Chapter 50: A Time to Mourn
August 2nd, 1997
Minerva McGonagall had to admit, being Headmistress wasn't easy. It meant making difficult choices. Firing Albus had been an exceedingly difficult decision. He had understood, of course, and he even had to admit she wasn't wrong. But the moment she'd understood that Dumbledore had anticipated that someone might try to kill him, and that it might cause collateral damage, McGonagall had leaned towards not renewing his contract. The discovery that he still supported Snape, and thought the man was innocent, had been the last straw. It spoke very poorly of his judgement.
McGonagall didn't regret canning Snape at all. The man should be in prison, but he had disappeared. Supposedly Dumbledore knew where he was, but he wasn't talking. McGonagall wasn't sure that Snape could be trusted at all anymore, but Dumbledore had made sure that this wasn't her decision. Still, something about Snape made McGonagall's skin crawl. She absolutely would never have believed that Severus would do something like spying on Ginny until the proof sat in front of her, though she did admit she could see him having helped kill Vernon Dursley. Flitwick still thought something was fishy about it, but he also said that he had no doubts about Snape's guilt, just that he thought they were missing some piece of information that would make it all make sense. McGonagall didn't think that would be forthcoming. Sometimes things just didn't make sense.
With two teaching slots open, McGonagall had been busy. Luckily, Bill Weasley had stepped up to volunteer for the Dark Arts position. McGonagall was a bit concerned about that, because of the curse, but Bill had laughed it off, saying he could handle a little curse. The transfiguration position was proving difficult though. There was one candidate, but McGonagall was a bit wary of hiring him as a teacher. While excellent at Transfiguration, Sirius Black was a bit of a wild card as far as discipline went.
But today, McGonagall and Flitwick were meeting with Harry and Hermione. They had been selected as Head Boy and Girl. For Hermione it had been unanimous. But Harry had proven contentious. Sinestra was against him, but McGonagall suspected that was because of his living situation at school, which McGonagall had to admit was a bit of a double standard. While McGonagall herself hadn't entirely approved of that, she had decided to allow it for one reason: she did not want to punish Harry and Hermione for doing the right thing. They had enough pressure on them with their… extracurricular activities. Plus, they'd both been at least sixteen, and they had obeyed the school rules. If they had been even slightly less responsible, McGonagall wouldn't have ever considered it though.
Flitwick had been behind Goldstein, as had been Sinistra, but Professor Sprout had been fully behind Harry. She had said her badgers had nothing but good to say about Harry. With Dumbledore gone, Molly Weasley had stepped up as head of Gryffindor. And she had also given her full-throated support for Harry. So it had been up to McGonagall. And in the end she knew that the person everyone in the school looked up to was Harry Potter, not Anthony Goldstein.
"I hope you aren't too disappointed that Anthony didn't get it," said McGonagall.
Flitwick grinned. "I think I'll survive. Potter deserved it. I probably wouldn't have even mentioned Anthony if I'd known Sinistra was going to flip like that."
"If her house ever discovers that she voted against a Slytherin Head Boy…" said McGonagall.
"Doesn't bear thinking of," said Flitwick, his smile turning vicious.
McGonagall 'heard' the sound of someone coming to the gargoyle outside the headmistress' office. "Harry and Hermione have arrived. Enter."
A few moments later, the new Head Boy and Girl entered McGonagall's office. They were both deep in conversation.
"It has to be here, in this room," said Harry.
"Maybe, but it could have drifted," said Hermione.
"Riddle took precautions against that," said Harry.
"He's screwed up basic things like that before," said Hermione.
"Only only one way to find out," said Harry, "Headmistress, do you mind if we cast a spell?"
"You're of age Potter," said McGonagall, "Go ahead."
Harry spent a few moments in thought then cast a spell that McGonagall didn't recognize. Suddenly a great black blotch appeared in the middle of the room.
"What is it?" asked a curious Flitwick.
"I think it's the curse on the Defense position," said Harry, "Tom Riddle put it here when he applied for it back in the 60's."
"It is here," said Hermione, "It shouldn't be though. It should have drifted."
"It's probably the magic on the Headmistress's office," admitted Harry.
"Well this is a fortuitous event," said McGonagall, "How did you figure it out?"
