A/N: This is a chapter that I know a lot of you have been waiting for...

A/N 2: Thanks to all those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I'm glad that people have been enjoying it. And a special thanks to Bonnie and Mainsail for beta reading this and thus improving on the original. If you have questions or concerns about what's going on, feel free to include them in a review or a PM — I'll try to answer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.

Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "Coffee Shop Girl" by Mystic25. This story depicts the thoughts and reactions of a couple of waitresses in a coffee shop as they watch Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Short and sweet — I highly recommend it. H/Hr.

Italics: a person's thoughts.

Chapter 08 - Venus

Thursday, August 5, 1995. Morning.

"Ron?" Ginny asked as she finished her breakfast. "Since we can send and receive owls here, I've written a letter to Neville. Is it okay if I use Pig to send it?"

Ron's brow furrowed, and it looked like he was going to say no before he stopped and got a surprised look on his face. "What?" Ginny asked, clearly having already prepared herself for an argument.

Ron sighed and looked down sheepishly at his half-finished second helping of breakfast. "I owe Luna a reply to her last letter, and I keep forgetting to write it."

"Luna?" one of the twins asked with undisguised interest.

"Does our ickle Ronnikins have a girlfriend, finally?" the second twin asked in a sing-song voice.

"It's not like that!" Ron said as his face started turning red. "We're just friends! She's... nice."

"Don't listen to them," Jasmine said forcefully as she clapped Ron on the shoulder. "I think it's great that you're friendly with Luna. She looked like she could use a good friend."

Ron straightened a bit at that vote of confidence, then a bit more when Hermione added, "I agree, I think it's great. Please say 'hi' to her from the two of us when you write, will you?"

"Actually, I really should write to her as well," Ginny said. "Thanks for reminding me, Ron. And thanks for writing to her, too — I appreciate it. Is it alright if I send my letter to her with yours?" At Ron's nod, she continued, "Great, I'll get right on it." The other two witches noticed the glint in Ginny's eyes and recognized that she was using the opportunity to not only hurry Ron along in his letter writing, but to gain access to Pig as well. Not for the first time, Jasmine wondered if the Sorting Hat had first suggested Slytherin to Ginny as it had for her.

She didn't really have time to think about it, though, because she was so worried about the hearing she and Hermione were going to face the following Friday. She, Hermione, and Fleur spent most of the day on Thursday once again learning what they could about wizarding law. No matter how optimistic they tried to be that the law was on their side, though, it was hard to forget that the Minister of Magic was personally against them. Who knew what kind of political forces he might bring to bear?

Thursday, August 5, 1995. Late Morning.

When Sirius walked into the library after breakfast, he was impressed with how much effort the three witches were putting into their legal research. He knew that a lot of people would have simply put their trust in Dumbledore and then left it all in his hands, but none of these three were prepared to do that.

"We just received a package from Dumbledore," he announced, getting their attention. "It's addressed to you, Fleur, so I assume it's about the Defense position." He watched as she opened it, revealing a detailed contract as well as what appeared to be quite a bit of information about the privileges and responsibilities that went along with being a member of staff at Hogwarts.

"So, Hermione," he said, turning to the bushy-haired witch, "how do you feel about your parents' decision yesterday to move to France?"

Hermione smiled a little sadly. "A bit mixed, actually. I'm sorry that they'll be so far away, but I'm mostly happy that they'll be safe and with people who will take care of them. At least we'll have most of the rest of the month together." Fleur looked up from her reading for a moment to smile and gave Hermione's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"How do you think your father will handle being around so many veela?" Sirius asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"I'll have you know," Hermione said primly, "that my father can throw off the allure of even multiple veela."

"What?" Sirius exclaimed, shocked.

"Multiple naked veela," she added.

"N-n-naked?" Sirius stammered, now completely gobsmacked. The allure of multiple naked veela was so strong that the mere thought of them was giving him the urge to transform into Padfoot and start humping something.

"Oui," Fleur said with a laugh. "Ze Grangers vacationed at a nude beach in France, and several of my friends and family joined zem. Zere were... how many?" She looked at Hermione, trying to remember how many had been around. "Between ten and twelve, I zink, depending on ze day."

"A dozen veela?" Sirius asked, feeling himself start to drool a little. "Naked? Nude beach?"

