Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters or settings. The portion of this story in bold is excerpted directly from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling.
Even though I'm sure you all know this scene by heart, I felt including it would enhance my little bit of angsty fluff. XD

No Need to Settle by bosk.

"One . . . two . . . three . . . open."

The last word came as a hiss and a snarl and the golden doors of the locket swung wide with a little click.

Behind both of the glass windows within blinked a living eye, dark and handsome as Tom Riddle's eyes had been before he turned them scarlet and slit-pupiled.

"Stab," said Harry, holding the locket steady on the rock.

Ron raised the sword in his shaking hands: The point dangled over the frantically swiveling eyes, and Harry gripped the locket tightly, bracing himself, already imagining blood pouring from the empty windows.

Then a voice hissed out from the Horcrux.

"I have seen your heart, and it is mine."

"Don't listen to it!" Harry said harshly. "Stab it!"

"I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible. . . . "

"Stab!" shouted Harry; his voice echoed off the surrounding trees, the sword point trembled, and Ron gazed down into Riddle's eyes.

"Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter . . . Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend . . . Second best, always, eternally overshadowed . . . "

"Ron, stab it now!" Harry bellowed; He could feel the locket quivering in his grip and was scared of what was coming. Ron raised the sword still higher, and as he did so, Riddle's eyes gleamed scarlet.

Out of the locket's two windows, out of the eyes, there bloomed, like two grotesque bubbles, the heads of Harry and Hermione, weirdly distorted.

Ron yelled in shock and backed away as the figures blossomed out of the locket, first chests, then waists, then legs, until they stood in the locket, side by side like trees with a common root, swaying over Ron and the real Harry, who had snatched his fingers away from the locket as it burned, suddenly, white-hot.

"Ron!" he shouted, but the Riddle-Harry was now speaking with Voldemort's voice and Ron was gazing, mesmerized, into his face.

"Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence. . . . We laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption—"

"Presumption!" echoed the Riddle-Hermione, who was more beautiful and yet more terrible than the real Hermione. She swayed, cackling, before Ron, who looked horrified yet transfixed,

the sword hanging pointlessly at his side. "Who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the Boy Who Lived?"

"Ron, stab it, STAB IT!" Harry yelled, but Ron did not move. His eyes were wide, and the Riddle-Harry and the Riddle-Hermione were reflected in them, their hair swirling like flames, their eyes shining red, their voices lifted in an evil duet.

"You mother confessed," sneered Riddle-Harry, while Riddle-Hermione jeered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange . . . "

"Who wouldn't prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him," crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she stretched like a snake and engulfed herself around Riddle-Harry, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met.

On the ground in front of them, Ron's face filled with anguish. He raised the sword high, his arms shaking.

"Do it, Ron!" Harry yelled.

Ron looked toward him, and Harry thought he saw a trace of scarlet in his eyes.

"Ron—?"

The sword flashed, plunged; Harry threw himself out of the way, there was a clang of metal and a long, drawn-out scream. Harry whirled around, slipping in the snow, wand held ready to defend himself: but there was nothing to fight.

The monstrous version of himself and Hermione were gone; There was only Ron, standing there with the sword held slackly in his hand, looking down at the shattered remains of the locket on the flat rock.

Slowly, Harry walked back to him, hardly knowing what to say or do. Ron was breathing heavily: His eyes were no longer red at all, but their normal blue; they were also wet.

Harry stopped, pretending he had not seen, and picked up the broken Horcrux. Ron had pierced the glass in both windows: Riddle's eyes were gone, and the stained silk lining of the locket was

smoking slightly. The thing that had lived in the Horcrux had vanished; torturing Ron had been its final act.

The sword clanged as Ron dropped it. He had sunk to his knees, his head in his arms. He was shaking, but not, Harry realized, from cold. Harry crammed the broken locket into his pocket, knelt down beside Ron, and placed a hand cautiously on his shoulder. He took it as a good sign that Ron did not throw it off.

Harry found himself wanting to comfort and reassure Ron after having to experience the horror of the Horcrux but a part of him felt that Ron deserved all of it for his latest act of desertion, such acts having become a staple of his on again, off again friendship with the redhead ever since their second year at Hogwarts. Instead he let his hand drop from Ron's shoulder, bent to pick up the sword and began to walk away.

