Disclaimer: see prologue
Guide: "Speech", Thoughts, ~letters and other written things, "Parseltongue"
Warning: the usual sexual themes, nothing more though.
Beta: the wonderfulMakoto Sagara
AN: Here is the next chapter. A bit later than I hoped to update, but I had tests to prepare for. Anyway, enjoy reading even if the chapter is a bit short!
-~-~- Altair -~-~-
-~-~-by Still waters are deep-~-~-
-~-~- Chapter 23 – Bonds: Colourful threads -~-~-
I wonder why I have a bad feeling about the testing process, Harry thought in the safety of Room Zero, relaxing in his armchair. Still, I don't believe that asking Hermione how the test was carried out would be a good idea. Some things should better stay unknown.
Harry's thinking process was interrupted when Draco entered their living room. "Let's hope that we can avoid Hermione telling us about the testing process when she comes by before Ritual Magic to read our books," the blond told Harry.
"Shit, I totally forgot that we promised her that she could read the books in here on Tuesdays," Harry exclaimed, sitting up straighter in his armchair.
"We could always leave while she's still in class," Draco suggested.
"And have her scolding me for the next two weeks about how wrong it is to not share my books?" the brunet countered.
"Why not? At least she will be too busy scolding you to come up with a plan to get our blood," the blond―oh so helpfully―pointed out.
"You know, if she did only receive an O, you could easily keep her busy for another week or two when you tell her that we got an O+," Draco continued.
Draco isn't so far off with his assumption, Harry thought. Knowing her, she would work herself up to find out what she could have done better. But she most likely too received an O+ anyway. Besides, with the memory charms, neither of us knows what we did wrong or especially well.
"She will get our blood one way or another. So, why unnecessarily work her up about something neither of us can remember anyway?" Harry asked rhetorically. "To tell the truth, I would prefer it if we can get the whole revenge over and done with. It was a stupid idea from the beginning. The happiness about our successful brewing must have gone to my head, as I now sincerely regret that we did it. Especially since she told me that she would have admitted to be a dominant, if I had asked nicely."
"I'm not regretting it," Draco answered. "At least now I have a way to make Blaise stop his stupid and childish Head Boy jokes. Something I couldn't do if I wouldn't know the little spanking kink of his."
After a short pause, the blond asked, curious, "Though, does this mean that you don't want to find out Weasley's Typos Thesis any longer?"
"I don't know. It would be the right thing to just let it go; but, on the other hand, I'm still mad at him for his outburst last week and how convinced he was about Hermione being his. I fear that finding out his Typos Thesis is the only way to show him that he and Hermione aren't compatible," Harry admitted to Draco, undecided what to do about the whole Ron-problem. Neither he nor Hermione could understand why he hated Sexual Magic so much.
"But have you considered that the Lloj potion is a part of Sexual Magic, and thus Weasley won't believe in its result?" Draco pointed out the obvious flaw in Harry and Hermione's plan, something he had only realised just now himself. "Knowing him, he will just see is as an evil scheme or maybe a bad prank from his twin brothers, accusing everyone to conspire against him and 'his' Hermione being together, and say that the results have been tempered with."
"I hadn't thought about it like that," Harry admitted. "But now, when you're saying it that would be just like how he would react. I'll need to speak with Hermione about it," he said, losing himself in his thoughts.
Draco meanwhile got up and moved to their small kitchen area to prepare some sandwiches for the two of them. He seemed unable to resist having a Coke with lunch.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
When two o'clock rolled around, Harry and Draco got out of their armchairs to gather their stuff―invisibility cloak included―and waited for Hermione outside their door.
At five after two, Hermione still hadn't showed up and the two boys really needed to get going if they wanted to be on time for their next class. When they spotted Blaise walking up the stairs, Draco called out, "Where's Hermione?"
"She wanted to find out how the testing plugs work and ran off towards the library for research. She asked me to give you her excuses."
