Fleur popped into her flat and immediately tore off the hood and jumper, violently throwing them against the nearest wall as she yelled her frustration. Her hands were shaking badly and her magic was going out of control, but she didn't care. Quickly she moved to the kitchen, grabbing the nearest bottle of wine and opening it. She took a long drag from the bottle, though it did less than she'd hoped to calm her nerves.
The fireplace roared green and Luc stepped through, his face shifting to concern as he looked between her and the bottle in her hand.
"Fleur, are you okay?" he asked, moving towards her, though he stopped when she shot him a dirty look.
"Do I look like I'm okay, Luc?" she spat.
"Fleur, you're bleeding from your head."
His voice was low, soft, and full of concern.
She reached up and ran her hand over her forehead, feeling a small amount of blood catching on her hand as she pulled it away. It must have happened during the fight and was likely the source of her pounding headache. She caught sight of her reflection in a mirror and stopped. Her hair was a mess, there was a line of dried blood running down the side of her face, and her eyes had bags under them.
She took another long pull of the bottle before it was ripped from her hands. A withering glare was all he received as he held the bottle away from her.
"Fleur, what happened?" Luc asked. She could still hear the concern in his voice as she plopped down into a chair. "I've gotten word that something happened at the Nott manor tonight but nobody has been able to tell me what."
"I got caught," she said, though she didn't look up at him.
She may have set their investigation back months, and she couldn't look him in the eyes knowing that it had been her fault. She'd arrived at the property and breached the wards without an issue, but the battle that broke out while she was attempting to enter the building had been unexpected. Fortuitous, but unexpected. She'd bet on using the chaos to her advantage, allowing her to slip in and out without being seen, but Harry had to have spotted her.
She shouldn't have engaged him. She shouldn't have taunted him. She shouldn't have flirted with him.
Most of all, however, she shouldn't have felt as much excitement and pure fun as she had dueling him.
"The Aurors attacked just as I was getting into the building," she explained. "I tried to use it to get in unseen, but Harry spotted me. I didn't think anyone would be upstairs."
"Did he see your face?"
She shook her head.
"No, nothing like that." She felt Luc relax as he took out his wand and began to run it along the lines of her face. Her skin tingled as the dried blood evaporated and the cut began to close. "We fought and I…got carried away. I started a fire."
"Were you burned?" Luc asked as he finished healing and cleaning her wound. Already her headache was beginning to subside.
She shook her head.
"No, but all the documents in the office were burned. We got nothing Luc, and it was all my fault."
She felt terrible and waited for him to blow up, to yell at her. She was prepared for it because it was what she deserved. Instead, however, she felt him place a calming hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. His face still held concern and his mouth had parted into a small smile.
"It's alright, Fleur, really," he reassured her. She tried to shake her head but he held up his other hand, stopping her. "We'll get more information another way. The important thing is that you're safe."
She bolted up, nearly knocking him over as she began to pace.
"No, can't you see? This sets us back so far!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Nott's being held by the Ministry and we've got no other leads on the group. It's going to be difficult to find more. This could take years!"
He let out a long sigh as he stood up, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Fleur, it'll be fine, I promise. We'll find another way. We always do."
She glared at him.
"And how is that, Luc? What other way can we get information? Enlighten me," she asked, placing her hands on her hips as she waited for an answer.
He opened and closed his mouth several times before looking at her.
"You won't like it," he said sheepishly.
She raised an eyebrow.
"You could use Harry to get the information we need," Luc explained.
Fleur opened her eyes wide and turned away from him before moving to the window at the far side of the room. She looked up at the moon and let out a low sigh. She couldn't do that to Harry, could she? He was so good to her, so full of life, and he made her feel normal. Almost as if there wasn't this big weight crushing her chest, this burning desire for justice that fueled her. When she was with him, she was just Fleur, a normal curse breaker who lived a normal life doing normal things.
Not an international thief hell-bent on bringing her sister's murderer to justice.
"I can't do that to him," she whispered, though she made sure Luc could hear her.
"You might not have much of a choice, Fleur." He walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. She grabbed it with her own hand and squeezed back. "You need to get some rest, you've had a long night. We'll figure this out over the next few days, but you need to decide how you want to move forward, and that might include leaning on the people you care about to get what you need."
She didn't turn around as he left in a whirl of green fire, she just stood there looking at the moon, a million thoughts racing through her mind. Her brain knew the right answer, the logical choice, but her heart hurt at the idea of more lies being added to her life. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she whispered words she'd said hundreds of times before.
"Oh Gabby, what do I do?"
.
.
"You're sure about this?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
Draco sighed, exasperated.
"Yes Potter, for the hundredth time, none of them are buying their way out of this, though Li's situation is a bit different."
"How so?"
"Why were you not at the meeting when we went over this?" Draco asked in irritation.
"I don't know Malfoy, maybe because of the second degree burns on half my chest and left shoulder?"
Draco sighed again but held his hands up.
"Fair enough," he said. "Li was there as a representative for her father. Or so she claims. Doesn't diminish her actions, but she's offered to help us build another case against him in exchange for us taking that into account."
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. Theo had held up his end of the bargain, helping them uncover all the stolen and illegal items from the house, though the fight with the Shadow had destroyed much of the documents in the study. Still, he couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted that one of them was still trying to worm their way out of it.
"You look like hell," Draco commented.
"Thanks Malfoy, your input is much appreciated," he replied, looking over at the man. "Now get the fuck away from my desk."
Draco huffed but left nonetheless, a fact Harry was grateful for. He'd gone home for just a few hours to sleep after the raid, damn near forced to by Sirius, but things had been an absolute madhouse in the days since. The unexpected appearance of the Shadow had thrown a new element into the mix as well. He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hand, feeling someone drop into the seat that had just been vacated.
"Dammit Malfoy, I said get the fu-"
"Easy there, Harry," Tonks said. "It's just me. My cousin fucked off when you told him to."
Harry looked at her with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, my shoulder is still quite stiff so I'm not feeling the best."
"That's because you wouldn't go see a healer and thought a bad field dressing would suffice, so now you've got to use those crappy salves until the burns heal," she said, looking over at his wrapped shoulder and chest.
"Moody used to say dealing with the pain was what separated the good from the great. Said bruises helped make the training stick better," he pointed out.
Tonks was right, of course, but he couldn't begin to think about going see a healer until he knew she and Frank were alright. By the time that happened he had been pulled into a meeting about the Shadow, so he'd done what he could with what he had, just as he'd been trained. The healer who finally checked him out was very displeased, not that he wasn't used to it. The looks he'd gotten from Madam Pomphrey at Hogwarts had been downright withering.
"How are you doing?" he asked.
"Better than you," she said with a smirk before leaning forward and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Harry. Frank and I are fine and there's nothing you could have done differently to prevent us from getting injured. It's part of the job."
"I left the room," he countered.
"To chase down another criminal who wasn't supposed to be there," she pointed out. "One who might be tied up in all this whole mess in some way. You were doing your job, so stop beating yourself up over it. Besides, James already got an earful from Alice, so the Potter men have suffered enough from this."
Harry winced.
"How'd that go?"
Tonks laughed as she leaned back.
"Pretty sure Frank is banned from any sort of field work, though he told James not to listen to Alice. It's been a whole thing." She stood up and looked down at him. "James wants to see you."
Harry nodded and stood up, making his way across the room and to the Head Aurors office, poking his head into the open door.
"You wanted to see me?"
James nodded and smiled up at him from behind his glasses.
"Yeah, just a few things. First, the Minister gave you a commendation for the raid. I tossed it in the fire for you," he said with a smile.
Harry nodded.
"As is tradition."
"Second, Croaker is going to need your memories of seeing Rookwood," James continued. "From what I've been told he's tearing through his department with little regard for politics, but he wants to make sure he's not missing anything. A third of his department has been canned or moved to other sections of the Ministry, though Draco said nobody has been charged with anything."
