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All hail the creator JK Rowling, let us bow our heads and thank her for this bounty upon which we feast and for allowing us to play in her world.



Chapter 52: Beauxbatons






Harry appeared silently outside the gates at Beauxbatons in the middle of a firefight and quickly assessed the situation even as he brought up a shield in front and behind. From where he stood he could see at least a hundred people in Death Eater garb fighting what appeared to be French law enforcement. They appeared to be handling the situation well which was a surprise after seeing the British Aurors in battle, however he caught a chill in the air and felt for the magic, following it to its source. Above the trees and heading in his direction were nearly two hundred Dementors, easily as many as he had driven off to save Sirius his third year. With a thought he released every happy memory he had been storing in his special file and pointed both wands, not wanting to hold back he called the incantation aloud "Expecto Patronum!"

The French Aurors looked his direction momentarily, just long enough to see two enormous stags and at least two dozen smaller shapes they couldn't identify erupt from the lone figure and race off toward the woods where they went to battle against the swarm. Harry then turned and ran in the direction of the school, the Aurors allowing him passage once they saw that he was on their side, throwing open the doors he ran to the Ballroom where he found a Professor he thought must be the Assistant Headmaster taking a headcount. It took him almost no time at all to see that she was not among them.

"Where is Gabrielle Delacour?" Harry shouted.

The Professor turned toward him, "Monsieur Potter? I do not know but I must finish my count."

"Anyone?" He shouted over top of him.

One of the girls he recognized from the dinner table fired off something in rapid French, he only understood two words. Stroll and Woods.

Quickly he ran out of the room and exited the building heading toward the woods where the Dementors were fighting or rather fleeing from the silver shapes that darted around them. The Aurors had been forced onto the grounds and no matter how much he needed to find Gabrielle he had to do something to help them. He began casting rapid fire bludgeoning hexes at every Death Eater in sight, not every one of them connected but it was enough of a distraction for the Aurors to gain the upper hand once more. That is until a sharp crack in the air let them know that the Anti-Apparation wards had just fallen, quickly followed by the remaining Death Eater forces popping in to surround them.

Harry switched tactics and began dodging the incoming spells, blocking only those he could not dodge. At the same time he was sending precision strikes back at them so as not to hit the Aurors. Slowly he was able to fight his way out of the mob and toward the woods where he spotted her running into the trees apparently unaware of the battle above. He began running after her as fast as he could.

"Gabrielle!" He called as she continued to run. As she heard his voice she turned quickly and ran into his arms.

"Master! There are so many of them, I did not know what to do!"

"It's okay Pet; I'm getting you out of...." He stopped mid sentence as his head began to throb in pain driving him to his knees. Occlumency or no he knew what the pain meant.

"Master?" Asked the alarmed girl.

"He's here, Voldemort is here." Harry whispered.

"Harry, Harry. I was hoping to find you here." A cold voice hissed from behind him.

He turned and pushed Gabrielle behind him. Voldemort stood in a small clearing looking just as pasty and snakelike as Harry remembered. "Tom, I am so glad to see you have recovered from our last encounter." Harry said as he slowly shut down his pain centers to block out the headache.

Voldemort began strutting around even as two of his Death Eaters joined him at the edge of the woods. "That was most unfortunate, but I assure you I am indeed fully recovered. How nice of you to supply the entertainment, Veela do have their uses, do they not?"

"Leave her out of this!" Harry shouted.

His serpentine lips pulled back into a smile as he looked on unfazed. "After today she will either be dead or one of my followers, I suggest you teach her how to address me properly if you wish for her to live."

He slowly began edging backward, hoping to grasp the girls hand and get them both far away; unfortunately she was backing up right along with him, misreading his intentions. She had to be really shaken up not to read him like a book. He noticed one of the Death Eaters circling to get a clean shot and with a thought sent a cutting curse that severed the man's wand arm just below the shoulder, Harry recognized the scream. "Lucius, glad to see Azkaban agreed with you."

"You'll pay for that Potter!" Although clearly in pain and bleeding profusely he produced another wand and sent a blasting curse in Harry's direction. Harry raised a shield just in time to stop it but the battle had begun in earnest.

The other Death Eater circled in the opposite direction even as Voldemort looked on unmoving from his position. Above them the Dementors began to flee from the silver defenders, twin jets of green light headed in his direction and he threw both himself and Gabrielle to the ground before grabbing her and rolling them both away behind a tree, before he could even think about Apparating out a cutting curse clipped his shoulder. Even through the pain blocks he could tell it was bad and began to return fire. Quickly he cast Disillusionment on both of them. "Run to the Ballroom Pet and defend yourself. I'll keep them busy!"

Taking that as a direct order she took off at a dead run. She was shielding with her wand and in her other hand she was producing what looked like living blue flame which she hurled at anyone that was close enough to try attacking her. An ugly baby voice began to taunt him, making his blood boil. "Come out, come out wittle baby Potty. Did it send its wittle girlfriend off to safety? That's all the better, she will be much more fun to play with if she is still alive."

He stood and quickly sent twin cutting curses at full strength in the direction of the voice but she was fast, turning and ducking just in time to lose part of her robes but remain otherwise unscathed. "What? No Unforgivables this time Potty?" She called.

He quickly dove and rolled to a new position which was closer to Voldemort. He didn't care at the point that all of his Horcruxes had not been destroyed, even a few years without Snakeface around sounded good at the moment. However another jet of green light flew over his head from Malfoy Senior who had taken the time to stop the blood flow; he wished he had approached Poppy sooner so he could do the same with his own wound. Harry didn't even debate as he sent a low powered bludgeoning hex followed by another cutting curse. The first hit the man's shield which he lowered once it was hit. "You will have to do better than that Pott...." He never finished the statement as his head was removed from his body.

"Potter! You just cost me one of my most faithful followers!" Voldemort cried from nearby. "I will make sure to kill you slowly for that."

Harry used a spell to throw his voice ten feet to the things left side. "You have to catch me first Tommy boy, you've been trying for sixteen years and I'm still here!" Voldemort turned and cast the killing curse in that direction, darkening the foliage as it passed before killing a tree that was unfortunate enough to be where the voice came from.

Harry slowly began making his way through the woods back toward the school but Voldemort seemed to sense where he was and turned quickly forcing Harry to dive once more as green light headed toward him. "You know Tommy, that spell is getting old. Don't you know anything better?"

The last of the Dementors were gone and without direction his Patroni began making their way back toward him. Quickly sensing his peril he redirected them toward the Dark Tosser for a distraction, as they converged on him Harry heard an inhuman scream from the man just before he Disapparated.

Harry quickly thought of his girlfriend and stepped silently into another firefight outside the doors to the school raising two shields as he appeared, the Aurors were still doing their jobs well but clearly they were going to be overwhelmed, Gabrielle had not made it inside yet and he could see her outline trying to run along the side of the building. One of the Death Eaters saw the same thing and sent a dark purple flame in the direction of the blur.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl once more as he watched the curse connect with her, one part of him was horrified while the other recognized it as the flame cutter curse that had left Hermione scarred. Harry had just learned that curse from Dumbledore so that he would know how to defend against it, instead he sent dual flames right back at Dolohov, followed by another set, and another. He continued until the man stopped screaming and laid a charred corpse engulfed in purple fire. He turned and ran toward Gabrielle who was now clearly visible lying on the ground, she was not moving and checking her quickly he couldn't find a pulse. The rational part of his mind shut down. Rather than do the logical thing and get her to a hospital his rage took over.

The part of him that would normally control his actions was in shock, the entire world was suddenly eerily quiet as the dark emotions consumed him. Harry's eyes turned from green to completely black, and the very air around him darkened until he became almost a living shadow. He began his dance with death spinning and weaving through the assembled Death Eater ranks, The Aurors were not sure if this was damnation or salvation, and instead of getting in the way they backed up against the building. The Death Eaters were not stupid; knowing this was not good for them they began sending wave after wave of Killing Curses in his direction only to have the curses redirected at another member of their raiding party. The shadow danced between them with cutting curses, bludgeoning hexes and flame cutters flying out at random intervals but never in random directions. It only took minutes for the Death Eaters to begin evacuating the area, but the shadow was hot on their heels taking them one at a time as he got closer.

None that the shadow touched died immediately, they lay either disemboweled, in pieces just large enough to survive with treatment, or knocked unconscious. Eventually all of those who were able had left and the shadow died down once more to reveal the bloodied form of Harry Potter-Black. Without a word he marched back up to the school and nobody made a move to stop him as he picked up the body of his girlfriend. Dumbledore and the Order Apparated to the spot in two's and three's and began taking in the scene around them, Tonks immediately headed for Harry but thunder seemed to split the air as he disappeared with Gabrielle. Tonks was the only one who was not left staring in shock at the place he had stood.

*************************SFTP************************

He appeared an instant later in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts and lay her down in the bed he normally occupied. Poppy was startled when she ran out of her office to investigate the noise and found a bloody Harry standing over the body of a girl. "Harry what have you done to yourself now?" She asked.

"Not me, she was hit with the same curse Hermione received at the Ministry last year. I...I couldn't find a pulse..." It all caught up to him and he collapsed onto the nearest bed as the adrenaline wore off and his pain centers came back on line.

"Your shoulder Harry, you've lost a lot of blood."

"DON"T WORRY ABOUT ME! Her...I need to know..." He said drifting back and forth toward unconsciousness.

Poppy knew when to argue and when to follow orders, he was clearly not too far gone, instead she turned quickly to the girl on the other bed. She cast several diagnostic spells and ran to her office to gather potions before coming back and beginning to pour them down the girl's throat, using magic to force her to swallow. "Is she?" He asked weakly.

"Barely... I need to at least close that wound Harry before you bleed to death!" He nodded.

"Make it quick; don't spend more time on me than you have to Poppy..." She pointed her wand at his wound and it knit very suddenly causing him to gasp in pain and pass out. She cast a diagnostic on him before nodding to herself and turning back to the other patient.

*************************SFTP************************

Hermione and Ginny had arrived the moment they heard that he had returned and were sitting on chairs between the two beds. Madame Pomfrey had him on potions to keep him mostly asleep while the rest of his wounds healed naturally and the blood replenishing potion did its work. It was nearly three hours later that he finally woke up to the smiling faces of his girlfriends. "Hey." He said as if it hurt just to speak.

"Hey yourself Mister." Ginny said with tears in her eyes. Hermione was crying unabashedly but was grinning at him as his eyelids fluttered.

"You gave us quite a scare Harry, what is the big idea of running out without telling us where you were going, or taking us with you!"

It took him a few moments to remember exactly where he was and why he was there. "Gabrielle!" He cried and tried to get up but a hand on each shoulder kept him in bed.

Hermione composed herself as best she could. "Harry it isn't good."

"Where is she?" He asked quietly.

Hermione handed him his glasses as Ginny moved enough for him to see Gabrielle lying across from him.

"She is in a coma Harry, the curse I was hit with was cast nonverbally by someone who was not skilled in that form of casting. As it is she is lucky you got her here as quickly as you did, but there is a lot of..." She caught her breath as she tried not to sob. "There is a lot of damage to her organs Harry and you know that Curse Scars like mine cannot be healed by magic. Madame Pomfrey was able to stop the curse from burning all the way through but...."

Ginny spoke up when she saw that her girlfriend would break down if she continued. "But we can't know if she will wake up or if she will survive even if she does wake up..."

The tears were burning into the small wounds that remained on Harry's face. He lay back in complete defeat and just cried his heart out, seeing him in such pain both Mione and Gin lost it and joined him on the bed as they released pent up emotion. A million thoughts were running through his head, the charms on her necklace should have stopped most of the damage from that curse even at full strength; suddenly Harry began flipping through memories in his head. In each of them he could clearly see her wearing the necklace, he looked across the aisle and saw that she was still wearing it, but as he continued to run through his memories he reached a devastating conclusion.

"I never put the protections on her necklace." He said out loud though quietly.

A bleary eyed Ginny looked up at him even as her hand went over her heart where her necklace lay. "What?"

"I gave her the first necklace, before I learned how to charm them..."

Hermione gasped but quickly pulled his face up to look her in the eye. "Do not blame yourself for this Harry!"

"How can I not!" He shouted at her. "Your necklace, Gin's, even Susan's has those protections on them, I even specifically researched something that could dampen the Flame Cutter curse and yet Gabrielle is dead because I was too busy shagging her to protect her!" He broke down into sobs once more but no tears fell from his eyes. These were dry sobs, sobs of grief, almost shouts of anguish to any higher power that might be listening. "It would have taken two minutes! I killed her!"

"Harry? Harry!" Hermione called out to him but he was nearly hysterical. "Harry she is not dead! Stop saying that, we are going to find a way to help her!"

Ginny wrapped herself around him as tightly as she could but he kept forcing her away. "NO! Get away from me, everyone I love dies..."

Poppy exploded from her office and rushed toward them, "What happened?" She shouted over his anguished cries.

"He's gone hysterical; he is blaming himself for her death when she isn't even dead!" Hermione shouted back. "We need to do something!"

Poppy nodded and placed her wand against his temple, there was a flash of red and Harry went limp in the girls' arms. "What did you do?" Ginny said looking as if she were ready to attack the woman.

"I knocked him out with a medical grade version of a Stunning Spell. I have not seen his true magical potential but I have my suspicions, tell me what he might have done if we let him continue spiraling into that depression?"

Hermione gasped once more, "He wouldn't hurt either of us or himself! How could you suggest such a thing?"

The healer shook her head, "Emotional stress does funny things to the mind and magic Miss Granger. He might have unconsciously destroyed himself from the inside out with accidental magic. I need you two to leave now."

"No." Ginny said quietly but firmly.

"Miss Weasley, while I appreciate your dedication to your boyfriend your presence here is doing him no good at the moment."

"No!" Hermione said just as firmly but in a louder tone. "You are wrong about that Madame; Harry needs us near to him...just like we need him. None of us is complete without the other two."

"Three..." Ginny said quietly as she turned and wrapped her hand around Gabrielle's.

Hermione nodded, "It has been hurting him for over a month that she was taken away from him but he was able to deal with it because he knew she was safe. You do realize what it meant to her as well, being a bonded Veela?"

"Bonded!" Poppy's outburst was more statement than question.

"The Second Task...long story, but she belongs to him. He is responsible for her, and now she might..." Hermione couldn't continue as her steam ran out and she collapsed into the chair behind her, the tears falling once more.

"She is not gone yet, and will not be going anywhere while I have a say in the matter!" The Matron said forcefully.

"Then we can stay?" Ginny asked hopefully.

"You can stay but I am requiring you to attend your classes, you may come here during any free periods. Miss Granger I believe he has told you about our arrangement for extra tutelage?"

Hermione nodded in slight confusion. "You are allowed to stay during your free periods as well, but I am going to need your help in class. Congratulations you have just become my apprentice until Harry has recovered."

The brunette nodded, "How long until he recovers?"

"Physically? He should be right as rain in another hour or so, emotionally? I doubt he will recover fully until Ms. Delacour's fate is decided one way or another. He will be too busy fighting for her and against himself while she still lives, until she wakes at least. I do not doubt he could handle her death better than not knowing, but I do not intend to find out!"

Gin and Mione looked at each other and silently vowed to do whatever it took to get him through this; one way or another.











A/N:

I almost

made this one a cliffy after he disappeared from Beauxbatons but I thought three in a row would be cruel... Please don't desert me.

Also for those of you who missed it before. I started a group on yahoo which among other things will be used for notifications. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gml_fanfic