Disclaimer: Anything that is written below that is recognizable as being owned by someone other than me belongs to the correct owner. This is simply for personal stress relief and reader enjoyment.

A/N: Miss me? For those who care to know, I was out of town for a school thing. Points for graduation are just a smidge higher on the priority list than posting right on time. Then, I had problems loading the document. Nothing works when you really want it to. Anyway, I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Be sure to tell me. Enjoy as always! ~Lila

Chapter 9

More Precious than Silver

Ron held firmly to Hermione's hand. He wasn't going to leave her alone. He didn't care what the healers said. He continued to rub his thumb across the back of her hand. She was so still. He hadn't seen her so still since…well she wasn't stone still. He found comfort in holding her hand and watching her easy breathing. The healers had said that it was just a simple stunning spell. Magic wasn't the reason she was like this. She had hit her head off the toilet when she fell in the stall. Ron brought his eyes to her face. There would be no scar at her temple, but he would never be able to remove the memory of the wound from his mind.

Ron brought his attention back to Hermione's hand. It was her left hand. She had such small hands with delicate fingers and well polished nails. His large hands seemed to engulf her hand in his own. He would rub his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand. He would intertwine their fingers. He would flip her palm over to trace the lines in her palm and up and down each finger. He never realized that she had a single freckle on her third finger. It was almost hidden between it and her middle finger but not quite between them. In fact, if she had a ring on, the tiny brown dot would be hidden.

Hermione deserved a ring. No, she deserved the most beautiful spectacular ring. She deserved the type of ring that he couldn't afford in five lifetimes let alone this one. He smiled at the memory of telling her this simple fact when she had flat out asked him what was taking so long. He would never forget what she told him.

"Ronald, I'm not marrying a ring. I'm marrying you. If I want a ring for anything, it would be an open statement to the world that I'm taken. Something plain and simple would be lovely. Ronald, trust me. I want to marry you for love. If I was going to marry someone for taste in jewelry…just pick out a damn ring."

She had mumbled and stumbled through the whole speech. The more she went on and on, the more and more he realized that he had nothing to worry about when it came to asking her. She continued to describe the exact ring he had in his pocket. So why hadn't he asked her then? He had always found her the most beautiful when she was in that moment. She spoke with such passion. Ron had simply forgotten to ask her and had ended up fallowing her lead…

He couldn't believe that was over a year ago. The ring was still in his pocket. He carried it constantly looking for the perfect time to ask her. It would be so beautiful on her. It was a shame that it wasn't on her finger now. Ron stopped rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb to pull the box out of his pocket and opened it. It was a plain silver ring. It had no diamond or other jewel attached to the center. It looked more like a wedding band than an engagement ring. The only thing that individualized the circular piece of silver was the inside inscription.

For My Heart

Ron stared at the ring in his palm. He played Hermione saying that all he needed to do was "pick out a damn ring" over and over again in his mind. Did he really need to ask her at all? He looked at her small hand lying on the bed. He only hesitated a moment before gently sliding the ring where it belonged. Ron went back to his routine of giving attention to that hand. This time, he added twirling the ring around her finger. He realized he was crying when she squeezed back after adding that simple gesture.

***

Harry hadn't wanted to leave Ginny, but the fact was he had to go to work. He had whispered that he was going to look for Grace as he gently transferred his heart over to her mother. Harry had taken her face in his hands trying to tell her with his eyes how much he loved her. He had told her he would be back as soon as he had news or it was his turn to try to sleep. He had hoped the news part was the reason he was back. He hadn't given up looking for the child. He needed sleep to fully function. If he kept up this pace, he would start to miss things that could hinder the search. A fresh set of aurors were continuing on while his group got some rest. He would return as soon as he could.

The house was quiet despite how bright it was lit in the darkness. Harry went through extinguishing the lights with his wand. It seemed that one by one the household had given up waiting for his return to sleep. He would have wakened them if there was news. After walking through the empty house, Harry jumped at the sight of someone on the couch.

Ginny had fallen asleep on the couch sitting with her back straight up. Her head was leaning so far back Harry caught himself rubbing the back of his own neck. He couldn't just leave her there. He told himself that the reason he was carrying her to her room was because the couch was old and lumpy. She would sleep better in her own bed. He came up with an excuse for each step he took and each time he lingered in the hallway. He loved holding her in his arms. He frowned as he placed her in her own bed.

"Don' go…don' wan' be 'lone…" Harry froze when he heard her sleep filled words. Would she be mad if she woke and found him there? Would she remember asking him to stay and him leaving her? He didn't want to leave her. He already hated himself for leaving as long as he did. His team had started tracing all the exits of every single person that had left the memorial. No leads had yet been found.

