Happy Saturday, you lovely people! This one's a bit longer than usual and very important to the story line so I hope you like it. :o) Thank you so much for being here, I really appreciate every single one of you.
Love,
Adrien
Disclaimer: I still, sadly, do not own the Potterverse. That belongs to J. K. Rowling. All the new characters you don't recognize though are my brain children and I am very fond of them. :o)
Chapter Eight: Sometimes You Just Need to Share Your Load
"Not one but two letters came for you today," Marceau's voice startles Hermione away from the ancient text she was currently scouring for the history of aconite, her shoulders relaxing as the familiarity of the English language surrounds her (working with Marceau always kept her on her toes because she never knew if he would speak to her in Bulgarian, French, or English but it was honestly one of her favorite parts of working with her). "Whoever sent them is desperate to see you. One had a compulsion charm keyed to your signature that would have coherenced you to open the letter. Once you opened it, a portkey would have been activated and taken you to an undisclosed, likely unplotted, location. The other had a hex embedded into its paper that would have sliced your finger as you opened it, activating blood magic that would have been able to track you anywhere."
Hermione leans back in her chair, running her fingers through her hair with a long suffering sigh because she hadn't expected Dumbledore to be so insistent to use blood magic but it really wasn't surprising at this point, before taking the letters from Marceau. "I wish I could say I was surprised. Thank you for bringing them to me. Where exactly did they go considering only those with permission to send me letters can get their mail through Viktor's wards and the only person who has my permission to do so would never do that."
"As soon as I reached out to Tsveta about your testing, she had a sort of honey net set up for any mail attempting to reach you. It would first go to the ministry to be screened for any spells meaning harm before being forwarded directly to you. She had planned to tell you once you both had a chance to meet this week. She also has a few other ideas in regards to your safety that she'd like you to hear."
"Thank you Marceau. I can never tell you how much yours and Tsveta's help means to me." Hermione gives her concerned mentor a soft smile before her eyes finally look down at the letters and what she finds truly does surprise her because only one of the letters is from Dumbledore...the other is from Voldemort...
"May I ask who exactly would go through such measures to get you to them?" Marceau's voice draws Hermione's attention back to her mentor.
The young witch stares at the older man for a long moment before making a decision and silently throwing up a variety of privacy wards that have Marceau's eyes widening in surprise. "For me to tell you this, I need a wand oath stating that what I tell you today and anything else I tell you in the future that pertains to what I tell you today cannot be discussed with anyone else who does not know without my express permission. It isn't because I don't trust you, because I do very much, but this involves more than myself and I can't take any risks."
"I understand, ma petite chou and I am more than willing." He gives her a warm smile before drawing his wand. "I, Marceau Angelo, swear on my magic and on my life that anything told to me before leaving this room today and anything told to me in the future pertaining to what I learn today will not be shared with anyone not already in the know will not be shared without Hermione's consent So mote it be."
"I have to warn you that there is a lot to this story. More than even I know at this point. There is a lot that has been kept from me, that I'm still working to find answers to. But for you to understand how I got here, we'll have to start with me meeting my first friends...I was less than popular during my time in muggle primary school so these truly were my first friends...though we didn't know we were going to be friends at the time. I was helping another boy find his toad on the Hogwarts Express and having absolutely no luck whatsoever either socially or in my finding of his familiar when I opened the last compartment on my side of the train. It was here that I met the two boys who would later become my best friends: Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."
Marceau's eyes widen and Hermione smiles, a knowing gleam in her eye. "Yes, that Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, defeater of the biggest threat to the wizarding world as a whole since Grindelwald, though he hates to be recognized for that. He's an important player in my story but Ronald Weasley is just as important and he's often overlooked when our trio is discussed. And we are a trio. Those in Britain had started calling us The Golden Trio before I left. Though those same people have probably assumed I abandoned my boys. What they don't realize is I could never abandon my boys, that everything I have done since joining the wizarding world has been for my boys and I doubt that is something that will change any time soon. Coming to Bulgaria was the best, and safest option for all of us...But I'm getting ahead of myself again...This story starts with our first year..."
