The world had gone mad in the last few hours.
After all the years of emphatic denials of the Dark Lord's return, the Ministry of Magic had simply given him control today, three years after the death of Albus Dumbledore. With only hours to accomplish the relocation of hundreds of Muggle-borns, Hermione's parents were left until almost the last.
When she finally arrived to take them away, she found her worst fears made real. Her parents were dead, killed in the explosion that had destroyed their home. She knew it had been Death Eaters and that she should get away as fast as possible. Hermione whispered through her tears to her dead parents before Disapparating away to the continent. "I'm sorry, Mum and Dad. I love you."
She found nothing at the appointed rendezvous except a note from Luna Lovegood wedged into the burned-out shell of the building she had expected to find was the new HQ of the Order. When she touched the note, it became an activated Portkey, depositing her at the relocated European Order HQ, a chateau in the middle of an old forest, rising out of the unkempt grounds like a vine-encrusted ruin.
She walked forward and felt the wards ripple to admit her. Now she saw the chateau as it really was, old but perfectly sound. She walked through the doors to tell the others she was there.
What she found was chaos. Half of the Order members hadn't checked back in after their rescue missions, others were injured. Molly and Tonks were trying to tend to the injured. Someone has turned traitor was what was being whispered. Harry was injured, thankfully not seriously. Moody, who had gone after McGonagall, was missing. Lupin and Tonks had brought Harry and Ginny out of the Burrow before it was torched. The rest of the Weasleys were missing.
Hermione didn't have the time to grieve for her parents yet. She spent the next few minutes seeing to the injured and disoriented, Molly had asked where her parents were, and Hermione had just shaken her head, preferring not to say anything.
Neville and his grandmother arrived minutes later with the Weasley twins. Bill and Fleur were right behind them with Arthur. Fleur went up the stairs to bring down her little daughter. Moody arrived a few minutes later with a furious McGonagall in tow. Minerva took over the organisation of the influx of refugees.
Shacklebolt and Charlie Weasley arrived shortly after with the liaison for the European Order, Viktor Krum. Hermione was so relieved to see most of her friends that she didn't realise that Ron Weasley was the last Order member missing. Even the members of Dumbledore's Army had made it to the new HQ: Seamus, Luna, Katie, Angelina, Cho and the rest.
So much had happened in the five years since the Yule Ball that she didn't think Viktor remembered her the way she remembered him. She was grossly mistaken, however. He walked to her side and smiled at her in that lazy, sexy way again. "Hermione, it is good to see you. Did you not get your parents out? I thought I would be able to see them again," he said.
His words brought back the horror she had found at her home and she burst into tears. She turned away from him and ran for Minerva. Instinct told Viktor that he needed to get her alone to tell him what had happened. He caught her, earning a surprised look from Minerva, and propelled her into a secured room of the chateau and cast various Silencing Spells after requesting tea from the house-elf.
When the tea was delivered and poured, he returned to the matter of her parents. She was sitting in a brocade covered chair in front of an exquisite eighteenth century fireplace in a room that probably had not changed much since the time of the French revolution. Her tears had not stopped, but she was crying silently now. He knew what had happened. The report from his spy had arrived too late.
"Tell me, love. What did you find?" He had handed her a teacup fixed exactly the way she liked it and a handkerchief from his shirt pocket. It was the one she had embroidered for him three years ago, just before they lost touch with each other. Her eyes flew to his face, which was completely impassive, as if he held his emotions in check. The only expression she saw was compassion.
"Hermione, what did you find? Are they dead? Love, I cannot help if you don't tell me." He was gently insistent, concern for her evident in his expressive dark eyes and something else, a hint of old pain.
"Yes, Viktor, they died in an explosion. The house looked like a bomb had gone off. I came via the old rendezvous. It has been frantic here. Everyone finally made it, but they all had horror stories of getting out. The consensus is that there is a traitor." She had stopped crying and was thinking coherently again. She sipped her tea quietly as he paced the floor, a habit of his she remembered from the Triwizard Tournament year.
"How close are you to the Weasley boy, Hermione? Do you love him?" Viktor was brusque in his inquiry. The look he threw her contained anger mixed with pain she didn't understand.
"Ron? No, I told him years ago that we would never be more than friends. He was supposed to help me get my parents out, but didn't show. Oh! Viktor, is Ron the traitor?" She had realised where he was going with his questions. Her heart almost stopped as she watched the change on Viktor's face, relief replacing anger and something else, very elusive.
"We believe he defected because the Dark Lord promised him the one thing he could not get on his own. He was promised you, as a wife, Hermione. The last two or three missions he was assigned all went badly wrong. He was leaking information to the Dark Lord in exchange for the safety of his family and you. Today, Remus and Tonks fought him at the Burrow when they were trying to get Harry out. Ginny and Tonks both hit him with Stunning Spells at the same time, so they could get away.
