Chapter 2: A Start is a Start

Harry and Ginny sat there, their backs against the wall, for what felt like hours. Harry's mind was working a mile a minute, but he was also trying very hard to keep Ginny from hearing what he was thinking.

It wasn't a matter of embarrassment on his part. More so the fact that he didn't want to burden Ginny with his thoughts. He could barely stand being in his own head. He couldn't imagine what it would be like if all of that was piled on to whatever Ginny was thinking about.

"What the hell," Ginny muttered after a while. Her eyes staring blankly at the wall opposite them.

Harry hummed in agreement.

"Do we get Bill?" Ginny asked after another pause.

Harry shrugged. All of his energy was still being poured into keeping his thoughts out of Ginny's.

Ginny sighed. "You can answer me, you know. I'm not irritated with you,"

Harry turned his head to look at her. "If Binns says it's never happened. What could Bill really offer us?"

Ginny squirmed uncomfortably and avoided eye contact with Harry. "Fair point,"

They lapsed into another awkward silence.

"Should we tell them about what happened, at least?" Ginny said in a hushed whisper.

Harry bit the inside of his cheek. "I mean… I don't know if… well let's be honest we don't understand it ourselves."

"Your point being…"

Harry wrung out his right hand. "I mean to say that if we don't understand it all that well then what in the hell is the point of letting them all know?"

Ginny nodded slowly. "I don't know if I want them to know our minds are connected, to be honest,"

Harry's head shot up. "Why?"

It had been quite a while since Ginny blushed in his presence, so when her face dawned a faint pinkening, a slight smile spread across Harry's face.

"Don't act so proud of yourself," Ginny snapped. Biting her lip and looking down, her hair falling as a sort of curtain between them. "I don't feel like enduring all the teasing is all,"

Harry tried not to laugh and sat back against the stone wall. "Alright well, devil's advocate… if we tell them, we have more minds on the mystery,"

Ginny chuckled. "Yes, well it does seem to be our minds that are connected…" she trailed off and turned her eyes to him. "Merlin, I wonder if anything else has been connected."

Harry instinctively snapped his legs together. "What? Like what? What else could be connected?"

Ginny stood up from the ground and started pacing. "You know what? We aren't telling them," she stated, making exaggerated hand movements to accentuate what she was saying. "They just don't need to know. Plus, this way, we don't have to... yeah. No, it's better this way. We should… right,"

Harry stood up as well, reaching for her hand. Their skin made contact and there was another odd shock of magic that passed between them. They jumped apart and Harry once again wrung out his hand. Whatever was going on with them was increasingly frustrating. All he wanted to do was comfort her seeing as she was getting frantic.

"If you don't want them to know then that's alright. I could use a break from Hermione's pestering if I'm honest," Harry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He didn't like speaking ill of his friends.

Ginny grimaced. "She isn't that bad, surely?"

"I've been in a tent with her all year. Believe me… she pesters."

Ginny nodded solemnly and toyed with her fingers. "I wish I could touch you,"

Harry nodded. "I don't know why we can't, but it is…"

"Unnerving?" Ginny offered.

Harry frowned. "I was thinking along the lines of irritating but, yes, sure that works too,"

"I know," Ginny smirked. "Occlumency isn't your forte, is it?"

Harry frowned and Ginny laughed.

"Right, well, we won't tell them about this… connection?" Ginny clarified, extending her hand.

Harry took a deep breath and nodded, hesitantly reaching forward to shake Ginny's hand. He took it and felt no shock of magic transfer between them.

"The hell?" Ginny muttered under her breath. Harry shook her hand and let go, inspecting his in the process. "I guess it was too formal to trigger anything?"

"Or maybe it's going away," Harry offered hopefully.

Ginny snorted, shaking her head. "No. I can hear every single thought inside your head."

Ginny started to walk towards the grand staircase, presumably up to the Gryffindor common room.

"You know, it would only be fair if you dropped your shields and let me hear whatever's going on in your mind," said Harry, climbing the steps two at a time beside Ginny.

