A/N: A reviewer expressed concerns last chapter about the prospect of common and unwanted cliches like overly-helpful goblins, Dumbledore stealing Potter funds, etc. I can assure everyone that such fears will prove unfounded. It may at times look like things are heading down such well-worn paths, but they won't be. Or not quite. Dumbledore is definitely not stealing anything, though he's not exactly telling everyone everything (which is canon). Goblins will be helpful, but not overly so and not for reasons I expect anyone to guess. If anyone worries about certain cliches ruining the story, feel free to ask and I'll answer as best I can.

Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "Delenda Est" by Lord Silvere. It is, hands down, the best Harry/Bellatrix story available — it's not just believable how they are brought together, it's a very believable relationship as it develops, too. It's got politics, combat, and the most entertaining depiction of Bellatrix I have ever seen. There's even a sequel, though it hasn't progressed very far as of this writing.

Chapter 07 - Bindings and Separations

Monday, December 14, 1994, Early Morning.

With a yawn, Hermione Granger closed the twentieth library book she'd looked at so far that morning. She'd hardly gotten any sleep the previous night because her mind kept going over and over the same puzzle: how could she pursue a physical romance with someone she already had such a good, platonic friendship with? How could she find something exciting and erotic one minute, but ignore or dismiss it as irrelevant the next?

At some point in the early morning hours it occurred to her that maybe her new book would have the answers she needed. It had, after all, been written with witches like her and Jasmine in mind. Maybe this was a problem unique to witch/witch relations? she wondered. It was times like this that Hermione almost lamented her lack of social experience — people were so much more complicated than books!

Hermione could see, even after a little bit of reading, that D. Tempest Pureheart had been an incredible witch with a keen mind and sharp wit. She might just be Hermione's next hero, but regrettably a quick skim of the book didn't turn up what she needed. It was excruciatingly difficult to not get sidetracked by some of the wonderful material, but she had to force herself to hide it in her trunk again.

That was what had brought her to the library early on a Monday. She had in fact been waiting outside for it to open at 6AM, much to the annoyance of Madam Pince. Once she entered, though, she realized that she didn't really know where to start — she didn't have a specific magical topic to research. So she decided to start with something that might only be barely related, but would at least be straightforward: marriage.

So far, that had been a bust. The library had several shelves of books on marriage laws, marriage traditions, marriage vows, marriage bonds, and the like, but none of that touched on her own problems. The material on marriage bonds at least looked interesting, so she spent a bit of extra time reading that.

In a properly performed magical marriage ritual, the marriage celebrant uses his or her own magic to draw together and create a bond between the magics of the wizard and witch. Over time, this bond will draw the couple closer together in all ways. It produces many positive psychological, emotional, physical, and of course magical effects. The more compatible a wizard and witch are, the stronger their bond will be to start with, and the stronger it will grow over time.

Of course, even after many decades of marriage, a marriage bond is never as strong as the naturally occurring soul bond. Although little is known about soul bonds, except of course to those couples privileged enough to be part of one, they are believed to be a creation of Magic itself to help a couple achieve some destiny, and Magic would never set a couple on any path without providing them with the tools and power necessary to achieve their goals. The marriage bond, which was created to imitate a soul bond, is also designed to provide a couple with the psychological and emotional tools necessary to achieve a successful marriage. ...

While the marriage ritual designates the wizard's magic as dominating and controlling the bond, it is possible in cases of especially weak-willed wizards and strong-willed witches that the witch's magic eventually assumes the dominant role. Few believe that a bond of true equals can exist because, as everyone knows, true equality is not a natural state. The magically stronger will always dominate and control: that is the natural order of things in society, in family, and in marriage. Attempts by a couple to create unnatural equality in their bond will necessarily weaken both the bond and the marriage, to the detriment of all. ...

Whether or not souls are also bound together during the creation of a magical marriage bond is a matter of some debate, but most believe that our magic is tied to our souls and thus also believe that as our magic is bound with another's, so also is our soul bound with another's. This one reason is why the rare but naturally occurring bond between a wizard and a witch is traditionally called a "soul bond." The other, of course, is the fact that knowledge and understanding of that bond is believed to be locked into the souls of the couples who are involved, thus preventing others from speaking of it openly.