"My father is a happily married man," Hermione asserted. "So as attractive as veela are — yes, even naked veela — they don't really tempt him."

"That's a good point," Sirius said as he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "Your mother is pretty—"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence," Hermione warned.

"Pretty!" Sirius said, holding up his hands. "That's all I was going to say! Pretty! Even Mooney agrees!"

"Right," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway... even with help from Fleur's family, dealing with the practice will be difficult. They think they'll be able to get a couple of temporary dentists to fill in for the short term, but it will take a bit to find some who would be willing to do the job long-term — a year or more. Or maybe a series of short-term replacements, but they don't like the uncertainty of that." Hermione sighed. "Whatever happens, it'll cost money, and they won't be able to afford it for very long if they don't get work soon in France."

Sirius understood almost none of that, since he didn't even really know what a dentist was. He did, however, have an excellent understanding of "it'll cost money" and "won't be able to afford it."

"Tell them I'll be happy to help out with the finances," Sirius said. "I don't know what a dentist costs, but I'm sure I can afford to buy one or two. I can help pay for their moving costs as well."

"Oh, that's really generous of you," Hermione protested, "but you don't have to—"

"No, no, it's the least I can do," Sirius insisted. "You've been such a big part of Jasmine's life, and you've helped her out so much when I couldn't, that I feel I owe you and your parents." Sirius grinned and added, "Besides, I can't think of a better use of old Black family gold than to help the muggle parents of a muggleborn witch keep their muggle business while being hunted by pureblood bigots."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at that. "You'll have to convince my parents," she cautioned, "but thank you. If you can do that, it'll give them more time to get settled in France."

Sirius nodded, certain that he'd be able to charm the Grangers into accepting his offer. Maybe he could finagle helping with the move, especially if there were naked veela at the other end. Or clothed veela — he wasn't all that picky. Not after more than a decade in Azkaban.

"Speaking of Professor Lupin," Jasmine said, turning to Hermione, "you never did explain what happened that caused him to say he was disappointed in you." She didn't notice Sirius go still, but Fleur did, and she stopped reading the contract to pay attention.

Hermione sighed. "You know that I kept trying to contact you all summer, and even tried to visit more than once. I told you about the car incident, and how I was stopped by guards the other two times." She paused, and she seemed to Sirius to be steeling herself; judging from Jasmine's deepening frown, that was probably a good idea. "What I didn't tell you… is that the first guard was Remus, and that he was disappointed in me for going against the Headmaster's orders. When I still wouldn't leave, he stunned me and took me home. The second guard stunned me without warning as soon as I reached the house, but I have no idea who that was."

"They what?!" Jasmine practically shouted as she half-stood from her chair. Hermione quickly grabbed one of her hands while Fleur grabbed the other, trying to hold her back. Sirius took a step back, not surprised by her anger but a bit alarmed at the amount of magic that seemed to be roiling around her.

"They attacked you just for trying to visit me?" Jasmine cried out. "Where are they?"

When the shelves started to shake, Sirius wondered if it was just accidental magic or if it was something more. "Remus feels absolutely horrible about it," he said quickly, holding up his hands in a placating gesture and hoping that he could calm her before the library was damaged. "He told me that he felt caught in a situation where any decision he made would have been bad, but he now recognizes that he chose the worst possible option."

"And who was ze other person?" Fleur demanded as the shelves began to still. "Do you know zem?"

"Not a clue," Sirius said as he slowly lowered his hands, curious about why she was so protective of Hermione. "I'll be honest, though, and say that from what I heard, Hermione doesn't have as much to complain about there."

"What?" Jasmine and Hermione asked at the same time, and the shelves started to shake again.

Sirius grimaced and spoke quickly. "Look, as I understand it you jumped a fence or something, right?" When Hermione nodded, he continued, "Well, all the guard knew was that someone, probably magical, was sneaking onto the property and heading for the house. They didn't know you personally, and even if they had, they couldn't know if you were someone else under a glamour or on polyjuice. How would you expect them to react?"

At that, the shelves stilled again and he could feel the powerful, anger-fueled magic begin to recede. "He has a point," Fleur said softly as she looked up at Jasmine, who finally seemed to be calming down.

"You were actually fortunate that all they did was stun you instead of treating your appearance like a real attack," Sirius pointed out.

"Oh," Hermione said softly, apparently just now realizing that trying to sneak into a house being guarded against attack might not have been the wisest move.

