The Eternal Triangle

Chapter 5 - Lies

Seven Years Ago - continued

Hermione managed to convince Harry to let her be the one to tell Ron. He was very reluctant, he wanted them to be together when they told Ron, but finally he agreed.

It was only two weeks later that she got the chance. Most of the Order members, including Ron and Harry, were away from Headquarters. There had been more skirmishes with Death Eaters but luckily, no casualties.

Hermione rarely left headquarters; her main role for the Order was as a researcher. She was looking for alternative ways to defeat Voldemort and his followers or neutralize them through whatever means. She was also researching for ways to maximize the Order's strength, how to strengthen the protective spells either for Headquarters or for use during battle.

Harry and Ron were always at the front line during battle and she feared for their safety. Every time the two left, she dreaded that she might not see them alive again. The time she had with them was so precious and she hated that her actions would ultimately hurt one or even both of her boys.

She loved them both, though in different ways and she'd willingly sacrifice everything to see them safe and happy.

Happy... if only it was possible to make both of them happy.

Ron had arrived back earlier than Harry but he'd been so exhausted that after a huge lunch, had slept until almost dinnertime. She didn't have a chance to talk to him and was kind of glad. She wasn't looking forward to it.

That night, after dinner, Ron pulled her into the library and closed the door.

Raising her eyebrow at him she enquired silkily, "Library Ron? Are we going to do research?"

He grinned sheepishly. "It's your favourite room, isn't it?"

She just looked at him. He stood in front of her, lightly caressing her face. "Don't look at me like that Hermione," he said huskily, then bent down and kissed her. It was a soft, feather light kiss and ended way too soon for her.

He led her over to the window, where the moonlight was streaming in. He hadn't bothered to light the lamps when they came in and the moonlight was the only source of illumination. Facing the windows, he pulled her close to him. "Beautiful isn't it?" he asked softly, kissing her forehead.

Yes, it certainly was. She sighed happily and leaned into him. These were the times she enjoyed the most, when she was in his arms, enjoying either the view, or just the quiet, but most of all, just being with him...when all was peaceful and she could forget everything for a while and just be content. There were so few of these moments lately.

They stayed like that for long minutes, neither one wanting the peaceful moment to end.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

Turning her round to face him, he brought a small, velvet case out of his robes. He flicked it open and the sapphires and diamonds glittered in the moonlight. "Will you marry me?"

Oh sweet Circe...

"Hermione?"

"Oh, Ron," she choked out.

He tilted her head back and saw her anguished face. "Don't you - don't you want to marry me?" he asked in a slightly panicked voice.

"Oh, no Ron. No," she said, burying her head in his shoulder and wrapped her arms tight around him.

"No?" He stiffened in her arms.

She started to cry and he wrapped his arms around her. When she had thoroughly soaked his robes, she looked up at him. "I love you Ron, with all my heart and soul, with every fibre of my being..."

He grinned. "Then you'll marry me?"

"I--" Before she could say anymore, the library door opened and Harry walked in.

He stopped when he saw the scene before him. Ron and Hermione wrapped in each other's arms, the ring glittering in the box in Ron's hand... and the delighted grin on Ron's face. Closing his eyes for a moment, he managed a strained smile at his best friends.

"I take it congratulations are in order?"

"Well, Hermione hasn't actually said yes, yet," Ron replied, still grinning.

"I'm sure that's just a formality. Right Hermione?" Harry asked tightly, looking at her, his expression unreadable.

Her throat was closed and she couldn't say a word, so she just nodded.

Ron slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into a deep kiss. "I love you Hermione."

Pulling her towards Harry, Ron hugged his best friend. When he let go, he just grinned delightedly at Harry. "Mate, you're missing out. You've got to get yourself a girl!"

Harry gave a short, rather bitter laugh. Looking from Ron to Hermione, he said, "Not everyone can be as lucky as you Ron. There's only one Hermione."

Harry kissed her quickly on the cheek. "Congratulations." And walked out.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked, with a perplexed look on his face.

"I'm sure he's just tired. You've slept the afternoon away, after all."

"That's right," he said with a cheeky grin. "So I'm well rested for our ... celebration ... tonight," he leered.

She blushed and punched his arm.

Unfortunately, their 'celebration' had to wait because a Muggle town had been torched and Ron and Harry rushed away at once.

A week later, Neville and Remus brought a bleeding Harry back. Hermione stayed with him through the nights. He woke up screaming from his nightmares and she held him while he cried, sponged him through his fevers, until he finally woke up lucid on the third day. She fed him and stayed with him until he fell into a more restful sleep.

Molly came to wake her the next day, telling her that Harry was asking for her. Quickly throwing on her dressing gown, she went to his room. He was sitting up on his bed, pale but clear eyed.

"How are you feeling Harry?" she asked, putting her fingers on his forehead.

"Better, now you're here." He smiled weakly.

"Flatterer," she chided. "Do you feel like eating?"

"Actually, yes," he replied, sounding surprised.

After she got him some food from the kitchen, she asked, "Can you feed yourself or do you want me to feed you?"

