AN:/ Okay I finally got the new chapter of this story done (Shocking I know!) And it only took, I dunno, 3 months? I have got to start finishing chapters faster. Now I re-read everyone's reviews of the last chapter (Thanks again to all who reviewed!) And I think, hopefully, this chapter will be easier to understand with the whole 'Who the hell is talking?' issue. If it's not PM me, or review about it, cause you guys/girls are the reason I post this stuff (well that and I enjoy writing it), so if you can't understand it I need to fix it. Also, because a lot of you said there should be more warning I'll put it again here, there will be Ron, Ginny, and Molly Weasley BASHING. Okay, that's that covered.

I'm really hoping to be able to post another chapter for my other Harry Potter story over the next week and maybe even another chapter to this one by the end of this– but more likely next- month. (But don't get your hopes up, cause I am really slow at this. Sorry about that!) Well I guess that's mostly it for up here, so on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, or any of the characters in it– trust me if I did it would've gone a hell of a lot differently.

Harry groaned as he awoke and gazed out over the forest he had spent the night in. There was fog everywhere and it reminded him somewhat of the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. Thinking about Hogwarts sent a wave of pain through his heart. He wished he knew what the others were doing, or where they were, or whether his letter had reached them, and if they'd read it.

He knew he'd never know the answer to that though. He would have to die if he wanted to win this war, and he hated that, but it just gave him more incentive not to waste time thinking of telling Fleur about his feelings for her. Besides she was in love with Bill, and they were married by now.(AN:/They aren't actually but Harry doesn't know that.) Thinking of that he wondered whether they'd bothered to get his present yet? 'Oh well, that's not important now.' he mused. Before stretching and standing up. He was really glad Hermione had taught him that charm with the blue flames from way back in first year now; he'd have gone many a cold night without it.

Two weeks. Two whole weeks since he'd left the Burrow and he still didn't have a single horcrux in his possession, let alone destroyed. So now, now he had a really stupid idea. He was going to go to the Ministry of Magic and get help. Not from the aurors, or the minister or the unspeakables, he was going to the one woman in the Ministry that wasn't part of the Order that he felt he could trust. The woman he'd only met briefly during his trial at the summer between his fourth and fifth years. Amelia Bones.

He didn't know much about her other than the fact she was Head of the DMLE and Susan's aunt. But if the way Susan spoke of her, and the small amount of time he'd seen her was any indication, she was a person who could be trusted. She seemed very fair, much like McGonagall, only she had powers within her position that McGonagall did not. She was in the Ministry, which meant if Harry could successfully break in and talk to her, he might be able to convince her to help him. He got the distinct feeling that one of the horcrux was somewhere in the Ministry. He'd seen the Ministry more than once in his dreams after all. Even though the Ministry incident had happened almost a year and a half ago. Along with brief flashes of other places that he didn't recognize, but had to assume were where the other horcrux were. He wouldn't know for sure though until he checked, and though he would probably be kicking himself for even thinking of trying this later; that was what he was going to do.

Almost 4 days later Harry had successfully transfigured his appearance to look completely different, and for good measure he'd also stuck his invisibility cloak into the pocket of his coat. Cautiously he entered the Ministry, feeling almost as off centred as the time McGonagall had made him Quidditch Seeker. As soon as he was in, he immediately began looking for the signs leading to the elevators. Once in an elevator, thankfully by himself, he said to the box, "Amelia Bones office." It repeated what he'd said back to him, before taking off and up to the 4th floor where her office supposedly was.

When it stopped Harry stepped out, and went up to the secretary and said simply, "Requesting to speak to ." "And you are?" the secretary questioned. "An old friend." he replied. The secretary huffed, before growling out, "Very well I shall ask , if she wishes to see 'an old friend'." the secretary went into the office and a moment later herself, came out. She fixed him with a hard look, and so she'd know who he was he casually ran a hand through his hair, pulling back his now brown bangs for half a second so she could see the scar.

He was not disappointed, "Ah yes, , this is Thompson." she supplied quickly. "He is an old friend of mine, and if he shows up here, you are to let him in my office. Understood?" nodded deftly before said to 'Fredrick' "Come in to my office then ." Harry followed her in, and the second she closed the door and threw a couple privacy and silencing charms on it she rounded on him. "Do you want to tell me what the bloody hell you're doing here, ?"

