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WHAT IF

Chapter 15 - Burning

Gasping for air Hermione came to her senses as her head broke through the surface of the Black Lake. First, she realised how cold it was. Every limb of her body felt ice cold, a burning cold creeping into her bones. Hermione struggled to fill her lungs with the chill February air, while she tried to swim. But her arms and legs felt heavy and immobile like a stone. For a horrible second, she had a flashback to the time when she had been petrified.

"Herminny," Viktor called as he grabbed her around her waist, helping her to stay afloat. "Are you okay?" Hermione just nodded, her lungs still felt like there was a fire burning them down from inside.

With hasty movements, they both swam to the shore, where Madame Pomfrey was already waiting. Hermione felt immensely grateful towards the old nurse when a blanket with a heating charm was wrapped firmly around her body.

"Poor girl, here have some tea." The nurse shoved a large cup of tea into Hermione's numb hands. Hermione wasn't even sure if she could feel her fingers properly as she tried to hold the cup to her lips.

"What about the others?" She asked when she finally thought that her vocal cords were warmed up enough.

"Mr Diggory and Ms Chang are already here," Madame Pomfrey nodded towards the couple, who sat a bit away, both still shivering. "Ms Delacour had to be rescued and failed the task. As for the rest, we're still waiting. But there are well beyond the time limit right now."

With worry, Hermione looked back to the calm surface of the Black Lake. There was no sign of anyone emerging from it in the next seconds. Hermione's heart clenched with worry. Her two best friends were down there… And she wasn't even sure how Harry had managed to get down there in the first place. When Hermione and Ron had left him the evening before, he had had no idea how to do it. How had he managed it? What kind of magic did he use? And had he done it right? Maybe the spell or potion hadn't been enough… had the effect worn off by now? Maybe Harry was struggling with getting air right now… maybe he was drowning...

As Hermione's mind went into full overanalysing mood, Viktor sat down beside her and wrapped his own blanket around her.

"Don't, you need it," Hermione refused softly, but he shook his head.

"It's okay, I'm used to the cold," he took a sip from his tea. "They're vell, Potter and the redhead. Vhen I arrived Potter vas already there. He should be up here in any minute."

"Thank you, I worry about them," carefully, so that no one would see it, Viktor took her hand and started to draw soothing circles with his thumb

"Herminny, I vanted to ask you, you vant to visit me in Bulgaria next summer?" Shocked she turned to him.

"I never met someone like you before and if you vant, I vant you to meet my parents. I never felt that way before for a girl." As always Viktor looked a bit grumpy and gloomy like he always did when he wasn't smiling. Before Hermione could say anything her eyes went to his bare arms. First, she realised that Viktor was barely clothed, which made her blush. Then she realised that he had a soul mark. Well, of course, he had one, everyone had a soul mark. But Hermione had never thought about it before. But there it was. On Viktor's right, upper arm - normally invisible under his clothes - glowed the black mark in form of a tiny…egg?

Hermione didn't know what to do with that new information. She had never once thought that Viktor could be her soulmate but seeing proof that he surely wasn't, that was an entirely different story. But before she could start to think about it or give Viktor an answer to his invitation, loud cheering disturbed her.

Her head snapped towards the lake where the red hair of Ron was vibrantly visible on the dark water. Beside him, a silvery blonde head emerged and then finally Harry, with his dark hair almost invisible. Hermione jumped up as her two best friends pulled Gabrielle Delacour to the shore.

"Harry!" With a scream, Hermione ran towards her friends and pulled Harry into a tight embrace. "You did all on your own!" Hasty Hermione wrapped one of the blankets around Harry, while Percy beside her fussed over Ron. She barely registered that Viktor snipped a beetle from her hair as she tried to check if Harry and Ron were both well.

There was big commotion while Madame Pomfrey tried to warm up all the Champions and hostages properly - she scolded Hermione quite badly for giving away her blanket - and Fleur thanked Harry and Ron again and again for saving her sister. But then finally the points were awarded and against all odds Harry and Cedric were on par.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

An hour later Hermione emerged from the bathroom clad in a fluffy bathrobe and finally able to feel every finger and toe again. She had taken the longest and hottest shower ever in order to warm up her frozen body and now she would drink the warm butterbeer, which Madame Pomfrey had prescribed them.

