DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these characters and what-not. That's Ms. Rowling, I do bleeb.
No man or woman was better than the rest. No wizard came before or after any muggle. They were all equal, and they were all prepared to die because they lived for justice and fight because they ached for peace. They were bound together and they stood on the same level. It was achieved. If they lost, they all lost; if they won, they all won. There was no longer that fight to win. Now it was simply the good versus the evil. There were no in betweens that God would not know.
They stood side by side, all facing in the same direction. The enemy was there, but went completely unseen. No one moved a muscle in their body's or made a noise. The only noise being heard was that of the birds singing in the small of the morning. Ron closed his eyes and imagined his sister and how she always used to watch the birds flying high above the Burrow. He saw Harry out of the corner of his eye, and he thought of his niece or nephew on the way. Clenched in his fist was a tightly folded piece of paper. A new bravery beat in his heart such as he had never felt before as he looked at the untidy scribble peeking through from between his fingers.
Harry tried not to think of what he might miss after today, but what he might not miss. He felt something coursing through him as if his blood had been replaced with fire. He felt around his neck for the medallion Ginny gave him; it was there.
Everyone thought of something, for that split second, other than the then and there, and everyone felt that fire coursing through them. There were at least three-hundred standing there, but the number of the enemy remained unseen. There was no wind.
Seamus Finnigan, with his teeth gritted, was the first to see it. There was no wind. A leaf moved forward as if being pushed. He gave the silent signal and stepped forward. In an instant everyone had stepped forward and it rang through the air like the whole world had said it.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" and Invisibility cloaks became useless as they along with hundreds of wands shot up into the air, revealing the enemies. They were outnumbered, but held their wands. What happened next was a blur in Harry's mind. Everyone on the opposite side panicked for their wands as their side tried to keep them out of reach or sent curses shooting across the clearing like bullets. And bullets. Several muggles were helping with whatever weapons they could find. People were already at the ground suffering from the Crucatius curse. Most of the Death Eaters had regained a wand, although they had been weakened considerably by their late start and the fact that it was not always their own wand they had regained. It took only seconds before everyone was fighting. Harry ran forward, wand raised, and shouted "Augnicht" causing clear liquid to spray out of his wand, hitting many people and blinding them. He saw bodies curled in pain on the ground, and many people had a line connecting their wands to the enemy's in priori incantatum, fighting to hold on. He saw green light shooting in every direction as people like him, fighting for that cause which bound them together, died. He looked around him and saw the agony in the eyes of many, and heard their cries. Neville Longbottom lay on the field in front of him, and when he went to carry him to safety, he saw that he was dead.
The blur that had set in had gone blurrier, and time stopped for him. All sound seemed to have forgotten to move to Harry's brain, and he was temporarily deaf. He stood there and felt like he was in a strange dream that he didn't understand. Not realizing it, tears filled his eyes as he stood there stopped in time as the battle went on around him. Everything inside him came to a stand-still, including his legs.
"Harry!" he saw someone mouthing to him. Someone with read hair was coming back from the fight. The yelled it soundlessly again.
"Harry!" Ron was coming back for him. He grabbed him around the arm and shouted again, reality and sound hitting Harry again like a ton of bricks.
"Harry! Keep moving! Keep moving! We're pressing in on them, Harry! Keep moving!"
Harry nodded, getting his grasp back. "Move..."he repeated. And he understood. "MOVE!" and they ran forward narrowing avoiding a stream of green light, past the suffering and dead whose brave war was already over. Barely anyone was still standing, but those who were had wands raised strongly and would not give up. There were only seventy people left, and of them only twenty were Death Eaters. They weren't outnumbered anymore. Harry was now fighting a line between his wand and Regis Bagman's. He kept focus on the center as it pressed on towards Bagman. It was still connected, and it was almost to him when Harry saw something in the distance. Ron was running forward but a hand from below had caught his ankle and he tripped to the ground. The hand was unmistakably the same one he had seen given to Wormtail years ago. Pettigrew emerged from beneath his robes and stood up looking down at Ron, his wand pointed. As he fell, Ron had lost his wand and was almost helpless.
Just then, Harry realized that in any second Bagman's curse would reach him. He concentrated once again on the line connecting the wands, waited till the point the connected was a little past the middle, and broke the line, sending the two curses flying in different directions. Bagman's curse narrowly missed Harry, and Harry's shot up into the air. He shouted "Avada Kedavra" at Bagman and quickly ran towards Ron. He was halfway to him just as Ron's fingers were halfway touching his wand. Apparently Pettigrew wanted him to suffer before he killed him. Ron could barely control his muscles, but still, he almost had his wand. Harry fell into a Smoke charm that someone had set up in the field. He saw the outline of Pettigrew through the black thick smoke, and shouted it again "Avada Kedavra". At that instant, a loud bang sounded and after the smoke had cleared, Harry saw Pettigrew dead on the ground. Harry wasn't the only one who called it that time. He heard someone else say the curse, too. He looked around for the person who had helped him but saw no one. He ran towards Ron, who was still on the ground. When he was close up, he was shocked to find that Ron wasn't okay. To his horror, he was bleeding severely with a bullet hole in his chest.
