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Chapter 17 Is it Bacon Day?
Hermione awoke the next morning with Fleur still laying on her, she was stiff from not having moved position all night but was quite happy with the stiffness as it not only meant that she had had a good night's rest but Fleur had as well. Hermione hoped that whatever internal battle Fleur's emotions seemed to be waging had also taken the opportunity to rest.
Fleur groaned and leaned into Hermione as she started to wake. Hermione smiled at the action and instinctually reached out and rubbed Fleur's arm. Much to Hermione's surprise Fleur leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her hand, lingering for just a moment longer than necessarily. Hermione smiled in wonder, for just a moment she could almost believe that they were two lovers waking up, ready to face the day's challenges together.
Fleur lifted her head up and sniffed the air, "Do I smell bacon?" she asked. Hermione inhaled herself and also detected the delicious scent of bacon in the air.
"Yes, I think you do." She told Fleur and as though to emphasise the face that some amazing person was cooking bacon in the house Hermione's stomach let out an empty rumble. Fleur giggled at the sound coming from Hermione's stomach and turned to look up at her, "I zink zat you are 'ungry," covering her mouth with her hand she stifled a giggle at the state of Hermione's wild hair.
A hand shot up to her hair as the brunette tried desperately to make the unruly mess sit in any sort of order. Fleur reached out and stopped her hand from messing with her hair, "Leave et, et looks fabulous!" she told her friend jokingly as she got out of the bed and rummaged around the room looking for some clothes to put on, thinking that it would be incredibly rude to present herself to breakfast in a t-shirt and pants.
"Yes well your hair also looks perfect this morning," Hermione said with a scowl, unable to tear her eyes away from Fleur's perfectly toned legs. The second she realised that she was staring she blushed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed to hide it. Fleur pulled a pair of sweat pants on, not caring less about her appearance, nothing was coming between her and her bacon. She grabbed a smaller pair and tossed them in Hermione's direction.
"I do not zink zat Luna would be able to tear 'er eyes off of you if you went downstairs in zose tiny shorts" Fleur told her friend. She cringed as she said it, not sure how the younger witch would take the joke.
Hermione smiled but pulled the sweat pants on, "Well I should hardly think she would notice what with my hair being so fabulous this morning." She quipped back. Fleur smiled as well, glad that Hermione had not taken offence at the joke. She did not however think that it would Luna who would be unable to take their eyes off of Hermione, that was a problem that she herself tended to have more and more. Fleur shook her head almost imperceptibly internally telling herself to get her mind out of the gutter – what was wrong with her this morning. She stretched tentatively trying to get the stiffness out of her body and was pleasantly surprised to note that she did not even feel a twinge from where the stab wound had been in her tummy, she would need to thank Luna for her excellent healing skills. Perhaps the talented witch would teach her some of the spells.
Hermione got off the bed and started rummaging through the dresser drawers looking for anything with sleeves to hide the hideous scars on her arm, she successfully found a grey sweatshirt. Turning her back to Fleur she pulled off the t-shirt that she was wearing wincing as she stretched out her arm, still feeling pain and stiffness in her shoulder.
Fleur turned at the sound of Hermione's sharp intake of breath and her eyes met the battlefield of scars that was Hermione's bare back. She couldn't not look, every time she saw the scars she felt a pang of guilt at not being able to protect Hermione from the torture she endured to get those scars. Despite knowing that this was ridiculous, that there was nothing she could have done to locate and rescue Hermione from Malfoy Manor, she still felt that more should have been done. Fleur cursed under her breath and wished that she had questioned (and perhaps punched) Ron sooner, at least then she might have at least been able to prevent some of the scars from being made.
"Ze shoulder et still 'urts?" Fleur asked trying to hide the plethora of emotions that had prompted her to ask the question. Hermione struggled to pull the sweatshirt onto her arms but could not bring her arm up high enough to put it on properly. Fleur walked over to her and from behind helped her friend pull the jumper on.
"It is more stiff than sore." Hermione said in the same small voice she used when she was ashamed or afraid.
Fleur stepped around her and gently used a finger to raise the young witch's gaze to meet her own. She smiled at Hermione, "When I was a child I was a gymnast, often my joints would be sore after a practice or a display. My mozzer taught me a special salve that she would rub on the joint and et would loosen the joint up. I am sure zat ze ingredients are in ze garden I would like to make some for you after breakfast." She told her smiling reassuringly as she did so.
Unable to find words Hermione nodded her head in agreement. She could not believe that Fleur would go to such lengths just to improve her comfort, but then she realised that this was part of the reason she loved Fleur, she was so open, honest and caring but conversely she would not allow anyone to take advantage of her either, that was her nature and these were just a handful of reasons Hermione loved Fleur.
Fleur grabbed the two almost full coffee cups by the handle in one hand, careful not to spill the cold contents and then with her free hand she grabbed one of Hermione's hands leading her out of the room. "Come 'Ermione, bacon awaits us!" Fleur said excitedly as she pulled Hermione down the stairs. Hermione giggled to herself and thought that she might just have found something that Fleur enjoyed more than coffee: bacon! Hermione could not quite understand how one person could be so excited about anything, let alone food but as she was hungry she did not argue with the blonde witch and allowed Fleur to lead her down to the kitchen.
Fleur excitedly burst into the kitchen with Hermione in tow. Taking one look at a disgruntled Kreacher who was setting the table for breakfast Fleur spun in the direction of the stove to find Luna armed with tongs turning bacon under the grill. "Luna zis smell is magnifique! I could kiss you!" Fleur exclaimed. Hermione saw a bewildered and very tired Ginny sitting at the kitchen table, her head propped up on one hand and her eyes drifting shut, she had not even twitched at Fleur's outburst.
"Well you are certainly welcome to kiss me Fleur!" Luna replied delighted that her efforts had brought such glee to the house. Piece of bacon delicately gripped between the tongs Luna stuck one cheek out in Fleur's direction. Fleur obligingly walked over, placing the coffee cups in the sink on the way past, and with hand clasped behind her back she leaned over and kissed Luna's cheek. Luna turned to Ginny, "Well the morning is not a complete loss!" she pronounced, Ginny responded with a snore.
Hermione sat down beside Ginny and gently tapped her shoulder, "Ginny, why don't you go back to bed for a while?" she asked the young red head.
"s'okImnottired" Ginny mumbled in response. Hermione stared in wonder for a moment, her friend was clearly asleep but somehow still managed to answer her.
Luna set some bacon on a plate and some freshly baked rolls on another and headed over to the table. Waving the plate of bacon under Ginny's nose once she said, "Breakfast Ginny, hurry up before Ron gets all the bacon!" Ginny's eyes shot open as her back straightened like an arrow. Ginny had a fork in her hand and was skewering bacon rashers before Luna had managed to even set the plate down. Hermione giggled at this as she reached over and grabbed herself a roll and stuffed a rasher of bacon in it.
Fleur wandered over to the table and set a steaming mug of coffee in front of Hermione and another in front of Luna, before turning and grabbing two more cups from the counter and setting one by Ginny's plate, which now held three bacon rolls in addition to the one that she was now stuffing into her mouth, ketchup dripping out the sides. Hermione rolled her eyes, she had already known that Ginny's appetite had rivalled Ronald's but despite sitting with the Weasley's at breakfast for the best part of 6 years she still marvelled at the rate the red headed children could put food away. Hermione also noted that Luna was no stranger to Ginny's breakfast habits and barely batted an eyelid.
Hermione set the roll with bacon in it that she had prepared on Fleur's plate and reached over to grab another roll, as she did so her sleeve slid up her arm revealing the nasty scar that crudely read 'Mudblood'. Ginny's eyes widened at the sight but Fleur quickly caught her eye and shook her head signalling to her not to mention it. Ginny 's brown eyes turned glossy for a moment as full comprehension hit her as to the nature of Hermione's stay in Malfoy Manor.
Fleur quickly diverted the attention to Luna who was sitting at the opposite side of the table. "Zank you Luna for cooking our breakfast" she told her.
Luna smiled and replied "bacon sets you up for a good day no matter what you face, also it discourages the wrackspurts from bothering you, did you know this house is full of wrackspurts?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at this explanation but Fleur took a different approach to it, "Well zen zank you again for striving to keep zese wrackspurts at bay for us Luna, you are truly a good friend indeed, Ginny was right to bring you here." Both Ginny and Hermione snorted at this response and Fleur turned giving each of them a scowl.
They all sat in silence while they ate their fill of bacon rolls and sipped on their fresh hot coffee. Once finished Kreacher cleared the table with Luna's help, "Thank you Mr Kreacher, it is very kind of you to help with the dishes sir." Luna told him. Kreacher did not quite know how to take the young woman and feared that yet again he was the butt of some strange human joke. He chose to set the dishes to wash without comment, which as far as Ginny knew was a first for him and she smiled, pleased with herself for bringing Luna to the house, though clearly for different reasons that Fleur.
Fleur got up and poured herself a second coffee, noting that the other three ladies at the table were still on their first and sat back down, wrapping her hands around the hot mug as she turned to Hermione, "So what is ze plan for today?" she asked.
Hermione's heart pounded in her chest, she knew that this question was coming and no matter how she had prepared for it (and it had been at the back of her mind since she first awoke) there was no way to lighten the blow that she was about to issue. Mentally bracing herself she decided to gently lead into it.
"Well," she started using her 'I'm going to give you a lot of information in the style of a teacher voice' and then she began to explain. "There have been 6 Horcruxes so far, each of them has been destroyed by the sword of Godric Gryffindor except the first one we encountered, Tom's diary." She reached over and grabbed Ginny's hand as she knew that this was a particularly painful part of her childhood that she has never quite gotten over, she gave the hand a quick squeeze as she continued, "Harry destroyed the diary with a basilisk fang. The sword of Godric Gryffindor destroyed the basilisk and when it did it drew in the venom of the basilisk because it is Goblin silver." She let the statement hang in the air. She looked around the table, Ginny was holding Hermione's hand in her left and with her right she was using her finger nail to clean a groove in the wooden table. Hermione looked to Fleur who smiled back at her reassuringly, letting her know that she was willing to listen and help out. Luna was staring at Hermione, a curious look on her face. "So we have this dagger which is goblin made and all we need to do is break into Hogwarts, go down to the Chamber of Secrets and use the dagger on the basilisk fangs that are down there." She looked around the table and all three faces stared back at her in disbelief.
Hermione sighed and braced herself as a pregnant silence hung between the four. Finally it was Luna who couldn't sit there in silence any longer, "Perhaps I was wrong about the bacon," she said in a dreamy voice.
Ginny , who could no longer sit still and remain quiet spoke up, "Have you gone fucking mental? I mean you hit your head or something? Did you forget that He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named has taken control of the castle? It is crawling with death eaters, including the ones who held you hostage and tortured you for a bloody month. Did you think we were just going to stroll up to the front doors, knock and when they answer, we say what? Oh um excuse me we just need to nip down to the basement and get a basilisk fang from the skeleton in the Chamber of Secrets so we can kill your pet snake, that cool? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BLOODY MIND?" Ginny's face had gone scarlet and the more she spoke the louder she got. She was clearly outraged at Hermione's suggestion.
Hermione sank down in her seat as Ginny lost her temper and shouted at her. Hermione's biggest disappointment was that despite knowing that Ginny was a dear friend who would never hurt her, the angrier, louder and redder Ginny got the paler and more scared Hermione got. Fleur noticed Hermione's change in demeanour and reassuringly patted her knee. Hermione followed a now pacing Ginny with her eyes, gobsmacked but before she could speak Luna got to her feet and walked over to Ginny, the two younger women whispered with each other for a minute before Luna led Ginny back to the table and sat beside her.
"Hermione is there no other way we could destroy the Horcrux?" Luna asked in an uncharacteristically serious voice.
Hermione sighed and quietly answered, "No other way that I know of, unless you know of another basilisk or creature whose venom holds the same qualities of the basilisk?" Luna pondered this for a moment before Hermione felt the need to qualify the statement by adding on, "That you know the location of and that we can get to relatively quickly." Luna looked somewhat deflated and shook her head.
Fleur had stayed silent long enough, "I do not like zis 'Ermione. What you are suggesting is almost teasing Bellatrix and daring her to catch you again, I could not bear it if she got 'er 'ands on you again." A very frustrated Hermione shot a look at Fleur did they all honestly believe that she wanted to do this? She didn't want any of it, but she had to do it, she had no choice. She had to destroy Voldemort, for good so that the world was never subjected to his tyrannical, Nazi like behaviour ever again, so that no one had to go through the pain that she and Harry had gone through ever again. Fleur interrupted her train of thought, "But, I know zat you need to do zis so we must come up wiz a plan and I will be going wiz you," the determined Veela held up her hands to stave off the argument that was poised on Hermione's lips, "Zis is my condition, accept it and my support or know zat ze thre of us will work wiz you to find anozer way. 'Owever, "no one sitting at zis table could in good conscience let you do zis wizout a plan and some back up."
Hermione's eyes searched Fleur's face and could see that she was determined, she turned to Ginny who had calmed down but clearly disliked the idea, and then to Luna who appeared to be as equally resolute on this as fleur had been. Hermione nodded her head once and then summoned a pad of paper and a pen, "Right then, any idea how we break into Hogwarts then?" She asked.