Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

If You Can Help Her – Chapter 34 – The Bond Explained

The next morning, Harry was eating breakfast in the Great Hall with Ginny, Hermione, and Ron when Draco Malfoy strutted up to the table with Crappe and Boil (Crabbe and Goyle). "Hey, Potter!" he called with contempt. "It's too bad my father didn't get custody of you. You see, we wanted you to replace Dobby. But then again, it's probably for the best. The smell from a half blood like you, not to mention the blood traitors and mudblood you rub shoulders with, would probably ruin Malfoy Manor!"

"What ruins the smell of Malfoy Manor is the filthy Death Eaters that live there!" countered Harry contemptuously. He was really getting sick of that bigot idiot.

Draco's ears turned pink. "You can't call my family…"

Hermione grinned evilly. She shouted, "Get out of here, you FILTHY DEATH NIBBLER!"

Draco's face went red. "I don't have to listen to you, you…"

"Then why'd you come to our table, you filthy Death Nibbler!" argued Ginny with a level of contempt that matched Draco's when he called someone a mudblood.

Draco, now turning a shade of purple, glared at them. Harry stated in a very Hermione-ish way, "That's probably rude of us. Would you prefer the term, 'Filthy Voldyblood' instead?"

"Look, Scarhead! I…"

"Get of here, you filthy Death Nibbler!" said Ron, smiling as he joined in.

"My father will here about this!" promised Draco as he turned around to walk away.

"Have him say hi to his half-blood master for me, you filthy Voldyblood!" called Harry as Draco stormed off. All four of them, as well as everyone who was sitting nearby, burst out laughing.

"Is that true," asked Dean Thomas, who was sitting a few people to the right of Harry, about You-Know-Who being a half-blood?"

"Yes. He's the son of a muggle man and a witch," explained Harry, "and Voldemort's actual name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He made up the other one out of the letters in his real name because he thought it sounded cool."

-IYCHH-

As the weeks passed, more and more Gryffindors started calling select Slytherins (any who they'd heard use the word 'mudblood') either 'Filthy Voldyblood' or 'Filthy Death Nibbler' (depending on how afraid they were of Riddle's anagram). A few of them started using the term 'Snakeblood,' which became the most popular. Occasionally teachers heard them and deducted points.

Soon some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs started using those terms as well. Hermione, in the meantime, was spending most of her time in the library, until she told Harry she couldn't find a book on bonds there. He gave her money and had her order a few from Flourish and Blotts. Harry and Ginny had decided not to tell Hermione about their shared animagus form (or that they were working on becoming animagi at all).

By the beginning of February, the preparation for revenge on Michael Corner was complete, and Hermione told Harry and Ginny that she wanted to talk to them about their bond in the afternoon of the same day of the morning prank on Corner. What they'd decided on wasn't that complex, but it took a month to prepare the potions.

It was a Saturday morning, and everyone was having breakfast. Harry had gotten Dobby to add two different potions to different portions of Michael Corner's breakfast (one in his drink, the other in the syrup he used on his pancakes). Ginny was in the middle of taking a bite of her breakfast when they heard the bang. She quickly swallowed her food and started watching as the laughter started rising from the Ravenclaw table.

Michael stood up with a dazed expression in his face. He was wearing bright red gloss lipstick, along with blush on his cheeks and eye shadow. He turned his spaced-out gaze toward the Slytherin table until it rested on none other than Viktor Krum, and he started to bat his eyebrows at the Quidditch star. With a stupid grin on his face, he started marching toward the Durmstrang champion, singing,

"Viktor I love you

Viktor I do

When we're apart

My heart beats only for you."

When he finally reached the disgusted-looking Krum, Michael grabbed his head and kissed him deeply as Viktor struggled against him. By the time Krum had pushed Corner away and was ready to hit him, Professor Flitwick had arrived at the scene and started trying to pull his student away as he struggled, screaming, "I need to be near Viky! I love him! I…"

At that moment, Hagrid grabbed a hold on him, saying, "I think after yer've been ta the hospital wing, yer won' be feelin' the same way," as he carried him out of the Great Hall. As soon as they left, the whole hall, except for Viktor (who was scowling in disgust and rage) and some of the staff, erupted with laughter. Harry even noticed the slightest hint of a smile on Dumbledore's face, which caused McGonagall to glare at the headmaster.

-IYCHH-

After breakfast, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry met in the one-eyed witch passage (where they could have privacy to talk) without letting Ron know they were together. Harry and Ginny had left holding hands, giving anybody the distinct impression that they were headed toward a broom cupboard to trade tonsils. About fifteen minutes later, Hermione told Ron she would be studying ancient runes in the library.

While Ginny had her wand illuminating the room, Hermione summarized what she'd discovered in a book. She had notes with her that she'd occasionally glance at.

"It's called the 'Life-Love Bond,' and it's very rare. The author only found ten couples with any phase of it. It requires a lot of different circumstances, but it sounds the most like your situation. It takes place in three phases. The first phase involves one of the people saving the other's life."

"Like how Harry saved me in the chamber," stated Ginny.

"Exactly," agreed Hermione as she nodded. "The circumstances require first that the victim was already attracted to the hero." Harry obviously didn't like the terminology, but remained silent. "And then, after the hero has saved the victim from certain death by risking his or her own life, he or sh…"

"We know it's a he, and his name is Harry," interrupted Ginny with a smirk.

"Very well. After saving Ginny, Harry comforted her, even hugging her, and began to develop genuine feelings of love. At that point the bond started taking over slowly. What it did is accelerate the speed at which you grew closer. First, Harry was thinking about you more and more, feeling genuinely concerned to the point that he spoke to you about how you were doing after your experience. Ginny, if I'm not mistaken, your feelings for Harry were growing as well."

