Author's Note: This is my stab at the soul bond category, where I hope to introduce something different to the whole concept. Certain ideas common to several other fics will be adopted - please see this as a compliment to those other stories. :) Many thanks to CrimsonShocker and Arandil for their great beta work.

Disclaimer: I do not own J.K. Rowling's works and forfeit any claim of profit from publishing on this site.

Sacred Fire

Chapter 01

"It is time."

Harry Potter nodded, and Ron Weasley, his best friend, left the room. Harry sighed as he checked his tie in the mirror. He was not looking forward to this. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and exited the room.

Walking down the stairs and entering the kitchen, Harry observed the rest of the Weasley family gathered around the dining table, with the exception of Bill and Fleur, who were not coming along, and Charlie, who had returned to Romania. They were all dressed somberly in formal dress robes.

Harry caught Ginny's eye, and received a half-hearted smile in return.

"Ah, there you are, Harry. Good, good," said Mr. Weasley.

"We'll go quite soon; in about five minutes, I expect."

Harry nodded.

"The Portkey?" he asked.

Mr. Weasley gestured to a rolled up old newspaper lying on the table.

Harry pulled up a chair, sitting down beside Ron. They chatted for a few moments, Ron telling him about how he would accompany Hermione to see her parents in Australia. Harry had decided not to join them.

"Come everyone, the Portkey's about to activate!" called Mr Weasley.

The Weasley family, Harry, and Hermione all extended a finger to touch the rolled up newspaper. For a few seconds, they stood there, looking like fools (or so Harry thought), before the newspaper glowed blue and Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel.

Harry's feet slammed into the ground and he stumbled, just managing to keep himself from falling straight over. Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and Ginny were not so lucky; Mrs. Weasley and Hermione complained furiously under their breath, and Ginny grimaced as they stood, hurriedly brushing their clothes. Ron had dropped onto his knees, while George Weasley had fallen onto his backside. Only Mr. Weasley and Percy had landed smoothly.

Looking around, Harry saw a small church across the road, and realised that they had reached their destination. There were a few people entering through the open wooden doors of the church; they were dressed in attire similar to his own.

"Let's go, everyone," said Mrs Weasley, as they set off for the church.

Inside, Harry looked around curiously. He had never been inside a church before. There were stained glass windows depicting angels and people with halos around their heads. Behind the altar was a large wooden cross.

Below the cross, and in front of the pulpit, Harry saw two coffins.

His breath caught in his throat. On top of each coffin was a framed picture, both photographs showing a single person within the wooden borders. They were both people that Harry had known well, and grown close to.

Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

Dropping his gaze from their faces, he spotted Andromeda Tonks sitting in the front row, holding the late couple's new baby. Harry's heart clenched. He saw himself in that little boy, who would never come to know his parents, and would not remember this day.

Harry, along with the Weasley family and Hermione, filed into the second row behind Andromeda Tonks and her grandson Teddy.

Looking over her shoulder at the sound of footsteps behind her, Andromeda acknowledged Harry and directed a fleeting, sad smile at him. Harry smiled back, though he felt it was more like a grimace.

The small church continued to fill up; Harry knew that the majority of mourners were friends and family of Nymphadora. Poor Remus Lupin had, had virtually no one except Harry, Harry's late godfather Sirius Black, his own late wife-Tonks, and (to a certain extent) the Weasley family.

"… and may God bless, forevermore, Remus Lupin and his wife, Nymphadora Lupin," intoned the wizard priest.

"And now, I would like to ask Andromeda Tonks to come forward and speak a few words in memoriam of the deceased."

Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley sobbed as Andromeda struggled through her speech, frequently breaking out into tears. Even some of the men present were crying; Harry could not ignore the vast emptiness that had settled inside his chest.

At last, Andromeda finished, and he was called up to also speak a few words.

Harry approached the pulpit as the priest nodded encouragingly at him, stepping off and sitting down in a little chair on the side. Harry looked over the crowd of people before him and swallowed, his mouth going dry.

"Good morning," he began.

They were all staring at him. He could see certain faces among the rows before him: the Weasley family and his two best mates were near the front; Dedalus Diggle resided in the middle row, gifting Harry an encouraging smile; various other Order members, including Kingsley Shacklebolt, slumped mournfully in their seats near the back. Harry felt the silence press about him.

"Um … as some of you know, I was friends with both Remus Lupin and his wife Nymphadora...Gosh, how she hated that name."

The people laughed half-heartily at this. Harry's nervousness decreased a bit, and he grinned briefly.

"I – I first met Remus in my third year at Hogwarts, when he became one of my teachers."

Harry's eyes closed briefly as memories swamped him.

"He was one of the best teachers I'd ever had. He has taught me some things that have helped me more times than I can count … even saved my life. We … shared a link with my dad, as they were together at school when he was a student. As my parents died when I was a small child, I didn't know much about them. However, I do now, because Remus shared some of his memories with me. We were close as a result."

Harry's breath hitched as he tried to control himself, to keep himself from breaking down.

"I-I met Nymphadora a few years before she married Remus. She was an Auror, and we met through Albus Dumbledore's organization the Order of the Phoenix. She was a wonderful person to be around. She was always lively, curious, and full of fun...if-if a little clumsy at times."

A few people, including Andromeda-though her face was stained with tears, smiled weakly at that.

