July 24

"Good morning Griphook. Thank you for meeting with us so quickly," Sirius said once Harry, Ginny and he were inside Griphook's office.

"I quite expected a complication to occur due to the duos capabilities of luring trouble, so I kept this morning free."

"Griphook!" Harry exclaimed, "you know me too well."

"That is my job, Harry."

"Point."

"Well onto business now," the goblin started, switching to a more serious conversation. "I assume by the two of you holding hands that you experience pain via separation?"

"Yeah, that is correct," responded Ginny.

"Interesting. Now, I need to call in a specialist in the field to further explain the phenomena I suppose happened and confirm it; however, I do not want to keep you three out of the loop." Griphook started. "So, do you want to wait for the confirmation or do you want me to explain my assumptions?"

Damn. I thought he was turning into Dumbledore. Ginny glanced at Harry, rolling her eyes. Griphook would never realize the full extent of the choice and its effect on Harry and Ginny's respect towards him.

Funny. But seriously, do we want to know now? Because I don't know how long I can wait.

I know what you mean. I wonder how long until the specialist can get here?

Thus, Harry asked Griphook, "When can the specialist be here?"

"Well, he has already requested leave and a portkey to come to England this weekend, so I suppose within the next day or two."

What do you think, Gin?

Hmmm. Honestly, I want to know. I mean one of us needs a shower before the two days are up…

Thanks. The sarcasm was portrayed even through their thoughts. I say what the hell. We might be somewhat more prepared.

Yeah. I second that.

"I think Harry and myself want to know. The uncertainty is frustrating." The three men nodded in understanding or agreement.

"I understand that," Griphook began, "There is an effect of the familial protection that is almost alway overlooked due to its rarity. I mentioned that bonds can be formed via the ritual. One such bond is a soul bond, which I almost guarantee that you two now share. From what Sirius has told me, you two were out for a good bit longer than just a simple protection ritual. Furthermore, the intense desire for physical touch and what I am assuming is the ability to speak telepathically," Harry and Ginny confirmed this with a nod, "strengthens this idea."

"So we know what this is," started Sirius, "but what are the implications for Harry and Ginny?"

"Well, magically, it is very similar to the connection and amplification that we already discussed, but their magic will be much more intertwined. Ginny can use Harry's magic like her own and vice versa. This will need to be trained, but it will be a great asset. From your past, I can assume that you will need to be at peak magical power in the upcoming years.

"Mentally, you two will grow very close. I know you are already comfortable around each other and share a great bit of trust, or else the bond would never form. These feelings will intensify. Which leads me to the next aspect. Physically, your bodies need to be trained. Presently, you two, especially Harry, are small for your age with not enough strength to overcome the power and magical exhaustion that come with it. I understand you are both training. Continue this.

"The last aspect is the legality of your situation. Ginny, you are officially under the protection of the Potter house like you intended. However, you two are essentially seen as one by Goblin Law and Ancient Law. This is not unusual, because those who chose to have a bonding ceremony at their wedding are covered by the same laws. Presently, you are in an unbreakable engagement that will result in magic itself marrying you when you are both ready. Gringotts specialist will help explain this better than I would."

"Thank you," Sirius spoke because the teens were too stunned to speak. "Your honesty is much appreciated. Are there any more pressing matters that Harry and Ginny need to deal with? This is a lot of information to process."

"Agreed. Right now, I am scared to proceed without a one hundred percent guarantee. I just need Harry and Ginny to sign a few papers after the meeting with the specialist. What these papers will do is legally cause Harry and Ginny to be equals in the political and financial world, which I assume is wanted based on their relationship. These can wait a few days though.

"The main concern is the physical touch. I do not recommend letting go of eachother until the specialist arrives. I know certain…functions will be more challenging and uncomfortable, but a soulbond strips you of the majority of your privacy as time progresses. I recommend getting comfortable around each other."

Harry and Ginny were gobsmacked.

"Thank you Griphook. I think I'm going to take them home. They seem a little flustered. Contact me with any new information?"

"Of course Mr. Black."

With that, Griphook was left alone in his office where he put in a request for the soul bond specialist. This effectively overruled the requested leave; however, Griphook did not think Bill Weasley would mind, especially considering the leave was to check on Ginny in the first place.

-The Truth Behind Major Events-

An owl landed in Bill's tent a few hours later. His leave was denied, and he was temporarily being reassigned. This sucked! How else was he supposed to see his little sister? Gringotts assignments tended to be very time consuming. How was he going to explain this to Fred and George?

All of the sudden, there was a knock on his tent flap. "Come in."

Bill looked up to see the head Goblin liaison for the England branch walk in with the twins.

"Good morning Mr. Weasley, I took the prerogative and brough two of your brothers here for this matter. You see, your new assignment is rather tricky. You are the only known expert in this hemisphere on the subject after all. I figured you could use some…apprentices."

"Thank you, Gofang. I appreciate that."

"Well, here is your file on this case. You have the authority to share it with Fredrick and George but no one else excluding the clients. It is a very delicate, high profile case. Two people performed a familial protection ritual and the results were a much more complex bond. You studied these to help here in Egypt. Now I need you to help the couple in Britain. Your portkey will leave tomorrow morning at 8. Don't miss it, Have a nice day."

"Thank you. Have a good day as well." And at that Gofang walked out.

"Bill," started Fred.

"What just happened," ended George.

