Chapter 26

Preemptive Strike

Ginny watched as Bill processed her statement. She was thrilled to see him, but this was honestly a lot harder than she expected. It wasn't that it was a problem to be around her family again — she loved them dearly — but more that she had far too much to tell them.

And she wasn't sure where to start, or how to get through it.

That was why she had written to Bill first. Their contacts at Gringotts assured her that he would be in London at this time, so she knew he would be there. And she wanted to fill him in so he could help her with filling in the rest of the family.

Her goal was to keep things calm and measured. She was the only one on the boat (ignoring the elves, of course) who was relatively normally socially adjusted. Harry and Emily, on the other hand, were not. They both hated conflict, and she didn't want them feeling uncomfortable in their own home.

So preparing her family ahead of time made sense if possible.

Oddly, though, Bill's next question was not quite in the direction she would have expected. She thought he would ask who, and that would lead to Harry's continuing existence, which she knew he already suspected. But apparently he wasn't thinking quite straight today.

"That would be whoever owns the boat, I assume?" he frowned. "This is one hell of an expensive yacht, Ginny. Are you caught up in something? I can and will help you, you know."

Ginny stared at him, and even Fleur looked at him funny for that one. "Er, I suppose that would be a yes, Bill, he owns the boat, but then so do I. And it's not that simple."

Now it was Bill's turn to blink, and she noted an evil grin developing on Fleur's face; she was enjoying this. Ginny had no idea what to think about her seeing as she'd been a bit of a bitch at Hogwarts, though she was so far being polite. Time would tell on that score.

"You own the boat too?" he frowned. "How in hell did you manage that? This thing is probably worth at least a million Galleons!"

Fleur was practically bouncing in her seat now, to Ginny's amusement; she had a suspicion that the woman had noticed a certain something. And sure enough, the woman raised an eyebrow at her as though asking her permission, an evil grin lingering on her face.

Ginny smirked, gave a little shrug, and nodded to her, curious what would come out of her mouth.

"I would imagine that it is… how do you say? Community property I think?" Fleur opined, grinning amusedly at her fiancé.

Ginny giggled. She couldn't help it.

Bill blinked slowly back at her. "Huh?" he asked.

Ginny laughed. "Oh, this is too good," she grinned. "You noticed?" she asked Fleur.

"Oui," Fleur nodded. "I suppose I should not expect a man to notice though. That would be too much to ask for," she grinned.

Ginny shook her head in honest mirth. She hadn't expected that Fleur would have a sense of humor, but there it was. Maybe they would get along, and Ginny wouldn't mind having her for a sister-in-law.

"Someone want to explain for the poor addle-brained male?" frowned Bill.

"I'd say I beat you to the altar," grinned Ginny, "but that wouldn't be quite true either. The method was a bit unusual, to say the least."

Bill's mouth moved as he processed that statement, but no sound came out for a long moment. And then– "Wha?" he asked in confusion.

Ginny finally sobered; as amusing as this was, she didn't want him trying to kill Harry. "I'm married, Bill," she said honestly, holding up her left hand so he could see the ring Harry had given her. "It's a rather long story, and not a usual one, though we really aren't complaining."

"Married," echoed Bill flatly. "At fifteen."

"Thirteen actually," she nodded. "We've been married for just over two years now. We celebrated our second anniversary on the way here."

Bill blinked repeatedly. He was struggling with his temper, doing his damnedest to beat it back, which was a good thing. This was the primary reason she didn't want to tell the family without help. Her oldest brother had an unusually even temper; the rest of the family could not claim that.

"Please explain, Ginny," he finally said, his voice soft, "because right now I have a very strong urge to find your husband and beat him to a pulp."

"Don't even think it," she warned. "His lack of fault aside, you'd very likely lose."

Bill's eyebrow went up at that, but she left it alone.

"It wasn't and isn't a normal marriage," she told him bluntly. "We didn't ask for it, and we didn't do anything to invite it. Hell, we were only just starting to come to terms with our feelings for each other, and I was much farther along that path than he was at the time."

"Then how did you end up married?" he frowned.