Ginny raised an eyebrow in defiance. "What if I don't want you inside my head?"

Harry swallowed. Thinking immediately of Tom Riddle's diary. Ginny halted in her tracks. "Don't compare your voice to his," she said quietly, her eyes boring deep into Harry's. "It's different,"

Harry nodded, even if he didn't necessarily believe her. She continued her climb with Harry following shortly behind. He felt worse about the whole ordeal now. Of course Ginny would be sensitive to voices in her mind. He'd only put her in a position of experiencing more pain.

Ginny stopped again. "Don't pull this on me, Harry," she whirled around to face him. "You aren't Tom. Your voice is nothing like his. Your personality is…" she paused and closed her eyes momentarily. "You're different, and that's all that matters."

She ran a hand through her long hair and sighed. "I don't need you to pity me, and I sure as hell don't need to hear you feeling bad about something you clearly had no control over. I'm stressed because this is weird and… and it's scary," she swallowed hard. "But I don't know how to get out of this, and if my mind had to be shared with anyone, I can't think of someone I'd be more comfortable with, alright?"

Harry nodded, and thought with all his might, "But you won't let me hear your thoughts? Do I know what you're saying is real?"

Ginny frowned at him. "I'd hope you could trust me enough to believe me."

Harry nodded. He did trust Ginny. Of course he did. She was… well, Ginny. Going forward he could trust her even more. The war was over, and the fate of the world didn't rely on a few too many well-kept secrets.

Ginny smiled warmly at him and quirked her head towards the top of the stairs. "Shall we?"

"Yes," Harry thought. Ginny laughed.

Harry had been half expecting the common room to be entirely empty. Well, expecting was the wrong word. 'Hoped' was more appropriate. Instead, he was met with a full room of Weasleys and war-torn survivors. Smiles were spread all around. Some tears. But many, many blank expressions. Whether they were created out of shock or grief, Harry could not tell.

The Weasleys and Hermione were off in the corner. Harry followed Ginny to them.

"Oh, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley dotted on him. Offering him sandwiches and cakes. Tea or water. Harry took a sandwich and water but declined the rest. He sat on the floor, his back against what was once his favourite armchair.

None of this felt entirely real. Or perhaps he had just outgrown it all. He wasn't comfortable here anymore. It wasn't home.

Then, Ginny sat down beside him. Their shoulders were quite a bit closer than they had been down in the Entrance Hall, but they didn't touch. Immediately, Harry was filled with a warm sense of belonging.

Ginny paused in her eating and turned to him, her eyebrows shooting up her forehead.

"Did you hear what I just thought?" Harry asked.

Ginny nodded. She screwed her eyes up in concentration and sent back, "Do you think we have to stay close to one another? I felt that same dramatic detachment you described when I was over there," she pointed to where her mother stood, rearranging the sandwich platter,"then I got here and we both felt better,"

Harry felt great, actually.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

Harry snickered and took another bite of his sandwich.

"What are you two going on about?" Ron asked with a small smile, coming to sit down next to them.

"We're going to have to get better at hiding this if we're keeping it a secret," Harry thought. He saw Ginny nod imperceptibly out the corner of his eye.

"Just the way Ginny eats," Harry explained, pointing to the sandwich in Ginny's hand. "She tries to eat nicely whenever she knows I'm watching but then devours it the minute I look away."

Ginny turned to glare at him, but Harry smiled at Ron.

"I do not do that. I'm a fast eater and when you look at me you just so happen to catch me in a sort of grace period," Ginny thought to Harry.

"Are you alright, Ginny?" Ron asked with great concern. "Your face is all screwed up like you're focusing really hard."

Ginny's eyes widened, and her jaw went slack, unable to form a reply.

"Seems to keep your mind protected while communicating with me is a bit of a task for you," Harry teased.

Ginny nodded at Ron to placate his concerns. The minute he got up to join Hermione with Seamus and Dean, Ginny elbowed Harry in the side.

