A/N:OK, so it has been more than an year since I updated the story, I don't even know if there are any takers for it, but I finally understand all the other authors' writers blocks. Especially once which happen because your laptop gave up on you and all 100k words that you wrote for the story, evaporated in an instant, like mine did. Finally, finally, I am ready to continue, although I will attach a summary at the start, so that those of you who don't want to, don't have to read the first three chapters.

Summary : Harry Potter, the 4-year old son of Lily and James Potter was in his home with only a house elf and his little sister Olive, when the Dark Lord Voldemort, in his ignorance and fear, tried to end a prophecy. Harry's actions, along with Lily's protection vanquished the Dark Lord and Olive Potter was hailed as the Girl-Who-Lived. The Potters, except for Harry, spent the next three years, travelling around the world, looking for answers about the night, and to find out the 'Power the Dark Lord knows not'. Harry, growing up without a solid adult presence, became an avid reader and listener, learning from books as well as portraits of his ancestors. Never having gone anywhere other than his school, and his aunt Alice and aunt Andromeda's places, the day after his seventh birthday, Harry decided to sneak out to the Diagon Alley, tricking the family elf watching over him, after his parents and uncles had gone for another trip. Harry went around the Alley, taking in the sights and looking at different magical things. After buying some books and having an ice cream and a late lunch, the boy, Harry went towards the Knockturn Alley, hoping to have an adventure of his own. Once there, a very light strand of magic touched his senses, prompting the curious child to follow it into a portal.

Disclaimer : Since I am not Blonde, British or a Lady, I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters, although any and all OCs are mine.

Enjoy the chapter, and please, leave a review.

"Harry Potter" – saying out loud.

'Harry Potter' – thoughts.

"Harry Potter" – French.

Harry Potter – Flashback.

Ch – 4 : A Strand of Hope

It was oppressive and overwhelming, the feeling of foul, foul magic in the air, especially to the senses of someone who had started to gain a rudimentary understanding of the magic around him, enough to feel the taint in the air, to feel the enormity of the magic lingering around him, but certainly not enough skill or training to block this feeling. The lingering smell of blood, to top it all, would have sent many a children running back from whence they came, babbling and crying uncontrollably as they tried to describe what they saw and felt.

In fact, under different circumstances, this situation would have played out quite differently. A Harry Potter who would have grown up under the love and care of his parents, learning from them, seeing the power of magicks cast by his mother, by his father, by his uncles and aunts, and, especially by Albus Dumbledore would have gained a respect for authority, a respect for power.

This Harry Potter, with a relatively normal childhood would have gained the tendency to defer to authority figures, especially when coming face-to-face with matters that seemed to be leagues above him in scope. A great quality to have, certainly, but not one that is without its fare share of drawbacks.

In another universe, Harry Potter would have still gone to Diagon Alley, along with his parents and family, to buy tasty treats and pranking items after the day of his seventh birthday. In fact, being the curious child he was, he would still have wandered off into Knockturn Alley, following a sudden whim and chancing upon the portal between the walls. Harry would still have entered the portal, but once inside, he would have gotten scared, the smell, the everlasting darkness, the eeriness, and whatever feeling his magical senses could grasp but not comprehend would have had him fleeing, his limited understanding of magic making him aware that whatever he was feeling, was something that only his father or uncle could understand. His hasty return to the Diagon Alley and to his family would have triggered an unfortunate ward, and after passing of much time, a thoroughly unconvinced Sirius Black and James Potter would have entered the portal, taking due haste upon seeing and sensing what they could, but finding nought but traces of dark magic and rituals, scents of blood, and not a single soul alive, apart from themselves. Ultimately, all it would have done was start a half-hearted search on behalf of the DMLE, which wouldn't have amounted to anything in the end, due to lack of any evidence and eye-witnesses other than a scared seven year old, who could not explain what he understood.

But, all of this would have happened under drastically different circumstances. Currently, as things stood, many things were different in Harry Potter's life. Yes, Harry Potter was quite scared, especially from his magical senses blaring at the foul magic rippling through the air, apart from the smells and silent echoes lingering in the air. Yes, the Potter heir was shivering and shaking quite vigorously. But this Harry Potter did not go rushing back out of the portal, not just because he had no one to go back to, for although that was indeed the truth, there was also the fact that Harry Potter did not think that he could go back and tell ANYONE about this.

The seven year-old had lived practically on his own and taken care of himself from quite a young age, and while he had respect for his family, and quite a lot of it for his aunts and uncles - the Tonkses and the Longbottoms – as well, he respected them for the people they were, and not for the power that he never knew that they had. He knew that his aunt Andromeda was a healer by profession, and his uncle Ted a wizarding lawyer, he also, knew that uncle Frank and aunt Alice, along with his father James and uncle Sirius were Aurors, and his mother was the head of Charms Division, but all of these were mere words to someone, who had never been reprimanded, never been rebuked, never been shown the power of authority, never even been shown the power of magic, period, and thus Harry had always had trouble finding an authority figure worthy of his respect, or seeing any figure of authority doing something at all.

This had led to the fact that Harry did not have any sort of deferential attitude towards authority, and in fact, would have been considered quite rebellious, if not for his well-behaved mannerisms .Although, it was mostly the fact that no situation of a kind had happened before, where Harry would have had to absolutely adhere to an adults' authority.

The conclusion was that, even if Harry wanted to go back and tell someone, he had no idea as to whom to go to regarding this sort of a situation. His parents were out, literally and otherwise, with his sister, all the way to France, along with Sirius and Remus, the Tonkses were an option, but from what he knew about their Professions, he did not know how a lawyer or a healer would be of help here, and while he thought that his aunt Alice and uncle Frank could help in their capacity as aurors, he had no access to the Floo here, and he was not going to go back to the Alley and find the Floo back in The Leaky Cauldron, to call his aunt and tell her about whatever this was, because even IF they were at home, and even IF he could convince them to come with him, he knew a lot of uncomfortable questions would be asked, not just by the Longbottoms, but also by the Tonkses and the Potters – when they were back from France – and any future solo trips would be impossible for a long-long time. If there was one thing Harry valued above much of everything, after all this time, it was his privacy, his freedom and how he had control over his actions, the thought that he could be put under watchful eye by numerous people, his every action monitored, was anathema to him. And thus, the little idea in his head, that he thought sounded like a combination of Aunt Alice and Aunt Dromeda, was squashed before it could even form fully. It was helped further by the fact, that while the magic was giving Harry bad vibes, all the adventure books he had read, The Curse of the Egyptian Princess, The Adventures of Galenos the Gallant, The Dragon and the Warlock, among others, all spoke about dark tunnels, hidden passageways, strange magic and smells, when they described the places where the hero had his adventure, and to a seven-year old, that was interesting enough to blow away any thoughts other than 'WHAM BAM', 'SWORDS CLASH IN THE DARK', 'THE WARLOCK RAISES HIS STAFF…'.

For after all, in the end, Harry, though an extremely intellectual and intuitive child, was still just that, a child, in body and at heart, a pure soul, who knew not that good and evil resided in the world simultaneously. Having only ever seen the good people and the good in people, what Harry knew about human beings could be summed up in a few pieces of parchment, for reading books could only help someone learn so much, and Harry only had the knowledge from the books to understand that what he was feeling was bad magic.

But this feeling, while an immovable wall to many, was only a deterrent to the curiosity of one Harry Potter, and thus, this seven year old, who was just looking for an adventure out of one of his books, scared and at the same time excited at the thought of mummies, monsters, sword-swinging knights, staff-wielding warlocks, fairies and dragons, forged ahead, creating a fork in the road of life, changing the fate of not only himself, but of other souls as well.

