Harry Potter and the Sacred Twenty-Eight

Chapter 2: Bonds and Blondes

"Harry, I think we're bound by a Life Debt."

Harry gaped at Ginny's interruption, all thoughts of what he'd come to say wiped clean. He scrambled for something to interject into the suddenly tense silence. Failing to find anything intelligible to say, he looked at Ginny, mouth working around words that wouldn't come. Her eyes remained red-rimmed and sad, but behind the grief there was something more. A growing defiance and determination flickered in those chocolate brown orbs. He took a steadying breath, and turned away, suddenly acutely aware that he'd been staring.

"Ouch!"

Harry's mind went from floundering to hyper focused as a sudden, sharp, stinging sensation rippled across his left arm. He drew his wand and fired a retaliatory hex towards Ginny before he could think to restrain himself. To his immense relief, Ginny's reflexes were up to the task and she dodged gracefully, wand still held at the ready as Harry's hex splashed off the back wall. Harry shook his left arm and glared at the youngest Weasley.

"Ginny, what the hell!?"

Ginny gave a satisfied grin, the first smile he'd ever seen from her, Harry thought idly, and brandished her wand towards Harry's right arm, the grin vanishing as quickly as it had come.

"Done doing your best Crabbe and Goyle imitation, Harry? Or do I need to hex you again?"

Harry took a deep breath and exhaled. He shook his hexed arm, the stinging already dissipating. He looked back at Ginny, her eyes hard now, determination etched into every part of her face. "I'm fine, Ginny. Put your wand away, and let's talk."

At Harry's words, Ginny stowed her wand back in her bag, and sat back down. Harry sat opposite her and waited expectantly. It didn't take long. Ginny spoke again, her gaze set firmly somewhere over Harry's left shoulder. "I think we're bound by a Life Debt, Harry."

Harry inspected her right knee intently as he considered his response. "Why do you think that, Ginny? The Chamber happened over a year ago. It's done. It's been done. Why bring it up now?"

Harry heard Ginny take a shuddering breath and Harry drew his gaze upward. Ginny's eyes were red again, tears welling up. He reached out and took her hand, causing Ginny to blush. But her breathing steadied. She gave Harry's hand a thankful squeeze and pulled her hand away.

"Because until June, it was never an issue. All I ever wanted was to move on from the Chamber. To forget about Tom…." Her voice broke off momentarily at the mention of Tom Riddle, but to Harry's amazement, Ginny rallied almost immediately. "And other than the Dementors making me remember it on the train, last year I didn't have to deal with any of it. I thought it was done. Then in June I started feeling this compulsion to go find you. You needed help and I needed to go find you. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't study, it was so strong. I checked your room and you weren't there. I wandered the castle all night looking for you, but I couldn't find you. The next morning you were in the hospital wing, and I felt sick to my stomach. I spent that whole day in my room, curled up in panic that I couldn't control."

A feeling of dawning comprehension rushed through Harry. Ginny was talking about the night he and Hermione had rescued Sirius. Ginny kept speaking, as though she thought that if she stopped she'd never start again.

"I thought maybe it was a fluke. That maybe it was just…." Ginny took another shaking breath and blushed so red she could've blended in with a brick wall. To her credit, Harry mused, she kept going. "That maybe it was my feelings for you making me go crazy with worry. You were released from the hospital wing the next day, and my worry went away."

Ginny's voice trailed off again, and Harry was sure he was blushing almost as much as Ginny was in that moment. Ginny's crush on him had always made him feel distinctly uncomfortable, and now he was being told all about it by Ginny herself. He opened his mouth to try to steer the conversation towards safer grounds, but words wouldn't come. Ginny, thankfully, didn't seem to notice, and continued talking.

"Like I said, I thought at first it was a fluke. By the time we left Hogwarts I had even managed to halfway convince myself that it had never happened. But this summer, it's happened twice more, and I can't ignore it anymore. Something's wrong, and I think it's a Life Debt bond."

Harry sat there, pondering everything Ginny had just told him. "If you don't mind me asking, when were the other two times?"

Ginny looked at him quizzically, but answered. "The first time was a couple of days before Dad went and got you from your relatives. The second was the night of the Quidditch World Cup."

Harry sat for a long moment, processing it all. Things were lining up all too clearly. The night he'd nearly died fighting off a hundred dementors. The night he'd witnessed Lord Voldemort murder an old man in a dream. And the night he'd lost his wand, seen the Dark Mark cast over the campground, nearly been trampled and almost stunned by a group of Ministry employees. In other words, the three worst, most dangerous nights he'd had in recent memory. This was too much to be just a coincidence. Ginny was on to something, he thought begrudgingly.

He sighed, and explained the importance of the second night to Ginny. She'd already known what had happened the night of the Quidditch World Cup, and Harry wasn't ready to tell anybody else about Sirius just yet. Ginny listened to his explanation with a grim look on her face.

"Can I at least assume that the night you're not telling me about was fraught with danger?" she asked, her voice containing just a hint of frustration.

