(A/N: Well, it seems we lost a few people with that last chapter. As one reviewer put it, they can't read the "character tab" and/or they think I'm doing a "bait and switch". I'm starting to understand the fun behind Bobmin's "mocking notes" at the bottom of his chapters. :-) This is version 1.1.)
Chapter 7 - Going Forward
(Sat, Sep 21)
The next morning, Harry awoke as the sun was coming up - his usual time. What was unusual though was the naked girl that was half draped over him. He drank in her form, or at least her top half as the bottom half was covered by a white linen sheet.
He still couldn't quite understand why she was so attracted to him, but it seemed to be genuine from what he could tell. After learning the terms for various body parts, which somehow sounded more special in French, he and Fleur had put some of those body parts together. It had been, well, better than spectacular. Bloody awesome was a little closer.
They had explored each other's bodies and had sex on the beach all afternoon. They cleaned up and had a break for dinner. Afterwards they'd quickly moved to the couch for some serious snogging before eventually going to his bedroom for more sex and finally sleep. He had a feeling normal lessons were going to be ignored for the weekend.
Though not really wanting to, he started trying to extract himself from under her because exercises didn't do themselves. Just as he was almost free, Fleur woke and looked up at him sleepily.
"It's time for my morning run," he told her quietly.
She groaned but nodded. "I'll meet you at the end, like usual."
Harry put on a pair of socks and shorts, then grabbed his wand as he left. His shoes were by the door.
With a sun block charm on himself so he could start and finish sooner, Harry started his run around the island. He really couldn't help but think of Fleur and all that had happened between them since she'd come. He wondered if part of what made it so special was that he hadn't expected it. It was all certainly a lot better than the unexpected surprises during his time at Hogwarts.
Just thinking about the school made him frown. It took him a few minutes to realize that frowning was all he really did. He wasn't as angry with the betrayers anymore. There was no doubt in his mind that he still didn't really want to see any of them any time soon, but he felt he'd lost his anger towards his old friends. It was supreme disappointment now. The name of Dumbledore made him run a little faster in anger, but as long as he avoided thoughts of the old man, he thought he could deal with most of his past. That was a pleasant realization.
Something else that was pleasant was the sight of a naked Fleur coming out of the ocean, ending her swim when she saw him. He understood her comments from yesterday a little better now. There was no doubt about more flirting and touching in their future.
(Sat, Sep 28)
Ginny hurried through the common room as she made her way to Quidditch practice. She was only a little surprised that Hermione rose from her seat and followed her out the portrait hole.
"Do you mind if I walk with you to practice? It's been hard to find time to talk to you," Hermione said as she fell into step beside the redhead.
"You know how busy it is being my OWL year, not to mention Quidditch on top of that," Ginny returned.
"That's true," Hermione agreed affably as they descended the main staircase. "Can I ask you something important?"
Ginny replied, "Sure." She had been expecting something like this; the only real surprise was how long it had taken Hermione to step forward. Her indecision and guilt must have been strong to wait this long.
"Are you in contact with Harry?"
Concentrating on the stairs so as not to trip or to give anything away, Ginny asked, "Does it really matter? I thought both Harry's letter and Fleur's speech made it quite clear he wasn't happy with any of us and he wasn't coming back here any time soon."
"Of course it matters," Hermione protested. "I miss my friend," she ended sadly. "So, have you?"
As they hit the bottom of the main staircase and walked toward the main front door, Ginny looked at her friend. "Why didn't you write him this summer?"
"What does that have to do with my question?" Hermione returned a little too quickly.
"Answer mine first," Ginny replied undaunted. She knew Hermione would answer because she wanted to know what Ginny was up to.
"Fine," older girl huffed after a long glare that did nothing to the redhead. "You know that the Headmaster asked us not to and your mother agreed."
"And you thought they were more important than Harry?" Ginny shook her head incredulously.
Hermione's gaze snapped back to the front, unable to look at her friend. "The Headmaster is our leader. I'm trying to obey him and help Harry. So have you heard from him?"
Ginny restrained her snarky reply with great effort. Instead, she said, "I used to think of Harry as the one who could always stand up against trolls, basilisks, Dementors, dragons, Death Eaters, and Dark Lords. That he was the ultimate Gryffindor who could boldly do anything he felt he had to.
"Then I realized Harry did all of those things usually because he felt he needed to protect one of his friends or because he had to fight for his life the other times. Harry will do almost anything for someone he considers a friend. Like a Hufflepuff, he's the ultimate in loyalty. He's even quite hard working when he thinks he needs to be and my brother isn't slowing him down.
"In fact, I've decided that you can define Harry's bold Gryffindor traits in terms of his Hufflepuff personality, making me wonder why the Sorting Hat put Harry in Gryffindor - but that's another conversation entirely. Still, with that much Hufflepuff in Harry, it works the other way around too.
"Because Harry is ultimately loyal, he expects loyalty back. You'll have Harry's trust forever as long as you don't betray him. However, if you betray him, I think it would be next to impossible to regain that trust.
"Hermione, you've known Harry for five years and I would say you probably know him better than anyone here," at least as of the end of last year, Ginny added in her mind. "Would you agree with all of that?" Ginny asked as they walked out the front door, still just as calm and collected as when she'd started.
Hermione wasn't calm any more. In fact, she had a tear running down the cheek that was facing Ginny as the girl stared straight ahead. "Yes," was hoarsely whispered.
"Then let me ask you this. What would Harry require of you to show that you're really his friend? Don't you think he'd require you to do something special? We both know that Dumbledore can contact Harry with Fawkes, but if you asked Dumbledore to have Fawkes take a letter for you, do you think Harry would really read it or would he burn it just like he burned Dumbledore's letter?"
A short sob and another tear escaped the bushy-headed brunette. "He'd expect me to find my own way. Fleur basically said as much."
"Uh-huh. You know, I'm reasonably certain my brother has only tried once, although he could surprise me by having tried other times in secret," Ginny admitted. "How many times have you tried to contact Harry? How many different ways?"
Hermione stopped walking and buried her face in her hands. "None of my attempts go anywhere. All of them have failed. I've been a horrible friend to him," she sobbed.
Ginny mounted her broom but didn't take off for a moment. "Hermione, as your friend I'll give you the same advice you gave me a couple of years ago. Either grow up and do something about it or else get over him and go on with your life. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but being blunt does make the delivery easier and faster, not to mention preventing misunderstanding. I'll see you later."
Pushing off, Ginny flew up at a steep angle going over the back side of the Ravenclaw bleachers until she was in the Quidditch Pitch and joined the rest of the team. She wondered what Hermione would do. Would she decide the Headmaster or Harry was more important? There was no doubt in Ginny's mind that after Hermione finished having her pity-party that she'd read between the lines and understand that Ginny was in contact with Harry, since she hadn't denied it. However, she thought the girl would leave her alone about it, which would be what Harry had requested.
Ginny hoped a little tough-love would help her friend. Thinking back, she could now appreciate the message from Hermione a couple of years ago, although Ginny wished she'd picked the "do something about it" option rather than the "get over him" route that she had tried at first. Perhaps if she'd tried a little harder to be his friend sooner, she could have convinced him to be her boyfriend and then he never would have left. Then again, playing "what if" in her head didn't change a thing now.
(Tue, Oct 1)
"Are you ready?" Fleur asked him as they stood in front of the Floo at her parents' house.
Harry looked at himself in the mirror on the wall, not recognizing the man in his early 30's at all. The dark haired woman beside him, who also looked to be in her early 30's, was not someone he'd guess to be Fleur. Though she kept some of her prominent features, such as her full lips and cute nose, it was hard to make the connection, what with the added inches of height and the midnight black hair so different from her normal silvery blonde. "Are you sure this is needed?"
"No, but isn't it better to be safe?" she asked with a smirk that could only be interpreted to mean that she knew what his answer would be.
"Very well. Let's get this over with," he said in resignation. "At least we only have to do this for an hour or so."
"Yes, because we'll be in the Muggle parts of Paris otherwise," she agreed with him as she threw some Floo Powder into the fireplace. She called out the destination of the magical center in Paris again and they traveled.
Harry coughed once and banished the ashes from both of them at the other end. Raising his head high and imperiously, as he thought Draco Malfoy might, he led Fleur on his arm towards Gringotts, although she was giving him subtle nudges from time to time to change direction.
Both of them did their best to act normal, carrying on a quiet conversation in French, which meant just moving his mouth occasionally for Harry. His French wasn't that good yet. From time to time, Harry gestured and pointed at sights as a way for them to look around. Fleur even stopped them a few times to look in windows, yet more opportunities to look around without being obvious.
Harry thought all of this "spy stuff" was all for nothing until they walked into Gringotts and saw Bill Weasley leaning against the wall, his Gringotts badge easily visible.
"Bill is here", Fleur breathed in a whisper.
"Oui, qu'est-ce qu'il y a pour le dîner?" Harry asked in a slightly louder than normal voice. It didn't really matter what was for dinner, the point was for Harry to use one of his memorized phrases to make it sound like he knew French, something British Harry Potter didn't.
"Nous avons du poulet à la maison," Fleur replied slowly and in an accent that seemed to strain her throat.
He saw Bill glanced their way for a moment as they walked by him, but Bill's scrutiny didn't linger.
"Meh," Harry said noncommittally with a shrug as they made their way over to a goblin at the counter. He pulled out a letter and handed it to the goblin, not saying a word.
The goblin opened it with annoyance, read it quickly, and then said, "Suivez-moi," as he stepped down from his stool and walked towards the back. They obeyed his command and followed.
Once they were in a private room, Fleur pulled out her bank badge and showed it. «I apologize for the deception,» she said in her normal accent and speed, «but I do not wish for my presence to be known to your British employee in the lobby.»
The goblin looked surprised but nodded. «Very well. You may use this room for the ten minutes you require.» He left them to resume his duties.
Fleur looked at Harry. "Stay here until I return. I don't believe it will take long. Be ready to leave quickly."
"Stay safe," he told her as he sat on an uncomfortable looking wooden chair.
Fleur stepped back into the corridor and hurried to the mail room. Fortunately, she'd been to this branch many times since she'd starting working for Gringotts. In the room, she searched the little boxes on the wall for her name, finding it fairly quickly. There were two letters and a small package inside.
As she started to grab them, she paused and considered possibilities. Because they were employees, she and Bill could use magic inside the building. Pulling her wand out, she cast detection spells on the box and on all three items. She smiled as one of the letters showed positive for an alarm charm.
With care not to touch the charmed letter, she pulled the other letter out and opened it. It was from her manager; it didn't say much other than he expected her next report by the first of the year. She dropped her letter to him in the outgoing bin.
The package was addressed "Liaison Fleur Delacour" in an official Gringotts wrapper. That was put aside for the moment.
Fleur also put a letter with Bill's name on it in her box. With care that took nearly a full minute and earned her a grunt from a goblin who had to reach around her to access his box, she moved the charm from his letter to her letter to him. Satisfied, she grabbed his letter and hurried back to Harry.
As she rushed in and closed the door, Harry looked up in alarm. "What's wrong?"
"I was right to be wary," she said as she pulled Bill's letter out and cast another detection charm on it and found it to be clean. "This letter had an alarm charm on it. Bill's way to know if I touched it."
"Won't he come rushing back here now?" Harry asked with concern as he glanced at the door, expecting it to open at any moment.
"No, I moved his charm to another letter," she replied as she finished skimming the letter and then put it away. "He wants to know if I'm doing well and if I'll be coming back to him." She smiled at her lover. "The answer is that I won't be going back to him, but he doesn't need to know that right now.
"I also received this." She started opening the small package, about the size of large journal book.
"What is it?"
"Something transferred to me as part of my job," she said absently. Reaching inside, she pulled out two letters and a ledger book. "It looks like some accounting," she paused and looked at him, "and letters to you." Fleur chuckled as she opened the first one. "That was very clever."
"What?"
She scanned the letter quickly. "We'll have to read these later. Fred and George Weasley realized they could send things to me through the bank and I'd eventually receive them." As he started frowning, she touched his face gently and made him look at her. "They are trying to be friends from the little I've read. You must at least read the letters before you decide anything."
Harry took a deep breath and slowly let it out, controlling his feelings better than before. "You're right, it would be fair to at least read them because of their effort."
"I'm glad you see it my way," she said with a smile and quick kiss before she put it all back into the travel envelope. "Come, we must leave as we entered, a French couple with some business."
They adopted their act and waited for a few moments in their room with the door open now. As a goblin went past in the direction of the lobby, they followed him, making it appear as if they were escorted.
A moment later they strolled out of the bank with Bill being none the wiser. A smiling Harry led Fleur back to their entry point and they left the magical area to enjoy the day in Paris.
— — —
That evening, they snuggled on the couch in their hotel room. Fleur sat between his legs and leaned back against him so she could hold the letters and they could both read at the same time. Harry wrapped his arms around her and caressed her stomach slowly so as not to tickle her. After the letters, Fleur flipped through the thin ledger book to understand what had been sent.
"What do you think?" she asked as she turned sideways to sit on his lap so she could see his face now.
"I appreciate their apology for not asking about me sooner than the day after I left. I suppose I can understand that they were really busy setting up their new shop and so left my care to their mother who usually fed me fairly well."
Fleur looked at him pointedly. "They also said their girlfriends asked about you before you left for the summer and you said you were fine. So when they were told that, it was not their fault they didn't check on you immediately. Even I have seen you say you're fine when you're not."
Harry hung his head for a moment. "I do remember the girls asking the next day after the disaster. You have a point that I can't blame them when I said I was fine."
"I'm glad you can admit that," she said and gave him a light kiss on his temple.
With a shy smile Harry continued. "I think their resigning from the Order as a protest over what was done to me was a nice gesture." Harry chuckled for a moment. "I really do like their offer to prank Dumbledore in a big way as an apology." He sighed. "Still…"
"Still it would have been nice if they had checked on you sooner," she finished for him.
"Yeah."
"What do you think about Alicia and Angelina? Would you accept them too?"
Harry sighed again and pulled her against him tightly for a moment for comfort before resting his head on her shoulder. "Probably," he answered finally as he also thought of one other person he really needed to contact if he was to be consistent with his beliefs.
"I thought the boys' gift of thirty percent of their business was a nice gesture. You did notice they did that in their accounting book from the very beginning and before your troubles?"
"Yes, I caught the date on that." He lifted his head back up and looked at her. "I think that's mostly what makes me willing to trust them and accept their apology. They were trying to do the right thing from the beginning and that time after the Ministry disaster would have been insanely busy for them as they started their new business. They'd also already left school and so they wouldn't have known much of what I was going through, yet they still tried to keep up with me through their girlfriends."
"I'm glad you're thinking this through and willing to be friends with them." She kissed him lightly again. "I too think they are trying to do the right thing for you. You can write them when we return to the island. However, I think it's time to go to bed. Come and see if I can make you happier," she said with a sexy look.
The night was very pleasant as they slept entwined in their hotel room.
(Mon, Oct 7)
Harry blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what had woken him. A padding noise drew his attention to the other side of the room; he turned just in time to see a naked Fleur go into the bathroom.
He dropped limply back down to the mattress, looking over the side. Everywhere he'd looked in the last few seconds showed devastation. Seeing three empty potion phials on the floor helped him to remember what had happened.
They had barely finished dinner last night when Fleur had gone rigid and sweat started to bead on her forehead. "Take the potion, Harry, quickly! It's time." When he didn't immediately move, she stood up so fast she overturned the table before she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the bedroom. There, she grabbed a phial of potion she'd carefully brewed a few weeks before and thrust it at him, popping the cork off with her thumb at the same time. "Please, Harry," she begged him. "I can't hold it for long."
Harry grabbed it and looked at her for a split second more before gulping down the light blue liquid that went down his throat like a stream of fire. He would have choked, but he hadn't been able to do anything for a few seconds, not even breath.
Meanwhile, Fleur just gazed at him in lust, one hand pulling at her clothes, disregarding their tearing.
Seconds later, he had felt agony as he transformed into a human sized bird, or something like a bird based on the feathers on his arms. Honestly, he hadn't looked in a mirror because he had lunged for Fleur who had transformed herself the moment he had changed.
Pulling out of that memory, he tried to remember what she'd told him about the potion. Transformation, obviously … strength and speed … stamina … lust … he'd had lots of lust. Now that he thought about it, he would have had sex with any female who'd been in the room, even someone as vile as Dolores Umbridge. He closed his eyes and shuddered at that revolting mental image.
In the end, it had taken three potions to satisfy her … three hours of intense sex. He shuddered again, although this time in the understanding of what magic was able to do to him.
"What's wrong?" a gentle voice asked as a soft hand touched his hip and lightly caressed it.
He hadn't heard her return. "Just thinking about last night. You were so right that should not have been our first time for sex. I had a few doubts about us starting to have sex a few weeks ago; I thought we might have been rushing things a little. Now … now I'm glad I agreed to your way. You're so right that you're like a witch, but not quite."
The hand went up his chest and pulled, bringing them together into a one-armed hug from her and leaving them spooning. "I'm glad you trusted me on all of this. I'm sorry this is so hard on you, Harry. I'll make it up to you, I promise. Think about what you'd like me to do and I'll try if I can. I do promise to take you to Rome for one of our trips. I think you'll like that."
"That sounds good," he told her, liking the thought of going to see the old city and wondering what magical things he might find there. "It's really OK, though. I think I was surprised more than anything. What about this morning? Can we go get breakfast?"
Fleur laughed and nuzzled his neck, trailing soft kisses down his back. "I think I'll be safe for at least a couple of hours. The worst should be over by tomorrow night then we'll be back to mostly normal sex."
"Mostly normal?" he asked, his voice rising and afraid of what she might say.
"Mostly normal because I should have most of the initial influx of hormones out of my system by then. That means that I can control my transformations again. Not quite normal because I'll still want more sex than usual. That should last a week or two. Then I'll be normal again." She lightly bit his neck and then kissed it.
"I think we better hurry for breakfast," Harry told her as he pulled himself from her grasp, unsure if he was really going to get breakfast if she kept up her kissing and he was very hungry.
Fleur laughed at him but gracefully slid out of bed. She didn't bother with clothes; she just put on a gown, tying the sash before she left the room.
Harry threw on a T-shirt and jogging shorts, although he wondered how long he'd keep them on. He knew for a fact that his studies were going to be shot to hell for the next couple of weeks; of that he had no doubt.
Given that there would be no normal studies, he decided that it was a good time to start the research on protecting their vegetable garden. He hadn't finished that old book on household wards yet. That seemed like a good plan … assuming he had time to get out of bed.
(Sat, Oct 12)
The three girls walked into their side of the Quidditch changing rooms and Katie Bell slammed her hand on the door of a locker making a loud racket. Ginny looked at Demelza Robins, their other chaser, and nodded at the door. Demelza nodded back and quickly shucked her uniform robes off and threw them in the basket to be cleaned and hurried out in her casual weekend clothes.
"Damn that Cormac McLaggen!" Katie said fiercely. "He single-handedly lost the game for us against Ravenclaw. Not only did he fail to stop the Quaffle so we were down by eight goals, he also got in the way of our Seeker and let that Chang girl get the Snitch."
There wasn't much positive Ginny could say. Their new Seeker, Gary McDougal, was a second year and doing almost as well as she did as a Seeker. Still, Chang had the experience and McLaggen hadn't been paying attention and got in the way of McDougal, slowing him down enough that he hadn't had a real chance, handing the victory to the Ravenclaws.
"I know this is going to sound biased, but maybe you need to change the Keeper," Ginny suggested hesitantly.
Katie sighed and dropped onto the bench beside Ginny. "It's not biased; I was thinking the same thing." She dropped her face into her hands. "It's times like this that I really miss Harry. I know he'd know what to do and have good advice; he was good to talk to when you found him in a talkative mood."
"Yeah," Ginny agreed softly and with a reminiscent smile.
"He'd also make a better captain than I would." Katie stopped suddenly and looked at her. "Ginny, do you know why Harry isn't here? Professor McGonagall didn't give me any reason that made sense when I asked her. She just said he decided to go somewhere else and that was all she'd say."
With a chuckle, Ginny realized this was probably a good time to do as Harry had asked in his last letter. "You were one of three who actually went out of their way to ask how he was doing at the end of last year after his fight in the Ministry and Harry really appreciated that, even if he did tell you he was fine when he wasn't."
Katie's eyes went wide. "I knew it. I knew you were talking to him."
"Shush!" Ginny said hurriedly as she put her finger in front of her lips. "It's a secret and you can't tell anyone, no one at all."
"Right," the seventh year agreed quickly. "So, how is he? Where is he?"
"He seems to be doing better now. You can write him yourself; you just have to give the letter to me on the sly. Although, I'll tell you that you need to be careful what you say. Whatever you do, don't mention Dumbledore in any way, even by reference. Also, let Harry bring up why he left when he wants to; don't ask."
"OK. So what can I ask about?" Katie queried.
"Other than those couple of topics, just talk about what you normally would or ask what he's doing. We've been asking each other questions getting to know one another better," Ginny explained.
"You didn't say where he is. Is he at Beauxbatons?"
Ginny chuckled. "Don't you think you would have heard that if he was?"
Katie deflated and nodded at the obvious being pointed out.
"I really don't know where he is other than he's supposed to at a place that's very safe. I also don't know entirely how my letters get to him because I send them to someone else that forwards them. That means that we get at most two letters a month."
"So, about a week for a letter to get there and a week for his reply back," Katie said thoughtfully. "That must mean he's out of the country."
Ginny was reasonably certain he was, but she only shrugged. "I don't know for sure. It usually takes a few days after I get a letter before I send a reply back, and I'd think it'd be the same for him, so the full cycle can take three weeks sometimes."
"Neville writes him too, doesn't he?" Katie suddenly asked. "And Luna too."
After a few seconds Ginny laughed. "You're good. It's only the four of us, as well as my twin brothers and their girlfriends. They found a way to get a letter to him as well, and with a different method than I used."
"I would have guessed them too when you said three of us a minute ago." Katie looked at her carefully. "What about your brother and Hermione?"
"I don't know," Ginny said sadly. "Harry thinks they've betrayed him and they took it pretty hard when Harry made that known. I'm surprised that Hermione hasn't found a way to talk to Harry, but as far as I know she hasn't. That's Harry's new standard to prove you're his friend now; you have to contact him on your own and he's made it hard to do."
"What about me?" she asked in surprise.
"I guess you sneaked in because you reached out to him after our fight at the Ministry and before he left. To the best of my knowledge, you know about everyone who has contact with Harry and as you can see," Ginny shook her head sadly, "it's a small number."
"Thanks for telling me," Katie said as she hugged Ginny. "Well, let's go inside and get cleaned up. Then we can tell McGonagall about the change in Keepers and make Ron happy again. I'm sorry I let McLaggen on the team, but he did have a better try out that day."
"Ron said he understood, but you're right, he'll be happy to be back on the team," Ginny said with a lighter heart, glad that she had talked with Katie. If Harry would reach out to someone, then the redhead thought he was getting better, which made her feel better for him.
(Fri, Nov 1)
It was yet another Friday morning at Hogwarts. Ginny sat down in her usual place, next to Colin and across from Neville. The three had started having meals together a few weeks ago; the misfits of Gryffindor as she thought of the small group, sadly.
Neville didn't fit in very well with the rest of his dorm mates. Even Ron had stopped spending time with the Longbottom heir, instead spending time with Dean and Seamus. This puzzled her because she found Neville to be a nice guy.
Colin had never fit in well either. He was just too hyperactive, sort of like what Ginny thought Hermione would have been like if she ate lots of sugar. Maybe that was why her parents didn't let her eat any, not because they were concerned about her teeth.
Ginny mentally sighed as she thought about herself. She didn't have any close friends in her dorm because of her first year. She'd isolated herself and by the second year, all of the close friendships had already formed. Her dorm mates were never rude to her; they just normally "forgot" to invite her to do anything with them.
Luna joined them at times too, although not today; her misfit status in Ravenclaw was well known.
The three sat together and had their own little conversation. Sometimes, like this morning, Hermione would sit next to Neville and sort of be a part of their group, but usually the brunette would keep to herself and read either a book or her notes. For what seemed like the hundredth time, Ginny wondered why the girl hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw.
As Ginny thought about going to History class after breakfast, she wondered what class she should be revising for while Binns droned on. Then she saw the morning mail owls start to arrive. She looked up and watched carefully for the Delacour owl as she was due for another letter from Harry and Fleur.
When no owl came to her, Ginny returned to her breakfast just as Hermione gasped. Looking up to see what was wrong, she saw Hermione visibly pale and start breathing very fast.
"Hermione?"
When the girl didn't answer Ginny's call, Neville reached over and pulled Hermione's hand, which held the morning's Daily Prophet, towards him just enough that he could read the newspaper. "Ministry Employees Attacked at Home," he breathed in surprise.
Ginny grew fearful.
"So many dead," Hermione whispered, although she was easily heard by those around her because the whole Great Hall had gone very quiet, only the occasional murmur heard.
Afraid to ask, yet dying to know, Ginny asked softly with a slight quiver in her voice, "Are my … my parents … listed?" When no one answered, Ginny immediately looked to the head table. Neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall were there.
"No, I don't see them listed," Neville finally answered quietly after a long moment to scan the article.
That helped, but didn't completely calm all of Ginny's fears.
"They killed a third of the department heads," Hermione said hoarsely and in disbelief, barely heard while looking at Ginny.
All of her fears slammed full force back through her heart. Ginny gripped the table and held on for a moment, afraid she might fall if she let go she felt so weak. It took a long moment before she realized an arm was around her and holding her up. She gave Colin a weak smile as she realized he was trying to help her. There was little else she could do as she struggled to hold her fears and emotions in, lest she burst into tears as she struggled with all of the worries for her parents.
"Ginny … look," Colin whispered and pointed towards the door. He had been facing it while looking at her.
One glance lifted her heart and she shot out of her seat with new-found strength and ran across the room, not caring a whit what anyone might think of her. She threw her arms around her mother as she slammed into her and started sobbing heavy tears of joy. Her father's hand on her head caused her to cry harder; their presence releasing the cold hand of fear upon her heart. They were dirty and their clothes were torn in a few places, but they were both safe.
Finally she let go and looked around. Ron was there too, hugging their father. An older Ravenclaw girl was nearby hugging her mother, although both seemed to be sobbing so hard on each other's shoulder they were barely standing.
Her father pulled their family outside into the overly cool morning air, the briskness refreshing after the heavy emotions.
Her mother pulled them both down to sit on the cold stone steps with her, one on either side of her with her arms around their shoulders and pulling the three of them together tightly. Her father stood slightly in front of and below them, looking very tired and sad - the bearer of bad news based on his expression.
"Based on your reaction I'll assume you've heard the news," he said gravely and received two nods. "Your mother and I were lucky and were out for the evening. We Apparated home late and arrived to find an inferno, surprising the three Death Eaters who were there as they thought we were already dead since we hadn't come out sooner. We managed to fight our way to safety, only being hit by a few cutting charms that we've mostly healed."
He pulled at his clothes a little and Ginny saw they were cut and not torn as she'd originally thought. She could also see dried blood on the edges.
He cleared this throat and looked hard at them. "I'm sorry, but the house is completely gone - everything. All that's left is ashes and a few charred sticks. Maybe we'll find a few of the metal things, like your mother's pans, but I don't hold out hope for much else." His wife sniffled once and breathed deeply, obviously struggling to hold her emotions in.
Ginny looked at her mother and saw the struggle the woman was having. The house had always been a special place for the mother of seven; there were a lot of happy memories there. She gave her mother a hug while Ron sat there blankly in disbelief.
"I suppose staying with Aunt Muriel is the obvious choice, but I'm honestly not sure where we'll go at this moment. You two can stay here until the end of the school year. We'll probably join you here for Christmas, or at least I think the Headmaster will allow that." He paused for a moment and looked over them. "Speaking of whom, it appears that I'm needed and I'll return in a moment."
"You two are excused from classes for the day," the deep voice of the Headmaster said. "Arthur, if I may steal a few minutes from you before you have to head in to keep what's left of the Ministry together? I have an idea that you might find helpful."
Ginny scrambled up and gave her father a quick hug before he left. She knew that the proper thing to say was that at least none of their family had died, and she was very grateful for that, but this whole war still sucked.
— — —
Fleur shielded herself from the low-level cutting curse and stepped to the side to avoid a stunning spell to give herself time to send an offensive spell at Harry. He had become faster at casting over the last few months as well as learning to use his power with the new control he didn't have at the beginning. Lately, she was lucky if she won two in five of the duels they had on most mornings and usually it was one in five. She supposed it showed her to be a good teacher, but she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in her own skills.
Her bludgeoning spell missed him and she had to raise a shield as his blasting curse hit the sand and would have sprayed her. He liked doing that and hiding his actions in the sand screen.
Suddenly, the sand started to swirl, confusing Fleur. Before she realized what was happening and could stop it, she found herself being scoured and the stinging was starting to become painful as most of her was bare. As fast as the whirlwind had come, it suddenly disappeared. She tried to cast a spell at Harry only to find she didn't have a wand anymore, having lost it in the sand storm and never noticing. When the sand finished falling, she noticed a grinning Harry who was holding her wand.
"Fine, you win that one too," she conceded a little crossly as she made sure her bikini top was still in place after all of her movement. For a brief moment, she considered taking her top off to see if that would distract him enough for her to win the last one.
"That's four," he said with a smile as he floated her wand back to her. "Maybe today is the day I'll win them all for the first time."
"Only if you're lucky," she called back, all the while knowing he had a good chance of winning the fifth one too. He was becoming very good due to practicing almost every day for three months. "I think no sand this time." She transfigured the top layer of sand around both of them into a thick cloth, hoping to remove that advantage from him.
"It won't help," he taunted her good-naturedly.
"Maybe this will help!" She fired a stunning spell at him to start the last mock battle of the morning. The next few minutes were chaotic as she tried her best to be unpredictable. She thought she had him when one of his spells missed her. It wasn't until she realized the color was almost clear that she realized the danger. She started to spin and drop to one knee while also casting a shield, but she hadn't reacted soon enough. Just as she turned her back to him, several fronds from a palm tree that had been summoned from behind her wrapped themselves around her as tightly as any rope.
She considered transforming to break them just as her world went black.
— — —
Fleur woke sitting in a comfortable chair in the shade and feeling very calm, despite her last memory being one where she was fighting hard. It only took a few seconds to realize the calm was artificial, induced by a singing bird. Looking over, she saw Fawkes the phoenix trilling happily while Harry gave the bird a questioning and less then pleased look while petting him.
"Merde, you finally won all five."
Harry turned to her and his expression turned happy and smug. "Yes - I - did."
"What's happened to bring Fawkes here?" she asked, purposefully changing the subject as she sat fully upright in the lounge chair under their hut on the beach.
"He's brought you a letter. He won't let me take it, so I suppose he was given strict instructions," Harry told her, his frown returning.
Fleur carefully stood and walked over to the table, her full control returning quickly. "May I?" Fawkes let her take the letter before singing to Harry. He chuckled and petted the bird some more while she read first a letter and then a newspaper article. She was only a little surprised this had finally happened.
"What is it?"
"I think you should read these." She handed the newspaper article over and watched him read it, his expression never changing.
"It finally started in earnest." He looked at the article in his hand again. "I wonder how many people will see the hypocrisy in Voldemort's actions."
"Which ones?"
Harry sighed. "He says he's for the Purebloods ruling, yet he just killed a bunch of Purebloods. In fact, with the deaths of both of Cedric's parents, he's just wiped out an entire Pureblood family. I doubt they were the only family to end either. I'm truly sorry people died, but maybe they'll wake up and start to do something about the problem - although I don't expect to see much action based on history. What's in the letter?"
Fleur handed it over and watched him. His bland expression turned into a full frown, but at least he didn't start ranting about Dumbledore. She thought that was a big improvement. Handing the letter back to her, he turned around and leaned against a support tree, staring out at the water. "Harry?" she called out.
When he didn't immediately answer, she walked over to him and put her arms around him from behind, rubbing her hands slowly over his chest in an attempt to calm him.
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "My answer is no. Personally, I'd send Fawkes back without a note, but answer however you wish as long as it's 'no'."
She thought that was a bit cold-hearted, but since he wasn't ranting, she assumed he must have a reason to deny the Weasleys and others use of the Black house until they could rebuild. "I won't put anything you say in the letter if you don't want me to, but will you tell me why?"
"Both of them wrote as if we were all friends, assuming my answer would be yes, but they should know better. Also, I can tell this was Dumbledore's idea; he convinced Arthur to write a small request at the bottom only so I would feel guilty and wouldn't immediately dismiss the idea."
"How can you be sure of that?"
"Because Dumbledore wrote most of it with only a small note by Arthur at the bottom. If it was Arthur's idea, then his would have been the only request written." He shook his head. "They treat me with familiarity and assume I'll roll over and say yes like before when I had no choice. If I was anyone else, I bet they would offer compensation of some kind, but they don't to me. I don't need any compensation, but they should have offered. The last reason is because I'd have to go there and unseal the house and I don't want to do that yet.
"I don't know, Fleur; maybe I'm so biased against him because all I can see is a devil trying to take advantage of me again. All I've ever been to him is a tool in a war and now they have another need because of the war and they want their tool to fix something - again. I just can't say yes because I'm sure there's a hidden cost to me they're not telling me about."
Fleur stretched a little and kissed the back of his neck. "I think you're being paranoid. I also think that you've been hurt and so you automatically view the one who hurt you with suspicion. That's not unusual."
"That doesn't make my paranoia untrue," he returned a little firmly.
She kissed his neck again. "No, it does not."
Fleur called for Kreacher and had him bring writing materials while Harry continued to stare at the water, appearing lost in thought.
"Professor Dumbledore," she said out loud as she wrote. "We're doing well, thank you for asking."
Harry snorted because Dumbledore had not asked about them at all. She smiled, pleased she had lightened the mood.
"I'm very impressed with Harry's training and I think you would be too. I'm afraid that I must tell you no in regards to your use of the Black house in London. Harry has several valid reasons that would make that impractical. We're both sad about the deaths and injuries. We hope that will cause resistance to increase after this attack and more people will start fighting back. Best regards, Fleur Delacour (& Harry Potter)."
While Fleur folded the letter and gave it to Fawkes, Harry said, "I'm glad I was here for Halloween. Something bad always seems to happen then and I think this is the first time in over five years that I've escaped that."
"Then I'm happy for you," she said before a grin came over her. "I could make it happier for you if you take your clothes off," she flirted with him.
He chuckled and turned to her. "How about we save that for tonight and instead leave now on our Rome trip instead of this evening as originally planned?"
"Why the rush?" she asked intrigued.
"We could go shopping this afternoon."
Fleur's expression lit up. "Let's go pack now!" She hurriedly told Fawkes good-bye and walked quickly to the house.
Harry laughed before he petted Fawkes one last time. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait until next time for us to fly together. You can come back next week though."
Fawkes trilled happily before launching himself into the air with the letter and disappearing in a ball of fire.
— — —
Ginny trudged up to her dorm room, more tired emotionally than physically. She'd just said good-bye to her parents, who were on their way to Aunt Muriel's place. She thought the news that Dumbledore and her father had sent a letter to Harry and received a firm "no" for borrowing the Black house was somewhat amusing. She had given no indication of surprise at the news, especially as she could have predicted that rejection. It did make her wonder if Harry didn't think of her as much as she had thought. Then again, he would know she didn't need a place to live until this summer, so she knew that was a stupid thought and dismissed it quickly.
As she walked into her room, her dorm mate Trudy looked at her excitedly. "Christmas has come early for you this year." At Ginny's confused look, the girl pointed to the redhead's bed. "Look!"
Walking over to her bed, Ginny pulled the partially closed curtain open and saw what looked like a Christmas present there, at least its wrapping paper made it look so. "How did that get here?"
"Probably like all other Christmas presents," Trudy said with a giggle. "Open it and let's see what you got."
There was no card on the outside, only her name written directly on the colorful paper. Ripping that off, they found a small note on top of what looked like a miniature trunk. Opening the folded note, she recognized the tight handwriting as she read:
After hearing the news of you losing everything at your house, I thought you deserved an early Christmas present. Put your wand on the trunk and push a little magic while you say "Grow". The instruction book is inside.
"I think it's a resizable two compartment trunk," Trudy told her, still filled with excitement. "What did the note say?" When Ginny didn't immediately answer, Trudy grabbed the note and then frowned. "It's blank."
Ginny saw the note that was held out wasn't blank and understood. "I guess it must have erased itself after I read it," she prevaricated.
"I've never heard of that. It must be really advanced magic. So who's it from?" Trudy's eyes suddenly went wide. "That looks expensive. It's from a boyfriend, isn't it? Someone who's already left school and has a job?" As Ginny struggled not to give anything away, that pause encouraged her dorm mate. "It is! You're dating an older boy! Did he graduate last year? Who is it?"
Ginny smiled to herself. "I'm not sure he'd want me to say, but yes, he finished school last year and we've been writing." She was sure this news would be all over the school by this time tomorrow, but she also thought no one would think of Harry with the assumptions Trudy was making. She just hoped it wouldn't come back and bite her in the end.
"How romantic. Go on, open it up and let's see what he got you," Trudy egged her on.
After setting the trunk on the floor, she expanded it and opened the left latch. Lifting the top caused an entire chest of drawers to come up, causing Trudy to "ooh" as her eyes went wide. Looking in each drawer, Ginny found stylish clothes and dresses, mostly for winter. One drawer even held the laciest knickers and bras she'd ever seen, most of them quite skimpy, causing both of the girls to blush and giggle. It all produced a number of questions for the redhead.
Trudy had one of her own as she looked at the tag on a very nice jumper. "Hey, this one was made in Italy too. Do you suppose all of this came from Italy? Wow, he must really make a lot of money on his job to go there and buy all of this."
Ginny just smiled, not sure what to say as she closed that side and opened the right latch to reveal a set of pop-up shelves, on both sides and the back making them "U" shaped; they were almost empty. On one of the longer shelves lay a broom and a letter along with the instructions for the trunk. With both compartments, it was like a portable closet.
Pulling the broom out, she saw "Brise" written on the side. The shaft was smooth and the twigs were symmetrically placed such that for every one that had a bend in it, the twig on the other side of the broom had the same bend.
"Even if I don't fly much, that's beautiful," Trudy said reverently as she looked at it. "I don't know what that says, but it looks a lot like a funny way to spell breeze, at least if you gave the 'i' an 'e' sound like some words do."
"I don't know if you're right or not," Ginny said as she put the obviously foreign broom back and grabbed the letter before closing the trunk. Moving it over to be next to her current trunk at the end of her bed, Ginny crawled into her sleeping area.
"Are you going to wear some of that tomorrow?"
"Maybe," Ginny answered as she opened the letter.
"Tell me about your boyfriend," Trudy said as she sat on her bed and looked at Ginny.
The redhead just looked at her friend and smiled. "Sorry, it's between only us. Besides, I don't know how long it'll last anyway."
Trudy looked a little disappointed at not hearing the gossip, but she nodded and started getting ready for bed.
When their other dorm mates came up, Trudy told them all about the gifts Ginny had received. Again, Ginny had to tell everyone that her "boyfriend" and her were still working things out and wanted the privacy to do that.
By the time the lights went out, Ginny had followed the instructions to key the trunk to her so only she could open it. She also put all of her letters from Harry into the new trunk to keep them safer.
He had been very apologetic in the letter for what had happened to her and that he couldn't be there for her. It was really very sweet and made her feel guilty for her earlier thoughts about him not caring as much as she'd hoped. She really appreciated his thoughtfulness because he had been correct that she didn't have all of her winter clothes here, most had been at The Burrow and she would have picked them up during the Christmas break. He had also made sure she knew that he had only picked out her coat, hat, boots, and broom; Fleur had picked the rest, including the somewhat racy underwear, and had somehow known what size Ginny was.
The next morning, Ginny pulled on some new jeans, ones with stylish patterns sewn onto the back pockets and that fit her perfectly. For a top, she wore a light blue jumper that hung loosely on her and was made of the softest material she'd ever felt. There was also a pair of tall brown leather boots with fur on the inside to complete the stylish outfit. She'd always thought she had a boyish figure, but looking in the mirror now changed her mind. Of course, she was fifteen now.
As she walked into the common room, Ron saw her and his jaw dropped. When he found his power of speech, he finally said, "Where in the bloody hell did you get those?"
"Her boyfriend gave them to her, along with a bunch of other clothes," Trudy said from behind her.
"Thanks, Miss Tattle-Tale," Ginny said sarcastically.
"Don't worry, Ron," Trudy continued as the rest of the fifth year girls slowly made their way towards the portrait hole for breakfast, "whoever he is, he graduated last year so he's not here and he's really rich. You should see her new broom too."
As the girls walked out, Ron stared hard at her. "Well?"
"None of your damn business, Ron," she said with a touch of heat. Ginny turned to go, but not before seeing Hermione looking at her in confusion as if trying to figure a puzzle out. However, the brunette didn't say a word.
(Fri, Nov 8)
Harry measured out an area on the widest part of the beach for his experiment. In reality, the beach wasn't as wide as he needed it, so he made the area longer.
"You've already made it work once," Fleur said, raising her voice from the shade. "I still don't like it, so why do it again?"
He stopped for a moment and looked at her with a grin. "For the same reason I had you help me with the Arithmancy of the ward … I have an idea." He returned to using his magic to push down a long thick stick, really more of a small log, with runes all over it into the sand until it was almost buried.
As he went towards the next one, he thought back to the first time he'd done this. It was about a month ago when Fleur was going through her cycle and he'd worked through the household wards book for something different to do. In it, he'd found a ward - or maybe a ritual - to remove pests from a garden. He'd performed it and later discovered a dead Doxy, which is what he'd assumed had been nibbling on their plants. After some nearly insane - or perhaps very imaginative - thinking, he'd had an idea. He was a little surprised that no one else had ever thought of using this kind of ward/ritual in this way before, but he supposed he'd just been lucky to have the insight to use this in such a twisted way. So here he was today to test the ward in a modified and very controlled way.
"Kreacher!"
The elf popped in. "Are you ready, Master?"
"Close enough, bring them here and place them around the area; spread them out." He returned to the last rune marker, which he placed right in the middle. In the original scouring of the garden, the area was small enough he could stand outside and activate it.
In the present configuration, he had to start it from the inside. That carried a level of danger as he could be affected. While he didn't think he would and the Arithmatic equations said it shouldn't affect him, there was always the possibility all that was wrong and he'd be "zapped", leaving him in a state neither he nor Fleur wanted.
When he finished his preparation, he looked around at all the little cages Kreacher had bought over the last couple of days. He'd had the elf go buy small magical creatures from the nearest market to a few markets in southern Spain and France. They had all kinds - Flobberworms to Doxies to a few things Harry had never seen before. The only requirement he had was that the creature be non-sentient, or at least generally thought to be. For good measure, Kreacher had also bought some non-magical creatures, from bugs to mice and to birds; there was even a fish in a bowl.
Fleur walked up and put a belt on him with a small barely glowing crystal on it. "I still don't like this experiment, even if I do think you should be safe. If the crystal loses its glow, then I've failed you; but at least I'll be able to monitor what happens," she said tightly, holding her emotion back.
"Someone has to do it and this is also a way for me to learn," he argued back gently and good-naturedly, unlike their first discussion about this business, which had caused her to sleep with her back to him that night and him not allowed to touch her.
"Kreacher, go back to the house. Fleur, if you'd mount your broom and fly down the beach and use the Omnioculars to watch and record." He started charging up the four outside rune markers. As he went to the center one, he checked and then rechecked that Fleur was far enough away.
Taking a deep breath, Harry cast the charging spell on the center marker. It was now primed and ready. With a last look at Fleur, he cast the activation spell on the marker.
For about half a second, nothing happened; then the world seemed to explode and he was tossed violently to his left, hitting the water about twenty feet from the shore and skipping once painfully since he was laying flat on his stomach before hitting a wave and going under.
Sputtering, he broke the surface of the water and started gasping for breath just before a hand grabbed his and pulled him to the shore.
As he was dropped at the edge of the water, he saw Fleur fling her broom away and fall to her knees so her face was hovering over him. "Harry!" she called, very distraught.
"I'm fine," he ground out breathlessly. "I just got the air knocked out of me." It was then that he realized he did have a problem. "Can you summon my wand? I lost it somewhere."
She nodded and quickly cast a summoning spell, catching it as it came from floating on the water. When she handed it to him, she looked at the monitoring belt she'd given him. "Merde! It's glowing much more than before."
"That makes sense and agrees with the equations. Help me up," he asked. When he was standing again, he mentioned, "See, I was fine and the belt proved that," he told her softly and caringly before giving her a gentle kiss so she'd know he wasn't upset with her lack of belief. "We're going to need to figure out why I went flying that direction instead of the way I was facing."
