"Fleur," Harry whispered, gently waking her up.
Fleur's eyes gently fluttered open and she stretched out all of her limbs in the surprisingly comfortable bed in the Hospital Wing. After all of the chaos earlier in the day, and talking with Madame Maxime when she'd come to check up on her, Fleur had been quite happy to take a bit of a nap while she and Harry waited for Hermione to recover from her injuries.
The caring matron, Madam Pomfrey, after looking over all of Hermione's injuries and tending to them, had informed Harry and Fleur that Hermione would stay unconscious for a few more hours to let the potions in her system do their work. Apparently, Hermione had been struck with several larger fragments of cobblestone that had burrowed beneath her skin and needed to be carefully removed. After doing that and fixing the countless cuts on her body, Madam Pomfrey had poured quite a few potions down Hermione's throat and left her to rest.
Fleur and Harry had been fine by comparison. All Harry needed was a burn salve to clear up the damage done to him in the duel and Madam Pomfrey quickly dealt with the many, but thankfully minor, cuts all over her body. Once she'd dealt with them, she'd gone to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to deal with Barty Crouch Jr.
With the Hospital Wing completely empty except for them, Fleur had decided to lie down to rest. Harry couldn't, despite Fleur's attempt to get him to rest too. He insisted on staying awake by Hermione's side despite the fact that Madam Pomfrey assured them that Hermione would remain unconscious until just after supper. Fleur didn't push the issue with him though. She just told him to wake her up before it was time to wake Hermione up.
It seemed like it was finally time.
Harry helped Fleur up in bed, planting a caring kiss on her lips before she let out a satisfied yawn. The bed had been nice and soft, just the way she liked it, but now it was time to get up.
Two chairs had been placed beside Hermione's bedside. As Fleur walked over to one and Harry sat down in the one he had presumably been in before, she finally got a chance to see how much better Hermione looked after the fight.
The myriad of cuts that had littered her arms and face were completely gone now, as though they'd never been there in the first place. Hermione's robes had been deftly repaired, and Fleur had to assume that the cuts underneath were fixed up just as well as the ones on her visible skin. Her colour had returned too thanks to the blood-replenisher potion Professor Snape had given her. She'd also gotten a bump on the back of her head when she'd fallen backwards after the killing curse struck the extended wall in front of her—which had been what rendered her unconscious—but that seemed to be fixed too. Honestly, it didn't look like she'd been in a fight at all. Such were the wonders of magic that simple injuries like this could be cleared up quickly.
Hermione stirred on the bed and Harry's back immediately straightened as he leaned over her, taking her hand into his. "It's alright, you're safe," Harry murmured as Hermione's eyes shot open.
Fleur could see the panic in Hermione's eyes as they scanned the room, searching for that vibrant green light that had nearly ended her life. It must have been terrifying for her to be caught off guard like that, but at least she made it through. Hopefully she'd be able to adjust back to normality soon enough.
"Harry," Hermione gasped and clutched at his hand. Her eyes landed on Fleur for just a moment, but Fleur saw the realization filter through her mind. Fleur hadn't been sure if Hermione had even seen Fleur cast the spell that had saved her life, but now it was clear that she had. A look of embarrassment and shame flashed across Hermione's face before something else took its place. A look of curiosity perhaps, like she'd seen Fleur from a new angle that she'd never expected. But the moment passed and Hermione looked up into Harry's smiling face.
"We stopped him," Harry told her. "It was Barty Crouch Jr who had polyjuiced himself to look like Moody. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape are dealing with him now."
"Did you find out how he was helping Voldemort get to you?" Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself. Her face flushed red and she scanned the Hospital Wing, but it was thankfully empty.
Harry chuckled quietly at Hermione's reaction. "Professor Dumbledore visited while you two were resting. He mentioned something about Crouch rigging the third task in my favour. He had detailed notes on the layout of the maze and the hazards inside of it. Dumbledore thinks that Crouch was going to lead me towards some of the easier hazards by manipulating the maze walls."
"How would he even do that?" Hermione asked.
"He was the one selected to place the Triwizard Cup inside of the maze," Harry explained. "So, while he was doing that just before the task, he'd probably place enchantments or other wards that would trigger if I got close. In any case, the real concern was that Crouch had a book on creating Portkeys."
Ah, so that was the man's plan. It all suddenly became clear to Fleur in her mind.
Although Harry hadn't fully clued her in on everything, he had told her that Voldemort was alive and coming after him. Crouch was the man's servant, and if he was looking up how to make Portkeys, then it stood to reason that he was trying to send Harry straight to the dark wizard. Portkeys were strictly regulated by every Ministry, and the illegal creation of them was a common issue that law enforcement came across. Crouch may not have had prior experience creating one himself, hence the book in his possession.
"He would have turned the Cup into a Portkey," Fleur murmured.
Harry beamed at her. "Exactly!"