"Why?"

"Well, I haven't had my bath."

"Oh, so that's what's stinking in here," he teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "So, can you manage?"

"Go on, but come right back."

Hermione was startled by the rather desperate look in his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, Harry," she assured him softly.

She came back after he was done eating and picked up his tray, "I'll just go send this back to the kitchen."

He grabbed her hand. "Don't go Hermione, stay with me."

She looked at him, surprised. Nodding, she placed the tray on the floor as he hadn't released her hand. She sat by the side of his bed and looked at him.

He was looking intently at her engagement ring and she was feeling uncomfortable when he didn't let go of her hand or said anything for long minutes.

"Harry?" she asked, as she tried to tug her hand away.

"Do you love Ron?" he asked suddenly, looking up.

She was caught by the unwavering intensity of his green eyes. She wanted to lie, to say no but looking into his eyes, she couldn't do it.

"Yes, I love Ron." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Do you love me?" he asked, his voice hard.

"Yes, I love you."

Flinging her hand away, he said bitterly, "What're you playing at Hermione? You can't love two men!"

"Yes, I can. And I do."

He narrowed his eyes at her and with a twisted smile asked, "What if I said I wanted to make love to you right now?" and damn the consequences, he continued silently to himself.

She didn't reply but got up, closed and locked the door. She began removing her clothes as she walked back to the bed and got in naked beside Harry. Pulling his face to hers, she kissed him.

When they broke apart, Harry looked speculatively at her. "You're engaged to Ron and you're lying naked in my bed? What sort of woman are you Hermione Granger?"

"The woman you love, Harry Potter."

Smiling bitterly, he agreed, "Yes, the woman I love." His voice was low and husky with desire and he pulled her to him.

Harry left a few days later. A major battle was brewing, all the minor skirmishes were leading to this and every available Order member had been mobilized, including Hermione.

She had been working on the Shielding Charm, trying to make it strong enough to deflect major curses as well. It hadn't been fully tested and she was still unsure of how well it would work but there wasn't time to fine-tune it further.

The fighting was vicious and brutal, Voldemort seeming not to care how many of his supporters died as long as he could inflict as much damage to the other side as possible.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were part of a small guerilla band, trying to get to Voldemort who was surrounded by his Death Eaters. Hermione's Disillusion Charm worked so well that they managed to penetrate into his inner circle before all hell broke loose.

Curses were thrown, flashes of light bounced around and the little band of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Tonks, Moody, Bill and Charlie Weasley stood back to back in a tight circle, fighting off the Death Eaters. They were now cut off from the rest of the Order. It was a calculated risk this little band had taken, so that Harry could reach Voldemort quickly.

"Now Hermione!" Tonks shouted and Hermione drew back into the middle of the circle and used all her concentration and power to conjure up a Shielding Charm to cover the whole group. Once that was in place, Harry incanted a spell that brought down a rain of fire.

While the Death Eaters were in disarray, Harry and Hermione separated from the rest and sprinted towards the Dark Lord. The remaining group concentrated on drawing the attention of the other Death Eaters to them, leaving Voldemort to Harry and Hermione.

When they reached Voldemort, she cast a spell towards him and triggered the Priori Incantatem when her curse met his as Hermione was using Harry's wand. They wanted to trap the Dark Lord within the golden cage that would result, separating him from his followers.

Harry immediately sent a killing curse towards Voldemort while his wand was attached with Hermione's. Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough to hold on and the Dark Lord easily broke the connection and disappeared, appearing in moments behind them.

Hermione had collapsed on the ground, her energy drained from the Shielding Charm she had cast for the group earlier and also with her bout with Voldemort.

"Hermione!" Harry said urgently, dragging her up and pulling her to him.

"Harry..." Voldemort said silkily. "You tried to trick me. Pity the little mudblood bitch couldn't handle it."

"Let's end this now, shall we? You and me," Harry hissed through gritted teeth, still holding on to Hermione.

"Then you should get rid of the mudblood." With a flick of his fingers, Hermione was torn out of Harry's grasp and flew a few feet away to land with a hard thud. A Death Eater immediately dragged her up and pointed his wand at her neck.

"You bastard!" Harry screamed.

"Avada Keda--" Before Voldemort could finish his incantation, Harry flicked his wand and brought a boulder flying towards the Dark Lord, which hit him on the shoulder.

"Stupefy!" Harry sent the curse towards the Death Eater holding Hermione, stunning both of them. Turning back towards Voldemort, he sent another curse which the Dark Lord easily deflected.

Turning away before the next curse hit him, Harry sprinted towards where Hermione lay stunned next to the Death Eater, grabbed her and apparated, appearing again next to Bill.

"Grab hold of everybody!" he shouted and as soon as they were linked, brought down the rain of fire again and apparated all of them out of there before they were burnt.

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

The injured and dead were being brought to the temporary camp set up. The battle site was now quiet except for the groans of the injured. Dark smoke billowed over the burnt site darkening the atmosphere as Ministry workers and Order members went looking for other survivors among the rubble.

