Author's Notes
Welcome back to Beyond the Sea! This story has been on hiatus, and I've been completely stumped by it for a while now. But, I've finally figured out what's been wrong. This story is based on an idea that I've had for a very long time, but when I started writing it, I got a bit scared of how dark it would get. At that time, I wasn't comfortable publishing that, so I backed off, wrote half of what I wanted to, and then ended up kind of hating the whole thing….!
I now have a definite plan for this story, and I'm much more confident to let it get dark and then come back out into the light again. It will have a happy ending, I promise. I'm going to take the whole story down, tweak each chapter back to my original idea and re-upload them until it's all caught up, and then continue on from there. The story's basic plot will stay the same, but, and fair warning here, it will get dark. It will still be a tale of people from opposite sides of a war falling in love. It will still contain elemental magic, ancient rituals, and soul bonds. However, it will now be told from a mixture of Hermione, Pansy, and Ginny's different points of view. Individual content warnings will be put on each chapter as needed, so please do check each one carefully.
I intend to update this on a Monday where possible.
The wonderful champagneandliterature has agreed to help alpha/beta this story again, so thank you for your patience, lovely lady. You are, as always, amazing. XXxx
Last note, I promise….! I own nothing, nor will I make anything from this story. JKR owns the characters and the entire magical world. I'm only using my imagination here.
Beyond the Sea.
Chapter One - Oblivion.
The ancient white stone cottage stood alone, nestled into the surrounding cliffs as if it had been hewn there by time itself. Centuries of weathering from the salty sea winds had done nothing to erode its charm. Magic ran deep in this place, and nothing as simple as a few natural elements could wear it down.
It was impossible to find, even more so now, given its current levels of protection. It was unplottable, invisible to muggle eyes, and surrounded by Confundus charms that befuddled anyone, both wizard and muggle alike, who wandered too close. The cottage was also concealed by a Fidelius charm so strong that the Dark Lord himself had stood at its gate and seen no more than a crumbling cliff face.
It was precisely the level of privacy that Draco Malfoy liked.
The cottage's gardens were steep and equally heavily protected. Only those afforded the necessary access could see the immaculate vegetable gardens that had been cultivated partly with hard work and partly with magic into the side of the cliff. The chickens that pecked happily around the gardens would appear as seagulls to the uninitiated. The cottage was virtually self-sufficient. It relied upon nothing and no one.
It was the most unlikely setting for a Death Eater encampment that Hermione Granger had ever seen.
She wondered if she was even really seeing it. She was so weak that she could be hallucinating after all. The unidentified man carrying her had just whispered an address into her ear, and the cottage had emerged from the crumbling cliff in front of her very eyes. Still, in these uncertain, dangerous times, any amount of trickery was possible. With a pained groan, she turned, reaching instinctively for Harry, but of course, he wasn't there.
He hadn't been there for five months, but she never seemed able to remember that.
The life she had before her capture now seemed like a distant dream. The eighteen months that she had spent on the run for the second time in her life, this time with Harry, Ron, and Ginny beside her, were now no more than a blur of clouded memories, a vague period of time that had ended in an epic battle.
The man carrying her adjusted her in his arms, making her feel unstable and as if she was falling. The spell that had caught her during that final fight flashed briefly through her mind again, brought to life by the memory of falling endlessly from somewhere else. She had dropped out of the sky from a broom brought down by a Death Eaters curse and then had been dragged away by the brutal hands of the enemy.
What had followed had been five months of unmitigated hell at the hands of the Death Eaters who had captured her. She closed her eyes, unable to revisit any of those particular memories just yet.
It was all a blur of fear and pain right now. Hermione's mind reeled helplessly as she threatened to lose consciousness once more.