"Let's go, I left Hermione back at the tent sleeping" Harry called over his shoulder. He didn't get far before Ron's voice stopped him.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true Ron?" Harry asked continuing to face away from Ron.

"What the locket said, that you and Hermione felt better off without me. That… that you and her…" Ron hissed out between gritted teeth.

"No Ron, after you left she cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn't want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other" he said flatly.

"So, you and her, you're not..." Ron asked hopefully.

"What are you getting at Ron?"

"What is she to you Harry?"

"We're just friends," Harry said quietly.

"That's not what I'm asking and you know it" Ron shouted.

At that Harry turned to look at Ron with a glare.

"What do you want from me Ron?" Harry asked tiredly.

"How about the truth! Stop playing the tragic hero and tell me how you really feel about Hermione."

"My feelings for Hermione are of deep affection and respect."

"What the hell does that mean?" Ron almost screamed back.

Several emotions flickered through Harry's intense gaze. Fear, anger, resignation and finally relief. It was time to stop burying his feelings, something he had become a pro at while living with his relatives.

"It means I love her."

"You love her, how do you love her. Like a sister? Like a best friend?" Ron demanded.

"No Ron, I'm in love with her" Harry answered calmly.

Ron was floored. He stood there in complete shock for a few moments before he exploded.

"What about Ginny, I thought you loved her, was all of that just a lie or was she just a fling, a conquest for the Boy Who Lived?"

At that a fire lit in Harry's gaze and caused Ron to take a step back involuntarily.

"Don't you dare accuse me Ron, don't you dare", Harry replied vehemently. "I thought I could love Ginny like she feels she loves me, and I really felt I could be happy with her. I gave up on the one I loved because she loved another. I tried to move on, and Ginny was there to comfort me, to love me. I never took advantage of her. You know, when I left I broke up with her; I didn't want to do it but I had to. If things were different we could have ended up together but I don't know any more. I know I hurt her doing that but at least I never broke her heart pursuing another after she let me know she wanted to be with me."

At that last comment Ron hung his head in shame.

"Since I've been out here on the hunt I have realized that there will be no happy ending for me, no loving wife and family. I will most likely not live through this war and I'm okay with that, mostly. I can no longer be the heroic Harry that she loves, her knight in shining armor that saved her from the diary, the "boy who lived" that she has loved since before she ever met me. That was never me to begin with.

"The truth is it was Fawkes that saved us, not me."

Harry paused before continuing with a hint of melancholy.

"I came into the wizarding world an emotionally damaged little boy with no friends hoping to find a new life where I was wanted. Instead I was forced into a role I never wanted, to do things that no one else would. Everyone expected me to be their hero, their savior, yet when, through mostly dumb luck, I came through for them, all they could do was ridicule me and accuse me of being dark or an attention seeking spoiled brat. Even you, my best mate, turned on me more than once."

Ron stood dumbfounded at Harry's words. He wanted to argue with what he said but it all rang all too true. Having only heard the story second hand he had formed his own version of "heroic Harry" assisted by his "best mate" to bolster his own image and self worth.

These thoughts did little to cool the rage simmering within him, though, and as usual Ron jumped without thinking and stated hotly, "So you figured with me gone you could move in on my girl."

Hermione awoke with an uneasy feeling. She felt that something was very wrong and immediately went to find Harry.

When she got to the tent entrance and looked outside Harry was nowhere to be found.

She saw footprints in the snow leading away from the campsite and started to follow them. As she walked she began to hear raised voices echoing off in the distance. Immediately fearing for Harry's safety she quickened her steps while trying to remain undetected in case there were death eaters out there.

The voices had died away and she feared the worst. Just as panic begins to set in she finally sees Harry in the distance. As she is about to call out to him she detects a flash of red behind him and recognizes Ron standing there. After a moment of shock her anger begins to rise. Before she can step forward to confront them she hears Ron ask Harry a question.

"What is she to you Harry?"

This stopped her in her tracks.

