"Trying to hide from my mind, I am

Trying all the time, I am"

- Trying, Bully (2015)


Fleur grimaced as she took a large sip of her coffee and realised it had gone cold. Disappointed she set the cup down on top of the large pile of case files she had finished reading. It wasn't long before coffee was forgotten, as she was lost in another case file. She read about the right arm of a male found outside the tourism office in Anduz a few years prior and there were no reports of any other parts turning up since. Dismissing it as a splinching accident some wizard was too embarrassed to own up to, Fleur put the case in her discard pile. It was at that point a head popped into the fireplace, interrupting Fleur's research.

Fleur's presence was a pleasant surprise to the head in the fireplace, belonging to the assistant of the French Minister for Magic. He hadn't really expected anyone to be in the Auror office at two in the morning and wasn't looking forward to waking up the Head Auror, who was said to be a bit unpleasant. Yet here she was, apparently awake and hard at work.

After the assistant had briefed her and disappeared back to the Minister's Office Fleur's day really kicked off. The incident at the French Ministry had only been the start of it and just over eight hours later she found herself on the other side of the channel, walking into chaos.

The Prime Minister's office was teeming with Muggles and was amateur hour chaos. Taking charge to ensure the scene wasn't compromised, Fleur ordered everyone out of the room. Almost everyone complied immediately, and those that didn't were on the receiving end of a glare from the French witch that got them moving.

Putting her earbuds in and dressing in an awful boiler suit Fleur walked over to examine the body. She ordered her team to keep everyone out of the room. At one point she heard them talking to an English wizard and him reluctantly leaving. She checked the corpse over thoroughly, knowing she had limited time until the wizard's boss arrived.

It was when Fleur was closely examining a mark on the body, almost laying her face on the corpse that she felt it. The sensation started out with goose bumps on her arms. Followed quickly with a cold feeling at the back of her neck that progressed down her spine, until it settled as a discomforting flutter in the pit of her stomach. It was not the first time Fleur had felt like this, but the experience had become novel again after so many years.

The sensation made her feel trapped. Blindsided into an encounter she wasn't sure she was ready for. She didn't want to turn around, hoping to delay reality as long as possible. So she called out, asking if they were done staring at her.

The soft click of heels approaching on the wood floor drove Fleur mad, although it would have only been a couple of seconds it took a lot of willpower not to turn around and watch the other girl approach. As it was any self-control gave out prematurely, as she turned and watched Hermione Granger take the last few steps towards her.

She examined the English witch from head to toe, appreciating how time had changed her. Hermione looked powerful, she exuded confidence and control. Although, Fleur couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at the attire of the English witch, a designer skirt suit, 4-inch heels, hair slicked back into a professional looking bun and red lipstick, at a crime scene.

So, like the mess she was, instead of complimenting Hermione she heard herself mocking her fashionable attire. Fleur knew she was lashing out but that didn't mean she enjoyed seeing a flicker of hurt across the brunette's face.

Hermione quickly switched back to the commanding woman that had walked in though, shutting Fleur down and pushing past her to access the body. Fleur studied Hermione as she examined the corpse. Watching the way Hermione handled the corpse Fleur could see she was not new to scenes like this. The only shock came to her as Hermione muttered 'Good riddance' over the body. Storing the information for later Fleur schooled her face into her most disinterested look as Hermione approached.

When they exchanged formalities Fleur wasn't surprised Hermione had remembered her from the Triwizard Tournament, she was surprised though at Hermione's modesty. Hermione, the brightest witch of her age and one of the heroes of the second wizarding war, thought Fleur wouldn't know who she was.

The confident business like manner returned quickly though, when Hermione tersely asked her "Well now those formalities have been dealt with if you'd like to explain to me why you are here, at my crime scene and in my jurisdiction, before I have you escorted out of here that would be just great."

Fleur smirked, now this was a game she could play. With France being a landlocked country Fleur was often in jurisdictional pissing contests, and she usually came out on top.

