A/N: Thank you for all of the kind and encouraging reviews. They mean the world to me and I am so happy to see that there are so many out there that seem to be enjoying this little story of mine. Please keep in mind that this story is an AU world so this is how the magical world is in my head. This chapter answers many questions but also remember that Cedric and Hermione still have no idea what is happening. Please read and review and always, thank you.
Chapter Four – How to Choose Sides in a No-Win Situation
"Minerva, calm down," Albus Dumbledore said wearily later that night, slouched slightly in his chair. The old wizard was tired but not from lack of sleep. His mind had been running a mile a minute since the second task and yet, he still was not certain of what to make of it all. It worried him, the looks on both Ms. Granger's and Mr. Diggory's faces as they looked at one another after they were both pulled from the water. He had not seen two people look at one another with the same look for many years now and Albus had been certain that he would never see it again. But it was happening again and between two of his students. "I have already expressed orders to keep them separated."
"You know that will not do anything, Albus!" Minerva couldn't help but screech. "If anything, it will only make it worse. Those two cannot be separated no matter how hard we try to enforce it! They will find a way!"
Pomona Sprout, head of the Hufflepuff House, was also present in Dumbledore's office though for most of the emergency meeting, she had sat silently, simply listening. It was only after Minerva had said those words did Pomona decide to join the conversation. "What exactly will happen if do not keep Cedric and Hermione from one another?"
"It will be a no-win situation," Minerva said, wringing her hands together now. "No matter what we do, keeping them apart or letting them be together, it will be dangerous for both of the children."
"Pomona, I am certain that you have heard of soul mates?" Albus began, turning in his chair to look at the school's herbology teacher.
"Of course."
"Well, I have come to believe that Cedric Diggory and Hermione Granger are something more to one another. Something much deeper."
Pomona gasped. She had heard of it before but there were only two known, acknowledged, cases of it in the wizarding world and both parties involved in both of those cases did not meet pleasant ends. She didn't know too much about it further. When she, herself, had been a student at Hogwarts, she and her girlfriends, when they first learned of it, giggled and imagined what it would be like to be one half of such a magical occurrence, but their professor had assured them that it was anything but pleasant and romantic. "You mean…"
Albus nodded his head. "I'm afraid so," he said softly, gravely. "I believe that Cedric Diggory and Hermione Granger are Bounded."
The office between the three professors fell absolutely silent. The portraits on the walls snored softly as they slept, the collection of clocks in the room ticked, counting the minutes by as they passed. None of the three were certain how much time had passed between they spoke again. The word hung in the air above their heads and even though he had been the first one to suspect it, Albus was still having his own difficulties truly believing it. It was such old magic, so powerful and completely unbreakable to those under its influence. What made it so frightening was that it was still a complete mystery to all of those in the wizarding world. No one was certain of how it came to be or how it chose those who fell under its influence.
Pomona spoke once she found her voice again. "How can you be certain, Albus? Certainly, it must be something else. It must be."
Albus shook his head, almost reluctantly. "I have exhausted myself looking for another possibility but Minerva has come and given me further proof of Cedric and Hermione's activities this evening."
"They moved to one another as if they were drawn together," Minerva said, sitting down in the chair next to Pomona's, now extremely worn out. "The looks… they had such intensity, it even gave me shivers."
"For the second task, the names of those who were to be taken for the champions to rescue also came from the goblet," Albus continued. "If that wasn't the case, and we the professors were to choose, I, myself, never would have chosen Ms. Granger for Mr. Diggory. And why should we? They are in different houses, different years. I do not think they have ever even spoken to one another before. I never would have chosen her as the something valuable for Cedric to take back." He paused. "But the goblet seemed to know otherwise."
"I still cannot believe that… that two of our very own students are bounded!" Pomona sputtered with a shake of her head. "Whatever will we do?"
"I have suggested that we separate them…"
"But we cannot!" Minerva exclaimed, interrupting Albus, standing up once more.
"I am afraid that my knowledge of bounded souls is rather limited," Pomona admitted.
"At the moment, Cedric and Hermione have no idea what is happening to them," Albus began to explain. "They are mysteriously drawn to one another. Their desire is growing. They feel as if being together is not a want but rather a need. They are probably experiencing an ache they had never known before whenever they are apart. If we continue to separate them…"
"If we continue to separate them, their feelings will nonetheless take over and they will find a way to be together. Or…" Minerva trailed off, reluctant to speak further.
"Or?" Pomona repeated, looking back and forth between Albus and Minerva.
"If we are successful in separating them, the ache the two will suffer through will eventually bring about their demises," Albus said lowly and Pomona gasped. He nodded his head. "But, if we allow them the opportunity to be together… Bounding is a very… sexual spell. It is built on love and lust and sexual activity. That is what gives it power. If Cedric and Hermione have the opportunity to consummate their love, which they will without a doubt if given the chance to, the spell will reach its height of power and from that point on, they will share in everything. Their hearts, their souls, their minds. They will be able to read one another's thoughts. Their hearts will actually begin to beat at the same pulse. When one falls ill, the other will as well. If one dies… the other one will follow. There is no stopping it."
Once again, the office fell silent and this time, the silence seemed to stretch out forever.