The phrase 'May you live in interesting times' would never suit another better.

-Scene Change-

Fleur Delacour was scared. No, that wasn't quite right, she was outright terrified! She wanted her Papa to come here and take her home, she wanted Maman to give her a nice warm hug and make her those delicious chocolate soufflés, she wanted grandmother to read her favourite bedtime stories to her, and tuck her into her nice, warm fluffy bed, and she wanted to cuddle Gaby, her little Teddy bear. She did NOT want to be here, anywhere would be better than here, even with her snobbish teacher Madam LaRouse and her stupid etiquette lessons!

FLASH BACK

Fleur remembered how it happened, at least the parts when she was awake. She had had a huge argument with her Maman and Papa a couple of days before, trying to gain permission to go to 'The Valley' with her new friend Claire. An argument she wished she had lost then and that she could have controlled her stubborn side a bit better.

Claire was the first real friend her age she had had in a while. After her uncontrolled bursts of magic in her non-magical school had revealed the fact that the Veela's genes inside her were dominant, quite strongly too at that, as had been seen by the burnt patch of grass around her in a three meter long radius in the playground, she had been brought home and taken leave from the school, in order to get home schooled and receive training in controlling and utilizing her Veela heritage as well as her magic. Two hours a day had also been allotted to her etiquette training, something she hated with a passion because it cut into the limited time that she had with her former school friends, few as they were. The fact that all of them were non-magical had also put a lot of distance between them and her.

Most of the other wizarding children that took lessons from Madam LaRouse were from pureblood families, and thus, most of them never gave her the time of day, declaring her a freak and a half-breed behind the teachers' back, sending condescending remarks her way and throwing pieces of parchment at her, trying to disturb her and then blaming her for causing disruption in the lessons. It would not have been so bad if only a few of the kids did it, but most of the boys were mean to her because she was a girl, and since she was new to the classes and thus didn't have any friends, while the girls did it because they hated that the new student was better looking than them and also was a great student. Fleur had nearly given into her temper a few times, successfully generating fireballs in her palms and readying herself to throw them on the stupid kids. But at the last moment, she had remembered her Maman's words. "People will say bad things about you, but you should not let that bother you, my sweet. You are a Delacour, and we do not bow to others opinions, neither do we get dragged down to others' levels," Maman had told her one night, after she had come home in tears, mainly due to the insensitive and downright abusive words her classmates had thrown her way, and she knew that if she retaliated with her Veela-borne fire, she would be ignoring her mothers' teachings, not only that, but since the kids were Pureblood children, it would also bring trouble for her Papa.

Although, just last week she had thought that the fortunes had smiled upon her once again, when she had finally found her first friend in these classes, one Claire Bassinet, a girl who had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her. She had been quite apprehensive when the new girl had come to sit with her, but once Claire had started talking, she just wouldn't stop. She was just a bundle of happiness, getting a laugh or two out of Fleur as well, a task that had seemed impossible these days even for her family. She had even asked Fleur about the looks she would get from the other children, and while Fleur had hesitated in telling her about her heritage, and only finally told her after thinking that Claire would find out anyway. She had been ready to lose her new friend ,and had been very pleasantly surprised when Claire had taken it in stride, barely even blinking an eyelash, even glaring back at a few of the others glaring in Fleur's direction. When they had talked about it later, Claire had shown no signs of getting angry or jealous of Fleur, and she had revealed privately that the Bassinet family too had Siren blood running through their veins. She did not have many of the powers of the sirens because of the dilution of blood along the generations, but Claire could breathe underwater for a very long time, had above average strength, and had a really melodious voice, on top of her good looks. Fleur had been ecstatic, having finally found a friend who was just like her, and someone who liked her for her.

The rest of the week had gone wonderfully in classes. She FINALLY had a friend! One she could talk girl stuff with, like the dresses and the magazines, and their pets (the Delacours and Bassinets both had cats, before they died of old age, and both families were planning on adopting another in some time), and giggle about funny stuff and stupid boys. She had even brought her friend to her house once, and it had been so fun. Her parents had been apprehensive first, after hearing about their daughter's friend having Siren's blood, beings who traditionally had been enemies of the Veela race. But Claire had won them over with her frankness, continuous talking and sweet nature, in fact, even little Gabrielle, after pouting for a total of ten seconds at the girl who had taken away her big sister, had found herself on the receiving end of one of Claire's tickle attacks, ending up squealing uncontrollably till Claire had decided to release her. They had played a lot of games and even taken the training brooms for a ride around the Delacour Estate, going faster and faster, pushing the training brooms to their limits, giggling and laughing all the while, while Gaby tried to get out of her Mamans' arms futilely and go flying with the two. Her parents had looked on, feeling quite happy that their daughter had finally found a friend, and a good one at that, who understood her.

Then Sunday had arrived, and Fleur had asked her parents for permission to visit Claire's place. Her parents had happily agreed, and when she had told them that they would have a mini-picnic, Maman had even offered to make them a picnic basket. But then she had mentioned that Claires' mother would also be taking them to 'Vallée Enchantée' - the complete market for all things magic, that was situated in a scenic valley of the Pyrenees mountain range- to show them around, and since it had been more than half an year since she had gone to the Valley, Fleur was very excited about this prospect, especially now that she had someone her age to do shopping and fun stuff with.

Her parents' reaction though, had been entirely unexpected, while she had expected them to give her instructions on how she should behave while at the valley, and had even hoped that she could get some extra galleons, other than the pocket money she had, for some desserts and clothes, her parents had taken an about turn on their previous decision and refused to let her go to the valley, let alone Claire's house.

Fleur had blown a gasket at this. She had tried everything, from screaming to crying to pleading to glaring, she had tried to do whatever she could think of to get her parents to permit her to go. At one point, it had even looked like they were getting conflicted over their decision, but the hopeful glint in Fleur's eyes had clued them into the fact that allowing their daughter to go to Claire's house but restricting her from going to 'Vallée Enchantée' would have been quite an impossible task. Not only was she quite a stubborn girl, but she had deviousness in spades when she needed something. And she needed this quite a lot, if the angry sparks in her hands were any indication, along with the broken pieces of furniture around the room. In the end, she had ran upstairs crying, spending the rest of the day locked in her bedroom, trying and failing to think up a way to go to Claire's.

During Saturday night dinner, she had tried to convince her parents, to at least allow her to go to the Bassinets' home. And after much deliberation and promises, they had at last reluctantly agreed, but only after they had said that Claire's mother would be informed of this as well, and that she would have to come back home straight from the Bassinet's place. Fleur had thought herself to be quite the little diplomat, believing that it had been her calm attitude and great speaking skills that had helped her, when in fact the reality was that her parents had seen how crushed she had looked during dinner, seeing right through her attempt at cheerfulness. While they were totally opposed to sending their daughter to the Valley due to certain events, they had talked about this earlier during the day, believing that going from one house to another via Floo network would be a safe enough method, as long as Fleur came right back, instead of going gallivanting to the 'Vallée Enchantée'. They had told her the same, that there would be no detours between the Bassinet's and the Delacours', Fleur had agreed verbally, sounding just a tiny bit too enthusiastic for their tastes, but they trusted their daughter to follow their instructions, especially after it had been made clear to her that a failure to follow instructions would result in grounding and removal of privileges.

The next day, Fleur had gotten up early, getting ready for a light breakfast and to go to Claire's place, having told her about getting permission via the Floo call last night. Fleur had thought up ideas all night, about how she could visit 'Vallée Enchantée' today, in a way that no one home would know and she would escape punishment. In the morning, she had finally concluded that her biggest obstacle would be convincing Mrs. Catherine Bassinet, because her parents would have surely told Claire's mother about their conditions, and she would have to cook a pretty tale or two to get her to agree for a trip to the Valley. When she sat down on the breakfast table after greeting her family a good morning, she was met with a pleasant, if quite unexpected surprise.

"Fleur, dear, this is a letter that we have written for Mrs. Bassinet. We were unable to talk in full detail with her last night, and so, we decided to write her this letter which contains all the pertinent details, and have you deliver it to her when you get there, you can do that, right, Mon Cheri," her father had said as he had passed her a rolled-up parchment with an official Delacour seal on it, that meant that it would not open for anyone other than the person it was intended for.

Fleur was jubilated from the inside, now all she had to do was accidentally 'forget' to take this parchment with her, and hide it somewhere in her room, then she could easily convince Mrs. Bassinet and they could all then have a fun trip to the Valley. NO one would ever even know!

Even then, her outward expressions did not match her insides, and she replied in a solemn and serious voice, "Yes father," while taking the parchment from Jean-Pierre Delacour and doing happy jigs inside her head.

Her mother had looked at her with narrowed eyes, trying to understand what kind of scheme was cooking up in her daughter's head right now, but Fleur had learned to maintain a well enough poker face that she could fool her mother in a pinch, and thus, her plans for 'Vallée Enchantée' stood where they were in her head.

After a quick breakfast, Fleur couldn't get up fast enough, rushing up the stairs to her room so that she could, 'pick up her favourite games'. She reached her room, locked it, and then hid the parchment behind her wardrobe, tucked away in a little nook that would make it perfectly invisible to all of those who did not know it was there. As she was putting it away, she thought about reading it once, after all, never before had her mother and father so strongly denied her something, and she was really curious about the reason given in the piece of parchment. But just as she was about to open it, she noticed the secrecy seal that she had forgotten about. Putting it back behind the cupboard, she walked out of the room, picking up her sparkling toy wands set to play at Claires'.

'After all, what can be the reason, I bet Papa and Maman are just being overprotective, and the letter just says that I can't go there for some stupid reason, but I am a Delacour, I can take care of myself,' she thought to herself, as she skipped down the stairs, eager to head out.

If Fleur had not dismissed the parchment as so unimportant, and taken it with her, the results would have been quite different, for the reason described in the parchment referred to dangers and disturbing patterns, a reason that would have firmed one Catherine Bassinet's decision to make the girls stay at home, but alas, in that moment, Fleur did not deem the parchment important, and thus time moved on.

-Scene Change-

'This day is AWESOME!' thought Fleur as she raced ahead of Claire, trying to dodge her and not get caught, the game of 'TAG' that they were playing, too much fun for them to stop even after playing for half an hour, especially when they had added brooms into the game.

Her broom went soaring through the air, enchanted to stay not more than 5 feet from the ground, being pushed to its limit of forty kilometres per hour, quite slow for a usual broom, but for two girls just having fun, this could not be more perfect.

After another half an hour, in which Fleur got tagged six times and managed to get Claire a total of seven times, they were called inside the house by Catherine because lunch was ready. Claire's father, Louis Bassinet, a businessman who dealt in the best of wines and had his own vineyards - with a beautiful terroir, something that she had seen when she first came here – was out to sign a business deal, while her mother Catherine was the Head of Department of Magical Transportation of the French Ministry, and was busy with some paperwork regarding her work. The girls had been promised the trip to 'Vallée Enchantée' after she would be done with the work, sometime in the afternoon. Claire also had an older sister, Ines Bassinet, who was thirteen years old and was currently studying in Beauxbatons.

Fleur had been apprehensive at first when she met the woman, for she was quite intimidating, may be even as much as her mother was, and her mother could be QUITE intimidating, that too with just a glance and a raised eyebrow! But thankfully the woman did not remember all the details about her conversation with Fleur's parents last night, and just knew that Fleur would be giving her a message from the parents. Instead of a literal message though, Fleur told her that her parents wanted to remind her that Fleur be kept under her watchful eyes all the time, and that she return Fleur before dinner time.

'A little twist to fathers' message, I hope he doesn't mind,' she thought mischievously and winked at Claire standing next to Catherine, who was in on her plan and was clearly trying not to laugh.

Catherine nodded her head at that, looking sideways at her daughter's shaking frame, "And what is it that you find so funny, Claire dear. These rules also apply to you, both of you," her eyes went from Claire to Fleur, "I don't want either of you to get out of my sight even for a minute, you understand," she said in a stern tone, pointing her finger from Fleur to Claire. Both of them nodding vigorously at that, happy that their plan had worked .

"Now Fleur, as far as I understand, your parents were pretty hesitant about you going to 'The Valley' last night, but now that they have given their permission, it does not mean that you can ignore their instructions," she said to Fleur, who nodded vigorously, trying not to poke her tongue out to Claire, who was imitating Catherine's expressions and mannerisms from behind her.

"Yes Mrs. Bassinet," she dutifully replied, inner Fleur dancing in her mind at her plan executing so flawlessly.

"Now dear, none of this formality, my name is Catherine, and you will call me that, you understand," she said with a smile, her stern expression disappearing instantly as the serious conversation became over, patting the seven year olds' head as she and her daughter showed Fleur around the house.

The day had gone perfectly after that, they had played a lot, finding new things to do, and reading a few fun books, and all this while Fleur had drawn a lot of similarities between her mother Apolline and Catherine Bassinet, their sternness and softness, the no-nonsense attitude, the love and care they showed to their children (and apparently those children's friends, for just like Claire had been treated at the Delacours', so too was Fleur at the Bassinets) the prowess they had over magic, as seen when Catherine had prepared the 'Kouign-amann', one of the most filling and tasty cakes Fleur had ever eaten, and she had made it with just her wand, while sitting in the kitchen table, and reading a book in between the baking process. The house elves had prepared the rest of the food, and while all of it was quite delicious, the cake took the cake, so to say, as it was even comparable in taste to her mother's cooking.

After lunch, all of them had made preparations to visit 'The Valley', and taking the Floo powder, Fleur entered the Floo first, throwing it down to the ground, calling for 'la licorne caracoler' or 'the Prancing Unicorn', their own version of Britain's 'Leaky Cauldron', although it compared quite favourably with the Pub in Diagon Alley, not smelling of booze and sweat, for one thing.

They all entered through the gateway to the Valley, a magnificent construction that maintained the illusion of there being a green valley, when seen by non-magicals, even from the sky, and Fleur proceeded, sure that this trip of hers would prove to be a lot more exciting than her previous ones had been.

-Scene Change-

Apolline Delacour was starting to worry, the sun had started to set and it was already well into the evening, and Fleur still wasn't back home yet. She knew that these kind of things happened with kids, and that they could forget about the time when they were playing and having fun, but she just could not shake the feeling of uneasiness and foreboding that she was getting inside. Even little Gabrielle had started to make a fuss by now, although whether that was because of the same reason as her or because Fleur had not taken Gaby with her, she was still unsure about. As Apolline Delacour made her way up the stairs, so that she could tidy up Fleur's room and put all the things back into their places, she remembered the reason for this feeling, for it was also the reason why Fleur had been forbidden from going to 'The Valley' as well.

Flashback Within a Flashback

Jean-Pierre Delacour was at a very high position in the French magical government, and also had quite a few ties in even the mundane government, and what he had heard from his sources, and later learnt officially in the meetings, was that something sinister was going on. Within the last twelve days, a total of five magicals had gotten kidnapped from different European countries. While this could well have been a coincidence, the fact was that all of the magicals who had been kidnapped were children, and all of them girls at that. The situation smelt of grave unease when it was also found out that all the kidnappings had taken place in public places, a few of them in the magical markets near the country and one of the girls had been kidnapped when she was waiting at the magical bus station with her parents for the bus to come and take her to school. Not only this, but all the families and individuals had been attacked in broad daylight, the kidnappers having come out of nowhere, with hoods over their faces and the Grim Reaper figure made on the backs of their black cloaks.

It had been quite evident that the criminals did not care about the attention they got, for the fight for the girls had been vicious at times, the protective parents and in a few instances, on duty aurors doing everything they could to stop the kidnappings. All of this had been for naught though, because the 'Reapers' seemed to be extremely skilled and ruthless, and all these scuffles had resulted in successful kidnappings, and five people, including three aurors, and two innocent bystanders had died as a result. The kidnappings had been spread all over the Continent as well, with one happening in each of Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece and Germany. While all of this would have made big news in the newspapers, it had all been kept hush-hush, because of the fact that these kinds of public attacks would spread panic among the masses, for if the people were not safe in broad daylight, what hope would anyone have in the dark,on top of that, the news of the deaths of aurors would have scared the public even more.

But the biggest reason for all the secrecy was the nature of the girls who were kidnapped, because none of them were human, or at least fully human. One of them had vampire blood in her, but she was only a half vampire with all the advantages a vampire had and none of their weaknesses, another was the child of a werewolf and a wizard, having the traits of a werewolf, with the enhanced senses, enhanced smell, increased strength, the works but she did not transform on the full moon, a girl from Germany had descended from Nymphs, specifically Wood Nymphs, and tended to develop a connection with forests everywhere she went, along with the creatures dwelling there, a fourth was a quarter giant, or so it was said, a fact evident from her body-size, impossibly large for a girl of thirteen and the hobbies she was said to have, including bench pressing boulders, and roughhousing with centaur and troll children. The fifth was another half-breed, but this one was also minor goblin royalty, a fact that had the entire race slightly more cordial and co-operative with the wizards in searching for her, although the royal part was unknown to most.

What was the common denominator was that all of these girls had been found to be very powerful and showed most if not all the favourable traits of their respective races, and it had been speculated by many experts, that whatever kind of individuals were these 'Reapers', it was very likely that they were involved in some banned and forgotten rituals, rituals that would in all likelihood demand the sacrifices of innocent and 'pure' girls. Most of the purebloods could not bring themselves to think about who they thought of as 'freaks' and 'half breeds', but even they knew the power of rituals, and not paying heed to such an issue could quickly turn disastrous. The fact that this theory, while merely speculation, had not been thrown aside, was in itself worrying enough ,not to mention the fact that many people had realized that this could well be the reality of the situation. One other disturbing realization that had happened was that the Full Moon was quite near, and considering the nature of the ritual, it would be taking place somewhere on the continent on the Full Moon night.

That is why, Jean and Apolline had decided to not let their daughter go into the 'Vallée Enchantée', fearing that her being a veela-child, with quite powerful veela traits, and with her friend having siren blood herself, would make them too enticing a target, especially, considering that 'The Reapers' most likely needed two more sacrifices to complete the powerful magical number of seven, a number that would substantially power up any magic involving it. This fact had been discussed in the meeting of the European Magical Union, and a request for assistance had also been made to the International Confederation of Wizards, but the assistance that the ICW could provide in an official capacity was limited due to the constraint of time, so, all of the European countries, other than Britain, had agreed to help with the search, lending their forces to form search parties all over the continent.

The British Magical Minister Cornelius Fudge had refused, stating that this matter did not involve the British Magical Community in the least, and giving the superfluous reason that their peacekeeping forces, the aurors, had not yet recovered from the Civil War against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named , one that had happened just three years ago. The excuse, while flimsy, had worked, the other countries not wanting to waste time with someone whom they knew to have prejudice against anyone other than purebloods and halfbloods. Fudge while not the most astute of individuals, had enough common sense and political acumen not to blurt out what his real opinion was for the half-breeds and the non-humans, while the lack of compunction his secretary, one Dolores Umbridge had when speaking of those 'freaks' and 'half-breed sluts' had clued most people not in the know about Britain's opinion regarding this matter. There was also the fact that Albus Dumbledore, a British wizard and a famous, feared and respected personality in the wizarding communities world over, was the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, and they did not want to anger someone with that kind of power and influence, by calling Britain out on its stance.

End of Flashback Within a Flashback

That had happened two days ago, Apolline being among the few of the general populace of the country in the know about the situation, thanks to her husband's position. She had wished that those girls would return to their homes, unharmed, a wish that seemed to be made in futility, considering the fact that the continent-wide hunt for 'Reapers' had been going on for more than two days, with no viable results to show for it. Everybody had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, with the Full Moon being just a single, solitary day away. The fact that if their theories were right, then it was extremely likely that attempts would be made to kidnap two more girls as well was something that was keeping people up all night in the governments .Keeping this in mind, the security in various places, especially all the magical markets of the countries and the well-frequented magical places, had been tightened, with aurors patrolling during all times.

Apolline had therefore been quite stern in her reply when Fleur had wanted to go to the 'Vallée Enchantée' with her friend, for she wanted the next two days to pass in peace for her family. She of course felt quite a bit guilty for being thankful that it was someone else's daughter and not hers who had been kidnapped, and it broke her heart on seeing her daughter so sad about the 'no visit rule'. Alas, Fleur's safety came first, and thus, after ample discussion with Jean, they had decided to send a letter to Mrs. Catherine Bassinet, describing the ongoing situation in brief, so that the children would not be able to persuade her into going to The Valley.

They had decided to send the letter through Fleur, to go with the Floo call they had made last night, unknowing of the fact that their conversation with Mrs. Bassinet had been unclear, and also underestimating Fleur's stubborn side, thinking that she would obey their orders, a fact that was going to come and bite them in the posterior, as Apolline would find out for herself soon enough.

Lost in her thoughts, Apolline realized that she had reached Fleur's room, entering it ,she brought out her wand, 10 and a half inches of Alder wood with a Veela -specifically her great-grandmothers' - hair, at its core, swishing and flicking with ease borne off years of practice, to put everything back in its place, all without uttering a single word. She then proceeded to walk around the room, casting cleaning charms and vanishing spells to clean it of all the dirt hidden in the corners, when her eyes fell upon a particular space behind Fleur's cupboard. Something was hidden here, and whatever it was, was hidden so well that she would not have found it if there wasn't some dust on the floor near it. She decided to see what was hidden behind, thinking that Fleur may have hidden something embarrassing that she would find amusing, however, as the object came out, the Floo in the house flared, her husband running out of it while shouting for her, and her face went white when she recognized the parchment as the letter they had written for Catherine Bassinet.

'Oh mon Dieu!' she thought as reality came crashing down around her.

-Scene Change-

1 Hour ago

Fleur had had the most wonderful day in a long-long time and it had been just SO MUCH fun! The short Floo trip to 'The Valley' had been uneventful but the rest of the day was anything but. They had instantly gone for the ice-cream shop situated near the Valley entrance, Catherine paying for ice-cream for all three of them, just a raised eyebrow from her silencing Fleur's silent protest that she would pay for her own. A Mud Pie double scoop was what Fleur ordered, Claire taking a double scoop of Raspberry Ripple for herself, while Catherine took a single one of Tutti Frutti and sat down, looking around the Valley and noting the increased presence of Law Enforcement, thinking that it may have something to do with the reason the Delacours were hesitant to send Fleur to 'La Vallée' after all. She did not put much mind to it, for if the aurors were here, then there would be no problem for anyone.

The presence of aurors significantly increased the safety of 'La Vallée', for it was the general opinion that this valley was not at all as defenceless and unsafe as any other magical market would be.

The construction of the 'Vallée Enchantée' had been done in the mid 15th century, 50 years after Lisette de Lapin, the mad witch was accused of practising witchcraft on muggles in 1422 in Paris. Her subsequent disappearance had increased the ongoing tensions and almost instigated a war between the magical and non-magical community, and only the fact that Charles VI the Mad King had died that year, and it had taken his successor far too many years to recapture most of France, had prevented the outbreak of war. It had taken Charles VII the Victorious about 30 years to establish peace in France, and by 1453, things had stabilized enough that the King was in talks with the representative of the French magical Community, one Nicholas Flamel, for the recreation of a magical establishment for the witches and wizards, after the destruction of the 'marché magique', the only thing Charles VI had been able to destroy before his death.

The talks had gone on for years, plans had been constructed, and a place had been chosen, all of this happening while Charles VII handed over the reins to his son, Louis XI, the Universal Spider, known for his cunning and shrewdness. Louis XI was Cunning, but he also had a son who was magical, and thus he wanted to establish something that could not be destroyed as easily if one of his enemies, or even successors ever became as mad as his ancestor Charles VI, and a war broke out involving the magicals. Thus he sat down with his own council of wizards, Nicholas Flamel the primary presence among them, and they together put their minds to making 'Vallée Enchantée' one of the most secure and impenetrable places in the world.

The end result had blown all expectations out of the window, for the 'Vallée Enchantée' was secure against anything less than an army marching down its gates, with barriers surrounding the Valley on all sides spread out over a two kilometre radius, and all kinds of teleportation proven to be impossible into and out of the valley, unless from specific designated points assigned for that exact purpose. The Valley was also unplottable and its location indiscernible, even when seen from the skies, thus nobody, other than those involved in its construction, knew where it was exactly, and then too, all of the workers involved in the process had had their memories wiped out of its location, as stated in a contract they had signed in the beginning.

One flaw that had certainly been overlooked was any implementation of magic to stop or restrict the casting of malicious and foul magicks, such as the Unforgivables. There was also the fact that while The Valley was quite safe from attacks because of its Unplottability, the barriers were not impenetrable, just the fact that they had never been tested made them appear as such.

The result was that, while the Valley appeared to be totally safe, at least from an outsiders' perspective, and was actually quite safe, this illusion of indestructibility of wards and magical barriers was what had kept outside influences from ever breaching The Valley, but for someone who could attain unrestricted access to the original plans of the construction, entering the 'Vallée Enchantée' would be a piece of cake, especially if that someone was a skilled wizard.

And that is exactly what happened at this moment, as the three members of the organization 'Grim Reapers', referred to by their codenames of Chimera, Demon and Dugbog, made their way silently into the Valley. The breaching of the wards had been a somewhat simple course of action for someone as well-versed in wards as Dugbog was. Demon, the person with the most intimidating presence of the three, and the one in charge, proceeded forward, from the sides of a shop that sold Quills and Parchments, passing a message through legillimency to the individual known as Chimera, who was just about to open his mouth to ask something, but upon receiving the message, shut it closed just as quick. The three made their way into the Alley, honing in on the trio of non-human magical signatures, avoiding the crowds with inhuman grace, moving in the direction in which they would find the 'Veela-girl' and the 'Siren-girl' as they had been informed by the Seer in their organization.

The three had been given a date and time, and the original number of people designed for this task, a total of two, had been increased to three, after the organization had found out that the Valley had increased its security, increasing the number of aurors as compared to their previous targets. Demon, one of the best fighters among them, said to be on par with their 'Leader' had been assigned to be part of the team, along with Chimera and Dugbog, in order to crush any sort of resistance that would be found around their targets, for the Full Moon was just a single day away, and they had been waiting for these two 'parts' of their ritual for a week, making plans that would ensure the successful kidnapping of both individuals, thus ensuring that the mission would succeed.

The journey to reach their targets was uneventful for the most part, mostly because of the fact that 'The Reapers', for the first time, had decided to not declare their presence openly and had arrived in inconspicuous clothes, the regular robes coloured red, black and green, respectively, succeeding in not drawing anything more than an odd glance from passersby, although that was more due to their unrestrained aura and radiating magic, as well as their military-like precision while walking. They radiated so much raw magic that everybody almost unconsciously moved away from their path, trying to get out of the way of this potential danger.

If anybody had walked closely enough, not that anyone actually did, they would have heard the figure walking in the middle, codenamed Chimera, muttering under his breath about 'explosions and fights and how he was not into stealth'. Anybody who knew this person would find it odd to see him sulk, and his two partners definitely did, but Demon barely paid him any glance, while Dugbog kept his eyes straight, nervous for his first mission, and resolute in completing it. This sulking was a result of an earlier meeting that had taken place in their headquarters, where the particulars of this mission had been discussed. Chimera had been vocally against the fact that they would be doing this mission without wearing the full uniform and going all out from the beginning and violently taking down any protection that surrounded the girls. For someone who revelled in all the torture he could inflict on people, especially when the people fought back, it was anathema to him that he might not get to fight at all, but, in the end, he had been silenced by their Leader, who wanted the penultimate part of their plan to go off without a hitch, for the ritual depended on the presence of those two girls, and thus their successful retrieval was vital.

And thus they proceeded, avoiding the magical police through the simple flaw in the law enforcements' plan that 'The Reapers' would be arriving in full regalia. This critical error, which meant that the French aurors were comparatively a bit more lax upon noticing an absence of black cloaks with the Grim Reaper on the backs, meant that when the three 'Reapers' reached their target, they went unnoticed until the first volley of spells were fired. Then too, it was the trigger-happy Chimera who opened the spellfire, and began the skirmish.

After that, it was pure chaos. One of the aurors had been blindsided by the first spell, a Dark and more powerful variant of a Cutting spell, one which cut through his arm, almost severing it in two, and stopped near his waist region, the protection cast upon his robes being the only thing stopping the spell from cutting open his stomach as well. As he went down with a cry of pain, his partner got alerted to the presence of hostiles, and fired a red spell into the sky, in order to attract the attention of the rest of the aurors spread out across 'The Valley'.

The sight of the deadly spell and the subsequent fall of an auror (and most likely his death, her mind supplied unhelpfully), froze Catherine for a moment, before she pulled the two girls behind her, wand out of its holster and into her hand, and a shield charm on her lips. A shimmering blue shield appeared in front of her, a moment before a sizzling yellow coloured spell crashed into it, the shield barely holding still as the spell powered it down. She barely had time to shout out another shield spell when an ugly green spell came from her right, this one powerful enough to pierce her shield and make a big gash on her wand hand. She held onto her wand, if only because losing it right now would mean instant death for her and the children, even as agonizing pain shot through her, but even through the pain, she was aware enough to push the two girls in the opposite direction from the incoming spells.

That was why she did not notice a trio of spells coming one-after-the- another, with speed and precision that would make the best hitwizards in the world green with envy, and would have likely sustained a fatal injury if not for the auror support reaching her just in time and a multitude of shields flaring up around her, holding up to the three spells. Catherine was pushed behind, while the aurors came forward, firing the stunners, body-binds and other restraining spells as fast as they were able to, all the while doing their best to help the civilians retreat far away from the chaos.

Any other day, this tactic would have worked, for while the Reapers' forward pace would have been steady, their progress would not have been fast enough to reach the two girls before the arrival of backup, and the attackers would have had to retreat without completing their mission. But on this day, the Leader of the Reapers had decided that the completion of the mission was paramount, and thus, Demon had been in-charge of the extraction of their targets. And one thing that Demon was good at, was completing his missions.

Just when it looked like the Aurors were gaining the upper hand, and that the nearest civilians (the girls and Catherine) were at least a couple hundred yards away, the tempo of the battle changed. The climate became oppressive, because the third person of the trio, the one who had been standing behind the other two, and who hadn't sent a single spell till now, The Demon, entered the fray. That's what witnesses would later describe him as, an unnatural being, a monster, a DEMON, for he moved too fast for them to hit, he cast too quickly for them to dodge, and all the time, his hood was down, obscuring his face, only an almost visible aura surrounding this person. Spells were tossed aside with an impossible ease, and even when the aurors started using some of the more dangerous spells, the ribbon cutter, bludgeoner, blasting, driller, and other spells meant to decapacitate and possibly end this carnage, they were all treated like mere children. A fiery whip erupted from the hand of the demon, cleaving an auror almost in half, while two others had their wand hands severed so completely that the heat from the whip cauterized their wounds.

When an auror had tried to sneak up on the Demon, a twitch of the wrist, and a steel gate from a nearby toy shop had careened in the ambusher's direction, sending her to fates unknown.

All this barely took half a minute, and by the end of it, the dozen or so aurors on the scene were either injured, dead, or in a few cases, physically intact but far too terrified to retaliate with anything substantial. Backup was arriving, from other parts of the Valley as well as the Ministry's law enforcement, but it would take time, and no one was sure if even 10 or 20 more wizards would make any difference against the monster standing in front of them.

A wounded Catherine, who had reached the two girls by now, was unaware of the fact that the feeling of safety the aurors had generated within her was about to dissipate and die a fiery death, and it was only the screams of her daughter and her daughters' friend that saved her life from the whip of raging fire that passed her eyesight, even her hasty dodge wasn't enough to escape unscathed, as the whip burned through her right shoulder, before retreating back to its source. It was only then that she looked behind, the pain in her shoulder barely registering due to the earlier injury to her hand and the adrenaline coursing through her veins. The sight was grizzly, and she barely held onto her lunch, the bile rising in her throat upon seeing at least six people lying on the ground, three of them aurors, and none of them showing any signs of movements, their silence indicative of their likely deaths, as much as their injuries were. There were ripped signs from shops, a few knick-knacks from various shoppers strewn about, the streets were red with blood at certain spots, and amid the eerie silence, the remaining aurors were looking at three people standing in the middle with absolute terror in their eyes. There was defiance and anger present as well, but only in miniscule amounts and these feelings were suppressed further when the wand of an auror pointed shakily in the direction of the trio lit up in flames, along with the entire arm of the auror. This fiery action had taken place without any of the Reapers so much as twitching in the direction of the auror. Instead the three hooded figures were facing her, and more worryingly, looking past her at the two little ones, and despite the hoods obscuring most of their faces and overall expressions, she could clearly see their mouths as one of them licked his lips eagerly, a smirk on his lips, while the other two didn't show any facial movement, even though all three moved forward, gliding across the path, their movements unnatural and two fast for them to be walking.

The firing from the Aurors had dwindled down to practically nothing, only a few half-hearted curses that barely dented the nigh invisible shield around the three figures. Catherine watched, as if in a daze, as the monsters glided across half the distance in mere moments, getting nearer and nearer…

"Mother/Catherine! We have to go," the two seven-year olds tugged on her robes, their voices pleading and full of terror, the fear in them permeating through the air, and somehow breaking Catherine out of her frozen state. By the time she realized that she was not yet dead (although her injury could very well change that, if it was not tended to urgently, her mind supplied unhelpfully)and that no more spells were being fired in their direction, the Reapers had covered 3/4th of the distance, and were getting within arms' reach.

She started firing again, only the adrenaline powering her through the pain, dizziness and blood loss of her wand hand's injury, one which was being barely held close by an emergency healing spell. Although the fact that her spells were merely bouncing off the shields did show her that she was losing her strength. The only thing consoling her right now was that no return spells were being fired in her direction. By the time she reached the conclusion that these people, whoever they were, needed her daughter (and possibly Fleur) alive for something really, Really Bad, they were upon her, the man in the front twisting her wand hand and making her cry out in anguish.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad at all," the voice hissed at her, for there was no other way to describe the feeling of anticipation and hunger leaking from the words coming out of hooded man's mouth. Catherine tried to free her hand, hoping against hope that her enhanced strength would be enough to pull her hand free, but the creature in front of her just tightened its' grip, and then it laughed. It was a cruel laugh, and Catherine knew that if she was alive after tonight, the laugh would haunt her nights for a long, long time.

"Quite a feisty one, aren't you, and very strong as well, casting spells with a torn hand," it said, licking its lips with a smirk, the only part of the hooded figure visible, even from up close, as it looked at her hand, which she noticed, was starting to bleed again, before its' eyes raked over her body, mouth twisting into an even more crueller smirk. She knew she should have felt fear at the moment, her children (and yes, even after only a day with her, she considered Fleur one of hers') in danger from these monsters, she herself in danger from this creature, bleeding severely, helpless, with no sign of help, but all she felt at the moment was Rage.

"Ach-tooey!" she spat in its face, the blood from her mouth going into the hood, and scattering on its face, out of sight. Its' only response was to hold her wrist even tighter, forcing her to whimper as tendons were crushed and nerves burned from the magic pushing against her wrist.

"I will enjoy breaking you," it said, the sound almost a growl, and her rage having dimmed somewhat due to the unbearable pain, she could only pray and hope for a miracle to come and save her children.

"Chimera, we are going," the voice came from behind the figure, from the one who had seared her shoulder with a flame whip. This one was tall, tallest of the three, and his voice came as a command, one that the creature in front of her (a Chimera, a fitting name for a monster) obeyed, releasing her an instant later, the push strong enough to send her to the ground, aggravating her injuries. Claire and Fleur rushed to her side, their own fears forgotten for a moment, but before they reached her, Chimera snapped forward, arms snatching the two children from nowhere, and carrying their struggling ,kicking ,crying ,screaming forms away from her.

She tried to get up, but the burning pain, from her shoulder, along with her mangled, bleeding hand, was enough to send her back to the ground again. The sounds of screaming started becoming distant, the cries of the two, for her, for help, becoming fainter, due to the increasing distance, due to her fading consciousness, maybe due to both .Then what she heard brought a new sense of rage in her.

"Hmm, not the mother, but you two will make do for now, it will certainly be enjoyable for me," Chimera's lecherous and sick voice reached her, giving her enough strength to get up once more.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!," the windows of nearby shops shattered, a lot of debris was launched into the air, as a wave of pure magic came out of her, rushing to the unwary Chimera, and stopping only just short as a glimmering gold shield flared just behind him, the tallest figure with his wand out and controlling the shield that stopped the magic wave.

Chimera turned, banging the heads of the two girls together, sending them to unconsciousness, and handing them to the third, the smallest figure, and advancing towards her, wand in hand and growling, "Crucio!".

END FLASHBACK

Catherine's face, contorted in agony, was the last thing she saw before the head injury sent her to dreamland.

At first, when she woke up, she thought that it was all a bad dream, and that she would be back home, in her bed, with little Gaby trying to enter her room silently, in order to wake her up by jumping up on the bed.

But the first thing she registered was the coldness of metal, thick manacles wrapped around her pale wrists, which were now red from the pressure of the restraints and had bruises from when she remembered the man handling her and Claire roughly. 'Claire,' she thought, forgetting her own condition and looking around frantically, for any sign of her best friend.

That's when she noticed, that not just her wrists, but her legs had been bound in chains as well, and these chains were attached to the wall behind her. The room she was in, was dark, even darker than her house at night, and as far she could see, there was only a single source of light in the entire place, a small, circular slit on the left corner of the ceiling in front of her, and the miniscule light that came in, only gave the room even more of a scary feeling. There was no sign of Claire, or anyone else, and only when she squinted could she see, that a half dozen feet away from her, was a door made of iron rods, the gap between the rods barely enough for her to pass one of her hands.

Fleur stayed frozen for what felt like an hour, but were in reality merely a few minutes, shaking and trembling at the thought of what had happened. She remembered her mother telling her about what strangers did to girls, and especially Veela girls, and while she did not understand a lot of that conversation, she remembered enough to understand it wasn't anything good. The last thing she saw was also weighing heavily on her mind, 'Is Catherine OK? Did they take her to the healers? Do Maman and Papa know that we got kidnapped?' The last thought made her feel guilty, thinking that maybe, just maybe, if she had given Catherine the letter, she would not be here right now. She did not even know where 'here' was, nor where Claire was.

She tried shouting for her friend at first, but her voice barely came out in a hoarse whisper. She tried getting up next, thinking maybe that if she could look out the door, maybe she could find something. But the chains, were tight, they had enough give to not hurt when she was sitting as she was, but if she moved even a few feet away, they started to pull and hurt her wrists. Already smarting, the wrists hurt enough for the seven year old to discontinue her efforts in reaching for the door. Finally, after trying and failing to get her wrists out of the manacles (her mind calmly supplied that the manacles must be enchanted, to fit her size, and probably magic inhibiting as well, just like she had heard a few times when Papa told Maman about arresting the bad guys in magic-inhibiting cuffs), when she tried to call upon her inherent Veela fire, failing to even so much as heat her hand up, her panic increased.

"What am I going to do, what am I going to do?" she whispered, not realising for a while that she could speak properly again, or as proper as a seven-year old kidnapped and scared seven year old could.

As soon as she did though, the first sounds out of her mouth were, "Claire! Claire! Can you hear me? Claire!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, the sound echoing through the walls of the room, and breaking through the eerie silence.

There was no response for several moments, and Fleur had almost given up hope for any, when a reply came through the metallic entryway.

"F-Fleur, is ...is that you?!" Claire's voice felt shaky and breathy, as if she was crying and trying to speak at the same time. Fleur felt her heart go out for her friend. Here, she was, crying about her own situation, while the last thing her best friend saw and heard was her mother in pain, screaming, and now, trapped here, she was not sure, if her mother was alright, not even sure if she was ali…

Fleur tried to think how she would behave if something like this had happened to her mother. Her throat tightened and tears appeared anew. Fleur was sure that she was going to start crying again, if not for her friends' voice reaching her once more.

"Fleur…(hic), are you there…?" she sounded even worse than she did a minute ago, and Fleur only belatedly realized that she had yet to give a reply.

"I am here Claire, are you Ok?" just as she said it though, even the seven-year old Veela understood that her friend was very likely NOT Ok, if she remembered her last conscious moments in as vivid and horrifying clarity as Fleur did.

"I-I am OK, how are y-you (hic)?" her voice, while still weak and impossibly sad for the ever cheerful Claire, sounded better already, having found that her best friend was with her, and that at the moment, both of them were alright.

"Where do you think we a-are, and why did they t-take us?" Claire said again, asking the question as much to Fleur as she did to herself. Now that Fleur had found out that Claire was with her (or at least she was near her, most likely tied up in another room), she couldn't help but think herself, 'Why did they take us? What do they need us for? Who are they? What…? When…?Why…?' The questions kept coming, but there were no answers.

"I don't know, Claire," she replied, hoping that her voice was not as shaky and scared as she herself felt right now.

"Do you think mother…" whatever she wanted to say, and Fleur had a fair idea what it was, she could not complete, trailing off, as various sounds reached their ears, sounds like something was being dragged on the floor, muffled sounds of something, and then a loud voice, "Is this all of them?" the reply was even gruffer, "Yes."

Fleur had no time to process what had been said, before she heard more sounds of dragging, even more sounds, of metal scrapping, and then, a figure was at her door. The light was barely enough to make out his features, and it was a HE, for Fleur could see a beard and an angular face, a short-crop of hair, and his lips stretched in a smirk that she could not define as anything other than Evil, even though she had next to no experience with evil before today. He opened the door slowly, and the grin and his slow methodical steps, that she could only liken to a predator such as a nundu or a chimera, only served to terrify her more, as she tried to crawl backward, in the vain hope of going inside the wall, and away from That.

"Is the little birdie scared, oh poor birdie, don't be scared, I am not going to hurt you," relishing in the look of utter terror on the Veela girls' face, the man added, "at least not yet."

After saying that, he reached forward, and Fleur was frozen with fear, hoping someone, anyone would come in and stop him. And while no one came, the man also did not touch her, instead, tapping at a random point on the wall behind her, or at least it seemed random before the chains buried in the wall came out smoothly landing near her feet. Fleur could only stare at it for a few seconds, bewildered that getting out of the chains was this easy, and hopeful that maybe, just maybe, the man actually wanted to release her.

Alas, it was a fools' hope, as demonstrated by his next words. "Now, now, don't go getting any ideas, little birdie, the magic of the chains is keyed to my blood," at her rapidly paling look, his smirk grew wider, "yes, blood magic, have your parents told you about blood magic," when he stayed silent for a few seconds, waiting for her answer, Fleur nodded her head slowly, with a gulp.

Yes, she knew what blood magic was, her father had explained to her in the simplest of terms, that blood magic was Powerful. It was not good, and it was not bad, but it was one of the strongest magicks, and at her age, or any age actually, interfering with and trying to counter blood magic never did anyone any good. Fleur still did not understand everything that had been said, but her father had repeatedly said, that any interaction with blood magic and rituals she could have would be years into the future, under the guidance of himself and/or other experts, and that she shouldn't think about even attempting such a foolish endeavor at this age.

"So you understand that if you even attempt to struggle in any manner, the results will not be good, for you," the smirk did not lighten in any manner, if anything, the man seemed even more amused and happy as Fleur became more scared.

She stayed silent after that, complying when the man ordered her to stand up, picking up her chain and pulling her forward, as if she were an animal on a leash. Fleur's mind was occupied with dark thoughts during this short journey, wondering if she would ever see her parents, if she would ever see her Grandmother, and little Gaby, and whether she would be able to ever go to Beauxbatons. She hardly noticed the sounds, muffled and otherwise, coming from nearby, some of which sounded like Claire. Only when she was pushed down to the ground once again, the chains going into another wall behind her, did she notice that she was in another room, this one quite a bit bigger than the previous one, and that she was not alone either. There was light enough in this room, courtesy of multiple fire lamps present at equal intervals, to see that six more girls were present in the room, and the closest to her, was Claire.

"Fleur!" Claire noticed her first, clinging to her in a hug fiercer and more desperate than she had ever experienced. And Gaby's hugs were no laughing matter. The contact though, was enough to bring tears to Fleur's eyes. The wetness on her shoulder told her that she wasn't the only one crying. Wanting to console Claire, as well as herself, but not wanting to part, Fleur clung on to the hug, rubbing Claire's back and saying soothing words like, "Everything is going to be alright," "your mother is going to be fine," "We are going to be fine," she wasn't sure if the words were more for Claire's benefit or her own, but they were certainly helping the both of them.

The moment of happiness was only fleeting though, because the men in black cloaks with a scary symbol on their backs were still present in the room, and it was their voice that brought Fleur's attention back to the present.

