A/N: Did I mention that I was back?

The End of an Auror

Strangely enough, his sense of smell came back to him first. Clean. Sterile. St. Mungo's, then.

Soon after, taste. Bitter. Metallic. Blood.

He believed he would be able to open his eyes, if he wanted to. He hadn't yet decided if he felt like trying - but soon enough, someone else would make that decision for you.

"Take your time, mate. As soon as you wake up, I'm going to kill you."

He would have smiled, if every single muscle in his body didn't ache. He'd know that voice anywhere. Harry.

"Whatd'd I do now?" he croaked, wincing at the sound of his own voice and slowly opening his eyes.

"Oh, the usual. Defied strict orders put in place to protect you and nearly got yourself killed. Again," Harry sighed.

Ron wracked his brain trying to remember the specifics. They had damn near stumbled upon an old Death Eater safe house while following a lead up in Scotland. Noise had come from inside the house- sounded like a scuffle or escape in progress. Harry had given him an instruction: call for back-up. Ron had followed Harry into the house instead.

"Ah, yes. It's all coming back to me." He coughed. It hurt. "Is 'Ermione here?" he asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.

"On her way. I didn't call her until the healers told me you were all right. She's hacked off about that, obviously."

"Oh, thanks," Ron replied. "Aggravate my girlfriend, why don't you."

"Your inability to follow instructions is what aggravated your girlfriend," Harry answered him. His tone sounded disapproving, but Ron could tell he was more relieved than anything else.

Details kept flooding back. Dark hallways. A side door blowing open, right into Harry. Green light. If Ron had hung behind long enough to get help… he shuddered.

"Things are still a little fuzzy, but if I remember correctly, my inability to follow directions also saved your sorry arse," Ron insisted.

"Yes, because that makes it better. 'Hermione, I know the love of your life is unconscious due to an unknown spell thrown by a Death Eater, but don't worry - I'm doing just fine.'"

"Doesn't sound any better than 'hey Gin, Harry's dead, but don't worry – I followed protocol instead of saving his life, so I'm not in trouble or anything."

The boys glared at each other.

"That's not funny," Harry finally retorted.

"Wasn't supposed to be." Ron took a few deep breathes, and then realize he could not remember the outcome of the raid. "Did you get him?" he asked. Harry grinned.

"Them. Rookwood and Lestrange. They're both in custody."

Ron's heart hammered in his chest. "That means -"

"We've finished our list," Harry said, clearly as overcome with emotion as Ron was.

Ron and Harry had created a list of all the Death Eaters who had caused harm to someone they cared about the night Hermione and Ginny had left for Hogwarts. They had not been all that sober when they wrote the names down, but they were all there, and they had spent the last 2 years scratching those names off one by one.

"Bloody-"

"Ronald Weasley, you'd better be awake because I am going to kill you!"

Both men groaned as Hermione stormed through the door, shaking off the orderly who was insisting that Mr. Weasley be visited only by family. As soon as Hermione entered the room, however, the orderly seemed to have completely forgotten what he was doing there. He turned on his heel and left the trio alone, caught in a daze. Ron caught Harry's eye, confirming what he just saw.

When they both turned to Hermione with raised eyebrows, she shrugged. "He'll be fine," she insisted. "You, however-"

"You know, I think I was safer with the Death Eaters than I am in this bed. That's two death threats in 5 minutes, now," Ron joked. Hermione threw herself at him in relief. He strained with the effort of pretending her hug wasn't crushing him.

"I guess that means you're feeling better," Hermione quipped, releasing Ron and forcing Harry out of the chair at Ron's bedside and taking his place in it. "You should be - apparently, Auror Potter saw fit to break protocol and not notify me of your condition for several hours -"

"Hey now - first of all, notifying girlfriends is not policy – and secondly, your boyfriend broke protocol first, I'll have you know-" Hermione glared. Harry stopped mid-sentence. "I'm sorry, Hermione," he relented, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I just figured it didn't help anything to contact you before I had any information."