He sighed quietly and said, "I know it's a lot to ask, but I need your help." Amelia gave him a hard look. "What on Earth would posses you to come to the Ministry and ask me for help?" she demanded. Sighing he said, "I think one of the things I'm looking for is here, and I need someone on the inside to help me with that. I chose you because 1)Susan always spoke highly of you, and I trust her as well as her judgement. 2)The brief time I met you at my court hearing you seemed very fair, and unassuming. And 3)If anyone can help me with this I think it's going to be you; especially because, and I'm so sorry to bring this up, but Voldemort is the reason that a large part of your family is dead."

Amelia flinched when he said the name and breathed in sharply as he mentioned her late family. "So what if I say no?" she questioned. He shrugged, "Then I respect your decision, hope to all that is holy you don't report me, and don't bother you again." she blinked. "You make it sound so easy. It's not a game . I hope you are aware of that."he chuckled. "I am all to familiar with the fact that it is no game. Yet at the same time, it almost is. All this hunting people down, duelling people on sight, and chasing after things no one knows where they are...kind of reminds me of a muggle game I saw Dudley play once."

Glancing around her office for a moment first, Harry locked eyes with her and said, "I hate to give an ultimatum but, I need to know. Are you willing to help me?" Amelia looked deep in thought for a moment before standing and strolling behind her desk and looking out the magicked window. ", you ask a lot of me. I have 2 conditions in order for me to help you. One, explain what the devil you're looking for and why you need to find it to me, and two, don't get yourself killed fighting some random death eater, or getting caught on the way in."

Harry grinned and began to explain what he was hunting for and why he thought it was where it was. To say Amelia was shell-shocked would be a major understatement. "So, let me get this straight...you need to find all the Horcrux, which You-Know-Who has made 7 of, and you believe one of them is at the Ministry, so you need my help to locate and retrieve that one. Am I missing anything vital here ?" Harry chuckled lightly, "Not at all Madame." Turning to gaze at some of the photos on the wall, he had to ask, "How is Auror Tonks doing these days?"

Amelia blinked at the seemingly random question, "Well, she was in here a few weeks ago with a blonde haired, french witch, asking about you– but otherwise is doing well to the best of my knowledge. Though, I'm sure your aware that she's on maternity until the end of the month?"(AN:/I know maternity leave is longer, but I'll need her later in the story, so it's only a month in the wizarding world in my story.)"And how exactly do the two of you know each other anyway?" Harry had to laugh, "Funny you should ask, it's because of the Order of the Phoenix, Madame. We had at least 3 known aurors in that group– I won't say who though, because betraying confidences, even to one such as yourself, is obviously a bad move. Now, I would like to know the answer to my request before I can depart." he said emerald eyes flashing.

(Time Skip: One month.)

Back at the Burrow, Fleur was going crazy with worry about Harry. She had no idea where he was and that did not sit well with her or anyone else for that matter. And with Tonks off having her baby, and Hermione visiting her parents and convincing them to go into hiding– she'd restored their memories– and Bill being at the bank, Fleur didn't have anyone to vent her worries to.

Well there was the other Weasleys but Fred and George were at their shop, and Arthur was at the Ministry, so she didn't see the point– none of the other's actually liked her from what she could tell. Why else would they call her 'Phlegm' behind her back or when they thought she couldn't here them. She wasn't sure who was worse Ron, Ginny, or their mother. She didn't tell Bill about this of course, because she saw no reason to cause trouble in his family when after they got married she wouldn't be seeing them that often, but it did hurt to know that at least some of her future in-laws hated her.

Sighing she let her thoughts wander to Harry, and his last letter. He had said so many things that had made her feel so much. His letter had made her want to laugh, cry, scream, yell, smile, and hide her face in embarrassment all at once. She couldn't believe he'd written some of those things, especially knowing that Bill was going to be hearing them; then again nobody ever said Harry Potter didn't have the qualities of a Gryffindor. She looked out onto the misty August morning and shivered, England was definitely much colder than she was used to, mind you it was almost September. Ron and Hermione were so down that they'd have to return to Hogwarts without Harry– though Ron was still bitter about his friend leaving them behind.

