Bill figured out that he wanted to be a curse breaker when he was at Hogwarts during his third year. Only a couple years ahead of him, he over-heard Derek Flint talking about something called a Horcrux. When he pestered the sixth year about the supposed cursed item, Flint handed him an old leather-bound book that seemed to explain everything about the mythology. On thinking back on it, Bill figures that Flint was more than likely trying to scare him than anything else. It wasn't like he was evil or anything, but that knowledge wasn't common. Not everyone knew about it and Flint probably had no idea just what he had passed onto the young red head. Bill doubts that Derek had even read the book.

Ever since that day, Bill swore he would prevent that kind of dark curse from happening or if it did happen, he would be the one to put an end to it. Through his courses after Hogwarts at Gringotts, he found that only a select few had even heard of the term and even less knew what it meant. It became his personal goal to research Horcruxes and become an expert in the topic. It wasn't long before his internship with Gringotts was over, and much to the chagrin of his mother, he started traveling to Egypt fighting to find any and all Horcruxes to put an end to the horror. He hoped he could find them all and then die with the knowledge on the items, how they were made, how to destroy them, and where to find them.

Still with all his researching and scouting, Bill couldn't find one. He encountered many cursed objects, yes, but none were Horcruxes. He was comforted by this because he felt that maybe he'd been worried over nothing. Maybe there were no Horcruxes and the cursed items didn't exist anymore. Besides, who with the knowledge of the History of Magic would be stupid enough to try splitting their souls in two anyways?

When Ron came home after the war at Hogwarts, Bill was shocked by his littlest brother's maturity. The poor kid had seemed to have lost his spark. For the most part he hid in his room or brooded in the living room just staring into the unlit fire place. No one really noticed him over George's mourning of Fred, but Bill saw. After all, Bill had practically raised Ron during the summers when his mom was too busy with the twins and baby Ginny.

"How about you come and stay with me and Fleur for a little while?" He said sitting next to Ron about a week after the events of Hogwarts.

"But...what about Harry and Hermione? I can't…I can't just leave them Bill. Not like this. Harry hasn't left his room in days and Hermione's down in Australia still. What if she comes back? How will she know where I've gone?" He said.

"How do you expect to take care of them Ron when you're not taking care of yourself?" Bill asked gently. It's not that he didn't also mourn the death of his brother or that he didn't want to be there for his mom, but he needed to get away. He needed to take some time to breathe before he'd be ready to face the rest of the family and their problems. "Look I'm not saying you should come and live with me for forever. Just come spend a weekend up at the cottage. There's no muggles around for miles. You can use my old broom and just fly for hours without worry."

Eventually Ron conceded and together the brothers took off, against Molly's protests, to the cottage and Fleur. The first day not much happened. Bill spent some much-needed time with his pregnant wife who opted out of the final battle to protect their innocent child. They hadn't even told the family yet because it was so early. Ron stayed out by the ocean. The next day was much the same and when Bill found him to bring him in for the dinner Fleur had cooked, he was almost scared to disturb him. For the first time in a long time, Ron finally looked somewhat peaceful. Slowly, Bill lowered himself next to his brother in the sand.

"I never meant to leave them. I don't think I ever would've left them if it hadn't been for that locket." Ron muttered.

"The locket?" Bill asked

"Yeah the dumb Horcrux. None of us realized just how much it was influencing us until it was too late. As soon as I got away from the damned thing I realized just how stupid I had been. I don't deserve their friendship Bill. I don't deserve their forgiveness. I left them to search alone and they had to wear the sodding thing for longer since I wasn't there to cover a shift." Ron put his head in his hands unaware of the shock covering Bill's face.

"Did…did you say a Horcrux?" Bill stuttered.

"Now that the whole thing is over and done with it probably doesn't have to be a secret anymore, yeah? Apparently, they're these cursed items that hold a piece of someone's soul. There's this whole process where they kill someone, perform some ceremony, and then split their soul and store it inside an object. Hermione's the expert, but Voldemort created seven of them and hid them all over the place. That's what we were doing this past year. We were looking for all the cursed objects he created and Merlin Bill, it was hard. We didn't even have to find all seven. Ginny and Harry took care of one her first year at Hogwarts without us even knowing!"

