Ties in the Soul

Author's Note 1: I'm getting as bad as Harry for apologising all the time, but I'm sorry about the removal of the Hermione/Ginny tag for this story. I tried to put it in the story on two occassions, but both times it jarred and hurt the overal feel of the piece. Therefore it had to be removed.


Epilogue

Ginny’s head lay in his lap. She did not cry. She savoured each stroke of his hand. The rest of her body burnt in a hazy pain, but she could force that aside: concentrate on his touch and the simple knowledge that it was over. She had suffered enough. She had come through alive.

A series of grunts sounded out behind her.

‘Oh,’ whispered Harry.

She heard him fumbling for his wand. He’d thrown it away, so she wasn’t sure how he got it back, but soon enough a series of whispered spells began to flow over her.

Her bindings fell away first. Some of the cuts on her back healed and the plug in her arse shrank back down. His fingers delicately gripped the base and pulled it out with slow care.

‘I need to get up,’ he said.

Ginny let him and staggered up herself.

Harry stood facing Hermione, who still hung by her ankle. He cast a levitation charm first and then undid the bindings. Hermione’s skirt fell back over her legs, as she was righted, and as the last of the ropes vanished from her body.

A blotchy redness covered her face. Her eyes flashed viciously as she stared at Harry. Then, slowly, she bent down and picked her own wand up from where it had fallen.

‘You,’ she whispered, pointing her wand at Harry. The single word might have been only the start of an insult, but Ginny knew better. It felt like that single word, all by itself, was the worst insult Hermione could think of.

Ginny took a step towards the torn remnants of her shorts. Neither of them paid her any attention. She took two more steps, picked them up and fished in the left pocket.

Harry, still naked, his cock shrivelled and small, stared at Hermione. The mask had fallen over his face once more.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘Sorry!’ screeched Hermione. ‘Look what you’ve done to her!’

He glanced at Ginny for a moment and then turned back to his best friend. He hadn’t raised his wand; it hung limply in his right hand.

‘Well?’ demanded Hermione.

‘What should I say?’

‘What should you…’ The last of Hermione’s resolve seemed to crack. ‘Conjunctivitus!’ she shouted. ‘Furnunculus!’

He didn’t move. One spell struck his eyes, the other crashed into his groin. His scream ripped through the air and his body folded.

Ginny aimed her wand at Harry. ‘Finite Incantatum!’

She turned around, stepping in between Hermione and Harry’s prone body.

‘Get out of the way,’ said Hermione.

‘Look, I am so, so sorry for what he did to you, but –’

Hermione’s mouth fell open. ‘What he did to me?’

Ginny’s bare breasts still throbbed under the pain of Harry’s lashes. She wasn’t even sure how much longer her legs would hold her up, yet still she glared at Hermione with all the strength she could muster. ‘I won’t let you hurt him.’

‘This is Stockholm Syndrome! You’re not thinking right!’

‘Oh, Hermione, if only you knew. I’m at peace with myself for the first time in forever.’

They stared at each other for a long, heady moment. Tears began to well up in Hermione’s bewildered eyes.

‘Look what he did!’ she shouted.

Ginny nodded slowly. ‘And it was in him all that time,’ she said sadly, ‘just as it was in me.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I know,’ she said, lowering her wand, ‘but I can take care of it from here. We’ll talk tomorrow, I promise.’

Hermione gaped for another second longer and then brought her wand hand down. ‘Will you be safe?’

Ginny glanced behind her. Harry hadn’t moved from his crumpled position.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘I need to go,’ said Hermione. ‘Find somewhere quiet, to think, to…’

‘I know,’ Ginny repeated.

The older girl nodded helplessly and then made her way to the door.

‘Hermione,’ Ginny called out.

She turned.

‘You’ve been the most amazing friend, to Harry, to me… and I hope, in time, you can forgive us.’


***


The pain had gone. It had been fleeting, nothing compared to what he’d inflicted. Yet there seemed to be no reason to get back up, even when he heard Hermione leaving.

Harry was alone. With her.

With the vile whore who had betrayed him, and with the angel he had ripped apart.

‘Harry,’ her voice whispered.

He sighed and pulled himself up into a sitting position. She sat cross-legged in front of him.

The twin parts of his mind warred, as he gazed at her. Guilt catalogued every line on her breasts, every rope-burn on her arms. Yet beneath the guilt lived another set of eyes: eyes that saw Ginny Weasley as a wonder. The scar-lines accentuated the curves of her chest. The red skin mingled with the fire of her hair and the fire in her eyes, as she looked at him, gentle and intense.

How could she be so strong after what he’d done?

‘Hey,’ she said.

‘Why did you protect me from her?’

She gave him a small smile. ‘Because you’ll beat yourself up far worse than she ever could.’

‘I hope so.’

She cocked her head slightly to the left. ‘You are such a dark, beautiful man.’

He gaped at her for a long moment, as the lunacy of her statement swept over him.

‘Are you mad?’ he demanded.

‘Yes,’ she said, without hesitation.

‘I nearly killed you.’

‘You stopped,’ she said, her lips tightening into sober lines. ‘That’s what matters.’

It would be lovely to accept absolution, just like that. But there was a truth that Harry knew: a truth he could not, would not deny.

‘Only because of you,’ he said. ‘Only because you got through to me, just, at the end.’

She stared at him for a long time. ‘Thank you,’ she said, at last. ‘That was a lovely thing to say.’

His mouth fell open. He tried to speak several times, but couldn’t find his way around the jumps in Ginny’s logic.

She smiled and reached her hand out to take one of his. ‘I needed a fight, Harry. Something to lose myself in. I needed to matter. You’ve given me that and more. Just once, in all this mess, you let me save you.’

Harry shook his head. ‘You nearly died.’

‘Yes, I’m frightfully heroic, aren’t I?’ she said. When he did nothing but glare at her, she continued. ‘But it’s more complicated than heroes and villains, Harry. I had my darkness, and I brought out some of yours.’

‘It would have come out anyway,’ Harry said. ‘Sometime, somewhere…’

She squeezed his hand. ‘This is going to take time and space and thought, but I want to love all of you, light and dark. And I think that maybe, with time, with space, with thought… we can save each other.’

He felt his mask crack. This girl sat in front of him – the hero-villain, the angelic whore – offering him beautiful, terrible things: an ease to his guilt and a home for his darkest thoughts.

‘Will you try?’ she whispered.

He looked at her, tears blurring his vision. His throat had choked up and there was no way he could speak. He put his free hand on her right cheek and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

Her body met his in a rib-popping embrace. Her lips fell on his tears. He summoned up all his resolve and forced himself to speak.

‘Thank you,’ he managed.

And they said no more.


***


Two months later...

‘Hermione is disappointed you’re not coming,’ whispered Ginny.

They had curled together on a couch in the Weasley’s Living Room. Sat on the floor, several metres away, Hermione, Percy and George glared fiercely at their cards as they battled through a surprisingly heated game of Exploding Snap. Loud calls rang out as the rest of the Weasleys cheered them on.

Harry’s smile was strained, as he stared at the game. ‘I wish she’d tell me that herself.’

‘She has forgiven you. Honest, Harry. It’s just that, well… she’s embarrassed more than anything. It’s been hard for her.’

‘I know.’ He sighed. ‘She’s the only thing that made me wonder whether this is the right choice. Maybe I should have gone back with you and worked on making things right.’

The damage to Hogwarts had finally been repaired and the school was belatedly starting its Autumn Term. Hermione had accepted McGonagall’s offer to sit her seventh year, and even Ron had been strong-armed into attending.

But Harry had told them he wasn’t.

Deciding that Harry’s current line of thought – brooding about Hermione – was altogether unhealthy, Ginny punched him in the arm. ‘The only thing?’

‘Ha,’ he said. ‘You know I’ll miss you, but I need some time to myself: to escape, to explore.’

She smirked. ‘I’m totally up for mounting a dramatic breakout from the Hogwarts Express and running away with you.’

‘Your mother would kill me,’ Harry said, glancing over at Mum and speaking in hushed tones. ‘She hasn’t forgiven me for not completing my NEWTs. Let alone if I stole away with you.’

‘Hmph,’ said Ginny, pretending to sulk, but her curiosity got the better of her. ‘Where are you going to go?’

‘Africa, I think.’ A far-away look appeared on Harry’s face. ‘I want to find a mountain to climb and just lose myself on it. Stay there for weeks.’

Despite her petulant act, Ginny was ecstatic for him. Harry would never had made a decision like this ten weeks ago: he would have been all wrapped up in how he could best serve the Ministry, or bowing to Mum and Hermione’s nagging.

‘So you get to gallivant, while I have to get my socks bored off in Muggle Studies?’

‘I’ll be back for Christmas, waiting for you at King’s Cross,’ Harry replied, looking slightly repentant.

Ginny kissed him on the cheek. ‘I know. And no one deserves a chance to gallivant more than you.’

‘Ha!’ bellowed a loud, female voice. ‘Take that!’

