Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Part Four

Twilight. The sky seemed to yawn as the breeze drifted lazily across the small plain that overlooked a gorgeously deep blue lake that fluttered alive with fireflies. The colors seemed to fade into each other, strokes of odd shades masterfully standing out while distinctly melding with each other, shadowed clouds easing their way south, clearing the passage for the descending sun and the moon that lingered over the east horizon.

Harry almost smiled at the sight, his heart just heavy enough for a diluted sigh, his shirt tangling around his torso as the wind picked up, goose bumps rising on the back of his neck. He turned back into the safety of the tent, it's warmth ever so welcome on his rosy cold skin. Ron smiled when Harry emerged from outside, wondrous thoughts of the boy playing wicked games with his head, and oh, how he wished it were as simple as that.

War seemed to be in everything around them, it loomed closer as the days grew longer and the Nights lasted well into the morning. It just never seemed to be enough, their hunger too strong to ever sate, their love too strong to ever dwindle. But as the violent energy that fed into the happiness they all seemed to create it also made their euphoria dissipate that much faster. Loneliness seemed to have no match in the invisible battlefield of their hearts, Harry seemed to believe it had no equal, taking out everything in it's wake, but hopefully, with enough strength, not him.

Ron and Hermione were there for that, with their soft as silk hands and their pure velvet whispers they seemed to bring him back, back into the reality that was instead of the reality of what is going to be, the future seemed too delicate not to peak into, even in the confines of a strong willed, young mind. But the deeper he sunk the faster he seemed to pull away, moans no longer penetrating the thick fog that rested between sanity and madness, the heat that grew even as his subconscious worked to numb his senses.

His eyes clouded slightly, a haze between the bright sparkle of his ever so green eyes, a flash of wisdom that Ron could never place, with a twinge of loneliness that he could never touch, that he could never make fade away. He placed his hand safely into the rather short brunette's, still cold from the blast of the beginning spring chill. He tugged on his fingers, raking his fingernails softly over his protruding knuckles, lifting them easily to his lips before kissing them tenderly.

Harry smiled this time, a rather crooked smile, but earned none the less. Ron's eyes pooled with desire, his breath coming in quick bursts as the sun finally let itself drift under the plateau and into the abyss that now accompanied the moon, a darkness that enveloped everything around them. Harry sensed the need that filled Ron, wanted it as his own, and took it deep within himself.

Then Ron's lips were swiftly dancing across the warm skin of Harry's slender neck, his tongue working the sensitive spots he'd grew to know so well. The boundaries that Harry had tried so hard to build against this very thing fell away, his inhibitions dropping silently into the icy night air, his promises for the war breaking as his lips fought for contact with the boy whose hands seemed to drug his very skin…

His tongue came softly, like creeping thunder in a storm of lightening. He licked carefully, tasting him deeply, drinking him in as they drifted to the floor, pillows and blankets bundled beneath their combined weight, crushed velvet against their smooth backs. Soon an absence of hands gave him worrisome thoughts.

Then Hermione's lips were there, coaxing sighs from his tight throat, causing his barriers to bend and crack, making him want with such a fierce notion of insistence that he could no longer control his own body, his hips curling to meet Ron's, his hipbone meeting the boy's ridge between his legs, causing a strangled whimper to sound around the silence of their tent.

Soon their naked bodies pressed greedily into each other, filling each void as they came, pushing past the hesitation, breaking the line between reason and logic and blurring the outcome. Hands dipped past skin, finding each curve, each slight drop of muscle, each flex of motion. It was all new territory, their desire fueling curious minds and wandering hands, kneading this thing called time into a big sphere of nothing and dropping it lower and lower until the ticking of the clock was a mere echo, and suddenly it didn't exist anymore.

There were no Death Eaters, no Voldemort to fear, there was only the feelings and the electrified sense of security that invisibly drew them deeper into their own world, consuming all their fear and devastation and replacing it with kisses and tongues and flicks of energy that coursed through yearning bodies.

Ron steadily held Hermione beneath him, her legs curled at his waist as their bodies joined at the hips, backs curving anxiously as the tantalizing ache drew breath into their bodies, giving it life. His rhythm seemed to move with the echo of the clock, making it a mere whisper of breath on cool cheeks.

