Author's Notes

Well it's been a bit of a manic week but I've managed to get this update out on the Friday I planned it for, so yay!

I hope you're all enjoying the story still, if you are and you would like some inside info, snippets and random ramblings, I've just started a tumblr….. There's not a lot on it yet, but I have quite a lot planned, so, come find me! I'm phoenixofslytherin on there as well.

Thank you as always champagneandliterature, your alpha and beta skills are very much appreciated!

Beyond the Sea

Chapter 8, Bondings

The path to the cove sloped steeply downhill. Hermione followed Ginny, picking her way carefully between steep drops and craggy boulders. The seagrass on either side of the sandy gully they were following blew gently in the sultry breeze, and the sun was beating down, hot on the back of her neck. "Careful here," Ginny said, stopping by an especially steep patch. She held out a hand and Hermione took it for balance, using her other hand to brace herself on a large rock as she slid down.

There were several more steep drops before the path flattened out and began to gradually widen. Now instead of stones and rocks, Hermione's feet landed on pure white sand and the last tussock of seagrass disappeared as Ginny led her around a tight corner and into a tiny, rocky bay.

Hermione gasped. It was picture-postcard pretty, all towering, black shadowy cliffs and underneath them a sparkling azure blue sea. Between the two was a thin smattering of white sand. "Hi 'Mione," Ron called, waving from the towel he was laying on with Pansy. Hermione waved back with a smile, trying to hide her surprise. Obviously she had missed some recent developments, as Pansy seemed to be laying extremely close to Ron's side.

"I don't know what happened between those two either, before you ask," Ginny grinned at Hermione, "but all I can say is it's about time." Hermione nodded as Harry walked out of the sea with a smile. "I guess we'll get the details later," Ginny said with a wink before Harry reached them.

"Hey, you two." Harry kissed Ginny on the lips and shook the water out of his hair as he left with her to find his towel. Hermione hesitated, she had just caught sight of Draco following Harry out of the sea and walking towards her. They had obviously been swimming together and Draco stopped knee-deep in water to stare at her for a moment. As he caught her eye Hermione felt a strange twitch of recognition deep inside. It was as if some hidden part of her recognized him involuntarily, and was now responding to his presence.

If she was honest, the feeling wasn't that unfamiliar. Even back in school, she had been hyper-aware of him, despite the fact that they had both loathed each other, she had always known when he was around. It was as if she had a sixth sense that was somehow tuned into him and him alone.

Hermione stood staring at Draco as he slicked his wet hair back out of his eyes and then mussed it carelessly with his fingers. Her breath caught in her throat and her mouth suddenly felt dry. She was mesmerized by the sight of his long, lean body, and his pale skin as it shimmered with water droplets in the brilliant afternoon sun.

His Dark Mark caught her eye as he came closer and jolted her out of her daydream. It was in direct contrast to his skin, jet black and sinister, standing out strongly against the rest of him.

"Hey." He said, picking up a towel and using it to dry his face and hair. "You made it down alright?" She nodded, still disconcerted by the effect he was having on her. "Listen, I'm sorry for being presumptuous earlier. It's your decision entirely as to what we do about the elemental magic."

"I'm sorry for shouting too. I was... wrong." She hated admitting that to anyone, but in this case an apology was justified. The whole situation had made her anxious and unreasonably on edge, and she just wanted the whole war to be over. She had been through so much already, she honestly didn't know how much more she could take. A stray cloud crossed the sun and the light dimmed slightly. Hermione faltered, Draco was talking but she wasn't taking in a word he was saying.

Strong arms wrapped around her, and a rough voice snarled aggressively in her ear. A Dark Mark just like Draco's flashed across her vision. She struggled and fought viciously but her captor laughed and struck back with his elbow, catching her in the stomach so that she doubled over. "Come on mudblood. Give it up, you're ours now and there's nothing you can do about it."

