Right, this chapter is a pretty big one. I've developed some of my own theories regarding magic, but I've tried to build on JK's rather than just inventing my own, because completely fan-developed rules regarding magic in fanfics always tend to sound awkward to me…

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Now this was strange…

Yes, definitely strange. Not altogether unfamiliar perhaps… but strange nonetheless.

A wide expanse of ceiling, towering above so high it was almost lost to sight. Walls, solid as though carved from a single chunk of marble. And all in glorious, glowing white. It was certainly a sight.

But it was nothing compared to the vision walking towards him.

"Hello Harry."

Harry's throat constricted, and his eyes bulged in his head.

Ginny Weasley giggled.

"You have such a way with words Harry, really you do."

"…You're dead…"

Ginny's smile simply widened, and she pretended to swoon. "As I said, a veritable Edgar Allan Poe, you are. But yes, I suppose I can't fault your logic, I am most certainly dead."

"This has happened to me before." Harry whispered, looking around. Oh it wasn't identical, that was true, but he had indeed once before been visited by a dead person, within a white room.

"Yes, Albus has been most expansive on his little chat with you back in May. I confess that's where I gained the idea."

"Am I dead then?"

Ginny patted him on the arm comfortingly. "Of course not Harry. You have however, suffered a deep and very personal shock, and I took the opportunity to pay you a visit. I must say it is extraordinarily lucky you are so… well, extraordinary, otherwise this little rendezvous wouldn't have been possible. As it is however, let's be thankful for the fact."

"Why are you here?"

Ginny's face fell. "I think you know why, Harry."

"The Dementor."

Ginny nodded sadly. "Yes. Not your finest hour if I may say so."

"No. I can't say that it was." he agreed.

"I know how you're feeling Harry."

Harry recoiled from her. "No you don't!" he hissed. "No one can possibly… you can't know." he finished lamely.

Ginny shook her head sadly. "Believe me, I do, but that's not important right now. What is important, is working out how you're going to fix this."

"What?"

"You heard me, how you are going to come back from this." she said matter-of-factly.

Harry goggled at her. "It's very simple." he said. "I'm not. As soon as I wake up, I'm going to do what Hermione should've let me do days ago, before I can do any more damage."

Ginny shook her head again. "No you're not, Harry. There is a way back from this, you just have to find it."

Harry stared at her, at a complete loss. "What… NO! No there is NOT a way back from this Ginny! The only possible way would be if we gave Leo his soul back, and that isn't going to happen, ergo, there is no way back!"

Ginny just looked at him, a tiny smile playing around the corners of her mouth. She looked like she was enjoying their little conversation, and it was making Harry angry.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!" he yelled, turning his back on her. He massaged his knuckles, fighting the urge to hit something. Since the only thing in this room with him was Ginny, it was a desire he couldn't succumb to.

"Harry." Came Ginny's voice, light and gentle, yet probing, insistent. It was as though she were trying to get him to understand something exceedingly simple that was just out of his grasp. He turned. After all, what else did he have to do but listen to her?

"Many years ago, you were a little boy who didn't believe in magic any more than any other normal child. But now you understand that there are powers in the world that are unfathomable, and that magic is always around us, always there as an explanation."

"There are some things that can't be done with magic Ginny. If it was the answer to everyone's problems, then there wouldn't be anyone with problems!"

Ginny laughed. "Of course magic is the answer to everyone's problems Harry! People just need to know how to use it to help themselves. Unfortunately, that's the point where so many of us fail. I did, and you have."

Harry knuckled his eye sockets, he thought he knew what Ginny was trying to tell him, in the most roundabout, infuriatingly vague way she could.

"So what, are you saying there's a magical way to force a Dementor to give up a soul? That we can give Leo his soul back?"

Ginny smiled widely. "Very good Harry."

Harry threw his arms up in exasperation. "Well you could've just told me that! What was all that vague bullshit for? You were starting to sound like Dumbledore."

"Don't be silly, Harry. I can't just give you all the answers. I'm dead. I'm just here to prod you in the right direction."

Harry didn't have time to ponder the absurdity of these words. "But how is it possible, why has it never been done before?"

Ginny sighed. "Dementor's have always been feared above other creatures, Harry. Wizards have never stumbled upon the fact that anything is possible with magic, so they never tried to get a Dementor to give back a soul it had taken, because it was just accepted that they were terrible things and not to be trifled with."

