The Stag and the Flower

A/N: Don't own a thing, especially not HP. I hope you enjoy the next chapter. Italics denote thoughts. Bold is for spells. This is it, folks, the next chapter is how it all ends. I'm glad you've enjoyed this story. I have to say this one is second only to Teddy's Excellent Adventure for me.

Kingsley sat in his office looking at the paper before him with a frown. The front page of the Daily Prophet had a full-page picture of Harry Potter and Fleur Weasley, soon to be Fleur Delacour again, with his arm around the woman looking haggard and worn. THE-BOY-WHO-LIVED NOW THE-MAN-WHO-LOVED? Rita Skeeter had been very busy ever since they were spotted leaving St. Mungos together painting a picture of the two as long-time lovers who had been playing the Weasleys as fools.

Working with rumor and innuendo Skeeter had managed to stay just on the legal side of what could be considered libelous. It irked the Minister, but he couldn't do anything since she'd made very sure to avoid directly accusing them of anything. I have half a mind to hire a muggle skywriter to put her address above Diagon Alley, but the pilot wouldn't know where to go and they wouldn't know to look up…hell, I think most of Wizarding Britain still thinks airplanes are just big wind-up toys.

He sighed and set the paper back down. The trial for Ginny Weasley was in a half-hour, he needed to finish what he was working on. There was a sharp knock on the door, "Enter." Kingsley called out as the door swung open and a slender brunette witch walked in with a thunderous look marring her round, pleasant face.

"It's awful King," Hestia Jones said as she flopped into the chair across from him. In her hand was a copy of the Prophet, "That Skeeter cow all but stated they had been together since he was fourteen!" Hestia glared at the picture of the two. "There has to be something you can do!"

"I wish there was," Kingsley said angrily. "But if I go after Skeeter as Minister then it'll be seen as suppressing the 'freedom of the press'."

"Then don't go after that cow as Minister." Hestia said darkly, "Use those skills that put half of Travers on the Hogwarts quidditch pitch and the other half of him in the lake." Kingsley chuckled and began to shuffle his papers. She looked at him, "Don't laugh at me Kingsley. I'm serious, Harry has earned some peace after all the shit that he's been through."

"I know that, I-" Kingsley felt his wand buzz. The timer he'd set to remind him to leave for the trial had gone off. "I have to go. The trial is in a few minutes."

Hestia rose with him, "I'm coming with you. Megan is giving testimony and Gwen and I wanted to be there for her." The two made their way out of his office.

Inside the Wizengamot chamber Kingsley and Hestia took their respective seats. Hestia beside her sister in the public gallery while Kingsley sat in the center of the raised seats overlooking the chair in the center of the chamber. He saw Harry and Fleur sitting next to Ron and Hermione well apart from Arthur and Molly Weasley. Molly, he noted, looked pale and red-eyed as if she had no more tears left. Kingsley, however, had little pity for the woman. She all but promised her daughter she'd marry Harry Potter. He thought, narrowing his eyes in distaste, If Harry had died from the curse Ginny put on him I don't think the holding cell would have saved her daughter.

"The Wizengamot stands in judgment of Ginevra Molly Weasley." Kingsley said, "The Honorable Edgar Greengrass acts as Prosecutor." A tall thin wizard with slicked-back hair rose from one of the tables. "Acting as counsel for the accused is Percival Weasley." Percy rose from behind the opposite table.

"Bring in the accused," Kingsley said to the Aurors who exited out of the chamber, returning a few moments later with Ginny. Gone were the Dementors who had escorted prisoners in the old days. Instead, shackles with magic-suppressing runes etched onto them kept the prisoners at bay. "Ginevra Weasley, you stand accused of cursing Harry Potter with a bone-withering hex in his home on the sixteenth of August. How do you plead?"

"Guilty." Ginny's voice was hollow and flat. It was as if she had nothing left inside her. At her words, an angry buzzing filled the chamber. Kingsley saw Fleur put her hand on Harrys' and on the opposite side of the room saw Molly shrink against her husband. She looked back down at the floor and didn't lift her head as the two wizards spoke. Edgar Greengrass arguing that her actions at Grimmauld Place showed a criminal mind and that she deserved a prison sentence. Percy, however, pleaded with the court that Ginny's crimes showed a disturbed mind rather than a criminal one and asked that she be placed in St. Mungo's under the eye of trained mind-healers before placing her in a prison.