She made a note to do further research on magical bonds later, just for some light reading, but now she was stymied. For a few seconds she considered asking Madam Pince if there were any other books by D. Tempest Pureheart, but she thought better of it. She knew she shouldn't let her excitement lead her into making hasty mistakes. Besides, I got enough funny looks when I asked about books on marriage — as if the librarian thought I were looking to get married soon myself! Honestly!

Ah, well, I'm only part way through the library's resources on marriage anyway. I'd better get to breakfast before Jasmine starts to worry — I'll come back during the break after Herbology in a couple of hours and pick up where I left off...

Monday, December 14, 1994, Late Morning.

"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird!"

And, indeed, it was a bird — a brightly colored bird that wouldn't normally be caught dead in Scotland even in the middle of the (depressingly short) summer, let alone winter. What made its sudden presence more strange was the fact that it clearly had a letter tied to its leg, but post typically arrived during breakfast, not in the middle of the day while students walked between classes — even if they were walking outside.

Fear and happiness warred in Jasmine Potter at the sight. She thought she knew what the presence of such a bird meant: a message from Sirius Black. She was of course excited at the prospect of hearing from her godfather, but she was afraid that such a colorful and attention-grabbing means of communication would cause him to be caught.

"Jasmine," came a hiss from beside her, "what does he think he's doing, sending letters with a bird like that?"

"I know, Hermione, but there's nothing I can do about it, now is there?" Hoping to get the exchange over with as quickly as possible, Jasmine held out her arm to provide the tropical bird a place to perch and give up its burden. When it landed, she could see how bedraggled and put out the poor thing was. "There's a cozy owlery for you to rest in, if you want. I won't ask you to wait for a reply."

The bird gave a clearly offended look, as if it were insulted that anyone would think that it would hang around here for a second longer than absolutely necessary. With a couple of quick beats of its wings it was airborne again, and within a few seconds it was already a distant speck in the grey Scottish sky.

Jasmine hardly paid any attention, though, because she was far too interested in seeing what her godfather had to say.

"Hey, scarhead, is that letter another guy turning down a marriage contract with you?" If the smug, arrogant voice weren't so recognizable, the insults certainly would be. Malfoy needs to get someone new to write his material, Jasmine thought sourly to herself. But at least the Slytherins came out of the castle long enough after us that they didn't see the bird delivering this.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but I cannot divulge confidential business correspondence to you," Jasmine explained in a haughty voice. "Someday, when you grow up, maybe you'll be permitted a voice in how your family's meager holdings are managed. If such a time comes, perhaps then you'll understand what I'm talking about. Until then, however, perhaps you should concentrate on those few, simple subjects you can handle."

Turning away from the sputtering Slytherin, Jasmine continued down the path to Hagrid's hut where their Care of Magical Creatures class was being held. The subject was still Blast-Ended Skrewts, and everyone was counting the days until some student or other was killed by Hagrid's latest pets.

Sirius' letter would have to wait until later.

Monday, December 14, 1994, Lunch.

Normally, watching Malfoy being chased by a Blast-Ended Skrewt while his trousers were on fire would produce plenty of lunchtime conversations and laughter. Today, however, the girls had a letter from Sirius Black to read, and that took precedence. Unfortunately, their growing friendship with Neville and Ginny threatened to interfere: unlike Ron, neither of them had been informed about Sirius' innocence. That was a problem that would have to be rectified.

"Sorry, but this is a secret that we've had for a while." Hermione looked to Jasmine for guidance — it was her godfather, after all. She should be the one to decide what to do.

"This doesn't only involve us, it involves the safety of someone else — life and death, as a matter of fact. And no, I'm not exaggerating." Jasmine stopped to think hard for a moment. "To be quite honest, I'm not comfortable saying anything at all without getting their permission first. It's their life that's potentially on the line."

Ginny and Neville looked at each other with somber expressions. Clearly, when it came to Hermione and Jasmine, there were secrets and then there were Secrets. They didn't really have any choice but to agree, so they left the two witches alone during lunch so they could have some privacy to read whatever had them so agitated.

