Hi everyone! Sorry about not updating last week, I was away (I went to England and got to go to King's Cross and Christ Church where they filmed some of the Great Hall and staircase scenes!) I also want to give a late "Happy Birthday!" to Ron! Now read, enjoy, and please review!

Chapter Six

Ron knocked on the door.

"Come in." Hermione answered.

He turned the knob and pushed the door open. He looked and saw that Luna was not in bed yet, she must still be visiting Ollivander. He took a step inside, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Hermione gave a small smile, "Much better."

Ron shook his head, "Good. You think you'll be able to sleep okay?"

She bit her lip, "I don't know. My nap didn't go too well, which is mainly why I came down for dinner so quickly; I needed to be around you all."

"Oh. Right." Ron said, feeling selfish for wanting her to stay upstairs in her room with him, when being around everyone was better for her.

"Ron?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Could you stay for a bit?" She asked nervously.

"Sure." Ron said, trying not to seem too happy.

Hermione shuffled towards the wall and Ron sat on her bed. This time, he was more comfortable with the contact, in fact, he was looking forward to it.

"I hope your shirt has dried from all of my tears."

Ron absentmindedly looked at his shoulder and shrugged. "It was just water, it's fine."

"I'm sorry for breaking down on you last night, but I must admit that I'm secretly glad it was you, I don't think anyone else would have been right."

"I told you before, you can go completely balmy over that whenever you want."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Just that?"

"Well I don't want to give you an excuse to go off on me for everything—I do have the emotional range of a teaspoon if you recall." He smiled.

Hermione laughed, "Oh yes, sorry, I must have forgotten."

They stayed in a comfortable silence until Hermione brought up another subject, "You know, I think "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" sort of relates to us."

"You think the fountain would help us?"

"Ron, the fountain doesn't actually exist. No, I'm saying the storyline is sort of parallel to what we are doing. They're on a quest for something that could help their situation, much like our hunt for the horcruxes. We also relate to the characters. Harry's wand was broken and rendered useless, that necklace made you sick in a way, and I…"

"Nah, you've got me mixed up." Ron interjected, stopping her from saying that he broke her heart when he left.

Hermione was surprised, "Are you saying you're suffering from a broken heart? Did you meet someone while you were gone Ronald?"

"Wha—no. I didn't meet anyone, I was here the whole time." Ron said defensively. When he saw Hermione's relieved expression he continued with his original thought, "No, I think I'm most like the knight."

"I should have known. You've always had a thing for being the knight in shining armor."

"You think I'm a knight in shining armor?"

Hermione pondered for a second, "Yeah. Remember first year, when we played that giant chess game?"

Ron smiled to himself, "That was a brilliant game." He saw that Hermione was not very amused and added, "But very dangerous of course."

"And you always like to shoe up when needed, like when I was being…you know…tortured."

"Yeah. Yeah I see. Though I said I was most like the knight, Sir Luckless, because I'm well, luckless, and not very talented or accomplished."

"Oh." Hermione uttered, feeling bad for him.

"But I like your reasons much more." Ron said positively.

Hermione smiled, "Well they're true! You're the most talented and accomplished Weasley there is."

"You're just saying that to be nice."

"No I'm not. You have an award for special services to the school, you're a prefect, a great quidditch player, and you're battling You-Know-Who and his followers! You've destroyed a horcrux for goodness sake! Now tell me which of your family members has done that!"

"None of them, as far as I know." He was quiet for a few seconds as he thought about what she said and then grinned, "Yeah, I guess I am the most accomplished Weasley." His grin soon faded at his next thought though, "I'll never be as great as Harry."

"Don't you start." Hermione said sternly. "You and Harry are two totally different people. Harry had all that fame trusted upon him when he was a baby, he lost his parents in the process, and now he has to try and defeat the most dangerous wizard in the world. He has no say in the matter. He envies you. You have a large, loving family, you had the choice to accompany him on this quest, and you can walk out of it if you want to."

"You're right, as usual. I just tend not to think of my family and not being famous as reasons for him to envy me."

"Well they are, and try not to forget it, though please don't brag about it in front of him."

"I'll try not to and I think being considerate is one of the few emotions that I have."

They were silent and then in a quiet voice, Hermione asked, "You won't choose to walk out of this right? Not again."

Ron's breath caught in his throat; although he had hoped he wouldn't have to talk about it, she had mentioned it too many times in the conversation that it was very likely she would turn it into a future subject. "I didn't choose to leave, the locket made me."

Wrong answer; Hermione became angry, "Don't blame an object for a choice you, and you alone, made!"

"You don't understand what that evil thing did to me!"

"It made you moody and when some little thing set you off, you used it as an excuse to leave!"

Ron stood up, "It didn't make me moody. It made me feel bloody horrible! It got inside my head, my heart, and it found my worst fears. It took them and played them over and over in front of my eyes until I could barely see anything else!"

Hermione frowned and she lowered her voice, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to go against something that I thought was true. I was a coward."

"What was it that you thought was true?"

Ron turned away, "Nothing." He started walking towards the door.

"Tell me Ronald." Hermione said firmly.

Ron stayed silent and Hermione glowered at him until she couldn't stand seeing the hurt in his body language anymore. Her expression softened, "Fine. You don't have to tell me now, but I hope that eventually you will so I can help you get past your fears. And I don't mean spiders, I mean the other ones that affect you so much more."

Ron continued to stand still for a few seconds, but then left the room.