Hi, so here is the second part of my second update and i fully expect there to be a third coming after! So i hope you enjoy this first part of a two part handler towards the part of the story that we have all been waiting for.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mind, just the story and anything in French is my own and in italics, some cannon divergence as always .

Also i checked, Bill and Fleur are listed as having non corporal patronus's so i took a bit of liberty with that scene.

Please Read and Review.

Enjoy.

Swan Song

Chapter 9-Our Little World.

It's the beginning of May and the world is on the brink of collapse. Bill gets the call to fight, and Fleur finds her life changed forever. Part One of a Two Part handler. Any italics are words spoken in French.

It had been months she had sent that letter and still no reply. Fleur would not admit it to anyone other than herself but it stung, no it really hurt. She grew bigger, the baby inside her grew bigger, she went on maternity leave as the months got hotter and the muggle tourists and the wizarding refugees continued to flee to France to enjoy the sun, the sights and the freedoms that came with being out of England.

The news was getting dire. Fleur who was taking both the French Wizarding newspaper and the British one knew enough to know that soon Voldemort would come for the world. Did not all tyrants desire world domination? There had been no sightings of Harry which Fleur took to mean that he was still alive. But the farcical ministry that was running Britain had now demanded that other countries take the same approach in their stamping out of the Muggleborns and had 'offered' to teach the same methods to various governments. It was being considered nothing short of the prelude to the invasion and her own council had very firmly refused as had most of the other European ministries and the American Magical Congress had also firmly turned down any intervention by the Death Eaters and their puppet Minister (and there was a form of government that Fleur could not get her brain around) but Fleur knew it was only a matter of time before they wanted to stretch their legs and go hunting.

And France was separated only by the English Channel.

Soon she knew it would all come to a head. Both the Order and the Death Eaters would come for the climatic battle and Fleur one day when the sun was shining and she was sweating, feeling bloated and utterly useless knew that if it was not for this baby she would go herself and fight for the better world that she and Bill had once been prepared to sacrifice all for.

But she was not going to do that and as the months dragged on by with no letter she found that she could no longer make excuses. Bill had decided not to be a part of his child's life and Fleur would have to accept that and move on.

But it hurt. Oh how it hurt. She had dared not let herself hope for any feelings for herself to be returned but she had hoped that Bill would want their baby. Or at the very least his family would. Indeed their reaction was almost surprising the more she thought about it. Granted she had known that Molly, Ginny, Hermione, all the Weasley women and the women connected with that family had hated her, for her beauty, for her Frenchness, for her very self, much in the same way the Weasley boys had all goggled at her. She had chalked it down to jealously on the half of Hermione (who had clearly been pining after Ron) and Ginny (who was used to being the only girl and did not take too kindly to her favourite brother turning his attention elsewhere) and she had chalked Molly's behaviour as hard as it was to take down to the fact that she was losing her firstborn to another woman. It had been hard to take and at times she'd found herself digging deep and gripping onto her temper but she had never doubted the woman's love for her family.

Which despite it all this baby was. Whatever Molly Weasley had thought of her, this baby was Bill's too and her first grandchild. Surely Molly would want to know her first grandchild? Surely Arthur would? Surely someone in that family had to care?

But it appeared not and Fleur felt the loss keenly.

She did not tell anyone. Her father who was worried deeply about the outside world encroaching on their country and his temper was at a tinderbox, the last thing she needed was him writing or even using the floo to tell the Weasley's that he thought his daughter was better off without him. Gabby was still too young to grasp the concept of what it all meant, she was too busy gushing about how she was going to be an aunt to all her friends and her mother…

Well…let's just say that Fleur did not completely trust her mother in this regard. She was acting too…too calm. Far, far too calm. And while serenity was her mother's preferred method of getting her venom across Fleur had been expecting some kind of temper, some kind of reaction.

And again nothing.

And was it just her or was her mother struggling to meet her eyes whenever Bill was mentioned?

As the days wore on she double checked she had everything, there had been a baby blanket of the softest brown wool and plush velvet for the baby from Gabby who had proudly told her that she had saved up to get it and had chosen brown in case the baby was a boy—'but I think it will be a girl Fleur, a beautiful baby girl and I will be the best aunt to her that I can be. Better than Bill's sister.'

She also had several little onesies for the baby from her parents some of which had been handmade, some of which had been bought, they clearly had not spared any expense when it came to their first grandchild and despite it all Fleur loved them for it because they could have so easily turned their backs. Only now she was beginning to realise just how easy that seemed to be for people.

She had her bag ready, her crib ready, the stuffed animals ready. She was going to spend the first two weeks after the baby's birth at her parents house and then she would go back to her own, she had taken the standard maternity leave and her due date was scheduled for the second week of May. It should all go according to plan.

So naturally it all went to shit on the first day of May when in the early hours of the morning she was awoken by a sharp pain.

She breathed in again waiting, she'd been having sharper kicks and her mama had taught her that sometimes the baby liked to prepare for his or hers arrival by sending such sharp pains. Fleur waited and then when she felt nothing she chalked it down to heartburn and then lay back down. It was hot but she found she was cold and she pulled the covers up around her felt her eyes go heavy.

It was two hours later when she felt the constant pressure to go to the bathroom. She stood up and then she felt it.

Water.

It soaked the sheets and the small pyjama shorts that she was in and she staggered feeling slightly lightheaded. She waved her wand and the sheets began to change immediately and the clothes, the loose leggings and jumper she had planned to wear to the hospital came flying towards her.

She waved her wand and thought of the baby, of a healthy baby in her arms as the Patronus formed. She had never been able to produce one that looked like an animal before, it had mostly just been white mist. It had amazed her that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Arthur, Lupin and Tonks as well as many more of the Order had been able to conjure one. Bill had never been able to do so and Fleur and he had laughed about it one date night when they had learnt that it tied into your emotions, your connections and that it could change when you found the person that you knew you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. She had never expected that to happen though she had long ago learnt the spell that would allow the Patronus's to communicate.

