37. Closer

She can see how much he's grown. How much innocence he lost.

Her torture, Dobby's death, the impending last leg of their journey, even more difficult than anything they've faced so far, and how can they do it? Voldemort is alive and on the rise, and they still have many horcruxes to destroy.

Ron is worried about her and he hovers from afar. When she pours herself tea, he appears in the kitchen doorway. When they meet with Harry to plan to break inside Gringotts, he sits closer to her. When she goes to bed, he stops by her and Luna's room to shyly say goodnight. Only to looking at her when he does.

She senses him, always near, always there, in case she'd need him.

He doesn't say it, but she knows.

She can see how he yearns to be near her and how his hand twitches craving to hold hers.

But he gives her space. Achingly so.

She understands why. He doesn't want to mess this - them - up when everything around them is fucked up.

But she almost lost him, she almost died. So when he sits next to her on the couch as she reads and researches, she stops for a minute and grabs his hand. Ron's head snaps towards her in surprise, mouth slightly open. She gives his hand a light squeeze, encouraging him to respond. When he does, caressing her hand gently, she can finally breathe. It only last a minute, and then they both have to let go as Harry comes to find them. They have a bank to break into and a dark lord to stop.

They will have to wait.