Chapter 08:

Gideon wasn't sure what shocked him more - Antonin Dolohov or his intended target. But it was sheer instinct that had him setting the death eater ablaze before he could finish his spell.

A purple light flew off his wand before he burnt to a crisp and fell like ash on the stoned floor. And the light grazed Hermione's shoulder before disappearing into nothing.

"Ah!" Hermione tried to swallow down her scream of pain. Her hand flew to her shoulder and came back bloodied. She chanced a glance at her saviour as her scared brown eyes clashed with ferocious arctic blue ones before he was engaged in a battle.

The cut might have been a small one, but the burning it left behind was taking its toll on her. She needed to know what was happening. Where is Harry?

Like an answer to her question a loud wail of "NO…" erupted and Hermione blindly followed the voice.

…

She had been right there just a second back and yet, now she wasn't. Where is she? Gideon was getting frantic.

…

For a few minutes, everyone stood still, even time. Neither side knew how to react. Was this it? The end of it all?

"It can't be…" someone whispered in a hushed voice.

And yet, there it was… Voldemort's dead body. Lying at the Ministry's atrium. Killed by the joint effort of Harry and Dumbledore.

"Could it all really be over?" everyone around was whispering.

"Have you seen Neville and Hermione? I can't find either of them," a young girl who looked achingly like Pandora, a Ravenclaw from their year who the twins had befriended and later protected like a sister, asked them.

Gideon's entire being went cold at the implications of that statement and he ran back to the room he had come from. Fabian hot on his heels.

…

"She's going to be fine, Gid," Fabian whispered for the hundredth time that evening to his brother who looked almost broken.

The sight of his intended passed out on the floor in the puddle of her own blood was definitely going to give Gideon nightmares for quite a few nights to come, Fabian was sure.

"You heard the healer. Hermione's a strong witch. She's going to be just fine. She fainted only because of the blood loss. Nothing a few vials of blood replenishing potion can't fix. She'll be up and about at dawn tomorrow, once the dreamless sleep wears off." Fabian patted his twin's shoulder.

"Fab…" Gideon spoke in a broken voice. "I can't.. not without..."

"Don't talk rubbish. The bond hasn't been sealed.." Fabian did not even want to think of the implications of that sentence.

"It's not about the bond. Fab, I can't do this. Not without her. I think I.. I've fallen in love with her. If anything…"

Fabian hugged his brother hard, passing on all his strength to him in that one contact. "Nothing will happen to her. You hear me, Gid," Fabian placed his hands on his twin's cheeks, making him meet his eyes, "Nothing is happening to Hermione. She's going to be up and about, running circles around us in the morning."

Patting each other's shoulders again, the twins disengaged.

"You go on in. Sit by her side. Channel our core if you think it'll help her heal faster…"

Gideon looked at his brother sharply. "You never need to ask, Gid," Fabian smiled at his twin. Sure, he was the elder one, the tougher one, the moralistic one, while Fabian himself was more of a player, a prankster, and the proverbial middle child to boot, but it was times like these that reinforced in both their minds that they were a team. Essentially, two they might be, but they would always be one in the most innate sense of the word. "I'll be right in. Let me just speak to the healer again." With another pat and a squeeze, they each went their separate ways.

…

"Uhm... Gideon?" Hermione said, surprised to find him seated on the chair by her bed in the room. Where were they? Mungos? The place just looked too posh to be the school infirmary.

"Hermione!" Gideon hugged her tight, then pulling apart he let his eyes scan her thoroughly, "How are you feeling? Should I call the healer?" he asked, making a move to get up.

"No," Hermione held his wrist to stop him. "I'm alright. What happened after I passed out? Is Harry ok? Did everyone get out alright?"

The second Gideon heard her questions, his temper was hitting the roof.

"What happened? You want to know what happened, Hermione? You took out a good ten years off of my life is what happened! What the fuck were you thinking? Flying on thestral back from Hogwarts to London like that? And what you all did at the Department of Mysteries…"

"We did what we had to…" Hermione was never one to back down. Sure, she didn't want to wake feeling like she'd been set on fire on the inside and then start a fight with a virtual stranger, and maybe, flying on thestral back might not have been her first choice, but they'd done it to save Sirius. Or well… they'd thought as much. Their hearts were in the right place.

"NO! You lot didn't have to do any of that! Sirius was safe at Grimmauld! You guys on the other hand were throwing pesky stunners against Death Eaters!"

A few minutes in, words were flying and tempers rising like the noonday summer sun.

"One more stunt like that, Hermione, and you're parents won't have to pull you out of Hogwarts. I will!"

"You have no right to do that!"

"Oh. But you see, I do! I have every right on you!"

They both stood stunned at that declaration, not yet realizing just how close they'd gotten to each other in their battle of wills. Their toes were touching, their noses were dangerously close as Hermione had thrown her head back to make Gideon see sense while Gideon was peering down his aristocratic nose at the little nuisance he thought she was creating. Their hard breathing the only thing that was now echoing around the otherwise silent room.

Hermione dry gulped. "It… It is true then? What the books said?" she asked softly, suddenly finding no need to raise her voice to get her point across.

"And just what did your books say?" Gideon asked her just as softly, almost holding his breath. Was this it? Would he finally be able to speak to her honestly?

