Ron and Hermione woke before Harry and Ginny (the latter having taken the sleeping potion) it was late morning when they came back downstairs into the common room. The bliss they felt from waking up together evaporated when they saw Molly Weasley was already awake and reading the latest edition of the Daily Prophet, face hidden behind it. They quickly adopted casual expressions as she finished and set the newspaper on the table.
"Good sleep Mum?" Said Ron casually.
"Good enough." She addressed Hermione in a voice of concern though it was a little forced. "Are you well dear?"
"Well enough." She said, in a similarly forced calm.
"Your sister wasn't in the sixth-year dormitory. I wasn't under the impression that whatever Harry needed to tell her would take so long that it's now nearly midday." She was looking at her youngest son expectantly.
"Yeah well, it was about her first year and not the sort of thing that you talk about in a hurry. She probably fell asleep in the Room of Requirement by the time they were done."
"Does she think I'm stupid, do you?"
"No Mum, but let them be until later please?"
"Once they do, we're all going home and you four are going to tell me what on earth has happened the last year, to the point that your sister refused to leave school until Easter. When Death Eaters discovered that you were not seriously ill with Spattergroit but gone off with Harry and Hermione doing things like stealing a dragon from Gringotts! Of all the things to read about in the paper… Bill said enough that crossing a single Goblin can mean death! But still, you three thought let us cross the lot of them!"
"It was all necessary Mum, but please in the name of Merlin don't do this here! It's been a really long year…" said Ron with relative calm.
Mrs. Weasley had daggers in her eyes. "That, Ronald Bilius Weasley, is an understatement, and all this doesn't even take into account the four of you trying to hide your relationships!"
"Honestly, we just worked us out less than a day ago while the battle for the school was going on…"
"Well nobody is getting out of explaining themselves!" She suddenly took a calming breath and found a genuine smile as she looked at them both.
"For the record, I am happy the both of you are finally together… I never understood why it took so long. I've seen it between you two for years…" They shrugged awkwardly at that. "Ginny on the other hand has explaining to do. The last I knew she was still with Dean Thomas, not sleeping with Harry Potter in hidden rooms! It seems my children and their friends have just decided that I no longer need to know anything, but it is going to come out once we're home! Now, I'm going to help survey the damage to the castle…"
She stood up and left through the portrait of the Fat Lady without another word.
"Well…" said Hermione, turning to Ron with an indifferent look. "It could have been worse."
Even a year away from the Burrow could not keep Ron dreading going home again. "Oh, it will be worse."
Ron's fear came true when they got back to the Burrow nearing sunset. The sleeping potion lasted well into the afternoon, and a row between Ginny and her mother had reached a boiling point…
"Hey, I am not finished with you, Ginevra!"
"Well I'm done with you smothering me!" Ginny had just stormed out the backdoor looking to put as much distance between herself and her mother as possible. Mr. Weasley in anticipation of the blowup had Apparated to the boundary of the Burrow and placed a shield charm around the general outskirts to prevent escaping the confrontation. Ginny pulled out her wand ready to destroy a section and keep going as far as her legs would carry her…
"Don't even think about it, young lady…" Came his voice very sternly. He was standing on the opposite side his expression unreadable.
"Dad you don't want to be anywhere near because I'm blasting my way out of here, I AM DONE WITH HER SHIT!" Mr. Weasley did not even flinch, in fact, he was alarmingly unfazed.
"You want to be treated like an adult? Adults don't storm away from disagreements."
She scoffed "That's rich, with all the times you or Mum have done just that in during a blazing row!"
Mrs. Weasley had caught up and her voice was sharp with anger. "How dare you have such a disrespectful attitude; I don't know what the hell has gotten into you, but it stops now!"
Ginny spun around just as angry. "Get away from me or I'll use the Bat Bogey Hex and I know how to do it without my wand so I wouldn't bother disarming me!"
Ron, Harry, and Hermione Apparated, standing together as a wall between both women. "Enough!" They said in unison.
Mrs. Weasley spat sharply. "You three stay out of this! I will deal with you all later!"
It was Hermione who spoke. "No, you'll be dealing with all four of us, now. This is absolutely ridiculous!" She was glaring at both women with a livid face.
"Ridiculous? You are not a parent and barely adults! She owes me an explanation, now all three of you, butt out!"
"No!" They said together. Ron looked annoyed. "I knew one-on-one wasn't going to go well."
"I gave you an explanation!" Said Ginny hotly
Harry separated from Ron and Hermione, joining Ginny on her left side.
Molly Weasley scoffed at her daughter. "No, you gave me an excuse! It didn't come up, what kind of explanation is that! Even Ron said more than that when I asked him about Hermione."
"You're telling me that they get a pass because they finally stopped playing chicken. That's rubbish! Stop treating me like a child!" Said Ginny looking stony now, the restraint on her anger about to snap completely
Mrs. Weasley screeched back angrily. "Stop acting like a child! You have always had this obsession with Harry Potter and now you're together entirely out of the blue! Did you slip him a love potion, remember he was tied to a prophecy, abandon that, and then think… I'll play hero at Hogwarts and when he comes back, I can pick up where I left off end up pregnant!"
For a moment, Harry saw hatred in Ginny's eyes toward her mother… Enough that had she uttered the killing curse it might have worked… Even Ron, who admittedly thought Harry's feelings had come out of nowhere thought his mother had gone mad.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Ginny's anger was not a childish scream, but a loud bomb blast, that of a fully grown woman. She suddenly began to glow with blinding sunlight that separated from her body and coalesced in front of her, forming her doe. It was on its hind legs, guarding Ginny like a shield.