Testing plugs? The both wondered. What testing plugs? This doesn't have anything to do with our Basic test, does it? But, as they were in a hurry to get to their next class, they didn't question Blaise further on the topic. With a quick "Thanks" from Harry, the two boys rushed down the stairs towards the fortunately empty Altair common room. Donning his invisibility cloak, Harry hurried after Draco through the Slytherin common room and towards their Ritual Magic classroom.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"You're late," Professor Immaculé scolded when Harry and Draco entered her classroom mere seconds after the bell rang. "As a punishment you'll both write a one and a half foot long essay on the history of Ritual Magic we discussed the last time in addition to today's essay. Is this understood?" she asked, glaring at them.
"Yes," both of them answered obediently.
It seems like she doesn't only look like a younger McGonagall, but also acts like one, they both thought.
Though, at the beginning of last week's lesson she already reminded me more of Snape with her strict behaviour, Harry added to his thoughts. He too wouldn't have hesitated to assign an extra essay as punishment for being ten seconds late for class.
I just hope that Thothus theory is correct, or I fear what she will do to us if she finds out that we aren't virgins any longer, the both thought in unison again.
"Good," Professor Immaculé said cheerfully when she heard their agreement, oblivious to her students' fearful thoughts. "Now, let's sit down, have some tea and talk about your Typos Thesis before we will find out what your current bonding status is and then decide on a suitable bonding ritual for you two."
She sure seems to have a split personality, Draco thought as his professor went from strict and angry to cheerful and inviting.
"So," Professor Immaculé began, resting her chin on her hands. "What is your Typos Thesis?" she asked, obviously very curious about Harry's Typos Thesis in particular as she was expectantly looking at the current hero of Wizarding Britain when she asked the question.
"Draco is a mainly dominant top and I'm a mainly submissive bottom," Harry answered her, as she was looking at him, turning red because of her staring.
"No kinks?" she probed further, amused by Harry's red cheeks.
"No, none," Harry answered, shaking his head.
How very surprising, Professor Immaculé thought. Out loud she said, "How very unfortunate. Your kinks would have helped reducing the number of possible bonding rituals. But it seems like we'll be spoilt for choice. So, we better get started with finding out what kind of ritual you'll need."
Both Harry and Draco watched with curiosity and a hint of threat as Professor Immaculé took out her beech wand to cast the very complex spell which would reveal the bonding status between every person in a five metre radius around the caster.
As they both had done their homework for this lesson, which was to read the first two chapters of their textbook, they knew that this spell would create small coloured threads between all individuals, the colour depending on the strength of their bond―from non-existing to a fifth order bond. These magical bonds usually were formed automatically based on your emotions, but the bond could also be synthetically formed or strengthened through Ritual Magic.
Green threads meant that no magical bond between the two individuals existed, sometimes referred to as the zeroed order bond. It usually only connected strangers or people you only know in passing, like the supermarket cashier which face was well known to you even if you didn't know their names or anything else about them.
And up to now, no case existed in which one could reduce any other bond to a zeroed order bond once a bond of the first order or stronger had been formed. At least not without killing one or both of the individuals involved.
Yellow meant that the two shared a bond of the first order, a bond shared between well-known acquaintances, though one wouldn't call them friends. Also, it was usually shared between teacher and student. All in all, magic had the tendency to create a first order bond between people who regularly interacted with each other.
The colour orange showed a bond of the second order. If teacher and student shared a mentorship relation, like Neville and Professor Sprout did, then their bond usually was much stronger than the average teacher-student one and the colour of their bond would be much closer to orange than to yellow.
The next strongest bond was connected with red threads, and, more often than not, the colours orange and red were found as a mix, as both the second and third order bonds, were found between good friends and family members. Usually the ratio of red was higher between family members or if the people regarded their friends more like siblings, as Hermione and Harry did.