"It said that.. that.. you and I.. we're.. that our souls..."

"Our souls have bonded," Gideon said clearly, "to each other," he added to ensure there wasn't any confusion henceforth.

"That day… at the Black library?" Hermione just couldn't find it in herself to look away from those piercing blue eyes, she'd always felt like they could see right in her and she felt like maybe they really could.

"The bond was awakened."

Gideon could point out the precise moment when it all clicked in Hermione's mind. She really is too smart for her own good!

"That's why you always stayed away, sending Fabian to me. You didn't want to awaken the bond?" she asked that in a voice that almost broke Gideon's heart.

"Don't think that, Hermione. Never think that," Gideon insisted, his hands automatically going to her arms, holding on to her, to make sure she heard him out. "You have to understand Hermione, having an active soul-bond with someone inhibits all our choices. You were only thirteen when we bonded. I couldn't do that you."

Hermione could feel the emotions warring inside Gideon and she somehow just knew he was telling the truth, she didn't doubt him one bit.

"But then… the bond is active now…" Hermione's eyes searchingly darted between his.

"Yes, the bond is active." Gideon firmly withheld her wandering gaze.

"Then why?" Hermione's eyes flitted from Gideon's unwavering gaze down to his lips before slowly making their way back to his eyes. She didn't know what she was asking him an answer for. Why was he still holding himself back? Why hadn't he yet spoken to her? Why was he always on the periphery of her life, when she needed him right at the center? Why..? Why..? Why…?

Gideon with his intense arctic blue eyes and his supple pink lips had somehow become a constant of her dreams since she had brought him and his twin to the Hogwarts Infirmary. And yet, he'd always stayed just beyond her reach, tantalizing her with his nearness yet remaining as unattainable as the moon.

Hermione's hands cupped his face, her fingers boldly tracing the high lines of his cheeks before softly treading over the outline of his lips.

Gideon's hand moved to engulf hers as he stopped her soft caress of his face. "You don't know what you're asking for, little witch…" Gideon's voice had gone husky and his eyes were turning dark with a turbulent storm rising in them. That and something more...

"But I do know! I know exactly what I want, Gideon. I've known it for quite some time now," Hermione insisted.

Both of them gazed into each other's eyes, both willing the other to understand the emotions running high within them. The air around them turned heavy with all the things left unsaid between them.

Hermione continued to look deep within Gideon's eyes as she braced herself and said, "I want y.."

Gideon hurriedly cut her off with a finger on her lips. "Don't say that. For the love Merlin, please don't say it," he begged, his shoulders falling as he almost doubled in on himself before quickly catching hold of Hermione's shoulders to keep steady.

Never in her entire life had Hermione ever thought she'd have a man as hard and unyielding as Gideon Prewitt, reduced to pleading so brokenly in front of her.

Gideon had his eyes shut as if he was in some physical pain. "Hermione… darling, please.. try and understand… Being bonded to a thirteen-year-old. Falling in love with a fifteen-year-old. None of that has been easy on me… And now you.."

"You're in love with me?" Hermione's hands stilled their sweet torture on her wizard as her eyes wildly searched for the truth of that statement in his eyes.

"You are bold and beautiful. Smart, witty, compassionate, loving, understanding. All that along with your fiercely protective nature and your mile-wide mean streak," he said the last bit with a mischievous shine in his eyes, "What's not to love? Falling for you was the easiest thing I've ever done in my life," he said softly, his voice as sincere as his words.

"Then why?" he was confusing her a little too much. Why was he holding himself back then, if he really loved her so?

"Darling, I'm six years your senior. And that's just my physical age. I'm not even speaking of my actual birth year here."

"Why is age such a big matter with you? Look at me. Does it look like I could ever be with anyone my age? With or without the bond, my partner in life was bound to be someone more mature than most boys my age." Hermione never shied from calling a spade a spade and Gideon realized it was one of those that made him love her more.

Unknowingly, Hermione had just used the same logic Gideon had overheard her mother teasing her father with and that made him smile. He kissed the palm of her hand that rested on his cheek and carefully brought it down. "Give me some more time, okay? Just turn seventeen and then we will have this talk again. Is that alright with you?"

Grinding her teeth, Hermione nodded nonetheless. He just wasn't going to get over their age issue any sooner, anyway!

"Fine," she said pouting her lips. This time it was Gideon whose gaze wandered. "But you only have a few months. Then we talk."

Wait! "Only a few months?" Gideon looked at her doubtfully.

"I was born in '79. I'll be seventeen this September," Hermione shrugged.

Hallelujah! His heart cried in euphoria. "We'll have this talk then, I promise," he vowed.

…

It was only the next day, after the band of vagabonds had left for Hogwarts that Gideon realized he'd still not warned her off her dare-devilry!

"That vixen," he chuckled, understanding exactly how she'd played him to forget everything he wanted to speak of and yet had gotten the answers to all of her questions.

He really needed to be more mindful in the future…

Shaking his head, Gideon raised his teacup to his lips.

Author's Note:

Since this is just a small ficlet, it has no Horcruxes. Let's all pretend that Voldemort just dies in his face-off with Harry and Dumbledore at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.