Possession
Chapter XXII - Desperate Measures
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The book was impossibly heavy. It had been light in the library when she had thought it nothing more than a book holding a possibility but when she had read it, it had grown heavier as she had determined that it held what she was looking for. And then, with every step she had taken towards Harry, it had become heavier so that it was now, she was sitting next to Harry with it open on her lap, panting at the weight.

Ginny looked down at the charm... Spell really... She knew it off by heart... She'd known it by heart for the last eleven days... And now she was here to use it.

Even since the little serpent had given her the answer what seemed millennium ago, she had been in the library researching. She had rejected so many binding spells... But this one had been different. There was something with this one that told her it would work but she didn't know what. The same force that had told her to reject the other spells had told her to select this one.

There had been literally hundreds of binding spells in the library and Ginny half suspected there were so many there so that any student contemplating this on a whim would be overwhelmed. She hoped that only those like her would persist and would find this spell. The book had been in the restricted section and so she hadn't found it until she had rejected everything else in the normal library. It really hadn't taken that long to find, not once she'd borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak and started searching. Nine days to find a binding spell and five days to collect the required ingredients and six to gather the courage to use it.

She'd thought she was ready... But finding the spell and reading the warnings on it had only brought back the enormity of what she was attempting. She could help Harry, bound to him. But he could hurt her too and she could be hurting him now in a way that he could never recover from. Once bound, the couple could not be unbound, no matter what happened. Love, jealousy, rage, hate... No matter what they felt, they were bound to feel it together.

"I love him," she repeated to herself, looking down at the words.

She hadn't told Ron or Hermione what she was going to do. In fact, the two of them had just held her when she'd cried and then supported her move to go to classes again. None of the teachers had mentioned anything about her five day absence but they'd all seemed relieved that she'd chosen to return on her own. Ginny snorted at that. She'd been running close to the limit, she'd known and if she wanted to attempt this binding spell uninterrupted then returning to class, and acting like a saddened but courageous Gryffindor had been the only option. Suspicion was away from her now, and no one thought she was going to attempt such desperate measures to help Harry.

Ginny reached out her hand, placing it on Harry's forehead, as she looked back up, taking a deep breath. "I love you Harry," she murmured. "I will live for you, I will kill for you, I die for you. I will do anything to protect you Harry." The words were quiet but they were nothing less that the truth and that was what had scared her into six days inaction.

It was one thing believing you loved someone enough to do all that but it was another knowing it. Ginny brushed her hair out of her eyes as she looked up at the clock. Eleven thirty... Time to begin. On the first chime of midnight she and Harry would end their lives as separate beings and by the last chime and the beginning of a new day, they would be bound together.

She lifted the book as she rose and placed it on the chair she had been sitting in before she turned to Harry. His eyes were closed but then the room was shrouded in darkness and he looked as if he was sleeping peacefully. With a slow, gentle motion she pulled at the covers, drawing them to the foot of the bed. This was going to be very difficult to explain if she was caught but the book had been absolutely adamant on this point; the couple had to present themselves to each other as they were, with no ornamentation or spells hiding the truth. She would have locked the door if she could but Dumbledore had let it slip while she was watching that the room was charmed so that alarms would sound if anyone meaning Harry any harm entered it and if any attempt to isolate the room from the rest of the castle was made. The most security Ginny could give herself for this was to close the door.

Sirius wasn't here tonight. It was the night after the full moon and he had been torn between his God-son and helping his friend. Dumbledore had eventually persuaded him that while watching over Harry was noble, there were times when Remus needed him more and Sirius had reluctantly gone. "Don't worry, Sirius... In the morning it will be all right," Ginny whispered as she unbuttoned Harry's pyjamas.

The little serpent watched on from Harry's pillow. It was coiled there, its head resting on its scales but its eyes were following her movements. She'd visited Harry a few times while searching for the spell but she had never attempted to get close to him and tonight the snake had just looked at her before it had slithered to it's current position. It hadn't said anything but it didn't need to for her to know the consequences of failure.

She eased Harry's shirt off, trying not to gasp at the way his ribs poked out through the skin on his chest. He was feed properly at Hogwarts, she knew but it appeared his body was so conditioned to malnutrition that it refused to accept the food. His skin was white, so white she wouldn't have found it difficult to believe that he was a vampire, and it was unmarked. Whatever torture had been inflicted upon him, it hadn't marked the skin of his chest and back. With slow movements she moved to his pants, tugging gently at them as she pulled them down his legs.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Ginny whispered. She didn't know if it was true or not but for someone who had been raped, the forced exposure might be disconcerting and she didn't want to cause him any discomfort but this was the only way.

When he was naked, she stepped back, just looking at him. He was beautiful. That was the only word she could use. Harry was painfully thin but he was starkly beautiful. His skin was almost translucent and she could see the spider web like patterns that his veins traced over his body even in the gloom. He was almost hairless except for the hair on the crown of his head and a few dark curly pubic hairs that clung to his skin. He was more muscular than she had imagined but everything worked together to make him appear perfect.

With an odd smile she began removing her own cloths. Harry's perfection made her feel somewhat embarrassed but with a determined shake of her head she drove that thought away. There could be no thought of failure when she did this, there could be no thought of worth, no thought beyond her love for him.

She shivered slightly as she removed the last of her clothes, folding them neatly beside the pile she'd made of Harry's. Ginny glanced at the clock again as she picked up the book. Eleven fifty-five. Time to begin in earnest.

She looked down at the book again, running her fingertips over the parchment, feeling the ink on the page. The bonding was simple. She'd chosen this one because it was simple. If you were powerful enough, you could use sheer power to bind yourself to anyone or anything, or if you were skilled enough in potions then there were those that would tie someone to you but true binding came from the soul. True binding didn't really need incantations or ingredients to work, it merely required the heartfelt energy of the couple to mix together, binding their magic into one. She didn't quite have that since Harry could not respond but the incantation would take care of that and her own half, her own energy, freely given to the ceremony should help to compensate.

"I love you," Ginny whispered once more and began to read, taking Harry's hand in her own. It was a simple incantation, a promise, an affirmation of her feelings that would bring forth her magic and bind her to Harry. The hardest thing was timing it so that she could bring forth the correct memories to tie their souls together.

"I love you for I am you.
I will die so that you may live.
I will kill so that you may live.
I will live so that you may live.

I love you for I am you.
I will be everything that you are.
I will be everything that you are not.
I will bind myself to you.
I will walk away from you.

I love you for I am you.
I will wait for you forever.
I will stay with you forever.
I will know you always.

I love you for I am you.
My body is yours.
My mind is yours.
My magic is yours.
My soul is yours.

I am yours.
I love you for I am you."

Ginny gasped as she said the last word, fighting back a scream... This couldn't be right... It was pain greater than anything she had ever felt and as she gritted her teeth against it, knowing that any noise would bring Madam Promfrey, she heard the clock chime the first note of midnight.

"Ha... harry..." She struggled to lift her head, looking towards his sleeping face. "Please..." The word was so much more than just a word. It was a question, request, and imploration for him to feel what she was doing and to accept it.

Dimly she heard the chimes of the clock continue but it sounded as if each chime was consuming eternity. The pain continued unabated and she felt like she was being ripped apart from within. This wasn't how it was meant to be. Yellow eyes fixed on her own, watching as she struggled to remain conscious but they didn't nothing more than watch. "Harry..." she managed to gasp once more as her head swum and the world began to spin around her. "Help me..."

The little serpent reared up a little as it watched the girls body slump in the chair. It had been somewhat surprised that the girl had found the right bonding spell but it was the only reason the girl hadn't discovered how dangerous it could be.

She lay, slumped against the bed, the book on the ground, open now at some random page. The charm had worked the way it was meant to and already the little serpent could feel her presence through the bond it had created with it's masters mate. But the charm she'd used wasn't exactly what she had thought it was but it was too late to turn back now.

-You are bound to him,- the little serpent hissed. -But he is not bound to you. My Master does not share.- It slithered down and butted her hand with it's blunt nose. After a moment it let out a small hiss of frustration. The strain had been too much for her and she was unconscious so there was no one left to cover its charge again.

-In the morning girl, I shall awaken you and then you shall leave for you are not strong enough to wake him alone. You may return when my Master has instructed you.- With that, the serpent reared above Ginny, the plume on its head rising and its eyes burning a brilliant crimson.

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