A/N- This is the second last chapter before I start the sequel. Ron is
telling his story, his way. Even if he never sees the end.
I guess we all knew that this day could come at any moment. We tried to live for every second, every new experience. I'm hoping still to have a hundred more. It is unlikely. I wanted to live long enough to make good on the promise Hermione's ring represents. It doesn't look like that will happen, now.
I'm trying to keep my mind on the game and off my brooding, but I don't seem to be going a very good job. After all, when the Hogwarts' chess champ is in danger of being beaten by Neville, it's a pretty clear indication that something is amiss. I see Hermione coming up to me out of the corner of my eye. I can tell she's worried. After all, isn't a guy supposed to be able to read the emotions of the one that he loves?
She hesitates, and the corners of her mouth curve a bit at the sight of me being so soundly beaten. She starts towards me again, smiles sweetly, congratulates Neville on his strategy, and pulls me away into a dark corner of the common room.
Before I can speak, before I can ask her why those big cinnamon eyes of hers are even more serious then normal, she starts to talk.
"We need to help Harry," She states seriously.
I glance over to where my best mate sits staring at the fire. His scar is throbbing, and it stands out a livid red on his forehead. It's worse then normal and I have to wonder how he manages to live with the constant pain. I turn back to her.
"I know. The question is, how? He won't stop blaming himself. We've tried everything from cajoling to screaming. He won't listen." Not that I haven't tried, night after night, to make him see sense. It won't work.
"It's time to do something drastic. Can you hold him down?" I'm startled until I realize what she means.
"I like the way you think, love. Go get out the potion, I'll bring him up to your room." Hermione had made a potion to numb the effects of localized tissue pain, as well as adding overall good health to the drinker. We've both been trying to cajole Harry into drinking some, but from the looks of the gleam in our resident bookworm's eyes, he just ran out of options.
"Meet you there in five," she says, and gives me a quick kiss before running out of the room.
I slowly walk over to where Harry is staring at the fire, ignoring Neville's frantic movements to rejoin him at the chessboard. He'll just have to be satisfied with winning by default. Since Harry is clearly dwelling on the upcoming battle, he and I start discussing tactics. I love tactics. If we get out of this, I'm going to become an Auror just so that I can use them every day.
"If they go for an indoor assault, it's going to get dirty. We won't be able to fly, so we need to make sure we hit them fast and hard before flanking to take some small advantage of surprise." I can tell that he has been considering this all night.
"Either that or we can just transfigure Voldie into a purple hippo," I say in a mock serious tone. I need to know just how attentive he is.
"That might work. If.. Hey, Ron, did you just say what I think you said?" Harry looked at me like I'd grown tentacles from my face.
"What was that?" I ask him innocently.
"Transfigure. oh, never mind. What does Hermione need?" He finally realizes where we are heading.
"Just to spend some time with each other. We haven't really in a while." I try to keep any ulterior motives from the surface. I don't want Harry thinking that we've betrayed him, or something. It's also true- since Hermione and I became an item Harry has been spending progressively less time with us. While we're still termed the Trinity, I think he's been feeling like a third wheel lately.
I casually lead him into Hermione's room, laughing as he pauses at the door long enough to call "Are you decent?"
"Perfectly!" My love calls back to him, and he cautiously enters the room. When he is fully inside and the door is shut behind him, Hermione raises one eyebrow at me. I can almost here her impatient "Well, what are you waiting for?"
I tackle Harry and hold him down as Hermione advances with the potion. I have his hands pinned above his head, but if looks could kill I wouldn't have the battle with Voldemort to deal with. I'd be dead already.
"Damn it, I told you two I'm fine!" he swears loudly.
"Of course you are. That's why you flinch every time there's a loud noise," I yell right back at him.
"Or bright light, or come to think of it, really anything out of the ordinary at all," Hermione comments with her typical sarcastic edge.
"Face it, Harry. You are drinking this potion, and you have no say," She says with no small amount of satisfaction. Harry looks at her with a mutinous expression, and presses his lips closed.
"Oh, please," I sigh, annoyed at my friend for being so childish. I reach over with my other hand and plug Harry's nose. As soon as he opens his mouth to breathe, Hermione pours the potion down the back of his throat. Almost instantly, the distended scar becomes smooth, and Harry's face is no longer drawn. I quickly get off of him, not really knowing if he has plans to clock me or not.
