Harry Potter and the Defensive Soul Bond

Right, before I begin, I had better explain why I'm writing these when I already have a chaptered fic published just a few days ago. First of all, I recently discovered a few Soul Bond stories, and I love them so much, I wanted a go. Second of all, I was going to make a little contest between the 2 fics, basically, the one that people love the most is the one I direct the most of my attention to. I'm sure there will be questions, so drop me a line if you don't understand the story here. For the record, this is slightly AU, OotP HBP era. Some of the story is changed to make this fic easier to write so don't complain when I go against the canon, or you get no cookies :P. Enjoy :D

Harry Potter was fighting for his life. Again. Due to the fact he was extremely gullible, and cared for people to the point he lost all rational thought, he was now in an unknown room in the Department of Mysteries, surrounded by the best members of the DA and the Order of the Phoenix, duelling Death Eaters, who wanted the now smashed prophecy, and their lives. Harry was duelling with Sirius, against Lucius Malfoy and another unknown Death Eater. Both sides were trying desperately to win, but they reached a stalemate, with neither side giving in, or even able to get in a lucky shot.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, and felt a rush of glee as he disarmed Malfoy, who was promptly hit in the stomach with a Stunning spell, launched by Sirius. Two simultaneous stunners later and the other Death Eater was out for the count. Harry then decided to run and help his friends, who were duelling desperately. Ron and Hermione had teamed together and made a surprisingly fearsome duo, able to cover each other's backs, assisted by Tonks and Lupin. Neville and Luna also teamed up, back to back, sending stunners at anyone daring to challenge, and Harry felt a huge rush of pride for his friends, who were doing incredibly well after everything he had taught them the past year in their DA lessons. He also felt a nasty twinge when he realised that they would be long dead without those lessons.

Harry looked over and saw Ginny, fighting Bellatrix Lestrange and a second Death Eater alone. She was desperately holding her own, firing every spell she knew, but they had the beating of her. Harry ran over and stunned the second Death Eater, turning it to two against one. Ginny then sent another stunner and blasted Bellatrix back a few feet, but she wasn't out for the count. She looked up and snarled at them and Harry bit back laughter, confident that they had the beating of her.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix screamed, and Harry bit back a wave of panic. In the split second that transpired, he grabbed Ginny's hand and moved in front of her, making sure he was the target of the spell. He closed his eyes, squeezed her hand and waited for death.

It didn't come. The spell should have hit him, so why didn't it? Harry opened his eyes to see Bellatrix staring at him completely dumbfounded. He turned round and saw everyone in the room stopping and looking at the place where Harry and Ginny were fighting.

"What happened?" Harry hissed to Ginny, while keeping his eyes on Bellatrix.

"The curse didn't work, it was like a shield charm, and it bounced off" Ginny said, evidently still shocked.

At that moment, a huge surge of power flowed from Ginny into Harry, and he felt himself fill up, he panicked and tried to let go of her hand, but suddenly, her grip became vice like, and he continued to fill with power. Harry was now extremely scared. He looked down at where their hands were joined and saw a golden glow, his heart felt like it had been pierced by a blade. He looked at Ginny and she looked equally scared, if not more so. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't stop this power flowing, and he couldn't control it. He was going to burst.

All of a sudden, with a huge scream from both Harry and Ginny, a huge wave of pure energy swept through the room, with Harry and Ginny at it's epicentre. Everyone in the room, ally and Death Eater alike were swept along and hit the walls of the room. It made the floor rumble, like an earthquake, and the ceiling dropped loads of dust on their heads. The Death Eaters rose, scared of this new power and vanished, leaving everyone else shocked, battered, and confused at what just happened. As soon as the power rushed into him, the flow stopped, and Harry instantly became exhausted and keeled over, fast asleep. Ginny followed him.

Albus Dumbledore was very rarely worried. Even in the most life threatening situations, he was confident that his brainpower and his magical skill were enough to escape those situations. This was one of those moments. He was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, watching Harry and Ginny sleep in adjacent beds. He had heard the stories from everyone who was there. Harry had deflected a killing curse, an impossible feat in itself, and swept the room which a blast of pure magical power, which was nearly unheard of, in fact, according to records, the last time that happened was 200 years ago, when a couple joined together while fighting dark wizards, and a similar thing happened. Dumbledore racked his brains, searching for anything special about that couple. What had he read about them? Realisation struck, this was bad, he was going to have to call in Ginny's parents and Sirius about this.

Dumbledore looked at the Weasley parents and Sirius with concern. Arthur and Molly Weasley flooed over immediately, white faced, while Sirius looked green.

"I know you're worried, but I called you here to tell you about a suspicion of mine, to do with what happened to Harry and Ginny in the Department of Mysteries, I take it you saw what happened Sirius?"

"Yes" Sirius said "I saw Harry deflect a Killing Curse like he was using a Shield Charm on a Stunning spell, then he proceeded to basically blow up the chamber"

"In essence, correct" Dumbledore replied. "I have read up about what happened at great length, and the last recorded situation where this happened was over 200 years ago, where a couple, proceeded to destroy a building with this wave of energy while fighting against dark wizards, I read at great length, all the records to do with this couple, and they were particularly unremarkable, but, I stumbled on something extremely interesting here."

He reached behing his desk and pulled out a huge, dusty leather bound book. Sirius and Mr. Weasley gasped.

"Yes, since you two have worked in the ministry, I daresay you know what this book is. This book is the Book of Records, well, the one from the period of time at least, they need to update it every 50 years or so. This book keeps track of every significant event that happens in magical history, from marriages, to births and it came in extremely useful, for when I looked up the exact date, 24th March 1795 and found the couple again. The two had become soul bonded."

The Weasleys and Sirius gasped.

"Judging by that reaction, you know what a soul bond is" Dumbledore continued.

"But Albus" Mrs. Weasley said. "Soul Bonding is just a myth, it hasn't happened to anyone in any of our lifetimes!"

"I'm afraid it is not Molly" Dumbledore continued "Judging by the similarities between the case in the Department of Mysteries and the case 200 years ago, I believe Harry and Ginny have become soul bonded"

Silence ensued, Mr. Weasley and Sirius looked grim while Mrs. Weasley was as white as a sheet.

Finally, Sirius broke the silence "How did it happen, Albus?" he asked.

"You see, there are multiple ways to bond two souls together" Dumbledore explained "The first is a phoenix bond, where a phoenix is born to two people at once, and because of that, their souls join together, the second is when a person is dying and someone else, using sheer willpower, gives up a part of their soul to revive them. The third and final way, and the one I believe we are dealing with here, is when a person maintains physical contact with the person they truly love and defends them from death"

"So basically, what you're saying here, is that Harry defended Ginny from death, so now they're bonded? If that is the case, then why did Lily die when she defended Harry from Voldemort?" Sirius asked.

"Ah, I expected that question, the Soul Bond only occurs when physical contact is maintained between the two, and the two truly love each other, and I am not talking about the love a mother gives to her son. Lily simply stood in front of Harry when she gave her life for him, and while the protection due to that is powerful, it simply isn't the same." Dumbledore explained.

"So, you're saying that... Harry and Ginny love each other?" Mrs. Weasley said shakily.

"Ah, there's another interesting thing about the bond. The love doesn't have to be realised, it can be subconscious, so it may very well be that Harry and Ginny don't know their feelings yet, but the way they bonded shows that the feelings exist."

"Albus, can you tell us what the bond will end up meaning? What effects will they experience?" Mr. Weasley asked, already dreading the worst.

"You see, that's where our problem lies, while if Harry and Ginny were of age, the bond wouldn't be a problem, but since they are fifteen and fourteen respectively, that's where we come to the problems. The first problem is, they will need a lot of physical contact. Particularly for the first 24 hours, where their bodies are getting used to the bond. After that though, as long as they touch a couple of times during the day, the only time they will need to constantly touch is when their asleep. Which is the problem. They will need to share a bed."

Mrs. Weasley shuddered at those words.

"Also, due to the bond, which is similar to the bond a married couple makes at a wedding, the two are now considered legally married."

This made Mrs. Weasley sink down into her chair, making her look like she was having a nervous breakdown. Mr. Weasley and Sirius didn't look much better.

"However, there are some strong points to the bond. For one, they can communicate through thoughts and experience each other's emotions. They can also see through the other person's eyes. Due to this, their learning will accelerate, which will probably mean Ginny would have to move up a year to stop boredom. Their power will also increase, making spells a lot easier to learn and perform than before, and if previous records are anything to go by, they will be able to perform wandless magic with ease."

Those words still didn't ease everyone's worries. Mrs. Weasley didn't want her baby girl married at 14 and neither did Mr. Weasley. Sirius just hoped they would cope, and wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Can we go see them?" Mrs. Weasley said, physically shaking.

Dumbledore nodded, and led everyone to the hospital wing, where Harry and Ginny were still sleeping. The moment they got there, Dumbledore knew something was wrong. He rushed into the hospital wing, where he gasped at the sight of Harry and Ginny convulsing on their beds, obviously in large amounts of physical pain, with Madam Pomfrey trying her best to calm them down, but to no avail.

