Soul Bond

“What time is it?” Draco demanded for the sixth time in as many minutes.

“Relax, love. She will be here soon.”

“I can’t relax. I am pregnant and cranky. My daughter is going to leave me and you are not helping me!” he yelled.

Harry looked at Siri and smiled. The two of them had become used to Draco’s tirades. The closer that they got to Lilly’s birthday the worse he got. Now her birthday was only a day away and Draco was a basket case. Arabella Figg was going to arrive to speak with the family regarding Lilly’s training and departure.

“I hate it when you two do that!” Draco said glaring at his son and husband.

“Do what dad?” Siri asked with an innocent expression on his cute little face.

Draco melted. His biggest weakness was his family, and the kids both knew how to take advantage of this and work it to their benefit. “Siri, I know what you are doing, and it won’t work this time,” he sniffed but grabbed his son for a tight hug.

Harry tried to hide a smile behind his glass of butterbeer but was unsuccessful. “The next time that you are pregnant and feeling as I do at this moment, I will remember this day, Harry!” he hissed.

“Baby, you know that I love you,” Harry said kissing him lightly on the cheek.

“Where is Lilly?” Draco demanded. He had enough of the antics of these two. His beautiful daughter would make him feel better.

“She is primping, dad.”

“Why don’t you go and get her, Sirius?” Harry told his son. He wanted a moment alone with Draco.

“Okay,” he said and raced out of the room towards the stairs.

“I still don’t know why they can’t stay here and train!” Draco whined.

“We have already gone over this. Arabella said that she had to be somewhere with no ghosts to interfere. The manor has hundreds of years of history. There are several Malfoy ghosts that would disrupt and cause havoc. You know your ancestors are already unhappy about you destroying the pureblooded line, they wouldn’t think anything of torturing your half breed daughter.”

“I still don’t get it, Harry! How can they destroy her?”

Harry sighed and took a deep breath. Usually Draco was the intelligent one between the two of them, but the hormones from his pregnancy had made him forgetful and absent minded. “When Arabella releases her knowledge to Lilly her mind is open to all of the power and energy around her. At this point a lost soul could and probably would enter her body. Lilly is still a very young girl who is barely coming into her magical abilities. If another soul entered her they could take over her mind and body and destroy what is there of her. She would not have the power to push them out, and once Arabella released her power, she could not bring it back and she would not be able to do anything to help Lilly.”

“I don’t think that any of the Malfoy’s would do that to a child!” Draco stated.

Lilly and Siri walked into the room. “Grandmother Narcissa said that Grandfather was still here and that he would. He would love to be alive and have the power and prestige that comes with being a medium.”

Harry and Draco both stared at their daughter. “Is your grandfather here right now?” Draco demanded.

Lilly nodded her head. “He said that you are ruining the Malfoy name.”

“He has ruined the Malfoy name way before I married your father and the two of you were born.”

“He said that you are a blood traitor and no better than a Weasley.”

“I would rather be a blood traitor and a Weasley and have the love of my family and friends then to have died alone on the floor of my study with a bottle in my hand!”

“Grandfather said that you are no son of his!”

“Do you know how many times I have heard that in my life? That threat no longer works. If you haven’t noticed, father, it is I that is still alive and sitting as head at our dinner table!” Draco sneered.

“He left, daddy. He said that dad has corrupted you. What is corrupted?”

“It means that your dad has made me realize what true love is and he has made me into a better person because of it.”

Lilly grinned. “That’s because dad is special!”

Siri nodded. “We have two great dads!”

With a pop Flunky arrived in the room. “Masters, Mrs. Figg is here.”

“Take her to the sitting room, Flunky, and offer her tea. We shall join her in a moment,” Draco told the elf.

“Yes, master, sir.”

“Well, shall we?” Draco asked looking at his small family.

Harry pulled his husband into his arms and said, “Relax, love, it will be fine.”

Lilly and Sirius both wrapped their small arms around their fathers knowing that moments like this were soon at an end. They all treasured the feelings of love that flowed around them.

“Mrs. Figg, how nice to see you again,” Harry said with a genuine smile. He had fond memories of the woman who had done so much to protect him.

“It is good to see you, Harry. And please, call me Arabella.” She smiled at Harry and then looked at Draco. “I swear to you, Mr. Malfoy, on my family name and as a witch, that I will protect your daughter with my very last breath,” she said. Sparks of life flowed from her body and swam around she and Draco.

“Thank you. You don’t know what that oath means to me,” he said.

“I remember as a little girl when I left the love and comfort of my family. I won’t lie to you and tell you that this will be an easy life for Lilly, but this is what she was born to do. We do not choose our lots in life, but it is up to us what we make of them. You, Harry, should know this.”

Harry nodded. He never chose the life or prophecy that was made before his birth, but he did what he could to live up to it.

“I just want my daughter to be happy.”

