Disclaimer(1): I am not JKR, nor her publishers, and so I do not write this for fame or fortune. All copyright retention applies.

Disclaimer(2): This is an entry for the Houses Competition being hosted by MoonlightForgotten. All appropriate information can be found in the author's note at the end of the story.

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"You betrayed me, you know…"

Hermione nearly spits the tea from her mouth back into her cup. Forcefully she swallows, lifting a hand to her chest, and keeps ahold of her shirt until the tea is all the way down. Even after her pipes are clear of liquid, she is gaping in total shock at Ron. She's not sure she believes what he's just said…

The conversation had been innocent enough so this turn is alarming. Initially the two were just discussing Neville and Ginny going to the Yule Ball. Hermione was saying perhaps Ginny was over her crush on Harry, though Ron was just contending that her crush on him is forever. Not once was the conversation ever about her, or whom she took, and there hasn't exactly been an opening for the conversation to turn this way. Ron's just takes it towards this topic on his own accord; "Begging your pardon?"

"Dating Krum – it felt like you betrayed me, you know?" Ron repeats with a sugar cookie shaped like a gnome hanging from his mouth. Molly and Tonks thought it would be a nice treat to distract everyone from being cooped up in Grimmauld Place all hours of the day for the entire summer holiday. Hermione appreciates their efforts but certainly not more than Ron – who has been eating the sweets nonstop since breakfast.

Hermione is writing him, of course, though their relationship isn't properly defined anymore. Since school is over there's no opportunity for them to meet and discuss the permanence of their relationship – which she assumes is none. However, Viktor did ask for her to stay in touch, and she's been doing exactly that, so she thinks there may still be a chance he may be interested. A silent awareness lingers that there is no official title for what they are sharing. A fondness, at the very least, but little more than that either; a potential for more…

"Betrayed you?" Hermione starts calmly, raising her voice only slightly as she continues; "How did I betray you?" Honestly, this is a conversation they had on the night of the Yule Ball. Ron had said she was 'fraternizing with the enemy.' It was a lame insult at best then, and it's equally as pathetic now.

"By dating my idol." Ron's reply is swift and airy, as if he thinks there's nothing wrong with his comments. Even his usual cockiness is apparent in his features as he plows another sugar cookie into his mouth. Disgusted by his display, Hermione reaches into his lap and yanks the plate from his grasp.

When his arms grab at his sweets, his torso leans over Hermione's lap, so she uses magic to float them into the air. Ron pouts; "Did you think I was obligated to ask your permission? To see someone who found me attractive?"

Ron should see the error in his phrasing: calling her a traitor instead of just admitting his feelings that have been growing ever more apparent. His unhealthy show of affection burns up all Hermione's patience, and it makes her reconsider that same potential for more that she shares with Ron, if he were to mature even just the tiniest bit.

Slowly Hermione lowers the plate of cookies onto a far hutch for safekeeping. Ron glances towards them, probably considering if he should go get them before finishing this conversation. Wisely he decides that he probably shouldn't risk Hermione's malice and backlash. He remains in his seat. Shifting just enough to stop invading Hermione's personal space, but remaining close enough to create tension, he finally replies; "I didn't think you needed to, you know, if it were anyone else. I wouldn't have been nearly as jealous were it someone else."

Hermione scoffs. Ron smiles. She scoffs again, turning away to hide the smile crawling onto her lips. The tension grows even more encompassing when Ron lobs himself lazily into her shoulder, rocking her into the arm of the couch; "I was only jealous of you, though. I'd have gone to the dance with Viktor if I could've. Damn the bloody rumors that would've started, eh?"

Hermione's jaw drops; "You are as insufferable as ever, Ronald Weasley!"

She jumps to her feet, but he's on his just as quickly and he slides his hand over her wrist. His fingers only graze the loose fabric of her cardigan sleeve, though, because she jerks away; "I'm only joking, 'Mione!" Unfortunately for Ron, she's simply not having any of his indecisive sarcasm. A whole summer of romantic possibilities being bludgeoned into oblivion with childish jokes and willful ignorance; Ron's maturity could still yet turn her off to liking him!

"We could've gone together if you'd just asked me, instead of acting entitled to it!" Hermione hisses through her teeth, a frightening demonstration by any Gryffindor student. Embarrassment and disappointment become apparent in his eyes all at once. She sees the gravity of realization suffocating Ron just before she walks away, and he tries to remedy the damage he's done by making sarcastic nips at her over something very much rooted in the past. Hermione groans in response to each and every word he leaves half-finished.

"I'm sorry, I'm so bad about saying what I mean…" He sounds genuine but Hermione feels that after five years of friendship, and all the trials they've been through as friends, just saying 'I really wanted to take you to the dance' shouldn't be so hard. Perhaps she is being unfair, since she's easily more mature than he is, nevertheless – the distinguished difference between them is enough for Hermione to reject any efforts he is making now.

Maybe they just don't have the potential she keeps seeing glimmers of in their minuscule interactions; "If you can't say what you mean then don't say anything at all!"

When Lavender Brown and Ronald Weasley conjoin at the lips, Hermione feels an invisible icicle puncture her heart. As alive with regret as she is beneath the surface, outwardly she shrinks and deflates lazily away from the scene. Seeing Ron kissing someone else, showing just how much this potential for more really means to him after all these years. Once she escapes the common room, Hermione races away to find anywhere that might give her privacy.

As soon as she gets there she slams her body to the ground, sobbing into her knees. The pain of realization that she's been just as immature as Ron is equally as painful as seeing him with someone else, and she knows she should've done something about it sooner. All of their passing flirts and glances…

"You betrayed me!"

She repeats his words, but not in the same way.

Hermione means her heart.

Her heart has betrayed her by letting her reject Ron's awkward and misplaced affections.

Her heart has betrayed her by allowing her to believe that putting him off until he proved he could act his age was productive.

But her heart betrayed her most by permitting her to fall in love with Ronald Bilius Weasley in the first place.

Author's Note

Ravenclaw, Themed (Rejection - "You betrayed me..."), 1177 words