Author's Note: I feel like I've been waiting ages to post this fic for all of you. This is my story from the 2017 Hermione Smut Fest. Honestly, this story fought me every step of the way, was turned in late, and yet… I love it. Loki and Hermione are seriously one of my favorite pairings to write and this story ended up being rather cute. I'm surprisingly fond of it and I hope you like it too. It's a soulmate AU so there's bound to be a bit of OOC-ness, but I think it works. Anyway, there are five parts total and I'll be posting them over the next week or so, spreading them out every few days.

Notes: Story takes place after the events of the first Avengers movie but before Jane encounters the Aether in Thor: The Dark World. This story was not fully beta read so any mistakes you find are my own. I'll fix them later, but please do not point them out unless it's through a private message. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this! Much love, xxDustNight

Disclaimer: All non-original characters, plot points, and information belongs to those at Marvel Studios, Warner Brothers, or J.K. Rowling. The story plot and dialogue belongs to me. I do not write for profit.

Break Me, Take Me, Never Let Me Go
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Loki
Rating: M
Prompt: Hermione Smut Fest #49: Ginny (or another character(s)) think Hermione needs a man, so they cast a "soulmate charm" on her, which is supposed to bring hr to her soul mate the next time she Apparates. Good news: it works. Bad news: it brings her somewhere unexpected and her soul mate isn't exactly thrilled to see her.
Summary: A drunken girl's night in and a potentially illegal "soulmate" spell, leads Hermione into going against everything she knows and believes in order to convince the God of Mischief that he's her one true soulmate.

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Part I

Later, Hermione would look back and try to remember when the night had turned to hell. For the life of her, right now, she had no idea what had brought the topic of conversation around to her relationship status, or rather, lack thereof. As it was, Hermione sat sipping her martini, a scowl perfectly formed on her normally cheerful face as Pansy, Ginny, and Luna pestered her about why she wasn't bringing a date to Pansy's wedding in three weeks.

"You're my maid of honor, Hermione," Pansy practically whined as she plopped down on the sofa across from where Hermione was seated. "You have to bring a date."

"Why?" Hermione questioned, setting aside her martini glass. "I'm not seeing anyone, and everyone I'd even consider asking is already going to be there with someone else."

"Ugh," Ginny growled out, eying their drinks with jealousy. At nearly eight months pregnant, the fiery-haired witch was able to celebrate Pansy's bachelorette party but not partake in the libations. "You'll need someone to dance with since I'll obviously be dancing with Ron's best man."

"She has a valid point," Luna intoned, stirring her simmering drink and giving Hermione her trademark loony-smile from where she sat on the floor. "And I'll be dancing with Rolf."

"He's not even in the wedding party, Luna," Hermione mumbled with a roll of her eyes. "I don't need to dance. I can just be there and celebrate the union of my best friends. Isn't that enough?"

"Look," Pansy began smartly, pointing a cocktail stirrer at Hermione, "You've been single as all get out since you and Draco called it quits two years ago. You. Need. A. Date. End of story."

"What she needs, is to get laid," Ginny blurted out, giggling at the abashed look on Hermione's face.

"Ginny!"

"What? It's true," Ginny replied, shrugging. "Tell me, honestly, when was the last time you shagged someone? If it's within the past year, I'll leave you alone."

Annoyed, Hermione opened and closed her mouth a few times before glancing away and gulping down the last of her drink. She'd looked away to avoid the look of triumph on her friend's face, but she wasn't spared the scoffs of outrage from the others in the room.

"I knew it." The grin on Ginny's face was pure evil, and Hermione was suddenly terrified of what she might have planned. "We need to set you up with someone. I'm sure between the three of us, we can find you a suitable escort."

"You make it sound like you're buying me a whore for the night." Frowning, Hermione suddenly felt uneasy; she hated being set up on blind dates. She wanted to enjoy Pansy and Ron's wedding, not spend the night trying to get to know some random bloke or dodge him every time he wanted to do something untoward. "No, really. Just forget about it."

"Why are you so against this, 'Mione?" Luna, always the more practical one in situations such as this, surprisingly, asked her.

Easing back into the sofa, she heaved a sigh. "I don't know… I guess, it's just that I don't want to be setup on random dates or spend the next five to ten years searching for Mr. Right. All of you have found your soulmates… I want to find mine and that be the end of it."

"We all dated a number of toads before we found the ones we were meant to be with," Pansy admitted, grabbing Hermione's empty glass and tapping it with the tip of her wand. Immediately, it refilled itself and she passed it over.

"I know," she mumbled quietly as she took the drink. "It's complicated. Draco and I thought it was going to work out, and it didn't. Now, I'm scrambling to figure out what I want in a life partner."