"Did you at least accomplish whatever it was you were doing that landed you here?" Hermione asked, exasperated.

"We did," Harry informed her. "Rookwood and Lestrange are in custody."

Hermione's brow furrowed in thought. "That means-"

"Yes. The list is finished," Harry announced, proudly. "Which reminds me," he said, conjuring a chair and seating himself beside Hermione, "Ron, you're fired."

"What?" Ron exclaimed, clutching his side as he struggled to sit up in bed. "First of all, you do not have the authority to fire me -"

"True. But I did write up this incident, so I can pass it on to someone who does-"

"-And second of all, I'm not leaving you."

Ron immediately flinched, embarrassed at his outburst. The three of them sat in silence as Ron's declaration hung in the air between them.

"I told you," Hermione whispered, leaning into Harry's shoulder.

"Told him what?" Ron asked, embarrassed.

"I know about George's offer," Harry admitted, meeting Ron's eyes. Ron looked at Hermione instead.

"How could you?" he asked, hurt at her breach of confidence.

"George told me," Harry explained. "Don't blame her."

Ron slumped into his hospital bed, which hurt more than he would ever admit, and sighed deeply. Three weeks ago, George had offered him a 40% share of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes if he took over as manager full time. George was ready to expand to Hogsmeade, and needed someone he trusted to run the flagship location while he got the new store off the ground.

"Well, I already turned that down," Ron said, exasperated. "I've been working both places this long, and I've been fine."

"Yeah, you look just fine to me," Harry said sarcastically.

"I'm only here because I followed you-"

"Exactly," Harry said. "You followed me. In order to accomplish a goal we set before we were even full-fledged aurors. And we succeeded."

"So to celebrate, you want to report me to the office so I get fired?" Ron grumbled. "Some friend you are-"

"Ron," Hermione warned him.

"Don't 'Ron' me. I saved his bloody life, and this is how he pays me back-"

"Ron," Hermione hissed, "As much as I agree that this conversation needs to be had, if you have it at this volume that orderly outside will remember who he is and come back in here and throw us both out."

"Hermione, you really need to stop confunding people who don't agree with you—"

"Don't change the subject, Harry," Hermione shushed. "Now Ron, Harry isn't going to get you fired. He's just threatening to so that you'll resign."

"Oh, that makes it much better," Ron said, sarcastically.

"You're finished, Ron," Harry insisted, quietly. "You met your goal. You're done."

"You really think that just because the list is finished there's no more work to be done?" Ron asked, disbelievingly.

"No. I think that it's a great time for a guy who hates his job but is sticking with for my sake to leave."

Ron looked to Hermione, suspiciously.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," she said, taking his hand in hers. "We don't sit around and talk about you. He just knows you as well as I do."

"Almost. Not quite. I really don't want to know you as well as she does," Harry said with a shudder.

"Har, Har, Potter," Ron said, rolling his eyes as he squeezed Hermione's hand back.

"I'm going to go check on that orderly," Hermione said, standing up. "I trust you two can work this out without me?"

"We do function without you, you know," Harry said, with mock offense.

"Barely," Hermione replied, gesturing at the hospital bed Ron currently occupied. She gave Ron a quick kiss and made her way out the door, leaving the two boys in an awkward silence.

"It's not the same, you know," Harry said finally. "You resigning the Aurors isn't leaving. It's just… moving on."

"Do you want to quit?" Ron asked.

"No," Harry admitted. "This is… this is what I'm supposed to do. That doesn't mean you need to do it too."

They sat in silence again, both pretending not to notice Hermione hovering by the door.

Harry and Hermione were right, of course. Ron loved being an Auror at first - the strategy he had always been good at, the long hours to keep him distracted while Hermione was away at school, the feeling of pride that came with doing something to help right all the wrongs that had been committed over the past few years - but then Hermione came home. And the names on their list dwindled. And the paperwork started mounting. And Ron had to admit that he much more enjoyed balancing George's books more than he enjoyed filling out arrest reports for disorderly conduct and misuse of magic.

