Betrayal

Chapter 15

Harry had noticed Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle inching their way towards him and Hermione and had tried to ignore it. Ron had noticed it as well as he was watching them with narrowed eyes. Once they got within earshot, Pansy's voice could be heard above Crabbe and Goyle's guffaws.

"As for Weasley, aside from him being a worthless lump like his dad, I bet the main reason that Granger wouldn't shag him was the odor." Hermione froze and turned around to face Pansy. Pansy looked her straight in the eye and continued. "You know how awful the poor smell. I suppose it's because they can't afford enough soap, and with all those Weasley's living under one roof, the stench would be festering to an unimaginable level." She snickered and looked at Ron, who had obviously heard every word. He was, for the second time that morning, blazing red.

Hermione snapped. She pointed her wand at Pansy and bellowed "EXPELLIARMUS!" The wand that Pansy had been holding lazily at her side flew across the yard. Pansy looked dumbstruck as Hermione advanced upon her. "STUPIFY!" Pansy went rigid, the look of shock frozen on her face. Crabbe and Goyle, just as shocked, were slow to react. Hagrid reached them first and shielded Hermione from them, but not before they could hurl insults at her.

"You little sleaze!"

"You'll pay for that, Mudblood!"

"That's enough o' that! Stand back, stand back! You two, carry Miss Parkinson to the hospital wing while I deal with Hermione! Now!." They shot Hermione threatening looks before picking up the stunned girl and hauling her up towards the castle. Hagrid reeled around on Hermione, who was looking supremely satisfied with herself despite Crabbe and Goyle's comments.

"Hermione, over here!" Hagrid beckoned her to follow him to the side of his cabin. Harry, was absolutely stunned (but in a good way), with a dreamy look of pleasure on his face. Hermione is bloody brilliant! He snapped out of it in time to see Ron staring (equally stunned) at Hermione. After a few seconds, Ron caught Harry's eye but then turned around. Harry was sure that Ron was grinning. Hermione returned a few minutes later, just as the class was officially ending and the students were making their way to the castle.

"Well, what did Hagrid say?" Harry asked eagerly.

Hermione looked at him, positively beaming. "First, he said 'well-done', because he heard what Pansy was saying about Ron. Then he told me about a few other jinxes I might have used. You know, more painful or visible ones that would have done more damage. He didn't think 'Stupufy' was good enough."

Harry laughed and punched the air. "Too right, it wasn't! She deserved painful blisters like Malfoy got this morning!"

"And then he said that it was his duty to give me detention, but he promised it wouldn't be bad at all, so I have to go to his hut tomorrow night around five. I can't believe I received detention two times in one day! I think it was worth it, though, don't you?"

"Hey, if it means putting a Slytherin in the Hospital Wing, then it's definitely worth it."

Ron, unbeknown to them, was only a few feet behind them and desperately wished he could join in on the conversation, if only to thank Hermione for sticking up for him. But seeing them together made his stomach tighten. He was not looking forward to detention with them tonight. Not at all. Snape would probably make them sit at a table and face each other for hours on end. He knew Snape heard the whole thing and was going to use it to torture them.

Harry and Hermione made their way to the great hall still glowing from their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. They took their seats and immediately scanned the room for Ron. Hermione spotted him first. He was at the far end of the table, quite a ways from them.

"He's down there with Dean." She said to Harry. He looked quickly and then turned back to his plate.

"I can't stand not speaking to him. I can't stand him not speaking to us. It's only been half a day, Hermione." He looked up at her miserably, his good mood quickly forgotten.

"I know. I miss him. Do you think we should try to talk to him? Maybe he misses us?"

"No. I've caught him scowling at us a few times today. If he misses us, he's hiding it really well. But I do think he was amused at your jinxing Pansy. I could have swore he was smiling."

"Really?" Hermione brightened considerably and she craned her neck to try to get another look at Ron.

Ron wished that Harry and Hermione would stop looking at him. He wished they would just leave him alone. The whole school knew what was going on; did they have to be so obvious about it? Just then Ron noticed Neville was staring at him.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Well, you haven't eaten anything yet. Usually you're on your second helping by now, that's all."