"Hermione," Ginny started, pulling her attention. "They say that you don't really go searching for your soulmate but that they come to you."

"That's ridiculous," Pansy laughed out, refilling her drink as well. "Everyone knows there's two halves to one soul and you're pulled together when you meet. Look at Ron and me; who would have ever thought I'd end up with a Weasley." At Ginny's outraged look, she hastened to add, "No offense."

"None taken," Ginny replied with narrowed eyes. "Anyways, that's a bunch of nonsense."

"We could always try the Soulmate Charm."

Three sets of eyes turned to stare at Luna, who appeared to not understand why her words brought the conversation to a halt. "What?" She inquired, sipping daintily at her beverage.

"What the actual fuck are you talking about," Pansy sputtered, never having been one to hold back when it came to dealing with Luna and her strange comments.

Those dreamy blue eyes of Luna's blinked slowly and then she smiled. It set Hermione on edge, but she didn't voice her concerns. She was curious to know more about this spell, but not because she was going to allow it to be cast. On the contrary, she was hoping to find a reason to tell her odd friend to keep her spells to herself.

"It's proper name and incantation is Ligatus Animarum, but it's more commonly known as the Soulmate Charm. In essence, it allows you to travel to your soulmate, revealing their identity so you no longer have to wait to find them. According to Rolf's great aunt, Queenie, it was used quite often back in the day. It got to the point where it was banned because people were using it in order to cause marriages to break up."

"That's insane…" Ginny trailed off into stunned silence, her eyes focusing on a point across the room. Hermione frowned, hoping she wasn't getting any sort of idea about using that charm on her.

"That's not a real spell," Pansy argued. "I've never heard of it before."

"You wouldn't have," Hermione explained, a sigh escaping her lips, again. "It was commonly used in the States and never allowed in our Wizarding community."

"How in Merlin's beard do you even know that?" Pansy asked, setting aside her drink so she could pinch the bridge of her nose. "And please don't say the library."

"No, it was at the Ministry. I stumbled across it once a few years ago and thought it was crazy-sorry, Luna-so I pushed it out of my mind."

"I'm certain it works," Luna pushed, the smile on her face sincere and encouraging. "We should try it. For fun, at the very least. It might not even really work."

"No, absolutely not."

"Hell no."

Hermione and Pansy's eyes met and they shared a smile. Clearly, they were the two voices of reason this evening, even though Pansy did want Hermione to find a date to her wedding. Hoping that would be the end of the conversation, Hermione tried to relax, but it was short lived. Ginny, in all her pregnant glory, jumped to her feet and threw her hands into the air.

"I think we should try it!"

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed, her mouth dropping open in shock. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Have you been sneaking sips of champagne when we weren't looking?" Pansy muttered behind her hand, earning herself a dark glare from the redhead.

"Don't make me hex you, Parkinson," she warned. Pansy simply stuck her tongue out at the witch. "No, seriously though. Like you said, it might not even work, so what's the harm in giving it a try?"

"Uh, maybe that it could go entirely wrong and Hermione could end up in St. Mungo's?" Pansy held out her hands as she answered, giving Ginny her a look that clearly indicated she had, in fact, lost her mind. "We don't even know what it really does."

"Well," Luna interjected, lacing her hands together in her lap. "After the spell is cast, the next time you apparate you should be transported to the person you're fated to be with, your soulmate so to speak."

Pansy gave short bark of laughter. "So you just expect us to cast this spell and let Hermione poof off to who knows where? Nah. Nope. I agree that she needs to find a man and get laid, but this is insane."

"Hello. Hi," Hermione said dully, waving her hand in the air. "I'm right here, in case you forgot. Don't I get say?"

"Herrr-myyy-ooohhh-kneee," Ginny whined, throwing herself down next to her friend and grabbing at her arm. "Humor us, please? It's just for fun. The spell is probably a bunch of hocus pocus. Don't be such a flobberworm!"

"Are you five?" Pansy asked, quirking her elegantly shaped eyebrow. Ginny responded with a not so decent finger that clearly indicated she was older than five years old.

"I am not a flobberworm!" Slightly offended, Hermione raked a hand through her curls and tried to think for a moment while her friends playfully bickered. The spell was ancient, a myth even. There was no proof the stories about it were true. What could it really hurt if she allowed her friends to do this?

If it worked, she'd end up, possibly, with her true soulmate. She could find happiness and finally settle down with someone she could fall in love with and have a family. That was definitely not a bad thing. She was cresting the ripe old age of thirty, not that thirty was old, mind you, but she wouldn't mind getting married and having kids before she was forty!