"Once we identified which curse was used it was easy," said Hermione, "We knew this was the only location Voldemort had easy access to."
"So how do we deal with this?" asked Flitwick.
"Finite," said Harry.
And the blob collapsed on itself and vanished.
"You have to be kidding me," said McGonagall in disbelief. A curse hounded people for decades, was even responsible for deaths, and a student defeated it with a Finite?
"The spell was too complex," said Harry, "It was meant to be hidden, but once found, it was easy to deal with."
McGonagall shook her head. These two students were indeed very formidable. "Well I must thank you for your service Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. That curse has been a great difficulty to the school for decades. But we are here to discuss your upcoming tenure as Head Boy and Girl."
"We will go over all the requirements of the position," said Fltiwick, "As deputy Headmaster, I will supervise you directly."
"One matter," said McGonagall, "You will have separate quarters in the school. It has a combined sitting and study room, but separate bedrooms. You are free to invite people into your sitting area, but neither of you is allowed to sleep in the same bedroom. Those rules go back to the founding of the school.
Harry grinned. "If that's the case then there is no problem," said Harry, "The rules back at the Founding were quite specific."
"Oh Potter, well done," said Flitwick admiringly.
"What am I missing?" asked McGonagall.
"The rules are different for couples that are betrothed," said Hermione, "And Harry and I are engaged."
Somehow, McGonagall was utterly unsurprised at this turn of events.
"Congratulations," said McGonagall, "Now if we can get back to the matter at hand?"
XXXXX
August 4th. 1997
Hermione took the amulet she'd made out of the drawer in her study. Harry had been kind enough to give her a room to use as a private study, and she appreciated the privacy it gave her. Of course, Harry was often here, as what they were working on they were working on together, but he wasn't one to disturb her when she was in here unless he had a reason to.
The amulet felt heavy in her hand. Well, it was made of alchemical silver, which had been the only material that Hermione had trusted for such a delicate enchantment. She stuffed the amulet in her satchel. Time to deliver it.
Hermione met Harry near the front door.
"Ready?" asked Harry.
Hermione nodded. "Let's do this," she said.
Both of them apparated to the Greengrass residence. Hermione still didn't like apparating. But Harry was reluctant to use the Floo network, and was in the process of taking his house off of it. Hermione suspected that the network had been under surveillance by the Death Eaters for some time. Harry was serious about hardening the Potter property. Things were going to get worse before they got better.
Hermione knocked on the door only to have Philomena open it for them. Philomena was a kind woman, and Hermione could tell that she agreed with her daughters far more than her husband did.
Bryant Greengrass came down the stairs to greet them. His expression was strained. While Hermione didn't exactly blame him for not liking them, she was worried about him. If he turned against Harry, or even just decided to take action to annoy Harry in retaliation for his frustration, he could be a big problem. Harry seemed to think Daphne had him tamed, but that wasn't what Hermione saw. No, this was a man who was looking to take his destiny back into his own hands. And that made him dangerous.
"Are you here to see Daphne?" said Bryant a bit stiffly.
"Actually, we're here to see Astoria," said Hermione, "We have something for her."
"Astoria is not well right now," said Philomena.
"I'm sure," said Harry, "But I think this will help with that. At the very least she'll feel better to know people are thinking of her."
Bryant left to go get Astoria, while Philomena led them into the sitting room. A few minutes later, Astoria came in with Daphne.
Hermione got up and gave Daphne a hug, as did Harry. Then Hermione pulled out the amulet. They'd learned a lot from Andromeda and Bill in the last few weeks. And they'd also talked to Madam Pomfrey when they'd been at Hogwarts. Occasionally Madam Pomfrey would train gifted seventh years in the basics of healing, allowing them to skip much of the first year of training. Harry and Hermione had gone over their plan to convince her to hold the class for them. Ultimately she'd agreed. She'd also been impressed with what they came up with.
"This amulet is designed to gather magical energy," said Hermione without prelude, "Simply put, it is a magical battery. We believe we can use it to treat your blood curse."
"You can cure it?" asked Astoria skeptically.
"No," said Harry, "This is a treatment that should allow you to live a normal life, but if you stop using it, the curse will continue to affect you."