"Oh, there you are. I thought you would take all night," Ginny sighed dramatically as she stroked Crookshanks on her lap. The redhead had made herself comfortable on Hermione's bed, sweets dished up around her, and two hot goblins of butterbeer on the nightstand.

"Why aren't you at the party? I wanted to come down," Hermione said as she slipped into her warmest trousers and a comfy sweater. Humming she took the first sip of the warm butterbeer.

"Yeah, and we will go, but first you tell me how that happened!" Ginny exclaimed in an accusing voice.

"What do you mean?" Hermione cast a drying charm on her hair, one that made them less bushy and instead brought out her curls. Lavender had thought her this wonderful little spell after the ball.

"You being what Viktor Krum will sorely miss. When did this happen? You told me you two were only friends." Ginny emptied her own butterbeer in one go.

"We are-" Hermione tried but Ginny glared at her. "Okay, okay, maybe we're a little more than friends."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Well, it only happened a few days ago and I still don't know what we are. We're more than friends, probably, but we're not a couple or something like that, not really. Truth to be told, everything is like before. We meet at the library, we study and we talk, just now we…" Hermione bit her lip.

"Yeah, what do you do, tell me," Ginny grinned like the cat that got the cream.

"We kiss from time to time," Hermione admitted while she slipped into her shoes with a bright red head.

"You mean, you snog in hidden corners in the library," her younger friend laughed as Hermione tried to look innocent, but then a grin escaped her.

"Maybe," she admitted. "Now come, there is a party going on." Hermione pulled Ginny up - resulting in Crookshanks waking up with a hiss - and towards the staircase.

"Fine, but this is not over, Granger. I want details and I want them soon," Ginny growled playfully as they entered the loud common room.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

The day after the second task was a lazy day for most of Hogwarts, and especially Gryffindor Tower. Somehow they had managed to party almost all night long without Professor McGonagall coming over to send them to bed. Now, most of the Gryffindors were sleepy - and most of the older students also hungover- and grumpy, and didn't manage to get up for breakfast.

Hermione was kind enough to bring Harry and Ron some toast to the common room before she vanished back to her dorm room for the rest of the morning. She wanted to snuggle up in her bed and read Bonds in Theory and Practice in peace and quiet. That was Hermione's vision of a perfect Sunday morning. After dinner, she would meet Viktor for a walk around the Lake.

With a skipping heart, Hermione opened the book, breathed in the delicious smell of old leather and parchment, and leaned back. First, she skipped directly to the chapters about unintended bonding and dark magic, but as she had seen before, the pages were blackened. Determined Hermione grabbed her wand.

"Reparo," she murmured, but nothing happened.

"Reparifarge," was the next spell she tried, but again nothing happened. She huffed annoyed.

"Aparecium, Revelio!" Again nothing happened and Hermione found that she had to accept that someone didn't want her - or anyone else - to read these chapters. For a second she thought that maybe Karkaroff had blackened the pages to prevent Viktor from reading them, but that was ridiculous. Durmstrang students were allowed to study dark magic and someone like Karakaroff would probably encourage Viktor. Plus, the book was from the Hogwarts library, so the pages had probably already been blackened before.

I wonder what Karkaroff wants with this book, Hermione thought as she thumbed through the pages. Then she was finally at the one chapter that she was interested in.

Bonds between Witches and Wizards - Bonds between Family Members; Soul Bonds

As explained in the previous chapters, magic itself is a bond that keeps the world and its inhabitants together in several ways and on several levels. But how this bond presents itself in practice can wary There are three kinds of bonds between magical people: voluntary bonds, innate bonds and involuntary bonds. Voluntary bonds, as described in the previous chapter, - like marriage bonds or unbreakable vows - are bonds, which are cast with the consent of both parties. Innate bonds are bonds which are present from birth and can't be cut or destroyed. Involuntary bonds and unintended bonding - a special case -, are both often the result of dark magic and will be described in the following chapter.

This chapter will discuss innate bonds, also often called 'natural bonds'. Innate bonds are for example family bonds, a connection between members of blood-related families, such as sibling bonds, or bonds between parent and child. But these bonds are mostly dormant and seldom visible or have consequences. Most family members live with these bonds their whole life without even realising their presence. The existence of the bond is simply not important for their daily life. The only known examples of family bonds which are recognisable are bonds between identical twins.

