "c'mon."

Looking up, Ron realized that Harry was now standing in front of him rather than sitting down on the cold, hard ground beside him. "What?" Ron asked him dumbly. "Is it time to change the watch?"

"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "There's something we need to do. I'll be right back. Wait right here."

Harry disappeared into the tent for a moment, leaving a very confused and befuddled Ron sitting on the ground in his wake. He returned a moment later, holding the sword of Godric Gryffindor and the locket. "What?" Ron gaped at him stupidly. "You want to destroy it? Now?"

"Yes," Harry replied, nodding. He thrust the sword into Ron's hands. "You should be the one to do it."

"What?" Ron demanded, his mouth widening. "No way, mate, I don't deserve to! Look at what I've done, to you, to Hermione, to your sister! That thing- that thing has more power over me than it does over any of you lot!"

"And that's exactly why you have to be the one to do it," Harry told him firmly. He seized a fistful of Ron's shirt and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon, we have to get a good distance away from the tent, or we'll wake the girls…"

Ron was simply dumbstruck as Harry dragged him further from the tent and deeper into the trees. How could Harry possibly think that he should be the one to destroy the Horcrux? Shouldn't Harry do it? Or Sandy? Or even Hermione?

Why him? He couldn't even wear the thing without taking everyone else's heads off.

He opened his mouth to protest Harry's decision again, but before he could do so, Harry announced, "This is as good a spot as any." Kneeling on the ground, he placed the locket on top of a rock. Looking up at Ron, he said, "I've got to speak in Parseltongue to it for it to open. When it does, you've got to get rid of it straightaway. If you give it time to try to destroy you, it will. Do you understand me?"

Ron could open gape at him. "Ron," Harry said urgently. "Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes," he stammered nervously, feeling his heart race. His grip on the hilt of the sword tightened. Could he really do this?

Harry then turned to the locket and made a horrible, strangled hissing noise. The locket slowly popped open.

For a moment, Ron thought he had gone deaf, for all the natural sounds of the forest had died away. Then the world seemed to explode.

Ron landed on his back, holding the sword aloft. He heard a thud several feet away that he assumed was Harry.

Opening his eyes, he saw, coming out of the locket, three black figures that seemed to be made of shadow. He watched, blue eyes and mouth open with horror, as the figures took the shape of the three people for whom he cared the most: Harry, Hermione, and, of course, Sandy.

The three shadow figures could most definitely pass for Harry, Hermione, and Sandy, save the cruelty in their faces. None of their faces had ever shown such contempt nor such disdain for him, or for anyone for that matter.

As he watched, frozen with shock and fear, the Sandy-like figure stepped forward and began to speak, her cold and cruel voice echoing throughout the forest. "Ronald Weasley… you are nothing. Nothing but a fool."

"Ron, don't listen!" shouted Harry over the roar the Horcrux was making. "It's all a lie!"

The horrible imitation of Sandy continued to speak over her real life twin. "Why would you ever think that I would need you? I have my brother-" she gestured to the shadowy form of Harry- "and my best mate. My brother is the only person that I really need." She gestured to the smoky Hermione, who let out a derisive shout of laughter. "What do I need you for? I don't need you. I never have, and I never will."

Ron felt what little hope he had had leave him. Sandy would never take him back… why should she? She did not need him… she never had needed him…

"All of this, all of our relationship," continued Sandy, her face as black as night, "has been a lie. You, in your eleven-year old naivety were presumptuous enough to believe that you stood a chance with me, the great Sandy Potter! One of the Two Who Lived! Ha! I have never cared about you. It was all a lie."

She was saying everything he most feared, all his worst nightmares were coming true… what was the point, what was the point of anything without Sandy?

She leaned forward, almost close enough for Ron to touch, if she had not been made of smoke. "You don't deserve me," she sneered. "I deserve much better."

"Ron!" Harry roared. "Kill it, kill it, Ron! It's lying, you know it's lying! She loves you!"

Images flashed in his mind's eye in rapid succession. Sandy, hugging him on his twelfth birthday- Sandy, lying in a hospital bed, bruised and beaten- Sandy, at the Yule Ball, her arms looped around his neck possessively- Sandy, kissing him in the hospital wing for the first time- Sandy, helping him practice for his Quidditch tryouts- Sandy, telling him that she loved him-

With a great roar, Ron brought the sword of Godric Gryffindor crashing down onto the Horcrux. It died, making the horrible screaming sound of nails on a blackboard.

Panting, Ron collapsed onto the ground, trembling. Footsteps signaled Harry's approach.

"Ron?" Harry said gently, kneeling on the ground next to him. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, mate. She cried herself to sleep every night that you were gone. I couldn't comfort her. She does need you. I reckon she always has; there are just some things I can't do for her. She… she loves you, mate. I'll tell you the truth, even if she won't right now. Just give it time."

IIIII

Ron watched surreptitiously as Sandy attempted to gather some food from the woods for their meal. He sighed longingly, watching as her dark black hair fell over her face.

He missed her.

Though she was constantly around, it was almost as though she weren't.