Hermione leaves out nothing as she describes everything that had happened in the past six years. She talks about her first year and how she lied for her boys when they saved her life (how forgiving them was the easiest thing she has ever done), how she set a professor on fire to save Harry, how she and Ron came to the unsaid rule that continues to play a role in their friendship to this day (that Harry has to be the one to go on), how Harry had faced Voldemort. She talks about her second year and finding out about the Basilisk only to be petrified before she could tell anyone, how Harry and Ron had found her notes and figured out what she had been trying to say, how her boys faced Voldemort for the second time. She talks about third year and how she and Ron covered for Harry when he snuck into Hogsmeade to be with them, how the boys were so angry with her for reporting the mysterious broom to their head of house without talking to them (how they forgave her and tore into the rest of their house for being so horrid to her when the fight had been between the three of them), how Ron stepped in front of her and Harry when they faced a supposed murderer even though he was injured, how Harry shielded her from a werewolf, how she brought Harry back in time to save Sirius Black-the only family he really had left. She tells him about fourth year and how Ron started treating her differently, how she met Viktor in the library and how he was the first person to see past her brain almost instantly, how she was the only one to stand by Harry and believe him, how she learned how to duel viciously to help Harry train because he needed someone he could compete with so that he could survive (and how she refused to let the boy who had become her brother die just because she couldn't offer him competitive dueling), how she was kidnapped and placed underwater without her consent (and how both Viktor and Harry had gone berserk when they had found out), how she snuck into the hospital wing under the borrowed invisibility cloak to cradle Harry's head in her lap as he sobbed in the middle of the night after he faced Voldemort and saw his parents protecting him.
Then she tells him about fifth year being the worst yet and how nobody believed Harry, how they'd been forced not to speak to Harry during the summer, how Ron's terrible treatment of her had escalated while his mother (and seemingly everyone else) tried to push them into a relationship, how she'd been treated as less than human by a supposed teacher and been forced to carve lines into her own hands, how she'd almost died following the boy who had become her brother, and how they had lost one of the only adults they could trust. Finally, she tells him about begging the Order to protect her parents and how Dumbledore had ignored her plea. She tells him about how the last connection she had to the muggle world was brutally taken from her and her childhood home burnt to the ground. She tells him about the meeting where she decided to leave, the promise she made to Harry as she left, and everything she learned in the weeks that had followed...including the fact that these letters were from the two leaders of the war brewing in Britain. Both of which seemed to want her on their side.
Marceau leans forward, his own eyes glassy as he gently cups her face and brushes away the tears she hadn't even realized were falling. "I knew there was something special about you the moment I met you and you have proved to be a beautiful, brilliant, incredibly tenacious young woman every single day since you saved Aleksandar. Your story, and your willingness to share it with me, just shows me that you are braver than anyone, including yourself, gives you credit for. I am so incredibly thankful to have you in my life, ma petite Chou," Marcaeu's voice is gravely but honest.
Hermione reaches up to squeeze both his hands, "I'm just as thankful to have you. You have helped make my situation so much easier and so much more organized but you have also helped make Bulgaria feel like home and you have given me hope for a brighter future."
"Your future would have been bright no matter what but I am glad to take as much of your load off of your shoulders as I can. Now, how much of this would you be willing to share with Tsveta because it honestly sounds like Britain is in need of a third side to prevent this same war from happening a third time and she is much more equipped to help you than myself."
Hermione pulls Marceau into a tight hug, so thankful for the lifeline he has thrown her way, and he hugs her back just as tightly.
When they finally pull apart, they throw themselves back into their everyday potions experimentation and medical research. They only take a break when Nayden shoos them out of the office to eat lunch with the team and then again when Viktor knocks gently on the door jam at the end of the day, carefully leading her through the Floo and toward his room.
"I missed you so much," Viktor murmurs, wrapping both arms around Hermione's waist and pressing his lips to her neck as she worked on unbuttoning her work robes.