The normally gentle expression and warm eyes of the Patronus were now furious. "WHO CAUSED THE PAIN THAT BROUGHT ME TO GINNY'S SIDE! WHO? I HAVEN'T FELT ANYTHING SO RAW SINCE I JOINED WITH HER AND FELT HER STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH BEING SEPARATED FROM MY SON!"
There were loud gasps of surprise and an audible oh my gosh from Hermione… Mrs. Weasley 's anger evaporated, replaced by fear and shock, she couldn't say a word. Ginny who had dropped to her knees from the force of Lily's magical life force leaving her body returned to a stand, helped by Harry. He had only ever seen his mother angry in Snape's memories and it was nothing like this… It made him consider for the first time that his mother, not his father, was where he got his anger.
He was the first to speak with an anxious voice. "I think you have to warn Ginny somehow before you make a sudden appearance."
Ginny shook her head. "I felt it beforehand, it's just going to take a bit of time before I'm used to that but I'm fine Harry."
Mrs. Weasley's voice was much smaller now, still surprised by the sudden unexplained burst of magic. "I-I don't understand… Patronuses are silver vapor not golden light, and I thought yours was a Mare and it is talking?"
"Let's start with how you called forth your Patronus without a wand or incantation." Mr. Weasley said in fascination.
Mrs. Weasley's brain seemed to have restarted now, registering what the voice of the doe had said. "What have I done that is so awful?"
"Molly Weasley!" rang Lily's incredulous voice. "The anguish and hatred I felt in Ginny's soul, which was so raw that it called me to her side to quell it, was caused by her own mother?"
"I'm sorry Lily, I lost control of my emotions, it's just I would never ever force Harry to…" Ginny trailed off, wounded at the accusation by her mother.
"Sweetheart don't apologize. I will not hesitate to make sure you are not consumed by negative emotions, as I have done since I bonded with you some time ago."
"You really have been there since Harry left." Ginny was feeling overwhelming gratitude.
Yes, your separation from Harry was when I felt the lasting magnitude of your love for each other." She grew angry toward Molly again. "That is why I fail to understand why your mother would say such an awful thing. We only knew of each other by reference because of your brothers and still I would never have believed it of you, to accuse the daughter you longed to have of committing one of the most egregious violations in magic!"
Molly was still stuck on the fact that Lily' was somehow there at all. "Lilly Potter, you are alive! My brothers always talked about you James... What do you mean egregious violation? "
Lily was calmer now, yet still blunt. "You do not know? Ginny, Harry have you not had a chance to make her aware of anything surrounding soul-bonds and their magic?"
Harry scratched his head. "We have barely had time to breathe let alone explain stuff that we just learned about yesterday."
Lily addressed Mrs. Weasley much softer now. "Oh, Molly, if I'd known that you made the accusation in ignorance, I would not have been so harsh, unfortunately, I only know Ginny's emotions and memories while I am merged within her soul."
"Then you will tell me what this is and what I've done that is so egregious?"
Lily continued calmly. "Yes, first I am not truly alive, my consciousness is only permitted to exist because the seeds of soul bonded magic have blossomed."
"Soul bonded magic? I don't understand?"
"Call it a soulmates bond if you prefer, love can foster this if it is true enough, a willingness of forever, it creates a magical bond. Ginny has shown true love for my son her entire life, much like Severus loved me. Of course, I never returned Severus's feelings, despite his hoping for most of our childhood that I would, and my heart eventually found James. The difference between Harry and Ginny is that eventually, Harry did return Ginny's feelings. I think the distinction is that Ginny was not defined by her feelings for Harry as Severus was with me. She became her own person independent of her feelings. Quite an accomplished young witch I might add. I'm am extremely proud of her for how she mastered her love for our son instead of letting it rule her… Molly you're assumption of an obsession spits upon the patience of your daughter, of how purely she loves my son."
"Thank you, Lily." Said Ginny with an emotional smile. Ginny's doe, the soul of Lily Potter, had turned to face her eyes warm and kind. "The point is their love is that of soulmates and that is its own kind of magic."
Harry was suddenly reminded of the first meaningful advice that Albus Dumbledore, the greatest man he would ever know, had given him when Harry himself had almost been consumed by feelings of longing…
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live… Harry found a new reason to be proud of Ginny, and a new reason, other than the way he died, to pity Snape…
"At 17? How can they be soulmates when they have been together for less than a year? It is too young." Molly was dismissively emotional.
"Love is not subject to time, age or even compatibility." Ron and Hermione smiled at one another as they held each other's hand tightly. There was pity in Lily's voice now. "You are so consumed with being a parent that you have lost perspective on being a child or young adult and being in love."
Arthur put a hand on Molly's shoulder. "I think Lily is right dear. We should finish this back inside the house, the sun will set before too long and our other boys will be home soon." He addressed Lilly directly now. "Can you, err… stay, Lilly?"
"Yes, the upheaval I felt in Ginny's soul that called me to her side must not fester any longer. I wish to speak with the kids privately first, including those two." She said turning toward Ron and Hermione."
Very well, we will wait for you in the house, let's leave them be dear."
