Part 6

HERMIONE

"Victoire Weasley." She said at the reception desk hurriedly, barely stepping in St.Mungo's. "Oh, Healer Granger! Are you coming back to us permanently? The patients keep asking about you." The receptionist announced enthusiastically. "I... I don't know... can you give me a room where I can find Victoire?"

"She's in the isolation ward, in a ward." The woman replied dismissively, waving her hand. "Her mother made a terrible scene. They had to take her away, can you imagine turning into a bird, right here in the middle of the corridor?" "Is anyone with the girl?" "No one would dare touch her." The woman snorted and Hermione clenched her fingers around her wand, trying to stop the impulse so she wouldn't cast some nasty spell. She turned on her heel and walked towards the bottom floor and the isolation wards, passing several colleagues on the way, who were staring at her in surprise. A few greeted her. Hermione just nodded and hurried to see her daughter.

When she reached the isolation ward, she opened the door without hesitation. The sight of little Victoire in the hospital bed broke her heart. The girl was shaking and whimpering through her closed eyes, mumbling something. It was cold and quite dark inside. They had left her only a tin cup of water next to her bed. "Hermione! It's good to see you." Said Eric, her fellow healer. "You should go upstairs, the headmaster wants to talk to you, he's curious if you're coming back for good or..."

"Has anyone looked at the child?" Hermione asked icily, barely keeping her voice under control. "Mauled by her father. It turned out that the werewolf bite wasn't so harmless and he changed partly during the full moon." Eric sighed. "When did that happen?" "Last night." "Wait... no one has looked at the girl since yesterday?" "Well..." Eric hesitated, looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life. "This is a child of Veel and a werewolf... no one dared to examine her." "I thought you swore to save lives. Every life." "I'm not suicidal." Erik muttered. "I'll examine the girl and if I can, I'll take her out of here today. Where's her father?" "I hear he's fled into the forest. They haven't found him yet." Hermione nodded. "Get out. I'll manage." She mumbled and approached the child, hearing the door close behind Erik. She sat down gently on the bed and touched Victoire's hand and face. She was hot. She didn't open her eyes. Hermione gently undressed the child, looking for traces. She found a scratch on her back. Quite deep and yellowed. The brunette checked the rest with a few swipes of her wand. She quickly discovered the conflict between Veel's blood and werewolf venom. She only knew the basics of Veel's magic, she needed Cecile and Aurelie for that. Making a quick decision, remembering what Cecile had promised, Hermione cast a druidic sleep spell on her daughter and, seeing that she had fallen asleep peacefully, conjured a blue blanket and a few stuffed animals to brighten up the room a bit. She left the hospital, instructing the receptionist that she would pick up Victoire that evening. If it had been anyone else, the hospital would not have allowed a random person to take the child, but Victoire was considered a subspecies, and a predatory one at that, so all they cared about was getting rid of her.

She wondered why she hadn't run into any of the Weasleys, but she thought they were probably busy searching for their beloved son... At the thought of the scar on her daughter's back, Hermione felt a surge of uncontrollable anger. In a fighting mood, she headed for the Ministry. "I want to see Fleur Delac... I mean Weasley." "Mrs. Weasley is not accepting visitors. She is currently being questioned and then expelled from the country." The aging guy from the Dangerous Creatures Committee replied. "Where is the questioning?" "At the very bottom." Hermione huffed, turned on her heel and headed towards the elevator. "Hermione! I'm glad to see you." Harry ran up to her unexpectedly, hugging her tightly. "I thought something happened to you! Why haven't you contacted us? I even asked Fleur a few days ago to write to you." "Do you know what happened? About Victoire?" Hermione asked quickly. Harry paled. "Yes. Molly called all the children to look for Bill." "And no one was interested in the fact that a small child was left alone in the hospital where no one dared to examine her?!" Hermione raised her voice. "They wouldn't let me get to her. They said it was dangerous and a bunch of other crap." Harry hung his head. "How could this happen? Why didn't anyone do anything?!" Hermione brushed his hair from his sweaty forehead and pushed Harry into the elevator, going down. "Molly didn't let anyone talk about Bill feeling his scar. And Fleur..." Harry sighed. "I don't think she even knew. She works all day at Gringotts after Bill left work." "I don't understand any of this..." Hermione shook her head in concern. "What are the chances that they'll release her?" She asked seriously.

"It doesn't look good. She transformed in the night and attacked William when he hurt Victoire, Molly has a fit, cursing her for not resolving the dispute peacefully and Bill running away..." Harry shook his head. "And then she sent a patronus for me and when I showed up at the hospital they were taking her away in chains. Apparently she wanted to force the healers to deal with Victoire." "What should I do, Harry?" Hermione asked desperately. "We'll use our Golden Trio status and have her released. Kingsley agreed as Minister, but he specified that Fleur and Bill's marriage would be annulled and she and her daughter would leave England."

"And Molly just lets her granddaughter be taken away?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "She doesn't care about anything except her sons, Mione." Harry noticed. "And she'll get rid of Fleur forever. Bill will be able to find someone who will be adequate according to Molly." The elevator opened and they headed towards the main courtroom. Hermione's hair stood on end. They entered and immediately noticed that Fleur was in very bad shape, and was chained to a chair with handcuffs at her ankles and wrists. Hermione snapped, moving to the center of the courtroom and raising her wand. She paid no attention to the raised voices of the company. She deflected several charms, protecting herself and Fleur protego. And she jumped up to her and with another spell removed the handcuffs. Fleur fell to her knees. Her gaze was wild, absent, and at the same time she lacked the strength to get up. Hermione grabbed her by the arm, conjuring a blanket to cover her torn clothes, from which her pale skin was visible, revealing many private parts. She could dimly hear Harry and the rest of the judges shouting. "Enough!" She shouted, raising her wand and casting a powerful spell, immobilizing everyone. She was furious. "I didn't fight against Voldemort to leave the world as it was before! Look at yourselves! You're holding someone who fought side by side with you against a common enemy! You treat Veelas as a subspecies, dangerous creatures!" Hermione was shaking, supporting Fleur, who couldn't stand. She tightened her grip. "This is an intrusion! You're interrupting the trial!" The red-faced judge shouted. "We will things this way." Harry spoke, glaring at everyone with a hard gaze. "Fleur will revert to the Delacour name. The Weasley family will have no rights to her or her child. Both will leave England today." "What right do you have to force us to..." "If it weren't for me and Hermione you would be on Voldemort's leash now, most of you half-blood wizards would probably be dead by now." Potter said menacingly. "Case closed, ask Kingsley." He growled, walked over to Hermione giving her a reassuring glance and took Fleur by the other arm, leading her out of the room. Hermione was too shocked to pay attention to the looks being thrown their way. "Where are we going?" Harry asked as they exited the Ministry building. "To my flat. Fleur needs to rest. We'll Apparate to France first thing tomorrow morning. I'll need your contacts with Floo, Harry." Hermione replied.

"The Knight Bus has shown up, let's get in." Harry nodded and they packed up the bus. They arrived a few minutes later. "I'll leave you alone." "Can you stay with Fleur? I want to pick up Victoire from the infirmary." Hermione asked as she led Fleur to the bedroom and laid the woman on the bed.

Harry nodded and went to the kitchen. "I'll make some tea." He mumbled, taking off his jacket. "I'll get dinner on the way." Hermione said and headed towards the hospital. She decided to get some fresh air to relieve the stress of the day. It was late afternoon and Hermione was just starting to feel tired physically and mentally. To think that she had woken up in a forest clearing in the morning, lightly cuddled up to Aurelie, and now she had to take care of her daughter and Fleur, who had suddenly become unmarried. She entered the hospital again, ignoring everyone. She had never felt so disappointed with the magical world as she did today. And to think that she was ready to die for this world! That had treated her child so cruelly! She gently took Victoire into her arms, who was still deep in magical sleep. She lay there peacefully, like an angel. This time Hermione teleported them to the apartment. Luckily, there was a restaurant downstairs and the brunette took a large portion of dinner on her way back upstairs with the sleeping child. Harry opened the door for her, taking the food from her. Hermione carried it to Victoire, placing her next to Fleur, who was also asleep. For a moment, Hermione looked at the two most important people in her world squeezed together on her old bed. She went out and sat down at the table with a loud sigh. Harry served her dinner and tea. She smiled at him gratefully.

"I owe you." "You owe me nothing. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have even survived my first year at Hogwarts." Harry ruffled his hair and sat down next to her, also eating. "That was awful." He said after a moment. "That they treated them like that. They didn't do anything to Bill, even though he attacked a child. From what I know, there are no consequences for him." Hermione pushed her plate away, losing her taste. "Do you think Fleur will cope? You know... forcibly divorced..."

"She has to cope. From what I saw, her marriage to Bill was far from ideal. And then his transformation..." Harry mumbled. "How is Ginny taking it?" "She's pissed off because Molly is pushing everyone around, only caring about William's well-being. Ginny got on the Quidditch team and is starting training this year." Harry announced proudly. "Great. Congratulate her. And how is it at the Ministry?" Harry leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"I've had enough, Mione. I don't like their politics, I don't like being an Auror on the front lines. Or the fact that everywhere I go there's a crowd of reporters watching me." "Oh... we're similar in that aspect." The brunette smiled slightly. "Yeah. I think I'll leave soon. I'd like to travel the world. Just take a vacation." "I think it's a great idea. Being in France helped me." "I can see that, you look much healthier." "But what's it going to be like now? Be with Fleur every day..."

"You'll have your daughter with you, Mione. Fleur will come around. You will see." Harry shook her hand. "I better get going. Ginny'll probably be home soon. We were supposed to go to dinner tonight." "Harry Potter organizing a date... hmm... something tells me your girlfriend won't find out about your vacation plans until today, huh?" "Yeah." The man ruffled his hair. "I hope she doesn't put a hex on me." Harry opened the exit door.

"Take care, Mione. And good luck." "I'll try to call every now and then to let you know I'm alive." "I appreciate it." Harry hugged her, kissed her forehead, and left.

Hermione was so exhausted that she fell asleep sitting at the kitchen table.