"Collide

Colours of the masquerade

Watch as they fall away

Faceless under faces made"

- Young, Vallis Alps (2015)

"Who went on assignment with you to Runcorn's house?" Hermione asked Cho.

The colour drained from Cho's face, "Dennis!? You think Dennis did this?"

With her suspicions confirmed a mixture of relief and exhilaration filled Hermione. Fleur looked at her quizzically, "The little photographer man?"

Extracting herself and Fleur from the Quibbler offices without giving full explanations to either of the women had been tricky. She could feel Fleur's eyes boring into her as she completed paperwork in her office at the Ministry of Magic. She'd told Fleur she needed to file paperwork and Fleur had allowed her to be vague on what she was submitting. In reality Hermione was writing up all evidence, it was inevitable they would be entering a dangerous situation soon. She at least wanted her friends and colleagues to know who was responsible should the worst happen.

Hermione finished her notes and noticed Fleur was listening to her discman. Although Fleur's face looked impassive Hermione knew her mind was racing. After casting a muffliato charm and locking the door Hermione knew it wasn't fair to keep Fleur in the dark any longer.

"Dennis Creevey started at Hogwarts in my fourth year…" Hermione started, pausing for a second as Fleur took out her earphones and sat at attention. "He was in Gryffindor and a member of Dumbledore's Army. Him and his brother were something of an anomaly, two muggle born magicians from the same family. You would maybe remember his older brother Colin; he was very interested in photography and was quite fascinated with Harry and all the other Triwizard Champions. I would often stop and have a quick word with them between classes. There weren't that many Muggle born kids at Hogwarts and since they were in Gryffindor, I tried to keep an eye out for them.

As you may know, when Voldemort took over Hogwarts it wasn't safe for them to return. They found out through the connections they'd made via Dumbledore's Army, that they were not safe. The whole family had to go into hiding. Their parents quit their muggle jobs and joined them on the run. Dennis and Colin were not able to return for their respective fourth and sixth years at Hogwarts.

Before we went into battle with Voldemort a signal was sent to all members of Dumbeldore's Army. We didn't realise that Colin would come to Hogwarts. Even though underage wizards were told to leave, he was determined to see justice happen. He died in battle at sixteen years old."

Hermione had to pause; she was feeling overwhelmed as she remembered the funeral the held for Colin. One of many in quick succession as they buried those who has sacrificed so much. She could still clearly picture Colin's Muggle parents, their ashen pallor as they held tightly onto their remaining son and stood next to the coffin draped in Gryffindor red and gold.

Unconsciously she pulled her scarred arm closer to her body, turning the scars in toward her chest. Fleur, who until this point had been sitting listening intently, noticed her tell. She stood and came around the desk, standing next to Hermione's chair and pulling Hermione in against her chest. "Should we finish this discussion somewhere more private, and comfortable maybe?" Fleur gently suggested, suspecting that it would be overwhelming for them both.

She finished with a quickly scrawled out a note to Arthur letting him know what she had found out. It was morbid, but if something happened to her, she knew that she'd told him enough for him to piece together what she'd discovered. Once the note was folded into a paper aeroplane and enchanted en route to Arthur's office Hermione was ready, "Let's go to France."

Fleur had taken her suggestion from the ministry literally. So, when they'd arrived at the cottage Fleur had sunk into the sofa and pulled Hermione down to join her. It was definitely more comfortable Hermione mused. Being in Fleur's arms made her feel safe, at home. The cottage was eerily quiet compared to her own central London apartment and she felt a pressure to break the silence as she worked up the courage to finish outlining her case. She'd never been comfortable in this middle place where she had a hypothesis and evidence but had yet to reach a conclusion that she was completely satisfied with.

The silence stretched out as Fleur lazily rubbed patterns on Hermione's arm. She was content to let Hermione continue when she felt ready. She knew what Hermione was going to say would not be easy for either of them.

Finally, Hermione took a deep breath and sunk further into Fleur's side. "Not including when we were at the Quibbler offices recently, after the funeral I only saw Dennis once. Three years ago, while I was working for the Office of Misinformation, I ran into Dennis outside Gringotts. From a casual discussion he started positively ranting at me for being ineffective in my role at the Ministry as none of my reforms had ever passed. It was pretty evident he was both aware and enraged at the politics of the Ministry of Magic. Some of the wording he used, well it was similar to those notes.

