Chapter 2-To Love Another Person

Author's Note: Hello all! Here's the second chapter of Life in Every Breath. Thanks for those who reviewed in the last chapter. This is a deleted scene from Chapter 3 of Amor y Libertad/Book 3 from the Guardian Diaries series. So if you have not reached that far yet, the GO BACK NOW!

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the chapter, it is quite fluffy, despite some angst in it. But I thought a Ron/Marcena friendship scene would do very nicely as they watch two very special people sleep in Shell Cottage.

Enjoy!

9th March 1999

The brunette girl shuddered, as the waves of the cliff roared enviously against the cliff which housed Shell Cottage upon it. She was in the living room, a jacket that was too big wrapped around her. She could smell his scent on his jacket and she needed that despite the fact that he was lying on a mattress on the floor just before her. His face was bruised, his body recovering from the immense battering he had received for her sake, and she couldn't help but feel guilty. When he smiled at her yesterday night and held her hand, consoling her that he would protect her, she felt overjoyed. When Greyback was drooling over her like a dog over a piece of meat, she was really scared. Luckily, her Knight had defeated Greyback, he had fought for her honour and won, which made her heart race. Why had she been stupid enough to ask her Knight to spare the unworthy Greyback, who reneged on his promise? When she saw before her own eyes, the man who she cared about the most, or maybe even loved, being kicked, cursed and set upon, that's the one thing that had terrified her the most in the past twenty-four hours, and she found tears falling from her eyes. He could have died today and it would have been all her fault.

To say that it had been an eventful day was an understatement. Out of the blue, she had been reunited with a number of her friends from Hogwarts, and Hermione Granger lay pale faced and shattered on the couch, a grey blanket cast over her fragile figure.

Marcena sighed, thinking about how pretty Hermione looked even though Bellatrix Lestrange had been torturing her while everyone else could only listen from the prison below.

Suddenly, she realised that someone was shuffling at the door of the living room; it turned out to be the redhead that was Ron Weasely.

"Hey!" Marcena whispered.

"I can come back later, if you want?" Ron suggested weakly.

"No, it's OK. Sit with me," she replied, patting the floor next to her. "Hot chocolate?" Marcena offered him a mug and cocoa beans, before adding milk and heating it with her wand.

Ron obliged and sat next to her, both of their backs against the wall. The curtains were drawn, to give Hermione Granger and Gallardo Eagle the chance to rest and recuperate. Luna was also fast asleep, while Harry and Dean were digging a grave for someone who had given his life to get them all here.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked, touching her shoulder. Marcena realised that she was crying still.

"Uh-huh," she forced a smile, wiping her eyes quickly. "How are you, then?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Been better," Ron replied. "Although, I was..."

"You were what?" Marcena probed.

Ron shuddered and shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"No, it's OK, you can tell me."

"I don't think I've ever been more afraid than I was in Malfoy Manor," Ron mumbled, looking at Hermione and swallowing many times.

This time it was Marcena's turn to put a hand on Ron's shoulder to comfort him. "It's funny, isn't it, how seeing someone else in pain and suffering feels much worse than whatever we've been through?"

"I've been a coward for way too long," Ron said coldly.

"Don't say that!" Marcena hushed.

"Thanks, but it's true!" Ron scoffed. "During this...quest... it got too much for me... the pressure and I ran away, I left my friends..."

Marcena squeezed his shoulder tighter, remembering when she had seen him a few months ago when she was mentoring Cho as a field reporter; she thought it best to not mention that now.

"Ron, I saw what you did," Marcena smiled. "It was really brave and noble of you to offer yourself to save Hermione."

"You think?" Ron livened up. It was only for a second, but Marcena grinned understandingly.

"I really do. A woman's heart is deep and complex, but she'll never ever forget what you did for her."

Ron pondered this for a moment, before sighing.

"You're smitten," Marcena said. It was a statement, not a question, and apparently a correct one judging by the lack of contradiction.

"Tell her," the brunette urged. "Or at least show her."

"Maybe...if the time is right... if she feels the same way..."

"You're a great guy," she nudged him amicably. "She likes that."

"Thanks, thank a lot."

"Any time."

"You know, we're a like," Ron said. "We're both sat here watching over people that we... that mean a lot to us."

Marcena blushed and nodded. "How's he been these past two years?"

"Just like Gallardo Eagle," Ron replied.

"Has he mentioned me at all?"

"All the time!" Ron said in a slightly higher than intended voice. Marcena gave him a look. "He doesn't need to; you saw how he reacted when he saw you."

Marcena nodded, once more burdened with the guilt as she looked upon Gallardo's seemingly slender figure, as it looked in that particular moment.

"It's not your fault, you know?" Ron nudged her.

"I know you're trying to be nice, but I'm the reason he was put in that position, he was protecting me! Besides, I told him to not kill Greyback!"

"But you're here now, aren't you?" Ron pointed out. "You're both safe, and do you know what? Gallardo would happily do what he did for you a thousand times over. Because, he loves you." A cheeky smirk came on his face.

"Maybe," Marcena blushed to the shade of strawberries.

Maybe Shell Cottage would provide them all with the respite they all needed during these times of cold bitterness. Maybe Ron and Marcena had both found out what it meant to love another person. It was not to drool over their sight or even to kick your heart into your throat every time you contemplated them. To love another person was to willingly put them before yourself and that was a beautiful thought.

Author's Note: How about a review now? What did you think of the dialogue, were Ron and Marcena in character?

The next one that I have planned is actually quite a funny and humourous take on something some would consider serious. It involves white sticks with a bit of blue and cost a lot of money, but can result in something wonderful because it'll remind you of how you might have been once. Any guesses?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter?