Bab 27: ch 27
Hogsmeade hasn't changed.
I walked along the buildings of the famous magical settlement on the way to my destination. No one could see me, or the small weeping willow floating behind me in it's pot.
I walked quickly through the town and onto the path that lead to Hogwarts.
A place I might not even be able to visit for a while after my N.E.W.T.'s. I realized as I approached the front gate.
Soon enough I was standing at my destination, the Black Lake. More specifically, I was standing about fifty yards off of the main path that leads from Hogwarts to the Black Lake. The path that most students take when roaming the grounds.
I looked around for a better spot around the Black Lake, eventually I decided that I didn't want my tribute to be ignored.
It'll be a memorial for me, and a big 'fuck you' to the toad. I thought to myself.
I didn't move for a while, deciding to memorize the view. I must have sat there for close to fifteen minutes before finally standing up and drawing my wand. All of the disillusionments fell from my form, showing me and the tree beside me to the world.
No point in delaying. I thought to myself as my wand rose.
I made a circle motion in the air and willed my magic to affect the ground in front of me. A light-green spell connected with the ground in front of me. A perfect circle cut into the ground, making it look like a very skilled person with a shovel had been digging.
I whipped my wand up. A portion of the earth rose up and revealed a perfect hole for planting a new tree. I set the earth to the side and it held there without breaking apart.
Another flick of my wand and the weeping willow tree separated from the top soil it was sitting in completely. I moved it to the newly made hole in the ground in front of me. It hovered in the hole, it's roots not quite touching the ground yet. I dropped my wand and nothing moved, the tree stood still, floating in optimal position for growth.
Seeing a tree's roots completely uncovered with no soil around it is weird. I couldn't help but think as I reached into my robes and grabbed the object I was looking for.
Delores Umbridge's urn. My mind supplied as I looked at the object.
'Cast this fire upon an enemy killed in cold blood, if it takes, this death will lead to ashes for life, thus making use out of a terrible act.' I remembered from the elemental book I had poured over in the past few months.
I didn't dwell on it too long. My hand opened the urn and reached inside for the ashes. I grabbed them and walked around the hole in the ground, spreading the ashes out inside of it evenly on the soil beneath the tree that was still hovering there.
When I was done spreading all of the ashes out, my wand cut the air again and the ground that I removed earlier broke apart and mixed itself into topsoil before filling the hole, surrounding the tree and its roots.
I lowered my wand and inspected the ground. Perfect. I deduced.
A tiny, ethereal blade appeared on the end of my wand, maybe an inch outwards. I steeled myself and brought it to the tip of my finger on my left hand, pricking it and drawing blood.
'Seven drops, seven wands to be carved before it's magic will disappear.' I recited from the book.
Seven drops fell from my finger as I walked around the soil and spread it out around the tree. Upon the last drop, I put my finger in my mouth, sucking on the blood before using my wand to close the wound.
My site was drawn to the ground, where my blood fell, as a flame that didn't harm the ground around it appeared on the first drop of blood, then the second, then the third, and on.
When the seventh drop of blood caught fire, the ground rumbled beneath me. My body moved with the ground underneath it and the hill that I was standing on became flatter and flatter in a perfect circle extending from the tree at it's exact center.
The willow itself started to grow at an astronomical rate, reaching into the air and growing more branches before stopping at the height of a twenty year old tree. I knew it would continue to grow at an unheard of rate for the next few months before finally reaching its peak, undying unless by fire or until seven wand woods it would present to those worthy. At the seventh wood given, it would catch fire, fire that wouldn't harm anything but the tree itself, and burn away in a blue flame that would leave no ashes. It would just disappear.
"Still not done." I said aloud to myself and reached into my pocket, pulling out a tiny sign.
I enlarged the sign, made out of the wood of another weeping willow. Runes covered it, in preparation for this moment. It stood about five feet tall and only had a single post that led to its message.
I turned to the direction of the path from Hogwarts, fifty yards away. Both of my arms gripped the sign and with a grunt I stabbed it into the ground, it sunk further than it should have, aided by magic and the runes on it.