"My poor baby!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, bursting into tears.

"Poppy, move out the way!" Dumbledore shouted. He raised his wand and brought the two beds together, then rushed over and put Harry's hand in Ginny's. As he expected, the two instantly relaxed. The bond was powerful. Dumbledore looked over at the Weasleys and Sirius, all as white as a sheet.

"As you can see, the bond is already going strong, and this little episode already confirms all of my suspicions, they are going to have to keep sleeping like this, or they could die."

Tears fell down Mrs. Weasleys cheeks, while Mr. Weasley and Sirius looked like they could use a chair, so Dumbledore conjured some, and they gratefully collapsed into them. Then something happened that shocked everyone there even further. Harry and Ginny had moved into each other's arms, with their legs entwined round each other and were sleeping even more peacefully.

"As you can see, they already feel the need for physical contact" Dumbledore explained. "I know it's tough seeing your daughter in a boy's arms, but you have to deal with it, for their own good, and I daresay who would be better for her than Harry, who has saved her life, and yours Arthur?"

Mr. Weasley and Sirius nodded, they understood. Molly shakily nodded, not liking the circumstances, but it was for the best. It would certainly be a problem to explain to the brothers about Harry and Ginny, let alone the rest of the school. Dumbledore was already thinking of sleeping arrangements for the two, and he would have to speak with Minerva about moving Ginny up a year and making her take her OWLs as soon as possible.

"Come on, let us leave them to sleep in peace" Dumbledore said, as he led everyone out of the room, and took one last look at the two, before he left himself.

Harry opened his eyes, and saw the familiar ceiling of the hospital wing. He grinned slightly as he realised he spent more time in here than he should. He tried to sit up, but was hindered by something. He looked down and saw Ginny Weasley sleeping peacefully, with her arms around him.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Harry bellowed as he wrestled himself out of Ginny's grip, which woke her up.

"Huh, where am I?" Ginny asked, "And why did you scream like that?"

"You're in the hospital wing" Harry nervously replied, "I screamed because... you had your arms around me" he could feel himself blushing furiously at those words. Suddenly a great pain pierced his heart and he collapsed onto the bed. Barely managing to look up, he saw Ginny experiencing the same thing. He then felt an urge to grab her hand, which he did with the last of his dwindling strength. Instantly, the pain ceased. This confused Harry, why did he need to touch Ginny? He hadn't done any such thing before. Then the events in the Department of Mysteries came flooding back to him. Was it something to do with that? He was worried, and judging by the look on Ginny's face, she was just as worried.

Merlin, why do I feel pain when I'm not touching Harry? Ginny's voice sounded in his head. Harry jumped and looked at her quizzically.

Why can I hear her in my head? Harry thought.

Why can I hear you in my head? Ginny seemed to reply.

"AHHHHHHH!" They screamed in unison.

"Ah, you're awake" A voice said behind them as they jumped. Dumbledore was striding towards them with a smile on his face. Harry stood up to greet him but he said "sit down, sit down, we have much to discuss"

"Sir, what has happened to us? We feel pain when we're not touching, and we can hear each others thoughts!" Harry asked and Ginny mentally agreed with him.

"I'm glad to see you're moving straight to the point. Well, judging by what I've been told about the events of the Department of Mysteries, I believe something extremely important has happened to the two of you"

"What is that?" Harry and Ginny said in unison, then stared at each other incredulously, they both knew what the other was about to say.

Why are you in my head? Harry mentally hissed.

I could say the same to you Ginny shot back.

They both sat there silently communicating, while Dumbledore simply grinned. The bond had already taken a firm hold.

"I'm going to explain this as simply as possible" Dumbledore said, breaking them out of their communication. "Basically, because Harry protected Ginny from death while maintaining physical contact with her in the Department of Mysteries, you two have formed what is called a soul bond"

"A soul bond?" Harry and Ginny said in unison.

What the hell's a soul bond? Harry thought.

I dunno Ginny replied.

"A soul bond is formed when two people who are meant to be together, join under special circumstances" Dumbledore explained.

"Meant to be together? But... we...I...don't" Harry stammered.

"Since the soul bond has been formed, it's safe to say you love Ginny and vice versa" Dumbledore said calmly.

"But I gave up on Harry nearly a year ago!" Ginny retorted.

"I don't even know Ginny that well!" Harry said.