We have the circumstantial evidence that tied the culprit to being in Gryffindor. This terrorist knew the way Professor Umbridge punished students by making them write in blood. They escaped from Beauxbatons on a Threstral. We also know the perpetrator was one of very few people who knew where Albert Runcorn lived.

So now there are two more things I've seen, that may be evidence and then everything else is pure speculation. I have to ask you first, you said Luna never sent you any souvenirs, so where did you get that galleon in your bedroom?"

Fleur quickly thought of the mementos of her sister's short life that lived on a shelf in her bedroom. She could hardly believe Hermione was so observant to notice a single galleon as they rushed to get dressed in there. With no idea what the coin may mean she replied, "The galleon was given to us by the French Ministry, it was in Gabby's pocket when she… at the end. It was sweet to me that she carried around a souvenir of her trip to visit me at Hogwarts."

"That galleon is no ordinary galleon. It's one out of around the twenty imitation coins I made in my fifth year at Hogwarts for DA members. It ties in with the picture I saw. Was the room that I was sleeping in at your house Gabby's room?"

Fleur nodded slowly, starting to piece together what Hermione must be saying. "There was a corkboard with a series of photos on it, I couldn't help but notice a picture of the Hogwarts grounds. The view in that picture Fleur, it bothered me all night. It was only this morning I was able to place it, that vantage of the grounds can only be seen from the boy's dormitories of Gryffindor tower."

"So, you think that this Dennis somehow knew Gabby?" Fleur asked incredulously.

"I believe so, everything beyond that is pure speculation for me now. To know for sure, we need to talk to Dennis. I have a feeling if we watch your sister's gravesite, eventually we'll catch him visiting."

Fleur was having a bad evening. She almost longed for the time when she felt nothing at all because now, she was simply feeling too much. She was close to getting closure on her sister's case, however in the process she was questioning how well she really knew her sister. A little less than 24 hours ago she'd told Hermione the whole truth of their bond. She'd received love in return, due to her bond she could feel it palpably in every inch of her being.

In all her fantasies over the years, the ones where a confession turned out well, she saw the first few days after telling Hermione as an experience in getting to know each other wholly. Spending a lot of time vulnerable, connected and frankly naked with each other. She had not ever once pictured the contact she'd have with Hermione would be sitting uncomfortably in a cold graveyard for hours, staring at her own sister's gravestone.

As Fleur was internally berating herself for thinking selfish thoughts about Hermione and reminding herself how she'd let her sister down for the thousandth time that evening, she heard a soft thud at the edge of the graveyard clearing. A Threstral had landed next to the tree line of the forest that surrounded the graveyard. Dennis, she recognised him immediately from having seen him at the Quibbler, slid off the back of the animal.

Hermione squeezed her arm reassuringly. They were both under invisibility spells so were able to watch in silence as Dennis gave his mount a scratch on the forehead before he approached Gabby's grave.

Fleur closed her eyes and remembered the plan. It was fortunate that Pierre Bonaccord, her distant relative had a very large monument donated in his honour by a group of trolls who had not forgotten what he had tried to achieve for them. It provided the perfect cover, so as Dennis passed by the statue she slowly, silently, stood up. She stepped out and raising her wand at Dennis' back as he reached the grave, silently performed a leg locking curse.

Dennis cried out as he fell to the ground. Hermione murmured a spell to make them visible again as they both ran over to Dennis. Standing over him with their wands pointedly trained on his face. Dennis raised his hands in surrender, "Please. I never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it."

Rage coursed through Fleur; this little shit had something to do with her sister's death. He was saying she deserved it. She could feel hear heartbeat through her whole body as her vision went red. She pulled her leg back, giving the murderer a swift kick in the testicles. As she pulled back for a second kick, Hermione grabbed her shoulder. The motion stilled her, though she resented not being able to inflict more pain and sent Hermione a look telling her as much.

"Dennis, what the fuck mate!" Hermione asserted as she held Fleur back, "You have some explaining to do." Dennis glared back but had no retort.

Hermione stepped close to Fleur, talking under her breath as she ordered, "Go and get my bag by the statue. You need to calm down or any memories we extract from him become unusable in court."