“She will be content in her life. She will devote her life to the needs of others and this will bring her fulfillment. She will not have a grand passion in life, nor will she have children to keep her in her old age. She will live a lonely and solitaire life because there will be those around her that will use her for their own needs. She will need to protect herself and hardened her heart from those who would use her just for her abilities. Sometimes, she will even need to protect herself from her closest family.”

Sirius said, “Lilly will live with me when she is old. I have seen it.”

Arabella looked up in surprise. “Is he a seer?”

The entire family nodded. “Then you are one of the lucky ones, young lady. Very few Mediums can safely live with others.”

Draco was affronted. “We would not harm her!”

“You would never hurt your daughter, nor would Harry nor Sirius, but what of those who marry into this family? Will they harm your daughter? Or what of their family? Can you trust everyone who is connected to your family in some way never to use Lilly or exploit her?”

Harry and Draco looked at each other. They had never thought that far in advance. “So what happens next?” Harry asked.

“At midnight on the night of Lilly’s birthday she and I will leave for an undisclosed location. For the first six months she will be unreachable. After this I will send you notification and you will then be able to communicate via owls. A year from the date of our departure you will be able to visit. We will meet you in a place that I will disclose to you at a later date. She will not be able to come here, nor will you be able to come to our sanctuary.”

“What?” Draco gasped.

“I am sure that you understand that this is for her safety. You know why she can’t come here, and you can’t visit our location because you can bring home the knowledge of where we are for the lost souls to pick up. They can then go to our location. After a year she will have learned how to protect herself, but she will still not be strong enough to fight off a soul determined to take over her body. This is the only way that I can guarantee that she is safe.”

Draco felt the tears well up in his eyes. He had very little time left with his darling daughter and then he would be able to see her for a year. He would not have any contact of her for six months. He wrapped his arms around his chest and bit his bottle lip trying to hold in the despair that he was feeling.

“Its ok, daddy, I won’t forget you,” Lilly said. “I will write you when I can and daddy and Siri will be here for you.”

Draco felt the tears roll down his face. He reached over and picked up his small daughter and squeezed her tightly against his body inhaling the sweet scent of her. He sobbed as he held her in his arms trying not to think about how much he was going to miss her. He felt her small hand wipe the tear off of his cheek and smiled when she rubbed her nose against his. “I love you, daddy, please don’t be sad.”

“Oh Lilly, of course I will be sad!” he cried. “I won’t see you for a year.”

“Daddy, you must be brave!” she said with a soft smile.

Draco looked at his daughter who had Harry’s bright green eyes. They were sparkling with unshed tears and he felt his heart clench tightly in his chest as he saw how brave and stoic she was being. She reminded him of Harry. He always thought about the feelings of others before his own. “I promise to try and be brave for you, Lilly!” he said holding back the sob that threatened to come out.

“Dad, you will need to take care of daddy. He isn’t strong like you are,” she said looking at Harry.

Harry smiled and pulled Lilly from Draco’s arms. “I think that you would be surprised at how strong your daddy really is, Lilly. He is one of the bravest men I know.”

“But not when it comes to me and Siri.”

“That’s because he loves you so very much. He spent his whole life waiting for the two of you so that he would have someone to love. When you two arrived he gave you all the love that he had been saving for a life time.”

“Grandmother Narcissa said that Grandfather was not nice to daddy, but that you and Siri and me are all that he needs now.”

“Your grandmother is right. I promise you, Lilly, that Siri and I will take good care of your daddy.”

“I know you will, dad.”

Harry hugged his daughter and then kissed her gently and handed her back to a silently crying Draco.

“I need a hug too, daddy,” Sirius said.

“Oh, honey, are you feeling neglected?” Harry asked picking up Sirius.

Sirius laughed. “No, I meant that I needed a hug from Lilly!” he giggled.

Lilly looked at her brother and grinned. “I will miss you, Sirius.”

“Don’t worry, Lilly, we will always be together.”

“I know.”

Arabella watched the family and smiled. She knew that Harry Potter would be a good father and she was right. This small family was happy and secure with each other. “I shall return tomorrow evening. You needn’t pack anything for her except a small bag of her most precious items. She will have no need for anything else where we are going.”

Harry and Draco nodded and watched the woman leave. They were both still full of questions but they had understood immediately that they would receive no other information. They knew that Arabella Figg was committed to keeping their daughter safe and that was all they could count on now.

“So my little princess, we had thought to have a big birthday party for you and Siri, but perhaps we can just have a small party with just us and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Neville and the Weasley’s? We would rather keep you to ourselves this last little time we have left.”

“Do you want a party, Siri?” she asked.

“I just want chocolate cake!” he grinned.

“Me too!” Lilly grinned back.



A/N:
Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I just moved two states away and my life has been a bit hectic. I also had to stop long enough to read book seven. All I will say about that is I knew Neville was a Hero!!! I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who has not read it yet.