"I am here because there is a body in the fireplace. When I arrived this was not your crime scene and jurisdiction is always debatable. You may escort me out if you wish, but then you'd lose your chance to learn why we are here."

Fleur locked eyes with Hermione, curious to if the famed Gryffindor fire was stirred in response to her challenge. She was pleased to see her challenge wouldn't go answered as the other witch returned her stare, with a glint in her brown eyes.

"Fleur, why is the French Auror office looking into a body in England?" Hermione asked through clenched teeth, her tone conveying how annoyed she was Fleur had answered her first questions so literally.

"A pair of legs was found in the fireplace of the French Minister for Magic." Fleur replied evenly, not breaking her gaze.

"In that case we'll need to share information on this, but not here. I'll have a room prepared at the Ministry, meet me in the entrance hall in five minutes." Hermione said, all efficiency. Fleur was impressed by the way the English witch took the insane events of the day in her stride, it was easy to see how she had advanced so far in her career.

Fleur motioned for her team to come over and informed them that they would be needed in the entrance hall finishing with the order, "Make sure you check everything over on your way out. I need to go clean up."

Wanting to get out of the awful boiler suit Fleur walked down the hallway, opening doors at random. After finding a meeting room and surprising some people in a lounge she finally found a bathroom. Stripping out of the boiler suit Fleur caught her reflection in the mirror. Uncharacteristically she stepped forward and scrutinised her appearance. Her body didn't trouble her and luckily her Veela heritage meant her hair and skin looked ok, despite the lack of attention. But she looked like she had been up all night, which she was, most nights. She rubbed at the dark rings around her eyes, as if that would magically make them go away.

Annoyed for caring about something as inconsequential as her appearance she balled up the boiler suit and tossed it into the trash angrily. She needed to focus. It was years since she had felt much but numb and numb was safe. Numb wasn't a happy place but it wasn't painful either. Pressing against the door Fleur exhaled, trying to force her mind into that detached state that triggered numb. Willing herself to stay detached no matter what she walked off to confront the English again.

She saw her team waiting in the entrance hall, standing in some sort of unspoken face off with Hermione and an older red haired man. The man looked vaguely familiar and not just because she had seen Cecile forcing him to leave the study earlier.

She nodded at Hermione and the older man said in a slow and loud voice, "My name is Arthur Weasley. Do you speak English?"

Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw Hermione blush at Arthur's blunder. In the monotone Fleur employed for dealing with almost everyone she simply replied, "Oui."

Then she pointed to her staff as she named them, "Cecile Cabrillac, Philippe Viot."

Both her decidedly more polite staff nodded and shook hands with the English as they were introduced. After the introductions were complete Fleur said drily "They speak English also."

"Well, I've made some enquiries. The Floo network is shut down, so unless you've visited our Ministry of Magic before it'll be side along apparition I'm afraid." Hermione addressed all three French Aurors as she spoke.

"I've visited the English Ministry before." Cecile offered.

"Take Philippe with you." Fleur quickly instructed Cecile in French. She was a little worried the bumbling ginger man could splinch her staff.

"We can't apparate from here, there are spells protecting this place. We have a safe zone set up nearby if you'd follow along." Hermione instructed.

Hermione and Fleur walked along side by side in silence. Behind them Fleur could hear general chatter between Arthur, Cecile and Philippe. It sounded like Arthur was trying to act as a tour guide, only he kept trying to explain Muggle things without saying anything odd enough to make anyone stare.

"And… ah… certain people will use these to get to their jobs every day. It's like the Knight bus? Never heard of that? Well I guess in Europe, you have… erhm… carpets that may be used in a similar functionality. Only this is underground. It's called the Tube."

Fleur smirked as Arthur tried to explain the metro train system of London, as if they didn't have one in Paris. She was sure the others would also be finding humour in the odd man's extensive enthusiasm for all things Muggle.

