Chapter 21:

The first feeling that washed over Hermione was that she was incredibly tired. Drained. The next was that she in a bed. A bed that was missing her very warm pillow. Everything suddenly clicked in Hermione's head as she opened her eyes and jolted upright.

Bad idea.

Hermione was overcome with a wave of dizziness as her world threatened to go black again. She could hear Harry's muffled cries as she fought to make her world stop spinning. She managed to keep her composure, she had to, and passing out would do her no good.

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose and kept her eyes closed, not trusting that the world had yet stopped spinning.

"Harry…"

" 'Mione, hey," Harry made sure to speak softly. It seemed appropriate given that Hermione had been passed out for nearly two days now. They had been taking turns keeping vigil over Hermione's bed, making sure that one of them would be there when she awoke. And when they weren't at Hermione's bedside they were in the library pouring over books. Books that had no answers to the questions they were looking for. All they found were references to what they had already found out, that one would have to perish.

"Fleur…" was all that Hermione could manage to get out before tears started falling from her eyes. The last thing she remembered was Ron's smug face, and Fleur's soft lips. Soft lips that…

Harry could almost see the gears turning in Hermione's head and knew exactly where her mind was going. He knew that Hermione was crazy about Fleur, but he also knew Hermione could never stand being placed on the sidelines, even if it was for her own good.

"Now 'Mione," Harry started, grabbing Hermione's hand hoping it would help, "Fleur was doing what was best for you." Harry immediately regretted his word choice and braced for impact.

"Best for me!?" Hermione exclaimed, "Best for me!?"

Harry regretted grabbing a hold of Hermione's hand as her grip tightened effectively rendering Harry one trapped individual in the presence of one angry Hermione. Harry regretted that he'd never live to get married, or have children with Ginny. Oh well, it was an interesting life while it lasted he surmised. He quickly made peace with his life and waited for the deathblow.

"Harry," Hermione sighed. Harry cautiously opened his eyes to find Hermione trying to suppress a small smile. "She did it for me huh?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Ya," Harry proceeded to tell Hermione what ensued and how Fleur had been taken into custody. He also informed her that they had started to investigate the Wizarding Act of 1205 concerning Magical Creatures. What sounded like an easy enough search turned out to be a trip down a never-ending rabbit hole. All the found were references leading to older and older books.

Hermione sat there and listened, her mind going in circles. But for the first time in her life there was a feeling that was overriding her thoughts, her heart. She swore she could feel a physical pain at the thought that Fleur was being held for something that clearly was an ancient and outdated law.

"Harry!" She exclaimed, "Is she being held at Azkaban?" Hermione couldn't imagine Fleur being in such an awful place. Even though the Dark Lord had been overturned it still didn't change the fact that Azkaban was an awful place guarded by Dementors that were barely kept under control by the Wizarding Ministry.

"I don't know for sure 'Mione," Harry honestly answered "McGonagall has been trying to get word on where she is being held. It doesn't appear that she at Azkaban though, seeing as she has yet to have a hearing."

"Harry, I need to see her," Hermione pleaded.

Harry couldn't put his finger on it quite yet, but he was starting to realize that when Hermione was without Fleur she was… well more fragile in a sense. He was starting to think that there was more to this 'curse' then met the eye. He had been looking forward to his library time with George to discuss his latest observation.

Wait a second.

Looking forward to library time.

With George.

Harry almost laughed out loud at himself before remembering his current situation.

"I know 'Mione," he answered, "and you will soon enough. I promise" Harry didn't know how he was going to keep his promise, but he knew he would do whatever it took to get the two together again. He defeated Voldemort for goodness sake; he should be able to help his best friend out in her time of need.

Just then George and Gabrielle burst into the room. They hadn't expected Hermione to be awake yet, and surmised that she was out cold and not even their loud entrance would wake her. Although they both secretly hoped that would be the case.

"Harry!" They both shouted in unison. "We found it!"

"Found what?" came a question from the bed.

From the bed?

Somehow the smiles on George and Gabrielle's faces seemed to grow just a little bit.

"You're awake!" exclaimed Gabrielle, as she let go of George's hand to go to Hermione's bedside.

"We found the law," George explained holding up a piece of parchment. "I have no idea how my git of a brother," George involuntarily cringed upon saying this word, "found this law. This bloody thing is so damn antiquated and there is no history of it being used in modern times."

In fact they were all at a loss, it was common knowledge that Ron only got through school due to the good graces of Hermione. Harry could have passed on his own, though perhaps not with as high of marks, but Ron. Well Ron was daft. Dense. Dumb.

"Ahem," Hermione not so subtly cleared her throat, eager to get her hands on the parchment held in George's hand.

"Oh sorry," George apologized as he passed the parchment over to Hermione.

Hermione's eyes flew over the parchment. Harry desperately craned his neck trying to catch a glimpse of what was written on the parchment.

"Hmm…"

Harry tried even harder.

"Ahh…"

Harry was getting desperate.

"Oh…"

Harry couldn't take it anymore.

Gabrielle and George tried their hardest not to burst into a fit of giggles. They had already read the law and were aware of what it contained. Harry was the only poor soul left in the dark.

"HERMIONE!" Harry pleaded, being sure to enunciate every syllable of her name, hoping that would get her attention.

"Harry?" Hermione innocently asked, knowing full well that Harry was dying to know the contents of the parchment she held in her hand.

Harry looked around the room to find everyone giggling at his expense. "Oh sod off," he muttered as he threw his hands up in the air.

Hermione grinned, finding some much needed humor at Harry's expense, as she handed the parchment over to Harry.

The Wizarding Act of 1205 concerning Magical Creatures was a dense Act containing many subheadings. So many so that Harry's eyes began to glaze over. Harry sheepishly handed Hermione the parchment back, it would be much easier to just patiently wait while Hermione read it and processed it into a form that Harry's brain could handle without fear of combustion.