Ginny turned back to the game to see a triumphant Hermione, arms held aloft, facing a soot-faced Percy, complete with blackened glasses.

‘Uhm, Hermione,’ said Ron, holding onto her shoulders, ‘it’s just a game.’

Hermione blushed. ‘Uhm, yeah… well played, Percy. It was very close.’

Percy pulled off his glasses and began wiping them with his handkerchief. ‘A good game,’ he said.

With a fake shudder, George glanced up at Dad. ‘She’s a bit scary, isn’t she? I hope my little brother knows what he’s getting himself in for.’

Dad snorted. ‘He’ll learn.’

The evening wound onward, with more than a little butterbeer being consumed. It was their last time together before Hogwarts. Jokes and laughter rang out, and Ginny felt that maybe, for a few minutes at a time, the pain of Fred’s absence was dulled. But it hung over each of them: eventually the jokes ran dry and it was time for Hermione to head off.

‘Are you sure you won’t stay?’ asked Mum.

‘I promised my parents I’d be back before dark,’ said Hermione. ‘I want to spend as much time as I can with them.’

Another dark current ran through the gathering. ‘How are they getting on?’ asked Dad.

‘Better,’ said Hermione. ‘Much better. It’s been a bit of a shock for them.’

‘Well, take care, and we’ll see you off tomorrow.’

After a series of hugs and farewells, Hermione turned to Harry. ‘Can I say goodbye to you outside?’

He followed her out.


***


Nerves leapt around his stomach, as he left the warmth of the Burrow and came out in the cool air of evening. They hadn’t really spoken since the event two months ago. There had been polite exchanges, but no mention of what had taken place.

Hermione turned straight away. ‘Are you still set on this foolhardy travelling idea?’ she demanded.

He swallowed. ‘Yes.’

‘Are you aware of the importance of a good education?’

‘I suppose.’

Hermione raised her eyebrows in a very McGonagall-esque way. ‘You suppose?’

‘I mean “yes”.’

She glared across at him, and then a peculiar twitch developed in the corner of her mouth. ‘Oh, Harry,’ she said. ‘You’re impossible to argue with.’

‘Uhm, sorry…’

She laughed and then all of a sudden, she flew at him, wrapping him up in a sudden embrace. ‘I am going to miss you so much.’

He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed back slightly. ‘Hermione, I need to say, I am so sorry for what –’

‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘It’s gone.’

He continued regardless. ‘Part of why I’m taking some time to myself, is so I can come to terms with myself more… make sure I don’t hurt people I care about again.’

‘I still think you should be with us, in Hogwarts.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Harry.

‘You keep saying that.’

‘I know,’ said Harry, smiling too. ‘I would apologise, but…’

‘Oh, look after yourself,’ she said, interrupting him with another fierce hug. ‘I want you to promise.’

Harry nodded.

‘Okay, well, see you tomorrow. I’m leaving before I cry.’

He nodded again, and she disappeared with a pop.

He stayed standing for a while. Ginny had been right. Hermione had forgiven him. It beggared belief. He had never expected forgiveness. Deep down, he’d always believed that any slip from nobility would see him rejected by everyone. But they had both told him to let it go, to move on.

It wasn’t easy. The darkness inside had blindsided him, right from that moment when he’d seen Ginny kneeling at Tom’s feet. The eroticism of the sight had cut deep, brought out parts of himself he would never have believed. But he needed to believe them. If he denied the darkness, it would only make it that much easier for the darkness to control him.

Suddenly, the kitchen door opened and Ginny came out. ‘Good news,’ she said, smiling down at him.

‘Oh?’

‘Mum gave me permission to take you for a walk.’ She hurried down the stone steps and wrapped an arm around his waist. ‘She’s such a romantic. She’s expecting grandkids soon, don’t you know?’

‘What?’ he blurted.

Ginny giggled. ‘You’re so easy to wind up.’

‘You harpy,’ he said, without anger. ‘Where are we walking to?’

‘I was thinking the woods at the back. That alright?’

‘Sure.’ His mind instantly leapt on all the possibilities that a walk in the woods held. It was lovely to think that this fiery, intelligent woman might soon be kneeling at his feet.

‘How was it with Hermione?’ asked Ginny.

‘Good.’

She raised an inquisitive eyebrow. ‘Really good?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I’m glad.’

Harry sighed. ‘Me, too.’

As they walked, the last light from the set sun faded out, leaving only a bright moon to illuminate the ground. When they reached the wood, they used Lumos spells to light the path. They didn’t speak, but walked in a building silence.

Without any pre-arranged signal, they stopped in a small clearing. Harry let go of her hand and turned to face him.

