Author's Note: This is the prologue for the story and outlines most of the non-canon events in this fiction.
Although the TV show The Tunnel is an inspiration for the work in as far as law enforcement agencies of two countries working together after a 'cross border' crime this is not a re-write of the show.
"Cause when a heart breaks, no, it don't break even"
-Breakeven, The Script (2008)
Instead of reading the report on dark magic practices in South East Asia, Fleur's thoughts had once again strayed to cold, gloomy, rainy Scotland. Her reminiscing was cut short when her office door burst open. Startled at being caught daydreaming Fleur forced herself bolt upright, wildly grabbing for the report she was supposed to be reading.
The man entering her office didn't seem to notice as he stood in the doorway catching his breath. Fleur tried to place him, she felt like he worked in the Magical Transport division, Bartett maybe…
"You need to get to the Floo Office urgently, Delacour." He puffed out.
Something about his demeanour made Fleur respond without waiting for any further information. Stopping only to retrieve her wand from the drawer in her desk she jumped out of her seat and ran out of her office. She felt like she was half guessing the way in the large maze of rooms at the department. She had only been in the Floo office a handful of times, when she travelled back home to France on her holidays.
Running down the corridors at a seriously high speed it didn't take Fleur long to arrive at the room. She paused a second to check she had the right door. The little plaque next to the door that read 'You are now leaving International Confederation of Wizards Headquarters' confirmed she was right. Taking a deep breath to gather her courage she opened the door and stepped inside.
The first thing she saw when she opened the door was her papa, Henri Delacour. Seeing his expression her knees gave out. If she hadn't been holding onto the door handle she would have sunk to the floor. She had seen that expression on his face only once before, but the memory was one she could never remove from her mind.
It had been a few years before, when she was working at the Ministry in Paris as a recently graduated Auror. She had received an owl asking her to come home as soon as she could. When she apparated in her papa had been waiting for her, his usually handsome face otherwise marred with mixture of despair and dread. That day he had broken the news that her grand-mère Zora, her Veela grandmother, had died. Her papa had tried to console her, reminding her that grand-mère had been having heart trouble for twelve years since her husband died. But Fleur knew it was her fault. Grand-mère had died from shame. She had never been the same after Fleur's poor performance in the Triwizard Tournament.
Bringing herself back to the present and bracing herself for the news Fleur asked, "Is it maman?"
"Non Fleur. It's Gabby." Her papa replied, the words measured and spaced out like he was trying to control his voice and not break down.
Fleur's head started spinning and she hadn't even touched one of those damn Port Keys yet. It just didn't make sense to her. Gabrielle was only fifteen years old and she was part Veela, healthy and strong.
As the silence stretched out Fleur looked back at her papa. She could see he was barely holding it together and knew he was trying to be strong for her. Employing a technique Fleur had become more than adept at in recent years, she distanced herself from any emotions and tapped into her rational mind. After all, being upset wouldn't serve any purpose right now.
Taking control of the situation and making it clear to her papa she would cope, she said in a calm monotone "We have a long journey to get back to France. The first stop is Darwin Portkey Station so let's get going."
She wasn't exactly surprised when her papa looked at her like an alien creature. He was clearly expecting more of a reaction, or any reaction really. He couldn't know about the war that was raging in Fleur's head to remain in control. The guilt would be debilitating if she let herself feel it. Whatever had happened to Gabby was her fault, Veela families are supposed to stick together. Not long after grand-mère died she left France and come to Australia. She hadn't been there to protect her sister and now she was dead.
Getting back home quickly was an involved process, and one that would likely end up in them feeling Portkey-sick when they got back to France. The headquarters were in Perth, Western Australia. Perth was one of the world's most remote cities, making the headquarters easy to protect from infiltration of dark wizards. It also meant that, other than walking out the front door, the only way out was one heavily monitored Floo station.
She walked over to the fireplace, throwing in some Floo powder and once the flames turned green stepped in saying 'Darwin Portkey Station'. Luckily, because this Floo Network was so secure, there were only a couple of chimneys passed before Fleur arrived at her destination.
She stepped out and was instantly assaulted by an awful tropical heat. She walked out of the room and into a curious looking courtyard. There were posts all over the yard with several key hooks attached. The person managing the Portkey station had a warped sense of humour, as they used Muggle car keys for Portkeys.
She looked for the set of key hooks labelled 'Singapore' and once she found them she called her papa over as he stepped out of the fireplace. After grasping the key and her papa's hand she was met with the nauseating feeling caused by Port Key travel and they were pulled to Singapore.
They landed with a thud in another yard, this one a lush green with tropical vegetation. She put the key in a basket designed for used Port Keys next to where they landed and was greeted by a very helpful looking witch. The witch quickly noticed her papa and it was obvious she recognised him, as he must have just travelled through the station.
"Headed back to Europe?" she asked and Henri answered in the affirmative, although that seemed to be merely rhetorical as she was already heading towards their target. As they walked through the garden Fleur could see there were clusters of small matching brass statues in different garden beds, clearly the witch has some sort of system where port keys were sorted by garden bed. She stopped in front of a garden bed filled with Aniseed plants and advised them the next stop was Dubai. Holding out her hand, which her papa firmly grasped, Fleur then picked up a small brass lion from under the Aniseed.
After another lurch and violent landing they were in Dubai. A similarly polite wizard walked them through similar procedure, taking them on another Port Key trip to Istanbul. They final Port Key took them from Istanbul to a Port Key station just outside Paris. After so many Port Keys in quickly succession Fleur was definitely feeling nauseous and knew her papa must be feeling worse. Worried he would splinch himself, Fleur forced him to side along apparate with her for the final leg of their journey.
Once they were home, it became apparent that Gabby was really gone forever. With her family falling apart around her, Fleur stayed strong. She was the one to make a brief statement to the media, requesting the family be left alone at this hard time and passing her condolences on to the families of the other injured and deceased children. And she was the one to brew a sleeping draught for her young cousins. And she was the one to discretely take away the Firewhiskey when her maman and her aunt Oriane had consumed enough.
It was only much later that evening, alone in her room that Fleur allowed herself the luxury of reconnecting with her emotions. She broke down as she remembered her baby sister, feeling the pain of loss in her soul and the weight of guilt in her heart. Her Veela soul was also screaming for her to avenger her sister, which was one Veela instinct Fleur was more than happy to give into. She knew the next day she would make arrangements for a job transfer back to France so she could track down those responsible for her sister's death.
At around the same moment across the channel in England a very different scene was playing out. A joyous celebration was taking place, not yet tarnished by the news of events in France.
Well, that moment exactly wasn't joyous for Hermione. As she felt the eyes of hundreds of people on her, watching her expectantly. Swallowing nervously she looked around the garden of The Burrow, meeting the eyes of several of those that were staring. She really should have had that shot of Firewhiskey George had offered her. The silence was beginning to stretch out without her realising until she felt Ginny nudge her under the table. She cleared her throat, startled into speaking.
"Most young girls spend a lot of time dreaming about their wedding day. Not that I did, I was far to busy doing homework…"
Hermione trailed off as the crowd broke into laughter and felt her self flush self-consciously as she hadn't been trying to make a joke. She really, really wished Ginny hadn't forbidden her from pre-preparing a speech.
"However, even if I had spent time day dreaming about weddings as a child, I would never have been able to picture a wedding as perfect as today has been. After all we have been through, to gather together and celebrate love, shows that we have truly won."
Not really a star orator and knowing that other people would have speeches, she decided to keep it short and sweet. So she raised her glass and finished with "So let's toast to the new bride and groom, who have made it to this day against all odds. To Ginny and Harry!"
As her cheer was echoed around the crowd Hermione gulped down her champagne.
Ginny leaned over and squeezed Hermione's shoulder as she sat back down, saying softly, "I couldn't have chosen a better maid of honour."
Knowing that she hadn't completely messed up her speech she felt more relaxed as she sipped champagne and listened to the other speeches. When Ron stumbled and mispronounced a word during his best man's speech, Ginny's other bridesmaid Luna leaned forward and whispered in Hermione's ear "Definitely a wracksprut around."
Unfortunately trying supress a giggle caused Hermione to choke on her drink. Things were still a little tense between her and Ron, so seeing the annoyed look he shot her only made it harder for her not to laugh.
Hermione had not seen very much of her friends since finishing the auror training program a year before. One of the reasons was that between working while studying both magical and muggle law she didn't have much spare time.
