A/N: I have a feeling this chapter is not going to be well received...
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But Harry was wrong. Ron did not get over it. In fact he spent a good portion of the next few years not talking to Harry or Hermione at all.
Harry had expected this to affect him a lot more than it did, but now that Hermione was his girlfriend he found himself enjoying the long periods spent in the library a lot more. Particularly if there was kissing involved, but their relationship had not gone further than that yet.
There had been a brief period in fifth year when Ron had been Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, but Angelina quickly kicked him off due to his horrible performances. He had tried out at the start of sixth year, but Harry had had to call on Cormac McClaggen again. He may have hated McClaggen, but at least he was better than Ron.
Ginny had been a bit of a problem as well. She had been particularly cold to Harry and Hermione during fifth year, but in sixth year she seemed to have at least mellowed out a little bit. Perhaps it was dating Dean Thomas that was helping, or maybe Harry giving her a spot on the Quidditch team had appeased her slightly. Even so, they were far from being best friends.
It didn't bother Harry that much though; what bothered him more was that Hermione still had to do her prefect duties with Ron. In fifth year Harry had tried to convince McGonagall that this was a bad idea, but she had firmly told Harry that unless Hermione came to her and told her that Ron was actually bullying her then she would not allow them to swap prefect duties with other students. Harry had become increasingly annoyed at how Hermione would not admit to even him that Ron had been bullying her during these sessions. He knew Ron must have been horrible to her during a patrol as she often came back from them very shaken.
Sometimes he would make an effort to watch out for them on the Marauder's Map. They never seemed to linger in one place for too long though, so that probably meant they weren't stopping to argue. He didn't want to spend too long watching the map though, because he wanted to get his homework done early. Whenever he finished his homework before she got back Hermione would always give Harry a "reward" that often made Ron's glare even more intense than usual.
Tonight Harry was sitting working on a Transfiguration essay in the Common Room. He sat on his own in the corner where he could get the most peace and quiet. No one ever disturbed him there, as they seemed to know that when Hermione got back they'd just want to disappear into it even further. Harry had the Marauder's Map with him as he always did when Hermione was on patrols, but tonight it quickly became buried under textbooks and pieces of parchment as Harry rummaged through his disorganised notes for the knowledge he was looking for.
While he was working he totally lost track of time, and didn't even think to check his watch until after he'd put his quill down and noticed that the Common Room seemed to have emptied out a bit since he'd started his essay. It seemed a bit odd to him. Hermione was usually back by this time, unless they had run into a student out of bounds and had to report them.
Harry clawed through his pile of notes to pull out the Marauder's Map. He scanned along Hermione and Ron's usual patrol route but couldn't seem to find them. He scanned throughout the whole castle and then finally found them in a room on the second floor, presumably one of the unused classrooms.
Now that was really odd. Harry knew Hermione's patrol route off by heart, and that was nowhere near it. There was also no one else nearby as well. If it was a classroom it was one of the ones that was never used and kept locked at all times. There weren't even any teacher's offices nearby.
Harry's mind began to fill with possibilities. Perhaps they'd just decided to take a different route tonight? But no, they weren't even walking. They were just standing there. Maybe they thought someone had broken in and were looking for anything missing? That still didn't explain what they were doing anywhere near there in the first place though.
Maybe Ron had dragged her off into that room to abuse her. He was standing awfully close to her.
Suddenly Harry felt himself begin to seethe with rage. That bastard! Harry couldn't just sit there and hope Hermione was okay. He had to get down there before Ron tried something funny on her. He was probably already just standing shouting abuse at her. That would be a very Ron thing to do. But he wouldn't have physically hurt her. The Ron that Harry knew would never do something like that.
Then again, Harry didn't really know Ron at all anymore...
Harry snatched up his Invisibility Cloak and the Map and raced out of the Common Room, not even stopping to apologise to Dean who he knocked flying on the way out.
He raced down to the second floor, taking every shortcut he knew. At one point he rushed past a pair of prefects also out of control, but with his cloak on they probably thought it was a gust of wind or something.
He finally slowed to a stop outside a classroom, checking on the Map to make sure it was the right one. He couldn't hear Ron shouting, so he hesitated. He tried for the door handle, but it wouldn't even turn. He aimed his wand and said the magic word Hermione had taught him and Ron so long ago.
