Title: They Had Quality
Rating: T
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Ron/Lavender
Warnings: Character Death
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.
Word Count: 578
Summary: Ron keeps his promise.

Notes:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Diving - Forward Dive - Write about heartbreak.

Pairing the Character: Ron/Lavender

Greek Mythology Category Competition: Penthus - Write about someone dealing with the death of a loved one.

Pokemon Trading Card Collection Challenge: Mienfoo - Bronze - Write about QUALITY rather than QUANTITY.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Muggle Studies - Task 3 - Write about someone who suffers a traumatic child birth.

Lavender's body begins shaking, and the Healer yells orders that Ron doesn't understand.

"What's going on? What's wrong with my wife?"

He isn't answered. Instead, he's pushed out of the room as the healer and the medi-witches convene on Lavender's spasming body, and the door is closed in his face, preventing Ron from seeing what exactly is happening.

"Lavender!" Ron shouts, even though it's useless. He doesn't know what's going on, and that scares him more than anything.

Harry and Hermione run up to him. "What's going on?" Hermione asks.

"I...I don't know. She was shaking, and then..." he doesn't finish.

He doesn't need to, though. His best friends huddle around him in a hug, and the rest of the family comes and stands with him.

Arthur puts a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Everything will be okay. You'll see."

Ron wants to believe his dad; he wants to believe that everything will work out, but after living through the war, he knows better than believe in fairytales. A lot of bad things happen to good people, and whatever's happening right now, is bad.

And he soon finds out how right he is to not believe in fairytales. The healer comes out of the room.

"What's going on?" Hermione demands, hands on her hip.

"Tell us what's going on with Lavender," Harry adds. The glare he wears is the same one he gave Voldemort all of those years ago.

The healer explains something in medical jargon that Ron doesn't understand. He holds up a hand, silencing the healer. "Just tell us. Is Lavender going to be okay?"

The healer's eyes hold compassion, and Ron swallows pass a lump, feeling something akin to a lead stone drop to the bottom of his stomach.

"Right now, Mrs. Weasley is stabilized."

"And our daughter?"

The healer nods. "Your daughter, too. Unfortunately, they won't be able to stay stabilized for much longer. And we don't have the facilities to save both of them."

Ron's legs buckle. He would have fallen if Harry and Hermione weren't holding him up. "What are you saying?"

"You can only save one of them, and you need to choose. Quickly."

Ron walks away.

Hermione follows. "Ron?"

Ron closes his eyes. "Lavender told me she had a bad feeling, but I ignored her. I thought she was just nervous about being a mother for the first time. She made me make a promise, though."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, and no matter how much I hate it, I'm going to keep it." Louder, he says, "Healer? Save my daughter."

He hears the footsteps retreat, and he's surrounded by his friends and family, who hold him.

He knows that he will soon have a daughter, but he will no longer have a wife. It's isn't fair. Their time together was so short, but he knows that the time they did spend as husband and wife was quality, and he'll never regret marrying Lavender.

He loves her. He'll always love her.

He promised her, though. If something went wrong, he promised to save their daughter.

And he knows he has his family and friends. They help him as he navigates the perils of being a single father.

Tears fall from his eyes.

When he's given the okay, he'll go in and say goodbye to her, but it isn't really goodbye because she'll always be in his heart and one day, he'll tell their daughter about her amazing mother who loved her so very much.