The Bonding
a/n: two quick notes, first, for those of you who may worry that I won't finish it, this story is already finished. It would be completely posted already, but my beta and I are really working it over, to make it the best it can be. And second I know some of these things are a bit cliché, but you can only redo an idea so many times before it becomes so. Personally, I will just say in my own defence, "it is hard to improve on a really good idea."
For any other questions about other stories, see my profile.
Also, if there is still any question, this story should be considered as if all events in cannon occurred until the end of chapter 1 from book 4 GoF
Chapter 3: WHAT WAS THAT!
Harry had awakened on Friday to the thought that he would be leaving by noon and had rushed to complete the last minute chores his Aunt had for him to do. He had packed the night before and had sent Hedwig ahead to the Burrow with a letter saying he would see them when he could.
His aunt called him as he was leaving and asked, "How are you getting to London?" Most people might mistake this for concern, but Harry knew she was trying to make sure he did nothing embarrassing to the Dursleys.
"I plan to take the Knight Bus; it can pick me up anywhere, anytime." He put his hand on his trunk and said, "Shrink." Then turning back to his aunt when she scowled, he said, "I didn't do any, it was a charm I had placed on it last summer when I was staying at the Leaky Cauldron."
She narrowed her eyes as he picked the reduced trunk up and placed it in his pocket. Then with a smile and a wave, he walked out the door to the nearby park. There was a secluded lane where joggers liked to run early in the mornings, but which would be deserted at this time of day. He looked around making sure he was alone, and no Muggles were around. Then he raised his wand arm and...
"BANG!" a violently purple triple decked bus appeared and stopped just in front of him. The door opened and a pimple-faced young man stepped down and began to recite "Welcome to the Knight Bus..."
Harry cut him off, "Hello, Stan. I need to get to the Leaky Cauldron please, how much?"
"Eleven Sickles." Stan Shunpike, the conductor, said. "Come aboard."
Harry nodded and quickly counted the coins from his money bag handing it to Stan as he climbed in. Unlike the last time he had been on the bus, there was not a bed to be seen anywhere; instead, there were all manner of chairs and couches. Makes sense, Harry thought, people don't need beds to sleep on during the day.
"If you will take a seat, quickly, we can get underway. Oh, not running away this time, are you, Neville was it?" He laughed as his own joke, reminding Harry of his mad dash from Privet Drive the previous summer.
"No," he said by way of reply, "Not this summer, just getting a little shopping in before the World Cup next Monday." And with that began an hour long conversation between the three about Quidditch, and the teams in the finals.
Three stops later, Stan said, "Watch your step Madam Barnes." Then pressing a button on the rail by his chair, "Next stop, Leaky Cauldron, five minutes." And they were off again.
Harry stepped through the archway behind the pub and into Diagon Alley. A glance at his watch told him it was just shy of thirteen hundred hours, one in the afternoon and the earliest Mr. Weasley will be here to meet me is around five or so. That should be enough time to get all my business taken care of. First stop is Gringotts, and then I think I will get some ice cream. After that, I'll see how much time I have left, and maybe do some shopping. He ran through a mental checklist of the few things he could do before meeting with the Arthur Weasley to go to the Burrow.
"Guess I should get started," he muttered to himself while making his way toward the white marble building that served as the Wizarding bank in England. A flash of memory from his dream two nights previous came to him; a kind old woman saying that he needed to go to his vault to get a letter from his parents for his fourteenth birthday. Feeling prompted that this was the primary reason for his visit today, he couldn't shake a premonition that something special and extremely important would also happen very soon.
He walked into the bank and approached the first available teller, "Sir, I would like to go to my vault please," presenting his key for inspection.
The Goblin merely glanced at it before turning to another and saying, "Griphook, take Mr. Potter to his vault."
The second goblin nodded and said, "Yes, sir." Then to Harry, "Follow me."
As Harry was boarding the cart, the two Weasley women, mother and daughter, stepped out of the Floo and into the Leaky Cauldron. They started toward the back door and were joined by Bill as they made their way into the alley behind the Cauldron. Molly began, "Now Ginny, we need to go to Gringotts to get..."
Ginny quickly said, "Mum, I have enough pocket money to get what I need. Also, didn't Percy want us to get him some owl treats for Hermes?"
"Yes, thank you Ginny dear," Molly said relieved that Ginny was taking some responsibility for herself. She was still a little girl in her mother's eyes, but she was beginning to grow into a responsible young woman that any mother would be proud to call her adult daughter... eventually. Turning to her son Bill, who was accompanying them because he needed to go to Gringotts to get some money from his vault; she said, "Bill, we won't be long, and should be through in time to meet you at Gringotts. I should go ahead and get the money I will need for school shopping next week, which will save me one stop on Monday. I also need to get a little money for groceries. We'll pick up the owl treats on the way home afterwards."
They passed through the archway and went to their separate destinations. Bill going toward Gringotts, and Ginny and Molly going to Gladrags Wizarding Wear. As they entered, Ginny went to the sales witch behind the counter and gave her order. It took approximately ten minutes to pick out the ones she wanted, and have the sizing charms placed on them. Molly used the time to browse for dress robes for her three youngest sons. She paled at the prices, but managed to find some that could be repairable. Making note of the prices so she could budget all her available funds.
"Okay, mum. I'm ready to go," Ginny said and they both left the clothing store. As planned, they headed toward the bank where they would meet Bill, and wait for Harry.