"I'll drop them into a vial and get them to you in the next few days," Harry confirmed.
James nodded.
"Lastly," he said, standing up and pointing towards the lift, "get the hell out of the department for a bit. Go see Fleur."
Harry opened his mouth to protest but James cut him off.
"No arguments. If you want to take this as an official order then do so. You look like hell, son. You need some time off, at least an afternoon. I'm sure you and Fleur can get up to something that'll take your mind off things," he said with a wink.
Harry scrunched up his nose.
"Ugh, please, just don't," Harry replied before nodding his head and sobering up. "But you're right. Neville took care of most of my paperwork so I don't have much to do here anyway. A bit of time away probably wouldn't hurt."
James smiled before coming around the desk and clapping Harry on the shoulder.
"Now, go out and see your girlfriend. Who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky."
Sirius whistled from his desk not far from the office.
"I hate both of you," Harry deadpanned as he walked away.
.
.
She looked up as the door to the department opened and frowned. She could see him favoring his left side, though she knew he'd likely had it looked at by now. They hadn't seen each other since before the manor, at least not as Fleur and Harry, and the difference in his demeanor was apparent.
"What's wrong?" she asked, placing the notepad back into her apron to give him her full attention.
"What makes you think something's wrong?" he tried lamely.
She scowled at him. He was trying to keep her from worrying, and that was touching, but she needed to know he was okay. That the spell she'd hit him with hadn't done any serious damage. She walked over to him and reached up to touch his left shoulder. He shied away just before she could place her hand down.
A single raised eyebrow was all that was needed for his resolve to crumble.
"Alright, so maybe I got a little toasted on the job," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's nothing, really."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You won't let me touch it but it's nothing?" she asked. "Why have you not had a healer look at it?"
"I did…" he said.
"But…?"
"Just not right away. And I kind of improperly handled it before seeing a healer," he said with a smile. "It's healing though."
"What happened?" she asked.
Liar.
You know what happened.
Harry shrugged slightly.
"The raid went a bit wonky and I ended up getting burned, though the burns are a result of my own carelessness as opposed to any real danger."
"You don't think whatever caused you these wounds was a threat?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A threat? Yeah. A serious one? No, I don't think they'd have seriously hurt me if they could avoid it."
That caught Fleur's attention, though she made no outward indication. He didn't think she would have severely injured him if it came down to it, and that warmed her heart. She didn't want him to think the Shadow had it out for him, and although she was clearly outmatched in their duel, he was right that she would have never tried anything that would have caused him any lasting harm.
Seeing him with his current wounds made her feel guilty enough.
"Come on," she instructed as she looked up at him. "We're going back to your flat."
He raised an eyebrow and smirked suggestively.
"Ms. Delacour, are you propositioning me?"
She stepped closer to him, placing a tender hand on the side of his face and giving him a sultry look. He leaned down as she moved to place her mouth by his ear.
"I want to…" she whispered, "make you dinner and redress your wounds."
With a laugh at the look on his face she patted him on the cheek as she pulled away.
"Evil witch," he mumbled as his cheeks flushed a light scarlet.
She took his hand into hers and began leading him out of the room.
"Come on, let's get you resting. You look like you're in a bit of pain. Do you have enough for a home cooked meal?"
Harry smiled at her and attempted a small shrug.
"I guess we'll find out?"
Fleur rolled her eyes and led him out of the curse breaking department and the bank proper, not slowing down until they were at the apparition point near the Alley. With just a look at him she popped them over to his flat, landing gracefully in his kitchen, though she noticed he grunted as his feet hit the ground. She sent him a look.
"Haven't really done much apparition in the last couple days. Floo seems to agree with my shoulder more," he explained.
Her eyes widened in concern.
"Oh, I didn't even think about that. I'm so sorry!"
He waved her off.
"Don't worry about it," he said casually, opening the cabinet and looking back at her. "You want a drink?"
