You're getting a chapter early! Why? A few reasons. The first is the server is going to be down early next week so I can't post then. Next is I'm going camping with the fam and won't have internet access so it's post now or wait an extra week and I don't really want to do that to you. Last? I've had five days of migraines and I could do with some cheering up- so lovely reviews are always appreciated.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, find it a bit amusing. I'll see you on the flip side.
~Sarah
|
Bound | ||||||
|
Category: Alternate Universe, Post-DH/AB Characters:All Genres: Angst, Drama, Fluff, Romance, Tragedy Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Mental Abuse, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Rape, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 357 Summary: The battle is over, there is life to be lived, peace to be enjoyed and trouble following close at their heels. Ginny hasn't seen Harry since the dust settled from the battles with Voldemort, but when an unexpected piece of news draws them together will they be driven apart or become bound? Follows Canon to the best of my knowledge. The warnings are just to be safe. I don't know that they're all needed, but I'm putting them up just to cover my bases. If you have any questions or concerns, please message me. Hitcount: Story Total: 139159; Chapter Total: 8776 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: |
Previous Next |
|
||||
|
Saturday May 30th Ginny smiled sadly at him. “I wish that I could make it easier on you. I don’t like that you’re so stressed about all of this.” Harry knew what she meant but he could only shrug. “As far as I’m concerned, you have it harder than I do. I may be worrying about things, but me worrying doesn’t do anything to anyone but myself.” Ginny bit her lip again. He wished she’d stop and yet never stop; it was driving him round the twist in a really excellent way. Maybe she knows that… “I’m sleeping while everyone around me does all the work. That hardly seems fair.” “You’ve got the hardest task, Ginny,” Harry assured her quietly, not sure how she didn’t see it. “Really?” she asked skeptically. “Really,” he said firmly. She bit her lip again and he groaned. “You have got to stop that.” Her smile was quick and wicked. “But it’s awfully fun to watch you squirm.” Then Harry saw it for the first time in almost a year. Some of the old spark, her old fire was back and he was more grateful for that than he could put into words. He kissed her, loving the feel of her soft lips against his and the sound of her breath rushing from her in a quick gasp. She had that blazing look in her eyes, the one that always sucked him in. This time it was his turn to just know. It was his turn to have his heart turn over and for the world to right itself into a place that made absolute sense. “I love you Ginny.” She gazed at him questioningly. “Are you sure?” He nodded and kissed her again. “Yeah. I’m completely sure.” “Will you tell me every day,” she asked, a slow smile working over her beautiful mouth. “Absolutely every day,” he promised and he kissed her again. “I don’t want to tease you…” she stopped to consider. “Okay, I don’t want to tease you overly much but I do want you to smile.” Harry looked into those bright, amazing chocolate eyes and felt his heart lift. “I’m marrying you. There will always be lots of laughter in our house.” “Harry?” They both turned to see Bill in the door. “We’re ready if you are.” He came in and kissed Ginny on the top of the head. “How are you doing, Smidge?” “Bill!” Ginny flushed deep red. Bill laughed. “He’s marrying you! Warts and childish nicknames come with the package.” “Smidge?” Harry quirked an eyebrow. “Cause she’s so small?” “It’s because she’s miniscule,” Bill told him affectionately, ruffling her hair and ignoring the hand that swatted at him. “I told you that when she was a baby she was tiny, well even compared to other babies she was a titchy little thing. Barely over a stone on her first birthday.” “Wow,” Harry said. “Teddy is only 2 months old and he’s already bigger than that!” Bill chuckled. “She never got over the name because she never got tall enough to earn a new one.” “Please stop,” Ginny pleaded, covering her face with her hands. Harry knelt, pried her hands away and kissed her. “You’re absolutely perfect the way you are and in a duel between you and Bill I’d place my money on you.” “Hey!” Bill said and then paused considering. “No, you’re probably right. She fights dirty.” “Are