It wasn't long before they reached a park and headed towards a wooded area. As they trudged through the trees Fleur was amused watching Hermione's fancy shoes sink into the ground. She also enjoyed watching her toned calves flexing as she wrenched those shoes out of the mud with each step. They stopped in a small clearing and Hermione nodded to Arthur who dissaparated with a small pop. Cecile grabbed onto Philippe's hand and they followed after Arthur.

"Ready?" Hermione asked a few seconds later as she held out her hand.

I doubt I'll ever be ready, Fleur thought as she nodded and took Hermione's outstretched hand. She instantly felt a jolt followed by the familiar pressure of apparition. As soon as she had solid ground under her feet again she let go.

They arrived in an alleyway next to a brick wall, since the others weren't in sight Fleur assumed the wall was an entry point to the Ministry. Her suspicions were confirmed when Hermione waked through a seemingly solid wall. Fleur quickly followed after her in case the wall suddenly decided it wasn't so permeable.

Looking around the large atrium of the Ministry she noticed a large fountain with bronze magical creatures and wizards together at the centre. Walking past it as she followed after Hermione she saw the solid stone wall behind the fountain was inscribed with lists of names. She wanted to stop and examine the fountain properly, but decided to do it when she wasn't following behind Hermione walking at warp speed.

Rounding the corner they ran into Arthur, Cecile and Philippe walking at a much more sedate pace.

"Heading for our incident room right Herm?" Arthur asked, confirming he was heading in the right direction. Hermione just nodded to Arthur and adjusted her pace to match the other groups.

Fleur was amused as Hermione shot her a sidelong glance, looked back ahead and then suddenly turned to watch her again, as if she was trying to work up the courage to say something to Fleur.

Finally Hermione spoke saying, "It's a memorial, for those we lost in the war."

Immediately Fleur felt awkward. Hermione had fought in and lost friends in, that war when she was still a teenager. The memorial would be a reminder the English witch had to walk past every day when she arrived at work.

While Fleur was processing that information she must have looked slightly puzzled as Hermione clarified, "The fountain, I saw you looking at it."

"Was the owl sitting on the wizard's arm a snowy owl?" Fleur asked, thinking it was an exotic choice for England.

Hermione simply nodded as Arthur opened a plain door and gestured for everyone to enter. Fleur wasn't surprised when she saw the room. Incident rooms really were the same all over the world, the room contained a large rectangle table in the middle of the room and a chalkboard on the far wall.

As they sat at the table Fleur realised they had split again, French on one side facing the English on the other. She noticed Hermione look at the watch and then the door.

"Are we waiting for someone?" Fleur asked.

"My third son" Arthur said somewhat proudly as a tall thin equally red headed man walked into the room.

"Ehm, I'd prefer you address me as the Head of Magical Law Enforcement father," the man said as he sat down.

Nodding towards the French he said, "Ok. I'm Percy Weasley. Fleur Delacour, I recognise you from the Triwizard Tournament all those years ago. Look how far we've both come."

Already Fleur could tell she would not like this man. His simpering little smile was the kind worn by those who would suck up to you as long as it would benefit them but just as quickly use you as the scapegoat to save their own ass. And she could tell that if anything went wrong with this investigation blaming the French is exactly what this man planned on. Fleur shot Hermione a look and could see a slightly pained expression on her face. Clearly he wasn't her dream boss.

"I've spoken with the Minister Shacklebolt. He is awaiting further briefing but has had the chance to talk with the French Minister. It is an official order that we will collaborate on this. Yeah?"

Percy then looked slowly back and forth several times between the French and English wizards, as if a group of highly ranked officials couldn't understand what 'we' meant and needed a pantomime. Fleur did her best not to roll her eyes.

"I've got an ID on the top half of the body, I recognised him as soon as I saw him." Hermione paused as if bracing herself, "It's Albert Runcorn."

Fleur watched the expression of Percy change, his eyes widened and he turned an interesting shade of red.

"Hah! Glad to see him dead! Hope it was painful!" Arthur said gleefully, the animated reaction pleasing Fleur so much she felt an almost imperceptible tick of a smile.