She took him by the hand and pulled him out of the kitchen, pushing him down gently into one of the chairs at the table.
"I'll get it," she insisted, "I'm supposed to be feeding you, so stop trying to be a good host and just rest."
"Fine, fine," he said, holding his hands up. "Damn, you're more insistent than Alice when I get hurt in the field."
Fleur moved back to the kitchen and grabbed two wine glasses and a bottle. A smile crossed her face as she noticed it was one that she had, in passing, mentioned last month that she enjoyed. She poured two glasses and returned one to him at the table.
"She's probably just looking out for you."
He huffed and took a sip of his wine.
"That's what Frank says." He looked at the glass of wine and up at her as she made her way back to the kitchen to take stock of what he had available. "You weren't kidding, this is good stuff."
"I'm honestly surprised you remembered," she said as she began to wave her wand, ingredients, seasoning, and utensils floating into the air. "I mentioned it in passing. Didn't think you were listening."
He laughed.
"I may not be very bright, but I do know to listen when a pretty woman speaks."
She hummed as she began to prepare their dinner, a simple chicken-based French dish that was her childhood favorite, letting the process wash away the stress of the day. As the knife began cutting the chicken, she heated the stove and placed the bacon in the Dutch oven. She continued to hum as she set the knife to chop the mushrooms, but stopped when Harry groaned in protest.
Casting a glance his way she could see him shedding his outer robe gently, pulling his left side free from the confines. Underneath the robe was a loose shirt, a necessity considering the bandaging that still wrapped around his chest and shoulder. She frowned and went back to her preparations, guilt welling inside of her. She had done that. She'd done it without a second thought, so intent on getting the information she needed that it hadn't even crossed her mind that he might get burned.
Luc's words filtered through her mind as she began to remove the bacon and place it on a plate.
We'll figure this out over the next few days, but you need to decide how you want to move forward, and that might include leaning on the people you care about to get what you need.
She'd been adamant about not bringing him into this, content with finding another way, but that was proving to be difficult. Luc had worked tirelessly over the last three days to find other sources of information, but each one turned up nothing. Each dead end pushed her closer to facing the fact that she may have to do what she didn't want to. Luc had remained silent, but the looks he'd given her had spoken volumes.
"Hey," Harry said, breaking her out of her ruminations, "have you ever seen a spell that can make it seem like there's four of you in the room?"
Why was he bringing up the spells she'd used that night? Panic flooded through her for an instant before she pushed it away.
She nodded her head.
"Just a bit of illusion magic," she confirmed, wiping her hands on a towel as she looked over at him. "It doesn't require a lot of power, but it can be difficult to get right. Not casting illusion spells properly can make them very easy to see through."
She looked back at the stove and began placing the chicken into the Dutch oven, sliding the lid on with a flick of her wand.
"Why do you ask?"
He took a sip of his wine and she could see the internal debate going on in his head, but wasn't quite sure where he was going with this. Terror once more shot through her at the idea that he'd figured out it was her, but she pushed it back down. There was no way he'd know. She'd been careful, incredibly careful, and had years of practice at remaining careful. A couple run-ins with him wouldn't break that care.
She grabbed her own glass of wine and took a sip. She performed a few casual swipes with her wand before jabbing the tip of it at the stove. The rest of the meal would cook itself until it was ready. She moved back out of the kitchen and sat down in the chair opposite of him. He didn't look up at her, though his brow was still furrowed in concentration.
"Is everything alright, Harry?" she asked.
He opened and closed his mouth several times, apparently unable to find the right words to say. She didn't know if she was grateful for that or not. Her heart beat faster and her ears were warm in anticipation. Her skin tingled as she casually slipped her hand into her robes, gripping her wand tightly.
Finally he looked up at her.
"Have you ever heard of the Shadow?"
She forced her hand to loosen the grip around her wand as she nodded.
"My family told me about them when I was visiting a few years ago," she said, taking another sip of wine to give herself time to think. "They were stealing from wealthy French magical families and muggle museums. Made the headlines quite a bit."
