A/N: I adore your reactions! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and review! xx-Kitten.
A Promise Unspoken
By Kittenshift17
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Antonin dove into the mind of the young witch before him, feeling her initial, natural resistance against the intrusion attempting to fend him off with little more than a sear of her magic against his own. Antonin easily overpowered her. Delving into the many memories he'd come searching for Antonin narrowed his eyes in annoyance at what he encountered; he'd purposely quizzed her on what she knew, intent on bringing it all to the forefront of her mind to better access it.
And he felt a scald of fury in his veins when he uncovered just how much the little witch had gleaned from her interactions with Reina, with Theo Nott, and with Thorfinn himself about the idea of a betrothal bond. One, with Thorfinn, to be exact. He smirked to himself just a little when the witch struggled feebly, trying to escape his tight grip and succumbing to unconsciousness when she was unable to fling him from her mind. Antonin moved quickly then, poking about inside her head, finding and gathering the extent of her knowledge on the subject.
He was tempted to simply obliviate all the memories right out of her head, but he decided against it when he realised that she would need to know eventually. It just simply wouldn't do to have her know until it was more prudent. More importantly, it wouldn't do to have her know until her knowing wouldn't put Thorfinn's career at risk; wouldn't put his sanity at risk. He was beyond furious with his best mate for inducting her into the Rites in the first place. Were it simply that she were reaching an age where snogging and sex was something she'd begin looking into, he'd have been able to simply supress such an urge within her mind until she was of age.
With the requirement of the Rites, however, it was another matter entirely. She would have to complete the blood oath, or she would lose her mind as surely as Thorfinn would lose his if she did complete it. Worse, she would lose her ability to use magic and that wouldn't do at all. Even if she was just a meddlesome little mudblood. The trouble became that, with the spells Thorfinn had enacted to link the two of them together, he would face a fate worse than death should Hermione Granger fail to meet her blood oath to complete the Rites.
Gritting his teeth, Antonin decided on a temporary but graceful solution to the problem. Using a containment curse he tended to use most frequently in his work as a Curse Breaker to protect himself and others from the potentially harmful magic he encountered, he gathered her memories, thoughts and discoveries that focused specifically on betrothal bonds, collecting them together. He was forced to sever a few thoughts and memories, removing the effects of the bond from some memories, such as her putting those beads in Thor's hair. He locked anything pertaining to even the idea of a betrothal bond inside the containment charm in her mind, like a locked vault that she would have a hard time breaking into until such time as Antonin himself undid the curse, or until he died – whichever came first.
When everything was sealed, Antonin poked about in her head a little more, examining a few other memories and using a filtering charm to ensure further discussion pertaining to betrothal would filter into the mental vault he'd created and be more easily distracted from than her regular thoughts. He smirked as he used it, having altered the Notice-Me-Not charm to work on the mind and make people forget things he didn't want them thinking about.
It wouldn't do to have her break her blood oath, and so she needed to complete the Rites. It seemed he would simply have to perform some restrictive magic upon her bond to partially supress the effects of her being intimate with other blokes. Thorfinn would still get echoes – much the same way Antonin himself got echoes from Tatiana, even now, but surely he could find something to help his friend keep his sanity. Nudging around inside her head, he performed another charm to increase the effects of her body's natural maturing speed, to better nudge her towards being willing to have sex and get it all out of the way sooner. The faster she completed the Rites, the better it would be. If it was a long, drawn out process of snogging in broom cupboards until she felt comfortable, Thorfinn would surely go mad and commit murder.
Casting a Memory Charm on the final few minutes with her since he'd dragged her into the bathroom stall, Antonin slipped free of her mind, struggling for just a moment when her unconsciousness proved a slight hurdle. She hung limp in his hold and Antonin noticed idly that sometime since she'd passed out, he'd scooped an arm around her back, supporting her slight weight easily enough. Shaking his head at the little witch and how much trouble she was proving to be, he wondered for a long moment while he stared if he shouldn't just kill her now and be done with it. No one would know it was him. He could say she'd left to go to the bathroom and that he'd found her this way when she hadn't returned.
