Title: A Change in Life's River
Pairing: Hermione/FleurSummary: Fleur/Hermione. Bill and Fleur are separated forever. A hidden desire, frequent contact, discreet stares: could it happen? Hope you enjoy it. RR, please Gender: Angst/Romance
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, Fleur, Ron, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Harry and tons of others things I've mentioned. But I do own Crudelis Cruciatus and other mean powerful sorcery spells, Marianna, Katherine, Luiza and Anna Luiza Scorpid (And I'm happy with them. They're powerful P)
Prologue - Concruciatus
December, 16th - 2000
It was another workday in Bill Weasley's life. Bill just came back from the Order of the Phoenix, where he was currently working since 1995. He was glad that somehow Dumbledore revived, after Snape's attack, because Dumbledore was the leader, after all. Bill was married to Fleur Delacour for almost 3 years now and they were living in a big house in British Highlands, near a muggle village and an oak forest.
He got out of his car, a black Jaguar, and locked it. He walked distracted towards the door, picking the right key to unlock it between more than 10. He shook his head in annoyance when he found some trouble to unlock the door.
"Alohomora" he growled, knowing that it was dangerous to use a spell outside, because the Ministry didn't want muggles to know about the magical world, but if they did, an Obliviate charm suited perfectly. The lock clicked and he entered his house. The lights were out and Fleur hadn't arrived. He went upstairs to leave his suitcase in his office. He pushed the dark wooden door open and entered.
Bill's office was, at least, charming: the floor was covered with a blue flawless carpet; there was a bookshelf that occupied the entire right wall. The furniture was all in rosewood including the said bookshelf. His desk, in the middle, had a black computer, a telephone and it was full of work sheets to be done. The big window in the back wall very well lighted all of this at daytime.
Bill browsed quickly the shelf and took a heavy book, with an indigo hard cover, which felt like velvet. "Counter-Curses and their history" was written in the cover, with golden cursive letters. He looked around to make sure he was alone and opened it. When he did it, the cover turned crimson and the title changed abruptly: Counter turned into Dark and the letters became silver. The book pages were yellow and in the right bottom, a little red mark, looking like blood. It wasn't a nice book, for sure.
Bill redone his loose ponytail while he read page 709. His eyes stopped in the 3rd paragraph and started to widen. In a reflex, he closed the book and threw in on the floor, lurching back. His heart raced as he saw the book turning indigo again, but, in a few moments, he was calm again. What he read was shocking, almost impossible and, thought provoking for sure. He decided to think about it later. Then he felt his stomach grumbling.
"I think it's better to get something to eat before Fleur arrives. I'll come back later to analyze this," He whispered to himself
Bill rushed downstairs and reached the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator to grab a tuna sandwich he left there the day before. Then, the lights were out. The lack of natural light left the kitchen totally dark and Bill felt something moving in the room. He turned in a sudden move, attempting to find the thing that moved. His eyes shifted from one side to another nervously as walked through the kitchen, but the absence of light didn't let him find anything
"Bill Weasley, we finally meet again," A cruel voice whispered
Bill turned to face the man that spoke and meet icy green eyes that threaded him fiercely. His own eyes widened when he recognized the shadow in front of him and he was aware of what was going to happen. He tried to reach for his wand and he eyed discreetly the table behind him, looking for it. He heard a loud laugh.
"Are you looking for this, Weasley? You've forgot it in your office. I'm glad I found it for you"
Bill looked the man's hand: his wand was being held in the figure's black leather gloves. He felt his body tremble.
"Well, Bill, I think it's time to get even. Finally"
Bill started to feel the cold sweat going down his forehead.
"I let you have your wand last time. How nice of my part, don't you think? At least you should have stood and duel to death, like a man. Shame on you, Bill, shame on you" He paused and grinned, playing with Bill's wand "Well, this time will be different", the man said calmly.
"Crucio"
Bill felt a horrible pain in his bones. It was unbearable and it seemed like incandescent knifes were piercing him all over. He screamed and fell on the cold floor, struggling not the scream aloud. He looked up and saw the pleasure smirk in the man's face.
"That's better. I like to hear you screaming, because you deserve it". The man stopped the incantation and commanded "Get up, now"
Bill simply couldn't. He rolled to the floor, trying to do as told, but he didn't find the strength to do it.
"Ok, you asked for it: Crudelis Concrucio!" the man's brows arched and a purple light was cast in Bill's direction and, when it hit, it began to glow around his body
'What?' He didn't understand and stared puzzled at the man. What was Crudelis Con something? – He asked himself. Then, a flash of a specific page came into mind, with a little blood red mark on the right bottom. Crudelis Concrucio was written as the title.
But before he could remember more, the pain came back, stronger and more violent. But this time, it was worse, much worse. He screamed deeper, feeling like his bones were turning into ashes and his brain was starting to melt. It was the most horrible pain he'd ever felt in his whole life.