Harry fell to his knees beside his best friend and propped him up on his arms.
"What happened? God, what happened?"
Ron struggled to breath, but even still, he spoke. "He...Crucatius... but I kicked his wand down," Ron gasped. He faltered.
"Stay with me, buddy. Stay with me" said Harry desparately.
"He... grabbed a gun off one of the Muggles... shouted 'Avada Kedavra'... shot it...then he died, he died." Ron looked up at Harry with pain in his eyes. Everything around them was quiet again, and this time it was not Harry. Ron made an indistinct noise and tried to lift his arm up.
"Don't." Harry said,"Stay still. Everything will be fine."
"Look," said Ron weakly trying to lift his arm again. Harry pushed it down and looked inside Ron's hand. He was holding a tightly folded piece of paper. He took it out.
"Give it to Hermione. To Hermione," Ron said in a very quiet and airy voice. His breathing was getting worse by the second.
"I will! But you can later yourself, Ron!" Harry choked out almost angrily. "you can give it to her yourself when we get home. You'll be fine. You're fine! Just a little while and we can go home!"
"Promise me you'll give it to her for me."
"I will. I will. Oh, God!" There was a moment's silence in which the two of them tried to forget what was happening or that anything had happened. The battle was almost over, and the fighting still going on was a good distance away. The sun was coming up over the trees, and the birds returned to the singing which they had stopped for the noble fight taking place. Ron spoke again.
"You can hear the birds again. I love birds, did you know that? So does Ginny. Maybe so will my niece or nephew, huh, Harry? You can... hear the... birds." And his eyes closed; he died.
Harry looked down into Ron's pale face and broke down. The folded paper fell out of Ron's cold hand. "I'll give this to her, Ron. Don't worry. Hermione'll get this. I promise."
Harry couldn't leave his side. He knew he was gone, but he couldn't leave. Time moved by, but he was unaware how much. For all he knew, an hour could have passed. Two days could have passed. He didn't know. He heard a group of people moving towards him from behind. He kept looking down until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around and looking up he saw his godfather, Sirius, and he finally got off his feet to embrace him. There was a group of about twenty searching for poeple still living who were down. Ernie MacMillan and Parvati Patil were helping Draco Malfoy to walk. He was limp and had been badly hurt. Justin Finch-Fletchley along with some other familiar looking people were turning over bodies to see if they were dead, carrying them in their arms and floating them by magic if they weren't. Harry's own cousin Dudley was there helping them. No one talked as they went back towards the camp.
Harry had two things on his mind; there was no room for much of anything else. Give Hermione the letter, and get home to Ginny. The silent walk went on until they arrived at the camp, where there were stations set up for the injured waiting. Hermione was among the people removing hexes and repairing any damage done. When they were about a football field's length away, He started to run and even reached in his robe to get the letter out. He saw Hermione coming out of the first station, and he ran till he got to her. She gave him a hug with tears streaming down her eyes.
"You're alive! Thank God!" she said.
Without speaking a word, Harry gave her the letter that he promised Ron she would get. His eyes sank to the ground where they stayed as Hermione unfolded and read the letter.
Dear Hermione,
Thank you for everything you have ever done for me. You have made me into the person who I always wanted to be. I don't know if you know this because I don't think I've ever told you, but I love you. I have loved you since I found you, but unfortunately for me, it took me too long to do that. Please forgive me for that. I have always been stubborn, and always will be. I was too stubborn to admit that I loved you before, and now I am too stubborn to deny it. Because it's the truth. I am too stubborn to let you go, and I am saying right now, that someday, somehow, we are going to be together.
There are things that have provoked me into writing this letter, and I just want you to know that I am standing by what I just said. We will be together somewhere even if it can't be on this earth. That's my fault. I should have changed that earlier so that I wouldn't feel so far away right now. But in a strange way I don't feel far away. I feel like I am closer to you than any other person, but when I look up I'm not. It's because of my mistakes. I regret them more than anything, and I'm so sorry for that. I am not sure what else to say. I don't want to say anymore. I won't. Because if I do, then there will be nothing to look forward to. No change, not anything to look forward to. I won't say what I want to have, or what I should have done. I am only going to say... thank you. And I love you.
Love, Your Friend,
Ron
Hermione folded it up again, and looked at Harry for the answer that she already knew, to the question she did not have to ask.
"He didn't make it," said Harry, the first words he had spoken since he was on his knees beside him on the battlefield. Tears moved down Hermione's face, and she let herself lean against the table behind her. Harry hugged her again, but nothing could remove the feeling she had gained at the loss of what she had never had. They both stared blankly at the ground for a moment.
