Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters.

A/N: Hiya! I received a request on Tumblr for a Harry/Ron friendship moment with the prompt "Don't you ever do that again." I was overwhelmed by the response from the post, so thank you so much to all who have read so far! Harry/Ron's friendship is one of my favorite parts of the HP universe. Hope you enjoy!

We Live

When Ron Weasley was 11 years old, he met Harry Potter on the train to Hogwarts for the very first time. He didn't know it then, but befriending one of the most sought after wizards of their time had proven to be no easy task.

They tackled multiple dark wizards, heartbreak, classes, and life together. Ron remained loyal to Harry throughout it all, and stood beside him no matter what adventure came upon them year after year.

He wouldn't change it all for a damn thing.

Which is why they both found themselves, on the night following the Battle of Hogwarts, on top of the Astronomy tower — or what little remained of it. There was debris piled around everywhere, the sky above them still dark and cloudy, visual evidence of the destruction and loss they experienced that day.

Ron looked over to Harry, who was staring off into the distance — his eyelids were sagging, a clear sign of the exhaustion that was finally starting to set in. His face was covered in dirt, there was a huge gash in his lip, and his jet black hair was the messiest and longest Ron had seen in it a long time.

Harry looked like a man who had sacrificed everything in order to keep the world moving, and he did. For that reason, Ron was angry.

"Don't you do that again," Ron mumbled gruffly, and the force of his words caused Harry to turn his head, eyes wide.

"What do you mean?"

Ron leaned forward, hoping his steely gaze was enough to convince Harry of the intent behind his words. "Don't you ever try to sacrifice yourself like some bloody martyr again, you hear me? For a minute, I thought…"

Ron swallowed roughly. A surge of emotion that he kept inside started bubbling to the surface, and he had to shake his head to dissolve the tears invading his eyes. "I thought I lost two brothers in one day."

Something in Harry's eyes shifted, and Ron felt almost guilty for passively bringing up Fred when Harry was in such a state.

A tense moment of silence fell between them before Harry croaked out, "Ron, I'm really—"

"I know."

And he did know. They all knew there was a possibility that everyone wouldn't make it out of the battle alive. But there was a stark difference between anticipating something bad happening, rather than actually living with it.

Right now, they were living with it, and neither of them were quite sure how to move on from here.

"Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yeah?" Harry pivoted his head to regard him curiously.

"I'm really, really glad you're alive."

Ron watched as Harry smiled for the first time that day. "I'm really, really glad you're alive, too."

Harry squinted his eyes back out towards the sky, which was starting to clear. "You know, we've been best mates since the beginning of this whole thing."

Ron nodded, finishing Harry's train of thought, "We'll be best mates till the end — and today was not the end."

For a minute, they were just Ron and Harry, innocent and hopeful for the future, just like they were at the young age of 11.

Harry chuckled. "Alright, no need to get sappy on me."

Ron gave him a playful shove, one that was quite pitiful due to the lack of energy he had left in him.

"So, you and Hermione…" Harry began after a beat.

Ron rolled his eyes, an instant blush creeping up on his cheeks. "Don't start."

"Wasn't gonna…." Harry held up his hands, a teasing grin splitting onto his face.

Ron snorted. "Yeah, you were." He allowed himself to think about his curly-haired girlfriend — girlfriend. Can he call her that now? He supposed they had a few things to sort out as well.

"She is my sister, you know," Harry continued, a slight warning evident in his tone.

"And Ginny is my sister."

Harry kicked a small pebble on the floor, and they both watched as it went flying out of the tower. "If she'll have me back."

"I only needed to get one look at her to know that she's still completely barmy over you — not sure I get why, it's not like you just defeated the darkest wizard of our time or anything…"

"We defeated," Harry corrected.

They met each other's gaze one more time, a wave of understanding passing between them. Ever since they were 11 years old, they were a we. Two best friends who stood beside each other through everything.

"So, what do we do now?"

"We live."