A/N: Another chapter up.

I have managed to reply to few of you and hopefully will be able to reply to the rest today.

Thank you all so much for appreciating this story :)

Keep those reviews coming please!

All characters, places and props mentioned here belong to JKR.

Chapter 14: Making and Breaking

Harry looked away guiltily from Ginny whom he was watching inconspicuously as her youngest brother arrived and huffed as he sat down beside him at the breakfast table next morning. He appeared to be in a particularly foul mood, so common on his features in this term, that it made Harry often wonder how nobody noticed the recent changes in him.

"When is our next practice session?" asked the redhead as he filled his plate with toasts and bacons.

"Today evening." He replied. There were so many questions bubbling inside him but this wasn't a place safe enough to ask.

"Good." Ron said and began attacking his food as if it had done him personal harm. Harry had been unable to get any information out of him the previous night as they had hit the bed as soon as Granger had got inside her chamber. To be precise, Ron had closed the bed curtains shut. Harry for his part had been much too awake to doze off immediately. He had stayed up contemplating what Dumbledore wished to achieve by dumping Granger with them and wondered if the old man even know how her closeness was impacting Ron? He could barely imagine what the redhead would be going through having been given the responsibility of the very same girl who dumped him so badly and not very long ago either. All of Ron's actions over the summer seemed to make sense now. Instinct told him that something had happened between the two tonight again which had made Ron look so livid. Sensing that his best mate would only divulge the happenings when he wanted to, he had been forced to keep shut.

Later, sitting outside near the lake all by themselves he finally confronted the still grim looking guy.

"So, how did it go last night?"

"Okay of sorts. Took her to the Room of Requirements as the library... I am assuming she either needs a specific book that she can't actually get issued through me or this was just a casual place she wanted to visit. But it's all still a part of her game, to keep me from suspecting by choosing various innocent locations before that one place she actually wants to visit or see."

"So you plan to take her out again."

"Yes, but not immediately."

"What now?" asked Harry. He was amazed at how Ron was reading her moves and desperately hoped that the boy was either completely accurate in identifying her intentions or completely wrong in his suspicion and Granger was actually innocent.

"I am hoping you'll schedule more practice sessions mate. I need to get out, get involved in something else..." Ron replied breathing deeply. He hadn't slept all night. The image of Hermione's petite form close in his arms had been haunting him on so many levels. Even now he could distinctly remember her dilated pupils as they moved over his face, those heavily lidded eyes that showed pure longing, the way he could feel her heavy breathing with her soft body pressed flushed against his. He could not imagine how fabulous an actress she was to fake something so raw, so flawlessly. But he knew she was faking it for sure. Hadn't she herself declared that she loathed his touch? And now she was pretending to do exactly the opposite only to lower his defences, only to entice him yet again. He just could not hate her enough for stooping so low to get her motive. And he could not forgive himself either for hoping for the tiniest second that she wasn't pretending, not this time. No he reminded himself sternly. If he fell for it, it would be the dumbest thing he ever did. If he allowed her to break the wall he had constructed around his heart this time again, he would be as big a fool as she thought he was. He needed an engagement, something to get his mind off her, anything.

"Ron? Ron?"

He turned around. "Oh! Sorry mate ...I just..."

"Phased out, yes I can see that." replied Harry. "Come on lets finish the DADA assignment for tomorrow." Ron groaned at the suggestion while Harry stood up and pulled him off the ground too. "Come on Ron, we won't have the energy to do it after practice and I bet Snape is just itching to hand me that detention. You just said you need to get involved in something." He forced as they slugged towards the castle.

"I meant in something good." grumbled the taller boy as they climbed up the stairs.

...

"Harry?" called Ron from the shower as warm water dribbled down his naked torso.

"Yes Ron?" came the other boy's muffled voice from the next cubicle of their Quidditch changing room tent. The silence in the tent assured him that the rest of the team had left.

"Just throw me out of the team mate. I'm rotten." He sighed.

There was a pause and Ron wondered if Harry was actually contemplating on the suggestion. He was sure the rest of the team would agree. He had been particularly lousy during the practice, dropping catches and once hitting the Quaffle so hard that it hit Katie on her face. His mind constantly wandered off to the invisible chambers that he knew, would be jutting out of the Gryffindor Tower. He could easily picture a curly haired Slytherin witch watching him from her living room window. He hadn't seen her since the time he had brought her back in and no matter how much he wished to keep away, he would have to fetch her assignments to be submitted the next day. What would she do when he went back to her chamber? Snicker at him perhaps or keep up that act of being attracted to him. He personally preferred the first, he could not take another minute of her looking him like she actually wanted him and yet know that she was just trying to use him again, attack his soft spot.