"Magic decreed it," she shrugged. "It's a magical bond, Bill, and I'm not talking about an average marriage bond. We're two halves of a whole. We feel each others' emotions, and we can even communicate mentally no matter where we are or how far apart from each other we are. It was quite the shock to both of us I assure you, but we have no complaints."

Fleur's eyes widened as she spoke, and Ginny suspected once more that she knew something. Bill, on the other hand, continued to look confused. She really couldn't blame him; they hadn't even heard of it before it had happened to them.

And Fleur came to her rescue.

"You are Soul Bound?" she breathed.

"We are," nodded Ginny.

"Mon dieu!"

"I don't get it," frowned Bill, turning to Fleur.

"It is truly scared, William," said Fleur in a hushed tone. "Such bonds are very, very rare, and they are inviolate, to the point that they are protected under Merlin's laws. None may interfere. Magic has determined that they belong together, and has made it so."

There was a brief silence, and then Fleur turned to her. "You have had this verified?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes," nodded Ginny. "One of the American Unspeakables checked us and confirmed it. Your description is exactly correct, except that we're also emancipated as a result."

Fleur stared at her for a long moment, and then got up and headed her way. She was surprised when the woman picked her up out of her chair and hugged her strongly. The emotion she was showing was frankly quite shocking.

"Congratulations," she whispered. "You are so very, very blessed, and I will very much enjoy getting to know you."

Even as she enjoyed the hug — it was gratifying to know that the woman cared — she felt Harry's curiosity get the best of him. He was up in the pilothouse she knew, and she had a feeling he would turn up very shortly. And as Fleur finally released her, she spotted him coming to a halt on the stairs down into the salon.

"You're serious," breathed Bill as Fleur folded herself back onto the couch next to him.

"Completely," she nodded. "But other than being married as far as the law is concerned, it hasn't pushed us into anything. We've been going at our own pace, Bill, we've just been doing it as legal husband and wife. I couldn't ask for better."

Bill stared for a moment. "So do we get to meet him?" he asked.

Ginny studied him for a long moment, and decided that his temper had been defused; he was perfectly calm now, and not just trying to hide it. That was excellent. She really wanted this to go well.

And so she looked up at Harry.

"You already have, Bill," he said quietly.

===[~]===

Harry was morbidly amused by Bill's frozen expression, but Fleur's reaction was outright hilarious. She clearly hadn't known a thing about the theories people had, and had thus thought him dead. Her jaw was practically on the floor.

He smiled and shook his head, and then moved to join Ginny. While he had felt her tension earlier, she was surprisingly calm at the moment. That could only be a good thing. Everything would be fine once they all got over whatever surprises there were, but dealing with those surprises would be the hard part.

Their guests were just staring at him, but he was momentarily distracted by the fact that someone was missing from the picture.

"Where's Emily?" he frowned down at Ginny.

"Probably outside somewhere," she smiled up at him. "I introduced her, but I don't think she's feeling very social today."

Harry frowned slightly at that, but nodded his understanding. While they were somewhat less worried about Emily than they had been — she had improved dramatically over the last year spent living with them — there were still issues. Given his own experiences, Harry had a feeling that she might never truly be normal.

He was starting to toy with the idea of teaching her Occlumency; it might help her tremendously.

Finally, though, their guests got over the surprise.

Mostly.

"Harry?!" screeched Fleur. "You are alive?!"

She's Bill's fiancée, drifted through his head from Ginny's direction. He glanced at her to acknowledge it, but otherwise ignored it.

"Never been anything else, Fleur," he said softly. "I can't help what Skeeter writes. It's nice to see you again."

Fleur stared for a moment, and then rushed him. She snatched him up into a tight hug that was nevertheless somehow far more gentle than either Molly's or Hermione's ever were. Though he did still vastly prefer Ginny's hugs.

When she finally released him, she put her hands to his cheeks and held him there, simply studying him. He had the sneaking suspicion that she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't hallucinating. Finally, though, she gave him another hug — this one much more gentle — and then let him go.

"I am so glad," she sighed in relief. "Gabrielle was devastated. She adores you."