"We saw each other for lunch," Hermione laughs, turning around in his arms as she finishes unbuttoning her robes.
"Still missed you," Viktor grumbles before pressing his lips to hers.
Hermione smiles into the kiss before pulling back just long enough to say, "I missed you just as much."
A large grin splits Viktor's lips before the two meet in another, more fierce, kiss.
Hermione's hands slip under Viktor's jersey, pushing it up and over his head, as Viktor begins leading them to her bed.
"Mia? … Vik? … Anyone home?" Alek's voice comes from the living room, breaking Hermione and Viktor apart instantly.
"Check the drawers on the right side of the dresser, Winky left you a surprise," Viktor tells her then presses one more kiss to her lips before he scoops up his jersey and tugs it back over his head as he heads to the door.
"I'll be right behind you," Hermione says and Viktor nods, shooting her a quick smile, before slipping out.
Hermione moves over to the dresser where a note sits on top of the right side of the dresser addressed to her in wobbly, childlike writing.
Mistress Mione's Harry sent galleons for Winky to buy clothes for Mistress. Winky tried to buy clothes like Mistress's favorites but if Mistress doesn't like anything, Winky is happy to take it back.
Master asked Winky to place clothes here but Winky is more than happy to place them into the room across the way.
Winky also hung a new comfy coat on the wardrobe door for Mistress that Winky made Mistress herself because Winky has noticed that Mistress gets chilly wearing her bed things in the rest of the house.
A soft smile tugs at Hermione's lips as she sets down the note and pulls open the top drawer. Her cheeks tinge red as she takes in the new underwear filling the drawer because she knows that Winky was was the one that picked these out for her. Hermione has only gone to her first lingerie shop because Ginny hadn't wanted to go alone one but Hermione had fallen in love with the feeling of lace and she had made regular trips with her best female friend after their first one. The boys may have thought it was out of character for the two young women they viewed as tomboys but maybe that was why she and Ginny enjoyed it so much, it was one of the few really "girly" things they indulged in between Ginny roughing it on the Quidditch pitch and Hermione stressing over school work and extracurricular studies.
The second drawer is filled with a mixture of soft cotton and silk (silk being another discovery Hermione had made on her regular shopping trips with Ginny), all camisoles and shorts. She pulls out a set of silk, eggplant pajamas with black lace edging the bottoms and neck before shutting that drawer as well.
The third drawer has a neatly folded sweater on the left and a team t-shirt in her size on the right. The fourth drawer has a pair of jeans on the left and a handful of socks and tights on the right. There is enough room in all the drawers for the clothes she had stored in the other room and they are all organized exactly like she had organized them when she'd gotten here as well. Winky really did pay attention.
Quickly scooping up her robes and stripping out of her underwear, she tosses all her dirty laundry into Viktor's bin before slipping on her pajamas and approaching the wardrobe to grab the house coat Winky had mentioned.
When she opens the wardrobe, the right side is filled halfway with a handful of new dresses, some work attire, and a few other miscellaneous items while also leaving enough room for the few things hanging up in the wardrobe across the hall. The house coat Winky had mentioned is a large, soft, knitted, white cardigan. When Hermione slips the garment on, it stops just above her knees and wraps comfortably around her entire body with room to spare. As she makes her way to the door, the cardigan changes its color to match the lace on her pajamas. Winky really has outdone herself.
"Miss Mia!" Vyara yells, launching herself at Hermione from Viktor's lap as soon she comes into the room.
Hermione pauses a few feet from the couch to meet the little girl's embrace in a squat.
Vyara's little arms wrap around Hermione's neck in a tight embrace.
"Hello, little one." Hermione greets, running her fingers through the little girl's hair as she returns the embrace.
An unconscious smile tugs at Hermione's lips as she catches Viktor's soft, loving gaze over the little girl's shoulder before she stands up and makes her way over to the couch, balancing the little one on her hip.
