Disclaimer, The HP world belongs to JKR, the story is mine.

Written for 31 October Samhain based on a challenge, the plot bunny was excellent.

Reviews as usual welcome.

Thanks to lwalters5 for her assistance..I am glad if I can make you all happy. I love the Lestrange brothers. Based on the reception of this story, I will complete another Rabastan, about this length that is half done.

Without further ado let's go for the next act of this play, shall we? BTW I managed to scare myself silly researching facts for this story. The Stag is a true Celtic deity, that part is accurate.

Chapter four – The Stag Lord

The Song of Amergin

I am a stag of seven tines,
I am a wide flood on a plain,
I am a wind on the deep waters,
I am a shining tear of the sun,
I am a hawk on a cliff,
I am fair among flowers,
I am a god who sets the head afire with smoke.

She had finally managed to turn around; the air was heavy around them. Something unworldly was hanging around them. Rabastan would not lose his hold on her.

"I will not do such a thing. You are drunk and angry, and you don't deserve her. Why don't you go back to your current mistress or should I say mistresses?"

"I don't have a mistress now and never had one before. Furthermore, I don't have to tell you anything, it isn't your business. Let go of my wife and consider this to be my last warning." He hissed between his clenched teeth.

"You put your wand away right this minute. And you are right, technically you don't have mistresses, but you and your brothers make it a habit to—."

Ron interrupted him. "Hermione, we can talk at home, don't listen to him. You come with me right now, and we will go back to Harry's house. Everyone is waiting for you. I am only going to say it once, and don't forget that you are my wife."

The atmosphere was really charged, the threats hung around them, and Hermione feared for Rabastan.

Hermione turned around and tried to stand up without success; the wizard held her tight. Ron's mask hanged from his neck and in the semi-light given by the fires and torches, she could see his face suffused with anger and rage, and the shadows made his face appear as belonging to someone intent on murder.

His wand was clearly pointed in their direction, when Hermione had the impression of someone approaching, but could not be certain, the fog had decreased the visibility considerably. It had rolled in waves, faster than she had seen it before. Maybe it was a special effect created by the Malfoys, but she, somehow, doubt it.

Voices could now be heard around them, whispers, menacing voices and calmed herself.

"Mr. Weasley put the wand down."

Hermione heard him casting what sounded like "Aved—", when a wizard, or what seemed like one, wearing an antler hat, knocked him down at the same time that Rabastan was preparing to Apparate.

She screamed when she saw the face of the one who had knocked Ron, her face appeared transfixed in horror and fainted.

She woke up sometime later; she was in an unknown room and could feel eyes intent upon her face. She looked at the person staring with apprehension, relief washed over her, it was Rabastan. He no longer wore a cloak and his face was nearly clean shaven but for a small goatee. He was amazingly beautiful.

"Hello lovely," his voice was low and calming. He was leaning in one elbow, and his free hand caressed her forehead.

"Hello, where are we?" she wanted to know. Were they in a room at the Malfoy residence?

He chuckled and brought a strand of her hair to his nose.

"I love the Hermione fragrance, it is the best." He answered, plainly ignoring her question.

"Where is Ron? Did you see that face, did you? I need to go home."

"This is your home now. I told you to get ready and not be surprised when it happened. Am I right?"

"Yes, however I never agreed. I do have a job and a home, this is kidnapping."

"Correction, you have a house, and you will have job. I will make arrangements, or Lucius will. And we sealed our vows, so mote it be?" Do you remember at Azkaban, you accepted and you are my bonded witch. We don't recognize Muggle marriages, maybe the Weasleys do, but in general they aren't valid. However, I wouldn't be surprised if our vows are registered as a bond at the Ministry."

"I must go home, you cannot keep me here. This is kidnapping." She did remember, it wasn't legal, was it? With her luck it was. With her luck, she was bonded to this Dark wizard, not that it was a tragic event.

"No need to repeat yourself, you said the same thing a while ago and also today," he chuckled and kissed her forehead, he shrugged his shoulders," C'est bien ma petite, consider yourself kidnapped, I fully agree with you."

She was dazzled with his smile. "What was the thing holding Ron?"

"Not sure, I have seen it somewhere I'll remember, it wasn't unfriendly. Ron wanted to kill me."

"Yes, I was afraid of that for a second."

"You, Madame Granger, you are just beautiful, and you are mine. I claim this witch by the laws of Samhain." She was looking at him horrified.

"No claims while I am married."

"Your marriage is not recognized by our world. I looked into it. I invoke the laws."

"I am married and the claim is registered."