"ARTHUR! Be a professional! Please!" Percy shouted, his face turning a deeper shade of crimson. He ran his hands through his hair. He turned to Hermione and almost pleadingly queried, "You sure?"

The deadpan look Hermione returned him spoke volumes about Hermione's certainty and Fleur heard Philippe chuckle at the little show the English were putting on for them.

"Who is Albert Runcorn?" Fleur finally asked.

Percy looked a little startled, as if he had momentarily forgotten the French were there. He looked at his watch and replied, "I'm sorry I've got a meeting with the Minister to get to. Hermione I trust you can brief them and we'll leave your unit as our primary on this. I'll also speak to Potter and have the Aurors on high alert in case of reprisals."

Nodding once again at the French Aurors he left the room. There was an awkward silence in the room.

Fleur decided to break it by saying "Well, Albert Runcorn?" while looking in an exaggerated way from Hermione to Arthur, mimicking Percy's gesture from earlier. Cecile and Philippe started snickering at her mocking the pompous Englishman.

"Yes," Hermione began, "He was a Ministry Official, held quite a high ranking and was involved with the Muggle Born Registration Commission. After the war there wasn't enough evidence to send him to Azkaban, although he was dismissed from the Ministry. He had become vocal again in the last couple of years, criticising the Ministry and was running a campaign to be elected to the Wizengamot."

Arthur chimed in adding, "He was bloody foul. Just as guilty for the murders and incarcerations of those poor Muggle borns as anyone else. And he was stirring all that disgusting sentiment again, encouraging the prejudiced wizards to crawl out of their slimy holes and voice their support for him."

So Fleur had the politically correct version from Hermione and the truth from Arthur. She could see why this man turning up dead had elicited such a reaction, realising why Hermione hadn't been so politically correct earlier when she muttered 'good riddance' over the body.

"We found a male body, severed just above the hips. The cut is clean and the body appears to be a Caucasian male and who is quite tall. It appears that someone hijacked the French Ministry's Floo system, as they did with your scene."

Hermione and Arthur nodded along as Fleur talked. She had let Hermione lead things up to this point, so was interested to see how she reacted now it was her turn to take charge. "I will be the primary investigator from the French office and will stay in the UK to act as a liaison as long as necessary. My staff will go back to France following this meeting to follow up any local leads and consult with the experts examining the body."

"Won't we reunite the body and have one team of experts do the examination?" Hermione questioned.

"Good idea. How are we sending the top half to France with the Floo down?" Fleur challenged.

"English victim, so English examine." Hermione fired back.

"Non. I refuse to send our half to England until we verify the identity." Fleur said in a calm but firm tone. Looking into Hermione's eyes to challenge her, yet she found herself distracted by the amusement there.

"Ok. Well, once the ID is confirmed we'll reunite the body here."

Fleur nodded, but it didn't escape her notice she had pretty much just agreed to Hermione's original request. No more getting distracted, she internally chided herself.

"I'll need to see my staff off, so they can start following things up in France." Fleur advised Hermione.

Hermione nodded and looked at Arthur, "Can you take some Floo configuration details for the French office from Cecile and Philippe? I've got to have a quick word with Fleur."

Together they walked a short distance down the hallway until Hermione stopped at another nondescript door. She motioned for Fleur to wait and stepped into the room, emerging a second later with an old fashioned key.

"This room is my office. You must have this key on your person to get through the door, do not try it without the key. The key is charmed to warm up as it gets closer to this room, which will help you if you get lost. There is a spare desk in there you can use."

Fleur nodded and reached her hand for Hermione to drop the key in. "I'll return soon."

Turning quickly and hurrying back to the conference room Fleur felt the old fashioned key cool in her hand as she moved away from the office. She slipped the key in her pocket as she opened the door and nodded to her staff, leading them back into the alleyway. After instructing them she was to be owled immediately with updates, or updated via Floo once the network reopened, she watched them disapparate back to the office in Paris.

