"Is that Hermione?"Natalie asked Fleur as the pair were walking through the castle hallways to get to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. Fleur looked to where Natalie was pointing and saw Hermione standing by herself looking out a window.Fleur wasn't sure what the girl was looking at but it seemed to confuse Hermione if the furrowed eyebrows and scrunched up face meant anything.

"Let's go say hello."Fleur grabbed Natalie's arm and led her towards the girl.It was as Fleur got closer that she noticed Hermione was wearing healer robes."Hello Hermione."

"Hello Fleur."Hermione replied not looking away from the window.

Fleur maneuvered herself to get a look at what Hermione was looking at.All she saw was a group of students flying on brooms around the courtyard."What are you doing?"

"Looking out the window."Hermione told her.

"No I mean what are you looking at?"Fleur asked.

"The social interactions of teenagers."Hermione told her.

"What?"Fleur didn't understand what Hermione was talking about.

"Nothing."Hermione turned her attention away from the window."I don't believe we have met."

"I'm Natalie."Natalie made a move to give Hermione customary cheek kisses but was held back by Fleur's hand on her arm.

"It's nice to meet you."Hermione said.

"I feel like I know you already.Fleur talks about you all the time."Natalie teased.

"Really?"Hermione didn't understand why Fleur would speak about her.

"No I do not."Fleur denied as she felt a blush creeping its way to her cheeks.

Natalie held back a laugh."No it's true.As soon as she learned who you were it has been her main topic of conversation."

"Well it is reasonable to be interested in fellow competitors in the tournament."Hermione said.

"Exactly."Fleur quickly latched on to the excuse.Trying to change the subject she asked."Why are you wearing healer robes?"

Hermione looked down at herself."I am going to be performing some patient trials at the hospital and they prefer I wear these."

"Are you a trained healer?"Natalie asked.

"Yes, I apprenticed with the head healer at St.Mugos and earned my certification from there."Hermione told them.

Fleur looked at the girl in shock."When did you do that?"

"About 8 yrs ago."Hermione tried to remember the exact dates."I had been learning healing magic from the school healer before that so I'm not sure when I officially started."

"You were training as a healer when you were 9?"Fleur didn't know if she actually believed that.

"I guess I would have been 9 at the time."Hermione mused.

"You said you were doing patient trials.What are you trying to cure?"Natalie asked.

"Oh well it's very exciting actually.I have been working on a potion that will make werewolves human again."Hermione looked at her watch not noticing the looks of disbelief the two girls were giving her."As a matter of fact I'm supposed to meet Severus in the head master's office in few minutes.I wish I could stay longer but I'm going to have to leave you now."

Fleur had so many questions to ask her mate but her mind seemed to be too overloaded to say anything other than."Good luck."

"Thank you."Hermione gave a small smile and made her way down the hall.

"Did that really happened?"Natalie asked.

"Which part?The part where we just found out my mate was training as a healer while we were still trying to complete our first spell or the part where Hermione just told us that she created the cure for werewolves."Fleur wasn't sure which one she wanted to focus on first.

"I have said this before but it is worth saying again.Hermione is going to be a valuable member of the flock."Natalie couldn't wait to write her mothers and tell them all about this.

"Let's go eat."Fleur said deciding that eating was the best thing to do at the moment.

Natalie nodded her thanks to a boy who held the door open for them.She made her way to their table and took a seat next to Fleur.Noticing the looks the other girls were giving them she asked."What's wrong?"

"You both have weird looks on your faces."Greta told her."Did something happen?"

"Nothing really important.We just found out that Fleur's future consort cured the werwolf curse."Natalie said nonchalantly as she reached for some food.

"Wait what?"Matilda asked.

"Well the cure is in the trail stage so we won't know for sure if she actually succeeded until she comes back tonight."Fleur told them.

"How is your grandmother going to react to all the things we have learned about your mate?"Greta asked.

Fleur smiled brightly."I am more than sure that she will be beyond pleased when she learns of Hermione's many accomplishments."

"I hope that she can negotiate for the thrall potion."Natalie said.

"I guess that will all depend on what clan Hermione belongs to."Fleur hoped that Hermione's elder would reach out so Fleur could get permission to start an official courtship.She couldn't pursue Hermione romantically without permission from Hermione's clan matriarch.

"I find it fascinating that she was adopted by a clan and for it to be a blood adoption is crazy."Greta said.

"I agree and the fact that the core of her wand is a unicorn horn.I don't even know what to think."Matilda was actually worried about how challenging of a competitor Hermione was going to be in the tournament. "I feel my chances of winning the cup are low with her as a participant."

"She may have a lot of accomplishments but we don't know how good her conditioning is or how good she is with a wand."Natalie pointed out.

Before anyone could reply the hall was overwhelmed with owls delivering letters and packages.One landed in front of Fleur.Taking the letter from the owl she smiled."It's from my grandmother."

"What does our elder have to say?"Greta asked.

"Let's see."Fleur opened the letter and began to read it silently to herself.

Fleur,

I wanted to start this letter by congratulating you on finding a mate but that event has been overshadow by other events.One of them being the very politely worded threatening letter I got from the Laasko clan.If you remember your studies in Veela politics you will recognize the you know they are the most influential Dutch flock in the world.I have been trying to get an audience with the clan elder since I took over the flock.To tell you it was concerning to receive a letter late last night from their matriarch is an understatement.I ask what you have done to cause the need for the clan elder to threaten repercussions if any of you offend or attack Hermione Granger.The name you gave me for your mate.Not only do I wish to know why a Veela clan is claiming a human but I want to know what you have done to cause such concern from the other flock.I know you have impeccable manners and are smart enough not to cause friction with any other flock so I hope that this is simply a misunderstanding.You need to fix this because as you know to properly claim a mate you must be given permission to start a courtship from the Veela clan they belong to.To put it point blank don't fail.

