I wish

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters of Harry Potter. They all belong to J.K. Rowling so…yea…

A/N: Just a short little ficlet. I'm not very fond of it, but I figured I'd post it instead of letting it go to waste…who knows maybe someone will like it, but that some one's not me :P Read and Review!

"Why? Why must you do this to me Ron?" shouted a girl of about five two with chestnut colored hair.

"Do what?" Shrieked a red-haired boy by the name of Ronald Weasley.

"This! This! Argue? Every single week you do this to me!" Hermione screamed.

"Well I wouldn't argue with you if you weren't so stubborn!"

"I am NOT stubborn!"

Ron scoffed, "Ok," he said sarcastically.

"You're the one who's STUBBORN Ron!" Hermione retorted pointing a threatening finger at him.

"How am I the stubborn one?"

"Always begging me to do your homework for you, always telling me I read too much, always nagging me about Vik-"

"Oh-ho, don't even tell me that I nag you. Lemme tell you somethin' hun, you got it reversed.

Hermione paused for a fleeting second; Did he just call me hun?

Oh, shit did I just call her hun?

Hermione shook her head, "I only- as you put it- nag you because I know you won't get anything done if I DON'T!"

"So is that what you think of me? An immature helpless dolt?" Ron asked taking a giant step closer to her. His height towered over her, but Hermione wasn't fazed.

"Frankly, IT IS!" Hermione yelled at the top of her lungs.

Several of the Gryffindor's who were used to Hermione and Ron bickering, and were tuning them out, tuned back in. Sure, they bickered constantly, but never had an explosion this big happen. Not since the Yule Ball two years ago.

"Yeah, well ya wanna know what I think of YOU?"

"TRY ME!" Hermione spat.

"I think you're an insufferable KNOW-IT-ALL!" Ron shouted. The second those words escaped his lips, Ron instantly regretted it. His stomach gave a horrible jerk and he had to swallow hard to keep his cool. He watched as Hermione's eyes filled with tears, but a blink later she was back to her fiery glare and her cheeks flushed harder. Her stare was hard, and cold.

Before she knew what she was doing, Hermione brought her hand back and slapped Ron hard across the face. Her hand, still rooted to the spot in the air, tingled with pain and she couldn't imagine what Ron was feeling right now. He froze, with his head to the side, with a look of awestruck horror on his face. The common room was dead silent.

Hermione couldn't breath. She took in two sharp breaths and brought her hand shakily to her mouth. Tears began to stream down her face as she shook, still trying to breath correctly. Ron's head turned slowly back towards her. He looked at her, his mouth still open in shock. An audible sob escaped Hermione's lips as she turned and sprinted up the stairs to her dorm, crying.

Nobody spoke. Just stared. Ron was still too thunderstruck too move. He could feel the imprint of Hermione's hand on the side of his face. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what just happened. The common room slowly was filled with whispers and concerns.

xxxxxxx

Hermione locked herself in her room and flung herself onto the bed. She cried into her pillow. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She couldn't even remember why they were fighting in the first place.

She rolled over and hugged her pillow tight. On the nightstand next to her bed, sat a picture of her and Ron framed in silver. It was taken at the Halloween ball. Ron had asked her to go with him as friends, seeing as Harry was going with Ginny. She agreed to it. She wiped her eyes and picked up the framed picture.

Dumbledore had thought it would be fun to wear costumes to the party, so everyone was dressed up. Hermione had decided to go as Belle, and Ron went as the Beast after he turned into a prince. They both grinned happily at one another as Ron twirled and dipped her, causing a non-audible giggle to escape her lips. Hermione watched the picture as both her and Ron blushed as he pulled her up from the dip.

Frustratingly, Hermione chucked the picture onto her bed and began sobbing again. Fairy tales never came true. She was so confused. Ron was sending her mixed signals. One day they would get along wonderfully! She could even re-call at least three times that he almost kissed her! And then there were days like these were he couldn't stand to be near her, and insist on irritating her. She just didn't know what to believe. She hear a soft know on her door and she sniffed.

"Go away Gin!" she said in a watery voice, wiping her eyes to no avail.

"It's not Ginny, it's Ron, Hermione."

Hermione didn't say anything as she tried to wipe the continuous silent tears off her face.