"Not that we aren't happy to see you but why the need to drop by?" Hermione asks, snuggling into Viktor's side as she takes a seat beside him, running her fingers unconsciously through the little girl's hair.
Alek's eyes flash from Viktor to Hermione before fixating on Vyara as he wrings his hands together and clears his throat uncomfortably. "I have a favor to ask but before I do, there's something I need to tell you and I don't know how you guys will take it or if you will still talk to me after but Marceau and Coach encouraged me to come here so I just have to get on with it…"
Both Hermione and Viktor stay silent, recognizing how hard this was for their friend and knowing that no words could make it any easier, but their body language and gazes are open, encouraging him to tell them whatever it is he needs to say.
Alek takes a deep breath, his eyes still trained on his little girl, and then continues, "I'm a werewolf and I understand that you may not feel comfortable or safe around me anymore because even though Bulgaria is leagues ahead of other countries when it comes to werewolf rights, we've still got a long way to go when it comes to acceptance and—"
Hermione's eyes flicker from Alek to Viktor who meets her gaze the moment he feels her eyes on him. The compassion flaring through his gaze matches the feeling building in her stomach as he gives her a nod, silently asking her to speak for both of them
"Alek," Hermione's soft voice cuts through Alek's increasingly hysterical speech. "Can you look at us, please?"
Alek's whole body tenses but he complies and slowly moves his gaze toward the couple.
"Your wolf is a part of you. Just like your love for your little girl. Your passion for quidditch. Your snark. Your bad jokes. Your overdramatics. Those are all pieces of the amazing person that we are so glad to call our friend and we are more than happy to help you whenever you need it," Hermione states firmly, her honest eyes never breaking away from Alek's gaze.
Tears glaze Alek's gaze as he gives the curly-haired with a warm smile, "Thank you."
"I do have one question though," Viktor voice after a moment of silence. "I understand the secrecy behind your lycanthropy with how taboo the topic is, even here where werewolves have a lot more freedom than they do in other countries, but why the secrecy with Vyara when she clearly means the world to you?"
"Because it's just us...I've been...alone for as long as I can remember. Shipped from boarding school to boarding school and left with nannies every break...I kept everyone at a distance...Never stayed with a woman more than one night...and then Vyara happened...and I just knew that I wanted a different life for her...So I've done everything I could to keep her out of the spotlight...which meant keeping up the facade of family even though my family has all but disowned me for having a child out of wedlock and her birth mother gave up all rights to her the moment she came into this world...and it meant keeping her away from the team so that her existence wouldn't become know to the general public because someone on the team let her existence leak. I love our team but Vyara is my life."
Viktor nods, a silent understanding passing over all the adults in the room because every one of them knew that those you loved came above everything else...but sometimes you needed help to protect that love.
The rest of the night is spent with quiet conversation until Vyara falls asleep against Hermione's chest so Hermione takes the small girl up to one of the guest rooms before making her way to the library and throwing herself into an idea she'd had earlier in the day when she and Marceau were discussing how they could keep track of a third side remotely.
She isn't sure how much time has passed when the library door opens but she knows it's late.
"Could you show me the charms you used for us to communicate using our journals?" Hermione asks, tapping her wand distractedly against her knee with her left hand while she scratches notes down onto a sheet of paper with her right hand.
"Of course, Mila," Viktor replies, gently tugging her wand from her hand and lacing her fingers through his as he squats down beside her. "Can I ask what you're working on? I'm assuming it's not related to your apprenticeship."
Hermione smiles sheepishly at her lover and he kisses the back of her hand that is still clasped in his. "I'm charming pieces of parchment for Harry, Ron, and myself so that we can keep track of who we know to be on our side. I want them to be linked together like our journals but I'm also charming them so that only those keyed into the list can read them. To others, mine will appear as a book list, Ron's will appear as a crumpled candy wrapper, and Harry's will appear as hastily scratched quidditch plays since he has been tapped as captain this year. The only people keyed into the lists will be myself, Harry, Ron, and you."
