July 1st 1997

Ginny sank into one of the chairs that appeared, still gripping Draco's hand tightly. "Are they good things or bad things?"

"Neither." Salazar answered vaguely as the others sat down as well.

"First of all, you are right not to trust Albus Dumbledore." Rowena told them grimly. "His aura grows darker by the day."

Ginny inhaled sharply, but Hermione merely shook her head sadly. "Fawkes implied as much at the beginning of the year. He only stays to protect Hogwarts – Dumbledore's convinced that what he's doing is right, so he won't even consider that he might be wrong."

"Precisely." Rowena agreed softly. "We don't know the full extent, but we want him out of this school and away from our children as soon as possible."

"You and me both." Jen said with a sigh. "But we'll have to wait before we take him down. Removing him now is just going to cause unrest and that will only help the Death Eaters. Any advice on that front?"

"Funny you should ask." Salazar said, smirking. "First of all, Harry, I believe if you ask the mouth of that statue to open, you will find a private library with journals believed to have been lost, as well as a few other items of interest. And I think it best for your health if you let Hermione take a look at them first."

Hermione blushed.

"Secondly," Hegla continued, "I suggest you work on creating another entrance to this Chamber, one with an English password. You never know when you might need an ace up your sleeve."

"Thirdly, you might want to harvest that basilisk while you're down here." Godric suggested. "I believe the fangs may come in handy."

"You know about them?" Jen interrupted, her eyes cutting to her bag which contained not only the Gaunt signet ring, but the locket as well.

"Not until you just came in." Godric said. "We can sense the magic and we'd appreciate it if you destroyed them as soon as possible."

"What?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I'll tell you later." Jen said with a grimace.

Rowena cleared her throat. "Lastly, it would be to your advantage to visit Gringotts at some point, especially you, Hermione. I had a rather good rapport with the goblins."

Hermione nodded. "I'll go tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Jen said. "Harry, open the statue; you lot scope that out."

Harry nodded and rose from his chair, addressing the statue in a hiss. The mouth of the great figure opened and, with a grinding, crunching sound, its left hand descended to the floor like a great elevator.

"There's another snake up there." Harry said suddenly, putting out a hand to stop anyone from moving.

"It's not a basilisk." Salazar assured him. "Just a regular snake."

"Oh, that's alright then." Harry said, pocketing his wand and stepping on to the hand. "Coming, guys?"

Hermione eyed it warily for a second, before following his lead. "Well, I did say once that I'd follow you anywhere."

The others agreed too, and the hand lifted them up to the open mouth. They all clambered in and followed Harry along a narrow tunnel, which slowly got darker and darker.

Then, all of a sudden, it became lighter and lighter, and they emerged into another cavern, this one furnished like a library.

Draco glanced over his shoulder. "Aren't they coming to help us?"

"No, that would make it too easy." Hermione said, running a finger along the dust-covered bookshelves. "Do you think Riddle ever came in here?"

"I don't know." Harry said. "The basilisk came out of that tunnel, but it doesn't look like it was in here. I wonder if he read those books."

"No, he didn't." Hermione said with an intense frown, apparently listening to a voice that only she could hear. "He felt their age overruled their potency."

"You what?" Ron asked.

"They were too old to be of any use." Susan elaborated, speaking for the first time since they'd entered the Chamber. "Are they safe to touch?"

"Yes." Hermione answered decidedly. "They wouldn't have sent us in here otherwise. Where's this snake, Harry?"

"I don't know …" Harry trailed off. "Oh, there she is."

"She?" Ginny repeated, hesitantly releasing her grip on Draco. "Where is she?"

"Under the desk." Harry said, moving slowly towards it, his voice slipping back into the hisses and sputters of Parseltongue.

Ginny clapped her hands over her mouth to prevent a scream. The snake was much bigger than had expected, curled up in a mountain of scales. Her tongue flickered out, scenting the air, and she slowly uncoiled herself, slithering up Harry's outstretched arm to settle on his shoulders.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Harry commented, and the snake hissed in a pleased sort of way.

"That's one way of putting it." Ron muttered.

Ginny reached out a hand, stopping just before she reached the snake. "Can I?"

In answer, the snake batted her head against her hand, almost the way a cat would, and Ginny complied, gently stroking the scales. Now the shock had worn off, she could see Harry's point.

The snake was a shimmering green colour, which seemed to turn rainbow when the light hit her in a certain way.

"What's her name?" Luna asked, also petting the snake's head.

"She doesn't have one." Harry said. "What do you think we should call her?"

"Esmerelda." Luna answered with hesitation. "It comes from 'Emerald'."

Harry hissed something to the snake and nodded. "She likes that name."

"Er, would this be a good time to admit that I'm terrified of snakes?" Draco asked shakily.

Ron's head snapped round so fast his neck cracked and he winced. "But you're a Slytherin!"

"That doesn't mean we like snakes." Draco said, rolling his eyes. "You can't tell me all Gryffindors like lions."

"Or all Hufflepuffs like badgers." Susan continued.

"Or all Ravenclaws like eagles." Luna finished.

"Besides," Hermione added, "you're scared of spiders, you've got no room to talk."

"She's not that bad." Neville said, changing the subject as Ron's ears turned red. "She's quite pretty actually."

The snake hissed something and Harry laughed. "She says thank you; you're not that bad yourself."

Now it was Neville's turn to blush and Hermione giggled. "Well, as interesting as that is, Draco, can you come and help me look for things that might help us? We can't take all these books, as much as I'd like to."

"Well, Lord Salazar said journals, didn't he?" Draco asked, joining her. "So it makes sense that we're looking for something hand-written and untitled."
"Can we come back?" Daphne asked, flicking through one of the books. "I know they're not what we're looking for, but some of this stuff has probably been lost for centuries."

Harry snorted. "I'm not going to try to keep Hermione away."

"Hey!" Neville breathed suddenly. "Look at these!"

Hermione hurried over to him to find him staring at four, thick, leather-bound books. Just as Draco had predicted, they had no titles, but when she drew one from the shelf and opened it, she was met with her grandmother's handwriting. "Wow …" She turned the pages as though they were made of very thin glass. "These aren't just journals, these are spell-books. Handwritten by each of the founders. Some of these spells I haven't even heard of." She handed the book in her hand to Draco and retrieved the others as well. "Let's take these back down. We've got all year to search through the rest; I think these are the important ones."

Ron gasped. "I never thought I'd hear Hermione Granger call a book unimportant."

"Granger-Black." Susan, Neville and Ginny corrected.

"And I didn't say they were unimportant." Hermione added. "I said they weren't as important as these ones. Now move it."

"Yes, ma'am!" Ron saluted her, spun on his heel and led the way back through the tunnel and back on to the lift that took them back to the ground level of the chamber.

By this time, the basilisk had disappeared and there was a large storage cupboard that hadn't been there previously.

"Is that where all the pieces are?" Ginny asked.

"All but the fangs." Addie confirmed, holding up a bag which was smoking slightly. "The rest of it, Harry, is all yours."

"Mine?" Harry frowned. "Why?"

"You killed it." Jen reminded. "You get to claim the spoils. You are alright with us taking the fangs, right?"

"Yeah of course." Harry said absently, eyeing the cupboard. "What do I do with it?"

"Whatever you like." Jen said with a shrug. "Selling it would be the most obvious course of action – very valuable potions ingredients. Find everything?"

"Four founders journals." Hermione said.

"Harry," Mandy said warily, staring at the snake draped over Harry's shoulder. "What is that?"

"This is Esmerelda." Harry said. "She likes me. Can we keep her?"

Jen inched forwards and tentatively stroked the snake's head. "Is she venomous?"

Harry hissed something and shook his head. "She is, but she promises not to bite anyone unless I ask her to."

Jen glanced at the other adults, who shrugged at her. "Alright," she said, a little reluctantly. "But make sure you know where she is at all times, alright?"

"Alright." Harry agreed, his face lighting up in a smile.

"Jen," Draco said slowly. "You can't use basilisk fangs in potions, can you?"

"No." Mandy answered for her. "Unless you're brewing poisons."

"Then what do you want with the fangs?" Draco asked curiously.

Sirius flinched. "I think it might be a good idea if we go home and talk there."


An hour later, everyone was gathered in the informal sitting room at Ravenscroft Manor, clutching mugs of hot chocolate.

The silence following Jen's explanation was almost deafening in its totality while the students tried to digest the concept of such Dark magic.

"Try not to think about it too much." Jen advised finally. "It'll drive you mad."

"Too late." Ginny muttered, nestled into Draco's side.

Hermione heaved a sigh and leaned across Harry to fetch a piece of parchment and a quill from the side table next to him. "Alright, let me get this straight. From what Regulus learned, we know he was planning on splitting his soul into seven pieces, right?"

"Right." Addie confirmed.

"So his body is one." Hermione said, jotting it down. "The diary was two. You found the ring and the locket, that's three and four. We think Helga's cup is a fifth one. It's a reasonable guess to say that he used something of Grandmother's for the sixth. So we just need to figure out the seventh."

"And where they are." Sirius pointed out.

Hermione nodded, beginning another list. "Right, so he hid one with Lucius, got Bellatrix to hide another in Gringotts. He hid one in his mother's home and one in a cave." She frowned. "What's with the cave?"

"That's the one that confuses you?" Neville asked.

"Well, Riddle's a half-blood." Hermione said fairly. "He wouldn't have had a Gringotts vault or a fancy manor and title of his own. Those things were important to him. And his mother's home may not have been important, but it was significant. What's the significance of the cave?"

"I can't work that out." Addie agreed. "The closest I could figure out is near Brighton on the Sussex coast. Remus said a school trip or something."

Hermione tapped the quill against her chin thoughtfully. "Well, his orphanage was in London, right? Brighton would be a fairly close seaside town, a trip isn't out of the question." She sighed. "I suppose it doesn't really matter –we've got that one. We need to figure out where the others were."

"Hogwarts?" Harry suggested. "He seemed pretty against going home when I saw his memory in second year."

Hermione frowned. "I don't think so. Something that Dark … I would have felt it, wouldn't I? So would the founders, wouldn't they?"

"Maybe not." Jen said. "They didn't notice these two until I walked into the Chamber with them. And, honestly, I've been thinking about it – I don't think there is a sixth Horcrux. I think he was aiming to use Harry's death to make the last one, and failed – it would explain the amount of Dark magic around Godric's Hollow."

"It would." Addie agreed. "But I don't think we should discount the snake. You said Harry's been seeing through the snake's eyes as well – that's more than a familiar bond. Maybe when he got his body back, he decided to make up for the lost diary."

Sirius grimaced. "If you're right, Ads, we've got a problem – he never lets that snake out of his sight."

"That'll have to be the last one we destroy then." Jen said. "Right, anyone else have any bad news to share? Get it out of the way early?"

Hermione nudged Harry, who sighed. "Dumbledore told me the full prophecy."

What little levity that had been in the room vanished completely.

"How?" Neville asked. "It smashed, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but Trelawney made it to Dumbledore, remember?" Harry said gloomily. "So he knows the whole thing."

"Harry?" Jen prompted gently. "You don't have to tell us, cub."

"Yeah, I do." Harry said, taking a deep breath. "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."

For a few moments, there was silence, then Susan said, "Is it just me … or has that already happened?"

"What do you mean?" Jen asked, a little shakily.

"Think about it." Susan said. "The prophecy could have meant Harry or Neville, Voldemort marked Harry as his equal by choosing to target him. He had whatever protection Lily and/or James gave him, which is the power he knows not, and Voldemort technically died."

"It doesn't matter." Addie said softly. "I mean, that makes sense, but as long as Voldemort believes there's a prophecy and that Harry has the power to kill him, he'll keep coming."

"Dumbledore thinks the 'power he knows not' is love." Harry said.

There was a general reaction of disbelief, but Jen looked thoughtful. "Well …" she said slowly. "He may not be entirely wrong on that count."

"What's he going to do?" Sirius asked. "Hug Voldemort to death?"

Harry laughed. "Like father, like daughter."

Jen shook her head with a snigger. "No. But Harry has all of us, which is something Voldemort doesn't have. We'll stick by Harry no matter what, most of the Death Eaters have proved that they won't. And if sticking by him means teaching him everything he could probably need … Well, someone's got to do it."


That evening, under the cover of twilight, two women met up outside the Leaky Cauldron, as soon as they could leave their families' graduation celebrations. They entered Diagon Alley almost silently, one illuminating the directions they had been given with her wand.

"Alicia?" Angelina asked quietly.

"Yeah?" Alicia's response was quiet and almost habitual; her attention was fixed on the parchment in her hand, so she didn't need to look up at what the Alley had become.

