Notes

Hi everybody, sorry for this update being a week late…. I'm late on all of our other stories too, due to writing a fest story that turned out slightly longer than planned… But, I have all four updates ready to go this weekend. And a comp story that's revealed, so you might all be fed up with me soon! If anyone would like to read the Antomione fest story that's responsible for the delay then please have a look at Seven Days….(Only on AO3 at the moment, but I'll be posting it to ffn soon.)

Now that tiny bit of shameless self promotion is out of the way, (Lol!) I'd like to say a few thank you's….. Firstly, as usual and of course, thank you to champagneandliterature, my fantastic writing partner. THANK YOU! AS ALWAYS, YOU ROCK!

Thank you as well to HwaetWeGardner….(I only needed two attempts to spell her penname this time… I'm getting better!) for the pre reading, I'm so glad you like this chapter and where the story is heading.

I apologise for the complete lack of Antomione in this chapter….. It's coming very soon, I promise. All I can say is "wait for the next chapter….. Teehee!"

Here we are then, thank you so much for the kudos, comments, reviews, etc, we love every single one of them!

Before The Dawn,

Chapter 5 - "Shall we call a truce?"

Number 12 Grimmauld Place, London.

Hermione couldn't get back to sleep. She had been tossing and turning for what felt like hours, and now her heart was pounding uncomfortably, her palms were sweaty, and her mind was spinning faster than she had ever imagined possible. Thousands of different half formed, staccato thoughts swirled in her brain, the sheer quantity of them preventing her from focusing on any particular one of them for longer than half a second at a time.

She glared at her bedside clock. It was a little after two in the afternoon. The Draught of Dreamless Sleep that Harry had given her had afforded her a few hours of semi peaceful rest, for which she was grateful, but the potion had worn off long ago, and there was no hope of her falling back to sleep right now.

Huffing in irritation, she got up, showered, then wandered downstairs, intending to start her day early. She strolled into the kitchen and jumped at the sight of Harry sitting at the table, staring blankly at his phone, nursing a cup of coffee and looking as if he'd slept as badly as she had. She shook her head in answer to his raised brow, then put a mug of her own under the spout of the coffee machine.

"You look terrible," Harry observed without preamble. "Should I have left you with him?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed without thinking. Then as her addled brain slowly caught up with her words, she shook her head instead. "No. You did the right thing bringing us away. Well, at least I think you did. I needed to clear my head, and I couldn't do that when I was in the same room as him." She watched the steady stream of liquid swirl into her cup with a frown. "Although, in fairness, my head's not much clearer now," she admitted, waiting for the machine to finish then crossing to join Harry at the table. "I can feel him in here, Harry," she said, putting a hand over her heart. "It's like a continuous pull that makes me want to run straight back to him. You have checked me over for compulsion spells and the Imperius curse, haven't you?"

"Yes, 'Mione," Harry sighed wearily. "You were there when I did it. You are not under the influence of any spell or potion."

She nodded, knowing that Harry had already cast the spells but somehow needing to hear his reassurance once again. "This is so strange! I've often felt a bit unsettled, but never like this, and although I've been aware of the pull in the past, I've never known where it was trying to lead me before now. Now that I know who's causing all of this, I just want to throw myself at him and that's mad because he's a bloody Death Eater! And, as if that's not enough on it's own, of all the Death Eaters in the world, it's him! The one who tried to murder me twice in the past! All of that being said, you did the right thing bringing us away for a bit."

She paused to chew her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I'm going back there this afternoon, though," she continued eventually. "It's just something that I have to do, and I can't explain it. I'm so sorry I stunned you, Harry, I had no idea that even happened, and I can't believe he didn't tell me or care that we did it, and, why are you looking at me like that and just letting me ramble on? Harry? I honestly had no idea that-"

"Whoa, Hermione!" Harry held up a weary hand. "Enough! I know you didn't mean to stun me, but are you really so surprised that he didn't tell you it happened? As you just mentioned, this is Dolohov we're talking about. Look at some of the things he's done in the past. He's hardly going to beat himself up over stunning someone, is he?" Harry shook his head then blew out a long breath, "seeing him wrap you up in his arms the way he did, and watching you go to him so happily, Merlin. That's going to take some getting used to!"

