A/N: This will be the last chapter! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed it or followed it until the end! Also, because continuity is my worst enemy, I spotted another error that I made in the first chapter about who realized they needed a way of destroying Horcruxes. So, if you'd like, you can go back and read the beginning of that chapter again! :)

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me! Not the characters, not the locations, and not the dialogue at the end of this chapter.

As he and Hermione walked out of the Chamber, Ron was lost in thought. He didn't know what Hermione had seen when she faced the Horcrux, but judging by her screaming, it couldn't have been anything good. He would have come over to help her sooner, but when he was blown away from Hufflepuff's cup, he had hit one of the pillars and been knocked out.

It was only when she started screaming that he jolted back to consciousness and ran over to her as fast as his throbbing head allowed. The sight of her in such obvious pain scared him, and he was reminded of that horrible night at Malfoy Manor. The only thing he could think of that might help her was to hold and comfort her, just like he had done after she had been tortured. He was immensely relieved when she stopped screaming and instead leaned into his chest.

When she finally started to stand up, he let go of her, but stayed nearby just in case. He watched as she approached the cup and stabbed it with the fang. She turned to him and cried into his shoulder afterward, and his heart skipped a beat. He didn't want to let go when she stopped crying, but he tried to push away his own feelings. The only thing that mattered at that moment was if Hermione was alright. His concern must have shown on his face because she told him she was fine. Hearing her say it convinced him, and he helped her pick up the basilisk fangs.

And then, right before they left the Chamber, Hermione turned towards him and kissed his cheek. An enormous (and probably rather silly-looking) grin spread across his face. She had kissed his cheek before, but never out of gratitude for something he had done. Somehow, that made the kiss even more special.

He was contemplating all of this as they walked through the now relatively familiar underground passage. When they finally got to the steep tunnel leading up into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Hermione turned to him, looking worried. When he asked her what was wrong, she replied, "How do we get out?"

Ron smiled and said, "I've got that covered." He shifted the fangs in his arms so that he could hold out his broomstick. Hermione's face brightened with understanding, and she smiled at Ron admiringly. He felt his ears turn pink, and he tried to hide it by climbing onto the broom. He gestured Hermione over and she climbed on behind him.

Realizing they needed a way to hold onto the broom, Ron instructed Hermione to put as many fangs as she could in her lap and to get rid of the rest. They both threw the extra fangs on the ground. Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around Ron's chest, and he knew that his ears were turning pink again. He tried to concentrate on flying them through the tunnel instead. It proved to be quite a difficult task. The tunnel took many twists and turns, and Ron was forced to fly relatively slowly to avoid hitting the sides of it.

Just when he was starting to wonder if the tunnel would ever end, they shot out the end of it. Despite their slow speed, they would have flown into the bathroom ceiling, but Ron swerved sharply at the last minute. He landed the broom safely on the bathroom floor, and he and Hermione both collected the remaining fangs in their arms and climbed off.

He hadn't noticed when they had flown in, but now Ron heard Myrtle wailing in her stall. He didn't think much of this, as Myrtle almost always cried, but then he heard a loud booming noise outside the bathroom door. He turned to Hermione, and as the castle shook he said, "They must be fighting." She nodded grimly and headed towards the door. Ron tucked the broomstick under his arm and followed her.

O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O

As Hermione exited the Chamber, Ron's statement about the fighting was confirmed. Across the hall from the bathroom were several crumbling statues and a broken window. The booms from outside the castle were even louder from here, and a small group of students darted by Ron and Hermione, taking no notice of them. Hermione realized she and Ron had no idea where they should go or where Harry was. After thinking for a moment, Hermione said, "Maybe we should just head back to the Room of Requirement. I mean, we've got a better chance of finding Harry there than we do of finding him anywhere else."

Ron nodded in agreement and started to head back the way they had come, towards the Room of Requirement. Hermione walked along beside him, and eventually they broke into a run. They bolted past more tumbled-over statues and several large groups of students. Suddenly, when they were only a short way from the Room of Requirement, Harry appeared around the corner. When he noticed them, his face was a mix of relief and frustration and he let out a yell as he approached them.

"Where the hell have you been?" he bellowed.

"The Chamber of Secrets," Ron replied matter-of-factly.

"Chamber — what?" Harry asked, stopping in front of them.

