Much More Than a Slave
Chapter 1:
Once again, Hermione had had a fight with Ron and was now sitting in the library to calm down and do some studying. Could he for once stop whining about how poor his family was? She herself was living from the money Hogwarts gave to muggleborn students which was not exactly much. While she was angrily looking for a book on the history of especially dark magicians she stumbled across a book which certainly did not fit in the section 'History'. "This book is not supposed to have a place in the public part of the library", she thought upon reading a few pages in it. This book was probably the book with the darkest magic she had ever seen. In it she found instructions on creating inferi from living wizards which made them have magical abilities but still not have the need to breathe or other things any living creature needs to do to survive. The instruction on it made her go pale and then almost vomit.
She was just about to close the book and inform Madam Pince about it when a new topic struck her eyes: 'Slave bonds between Wizards and Witches'. There could not possibly be something like slave bonds? But then she remembered Professor Binns little hint that enslavement had not only happened from wizards to other races which he had given them last week. With now slightly trembling hands she reopened the book which she had closed in panic and read the text below the headline. Five minutes later Hermione quickly put the book back to its place and without even mentioning it to Madam Pince she went to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Ron apparently had not finished dinner yet so she went straight to the still empty dormitory.
This was just so wrong. If this book was right any wizard had the ability to enslave any witch, simply by casting a spell on her. That meant... Suddenly she panicked. She had left the book in the public section! Anyone could read it now and if someone like Malfoy got hold on it, it would end in a total disaster! She quickly ran out of her dormitory, out of the Gryffindor Tower into the library. But what she found did not relax her at all. On the exact place where she had put the book into the shelf was the book no longer. She scanned nearly the whole library and only quickly left when Madam Pince asked her if she was looking for something. Someone had taken the book and would almost definitely read about the slave bonds.
"Hello little Mudblood!" Malfoy had sneaked up behind her and grinned evilly. "Enjoying your last days of studying?"
"What is that supposed to mean?", Hermione replied slightly confused though annoyed when she suddenly recognised what he was holding. Malfoy did not miss that and he just smiled even broader, "Oh think you will find out soon enough".
After that she was almost entirely sure that Malfoy was planning to enslave her and there was hardly anything she could do about it. But more than this, he could enslave anyone without even anyone noticing. She needed to act now. She went back into the common room where she found Harry sitting on an armchair near the fire. "Can I borrow your Invisibility Cloak tonight? I need to get a book from the library for the potions essay for tomorrow."
"Sure", he said distractedly and gave her the cloak. What she actually wanted to do was to find other books on that topic that would help her protect herself.
In the library she quickly noticed that the Restricted Section was only locked by a simple muggle lock which she quickly opened. Relieved that she had apparently set off no alarm she started her research. After about an hour she had read through five different books. Apparently this topic was more complex than she had thought. The spell had been invented by Salazar Slytherin himself after he had left Hogwarts. But he also put some highly complex charms on the spell itself which made it impossible to directly share its use, its source or anything about it. If you tried to, you would forget everything about the spell and you would be rendered impossible to obtain the information back. That made Hermione relax a little, hoping Malfoy would just try to brag about this spell and forget about is more is that apparently this spell can be used only once by one person. Slightly relieved, Hermione put all books back to their intitial place, locked the door to the Restricted Section and went back to the common room. It was now nearly empty so Hermione's arrive went unnoticed. Harry was still sitting in the armchair so she slipped the cloak to him, quietly thanked him and entered her dormitory.
There she grabbed a shirt from her trunk, closed the curtains on her bed and started enchanting it, as well as her Hogwarts uniform. She cast several protection charms that would hopefully deflect any spell if Malfoy tried to use a spell on her. It took her two hours to cast all spells because she did it very thoroughly as she wanted to be entirely safe. Malfoy may be an arrogant little brat that would brag about everything which would instantly erase all danger but she really did not want to risk him enslaving her.