Harry rubbed at the point of contact, trying desperately to keep his thoughts from surfacing.

"You think I've got boney arms?" Ginny asked, amusement clear in her voice.

Harry shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with them, they just hurt when you-" Ginny elbowed him in the side again.

She leaned in and whispered, "That's for walking past me in that courtyard without saying goodbye,"

The minute she mentioned his walk to his death, the same thing that had happened down by the lake repeated. Everything slowed. Certain sounds were amplified while others dimmed. An eerie wind blew from a nonsensical direction. Ginny's voice was completely drowned out and nothing but the sound of a large tree creaking in the wind met his ears. It was terrifying. His heart pounded and his breathing accelerated until it was nothing but quick gasps.

A low rumbling emanated from behind him, and Harry slowly rose to his feet. He turned on the spot as slowly as he possibly could, dreading what he'd find when he met the rumbling head-on.

Two great red orbs hovering in the distance. They were far enough apart to be mistaken as eyes.

"Death…" the rumbling boomed. Its voice reverberating around every object in the vision. "Is coming for you, Mr. Potter,"

Then, it was over. He was sitting in the common room again as if nothing had happened. No time had passed. Ginny was still waiting for some sort of answer.

He turned to look at her and was met with her shocked expression. "Come on," she whispered, hauling him up and dragging him to just outside the portrait hole, earning themselves a bit of privacy.

"What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" Harry replied.

Ginny closed her eyes in irritation. "That… thing. You went quiet and then came back all frantic," she gestured with her hands to extrapolate his frantic behaviour.

Harry tried with all his might to not think about the vision.

"Vision? What vision?" Ginny asked. Her draining in colour.

Harry groaned. "Ginny, I don't know if this is just how you're dealing with Fred, or what is going on… but you need to stop demanding answers out of me. You're holding things from me and… I just don't need to tell you everything,"

Ginny backed down, evidently ashamed. "I know that… I just… I'm sorry. You're right it's… we need to have boundaries. At least until you master occlumency,"

Harry nodded. Boundaries. It sounded so formal and…

"Boring. Yeah, I know," Ginny smiled sympathetically. "We need to be smart about this though and… comfort is like… the most important thing in a… relation of any kind," she took a deep breath and blinked rapidly, clearing her thoughts. "We just need to respect each other's boundaries and… be smart about all this. Yeah?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

Ginny smiled awkwardly again, bouncing on her toes and eyeing the portrait hole.

Harry steeled himself for what he was about to say. "Ginny, erm… I know you can hear my thoughts, so I just really feel like I ought to say this out loud. I know that it may seem a bit irrelevant because you know how I feel already and it's just all so complicated, but I think it matters that I say it out loud," Harry blurted out before she had a chance to return to the common room.

Ginny nodded and looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

Harry exhaled harshly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I know I… broke things off… and I know this is sort of a ridiculous time to say this anyway because your brother and-"

"Harry," Ginny warned.

"Right, right…" he trailed off and rubbed his nose to distract his hands. He didn't quite know where to start, and he hadn't a clue on how to fix things. He'd imagined this moment in his head countless times throughout the past year. What he'd say and whether or not he brought flowers or some other gift. He considered repeating that rehearsed monologue but ultimately decided to throw that out the window.

"See, every single day… and I really couldn't think of a time that I didn't… I was thinking about you. Not the whole day, obviously, but you know… an hour or two," Harry began, causing Ginny to laugh quietly.

"I'd watch you on my dad's map and… I'd dream about you," he pinched his index finger with his other hand, twisting it. "Like, you were just, always there. Always in my thoughts. Sometimes I thought I was a bit… pathetic. I mean, it's some irrelevant school romance, right? It isn't all that important. There's plenty of witches in the sea or whatever," he let go of his finger and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "But you're different, Ginny," he said earnestly with a grimace. "And I really am not just saying that. I believe it. Totally and completely.