"If you two EVER do that again, I will have to kill you. Understood?" He looks at both of us. We only grin at him, and his face suddenly relaxes. "Thanks. I needed that."
We lapse into silence, and I take the chance to study my friends. The three of us have been together since first year. If anyone had told me the on the first morning before I left for Hogwarts that things would turn out like this, I would have called them barmy and found them a room at St. Mungo's. Hermione, my fiancee and soul mate. Harry, my blood brother and best friend. I look at Harry first, wanting to memorize what he looks like. This is quite possibly one of the last times I will see him alive.
I turn to Hermione, and see that she is studying me, the pink tinge to her cheeks telling me all I need to know. She doesn't blush without a good reason. She must be undressing me in her mind again. My ego fluffs up a bit as I think about it. I still can't believe that she said yes.
"I'm going back down to the common room. I'll meet you two there," Harry couldn't help noticing the new tension in the room, I suppose. He's remarkably perceptive when it comes to that. Neither of us goes after him as he slips out the door.
I turn to my lady and grin slowly. "You know you were undressing me with your eyes, Hermione?" I tease her happily.
"I most certainly was not!" A blush starts to creep up her face.
"I love it when something makes you mad. You blush." She laughs, and the color that infuses her face only makes her more beautiful to me.
"Ron," I hear her sigh, and am lost in her eyes.
I hold my arms out to her, sensing that she needs to be held. She steps into the embrace, and rests her head on my chest.
"It'll be OK, Hermione. Either way, we will be together, " I try to reassure her.
"But how do we know? What happens if you die, if I die, and the other is left alone? What then?" Her question tears me apart. It can't happen. It won't happen. I try to reason it out to her.
"We're soul mates, you and I. When one dies, so does the other. We will go to Summerlands together, or we'll stay here together. We are not going to be separated. After all, aren't you wearing my ring?" I smile at her hopefully, wondering if she can tell that I don't know, that I don't have all the answers no matter how much I want them. She doesn't seem to care. She gives me a teary smile, and I hold her a little tighter.
When I look down, she is looking up at me. My lips meet hers, and we start kissing with a desperation that we have only felt once before. That was on the night that Harry read us the letters.
She reaches up, and removes my robes with the ease of long practice. She moves to start on her own, but I still her with a gesture.
"I want to do it, love." I gently undo the clasp, and her robes slide deliciously over her shoulders and down her back, baring her almost completely.
She looks so innocent, almost virginal in her plain white underwear. I slide them off of her as well, and we are both standing as naked as the day we were born. She steps into my arms once again, and I hear her use her last bit of sanity to cast a locking charm on the door. I smile; even Dumbledore won't know the counter charm to that one. It's a spell of her own making.
"Let it all go away for a while," I hear her whisper, longingly.
"It will, Hermione, it will," I promise her all I can, her name like honey on my tongue. With that, we shut out the world.
Far, far too soon, we must emerge from our heavenly cocoon and get ready to head back downstairs. Hermione has Head Girl duties to attend to, and I refuse to let her go anywhere on her own at the moment. I don't want to let her out of my sight for a minute. We start to get dressed again, and I notice her staring at me with a faraway look in her eyes.
"Lady, Hermione, if you keep looking at me like that we'll never make it back downstairs," I say, not knowing whether I'm completely serious or not. She blushes a bit, but then a cloud passes over her face.
"I love you, Ron," She tells me, and I can hear both the commitment and the desperation in her voice. She knows what we are about to face as well as I do. I don't want to even consider the fact that I might lose her, so I try to lighten the mood.
"I love you too, bookworm." I answer her with a silly grin on my face. The swat that follows is not entirely unexpected. We both laugh, pretending that everything is all right, and head back downstairs hand in hand.
I notice that one of the larger armchairs by the fire is empty, and I pull Hermione over to it. Since there are no stragglers left, we didn't really have to come down. I want to make up for the loss in cuddle time, so we both cram ourselves into the chair, and snuggle. No words are spoken. None are needed.
I'm startled as Ginny comes barreling into the common room, hair flying. She has several large, heavy books in her arms, and they go flying as she sees Harry on the couch. She stops, picks one in particular up off the floor, and I see her head over to him with it.
I fell Hermione go still on my lap, the hand that was casually stroking mine stops. I look at her, and see fear, resignation and despair on her face. I want to ask her what is in that book, but I'm not so sure I want to know. I'll find out soon enough, whether I want to know or not.
