Tannim's blog: "Harry Potter and the Mental War"

Drinks were passed around.  Ginny changed Harry's hair from red back to black, explaining while the gesture was nice, it just wasn't Harry.

Ron stood up, looking a little embarrassed.  "Harry, you're my best mate and all, but I think I speak for all my brothers when I say, you better take good care of my sister!  Here's to you both, you were always made for each other."  Bottles and glasses were raised in tribute.

"Albus, I think it's time to explain this," Molly began.

Dumbledore sighed.  "Yes, Molly I think it is.  Let me start out by asking Harry and Ginny some things."  He turned to them.  "Harry, would you show everyone your Animagi?"  Harry nodded, then changed into his forms: first the lion, then the greyhound, then the phoenix, then back to himself.  Ginny's eyes went wide with recognition.

"So that's it!  I saw that in what I thought was a dream, but it wasn't a dream." She turned to Harry.  "I saw myself as a lioness, then a Saluki, and then a phoenix, but each time I was paired with another: a lion, a greyhound, and a phoenix.  They all had your eyes.  Moony helped me work it out, including some Potter history and your family crest, and we figured out I could become those Animagus forms."  She quickly turned into the Saluki and then the phoenix.  "The first time I did it in front of the family I nearly gave everyone a heart attack!"  She giggled at the memory.

Molly looked at Dumbledore.  "But why would she be able to become these forms?  Why the ones on the Potter crest?"

"I think, Molly, but I am not certain, that she was able to take those forms because of some deep, old magic.  Harry learned his forms while training with Minerva at about the same time.  The same day, I think, possibly even the same hour."  Dumbledore looked at Ginny.  "I am going to ask you some very personal questions right now, Ginny.  Please understand why.  This is not to embarrass you or Harry, but it is to understand what has happened."  She nodded with a slight gulp.  "First, I understand that you wrote Harry a letter back on the train and gave it to him at the train station?"  Ginny nodded.  "I take it the contents were, well, rather emotional?"  Again Ginny nodded.  Harry interrupted.

"Professor, there was something in that letter that only five of us in this room know about.  Is it time to disclose that something to everyone else here?"

"You mean what we discussed after the Department of Mysteries?"  Harry nodded.  "Yes, I think so."

Harry explained the prophecy.  The reactions around the room were as he expected, from Molly's gasps and tears, to the fierce determination of Ron, Hermione and Ginny, to the outrage from the Weasley men, except for Sirius, who turned a shade of purple that reminded him of Uncle Vernon.

"THAT GIT SNAPE SOLD OUT JAMES AND LILY!  HE-" he roared.  Harry strode over and interrupted Sirius with a silencing charm in mid-rant.

"Sirius, calm down!  He didn't hear the whole thing, and when he found out what happened, he swore his service to Dumbledore to bring Voldemort down!  I've met with Snape and we've ironed that out.  Dumbledore kept the reason why from me, but I found out from Aunt Petunia.  We can't change it, and it's done.  Voldemort still doesn't know the whole prophecy.  We're going to keep it that way."

"So what is this power the Dark Lord knows not?" asked Charlie.

"Love," answered Hermione.  "Harry possesses a unique ability to love and be loved despite all that has happened to him.  That's why he had the courage to save Ginny from the Chamber, and the rest of us several times over as well.  He loves us all, and even though it drives him crazy to think we might get hurt or killed, he's come to grips with the risks.  All the planning and training we've been doing for what's coming is to deal with that risk and reduce it."

Ginny piped up.  "Not quite, Hermione.  There's more to it, and I think that the prophecy may have been slightly misinterpreted.  'Neither can live while the other survives' doesn't refer to Harry and Voldemort.  It refers to Harry and me."  Dumbledore's eyebrows rose in surprise.  "Harry, when we were apart and you were thinking about me, how did you feel?"

Tonks answered that one before Harry could speak.  "He was a depressed mess, Ginny.  We talked it out and he was literally pining for you."

Ginny continued, "Me too.  We were surviving, not living.  That's why I wrote that letter, and why Harry wrote his to me."  She took a deep breath and continued.  "I think the 'power the Dark Lord knows not' is more than just love.  It's me; it's us; it's our love."

Dumbledore looked at her.  "I think you are right.  That explains the light we saw."

Molly wiped some tears from her eyes.  "This is a lot to take.  What about that light?"

"Molly, what happened here hasn't been seen in nearly a thousand years, if the records are accurate.  That light was more than love.  It was a Soul Bond."

"WHAT?" she yelped.

"Ginny, in your letter to Harry, did you write anything about your soul?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes."  She blushed.  "I told him he had won me, heart and soul."

"Harry, what about you?"

Now it was Harry's turn to blush.  "I told her my heart and soul were hers always."

"This is important.  Did you write your letter before or after you read hers?"

"Before.  I had no idea what she had written me.  I only read hers last night, when the enchantment let me open it, and I wrote to her a few days ago."

"Right before Ginny told me she wanted the party for Harry!" Molly exclaimed.  "No wonder she was skipping around so happy!"

Dumbledore looked happy as well.  "Well, that just confirms it, then.  It is definitely a Soul Bond.  It only works when two people love each other with a love so incredibly pure that they pledge their hearts and souls to each other without each knowing the other also did it.  That is exactly what happened here."

"But what does this mean for us, then?" asked Harry.  Ginny gripped his hand tighter.

:Here comes the punch line. he thought.

:This is a little terrifying. she thought.

:I'm here for you.  We'll get through this, and everything else, together. he thought.

:I know we will. she thought.

The realization of what just happened hit them and they turned to each other in shock, then to Dumbledore.

"If I am not mistaken, you two just mind-spoke to each other for the first time," he remarked.  "The Soul Bond is very old magic and that's one of the effects.  There is very little written on it, but this is what I do know.  Your own magical abilities will grow together and stronger exponentially.  Harry can already do some amazing things, and Ginny will learn them as well.  As you share your thoughts, you will also share your knowledge and emotions.  That will be a challenge for Harry every month," he added with a wry smile.  "But you will also need to learn how to shut off the link as well, to control it."

"Does it change in strength by proximity?" Harry asked.

"No, more in strength by emotion.  You will know where each other is at and be able to get to each other instantly.  In, er, well, intimate moments, the connection supposedly can be rather intense." Dumbledore looked down for a moment and Harry and Ginny both blushed Weasley-hair red.  In Ginny's case it was impossible to tell where forehead and hair separated.

"This also means three very important things.  First, you will be able to cast spells through each other and give each other energy as needed.  Be careful, though, as too much energy giving can be fatal, even with the safeguard, which is the second thing.  That second thing is that each of you carries a bit of each other's soul inside you now.  That may save you from death at the right time.  Harry, you know of what I refer to, and you can explain it to Ginny privately later." Harry nodded.  Dumbledore did not want him to talk about the Horcruxes.  "But understand Harry, this is far different than that."  He paused, and then continued.  "The third thing is that because you pledged your souls to each other without the other's knowledge, those souls are your and yours alone.  No Dementor can touch you now.  They can only suck out unpledged souls or souls that were pledged with the other's knowledge."

"There is one last thing.  Molly and Arthur, you may be upset at this one.  The Soul Bond also signifies a marriage under magical law.  It is so rare for it to happen that attempts have been made to remove it from the wizard law books, but every time that has been tried the words just refuse to leave."  Dumbledore looked down, not wanting meet their gaze.

:Oh boy, here it comes.  You realize now that we're both going to get 'The Talk' soon. Mum's going to blow a gasket, then she'll calm down.

:What's 'The Talk'?

:Oh, Harry, you know...THAT.

:EEP!  I'm not ready for that yet!

:Me neither.  But we'll have to go through with it.

:Ditto Ron and Hermione.  Maybe we can get it all at once.

:I'll talk to Hermione about it.  You talk to Ron.

"But she's only sixteen in a few days!  She's not ready for that!"  Molly protested.

"Mum," Harry interjected quietly.  "Did you want a big wedding for Ginny, seeing as she's your only daughter and all?"

That calmed her down.  "Yes, Harry, I did.  Every mother wants their girls to have that."

Harry got up and went to her, and took her hands and looked her square in the eyes.  "Mum, you will get that wish.  Once this war is over, we will have that wedding, and we will let the world see it.  I promise you that."  He turned to the rest.  "That means that this needs to be kept a secret for now.  Professor, when this happens, when a magical marriage happens, does it get automatically recorded somewhere?"

"It does, Harry, at both the Ministry and Gringotts."

"Well, I can deal with Gringotts tomorrow.  I think I can use some pull there to get the information covered up."  Harry thought for a minute.  "Dad, I'll be taking my Apparition test tomorrow.  I'll meet you afterwards and we'll pay Fudge another visit."

"Another visit?" Arthur asked.  "When have you seen him lately?"

"I was the one who caught Pettigrew.  I was getting Fudge in line with a little judicious blackmail.  I opened the door to leave and Percy fell into the room, and the door swung wide and hit Pettigrew.  I stunned him and left him for the Aurors.  It was easy to give Percy the credit.  I didn't want it, and it was the truth to say his opening the door was what uncovered Peter."  He shuddered.  "Peter was executed this morning at Azkaban.  I was there.  Both Sirius and I read him the riot act before the Kiss.  I'm not proud of it, but I'm glad to get it out of my system, and I'm also glad Sirius was able to do the same.  That part of my life is now closed."

Harry turned to Molly and Arthur.  "I love your daughter.  I will not do anything to hurt her intentionally.  We have both decided that we will wait on some things for a while.  We will have that proper wedding once this is over."  He glanced meaningfully over at Ron and Hermione, who were lost in their own thoughts and not paying attention.  "If we're lucky, more than one."

Sirius snickered from his portrait.  "Potters and their redheads!"  Harry blushed.