Chapter 3

Fairy Pavilion, London, England

"No! The tapestries go on the north wall, not the east! And the topiaries must be aligned to be exactly the same distance apart from the fountain!"

The famed Dutch designer Wilhelmina Womback had her hands full coordinating the floral and catering details for Saturday's coronation. Having arrived three days ago from her home in Amsterdam, she was having a hard time getting the hired assistants to grasp her vision for the reception of the soon-to-be Queen.

"Idioot! Did I say I wanted chairs there? You will restrict the movement of the dancers! Imbeciel!"

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Imperial Centre, Ministry Annex, London, England

Meanwhile, in the adjacent Royal Quarters, Hermione was preparing for her upcoming lesson with none other than Lucius Malfoy. He had been assigned the task of getting her up to speed on the complexities and nuances of royal life and etiquette. Initially, Hermione had outright balked and blatantly refused to have the elder Malfoy as part of her retinue, but was told the appointment of the Malfoys to the royal house was a permanent one. She finally acquiesced to the inevitable, but only after insisting she never be left alone with him. Right now, that meant Blaise had acquired the additional title of royal bodyguard.

"Merlin…..I wish this was over," she whined. "I would do anything not to see that horrible man again."

"You know that's not possible, your Highness. You cannot alter a binding contract, nor can he."

"You know, you don't have to say your Highness when it's just the two of us, Blaise."

He just grinned.

Hermione was surprised with how quickly she and Blaise had become friends. Ever since that first night when the Headmaster had brought him to her new suite, she'd immediately felt at home with him. They just clicked. He hadn't behaved awkwardly when she cried on his shoulder, as Ron would have done, nor did he bore her with endless Quidditch talk, as Harry was inclined to do. Blaise was articulate, thoughtful, observant and to Hermione's relief, honest. Which was good, since he was all she had at present.

"You know, I've never heard why no one can dissolve an agreement between two houses." She smoothed her dress after saying that. Hermione might despise Lucius Malfoy, but she cared enough to not give him the satisfaction of saying she didn't look the part of royalty.

Blaise covered the hand that kept ironing out non-existent wrinkles. "Stop. You look beautiful. Even he won't be able to say otherwise."

Seeing her smile bring out dimples he honestly never knew she had, he continued, "Going back to your question, I will have to ask you not to misquote me, your Highness."

"Didn't you say Lucius and I couldn't break the contract?"

"Yes, you and Lucius can't. But did I say no one could?"

Hermione pinched Blaise on the underside of his arm, making him jump. "Don't get sassy with your princess, Peon."

Blaise retaliated by throwing a wad of paper at her and chuckled when she missed swatting it away and instead, it bounced off her nose. "You're so cute when you abuse your subjects," he teased. "Now what I was going to tell you was the contract was a blood oath made between the families.

"Aren't those supposed to be everlasting?"

"Yes, that's true."

"But why would anyone want to make that kind of commitment or obligate their family like that? I would think it would be little better than magical slavery."

"Good question. Blood oaths, or bonds, have been around practically forever; well...not all of them...soul bonds are newer. They were made for marriages. Or for a bonding like a blood brother relationship…er...you may not have heard of those…."

"Are you kidding? Yes, I have! How….me big brother….you little brother….we cut wrists…then makum wampum. Smoke peace pipe…..drink fire water…get high together…," said Hermione, complete with silly hand motions before she started giggling uncontrollably. Seeing Blaise's mystified expression, she calmed down enough to say, "Sorry. Bad joke. I was referring to silly, American western movies where they depicted the native Indians like that. Absolute bosh, but my fath..er,…well, the man who I thought was my father loved those types of movies. I would watch them with him….and.. what you said reminded me of it."

Blaise's face showed concern at the sudden pain in her eyes, but all he said was, "Ah….muggle stuff….got it. But….um, you may not want to do anything like that once Lucius gets here."

"Ugh. Don't remind me. Well, I promise to behave, so go on and tell me more."

"Right, then. Well, when I mentioned blood brothers, I meant like a type of soul-bonding. Like Jonathan and David in the Old Testament and …."

"Hold on….you know about the Bible?"

Blaise just looked at Hermione. "Your Highness, I may be a wizard, but I'm also an Italian…..did you think I'd never heard of the Vatican?"

"Oh….right. Sorry."

"Okay….so back to the soul bonding. I bring it up because it's the only bond that can break a blood bond. Well, it is a blood bond, but more. It's deeper. And as such, it can, for lack of a better term, trump any other kind of bond like it. As I said, the soul bond was made for marriages, not that it's used much today."

"Why not?"

"Eh, it had been abused by wizards who wanted eternal dominance over a witch's soul…they would imperiuse a witch they wanted to perform the bond with and then ….."

Hermione gasped. "How barbaric!"

"Hence, why it's not practiced anymore. The argument against it was that it pandered to a patriarchal mindset. But that's not how it was created. In the beginning, it was very romantic."

Since Lucius seemed to be running late, Hermione requested that Blaise continue.

"It was first recorded being used when Tamara of the Western Wilds fell in love with Aris, a wizard from the Northern Shores. Supposedly, their union was opposed by the clan leaders, who just happened to be their fathers. They had taken a blood oath before their people to never accept peace from the enemy clan, so you can imagine how the news of their children's romance was received."