Personally she found Ron more annoying than any other person in the Burrow– including Dung when he used to be there, and that was saying something. She and Tonks had looked for several days trying to find Harry, as had Minerva, Remus, Bill, Arthur, and the twins. opted to wait at the Burrow with the other children, to be there not only for them but on the off chance Harry came back– Fleur snorted, 'Yez zat will definitely 'appen, eef ze world ends!'– and Hagrid had returned to Hogwarts. And looking out the window one last time she turned and decided to make herself some tea (Although she did find England's tea rather distasteful in comparison with France's.)

Once the tea was made she sat back down and read over the two letters from Harry, focussing on the parts about her. Bill had gotten Harry's wedding gift for them out from under Harry's cot in Ron's room. They'd decided to open it ahead of time so if they ever saw him again they could thank him properly. She smiled sadly when she thought of his gift. He'd given Bill some stuff that would be useful to him(ie. Curse Breaker stuff, household items, etc.) But what he'd given her had been different and incredibly thoughtful.

It had been a detailed photo album, the covering was just plain black binding, but– as they had discovered – had been enchanted so that only people who had the permission of the owner could open it without getting seriously hexed. She chuckled darkly thinking of Ginny's foolishness. (Bat-Bogey Hex.)

Inside she had found pictures she didn't even know Harry had. One's of her and Bill, her and him(Harry)– during the Triwizard tournament as well as more recently– pictures of her and Gabrielle, pictures of her and Viktor, her and Cedric, all four of the champions together, her and Madame Maxime(she really had no idea how he'd gotten those), pictures of her and the other Weasley's, pictures of her and Roger Davis at the Yule Ball, pictures of her and her parents, her and her grandmother, her and other Beauxbatons girls, her and Hermione, her and Tonks, her and other Order Members, he'd even managed to get some of her when she'd been only 5 or 6, and then there were photos of just her; but they weren't like the other photos. They'd obviously been taken by him when she hadn't known he was taking them, they were just photos of her in day to day life. And for every photo in the nearly 150 page album, he'd written comments, and thoughts.

Some of his comments had made her laugh, and smile, some had made her blush, some had made her cry, and some had made her heart flutter at a pace that wasn't even entirely appropriate as she was engaged to marry another man. She had told Bill as much later in private, but he'd simply laughed and told her that some of Harry's comments had been rather suggestive, so he couldn't blame her. Still, she felt a bit awkward about it, because now alone in the Burrow's kitchen she could still feel her heart flutter as she thought of Harry and what he'd done for her, and said to, and about her.

She thought back to when she had first really spoken to Harry during the Triwizard Tournament. It was raining outside as Fleur, using a water repelling charm, made her way from the castle towards the carriage. Her mind was still focussed on the big blow up about the tournament that had passed in the Great Hall not twenty minutes earlier. Karkaroff had been very bitter about the fact that Hogwarts had managed to get two champions in the tournament, even more so than Madame Maxime, who wasn't what you'd call pleased with the outcome by any means. However, Karkaroff was far more vocal in his complaints than Madame Maxime. Fleur couldn't believe the man had said all that in front of a hall of children though! Some of those terms sounded rather rude, and if the Durmstrang students' faces were any indicator, they were really rude.

She sighed, and not only that but her own school mates had been rather annoyed that the 'Veela-cow' had received the honour of being a champion and they hadn't. But she was used to their jealousy by this point and simply ignored them. It was at this point she noticed someone was sitting on the lake's edge. Blinking to make sure she wasn't imagining things, Fleur cautiously made her way toward the hunched figure. Once she was about 4 or 5 metres away, she realized just who was sitting in the rain being soaked to the bone; it was Harry Potter. Her fellow champion, and the Boy-Who-Lived. 'Wat iz 'e doing out 'ere in zis weazer?'she wondered. It was at this moment she noticed something about him, his hand was holding something over his nose– a piece of cloth?