He nodded.
"Yeah, though the French Ministry thinks the stuff they stole from the museums were all magical in nature," he revealed.
She opened her eyes wide. That hadn't been public knowledge, but it was incredibly accurate. Everything she stole from the muggle world had some sort of connection to the magical one, either by being an item of old magic or containing something within that held magic. Harry had just given her classified information.
She let her hand slip from her wand completely as he hissed in pain.
"Where are your supplies?" she asked, moving her chair to sit next to him as he flicked his wand, a large jar of salve and several rolls of bandages floating in from the other room. She looked at his shirt and up at him.
"Come on, let's change those bandages. Shirt off Mister."
He chuckled as he complied.
"You're attractive when you're assertive," he joked.
"If I wanted to get you naked, Potter, you'd know it," she replied with a smile before grabbing the salve and bandages. "Now turn to face me. I'll take off the old bandages and reapply the salve."
She got to work, unrolling the bandages from his shoulder first, knowing that the fire she had burned him with would have left his skin sensitive to magic. As the last of the bandage fell she inspected the skin, frowning at the irritated texture that it had taken on. Quickly she moved to the bandages on his chest, undoing them and letting the dirty ones fall to the ground. It took everything in her power not to gasp at the large burn that covered half his chest.
It was a mixture of red and pink cracked, angry skin that contrasted sharply with the other side of his chest.
She'd caused these wounds.
"Hey," he said softly, causing her to look up at him. He smiled. "It's not that bad. Really, it looks worse than it is."
"It looks plenty bad," she replied, looking back down at the burns, "so you'll forgive me if I don't believe you."
"It's nothing, really. Just a temporary inconvenience at worst. I got reckless," he reasoned.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Reckless?"
He nodded.
"I could have blocked it, or stepped out of the way, but I didn't. I got too caught up in the moment. I've got nobody to blame but myself for that."
Fleur nodded as she opened the jar, fully aware that he didn't realize the impact of his words. She'd caused his pain, but he didn't direct the blame at the Shadow. It didn't lessen her guilt, not really, but it did make it feel less suffocating. She began to gently apply the cool salve to the burns on his chest when he spoke again.
"They're here."
Her hand stopped and she looked up at him.
"What?"
"The Shadow," he clarified, "they're no longer in France. They're here in England."
She resumed her job of applying the salve, moving on to his shoulder, hoping that he wouldn't feel her quickening heartbeat through her fingers.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Yeah, I've seen them twice. First at the Malfoy party and then again the other night, at the Nott manor raid."
Finished with the salve, she vanished the remains on her hand before taking a deep breath and grabbing the bandages. Looking up, they locked eyes.
"Did they…?" she asked, trailing off but gesturing towards the burns.
He nodded.
"Yeah, but like I said, I don't blame anyone but me. I could have stopped them quicker but I didn't."
She could tell him to stop talking. Ask him if he's supposed to be telling her this, and when he said no, tell him to stop. That it was none of her business. That she didn't want him getting into trouble because he told her something she wasn't supposed to know. Yet, she'd already let him talk this much, let him give her this much information that she wasn't supposed to know. She could still choose to stop it.
Once again, Luc's words filtered through her mind.
You might not have much of a choice, Fleur.
How did the saying go? In for a knut, in for a galleon?
"Am I to assume you are telling me this no doubt classified information for a reason?" she asked, looking at him as she began to wrap his shoulder.
He nodded.
"They're…really good with fancy spellwork. Ridiculously good at clever charms and misdirection." He smiled. "I was able to take them down in a straight duel, but they matched me in non-magical combat. That's me saying I've never run into anyone like them out in the field."
She finished wrapping his shoulder and grabbed another roll of bandages, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm happy to listen, Harry, but I still don't see why you're telling me this."
He looked almost embarrassed as she began to wrap his chest.
"I need your help," he admitted.