"For me too," she agreed. She pulled her nightshirt away from her body and peered down at her still tingling curse scar. "Do you think he and I are soul tied in the same way that you and Voldemort were?"

Harry stared into his half empty cup thoughtfully. When he looked back up, his eyes were somber. "I'd say it's a different kind of link but, yes, ultimately, my link with Voldemort involved an accidental magical bond. Thankfully, I never had any sexual aspects to worry about with mine though."

"This scar is still dancing," Hermione admitted, laughing and shuddering at the same time. "It feels just as restless as the rest of me, and it's been doing it since he grabbed hold of me in the woods. I want to go back to him, Harry, I need to-"

"Dancing?" Harry queried, and Hermione nodded. Being careful to keep herself strategically covered, she pulled her top down to show Harry the very tip of the purple flames which were still flickering gently across her upper chest.

Harry raised his eyebrows, but a movement in the doorway caught Hermione's eye and she yanked her top back up in horror. "Does one of you want to explain what's going on here?" Sirius Black asked.

Hermione said nothing. She just sipped her coffee and stared at Harry in horror. Sirius was watching them both with his usually cheerful face set like thunder. "How long have you been standing there?" Harry asked, turning his emerald eyes onto his Godfather.

"Long enough," Sirius said grimly. "Been visiting Dolohov in Azkaban, have you, Hermione? Or is there something else I need to know about?"

Burley Village, New Forest, Hampshire.

Burley village looked as pretty as a picture. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, the sun was shining brightly over the hotchpotch of thatched cottages, witchcraft shops, cafes, and ice cream parlors that made up the village itself, and the wild, open moorland beyond was looking the best it did all year. Wild ponies and cows mingled with a few deer, all making the most of the lush spring grass, and the gorse and heather were all blooming resplendently in shades of yellow, pink, and purple.

Hermione skirted the wild donkey family who often wandered freely in the high street casually blocking traffic until they were ready to move on, then hurried along the narrow pavement up the hill towards the Burley Inn pub.

The talk with Sirius and James had been difficult, to say the least. Hermione felt terrible for leaving Harry to finish it off alone but her headache had been worsening all afternoon, and she had desperately needed to get out of Grimmauld Place before the pull to Antonin became unbearable. She had sent a text message to Pansy, which the other witch had answered immediately, and Hermione had hurriedly excused herself, attempting to escape from the confines of London before she lost her mind.

She sighed. She felt bad for walking out on Sirius and James. They had both treated her as family since she had been a teenager, and had taken her in without a second thought when she had obliviated her parent's memories during the war. Both of them had been extremely reluctant to let her go, especially when they found out where she was going and who she was going to see. Hermione counted herself lucky that Lily and Remus had both still been at work. Sirius and James, by far the most reckless pair of the close-knit group, had at least understood her intense need to follow her heart.

Pansy was sitting on a wooden picnic bench in the pub garden, a jug of water and two glasses of ice and lemon on the table in front of her. "You alright, Granger?" she asked, sounding relatively friendly as Hermione approached.

"Not by half," she admitted, sliding into the bench opposite Pansy.

"I wonder why? Whatever could be wrong?"

Hermione stared at Pansy, looking past her lack of formal greeting and wondering if she was being deliberately obtuse. She guessed from their past history that she was. "What do you think is wrong?!" she shot back, rather more snappily than she had intended.

Pansy canted her head to the side, regarding Hermione curiously and ignoring her rudeness. She used a stirrer to push several ice cubes around her glass and nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. I've got one question. Are you going to follow your heart and join us, or is that super sized brain of yours finally going to win out and lead you back to your sensible, but boring as fuck life?"