What good would a piece of fabric do him in this weather? And why was he holding it over his nose? It didn't smell bad out here, and most people would've sneezed by now if that was what he was waiting for. Taking another step forward, she cleared her throat. Harry whipped around to face her, pulling the cloth off his nose in the process; she knew why it'd been there now. Blood was dribbling out of his nose, and glancing at his nose she knew that this wasn't just a nose bleed, someone had broken Harry's nose. She also saw that his sleeve had a gash in it that revealed a couple cringe worthy cuts.

"'Arry?" she started. "Wat 'appened to you?" Harry blinked and replied, "What this?" his voice sounding off due to his injury, he pointed at his nose. "It's nothing, just an accident." she raised a delicate brow, "Zat does not look like an 'accident', 'Arry. Zat looks like zomeone broke your nose. And zat does not explain your arm." she pointed out. Harry sighed, and put the cloth back over his nose to stem the blood. "It's nothing, really Fleur. Why don't you get back to the carriage before you get soaked?"

Fleur scowled, "Eef eet iz nozing zen why are you changing ze subject, and not juste answering ze question?" Harry looked rather annoyed and huffing finally said, "Fine. You want to know how I got this way?" she nodded. "It was some other students. They aren't too happy that I'm 'trying to steal Cedric's spotlight' or whatever. So they cast a bone breaker at my face and got my nose and a couple cutters that got my arm, that's all. Happy now?" Fleur was staring at him in disbelief. "Zere are students attacking you and you are azking eef I am 'appy about eet?" Harry let out a wry chuckle. "No, I'm asking if you're any happier now that I answered your question. But if my pain makes you happy feel free to get off with everyone else."

Fleur couldn't believe that anyone could stoop so low as to actually curse Harry for being champion, but then again it really shouldn't surprise her that much if people reacted badly to Harry's name coming out after Cedric's already did. Especially with the age line that was supposed to prevent underage students from entering. "I am not 'appy zat you are injured 'Arry. Zat iz, 'ow you say, "zick and wrong"? I am 'appy zat you answered my questions, but I 'ave one or two more. Why are you out 'ere in ze rain wizout anyzing ozer zen your school robes on? And why did you not go to ze school 'ealer for your wounds?"

Harry laughed, "You are right about it being a bit sick and wrong to get off on someone else's pain of course, and I'll take comfort in the fact that you don't get off on mine."he said cheekily. "And I didn't go to Madame Pomfrey because she always makes people stay in the HW for long as she possibly can, and I hate it in there. Not a fan of hospitals in general, actually." Fleur huffed, "Zen you can come wiz me to zee ze 'ealer in ze carriage. And zat still doesn't explain why you are out 'ere alone, at night, in ze rain, wiz only your uniform on, and no spells to block ze rain."

Harry sighed, "Fine, I guess I can go to the carriage, provided no one will attack me?" Fleur nodded her head in comprehension and to say, 'No one's going to attack you, so your going.' And Harry continued, "And I'm out here, because I got thrown out of my dorm. The only person in my dorm not pissed at me is Neville and well, he's not exactly up for stopping Ron, Seamus and Dean from giving me the boot. So here I am, outside to avoid being caught out after hours, and I have nothing available to me except my robes I'm already wearing, and my wand; and I don't know any spells to repel rain." Fleur couldn't help but stare.

"You were zrown out of your own dorm, because you are one of ze 'Ogwarts champions?" she demanded. The disbelief of the situation evident in her voice. Harry merely laughed, "Don't worry I've had worse. So, if I must go to the carriage to get my nose and arm fixed, let's get it over with. Then I can come out here and try to find someplace that's at least sort of dry to crash for the night." "You will do no zuch zing!" Fleur snapped. "You are going to stay in ze carriage for ze night, or until we can fix your problème." Harry blinked once, twice, three times. And before he could even begin to sputter out some form of defiance, Fleur and grabbed his uninjured arm and was dragging him to the carriage.

