A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to upload. We were having problems with the flow from the last chapter into this one. I hope we did ok with the final draft :D

Now, in response to those reviewers asking when we plan on updating, or asking us to update soon, or anything like that: Aside from last week, we plan on posting the next chapter on both our stories every Wednesday.

Once again, reviews are appreciated, constructive critisism accepted, and flames are used to roast cocktail weenies.

Chapter Nine: Into The Catacombs

March 17th, 2000
New York

As the small group walked down the New York City streets, Fleur couldn't help but smile. Here she was, with a day off from her job at Gringotts, enjoying a tour of the city and its busy streets with the Boy-Who-Lived and his family and on her way to meet the rest of his world.

She had felt an immediate connection to Harry even before she had connected him with the missing Harry Potter, but the pronouncement of Erin that she would be more closely attached to him took her mind down alleys she had not even considered.

And what about the members of Harry's family? Diana was no witch, but she was special. She had felt an immediate connection with the auburn haired woman, a recognition that she had some gift of her own. It was obvious from Diana's reaction to her that she also recognized something unique about Fleur.

But the greater surprise was Harry's sister, Erin. She remembered Erin's words and the instant chill that had gone down her back. Erin had a true gift and Fleur wondered what other gifts Harry's young sister could have. Could she be magical? It was almost impossible for someone to be a seer without also having some magical ability.

The first inkling Fleur had that there was a greater mystery in regards to this family was when the small group arrived at the carousel in Central Park. Diana and Harry were carefully looking around as they walked around the carousel and their obvious destination was a tunnel near the edge of the cleared space around the carousel. Was this where they lived?

She had also been wondering why no one had picked up on Harry's occasional use of accidental magic. To hear Harry, it was obvious that he knew that he had some abilities, but generally if someone used accidental magic, the magical monitors of any nation would pick up its use and intervene: the Statutes of Secrecy had to be respected.

By now they had arrived at the culvert and the three family members entered it with no hesitation. Harry looked back and waved Fleur on. "Welcome to the rabbit hole, Fleur. Just follow us and make sure that you keep up."

She had entered the tunnel behind Harry and her eyebrows went up in a look that suggested disbelief. "A rabbit hole, Harry? You mean to say that you live in a tunnel?"

Diana chuckled even as she hit a hidden lever and a door slid open at the end of the tunnel. "Fleur, Harry forgets that someone not familiar with English literature would be ignorant of the story of Alice in Wonderland. It is a fairy tale of a young girl who goes down a rabbit hole and encounters a strange and fantastic world.

"And, in a manner of speaking, you are about to enter a fantastic world. Yes, we do live below the city in a world that at times even to me feels like make believe, a fairy tale. Of course, normally, I am a hardnosed police detective and thus I have a hard time believing in the fantastic."

Fleur had followed Harry and the door slid shut behind them. The air was dry, but there was the hint of moisture and she could hear faint sounds of banging.

"Welcome to my world, Mille Delacour," Harry said with a flourish. "This was why we had you declare that oath – many people and lives count on the secrets that are kept here.

"Just follow us and we will be glad to explain once we arrive."

Diana had gone ahead and Fleur could see that she had picked up a piece of pipe and was banging on an overhead pipe. Seeing Fleur's curious look, she indicated the overhead pipe. "We have developed an ingenious way to communicate across the length and breadths of our tunnels – a code like Morse code. You can say a lot by banging on a pipe.

"I just told my husband and father-in-law that we were coming with a visitor."

Thus began a trip that, for Fleur, was something out of a fairy tale. Along tunnels with the sound of subway trains, banging pipes; the occasional tunnel resident with comfortable, but unusual clothing; the circular stairway up and down this tunnel world; the high ceilings of the underground tunnels in some places and even the chamber where hundreds, if not thousands of voices could be heard: if she had not already seen the goblin tunnels under Gringotts, she would not have believed that such a world could exist so close to the modern and bustling city above. It was as if she had entered another world that had little to connect it to the city up top.

She could also see how comfortable Harry and by extension his mother and sister felt here. Harry greeted those tunnel inhabitants he met with a smile and a word of greeting: it was obvious to her that he was home here and that he was a valued member of the community.

All too soon, they arrived at a larger chamber where several volumes of books and some tables could be clearly seen. Seated at one of these tables was an older man with a neatly trimmed grey beard and a cane and beside him was …..

"Mon Dieu," Fleur gasped as she laid eyes on Vincent for the first time. She blinked once and then gave the tall man a thorough going over – from his strawberry blond hair to his leonine features and the powerfully built body evident to her even though he was seated.

She thought back to Diana and an image from one of her favorite conte des fees came to mind. Inadvertently, she blurted out, "La Belle et La Bête, ici?" Her face then immediately blushed as she realized what she had said.

A low chuckle could be heard from the tall leonine man. "Tres appropriee, mademoiselle," he said in a low, yet pleasant voice.

There were answering smiles from Harry's family members as they moved with Fleur to sit at the table with the two men. Harry felt he had to put Fleur's mind at ease.

"Fleur, I think you can understand now why we had to insist that what you learned here had to be kept a secret. Allow me to introduce my grandfather, Dr. Jacob Wells, and his son, Vincent, my father. Grandpa, Dad, allow me to introduce Mille Fleur Delacour who can talk to us about my 'gift' and who has already sworn on her 'gift' that she would keep everything she learns here a secret."

Fleur by now had calmed down and she took the proffered seat gratefully. But her thoughts were interrupted by Erin.

"What did you just say and why did my Dad answer the way he did?" she asked.

Fleur's face reddened again, but she tried to answer her question. "When I saw your father, it reminded me of a story that I learned to love when I was a child no older than you, Erin. I believe its translation in English would be 'Beauty and the Beast'

"Seeing your father just brought back some good memories."

Now that she was seated in this family gathering, her Veela instincts could sense the depth of love between the various members of this family. There were even emotional bonds beyond the normal love relationship between Vincent and his daughter as well as a strong, almost tangible bond of love between Diana and her husband.

"That marks the first time I have ever been compared to a fairy tale," Vincent spoke, his low voice making Fleur feel warm and relaxed. There were no sexual overtones, but Fleur suddenly could understand why Diana was in love with this man.

"Welcome, Mille Delacour, to our humble home," Grandpa Wells began. "I must insist that you remember that what you learn here remain a secret as many lives, including Harry and his father, depend on this place being a safe secret place."

Fleur nodded her understanding and Vincent next spoke. "So tell me, Mille, how you came to meet my oldest son and how you have become the first young woman he felt at ease enough to introduce to his parents." The humor in his voice was now clear even as Harry blushed.

"Please call me Fleur," she began. "It was actually an accidental meeting – your son just happened to save my life."

"It was nothing, Fleur," he replied, his face even redder. "Anyone else would have done the same." He was conscious now of everyone's gaze on him. Of course once he had said that, he had to explain how he had pulled her back from falling in the street.

"But what makes this meeting so important is that Fleur helped me understand my 'gift' as you call it. She ended up telling me a lot about my abilities and even gave me some background on who I was before I came here," he continued.

Fleur now felt their regards in turn as she looked down on her hands. "Harry is a person who can practice magic. He is a wizard."

Vincent's only reaction was a widening of his eyes while Grandpa Wells snorted. "Magic is real then, Fleur?" Vincent said in a neutral tone. He was not rejecting her comments out of hand, but then, to look at him and this world, he must already believe in the fantastic.

"Oui, Vincent, magic is real. I know because I am a witch." With that, she produced her wand and waved it gently, conjuring a white orchid for Erin who received it with a laugh and a smile.

Diana already seemed comfortable with her gift – somehow, she had sensed that Fleur was similar to her son and the two had communicated their acceptance of each other earlier in the coffee shop. But there were looks of speculation and consideration in Vincent and Grandpa Wells' eyes.

Vincent then turned to his son. "So Harry, you are a wizard then. That could some way to explaining those occasional occurrences that happen around you but which have no logical explanation." At Harry's nod, he turned back to Fleur. "It would appear, Fleur, that if Harry was the only one with this gift, that it could be something accidental much as my own appearance is not 'normal'. However, if you know about this 'gift' and you are using what I assume was a wand there, then it implies there are more people out there with this gift. Can you give us some details about this world and about yourself – if you are allowed?"

Fleur felt Vincent's acceptance of her and her magic as well as Harry's magic. With a stare, she noticed that her initial surprise at Vincent's appearance had faded to a sense of comfort and ease with the tall leonine man. He was no longer strange, just different.

"There is a world of magic out there," she began and she proceeded to speak for the next half hour telling them about the world of magic, the Statute of Secrecy, her background and her own journey through the magical world.

"We are allowed to speak about magic to members of a wizard or witch's family as they are immediately involved with the magic that their family member wields. But, if you will forgive me for being too bold, it appears that this world is a gifted one in its own right.

"One of my gifts is to see magical and unusual gifts among other people and from my observation of your wife, your daughter and now yourself, I sense abilities that several in the non-magical world would consider 'magical'."

She paused, suddenly realizing that she had been talking nonstop for quite some time. Vincent smiled at her reassuringly. "Perhaps it is my gift that senses that you would like a break in our conversation. I think now would be good time to enjoy some tea and baked goods supplied by our willing helpers." With that he rose and walked over to a nearby teapot.

Fleur got up and stretched, feeling her body limber up after having remained in a seated position for so long. Her attention turned towards Erin. The young girl had tried to stay awake through part of the conversation, but had nodded off and was gently snoring in her mother's lap.

Fleur decided a gesture of courtesy was called for here and she rose and got a cup of tea and a muffin for Diana who had remained seated while her daughter slept. The auburn haired woman smiled her thanks, but Fleur noticed a grimace as she looked at the cup of tea in her hand.

"One thing about these tunnel dwellers is that they have a love affair with tea," Diana said, observing Fleur's eyes on her. "I want a strong cup of java just to blow out my sinuses if nothing else. I can live with tea, but I sneak out every now and then for a coffee at that shop you met us in."

The French witch felt she could bring up one of her observations to Harry's mother. "Diana, I think that this information about the magical world has a meaning for you beyond just being Harry's adoptive parents," she began.

"I think that your daughter Erin is also a witch."

Diana's eyes were now fixed on the young woman. "Any idea on why you think so?"

"She demonstrated a gift when we met in the coffee shop – a gift for seeing or foretelling. Usually, when a person has the one gift, they also have a gift for magic."

Diana was now introspective and her eyes seemed directed inward. "When I was carrying her, it was during the time when I rescued Harry from something I guess I would now have to call a magical event – on October 31, 1994. We have a woman in our community – a mambo I guess you would call her – who deals with the spirit world and who told us that our daughter would be a powerful child.

"Maybe she picked up something of Harry's abilities. Maybe not."

Fleur did not know how much more she could say. But perhaps she could give a small warning. "I would keep your daughter's ability to See to yourselves for now," she began. "This is not a common gift and Seers can be highly prized."

Harry by now had returned with a cup of tea each for Fleur and himself. "So you are suggesting that someone might come here and try to grab her," he said with a hint of steel in his voice.

"Let them try!"

Vincent and Grandpa Wells had also returned at this point and all were again seated. Harry's comment forced her to think about the implications of Harry Wells once being named Harry Potter.

For Harry was in danger.

He was a wizard and his potential was enormous. But while he was safe for the moment in this underground haven and given that the magical world felt that he was dead, nothing was an immediate threat on his horizon that could change quickly if anyone else in the wizarding world thought that Harry Potter was still alive.

Harry needed training. He needed to learn who he was and who his potential friends and enemies were.

He needed this knowledge to protect himself, his family and his world.

Harry's outburst had brought an element of discomfort and even danger to this conversation and Fleur wanted to understand how this world had developed before she returned to the task she now knew she had to perform in discussing Harry's needs with him and his family. As well, she wanted time to put her thoughts in order so that she could properly explain the need as well as the steps she could suggest for him to take.

Providentially, Harry's shouted declaration had jolted Erin awake and Diana took a few moments to escort her young daughter out of the room. Fleur took this opportunity to ask Vincent and Grandpa Wells how the world below had developed.

Immediately she could see Grandpa Wells draw up in a disapproving manner. "Fleur, this is not to attend you, but we barely know you and while you have sworn a magical oath to my grandson that you will keep the secret of this place, I am reluctant to say too much until we know each other better."

Vincent snorted at his father's words. "Fleur, you have been more than open with us about your secret world. Allow me to tell you something about how we came to be."

Thus he began with the efforts of his father to build a world of safety for those who had been abused and threatened above. As he spoke in his mellow low voice, Fleur allowed his words to blend with the atmosphere of this unusual place to soak into her consciousness. She could see how such a place could nurture a wizard such as Harry – then she had a sudden thought. The underground location of this world could have played a role in shielding any of Harry's accidental magical outbursts, thus avoiding discovery.

Discovery – she sat up with a start. She knew what potentially awaited Harry out there and she suspected that inevitably, one way or another, the magical world would find that Harry Potter was still alive however Harry thought of his identity now.

Her thoughts must have betrayed her epiphany because Vincent interrupted his story and Harry looked at her with a question on his face. "Fleur, you look like you have suddenly become Atlas and you are now carrying the burden of the world. Care to share?"

She swallowed – Harry and Vincent didn't miss much, although perhaps in Vincent's case, it was his empathy. "Harry, I need to discuss with you and your family what the significance of your discovery of magic means for you.

"Harry, I'm worried about you."

"Worried about me – am I in danger?"

"In a word, oui. You and this wonderful world and family."

Silence fell on the small family – Diana had already returned from putting Erin down for a nap and both parents looked at each other, then at Grandpa Wells and finally Harry. Diana then stretched out her senses.

"You are sincere in your fear and sincere in your appreciation of this world. You are truly concerned. Why?"

"Madame Wells…Diana. Harry doesn't know about his reputation out there in the magical world. He doesn't know that at various times two powerful wizards and a whole magical nation were looking for him. If he were accidentally discovered by the wrong person or persons, it could put him, you and this world in danger. And after having being introduced to this place, this world is too precious to lose."

"Danger from who, Fleur?" Vincent asked.

"From one wizard who would want to control Harry and from another wizard who would want to kill him," she replied.

Harry was disparaging of the threat. "I've been here for ten years. No one found me or this world then and if we hadn't met by accident, no one of the magical world would know now."

Fleur shook her head. "Harry, up to now, it's been by chance that no one thought you were on this side of the ocean. And, oui, most people now believe you're dead. But I think you need to be prepared for the possibility that if one person like me can find you by accident, that others can as well.

"I just think that you need to learn about magic so that you can be ready."

The Wells family was silent and Fleur looked at Harry's face showing he was deep in thought. It was obvious to the others in the room that he was thinking about her comments.

"I wanted to learn about magic anyway. But I don't want to give up my home, my family and my future.

"But the way you are talking about learning magic is that I need to do this for survival."

She nodded her head. "This is not a normal situation, Harry. You were only a baby when you supposedly killed the Dark Lord. He supposedly fired a Killing Curse at you and your title became The Boy Who Lived because you survived it – at least until your death in October 1994.

"Please remember that I'm only describing what I picked up from the year that I was at Hogwarts for the TriWizard Tournament and from conversations with one of my friends, Hermione Granger, a former student at Hogwarts who transferred to my school in France.

"She told me of the expectation all of her year had in your expected arrival at Hogwarts. You would have been in her year in September 1991. And when they called your name and you did not appear, it caused a small crisis at the school and throughout the British wizarding world.

"When the Headmaster of Hogwarts used the blood summoning on Halloween 1994, he told Madame Maxime, my directrice, that it was critical that you be found – that the safety of the wizarding world depended on it.

"Reports later came out that after the Dark Lord Voldemort, the one whom supposedly fired the Killing Curse at you, was resurrected with a new body that he wanted revenge against Headmaster Dumbledore for killing you."

Harry got up and began pacing around the room. "So I have a Headmaster who used dark magic to make sure that he could find me and another Dark Lord whom I supposedly defeated as a baby come back to life and threatening to kill people because I'm supposedly dead – do I understand this correctly?
"Why do I want to enter such a world?

"I thought learning magic would be real. I was so excited to meet you – you gave me a name for my gift and showed me that I was not the only one to have it. I wanted to see how I could learn to use this gift for the betterment of my community."

Fleur shook her head sadly. "It gets worse Harry. Supposedly there was a prophecy that you were destined to kill this Dark Lord. Details were vague and remember that I was in France, but some British papers called you the Chosen One."

"This is going from bad to worse," Harry replied, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "I was excited to have met you earlier today – but now you are telling me that I have to learn how to use my magic, my gift, so that I can survive a war – a war in which I'm some kind of Chosen One, a savior, who is supposed to kill this Dark Lord.

"Fleur, I want to learn magic. But I'm not interested in learning about it if it means getting involved in some conflict back across the Atlantic, in a country that for me is only full of painful memories."

