Thank you to all of my brilliant pat re on supporters, with a shout out to H Morgan, Jimmy Adams, Jo Daviz, LegendaryWasabi, Optimum Prime and Jack Schriner. I would really struggle to keep this up without the support you guys give me. As always my pat re on supporters get all my works two chapters early. you will also find the first thee chapters of my new fic with two more being added next week. search Lowten there to find me

Chapter 2

Not long after Harry fell asleep while hugging one of his girlfriends in a hotel just off the coast in the south of France, he seemed to wake up in a room where almost everything was in shades of grey, like an old black and white TV show. He recognised his room, the first ever room that had ever been his: the nursery at Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow. It must have been after that night, because there was a gaping hole in the wall.

"Good evening pumpkin." Harry's mother said from where she was standing by the cot. She was one of the few things in the room that was in colour, though all of her colour was muted and she was ever so slightly translucent. Inside the cot was what looked like a toddler; at first Harry thought it was a memory of himself, but when he looked at it it more closely resembled the form Voldemort had before his restoration. The disturbing thing was, however, that like Harry and his mother, the thing was in full colour.

"What is that?" Harry asked his mother's echo.

His mother looked a little sad about Harry's lack of greeting but didn't say anything about it, instead answering his question. "I don't know. Whatever it is it's more than I am, just magic and echo, but it's less than what you are. My magic seems determined to keep it away from you, I know that much, and the only thing I can think of that would do that is something that has to do with Voldemort. I think it's a curse of some type."

The Voldemort-like thing tried to climb out of the cot, but his mother waved a hand and it was pushed back into where it had come from. "Whatever it is, I seem to be able to easily hold it in check, so it's nothing you need to worry about immediately. Maybe it is worth eventually going to a healer to see if they can do anything. Now enough about that, tell me what's happened since your last visit."

A part of Harry wanted to press the issue about the… whatever it was, but time like this with his mother was special and he didn't want to waste it on a fight. Especially as he was sure his mother didn't have any answers to demand. So he told her about everything that had happened since he woke up after his fight with Voldemort. "Well the Ministry's telling everyone that it was a fake that fooled me. Fudge, the current minister, doesn't want people to panic. But wouldn't a little panic be a good thing? Give everyone the opportunity to upgrade their wards before Voldemort is able to restart the war?" He also told her about finishing his school year, how they donated the prize money to the schools, saying goodbye to Fleur, and going home to the Grangers before the trip to France.

When he told her that this was going to be his first visit to the Potter Chateau, she told him about her few trips there from before Harry was born. She only got to visit twice, once on their honeymoon and the other when she was pregnant. She mentioned forgetting to pack her favourite pair of sunglasses when she left from here the last time. She also seemed way too interested in the clothes he got, and as Harry tried to picture them in his head he found that the clothes he was wearing changed. This did two things; first, it reminded Harry that this place was at least half dream and all inside his head. Secondly, it told his mum that Harry could give her a fashion parade, and he just couldn't bring himself to refuse his mom (even this pale echo of her) anything.

One thing he found as he spent his dream with his mother's echo was that she was fun. Not the fun Harry thought of when he thought of his father the prankster, but she was warm and witty and more than once Harry found himself laughing at something she had said. She was surprised when Harry mentioned that he and Hermione were sharing a hotel room. Harry was glad about that, as it meant that even though his mother's echo was inside his head, she couldn't see what he was doing. Having his mother watch from inside his head while he did, well, most of the things he did with Hermione, was not a fun idea. However, it did mean that Harry was put on the spot about the extent of his and Hermione's relationship. It was weird (in a nice way) to have his mother lecture him about making sure he was careful and that he treated Hermione, and Fleur when that time came, right. Harry hoped that he kept having these dreams.

-ϟϟϟ-

The first full day in Nice was spent in the mountains north of the city. Fleur and her parents met them at a local spot, even before they had breakfast, and side-along Apparated them to their home. Harry maybe could have done it himself, as according to his family grimoire he could Apparate to a person (and as he had Apparated to Hermione once he believed it), but as he was under age and in a country that he wasn't a citizen of. The trip was as unsettling as ever for Harry, but it only took a few seconds for him to settle his stomach and he looked around at what he could see of the Delacours home.

