CHAPTER TWO:

Ron and Luna landed in the lounge of Ron's small cottage. He took her hand and led her to the small spare bedroom. This was the room that Ron had set aside to be Hermione's library. He took his wand and conjured the small sofa into a single twin bed. "You can stay here," said quietly in a voice almost devoid of emotion. "It was going to be Hermione's place."

Dropping Luna's hand he walked back to the lounge and sat heavily into his favorite overstuffed chair. He put his head in his hands and leaned over in the dim room. It seemed the shock was beginning to wear off and the emotions began to set in. He sat there and sobbed into his hands and slowly began to rock back and forth in the chair. After a few minutes he stopped crying and stood. He walked down the hall toward his bedroom. Passing by Luna in her room, and completely ignoring her, he shuffled into his room and fell hard onto his bed.

Grabbing his pillow he started to pound his fist into it and cursing out loud. "Fuck… shit… fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! Fuck Hermione! Fuck everyone! Fuck the ministry and fuck the Aurors. I've got no reason to keep doing this shit; I should just quit and get the fuck out of here. Get as far away from that bitch as I can."

He stood up defiantly with a hard look on his face and then collapsed back on the bed, sitting on the edge with his head in his hands. "Who am I kidding?" he asked softly to himself. "Who am I kidding? I'm nothing without her. She was the reason for everything. I'm lost and confused and worthless if I'm not with her. What the fuck do I do now?"

"Well'" a kind, soft voice answered. "We should probably get ready to go to the Burrow for the 'Welcome Home' dinner with your family," said Luna. Ron looked up and saw her timidly standing in the doorway. "When I'm sad like now, and sad like you are, I always feel better when I'm with friends," she continued. "When I'm with my friends, I find I'm better at being sad. Being here with you right now is already helping me to feel better. You found me and brought me here and I'm not as sad as I was. I still miss Neville, and I'm still mad at him, but I guess you taking care of me makes me feel that someone still likes me, and that helps. Let's go find your family and let them help you. You'll feel better."

"But what do I tell them when Hermione isn't with me?" Ron replied bitterly. "They're expecting her and they all will assume that I fucked things up again." "You tell them the truth," she replied calmly. "You tell them exactly what she told you about why she broke up with you. They'll see it wasn't your fault and you didn't 'fuck things up' again." She used her two hands to mimic quotation marks as she finished.

Ron and Luna spent the next few minutes getting themselves ready to go. They met in the lounge and shyly smiled at each other. "You look better, Luna," said Ron. "You too," she replied.

Moving to the fireplace and grabbing a pinch of floo powder and throwing it down, Luna cried "The Burrow," and disappeared into the green flames. Ron followed immediately after. Stumbling out of the fireplace, Ron looked around at his childhood home. He dusted the soot off himself and found he was looking at Harry, Ginny, and Luna. "Luna!" exclaimed Ginny. "What are you doing here, and where's Hermione, Ron?"

"Luna's here because Neville broke up with her and she had nowhere to go so she's staying with me, and Hermione's not here because she dumped me," replied Ron quietly, sounding completely defeated.

Ginny jumped up and yelled "What? What did you do? What did you do to make her break up with you? Is this just another Ron and Hermione row?"

Harry looked at Ron and saw the hurt in Ron's eyes and the sadness on his face. "You both must be pretty upset with everything," he said. "C'mere and sit down. Tell us what happened."

Luna sat down next to Ginny on the sofa and Ron slumped down in one of the chairs. Luna explained in a halting voice how Neville told her "he had met someone new and wanted to be with her instead. How he was sorry, but it was for the best." Luna finished and then hung her head and let the tears flow.

Harry and Ginny then looked at Ron expectantly. Ginny asked softly "what happened Ron?"

Ron told them how since Christmas, Hermione's letters had become fewer and far between and that she wouldn't let him kiss her after she got off the train. He continued softly, "then she told me how all I cared about was food and Quidditch and just getting by while was she interested in work and being great and changing the world and she couldn't do that if she was with me."

"Didn't you tell her how much you've changed since starting Auror training?" yelled Harry. "You're top of the class, you beat everyone on all the tests, you've really found your focus and are completely serious about being the best Auror you can be! She would love the new Ron, the two of you would be great together!"

"I didn't get the chance," said Ron slowly. "She said she didn't want to talk about it anymore and then apparated away. Left me there by myself."