Hermione jumped in at this point. "It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" she exclaimed, slightly out of breath from running. "Wasn't it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn't got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!"

"What the—?" Harry said, still hopelessly confused.

"Something to get rid of the Horcruxes," Ron answered.

Hermione noticed Harry's eyes drop to the fangs in their arms. He seemed to realize what they were, and he asked, "But how did you get in there? You need to speak Parseltongue!"

"He did!" Hermione said excitedly. "Show him, Ron!"

Ron hissed like he had in the bathroom and at the Chamber entrance, but it sounded quite a bit more strangled now than it had then. "It's what you did to open the locket," Ron told Harry. "I had to have a few goes to get it right, but we got there in the end." Ron shrugged as he said this, and Hermione was impressed by his modesty.

"He was amazing! Amazing!" she said with conviction.

"So...so..." Harry said slowly, obviously still not entirely sure what was going on.

"So we're another Horcrux down! Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn't had the pleasure yet," said Ron. Hermione winced slightly. She knew that Ron was making a joke, but the experience was still too new in her mind for her to be able to think of it without getting an unpleasant feeling in her stomach.

"Genius!" Harry was shouting.

"It was nothing," Ron replied, although he had a smug sort of look as he said it. "So what's new with you?"

As if on cue, there was a huge explosion from above them. They all looked up and watched as dust fell from the ceiling. There was a scream from somewhere in the distance.

"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is," Harry said quickly. "He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."

The castle shook again as Harry led them through the entrance to the Room of Requirement that was only a short walk from where they'd been standing. They hurried down the steep staircase and Hermione saw Ginny, Tonks, and Neville's grandmother.

As Harry went about making them leave the room, Hermione let her thoughts wander to the information Harry had just shared with them. It almost seemed too good to be true. They only had two Horcruxes left and they already knew where one of them was. Something told her that this wouldn't be as easy as she was thinking, but for the moment she let herself enjoy their success.

Harry finally got everyone except the three of them out of the room and up the staircase. He had just finished telling Ginny that she would have to come back in when they were done when Ron said, "Hang on a moment! We've forgotten someone!"

"Who?" asked Hermione, startled by his outburst.

"The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?" Ron answered, looking worried.

"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" Harry wondered.

"No," Ron said immediately. "I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want any more Dobbies, do we? We can't order them to die for us—"

At these words, something inside Hermione snapped. She was done worrying about rejection or what Ron would say if he knew how she felt. Ever since he had left her and Harry in the forest, Ron had been trying his hardest to make up for his mistake. Everything he had done today, from thinking of the basilisk to (finally) caring about the house-elves seemed to add up in her head.

And then, making up her mind, Hermione dropped all of the fangs in her arms, ran over to Ron, and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him on the mouth, and she felt him tense up. For a brief moment, she feared that she had made a horrible mistake, but he only threw away the fangs and broom he had been holding so that he could wrap his arms around her waist. She felt her feet leave the floor and her head was spinning. All coherent thought had abandoned her, so she only heard Harry talking to them when he shouted, "OI! There's a war going on here!"

She and Ron finally broke apart, but kept their arms around each other. "I know, mate," Ron said, his ears as red as his hair, "so it's now or never, isn't it?" Hermione smiled at this and felt herself blush.

Harry didn't look convinced. "Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?" he yelled at them. "D'you think you could just — just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"

Ron suddenly looked as uncomfortable as Hermione now felt. "Yeah — right — sorry —" Ron mumbled. He and Hermione both bent down to pick up the momentarily-forgotten fangs.

Harry looked satisfied, but he was obviously still feeling as awkward as they were. He turned towards the door and walked up the staircase, leaving them alone. They headed after him, but at the foot of the stairs, Ron stepped in front of Hermione, blocking her path. Before she could say anything, he leaned down and kissed her. This one only lasted a few seconds, but it still left Hermione considerably dizzy. After they broke apart for the second time, Ron grabbed Hermione's hand in his own, just like he had in the Chamber. Then, he led her through the door after Harry.

As they ascended the stairs, Hermione realized something. It was very likely that none of them would come out of this alive. And no matter what they did, there would be casualties. But despite these unavoidable facts, she felt happier than she had in a long time. They had something worth fighting for, and now she had Ron to fight for. And he had her.

That was all that mattered.

THE END