A/N: Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well. I hope you have enjoyed the last chapter. I do apologize for the very sudden and abrupt happenstance, I hope you enjoy how everything evolves. That said please be aware that this is my first attempt at a soul bond fic, so I do beg that you not be too harsh, though please do feel free to comment and critique all is welcome :). As usual I do not own Harry Potter or the World or Characters, Store or trademarks or anything to do with the the canon created by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I only own this story that they are partaking in. Back to the show, shall we? This chapter has been edited to its current version by my beta MionellSparlockineco and myself.
Harry continued to watch as the two professors stopped at the barrier; he unconsciously registered that he was still holding Hermione in his arms. The strands continued to swirl and grow, and suddenly everything turned dark as his vision faded and he found himself alone in utter darkness.
He reached out trying to sense if there was anything near him, groping through the unending, empty darkness that enveloped him. Stilling his movements and breathing, he again repeated the same steps to see if he could hear anything, but it was all in vain.
"Is anyone there?" he called, testing to see if he could hear anything, anything at all.
He was met with silence, Taking a deep breath, he though it would be nice if he could at least have some light. As soon as he thought about it, the room was lit to reveal a long hallway lined with doors, and he was in the middle of an intersection where he could easily turn left, right, go straight on, or turn around and go down the hallway behind him.
"What in the bloody hell?" He asked, as he blinked to ensure that he was not seeing things.
The hall was still there. Deciding he may as well try to find a way out of this predicament, he proceeded down the hallway ahead, stopping at the first door. There was a small plaque at the door that read a small heading, "You're just beginning to grow, you're so precious, you know." The heading was followed by a date, a date he knew very well. He opened the door wondering why it had Hermione's birth date below such a strange heading.
He stepped quietly into a hospital room where an auburn haired couple sat cuddled together on the bed, a newborn baby in their arms. As he watched, the father gently leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the small infant's head.
"We should call her Hermione Jean Granger," The man said as he looked at his wife, providing a fitting name for their beautiful daughter.
The woman stared at him in thought as she let the idea sit in her mind for a few minutes. "I believe that is a beautiful name that has many meanings," she said, referencing their shared love of history and mythology as well as literature.
Harry continued to watch on in wonder at the love shared between the couple and their child-he watched for what felt like hours until he realized that it had in fact been hours. He realized also in the three hours he had watched them, neither of the adults had seemed to notice him. He walked over to them to apologize for interrupting and realized that they could not sense him at all. He tried to speak, only to find that they did not hear him, he repeated the same for sound, smell, taste and sight. They were completely oblivious to him in all manner.
Finally deciding that he had seen enough of this room, he backed out of the door into the hallway, eager to see what mysteries the other rooms held. As he ventured through the rooms, he watched over the years as she grew to become the girl he loved now. He began to truly understand and comprehend what love was as he watched her parents, and how they not only deeply loved each other, they cherished their daughter far more than anything. It made him so glad that she had been spared the atrocities of something like the Dursleys, something he hoped that she would never discover.
He was compensated in the fact that he also was able to understand her thoughts and reasons as he watched her life unfold. Nearly every moment of her life was laid before him, especially moments of great significance. He was astonished when it finally came time for her to go to Hogwarts.
He watched eagerly as Hermione and her Parents were accompanied by Professor McGonagall to Diagon Alley for the first time. Harry watched as her Parents, now known to him as Dr. Annette Granger and Dr. Frank Granger, were engulfed into the Wizarding World, though far more prepared that he had been with poor Hagrid by his side.
They went first to Gringotts bank and established and account with one of the goblins, who easily transferred funds for Hermione to use in the magical world. It was shortly after that they began to shop for all of her needed equipment. The day was easily passed with no issues at all. He had been surprised to find that Hermione and he had actually visited Diagon Alley on the same day, though her birthday was nearly a month before his.
He was in awe of how even though they could not understand most of the Magical World, the two muggles, whose only daughter was a witch, were determined to find a way to fit in with whatever their daughter chose. He noticed that while her parents always tried to encourage their daughter, they always encouraged her more to make her own choices. It was a parenting style that he found was quite effective, especially after the age of around seven or eight.
