Disclaimer: I own nothing, see last chapters!

A/N: Sorry it has been so long, for those of you who live in the UK I had my A Level exams and revising for them was pretty tough. So, to make up for it.. here is an extra long chapter.

Ron looked down at his hands, tears running down his pale face as he looked over at the photograph in front of him. He looked at her smiling face, the wind blowing her hair as she laughed. He had been staring at the photograph for a good ten minutes before Ginny had walked in, he just couldn't believe it had been one year already. His head shook at the thought, a whole year without Hermione. One whole year without hearing her laugh, without her bossing him around, without hearing her voice. He would do anything just to forget she was gone, he would do anything to hear her laugh and see her smile.

Ginny was next to him in a second, looking down at the photograph as tears ran down her own face, "I know it's hard, Ron, but don't... don't let this get to you so badly.. she would never want you to do this to yourself." He nodded a little, closing his eyes as he tried his best to stop himself from crying.

He finally whispered, keeping his eyes closed, "It's too hard..." He wanted to pretend like none of this was happening, he wanted to stop thinking about Hermione Granger; the only girl who had his heart completely and fully. The only girl he would go to bed thinking about, and wake up after dreaming about her. Hermione was the only girl he would happily hold in his arms for hours on end and never get bored... she was truly the only girl for him.

He sat there for a while longer, staring at the photograph in front of him but never really seeing anything as tears blurred his vision once more. He had no idea how he had managed to cope so long without her, he hadn't even realized it had been one year even though every single day without her was hell and they just seemed to drag on. And he would always remember the day she was taken like it was yesterday.

The memory had burned it's way into his mind, there to stay forever. The memory of the one girl he loved being taken away from him in such a cruel way. He almost found himself wishing they had something to go on, even sometimes – although he would never admit this to anyone – he just wished he would get a call from the ministry telling him they had found her dead body. Anything, anything would be better than the waiting, the nightmares about what could be happening to her right there and then. The thinking always hurt the most; was she dead? Was she alive? Was she okay? Was she safe? Was she thinking about him?

Thoughts constantly ran through his mind, often finding himself staring into space suddenly as he thought about what was happening to her at that very moment in time, how she was feeling, what she looked like, how badly she was hurt... Hermione Granger never left his mind... or his heart.

He looked at his sister once more as she reached out for the photograph, also showing him the Daily Prophet, "One year anniversary of missing witch, Hermione Granger – one of the famous trio." She muttered to herself, reading the whole story page before sighing deeply, biting down on her lip."

"I should have protected her.." Ron whispered, looking up at her and shaking his head,

"You couldn't have done anything, they were too powerful, neither of you were expecting to be attacked. We thought it was over." She flicked her hair back, quickly standing up, "Now, if you excuse me.. I have to go pretend like everything is okay."

Ron nodded in understanding as he watched her walk away, newspaper and photograph in hand, "I am sick of pretending." He muttered to himself, closing his eyes as he pictured Hermione being in his arms once more, and only then could he stop pretending like it never hurt him, only then could he tell everyone exactly why he aimed a spell at them one day, and why he threw his food at his brothers once, and why he felt the need to shout and scream at every single person every time he caught someone even looking at him.

It wasn't because he didn't care, no... it was because he cared too much. And he hated it.

~~~ … ~~~

He remembered screaming when he entered the cell, looking at the tiny girl in the middle of the floor as blood fell heavily from her wrist. He should have seen this coming, he should have known this was going to happen but instead he had carried on like nothing was ever going to happen to her, even though it already had.

He hesitated just for one moment, briefly considering letting her die – it was, after all, what she wanted, what she longed for, what she had been aiming for. But as quickly as the thought had come, he pushed it away because he knew for a fact he could not let her fade away, not like the others. He was not going to let her become another part of his father's collection, another part of the girls he had broken.

Because, his father had never actually murdered a girl, he had just drove them to despair until they killed themselves. At the moment, Hermione had lasted longer than any of those before, but he knew that it wouldn't last long and now here she was; dying, broken, fading.

Hermione Granger had gone, he knew that much for sure. The only thing he didn't know was if she had been gone forever, would she return once she was back home? Would she be the Hermione he remembered if she was in the arms of the people she had been so cruelly snatched from?

He ran over to her, holding her wrist as tight as he could before shouting for help, looking down at her pale face. "You may have given up on me, Hermione, but I haven't given up on you yet." He whispered, trying his best to stop the tears from falling. He knew better than to show emotion, he knew better than to show any sort of connection with the girl. It would not be good for either of them,

"You have to be okay." He muttered, rocking back and forth a little as he waited for someone to come and stop the bleeding that was already seeping through the blanket he had placed there.

"What happened?" He looked up at the man who had just walked in, shaking his head and glaring at him,

"What do you think happened?"

"Another one?" Draco shook his head, "No.. we're going to save her." The man – Michael – nodded and walked over to them, nodding for Draco to let go and get some stuff from the first aid kit. They knew magic would have been the best bet, but their fear of the master came first. They had been banned from using magic – healing or not – on the girl. On all the girls. After all, mudbloods and muggles don't deserve to be healed with magic, only in muggle ways.

Both of them knew they couldn't cope with losing another, not this one. Both of them would do anything to make sure she was okay. She was going to get out of this hell.

~~~ … ~~~

Ron walked into the kitchen, exchanging a look with Ginny for a second before glaring at everyone in the room. He could practically see them wince, knowing what mood he had woken up in already. Everyday went like this, everyone knew how to stop the boy they loved from acting this way, but nobody believed Hermione would ever return.

He snapped at everyone who dared to look at him.

He glared at everyone he looked at.

He grabbed some food, always picking some fruit to remind him of the girl he loved. Just a momentary reminder of her, a small connection. And as he sat down, he would do the same everytime, just sit there and stare at his plate as he thought about Hermione.

'Glare, snap, ignore everyone, pretend you don't care. It's the only way.' He had a plan, he followed it every single day and it wasn't going to stop. It would never stop until the day he held her in his arms – and he knew that day would come – it was just a matter of waiting.

So that was exactly what he did, Ronald Weasley kept to himself and waited for that very day when he could look into those beautiful eyes, and know she was safely in his arms. He clung to the hope she would be okay, she was alive because when everything else is lost, hope is all you have.