"And even Remus, as bad as his decision was, had to take similar concerns into account," Sirius added. "Your conversation convinced him that it was really you, and he could tell you weren't under the Imperius Curse, but he couldn't be sure you weren't under any other spells or potions. He checked you after taking you home, but by that point he wasn't prepared to violate his orders to the extent of personally escorting you to Jasmine's house."

Jasmine slowly sat back down but didn't seem at all mollified. "Look," Sirius said, "you're completely justified in being upset at Dumbledore's decision to keep you isolated. I complained about it myself repeatedly. He was dead set on keeping you safe, but he went about it the wrong way. Yet given that you both were indeed attacked at home, even I have to admit that his fears were well-founded."

"I guess I'm not as upset about it now as I was at the time," Hermione said slowly, and Jasmine turned to scowl at her. "Really, I'm not," she insisted with a shrug. "I don't like it, but I wasn't actually injured. And anyway, once we were both here together, none of it seemed to matter as much." Jasmine seemed to deflate a bit and nodded grudgingly, though Sirius suspected that she wasn't going to let it go — not yet, at least.

He hesitated for a moment before bringing up the next topic, but he'd been putting it off for far too long already. And maybe it would distract them from thoughts of murdering Dumbledore. "Hey, Jasmine, Hermione, there's something I keep meaning to bring up. How are you feeling now after the attack? I mean, how are you coping with having been attacked and having to fight for your lives?"

Their expressions grew haunted. "I'm not sorry about anything I did," Jasmine insisted, "but I'm not happy that I had to do it, either. I don't always sleep well... I get some dreams about what happened, and they aren't very good dreams, either. I had the same problem after I was kidnapped, too."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "I often wake up once or twice a night because of nightmares. I don't regret a single spell I cast, but I don't feel very good about myself for not regretting it."

Sirius laid his hands on their shoulders and squeezed in sympathy. "If I may make a suggestion? There's a portrait here of my many-times great aunt, Elladora Black. She was a mind healer, and I've been talking to her about my own experiences in Azkaban. I didn't expect it to do any good, but for whatever reason talking to her has really helped. It might help you, too."

"So, she's your therapist?" Hermione asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I... have no idea what a therapist is," Sirius admitted. "Is that a muggle thing? I just talk to her about what's happened to me — what I've done, how I'm feeling, that sort of thing. She asks questions and gives some advice on how to handle my problems. She also gets advice on how to help me from mind healers at St. Mungo's — anonymously, of course."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, that's what a therapist does." She looked at Jasmine, who sat in thought for a moment before agreeing to give it a try if Hermione would as well — and if they could do it together.

"Good," Sirius said with a relieved smile. "I've got her hanging in my bedroom, in case I wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Just let me know when you want to talk to her and I'll arrange for privacy." I hope this helps them, he thought, though I'd love to know whether that was my mother's only motivation for suggesting it. It almost certainly isn't, but for the life of me I can't imagine what else she might be angling for.

"Zis is a very generous contract," Fleur said after she finished reading the document and turned her attention back to the other three. "Do you know if zis is standard?"

Sirius shook his head. "I have no idea, though Moony probably does. I wouldn't be surprised if Albus sweetened the deal a bit to ensure you liked it. He's probably getting desperate, and that alone would cause him to make an extra effort to get you to agree. The fact that you're friends with Jasmine might be playing a role, too."

Fleur frowned. "Do you zink I should not accept it, zen?

"Oh, no," Sirius answered. "I think it's a great opportunity — for you generally, I mean, since having this on your record at such a young age will open lots of doors. Selfishly, though, I have to admit that I'll feel better knowing that you'll be in the castle to help Jasmine and Hermione if they need it."

"Yeah," Jasmine agreed quickly, then she looked a bit embarrassed and hesitant. "I mean, uh, only take it because you want it. And I think you'd be brilliant at it! But, I mean, well, it'll be nice to have you around. If you do it."

"I feel the same way," Hermione said. "I think it would be great to have you there, but don't just do it for us."

Fleur smiled at them, obviously pleased at what she had heard. She immediately picked up her quill and signed the contract, producing a bright glow around both the parchment and herself.

"What... was that?" Hermione asked tightly.

"That was magic accepting Fleur's and the headmaster's agreement to the contract," Sirius said, not understanding her reaction.

"So... a glow involves a contract? What about oaths?" Hermione asked.

"No," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Sometimes there are magical glows of raw power. In this sort of situation, though, the glow is the acceptance of magic, or perhaps I should say Magic with a capital M."

"Magic with a capital M?" Jasmine repeated.

"I've seen that used," Hermione said, "but I didn't quite understand it."

Sirius sighed. "I'd better sit down," he said, finally joining them at the table. "This could take a bit. I'll try to explain, but remember that this is all rather difficult — theory was never one of my strengths." When the two younger witches nodded, he continued, "There's magic, and then there's Magic. The first is what we magicals do: spells, contracts, enchantments, etc. They exist through our efforts. There wouldn't be a Lumos spell if some witch or wizard hadn't created it. That magical contract wouldn't exist if Dumbledore hadn't written it. With me so far?" The two witches nodded again.

"Well," Sirius asked, "where did the magic for the spell or contract come from? Creating the spell didn't create the magic that powers the spell. That's Magic with a capital M: it's what lies behind the instances of magic we create, use, and so forth. Some believe that it's simply a vast reservoir of power — according to them, that glow was the contract tapping into the reservoir, acquiring the power necessary to enforce itself. Others say that it's alive and at least partially self-aware. According to them, that flash was Magic making a choice to accept the contract, and that such acceptance means that Magic will enforce it, too."

"I guess you're in that latter group?" Hermione asked, curious despite her impatience.

Sirius nodded. "I can't prove anything, of course, but some of the things I've seen and read really only make sense if there's some sort of mind or will behind Magic — if Magic has some ability to make choices, like the choice to not accept that contract, for example. In fact, it's one of the few things taught by the Black family that I still agree with. All Blacks are taught from when they are young children that there is something more to magic than just impersonal power — something that deserves our respect or even deference, especially if it seems that Magic is pushing for some goal or outcome."

Jasmine looked thoughtful, while Fleur was nodding in agreement. "Oui, ze veela believe something very similar."

Sirius' expression turned regretful. "Over time, that idea morphed into a belief that those who showed the most respect to Magic would be favored or rewarded. Some turned it around and asserted that having magical power or abilities was proof that one had already been blessed. That, in turn, led to the belief that Magic blessed certain pureblood families exclusively, which of course produced the blood-based bigotry that we're fighting against."

"So the bigotry, hate, and violence we're facing can be traced to the simple idea that magic should be respected?" Jasmine asked.

"I'm afraid so," Sirius answered. "You can never be sure where the most innocuous beliefs or the most reasonable choices can lead down the road."

"Back to the glowing," Hermione said as her impatience won out over her curiosity, "Glows occur with magical agreements? Both oaths and contracts?"

"No, not exactly," Sirius said, trying to find the right words to explain this — it was something he'd always taken for granted and never thought about in detail. "It's broader than simply an agreement. There's a glow when people get married, for example, and that's more than just an agreement or contract."

Hermione's eyes widened slightly. "And house elves?"

"Yes!" Sirius said, now seeing a way forward. "They're all different types of bonds, but only some of them are actually called bonds — like marriage bonds or bonding a house elf. The contract also creates a sort of bond between Fleur and Hogwarts, even though it isn't anywhere near as strong or serious as a marriage; but since it's been accepted by Magic, it will be magically enforced. Not all bonds are good, of course, but ideally a bond will allow those involved to become something more than just the sum of their parts and to accomplish more together than they ever could separately."

Sirius watched the brunette witch as she was thinking furiously about... well, something involving what he just said, none of which struck him as being especially important right now. For some reason, though, it had caught her attention. He didn't notice that Fleur was staring at her very intently.

"I've... I've got to go look some stuff up," Hermione suddenly said before racing off to another part of the library to start reading.

"Do you know what that's all about?" Sirius asked. Jasmine just shrugged unconcernedly, apparently used to Hermione getting distracted by this or that research project. Fleur, however, looked very pensive.

"Well," Sirius said as he stood up, "I've gotta go sweet-talk Hermione's parents into letting me put my money to good use for a change. Wish me luck..."

In another corner of the library, Hermione was reading frantically from several different books at once. She'd noted their existence earlier while getting acquainted with the library's organization and had intended to find time to look through them as part of a long-term research project, but what had once been relegated to near the bottom of her to-do list had just rocketed to the top and beyond.