He continued to watch on as the story of her life continued, flashing through their meeting on the train as well as the events of the Sorting Ceremony. He was surprised that she and the hat had argued, she winning in the end with the argument that it was smarter to fight for what you believed in and for what others believe in, should it be good and pure and true and beneficial for all, no matter their race, kind, blood purity, blood status, wealth, or anything else, than to seek only knowledge to find to horde it away or use it for your own greedy agenda.
Harry watched from her eyes all of the events that had happened in their first and second years: the fight with the Troll, his first Quidditch Match. He had laughed again at her lighting Snape on fire; it was something that he had actually forgotten. He watched on and realized that she not only did all of the things that she did for both him and for Ron because she was friends with them, but because she truly deeply cared for them as her best friends in the entire world. He had been surprised that she had been attracted to him nearly since their first meeting on the Train. He also had felt something then, but it had not been strong enough until recently for him to finally understand what he felt and act upon it.
As he continued to watch, he noticed that of all the things she had been unable to do while paralyzed after seeing the Basilisk in the small hand mirror she had held, she had been able to think and watch people. He listened as she recounted everything that she had been taught in class over and over in her head for hours, studying for any tests she may wake up to. Once she knew all of her subjects well by heart, she began to think about other things. She often though mostly about him, why he was so important to her. She knew that he was the best friend she had ever had, that she would never ever find another person who she understood and got along with so well, someone who meant more to her than life itself in so many ways. She was too young to fully comprehend what love was, but she knew that she wanted to always be friends with him and that she would eventually be honored to marry him, should the opportunity ever arise and that she would cherish him always.
He understood all of her feelings, as he also saw her the same way, and to see that every thing he felt for her, even things he never believed he could feel or imagined were possible to feel, were shared by her towards him. He felt that she was in so many ways a duplicate of himself, he was complete only as long as she was with him. He noticed also that she felt the same way and that she hoped that if this relationship were to be successful they would always keep the strong foundations of their friendship in place as well, something he agreed was relative to all.
He continued on, coming to their arrival at the start of Term, when Hermione was dragged off by Professor McGonagall, he followed along, finally able to see what this secret meeting and continued secrecy there after was about. He watched on in intrigue and understanding as he learned how she was making it to all of her classes and exactly how many classes she was taking. The Time-Tuner was a useful but very dangerous tool and he understood the need for secrecy even from him and Ron.
As he finally began to near to their current time period, he entered into a garden, a garden filled with nearly every flower that had ever existed upon the earth. Magical and non magical plants spread out in every direction forever as far as he could see, animals and beasts roamed through the forest but none threatened him. He was just crossing through the jungle he had headed into and out onto a riverbank when he saw it...
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Hermione understood as she continued to watch the strands, she had read a few books in extra study on various type of magic. If she was correct, this was the forming of a soulbond between her and Harry. These were very rare, and it was unpredictable as to when, why, how, where or even what causes them to happen. The only thing that seemed to be constant most of the time when a Soulbond is formed is a strong relationship, either positive, romantic, platonic, or negative between the two prior to the forming of the Bond. Bonds could form at any point in a destined individuals life and served many different purposes. Some were simply friendship bonds, vows of the soul to always be friends. Others were vows of servitude, protection, repayment. Some could easily be established while the most rarest and most purest of all the bond of that of True Soul Mates was only ever recorded at max to be seen three times in any century ever in history.
She knew that all of this knowledge could not prepare her for the actual experience, as the world suddenly disappeared and she was engulfed in darkness. She quickly found that just as she had figured the place she was in easily adjusted to her mental specifications. She strode down the hallway, eager to learn what was behind the doors as she wondered what she would learn as this was not something mentioned in the books.
She watched as the sad events of Harry's parents deaths unfolded and the years of torment and neglect he experienced at the hands of his relatives commenced. She watched as he was abused in many ways, physically as well as emotionally and mentally. He had displayed signs of being magical at an early age, when it had been necessary to help him in surviving his Uncle's rage.
The more she learned about his family the more she disliked them, especially his overstuffed walrus of an uncle, who was only in second place for fattest man in Britain to his son, who was easily working his way towards fattest man on the planet. She hated thinking that way about other people, but there was nothing nice that she could think of in regards to any of the three Dursleys.
