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Chapter 12 An Enemy in the Camp
Hermione lay awake, her head resting on Fleur's shoulder, as her exhausted friend slept on. It was, by her guess, mid afternoon but after their eventful night she was grateful for the opportunity to let Fleur rest and have some quiet thinking time for herself. She considered her situation, she was very comfortable lying where she was, Fleur was holding her in her sleep and Hermione could not imagine a safer place in the entire world. She looked up at Fleur, examining her face, marvelling at her stunning features, her beautiful blonde locks and sighed. Bill was a lucky man. Hermione quietly sighed as she absent mindedly stroked Fleur's face very gently and imagined staying with her friend forever. Safe in these arms. Hermione shook off the thought, it was nonsense, eventually Fleur would go back to Bill and then she would be on her own again. Tears sprang to her eyes, she missed Harry, for all his faults, his arrogance and chivalry, his determination to get himself killed to fulfil some prophecy her had missed the point. He was still leaving them all with no idea how to kill Vodemort. "Get the snake and then it's just him." His voice echoed through her head as though he had thought she had forgotten his instructions. "Oh Harry." She whispered longing for her brother to somehow be here. He would probably beat Ron for what he had done to her, but at least they would be together.
The thought cast Hermione's mind back to the Manor, she was in the cellar, though it had drastically changed since Ron and Harry had been in it. She was pretending to be passed out on the floor, but she could hear voices in by the stairs discussing Harry. Hermione had vowed she would never give up her friend, not that she needed to worry for she had no idea where he was, he left her there at the mercy of Bellatrix Lestrange. She focused on the memory, she was breathing slowly, as you would were you asleep, she knew there was something important about this memory, her body ached, the cut on her arm had been opened and reopened but more than that she was a bruised everywhere. She couldn't open her left eye it was swollen so badly, her lips were parched and splitting from violence and dehydration. She was trying to listen to what was being said over by the door, "Bloody hell Bellatrix!" an exclamation came, followed by footsteps towards her, which stopped before they reached her. Hermione tried to brace herself for another beating, "Don't be foolish blood traitor, leave here before she wakes up and blows your cover, idiot boy!" she recognised Bellatrix's voice as she spat the words at the owner of the footsteps. They turned and walked away from her, "give me another week then I will be done with her then you and boy-wonder can storm the Manor and rescue her in true order style." Bellatrix informed him.
Hermione sat straight up in bed, gasping. She took great gulps of air but still felt as though she was suffocating. No! It couldn't have been I am remembering it wrong! She thought to herself and she was vaguely aware of Fleur sitting up and rubbing her back, but she pulled away from her. Hermione stumbled across the room, tears streaming down her face, pacing desperately trying to find a logical explanation for what she remembered. There was not one. She knew deep in her heart that this was true, that she was going along with Ron until she could tell Harry what was happening, she knew that this was the another betrayal that Ron had committed that made the Lavender situation hurt all the more. Hermione screamed "Nooooooo!" a fury in her voice that she had never heard herself muster up before. She balled her fists and pounded them against her legs as she screamed again. This time there were no words for she couldn't verbalise the raw emotion that she was feeling as anger pounded through her and her tears fell freely from her face.
It wasn't just that she had been betrayed by him; it was that he had trusted Ron. Harry made is decision to go to the forest based on the guidance that she and Ron had given him. Ron had all the time she was in the Manor to sway his thoughts, to advise him wrongly. Hermione then use her logic to conclude that because of this, because she had not warned Harry then clearly he was dead because of her. She sank to the floor, vaguely aware that Fleur was standing next to her talking, though the tears of betrayal drowned out all other sounds and she could not hear what Fleur was saying. She sat there sobbing, rocking and now pounding her fists into the floor.