I drew my wand again and tapped it, activated the rest of the magic on the sign. The runes glowed with a white light and, although I couldn't see it, I could feel the ground lock onto the sign, not allowing it to move.
I walked to the front of the sign, judging if it looked good aesthetically in front of the tree.
"'Don't mourn the dead.'"
I didn't react, feeling his presence a long time ago. "Headmaster." I greeted him as I turned around.
"Biblical?" Dumbledore asked me without his normal twinkle in his eyes. At my nod he continued. "Before today, I could rarely find a good defense for blood magic and rituals." Dumbledore continued as he walked up to the tree from behind me. "Umbridge?" He asked, still looking at the tree.
"Yes." I admitted, knowing lying would get me nowhere.
"Poetic, is it not?" The old man asked me still admiring the tree.
"I thought the same. My final goodbye to Percy." I answered him.
"It seems you have learned a lesson many men never do. It does not do well to dwell on what might have been or the dead. I told Harry something similar your first year here." Dumbledore continued.
I didn't answer him and he took it as an opportunity to continue talking. "How big will it get?"
"It will be one of the biggest and healthiest in the world until it serves its purpose." I answered him.
We were interrupted by a flash of fire and the cry of a phoenix. It instantly put me in a better mood. Fawkes flew around the tree inspecting it curiously.
Both born by fire and ash. Both will die by fire. Only one will be born again. I thought to myself.
"Now that is curious." Dumbledore mumbled to the air as his brow furrowed into his face. Fawkes finally stopped circling the tree and he settled on a sturdy looking branch and got comfortable.
"I have a feeling he will visit here often." Dumbledore commented again.
"We haven't properly talked in a long time." I told him, ignoring Fawkes.
"Yes, my vacation was very insightful. You have done well in my absence." Dumbledore answered me.
I frowned at him. "You're not angry? Disappointed?" I asked him.
"You have grown very powerful, and while I do think you could have made better decisions, the world is a better place because of them. I am more apologetic than anything." Dumbledore stated.
"Why?" I asked.
"I fear I have not properly prepared you for the consequences of chasing power. I did not tell you how your relationships with the people around you would change." He elaborated.
"It's natural." I cut him off. "I will find like-minded people and although I won't have as many relationships, the ones I do have will be deeper and more secure. I just hate that my family relationship was a shallow one."
"You have done a lot of thinking about this already." Dumbledore responded. "It is one of the things we have in common."
We do have a lot in common. I agreed.
"Good. Steel yourself Ron. We still have a ways to go."
"Sirius is looking for you."
I looked up from the book on the table I was reading to see Harry walking into the Black Library.
"What for?" I asked in response.
"Didn't say." Harry said as he sat down in the seat next to mine. "But I'm willing to bet that he's going to try and convince you to take his offer on making you a Black."
I smiled. "He's too nice to me." I commented.
"He sees himself in you. His parents kicked him out around the same age, if it hadn't been for my grandparents taking him in, who knows how he would have ended up. Wants to repay the debt or something like that." Harry explained.
I reached into my robes and drew out a letter before tossing it to Harry.
"What is this?" Harry asked.
"Read it."
His head dipped and his eyes scanned the contents. It didn't take him long to get through the letter. It was only an invitation for lunch anyway, with my Aunt Muriel.
"Prewett? That's your mother's maiden name right?"
"Yep."
"And your great-aunt Muriel wants to meet with you? Randomly?" Harry asked with a look in his eyes. "She wants to make you heir." He deduced.
"We all thought Bill or Charlie would get it eventually." I agreed with him, coming to the same conclusion. "Never thought I would be considered."
"Well you are the obvious option, magically. Can she just skip over the line of succession like that?" Harry asked, thinking about the possibility.
"It would ruffle some feathers, but yes." I answered. "She never liked dad anyway."
"Is she the head?" Harry asked.
"Yes, ever since my grandparents went missing after Gideon and Fabian got killed. We all know they're not really missing." I answered him, telling him a fact that almost everyone knew but no one discussed. "Mom doesn't talk about it."
"Don't you have an uncle too?" Harry asked. "Married to Sirius' aunt?"
"Yes but she's unable to reproduce, and uncle is a bit of an idiot to be honest." I told him, spilling juicy family details. "He was never considered."
Harry handed the letter back to me. "Well, are you going to meet with her?" He asked.
"Next week." I confirmed.
Harry got up to leave, he liked to study at night anyway. I called out to him before he could go.
"Harry."
He turned around before he reached the door.
"We need to kick it up a notch." I told him, knowing that he knew I was talking about our training.
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I just wanted to give you some more time." Harry answered before sighing heavily. "We've already come so far."
I saw the opportunity to echo Dumbledore and took it.
"We still have a ways to go."
"Can you test my Occlumency?" Fleur asked walking into the living room and sitting down opposite of me.
I looked up at her, she was wearing a very very thin shirt. She must be cold.
"You sure you want to do it before we leave?" I asked.
"Yes, I just want to be prepared for tomorrow." She answered me.
I closed the book in my hand and sat up to get in a better position. I didn't draw my wand, although my magic did reach out to it instinctively as I prepared myself.
I looked into her eyes and sent a mental probe. I was immediately shaken off by her shields.
Same result as last time. I thought as I admired her occlumency shields which rivaled my own.
"Told you." I commented while grabbing her hands. "Look, you've got this. You've studied and trained for years for this opportunity. You're going to get the job."
She smiled at the reassurance and grabbed my hands. "You're right, you're right. I just want to be prepared."
I returned her smile. "Good, now are you going to get prepared for tonight? Or just tomorrow?"
Her eyes narrowed at me before looking to the clock on the wall and seeing the time. Her eyes widened when she realized how late it was. "We're going to be late." She said as she hopped up. "Why didn't you tell me?"
I just rolled my eyes.
Thirty minutes later she was ready and holding a spoon in front of me.
"This is the portkey?" I asked her.
People always use the weirdest objects for portkeys. I realized as I thought about all of the portkeys I had taken in life.
Fleur didn't bother answering me. "Five seconds." She warned.
I counted in my head and reached out to grab the spoon. The world whirled around me as the portkey bent space to deposit me off at our destination.
Both of our feet hit the ground elegantly, like we are used to magical transportation.
The sun met my eyes like only the summer in France could. I squinted and looked around trying to figure out where I was.
"Welcome to my chateau." Fleur said in a bragging tone of voice.
And she had every right to brag. We were standing on a walkway that lead straight to a three story chateau. Windows everywhere, two towers, and a fucking amazing landscape design.
"Wow." I managed to croak out.
Fleur laughed and grabbed my hand, leading me towards the front door. She didn't get the opportunity to knock, as if she would have in the first place, because the front door swung open.
Our hands disconnected so that she could catch the blonde missile heading her direction. It impacted her torso with a thud.
"Fleur!" The torpedo cried out.
"Gabrielle, I have missed you too." Fleur told her little sister.
I felt really awkward and out of place watching them embrace.
"Why don't you introduce us to our guest Fleur?" A familiar voice called out from the front door.
Apolline. I recognized the gorgeous blonde half-veela. I guess she didn't tell her husband that we have already met?
"Ron Weasley, a pleasure to meet you." I said to her as she approached.
"Apolline Delacour." She answered and I couldn't help but admire her near perfect english. "Come on you two, let's go inside. Dinner is almost ready."
"Yes maman." Gabrielle answered her as she let go of her older sister and moved my direction.
"I'm Gabrielle!" She said wrapping her arms around my waist.
I wrapped my own arms around her instinctively. "Hello, I'm Ron. Do you hug everyone?"
She couldn't respond because Fleur was busy peeling her off of me. "Get off. He's mine!"
I decided to ignore the young Delacour's and follow their mother into the house. It was even more impressive on the inside. The floors were made of marble and the walls had beautiful paintings.
Muggle paintings, or at least not portraits. I observed.
"What do you think?" Fleur said in my ear.
"It's beautiful, you grew up here?" I asked her already knowing the answer.
