Harry Potter: The Beauxbatons Years

By PD31

Rating: M

Pairing: Harry Potter/Fleur Delacour

Summary: Sequel to Lessons From A Grateful Veela. Having moved to France with Sirius, Harry has to juggle his new school, his relationship with Fleur and Dumbledore's attempts to return him to England. There will be new friends to be made and new threats to be faced.

Disclaimer: JK owns the Harry Potter world and all the characters in it; I've just borrowed them for this story.

This story starts in 1995, when part 1 should have been set but wasn't (which was my bad). It begins a few weeks after "Grateful Veela" NOT a full year later.

Most of the speech will actually be in French (though written in English) – unless the conversation is between two native Anglophones (e.g. Harry and Sirius or between two of the Grangers).

Chapter 1

Ministry of Magic,

London, United Kingdom

Monday, July 24th 1995

"We HAVE to do this Cornelius," Albus Dumbledore pleaded with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge as they strode towards Courtroom 10, which was housing this morning's full meeting of the Wizengamot.

"I understand your need, Albus," Fudge conceded neutrally, "and your urgency, but I fail to see why a student moving from one school to another is a matter so important for the country that it merits changing our laws – even if it is… the boy-who-lived."

"Can't you see what a blow it would be to magical Britain, seeing Harry Potter leave our shores?"

"It's a blow to Hogwarts and its prestige, certainly," the Minister countered, "but the Ministry currently has more good publicity than we know what to do with, what with young Diggory getting recognised as the boy who defeated You-know-who and foiled his plans to return," Fudge shuddered at the prospect of the Dark Wizard's return, "and our whole country, pretty much, has been enjoying one long party ever since. Capturing Pettigrew and being able to show our Ministry as willing to atone for the mistakes of past regimes," Dumbledore knew he was referring to Sirius Black, recently acquitted of the crimes that saw him incarcerated in the wizarding prison Azkaban for twelve years, "of course it was embarrassing on the part of the last Minister," he smiled smugly, "and we rode out the Barty Crouch scandal; useful that we could blame Black's imprisonment on him, show how he pulled the wool over everyone's eyes – and the best bit, all the embarrassing stuff got buried inside the Prophet while the celebrations and the positive stories made the front page!"

"Yes," Dumbledore concurred through gritted teeth, "it was a masterstroke giving Cedric his award and then promoting Amos on the same day you cleared Sirius and blamed it all on Crouch. And then giving Harry and Fleur their awards 'while he's on holiday in France'… I wonder how the public will react to the hero leaving for good though?"

"We'll manage," the Minister declared confidently, entering the chamber and ending the conversation.

A very unhappy Dumbledore followed him inside.

"I welcome, restored to his family seat, and which is now being taken up for the first time since the sad passing of his father, Member Sirius Black." Fudge stood and led the applause, generous but polite from many in the chamber, as Sirius made his way to his seat; eyebrows were raised when he elected to sit with the so-called 'neutral' faction, but closer to those of a 'traditionalist' persuasion (i.e. the darker wizards). A few of the Wizengamot began whispering among themselves at the statement Sirius was sending out by his choice of position. He ignored it and addressed the body.

"Thank you Minister, and may I place on the record my gratitude to you for personally righting the terrible injustice inflicted on me by your predecessors. The House of Black considers the matter closed." Fudge nodded; the galleons of compensation he'd authorised for Sirius seemed money well spent – especially as it wasn't his personal money used for it.

"I now open proceedings with today's first motion, tabled by the Chief Warlock," Fudge declared. All eyes turned to Dumbledore as he stood; Fudge retook his seat as the Hogwarts Headmaster stood and described his case for forcing Harry Potter to resume his education at Hogwarts.

"If it pleases the council," Sirius called, "why is the Chief Warlock so interested in my godson?"

"Ah, Member Black," the old man replied condescendingly, "I of course have my other hat as Headmaster of Hogwarts. As such I am unwilling to lose such a high profile and talented student from my school and from our country."

"Could you tell us, Headmaster, how many students have transferred from your school over the past decade?" Sirius enquired.

"It's a rare occurrence, hence my intention to intervene…" Sirius cut off Dumbledore's claim.

"The figures just so happen to be available in the Ministry. It may interest the council to know that twenty students have left midway through their education." He turned to the surprised-looking members of the ruling body. "Eight went to Durmstrang – and a handful more declined Hogwarts in the first place to go there – with five to Beauxbatons and seven to the Salem Academy. One of those was the son of one of our brethren," he nodded at one of the 'traditionalists'. "Was his transfer not important to you?" Dumbledore squirmed a little as the student's father nodded and glared at him. "How many of those transfers, Headmaster, did you attempt to overturn through legislation?"

Dumbledore's face ashened at the figures being revealed; while they had to be given to the Ministry, it should be extraordinarily difficult to actually collate it. Sirius pressed home his advantage. "Would it further interest the Honourable Members gathered here to know that a second student has also transferred to Beauxbatons for next year; she is actually a classmate of my godson's and top of the year academically. Could the Chief Warlock tell us why his proposed legislation does not cover her, nor anybody else who may wish to pursue alternative education options? Why is he not loathe to lose that talented student from his school and our shores?" Sirius could see the room was favouring his arguments over the Headmaster's; he then adjusted his robes with a flourish and turned to his colleagues. "It seems to me that our Chief Warlock wishes to abuse his position to bolster his own second job as Hogwarts Headmaster," this generated plenty of sniggers from the assembly, "by depriving our children of the chance to gain vital life experience and of the opportunity to broaden their horizons by learning in another school, another country, and experiencing a different culture." Dumbledore's heart sank as even he could see that the majority of the chamber agreed with Sirius.

The Chief Warlock's hopes were raised as Walden Macnair stood and proposed modifying the law so that it would only allow Purebloods to be educated abroad. Sirius, however, called on the whole Black sneer that his father had perfected; he pointed out that the executioner's old house's founder, Salazar Slytherin, wanted to ban all non-Purebloods from learning magic anyway – so his proposal would be counterproductive to those aims. "It would also," he concluded regally, "be the first time this august body has ever actually legislated discrimination between blood-types… instead of certain bills just implying it or introducing it tacitly," he added to the gasps of some and the ire of many in the chamber, "and in doing so it would be promoting Voldemort's aims – aims that my godson's parents, my best friends and many others gave their lives to defeat. Aims that Cedric Diggory won an award for helping to defeat. It would be a poor way for the Ministry to act so soon after…"

"Thank you, Member Black," Fudge hurriedly stood and cut him off – seeing that his words were antagonising the chamber even more. "I'm sure no-one," he glared at Macnair, "is seriously advocating that we enshrine any sort of discrimination into law. The arguments have been presented; I now call on a vote on the proposal to give this body the power to force a student to continue his education at Hogwarts…"

"One more question, Minister," Augusta Longbottom waved her hand; he yielded the floor to the stern witch. "Does anybody know where young Mr Potter actually is?"

All eyes turned to Sirius; he battled hard to keep his face straight.

1300 Rue Michel Carola,

Canet-en-Roussillon, France

"Right then, Hermione, we'll be off. See you tonight?" Mr Granger stood with a smile to his daughter and prepared to follow his wife to the living room, where they kept their Portkeys to transport them to and from their Dental Practice in Oxford.

"Yes," his daughter confirmed. "I'll probably be with Harry and the others when you get back, they'll probably invite me to stay for dinner, so just call either Sirius or the Delacours and I'll head back."

"Ok," he nodded then paused. "Maybe invite them all around this weekend; we'll have a barbecue or something." Hermione smiled and nodded at the couple, who then disappeared.

