(Part Five)
Title:
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Relationships: Snape/Ron, Harry/Hermione/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Warnings/Content Notes: PTSD, past non-con, torture, AU from book 5 onward.
Summary: In the end, Hogwarts wasn't the place of safety they all thought it was. Dumbledore was defeated in the castle before Harry and his friends could complete their fifth year, and the rest of the wizarding world is in chaos. Those not sworn to the Dark Lord by fervent belief have taken the Dark Mark to protect those they love. England is a wizarding battleground and the entire country is a shadow of what it once was. But not all hope is lost.
The Order of the Phoenix is still fighting. Under Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, the Order strives to find a way to weaken the Dark Lord and end his reign. When the Order gets word from an agent inside the Dark Lord's ranks, they think they might get the break they've been waiting for. Instead, they find one of their own, thought dead year before. Ron Weasley was tortured and used as a Death Eater play thing and only the quick thinking of Severus Snape kept him alive. While Harry and Hermione try to heal their broken friend, they find out that Ron isn't as broken as they thought and that he just might be the break they were looking for after all.
Hermione felt as if her lungs were filled with cool spring air as she lifted her head out of the former Headmaster’s memories. She struggled for a moment before she looked at Severus and Ron. “Do you understand what Dumbledore was getting at?” she asked Severus.
She had an idea of what he was trying to say - an idea that terrified her to the core - and she prayed it was wrong. The look in Severus’ eye told her she wasn’t.
“He believes Harry to be the seventh horcrux that Voldemort didn’t mean to make,” Severus said softly.
She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “He can’t die. No, not after all this.”
She felt pieces of herself falling apart at the thought of it. She’d lost Ron. She loved the man she was getting to know but he wasn’t the same boy she’d fallen for all those years ago; dirt-smudged nose and a funny little smile that was always waiting. She had Draco and Harry now and she couldn’t lose either of them.
“Granger,” Severus took her by the arm. “I have not spent the last nine years protecting him from the Dark Lord to fail now. There are some things the Dark Lord cannot ever understand and those will be his undoing. Have faith in your friends, Hermione.”
When Severus stepped away, she felt other arms wrapped around her and the fact that Ron had come to comfort her shocked her out of her fears. She took a quick breath before drying her eyes and stepping away. “I’m fine,” she said softly. “He’s right. We have to keep going. I can’t sit her worrying about what might happen.”
Ron gave her a small smile. “Let’s go then. Harry will head back to Gryffindor when he’s done.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Beat him there. Dumbledore said we needed something from Ravenclaw. Let’s find a Ravenclaw and ask.”
“Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because I’m the brains of this outfit.” Hermione laughed at Ron’s words and Ron smiled back at her. “You don’t really expect me to believe you and Harry were behind all our great ideas, do you?”
“Of course not,” she said, biting back laughter at the way Ron was able to help her turn away from her fears. “To be honest, I’m fairly sure that was the first clever idea any of us ever had.”
“There was the time the three of you decided to steal from my storeroom,” Severus spoke as he put the Pensieve back and made certain to leave the room as it had last looked. If someone found a way into the Headmaster’s office it would at least look undisturbed.
“We did?” Ron asked.
“Twice. Second year and fourth year.”
“Fourth year wasn’t us actually,” Hermione said with a grin as they headed towards the door. Since he was no longer her professor, Hermione found a fierce joy in letting him know what they’d actually gotten away with. “Dobby the house elf did that.”
“And what did you do with the ingredients during your second year?”
They were in the hallway then, wands out and ready to protect themselves. The halls were still quiet but in the distance there was noise. Umbridge had probably called the students into the great hall to make sure they were all accounted for.
“Polyjuice potion.”
“You made polyjuice potion during second year?” Severus asked. The look he gave her was tinged with respect and she smiled again.
“Yes, in the girls lavatory. Harry and Ron were certain Draco was the heir of Slytherin so they took the place of Crabbe and Goyle to question him.”
Severus actually let out a small laugh and Hermione wondered how they could be smiling at a time like this but she felt her spirits lift as they walked towards the halls to the Room of Requirement.
**
“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” Neville asked as Ron told them what they were looking for. Harry and Draco had just walked in and the entire room was listening to Ron and Neville.
“None at all. It’s going to be something small. Hufflepuff had a cup. Slytherin had an amulet. There’s been a ring and a diary. It could be anything but it would have had significance to the head of Ravenclaw,” Ron said as Harry came to stand beside him.
“Do we have any Ravenclaws here?” Harry called out.
A young girl came forward and smiled shyly. “I am.” She was followed by a handful of younger students.
“Is there anything you can think of that fits? Some artifact that Ravenclaw would have celebrated.”
“We don’t celebrate anything, though there is something,” she looked like she was afraid to speak of it but Harry and Ron both encouraged her. “There is something we lost; the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. It was supposed to make the wearer cleverer. It’s been lost for ages.”
“That’s it. It had to be. Now, what the hell is a diadem?” Ron asked.
“A tiara,” a voice called out from behind them. Harry turned to greet the new voice and Ron stared at the thin wisp of a girl with long blond hair and an expression that made him think there were things being said that no one else could hear.
“Luna,” Harry said, hugging the girl close. Luna smiled at them as if their friendship was unexpected. Ron had heard of her more than once and he was glad to see Harry and Hermione’s fondness had matched her impression.
“The diadem was lost and no one has seen it in years.”
“We need to find it.”
“Maybe not,” Ron said softly. “You said the Room of Requirements not only gives you what you need, but that it creates doorways to where you need to go. Why not just go there?”
“That’s brilliant,” Hermione said again.
“Still doubt that I’m the brains of this operation?” Ron asked.
Hermione laughed and Severus came up behind her, smiling but with a group of people behind him. Some he knew and some he didn’t. An older witch came forward and Harry and Hermione both seemed to defer to her.
“Potter, what do you need?”
“Professor McGonagall,” Harry said with a deep sigh. “We just need time. We’ve got to find the horcrux so we can put an end to all this.”
“A ho- we’ll do what we can, Potter.”
She began ordering people around, students and adults alike. As they began to move, Remus and Sirius came after them, along with Ron’s family. Even Percy stood before them and Ron hoped that whatever else happened tonight, his brother gained the forgiveness from his family that he needed. Without it, Percy would never be able to admit the wrongs he’d done them.
“Did you really think you were going to do this alone?” Remus asked.
Harry was already charging towards the door to go to the Room of Requirements and Ron smiled at the werewolf. “We were trying, though Master Snape made sure we failed miserably.”
“You should be grateful,” Sirius said, barely hiding the anger in his tone.
“Did you expect him to do any different?” Ron asked as they followed after Harry. “You have years of memories and I have only the last six months. How did I see this coming and you didn’t?”
Remus gave him a small smile. “Very true, Ron. What do we need to do here?”
“We need a basilisk fang.”
“Or the sword of Gryffindor,” Hermione put in as they walked.
“What?”
“The sword absorbed the poison of the basilisk fang when Harry used it in the Chamber of Secrets.”
“Great. You don’t happen to have the sword of Gryffindor lying around, do you?” Ron asked Remus.
