A/N: Sorry it's taken a while for this chapter i got stuck after the last one as to what to write! There was a bit of confusion about the last one. Ron used the last of his strength to get to Hermionie as he was too badly injured to be saved. The only thing that kept him alive that long was his will to see her one last time. Hope this clears it up :). Anyway new chapter, review as always

Hermionie nodded slowly on hearing this. After a few minutes silence Ginny leant over and gently laid a hand on Harry's arm, his eyes moved from Hermionie's face to Ginny's. At her nod the two got up and left Hermionie to her thoughts, knowing they would hear if she needed them again. Hermionie was grateful that her two friends trusted her enough to be left with her own thoughts. She needed to process this information about Ron; to confirm what they said about him was true. First about why he came back to her. Only then could her mind logically assess why he had died. Every time she thought of the why a little swell of anger began in her gut, which she kept pressing down. There would be a time for anger later, once immediate grief was no longer blinding her.

She moved to a small cupboard in the corner of the room. On the top was a collection of pictures of the people closest to her. At the front stood Ron, waving insanely at the camera. It had been taken in their sixth year, before they had admitted to their feelings, even so his arm was around her. She shook her head as tears began to well in her eyes, and opened the drawer. Inside was a box in which she had collected the letters that Ron had sent her. She rifled down until she found one that he had given to her in person. He had written it when the three had fallen out while they were on the run. She opened it and read the contents;

Dear Hermionie

I guess I should have known you would pick Harry over me any day. At least he can follow your leaps of logic sometimes, I'm just the stupid side kick. It reminds me of those muggle comics you made me read once, where there's always a brains, a hero and the sidekick. The one who always gets kidnapped, the one who just follows what the other two do. I'm sick Hermionie, I'm sick of playing that role. You will be far happier with him than me.

That's the crunch though. I want you to be happy. I want you. I want your happiness to come before mine. If that means leaving you be then I will do that. Much as I hate this, as much as I hate being the sidekick, seeing you happy is the one reason why I would ever stop.

But I can't live without you Hermionie, I may want you to be happy, but if that can't be with me….I don't know what I will do. I need you in my life. You are my whole world, I would die to see you happy, but I would throw myself to death if it meant I got to see you one last time beforehand.

I'm not sure how much time any of us have left, I want to spend however long that is with you. I've arsed that up now though. I may never see you again, and that's killing me. But I live on in the hope I will see you again. That I can find you and tell you, tell you both, how sorry I am.

I love you Hermionie, with all my heart, with all my soul. I'm coming to find you both to tell you that, but if I don't I hope this finds you someday. Just so you know, I will do anything for you.

All my love

Ron

Hermionie read the last line over and over again. As if staring at his name would bring him back. The letter confirmed what Harry had told her. For some reason though seeing it written had more meaning to her than the words. Wiping her eyes again she replaced the letter. Found a towel and had a long shower in the bathroom adjacent to her room. Her mind whirled with facts now, but she would wait until after the funeral before she would act on anything. As she left the bathroom she got dressed in robes and put her hair in a simple ponytail, before heading downstairs. There she found Harry and Ginny in the kitchen sat on opposite sides of the table. Each had a goblet in their hands. A third figure had his back to the door, the hood of their cloak was up, but the quality could only belong to one person. Draco. As she entered she softly tapped on the door so she didn't startle the trio. Harry and Ginny looked up and smiled weakly at her. Their smiles reminded her that they too were hurting, but it seemed they were dealing with it a lot better than her.

Draco turned as she moved to sit next to Ginny, as he did his hood fell revealing his pale face and hair. His steel eyes were hardened, showing nothing. Hardly surprising as he had gotten along worst with Ron. As she sat down Harry filled a fourth goblet with butterbeer and waited for her to take a sip before he spoke.

"Draco's just offered us his help in finding what happened" he nodded to Draco who continued

"I realise myself and Ron never got along, but it truly pains me to see how much it hurt you guys. Brought up with my father grief wasn't a word he ever taught me. I cannot understand what you are going through, only that it hurts. If you need someone with cold rationale to help, I'm your guy"

Hermionie almost barked with laughter at his offer. It was totally inappropriate considering how soon it was after. His thoughts though echoed her own ones, though she had decided to leave it for the present, that it needed looking into. His offer was obviously as close to heartfelt as he could get when it didn't concern his mother. It also made sense. She nodded slowly

"after the funeral" she said. At this Harry and Ginny also voiced their agreements.

"speaking of the funeral" Hermionie continued "when is it?"

"Mum and Dad have organised it for two days time" Ginny said staring at her drink "I think Mum just wanted something to do, she did the same with….with Fred"

"Three days then" said Hermionie "before that we remember Ron the person"

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The next day at breakfast green flames appeared in the kitchen fireplace and Mrs Weasley stepped out, shaking the ash from her apron.

"Good morning dears" she said a little too brightly "Hermionie I hate to ask this of you but do you… do you have any pictures of him?" at this she broke down, causing Ginny to rush over and hug her mother tightly.

"It's…it's just that, I have a lot of… of him as a child, a young child that is, but very few later ones, and… and the relatives want to to see some later" she said in between sobs. Hermionie got up and went to her room, grabbing the pictures off the cupboard. She handed them in their frames to Mrs Weasley who had calmed a little.

"Do you mind if I just borrow the pictures?" she asked "we have a little display of them next to the…the site"

"of course" said Hermionie and she took a couple and began removing the backs to release the pictures. As she removed the back of the one of the two of them a piece of paper fell to the floor. Harry bent to pick it up thinking Hermionie had put it there, until he saw Ron's scrawl handwriting and that it was still sealed.

"Um Hermionie? I think this may help in a couple of days" he said under his breath so Mrs Weasley couldn't hear.

Hermionie caught his tone and glanced at the slim envelope in his hand, her eyes widened slightly. She nodded subtly and continued with the rest of the pictures.