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Chapter 46

Harry felt warm, comfortable, and safe. There was something odd about that; he didn't know why, but a part of him felt like he shouldn't be feeling any of those things right now. It didn't matter, though, he was tired and he was going to sleep right here. However, Harry then felt a hand running through his hair. It was either Hermione or Fleur. That would explain him feeling warm, comfortable, and safe. Hermione and Fleur would definitely make sure he was moved to a good location after… after…. Whatever it was, it didn't matter right now.

From somewhere over him, a voice started to hum something that sounded vaguely familiar to Harry, but he just couldn't place the tune or the voice humming it. Even though he couldn't think of whose voice it was, though, he still somehow felt completely safe. Eventually, Harry's curiosity got the better of him and he opened his eyes to see who the voice belonged to, but winced as he was blinded by a strong white light. "Hello pumpkin. How are you feeling?"

Now that the voice actually spoke, Harry recognised the voice, one he would never let himself forget. "Mum? Is that really you? Am…am I dead?"

She ran her fingers through Harry's hair again as she answered. "In order: sort of but not really; again sort of but no; and I'm happy to say you are very much alive. I…well I'm not really sure what I am, but I think the best description is something like a magical ghost. I'm an echo of your mum, the one from Voldemort's wand."

When his mum mentioned the echo coming from Voldemort's wand, Harry remembered everything that had happened and tried to sit up, but her hand pressed lightly on his shoulder and kept him where he was. "You need to rest for now Harry, you used a lot of magic and you need to recover. Just rest and listen. As I was saying, I'm an echo of your mum, the one from Voldemort's wand. But when I kissed your forehead I could feel my magic inside you. Not just a spell, as any spell would have long since faded by now. What I felt was my magical core. My best guess is that when I died wishing with everything I had that I could protect you, my magic somehow was transplanted to you with the singular purpose of protecting you. Then, my magic drew in my echo when it emerged, merging us into this so that I could stay with you for a time and help you as much as I can," Lily explained, a touch of joy and sorrow both present in her voice. "Why don't you tell me about growing up? What did I miss?"

Harry hesitated, because if he told her then she would feel guilty that she couldn't keep him safe. On the other hand, if she was going to be in his head then she would probably learn it all eventually anyway. In the end, Gryffindors charge forward, and so Harry spent he didn't know how long telling the echo of his mum everything that had happened to him. His mother's reactions were just what he had always hoped: anger and rage at her sister and her whale of a husband, laughing at some of his early accidental magic, and pride at everything he had done since rejoining the wizarding world. She loved how Harry described Hermione and Fleur, though she was surprised that Harry had ended up with two betrotheds, but all throughout she was encouraging and supportive. By the end of it they were hugging each other, both emotionally drained, but Harry somehow felt better for it.

-ϟϟϟ-

Hermione was the first of the three to wake up in the hospital wing, most likely because out of all of them she was the only one who hadn't been cursed. She was "only" suffering from the very reasonable stress of having her one betrothed kidnapped and the other hit with some unknown curse. Madam Pomfrey had given Hermione a calming draft and a dreamless sleep potion before they had found Harry, so when she looked around she was relieved to see Harry in the bed next to hers, all his limbs in the right places while he slept soundly. The bed next to Harry's had a sleeping Fleur, and the spaces between the beds were filled with their parents, a godparent, and an honorary uncle.

Hermione's parents were talking to Sirius and Remus and hadn't noticed that Hermione was awake yet, so she asked the most important question to her right now. "How are they? Are Harry and Fleur going to be ok?" Her voice cracked a little as she spoke because her throat was dry.

Everyone turns to look at her, but it was her mum who answered first. "Madam Pomfrey said they will both be fine. They found the counter curse for Fleur and Harry is just exhausted. She expects them both to be fully awake by lunch." Hermione relaxed when she heard the news, but now that she knew that her loved ones were going to be OK there was another pressing matter to attend to. So, ignoring the protests of her parents, she slipped out of bed and went to the loo.

While taking care of nature's call, Hermione had a chance to think for a few minutes. As much as thinking that she had lost the two people who had come to mean the world to her had scared and messed her up, the fact that one of them had been cursed and the other kidnapped was going to be much harder on them than it was on her, and she was going to have to be there for the both of them. She took a few minutes to centre herself before returning to the main ward of the hospital wing. She was immediately told by her parents to get back in her bed, and she didn't argue, instead insisting that she be told everything that they already knew. They told her what happened to Fleur first, and Hermione was relieved to hear that Fleur was essentially fine and was probably only still asleep because she had had a dose of dreamless sleep after Hermione, so they were just waiting for that to wear off. Then they told her what they knew about what had happened to Harry. That Voldemort had been in the school shocked her, but what really bothered her was that Harry had once again had to fight that monster alone. Hermione had just been lying there asleep while Harry was fighting for his life.

