A/N: For those of you clicking the most recent chapter, this is the epilogue. There are MASSIVE spoilers so click one chapter back if you haven't read the finale.
-------------------------------------------
Ron shifted uncomfortably in his suit.
The bright glare from the studio light blinded any vision besides the two chairs bathed in said light. Across from him was some American Muggle journalist, eager to start the interview. It was almost ten years since the dark tower had fallen, but Ron had never fully adjusted to the interview process. He always felt uncomfortable as the journalists constantly poked and prodded him, hoping for a delicious sound bite to send to their superiors.
Even now, voluntarily giving his first interview in almost seven years, Ron was still unable to shake the feeling that he wasn't supposed to do what he intended. It felt wrong to expose the dirtiest secrets of that time, but the journalist seemed fair. He was renowned for being fair and just, but Ron had been burned before by that reputation. Only after several one on one meetings did Ron fully trust him.
"Are you ready, Ron?" the interviewer asked.
Ron nodded once, swallowing a gulp of water placed by his side should his throat become sore from talking. He could see the red, blinking light of the video camera flash, indicating that recording had started. The interviewer looked towards the lens of the camera and began in a solemn voice.
"Tonight, we bring to you this exclusive interview with one of the Golden Trio. Ron Weasley has joined us tonight for his first interview in seven years. He's here to tell so many that have so many questions about the Great War. Thank you for joining us, Ron."
"Glad to be here," Ron said tersely, thinking the exact opposite.
INTERVIEWER: So tell us, Ron, why are you doing this? After all this time and a personal vow of silence against the media, why tell this story?
RON: I wasn't really planning to say anything. I was sitting at home and watching the telly and it just occurred to me that no one really knew what happened. There's just endless speculation and then this documentary came up trying to dissect what we did when we were hunting the Horcruxes and it was ridiculous. I guess I just wanted to set the record straight.
INTERVIEWER: In lieu of the tense relations between Muggles and Wizards, do you think it's wise to drudge up old memories of the past?
RON: I think if we don't understand how we got here, it'll only get worse. Muggles and Wizards don't need to fight. That's what Voldemort would have wanted.
INTERVIEWER: Tell us about Voldemort. Our world is slowly learning more about this terrorist, but what can you tell us that's different. Did you ever come face to face with him?
RON: In the very end, I did. Neville and Harry usually did most of the fighting so I never really went up against him, if that's what you're asking, but I stood toe to toe with him in the tower. I actually got knocked out early. Didn't see much.
INTERVIEWER: So you did not see how Voldemort died?
RON: Nope. The last thing I remember was cutting down Harry from some ropes that Voldemort had put him in. Neville was looking at the mirror and Voldemort was saying something to him, but I couldn't hear. I blacked out the next second and only came to when Neville was rushing us out of the tower.
INTERVIEWER: Let's take it back. Start from the beginning of the hunt for the Horcruxes. There are reports from other students of Hogwarts and various departments of your magical government that can accurately portray the story of the Siege of Hogwarts, but little is known post-tower of Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and yourself. What can you tell us about that time?
RON: It was difficult.
Most of the time we didn't know what we were doing and we were just wandering around England. You have to understand what was happening was unprecedented even for us. A breach between the Muggle and Wizard world had never happened at such a grand scale. Death Eaters were roaming the streets looking for us and most of the Muggles were scared of us. Voldemort had turned some Muggles against us and it wasn't easy.
For the longest time, we couldn't even destroy a Horcrux. We spent most of the time arguing amongst ourselves. We were a bit lost.
INTERVIEWER: Much has been said of Neville's mental instability. Was he normal at the time?
RON: Normal as you can be with a dark lord breathing down your neck.
INTERVIEWER: So he wasn't himself?
RON: He was.
*Pause*
Most of the time he had it together and just wanted to destroy the Horcruxes as bad as we did. You have to understand that we were all under a lot of pressure. Three teenagers were supposed to defeat a dark lord? We had no experience or training in any of this. We were all likely to crack after a while.
INTERVIEWER: And did one of you crack after spending weeks on the run in the forest?
RON: No.