But Harry was already shaking his head. "That's not true, not everything is possible with magic."

"Of course it is." Ginny replied offhandedly, as though he were being dim. Perhaps he was, Harry thought. "Give me one example of something that can't be accomplished by magic."

Harry didn't have to think hard. "You can't bring someone back from the dead." he said immediately and with certainty.

Ginny actually laughed. She laughed for a long time, and ended up doubled over, holding her sides. "Harry, please! You're smart, don't make me change my opinion of your mental capacities."

"But you can't!"

"Harry you numbskull." she replied, visibly exasperated. "What exactly do you think happened in the forest back in May? You brought back your parents, Sirius and Remus. What do you call that?"

Harry had his answer ready. "They weren't really back, they were just imitations!"

Ginny shook her head. "That's not true. They were alive. They had hearts that beat, brains that worked, blood in their veins. If you had stabbed one they would have bled. They were alive Harry, perhaps not perfectly so, but they were most certainly once more among the living."

Harry gaped at her, and she continued.

"If that's not enough for you, it happened again, just minutes afterwards. Voldemort hit you with the killing curse, and you left. Then you came back. Back from the dead, Harry."

"No. I wasn't dead, Dumbledore told me so!"

Ginny began to pace, angry that he was taking so long to accept her words. "You were dead Harry! Dumbledore told you that you weren't, but really he just didn't want to get caught up in the semantics of what was going on, there were more pressing matters at hand. You're physical body Harry, was dead. Had you been examined before your return, no healer would have pronounced you alive. You had the potential to return, yes, but you could just have easily gone on. Your mind was stuck in limbo between two states, but don't think for a moment that you didn't return from the dead that night, because you most certainly did."

Harry's brain wasn't working properly. It was slow, sluggish to absorb this information. He spoke at last, voicing a question that had been plaguing him.

"How do you know all this?" he whispered.

Ginny shrugged. "Being dead does wonders for your wisdom Harry. You think Dumbledore was wise when you knew him? You should see him now! To be honest, the constant philosophy he's always spouting off gets a bit wearing after a while, but still, he's certainly got some knowledge to share."

Harry shook his head. As much as he wanted to hear more about the afterlife, he knew he had to stay on track. They had already been distracted for far too long by his insistence that death was irreversible. "Okay." he began, marshalling his thoughts. "I suppose I have to accept all that, and I guess I believe you when you say that anything is possible with magic. But how am I meant to get a Dementor to give a soul back? That's got to be the most bizarre thing I've ever heard!"

For a minute Ginny looked slightly worried, but then she smiled. Suddenly, two comfy leather chairs had appeared behind her, and Ginny sat regally in one, motioning for him to join her. He did so.

"This is where it gets difficult I'm afraid Harry. I know, certainly I know, how it might be done. But I can't simply give you the answers, just like that. I'm only here in a guide's capacity. Certainly I can help you, point out where you're going wrong, things like that. But I can't outright tell you. So you might as well get comfy and brainstorm, I'll help where I can.

Harry sat, his mind blank. He couldn't even think where to begin. The concept was so bizarre to him, he felt like a second year attempting the fidelius charm.

"Dementors are cold, evil, and totally without emotion…" he began, deciding to start by reciting what he knew of the foul creatures, but before he could get any further, Ginny had interrupted him.

"Don't call them evil Harry. They aren't really."

Now this was something new.

"WHAT!" he exclaimed. "Ginny, you've told me some pretty crazy things, but that is the most insane yet. Dementors are pure evil, everyone knows that!"

To his surprise, Ginny just shrugged. "Well then I guess everyone is wrong. Dementors aren't evil."

"Ginny." He began slowly, trying to make her see sense. "They suck out people's souls and leave them as emotionless husks. What part of that don't you consider evil."

"Being dead, Harry, makes you realize a few things." Ginny said patiently. "For instance, how can a creature that is only doing what it was made to do be considered evil? Do you think a lion is evil when it tears out a gazelle's throat? Was Hedwig evil, all those times she brought a mutilated mouse to your window sill? Dementors destroy their prey, but they don't do so any more thoroughly than any other animal, it just so happens that their prey includes humans. If a Dementor doesn't eat, it starves. Why do you begrudge it food?"

