drabble: No More Regrets
Prompt: Regret
Title: No More Regrets
Author: PigWithHair
Characters/Ship: Ron/Hermione, Harry snores through it
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 430
Something woke him. Ron sat up and blinked. Hermione was sleeping in the other bunk, her back to him, her hair trailed over her shoulder, along her back and down to spill over the white sheet. He could hear her breathe, soft and steady.
Harry was bunched up, seated on the ground at the tent opening, his head lolled back against the seamed edge of the tent flap, his glasses askew. His mouth was open, and he was snoring.
What was that?
Throwing back the cover, Ron got to his feet and pulled out his wand as he crept forward. He listened. The steady flow of rain and the soft pings of drops on the tent were the only sounds. Edging around Harry, he peered out. Nothing. The darkness was filtered with fingered light from the moon as it tried to reach between the trees to the ground.
He stood there for several moments, listening and watching. Harry snorted loudly and Ron jumped back. Harry didn’t wake, and the rain pounded on, muffling anything else that might be out there.
Several minutes passed, and Ron finally gave up and headed back to the bunk. He stopped and studied Hermione. She’d lost weight while he’d been gone. Her face was pale, sometimes gray when the tiredness took hold, and there was a shakiness to her hands he’d never seen before. She was over-wrought, and impatience rushed up at him in a wave. They had to hurry and figure this out, before… well, before.
Studying her, his mind flashed through other images he’d mentally collected of her over the last couple of years. One image paused and then wouldn’t leave. He tried to shove it on, get on to a happier thought of Hermione, but it wouldn’t go.
It had been during that time. During it, and in the weeks after, he’d thought he’d have more time. Well, he’d been wrong. Never again would they be at Hogwarts. All those fantasies that had passed through his head of him and Hermione and one of those big chairs in front of the fire in the common room - gone. Done. Opportunity missed.
What the hell had been his problem? Why hadn’t he ─? Well, he did know why; he’d been afraid. Hell, he was still afraid. But he wouldn’t do that again. He wouldn’t miss another opportunity to do all the things with her… he was just waiting for her anger to fade, and then he’d… they’d… it would happen. She had to feel the same. He’d do whatever it would take. No more regrets.