Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do make money.

Walking

Pansy heard the footsteps behind her as she exited the courtroom but she didn't turn around. She didn't need to. She knew that they belonged to Ron.

Anyone else, she would have turned around immediately and told them to leave her alone - she didn't want their sympathy.

Finding an empty bench, in the corridor outside the courtroom, Pansy sat down and looked towards Ron; she folded her hands primly in her lap with her feet crossed at her ankles. Meeting his eyes, she tried to smile at him but the enormity of their situation, she knew kept it tight and sad.

Watching him approach, she counted every lucky star she could think of that she had him. She doubted that she would have gotten this far without him; without his stubbornness and tenacity that kept him fighting her during those first few weeks after the attack.

When he took the seat next to her, she knew that she had found her forever. Pansy took his hand once he was seated, here eyes focused on his ring as she slowly intertwined their hands.

"Are you okay?" he softly asked, as on of his hands tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah," she responded softly, "Just done."

She thought about saying more but realized there was nothing else she wanted to say.

"I know that feeling," was Ron's response, his voice distant in her ears.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Pansy asked tentatively, thinking that maybe she had asked to much of him. He had already given her so much; maybe it was time she stopped asking.

"Do what?"

"Leave all this behind."

"Why?" Ron asked, his voice sounding puzzled, before he continued, "Do you not want to anymore?"

"No," she replied, turning to look at him. "I just wanted to know if want to do this?"

"I told you I did."

"But did you say yes because of me or because you want to."

Pansy waited for his response as he took their intertwined hands to his lap. She let him study her fingers and their hands before he quietly said, "I want to do this because you need to do this."

"And if I didn't need this..."

"If you wanted to do this? Then I still would want to do this," he said quietly and carefully. "But I think deep down I really need this too. I've been in the shadows or the limelight all my life and now all I want to do now is to live without either. I just want to live with you and our child."

The tears welled up in Pansy's eyes, as she took in the weight of his words and whispered, "Thank you. So can we leave after the verdict?"

"Definitely."