"So. In case you haven't heard, I have a lot on my mind." He began shoving piles of food into his mouth mechanically.

"Yeah, we've all heard. Are you guys still going to be friends?" Neville asked timidly.

"I don't know."

"I hope so."

"Why? Why is everyone on their side?" Ron immediately got defensive.

"I'm not on anyone's side. It's just you're obviously miserable and so are they. They keep trying to look at you. They miss you. And Hermione almost killed Pansy because she was talking about you, and...I don't know. Never mind."

"I miss them too, Neville."

"I know you do. Why don't you just talk-"

"-It's too hard to see them together."

Neville was quiet for a moment. "Do you think they love each other?" He finally asked.

"Yeah. I do."

"And you love her?"

"More than anything."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

Neville's gaze wandered from Ron to Ginny and Terry Boot, who were huddled over an open book at the very end of the table. "Give it time, Ron. It can only get easier."

"Yeah? That's what everyone says, but...it doesn't feel like that right now." Ron sighed. He followed Neville's gaze over to the couple and felt a small rush of compassion for him.

"It can't get any worse, can it?"

Ron thought about this morning with Malfoy. "No, Neville. I think Malfoy made sure I hit rock bottom today, the slimy git."

Ron shoved his plate of food away and started to get up to leave. He turned to Neville, who was smiling sympathetically. "Hey, thanks, you know, for the talk." Neville nodded.

Hermione saw Ron leave the great hall. "Harry, he's leaving. I wonder what he's going to do until detention."

"What are we going to do? I don't want to be anywhere he might see us. I know it's hard for him to see us." Harry was studying a clump of mashed potatoes on his fork.

"We could do some homework in the library? I know Ron won't be there."

"No. I can't concentrate on homework right now."

"How about chess?"

"Neither of us have a chess board. We always use Ron's, and we always play with Ron for that matter."

"Yeah...why do we subject ourselves to that all the time? He always kills us?" Hermione laughed remembering one time in particular when Ron had flattened her while arguing with Fred and George at the same time. She noticed he was distracted and actually thought she had a chance at winning, but he had beaten her rather quickly. He was so engrossed in his argument with the twins that she had to inform him (miserably) that he had won.

She looked at Harry, still smiling at the memory. But seeing the morose expression on his face effectively took the smile away. She was sure Harry was thinking about never playing chess with Ron again.

"Harry...it will be all right." She didn't sound as confident as she had intended.

"What if it isn't?" He sounded utterly woebegone. "Can we please go? I don't want to talk about this here."

"Okay, but where?"

"There's a spot out by the lake...it's where Dean, Seamus, and Neville were planning to go last night. It's near some bushes and trees, so it's out of the way. I don't think Ron will be outside anyway. We can talk there, you can do your homework and give me filthy glances for not doing mine, and I can just think, okay?"

Chapter 16

After Hermione had gathered a few books (six) and Harry had gotten an old blanket for them to sit on, they made their way down to the lake. Harry kept looking around, hoping not to see Ron. They had to walk a short distance to find the spot, which turned out to be quite private to Hermione's pleasant surprise.

"Oh, this is good. I can't even hear anyone else. We must be quite shielded from the main grounds. I really need to work on that History of Magic essay."

"How can you think about homework now?" Harry sounded irritated.

"It helps take my mind off things," she said defensively, taking a roll of parchment out of her bag and laying down on the blanket. Harry lay beside her with his arms behind his head and stared at the crystal blue sky. After ten minutes with nothing but the sound of Hermione's quill scratching on the paper, Harry took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and let out a heavy sigh. Hermione put the quill down, propped herself on her side, and looked at Harry.

"Is it fair that we're asking him to suck it up and accept our relationship? We know how much it hurts him. I mean, is it reasonable to ask our best friend to swallow his feelings just so we can be happy?"

"It doesn't seem fair, does it?" She said evenly.

"No."

"Harry, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." He rolled over onto his side, giving her his full attention.

"You said you had wanted me for a long time...exactly how long?"

"Since the end of last year." He smiled shyly. She smiled too.

"How did it make you feel seeing me with Ron for the last few months?"

