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Chapter 14 - Healing

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 29th July 2001 AD
Country: France - The French Riviera - Marseeleveyre Mountains
Location: Chateau Delacour
Time: Evening

Over the next hours the Delacour elders called up every contact they knew, but they couldn't find anything, anywhere.

They had searched their own library, The Archives of the French Ministry, the Public Wizard Library of Paris as well as every other major library they could think of.

They had searched for every and any conceivable related subject:

Healing the mind,

Cleansing the mind,

Opening the mind,

And every variation thereafter, there was absolutely nothing they could find or think off.

Except one.

"Are you sure this is the only way?" asked Delphine.

"Yes, I couldn't find anything else." answered Dimitri slowly.

"I don't like it; it could be very dangerous for both of them."

"Yes, but we have no other choice."

"No other choice about what?" asked Fleur as she walked into the room.

Since the letter had arrived she had not left Harry's side once, it was just typical that she had to come down the exact second that they were talking about this.

"We have discovered a way to help Harry." answered Delphine slowly.

"How?" demanded Fleur.

"Someone needs to go into his mind."

There was a stunned silence which was measured in microseconds before Fleur said.

"How do I do it?" resolve evident on her face.

"Dear, we don't even know if this will work, you will be performing highly advanced Legilimency." explained her father "It could make him worse....It could kill you both."

"How do I do it?" Fleur repeated.
________________________________________________________________________

A few minutes later Fleur and Delphine were gathered in Harry's room awaiting their guest.

"He looks so peaceful." commented Fleur stroking his forehead.

"Not necessarily a good sign." said a deep voice from behind them "It could indicate that he is comfortable where he is and therefore has no wish to return. The longer he is like that, the more likely he is to stay that way and if he does stay his body may die; you may have your work cut out for you."

"Viktor," cried Fleur in relief, rushing into the arms or the Bulgarian Quidditch Player as he and her father walked in "Thank goodness, I did not think I could stand more waiting."

"I did not know you spoke French Mr Krum." commented Delphine.

"I leant after the Tournament," he walked to the bed and looked down at Harry's prone form "It's ironic really, Dumbledore was the one who gave the speech that ensured that we kept in touch and that forced me to began doing additional training, training that will now save Harry's life, but that man almost sentenced Harry to death with those Muggle's."

He turned to the group, "Your father has brought me up to speed, have there been any further developments?"

"No." answered Delphine.

Krum nodded and turned to Fleur.

"What I am going to do is enter yours and Harry's mind and act as a causeway for you, allowing you to enter Harry's mind," he turned to Dimitri and Delphine "If at any time I extend my hands I am going to need you to take them because I require more magic, this is a highly complex procedure, I have never done anything this complicated before and I will need all the power I can get to make it work."

They nodded.

"Fleur I suggest you lay on the bed next to Harry as you will loose control of your body; I will warn you that apart from being able to see Harry's thoughts and memories, he may also be able to see yours and possibly you will both be able to see mine as my Occlumency shields may not hold under the strain, I will avoid looking at either of yours if I can."

Fleur moved to the bed and laid down next to Harry, taking his left hand in her right, Krum climbed onto the bed and sat cross legged at the end, drawing his wand he turned to Fleur.

"Ready?"

She nodded.

"Legilimens."
________________________________________________________________________

Fleur could not see anything, she was vaguely aware of another presence in her mind; presumably Viktor's.

Then suddenly she became aware of a third presence, less dominant than Krum's, but also stronger.

Guiding her thoughts towards it she felt Krum's mind fade into the background, allowing her a limited amount of privacy with Harry.

Closing in on the presence she pushed through a weak barrier and suddenly her senses came back to her, her sight and sound receptors became instantly overloaded as a bright sun combined with a roaring crowd appeared around her.

Before she had time to react a pair of objects dashed passed her in a flurry of movement.

As her senses managed to focus on the area around her, she discovered that she was in a Quidditch stadium, from the look of it probably the one at Hogwarts.

Seeing the four coloured banners confirmed it, it appeared to be a Slytherin versus Gryffindor match, she didn't understand Quidditch so had never bothered trying, and there were more pressing matters to attend to; like Harry....and the fact that she was hovering several hundred feet of the ground.

"It's a memory Fleur," Viktor's voice informed her "Anything is possible."

Fleur nodded, assuming that Krum could see what was going on even if she could not see him.

Looking around she saw the objects that had flown straight passed her, it was Harry, he was speeding after the gold ball that she could never remember the name of, beside him was another boy, he had blond hair and was wearing green robes, presumably the Slytherin Sneaker....or was it Speaker.

Anyway.

She kicked at the air to see if she could move and found that that didn't work, then realising that as it was a memory she would have to use her mind.

Willing herself forward, cautiously at first she began to move, gaining confidence she aimed herself at the pair and shot of towards them.

The pair were racing flat out over the crowd, the blonde attempting to bash Harry off his broom.

Fleur pulled out of a dive a few meters behind the pair and began attempting to catch them up. It was at times like this that she was glad that this was only a memory or the crowd could have seen under her dress.

After failing miserably for several minutes, she further realised that as she wasn't part of the memory she wasn't controlled by its laws, therefore she could catch up with him if she wanted.

She envisioned herself next to Harry and when she opened her eyes she was hovering next to him.

"Arry, you've got to leave ere, you've got to come back to us."

He did not respond.

"Arry, listen to me, if you stay in ere you may die."

"I deserve to die." he said quietly, which sounded very out of place as they were hurtling along at over one hundred miles an hour.

"You do not dezrve to die Arry, none of it waz your fault."

"Yes it was." he answered solemnly.

The scene around them changed, they were in a small stone building of some kind and a storm was raging outside. A snore to her left brought her attention to two people; one was a very fat boy lying on a sofa under a warm blanket.

And the other, lying on the floor under a moth eaten old sheet was a young Harry Potter; he looked if possible even scrawnier than he did when she first saw him.

He was similar in several ways, his untamed hair being just one, but there were also differences, this Harry didn't possess the same powerful aura as the current Harry did and he still seemed to have his innocence of life.

The alarm went of on the fat child's wrist watch and a loud thud echoed as something collided with the door.

"Where's the cannon?" asked the fat child stupidly as he jerked awake.

The door banged several more times before the hinges gave way.

"This is it," said a voice to her right "This is where it all went wrong."

"Vhat do you mean?" she asked the image of the older Harry.

"This was when I discovered that I was a wizard."

Looking back Fleur saw the large shape of the Hogwarts groundskeeper blocking the doorway.

"I should have said no, I should have stayed with the Dursley's, if I had done that then I would not have caused all that pain."

"It vas NOT your fault Arry." Fleur insisted moving in front of the smaller boy.

"No?" he asked as if he really didn't care.

The image changed to display a room with a black and white tiled floor, looking at the surroundings in greater detail showed that they were standing on a giant chess board.

I cry went up from their right as the White Queen flung her arm into who Fleur recognised as the youngest Weasley brother, the one who had asked her to the ball, she had always admired his courage, he was the only person other then Roger Davies who actually had the guts to ask.

The Queen dragged the boy of the chess board and flung him to the side.

The image changed again, the Hogwarts hospital wing, Harry's female friend Hermione was laying deadly still on a bed with both Ron and Harry at her side.

The image changed again showing Ginny Weasley lying perfectly still in a stone cave under the watchful gaze of a stone statue and a Slytherin Prefect.

The images were changing so fast she could barely register them all, but she was also aware that every time the image changed she knew of the memories leading up to the event.

She saw the History Class where he had learnt about the Chamber of Secrets, the battle to reach the Philosophers Stone, the mystery of the Grim that turned out to be Harry's Godfather Sirius.

And last but not least the memories of the Triwizard Cup and of The Department of Mysteries where he lost a friend and his Godfather.

Looking back to the older Harry she discovered that he had fallen to his knees in grief, holding his head in his hands.

"Arry," she said dropping to her knees and raising his face so that she could see the tears pouring down his cheeks. "None of it vas your fault, you ave just been unlucky...."

"Unlucky!" he shouted, cutting her off "Un-sodding-lucky. I've lost everything," he cried "My parents, my godfather, I've hurt my friends because they followed me and even when I try to do what's right I get someone killed. I have no reason to go on Fleur....nothing....and because you're trying to help me you will get hurt too"

She wiped the tears from his cheeks and leaned in to hold him, he clung to her as if the second he let go she would no longer exist.

"I am not going anyvhere Arry....I'm not going anyvhere."

He held onto her for several minutes, crying into the mental image of her robes.

She had never realised just how bad his life had been, she was the only person in the entire world to really see what had gone through from his point of view.

She had seen the accusations, his fear, his miss placed guilt, his sorrow, his pain.

How could anyone live through that?

She had to think of something to help him or he would he lost forever, if only he could see that it was not his fault, if only he could see who's fault it really was.

An idea struck her, it was her only chance.

"Arry," she said leaning back and staring into his eyes "Look into my mind."

"What?" he said, weeping.

"Look into my mind; you need to zee yourself through someone else's eyes, look into my mind and zee the truth."

"I can't."

"You can, are minds are already open to each other, you juzt need to look."

He wiped his eyes as much as he could and looked into hers.

She felt him seeing her memories of what she had just seen, the conclusions she had drawn, the places where she had placed the blame.

Looking into his eyes, Fleur saw the subtly change in his mind, realisation dawned, his fears were set aside and repressed, his conclusions re-evaluated with the new information provided and certainty grew in his mind.

He pulled out of her mind, but she could feel the changes in the very air around her.

Fear and doubt gave way to courage and determination.

Guilt and sorrow to new accusations and anger.

With a flash his memories disappeared and the bed curtains appeared in front of her eyes, looking to Harry she saw his eyes flutter open and a moment later turn towards her, tears of thanks glistening in the corners.

Leaning over she embraced him, she could feel the new stronger personality emerging, reinforcing the battered original.

The magic's which sent him into his mind had now made it stronger, made him stronger, before he would have liked to do nothing more than leave but now he wouldn't; now he would stay.

Now he would fight.

Pulling away from him slightly, the new strength visible in his eyes almost dazzled her.

The change in him sparked a decision in Fleur's mind; then and there she swore to herself, that while there was still breath in her body she would help him fight, never again would he stand alone.

"Fleur....are you ok?" asked Viktor's.

Turning she saw both her parents and Viktor leaning heavily against the end of the bed, panting heavily.

"I feel like I should be asking you that?"

"In those last few seconds," began Viktor in English, attempting to regain his breath "Harry's mind vent from sedate straight into overdrive, at the same time his magic level literally vent thought the roof, I have never seen that amount of raw power before, up until that point I had not needed help but in those last few seconds it took all our strengths to hold the link until ve could separate your minds, just be glad that your parents are both very strong."

"Viktor?" asked Harry surprised.

"Evening Harry....how's your holiday going?"