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Hermione paced just inside the entrance of the tent, clutching the ancient tome to her chest. Her mind raced as she imagined how Harry and Ron would react to the information she planned to show them. Well, that she would show them if they ever came back inside.
It felt like they’d been gone for days instead of hours, scouting the area to determine if it was safe to risk remaining there for a while longer instead of moving camp that evening. She’d skipped the outing, eager for some time alone to think about the ancient ritual that she’d discovered in one of Dumbledore’s books a few evenings before Ron had returned.
Since making the discovery, she’d spent her days researching as thoroughly as her limited resources would allow. She hadn’t wanted to broach the subject until she made up her own mind about the ritual. Now that she’d decided, she was impatient for them to return quickly.
When they finally entered, laughing raucously, one look in her direction had them both going silent.
It was Harry who took what seemed to be a cautious step in her direction. “Hermione, is everything alright?”
“Yes, everything is fine.” She smiled reassuringly. “I just want to talk to you both about something that I found. Can we sit down?”
“Is this about the Horcruxes? Did you finally dig up something that will help us find the other ones?” Ron asked excitedly as they took seats around the small table.
Hermione chewed on her bottom lip as she hesitantly shook her head. She hadn’t thought to preemptively explain that this had nothing to do with their seemingly impossible task. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to get your hopes up. I just —”
“It’s alright.” Harry cut her off. With a glance in Ron’s direction, he said. “I’ll just make us a pot of tea and fetch some of those biscuits that you got on your last trip to that Muggle shop, yeah?”
And she should have thought of that too. What was wrong with her? Ron would certainly be more willing to hear her out if he wasn’t starving. Honestly though, she had thought of little else in the past days since she’d first discovered the spell. Still internally berating herself, she nodded at Harry. “That would be lovely, thank you.”
She waited until Ron had devoured his first biscuit before speaking. Moving her tea out of the way, Hermione lifted the book from her lap and placed it gingerly on the table. “While I was researching ways to destroy the Horcruxes, I discovered something else that I would like us to try. And before you ask, no, it won’t help us defeat Tom or anything like that, but I think it’s important, nonetheless.”
“Well, what is it?” Ron asked.
At the same time, Harry eyed the ancient tome warily. “I thought you told us that everything you’ve found in those books was dark or dangerous,” he said.
Ignoring Ron momentarily, Hermione turned to Harry and pleaded for him to give her a chance to explain. “I know what I said, but please hear me out.”
Harry nodded, but he continued to look at the book in a way that made her wonder if he was recalling his incident with Snape’s old potion book.
“While I was searching for information on how to find and destroy Horcruxes, I came across an ancient ritual for soulmate protection. It wouldn’t help keep us safe necessarily, but if we have a soulmate out there and they’re put in a life or death situation, performing this ritual would allow our magic to reach out and protect them. And with the war, I just thought that it would be comforting to know that we could potentially save the person that we’re meant to be with.”
A stony silence met her explanation, and when she dared to look at Harry and Ron, she found them staring at her with baffled expressions. Clearly, they hadn’t been prepared for what she’d told them. “You don’t have to decide today or anything, but I’m going to do it. I’ve thought about it for a few days, and I’m sure that I want to.”
Harry met her gaze steadily. “Is the ritual… legal?”
She shook her head and spoke bluntly. “It’s not, but this is war. Nothing that we’re doing is technically legal. According to the ministry, we’re the most wanted people in the country. I hardly think the legality of the ritual is important.”
“Alright, point taken. I shouldn’t have asked about the legality of it, I should have asked if it’s dark magic.”
“It’s not dark in nature, but it is blood magic. And the reason that they outlawed it in the first place is because of the way your magic manifests to protect your soulmate if they’re in danger.”
She broke off and stared down at her hands. This was the part that she didn’t want to tell them. Hermione knew that in any other situation she would never even contemplate doing something as insane as this, but selfishly, she wanted to know that if she came out of this alive that the one person who she was meant to be with would survive as well. And ever since she’d first discovered that this ritual existed, she’d felt in her heart that there was a reason that she needed to do it. She’d honestly never felt so drawn to anything before.
With a deep breath, she raised her head and found both Harry and Ron watching her expectantly. When she still said nothing, Ron cleared his throat loudly before saying, “Go on, just tell us.”