The Delacour home was a traditional looking French villa, but it was obviously a magical home. Some of the plants in the window boxes were definitely magical, flanged geraniums if Harry remembered his herbology correctly; there was a broom sweeping up by itself, and the topiary that was shaped like an animal moved around as if it actually was one.

They had breakfast in the morning sun as they chatted about what they were going to do whilst on holiday. Dan and Emma only had a week off work, but Harry and Hermione were invited to stay for longer. The two quickly agreed but wanted to be back in the UK for Harry's birthday as it would be his first birthday that Sirius could be a part of since 1981. Harry did invite the Delacours to Britain for his birthday as well, as he had more than enough space in his house at Hogsmeade, and Fleur was invited to join him and Hermione in London for as long as she wanted before she had to come back to France for her final year at Beauxbatons.

About halfway through breakfast Fleur pointed out Harry's house to him. It was easy to see how Harry's parents had become close to the Delacours as Harry's property backed onto the Delacours and was higher up on the slope of the nearby mountain. The Delacours had less land than Harry did, but their land was flat and it was easy to make a nice garden to relax in. Harry's property was too steep to make anything relaxing, so using what looked to be about two acres according to Hermione to grow grapes had probably been one of the only things that could be done with it. From what he could see, the house was of a similar style to the Delacours, only smaller. It looked exactly like what he suspected, his family used it as a perfect place for a couple or a small family to escape to for a couple of weeks away from everything.

After breakfast they planned to go over what they were going to do in Nice this year, there were apparently a number of magical places around the city that were worth visiting that they never would have seen before. However, Harry was distracted by the house that was so close. Realising that it was just too much of a distraction for him, the three of them soon gave up on their planning and Fleur showed Harry and the Grangers the way up to the house. Sebastian Delacour had installed a gate into the fence that bordered the two properties so that he wouldn't need to go around the long way whenever he checked over the property, which made a convenient little short cut

As soon as Harry stepped through the gate, there were two little pops right in front of him and two house elves stood there, each wearing an outfit that looked like it had been made from old pillowcases and duvet covers but clearly cut and sewn into a shirt and a pair of trousers. They were looking at Harry, staring up at him with happy smiles on their faces. "Hello, you must be Sipsy and Tipsy," Harry said, remembering the names from when he learned he had house elves in Gringotts last November.

The smiles grew wider "Oui Monsieur Potter. Je suis Sipsy, et c'est Tipsy," The one on the left said.

Harry turned to his girls, who both started giggling at the lost look on his face. Fleur eventually Came to his rescue. "Oui Harry, this is Sipsy and Tipsy, your house elves." She then switched to French and addressed the elves. "Ignore-le, c'est un barbare qui a pas encore appris à parler une langue civilisée." [Don't mind him, he's a barbarian who hasn't learned to speak a civilised language yet.] At that the elves started to chuckle, and by the look of amusement on Hermione's face Harry knew he was the butt of a joke, though Fleur's quick kiss to his cheek took away any sting from her comment.

The house really was quite small; there were only four rooms in the entire building. Two bedrooms and a bathroom were on the top floor, and the ground floor was an open kitchen and living room combined. The dining table wasn't even in the house, but was outside a set of French windows, giving people a view of the valley as they ate. The impressive part of the property was underground. Someone had dug out a truly impressive cellar that was used to brew and store the wine that Sipsy and Tipsy made.

The two elves needed the help of the two girls to communicate with Harry, but eventually they were able to convey just how much wine they had had stored. There was a lot, at least as far as Harry was concerned. Apparently the vineyard produced about 10 barrels of wine each year, which was apparently 250 cases. And as no one had sold any wine since Harry was born, save for a one off sale that Fleur's father had arranged, there was fourteen years worth of wine stored in the cellar that had to have space expansion charms on it. If Harry understood the numbers correctly, there was the equivalent of a hundred-thousand bottles of wine here.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the treasure trove it sounded like. More than just grapes are needed to produce wine, it also needs barrels, bottles, dragon dung fertiliser, potions to increase yield, and all sorts of other things. The elves had gotten a lot of this on credit, the magical bank they dealt with had been accepting of the loan as it had been secured against the wine, something that apparently house elves had the right to do in France. So a lot of the wine would need to be sold to cover that, though Harry apparently had until he was twenty-one. However, to sell wine you had to pay a duty on it, then you were taxed on the profits as well. In the end, Harry would have to sell half of the wine just to break even, but after some consultation with the elves he put aside two of the years that were apparently the best vintage, with the best year kept for the family and the second best to be used as gifts. After all of the costs had been taken out, Harry would only make about five thousand galleons, and he decided that it was probably best to put that money back into the vineyard.