Fleur realized too late that she had probably started off on the wrong foot with Harry. It was important for Harry to learn magic – it was important for anyone magical to learn how to wield their gifts. Nothing precluded him from staying here with his family and loved ones. She was not here to recruit him for some war back in Britain, but she believed he needed to be aware of what was waiting for the son of the Potters if and when he returned to the world of magic.

Diana could sense the frustration and worry in the young French witch's mind. Fleur was not trying to scare Harry – there was a genuine worry for the safety of her son and her family.

"Harry, Harry, calm down. I don't think that Fleur is telling you or trying to draft you into a conflict. If I understand her, I believe she's trying to tell you what the lay of the land is, so that you can be prepared," she said.

Fleur was nodding at Diana's words, tears of relief on her face. Now if Diana's very sensitive husband could pick up the threads of the conversation….

"Mlle Delacour…Fleur," Vincent began, seemingly in answer to her thoughts. His voice was low and calm as it had been throughout their meeting and it had an obvious calming effect on Harry.

"Perhaps you can tell us the story of Harry Potter – what you know of it at any rate. Harry, I ask you to relax and listen. No matter what the future holds, you need to know some things. First of all, we love you. I doubt Jacob, Catherine and Erin would let us live should we allow something to happen to you.

"Fleur wants to tell you about what the world that you are discovering holds for you – so that you don't walk in blind. You have magic – we've known that you've had a special gift for years even if we didn't know what to call it. You need to know how to use it, what it is, and most of all, what your place in this world might be.

"Remember, son – you hold the key to your own destiny. Others may try to shape you and use you for their purposes, but what have we told you about that?"

Harry smiled at his parents with such a tender look of love that Fleur found herself wondering how she would react if he ever looked at her like that.

"We each write our own story. We each sing our own song."

Vincent laid his arm on the shoulder of his eldest son even as Diana did the same on his other side. Then he turned to Fleur.

"Please, Mlle Delacour, tell us about Harry Potter…"

And so Fleur told them of the story of the Potters, from the rise of Voldemort to the events of Halloween 1981 to the events of Halloween 1994 and the declaration by the goblins and then the British ministry that Harry Potter was dead. She knew that she did not do the story justice, but she could give some objective perspective as she had learned of the story as an outsider. And while she did not know of Harry's later years, she could tell that the story was a moving one, both for Harry and for his family.

"There was much she did not say," Vincent told Diana that night as they and Harry were seated in the family chambers.

"The direction of the story doesn't make sense, Dad," Harry said, shaking his head. "How did I go from being this Boy Who Lived to living with my relatives who wanted to treat my 'gift' as something freaky and something to be beaten out of me?"

"I'm not sure, son," Vincent replied. "I suspect that there were manipulative forces behind you ending up with those relatives."

Diana was silent as she processed the story and brought things up to date. "I wonder if you were supposed to go to that wizarding school all abused and beaten down," she wondered out loud. "If you were being called this Boy Who Lived and were aware of your title as a young child, you might have become too arrogant for someone to manipulate.

"But if you were being mistreated and then you showed up at this magical school as some idea of a savior, you might have looked to whomever got you out of that abusive environment as your own savior.

"Do you remember your early days with us? You would jump at any chance to help anyone because you were afraid that we would throw you out. Even now, we sometimes have to reign you in – although you are much more comfortable with the ribbing and teasing that you get from us here."

Harry nodded his head thoughtfully. He remembered well the worries he sometimes felt when others in the community would tease him – even today, he occasionally felt the nagging worry that everything about this world was just a dream and he would wake up having found everything to have been a lie.

"I'll study about this magic, Mom and Dad. I want to face this world on my terms, not someone else's."

"Even if Fleur becomes a part of this world for you?" his mother teased.

"Dad! Mom!"

"Well you will admit – she is very attractive – and she is the first girl you've ever brought home."

Harry could only hang his head and smile. A prospect of a world with Fleur in it did not seem all that bad – in fact, it looked mighty appealing.

A/N:You didn't think that we would leave our lovely bushy haired friend out, did you? Yes, as you can probably guess, she and Fleur were friends.

Next chapter, Harry, under Fleur's guidance, goes to an unusual magical academy while maintaining his current study program in Business Administration at CUNY.