"How touching, a reunion between friends, oh it almost brings tears to my eyes," the tone of voice was totally opposite of the words spoken, although it took Fleur a few moments to understand them, since he had spoken them in English. Fleur knew this voice, and with trepidation, leaned out of the hug, noticing just now that the other six girls, most likely prisoners were watching the scene with equal parts longing and fear, she did not understand the longing, but whenever their eyes darted to the other men present the fear was plainly visible.

The man that had entered her cell just a few minutes ago, was looking at them, smiling a smile with a little too much teeth and one which didn't quite reach the eyes. Only a dark glint of amusement was visible in those eyes of green colour. They were a dark green, and if Fleur had ever seen the Killing Curse in her life, she would describe them as 'Avada Kedavra Green.'

"Enjoy it while you can, little bird," he said, and then turning to the other girls, said something, in other languages, Fleur didn't understand a whole lot of it, the only language that she even had a basic grasp of, other than French, was English. Only from hearing her Papa talking with officials in his office, did she recognize that the man was speaking Italian, Bulgarian and a few other languages. Whatever he said, must have been scary, for the other six girls, one of whom was almost as tall as the guy, and even buffer than him, shrunk away from his voice, trying to bury themselves into the walls, just as Fleur had tried to do, not even a few minutes ago. The two other men, standing behind this one person, still had their faces covered in hoods, and by being even taller than the speaker, seemed to add an even bigger intimidation factor to the equation.

The man, apparently satisfied after scaring the five girls, turned towards the duo, staring at them for a few seconds, until they turned their fearful gazes down, and a satisfied smirk came on his face.

The three started to make their way out of the room, and just at the entrance door, the man turned once again, winking at Fleur and saying, "enjoy your last day birdie, if you are still here after tomorrow, we will have a Lot of fun." Even Claire, who was half incoherent and the other girls, most of whom could not understand a word of French, shuddered, and Claire clutched Fleur even more, while Fleur just hoped, that this nightmare would end.

-Scene Change-

It had been less than a day since Fleur had been kidnapped, although the only indication of time was the three meals that she and the other kidnapped girls had been given. Fleur did not know much about kidnapping, but she knew that giving three meals - and while she did not have an appetite for the food, upon eating it, she found out that the food was edible, not really good, but not disgusting either – in less than a day was quite generous. Apparently, she wasn't the only one to think so, and a pale-faced girl - with blood red eyes that were too sharp to be natural, unnaturally long canines, a face that Fleur knew would be described as pretty, just like her, although it was quite apparent that this girl was quite a few years older than her, and she had boobs, the one thing that Fleur did not have, - had asked the question, when the gates had been opened and a house elf had levitated plates of food into the room, while their tormentor had stood at the door. The man had laughed at that, started to say something, before stopping and moving his wand in a blurry motion.

She understood what he did, for when he opened his mouth, she along with everyone else, understood him, as if he were speaking perfect French. "This is your last day my lovely girls, in a few hours, you will be part of the most wondrous of rituals, playing your part in the reawakening of our lord. All of you will meet noble ends, fulfilling your purpose in this world, and if any survive, our lord will most generously award you, and then us, as his most loyal followers." The man looked away into the distance, smiling a smile of utter devotion, as if being a part of the ritual to awaken his lord was the greatest thing that Fleur could ever do. And while Fleur did not understand everything he said, blood magic, rituals, and meeting the noblest end did not sound like something Fleur wanted to be a part of.

Unheeding of the looks of terror coming on the faces of the girls, or perhaps revelling in it, he continued, "that is why, I advice you not to try and get out of your bindings. The ritual will be very...magically draining, you see. For under-aged witches, to use more magic than they have, magical exhaustion will be the….least of your issues. We will also refrain from casting any magic on you, so don't force us into such a situation. Also, even if you do manage to get out of the room, there are alert wards around the place, keyed to alerting Leader if any underage magical go out of them, and if you get caught by the leader," the man laughed at that, as if what this Leader would do to them would be very amusing to this man.

With that, leaving more than a half-dozen girls of varying ages and species with their morbid thoughts, the man casually strolled out of the room, indicating with a finger for the house elf to do the same.

The door closed behind, and all Fleur could hope for now, was a miracle. She did not believe in God, not really, the Delacours never having been an especially religious family. But at the moment, as she looked around, at the despondent faces, at the scared whispers, at the dark corners, and at the flickering fire, she joined hands with the other girls, the single day of being locked together and facing certain doom having brought them together, despite the differing ages, mentalities and languages, or perhaps in spite of it, as all of them prayed, for their parents, for their guardians, for the heroes of their favourite stories.

They prayed for Merlin, they prayed for Jesus and they prayed for a miracle. And while all of them had their magic bound at the moment, they were seven in total, a number most powerful in the realm of magic. And thus, a sliver of magic crawled out of this bond made of desperation, travelled through the walls and doors, reached out to the wide world, and touched the senses of another child.

-Scene Change-

Harry Potter found himself travelling in a dungeon, or at least what felt like a dungeon, with the flickering fires and damp walls and the total absence of sunlight, although there was an absence of human life in his path as well, not that he noticed it, curious as he was, to follow the feeling of magic on his senses. The atmosphere was creepy, and most if not all others his age and older, would have been out of their courage reserves by now, but if there was one thing that Harry Potter had in spades, it was courage. Whether it was a trait passed on from his parents (both reckless fighters of the Order of the Phoenix who had once had been involved in a running duel against the Dark Lord, and had barely escaped without permanent injury), from his grandparents on either side (both sides had put up quite a fight against the Death Eaters, only Lily, James, Dumbledore and a few others knew that Mark Jacob Evans and Rose Marigold Evans, both retired soldiers, had shot down 5 Death Eaters before taking an unforgivable each and going down, while the Charlus Potter vs Death Eaters duel in the ministry was famous, in not just UK but outside the country as well, of how the Potter Head of House had taken down two of the inner circle Death Eaters, and only went down after giving the Dark Lord a good fight.) or entirely his own, it was quite obvious to anyone who spent time around Harry, that while he was as intelligent as a Raven, as loyal as a Puff, and as cunning as a Snake, it was also equally obvious that his courage bordered on recklessness. Not that anyone did spend enough time around him.

So, one thing was clear, Harry Potter had gotten a feeling through his magic, and no bad smells, scary sights and eerie noises would deter him from his path. This stubbornness was not an especially good trait, but with no one around to tell him that, he was free to pursue what he wanted, and pursue it he did. As he moved forward, with nary a bit of hesitation in his gait, he noticed that the feeling, which had been getting stronger gradually, was starting to pound into his head. And in his mental ears (don't ask him what that means, for he doesn't understand it himself), he could even hear voices now, breathy whispers, asking for help. There were feelings in the air too, other than the soul-crushing darkness, there were feelings of helplessness, of desperation, and above all, there was the feeling of hope in the air, not that Harry could recognize it, but the thin thread of hope clung to the air with more desperation than an infant to his favourite toy.

At last, the surroundings changed, the dark walkway, giving way to prison cells, and as reckless as Harry was, even he paused for a moment, straining his ears, and listening this time with his body, whispers, in languages that he did not know.

He crept forward, peeking around the cell doors and finding nothing in the first four, before he looked into the fifth one, eyes widening at what he saw.

A/N: I know, I know, a cliffhanger, but I promise, this will be resolved within a month, and not take another year. Also, the chapter is already almost 14k words, if I extend it, I will have to put in another 5-10k words to end the chapter without another cliffhanger. Don't worry though, the next one won't end on a Cliff side. I have plans for this story, and if you guys stick around, you'll see those plans come to fruition.