Huddling close together at the end of the Gryffindor table, Hermione and Jasmine read the latest letter from Sirius...

Hey, Kitten!

Great job, kiddo! I'm so proud of you for beating that dragon. Not even James would have thought of trying to out-fly a Hungarian Horntail, though Lily would have hexed him into next week if he'd even suggested it. I probably would have done the same to you myself, if I had been there, so it's a good thing I wasn't.

Not that that will last much longer. Being so far away from you has been a lot tougher than I imagined it would be, but knowing that you're in danger in that blasted tournament has me at my wits end. What was Dumbledore thinking, forcing you to participate? I know that I can't be a lot of help while I'm still wanted by so many people, but I can't be any help at all if I'm not close by.

So lock up the liquor and hide the women, 'cuz Padfoot is comin' back to town! Keep an eye out for me, sweetie, you never know if I'll be around the next corner.

Love,

Uncle Paddy

"Oh, no," moaned Hermione. "This is not good. This is so not good."

Jasmine couldn't bring herself to disagree, though she wished she could. She never let on how much she missed Sirius... or maybe it was just the idea of Sirius. She hardly knew Sirius the person at all, but the idea of a living connection to her parents — someone who might value her for herself — was just too precious to give up.

For a few, blissful minutes last year, she actually believed that someone would take her away from the Dursleys. It had been seemed like the fulfillment of a dream that the poor orphan girl had been having for as long as she could remember, but a combination of bad circumstances and a petty potions professor conspired to snatch the dream from her before she could fully grasp it.

She wanted Sirius safe. She also wanted Sirius back. She wasn't certain, though, which she should focus on.

Tuesday, December 15, 1994, Late Morning.

For the fourth time in three minutes, Jasmine checked her watch. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," answered Neville, "but it's really unlike her to cut things so close. If she doesn't get here in the next minute, she'll be late, and Professor McGonagall won't go easy on her."

Just as he finished saying that, Hermione came rushing into the Transfiguration classroom. Almost completely out of breath, she sat at her usual table with Jasmine and Neville before hurriedly pulling out her book, parchment, and quill. "Where were you?" Jasmine asked. "I was getting really worried."

Hermione blushed and flashed her a wide smile, but before she could answer, Professor McGonagall stood up in front of the class and called for quiet. She then began her lesson on animate to inanimate transfiguration and the differences from inanimate to animate transfiguration. Jasmine barely listened, though, because she was too busy thinking about Hermione, where she had been, and what would cause her to keep smiling like that through the whole class.

At the end of the lesson, she was finally able to resume her interrogation. "Not here," Hermione insisted, "wait until we're alone." So Hermione, accompanied by Jasmine and Neville, took their time walking to the Great Hall for lunch, letting everyone else get there well ahead of them.

"So?" Jasmine asked again.

"I got a date to the Yule Ball! Somebody asked me! Somebody actually asked me!" It was clear that Hermione was ready to explode with excitement. She was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, something she normally only did at the prospect of visiting a new book store.

"Who?" asked Jasmine.

"Oh, you'll never guess, not in a million years!" Apparently deciding not to even let them try, she blurted, "It's Viktor Krum!"

This news rendered her two friends speechless.

"Yes, I know, I never would have expected it myself," Hermione went on. "Isn't it amazing? I've noticed that he's been spending time in the library, usually when I'm there. Turns out, he was deliberately watching me, hoping to catch me alone so he could talk to me. He only worked up the courage today during my morning break. His English isn't very good, so he stumbled through his invitation, but it was still really sweet. He's very polite and respectful, I think we'll have a wonderful time. Oh, I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun. Me, on a date with Viktor Krum! An international celebrity!"

The whole time that Hermione was rambling and Neville was congratulating her, Jasmine silently stared straight ahead. She didn't say anything. She couldn't even think anything.

"Jasmine?" Hermione asked, once she noticed that the third member of their group was being quiet. "Is something wrong?"

