A Mark of Betrayal

Author's notes: No reviews! I feel so unappreciated! Oh well I'm just going to keep on going, because who knows how many lurkers are reading this but never review? I'd like to dedicate this chapter to JK Rowling, whom without, this wonderful fandom could not be! Thanks Jo! And so on with the story...and please review!

Talking Things Over

"Hermione, what happened in Charms doesn't mean anything," Harry told her. "I mean it isn't like we really feel like that for each other! Is it?" Even as he said it, he realised that there was doubt in his voice.

"No, of course I don't," Hermione said rather too quickly, hoping Harry hadn't found that too suspicious.

"We were put under a Charm, so it doesn't mean anything! We're just best friends that's all; let's put what happened behind us, it is in the past," he said soothingly.

"Right, well I'm glad we've got that over and done with, I couldn't stand it if we hadn't talked about it," he said, relived. They both burst out laughing; Hermione didn't know what they were laughing at or what was so hilarious that their sides were aching. All she knew was that she had to keep on laughing, she got the feeling they were laughing to break the ice, more than anything else.

"Hi, what's up?" Ron asked, sitting down next to them. Harry and Hermione stopped laughing abruptly. Ron paused, looking at Harry and Hermione, who had been slightly shocked by his interruption; he frowned. "Y-you have sorted i-it out h-haven't you? I-if you haven't I can g-go..." he said timidly, half getting out of his seat, forcing a chuckle and pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Of course we have, sit down and eat," Hermione answered before Harry could reply.

"OK," he said, clambering back down onto his seat. "Get this, right after you two left, Lavender kneed Draco in the nuts while he was under the spell, it was hilarious. He was clutching at himself for ages. Professor Flitwick didn't know where to look!"

Ron had thought that this information would break the ice, but it was to no avail. Harry cracked a weak smile as he raised his loaded fork, but then there was a pregnant pause as everyone started eating, as if all three didn't really know what to say. They all thought about the day's events. Hermione wondered why she had lied to Harry; she did like him, so why had she lied? Harry was speculating if he was going to shout at anybody else that day and if not today then when? Who might that ill-fated victim be? Ron was taking this time to mull over his latest problems, why hadn't he told Harry yet? When was he going to tell Harry? What was he going to tell Harry? Should he tell Harry? He pondered his last question, changing midway as he felt a familiar wave of jealousy towards Harry roll over him. They sat there for quite a period... reflecting on things with every mouthful, ignoring the babble of talk coming from other students who were indulging in dinner together and then...

"Harry we need to talk." Harry whirled round to see his girlfriend, slightly unnerved by the fact that she had said the exact words he had said to Hermione. He stared now into the face of Cho, her eyes widening meaningfully as she jerked her head behind her.

"In private," she added helpfully; Harry turned back to his best friends.

"I'll be back in a minute," he said, excusing himself. He trailed Cho hurriedly as she lead him out of the Great Hall. Hermione watched him leave then turned back to her dinner.

"What do you think that's about?" Ron asked loudly making a brave stab at conversation.

"I don't know," she replied shortly.

~*~

"Harry!" Cho almost shouted his name as she stopped in front of Harry, spinning round to look at him wildly. Harry, who had nearly walked into her, righted himself and then looked deep into her eyes questioningly. What did she want to talk about?

"Harry, I think we should stop seeing each other," she blurted out; Harry's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"It isn't working and after what happened in the Gryffindor common room, I feel like I don't know you." She took his hand, which was held stiffly by his side in shock and squeezed it tightly. Harry felt it bring back some of the feeling that the numbness, which was gradually invading his body, had claimed.

"I'm really sorry Harry, it's not your fault," she told him, ignoring the fact that Harry was moving his mouth wordlessly. She walked past him, thorough the doors and into the Great Hall, leaving Harry to carry on impersonating a fish. After a few minutes he walked numbly into the Great Hall and collapsed on his seat. Hermione and Ron looked at him, then at each other, and then returned their gaze to him again. They looked alarmed at the confused expression on Harry's face, which was a shade of scarlet.