Molly wanted to object, but arguing with the reincarnation of Lily Potter, who died to save her only son, and was now soul bonded with her only daughter, seemed disrespectful on another level. She nodded and walked back to the house with her husband. Ron and Hermione joined Harry and Ginny looking nervous. The was another blinding light and Harry's father joined Lily, bursting forth as the golden stag.
"Sorry for the late appearance. Lily's temper is second to nobody and I wanted to wait until she calmed down. What on earth made you so angry?" James' voice rang out in an unusually serious tone.
Harry raised his eyebrows, standing up again. "You couldn't tell?"
James was blunt. "I felt a surge of anger… Hearing is another matter and it doesn't always seem like it's possible to hear what is happening while we are asleep."
"Molly assumed Ginny enslaved our son to fall in love with her using a love potion!" The anger in Lily's voice was rising again.
"That's a karmic sin in the natural laws of magic. Why would Molly assume her own daughter would such an egregious violation?" James was shocked.
"My mother thinks I'm still a child…"
Ron sighed. "I knew Fred's death would drive her to smother us even more."
"Ginny's run-in with Voldemort has left Molly in a place where I don't believe that she is capable of knowing the whole truth. I'm sorry, you should be able to turn to your mother for support, but she is blinded by grief and fear." Said Lily sympathetically to Ginny.
Ginny shrugged. "Harry it's your right what you say to anyone about Voldemort. I will follow your lead."
"She needs to know the consequences of using a love potion to control someone's feelings. She just showed me she isn't ready to handle anything else." Said Harry, his tone blunt.
Ron was confused. "It just makes you lovesick, I haven't eaten anything out of a fancy looking box since that mess with the love spiked chocolates that were meant for Harry from Romilda Vane."
"If I hadn't been with Dean at the time that mess wouldn't have happened because I would have burned the damn box… She is a year below me, and last I heard still trying to cheat to fall in love, stupid girl, if she only knew."
"I'm lost…" said Ron in further confusion.
"There are other violations against nature than just murder Ron and all violations of nature enforce its karmic consequences." Said Harry with a matter of fact tone.
"Harry are you sure? Karma good or bad is guesswork." Said Hermione in contemplation.
"In the Muggle world yes, but that's because the only trace of magic known to us unless we are born with it is the magic found—" He looked at the reincarnations of his mother and father with a smile— "in the laws of nature. Some good, some bad. I have seen too much of karma as a law of nature not to believe that it is an aspect of magic too." He turned to Ginny squeezing her hand tightly. "The burden of the Horcruxes and your torture is too great… Sill, I think your mother should know enough so that she treats you like an adult. I won't stand for anything less."
Ginny hugged him kissing his forehead. "Thank you, Harry, let's go."
Lily's voice was pleasant. "I can carry you if you would like, on my back.
James echoed this sentiment. "Same, just watch the antlers."
"Will that work? They asked hesitantly.
"Yes, no different than riding on a natural animal though you will feel the magical energy."
"I'll lead ahead with Mione, give the four of you time to yourselves." He smiled at Harry. "Mate, you have always wanted to know your parents since the mirror six years ago… Looks like your wish sorta came true, if you think about it."
"Yeah I suppose it did. Said Harry with an emotional smile to his reincarnated parents. "Dad, you take Ron and Hermione, Ginny and I will go with Mum."
Once all parties were on their backs the Doe and the Stag set off with the latter in the lead, heading back toward the house.
"The other boy, he is another sibling of yours?" Said Lily pleasantly to Ginny.
"Yes one of six, five living, brothers."
"The loss of one, it is barely a day or two old? I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion into your emotions but it really is impossible not to feel what you are feeling."
"Yes, and it's alright. Between Harry and you, that's more empathy and understanding then anyone—including my family—has shown me… Besides a few friends at Hogwarts.
"The girl?" Lily curiously asked.
"Yes, she's a great friend, but Hermione is Harry's best friend. Ron too, since 11 that Halloween when they beat a mountain troll."
"Harry James Potter what were you doing around a mountain troll at 11? That's not a first-year lesson it's not something that is even considered as a practical demonstration until 7th year?" He explained the story. "Why do I get the feeling trouble followed or found you a lot…"
"It did, that's why Ron and Hermione are the big brother and sister I never had, couldn't have survived without them. They helped me get rid of Voldemort for good finding his Horcruxes and were always there when trouble found me, and it's found me for seven years straight."
"I am not bound with either of them, but I can still sense that your soul is tied with theirs very closely. There are two more people, who share your hardships and grief."
"That's probably Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, you'll meet them at some point I'm sure."
"Frank and Alice 's boy, he could have been the subject of the prophecy."
"What?" Ginny curiously Said.
"Yeah, he could have, but Voldemort picked me as a half-blood like him. Still he suffered the same fate as me Frank and Alice were tortured into madness about a month after you and dad were killed."
"We heard they were captured, wanted to come out of hiding but we'd already been marked for death at that point and Dumbledore wouldn't hear of it, poor boy."
"Still played his part though… The six of us are sort of the new Marauders."
"Marauders again huh?" James' voice curiously rang out from several feet ahead.
"Never mind that Prongs!" Called back Lily.
"We're nearly there anyway." Said Ginny "Do you care if we stay with you, I think my Mum will be less likely to take things badly if we do."
"Not at all sweetheart."
"Thank you, Lily."
It was calming being in contact with the living Patronuses and Ron and Hermione seemed to have had the same thing in mind. Both couples strode calmly into the sitting room of the Burrow, where the whole of the family was now waiting for whatever explanations they were able to get about the last year. The other boys all exclaimed in surprise, at the uniqueness of magic having just gotten home shortly before they entered the room.
"No way?" Said Percy.
"And here I thought a dragon was the coolest way to travel. Said Bill with a wink to Harry, who smiled. Bill working for Gringotts meant he would have known about the break-in…
"What the bloody hell?" Said Charlie flabbergasted." You can't ride a Patronus, they are vapor, and definitely not bright sunlight like that."
"I still prefer the flying car bit." Said George, who'd cracked a smile for the first time since his twin's death a day ago.
Harry announced to everyone casually. "Hello, everyone." Then he said. "Meet my Mum and Dad, Lily and James, err sort of anyway. Say hi you two."
Lily and James' voices greeted them all pleasantly. "Hello."
There were gasps and excitement from the other brothers, tempered calmly by their father.
"You can admire later. Right now there is a rather large fence to mend between Molly and Ginny. Harry I am sure that you have discussed between all four of you what to tell us of the last year concerning your behavior. Please tell us—
"The truth for once." Cut in Molly sharply."
"Did we miss something?" Said the other brothers in confusion. They could feel the tension that hung in the air between their parents and youngest brother and sister, and their friends.
"Your mother and sister are not seeing eye to eye." Said Mr. Weasley with a tentative voice.
"That's putting it mildly, she hates me all the sudden and I don't know what I've done to deserve it." Said Molly bluntly.
"There you go, jumping to conclusions again! Is there something screwed up in you that makes you think the worst of me all the damn time!"
"Just your actions which haven't given me a reason to think any better since you were 11!"
"You are insufferable, keep it up and I won't have any trouble hating you!"
"Well I'm the only mother you have Ginevra!"
"Don't call me Ginevra, and a lot of good that's done me the last few years. Lily's been more understanding over the last day as a reincarnation than you have since I became a teenager. I shouldn't be surprised since you haven't bothered to understand me and know almost nothing about me since I turned 11 and started school, just like nearly everyone else there! Even my own brothers gossip at school and assume stuff of me that's utter rubbish!"
"We never— "George began defensively.
"Like hell you all haven't! Too popular for my own good!" George shut up at once. "Harry might have come around out of the blue, but at least he wasn't assuming I'm a slapper or a slag before then!" She glared at her mother now. "Or thinking I was plotting to make Harry fall in love with me with a potion. All rubbish that has been going around the school for years!"
"Well why else would you not say anything. You don't think I know how foolishly naïve you've been since you were little fantasizing about the Harry like you could win him over. Is it really that much of a stretch to think that you got it in your head to start spiking his food with a love potion?"
"I would never! You have no damn idea…" Ginny trailed off shaking with anger so great that her eyes stung with tears, though she managed not to start crying… Harry had finally reached his breaking point and cut in ahead of Mr. Weasley just as he was about to scold Ginny for insulting her mother. His voice was dangerously quiet and contained rage.
"That's it I've had enough, you have already forgotten what my mother told you about soul bonded magic, you're are not listening. Well I have important things to say because I will not let anyone, not even her mother, treat Ginny like that!"
"Well last I checked you are not a parent and I don't care how famous you are Harry Potter; you don't know more than me about that!" Her voice was sharp with rage.
Harry felt the strangest sense of deja-vu in his life as he spoke just as sharply back. "I know things you don't know Molly Weasley! Things about magic and its laws in nature that will make you sorry you ever assumed such stupid things about your own daughter. Some of them you can handle most you can't and so you will not know everything, but we will tell you what is necessary to open your eyes and it's in the best interest of your relationship with Ginny to hear them if you can even shut up long enough."
The other Weasley brothers' mouths hung open in a mixture of shock and admiration. Everyone, even Mrs. Weasley knew that Harry was a different kind of angry now. Mr. Weasley gave Harry a long gaze, not really letting in on what he was thinking.
"I simply want to understand whatever the four of you are willing to tell us about what you have been through the last year or two, including whatever you believe you know about the natural laws of magic. I'm sorry that my wife has not respected your right to keep it to yourselves. Molly, unless you can speak without judgment or accusations you are not to interrupt. Do you understand?"
It was extremely rare for Arthur Weasley to demand anything of his wife and she seemed to know that he was not in the mood to hear bickering any longer.
"Yes Arthur."
Harry calmed himself. "Thank you, Mr. Weasley. Now some of this is a fact, some of it is from memories that I have seen and some of it is hunches from personal observations. You can ask questions, but I will decide what to answer and what I do not. I may not tell you all the details about something or in some cases nothing at all, but I will not, at any point, lie." The other three nodded in agreement.
"Go ahead then Harry." Said Mr. Weasley calmly with a nod before sitting back down on the sofa with his older sons.
"Right, now where to start… "Molly, do you know what happens when someone comes off being enslaved into love whether by an imperious curse or love potion?"
"Is this a trick question? It just wears off obviously."
Harry sighed deeply when he spoke again. "No, there are certain acts in life that are violations against nature itself that causes it to bring consequence to people who volatile its will. Muggles call this phenomenon Karma; it means what goes around comes around. In the Muggle, World Karma is mostly figurative and coincidental. I believe that magic also makes very real use of karmic energy depending on if magical beings uphold or violate nature and its laws with their use of it. My parent's reincarnation for example… Anyway, Dumbledore always said things about certain kinds of magic. Stuff that is rooted in the fundamental laws of life, death, and nature. I reckon karma is a literal balance between all those things and their natural or unnatural causes, in fact, I'm nearly certain of it. Love has its rules too and enslaved love is an egregious violation against nature. Voldemort's a product of this unnatural use of magic."