"He knew about the old rendezvous, but not about this chateau. We moved the headquarters after we realised he was the one leaking information. He was overheard telling someone that the Dark Lord is instituting a Marriage Law, that pure-bloods must marry Half-bloods. Muggle-borns will be hunted to extinction, but Weasley was to be given you as a reward for betraying his friends and family." Viktor was not pulling any punches. He was scowling at her, his sense of outrage evident in his words and manner.
"I didn't know, Viktor. I swear. Oh, no... he must have been the one who killed my parents." She had just realised how close she had been to being captured. Turning to face Viktor, she saw him hesitate, then square his shoulders and speak boldly, his eyes showing a mixture of hope and longing.
"There is only one way his usefulness to the Dark Lord can be nullified. You must marry, and marry today. Is there a wizard who you could see as your mate: one of the other Weasleys, Harry, Neville, me?" He was almost holding his breath. When she had told him about her words to Ron Weasley, his heart had lurched. Maybe she still held a fondness for him. He offered the others first in case she didn't. His last words had made her raise her chin to look him square in the eye.
"Viktor, there is only one wizard who has owned my heart completely for five years. Did you truly not know that? You are the only one I have ever loved or could love. I thought you had moved on." Her voice was soft, her words sending the first flare of hope to his heart for a long time. Her look, half-impatient and half-hesitant, sent a lump to his throat.
His words, when he spoke, were confused, "I thought... when you stopped writing... I thought you had begun to return the feelings Weasley had for you. Are you telling me that you would marry me?" He moved closer to her, as if afraid she would vanish. He raised a hand to her cheek to brush away the last tear.
"Did you think I would have used the code you taught me when I embroidered this handkerchief for any other reason? You didn't even read what I had written, did you? You took the cover note at face value and didn't look any further. Viktor, read what the code says." She handed him the cloth and he looked at it. There, in the flower code he had taught her that summer in Bulgaria, was her hidden message. Ron is pressuring me. I cannot love him. My heart was given to you. It will always be yours.
He looked up to find her smiling at him. The embroidered words had robbed him of speech for the nonce. She removed the cloth from his fingers and touched his face. The urge to kiss her took priority over everything else. Her lips opened under his and he sighed. Her arms tightened around his neck as he pulled her tightly against him.
The insistent knock on the door forced them apart a few minutes later. Viktor opened the door to Arthur Weasley.
"Septima has arrived. She said there have been numerous attacks on the Muggles at home. Hello, Hermione. Has Viktor given you the word on Ron? I am sincerely hoping the boy is under the Imperius Curse, because I cannot believe he would ever connive at any of this. You are very dear to us, child. Pardon for interrupting. We'll talk when you come back in." Arthur closed the door again firmly.
Viktor went to the ornate painting on the wall and moved it aside. There was a small blank space on the wall where Viktor placed his right palm. He spoke some words Hermione did not understand, and the blank space became a niche holding a Quidditch gear bag. Viktor pulled the bag out and the niche became wall again. He dug around in the bag for a minute and pulled out a small box. When he turned back to Hermione, he was looking at her with such tenderness that she gasped. The love in his eyes enthralled her.
He held out a hand to her and she moved forward slowly, as if in a dream. He placed the ring from the box on her hand and kissed the palm of that hand. Then he held up the other thing that had been in the box, a Time Turner.
"We will go back and get them, love. Thanks to Moody, we have Polyjuice, so we can become your parents for an hour." His voice was thick with emotion.
"But, all the Time Turners were destroyed at the Ministry four years ago. This one looks different than the one I used third year, though." She handed it back to him, confused
"This is the one thought lost from the Russian Ministry. Karkaroff had taken it. When he died, there was a trunk of things he left to me. This was in it. He knew you had used one. He wrote that if necessary, this one could be used to correct things if Harry had fallen to the Dark Lord. We will return to get your parents, but first we must be married. Will you trust me, Hermione?" His look was pleading.
"Yes, Viktor, I always have." She took the hand he held out to her, and they walked through the door into the room where everyone else sat talking.
Viktor looked at Fleur and asked her a question, "How soon can a wedding be arranged?"
Fleur stood up as soon as she saw the ring on Hermione's hand and said, "Viktor, I can have the docent at Chartres waiting for you. The labyrinth should be walked before the ceremony. Who will perform the ceremony?" Fleur hugged Hermione as she talked.
"To rededicate a new trio to the defeat of Evil, it should be Harry who does the binding." Moody spoke from the back of the room. Minerva must have agreed, because she extended her left hand in the palm up position. That was the symbolic vote of agreement for the Order members. Everyone else followed suit. Hermione looked at her friends and added her vote to the others.
Harry was standing in the back of the room with Ginny. "If you want me to read the binding, I will, gladly. We probably need to get this done in a hurry. Are you ready, Hermione?" He asked, knowing she was still a bit gobsmacked.
She looked at Viktor and said, "Yes, Harry. I have been ready for this for five years."
The others in the room grinned at her words. Harry just bobbed his head once and took the book Moody was handing him.
The Time Turner hung around Viktor's neck when they Disapparated to the cathedral at Chartres, a few miles away. Once inside the great church, the docent indicated the labyrinth built into the floor.