"Come on, Granger, we're home now. You're safe. Stay with me, please." Hermione shifted vaguely in the unknown man's arms, wondering why she was fighting the alluring pull of sleep and the natural oblivion that would follow. She blinked, trying to stay awake, although for what reason, she wasn't sure. The man's voice was familiar, alarmingly so, but somehow it sounded different than the one she remembered. Deeper. More mature. Maybe that was a good thing. Her memories of the person she feared this was were not altogether satisfactory.
She glanced down as vertigo threatened to overcome her. All she could see were black Death Eater robes below her, and a silver and black Death Eater mask above her. Suddenly there was a pop, a fizzing, crackling sound, and two identical swirls of black smoke. Two more Death Eaters appeared, one on either side of her and her captor. Hermione closed her eyes as a weak tear slid out of the corner of one eye. With three of them present, she knew there was no hope at all. "Zabini!" one of the masked men shouted, "what are you doing? You know the orders for this one. She's meant to be taken to headquarters. Where the hell are we? Have you lost your mind?!"
There was a blur of movement. Hermione felt herself whirling in a circle as the Death Eater carrying her threw up a potent shield spell. He laughed easily as it deflected whatever hex the other man had fired in his direction. Zabini. Hermione thought as she sighed in defeat, Blaise. She had been right, and now she knew beyond all certainty that she was doomed. "Not at all McGuinness, I know my mind very well, thank you. And that hex was far too slow."
Whoever McGuinness was, he was powerful. Hermione watched through her dazed inertia as he shot another strong, stunning spell at the shield, and it rebounded with a loud crack causing Blaise to sigh as if mildly irritated. "Seriously. Do not try my patience. It's a shield. You can't stun through a shield, especially not one of mine. That's just basic magical theory that you should have learned at about the age of twelve." Hermione felt herself being carried forwards. "Go home. Both of you," Zabini said. "I'll give you one chance and a memory charm for your safety."
"What are you playing at?!" The second man's voice was harsh as he panicked. "You've got Granger in your arms there! Hermione fucking Granger! Undesirable number two! We had specific orders for her!"
"The Dark Lord wants her taken to the Manor!" The first man sounded almost hysterical. "He's waiting there for her, for all of us. He knows we have her, Yaxley alerted him. We'll die if we turn up without her."
Zabini shrugged, bumping Hermione against his body with the gentle movement. She breathed in, catching the scent of cedar, mint, and citrus. "I won't die," Blaise stated quite conversationally, "I've made different plans, therefore I'm issuing you two with different orders. Are you really going to argue with my orders, to my face, when I'm leading this raid?"
Apparently, they were, and Zabini lost patience as incoherent babbling broke out between the two unknown men, making him sigh in annoyance. "Your time is running out. One chance, I said." The two masked Death Eaters turned to each other as if wondering what to do. Hermione absently wondered how much they could see through their masks and if they were able to read each other's intentions when their faces were so obscured. She knew she should be frightened, but somehow she couldn't summon the strength for that. She settled for just watching rather helplessly, feeling detached from her own body and the entire situation.
"Alright!" one of the Death Eaters said, holding up his hands as if in surrender. The other one didn't seem to want to submit so easily, though.
There was a flash of light, a panicked voice shouting "Crucio," a dizzying spin as Zabini whirled around to pull Hermione out of harm's way, then a flash of green light and Blaise's deep honeyed voice that said almost casually, "Avada Kedavra."
The protesting Death Eater fell flat on the floor, dead almost as soon as the Crucio he'd cast had left his wand. The other one dropped to his knees, crying hysterically as he begged for his life. "Please, Sir, please, I'm not arguing with you. Please, can I have a memory charm? I'll not say a word about any of this, I promise, I-"
"Honestly?" Zabini sniffed in disbelief, "you expect me to believe that? You'll break under one simple interrogation hex if you're this pathetic now. Who are you anyway?"
The man took off his mask then threw himself prostrate on the ground at Zabini's feet. Blaise merely stepped back, shaking his head in disgust. "Have you even got a mark?"
