When Ginny came to next, she realized she was in a bed of some sort. At least it felt like a bed. She also realized that she wasn�t alone. As she moved, the body next to her did as well and she felt someone breathing against her neck. She turned her head and got a mouth full of black hair for her trouble. She pulled her head back slightly and felt a million bursts of happiness within her. Harry. He was all right. He was alive.

He looked pale and there were small cuts along his face. The left side of his face seemed bruised. Ginny tenderly reached out a hand to touch it and he stirred again, whispering something under his breath. Ginny looked around her and realized they were at St. Mungo�s. She couldn�t understand why they had allowed them to stay in the same bed together. But right now, Ginny didn�t really care.

Moving closer to him she placed her other hand on his face. She needed to wake him up. She needed to see those eyes looking back at her. She needed to make sure this wasn�t a dream.

�Harry,� she whispered softly. She leaned in and kissed him gently on the mouth, her tongue slipping between his lips. Harry moaned softly and then opened his eyes, trying to focus.

�Ginny?� his voice was gruff and harsh, as though it hurt to speak.

She nodded and then realized he probably couldn�t see very well. She turned her head to the table beside the bed and didn�t see his glasses anywhere.

�I think I lost them,� he whispered and his face winced as he tried to swallow. Ginny immediately moved closer to him.

�Are you okay? You�re really here, right? You�re not dead?�

Harry made a sound that sounded like a laugh but it came out sounding harsh. After a moment he looked at her.

�You saved me... when you... I don�t know what you did. But I was...�

Ginny put a finger over his mouth and shushed him. She could tell it hurt his throat to talk and she didn�t want him to strain himself. Moving slowly, Ginny tried to sit up. She felt drained. As though she had been awake for days. As though she had nothing left in her. Harry�s arm on her back steadied her.

�You�re weak. Lay back down,� he said softly.

�I should get a medi-witch... your throat, it hurts so much.�

Ginny didn�t know how she knew that but she did. She knew that each time he spoke it felt like a burning fire in his throat. She looked down at his face and bit her lip. There was a bruise along the left side of his face and it looked horrible.

�Oh Harry, what did you do to yourself?� She reached out and tenderly touched the swelling purple mass of flesh that used to be his left cheekbone. Immediately, as though she had touched hot flame, Ginny had the sensation of being slammed against a rock. She gasped and Harry put his hand around her wrist, breaking off her contact. They stared at each other in disbelief.

Ginny shook her head. What she had just felt, it had been what Harry had felt. She had felt the roughness of the rock as it hit her. The force of the pain as it swept through her body.

�I don�t know what�s happening between us,� Harry said and he released her hand. He swallowed painfully. �But I think your father does. He was trying to talk to me earlier while you were still out, but I couldn�t stay awake for very long. I think when you saved me, you did something... amazing.�

�When I touched you just now... I felt what you felt.�

Harry nodded and his eyes were wide as he looked at her. �And when you moved I felt how weak you are. What exactly did you do?�

�Oh Harry, you were hurt so bad... I...� Ginny felt herself begin to cry. The reality of almost having lost him hit her like the wall of stone that she had just felt hit Harry in her mind. She started to sob and she couldn�t help it. The thought of losing him forever... Ginny felt her heart break at the thought. Harry pulled himself up and put his arms around her. He kept murmuring her name over and over again and rocking her slightly in his arms. She felt herself fall against him, her mind in confusion. She knew Harry was better than he should be. He shouldn�t be able to move or even use his arms, but he was. She pulled up her head and looked at him, saw that his eyes were wet with his own tears.

�Why are you crying?� she asked.

Harry shook his head. �I don�t know. Because you were, I reckon. I just felt how scared you were. But you didn�t lose me Ginny, I�m here. I promise you�re not dreaming.�

Ginny was amazed as she stopped crying and wiped at her eyes. He had known exactly what she had been feeling.

�What�s happening to us?� she asked him. She felt dizzy and unable to keep her head up.

Harry looked back at her, his face concerned.

�I don�t know. By all accounts I shouldn�t even be moving, let alone still alive and yet...�

�Yet you are, Harry...� a voice said from behind them and they both turned to see her father coming into the room.