we leaving?” Hermione asked as she came into the room, looking around curiously. Ginny made shooing motions. “Yes, please take them away!” Harry chuckled and kissed her cheek. “We’ll see you around dinner.” He walked out following Hermione and Bill. Arthur was waiting for them in the kitchen. “Shall we be off, then?” “I’m ready,” Harry said, anticipation filling him. He knew the house needed a lot of work before they could move in, even after the wards were up. Molly had been tutting about the house needing a good scrubbing and Kreacher, whom Harry had thought would be resistant to the idea of moving house, had said that the location was good for master. He had started muttering about all the things he was going to do when he got in to clean. They reached the point in the yard where they could Disapparate and they all held hands so Bill could lead them to the house. Bill had already gone over to scout it out and make sure they weren’t walking into a trap. The Auror they were meeting, Silas Raeburn, would be waiting for them. Harry felt the horrible crushing sensation as Bill twisted. He held tight and within moments they were staggering apart in front of the large, abandoned house. The rays of the midafternoon sun danced on the ivy that clung to the house. It didn’t look too bad, Harry thought. Harry saw Raeburn striding towards them. He was a tall, powerfully built man with salt and pepper hair. His voice was like sandpaper as he reached out a hand to shake, “Potter.” Harry nodded, shaking his hand. “Ready?” The other man nodded and they both pointed their wands, each casting a patronus. Harry’s stag sprang from his wand and Raeburn’s german shepherd went sprinting off after the stag. After Kingsley had taken over as minister he’d quickly instituted a policy that every Auror become intimately familiar with the patronuses of all of the other Aurors, thus ensuring that they could always identify imposters since the patronus couldn’t lie, although they also had contingencies in place in case someone’s patronus changed. “Thank you for doing this,” Harry told him. “I’m glad to help,” he assured him. “Arthur, Bill,” he said nodding to the other two men. “And this is…” Hermione stuck out her hand to shake. “I’m Hermione Granger.” “Ah,” his gray eyes lit with recognition. “I have heard of you. Your reputation precedes you young lady. I do hope you are going to look into a career at the ministry. We could use talent like yours.” Hermione shrugged but looked nonetheless pleased. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m going to finish my education first.” “I quite understand, now Potter,” he said turning back to Harry. “How secure are we making this place?” “Definitely unplottable,” Hermione piped in. “Muggle repelling of course and no Apparation as well as closing off the floo to all but the Burrow. Percy Weasley is moving over to Magical Transportation shortly along with his other duties and he’s taking care of that part.” Bill turned in a circle. “We’ve been toying with putting the house under the Fidelius charm as well but we’re not sure it needs to be that secure.” “I’m voting for it,” Harry shrugged. Arthur nodded. “I am as well. We can put in the other protections, of course, and take the Fidelius charm down when the danger has passed and all Death Eaters have been captured but for now I think we should.” Hermione’s smile was a bit too knowing. “Ginny is going to roll her eyes when she hears about this. But it can always be removed later.” Raeburn looked around thoughtfully. “Normally I would say let’s do the Fidelius charm first, but I don’t want to be included in it and you’re not moving in today. Let’s start with unplottable and work our way around. It’s a large property and it’s going to take several hours to do the perimeter, even with all of us working.” “You had to want the house with 16 acres, didn’t you?” Bill cracked. “You’re the one who found it,” Harry reminded him, laughing. “Can we do muggle repelling at the same time as making it unplottable?” “No,” Hermione, Arthur and Raeburn all said together. Bill pulled out a scroll from an inside coat pocket. “Let’s look at the map and then we can spread out and make our way around it. I’ll cast the Extremitas charm so we’ll have a red line to follow along the property line.” “I wish Ron could have gotten off training to help,” Hermione sighed as she looked at the large area. “It’s nearly a perfect square, so we can each pick a corner and head clock-wise with one other person-” Arthur froze as a silver hare came bounding towards them. Luna’s voice spoke softly into the still air. “Harry, Ginny has had a nightmare. We need you to come back right away.” The hare faded. Harry looked around wildly, his heart skipping a beat. “I need to-” “Go!” Bill and Hermione said together. Harry focused on the Burrow, turned on the spot and was squeezed into nothingness. He hit the outer limits of the Burrow and sprinted towards the house. Even running full out it still felt like he was moving through sludge. His heart was in his throat and he raced up the stairs and into Ginny’s room, skidding a bit on the rug as he saw her sobbing hard into her mother’s shoulder. Luna stood off to the side as Harry moved in to take Ginny into his arms, pulling her onto his lap. He was alarmed to feel how thin she was. He’d carried her up the stairs on Thursday and there had definitely been more to her than this. “She’s not really awake,” Luna whispered and Mrs. Weasley moved back to give Harry room. He saw that she was crying and Luna put an arm around her waist. “Shh, it’s okay. Harry will get her calmed.” Even though he hadn’t yet said anything, Ginny was already quieting as she burrowed into his arms. “Fred…” she whimpered. “No Fred, no.” “Ginny,” Harry’s voice caught in his throat as he kissed her temple and easily, way too easily, moved her around so he could lay her down again. Instantly she reached for him, panicking as he lay beside her, pulling her in. “It’s okay, I’m here.” “Fred,” she moaned, tears streaming down her face. “No…” “We can’t wake her,” Luna said quietly, her voice heavy. Harry looked over to see Mrs. Weasley crying hard into Luna’s shoulder. “I can do this. Luna, can you go down and make Molly a cup of tea?” “No,” Molly began but Luna had already begun tugging her to the door. “Come on, Mrs. Weasley. You need your own good cry before you can help Ginny.” They had reached the hall when Harry heard her say quietly. “Harry can handle this.” Ginny thrashed away from him and he knew that the nightmare was still gripping her. “No!” “Gin, come on love, please wake up,” Harry whispered into her hair, his own heart raced as her terror, pain and fear leaked out of her. “Ginny, I have you. You’re safe.” The light played over her pale face, highlighting the bruising under her eyes. She cried out in her sleep, sobs racking her frail shoulders. “No Harry, no I can’t do this anymore. Don’t go!” Harry didn’t know what else to do. He leaned in and kissed her, peppering her face with kisses and he stroked her hair. “You don’t have to do it anymore,” he promised softly against her lips. “I’m here. I’m not ever letting go.” She began to quiet and he kept murmuring softly as he stroked her hair, her sobs finally subsided into soft breathing and she fell limp in his arms, fully back into a peaceful sleep. A few minutes later Mrs. Weasley came back in and touched his shoulder in thanks. “We couldn’t reach her,” she told him quietly. “It’s okay,” Harry assured her. “I’m just going to stay here until she wakes.” Mrs. Weasley frowned, her concern written all over her face. “Are you sure?” “Yeah,” Harry had to swallow as his voice squeaked a bit. “I don’t think I could leave anyway. Can you send Arthur a message that she’s okay now but that I’m staying here?” “I will,” she told him and backed out of the room. Harry closed his eyes, trying not to let panic or despair sink in. She was so thin. Bill had been spot on when he’d said Ginny was tiny. She was a head shorter than him and probably 2 stones lighter when she was at her best and he was no heavy weight. But she’d always seemed so tough and solid that it was easy to forget that she didn’t have any spare weight to lose. Fleur had said it best when she’d called her sister-in-law vibrant. Ginny was fighting so hard to keep their baby alive and sometimes it seemed she was winning. Right now it felt like that life was slipping away. If anyone could do this, Ginny could. She was five weeks pregnant today. Martha had said to him this morning before Ginny had woken that they were entering the most dangerous part and from here to twelve weeks it would be critical. What had she meant when she’d said ‘don’t go’? Harry wondered. But he thought he knew the answer to that. It had been horrible breaking up with her a year ago. Even if she understood, even if she’d agree, it had been so painful and they hadn’t had a chance for anything much since then. She’d thought seen him dead. If he’d seen her dead he wasn’t sure he’d have had the strength to breathe. What had that done to her? Harry could still hear her terrible scream as he’d been carried out of the woods by Hagrid. It ripped at him now, knowing just how badly he’d hurt her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, offering the apology that she would never ask for. “I’m sorry I did that to you. I love you and I’m never going to leave you again.” Ginny began to stir. For a moment Harry thought it was another nightmare but her eyes blinked open, confused. “What are you doing here?” she asked groggily. She rubbed at her eye, squinting at him before alarm flooded her face. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing!” Harry assured her hurriedly. “You had a nightmare.” “Why are you so upset?” She whispered, running a hand along his cheek. He closed his eyes, trying to will the fears to stop. “I couldn’t wake you, and you said… you talked about Fred and me leaving you.” Harry felt her fingers pause on his face. “Oh.” Her fingers resumed tracing along his skin, over his scar and down to his ear. “It was just a dream,” she finally whispered apologetically. His eyes flew open and he shook his head. “I’m the one who is sorry. I’m the one who left you.” “You did the right thing,” Ginny told him quietly. “It hurt, but I get why.” “Do you want me to stop Auror training?” Harry asked suddenly. She looked simply stunned. “No, of course not! Why would I want that?” He sighed. “Because it’s such a dangerous job.” Ginny’s face was totally calm. “I love you, Harry. Not the person I think you should be or any of the fame rubbish. You won’t be happy doing anything else. This is part of you and I love this part of you.” “Is there anything I should have done differently?” He asked. “Could I have made our break up easier?” “Besides professing your undying love and promising to remain faithful until you came back to me?” Ginny’s mouth quirked. “No not really.” “I’m promising that now.” Harry told her. “I’m promising to love you from here into the next world and always be faithful and always come back to you. In fact, I did love you into the next world although I’m not sure I would have been able to label it as love then.” “What?” She asked, clearly confused. “I…” he paused. “I will explain it to you at some point. I think the explanation might be what Martha calls ‘stressful’ and we’ve had enough stress to go around today.” Her chocolate eyes focused on him, trying to read him. “Okay,” she agreed finally. “Someday you’ll tell me what that means.” “You…” Harry hesitated. “You haven’t talked about Fred.” Ginny closed her eyes, “That’s also a conversation for ‘someday’. I can’t talk about him without getting upset and I can’t get upset right now.” Harry buried his nose into her hair, rubbing his cheek against her. “You have the hardest job.” “It’s for a really amazing pay off,” she assured him, sighing in contentment. “When I was holding Teddy at… at the funerals I couldn’t help but be awed. They created this perfect, tiny little baby and he was never going to know a world with Voldemort in it, even though his life was completely altered because of the war.” “I was going to go see him tomorrow-” Harry began. Ginny interrupted him. “You’re still going to go see him tomorrow. You’re the closest thing he has to a dad, Harry. You need to spend time with him.” Harry hesitated, not sure how to tell her how he was feeling. “I know, but-” “You can’t be afraid to leave me,” she whispered. “You go back to training on Monday.” How was he going to do that? But at almost the same moment he realized she was right. Most of the time he’d been away she’d been fine. “You’re right.” “I usually am,” she assured him. “I’m fine now. Go back to the house and do what you need to.” “But-” he was silenced by her lips. “I’m fine,” Ginny promised, touching her belly. “We’re fine. You go make sure the house is safe for us.” Harry left, although somewhat reluctantly, and went down to the kitchen to say goodbye and let them know he was leaving. “I’m going to go read to her,” Luna told him, her arms full of books. “I think she could do with a distraction.” “Thanks,” Harry said calling out a farewell to Molly and Kreacher. He walked to the edge of the garden and Disapparated. ~*~ Ginny glanced over as Luna came in, her arms loaded down with books. “Are you bored yet?” Luna asked. “Very when I’m not sleeping and I don’t want to go to sleep right now,” Ginny sighed, watching her friend settling in to the only chair in the room. “Where did you find those?” “Most of them were in the book case downstairs, but I found a few in Fred and George’s old room when I was cleaning last night,” Luna explained. “I’m really interested in one of them.” She dug around and pulled out a ludicrously purple novel that had a tattered spine. “It’s called Matilda Magpie and the Squire’s Son. I’ve never read this before, so we should both learn something new.” She held up the book for Ginny to see and she saw a buxom woman wearing half open robes, swooning on a cliff. Ginny blinked. “You… you found that in Fred and George’s room?” “Yes, I thought that was a bit odd since it seems like it must be a girl’s book, but maybe they wanted to learn about Matilda as well,” Luna said placidly. “Shall I begin?” Ginny felt the corner of her mouth twitch. “Please.” “Chapter One,” Luna began to read in her dreamy voice. “Matilda Magpie was a quiet, sensible girl from the country. Hmm,” Luna broke off, flipping the book back to observe the cover. Matilda winked. “It’s a bit odd. You’d think that if she were sensible she could have found a blouse that didn’t gape open like that.” Ginny sniggered. “Maybe she accidentally shrunk it.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “What sort of book do you suppose this is?” “I think we need to explore it more before we decide on that,” Ginny said as soberly as she could. “I suppose so; all right then.” Luna found her place and continued to read. “But on the night of October the 16th, 1824 her sensibilities fled her as she ran through the stormy night towards the cliffs overlooking the sea. Her feet stung as the pebbles buried themselves into her feet and the pounding of the surf beat in her head as a call to action. ‘I must throw myself into the sea!’ Matilda cried. ‘I will never have the love of the Marquis and life is just not worth going on without him.’ ” Luna stopped and looked up at Ginny. “She’s going to throw herself into the sea?” “Apparently,” Ginny bit her lip, trying to keep back a laugh. “Some girls just can’t do without a man around.” Nodding, Luna went on after taking a moment to pull her hair up and tying it in a knot with her wand. “ ‘Before she could launch herself into sweet oblivion she heard her name shouted and she spun. Her ankle turned and she fell to the gravel. Why doesn’t she have shoes on?” Luna asked suddenly. “You don’t need shoes if you’re going to throw yourself into the sea,” Ginny explained. “Oh, of course,” Luna agreed very seriously. “Matilda looked over her bare shoulder- when did her shoulder become bare?” Ginny started laughing. “Probably while she was running. Go on,” she encouraged. “ ‘Matilda!’ The squire’s son had run after her. Matilda looked away, not wanting to see him for he was poor and homely and she knew that he long tendered feelings towards her. She pulled her cloak more securely over her shoulders before looking back at him. ‘Go away, Robert!’ Robert did not turn from her. ‘I cannot let you do this.’ He scooped her into his strong, bulging arms against his rock hard bare chest and began to carry her back to the village, her cloak trailing in the mud. ” Luna shook her head. “But she put a cloak on to throw herself into the sea? Why is his chest bare?” “He didn’t have time to grab a shirt before he ran after her,” Ginny said as she laughed until her sides hurt. “What is going on in here?” Mrs. Weasley came in carrying a tray. Ginny sat up in bed grinning at her. Her mother gasped. “You sat up!” Ginny glanced down and was amazed to see that she was indeed sitting up and more astonishingly that her head wasn’t spinning. “Wow. Maybe I needed a book read to me sooner.” “You were reading?” Her mum looked between her and Luna. Luna held up the book so that Mrs. Weasley could see the cover. “I found this in Fred and George’s room.” Her mother stared at the book, her expression completely blank. “You… you found that in the twin’s room?” “Mhmm,” Luna hummed in answer. “I thought it might be fun to learn about Matilda, but she does seem a rather silly girl. I’m not so sure about this.” “She was going to throw herself into the sea,” Ginny explained. “But she’s just been saved by the squires son.” She took a bite of the soup and groaned. It was good. “You should listen a bit, Mum. You might learn something too.” “I…” her mother looked completely at a loss for words. Shaking her head, she sat down on the edge of Ginny’s bed and motioned for Luna to read on. “ ‘I don’t want you here, Robert! I want to end it all.’ Matilda cried into his sculpted shoulder. Robert was having none of it. ‘The Marquis is not worth this. You are so beautiful, Matilda. I would marry you and give you 15 goats all of your own.’ Matilda hit his shoulder to try to get him to set her down but her fist just bounced off his masculine physique.’ ” Luna stopped when Ginny choked on her soup and Mrs. Weasley spluttered. “Why is he giving her goats?” “For their milk, I’m sure,” Ginny whispered through her tears of mirth. Molly mouthed for a second before saying, “Oh my…” “Matilda began to cry…” Luna read on. ~*~ When Harry walked into the house with Arthur and Hermione it was to peals of laughter coming from upstairs and Kreacher humming happily in the kitchen. By the smell of things dinner was nearly ready. “Hi Kreacher,” Harry said, wiping his shoes on the mat. “Dinner will be ready shortly, Master Harry. Mrs. Weasley and the girls are upstairs.” More laughter rang down. Harry looked at Arthur and Hermione who shrugged and they quietly made their way up the stairs. Harry stopped outside Ginny’s door in time to hear Luna’s melodious voice say, “But Robert just turned away from her heaving bosoms, the love spell gave him only eyes for Veronica. Matilda ran once again for the sea, intent on throwing herself to her death. You know, one of these times she’s going to succeed if she’s not careful. She can’t keep counting on random men to pull her back from the cliff.” “No, and this is the fourth time, too,” Mrs. Weasley said amused. “Fifth,” Ginny corrected. “At least she’s got shoes on this time.” “But her shirt is open again,” Luna commented, confused. “She keeps saying she doesn’t want Robert because he’s ugly, so why is she ripping open her shirt for him? And what does she mean like a horse? That seems completely unreasonable…” Harry walked in then to see Ginny sitting up in bed, giggling madly. She grinned as she spotted him and his heart skipped as surprise and elation flooded him. “Welcome back,” Ginny said. Hermione stated the obvious. “You’re sitting up!” “I think the laughter has been healing,” Ginny said. “I haven’t felt this good in days. Luna has been doing an excellent job reading the story.” Luna sighed. “I don’t understand this book at all. The girl in it is very silly, and the men keep giving her things like goats and pillows and spinning wheels and she just throws them all away because they aren’t the Marquis’ gifts. Why does someone need seven spinning wheels?” “Where did you get that book?” Mr. Weasley asked, walking over to look at the cover. “It was in with Fred and George’s room,” Luna supplied. “When I first started reading I thought it was a story for girls, but the more I read the more I think it is a joke book and they were using it to help with their shop.” “Oh, I’m sure that’s it,” Mrs. Weasley said faintly. She got up. “Well, we’ll have to read some more later. It’s time to cook dinner.” Harry managed to find his voice enough to say, “Kreacher is almost done with supper.” He continued to stare at Ginny. Could this possibly be the frail girl he’d left a few hours before? “Oh goodness,” Mrs. Weasley hopped to her feet. “I was going to help him! He’s such a dear to do it, but-” “Mum!” They all heard Ron’s voice from down stairs. “Kreacher says to come down.” They all filed out and Harry was left staring at Ginny, her bright eyes alive with humor. “You’re sitting up.” “Yes,” Ginny laughed. “Hermione already told me that. Why don’t you come here and kiss me?” He walked over and did, sitting on the bed next to her and cupping her face. A few hours of laughter with a friend and Ginny had regained a decent amount of strength. Twenty minutes of extreme stress had left her bedridden for three full days. Harry buried his face in her hair until he could compose his features. Ginny was his equal, up to anything his nutty life had thrown at him and he was more than a little staggered to think that for at least a few months he was going to have to keep all of that from her. But it would be worth it. He thought. If it kept her and the baby healthy, then that’s what needed to happen. Her stomach growled and she grinned sheepishly. He smiled at her, truly happy to see color in her cheeks. Nothing else mattered but this. “I’ll be back up with food in a minute and we’ll have a mini-date.” “I can’t wait,” Ginny assured him. When he walked into the kitchen it was to sweep Luna into his arms for a tight hug. “Thank you,” he told her hoarsely. Luna smiled serenely and handed him the tray with their dinner the already ready for him to take up. |
| Reviews 357 |
Previous Next
|