By the time Fleur had grudgingly returned with the bag Hermione had propped Dennis up against a nearby headstone. Although not Gabby's thankfully. Hermione seemed completely in control of the situation as she took Dennis' wand and handed it to Fleur.

"Dennis, I know you know who I am and I'm assuming you know who this is?" Hermione asked nodding towards Fleur.

"You look so much like her. Even if I didn't remember who you were, I would know when I saw you." Dennis said quietly, sadly.

Fleur was so mad, but she knew Hermione had been right earlier. She needed to keep her cool. And it seemed that her likeness to Gabby could be key in getting information from him.

"Did Gabby deserve to be hurt Dennis?" Fleur asked, her tone gentle but Hermione could see the steel in her eyes and expression. Dennis seemed none the wiser though, he refuted, "No! You don't understand. He murdered her. I only just got him. Finally."

"Dennis, before you keep talking…" Hermione jumped in as she stared meaningfully at Fleur, "some formalities. You must know that Fleur and I are here in an official capacity. We would like to ask you questions and if you're prepared to provide them, we'd like to collect memories. We have a significant enough amount of evidence to charge you with the murder of Albert Runcorn and multiple counts of inciting terror. Anything you say in front of us from this point forward can be collected from our memories and at any point if you no longer want to talk, we will transfer you to a holding cell at the French Ministry. I do think though Dennis, at the very least you owe it to Fleur to tell her what happened to her sister."

"I loved her you know." Dennis said quietly. Hermione saw the fire flash in Fleur's eyes and stepped closer to her, subtly grabbing her arm. They needed to shut up and let Dennis incriminate himself and Fleur knew that. "I tried to get you thrown off the case, I didn't want Gabby brought into this."

Fleur was squeezing her hands into fists, trying to show restraint and luckily Dennis was fixated on the floor. Hermione took the chance to prod a little, "Did you meet her at Hogwarts Dennis?"

"Yes, when the Triwizard tournament happened. My mother was born in France, so when the Delacour family visited I happened to overhear them chatting about the castle grounds. I offered them a tour and got to talking with Gabby. I hadn't really talked to anyone my age that could speak French, especially a non-muggle, so I asked if we could become pen pals. She thought it was a funny term but agreed, she wanted to improve her English. She was 10 and I was 11, so we were just kids writing silly letters about mean teachers, fun spells, quidditch and learning about each other's worlds.

Then we grew, she became my confidant as the world became bleaker. We made a plan for my family to run away to France. Then before I could tell my family, the battle happened. Colin died. My parents, they were grief-stricken and blamed magic. They told me I couldn't go back to Hogwarts. So, I ran away. I made it my mission to hunt down all those wizards that had fled or pretended they were under curses when they committed atrocities for Voldemort. Most of them had gone into hiding on the continent. So, I lived in the forest near Anduz. Gabby would sneak me spell books and help me learn magic. Other than Gabby I made friends with some of the Centaurs. No one could know where I was, I was only fifteen when I had run away, my parents had reported me as a runaway. Gabby was my best friend; she kept my secret for the three years I lived in the forest. I loved her and she told me she loved me.

One day while I was in town, I spotted Albert Runcorn, after spying on him I was able to ascertain he was hiding out there. I used Colin's old DA coin to communicate with her, I had kept mine, and I sent her a message that I'd found someone. To bring backup. She came. We tried to confront him. It went badly. Gabby and one of her friends died. My centaur friend Taureau was hurt, we retreated into the forest. I tried to help him, but I couldn't. I buried him at least, made it so if anyone found him, they wouldn't know he was a centaur and would leave him in peace.

Then I watched on from a distance. Waiting for the Ministry to catch Runcorn. But nothing.

I knew then it would have to be me that got justice. So, I started planning. Justice for Colin, justice for Gabby, justice for Taureau and justice for the mess that my life became."

Dennis ended his monologue and looked into Fleur's eyes for the first time, "I'm sorry for your sister. If I could trade her life for mine I would."

Fleur saw Dennis' leg move slightly. She suddenly noticed that his arm had moved inside a pocket. He must have had a decoy wand they had confiscated, and now he had silently reversed the leg lock. "Hermione!", was the only warning Fleur could shoot off as Dennis jumped up and began to summon a fiendfyre.