"You learned of his linage then, and he was born from enslaved love?" Asked Mr. Weasley in surprise.
Harry nodded continuing indifferently. "Yes, descended from the Gaunt family which was the last direct ancestor of Salazar Slytherin. Voldemort's mother Merope Gaunt was in love with his father Tom Riddle Snr, a rich and handsome Muggle."
"The most infamous dark wizard of all time was a half-blood. I didn't expect that in this history lesson. After all his propaganda about pureblood superiority and discrimination against non-purebloods." Said Mr. Weasley angrily.
Harry nodded in confirmation with a blunt face. "Very few people know that he was a half-blood or that he was ever known as Tom Marvolo Riddle. He went to great lengths to bury his past. I know things that Voldemort himself never knew. His mother enslaved his father likely by love potion, for at least a year into marriage and then pregnancy."
"She must have been mad." Said Percy in disbelief.
"You mentioned consequences for violating nature's laws with magic what are they when it comes to love?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Your kid is born the evilest git of all time!" Said George automatically.
"Nobody is born evil little brother, but I'd guess this opens the door for that." Said Bill.
Harry continued bluntly. "Well, it's a hunch Bill, but that's what I believe. I reckon there are two consequences. First, the person enslaved, should they be freed loses any capacity to feel affection for the one who enslaved them. Merope set Tom free by the time she was married and pregnant hoping he would love her naturally or at least stay for his son, but he never wanted to see her again. Ironic too since Voldemort did not understand love; not the emotion or the power it has to protect us."
"I don't blame his father for leaving honestly." Said Charlie.
"So, if Ginny had done that to you for a year or more and you suddenly were free of it for any reason then you would not have ever had feelings for her naturally?" Mr. Weasley clarified.
"I reckon it goes further than that, I would hate her, and I might not even be friends with Ron either. What's worse is that if a child is conceived and born by enslavement the mother dies during or shortly after childbirth. I'm not sure what happens if the man is the enslaver, but I'm sure it's a dire consequence. I'm only going off what I've learned through so it's still an educated guess."
There were collective gasps from everyone except Ginny who had clearly been told this by Harry as part of his disclosing information surrounding his absence the last year to her…
"Merlin, no wonder Ginny got so mad at you Mum." Said George with a sympathetic glance at his little sister whose face was still stony.
Harry continued while holding her hand. "Anyway, Merope lived long enough to travel to an orphanage and name her son Tom Marvolo Riddle. He would spend his years before Hogwarts in that same orphanage."
Mr. Weasley spoke calmly. "I'm not discounting you Harry, but I am wondering how you discovered this information as it does not seem like knowledge one would discover easily?"
Harry clarified this information willingly. "Dumbledore, in my sixth year he passed along the knowledge he had collected to me with history lessons before his death. The life and lies of Lord Voldemort. A book I would be happy to let Rita Skeeter write, if not for all the dark magic it would make public, not the kind of things everyone needs to know."
Mrs. Weasley spoke for the first time in a while. "That's exactly it Harry, you had no right to tell our youngest daughter or son this information and even worse you think you're entitled to keep it, and more information from us, we're still their parents!" The anger of earlier had been replaced with anxiousness.
Ginny and Ron made to speak but Harry held up a hand to silence them. He spoke in a flat but blunt voice, directly to Molly Weasley. I realize you're their parents, I do… The thing is, with all due respect you cannot know the pressure and burdens that come with being tied to and responsible for stopping the most infamous dark wizard of all time." He kept his other hand on the head of the magical doe that now held his mother's soul hoping she would help quell his anger. "My life has never truly been mine. It has been shaped by Tom Riddle, Albus Dumbledore, a prophecy and terrible relatives since I was a year and three months old. You've visited Godric's Hollow. You've seen the ruins of the home I barely remember. All I have left of my parents are pictures and their magically reincarnated souls, the second I didn't even discover until just about a day ago."
Lily was gently melancholy. "Your father and I wish with every ounce of our souls that we could have given you a proper childhood and be fully alive with you now. Still, I am so proud of you sweetheart. You should not apologize for sharing those burdens with people who are far better friends than I could have ever hoped you would have. You have endured burdens that would have broken anyone else."
James echoed this sentiment. "You grew into an adult long before you should have had to, long before you were aware of magic, you dealt with things no child should have to endure. As far as I'm concerned you answer to no one."
Harry answered them gratefully stroking the head of Ginny's doe. "Thank you, at least I have you with me now, even you are not physically alive, I won't look a gift doe, and a stag in the mouth."
There was laughter from everyone except James and Lilly because although they sensed the lightened mood and could hear the laughter, they no longer had a human body to be able to laugh.
Harry addressed Mrs. Weasley again, trying to keep his tone respectful. "I am absolutely entitled to tell or not tell anyone I want about things that I was forced to deal with by the two men and relatives who stole my childhood. Even time at Hogwarts was met with yearly troubles I wouldn't have gotten through without those three." He directed his eyes individually to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny…
"Harry…" Said Mrs. Weasley, as her voice regained quite a bit of its softness at his monologue. "I'm not denying the burdens you had to deal with— "
"No, just conditioning who I share the burdens with and then lashing out at them for keeping my business to themselves... A woman who loves her family and deserving strangers with open arms, accusing your daughter of enslaving me with a love potion. A mother's love is supposed to unconditional and I'd never have believed it of you to forget that Molly."