As if by prearranged signal, Harry began to walk the labyrinth. Hermione followed him and Viktor came after her. The others ranged themselves in a circle around the perimeter of the maze.
When Harry reached the central figure of the maze, he opened the book Moody had given him. When Hermione reached the centre of the maze, she stood at Harry's right, facing him. Viktor took the place at Harry's left, facing him. The outer circle stood with their wands touching the person to their left, creating a barrier of magical protection.
Harry's voice rang out clear and true, reading the words of the binding ceremony, "Having walked the labyrinth to this binding, you have each agreed to walk life's path together. Is this true?"
They both answered yes.
Harry spoke again, "Do you both bind your hearts, minds, and magic to each other? Will you bind your faith to each other and to the Light?"
Hermione answered first, "I do. I will." She looked at Viktor with love shining from her eyes.
Viktor echoed her words, "I do. I will." He returned her look with passion.
They drew their wands and joined their left hands. Harry had drawn his wand and inscribed a ring around their joined hands. Harry felt the magic rising and spoke quietly. "Those of you who want to add wishes or blessings to the final binding, utter them now."
The outer circle began to murmur. Their whispered words became visible snippets of light and began to swirl about the outer circle, moving inward along the path of the labyrinth until they enveloped the three people at the centre.
Harry, Hermione and Viktor touched their wands together and the resulting surge of magic lit the darkened cathedral like sunlight.
The rose-gold band that Viktor placed on Hermione's right hand gleamed with the blessing of the gathered watchers. His lips touched hers briefly. Harry was beaming at them. They began the walk out of the labyrinth hand in hand, with Viktor leading. The three arrived back in the midst of their friends as the docent was snuffing the candles. They left the cathedral behind as they Disapparated back to the chateau.
The others were busy sorting out sleeping arrangements and food while Harry, Hermione and Viktor sat in the small sequestered salon off the main room.
"The two of you are going to go back and get her parents, right? At least take a couple of us along to deal with Ron, will you?" Harry asked. Over the past year, he had gotten to know Viktor and had seen how the older wizard still cared deeply for Hermione.
"I am planning to take Kingsley, Charlie and a new recruit. He has been a spy for us for most of the last year. He is the one who brought word of Weasley's perfidy. He has something he wishes to say to you both." Saying that, Viktor walked to the French doors and opened them.
Draco Malfoy walked in the doors, but he looked years older than Harry and Hermione. He was all hardened muscle and sinew now. But his eyes burned with both pain and regret. He held his hands up to show he had no wand at the ready. He was scarred both physically and emotionally, they could tell.
Hermione and Harry both sat up straighter in their chairs, and Viktor perched on the edge of Hermione's. Draco moved to the straight back chair near the desk. He switched it round and sat straddling it.
At Viktor's nod, he began to speak, "I know neither of you are overjoyed to see me, but hear me out, please. Two years ago, after the abortive battle in Hogsmeade, the Dark Lord took it into his head to believe that my parents had betrayed him. He killed my father outright, which he deserved. But my mother was tortured repeatedly. When she was at last allowed to die, I swore I would help bring him down. Eight months ago, I sent a coded message to Krum. I told him he had a traitor in his ranks and that I would help him in bringing down the Dark Lord. Have I not aided you toward that end, Krum?" Draco sent a pleading look to Viktor.
"He has been responsible for the capture of Bellatrix Lestrange and the werewolf Greyback. Both were tried and executed. Thanks to Malfoy's tips, we have been culling the Dark Lord's followers regularly. Malfoy knew about the plan to kill your parents, but could not get away to warn me fast enough. He will distract Weasley while we get your parents out, Hermione." Viktor placed a hand on her shoulder as he spoke.
Draco spoke again. "Potter, I am sorry I was such a smarmy git. I know now how it feels to lose your parents and everything to that excuse for a man. I really am on your side. Granger, I was always jealous of your grades. It galled that a Muggle-born made better grades than a pure-blood Malfoy. I apologise." He really seemed to be sorry for his actions, Hermione thought.
"Actually, it is Krum now, Draco. We were bonded today. Thank you for going with us to get my parents back," Hermione said.
Harry had just nodded at Draco in response to the apology. He agreed to stay at the chateau to keep everyone else calm.
The three of them walked out into the early evening light, where Charlie and Kingsley waited for them. Kingsley handed Hermione a bag that contained several doses of Polyjuice Potion. He and Charlie both gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"We will be going to Arabella Figg's new home, just down the street from your parents' house. She and her grandson live very quietly on the street. Poliakoff, my classmate from Durmstrang, is play-acting as her grandson. They should be expecting us." Viktor said before activating the Portkey which whirled them back to England.
The house they landed in was almost a duplicate of Hermione's parents' house. Ms. Figg hugged everyone before Poliakoff came back in the door.
"The Muggle officials have been here and gone. Weasley got here about three hours ago. He should be easy enough to catch," Poliakoff said.