"Listen, the bond can tell that the love is subconscious and it was formed, so you do, whether you realise it or not" Dumbledore said, still calm.

"AHHHHHH!" they both screamed again, and flushed red with embarrassment. The strange thing was, Harry could feel Ginny's embarrassment as well as his own.

Ginny, I can feel your emotions Harry sent mentally.

Really? I can feel yours too! Ginny replied.

"Sir, me and Ginny can feel each others emotions. Is that part of the bond?" Harry asked.

"It certainly is. You will find that you share other powers too. You will find your magical powers have increased, I have a feeling that you will be able to perform non verbal and wandless magic quite easily. In fact, I would like you to try it now. Try and stun me without a wand and without saying anything. Don't worry, I'm perfectly capable of defending myself" Dumbledore said.

"OK, if you insist sir." Harry said worriedly.

Harry stood up, faced Dumbledore and thought, Stupefy!

To his immense surprise, a stunning spell shot straight at Dumbledore, without an incantation or anything. Dumbledore stopped it with a wave of his arm.

"You see? Without any trouble at all! Now, I do need to talk to you about another problem, though it does have advantages. Since you are bonded, you are considered legally married by the Wizarding world" He paused for a moment to let them digest that. "Of course, this makes you recognised as adults, which means you can perform magic at will, and Harry, you have access to all of your assets at Gringotts bank."

Harry's jaw dropped. All of this was just too much information to take in. He thought he was doing the right thing by protecting Ginny from harm but, it led to all this...

So what you're saying Harry, Ginny sent mentally, Harry could feel the hurt coming from her. If you knew this was going to happen, you would have let me die?

No! Not at all! I didn't mean that, I would defend any friend of mine regardless of consequences, it's just that led to us being married! Do you want us married? Harry replied.

Actually, I have a little confession about that. Ginny mentally muttered, embarrassment evident. I never really gave up on you. I only dated Michael Corner to get over you and hope you would notice me.

There was another bombshell dropped on Harry. Ginny still liked him. Did that mean she was happy with the arrangement?

I wouldn't say happy Ginny suddenly sent I'm glad for a chance for you to finally notice me for who I am.

But... what about your brothers, and your parents?

I will make sure no-one hurts you

Harry sighed, defeated. He guessed it couldn't hurt to spend time with Ginny, he just saved her life after all, that had to mean something.

"Ah, yes. One more thing I have to explain to you two." Dumbledore said as Harry and Ginny looked up again.

"It's regarding the physical touch problem you have. I'm afraid you're going to have to sleep in the same bed for a while. But don't worry about the pain. It's only for the first 24 hours you need to touch a lot during the day. Most of it will be at night. Think of it as charging yourselves up. For the first 24 hours, I predict you can go 15 minutes without touching one another. After that though, you will need to touch much less, though it is recommended as you are much stronger when you maintain contact for as long as possible. Like I said, you will need to sleep together still, otherwise you could die from the negative effects.."

Dumbledore kept dropping bombshell after bombshell. Harry was going to need another rest after this chat.

"Therefore, while you are at Hogwarts, I have prepared a room for you, which you will use instead of the dormitories, but try not to abuse it, I don't wish to punish you both, though I recognise that teenagers have certain urges, that doesn't give you an excuse to go crazy. As for outside school, I have already explained to your parents and Sirius the circumstances, so they will be understanding enough to change the sleeping arrangements I'm sure. Now, I've spoken enough. Madam Pomfrey said you need a couple of days bed rest, your bodies need to get used to the bond. so I will leave you to it. Remember what I've said."

Without another word, Dumbledore walked off, leaving a very confused and embarrassed Harry and Ginny. Harry suddenly felt another wave of exhaustion, and through the connection, he could feel Ginny felt the same.

Do you think we should talk like this whenever we're alone? Harry sent mentally.

It would certainly be easier. Ginny replied. So... do you want to go to bed?

Harry felt embarrassed again as he sent back Sure, if you want.

The two laid down on their joined bed and settled themselves into each others arms, though awkwardly at first, though after only half a minute in Ginny's embrace, Harry was surprised about how right it felt, even though it was Ginny. He could sense her mentally sighing, and he knew she felt the same way. Within seconds, they found themselves asleep.

Wow, that's the longest single chapter I have ever written for a fanfiction. I kept Sirius alive, as I wanted to write for him. I also decided to make up another Soul Bonding circumstance, so I don't rip someone else off. Too much anyway. Reviews are much appreciated, and since I get next to none for everything else I write, I may begin publishing only when I get enough reviews, as without them, how can I improve? Thanks.