The heat of the key in her hand had Fleur confident she was at the right room, but looking around the sparse office she could see few traces of the other girl. There were two desks, one was completely empty and the other had a few files stacked on it, so she guessed the one with the files was Hermione's. The office was eerily silent, leaving Fleur alone with her thoughts. Alone with her thoughts was not really a place Fleur was all that comfortable with, so she reached into her magically expanded pocket and pulled out her discman. The familiar whir of the CD spinning up followed by the burst of drums and guitars helped her focus, helped her forget.

Jotting down her thoughts so far about the two bodies on a piece of parchment with the music blaring she didn't hear the door handle turn, or the door open. So she was mildly startled when Hermione tapped her shoulder, breaking her out of her zone. As she turned to face Hermione the other witch looked amused, "Good beat?"

Fleur was confused by her question for a second and then realised she must have been tapping her foot along to the music. Ignoring the question Fleur pulled her earphones out and piece of paper into her lap. "I think the most important question here is why. Why did the killer choose the offices of Muggle leader of England and the Minister for Magic in France to put the body?"

Hermione's face immediately sobered up as she looked at Fleur's relatively long scroll of parchment filled with notes. She took the chair opposite Fleur and offered, "Well the Muggle leader of England seems like it could be linked to Runcorn's anti-Muggle views. But the French Minister, no idea. Any inside intel we are missing?"

Several hours, scrolls of parchment and many, many research documents later they still had no answer, only a whole heap of half formed theories. Feeling frustrated Arthur's interruption was well timed, as he walked in announcing, "We've tracked down the last person to see Runcorn alive. But it's getting late, so I'd suggest you follow it up tomorrow."

Hermione nodded and replied, "Yes, it'll be tomorrow Arthur. See you later."

Fleur was puzzled, looking at her watch she saw it was only seven. "Don't you work full days here in the UK?"

Although Hermione narrowed hey eyes at Fleur, she did have the decency to look a little embarrassed as she replied, "It's the fifth birthday party for one of Arthur's granddaughters tonight, and since Ginny is pregnant and cranky she'll come here and curse me if I don't make an appearance. If you wanted to come I'm sure you'd be welcome, Harry especially would probably enjoy catching up."

"I'll need to get a room if we are following up that lead tomorrow. Is the Leaky Cauldron still open?"

Hermione nodded, but queried, "How did you know about the Leaky Cauldron?"

Surprising herself with a candid answer Fleur replied, "After school I came to England and interviewed for a summer internship at Gringotts, but ended up declining the position."

"Oh wow! How funny, Alicia Spinnet ended up getting that internship and that's how she met Bill and became Alicia Weasley. They have three kids now of course, their oldest Victoria is 9."

Fleur cocked an eyebrow, Hermione was rambling. She must have noticed Fleur's expression as she exhaled, stopping and pulling a mobile phone out of her pocket.

"I know it's a little unusual but I have to have one of these for my job with New Scotland Yard. Do you use any kinds of telephone?"

"Yes. What is your number?"

Hermione looked around and tore of a scrap of parchment, scrawling a phone number on it. "You can reach me on this any time, call me if anything urgent comes up. I better get going or I will be late. I'll see you at 8 tomorrow."


It was only after she had showered and ate the room service dinner, Fleur realised it had been over 24 hours since she last slept or ate. She rationalised that may have been why she had felt waves of pain, excitement and anxiety throughout the latter part of the day. It had to be a physical reason, she wouldn't let herself think it was anything else.

Looking around the small but plain room Fleur felt restless. She didn't have any books with her and had left her discman at the Ministry. With her head swirling she decided to go out and get a drink without being recognised, which of course meant venturing out into Muggle London.

She was had only walked a few streets away from the Leaky Cauldron when she found somewhere to try. Slipping into the bar the familiar thrum of bass from the rock music that was up loud enough to prohibit talking made the venue seem suitable The male bartender arrived almost as soon as she sat down, before he could even ask her order she slid some Muggle money on the bar and said "Bourbon, on the rocks."