His body moved solidly into hers, driving his need farther and farther into the warm depth of Hermione, muscles contracting against hard skin as friction wasn't merely enough. Harry's hand found where they joined and he pressed lightly into her folds, stretching towards the small bundle of bottled pleasure that made Hermione scream silently with the contact of his slender finger.

Her orgasm came quickly, Ron riding her through the tidal waves of release, moving into her body as he fought for his own control, but lost it the moment her tremors returned with a force that shook the foundations of the very reality he worked so hard to save, bringing Hermione along for the ride.

Harry sat back in amazement, his eyes small marbles in the firelight as he watched his friends, their eyes locking with intense looks that Harry not dare to break for fear of the emotions that might over run him. Instead he stretched out lithely, his cat like muscles rippling softly in the dim light as he caught the attention of two more than aroused teenagers across from him.

Hermione was at him at once, her lips whispering words he couldn't explain against his pale skin, warming it to a gleaming flush. The swell of her breasts brushed against his chest, her hard peaks taunting Harry with their glowing color. He took one into his mouth, bending slightly to bite the tip before releasing her quietly, a mist of hushed lust playing gently into her warm honeyed eyes.

She kissed him then, as Ron's hands gently kneaded down his skin, his fingers pulling the reddened flesh lightly before taking his length into his hand tightly. He moaned loudly into Hermione's mouth, her small sigh a reassurance of life, her tongue pushing itself deeper inside to taste him, pulling him out and finally…

Ron's lips circled his tip, his tongue persuading a gentle rocking motion from Harry's hips, dipping him farther and farther into the cavernous depths of Ron's inviting mouth. The pressure was phenomenal, breaking Harry down into the man that had always resided in the hero, and letting him be at ease with that.

His release crept upon him, a shuddering response of muscles finally rippling with a flush that burned his taut skin as he screamed, his teeth grinding hopelessly as he drifted into contentment. Harry's breaths became normal as he found limbs tangled in his, watching as two sets of eyes so different from his own were whisked away into dreamland, feeling his own droop with a new found excitement that buzzed even as he slept.

Harry's dreams awoke him, a battle had ensued, crashing into every part of Harry's life that he wished it never would. Sweat consummated on his warm skin, still sticky from the aftermaths of the Night, which had lasted far too into the next day, the sun already waning over the west horizon, violently outraged at their sleepiness.

He looked over at his friends, Hermione's face elegant and angelic, pointed in the direction of Ron as his face lay extremely calm in front of hers, their bodies still mingling with caught breaths and beating hearts.

What if I lose them?…

And as if he asked it aloud, Hermione turned her body into his, her naked form sliding perfectly into the side of his bare torso and she sighed…

"Shh." Her whisper walking slowly across the warm skin of his cheek, cooling it with serene feelings and warming his other cheek to a blush.

Ron then moved with her, his leg pressed into the crevice of skin above her legs, causing even a sleeping Hermione to moan as Ron's hand took Harry's and held it over his heart, whether knowingly, or in a deep slumber, Harry welcomed it, letting sleep take him under again, only to wake up at twilight once more, and face the possibility of another impending death.

Guilt. It was an emotion Harry knew all to well, but this deep and tender feeling that welled in his heart made him suffer far too greatly. He had no wish to fight, no wish to do anything but stay in the Night and in those moments he treasured so dearly. He wanted nothing more than to stay forever in the arms of his lovers, watching them sleep soundly as the world revolved without them. He knew deep inside his heart, that no matter how selfish he wanted to be, no matter how badly he wished to remain in Ron's embrace, that there were people who needed him, and if not him, needed his victory.

But he knew when he watched the stars gleam happily above them that it must be, that in the morning he must bring himself from his slumber and walk into the deadly masquerade that waited for him, that waited for the starting credits to begin rolling and the audience to quietly fill their seats.

Ron silently laid out there blankets side by side, making their sleeping palates as close together as possible. His hands shook with anxious shivers, his eyes dark and ambiguous, mixed emotions flooding them with invisible tears. Hermione watched him fixedly, her eyes wide and expressionless in the flicker of candle light.