�You�re alive when you shouldn�t be. And you�re growing stronger by the minute, aren�t you?� Arthur asked pointedly and after a moment, Harry nodded.

Ginny felt dizzy again and could barely focus on the figure of her father. She felt his arms around her then as he removed her from Harry�s embrace. She started to protest but her father made sure was supported on her own.

�It�s because my daughter gave you a very special gift, Harry. She gave you the Kiss of Life.�

Ginny gasped and looked at her father. Had she done that? She couldn�t remember invoking any spell as she had tried to breathe life into him. She remembered concentrating all of her will into Harry... she remembered thinking that she would give up her life for Harry�s...

�Oh, Dad. I did... but I didn�t realize, I mean... I didn�t-�

Arthur looked at her, his face grave. �I would have expected nothing less from you, Ginny. I knew you loved Harry, but I didn�t know how much until Bill and Ron told me what happened.�

Harry coughed and cleared his throat and Ginny knew that even his throat felt better by now. She smiled to herself as she thought of it. I did that, she thought. Me, my power, my love...

�I�m sorry, but what is the Kiss of Life? And why am I getting better and why is Ginny getting weaker?� Harry asked, his voice still rough.

Arthur pulled Ginny closer to him and made sure that she was okay. He looked at Harry and Ginny thought she saw a flash of anger there but then it was gone. Her father couldn�t hold Harry responsible for this. It had been her choice.

�You�re aware of course, Harry, what occurs when the dementor�s opt to give someone a kiss?�

Harry nodded. �They suck out a person�s soul.�

�Right. And you also know that for every dark thing in our world there is usually a corresponding aspect of light that remains it�s opposite. In this case, it is the Kiss of Life.�

Ginny saw that Harry was confused and she wanted to make him understand before it was beyond her capacity to speak.

�What Dad means, Harry is that there is an ancient spell that will give life, the way a dementor�s kiss will take it. Well, the dementor�s kiss doesn�t actually take life itself, but-�

�Shh.. Ginny. Save your strength,� her father whispered to her, holding her closer.

Harry was staring at them both, realization on his face.

�So when Ginny... when she kissed me, when she breathed air back into me, she did this spell?�

Arthur nodded. He took a deep breath and his voice was shaky as he spoke. �And now I�m afraid that it�s killing her. See you cannot give the Kiss of Life unless you love the person more than your own life. People being the way they are, it is an extremely rare thing. The fact that Ginny didn�t realize she was doing it and that she did it completely without thought to her own safety has made the connection between you stronger. You two are now connected because of it. But I�m afraid that the stronger you grow Harry, the weaker she will become until there is nothing left of herself that she can give you.�

Harry cursed and Ginny winced at the anguish in his voice. She could feel his pain as though someone had hit her with it. She reached out a hand to calm him. Their last moments together shouldn�t be about hurting...

�NO!� Harry yelled and she felt his hands on her, pulling her out of her father�s grasp. �Take it back, Ginny. Take it back. I don�t want to live if it means that you have to die.�

�Harry it�s okay-�

�To hell it�s not! Mr. Weasley, tell her- what can I do, I don�t want this-�

Harry choked as his tears fell and she felt their heat as they fell on her face. Harry�s torment washed over her but Ginny knew it would be over soon. He was strong, she could even feel her strength inside of him. A small part of her would continue on, inside of him. She smiled at the thought. But no, she couldn�t leave him crying like this. She reached her hand up almost lazily and pulled his head down to hers. Just a small kiss goodbye...

Harry�s tears mixed with the ones she hadn�t even realized that she had shed. She felt the familiar longing of her body respond to Harry�s touch and felt herself melt against him. She was so weak and so very, very tired, but she didn�t want to let go of him, not yet. Their kiss deepened. Ginny felt warm all over and found herself moving closer to him. He moved against her, his hand in her hair, holding her neck. In the tiny spark of life that remained within her, Ginny responded and felt a flare of energy along her skin. It was Harry, it was his strength that was dancing along her skin and it held onto her with determination. He wasn�t going to let her go. Their kiss grew more urgent and Ginny moved her hands down the front of him, forgetting where she was, forgetting everything. She pulled at the flimsy robe they had dressed him in and moaned as her hand made contact with his skin. Something was opening inside of her as Harry�s power touched her. In her mind�s eye she saw the last time they had been together and she remembered the heat of his body against hers. It suddenly dawned on her that she was feeling less weak than before and that things were happening to her body that shouldn�t be happening if she were truly dying. She broke away from Harry�s mouth and gazed at him, her heart beating stronger and louder than before. Harry looked back at her, his eyes dark with longing. Ginny knew something had just happened that shouldn�t have. She felt like herself again. She felt tired, but she no longer felt as though she was being drained. She put a tentative hand to Harry�s face and needed to make sure he was still okay.