After touring the cellar, Fleur told Harry that he had to at least try his best vintage. Sipsy sounded like she was agreeing with Fleur, though Harry supposed given how little French he could understand she might have been excitedly telling him her recipe for coq au vin, and handed them a bottle before shoo-ing them up the stairs.

Harry was able to find some glasses in the kitchen cupboards, and they sat around the dining table enjoying the view without opening the wine straight away. From where they sat they could see right into Fleur's back garden, and they could see Dan and Emma chatting with Sebastian and Apolline. Gabrielle had apparently gone off to do something else. There were charms that you could use for privacy in this case, but as the Potter Chateau was the only one that had such a view and it had been empty for so long, the Delacours didn't bother.

Harry debated with himself for a while while they sat there but after a few minutes he realised he wouldn't have a better opportunity than this. "I have something to tell you both."

Both Fleur and Hermione stiffened at his tone, worrying about what he was about to say. Fleur took one of his hands and held it in a sign of support, and Hermione unconsciously mirrored her by taking Harry's other hand.

"I told you about my fight with Voldemort, and how our wands connected and forced Voldemort's wand to produce echoes of the spells he had cast."

"Oui, you said that Dumbledore said it was because of your wands having sibling cores. You said there was an echo of your parents. " Fleur sounded concerned.

"Yeah, what I didn't tell you was that after the echo of my mum kissed me on the forehead, she seemed to feel something and then sort of got absorbed into me." The two girls looked shocked at this but didn't interject. "After the fight I fell unconscious, and then I met mum in my head, she said she was an echo, like a ghost or a painting, but she merged with her magic in me, the magic that protects me from Voldemort."

Harry continued before Hermione or Fleur could say anything. "I didn't say anything until now, because it was just the once and part of me was worried about sounding crazy or that it was just a dream brought on by seeing their echoes. But it happened again last night. I spoke with my mum's echo in my dream. Apparently when my mum died wishing to protect me, her magical core transferred to me to keep me safe, so the echo merged not just with trace magic of a protective spell but a fully developed magical core."

There was shocked silence while they processed what Harry said. Eventually Hermione asked. "How do you feel about this?"

"Honestly, I don't know. On one hand I have what is basically a person living inside my head, who apparently can't read my memories or anything because I had to tell her about my life. On the other hand, I get to talk with my mum."

"Um Harry I can't think of a way to ask this delicately, so I'm just going to ask it bluntly and hope you understand that I mean no offence okay." Fleur said nervously. "How do you know that it's truly an echo of your mother, you said yourself it came from Voldemort's wand. How do you know it's not some magic where he gets to question you but you think it's your mum so you tell her things you'd never tell him?" Fleur pronounced Voldemort like it should be said in French, with the T being silent.

That thought scared Harry; he had just told his mum all about Fleur and Hermione. If that was Voldemort's spell then he had just told a homicidal megalomaniac the best way to get to him. "How can I know? How can I work out if it's some phantom or if it's actually my mum?"

Hermione was the one to answer that after a minute of silent worrying. "Harry, did she tell you anything or did she just ask questions?"

"Mostly questions but she told me a few stories." Harry answered honestly. "Why?"

"Well if she told you something that we can verify is true and you didn't know beforehand, and Voldemort couldn't have known it, then that would prove that it's an echo of your mother. Was there anything like that?"

Harry thought for a minute before he remembered. "Her sunglasses!" Fleur and Hermione looked confused, so Harry explained that his mother had complained that she had left her favourite sunglasses here the last time she visited. Fleur called Tipsy and asked about a pair of sunglasses, and the little elf popped away and came back a few moments later with the sunglasses in question. Harry was relieved that they seemed to have proved that it was his mum's echo and not some trick.

Harry then told them about the other thing that he had found inside him, the fragment of dark magic that seemed to be left over from Voldemort's first attempt on his life. He explained how the protection he got from his mother seemed to be keeping it contained. There was a slight chuckle when he told them that his head had put the manifestation of the spell in a baby's cot. But it was more to break the tension than it actually being funny.

"The good news is that curse scars often have dark magic infecting them, and while it can be painful sometimes but that's it, it's not like if it ever leaks out of my scar it will kill me." Harry told them. Both Hermione and Fleur looked surprised when he said that. "What? I read up on curse scars a little when mine was hurting in my first year at Hogwarts. Is that so surprising?"

"Non, I just hadn't even considered the idea that it could kill you like that," Fleur said, and Hermione nodded along with her.

"Maybe there is a way to cleanse curse scars?" Hermione wonders out loud.

"Considering that it's pretty much only dark curses that leave scars that can't be fixed by magic after seeing Professor Moody, my guess is no. Either that or the cost of doing so is too high." Harry guessed.

They ended up talking until lunch, when the Delacours and Grangers that stayed behind came up to find them. They ended up having lunch at the Potter house, where Sipsy and Tipsy brought them some cheeses, fruit and a few baguettes and Harry opened the bottle of wine that he had. He was going to pour it right away, but Sebastian insisted it should be left in the bottle with the cork removed for ten minutes before drinking. Harry had barely any knowledge of wine and so followed the older man's lead.

-ϟϟϟ-

The holiday in France followed a lot of the same format as it had the year before. They would spend one day doing something relaxing and one day exploring, and in the evenings they would eat out either with the Tuckers or with the Delacours. The biggest difference was where they went exploring. Apparently Fleur had gotten together with Alison and had planned a few ideas, so while the older Delacours and Tuckers were busy with their work to take day trips, the girls took it amongst themselves to show the rest of them the delights of magical France. And it was all of France, not just Nice. Much to Harry's dismay, they made liberal use of the Tucker and Delacour fireplaces to Floo around the country, with Dan and Emma's bracelets allowing anti-muggle charms to see them as magical. There was apparently a magical section to the Louvre, mostly full of magical paintings of historical French figures. Harry didn't know most of them and the paintings spoke French so he wasn't particularly interested, though the Grangers were fascinated.

When they went to the beach, Hermione and Fleur had a small disagreement on what was better, magical charms to prevent sunburn or muggle suntan lotion. Fleur was pointing out all the benefits of the charm: it was faster to apply, it covered your whole body with no chance of missing anywhere, it didn't leave an oily residue on your skin. However, Hermione just smirked and said she would prove her way was better when they got to the beach. Indeed, Hermione won the debate but on none of the merits mentioned by Fleur. Once they got to the beach and laid out towels and sun shades, Hermione tossed the bottle of lotion to Harry and laid face down on her towel before asking Harry to apply the lotion to her back. Needless to say, Fleur watching Harry massage the lotion into Hermione's skin quickly had her concede to Hermione's victory. In the end Harry ended up doing Fleur's back as well, though Fleur was very thorough in returning the favour.

-ϟϟϟ-

On Dan and Emma's last full day, Sebastian and Apolline had the Grangers and Harry over for a conversation. It started light-hearted enough, chatting about how they had enjoyed their holiday. It had been great even if it had been shorter than usual, as they had already taken a week away from their dental practice because of the events around the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.

It was Apolline who broached the topic that they really wanted to talk about. "We think you should transfer Harry and Hermione to Beauxbatons. After everything that happened at the end of that tournament, the people who killed Harry's parents seem to be getting together again and the first thing they did was kidnap Harry. That tells us that they will probably try again, wouldn't they be safer in this country away from all of that? I already talked with madam Maxime to see if it was possible and she said that it would be if you wanted to."

That surprised everyone. Even with everything that had happened, the idea of leaving Hogwarts had never crossed Harry or Hermione's minds. Dan and Emma, while surprised at the idea, seemed to like it. Instantly Harry's mind started throwing up objections and he voiced them. "I don't think I can leave Hogwarts. For one, I doubt the Wizengamot would let me. While technically it's not their decision, as Dan and Emma are my guardians and it's their decision, I am the Warlock of House Potter, the Heir to the House of Black, and of course the Boy-Who-Lived. I bet if we were to try and move me to another school then the Wizengamot would soon be voting on a new set of guardians for me. And as many of the Death Eaters are from supposedly upstanding families, a few of them would probably take it as an opportunity to get their hands on me. And anyway I can't speak French." Harry added to lighten the mood a little. He was actually a little disappointed, he wasn't looking forward to hardly seeing Fleur for a year. Harry looked over at Hermione before he continued to talk. "Hermione you should probably transfer though. You could spend the year with Fleur."