"Finite. Now get up!"
Bill managed to do it, and surprisingly, his bones were into place, though a bit weaker than before and his brain, working, but a bit slower than before too.
"Fine, now let's put an end to this." He paused, and whispered "Avada Kedavra" Those were the last words Bill heard.
Fleur arrived home, relieved and anxious to see her husband. She got the key to open the front door, but she found it open already.
"Uhm… weird" She muttered in French
"Bill, I'm home," She announced, closing the door behind.
She went upstairs to look for him. She knocked at the office's door. Bill didn't like to be disturbed while he was working, but he usually responded. She opened the door to find not Bill, but a hard cover book on the floor. She found that quite odd since she never saw that book before and because Bill liked his books a lot, and wouldn't leave one on the floor like that.
She decided to check in the bedroom and after that, she went to the kitchen, to find him lying on the floor, dead.
Her eyes widened in shock and she covered her open mouth with both hands. She felt a tear streaming down her cheeks as she gazed the horrible picture. Bill's eyes were shut, as if he was trying not to feel or see something, and he was pale as a ghost. He has no signs of aggression, but his expression shown how frightening was the encounter. The cold sweat was on the floor, showing the murder happened only minutes before she arrived. His wand was in his hand and a scar left by the werewolf 4 years ago was bleeding, leaving the scene more unpleasant and wetting the kitchen's tiles.
But Fleur didn't pay any attention to any of these details. Her mind was filled with desperation as her tears became more frequent. She called the Ministry and told them what happened. Peter, the functionary of the Ministry who picked up the phone, tried to calm her down, with little success.
"Miss, go to a safe place and wait there. You can be in great danger" He instructed
"But my husband's body…" she began, weeping.
"Don't worry about the body. We will take care of it. Now, please go to a safe place"
"Okay" She replied, sobbing
She gathered her wand and her most important belongings and apparated to the Burrow. She knocked the house's door and Mrs. Weasley opened after a while. She looked very surprise to see Fleur since Bill and she only visited during Christmas and birthdays
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley" She greeted, feelings her eyes full of tears again.
"Fleur! What happened?"
She couldn't tell her. She imagined how Mrs. Weasley would feel she found out that her elder son was dead. She gazed into the woman's eyes before bursting into tears again. Her heart ached badly and she wanted to die. The man she loved - Why that had to happen with her?
"Hey, mom! Harry and I… oh! Hi, Fleur! Where's my brother?"
She looked at the 20 years old boy, the brother of her husband and tears started to fall again. He looked so much like his brother - The eyes, the nose, the cheekbones... He even had a ponytail now. Then Mrs. Weasley understood.
"Fleur, what happened to my son?" she asked in a serious tone
"He… was… murdered," she whispered sadly, hiding her face between her hands as she started to cry again
Mrs. Weasley froze, gazing the wall the in front of her, with her mind completely blank. 'She didn't say he is dead, Molly. You got it wrong. That's impossible!' she thought.
"I'm sorry, but did you say 'murdered'?"
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley"
"What!" Ron exclaimed from the stairs "My brother died?" His widen and he didn't know how to react. Ron had the pleasant talent to make explicit every bad news that reached his ears. People knew that it was his way of reacting, but he could have a little more compassion, couldn't he?
Molly Weasley started to cry in Fleur's shoulder and Fleur started to cry again.
"Why, God, why?" Mrs. Weasley shouted "Why did you take my son from me!" Ron, seeing his mother sadness, walked towards his mother and put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't know what to say. Those two women loved his brother so much and one of them was his beloved mother and the last thing he wanted was to see her sad like that.
Fleur, on the other hand, stopped crying, though her heart was bleeding deeply. Definitely Bill meant more for Mrs. Weasley than for her. And she realized that, for the very first time, Ron wasn't staring her open-mouth. He wasn't even looking at her. What a rare event!
"Don't worry, Mom. Everything will be ok"
'Do you know what are you talking about, boy?' Fleur thought, arching one brow in wonderment mixed with amusement.
Even though Fleur was distracted by Ron's quote, the slash in her heart ached very much. She was seriously thinking in suicide. How can life do something like that to you? How can you live without the one you love?
"Dumb fool!" A woman exclaimed in anger "But, Mistress, I did as told"
"No, you didn't! I warned you about using any sorcery spells! Of course Marianna will discover!" Then she paused and eyed him "And that means you're going to Friggothen" She smirked evilly
"No, please don't"
"If she finds me because of you... Torqueo" The man arched in pain, lying in the stone floor of the dark castle "... I'll kill you myself" She watched the man ache on the floor, with a grin of pleasure "Finite"
The man stood on the floor, feeling his muscles go back to their places, with eyes widen in fear.
