Disclaimer: the only characters in this fic that I own are Essie, Loki, and Serena. The rest are the product of J.K. Rowling's amazing imagination and intellect. But I own the plot; so don't even TRY to plagiarize it.

~Fic Starts Here~

The next thing Essie knew, she was in the hospital wing, tucked in bed, the choker still on her neck. She winced when she felt for her jewel- there was a huge bloody bandage covering her neck, where Voldemort's curse had burned her.

"I see you're up, Lei."

She winced again. Snape. "Where am I and how did I get here?"

"Hospital wing. I floated you up here on a stretcher."

"A stretcher?"

"Yeah, you know, one of those cot things, with canvas stretched in between two metal rods and-"

"I KNOW what a stretcher is. I just can't believe you didn't hand carry me up here."

Snape scowled and turned around. "Might as well get your medicine, now that you can consciously swallow it and I don't have to force feed it down your throat."

Essie shrugged. Snape really wasn't that bad once you got to know him, and once he saved your life, he was your friend forever. And she knew she was going to need that a lot.

She knew she had yet to be rid of Voldemort's legacy.

Serena had survived.

No one had to tell her. She could feel an evil, slutty presence floating on the back of her conscience. A conscience tainted with the aura of her great-uncle. She wasn't surprised. She was sure Serena had slept with Voldemort. And she knew the child would be dangerous if raised in the wrong hands. Young power was easily corrupted. She needed to talk. And the person she needed to talk to was right there.

"Hi Harry."

Harry sat up in his bed, quickly. "Did you kill him?"

"Him, but not her. I think she's pregnant with his kid, too."

"Damn."

"I know." Essie just curled her knees to her chest and held them there tightly with her arms. "I don't know what to do, Harry."

"Neither do I." He looked over to her. "Are you OK?"

"Why didn't I remember her? I could have done her in, right there. . ."

Harry was up and by Essie in a flash. "Sh, sh, it's NOT your fault. You killed Voldemort. That's all that matters."

"But his kid-"

"Sh. Don't think about his kid. We don't even know if it will be Dark or not. Or Serena might miscarriage. There are so many unknown factors."

"And we can't even be together to deal with them."

"What?"

"Harry, listen. I love you. I will always love you. But if Serena finds us together, we will be much easier to defeat than if they had to search all over for one of us, and then the other. We alone have defeated the Dark Lord. If she found us together, we would be killed in a flash. But if we're separated, we have a better chance of surviving." She took his chin in her hand. "Do you understand, Harry?"

He nodded.

"Now, I have to stay here, in England-I don't want to jeopardize my family-and you can stay here too-but if we stay together we are like live bait. I'll probably stay with Snape-he can mentor me in Serena's ways. But you, you HAVE a home-"

"The Dursleys do NOT count as a home."

"Well, OK, you have a place to stay. Now Harry," Essie said, taking his palm in her hand, "I want you to promise that you will try to seek me out if you are in danger, even if we are far apart." She took her wand and cast a slight severing charm on both of their palms, making to tiny cuts. As she pressed their hands together, she kept going, "I want you to call me, through this connection, when you are in peril. Do you promise me, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"Swear it."

"I, Harry Potter, swear on the souls of my parents, that I will use this connection to call on Essence Lei, in my time of peril."

"And I, Essence Lei, swear on my mother's life, that I will call on Harry Potter in my time of need."

Still clutching each other's palms, they sealed their promise with a kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Severus Snape chose that exact moment to walk in. He stopped abruptly. No. It couldn't be. Were they crazy? He understood their kissing-it was only natural. But they had to be absolutely crazy. A soft, sea-green light was emanating from their palms, right where their swear wounds were. Didn't they know how dangerous that was?

Snape quickly strode over and forcefully pulled their hands apart. "Don't you two know how dangerous soul mating is? You could end up with a mixed soul and have some serious split personality disorder."

Essie and Harry just looked at him with a very "Huh?" expression on their faces.

Snape snorted. Or course they wouldn't know. Well, Lei might know, but it didn't look like she was in a very "think" sort of mood right now.

"Didn't you ever think about where the expression "soul mates" comes from? Two people who are absolutely compatible can mate souls. You have to use blood as a catalyst, and several other things have to happen, but if you go too far, then stop, you end up having split personality disorder. Didn't they teach you this in sex ed?"

"It's not like we MEANT to! We were just making a blood pact-"

Snape snorted. JUST? JUST a blood pact? WHERE did this girl get her ideas?

"-And we kissed and our hands did that weird light-y thingie and all that. I was just telling Harry how I'll have to stay with you over the summer-"

"WHAT?!"

"-Seeing as I've got to be cultured in Serena's ways-"

"Oh."

"-And we just started talking. And I think you need to teach Harry too."

"Why?"

"Because, WE'RE going to defeat her. Not just me. I can't do it along and Harry's proven himself against Dark wizards several times. So teach him, too."

"Right. What if I began now?"

"Huh?"

Snape pulled a chair over to the bed. "Serena is a very complex character. I need all the time I can get to mentor you two about her and her ways."

"Right." Chorused Harry and Essie.

Snape nodded, as if he was acknowledging their status as his students for the first time. "Now, Serena's biggest weakness, like many humans, is pride. Hers is VERY big, which makes it an easy target. . ."

~~~End of Fic~~~

AN: whew! That was great!!!! I FINISHED IT!!!!! WHOOHOOOO!!!! Watch out for the sequel, yall!