The Unbreakable Vow

by

Ash Darklighter

It all belongs to JK Rowling and I thank her for her inspiration – There are no galleons to be made from me. This little story is my first Harry Potter fic. It is AU and of course comments are welcome. My thanks to Tad and Mona for their help.

Part 3

Harry smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant one. It was filled with steely determination and strength of purpose. He would protect what was his. "Yes, I can. We've done the right thing. It's been hard for both of us but especially for you having to leave your family without a word. Ginny, I'll never regret being with you. Not ever. If I didn't have you we wouldn't have Jamie – we're a real family. He's the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us. I don't plan on history repeating itself. I want to see my son grow up."

"But the contract…"

Harry's voice grew cold. "That contract wasn't worth the parchment it was written on and I'm not even certain that it's legal. Remember that."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears and stretched her hand across the table to grasp her husband's. "I don't regret us either and you're right. I'd be dead and Jamie wouldn't exist. I would do anything for my son and for you."

Harry lifted her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently. "You're a Gryffindor through and through, Mrs. Potter. I'm not sure about me though, as the sorting hat did debate the pros and cons of putting me in Slytherin," he admitted.

"It did?" Ginny's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Slytherin! You're joking."

Harry shook his head. "Nope. I could have been in Slytherin."

"Why have you never told me this before?"

"I'm pretty sure Ron and Hermione knew and Dumbledore certainly knew. There's not much that gets past Dumbledore. You couldn't have been around when I told them. It's not something I wanted to advertise."

"Harry Potter in Slytherin! Merlin's bones! I can just see the headlines in the Daily Prophet." Then she cocked her head to one side and stared at him. "I suppose you could have been placed in the house of the serpents. You can be sneaky."

"I do speak the language of snakes," he said referring to his ability to speak parseltongue. "And I have learned to be cunning," he drawled arrogantly. "The sorting hat did say that Slytherin would help me towards greatness but I didn't like the personalities I had already met belonging to that particular house and I still don't. I told the hat that I didn't want to be placed in the house of green and silver." His green eyes hardened, as he thought of some of the former members of Slytherin House in particular. "We're waiting until the time is right and we'll make them pay."

"Yes." Ginny lifted her chin defiantly. "Or we'll make them leave us alone."

Harry's face lost its arrogant expression and smiled ruefully at his wife. "You have a soft heart under all that fire."

"Pot calling cauldron black," she muttered. "I didn't marry you for your ability to defend me. I can protect myself."

"That I know, Ginny-love. I have been on the receiving end of your bat-bogey hex. I hope you married me because you loved me."

Ginny's tired face lit up in a smile so luminous that it took his breath away. "Someone has to undertake such a difficult task. It might as well be me."

Merlin, he loved her but he wasn't about to risk her life any longer. "Ginny…we need to discuss this."

"I know," she answered, the joy seeping from her features.

"Could it have been fireworks?" Harry asked thoughtfully. "It's not that I don't believe you, I just want to rule out any semblance of doubt."

"I've seen enough of Fred and George's most spectacular efforts over the years and no, I don't think it could have been fireworks. It reminded me of watching you and Ron practice for the Defence Association lessons." She gave a huff of frustration. "It was like that time you did slow motion spell casting. It would be better if I could show you." She got to her feet and delved into one of the low level cupboards making a noise of disgust. "I need to clear this out and soon. Are you sure that the pensieve is still in this cupboard?"

"Think so. It's a strange place to put it," Harry muttered. "Even if you were channelling your mother at the time."

"It looks like fancy kitchenware," Ginny said, ignoring his comment about her mother. She missed her mother more than she could say but she knew where her husband was coming from. Molly Weasley in the midst of a cleaning frenzy was a sight to behold. "Only another witch or wizard would know what the stone basin really was. Ah, there it is." She pulled out a red marble basin, the edges etched with runes, and placed it in the centre of the table. "I originally thought that I might put fruit in it."

"Put fruit in it?" Harry echoed in disbelief.

"Yes." His wife grinned. "It would make an adequate fruit bowl but I wasn't sure how the magic would affect the fruit."

"Mmm," he said thoughtfully. "You have a point." Harry got to his feet and began rummaging in one of the dresser drawers. "Are our wands still in here?"

There was a loud silence until Ginny admitted, "…no, I've been carrying mine with me."

Harry stopped and stared at her. "Ginny…"

"I feel safer with it close to me, especially now that we have Jamie," she said, biting her lip nervously. "If I leave the house without you I take my wand. I've never used it. Not since we left but I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to. Tonight I came this close." She held up her hand, her thumb and forefinger an inch from each other. "But I'd do anything to protect Jamie."

"I know." Harry looked down at his hands and then lifted his gaze, staring into her bright brown eyes. "Snap," he muttered.

"What?"

"Me too." He rolled up the sleeve of his jumper and the familiar arm holster came into view, his holly and phoenix feather wand in place.

Her mouth dropped open. He'd also started carrying his wand again – they were so alike. "You haven't used it?" she asked anxiously.

He shook his head. "No. I wasn't even sure that I could without adverse effect to my recovering magical core. But I did notice something unusual yesterday."

Ginny wrinkled her smooth forehead. "What did you notice?"

"I think I briefly turned your hair back to its original colour."

"Using your wand?" she asked. "But you said that you hadn't used…"

Harry pulled the slender piece of polished wood from the holster and laid it on the table. "No, I told you the truth. I haven't used my wand since before Jamie was born."

"Then how?"

"I wished it and it happened," he confessed. "You were sitting in the front room playing with Jamie and the sun was streaming through the window. I just remembered how your hair used to shine in the light and I realized how much I missed my fiery redhead and it just happened."

"You wished it…" her voice tailed off. "You just wished it and it happened? Harry does that mean…?"

"Maybe it does." He swallowed. "I think it's the sign I've been waiting for. My magic's recovering ahead of schedule and that I'm stronger than any of them suspected."

"We always knew that you were powerful." Ginny thought of Harry's demonstrations of magic he'd given to the Defence Association while they were both still pupils at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "Your patronus in third year…"

Harry shrugged. "Madam Pomphrey said it could be ten years for my magic to return fully, remember?"

"But she said you should have almost no magic for most of that length of time - little better than a squib if Voldemort's spell worked as it should. Was she telling the truth?"

"Yes, as far as she is aware of what normal wizarding reserves should be but then I'm stronger than most people suspect. I'm not even certain if Dumbledore is aware of my true capabilities and I want to keep it that way. So what might count as descending to the level of a squib for some wizards..." he stopped and shrugged. "Hopefully won't affect me so much. Poppy guessed immediately what the curse Voldemort flung at me was and what it did."

"How did she manage that?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I'd given her access to the library at Grimmauld Place and she'd picked out several books on counter-curses. Voldemort started his attacks outside the apothecary's where a sheltering Poppy had gone to stock up on extra ingredients. Luckily she was able to start the healing process almost immediately but it's been a long time coming to fruition. It's been over five years since I've been able to do any accidental magic." Harry looked at the well scrubbed kitchen table. "I'm used to surviving without magic. I did it until I reached eleven and then during every summer at my Aunt and Uncle's in Privet Drive I was forcibly cut off from the world that I loved. You returned to the Burrow, your parents and older brothers did magic around you. You weren't used to living like I was."

"I wouldn't have lasted more than a week without you," Ginny murmured, remembering back to the first few days when she'd escaped the wizarding world.

"You're a pureblood from an old family and lived and breathed magic every day. You needed a place to hide and the muggle world was the best option for both of us. I wasn't going to let you survive alone. You would have been a captive of Malfoy Manor in no time at all."

"Oh, Harry…"

"Besides, you knew that I wanted out of the wizarding world for a while – a break from the pressure of expectation, added to the effects of the curse. I was fed up of everyone wanting a piece of me – both the good and the bad. So I attempted to give myself a bit of space. Perhaps it didn't work out quite the way I planned but we're still alive." He smiled at his wife. "And I'm happier than I ever deserved to be. One day we'll have to go back. Or at least, I will and I suspect that it's going to be soon. The next time I face Voldemort it will be as a fully mature adult wizard with the power to match."

"You're not going anywhere without me," Ginny vowed fervently. "If you go back, Jamie and I go with you."

"I wouldn't want to return alone. I'm stronger with you by my side." Harry was certain that he could see her hair briefly become its natural colour again. They couldn't hide the magic within them indefinitely – it was far too strong and if his predisposition for wandless magic began to rear its head again, he would be found out.

"Let's get this out of the way," she said firmly, retrieving her wand from her handbag. "And I hope that the ministry has forgotten that they might have tagged this wand."

"You keep it in your handbag?" he said incredulously, his eyebrows rising to meet his hairline.

Ginny straightened. "Well, yes. Why shouldn't I?"

"I bought you an arm holster."

Ginny waved her hand dismissively. "That was six years ago."

"I still have mine," he muttered sulkily.

His wife glared at him, sparks in her eyes. "So do I, Harry James Potter but I find it awkward when I have to lift Jamie. You know what he's like with his toys. I hate to think what will happen when our year old, magical son gets hold of one of our wands for the first time. The result will be complete chaos – far worse than any of Fred and George's experiments."

"You have a point there." Harry was justly proud of his son but had already seen what a magical infant could do. He often wondered if his parents had dealt with levitating toys and magical tantrums where things not fixed down could jump off shelves.

Ginny placed her wand to her temple and thin gossamer strands of silver memory fell into the pensieve. "Go ahead, Harry," she said quietly. "I'm sure I'm right."

Harry leant over the basin and found himself in Ginny's memory. He could feel her fear but most important of all, he saw what she had seen. She was right. Someone had been shooting spells across the road. Had they been found or was it purely by chance that his wife was a witch and had recognized the lights for what they were. He sat up, pulled off his glasses, and rubbed a hand wearily over his eyes.

"Well?" Ginny demanded.

"I agree with you." Harry's voice suddenly sounded tired. "Those are spell trails."

"I had hoped that you wouldn't agree."

"So did I," he said soberly, placing his glasses back on his nose. "The thing is, Gin, Voldemort isn't gone for fifteen years this time. The Death Eaters know that there are ways to bring him back."

"There are?"

"Yes, and I would bet my magical core that he's left instructions with the most loyal of his followers. Remember when I asked you about the horcruxes?"

"Oh yes." Ginny sighed heavily. "The horcruxes. We're not much further forward than we were when we left, are we?"

"A bit. I know what I've to find. I'm just not sure of the locations."

"Now talking about your magical core…" she gave Harry a stern look. "I'm glad that Madam Pomphrey knows that we're still alive. She's someone I trust. Have you told her about the return of your magic ahead of schedule? You need to have her examine you again."

Harry shook his head. "I haven't seen Poppy since Jamie was born. She only knows that we left the magical world for our safety. I didn't tell her where we went and she didn't ask. I portkeyed her in and out when Jamie was born. I have a few portkeys left around for real emergencies that the aurors made for me back in my Privet Drive days. It's the only time I risked doing any magic. And I guessed that pre-prepared portkeys wouldn't count."

Because Ginny had gone through Jamie's birth without her mother by her side, Harry had decided that it was worth it to have Poppy Pomphrey with them instead. He knew that she would respect patient confidentiality and also mask the magical signature of the birth. As soon as they'd discovered that Ginny was pregnant they'd known that their baby would be magical. How could he or she not be?

A child from the Potter-Weasley line had great potential. That child could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. So Harry had asked Poppy to mask the magic of the child's birth. It was a difficult spell to do but Poppy had agreed. Harry and Ginny did not want the name of Jamie Arthur Potter appearing in the magical registry of births and ultimately in the attendance ledger at Hogwarts – not yet.

"Then Poppy's still the only one in the wizarding world who knows that Jamie exists," Ginny murmured in surprise.

Harry nodded. "It's for the best."