The author of their textbook also noted that a bond between the second and third order would not only be created between friends, but they were also easily unconsciously formed between adversaries. Draco commented this part with, "Ah, the thin line between love and hate." Which agreed with the author's opinion that even if it is a relationship build of hate and anger, the two persons still regularly interacted with each other and cared about each other in the 'what the hell are they up to now' kind of view. But still, an enemy is an integral part of one's life.
The only case when the colour of the thread could be clearly identified as red was if the two persons were married to each other but had not consummated their marriage yet. The reason behind this was that Wizarding marriages were actually a bonding ritual, not just only a simple vow to show the love the two involved shared. It was designed to form a forth order bond, but with everything else being part of Sexual Magic, it only would reach this state after intercourse between the newly-weds. Though, in rare cases, the colour still remained red after the marriage was consummated, but the reason behind this peculiarity was still unknown to the wizards and witches of the late twentieth century.
But, if all went well, the spell would create violet threads between the married couple, to show that they shared a bond of the fourth and second highest order. This bond was also the last bond order which can be completely artificially created with the help of Ritual Magic. Though, this state could also be achieved naturally if the pair were 'soul mates'―or as some other authors like to call them, a highly compatible pairing in body, mind, character and magic. Either way, it was something which was very, very rare.
If one of the later pairings additionally performed a marriage bond, then they would be able to reach the highest bonding level in existing, a bond of the fifth order. This order was connected with the colour blue. And as 'soul mates' were very rare and one didn't cast the bond order revealing spell like Dumbledore handed out lemon drops, only very few had ever seen blue threads being formed between a pair.
Some theorist said that twins, who normally shared a natural fourth order bond, would be able to achieve a fifth order bond, but as the laws forbid marriage between siblings, their theory had never been proven. And without one of the marriage bonding rituals one could not reach a fifth order bond.
So, with the knowledge the three occupants of the Ritual Magic classroom had, all of them were more than shocked to say the least when the thread that came into existence between Harry and Draco was not a mix between orange and red, but a clear violet.
"Well, this surely is a surprise," Professor Immaculé said, her astonishment over the boys' result clearly showed in a stronger than normal accent. While she had expected the yellowish-green threads between her and her students, she had at the best hoped to see red coloured threads between the boys.
Harry and Draco weren't faring any better. They too were surprised that they apparently already were in a fourth order bond. Even with Thothus' journal saying that their bond would be stronger than normal, Draco didn't expect anything more than a clear red.
Is losing your virginity to each other on your own terms really so strong that it basically forms the same bond as if we had a marriage ritual before having sex? Or can it even artificially make you into 'soul mates'? Draco wondered. I wouldn't have expected anything more than a deep red, a more magenta-like tone at the best, he thought.
Thank God that we didn't end up with a yellow thread. The theory in the journal of Malfoy's ancestor must be right, was what Harry thought about the unexpected colour. He was relieved that it had all worked out as planned, better than planned to be accurate.
But as the shock of the unexpected high bond lessened, Professor Immaculé realised that the two young men sitting opposed her had to have been assigned to Room Zero for a reason. "At least now we won't need to find a bonding ritual for you, as you won't need it. Except, will the two of you want to marry to reach the highest bonding level? Or have you forgotten to tell me that you became married since our last lesson?" she asked, joking.
"N-No," both Draco and Harry stammered out, still in shock.
Though, the brunet sent Draco a questioning look, asking if they may have accidentally performed a marriage ritual. To tell the truth, he wouldn't be too surprised if they actually ended up performing a marriage bond, as Harry Potter didn't seem to do anything the normal way. So, why should marrying be an exception? If everyone else planned to get married, it would be the Harry Potter way to be married to someone and not even be aware of it.
As the blond didn't know what happened, he could only shrug his shoulder in answer. However, he would have to find a way to test if they'd managed to get married by accident or not.