"No, Hermione, of course not," she answered quickly. What is the matter with me? Why can't I be happy for her? I knew she'd be going to the ball — I want her to go. Of course someone was going to ask her, I'm not the only person in the school to notice how good-looking she is. So why do I suddenly want to throttle Viktor Krum, burn the body, and dump the ashes in the lake? "I'm happy for you, I really am. I'm sure he'll show you a wonderful time at the ball."

This seemed to satisfy Hermione, who instantly resumed her happy babbling, though Neville gave Jasmine a curious look. "Oh, I know, and guess what else is great? Since Viktor is a champion, I'll be able to sit with you at the champions' table! But that means that I'll also have to join the opening dance, so I'll have to practice my dancing even harder. You'll help me, won't you Neville? Of course you will, thanks. I'm going to have so much to do to get ready. I'll definitely need..."

The other two had stopped paying close attention by this point, not entirely sure that this was really Hermione Granger anymore. "Maybe we should check for polyjuice," suggested Neville in a whisper. "Hermione would never go on and on about dresses and makeup like that." Jasmine nodded in agreement, but she wasn't listening closely to him, either. She was too preoccupied with thoughts about Viktor Krum, standing in front of her, gasping for breath because her hands were tightly wrapped around his throat.

Tuesday, December 15, 1994, Late Evening.

Part-way through the evening dancing lesson, Neville stopped and brought Hermione back to the other two girls. "All right," he announced, "I think that Hermione and I have done this step enough with each other that we have a fair idea of what we're doing. We still need more practice, but we're doing well enough to try it with you two," he said, gesturing to Ginny and Jasmine.

Holding out his hand to Jasmine, he continued, "As I said before, I'll focus on dancing with you because we'll have to be good together when we help open the ball." Pulling her to the middle of the room, he started explaining how he wanted her to set her feet and then how they would be moving for the first dance. While he was doing this, Hermione was giving the same explanation to Ginny on the other side of the dancing area.

After moving around in vaguely dance-like fashion, and with a nearly tolerable amount of toe-mashing, Neville decided to risk distracting Jasmine by asking a question that had been bothering him most of the day. "Jasmine, are you OK?"

"What? Yeah, fine."

"Now we'll start moving left. No, my left. Other left. You've been acting a bit odd since lunch. Or maybe it was Transfiguration, when Hermione announced her date with Krum. Ow!"

"Sorry."

"S'ok, it was that foot's turn. So, are you fighting with Hermione?" Neville asked.

"Of course not!" Jasmine insisted.

"Well, that's good. Now, let's start moving gradually towards the back. So, is the problem Krum? Ow!"

"Sorry."

"Maybe we should sit down for a bit," Neville suggested.

"Sorry."

"No, it's OK, I'm just... tired. Been a long day."

"Oh, good. Me, too," Jasmine replied.

Neville let Jasmine walk ahead of him so she wouldn't see him limp. On both legs. She was so distracted now, though, that it probably wouldn't have mattered.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong," he asked as they sat down and watched the other two practice.

"No. Maybe. Oh, I don't even know what's wrong. I just... I don't understand what I'm feeling and it's really bothering me."

Neville sighed as he saw Ginny and Hermione start to walk over to them. "Maybe we should continue this when we're alone. Sometimes talking about something can help you understand it better because you have to put your feelings into words."

Jasmine looked over at him, and for the first time since early that morning, her frown was replaced with a soft smile. "Yeah, you might be right. Thanks, Neville. We'll do that."

The rest of the evening proceeded with considerably less annoyance radiating off of Jasmine, though everyone could see that something was still bothering her. Well, Ginny and Neville could see it; Hermione continued to be distracted by thoughts about her coming Yule Ball date.

Because Neville was still limping a bit at the end, Jasmine offered to walk with him while the other two went on ahead. It wasn't entirely a ruse, because his feet really did still hurt; but it also provided a convenient way to talk without an audience. It further allowed them to talk while walking, and Neville knew that Jasmine thought and planned best while in motion. She was someone who always had to be doing and acting, not simply sitting around pondering. It was one of the areas where she was the exact opposite of Hermione, who had to plan, come up with possible problems, plan contingencies for all those problems, then revise the entire thing just to be sure — and only then would consent to get up and start moving.

