A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed "A Tale of Two Destinies: The Stone." Here, as promised, is year two. Ginny joins Harry at Hogwarts. There will be all sorts of fun and excitement, not to mention danger and suspense! You should read the first story before this one to catch up on the changes made, otherwise, some of this won't make sense. And no...I won't tell you who ends up with the Diary this time around.

A Tale of Two Destinies: The Chamber

"Get up, you git!" a very insistent female voice roused Harry Potter from a rather pleasant dream about playing quidditch. He rolled over and opened one eye.

A bouncing red blob was next to his bed. Harry groaned and reached for his glasses, only to discover that the blob was Ginny Weasley.

"Can't you let me sleep in at all this summer?" he asked her blandly.

"No," she replied with a smile. "You agreed to do this bond, and I'm holding you to it. Today, Minerva McGonagall is coming over for tea with Mum, and I'm going to pretend to fall off my broom. In reality, you and I are going to do the bond spell, and they'll all believe we've accidentally bonded. Therefore, we don't have to make up a reason. It's not as strange if we've saved each other."

He sat up and yawned. "When did you save me?"

"Dur!" Ginny laughed, smacking him. "I was a four year old phenom, saving the Boy-Who-Lived from his abusive uncle!"

Harry hugged her, grateful again that fate had sent them back together. He didn't know what he would do without Ginny.

"Ginny," Sirius' voice sounded from the hall. "I'm glad you live just across the way. Every time I wake him, he swings at me."

Harry's godfather opened the door and smiled at the sight of his godson hugging the girl next door. The two reminded him of Lily and James in their later years, but Ginny's brother, Ron, and Harry's friend, Hermione, reminded him of his friends through the rest of school. It was healing for the man's soul to be around them all.

"Did you think about what I told you, Padfoot?" Harry asked, standing up from his bed.

Now the man looked troubled. "Yes. But we'll discuss it after you're dressed. Come back downstairs with me, Ginny."

Once the three of them were eating breakfast (Sirius cleared it with Molly first), the man spoke.

"I did think about everything I did in school, Harry," the former Gryffindor said slowly. "And I was frequently out of line. But...I'm just not sure that Professor Snape would ever forgive me. I don't think you understand how antagonistic we were to one another."

"That's a five galleon word," Ginny muttered.

Harry glanced at her, amused, then turned to Sirius.

"I know, Padfoot. But he helped me a lot after seeing Voldemort. I know that you two don't like each other, but if you would just talk, it would mean a lot to me."

He watched as the man sighed in defeat. He knew that the two men would be able to put the past behind them, if they would both act like adults.

"I'm going over to Ginny's this afternoon."

Sirius nodded his consent, too busy with his own thoughts to wonder whether Molly had plans for the day.

---

That afternoon, Ginny and Harry hovered around the back window waiting for the professor to arrive. Ginny had decided that Harry should say the quick incantation, and she would scream to gather attention so that the bond could be witnessed.

Everything went just as they had planned, except, they were knocked unconscious by the backlash. When Harry awoke, he felt a sudden wave of nausea and pain even before he tried to sit up. He opened his eyes and found he was in his own bedroom, and Sirius was sitting next to him.

"Hey cub," the man said gently. "Don't try to get up. You were magically exhausted and I brought you home to rest."

"Where's Ginny?" Harry slurred, wondering what had gone wrong to make him hurt this bad.

"She in her own room. You probably saved her life. Molly found a broom near you and we guessed you must have caught her."

"It hurts..." Harry wheezed, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. "Padfoot...why?"

Sirius looked surprised and panicked. "I'm calling Molly, kiddo. Don't move."

Harry would have laughed if he'd been able. The thought of moving when he felt like he was dying was the worst suggestion he'd ever heard. As Sirius left the boy's room, the shouts of Molly were heard downstairs. It felt like years passed, with Harry's breathing getting more shallow by the moment, before the adults burst into Harry's room, Molly cradling her daughter with Minerva McGonagall directly behind her.

"If you lay her next to Mr. Potter, they should get better quickly," the transfiguration teacher instructed. Harry and Ginny's assumptions were correct - their professor did know about bonds.

As the girl's limp form was placed next to him, Harry felt air returning to his lungs. Almost unconsciously, he and Ginny turned to hold each other. Clinging to her, he fell asleep.

When Harry woke again, he was still in his room, though it was now dark. He wondered how many hours had passed since they'd been knocked out. Ginny still lay next to him, and although her face was a bit pale, her eyes were open and staring at him.

"Oops?" she whispered.

He hugged her tightly, grateful beyond words that she seemed alright. They sat up and moved to get off the bed.

"What now?" Ginny asked quietly. "I can't even begin to imagine what they're thinking. I don't even remember coming here."

"I remember it," Harry muttered. "I thought I was going to die, and then they brought you in. I was so afraid that we screwed it up and I had lost you."

He choked back the tears that threatened and Ginny hugged him.

"My poor Harry."

Soon they left the room, holding hands as a way of maintaining contact. They found Sirius and Molly in the kitchen, along with McGonagall and surprisingly, Dumbledore and Snape - the last of whom gave them a rather pointed stare when they entered.

Harry tensed, wondering briefly if Severus had told the headmaster everything.

"You're awake!" Molly cried, hugging the two children to her. "You two scared me to death!"

"Sorry, Mum," Ginny said. "We didn't mean to..."

Harry said nothing, even when Sirius held them both close. If he had known that the spell would end like that, he didn't know if he'd have done it. Glancing over at Ginny, and knowing that she was now bonded to him, he suspected he might.

"I've asked the Headmaster to come talk to you about what happened," McGonagall explained gently. "He knows quite a bit about what may have happened."

"Are we in trouble?" Ginny asked.

"No, dear," Molly assured them. The matronly woman put an arm around her daughter and lead her away from Harry and toward the table.

After watching Ginny take about three steps, Harry suddenly felt as though he was on fire. Intense pain spread through his system. The little girl wrapped her arms around her middle and moaned, while her friend fell to his knees. Ginny met his eyes and fell to her knees as well, crawling back to his side. The two children reached for each other, and almost as soon as they hugged each other close, the pain lessened.

"I thought that might be the case..." Dumbledore mused.

Sirius and Molly were too surprised to move. They only stared at the two children, kneeling in the floor hugging one another.

"What is it, Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"It would seem you were correct, Minerva, in that the closeness of Harry and Ginny has prompted the budding of a bond."

"Bond?" Sirius gasped, finding his voice. "Like between soul mates?"

"They're too young!" Molly instantly protested.

Dumbledore shook his head. "This is not saying that they are essentially married, or that they will have to stay together for the rest of their lives, Molly. It appears from the symptoms that the children have accidentally formed a bond of Carus Iunctus. That just means that the two of them will be connected in a way that the rest of us aren't. At the least, they will always be close friends."

The Weasley mother looked unconvinced. "Then why does it hurt them to separate?"

"It is simply a common beginning to forming a bond. They have no power over it," the headmaster clarified. "Carus Iunctus can form between any two people who are emotionally close, and who feel they owe each other their lives. It doesn't mean that they have no other choices in life."

Now that they weren't feeling the pain anymore, Harry and Ginny looked at each other, confused. All of their research said the exact opposite about their relationship that the headmaster was telling their parents. They wanted to ask him, but couldn't reveal that they had done the bond on purpose.

"The downside," Albus sighed, "is that it seems the children cannot leave each other's presence for the time being."

"For how long?" Molly asked, fear for her child and the boy who was like a son to her clear in her eyes and voice.

"I will check the records and let you know. Now, Molly, why don't you and Sirius go with Minerva to explain to your family that Ginny will be staying here at Sirius' home for a few days, and Severus and I will talk to the children."

Soon the two children found themselves alone in the kitchen with the headmaster and potions professor.

"All right, Harry, Ginny," Albus said congenially, the ever-present twinkle in his eye shining brightly. "Care to explain what's going on?"