The stench of dried blood and foul breath choked her as her second captor turned his head to laugh at her pain. "Such a pretty, tender, little thing." Greyback's clothes reeked of stale sweat and lack of personal hygiene. He took her from the first man and half dragged, half carried her across a road and she hoped, prayed that a car would come by and stop to rescue her, but of course none did-

"Hermione?" Draco was saying, and she realized with a start that he was waving his hand in front of her face.

"Oi! 'Mione!" Ron called in alarm, jumping up and crossing to her as Pansy rolled over and propped herself up on an elbow to watch. "Hey? Are you alright?" Blinking in surprise as Ron's red hair flashed in front of her eyes, Hermione nodded. "What happened?" Ron asked.

"Flash…. Um… flashback I think."

Draco was looking at her in concern, "Did I cause that?"

"No." She shook her head as the last of the awful memory receded. "Not directly. I caught sight of your mark and well, it happens quite a lot at the moment."

"I'll talk to Pansy about it," Ron said, turning away from them once he was sure Hermione was okay, "I'll see what we can do to help."

"Thanks, Ron."

"Now it seems I need to apologize for two things-" Draco said through a smile that caused Hermione's eyebrows to shoot up into her hairline. She couldn't recall ever seeing him smile like that before, scowl yes, smirk a million times, but a real genuine smile that lit up his handsome face as he finished toweling his hair, this was a first.

She couldn't help smiling back, and wondering how and when she had come to think of him as handsome. "I'll let you off that one." She said, "I can't blame you for the fact that your arm triggered a flashback."

"That's very gallant of you." He winked as he turned and gestured to her to follow. Draco made his way to a picnic basket and pointed his wand at a large jug of water causing it to chill, and ice cubes to form. He looked up and she nodded so he poured some into two plastic glasses and passed one to her before taking a drink himself.

Feeling somewhat at a loss as to what to say or do, Hermione sat down on the edge of his towel in response to his invitation and fanned herself with the flimsy neckline of the top she was wearing. It was stiflingly hot and they were sitting in full sun. Draco cast a cooling charm over her and she looked up in surprise at his thoughtfulness, thanking him as he sat down beside her.

"Sun-cream?" He asked, gesturing to a bottle on the sand.

"Um, thank you." She couldn't quite get over the surrealness of the situation. Sitting on a beach being offered iced water and sun-cream by Draco Malfoy while Pansy and Ron kissed on a towel beside her was not the way she had expected the day to turn out.

She dragged her eyes away from the couple next to her and turned her shocked gaze onto Draco who grinned and shrugged. "Don't ask me either. Last time I saw them both together I body bound her to the spot and stole her wand. She's forgiven me rather easily, for Pansy though, so clearly something good came from it."

"You did what?! Oh, never mind." Hermione watched the couple kiss again for a moment longer, then firmly pulled her eyes away. "Draco can we talk?" He nodded, squirting sun-cream onto his hands and gesturing for her to come closer.

Rather self consciously she did, and she shivered despite the heat as she felt him settle in behind her and rub his hands together. She flinched, despite her best efforts not too, and as he touched her she was suddenly trapped inside her mind again.

Rough hands pulled at her arms to move her. Delirious thoughts spiraled out of control in her mind. "Get UP bitch!" She scrambled to do as she was told but she wasn't fast enough. The pain of a slap stung her cheek. The loss of dignity as they dragged her yet again across the floor was worse than the sting of the-"

"Hermione!" Draco was saying. "Stop bloody doing that, Pans, you need to look at this later for her please."

Pansy nodded, watching as Draco lifted his hands once more. "Sun-cream." He said, somewhat hesitantly, "Am I alright to touch you?" She nodded shakily, disorientated by the flashbacks, and he closed his warm hands over her bare shoulders.

Hermione was surprised at how gentle he was. He rubbed long, soft strokes across her shoulders and down her arms. It was the first time that he had ever touched her properly and she was startled by the way her body reacted to him. There was heat, and a tingle that felt vaguely sexual, and then a contented, reassuring feeling that spread through her, making her feel as if everything in the world was right. Then Draco took his hands away to squirt more cream from the tube and she was suddenly bereft. "That answers that then I suppose." He said, so softly she barely heard it.