Viktor took the Time Turner off and tapped the leather strap it was hanging from with his wand. "Engorgio," he said. The strap grew much longer. He repeated the spell once more and the strap was now long enough to go around the necks of all five of the rescuers. Viktor handed the Time Turner to Hermione, who turned the hourglass mechanism five times.
They saw time reversing itself all around them. They could see the commotion of the Muggle officials and the fire trucks. Then it was quiet again. The Time Turner had taken them back to before. The house was standing. Her parents were alive.
Viktor handed her the bag containing the Polyjuice Potion. "We must take these with us. Transfiguration will get us to your house, but we need to appear to be your parents when Weasley arrives. Charlie and Kingsley will take them to safety at the Chateau and come back here.
"Draco will wait for Weasley and engage him in conversation and then accompany him to the house. The three of us will capture him. Then we will Disapparate back to this house before the bomb goes off.
"Breathe, love, I need your thought processes working at their fastest. Let me do the Transfiguration; you will stay yourself, but look older." Viktor waved his wand and spoke some words in his native Bulgarian.
While he was casting the spell, she saw Kingsley doing the same thing to Charlie and then himself. Viktor had also aged when she turned back to look at him. Draco had fetched a mirror for her to see what had been done. She looked remarkably like Aunt Charlotte, her father's sister.
The five of them made their way to the Grangers' house and rang the bell. Hermione's father answered the door and Hermione put her finger to her lips before crying out in a loud voice. "Oh, David, I just had to come by with my friends. I was in town for the day." She was whispering in his ear as he let the group into the house. "Sorry, Daddy, we need to get you out of here and somewhere safe. We don't have much time."
David Granger looked at the older version of his daughter and did the only thing he could think of doing. He called for his wife. "Anjelique, come quickly. Hermione is here."
Her mum appeared at the door to the kitchen and gasped. "Cheri? What is this? Why do you and Viktor look so much older?"
Hermione was thankful that her parents had recognised Viktor, but she wanted them out of the house as soon as possible. "Mum, Daddy, these are some more of my friends, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Charlie Weasley. They are here to get you safe away from here. Pack anything you want to take with you as fast as you can. You won't be able to come back for anything.
"Oh, right. I need some of your hair, please. This is Draco Malfoy; he used to be on the other side, but has decided that he likes the Light better. He is going to distract Ron for a few minutes so we have time enough to get you out before he comes in. I need you both to get whatever you want to keep NOW. We are racing against time.
"Please, Mum and Daddy, you are going to be taken to France. I'll get started on the office records. Daddy, you get your computer and the bank stuff. Mum, your job is clothes." She had clipped a bit of hair from each of her parents, who were gathering things into a pile in the living room. Kingsley Transfigured a suitcase into a trunk, which was packed with the pictures, clothes and other items the Grangers were taking with them. He miniaturised the whole thing and put it into David Granger's pocket.
"That should do it. We'll sort it out when we get there, sir. Are you two almost ready to go?" Kingsley was chivvying them along and Charlie was just watching. Kingsley created a Portkey from a small statue on the mantelpiece. He nodded at Hermione.
"Mum, Daddy, we will see you later. I love you both." Her voice nearly broke on the words.
Her mother piped up then, "Oh, Baby, get your grandmum's jewels from the hiding place. You bring those."
Kingsley quietly instructed the Grangers on the protocols for a Portkey as Hermione ran to get the jewellery bundle. She thrust it into her mum's hands just before the Portkey activated.
Hermione took the clippings of hair and deposited them into two phials of Polyjuice Potion. The phial with the silvery hair of her father was handed to Viktor, who drank it down. She drank the one with the golden brown hair of her mother.
Draco had stood watching the whole proceedings with an astonished eye. He checked his pocket watch and said, "We still have nearly half an hour before Weasley shows. Do you want to see if there is anything they might have forgotten in the rush?"
Hermione could have hugged him at that minute. She went into her parents' room and found: the shaving things her father had forgotten, the extra toothbrushes and toothpaste, and her mum's medicine. She checked her father's home office and picked up his address book and the cash box he kept in the desk drawer. She checked her old room and picked up a couple of her favourite books and the box she had kept Viktor's letters in.
The kitchen and the dining room yielded nothing. The family room was cleared of the remaining photo albums and the garage gave up its one treasure, a battered small chest that was filled and then miniaturised. Viktor put it into his pocket.
Draco got to his feet and strolled out the front door to wait for Ron around the corner.
Viktor hugged Hermione and said, "Not long now. I am sorry the house has to go, but it will make the Dark Lord believe he succeeded. Charlie and Kingsley will return when they have delivered your parents, so the time cycle will play out as it began."
"It is okay, Viktor. I am just glad we got them out. Thank you." She hugged him back.
"I think it is about to be time for us to become actors, love. Here comes Ron with Draco."
"You may have to keep me from killing him." She was furious.
"Calmly, now, love. Remember you are a Muggle mother and know nothing of what he is planning. Smile as if you are glad to see him." Viktor warned.
When the knock came on the door, Hermione put on her most welcoming smile and answered the door.
"Why, hello, Ronald. Are you meeting Hermione here? It is nice to see you again. Who is your friend?"
