"These monsters spin me around
Get me down, just try and shut me out "

-Monsters, Something For Kate (2001)


"Do you think they'll apparate in?" Ron asked.

Hermione clenched her fists inside her Hogwarts robes. To calm herself slightly she imagined she had expanded her pocket to carry around a copy of Hogwarts A History, so anyone who suggested apparating in or out of Hogwarts could receive a solid thunk to the back of the head.

Gritting her teeth Hermione uttered a sentence she knew she say many more times before they graduated, "You can't apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds! How often do I have to tell you?"

Professor Dumbledore interrupted the musings of the crowd only moments later, pointing out a large object in the sky heading towards the castle. Hermione was not at all impressed by the ceremony and pomp. She was wasting valuable study time and wanted to get a book about house elves from the library before bed.

The enormous carriage pulling up, with it's matching giant flying horses and apparently part giant Headmistress did captivate Hermione briefly. She was amused to watch the students exiting the carriage, their thin blue silk robes just another example of the impracticality of Wizards. Clearly not one had thought to check the weather in Scotland.

As their principal talked to Professor Dumbledore, the small band of teens stood around shivering and shooting apprehensive towards the castle and the Hogwarts students. Hermione scanned the group, curious about the European wizards, and noticed one of them seemed to be staring straight at her. The girl's pale blue silk robes, while inefficient at keeping her warm, showed off her willowy figure in a way that Hogwarts robes would never allow.

Hermione realised the girl had likely noticed Harry as she continued staring in their direction. At least this girl was one of the more sensible ones, as she had a heavy scarf wrapped around her head and shoulders.

As the crowd parted to let the students through Hermione was interrupted in her musings about the Beauxbatons students, joining in the boys talking about Hagrid's horrid skrewets. As they waited for more students to arrive Hermione's thoughts again strayed to the staring girl. Those Beauxbaton robes were really flattering, she idly wondered if in two years she would have a similar into willowy elegance and subtle curves.

Hermione's admiration was interrupted by an ungodly shriek of 'Victor Krum' coming from Ron. She felt herself reddening slightly, she had been so lost in her thoughts of the other girl's body she had somehow missed a ship emerging from the lake and the Dumstrang contingent getting out. Walking towards the hall for the feast people around her began squabbling about getting Krum's autograph, Ron included. With all the fanfare Hermione was compelled to remind Ron that Krum was only a Quidditch player after all.

Inside the hall Hermione quickly spotted the Beauxbatons contingent sitting at the Ravenclaw table. None of them seemed remotely festive but the staring girl was frowning and looking particularly displeased. She'd left her scarf over her head, which was a bit ridiculous given it was much warmer in the hall. For some reason it annoyed Hermione that she couldn't see the girl properly, "It's not that cold. Why didn't they bring cloaks?" she asked Ron and Harry who wisely didn't reply.

Hermione heard the girl's mocking laugh when Dumbledore wished them a comfortable and enjoyable stay. The staring girl had gotten under her skin, she just couldn't stop herself watching her and scrutinising reactions.

"No one's making you stay." Hermione whispered under her breath, annoyed that she had mocked Professor Dumbledore.

The food was a temporary distraction from the evening's events. Since Hermione had discovered the Hogwarts food was basically the result of slavery every mouthful she ate filled her with guilt. Strategizing about ways to recruit more S.P.E.W members as she ate Ron interrupted her, asking what a certain dish was.

Hermione instantly recognised the French dish in the middle of the table as Bouillabaisse, having eaten it in France two summers before. After she'd told Ron what the dish was she went back to eating, half listening to the boys chatting away and half deciding exactly which book she needed from the library.

A sweet aroma filled Hermione's nose so she looked down the table expecting to see dessert had appeared. Surprised that there was no dessert Hermione tried to place the smell, it was both sweet and earthy, reminding her of woods in the springtime. As she tried to analyse the smell further she felt a presence beside her and looked up into the deep blue eyes of staring girl.

The girl had taken her scarf off, revealing silvery blonde hair that fell in gentle waves to her waist. She turned to Hermione and asked, "Are you done with the Bouillabaisse?"

The girl had an accent marking her as French to Hermione. She also noticed the girl's perfect white teeth, a consequence of having dentist parents, and her amazing jawline.

"Yes, you can take it." Harry said when it was clear no one else was answering the French girl.

The girl smiled at Harry as she reached past Hermione to grab the dish from the table, the smell she had noticed moments earlier almost overpowering with the girl in such close proximity.

After several seconds Hermione felt her mental faculties returning and looked to see Ron almost purple in the face. His mouth was still hanging open as he watched the direction the girl had walked off in.

"She's a Veela." Ron sputtered out.

"Of course not." Hermione quickly replied, her heart sinking as she realised that if this girl was a Veela she must be an extremely powerful one. This girl had been able to use Veela power on her, yet the Veela at the Quidditch World Cup had not affected her at all. She saw Harry looking at Ron with concern and wondered if he had noticed anything unusual about the girl.

Keen to change the subject in case anyone noticed her reaction, Hermione pointed out the Triwizard officials that had just walked in.

Later that night after the feast was finished, thankfully with no further Veela girl run ins, Hermione headed up to the library. She only had a small window of time before Madame Pince closed the library and just needed to quickly grab her book on house elves. Yet in the magical creatures section she walked a few steps past the book she wanted on house elves and ran her eyes up and down the shelves. When she found the related section she paused, there was only one tiny book 'Veela: The Legacy of the Sirens'. Quickly looking around Hermione slipped the book into her bag before doubling back for the house elf book and ducking out of the library.

On the way beck to her dormitory Hermione rationalised what she had just done. It was simply an intellectual pursuit that compelled her to pick up the book. She just wanted to further her knowledge now she had possibly come face to face with a Veela. Clearly she was just fascinated with the girl's heritage, that's all.


Hermione hardly even noticed that she was hundreds of meters above the ground, hurtling along at high speed with only a small piece of wood between herself and falling to her death. Her brain was so busy processing what had just happened her fear of heights was only a tiny whisper echoing around her brain.

Verseau's phrase, 'The scale of justice stretches beyond the ephemeral bonds of this life' was rolling around her head on repeat. It was clear Verseau knew more than he was saying, but the way he told them with a concerned expression and his sombre tone made Hermione's blood run cold. It felt like a warning.

And those places he had mentioned, they had to have significance. Hermione saw Fleur falter almost imperceptibly when La Melene was mentioned. Fleur definitely knew more than she was letting on. After all she lived in the woods and knew the Centaurs.

She could still feel the adrenalin coursing through her body. She knew she was probably squeezing her hands around Fleur a little too hard but was greedily stealing the comfort embracing the other girl gave her. She tried to focus on work but one thing Verseau said kept sneaking into her head, he called Hermione Fleur's girl. Did he think they were a couple? Or was he just trying to be a little bit colloquial and messed it up? The mental image of a Centaur being colloquial, maybe dropping some London slang made Hermione laugh.

The adrenalin of the near miss with a tree trunk, the Centaur run in and now flying at such high speed made her a little giddy. She found herself cracking up at her mental image of a Centaur, hanging with a London crew.

"What are you laughing at?" Fleur called out without looking back.

"You think Verseau ever has a cheeky Nandos?" Hermione asked, hardly able to finish the sentence she was laughing so hard at her own ridiculousness. Fleur, clearly not amused, didn't even respond.

The journey back seemed much faster than the trip to find the Centaurs. And much like the Hogwarts grounds they needed to leave Madame Maxime's property to apparate back to the Ministry Office in Paris.

Walking into the Paris Auror Office Hermione noticed the time on a wall clock. Cursing under her breath she knew she had to leave or she would miss her appointment. When she told Fleur the French witch had only raised an eyebrow and made another quip about English Aurors working part time. Thankfully no one asked her what the appointment was, although she had prepared a lie in case anyone did.

After a quick stop at her apartment to shower Hermione quickly chose her pre-planned outfit of a short sleeved t-shirt, with a long sleeved cardigan and jeans. Sitting on the tube towards the Doctors office Hermione self-consciously crossed her arms, pressing them face up into her stomach as hard as she could and burying them under her satchel.

As she exited the tube station she walked towards the office her anxiety rose. She chastised herself, she had never failed a test, and wouldn't start with one as seemingly easy as wearing a short sleeved top. Stopping just outside the building she ripped off her cardigan, shoving it in her satchel and rushing into the waiting room.

"I'm here for Dr Byrne." Hermione said to the receptionist, her hand in the pocket of her jeans and her arm firmly pressed against her side.

"Ah Hermione, come in." Dr Byrne said, seemingly popping out of his office door as soon as he heard her voice.

Consciously reminding herself to use her arm normally, she walked into his office and took a seat. When Dr Byrne pointedly looked at her arm she did her best not to pull it back on instinct, wanting to hide the hideous scar that still disfigured her arm.

"Well Hermione, I think that is the best reaction we've had to date. On a scale of one to ten, with one being not at all, how badly do you want to put on the jumper or jacket I know you have stowed in that satchel?"

Hermione closed her eyes for half a second, annoyed Dr Byrne saw through her so quickly. "Uh, maybe eight."

"Ok, I'll just grab my file. If you feel you need to cover your arm for this session to be productive now is your chance." Dr Byrne said as he walked over to the filing cabinet.