Witnesses were called. Ron stood, not looking at his sister and explained what had happened that day. "My fiancée, Hermione, was the one who made the plan. Ginny had my wardstone and we honestly thought she was just going over to wreck Harry's stuff." He grimaced, "When Harry explained what had happened, we changed the plan. I followed him inside under an invisibility cloak, Hermione stayed outside so that if things went badly, she could stun Ginny." Ron winced slightly hearing his mother give a dry sort of sob but continued, "Ginny was there, but she wasn't alone. Fleur had been there all day and the two were fighting. Harry tried to break it up, but Ginny attacked them. If he hadn't gotten between Ginny and Fleur…" Ron looked down, "She would have killed Fleur and she almost killed Harry."

"Members of the Wizengamot," Percy called to the members, "She was not in her right mind. In Ginny's mind, Harry was under Fleur's influence and she wanted to protect him."

Ron scoffed, "Perc, she tried to sneak a love potion into his house, and you know it."

The angry buzzing grew louder, forcing Kingsley to use his wand to make a loud noise in order to get their attention so the trial could continue, sending Ron back to his seat. Percy cleared his throat and began to speak again, "Ginny acted rashly and wrongly, no one is denying that. I am merely trying to show the court that she was not acting with a rational mind." On his opposite side, Edgar Greengrass was content to merely let Percy continue to make his case for him. "Upon hearing that Fleur was divorcing her husband, Ginny's oldest brother, to be with Harry Potter, Ginny snapped."

Kingsley bit into his cheek to avoid cursing. He knew Percy was trying to ensure that his sister didn't spend her entire life in a prison cell, but that didn't stop him from being irritated. "My pardon, Mr. Weasley," Edgar Greengrass said, "But your brother was spotted by an Auror, leaving the Zabini home a few weeks ago, well before the divorce papers were sent out. If your sister was not in her right state of mind, then the blame falls on her family and not on Harry Potter or Fleur Delacour."

Smart move using her maiden name…Kingsley thought it reinforces the idea that Fleur isn't part of the Weasley family.

That was when Megan Jones was called forward. "On the morning of the third of August, I was completing my patrol when I saw Bill Weasley leaving the Zabini home."

"That could have been perfectly innocent." Percy said to Megan, "She might have asked him over to inspect a cursed item."

"She could have." Megan agreed, "But after Ginny was found at Harry's home with a bottle suspected to be a love potion I decided to check. Gringotts listed Bill Weasley as off duty."

"This has nothing to do with the case at hand," Edgar said to Kingsley.

Kingsley stood, "I agree. As the accused has pled guilty it is up to the members of the jury to determine her fate. Those in favor of sending Ginevra Weasley to Azkaban will please raise their hands."

The air was deathly still as hands began to raise.

"Wait! I would like to say something!" Harry said standing and moving towards the tables. "In her first year, Ginny was attacked by an agent of Voldemort." A shudder went through the crowd at the name, Harry paid it no mind and continued, "At that time her 'treatment' by Albus Dumbledore was just some hot cocoa. Sending her to prison won't change what she did. But having a professional look at her mind might prevent something like it happening again."

He looked at her for the first time and then back to the gallery, "I'm not asking for her to be set free, she would have murdered Fleur." He went back to his seat where Fleur put her arm around him.

"Those in favor of Ginevra Weasley being taken to St. Mungo's until such time as she is deemed rehabilitated?" Kingsley asked, watching as hands rose into the air. "It is decided. Ginevra Weasley, you will be taken to St. Mungo's under the care of the healers there until you are deemed suitable for transfer to Azkaban." Ginny didn't speak as she was led away from the chamber, sparing only a single, disbelieving glance at Harry as the Aurors walked past with her.

"This session is adjourned." Kingsley said as the crowds began to disperse. Harry and Fleur left the chamber quickly, not willing to be gawked at.

They didn't speak until they were back at Grimmauld Place.

Fleur watched as Harry began to pack clothes into a trunk while sitting on the bed in what had been Sirius' old bedroom. They'd been home for roughly an hour and neither had said anything. She bit her lip before gathering her nerve, "That was a noble thing you did."

Harry laughed softly, "Noble? I had no idea I was going to do it until it happened. It was true though, that was the first Horcrux I ever destroyed. She'd been using a diary Voldemort had turned into a Horcrux which allowed him to possess her. She had him inside her brain for almost an entire year and Dumbledore did nothing."

He looked down at a shirt he had in his hand and then set it aside, "Hopefully she'll get the help she needs." Harry said quietly, "I'm ready to go back to France." He looked older, after the trial than she had ever seen him. Fleur sat down on the edge of the bed putting her hand on his. Harry smiled at that and squeezed her hand.

"My parents will be glad to hear that," Fleur said with a small smile as she looked at their joined hands. "I will speak to my father for you about finding you a job. You were right, just because you were an Auror here does not mean that you will want to be one in France." She leaned against him, enjoying the feel of him against her, "You went straight from fighting Voldemort to becoming an Auror. We should take some time for ourselves before we look at employment."

