Betrayal

Chapter 13

Harry heard Ron get up and get dressed. He pretended to be asleep until Ron had left, then he himself got dressed quickly and made his way down to the common room. He needed to find Hermione; they only had forty-eight hours. There was no one in the common room, but Harry saw Crookshanks curled up on the sofa near the fireplace. He walked over there and stroked the cat behind its ears to wake it up. The cat opened its eyes, yawned and stretched lazily, and then looked up at Harry expectantly. Harry thought for a split second that maybe Sirius had been right about this being an unusually smart cat. Harry hoped so. He picked him up, placed him at the bottom if the staircase leading to the girl's dormitory, and whispered, "Go get Hermione. Go on, get her down here." The cat trotted happily up the stairs as if it knew exactly what to do, but Harry wasn't sure this would work. Hermione might not even be there. As a matter of fact, since Crookshanks was downstairs instead of in her room with her as he usually was, she probably wasn't there. Harry sighed and went over to the sofa and sat down.

Harry has only been sitting there for a minute when he heard Hermione come down the stairs. He looked up at her and gasped. Her eyelids were so swollen that he could hardly see her eyes. He knew she must have been crying all night long. "Hermione! Oh, god, Hermione..." He walked over to her and embraced the entire upper half of her body in a gigantic hug. She began to sob again. "Shhhhhhh. Don't cry anymore. I can't stand it." She sniffled for a few seconds and then stopped all together. Harry led her over the sofa he had been on and gently sat her down.

"Ron said he doesn't want to speak to either of us again, Harry, but he can't be serious! I was up all night thinking about it. He can't just drop us like that!" Hermione's voice quiet and full of conviction. Harry then proceeded to recount the conversation he had had with Ron told Hermione the only thing they could do to keep Ron as a friend was break up. Hermione looked horror-struck.

"So, if we decide to stay together, we lose his friendship. Forever. And we have forty-eight hours to give him our decision." Hermione said this slowly as if she were reflecting upon the full implications of the ultimatum. She stared at the floor for a few seconds and then looked up at Harry. "Of all the lousy, selfish, hurtful ways he could have reacted to this situation, which I remind you is at least partially his fault...this is the worst I could have imagined. How spiteful can you get? I can't believe him! After some of the things he accused me of last night, he comes up with this?" She had worked herself up into a right state before Harry had the courage to interrupt her.

"Hermione, we slept together when you guys had been broken up for what, five minutes? Can you blame him for being angry? We're supposed to be his BEST friends, and look at what we did? If it were the other way around, I don't know if I could forgive you g-"

"Oh, come off it Harry! First of all, if the situation were reversed, this never would have happened, because you have the decency and maturity to considers other people's feelings! Second of all, even if it did happen, you would forgive your friends and at least make an attempt to be happy for them if they were really in love, like we are! Of course he has a right to be angry! I feel so ashamed of what we did only because of how it must hurt him. Other than that, I don't regret it at all, Harry! I love you, and if Ron cared about us he would try to forgive us. Maybe not right this second, but he wouldn't give us a cruel and impossible ultimatum and have that be the end of it!"

"Hermione, are you willing to lose his friendship over this?" Harry asked earnestly, his voice shaking with emotion. "Because he sounded very serious to me. I don't agree with this either, but I can definitely understand it. He sounded so...broken last night. He said he couldn't bear to see us together every day, and, well, can you blame him? I do love you Hermione, but if this means losing Ron, I just don't know..." Hermione thought she had never seen Harry look more miserable than he did at that moment.

"Harry..." She stroked his cheek and looked into his sad, green eyes, which were now glistening with tears. "I don't want to lose you. I just got you. I can't lose you already." She kissed his right cheek where a tear had slowly begun to trickle down and cupped his face in her hands. Hermione looked directly into Harry's eyes and said, "We won't lose Ron. Maybe if we give it some time, he'll come around. Let's give him some space and stay out of his way. He's just angry and feeling retaliatory right now. Please, Harry..." She was starting to tear up again as she looked imploringly into Harry's eyes.

He took her hands into his own and placed them in his lap. "Okay...okay." He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. She sighed into his kiss and returned it with a gentle passion that made his heart skip. Harry then pulled away and looked around the common room. They were still alone.

"We shouldn't be seen doing this. I don't think word getting back to Ron about this, or him walking in on it for that matter, will help him 'come around.'" He stopped searching the common room and his gaze rested back on her face. "Oh, god, Hermione, I hope you're right about this. But, if after this forty-eight hours is up, and he feels the same way..." He looked down into his lap, where he still held her hands in his and then back up again with a pained expression in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I can't lose him."

"I know. If he feels the same, we break up and all three try to remain friends."