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“A basilisk fang we can find though,” Sirius said. “Dumbledore had one in his office, didn’t he?”
“Let’s find out,” Remus answered.
The two were off running then, and Ron had to speed up to keep with Harry and Hermione. When they reached the room, they had to wait for the doorway to appear and Severus turned Ron towards him. “I have to do what I can to help the others. Stay with Harry and Draco and be careful.”
Ron nodded but pulled Severus closer until he could grace him with a chaste kiss. “You too. I plan on ending this tonight so I can spend the rest of my life forgetting about it.”
Severus took a step back and Ron fought the need to follow him. Severus was all the safety Ron could remember, but Harry and Hermione and Draco were a part of that too now. Along with Remus and Sirius, they were the family he knew and cared for and he knew they’d all watch each other’s backs.
“We’ll find him when this is done,” Draco promised.
Ron nodded as he gave Draco a small smile. They were both facing off against incredible personal darkness with the people they loved in the balance. There was no one who understood what Ron was going through and at that moment there was no one else he trusted more at his side.
“Think anyone could have ever seen this coming, Malfoy?” Ron asked. “You and me, going into a battle together?”
Draco smiled. “Only against one another. We should show them just how wrong they were to think we’d never be friends.”
Ron smiled grimly. “We’ll show the Death Eaters how wrong they were to keep us alive.”
**
Finding the diadem was anticlimactic after all of that, but as they left the Room of Requirements they were met with screaming and the taste of magic in the air.
The building shook with tremors and they knew the Death Eaters and the Order had come face to face. Harry threw the diadem to Ron and pushed Draco towards him. “Find Sirius and destroy it.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find Nagini,” Harry said, running off down the stairs.
“You don’t have a way to kill the snake!” Ron shouted out after him.
“Find me after you destroy that thing!”
Before Ron could respond, Draco pushed him down as a curse flew over them. They both spun at the same time, wands ready for the three Death eaters who came after them.
Ron let out a counter-curse to stop the next attack as Draco sent a curse back at them. Two of them were hit and fell to the floor convulsing. Ron followed Draco’s attack with another and their third opponent was unconscious.
“Nice work,” Draco admired.
“Let’s find the others,” Ron said, running away from their battle to find what he needed.
**
Severus swept through the castle, tossing curse and counter-curses as he could. He knew the Dark Lord was close, hiding somewhere until he could be drawn out. Snape didn’t stay in one place long as he worked, knowing that once the Dark Lord found him he would come to repay Severus for his years of false service.
**
“What the hell does a basilisk fang look like?” Sirius demanded as they stood at the edge of Dumbledore’s office. The cabinet before them had more than one fang and they didn’t know that they were looking for.
“I say we take a page from Harry’s book,” Remus said. He faced the cabinet and held his hand out. “Accio basilisk fang.”
To Sirius’ immense surprise, the fang shot out of the cabinet and landed in his lover’s hand.
“Well I’ll be damned.”
**
The main doors of the castle broke open with such force that Draco thought they’d been broken off. A haze of dust and debris clouded his vision for a moment but then Hagrid was followed into Hogwarts by the rest of the Order.
“A little late Flannigan?” Draco taunted the former Gryffindor.
“I like to make a grand entrance,” he said, muttering a curse at a Death Eater before he could attack them.
“Good choice then,” Ron said, spinning to deliver a killing blow to one of their enemies.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Ron,” the other boy said.
Ron didn’t have time to make explanations but Draco didn’t need to hear the next words to know the truth. He’d seen it in Ron’s eyes when the Death Eater revealed himself.
“We have history.”
**
“Ron!”
Ron turned in time to see Remus and Sirius cutting a path towards them. The Death Eaters had come to the school’s call in droves and it would have terrified Ron to see so many of them there if he hadn’t already known so many people were dark at heart.
“We have it,” Remus pulled the fang from his jacket and handed it to Ron. “Where can we do this?”
Ron knelt down on the floor there in the middle of the battle and felt Draco, Remus, and Sirius enclose him in a circle. The circle grew slightly as Luna and Neville joined them and Ron was able to have a little room to work.
**
Harry found what he needed just in time to watch Severus come into the great hall and he knew then that their professor had come for this exact reason. Other than Harry, there was no other person who could bring Voldemort out of the shadows.
He saw Nagini trailing close behind Voldemort. Harry just needed some way to kill it.
“We have to help him,” Hermione said, pointing to Severus. “Ron would never survive if something happened to him.”
Harry opened his mouth to say something, but pain shook him to the core, knocking his knees out from under him and it was only Hermione’s quick reflexes that kept him from falling completely.
“Harry?”
He heard her fear but all Harry could see was Ron, the fang in hand as he destroyed the diadem.
One left.
And… whatever else he had to do to see this done.
**
As soon as the fang struck the diadem, black smoke began to rise from it. It seemed to envelope Ron completely, leaving him in the darkness by himself. He fought the rising panic as he was cut off from the others. He knew he wasn’t. Rationally he knew he was still in the middle of the fight but nothing seemed to move around him and sound was muffled as if it was far away.
Ron closed his eyes, trying to gather himself together but the darkness behind his eyes gave way to screams in the back of his head; his memories played out on loop as it was every night when he tried to sleep.
He was falling, unable to move from the darkness and unable to save himself when a gust of wind came through, tearing away the dark cloud with it.
Ron looked up to the smiling faces of the twins.
“Always knew a portable tornado would be handy,” one of them said. Fred, he thought.
“Never know when a little chaos will turn your day into an extravagant event,” George answered.
They didn’t stay with him, but moved on to the next target, but Ron was more than grateful for their interference. Draco was there a second later, pulling Ron up off his knees.
“We need to find Harry,” Draco shouted over the din of battle.
Ron gripped the basilisk fang tight. “Let’s get on that then.”
**
“Severus!”
The battle seemed to still as Voldemort himself shouted.
Severus Snape had been waiting for this day for almost nineteen years and he had never wanted it as fiercely as he did now. He had suffered silently for years because of Lily’s death but it was Ron’s face that flashed before him now when he thought of vengeance.
“Lord Voldemort,” Severus said, bowing slightly to the dark wizard.
Severus had no thought of surviving this duel. He simply hoped to give Harry and Ron the time to complete their task. Ron would mend without him, no matter what the others thought. If Ron survived and Severus didn’t, Ron would find a note waiting for him back in their room. With it was a draught that would bond Ron to another, someone who could care for him if he was too damaged to do it himself. It came with explicit instructions to survive him, no matter what else happened. He couldn’t stay out of this fight and it was all he could do to insure that Ron lived if he didn’t.
“Why Severus?” Voldemort asked, his head cocked to the side slightly as he looked to the man who had been his faithful servant for so long.
It was time to put all the cards on the table. “Because you killed her.”
“Her?” Voldemort stared at him for a moment before he smiled. “Her? A woman? Oh Severus, tell me you didn’t betray me for something as inane as love?”
“You will never understand the depths of pain you caused because you can never feel love,” Severus answered. “You will never overcome the Order because you will never fight for what you love.”
“Who was this woman that could make you betray your master, Severus?”
“Lily Potter.”
**
Harry heard the name and almost lost his head to it. Literally, Hermione pushed him to the ground before a jinx took his head.
“Did you-”
“Not now, Harry,” Hermione said as she pushed him again. “We need to get down there. Ron used the fang so it’s just the snake. He’ll have the fang down there for us.”
“Yeah, I just.”
“Later, I promise.” She threw them both behind a wall and kissed him quickly before pulling him towards the door.
**
The battle was in full flame before Ron found Harry and Hermione again. “I have it,” he said, holding it out to Harry.
“We saw the smoke. Are you alright?” Hermione asked Ron.
“Fine. What do we do now?”
“Severus has Voldemort occupied. We might be able to sneak up on the snake now,” Draco said.
“Let’s go then.”
**
“You are not worth my wand, Severus. You had everything you could have wanted. I gave you power and importance. I gave you a future. I even gave you a pet to call your own,” the Dark Lord sneered. “What happened to him, Severus? Was he too used for you before I handed him over? Was he too broken?”
Severus knew he was being baited but after so long in the Dark Lord’s service it was freeing to be able to speak his mind. Even if it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
“Don’t speak of him, you filth.”
Eyes widened, Voldemort stopped pacing back and forth to stare at Severus.
“It cannot be. You, you care for this pet. I understand the affection that comes with a pet,” he said as Nagini moved into his hand, “but I would never be stupid enough to fall in love with one. Oh Severus, that is a beautiful sentiment and utterly pathetic.”
**
Neville hid behind the teacher’s table that had been shattered and thrown against the wall, trying to get a clear shot at the Death Eaters. There were so many people in the fight that it was hard to keep up on what was happening. Most eyes were at least partially turned towards Snape and Voldemort though. Neville scrambled back as a stray bolt almost hit him and found himself staring at the hard metal edge of a sword handle. It was almost enough to make him forget where he was, but the sword was there, coming out of the sorting hat, just when Neville needed something.
He took the sword in hand and crept out further from his hiding place. Snape seemed to notice him and Neville thought he’d even nodded faintly in his direction. He had no idea what would happen next, but he was ready.
**
“If you’re planning on killing me, just do it,” Severus said as he tried to draw Voldemort back into action. His need to taunt Severus could back fire and let him get the upper hand on Severus and he was already more than aware of the Dark Lord’s strengths in this fight.
“I think the pleasure will go to my pet,” Voldemort said with glee. “And when she is done with you, my dearest Nagini will kill your pet as well.”
Nagini slithered closer and Severus hoped everything was ready. He struck quickly, not against the Dark Lord, but at the snake, causing Nagini to fly across the room to where Longbottom was waiting.
The boy didn’t miss the opportunity and he sliced at the snake’s head before she could land.
“No!” Voldemort screamed as the death of his pet but turned dark eyes on Severus. “Avada Kedavra!”
Severus was braced for the curse and he had a moment to hope that Ron wasn’t there watching, when he felt a body pushing him away. He fell to the floor and looked up in surprise as Potter was hit by the Unforgiveable Curse.
**
Ron stared for a second at the place Harry had been standing before he reached for Hermione. Her shock lasted only a moment longer than his and she screamed Harry’s name, reaching for him though Ron blocked her path. Voldemort stared in wonder at Harry’s crumpled body. Ron didn’t have time to wonder if Severus had been injured because Voldemort turned to face them.
“Oh, my dear Pet,” he said, his smile as joyless and false as it ever had been. “Harry Potter is dead and Severus will follow him soon.” As he spoke, he pointed his wand to the other wizard and pulled him up into the air. “What will you do, I wonder, without Severus to protect you? What else will you give up of yourself?”
“You can’t have him,” Hermione said behind him. He felt her hand in his and he felt the strength there. She might be grieving for Harry but she would never let it overcome her during this fight. “You don’t know it is to fight for something worth fighting for. We will never bow down to you and we will never give up.”
“Even with Potter dead?”
“We will all die gladly to stop you,” Draco said from behind Voldemort. He didn’t waste another word as he aimed a curse at the Dark Lord. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but it caused him to let go of Severus and Ron and Hermione scrambled to his side. Neville was there, standing with the sword of Gryffindor, between the Dark Lord and Harry’s body.
“This is almost amusing,” Voldemort said, “but I am tired of these delays.”
“You’re really going to hate this one then,” Harry said, standing up and pushing Neville behind him. “You and me, Voldemort.”
“As it was always meant to be.”
**
Harry was still reeling in pain. His body ached from deep within and he knew it was what Dumbledore had feared all along; Harry was a horcrux and the only way he’d been able to kill that part of Voldemort was to let the wizard do it himself. He’d like to think given enough time he’d have realized that the killing curse would only kill the part of Voldemort that needed killing, but Harry’s life had been spared without any thought of his. All he had known was that Severus was going to die and he couldn’t let that happen to Ron. He’d thrown himself in front of his former professor and believed it would end him in a final sacrifice fitting of his parent’s legacy to him.
Instead, he felt every nerve on fire as he sat on the floor, motionless and unable to do anything more than breath. Hearing the others had given him the strength to stand again and he had. Hearing them, he’d felt the truth of the magic that had saved his life all those years ago.
He staggered in front of his friends, demanding a fight and Voldemort bowed willingly, ready to deliver what he thought was the final blow.
“It’s never just you, Harry,” a voice said beside him. He didn’t turn his head but he could feel Ron’s chest bumping against his back. “It’s what he’s never understood. You are never alone, Harry.”
Hermione was at his other side then and when he turned his head he could see Draco next to her. Looking at Ron, he wasn’t surprised to see Severus behind him or Neville and Luna standing next to their professor. Professor McGonagall and the others from the Order filled in around them and Harry could have laughed except he feared they would all die beside him tonight. Remus and Sirius were there as well, directly behind his best friend and lovers.
Voldemort stood utterly alone in the chaos of lifeless bodied and fallen stone. There were Death Eaters behind him, but none dared to stand close to him in his moment of triumph.
When Voldemort raised his wand, the killing curse on his lips, Harry closed his eyes and felt the press of his friends and family; the people he loved and who loved him were with him as much as Voldemort always had been. The Dark Lord may have hidden a tiny piece of his soul inside Harry, but it was miniscule in comparison to the gifts of love and laughter from the Weasley family and Remus and Sirius. The faith Ron had in him, the utter devotion he showed before he had been captured and tonight - even without years of memories to fall back on - gave Harry the strength to open his eyes and watch Voldemort’s magic begin to unfold. The love of Hermione and Draco, their acceptance and the hard fought bond between them gave him the strength to hold his wand up and let loose with his own magic.
It was wordless, without thought and without intention, except that Harry let the love and faith and hope of his loved ones fill him and guide him, hoping to protect and serve them as they had so often helped and served his goals.
The blast of the competing magics was staggering and Harry couldn’t see past the negative afterimage in his mind. The battle coursed through him though and he knew if he gave in that he would die this time. He didn’t know if it would end with him or if the others would die alongside him but he refused to doubt.
Love was the magic that Voldemort couldn’t understand. Love was the magic that he couldn’t undo. It was the one magic that could undo him though.