She was just close enough to see Harry's expression; the defeated look in his eyes was heartbreaking.

"We're just friends," Harry said quietly.

"That's not what I'm asking and you know it" Ron shouted.

She saw Harry's expression change to one of resignation as he turns around.

"What do you want from me Ron?"

"How about the truth? Stop playing the tragic hero and tell me how you really feel about Hermione."

As Harry began to answer Ron she could hear the emotions in his voice and knows she needs to hear what he has to say without him knowing she was listening.

"My feelings for Hermione are of deep affection and respect."

That comment made her smile. 'He almost sounds like me', she thought.

"What the hell does that mean?" Ron almost screamed back.

"It means I love her."

"You love her, how do you love her. Like a sister? Like a best friend?" Ron demanded.

"No Ron, I'm in love with her" Harry answered calmly.

The raw emotion in his tone and the truth evident in his voice shook her to the core. How did she miss this, how did she not notice?

Ron's reply brought her back to the drama unfolding before her. As Harry delivered his answer her heart ached for him, for his sorrow and his lost innocence evident in each word. Truths about his life she only suspected fell into clear view as he spoke.

Hermione thoughts were interrupted by Ron's indignant reply to Harry.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Hermione called out as she decided it was time to make her presence known.

"I am not and have never been your girl. I may have fancied you at one time but after your recent actions and how you've treated me I've a mind to no longer consider you my friend."

Ron's righteous indignation withered in the face of the shock and shame that followed Hermione's statement.

"Now, if you would be so kind, Ronald, you can tell us why you are here and how you found us."

That night Hermione lay awake in her bed replaying Harry's words over and over in her head.

'How did I not see his feelings for me? How did I miss them?'

Memories of her and Harry through their years at Hogwarts started to play out in her mind.

First year, it was Harry who dragged Ron with him to help save her. Even before they were officially friends, he was looking out for her.

In third year when they rescued Sirius and Buckbeak, the terrifying but wonderfully thrilling ride with Harry on Buckbeak.

In fourth year, at the Yule Ball, the awed look on his face when he saw her. Was that why she had been compelled to kiss him at Kings Cross station when saying goodbye?

In fifth year when she almost died at the Ministry.

And last year, he was always there for her, even after she gave him so much grief over that damn book.

He was always there for her, no matter how bad his life was, he was always there.

'Well, Harry James Potter, we will definitely be having a very long talk when this war is over and before we're done I hope that I can give you that happy ending you so richly deserve.'

With that Hermione settled down and fell to sleep with a sweet smile on her face, her first in a very long time.

The time had finally come. She had been watching him closely since the end of the final battle, his discomfort and need to get away clear in his expression and body language. When Luna's distraction allowed him to slip under the invisibility cloak, she was already up and headed in his direction.

"Mind if I join you under there?" she whispered to him just as he disappeared.

"H…Hermione" Harry stuttered, surprised at her sudden appearance beside him. "I was just about to come get you and Ron so we can get out of here."

"I thought so, but I would like to talk to you privately if you don't mind" she replied with a smile.

"Sure, Hermione" Harry replied, discretely helping her slip under the cloak with him.

They made their way out of the Great Hall and Hermione steered them out on to the castle grounds. They ended up on the shore of the Black Lake under an ancient oak tree. As Harry removed the cloak from over them, Hermione conjured a bench for them to sit on.

"So Hermione, what did you want to talk about?"

"Harry, what do you plan to do now that it's all over?"

"I…I don't really know, I never planned on still being here. I was sure I wouldn't make it out alive." Harry replied in almost a whisper while looking out over the lake.

Hermione had to fight back the tears and calm herself before asking just as quietly "Why did you think that Harry?"

"Because it's what Dumbledore told me. It was the message he left for me with Snape, that I had to die for Voldemort to be mortal again, I was the last Horcrux. I…I think I kind of already guessed that because of the Prophesy. Ever since he told it to me after Sirius's death I kind of just knew it would happen that way."

With that Hermione lost the battle as tears streamed down her face. In a trembling voice she asked, "S-so, you actually died?"

Harry turned and looked at her; seeing her tears, he was unable to vocalize and just nodded.

