Harry Potter did not see anything exceptional, or even remotely special with himself. Small, scrawny and not particularly great in school. Yet, here he was, at Hogwarts, a school which taught the many wonders of magic, and in the Chamber of Secrets; a room no-one had been able to find. As if that wasn't enough, a fifteen metres long serpent lay dead as a doornail on the floor behind him, and in front of him a small girl with flaming red hair, whose life had only minutes before been close to nothing, began to stir.
"Ginny?" Harry asked tentatively.
Her eyes opened, and a pair of bright, brown orbs gazed at him. For a moment Harry was muted by their intensity. That was until her face lit up with fear and shock.
"Harry! You shouldn't be here! He'll kill you!" she exclaimed, her voice high-pitched with panic.
"Tom Riddle's gone, Ginny," Harry informed her solemnly and flung the destroyed and blackened diary at her.
She flinched away from it, causing Harry to look at her with concern.
"Are you alright?" he inquired.
Ginny only stared at him with wide eyes, without giving any visible signs of having heard him. Then she surprised him by throwing herself at him, embracing him tightly, her body shaking with quiet sobs.
"I-It was m-me, Harry, I'm s-so sorry!" she cried, her fingers digging into the fabric of his tattered, bloody robes, "I-I s-swear, I d-didn't mean t-to – h-he made me – I-I didn't – I didn't want t-to – "
Harry did the only thing he could think of; he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. As he did, he felt something fall into place inside him, as if a long-lost piece of himself had returned and found its right place at last. He pushed it aside for later investigation. Now was not the time to think about himself.
"I know you didn't. And everyone else will know too, as soon as we tell them what happened," Harry tried to comfort her.
She looked at him hopelessly. "They are all going to h-hate me! I-I'm going to be e-expelled, for sure! Oh, Harry, what am I going to do?"
Harry sat there quietly in the large, echoing Chamber with Ginny in his arms, quietly muttering comforting words into her ear. It surprised him how easy it was. He had no experience in comforting other people, and had always shied away from his peers at St. Grogory's when they teared up. It made him feel distinctly uncomfortable, and at a loss of how to deal with it. With Ginny, however, it was so simple. He almost didn't have to think. The soft words flowed from his mouth naturally, and soon her sobs were reduced to gentle hiccups.
"Ron is waiting in the pipes. A cave-in separated us but he's probably cleared the way by now," Harry told her and helped her up.
She held his hand in a firm grip, refusing to let go as they made their way back to the pipes, Harry picking up the sword and the diary on the way. Fawkes lead the way through the entrance to the Chamber, which closed with a hiss that caused Ginny to flinch and move closer to Harry.
When they reached the cave-in, Ron had managed to dig a hole large enough for them to squeeze through; Fawkes swooping through first, before Harry helped Ginny through.
"Ginny!" he heard Ron's relieved voice on the other side of the wall of rocks. When he got through he saw them embracing each other tightly. When Ron looked at Harry after a long while, it was with an expression of gratitude, and eyes sparkling of thankfulness and happiness.
"How did you –" Ron mutely shook his head, believing it all too good to be true.
Harry quickly related to him what had happened in the Chamber. As he finished, he felt a strange sense of care that he couldn't identify. It didn't make sense, and he didn't even know what it was aimed towards. He was so lost in his thoughts that he startled by a voice oddly similar to Ginny's.
He truly is special.
But her lips weren't moving. She watched him with admiration and a small smile on her face.
Ginny? He tried, not really expecting anything to happen. It was probably only wishful thinking or his imagination messing with him.
But then; Harry? Can you hear me? He saw her eyes widening in shock, confirming the fact that she must have heard him.
You aren't speaking! How can I hear you? What is going on?
I have no idea, Harry, but panicking won't help. Calm down, she said and took his hand again.
Suddenly it was as if a barrier in his mind broke, and impressions, thoughts and memories that obviously weren't his own flooded his mind, making him dizzy for a moment. They were Ginny's. He saw the girl playing with her brothers in the garden at the Burrow, and if he focussed, he could see the pipe they were in from a different angle without even moving. He could see the world through her eyes.
Ron distracted them from further investigation of this new, strange connection. "D'you know how to get out of here? Lockhart's not so well; the memory charm backfired and wiped out his memory completely. He's useless." He showed them a few metres further down the pipe, where Lockhart was sitting, his back leaning against the wall. The man was dusty and uncharacteristically messy, but jovially smiled at them when he spotted them.
"Hello! Strange place, this is. Do you live here?" he wondered.
"No," Ron said, frowning.
"Oh. Well, who are you, then?" He paused. "And who am I?"
Harry then heard him continuing his nonsensical talk, but as with Ginny made notice that his lips weren't moving. Must be really untidy people living here, then. No sense of style. And they could really use some perfume. Lockhart wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Anticipating the worst, Harry tried to talk to Lockhart the same way he had to Ginny, but he didn't notice it. Neither did Harry feel Lockhart's mind in his, which relieved him quite a bit. He decided to try it on Ron as well, and came up with the same result; he was discussing with himself how to get out of the Chamber, considering several charms that they had been taught during their two years at Hogwarts.
Perhaps you can read minds? Ginny suggested. Something definitely happened in there; I can feel that Ron is really, really happy, but also very confused. And Lockhart is… err… definitely confused.
Harry had to swallow a laugh. He glanced at Ron, who peered up the pipe that they had slid down almost an hour earlier.
"Ron? Did your parents tell you anything about being able to feel other people's thoughts? And to communicate with someone without speaking out loud?"
"And people's emotions?" Ginny added.
Ron peered at them over, thinking carefully. "No," he said slowly. "But Bill said that it happens occasionally, if two people are bonded – hold on! Why are you wondering about that? You surely can't… can you?"
Harry and Ginny looked at each other with uncertainty, which was all Ron needed to get his theory conformed.
"It happened in the Chamber, didn't it? When you saved her, Harry, right?" he asked quietly.
"We think so," Harry said. "I suppose it's not normal even in the Wizarding World to feel a certain other's sensory impressions and memories? And to talk telepathically?"
"I don't know what tellypattycally means," Ron pointed out, "but I sure know that sharing memories and senses is not normal. Like I said, Bill mentioned it once; he said it could happen in people who formed – what was it… a soulbond, I think. He said those were so rare that most people considered them myths."
"Do you know how they are formed, Ron?" Ginny asked.
Ron shook his head. "No. Sorry. At least try not to read my thoughts, Harry," Ron said.
"I'll try," Harry promised, "Look, I don't think we should tell anybody about this. I don't want to get the blame for trapping you in a bond, Ginny," he added, lowering his gaze sadly.
He startled when her hands boldly cupped his cheeks. "You didn't trap me, Harry. You didn't know. But if it makes you feel better, we can keep it between the three of us for a while. Is that alright with you, Ron?" she glanced at Ron, who shrugged and nodded dismissively, instead focussing on trying to find a way out.
Fawkes flew up in front of them, waving his brilliant golden tail feathers at them. Ron watched him critically. "Does he want us to grab on? He doesn't really think he can carry us all the way up, does he?"
Harry smiled. "Fawkes is not a normal bird, Ron."
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Ginny entered behind Harry, still refusing to let go of his hand. Soft sobs were heard from within Professor McGonagall's office; Harry identified them as Mrs. Weasley's when he followed Ron inside, who was shoving Lockhart in front of him.
Then there was a squeal, and he found Ginny's hand slip from his as Mrs. Weasley wrapped her in a fierce embrace.
"My little girl! You're alright!" Her brown eyes, so similar to Ginny's found Harry's, and less than a second later his air was squeezed from his chest when he and Ron were scooped into a hug. "You saved her! You – my little heros! How did you do it?"
"I think we all would like to know that."
Harry looked up to find Headmaster Dumbledore's soul-piercing blue eyes gazing at him down his crooked nose. So, Harry sat down in a chair between Ron and Mrs. Weasley, who held Ginny on her lap. Then he spent a quarter of an hour explaining what had happened in the Chamber with Professor McGonagall growing paler and paler for every sentence spoken. Mr. Weasley was deep in thought, and Dumbledore only watched Harry calmly as he talked.
He told them about how they found the Chamber, how Riddle had taunted him and how he had called out the basilisk. He explained how the diary had been at fault for all of it, and not Ginny, who was by now sobbing into her mother's chest.
"You are not at fault, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore assured her.
