!Warning!: You probably only read this because its bold and exclamation pointed. Bet you don't read the next part. Oh, cheeky, defiant little bugger aren't you? Well, try this…

Disclaimer: Well, I'm flattered that you think my writing is good enough to be comparable to J. K. Rowling's causing you to think maybe I own these characters. But I don't. And I'm only going to say this this one time, so I don't have to waste my time and yours repeating myself at the start of ever chapter. So, without further ado, I bring you to the main event.

Epilogue

At the beginning of the story?

Yeah, I think it's weird too, Ginny.

"Sir, something else happened down in the Chamber," Harry started.

"Oh, what was that?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well it's, it's sort of hard to explain."

"Why don't you give it a try?" He prompted, a smile playing at the corners of the older man's mouth.

"After I stabbed the Diary, and Riddle disappeared, something else was left. It was this shimmering, shifting thing that just kind of floated there. It kind of looked like, well it looked like a soap bubble." Harry laughed a little at himself, knowing how ridiculous he must sound. But when he looked up into Dumbledore's eyes, he didn't see laughter, but the most intense look of concentration he'd ever received from the Professor.

"Go on Harry."

"It just kind of floated there for a moment, and then it flew into me. And I could feel, I could feel Ginny. It was like someone took everything there was about her and stamped it into me. I'm sorry Professor, I know this sounds crazy."

"No Harry, it doesn't sound crazy at all," Dumbledore said softly.

"Then everything went sort of fuzzy inside my head. It felt like it should be painful, but it hurt in a different way from normal pain. Like my very being was aching. Then suddenly the feeling was gone, and the shimmering soap bubble thing left me. But it wasn't the same. Somehow I knew that it was Ginny, or a piece of Ginny, or somehow related to Ginny, but it wasn't all her. It was like some bits of the bubble were now some of my, whatever that was. And streaming off of the bubble were these purple things, coiling in the air. Then all of it plunged into Ginny, and she woke up." Finished, Harry leaned back into his chair, eager to hear what Dumbledore thought.

But Dumbledore didn't immediately respond. Instead, he got up from Professor McGonagall's desk and began pacing the room, muttering under his breath. This was completely unlike anything Harry had ever seen Dumbledore do; the man looked almost nervous. Finally, after what felt like hours of anxious waiting, he turned back to Harry and asked, "And how is Ms. Weasley feeling now?"

Harry was so blindsided by the question that he answered it without thinking. "Oh, she's fine now. She's asleep but—Wait, how so I know that?" Suddenly Harry was clutching his head in pain as a new sensation flared to life in his skull. It was like all of a sudden gaining a sixth sense, one that was overloaded from its sudden use, causing his brain to hurt. The pain faded away quickly though, to be replaced with a blissful peace, the kind that came from a deep, dreamless sleep. It was very relaxing, and Harry found himself sinking down into it until Dumbledore's voice pulled him back.

"Ah Harry, it would seem fate has selected you to be the recipient of all kinds of strange magic."

"What do you mean Professor?" he asked, a little groggy, as if he actually had been asleep.

"It would seem you and Ginny Weasley have become soul-bonded."

"Soul-bonded Professor?"

"A very curious occurrence, one that not much is known about for certain. It would seem the memory of Tom Riddle had used Ginny's soul to allow itself to come to life. After you destroyed the diary, and consequentially the memory, and the soul no longer had a host, as her body was dying. And so she turned to the only living host still present in the room. You," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"So you mean, Ginny tried to possess me?"

"Yes, and no. First of all, she most likely wasn't consciously aware of what she was doing, so she shouldn't be blamed for trying to survive. Secondly, a body can usually only hold one whole soul at a time, and it takes powerful magic to be able to force in a second. Ginny's soul does not innately possess this ability, so she was immediately repelled. But that is where things become interesting.

"Your body didn't specifically push out Ginny's soul. No, it only wanted to push out enough so there was only one soul left. Therefore, what left your body was most of Ginny's soul, and a little of yours."

"And the purple stuff?" Harry asked, shocked and slightly horrified.

"Pure, concentrated magic, provided unknowingly by you. Just enough to heal her body and allow the soul, er, mixture, let's say, to reenter comfortably."

"How do you know all of this, Professor?"

"Ah, that. Let me see." He turned and began to rummage through some of McGonagall's books. After a short while he straightened up, clutching a thin volume between his fingers. "I loaned this to Minerva some time ago, so she's probably finished by now. And even if she isn't, I think she will understand that it is going to a place where it will be of more use.

"This book is called The Eclipse of Souls, and is the best study on the soul-bonding phenomenon to date. Hopefully it will help you and Ms. Weasley to better understand the gift you've been given."

I'm baaack! Yes, after a long hiatus I've finally managed to take to the keyboard again and get the old literary juices flowing. First, a few orders of business.

The Ash Ketchum story I was writing is dead. See, my girlfriend and I had been writing it together, and then we broke up, soooo… Yeah. I've offered the whole story to her to do with as she wants, but she doesn't seem to want to write it by herself, so sorry about that. My other story, the Wizards of Waverly place one is cursed. Seriously. I had several new chapters written for it that I wanted to post, but every time I tried it wouldn't work. I decided to take that as a sign and leave well enough alone. I might try working on it again, I might not; we'll just have to see.

Now on to the current stuff. I recently became aware of the idea of a Harry and Ginny soul-bond, and characters soul-bonding in general, and decided I wanted to try a story like that. For the first few chapters it will probably seem like I just took the backdrop of the original story and overlaid it with Harry and Ginny, soul-bondy stuff, but trust me, as the story goes on it will become very different from the books.

And the story will go on. I promise. It probably won't seem like that at first, most of you will think that I abandoned the story, but I promise I won't. However, I have marching band coming up, and school starts next month, and I have to start applying to colleges, and blaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggggeeeeeee! So, my goal is to write ENOURMOUS chunks of the story, get them all typed up, and then binge upload like five to ten chapters at a time once I am happy with them. So there. I made my promise, I posted it on the internet, and if a bunch of angry readers appear outside my house with pitchforks I know they have good reason to.

This first chapter, the "Epilogue" to CoS is a little like a test drive to see if people will actually like to read it. I'll probably keep writing anyways, but how popular it is will affect have fast I write.

On a finally note, I am in the market for a beta reader, specifically for this story, but also potentially for any other stories I might write. Just send me a PM if you are interested.

Until next time,

Emerald Dragon, out!