The other reason Hermione hadn't seen much of her friends in the past year was a little bit more complicated. Although it hadn't started at any particular point, it certainty culminated at the last wedding she attended, the wedding of Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. After a touching ceremony Seamus being a bit cheeky, had decided to mock some wedding traditions and decided to throw a bouquet of flowers to all the single gentlemen at the wedding.
As Hermione saw the bouquet heading towards Ron she panicked. With a quick swish of her wand and a silent levitation charm she knocked the bouquet away from Ron. As everyone clamoured around a very flushed Harry who had caught the bouquet, Hermione felt relieved. That was, until she noticed Ron staring at her, from his dark expression and red face she knew he had seen her cast the spell. The pair had been arguing with increasing frequency lately, the main issue between them being Hermione's reluctance to commit as all around them their friends progressed, moved in together, got engaged, got married while Ron and Hermione stagnated.
It was the next day after re-hashing the same old arguments that the relationship finally dissolved. Hermione threw herself into study and kept a low profile, giving the Weasley family and Harry time to forgive her. Thankfully it wasn't long before Harry, Ginny and eventually the rest of the Weasley clan had reconnected with Hermione, as it had been obvious to almost everyone around the couple that the end of the relationship had been inevitable.
Enjoying the ambience of beautifully decorated garden at the Burrow, while enjoying a delicious meal and good company Hermione felt relaxed. Which was something of a rarity for her nowadays. She was especially glad to have Luna sitting next to her, keeping her entertained with stories about her study in magical zoology in all sorts of exotic places around the world.
The last official duty Hermione had the evening came all too soon after their meal, as Ginny and Harry rose for their first dance. Hermione couldn't help but feel a little teary seeing how happy the couple were and knowing just how close Ginny had come to losing Harry forever.
"Let's see the smartest witch in the world, who was a Gryffindor by the way, join the bride and groom on the dance floor. Come on, Hermione Granger our maid of honour!" Lee Jordan, the MC for the evening, called out with his magically enhanced voice.
"And joining her is best man, who is the bride's brother and the groom's favourite lad, he is definitely not the smartest wizard in the world as he let this lovely lady go… Ron Weasley!"
As they joined each other on the dance floor things were bit awkward between her and Ron, and Lee's comment especially hadn't helped. In the lead up to the wedding they had been forced to interact and things had been getting closer to a normal friendship for them, but there was still a lot of work until they were best friends as they used to be.
She felt Ron relax as Lee introduced George and Luna who made up the rest of the bridal party and attention shifted away from them. It wasn't long before other people started crowding the dance floor and Hermione felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning she found Luna standing there, who asked Ron and Hermione, "Mind if I cut in?"
Hermione stood to one side waiting for Luna to approach Ron and was a little taken aback when the eccentric girl grabbed her hand and started dancing with her. She saw Ron shoot Luna a grateful smile and once again was astounded with how perceptive Luna was under her slightly odd exterior.
As they danced along Hermione watched the happy couple. Ginny looked radiant, her auburn hair shining against the intricately embroidered white gown she wore. And Harry had been grinning like a maniac for most of the night. As she watched them Hermione's thoughts strayed to her own situation, the way she had been terrified of making any permanent commitments with Ron and hadn't ever really loved him the way Ginny loved Harry. The more serious thoughts must have showed on her face, as she felt Luna gently squeeze her hand.
"Hermione, your soul is marked. If you just open your mind you could have it all."
Admittedly this wasn't the strangest thing she had heard Luna say, so she barely scoffed. Just shot Luna a small smile and nodded to acknowledge she had heard the other girl. After the song finished the music changed to a much faster pace and the both the dancing and consumption of Butterbeer increased. Luna's comment was soon almost completely forgotten.
After a long, but amazing, day Hermione apparated back to her apartment. Unlike most witches and wizards Hermione had a television in her apartment. She used the television for keeping up with muggle current affairs, something that was necessary when studying non-magical law. That night she broke her usual pattern of watching the late night news bulletin and went straight to bed. If she had turned on the news that night she would have seen a story about a gas explosion with multiple teen casualties and extensive property damage.
It wasn't till the next day when witches and wizards all over the UK read the Daily Prophet that the truth behind the so-called gas explosion started to emerge. Seeing the faces of the two young Beaxbeatons students, dead well before their time, was confronting for those that had seen too many young casualties in recent times.