On the other hand, if it went wrong, she could end up in the hospital, deformed, or even dead! Hell, it could work and she'd find out her soulmate was a horrible person or someone who was already in love or married to another witch! The spell was illegal, or at least it was back when it had been popular. All legislature regarding it has probably since been lost…

Sweet Salazar, Hermione couldn't believe she was about to do this. Swallowing what remained of her drink, she handed the empty glass to Ginny before sitting up a bit straighter. Ignoring the look of pure glee on Ginny's face, she crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

"If I do this, I'm setting a few rules."

"Yes!" Ginny cheered, doing a little dance right there on the couch. "What!? Tell us so we can get this over with and find out who your one true love is!"

"You are way too excited about this," Pansy said sarcastically. "Harry not giving it up? Having to live vicariously through your friend now?"

"Shut it, you." Ginny narrowed her eyes at Pansy, but she couldn't wipe the grin from her face. "Let Hermione speak."

"Fine. Fine."

"Okay," Hermione began, nervously picking at the hem of her shirt. "Rule number one… Luna performs the spell. Two, if it doesn't work, you all leave me be and let me come to the wedding alone. And three, if it does happen to work, none of that 'I told you so' business. Got it?"

The other three witches looked back and forth between one another as they contemplated her stipulations. It was taking longer than she anticipated for them to come to some sort of consensus. Holding her breath, she waited for her friends to declare her fate. At long last, Luna shrugged which was followed by Pansy smacking a hand over her face. Ginny merely broke out in her dance again, shaking the couch and squealing with excitement.

"Deal!"

"I'm alright with that."

"I have a bad feeling about this, but what the fuck."

"Let's get it over with then," Hermione shakily told them, sitting up straighter on the couch and waiting for Luna to withdraw her wand from the satchel sitting by her on the floor.

The blonde-haired witch stood slowly and gave Hermione a reassuring smile as she waved the wand and said the incantation. Hermione shivered as a cool sensation trickled down over her head until it coated her entire body. It was gone just as quickly as it came and then she was left sitting there staring back and forth between her friends as they waited for something to happen.

"Well?" Pansy prompted leaning forward so she wouldn't miss anything. "Did it work?"

"We won't know until she tries to apparate, now will we?" Luna said sweetly, sitting back down and staring at Hermione with a dreamy expression. "Do you want to try now?"

"Uh…." Hermione didn't really feel in much of a hurry to try and see if the mysterious spell worked or not. She'd certainly felt something odd during the incantation, but that didn't mean she was now destined to meet up with her soulmate. It could mean she was destined for a one way trip to St. Mungo's.

"Wait, wait wait," Ginny interrupted, holding up her hands. "The night is young, and even though I can't drink, I'm not ready for this party to end. You loves do some shots while I watch you get trashed. Then we can open the gifts we bought you." The last bit was directed towards Pansy, who brightened considerably upon hearing about the presents.

"Oh! I'd completely forgotten you lot bought me things!"

"You just wait until you see this toy I bought you," Ginny told the bride-to-be with a devilish grin on her face. "Ron won't know what hit him."

Hermione sighed as her friends' attention was finally drawn away from her and back to the real reason they were here tonight. Relaxing ever so slightly, she was determined to enjoy the rest of the evening and not worry about how she had to apparate home eventually. Maybe, if she was too tipsy, the girls would insist she take the floo instead. That would help delay the inevitable and keep her from disappearing to Merlin only knew where if the spell worked the way it was supposed to. Accepting the shot glass filled with a questionable colored wizarding liquor, Hermione plastered a smile on her face and toasted to Pansy before downing the entire thing in one gulp.

As the fates would have it, Hermione would not be spared the opportunity for another way to travel home. The girls did not forget the spell they'd had Luna cast, despite Hermione's silent prayers. She was putting on her jacket and preparing to use the fireplace to go back to her own flat when an overly intoxicated Pansy stumbled over to give her a goodbye hug.

"Thanks for coming tonight, 'Mione," she slurred into her ear as she gave her the hardest hug of her entire life. "I'm sorry we let Luna do that spell on you."

"It's alright," she told her friend, patting her back and then disentangling herself from the embrace. "I'm just going to take the floo home tonight and try apparating tomorrow."

"No!" Ginny shouted, suddenly bursting up, wide awake, from where she'd been dozing on the sofa. "You have to try it tonight! We have to know if it worked!"