"So, Jasmine," Neville prompted in the face of the girl's silence, "What's going on?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure, but I'm incredibly upset and distracted. I just don't know why."

"What's distracting you?" he asked.

"Thoughts of Krum," Jasmine said. "I keep imagining strangling him. Or setting him on fire. Feeding him to a basilisk has been a fun fantasy. Then there's Devil's Snare, but he might know how to escape that. Say, are there any plants in the greenhouses that would kill him in an especially painful and messy way?"

Neville's eyes grew larger and larger while listening to Jasmine recite the litany of deaths she fantasized about arranging for Viktor Krum. "I, uh, didn't realize that you were quite so competitive with the other champions..."

"What? No, it's nothing like that," responded Jasmine quickly. "I'd like to win, but I don't want to chop him into little bits and feed them to Fluffy just because he's competing against me. All this started only today, for some reason."

"Today? You mean, like this morning? Before lunch?" Neville asked, comprehension dawning on him.

"Yeah. And now, every time Hermione mentions the name 'Krum,' I want to rip off his arm and beat him to death with the wet end."

Neville started looking a bit green. Given how often Hermione had been mentioning her date, that was a lot of beatings. Neville had seen Jasmine angry before, but he'd never seen her quite so blunt about wanting to hurt someone. It couldn't possibly be healthy. "Jasmine, I think you might be jealous of Krum," he suggested tentatively.

Jasmine shook her head. "I thought about that, but why would I be jealous?" Jasmine asked. "Hermione's with me, and the date with Krum isn't real. I knew she would get a date to the ball. I want her to have a date to the ball — if she didn't, I wouldn't be able to enjoy it myself."

"Well, you know that the date isn't supposed to be real, but are you sure Krum knows that? Does he know that they are only going as friends? I don't remember Hermione mentioning that she talked to him about that." Neville paused for a moment, looking back on his friend's behavior over the course of the day. "In fact, Hermione hasn't been behaving like it's a fake date. She's been acting like it's real. Seems odd, now that I think about it."

Jasmine frowned at this. Finally, she said reluctantly, "You might be right. I'm not exactly used to having anything to be jealous about, so it's hard to know for sure what I'm feeling; but it sounds about right. I should probably talk with her."

"Good idea," Neville said as they approached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. "I'll leave you to it, then. G'night!" he added before they went to their separate dorms. Once Jasmine got to her room, though, she saw that the curtains around Hermione's bed were already closed. Assuming she was asleep, Jasmine chose to wait until the next morning to talk to her.

Hermione was not, in fact, asleep yet. During the dancing lesson, Hermione had reached a startling and embarrassing realization: she had no dress for the ball. Their school list in August had included dress robes, but she had been certain that she wouldn't go to whatever silly event they were needed for so chose not to spend the money. Her parents had argued quite strongly that she should do it anyway, and that it would be better to have the dress and not need it than to need the dress and not have it, but Hermione had refused to listen.

Unfortunately, she didn't think that she had brought enough money to buy a dress locally, so she'd have to write to her parents and apologize in order to ask for them to send cash. She'd be eating more than a little bit of crow.

On top of that, she was faced with having to explain why she needed the dress, which meant explaining that she had a date. This is going to be so embarrassing, Hermione thought. After all the arguments I had with mum about getting an updated version of 'The Talk' despite not having any intentions to start dating, and how I am way too committed to school to care anything about boys or romance. I'm not sure I'll ever live down having to admit that I have a date to a ball — not even when we're only going as friends. Sometimes she couldn't tell whether having parents who treated her like an adult was more helpful or more annoying, especially when explaining sexual development and such.

Maybe she could avoid talking about the date part. They don't need to know that I have a date, do they? They don't even need to know that it's a ball — I can just tell them that it's a formal affair, and I need to go... because of Jasmine! Yes, that's it! That even gives me a good excuse for why I'm going, since they already know that she's my best friend and was entered into a tournament against her will. A little sympathy will surely reduce their desire to gloat over having told me that I should get a dress, too. Hah, perfect!

Wednesday, December 16, 1994, Early Morning.