Ginny blushed. "After two days of talking to Harry, I asked him to be my boyfriend. I always wondered how I had the guts to do that."

"Really?" asked Hermione, genuinely surprised. "You never did describe exactly how…never mind. Anyway, if you don't mind my saying so, you were more…er…affectionate than most new couples your ages who had just had their first kiss."

Both Harry and Ginny were blushing as Hermione's ears went pink. The brunette continued, "That's because of your bond. It says that both people will feel a closeness in phase one that makes them kiss rather, er, affectionately from day one." Hermione was getting nervous. "When you kiss, you…er…are more…well…needy or hungry about it, like you can't get enough of each other."

Both Ginny and Harry blushed yet again and reluctantly nodded.

"The bond doesn't seem to even care about age, although the youngest case they found involved two ten-year-olds. Most theorize that if the victim is old enough to have a crush on the hero, the bond can work. Anyway, as much as you enjoy kissing and snogging each other, you're absolutely revolted if someone else kisses you on the lips, no matter who it is."

"I know that's right!" agreed Ginny, thinking of Corner.

"Absolutely," affirmed Harry, thinking of Cho.

"This pretty much insures that you won't cheat on each other," remarked Hermione. "Another affect is that you could barely function if you were having a fight. I remember when Ginny saw Cho kiss Harry."

"We sorted that out long ago," declared Ginny emphatically. "I was stupid! I should've trusted him."

"My point is that Harry was completely and utterly depressed that day while you were completely and utterly angry." She looked at her friends. "You were both completely ruled by your emotions and couldn't really concentrate on anything else for long. According to the book, you wouldn't have been able to sleep, and within twenty-four hours, you'd have both been getting physically ill if you didn't reconcile."

"I know I never wanted to fight again," commented Harry, squeezing Ginny's hand that he just realized he'd been holding.

"That's everything from phase one. Phase two, which is what it sounds like started over break, begins when both people have openly expressed a desire to be together for the rest of their lives to someone besides their partner."

Harry repeated, "Openly?" with a confused look.

Hermione looked at him and sighed exasperatedly, "Harry, don't you remember when we were dancing at the Yule Ball?"

"Of course I do, but…oh," he replied with a small grin.

Hermione smiled back at her best friend. "Oh. You told me that you wanted to spend your life with Ginny, and a few days later, you reached phase two." She then turned to Ginny. "Have you made any similar declarations lately?"

Harry watched her as her ears went pink. He was surprised to feel that she was angry, not happy or embarrassed. "Well, when I was dancing with Colin, he basically told me that the other girls wanted me to break up with Harry so they can have a go at him."

"What?" exclaimed both Harry and Hermione at the same time.

"I know! How ignorant can you get? Anyway, I told him we were in love and if I had anything to say about it we'd be together for the rest of our lives!"

"That sounds like a declaration to me," concluded Hermione. "Anyway, in phase two, over the course of a few days, you start sharing emotions. Another thing is that when you're physically touching, you can share your magic. The book said that usually this is as far as a couple gets, and that when one is angry and the other calm, they can share the emotion, so that the one who has been angered can handle the situation without losing his or her temper. You should even be able to share pain. The book also says that if you're both experiencing the same emotion, it's enhanced, like we realized."

"So, we really don't want to argue. It would end up being worse that fighting with mum, and we'd be sick if we didn't reconcile anyway," declared Ginny.

"Yes," agreed Hermione, and then she started to blush. "It also says that…er…loving emotions are also enhanced. Your snogging experiments actually weren't that unreasonable."

"You see," stated Harry with a smirk, "It was just for research, and I think we'll continue that study when this conversation is over."

"Right you are, Dr. Potter," agreed Ginny.

"Anyway," continued Hermione, "It said that anything you do to…intensify those feelings, such as kissing, snogging, er…"

"Shagging?" suggested Ginny with a straight face.

"Er, well, when the time comes, yes," admitted Hermione, her face redder than Ginny's hair, "Anything you do will be more…er…intense than anyone without your bond can…er…experience."

There was silence for a few minutes, as they all felt embarrassed. Harry finally broke the silence. "You mentioned a phase three?"

"Oh, um, yes. According to the book, if a couple in phase two works really hard, they can somehow merge their minds and spirits while they share their magic. The author only found one couple that had reached that phase, and they were killed less than a year after they'd done it, so the author doesn't know what happens after that."

Both Harry and Ginny avoided looking at each other, but they were both thinking about their dragon form. Harry finally spoke. "Thank you very much for all your help, Hermione. You've given us a lot to think about. I can feel that Ginny's head is spinning as much as mine. Do you think we can have a few copies of your notes? Both Mrs. Weasley and Sirius are gonna want to see them, and I'd like a copy myself."

"Make another copy for me, please," added Ginny.

"Sure," agreed Hermione as she pulled her wand out, "No problem." She then duplicated her notes four times.

-IYCHH-

After Harry and Ginny walked hand-in-hand in silent companionship to the owlry and sent off their letters, they sat down and faced each other. "Wow," Ginny said to break the silence.

Harry grinned. "Wow is right. That really was…illuminating."

"I know."

"I think we'll need to let that information soak in more before we can talk about it. My head is still spinning."

"I agree. Maybe we'll talk about this after you've done the second task. For now, I think the best thing to do is continue our experiment in snogging."

Harry grinned at his girlfriend. "Sounds like a plan to me."

-IYCHH-

Author's note: The prank on Corner involved a love potion and a glamour potion designed for underage witches so that they can take a potion instead of perform a charm.