"You see the Blood Curse works by draining your magical energy," said Hermione, "Now at Hogwarts, this isn't an issue. The entire place is suffused in magic, that's why it's such a great place for a school. The Drain is constantly compensated by your body's magical ability to absorb surrounding magic."
"The problem is that anywhere else this doesn't apply," said Harry, "Your body quickly depletes your magical energy, which draws on your physical strength to replenish itself. This amulet is designed to combat that by gathering and concentrating magical energy, then transferring it to you."
"That sounds very simple," said Astoria, "Why hasn't this been tried before?"
Hermione shook her head. "Two reasons. The first is that the Blood Curse has traditionally been seen as a disease, as opposed to what it actually is, which is a curse. A disease acts differently than a curse. Treating a magical disease like this wouldn't work, the disease would eventually adapt to consume the excess magical energy. But a curse only does what it is cast to do. The other reason is simple. Most magical medicine is based around curing conditions. This isn't a cure, it is a treatment to manage your condition. Those have only become common recently, most notably with the wolfsbane potion. Given both of those things, no one ever thought to consider that maybe replenishing your magical reserves might allow you to live a better life."
"We'll need to tune the amulet to you," said Harry.
"Okay," said Astoria. Harry began casting spells over Astoria, and giving instructions to Hermione. As Harry gave instructions, Hermione made magical adjustments to the amulet. It was very tricky work, but Hermione was proud of herself. Each spell had to be very exact, but she was quite confident that she had made no mistakes.
"It should be good," said Hermione as she finished her adjustments, "You should wear it at all times. It should recharge as you sleep."
Hermione handed the amulet to Astoria. She put it on and immediately her eyes lit up. "This feels amazing! How can I thank you?"
Harry shot Hermione a triumphant smile. "We actually are looking into removing your curse," said Harry, "But until we know a bit more it will be hard to do. Eventually we want to create a curse diagnostic spell, but that is beyond us at the moment. Once we get to Hogwarts though…"
"This amulet is also designed to map out the way the curse affects your body, but it can't do so when it is providing you with energy," said Hermione, "Keep wearing it at Hogwarts though and we'll be able to use it to track the curse. If we can identify the exact way the curse was cast, we can probably get rid of it."
Astoria threw her arms around Harry's neck, then let go and hugged Hermione as well. "I can't thank the two of you enough!"
Daphne smiled. "I had no idea you were looking into this," she said.
"We decided to go into Soul Healing," said Harry, "And we think this proves we have a knack for it."
Hermione wondered. She remembered that Fleur had told her that she needed a goal in life. Something that could give her a purpose beyond any relationship, something that was her life's work. This might be it. But there was also one other area she might be interested in. But she didn't want to rain on Harry's parade yet.
XXXXX
August 25th, 1997
It was the last week of August, and Harry and Hermione had come to Diagon Alley to do their school shopping. Indeed, the Alley was full of children doing just that, including most of the muggleborns from second year and up. Harry had to admit that it had been a productive summer. He and Hermione had made a lot of progress on their soul healing, the Army was finally getting organized to the point that Harry was willing to start pitting it against Death Eaters in open combat, and Harry had managed to spend at least some time with Blaise. Blaise was doing better, but he'd mostly just wanted time alone to think. Alone aside from Seamus that was.
Of course the first place Harry had to go was Gringotts. But there he had a surprise waiting for him. Brokgut was all too happy to speak to him, but when he came in, Nokbog was with him.
"Is, uh, something the matter?" asked Harry.
"Well, last year it came to our attention that you possess a goblin made artifact," said Nokbog.
"Oh," said Harry, "You mean the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff?"
"Quite so," said Brokgut, "Now you are a very good customer, so we didn't want to make an issue of it before we had to, but are you aware of how goblin property law works?"
"Yes," said Harry, "An item belongs to it's creator and his descendents in perpetuity, only being leased to others for a span of that person's life."
"Good," said Nokbog, "As you did remove a powerful curse from the Cup, there was no immediate hurry, and we had to determine who exactly owned the cup…"
"Well, I'd be more than happy to return it," said Harry, "I didn't know it was goblin made."
"All the Founder's artifacts are goblin made," said Nokbog.
"Wait, all of them?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, all of them," replied Nokbog, "Do you know where another one is?"