Harry was gob smacked. "But they're cold, unfeeling husks, Ginny. They don't feel anything, any empathy, they just want to destroy and create misery."

"You're showing a surprising lack of open-mindedness Harry, I expected better of you. Do you think a Dementor sees what it does in the same way you do? Of course it doesn't. Humans have always had the hard-headedness to judge all other beings by their own flawed morality system. A Dementor doesn't consider itself evil, because it is only keeping itself alive, and in its own way, happy. We see it as evil because it does something to us that we fear and dislike." She paused. "Although we do so with good reason of course. I'm not saying we should accept to have our souls sucked out of our mouths, but what you have to realize, is that a Dementor does not operate in the same way as a person, and it therefore cannot be judged in the same way as a person.

"A person who acts as a Dementor does, you could consider them evil. Lord Voldemort was evil, for example, because he was a person who chose to act not as a person should. But a Dementor is not evil because it simply acts in the way all Dementors do. Does that make sense?"

Harry thought it did, but he wasn't sure he wanted it to.

"I can see the doubt in your eyes Harry. That's okay. One day, you'll join me as I am, and then you'll understand."

She smiled at him. "But we digress, your task is not to understand the Dementor, though that may help some, it is to undo the Dementors power that you yourself utilized. Now tell me, what are you trying to do, explicitly?"

Harry thought for a moment. "I'm trying to return the soul of a person to their body, using magical techniques never before used nor thought of. And I'm going to have to develop said techniques myself." he intoned. God, just saying it sounded utterly ridiculous.

Ginny nodded. "Quite. You are trying to return a soul. You are trying to fix this person, yes?"

"Yes." Harry repeated slowly. He could tell she was trying to prompt him, but he wasn't sure where.

"You will have to fix this soul in order to fix this person." Ginny said, enunciating the word 'fix' strongly.

"Yes I…" Harry began, but he trailed off, as a thunderous thought occurred to him. "Horcruxes." He whispered hoarsely, eyes fixed on a point over Ginny's shoulder.

"What was that, Harry?" Ginny asked, sounding excited. Harry returned his gaze to her, his face white and his voice now animated as the idea blossomed and developed in his mind.

"Last year, when Ron, Hermione and I were about to go looking for Horcruxes." he told her quickly, eager to get his theory out in the open. "Hermione told us something, something about how the soul could be repaired. She said that if you were a wizard who had made a Horcrux, then there was only one way to undo what you'd done…"

"…Remorse." finished Ginny quietly, her smile wide and bright. "Honestly Harry, you really are exceptional! That was very quick."

Harry brushed off the praise, keen to continue. "You would have to feel totally and completely sorry for what you'd done, and doing so would force your soul back together! She said she couldn't imagine Voldemort doing it." he added.

"Remorse is linked to soul magic very closely. It's the only way to repair a damaged soul." Ginny told him.

"So in the same way remorsefulness could put a soul back together, it could put a whole one back inside a person?" Harry asked.

"Exactly. Pure and total remorse, guileless, true. That's the only way you can overcome what you've done, Harry."

But Harry had found a flaw in the plan. "But Dementors don't feel emotion like we do! They don't feel remorse. How can we make a Dementor remorseful, when, like you said, it was only doing what it was meant to do?"

"You can't I'm afraid. Much as Lord Voldemort would never have felt remorse for what he had done, a Dementor will never be convinced to feel sorry for sucking out a person's soul."

"But then-" Harry began, but Ginny cut over him, loudly.

"Fortunately, soul magic is a complex branch. What really matters in this case, is not who or what actually did the deed, but who was responsible for the deed occurring in the first place."

"Me…" breathed Harry, relief flooding though him as he realized the theory was sound.

"Yes indeed you. If it weren't for you, that Dementor would never have gotten within 100 miles of Leo Smeltz. Without you, he would still have his soul. It's your remorse that matters in this case, not the Dementor's. If Leo had lost his soul to a Dementor that had simply chanced upon him and performed the kiss of its own volition, then his soul would be forever gone. As it is, there is hope."

Harry hung his head, guilt piercing him once more.

"Good Harry! The guilt you feel is paramount to success! You're guilty of a terrible crime, but the damage can be undone. You can be guilty of its reversal as well. All you need do is harness the guilt, the shame and the remorse you feel."