Hermione exhaled slowly out of her nose, trying not to freak out. To be honest, she was freaking out inside, her stomach a tangled mess as she thought about what might happen if the spell worked. She threw a desperate look to Luna, but the witch wasn't paying attention. Biting her lip, she threw out a silent prayer to Merlin, God, Odin, and whoever else might be listening that the spell was a dud and that she'd find herself safe and in her own apartment at the end of all this. There was no way out of it she supposed; it was either take the chance now or later. There was no counterspell to the Soulmate Charm, of that she was certain.

"Alright. Fine…" She whispered, taking hold of her wand and squeezing tightly. If anything, she wanted to make sure she was prepared for whatever happened to find her on the other end of this trip, whether it was Crookshanks or some random bloke in the next town over. "Wish me luck?"

"Of course," breathed Pansy, looking almost as nervous as Hermione felt. She gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder before backing out of the way.

Ginny was perched eagerly on the edge of the sofa, her brown eyes bright with excitement. Luna, finished tidying up the wrapping from Pansy's gifts, turned and gave her a reassuring smile and a nod. It was now or never, Hermione thought as she mentally prepared herself. In her head, she pictured clearly the living room of her flat as her destination. Taking a deep breath, she turned on the spot and felt the familiar pull as she travelled through the void.

As she landed, her eyes were squeezed shut as fear gripped her chest. She was terrified to open her eyes and find herself someplace that wasn't her home, but she couldn't continue standing here forever. Where was that Gryffindor courage she was supposed to possess? Almost laughing at herself for being so silly, Hermione sighed and slowly blinked her eyes open. Stumbling as her knees went weak, Hermione gasped as she took in her surroundings.

She was definitely not in her flat.

Nope. Not even close.

Turning in a slow circle, Hermione examined the containment cell that she'd appeared inside of. It had to be a cell, the back wall was white while the other three sides were of a shimmering forcefield. Around the cell she was inside of were a multitude of other cells just the same, only these were full of beings she'd never seen before. Prisoners. Prisoners of another world… Hermione knew in her heart of hearts that this was not Earth. She'd traveled much further than she ever thought possible.

What she wouldn't kill to have appeared in that random bloke from another town's bedroom right about now. As terror continued to make her heart race, Hermione suddenly wondered where the prisoner of this cell currently was. She was supposed to appear in front of her fated soulmate according to the charm's legend. So where were they? Hearing a rustling sound from behind her, Hermione slowly turned to see someone moving to stand from where he'd been laying on a small platform style bed.

One look at this man and Hermione knew she was in trouble. His long, dark hair and bright green eyes made his pale skin almost luminescent in the odd lighting of the cell. He was tall, so very tall and lean; however, she could tell he was fit under the loose, black and green clothing he wore. His eyes met hers and she felt a jolt fly through her body; and then he was stalking toward her, eyes narrowed as he examined her in return.

She wanted to bolt, to flee, but there was nowhere to go. Attempting to apparate was too dangerous, traveling as far as she did to get to this place was dangerous enough as it was. Not that she would be able to clear her mind quick enough to picture someplace safe to go anyway. Instead, she stood as still as possible and waited for this man to stop in front of her.

When he did, those emerald eyes of his peered into her frightened brown ones. A smirk lifted on his lips as if he sensed her uneasiness. He surprised her, though; instead of grabbing hold of her or demanding who she was, he merely asked, "How did you get inside of here?"

"Uh…" She began, unsure of what exactly to say to that. How was she going to explain the whole Soulmate Charm and the fact that she was a witch. She had no idea who this man happened to be or why he was currently imprisoned in this fancy cell. For all she knew, he was a murderer and she was going to be next on his list of kills. Nope. Definitely not the way she should be thinking right about now.

"I asked you a question," he hissed at her, his eyes darting quickly to the side as if making sure they were not being observed. Hermione got the clear impression that he was not meant to have visitors.

"I'm not sure," she fibbed, not giving him a straight answer. She wasn't going to tell him about the spell. Not now at least, but she really didn't know how she managed to get here. Who knew one could apparate across such long distances. "Can I ask where we are? Oh! And who you might be?" She added the last bit quickly, wanting to at least know the name of her soon to be murderer.

The dark-haired man smirked at her, eyes glittering with mischief. He straightened his back, immediately becoming more regal and menacing all at the same time. Whoever this man was, he was royalty, and the bastard knew it. Trembling, Hermione waited for his answer, all the while feeling that strange coldness trickle over her as she'd experienced when Luna cast the spell earlier in the evening. This was not good.

"I am Loki, and you, strange girl, are on Asgard."

Hermione blinked stupidly up at 'Loki', a name she'd only heard in old Norse stories, before feeling her entire world drop out from underneath her. The spell had worked and this man was obviously her one true soulmate. Running a hand through her curls, she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Bollocks."