"Erm, uh, this is Draco Malfoy. He went to school with us. Hermione is supposed to meet me here. I guess she is a bit late. Can we come in?" Ron was uncomfortable, knowing he was about to murder the parents of the girl he wanted for his own.
"Certainly, come right in. David, it's Ronald Weasley. He says he's meeting Hermione here."
"That is nice, dear. Hello Ron, long time no see. Put that bag down and have a seat. Hello young man, I am David Granger and you are...?"
"Draco Malfoy, sir, nice to meet you. Come on, Weasley. Have a seat." Draco had manoeuvred Ron into taking the seat in the middle of the room.
"Let me make some tea for you boys. I'll just be a minute." Hermione went into the kitchen and was about to actually make tea when she heard Draco utter a Body Bind Curse at Ron. Viktor then cast Langlock at him. She hurried back into the room to see Ron struggling wildly.
Viktor mouthed the word now at her as he and Draco grabbed Ron in preparation to Disapparate. She grabbed her wand and turned into the Disapparation back to Arabella Figg's house.
She could feel the Polyjuice wearing off as she popped into existence. Viktor, Draco, and Ron appeared just seconds later. Ron recoiled when he realised who had captured him.
He still couldn't speak, but kept looking from Draco to Viktor and back again. Viktor had taken Ron's wand when they Disapparated, and now he gave it to Hermione. She shoved it into the bag with the Time Turner and the remaining phials of Polyjuice Potion. Kingsley and Charlie arrived back just as the bomb went off.
Hermione watched herself walk up to the front of the house, stand for a moment and then run to the alleyway behind the house. She whirled and pointed her wand at Ron Weasley.
"Why, Ronald? Is it true the Dark Lord promised you that I would be your bride? I thought we were friends." She removed the Langlock curse and Ron began to babble.
"You weren't attached to anyone else. I know you said we would never be more than friends, but Hermione, I wanted you. It is not like you were in love with anyone." He writhed under the Body Bind Curse as he spoke.
"Did you think to ask me about my feelings, Ron? I have been in love for years. You were never in the running. I married the man I love today. In just about twenty-seven minutes, I will be saying my vows to the only wizard I will ever love. He brought me back here to rescue my parents, who had never done anything to you. Why did you feel like it would bring us together if you killed them?" She was screaming at him, until Viktor put his hands on her shoulders.
"Calmly, love. He was following orders. In his right mind, he would never have done anything to hurt you, but he was placed under the Imperius Curse to do this. We must plant a suggestion that the plan succeeded and then Obliviate him and send him back to the Dark Lord. He no longer has any value as a spy. Shall we let the Dark Lord deal with him?" Viktor's voice calmed Hermione immediately. When she put her right hand on his, Ron saw the band on her hand and realised who she had married.
"You married the bloody Bulgarian? He doesn't love you. He..." This time it was Kingsley who cast Langlock to shut Ron up.
Charlie just looked at his youngest brother sadly. Then he cast the Imperius Curse and planted the suggestion that the mission had been successful. Kingsley took over to Obliviate the memories of the rescue and the ensuing interrogation.
Hermione stunned Ron directly afterwards and they left him on Ms. Figg's front lawn with his wand when they Disapparated back to France.
They found a celebration going on when they arrived back at the chateau. The last remaining Weasley son, Percy, had made it out of the Ministry offices with the new codes for the security measures the Dark Lord had imposed.
A conveniently Transfigured corpse was left in Percy's flat after a fire was set in the almost empty building. Percy had stayed at the Ministry just long enough to learn the new codes and sabotage the records of the Muggle-born witches and wizards.
"Oh, I almost forgot. This should make the twins and Harry happy; I used the Imperius on Umbridge. She now has her eye on the Dark Lord as a prospective mate. It seemed a good joke to me." Percy laughed. The whole rest of the Weasley clan dissolved in laughter and hugged him.
Viktor recaptured Hermione's notice and whispered. "We had best go talk to your parents. They will not be happy that their daughter married without their knowledge. We will come back to this later."
Molly Weasley caught them as they were about to walk up the stairs. "We have produced you a wedding dinner. Go tell your parents and all of you come back down. It is about time we all had something to celebrate. Congratulations, you two." She wiped her eyes with her ever present apron and hurried back to her children.
Upstairs they found her parents trying to make some sense of the days' happenings. Hermione brought out the little things they had forgotten and hugged her parents tightly.
"Mum, Daddy, we have something to tell you. The reason Ron was sent to kill you, other than the fact that Harry is my best friend, is that the Dark Lord had promised him me as a bride because he had become a spy for the Dark.
"There was only one way to remove me from their tracking. Hermione Granger had to disappear. And the best way to no longer be Hermione Granger was to become Hermione Krum. Viktor and I were married in Chartres Cathedral this afternoon. Harry read the ceremony.
"Without Viktor's strength, I don't think I could have gotten you both back. He loves me, and I have always loved him, all the way back to fourth year. It is done. It is forever. I know I will never want out; I don't think he will, either." She had been sitting on the settee with her mum while talking. Viktor had come up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders as she talked. His presence gave her the sense of calm she needed desperately.