"No." Hermione just said it matter of factly.

"But-" Harry tried to say something but Hermione cut him off.

"Harry, I have worked hard at Hogwarts, there is probably a Gryffindor prefects badge coming with my books list this year. If I transfer schools I lose that opportunity. That position, and hopefully the head girl position, will help me get the best possible apprenticeships. I have worked hard for this and I will not give it up. Also, I'm a Gryffindor, I don't run away with my tail tucked between my legs and I'm not some damsel in distress. Don't forget you may have done it first but I also faced off against a mountain troll in my first year. I stood next to you to fight LeStrange, I stood up at the Triwizard Tournament right next to both of you. I will not be shipped off like a child in the blitz*."

"Isn't that just more of a reason to transfer you?" Dan asked. "I know you love Hogwarts, but your mother and I have never really liked everything that happens to you both there and Hogwarts was the only option we had. If there is another school we could send you to…"

Hermione wasn't going to let that happen. "And how would that look? You can't send Harry, because the Ministry would probably put him with a family that they think will send him back to Hogwarts. So, you could only send me, and that would look like you're trying to keep us apart. Harry, Fleur, and I are in a rather high profile relationship, if you split us up people are going to think that you don't think Harry is good enough for me. And in case you have forgotten, I kind of need Harry every month to help deal with the complication of my potions accident."

The last statement surprised the older two Delacours. Hermione had told Fleur about her potions accident and everything it had done to her. When it came to the cat ears and tail, Sebastian and Apolline of course already knew about it. Hermione kept her tail sock on to conceal it for most of the time they were in France, as it was just too awkward to take it on and off during the day. The headband to hide her ears, though, she only wore in muggle areas as she much preferred to have her ears free. Not that that mattered to the Delacours, Hermione didn't wear anything to conceal her feline features at Hogwarts, and both had seen them when they came to watch their daughter compete in the Triwizard Tournament.

Hermione gave the Delacours the basics, not wanting to go into any details about getting overwhelmingly aroused once a month with her future in-laws. The only thing that was really important here was that she and Harry had a system to deal with it, and due to a few circumstances their relationship with Fleur just wasn't ready to deal with that yet. Dan and Emma understood everyone's point of view and said they were going to think about it for a while before making a decision if they were going to transfer Hermione. According to the Delacours, Beauxbatons needed the parchment work two weeks before the start of term.

They (Harry plus the Delacours, Grangers, and Tuckers) spent Dan and Emma's last night in France at a fine dining restaurant where they specialised in using magic and mundane techniques to make the best food they could. According to the menu, they had what they thought was the best way to make steak. They combined a new mundane technique called sous vide (where it was cooked for hours at a low temperature to perfectly cook the meat without any over cooking) with a charm they developed to prevent the inside of the steak from cooking any more than they wanted. Then, they slowly fried the steak in a butter-infused sauce with herbs and spices. The result was a steak that was cooked perfectly to your liking all the way through but had a perfect crust. Harry had to admit it was the best steak he had ever had in his life.

The next day Dan and Emma left for home. They would have stayed longer if they could, but they really had to get back to their patients. Harry and Hermione checked out of the hotel and moved into the Potter Chateau where the Delacours would be able to keep an eye on them.

A/N

Okay first note, neither Harry nor Hermione will be going to Beauxbatons. This section is meant to show that Sebastian and Apolline are worried about the safety of Harry and Hermione in Britain

Cot - baby's crib

Blitz* The blitz is some of Britain's darkest history but also as a country one of our finest hours. The nazi's were carpet bombing Britain's cities. Children from those cities were sent to live with volunteer families in areas that weren't being bombed. Hence Hermione saying 'shipped off like a child in the blitz'. It's considered one of Britain's finest times because despite everything that was happening to them, the British just didn't stop. They would spend the night in an air raid shelter, take tea and cake with them to have a snack while gossiping with their neighbours, and then in the morning would go to work like nothing happened. And if their place of business was hit they would pull desks out of the rubble and just do their work at a desk in the middle of the street while joking "yes we are still open. Just more open than usual."