The next day when she went to breakfast she stayed close to Ron and Harry, so Draco would not dare attack her. When they entered the Great Hall Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table but he was constantly looking toward them. All day Hermione kept an eye on him but also never took very much distance from Harry and Ron. One time when she was walking a few meters behind them she felt someone walking behind her. She seized her wand and quickly turned around to see exactly as she had feared Draco walking about 10 meters behind her pointing his wand at her. Upon that Draco quickly turned around and walked away.
Over the next few days Hermione found herself multiple time in similar situations. Finally she decided that Draco was keeping his secret so she needed to act. Why he had not kidnapped her yet she did not know but she definitely did not want to wait until it was too late. Apparently she was his main target so she did not have to worry about anyone else. But the enchantments on her cloths were not the best protection and she needed to find a better solution. Reporting it to a teacher would do exactly nothing as he had not done anything yet and in addition to that she would have to work around the taboo. She desperately tried to find a solution to stop Draco. Maybe she could trick him into talking about it? But how would she do it? If she talked to him herself she risked him jinxing her. And she could not risk instructing someone else to do it as she might lose all memories about the charm in the process. While rereading the notes she had taken on that topic she got an idea. According to her notes you could only be enslaved to one person at a time. So if she was to be enslaved to someone else she could let Malfoy try to use the spell on her, if she was lucky even get him to try and talk about it to her. Then he would either not be able to use the spell again or even forget about it completely. But that would still make her a slave and since slave bonds are unbreakable she would have to live with that for her entire life. She grimaced at that idea. Moreover, none of the books could give her detailed information about what the consequences the bond had. Quickly she decided that she was not going to enslave herself and tried to find another solution. That went on for another week and as time went on Hermione became more and more desperate and even skipped classes to go to the girls' bathroom and cry.
"Hermione, is everything alright with you? You are so pale. Maybe you should go and see Madam Pomfrey." Harry had approached her one day after dinner when she again had skipped two classes. "I'm really worried. Skipping so many classes isn't something you normally do. Is there anything you want to talk about?"
"Good Morning! If I were you, Potter, I would enjoy the last days with your friend! I mean, there are like, let's say, only four days left!" Draco had approached them.
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Harry asked enraged.
"Oh, just as I told the little mudblood already, you'll find out soon enough! What a pity, all her studying... for nothing!" Laughing he went back to the Slytherin table.
"What is he talking about?", Harry asked bewildered.
"I don't know. He has been saying stuff like that to me for over a week now and I still have no clue what he actually wants. I hope he just wants to annoy me. But he had never mentioned the four days before."
"Don't worry, he's probably just trying to mess around with you", Harry replied, though not very convinced. He look her into the eyes noticing just how worried she looked. "Hey, he has always been a jerk and he never did anything serious, so why should he now?", he sighed. He was silent for a second, "But you know. If you want to talk about anything, I will listen to you." With a sad smile he got up and said, "Come on, let's get up to the common room."
When they arrived in the Gryffindor Tower she told him she wanted to go bed early today and went to the girls' dormitory. This was the first time Draco had told her a specific date and that meant that he had made a plan. Hermione felt sick out of terror. What could she do? Just not go to the classes? There would be no advantage as he would realize his plan some day else and she could not hide in her dormitory forever. She had been practicing disillusionment charms for the past week so she could get from class to class unnoticed. But then again, what if Draco had something like the marauders' map? Furthermore, it would be difficult to apply and put off the charm unnoticed and Draco could catch her the moment when she looked for a place to apply the charm unnoticed.
She decided that she would have to go back to the library. There had to be some kind of antidote or whatsoever. She applied the Disillusionment charm in the at the moment still empty dormitory, remarking delightedly that she was almost entirely invisible. She put additionally a silencing charm on herself and went to the common room. Harry had apparently gone to bed himself since Ron was sitting with Dean and Seamus. She crossed the room and climbed through the portrait hole. What she did not notice though was that when she was descending the stairs she was being followed.