"What on earth was that feeling when you touched me?" Hermione looked around at him in surprise. She didn't have much experience with men to fall back on, but she was certain she had never felt anything close to the way her body had just reacted to Draco.

"It was exactly the feeling the others described when their elemental bondings took place. Which leaves us with a dilemma."

"Which is?" She moved her hair from her neck as Draco laid his hands gently on her skin again, causing her to jump and suck in a breath.

"So the pull of desire is the effect of the elemental magic, and that's apparently how it feels for everyone who bonds under its power. The sexual element of it explains why Ginny and Blaise are trying very hard to not be in the same room together at the moment. It also goes some way to explain the rather strange relationship developing over there. Because as much as I like Ron and Pansy, and I do like Ron much more than I ever thought I would by the way, I can't get over the fact that they're an unusual couple."

Hermione nodded, shivering again under his touch. She never wanted to move, she just wanted to get closer to him, it felt like an invisible rope pulling her in and trying to draw them closer together. "Oh," she said quietly.

"Oh exactly." His breath tickled the bare skin of her neck and she shivered again, looking at him with equal parts trepidation and awe. He let his hands fall from her back and picked up the bottle of cream again.

"Shall I do you?" She asked without thinking and he nodded.

"If you're comfortable touching me, and only if you understand what that would mean for us both?"

Was she comfortable? Truthfully she had no idea. "What would it mean?"

"What you just felt when I touched you was my side of the bonding. If you touch me in return the bond is sealed and unbreakable. That is the dilemma; do you want that? You are the only one who can make that decision I'm afraid."

"I thought," she paused with a confused frown, "I thought you said there was a ceremony like an unbreakable bond?"

He nodded. "There is. Although that just makes things official. With Ron and Pans, and Ginny and Blaise the bonding happened naturally when they touched each other for the first time though, the ceremony just cemented things. I thought Potter was going to curse Blaise's bollocks off when he saw what happened between them. Harry and Theo wanted the ceremony on it's own because of that, they weren't really up for touching each other intimately. I have a suspicion about them though, but that's for another time."

"Oh." Hermione nodded with a thoughtful frown and took the bottle from him, squeezing the cool, white liquid into her hands as she thought. Truthfully she didn't feel like she had a choice in the matter anyway. Her body seemed to have made up its mind about what was going to happen and there didn't seem much point in fighting it. Especially as none of the others had tried. Draco turned around in front of her and she hesitantly touched her hands to his back. As soon as she made contact with his skin she knew he had been right. A hot tingle ran through her entire body and traveled to a point just under her navel. Once there it settled into a warm pulsating feeling that didn't go away, even when she took her hands away from his skin. "Oh." She breathed, as he turned to look at her.

The fear in his eyes did nothing to diminish her own. In fact, it skyrocketed hers even further. If what the others said was true, if he could stand coolly next to Voldemort and do the things he allegedly did without so much as raising an eyebrow, then why the hell couldn't he deal with this?

"Shit Granger, can you feel that?" He gestured to his stomach and she presumed he was feeling the same pull she was. Silently she nodded and stared at him in alarm as she put her hands back onto his bare shoulders. Pansy was staring at them, her hand over her eyes to shield her vision from the sun.

"Alright, you two?" Hermione tried to ignore Pansy's kiss-swollen lips and blinked away the thought that Ron, her ex-boyfriend, had caused them to look like that. The afternoon was already strange enough.

She looked at Draco who was also watching Pansy. "When you two first touched, what happened?" He asked.

Pansy smiled. "Oh."

"Don't just "Oh" me Pans." He rolled his eyes, "What the fuck did it feel like when you two touched each other for the first time?"

Pansy narrowed her eyes, trying and failing to keep the humor out of them. "To be honest sweetie, I think you just found out." Draco scowled at her and she laughed, apparently Hermione was in the minority, no one else here seemed to find Draco the least bit intimidating. "It felt like a strong pull here," Pansy said more soberly, touching her stomach. "It appeared the first time we touched each other willingly and it seems to be getting stronger each time we kiss or touch at the moment."

