Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! Shocker!

Authors Note: Thanks to everybody! Hope you like! And BTW I like Ron but I think he can be a bit annoying. I didn't write this to bash Ron, the times I chose reflect on his deepest jealousy and hurt, this isn't something that goes on twenty-four seven, ya know?

6. Sixth Year

Ron was at a loss, he had zero idea what to do for Harry.

Dumbledore was dead.

Ron couldn't wrap his head around it.

Albus freaking Dumbledore was gone.

Ron felt like any hope they had of defeating You-Know-Who was gone the instant Snape said Avada Kedavra.

Snape that no good greasy haired, traitorous son of a -.

Ron sighed quietly and looked at the figure of his best friend sitting on a chair in the empty common room, just staring into the fire.

Ron bit is lip, poor Harry.

Harry was there, he watched as the greatest Wizard of the century was murdered.

And Ron didn't know what he could do for the Chosen One without mucking up or saying something wrong.

When Sirius had died Harry was angry, frustrated and broken.

Now Harry was quiet, blank and still very broken.

Ron looked at his feet debating whether or not to go over and say something to Harry when Hermione in her fluffy pink dressing robe came down the stairs from her room, right over to a nervous and concerned Ron.

Ron almost stopped breathing, Hermione was really close to him. Like her mouth was next to his ear.

"Come on, we have to do something, he's a wreck." She whispered her voice soft and concerned.

Ron felt his face heat up embarrassingly, "Yeah."

Hermione steeped back completely unaffected except for a slight redness on her pale cheeks that Ron failed to notice.

Ron and Hermione walked over to Harry quietly, Ron almost hesitantly.

"Harry," Hermione ventured stepping up next to him, "are you alright?"

Ron sat down on the couch as Hermione squeezed next to Harry on the armchair putting her arms around his shoulders.

Somewhere deep in Ron squirmed at the site but he kept his mouth shut and only thought about the worry and concern he had for Harry.

It was quiet for too long so Ron took a shot, "Mate, tell us what we could do?"

Hermione caught his eyes, a private smile in her eye that had him momentarily stunned.

"I don't know what to do." Harry's voice rough from lack of us said brokenly.

Hermione tightened her hold on him as Ron leaned forward slightly ready to get up and well do something.

"Harry, we know what we have to do," Ron said quietly lowering his voice he continued, "we have to find the Horcruxes."

But Harry just shook his head, "No Ron, I know that, trust me I do but… He wont be here to help me, to nudge me along the way, to be there when I need an adult."

Harry's voice broke and he put his head in his hands and his shoulders tensed even more, like the weight of the entire world just got a lot heavier.

"Oh, Harry." Hermione murmured like a caress and kissed his shoulder tears in her eyes.

Ron felt out of place, he was never good at the comforting thing and seeing them like this hurt so, so much that it felt like his heart was being burnt out of his chest.

It physically hurt Ron to see them like this.

Anybody else he just would have felt awkward and uncomfortable.

But its them, Harry his best friend and Hermione the girl he…. Cared a lot about.

Harry started again his eyes as blank as before, " I'm on my own now. No more protectors. Its just me and him. I've got to kill him. No more Dumbledore to swoop in at the right moment to protect me. I'm alone."

And suddenly it was like the floodgates were opened because Harry sobbed into Hermione's shoulder and couldn't stop.

Ron felt tears in his eyes, this wasn't Harry. This wasn't the fearless leader he looked to when they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

And suddenly Ron realized, Harry was still a kid. A kid his age. A kid his age who just lost another person he loved. A kid.

Ron felt terrible he couldn't imagine losing any of his family or Harry or Merlin forbid Hermione.

"Harry," Hermione's voice cut in to the quiet sobs that wracked the boy-who-lived, "You are never ever alone. Me and Ron will always be here for you, the Order is still here and so is Hogwarts we will stand behind you and fight with you. Don't forget what Dumbledore used to say, 'Our loved ones never truly leave us,'".

Harry was quiet for another moment before saying, "Never say never ever. Something is coming and I may not win."

Dead silence.

Ron never truly believed that saying until his fourth year when Harry came out of the maze, Cedric Diggory's dead body in hand, and right now just reinforces what he heard all of those years ago.

Ron didn't know how long he sat there, he didn't know how long it took for Harry to fall asleep, time didn't matter at this time because his friends hope was slipping and that hurt.

Ron looked up and saw Hermione looking tenderly at the raven haired sixteen year old on her shoulder and felt even worse.

He couldn't compete with Harry he knew that but it still hurt to see the love in the girl he lov-liked in her brown eyes.

"Go to bed, Ron, "Hermione said yawning, "I've got it under control, we don't need you right now."

It was like an echo.

We don't need you. We don't need you. We don't need you. We. Don't. Need. You.

They don't need him.

So he left not even registering that Hermione said not right now, and that she would stay with Harry through the nightmares and tomorrow Ron could be the one to wake him up when he cried out.

Ron just didn't realize that Harry and Hermione did need him.

They always would.