Hermione looked around the small cottage her family was living in; they had rented a place for the summer an, having enjoyed a few weeks of holiday, they were going back to work for the first time today. Her parents had also made a few trips back and forth, to get used to the idea of travelling via Portkey to work every day (they LOVED the idea of gaining an hour on the trip to England, meaning getting up at a reasonable hour, having breakfast with their daughter before heading straight to work; the instantaneous nature of the trip also meant they still got a fair amount of evening to enjoy after locking up for the night, although being so much further south it did begin to get dark that much sooner). The Grangers currently deciding where they wanted to live, be it here in the town or perhaps the nearest large city (Perpignan) or indeed elsewhere in France, as they could travel back to England for work from anywhere. Their home in Oxford was on the market and a couple of interested parties had looked at it (another reason they had been back in England during their holiday); the sale would leave them able to easily buy a place in either the local area,Canet-Plage, or another small city and also have a nice little increase to their nest egg. Of course moving to a major city would put a dent in it, which was all part of the discussion and consideration.

Hermione walked into her bedroom and changed from her pyjamas into her bikini, pulling a T-shirt and shorts on over it. She slipped on some sandals and threw some of her new books into her rucksack, along with a towel and some sunscreen. She mused that she'd still not heard anything from anyone in Britain about her transfer away from Hogwarts, despite the senior staff and several senior members of the Ministry of Magic (including the Minister himself) reportedly trying desperately to find a way to bring Harry Potter back to Britain and Hogwarts. While she was glad of the anonymity she felt a little upset that it seemed that nobody cared that she'd left, given that she thought she was quite friendly with several members of staff. The girl left the cottage, locking up and walking the short distance to the beach.

Despite the reasonably early hour the day was warming up nicely and the beach was already quite busy; the young witch dropped her stuff onto the sand, rolled out the towel and stripped down to her swimsuit before lying down on the towel and reminiscing on the summer so far. It had been nice and relaxing for her; she hadn't seen much of Harry or anybody else from the Wizarding world, just a single day trip to Paris. Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, had apparated her there to meet the others in the Cleusaux Department Store that Harry had frequented on his date with his girlfriend, Fleur Delacour (the thought of them sneaking off to Paris from Hogsmeade still irked her a little) and she couldn't help but feel a little jealous of how easily Harry was conducting himself, chatting in almost perfect French to the people in the store, heading up to the top floor for the magical apparel and generally knowing his way around both that place and the magical quarter they accessed afterwards. For a girl who was used to being needed by him, used to getting him out of various scrapes and holes, she felt a little sad that he either didn't need that role, or (even worse) that it had been usurped by his girlfriend. Harry had tried to include her in everything but she had been struggling to resist a grimace when she looked at Fleur or, particularly, the two of them together.

It didn't take long for Hermione to start to feel the sun's rays burning her skin; she sat up and began to apply the sunscreen to herself, wishing that she was able to use the charm instead. She looked around her and, seeing how many of the other ladies on the beach were attired, rather sheepishly untied her bikini top and dropped the garment back into her bag before adding some more, higher factor, sun lotion to the newly exposed flesh. She looked around again but nobody on the beach paid any heed to her change in attire.

The young witch pushed her sunglasses up her nose and picked up one of her new school books; lying on her back she tried to read it, only to decide that it was too heavy to support in that position. She put it back in the bag and took a slimmer tome, quietly reading through it.

Once she'd finished she retrieved the original text book and, rolling onto her front, she began the chapter she'd got up to the previous night, scratching her head as she came across a word she didn't recognise. She wasn't too surprised that she was unable to find it in her non-magical French to English dictionary and made a note to ask one of the Delacours the next time she saw them and continued reading.

After a busy morning of helping Harry get up to speed with his Potions work (and trying to make up for the four years of appalling teaching he'd received in the subject from Professor Snape), Fleur sent her boyfriend/student for a swim in their private pool (and to keep her little sister, Gabrielle, company) while she apparated to the cottage that the Grangers were renting; a quick knock on the door and a Homonen Revelio spell later confirmed that nobody was inside. Knowing that Hermione enjoyed soaking up the sun, she made her way to the beach; the young Veela smiled as she saw the bushy-haired teen lying there reading. As the beach was quiet, she decided to have some fun with the younger witch; she looked around to make sure she wasn't being watched before pulling out her wand and casting a disillusionment charm on herself before apparating right next to her.