�How do you feel?� she whispered.

Harry blinked at her and moved his body against her and she suddenly knew exactly how he felt. She blushed and Harry sighed, his voice still uneven.

�I�m entirely embarrassed that this has happened in front of your father, actually.�

Ginny snapped her head back, remembering suddenly and turned around to face her father, who was staring at them as though he had never quite seen anything like them.

�Er... Dad,� Ginny faltered and moved herself in front of Harry, although she knew her father had already seen the evidence of Harry�s well being.

�I don�t believe it,� Arthur Weasley said softly and collapsed in a chair that sat at the foot of the bed. He shook his head amazingly at his daughter.

Harry fell back behind her and Ginny lowered herself down, still shielding him. He gasped as her body touched his and she turned her head, an apology on her face. Harry�s face was pink and his eyes were focused on hers, yet she could tell it was a struggle. Ginny was glad that her father couldn�t see what Harry�s kiss had done to her or she might have never been able to face him. As it was... Ginny shook her head. She needed to understand why she was no longer dying.

�Dad, what happened, just then?�

Arthur looked up at them and he didn�t seem embarrassed by the fact that Ginny and Harry were, for all intents and purposes, locked in a heavy state of arousal. In fact, he seemed pleased by it.

�I would have never thought,� he muttered to himself. �Oh, but of course, it makes sense, doesn�t?�

Ginny felt herself respond to Harry�s breath along her neck and she longed to turn around and just throw herself into his arms but the small part of her brain that didn�t want to be scarred for life of embarrassment, focused on her father.

�What makes sense? What happened when we kissed just then? Did we break the spell?�

Her father looked at her and shook his head. �No, but you�re both extremely lucky.�

�Mr. Weasley... Arthur... please, tell us,� Harry spoke over her head and Ginny felt herself shiver as his voice traveled across her skin.

Arthur watched them for a moment and then spoke. �You two are soul mates.�

Ginny looked up at Harry as he looked down at her, and saw the confusion that matched her own. She looked at her father.

�Soul mates? Dad, really... isn�t that... well, isn�t that just a bunch of romantic Muggle codswallop?�

Arthur shook his head. �No, it�s not. Oh, well, I mean, it does get its play about as something less then true, that�s for sure. And yes, Muggles are especially fond of throwing the term out there, but in the wizarding world... it means something other than the standard definition. It�s why you two are able to save each other. Why you�ve always been able to save each other. Your souls are joined. One without the other is less than... one without the other isn�t whole. You�re two sides to the same knut. It�s like you�re... you�re both the question and the answer to each other. Ginny, the Kiss of Life you invoked was powerful magic based on your desire to bring the other part of your soul back to life. And Harry�s desire to return that gift to you, repaid the debt of that, canceling it out. I�ve read about this before but I have never known of it to happen in a couple that was so young,� Arthur paused and looked at them again. He chuckled. �Of course, that would explain why the two of you... ah... respond so physically to each other. One of the consequences of finding you soul mate so early in life is that the power of Eros is much stronger. In fact, I�d say it almost has a will of its own. A will that matched the one that you poured into Harry, Ginny.�

Ginny blinked at her father. She tried to understand his words but couldn�t because at that moment Harry shifted behind her and she was once again reminded of what they had interrupted. She felt something tighten in her body and she was breathless.

Harry�s voice sounded normal when he spoke and Ginny had to once again marvel at his ability to control his body. She felt herself beginning to lose her own battle and could only hope her father left before she did something she�d regret.

�So... we�re both okay? Ginny�s not... she�s not going to-�

�No, Harry. She�s not going to die. Basically and without too much sentimentality, your love for each other has truly saved the both of you.�

Ginny stared up at Harry. That made it twice now that he�d done that. She was lacking in the count. She�d have to make it up to him, somehow...