It would be so easy, and while doing so would surely hurt Thorfinn now, it would help him in the long run. Narrowing his eyes on the witch, he stayed his urge to kill her as he cast one more spell upon her.
"Ostende Vincula," he muttered and he had to blink several times in surprise at the amount of bond lines that erupted from within her chest, suddenly visible to his gaze.
He was rather alarmed to find one of a blood red shade travelling from her to him, linking them as members of the same bloodline, however distantly related they might be, as a result of his acknowledging her. She had many more of them, though Antonin couldn't tell who most of them might connect to outside of those that undoubtedly represented her parents, given their blood red shade. The one he was looking for, however, was the brightest and most blinding of them all.
Her link to Thorfinn was strong – even stronger than Thorfinn's had been when last Antonin had used this charm on him. The bond between them glowed so bright that it almost blinded him but Antonin focused on the glowing strands of colour, noting with some satisfaction that the most prevalent colour glowing amid the rainbow was the bright, dark shade of pink, gleaming with the inarguable sheen of affection that bordered very closely upon love. Despite seeing him so infrequently, the little witch definitely fancied Thorfinn.
At least there was that, he supposed. Even without the betrothal bond between them preventing her from making any kind of meaningful connection to anyone else, her fancying Thorfinn would certainly keep her from falling for anyone else. Especially if the big haired bastard had been kissing her. Even if she loved the big-haired fucker, the spell he'd done on her would like see her completing her Rites sooner rather than later, but the sooner she did it and realised she still fancied the pants off Thor, the better things would be for everyone involved.
Releasing the magic once more and watching the colours fade, Antonin narrowed his eyes on the little witch once more, his mind racing with how he would convince her that he hadn't just been inside her head. He'd removed her memory of the discussion, but how was he to make it look like he'd 'found' her slumped against the wall.
Smirking to himself, he lowered her against the nearest wall within the small washroom and let her slide down it as though she'd fallen faint all of a sudden. He shook himself for a moment before performing the spell to revive her and made a show of nudging her with his foot as though trying to rouse her as her eyelids fluttered.
"A-Antonin?" she asked, blinking up at him dazedly.
"You alright, witch?" he asked gruffly. "Been in here awhile."
"Why am I on the floor?" she muttered, her cheeks darkening, "I… how did I even get here?"
Antonin smirked, watching her now-addled mind trying to piece things together to figure out why she was having trouble knowing where she was and why she had so little memory of getting there.
"You said you weren't feeling well," he shrugged. "But you've been in here more than ten minutes now."
She blinked stupidly for a few more minutes and Antonin sighed, holding one hand out toward her to get her back on her feet, playing innocent as though it weren't his fault she was in such a state.
"I don't remember anything after coming down the stairs," she admitted, her cheeks pink.
"Could be all the Side-Along Apparating," Antonin shrugged. "There's a reason you're supposed to wait until you're of age, or close to, before trying it. Thor's been popping you about all over the place. Might've addled you a bit."
"I feel light-headed," she nodded. "And like I can't think properly."
Antonin nodded too. "Apparating side-effect."
She didn't look entirely like she believed him, but she took his hand nonetheless and let him pull her to her feet before she stumbled over the bathroom sink to wash her hands and her face thoroughly.
"You want me to take you back to school?" he offered, trying to play nice with the witch, no matter how he personally considered her little more than an inconvenience.
"No." She shook her head. "I… Finn wanted me to see the game. And he said he wanted to talk to me about something after it."
Antonin's eyes narrowed on that bit of news, not at all thrilled to hear that. Thorfinn was probably thinking of confessing to her about their betrothal, and that wouldn't do at all. Making a mental note to beat the snot out of his best friend, Antonin shrugged his shoulders. Even if Thorfinn directly told her they were betrothed at this point, the spells he'd done would make her feel vague and distracted by other things to the point where the information wouldn't register at all, except to sink inside the mind-trap he'd created inside her head.
When – if – the time came that he would remove it, she'd know, but who knew what kind of damage would be done by then. He might just have to guilt and shame Thorfinn into keeping things to himself for a bit longer. The effect of the bond making him so giddy was obviously messing with his ability to think like any regular, calculating Slytherin ought to think and that wouldn't do either.