He appeared not to have heard her. He waved his hand and the heavy tunics were gone. She wore the light linen shift and he had some strange under garment than only covered from his waist to mid-thigh. His proximity, his cologne, the strangeness of the evening all acted upon her.

When he said, "Let me show you much I love you. I waited for a very long time. Feels like thousands of years, and this is the right time to declare our love."

He took her hand on his and kissed her wrist. At once, she noticed the sharp knife on his hand, and that this wasn't a room but a gazebo. What she had thought a bed was instead a large stone made as a bed. In less than a few seconds, he had muttered something and two swift movements later, he had made precise cuts in both of their wrists, their blood poured into a bowl that appeared from thin air.

The bowl must have contained something else because it emitted rays of light in a circular pattern. He kneeled and spilled the mixed blood all around them, and a red circle shone above them. The circle expanded until it was larger than the platform, larger than the gazebo.

She could hear strange voices humming and chanting. Her head was muddled, her lids wouldn't stay open. He leaned and kissed her lips fully, "My love, my witch, my queen. Mine, my queen, for now and forever," he proclaimed in a loud voice, and she faded out, it was as if her body was disappearing in front of her. She was very tired.

"Life is but a Dream"

Calderon de la Barca-

"Granger, are you ok? Granger?" she was unable to open her eyes, she thought her lids were pure lead.

With great effort, Hermione pulled herself up, and her eyes assessed the unfamiliar bedroom. She then noticed the Malfoy family around her their eyes were full of concern.

"Don't worry, he left. The weasel said he would be making sure there was an investigation, something about the dark arts and demons and your lover, whom he sworn to be Rabastan. What did he do to you, did he hit you?" Lucius and Narcissa were anxious.

"He is crazy, you know? Rabastan was ambushed a few weeks after he left from here. He has been in a coma ever since. It happened right outside here, he had come back to visit." Narcissa reassured her.

"He came back to visit?" She just repeated, but there was no answer. He had come to get her, he had. She was happy, she was ecstatic, but why had he been ambushed and how.

"My father just Floo Uncle Rabastan's parents; they reside at their French home in the Burgundy region, near Dijon. They confirmed he was unresponsive until tonight. He has been agitated and has spoken in his sleep for the first time since he was injured. But he has neither been totally awake, nor has he moved. He called you a few times." Draco told her as he looked into her eyes.

"That is not possible, I, I." She was quiet, he had been there with her, and he had kissed her and held her in his arms. Or had he?

"Why do you say that Mrs. Granger," asked Lucius, his eyes full of concern.

"What do you know about a guest who wore a crown of horns, a stag? He had a grotesque mask, but it did not look like a mask, and his eyes were the colour of fire, as a matter of fact he had tranfigured his hair to be streams of fire, he could have been that god of the Celts, Cernunnos, yes that one," was Hermione's answer.

There was an uncomfortable silence, and Draco was perplexed and didn't understand the looks exchanged between his parents.

"Nobody has seen it in ages; the last time recorded was over six hundred years ago, and it was only to bless new unplotted ground where Wizarding London was built. What happened when did you see him?" Lucius asked in a tremulous voice.

She told them what happened, but extracted the Rabastan piece and stressed that Ron had been very nasty by trying to force her to go home with him; when she had refused, he had lifted the wand in her direction, probably just to intimidate her, and the wizard with the scary mask had appeared and disarmed him.

"You have been chosen by the gods of Samhain, by the Stag Lord, the greatest of all. Your descendants will be blessed for generations to come, are you sure you were with Ron? I think you might be forgetting to tell us something. The legend said he will take the body of the witch's true love."

Lucius was in awe and intense fear made him cold. If he was right, everyone needed to genuflect in a show of respect and made sure they never disappointed her in anyway.

Such power had never been known in this world, not that he knew of it. Then he remembered how she had been tortured in this very house, how Draco had made her life hell upon his demands, and a cold sweat ran down his back. And he also knew they might gain eternal life if he chose them for her court. Or that was the story; he was a deity who had never chosen; the ones that had were lesser than him.

He, however, was hoping that his family would be blessed and healed from the damages incurred during the last decades. As long as Hermione was at peace with them, and just because the Stag had appeared in their property, the darkness left by the Dark Lord would be erased.

The real blessings went to the witch and to the wizard she was with that night, and any she might chose later. In reality, he never envisioned the Stag would come; he would have been contented with one of the lesser deities. The fact he had defended the young witch scared him. He had never heard of such occurrence.

He knew that blood had to be spilled, but never on Samhain, heavens not, the implications were too much to even contemplate. Although blood was necessary to bring the couple together, the implications were too great to consider.