He felt the way the power tried to push towards him, trying to reach him against the racing current of his own magic. It moved forward little by little, but then it began to recede. Harry opened himself more to the people around him, the memories of his time with the Order, of his time at Hogwarts. He thought about Ron and the memories he’d sacrificed to keep them all safe when they had unknowingly abandoned him. Of the sacrifice he was making now if Harry failed somehow.
“No!” Harry screamed the word and he felt his power respond. It wasn’t vengeance or pain, but the need to protect and love. It wasn’t just his love, it wasn’t just his magic. It was the light of every person in that room who loved and cherished and hoped. He threw it all at Voldemort and felt the rebounding echoes of pain as Voldemort crumpled under the weight of a power he could never understand.
Harry stumbled forward as he let go of his magic. There was nothing pushing at him and he nearly fell but Ron’s hands were holding him up. He turned to look at the other man and found his curious, concerned frown watching him.
“Alright, Harry?”
“Yeah Ron, I’m alright.”
It was silent for a moment before a cry of victory went up among the survivors. A second later and chaos exploded again as some of the Death Eaters tried to run while others began sending curses into the mass of people before them.
Harry felt numb but he pulled himself up until he was standing on his own two feet again. Students were running into the room screaming as Death Eaters drove them away from the security of the hall Umbridge had kept them in.
The woman herself came into the room, scowl in place and pink robes perfectly settled around her. Harry wanted to do something, say something to warn the others but before he could do anything, McGonagall was there, facing off against her.
There was too much else happening for him to follow. He saw Bellatrix Lestrange fighting the Weasley women and a group of werewolves were being held off by Remus and Arthur and his sons. Sirius was chasing Pettigrew but Harry barely had the power to stay upright.
“I’ve got you,” Ron said as Harry stumbled again. “No worries, mate. I’ve got you.”
Harry wasn’t sure what Ron expected to happen when he said it, but he doubted it was the way the world went black and Harry fell into the darkness.
**
It took two days to get the remaining Deatheaters out of Hogwarts, to find the last of the traps that had been left behind, but Ron hadn’t been there for that. Instead, he’d been in the infirmary sitting at Harry’s side. They had plenty of people coming out of the woodworks to help now that the Dark Lord was gone and Ron had stayed with Draco and Severus to make sure the infirmary was safe.
It was perhaps the most dangerous place in the school those first few hours and he was glad that so many people had come to defend his friends, but he was grateful for the quiet now.
Remus and the rest of the Order were working tirelessly to get the rest of the wizarding world under control. The Ministry needed to be reestablished and the Deatheaters taken from there as well but it would take far longer than two days to clear that mess up.
Harry complained, again, about his bed-ridden state but Madam Pomphrey ignored his complaints once again.
“Harry,” Draco sat on the side of the bed and sighed. “If you don’t stop complaining she’s going to give you some awful tasting concoction that will make you lose your voice.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Fourth year,” Draco said with a knowing nod. “After that Quidditch match. I couldn’t speak for a whole day before she gave me the antidote and let me leave.”
Harry laughed and Ron joined them, though the look Draco gave Ron made him doubt that it had actually happened.
“Suppose that’s what you get for being such a git back then,” Harry smirked.
“Maybe, but you don’t seem to mind me so much now.”
Harry cupped Draco’s face and Ron watched Draco’s surprise as Harry kissed him softly in front of the whole Infirmary full of people. There were plenty of gasps but Ron felt a pair of eyes on the back of his neck and he looked over his shoulder to see Severus watching them. Ron smiled at him but stayed where he was, as much as he wanted to make his own public declaration.
It wasn’t right still. He knew that. He was still too dependent on Severus to make this more public than it was. No one would accept how much he loved the other man until he could stand on his own two feet better, but he could see that Severus knew. When Ron looked away, he could see it in the eyes of his family too.
His mum even gave him a small smile, as if she might be happy for him.
Three days since Ron had remembered the horcruxes and Dumbledore’s list. Three days to defeat the Dark Lord. Three days and Ron felt like he’d finally begun to heal the way Severus had always said he would.
Hermione came into the room, face forlorn and dirt streaking her hands and face. He didn’t know what she’d seen but she went straight to Harry’s bedside and sat heavily.
“They tried to burn the books but apparently they were bespelled and fought back. The library. It will take years to get it all organized again.”
Ron had the sudden flash of memory, a young woman with a heart bigger than her brains but she hadn’t known it yet. A young man with more courage than he could possibly survive on his own. Ron, his own loyalty already woven into them both though he hadn’t known it yet. He felt a rush of affection for them both, as he had back then.
He looked at Harry and smiled in a way that made Harry gasp. “She really needs to sort out her priorities.”
“Ron?” Harry looked at him in surprise and Ron smiled.
“Just a little bit. That’s it. It’s something though, right? It was real?”
“Yeah,” Harry said with a nod as he reached a hand out to hold onto Ron’s arm. “It was a good memory.”
Hermione’s eyes widened and Ron felt a deeper connection to them than he had before. Like he was remembering them, even if he didn’t remember all the events that had led up to now.
“What memory was that?” Draco asked as he pulled up next to the bed.
Harry started to talk about their first year then, about the time they’d accidently met a three headed dog and Ron listened, most of it unknown to him as well. There was laughter then as people began to recount their own adventures at Hogwarts.
Ron backed away after a few minutes. He enjoyed the levity of the moment, but he had shared all he could. Most of his memories were terrible and dark. It lightened his spirit to know there had been good memories once upon a time though.
“It’s just a step,” Severus said as he stood beside Ron. “There will be many more to come.”
“I might not ever remember it all, I know that. I’m not going to dwell on it. They weren’t happy memories, but this fight was a good one and I’m proud to have those memories,” he said as he looked at Severus. “I’m proud to be here with you. I know you took me in when you had no reason to. You never said it, but I’ve heard enough to know that you had no reason to like me, let alone to put your life on the line as you did. I’m still not as strong as I need to be, but I’m going to get there. And when I am? They’ll know how much I love you. They’ll see how loved I have been.”
“Ron,” Severus shook his head. “I don’t need them to see it. I already know.”
“I sacrificed a lifetime of memories to protect the people I love. I want to make the most of what life I have left making new, better ones. I don’t suppose you could help me with that? Master?”
He used the title teasingly and while part of him was aghast at his own cheek, Severus did the most amazing thing. He laughed. There was no bitterness and no false tone to it. He laughed out of amusement and joy and Ron couldn’t help but follow.
“Oh, my pet,” Severus used the tone with the same teasing quality and Ron settled closer into his side. “We will make so many memories you couldn’t possibly keep them, not if you stored them in a hundred pensieves.”
When Ron looked at his friends, his family, he knew he could finally find peace. He couldn’t undo what had been done and there would always be dark memories, but there was no darkness without light.
Ron’s sacrifice of memory had made him into a pet. If he’d been anything else, he would never have heard what they needed to overthrow the Dark Lord. He and the others were safe now. He had Severus to continue to guide him in his recovery and he had Draco and Harry and Hermione.