"Fortunately for me, Ron saw me at the end of the platform all by myself as well" interjected Luna. "He took me home. Now we are here, and are trying to figure out what to do next."

"Yeah," added Ron. "I don't know what to do, I'm not even sure I want to be an Auror anymore. I want to just get out of here and go as far away as I can. I don't know if you felt this way after Harry broke up with you, Ginny, but it sucks. It sucks big time." Ron hesitated for a minute and then continued, "I'm not hungry, tell Mom & Dad what happened, but I'm going home. You can come whenever you want, Luna, just use 'Vine Cottage' in the floo."

"Wait Ron!" exclaimed Ginny. "Wait a minute. Give me a chance to help you out. Come on and sit back down and listen to what I have to say. This might even help you, Luna."

"I don't know what will help," answered Ron, but he sat down anyway. "But ok, go on, what do you have?"

"Ok, well, when Harry broke up with me, I was devastated. I knew it was for a so-called noble reason, but it still hurt; it hurt badly," Ginny started while looking down at the floor. "I didn't know what to do either. I didn't want to go back to Hogwarts, but Mom made me go," she continued while looking up at Ron. "I got to school and didn't care about anything; I didn't care going to class, I didn't do my homework; I didn't even care about Quidditch. But then I met this muggleborn girl in second year named Amy. Amy wondered why I was so down in the dumps. I explained the situation and how heartbroken I was. She told me she knew exactly what I needed to hear. I didn't understand but then she pulled out this weird muggle thing called a 'Walkman' that played music."

Ginny hesitated for a moment. "I don't know how it works, but she fooled around with it for a minute and then put these things called earphones on my head. She told me to listen to this song and then she pushed a button. She said it was a song by a muggle singer named Gloria Gaynor."

"Yeah, so what does this have to do with anything", said Ron sounding annoyed.

Ginny answered quickly "this song helped me get through the heartache, helped me get back on my feet, helped me keep going. It was so helpful I wrote down the words so I could read them whenever I started to feel down or like giving up again. I pasted the words on my mirror in the dorm so I'd see them everyday. After a while I found I didn't need them anymore so I folded up the parchment and put it in my trunk. Give me a minute and I'll go get it." Ginny jumped up and headed up the stairs to her room.

"This is crazy," said Ron. "I don't see how this will be any help. I feel like dying and Ginny wants to sing to me. This is stupid, I'm leaving."

"Wait Ron," replied Harry. "What can it hurt?"

Ginny bounded down the stairs and shoved the parchment into Ron's hands. Ron looked down and started to read.

"Read it out loud, please," asked Ginny.

Ron looked up and then began to read for all to hear. They all heard:

At first I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong
And I grew strong
And I learned how to get along…

Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
And I've got all my love to give and I'll survive
I will survive, hey, hey

It took all the strength I had not to fall apart
Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart
And I spent oh-so many nights just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
But now I hold my head up high and you see me
Somebody new
I'm not that chained-up little person and still in love with you…

I will survive
I will survive*

Ron finished and looked up expectantly at Ginny. He then looked down and read the words again to himself.

"This song is called 'I Will Survive.' Don't you see, Ron?" Ginny cried. "You can survive, you will survive. The best way to get back at Hermione is to survive and keep doing what you're doing and show her and yourself what you can do. Show her that you can survive and thrive without her. Make her see how amazing you've become, how strong you are and how you're more than food and Quidditch. You've got to live your life. You have to survive! You have to survive."

"Huh," answered Ron. "Sounds good, but I'm not sure I can do it."

"Sure you can," replied Ginny. "Don't you think so Harry?" she asked.

"Absolutely," answered Harry. "Absolutely. You've done amazing while she was at Hogwarts, you can keep doing it."

"I don't know," said Ron. "I don't know."

"Ok, we're going to start now," said Ginny. "Now repeat after me Ron," she continued. "I will survive. Now you."

Ron gave a slight smirk and repeated the words softly.

"No Ron! Say it like you mean it. You, too Luna."

Ron and Luna looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and repeated, "I will survive."

"Again, with conviction!" implored Ginny. "Loud enough for the world to hear."

Ron and Luna both stood and shouted together "I WILL SURVIVE!" And then they sat down and almost smiled at each other.

"Thanks, Gin," said Ron. "Can I keep this? Maybe this will help."

"Sure," she replied, and then looked at Harry with love in her eyes. "I don't need it anymore."

*Selected lyrics from I Will Survive. Songwriters: Dino Fekaris / Frederick J. Perren