"The diary…" Bill breathed

"Yeah the diary was the first one destroyed. We don't think Malfoy knew what the diary actually was when he planted it on Ginny. The second one Dumbledore took care of for us and well, according to Harry, if Snape hadn't killed him, the curse on his hand from the ring would've. Then we found out about the locket. That was why we broke into the ministry. Everyone thought we were trying to raise moral but that old bag Umbridge was wearing it around her neck without even knowing the danger of the damned thing. Harry strayed from the plan and stole Moody's eye from her office blowing the whole operation wide open to the public."

Bill rubbed a hand down his face. Ron had spent most of the previous year searching for Horcruxes without knowing that his brother had spent his entire life searching for them, mastering Fiendfyre and keeping Basilick venom with him at all times just in case he encountered one. Merlin if he had known…

"After that we decided not to let the thing out of our sights and Hermione came up with a plan for us to wear it during shifts. We all became surly and no one really had control over emotions. Hermione would snap at us more, Harry became more withdrawn from us, and I…well you know how that worked out. By the time I was able to find them again, Harry was close to drowning in a lake. I dived in to save him and in doing so we found Gryffindor's sword. I almost failed Bill. The locket started talking and I couldn't shut it up. I almost couldn't do it and I almost killed Harry instead. I destroyed the thing though Bill and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I stabbed it right in its heart and it let out the most hideous scream I've ever heard.

"Harry forgave me right away, but Hermione took a while. She had every right to be furious. She should still be furious. Now that everything is over, I can't help but wonder if she's gone for good. Maybe she's going to stay down in Australia with her parents instead of coming back. She hasn't answered any of my letters you know? She probably thinks I'm going to leave again, and so she decided to leave first this time."

With that Ron stopped speaking and started blinking back tears he had probably been trying to hold back since that night with the locket. Without even thinking, Bill roughly pulled his youngest brother to his chest and held him like he used to when mom was too busy with Ginny. He felt Ron shudder as he finally allowed the tears to burst forth and soak Bill's sweater in silent sobs.

Bill had done loads of research on Horcruxes. The only information available on them were his own personal notes and the book in Dumbledore's office because as rare as the books were on the topic, Bill had burned each and every one in an effort to keep them from existence. For someone like Ron, who hadn't even finished school, to remain in continued presence of such an evil item…it was lucky that Ron was still around. It was lucky they still had Ginny. If Bill had known…gods things would've been so different. With a final sniffle Ron extracted himself from Bill's arms and tried to turn away to mask his embarrassment from his brother. Bill stopped him short by grabbing his shoulder.

"You said it yourself Ron. Hermione forgave you. She's probably just busy with the international apparition laws. Sometimes it can take a whole week for letters to reach a person on another continent. She might not have even received your letter. It's going to be ok. Trust me. Hermione's had a crush on your stupid face since the fourth year, do you really think she'd leave you for Australia?" Ron blinked a few times before he looked down bashfully.

"…fourth year…really?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah and you're one to talk. You've liked Hermione since your first year. Don't even try to deny it. I remember coming home from Egypt and all you could talk about was that 'annoying bookworm Hermione' and how she constantly nagged you and tried to get you to study more. No boy complains about a girl that much unless he likes her." Bill ruffled Ron's hair like he used to when Ron was barely old enough to walk. "Now come on. My wife has made a gorgeous meal and it's shocking she hasn't come down here to drag us both by the ears to the dinner table."

They both stood up brushing the sand from their pants and hiked up the hill towards the cottage where Fleur was waiting. As Bill followed his brother, he couldn't stop thinking about how his brother accomplished Bill's own life goal of eradicating the evilest curse from the world. Shaking his head, he marveled at how Ron ever could have considered himself less than any of his brothers. If anything, Ron was the best of all of them combined.