"I don't really know guys. This morning I got an owl denying my leave," there was silence for a few seconds before Bill continued. "I do know this. When I first arrived in Egypt, they were uncovering crypts where the couple's hands would still be touching. The magical residue that still remained showed that high power bonds were formed between them. This led to me studying all of the Egyptian Magical Library and Gringotts' material on the subject. Until I see the clients, I could not tell you what bond it is, but you two cannot mess around. These bonds are very volatile in the initial stages and the accidental magic can be devastating."

"Of course," the twins nodded.

"This seems very exciting. I wonder why Gofang wanted us involved?" Fred started.

"Yeah. It's very interesting." George responded. "Hey, Bill. You get to tell mom about this though. She wouldn't believe it coming from us."

"Ugh, you're right. Let's get a move on then. This is going to be a long meeting."

-The Truth Behind Major Events-

When Harry and Ginny got back to Grimmauld Place and ate a solid lunch, Sirius suggested they begin their magical training, to see how the bond affected their magic. The two agreed and the residents of Grimmauld Place went down to the training after lunch.

"Okay, since you two cannot let go of eachother, I think we'll work on our partnership today. I'm going to turn the dummies on low power, and I want Ginny to be on defensive and Harry on offensive."

The training dummies were a design of the Marauders that acted like muggle paint ball guns, without the intensity of being hit. Being hit by low level spells resulted in green dots and a 10 second effect. The more dangerous the spell, the closer to red it was. The dots stayed on the participant until a special spell was used to repel them.

Harry, how are we going to do this both being right handed.

Huh, I didn't think about that. I mean we could have one person in front of the other and put the hand on their back.

Makes since. I'll get in front of you. I'm shorter and will be doing the defensive spells.

Harry nodded before turning to Sirius. "We're ready, but can you give us a five second countdown. With the bond it'll take us longer to get into position."

"Of course. Also, remember your magic is already going through a lot. I want to work your magic, but not overextend it to the point you are both passed out again. Nothing more powerful than a stunner."

"Understood."

"Okay then." Sirius began to count down. "FIVE" Harry moved to stand behind Ginny, facing the dummies. "FOUR" Harry's left hand slipped under the back of Ginny's shirt, and the two let go of their right hands. "THREE" The duo repositioned themselves so that they could both effectively cast spells to protect themselves or incapacitate the dummy. "TWO" Both began to get into a fighting stance. "ONE" And they were off!

Harry and Ginny were working like a well oiled machine. Ginny deflected the spells either by a generic shield charm or by summoning cushions from the side of the room. Harry was shooting cutting curses. The first of the five dummies were incapacitated within seconds. Harry then transitioned to stunners. The second dummy fell. Sirius instructed them to switch positions while still fighting.

Damn. He couldn't make this easy.

Harry continued to fire off offensive spells and Ginny held her shield while Ginny shifted to Harry's right. She placed her hand on his side beneath his shirt and stood behind, but slightly to the side of him. The roles reversed, but not before Harry got another dummy with a disarming spell.

Ginny was the one fighting now. She started out with dancing and jelly leg jinxes before finishing the fourth dummy off with her notorious bat bogey hex.

Works like a charm.

The fifth dummy was quickly taken out by a series of stunners, trapping it into a box.

"Good!" Sirius praised. "You two did very well. How do you feel?

The adrenaline was wearing off, and the full extent of their magical activities set in.

"We're tired Sirius."

"That was the goal. Come on, we can eat dinner real quick before you two go to bed."

Harry and Ginny nodded before heading down to the kitchen.

-The Truth Behind Major Events-

Who's room, Harry?

I don't know. Maybe mine. You can wear my clothes and we can fall asleep faster.

Point. Also, Kreacher already brought my toiletries to your bathroom.

Let's go.

The couple got ready for bed and were now stuck on changing their clothes.

When will this not be awkward?

I don't know, Gin. But right now, I just want to go to sleep.

Same.

They quickly changed into a pair of pajama pants for Harry, and a pair of boxers and a t-shirt for Ginny before climbing into bed. Their exhaustion took away a good bit of the awkwardness, just like Sirius intended.

Before long, they were fast asleep.

-The Truth Behind Major Events-

July 25

Harry, Ginny, and Sirius were sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast the next morning, when suddenly, the fire lit up.

"Good morning Griphook," stated Sirius. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"The specialist and his apprentice's are here. Do you want me to send them through?"

"Of course, give me two minutes to lower the wards."

Two minutes later, the wards were lowered to guests posing no threat to the residents, and the floo turned green again. Out stumbled three red heads.

"Bill! Fred! George!" exclaimed Ginny.

"Ginny!" shouted her brothers.

After a momentary loss of limb function, Ginny took off to hug her brothers, Harry being dragged along into a good ol Wealsey group hug.

"You all aren't mad at me, right?"

"Of course not Ginny. Our parents were being unreasonable!" said Fred.

"Yeah! We have more sense than the rest of the family combined." said George.

"Sure you do," started Bill. "Now Ginny, please explain why you are holding hands with Potter and why a specialist on bonds was needed?"

"I missed you, big brother," Ginny started nervously. And of course, she told her three brothers all about the past few weeks with Harry and Sirius.

-The Truth Behind Major Events-

Thank you guys! Hope you enjoy it.

This chapter was much longer than I expected so I am adding most of my checklist to the next chapter, finishing out the summer.

Also, assume that Bill, Fred, and George were informed of Sirius by the goblins.

Furthermore, the mindspeak does not explicitly say who is talking (or thinking) because I want to show the confusion that Harry and Ginny most be feeling. Yes, this is a soul bond, but I am trying to make it more realistic, if that makes any sense.

Have a great day! It's almost summer in the northern hemisphere, whoop whoop!

~SS