It is one of the big questions in the researches about magical bonding how and why identical twins often have stronger sibling bonds as fraternal twins or normal siblings. One reason for the existence of these bonds could be the sharing of the mother's womb, which could result in also sharing magic with each other. Maybe this strengthens the bond between identical twins.

It is also quite curious that not all identical twins share this special bonds. In my research, I met as many twin pairs with such a bond as without it. There isn't a logical reason why some twins' share this bonds while others don't.

But there is one thing that is similar with all the twin pairs I questioned. They all describe their connection similarly. All of the twins described their connection as a feeling of security and calm when in the presence of their twin. As a person they could trust completely and whose well-being was the most important thing in the world. They also described that they were able to 'feel' the presence and current state of health of their twin most of the time. But, and that is most interesting, they all said they could in no way read each other's mind or emotion. The ability to know what the other was feeling or thinking, they said, was learned through the years, and not an ability provided by the bond.

I found this quite interesting because it proves that these bonded twins not only all share a similar bond, but also know how this bond affects them. They can differentiate between the bond and their normal relationship as siblings. Plus, the twin bond doesn't force the relationship to be harmonic or friendly, as most of the twins explained that they already had several fights and arguments during their lives. The main result of their twin bond is, as it seems, that have the ability and wish to keep each other safe.

Hermione took a big breath and closed the book for a moment. That was awfully much information she had to think through. She didn't know that twins could have this kind of bond with each other. But as Hermione thought about how Fred and George interacted with each other, she was convinced that they had a twin bond. They always seemed to know where the other one was and were excellent at pretending to be each other.

That's probably how they got so good at playing their little games and pranks, she thought, remembering how the twins had confused her with their names for more than two years. But they're not able to read each other minds, interesting…

Hermione had to suppress the urge to research more about twin bonds violently. That wasn't a good way to forget about Fred, she scolded herself. If she wanted to forget him than thinking about him and George, their bond, researching about it - maybe even ask them about it - was totally out of question.

Hermione opened the book again and skipped to the chapter about soulbonds. That would keep her occupied hopefully.

Soul bonds are the most curious and mysterious magical bonds. Every magical person in the world seems to be born with one, but their origin and purpose are still unknown. But all magical cultures and communities interpret them in the same way: as a connection between two persons who complete each other. The physical sign of this connection - this bond - is the soul mark. This mark is also one of the reasons why the soul bond is so special. It is the only bond that shows itself on the body. While family bonds are in all cases invisible, marriage bonds only leave a mark because of the spell. The soul mark is the only mark that is there from birth. But curiously enough it only shows itself on the eleventh birthday of a witch or wizard.

Why it shows itself at this specific age is a mystery but we know that our ancestors thought that eleven had to be special age. That's why our children are starting their schooling after their eleventh birthday.

The popular opinion is that a soul bond is a connection between two people who complete each other. And the soul mark - in this logic - gives us the ability to find this soulmate. Many facts support this thesis. For once the soul mark changes its shape two times. Each time because of a specific interaction with the soul mate.

When the soul mark shows itself on the eleventh birthday it's not in its true shape. It's in most cases some kind of pre-state and only changes into its true form later. This first change happens when the soul mates touch for the first time. Then the soul mark shows its true face. Unfortunately, most soul marks are not visible when people are clothed, so they can't react to the change immediately.

But the first change is what starts the search for the soul mate for most people, some having it easy while others have a lot of work, depending on if they still know who they touched during the day.

The second change marks the end of the search for the soul mate as…

Hermione flipped the page and to her horror the page was black. Black. Not readable. Useless.

"Oh no, no, no!" In her anger, Hermione closed the back with a loud thud and almost threw it into a corner. But in the last second, she held herself back and with a glare she put the book on her nightstand. No matter how angry she was, she couldn't damage a book. That was against everything she believed in.

Grumpy Hermione leaned back against her bed and pulled her shirt high enough to see her soul mark. Till her first trip to Hogwarts, it had been a small flower bud. That had been its pre-form. On her first Hogwarts trip it had changed into the small rose, so Hermione's soul mate was surely a Hogwarts student. That left Hermione with hundreds of possibilities since there was no telling who she had touched on her search for Neville's toad during that day and later during the sorting and first feast. It could be everyone.