Harry took a shaky breath.

"She was a brave person, and a great fighter. She did not shrink from responsibility or danger. She fought for what she believed in - and Remus was the same. "They were two decent people and loyal friends ... you could not ask for more."

A tear escaped from the corner of his eye, running down his cheek. He quickly wiped it off.

"Thank you."

Harry felt emotionally wrung out.

He stood outside in the Weasleys' garden, listening to the cry of distant birds and feeling the cold wind, when he heard dull footsteps and saw Ginny walking toward him. Her face was still a little puffy, although it did not detract from her beauty in Harry's eyes.

They stood together in silence, enjoying the brief solitude that the garden granted them, before Harry spoke.

"I've never felt so …"

"Wrung out?" asked Ginny.

Harry swallowed thickly, his eyebrows creased in sorrow.

"Yes."

Ginny did not speak, but waited for him. While gathering his thoughts, he focused on the large tree that grew just beyond the garden fence. Its branches swayed about lazily, hypnotically, caught on the breeze as it swept across the area.

"You know, Ginny … he was the last link I had to my parents. And now it's all gone."

He gasped, as if in pain, now fully realising the implications of what this meant. He found, to his great dismay, however, that he had no more tears to shed.

"Oh, Harry," breathed Ginny as she hugged him.

Harry hugged her back, enjoying the feel of her body pressed against his own and her flowery smell filling his nostrils. He felt his love for her fill him up, steadily eating away at the aching chasm inside him.

"I love you, Ginny."

She pulled back to look at him, fiery hair framing her freckled face.

"I love you, too, Harry."

Leaning forward with a courage dredged forth from the weight of their lingering grief, their lips met tenderly, as if everything that had happened recently was nonexistent. For that one, brief moment, everything else ceased to matter, and all he could feel was the soft brush of her lips against his own before they silently broke apart, staring tentatively into one another's eyes.

The silence persisted for a few moments more, before Harry blurted out the first thing that entered his mind.

"I spoke with Andromeda afterwards. She and I talked about Teddy."

"Their son?" Ginny asked, though she knew to whom Harry was referring.

"Yes. I'm godfather to Teddy, but as I told Andromeda, I want him to live with her for a while. I don't think I could handle a baby, and it will help Andromeda keep her mind off things."

Ginny gave a small smile.

"Trust you to always do the right thing, Harry."

With that, she leaned in and planted a soft,lingeringkiss on his lips. Pulling back, she took his hand within her smaller one as she gestured toward the house.

"Let's go inside."

...

A thousand miles away from the Burrow, a clandestine meeting was taking place within a dimly lit apartment in a derelict building.

"Good evening, everyone," addressed a tall man.

He glanced at the people seated around the table before him, making eye contact with each one.

"Thank you for coming to this council. As you know, the Dark Lord Voldemort is dead-"

"You dare to speak the Dark Lord's name?" demanded one of the seated, expression twisted in dislike.

"Yes, Selwyn," the tall man deadpanned, "I speak his name to honour him."

The Death Eater did not reply, but continued to glower at him.

Ignoring the fool, the original speaker opened his briefcase and removed a folder. Walking about the table, he handed a fresh sheet to each person. On each of them was a large black-and-white photograph of a bespectacled man, some dark text printed beneath it.

The speaker returned to the head of the table and resumed his speech.

"As each of you can see from your copy, the man responsible for the Dark Lord's death is Harry Potter. Below the photograph are some biographical details, his achievements, and so on..."

"This is all very well," interrupted Selwyn once again. "But I would like to ask how this is relevant to what we seek?"

The leader mentally ground his teeth.

"We need all the information we can get on the target, Selwyn. Are you forgetting that he was the one who killed the Dark Lord?"

"I am very well aware of that," Selwyn replied coldly.

"Then you will also be aware that he is no fool, and, though I hate to admit it, he does possess some skill."

The other sneered, "I, too, have skills. After all, it takes one of uncommon cunning to avoid the Aurors who are searching for me at this very minute!"

"I do not deny that you have skills. Nor do I deny that of anyone else in this group, for that matter. If you are displeased with the way in which I lead this group, you are free to leave. The door is open for you."

The man gestured to the large oak door, which swung open magically. Selwyn did not move from his seat, however. Instead, he replied in a careless manner, filled with excessively saccharine undertones. It almost seemed as if he cared little for how the leader thought of him.

"I am simply concerned about the success of our mission. You are young, and eager. I do not want anything to jeopardise our goal."

"Your kind concern is duly noted, but it is not necessary," the man snapped, his patience slipping a little.

Selwyn smiled coldly, but said nothing more.

The lean man returned his attention back to the rest of the group.

"Well?"

"This is a most wise course of action," a senior official of the Ministry declared. "Yes, this is how we should proceed."

"We should keep track of the target's movements," another person proclaimed.

The other members of the council nodded in agreement.

"Not too long, though," said a woman, "We must strike, and soon."

"It will be a difficult task in the best of times," murmured the Ministry official, "The target is constantly surrounded by people who will not hesitate to kill to protect him."

Silence followed that ominous comment.

"It is agreed," declared the tall man, "We will gather Intel on the target. We will choose a time to attack. And we will then avenge the Dark Lord by killing Harry Potter!"

Everyone present in the room, Selwyn included, cheered.