"We did temporarily have possession of Slytherin's locket," said Harry, "We gave it to the house elf Kreacher. It meant a lot to him as his master Regulus Black died trying to destroy the Horcrux Voldemort had put in it. And while he didn't exactly succeed, Kreacher did bring it to a place where we were able to cleanse it."
Nokbog thought about that for a moment. "We will contact Kreacher then. As I see it, his master's death in rescuing the relic would mean that it has been bought with blood. Kreacher thus has a right to the locket for the duration of his life, but after his death it would need to return to its rightful owner."
"That's good," said Hermione, "As Kreacher is an elf, I'm sure he'll agree. I'm more concerned with the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw."
"You found it?" said Nokbog incredulously.
"Voldemort did," said Hermione, "He made it a Horcrux. I cleansed it, but in the process, well it chose me to be it's master."
Nokbog considered this. "There is some precedent for this, but it doesn't exactly apply here. The Sword of Gryffindor has a tendency to show up to any worthy Gryffindor that needs it. Under Goblin law, this is quite permissible. However the right of use is only granted for the duration of the crisis that it is summoned for. But this doesn't apply to the Diadem. As far as I know, it chooses one worthy person and then won't choose another while that person is alive. In that case, and given that you cleansed it, you probably also have a lifetime use exemption. I will have to check on that though."
"Of course," said Hermione, "If you do need it back though, please let me know."
"We will," said Nokbog, "And thank you for your understanding. Not all wizards are willing to do as much."
"Now Mr. Potter, about that request you made…" said Brokgut.
XXXXX
Ginny Weasley waved as she entered Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with Fleur. Fred and George waved back and ran over to greet her. It really had been too long since she had seen the twins.
"Ginny, we haven't seen you since Christmas!" said Fred.
"Have you been avoiding us?" said George with a pout.
"Of course I have," said Ginny, "Having two disreputable brothers is bad enough, but to actually be seen with them?"
Both twins laughed at her sarcasm. Ginny was glad they were doing so well. The shop looked to be full of children (and some adults). It was clearly very popular.
"Mum's going to be here in just a few minutes," said Fred.
"I know," said Ginny, "Ron stayed back at the Leaky Cauldron to wait for her."
"There isn't any… you know… bad blood between you, is there?" asked George.
"Not really," said Ginny, "That's all dealt with now." It wasn't really a lie. Ginny was pretty sure the two of them were good now. Of course, pretty sure wasn't certain.
"And if it isn't the beautiful Miss Fleur Delacour!" said Fred, who ran up and took Fleur's hand and kissed it.
"Always good to see you, Fleur," said George, kissing her other hand.
"What's this then!" said a voice from the back of the shop. It was Angelina Johnson. She grabbed both twins by the ear and dragged them away from Fleur.
"We were just greeting our future sister-in-law!" protested Fred.
"Mhmm," said Angelina, clearly unconvinced, "And just you wait until I tell Alicia about this George! She's mad enough at you as it is!"
Fleur just laughed. She clearly knew the twins meant nothing by their little display, they were just trying to have a laugh. Ginny wondered about how to extricate them from this situation, but it was then that Molly and Ron arrived.
"Well, as good as it 'as been to see all of you, I must get to work," said Fleur. Everyone waved goodbye to her as she walked out of the store.
"Is it difficult, living in the same house with her?" George asked Ron.
"Nah," said Ron, trying to be nonchalant, which sent Ginny into a fit of giggles.
"He was walking around in a permanent haze," said Ginny.
"Ronald!" shouted Molly.
"I can't help it!" said Ron
Ginny walked over to Angelina as her family squabbled. "Anything to report?" Ginny asked.
"A few odd characters have been hanging around the last few days," said Angelina, "If I didn't know any better I'd say they were casing the alley."
"Damn," said Ginny, "Well if they're going to do anything, today will be the day to do it. They're holding a Muggleborn orientation today."
"I'm not too worried about the kids in orientation," said Angelina, "Flitwick can protect them. But most of the rest of the muggleborns come and do their shopping today as well."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to be vigilant," said Ginny.
XXXXX
Harry and Hermione weren't in a hurry today. They had seldom come to Diagon Alley, as they believed that most days their presence here would act as a danger. But today was different. If Voldemort was going to try anything, it would be today.