She glanced at him with teary eyes.
"W-What? Y-You mean… I won't be e-expelled?" she stuttered, sniffling.
"Most certainly not." Dumbledore smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. He then turned and picked up the diary that Harry had placed on Professor McGonagall's desk.
Harry spotted Ginny narrowing her eyes as she watched the ancient Headmaster, and then her gaze met his.
His emotions are strange. I know we shouldn't invade his privacy, but there's something fishy going on. Could you read his thoughts?
Harry lowered the barrier that he had worked on erecting on the way from Myrtle's bathroom, in an effort to prevent accidentally reading other people's mind. As he focussed his newfound powers towards the Headmaster, he saw pictures of memories, and he heard a muttering voice that undoubtedly belonged to the Headmaster.
…shouldn't be possible. Unless… No, that can't be. Can it? Although I wouldn't put it past him to create a Horcrux. Or several.
Harry then felt Dumbledore's gaze on him, and kept his own firmly glued to the floor, hoping he hadn't been discovered. The Headmaster's voice continued after a moment's thought.
No. He can't know. It'd spoil everything. Harry caught flashes of memories and plans from Dumbledore; Harry living at the Dursleys, Harry being kept in the dark, Harry being separated from Ginny – wait, what? Confusion filling him to the brim, he focussed on his last discovery, and a well of information opened up for him.
A thin woman with big glasses that magnified her eyes until she resembled an insect sat in front of him, her voice speaking in raspy monotony; "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
The scene changed from the dusty, dingy room with the cracked windows to the Headmaster's office. The same, odd woman sat in a chair across of his desk.
"From his heart his powers will come, though only with his Right Hand they will show… he who brings peace once, will do it twice, but alone he will fail… with his Right Hand, he will prevail… it will end at the start… because his heart is his biggest weapon…"
The memories vanished. Instead Harry only caught the Headmaster's speculations. Mildly surprised that Dumbledore not yet had detected him, he dismissed it with the explanation that perhaps the old man couldn't feel the intrusion.
Dumbledore's contemplations brought him out of his reverie.
The Chamber clearly indicates that she could possibly be his Right Hand in the future, but… she's just a little girl; she has no idea. She can't help him. It'd be best to obliviate her. She must be kept away from him. Yes, it must happen this way. For the Greater Good.
"We will take Ginny to the Hospital Wing," Mr. Weasley said firmly, earning a nod of approval from the Headmaster.
"I believe I have some words to speak with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley anyway," Dumbledore said and turned to Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, perhaps you would be so kind to ask the house-elves to send up some sandwiches? I am sure the boys are hungry after their adventure."
Professor McGonagall nodded stiffly and left the room without a word. Harry watched Dumbledore with apprehension. What he had just learned was not only disconcering; it was frightening. The worst thing was that he could not confront Dumbledore about it, as he was not very keen on Dumbledore learning of his abilities. Especially if the man wanted to obliviate Ginny.
On top of that, the danger of being expelled now loomed in front of them, and he saw Ron realizing the same thing. He was ghostly pale and fidgeting nervously. Harry was glad he was not alone in Dumbledore's presence. At least, he could trust Ron to have his back.
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Dobby's big pair of green, tennis-ball-like eyes stared at Harry as he beamed happily. "Dobby is going to look for paid work now that he is free, Harry Potter sir!" the elf declared enthusiastically.
"Really? How great," Harry said, a little bewildered. He hadn't known elves worked for free. Like slaves. "Is that common, perhaps?"
"It is not, sir," Dobby said. "Most elves think they shall not take pay for work; it is bad, they say. Good house-elves serve their families like it is an honour, but Dobby is wanting pay, sir."
"Good luck. If you can't find anything, search me out, yeah?"
Dobby nodded and vanished with a crack.
What families do ∙ What families do ∙ What families do
The following morning Ginny waited for Harry in the common room, far earlier than she usually would be awake. Harry, having himself had a bad night of sleep, met her there before the other students had even considered starting to wake up.
Ginny was anxious. It was easy to see that she was tormented and haunted by what she had been forced to do and what had happened in the Chamber. Harry had saved her. He had even bonded with her. He felt safe, so she stayed close to him. His hand holding hers in a firm grip brought even more comfort than her mother's hugs could.