I decide to leave it, comforting Hermione by stroking her hair, and watching the intense discussion taking place between my best friend and my baby sister. The slow, almost feral grin that spreads first across one face, and then the other, makes me very uneasy. I definitely don't want to know. A brother is better off not knowing the details.
My mind is quickly taken off the occupants of the couch when Professor McGonagall comes striding into the common room. I would dearly love to find out where, exactly, the other entrance to the common room is. I have a funny feeling it may be straight from the teacher's wing. The look on her face is deadly serious. This can't be good. One look at Harry confirms my suspicions. It's time. I lean back, my love in my arms, to listen to McGonagall. She has already roused all members of the House, and the younger years have assembled. Her voice is still strong, still even, though I can detect a slight tremor in it as she begins to speak.
"It is my grave duty to inform you that Lord Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and several species of Dark Creatures are assembling as we speak to attack Hogwarts. Several lives were given to pass this information. We must now put into place the contingency plans that were drawn up for this occasion.
Miss Ginny Weasley is our designated Head Girl for next year. As such, it will be her responsibility to lead all students in sixth year and below to our hidden dungeon, and her duty along with our designated Head Boy to keep everyone calm until we have routed this evil from our castle.
All Seventh years are asked to assist the teachers in the fight. I will not lie to you. We are sadly outnumbered, and without you we stand very little chance of winning. You are Gryffindors, known for your bravery. I hope that you will see fit to join the fight. If you do not, I ask that you join the younger students in the dungeons."
She stops speaking, and Harry, Hermione and I are among the first to stand. I can not see any Gryffindor backing down from what we perceive as our duty, and I am not disillusioned. The eight seventh years stand, and we all take a couple private moments before we must separate. I can see Harry and Ginny bidding each other goodbye. I turn to Hermione and kiss her soundly, knowing this may be my last chance. We look into each other's eyes, and no more time can be spent. When we separate, we are still holding hands. This war has made us grow up quickly.
We line up behind Harry, our natural leader. He stands alone in front of Hermione and I. This is how it should be- the two of us watching his back while we do what needs to be done. All my fear has drained out of me, leaving me sharper. I feel a lost sense of might-have-been, but I push it away. There is no time for regrets.
I can hear her beside me, trying to remember every curse and hex she's ever read or heard about. I squeeze her hand as I recognize the distraction tactic.
We've finally hit the Great Hall. Everyone else is practically assembled, and I realize that McGonagall's speech to us was a little more involved then everyone else's. I have a flashback to the Muggle lessons Hermione gave me last summer, and I can just see Sprout galloping through the Hufflepuff den yelling "The Death Eaters are coming! The Death Eaters are coming!" The thought makes me smile a bit. Hey, black humor is better then none at all.
Madam Pomfrey is leading one of the Hufflepuff girls away. Wonder why? Ernie looks a bit put out, but that may be because he doesn't want her out of his sight. I know I'd feel the same way if someone made Hermione leave.
The noise outside the hall is getting louder, which can mean only one thing. The battle is eminent, and will be happening even sooner then I thought. Harry is twitching occasionally, but it seems as though it's merely an itch that he'd love to scratch. It's a good thing that we fed him that potion. He'd have been out cold if he were still feeling everything that scar was throwing at him.
They haven't even gotten through the doors yet when the first killing curses come flying through. I throw myself out of the way of one, as another goes whistling by my ear. I can feel the white hot heat as it misses me and hits the wall. How do they know where I am already? I dodge again, and then I hear Harry's yell.
"Ron, do something about you're hair! It's a walking target!" My hair! He's right, that must be it! Feeling stupid, I start to rip a piece off one of my robes to wrap around my head.
"Come here!" I hear Hermione shout.
"Wear this! You need it!" she tells me firmly, and before I can blink, she's cast a Glamour that will last until she tells it not to. I can see her wilt fractionally, and know that it took more out of her then she'll admit, even to herself.
I smile at her even as she turns to do the same to Harry, who pushes her off. He, too, knows the amount of energy needed to cast a spell so strong. He'll protect us when we let him.
I turn reluctantly away, and begin the pattern that Harry and I devised so long ago in the common room. We had used it primarily as a way out of doing our divination homework again. We never expected to actually have to use it.