"It's not like we won't be able to afford it." Harry said squeezing her hand again gently, "We have your place in Paris we can use while we look for a family home after all and the combined Potter and Black vaults minus what I want to give Andromeda in case she doesn't want to come with us."

"Oh?" Fleur replied.

Harry used his free hand to gesture around the room, "I want to give her Grimmauld Place. It has plenty of protections added to it, so she and Teddy don't have to worry about anyone breaking in once she changes the wards. Plus, I want to leave her half of the Black vault."

"You are a very generous man, Harry Potter," Fleur said moving and kissing his cheek. She looked into his eyes and then rested her forehead against his. Harry's arms slid around her and they sat there in silence.

A silence that was interrupted by a silvery falcon that appeared in the room. The voice of Peter Lalaurie came from it sounding pleased, "Fleur, Bill Weasley used a Gringotts elf to deliver the papers a few minutes ago. Everything is signed and will be filed in the morning." The falcon vanished leaving the two in stunned silence.

"It had to be Mr. Weasley." Harry said after a moment, "He must have said something to him about the trial."

"He signed the papers after you saved his sister from Azkaban?" Fleur asked him.

Harry shrugged, "Either that or he signed the papers because he doesn't want Gringotts thinking he was freelancing. I've heard that the goblins don't like it when their employees go off and get clients of their own."

Fleur nodded at that, "They do not. At the very least he would be discharged. If they found that the freelance job would have earned a significant amount of gold, then he could have faced worse than that." When she had started at Gringotts she'd learned the punishments that could occur if an employee cost Gringotts money or time. It wasn't pretty ranging from merely being fired and blacklisted, to losing a literal pound of flesh. Her mentor had shown her a scar on his arm from when, as a young Goblin, he'd been struck by his own mentor for going through his files too slowly.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. You're free now." Harry said smiling at her, "We're free."

She hugged him tightly, "We are. We should celebrate."

Harry looked at her, "Oh, and how would you like to do that?"

Fleur kissed him before responding, "Let's go invite Andromeda to dinner. We can tell her the good news and see if she wishes to come with us to France or if she would like to stay at Grimmauld Place."

Harry broke from the embrace and rose from the bed. "I'll go down to the fireplace and ask her now." As he left the room Fleur watched him for a moment before rising. A tension she'd had since knowing she wanted to divorce Bill had lifted making her feel lighter than she had in what felt like years. We are free…Fleur thought happily as she began to select an outfit for dinner.

"Andromeda, are you home?" Harry called kneeling into the green flames of the kitchen fireplace and looking into the Tonks home.

"Harry, is that you?" Andromeda came around the corner looking somewhat harried. In her arms was a squirming Teddy, who was sporting a shock of red hair and looked as if he'd been crying. "How was the trial? I wanted to come but Teddy isn't feeling well today."

"Is he sick?"

"Teething." Andromeda said indicating a small blue circle she was holding in her free hand. She gave it to Teddy who began to chew on it. "How did the trial go?"

Harry told her about the trial. Andromeda looked at him and then nodded, "That sounds like something you would do." She laughed softly, "You were, after all, the man who tried to get Voldemort to surrender."

"I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with us. Fleur and I want to talk with you about something." Harry said, "But if Teddy isn't feeling well, we can reschedule."

Teddy chomped happily, his hair back to its normal cheerful blue. Andromeda looked at him, "I think he'll be alright as long as I keep a chilling charm on his teething ring. Where did you want to meet?"

"Here at Grimmauld Place, say at six?" Harry said, "Can you ask Tonks and Remus to come to this frame as well? We kind of want the whole family with us."

Andromeda nodded, "You are being very mysterious." She said with a smile, "But I will be there." They said their goodbyes and Harry pulled his head from the fireplace.

As he did so, he found Fleur standing there, dressed in a set of light blue robes. "Have a good chat?" She asked him as she watched Harry brush soot from his knees. "Will Andromeda be joining us?"

Harry nodded, "Teddy is teething, so he's been a bit upset. I also asked her to have Remus and Tonks come into their frame here. I want to talk to all of them." He looked at her robes, "I like the outfit. It's the same shade you were wearing when we met at Hogwarts."

She smiled, "Of course you would remember those robes." Fleur teased him, "I don't quite fit into those…" Fleur's voice took on a teasing lilt, "But perhaps I might slip them on for special occasions." She giggled at the look on the face of her lover as he imagined that.

"You may be the death of me after all," Harry said pulling her into an embrace and a kiss. "But what a way to go."