"Hermione, Harry!" said a voice. It was Amy, and she was with her family, right outside Flourish and Blotts.
"Hey Amy," said Hermione happily.
"My name is Carrie," said Amy's mother, "and this is Max. Amy's told us a lot about you. Apparently she looks up to the two of you."
"Well I'm glad that she likes us," said Harry.
"Professor McGonagall seemed to think there was some issue in her sorting?" asked Max, "It wasn't very clear."
"It has been traditionally very rare for muggleborns to get sorted into Slytherin," said Hermione, "In fact, Amy and I are the only muggleborns sorted there in the last 50 years. During the last war, most of Lord Voldemort's support came from former members of Slytherin."
"But things have changed, correct?" asked Carrie.
"Harry and I have worked very hard to change this," said Hermione, "And I think we've largely succeeded. But I am sorry to say that we won't be in the Slytherin common room very much this year, Amy."
"Why not?" said Amy.
"We're Head Boy and Girl this year," said Harry, "So we have private quarters outside Slytherin."
"Ooooh, so you're going to be spending all your time kissing, huh?" said Amy.
Harry and Hermione both started laughing, though Harry thought that his cheeks might be a bit red. They certainly felt warm.
"If only we could," said Hermione, "But we're going to be a little busy to spend all our time kissing. Though Harry did ask me to marry him." Hermione held out her hand. On it was the engagement ring that Harry had asked the goblins to craft for her. It had a fairly sizeable diamond on it, and the band had tiny inlaid emeralds.
"Oh, how wonderful," said Carrie, "You're waiting for school to be over?"
"The war, really," said Hermione, "My parents went into hiding a year ago, and I want them at my wedding."
"Is it that bad?" asked Max, "Should we be in hiding?"
"They are only hiding because I'm dating Harry Potter," said Hermione wryly, "And he's sort of become Voldemort's archenemy, given that Voldemort was initially defeated by Harry as a baby."
"It was my mother that defeated him," said Harry, "She just did it by casting a protection spell on me."
"What's this?" asked Carrie.
Harry resigned himself to telling this story again. "Okay, I was born during the last war," said Harry, "There was a prophecy that said someone born on the day I was born would defeat Voldemort, who's real name is Tom Riddle, by the way. So he came to kill me. He murdered my father and mother, but my mother died trying to protect me, which caused a powerful protection spell to cause Riddle's cures to rebound on him. So that's why he went away the first time."
"He keeps coming after Harry, but it always ends badly for him," said Hermione.
"Once I'm out of school, I'm going to take up the fight against him full time," said Harry.
"Well that's a story," said Max.
"In any case, the new prefects from our year are going to be Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini," said Hermione, "So they'll make sure you are safe."
"Daphne is very nice," said Amy, "But Blaise is a little intense sometimes. Though I do feel sorry about his father, that was so sad. Also is it normal for prefects to swear as much as Blaise?"
"What's this?" asked Max.
"Blaise does have a tendency to swear," said Harry.
"It's actually a pretty Slytherin trait to be honest," said Hermione, "It took years for me to give up stopping these reprobates from swearing."
"I wasn't so bad," said Harry.
"You were less bad than Blaise and Daphne, but they rubbed off on you," said Hermione, "And let's not even talk about Ginny…"
Suddenly Harry realized something was wrong, a momentary tingle in his senses that something was not quite right. Looking up he saw hooded figures appearing with a crack.
Death Eaters.
"Protego Maxima!" Harry roared as he created a barrier between the Case family and the Death Eaters.
"Get behind us!" shouted Hermione.
"But…" started Max.
"You can't fight these men! Get behind us!" said Harry.
The Cases ran behind Harry and Hermione who had begun casting spells furiously. There were at least five Death Eaters in the immediate proximity. Harry knocked out one, as did Hermione, but the Death Eaters began casting spells at them. One was casting the killing curse! Harry pulled one of the street carts in the way of that right away. In moments, all five Death Eaters were down.
An Auror ran up to the site of the battle. Harry could hear signs of fighting in other parts of the alley. He needed to get into the fight.
"Are you all right Harry?" asked the auror. It was Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"I'm fine, but others are in danger," said Harry.
