Losses in the Storm

Losses in the Storm

"Come on Harry," Ron said, one arm around Harry's waist as he pulled him through the snow. "There's a cabin up ahead."

"Where...where are we," Harry forced out as he stumbled beside him.

"No idea. Got lost in the snowstorm. Just hope those Death Eaters are too," Ron said.

His chest ached and he could barely breathe as the icy wind blew more snow from out of the sky. "Just a bit more, Harr..." Ron gasped as Harry tripped and fell against him, knocking them both down.

Ron struggled to his feet but Harry lay sprawled in the snow, barely breathing. Harry's body shook, blood soaking through the back of his shirt.

Ron grabbed Harry under his shoulders and pulled him back to his feet. Harry groaned.

"Hang on, mate," Ron said, putting his arm tightly around Harry's waist, staggering over the snow and ice to the abandoned cabin. "Sorry," Ron mumbled as Harry gasped with each step. "I'll take care of you when we get inside."

He pulled Harry up the shaky wooden stairs and through the broken-down door. The wind whistled through holes in the walls and roof but it was not quite as cold inside away from the wind. Ron sank to the floor, his breath steaming in the air. Harry was face down, shivering, teeth chattering.

Ron looked around the abandoned hut, an old hunting cabin by the looks of it. The stone hearth looked as if it hadn't seen fire in many years. Ron pulled Harry closer to the fireplace. "Got to get us warm." Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it at the hearth. "Enflamare," he said with a flick of his wand. A fire burst to life, floating just above the stones. Ron pushed Harry as close as he dared.

Ron stood, looking down at Harry scrunched up close to the fire before ransacking the little room for anything to wrap them in. He found several musty, moth-eaten blankets and an old throw rug. No food, he thought as his stomach grumbled. How long were we out there?

He sat down by Harry. They were both soaked to the bone and Harry's clothes were torn, bloody and dirty. "Come on Harry, I've got to get you dry," Ron said as he propped Harry up to undo the buttons on Harry's shirt. Harry's skin was white and cold, clammy to the touch. Scars...old and new. Ron pursed his lips as he peeled the shirt off Harry's back.

"Ahhhh," Harry said, hissing in pain and shutting his eyes as tears streamed down his face. Harry's back was bleeding from the marks of Voldemort's whips, of the torture Harry endured at the hands of the Death Eaters. Ron didn't know how Harry kept from crying out more.

"Hermione," Harry gasped. Ron looked up at him as he finished pulling off Harry's ruined trainers and the socks Dobby had given him for Christmas in his 4^th year. Ron felt like he had turned to ice as Harry whispered her name again. All Ron could do was shake his head once. His throat ached and his eyes stared to burn. No time for this now, he thought. Got to keep it together.

Harry fell back on the floor, wincing as his back touched the hard wood underneath. Ron was still a moment, crouched on his haunches, just looking at Harry. Harry's breathing was ragged and Ron knew he was trying not to cry out loud. Ron could see Harry's ribs outlined beneath his skin, the purple and blue and yellow bruises dotting his chest and sides and arms and neck...in the shape of hands, and fingers that dug into his flesh, the marks from the rings Malfoy wore when he beat him, the unmistakable bruises from Wormtail's silver hand. Ron's fingernails dug into his palm he clenched his fist so tight. It took Ron and Hermione so long to find Harry once the Death Eaters had taken him and even longer to figure out how to rescue him.

And the bruises on the outside were nothing to what they now each had on the inside.

"She...she stayed behind," Ron said, his voice a whisper. "She held them off, Harry, by Merlin, she was bloody brilliant." Ron paused, biting his lip. "'Just going to slow them up a bit,' she said. But..." Ron looked up at the rafters wiping, his sleeve across his eyes.

"Got to get you out of the rest of these clothes," Ron said, tugging Harry's belt off and pulling his pants off quickly. Ron tried not to look at how bruised Harry's entire body was -- the scratches and welts and lashes. Harry was shivering. Ron sat Harry up and wrapped him in the blankets he had found, draping the rug over his shoulders.

He laid out Harry's clothes by the fire and quickly stripped out of his own soaked things before slipping in beside Harry, wrapping them both together in the blankets.

"I heard her scream. I thought it was another nightmare," Harry whispered suddenly. Ron stared at the fire, trying to hold in his emotions.

"She wouldn't listen to me, she said I was the one that had to go with you, to get you away from He-who...from Vold..." Ron stammered but finished, "from Voldemort. She said I was the one you needed to be able to carry on, not her."

Harry turned to stare at him and almost smiled, his face streaked with tears. "I do," he said, "I do need you, Ron. I always have." He put his arm around Ron's shoulders and Ron's arm slid around Harry's waist.

"More than you could ever know," Harry whispered, as he kissed the top of Ron's red hair. Ron held onto him tighter, loosening his embrace only when Harry winced in pain.

Ron couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "She was always right," he cried, his voice cracking. "I hated that. I loved her, Harry. I thought there'd be time for us, you know, after...after ..." He pounded his fist on the floor.

* * * * *

Harry tried to nod, holding onto his best friend, his only real friend left now that Hermione had gone to join Sirius. His heart ached for Ron's loss, for Hermione. It ached for his own love lost, too, wishing things could be so very different. "So did I," he said, "So did I." He stroked Ron's hair and closed his eyes.

They held each other tightly, rocking in front of the fire as the wind howled outside.