Harmony Bond (Completed)

Chapter 7: A Talk with Sirius

Back at the Grangers, Harry and Hermione settled in for their last week with her parents. The time at the beach had been good, but now they had to focus on tasks for the summer. Harry's discussion with Dumbledore after the wedding still bothered him. There was definitely something more going on and he needed to know more. He had talked to Sirius as well, who said he needed to talk to Harry later. So, on their last day in Felixstowe, Harry had sent Hedwig to Sirius and arranged for him to come to dinner at the Grangers the day they got back.

Over the last days at the beach, Harry and Hermione had talked over everything that was happening and noticed a few things they hadn't correlated yet. First, their bond seemed to be settling in since they had managed to run separate errands for a couple hours apart and only felt a bit more tired than usual. Second, their magic seemed to have changed and grown. Harry's bit of spontaneous magic when he stopped Meggie from falling down the stairs was just one sign. Another example happened one morning when Harry's glasses had fallen off the night stand and he had been too asleep to look for them. Without thinking, he had cast a quick 'accio' without his wand and the glasses had zipped to his hand. Hermione had something similar when she was cooking one evening and, without thinking, summoned the salt across the kitchen. Neither of them fully understood what was happening. Was their magic growing, their skills improving, or were they somehow boosting each other? Maybe it was a combination. In addition to these events, their perceptions of each other had increased. They could now feel each other's emotions over longer distances and now would catch stray thoughts.

While these changes were all welcome, the afternoon after the wedding something else happened that put a damper on their joyful mood. Harry had been entering a shop with Hermione when his scar suddenly felt like it was being ripped open and he dropped to his knees, holding his head. He had had pains before, but nothing this bad had happened since the cemetery. Tonks had been on duty and had immediately appeared by the door, looking around for attackers as Hermione dropped to her knees next to Harry, trying to comfort him, but also feeling the pain to a lesser degree. A couple bystanders stopped as well, but Hermione passed it off as a migraine and they desisted. After a couple minutes, Harry was able to stand and stumble to an alley where Tonks quickly apparated them back to the cottage. She had called Dade and the old Auror had arrived with a couple potions to help with the after effects of the attack. They were better with the potions, but both were exhausted and decided to nap and relax in the back garden for the rest of the day. As they curled around each other, Hermione turned her head and kissed Harry's jaw as she checked on him.

"You feel better now love. Only a trace of pain left. I never understood what the scar does to you until I felt it myself. I can't imagine how you cope with it being so much worse than what I felt through you. Do you have any idea what triggered it this time? You haven't had anything except twinges all summer."

"I'm not exactly sure Mione, but whatever it was, he was very angry. I got a flash of some old house. I've never seen it before, so I assume the image came from him."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't happen again. We only have a day left of our vacation."

The next day, Harry had taken Hermione to see Miranda's Shoppe and thank the old witch for her assistance. Knowing that their story was already in the Prophet, Harry had happily introduced Hermione as his wife. The old lady was thrilled to meet her and quite astute when she complimented Hermione on her bouquet. While they were in the shop talking to Miranda, Hermione had been drawn to her small selection of books and one specifically caught her eye. The hefty tome was titled Mind Magics and included extensive training as well as case studies on occlumency, legilimency and complementary seer abilities. The price was as hefty as the book, but Harry bought it, happy to support Miranda's small shop. They had started to read the book later that day as they sprawled on the beach and they both found it fascinating. Harry had never heard of the two most common mind magics before and Hermione had read about them only in passing. That evening they each started meditation exercises as they started the work to build up their shields.