"I just… really, really care about you and it really… it scares me a bit. I mean… even on this grand adventure. This hunt for Tom's soul… you were still at the front of my mind, and I think I've come to know myself quite well and I reckon that's no small feat,"

Ginny bowed her head, kicking at the floor.

"So, I know I was a prat, and I didn't value your… strength or your bravery. I know that I didn't think about the fact that Draco and Snape both knew about our relationship and would've had no trouble divulging the information. This is all stuff I've thought of now, of course. Things I'd thought of the minute after I'd split up with you on the beach. I just, -"

Ginny reached up and cupped his face. The jolt of magic burst through them, originating from where her hands sat on his face. They didn't jump away from each other, however. She held on, letting the magic flow between them unhindered.

"You're a bit all over the place, Harry," she said, smiling apologetically. "But I think I get what you're trying to say."

Harry swallowed and blinked twice. Waiting for her verdict on his meandering speech.

"I think you might fancy me," she said, grinning. "You can correct me if I'm wrong,"

Harry chuckled and shook his head in her hands. "No, I think you got to the point better than I did,"

Ginny bobbed her head from side to side in contemplation. "I wouldn't say so," she paused, leaning in a little closer. "I'll let you in on one of the secrets I'm shielding away,"

She stood up on her toes and whispered into Harry's ear, "I think I might fancy you too," before dropping back onto her heels.

Harry couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. "Well, that's an unfortunate predicament," he teased, taking a step closer and wrapping his arms around her middle. The magic between them gave another jolt, reminding them it was there.

Ginny lifted a finger to Harry's lips. "I'd kiss you, but I'm a bit…" she looked around worriedly.

Harry could have slapped himself in the face for how little he'd been thinking. "Right… swirling magic… trying to keep a secret… not a great plan,"

Ginny giggled into Harry's chest. "No indeed, Mr. Potter. Not a great plan in the slightest."

There was a long pause where the two simply held each other.

"Oh, and Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Even though I can see some of your thoughts… it does mean a lot when you say them. You know… out loud," Ginny said into his chest.

Harry smiled, his chin resting on the top of her head again. "Can you not hear everything I'm thinking all of the time?"

"No. Only when you broadcast them to me… I think," she groaned. "I really don't understand it, but some stuff makes it through, and other things don't,"

Harry ran his hands up and down her back to keep his hands occupied. "I wonder if the connection is fully formed,"

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "We should practice speaking to each other through our minds. Could be useful,"

Harry snorted. "Yeah. You could tell me where the snitch is if I'm too busy staring at you,"

"No," Ginny pulled back from Harry's grasp. "I'll be paying far too close attention to the quaffle in my hand to tell you to get your head back in the bloody game."

The Burrow was surprisingly intact. The Ministry had been by to clear out any jinxes left behind by the Death Eaters. It was late in the afternoon, the sun setting on the horizon, but everyone seemed pleased to be home.

All except for George, naturally. He and Percy had chosen to remain at the castle. Mrs. Weasley was rather against the idea, but George wouldn't be swayed, and eventually, Mr. Weasley had, for lack of a better term, forced Molly to relent in her pursuit of control.

Harry and Ginny had spent most of the day in apparent silence, though really, they'd been practicing communicating through their thoughts. Harry had gotten better at not thinking about things before deciding not to think of them. This went a long way in securing the fact that some of what Harry had to say would be kept secret. In particular, the resurrection stone and the visions he'd been having.

So, they practiced speaking to each other with their minds. The main topic of discussion had been how they ended up here in the first place. Whatever this connection was, it was more than an odd bout of natural legilimency. Though Ginny's shields were strong, they did slip up occasionally. In particular when she was experiencing some heightened emotion. Extreme anger or extreme sadness, for example. Though that pair seemed to accompany each other more often than not.

The question Harry kept asking was why now. They'd kissed plenty of times before this. Hell, they'd done a little bit more than kiss on one wonderful occasion. Why hadn't the connection erupted then? Had their relationship changed to permit its creation? Had someone else influenced it? It was all so frustrating.