Everyone's mouths had fallen open again in the shock of seeing Harry be so flatly disappointed in Molly Weasley. Hermione looked like she was on the verge of crying and fighting the urge to hope off the golden stag and hug Harry. Ginny was understanding more and more every minute that they were soulmates. Molly herself seemed torn between shock and guilt. When she spoke, she seemed to have settled on the latter.
She was looking crestfallen at her daughter. "Ginny I'm sorry, it's just it's so out of the blue. I thought— "
"You thought I forced him to fall in love with me and then even worse got pregnant! Forget about the cosmic consequences, you both raised me smarter than that. For Merlin's sake I'm still a virgin Mum! How could you ever think I would sacrifice Harry's friendship by forcing him to love me or condemn myself to death by creating a life with him enslaved by a love potion!"
"I didn't know, you didn't tell me. You stopped telling me anything!" Her tone was desperate now.
"Why would I tell you anything when you, both of you don't trust me and treat me like a naïve child!" She was getting angry again.
Mr. Weasley spoke anxiously now. Ginny honey please don't get upset— "
"Don't…get…upset? Don't get up upset!" She stammered with a severely incredulous tone as her anger peaked again. "You have no idea what it's like to have an entire school gossip and assume the worst about you and then come home and have your parents treat you like a child. It's been happening since my first year after everyone knew that I was the reason that the chamber opened! Then as I got older it was who I'm with, what I'm supposedly doing with them! Harry is the only one that understands what that feels like…" She calmed down and took Harry's scarred hand. "He's the only one besides Luna, Hermione, and Neville who hasn't judged, criticized, or pitied me…"
"I didn't mean to make you feel— "Began her mother emotionally.
"It happens anyway." Her expression was an unfazed glare, more to her mother. "You think I'm in over my head, too young, caught up in my feelings… You know nothing about my feelings or what I've been through. All you ever see is how things affect you, and you think I would ever tell you about any of it when you can't even have enough respect to let me tell you on my own time!" There was a melancholy rage in her words now.
"Ginny, I don't know what to say, if you really hate me…"
Ginny shook her head. "No Mum, I don't hate you, I hate the way you treat me, it hurts that you would believe what the school believes about me…"
Lily's voice rang out again. It was gentle and empathetic. "You have a great deal of pain, I felt it the moment I joined with you and it's not all due to your separation from my son for the last year."
"You know all of it?"
Lily's voice rang out apologetic now. "Unavoidable I'm afraid. Bonded souls can sense emotions and memories of the person that they are bonded with, that is what woke me from my sleep, the emotional upheaval caused by your mother's egregious assumption about your feelings for my son. I don't know why we are aware of nature's laws. It must be because we have become a part of nature as reincarnations. The point is, your love for Harry has always been genuine and is greater in fact, than even James or I showed each other. I freely admit that I thought him an arrogant toe-rag until our seventh year when we started dating."
"I was an arrogant toe-rag until then, Lilly straightened me out a lot."
Lilly was extremely praising. "Ginny You showed tremendous courage not to dwell on your feelings, unlike Severus, who dwelled all his life on feelings I never returned. That you were directly affected by Voldemort too it is even more proof of your courage. Selfishly, I am grateful that you know that burden, to think that Harry would have had to cope with it alone after the years he sacrificed defeating Voldemort always worried me."
"I wasn't alone Mum." Said Harry reassuringly.
"I know sweetheart, but I was worried that you would never find a mate."
James addressed Molly with a gauging tone. "Molly, soul bonds are rare magic, proof of soulmates. Your youngest are not children, and yes, we can sense it in Ron and Hermione also. They will have to cope with Voldemort's evils long after you are gone. Please, try not to disrespect that in the future. Give them space to live they have acted like adults where it counts most."
"Us soulmates?" They both said uncertainty, blushing to each other.
James was amused, even. "What you think soulmates are about compatibility? Love is not exclusive to compatibility so why would soulmates be that way. There are no preset criteria. Soulmates are about a mutual willingness to love each other even through hardships, till death and beyond. It is a shame that many marriages disrespect the words and thus few magical couples achieve a soul bond… Not every soul bond is the same, but I am sure you feel it between you."
Ron looked at Hermione with emotional eyes, both of them silently thinking that a soul bond explained much about the after effects of Ron's absence and his miraculous return...
"Why won't anyone tell me anything about what happened this last year?" Asked Mrs. Weasley anxiously, noticing the extended silence.
"We are trying to protect you Mum; it won't do you any good to know about it. Honestly, we wish we could forget." Ron had spoken for the first time and looked at his mother with a pleading expression, begging her to drop it.
Hermione echoed this sentiment. "It's not just about you either, it's about protecting the future we won. There is extremely dark magic that we had to expose ourselves to so we could kill Voldemort. We intend to let the knowledge of that magic die with us, so please stop asking about it because we are never going to tell anyone else about it."
Harry gave the final word. "There are things that the four of us had to endure that we, at least for now, want to keep amongst ourselves. Maybe someday we will tell you, all of you, but that day is not today or anytime soon. Just trust us all when we say that knowing especially right now, will only add to your grief."
Arthur spoke calmly. "Molly, the last year is as dark for them as they say… Then it is enough for me that they survived it. We still have a death in the family to cope with and that should come first."
"But Arthur I want to know what would make these four think they have to protect us, it's completely backward— "
"Enough Molly, some things are better left unknown."