"Head into the bookstore, it should be safe inside now," said Hermione to the Case family.
"You going to help?" asked a surprised Kingsley.
"Of course," said Harry.
"Dumbledore said…" started Kingsley, but he shook his head, "Later. Let's take out these Death Eaters."
XXXXX
When the Death Eaters tried to enter Weasley's Wizard Wheezes they got more than they bargained for. Ginny, Molly, Ron, Fred, George, and Angelina all turned their wands on the intruders immediately. It was probably overkill. Five Death Eaters were floored immediately.
"I need to join the fight," said Ginny.
"Ron and I will go with you," said Molly.
"We can come too!" said George.
"No, we have to protect our customers," said Fred, shaking his head.
"Good thinking Fred," said Ginny as she led the way out into the street. The sounds of combat greeted her ears, screams, spellfire and explosions.
This was bad. This was very bad.
XXXXX
When the attack started, Fleur had almost reached Gringotts. As Death Eaters had joined the fray, Fleur had joined a few wizards in repelling them. Moments later though reinforcements came from within the bank. A number of goblins armed with pikes marched out onto the front steps. In the middle of them was Brokgut.
"Fleur, tell people that Gringotts is a safe haven," said Brokgut.
Fleur nodded. Goblin neutrality meant that they couldn't take part in the battle except to offer shelter to bystanders. Even the Death Eaters would have to be crazy to attack Gringotts, though. The Goblins might appear to only be carrying pikes, but those pikes were very enchanted. In ways that would confound even wizards.
Fleur saw a child, probably a first or second year muggleborn running down towards Knockturn Alley. He barely managed to miss being hit by a nasty looking curse. Fleur disabled his attacker with a quick stunner then ran over to the boy.
"Not that way child!" she cried out, "Into the bank! It is safe."
The child nodded his thanks then ran towards Gringotts. Fleur moved up the alley. Many Death Eaters were down, but so were a lot of other people. Fleur passed the body of a muggle woman. She'd been gouged by a nasty curse that left multiple cuts all over her body. Fleur leaned over to check her pulse, but the woman was clearly dead. Fleur wondered if it had been that boy's mother. A muggle man was nearby, gasping for air, blood gurgling from his mouth.
Fleur didn't know many medical spells, but she tried what she could. But suddenly she had bigger problems when a Death Eater suddenly emerged from a nearby shop. He moved smoothly, but he hadn't seen Fleur yet.
Unfortunately, the sight of these two muggles had Fleur's blood up. And seeing this Death Eater walking around was too much for her. She launched a blistering assault on the man. He managed to block most of her attacks, but she did knock his hood off.
Fleur snarled when she saw him. "Severus Snape," she practically spat at him.
XXXXX
This attack had been a disaster, thought Harry. Many innocent people had been killed. But it was every bit as much of a disaster for Voldemort. Dozens of his men were down. He was going to lose a significant number of his men in this battle.
Harry, Hermione and Kingsley had met up with Ginny, Ron and Molly. Shortly afterwards Blaise and Seamus had joined the group, coming out of the Quality Quidditch Supplies.
"Six Death Eaters who won't be bothering anyone again," said Blaise grimly.
Kingsley shook his head disapprovingly, but it was self-defence. He couldn't exactly complain about it. Harry had been sticking to non-lethal spells, but he'd been fighting in the open streets with innocent bystanders all around. He probably would have done the same as Blaise if he'd had the opportunity.
"Looks like the area around Gringotts got hit the hardest," said Seamus, "I saw Fleur heading that way, so hopefully some people got out.
Quick reactions from wizards up and down the alley had kept the loss of life in other areas to a minimum but there had been losses. But when they got to Gringotts…
Corpses littered the street right outside Knockturn Alley. All adults, thank heavens. But one badly mangled body struggled to move.
"Fleur!" screamed Hermione, running towards her friend. Fleur was covered in spell gouges. One of her arms had been completely severed, and her whole body was covered in huge gashes. Harry didn't need to do any diagnostics. He could tell by looking at her what was going to happen.
"I tried," said Fleur, barely conscious, "I saved those I could, but then he… Dra… Snape… couldn't stop him."
"We'll get you help!" said Hermione frantically, "Just hang on! We can get healers."