Hermione threw herself at him and began beating on his chest with her fists.

"How could you, how could you not tell me?"

Harry embraced her and pulled her close, trapping her arms between them.

"Shh, shh, it's alright Hermione, I'm here, I'm fine" he said attempting to comfort her.

"No, it's not alright you noble prick!"

She broke loose from his embrace to see a flabbergasted Harry.

"You went off to die without telling me. After all we've been through together, after all I've done for you, after everything I gave up for you, you were going to leave me without a chance to say goodbye. Here I thought Ron was the only idiot in the group. How wrong I was."

"Hermione, please calm down. I'm sorry, I should have told you, I know I should have, I just couldn't. If I had I would never have been able to do what I had to. I'm so sorry; I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

At that Hermione's eyes narrowed and fixed Harry with a piercing glare.

"You want to make it up to me Potter? How about telling me the truth."

Harry knew he was in trouble if she was calling him Potter but just what was she talking about?

"I just told you, Dumbledore said I had to die, what else is there to tell?"

"Not that truth Potter. I want the truth about what you have been hiding from me for years now."

Hermione watched Harry's face as the expressions rapidly changed from first confusion to frustration to concentration to shock and finally to resignation.

"You know, don't you?" Harry said in a sad distraught tone.

"What do I know Harry?" Hermione asked softly.

"You heard me back in the forest with Ron, didn't you?"

"What if I did?"

"I…I didn't want you to know, I didn't want to lose you…"

"Why would you have lost me Harry?"

"Because you were in love with Ron…"

Hermione's laugh stopped Harry and he looked at her in confusion.

"Harry, what gave you that Idea?"

"In sixth year, you got so mad at him when he hooked up with Lavender."

Hermione lowered her gaze to the ground before answering.

"I'll admit I did fancy him at the time, but…"

"But what, Hermione?"

"I thought he was the only choice I had. He was my friend and the only boy who was close to me besides you, and Victor in fourth year. He had been so jealous of Victor. I thought it was because he fancied me, so I figured it was safe to go after him."

"What about me, Hermione?" Harry asked tersely.

"I thought… Why would you want me? I'm just a plain, bossy bookworm. You could have anyone, Harry. Any girl would be thrilled to be with you. You deserve better than me."

"That's where you're wrong, Hermione; you are the one who deserves better. I'm just 'The Boy Who Lived', that's why they all want to be with me."

"No Harry, it's you that deserves better," she said sternly. "You're the most loving, caring, selfless person I've ever met. You always bend over backwards to make others happy. Tell me Harry, when do you get to be happy?"

Harry stared back at his best friend for several minutes with a blank expression. Could he really expect to be able to have a happy ending after all? He could only try.

"You were the only one who never gave up on me Hermione, even when I was a total git to you. You never abandoned me, unlike Ron. That meant the world to, me to have someone who cared enough to stay by me no matter what. By the time I realized what you really meant to me, I figured it was too late. I told myself if all I ever get to be is your best friend that would be enough, as long as you were happy, even if it wasn't with me."

As Harry finished, Hermione approached him and gave him a big hug and spoke softly into his ear.

"That's just it Harry, I am happy because you are my best friend. There is just one thing that would make me happier," Hermione said, then pulled back to smile sweetly at him.

"What would that be Hermione?"

"That, as I said before, Mr. Potter, would be the truth," Hermione said with a stern look.

Harry was silent for a few moments before he softly spoke.

"Miss Hermione Granger, I am, and have been, completely and utterly in love with you for years. Without you I would have never survived all the adventures and perils of the wizarding world. With your friendship and trust I was able to become the man I am today and I cannot go on without you. I want you to be my friend, my companion, and my mate for the rest of our lives. Miss Hermione Granger, will you marry me?" Harry said with a sweet smile.

Hermione was floored. If she hadn't still been hugging Harry, she would have collapsed where she stood.

"H…Harry, I… I…"

"A first," Harry said with a crooked grin "Hermione Granger speechless"

"You prat," Hermione exclaimed, smacking Harry lightly on the shoulder.

"So Miss Granger, what is your ans-"

Harry didn't get to finish as Hermione kissed him senseless.