"Come on then," he shrugged at the witch. "Let's get the food we promised Pandora and Titus and return to the game before it's over."
Hermione nodded her head, still looking rather confused, but also eyeing him as though she were grateful he'd bother to supposedly come searching for her when she hadn't returned from her trip to the washroom. Antonin hid his smirk when he saw the vaguest hint of trust in him beginning to glow in her eyes.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
"What the fuck do you mean, Toshka?" Thorfinn snarled at his best friend, having been cornered in the sheds after the game.
"I mean that if you even think about telling her the truth about that bond, she's going to be furious with you and she's going to try to run from you," Antonin snapped at him and Thorfinn narrowed his eyes on the man.
He'd been surprised to find Toshka already waiting for him in the sheds when he got back from the game they'd just won, smashing the Arrows three hundred and seventy point to two hundred and ten. He hadn't expected that Toshka would even make it to the game at all today, given that he'd been working on some new thing the Goblins were looking into pertaining to the vaults belonging to the last remaining heir to the Black family fortune – under scrutiny after a large sum of money was missing alongside the recent escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban prison.
"What the hell do you even know about it?" Thorfinn hissed, leaning closer to his friend.
"I know she's been wearing a stupid grin on her face the entire time she's been sitting in that box and arguing magical theory with you grandmother, even when I throw in unhelpful and borderline rude comments," Antonin shrugged. "Making me think that someone gave her something she can't stop smiling about."
Thorfinn narrowed his eyes on the man.
"What are you accusing me of?" he snarled.
"Nothing you haven't done to her before," Antonin argued. "Look, I don't doubt that with you bond freshly renewed, you're high on the fucking magic but the last thing you want to do is tell that little witch that you two are betrothed."
Thorfinn frowned at him.
"If I don't tell her, she's going to keep snogging that kid of Nott," Thorfinn argued, ignoring the way his teammates were eyeing them curiously.
"Yeah, she is," Antonin agreed with a grim nod. "And you're going to have to let her, Thor. She's initiated in the fucking Rites, remember? You know the type of shit that's on that list. There's no way you could sneak in there to help her complete all the sexual ones. Hell, she's still got to snog a Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw. And that's not taking into account the number of times she's going to have to shag someone inside that castle in random places."
"You've been arguing with me all along that when she sleeps around, it's going to make me crazy," Thorfinn whispered.
"And had you not been a fucking thick-headed bastard prone to panic and done all that Dark magic to tie her to you so completely, I'd still be telling you to sever the fucking bond. But if you sever it now, you'll be worse off than what you'll be when she starts shagging. You can't be the one to help her with it. Not all of it, in any case. Things like fucking her in Hosgmeade? Fine, take her around back of the Hog's Head and hard-fuck her into the wall. Things like shagging in a teacher's office without getting caught? No way an alumni visitor doesn't set off the wards and attract enough attention that you'll pull it off. And if you try to pull it off anyway, she'll get expelled and you will go to prison for statutory rape of a minor – no matter how willing she is."
"You want me to just grit my teeth and bare it when she fucks around?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"That's what she has to do every time you get laid," Antonin retorted coldly and Thorfinn winced, knowing that his sexual appetite had caused her a good deal of grief already. "But if you tell her about the bond, she'll run. And you'll still be just as bonded to her, only she'll make sure you won't get the reciprocation of any kind the way you have been until now. And then you'll end up like me. Do you want that?"
"You're not that bad," Thorfinn shrugged at his best friend.
"I found her passed out in a bathroom stall when we went for snacks and she ducked to the bathroom feeling unwell," Antonin told him. "Slumped against the wall, looking pathetic, and do you know what thought went through my mind when I looked at her – a girl I know is important to you and a girl I've claimed as fucking family - you know what I thought?"
Thorfinn gritted his teeth, suspecting from the cold gleam in Toshka's eyes that he really didn't want to know what the bastard had thought when he found her.