That made Hermione angry, not at Harry or any of her friends, not even at Voldemort, though a good portion of anger was aimed at him as well. No, Hermione was angry with herself; she had been training for the Triwizard Tournament all year, which had included some combat training (though it was more aimed at dealing with monsters such as fire snakes and Blast-Ended Skrewts than people). The point was, she had trained hard and long, but when she was needed, instead of standing next to Harry where she could have helped him, she had lost her wits to the point that Madam Pomfrey had had to sedate her. She vowed to herself right there that she would do better next time.

After Fleur woke up and she was told about everything that had happened, her response was to get so worked up that she did something Hermione had only ever read about, transforming into her avian hybrid form. Wisps of smoke started to curl off her as she paced back and forth, her anger making her control of her fire powers slip enough that she was singeing the clothes she was wearing. Fleur wasn't as physically appealing in this form, but as far as Hermione could tell she was still Fleur. The anger and rage at the idea that someone would hurt Harry was impossible to fake, so Hermione walked up to her and wrapped her arms around the barely continued rage that was her girlfriend.

The hug helped Fleur start to calm down almost immediately. "It's okay, Fleur. Harry is fine, and next time he will have both of us with him," Hermione stated as though it was a fact. Once Fleur was calmer, she realised she had shifted her form and started trying to shy away from Hermione. However, the younger girl wasn't about to let Fleur be self conscious about how she looked and held on tighter before leaning in and kissing her on her beak. Fleur couldn't say anything when she was like this (as she lacked the lips to form words), but Hermione didn't need words to know that Fleur was surprised. "What, you don't think Harry and I love you for your looks, do you? You are so much more than that," Hermione said with obvious sincerity.

Fleur's eyes widened when Hermione said that she loved her. As many times as Fleur had heard Harry and Hermione tell each other that, they had never yet said it to her. Fleur couldn't say she was worried that they hadn't said it yet, Hermione had enjoyed telling Fleur both the story of when she and Harry had gotten together and and the story of when they had told each other that they loved each other. As both incidents had happened around Christmas, Fleur knew it took them about a year to say that to each other. However, that didn't mean that Fleur wasn't anxious about it, especially given how she feared that Harry and Hermione would reject her once they saw her in her ugly inner form. That Hermione had told Fleur she loved her for the first time while Fleur looked like a monster from a horror movie was enough to have her collapse into her girlfriend. While crying tears of joy, she wrapped her scaled wings around Hermione and completely enveloped her in a hug.

After a few minutes, Hermione released Fleur only to find that she looked normal again. She took the opportunity to steal a quick kiss from Fleur's lips, but when they turned back to the adults in the room both teens were embarrassed to see their parents beaming at them. Hermione's parents, despite any misgivings they might have had over their daughter's three way relationship, were proud that their daughter saw more to the French girl than her admittedly stunning looks. Fleur's parents were happy that their daughter had someone who saw Fleur for who she was beyond her being a Veela. However, everyone was soon distracted as Ali brought Gabrielle to check on her sister, the other champion having stepped up to babysitting duty when the Delacours had their hands full with a hospitalised Fleur.

When Harry woke up, he saw that both Hermione and Fleur were sitting together at the side of his bed. In a moment, all the images of Fleur being hit by the unknown spell and collapsing flooded his mind, and he quickly threw his arms around the French girl and did his best imitation of a Hermione-style hug. Fleur was surprised, as Harry seemed to have gone from asleep to violently almost hurting her in under ten seconds, but after the hug she had gotten from Hermione when Fleur herself had woken up this reaction wasn't totally unexpected. Harry didn't copy Hermione and profess his love, but his actions spoke louder than words, and his absolute relief at seeing Fleur alive spoke volumes for anyone who cared to listen.