Harry's mind was working a mile a minute. "But how!" he exclaimed. "It's too peculiar! How on earth can my remorse drag a soul out of a Dementor?"

Ginny grimaced. "That, I'm afraid, is where our little talk about the possibilities of magic comes in. You'll have to develop a spell to do so. It's lucky you have Hermione on your side, I suppose."

Harry was visited by a sudden memory of Hermione's brown eyes flickering, and the way she had nodded at his claim that she should have let him die. He flinched and pushed the memory away. When he looked up again Ginny was watching him thoughtfully, but she did not speak.

"That reminds me." Harry said. "I know I was the ringleader of what happened, but Ron and Hermione were still there, and pretty heavily involved. Especially Hermione. Will they have to be remorseful as well?"

Ginny thought for a moment. "Yes, I would say so… do you think that will be a problem?"

Harry thought back to his friend's argument in the shrieking shack. "Not for Hermione." he said without hesitation. "But Ron… I don't think he really understands just how wrong what we did was."

Ginny sighed. "Of course, things would have to be complicated by my brother, wouldn't they?"

Harry looked sheepish. "Well it's not really his fault…" he began.

"No, it's not really. The problem with Ron though, is that he's really just not very special."

"Excuse me?" asked Harry, taken aback by her words.

"The thing is Harry, you and Hermione are both special people – oh don't look like that, it's true whether you like it or not – but Ron is just well… average."

"What's wrong with that?" Harry asked hotly.

Ginny waved him down. "Nothing! Nothing! At least, not under normal circumstances. What I mean is, Ron is just somebody who acts exactly as anyone else would. What he did, he did for revenge, and he doesn't see anything wrong with that.

"People have been doing horrific things in the name of revenge for thousands of years Harry, and do you think they all reacted in the way you and Hermione did? Or course they didn't! They reacted much as Ron did. They don't necessarily like or condone what they've done, but they don't regret it either. Ron's just like these people! He's normal in other words. He'll get over what the three of you did, and he'll go on to live a happy life. You and Hermione on the other hand, will dwell on the act and allow it to fester and grow in your minds. Eventually, it'll destroy you both."

Harry frowned. He didn't like what Ginny was saying, it sounded too much as though she was placing him on a pedestal above one of his friends. "That's not fair, Ginny." he argued. "Ron is a good person, he's just doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve like Hermione and I… which is a bloody good way to be in my opinion."

Ginny rolled her eyes, apparently annoyed at his refusal to set himself apart from Ron. "The point isn't whether you believe me or not Harry," she moved on, "the point is you're going to need to force Ron to feel regret, or else the spell won't work. Oh and for the record, I never said that he wasn't a good person."

"So we do actually have to create a spell to do this? That's not exactly child's play, is it?" Harry asked, eager to move on from the uncomfortable conversation.

"No not really, but the difficulty of the act itself has been overrated. All you have to do is give magical significance to an incantation. There's a reason Latin is a dead language amongst the Muggles, it contains too much magical residue to be used comfortably by them, which is why so many spells are in Latin."

Harry frowned. "So I could just find out what the Latin is for 'give this man back his soul' or something, give it, what was it… 'magical significance', and that'll work?"

"More or less. I'd probably try to use slightly fancier wording, but that's the gist."

"So how do I do that?"

"It's a funny story really. You just have to write them down, preferably carved into a magical material, and then say an incantation over them."

Harry looked at her in surprise, he couldn't see what was particularly funny, but the instructions startled him anyway. "That's it? You use magic to create new magic? How did the incantation to create magic originally come about, then?"

Ginny smiled. "That's the funny part of the story, and just another mystery of the universe I'm afraid. But I'm sure if we were to find out how one day it would make perfect sense."

Harry nodded, lost in thought. It all sounded wonderful, and he was excited to try, but there were still a few loose ends he had to clear up with Ginny before he lost her help.

"Can you tell me the incantation?" he asked. "As a matter of fact, I thought you said you couldn't give me any direct answers? I've been asking you questions and you've been answering them plainly for the last 10 minutes."

Ginny laughed. "I haven't really, Harry. You already know the answers, or you would find out very easily from someone like Hermione. I couldn't give you the answers that mattered, because you had to work out the soul magic for yourself. Boring old questions about simple, physical facts I can generally answer though. As for the incantation, I will tell you that, because there are only a few books in the world that could give you the information, and I don't want you running all over Britain for the next 10 years trying to find them when you should be putting to rights the damage you've caused."