"I loved her from the day we met. I never stopped loving her, even when she and the two boys were off hunting Horcruxes. I kept writing to her, but she never answered, so I let it go. But I never lost hope. When things began to go really badly a few months ago, I was contacted by Harry. He said the Order needed to be relocated to the continent and would I help.
"Then he asked me point blank why I had quit writing to Hermione, saying that she had continued sending me letters for months after I supposedly quit writing to her three years ago. That was when I knew there was a problem. Harry and I looked at everything that had gone on this past year, the botched raids, the ambushes. We realised we had a spy in the group. What told us the traitor's identity was the letters.
"I never stopped writing to her, and Harry said she stopped only after several months with no word from me. The only person who could have intercepted those letters was Ron Weasley. Harry had Ron's sister Ginny search his room and the whole house. I asked the twins to search their shop.
"The bundle of letters was found behind a display cupboard at the shop. They had all been opened and read. I am sorry, love, that it turned out to be Weasley. I should have come to you and asked if you had chosen him instead of just retiring from the field." He looked down at her and saw her realise what he had done.
"You couldn't bear the hurt of thinking I had chosen him. I understand that, Viktor. I thought you had found someone new. We both should have had more faith in us." She smiled brilliantly up at him.
Her parents were still trying to deal with the fact that they had been dead and then saved by the little device sitting on top of Hermione's backpack. They were overjoyed to have their only child safe and happy. They hugged Viktor tightly.
"David, Anjelique, please come with us downstairs. Molly Weasley has put together a combined party, partly for the wedding, and a host of other reasons. You would honour us with your presence." Viktor drew his bride to her feet and kissed her lightly. Her parents grinned at them and all walked down the stairs to the ballroom where Molly had set up tables and chairs.
Everyone greeted her parents like long lost friends. The Weasleys especially, were hugging them and apologising for their errant son.
Alastor Moody and Minerva McGonagall took Hermione's parents to a table and engaged them in conversation while Viktor led Hermione to the group who had arrived after they had gone to get her parents.
The Quidditch players from most of the English, Irish, and European teams had been ferrying Muggle-borns and their families to safety all that day. When they saw Viktor and Hermione they began to laugh.
One, a teammate of Viktor's, said loudly. "Are we celebrating getting the refugees out or a wedding? You did not tell us when we began this morning that you would marry that girl you have mooned over for years."
Hermione shot Viktor a look before grinning. "He didn't know, Vulchanov. We hadn't seen each other in years, but the time was right and the man was right. I am glad to see you all."
Her words sent the whole Quidditch contingent to whooping and yelling. They each came to congratulate the young couple. There were faces she had thought never to see again; she laughed and hugged each one.
Then Molly called them to the front of the room and everyone came to congratulate the bride and groom. From somewhere music started, a scratchy old recording of Beethoven's Ode to Joy; Hermione knew it was the Weasleys, trying to make her wedding day into something special.
Viktor took her hand and led her onto the floor. His words were loud enough for everyone to hear, "This shall be the anthem for winning this war, my love. All men shall be brothers. Dance with me, beloved, on this most wonderful of days."
She matched her steps to his as she had five years before at the Yule Ball, his arm holding her as they whirled across the floor. She saw the love and the desire in his eyes and knew her own eyes reflected the same. Married, finally, to the one man she had loved since that long ago, seemingly carefree year at school.
"Viktor, I want to be alone with you. Soon," she whispered to him.
His answering grin set her heart alight. "We will go upstairs in a bit, my love, just after dinner and the cutting of the cake. We have become a symbol to all of them, a talisman. Our marriage not only removed you from the ranks of the hunted, it gave hope to everyone here.
"They see us as the future, free of Dark Magic, and free of prejudice. Look at Harry and Ginny. I think there will be another wedding soon, possibly more than one. Wood and Katie Bell, perhaps, and one of the twins and Angelina Johnson are another possibility."
"Obicham Te, Viktor. Go dance with my mum, please. I want to dance with my father. Then I think we'll have to dance with everyone else. But, after Mum, start with Ginny and I'll take Harry." Her eyes lit with mischief as she kissed him.
"I just saw Fleur disappear up the stairs with Ginny and Molly. I hate to see what they are doing to my... our room. Obicham Te, Hermione. I always have. I go to ask your mother to dance with me." He picked up her right hand and placed a kiss on her wedding band, then led her to her father's side.
He bowed to Anjelique Granger and asked to dance with her. She laughed and took his hand as her husband led their daughter onto the floor. Viktor apologised about rushing the wedding, but Anjelique shushed him. "You did what you had to do to keep her focused. She had probably begun to shut her emotions down by the time she got here, if we were gone. You were always there for her before. You loved her back then, I could tell. She loved you, too. She was just too young. You were wise to wait. And the stolen letters didn't harm the feelings you have for each other. I think I will like having such a handsome son-in-law. Thank you for dancing with an old woman." She kissed him on the cheek and he blushed.