Molly nodded, circling back to the one thing she was told about tonight. She looked at her daughter. "I'm sorry Ginny."
Ginny's anger was gone, replaced by a blunt tone. "It will take a lot more than that to forgive you for assuming I enslaved Harry to fall in love with me. I need space from you, so I am going to find my own place after I finish school, probably with Harry." He squeezed her hand as Ginny locked eyes with her mother, her last words softer. "I will come by, but I can't live here and still have a good relationship with you, it's best this way."
"Alright…" Molly knew it was impossible to object when she was staring at the hard proof of this new soul bond magic in the reincarnations of Harry's parents whose souls were now inside their Patronuses. She looked at Harry emotionally. "Take care of Ginny, please."
Mr. Weasley was both grateful and apologetic. "Harry, I thank you for sharing even just this information with us, we never meant to make you feel guilty for sharing your burdens with our youngest children. I admit we forget that your fame and life have been met with more burdens than any child or young adult should have to handle. You have shared everything with Ron and Hermione since you were 11. It was foolish of any of us to assume we have any right to governor your personal choices. It is just difficult for us to accept you all trying to protect us."
"I understand that, but most of the situations we dealt with this last year would just terrify you."
"I was just worried about Ginny's extreme behavior. It never occurred to me that you…" Molly trailed off awkwardly.
"Love her? Molly, I think you have the most simplistic definition of love. Yes, people fall in love at the same time, but not always. Sometimes it takes them ages to get out of their own way. Sometimes, it doesn't happen until we grow up a bit. Ginny snuck up on me near the end of term last year. I fell in love with her while she was still with Dean, she didn't even know anything about it until I kissed her without thinking, in front of the entire common room immediately after winning the quidditch cup."
Ginny smiled. "Of all the ways I imagined it, that wasn't it." Said Ginny who was too happily lost in the moment to be embarrassed about discussing it, even in front of her entire family.
Harry smiled. "Yeah well, I was slow to come round, but all it took was a different perspective."
Ginny turned around to smirk at him. "Yeah a little jealousy."
Ron quickly put two and two together. "Hold on, that day we ran into Ginny and Dean snogging, you seemed like your brain jammed for a bit. You mean you fell in love with her on the spot." Said Ron with an air of indifference.
"Maybe not right then, but it was a nagging feeling that I had been an idiot for years." Hermione beamed at Ginny who grinned. "I suddenly knew what you went through back then too. It was very hard not to be awkward around you, but by the time we won the cup I got over that. You were so great in the match; she's got a professional career ahead of her."
"I will never forget that moment and it has nothing to do with winning the cup, the way you kissed me, it was more amazing than I imagined." Ginny smiled with nostalgia as she glanced at Harry again. "But let's get back on point."
"Right…I broke things off to keep her safe from Voldemort and we just got back together. That's why she didn't say anything, she was trying not to get her hopes up again."
"Much easier back when you were oblivious, but when my Patronus changed into the doe and the aura evolved I knew I couldn't help but hope you'd win out." They held hands now.
Harry continued with his eyes fixed on Molly Weasley again. "The point is, I was nearly dead loads of times. The fact that her Patronus changed into a doe should have been enough. They only change when love is forever. Like Tonks with Lupin."
"I forgot, that is rare. Patronuses don't always indicate soulmates."
"Ours do." Said Hermione without really thinking about it."
Ron addressed her with a curious smile. "They do?"
Hermione nodded holding his hand. "Jack Russell Terriers chase otters across the water."
"The best thing I ever learned from you. Said Ron brightly." She leaned forward into him from behind resting her head on his shoulder. A smile on her face.
Ginny felt Harry embrace her similarly from behind. He held her hand sounding more relaxed now. "Look, it might be sudden us being together, but that doesn't mean we are any less soulmates. I love her and she was never defined by how she felt about me, but still has loved me nearly all her life."
"Since I was five, which is half the reason I've been so angry Mum, I shouldn't have had to convince you and we shouldn't have had to detail us out." Said Ginny with irritation in her voice.
I understand now though, so thank you and I'm sorry." Mrs. Weasley said apologetically to them both.
"I'd hoped my presence would help you realize sooner Molly, but all that matters is that this rift is mending." Lilly's voice rang gently around the room again.
"We're getting there, but I am still moving to my own place after school..." Ginny said quietly.
Ginny dismounted from her doe and walked over to her mother hugging her tightly. Then she walked back to Harry taking his hand, as he, Ron, and Hermione had also dismounted. Both Patronuses merged once again with their owners, leaving the room oddly silent.
The silence was eventually broken sometime later by a familiar sound… floo powder. "Hello, anyone home?" Came the deep slow voice Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"In here Kingsley!" Said everyone at once.
"I'm sorry I know it's late, but I have an important heads up to discuss with Harry, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Granger, privately if you all don't mind."
"We'll all go in the kitchen. Said Ron at once.
Ginny you come too." Said, Harry. "Since I told you everything, you might as well." Ginny nodded and Ron led them all back into the kitchen amid muttering and curious looks from the others.
Hermione cast a silencing charm over the room, and they all sat down at the table.
Kingsley cut to the chase. "The press is clamoring Harry; the world is clamoring."
"Already, it's only been a day or two." Said Harry with a pained look.
