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 4

"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."

"I agree. I wish our family and friends could know about him but it's still too dangerous. One word in the wrong place and…" She shivered. "I miss them so much but you and Jamie come first. I just hope that they understand." Ginny wrapped her hands around her mug of tea.

"So do I, Gin."

"But Harry, your magic…?"

He shrugged. "You know that I can feel it building inside me. It was never completely gone because we got to Poppy so quickly..."

"Dumbledore doesn't know that," Ginny said slowly.

"I told him what Voldemort had shouted as he threw that final curse." Harry's face hardened. "I'm pretty sure that the headmaster may even have heard the incantation. Dumbledore knew that I was cursed, but not that Poppy recognized the spell and immediately sought to undo the damage. He didn't know that she'd been researching dark hexes from the most obscure books in the Black family library. She saved my magical life."

"Then you didn't need to leave the wizarding world," Ginny said quietly.

"I did. I told you at the time that the curse had still drained a large part of my magic and would have continued to do so without complete magical rest. I would not have been allowed to recover in peace. I suspect that Dumbledore would still have kept me in ignorance whilst continuing to try and control and manipulate me. I'm certain he knew at once what I'd been cursed with but didn't really do anything to rectify the situation. I asked him about it and he said it was an obscure hex and he would have to research it."

Ginny frowned. "Then maybe he didn't know about it and by the time he did it was too late."

"Then why didn't he say that at the time. All these lies and half truths didn't help. I just needed him to be open and honest. Actually," Harry murmured, remembering. "He did say something along those lines but I guess I wasn't thinking too clearly. I just remember being so angry at him."

"Why didn't you ask Hermione?"

Harry looked sad. "I don't know. She was also hurt during that battle. Nothing serious but enough to put her into St Mungo's for a couple of days. By then, it was probably too late and our relationship was a little strained. There was no particular reason – it just happened and the time for confidences was lost. The spell's reversal depended on immediate action which luckily Poppy gave me. Even with immediate treatment most of the damage had been done. And the conclusion - no magic until my core recovered. If she hadn't been in the apothecary's…" Harry shook his head.

"Did Poppy tell the headmaster that she'd treated you?"

Harry's mouth flattened into a thin line. "After I told him what I'd been hit with I was about to say that Poppy had seen me but he told me, 'not to talk and save my strength, dear boy,' without looking me in the eye. Not that I could Legilimise him." Harry frowned. "Perhaps, he thought I could." He shook his head. "No matter. He then decided to move me to St Mungo's not realizing that I'd already been treated by Poppy for the most pressing matter. St Mungo's sorted out the minor cuts and bruises I had and sent me home within a couple of hours where I went straight to the hospital wing and swore Poppy to silence before Dumbledore returned. I could have had the same treatment at Hogwarts. Poppy and I discussed my options for the future and they didn't look promising in the magical world unless I had the chance to completely rest. Thanks to Sirius I had a back-up plan but I thought I might not have to use it so soon. Your situation changed everything."

"Sirius wanted the best for you," Ginny observed with a sad smile.

"Yes, me, Harry, and not the 'Boy-Who-Lived'," he said, thumping his hand against his own chest. "The people who supposedly know me best don't trust me. They would prefer me weaker rather than stronger just in case I decide to become Voldemort's successor."

"Which you definitely don't want to be."

"Of course, I don't. I never did want fame and power. I want to live my life in peace with my family and the old man knows this. I love and respect him or I used to before he went too far with his manipulations. He has a lot to answer for – the Dursley's, the lack of a proper 'Defence against the Dark Arts' teacher for most of our school careers, proper training for the task I will still one day have to undertake..." He looked at her. "Need I go on?"

She shook her head noting that the kitchen light was flickering again. They would really have to get a new set of bulbs.