The sandy-haired man held out his left forearm to show a newly acquired Dark Mark, still red-tinged around the edges. "I can do it, Sir, I can do it!" he pleaded.
Zabini sighed once more. "I really don't think you can. I'm sorry, I am, genuinely sorry for this, but - Avada Kedavra."
As the green light illuminated the man's body, he fell, staring sightlessly into the distance with a look of surprise on his face. Hermione gave up. Closing her eyes, she decided that she just couldn't fight anymore. She was too weak. This war had taken too much out of her. She had nothing left, and as another tear slipped from the corner of her eye, she decided that if this really was the end for her as well, she was going to accept it.
Hermione Granger had no fight left.
She closed her eyes as her head lolled back. "Dammit, Granger, we're home. This is the front gate. I can't apparate you like this so stay awake, will you? After all of this, I'm not losing you now!"
She groaned as she tried to lift her head, failed, and slipped into unconsciousness in Blaise's arms. "Bollocks!" he swore, pushing the gate open and drawing his wand to open the front door. "Pans?" he called as the door swung open, "Pansy! I've got her, but she's in a bad way, come here!"
There was a rush of stampeding feet. Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, and Draco Malfoy all crowded around Hermione as Blaise carried her carefully down the hall, through a door, and into a bedroom. He laid her gently down, but she didn't stir. She was as pale as death, her lips were tinged with blue, and her arm was still bleeding quite profusely. Blaise grimaced, looking down at his once pristine robes, which were now covered in blood.
"Two dead bodies outside the front gate, Draco. If we're doing this, then it's time to put your master plan into action. Good luck, mate."
Draco nodded once, signaled to Theo with a heavy sigh, and they both turned to leave. "Is she going to be okay?" Draco asked Pansy as she shooed the others out of the way so that she could get close enough to examine Hermione.
"She's weak, but her vital signs are good. I think she'll survive, but I can't promise anything. I need to scan her for internal injuries. And I need blood replenishing potion. Lots of it by the look of things."
Draco nodded again, holding Pansy's eyes. "Save her Pans, whatever the cost. I'll deal with it. Just save her fucking life."
Ginny scooted away to grab the potions that Pansy asked for, and Blaise dropped his blood-soaked robes to the floor. "Give me those Zabini. I've got an idea." Draco Accio'd the robes to his outstretched hand then smeared a little of the still wet blood over himself and Theo for good measure. He ignored Harry, Ron, and Ginny's horrified faces as he admired his handiwork.
He also noted how Ginny was staying well out of Blaise's way, and how she avoided meeting his eyes at all costs. It was interesting that Harry and Theo were both doing the exact same thing. "You'll probably get a summons tonight, don't answer it, either of you," Draco said. "Blaise, the story will be that you're unconscious, and Pansy, you're tending to his injuries. That keeps you both safely out of any more action tonight.
"Draco, Theo, please... be careful." Ginny looked up from the potions bag she was sorting through and gave them both a weak smile. "I hate this." She muttered into the depths of the bag, "I really hate this." Harry put a reassuring hand on her back, while Ron nodded his agreement.
"Me too," Ron said in an undertone as Pansy shooed the boys out of the room so she could magically remove Hermione's clothes to check her over more thoroughly.
Draco apparated into Malfoy Manor, radiating carefully controlled fury. Theo was beside him, looking equally deadly. The other inhabitants of the manor shrank back in uneasy fear as they passed by. Draco didn't spare them a glance, just strode purposely to the dining room. He knocked once, then threw the door open, stepped inside, and let the two bodies that they had been levitating in the air in front of them fall with a thump to the ground while he held up Blaise's blood-soaked robes.
Voldemort turned, surveying Draco and Theo with a hint of a smile on his grotesquely serpentine face. "Well, well well. Good evening. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Evening, my Lord." Draco bowed slightly in the customary manner, as did Theo. "Although I would thoroughly dispute the notion of it being a good one."