"I stared down at that little brat whose only crimes have been a misfortune of birth and the unwitting instigation of this connection to you and I thought seriously about killing her and putting you out of your misery. I nearly did it, Thor. Would've been easy. No one would've known it was me, she wouldn't have been found until later and you'd be free of your bond. You'd be bereft for a bit, but you'd get over it and move on without the complication of being betrothed to a child," Antonin voice was devoid of any emotion, his eyes glittering with an icy depth that scared Thorfinn just a little bit.
"If you ever try to kill her, Toshka," Thorfinn threatened in a low voice. "So help me, Merlin, I will never forgive you for it."
"One day, you'll eat those words, Thor," Antonin promised in return. "One day soon, she's going to fuck someone who isn't you and you're going to have no choice but to suffer the wretched, aching, stinging burn inside your chest of knowing the woman you're betrothed to is cheating on you. And when that day comes, you'll kill people. You'll kill people and you'll curse her fucking name and the day you ever met her. Eventually, by the time she's through with the Rites, you're going to be begging me to kill her for you, or itching with the urge to do it yourself."
Thorfinn watched the way his best mate narrowed his eyes slightly, nodded once and then turned on the spot, Disapparating with a sharp crack.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Hermione was greeted with a pair of hands gripping her hips tightly before she was tossed high into the air and held aloft by a laughing, celebrating Thorfinn Rowle when the players descended on the player-boxes after the game. She'd been feeling rather dizzy and light-headed throughout the remainder of the game after being found by Antonin in the bathroom, unconscious, and so she tried to hide her wince for the sake of Finn's exuberance. She didn't want to ruin his game-winning high with her sour mood and so she concealed the way she felt even dizzier to be being tossed about.
Not that he was rough about it. He held her above his head as though she were a trophy he was triumphantly displaying while he grinned at her.
"You won," Hermione smiled at him.
"We did," Thorfinn agreed. "And you watched. Not a book in sight."
"Told you that matches were different to training," Hermione smiled.
"You alright, Princess?" he asked her, lowering her until she was pressed to his chest, his arms tight around her.
Hermione nodded.
"You sure? Toshka said you passed out in the bathroom?" Thorfinn asked, his brow furrowing with concern.
"Too much Apparation, maybe?" Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Or possibly the strain of that combined with the extensive use of the Time-Turner messing with my system and pushing me a bit harder than I ought to push."
"You could have been in real trouble if he hadn't found you, Kitten," Thorfinn told her.
"I know," Hermione nodded. "I thanked him. I was even polite to him. We didn't fight, even once today."
"Progress," Thorfinn smirked. "That will come in handy when you visit with me at our place for Christmas."
"Who says I'm coming to your place for Christmas?" Hermione wanted to know, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
"I do," Thorfinn grinned at her. "The Irish play the Bulgarians in one of the opening International League matches for the season. Both teams are tipped for favourites for next years' World Cup. You have to be there. Mum and Dad gave Reina permission."
Hermione felt the smile escape her hold, curling her lips and making her smile widely at his words and his certainty that would go with Reina to visit him at Christmas.
"You really want us there, clogging up your space and getting in the way?" Hermione asked him sceptically.
"You're my good luck charm, remember?" he asked, smirking at her. "Got to have you there, Princess. Might not win the game if you're not there."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, regretting it when it made her headache worse.
"You're an idiot," Hermione told him and Thorfinn shrugged his massive shoulders unrepentantly.
"I need to get you back to school before anyone has a fit about you being gone," he said seriously, frowning a bit at the idea.
"They're likely already having a fit, given that I'm close friends with Harry and according to the Ministry, Sirius Black is after him. They probably think he's snatched me as bait to lure Harry to his doom," Hermione sighed.
"Are you up for being Side-Along Apparated again, or do you need me to find a Floo to send you through, Kitten?"
Hermione thought about it for a long moment, weighing the options.
"Flooing will draw too much attention," she concluded finally. "Anyone who sees me coming through the Floo will wonder where I've been. If you apparate me, I can just pretend I was hiding out in the bookshop the whole time and they didn't see me when they went looking for me. Of course, when I turn the Time-Turner, I'll only have been 'missing' for about twenty minutes instead of nine hours."
"The game did go for a bit longer than I anticipated when I grabbed you," Thorfinn chuckled nodding, "Close your eyes, Baby-girl. Let's get you back."