He had been picking up more and more hours at Wheezes, partly to distract himself from the monotony of his full-time job, and partly to put away some extra money. He didn't want to live rent-free in Harry's spare room forever, after all. And he and Hermione had been talking about the future lately, and that meant more expenses. Truthfully, working full-time as George's partner would earn him more, but he had promised himself years ago that he would never leave Harry again. But if Harry didn't consider it leaving…

"Rookwood's the one who caused the explosion that killed Fred," Ron said, finally.

"I know," Harry replied, looking up at him.

"I need to tell George we got him."

"And that you're going to accept his offer, right?" Harry asked.

"And if I leave, who is going to save your arse on the next raid?" Ron asked, hoping Harry assumed the hitch in his voice was due to his injury.

Harry smiled.

"I'm not going to need saving," he insisted. "Now that our list is finished, it's smooth sailing."

"That's what you think. The second I leave, all the baddies are going to come out of the woodwork. Fear of Auror Weasley is the only thing that's keeping them at bay."

"Oh, right," Harry said with a laugh. "I'd forgotten just how terrifying you are, due to you being incapacitated in a hospital bed and all."

"Temporary condition. I can leave anytime."

"Healers told you that, did they?"

"Didn't have to. I'll just get Hermione to confund them whenever I'm ready to go."

Harry laughed. "Oh right, I forgot. Little Miss Following Protocol has her own way of doing things, doesn't she?"

"Always does," Ron said with a grin that made Harry grimace.

"Anyway," Harry said, changing the subject, "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life."

"Why start now? I've been saving you for years with no appreciation."

"Oi! I've thanked you plenty," Harry objected. Ron laughed.

"You don't have to thank me," he insisted, as Hermione burst through the door yet again. She was fiddling with her wand and her cheeks were flushed.

"Well, good news. Ron, you're going to be fine, and we'll be out of here before you know it."

"How do you know anything about my condition, Miss Granger? They divulging medical information to random war heroes these days?"

"Seems so," Hermione said with a grin. "I'll have you know, I can be very persuasive."

Ron grinned wolfishly. Harry gagged.

"Breathe Harry," Ron said with a laugh. "Anyway, I think this is going to be my last hospital visit for a very long time."

Ron wiped his hands on his bedsheets nervously.

"Oh really, Auror Weasley?" Hermione asked.

"That's Former-Auror Weasley to you," he replied, his heart racing. He breathed a little easier as soon as Hermione smiled. "Harry, get me the paperwork I need to resign. Hermione, call George – I need to make sure that offer's still on the table."

"I'll handle all that," Harry said, standing up and taking his conjured chair with him. "You sit with him until they realize what you've done and make me arrest you."

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione replied, as if his threat had been normal conversation. She sat in the chair at Ron's bedside again, taking his hand as Harry left the room.

"I'm proud of you," Hermione insisted, sensing Ron's nerves.

"For quitting the Aurors?" Ron asked with a nervous laugh. "Didn't know that was worthy of pride."

"No," Hermione said with a smile. "I'm proud that you're doing what's right for you, instead of what's right for Harry." Ron sighed, wondering not for the first time how Hermione always seemed to know the right thing to say to him.

"Feels weird," Ron admitted.

"Well, get used to it. This may be hard for you to hear, Ron, but Harry's all grown up now. He doesn't need us to take care of him anymore," Hermione said, dramatically. Ron laughed.

"They grow up so fast," he replied, wiping his eyes of moisture that may or may not have been faked.

"I think he'll survive," Hermione insisted. "That's kind of what he's known for, after all."

"Yeah, I know he will," Ron admitted. "It'll just be weird not seeing him every day."

Hermione looked at him sympathetically, until a thought visibly occurred to her.

"Ron, you live with him. You two share a house."

Ron laughed. "Oh. Right. I guess it won't change much at all, will it?"

"I get the feeling that you two are never going to change all that much," Hermione admitted, pushing back his fringe affectionately.

"I'm sorry," he said with a laugh.

"I'm not," she replied with a smile.