She was relived to find that the Weasleys had been a much better improvement for Harry when he had spent the summer there last year, but she had also noticed how Harry had been a little overwhelmed by how big the family was and what family meant to them. She had also noticed the way Ginny had reacted around him all summer and was soon able to easily put it all together to form what she knew now about Ginny and her feelings for Harry.
Poor Ginny, she had just recently become good friends with her. She had tried to give her some pointers for how to control her behavior around Harry, something that she understood but found unnecessary as Harry did not require constant reminders and assurances of your feelings for him of any kind. She realized now that, in a way, she had now betrayed Ginny and their friendship, as she had never told Ginny that she liked Harry or how she felt about him and now they were dating.
She felt every emotion, heard every thought, everything he was. She adored him more and loved him more the more she knew. She knew that he understood love, despite how he had been treated, but he also needed to be guided to better understand what love truly and deeply meant. She was so pleased that they shared so many of the same feelings on so many subjects, things that she never dared to hope for or even imagined to be possible.
As she reached their current timeline, she knew that things were about to change between them forever, that as soon as they saw each other again they would have to speak about many things that would change their lives forever. They would have to decide the type of bond that they wanted to form and they would then have to return to the real world.
She stepped into the garden that seemed to go on forever and followed through mountains and streams until she came to a river bank. Looking up she smiled as she saw him, he was just as she remembered- though knowing all that she knew now, he was far more beautiful and precious to her than she had ever thought possible for him to be.
"You are so perfect to me," she thought quietly to herself as she continued to take him in, looking over every part of him with love and understanding.
"I...what?" Came the sound of his voice in her head as she suddenly felt his presence reaching out to her, surrounding her. She felt him suddenly pulling her mentally into his arms as he gently placed a mental kiss on her lips.
"You, are the one who are beautiful." He said as he quickly walked over and pulled her into his arms physically as well, kissing her as he continued to do so mentally as well.
She was engulfed by his love and understanding for her, his pride and his adoration. She felt everything he thought and felt as he thought over all of the things that he felt for her. They continued to hold each other until they found that they were nestled on the bank of the river against a tree, cuddling each other.
He began to discuss all of the things that he had seen, her life in exactly the same manner that she had seen his. She explained to him that she too had also seen his life much in the same way and she assured him that she did not see him at all in the way that he had been brought up to believe.
"They were monstrous to you." She hissed as she snuggled more closely to him. "That is not love Harry, that is...that is...I have no words for what that is."
"I know he said, now that we are together and we are, as you have stated forming a soulbond, I will never have to deal with them again." He said as he stared at her with wonder in his eyes at the thought.
"I am sure that my parents will gladly allow you to move in with us and will be supportive of our new situation." She said with assurity in her voice, she knew that as soon as she informed her parents of what his family had done to him they would outright refuse to allow Harry back into his Aunt and Uncle's home.
"How much longer do you think we will have here?" Harry asked as he looked at her.
"Well, we still need to decide what type of bond we wish to form." She said, staring at him with hope, fear, love and many other emotions that she could also feel emanating from him.
"You are me Hermione." He said quietly as he looked her directly in the eyes. "You are my soul mate, you understand me in ways that I have never understood myself and will never understand. I love you beyond what I have ever even considered possible, the idea of a life without you at my side, as my best friend and as something more, as my mate, my companion, my..my wife."
She felt tears in her eyes as she was overwhelmed by his emotions again, his love for her and his regard for their friendship far, his fear of loosing her due to death or disaster. She understood that and she allowed him to feel her own feelings for him, their connection with each other growing stronger as once again he was mentally kissing her, pulling her closer and closer with every fiber of his being.
She felt the place that they were in begin to fade away, the world fading into a bright golden light that was the same color as the strands that had bound them together before they had been brought to the hallway and the garden. She knew that they had decided upon their bond, now they were to be returned to the real world and complete the ritual in the presence of all of the figures who were there.
A/N: Well, here we go, I hope you enjoy this. There is still much more to their bond to be discovered, but for now we shall enjoy as they learn on their own how it all works. Let me know if you think this was all too rushed, or what you think. There is still more things to hash out throughout the story, trust me this is just the beginning of a wonderful adventure.