Fleur was now scared. She had not seen Hermione so angry before, but this was rage and devastation. She had tried talking to her friend, usually the sound of her voice soother her, but it seemed that this time it had not even registered with her. She sank to her knees, reached out and grabbed Hermione's hands, she used this grip to pull Hermione into her lap and she held on to her for dear life as sobs racked her young friend's body. She rocked her and made soothing sounds hoping that she would stop soon as she had done some damage to her hands and Fleur was afraid to let her go in case she resumed her pounding on the floor. So instead they sat like that for a while, Fleur rocked her and hummed a lullaby that her Maman used to sing to her to soothe her and eventually Hermione went limp. It was an improvement but Fleur couldn't help but feel uneasy about it. She slowly released her friend's arms, prepared to grab them again if she looked like she was going to hurt herself. When Hermione made no move to hurt herself, Fleur supported her weight but slipped out from beside her, standing, then helping Hermione to her feet and bringing her over to the bed.
Hermione sat on the edge of the bed where Fleur had led her and she stared at the floor. Before Fleur could say or do anything there was a nervous knock on the door. Hermione did not even register it; Fleur opened the door to see a worried Ginny. "Is everything alright?" the young redhead asked. Fleur just shook her head, "Will you sit wiz 'er while I go to get ze' healing potions?" Fleur asked and Ginny nodded, making her way into the room and kneeling in front of Hermione. Fleur rushed downstairs to the kitchen and began raking through the cupboards.
Ginny smiled up at Hermione who was seemingly trying to pull herself together, "I'm sorry" the brunette whispered to her friend "just lost my temper", she explained as her hands shook and tears dripped from her face. Ginny winced as she looked at Hermione's scraped and swollen hands, "You're not kidding Hermione, you sure there isn't any Weasley blood in you? " Ginny asked as she grabbed a towel and knelt back down gently helping Hermione laid her hands on the towel. Hermione smiled at her friend, "Thanks Gin, it's good to see you" Hermione told her, it truly seemed like it had been years since she had seen her. Ginny smiled and looked up at Hermione, "You look like shit Hermione." She told her but she was grinning. Hermione giggled, "Thanks Gin and I was worried I would look how I felt!"
Fleur stood leaning against the door jam and smiled, her heart warmed at the sound of Hermione giggling. She pushed off from the door jam and walked around the side of the bed, "Well 'Ermione, we will get zis cleaned up and zen I am going to make some coffee!" Fleur told Hermione, more to keep the conversation going than anything else. Ginny took this as her cue and pushed to her feet, "Kreacher and I will make breakfast, it's almost 2 in the afternoon the pair of you must be starving!" Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Ginny held her hand up, "I don't want to hear it Granger, Mum's already going to go mental about me bringing you pair here I don't want to make it worse by her finding out that I'm not feeding you properly!" and with that Ginny left the room before Hermione could argue any further.
Fleur cast 'episkey' on Hermione's hands then put some droplets of dittany on the remaining scrapes. Hermione flexed her hands into fists then stretched her fingers out again, "Thank you Fleur." Fleur smiled and put the dittany back in the tin she had carried it up in and set the tin aside. She swept the hair from Hermione's face, but chose not to push Hermione, instead just sat there with her hands held in her own. Hermione stared into Fleur's eyes, she was waiting for Fleur to ask her what had caused her to react in such a way but the question was never asked, Fleur always seemed to know when to ask and when to stay silent. Hermione liked that about Fleur, it was like she could read her, it made it easy for her to trust her.
"Ron is a spy." Hermione said the phrase sounded cold and emotionless cold and emotionless as she said it, she had meant it to. Hermione had to separate herself from the emotion of it, otherwise it would destroy her. Fleur paled as she comprehended what Hermione was telling her. "I forgot." Hermione whispered and this snapped Fleur's attention back to Hermione, "Ma Petite what did you forget?" she asked Hermione, but the brunette just shook her head as yet more tears spilled from her eyes. Hermione reached down and pulled Fleur's wand from the French witch's sleeve and handed it to her. Fleur knew what Hermione meant by the motion and cast 'legilmens' with a flourish of her wand and she was inside Hermione's mind. She stepped up to the walls that Hermione had raised and they disappeared before her. Fleur understood that Hermione was leading her so she simply waited to see what it was that Hermione wanted her to see. The surroundings formed around her and she could not tell where she was other than to say that she was in a cellar and Hermione was laying on the floor, passed out. Fleur, who had learned to watch people's memories from her Grandmother's teaching's of the Veela way, knew that it would be pointless to rush to Hermione's side, but still had to fight the urge to go to her hurt friend. Instead she stood and watched the scene play out becoming more and more disgusted and enraged with each passing moment. When Bellatrix and Ron walked away from Hermione, Fleur pulled herself out of the memory and began to pace, struggling to keep her own temper.