Hermione jumped at the crack sound that she heard; she grabbed her bag to cover herself and leapt to her feet, hand plunging into the rucksack and tightening around her wand as she looked around cautiously.

"Relax," she heard Fleur's mirthful voice and turned in the general direction; the Veela checked again that nobody was looking in their direction and cancelled the charm. The smiling blonde, wearing a short summery dress, came into view and Hermione relaxed; she crouched down and pulled her bikini top from the bag, retying it before standing up.

"Sorry to scare you," Fleur apologised in French, though she was still smiling broadly, "I couldn't resist it when I saw you alone and so engrossed in what you were reading."

Hermione huffed. "No harm done I suppose," she grumbled. "Are we going to your house today or Harry's?"

"Ours," she replied, "unless you want to stay here a little longer."

"No, we'll go," Hermione answered, shaking the towel before rolling it up and stuffing it and the books into her bag. "Did Harry not want to come?" She was a little surprised that the blonde was alone.

"He wanted to come but he wasn't sure that you would want him to see you nude," Fleur replied matter-of-factly, causing Hermione to blush scarlet.

"He knew that I'd…" she mumbled; Fleur was now smiling broadly.

"He knows that most girls here do," she sniggered at the memory of their first trip to the beach, when they had apparated to the south coast of the country for the day; her boyfriend had gawped a little at the amount of flesh on display before Fleur had added to it and monopolised his attention from that point onwards, until he'd settled enough to start reading some of his summer books (and have the occasional cooling swim in the Mediterranean) "he also remembered when you were over a couple of weeks ago; your bikini clearly showed you have no tan line so he guessed." Hermione nodded uncomfortably at what her friend had deduced about her. "Come then, we will go."

Hermione gathered up her bag, put a tentative hand on Fleur's forearm and the older girl spirited them away.

Delacour Home,

Lille

The two girls appeared a blink of an eye later outside Fleur's home in Lille; Hermione removed her hand quickly once she had steadied herself.

"You still don't like me much, do you?" Fleur asked in conversational tone; there was no hint of accusation but Hermione still looked awkwardly at her.

"I…" she squeaked; Fleur continued to eye her casually but expectantly, non-verbally encouraging her to continue. "I just can't help but feel that you seduced Harry when things first happened between you, I didn't think it was right – I still don't, really, at his age. Then we had our… conversation immediately after that weekend and I remember you seemed to be rather superior about it all, which didn't endear you to me. After talking to Harry, and seeing you two getting closer, I'm trying to be better about it but it's difficult for me."

"You like him?" The French girl's tone was still curious rather than accusatory.

"He's my best friend," she replied cautiously, "and I was worried that he would get hurt by you. Maybe I still am," she revealed.

"It is good that you are such a good friend to him," Fleur patted her on the arm and they made their way to the patio door. "Now, I will go and let 'Arry know you are here, give him time to get dressed," she finished with a wink.

"What, y… you mean he…" Hermione blushed again; Fleur just shrugged.

"Usually when we are out by the pool we don't bother with suits. It has been normal for me and Gabbi all our lives, though she makes 'Arry uncomfortable because she is still young and that is less normal in Britain, he says," Hermione nodded her confirmation. "But now the two of us have nothing to hide from one another so why not enjoy the weather?"

"I suppose so," Hermione mumbled, trying not to think of the couple nude together in a bed somewhere, or even by the pool; Fleur had already gone and the English witch could hear her and Harry talking. A few moments later she could see the two of them walking towards them, Harry was wearing a pair of shorts but bare-chested. She rushed over and hugged her friend before giving him a kiss on the cheek; it was testament, she thought, to his growing maturity that he wasn't at all fazed by her actions.

"Hi Hermione, it's good to see you again," he told her instead, tightening his arms a little around her.

