Chapter Seven: Betrayal

The next week passed by quickly. Everyone but Hermione seemed to be able to pretend life was normal. She tried to talk to Harry and Ron about their plans a couple times, but it was almost impossible—Ginny was monopolizing all of Harry's time, and Ron wouldn't go anywhere without Genvi. As always, Hermione spent all of her time with her books, searching for clues.

The night before she planned on returning to diagon alley, she found herself the only one awake in the house. She was reading all her past notes about horcruxes and scribbling out new ones when Ron walked in the front door. She glanced up at him.

"You're back late."

Ron shrugged and sat next to her on the couch. "Genvi's parents invited me to stay for dinner."

Hermione bit her tongue and tried to focus on her notebook again. Ron looked over her shoulder.

"What are you working on?"

She sighed and looked up at him. "I'm trying to figure out where we should look first. I've been thinking—"

She cut herself off and took a better look at Ron.

"Where did you get that shirt?"

Ron looked down at it and laughed. "Oh, Genvi and I may have run around in the sprinklers."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me there were children involved."

"Well, you're always calling me a child, so yeah." Ron laughed again. "Anyway, my clothes were drenched and a little muddy so I took a shower and Mr. Allen let me borrow a shirt."

"Where's your shirt?"

"Genvi's mum's being nice enough to wash it. I'll pick it up when I go over there tomorrow."

"Why did you take a shower at her place? You could have just come back here."

He shrugged and a small grin appeared on his face. "Like I said, I was invited for dinner. And I didn't want to leave yet."

Hermione took a deep breath and opened her notebook again. They sat in silence for a while, Ron watching as Hermione scribbled out her thoughts.

After a number of minutes, he cleared his throat. "Hermione, are you—okay—with what's happening with me and Genvi?"

Hermione pretended to be absorbed in her notes. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it might be weird for you, you know, me and her being together."

"Not at all."

Ron hesitated. "And I sorta thought you might be a little—jealous."

"Oh, because you can't imagine a woman not being attracted to you?"

"Hermione, I'm serious. I just don't want anything to be weird between us." He closed her book and shifted his position so they could see each other better. "I know we've had—moments—in the past—"

"'Past' is the key word there," she said, ignoring the catch in her throat. "You're a great guy, Ron—my best friend—but that's it, and has been for a long time."

She tried to read the expression on his face, but was unsuccessful. "Good then. Glad we got that cleared up."

"Me too."

Hermione opened her book again and buried herself in it. After a minute, Ron left the room and headed for bed. As soon as he was gone, Hermione let out a soft groan, shut her book, and curled up on the couch.


The door to the storage room in the alchemy shop was wide open. Hermione slipped by the shop owner easily under the invisibility cloak. She shifted through the finished orders as quietly as possible until she found hers. She'd already paid the last week, so she just tucked it into her bag. As she did so, she pulled out her shopping list to see if there was anything else she needed to grab from this store.

Suddenly, something grabbed her arm. The invisible source pulled her to the back of the storage room. The invisibility cloak fell off and she struggled to draw her wand. Just as she did, Ron appeared in front of her. He smirked.

"Hey, 'Mione."

"What are you doing here?" she hissed. "We agreed it was best for me to come alone!"

"Yeah, I know, but I need to talk to you."

Hermione gaped at him. "About what?"

"Not here—meet you in room 16 of the Leaky Cauldron in ten minutes."

She stared as he recast the disillusionment charm on himself. Baffled, she threw the invisibility cloak on just as the owner came back to see what the commotion was.

The Leaky Cauldron was on the opposite side of the alley. Hermione hurried through the crowd, still under the cloak, trying not to draw attention to herself. When she reached it, she headed straight to room 16. The door was wide open, so she walked in. Ron stood next to the window, staring out it.

She closed the door. The sound caused Ron to jump. He turned just as she took off the invisibility cloak and stuffed it into her bag.

"Are you crazy?" she said, keeping her voice as low as possible. "What if someone had seen you?"