It was after she had rejected the advances of two men and just finished third bourbon, that the bar staff changed. One of new bartenders brought her another bourbon, putting it down next to Fleur with a wink. The bartender was sexy as hell and Fleur was in the kind of mood that any escape from reality would be a relief, so she locked eyes with the brunette woman.

All it took was the bartender inclining her head towards a doorway and a small nod from Fleur and they headed into the stock room. The brunette quickly took charge, pushing Fleur up against a wall and hungrily leaning in for a kiss. Fleur grabbed onto the woman's petite waist, returning the kiss with equal aggression as she pulled the brunette against her. The brunette's hand roamed to Fleur's hip and her mouth moved further down, her teeth and tongue marking Fleur's neck.

When the brunette's hand deftly slipped inside her jeans and cupped Fleur it suddenly it felt wrong. Instead of making her think of nothing, the intimacy was filling her brain, reminding her of everything her soul ached for, reminding her this was an hollow imitation of what she really needed.

"Sorry, I can't." Fleur murmured as she pushed away from the bartender and stormed out of the bar. A wave of nausea swelled up within her when she thought about the encounter she had just fled from. She walked as fast as she could, mindlessly putting distance between herself and the bar. Finally she slowed, realising the area looked vaguely familiar and she was near the Ministry of Magic.

Seeing how close she was she decided to go retrieve her discman, which was like a safety blanket to her. The large atrium was eerily quiet this time of night, other than the splash of water from the fountain. When she traversed the halls, hoping for the key to start warming up she noticed a wizard giving her a funny look. It wasn't until she walked past mirrored door she noticed her fly was still open from her encounter in the bar.

Once she was back in an office environment the temptation to distract herself with work was overwhelming for Fleur. So she sat down and pulled out some old case files, wanting to have more background on Runcorn and his known associates. It was flicking through the files related to one of the Muggle Born Registration Committee's victims, Dirk Creswell, she found mention of a mark found on his body. The description of the mark jolted her memory, she knew why the mark looked familiar.

Excited at the break through Fleur wanted to tell Hermione right away. She remembered the scrap of paper with the phone number Hermione had given her. She remembered passing a bank of pay phones earlier so after a short walk, a frustrating struggle with Muggle coins and the novelty of pressing buttons she heard, "Hermione Granger speaking"

"There was a mark on the body, just under the clavicle, did you notice it?"

"Fleur?" Hermione asked sounding a little confused.

"Yes. Did you notice the mark?"

"No. I didn't."

"I'm almost certain it was left by a recent Cruciatus Curse."There was just silence on the other end of the line, confused Fleur wondered if somehow the call had ended. She called into the phone, "Hermione?"

"Sorry. I haven't heard of that curse being used in the UK for a long time. It just threw me for a second." Hermione sounded somewhat distant and distracted over the phone as she replied.

"Ok. We had one incident in France around seven years ago, a witness was able to confirm that was the curse that caused the marks on the bodies. I didn't connect two until I saw an old case file that described a similar mark."

"You've done well Fleur, this will definitely give us another line of enquiry." Fleur smiled into the phone, feeling a faint stirring of relief that the girl sounded more upbeat.

Unsure if she wanted to end the call yet Fleur hesitated and was interrupted by Hermione saying,"But ah, Fleur why are you working this late?"

There was a pause as Fleur considered how to answer that question. That's when she heard a male voice call out to Hermione. She heard the sound dampen, like Hermione was putting her hand over the phone. But Fleur still clearly understood Hermione whisper "Shut up Ron, it's work."

"We can't all be entertaining at children's parties Hermione. See you tomorrow for some work." Fleur replied, feeling an unexpected flicker of jealousy as she hung up the phone.


A/N: As there is no flashback in this chapter the song is from the same year the story is set in. Thank you to all the support so far! Hope you continue to enjoy it.