Harry nodded silently. Clearly, she'd made a similar connection as Harry had. Her compulsions were triggered by dangerous times in Harry's life. Ginny took a couple of deep breaths, sighed, and turned to look out the train window. Harry glanced at his watch. Students would be arriving en masse any minute now.

"Ginny, I…..I'm sorry. I don't know why this is happening, whatever this is. I never wanted anything other than what you wanted. To move on from the Chamber, and Tom."

Ginny twitched slightly at Harry's words, but her head remained resolutely turned away from Harry. Harry suspected she was crying again. Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"Could we talk about this again later? Maybe with Professor Dumbledore. He might be able to help us figure out what is going on."

Ginny didn't move or speak for a long minute. Eventually though, she nodded silently. Harry stood in the center of the compartment awkwardly, wondering what to do next. Thankfully, he was spared further awkwardness by a gentle tap on the glass of the compartment door. Harry turned, groaning inwardly. He had been hoping to be gone before anybody else showed up. He was greeted by the sight of a short, blonde Ravenclaw with bigger eyes than Harry had ever seen on somebody so small. Her gaze settled onto Harry's face in a dreamy, detached sort of way.

"Hello, Harry Potter. You can go now." She spoke in a sing-song, melodious voice. Harry considered her more closely, and noticed she was wearing a necklace that appeared to be made of butterbeer corks, and had earrings that appeared to be made from old radishes. Harry shook his head in confusion and spoke to the strange girl. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

The girl turned her head in a vaguely feline sort of way before speaking again, "You can leave, Harry Potter. I'll make sure Ginny is okay. I brought Plimpy juice that should do wonders for her." She smiled encouragingly at Harry, her face never losing that dreamy, detached expression.

Harry backed slowly out of the compartment, noticing Ginny turn around and smile wanly at the strange Ravenclaw as he exited. He turned up the aisle and began walking back towards where Ron and Hermione were seated, lost in thought. Could it really be a Life Debt bond? He didn't know enough about them to be sure. All he knew for sure was that something weird was going on with Ginny, and terrible moments in his life were connected in some way. Harry resolved to seek out Professor Dumbledore as soon as possible. He would be able to put things right again.

With that settled in his mind, Harry turned his attention towards fighting through the thickening crowd in the train corridor. It wasn't easy. Students were pushing past each other, trying to get to their friends, trying to get their trunks into compartments, trying to yell out of the train back to parents with last minute messages and reminders. Harry managed to wedge his way through most of the crowds with the usual platitudes of thanks, only needing to push his way past a couple of groups. He made it back to Ron and Hermione's compartment, pushed the door open and slammed face first into somebody's back.

He reeled back, tears streaming from his eyes as he clutched his stinging nose. A few minutes of slowly dulling pain later, he was able to focus on the imposing figure in front of him. Clad in Slytherin robes, a golden blonde witch had turned to see who had walked into her. Upon seeing him, a sneer worthy of Malfoy, Snape or Uncle Vernon appeared on her angular, aristocratic face. She spoke, however, not with the malice or venom of any of those three, but instead with the boredom of somebody with much more important things to do.

"Potter. And here I thought you had finally found the good sense to ditch the blood traitor and Mudblood."

Harry felt his blood boil as he reached for his wand.

"Expelliarmus. Expelliarmus." His wand flew out of his hand almost before he had finished pulling it out of his pocket. Two other wands flew over her shoulder from inside the compartment and into the mystery girl's outstretched hand. Her wand disappeared back into the depths of her robes just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Cute," she said in that same bored voice. "In any case, Potter, The Sacred Twenty-Eight are serving notice to all noteworthy families. Standards of blood purity have been amended once more to remove potentially…..unwanted…. influences. As the last of your house, it was thought to be of potential interest to you."

Harry was seeing red, but managed to stay silent. Without his wand, starting a fight was not his smartest choice. He managed a response through gritted teeth. "Fine. You've said your piece. Give me back my wand, now! And give back Ron's and Hermione's as well."

The blonde girl took a step past Harry out into the hallway, and Harry's senses were momentarily overwhelmed by a strong smell of jasmine. The unknown girl began walking away from Harry, as if he'd never spoken. Harry was preparing to rugby-tackle this girl and demand she return the wands when he saw his wand fall to the floor in the girl's wake. He rushed forward to pick it up, sorely tempted to curse the blonde in the back as she walked away. "Give back the other two wands!" Harry shouted at her, his wand leveled at her back.

The blonde aristocrat rotated on the spot, eyes momentarily focusing on the wand now pointed at her chest, and then back to Harry's face. Her face maintained an almost glacial calm. Several silent seconds passed as Harry's breathing quickened, wand twitching in his hand. The Slytherin girl gave no indication that Harry had said anything though, and turned back around. Harry snapped, and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

As if she had eyes on the back of her head and could see the curse shooting towards her, the girl dodged gracefully, twirled, and blasted Harry's wand out of his hand once again. She took several measured steps towards Harry, closing the gap between them to almost nothing, and once again the scent of jasmine filled Harry's nostrils. She spoke, her aristocratic tones now colored with dangerous venom. "Try that a third time and you'll not like the result. The blood traitor can pick up his wand from Professor Snape after the feast."

