Disclaimer: Jo Rowling owns Harry Potter and she wrote quite a bit of the following quotations. I borrow her characters and make no profit whatsoever. You rock, Jo.

Summary: What if, say, Ron hadn't hooked up with Lavender in HBP? And our One True Pairing had come true? And Ron and Hermione had gone to Slughorn's party together? If you Believe in Trees, maybe this ficlet is for you.

If Things Were Different

A Ron/Hermione Fan Fiction by Christine, aka suckr4romance

Part One: He's Not You

"You know perfectly well what we're talking about!" Hermione Granger was practically seething. "You spiked Ron's juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!" she accused an innocent-looking Harry Potter.

"No, I didn't," Harry said truthfully. Ronald Weasley's eyes moved back and forth between Harry and Hermione as they argued.

"Yes you did, Harry, and that's why everything went right, there were Slytherin players missing and Ron saved everything!"

"I didn't put it in!" Harry said with a wide grin. He then pulled from his pocket the unopened bottle of Felix Felicis. Hermione gaped at him in wonder. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking."

"You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself," he added to Ron.

"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" said Ron disbelievingly. "But the weather's good…and Vaisey couldn't play. …I honestly haven't been given lucky potion?"

Harry shook his head. A few seconds later, Ron, having come to the correct conclusion attacked Hermione.

"You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything! See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

"I never said you couldn't—Ron, you thought you'd been given it too!" Hermione yelled towards Ron's retreating back.

When he didn't stop, Hermione resolved to complete the task herself.

Leaving a stricken Harry behind, Hermione dashed from the locker room in Ron's wake. "Ron!" she called. She was having trouble keeping up with his long strides. The burden of his broomstick wasn't weighing him down one bit. Damn athletics, Hermione thought.

Ron directed his gaze forward, determined not to heed Hermione's summons. Hermione, however, had her own determination. With an unexpected rush of adrenaline, she sprinted to draw level with him.

"Ron, will you stop?" Hermione panted. "I'm really not used to this."

"Used to what?" Ron asked indifferently, still keeping his eyes ahead.

"Chasing after handsome red-haired young men," said Hermione sarcastically. This remark merited a reply.

"No one needs your cynicism right now, Hermione," he said seriously.

Hermione sighed in frustration. "If you'd just listen to me, Ronald Weasley, we wouldn't have that problem!"

Ron merely made a sharp turn to the right, toward the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. "Oh no, you don't!" Hermione leapt in front of him.

"Hermione," Ron quipped warningly, "just leave me be. I don't feel like talking to you."

"But why not, Ron? Why have you been so vile to me lately?" she asked, ostensibly hurt at his unfaltering moody behavior towards her.

"You wouldn't understand," he muttered, averting his eyes to the ground.

"Try me," she challenged him.

"Er…oh, it's stupid," Ron said, more to himself than to Hermione.

"What?" she urged him softly, bringing her hand to the side of his cheek so that he would look at her.

He did. And he never could lie to Hermione's face. "Well," he choked out, "the other day, Ginny said something about—about you and Krum—"

Hermione pulled her hand away. "Viktor, again? Ron—"

"Please, Hermione, at least let me finish."

"Okay," Hermione agreed grudgingly.

"Ginny said you snogged him," Ron stated very quickly, looking down once more.

Hermione leant back on her left foot in a defeated manner. "Oh," she said quietly.

The two stood in the silence of new-fallen dusk for quite some time, until an owl hooted from somewhere inside the forest, causing Ron and Hermione to start.

"We should head back," Ron suggested dejectedly, mourning the fact that Hermione hadn't denied his claim.

"Erm…sure," she said.

They began the long trek to the castle. Stars were beginning to appear in the sky above their heads as darkness encompassed the grounds.

Hermione took in a deep breath and let it out. Curse Ginny's big mouth. Sure, Viktor did kiss me, but that doesn't mean I liked it! It was nice. I…don't like him that way.

"Ron?" she said timidly, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" he replied wearily.

"Viktor did kiss me, but—"

"I pretty much gathered that, thanks," said Ron exasperatedly.

"But he's not—erm—I mean, I—well…he's not you," she all but whispered. Hermione realized she had just revealed all her feelings from the past few years to the one person she was too frightened to tell in the first place; she covered her mouth tightly with both hands, widened her eyes to the point of her eyeballs nearly falling from their sockets, and started running as fast as she could toward the giant stone castle steps.

But Ron caught up with her before she was even one-fourth of the way there. He grasped her forearm, saying, "Hermione! Give a bloke a chance to think!"

Hermione turned to him with watery eyes. "Okay," she consented breathlessly.

"Now," Ron said, catching his own breath, "you really did say Viktor Krum isn't me?"

Hermione nodded.

"So you don't like Viktor?"

She shook her head this time, chewing on her bottom lip.

Comprehension dawned on Ron's face. "But you do like me?" he said in a voice of half disbelief, and half glee.

"For Merlin's sake, yes!" Hermione cried. "Can you stop this?"

"I like you too," Ron ignored her plea, grinning from ear to ear.

Hermione was so wrapped up in her desire for the end of Ron's brutal interrogation that this remark didn't register in her mind. "It's killing me!"

"Then you want to kiss me instead?"

Hermione stared at him, bewildered. "What?"

"You mean that you'd like to kiss me, instead of Viktor?" he repeated, waiting eagerly for a response of some sort.

Eyes bulging, she nodded yet again.

"Good," said Ron, "because it's killing me, too." He put his broom-free hand awkwardly around Hermione's waist, and pulled her close.

And yes, then he kissed her.

A/N: Keep in mind this is my first Ron/Hermione fluff fic when you review. Be honest, but be gentle. A little CC would be awesome.