When she arrived at the library she unlocked the the door to the Restricted Section and went inside. Quickly checking that it was empty she took out five books that seemed to contain information about dark magic like slave bonds. She took out paper and her quill started copying the information. After about an hour and a half she put back the books and took out another piece of paper. She wrote as the headline "plans". She wanted to systematically go through all her possibilities and pick out the best. She wrote down "Enslave myself". Then she added a note that she needed to inform someone indirectly and she needed to find the person whom she could trust and would be willing to live with this person for the rest of her life. She continued with the second plan, "leaving Hogwarts". Again she wrote down all problems and continued with the next plan. After 30 minutes she had list with 13 plans but none of them were really good or even at least acceptable for example "Killing Malfoy". She would get herself a cell in Azkaban if she got caught. She then rated them to find the best of them. She ended up deciding between "Enslave myself" and "Feeding Malfoy Veritaserum". The latter was supposed to obliviate Malfoy by making him try to talk about the charm which would almost definitely work if she got him to drink it. The downsides however were that she had to somehow even get some Veritaserum which was not only illegal but also a highly difficult potion. Moreover Draco would understand that he had been dosed with Veritaserum which would throw her definitely in Azkaban. She sighed as Azkaban is hardly better than being a slave. After a few minutes of consideration she circled "Enslave myself" which led her to a mental breakdown.
"Because of this stupid idiot I have to get myself into a slave bond without even knowing, and this is definitely the worst part about it, what consequences there will be", she thought angrily. After five minutes of silent crying she calmed down a bit. She had wanted to do this systematically. She would make a list on who would be a potential person to form the bond with. But first she had to find the criteria. So she made a table putting in the columns the criteria: trustworthiness, empathy, character, respect and level of acquaintance. In the lines she wrote the names: Ron, Harry, Neville, Mr Weasley, Fred, George and Percy. When she had finished evaluating she was left with two candidates that were the most fitting: Neville and Harry. Ron and Percy had been sorted out because of a lack of empathy, Fred, George and Mr Weasley because of a low level of acquaintance. Harry she personally did not want to form the bond with because she knew he had already enough trouble even though she would probably get along with him the best. And Neville she knew was very respectful and trustworthy but she just did not know him as well as Harry. After reconsidering between those two and coming to no conclusion she gave up for that night packed up all her notes and went to the Gryffindor Tower. She left behind a very distraught Harry.
Harry had watched the marauders' map when Hermione left to go to the library. He had hoped to find out what Draco was doing because he was not at all convinced that Draco had not planned anything. When he saw Hermione leaving the common room he quickly put on the invisibility cloak and followed her. He felt a bit bad spying on her but he was very concerned about her behaviour. He even suspected that she had been possessed just like Ginny in her first year. When she took the books from the shelf he was a bit taken aback. What was she planning to do with such dark magic? When he read her notes on her plans he slowly began to understand and was totally shocked. How could Malfoy try to do something like that? But it made perfectly sense, his comments, his behavior. When she left Harry took out the books she had read and informed himself about the subject. He came to the conclusion that they had a massive problem. There was no word about a counter-jinx, an antidote or whatsoever. Unfortunately, he had to agree with Hermione, there was really no better way out of the situation than what she had written down. Harry shuddered as he remembered how she had been crying when realizing what she had to do. He did not feel any better since he was mentioned in the table and his name even had been circled with just one other. He did not want to do something like that to Hermione but on the other hand he realised that it was his duty now because he already knew about the problem which is not the case with Neville. Furthermore by not forming the bond he was being unfair to both Hermione and Neville since he knew she would prefer the bond with him and he knew that it would not be any easier for Neville than for him. That were three strong arguments and yet Harry could even decide to talk to Hermione. But as he imagined Hermione being enslaved to Malfoy which was a risk that was growing day by day he realized he had to act now. He knew it would be his fault if Hermione was enslaved before she could approach him and that he could never stand this guilt. With trembling hands and legs he returned to his dormitory.