I slowly make my way over to the first member of Voldemort's inner circle I see, and begin a circle pattern around the room. Harry is fighting inside the circle, clearing out the lower level filth while attempting to save his energy for the final confrontation- the one against Voldemort. Hermione is fighting in tandem with Harry, locating threats and neutralizing them before they can truly mount an attack. I hate the fact that I'm not at Harry's back, and whip around in surprise when I hear the killing curse uttered in two very familiar voices. I see Hermione, blood running down her face, swooping over to talk to a grimly satisfied Harry. No time for distractions! I throw a killing curse now as well, and flashes of sickly green light are starting to be seen even more frequently. How many of our own are being killed by 'friendly' curses? There is no way to tell. I spin to catch Nott in the side with a severing hex. I feel ill as I see his intestines start to spill out of his stomach, and I cast another killing curse, this time almost out of pity.
There are so many of them! I throw a wooden splinter from one of the tables through a vampire. He turns to dust, but Susan Bone's lifeless and bloodless body falls to the floor. Again, I turn away. I was just a little too late, and it cost a life. I can't let that happen again!
I begin to fight with everything I have or ever will be. I want my life together with Hermione, living with her, loving her, maybe having a couple of little bookworms to complete the picture. That won't happen if she or I are killed, or if Voldemort wins. I grow still fiercer as I remember my sister in the dungeons. Even if I don't survive, she must. She has already suffered more at Tom Riddle's hands then most of us. I glimpse Harry moving his way through the crowd at such a pace I feel as though I need to remind him to save his energy. I catch a Death Eater attempting to fire at Harry's back, kill him, and stun another before seeing Hermione heading on my direction. She fights her way over to me, and I feast on the sight of her. Her blood makes me ache, but at least she's alive. At least she's alive. She grins at me, and the sheer ferocity in that grin give me pause. I continue to stare wordlessly at her, drinking in the sigt. What seems like several minutes must only be a few seconds. She looks back at me. "Hell of a party we have going here, isn't it, love?" She comments wryly. I smile back at her, and we must separate. What little advantage we have must be kept, and that means keeping the three of us separate, and less of a target. We know that and accept it. I keep slugging through, no longer bothering with stunners except on my old classmates. I can not bring myself to kill anyone that I knew, or that I was once friends with.
Then a flash of white blonde catches my eye. Draco Malfoy. I raise my wand almost gleefully to perform the killing curse, and win this last fight with my enemy. A little voice echoes in the back of my head and I pause. My wand drops to my side. He doesn't see me, he's too busy attempting to control Blaise Zabini.
Is a schoolboy rivalry worth another person's life? If it was anyone else, would I merely stun him, or would I kill them? With great reluctance, I raise my wand once more. But the incantation is not 'Avada Kedavra.' I shout "Stupefy", and he falls to the ground. Lucius' head whips up, and he sees Draco fall to the floor. I don't think he realize that Draco is merely stunned, not dead.
He launches himself at me, and I start to fight. It is a struggle, he's forgotten about his wand and is attacking me full force, his pointy fists battering at me. While I may be larger then he is, I have far less experience. Then, amazingly, I hear another voice I recognize shout the killing curse- its Ginny. She shouldn't be here! I ignore the body of my combatant as it falls to the floor next to his son. I look around, see where she is standing and run over there. The fact that she is next to Harry does nothing to calm me, even as I can see Hermione making her way towards us.
"Ginny? What in Hades do you think that you're doing? You should be staying safe!"
"Farathoom, Ron, do you really think that I can stay safe while my friends are all dying?" I scream back.
I'm so angry that she would risk herself, so scared for the sister I've sworn to protect, I don't realize what the sudden horror in her eyes means.
"Duck, Ron! Duck!" I hear her scream. I realize too late that I have done the unforgivable- I let Malfoy live. I feel a white-hot slicing in my stomach, and it spreads to my entire body in an instant. All of a sudden, I am floating. I hear screaming, but it comes from far away. Hermione- where is Hermione? I promised her that we would be together. I search the cloudy state I am in, and know that she is not yet here. No. I can't have left her alone. I have to go back! I look down towards the battle I have only just left. Harry and Ginny are glowing, emitting more power then I have ever seen. A body with curly brown hair lies on the ground. But that can't be her- she would be here, wouldn't she?
I look frantically around, noting the many people all strolling towards the Summerlands. I see Dean, Parvati. Neville. Then I hear the most wonderful thing- her voice is calling my name. I turn around, and she comes running up to me. I take her hand, and smile at her.
"See Hermione? I told you we would always be together."
I want to see the end, all though I know that Harry and Ginny will be with us soon. I wait as Hermione shapes the last of their energy. Then, we turn and walk towards the light together.
I guess we all knew that this day could come at any moment. We tried to live for every second, every new experience. I'm hoping still to have a hundred more. It is unlikely. I wanted to live long enough to make good on the promise Hermione's ring represents. It doesn't look like that will happen, now.
I'm trying to keep my mind on the game and off my brooding, but I don't seem to be going a very good job. After all, when the Hogwarts' chess champ is in danger of being beaten by Neville, it's a pretty clear indication that something is amiss. I see Hermione coming up to me out of the corner of my eye. I can tell she's worried. After all, isn't a guy supposed to be able to read the emotions of the one that he loves?
She hesitates, and the corners of her mouth curve a bit at the sight of me being so soundly beaten. She starts towards me again, smiles sweetly, congratulates Neville on his strategy, and pulls me away into a dark corner of the common room.
Before I can speak, before I can ask her why those big cinnamon eyes of hers are even more serious then normal, she starts to talk.
"We need to help Harry," She states seriously.
I glance over to where my best mate sits staring at the fire. His scar is throbbing, and it stands out a livid red on his forehead. It's worse then normal and I have to wonder how he manages to live with the constant pain. I turn back to her.
"I know. The question is, how? He won't stop blaming himself. We've tried everything from cajoling to screaming. He won't listen." Not that I haven't tried, night after night, to make him see sense. It won't work.
"It's time to do something drastic. Can you hold him down?" I'm startled until I realize what she means.
"I like the way you think, love. Go get out the potion, I'll bring him up to your room." Hermione had made a potion to numb the effects of localized tissue pain, as well as adding overall good health to the drinker. We've both been trying to cajole Harry into drinking some, but from the looks of the gleam in our resident bookworm's eyes, he just ran out of options.
"Meet you there in five," she says, and gives me a quick kiss before running out of the room.
I slowly walk over to where Harry is staring at the fire, ignoring Neville's frantic movements to rejoin him at the chessboard. He'll just have to be satisfied with winning by default. Since Harry is clearly dwelling on the upcoming battle, he and I start discussing tactics. I love tactics. If we get out of this, I'm going to become an Auror just so that I can use them every day.
"If they go for an indoor assault, it's going to get dirty. We won't be able to fly, so we need to make sure we hit them fast and hard before flanking to take some small advantage of surprise." I can tell that he has been considering this all night.
"Either that or we can just transfigure Voldie into a purple hippo," I say in a mock serious tone. I need to know just how attentive he is.
"That might work. If.. Hey, Ron, did you just say what I think you said?" Harry looked at me like I'd grown tentacles from my face.
"What was that?" I ask him innocently.
"Transfigure. oh, never mind. What does Hermione need?" He finally realizes where we are heading.
"Just to spend some time with each other. We haven't really in a while." I try to keep any ulterior motives from the surface. I don't want Harry thinking that we've betrayed him, or something. It's also true- since Hermione and I became an item Harry has been spending progressively less time with us. While we're still termed the Trinity, I think he's been feeling like a third wheel lately.
I casually lead him into Hermione's room, laughing as he pauses at the door long enough to call "Are you decent?"
"Perfectly!" My love calls back to him, and he cautiously enters the room. When he is fully inside and the door is shut behind him, Hermione raises one eyebrow at me. I can almost here her impatient "Well, what are you waiting for?"
I tackle Harry and hold him down as Hermione advances with the potion. I have his hands pinned above his head, but if looks could kill I wouldn't have the battle with Voldemort to deal with. I'd be dead already.
"Damn it, I told you two I'm fine!" he swears loudly.
"Of course you are. That's why you flinch every time there's a loud noise," I yell right back at him.
"Or bright light, or come to think of it, really anything out of the ordinary at all," Hermione comments with her typical sarcastic edge.
"Face it, Harry. You are drinking this potion, and you have no say," She says with no small amount of satisfaction. Harry looks at her with a mutinous expression, and presses his lips closed.
"Oh, please," I sigh, annoyed at my friend for being so childish. I reach over with my other hand and plug Harry's nose. As soon as he opens his mouth to breathe, Hermione pours the potion down the back of his throat. Almost instantly, the distended scar becomes smooth, and Harry's face is no longer drawn. I quickly get off of him, not really knowing if he has plans to clock me or not.
"If you two EVER do that again, I will have to kill you. Understood?" He looks at both of us. We only grin at him, and his face suddenly relaxes. "Thanks. I needed that."