"You need to get your head in the game Ron, you are just distracted." Said Harrry, the sound of the running water muffling his voice slightly and breaking Ron's internal musings.

"Harry-"

"No mate. It's just that. You are thinking way too much about her. Just get your attention back in the game. We'll be playing Slytherin first; don't give her that chance to aid her team like this, not at your expense."

There was a pause when he allowed both the water from the showerhead and his best friend's words to run over him and seep in. "You are right." He replied softly after a while.

"Good. Just remember it okay?"

"Yeah... Thanks mate." He replied, turning off the knob and running his fingers through the wet hair before he pulled the towel and tied it around his waist.

She moved away from the window in her bedroom. It that had a much clear view of the Quidditch grounds than the one in the living area. Even in the crowd of seven players she could locate him easily and not just because he was in his goalkeeper uniform. Even without having spent the major part of the day in the pensive watching her old memories of him, she could identify his gestures easily nowadays. But after the time in the pensive, she could also tell clearly how the shy boy from her previous year was different from the constantly angry person he had become now.

It is a foolish thing to do! her brain had told her frantically. She needed to concentrate on her plan. The Room of Requirement had opened up so many great possibilities. And yet she done quite the opposite, listened to the faint murmur of her heart to see him again and she had given in to the temptation. Bringing out all the memories of the previous year, she had once again lived along with her older self as she walked in dark corridors patrolling with him. And how different those walks were from the one she had the previous night! She couldn't remember much of the days before their first patrol night after school reopened post their Christmas break- the day she had put her plan rolling. Unfortunately the memories of that one night were much too fresh .

She recalled how elated she had felt on seeing that stupid grin on his face or the way he had stuttered, unable to answer her. But she had seen so many things this time around, things she had never noticed, never understood earlier...

Early Morning hours of Sunday

The sensation of falling into a memory was a familiar one by now but this time there was an anxiety she could not really explain. She fell in next to her memory self as the latter stood near the Great Hall. The memory Hermione glanced at her watch with an annoyed look on her face and she remembered how uncomfortable she had felt, cursing Draco under her breath for coming up with the idea. Her memory self adjusted herself and looked ahead, she followed her own alter version's glance just as he appeared around the corner. Her heart hitched at that familiar gait. He was a good few inches taller now and definitely broader. Concentrating totally on the boy, she noticed how he glanced up at her memory self once and looked away as his ears turned red. One of his hands was shoved deep inside his pocket while the other ruffled his hair making him look adorable. He came closer and muttered a soft 'hi' and the pair started walking. She followed and noticed how he glanced at her every few minutes from his height and how it brought a smile to his lips every single time. She could not remember one instance where he had smiled that way at her in the recent past, or looked at her with even a tiny part of that adoration in his eyes for that matter...

Much later, memory Hermione asked him about the reason for his early departure and then expressed fake concern over his family. She watched as he stopped walking and looked at her memory self in awe, muttering a stuttered reply. How had she not noticed that tenderness in his eyes, the way those blue eyes took her all in as if she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen? And then her memory self threw in a line she remembered having laughed about with Daph later in their dorm.

"I was missing you... I mean during the patrols."

The fire that burned in his eyes at her statement was so very raw and full of love that she stood shocked. Her brain seemed to kick in trying to give a last fight to a dying chance, reminding her that it was a game, a game well played and she had to get out both from this memory and this confinement. She had to find a way to send a message to her parents, find Daph, do anything. But her heart had stopped at that one moment, freezing that face in her memory for ever, that look in his eyes that had been for her and her alone.

What had she done to him?

"Ron... she whispered softly to herself as the pair in her memory walked away and she was pulled out of the Pensive.

It was a downward spiral from there as she pulled out each memory she had of him, the patrols, the ones in the library and the ones during their combined classes. And each one was just the same. Each one had him glancing at her, his ears turning red when their gazes met and that adorable shy look that came over his features, those eyes sparkling with tenderness he couldn't hide, a conscious but genuine smile grazing his lips... It made her wonder if she would ever get to see those expressions on his face again. She saw him watching her at the library and realized that the passion those eyes held for her was so much deeper and so much better than his forced kiss during the summer. That had been a revenge she realized, a payback for what she had done to him, for breaking him, for turning him into what he was now.

She finally pulled out the final memory, the one from the library realizing with guilt that it was that point that had turned it all upside down.