"Thank you for giving this to me, Harry," she finally said. After that day she always had the letter with her wherever she went, and no matter what she did.
"I promised I would," he said. There was now only one thing on Harry's mind. It became overwhelmingly present there. "Hermione, where's Ginny?" he asked jumping up suddenly.
"She couldn't stay here to help, she was having some pains. She went to the Burrow with Mrs. Weasley."
"I have to see her. I have to go. I'll be back here to help later, but first I have to see her."
"Thank you again Harry. You're a good friend." Hermione said looking more lost than she ever had before.
"Hermione," said Harry, "come with me."
They apparated to the Burrow with haste, if you can get any hastier while apparating. Inside they found the downstairs was deserted, so they searched the now empty rooms, still filled with the belongings of all the Weasleys in their youth. Ron's room was still Chudley Cannon Orange, and Fred and George's still seemed slightly smoky, like they had just blown something up.
"Ginny! Mum! Is anybody here?" called Harry. He was shaking. Hermione had gone back to search downstairs again, and when Harry was at the end of the hall, he heard her call up.
"Harry, a note! They've gone to the hospital. They couldn't get an owl in time!" Harry ran down the stairs as fast as he could. He was shaking harder than ever.
"The baby's not due for a week." Hermione gave Harry a pat on the arm, and the apparated to the hospital. As soon as they got there, a receptionist told them to go to the emergency room because the hospital was so full. Harry knew why because she had said it so sadly.
"But my wife... she's pregnant. There was a note to come here."
"She's probably in the emergency room, though, sir."
"What if something's happened! What if I missed it?"
"Just calm down, and get to the emergency room, they can deliver there."
So Harry and Hermione apparated to the emergency room. Harry was afraid to do it this time because he was shaking so much. He might have done it wrong and come in in peices.
"Excuse me?" said Hermione, being the only one calm enough to talk.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Is there a Mrs. Potter in here? She's pregnant and she has really red hair like... Ron's." Hermione's voice trailed off at the end of the sentence.
"I believe there is... there was. Yes. But it's very hectic in here today. We didn't think the conditions were right for her, so we moved her to someplace more comfortable with a doctor and her mother. That was just minutes ago, you can catch them if you hurry."
"Where did you move them?" asked Hermione.
"Her house.... or was it her mother's? I don't have it written down, but I remember it was either the... the Burrow or the Potter's house on Vertic Alley." The little wizard noticed Harry looking very green and shaky. Maybe the scar helped give it away a little, too. "And this is Mrs. Potter's husband, I presume?"
"Yeah. That's the dad."
"Soon. You'd better hurry."
Hermione was reluctant to let Harry apparate to their house on Vertic Alley, but he greenly insisted by sort of stomping the ground with is foot. They got there in once normal piece, though. The house was empty.
"This is ridiculous! You are not apparating one inch again. Look at you, you mess! I have an idea."
Harry just made noises and stomped again. He forgot how to talk, and his communication came in the form of three-year-old child. His mind was on one thing only, though. Harry watched her like she was something that went crazy when she pointed to the fireplace and the pot of Floo Powder on top.
Harry shook his head with wide eyes for about a long time, but Hermione insisted.
"It's safer than apparating when you're like this. You'll never get there, Shaky."
Harry shook his head again, only less vigorously, and walked forward with a big frown on his pale nervous face.
"You'll miss it if you don't"
"I hate Floo Powder" he said as he threw a fist full into the fire Hermione had conjured. Harry stepped in looking violated, nervous, and anxious all at once.
"THE BURROW" he shouted. He had improved his Floo traveling with such a motivation. There was hardly any soot in his mouth.
Harry shot out of the fireplace onto the floor just in time to see his kid shoot out of his wife. He stood up with a big grin on his face, brushed the soot off of his robes, kissed his son and his wife, the two people who had pushed all of his troubles way out of his mind, and fainted right next to the bed where they lay. Hermione came in seconds later, and smiled at the scene. She gave Ginny a big hug and Mrs. Weasley, and gave the baby a tiny baby handshake and kiss on the forehead. A new kind of tear rolled down her cheek, a happy one. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had them, too. Ginny made an attempt to sit up, but was pushed down by the doctor, Madam Pomfrey.
"Is he alright down there?" she asked.
Madam Pomfrey walked to the other side of the bed where Harry was collapsed on the floor, checked under his eyelids and proclaimed him OK.
"What are you calling him, Ginny?"
"Well, we had a couple of ideas, but we never decided on..."
"RON RICHARD!" came from down below where Harry was.
Harry got up from the floor and looked down at his son.
"Ginny, does Ron Potter sound good to you? Ron Richard Potter?"
"It sounds brilliant."