She refused to hold a civil conversation with him, she refused to be alone in a room with him, and she refused to touch him. She refused to even look at him, most days.

How was he supposed to believe that she still loved him when her behavior constantly told him otherwise?

When he voiced his fears to Harry, he replied, "Ron, don't worry. I know my sister, and she's just putting up a front. She's going to come round, you have to trust me."

Unsatisfied with Harry's response, Ron turned to Hermione, who had huffed and said, "Well, I think you deserve what you're getting, personally. You hurt us all when you left, Ronald, but you hurt her worst of all. You shook her faith in relationships, in marriage. You shook her trust in you." Then Hermione had softened and added, "But Harry's right, you know. She does still love you. She just needs some time for wounds to heal before she can give you a second chance, is all."

Just barely heartened by their responses, Ron continued to do his best to prove his worth to her. He was constantly helping out, trying to forge new plans, and he took the watch twice as much as any of the others did.

Exerting all of this effort was exhausting him, but he knew it would be worth it when she was his once more.

IIIII

"Well," said Bellatrix, a wicked smile spreading over her face, "I'll just have to have a little chat with this girlie." She seized Sandy by the hair, and Sandy grimaced, the expression barely recognizable on her jinxed and swollen face. "I'll find out where you got this-" she brandished the sword of Godric Gryffindor- "-and- who knows?- maybe I'll find out who you really are."

"No!" snarled Ron, fighting against Greyback, who was holding him captive. It was no use; Greyback tightened his grip, making all of his struggling futile.

Bellatrix laughed coldly. "Throw them in the dungeon."

As he was being dragged away, Sandy caught Ron's eye- green locked onto blue. Her emerald green eyes were dark with fear.

"Let me go!" Ron screeched furiously, as he was thrown unceremoniously down into the dungeon. Harry and Hermione landed with thumps on either side of him, and then the door was locked. A high-pitched scream sounded from the floor above. Pounding his fists on the door, Ron bellowed, "SANDY!"

Whirling around to face Harry and Hermione, he demanded, "Well? We've got to do something!"

"Ron?" asked a dreamy voice. "Is that you?" Luna Lovegood stepped out of the shadows and into what little light shone in the dungeon.

"Luna," said Harry, surprised. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said airily. "Better than Mr. Ollivander."

"He's here?" gasped Hermione. "Where?"

Luna beckoned them to a darkened corner, where Mr. Ollivander, Dean Thomas, and Griphook sat. "Ron! Hermione! And that must be… Harry! I knew you lot hadn't gone on the run!" said Dean happily.

"We don't have time for a reunion, Dean," snapped Ron. Grabbing Harry's shoulders, he said, "In case you've forgotten, your sister is alone up there with Bellatrix bleeding Lestrange!"

As if to emphasize his point, another scream echoed from the upper floor. Ron winced. "There's no way out," Mr. Ollivander told him sadly. "We've tried everything, there are magical enchantments…"

"NO!" Ron roared, slamming his fist into the stony wall, scraping the skin off of his knuckles. "There has to be a way out!" He was so caught up in his anger, that he missed Harry calling into a shard of mirror for help.

Thus, Dobby Apparating right in front of him took him completely by surprise.

"Harry Potter!" squealed the elf happily. "Dobby is most happy to see you, sir! But… where is Sandy Potter?"

"She's in trouble," Harry told the elf urgently. "Dobby, we need your help. Could you get us in and out of this room?"

"Anything for Harry Potter, sir!"

"Then can you first take Luna, Mr. Ollivander, Griphook, and Dean to-"

"Shell Cottage," Ron cut in. "It's safe."

"Of course!" said Dobby. "Dobby will be back in a minute, sir."

Dobby Disapparated with Luna, Ollivander, Griphook and Dean. "What are we going to do?" Hermione asked anxiously, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

"When Dobby gets back," Harry said darkly, "we're going to break out of here. And we're going to save my sister."

Ron felt a wave of relief roll over him. "You're finally talking sense, mate."

Just then, Dobby Apparated in front of them once more. "Where to next, sir?" he squeaked to Harry eagerly.

"Dobby, we need you take us upstairs," Harry said. Then, after seeing the look Hermione was giving him, he hastily added, "Please."

"Of course, sir!" Dobby chirped.

The three of them grabbed hold of Dobby, and with a crack, they Disapparated.

They rematerialized on the other side of the dungeon door, just out of sight of Bellatrix and the Malfoys. "Tell me where you got it!" Bellatrix demanded. "You must have stolen it from my vault!"

"I didn't steal it, I swear…" Sandy whimpered.

"You lying bitch!" shrieked Bellatrix. "Crucio!"

Ron had reached the end of line. With a great cry, he launched himself onto the landing and Disarmed Bellatrix, crying, "Expelliarmus!"

The sounds of others dueling told him that Harry and Hermione had followed him, and he made his way to Sandy. He lifted her to her feet, murmuring, "It's okay, love, I've got you now."

"Ron," she murmured weakly, her eyes drifting shut.

"Hold it right there," said a voice. Wormtail.