Hermione glanced towards Thorfinn's grandparents, both of whom were across the crowded box, not paying them any mind. She thought briefly about being sure to say goodbye, but Thorfinn didn't give her the chance. Closing her eyes, Hermione burrowed her face into his neck, feeling his hair tickle her skin. He cuddled her a little closer to his chest before he turned on the spot and there was a sharp jerk behind her navel.
Hermione blinked slowly, feeling dizzy when she opened her eyes. He had landed them both in the alley behind the pub, The Hog's Head. She could hear the sounds of Aurors and the teachers hunting around the place, trying to find her and she winced to know she would be messing with time so much that all of these people would instead do something completely different with their afternoons when she turned the Time-Turner so no one would know she'd disappeared.
"So, how does it work, Princess?" Thorfinn asked her, leaning against the wall and still cuddling her to him rather than letting her down. "Am I going to remember snatching you from the Village today?"
"Erm…" Hermione frowned. "Not unless you turn back the clock with me. Which will mean that the you who takes me to the game will still do that, will still play the game and will still win. But there would also be another you who would be able to, I don't know, go home and catch a nap or whatever you feel like doing. Something that would mean you won't be seen, since everyone knows you're supposed to be at that game and many people saw you there. If anyone sees you anywhere else, they'll know something is off."
"The same could be said for you," he argued.
"Not necessarily. The only people who know I was at the game are you, your grandparents, Antonin and the team because they saw me in the sheds. Essentially time will loop, if you loop with me, until you'll be back at the stadium before disapparating me. Meaning you'd have to fill in nine hours until apparating back under the pretence of having returned me to school."
"Sounds complicated." He made a face. "You do this every day?"
"Multiple times," Hermione nodded. "It's how I'm managing so many subjects at once."
"Bloody hell, no wonder you passed out. Shame I can't just spend the extra nine hours tormenting you," he grinned, lowering her slowly to the ground.
"You can't because otherwise I won't be able to explain your presence to my friends when you're meant to be off winning the match," Hermione smiled at him.
"Right, well, I'm turning anyway. I don't want to forget spending the day with you, Baby-girl."
Hermione made a face at him even as she fished the device from the front of her robes.
"Bend down, idiot," she told him, "I've got to get this around your neck."
Thorfinn did as he was told, bending until his face hovered in front of hers and Hermione was able to loop the chain of the Time-Turner around his neck.
"It's a bit disorienting," Hermione warned him, just before she began to turn the little hourglass, retracing the hours lived and watching the evening light recede back to the brightness of midday.
"Bloody hell," Thorfinn complained when she fished the chain from around his neck. "That's worse than apparating. What now, Baby-girl?"
"Now you have to find somewhere to hide yourself for nine hours and I have to go and meet Harry and Ron out by the Shrieking Shack," Hermione sighed, tucking the chain back down the front of her robes. "I think I might make an excuse about being tired and go to bed, to be honest. I'm still feeling dizzy."
He nodded his head.
"You never gave me an answer, you know?" he told her, "You're coming to my place with Reina for Christmas, right?"
"I'll have to check with Mum and Dad if they're alright with it," Hermione told him.
"Tell them you're staying at school," Thorfinn shrugged. "Then come with Reina to mine when we Portkey over. You know your folks will say no if they think it's just going to be you, me, Reina and Toshka."
"With good reason," Hermione pointed out.
"Don't be a spoilsport, Kitten," he chided, poking her in the side affectionately. "Just say you'll do it and find a way to make it so you can do it without the complications of your parents fearing for your innocence."
"He says, as though he's not planning to thoroughly corrupt my innocence." Hermione laughed, blushing when Thorfinn winked at her in amusement and didn't deny the accusation. "You're trouble, Thorfinn Rowle."
"You love me," he retorted and Hermione's cheeks brightened to red once more.
"Dream on, Finn," Hermione told him. "I better go, before Harry and Ron come looking for me and sound the alarm."
"Probably," Thorfinn nodded. "How long is it until Christmas anyway?"
"Forty-three days," Hermione told him.
"Not that you're counting," Thorfinn laughed.