Then there was the Peverell mark on Harry's neck. All day he'd been scratching at it, and he'd noticed Ginny doing the same thing in a similar spot on her neck. He'd yet to confront her about it but the mystery was there.

Something beyond their control was influencing them, and neither of them was keen on the idea. Besides, sharing your mind with someone was surprisingly draining. The more they spoke to each other through the connection, the more Harry could almost sense her emotions. He could tell, therefore, whenever her interest was piqued by a thought of his passing by. He knew she wanted to ask about them, but her desire to respect the boundaries they'd… sort of… set up was heavy on her conscience.

But here they stood, the dirt lane leading to her childhood home stretched out before them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were well ahead of the group, along with Bill, Fleur, and Charlie.

"I hope it still smells like home," said Ron wistfully. Hermione nodded tearfully. Harry was immediately and unpleasantly reminded of the fact that Hermione's parents were off in Australia without any knowledge of their wayward daughter.

There was so much that had to be done. So much to repair and dismantle. Not just with The Burrow but with everything around it. "Let's go. The longer we wait the worse it'll get," said Harry determinedly.

Carrying nothing but his trusty rucksack, he set off down the lane, towards The Burrow. He could feel Ginny close behind him. Their magic was interacting even without contact now. It wasn't a positive in Harry's eyes. It only made it more difficult to conceal.

Once they'd entered the house, the cleaning began. Everyone went to their own designated rooms. Harry shared a quick thought with Ginny before heading up to help Ron reset his room after being raided, not to mention having been lived in by a ghoul for a year.

Harry shut the door and faced the disaster.

In truth, it was probably the least damaged room in the house. The ghoul was gone, which was a plus. All Harry and Ron had to do was straighten some things and clean the sheets. Something Ron accomplished rather quickly with a wave of his wand.

"You're quite good at them," Harry observed. "Household spells," he elaborated when Ron stared at him in confusion.

Ron smiled and fell back on his bed. "It's weird… being home,"

Harry nodded, even though he didn't feel quite so at home.

"How is… well… everything?" Ron asked. Harry could feel Ginny's presence in his mind. She was listening.

Harry didn't quite know how to answer that question. He'd died and come back to life, defeated Tom Riddle, fallen asleep, had strange visions, then discovered a freakish magical connection between him and Ginny.

"I feel… odd," Harry replied, truthfully. "I don't know what to think of it all yet. I'm sort of just… cruising."

"Same," Ron agreed, tiredly. "I still can't believe she fancies me,"

Harry smiled. He was happy for his two best friends. He wished he could tell them about the connection, but felt it was a bad idea. At least for now. He wanted to have a grasp on it before considering divulging the information to someone. He knew Ginny agreed.

"I can't believe you can't believe it," Harry countered. "I mean… bloody hell it's been obvious for the past year!"

"Four years, Harry," Ginny corrected through their connection. "Hermione's had it bad for Ron for four years."

"Seriously?" Harry asked aloud accidentally.

"What?" Ron asked in defense. "She didn't exactly make it obvious."

Harry sighed in relief. Ron thought he'd been talking to him. "Well, I think I'm one of the most moronic people alive when it comes to girls, and I could tell she had a thing for you at the start of sixth year,"

Ron nodded. "I always sort of felt like she might… I just didn't really believe it,"

Harry nodded. He knew how that felt. Of course, with Ginny, it was slightly different. For starters, she'd had a crush on him at one point, but that was a silly childhood thing that sort of threw everything for a loop. Was that crush on him or the hero? Was it still around or had Hermione been truthful when telling him she was over him? It was all a bit confusing and with Draco up to no good, Dumbledore's private lessons, and Quidditch, his mind had been a tad overstuffed.

"Pathetic,"

Harry scowled at Ginny's teasing, opting to lay out his bed for the night.

"So…" Ron began, he was scratching his head and Harry just knew Ron was going to bring Ginny up in conversation. "How are things between you and Ginny?"

