Author's Note: Avid Reader, I owe you an apology for the length of time it took for me to finish this story. I'm very sorry, and with this lesson learned, I will be finishing stories from now own BEFORE posting them. Hopefully you can forgive me, my one loyal reviewer .

With nothing else to do, now that Ron had taken the potion, Harry turned to the groceries. He began unpacking them, laying them out on the counter in no particular order. He put the perishable items on one side and cast a spell around them to keep them cool. He smirked slightly thinking about how dependant the Dursley's were on their refrigerator.

Once when he was about 8, a tree fell on Privet Drive and destroyed a power line. They didn't have power for days, which gave Dudley an excuse to eat everything in the entire refrigerator in one night.

Well, not anymore. Harry's spell would keep the food cold until he released it.

"Should we wake him to eat something?" Harry asked eyeing the food. Hermione had bought, among other things; eggs, bread, cheese and bacon. That sandwich would be bloody brilliant right now.

"Let's wait 10 minutes, so the potion has a chance to sink in." Hermione said, still sitting at Ron's side. She looked up at Harry and caught the longing in his eyes as he stared at the eggs.

She smiled. "Sit with him, Harry. I'll make us some sandwiches." Harry smiled gratefully and returned to Ron's side. He looked better already, Harry observed. His skin was less clammy and warmer to the touch.

"Harry, when I was at the grocery, right as I was about to check out, I felt a sharp pain as if someone had hit me in the chest with a spell." Hermione said very quickly, without looking up. She didn't want to worry Harry, but this seemed to be relevant information.

"What do you think it was?" Harry asked, watching Hermione carefully. She was cracking some eggs and stirring them in a bowl, refusing to make eye contact with Harry and focusing purely on her task at hand.

"Ron." Hermione said quietly. "I think I felt him take a turn for the worse."

The gravity of that pronouncement made Harry sigh. This war was taking a lot of casualties and weighing heavily on the three of them. The last thing he wanted was Hermione to crack.

But deep down Harry knew that this was not Hermione loosing her mind. Something deeper was at play. Magic was after all, magic. Sometimes there were signs that you had to listen too.

"There is something else" Hermione spoke, now sizzling the bacon in a small pan. The smell was so overwhelming, that Harry could feel Ron stir next to him.

"When Ron spoke to be briefly before he feel asleep, he said something. Something that made me think he heard something I said while he was gone." Hermione said, phrasing her words carefully. She didn't want to delve into what she had said and why she said it to Harry, but she did want to get the message across.

As Hermione put the finishing touches on the sandwiches, Harry said, "Well, I guess you will just have to ask him when he wakes up."

Ron stirred again and Hermione carried over the plate of sandwiches. She handed one to Harry and then sat on the bed next to Ron.

"Ron" she cooed, her voice softer than Harry had ever remembered her speaking. "Ron, I need you to eat something." As soon as Hermione said the word 'need' Ron opened his eyes.

"Welcome back, mate" Harry laughed. "How do you feel?"

Ron eyed the sandwiches greedily. "I'm starving." Hermione laughed and Harry found himself laughing with her. It was so welcoming to hear Ron sound so endearingly Ron-like.

Hermione grabbed one of the sandwiches, helped Ron into sitting position and handed it to him. As Ron scarfed it down, she gave Harry a very meaningful look.

"I'm going to go take watch," Harry said, understanding his leave. He knew that Hermione and Ron had some things to discuss that probably only partially included their newfound physical connection.

"Kreacher, could you come with me?" Harry said remembering the House elf who slept in the corner. "I'm going to send you to stay with family of ours and look after them for the time being. They will be kind to you." Harry whispered to the elf.

"Kreacher…" Ron started saying, and Kreacher walked over to Ron's bed. "Thank you Kreacher. You saved my life." His voice seemed to hitch in his throat.

"Master Weasley protected my Master Harry. He wouldn't let the bad men find him. It was my duty to protect Master Weasley in return" Kreacher bowed and then followed Harry out of the tent.

Hermione watched Harry and Kreacher walk outside the tent before turning to Ron. Now that they were alone she felt her face flush a bit and found that same feeling of unease that she would get back at Hogwarts when they sitting in the common room together after a fight.