The whole soul mate concept seemed highly complicated to Hermione. How was a person able to find his or her soul mate when you just touched by accident on a busy street? At a store while grabbing for the same article? In theory, it sounded like the perfect setting of a romantic movie but in real life, it sounded like a hassle to Hermione. Her head swirled with questions the longer she thought about it.

Was the soul mate automatically the love of your life? But Lavender and Parvati had a platonic soul bond.

What if you fell in love with someone other than your soul mate? Because Hermione highly doubted that her soul mate was Fred, who she was painfully in love with.

And what about the witches and wizards who married muggles? Hermione knew there were half-bloods like Seamus out there, but muggle didn't have soul marks. How did this fit into this whole soul mate concept?

And what if you never met your soul mate in the first place? The world was such a big place, and even if the magical population wasn't that big worldwide, it still was sheer luck to meet and touch your soul mate in the first place. And then you had to search this person again…

The real question is, do I even want to know who it is? Hermione thought as she stared at her soul mark. Do I want to pressure myself into finding that one person that will allegedly complete me? What if this person couldn't make her happy or complete her? What if that wasn't too much to ask for? Something her mother told her years ago now popped into Hermione's mind.

It's highly unfair to think another person has the ability or the duty to make you happy. You have to be happy by yourself before you can make another happy. Don't ask for something that you can't give back.

Hermione pondered over these question for quite a while and read the chapter three more times before she finally clothed herself and went down for dinner. She really needed to research this. She wanted - needed - to know more.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

After the second task life at Hogwarts changed dramatically for Hermione. One reason was of course that everyone was no teasing her merciless for being Viktor Krum's most precious treasure, that he would miss the most. Somehow some of the Slytherins had gotten a copy of the golden egg riddle and were now reciting from it whenever Hermione was near. But only when Viktor wasn't around, of course.

But still, when Viktor and Hermione were together at some place at the castle, people would watch them openly like they were waiting for something. Maybe for a proof that Hermione really was that important to the Quidditch star seeker. Or maybe for some scandal.

And they got their scandal when Rita Skeeter published her next article. Again Harry was the main focus, but this time Hermione played an unflattering role in it. Skeeter painted Hermione as some kind of cruel girl who played with the feelings of two famous young men and broke both their hearts in the process. At first, Hermione laughed about it, but then the hate mail started to come.

Countless howlers, cursed letters, and even some dangerous packages arrived for Hermione every morning. On the first day, her hands got hurt severely from opening one that was filled with bototuber pus. After that Hermione decided to not open them if possible, which resulted in the howlers exploding around her during breakfast at the Great Hall while she tried to remain dignified.

Hermine knew exactly why Skeeter was doing this. During their last Hogsmeade trip Hermione, Ron and Harry had visited Sirius in his secret hide-out to bring him food and discuss the tournament. They had talked quite a lot about the tragic past of Barty Crouch and his son and had discussed if Snape had something to do with the Death Eaters. So far, so normal. But then, when the tree had gone to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer, they had met Rita Skeeter. Hermione knew it wasn't wise to confront the woman about her horrible articles. But she wasn't afraid of some like Skeeter. Maybe that was Hermione's Gryffindor courage showing. And now this article was the revenge.

Hermione was sure that Rita Skeeter thought that she had punished her quite well for being impudent towards the reporter during their last Hogsmeade trip. Rita Skeeter probably thought that she had scared Hermione. But the opposite was the case. Hermione was more determined than ever to show this wannabe journalist the door out of all of their lives. She was damn sure that Skeeter used an illegal way to get her information and Hermione would find out how exactly she did it.

But the hate mail and the gossip weren't the only things that had changed after the second task. Somehow Hermione and Viktor's relationship had changed too. Now that they were under surveillance from curious students everywhere they went, they could seldom sit together in peace to talk and study. Instead, it almost felt like they were on the run constantly, searching for a place to get some privacy from time to time. And when they got privacy it wasn't like before. Because for some reason their alone time now always lead to more physical activities.

Like today. Hermione and Victor had met in one of the small study rooms in the library, and Hermione had actually planned to get some homework done. But right before she was able to pull her materials out of her bag, Viktor was beside her and stroked her hair softly.

Curiously Hermione looked up to him. His eyes were dark and he looked as grumpy as ever, but there was an odd atmosphere around him. He seemed tense. But then, without the usual warning, he bent down, pulled her flush to his body and kissed her. It was a firm kiss, full of passion and something else… desperation?