Harry waited expectantly. "Ok then, what's the incantation?"

Ginny hesitated. "There's… power in these words Harry. They mustn't simply be spoken out of turn, or in the spirit of conversation. They must only be used in the act of creating magic. I can't tell you them, but I can write them down; here." she said, and pulled a piece of paper out of thin air, which she proceeded to write on. When she was done, she handed the paper to Harry, who read the words upon it. With a stab of grief, he was forcibly reminded of the last thing written by Ginny that he had read. Shaking his head, he examined the Latin sentence in front of him.

'Lingua haec verba virtutem. Da quod semper fuit in potentia sua.'

Even written on paper, the words seemed to reverberate with power. Harry gulped slightly.

"By themselves, the words have no power, but grouped together exactly like this, they are some of the most potent things in existence. What I've given you, Harry, is not to be taken lightly. The ability to create magic at will is a power granted to precious few. In giving you them, I need something from you."

"What do you need?" he whispered, willing to give up nearly anything.

"The unbreakable vow. I need you to swear, literally on your life, that as soon as you have created the spell for use on the Dementor, you will destroy this paper, as well as obliviate the words from your own mind."

Harry nodded quickly, it was a price he was more than willing to pay. He held out his hand to Ginny, who grasped it. She pulled out a wand. "The laws of nature are lax here. Making an unbreakable vow with someone who is dead is something never done before. Do you feel honored Harry? You are a pioneer, after all." she asked him with a smile that he knew so well.

"Yes… honored… that would be one way to describe it." Harry said ruefully.

"I won't ask what another way would be." Ginny said, laughter in her voice. She tapped their entwined hand with the wand, intoning. "Do you, Harry Potter, swear to use the knowledge of the Words for one use, and one use only, on pain of death?" she asked.

"I do." was the reply. A tendril of golden light entwined their linked hands.

"And do you, upon completion of said task, swear to obliterate all knowledge of the specific phrase I have given you from the world?"

"I do." A second link, twining around the first, issued forth from the wand.

"And do you swear to repair only the damage you have wrought in the past, and not use the words for any other spell not directly connected with the task we have discussed."

"I do." A third tendril joined the others. They glowed for a moment, and then disappeared, leaving a faint outline on Harry's skin.

"That's that then." Ginny said happily. "I think you're ready to go back soon Harry."

"Oh." was all Harry replied. Just as he had been tempted to stay with Dumbledore back in May, so was he tempted to stay here with Ginny in this tranquil, quiet room, away from the horrors of the real world. Away from Hermione, who now wished he was dead…

Ginny seemed to read his mind. "Don't worry about Hermione Harry."

His head whipped up her words, and he glared at her smiling face. "Don't worry about her?" he exclaimed. "How can I not worry about her? She wishes I was dead!" His voice cracked, and he buried his face in his hands.

"Believe me Harry, she loves you just as much as she always has."

Harry gave a wounded noise, and rose his anguished face to meet her eyes. "You didn't see her. You didn't see the look she gave me. Something died in her eyes, Ginny. She hates me for making her do what we did." He looked lost for a moment. "As well she should." he added, before slumping back into his hands.

"Oh get up and quit your complaining!" Ginny snapped, and to his own surprise, Harry did. Ginny was looking at him understandingly, but still seemed quite annoyed. "You're right in saying she hates what you did, but you're wrong to think she hates you for it. NO! Don't speak! Listen. Hermione loves you, even after what you did, because she knows that the person in that room wasn't you, not really. There is a baser side to you, Harry, an animalistic side, but Hermione Granger doesn't love that side. She loves you, and will always love you, the real you."

Harry stared at her, taking in the conviction in her eyes, and slowly, he nodded. Ginny smiled, and suddenly the room was fading. Ginny was growing blurred, fainter, but her smile was as radiant as ever.

"I'll see you later Harry." she called. "But it won't be anytime soon, be sure of that!"

And with that she was gone, and Harry was blinking in the gloom of the shrieking shack, a scrappy piece of paper clutched in his hand and a smile splitting his features.

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There we are then. I'm quite proud of the whole remorse/soul thing I've done, I think it ties in nicely with the canon.

Let me know what you think.

-TR