On to other topics.I am concerned with hearing about the new head of household for the four sacred 28 families.I had found out before your letter and had been investigating the situation.The conclusion of the findings being that for some reason the person is being hidden.That reason we don't know but it is likely they are a student at Hogwarts.I need you and the rest of the flock with you to find out who this person is.It is imperative we make an ally out of them.Having such a powerful member of Wizarding society as an ally could open a lot of doors for us in not only Britain but the rest of the world.If you are able to not only secure a relationship with this person but gain the respect of the Laasko clan the flock would look favorably on you when you take over leadership of the clan.I have faith that you won't let me down.

Finally looking into your mate I am distressed to say that I can find no information.What you told me about her achievements are impressive and she would be a great asset to the flock.Unfortunately I have no idea her heritage.From the investigation we found that when she was 5 yrs old she became the ward of Dumbledore and has stayed at the castle since then.Even her education is unknown.What we have heard are rumors with the majority opinion being that she is a muggle orphan that got on the radar of the ministry.From the things you have told me it would make sense that such a talented child would be claimed by Dumbledore.How she became involved with Veela is something I do not know.Hopefully you will have luck finding out from the girl herself.Please let me know what you find out.

All my love,

Grandmother

"Oh man."Fleur rubbed her head.She could already feel a stress headache forming.

"What did she say?"Natalie asked.

"Nothing much just that the flock Hermione belongs to is the Laasko clan and they sent a threatening letter to my grandmother telling her to make sure we leave Hermione alone."Fleur said.

"The Laasko clan."Greta didn't believe that."No way."

"Oh yes way and to say my grandmother is pissed at all us is understatement."Fleur said.

"Why would she be mad at us?"Matilda didn't think anyone had even approached Hermione let alone did anything to cause their elder to be mad.

"We all know how powerful the Laasko clan is.To have them as an enemy would be astronomically bad.Not only that but my grandmother mentioned that she has been trying to get an audience with the clan elder ever since she took over the flock.So for her to receive a letter warning us to stay away from Hermione makes her think we did something wrong."Fleur explained.

"We haven't have we?"Natalie asked in concern.

Fleur shook her head."No we haven't. I think this is just a warning for us to know that if something happened to Hermione the entire Laasko clan would hold us responsible."

"Should we stay away from her?"Matilda didn't want to have the anger of the clan elder focused on her.

"I think if we just treat her with respect and not purposely offend her we will be fine."Fleur wasn't entirely sure of that but she wouldn't be able to stay away from her mate.

"Other than the warning from the Laasko clan what else did your grandmother say?"Natalie asked.

"She investigated the new head of household for the four pureblood families and thinks the person is being hidden for some reason. She also thinks that they are a student at Hogwarts and because of that she has tasked all the flock members at school to find out who it is.She wants us to befriend them to make them an ally to the clan."Fleur told them.

"So not only do we have to win over Hermione, we have to figure out the identity of a person who is being purposely hidden?And that's not all we have to somehow make them an ally to the clan."Greta wasn't sure how they were going accomplish any of it.

"She also wants us to find out how Hermione got adopted by the Laaskos."Fleur added.

Matilda threw her hands up in frustration."When are we going to have time to prepare for the tournament?"

"Maybe you can ask Hermione to train with you."Greta suggested.

"We are allowed to work with other champions.Would Hermione be willing to train together though?"That Fleur did not know.It was a good idea though."I will ask her.The worst she can say is no."

"And if she says yes then it will give you the opportunity to not only get to spend time with your mate but hopefully get the answers your grandmother wants about her."Natalie said.

"Just don't be too pushy.The last thing we need is for her to get mad at you."Matilda shuddered at the thought of what would happen if they somehow offended Hermione.

"I won't be pushy."Fleur was offended her friend would even suggest that she would.

"She's really smart so try not to make an fool out of yourself when you talk to her.Try stay on topics you actually know about and steer clear of anything you don't."Great suggested.

"Yeah you don't want her to think you are an idiot."Matilda agreed.

"I'm not an idiot.I am one of the smartest people I know."Fleur was known for her intelligence.She would have no problem having a conversation with her mate.

Natalie rolled her eyes."Just be careful.The last thing we need is your grandmother showing up and punishing all of us."

"I'll be fine."Fleur hated to admit it but she was a little worried about upsetting her grandmother.The old woman put a lot of pressure on Fleur to succeed in in not only dealing with the Laasko clan but finding out who the head of household was. Fleur had never been given such responsibility before and she knew that this was test from grandmother to see if she could handle leading the clan.The problem was she didn't know how to go about finding a person who was in hiding. She could have all of the flock members with her use their thralls to interrogate the students but she didn't feel comfortable doing that.She needed to make a professors talk.They were the most likely to know who the person was so she would have to figure out a way to get them to open up.She could approach Dumbledore as the heir to the Delacour clan and request the information under the pretense of wanted to form a political alliance.It was true so she wouldn't be lying and she knew that if anyone knew who the new head of household was it would be the head master.With the plan firmly in place Fleur went back to eating.If she was lucky she would have a name to send her grandmother by the end of the next day.