Reports were trickling in to Moody, Remus and Bill as they set up an emergency meeting in the command tent. A list of casualties and survivors were being tabulated by Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ginny was going in and out reporting on the condition of those injured. Seamus, Neville and Mundungus Fletcher had just walked in and were giving their report to Remus.

"How bad's the situation?" Remus asked.

"We hit them worse than they hit us. With last month's grand initiation, he's got an influx of new recruits, and those were the ones he expended first," Seamus replied bitterly, shaking his head. Most of the new recruits had been students with him at Hogwarts and some even his year-mates. Seeing their blank, dead faces after the battle had jolted him badly. What a waste of their young lives!

"Dung?" Remus asked.

"Nuthin' too bad. Hermione's Shieldin' charm worked well enough, could do with some more work, though. An' mebbe now she can work on somethin' for an offensive, enough with this defensive business."

"That'll have to wait Dung, she's being transferred to St. Mungo with the next batch of injured," Ginny interrupted.

"How bad is she?" Neville asked.

"Just exhaustion and shock. She took almost the full brunt of Harry's stunning spell, you know."

"Where's Harry anyway?" Bill inquired.

"He's with Ron."

"Is Ron going to be alright?"

"I don't know," Ginny sighed. "I didn't have time to do a full diagnostic on him."

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

Hermione woke up two days after the battle, weak but otherwise fine. Harry hadn't left his best friends' bedside at all after they'd been admitted to St. Mungo. He'd insisted that they both be put in the same room so he could be with them.

"Harry?"

"Hi," he said smiling. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." She looked around and asked, "Where's Ron?"

The smile left Harry's face and he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"What is it, Harry?" she asked worriedly, when she saw his face.

"Hermione, Ron's...in a coma at the moment." His voice faltered when he saw the look of panic on her face. "They're doing everything they can for him. He's going to be okay," he said, trying to convince her as well as himself.

"I want to see him, where is he?"

"Maybe lat--"

"No! I want to see him now."

Harry had a stubborn look on his face and she begged him, "Please Harry, I need to see him...please."

Harry sighed and helped her off the bed. He pulled the curtains separating Hermione's bed from Ron's and she gasped when she saw his pale, unmoving form. She sagged against Harry and he almost carried her the last few steps to the side of the bed.

She gripped Ron's hand, lying motionless on the bed, and brought it up to her lips. He had bandages all over his body and one leg was also bandaged, from hip to his toes. Half his head was also bandaged, even covering one eye. His bright, red hair contrasted vividly with the white bandages.

"What happened Harry?" she whispered.

"He was hit by a variety of curses, they're not really sure what. Apparently, he didn't put up the Shielding Charm, just concentrated on throwing curses. I think, none of the curses really hit him fully, he was moving about too fast. At least, that's what Tonks, Charlie and Bill could remember. After I apparated everyone out, he was already unconscious. His vital signs are weak but - it's his mind. We can't reach him, Hermione. The Healers have tried. So've I and all the Weasleys. It's like - he's somewhere too far away and he can't hear us."

Hermione held Ron's hand against her cheek, her other hand smoothing his hair away from his face. Kissing his palm tenderly, she carefully put it back on the bed. There was a determined light in her eyes when she turned to face Harry.

"I want to try and reach him."

"You're still too weak--"

"Harry, please. He can't die, I won't let him. I love him...so much," she choked out, clutching the front of Harry's robes and looking desperately into his eyes.

"Alright, Hermione. Alright," he said tenderly. "Let me speak to the Healers. But -rest another day at least, so you'll be stronger, okay?"

She nodded reluctantly.

Her nightmare started after that...

She was lost and foundering, her body battered by the waves in the rolling sea. Sobbing and gasping, her arms and legs thrashed wildly as she tried to swim to shore but the current pulled her further and further away.

There was a dark head bobbing up and down in the waves and she knew instinctively it was Harry. Her heart constricted as she swam towards him. 'Don't be dead Harry, please don't be dead.'

Reaching him, she grabbed him to her. "Harry? Wake up, please, wake up!"

When his eyes slowly opened, she almost sobbed in relief. She then turned to look towards shore. There was a body lying facedown, motionless near the water's edge, the waves almost covering him. His red hair was glinting in the moonlight.

Harry's weight nearly dragged her down but she gritted her teeth and swam determinedly towards shore. Suddenly there were arms snagging on her legs, pulling her down. Looking into the waves, she saw a woman with a child in her arms, trying to haul herself up using Hermione's legs. She put her hand underneath the waves and felt the woman clasp it desperately but the current was pulling her down. With the added weight of the woman and child, she didn't have the strength to fight the current and she looked back desperately towards shore.

He was still lying motionless but the waves had covered him completely and he would soon be dragged out to sea.

Nooo! She had to reach him, she had to save him. Please, please, hang on. I'm coming, I'm coming...

She was so torn - she had to save Harry, save the woman and child but she had to go back for Ron too...

'Ron, please...hang on. I'm coming, I'm coming--'

"Rooonnnn!!" she woke up screaming.

From then on, that nightmare would plague her every time she closed her eyes.