-ϟϟϟ-

The evening after the second task, Harry, Hermione, and Fleur (along with Hermione's parents and Fleur's parents, as well as Sirius) found themselves in a conference with Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, Director Bones, the Minister for Magic, and of course the pink ball of hate that followed the Minister everywhere. Delores Umbridge had, well, taken umbrage with two muggles being included in the meeting. However, given that they were the legal guardians of both Harry and Hermione, and that as minors they couldn't be questioned without a guardian, and Hogwarts professors were only permitted to assume that role if the child's legal guardian wasn't available, all that amounted to was a lot of words from the bigoted woman with the dress sense of a five year old and no actual change as the Grangers sat down to a meeting with the Minister for Magic. But, as much as Fudge played at being in charge of the meeting, it was obvious that it was Director Bones's show in reality. "I need you all to please tell me exactly what happened from your own point of view," she said in a tone that made it clear that it wasn't a request.

At first they spoke together, each adding points from their own perspective while they recounted the time they were together. Fleur went quiet first as her reflections ended with her falling unconscious. Neither Harry or Hermione minced their words about the fear they experienced at the sight of Fleur being hit by an unknown spell by the same man they had seen murder Auror Moonshine almost exactly a year ago. Hearing the recounting of what the two people Fleur intended to spend the rest of her life with had endured filled her with conflicting emotions, with sorrow at their pain and guilt over being at least part of the cause as two of the most prominent. Yet, there was also an undercurrent of positive emotions as she listened to proof that Harry and Hermione cared deeply for her. Fleur got up from her seat where she had been on the end (with Harry sandwiched between her and Hermione) and moved to stand between them pulling them both into a comforting embrace as they talked.

Then, it was Harry's turn to tell them what had happened to him. He told them about Pettigrew taking him to a graveyard, how they had bound him to a grave, and how his blood was used as an ingredient in a potion that restored Voldemort to a body. He told them about how he used his ring to retrieve his wand and slip out of his restraints, and about the Death Eaters coming for him and his desperate fight not to be retaken or just outright murdered. During Harry's retelling, Fleur had returned to her seat and now both of his girls were pressed up against him offering what comfort they could. Dan, Emma, and Sirius were all also standing behind Harry, a hand on his shoulder or back in support. Harry still hesitated before continuing with "I used a bit of family magic to bring Voldemort with me back to the castle."

Director Bones asked a simple question. "Why? Why didn't you just escape?"

Before Harry could answer the head of the D.M.L.E., however, Fudge broke in with a question. "What family magic?" he practically demanded.

Harry didn't hesitate this time. "That's private information, but if you think you really need to know I'll tell you after everyone here takes an Unbreakable Vow to never tell anyone else without my express permission."

Harry wondered if he had gone too far when Fudge looked angry and Umbridge started shouting at Harry, "You will show some respect to the Ministry and the Minister of Magic and answer whatever questions are asked of you!" Her voice was like nails on a blackboard.

Sirius, however, wasn't having that. "Unless I'm very uninformed, the Ministry has no authority to demand any knowledge of family magic unless there is evidence that someone has used such magic to commit a crime. And if anyone needs to show some respect, it's you who needs to remember that you are addressing not only the Heir Black but also the Warlock Potter in his own right." Sirius verbally slapped Umbridge down hard.

Hoping to move on, Harry returned to Director Bones' question. "Well, I didn't have a lot of time to think, but everyone needed to know he was back. It seemed like the only way to show everyone that he was alive again so that they could defend themselves," he explained.

Director Bones casually asked, "Did you consider that you were bringing a known child killer into a school full of students?"

Harry winced as he hadn't actually considered that. "I didn't think of that, I was thinking more about the Aurors and the teachers. I thought that they could help stop Voldemort."

Director Bones wrote that down, and Harry noticed for this interview she was handwriting her notes instead of using a Dictaquill. "Yet you cast a shield around the two of you that prevented anyone from interfering with your duel."

"I didn't mean to do anything like that shield. I don't know any spells like that. I don't know where it came from," Harry answered.

At this point Dumbledore broke in. "I believe I can answer this one, Amelia. Harry's wand has the core of a phoenix feather, in fact from my own familiar Fawkes. Fawkes donated two feathers to Mr. Olivander, and out of idle curiosity I asked Mr. Ollivander if he could tell me who received the wands he made from them. As I have said, the one went to Harry here, the other is the core to Voldemort's wand. The golden dome we saw wasn't exactly a spell, but the result of two brother wands being forced to fight one another. It's an interesting magical phenomenon that's rare enough that few people know of it and fewer still who have seen one. It doesn't surprise me in the least that Harry here had never heard of it before."