Marriage bonds... glowing around the joined hands when the vows are finished. Slavery bonds... glowing around the shackles as ownership is assumed. Ugh! House elf bonds... glowing around both elf and master as the bond is formed. Bond of contractual agreement... glow around the contract and signatories once the contract goes into effect. Magical oaths... glow starting from the wand then enveloping the one making the oath. Engagement Oath... glow around the joined hands as the couple recites the family engagement promise and becomes oath-bound.

Oaths. Contracts. Marriages. Bonds... What does this have to do with us? Hermione wondered.

Oaths? We haven't made any... oh, we did make a sort of oath to each other with the rings, but it wasn't like an engagement oath — or no family oath that we know of. And anyway, we didn't make any real oaths during... those other times. We made promises to always come when the other was in danger, but was that an oath? We didn't glow when we said the words.

Contracts? We definitely haven't been signing any contracts with each other. Marriage? Of course we're not mar— Hermione froze as a few more distant memories started connecting. Conclusions were reached, discarded, and reluctantly accepted again. Without bothering to clean up the piles of books around her, she jumped up and ran out of the library, hoping that her parents weren't in their shared bedroom.

Thursday, August 5, 1995. Afternoon.

Hermione had skipped lunch, focusing instead on reading through D. Tempest Pureheart's The Power of Love — or more specifically, rereading the same passages over and over in the vain hope that they'd provide more information than they did the previous times. After hours of fruitless work, she remembered one other possible source of information that she hadn't tried yet.

"Winky? Dobby?" she called out. Nothing. She and Jasmine had been told that they'd be gone for two months, give or take. They should be home any day now, but obviously not in time to help her with this.

Finally she could delay no longer. After sealing the book back in her trunk, she marched into the library where Fleur and Jasmine were back at work. She stopped in front of their table across from Fleur and next to Jasmine, and fixed Fleur with a very determined look — one that made the veela witch squirm a bit, which only told Hermione that she was on the right track. Hermione leaned forward over the table, placing her palms flat on the surface, and said, "You once told us that a lot of veela magic involves magical bonds and magical rituals. You also said that veela are especially knowledgeable about such things. Are you knowledgeable about them?"

"Oui," Fleur said in a soft voice.

"Hermione," Jasmine said, "What's going—" Hermione held up one hand, abruptly cutting off the rest of Jasmine's question.

"So tell me... no tell us, Fleur," Hermione continued, "what you know about soul bonds."

"What... what do you wish to know?" Fleur asked.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then reached out to one side and grabbed Jasmine's hand. "Do we," she asked, "have a soul bond?" Fleur started looking very nervous and uncomfortable, which only annoyed Hermione further. "It's a simple question, Fleur. Why can't you answer it?"

"What's going on?" Jasmine asked, apparently starting to realize that everyone knew a lot more than she did about something that probably involved her — a situation she was all too familiar with and absolutely hated.

"Bonds," Hermione explained. "It's what we were talking about earlier. There are all different kinds of magical bonds, from really serious ones like marriages, to nasty ones like slavery bonds, to fairly innocuous ones like simple employment contracts. They all create different kinds of bonds between people. In the muggle world these bonds are often metaphorical, but in the magical world they're not — they are real, and they have real consequences beyond making you feel good or guilty. With me so far?" Jasmine nodded.

"The one thing they all have in common," Hermione continued, "is a magical glowing light that signifies... well, according to Sirius, that Magic is accepting the bond."

"Like that blinding light when we bonded to the elves," Jasmine interjected.

"Exactly," Hermione said. "And the glow when people took an oath to protect our secrets. And the glow when Fleur signed that contract. And the glow when you and I... well, I've noticed a glow around us a couple of times. It happened the night of Beltane, and it happened in my house when we kissed. Twice, in fact."

"So what does that mean for us?" Jasmine asked. "We have a... what? A soul bond? What is that?"

"Yes, that's the conclusion that I was coming to, based on what I read in... uh, that book that McGonagall gave us," Hermione answered. "There isn't much information about them, but based on everything that I have been able to find, it seems like we are soul-bonded."

"OK, we're soul-bonded. So what?" Jasmine asked again. "What does that even mean?"

Hermione shook her head and said, "I really don't... I mean... I..." Both witches stared blankly at each other. "Actually, I, uh, do seem to know."

"Yeah..." Jasmine agreed. "So do I, and I've never even heard of them before five minutes ago. Why do I know that we're soul-bonded and what soul bonds are? It's not just a guess or something I believe because you said it and I trust you. I know it."

Whatever Hermione had been expecting from Fleur when she first decided to confront her about this, seeing her slump down over the table and start repeating "zank you, zank you" over and over was definitely not it.

After a few moments, she looked up again and said, "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say zat. It is such a relief! I feel as zough a great weight has been lifted off of me." She paused for a moment, then added, "Ze glow you mentioned must have happened a few other times as well. If you two close your eyes when you kiss, zen you probably would not have noticed. Ze glow is usually very pale and not meant to be seen very easily."

"You knew?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Wait, please, you must understand," Fleur tried to explain. "I could not tell you!"

"You knew!" Jasmine flared, starting to get carried away by her anger. "How could you keep something like this from us?"

Hermione, though, put her hand on Jasmine's shoulder and said slowly, "I'm not sure she could tell us..."

"No, I could not. I literally could not say! Magic prevented me or anyone else from saying!" Fleur insisted, holding up her hands in a sign of surrender.

"Explain," Jasmine said tightly, though at Hermione's squeeze she seemed to subside a bit.

Fleur paused for a moment to collect herself. "You know how zis house is hidden by ze Fidelius charm? You and I can talk about ze address because we have both heard ze secret, but you cannot tell anyone else. If you try, no words will come out — the magic of the charm will prevent you from saying anything. Only ze secret keeper can share ze location with a new person."

"And knowledge of a soul bond is concealed by similar magic, isn't it..." Hermione said, a faraway look in her eyes. It wasn't a question.

"Oui, zough it is not a spell cast by any witch or wizard," Fleur agreed. "It is somehow built in by Magic itself. I and a few others could see ze signs and concluded zat you must be forming a soul bond, but we were not, for lack of a better term, your secret keepers. We literally could not say to anyone, even you, anything like 'Jasmine and Hermione are forming a soul bond.' Technically, we didn't even know your secret — it was more like a strong suspicion."

"That... sounds familiar," Jasmine conceded, starting to calm down. "And what's different now?"

"No one understands ze magic fully," Fleur said, "but from what we can tell, a couple developing a soul bond will eventually figure it out for zemselves, once zey are ready, and become zeir own secret keepers, able to tell others if zey wish. Once you said in my presence zat you are soul bonded (zough technically your bond is still developing), you shared your secret with me, confirming my prior conclusion, and now I can talk about it freely. But only with you, not with anyone you have not shared zis with."

"Couldn't you have at least hinted at it?" Jasmine asked plaintively, but she looked like she already knew the answer.

"Soul bonded couples need to figure it out on zeir own and in zeir own time," Fleur insisted. "Again, no one is positive why, but it is believed that zis is necessary for ze relationship to develop as naturally as possible. If zey are told too soon, ze bond might be manipulated, harming ze couple. So you had to figure it out on your own. I am not sure what makes a couple 'ready' or even what zat means — magically ready? Emotionally ready? Mentally ready? Whatever it is, I assume you two reached it, perhaps due to what you experienced over ze past few days."

Jasmine and Hermione immediately looked at each other.

"McGonagall," Hermione said.

"Flitwick," Jasmine added.

At Fleur's confused expression, Hermione clarified, "We've known for a bit that Professors McGonagall and Flitwick have known something about us — something that they said we'd have to figure out for ourselves. This has to be it."

Fleur nodded. "Zat makes sense, oui."

"So... now what?" Jasmine asked.

"Well, we can..." Whatever Hermione was going to say was lost when she saw Fleur looking nervously down at the table. "What is it, Fleur? I think it's clear that we'll forgive you for not telling us about the bond, since you really couldn't. I'm guessing that all of those things your mother and grandmother told you revolve around this as well, which we'll also accept. But please don't keep more secrets."

Fleur sighed. "Zere are more — zings zat I was obligated not to tell you until after you figured out your bond. You will understand once I explain, but not now." As soon as both girls started to protest, she cut them off with a sharp gesture. "Non! You two must focus on your bond first! Ze rest can wait — it is not as if you can do anything about it right now anyway. Once I know zat you two are comfortable with zis new information, zen and only zen will I tell you ze rest. Understand?"