"Mhm," Professor Immaculé started her sentence, "we still have about half an hour of the lesson left. Originally, I had planned to let you work on your essay about the bonding ritual you would perform if we found a ritual for you very quickly, but as you two don't need to perform a bonding ritual, we'll start with your lessons in cleaning rituals.
"Though, this does not mean you don't have an essay about bonding rituals to write. As only a marriage will strengthen your bond, your homework is to write a two foot essay on at least four different marriage bonds, their pros and cons, and an additional five inches on why you would choose one of the bonding rituals for yourself," she told them, having to improvise a bit as for the Ritual Magic lessons the pair only required a bond between the third and fourth order, so with their fourth order bond the boys' bond was already stronger than necessary.
"If you'll excuse me, I have to get some demonstration materials from the storage room," Professor Immaculé said before leaving the classroom.
"I can already imagine tomorrow's Prophet headline," Draco commented on their assignment as soon as the door closed behind their teacher. "'Boy Who Lived Researching Marriage Ritual―Who Is the Lucky Bride?'" he said, his right hand moving in a half circle from left to right as he spoke the headline. "Skeeter will sure as hell have a field day with it. And I'm sure Weasley will love to read how she once again accused you of having a secret affair with Hermione."
Harry could only groan.
As it was not everyday that you got the opportunity to see the hero of the Wizarding world totally mortified, Draco decided to continue with the teasing. "And the day after we surely will read something like, 'Ronald Weasley Goes Berserk in the Great Hall―Is BWL's Bride Actually a Groom?'" the blond suggested, remembering the article from the Triwizard tournament about Harry and Hermione and how Ron had been Harry's most important person. He explained this headline that Ron's "No, Harry, you can't marry Hermione" could be easily interpreted as something else on the redhead's part.
Great, now even my friends are dragged into it, Harry thought, letting out an irritated groan as he buried his head in his folded arms, trying to escape the teasing.
"It also could be 'Love Triangle-Potter Desperate to Find Three-Folded Bonding Ritual' or something similar. It is always better for the selling to have a nice cat fight between Hermione and Ron over Harry. Especially since she would have a lot to write about. I can already imagine her comparing Hermione and Ron in categories like children―no children; Muggleborn―Pureblood; Academic―Quidditch. Maybe the Prophet will even do a vote on it," Draco said.
In answer Harry turned his head, so that he could look up at Draco and say sarcastically, "You know, you're a great friend and Altair partner," before he buried his head in his hands once more.
"I know," the blond answered offhandedly. "And because I'm such a great friend, I'll write to my parents to ask them to owl me some of our books on marriage bonds from the Malfoy library." I'll need to write to them anyway to find out if we accidentally married. Knowing Harry, it could easily be the case, Draco added in his mind.
That made Harry look up and lift his head from his hands, an astounded look on his face.
"Come on, Harry. I'd only been joking," Draco said with a small chuckle. "I want to be caught studying marriage bonds in the library as much as you do."
"Couldn't you have said that right from the start?" the brunet asked, grumpily.
"Ehm...No. Your reaction was too good to pass," the blond informed him.
"Can't you do it at someone else's expense?" Harry asked.
"I could," was Draco's joyful answer. "But I don't think that you'd be too happy if I'd asked Hermione or Blaise to get the books for us and accidentally let Weasley see either of them taking the books out. He would only go on another of his rampages, thinking that Blaise and Hermione wanted to marry."
"God, no!" Harry exclaimed, not even wanting to imagine that particular disaster.
"Thought so," the blond answered dryly, just in time for their teacher to re-enter the classroom.
"Let's start with the lesson on cleaning rituals," Professor Immaculé said, putting down a box full of demonstration materials next to the pillow she was sitting on.
~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
AN: If you wonder, if someone had cast the bond revealing spell on Harry and Draco at the beginning of their sixth year where they still had been school nemesis the colour would have been a mixture between red and orange, leaning more to red considering how obsessed Harry was about Draco that year. ;)
Next: A short interlude before we will have a time skip. It should be up in a week's time or so.