Hermione anxiously watched Fleur pace as her heart pounded in her chest, telling her to run. She worked very hard to remain sitting on the edge of the bed, this was Fleur, and she trusted Fleur. "Do you think that I am remembering it wrong?" Hermione asked, no longer able to bare the silence. Fleur turned to look at Hermione; tears were streaming down her face "Non. I think that zere is nozing wrong wiz zis memory," Fleur answered in a dangerous tone that made the hairs stand on the back of Hermione's neck. Hermione stuffed the feelings of fear down; she was made of sterner stuff than this! She kept telling herself, 'Fleur would never hurt me, she is my friend and I trust her.' She repeated the phrase over and over in her mind as she tentatively stepped towards Fleur, "I...I am sorry Fleur," Hermione said, her voice shaking so badly that it came out as a whisper.
Hermione's apology pulled Fleur out of her rage and she turned to her friend who was standing feet from her and examined her. Hermione was scared, it was clear in her voice, but also she was shaking and had still not regained any colour in her face. 'Merde, I 'ave scared 'er' Fleur scolded herself and she took a deep breath wiping her face as she did so. "Zere is nozing for you to apologise for 'Ermione. I am not angry wiz you. Et is I 'oo should apologise to you." Fleur told her friend and she watched her visibly relax as she stepped towards her. Hermione took Fleur's face in her hands wiping the spilling tears away with her thumbs, "Fleur you don't have to apologise! I...I can thank you enough for what you have done for me. None of this is your fault, in fact were it not for you I would likely be laying dead at Hogwarts. You have been a sort of guardian of me, you healed me you believed me when I thought I was losing my mind, you protect me when you could be getting on with your life." Hermione was holding Fleur's face so that she would not break eye contact with the blonde; she wanted to be sure that she was getting through to her. "You have been a better friend than anyone can ever expect, put up with a lot more than I could ever have dreamed of." Hermione realized in that moment that she loved Fleur. She couldn't label the warmth inside her, the feeling of safety any clearer than love, other than she knew it was different to the love that she felt for Ginny or Harry.
As they stood there looking into each other's eyes, the two witches started to gravitate towards each other as though an invisible force were pushing them together. Fleur licked her lips and tried to tell herself to stop, that kissing Hermione would ruin everything, would destroy the trust that she had built up in her, but she could not fight it. Hermione thought she had actually gone crazy, she was going to kiss Fleur out of some misplaced feelings of gratitude for her taking care of her, Fleur is going to be horrified and then she was going to be on her own. They were just centimetres apart, both witches had closed their eyes and they were just about to close the gap between them when Ginny yelled "COME ON YOU TWO, BREAKFAST!"
Hermione released Fleur's face and took a step back as Fleur's eyes shot open. Fleur leaned forward and pulled Hermione into a hug kissing her head and wishing she had kissed her lips. Hermione sighed; she would have to thank Ginny later for stopping her from making a huge mistake. Hermione didn't think she could bare to lose Fleur, if that meant that she had to curb her emotions and maintain the friendship that she had built up with her then she would redouble her efforts to do so. "Zank you 'Ermione. You are a good friend." Fleur told her as she released Hermione from the hug and turned to the dresser to grab her jeans and pull them on. Hermione smiled at the bitter irony and replied, "Right back at you Fleur, I don't know what I would have done without you," she said and the sadness in her voice was not missed by Fleur. The blonde pulled her hair into a pony tail as she handed Hermione some clean clothes, "You won't 'ave to be wizout me 'Ermione. I will stay wiz you as long as you want." She flashed a smile at her young friend and stepped out of the room to the top of the stairs. Fleur braced herself on the banister and took a deep breath, fighting to control the plethora of emotions that were swirling within her. Hermione pulled the varsity sweatshirt on her; the last thing she wanted was Ginny nagging her about how thin she was. Hermione smiled at what Fleur had just said, 'want' she said she would stay as long as Hermione wanted, not needed.