*Long pause*
There were moments that we slipped a little bit, but we kept it together.
INTERVIEWER: Any specifics on those moments?
RON: I can't really remember that well.
INTERVIEWER: You don't remember what exactly happened?
RON: Lots of things happened. It's difficult after all this time.
INTERVIEWER: Let's switch to another topic then. Tell us about Harry Potter. What was your relationship to him and his relation to the rest of the Trio?
RON: He was a friend of ours during school. We didn't really get to know him until that year Voldemort attacked Hogwarts. To be quite honest, I didn't think he had it in him. It was just a surprise to the rest of us that he ended up being as powerful as he was.
He and Hermione were together-
INTERVIEWER: So they were romantically involved?
RON: Yes. It didn't really surprise too many of us. Harry always had a thing for Hermione, but I guess he didn't do anything about it until then.
INTERVIEWER: And during the war?
RON: Once Harry found us, they stayed together still. Harry did a good job of helping us find the rest of the Horcruxes.
INTERVIEWER: And what of Neville's condition at this time?
RON: It was…falling. He was having trouble focusing on the task and often wasn't himself. He - he was constantly getting into arguments with Harry and Hermione on what to do and eventually…well, he left.
INTERVIEWER: So the purported Chosen One left during the middle of a critical mission to destroy the
Horcruxes?
RON: People make it sound a lot worse than it really was. Neville didn't have a choice. We were disagreeing on what to do with the Horcruxes and Neville - well - he scared the hell out of us sometimes. It wasn't so much that he left, but that he went his own way.
INTERVIEWER: So the reports of Harry kicking him out aren't true?
RON: They're overblown. They had their differences.
INTERVIEWER: But multiple sources state that Harry told Neville to leave his unit.
RON: They're wrong. It was more complicated than that.
INTERVIEWER: Can you elaborate?
RON: I think - I think that it was difficult for Neville. He was used to handling the tough decisions and leading the charge against Voldemort. After all, he had all his life ever since he lived through the killing curse. For him, it was odd that Harry was in charge and Harry had Hermione and -
INTERVIEWER: So Neville was jealous of the relationship?
RON: Yes, but that's not why he left. We just had fundamental disagreements on how to handle the situation.
INTERVIEWER: What about this return? People say that he was different when he returned to the army for the final attack on the tower.
RON: I think people treated him differently. After the ultimatum by Voldemort on the telly, they knew it was Neville that was the source for all these problems. I also think that Neville just wasn't getting the support he needed. At the time, I was scared of him. Hell, we all were. As I look back though, we abandoned him too early. I think that's part of what caused his condition.
INTERVIEWER: It's been almost seven years since Neville Longbottom committed suicide. What was he like after the war?
RON: He was quiet most of the time. Didn't talk much and hated participating in all the celebration ceremonies. As everything finally settled down and the talks between the Muggles and Wizards started, we couldn't convince him to be a peacekeeper or a broker for the situation.
He didn't come out to family dinners or stay with any of us. Just stayed in his flat most of the days. I remember trying to talk to him. It was so difficult to get anything out of him. I remember a period of time where I stayed in his flat for weeks on end, but most of the day he just sat in his chair and looked out the window. Everyone told me he was just depressed and he would snap out of it, but they didn't know.
INTERVIEWER: They didn't know what?
RON: They didn't know what it was like in the tower. They didn't know how Voldemort raped Neville's mind over and over again. You don't recover from something like that in a week or a year. I think he was never really himself again after all of that.
I - I should have done more in the end. I have all these regrets because I, like everyone else, thought Neville would get past it. I think it ended up he was harboring even more pain than anyone could possibly known, but no one could get him to open up. It was like living with a hermit.
INTERVIEWER: What do you think bothered him so much? Voldemort was dead. Was there something else?
RON: Perhaps.
He wouldn't ever admit it verbally to me, but when I talked to him, I noticed he would tense up on certain subjects.
INTERVIEWER: Like what?
RON: Whenever I mentioned Harry or Hermione, he would look more troubled than usual. I think there was a lot of guilt with him there. Only he knew how Voldemort died and how Harry died and I think it haunted him until the day he killed himself. Something must have went incredibly wrong if Voldemort killed Harry and I don't think he ever forgave himself for that.