"Did you recover my book?"
"Yes, Mistress, here it is"
A hard covered book was in the man's hand. He got up and handed the book to his Mistress and when her hands touched the cover, it became crimson immediately.
"Excellent" She opened and browsed it, stopping at page 709 "Hum... So he had been studying Exsanguis Nedavra" The man trembled when he heard the spell's name "Very funny. He'd never be able to cast that. Poor Bill" Then she chuckled meanly and her eyes twinkled devilishly "I hope he'd learnt that his play level is way lower"
December 20th, 2000
The days have passed and the a morbid atmosphere surrounded the Burrow. A snow storm had started; the winter that year was so unforgiving. At least, they would have a white Christmas, but that doesn't seem to matter so much in the was 2pm and the Weasleys were sitted around the modest wooden table at the dining room, eating lunch. No one dared to start a conversation and the silence predominated in the room.
Suddenly, there was a knock in the door. Ron stood up and opened it to 4 functionaries of the Ministry and the Minister himself entered the house.
"Mrs. Weasley, I assume" the Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, started "Your son was murdered 10 days ago, 8pm, as you probably acknowledged. However, we're very sorry to inform you that the assassin didn't leave any clue behind, so it's impossible to discover whom the author of such a crime was. The specialized department failed, but Dumbledore already contacted someone who can, hopefully, find more than we did.
"And I assume that someone would be me" A woman entered the room. She looked 25 years old, but her expression said she was older. Her black hair was loose and it fell down to her waist and her dark brown eyes were on the Minister. She was elegantly dressed, in an emerald velvet dress, wearing a platinum necklace with a leaf pendant and a warm coat, made of faux fur. In the same moment, Hermione and Ginny arrived silently, wondering what was happening.
"I'm sorry for your son, Mrs. Weasley" She said sympathetically "Mr. Scrimgeour, I examinate the body and I have everything under control" She gazed seriously at the Minister's yellowish eyes and continued "Your son's murderer is famous around sorcerers, he's been send to Friggothen once for a week only. Seems like he did't learn his lesson"
The Minister looked at her surprised. 'A sorcerer? Friggothen?' Then he chuckled. Hermione was surprised too. She read a lot and never read anything about sorcerers. She thought they were a myth. The same stood for Friggothen. Fleur also looked surprised as she heard both words.
"Miss, I'm afraid to tell you that, but sorcerers doesn't exist" He grinned and the rest started to laugh.
"Oh, sorry, minister, I forgot this tiny detail" She rolled her eyes.
He grinned in mockery and the other functionaries started to laugh 'I'll cast it on you to show how it exists, bastard' She thought, glaring daggers at the Minister."Are you a writer or something?" He grinned sarcastically "Because you have lots of imagination"
"No, actually, Rufus, she's the headmaster of a magical school" Dumbledore appeared behind her. "And she has way more knowledge than you, so I'd recommend you to keep quiet" He gazed the Minister, who immediately understood she wasn't joking
"Hello, Marianna. I hope you're fine"
"Yes, I am, Albus, thank you"
"Sorcerer, you say?"
"Yeah, that's it"
"How do you know?"
"The body has traces of burn on the muscles that are caused by Concruciatus"
"Hum… that's difficult to cast, isn't it?"
"Well, not so much, if you're talking about sorcery" She eyed him with amusement.
"Who cares if he is a sorcerer or a shaman? It doesn't matter! He's an assassin anyway"
"We do care, Minister, because if the guy is a sorcerer, instead of looking for 1 among 14 million of people, we're are looking for 1 among 200 or maybe 300. He's a very powerful guy, though"
"Well, that should not be a problem. The Ministry has the best wizards in the world"
"I don't think you got the idea" She spoke seriously. She turned to Dumbledore and informed "I'm sending Luiza and Katherine after the guy, Albus"
"What? Are you kidding? Two girls like…" The Minister looked at her, shocked
Two girls appeared suddenly, in the middle of the living room, without making the characteristic sound of apparation. One was stunningly beautiful, with hazel eyes and dark brown hair, with copper reflexes. She was wearing a white dress, typically elfish and a heavy cape to complement. The other had the same hair colour and cobalt eyes, which turned into icy blue near the pupil. She also looked younger than the hazel-eyed girl. She was wearing muggle clothes, surprisingly: a jeans and a white sweater. She wore also a light blue cape, as heavy as the other one.
"Sorry. We're late again, headmistress" The blue eyed girl spoke, in an honest apologize tone
"You always are, Luiza" Marianna commented, smirking lightly
"Hey, thanks" Luiza replied with an annoyance grin. Marianna smiled and turned to face Dumbledore
"Please excuse us a second, Albus"
They went outside and Marianna explained the task.