It was a sacrifice of memory that brought him here and he didn’t regret it for one moment.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Relationships: Snape/Ron, Harry/Hermione/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Warnings/Content Notes: PTSD, past non-con, torture, AU from book 5 onward.
Summary: In the end, Hogwarts wasn't the place of safety they all thought it was. Dumbledore was defeated in the castle before Harry and his friends could complete their fifth year, and the rest of the wizarding world is in chaos. Those not sworn to the Dark Lord by fervent belief have taken the Dark Mark to protect those they love. England is a wizarding battleground and the entire country is a shadow of what it once was. But not all hope is lost.
The Order of the Phoenix is still fighting. Under Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, the Order strives to find a way to weaken the Dark Lord and end his reign. When the Order gets word from an agent inside the Dark Lord's ranks, they think they might get the break they've been waiting for. Instead, they find one of their own, thought dead year before. Ron Weasley was tortured and used as a Death Eater play thing and only the quick thinking of Severus Snape kept him alive. While Harry and Hermione try to heal their broken friend, they find out that Ron isn't as broken as they thought and that he just might be the break they were looking for after all.
Hermione felt as if her lungs were filled with cool spring air as she lifted her head out of the former Headmaster’s memories. She struggled for a moment before she looked at Severus and Ron. “Do you understand what Dumbledore was getting at?” she asked Severus.
She had an idea of what he was trying to say - an idea that terrified her to the core - and she prayed it was wrong. The look in Severus’ eye told her she wasn’t.
“He believes Harry to be the seventh horcrux that Voldemort didn’t mean to make,” Severus said softly.
She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “He can’t die. No, not after all this.”
She felt pieces of herself falling apart at the thought of it. She’d lost Ron. She loved the man she was getting to know but he wasn’t the same boy she’d fallen for all those years ago; dirt-smudged nose and a funny little smile that was always waiting. She had Draco and Harry now and she couldn’t lose either of them.
“Granger,” Severus took her by the arm. “I have not spent the last nine years protecting him from the Dark Lord to fail now. There are some things the Dark Lord cannot ever understand and those will be his undoing. Have faith in your friends, Hermione.”
When Severus stepped away, she felt other arms wrapped around her and the fact that Ron had come to comfort her shocked her out of her fears. She took a quick breath before drying her eyes and stepping away. “I’m fine,” she said softly. “He’s right. We have to keep going. I can’t sit her worrying about what might happen.”
Ron gave her a small smile. “Let’s go then. Harry will head back to Gryffindor when he’s done.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Beat him there. Dumbledore said we needed something from Ravenclaw. Let’s find a Ravenclaw and ask.”
“Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because I’m the brains of this outfit.” Hermione laughed at Ron’s words and Ron smiled back at her. “You don’t really expect me to believe you and Harry were behind all our great ideas, do you?”
“Of course not,” she said, biting back laughter at the way Ron was able to help her turn away from her fears. “To be honest, I’m fairly sure that was the first clever idea any of us ever had.”
“There was the time the three of you decided to steal from my storeroom,” Severus spoke as he put the Pensieve back and made certain to leave the room as it had last looked. If someone found a way into the Headmaster’s office it would at least look undisturbed.
“We did?” Ron asked.
“Twice. Second year and fourth year.”
“Fourth year wasn’t us actually,” Hermione said with a grin as they headed towards the door. Since he was no longer her professor, Hermione found a fierce joy in letting him know what they’d actually gotten away with. “Dobby the house elf did that.”
“And what did you do with the ingredients during your second year?”
They were in the hallway then, wands out and ready to protect themselves. The halls were still quiet but in the distance there was noise. Umbridge had probably called the students into the great hall to make sure they were all accounted for.
“Polyjuice potion.”
“You made polyjuice potion during second year?” Severus asked. The look he gave her was tinged with respect and she smiled again.
“Yes, in the girls lavatory. Harry and Ron were certain Draco was the heir of Slytherin so they took the place of Crabbe and Goyle to question him.”
Severus actually let out a small laugh and Hermione wondered how they could be smiling at a time like this but she felt her spirits lift as they walked towards the halls to the Room of Requirement.
**
“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” Neville asked as Ron told them what they were looking for. Harry and Draco had just walked in and the entire room was listening to Ron and Neville.
“None at all. It’s going to be something small. Hufflepuff had a cup. Slytherin had an amulet. There’s been a ring and a diary. It could be anything but it would have had significance to the head of Ravenclaw,” Ron said as Harry came to stand beside him.
“Do we have any Ravenclaws here?” Harry called out.
A young girl came forward and smiled shyly. “I am.” She was followed by a handful of younger students.
“Is there anything you can think of that fits? Some artifact that Ravenclaw would have celebrated.”
“We don’t celebrate anything, though there is something,” she looked like she was afraid to speak of it but Harry and Ron both encouraged her. “There is something we lost; the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. It was supposed to make the wearer cleverer. It’s been lost for ages.”
“That’s it. It had to be. Now, what the hell is a diadem?” Ron asked.
“A tiara,” a voice called out from behind them. Harry turned to greet the new voice and Ron stared at the thin wisp of a girl with long blond hair and an expression that made him think there were things being said that no one else could hear.
“Luna,” Harry said, hugging the girl close. Luna smiled at them as if their friendship was unexpected. Ron had heard of her more than once and he was glad to see Harry and Hermione’s fondness had matched her impression.
“The diadem was lost and no one has seen it in years.”
“We need to find it.”
“Maybe not,” Ron said softly. “You said the Room of Requirements not only gives you what you need, but that it creates doorways to where you need to go. Why not just go there?”
“That’s brilliant,” Hermione said again.
“Still doubt that I’m the brains of this operation?” Ron asked.
Hermione laughed and Severus came up behind her, smiling but with a group of people behind him. Some he knew and some he didn’t. An older witch came forward and Harry and Hermione both seemed to defer to her.
“Potter, what do you need?”
“Professor McGonagall,” Harry said with a deep sigh. “We just need time. We’ve got to find the horcrux so we can put an end to all this.”
“A ho- we’ll do what we can, Potter.”
She began ordering people around, students and adults alike. As they began to move, Remus and Sirius came after them, along with Ron’s family. Even Percy stood before them and Ron hoped that whatever else happened tonight, his brother gained the forgiveness from his family that he needed. Without it, Percy would never be able to admit the wrongs he’d done them.
“Did you really think you were going to do this alone?” Remus asked.
Harry was already charging towards the door to go to the Room of Requirements and Ron smiled at the werewolf. “We were trying, though Master Snape made sure we failed miserably.”
“You should be grateful,” Sirius said, barely hiding the anger in his tone.
“Did you expect him to do any different?” Ron asked as they followed after Harry. “You have years of memories and I have only the last six months. How did I see this coming and you didn’t?”
Remus gave him a small smile. “Very true, Ron. What do we need to do here?”
“We need a basilisk fang.”
“Or the sword of Gryffindor,” Hermione put in as they walked.
“What?”
“The sword absorbed the poison of the basilisk fang when Harry used it in the Chamber of Secrets.”
“Great. You don’t happen to have the sword of Gryffindor lying around, do you?” Ron asked Remus.