"Harry?" Ron asked timorously to the top of Harry's head.

Harry, who had looked down quickly to his dinner and had kept his head down since his return to his seat, now looked up.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"What did she say?" Hermione asked, relived that Harry had now looked up; she didn't quite fancy comforting the top of Harry's head.

"S-she b-b-broke up with me," he stammered.

"Oh, I'm really sorry Harry," Ron said sympathetically, while Hermione stared at Harry rather taken aback more that anything else.

"Did she say how come?" Hermione asked, her expression now converted to a confused one.

"Said s-s-she didn't k-know me a-anymore...a-after w-w-what happened...who c-c-can blame h-her... says it i-i-isn't w-working..." he mumbled, smiling weakly. Harry wasn't usually the one to stammer or cry, he was usually the one to feel resentment or anger, but it was times like this when even he would change character.

~*~

Harry thought he had his work cut out for him when he was appointed Captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Out of the seven positions, four remained to be filled. Harry had of course refilled his position as Gryffindor seeker after having his life long ban removed. Ginny, who had been filling in for him, was happy to take one of the Chasers positions. She had been hinting that Chaser was the position she had always wanted to play anyway. Ron, who had replaced former Keeper, Oliver Wood, had now confessed that he'd rather be a Chaser instead, as he wasn't very good at being a Keeper. Harry privately agreed, although he didn't tell Ron this of course. At tryouts he was amazed to find that many of his fellow Gryffindors showed talent, the positions had soon been filled with people Harry thought were worthy of the positions. Hermione became Keeper, Neville the last remaining Chaser, and Dean and Parvati (who Harry was flabbergasted to find out, worked very well together) became Beaters. Neville had improved beyond boundaries at flying since the memorable last time Harry had seen him fly. It had been in their first year. In their first flying lesson, Neville had kicked off too hard, and soared up into the air. He went on an airborne tour of the sky, then after falling from his broomstick, he had landed flat on his face on the grass, with a broken wrist.

Gryffindor people from other years hadn't shown much interest in trying out for the team. There had been a few, but they were really dreadful at Quidditch and Harry wouldn't have been surprised if they didn't even know what the Golden Snitch was. Their second match of the year would be played on Saturday, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff; Harry was confident that Gryffindor would perform as well as they had done in their last match. They had of course been training hard for the upcoming match; Harry really wanted to win the Quidditch Cup and was completely sure they were going to get it.

~*~

Harry spent a sleepless Friday night tossing and turning, not because of the match the following morning but because of Cho. Harry couldn't help missing Cho. It was as if the empty space inside him, caused by the death of Sirius, his Godfather, had stretched even larger to include an empty space where Cho had been. Cho didn't seem to be feeling this emotion however; when they passed in the corridors Cho avoided his eyes and kept right on walking. Harry would just walk on by as well, trying to ignore the lump in his throat.

Harry missed their get-togethers on the weekend; they would take these times to chat and catch up on things. Sometimes they would go for walks up the ice-capped mountains that surrounded the lake, to enjoy the beautiful picturesque scenes from the top and maybe have a playful snow fight; then they would walk back to the castle hand in hand for lunch. It was those times that Harry was keen to rekindle. He wondered whether he'd ever be as happy with someone else. It was because of this that Harry woke up in the morning feeling tired and listless, obviously in no fit state to play Quidditch to his usual excellent standards. He found that Ron had already gone down to breakfast without him, and then speculated why. Snorting, he realised that Ron had probably thought he should leave him to sleep for little while longer. He got up and peered through the curtains, expecting to see rain pouring down, but was satisfyingly surprised by the pale blue sky that greeted him. He sighed; Quidditch playing conditions were going to be perfect. Judging by the fact that the trees weren't swaying it didn't look like there was much wind. He turned around to face the dormitory and spotted a letter on the floor. Walking over to it, he bent down to pick it up and opened it. A smile touched his lips as he read it.