"Take care of 'er 'Arry," said Fleur, "And Ginny, tell Bill that I love 'im."
"I… I will," said Ginny, her eyes filled with tears.
"NO!" screamed Hermione, "You can't die. You can't!"
"Oh, my friend, I would 'ave liked to see what you became," said Fleur. And then she closed her eyes for the last time.
Hermione let out a horrified shriek of rage, then threw her face into Fleur's hair as she began sobbing desperately. Harry knelt down beside her and put his hand on her back. After a moment Hermione pulled herself away from Fleur and buried her face in Harry's chest.
XXXXX
Snape had killed Fleur.
It was the only thing that Harry could think as he walked down the street, still dazed from what had happened. He was vaguely aware of Blaise following him, but wasn't really in any state to ask any questions. He made his way back to the bookstore. He had a vague idea of seeing whether the Case family was all right.
Ginny and Molly were with Hermione still. Hermione had managed to calm down a bit, but she was still a mess. But Harry had things that needed to be done. Hermione had told him to do them. So here he was, taking care of them.
Back at Flourish and Blotts, he saw the Case family peeking out from one of the windows. Cassie poked her head out of the door. "Is it over?" she asked.
Harry nodded. "The Death Eaters have retreated, those that could. This could have gone a lot worse." Harry's throat locked up after he said that. How could he have said that? It was true of course. But all he could think of was Fleur.
"Are you all right?" asked Carrie. Max and Amy had now followed her out, and others from inside the building followed them.
"Yeah, I… a friend of mine didn't make it," said Harry.
"Maybe you should take a break," said Max.
"That is a very good idea," said Blaise.
"I have to make sure everyone is all right," said Harry.
"You already did that Harry," said Blaise, "You're in shock right now. You need to take it easy. Running yourself to death won't bring Fleur back."
Suddenly a rush of Aurors poured into the Alley. Not that there was any point. It was all over. It had been over for almost fifteen minutes. Then Harry narrowed his eyes. Fudge was with them. Had Fudge delayed the main Auror response so he could make an entrance?
Fudge also saw Harry. "Harry, what is the situation? We came as soon as we could."
From the looks on the Aurors faces, Harry could tell that was a lie. He pulled his temper up short. Snapping on Fudge wasn't going to get Harry anything right now.
"We drove them off," said Harry, "Things weren't bad down here, lots of people fought back immediately. Down near Knockturn Alley though, things were rough. A bunch of people died. Fleur died."
"Fleur Delacour!" said Fudge, seeming shocked, "That's horrible! An international incident. Oh, and I know she was your friend Harry. I am so sorry." Was he really shocked? Or was he just feigning it?
"This is what we get," said Harry.
"Excuse me?" asked Fudge.
"We, magical society as a whole, let the disease of pureblood supremacism fester after the fall of Voldemort," said Harry, "And this is what we get. And you helped bring this about. We could be better than this. We should be better than this. But we aren't. And I'm sick of making excuses."
And Harry stormed off. He knew he probably had angered Fudge. But he didn't care. He didn't care about any of it right now.
"Harry," said Blaise, "Let's get Hermione and get you home."
"Bill," said Harry, "Someone has to tell Bill."
"Molly and Ginny will handle it," said Blaise, "But you are in no fit state for anything. Come on, let's get Hermione home."
Harry nodded. It did sound like a good idea.
XXXXX
That evening, Harry sat alone on the lawn behind his home. Hermione was asleep. He'd given her a light sleeping draught. She needed it. She was still so messed up. She was going to need him in the coming days. Fleur had been very special to Hermione, a friend who had helped her at a very important part of her life. Her death had devastated Hermione.
"How are you doing Harry?" came a voice. It was Blaise.
"I'm… as well as can be expected," said Harry.
"Well if you'd said you were okay I'd have smacked you," said Blaise, "because you aren't."
Harry nodded. He knew that. Fleur's death had hit him hard. But what to do?
"You know it's okay to mourn her," said Blaise, "She was your friend. You don't have to keep it all bottled inside."
"Hermione needs…" started Harry.
"Hermione isn't here," said Blaise, "Just me. And you can cry your eyes out if you want, I don't give a damn. Believe me. I've spent all summer thinking about this sort of thing."