‘I’m going to start giving you orders now.’

Everything about Ginny’s previous demeanour slipped away. No longer did her bright eyes laugh teasingly at him. No longer did the taut muscles of her body ring with confidence and power. Instead, she bowed her head and stared at the floor.

As it did every time, the change astonished Harry and made him feel like the most powerful man in the Universe. He catalogued her clothing: skirt, high, striped socks, low-cut shirt.

Then, as if to counteract his previous musings, her head came up and her eyes flashed with mischief. ‘Just going to stare gormlessly, Master?’

He slapped her face instantly, her head jerking to the side under the impact.

‘Stand with your legs apart,’ he said. ‘And drag your knickers down to just below your knees.’

His red hand mark flushed the right side of her face. Slowly she reached under her skirt and pulled down a pair of lacy blue knickers. She had to squat as she pulled them down, leaving them stretched between her legs like a flag at half-mast: the signal of her defeat.

He smiled at the sight. She looked like a naughty girl caught masturbating. The humiliation of that would cut out any more cheek.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small rectangle of silk. He threw it to her and she caught it. ‘Tie this around your eyes.’

The girl reached up and did as he ordered.

He watched her for a long moment, as a breeze swept through the wood, toying with the hem of Ginny’s skirt. He knew what lay beneath and this time, she wouldn’t hurry him. She was powerless.

‘Take off your shirt,’ he said.

She put her fingers under the hem and began to pull it off. When the shirt was above her head, but still wrapped around her arms, Harry whispered a transfiguration spell.

The shirt became strands of tight leather that twisted tightly, binding her forearms together.

Ginny squeaked in shock, unaware of what had happened. She struggled for a brief second and then relented, lowering her bound arms in front of her.

‘You look quite kissable like this. Knickers down, blindfolded, hands restrained, but sadly, you’re not worthy of my kiss.’

‘No, Master,’ she whispered.

‘Do you happen to know why you’re not worthy?’

She raised her chin slightly. ‘Because I’m a worthless slut, Master.’

What amazed him the most was that he knew she meant every word: that in that instant it was truth. Only seconds before they had been walking hand in hand as lovers and now she’d done this for him, become his whore, become something malleable beneath his will.

He loved her fire and her strength, but the fact she had the strength to give it all up, for him… completely blew his mind.

Yet he didn’t let any of his admiration show. Instead, he stepped behind her and breathed against her neck. ‘What happens to worthless sluts, little Ginny?’

She groaned. He didn’t need to check to know that her folds would be sopping wet.

Unhappy with the lack of response, he grabbed her hair and jerked her head backwards. ‘Answer me, slave.’

‘They get punished…’

‘And?’

Ginny was breathing heavily, but she managed to continue. ‘And they get used by their owner.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘And tonight, we will do it in three stages. Firstly, you will kneel and take my cock in your whorish mouth. Secondly, you will hold your skirt aloft as I cane your arse and your thighs. Lastly, you will go down in this dirt, arse up, and rub your face in it, while taking everything I give you.’

Her body writhed. ‘Yes,’ she begged. ‘Please.’

As he ordered her down, and as she opened her willing mouth for him, Harry allowed himself a small smirk.

After all, she’d thought he was easy to wind up.



Author's Note 2: Incidentally, you're all extremely lucky we were in Ginny's POV for that first bit. Otherwise I would have devoted at least five paragraphs to eulogising how hot she looked facing down Hermione. Naked and inflamed flesh, red hair swirling lose behind, fiery devotion shining in her eyes... Grrhmm.

This epilogue was hard to write. Massive thanks to Salon_Kitty for her beta. This epilogue would have been far poorer without her help.

SoftObsidian - I've been completely blown away by your reviews. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. It's incredibly flattering to get them from someone who's written one of the finest BDSM epics I've ever read. I'd love to get chatting to you sometime about writing techniques. Send me an email if you happen to get a chance.

willow faerie - Your reviews arrived at exactly the right time. Helped me no end with my writer's block. You can probably see the influence of your Madonna/whore reference in the resolution I came up with. So thank you. Your insights were brilliant.

One small note: Ginny doesn't say that Riddle was her Dumbledore - although that would have been cool - but that Remus was. Sometimes I put odd lines in like that; it came from the idea in my head that Remus will have helped her get over the experience of the Chamber in her second year.

1379 - thank you!

EmilyWaters - Much appreciated. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

Daye - Cheers. I think you're spot on with your thoughts.


As regard to future stories, I do have a few plans, but it may take a while for any to come to fruition.