"Hmmm. It looks like we're doomed to follow fate on this one then Granger. Would one of you mind doing my back, please? I'm going to burn to a crisp out here in this infernal sun if you leave me much longer."

"Sorry." Hermione tipped some more cream into her hands and rubbed it gently over him. She was relieved that the feeling wasn't getting any stronger, instead it now felt fairly consistent. She smoothed her hands over Draco's shoulders, feeling him shiver and relax under her touch. She went as far as the cream allowed, then took her hands away from him to gather more, and was surprised to find the calm feeling that had been gathering in her chest disappear. When she touched her hands back to his skin again the feeling returned, and it was as soothing to her as he seemed to be finding it himself.

She spent longer than she probably needed to on his back and shoulders, enjoying the ripple of his muscles and the feel of his skin under her hands. He didn't complain or move once. She started working the cream down his arms and balked at his elbow as she came to the very top of his mark. "You can go carry on if you're happy to. He said, "But I wouldn't blame you if you weren't."

Hermione was more curious than afraid now, touching him for so long had calmed her and she found she didn't want to stop. She picked up his forearm and studied the design. It looked just like a muggle tattoo but of course, it wasn't. It was far more sinister than that. She didn't want to touch it, in fact, she couldn't touch it. Her fingers wouldn't move, they hesitated on the outermost edge of the black dye and Draco turned to face her, watching her curiously.

It felt like an unspoken test. Where did she want to go from here? If she pulled back now she knew he would take it as rejection. She knew how mercurial he could be and she imagined how his eyes would harden and the way he would pull back. She didn't want him to do that, not now, not after today, but she couldn't bring herself to just touch it either. There were too many connotations of evil hidden behind that symbol for her to just move her fingers over it. The people who had held her captive and hurt her had mostly been branded with this mark and she had been through too much in her captivity to just let her fingers run casually over it now.

She stared at the mark, frozen in time and Draco watched her with guarded eyes. He started to pull away and she held him in place, meeting his eyes for the first time since they had sat down. "Help me touch it. Please?"

If he was willing to help her then she knew there was hope, and that they could find the way forwards together. If he pulled away or laughed, well, that would be it, and it would make things very difficult between them. Hermione flinched as his hand gently covered hers. Saying nothing he moved her hand over the outer edges of the brand. "It's just skin, Hermione," he said, taking her index finger in his own fingers and tracing the top of the snake with it. "You can't activate it accidentally. There's a specific spell to cast over it if we want to call him, andnone of us can call the other Death Eaters, not even me unless I'm given permission and he casts a spell over me. Nothing bad can happen from an innocent touch."

She watched as he moved her fingers in tiny circles, inching closer to the skull on each rotation. She held her breath as he finally moved her finger over the whole thing and absolutely nothing happened. Draco touched all of her fingers to the mark and then let her hand go. On a deep breath, she gripped his arm and moved her hand herself, feeling nothing but smooth warm skin and the steady thrum of his pulse beneath it.

He had passed her test. Or maybe she had passed his. Maybe they both had passed each other's. Hermione pulled her hand back and looked at him, his eyes were soft and somehow anxious. He cleared his throat quietly and she blinked as they both leaned into each other at the same moment. It felt like a spell pulling them together. Their lips met and pillowed gently together, Draco put a hand lightly on the back of her neck and she allowed him to deepen the kiss, moving closer still so that she was pushing against him softly. As his tongue slipped into her mouth the pull in her stomach exploded and grew to fill her whole body. It was a strange feeling, different from arousal, more a very definite feeling of rightness. A feeling of being exactly where she belonged. It was powerful, she knew there would be no fighting it, just as she knew her life was about to change in a very big way.

Hermione knew from the moment their lips met that they were bonded, and there wasn't a single thing that either of them could do about it.

When Draco pulled back he looked as dazed as she felt, and he pulled her into his chest, breathing hard. When she looked up Ron, Pansy, Harry, and Ginny were all staring at them in open-mouthed shock.

"Well." Harry said eventually, "I guess that's that then. How was it you described it Malfoy, when the circles close we'll all know about it? I guess you were right. We knew."