�Dad,� she said after a moment. �Could you leave us alone for awhile?�

Ginny could barely believe she had just asked her father that question, but well, he had just told them they were soul mates, hadn�t he? She turned her head and watched as her father suddenly grew stern.

�Now, Ginny, I will not have you and Harry getting up to... well, that, right here in a hospital wing. Not with your entire family waiting outside. Bill and Ron are beside themselves. You two can control yourselves. For a short time at any rate, right Harry?�

Harry looked down at her and his eyes were dark, standing out even more so against the paleness of his skin. Ginny noticed with a start that the bruise along his face had almost faded. When he spoke, his voice was thick and coarse, but Ginny knew it wasn�t because his throat still hurt.

�I reckon we can, Arthur. For a short time.�

Her father cleared his throat and they looked at him. �Right then, Ginny, out of that bed, or at least not draped over his lap like that. And Harry... the ah... yes, the pillow, that should suffice.�

Ginny laughed inwardly as she watched her father turned pink as Harry moved one of the pillows to his lap. She sat up and pulled one of the blankets around her.

Harry�s hand grabbed hers and she looked down at the way they joined so well together. The enormity of what her father had just told them made her breath catch. What had Harry told her the other night? That they fit together, that everything came naturally to them. Now they knew why. It made everything they had ever fought about seem pale in comparison. She looked up and met his eyes. He squinted at her and smiled.

�I really need to find some glasses. Not being able to see you is driving me crazy.�

�You don�t need glasses to see this,� Ginny brought his hand up to her chest and placed it over her heart.

Harry sighed and whispered that he loved her in her ear. She closed her eyes and relished the feel of his breath against her skin. For one moment everything was clear to Ginny. Her place, her purpose, her home. Everything was here, in her hands and nothing could ever break them apart.

�Well, your plan had the absolute opposite effect,� his partner was telling him, his voice a barely controlled whisper.

Louis glared at him and kicked at one of the chairs in front of the table.

The news of Ginny�s dramatic rescue of Harry and the subsequent healing that Potter received because of it filled Louis with anger. He had not foreseen this new wrinkle and like all things unplanned, Louis hated not being in control. He felt his anger flowing through him and the other chair he had stood behind cracked as his hands bore down on it. He barely felt the splinters of wood as they pricked his skin.

�We still have Malfoy to use,� he said quietly.

�And what exactly are you doing with him? You can�t trust him not to go running off after you let him out. I don�t know why you thought this would work-�

Louis turned around and stared at the other man, his eyes narrowing.

�It was better than any plan you had. Before I came along you were a lovesick puppy, moping over her. �Oh she�ll never love me, �oh she�ll never know...� I remember you sobbing into your pillow. Pathetic.�

The other man stiffened and turned away from him. He leaned against the doorframe and Louis watched his shoulders. Fine, be that way, you�re weak and you always have been.

Taking a deep breath, Louis felt his anger abate and used his wand to repair the chair he had broken. So Potter was alright again, so what. He�d just use Malfoy earlier than he thought and create more havoc. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. He could move on to his next victim. He was tired of Mandy, she cried far too much, even with the influence of the belladonna.

The other man cleared his throat and turned to look at him.

�Ginny knows this is about her, by the way. The Eaton girl told her. You should be more careful what you call them.�

Louis ignored him and continued to think of the different girls he knew... someone important this time, yes... someone to cause a lot of work for his dear Weasley. He�d get rid of Mandy... set Malfoy loose...

He looked at his partner. Maybe it was time to cut a few other things loose as well...

�It doesn�t matter what Ginny thinks she knows. She won�t know anything until I want her to. Look, it�s time to dump Mandy. I want her out of here. Take care of it, if you can manage, and get the room ready for the next one.�

Louis stood up, feeling calmer now. A good plan always eased the mind.

�The next one?�

Louis smiled and nodded. �Yeah. And this one will be a bit close to home, my friend. Even you will appreciate it.�

Whistling, Louis moved by him and left the room and headed towards the room he had locked Draco in. It was time the younger Malfoy earn his keep.