A/N: Hi! I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet! Life got crazy, I went on vacation, and then I moved out and everything's been crazy. But, tonight I decided I wouldn't keep you hanging any longer. Leave reviews, I like to know what you think and it makes me write faster, and it gives me inspiration and ideas. Thanks for sticking with me and reading!
Harry wasn't sure what time it was, or if it was night or day. All he knew was that he'd never been more comfortable, happy or content. He wanted to stay like this forever. Warm, comfortable and lying next to Hermione, the most beautiful girl in the world. Her body heat keeping him safe, whole, perfect. He didn't think he would ever forget this night. How could he? He turned his head just slightly to look at the girl lying next to him. Her brown hair fanned out around her and she looked like the most innocent fallen angel he'd ever seen. She'd fallen asleep much quicker than he had, but now it didn't seem to matter much because now, he was wide awake.
He sat upright, his eyes narrowed as he stared around the tent. Something had woken him up. Something specific, but he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what. Everything seemed normal. Everything was exactly where they'd left it. But something just felt different. Something. But he still couldn't place it. He stood up, careful not to shift the bed too much so that he wouldn't wake Hermione. He grabbed the first T-shirt and pair of pants he could find, grabbed Hermione's wand and left the tent.
It was a quiet sort of night. Something he wasn't used to and it was almost too quiet. Yet, there was still nothing quite out of the ordinary.
Absolutely nothing. Except for a shimmery light in a dark forest. He saw it out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned, the bright silvery light was gone.
"Hello?" He called out.
He realized how stupid this was, He had no idea what that light was, or if it belonged to the wand of a death eater, or a snatcher, or even Voldemort himself but something told him it wasn't a sinister light.
He began to walk in the direction of where he'd last seen it and just like before the light seemed to materialize out of thin air. And then it sped off in the opposite direction.
"No! Wait…Hey! Come back!" He followed after it at a run, until finally he was face to face with the bright light at the frozen over lake. It was a doe. A shining, silvery, bright beautiful doe…
A minute after he jumped in, he'd known it was a bad decision. The water was much too cold, colder than he ever could have anticipated. It felt like 1,000 sharp knives stabbing into him, but he only had eyes for that ruby-hilt.
He swam towards it, eyes wide with greed and then as if it had planned the whole thing, the horcrux attacked. There was no other word for it. The thick gold chain, wrapped around and pulled against his neck, trying, in short, to strangle him. The lack of air was making it hard to think, and the rubies were glittering at him, almost blinding him. He couldn't believe he'd made it this far just to be strangled to death.
And what about Hermione? His heart leapt at just the thought of her name. He couldn't leave her like Ron had. He couldn't destroy her that way. But it was looking like he didn't have much of a choice. And then all it once he was being pulled from the freezing water, the horcrux was being wrenched away from him and suddenly he could breathe again.
He sucked in large gust of air, sweet, beautiful, clean air. He leaned over onto the frozen ground, coughing and sputtering until little streams of water dislodged themselves from his throat.
"Hermione?" He eventually coughed out, his eyes stung too much to open them just yet, but who else could it have been?
"What the bloody hell, were you doing?"
The voice shocked him so much that he temporarily forgot about the pain in his eyes and wrenched them open.
"Ron!"
There, in front of him, as if it were some sort of sick dream was Ronald Weasley. Harry let out a relieved breath. Even after everything that had happened, he still needed Ron.
"Hey there." He grinned and the familiarity of it, made Harry's heart swell. "I saw you jump in…are you crazy? That couldn't have been a pleasant swim…what exactly were you-" He stopped, looking down at his own hand which held Godric Gryffindor's sword in it. He grinned a little. "Oh right. You were probably diving in for this."
He held the sword out to the other boy. "Well, there you are."
Harry looked up at him for a long time, just taking him in. He didn't look any worse for the wear. Still Ron. He couldn't help but smile a bit.
"How..How did you find us? Why are you here? What…what are you doing?"
Ron shrugged a little, "Well…I've…I've come back. If you'll have me."
Harry blinked up at him, it wasn't a question or not if he'd take him back. He would always take Ron back. They were friends, through everything.
Ron looked down at his feet, a blush taking over his cheeks. "Well, Are you going to take this, or what?" He said still holding out the sword for him.
"I don't think I can." Harry let out, his voice raspy from the water. "I think It has to be you. You pulled it out of the lake."
Ron raised a brow. "What has to be me? What are you talking about?"
Harry stood up, making his way over to where the horcrux had been thrown off of him by Ron. He picked it up easily, placing it in front of Ron on the ground.
"It's got to be you. You've got to destroy it. Why else would you be here?"
Ron looked terrified, more terrified then Harry had ever seen him, but they didn't have time for this. He started shaking his head frantically.
"Harry, I…I can't."
"Yes, you can. Come on. I believe in you. You pulled the sword out didn't you?" He reached for the horcrux and wrenched it open. It was funny, how easy it was to open when it was on its way to it's end.
He didn't know how much of a fight the thing would put up, but what happened, he certainly hadn't been expecting.