"I know where you're going with this, and I don't think it's the same thing."

"Why not?"

"Well, we weren't dating before you and he got together. It's not like you left me for him."

"That's true."

"And..." Harry didn't know if he should tell her the other part.

"And what?"

"I wasn't sure that I was in love with you until last night, after we made love, and then today when you told me you loved me, which I can hardly believe, because you're you-"

"You're rambling, Harry."

He smiled sheepishly. "I know. The point is, I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was love or just physical attraction combined with the sincere affection of friendship. Ron is in love with you, and he knows it. It's a little different. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does." Hermione appeared to be thinking. "You know, I felt it too, the physical attraction, I mean. After the hundredth rejection from Ron, I began to...think about you."

"That's probably because you were lonely and...lacking certain things." He looked at the ground.

"I considered that, but that wasn't it. If it were that, I would have been fantasizing about Ron instead of you." She blushed deeply, but plowed on. "That night you came into the common room drenched and I helped you with your Potions essay...you looked so...good." She blushed even harder.

"Really?" Harry was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Yes. But then you hurried off so quickly. It reminded me of Ron." She scowled.

"Well, if you remember, you had your head on my shoulders. We were sitting close together, and I was getting, you know, aroused. I didn't want you to see. I thought you'd think I was a disgusting pervert and run screaming from the room!"

Now Hermione was grinning. "Is that so? I had no idea!"

"Yeah, well, clearly I had to make a run for it."

Hermione laughed. "Okay, so it began, for both of us, as physical attraction-"

"I also had strong feelings of affection because we're friends. Apparently, you just wanted my body."

"Oh, shut up! I had that too!" She pushed his shoulder. "Moving on. So you had...strong feelings for me. So what if you didn't know it was LOVE.. It was more than lust, and it was strong. But I was with Ron. How did that make you feel?"

"Terrible! One minute I felt so jealous I thought my head would explode. Then Ron would do something funny, or kind, and I would feel guilty and swallow it. I always wanted you two to be happy. You guys are my best friends!"

"Did you think it was fair?"

"No, but I guess life isn't fair, is it?"

"No, it's not. Not ever. You know that better than anyone. Don't you think Ron could maybe understand this? Us loving each other and wanting him to accept it, eventually, isn't fair, it just is. Maybe he'll feel jealous sometimes, just like you did, but in the end, couldn't he want us to be happy, because he loves us?"

"But you're forgetting about the part where I practically stole you from him! That makes it ten times worse."

"You didn't steal me from him, you silly boy," she said smiling. "Ron pushed me away one too many times, and I ended up in the arms of the only person I was capable of loving as much as I love him."

Harry brought his hand up to the spot where her bare flesh was exposed between her jeans and her shirt and rested it there. "Do you mean that, Hermione?" He began to stroke her skin with his thumb, not looking at her.

His touch sent shivers up her spine. "Yes, Harry. I mean that."

He looked into her eyes, leaned in and kissed her softly. His hand slid further up her shirt before resting on her side. She reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair and leaned back pulling him over her. He parted her lips gently with his tongue and slid it in her mouth. She moaned softly. He deepened the kiss and slid his hand farther up until it was cupping her breast. She gasped and arched her back as he began sucking and kissing her neck.

"Harry, I love you so much..."

"I love you too, Hermione," he whispered in her ear and kissed her passionately on the lips. His hand slowly made its way back down to her stomach where it paused to trace light circles just above to the top of her jeans. "We can't do much out here in case someone comes." As he said this he began unbuttoning her jeans and pulling the zipper down. "But, God, I want to touch you, to make you feel good..." His voice trailed of as his hand disappeared beneath her jeans and panties.

"Oh! Oh, Harry!" She squeezed her thighs around his hand.

"Do you like it when I touch you there?" His two fingers flicked inside her, probing, massaging.

"Yes!"

He kissed her harder and pushed his fingers deeper. She squealed into his mouth, and with the stroke of his thumb, her entire body shook. Then they both heard it: the snapping of a twig. Hermione looked up just in time to see a white faced Ron stumbling backwards, his mouth agape.