Hermione stared at her glass of water as she picked it up. Pansy had eloquently, if rather rudely, summed up her whole dilemma in one extremely direct question. She sighed, deciding to let the abrasive wording slide. "All my life, I've done exactly that," she admitted, putting the glass back down and stroking the tiny beads of condensation with her finger. "It's what people expect of me. They see my straight laced clothes, my sensible job, and my lack of boyfriend, and they expect me to do the sensible thing. They expect me to just sit at home and read while the whole world passes me by."

"Well-" Pansy began, but Hermione took a sip of her water and held up a hand to cut her off. Looking amused, Pansy licked her lips and smirked, "don't let me interrupt you, do go on why don't you?!"

Hermione sighed. "Sorry." She closed her eyes and sighed a second time, trying to get a grip on herself. "This is all rather overwhelming. I don't mean to be rude. What's it like being bonded to a Vampyre, Pansy? Honestly?" She opened her eyes again and locked them onto Pansy's cool green gaze. Hermione was both intrigued and terrified by the events of the last twenty four hours, and she knew she had to make a final decision very soon. If she walked back into the cottage, she knew she would bond forever with Antonin, and she no longer cared if Pansy knew how terrified that made her feel. She just wanted reassurance that she wasn't walking into some elaborate trap. "I don't think I want to do the sensible thing anymore. I think I want to join you, but I'll be honest, I'm scared."

"Of what?" Pansy met her gaze slightly mockingly. "What are you so scared of? Of stepping outside of your perfectly boxed up little life? Of Antonin? Of what people will think of you? And people from which world, for that matter? Because there's both worlds to consider here, Hermione. People in the overworld will wonder where you've gone when you disappear. There's also a hell of a lot more Vampyres in our community than the ones you met last night. There's a whole other world hidden in the shadows, and you can't carry on flitting between our world and the overworld. You need to be damn sure of what you want, then you need to either jump in with both feet or bugger off totally and leave Antonin well alone, and you need to make that choice this afternoon."

Hermione watched a group of New Forest ponies amble slowly across the road, and then start to graze inside the pub garden. "You're awfully protective of him," she stated. Tell me what it's like, Pansy, please. You must understand what a huge decision this is. You've done it yourself after all! If I go to Antonin, feeling like this, what's going to happen?" Hermione hated herself for sounding so weak, but she was, quite honestly, terrified.

Pansy smiled slightly more kindly as she watched the ponies. "She's about to drop that foal. Look how big her belly is." Hermione watched the mare's swollen stomach as Pansy continued. "I have made this choice, yes. But I didn't find it scary. It was easy for me. Nothing was holding me back, so I just followed my heart and went where Finn offered to take me. It turned out to be the best thing I've ever done." She nodded as Hermione rolled an ice cube around in her mouth, feeling the intense cold ground her slightly.

Pansy eyed her speculatively. "Let me ask how you're feeling right now. Do you feel unsettled? Restless? Like you can't think straight?" Hermione nodded. "Is there a burning lust that's pulling at your insides so hard that you can barely stand up? Is there a throbbing in your pulse points that feels like your blood is trying to jump out of your body?" With each question, Hermione nodded, and with each nod Pansy's smile grew a little wider. "Do you fancy me right now, Granger? Even though you've never had any interest in women, and you hate my guts?"

Hermione was so shocked by Pansy's last question that the glass slipped out of her hand. She tightened her grip and caught it at the last possible second, feeling her cheeks heat as Pansy laughed. "Oh, Hermione," Pansy said with what sounded like a fond sigh. "I've hated you in the past too, but shall we call a truce now and make a new start?"

Hermione set the glass safely down on the table and stared at Pansy in complete bewilderment. "Yes please. That would make things so much easier," she said, shaking the hand that Pansy held out.

Pansy gazed down at their clasped hands for a long moment then smiled. "Come on then, let's walk to the cottage and get you and Antonin bonded, shall we?"

"Wait a minute!" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly feeling panicked all over again, "you haven't answered my question. I was going to make my final decision based on your answer."

"Oh, sweet girl," Pansy laughed as she stood up. "Your decision was already made hours ago. You need to stop over analyzing it." She sat back down and pulled her coat around her as the breeze picked up. "You really want to know what it's like to be with a Vampyre? All right, I'll tell you. Do you remember how it felt before you kissed Antonin last night?"

