'Of course I didn't,' he told her coldly. 'You should have known that I wouldn't.' Part of him wanted to snap the locket shut, to let her believe he was angry with her for falsely accusing him and leave her to suffer, but he couldn't quite bring his fingers to do it.
'Where did you learn to conjure the Dark Mark?' Fleur asked quietly.
'What does it matter?' Harry retorted viciously, her accusation had hurt him more than he had expected. 'You'll just assume I'm lying again anyway.' Fleur flinched as if he had slapped her, and he immediately regretted his petty jab. 'I'm sorry,' Harry apologised, feeling awful. 'I shouldn't have said that, and I know I should have contacted you afterwards. I sat here all night trying to think of a way to tell you what I'd really done.' He shrugged helplessly. 'I haven't moved.'
Fleur breathed her amusement out through her nose. 'I did not sleep either, I was too concerned, and then I was watching the memories you gifted me when I wanted to stop worrying. Did you really just sit in an empty room surrounded by pictures of me?' He flushed and looked away from her eyes, but nodded. He'd rather be embarrassed than arguing with her.
'I know you like the idea of me missing you so badly,' Harry said, 'so I thought you might like to have it, it's not like you didn't already know about it.' He paused, considering the worst possible outcome of creating that memory. 'Just don't let Gabrielle see it,' he pleaded. He shuddered to think what Gabrielle would make of that.
'I won't,' something faintly possessive coloured her tone, 'I'm going to be the only one who watches these.'
'Trying to keep me all to yourself?' Harry teased.
'I'm not trying,' she answered archly.
'When can I next come to see you?' He asked, hoping very much that she said tomorrow, or, better yet, today.
'I have my exams over the next two weeks,' she informed him sadly. 'I will be too busy for long visits, but we can still speak like this from time to time.'
Harry nodded, more than a little disappointed. 'Good luck,' he forced himself to smile, 'I'm sure you will not need it.' 'I hope not,' Fleur admitted, a brief flutter of uncertainty passing though her eyes. 'I don't have a second chance if I fail.'
'Since when has Fleur Delacour failed,' Harry reminded her playfully.
'Fleur Delacour does not fail,' she agreed, gracing him with a warm smile and a throaty chuckle. She sounded so like Salazar Slytherin's portrait that Harry could not help but laugh. 'I have to leave, maman has finished breakfast and we must go to Carcassonne. I am still suspended,' she wrinkled her nose in dainty distaste.
'Have fun,' Harry grinned. 'Actually,' he added thoughtfully, 'would it be possible for me to order some Polyjuice Potion from you?'
'What are you going to do with it?' Fleur asked. 'I'm going to steal one of your sister's hairs and pretend to be her evil twin for as long as I can,' Harry replied, straight-faced.
'Gabby will be the more evil twin,' Fleur smiled, 'but seriously?'
'It might be useful,' Harry responded honestly. 'My plan is quite complex, so I'd like to be as prepared as possible for when things don't go quite as anticipated.'
'I'll order it for you,' Fleur promised, 'you can pay me next time you come to visit.' She gave him a wave, then blew him a kiss and the mirror went blank.
'Who were you talking to?' Neville asked sleepily from behind his hangings.
'We're the only two people in the dormitory, Nev,' Harry pointed out calmly. 'I didn't hear what you said,' he yawned.
'It doesn't matter,' Harry responded evenly, smoothing out his robes in an attempt to make it look like he hadn't spent all night in them.
'I suppose I should get up and go towards breakfast,' Neville grumbled to himself. The sound of rustling clothing was soon audible and in a few minutes he managed to extricate himself from his bedclothes and open the hangings.
'Morning, Neville,' Harry commented, as his friend stepped away from his bed, tangling one foot in the hangings and stumbling to the floor. 'Breakfast?'
'Yes,' Neville agreed from the floor. 'I've got loads of stuff to tell you that my Gran found out last night.' 'Oh?' Harry extended a hand to help Neville back to his feet and raised an eyebrow.
'Apparently Rita Skeeter was killed in her home yesterday and the Dark Mark was conjured over the top, but,' Neville continued missing Harry's lack of surprise, 'they found all sorts of interesting stuff in her house.'
'What did they find?' Harry asked evenly, already knowing the answer.
'Some article about Lucius Malfoy and Death Eaters that she was going to put in her column.'
'So Malfoy was the one who did it then?'
'His associates, Gran reckons,' Neville explained. 'Malfoy has alibis, but it's likely he just asked some of his friends to cloak up and do it for him.'
'So
he
escapes
justice
once
again,'
Harry concluded, as the crossed an empty common room towards the passageway out.
'Yeah,' Neville frowned. 'The interesting thing is that Gran said Amelia Bones, the head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, has been working her office round the clock since aurors got through the wards on Skeeter's home, and almost a hundred Ministry officials resigned, or were fired this morning. There were a lot of former Death Eaters among them too.'
They found the filing cabinet, Harry realised.
He hadn't intended anything to come of it other than extra evidence that Death Eaters were likely responsible, and he would have preferred to take the other files himself, but his Unbreakable Vow bound him from breaking into anything she owned and she would still own her possessions until her will was read out. It had worked out quite well if the employees forced to leave their jobs because were those in Rita's collection of subject material. The Ministry would be a lot better of without so many morally reprehensible individuals among them. If Voldemort attacked he would have far fewer allies inside the Ministry. Of course that did mean he now had more outside in his actual army, but Harry hoped they would do less damage in the open.
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