Together, they walked around and looked at the cages, setting free those creatures that survived. "It was as expected," he finally said and then grinned at her. "It works! Now we just need some help."
After Harry finished cleaning up, they had dinner. He noticed that Fleur was very quiet during it. "What's wrong? We've created a new version of the ward and proved it can be extended to cover larger areas. You told me yourself this could be a mastery thesis. This can be used to end the war in Britain. So why aren't you happy?"
She looked at him for a moment before answering. "Let's go to the beach and talk by a fire. We haven't done that for awhile."
"All right," he said slowly, mystified by her behavior.
Fleur silently built the fire and sat down near him, but facing him instead of sitting beside him and facing the fire together like normal. "Harry, I'm really concerned about your plan. I don't think you've thought through all the details."
"Of course I haven't," he readily agreed, "but the basic plan should work. It should kill Voldemort and do a lot of damage to the Death Eaters if not kill them too, or at least I think so from what I learned about the Dark Mark in my fourth year and my guesses based on that."
She picked up a hand full of sand and slowly opened her fist, letting the sand drain and fall randomly as it was driven by the light breeze. "Harry, this is what you're up against. You can pick up the sand and let it go. You can know that it'll fall, but you can't know where it will fall. You don't know what else can happen and it might be very bad."
He sighed. "Look, I understand what you're trying to say and I agree … somewhat. I guess one of the things I haven't said is that I'd like to get your father's help. You said that he worked in International Relations, right?"
"Yes, but what are you expecting of him?" she asked a little defensively.
"If he works with international stuff, then he works with the ICW, right? That's what I want; I want the ICW to help. Voldemort is going to cross borders sooner or later. The sooner we take him out the better," he argued. "There are a number of details about this and making it happen that we'll need help with. The ICW has the man-power. We got to break the cycle of blood-based bigotry leading to evil wizards trying to take over the world."
Fleur picked up another handful of sand and slowly let it fall. "That's fine, Harry, but what about all the innocents?"
"There's not that many and I can at least get my friends out beforehand," he told her with a hint of displeasure. "This is a war and sometimes innocents get hurt, I should know. The adults there have had a long time to take care of this and they haven't, so I don't think they have any room to complain. Then there's all of those who just hated me for no real reason at least half the time; they aren't so innocent either."
"Don't play stupid," she told him, angry now. "There are hundreds of innocents. Fine, let's say all the adults have wronged you. They haven't, but let's say they have. Fine, all your former friends have wronged you, even if they didn't mean to. What about all the first years who've never met you? What about all magical children who've never had a chance to go to Hogwarts and after you've done this probably never will? What about all the visitors from another country who would be there unknowingly at the wrong time, people like me? Would you condemn me too if I didn't know you?"
Harry stared at her for a moment before slinging sand at the fire as he jumped up. "You don't understand how bad it really is, do you?" he told her before he stomped away towards the house in long strides.
Fleur pulled her knees up and placed her face there and cried quietly. She wanted him to understand but she had messed up in her anger. In a way, they were both right. Harry's plan needed to happen and yet it couldn't. If he did it, he'd probably succeed in bringing down Voldemort and probably even the Ministry of Magic, two things that really did need to happen. And yet, if he did it, he'd hurt a lot of people.
The fire was only glowing embers by the time she worked up the courage to go in and face him. To give herself a few more minutes, she put out the fire by burying it in sand with her hands instead of using magic.
Slowly she trudged back to the house, determined to put things right between them. If she had to, she'd agree and then get her father to intervene. Surely he would know how to handle this.
Harry looked up at her as she walked in and quickly dropped his gaze again.
Her only consolation was that he looked as sad as she felt. "I'm sorry, Harry. I let my anger get the best of me. I don't want the innocents to get hurt, but your point that this would end the war is also correct. I don't know what to do to make both sides acceptable at the same time."
He nodded slowly although he didn't look up. "I know that there are innocents; the babies and small children are the most obvious." Looking up at her, he said, "I'm sorry I got angry too. I've seen what Voldemort's like first hand and he needs to be put down. It's the right thing to do before he tries to go further to other countries, but more importantly to me, I'm tired of him interfering in my life. If I'm honest, I suppose I want a little revenge for my parents too." He looked at her for a moment. "I'm also sorry for snapping at you when you were trying to help. I've been pushed around by everyone back there so much that anything like that sets me off if I think about it enough."
She walked over and looked at him with pleading eyes. He smiled weakly and held out his arms, allowing her to drop down to the couch so they could embrace. He held her tightly and didn't let go.
"We'll find a way," she murmured into his hair. "Maybe my father can find an answer."
"I don't think it'll be all that hard to save most of them," he said slowly. "The hard part will be finding people to help that will keep the secret until it's all done."
"Really?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah, I think we really can save most of them," he told her with a caring smile as he brushed the hair back from her face. "There are magical oaths and we'll probably have to have people swear one to work on this; the ward is just too destructive. How about we work on the equations together and write up a paper about what we've found, both the ward and the results of my tests. We can also add in a suggested plan for how to do it all - including saving the innocents - and problems that need to be solved. At Christmas, we can try to convince your father and let him take it to the ICW.
"If they don't accept the plan, then I don't know. Maybe we come back here, or maybe we go live near your parents. If you want, we can move to Australia or America. We'll go far away and let the others deal with the war."
"What about the prophecy?" she asked as she put a hand to his head to caress it.
He shrugged. "I'm still not sure I believe it, but if it's meant to be it'll happen some way. It's also possible they'll want to do my plan later if things get worse."
"But the loss of life in the meantime…" she said with anguish.
"Is not our fault," he told her with certainty. "It's taken a long time for me to figure that out. I'm willing to tip the balance if most of the adults of Britain will stand up and fight back, but I won't fight the whole war on my own or with only you by my side. If they won't help themselves, they don't need us there," he said firmly.
Fleur hugged him tightly. "I feel selfish, but I'm glad. I don't want to lose you."
"I don't want to lose you either," he returned caringly and kissed the top of her head gently.
"Come snuggle with me," she asked, almost begged even.
Harry pulled back and stood, then pulled her up and led her to the bedroom. All Harry could do was hold her tightly, lovingly, and hope for the best as he started trying to end the war for real. It was also something that meant he'd have to return to Britain sooner rather than later, but he ignored that detail for now.
(A/N: This chapter was beta'd by AlekTas. Thanks Alexander. Any remaining errors are caused by my last minute editing.)