Looking back at it now Fleur realized that it was actually a rather sad night. It had been gloomy and depressing because of the weather and then there was Harry out in the rain, and cold, soaked through, nose broken, arm bleeding, shivering, and she later learned hungry, trying to make it through the night without costing his house any points or alerting any teachers to his presence or injuries. She'd convinced Madame Maxime to let Harry spend the night in the carriage easy enough. It had been startling to hear her Headmistress blatantly swear upon talking to Beauxbatons healer– Madame Poesy. That was actually how Fleur found out just how much Harry had suffered, just how much he'd gone through and still turned out his loving caring self.

Actually now that she thought about it she still needed to have some words with the three of four dormmates that had chucked Harry out for what ended up being three days just because his name had come out of the Goblet. It had been funny though, to see Harry sleeping on the couch in the foyer of the carriage. (He'd refused to take someone's bed, even though they'd tried to tell him it was no trouble to transfigure a couch into a bed or a chair or something but he wouldn't hear of it.) He'd slept there the first night and then the next day when he'd tried to get into his dorm to get some clean clothes and his books for the day, he found that they'd chucked his stuff into the common room in a random corner.

Fleur had been outraged by the disgusting behaviour being displayed by those three, and she hadn't been the only one. Harry may have been able to beg Madame Maxime not to tell any of the Hogwarts professors for the first three days, but when even the third day he came back to the carriage injured, beaten, bleeding, and had his clothes torn to pieces by the various cutting and slicing hexes and jinxes he'd barely avoided, and he smelled of rotten food that people had taken to steeling from the kitchen and throwing at him, Madame Maxime went to his Head of House.

Now Fleur could laugh about the sight of the Hogwarts students being thoroughly cowed by Minerva McGonagall, but at the time it had been damn scary to watch. Fleur had made a very important mental note not to get on McGonagall's bad side, because she could be terrifying when she wanted to be-although Fleur could be too. She laughed to herself wondering what Harry would've said if he'd seen her transform into her Veela form and throw huge fire balls at some bolder to get out her anger at what was being done to Harry. She frowned a bit as she wondered whether Harry would still like her if he'd ever actually seen her Veela form instead of just being aware she was part Veela.

Then she shook herself, she was being ridiculous. Harry had seen Remus in his werewolf form before and clearly still loved the man, and if he could be friends with a werewolf why not a Veela? (She didn't have anything against Remus, of course, but she did think that a transformed werewolf was more scary than a transformed Veela depending on the circumstances that is.) She took a slow sip of her tea, and glanced at the time.

2:37. Still a good while before anyone got here, and not nearly early enough to start making dinner or some such thing. She was about to just go for a walk around the inside of the wards when she heard it. A faint hoot coming from the closed window. Turning her head she saw a Great Horned owl sitting perched on the windowsill. Quickly opening the window, she let the bird in. It flew to the table beside her tea and extended it's leg. Fleur untied the parchment quickly and gave the owl a couple treats before gesturing to the owl perch in the far corner of the kitchen.

After taking care of the owl, she looked at the envelope which it had delivered. There in scarlet ink she saw her name written– in Harry's writing! Frantically tearing the envelope open, she sat down and began to read:

Dear Fleur,

By now I assume that you have already been party to reading the other letters? If not put this down and go read them. But assuming you have I will continue this one, Fleur first and foremost thank-you for being my friend and for everything you've done for me. I always have and will appreciate it until the end of my days. I know that it sounds kinda cheesy, but it's true. Hermione and Ron have both been good friends to me ever since I started Hogwarts, well most of the time anyway, but it was different from the friendship I formed with you. Even though we were supposed to be rivals you were still so kind to me, from that first night when you found me out in the rain, with my broken nose, and slashed arm.

I don't know exactly why, but I do know that I needed to write you on your own. I don't know whether you will choose to share this with the others, but for me this is, I guess closure. Since I am going to die, and I hope you won't waste your life sheading tears over my death, I need you to know that I am so, so happy I got the chance to meet you, and to get to know you. I hope Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and stop being such bigoted prats to you, after all there son is a very lucky man to have won your heart, and open themselves to seeing the wonderful person you are and not just see you for your Veela heritage. Believe me, if I heard a foul comment out of them, I got revenge. Hexes, helping Gred and Forge with pranks on them, conveniently misplacing things they needed later, the usual.

