Someone's coming up the stairs. She can hear them, their footsteps echoing on the creaking and moaning stairs. The footsteps are too heavy to be any of the children, and it wouldn't be them anyway. They don't go downstairs without her. They don't leave their room. So it has to be someone else. Their voices are hushed, clearly trying to keep their voices down. But she can hear them. It's so quiet in this place, of course she can hear them. Lavender takes a few tentative steps across the room, pressing herself to the wall next to the door. She pulls out her wand. She doesn't know who they are. She doesn't care. Lavender's finally made some plans. She's finally figured it out. She knows how she and her children will start their lives together. No one's going to take that from her.
It takes every ounce of self control that Ron has not to go with Harry and make sure his children were okay. He knows that if he sees them, he'll never be able to leave them and finish this. And he has to be the one to finish this. He knows it, can feel it with every step he takes toward where he'd heard the laughter. This is his responsibility. His wand is out as he opens the door. There's no movement, but he's sure that this is the room Lavender's been staying in. It at least looks as if it's been inhabited. He knows that walking into the room will be stupid. He can't see anyone from his spot at the door, but he just has this feeling that someone's there. That she's there. So he steps inside.
It's too quiet. He can't see anyone. And then the door slams behind him. He turns around, wand at the ready, and there she is. But he can't believe it's her. She's thinner than he remembers her to be. Her hair is stringy, greasy, unkempt. Her clothes are faded and messy. But it's her eyes that surprise him most. There's something wild in them, but at the same time... they're dead. There's no sparkle. There's no joy. Maybe he had never loved Lavender, and maybe he had resented her for trapping him the way that she did... but he had cared about her, in a weird way. He can't believe that she's ended up like this.
"You-"
She cuts him off, which is fine with him. He doesn't know what to say anyway.
"So. You found me. Congratulations! Oh, and by the way, expelliarmus!"
His wand flew across the room, and Ron could have kicked himself for letting his guard down.
"There are more aurors coming, Lavender. It's over."
"Over? Over? It's not over! You don't get to win this!"
Ron moved a few inches toward his wand, keeping an eye on Lavender. She didn't seem to notice. He would have to keep her talking long enough to reach his wand.
"Why'd you do it?"
"Why? You're asking me why? Because they're mine! They're my children, and you took them from me! You took them, and you left, and you went back to her!"
Ron can see it now. She's crazy. Crazier than he'd realized. If she had really come to believe that he was the one who had left, then she would have to be. He inched a little closer to his wand.
"No, you're the one who left."
"Liar! You took them! You took them and I couldn't handle the pain, so I erased my memories! But it didn't work! It didn't work, and they came back, and I knew! I had to punish you! I had to get them back!"
"I'm not lying. You left. I have the letter."
"Stop lying! You lied to Annie and Andrew too! You took them from me and filled their heads with lies, and now they hate me!"
Lavender was rambling, and Ron reached down quickly and picked up his wand, stunning her just as the aurors started to pour into the room. He looked at her as the aurors picked her up, and then turned away, heading out of the room. It was done. It was over with. And now, he wanted to see his children.