Waking slowly, Jasmine was reminded of the problems she had had the previous day and vowed to find time to talk to Hermione so they could resolve any misunderstandings. She hated the feelings she'd experienced the previous day and had no idea how to process them. She just wanted to be rid of them and was convinced that talking to Hermione was the best way to achieve that. Finding the time will be tough, though, she thought. Wednesdays are pretty busy for us.

Climbing out from behind her bed curtains, she was assaulted by one of the most annoying sounds she'd ever had the misfortune of hearing: giggling and squeeing teen girls. Even though she was a teen girl herself, she always hated those high-pitched sounds. Whenever Lavender and Parvati got started, Jasmine always made it a point to get out of the dorm as fast as possible. Unfortunately, when she heard the subject of their squeals, she was stopped dead in her tracks.

"Krum is so handsome and dreamy, I can't believe he'll be here at Hogwarts all year."

"Oh, I know, and he's so mature, too — not like all the other boys. I'll bet he'll be gallant with his date."

"So you think the rumors are true and he has a date now?"

"Oh, absolutely! Padma told me that Fay told her that she heard from Mandy that she overheard Daphne tell Tracey that she heard from Flora and Hestia who were told by Natalie that she overheard Krum ask someone in the library. But she didn't get a chance to see who it was."

"Squeeeee! That's so romantic!"

All during the rather confusing conversation, Jasmine kept getting angrier and angrier. She could barely think straight, she was so furious. Romantic, huh? Krum thinks he can get away with being romantic with my Hermione, huh? When she looked over in the direction of Hermione's bed, she saw a smug, happy look on her face. Is she... is she happy about this? Did she enjoy being romanced by that Bulgarian gorilla? With that, the dam broke, and all thoughts of having a calm, mature conversation with her girlfriend went right out the window.

"Romantic," Jasmine half-growled and half-shouted. "What's so romantic about asking a person out on a date in a library of all places?" She ruthlessly shoved aside the knowledge that Hermione loved libraries and would see them as excellent locations for a bit of romance.

Everyone else in the dorm stopped and stared in shock. Jasmine only raised her voice like this when she was extremely agitated, and this seemed to come out of nowhere. For no reason anyone could discern, Jasmine had gone from asleep to murderous in a matter of seconds.

"And why are you fawning all over that gorilla, anyway? What's so special about him? He chases little gold balls for a living. What kind of career is that?" The fact that Jasmine was a seeker, too, didn't seem to occur to the ranting witch.

"He can barely speak English. Who knows if he's any more articulate in Bulgarian? Maybe there are good reasons why he barely opens his mouth and spends most of his time just scowling at everyone. With that forehead and the single eyebrow, I have to wonder about his recent heritage, too."

The other three girls just gaped open-mouthed at this unexpected vitriol. Lavender and Parvati were curious about what prompted it, but they didn't say anything lest Jasmine's anger be directed at them instead. Hermione, she saw, was gaping as well, but there was also a sheen in her eyes and a look of... sadness? Hurt? Betrayal? Jasmine wasn't sure, too confused by the battle between rage and regret (and triumph?) she herself was experiencing.

Rather than continue, Jasmine simply grabbed her clothes and stomped off to the showers. When she exited later, the dorm was empty. She'd be walking down to breakfast alone, it seemed. Fine! I don't need them anyway!

When she arrived in the Great Hall, she found Hermione sitting with Lavender and Parvati rather than with Neville and Ginny. When she joined the latter two, she had no explanation to offer for Hermione's behavior or her own bad mood. The gossip queens would soon spread the story across the school, but few paid it much attention.

This pattern repeated throughout the day. In double Charms that morning and double Runes in the afternoon, Hermione sat with anyone other than Jasmine — the first time anyone had seen that happen since early in first year. During lunch and dinner, Hermione once again sat with other girls while avoiding her best friend. When she came to the dancing lesson that evening, she made a point of formally greeting Neville and Ginny while ignoring Jasmine. She didn't speak a single word to the Girl Who Lived the entire time. Yet she did look at her when Jasmine wasn't watching, the war between hurt and anger written on her face for anyone who cared to notice.

It was a long, long day.