"I'm not," Hermione smirked. "But I bet you will be now that I've agreed to visit."
"You're a real piece of work, Granger," Thorfinn told her, laughing at the way she wiggled her eyebrows at him knowingly.
"You love me," Hermione parroted back at him.
"Witch," he accused, smirking, and Hermione noticed with a bright blush that he didn't deny it. Her stomach did somersaults at the very idea. "Now, shut up and kiss me, woman, and then go play with your friends."
"Are you always this needy about snogging?" Hermione asked drolly, trying to hide her wide smile and trying to still the riot of butterflies inside her stomach.
"Needy this, Princess," he told her, stooping down as one of his hands tangled in her loose curls, tipping her head up before covered her lips with his.
He kissed her with just enough fervour to make Hermione breathless and dizzy all over again and she found her fingers tangling into that wind-swept blond mane of his as she kissed him back hungrily. Warmth rushed through her, making her giddy with happiness at the feel of his lips – chapped from the icy winds of the match – moving so skilfully against her own.
She gripped the front of his Quidditch uniform, her body pressing closer to his as his tongue swept into her mouth. Hermione heard the soft sound he drew from her even as he swallowed it, his tongue stroking surely against hers and making her thoughts scatter once more. His fist tightened in her hair when Hermione leaned into him even more, kissing him harder, feeling parts of her body tingle and ache with warmth at his ministrations. Her back pressed against the wall of the pub behind her as he curled his free arm around her waist, lifting her against him once more.
Hermione didn't even have to think about it as she wrapped her legs around his waist, her ankles locking at the small of his back. Shifting against him slightly, Hermione broke away from his lips when she felt lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, kissing her way across his cheek. She didn't know which of them was more surprised at the soft groan he emitted when she nibbled his stubbled jaw lightly.
"Bloody hell, Princess," he muttered into her hair, his teeth finding her earlobe and nibbling there while Hermione trailed kisses against his throat. Her whole body felt like it was on fire and she felt like she wanted to climb inside of him and never leave. When she tightened her ankles and slid against his front to reach more of his neck, he hissed slightly, his hand shifting to her hip and holding tightly.
"Don't do that again, Princess," he whispered. "Or that innocence of yours will be mine, here and now."
Hermione didn't know which of them was more shocked when a little giggle escaped her mouth before she very deliberately did it again.
"Merlin, witch," he growled, pulling back far enough to pry her lips from his neck and to press her to the wall a little more firmly with his hips as he stared at her, his eyes wild and hungry.
"Something wrong?" Hermione asked, smirking at him even as she tried to catch her breath and tamped down the urge she had to blush and giggle like the school girl she was.
"You're going to be the fucking death of me, Princess," he muttered, his blue eyes darting between both of her chocolate ones searchingly.
Hermione smiled at him.
"You better let me down," she told him. "Harry and Ron will be looking for me."
"That's all you have to say?" he asked, smirking at her.
"What were you hoping to hear instead, Finn?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows as she unhooked her ankles from around his waist and slipped back to the ground, standing on knees that were wobbly and weak from his ministrations.
"Nothing appropriate for a fourteen year old to be saying to me," he muttered truthfully, stepping back from her slightly and carding a hand through his own hair as though fighting the urge to grab her all over again.
"Are you going to remind me of my age comparative to yours every time you see me, Thorfinn?" Hermione asked, raising one eyebrow as she stared up at him.
"Oh, I'm not reminding you, Princess," he assured her, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm reminding myself so I don't do something stupid like shagging you, right here."
Hermione felt her heart skip several beats and the butterflies in her stomach transformed into rampaging elephants, trying to get free. She was sure that her cheeks were crimson, and yet her mouth engaged without permission from her brain when she said, "Well, maybe the next time you see me, you can just conveniently forget about my age altogether."
The heat in his gaze at her words had Hermione clapping her hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide as her brain caught up to what she'd just said and her cheeks flamed crimson once more.
"Um… I… erm… I'll see you at Christmas, Finn," Hermione stammered out when she saw the smug, hungry expression on Thorfinn's face.
She turned and hurried away from him before he could reply.