A/N down below

As always, enjoy.

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Chapter Thirteen

Hidden Secrets

x-X-x

*~ Fated to be ours ~*

Ci credi nel destino

Wednesday December Eighteenth, 1996

Hogwarts' Library

Several nights have passed since the encounter with Eros and Thanatos. While both of her versions of the Gods remained oblivious to her dream progression, Hermione still remained well aware of their presence as she pondered the idea of having met the two without their knowledge. It was a hard secret to keep, knowing that it in fact were being effected by her invasive tactics to find out about their past.

With a sigh, she tossed the book that she had found on reincarnation and leaned back in her chair, tired. A mixture of relief and frantic worry mingled together inside her. She has never felt so distressed about anything, even homework or tests that counted far more than their actual worth. This, however, was her life. Their lives. Everything was held together by the same thread, and here she was trying to tear it apart. When will she finally realize that it was pointless, even worthless to try? A little voice in the back of her mind murmured to her to stop, while another, the one profoundly more persuasive, cajoled her to go further.

Hermione was beside herself. Could she continue to selfishly dive into the past whilst betraying the men that have loved her since the beginning of time? As the scenes of her dream played before her, she continued to wonder. A conflict of ethical thing to do in regards to what she was planning to do began to disturb her. Could she even go about with her plans? If so, could she face the consequences?

She did not know.

Sometime during her sleepless tirade, she had fallen asleep. And, just like last time she found herself clothed in a luxurious dress with her hair curled to simple perfection. Golden bracelets and an array of sparkling rings was worn on her delicate fingers and thin wrists. Strips of colorful feathers poked out from the intricately placed bun upon her head as songs of the birds filled her ears.

Her arrival had been foreseen by one of her Gods.

"You are here early," murmured a deep voice.

Thanatos.

Hermione turned and smiled innocently at him. With a shrug, she said," I must have fallen asleep in the library."

"Library?"

"Yes, a place where mass volumes of tomes are kept." She giggled. "Surely, you have a library in this vast plane of your existence?"

Thanatos grinned. "Watch it little girl. We may be worlds and years apart, but that does not mean I cannot… tempt you." His lips brushed against her throat. A shiver travelled violently down her spine and down to her core.

"You are insatiable."

"I do hold the most beautiful creature of the world in my arms. Of course my body will react positively to your touches, and only your touches."

"I have never failed to know of your true feelings."

"After all these years," he breathed against her neck, his hands resting peacefully on her hips," they have never changed. Only grew stronger as the years separated us and we were all finally reunited."

Hermione struggled to keep her mind relatively cleared. This is where all their troubles and passion began. Colliding together until one couldn't be distinguished from another. Thanatos sensed her distressed and pulled away from her.

"What is wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"Nothing," she buried her head into his chest and sighed. "I don't wish to alarm you with my concerns."

His hands came to smooth down her unruly hair. "You can never alarm me, my love."

Looking up, she had to ask," Really?"

Thanatos smiled and nodded. "Of course. Now, will you tell me what is troubling you?"

Biting her lip, watching as her past lover's eyes darkened with unadulterated lust by the simple, dangerous action, she confessed her woes.

"I can't let go of the feeling that something is wrong." She began, slowly. "It's like, someone is always there, following me wherever I go. The presence is dark, threatening. And…" she bit her lip again, afraid to go on. "I fear that whatever has happened is going to happen again. This time the consequences unredeemable."

Thanatos remained so quiet that she almost regretted opening up to Malfoy's first reincarnation. As the tension between them rose, so did his temper.

"You should not have come to me, Princess. I shall not be generous with my clemency in the future. Be gone, for you have no place meddling in something that has already occurred."

With several hurtful words, he dismissed her as if she had never come to him in the first place. Thanatos watched her as she left, instantly regretting treating her with such awfulness. He abused her loving care, her beautiful intelligence, and simply her. She did not deserve to be treated in such a way, but he could not lead her to the woes of her deepest pain. She couldn't remember who had destroyed their blissful play, and who might be behind the present attacks and the chaos that may soon arise.

He stole to the night without looking back.

A ping of guilt clenched at his heart and it took all his power to not rip everything that he came in contact with apart.

As soon as she woke up from that frightful dream, Hermione frantically gathered her belongings and hurried out of the library. Tears slide down her face, but she had no time to wipe them away as she hurried away from the little sanctuary by the Restricted Section within the library and down the corridor. Still overcame with tiredness, she hardly felt the brush of fingers as she collided into a passing body. Stealing herself, she glanced up and found herself face to face with the man that had broken her heart so many moments ago.

"I've been looking for you everywhere." Draco helped her steady herself before turning to look at her properly. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Shaking her head, she threw what his stupid reincarnation said and pulled him into a hug, crying into his robes as she did so.

Draco hesitant hand on her lower back as he tried his best to sooth her. From this, the idea of him knowing what she did was confirmed.

He knew that she was in contact with their past lives, but said nothing to confirm or deny what his had possibly just said.

Friday December Twentieth, 1997

"Fascinating!" breathed the young wizard as his eyes combed over the words. It's been several long seconds before the last utterance of the word and Harry and Hermione were beginning to wonder what Neville was reading.

"What do you have there?" Hermione peered over his shoulder.

He allowed her to read the paragraph that he just read before pulling the book away.

"Gillyweed, huh?" Harry pushed up his glasses and smiled. "Sounds fairly interesting."

"It is!" his friend exclaimed, giving them a toothy smile before delving back into his Herbology book. "So fascinating."

The two laughed at his enthusiasm before focusing their attention back on their own work. It's been a long day for the boys and had planned for a relaxing day in before their last lesson of the day, but someone had other ideas. The second they got out of Defensive Against the Dark Arts, Hermione dragged them both to the library to get a head start on their essay. She insisted that the essay that was due at the end of February needed to be finished by the end of the day. That way she had plenty of time to edit it as many times as she wanted and rewrite it if need be. Harry and Neville quickly grew to hate the idea, and were able to convince her that they would start tomorrow morning.

"I do hope you're not lying to me," she said, scribbling something onto her parchment of notes and scrunching up her face. Scribbling it off, she looked up and gave them a wary smile. "I just don't see why you can't start now."

"We told you, Hermione." Harry said. "I've got enough on my plate and Neville just wants to read. Why is it so important that we all start together?"

"It isn't," she pouted. "I just don't want you to forget and stay up all night trying to cram as much as you can into an essay that you had almost two whole months to do."

"That won't happen." Harry leaned back in his chair and smile. "We'll start this weekend if that makes you feel better."

"It doesn't." She sounded grim.

"Class will be starting soon, anyway. Why start now when we'll just have to put everything away in fifteen minutes? Unless, you care to get there before everyone else, 'Mione?"

She frowned. "No, not if you want our friendship to last more than the next three seconds."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side, hm?"

"You've been doing that ever since we were children, Harry." Hermione pointed out before coughing. She tapped her chest lightly with her hand and went back to copying notes. "And, stop teasing me. I hate when you do that."

"Doesn't seem to bother you when Malfoy does it."

Neville mumble something under his breath but paid no attention to the two best friends.

"Why is that?"

Hermione quirk an eyebrow, her eyes watering. "Why what?"

"Why is my teasing any different from his?"

By this point, she couldn't take the cough that was building up inside her chest. She coughed loudly, the sound of her awful coughs coming out in deeply pitched hits. Deep and wet, they didn't sound remotely good to the ears, especially when the symptoms of her slowly progressive illness has been creeping upon her since that morning.

Harry's watched her carefully all day. It was right before their last class and he had to ask himself whether she was well enough to go to Potion's. Merlin knew that she could go to the Infirmary, but he knew that Hermione would not allow it. A frown instantly caved in his discreetly watchful features. Whatever she was playing out wasn't going to continue be ignored if he had anything to do about it.

"How are things going?" he asked. "You know, between you and Malfoy."

Another round of convulsively wet coughs punctured the air. While Hermione tried to get her coughs under control, Harry was able to piece together the evidence in a timely manner. It seemed to him that every time he mentioned his name, she could go into a fit of incessant coughs that pulled deeply from the bottom of her chest whilst dragging out both of her lungs. It appeared unethical that a single person, or even notion would be the reason behind such loud and obnoxious noises but it appeared that was the case. With a tossed replication of contemplation, Harry cleared the slate of his face and stared at her as if he hadn't pieced anything together.

"We're… doing fine."

"Fine?" he inquired, eyebrow raised. "Define fine."

"Oh, Harry. You know what I mean."

"No, Hermione I don't. Enlighten me."

Hermione hesitated, biting her lip before answering. "We're fine." And that was all she said, insisting to leave the conversation there.

The only thing she did then train her eyes on her books before she continued to write. Harry did not say anymore.

They were waiting for her arrival by the back desks of the classroom. It was completely unlike her to ignore their calls and it worried them not knowing what may be going through her mind.

Monday night was beyond amazing. It reached further than their deepest desires and imagination. Even then as the class slowly flooded in, their imagination ran away from them. They could still feel the traces of her tiny hands as they glided against their wet bodies, the hypnotic scents of her bodies mixing with their as they plunged their fingers in and out of her tightness while her hands grasped their erections, pumping them and spreading their…

…The men groaned under their breaths. Two days have passed and they were acting like fourth years, unable to control their fucking urges. When it came to Hermione, there was no cure. They will always want her.

Blaise growled deeply. He couldn't take another moment without in the same room. Draco had been in contact with him throughout the week, and had grown progressively worried about their witch. After Wednesday night and the confession that brought forth from that meeting, he wanted nothing more than to confront the girl about what she had discovered. No one, not even them, had the ability to meet past reincarnations without the acknowledgement of whomever they wanted to meet. She had been brought there unwillingly and for a purpose. The daunting thing was they knew why she was brought there, but couldn't bring themselves to accept it.

"Where could she be?"

Draco turned and tilted his head contemplatively. "I don't know. I didn't see her this morning."

"You too?" asked Blaise, suspiciously. "Neither have I. Should we go and look for her?"

The heir shook his head, his eyes narrowing. "No, but we may have to be careful."

Blaise turned and found the same distressing scene that had his companion so riled up.

Hermione was with Potter. His hand tucked into the pockets of his pants while standing fairly close to their witch. It never bothered them before, but it did now.

Why was he being so protective of her? They wondered connectively to one another. Potter was as strange little wizard, no doubt trying to test their patience and control. No one stood beside her except them. He was going to pay.

As soon as he left to greet his other friends, they took action and the Princes of the Night captured their Princess.

"Not paying attention, Granger?" drawled Draco as he tilted his head and nodded to Blaise.

He smiled down at her. "You of all people should be in the front of the group, bouncing on their heels, Granger."

"I'm not one for bouncing at the moment," she said, tiredly.

"I can tell you one thing that you could be bouncing on."

"Or two," offered Blaise darkly as he moved himself beside her and caressed her hip. "Interested, Lion?"

She shook her head, let her breath out from her lungs in a breathless progression. "N-no. Not at all."

"Oh, that's too bad." Draco placed his hand on her other hip. "We would very much like a repeat of Monday night."

"Can't you partake with us, Love?"

Hermione's breath hitched but she remained silently. An unsettling sickness began to bubble inside her stomach and it was becoming very hard to control and tolerate.

"N-no," she begged as they moved their hands in synchronization. "P-please stop!" She whispered.

"Why on earth would we do that, little lion?"

"Mmm…" Draco found a responsive spot on her body and began smoothing his hand over it. "Can't wait until the end of the lesson to whisk you away to the Head's room and have our wicked way with you. "

"S-stop!"

"Not until you tell us what we want to know."

Before she could answer, Slughorn waltzed in and both men growled, having no choice to put distance between the three of them.

"Alright, gather around."

He waved his hand and a cauldron and its contents appeared before them on top of his desk. He looked around with a smile.

The mixed class looked at one another queerly and it wasn't until a brave little soul that they followed their Professor's orders and circled around them. Hermione looked around at her classmates tentatively for an escape. She didn't want to give her classmates reason to suspect anything was wrong with her, but there were things that, no matter how tough of an act to put up, could not be concealed.

She knew that they were observant of her recent behavior. Ever since waking up Tuesday morning, she has been in a strangely distant mood. Neither of them have gone to her to get to her to talk about it, to which she was grateful for, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

A part of her thought they had found out about what she did. Another, she mused wistfully, they were waiting on her to make the first move. They had promised they would reveal to her of their past incarnations and she felt guilty that she took away the privilege of doing so. What an awful girlfriend she was to do that! Even more so when they continued to remind her of something she couldn't inquiry about.

"Granger!" Slughorn's voice boomed over his ambiguity of sexual desire.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Quite alright?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded, feeling much better after their hands stopped touching her body. "Yes, sir."

"Are you sure? I have been asking you to come up here for quite some time."

Hermione urged the blush that rose to her cheeks to go away and as every pair of eyes landed on her, she had no choice but to join their Professor's side and take a guess as to what the potion he brewed was.

"Well, any suggestions?" he asked, hopeful.

The Muggleborn took a healthy sniff and let it out sharply. "Amortentia, sir. The most powerful love potion known to the Wizarding World."

"Quite right you are, Ms. Granger!" he beamed, impressed by her knowledge of the substance. "And, what does this particular potion do."

"It caused the drinker to fall helpless in love with the first person they see."

"What does the potion smell to you?" he gestured for her to take another whiff and she did. Inhaling deeply, she let the sweet aroma fill her lungs. From parchment to freshly mowed grass, she didn't know what she agreed to more. As the scents morphed, a burnt amber and rustic orange came forth. Brought by the heavenly scents of her lovers, she began entranced by the fusion of the forest and boundless reception of the mystic powers of…

… a sudden, overpowering surge of sickness swept over and before she could help herself, she turned on her heel and dashed out the door, her hand clasped on her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up prematurely. As her Professor called after her, she couldn't help ignore everyone else. She barely had time to register that Slughorn volunteered Harry to go after her to see how she would adjust.

Harry zoomed through the corridors much like he zoomed in the air on his broom. It didn't take long for him to find the witch, who had broken down into tears the moment she found sanctuary beyond a panel right off the entrance of the Grand Staircase. Her sadness was enlightened by the fact that the boy knew that something was terribly wrong. He waited for her to calm down before speaking.

"I- I don't know w-what's wrong with me, Harry," she sobbed. "O-one moment I'm fine, and the next I'm overcome with this… with such grotesque sickness. I can't stand it any longer!"

The boy listened to his friend as she continued to cry. When she finally stopped, he reached out and rubbed her back.

A part of him hadn't been truly blessed with believing the sickness had magically fixed itself. It was hard to believe one's phenomenon when he knew for certain that it still lingered there, deep inside the cells of her body. Forever dormant until something was able to trigger its crusade, the illness remained undetected until now.

"What do you think might have brought this on again?" he asked, suddenly.

"I don't know, Harry!" she bit out, irritated. "It all had to do with that bloody potion Slughorn brewed. At first it smelt of freshly mowed grass, then of parchment until… until it morphed into something just plain awful. It smelt of death and blood." She shivered, shaking her head as to rid herself of the gruesome image and scent. "I- I don't want to go back there. Please don't make me go back."

"Perhaps," he licked his lips," perhaps there was something inside the potion itself that caused you to become suddenly sick? You've said so yourself that some of the things we use to brew are just plain gross."

"Yes, well, I'm a girl, Harry." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm a witch doesn't mean I don't find anything gross. It's a natural response to anything, especially those nasty four-headed earth worms we use. You must agree that they are horrid, yes?"

Harry couldn't care one way or another but felt the need to at least entertain her with the idea of finding the ingredients they used nasty.

"Listen, Hermione," Harry drew her body close and looked into her eyes. A sudden idea came to mind, and hopefully she didn't catch on too quickly to thwart it. He needn't look far to seek the truth, especially with two unwilling Slytherins amongst their numbers. "I hate to do this, but there is someone I need to talk to. Do you think you can manage the walk to your dormitory? If you can't I-"

"No," she said firmly. "I can manage." Hermione nodded, trying to convince herself of such a tenuous task. Shakily, she stood, maneuvering her body as if it was the first using her extremities, the muscles, and ligaments. Another thing was for certain, her actions were not her own.

Harry watched as his best friend got carried by the crowd of colors. Having not noticed the bell for the end of the first lesson, he sat there just as dazed as she had been.

The moment she edged toward the end of the hall, Harry made a run for it back to Slughorn's classroom. As luck would have it, Zabini and Malfoy were just pulling away from the scalding room and into the dank embodiment of the hallway. There was when he cornered them.

"Watch it, Potter!" hissed Malfoy as he pushed him with his hands.

"What the fuck did you do to her?"

"Do to who?" asked the heir. "Use your big boy words, Potter before I-"

"Hermione, you piece of shit!" growled the boy. "What did you do to her and bloody well tell me before I hex you until the next fucking century."

"Oh," a smirk played on his lips," an idle threat coming from Saint Potter?"

"No threat when I can very well promise you," ground the black-haired boy.

Zabini, out of the three of them, had managed to keep his temper. With a deep breath, he eased his way between his companion and enemy, sending them both fair warnings before turning his attention and arching his brow. The less time he spent with Potter, the better. He wanted to find the witch just as badly as Draco and picking fights wasn't helping their cause.

"Spit it out, Potter." drawled Zabini lazily. "We have another class to get to and a witch to catch. We haven't got all day."

"Oh, but you've got all the time in the world to harm Hermione."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Malfoy, his eyebrows drawing into a harsh, confused line. "If this is about what happened in class then we are just as confused as you are. We haven't got a clue why she ran out like that, but by all means share your bountiful knowledge with us. Otherwise, leave us the bloody hell alone. We don't have the time to waste messing around with you."

"That are you're going to ride this off?" he asked, strengthening his stance in front of them. "I volunteered my hand to you. I gave you my word that I would help whatever bloody illness that was plaguing her, but I never thought you would be the one behind it."

"What the fuck-"

"I looked it up." Harry confessed to them. Unbeknownst to Hermione, he had researched tirelessly about what was going on with her. He even went as far as looking up in past relation it would have with any other character and found something notable, yet disturbing. They were keeping a huge secret from her, something that would kill her if she ever found out.

"I don't want to know what is going on between the two of you, but all I know for certain whatever is happening won't last. It never does, right?"

Both Slytherins gave him a deathly scare, as if to silently curse him for recovering has much as he had.

"Hermione…" Harry carried on, unsure of what to say next," she's in danger. You can't deny it and just like before, and how it has always been. There is a threat amongst us and if you two would remove your fucking heads from each other's arses and look at the evidence, maybe we'll be able work together and figure this out before it's too late."

"What excuse do you have that we should even consider, Potter?" spat Zabini. "Why should we even trust you when your incarnation was the fucking bastard behind her death."

At this, Harry chuckled. "Oh, Zabini. How wrong you are."

Before either of them could stop him, he stepped up and clapped their wrists.

"Shall we witness how Malfoy killed her?"

A/N: Sorry for the long delay, guys and the atrociously short and unedited chapter. School just started back up and I was trying to get a feel for when I'll be able to write this semester. I leave for school and come home much later than last semester and I have four classes to keep up with. Not a whole lot, but school will always be my top priority. No excuses.

Anyway, short chapter as I said. I will edit the ones my ex-beta couldn't get to. I know some people just hate seeing the myriad of mistakes in a fic, and I'll be honest I hate editing especially after writing for so long. If anyone is interested, the position is still open. Feel free to contact me. The next two chapters will be long, and will lead straight to the inciting incident. (I hope. Sometimes, outlines take a whole different direction!)

With that said, I hope y'all are ready for what happens next :)