I think losing Hermione also hit him hard. It hit us all hard.
INTERVIEWER: Hermione Granger was last seen in Africa helping a local tribe and their children. Are you surprised by her withdrawal from the modern world? She's an incredible philanthropist, but is it true that she hasn't contacted anyone from England in years?
RON: It's true. The last time I spoke to Hermione was eight years ago.
INTERVIEWER: What caused her to leave? Was it the war? Was it Harry's death?
RON: I think she was tired. More than any of us, she still believed in the good in people. Even after some of the stuff that went down in the war, she believed we all had a chance at a good and fair life. I remember she was one of the first people that supported equality for house elves -
INTERVIEWER: That's a divisive topic these days in Muggle-Wizard relations. It's often said that some wizarding practices are archaic and barbaric. Do you agree with this?
RON: No more barbaric than your nuclear bombs.
INTERVIEWER: A common contention amongst wizards. Tell us more about Hermione after the war.
RON: She tried to ease back into a normal life. All of us tried to - well - tried as best as we can with the new world facing us. I remember she was really passionate about making sure Muggle-Wizard relations were good and shedding a lot of light on the magical community.
INTERVIEWER: Yes. She was the first official Muggle-Wizard ambassador but resigned from her office after a year. There was a lot of speculation about her sudden resignation. What did you think?
RON: I remember asking her why she did it. There was lots of fear on both sides and we needed someone like her. We needed her passion and her drive. I remember her response clearly.
She told me, "The world isn't what I thought it was."
That's all she said and then she left for the Amazon.
INTERVIEWER: And with the growing tensions and the seemingly imminent war between Muggles and Wizards in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, was she correct? Are relations between Muggles and Wizards not as easy to reconcile as she thought it would be?
RON: No - I don't think it was anything like that. I think it was something more personal to her. If it was a large scale problem, Hermione would have fixed it. She was a genius like that. When I looked into her eyes when she told me why she left, I saw something else. I saw hopelessness.
And that's something I've never seen in her before.
INTERVIEWER: Reports are that she met with Neville before she resigned. Do you know the contents of their conversation?
RON: No, I never bothered asking. Neville went really dark after she left, leaving the flat a lot of the time and not coming back late at night. I think that was a turning point for him. He…he really lost it after that.
INTERVIEWER: Tell us about your sister. Her marriage to Draco Malfoy, as I understand, was surprising to the wizarding world. There are mutliple stories that you and Draco were not the best of friends. How did you feel?
RON: I think she made her choice. I'm not going to agree with her all the time and I'm not definitely not going to agree with Malfoy all the time, but it wasn't the worse thing in the world. I think they do a lot of good things now.
INTERVIEWER: They are widely lauded for their importance in fostering peace and understanding between Muggles and Wizards. Tell me, do you see the future as optimistic or have the skirmishes and forthcoming wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe soured your future views?
RON: I think that we have a long way to go. Even I wasn't the most understanding of Muggles back in the day and there's definitely a lot of factions out there in the wizarding world that don't agree at all with Muggles.
But I think if we want to really defeat Voldemort, we have to do this. We have to come together and find a way to live together because if we don't, we're going to die alone. I - I had a hard time after Neville died and Hermione left. I had my friends, but even through all the disasters, the three of us had a bond.
Even when we were fighting Voldemort and we were losing friends all around us, I thought we would all grow old and have kids and send them all to Hogwarts. I thought we'd all marry our friends and we'd talk about how we defeated Voldemort and bring in a better world. I always thought it would work out like that in the end.
*Pause*
But after Voldemort died, it just became worse. Harry was a great leader and a great person and I think we could have used someone like him in these times. I think when he died, part of Hermione died and when Hermione left, Neville gave in to the demons in his head. All the fighting between Muggles and Wizards makes the telly every night and I'm just afraid that everything Voldemort wanted is slowly coming true.
I know I'm just one person, but Neville was just one person. Harry was just one person. Hermione was just one person. The world needed them and for some reason, the world decided I would be the only one left. I tried to hide from that, but I can't hide any longer. You need to know that Neville wasn't just a crazy person.