"P'ease…don' go… 'ove you…don' go…" She had reached a hand out to him when he had started to back away from her. He sighed as he gave in and crawled into the much too small twin bed with her. He pulled her tight to his chest with no intention of letting her go during the night. She could hate him in the morning. Right now, she didn't want him to leave. And frankly, he didn't want to either.

***

Sometime in the middle of the night, George woke from deep sleep to find he was wide awake. Normally when this occurred, a glass of water would do the trick. This time he was content to just stay in bed. He had the most precious girl in his arms. A girl, who happened to be wearing his ring, had her head on his chest. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through her hair. She had the most beautiful hair. It was the first thing he had ever noticed about her.

He knew that he should stop. If he kept playing with her hair, she was going to wake up. He really should just let her sleep. George had to stifle a chuckle into his pillow. He abruptly stopped moving when Angelina shifted in his arms. He continued to run his fingers through her hair when she stopped. What was the worst thing that could possibly happen if he actually did manage to wake her up? She would be mad at him for maybe a whole whopping two seconds.

Sleep was such a waste of time anyway. He smiled as the thoughts of what he would much rather be doing than sleeping started to flow into his head. He started to compile a list of his favorites…Yes that was it. She could sleep after at least the first…seven were knocked off the list. Oh, alright then, she could sleep after the first ten. He was really not a big fan of sleep at the moment. He started with the first item on his list: kissing his love awake.

***

Angelina really didn't know what had gotten into George. Whatever it was, she hoped it stayed right where it was. It seemed he had a plan in his head that was doing absolute wonders…oh, she loved him so…

Angelina pushed George suddenly when a large crash sounded on the stairs. If she wasn't so afraid from the noise, she would have laughed at George losing his balance and falling off the bed. She gave him an apologetic look as he slowly stood up. She wasn't the only person who had fought in the war who jumped at loud sudden noises. She could tell that George was trying to cover how shaken he was by the sound for her benefit. She dropped the blankets she was clinging to her chest to grab at his hand when he reached for his wand on the bedside table. He motioned her to stay quiet and wait in the room as he slipped from out the door and towards the stairs.

***

Percy cursed as he rubbed the growing bump on his head. He had fallen asleep on the stairs while waiting for a lull in whatever was occurring in the apartment. Percy was avoiding all thoughts of what could have even been close to what he had heard. Call him a prude if you will, but this was his brother and a girl he knew from school. The last thing he wanted in his mind was a visual. Checking on George had always been the short straw for a reason. Not one of the brothers was surprised when Ron moved to his own place. The surprise was that it had taken him longer to move out than anyone had bet possible.

"What the hell, Percy! It's the middle of the night!" George yelled at his brother more for the interruption than anything else. "We'll come back home in the morning. That's what you were sent to tell us right, Percy?"

"George, I would much rather not have this conversation with you while you're…" George felt a pair of pants hit the back of his head the same time he heard Angelina's laugh. Percy's face turned even redder.

"Good night, Percy." George slung the pants over his shoulder and walked back up the stairs. It wasn't the first time his brothers had interrupted, and it most likely wouldn't be the last. Now, he did believe that they were at number four on his list…

***

Molly had never been able to sleep through the night since…well she didn't like to admit it. She had always had this routine of checking in on all her little ones before she could fully rest. The school year had once been the least of her problems. Now, she found herself walking the dark and quiet halls of her own home while the world slept around her.

Molly noticed that Ginny's door was slightly cracked on her way down for a cup of tea. Her heart broke at the scene laid before her. Her daughter clung to his shirt. Her face was buried into his shoulder. His arms were wrapped tightly around her. His lips were pressed against her hair. Molly covered a slight gasp with her hand as she slowly backed away from the door.

The scene was so innocent yet intimate. Molly suddenly felt like she was intruding on a safe haven. She simply stood in the hallway with her hand over her mouth. She wanted this. She wanted him back to comfort her daughter. She wanted them to be together. She wanted this to be an everyday thing. The young couple deserved to have this moment and so many others.

Molly slipped on down to the kitchen. She sat at the table and laid her head in her arms. She hadn't realized Arthur was present until she felt his hand on her shoulder. Molly lifted her tear stained face up to look into his eyes. She wanted to tell him it wasn't fair. She knew how it felt to lose a child. She knew how hard it was to keep going with Arthur. She loved him so it was true, but a loss of a child was so hard. It wasn't fair that she had to go through this. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't fair that her daughter had to go through this. She was so young. Oh, the poor boy was going to blame himself for this. She wanted to tell Arthur that the boy was going to need so much reassurance when he found out that his own child was missing. She wanted to tell Arthur that she suspected that Harry was figuring it out on his own. She wanted to tell him so much…

"I know, Molly. I know." Arthur sat beside his wife and pulled her to his chest. He didn't cry as he held her. He didn't think it was possible to cry anymore.