"Yes! It's been in our family for a very long time." Gabrielle answered for her.
It took longer than I expected to get to our destination, the family room. Apparently dinner wouldn't be served for a while.
"Has my daughter finally arrived?" I heard a male voice say from the room just as we walked in.
"Papa." Fleur greeted him while walking up to him and hugging him.
I looked the man over. He had a black beard that came to a point on his chin. He wasn't a very tall man, nor was he a thin man.
How did Fleur come out of that? I thought to myself, disappointed in his appearance. I expected a man's man.
Fleur pulled away from her father after a moment and turned to me. "Papa, this is Ron Weasley."
I offered him my hand. "Monsieur Delacour, pleasure to meet you." I greeted him with a smile.
"Mr. Weasley, finally I get to meet the boy who stole my daughter away from me." He answered me.
Boy? I thought to myself about the use of the word.
"Be nice dear." Apolline cut in. "And maybe he'll bring her back to us a little more often."
I smiled at her, both in appreciation for the jab and for bailing me out. "I can't help it, I'm very possessive of her."
That got a chuckle out of the room, and I forgot about the jab at me from Fleur's father.
"Let's sit and talk while we wait on dinner to get finished." Fleur's father said sitting in an armchair.
I took the initiative to sit in the armchair next to his. We were separated by a small table.
"Ron, tell us about yourself." Apolline said as she went to a wine cabinet in the corner, no doubt to make herself a glass.
And so it begins. I thought to myself as I caught Fleur's eye and winked at her.
"Well, I grew up in Magical Britain, Father works for the Ministry, mother took care of us. I am the sixth child and the youngest boy in the family. I have a sister younger than me. I am sixteen, and my education is ...well it's up in the air right now." I said trying to summarize my life without going into too much detail.
"In the air? What do you mean?" Fleur's father locked on to the perceived weakness in my story. "Surely your education is important to you?"
"Of course, what I meant is that I am a little ahead of my peers." I began and when no one asked I elaborated. "I took my O.W.L.'s a little early and I have my N.E.W.T.'s in August." I revealed.
That got me a few stares. Apparently Fleur didn't tell them about that.
"That is ...impressive. I assume you performed well on your O.W.L.'s?" Apolline asked as she sat down next to her daughters on the couch with two glasses of wine in her hand, one of which she handed to Fleur.
"Yes ma'am, I did fairly well." I answered.
"How many?" Fleur's father asked.
"Nine." I answered quickly. "Six of which I got the highest grade possible, the other three I got the grade right below that."
That got me a raised eyebrow from Fleur's parents. "Well at least we don't have to worry about intelligence." Fleur's father commented.
"Papa!" Fleur hissed out scandalously.
"What? I'm allowed to be picky for my daughters." He defended himself.
Fleur just grabbed her forehead in one hand and shook her head.
"And what about after your N.E.W.T.'s?" Apolline continued the line of questioning.
"I hope to get an apprenticeship at Hogwarts for a mastery in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and learn a little about teaching at the same time." I answered. "It also gives me some time to be around my friends some more before we go out into the real world."
"Ahh, smart." Apolline said back approvingly.
"What about you Monsieur? What is it that you do?" I asked him as politely as possible.
He turned to me and smiled, not bothered by the question. "In my youth, I dueled professionally, but those days are long gone. Now, Apolline and I manage the family estate. Apolline does most of the work, admittedly. I like to play in the French political sphere, and that takes up most of my time."
"My husband is being too humble. He has the ear of the French Minister of Magic." Apolline corrected him. "I deal with the estates day to day operations. You didn't have an opportunity to see the grounds but we have a significant amount of real estate around the chateau. We have a few herds of magical creatures and fields of magical plants. We supply most of the potion ingredients for southern Europe, in fact." Appoline summarized.
I focused on keeping my face impassive. Holy shit they're fucking loaded. I realized as she finished her explanation.
And Fleur's father is like the Malfoy of France. My mind supplied and I tried not to have any biases against him for the fact.
"Well that is quite impressive." I managed to get out.