When he returned her to the table, he looked around. Ginny Weasley was standing with Harry. When Viktor approached them, he looked at Harry as if to ask permission. Harry laughed and said, "You have to ask the lady, mate. I take it that I get to dance with the bride?"
Viktor asked Ginny to dance and she agreed. Once they were on the dance floor, they saw Hermione drag Harry out. More and more couples started to dance as the music changed to fiddle music with a definite Irish sound to it.
Looking over, Hermione saw that Seamus Finnegan had begun to play the fiddle he had unearthed from somewhere. Harry suddenly asked her a question. "Are you mad that I didn't tell you we had figured out it was Ron? I'm sorry. Viktor was hoping it really wasn't him, so that you wouldn't be hurt. I knew Ron had been acting funny, but never suspected he had turned traitor. I want you to be happy, Hermione."
"Harry, I have my parents back and I am married to the only wizard I could ever love. I am happy. Now when are you going to marry Ginny? You'll make me even happier if you do." She hugged him as they walked back to the edge of the floor.
Molly signalled Seamus to stop playing. "Dinner is ready. Everyone sit down." When everyone was seated, Molly and Arthur directed plates of food to each guest. Draco was talking to Moody at the side of the room, then brought a bottle to Viktor and two champagne flutes.
"I brought this for just such an occasion. Moody checked it for Dark Magic or Potions. Be happy, you two. You have given ideas to the rest of us." He smiled as looked across the room at Luna.
"Thank you, Draco." Viktor took the cold bottle of champagne and popped the cork. He poured a glass for Hermione and one for himself. They sipped their glasses while they ate. In only a few minutes the food was gone and Molly brought the cake in. Viktor asked her to put the rest of the champagne away so that the next couple could have some at their wedding.
"I think we might have another wedding within days, Molly." He waved a hand out over the group to where Ginny still stood in Harry's arms and Luna was enfolded in Draco's arms, as well. Hermione had seen what Viktor had indicated and understood what he meant. They all needed the resurgence of hope and love that weddings brought.
"Molly, is there any wine or mead for a toast? I have an idea, Viktor," She whispered to her new husband and he laughed.
"Yes, love, a brilliant idea. There is a case or two of Rakia in my room, Molly. That should be enough for everyone to at least have a sip of wine. I'll replicate the glasses." He promised. "Tell them what they will be toasting as the wine is poured, love," he said to Hermione.
"George, Fred, Percy, go help your mum with the wine. We are going to have a toast. Weddings are a wonderful way to celebrate hope and love, aren't they? Viktor is going to give each of you a glass and someone will come around and pour you a bit of wine. When everyone has a glass we will make a toast." Her voice carried to the furthest reaches of the chateau.
People were still coming in by twos and threes. Viktor's parents arrived last, bringing with them a slim dark haired girl who ran to Arthur Weasley as soon as she spotted him. The wine glasses were being filled as Hermione looked around the room. Harry caught her eye and raised an eyebrow. Her answer was a finger to her lips.
When everyone had a glass and those glasses were full. Hermione looked to Viktor. Their voices joined together. "Everyone, please join us in a toast to the beginning of the end of the Dark Lord's reign of terror. Our wedding today marked the first spark of the fire that will consume the evil. Perhaps more weddings and the renewal of vows will fan that spark into the purifying fire we need. We propose a toast to love and its power to defeat the Dark Lord! "
The whole room raised their glasses and drank. Then a voice from the back of the room spoke up, "Since the newest married couple has asked for new vows and the renewal of old vows, as the oldest married couple here, we'll renew those vows first thing in the morning." Alastor Moody held onto the hand of Minerva McGonagall.
Molly and Arthur Weasley added their names to the list, as did Viktor's parents and Hermione's. The Quidditch players all added their names along with their wives and husbands. The first of the unmarried couples to put their name on the list to be married was Draco Malfoy and Luna Lovegood. Harry and Ginny were next, followed by Fred and Angelina, Neville and Hannah, Percy and Audrey, who turned out to be the dark haired girl who had arrived with Viktor's parents. Viktor took Hermione's hand and made his way to the stairs.
A recognisable female voice cried out behind them, though, "You aren't sneaking off. Lumos!" Minerva's wand was not the only one in use. Everyone in the room raised their wands at the stairway, to light the hundred candles going up to the next level.
There were multi-coloured rose petals falling on the newly-weds. The voices of those who had attended the wedding were raised again in the same blessings until Draco's voice rang out.
"Peace, let them go find what they have waited too long for, quiet now. Go on you two." He laughed as he swept them a cavalier's bow.
At the top of the stairs, Viktor took Hermione in his arms and kissed her passionately, to the catcalls of the Quidditch players below, then they ran for the bedroom door that stood open. He locked the door and set Privacy and Noise Cancelling Spells before taking off the leather jacket he had worn all day.
Hermione suddenly realised that the only clothes she had were the ones on her back and she didn't have a contraceptive potion. Then she noticed the shopping tote on the table near the windows and she remembered Fleur and Ginny sneaking upstairs.