Neville was a good friend that stood up to Voldemort time and time again even when we left his side. He might have had his issues and his problems, but he was the best of us. He never gave up on us.
Harry willed us through to the tower. No one else could do what he did or make the tough decisions he had to make. There was just an inner fire in him that refused to go out and he fought through hell and brimstone to get us in a spot to kill Voldemort.
And Hermione was the glue that held us all together. She watched over Neville even when Voldemort was at his worse and in his head. She kept Harry sane when all Harry wanted to do was bring Voldemort to his knees. She kept us all normal and believing that the world can turn into something good again when this was all over.
But now it's just me. It's just Ronald Weasley left from the great Golden Trio.
We need to make the world a better place and stop this fighting.
INTERVIEWER: And you're willing to do that?
Ron could see the producer behind the camera giving two jubilant thumbs up and the interviewer subtly nodding his head back at him. That was the cue to end the interview. Apparently the producer thought he had gold in his hands and didn't want to ruin it.
The interviewer turned to the camera and said his closing piece, but Ron had already tuned him out. He stood up and robotically shook the interviewer's hand.
"Thanks, Wolf."
"Thank you, Ron," the older man replied. "Contact me if you need anything or you want to do another interview. You know I have your best interests. This was good."
Ron was dismissed and led to his dressing room by one of the interns there. He passed through the darkened sets and shook a couple of hands and signed a few autographs from the mesmerized fans and employees at the news network. He could overhear a producer saying that Wolf would win countless awards for the interview and that they couldn't wait to put it on air.
Opening the door to the dark dressing room, Ron dismissed the intern and closed the door behind him. He fell heavily into one of the couches and rubbed his temples. The interview was the first of many steps in what Theodore Nott had convinced him as an eventual peace treaty with the Muggles. Nott was one of the leaders of Muggle-Wizard relationships and coerced Ron out of his self-imposed media blackout. He argued that it was important people heard an optimistic story about the much revered Golden Trio. In the years after Neville's suicide and Hermione's exile into third world problems, there was growing sentiment against wizards without their heroic figures. Ron was the last of the heroes left.
As he leaned forward, Ron started to cry. The tears poured from his eyes as his shoulders heaved and his body was wracked with sobs. It had taken him years to finally talk about Neville and Hermione and he could barely contain the amalgam of emotions inside him. He cried for all the friends he lost and would never see again. He cried for what the world had become; an endless dispute between Muggles and Wizards on the morality of each other's powers.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
Ron sniffed the last of his tears away, taking a tissue and wiping his face and checking the mirror to see if there was any residual evidence he spent the last five minutes sobbing. Straightening his tie and smoothing down his suit, Ron poised himself in front of the door. His hand was on the doorknob, ready to exit into the new world he hoped to influence.
He wished wherever Harry, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Padma, Sirius, Moody, Dumbledore, and the countless others who died could hear him now. He wished Hermione could forgive them all and return to a world that desperately needed her.
"If you guys can hear me, I just wanted to let you know - I'm not going to let Voldemort win."
Ron stepped forward and closed the door behind him, leaving the shadows of the past in that darkened dressing room.
--------------------------
A/N: Thank you so much to my beta and all the dedicated reviewers. I know it's been a long time and there have been gigantic delays between updates, so I have to thank you for putting up with my erratic schedule and reading and reviewing all these chapters. This is only my second completed work, but I'm proud of it and feel I've grown as a writer. There are plenty of criticisms to levy at me, so feel free to unleash with any story inconsistencies in your reviews or just drop me a word if you've been reading from the start.
Also, feel free to ask any questions about the story that might not have been clear or answered. It's been almost three years since I started, but I've enjoyed writing all of it and reading all your reviews.
If you want to keep up with my work, I have a new story: Headmaster Tom Riddle. It's a little bit different than the rest of my work, but I hope to see your reviews and hear your comments there as well.
Thank you once again for reading and reviewing. All of you inspire me and keep me writing even though it seems like the Harry Potter era is finally over.