Apolline smiled at me in response. It wasn't a normal smile, it was predatory, primal. I didn't flinch at all, meeting her eyes with my own. Her head tilted when she realized that I wasn't bothered by her.
"The Weasley family is part of the Sacred …oh how many is it in Britain dear?" Mr. Delacour asked his wife.
I cut in before she could answer. "Twenty-eight."
"Yes the Sacred Twenty-Eight. That must allow you some amount of prestige in Britain." He continued.
If they know about the Sacred Twenty-Eight, then they know that my family has been known as 'blood traitors'. What is their game here? I thought to myself.
"My family has a ...disagreement with the beliefs of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They call us 'blood-traitors' because of our lack of belief in the pure-blood agenda." I answered him. "So no, I am awarded no prestige for this fact."
Mr. Delacour smiled, a real smile for the first time since I had met him. "Good. Then you don't fall into their idiocy."
I snorted. "No sir, I have been known to oppose them because of it actually."
His smile dropped then and I knew something was coming. "And what do you think about the return of the blood purists champion, Lord Voldemort?" He asked me.
I took a deep breath then and my hand instinctively reached to my neck. "Well where to start about him. Magically, he is one of the most powerful people to ever live, on par with the likes of Grindelwald and Dumbledore. His knowledge of magic goes deeper than even Albus Dumbledore on certain subjects."
"You sound like you admire him." Fleur's father cut me off.
"No sir, I respect his power." I replied quickly. "But he is a psychopath. His fear of death led him to delve into magic that warped his brilliant mind into something resembling a monster." I finished.
"You know a lot about him." He announced, almost accusatory.
I didn't know what to say to that, so I just nodded my head in response.
He was about to say something else when a bell rang, soft enough to not be an annoyance but loud enough to be heard.
"Dinner is ready." Apolline announced hearing the bell.
Saved by the bell.
I stood on the patio of the third story of Fleur's childhood home, alone. Everyone had already gone to bed. I got my pick of any of the rooms on the third floor, two floors away from Fleur's room on the first floor.
The door opened behind me and my wand was in my hand and pointed at the intruder before they could react.
"Held at wand point in my own house?" Mr. Delacour said with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry, bad habit." I said making a lousy excuse.
"I understand, you have had an eventful few weeks recently." He said walking up to me and handing me a cigar and a glass of firewhiskey.
I took both with a smile, I was going to ask him if he was sure but he shut me up with a wink. I put the cigar to my lips and whipped my wand out again. A small flame appeared on the end of my wand and I took a few puffs to get the cigar started.
"You seem experienced at that." Fleur's father joked, watching me. He brought his own cigar to his mouth and with a snap of his finger it was lit and burning well. "Party trick." He explained after a few puffs.
I didn't say anything, instead I decided to enjoy the gifts he brought.
"This may be the first time we have met in person, but I know you Ron Weasley." He said out of nowhere.
I looked in his direction and raised my eyebrow, waiting on him to elaborate.
"My position allows me information, the kind only power, not money, can buy. I know the first time you stayed in Fleur's apartment, I knew the results of your O.W.L.'s before you told us, and I know everything that happened in the Department of Mysteries..."
Well that is a little impressive actually. I thought.
"...I know that if I offered you sanctuary here in France, away from the looming war on the horizon, that you would deny me and say that you can't abandon your friends and family. I respect you for it, truly I do. Given enough time, you can rival Dumbledore himself." He praised me.
Where is he going with all of this? I asked myself.
"But I just wish that my daughter didn't love you."
I didn't react to the statement because I could see where he was coming from and a part of me agreed with him.
"Then she would be back here, safe and away from that madman. Now I fear it's too late, both of you have opposed him directly. There is no running from him. Even if there was, we both know that Fleur won't." He continued.
"You are well informed." I commented, agreeing with his assessment.
"You need to become more powerful Ron. Not for your own sake, but for Fleur's." He stated finally. "You will get no help from the other countries. You have to do it on your own. Are you up to the challenge?"
I downed the last of the firewhiskey in my glass and put out my cigar on the railing.
"Absolutely."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone