don't leave again - ron x harry

Don't Leave Again

The cold was agony: It attacked him like fire. His brain itself seemed to have frozen as he pushed through the dark, murky water to the bottom and reached out, groping for the sword. His fingers closed around the hilt; he pulled it upward.

Then something tight closed around his neck. He thought of water weeds, though nothing had brushed him as he dived, and he raised his hands to free himself. It was not water weeds: The chain of the Horcrux had tightened itself around Harry's neck and was slowly constricting his windpipe.

Harry kicked out wildly at this realization, trying to push himself back to the surface, but merely propelled himself into the rocky side of the pool. Thrashing, suffocating, he scrabbled at the strangling chain, his frozen fingers unable to loosen it, and now little lights were popping inside of his head, and he was going to drown. There was nothing left, nothing he could do, and the arms that wrapped around his chest were surely Death's...

Choking and retching, soaking wet and colder than he had ever been in his life, he came to the surface and fell face down in the snow. Somewhere close by, another person was panting and coughing, staggering around as they did so. Hermione had come again, as she had come when the snake attacked... Yet it did not sound like her, not with those deep coughs, not judging by the weight of the footsteps...

Harry hadn't enough strength to even lift his head and see his savior's identity, but he was hopeful, very hopeful... Ron? He meant to ask it, but it came out as a choked cough instead of Ron's name. All he could do was raise a shaking hand to his throat and feel the place where the locket had fastened tightly into his flesh. It was gone: someone had cut him free. Then a panting voice spoke from above him.

"Are—you— mental ?"

Nothing but the overwhelming surge of emotions from hearing the voice could have given Harry the strength to scrabble for his glasses and get up. Shivering violently, he staggered to his feet. His knees buckled beneath him and he almost fell again, but strong hands were capable of catching him in time. He picked his head up.

There before him stood Ron, fully dressed but drenched to the skin, his hair plastered to his face, the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other.

"Why the hell ," Ron panted, holding up the Horcrux, which swung backward and forward on its shortened chain in some parody of hypnosis, "didn't you take this thing off before you dived?"

Harry couldn't answer, his words caught in his throat. So many things he wanted to say... The silver doe was nothing, nothing in comparison to Ron's reappearance; he could not believe it. He only managed to drag a couple of sweaters over his head when what seemed to be a staring match got overbearing. He couldn't just look at Ron. Before he could stop himself and with strength he didn't know he had in him, he threw himself forward at Ron. Hot tears began to pour down his face, as had happened several times since Ron left Harry and Hermione. At least they warmed up his face. Ron almost immediately wrapped his arms around Harry, as he had while the two were under the freezing cold water, but it was different this time. They pressed their shuddering bodies together, Harry burying his face in Ron's shoulder as tears streamed from his eyes. Ron wouldn't be able to tell, since the red-head's clothes were already soaked and the violent sobs wracking his body could be called shudders from the cold.

Ron seemed to be able to tell that Harry was crying, though, because he was now gently silencing Harry, whispering things too quiet for Harry to hear over the breeze but comforting none-the-less. It was a side of Ron that Harry knew was there but hardly showed itself. Harry was glad it was showing itself now, grateful for the soothing circles that Ron was making on his back with shaking hands. He tried to stay standing but, suddenly, his knees gave out and Ron caught him, pulling Harry closer now. If Ron didn't see the tears before, he definitely did now, his embrace tighter. Harry felt the tears slow down and now he was not sobbing nearly as violently as he had hitherto been. He was leaning into Ron's embrace with the little energy he still had.