"He continued to encourage me to use my dwindling magical reserves in further training, knowing that the more I used my magic the less powerful I would become. He had plenty of opportunity to tell me what had happened to me and he didn't. He lost my trust, Ginny, and his actions also left me open to attack by any Death Eater who wanted to try and capture the 'Boy-Who-Lived'."

"You couldn't use your magic to defend yourself?"

"In a nutshell, back then, yes. I couldn't. I didn't have enough power and the more I used it…" His shoulders slumped as he ran out of steam.

Ginny frowned, her eyes darkening with anger. "The more you used it, the less it became." Harry only thought of protecting others. Had no one thought of looking after him?

Just over five years ago with the war between the dark and light escalating, Voldemort had attacked the village of Hogsmeade. Harry, with the Order of the Phoenix and the Defence Association had gone to help the beleaguered villagers. It had been pure chance that had Poppy Pomfrey, the Hogwarts' mediwitch, visiting the apothecary in Hogsmeade to procure some extra supplies for healing potions when the Death Eaters had struck.

As usual it had come down to a duel between Harry and Voldemort when they'd both fired curses at almost the same time. Harry knew he couldn't have killed the Dark Lord at that time because he hadn't found all the Horcruxes. Voldemort had split his soul into Horcruxes which meant that until they were all destroyed he couldn't be killed. But Harry had no such safeguards and had thrown the Unforgivable curse as a last resort.

Voldemort had fired hex after hex at Harry until the young man had been pressed against the door to the apothecary's shop. The Dark Lord, his terrible face with the flat, snakelike, slitted nose, red eyes gleaming with evil intent, his long thin fingers wrapped around his wand, had approached closer and closer until he'd stood within striking distance.

"You must pay for your continual defiance," he'd hissed. "Pay with pain and then you will die." His features tightened. "Crucio!"

Pain had swept through every part of Harry, his scar burning like never before but he would not give Voldemort the satisfaction of screaming – he could not. He was dying here; he had nothing left to give. But still, he would not cry out.

Voldemort spoke again. "Magisiphonux…"

And at exactly the same time, Harry, beleaguered and in pain had finally shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

"Harry! Harry. Are you alright?"

He lifted his gaze from the table. He'd used the killing curse which could have given him a one-way-ticket to Azkaban but he'd had no choice. It was kill or be killed. 'Neither can live while the other survives.' The quote from Trelawney's prophecy continued to haunt him. "I'm sorry, I was just…"

"Thinking back?" his wife asked shrewdly.

"The headmaster saw Voldemort throw that last curse at me. In his defence he wasn't close but… What he didn't see was me cursing the Dark Lord in return and Voldemort vanishing. As far as Dumbledore was concerned, the death eaters had just portkeyed out. The rest of them did. It must have been several weeks before they grasped the fact that he'd probably been removed from his body again and by then I was about to vanish into muggle obscurity."

Ginny's eyes widened. She'd known he'd been under a great deal of stress when they'd gone into hiding. He'd told her that Voldemort had gone but she hadn't really believed it at first. Then her own problems had escalated and she'd focused on leaving the wizarding world. "Ultimately you left to protect me." Her voice rose. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I did do that and would do it again," Harry said carefully. "You were part of the reason why I left but not the total cause. What they were doing to you in the name of light wizardry gave me the final impetus to move. They had no right to ruin your life for the war effort without your consent. You were to be sacrificed and I couldn't allow it to happen." His green eyes darkened with distress as they stared across the table at her. "I might have let everything collapse around me but for you. I would have died but for you."

"Harry…"

"You saved me Ginny. You were always there for me in those final years before we left the magical world and I loved you for it. I still love you and I always will but the love I have for you now is deeper. I couldn't let them sacrifice us both. What they wanted to happen wasn't our destiny. Our future was meant to be together."

"What are we going to do now?" she asked.

"Tomorrow I dig out my father's old invisibility cloak and go to the scene of the accident. It should be safe from any magical interference for a day or two because it will be crawling with Muggle policemen."

"If you're sure that's wise." Ginny pulled open one of the drawers behind her and grabbed a map. "How far are we from the nearest magic settlement?"

"Hogsmeade or Dovetown are within four hours driving distance of here. Of course it would be quicker by broom." He stabbed his finger onto the approximate locations which were not indicated on the Muggle ordinance survey map. "That's not that far and would be easy to apparate to but there's nowhere really close."

"Unless there's a wizard estate in the general vicinity," Ginny said thoughtfully, staring at the map.

"It's possible. I don't know enough about the wizarding communities to know where they all are. I now think we need some outside help."

"Who."

"Poppy, Remus, Tonks, the twins… Any one of those."

"Ron?"

Harry's face hardened at the mention of her brother. "No, not Ron. They're bound to assume that you and I are still alive and he's the one they'll be watching the most closely. He was my best friend, after all. You know he can give things away under pressure. I don't trust him not to crack so, instead, I think we bring in the twins. They're much more useful since no one is likely to be watching them at all, so they're the only ones I really trust these days. They know the value of secrecy and stealth but hide it under laughter and tricks. It's a good smokescreen. Besides, they owe me."

Ginny's expression showed her surprise. "You trust Fred and George more than Ron?"

"Much more than Ron," he affirmed. "The twins were determined that we do something about your plight and wouldn't accept everyone else's 'there is nothing we can do'. He's still far too jealous and resentful where I'm concerned or he was when I left. He will not be happy that we've been in hiding for five years without letting him and the family know where we are. There is no way that he could exist without magic. We have to consider that he'd tell Hermione – she's probably his wife by now and Merlin knows, Ron can't keep a secret. If he told Hermione, she'd probably inform Dumbledore. The Headmaster, last I heard, was trying to get her a job in the Ministry so that she could do some spying for the Order."

"You seem so bitter where Dumbledore is concerned."

"Do you blame me?" Harry asked quietly.

Ginny shook her head. "No."

"He didn't see me. He didn't see Harry." He patted his own chest. "I was always the Boy-Who-Lived. The idea that I might want to survive into adulthood and have a normal life appears to have passed him by. I know he thought that what he was doing was in my best interests but at some point that seemed to change."

"I can see where you're going with this," she said slowly. "Employing Quirrell, not telling you about Sirius. He could have got you out of the Triwizard tournament. You weren't of age and yet, he made you compete as bait. He didn't tell you things that you should have been told."

"Exactly," Harry said. "He's admitted to some of these mistakes but it's not enough, not anymore."

"Hermione might surprise us but we cannot take the risk," Ginny said thoughtfully. "She doesn't act on instinct. It all has to be planned out."

"Sometimes planning ahead is better but plans can go wrong and then you have to go with your gut. That's why we three used to be such a good combination. Ron for strategy, Hermione for planning and information, and me for the seat of the pants type of situations."

She'd never considered it before, but Harry was right. They'd all combined so well together. "If you say that we can't tell Hermione and Ron, then we don't."

"We cannot and this is why." Harry pursed his lips, sighed and then said, "I know someone else who has a vested interested in Hermione."

"Whom?"

"Percy," he said grimly. "He still wants to be Minister for Magic one day."

Ginny's eyes narrowed in fury at the mention of the brother who had willingly estranged himself from the family and believed the Ministry's lies about Voldemort's return. However in the eyes of Ginny and Harry, it wasn't the worst thing that he had done. "That bastard," she said venomously. "He would want to utilize the abilities of the brightest witch of the age and she did always get on with him better than the rest of us did. But surely she wouldn't trust him either. She was as upset as we were when he…when he…" She stopped, her heart racing.

"Hermione has a naivety towards authority that always surprised me and always wanted the approval of a parental figure. I never really had one of those. The Dursley's weren't exactly parent material as far as I was concerned. Percy would want to keep tabs on her because she's always been loyal both to me and to Dumbledore. I don't want Percy's loyalty." Harry's lips curled. "I don't trust his loyalty. Percy's blindness could ruin everything. He cannot see that he's wrong. We have so much more at stake now, Gin. We have Jamie and we have each other. I don't want Jamie's life to be a repeat of mine. I don't want him to grow up in the care of others - others that won't want and love him like we do."

"Jamie could have got us into a lot of trouble at the police station," Ginny said, a small smile teasing at her lips.

Harry gave a quiet chuckle. "No accidental magic after waking up?"

"None," she said smugly.

Harry ran a hand through his untidy black hair. "That's a first. I'll never forget the first time he accessed his magic and sent the array of toys flying at me from the crib like a set of rogue bludgers. It would have been difficult to explain and I know you can make most things seem believable but I suspect this would have been beyond even you."

"I don't think I can take him to visit Helen again," Ginny said regretfully. "Our son is definitely not a squib."

"Did you ever think that was likely?" Harry asked.

"No, but according to the 'Magical Infant' books I read, he's accessing his magic very early and that indicates he will be powerful." She made a face at her husband. "It's all your fault."

"Why is it my fault?" Harry couldn't quite understand that one. Yes, the child was undoubtedly the son of his father. You saw that just by looking at him. But 'fault'.

"He's too much like you."

"Why don't I think that's meant to be a compliment?" Harry complained plaintively.

"It wasn't a compliment," she returned. "I can see him getting into the same amount of trouble you did at school."

"It wasn't always my fault," Harry protested. "You're a powerful witch too, Ginny Potter and managed your fair share of pranks. You know the old saying. I didn't actively go looking for trouble. Trouble always found me first."

"Yeah, right." Ginny raised one eyebrow sceptically.

"I didn't exactly remember you fighting me off when we…" Harry flushed and closed his mouth. Ginny's smile curled around his heart.

"When we what?" she asked, her eyes gleaming.

"When he was conceived," Harry finally managed to say, his face red.

Ginny giggled. "It was much more than that," she whispered throatily.

"Jamie didn't access his magic?" Harry said, trying to return to the main topic of conversation and will his face to return to its normal colour.

"He did but only levitated the one toy that he wanted away from little Nathan and luckily Helen was making tea at the time and only heard Nathan's protests. I just couldn't really relax after that. I don't think we can leave him at the school nursery either which means I won't be able to work."

"You don't have to work, Ginny-love but I understand why you want to," Harry said quietly. They had more than enough gold in their Gringotts' vault but his wife was a powerful intelligent witch and he wouldn't stand in the way of her career.

"I think the nursery nurse was giving me suspicious looks the last time I picked him up. He needs other wizarding children to interact with. It's not fair on him to grow up in isolation. Although…"

"No, it isn't fair. I want my son to have the kind of upbringing that you had with a family that loved you." Harry stood up, collected the mugs and placed them in the dishwasher. "I wouldn't wish the Dursleys on any child, including their own. Dudley was what he was because of them." He ushered his wife from the kitchen and switched off the light. "I wonder what they're doing now."

"You do?"

He shrugged, the movement barely visible in the darkness. "Sometimes, but I guess I don't care enough to go and find out. I hope they're well and happy but I don't care if I never see them again."

They were silent as they made their way down the corridor to the master bedroom. Ginny peeped in at Jamie but he was sound asleep. Dropping a kiss on his flushed cheek she joined her husband in getting ready for bed.

Harry sighed, as he plumped his pillow into a more comfortable shape. The more he thought about it, the more inevitable it seemed. Hiding as a Muggle was all very well but there some things that a Muggle just couldn't do. "It appears we have little or no choice in this. We must rejoin the wizarding world without being seen to do so. I have to go back and at least try to make contact with the people I trust."

"And I'm not letting you do that without me."

Harry grinned as he pulled her into his arms. Merlin, he loved this woman.

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