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“A basilisk fang we can find though,” Sirius said. “Dumbledore had one in his office, didn’t he?”
“Let’s find out,” Remus answered.
The two were off running then, and Ron had to speed up to keep with Harry and Hermione. When they reached the room, they had to wait for the doorway to appear and Severus turned Ron towards him. “I have to do what I can to help the others. Stay with Harry and Draco and be careful.”
Ron nodded but pulled Severus closer until he could grace him with a chaste kiss. “You too. I plan on ending this tonight so I can spend the rest of my life forgetting about it.”
Severus took a step back and Ron fought the need to follow him. Severus was all the safety Ron could remember, but Harry and Hermione and Draco were a part of that too now. Along with Remus and Sirius, they were the family he knew and cared for and he knew they’d all watch each other’s backs.
“We’ll find him when this is done,” Draco promised.
Ron nodded as he gave Draco a small smile. They were both facing off against incredible personal darkness with the people they loved in the balance. There was no one who understood what Ron was going through and at that moment there was no one else he trusted more at his side.
“Think anyone could have ever seen this coming, Malfoy?” Ron asked. “You and me, going into a battle together?”
Draco smiled. “Only against one another. We should show them just how wrong they were to think we’d never be friends.”
Ron smiled grimly. “We’ll show the Death Eaters how wrong they were to keep us alive.”
**
Finding the diadem was anticlimactic after all of that, but as they left the Room of Requirements they were met with screaming and the taste of magic in the air.
The building shook with tremors and they knew the Death Eaters and the Order had come face to face. Harry threw the diadem to Ron and pushed Draco towards him. “Find Sirius and destroy it.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find Nagini,” Harry said, running off down the stairs.
“You don’t have a way to kill the snake!” Ron shouted out after him.
“Find me after you destroy that thing!”
Before Ron could respond, Draco pushed him down as a curse flew over them. They both spun at the same time, wands ready for the three Death eaters who came after them.
Ron let out a counter-curse to stop the next attack as Draco sent a curse back at them. Two of them were hit and fell to the floor convulsing. Ron followed Draco’s attack with another and their third opponent was unconscious.
“Nice work,” Draco admired.
“Let’s find the others,” Ron said, running away from their battle to find what he needed.
**
Severus swept through the castle, tossing curse and counter-curses as he could. He knew the Dark Lord was close, hiding somewhere until he could be drawn out. Snape didn’t stay in one place long as he worked, knowing that once the Dark Lord found him he would come to repay Severus for his years of false service.
**
“What the hell does a basilisk fang look like?” Sirius demanded as they stood at the edge of Dumbledore’s office. The cabinet before them had more than one fang and they didn’t know that they were looking for.
“I say we take a page from Harry’s book,” Remus said. He faced the cabinet and held his hand out. “Accio basilisk fang.”
To Sirius’ immense surprise, the fang shot out of the cabinet and landed in his lover’s hand.
“Well I’ll be damned.”
**
The main doors of the castle broke open with such force that Draco thought they’d been broken off. A haze of dust and debris clouded his vision for a moment but then Hagrid was followed into Hogwarts by the rest of the Order.
“A little late Flannigan?” Draco taunted the former Gryffindor.
“I like to make a grand entrance,” he said, muttering a curse at a Death Eater before he could attack them.
“Good choice then,” Ron said, spinning to deliver a killing blow to one of their enemies.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Ron,” the other boy said.
Ron didn’t have time to make explanations but Draco didn’t need to hear the next words to know the truth. He’d seen it in Ron’s eyes when the Death Eater revealed himself.
“We have history.”
**
“Ron!”
Ron turned in time to see Remus and Sirius cutting a path towards them. The Death Eaters had come to the school’s call in droves and it would have terrified Ron to see so many of them there if he hadn’t already known so many people were dark at heart.
“We have it,” Remus pulled the fang from his jacket and handed it to Ron. “Where can we do this?”
Ron knelt down on the floor there in the middle of the battle and felt Draco, Remus, and Sirius enclose him in a circle. The circle grew slightly as Luna and Neville joined them and Ron was able to have a little room to work.
**
Harry found what he needed just in time to watch Severus come into the great hall and he knew then that their professor had come for this exact reason. Other than Harry, there was no other person who could bring Voldemort out of the shadows.
He saw Nagini trailing close behind Voldemort. Harry just needed some way to kill it.
“We have to help him,” Hermione said, pointing to Severus. “Ron would never survive if something happened to him.”
Harry opened his mouth to say something, but pain shook him to the core, knocking his knees out from under him and it was only Hermione’s quick reflexes that kept him from falling completely.
“Harry?”
He heard her fear but all Harry could see was Ron, the fang in hand as he destroyed the diadem.
One left.
And… whatever else he had to do to see this done.
**
As soon as the fang struck the diadem, black smoke began to rise from it. It seemed to envelope Ron completely, leaving him in the darkness by himself. He fought the rising panic as he was cut off from the others. He knew he wasn’t. Rationally he knew he was still in the middle of the fight but nothing seemed to move around him and sound was muffled as if it was far away.
Ron closed his eyes, trying to gather himself together but the darkness behind his eyes gave way to screams in the back of his head; his memories played out on loop as it was every night when he tried to sleep.
He was falling, unable to move from the darkness and unable to save himself when a gust of wind came through, tearing away the dark cloud with it.
Ron looked up to the smiling faces of the twins.
“Always knew a portable tornado would be handy,” one of them said. Fred, he thought.
“Never know when a little chaos will turn your day into an extravagant event,” George answered.
They didn’t stay with him, but moved on to the next target, but Ron was more than grateful for their interference. Draco was there a second later, pulling Ron up off his knees.
“We need to find Harry,” Draco shouted over the din of battle.
Ron gripped the basilisk fang tight. “Let’s get on that then.”
**
“Severus!”
The battle seemed to still as Voldemort himself shouted.
Severus Snape had been waiting for this day for almost nineteen years and he had never wanted it as fiercely as he did now. He had suffered silently for years because of Lily’s death but it was Ron’s face that flashed before him now when he thought of vengeance.
“Lord Voldemort,” Severus said, bowing slightly to the dark wizard.
Severus had no thought of surviving this duel. He simply hoped to give Harry and Ron the time to complete their task. Ron would mend without him, no matter what the others thought. If Ron survived and Severus didn’t, Ron would find a note waiting for him back in their room. With it was a draught that would bond Ron to another, someone who could care for him if he was too damaged to do it himself. It came with explicit instructions to survive him, no matter what else happened. He couldn’t stay out of this fight and it was all he could do to insure that Ron lived if he didn’t.
“Why Severus?” Voldemort asked, his head cocked to the side slightly as he looked to the man who had been his faithful servant for so long.
It was time to put all the cards on the table. “Because you killed her.”
“Her?” Voldemort stared at him for a moment before he smiled. “Her? A woman? Oh Severus, tell me you didn’t betray me for something as inane as love?”
“You will never understand the depths of pain you caused because you can never feel love,” Severus answered. “You will never overcome the Order because you will never fight for what you love.”
“Who was this woman that could make you betray your master, Severus?”
“Lily Potter.”