"I'm sorry ok? I didn't mean it. I'm really, really sorry 'Mione."

Again she didn't say anything. Sorry? Why should he be sorry, I slapped him for Merlin's sake!

"'Mione, please don't be mad at me!" Ron said through the door. "I can't stand it when you're mad at me…"

"I'm not mad at you, Ron." Hermione said in a shaky voice.

"Then why are you crying?"

"Because Ron, I'm mad at myself!" Hermione knew she was about to break down again.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because I slapped you for Merlin's sake!"

"Yeah, but I deserved it." Ron said guiltily as he sank against the back of her door. Hermione crawled over and leaned against her side of the door.

"No, you didn't, Ron." She said softly, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

Ron stood up again. "Yes I did Hermione!" he yelled at the closed door.

"No you didn't!" she cried "You don't ever deserve to be slapped! I'm sorry!" Hermione said as more tears escaped her eyes.

"Damn it, Hermione! I don't care that you slapped me! All's that I care about is you!"

Hermione flung open the door and threw her arms around him.

"I'm sorry!" she cried into his chest. "I didn't m-mean i-it! I'm s-sorry!"

Ron rubbed her shoulders. "No, Hermione, I'm sorry." He said into her ear.

"Why, Ron, why are you sorry?" she sobbed. Ron took a deep breath and led her to her bed and sat down with her. He knew he was going to have to answer this question sometime. He faced her and took her hand in is, examining it, as if hoping it would tell him what to say. Hermione had quieted, but she was still having a hard time breathing, and she sniffed every few seconds. She watched Ron's hands as they turned hers over, playing with her fingers.

"I'm sorry for a lot of things." Ron said at last. Hermione swallowed and looked up at Ron, but his eyes were still focused on her hands.

"W-what d'you mean?" she asked.

"I mean that there's a lot of things that I did and said that I wish I hadn't, but there's also a lot of things I didn't do or say, that I wish I did…and I'm sorry for doing and not doing those things…"

"What sort of things?"

Ron took a deep breath and finally looked up at Hermione.

"The thing's I wish I hadn't done…like argue with you all the time, and call you names, and make fun of you, and pick on you, and accuse you of things…"

Hermione stayed silent, listening intently.

"And then there's the things I wish I had done like…like telling you that you looked beautiful at the Yule Ball, and that you're pretty all the time, even when you're not trying, and telling you how intelligent you are, and telling you that I admire your habits and determination, and how your face glows when you smile, and how just seeing you can make me feel ten times better…and…" Ron swallowed "-and telling you that I've had a really big crush on you ever since you hugged me in third year…and that-that I think I'm in love with you…no…I know Ilove you…"

Hermione was silent in shock. She had assumed that Ron could have possibly had a crush on her...but love her? It was impossible…it was fairy tale…she just stared, drowning in his ocean blue eyes like she always did…

"Those kind of things Hermione. Those are the things I wish I told you..."

Hermione tried to speak, but she couldn't find her voice. For once in her life, she was at loss for words. Taking Hermione's silence as a bad sign, Ron sighed again, let go over hands and stood up.

"No, wait!" Hermione said, scrambling off the bed and to her feet. Ron turned around and looked at her again. Hermione tried to look him in the eyes, but she feared she would get lost again, and loose her ability to speak. She shifted nervously on her feet once or twice. She gave a defeated sigh and then did the boldest thing she had ever done in her life. She took a step forward, and standing on her tip-toes, she kissed Ron soundly on the lips.

It was like any first kiss between a new couple should be. Sweet, and innocent, yet it held so much more. After a few seconds, Hermione pulled back. Ron gaped at her for a moment before embracing her in a warm hug. She hugged him tightly.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." He replied. They stood there like that for several minutes until Ron pulled back and fiddled with Hermione's hand again.

"Um…'Mione? Will you be my girlfriend now?" Hermione beamed and nodded. Ron smiled back. Hermione giggled quietly and then jumped up and threw her arms around Ron's neck. He laughed. They then headed back down to the common room, hand-in hand.

-Fin-

A/N: Fluff-filled R/Hr Romance…gotta love it! I felt like writing a fic with Hermione slapping Ron for some reason, so I did! I'm not real happy with the outcome, probably my least favourite fic of mine… but I wanna know what you think, so Review please!