Chapter 12:
Fleur hated apparating, even her new found power didn't make the journey any more pleasant. As she got her bearings she shivered and quickly cast a warming charm around herself.
Had Fleur not been so heartbroken and full of despair she most likely would have been awestruck at the sight before her. She had apparated to the French Alps, and now stood atop a snow-covered peak overlooking the mountain range. The day was clear and crisp with the sun reflecting off the snow. Only a few clouds could be seen dotting the horizon, fluffy clouds that looked as if they were made out of cotton candy.
But Fleur didn't see this, instead she saw a desolate mountain range that held within it the answer to her predicament. That held the elder veela tribe. From what Fleur knew this tribe contained pureblooded Veela that chose to stay and embrace the customs of their ancestors. Some pureblood Veelas born in the tribe had left over the years, such as her Grandmere, but they were all secretive not only about the exact location of the tribe, but also of the knowledge that only pureblooded Veelas were privy to.
Fleur sighed, not really knowing where to start having decided to prematurely start her journey. She was however prepared for the journey. One of the many things that being a curse breaker at Gringotts and the Order's most effective spy (a fact that few people were privy too) had taught her was to always be prepared. She smiled to herself when she pulled a small pouch from underneath her shirt and dug out more appropriate attire. Fleur had lost her original bag during the battle and Hermione had been kind enough to replace it. Hermione had even hand knit and cast the appropriate charms on the new bag.
'Non,' Fleur thought to herself as she shook her head, hoping to clear them of any thoughts of Hermione, 'I must focus, now is not that time to think about her.' Fleur had resolved that she would not think about Hermione if it could be avoided, to not dwell on her. She had no chance with the young witch and it was something that she would have to start getting used to. Sure the past week had been amazing, the two of them growing closer but it didn't matter. She had hurt Hermione.
Fleur decided that it would be best to set up camp for the evening, it would be best to start early the next morning. She looked at her surroundings and finally took in the beauty of the French Alps. She took out her wand, more out of habit now then necessity, and cast a spell to check the integrity of the surrounding snow. She didn't want to risk getting caught in an avalanche out here. When she was satisfied with her surroundings she pulled out her tent and set it up and set up the appropriate wards.
A little known fact about Fleur that not many people knew was that she was quite the avid outdoorsman. Fleur ducked into her tent and was met with a rather familiar site. Her camping tent was modest, with a small kitchen area containing just the essentials needed to cook up small meals. The common area was lined with warm furs surrounding a stone lined fire pit, off to the left was her sleeping area with a small cot covered in warm fleece blankets.
Fleur smiled, and settled in for the night, whipping up a small snack for the night accompanied by some milk (her favorite drink) as she sat next to the fire pit and pulled out a book. Fleur had owled Madame Maxime the previous week asking her for texts on more advance magic. In particular Fleur wanted to know more about concealment and defense spells. She had never been one to go on the offensive, always preferring to avoid conflict whenever possible. She reasoned it made more sense to put herself in situations where she would not have to worry about confrontation then to constantly be defending herself.
As she opened Concealment and Camouflage: How to Walk in the Shadows and Blend into the Background she took a sip of her milk and got to reading. Fleur didn't know how receptive the Veela tribe would be, she didn't know if she would have to result to sneaking into the tribe to get the answers she needed.
Fleur eventually drifted off to sleep with her book still clutched in her hands. A small smirk broke out on her face just before she succumb to slumber. 'If only my bookworm could see me now…'
-o-o-
Fleur awoke early the next morning and packed up camp. She dressed for a brisk day, but didn't dress too heavily knowing that she would be hiking all day deeper in the mountains. Fleur cast charms to keep her boots from getting damp and strapped on a pair of muggle snowshoes. She had seen these in an outdoor magazine and immediately ordered a pair. She found muggle inventions to be amazing, the ways in which muggles overcame not having magic was amazing. She had also ordered hiking sticks, figuring she might as well go all out.
She had decided to walk along the mountain tops, she reasoned that she would stay at a high vantage to allow her to scan the valleys below for any sign of the tribe. She had charmed a pair of sunglasses the night before in order to help her see past any concealment charms the Veela tribe had put up. Some of the spells were quite complicated but she had managed to master them immediately.
And so Fleur set off, on what she knew would most likely be a long journey. She just hoped it wouldn't take too long, fearing how much time Hermione really had left. But Fleur was confident that Hermione was in good hands, she knew that Harry and George would keep her safe.
-o-o-
" 'Mione! Come out of your room already, you have to eat!" shouted Harry as he banged on her bedroom door, clearly frustrated at the situation.
It had been a week and a half since Fleur had left and Hermione had locked herself in her room for most of that week. Not even Mrs. Weasley could coax the young witch out of her room.
"Damn it 'Mione, stop acting like a child!" exclaimed an exasperated Harry. Harry was worried about his best friend, he knew that her condition was slowly draining her, and he feared that if she didn't take care of herself she could quickly deteriorate.
"Fine then," Harry continued his conversation with the door, "if you don't eat, neither will I." He desperately hoped that this would elicit some sort of response from Hermione.
"Fine!" came a voice from behind the door, "I'll eat! Just leave the food at the door."
"Hermione," Harry's voice softened as he addressed his best friend, "please, just let me come in I'm worried about you, please."