Standing near a bookshelf she watched her older self spitting poison about him to Daphne and when he finally moved out from behind the shelf, she realized with a jolt how different he looked from just the previous memory. His eyes devoid of the love and the laughter they used to hold, filled instead with overwhelming pain. She watched their interaction cringing at her own words and the way he glanced at her with hopelessness and a heartbreakingly sad smile before he walked out.

...

There was a familiar sound of footsteps from the living area and she rushed out as if pulled towards him by some magic. His hair was still wet and the smell of a fresh shower hung around him.

"I need your assignments scrolls." He said without a preamble looking rather annoyed.

She pulled out the neatly rolled up scrolls and handed them over, glancing at his face before averting her eyes shyly. "What happened?" she asked softly, looking up to meet his gaze and despite her familiarity with his present version, was shocked at the anger that emanated from him.

"I- I am sure you'll do better in the next practice." She said softly and realized immediately that it was perhaps the worst possible thing she could have said. It told him she had seen him during the practice. She took a few steps back. He was looking at her so severely that she subconsciously grasped her wand in her pocket, a movement he did not miss.

"Don't. Play. Games. With. Me. Granger." He breathed slowly.

"Ron... I-" she began and stopped as he dropped the scrolls unceremoniously on the table and came forward. He stopped just short of grasping her upper arms as she backed into the wall while he stood dangerously close, his fragrance both arousing and terrifying her at the same time.

"I have told you NOT to call me that!" he hissed and after a look at her that was poles away from the way she remembered from the memories, he walked away pausing only to pick up the scrolls from where he had dropped them.

She hardly saw him for days post that; he came in only to perform the basic duties of dropping and picking up her assignments and giving her his memories. Sometimes the lectures would be buzzed and the scenes faded into a wispy nothingness which she assumed were times when he was lost in thoughts. However she knew not to point them out, the more frequenting training sessions on the pitch told her there was a game with the Slytherins coming up and his mood grew fouler each day.

She was almost relived the day of the match and although not very fond of the game, she watched it all from the vintage point of her bedroom. She saw him making fantastic saves one after the other and despite the loss of her own house, she had a smile on her lips. Maybe now that the game was both done and won, he would be in a better mood. She waited till late that night for him to turn up but he didn't. The next day he came down for a while again and left without a word as soon as he had collected her scrolls. He looked aloof, unconcerned and eager to leave her company. And though it bothered her and saddened her to an extent, she thought it was only his way of keeping away from her.

Monday evening was just the same. He came in purposefully, pulled out his memories and dropping them in the empty pensive, turned away. She watched him leave and with a sigh, pulled her notebook and a self inking quill and dived into the memory. He was much more focused in the classes than the previous week and she took copious notes, forgetting for a while all her worries and heartache for the boy whose memory self sat next to her. One class after the other they moved and it was only after the second period post lunch that something happened.

The memory selves of the two boys were walking down the corridor grumbling about the History of Magic class as Hermione walked next to the them when a blonde girl appeared, Lavender Brown from Gryffindor. Brown looked at the taller of the two boys, not bothering to conceal the seductive look that came over her eyes.

"Harry I am going to borrow your friend for a while, if he doesn't mind that is." She said slowly without taking her eyes off Ron even for a second.

Hermione's shocked self stared at the freckled face, desperately hoping for him to deny but the way he allowed his eyes to roam over that girl's face told her that he was going to follow her anyway. She did not hear what Potter said or if he even said anything but followed the couple as the girl held his hand and guided him purposely towards a room at the farthest corner of the corridor.

It was only after the two had entered what appeared to be an unused classroom and Brown had locked the door that Ron spoke.

"We have a class now Lavender." He said in a husky voice as she came closer.

"I know that, but you know Professor Binns never notices if students arrive a little late." The girl replied seductively, eliminating the distance between them in few quick strides. Taking his hand in her own, she placed it much too low on her back. Hermione watched in horror as Ron's large hand spread out and grasping the girl, pulled her closer while Brown giggled and placing her own on his neck, pulled his face to hers as their lips met.

"NO! NO! NO!" she screamed as tears built up in her eyes, but no sound came out to break the silence of the room as the two moved their bodies in tandem with the kiss. She hated the way the girl rubbed her body against his, the way both his hands were at her back and holding her curvy form to himself, sucking her lips while her fingers played in his gorgeous hair.

When Ron left those lips and bend down to press his face on the girl's nape and she let out a sigh, arching her body to give him better access, Hermione decided she had seen enough. The pain that was flowing in her veins was like poison, choking her from inside out. She pulled herself out from the memory, not bothering anymore about the lessons and crashed down on the floor in front of a pair of long jeans clad legs.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I am early awaiting that review :)