Harry felt Ginny re-enter his mind and think, "Things are going swimmingly, Ron. Thank you for asking!"

Harry coughed, pounding his chest with his fist to distract himself and to try and draw attention away from the smile on his face. "Erm… yeah, it's good. It's alright."

Ron lifted his head off the pillow and gave him a look.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "We'll have to see how things… play out I suppose. It's only been a day and, well, there's a lot that needs to happen between now and then."

Ron's expression morphed into one of confusion.

Harry sighed exasperatedly. "Listen, it's complicated, alright?"

Ron nodded and let his head fall back to his pillow. There was a pause before he said, "Just make sure you tell her about you staring at the map for a year. She'll find that incredibly charming,"

Harry flushed, unable to discern whether or not Ron was joking.

Ginny remained silent.

Later that evening, Harry shook Ron awake from his nap. Mrs. Weasley had called them all down to dinner.

Together they clattered down the steps and entered the kitchen. There was a very simple meal laid out. Nothing as extravagant as her usual work. Harry thanked her all the same and noted the lack of response on her part. Her eyes were fixed on the empty spots at the table. Though she may not have shown it quite yet, Harry was certain that the loss of Fred was beginning to sink in. He could see it on everyone's faces. He could feel it in Ginny. He could feel it in himself, too.

Everyone was faking it. Faked smiles, faked laughter. The small bouts of happiness that had shone through to Harry over the course of the day felt like they were trapped under a weighted blanket. They had lost so many in a fight to gain so much.

After dinner, with everyone having helped clean up, they all headed to the sitting room. It was complete silence aside from the crackling of the fire.

Harry leaned back against a coffee table and accidentally knocked over a teetering pile of books. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Weasley,"

The woman in question hurried over. "Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing. And please, Harry, call me Molly,"

"Of course, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied without thinking.

She sighed and restacked the books beside him. One of them had silver lettering that caught his eye.

Slowly, he reached his hand over and picked up the book.

A Mistress through the Soul Bond

By: Aurélie McGill

"Mrs. Weasley…" Harry said, a thought bubbling in the recesses of his mind. "What's this?" he showed her the book.

Mrs. Weasley eyed the book from her spot on the chair in the corner of the room with a view of the windows and the front door. "Oh, that's nothing," she flushed red, not unlike her daughter. "They're just silly romance novels,"

Harry turned it over in his hand.

"Ginny?" he sent through the connection.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ginny straighten up. He could feel the magic stirring within him, desperate to reach out to her. "Yes… I'm hearing you,"

Harry turned it over once again to inspect the cover. "What are the odds…"

"Incredibly low," Ginny replied.

"It's a start…"

"It's fiction," she replied immediately.

"Can I borrow this?" he asked, drawing a lot of unnecessary attention from the room at large. Ron seemed as though he was trying to hold back his first real laugh since before the battle.

Mrs. Weasley looked at him as though she'd just watched a gnome kiss one of her hens, but she nodded all the same.

Harry turned to Ginny and nodded to her. "My aunt is a write-off, but she did always say that there was some truth behind any myth,"

Ginny's eyebrows shot up; she was silently snickering in the corner. "Your aunt said that?"

Harry frowned. "Can't remember. Could've been something I heard on a television program, but I've always associated it with her,"

"So, we're going to try and gain knowledge from a wizarding romance novel?" Ginny thought, amused.

Harry bit his lip to keep himself from laughing. "A start is a start."

There was a moment of complete silence both in his mind and in the room. Then, Harry thought, "I could've just asked you to grab the book and it would've been a lot less weird,"

Ginny, clearly, couldn't help herself, because she immediately burst out laughing.

A/N: We're going to spend more time with side characters EVENTUALLY but first, we gotta lay the groundwork that this whole fic is based on, which is Harry and Ginny fumbling around with this soul bond. For now, though, you can leave a review! Or don't, I don't mind. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Death is coming for you, Mr. Potter.