"Not too well, I imagine."

"Right. So our star-crossed lovers decided to take matters into their own hands by creating something that was more powerful than their father's blood oath…"

"Which was…..let me guess...the soul bond spell, right?"

"Yep."

"So…..what was the spell itself?" asked Hermione, who by that time was caught up in the romance of the story.

"It gets pretty fantastical…..the story says they exchanged hearts….and with a vial of their own blood, magically marked the other. It was the first marriage mark," Blaise answered while intently gauging Hermione's action. I wonder…would she ever be willing...

Her face showed an equal measure of fascination and disgust. "About the heart bit…..they didn't actually do that...did they?"

"The story says it was a literal exchange of hearts, but that's not what happens with the real spell. In reality, the hearts are merged."

He watched her as she sat there processing everything he said.

She gave him an exasperated look. "Oh, nonsense. How is that supposed to work?"

Blaise gave Hermione an incredulous look. "You do remember we're magical, right?"

Finally she looked up and said, "I think you're pulling my leg. I grant you the story is a pretty one, and the heart merging part makes a soul bond sound romantic, but do you think I'm daft? Merging hearts? Why stop there? Why not merge the hair?" Grabbing the locks on her shoulder, she shook them at Blaise as she grinned. "I would be glad to share some of this mess with someone. But I will admit merging the heart makes a better story."

Shaking his head, Blaise muttered, "Please tell me you won't ever say that to anyone else."

"Why not?"

Lowering his voice, he said, "Your muggleness is showing, Your Grace. You've been at Hogwarts long enough to know the heart is more than just a heart; it's the core of our magic. It's where our soul resides. I know muggles don't believe in anything they can't see in their little micoscoopy….thing, but you know better. You know the deepest kind of magic is the kind that involves the heart…..you know."

Hermione, shocked at his anger, just sat there with her mouth opened in disbelief. Then slowly she closed it as her face crumpled in misery.

"You're right. You're absolutely right," she whispered. "Oh, Blaise….this just proves what I said the other day. I'm too muggle in my thinking…I'll never be able to….. how will wizards… ever accept me as their …" She stopped, trying to contain her tears.

Forgetting about titles, he came up and wrapped his arm around her in a brotherly hug. "I'm sorry….I shouldn't have…..I..…I… just got frustrated, and…..it's just…I promise I'll help you….I will," he vowed when she glanced at him. "And…there are others….," he hesitated, but then quickly finished, "who could help you even more."

"Who?"

Blaise hesitated, then said in a desperate tone, "Listen…..Hermione….I promised I wouldn't say…..but the reason I wanted to tell you how you could break the contract was because,…"

"Your Highness," interrupted an aide as he walked in the room, "Lord Malfoy is here to see you."

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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Highlands, Scotland

"What do you mean, we can't see her!" exclaimed Harry.

Professor McGongall pursed her lips. "Potter, I'm sorry. Those are the rules."

"Yeah, and who made up that bloody rule?' asked Ron.

"Language, Mr. Weasley. Five points taken from Gryffindor for cheek." Sighing, McGongall, took off her glasses and rubbed her forehead. "Boys…..I know it's not easy for you. But if she can do it…you can, too."

Seeing they would get no help from the head of their house, they left the classroom. After they had closed the door, Ron asked, "So what should we do? They're guarding her more closely than Nicholas Flamel's stone."

Harry's jaw was tight with frustration. "I don't know, Mate. I don't know."

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Crow's Nest Pub, Knockturn Alley, London

"So….how did it go?" asked the hooded stranger after taking a sip of the firewhiskey offered.

"Much better than I'd anticipated. Tell our Lord this will definitely work to our advantage. In spite of her supposed brilliance, the girl knows nothing of wizarding politics."

"Ah….so she'll be easy to manipulate."

"Exactly."

"And her lapdog?'

"Zabini's not an issue. The boy has been friends with my son for some time. His family has always maintained neutrality. He won't interfere."

"Excellent. Well done, Malfoy. The Dark Lord will be very pleased to hear this. Be sure you don't fail."

I will play my part well, don't worry. I will flatter her and praise her and before long…..I'll have her eating out of my hand."

"To what effect?"

"She will do anything I ask. Our Lord will own the Crown.

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Undisclosed Location, Hogwarts Castle

Blaise was watching Hermione as she sipped her hot chocolate. The meeting earlier today with Lucius Malfoy left him feeling cold. He knew the man was scheming. Blaise needed to get back to talk to Draco as soon as possible, but needed to show discretion. He didn't want to alert the princess of anything the elder Malfoy might be up to…..yet.

"You know….you were going to tell me something this afternoon before Lucius came in. Do you remember what it was?" asked Hermione as she propped her feet up beside Blaise on his side of the sofa.

Blaise did some fast thinking before he responded. "Oh, yes…I was just going to tell you that all you needed to do to break the contract with Lucius was to find a dashing young wizard who just happened to be unmarried and soul bond with him. Voila! Problem solved." He tried not to wince as he realized he'd just said too much.

Hermione watched him for a moment before she cocked her head. "But didn't you imply that a blood contract between families could only be broken if someone from both families together trumped the original bond with a deeper one?"

Blaise did wince then. Oh, crap.