"Why did this happen all of a sudden?" Pomona spoke, almost reluctantly, fearful to hear the answer. Her head was pounding with a growing headache and her heart was drumming quickly in her chest. When Albus summoned her to his office that evening, this was not at all what she was expecting the impromptu staff meeting to entail. "Why did we not know of this when Hermione was a first year and she and Cedric were in the same vicinity for the first time?"
"I believe that it has happened now because both have reached the maturity in which Bounding requires," Albus said but the way in which he finished the sentence, both Minerva and Pomona knew he had more to say. "There are only two known cases of Bounding and in both of those, it was believed that not only were they bound in this life, but in others as well."
"Which I find to be completely preposterous," Minerva stated firmly. "I do not believe in reincarnation, which is what you are speaking of Albus."
"I am just simply informing both of you of what Bounding has been speculated to do," Albus said. "It is said that Bounding is so powerful, and so mysterious, that nearly anything is likely. It is quite possible that Cedric and Hermione have shared past lives together and when this one ends… they will find one another again in the next."
Pomona stood up slowly, her eyes never leaving the Headmaster's face. "We must do something. What will we do?"
Hermione laughed softly as Cedric buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent deeply, his hot breath tickling her skin. The couple laid on the grass by the Whomping Willow, having been outside for nearly two hours despite the cold temperature. The warming bubble that had seemed to appear the first time they kissed still remained around them. Neither had the slightest desire to return to the castle for they knew that the instant they stepped through the doors, they would have to go in their separate directions and neither could bare just the mere thought of that.
Cedric lifted his head, his face above hers, and he smiled, looking down at her. Hermione laid on her back with Cedric next to her on his side, his arm draped across her stomach while the other was bent at the elbow, propping his head up in his hand. She returned the smile, lifting a hand up to brush across his cheek before running her fingers through his hair. He turned his head and kissed the inside of her wrist.
"What is that?" He asked, noticing what seemed to be a scar on the inside of her right wrist. He took her arm and traced it with his thumb. It was white, never tanning with the rest of her skin, and was large, almost three inches in length. It was shaped resembling something close to half of a heart.
Hermione shook her head slightly. "I'm not sure. It's just something I've always had – for as long as I can remember. I forget it's there most of the time." Her breath caught in her throat as she watched Cedric brush his lips over the scar before tracing it with his tongue. She felt a bout of shivers go down her spine and she lifted her other hand to his hair again as he continued lavishing affection upon her scar. "Cedric, kiss me," she said softly, breathlessly.
Without speaking or hesitating, Cedric moved his lips from the inside of her wrist and moved his head forward, leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. The kiss instantly grew frenzied, their lips sliding together, their tongues meeting and dueling together. He moved his body over hers, pressing his weight completely on top of her and Hermione naturally wrapped one of her legs around him, their most intimate parts now aligned perfectly. She felt as if a fog surrounded her brain and it was a fog that always appeared whenever Cedric kissed her. She felt as if she couldn't breathe when he had his lips to hers but she would die if he ever stopped kissing her. She wanted more. So did he. She could feel the desire he had for her rolling off of him in waves and it excited her and frightened her simultaneously.
"I have to show you something," he said, reluctantly tearing his lips away from hers. Hermione looked up at him curiously as he sat up, his knees on either side of her body, his body straddling hers. He pushed the left sleeve of his coat up then held up the inside of his left wrist for her to see. She gasped upon seeing it. It was an identical scar to hers, though backwards. The exact shape, the exact size. She sat up and Cedric situated himself so he sat next to her. "Give me your wrist," he said and Hermione obeyed, dutifully handing him her right wrist, watching as he took it gently, guiding their arms together. She gasped again when he turned both of their arms over and pressing their arms together, their palms and wrists facing upwards, she saw it. Both of them saw it.
When held next to one another, when pressed together, each half of the scar put together formed the unmistakable shape of a heart. Cedric and Hermione stared at it before lifting their eyes and staring at one another, in wonderment, confusion, excitement. It was as if they had found a puzzle piece they didn't even know they had been looking for.
Together, their scars formed a heart. They looked down at their scars again and both fell completely motionless as a red spark suddenly flashed from the scar, starting at the bottom meeting point of the heart before tracing the shape, the red spark illuminating their faces as they watched in shock as the spark moved over their skin, following the path of the scar. It didn't hurt either of them but it was not every day when scars on two different bodies fit together perfectly and then caused red sparks to shoot out from them. When the spark reached the bottom meeting point of the heart once again after tracing the entire shape, it faded out but the red trail it had formed remained.
Cedric slowly, hesitantly, with his right thumb swiped at the scar but the red trail remained. It did not hurt. It did not burn like it should have. But it did not disappear either. His thumb traced the heart scar, Hermione watching him, now growing fearful more than anything. Feeling her sudden trepidation, Cedric lifted his hand and put it on her cheek, turning her head towards him. He kissed her lightly, gently on the lips and Hermione closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against his, their noses brushing together.
"Don't worry, 'Mione," Cedric whispered, his own heart hammering in his chest from what they had just witnessed, but he was going to remain strong and brave for her. His thumb swiped at the apple of her cheek. "I promise. We will go to the library and find out what this is. I promise you." Hermione nodded her head and he kissed her again, their arms remaining pressed together, the red colored outline of their heart scar growing in brightness as their kissing, as always, grew more passionate. Neither noticed though.