Edited 9/15/2023 Minor Grammar/Spelling.
OMG CHAPTER 100!? HOW! This is WILD!
2/5 for today!
Saturday, August 8, 1998
"Hermione," Draco said, shaking her awake. "You need to wake up."
Hermione blinked her eyes open to see Draco hovering above her. "Mmm," she groaned, "What time is it?"
"Just after three in the morning," he said, eyes darting around.
"What's wrong, amor?" Theo groaned from next to her on the bed.
"He wants to see Hermione!" Draco practically shouted.
"He, as in the Dark Lord?" Theo yelped, sitting up quickly.
"Yes!" Draco squeaked. "We have until Monday, but we need to prepare ourselves. Please get up."
Hermione found that she couldn't move. She was going to meet him. Tom Riddle Jr. Lord Voldemort. The Dark Lord. She couldn't control her thoughts, they began to race in all directions, out of her control. She had to meet him. He'd be in her brain. He could hurt Scorpius. She would never be able to do it. He'd know that she wasn't who she said she was. She hadn't practised her backstory enough. It wasn't natural yet. Someone had told him. There was no way that she and Scorpius would survive. He'd torture Theo and Draco and all three of them would be dead. There was nothing they could do anymore. It was the end. She'd failed them. She'd failed herself. She'd failed the Order. Her parents! They'd find them and torture them and they wouldn't even know why!
"Hermione!" she heard Theo's voice calling out. She felt someone, it must be Draco, wrapped around her from behind and she could see Theo's handsome face in front of her. He was so handsome. She'd have to remember how he looked when he laughed when he was torturing her. Theo had been her rock for so long. He was so strong and so good.
"Merlin forgive me," Theo said, looking pained. He slapped her across the face, hard.
She gasped, "Theo!" she cried.
"I'm sorry, love, I'm so so sorry," he said, and she could see tears pooling in his eyes. "You were having a panic attack and had closed yourself off to Draco and I. We couldn't get you out of it."
"How long was I under?" she asked quietly, still not able to pull her eyes from Theo's.
"Almost a half an hour," Draco murmured from behind her. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have woken you like that."
"I-It's alright," she said, wrapping her arms around herself. "We need to prepare. When do I have to appear in front of him?"
"H-Hermione," Theo said, still looking rather broken. "Please, I'm so sorry I just… I didn't…"
She reached out a hand and wiped a tear from his cheek. "I know you didn't, tesoro. I needed to snap out of it. Thank you for pulling me out."
"Please forgive me?" he asked, reminding Hermione of a small child.
"There is nothing to forgive," she said, smiling at him. "I love you and am so grateful that you were able to pull me out." She turned a bit to look over her shoulder at Draco. "You said we have until Monday?" He just nodded, but Hermione could tell that he'd been crying too. "If the three of us can't handle it, who can? Come along, we need to decide which Rituals we're going to perform, and then we can do them later today or tomorrow if need be.
She stood and wrapped her robe around her, dragged the boys to the library. She gave them each a copy of her list, and had them go through each of her rituals to see which were doable in the next 40ish hours. By the time they'd finished they had a list of the three they could manage.
Telepathic Bond
Occlumency Shields
Portend of Precise Pinpointation
The sun was close to creeping over the horizon when they sent Gertie and Lulu off to find the ingredients needed. The three of them collapsed into their bed, hoping to achieve a precious few hours of sleep before they had to begin more serious preparations.
When they awoke to Gertie's prodding, they noticed that the sun hadn't reached its zenith, but was shining brightly in their windows. "Gertie and Lulu be getting all the things you be needing," Gertie chirped.
Theo groaned, but rolled off the bed, sitting on the edge, rubbing his eyes. "Can you fetch Draco and I some Invigoration Draught please?" Gertie nodded and popped away.
"I'm inordinately jealous," Hermione grumbled, "No caffeine, no alcohol, no fun!" she whined good naturedly.
Draco snorted, "You can take a nap while I'm brewing our potions or while Theo is perfecting the wand movements."
"Fat chance!" she said with a sigh, "You think I'd turn down the opportunity to watch my Potion Master Husband making potions? Competence is absolutely one of my kinks."
"Mmm," Theo said, standing over them, "and praise, and control, and so many other things."
"Okay, Mr. Breeding Kink Control Freak," Hermione grumbled, biting back her grin.
Theo gripped her ankles and pulled her down so her core was pressed against his quickly hardening cock. "That's Lord Nott, to you Miss Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I'm not sure if you heard," she said offhandedly, "but I'm no longer a Granger. I'm Lady Malfoy Nott."
Theo growled and dropped to his fists on either side of her head. "Alright you horndogs," Draco said with a chuckle, "as much as I'd love to watch you two fuck each other raw, we have more pressing things to do."
Theo groaned and dropped his head to her neck, "On Tuesday, you won't be getting out of bed until I have you screaming my name," he said, nipping her shoulder.
"It's a date, Lord Nott," she purred. He helped her stand and they made their way to the bathroom, where Draco had already started the shower.
The rest of the day was a blur of preparations. Hermione found herself practically jumping Draco when he rolled up his sleeves to stir the potion on the bench, only holding herself back because he'd never made the potion before and screwing up would cause some dramatic consequences.
When she went outside to draw the runes in the backyard, Hermione stopped for a few minutes to watch Ginny fly around the pitch. Somehow she'd forgotten that Ginny had another year of school to complete. Hermione knew that she'd been sending a few letters back and forth with some of the Quidditch Recruiters, but wanted to finish her education before she moved into the professional athletic arena.
After a few minutes of watching, Hermione shook her head and bent over to draw the lines in the ground. Scorpius must be enjoying the movement as he sent a flutter through her womb. "Yes that's right, little star," she said rubbing her stomach, "Mumma is preparing to see Tom. He's a mean man and I hope you never have to meet him. Papá and Pére are helping too. Soon I'll be able to speak to them telepathically. Do you know what that means?" she continued to chalk the lines onto the ground as she gave Scorpius a moment to reply, when she felt another flutter, she continued, "that's exactly right, little star! Telepathic means we'll be able to speak to each other in our minds."
At some point during her conversation, Ginny must have come down to observe, "I'm glad you all are doing the rituals," she said, making Hermione jump.
"Godric you scared me, Ginny!" Hermione said with a chuckle. "I'm supposed to see him on Monday. We want to be prepared."
Ginny grunted noncommittally, "Anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"Not really," Hermione said with a sigh. "I suppose you could distract me with your plans for next year when you're back at Hogwarts?"
Ginny smirked at her, "Only you, Hermione Jean Granger would think that talking about school would be a good distraction."
But Ginny proceeded to hover next to her and talk to her about the plans that she'd been cooking up with Luna for the following year. She'd have to continue to play the neutral role, but thought that spending more time with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs might provide some good information. She'd already prepared a good blow up fight to have with Luna so no one would be curious about where her loyalties would lie.
By the time she'd finished speaking, Hermione was finishing her ritual circle and wiping the dust off her pant legs.
"I'm glad you have a plan, but I'll be quite nervous for you all year. I'll ask Harry if you can borrow the Map. I'd feel much better if you had it, even if you're not together anymore. We'll need all the intel you and Luna can gather from Hogwarts."
"I was talking Regulus," Ginny continued, "he's working on getting rid of the Carrow's at Hogwarts. He's trying to encourage Tom away from the more actively depraved things that happened over the past year."
"That's good," Hermione said thoughtfully, walking with Ginny back towards the house. "Regulus is a good asset. I think that Draco is starting to really look at him as a good friend, which is good. He needs more people than I do, and Theo has always been good at blending into any group, so I'm not worried about him."
That evening as the sun was setting, Hermione, Theo and Draco stood inside the circle she'd drawn. They'd discarded all of their clothing and Hermione's hair was flowing out of the braids she'd been keeping them in recently. They were starting with the Portend of Precise Pinpointation as it had the strictest requirements for them. They weren't allowed to wear anything or the spell may stick to that thing instead of their person. They'd bathed in a Purification potion before coming outside.
"Ready?" Theo asked, looking at each of them.
"Yes," Hermione said, with a smile. Draco nodded, but looked quite excited as well.
They began to chant together:
Ad hunc curriculum accedimus propriae voluntatis. Altius connexionem quaerimus. Ubicumque in hoc mundo capimus, distantia, moenia, et custodiae nos separare non possunt. Ex hoc nunc et usque in finem ligati erimus. (We come to this circle of our own free will. We seek a deeper connection. Wherever we are taken in this world, distance, walls and wards cannot separate us. From now until the end we will be tied.)
They cut their palms and allowed their blood to drip in the circle around them. A swirl of magic surrounded them and began to spin. Hermione could feel it pull tighter and tighter around them. Finally, after their tenth time repeating their chant, the magic ended abruptly.
"Is- Is it done?" Draco asked, looking between them.
"I-" Hermione felt a little bit woozy and felt herself stumble a bit. Theo and Draco rushed to her sides, holding her up. "I think I need a Blood Replenish-"
The world faded to black.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts about what might happen next!