“Well, it’s like a burst of accidental magic. It not only forms a protective barrier around your soulmate, it reaches out to eliminate the danger. Violently.”
“So, basically what you’re saying is that it kills whoever is trying to kill your soulmate.” Ron summed it up succinctly.
Looking back down at her hands, Hermione nodded. She knew Harry wouldn’t like it. He was too caught up in Dumbledore’s propaganda to believe that it was ever alright to take someone’s life, but they had lost too many already and she knew that more would die before this was over. Why did they have to be the ones that suffered? For once, she wanted to make sure that, in whatever small way, they came out on top.
When she met their eyes again, she could see that Ron was watching her curiously, while Harry looked a little angry. Before either of them could say more, she said, “Look, I know it’s a lot to take in. Why don’t you both think about it for a day or two and ask me any questions that come up? You don’t need to decide today.”
The next night, as they washed up after dinner. Harry approached her. “I have a question.”
Hermione nodded encouragingly. She’d noticed that he’d been quiet all day and wondered when he would broach the subject again.
He sighed deeply before asking, “What if one of us has a Death Eater for a soulmate? I’m not saying that I think it’s a possibility, but I think that for once we need to think things through completely before we just dive in. Am I wrong in thinking that this can’t be undone once we do the ritual?”
“No, you’re right. Once the ritual is done, there’s no going back.” She sighed. “I have thought about the possibility that one of us could have a soulmate who is on the wrong side of things. But when I really considered it, I decided that it’s worth it. Because, knowing the three of us and what we believe, I can’t believe that our soulmates would freely choose to become Death Eaters. I just don’t think...” She trailed off, silently begging Harry to understand.
“Logically, I agree with you. I’m just scared. This could have serious repercussions.”
“I know, Harry.” She sighed, drying her hands before reaching out and placing one on his shoulder. “I just need to feel like I’ve done all I can to protect the people that I love, or in this case, the person who I may someday love.”
He nodded. “I get it, I really do. I’m just not sure myself.”
“Well, I’m doing it,” Ron interjected from across the tent. “I agree with Hermione.”
She appreciated the support, but she wondered if Ron truly agreed or if he was still trying to get back on her good side after deserting them. But she would take it, nonetheless. After considering all the potential pros and cons, she’d decided that the slight risk of negative consequences was worth it. Would she feel awful if her magic killed someone? Of course she would, but if they were trying to murder her soulmate? Well, she was fairly certain that she would still be able to sleep at night.
Ron continued, turning his focus to Harry. “I want to protect my soulmate,” he insisted, shooting a meaningful look in Hermione’s direction.
Hermione inwardly groaned as the penny dropped. That’s why Ron was so set on doing this, then. He’d decided that she was his soulmate. Well, she wasn’t so sure about that. She was fairly certain that they wouldn’t be romantically compatible at all, but now wasn’t the time to bring that up, was it?
“It’s not that I don’t want to protect my soulmate.” Harry shot back, heatedly. “It’s just that I’m worried. There's always a chance that our soulmates aren’t fighting on the same side as us, and I couldn’t live with myself if I was responsible for killing someone I care about. I don’t want to have to kill anyone at all.”
Could Harry suspect his soulmate was someone who wasn’t on their side? Hermione filed that away for later as she glanced at Ron, whose ears and neck were suddenly as red as his hair. That was never a good sign.
“You don’t think your soulmate is Ginny, then?” Ron asked angrily.
Harry’s face flushed as he suddenly found a spot on the rug to be very interesting. Without raising his head, he said, “I’m not sure. I care about her, of course. But I don’t know if my feelings are strong enough to say that she’s my soulmate. I mean, isn’t that fairy-tale type thinking, anyway?”
At this, Ron stormed away flinging aside the tent flap as he announced, “I’m going for a walk.”
The next morning, just after breakfast, Harry approached Hermione while she sat outside reading. “I’ve decided that I want to do it,” he said without preamble.
“If it makes you feel uncomfortable, you don’t have to.”
“No, I want to. The two of you are right. If I really have a soulmate out there, I want to do whatever I can to protect them.”
“Alright, then. I have everything that we need for the ritual. I just have to brew a potion, and we should expand our wards.” She pointed to an area just outside of their protection. “That clearing will be ideal for the ritual circle. I’ll go start the potion and we can gather everything else that we need while it simmers. None of it is very complicated, and we can do it tonight if you’re sure.”