"What do you mean?" asked Harry.
"I was trying to be tough, trying to take everything on my shoulders," said Blaise, "Danny was right, I was out of my depth. In my quest to stop my mother, I was becoming her. And I didn't see it. That's what makes us different from Voldemort and his true believers. Our capacity to care and love. It's what makes us better. And once I understood it, I was able to grieve. You need to grieve. It doesn't make you weak. It makes you strong."
"I don't… I have no idea where to go from here," said Harry, "I just... " And that was when he finally lost control. Harry began to sob uncontrollably. And Blaise put his arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him close.
"That's right," said Blaise, "That's right. Let it out."
XXXXX
August 26th, 1997
Narcissa Malfoy seldom felt guilty for her role in helping the Dark Lord. She did believe in Pureblood Superiority. But then something like this happened. The story in the Prophet had been horrific. A child losing both of his parents. A teenage girl tortured and left babbling in the middle of the street. What had happened to the poor Delacour girl. Narcissa suddenly felt as if she was on the wrong side of things.
And the worst part was that the attack was essentially a failure. It had been repulsed so easily! So many of Clarise's men taken into captivity or killed. Almost forty of her men no longer able to serve. The entire cause looked rather grim at the moment. Oh sure, they'd killed a few mudbloods and muggles, but it didn't matter. Because the whole thing had just hardened everyone's resolve.
As she sat at the table looking across at Snape. Draco hadn't said much about the raid, but he and Snape had been arguing about something. Snape was clearly the Dark Lord's favourite right now. Draco had been with the raid as well. He'd killed those two muggle parents at least. How had she raised him so wrong that he could do that and look so confident.
"Our losses were grave," said Clarise, "But I have just recently come to an agreement with some of my counterparts from Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece. We will soon be able to hire men from those countries. For cheap. Or for free if we can get them enough spoils."
"Have we made any progress on taking the Ministry?" asked the Dark Lord.
"I have made progress, my Lord," said Nott, who was now standing, "I have found a new agent. One who will soon return to the highest levels of power within the Ministry."
"Who is it?" asked Rookwood, sneering.
Nott waved his wand, and a woman entered. A very toad-like woman.
"I trust we all remember Dolores Umbridge?" said Nott.
Narcissa's blood went cold.
Author's Note: So this is going to be a long one.
Fleur wasn't intended to die in this chapter (or at all) until I was close to finished writing chapter 49. Originally I was intending to kill Max Case. I decided against this because A. I had just introduced Max, so no one would care that much about him and B. This would undermine the fact that Harry had largely 'fixed' Slytherin. Amy as a character basically doesn't appear again, but it was important that the story not imply that somehow she gets punished for being sorted into Slytherin. Harry had made Slytherin safe for muggleborns and any plot point that undercut this had to go.
At the same time, Fleur wasn't originally supposed to be in chapter 50. Ginny was originally supposed to move into Potter Manor when she left the Burrow, not Shell Cottage. But Chapter 49 was originally supposed to have her at odds with her mother, but instead Molly took Ginny's side, which led to Molly sending Ginny to live at Shell Cottage. Which led to Fleur bringing them to Diagon.
I still needed someone to die, but it had to be someone significant, but who I wouldn't need later. This left me with three options of approximately similar importance: Sirius, Fleur and Seamus. Seamus was immediately out, because I had long ago decided I wasn't going to fall prey to the "kill your gays" trope. Without going into detail, there are reasons that I am very reluctant to kill Sirius at this point in the story. So Sirius got to teach Transfiguration, but Fleur really got the short end of the stick.
The reason I needed to kill someone important is that I needed Harry to be at odds with Fudge again. The whole end of the story needs Harry to be so raw that he couldn't contain his anger at Fudge's political apathy anymore. This was only necessary because Harry had sort of made up with Fudge in fifth year, something that was only able to happen because I didn't kill Sirius in third year. It's crazy, you make one change in a story and it affects so much in terms of where your story can go.
I actually have a lot more to say about my fanfic writing going forward from here, but I don't want this to go on much longer. So I will be posting a topic on my forum about my publishing schedule and my upcoming fics.
Next Time: Seventh Year begins, and Draco shows how well he knows Harry. Also, the Order grows a spine.