Voldemort studied them intently as they both pushed more energy into their occlumency shields. Luckily, as usual, he failed to notice their guarded minds. "I see. Let me rephrase my question then. To what do I owe this rather late and apparently untimely visit?"
"I'd like to know, my Lord," Draco didn't need to act or to push the cold fury into his voice, one thought of the state that Hermione was currently in, and it flowed through him naturally, "why one of our best men was attacked, five on one tonight?"
Voldemort reared back, adjusted his robes, and looked thoroughly displeased at this news. "Who was attacked? By whom?" Voldemort's voice was higher than usual as he lovingly caressed the elder wand, a surefire sign of his displeasure. The plan was working so far.
"Blaise Zabini, my Lord. He found Hermione Granger on tonight's raid. He was bringing her to you, as per your orders. Then on his way here, he was intercepted by these two." Draco used the toe of his shoe to partially lift one of the dead Death Eaters bodies from the floor, "and another ill-advised new recruit." Draco paused for dramatic effect, "and two unidentified individuals who we now believe to be none other than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."
Voldemort reared back once again in shock. It almost made Draco chuckle. Almost. "Where is the mudblood now?"
"We don't know, my Lord. Blaise was knocked unconscious. He took these two down in the process. The other recruit got away, and we presume Potter and Weasley took Granger. No sign of them anywhere. Theo and I made a thorough search of the entire area and found nothing out of the ordinary. They appear to have apparated her away."
"Where is Zabini now?" Voldemort's serpentine nose was flaring wide on each breath. He was furious. Draco allowed himself a moment of deep satisfaction.
"At home, being tended to by Pansy. His injuries are serious yet not life-threatening. This is the cloak he wore. The blood is his."
"He killed these traitors while bleeding that heavily?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Tell him he did well. He will be rewarded.
"I'll tell him when he wakes. Would you like to keep the robes as evidence?"
"I do not need evidence, Draco. Who do you expect would doubt me?"
Draco played his part well. He let out a small chuckle as he smirked. "It would take a very unwise person to do so, my Lord."
"Indeed. Thank you, Draco. I suggest you leave now. I will summon you when I have reached a decision as to what to do next. Who was the other new recruit that was so unwisely causing trouble tonight?"
"Jameson Murphy." Draco's cool grey eyes met Voldemort's cold, red ones without a flicker of hesitation. Guilt would come in time, he knew, it always did. But some things had to be done. There was little choice.
"That will be all." Voldemort turned away, and Draco and Theo turned to leave. "Send Murphy to me. Now."
"Yes, my Lord," Draco said, returning Theo's smirk as they walked away.
It was almost too easy, Draco thought as they strolled casually along the halls of the manor. "Murphy," Draco said as they entered the main drawing-room. "A word?"
An older, dark-haired wizard ran forwards, bowing deeply to Draco on his way and falling over his own feet in the process. Draco rolled his eyes as he shut the door between the drawing-room and the hall outside. "Yes, Sir," the enthusiastic newly marked Death Eater said as he picked himself up from the floor. "Sorry, Sir. What can I do for you, Sir?"
"Imperio," Theo said. "Sorry about this. Look at me, Legilimens." Draco stood guard as Theo quickly stole the mans' own memories of the evening's raid then replaced them with altered ones. "Finite Incantatem. Imperio. Be a good boy now, follow my orders." Murphy's eyes cleared slowly and he stared at Draco as he stood blinking rapidly in confusion.
"Are you alright?" Draco feigned confusion himself, "you look a bit spaced out. Did you hit your head when you fell?"
"I, I don't really know. I'm fine, Sir. Sorry, Sir."
"The Dark Lord wants to see you in the dining room. Draco indicated the door across the hall. Have a good night Murphy." Theo strolled away with Draco following, both of them anxious to reach the apparition point before the screaming started.
They made it exactly ten steps away before the first agonized scream split the night.
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