Harry met her gaze, nodding as a hesitant smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “I am, and I’m ready whenever you are. Tonight will be fine.”
“Actually, tomorrow night is a full moon. The magic will be more powerful on a full moon or a new moon, so we should wait and do it then. I’ll make sure that we have everything that we need.”
“Don’t rituals like this usually require special robes of some sort?” Ron asked, glancing down at his worn jumper.
Hermione kept her eyes trained on the bubbling potion as both Harry and Ron waited for her answer. She could feel the heat on her cheeks as she answered. “Um, well, this particular ritual is more effective if the participants go… skyclad.”
“You want us to go out in the cold completely starkers?” Ron whined.
Whirling to face Ron, she rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, the ritual requires it. It would likely also work if we had access to those special robes that you mentioned, but we don’t. Our regular clothing could potentially interfere with the ritual and there’s no point in doing this if we’re not willing to do it properly. Besides that, we have to paint a rune over our hearts. Robes would be in the way, or worse, they could smudge the markings.”
“But, you’re a girl! You can’t see us like that.”
“Thanks for noticing that I’m a girl, Ronald. Very astute.” Hermione rolled her eyes. “In case it’s escaped your attention, we’ve been living in a rather small tent together for months. I’ve already seen much more than I ever wanted to. I can assure you that I won’t be paying any attention to your shriveled willy tomorrow night. And while I would also love to do this ritual bundled into something warm, it would defeat the purpose. So, we’ll just all have to be adults about this. Think you can handle that?”
Properly chastened, Ron just nodded and looked at his shoes. Hermione could see that his ears were bright red, though. She wasn’t sure if it was from anger or embarrassment, but whatever it was he would just have to get over it.
Hermione turned her attention back to her potion, which was now light pink with a pearlescent sheen, indicating that it was complete. She removed the cauldron from the fire and put it into stasis so it would remain fresh for the next day.
“Now that we’ve settled that, the two of you need to practice drawing the runes before the ritual. You’ll need to know how to draw them perfectly and from memory, no guessing. Once we begin, I won’t be able to stop to instruct you.” She gestured toward the table where she’d already placed the book and some muggle pens and paper. “While you work on that, I’ll go sort the rest of the items that we need and clear the area for the ritual circle.”
Pointing at the book, she continued. “The love bind rune, which combines Gebo and Wunjo, will be placed directly over your heart. Thurisaz, which means defensive force, will go on the palm of your wand hand. Both placements are fairly tricky so practice drawing them as they’ll need to be placed. You’ll have to be able to draw Thurisaz correctly with your non-dominant hand.”
Channeling Professor McGonagall, Hermione shot them a final stern look as she went to collect the tools she would need to prepare the circle. As she walked away, she heard Ron mutter, “bloody mental,” under his breath.
The following evening, Hermione went over the steps to the ritual in her head as she divided the potion between three crystal goblets that she’d purchased from a muggle charity shop earlier that day. The ritual had specified the need for a crystal bowl of some sort, but only goblets were available, and she was sure that it was the material that was important and not the shape.
She’d then spent the afternoon grilling Harry and Ron on the wand movement, incantation, and the steps that were required for the ritual, in addition to making them demonstrate the runes from the night before. Hopefully, they wouldn’t forget anything when it was time.
Just before midnight, they exited the tent and made their way into the clearing, leaving their cloaks outside the circle that Hermione had prepared. She hoped they were doing the right thing. For her at least, there was no going back now.
“It’s time.” Hermione gave Harry and Ron a tiny reassuring smile as she gestured to them to enter the circle. She followed them in, flicking her wand to light the candles littering the ground.
With a deep breath, she took her place in the circle and opened the ritual with the ancient words she’d now read a thousand times.
The third time through her chant, she lifted the silver knife, watching closely to see that Ron and Harry did the same, and sliced open the tip of her left hand ring finger. Carefully, she allowed precisely seven drops of her blood to fall into the crystal goblet. The potion turned a deep red and began to emit clouds of pink smoke from the top.
She dipped her finger in and began painting the runes on her body with careful precision. When she was done, she glanced over to check that Harry and Ron were ready. As soon as they were done, she lifted her wand, watching as they did the same.
This was it, all that was left was the spell to seal it. Even though she was sure that this was the right thing to do, at the moment, she was terrified. Once they took the next step, the last step, there was no going back.
“Aegis Fidus Amor.” They spoke the words in unison, moving their wands in a figure eight. As they finished the spell with a slash of their wands, a golden glow surrounded them and then dissipated. Hermione gasped as a sensation of warmth and rightness filled her very soul. It was then that she knew with certainty that they’d done the right thing.
“Why didn’t it work?” Hermione was becoming only a tiny bit aware of her surroundings when she overheard the whispered conversation.
“Why didn’t what work?” Harry, sounding distracted to her ear, asked.
“The soulmate protection thing that we did. Surely her life was in danger.”
Determined to feign sleep for as long as necessary to avoid having this particular conversation with Ron, Hermione stayed as still as possible even though it felt like every nerve in her body was still on fire. Yes, she was certain that her life had been in danger at Malfoy Manor, but she was just as certain that Ron wasn’t her soulmate.
Thankfully, Harry interrupted Ron before he could continue. “Mate, I’m sure her life was in danger. And I’m sure that Hermione had us do the ritual correctly. You saw all of that gold light, and you said that you felt the warm tingly feeling, too.”
“I know, but I just thought…”
Hermione didn’t get to hear the rest of the conversation because Fleur entered the room and shooed Harry and Ron away. She hoped that Ron would realise there was no way that they could be soulmates, and accept whatever happened after that.
It was in the midst of the battle when it happened. Hermione was blasted away from the spot where they’d stood only moments before, dueling alongside Fred and Percy. She wasn’t sure who had cast the curse that caused the wall to explode, but her magic knew.
It welled up inside of her and a bright blue flame shot toward the masked death eater, instantly consuming him in a pyre. At the same moment, a golden light surrounded Fred, the same golden light from the night of the ritual, repelling the heavy stone debris that would have certainly crushed him.
Fred, her soulmate was Fred, and the ritual had saved him. Hermione’s eyes met Fred’s shocked gaze and, as a single tear slipped down her cheek, she ran to him. This wasn’t the time for it, but she couldn’t help herself. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him hard on the mouth before pulling away and whispering, “I’ll explain later.”
Drawing back, Hermione left a slightly dazed Fred with a quick kiss to the cheek and a terribly out-of-place grin. She’d apparently rendered him speechless.
Before she could turn, Fred found his voice, uneven as it was. “Keep yourself safe. I’m going to need that explanation, and I certainly wouldn't mind more snogging, either.”
Finding a moment of pure joy during this battle was surreal, but she was just so happy. Grinning at Fred, she nodded before she stepped away and turned to see Ron watching them with an odd expression, still standing beside where she’d been.
Apprehensively, she approached, knowing that he had hoped that she was his soulmate. Meeting her eyes, his smile was a bit sad, but he grabbed her in a crushing hug as he whispered, “You saved my brother. Thank you, Hermione. I’m so thankful you found that ritual.”
A sickly yellow spell broke through whatever shields her magic had erected and as Harry returned fire, he shouted at them, “I hate to break this up, but we need to go. We’ve got a snake to kill.”
Shooting off a hex in the direction of the spells now being thrown at them, Hermione nodded and followed Harry back into the fray.
Mere moments later as they made their way down the staircase and into the entrance hall, Hermione watched in horror as Fenrir Greyback charged toward an unconscious Lavender Brown with alarming speed. Before a spell could leave her lips, Greyback literally exploded in midair, turned to pink mist while a golden shield surrounded Lavender.
As bits of the werewolf rained down on them, Hermione couldn’t help but smile. It seemed that Ron would get his happily ever after, too. Now all they needed to do was kill Voldy.
Hermione awoke in the dark with a start, her heart pounding. After a moment, realisation set in and she began to relax. It was over, truly over, and she was safely ensconced in a bed in Gryffindor Tower.
For the first time in months, she felt properly rested and wondered what time it was. A quick Tempus charm told her it was just after four in the morning. She’d been sleeping for nearly fifteen hours, but before that, she’d been awake for more than a day straight. And what a day it had been.
Wondering if anyone else was up, she slipped quietly from the bed and went for a quick shower before making her way downstairs into the common room. She thought it was empty before she spotted Fred sitting on one of the sofas and decided that it was time for that explanation she’d promised him.