She turned and began walking away again, once more dropping Harry's wand on the floor behind her without breaking stride. Harry approached his wand slowly this time, hesitating before picking it up this time. Once he had righted himself, he shouted at the blonde's retreating back, "What about Hermione? Give her wand back!"

The girl took another couple of paces before stopping, and, finally, a third wand dropped to the floor. Harry rushed forward to retrieve it. Before he had covered more than half the distance between them, the girl's foot shot out, clad in dragon hide half-boots with a wicked looking heel. A sickening crack echoed through the train as she brought the heel down through the middle of Hermione's wand, snapping it cleanly in two.

All rational thought left Harry immediately. His only goal in life now was to pummel that arrogant, bigoted girl until she begged forgiveness. He charged forward with a bellow worthy of Uncle Vernon. The girl turned once more, almost lazily said, "Impedimenta," and flicked her wand at Harry. Harry came to a near instant halt. Every effort to move felt as if he were fighting through particularly dense quicksand. He struggled for a moment or two before giving up, exhausted.

The girl took one step to once again close the gap between her and Harry. The scent of jasmine was heady in the air between the two of them, making it hard for Harry to focus properly. Almost as if sensing this, the girl leaned in even closer, putting her lips next to Harry's ear. The jasmine scent was now all Harry could focus on, and he hated himself for it. It overwhelmed his senses, muted his anger, and heightened his self-loathing. How could he be this weak? The girl did nothing for three heartbeats, letting Harry torture himself. Then she whispered into his ear, so that none of the crowd that had by now assembled could hear her.

"The Mudblood never should have been invited here to begin with. If she insists on sullying the rest of us with her presence, she'll have to pay for another wand." She pulled her lips away from Harry's ear and spoke again, this time loudly enough for the collected crowd to hear. "I told you, Potter, you would regret trying to attack me a third time. She put her hands delicately on his shoulders, and brought her knee sharply into his groin.

Harry's eyes watered immediately and he began whimpering, but he was unable to do anything about the pain under the effects of the Impediment Jinx. The blonde, arrogant girl leaned in closely one last time, giving Harry one last blast of the jasmine perfume. She looked him straight in the eyes for the first time, their faces centimeters apart. Pale blue eyes locked onto green. Once again, the girl let the moment linger a few seconds before whispering, "A pleasure to finally meet you, Potter." She turned on her heel and walked down the corridor, returning to her compartment.

Tears of pain started streaming down Harry's face as he watched her retreating form. As the door to her compartment shut behind her, Harry felt the Impediment Jinx holding him in place fade away. He instantly collapsed in a pile on the ground, clutching at his groin, groaning in pain and anger. Ron and Hermione rushed forward, Hermione sobbing. Ron looked around at the assembled crowd and shouted, "OY! You lot! Bugger off!" The crowd began shifting as everybody slowly began turning back to their compartments, their murmurs increasing in volume every second.

Not long after the last compartment door had shut itself, Fred and George came running down the corridor. Noticing Harry prone on the floor, they rushed forward and picked him from under the arms and half-carried, half-dragged him back to Ron and Hermione's compartment. Ron and Hermione came in right behind, Hermione sobbing over the broken halves of what had once been her wand. Fred and George laid Harry down on one of the seats, giving him sympathetic looks. They turned to Ron and simultaneously said, "What happened?"

Ron tried filling them in as best as he could, but eventually had to tell them to wait for Harry's pain to subside to get a complete story, instead of the fragments that he had overheard from a distance. Eventually, Harry sat up with a groan and related the full story. Fred and George on more than one occasion leapt from their seats, intent on hunting down the arrogant girl who had so humiliated their honorary brother, sister and family. Only at Harry's insistence did they drop their plans for the moment.

After Harry finished his re-telling, the five of them lapsed into silence, punctuated only by Hermione's shuddering breaths as she tried to pull herself together.

Eventually, the train shuddered as they pulled away from Kings Cross station. Not long after, Fred and George excused themselves and set off to find Lee Jordon. Nobody else said a word for hours until Harry broke the silence. "Who was she anyways? I don't think I've ever met her before today."

Hermione made a sound Harry could only describe as a snarl crossed with a growl. "You've seen her before, Harry, even if you never noticed. She's part of Pansy Parkinson's crowd in our year. Frustratingly good at Runes." Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other and grinned for the first time in what seemed like forever. Hermione would pick something like that as a defining reason to hate somebody. Hermione sent the two of them withering looks, and the somber tone re-settled over the cabin. Silence reigned again right up until they pulled into Hogsmeade Station another couple of hours later. As they stood up to exit the train, Harry turned to Hermione and asked her, "Hermione, what's her name? I need to know if I'm to set all this right again." Hermione nodded, and took a steadying breath.

"Her name is Daphne Greengrass."