"Alohamora!" he whispered. The door handle turned and the door turned gently open. Harry stepped into the room and ripped off his cloak and raised his wand, as the most vile and horrible spells he could think of flashed across his mind so that he could aim them at Ron.
Hermione yelped and she and Ron suddenly sprang apart. It took a moment for Harry to realise that they had been so close to each other, touching,..
Oh no, no, no, please no.
"Harry?" Hermione gasped. "Oh my God, it's not what it looks like!"
His anger at Ron had been replaced by sheer shock. It took him a long time to come to terms with what he had just seen. When Hermione took a step forward Harry snapped to his senses and noticed that he had been about to lower his wand.
"You want to know what it looked like?" Harry growled. "It looked to me like you were just kissing that bastard."
"I can explain," Hermione pleaded.
"Oh?" Harry asked. "Well, let's hear it then."
Hermione's mouth opened, but then quickly closed again. She looked at the ground, as if desperately hoping it might have the answer for her.
"We've been seeing each other," Ron said. Harry's wand suddenly levelled at him, having forgotten for a moment he was even there. "While out on patrol we got to talking and stuff, and she forgave me for what I did and we... fell in love."
"How long as this been going on?" Harry asked.
"Ron, don't tell him anything more," Hermione pleaded.
"HOW LONG?" Harry roared, taking a few steps towards her. Ron stepped across to try and put himself between Harry and Hermione but a menacing thrust from Harry's wand made him step back as well.
"A few months," Ron replied quickly.
Harry tried to take a deep breath, hoping this might do something to abate his anger long enough to think clearly about this.
"A... few... months?" Harry asked. "And you were happy in all this time to keep stringing me along?"
"I love you both, Harry," Hermione said. "I didn't want to lose either of you."
"So you lied to me?" Harry demanded.
"We didn't know how you'd react," Ron said. "With the way you and me fell out we didn't think you'd want to share her."
"The way you and me fell out?" Harry repeated. He turned to Hermione. "What about all that stuff he said about you being a scarlet woman?"
"He's explained it all to me," Hermione said. "He only said all those things because he was jealous. I understand you feel the same way now, Harry. Believe me, this isn't the way we wanted you to find out."
"And how exactly was I supposed to find you?"
Hermione could not answer this. Harry's wand shifted, so that it was not aimed at Ron anymore. Now he had it aimed at Hermione.
"Which of us is it?" Harry asked.
"Harry, what -?"
"You can't be in love with both of us!" Harry snapped. "You have to choose. Which of us is it?"
"But Harry, I love both of you!" Hermione pleaded, tears starting to well in her eyes. "Please don't do this."
"No, that's impossible!" Harry roared. "You can't love two people like that. It won't work. You have to choose which one of us you really want!"
Hermione looked desperately from Harry to Ron and back again, almost pleading with one of them to do something. Harry felt his blood almost beginning to boil. She was actually considering that bastard after all he'd done to them, and the hell he'd put Harry through for nearly two years now.
"Put down your wand," Ron said.
"Shut up, Weasley!" Harry snapped.
"Put down the wand and let her choose!" Ron snapped back. "She can't make a decision if you're going to curse her for making the choice you don't like."
Harry told him where to shove it, but lowered his wand all the same. She was going to choose him. She had to. She wasn't even looking at Ron anymore. She was just staring at him.
"Harry," she said.
His heart began to race.
"I'm so sorry."
He turned away and looked at the window. Suddenly he didn't want to look at her. In fact, he never wanted to see her again. He turned around to look at Ron, who had the bloody nerve to actually to be smiling at her. For one moment all he wanted was the curse the smirk off of his face.
"Well, let's see if you still love him when he's a monster!" Harry snapped. He raised his wand and fired a curse with all the venom he could muster, and Ron suddenly stumbled backwards with a shriek, clutching his hands to his face.
"Ron!" Hermione cried, rushing over to his side while he rolled around in agony. Harry felt his lips twitch into a twisted smile. He had never smiled like that before. In fact, for one moment he felt positively thrilled. But as he watched her struggle to find a counter-curse the joy was replaced by seething anger. He stormed out of the room, vowing to never speak to either of them again.