Disclaimer: I barely own the plot line, let alone the characters that are so obviously JK Rowling's.

A/N – Inspired by JennaMae. Her Harry/Ginny stories are incredibly sweet and this is so very similar to them that it scares me. I know I copied most of the plot line, but it was so great I had to use it. It's kind of a mix from something else too, so that makes it better.

The war is over, but not all is well. Hermione, especially, has been having a hard time coping. Ron wants to make to go back to the way she was. R/H.

THE PERSON I WAS BEFORE

By: Hopeful Writer

I used to count stars.

I used to do a lot of things I don't do anymore. I used to stare out at the ocean and think that one day I would be able to swim across it. I used to believe in fairies that looked like Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. I used to think magic was when Prince Charming rode up to you on his horse and swept you off your feet.

Like I said, I don't do that stuff anymore.

Being friends with Harry Potter changed all that. But more than that, it was fighting in a war for Harry Potter. It was facing Voldemort and living to tell the tale. Hell, it was facing Voldemort alone that did it for me.

Voldemort took the last shred of innocence I had left. He took everything from me in two hours. By the time that war ended, I was a changed person.

I'm Hermione Granger.

I used to be concerned about my future. I used to think getting good grades was all that mattered, and if I did that, I would be successful.

I used to think books would tell me everything.

But books couldn't tell me how to fight the most powerful dark wizard in the world. And books couldn't tell me how to defend myself when he raped me.

That was the night I stopped counting stars.

When I was a little kid, I remember my father telling me to make a wish upon the first star I see at night. There was a rhyme that went with it, a rhyme I'd long since forgotten. I stopped wishing on stars the night I faced Voldemort.

After the war I became empty; I'm the first to admit that. I did things I've never done before, like played Quidditch with the boys and took long flies after dark. I broke rules, got detention, zoned out in class, and never felt remorse.

Then Ron Weasley got to me.

Ron was my best friend. But, more than that, he was my protector. He never really knew how much I needed him sometimes, but he was always there for me.

He saved me from Voldemort. And then he saved me from myself.

It was late evening when he came out to the Quidditch pitch to see me flying around, without a specific goal in mind, but flying. "Oi, Hermione!" he yelled. "Come on down here!"

The sun had almost completely set, and I was reluctant to comply with his wishes. When I finally landed on the ground, he trotted over, beaming at me. I never understood how he managed to smile so much, after everything that happened. Ron had lost far more than me in the war, three brothers and his beloved mother. He had faced off against Lucius Malfoy, been subjected to the Cruciatus Curse more times than he cared to count, and come out the victor in the end, using the most unforgivable of curses to win.

And, yet, he always smiled when I was around.

Sometimes I reckon he was protecting me, not letting me see his inner pain. Later, Ginny told me he cried a lot when I wasn't around. But when I was there, he was always smiling.

Ron looked up into the sky, that night on the Quidditch pitch. "Hey, look, Mione. It's a star. Make a wish."

I scoffed at him. "Why? They never come true."

He grinned at me. "You sure? I just think you're not looking hard enough. Sometimes they're not exactly like what you wished, but they come true anyway. Come on, repeat after me. My mum taught me this rhyme once, to recite when you see the first star of the night." I noticed how he winced when he mentioned his mum, as if the memories were still painful, but his smile never faltered. " 'Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.' " He cast a long look at me. "You try it. Then make a wish."

I repeated his words, feeling very foolish, and silently made a wish, a wish I knew could never come true. I wish I was the same person I used to be, before Voldemort captured me. I sighed.

Ron was looking at me in the weirdest way when I finished making my wish. "What?" I demanded, suddenly self-conscious.

He grinned. "Nothing. You just... you looked different. You've been so sad since the war ended and I... I don't know. I miss the old you, Hermione. I know you can't be that person again, but I don't like to see you so sad all the time." He started to say something, but appeared to be struggling with the words. "Sometimes... sometimes I see you in the Common Room late at night, or flying around and you're just staring off into space even though nothing's there, and I can tell you're thinking about all the stuff that's happened over the last two years, and you're sad about it. I don't like seeing you do nothing. You never did nothing before. You were always doing something, studying, or yelling at me and Harry, or reading, or... something. Anything. But now you're sad when you do nothing and," he reached forward and cupped my cheek with his palm, "I don't like it when you're sad."

I felt my breath catch at those words, and the familiar tears prickled against my eyelids. "Ron..."

But he had something he needed to say first. "You know what my wish was?" he choked out, his smile fading for the first time since the end of the war. "I wished you were sad anymore. I'd do anything to make you smile, Hermione. You're beautiful when you smile."

The raw emotion in his words moved me so much I didn't even realize what he'd said. Then it clicked. He called me beautiful, I thought. And I felt a smile finally cross my lips.

Ron's eyes lit up at the sight of it. He stared straight into mine and whispered, "You're breathtaking." I shivered suddenly, feeling very vulnerable as he continued to stare at me. He moved a little closer. "Hermione," he whispered haltingly. "I... you should know..." He sighed. "Ever since that day we brought you back from Voldemort, you've been so distant. It was that day when I realized something. Hermione, I... somewhere along the lines I messed up. I fell in love with you."

I began to cry when he said that, and I know he thought he'd done something wrong because he released me. "Ron, don't." He froze. "Since then, since that day, you've been the only one I could really talk to. Ron, you saved my life then, and now you're saving it again. I gave up wishing on stars before tonight, but you brought me back. You made my wish come true. You made me become, at least for tonight, the person I was before the war. I loved you before that, even though I didn't want to admit it. I didn't think I would ever have an emotion besides sadness again. But you changed all that. And for that, I love you even more."

He grabbed my shoulders forcefully and pulled me into a tight hug. As we withdrew, he smiled slightly and leaned close to me. I closed my eyes in anticipation and then I felt his lips touch mine.

On a broomstick I had just been in the air. Now I was flying.

When we broke away, his smile was back in place. He reached for my hand and held it tightly. "We should get back to the castle," he whispered. I nodded, not trusting my voice to speak.

We were at the doorway when I stopped walking. "Wait," I hissed, looking into the sky. "There's something I want to do first."

"What's that?" he asked curiously.

I smiled and leaned against his chest, my eyes fixed on the sky. I waved a hand towards the stars. "I want to count them all."

A/N – The end! Review if it pleases you. Review if it sucks. Hell, review if you want to. If not, you can always email me at lildreamer12@hotmail.com or IM me at WritinGal73. Ta!