"I'll go with you."
"No. Kill the snake. Kill the snake, and then it's just him."
She launched herself at him as she had done before, when they were children and he had fought in the Chamber of Secrets, when she emerged from the hospital wing just in time for the leaving feast. Her arms tightened around him, and his around her, and they clutched each other wordlessly for what could have been three seconds and could have been most of the time he knew was left to him. It wasn't enough. But he knew it couldn't be, really. He moved to end the embrace, and she didn't yield to him. Without looking at her, directly, he spoke.
"Hermione. You have to let go. You have to let me go."
He felt her strangled sob as well as heard it; his senses, heightened almost to the point of pain with everything, picked up on how she tightened her body afterwards and pulled back, just a little. He wanted to move forward, to soothe her, but she was doing exactly what he'd asked her to do. Her hands traced his shoulders, grazed his arms, and released.
Ron was standing behind her, at a distance still, at the place where he had stopped himself. The boys' eyes connected. When Hermione stepped back, Ron moved forward. His body met hers as she slammed backwards into him, still looking at Harry through eyes shot through with tears. Ron wrapped himself around her as she almost collapsed. Harry saw, with a terrible mixture of longing and relief, that they were not alone, that he wouldn't be leaving either of them alone. The word "goodbye" died on his lips, unsaid.
He left them, and kept walking, down the steps and to the forest's edge.