Hermione took the parchment back without a word and began to read the contents. Truth be told George and Gabrielle gave up about 4 lines into the law and decided to torture, erm, include, Harry their efforts to unscramble the complex Act.

After a few minutes Hermione let out a final sigh and addressed the anxiously awaiting group.

"So…" Gabrielle asked breaking the silence.

"Well, it basically states that Fleur, being part magical 'creature', is not allowed to, erm, well," Hermione's face began to turn red, she was bloody British after all, something weren't meant to be uttered out loud.

"Out with it 'Mione," George demanded.

"Ya spit it out," Harry pleaded.

"Ah.. Well.." Hermione looked over the Gabrielle for help, who was just as perplexed as the others. Gabrielle followed Hermione's eyes on the parchment and found the offended word that Hermione could not possibly say.

"Oh you British are so uptight," Gabrielle said as she rolled her eyes. "Ze stupid act states zat zere shall be no fornicating between wizards and magical creatures."

George burst out in laughter, while British, he was still raised by rather free spirited parents. However, Harry and Hermione found themselves rather uncomfortable by the whole, sex thing.

"Well 'Mione, so that means you and Fleur," George wiggled his eyebrows in quite the suggestive manner. This got him a smack from Gabrielle, who didn't mind talking about sex, but sex involving her sister was a whole different matter.

"No!" Hermione shouted out, a little louder then needed.

"Well hats off to you 'Mione, I don't know how you were able to contain yourself, Fleur is…" George trailed off as he got a glimpse of Gabrielle shooting him a death stare. All of a sudden the room got rather warm he thought. He gulped. Panicked. He was a dead man.

"What I meant to say was…" but George was abruptly cut off by Gabrielle.

"We shall talk about zis later George," she said in tone that left little room for discussion. George decided that his best chances at survival were to mysteriously become mute for the rest of the day.

"Ok then, there should be no problem getting Fleur out of it then," Harry proclaimed.

"Well its not that simple," Hermione answered, "Relationships in general are banned under this law."

"This makes no sense!" Harry pouted. There had to be a way to fix this. This law wasn't even enforced; there was no way it could be enforced in this particular instance and not with every other cross species couple present in the wizarding world. He had always known that it was a touch taboo, but he never thought there would be laws banning such relationships.

Hermione bit her lip and began to chastise herself; "I should have worked harder to pass legislation for equal rights in the Wizarding world." She was beating herself up, thinking if she only tried a little bit harder this whole thing could have been avoided.

" 'Mione," George all of a sudden found his voice, "You can't beat yourself up. Its not your fault. And it won't help the situation." He knew he was being blunt, but he knew they didn't have time spend crying over something they could not fix now. They had to focus on how to get Fleur out of trouble.

"He iz right," Gabrielle chimed in. George was about to make a smart comment, when he caught the look in her eyes and realized he was still in the doghouse so to speak.

"Well what else does the Act say 'Mione," Harry asked.

"So only 'magical creatures sharing the same characteristics as inherited through there creature heritage shall be allowed to mate,' Hermione read, her voice tinged with disgust. How could people think they had a right to govern whom someone could love? It was silly. Stupid. Unfair.

"No one is going to tell me who I can or can't spend my bloody life with," Hermione declared, almost surprised at the words coming out of her mouth. She had never considered herself to be naturally defiant, but the thought of someone telling her she couldn't spend her life with the woman that she loved was unacceptable.

And in that moment Hermione knew that nothing would ever keep her from Fleur. In that moment she knew that no matter what was going to be thrown at them that it would work out as long as she was with Fleur. As long as they loved each other. As long as they were both there for one another.

Hermione looked up and saw three giant smiles. She had hope; hope that it would all work out. She knew her friends would fight for her and Fleur.

"Ok, first thing we have to figure out how to get into contact with Fleur. We have to find her the best defense council. And we have to find precedence to overturn this silly law."

"Precedence?" Harry scratched his head, what on earth was Hermione talking about.

Hermione explained, well dumbed it down in a sense that if there were examples of other wizard and magical creature couples that it would work in their favor. She also suggested that they gather all the information that they could about both basic Wizard rights as well as information about basic rights for Magical Creatures. She quickly summoned her enchanted notebook and was surprised to see the work that the three had put in while she was in the infirmary. With the amount of new research documented in the notebooks she knew that they three had to have been working around the clock.

"You guys…" Hermione trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.

"What? Oh did we mess up the notebook organization?" Harry asked.

"No, I just... I can't believe how much work you guys have done," Hermione quietly said, touched beyond words.

The three just smiled in response as Hermione regained her composure and started making lists of tasks that needed to be accomplished and starting points for everyone.

After she was done there was a rather loud grumbling sound that came from Hermione's stomach.

"Oh, I think I'm a bit hungry," Hermione sheepishly said as the three burst out laughing.

"Ya sounds like it."

And with that the group headed down to the dining hall. They tried to convince Hermione to stay in bed, but she refused. So they settled for being able to wheel her around in a chair. Hermione reluctantly accepted, even though she was exhausted, although she would never admit it. Her heart ached without Fleur, and every breath almost seemed to be physically painful without the French witch by her side.

"Don't worry 'Mione," Harry reassured. Hermione just nodded in agreement. Harry had never let her down before, and she knew he wouldn't this time.

a/n: i really am sorry for this story progressing so darn slowly. and thanks to everyone who has kept up with it. and thanks for the reviews they are quite motivational knowing ppl are still stickin with this story and new ppl have taken an interest in it.

the next ch will be about fleur.. im noticing this horrible pattern of me splitting hermione and fleur up.. yikes i should get them back together soon!

thanks again guys for readin. hope you like it! :)