Chapter 2:

"Has she woken up yet?"

"No, she's been out cold for the last 3 days."

Hermione was sitting in her room upstairs in the Burrow listening to the chatter in the hall. Everything was finally over, Voldemort was dead and Harry had placed the Elder Wand back in Dumbledore's grave (a fact that only Hermione and Ron were privy to).

But now what? She thought as she sat there on her bed. It should be a happy time, a time to celebrate, to rejoice, to finally breath a sigh of relief. It should be but it isn't. Fred. Tonks. Remus. Fleur? All dead, well not Fleur but what if she never woke up? Another life lost in this war.

A commotion was heard downstairs followed by a rather distinct voice that sounded eerily like Fleur.

"Where is she!"

Apolline Delacour had just arrived at the Burrow. After the battle the ministry was in shambles so arranging a portkey in order to travel was next to impossible. Apparation was out of the question as Fred was responsible for setting up the various wards around the Burrow and the Weasley's were still trying to unravel half of them. However in spite of all of this Apolline still managed to make it to the burrow, albeit delayed.

"Upstairs in Percy's room," answered Molly Weasley. "Bill is sitting with her now. As we wrote in the owl she is alive, but no one has been able to wake her."

Hermione decided to stay hidden in her room and listen to the events unfold to see what information she could gather.

"What happened to her?" asked Apolline.

A seemingly innocuous question took Hermione back to the events of the Battle.

-o-o-

Fleur's eyes had locked on to hers and she could swear that she felt a jolt, akin to an electric shock travel through her body. Fleur's eyes were completely black, no pupil to be discerned, all traces of color gone. The body she held in her arms seemed to be emanating an energy that she could feel, almost see in fact. But the thing that took her most by surprise was Fleur's skin. She could see small light blue, feathers? appear along Fleur's exposed skin.

Then all of a sudden Fleur released her and before she knew what had happened she realized she was in a bubble of sorts. Fleur had put up a protective ward around her. Her surprise at the turn of events was quickly replaced with annoyance, she needed to fight, she wasn't in need of protection she needed to help protect the others! To protect Fleur.

What happened next will most likely be looked back on by the countless historians as one of the most powerful displays of magic ever witnessed in modern times. At least she knew it was the most amazing thing she had ever witnessed.

Fleur walked to the center of the Great Hall and without saying a word or moving her wand managed to elevate and simultaneously paralyze every single death eater in the room. Faint light blue tendrils could be seen connecting Fleur to the death eaters currently suspended in the air.

Everyone in the Great Hall stopped and looked up in the air at the Death Eaters who just a few moments ago they had been engaged in battle with. Then they saw Fleur, seemingly holding them up with her will alone.

"Fleur!" Bill yelled from across the hall.

Fleur didn't respond and a split second later ash started to rain from the ceiling of the Great Hall. She looked up and realized Fleur had just single handedly killed every single Death Eater in the hall without moving a muscle or utter a single incantation or spell.

At the point in time you could have heard a pin drop, everything went silent. However, the silence was soon broken by Neville Longbottom entering the Great Hall announcing the 'death' of Harry Potter.

She couldn't believe her eyes or ears for that matter and was still desperately trying break Fleur's protective charm she was engulfed in.

"Fleur!" she yelled. This time Fleur didn't ignore the calling and turned to face her. Fleur's face broke into a small grin, a grin that would forever be reserved just for her and the protective charm around her was lowered. Before she could say anything Fleur collapsed. Bill was there to catch Fleur in his arms before she hit the ground. She looked at Fleur, and then looked back to the crowd of rushing out of the Great Hall upon hearing the news of Harry Potter's death.

"Just go Hermione, I'll take care of Fleur," said Bill. The anguish on her face was evident.

"Go!" Bill reiterated.

And with that she left the Great Hall, but not before taking one last look at Fleur's body in Bill's arms. For a brief second she could have sworn she felt the pangs of jealousy. Nonsense.

-o-o-

Molly looked Apolline straight in the eyes and recounted the tale of what occurred in the Great Hall. Apolline stood their silent absorbing the information, not quite knowing what to make of it.

"It would seem that Fleur is just suffering from some sort of exhaustion," hypothesized Molly.

"Oui," Apolline quietly agreed. "I wish to go see 'er now"

"Of course," said Molly as she led Apolline up to Fleur.

Hermione listened to this exchange and internally groaned. She needed answers, she needed to know what was going on. In all her readings and studies she had never come across magic this powerful. The fact that Fleur survived the Killing Curse was still unexplainable. No one had sacrificed themselves for her, in fact just the opposite had occurred. And to Hermione's knowledge Fleur didn't have a Horcrux hidden away somewhere. So what could it be? Hermione decided it had to have something to do with her Veela heritage. Why else would she have appeared to grow feathers? It made sense. Sense? Hermione thought to herself, none of this makes sense.

At the moment Hermione heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she answered.

Ron opened the door and walked in to the room. His eyes still red from the countless tears shed in the wake of Fred's death.

"Hey 'Mione," Ron said with a shaky voice.

"Ron, come here," Hermione beckoned.

Ron crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Hermione and started to cry. Hermione just held him as the tears flowed down his face. In that moment Hermione knew that she should have been thinking soley of Ron and how to help ease his pain. But she couldn't get her mind off of Fleur, she couldn't stop the replay of Fleur's voice. "Mon amour" echoing through her head. She knew that she didn't have romantic feelings for Fleur, of that she was sure. But at the same time she knew that being with Ron didn't feel like it used to. While she still cared for Ron it just wasn't the same as it was in the beginning. The sight of him didn't make her feel safe and secure. Didn't make her feel the butterflies she once used to feel. She knew then that she was not in love with Ronald Weasley. What she didn't know what how she was going to tell him.