The Eternal Triangle

Chapter 3 - Fidelius

Dear Fred & George,

If the news has reached you by now, then you know that I have left the wizarding world... for good, I hope. There are compelling reasons why I had to do this.

Everyone should already be aware that it is no use looking for me as I have performed a Fidelius Charm and to ensure that this can't be broken, I also put up three lines of defense.

The first is the charm it self.

Second, I put a memory charm on my secret keeper.

And my final defense is my secret keeper himself.

But I have been doing a lot of thinkingin the past two weeks since I left and maybe someday, I need to come back (though I hope and pray that this will never happen). And that is why this comes to you now.

Strange as it may seem to the both of you, I trust your judgment and I also trust that you will never betray me. I want you to know who my secret keeper is; you are the back door I'm keeping open... just in case.

Love,

Hermione

There was absolute silence after this surprising news from Fred and George.

"Who is Hermione's secret keeper?" Moody asked harshly.

Fred and George looked at each other and sighed, realizing that the situation they were facing now was the 'just in case' that Hermione feared.

"Neville."

Neville paled when he heard this.

"Oh Hermione," Remus groaned.

To break a powerful memory charm such as one Hermione was capable of performing may render Neville mad. After what happened to his parents, who would be willing to put him through that?

"We have to." Tonks quavering voice verbalized what was in everyone's mind.

"No! You can't put him through that," Ginny said aghast. She and Neville had been married for two years and were now expecting their first child. Turning to her husband, she begged, "Neville, tell them no! Don't do this... please." Her voice broke on the last word.

"We have no choice Ginny! No choice..." Tonks pleaded softly, looking at Ginny and Neville and then round the table.

"That's right, we have no choice. Too much is at stake!" Moody's harsh voice repeated.

Ginny looked around the table only to see the grim, resolute faces of the others and knew that whatever she may say would not sway them. She then looked at Neville. What she saw on his face frightened her so badly that she rose quickly. Ignoring the others, she ran from the room, her sobs echoing down the hallway.

"Let's do it then," Neville said in a hard, determined voice.

"Neville, are you absolutely sure? You know the risks. Shouldn't you talk it over with Ginny first?" Remus asked.

"I'm sure, Remus. I have to. Like Alastor says 'too much is at stake'."

"Very well then," Kingsley said. "We'll arrange with Severus, when and where to do it."

After Dumbledore's passing, Snape was the best Occlumens the Order had. His expertise hopefully would minimize the risk to Neville.

..................................

Hermione Granger M.D. was sleeping soundly on the narrow cot in the doctor's lounge of New York Memorial Hospital. She had been on duty in ER for the past seventy-two hours and had only managed cat naps here and there. The past three hours was the longest sleep she'd had.

Somebody was prodding her shoulders and she mumbled in protest, she wasn't ready to wake up yet.

"Hermione, wake up!"

"Go 'way," she muttered sleepily.

"It's an emergency!"

As soon as her brains registered the word 'emergency', she sat up abruptly. She wasn't even awake yet and her eyes remained closed but the autopilot part of her brains was already sending auto responses to her mouth.

"What happened, which room?"

"Umm, room?"

She cracked one eye open with difficulty and blearily focused on the face swimming in front of her. The first thing that her brain registered was a blob of vivid red. "Oohh," she groaned, the red colour assaulting her cornea was making her head ache. Not to mention her abrupt movement when sitting up.

She dropped her head between her knees to make the nausea subside and mumbled, "Give me a minute."

After she had calmed down, she slowly looked up. Swiveling her head between the two standing in front of her, she took a trembling breath and said, almost to herself, "I'm dreaming... right?" She dropped her head back into her hands. "Please let this be a dream," she pleaded.

"Nope, no dream, Hermione. We're here." The too cheery voice answered.

"Listen, we need to Portkey out of here now, so let's go okay," said the other cheery voice.

"Noo--!"

But it was too late, they'd grabbed her hand and put it on a round object and the next thing she knew, she was standing in the middle of a strange bedroom.

Wrenching her arms free of their hold, she screamed, "Fred and George Weasley, what the hell do you think you're doing?! You can't just kidnap me like this and where the hell are we?! What the bloody hell is going on?!!

"I'm going to kill the both of you, so help me god!!" And with that she advanced on them and started punching and kicking any part of them she could reach.

"Whoa, whoa, Hermione. Calm down!" They grabbed her and pinned her down on the bed, one holding her arms above her head and his body pinning down her torso and the other pinning down her legs.

She was so angry, she couldn't think straight anymore and now she was just screaming at the top of her lungs in frustration, not even forming any words. One of them pointed his wand at her and incanted a spell and suddenly no sound was coming out of her mouth. She shut her mouth when she realized how ridiculous she looked with her mouth opened wide and no sound coming out. But her eyes continued glaring at them and she didn't stop struggling.

"Now will you listen to us?" one of them asked in exasperation.

She shook her head, still glaring. Then she shut her eyes, pressed her mouth firmly together and scrunched up her face indicating that she wasn't going to listen to them.