Ginny smiled as her two guests entered the kitchen, she got up and grabbed the coffee pot and poured Fleur a cup, then started to make toast as Kreacher placed bacon and eggs in front of everyone. Moments later the three witches were sitting around the kitchen table in silence as they tucked into breakfast. Fleur subtly placed a hand on Hermione's arm to stop her from making herself sick from eating too quickly, in response Hermione placed her fork down and poured herself a glass of milk instead. "Ginny, you 'ave done great zings wiz ze place." Fleur remarked conversationally, the red head looked at her and smiled, "The twins helped me, mums been threatening to come over and spruce the place up since she found out that Harry had changed his will. When you three went missing, Fred, George and I spent a lot of time here with not much to do. Harry had always said I was welcome her so we didn't think he would have minded."
Hermione had stopped drinking her milk and was staring at Ginny. She looked around the kitchen as though she was appraising the house, she could pick out some of the changes that were made from memory but what Ginny was talking about was months worth of work. She thought back to the horcrux hunt, they had indeed spent months in the tent after they left here but still it made her wonder. "How long was I gone for, do you know?" she asked her two friends. Ginny dropped her eyes to the remains of her eggs and started moving them around her plate choosing to let Fleur field this one. Fleur set her coffee down on the table and turned to Hermione, "How long do you zink you were in the Manor?" Hermione considered the question, she knew it was more than a week, it certainly had felt like forever but she knew that was just her mind playing tricks with her. She replied, "Maybe two weeks?" Ginny did not look up from her plate, Fleur remained silent, Hermione's eyes widened, "longer?" she asked. Ginny couldn't take it anymore, this thing whatever it was that had taken the golden trio away from her had destroyed them, Harry, and the love of her life was gone. Her brother Ron had shown his true colours as a coward and a cheat and Hermione, well she was not kidding earlier when she had told her she looked like shit. She got up and carried her plate to the sink, unable to look at Hermione.
"Oui, it was longer, twenty seven days I believe." Fleur said in a soft gentle voice, Hermione let the information sink in. She thought she would be angrier or upset or something but she was just numb. She found that even though something in her mind pushed her to ask the question she was actually not bothered one way or the other about the length of time, rather she felt it accounted for some of the memories she had that had previously not made any sense. Hermione scooped a forkful of eggs into her mouth. Fleur raised an eyebrow in Ginny's direction, the red head in turn shrugged back at Fleur. Hermione did not miss the look between them, "Well it explains some things that's all. Gin can we use the library today?" she asked, changing the subject. Ginny nodded in response and walked back over to the table, "Sure, what are we researching?" she asked. Fleur and Hermione replied at the same time, "Legilimency" was Fleur's answer. It was Hermione's turn to raise an eyebrow as her reply had been different with "Horcruxes."
Ginny considered the two witches before her and just laughed, "Right well a team divided huh? I have no idea what a horcrux is but you are both welcome to use the library for whatever you want. Is there some way that I can help that is not making the tea, I am at kind of a loose end here now that I have whisked you away from the Mum and the boys?" Ginny said and there was a hint of something in her voice, sorrow? Longing maybe? Hermione smiled at her friend, she knew that she just wanted to be useful and research was not her strong point, neither was making the tea for that matter. Fleur grabbed her coffee and took a sip, as Hermione answered, "Gin, I want to use this as a base of operations, so can you go over the wards? Make sure there are no gaps, loopholes, etc? We will also need an escape plan in case we get found." Ginny was nodding at the instructions, happy to finally be of use. "Who has access to this place?" Hermione asked the red head. Ginny grinned, "No one, the Floo's are locked down, the front door will only open for me and Kreacher is the only one who can apparate in and out. Fred and George put in some extra security measures when they found out I was sneaking off here to be alone." Hermione smiled, "Ok so let's assume that the twins can get in then. What about Ron?" she asked casually. Ginny thought nothing of the question; it was not unusual since he had hurt her so badly she wanted to make sure that he couldn't get in to hurt her again. Ginny shook her head, "even if he came with the twins he wouldn't be able to get in without my permission." She told her friend reassuringly.
