Unexpected Gifts

Chapter XV

March sooner rolled in. March came with more study sessions for the fifth and seventh years, cramming for their exams.

Harry and Daphne were the only students set to graduate a year early, so they were both attempting to achieve the highest amount of O's they could on their OWLs.

There were both taking Transfiguration, Potions, Ancient Runes, Arthrimancy, Charms, Defence, and Astrology, but Harry was taking Muggle Studies and Daphne was taking History of Magic.

They weren't seen studying outside the windows of time in the library with their friends, but their advanced levels of Occlumency, they both have been Level Six Occlumens since their mind-melding, meant that they had a near-perfect eidetic memory.

Professor Snape had tested their shields in early January and as he brushed against Daphne's mind, he was forcefully thrown back into his by Harry.

This led to a quick explanation that they were already connected on a mental and subconscious level, which surprised the Head of House Slytherin.

He went on to test their shields individually, an action that the others still felt with their blocking of each other. Searching through Daphne's shields, he was overcome by a heavy chill.

Harry's mind was locked tighter than a firecrab's arse and he heard the threatening growl of a large animal. Snape did not stay long enough to find out what animal.

As he tested their combined shields, a wave of oppressive magic plowed into him with the snarling growls of two large animals.

It was at that moment that he found out that Daphne had complete mastery of her animagus training and understood the depth of their bond.

Snape's love and hate for James and Lily Potter was barely a candle flame compared to the roaring inferno that was the bond between Harry and Daphne Potter-Black-Greengrass.

They were not simply melded together on a mental level. No, they were bound through their intercourse, through their very magic. Their magical cores were intercoiled, endlessly siphoning and strengthening the other. Harry and Daphne were bound by their very souls, a concept that Severus couldn't begin to fathom.

And yet, as he pulled himself back into his mind, he knew a single truth. The couple standing in front of him didn't have to understand just how deep their bond ran. The only knowledge they needed was that they were man and wife and that they were still continually falling in love together. They were happy with that knowledge alone, and they readily accepted they were soul-bonded.

They would be old and grayed, having lived many lifetimes over again, before they would fully grasp what being soul-bound meant. It meant that they were Magic's chosen couple. When the wild magic of the world was in danger of changing, the otherworldly being known as Magic, sister to Fate and Death, would choose two souls to act as her vessels. It was purely by chance that the three entities would choose a single vessel among the collective. In this lifetime, that vessel was Harry Potter. Magic simply gave him a life partner to struggle beside for the rest of time, to forever find each other for all of eternity.

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Easter Break lasted from the last week of March to the first week of April. The weather was typically cloudy with smattering rains this time of year, but it had been clear in the Highlands of Scotland.

As Harry and Daphne planned a little getaway for their immediate family, they were undecided on a location. They had a small list of countries but knew they had a few more days to decide.

Several days through the middle of March, Draco was seen in heavy conversation with Hermione Granger. She had spent several days explaining the English monetary system to him. This stemmed from talks about the largest muggle money systems, those being the euro, dollar, and yen.