She didn't let on that her internal alarms were ringing, or the shock she felt at the words, she simply kept wrapping his chest until she was done, leaning back in her chair to give him a long look. His eyes were pleading, an almost puppy dog-like quality to them that would have melted her heart and had her doing whatever he needed in an instant…if she weren't the person he was talking about.
Why did this have to be so complicated?
"With what?" she prodded, finishing off her glass of wine. She would need another before the night was over.
"I need help beating them," he said seriously, sliding his shirt back over his head, though she noticed he didn't groan in protest as he moved his shoulder. "They're tied up in this cult business that the rest of the department is working on, and I found this thing about Regulus at the manor, so I just know they're going to show up again."
She froze.
He'd found something at the manor? They'd burned everything in the office, she'd seen it herself before leaving. The desk was nearly completely engulfed in flames when he'd bested her, but something had survived? Wheels began turning in her head as she took quick stock of the situation.
"What sort of help?" she asked.
"Help me take them down," he replied with conviction. "They're clearly an expert at charms and so are you. My mum has consulted for the department before, but she's all the way at Hogwarts these days, so I'm asking you. I hate to involve you in this, but I think taking down the Shadow would help give us a better idea of what the overall picture looks like."
Harry was asking her for help to, essentially, investigate herself. He clearly wasn't supposed to be telling her about any of this, but he was here, desperate for any sort of advantage to help him do his job. She admired him for that, the way he thought outside of the box instead of just beating his head against the wall. It was one of the reasons she was able to operate so freely in France, because their Aurors didn't think outside the box.
She admired him for that and hated herself for what she was about to do.
"Alright, I'll help," she said with a smile.
He beamed at her.
"Great!" he said, jumping up, quickly wincing as his shoulder protested. He recovered after a moment and began pacing. He gave her a full rundown of both of their encounters, and she was both horrified and fascinated to hear them from another perspective. He was clearly enamoured with her skill, but also cautious enough not to jump to any conclusions.
"Have they spoken with you during any of this?" she asked as the timer went off signifying the food was ready. With a few casual flicks of her wand the plates began to fill, slowly floating over to the table and landing in front of them.
Harry nodded.
"Yeah, a bit, but not much," he said, and she could see the slightest bit of pink enter his cheeks.
She almost smiled, but took a bite of food to play it off. He was embarrassed about the flirting, but he shouldn't be. It was the best part of their encounters in her opinion.
"I'm thinking I need to get that voice distortion charm removed. If I can just talk to them properly…" he said after swallowing his first bite. He looked down at the plate and back at her. "This is delicious by the way."
She nodded.
"So their voice is distorted?" she asked.
"Yeah," confirmed Harry, "it gives them a bit of a robotic tone."
Fleur bit her lip as she concentrated. She could help him nullify the charm with ease. She did, after all, develop and cast it herself, but that would simply lead him to her quicker. She needed to get more information out of him about this Regulus person, which meant she needed a way to extend the time she spent helping him.
Perhaps a bit of classic misdirection, right from a thieves playbook?
"I could probably develop something to help with that," she finally said and his eyes lit up.
"Really?"
She nodded.
"I think so. Voices are unique to each person, so the spell they're using would be incredibly unique."
Truth.
"But, if I were able to disrupt the magic itself, prevent it from working even not knowing how it was done, that should revert their voice back to normal."
Lie.
A bold lie, one she was now fully committed to. She wouldn't give him anything to reveal the identity of the Shadow, no, that wouldn't be helpful. Instead, she'd develop something that would simply make her sound like someone else entirely.
As they started chatting about the possibilities and what testing would be needed, she felt the guilt begin to rise again. It was far greater than before, all-encompassing, as if she were being swept away to sea. Before it was simply for hurting him, now it was for actively working against him.
As his eyes continued to glow with child-like happiness, her thoughts turned towards the future. She hoped he'd be the one to show her how to live a normal life when this was all over.
She didn't know if that would be possible anymore, as she wasn't sure he'd forgive her if he ever found out what she'd done.
.
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AN: Thanks for reading!