I know it's not the best solution, but I can't make them like you, even if I wish I could. I know you'll want an update on what's happening with me, well for the Horcrux hunt I've found one, Fleur! I had a bit of help getting it, from an unmentionable source, and got Salazar Slytherin's locket. I don't know how I will destroy it yet, but that's 2 destroyed, 4 found total, and 3 to go. So I say bravo for me. Now, if I had to guess you're probably both hurt and angry with me at the moment, but I know enough about you to know you're also worried. And I know that your worry has merit, so I won't waste my paper trying to tell you not to, but I will say this much. I am safe for now, I have a few people that I've had very brief contact with, who are helping me to get the rest of the horcruxes. So, try not to waste all the time you should be spending with Bill worrying about me.

I hope this letter finds you well, Fleur. And I hope that you'll ignore all the horrible things that people assume about you and your people. Love Bill and live happily together, you both deserve happiness in life and I hope you find it. I must go now, but I swear I will write you again soon.

Love always,

Harry.

Fleur stared at the parchment in her hand. Tears fell from her eyes, but she couldn't be bothered stopping them. Not after reading Harry's letter. The ending in particular was catching her attention. He had signed this one so differently than the others. No formal titles, or puns on them, just Harry. She remembered him telling her that was all he'd ever wanted to be, just Harry. Not The-Boy-Who-Lived, or Harry Potter, youngest seeker in a century. Just Harry. She smiled sadly at that. Harry hadn't ever gotten to be just Harry. Not really anyway. Even with his friends he was still famous, and they still saw him as a hero sometimes. From what she'd seen, Hermione was better about seeing him as just Harry than Ron, but even the young witch could sometimes forget how Harry was the same as any other boy, only he had a scar on his head, fame he didn't want, and a heart bigger than any other.

Fleur didn't know why but even though she was terrified for Harry and his safety, not to mention being beyond horrified at the fact he had to die for this war to be won, somehow his words calmed her in a way she couldn't remember being calmed before. Yet, at the same time, she felt her heart aching to be near him and know he was safe. "Merde, 'Arry. Pourquoi as-tu besoin de parti?"(*In English* "Shit, Harry. Why did you have to leave.") she asked the empty room, not even realizing she'd turned back to her native tongue. Closing her eyes, Fleur drew a shuddering breath inwards and reread the letter, before making a mental list of everything she'd learned from it.

1)Harry was safe. 2)Harry was still pissed at the Weasleys(Molly, Ron, and Ginny) treatment of her, as well as Hermione's.3) He was still thanking her for something that happened almost 2 years ago. 4) He'd found another Horcrux. % 5)He'd gotten help getting it. 6)He didn't know how to destroy this one yet. 7)He had a few people helping him out– 'Which is only mildly reassuring.', Fleur thought– 8)He was still wishing her and Bill well. 9)He said he was going to write her again soon. 10)He was still goofing around and telling jokes to try to make her feel better.

Looking back over her thoughts, Fleur realized something. "'Arry 'az been wishing Bille and me well since ze first letter...eet iz a bit zuzpiciouz...almost like 'e iz nervous...non more like 'appy but alzo very zad zat zis 'as 'appened..."she trailed off, a thought striking her like the scar on Harry's forehead. "'Arry can't...non, I mean 'e, 'e would 'ave told me eef 'e waz..." and that's when she realized something both very exciting and truly terrifying. Harry Potter was in love with her, Fleur Delacour.

AN:/So, did you like it? Did you hate it? Was it just okay? Is this story going in a really weird direction? Did it make more sense/ was it easier to understand than the last chapter? Any questions, comments, concerns, ideas, flames, whatever feel free to put in a review or PM– as always all are appreciated. (Alliteration much?) All favourites, reviews, PM's, alerts and anything else are appreciated and taken into consideration when I do my works, so if you have an idea, tell me. Even if I don't end up using it, or I can't/don't get back to you or respond, I read all the reviews I get.

Next time: Fleur comes to terms with the fact that Harry loves her– even if he never outright said it. Harry continues on his Horcrux hunt! Who else besides Amelia is helping Harry? The others return to Hogwarts! And who knows what else– okay I might, but I'm not telling you now :P

~GGUC