They talked about their pasts. Ginny told him how she snuck out to fly with her brothers' broomsticks at night, and Harry told her about the time he had tricked Dudley into eating mudcake.
"He thought it was a real cake, because it was called cake. Aunt Petunia was furous, and I had to spend the whole weekend doing garden work. It was worth it to see Dudley's face though," Harry and Ginny snickered.
"You don't hate gardening anyway, do you?" she replied, sensing his less hostile feelings towards the chore he had been assigned.
"Not really. It's amazing to see things grow and change. When you work enough with the garden, you even notice day-by-day change," Harry said with a small smile.
They entered the Great Hall, which was empty. Even Dumbledore was absent. Food was not served yet, so they sat down with their school books. Harry skimmed through the potion they were brewing today and tried to make sure he understood the ingredients, which he did only half-way. Ginny tried to memorize rules about elementary transfiguration, and after a while Harry decided to help her by giving her the thumb of rule he had made himself the year before while studying for the exams.
A few selections for breakfast appeared before them before even any teachers had appeared, though Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall entered minutes after.
Harry was about to take a drink of his pumpkin juice when he noticed it. There were shimmering shades of red in the juice, as if someone had spilled dye in it, and not mixed it in properly.
Ginny? Do you see this? he asked, showing her the glass.
What am I supposed to see, Harry? She peered into the glass and then at him.
The red in it. He showed her a picture of what he saw.
No, that's only you. There's something magical in there, then. Are you able to identify it, you think?
Harry concentrated hard on the red streaks in the pumkin juice, and it took nearly a minute before he figured out how to. I don't know what sort of potion it is, but it's got something to do with the mind. It's mind-altering, I think.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Ginny looking at Dumbledore. She scowled. Guilty as hell. He knows we caught him now. Might make him even more intent on separating us.
Harry had to hold back a growl. As if I would let him!
The rest of the term passed like a gust of wind. Luckily, that was the only incident of poisoned food for Harry, but he suspected it wasn't the last. His mood was on top, despite his suspicious lack of sleep. Neither Harry nor Ginny managed to get more than a few hours of sleep each night, and Ginny's sleep was more or less racked with nightmares from the Chamber, but with the basilisk dead, Draco Malfoy sulking and depressed, and all the petrified victims recovered, that little detail was not enough to dampen their mood,
Harry and Ginny discovered more and more things that they could only explain with the soulbond. The morning after the Chamber, Harry had woken up to feel a gentle humming all over the castle, and as he walked down to breakfast with Ginny he sensed and identified the magic in the portraits on the walls, the potion in that goblet, the robes that the students wore, the small bursts that formed when they practiced the freezing charm in Professor Flitwick's class, and even the magic inside people.
He had to repress a shudder at the odd feeling of Professor McGonagall's animagus form when she surveyed the class entering prior to Transfiguration class, and Potions suddenly started to make sense now that he could feel how the magic in each ingredient interacted with each other. The glee of watching Snape take twenty points from him, before then going completely quiet at seeing the Cure to Basic Digestive Ailments sapphire blue rather than the sky blue that Hermione's displayed.
Snape stared at Harry for several seconds, making him uncomfortable and fidgety. "Fairy cocoons, Mr. Potter?" he drawled at last. From his far left, Harry heard a few of the Slytherins snicker.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied uncertainly. He had studied the magic in the potion and then studied the magic the cocoons possessed, and had been pretty certain it would make the potion even better, but now he was starting to doubt himself.
To his surprise, Snape didn't say anything else, and moved on to Seamus, whose potion was seafoam green rather than blue. Hermione turned around from the desk she shared with Neville in front of them and looked at Harry.
"It's supposed to be light blue, Harry. The recipe doesn't say anything about fairy cocoons," she pointed out in a hushed voice.
"I'll explain later," Harry responded.
The bell had not even finished ringing before Hermione glared at him, demanding an explanation. Harry pulled her and Ron aside and quietly explained to Hermione what had happened in the Chamber and the abilities he and Ginny had discovered afterwards.
Until the last day of term the Harry and Ginny spent hours in the library researching soulbonds, which had for once made Ron enter the library willingly to help. Hermione had taken the news gracefully, and had promised to keep it all silent; her knowledge of the library was far too great to be wasted.