"You too, the tan really suits you, you're looking well," she praised him as she extricated herself from his arms.

"Yes, living here has been great for me," he agreed with a smile. "Sirius loves it too; he's back in England today though, dealing with some stuff at the Ministry."

"They're trying to force you to go back?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yes, Dumbledore's apparently even become desperate enough to put a motion in the Wizengamot meaning that no British wizard or witch could be educated abroad without Ministry permission," he shook his head. "That's what I think is being debated today, after Sirius' induction to the Wizengamot. Sirius says there's only a tiny chance that it will pass, even with me as the poster child, though they couldn't apply it retrospectively anyway as the approval for our transfers has already gone through and there are a few children of Wizengamot members studying abroad; they won't want them to be forced to come back so he's confident that some legislation like that wouldn't affect me anyway, although Sirius said his alternative would be a bill specifically targeting me rather than kids in general and, with it being me, it's possible that could pass – though Sirius will be questioning why just me if that sort of bill is proposed."

Hermione nodded, after all there were the two of them who had transferred so why not try to get her to return as well? Harry continued, "Sirius also doubts that many members will want to lose the option to send their kids abroad, which is why he's saying there's only a small chance any sort of legislation passes – precedent and all. He does think, though, that if this fails Dumbledore will simply try and kidnap me then, once I'm back in England he can hold me in Hogwarts for my own protection," he spat out; Fleur stepped next to him and wrapped an arm around him, kissing his cheek. He smiled gratefully at her and continued, "and if that happened then the Wizengamot would probably be 'persuaded' to stall Sirius for as long as they could."

Fleur nodded. "There is no love at all between the British Ministry and our own; they would not be afraid to insult Beauxbatons and make any number of claims to justify keeping you in 'Ogwarts. Nor would zey use zer Aurors to recover you nor allow ours to enter ze country and do so."

"How do you stop that from happening?" Hermione asked, knowing the Hogwarts Headmaster had an awful lot of power, both magical and political.

"You apparated outside the house," he reminded her, "there are anti-apparation charms set up, anti-Portkey charms, anti-Phoenix charms even, both around the property here and at mine and Sirius's new place. The floo is password protected too; we've set it up so that we can floo directly between here and our house so I don't need to go outside."

"Looks like you've thought of everything then," she complemented.

"It does mean we need a certain level of subterfuge to go out for the day but we sweep for tracking charms and other things quite regularly and this place, along with our house, is unplottable so nobody in Britain should know exactly where we are."

"I'd say it sounded paranoid if I didn't agree with the need for it," Hermione mused.

"'ARRY!" They heard a cry from by the pool; Fleur and Harry turned to one another with knowing grins. "Come and swim!"

"Gabrielle," he told Hermione; she nodded.

"She loves him," Fleur teased her beau; Harry smiled at her.

"So do you," he responded cockily before giving her a kiss. He then led the two girls to the pool so Hermione could greet the youngest Delacour.

"Why didn't you check me for tracking charms before we came here?" Hermione asked Fleur suddenly as they walked.

"Who says I didn't?" the French girl replied.

"When?"

"It only took a second so after I apparated and before I became visible," Fleur shrugged.

Sirius returned early in the evening; he looked weary as he stepped through the floo, thanking Mme Delacour as she prepared a plate of dinner for him.

"How was it?" Harry asked his godfather as he joined them at the table.

"Well, the proposal was just about you and it was thrown out," he declared with a satisfied smile. "I'm sure Dumbledore's still trying to figure out ways to get you back though; he's also been asking me why you left like that in the first place. I explained it was for Fleur," he nodded at the young Veela, "he started saying there were 'accommodations' that could be made and you should have spoken to him or McGonagall rather than doing things the way you did." Harry rolled his eyes and Sirius smirked. "I didn't think you'd believe him."

"If I had spoken to either of them the legislation to keep me there would have passed before the year ended," he observed; nobody at the table disagreed with that.

