Drowning in Reality

It's been too long, I know but this is a good chapter.

~~~~
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

“‘We, that of the great golden circle, pledge resistance to that of the Dark Lord’s army, pledge resistance to compliance and pledge that until our dying days we will fight the dark clouds that spread across our horizons.’”

“You dare quote your silly oath to the Dark Lord? Your circle is nothing now! Your ‘great golden circle’ is weak in the presence of the Dark Lord! Your circle will break, just as you will break. Now tell me- where may I find Harry Potter?”

“In a secret place!”

“Fool! How dare you cross me you impudent swine!”

“Secret keepers, secret three, we that knowledge graces not, plagues, for our secret will bring us not but death. Secret keepers, secret three, our oath doth plague us till our days of death, but let the words that escape our lips be heard upon deaf ears. This is our oath, and though ours lives we give to protect he who lived, the words we speak will be our saviors yet.”

“I care not for riddles boy, I want to know where to find Harry Potter!”

“Words upon deaf ears.”

“If you don’t tell me where to find Potter immediately things may become more painful for you Weasley.”

“I take his secret to my grave, these words you hear upon deaf ears, I take his secret to my grave this is the oath you cannot hear. From friendship comes strength, from love, protection, from light, hope. But to those of darkness light will blind and the words I speak fall upon deaf ears. We cannot be beat despite the twists, despite the pigs, for we belong to the light and the secrets we keep fall upon deaf ears.”

“Enough! Crucio!” The youngest Weasley boy fell to his knees but showed no other signs of pain. His face was blank of all emotions except loss.

Hermione Granger woke screaming.

“Ron!”

“What? Another man’s name is not what I like to hear my women screaming-”

“No, Draco he’s being tortured. He’s been captured.”

“How-”

“I don’t know exactly, I don’t know, but I have to get to him. Where’s my necklace?” Tears were flooding down her cheeks, she was utterly distraught as she ripped open the bedside table drawer and ruffled threw the rubbage.

“Which one, love?”

“The one with the blue stone, it will be red now, I wear it all the time.” She ran to the bathroom and came out with it in her fist, it was flashing red and she began muttering an incantation “Audite is nuntius EGO transporto ut thee, Harry, is est vices. Hermione.”

“What was that?”

“Hear this message I send to thee, Harry it is time. He’ll know to come; he’ll know what it means.” She ran around the room, waving her wand in queer ways, tapping occasionally in patterns on the walls. “Aperio!” Her voice rang out around the room and in moments the smooth surface began to transform, the cream of the paint turned gray and the smoothness became ruff and rocky. It became three dimensional door into what looked like the dungeons of a castle. Rushing inside she nearly tripped as she leapt the final steps. At the bottom of the steps all of the cupboards flew open and she began filling a bag with potions and all a manner of things. She peered into one and stood staring a moment at a single vile on the highest shelf. It was glowing purple with swirls of silver shooting up and down the fluid. Draco didn’t recognize it but after moments of contemplation Draco remembered Professor Snape telling them of a potion with ingredients so rare there was a quota of how many could be made in each year. “This potion, will put a stopper in death, will hold off the dawning of passage into the underworld, but if brewed incorrectly one will pay the consequences…”

“Hermione- what is that?”

“You know, you know. I don’t know what state he’s in, I can’t risk it.”

“But Hermione-”

“I know! But-”

“I understand, you have to risk it.” They heard when Harry come through the floo, his footsteps were immediately slamming down the steps.

“’Mione. No, it can’t be.”

“Harry, they have him, I know they do! I saw it. Look at the necklace.” Harry’s eyes lit with anger, with horror. Draco noticed Hermione wouldn’t touch the stone, he wondered why. Then it occurred to him that perhaps the stone was a portkey and it all made sense. He’d heard of such things before, of people who share heart bonds being able to create portkeys to the location of each other.

“Do you have everything? We need to go as soon as possible.”

“Harry, you’re not coming. I just needed your supplies.”

“I’m coming- I need to. I know it’s dangerous, I know it’s a risk but it’s Ron, and I won’t hide away anymore-”

“Bonus, carus amicus.”

“Harry!” It was Draco and his eyes were shining with terror as he leapt toward Hermione to catch her before she hit the floor. Her body was convulsing in his arms and she was letting out screams despite her unconsciousness. “Harry what’s wrong with her?”

“I- there is only one thing, but it’s-”

“What?”

“I’ve heard of it before but never seen it, it’s old magic, Draco. I don’t understand it but it’s some sort of trigger. A trigger that alerts the other person when the assigned statement is said-”

“I don’t understand why she’s in pain!”

“I think he’s dead. Oh gods, I think he’s dead. The majority of the lore tell about two people performing a sort of oath and assigning a statement that will trigger their other when they say it. It’s always been a way to alert they’re about to die. I think he’s gone. I think that’s why she’s in pain.”

The men stood staring, unsure about anything. But when her body began to fade into the stone floor they each reached for her in vain.

Hermione Granger had never felt such pain as this, her soul felt as though it were being ripped out of her. When her eyes flickered open she didn’t recognize anything around her and she was instantly cold. Gathering her strength she lifted from the dusty floor and looked around, when she saw the body, she remembered. Remembered hearing the trigger and knowing he was gone. Running to him, she flung her body down and cried, her fingers tracing soft circles across his marred flesh. She fingered the tips of his soft fiery hair and laid her head on the unmoving chest of her best friend. She poured the purple potion down his throat and waited in vain for a response. Crying out, she felt completely alone. It dawned on her like a light bulb in her head that she’d heard of magic folk having the ability to give a piece of themselves to the recently and bring them back to life. Drawing within herself she summoned all of her strength and balled it inside her heart. She pressed her hands onto his heart and attempted to push the power into his body, but it would not go.

“Miss Granger, you should know better. The Dark Lord knows much you do not. The Weasley boy is dead and you cannot give him back life.” Her eyes shot frantically to the voice and she shook all over with anger. Then with confusion. But she didn’t show signs of leaving the empty cadaver. “Get up.”

“Leave me, leave me to die here.”

“Miss Granger, get up.” Still the woman stayed, her hands shaking as she ran them through his locks of hair. Her eyes had yet to meet those of her former professor’s.

“Why haven’t you killed me yet?”

“Because there is more than meets the eye, Miss Granger. Get up, and take his body back.” He bent and tipped her head up to look at him, there was sorrow there, and a sense of complete and utter loss. He’d heard the stories; he hadn’t been completely secluded during his years as a professor at Hogwarts. Ron Weasley had been her first love, but they’d parted ways and that love had ebbed into the deepest of friendships. He knew loss, and pain better than most and knew what she was feeling. “Take his body back, Miss Granger, and honor his memory. Tell them what happened here tonight, and tell them what bravery this young man showed in the face of evil. Tell them what the wizarding world has lost this night. Take his body back.”

“Why-”

“There is a time for questions, but now is not it, you’re in a place overrun by Death Eaters, Miss Granger. You’ll see me again, but for now you can ask Draco any questions you have. My godson is a confidant in many of my secrets.” He saw question cross her face, but knew he couldn’t tell her anything. Grasping her hand he wrapped it around the necklace about her neck and watched as she and the body of Ron Weasley faded away.

“Hermione!” Harry called, her figure came into view and she was clutching the body of his best friend. Stumbling, he fell beside them and held up his friends wrist, knowing he would not find a pulse.

“He’s gone. He was gone when I got there.” Hermione choked on her words and fled up the stairs to her rooms, her wails echoing down the stone walls.

“You should go to her. I need to do something about this; I need to talk to the Weasleys. Take care of her Draco, she’ll need you.” When Draco left his friend he was torn, but Harry gave him a weak smile and with a pop apparated with the body away. He walked up to her room and peered at her slight frame bathing in the soft moonlit rays that seeped through her window. She stood with her back rigid with a hand pressed against the window.

“Darling? What can I do?” She turned to him and ran into his arms. When she kissed his collar bone he sighed but her hands roamed up and down his chest. “Love-”

“Shh, make love to me.”

“Hermione-” He felt so wrong to want her at that moment, to want her so bad it hurt. He thought she wasn’t ready, that he should be the white night and put a stop to the endeavor.

“Please, I need you, I need you inside me.”

“I could just hold you-”

“No, please. Please be with me.” She pealed his shirt from his skin and ran her hands up his chest. When his skin quivered over the taut muscle she thrust her hips into his and his erection pressed into her belly. With a tender smile she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bed. Playfully she pushed him backward and quickly used Evanesco to remove his clothes. He lay there in all his masculine glory and she was utterly entranced. His manhood stood to attention in front of her. “You want me, just like I want you.” Swiftly she took him into her hand and cradled his balls in her palm, teasingly she sucked the pre-cum off the head of his penis and swirled her tongue around it. In ecstasy he thrust his hips forward. “Patience, Master Draco, is a virtue.” She proceeded to bob her head onto his cock until he was thoroughly in her throat. He moaned out his pleasure and was in awe of the fact that she did not gag when he hit the back of her throat. Her eyes met his when he placed his hands in her hair, urging her faster and faster. When he came, she swallowed his seed hungrily and gave his member a sweet kiss before she returned to his lips to allow him a taste of his own pleasure. They fought for dominance but remained sweetly in each others arms, Draco held her beneath him and his eyes laughed wickedly before he slithered down her body to find her wetness. Two fingers slid expertly into her until they found her G-Spot and he began rubbing it in earnest. When his head dipped to lick along her folds and eventually settle on her clit, Hermione couldn’t hold back anymore and promptly came with a loud scream of his name, her body thrashing violently. When her legs wrapped around him, he though he would find sanctuary within her body she merely used them as leverage to flip their positions. When he did enter her he was overcome with his love and nearly cried with the power of it. He thought she’d never be as beautiful as she was in that moment, her body glistening with perspiration, her eyes dark in concentration, cheeks flushed, and her breasts arched with the intensity of being thoroughly filled by him. She began to ride him softly, her hips rocking gently into the desperate thrusts of his hips. Her lips came down to meet his and soft glow surrounded their joined bodies, followed by a stream of gold that wrapped gently around them. Both noticed, and both knew what it meant, but neither cared enough to think over it. They were bonded, forever.
~~~~

And because I'm nice I'll tell you a little bit about the next chapter: Hermione and Draco decide to spend the day exploring each other. When things get extra dirty the couple act out their fetishes.

What to expect in coming chapters:
Some depth into Harry’s scar and the scar Voldemort received from Draco.
Why Hermione bled when the Dark Lord touched her.
The reason Draco and Hermione’s rooms are the same.
The identity of the original owner of Hermione’s house.
Some info on Draco’s mum, her family and her marriage to Lucius Malfoy.
More on Draco and the relationship he had with the Dark Lord and Severus Snape.
What about those giants Draco had a run in with?
Hermione’s secret potions dungeon, the purple potion and the spell Hermione tried to use to bring Ron back to life.
The golden circle.
More on the oath (where it originated and who exactly took it), the trigger between Ron and Hermione (its history and why only they took it) and heart bonds.
?Isn't Prof. Snape supposed to be dead?

If you want to try and guess some of what’s going to happen in future chapters look at Ron’s dialogue right before his death. In the oath there is a lot more than you might think, which is a big part of the story. That’s why Ron continues to say “Words upon deaf ears”. Those monologues were staged by the golden circle (which you’ll know more about in coming chapters)