"It was just like this when you stopped him the first time. Only now its much worse because he is dead for good. Everyone knows you three were in hiding trying to finish him. They also know that there was a resistance group inside Hogwarts, led by Ms. Weasley, Ms. Lovegood, and Mr. Longbottom and that Voldemort was defeated there."
"So, what's your point?" Said Harry bluntly.
Kingsley wore him a very serious face. "Harry, you must understand how much your stock went up with Voldemort's defeat, and your friends, who have only known fame by association are about to have their own spotlights, people will want specific details, you'll be badgered with questions by the press. The Prophet has already petitioned the Ministry to add a new historical list… Renaming the Sacred 28 to Ancient 28. The new Sacred list would then be for any key witch or wizard living or dead that played a vital role in ending the era of Voldemort regardless of blood status. I'll have to ratify it; people have a right to commemorate and honor. The six of you, plus others who died during the first and second war, top the list. I am hearing whispers of nicknames for both trios… Chocolate frog cards and order of Merlin for all six of you… The Wizengamot is even offering you three positions."
"I don't want to be a member— "Harry began anxiously.
"I know, Harry," said Kingsley quickly. "I'm just saying that you thought you were famous before you defeated Voldemort, this is going to be far more chaotic than that. I've got so much mail pilling up already… You'll have to make a public appearance before too long. The Goblins want an explanation for your breaking in and out of Gringotts roughly a month ago. I won't be able to keep the peace much longer. I had to give you the warning, the noise is going to get very loud for all of you. Harry, let me know when you're ready to discuss a public announcement or appearance. I have worked to make sure people know you and your friends are grieving and that should buy you a week."
"Thank you, Kingsley, or I guess it's Minister now." He said unsure of himself.
He laughed. "Just Kingsley to the lot of you. Please tell Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Longbottom what they are in for… Then again, you'll all see the Prophet in a few day's time."
They all groaned… Harry felt dread and anxiousness rising quickly in his stomach.
Kingsley was sympathetic, but blunt. "Unfortunately, when you put an end to the most infamous dark wizard of all time for good the world sees saviors, something to idealize." He gave them all a subdued smile and departed through the kitchen fireplace again.
Harry became anxious immediately. "I can't stand this anymore." He said going back outside without a word.
"Harry wait…" Everyone said, calling his name sympathetically.
Ginny turned to Ron and Hermione. "Can you two handle the others, let them know what this was about and tell them, tell them I'm staying with him."
"He's cracking isn't he…" They both asked with worried stare, looking out the back door to the increasingly distant figure that was their best friend.
"He used to be able to just stuff it down, but I reckon his patience died right along with Voldemort. Please just keep everyone else away for the night." They nodded and went back into the sitting room.
Harry was nearly at the small pond… He heard a noise getting louder like wind. He was barely aware of something zooming past him, until he realized that it was Ginny on a broom… She touched down softly in front of him.
"I'm surprised you didn't Disparate?" She said gently as she hopped off the broom.
"I was hoping you'd come after me." Harry quietly admitted.
"Come with me, will you?"
Harry nodded obeying her without saying a word, as she led him on foot back to the house, leaving the broom in the shed. Ginny led him upstairs and into her room magically locking the door. Harry raised his head looking properly around Ginny's room. It was mostly the same as he remembered it, Hollyhead Harpies merchandise everywhere, including the bedspread.
Ginny put her hands-on Harry's chest, looking kindly into his green eyes. "What's wrong?" The answer was rhetorical, but she asked anyway.
He was tired of the burdens from his fame. Tired of being idealized, tired of having adult burdens thrust upon him. Tired of expectations, tired of interviews… Just tired of being Harry Potter always famous wizard. He was only 17 and he had been forced to be an adult, suffered years and years of all sorts of burdens that no kid should have to deal with. The kind that chips away slowly at everything someone is until they don't even recognize themselves. Would he recognize himself in 20 years? He didn't think it likely and that terrified him… He no longer feared fear itself… No, what he now feared was the greater possibility that he would lose himself to the pressure of increased fame, it was already happening wasn't it what was he supposed to do?
Harry couldn't contain his sorrow. "I can't do it all again. The stares, the whispers, the questions… my life, it always belongs to everyone else!" Tears stung at his eyes and began to fall so quickly that Ginny's had to support his weight as he collapsed against her.
"Oh Harry, come sit down." She guided him gently onto her bed sitting on his right. Her left arm around Harry's back consolingly massaging it.
He was leaning, weak, and drained against her. "I don't want fame. I just wanna be normal, but the public doesn't give a damn about Harry Potter!" He was crying anxiously now. " I'm not ready for all the noise, not again… I can't be what the world wants me to be. " Harry pleaded in a desperate voice. "I feel so trapped, Ginny, please help me!"
Ginny's voice was soothing and delicate. "I'm here, I want you to rest, just rest Harry. I'm not going anywhere." She empathized so much with him, he was a man with no more energy and not even a sleeping potion had helped him get it back in any sustainable measure. Here he was again breaking down.
Ginny took off his glasses and gently moved so that they were laying together on her bed. Her on her back and him on his side, half curled into her body with his head on her chest still crying steady tears. Ginny just let him cry, not saying a word, gently stroking his always untidy black hair. Harry always tried so hard not to cry, to not let out tears in front of everyone else. Yet, he never bothered to hold them back around Ginny. Something about her made him feel like it was okay to cry and cry he did. Harry Potter cried himself to sleep and it wasn't until sometime after he was snoozing lightly in Ginny's embrace that she fell asleep too.
A/N: More to come…
"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them"
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery