Between Friends

Between Friends, Chapter 2

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T MARRY ME?!" Ron was shouting.

It was the morning after Harry had showed up on her doorstep. Hermione had awoken with a sick feeling in her stomach. She knew what she had to do, but that didn't make it any easier. To put the talk with Ron off any longer was unfair. As soon as she was dressed, Hermione went right over to his flat to try and break off their engagement as gently as possible. She knew it would be difficult, but she had underestimated the wrath of Ron's ginger-haired temper. The shouting had begun the moment the words left her mouth. Ron was incensed.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he sobbed.

Hermione cried into their hands.

"I have no reason other than that I know you and I aren't meant to be," she replied weakly.

"How can you SAY that?" Ron angrily enquired, tears streaming down his crimson cheeks. "How did you arrive at that brilliant conclusion, after six bloody years together? We're ENGAGED, for fuck's sake! Oh Christ, what am I going to tell my mum and dad?"

Hermione pulled her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them, and simply allowed Ron's anger to rain over her. She obviously couldn't tell him the truth today. His reaction to the break-up was bad enough. It would kill him to find out that Harry and Hermione had slept together; that they loved each other. No, she couldn't tell him today, so she just ducked her head and let him finish his rant. Even though Hermione knew that Ron needed to vent, and that she deserved every minute of his raging, she was ashamed to find herself hoping that it would end soon. Last night, whilst she lay in Harry's arms, Hermione had not allowed herself to consider the anguish their new relationship would cause Ron. But now, looking into his grief-stricken face, she could not deny that she was causing him to suffer immensely. Eventually, Ron tired of attempting to force an answer from Hermione, and, looking resigned and ill, he simply told her to go.

Hermione slunk home, Ron's angry voice ringing in her head. The moment she stepped into her own flat, Hermione sank to the floor. She sobbed out of shame and remorse. She regretted the day she ever became involved with Ron, who was clearly meant to be nothing other than her friend...her best friend. And now they wouldn't even have that.

Hermione suddenly found herself in dire need of someone to talk to. She didn't know where to turn. Her best girlfriend, Ginny, was Ron's sister, and she didn't really feel ready to tell her mother about the break-up. With no-one else in her life to understand, Hermione had no choice but to confide in her co-betrayer. She rang Harry, and he agreed to come over.

They were back on her squashy couch when she told Harry that she'd broken it off with Ron that morning. Harry looked stunned. His eyes wide, he asked her whether she was sure that's what she wanted.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course it is. What else could I do? Last night..." she trailed off, her eyes downcast. "Well, last night was really, really wrong of us, but it did make me realise that if I can have feelings this strong for you, I'm definitely not ready to marry Ron. He took it really badly, by the way; and I didn't even tell him about you and me."

Harry suddenly looked very peaked. He loved Hermione deeply, but Ron was like a brother. The sudden realisation that he'd caused his best friend so much pain hit him hard. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Christ, what have I done?" he asked himself with a tortured look in his eyes.

"Look, it's not your fault, okay?" Hermione tried to reassure him, "I would have left him sooner or later anyway. Better now than after we were married! I love him so much, but just not in the right way. Not passionately and completely. Not like I love you, Harry."

He flicked those arresting eyes up at her then, and she looked right into them. She was biting her lip nervously, hoping he wasn't about to renounce everything he'd told her the previous night. Sensing her apprehension, Harry spoke.

"Hermione, I meant every word I said last night," Harry said firmly, "I love you more than I can say. Making love to you last night only strengthened my feelings for you, even if I'm not proud of giving into lust before you broke it off with Ron. Come here," he said, patting the space closest to him on the couch. Hermione complied, and they sat curled together, her head on his shoulder, until it was time for Harry to leave.