They were entering the lobby of Gringotts when Ginny at the front door felt her attention pulled toward the carts; thus, her chocolate brown eyes met the emerald green ones of Harry Potter who was coming from the carts. Their gazes locked and suddenly, there was no one else in the world, only the two of them.
Without actually realizing what she was doing, Ginny Weasley began to walk toward Harry Potter. She had absolutely no idea why she felt compelled to approach him in this manner, but when she was within arm's length, they enfolded each other in a very tight hug.
At that moment in his office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Bryan Dumbledore sat pondering what changes he would have to make to his plans for one Harry Potter. "That prophecy said he had to be properly bound, but to whom. At first, I thought that I should be the one to take him as an apprentice; however, I now believe that I should have Severus be the one he is apprenticed to. It would be the easiest way to insure his spirit stays broken, and he doesn't grow too strong..." A wave of magical power passed over him, and distracted him from his thoughts.
Without warning, most of the silver trinkets in his office began to spin or react out of control. Then one by one they exploded, as if they had been overloaded with magical energy. The one that worried him the most; however, was the one monitoring the wards around number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surry. It had glowed a very bright white light before simply disintegrating.
A very pale Dumbledore stood quickly and called, "Fawkes, take me to Harry Potter immediately. The wards around Privet Drive are gone."
A quick trip by phoenix fire later brought the aged wizard to the lobby of Gringotts where he witnessed a sight that first puzzled, then angered, and finally terrified him. Two teenagers were wrapped in a very tight hug, and to his great distress, no one could approach them including himself.
"This cannot be," he muttered repeatedly. "This just cannot be."
As Dumbledore pondered what to do, a small group of elderly goblins came from the back offices of the bank and approached the scene. The oldest looking waved his hand making some magical gestures, and studied the results which appeared as letters in an ancient script. "Interesting," he said. Then turning to a younger aid said, "Prepare a meeting room, and bring all the information of the Potter and Evans family vaults. Also have an ancestry parchment and basin ready."
Turning back to the people surrounding the young couple, he said. "I will move them to a private meeting room where they can finish this introduction in peace and with fewer observers." He said indicating the lobby and the many people currently standing around.
With a calm hand gesture from the elderly goblin, the teens rose from the floor and floated along behind him as he made his way to the ordered room. Two of the others accompanying him collect Molly and Bill. However, Dumbledore was turned away. The goblins never really liked the old man, and every opportunity to tell him of his being unwanted was gladly indulged.
"But I am the boy's guardian. I should be there to advise him on any matter."
"I am sorry to inform you of this, but Mr. Potter's guardian of record is a Mr. Sirius Black. As he was never given a trial, his imprisonment was illegal, and did not remove him as the guardian. And even he may not be present unless requested by Mr. Potter."
Dumbledore paled as his previous anger returned. He had to get into that room in order to stop Harry from freeing himself from his control immediately. The wards around Privet Drive might still be repairable, but he had to act fast. And that meant getting Harry away from the Weasleys. "I must insist as the legal representative assigned by Sirius Black that I be allowed in so that I may protect Harry's interest in this matter..."
"It does not matter who you are, or even whom you represent, the law states that only immediate family members are allowed to be with the couple at this time."
"What law, as a member of the Wizengamot I know of no such law. And I also have an extensive knowledge of the laws of other races and nations. No such law exist..."
"Believe that if you will, but the law I speak of is older than your ministry and many other nations as well. It dates back to the time of Atlantis, and Avalon. 'No one may interfere with the bonding of two souls at the peril of their own life.' It is a basic law of magic. Set down by the ancient gods of magic, and every magical race and nation has accepted it as fact. Now if you have no business of importance, I must see to summoning Miss Weasley's father to be present for the meeting."
And with that Dumbledore was dismissed as he would have dismissed a student's claims of Snape being biased. He was stunned that he had been dressed down by a goblin of all people. That was one reason he had secretly worked to insure many legislations had been passed to remove their control of the Wizarding world's economy. They had failed so far, but this was new ammunition to use against them as a means of crushing them once and for all.
"Preposterous, soul-bonds are a myth everyone knows they are. I need to see what can be done about this information immediately." Dumbledore mumbled to himself as he stared at the door the teens had just been led through.
He was leaving the bank minutes later, when a very distraught Arthur Weasley arrived. The patriarch of the Weasley clan had only a moment to study the face of Albus Dumbledore, and was even more worried because the old man gave no reassurance that all would be well. He entered the lobby of Gringotts to find an older goblin waiting to usher him into the meeting concerning his daughter and, if he received the message correctly, a certain Harry Potter.
In a town called Little Hangleton, many miles from London; there stood an old manor home where one Tom Marvolo Riddle, more commonly known as Lord Voldemort, sat plotting his return to power. At least until a wave of magical power passed over him.
This passing event brought forth an emotion never before known by Voldemort; it could best be described as abject utter terror. He had never felt such power before and he instinctively knew that to confront this being would definitely end badly for him and his plans for world domination.
Across the room from the reigning dark lord, a small rat like man wet himself as the thought that he had chosen the wrong side on the coming war passed through his insignificant little mind. He immediately began praying to whatever deity would listen; he did this in the hope of never having to meet the being that had released that burst of magical power. He remembered encountering the same feeling when attending the wedding of James Potter and Lily Evans; although, it was on a much smaller scale.
