Author's Note: Well, this is it, the final chapter of the story! I don't think this story turned out exactly the way I was planning, but I guess it's still all right. Thank you all so much for the reads, reviews, favorites, and follows. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if not, there's really nothing I can do about that, but thanks anyway for giving it a shot!

"This is it, men," Robards said, looking around at the circle of Aurors. "Now, you know the plan. We're aiming to kidnap the Death Eaters to take them to Azkaban. Don't kill unless it is necessary. Understand?"

The Aurors nodded. "Good," Robards said. "Then let's not waste another moment."

Ron swallowed and tried to summon every last bit of his Gryffindor courage. Despite the fact that he was a well-trained fighter, battles still made him nervous, especially after what he has seen during the war.

"Just think of the fact that the quicker we take care of these Death Eaters, the quicker you'll be back home with Hermione," Harry murmured to Ron as if he could sense his anxiety. Ron nodded and pictured Hermione running to him and flinging her arms around him as she had the first time they'd kissed. The image helped to wash away some of his fear.

The group of Aurors made their way over to the Death Eaters' hideout. They drew their wands and waited with bated breath. "Stand back," Robards commanded. He aimed his wand at the door and prepared to blast it open – this was no time for formalities.

With a loud bang, the door burst open and the Aurors rushed in. They were met by several Death Eaters who began to shoot spells at them right away. Of course, Ron had been expecting them to fight, but they didn't seem the slightest bit surprised by the attack. He was confused, but tried not to let this get in his way. He quickly fired a Stunning spell at the nearest Death Eater and was soon locked in combat.

Before long, every Auror was dueling with a Death Eater, a few facing two at once due to the fact that they were slightly outnumbered. Then out of nowhere, someone yelled out, "STOP!"

The battle immediately ceased as everyone turned toward the source of the noise. One of the Death Eaters was pointing his wand at a young woman who was kneeling on the floor with her wrists bound. She turned her face up, and Ron felt like he had been punched in the gut.

It was Hermione.

She seemed to be terrified but otherwise unhurt, though it was hard to tell for sure. And her unexpected appearance was bringing back horrible memories…

"STOP OR SHE DIES!"

Ron halted and spun to look at Bellatrix. What he saw made his teaspoon of an emotional range overflow with fury, hatred, and worry, for there she was, holding Hermione, pressing a knife against the girl's throat. At least Hermione wasn't dead. Yet. She could be soon if they didn't find a way out of here.

"Drop your wands," Bellatrix ordered. "Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!"

Ron didn't move, reluctant to give up his one weapon that he could use to rescue Hermione. Bellatrix, however, wasn't going to back down either.

"I said, drop them!" she repeated, and then the knife had cut into Hermione's throat and there was blood and Ron wanted to be sick. This wasn't how things were supposed to end.

He and Harry dropped their wands as Harry said, "All right!" The two of them raised their hands in surrender, and Ron prepared himself for the worst...

In that situation, everything had turned out fine, but this was different. There was no Dobby to save them this time.

"Get your filthy hands off my wife," Ron growled.

"Gladly," the Death Eater said with a smile. "On one condition: you let us go free. Continue to fight or try to arrest us, and she's dead."

The battle had reached a stalemate. Capturing the Death Eaters was essential, but even if they tried, there was a good chance one of them would kill Hermione before the Aurors could get to her.

"Don't listen to him, Ron," Hermione whispered. "Don't worry about me. I'm not worth it."

Ron's heart broke at Hermione's self-deprecating statement. She was worth it. She was worth everything he could give her and more. And that was why there was a third option here: resuming the battle while protecting Hermione. If that meant losing his life, then so be it.

"If you think we're going to give up that easily, you are sorely mistaken," Ron said dangerously. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The Death Eater fell to the floor, rigid as a board, and the others took this as their cue to keep fighting. Another Death Eater raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione.

"Move, Hermione!" Ron shouted as a green jet of light shot toward her. He lunged forward, pushing her out of the way and narrowly dodging the spell himself.

"Let me help," Hermione insisted as Ron pulled her off to the side.

"No," Ron said, speaking hastily. "I don't have time to untie you, and besides, you don't have a wand. Just stay out of the way. I'm going to go back out there, but I'll stay close in case you need me."

"Don't do anything reckless," Hermione said warningly.

"I won't," Ron said over his shoulder as he reentered the fray.

Hermione watched Ron carefully. She knew that he would die for her willingly because she'd do the same for him. But she was the one who had gotten them into this mess, and Ron shouldn't have to sacrifice himself because of her mistakes. If it came down to her life or Ron's, she was determined that Ron would be the one to come out alive.

"All right, Hermione?" Harry called to her, expertly jinxing a Death Eater.

"Yes, but be careful, Harry!" Hermione answered. Harry ducked to avoid a spell and gave her a thumbs-up. Hermione grinned back, but then sighed in frustration. If there was one thing she hated, it was sitting on the sidelines.

It appeared as though the Aurors were winning. Death Eaters were falling left and right. The battle felt like it was going on for hours, though it was probably less than one. Ron was rapidly growing tired, running on pure adrenaline. He cast spell after spell, stopping only to check that he wasn't trying to curse one of his own men.

Finally, finally, there was just a single Death Eater remaining. Harry sent a last Stunning spell at him and then sat down on the ground.

"We did it," he proclaimed.

Many of the other Aurors began making sure that the Death Eaters were secure and taking their wands. Ron, however, ran over to Hermione, untied her bonds, and started kissing her feverishly.

"You're safe!" he gasped in between kisses. "Did the Death Eaters hurt you at all?"

"No," Hermione answered, wrapping her arms around Ron.

"Why did you come here? How did you come here? You shouldn't have done that!" Ron went on, continuing to kiss his wife. "You shouldn't have done that, Hermione!" He kissed her once more, letting it linger a little longer than the others.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said when they broke apart. "The Deluminator brought me here. I couldn't stay away from you any longer."

She left it at that, not wanting to have an intimate conversation surrounded by the Aurors. Luckily, Ron was thinking along the same lines.

"Let's go back to the tent," he suggested. "I think we could both use some rest. We can talk more there."

"Good idea," Hermione said, relieved.

Ron led Hermione back to their tent, taking down the protective spells as they were no longer necessary. Hermione sat on the edge of Ron's cot, and Ron knelt so they were at the same eye level.

"Look," Hermione said before Ron could speak. "Being away from you for a long time was only part of the reason why I came to find you. I was getting really worried because I hadn't received any letters from you. So when I heard the Deluminator calling me, I took the chance."

"I should have been more careful with that thing," Ron muttered to himself.

"You promised to write to me, Ron!" Hermione said, her voice rising. "Do you have any idea how upset I was?"

"There was no owl here," Ron explained. He turned and rummaged through his belongings as he talked. "I tried to write to you, truly I did, but there was no way to send the letters." He pulled out a sheaf of parchment and handed it to Hermione.

"What's this?" Hermione asked. She looked down at the paper on top of the stack and was shocked to see the words 'Dear Hermione' on it. "You still wrote the letters?" she said in disbelief.

"Every single day," Ron said. "Like you said, I made a promise. I've broken promises before, and I've learned that's never a good idea, so I told myself that I wasn't going to break any more."

Hermione was speechless. "Wow, Ron, I – I don't know what to say," she said. "This means a lot to me."

"You don't need to say anything," Ron replied. "Just swear to me that you'll never do this again."

Hermione smiled. "I promise."

The Titanic-ish moment in there, in case you picked up on it, is for my friend. You know who you are. I hope I didn't disappoint you! And thanks again for reading!