Hermione wanted to ask what was wrong with him but then he sucked on her lower lip and with a gasp she opened her mouth for him. Slowly Viktor swiped his tongue over her lips and begged for entrance. And without thinking twice Hermione allowed it.

They had never French kissed before. It was different from what Hermione had imagined before. It was fun and woke a new feeling in her. It felt like something inside her tensed - coiled - but in a good way. A moan escaped her and she buried one hand in Viktor's hair while the other grabbed his shoulder.

That seemed to stir something in Viktor who picked her up suddenly and sat her down on the table. Instantly he kissed her again, but at the same time, he stepped between her legs, nudging them apart slightly. Deep down Hermione knew something right now was happening too fast but she was too occupied with all these new feelings.

Viktor's fingers travelled her sides, her skin prickled, and without knowing why Hermione wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer to her. Now it was Viktor's turn to moan. A deep, husky moan that gave Hermione goosebumps. Slowly they pressed harder and harder against each other, pulling and caressing and feeling, and Hermione lost all sense for how much time went by. And then suddenly something new pressed against her. She gasped at the sensation when she realised that Viktor had a hard one and then she realised where exactly it was pressed against.

God, mum was right, was all Hermione could think as she felt how aroused she got. Something primal inside her wanted to take things further. To experience what this feeling between her own legs promised. She wanted that tight coil to spring. Her legs tightened around Viktor's waist and automatically his hips snapped forward, pressing into Hermione in a delicious way.

And then the creaking noise of an opening door shook them out of it. Quickly Viktor stepped away from Hermione - his stiff one quite visible through the pants - and Hermione closed her legs, trying to look innocent. That her sitting on the table was suspicious itself, didn't even occurred her since she was still high on hormones and emotions.

"The library is closing," Madame Pince told them with a glare. With wide eyes, Hermione stared at Viktor, who seemed equally surprised. Slowly, while trying to get her logical thinking back, Hermione grabbed her back and tried not to look at Viktor.

"Have you thought about visiting me during the summer?" Viktor suddenly asked his voice a whisper.

"Oh, I forgot about asking my parents," Hermione lied. In truth, she had forgotten entirely about his offer. "You know, because of this stupid article I was a bit… distracted."

"Yeah," Viktor nodded and silently he brought her to the staircases in the Great Hall. There they had to split up so that Viktor wouldn't see where the Gryffindor dorm was. He gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead and then vanished, his face grim and tense again. Hermione decided that she really needed to ask him what was going on.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

"I can't believe he still hasn't given it to us," someone grumbled and woke Hermione. She had fallen asleep on the sofa in the common room while reading. The fire was almost burned down and from her position, Hermione couldn't be seen from the entrance.

"We will get it, don't worry. Maybe we should write another letter," a familiar voice suggested and now Hermione was wide awake. She turned her head carefully and saw the twins climbing through the entrance.

"Well, at least we have the resources to proceed with developing new products," George sounded slightly happier. "What do you think? Want to work on the fancies tomorrow?"

"Can't, I'm going to meet Angelina tomorrow. I'm gonna ask her if she wants to date me," Fred said and actually sounded nervous.

"I thought you were already dating?" Hermione heard how the footsteps and voice came closer.

"Yes, but... but I want to make it official. I will ask her if she wants to be my girlfriend. You know, fooling around with her doesn't feel right since she's my soulmate." Now it could be heard how the twins started to climb the stairs to their dorm rooms.

"Yeah, mum will have your head otherwise. Does Angie already know about your soulbond?"

"No, I don't know how to tell her. Maybe it's best if she discovers it by herself. Let it proceed naturally." That was the last thing Hermione heard before the voices got too quiet. She turned her face towards the blaze and enjoyed the warmth on her skin. Fred and Angelina were soulmates. The last heart of her already damaged heart broke at that but this time no tears came. She was too distraught to cry over the fact that she really would never get a chance. Now she didn't even have the illusion any more.

Let me know what you think about this chapter. I hope you liked and some of you are probably freaking out right now ;) So, leave a comment and tell me your thoughts. I'm terribly nervous about this chapter because it is a main point in the plot...

I will be away for a short trip from Friday and Monday so it will take some time for me to write the next chapter. I know, this one too needed longer than normal, but I had a horrible stressful two weeks at work.