When he climbed through the portrait hole he realized that the common room was not empty. There was, sitting in an armchair in a dark corner, Hermione crying silently. As he entered the room she looked up to see that there was no one. She instantly grabbed her wand firing a Pretrificus Totalus in Harry's direction. She hit him on the left shoulder so Harry froze and fell down. Carefully she approached him. When he fell down, the cloak had fallen off of his hands. She pulled off the cloak just to see Harry lying frozen on the ground. Panicking she removed the petrification curse and started apologizing, "Harry, I'm so sorry, I thought you were..." She trailed. With a suffocated scream she ran out of the common room into the big staircase, followed by Harry.
"Wait, where are you going? I need to talk to you!" What he saw when he reached her let his blood in the veins freeze: Hermione was standing at the railing, shaking enormously with one leg already on the other side, where she would await a fall of at least 50 meters. "I can't. This is the only way", she cried. "Please, let me help you, please, please don't do this", Harry was now trembling nearly as much as Hermione. When his legs would not support him any longer he sank to his knees. "You don't know what's happening to me and I'm physically not able to tell you."
"I do know. Please, please, get away from this abyss."
"You cannot know. Nobody knows. I have to do this alone.", she responded, tears running down her cheek. Harry inhaled deeply and started again, "Hermione. If you kill yourself, Malfoy will seek another victim. Please." At this Hermione turned to him looking a bit surprised through her tears. He was right. She slowly pulled her leg back on the ground, now crying even heavier. Harry still trembling got back on his legs trying very hard not to instantly fall back on the ground. He supported Hermione as she climbed through the portrait hole.
They sat down in the armchairs near the now cold fireplace which Harry quietly relighted. "Hermione. I need to confess something to you. When you left the common room this evening I followed you. I was watching the marauders' map because I was trying to find out more about what Malfoy was doing when I suddenly saw you leaving the common room. You know that I usually wouldn't do that to a friend but I was really concerned after that encounter with Malfoy." Hermione was shocked. She had never expected Harry to spy on her especially since she knew he would trusted her with his life. She was surprised by how much he actually cared for her as he was apparently telling the truth. "So you know?" she asked quietly. "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay, it's okay. That takes away some trouble. Did you read my notes?"
"Yes, I did. Do you stick with your decision?" Secretly he was hoping for a no but she nodded her head sadly. "I have read everything I could find on that topic so yes, I know about it", he explained hoping she understood that he meant the taboo with "it". Apparently she had as she let out little sigh relieve. "So, you want me to do it?", Harry asked anxious again hoping for a "no" but after a while Hermione almost unnoticeable nodded. She burst into tears and Harry had trouble holding back his tears as he was quietly staring into the darkness. "When should we do it?", he finally asked.
"You know that we are risking it every day we wait?" There was a minute of silence. Harry said nothing as he knew that Hermione needed time to consider. Finally she brought out a word, almost inaudible: "Now."
Shocked by her response he asked, "Are you sure?" She nodded. Then both simultaneously burst out in tears. It was over. Her life was no longer hers. But at least it was Harry who would own her, not Malfoy. Harry would treat her with respect and give her as much freedom as she needed. Or as he could. After all, they still did not know about the consequences. What if she got marked? What if the spell changed her personality? She could not think about that now, because, as she had figured out just a few hours ago, there was no other way. Harry was not feeling any better. What would Hermione think of him? She surely would hate him and he would lose one of his two best friends. And what if the others found out? No one would ever talk to him again. Would he be expelled?
"Do it", Hermione said quietly. With trembling fingers Harry took his wand. He raised his arm pointing the wand at her. She was crying now. Harry got nervous. Hermione was hyperventilating. What if he failed with the spell? The book said that you had only one single attempt. Hermione closed her eyes. He closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. "Bunde Herrum".