"So you can hear each other talking in your minds? Like each other's thoughts?" she inquired, hastily writing notes on a piece of parchment.
"Yep," Harry said.
"And you can respond to each other?"
"Yes," Ginny added, "and I can see the world from Harry's perspective; what he hears, what he sees, feels, tastes or smells."
"How does it work if Ginny eats a tuna sandwich and Harry eats chocolate sauce at the same time?" Ron wondered.
Harry had to snort at Ron's typical interest in food before he realized that it was actually a very good question. "We don't taste what the other taste unless we consciously try to," Harry explained.
"Oh. Right. But you have to admit it'd be cool to test new things out," Ron grinned and wandered further down the book shelves.
"Did you say you could hear Dumbledore's thoughts, Harry?" Hermione asked, dragging the conversation back to the original subject.
"Yeah, but I only tried because Ginny thought his emotions looked suspicious," Harry hurried to defend himself. He flicked through Magical Myths and Legends in search of any clue about soulbonds.
"Don't put all the blame on me!" she retorted hotly. Besides, something good came out of it. I wish there was somewhere safe we could tell them. Mum and dad definitely ought to know. And Bill would probably know what to do, she added quietly to Harry.
Yeah, but Dumbledore's got ears all over the castle. It's even risky to talk about the bond here. I'll see if there are any books about it in Flourish and Blotts in the summer. Harry glanced up and saw Hermione watching them curiously.
"Well, if you're done, you can answer me if there are any other effects that you notice?"
"Errm… There is this funny thing going on when I do a charm. It's like my magic is too sensitive, or reacts too violently, or something," Harry admitted, shifting uncomfortably.
"Are you sure?" Hermione watched him thoughrfully and drew her wand. "Try to disarm me."
"A-Alright." Harry pulled his as well and aimed it at Hermione. "Expelliarmus!"
A scarlet red flash of light zoomed from the tip of his wand; he felt the magic only a short moment before the spell hit her squarely in the chest, knocking her from her feet, several metres backwards and into the bookshelf dedicated to Magical Creatures. She slid down on the floor, unconscious.
"Oh! Damn!" Harry muttered and hurried over to her, panicking. "Hermione!"
Ginny and Ron weren't far behind, and Ginny pointed her wand at her, "Rennervate!"
Hermione's eyes opened, and she turned and looked at Harry. "Disarm, Harry, not stun."
Harry laughed in relief, and gave her an impulsive hug. "I'm sorry; I did use the disarming charm; Ginny and Ron saw it."
Ron and Ginny nodded in confirmation and helped Hermione sit down on a chair. She shifted a little, obvously sore from the impact, but she didn't say anything. Harry returned her wand to her and joined Ginny and Ron in searching the shelves.
"You must have some serious power, then, Harry," Ron reasoned and pulled out a small book from the shelf. "Perhaps it increased your magical resources."
"Then why doesn't Ginny have the same problem?" Harry wondered, looking between Ginny, Ron and Hermione.
"I'm not going to complain," Ginny said dismissively, "more power would be nice, but at least one of us got it. Besides, the bond might have more surprises in store for us."
Ron flicked through the book, shaking his head in disappointment. "Nothing here either. I'm starting to believe that Bill was joking with me."
"He wasn't." Hermione's voice had everyone turn towards her. She was leaning over one of the books that they had stacked up on the table, "'Thought to be a myth, soulbonds are extremely rare. Only a handful have been recorded in history, and even less is known about it. It is, however, known that it affects the male and the female differently. The male becomes a protector; it is known that his magical strength is multiplied several times over, whereas the female is powerful of mind.'"
"How can Ginny be the one with power of mind when Harry's the one who can read thoughts?" Ron wondered.
"I think it refers to other things. Ginny is shrewd and headstrong; after all, she fought You-Know-Who for many months," Hermione reasoned. "It's strange, though. This is the only thing the book says about it, except for it being thought of as a myth."
A loud grumble from Ron's stomach caused them all to laugh, and Ron's ears to turn red.
"That's a good point, Ron," Harry smiled. "We might as well head for dinner; it's nearly time, and it doesn't seem like we are going to find anything here anyway."
They quickly returned the books to the shelves and headed down for dinner.