"Okay, fine then. We're still going to talk and as you can't cover your ears, you'll hear what we have to say whether you want to or not!"

She opened her eyes to glare at them and stuck out her tongue. Just as quickly, she pulled her tongue back in, shut her eyes tight and turned her head away.

"Ooh, I have missed her, haven't you George?" Fred chuckled.

"You bet," George agreed grinning.

Then Fred and George began talking. They told her everything that had been happening in the wizarding world and finally they came to Luna's prophecy. As they talked, Hermione had stopped struggling and frowning, now only her eyes remained closed. Her eyes had prickled when they told her about Luna's death and when they got to the part about the fight between Ron and Harry, she stiffened and had to take deep breaths to stop the tears which threatened to fall.

Fred and George had gradually lifted themselves off her when she stopped struggling. They'd also removed the silencing charm from her. Now they were sitting on either side of her as she was still lying down. When they finally stopped talking, there was utter silence for a few minutes.

They didn't know what to else say to Hermione and were just waiting for her to say, or do something. When she remained silent and still on the bed with her eyes closed, they looked at each other and George asked, "Hermione? Are you asleep?"

Her mouth twitched in a small, tired smile. "No, I'm not sleeping."

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a moment before sitting up. She looked at both of them before getting off the bed and walking to look out the window. "Where are we anyway?"

"A hotel in New York. You know it's not safe to Portkey very far."

She turned around to look at them. "How--how is...Neville?" she asked in a barely audible voice.

They grinned and she exhaled the breath she hadn't noticed she'd held.

"He's fine. Snape - the greasy git - did a good job."

She smiled slightly at that. Nothing ever seem to change. Snape may prove time and again that he was a trusted member of the Order but to the twins, Ron and Harry, he'd always be the 'greasy git'.

"Will you tell Neville that I'm terribly sorry I had to put him through that?" she asked and they both nodded.

"Come home Hermione."

"We need you."

She sank down and leaned against the wall when she heard that. "I can't. I can't hurt Ron and Harry even more than I've already done."

They came and sat on either side of her.

"Nobody blames you Hermione."

"It was seven years ago."

"You were all just eighteen."

"And living through a terrible war."

"The stress of the situation would drive anyone to drink or ..."

"Especially with all that teenage hormones raging."

She looked up, glaring at them. "So you think I slept with Harry because of teenage hormones?"

"Don't be angry with us, Hermione."

"We're not trying to find out what happened or why it happened."

"Because whatever did happen is between you, Harry and Ron."

"And shouldn't concern anyone else."

"That's why you need to come home."

"To put things right between the three of you."

"And re-unite the Golden Trio."

"The dream team."

She gave a shaky laugh looking left and right at them. "You two are scary. I thought you'd stop talking like this by now. However do you manage when you're out on separate dates?"

"Oh, we manage," Fred said wriggling his eyebrows mischievously.

She sighed tiredly and leaned back against the wall. "You know I have a child, right?"

"We know you were pregnant when you left."

"So, if all went well, your child should be about six now."

"Yes, Ronnie's six and he's just started first grade," Hermione confirmed.

"Ronnie?" Fred asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"You named him after Ron. Is he..."

"Ron's son?" she finished for him, then just kept quiet neither confirming nor denying it.

"Or is it Harry's?"

She pushed away from the wall and stood. Then started pacing.

After five minutes of this, Fred and George got tired of watching her wearing a hole in the carpet. They each took one of her arms and plopped her down on the edge of the bed. George took a seat beside her on the bed and Fred went and sat on the chair opposite.

Hermione looked from Fred to George, then looked down and shook her head. "I can't do this, I just can't."

"Hermione..."

"Okay, tell me whether Ron and Harry have made peace with each other. Are they talking to each other now? Is everything between them back to the way it was before?"

George shook his head sadly.

"Then how can you possibly think that me coming back is going to improve the situation?!" she almost screeched in frustration.

"The prophecy..."

"We need you Hermione."

"No! You only need me if the 'wielder of the sword has the support of a friend who loves him like a brother'. It sure as hell's not the situation right now."

............................................

"She doesn't want to come back?" Molly's quiet voice asked Fred and George.

The two had just got back and briefed the Order on what happened with Hermione. Now they were sitting with their Mum and Tonks in the parlour of 12 Grimmauld Place as the rest of the Order members had left.

"She says that as long as Ron and Harry have not made peace with each other, her coming back won't make much of a difference."

"She'll only come back once those two sorted themselves out and then she needs to tell them the most compelling reason why she left."

"After that, it'll be up to Ron and Harry whether they still want her back."

"The most compelling reason?" Tonks asked, surprised. "You mean there's more than...?" Waving her hands vaguely.

"Apparently."

"Did you see her child?" Molly asked with a slight smile. She was hoping that Hermione's child was her grandchild.

"No mum, we didn't."

"It's a son and she calls him Ronnie."

"Ronnie..." Molly's voice was breathless and her smile grew wider.

"Don't get your hopes up, Mum."

"She refused to tell us whether it's Ron's or Harry's."

"Without Hermione, how do we get those two back together?" Tonk asked worriedly.

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