Hermione wondered whether she should tell her friend the truth about her brother betraying the Order, she wondered if Ginny would believe her. Hermione bit her lip as she considered and looked at Fleur. As though she could read her mind she leaned forward and took another sip of her coffee, "Ginny, I 'ave no evidence to show you, but I suspect zat Ronald is a spy." Ginny looked at Fleur in disbelief, "Come on Fleur, he is a git for what he did to Hermione but a spy? Piss off; he hasn't got the brains for it." As she said it she glanced from Fleur to Hermione and she could tell that they both believed that Ron was working for You-Know-Who. "Why would he do that? Why would you think that?" her voice was wavering as was her conviction the more she thought about it. Hermione took a deep breath, "Why would he? I don't know, why would he leave me at the Manor for 27 days? I kept telling myself he would be right back that he and Harry were coming for me. Ginny I can't prove it, I am not a hundred percent sure that it is not another one of Bellatrix's mind games. All I can tell you is I was lying on the floor of the cellar bloodied and beaten pretending to be passed out and I saw him and heard him speaking with her." Hermione swallowed tears down as she said it and held Ginny's gaze trying to convince her that she was not completely mental.
"I don't know if I believe it, but he is a right foul git for leaving you there so I will deny him access for now. I won't believe he is a traitor until I see some solid proof, does that sound fair?" Ginny asked the two witches, Fleur nodded. Hermione looked at her friend, "It is more than fair Ginny, I wouldn't expect you to just believe it, after all the same could be said about me, staying at the Manor for twenty seven days and coming out alive and relatively sane? Sounds suspicious to me." Hermione smiled as she said it but she hoped that it was enough to reassure her friend. Ginny nodded, "Yeah well you just need to look at you to see you went through hell in there; I promise we are going to get that bitch for what she did to you!" Ginny told her, changing the subject, but she already knew that the seed of doubt had been planted; she was going over all Ron's odd behaviour the last few weeks in her head.
Fleur poured herself a fresh cup of coffee and headed up to the library with Hermione while Ginny set about creating escape plans and fortifying the house with Kreacher. Hermione was sitting at the desk pouring over several books, focusing on the dark magic that was horcruxes, she was learning how to make them so that she could truly understand them, and thus have a better chance at destroying the main one now that she no longer had the Sword of Gryffindor. Fleur had several texts opened up as she sat on the couch making notes about legilimency hoping to find the answer as to why Bellatrix had such easy access to Hermione's mind, and hoping to find a way to stop her.
They had been at it for a while when Fleur read something that sent a chill down her spine. She looked over to Hermione, who was focused on the book she was reading. Fleur paled, she got up and examined the bookshelf pulling out the book that held the Black family records. She had known it would be there, all pureblood families had one. The book was similar to the tapestry that hung on the wall in the drawing room, only this one is magically updated won't allow entries to be removed. Fleur flicked through the pages until she reached the recent generations, she found Andromeda, married to Theodore, Mother of Nymphadora. She continued to leaf through the pages paying close attention to the pages, until she found what she had dreaded, "Merde!" she exclaimed and Hermione looked up. "What did you find?" she asked curiously as she studied her friend's expression. Fleur considered closing the book and putting it back on the shelf, hiding this terrible piece of news from Hermione, as soon as she thought it however she dismissed it. "Come, sit and I will show you why Bellatrix can access your mind so easily." Fleur said.
Hermione left her desk covered in books and sat on the couch, bracing herself for what was undoubtedly news that was going to rock her world. Fleur picked up her notes and took one of Hermione's hands in her own. "Zere is a spell, very dark magic, zat opens a link between two minds, et is a very long and involved ritual, taking many days." Fleur began to explain, Hermione was already ahead of her reading through one of the chapters of an open book, prompted by some notes that she had read on Fleur's notebook. "Well it can't be this spell, it says you need to share common blood," as Hermione said it she turned to Fleur who was holding another book out to her, Hermione flipped it closed to look at the title, holding her finger inside it to mark the page. She read the title and scowled then reopened the book where her finger was and stared at the page. "Merlin's balls!" Hermione cried out in disbelief. Fleur squeezed her hand, "Did you 'ave any idea..." she started to ask but Hermione cut her off, "what? That Sirius Black fucked my mother? Not a fucking clue!"