Pansy smirked as Hermione nodded. "I thought you might. Well, it will feel like that every time you're close to him. The venom in his body will call to you, the same way Finn's calls to me. When he finally bites you for the first time, it will feel utterly euphoric, and after that, this burning, uncomfortable attraction that your feeling now will settle somewhat. You'll be able to be in the same room as him without losing your mind, but you'll never lose the basic lust you feel for him. The first couple of seconds of any bite hurts like hell, by the way, but it's a pain you get used to, then you start to crave it, and eventually you need it like you need oxygen. The pain is short lived. Once the venom in their saliva gets into your blood, the feeling becomes indescribable. It's like having ten orgasms all at once, and the peaceful, sated feeling afterwards is like nothing else on earth. The sexuality of the bond aside, though, you'll be hyper aware of Antonin, as he will be of you. It's like a soul bond in the regular magical world, just this one comes with the added bonus of regular, indescribably mind blowing sex."

Hermione found herself struggling to breathe once again. Pansy's descriptions were so vivid, and her voice, as she'd spoken, had affected Hermione in ways she didn't yet understand. Pansy smiled. "You like that sound of all that, huh?"

"Why am I reacting like this to you?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"Because," Pansy said, looking supremely pleased as she poured more water into their glasses, "Antonin was right, as usual, the man's infuriatingly intelligent after all, we're going to have a four way bond. I'm feeling you in my heart, and in my cunt for that matter, already. I'm beyond pleased about that because I've always liked women as well as men, and you, Hermione, are a very beautiful woman."

"Wait!" Hermione gasped, feeling a bold twitch of interest in her thighs, "Wait, what? I don't, I mean, I'm straight. Or at least I thought I was!"

"Things can change," Pansy said, clearly taking pity on her. "Don't worry, nobody's going to do anything unless you want us to. I won't deny my own interest in you though, and if you're feeling something for me too, well, at the very least, it proves Antonin's other theory."

"Which is?" Hermione frowned, irritated by her lingering confusion.

Pansy grinned. "Well, you see, my blood sustains both Finn and Antonin. I'm fully bonded to Finn because he drinks directly from me. Antonin's never bitten me, unfortunately, despite my numerous attempts to tempt him. He has cast iron willpower, which was why it was so strange to see him as agitated as he was over you last night. But willpower aside, he still needs a supply of human blood, so I draw mine out for him, and he drinks it from a glass. The mere fact that I sustain him makes the two of us semi bonded. You and he are also semi bonded due to that curse he hit you with, and I think we're both picking up on that in each other. Plus, as Finn proved last night, you're susceptible to the Vampyre venom anyway. When Antonin bites you, we'll both probably feel the effects of the group bond a lot more."

Hermione frowned in confusion yet again, "So you sustain both of them? How do you not run out of blood?!"

Pansy laughed and shook back her multicolored hair. "Blood replenishing potion! Multiple relationships are extremely common in our community. There's just not enough humans to go around, you see. Luna is bonded to both of the Lestrange brothers. I have Finn and Antonin. The only reason Antonin's never bitten me directly is because he's been holding out for you, and he wants you to have a relatively free choice about who you bond with. If you only want him, that's fine. Although, I do warn you you'll probably always be looking twice at Finn and me, and us to you, if you want all of us, it's just a matter of letting everyone bond together as a foursome. We could have the best four way relationship in the world!"

"Four way relationship?" Hermione asked weakly, her brain spinning as a powerful wash of lust caused her entire body to tremble.

Pansy shrugged. "If you want it. It's your call. Or you can just have Ant. Anyway, that's enough of the theory. What's it to be, Granger? Head or heart? Overworld or underworld?"

Hermione took a deep breath. Pansy was right. There was no decision left to make. She just needed to pluck up the courage to take the first step. Still, she remembered as she inhaled slowly through her nose, she hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor for no reason. She wiped her mouth and looked Pansy steadily in the eye. "Underworld. Take me to him now, Pansy, please. Before I lose my nerve."

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