"I have seen your heart, Ronald Weasley, and it is mine."
The words coming from the horcrux sounded terrible, not like a real voice at all. Like one you might hear in a terrifying nightmare, and then rising before the both of them was an image, one Harry knew very well, because he'd just lived it.
It was a very vivid image of exactly what had transpired in the tent mere hours ago. How had he temporarily forgotten? His cheeks blazed a bright red color as he watched. It was as if somebody had filmed it really and he Harry couldn't stand the look on Ron's face. The terrible, horrified, heartbroken look.
"Ron! Kill it!"
It took a few moments, but suddenly Ron was swinging the sword high over his head and the horcrux was silenced. Permanently.
There were no words between the boys now. Nothing to be said, because Harry knew that it was true, and Ron was wishing desperately that it wasn't.
Harry picked up the destroyed horcrux and Ron still held the sword in his hand as they walked silently back towards the tent. This was not how he had envisioned Ron's return. There was no catching up, no laughs about what they'd been up to. Just awkward, unending silence.
When they finally did reach the tent, it felt like hours later. Ron made a move to grab the entrance flap but Harry held him back.
"Ron wait." He said softly.
Ron paused, turning around slowly to face his best friend.
"You're my best friend. I want you to know that."
Ron nodded, "Yeah. Alright."
"And…whatever happened while you were gone…it…it doesn't count. Okay? New slate."
Ron didn't nod this time. He held Harry's gaze for a long moment and then he pushed forward into the tent.
Harry took a deep breath and then followed in behind him. Hermione was still asleep, lying with Harry's own blankets drawn around her. Ron was standing just inside the entrance, staring at her sleeping form, and then he crossed the tent to the bed that he'd inhabited before he'd left.
"Ron…"
"Don't!" The other boys voice was loud and sharp. He was terrified that it would wake Hermione, and he didn't want her to be a part of this.
"Ron, Ron listen…" He said in the softest voice he could manage. "It just happened...you were gone, and we were both so…so broken without you. We just…we took comfort in each other, and I'm…" He closed his eyes. "Neither of us thought you were coming back and it just…It just happened Ron, I swear it."
Ron shook his head, hard, not facing him.
"I said don't. Don't try to convince me that this wasn't happening all along. Don't pretend you didn't know how I felt! You knew how I felt! You always knew!"
"Ron how could I have? How could I have known? I…I suspected…I…I figured! But you never told me! Ron, I'm so-"
"Don't say you're sorry! You're not! God, I let you…with my sister! And all the time you've been two-timing her! And betraying me!"
"I haven't! I swear I haven't! This…this thing with Hermione…it just happened!"
"This thing? What thing would that be exactly? Are you using her like you used my sister, or are you planning on doing right buy her?"
"Stop.." It was a new voice this time. The two boys turned to face Hermione she was sitting up in Harry's bed, blanket draped strategically around her.
"Please stop..." she stood up, pulling the blanket with her.
"Ron," She whispered in a soft voice. "I'm so so-"
"Will the both of you QUIT with the sorry's? I don't believe it. How could you do this to me?"
Harry let out a scoff. "How could you do this to US? How could you LEAVE us? This is YOUR fault. Not anybody else's!"
"Oh, that's rich, Harry! Maybe if you had had a plan…no…you know what." He closed his eyes, shaking his head hard. "This is ridiculous. I don't need to talk to you about anything." He said, eyes opening to stare at Harry for a long moment and then his eyes shifted over to Hermione.
"Choose. Me or him."
"W-what?" Hermione spluttered. "Ron…I…I can't do that. Please, this is…let's just…let's just stop and have a think about all of this. We'll talk, Ron and…"
"No. Choose. Me. Or him."
Hermione took a deep breath, looking at Ron and then at Harry. Tears were streaming down her face like waterfalls. Harry could see the sacrifice in her eyes. She knew, and so did he, that if she didn't choose Ron, he'd leave again. And that would kill them both. How could they possibly go through that again? Harry knew the answer, they couldn't. Hermione locked eyes with him and they communicated silently. He knew what she was going to do before she did it.
Hermione closed her eyes, letting out a small sob.
"You. You, Ron. I choose you. Oh god, Harry I'm so sorry."
Harry bit down on his lip, shaking his head.
"Shh, don't be. It's alright. It's okay. I know."
He nodded at her, trying to smile through his pain. He didn't want her to know how badly this hurt. He didn't want her to bear that pain too.
Hermione was sobbing so hard that Harry didn't know how she had that much water inside of her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, hold her, tell her everything was going to be alright, but before he'd even fully thought it. Ron was doing it for him. He watched the pair of them for awhile, watched Ron take care of her the way he knew he could. And he could probably do it better. Ron took her to bed, his bed, and he only heard her cry for a few minutes more. He imagined her falling asleep, just so that she wouldn't have to think about what she'd just done. Harry only wished he could do the same, but instead he was awake until he sun rose outside the tent and the first signs of birds chirping arose. And then, as if exhaustion was a blanket, it fell over him and he was asleep.