He wanted to ask her and instead held her hands with the pretext to check if she had injuries on the palm of her hands, and what he saw made him want to run; not only blood had been spilled but it appeared ritualistic; it wasn't a clean slice it appeared as a chain, the significance was greater than that.

Worse of all, he would need to go and see Mr. Weasley tomorrow and warn him that his life was in great danger. The feeling she was holding something back remained, and what he had seen confirmed his fears, but there was always the chance he was wrong.

If Ron Weasley had indeed attacked Hermione, he had forfeited his life. It was a merciful spirit when not angry; he would, however, love and protect the witch as his chosen mate, and would destroy all those who hurt her or made her spill tears. He had read the lore, lesser gods were even more vengeful, burned entire villages, destroyed families, and generations to come, some had even destroyed entire cultures.

Ron would need to leave England for at one year and one day. He needed water between danger and him. All the lands where the god had been worshiped were off limits to him. He should be glad the god had not tasted her blood or had he? If so, he would always be in danger, they would all be, he would be able to visit her at least once a year, and much, much more.

If Mrs. Granger would not stay with the wizard she had been tonight come next Samhain, the Stag would claim her for his own and take her to the dark realms when she was done with this life. But before he took her, he would always be in her shadow waiting for her. If he had been able to have her blood, nothing matter, wizard or none, he would be able to take her at anytime, no need to wait. Yes and he would have have the right to join her on Samhain, a shiver travelled up his spine.

After all, nobody knew where there was. Nobody knew what was beyond, while immortality has its appeals, the other considerations were making it less so.

The books said he would often join her in dreams appearing as her beloved. He would never tell her that. He really had hoped for the visit of a lesser deity to bless their home and land, and also the homes and lands of the ones who were his guests. He wanted to make up to the war torn community and never occurred to watch out for young witches. How could he have failed, but how did he know her, Lucius didn't understand. He vowed to protect her, and that is all he could do from now on.

Hermione was trembling, whereby Narcissa sat by her side; Hermione broke in great sobs as Narcissa held her. The last eighteen months had been hard, she had waited to hear from Rabastan and not a word had come, and what was about the messages he sent her? Maybe there was a copy, maybe his parents knew, she needed to find out.

Choking in her tears, she related her past story with Rabastan without the kisses but she talked about their love. And to clench it all, she told them, " While I was out , I dreamed of Rabastan, and he was so real, oh gods." Her sobs turned louder.

At her revelation, Lucius felt a cold hand wrap around his heart.

"Granger, I am sorry but everyone knows what the weasel has been doing. I have been with their group at times; they are a wild bunch, and, truly, he doesn't deserve you. We fought over the way he disrespects you; and I wasn't the only one who fought him. Married wizards should honor their wives." Draco told her.

"I need to go home to pack, and then I would like to go and see Rabastan. He has been dying all these time and nobody has sent me news. I don't know where his home is." Hermione added.

"Draco will accompany you, but first you must go home, and you shouldn't go alone. I think Narcissa can stay with the guests. Better, Draco and I will escort you home."

They Floo to her home and found that Ron wasn't there. Hermione packed very fast, her standard travel bag, a few extra's, nice formal witch's robes, and Muggle weekend clothes, some jewelry, a couple of coats, wraps, makeup, perfume, a few pair of shoes, books, and other items harder to buy at a whim.

Then she went into Ron's desk and looked into his 'secret' compartment and found several scrolls; one as recent as two weeks ago. She glanced at a couple of the later ones. They were from his parents begging her to go over to see him, hoping against hope.

His mother's scrolls were less formal than the fathers'. They were all written by a mother appealing to Hermione's humanity to come and save her son. Tears wouldn't stop flowing. Rabastan had been dying all this time, and she hadn't known. She shrunk all the scrolls she found and put them in her bag.

Just for a minute she justified Ron's actions until she remembered that his behavior had started long before Rabastan's defense. She jotted him a note, "Mr. Malfoy, I need a great favor, could you go to go and see Kingsley and explain the situation to him. Please advise him that I have no idea how long this might take. Could you also make sure that Ron gets this note? I am sorry for asking for so much."

"Mrs. Granger, please, you must count on me for whatever you may need. Rab is a second cousin. He is family, and I feel responsible for this situation you find yourself in. After all, you were at my home as my guest. I do, however, recommend that you authorize me to go by Gringotts to have your vaults sealed until you give them further instructions."

She fully agreed, wrote what was needed, put her magical signature, and with this, she was ready to go.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

A/N: So how was Rabastan with her if he was in France nearly dead? And was it Rabastan with her? I am not sure if Lucius should have withheld information from her, however nothing can be done. Ron will get some comeuppances even if I decided to be kinder than usual. Let's see what Hermione will find.

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