Harry stood off to the side, his thoughts fighting to stay in the tent, in the future of the Night, but as much as he wanted to shove past the distraught uneasiness of what tomorrow held, it just seemed to cling to his mind that much tighter. He felt as thought he were choking with it all, the need to be taken away so over whelming his eyes inadvertently filling with dread, his face showing more than he wished to let seep through.

Hermione was the first to notice, her eyes changing swiftly to curiosity. Her lithe body gently moving towards him, his stance stoic and hard, his head aching with the strain of keeping everything under control, with keeping everything numb.

"Harry, love…" She sighed, her hand cupping his feathery skin, porcelain beneath her fingers.

He shook his head, his male ego swelling with pride, his hands shaking with exertion, his eyes turning a violent shade of green. She pulled him to her, his control weak, his body screaming for her to come closer, for any kind of human contact at all…

He hated the conflict. His body and heart wanted, no, needed this. It consumed him with such force that he could barely hear his mind murmuring in the background, his protests becoming softer and softer until the feel of Hermione's delicate lips pressing gracefully to his made them cease entirely, commanding him without effort, taking him without sway. Her tongue drifted across his lower lip, her hands already at his slender neck, their bodies pressing intimately together, their height so close that neither had to move to see into the other's eyes, the contact illicit, but so compelling it had to be explored.

Ron watched as his best friends pressed themselves into each other, Hermione enfolding Harry in comfort, her heart too big to let him go lonely, too tender to watch him without worry. Their heads bowed in silence, Hermione's warm molten eyes searching for his, finding the strength to keep her own emotions in check she guided Harry to the bed Ron had just finished. He clung to her like a lost boy, surrounding his loneliness and guilt with her heart, and taking it swiftly away with a simple touch of her lips.

Ron took Harry tenderly in his arms, kissing his neck softly, murmuring words against his pale skin, tracing his jaw line lightly with a caress of his lips. A shift of weight became noticed as Hermione faced Harry, his eyes alight and cloudy with lust, with need. Ron's clear blue eyes watching her, demanding she go on, pushing her to go without him for once.

Their rules were unsaid, but known all the same. Hermione was Ron's, Harry knew this, always had. Harry had never taken her, the only exploration of bodies happening with lips and tongues and hands, never anything more. But as the moon loomed over them thoughtfully, Ron knew, he knew with his whole heart what they were, they belonged to each other in equal, and if tomorrow meant death, none of them would die without that knowledge.

Hermione kissed Harry, a kiss that made his hands ache to touch her, to taste her and remember it forever, plaster the feel of her in his mind. It didn't matter if she was his best friend, she loved him, and that was all he wanted. Ron softly sighed words in Harry's ear, placing security in his heart, and passion on his skin. Fingertips were suddenly at the hem of shirts and the belts on zipped jeans, tracing slowly up the soft and warm skin that accompanied it.

Harry lay on his back, Hermione hovering above him, her hands braced on his bare chest, her lips sketching shivering spots on his neck, her teeth drawing in his skin with small bites. Harry's body ablaze with fervor, his shivers coursed through his spine and ended with shocks in his hands, anticipation shaking through his skin.

Ron was at their side, his face above Harry's as Hermione's wet heat traced his length, his eyes closing with overwhelming feeling, it was more than he'd felt in months, but even as he shook with feeling his mind still tried to numb them, shaking them at the core until they screamed and left, leaving Harry alone again, like they always did. But this time Ron was there at his side, keeping him grounded, keeping him there.

His lips grazed Harry's, quivering with control, Ron whispered the words Harry had begged to hear all his life.

Let go,
None of it matters now…

His mind fought relentlessly, never relinquishing the guilt, the weight of the world that lay invisible on his unprotected shoulders. Harry cried out as Hermione moved him inside of her, the warmth enveloping around him slowly, easing him into simplicity, leaving his mind silent and sated, quiet in the Night like he had never been before.

Ron watched as he felt the weight lift from his lover, watching him let go in the midst of everything, holding on to the one thing he could never lose. Harry's hand reached for Ron, teasing his thigh quietly while Hermione's whimpers grew louder, her rhythm rising with intensity, marking a scream that tore through Harry's lips, his fingers raking up Ron's thigh and gripping him firmly at his base and pulling slowly downward.