Both Jasmine and Hermione nodded, thoroughly chastened. Fleur had always been fairly easygoing with them, but this was the first time either had seen her behaving in such a stern, commanding manner. They suddenly wondered just how hard their Defense lessons were going to be.

"Bien," Fleur said, smiling now. "One zing you should definitely know now is zat until ze bond is finalized, you need physical contact to keep it strong. You two probably sought it out unconsciously when you were at Hogwarts, but being apart for a month has weakened your bond. When I told you zat I could see your connection, it was ze bond zat I was seeing. Right now, however, it is weaker zan when I left you at Hogwarts... not as bad as when I first arrived here, but not as good as it should be."

Jasmine and Hermione shared a look. "That makes sense, based on what we seem to know," Hermione said.

"Now you need some time alone," Fleur asserted. "Come." She rose from the table and led the other two upstairs to the bedroom she'd been given by Sirius. "You go in here and talk about zis for ze rest of ze day. I will silence and seal ze door from ze outside such zat you will be able to leave whenever you wish, but no one will be able to enter, not even me. Don't worry, I'll figure out something to tell ze others."

Once they were inside and she'd cast her spells, Fleur returned to the library to continue her research. First, though, she wrote a quick note to her mother: "L'avalanche a commencé."

Not one of the witches remembered the presence of the portraits out of sight on the back wall, and even if they had, they wouldn't have given it much thought because they knew the portraits wouldn't divulge their secrets without their permission — not even to Sirius.

That order only extended to people, however. Not to other portraits.

"Walburga! Walburga!"

"What is it, Aquila?" Walburga asked, annoyed at being summoned to the portrait room when she was trying to listen in on what people were saying in the sitting room.

"It's those two witches," Aquila said excitedly. "Jasmine Dorea and her mudblood friend!"

Walburga frowned slightly. Not long ago she, too, would have reflexively referred to the young witch as a mudblood, but after much thought she'd been coming to the conclusion that perhaps it would be better to refrain. "What about them? Did they nearly destroy the library again? The house may not survive too many more incidents like the one that happened this morning."

"No, they... they're... I mean, they..." Aquila gasped, stuttered, and generally made a fool of himself trying to remember something that simply wouldn't come. Finally, he managed to say, "There's something going on between them!"

"Oh?"

"Yes," Aquila insisted. "They... I mean, it's... well, it's not normal, is what it is."

Walburga arched an eyebrow. "That's a bit... vague."

Aquila grimaced in frustration. "I'm sorry, but for some reason, I can't remember whatever it is I heard. I just don't understand it. I heard the words and understood them, but now when I try to remember them, there's nothing there. All I have now is a vague sense of something unusual happening. It's... it's not normal, whatever it is."

Walburga frowned in thought for a moment. "Maybe they cast a privacy ward that prevents you from remembering what you hear? I'm unaware of such a spell, but it might be something only known by veela. Regardless, I have been watching those two, and I think I have an idea of what you're trying to say."

Aquila sagged in relief. "Thank you. That... that was quite unpleasant. I'll return to the library to keep an eye on them."

Before he could leave the frame, Walburga called out. "Oh, and Aquila?" When he turned back, she continued, "If you were indeed trying to remember what I think you were, perhaps it would be... unwise to refer to the muggleborn by such derogatory terms as you did earlier? I mean, given her closeness to Jasmine Dorea..." Her tone was all sweetness and light — which, coming from Walburga Black, was usually a promise of extensive pain.

Aquila's portrait stiffened at the implied threat and nodded quickly. Walburga added, "And perhaps a bit of privacy for them from now on? We wouldn't want to anger them. Be a dear and let the others know, would you?" Aquila nodded again, then left immediately to tell Rigel, the other portrait in the library, and start passing the word.

Walburga sighed and sat in her chair, no longer interested in whatever the fools downstairs were yammering on about. I guess my suspicions were right about those two being more than just friends, she mused. Perhaps it's just a youthful fling? Sirius certainly had plenty of his own, though of course they weren't with other... She shook her head. Well, regardless, this won't do. I may not be in a position to put an end to it, but hopefully I can ensure that their relationship remains private... at least until I can figure something else out. In the meantime, they might benefit from some guidance. Maybe even some help with their anger issues.

"Oh, Elladora! We need to talk..."