"But you still can't tell her, Fleur," Ginny said softly, "not unless you can guarantee that she can and will keep the secret. Harry may not have set it up, but it's been the best thing that's ever happened to him, and we want him to stay dead if you know what I mean."

"Second best thing," noted Harry with a touch of amusement.

"What's the best thing?" frowned Bill through narrowed eyes, though at least it wasn't a hostile sort of expression.

"Ginny, of course," smiled Harry, not the slightest bit embarrassed about it.

The corner of Bill's mouth turned up in a faint smile at that answer. "So you married my sister?" he asked, seemingly neutrally.

He could feel Ginny's eyes narrowing, but he mentally shushed her. "I didn't marry her," he said honestly. "Nor did she marry me. We are married, though. And if that confuses you, then try it from this side. I assure you, it was way more confusing for us."

With a goofy smile that he couldn't suppress, he turned to look down at his wife. "We're certainly not complaining though," he added softly, staring down into her eyes, which were now twinkling back up at him in amusement.

From the corner of his eye, Harry saw Bill smile a genuine smile, to his relief. And then he was surprised when the man moved closer and swept him up into a genuine — and surprisingly gentle — brotherly hug. It was a little unnerving, but in a good way.

"Welcome to the family, brother-in-law," Bill offered.

"Thanks, Bill," he smiled as the man released him.

There was a pause in the proceedings as they all settled back down. For his part, Harry sat down in an armchair, and was not the least bit surprised when Ginny squeezed herself into it with him. He put an arm around her and just enjoyed the closeness.

"Oh, and congratulations to you two as well," he said after a moment, turning to Fleur. "I guess I can actually welcome you to the family too now."

"Thank you," she smiled. "I am gratified that you noticed. Most men do not."

Harry chuckled but shook his head. "I can't claim that," he told her honestly. "I might have, but Ginny told me before I had the chance."

Bill opened his mouth in confusion, but then it snapped shut again and his eyes widened. "Okay," he breathed, "that has got to come in handy."

"Not so much as you might think actually," admitted Ginny truthfully. "Most of the time we want to talk, we're in the same place anyway."

"It does have it's uses on occasion, though," Harry shrugged.

Bill nodded and turned thoughtfully back to his sister. "So this is why you don't want to go back to the Burrow?" he asked.

"Yes," she said directly, and Harry was surprised to find that there was nothing there but determination. He figured she would be upset about it, but apparently not. "You have to understand, Bill, he's finally able to be normal. He's not famous anymore, so long as people think he's dead. We won't risk that even a teeny little bit."

"Fair enough," nodded Bill. "So how do you want to do this?"

"I was thinking dinner and a relaxing evening," shrugged Harry. "There's plenty of room here."

With that, they settled into conversation about how to proceed. Harry wanted to see the rest of them again as well, but not nearly so badly as Ginny did. He would even have gone to the Burrow if that's what it took, but she would never ask that of him, and he really didn't want to.

He was starting to suspect that she also had a few demons that she hadn't quite exorcised just yet. That place was her childhood, and she had recently discovered that so much of it was a lie. If she went back there, she would have to face that in all too real a manner.

But while they were figuring that out, though, Harry turned to thoughts of Sirius.

He had no idea how to deal with that.

He wanted to see the man — wanted to get to know him — but he was terrified that Sirius would make a mistake and blurt something out. He knew intellectually that it wasn't at all fair to the man. His views were largely tainted by the opinions of others, and those others had largely only known him in his schoolboy years.

The fear was still there, though, and he was going to have to make a decision soon. It was one thing to stay away and out of contact; it was quite another to be here and fail to make contact. That would probably doom any relationship they might have in the future.

Harry was totally unwilling to make that sacrifice.

Shaking it off, Harry tuned back into the conversation. Bill was going to go collect everyone — though he didn't know if he could get Charlie that quickly, and they would soon be here. And then, just maybe, they could go on with life without this hanging over their head any longer.

Ginny deserved no less.

===[~]===

A/N: Sorry for the late post; my schedule is all wonky. It happens. Tomorrow at some point we get to see the family reunion!

Thanks for reviewing!