We lapse into silence, and I take the chance to study my friends. The three of us have been together since first year. If anyone had told me the on the first morning before I left for Hogwarts that things would turn out like this, I would have called them barmy and found them a room at St. Mungo's. Hermione, my fiancee and soul mate. Harry, my blood brother and best friend. I look at Harry first, wanting to memorize what he looks like. This is quite possibly one of the last times I will see him alive.
I turn to Hermione, and see that she is studying me, the pink tinge to her cheeks telling me all I need to know. She doesn't blush without a good reason. She must be undressing me in her mind again. My ego fluffs up a bit as I think about it. I still can't believe that she said yes.
"I'm going back down to the common room. I'll meet you two there," Harry couldn't help noticing the new tension in the room, I suppose. He's remarkably perceptive when it comes to that. Neither of us goes after him as he slips out the door.
I turn to my lady and grin slowly. "You know you were undressing me with your eyes, Hermione?" I tease her happily.
"I most certainly was not!" A blush starts to creep up her face.
"I love it when something makes you mad. You blush." She laughs, and the color that infuses her face only makes her more beautiful to me.
"Ron," I hear her sigh, and am lost in her eyes.
I hold my arms out to her, sensing that she needs to be held. She steps into the embrace, and rests her head on my chest.
"It'll be OK, Hermione. Either way, we will be together, " I try to reassure her.
"But how do we know? What happens if you die, if I die, and the other is left alone? What then?" Her question tears me apart. It can't happen. It won't happen. I try to reason it out to her.
"We're soul mates, you and I. When one dies, so does the other. We will go to Summerlands together, or we'll stay here together. We are not going to be separated. After all, aren't you wearing my ring?" I smile at her hopefully, wondering if she can tell that I don't know, that I don't have all the answers no matter how much I want them. She doesn't seem to care. She gives me a teary smile, and I hold her a little tighter.
When I look down, she is looking up at me. My lips meet hers, and we start kissing with a desperation that we have only felt once before. That was on the night that Harry read us the letters.
She reaches up, and removes my robes with the ease of long practice. She moves to start on her own, but I still her with a gesture.
"I want to do it, love." I gently undo the clasp, and her robes slide deliciously over her shoulders and down her back, baring her almost completely.
She looks so innocent, almost virginal in her plain white underwear. I slide them off of her as well, and we are both standing as naked as the day we were born. She steps into my arms once again, and I hear her use her last bit of sanity to cast a locking charm on the door. I smile; even Dumbledore won't know the counter charm to that one. It's a spell of her own making.
"Let it all go away for a while," I hear her whisper, longingly.
"It will, Hermione, it will," I promise her all I can, her name like honey on my tongue. With that, we shut out the world.
Far, far too soon, we must emerge from our heavenly cocoon and get ready to head back downstairs. Hermione has Head Girl duties to attend to, and I refuse to let her go anywhere on her own at the moment. I don't want to let her out of my sight for a minute. We start to get dressed again, and I notice her staring at me with a faraway look in her eyes.
"Lady, Hermione, if you keep looking at me like that we'll never make it back downstairs," I say, not knowing whether I'm completely serious or not. She blushes a bit, but then a cloud passes over her face.
"I love you, Ron," She tells me, and I can hear both the commitment and the desperation in her voice. She knows what we are about to face as well as I do. I don't want to even consider the fact that I might lose her, so I try to lighten the mood.
"I love you too, bookworm." I answer her with a silly grin on my face. The swat that follows is not entirely unexpected. We both laugh, pretending that everything is all right, and head back downstairs hand in hand.
I notice that one of the larger armchairs by the fire is empty, and I pull Hermione over to it. Since there are no stragglers left, we didn't really have to come down. I want to make up for the loss in cuddle time, so we both cram ourselves into the chair, and snuggle. No words are spoken. None are needed.
I'm startled as Ginny comes barreling into the common room, hair flying. She has several large, heavy books in her arms, and they go flying as she sees Harry on the couch. She stops, picks one in particular up off the floor, and I see her head over to him with it.
I fell Hermione go still on my lap, the hand that was casually stroking mine stops. I look at her, and see fear, resignation and despair on her face. I want to ask her what is in that book, but I'm not so sure I want to know. I'll find out soon enough, whether I want to know or not.