**
Harry heard the name and almost lost his head to it. Literally, Hermione pushed him to the ground before a jinx took his head.
“Did you-”
“Not now, Harry,” Hermione said as she pushed him again. “We need to get down there. Ron used the fang so it’s just the snake. He’ll have the fang down there for us.”
“Yeah, I just.”
“Later, I promise.” She threw them both behind a wall and kissed him quickly before pulling him towards the door.
**
The battle was in full flame before Ron found Harry and Hermione again. “I have it,” he said, holding it out to Harry.
“We saw the smoke. Are you alright?” Hermione asked Ron.
“Fine. What do we do now?”
“Severus has Voldemort occupied. We might be able to sneak up on the snake now,” Draco said.
“Let’s go then.”
**
“You are not worth my wand, Severus. You had everything you could have wanted. I gave you power and importance. I gave you a future. I even gave you a pet to call your own,” the Dark Lord sneered. “What happened to him, Severus? Was he too used for you before I handed him over? Was he too broken?”
Severus knew he was being baited but after so long in the Dark Lord’s service it was freeing to be able to speak his mind. Even if it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
“Don’t speak of him, you filth.”
Eyes widened, Voldemort stopped pacing back and forth to stare at Severus.
“It cannot be. You, you care for this pet. I understand the affection that comes with a pet,” he said as Nagini moved into his hand, “but I would never be stupid enough to fall in love with one. Oh Severus, that is a beautiful sentiment and utterly pathetic.”
**
Neville hid behind the teacher’s table that had been shattered and thrown against the wall, trying to get a clear shot at the Death Eaters. There were so many people in the fight that it was hard to keep up on what was happening. Most eyes were at least partially turned towards Snape and Voldemort though. Neville scrambled back as a stray bolt almost hit him and found himself staring at the hard metal edge of a sword handle. It was almost enough to make him forget where he was, but the sword was there, coming out of the sorting hat, just when Neville needed something.
He took the sword in hand and crept out further from his hiding place. Snape seemed to notice him and Neville thought he’d even nodded faintly in his direction. He had no idea what would happen next, but he was ready.
**
“If you’re planning on killing me, just do it,” Severus said as he tried to draw Voldemort back into action. His need to taunt Severus could back fire and let him get the upper hand on Severus and he was already more than aware of the Dark Lord’s strengths in this fight.
“I think the pleasure will go to my pet,” Voldemort said with glee. “And when she is done with you, my dearest Nagini will kill your pet as well.”
Nagini slithered closer and Severus hoped everything was ready. He struck quickly, not against the Dark Lord, but at the snake, causing Nagini to fly across the room to where Longbottom was waiting.
The boy didn’t miss the opportunity and he sliced at the snake’s head before she could land.
“No!” Voldemort screamed as the death of his pet but turned dark eyes on Severus. “Avada Kedavra!”
Severus was braced for the curse and he had a moment to hope that Ron wasn’t there watching, when he felt a body pushing him away. He fell to the floor and looked up in surprise as Potter was hit by the Unforgiveable Curse.
**
Ron stared for a second at the place Harry had been standing before he reached for Hermione. Her shock lasted only a moment longer than his and she screamed Harry’s name, reaching for him though Ron blocked her path. Voldemort stared in wonder at Harry’s crumpled body. Ron didn’t have time to wonder if Severus had been injured because Voldemort turned to face them.
“Oh, my dear Pet,” he said, his smile as joyless and false as it ever had been. “Harry Potter is dead and Severus will follow him soon.” As he spoke, he pointed his wand to the other wizard and pulled him up into the air. “What will you do, I wonder, without Severus to protect you? What else will you give up of yourself?”
“You can’t have him,” Hermione said behind him. He felt her hand in his and he felt the strength there. She might be grieving for Harry but she would never let it overcome her during this fight. “You don’t know it is to fight for something worth fighting for. We will never bow down to you and we will never give up.”
“Even with Potter dead?”
“We will all die gladly to stop you,” Draco said from behind Voldemort. He didn’t waste another word as he aimed a curse at the Dark Lord. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but it caused him to let go of Severus and Ron and Hermione scrambled to his side. Neville was there, standing with the sword of Gryffindor, between the Dark Lord and Harry’s body.
“This is almost amusing,” Voldemort said, “but I am tired of these delays.”
“You’re really going to hate this one then,” Harry said, standing up and pushing Neville behind him. “You and me, Voldemort.”
“As it was always meant to be.”
**
Harry was still reeling in pain. His body ached from deep within and he knew it was what Dumbledore had feared all along; Harry was a horcrux and the only way he’d been able to kill that part of Voldemort was to let the wizard do it himself. He’d like to think given enough time he’d have realized that the killing curse would only kill the part of Voldemort that needed killing, but Harry’s life had been spared without any thought of his. All he had known was that Severus was going to die and he couldn’t let that happen to Ron. He’d thrown himself in front of his former professor and believed it would end him in a final sacrifice fitting of his parent’s legacy to him.
Instead, he felt every nerve on fire as he sat on the floor, motionless and unable to do anything more than breath. Hearing the others had given him the strength to stand again and he had. Hearing them, he’d felt the truth of the magic that had saved his life all those years ago.
He staggered in front of his friends, demanding a fight and Voldemort bowed willingly, ready to deliver what he thought was the final blow.
“It’s never just you, Harry,” a voice said beside him. He didn’t turn his head but he could feel Ron’s chest bumping against his back. “It’s what he’s never understood. You are never alone, Harry.”
Hermione was at his other side then and when he turned his head he could see Draco next to her. Looking at Ron, he wasn’t surprised to see Severus behind him or Neville and Luna standing next to their professor. Professor McGonagall and the others from the Order filled in around them and Harry could have laughed except he feared they would all die beside him tonight. Remus and Sirius were there as well, directly behind his best friend and lovers.
Voldemort stood utterly alone in the chaos of lifeless bodied and fallen stone. There were Death Eaters behind him, but none dared to stand close to him in his moment of triumph.
When Voldemort raised his wand, the killing curse on his lips, Harry closed his eyes and felt the press of his friends and family; the people he loved and who loved him were with him as much as Voldemort always had been. The Dark Lord may have hidden a tiny piece of his soul inside Harry, but it was miniscule in comparison to the gifts of love and laughter from the Weasley family and Remus and Sirius. The faith Ron had in him, the utter devotion he showed before he had been captured and tonight - even without years of memories to fall back on - gave Harry the strength to open his eyes and watch Voldemort’s magic begin to unfold. The love of Hermione and Draco, their acceptance and the hard fought bond between them gave him the strength to hold his wand up and let loose with his own magic.
It was wordless, without thought and without intention, except that Harry let the love and faith and hope of his loved ones fill him and guide him, hoping to protect and serve them as they had so often helped and served his goals.
The blast of the competing magics was staggering and Harry couldn’t see past the negative afterimage in his mind. The battle coursed through him though and he knew if he gave in that he would die this time. He didn’t know if it would end with him or if the others would die alongside him but he refused to doubt.
Love was the magic that Voldemort couldn’t understand. Love was the magic that he couldn’t undo. It was the one magic that could undo him though.