She was surprised therefore to see an animal appear. It was a cat, a small one and though pearly white Fleur thought in the darkness of her house, for a split second she could see a blue tinge to it.

She had remembered once a friend of hers from school owning a blue cat. What were they called, Russian something?

As she was thinking this she felt a sharp pain take her and she bent over wincing. The baby it seemed did not appreciate the delay and Fleur moaning as another pain hit her thought that it be best she get to a hospital and get a hold of the good painkillers.

Fast.

She waved her wand once and the Patronus and the message it carried went (she hoped) to her mama and papa's house while she hobbled to the floo and tried to remember to breathe as the pain gripped her.

Oh yes, she needed the good magical drugs.

And soon.

They had gone as early as the morning and by lunchtime his little brother and his two best friends were all over the Wizarding news as having done what the majority of the country (Bill included) would have thought was impossible.

They had broken into Gringotts and escaped with something.

Oh and on the back of a dragon to boot.

You really couldn't make shit like this up Bill thought.

He couldn't help but smile even though he knew that this had just put Wizarding and Goblin relationships in the magical community back fifty years. The goblins were still techy about the last time someone had entered a vault and that had been emptied the very same day with nothing taken. The fact that it was widely suspected that one of their own was involved did not help matters either. All in all when this was over Bill did not relish the thought of going back into work and attempting to salvage some kind of a relationship with the goblins that he had known for most of his working career who would demand some form of punishment for what they considered going into their homes and peeing on the carpet.

Bill had known they were going to do something mad with Griphook but he had never known it was this mad. You didn't usually get many renegade goblins who wanted to break into the bank and steal things. Most of them that Bill knew would put down their lives to keep the treasures they guarded safe.

He had no idea what they stole but Bill hoped that it was something that would help them defeat, You-Know-Who. Giving the goblins a small taste of the victory (no matter how galling he knew that would be for most of the wizarding world) might go a long way in smoothing things over.

But there was a sense now that the war had to come to a close. They had been battling this for too long and it was taking it's toll in a way that Bill had never thought it would. Physically he knew he could take on whatever came his way but mentally he felt drained. Like he had to go and lie down and never get up.

He carefully did not think about why this was, or any plans for the future that he might have once the war was over. Right now he was living it day by day, hour by hour, unsure weather or not he was going to see the next day.

Bill found for the first time he understood what he could remember of his parents during the first conflict. He remembered little being only ten or so when the war had ended but he remembered his uncles coming to visit. Sometimes there would be cuts on their faces and hands, one time Uncle Gideon had turned up in the middle of the night bleeding from his shoulder and his father had told Bill with a sharp tone to get to bed immediately. He remembered his uncles turning up sometimes and telling stories about how they were part of a secret society dedicated to fighting for a free and fair world. His mother had told Fabien once to shut up, that careless talk cost lives but his uncle had shrugged.

"Oh he knows who we are Molly" he said casually. "Trust me, he knows."

As the war had carried on their visits had decreased somewhat and then Bill had been out in the garden with Percy and Charlie one day, Percy reading and he and Charlie pretending to be dragons (their parents had not liked them on broomsticks in those days without one of them there) when Bill had seen two people come in the distance and had seen Albus Dumbledore and a man who later he would realise was James Potter come to the front door of their house where their father had greeted them wand in hand to their mother that her brothers were dead. Bill could remember it even now, the screaming and the shouting and the fact that he'd had to keep Charlie and Percy away from the house until their father his face drawn with grief had, had to explain it to them what had happened and what it had meant.

Bill had thought that that had been the worst of it, and then it had been over and he had gone to Hogwarts with the whole world breathing a little tentatively but with relief and his first year class knowing people who had lost loved ones but safe and secure in the knowledge that when they went home for Christmas their families would be together.

He found in the dark night as he sat in front of the fire, that he understood why his mother and father had balked at the idea of them joining the Order. For Bill, Charlie and even the twins it had been fairly straightforward as soon as they became of age. Ron had been in the thick of it since he was eleven and Ginny…well…Ginny was tougher than the rest of them combined, even though the idea of Bellatrix Lestrange and his little sister locked in combat made Bill's stomach heave in a way that he knew was not normal.

The dark days had been broken up by a bit of news he supposed. Tonks had finally given birth and her baby boy, named after his grandfather and his father had taken the years off Remus in a way that even Bill had not imagined. But in truth there could not be a man that was more deserving of the title of father. Remus had lost his friends, his family, and had been shunned for most of his life on the outskirts of society because of a bite on his left shoulder. If anyone deserved a happy ending and long life of peace and acceptance it was Remus.

And now he had it.

And Bill could not help but be happy for him.

He downed his one glass of firewhiskey and was just contemplating getting another when a Patronus appeared. For a second and only a second (and only because he was thinking of her if he was being honest with himself for the first time since last year) he thought it was Fleur. But it wasn't, it was the weasel that took the shape of his father's voice and uttered the words Bill had both been longing and dreading to hear.

"It's happening, he's on his way to Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, Hermione and your other brothers and sisters are there, sent word to Charlie, don't know about Percy, but get to the school. It is happening, and it's happening tonight, we have to defend the castle. Apparate into Aberforth's pub and he'll tell you what to do"

And then it was gone, and Bill stood there in his little cottage the fire doused.

It was time.

It was war.

And there is part one of the two part handler, the second part should be coming soon, as always let me know what you think.

Next Chapter-Part Two of the Three Part Handler-Bill goes to fight (and the worse happens) people die. Fleur gives birth as news begins to trickle in about the upcoming battle in England.