Hi my faithful readers,

back with Chapter 2 glad you're enjoying this one so far, hope you like this chapter, you will get some background knowledge on this one.

Sirius xox

The Triangle

Chapter 2

Harry landed in a small, quiet part of El Dorado, a town on the edge of Mexico. It had views of the ocean but today it was overcast, dull and quite chilly. Harry pulled his coat tighter around his neck and looked at the ridiculously squashed houses that stood in rows in front of him. He looked up and down the street and it struck him at how grey and miserable it was. The rain was sprinkling down, not enough to carry an umbrella but enough to be annoying. He squinted through his foggy, rain spotted glasses and approached the desolate house. He knocked while looking around to see if anyone could be seen on the deserted street.

An older lady opened the door and rushed Harry in out of the cold.

"Hello young man, what can I do for you?" She sounded pleasant and unbeknownst to her, Harry scanned the house for any dark magic.

"Hi I was wondering whether there was a lady here by the name of Hermione Granger?" She smiled and motioned for him to follow her.

She walked into a small office and flicked through her book, Harry wondered why she wouldn't automatically know who her guests were.

"Sorry young man she doesn't have any next of kin listed so I can't show you to her room but if there's anything I can offer you while you wait for her to return, I'll be happy to assist?" At least she checked first.

"Thank you I really appreciate it,.." Harry put out his hand to shake hands and discretely placed a spell that made her trust him. "... is there anything you can tell me?" her eyes glazed for a second and then she started talking.

"Yes dear, your friend has been here for about six months now, sadly she is quite behind on her rent but she is such a lovely young girl, just such a shame that she can't seem to hold down a job. I don't really understand why but usually she has another one lined up fairly quickly. For some reason that didn't happen this time, she seems so sad, like she hasn't got a friend in the world. She never leaves that room, she never eats. I mean don't get me started on her eating.. my goodness she is terrible." Harry thought maybe he gave her a little too much trusting spell.

"Is there anyway I could see her?" Harry smiled his dazzling smile.

"I would love to sweet dear but she is out job hunting, would you like to wait for her in her room, you're most welcome too?" Harry smiled but remembered her rent.

"Before we go, can I fix up her rent please?" The lady was surprised and then Harry had to listen to how sweet HE was for another ten minutes. He was finally led to her room and thankfully Dolores, Harry found out her name, left him alone to wait for her. He readjusted the spell as she walked away.

Harry was surprised by what he found.

At Hogwarts Hermione was pedantically tidy. Never a piece of clothing, a paper or pencil was out of place. He and Ron teased her about it constantly. But this room, this dark, miserable, lonely room was like Hermione's opposite lived there. There were clothes thrown into a large suitcase, shoes in one corner and no personal items anywhere. But the one thing that struck Harry as crazy was the amount of books, there were two... only two, one a romance book (strange in itself) and the other was actually Hogwarts a History. Harry continued looking around the room but he couldn't find anything that would say she was rooted to the spot. She could walk in right now, pick up her suitcase, throw in her shoes and be gone in a split second.

The room itself was quite small, although it had enough room for a small bed, a small wardrobe (which was empty), a side table and a small round table with two chairs sitting at it under the window. Harry pulled open the floral patterned curtains which revealed a large window that looked out over the city. It wasn't a particularly nice view but at least you could see the sky, if you stood at the right angle. Harry looked outside the door which was still ajar and made sure no one could see him conjure up some food. He set it on the table and waited, he gazed out the window and watched the rain drops slide down the window. Watching this scene took him back to a time long ago, a night which looked as miserable as this day did.

Harry ran across the field in front of Hogwarts and somewhere deep in his gut he knew it was coming to an end. He couldn't really think straight, he just wanted to see who was alive and who was dead but he knew he couldn't dwell on that yet. Voldemort was getting weaker by the minute and with Neville and Ginny plus 10 others fighting Nagini and succeeding in chopping off that bastard of a snake's head, Voldemort was vulnerable. He felt it instantly and physically dropped to the ground. Harry could see him and decided it was now or never. He ran towards him with his wand pointed straight out in front, he was muttering curses but even with his weakened strength, Voldemort could still hold him off. Harry could see Ron, Luna and Professor McGonagall fighting Lucius Malfoy and it looked like he was going down. Harry approached Voldemort and looked at him with such pity that it sent Voldemort into a rage. He staggered to stand up and stood close to Harry, he leant forward and whispered to him.

"You might think you have succeeded today boy but I will take your future from you... you will never have your one true love!" Harry's eyes widened in shock as he watched Voldemort raise his wand and scream Avada kedavra. The spell went flying past Harry's shoulder and he turned to see it strike Hermione straight in the chest. Her eyes focused on Harry's and she let her wand fall down slowly following it down to her death. Even till today Harry can't explain what happened next but he screamed a strangled NO and his whole body trembled and he started to run towards Hermione. He picked up her limp body screaming which could only be described as a howling pain. Harry tried to shake her body, shake the life back into her and in the small part of his brain that was logical he knew he couldn't. The next part will baffle people for years to come. Harry felt her heart finally stop and he screamed. The scream was a loud, deep, hollow wail. Everyone around just stopped, all the fighting stopped for the briefest of seconds and then Harry, still screaming, leant down and cried into her chest. He pulled back and spoke to her, spoke the words that she would never hear, 'I love you Hermione' and he kissed her with such passion that a blue energy light surrounded them and then Harry pulled back throwing his head back from the force of the light. The energy seemed to resonate out of him and then it shot out in a circle that grew as it moved away from him. The blue energy passed through some people but burnt and disintegrated others. Later it was discovered that the Dark mark ignited all the death eaters and turned them to ash. Voldemort watched as he army fell one by one and managed to scrape the last bit of energy to apparate away. Harry was completely oblivious to this as he had just lost the love of his life. He cried in her chest and then when he felt her start to cough, he pulled back quickly. Harry looked into her face and couldn't believe she was trying to open her eyes. Everything was frantic after that, there were people celebrating, people crying, people everywhere but all Harry could think about was that Hermione was alive, she would be ok now.

Little did he know that she would never be ok, for some reason the energy took away all her capabilities of being a witch. She didn't have an inch of magic left in her. It totally destroyed her and on many occasion's she told Harry he should've let her die. It was made worse that the entire wizarding community blamed her for the escape of Voldemort. At first Harry was questioned and grilled over it but it ended up becoming a witch hunt so to speak. The Press were ruthless in their quest for the truth and they turned it around to say that if Harry had been concentrating on the job at hand and not worrying about a certain witch, Voldemort would have never escaped. It probably didn't help that he was completely focussed on recapturing Voldemort straight away and with her magic gone, Hermione took it as a sign that she was no longer needed, or wanted. It was just something they couldn't get past, maybe it was a combination of her pain and his guilt, but they were so volatile together, Harry again wondered why he came.

It was well into the afternoon when he saw her walk down the street and up the small stairs to the front door. He could hear her walking up the stairs that led to her room and decided to stand behind the door because if she saw him before he got a chance to lock her in, she would run. It's not that he doubted he could catch her, he just didn't want a scene.

Harry stood behind the door and watched as she walked in, his heart started beating quickly and when she threw her handbag on the bed, she noticed the food on the table. She froze and it was like an instinct kicked in. Harry waved his hand over the door and locked it magically and then she turned around and saw a figure in the dark behind the door. Instead of running out or away, she charged at him. She pushed him against the wall and pushed her forearm into his throat.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" Hermione growled. Harry released her arm from his throat and spun her around and pulled her into his body so his mouth was near her ear,

"Mione, it's me."

Hermione saw red and she let out a frustrated grunt. She pushed back into his body and it took Harry by surprise as he expected her to pull away not push back into him. It gave her the leverage to spin his arm around and she tried to get the upper hand but Harry was just too strong for her and she was getting more frustrated and more and more upset. Harry pinned her again in the same position, her body flushed against his and his mouth near her ear.

"Mione, I just want to talk to you, please hear me out?" She continued to struggle.

"I'm not talking to you while you have me like this."

Harry took a second to absorb the position they were in. He could feel her body against his and it struck him at how small she was, she was always small but now she felt tiny and bony.

"I'll let you go if you promise to hear me out?" She nodded after a few seconds. Harry let go of her and she ran for the door and tried to open it.

"OPEN THIS DOOR!" she screamed at him but Harry waved his hand and the small bed side lamp came on covering them in a golden light. He looked at her and his heart ached. He wanted and needed her so much the pain was killing him.

"No Mione, I want to talk to you, I'm not letting you go until you hear me out?" She put her head on the door and took a few deep breaths.

"Alright what is it?" Harry motioned for her to come and sit down and eat something. She stood rooted to the spot.

"I said I would listen, not socialise with you in any other way!" That hurt Harry. He looked out the window and it was dark and miserable, pretty much the same as in the room.

"How long are you going to keep me a prisoner?" Harry turned and looked at her and stood up and walked over to stand in front of her. She looked away not able to keep eye contact with him and hoped he would just leave.

"Why do you hate me so much?" The word hate cut her to the bone, little did he know she loved him so much, loved him with everything she was but she would never be good enough for him and he was married to that bitch anyway.

"Are you still married?" Harry was surprised by the question, "What has that got to do with anything Hermione?" Hermione looked at him and he could see the unshed tears in her eyes,

"It has EVERYTHING to do with it."

"No it doesn't Hermione, you hated me long before Jules and I got married. It's something else and I am not leaving till I know what it is." He looked into her eyes and she stared back. She looked over his face and stopped at his mouth and she had to control her impulse to reach forward and kiss him. She thought maybe she should and then he would be so repulsed he would leave.

But was that what she wanted? Did she want him to go? No not at all, she missed him so much that her heart was physically aching at not having him and now he was standing so close to her.

She doesn't know what possessed her, it could've been the long amount of time she had been alone or the fact that she had missed him terribly but she slowly put her hands around his body and hugged him. Harry was shocked but he certainly wasn't going to knock back the hug. He waited for a few seconds then he slowly put his arms around her too.

"I don't hate you Harry," she mumbled slowly calming down. Harry rubbed her back and placed his head on top of hers and then when he felt her start to move away so he quickly let go.

Harry stood back but she wouldn't make eye contact with him so he walked over to the table and sat down then she followed. They ate in silence and when Harry thought there wasn't going to be any more conversation, she interrupted the silence.

"How long are you staying?" Harry was surprised that she thought he would be staying at all, and he definitely used this to his advantage.

"As long as you need me too?" Hermione huffed out a little breath and smiled.

"Well this will be a short visit then." The gravity of that comment caused a heavy weight to fill the air again. They ate some more and then Harry stood and looked out the window into the dark landscape with a few scattered lights to break the black.

"Hermione what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" Harry looked at her but she was looking at her food and she refused to look up. Harry turned back to look outside, "Come back to London with me?"

"No." Harry closed his eyes and took a calming breath.

"Why not Hermione, what do you have here? For heaven's sake this is not a life, you have no job, no home, nothing. Do you even have any friends?" he turned to look at her and he could see she was getting annoyed.

Hermione stood up and walked around the small table to stand next to him. She leant on the wall and folded her arms across her chest. "Harry answer me one question then leave?" Harry nodded and she continued, "...Why do you care?"

Harry looked at her shocked she would even say such a thing.

"Of course I care Hermione, don't be ridiculous."

"You care or is it just guilt?" Hermione stared at his face but he wouldn't give anything away. She hoped she would see something, a little flicker of hope that maybe he cared for her, maybe he didn't blame her for Voldemort escaping, maybe just maybe, he didn't hate her. Nothing, she saw nothing.

"That didn't answer my question, see you later. Sorry you wasted your time." Hermione turned to walk away but Harry grabbed her hand and she stopped.

"Hermione come back with me?"

"Why, so your wife can drag me through the press again about letting Voldemort live, no thanks Harry," Harry turned around but didn't let go of her hand.

"Mione, Voldemort has been dead for years now, it's all over. Please come back?" Hermione turned and looked at him completely shocked. She wanted to ask what happened but it brought the realisation that he didn't need her right out in the open again.

"No I won't go back as I have nothing to go back to."

"Yes you do Hermione we are all there, Ron and Luna with the kids, all the Weasley's as well. You have plenty to come back to," Harry still had her hand in his but she started to pull it away and then she laughed. It was a bit of a shock for Harry.

"Harry you're a moron if you think I have all that to go back to, or better still a moron if you think I believe it. I know what I am, I am nothing. I don't belong in that world any longer and there's nothing you can do Harry, nothing the famous Harry Potter, wizarding world's saviour, nothing YOU can do to fix me. I am broken." Hermione walked over to the door and stood with her hand on the door handle.

"Hermione, there is a place where you can live and there's a job waiting for you, but that's if you come back with me." Hermione didn't react to the comments and just waited by the door.

"You can leave when you want to Harry and next time you won't find me so easily." Harry didn't like that comment and he walked over to the door. He stopped in front of her and put his hand on her neck and used his thumb to caress her face.

"I'll always find you Hermione." She turned her face away from his touch. Harry unlocked the door from his spell and walked out. Hermione closed the door and then let all her emotions come boiling to the top. She cried and cried and it was quite a while before she settled down enough to sleep.

Days after Harry arrived back home he was still frustrated, annoyed and down right angry. Why didn't she just listen to him? Harry was annoyed at himself for giving up so easily so he made a plan to return after he organised a place for her to live. The nights were bad as Harry had time to think and remember and it was the remembering part that particularly bothered him. During the following week he apparated over to his small unit he had purchased many years ago. He had planned on moving in after he was married but Jules wanted a larger place and didn't even have a look at the unit. Even though Harry had planned on selling it, for some reason he never got around to it and now he was thankful. He used a few well placed spells to clean up the unit, fill the cupboards with clothes and food and after a couple of hours it was ready for its new occupant.

Harry had no idea yet how he was going to convince her to come but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. The next thing on Harry's list involved going into work to sort out some things and he apparated straight into his office. He spent the next couple of hours going through old rule books looking for a specific rule about employing muggles. When he was completely sure he had a firm case, he apparated back to his home. It was really late so he decided on a good sleep considering the last few nights had been so restless.

The following morning Harry apparated straight to El Dorado and walked into the house. The front room was empty so he walked straight upstairs to her room. Harry knocked but when there was no answer, he opened the door and swore out loud.

She was gone.

Poor Harry, he just can't seem to get a break.

Let me know what you think if you like?

Sirius xo