The discussion went on for an hour until Fudge decided he knew what happened. "Well, it's pretty clear what has happened here. Some of You-Know-Who's old supporters are trying to trick us into thinking he is back. They kidnapped Mr. Potter here and probably fed him some potions while he was unconscious, placed a Confundus and a few compulsion charms as well. Then when Mr. Potter woke up, they put on a show and disguised someone as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and Mr. Potter here becomes the perfect witness to panic the country. It was a good illusion, even I fell for it and I was here watching the final task, but that's all it could have been – a disguise." He turned to Harry. "I'm genuinely sorry that you had to go through what you did, but He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is dead and there is no magic that can bring back the dead. As much as we all wish it were otherwise at times, the dead are gone and will remain that way."

Harry was shocked that the Minister could have seen Voldemort with his own eyes and still not believe that the man was back. "But what of the arm I cut off? Surely you can use that to prove if it was Voldemort or not."

"Unfortunately, Warlock Potter, we have nothing to which we can compare the arm," Director Bones said sadly. "The arm is already being tested to see what can be learned,, but without a sample to compare it to it could be anyone's arm." She then turned to the minister. "I'm still going to go after this person as if they are Voldemort."

Fudge stuttered, outraged that Director Bones would disregard him, but she cut him off. "We have two possibilities here. One, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back and he is going to start another war, or we have a copycat who is going to do the exact same things pretending to be someone they aren't. Either way they are going to try to cause trouble, and it's the responsibility of my Aurors to catch them. After all, most of the atrocities from the blood war were not done by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, but by his followers. If they start following someone again, then fake or not the blood war will start up again. Tell the public whatever you want, but my department is going after whoever is behind this, whoever they are."

Sirius spoke up. "Let's not forget that we already have a kidnapping and attempted murder of the Warlock of one of Britain's oldest magical families. If the Ministry doesn't put its full weight behind this investigation, I will be forced to take this matter before the Wizengamot. Tell me, Fudge, how long do you think that it will take a body composed entirely of Warlocks from Britain's oldest and most prominent families to vote you out over something like that?"

Fudge sputtered at the threat. "I didn't…I didn't mean…fine, just do as you want, but I'm going to put out a press statement saying that it was a copycat who kidnapped Potter and confused him. The press is already reporting that he is back, and people are panic buying in some businesses and completely abandoning others. A public panic will destabilise our economy again, and we only just got it back on track from the blood war. We can't afford another economic catastrophe this soon." With that, he got up and strode out of the room, his pink toad quickly scurrying behind him.

-ϟϟϟ-

It turned out that Umbridge had a second reason for being in the school that day, she was also there as a Triwizard judge. The five judges all had a meeting with the champions to determine who had won the Triwizard Tournament. When Harry had been Portkeyed away he had technically touched the Cup, winning the tournament for his team. If Harry had touched the Cup himself then it would have been one thing, but the interference from Pettigrew meant that all the other teams had a legitimate reason to object. The de Villiers twins' objection was rather strong, given that they had discovered that the reason they were stuck on the last puzzle was because a crucial item they needed for the puzzle had been removed, meaning it was possible that they could have won if there was no interference.

In the end, no one was really happy with the compromise, but the official victory would go to the inter-school team, and then in an interview with the press they would all claim that, due to interference that plagued the tournament, no fair winner could have been decided, and they would donate the prize money instead of keeping it.

It was left to Harry, Hermione, and Fleur to decide to which charity they wanted to donate the money, and they asked the other champions for ideas. Each of them made a few suggestions, but none of them felt right. It was a suggestion from Hermione that they went with in the end, splitting the money into three and donating it to each of the schools. Each received 3,333 galleons, as the Ministry had raised the prize pot to 10,000 after the De VIlliers had kicked up a fuss over the prize money.

-ϟϟϟ-

Harry, Hermione and Fleur were seated together for breakfast the next day, with Hermione's and Fleur's parents and Gabrielle sitting across from them, when the post arrived with the day's newspaper. The front page quickly distracted them all, so Dan read it out to them while they ate.

YOU KNOW WHO ALIVE OR FAKING IT?

Rita Skeeter

The Minister of Magic yesterday released a statement saying that the report of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once again walking among the living is not true. The Ministry claimed to have evidence that it was in fact an elaborate hoax where Harry Potter, the famous Boy-Who-Lived and now Vanquisher of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was kidnapped and tricked into thinking he saw the resurrection of the man who killed his parents. "Who better than to convince the public than the Boy-Who-Lived? By convincing him that You-Know-Who is back, then whoever is behind this gains a witness that many in our society would take at his word. And when it's discovered that it's all a fake, the public would have turned on Mr. Potter, who genuinely believes he saw what must be the most terrifying thing in the world to him, the return of the man who killed his parents."

However, the voice of Harry Potter isn't the only one saying that Voldemort is back, after the perpetrator (whether he who must not be named or a fake) was brought in front of the crowd of spectators for the final task. A number of the spectators who asked for their anonymity swear that it was the real Voldemort.

"The magic they were throwing around, only a powerful wizard like the Dark Lord could fly unaided like that."

"He had a molevelance about him that only the real You-Know-Who could have had."

"Harry has fought You-Know-Who at the school before, he saved…a person, yeah, a person from being possessed by You-Know-Who in his second year. If Harry said he has a body again then I believe him."

I asked the head of the D.M.L.E. for a comment on the matter and all she said was, "Whether or not the perpetrator is a fake or not holds no difference to me or the investigation of my department. Regardless of who this is, it is my intention to have them brought before the Wizengamot and tried for their crimes. If it's a reincarnated Voldemort, I look forward to delivering him to the Dementors for execution personally."

For now, public opinion is divided on whether the dark wizard has truly returned, and I for one hope that the minister is right and that it's a fake, but I'm happy that the D.M.L.E is taking this seriously.

For the conclusion of the Triwizard Tournament see page 2, for tips on warding your home see page 3.

Dan set the paper down. "Well, that seems like it could have been worse," he said before taking a bite of his now cold toast.

"At least Fudge didn't call Harry a liar," Emma said, having taken the paper from her husband to give the article a skim and looking to see if there was anything her husband had missed.

"I just hate that they kept calling me the Boy-Who-Lived. I really hate that name," Harry sighed.

As they chatted, Madame Maxime came up and addressed Fleur. "Are you packed up and ready to leave Fleur?"

Fleur answered quickly, "Oui Madame. I am all packed, though I wish I could stay longer." She added the last part while looking at Harry and Hermione.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about missing your paramours yet, my darling. The Grangers will be coming to France for a large part of the summer, and you are more than welcome to visit them here for the rest of the summer. You'll still have to return to Beauxbatons in September, but that's a while away yet." Apolline told her daughter.

Madam Maxime turned to the two older Delacours. "Would you and your daughter like to travel with us back to the continent? I would be more than happy to, as the English say, give you a lift?" Apolline and Sebastian quickly accepted and Madam Maxime went off to make the same offer to the other families of the Beauxbatons champions who were still at the school.

-ϟϟϟ-

Harry, Hermione, and Fleur stood by the Beauxbatons carriage as the French students said goodbye to the friends they had made before leaving. None of them paid any mind to the other goodbyes that were going on around them, as the three of them were too involved in their own goodbye to care. More specifically, Harry was fumbling over his words as he tried to say something.

"Fleur, when you came here it was Halloween,, and that's always been an important day for me. Something always seems to happen to me on that day, and it's usually really bad. My parents, a troll, the opening of the chamber of secrets, being attacked by Bellatrix LeStrange, and my name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. When you told me I was betrothed to you on Halloween, I was prepared to put you in with all the bad that happens to me on that day. But I was forgetting something. Halloween is also the day Hermione became my friend, and that was possibly the best thing that ever happened to me. I was so rude to you at first, thinking you were going to take me away from Hermione. But the truth is, I was wrong. You were not another bad thing to happen to me on Halloween, but one of the best. I just wanted to say… well…I…oh fuck it." Harry leaned in and placed his lips on Fleur's and started to kiss her for all he was worth.

If Harry had been paying attention to his surroundings he would have noticed more than a few jealous looks and more than a few wolf whistles, but he was lost in a universe that for those few minutes consisted of just him and Fleur. She relaxed and seemed to melt into Harry as she kissed him back with all the intensity she could put into a kiss. When they broke apart, Harry was finally able to say what he had been trying to say the whole time. "I love you."

The smile that broke out over Fleur's face put the sun itself to shame, and she threw her arms around Harry and said excitedly, "I love you too." Then Fleur, seeing Hermione beaming at them now that Harry had been able to say what she had a few days ago, pulled her into the hug as well "And I love you Hermione." The three stayed like that, hugging each other and saying that they loved each other and that they'll miss each other, until it was time for Fleur to leave.

A/N

And that's the end of Book Two: Opening Moves, but not the end of the story. Book Three: Drawing The Lines will start during our next regularly scheduled update for the Best Laid Plans series. I will be doing some formating work on the fic over the next few days so don't be surprised if you get an early notification or two.