Since the Ministry's announcement of Voldemort's return, the usually bright and vibrant street had become quiet and almost unwelcoming, the usual displays covered by Ministry warnings and posters of known Death Eaters.

The one nearest the entrance held a picture of Sirius Black, who lounged against the frame looking bored, occasionally rolling his eyes at Bellatrix Lestrange, who laughed manically in the poster next to his.

"What was that idea you said George had come up with?" Angelina asked, her voice shaking.

"U-No-Poo." Alicia answered, finally looking up. As she did, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Amongst the closed-down shops and giant posters of wanted Death Eaters, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes stood out bright and orange and cheerful – and sporting a large sign, exactly as George had worded it. "Oh, they didn't."

"They did." Angelia said faintly.

"Well, that settles it." Alicia stated matter-of-factly. "They need us. They'll get themselves killed at this rate."

"I think they're closed." Angelina said, shielding her eyes against the evening sun and peering through the window. "There is someone in there, though."

"You don't think …" Alicia whispered, not wanting to vocalise her fears. With the shop closed, the twins should have been upstairs in their flat, not in the shop itself.

"I don't know." Angelina drew her wand and tapped it against the door-knob, making it swing open. "Finite Incantatem."

The whisper sent a spell at the door-frame; experience had taught both girls never to take entering a room occupied by either of the twins lightly, and entering one that belonged to both with anything short of 'Mad-Eye Moody'-worthy paranoia was just criminal.

Another spell assured the young women that, aside from themselves, there were only two other people in the whole building, alive or dead, which meant that the movement must have been …

"Oi, Weasley! You here?"

"Angie!" Fred cried jubilantly. He hurried over and kissed her, lifting her off her feet. "How'd you get in without setting off the alarms?"

"I know you." Angelina answered. "Hey, Romeo!" She called into the shop. "Juliet's here!"

Fred placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to see Alicia already wrapped in George's arms.

"Oh, that's alright then." Angelina said with a smile. "Aren't you closed?"

"Yeah." Fred said. He smacked his brother upside the head – which did nothing to break them apart – and led his girlfriend to the curtain at the back of the shop. "Back here is where all the real work's going on."

There was an odd noise from behind them – a bit like a plunger being removed from a sink.

"What's that then?" Alicia asked.

"You two finally resurfaced then." Fred commented idly. "I give you …" he drew the curtain back with a flourish.

"Weasleys' Wizard Warfare!" They chorused.

Angelina blinked in the sudden light. The back room was far less colourful than the shop floor, but behind the extra stock were shelves upon shelves of seemingly innocuous items.

"All of these products," Fred continued, "are part of a DADA line."

"They're not pranks." George added. "But a series of creations designed to help our side take down the Death Munchers."

"Your imaginations," Angelina said, taking in the vast array of products, "never cease to amaze me."

"Well, we can't take all the credit for these." George admitted.

"We had some help from some old friends." Fred added with a wink.

Alicia sighed with no small amount of frustration. "That is the second time you've suggested you know who the Marauders are – do you know or not?"

"We do." George said, his humour fading into something far more serious. "And they're working on a more proactive approach to the war."

The two girls barely exchanged a glance before responding in unison: "Count us in!"


That night, Ginny found herself lying awake, unable to sleep.

Now this, in itself, wasn't that much of a surprise; she had returned home after finding out that the diary that possessed her was much more than just an enchanted journal.

What had surprised her was that this news had actually made her feel better about what had happened. There was no way she could have stopped Voldemort himself; the blame now lay with Lucius Malfoy, and with him alone.

And so it was that it was Draco keeping her awake, not her own mind. The link between them was flooded with a toxic swirl of fear and pain. It had jolted her from sleep about an hour previously, and the need to get to him was growing stronger with every second.

She could tell that it was a nightmare, but she could not distinguish what exactly the nightmare was about.

Finally, she gave sleep up as a bad job, slipped on her slightly threadbare robe and hurried down the hall to her parents' room.

Her parents' door was rarely closed, but she knocked anyway, waking Molly instantly.

"Ginny? Whatever's the matter, dear?"

Knocking had been habit, and Ginny cursed it now. Quietly waking her father would have been far easier. "It's Draco, Mum. He's having a nightmare. I need to get to him."

"Absolutely not!" Molly said sharply.

Ginny grimaced, feeling something tugging at her. "I might not have a choice, Mum; the bond's pulling me."

Molly seemed to swell with indignation. "Then we will just find some way to …"

"Stop."

Arthur's quiet voice prevented his wife from climbing out of bed, but it did not stop her from directing her ire at him.

"Arthur, you cannot possibly …"

"Jennifer has tried to explain soul bonds to you, Molly." Arthur interrupted. "She has told you that they cannot be forced. She has told you that breaking it would eventually kill both of them. She has told you that it would not have formed if Ginny was in any danger from him whatsoever. I trust Jennifer, therefore I am willing to give Draco the benefit of the doubt. Ginny, what's going on?"

"Draco's having a nightmare and the bond's pulling me to him." Ginny said through gritted teeth, fighting the magic that was trying to pull her to his side.

Arthur nodded. "I trust you, sweetheart. Go on."

"Thank you!" Ginny said hastily, finally letting the bond in.

With a sensation that was a cross between flooing and a portkey, Ginny disappeared from in front of her startled parents and reappeared in Potter Manor, on the other side of the wards, in front of an even more startled Hermione.

"Ginny, how did you … Never mind." Hermione said, interrupting herself. "He's hurting, Gin; it woke me up."

"I know." Ginny whispered. "Leave it to me, Mione; go back to bed. We'll figure out how I got here tomorrow."

Hermione nodded and swept out of the room with a quiet 'goodnight', leaving Ginny alone in the dark.

She perched on the edge of the bed and laid a hand on Draco's forehead, making sure he wasn't feverish.

For someone in the throes of a nightmare, he appeared to be sleeping peacefully, the only sign of his internal distress the sweat beading on his face.

"Draco?" Ginny called, taking her hand in his and opening the link as far as she could without plunging into the dream herself. "Draco, wake up!"

With a gasp and a start, Draco's eyes shot open. "Ginny?"

"Yeah, it's me." Ginny assured him softly. "You alright?"

In answer, he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, burying his face in her hair, shaking with emotion.

Momentarily taken aback by the strength of his reaction, and not quite sure how to handle it, Ginny settled for rubbing his back and making comforting noises, all the while trying to extract the blankets from between them so she could lie down beside him.

It was a feat that reminded her of having to change out of her bathing suit underneath her towel when she and her brothers used to go swimming in the pond, but she finally managed it, resting her head on the pillow beside him, allowing him to curl up into her arms.

She was starting to worry now – Draco was never one to share his emotions like this, even after the bond had formed between them. "It's alright." She whispered. "I'm here. What happened?"

"That bloody diary happened." Draco muttered. "If I ever find out that my father knew what it was …"

"I doubt he did." Ginny said with certainty. "He'd have kept it safer if he'd known." She ran a hand through his hair, feeling him shudder as she did. "Tell me what you saw."
Draco released her, rolling away from her to lay on his back staring at the ceiling. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing." Ginny said. "You practically dragged me here." She took his hand again, squeezing softly. "You can tell me."

"We were down in the Chamber." Draco said softly. "The diary had you again, but it was my father this time, not Voldemort."

It was the first time Draco had actually used the name, but Ginny didn't say anything.

"He told me that he'd kill you unless I took the Mark." Draco continued, his grip tightening on her hand. "And then he came out of you and into his own body, and you collapsed, but you kept telling me not to listen to him. And then he threw the Killing Curse at you." He closed his eyes, but not before she could see the tears in them, reflected in what little moonlight streamed through the gap in the curtains. "Is that what it felt like when I blocked the link? Like part of you had gone missing and ice was creeping into your heart because it felt like some of you had died?"

"Yes." Ginny whispered. "Yes, that's exactly what it felt like. Minus the dying part."

"I never expected this." Draco murmured, pulling her close again. "Never."

Ginny settled against him, his body still tense from the remnants of his nightmare. "Expected what?"

"I never expected to feel like this." He elaborated, his lips brushing her forehead. "I never expected to need you like this. I never expected … expected to love you like this."

For a split-second, Ginny thought about refuting this. But it made sense.

There was no other emotion that could describe what she was feeling.

No other emotion could simply exist the way this did.

And, as he tilted her face up and their lips met, she finally realised why it was called a soul-bond.

He was her soul-mate.