"Oh and Madam Longbottom asked if I knew where you were." He waited a couple of seconds before delivering the punch line. "I said you were in France." The table erupted in laughter. "Yes, they weren't very pleased with that answer and even less so when I refused to elaborate."

"Has anyone mentioned Hermione?" Harry enquired after he stopped chuckling; Sirius looked at the witch who was his godson's best friend.

"Apart from me bringing up 'your classmate' in session and asking why the proposal didn't cover her, nobody at all I'm afraid." She just shrugged, not too surprised.

"Oh by the way," she said, "my parents wanted me to invite you all over this weekend to the little place we have."

"Sounds good," Fleur nodded, "and there will be enough wands to make sure nothing can happen, even if someone somehow finds us."

"Do you think they might?" Harry asked nervously.

"It is the most vulnerable place that someone could target," his girlfriend's father commented thoughtfully. "They don't know where we leave so you can't be found here and there's no way for them to track you when you move around the place with us. As far as Hermione's house is concerned though… even though the Portkey they use was supplied by the French Ministry it is possible that the British Ministry are tracking it, especially as they know of your friendship."

"If you don't want to or don't think it's safe then I understand," Hermione blurted out; it would hurt for them to say that they wouldn't come over but hurt a lot more if it was the cause of Harry being illegally apprehended by Dumbledore, Fudge and their cronies.

"No, we'll go," he told her. "I'm here to enjoy my life and I'll do that. We'll take precautions, maybe set up some protective spells at your home as well," the adult magic users all nodded, "it will be fine."

Hermione smiled gratefully at him.

"You're doing magic?" Hermione asked in surprise as Harry revealed that Fleur was helping him practice Potions, Charms and Transfiguration during the day.

"The French have a different approach," he explained, "under-age students practicing magic is encouraged so that they can better control it; provided it's done in the confines of a magical home and away from prying eyes, the government has no problem."

"So I could…" she began; Harry cut her off.

"If your parents owned their home. You, and they, would also be subject to spot-checks by the Ministry to make sure the house wasn't in breach of the Statute of Secrecy."

"So there's bias against muggle-borns here as well?" she asked with a sullen trace to her tone.

"No," Fleur jumped in, defending her country, "all homes are subject to these checks, to make sure rooms haven't been expanded in a way a muggle would notice, for example."

"Think Mr. Weasley's car," Harry added; Hermione had never experienced the blue Ford Anglia but had heard the stories. "While that's not illegal here it would need to be registered to be legal and then be monitored to ensure that any magic was reversed before it could be sold to a muggle – the same with houses. They do check houses containing muggle-borns more regularly on average but that's because they're more likely to live in a muggle area and to have non-magic friends." He grinned. "How many non-magic friends do your parents have? How many do the Weasleys have? Whose house would get more non-magic visitors?"

"I suppose so," she conceded huffily.

"As our home is in a muggle area," Fleur spoke up, "we should be checked regularly. But as Papa works for the Ministry he has to fill in a report every week saying that there is nothing in the house and grounds that would breach the Statute."

"It's a formality really," M Delacour added, "nobody ever actually reads my report, let alone come here to check on us…" Then he gave a wry smile. "It doesn't happen unless the Ministry are trying to get rid of an employee; that's a common tactic for a new Minister to get rid of his rivals – to perform an unannounced spot-check and pull them up on undeclared changes that they've made, though most high-powered people live in magical manors, like in England, so they are not subject to these checks as the homes have been in the family for generations and would never be sold, especially not to a muggle."

"So once my parents buy a house I can do magic there?" Hermione sought confirmation, her excitement building again.

"Yes," Fleur confirmed, "provided that it is registered with the Ministry, checked frequently and that any magical alterations are corrected before it goes up for sale again."