"Me?" His eyebrows shoot up and a smile tugs at his lips.
"Of course," Hermione replies as she turns toward her lover and pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. "I trust you more than anyone."
"I love you, Mila," he murmurs, capturing her lips in a soft kiss that quickly deepens.
Hermione slides off of her chair, knocking Viktor to the ground from his squatting position as she straddles him.
Their kiss breaks as the two teenagers laugh, love and affection mixing with lust as they stare into each other's eyes.
Hermione's hair creates a curtain around Viktor's face as she smiles down at him, "I love you, you sweet, brilliant man." Her right gently cups his cheek as she leans down and presses her lips to his.
Viktor squeezes her left hand softly, their fingers still intertwined despite their new position. His other hand trails up her thigh to the small of her back, his fingers slipping under the waistband of her silky shorts as he presses her body closer to his.
Pleasure shoots through her core, causing the coil in Hermione's stomach tightens, when Viktor's quickly hardening member repeatedly grazes her clit. "Viktor, I need you," Hermione gasps into his mouth as her right hand skates down his bare chest to slip into the waistband of his sleep pants.
"Take what you need, Mila," Viktor replies, his dark eyes hooded with lust as he stares up at her.
Hermione hesitates only a moment, nibbling her bottom lip in between her teeth, before drawing on her Gryffindor courage and slowly rising to her feet.
Viktor sits up on his elbows, curiosity and worry beginning to war with the lust and love in his eyes. Lust and love overtake his gaze again as he watches her pull the thin camisole over her head before dropping it to the floor.
Hermione slowly slides the shorts down her legs, her eyes never leaving Viktor's, before once again straddling her lover and whispering, "Is this ok?"
"More than ok, Mila," he whispers back, his hands grazing her bare behind as her breasts press against her chest.
Hermione smiles as she places her lips against his once more, never having been more glad that she chose not to wear underwear under her sleep clothes every night. Her hands once again skates down Viktor's bare chest, one stopping on each side of the waistband of his sleep pants. She pushes them down as he lifts his hips before shimmying out of them completely.
"Can I take you?" Hermione asks, lining his member up at her entrance.
"Always, Mila," Viktor breathes, leaning up to capture her lips with his own once again.
There is no foreplay, just need as she lowers herself onto his straining member.
Both lovers groan and freeze, panting slightly, once Hermione is fully sheathed. This isn't something they've done before. This angle is new, deeper than they're used to.
Her walls are already contracting around him, begging for movement.
He's filling her more than she thought possible, his tip nudging that spot inside her that always makes her see stars.
"Mila, please," Viktor begs, his voice rougher than normal, as his hands grip her hips.
She's sure there will be bruises there tomorrow but she could care less. Capturing his lips in a searing kiss, Hermione raises her hips before letting them fall again.
Viktor groans into her mouth, his hips meeting her every thrust.
Their pace is slow and their thrusts deep. The coils twisting impossibly tighter each time his cock slides across her clit, making her walls flutter a little tighter around his member.
Soon they're cumming together, Viktor's hands holding Hermione's hips flush against his own as he cums inside her and they grind their pelvises together, post in passion.
Hermione lays across Viktor's chest, smiling softly and pressing a kiss over his heart when he continues to hold on to her, his member remaining firmly seated in her center.
They should get up and go to bed. It was well past when they should have been asleep, that's why Viktor had come to check on Hermione in the first place after all, but neither could find the energy or desire to move from their place on the library floor. Eventually, the two lovers drift to sleep cradled in each other's arms.
A clattering noise woke the lover's from their peaceful sleep, causing both teens to scramble to their feet in search of their wands because they realize that the noise isn't an intruder but Hermione's mirror vibrating on the wooden desk.
Throwing on her silky camisole and shorts as Viktor pulls on his pants, Hermione opens her mirror.
"What's going on?" she demands, her eyes scanning the concerned faces of her two best friends.
"We, well the twins really, found out something dreadful," Harry whispers, glancing over his and Ron's shoulder to the closed door behind them.
