Chapter Twenty-five

Complete betrayal

A/N: Hey!!!

Totally hectic week….or errr…well however long it's been….looks guiltily around….but seriously no flamers allowed cuz it was totally not my fault….i ended up in the hospital with Dengue and Typhoid….how horrible is that!! On top of that since Typhoid usually induces hair fall I had to chop off my waist length hair………waaaaaaaaaaa!!!...it's just below my ears now and I went into depression for half a week over that……and spent the other half ranting and raving……usually yelling ---

Iwantmyhairback!!!

Neway…. I'm back now…….almost better and with any luck my hair will grow back….pout….soon….

Oh and EID MUBARAK and there's PUJA coming up soon rite?...consider this my personal tribute to Eid and hopefully I'll have a Halloween special up soon….

…. and btw this is a Hr/R , Hr/SS type…er… sorta chappie…..it's confusing ….just clearing up confusions that's all….adding history I guess…….?

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Two days ago

"Ron." The voice calling to the red-head's back was laced with a certain desperation.

Quickly turning round at his friends voice, Ron flashed a concerned look at her while simultaneously rolling up the parchment in his hand and magically removing and locking away all the paperwork on his table.

"What's wrong 'Moine?" he asked, not really having expecting to be seeing her so soon after the meeting. Somehow a slight distance had overcome their relationship, after they decided that they couldn't see each other, mainly because he had failed to understand why.

He had been in love with her.

He still was, but had long since decided he loved her enough to respect her decision, despite his attempt at normalizing their relationship however, it hadn't held up to well.

They got along fine, it was just that they were working in different war sectors and they had drifted somewhat.

They'd changed.

And then there'd been the awkwardness.

Personally he'd have loved to blame the war for the change, but somehow he sensed it was more than that, Hermione had matured…. she had somehow outgrown them.

Which was why, seeing her here at this time of night, after an Order meeting, was startling.

"Ron, I need your help." Huge velvety brown eyes looked imploringly into his own electric blue one's.

Ron, could feel the familiar hand squeeze his heart, as he looked down into her eyes.

He wondered vaguely, if this hold she had on them would ever go away…somehow he doubted it.

She had insisted that they had grown into each other, that they were 'habits' of each other and nothing else.

He knew for a fact that wasn't true, he ached for her, maybe they didn't share a mad, raging, passion, but she wasn't just a habit to him.

She was a part of him, she completed him.

Had.

Shaking his head slightly to clear it of his piteous walk down memory lane, he motioned for her to take a seat beside him.

Her long brown hair was tied back in a messy knot, and huge tears were carving tracks down her porcelain cheeks.

"Hey, come on Herm'," Ron's voice as shaky, as the hand that was now patting her back, her pulled her against him awkwardly.

To his surprise instead of pushing him away, she leaned even further into his shoulder, until she had both arms thrown around him.

Wisely, he let her cry herself out before he pressed any questions on her.

Almost half an hour later, Hermione lifted herself off Ron pressing his handkerchief to her eyes and nose mumbling, "Merlin I am such a …"

"Normal witch, with normal problems, who would like to discuss them with her best friend?" Ron added helpfully, deliberately scooting a little away from her on the sofa.

Hermione who was too much in a state to notice much, drew in a deep breath and looked at him.

Hard.

"I need to be re-positioned."

Ron forced a chuckle, "Finally had too much of Snape?"

"Ron, please don't do this," she pleaded.

"Do what?" he asked, "Frankly I'm surprised you didn't come to me about this earlier, him being the slimy ol'bastard he is and you being…"

"Pregnant." She supplied stonily.

Ron froze.

He looked back at the young woman seated beside him, his eyes, a picture of his emotions, ranging from guilt to betrayal.

Comprehension of the amount of shock she had given her friend led Hermione to soften her tone considerably as she continued,

"We were involved Ron.

Me and Severus.

We are involved.

My contraceptive spell must have not worked sometime during the last month because…well obviously."

A huge tear trickled down the side of her face again.

Finally having found, and controlled his voice again he asked, "And his reaction to this happy news, I take it was not so happy?"

"He doesn't know." She answered rolling her eyes at the still blatant hostility in his tone.

"Of course not. You decided to come tell me the happy news first." He said his voice now laced with venom in a way Hermione had never heard before.

"Ron I need you help."

"No, obviously you don't."

"Ron I can't tell him."

"Oh, don't worry I'm sure he'll be just ecstatic…..the kid will be his light in the war ….or something like that…his reason to come back…..oh wait that's you….."

" I can't tell him because he's going off to Voldemort's side soon….we don't know when but he's already bothered about Draco and Ginny, I can't give him more to worry about, the only way to hide to pregnancy is by my moving away. Immediately."

"You're advancing your pregnancy aren't you? Like Fleur?"

"Yes. My pregnancy is much more artificially advanced than hers though I've been taking the serum since I found out."

"Your further along than she is?" he asked skeptically.

"No I'm just going to be over with my pregnancy before her, another three months tops."

"Fleur is expecting end of next month."

"I meant time wise."

"Right, what ever."

Hermione dragged her hand across her face, "Ron could you please just…"

"Be happy for you?" he asked sarcastically. "Forget what we had between us and jump for joy of you and the Potions git?

And you two's childwhat about it, eh?

Am I supposed to be ecstatic about that too?"

"I shouldn't have come here." She said quietly. Then even more quietly she rose to leave with a soft peck on his cheek, as she said sorry.

"Wait." Huge arms went up in the air in a gesture of helplessness.

As blue eyes leveled dead even with her own, Ron intoned in a deadly serious voice, that was so apart from his loud personality, that finally to an extent Hermione began to understand how much she had meant to him.

"I can't do that for you 'Mione, I can't be that guy.

But if you need help………….. I'll help you, I can do that.

But that's probably all I can do."

"I'm sorry I'm putting you through this."

Ron shrugged, "Anything for you, right?" he said quoting what had been one of her favorite phrases when they'd been dating.

Hermione just looked at him, guilt tormenting her, as she returned his stony gaze.

It was as if she was just realizing how much their fallout had affected him, she'd been in her own little world, not noticing, not bothering to notice, until she needed him again.

Had she really become that person?