"Right."

Just then the porthole opened up and Ron walked through looking thoroughly disgusted. Harry quickly let Hermione's hands go and pulled away from her. Ron caught his eye as he did this, and Ron gave the ceiling a rueful look, very much resisting the temptation to give Harry this look. Ron couldn't explain why he did this. It was almost as if the ultimatum was also an unspoken agreement against open hostility. A cease fire while both sides underwent negotiations to end the war. However, this cease-fire did not entirely apply to Hermione, since she was not a part of their conversation. He turned his rueful glare onto her, and, although she was guiltily staring at the floor, he could tell her eyes were horribly puffy. He averted his eyes and quickly made his way up the stairs.

Harry then remembered something. "Ron has requested that we not talk to him during this time period. He says it's not out of spite, he just can't handle it. So, this 'giving him his space' thing is what he wants as well."

"Oh, okay..." Hermione was looking up the staircase Ron had just climbed. She had expected some snide remark, or at least a scathing look. He had barely glanced at her, and that had been worse. "I'm going back upstairs to try to do something about my appearance." She pointed unnecessarily at her eyes, still looking at the stairs.

"Okay, I'm going to breakfast then. Maybe we should keep our distance in when we're around other people. I don't want any gossip or anything else that might make it harder on Ron."

Hermione looked at Harry. "But won't that look odd? All three of us ignoring each other? We should be courteous to each other while making a special attempt to avoid one-on-one conversation with Ron."

"Okay, so I'll see you at breakfast soon, then?"

"Yes. See you there." Things were already beginning to feel oddly formal. Harry made his way to the great hall, thankful that Ron seemed to already have eaten. He didn't want Ron to have to see him and Hermione together without Ron, even if they weren't doing anything that would indicate their relationship. However, what Hermione said made sense. That would seem really odd and might worsen the gossip that was sure to follow their visibly strained friendship with Ron.

When Harry arrived, he found Ginny sitting alone at the end of the table, away from the other students. They were stealing glances at her every now and then and whispering amongst themselves. Harry made his way over to her and she looked up at him scowling. "Hey, Harry. I hear you've been sleeping with other people's girlfriends." Harry stiffened. "Sorry...I'm just still irritated from a row I just had with Ron. I didn't mean for it to come out that way."

Harry sat down. "So he told you, then?"

"Yeah. That's some bad business. I imagine it's hard for all three of you, but especially Ron. He's taking it badly, isn't he?"

"Yeah, pretty bad. I don't blame him, though. What happened..." He looked down at the empty plate in front of him. "I don't know; it's complicated, Ginny. Ron is my best friend. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt him, and I can't bear the though of not having him as my friend. I don't know what to do."

"Harry, I love my brother more than anything, but for what it's worth, I think this whole ultimatum thing is a bit extreme. I think he may just be feeling really angry and irrational at the moment. Maybe give him some time."

Harry could not believe Ron had told her this much. Well, who else could he talk to about it? "That's what Hermione says, but I don't know...hey, is that what your row was about?"

"Yeah. He thought I was taking yours and Hermione's side by telling him to think it through before making such a final decision. I don't condone what you two did, though. Let's be clear on that. Ron is my brother. He's my favorite brother, in fact, and I hate that you hurt him-"

"Ginny, I feel guilty enough-"

"but I know you and Hermione wouldn't have done anything unless your feelings for each other were strong. I know you love Ron, Harry. I'm not trying to lay any more guilt on you or Hermione, as I'm sure you have lain more than enough on yourselves."

Harry sighed. "Thanks," he said weakly. Hermione sat down across from them at that moment and apparently had missed the conversation. She was avoiding both Harry's and Ginny's eyes while trying to act normal.

"She knows, Hermione. And she's being remarkable understanding and mature about it, I might add." He looked at the youngest Weasley with a slight hint of wonder.

"Thanks, Ginny, I..." Hermione's voice trailed off as she noted a particularly malicious glint in the eye of a certain blond Slytherin sitting at the next table over, watching their conversation.

"What?" Ginny asked, and looked over her shoulder. "Ugh! Malfoy! If he says anything, I swear-"

"What do you mean? He couldn't know about this?" Harry looked frantically at Ginny.

"Well, the row I had with Ron got pretty loud, and anybody listening would probably piece things together. Phrases like 'shagging each other behind my back' and 'he betrayed me' were thrown around, so..."

"Damn!" Muttered Harry.

"Oh, dear. This isn't good." Hermione looked terrified. Malfoy noticed this and a satisfied grin spread across his face as if he understood that they knew he knew. Just then Ron re-entered the great hall and made his way towards the Gryffindor table. Harry looked over at Malfoy, who looked as though Christmas had come early.