He felt the way the power tried to push towards him, trying to reach him against the racing current of his own magic. It moved forward little by little, but then it began to recede. Harry opened himself more to the people around him, the memories of his time with the Order, of his time at Hogwarts. He thought about Ron and the memories he’d sacrificed to keep them all safe when they had unknowingly abandoned him. Of the sacrifice he was making now if Harry failed somehow.
“No!” Harry screamed the word and he felt his power respond. It wasn’t vengeance or pain, but the need to protect and love. It wasn’t just his love, it wasn’t just his magic. It was the light of every person in that room who loved and cherished and hoped. He threw it all at Voldemort and felt the rebounding echoes of pain as Voldemort crumpled under the weight of a power he could never understand.
Harry stumbled forward as he let go of his magic. There was nothing pushing at him and he nearly fell but Ron’s hands were holding him up. He turned to look at the other man and found his curious, concerned frown watching him.
“Alright, Harry?”
“Yeah Ron, I’m alright.”
It was silent for a moment before a cry of victory went up among the survivors. A second later and chaos exploded again as some of the Death Eaters tried to run while others began sending curses into the mass of people before them.
Harry felt numb but he pulled himself up until he was standing on his own two feet again. Students were running into the room screaming as Death Eaters drove them away from the security of the hall Umbridge had kept them in.
The woman herself came into the room, scowl in place and pink robes perfectly settled around her. Harry wanted to do something, say something to warn the others but before he could do anything, McGonagall was there, facing off against her.
There was too much else happening for him to follow. He saw Bellatrix Lestrange fighting the Weasley women and a group of werewolves were being held off by Remus and Arthur and his sons. Sirius was chasing Pettigrew but Harry barely had the power to stay upright.
“I’ve got you,” Ron said as Harry stumbled again. “No worries, mate. I’ve got you.”
Harry wasn’t sure what Ron expected to happen when he said it, but he doubted it was the way the world went black and Harry fell into the darkness.
**
It took two days to get the remaining Deatheaters out of Hogwarts, to find the last of the traps that had been left behind, but Ron hadn’t been there for that. Instead, he’d been in the infirmary sitting at Harry’s side. They had plenty of people coming out of the woodworks to help now that the Dark Lord was gone and Ron had stayed with Draco and Severus to make sure the infirmary was safe.
It was perhaps the most dangerous place in the school those first few hours and he was glad that so many people had come to defend his friends, but he was grateful for the quiet now.
Remus and the rest of the Order were working tirelessly to get the rest of the wizarding world under control. The Ministry needed to be reestablished and the Deatheaters taken from there as well but it would take far longer than two days to clear that mess up.
Harry complained, again, about his bed-ridden state but Madam Pomphrey ignored his complaints once again.
“Harry,” Draco sat on the side of the bed and sighed. “If you don’t stop complaining she’s going to give you some awful tasting concoction that will make you lose your voice.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Fourth year,” Draco said with a knowing nod. “After that Quidditch match. I couldn’t speak for a whole day before she gave me the antidote and let me leave.”
Harry laughed and Ron joined them, though the look Draco gave Ron made him doubt that it had actually happened.
“Suppose that’s what you get for being such a git back then,” Harry smirked.
“Maybe, but you don’t seem to mind me so much now.”
Harry cupped Draco’s face and Ron watched Draco’s surprise as Harry kissed him softly in front of the whole Infirmary full of people. There were plenty of gasps but Ron felt a pair of eyes on the back of his neck and he looked over his shoulder to see Severus watching them. Ron smiled at him but stayed where he was, as much as he wanted to make his own public declaration.
It wasn’t right still. He knew that. He was still too dependent on Severus to make this more public than it was. No one would accept how much he loved the other man until he could stand on his own two feet better, but he could see that Severus knew. When Ron looked away, he could see it in the eyes of his family too.
His mum even gave him a small smile, as if she might be happy for him.
Three days since Ron had remembered the horcruxes and Dumbledore’s list. Three days to defeat the Dark Lord. Three days and Ron felt like he’d finally begun to heal the way Severus had always said he would.
Hermione came into the room, face forlorn and dirt streaking her hands and face. He didn’t know what she’d seen but she went straight to Harry’s bedside and sat heavily.
“They tried to burn the books but apparently they were bespelled and fought back. The library. It will take years to get it all organized again.”
Ron had the sudden flash of memory, a young woman with a heart bigger than her brains but she hadn’t known it yet. A young man with more courage than he could possibly survive on his own. Ron, his own loyalty already woven into them both though he hadn’t known it yet. He felt a rush of affection for them both, as he had back then.
He looked at Harry and smiled in a way that made Harry gasp. “She really needs to sort out her priorities.”
“Ron?” Harry looked at him in surprise and Ron smiled.
“Just a little bit. That’s it. It’s something though, right? It was real?”
“Yeah,” Harry said with a nod as he reached a hand out to hold onto Ron’s arm. “It was a good memory.”
Hermione’s eyes widened and Ron felt a deeper connection to them than he had before. Like he was remembering them, even if he didn’t remember all the events that had led up to now.
“What memory was that?” Draco asked as he pulled up next to the bed.
Harry started to talk about their first year then, about the time they’d accidently met a three headed dog and Ron listened, most of it unknown to him as well. There was laughter then as people began to recount their own adventures at Hogwarts.
Ron backed away after a few minutes. He enjoyed the levity of the moment, but he had shared all he could. Most of his memories were terrible and dark. It lightened his spirit to know there had been good memories once upon a time though.
“It’s just a step,” Severus said as he stood beside Ron. “There will be many more to come.”
“I might not ever remember it all, I know that. I’m not going to dwell on it. They weren’t happy memories, but this fight was a good one and I’m proud to have those memories,” he said as he looked at Severus. “I’m proud to be here with you. I know you took me in when you had no reason to. You never said it, but I’ve heard enough to know that you had no reason to like me, let alone to put your life on the line as you did. I’m still not as strong as I need to be, but I’m going to get there. And when I am? They’ll know how much I love you. They’ll see how loved I have been.”
“Ron,” Severus shook his head. “I don’t need them to see it. I already know.”
“I sacrificed a lifetime of memories to protect the people I love. I want to make the most of what life I have left making new, better ones. I don’t suppose you could help me with that? Master?”
He used the title teasingly and while part of him was aghast at his own cheek, Severus did the most amazing thing. He laughed. There was no bitterness and no false tone to it. He laughed out of amusement and joy and Ron couldn’t help but follow.
“Oh, my pet,” Severus used the tone with the same teasing quality and Ron settled closer into his side. “We will make so many memories you couldn’t possibly keep them, not if you stored them in a hundred pensieves.”
When Ron looked at his friends, his family, he knew he could finally find peace. He couldn’t undo what had been done and there would always be dark memories, but there was no darkness without light.
Ron’s sacrifice of memory had made him into a pet. If he’d been anything else, he would never have heard what they needed to overthrow the Dark Lord. He and the others were safe now. He had Severus to continue to guide him in his recovery and he had Draco and Harry and Hermione.
It was a sacrifice of memory that brought him here and he didn’t regret it for one moment.