The Road To Forgiveness Via Polyjuice Potion

A/N. Ron was so sorry and desperate for Hermione to forgive him during D/H that I figured a bit of Polyjuice potion might come in handy :D I appreciate any reviews. Merry Christmas!

Disclaimer: It all belongs to JKR and her brilliant mind I'm afraid.

"So, who's going foraging tomorrow?"

Hermione shot yet another dirty look in Ron's direction.

Harry piped up from the opening of the tent. "I did it today."

"Guess I'll have to do it then." Said Ron quietly.

"Well maybe you should do it, seeing me and Harry have been doing it for weeks without you!" Hermione snapped. She put down her book and said mostly to Harry, "I'll keep watch for a while."

Not wanting to argue with her, Harry moved over to Ron's side.

Ron said in a low voice, "Reckon she'll ever forgive me?"

Harry nodded. "She will, just give her time."

That night Ron kept watch during most of the night to get in Hermione's good books. Little did the two of them know, Ron stole one of Harry's hairs while he was sleeping before returning back to his duty.

*

Harry woke up to find Ron fast asleep at the mouth of the tent. "Ron! Wake up."

With a fluttering of his eyes, Ron awoke. "Mmm, what's wrong?"

"Ron," Harry scolded. "Why didn't you wake me up? It's not fair for you to keep watch all night."

"Seeing as I did though, would you mind going out for food today? I'm knackered."

Harry looked at Ron through the top of his glasses. "Are you sure you want me to leave you two alone?"

Ron chuckled. "Yeah, I can handle her."

Harry grabbed the invisibility cloak and hauled it over himself, before venturing out of the tent with a hasty "Let Hermione sleep, she hasn't been sleeping well since you left."

Ron nodded.

When he was quite sure Harry had left, he walked quickly towards Hermione's small beaded handbag. He rummaged through it carefully, not wanting to wake Hermione up. After closing his fingers round what he wanted with a smile, he pulled it slowly out of the bag.

He took Harry's hair out of his pocket and carefully placed it in the Polyjuice potion. Then drank a few sips quickly, trying not to think about the revolting taste, but having Hermione not angry with him.

He could feel his appearance begin to change, his hair growing shorter, a lightning scar breaking out on his forehead.

Hermione stirred in her sleep. "Mmm, help, no don't!"

Ron shook her hard. "Hermione! Wake up, you're ok."

She smiled sleepily. "Harry." Then she seemed to remember and her small smile turned into a frown. "Where's Ronald?" She said his name with something akin to disgust.

"Out foraging, like you told him too."

Hermione sat up, stretching. "He deserves it."

"He is sorry." Ron told her.

"Harry, how can you just forgive him? He, he hurt us. We needed him and all he could think about was his stomach!"

"It wasn't just his stomach!" Ron defended himself automatically, then seemed to catch himself. "But he still shouldn't have left."

Hermione gave a small smile. "You're telling me."

"You should forgive him Hermione, he's sorry and we need to all get along if we're going to get those Horcruxes."

Hermione nodded slightly. "I will, just not yet."

Ron jumped off Hermione's bed when he saw her getting ready to get up.

"That's good."

"He cares about you, you know, a lot." Ron added as an afterthought.

"I thought so too, until you know, and when I begged him to stay, I thought he'd have the courtesy to at least look at me."

"But I- he thought you were choosing Harry over him, I mean me over him."

Hermione frowned. "You alright Harry?"

"Fine, but he told me, he told me how much he regretted leaving. You and Harry, I mean you and me are his world."

Hermione arched an eyebrow. "He said we're his world?"

Ron blushed. "Well, yeah."

"Well he was my world too."

"Was?" Asked Ron sadly.

"Is, I suppose."

Ron beamed.

"Why are you so happy about that?" Asked Hermione curiously.

Ron gulped. "Um, because I want us all to go back to the way things were."

"Me too." Hermione said in a small voice. "Me too. Back at Hogwarts, where we could actually have contact with another person." She repeated, almost in tears.

He gathered her up in his arms and pulled her back down on to the bed and into his lap.

"Oh, Ron." She cried into his shirt.

"Shh, it's ok. I'm here." He soothed. "Wait a minute, I'm Harry, not Ron." He said quickly.

"Oh come on, do you really think I'm that stupid?" She laughed despite her tears.

Ron flushed. "When did you figure it out?"

"When you started referring to yourself as Harry. Plus you're still wearing your clothes Ron, so I was suspicious from the start!" She chuckled, "You didn't think it through much, did you?"

He sighed. "I just wanted you to talk to me. I'm sorry."

She glanced up to Ron's face, smoothing the ruffled black hair down. "I'm sorry too I-"

"Shh, you have nothing to be sorry for. I was a-"

"An arse." Hermione finished, satisfied with the word arse.

"Come on then, get off me. I get jealous when I see you cuddling up to Harry."

Hermione smirked, standing up. "Jealous you say?"

"No. Not jealous, I just mean, you know. Ugh, you know what I meant."

"The Polyjuice Potion is beginning to wear off." Ron noted absentmindedly.

Hermione joked. "It's a good job I'm so forgiving or you-"

Ron huffed. "Forgiving?"

"Don't push it." Hermione replied sternly.

Ron's ginger hair began to cloud over Harry's black. The scar melting away to match the pale white skin of Ron's face, his freckles beginning to reappear, until he was finally transformed back to his normal self. Ron shook himself a little, the effects wearing off.

"So are we friends again?" Asked Ron nervously, half holding up his arms for a hug like he did when he first came back.

Hermione approached him slowly at first. But then launched himself into his arms, throwing her arms around his shoulder and grinning.

"I meant it, you're my world." He said into her hair.

"And Harry." She added.

"And Harry." He agreed.

He squeezed her a little tighter, lifting her off the floor. "You're mine too." She whispered so quietly he barely heard her.