"Maybe Marge will visit," Harry smirked. "It might be funny to see Ripper getting sick that way," Harry had told the girls of his childhood experiences with Aunt Marge and her dogs, especially that one particular one. He was finding it easier and easier to discuss his past life with them since they already had seen quite a bit of it.
Fleur finally opened the letter when they were back inside the tent.
"It is from Marl," She said after scanning the letter. She then read it out loud.
"I presume your father has already informed you to expect this letter. Somehow he convinced me to return to France and train the famous Harry Potter along with you, your sister and another person he said was like another daughter to him. He believes your lives are in danger from Voldemort, which I presume is from the battle that I read about last week. I owe Alain so I agreed. I'll start the training here. If you opened this letter and you are not one hundred percent positive that you are inside a portkey proof ward, then you should consider yourself captured or killed by your enemies."
Fleur looked up and grimaced. "I presume we are, but I'm not positive," She said.
"Dumbledore wouldn't have overlooked that possibility," Hermione stated. "I'm sure of that."
"This guy sounds like the bogus Moody with his constant vigilance," Harry muttered.
"Which means the real one is probably the same or Dumbledore would have noticed," Hermione pointed out. She looked at Fleur. "What else does he say."
"More of ze same," She said before continuing the letter. "If you're trying to hide, I could have easily put a tracking charm on my owl, if I can do it so can anyone else. First thing all of you need to do is imitate the Potter boy and have your mail blocked."
"What does he mean?" Harry asked. "I don't have my mail blocked. I get letters during the summer. I was saved from starvation because of it."
"Of course it's being filtered or blocked," Fleur replied. "Think about it. You 'aven't received a single letter from anyone except people you know. You're ze Boy-Who-Lived. You should be getting letters from everyone in zis country, especially after zose stories. Remember what 'Ermione got from just zat one article?"
"Eets true," Gabrielle said as her cheeks blushed. "I tried to send you a letter three years ago, but our owl wouldn't go."
"But how..." Harry started and knew the answer immediately. "Dumbledore. He must be controlling who can owl me."
"Makes sense," Gabrielle said. "E was trying to protect you; and as Marl said, if an owl can be tracked to you..."
"Yeah I guess," Harry replied with a sigh. "But I wished he'd tell me these things," He looked at his still slightly blushing youngest bondmate. "And what did you write in that letter?"
Gabrielle looked into Harry's eyes and replied. "I just told you about myself and asked if you'd ever want to come visit me."
Harry pulled Gabrielle into his arms. "I'd love to."
"So it's obviously blocked, so we can ask Dumbledore when we see 'im," Fleur said. She looked back at the letter. "Zere is more. I am not coming over there for my health. If I'm going to train a bunch of kids, I expect you to give it your best effort. Do what I say and we'll get along, whine and you can find another instructor. Now as I understand it, you can't practice magic until you get to France, so for now work on your physical skills. You can start with running. I expect you to be able to run two kilometers in twelve minutes by the time I see you. If you think you're too good to be physically fit then you aren't worth my time in training."
"Two kilometers?" Hermione asked.
"Oui," Fleur responded. "Zat's what it says."
"After all of our trips down to the Chamber and up to the seventh floor, it can't be that bad," Harry added confidently.
"...no...not...that bad?" Hermione gasped at Harry an hour later as they stumbled back into the tent. She had a pain in her side and was pouring sweat. She knew she had at least two blisters. "First...first of all Scotland is...is a heck of a lot cooler," She continued to try to talk and gasp for air at the same time. "And we get...get to sit down after we walked to those places."
Harry was faring slightly better than Hermione as was Fleur. Gabrielle was much worse. Harry had tried to get her to stop when she was obviously laboring halfway through the run but she refused. She had told him through gritted teeth that she would not quit. Currently though, she was leaning on Harry to even stay up as he guided her toward the sofa. Tears were in her eyes as she limped along beside him.
Harry could feel the pain she was in, so once he sat her down, he knelt in front of her and gently removed her shoes. He gasped as he removed her first sock and could see two large blisters had developed and one of them had burst.
"You should have quit," Harry said gently as Fleur knelt beside him.
"Non," Gabrielle replied wincing as Harry pulled her second sock off. "I will not be ze.. ze weakling."
"You're not weak Angel," Harry said softly. "But you don't have to do it all the first time." He could see her ankle was slightly swollen. He looked at Fleur for what she might suggest.
"Let 'er be for now. 'Er Veela magic will probably fix it by morning," Fleur said. "As long as it's not too severe, ze magic will fix anything zat prevents us from being beautiful."
"That's a problem then," Harry countered. "Since I think both of you are beautiful right now even with blisters, sweat and swollen ankles," He looked at Fleur. "In fact I thought you were most beautiful in the final task when you had scratches here..." he touched his finger to her cheek where the scratches had been. "and you had a smudge of dirt there," again his finger touched another spot.
Fleur eyes closed as she enjoyed his touch and relished the love she felt from him in the bond.
"Fortunately," Gabrielle started then winced again as she moved her ankle. "Our magic is more picky zan our bondmate."
"Would ice help?" Harry asked. "To maybe stop the pain for the time being."
"For now, later I'll see about mixing a pain reducing potion," Fleur replied. "But I need to rest first. I'll need a steady 'and."
....
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