Hermione let out a deep sigh. "Well, at least now you'll be safe. He didn't get a chance to turn the Cup into a Portkey yet, did he?"
"No, he didn't," Harry answered.
Fleur frowned at him. She noticed the slight change in pitch in his voice; it was the same change she heard whenever he was being particularly coy about something. Hermione hadn't noticed it, but she had just woken up from her potion-induced stupor.
Harry caught Fleur's look and smiled sheepishly back at her.
That was when Hermione finally caught on that something was going on. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Well," Harry said slowly. "Even though Crouch didn't manage to turn the Cup into a Portkey, Dumbledore thinks there's a good chance that Voldemort will send someone else to try and do it."
Before Fleur could piece it together, Hermione gasped. "You're going to let it happen, aren't you?"
Harry's look told the two women everything they needed to know.
"You arse!" Hermione shouted.
"Like hell you are!" Fleur exclaimed at the same time.
Harry held his hands up in surrender. "Dumbledore thinks it's a good plan too."
"Fuck what Dumbledore thinks!" Hermione shouted again, jabbing a finger at Harry's chest. "You're the one who's going to be in danger."
"Exactly!" Fleur nodded along. They didn't know of Voldemort in France as well as the British did, but she knew enough to have a good idea as to how dangerous he was. "You can't seriously be thinking about stepping into his trap for you."
"Ah, but if I step into his trap knowing that's already a trap, then it'll be like he's stepping into my trap instead," Harry tried to argue playfully, but he found little sympathy from Fleur or Hermione.
"No." Fleur crossed her arms beneath her chest. "I will not let you do this."
"Neither will I," Hermione added.
It was funny. All it took was Harry trying to risk his life for them to end up on the same side.
"I need you both to trust me," Harry insisted. "Dumbledore thinks that Voldemort isn't at his full power. If he was, he would have already made his move long ago." He turned to Hermione. "You saw what he was like in our first year. He's just a shadow of his former self. We know that he's trying to become whole again, and we can't let that happen."
"If you don't go, then it won't," Hermione pleaded with him.
"We don't know that," Harry replied with a sad smile. "Even Dumbledore suspects that Voldemort will eventually go after other people to try to fully resurrect himself. This might be our only chance to get him before he gets tired of chasing me around and targets innocents."
"You are an innocent," Fleur noted quietly.
"Yes, well," Harry grimaced. "I've been used to stuff like this my whole life; it's not as much of a burden as you might think. If there's a chance I can deal with Voldemort before he hurts anyone else, then I have to take this opportunity. Dumbledore is going to try to make me as safe as possible, and he'll come find me wherever I'm taken."
In that moment, Fleur knew that she couldn't bear the thought of Harry going off alone to fight this evil wizard. She'd known him for a very short period of time, but everything inside of herself told her that Harry was the one for her. She'd never leave his side willingly, and she wasn't about to let him do this alone.
"I'm going with you," Fleur declared, much to both Harry and Hermione's surprise.
Hermione's mouth hung agape as her mind struggled to come up with a response, but Harry regained his wits much more quickly. "No, you-" He began.
"Yes I will," Fleur insisted with a serious look. "You know I can hold my own in a fight, and if you're set on doing this, then I need to make sure you're safe. This isn't a discussion."
"I agree with Fleur," Hermione spoke up softly.
Fleur wasn't sure if this was what she'd expected or if she was surprised to hear Hermione agree with her. On one hand, Fleur had become used to Hermione disagreeing with her out of principle on many things. On the other, Fleur was risking her life with this plan, and that could lead to Hermione being the only woman in Harry's life if things went poorly.
But those uncharitable thoughts faded away from Fleur's mind when Hermione looked over at her. Her eyes seemed desperate to convey that Fleur's worst fears weren't the case; Hermione didn't want Fleur hurt. In fact, Hermione seemed relieved that Fleur would be going with Harry.
"You need someone watching your back," Hermione added. "And Fleur can do it better than I can. She's already going to be in the maze with you, so it makes sense from a logistical point of view too. It'll be easy for you two to find each other and reach the cup at the same time. You can hold hands and one of you can guard the other while you take the portkey. If you do get ambushed wherever you arrive, hopefully you'll be able to at least fight back."
"Exactly," Fleur nodded.
Harry let out a deep sigh. It was clear that he wasn't happy with this in the slightest, but he understood why Fleur was willing to do this. With Hermione in agreement, he knew that there was little chance of this not working out in her favour.
"Alright," Harry reluctantly said. "But if we're going in together, you need to follow my orders. I need to know that if the worst comes to pass and we're at risk of capture or death, you'll take any chance you can get to escape, even if it means leaving me behind."
"Only if you won't recklessly endanger yourself," Fleur tried to compromise.
"Deal."
A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! If you are interested in reading more or supporting me, check out at p atreon .com(slash) ashox