Upon investigation, she found Ginny had brought all the clothes she had left at the Burrow and Fleur had provided the required potion with a note on how to brew it. She quickly uncapped the phial and downed the contents.
Warm hands touched her arms; she whirled to see Viktor had shed his shirt. The light furring on his chest beckoned her fingers to investigate. There were scars now that had not been there when he rescued her from the lake during the second task of the Tournament.
He had been fighting now for the past three years. He had risen to be the leader and strategist for the European Order because of his cunning and courage. In those three years, he hadn't lost a single operative and had decimated the Dark Lord's forces. His Quidditch strategies had translated well to battle.
She looked up at his face to see the half-smile that had won her heart that long ago day in the library when he had been so tongue-tied about asking her to the Yule Ball.
"What, Viktor? Fleur left me a contraceptive potion and Ginny brought my clothes."
"Do you want to bathe, love? There is a shower. We could shower together..." His words were breathy, as if he was having trouble breathing. The look in his eyes that of a man scared to believe he had found his heart's desire.
"After..." was all the answer she gave him.
A movement of his hand had unbuttoned her shirt. His hands, warm and work roughened, reached for the fastenings of her bra as her hands found the button on his jeans. She began to slide them off him and felt the hot pulsing hardness springing to fill her hand.
She raised eyes to his face and found his eyes closed as he unzipped her jeans. His hands moved to the peaks of her breasts and she jumped from the almost painful sweep of his thumbs across her nipples.
He lowered his head to take one aching nipple into the hot cauldron of his mouth She pushed his jeans down even further and they both fell to their knees. Her hand clasped his erection and began to explore the silken steeliness of him.
He groaned and pulled her to her feet. Then he swung her up to carry her to the bed which, at a word, divested itself of the covers. Another word extinguished most of the lights. He laid her down and captured her mouth. Between kisses he whispered, "So beautiful. I love you."
She pulled him down to her and welcomed the weight of him. Her knickers were vanished in a trice and he began the slow, sensuous assault on her body. Kisses trailed heat from her mouth to her neck and then down across her chest, pausing only to taste and tease each breast, then down across her abdomen to the curls at the juncture of her thighs.
His hand was insistent, stroking through the curls to the heat of her core. When he inserted a finger into the wetness she felt between her legs, she shivered. The sensation was incredible. Then his thumb flicked across the bundle of nerves hidden by her labia.
Her moan of desire urged him on. He lowered his lips to the tightly furled rosebud of pleasure. Her hands tightened on his erection and he groaned again. Her fingers lightly traced the lips of his foreskin before she eased it back and lowered her lips to taste him. He growled and tried to pull away from her.
"Love, please stop. If you do not, this will all be over before it begins," he whispered fiercely.
She raised passion-mazed eyes to him and he swiftly moved over her. He laved the tips of her breasts with his tongue and positioned himself at the incredibly warm and wet entrance to her body.
His hands twined with hers as he began to ease himself in. Her sheathe was tight and hot as he pulled out just enough to angle himself better to force past the hymeneal barrier.
The next thrust tore the barrier of her virginity and Wild Magic lit the room like lightning. She felt the full length of him filling her, and it felt so right. She hooked her ankles over his thighs and began to meet his thrusts.
She could feel that she was spiralling toward something, but knew not what. His lips took the last coherent thought from her as he brushed his thumb across the bud of nerve endings between them. She tightened on him and he followed her into bliss seconds later. When he could breathe again, he moved off her and rolled her so that she lay half across his body, her head resting on his shoulder.
"Obicham Te, Hermione," He whispered as he kissed her forehead.
Her sleepy voice asked him a question, "What happened when...?"
He looked around the room and chuckled. The French doors to the balcony were open, having been blown that way from the force of the Wild Magic. The room looked like it had seen a major storm blow through it.
"That, my love, is something that happens only rarely, elemental magic unleashed when the marriage of two soul-mates is consummated. I hesitate to tell you it probably went through the whole chateau. They will tease us unmercifully in the morning. Do you still want that shower?" His voice was tender and teasing.
"The morning is soon enough. What is that phial? It wasn't there before." She gestured to the bedside table where a strange crystal phial stood next to the last lit candle.
"The Ministry, the one in Bulgaria, requires blood-proof of the joining." He took his wand and used it to clean the blood off of them both and the bed. The droplets were transferred to the crystal phial. Then the phial split into two and one disappeared with a resounding pop.
"What happens to this phial, Viktor?" she asked, looking at the phial now resting in Viktor's hands.
He spoke an incantation in Bulgarian and the date of the marriage and their names appeared on the phial. When that was complete, he answered her question, "This phial goes into the family vault. Bashta will take it with him when they return home. How do you feel, Madam Krum?"
"Deliriously happy and ... replete. Hold me while we sleep, Viktor, please." Her voice was sleepy and happy.
He kissed her and used a spell to retrieve the covers. She snuggled close and he murmured the one word that had run through his head since their bonding. "Mine."
Then they both slept.