The ground shook violently as another explosion tore through the battlefield. You barely had time to react before the blast sent you flying backward, landing hard against broken stone. Dust filled your lungs, your ears rang, and the world became a dizzy blur of smoke and chaos.

—"Ron!" you screamed, coughing, scrambling to your feet.

No answer.

Panic gripped your chest as you stumbled through the wreckage, searching desperately. His familiar shock of red hair was nowhere in sight. All you could see was rubble, craters, bodies—

Your heart broke. You fell to your knees, the overwhelming grief and terror too much to bear.

—"I loved you," you sobbed into the smoke. "I always loved you. I'm sorry I never told you—I'm so sorry—"

You pressed your forehead to the ground, the weight of your words and your loss sinking deep into your bones.

A rough hand suddenly grabbed your arm.

You gasped, jerking upright, and there he was — Ron, covered in dust and blood, but alive. Alive. His blue eyes wide, wild, locked on yours like you were the only thing left in the world.

—"I heard you," he choked out.

Before you could say anything else, he surged forward and kissed you — desperate, fierce, full of all the fear, the relief, and the love he had been carrying for far too long.

You clung to him like he might disappear again, feeling the tremble in his hands, the way he refused to let go.

—"I’m not going anywhere," he murmured against your lips. "Not now. Not ever."