"Well, Professor Marianna, consider it done"
"Great, thanks a lot again, Luiza, Katherine. I would do it myself if the castle wasn't such a mess. I have to prepare the Christmas party, after all"
Both nodded and they started to talk about the target and what should be done when they find him.
In the house, the atmosphere was tense. The Minister and Dumbledore stared at the horizon, deep in thought. Mrs. Weasley and Fleur wept silently and despite the almost awkward conversation.
The three girls went back in and everyone looked at them in a particular way. The Minister and the functionaries glared Marianna, who just glanced and smirked. Mrs. Weasley, Fleur and Dumbledore held a warm, hopeful gaze. And the rest stared open mouthed, especially Hermione. She wasn't admitting to herself that she didn't know what was Crudelis Concruciatus, or what was the difference between a sorcerer and a wizard. She needed to find out.
"Well, I think we'll him in about a week" Marianna finally said "And you better start soon"
"Uhm… what about now?" And she apparated, but no sound was heard. Katherine followed her and again the apparation made no noise.
"Uhm… That's interesting. I never saw a wizard who could apparate noiselessly like that"
"And you'll never see one" Marianna whispered only to Dumbledore, who smiled.
"I have to go now. The girls will appear as soon as they capture the guy. You may rest now, especially you, Mrs. Weasley, and you, Ms. Delacour. You've had too much pain for one day"
Marianna went out and Hermione followed her, determined to get some information.
"Hum… I bet you're curious about sorcerers, aren't you, Miss Granger?" Marianna said, turning to face the woman.
"Well, I'm intrigued. I never saw nothing like that in books and I never heard talking about them" Marianna smiled, pitying the girl for not entering the school, but it was necessary: 1997 was a very confusing year for Hogwarts and the Marianna couldn't accept students from there during 1997-98 period. Such a pity, because her potential shined – She could easily be the best student of the year.
"And I'd be scared if you did, because people aren't supposed to know this" She paused to gaze Hermione's brown eyes profoundly "But sorcerers are gifted wizards, mainly"
Hermione looked at her puzzled and asked: "Just that?"
"Hum… I cannot say more than that. I'm sorry. And I have to go, school's missing me"
And she apparated just like the others, leaving Hermione even more intrigued than before. Gifted wizards?
Hermione headed back to the house, thinking about all the new information she'd received. But it didn't matter now. Mrs. Weasley was still sad with Bill's death and she had to cheer her up. And, unfortunately, she had to do the same with the stupid French girl. Grrr.
December 24th, 2000
The snow fell hard and Mrs. Weasley prepared the breakfast for the kids. Fleur was staying in the house for a while to forget her husband's death a little. She just couldn't imagine entering the kitchen and not remembering the horrible scene she had faced eight days before.
Mrs. Weasley was still crying, but she got a lot better, especially with Fleur's support. Truth to be told: no one expected this from the snobbish French girl, but she was very sympathetic with her mother-in-law. But Fleur was so depressed inside that she didn't act like herself at all.
"I hope I'm not bothering you, Mrs. Weasley, but I have some great news" A cheerful voice came from the kitchen's door. Mrs. Weasley turned to see Luiza, the blue-eyed girl who was in charge of finding the assassin.
"No, you're not. Please, tell me"
"Well, the guy name was James Hitchcock and he was sent to the Arctic's Friggothen prison"
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much"
"Ah, don't worry. It's our job. Now I have to go. I'm kind of late, as usual"
And she disappeared, just like the other times.
Mrs. Weasley served breakfast and people started eating. She announced the prison of the murderer and everyone flashed a smile and celebrated. But Fleur didn't care. She was the only one who wasn't happy at all. Locking the assassin in a cell wasn't going to bring her husband back.
"Excuse me, please" Fleur whispered softy, feeling the tears form in her blue eyes.
She went upstairs and lay in her bed, crying on the pillow. Downstairs, people ate normally, but Hermione was disturbed. She was the only one who noticed the tears. And for the first time, she felt for the French witch.
"Can you excuse me, please, Mrs. Weasley?"
"Of course, Hermione"
She went upstairs and saw Fleur's bedroom door half opened. She went closer and she could see the figure of the beautiful French woman weeping, with her face buried in the pillow. She entered slowly, closing the door behind her. She kneeled near the bed and started stroking lightly that platinum-blond hair. Fleur turned her face to see who that person was and she was pleased when she saw Hermione.
"Don't cry, Fleur" Hermione caressed the witch's cheek "Soon, you'll remember him nicely and how he's in heaven, smiling at you and protecting your path" Fleur smiled at the witch. That was the nicest thing she'd heard within those three days. And with that sentence, a strong friendship bond began to form.
The End (hahahaha just kidding)
A/N: I had to do something in this chapter, somethings were bothering me so so much! I really hope it is less confusing now. I know it has a lot going on, lots of new information, but I'll try to explain it throughout the rest of the story. Wish me luck!