I decide to leave it, comforting Hermione by stroking her hair, and watching the intense discussion taking place between my best friend and my baby sister. The slow, almost feral grin that spreads first across one face, and then the other, makes me very uneasy. I definitely don't want to know. A brother is better off not knowing the details.
My mind is quickly taken off the occupants of the couch when Professor McGonagall comes striding into the common room. I would dearly love to find out where, exactly, the other entrance to the common room is. I have a funny feeling it may be straight from the teacher's wing. The look on her face is deadly serious. This can't be good. One look at Harry confirms my suspicions. It's time. I lean back, my love in my arms, to listen to McGonagall. She has already roused all members of the House, and the younger years have assembled. Her voice is still strong, still even, though I can detect a slight tremor in it as she begins to speak.
"It is my grave duty to inform you that Lord Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and several species of Dark Creatures are assembling as we speak to attack Hogwarts. Several lives were given to pass this information. We must now put into place the contingency plans that were drawn up for this occasion.
Miss Ginny Weasley is our designated Head Girl for next year. As such, it will be her responsibility to lead all students in sixth year and below to our hidden dungeon, and her duty along with our designated Head Boy to keep everyone calm until we have routed this evil from our castle.
All Seventh years are asked to assist the teachers in the fight. I will not lie to you. We are sadly outnumbered, and without you we stand very little chance of winning. You are Gryffindors, known for your bravery. I hope that you will see fit to join the fight. If you do not, I ask that you join the younger students in the dungeons."
She stops speaking, and Harry, Hermione and I are among the first to stand. I can not see any Gryffindor backing down from what we perceive as our duty, and I am not disillusioned. The eight seventh years stand, and we all take a couple private moments before we must separate. I can see Harry and Ginny bidding each other goodbye. I turn to Hermione and kiss her soundly, knowing this may be my last chance. We look into each other's eyes, and no more time can be spent. When we separate, we are still holding hands. This war has made us grow up quickly.
We line up behind Harry, our natural leader. He stands alone in front of Hermione and I. This is how it should be- the two of us watching his back while we do what needs to be done. All my fear has drained out of me, leaving me sharper. I feel a lost sense of might-have-been, but I push it away. There is no time for regrets.
I can hear her beside me, trying to remember every curse and hex she's ever read or heard about. I squeeze her hand as I recognize the distraction tactic.
We've finally hit the Great Hall. Everyone else is practically assembled, and I realize that McGonagall's speech to us was a little more involved then everyone else's. I have a flashback to the Muggle lessons Hermione gave me last summer, and I can just see Sprout galloping through the Hufflepuff den yelling "The Death Eaters are coming! The Death Eaters are coming!" The thought makes me smile a bit. Hey, black humor is better then none at all.
Madam Pomfrey is leading one of the Hufflepuff girls away. Wonder why? Ernie looks a bit put out, but that may be because he doesn't want her out of his sight. I know I'd feel the same way if someone made Hermione leave.
The noise outside the hall is getting louder, which can mean only one thing. The battle is eminent, and will be happening even sooner then I thought. Harry is twitching occasionally, but it seems as though it's merely an itch that he'd love to scratch. It's a good thing that we fed him that potion. He'd have been out cold if he were still feeling everything that scar was throwing at him.
They haven't even gotten through the doors yet when the first killing curses come flying through. I throw myself out of the way of one, as another goes whistling by my ear. I can feel the white hot heat as it misses me and hits the wall. How do they know where I am already? I dodge again, and then I hear Harry's yell.
"Ron, do something about you're hair! It's a walking target!" My hair! He's right, that must be it! Feeling stupid, I start to rip a piece off one of my robes to wrap around my head.
"Come here!" I hear Hermione shout.
"Wear this! You need it!" she tells me firmly, and before I can blink, she's cast a Glamour that will last until she tells it not to. I can see her wilt fractionally, and know that it took more out of her then she'll admit, even to herself.
I smile at her even as she turns to do the same to Harry, who pushes her off. He, too, knows the amount of energy needed to cast a spell so strong. He'll protect us when we let him.
I turn reluctantly away, and begin the pattern that Harry and I devised so long ago in the common room. We had used it primarily as a way out of doing our divination homework again. We never expected to actually have to use it.