"Ron… I.." she started

"No Hermione, let me talk first." He said. Hermione looked at him, noting that the food and the potion was clearly working wonders on him. He looked infinitely better already. She made a mental note to give him another dose of the potion in about half an hour when this one would start to wear out. She would probably need to keep giving him the potion on the hour until his body had a chance to catch up with his condition.

"I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for leaving you. As soon as a left, I knew I had to get back. But…" Ron trailed off. Hermione knew what had happened next from Kreacher. Ron had walked into a whole mess of trouble. One day soon she would want to hear about it, to help him heal from it. But this didn't seem to be the right time.

"That bloody horcrux. I'm not blaming it, but it was driving me mad. I was hearing voices. They kept tell me that I was useless. That I was holding you and Harry back. That I wasn't good enough for y…." Ron cut off again face turning red.

Hermione's heart went out to him. She had no idea the horcrux had been affecting him that much. When she wore it, it made her grouchy and grumpy. It made her more irritable, but she never heard voices.

"Well it's not true." Hermione said, the bossy matter of fact tone back in her voice. She took a deep breath and made her voice softer as she said, "I cried from the moment you left until the moment you came back. We can't do this without you, Ron. I can't"

Ron smiled happily. The first real smile he had given her in weeks. Hermione chanced a glance at the Horcrux, now lying on a table. Harry had suggested they take it off for a while. Hermione now knew she would never let Ron put it back on. She would wear it all the time if it came to that.

"When you came back Ron…" Hermione said, blushing again and turning away from him. "You said something." Ron looked at her quizzically. "You said 'It was always you too.'" Hermione looked back up at him. He looked thoughtful.

Then it was like a light blub went on. "Your voice!" He yelped.

"What?" Hermione said, taken aback.

"It came out of the deluminator." He said excitedly.

"WHAT?" Hermione repeated, louder this time.

"When they had left me for the night…" Ron took a deep breath and began talking about what had happened "I was so sure I was going to bleed out and die on that chair. I couldn't move, and I was bleeding from what felt like everywhere. I was barely conscious. Then I heard your voice come out of my pocket. From the deluminator."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small object, handing it to Hermione finished, "it's what kept me alive. I didn't want to die before I told you how sorry I was."

Hermione was manipulating the deluminator in her hands. Ron stared at her expectantly.

"What did I say?" She asked quietly.

"You said my name. And the 'It was you. There never even was a choice. It was always you'" He blushed a little as he said that.

Hermione looked at him, his blue eyes were looking at her so expectantly.

"We need you here Ron, with us. I need you. I didn't pick Harry over you; it's not a choice. It's always you." She whispered.

"The deluminator. It must act as a homing device between us. It strengthens our connection. When I said your name, it must have triggered it. I knew you were in trouble. I felt it." Hermione said confessing

"You felt it?" Ron asked, worry now for her evident in his voice.

"It was so strange, Ron." Hermione started. "You left and I was lying in bed. I was crying." She added the last part to gage Ron's reaction, but also to reassure him by letting him know how much his leaving affected then. Never again would Ron feel as though he didn't matter. Her pride be damned.

"I must have cried myself to sleep, because suddenly I was having a nightmare. But, it wasn't a usual nightmare. I could feel you being tortured, as if I was in your body. I could hear your screams." She chanced a look at him and noticed his face was pale.

"Then I woke up couldn't tell if it was real or fake. I've never had a dream like that in my life." She paused, the reality of what had happened was setting in.

"And I left you there." She said, realization hitting her. She had left Ron at the hands of the death eaters. She had made the conscious decision not to go after him.

That thought was so horrible that she promptly began to cry. Her tears soon became sobs. "I left you…" She whispered between sobs.

"No, you didn't." Ron whispered.

"I did…. oh Ron… I did."

"NO. You didn't" Ron said more forcefully this time. "You didn't know. It could have been a trap. Siruis and the ministry fiasco all over again." He wrapped his arms around her and brought her down on the small cot so they were both lying down.

"Maybe Dumbledore charmed the deluminator." Ron said suddenly. "Maybe he knew I'd run out, and that the two of us needed to be together for Harry to win this." He added, looking a bit ashamed.

"He knew you'd always come back." Hermione smiled.

Note: FINISHED. I originally had them kiss at the end, but then I thought that their first kiss should be kept with the book I hope you enjoyed this story! I'm already working on something new, but it will be finished before being posted!