The door opened as Harry breathed a sigh of relief and carried in a tray filled with food. He came into the room and set the tray down beside Hermione's bed. He found Hermione sitting cross-legged on her bed, Hogwarts A History sitting in her lap. Hermione's once bushy hair now lay limp, she had dark circles under her eyes, eyes that were tinged red, as if she had been crying. Much to Harry's dismay he found that Hermione, who was already pencil thin to begin with, had lost weight, her clothes now loosely clinging to her body.
"Hey 'Mione," Harry said as he sat down on the bed and pulled Hermione into a hug.
With the hug Hermione's resolve caved as a fresh wave of tears started rolling down her face.
"It's going to be ok 'Mione," Harry soothed as he rubbed soft circles on her back, "It's going to be ok."
After Hermione cried herself out she sniffled and pulled back from Harry's hold.
"Oh Harry, I don't know anymore. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to get a hold of Fleur, I have no idea where she even is. What if she is in danger, all because of me!" Hermione let out.
" 'Mione, she is going to be ok, she can take care of herself" Harry said.
"You didn't see the look in her face before she left Harry, I did that to her."
Harry didn't know if the next question he was about to ask Hermione was a wise one. Everyone could see that Hermione and Fleur were meant to be, well everyone except Hermione. He knew that it would probably be best for Hermione to figure out her feelings about Fleur herself, with no outside pressure. But even the most brilliant of witches needed help everyone once in a while.
" 'Mione," Harry started as he looked Hermione square in the eyes, "do you love Fleur?"
What Harry heard next caught him by surprise.
Hermione just looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I wish that I did Harry, it would make all of this a lot easier wouldn't it? I care about her, but I'm not in love with her"
Harry was taken aback by her answer, he wanted desperately to say something to Hermione, to knock her to her senses. He could tell by the look in her eyes that at this point Hermione was confused and he figured that it was best not to push the issue. He had faith, faith that Hermione would figure it out.
"Oh, I see," was the only reply that he could come up with.
"Harry its just, I… she HAS to love me, she said it herself. I don't have to love her, and I don't."
All of a sudden it made sense to Harry. Hermione was scared. He needed to get her back with Fleur, he knew that once they were together it would work itself out. He had seen Hermione start to open up with Fleur over the past weeks, and he would bet his life that Hermione loved Fleur. She had to.
Harry just nodded sitting silently with his arm still draped around Hermione, whom he noticed was almost as cold as a block of ice. He reached for a blanket off the bed and draped it around her shoulders. Harry moved the trey over to the bed and started eating with Hermione.
"So in the mean time?"
"Listen Harry, I know that we still need to find a way out of this predicament, so in the mean time we go on with our plan."
"No more of this nonsense then," Harry said in between bites, "You need to take care of yourself. No more locking yourself away"
"I know Harry, but I will be ok," Hermione said as she tried to assure him and took another bite of Mrs. Weasley's famous meatloaf.
"Well to be honest with you I wasn't much worried about you as myself," Harry grinned, "Mrs. Weasley would have my ass if anything happened to you. She can get quite scary." In fact Harry was actually thinking about Fleur and the wrath she would bring down on him if anything were to happen to Hermione.
Hermione grinned as she tossed a roll at Harry's head, "you git" she joked.
"I hope you are all packed and ready to go," Harry said as he took a swig of his pumpkin juice.
"What do you mean, go where?" Hermione inquired.
"McGonagall has given us the green light, she got finished with the wards and we are set to floo to Hogsmeade in the morning."
"Excellent!"
In reality Harry had written McGonagall explaining the current situation, hoping that if all else failed they could get Hermione out of her room with the promise of having free reign over the Hogwart's library.
"So from now on 'Mione you are going to take care of yourself right?"
Hermione nodded.
"And we are going to get a hold of Fleur soon, don't worry."
Another nod, this one a bit more apprehensive.
"She loves you 'Mione because she wants to, not because she has to. She would move Heaven and Earth for you," Harry affirmed grabbing a hold of Hermione's hands. He knew that hearing these words from him would have little meaning for her, but he figured it was a start.
"Oh what do we have here!" said George as he came barreling into the room.
"I don't know how Ginny is going to take this news, or Fleur. Hermione I never knew you were such a little trolup," George joked as he wiggled his eyebrows rather suggestively.
Hermione just laughed as George summoned the tray off the bed and took a running dive into the middle of Harry and Hermione.
"So you told her the news then Harry?" he asked.
"Yep! We are all set to head out tomorrow morning."
"Excellent!"
Ginny had left to training at the start of the week and Harry had been missing her rather terribly, he was glad to be off to Hogwarts to help ease his woes.
George put in his hand and looked at Hermione as he started, "All for one!"
Harry caught on and put his hand atop Georges, with Hermione's finishing off the stack.
"And one for all!" They finished in unison.
"George, I didn't know you read muggle literature," said Hermione.
"George, I'm still rather surprised you know how to read," joked Harry as he quickly ducked to avoid getting swatted in the head by the elder Weasley.
Hermione joined in with the laughter, and thought that everything would be ok. She cared about Fleur, and maybe after they found a way out of their predicament Fleur would be free to love whomever she chose. It would be better that way, why would anyone as amazing as Fleur fall for someone like her.
A/N: i promised an update so here it is... :) THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS (i hope i got around to thankin everyone who did and if i didn't i apologize profusely). i hope to get more updates in sooner (on the + side i will be off for about a week for xmas and ill prob spend my time sleepin n writing!) again thanks for the feedback keep it coming :D