Dear Harry,

We'd like to wish you good luck on your second game as Captain. You wiped the floor with Ravenclaw and we await details of how many points Hufflepuff loses by. We'd say break a leg, but you probably will anyway

Love, all of us here in London

Opening his bedside drawer, he tucked the letter away under the first good luck card he'd received months ago. He sat down on his bed, wondering who kept telling the Order the dates of his games. Chuckling to himself, he started to get dressed, grinning and wobbling slightly on his unsteady legs.

"Are you all right Harry?"

"You don't look very well."

"Do you feel up to playing?"

"Did you get much sleep last night?"

A crowd of girls and concerned friends swarmed Harry as he stumbled into the great Hall. Startled, Harry assumed that his physical appearance reflected his lack of sleep, but it didn't stop the brunette on his left tugging at his elbow, his mood plummeting, he tried to shake the girls off of him, apparently his being Gryffindor Captain made him irresistible today. He tried to break free from the crowd, becoming increasingly infuriated. Between the many heads he saw Hermione and Ron getting up from Breakfast to join the crowd and shoved a gaggle of third years out of his way to get to them.

"Harry you look awful," Hermione told him.

"Well, duh..." he said angrily. Hermione had been in a constant good mood for a few days now and Harry was bewildered; he had never known someone to go so long without having a few bad moments. It was almost annoying, as he had times during the day when he would like nothing better than to strangle the person nearest to him. He couldn't work out the cause for this sudden happiness and Hermione had made it clear she wasn't going to say.

"Missing your Girlfriend, Potter?" spoke a familiar drawl from behind him. Ron and Hermione turned around to face the owner of the voice, but Harry remained still, his face expressionless. "I heard she dumped you after your poor performance."

Anger sparked in a pair of suddenly fierce emerald eyes as Harry whipped out his wand, jabbed it over his shoulder and spoke two words, "Petrificus Totalus."

The spell hit Malfoy on the forehead and he stiffened and fell backwards, throwing the back of Harry's head a furious look as he did so. No one came to his aid as he hit the floor, no one came rushing to his side as his head made the most horrible sound of bone on stone; no one moved at all. Ron met Hermione's eyes for a moment, eyebrows raised, before they turned back to Harry.

"He deserved it," spat Harry unexpectedly. "He de-"

"Forget Malfoy, are you all right mate? You look like you haven't slept at all," Ron cut in sharply.

"Yeah I just need to keep myself awake. It shouldn't be too hard," he said, trying to convince himself. He took his glasses off carefully and rubbed the sleep from his tired, emerald eyes; the usual light that they radiated seemed to have gone out.

"I'll conjure up some Coffee," Hermione suggested. She didn't believe Harry at all, she could tell that he was really struggling.

Ron nodded.

"Good idea," he said, thoughtfully watching Hermione. She withdrew her wand from her robes and screwed her eyes up in concentrating on Harry's hands. She raised her wand.

"Accio Coffee!" she said with a swift swish of her wand. A startled Harry felt an object fly into his hands and looked down to see his fingers wrapped round a large mug of steaming creamy coffee, he drained the mug quickly, ignoring his burnt tongue.

"Thanks Hermione, I feel better already."

She smiled dismissively as to say it's all right, it was nothing.

"You'd better eat Harry, it'll help you get your strength back," suggested Ron.

"Yeah," Harry replied, not really paying attention; Cho had just entered the Great Hall and he was trying to ignore that familiar sinking feeling.

"Harry?" said Hermione. Upon hearing his name, Harry swung around, seeing that Ron and Hermione had already sat down and were waiting for him to follow suit. He sat down at the Gryffindor Table and began eating. Harry, who was eating excessively, looked at Hermione and reflected on his previous condition; he thought he might be all right playing Quidditch after all.