Ron's elbows almost gave way as Harry's hand kept rhythm with his own, bringing him with them, bringing them both into the haze of desire that permeated through his own body, making him lose all will power and dipping him into the warmth of feeling, the numb part of himself cowering in the confines of his thoughts and waiting for the moment to be over. But he held on, driving his hips forward and aiming them higher, Hermione's spasms giving way into her climax that she inadvertently held off, noticing the motions that had gave way to Ron's own groan's of impending satisfaction.

Soon they struggled for release, clawing and screaming as it loomed just out of reach, just over the peak. Harry's arm caught Hermione's neck, bringing her down to his lips as his hips drove into her deeper, keeping their rhythm as he kissed her with eager necessity, drowning himself in her scent, her taste. He freed her halfheartedly, her eyes shut as she struggled for control, her nails digging into Harry's chest, the ache deep inside of her growing furiously with a hunger that roared within her.

Ron's lips were suddenly formed to Hermione's, her moan subdued by the assault his mouth played on hers, his tongue stroking hers with a need greater than either of them could harness, their passion growing outside of themselves and enveloping all around them. Enveloping each other.

Soon the hot sting of release was echoing off of bodies, moans and screams tearing into the thick air with uninhibited response. Hermione was the first to let go, her muscles constricting forcefully around Harry, her eyes screwed shut as he pushed her through it, Ron reaching where they were joined to stroke her softly, her climax reaching uncontrollable heights as Ron got his own.

His scream shred through every sane part of their life, giving them here and now, and nothing more. His whimper of helplessness sounded after he was sated and dry, his hair hanging limp around his cobalt eyes searching Harry's, searching for the reckless part of release that always over took him, and he found it within the throes of his own trembling pinnacle.

Harry's scream sounded, puncturing the loneliness that had culminated the past years, giving him the release he needed, the release that had beckoned him with every Night. His hands shook on Hermione's hips, gripping securely to her as he arched back, colors blooming in his eyes, his nerves tingling brightly as the peak slowly descended, the only sound was that of the heavy breathing that procured from the three helpless souls that lay replete and tired.

This Night Harry was the first asleep, his emerald eyes drifting idly into slumber, his breathing even and sound, his hair a mess atop his head. Hermione stared at him for a few long moments, her eyes burning with golden streaks as tears threatened their calm state. Her head rested on his shoulder, her hand entwined in his, keeping him safe in her heart.

She watched as his chest rose, only to fall with a single breath, but she waited for it to rise again, rise with life in his lungs. She needed to make sure that every time he would breathe in, her insecurity invisible to those around her, her faith in the lone boy as great as any others, if not greater. She watched as the little boy she met seven years ago turned into the lonely man that lay before her, still innocent in God's eyes, but too important and relied upon by others. She wished to take it away and give him something real, give him a feeling of security, give him love.

Ron watched the war that played in her eyes, the tears the glossed with the past and all her regrets, all her guilt, all her sympathy. He laid a hand in her soft curls, tendrils laying across Harry's chest, her eyes moving to meet his. She smiled, leaning in to his touch as it sparked electricity through her body, oh how a simple touch from the one you love can turn you completely inadequate for thinking. He wished he could take away her doubt, though he knew she pushed it away from Harry's eyes, he saw it in her heart, heard it in the unspoken words of the one he loved.

Though the plans that had brought them here had not been kindly, they had protected them, however so frighteningly and rough on the way. Bellatrix had not killed Hermione, they had safely procured Godric's Sword and now they had nothing but the end in front them, the end of the fight that had encircled the teenagers lives for most of their existence. Soon, at least he knew, it would be over. And if he were to die, no regrets would pass him, he would die knowing his best friend had lived to kill the one who had put him and his loved ones in danger, and that in and of itself would be worth more than his life.

He watched as Hermione floated into dreamland, her lips curved in a knowing smile as she nuzzled closer to the warmth of Harry's body. Ron lay alone for hours, his mind only granting him sleep in the beginnings of an early, crisp morning. But comfort emanated from the trio, their lives intertwined gracefully and protectively, the hope that glided off of the wizarding world pouring deep into them and waking them rather early, their hearts mended and ready for whatever the next day would bring them.

The End