"The twins?" Hermione asks, her bottom lip finding its way in between her teeth as she takes in the looks on her boys' faces.
"They're on our side. Which isn't surprising honestly, you know they've always been a bit of the black sheep in our family especially after they dropped out. They've always been vocal about their dislike of how the Order is run as well so it's not shocking that they're not totally trusted in that circle. They won't be great spies because of that lack of trust but they're scary brilliant and—" Ron seems like he could continue rambling for hours so Hermione cuts him off.
"I trust your judgement, Ron, and, honestly, I trust the twins. They have helped us more than once, trusting us when they weren't entirely sure what we were up to. They are loyal and completely clever and they will be an asset for us going forward. But I don't think you called us in the middle of the night about the twins. What has you both so worried?"
"The twins came to me today," Harry states. "They know that I'm still talking to you, they have from the beginning—something about our connection being too similar to theirs to just break like that, but they came to me today because they're worried about Ginny. She was helping them test a new product today and it had some negative effects when it shouldn't have—it had worked fine for the twins and she wasn't allergic to any of the ingredients—so they took her to St. Mungos. When they were there, they found out that she had reacted poorly because some of the ingredients had reacted poorly with the ingredients of a potion already in her system. A love potion."
Hermione's eyes widen and dots begin connecting in her mind that she hadn't even realized didn't make sense previously. Like why Ginny started distancing herself from Hermione, treating her as some sort of competition for Harry. Or why Ginny even started obsessing over Harry again when she'd been wholeheartedly embracing Hermione's previous advice to try to date other people to get over the small crush she'd previously had on Harry. Or why Ginny would be ok with a plan to potion Harry when she had confided in Hermione that she had always thought her mum optioning her dad to get his attention was wrong. Or why Ginny encouraged Ron to go after Hermione (and vise versa) when Ginny had always romanticized Hermione's relationship with Viktor from fourth year. Honestly, looking at her memories of Ginny and knowing now that she had been potioned made Hermione feel stupid for not noticing it sooner.
"I'm assuming it's keyed to you, Harry?" Hermione waited for Harry to nod before asking her next question. "Do we know by who?"
"Mum," Ron stated firmly, his blue eyes sparkling with bleary with tears for his baby sister that he always felt the need to protect.
Hermione's eyes harden and her hair sparks. "We need to get her out of there." She can't become a casualty, or worse a pawn, like the rest of us. The last sentence isn't said out loud but it screams through the stare the Golden Trio share.
"But she won't be seventeen until well after I leave and who knows what they'll do with her then," Harry frets, rubbing his fingers through his always untidy hair.
They can't risk someone coming after them for kidnapping if they want everything else to work. Again, this goes unsaid but is understood in the same way Ron and Hermione always understood that it was Harry that needed to move forward, everything else was expendable.
"Who is your Head of House?" Viktor cuts into the conversation for the first time, startling the Golden Trio.
Ron stares at Viktor in confusion for a moment before his eyes spark in understanding and a smile tugs his lips, "Dad passed the official title on to Bill as soon as he announced his engagement to Fleur."
"Why does that matter?" Harry questions.
"Because the Wizarding World is still a bit backwards in some ways. Head of House trumps parental rights. Bill can claim Ginny as his own, take her under his wing, and put her into the care of any person of age to keep her safe," Ron explains.
"Can Bill be trusted?" Hermione asks her boys.
"We'll look into it," Ron tells her, determination flaring in his eyes.
"Who will we send her to?" Harry worries, pulling his bottom lip in between his teeth much like Hermione had.
"Us," Viktor says firmly, his hand squeezing Hermione's waist in reassurance. "I don't want any rebuttals from any of you," Viktor continues when all three members of the Golden Trio open their mouths to protest. "We have the room. Bulgaria has already aligned itself with your cause. Hermione is here, this is her home now and Ginny is a friend in need. Harry was also already planning to come here on his seventeenth birthday so it only makes sense to make this your base."