I slowly make my way over to the first member of Voldemort's inner circle I see, and begin a circle pattern around the room. Harry is fighting inside the circle, clearing out the lower level filth while attempting to save his energy for the final confrontation- the one against Voldemort. Hermione is fighting in tandem with Harry, locating threats and neutralizing them before they can truly mount an attack. I hate the fact that I'm not at Harry's back, and whip around in surprise when I hear the killing curse uttered in two very familiar voices. I see Hermione, blood running down her face, swooping over to talk to a grimly satisfied Harry. No time for distractions! I throw a killing curse now as well, and flashes of sickly green light are starting to be seen even more frequently. How many of our own are being killed by 'friendly' curses? There is no way to tell. I spin to catch Nott in the side with a severing hex. I feel ill as I see his intestines start to spill out of his stomach, and I cast another killing curse, this time almost out of pity.
There are so many of them! I throw a wooden splinter from one of the tables through a vampire. He turns to dust, but Susan Bone's lifeless and bloodless body falls to the floor. Again, I turn away. I was just a little too late, and it cost a life. I can't let that happen again!
I begin to fight with everything I have or ever will be. I want my life together with Hermione, living with her, loving her, maybe having a couple of little bookworms to complete the picture. That won't happen if she or I are killed, or if Voldemort wins. I grow still fiercer as I remember my sister in the dungeons. Even if I don't survive, she must. She has already suffered more at Tom Riddle's hands then most of us. I glimpse Harry moving his way through the crowd at such a pace I feel as though I need to remind him to save his energy. I catch a Death Eater attempting to fire at Harry's back, kill him, and stun another before seeing Hermione heading on my direction. She fights her way over to me, and I feast on the sight of her. Her blood makes me ache, but at least she's alive. At least she's alive. She grins at me, and the sheer ferocity in that grin give me pause. I continue to stare wordlessly at her, drinking in the sigt. What seems like several minutes must only be a few seconds. She looks back at me. "Hell of a party we have going here, isn't it, love?" She comments wryly. I smile back at her, and we must separate. What little advantage we have must be kept, and that means keeping the three of us separate, and less of a target. We know that and accept it. I keep slugging through, no longer bothering with stunners except on my old classmates. I can not bring myself to kill anyone that I knew, or that I was once friends with.
Then a flash of white blonde catches my eye. Draco Malfoy. I raise my wand almost gleefully to perform the killing curse, and win this last fight with my enemy. A little voice echoes in the back of my head and I pause. My wand drops to my side. He doesn't see me, he's too busy attempting to control Blaise Zabini.
Is a schoolboy rivalry worth another person's life? If it was anyone else, would I merely stun him, or would I kill them? With great reluctance, I raise my wand once more. But the incantation is not 'Avada Kedavra.' I shout "Stupefy", and he falls to the ground. Lucius' head whips up, and he sees Draco fall to the floor. I don't think he realize that Draco is merely stunned, not dead.
He launches himself at me, and I start to fight. It is a struggle, he's forgotten about his wand and is attacking me full force, his pointy fists battering at me. While I may be larger then he is, I have far less experience. Then, amazingly, I hear another voice I recognize shout the killing curse- its Ginny. She shouldn't be here! I ignore the body of my combatant as it falls to the floor next to his son. I look around, see where she is standing and run over there. The fact that she is next to Harry does nothing to calm me, even as I can see Hermione making her way towards us.
"Ginny? What in Hades do you think that you're doing? You should be staying safe!"
"Farathoom, Ron, do you really think that I can stay safe while my friends are all dying?" I scream back.
I'm so angry that she would risk herself, so scared for the sister I've sworn to protect, I don't realize what the sudden horror in her eyes means.
"Duck, Ron! Duck!" I hear her scream. I realize too late that I have done the unforgivable- I let Malfoy live. I feel a white-hot slicing in my stomach, and it spreads to my entire body in an instant. All of a sudden, I am floating. I hear screaming, but it comes from far away. Hermione- where is Hermione? I promised her that we would be together. I search the cloudy state I am in, and know that she is not yet here. No. I can't have left her alone. I have to go back! I look down towards the battle I have only just left. Harry and Ginny are glowing, emitting more power then I have ever seen. A body with curly brown hair lies on the ground. But that can't be her- she would be here, wouldn't she?
I look frantically around, noting the many people all strolling towards the Summerlands. I see Dean, Parvati. Neville. Then I hear the most wonderful thing- her voice is calling my name. I turn around, and she comes running up to me. I take her hand, and smile at her.
"See Hermione? I told you we would always be together."
I want to see the end, all though I know that Harry and Ginny will be with us soon. I wait as Hermione shapes the last of their energy. Then, we turn and walk towards the light together.