When Hermione looked confused, Harry elaborated. "You could cast muggle-repelling charms on your bedroom door," he grinned, "maybe even make it so your parents could never enter your room." Hermione chuckled at the idea of having an absolute sanctuary in her own home. "Then you would be able to make it as magical as you like: expansion charms to make your room way bigger, big enough to put a Potions lab in it, even a Quidditch pitch in the back garden if you made it big enough." The look of horror on her face caused the couple to laugh. "The repelling charms would mean it passed a Ministry inspection but they would insist on them being removed and the house and garden restored to its normal size before the house was put on the market, especially as they would be likely to sell it via a muggle Estate Agent."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Hermione conceded.

Later on in the evening, Hermione used the Delacour's phone (they had one installed as M Delacour's work often involved dealing with the non-magic world; it was also convenient for talking to Sirius and Harry by a method that no British Pureblood would ever consider a magical would use and therefore they would not be able to eavesdrop on) to call her parents and make sure they were back home.

"I'll take her," Sirius offered once they learned the Grangers had indeed returned from work; he turned to his godson. "Will you be home tonight or staying here."

Harry glanced at Fleur and her parents (Gabbi was staring at him with puppy dog eyes as well). "I'll stay here if that's ok?"

"Of course you will," Sirius mock-grumbled (before tipping his godson a massive wink). "I don't know why I bothered buying a house, I should have just bought a patch of land and built a kennel."

"The garden's big enough; I'm sure we can build one?" Harry offered with a grin; Sirius smirked at him before leading Hermione outside and taking her home.

1300 Rue Michel Carola,

Canet-en-Roussillon, France

"Mum! Dad!" Hermione called as she rushed into the cottage; Sirius followed her in, wand subtly drawn, just in case.

"In here sweetie," her dad called; the new arrivals headed into the kitchen where the Granger parents were sat down to dinner.

"Oh hello Sirius, would you like to join us?" Mrs Granger was getting to her feet when Sirius put his hand out to stop her.

"No, thank you, we've already eaten," he informed the matriarch. "I just wanted to make sure Hermione got here safely and to let you know that, if the offer still stands, we'd all love to come over some time."

"Excellent," Mr Granger smiled, "we'll go shopping on Saturday morning and hold a barbecue Sunday afternoon?"

"I'll make sure everyone is there," Sirius promised. He hugged Hermione before disapparating back to Lille.

"How was work? How did you find travelling from here to England and back?" Hermione asked her parents eagerly as she sat at the table.

"It was nice to be back," her mother admitted. "Usually after a holiday we feel it's time to return to 'real life', though I have to admit that with us still being here it feels like we have the best of both worlds."

"I can understand that," her daughter nodded, "I spend my life with a foot in two worlds after all; it's only here, both when we were in Paris recently and again today at the Delacours, that I've actually experienced a harmonious blend of both the magical and non-magical. It's crazy how much the British magical world, either deliberately or through ignorance, misses out on and it's no wonder so many first-generations like me end up leaving magical Britain after Hogwarts."

"Or during it," her father smiled at her; she blushed a little but nodded her concession of the point.

"How is the house-hunting going?" she asked her parents.

"We picked up a couple of brochures from outside the hypermarché earlier," her mother replied, delving into her bag and placing them on the table for the three to pore over, "so we can start looking. Have we decided that we want to stay in this area?" She looked from her husband to her daughter.

"It doesn't really matter to me," Hermione answered, "having the beach close by is nice for when I'm home for a weekend, but obviously I can travel by Portkey to school from anywhere and someone can take me to either Fleur or Harry's homes instantly, so it's really up to you two."

"I like being by the sea," Mr Granger enthused.

"Me too," his wife agreed, "having the beach on the doorstep is a wonderful thing on a weekend. It's getting a bit late now so I don't think we'd benefit from it too much after work on an evening but spending any weekend we wanted on the beach?" She smiled at her family. "That sounds like a good thing to me."

"I'm sure I'll be home quite a lot to enjoy it as well," Hermione confirmed, "especially in the summer months."

"Well then," she opened the first brochure, "which ones do we like the look of?"

AN: Thank you for reading the opening chapter of this second story. I don't really have an overall plot firmly in mind at the moment so updates may be a little sporadic but I will work on it. PD