Ron, for his part, would be perfectly content to never leave his family's side again for as long as he lives. Between Percy finally coming to his senses and coming home, and then... Fred... and the fact that his mum had had to face off with Bellatrix Lestrange herself to keep the evil harpy from killing her only daughter, it's little wonder that the matriarch can hardly stand on her own two feet. He hates seeing her this way, and he wants to be by her side, but there's hardly any room there after the initial hugs upon realizing their youngest son would be coming back home. Besides, even with everything else that had happened, the harshest blow had been Fred, and Ron just doesn't have it in him to watch his parents and especially George mourning over him.

Besides, his family extends beyond the people related to him by blood. He assumes that Harry would need not just a friend, but a support system, and so he goes looking for Hermione. All else aside, the pair of them can stand to have a talk. Maybe a talk about elves. That last one had ended pretty well, after all.

When he finds her, though, it's clear from the look on her face that talking about elves wouldn't do him any favors one way or the other, and he stops, debating how he should approach this. It's far from the first time he's caught her in a thoughtful mood, but things are... different now. And he doesn't know how different. Blimey, he hadn't realized just how complicated this whole thing can be.

But he hates complications, and so he makes the conscious choice not to look at this that way. Whatever they might be now, he'd always been her friend, and he isn't about to just pretend he doesn't see that she's upset. So he comes up besides her, not entirely sure what to expect as he gingerly settles his hand on her back.

"Something tells me you didn't decide to leave the party because they ran out of butterbeer."