"I used a disillusionment charm!"

Hermione looked at him quizzically for a moment. "Have you been practicing? You didn't used to be that good at it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, usually I can spot you a mile away. Your spell is patchy. I didn't see you at all this time."

Ron shrugged and sent her his signature smirk. "I guess I just finally started listening to the advice you gave me."

Hermione rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "What do you need to talk to me about, Ron? Why couldn't you wait till I got back?"

His expression suddenly grew serious. "Because, I wanted to talk to you alone."

"Why?"

Ron hesitated for a moment before crossing the room in two large strides. Without warning, he took her face in his hands and kissed her full on the mouth. When he pulled back, she stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I love you, Hermione," he blurted out.

Before she knew it, he was kissing her again. Hermione's heart raced. She sank into the kiss, into him, forgetting where she was or even who she was for a moment. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Her stomach flipped upside down.

He pulled back for a moment, and she tried to break out of his embrace, cheeks flushed.

"Ron, this isn't right. You're dating Genvi—"

"Don't speak," he ordered, kissing her with more force this time. They stumbled to the bed, and Hermione fell backwards onto it. Ron removed his shirt and tossed it to the ground before lying on top of her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, breathless.

Ron ignored her question and brought his lips to her neck. She brought her right hand up to slap him, but he grabbed her wrist. He grabbed her left wrist with his other hand and forced her arms above her head. She tried to kick him, but he knelt on top of her, pinning her down.

Transferring one wrist to the other hand, now holding both arms above her with just his left arm, he let his right hand travel slowly down her body, feeling every curve. Her breathing quickened. She gasped as he paused for a moment on her breast before moving further down her body.

"Ron, stop!" she pleaded, wriggling underneath him, but unable to move. His hand moved down her thigh until it reached the bottom of her skirt. Suddenly, his hand was moving up her leg, under her clothes, caressing smoothly.


Hermione lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Her clothes were in shambles. Ron was gone—he'd left almost immediately. Hermione was paralyzed, almost unable to breathe. Slowly, she sat up.

What just happened?

In a daze, she picked up her purse and pulled the invisibility cloak out of it. Her hands shook as she threw it over herself. She looked down at her list, only vaguely comprehending what was left on it.

Focus, Hermione.

But she couldn't. She couldn't focus on anything. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what had happened, what Ron had done—

The door burst open and the caretaker, Tom, entered the room. "All right, kids, I'm giving you five minutes to get out or—"

He looked around the room, puzzled. Hermione's cheeks turned a bright red under the cloak.

Someone followed him into the room. "Where'd they go?"

"No idea. Troublemakers. Whenever I have a vacant room, they always find a way in. Don't they have their own beds?" Tom shook his head. "Send for housekeeping. Someone's checking in in a couple hours."

The two men left, shutting the door behind them. Trembling, Hermione sank onto the nearest chair, holding back tears. No matter how hard she'd fought, Ron had persisted. In the end, she'd given in, hardly able to control herself, let him take her—

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. When housekeeping came, she snuck out the door and headed down the stairs. There were too many people in the lobby for her to use the fireplace, so she walked out onto the streets of London and apparated.

The walk from the end of the street to her house seemed to take ages. When she reached her front door, she heard laughter inside. She took the cloak off before opening the door.

Ron and Genvi were cuddling on the couch. He was tickling her. Upon seeing Hermione, he stopped, but didn't move away from Genvi.

He smiled at her. "Glad to see you back in one piece. Any surprises this time?"

Hermione just stared at him. Ron's smile faded slightly.

"Everything all right, Books?" Genvi asked, frowning.

Hermione couldn't speak. She stared between the two of them for a few moments before nodding weakly. Slowly, she walked past the couple and into her room. She closed the door and collapsed on her bed.


A/N: Not what you expected, was it? And if you're worried about the direction of the fic, let me assure you that this type of content is not a regular occurrence, I promise. Please review, and I'll update soon!