Hermione was used to this routine, she had been coming to see a Muggle Psychologist for several years. The story Dr Byrne had been told was that at eighteen Hermione was abducted and tortured by an escaped mental patient. The motivation provided was that woman had wanted to find the location of her ex-partner who was a friend of Hermione's. It was close enough to the truth that it worked.

Waiting for Dr Byrne to return the ugly word stared up at her. The scar had faded a little in the ten years since the wound was inflicted but it was still easy to make out the letters. Mudblood, cut into her arm in jagged red lines, marking her forever. Quietly Hermione reached into her bag and grabbed the cardigan, feeling like a failure as she slipped it on and covered the hateful reminder.

Leaving the session Hermione felt vulnerable, exposing how she felt to a doctor once a month always made her uneasy. At least she didn't have to erase today's session from Dr Byrne's memory, as she had a couple of occasions in the past when she inadvertently revealed something that exposed her as a witch. Still the exercise he had set for her was interesting, to recall memories from 'before the incident'.

On the tube ride back to her apartment Hermione tried to decide just when 'before the incident' really was, since her first run in with Voldemort was at age twelve. She decided Cedric's death was probably the first incident that changed her, made her realise that she what she was involved in wasn't a schoolyard adventure but a game of life and death. She knew it had been an especially risky game for her, since her blood status put her in extra danger.

That night standing in front of her Pensive Hermione thought about the day she met Fleur. The memory would definitely qualify as 'before the incident'. She put her wand tip to her temple and smirking remembered the haughty seventeen year old. An largely unchanged based on dealing with Fleur now.

Hermione arrived at the Paris Auror office promptly at seven in the morning. The previous night after her appointment she had written up extensive notes about their encounter with the Centaur herd and researched the two towns mentioned by Verseau. She walked straight to Fleur's office, knowing she would already be at her desk and hard at work. Hermione really admired Fleur's dedication to her job. Grudgingly admitting to herself that Fleur was probably the first person she met that worked just as hard, if not harder, than her.

Standing in the doorway she watched as Fleur flicked between two files, comparing them side-by-side. Remembering her first impressions of Fleur from the Pensive the night before Hermione compared the girl before her with the memory. Fleur's hair was still the same silver blonde colour, but it only fell to her shoulders now and she still possessed the willowy elegance that had caught her attention as a teen.

"Stop staring and get to work Hermione." Fleur said, making Hermione jump and blush. Definitely the same haughty attitude too, Hermione thought as she stepped into the room and closed the door. She pulled up a spare chair and put her paperwork down on the desk.

"So I was researching La Melene and Hauterives last night and I came up with nothing of value. I think we should go out go there today to see if there is any significance in Verseau mentioning them." Hermione said.

"NO." Fleur said rather forcefully, causing Hermione to raise her eyebrows. Clearly on seeing Hermione's look Fleur continued on in a more neutral tone, "I know that would be a waste of time. There is nothing of interest for us in either village."

Hermione exhaled, frustrated that her idea was so quickly dismissed by Fleur. Looking down at the next point on the paper she countered back with a question she had already prepared to ask Fleur, "Verseau said that 'your girl can fill you in on the details later', what did her mean?"

Fleur frowned at her slightly before replying, "He meant I should tell you about the first part of the encounter, how unwilling Sagittaire was to help us."

Hermione looked at Fleur dubiously. She knew when someone was being evasive and Fleur was definitely skirting around something. Persistent as ever Hermione continued down her list of questions, "What do the Veela know about the wizards in the woods when Taureau went missing?"

Fleur paused, Hermione watched her intently looking for signs of deception and saw her eyes flick to the framed picture of her sister before she looked at the floor. After another second of silence Fleur looked up and met Hermione's eyes, "The Aurors in the woods were looking for a murderer, after an incident in Anduze."

Hermione waited for more information from Fleur, only the other girl stayed silent.

"And…?" Hermione asked Fleur, dragging the word out, wanting more information about the Anduze incident.

"And.." Fleur started awkwardly, "We need to find out which Auror Verseau spoke to. It seems really strange that a Centaur would inform a Wizard that one of their herd was missing during a murder investigation, yet there is no record."

Hermione conceded Fleur had made a valid point and it was definitely a lead worth checking into. But it was damn obvious that Fleur was being evasive. Just as Hermione was about to say something to that effect the office door burst open and Cecile rushed in and practically shouted, "You need to get to London now or she's going to die!"


A/N: Thank you for all the feedback on this story, knowing people are reading it and enjoying it makes me so much more enthusiastic about writing it.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I think my Australian is showing with this chapter's song sorry :P. But it's what I listened to back in 2001 and there really aren't too many great songs from that year.