He had his wand pointed directly at Ron's heart, his silver hand quivering with delight. "Put your wands down… and no one dies," Wormtail said to Harry and Hermione.

They exchanged glances and placed their wands on the floor.

"That's it," said Wormtail, loving the feeling of being in charge. "And Bellatrix said I was good for nothing!"

Suddenly, Ron felt Sandy stand up on her own, an amazing feat for someone who had just been tortured. "Lower your wand, Wormtail," she said, carefully making her voice even.

"I don't think so," he sneered back.

"Lower your wand," she repeated, this time through gritted teeth. "You owe me. Remember?"

Wormtail, eyes wide, slowly, hesitantly lowered his wand. His silver hand came up and closed around his neck, strangling him. "Should we…?" Ron asked her hesitantly, pointing his wand at the hand indecisively.

"There's nothing we can do," she told him sadly. "Riddle won't stand for a servant that shows mercy."

The dueling had broken out again, and Sandy ran off to help her brother tackle Draco Malfoy.

He watched her in complete and total awe for a moment, before he joined in the fight.

Even if she never took him back, he knew that he would spend the rest of his life proving to her that he was worth a second chance.

IIIII

Bill and Fleur had given Ron and Sandy their own room at Shell Cottage, which had done much to disgruntle Harry.

However, there was no chance for romance at night, for they were exhausted every evening and fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

One night, Ron woke to the sound of hysterical crying. Blue eyes fluttering open, he saw that Sandy was sitting on the edge of the bed, her back facing him, and her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. "Sandy, what's wrong, love?" he said, sitting up in bed and inching closer to her. "Why are you crying?"

"N-nightmare," she spluttered, burying her face in the crook of his neck, salty tears wetting his skin there. "It was h-horrible."

"None of it was real, love," he murmured reassuringly, stroking her black hair and kissing her forehead. "It was all just a dream."

She nodded and sniffled, looking up at him. "I'm sorry for waking you," she told him softly. "You should go back to sleep."

"It's all right, Sandy," he told her gently. "I'd rather stay up and talk with you until you feel better."

She managed to offer him a small, watery smile. "I'm very happy you came back, Ronald. I… I don't know what I would have done if you didn't, to be quite honest."

"Well," he said, "I was miserable the minute I left. I knew I had screwed up. There was never a question of me coming back, it was just of question of how I was going to find you lot. Personally, I'm just glad you're giving me a second chance."

"Ron… I have always loved you. I will only ever love you. How could I not give you a second chance? Once you came back, it was just a matter of time, and I knew that. And I knew that you knew that, and it hocked me off a little bit."

"Actually," he admitted, "I didn't know that. I… I thought you might never want to be with me again."

She looked at him as though he were daft. "Ron, the two of us being together… it's always been inevitable, from the moment we first met. I thought you knew."

IIIII

The world seemed to stop around Ron as Hagrid was paraded into the Great Hall, carrying Harry's and Sandy's bodies.

No. It couldn't be.

He had seen her alive just under an hour ago, in the Shrieking Shack. He and Hermione had lost the twins in all the chaos after that.

Now, he realized, the twins had lost them. They had turned themselves over to Voldemort to stop the fighting.

She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't.

Yet, something inside of him died as he gazed upon the lifeless form of the girl he loved. Her green eyes were closed, and for that he was thankful, because he didn't think he could stand to look at her unseeing eyes, the eyes that would never again sparkle with laughter. He could barely stand to look at her face, or her mouth, which would never again utter to him the words, "I love you."

She was dead. She was gone.

And so was her brother, his best mate since their first year at Hogwarts. They were both gone.

Hermione's scream of grief, brought him back to reality.

He felt someone pulling him back, away from Hagrid and the Death Eaters and the twins. Ginny.

He had not even realized that he had been moving toward them. He had even realized that he was crying, that he was screaming her name at the top of his lungs, that he seemed completely incapably of saying anything else.

Nothing else mattered, except that she was gone. What did life hold for him now?

But he had made a promise to her- that he would continue on, no matter what.

And this was one promise that he would not break.

IIIII

Ron held Sandy on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

They had not retreated into their dormitories, wishing to stay together rather than enjoy the comforts that their four-posters offered.

Sandy, who had been most distraught since the end of the battle, had finally cried herself out and collapsed, exhausted, in a sleepy stupor in Ron's arms on the couch. Harry and Hermione had finally retired to their respective beds, leaving Ron alone in the common room, staring into the fire and absentmindedly stroking Sandy's hair.

She was alive.

Her warm body against his was a constant (and much appreciated) reminder of this fact.

The joy he felt upon repeating that three word sentence in his mind was astounding; the moments in which he had believed her to be dead were undoubtedly the worst moments of his entire life. She was his world, she was his life; what good was he without her?

He had lost loved ones today: Fred (his heart ached and tears welled up in his eyes), Lupin, Tonks and countless others had lost their lives, fighting for a noble cause.

But he would move on. And he would be okay. More than okay. Because he had her, and he always would.

Like she said, them being together- well, it was inevitable.