A soft smile spread across her face as he looked up and met her gaze. “Morning, sleepyhead.”
“Am I the last to wake?”
“No, Harry is still out. Ronniekins woke up about an hour ago. He’s down in the Great Hall — claimed to be starving. Most everyone else is already up and down there too.”
Hermione laughed as she shook her head. Predictable Ron. “Is Lavender with him?”
Fred’s eyes searched hers as he nodded. “She is. Funny thing, that. Angie told me that she witnessed the most amazing sight during the battle. Greyback was apparently just about to attack Lav, who was stunned and couldn’t protect herself, when Ron’s magic exploded and the werewolf was quite literally blown apart. Seems there was some sort of strange golden shield that surrounded Lavender, too. Know anything about that?”
“About that,” Hermione swallowed hard as she took a seat next to Fred, “Well, we may have done a ritual while we were on the run.”
“A ritual? What sort of ritual? What was it supposed to do?”
Hermione felt her heart speed up, processing the implications of explaining everything to him. Gods, what if he wasn’t interested? They were soulmates, that much was obvious, but it didn’t mean that he would want her romantically.
A sudden noise drew their attention to where Harry was making his way down the stairs, his hair still wet from the shower and standing on end.
“Morning. It is morning, right? I didn’t even check.”
“It’s morning. Still very early, but it was afternoon when we went to sleep. Most everyone is down in the Great Hall having breakfast.”
His eyes drifted between the two of them before meeting Hermione’s questioningly. She gave a slight shake of her head and hoped that he would get the message and keep quiet.
With a smirk that Hermione couldn’t truly begrudge him, knowing how guilty he felt over the people that they’d lost in the battle, he said, “I’ll leave you to it then. I’m going to go find some breakfast.”
As Harry left through the portrait hole, Fred turned to Hermione expectantly. She looked down, fiddling with a loose string on her jumper. How was she supposed to find the courage to have this conversation? Wishing she knew what he was thinking, she finally glanced up when he brushed a curl away from her face and allowed his hand to linger on her shoulder.
“Fred, I—” She’d kissed him during the battle, and he’d reacted positively, but she’d just saved his life. Now that it was time to actually tell him what she’d done, she was filled with doubt. Why would someone as amazing as Fred Weasley want someone like her?
Her fears must have been written on her face because Fred reached out with the hand that wasn’t resting on her shoulder and laced their fingers together, making her tummy flutter pleasantly.
“I can’t begin to tell you how long I’ve wanted this, Hermione. There’s nothing that you can possibly say about this ritual of yours that will upset me. If that golden light means that we’re bonded for life, I would be bloody thrilled.” He leaned in, gently brushing his lips against hers and she thought she might explode with the feelings that simple action provoked.
Well, it didn’t quite mean that, but she supposed that in a way it did mean exactly that. Because now that she knew who her soulmate, her other half, was, could she really be happy with anyone else? Not knowing exactly what to say, Hermione pointed her wand into her beaded bag with her free hand and summoned the book containing the ritual. Opening it to the still marked page she said, “Maybe it’s best if you just read it for yourself.”
Fred nodded, taking the book, and she watched as his eyes flew across the page. After a moment, he looked up and met her gaze, eyes sparkling.
“Soulmates,” he whispered reverently as a wide grin spread across his face. “We’re… really soulmates?”
“It seems we are,” she confirmed, and Fred’s mouth descended upon hers again. This time he deepened the kiss, and Hermione was filled with the same warmth and rightness that she’d felt at the end of the ritual. As he kissed her for what felt like hours, Fred occasionally pulled away to murmur soft words against her lips. She didn’t understand them all, but things like, “proper date,” “married,” and “babies,” filled her heart with happiness.
She wasn’t sure how long they would have stayed right there on the sofa, snogging if her stomach hadn’t grumbled loudly. Fred drew away, chuckling as he placed a final gentle kiss on her lips. Taking her hand, he pulled her up and winked as he said, “Let’s get you fed. We can get back to snogging later, yeah?”
As they exited the portrait hole and descended the stairs hand in hand, chatting amicably, Hermione knew that everything was going to be just fine. They would have to work hard to rebuild their world, and it was going to be difficult, but together they could face any challenge that came their way.