Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning, Hermione paced as she waited to hear back from Headmistress McGonagall. After a near-sleepless night, spent alternately crying about Ron's perfidy and looking through most of her books to discover what she could about Veelas, she had finally concluded she needed access to more books than she had. She could have got them at the Ministry library, she supposed; as an Unspeakable, she had access.

But she wasn't yet ready to face the rumours and innuendo that were inevitable when a war hero left his war heroine fiancée mere days before their wedding. It was possible but unlikely, she thought, that the news hadn't got out yet – at least it wasn't in yesterday's Prophet. She wasn't so naïve to think it wouldn't be there today, though.

Even as she had the thought, the Owl Post arrived. After giving the bird the usual payment and a treat, she took a deep breath and steeled herself to see what the headlines might say.

War Hero Dumps Fiancée for Veela Witch!

By Rita Skeeter

Damn. She should have known that insect wouldn't miss this chance to humiliate her. Taking another deep breath, she read on.

Ronald Weasley, one of the heroes of the recent Voldemort War and best friend of Harry Potter, was spotted yesterday at Gretna Green in the company of Gabrielle Delacour, a quarter-Veela who is the younger sister of Mr Weasley's sister-in-law, Fleur Delacour-Weasley. Readers may recall that Mr Weasley was to have been married this Saturday at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the Muggle-born witch, Hermione Granger.

Further investigation revealed that a bonding ceremony was performed at three p.m. yesterday for Mr Weasley and the former Miss Delacour (see photos on page six). It thus appears safe to conclude that what had been billed as the 'Wedding of the Decade' has been cancelled. Attempts by this writer to reach Ms Granger were unsuccessful – apparently, she was already on her scheduled month-long leave from her job with the Ministry of Magic as of three days ago – but sources say she's believed to be out of the country nursing her broken heart and hiding from the humiliation of being left at the altar.

Attempts to reach Ms Granger? Hermione knew perfectly well Skeeter hadn't made any attempt to reach her – she certainly would have noticed if she'd ignored communications from her long-time nemesis. On the plus side, though, she was too annoyed by the article to cry about it.

What if the headmistress said no? Maybe she really should consider a trip abroad as an alternative ...

Hermione was about to turn to page six, even though she didn't really want to see pictures of Ron with Gabrielle, when a knock sounded at her door.

Great, the press is already descending on me, she thought, until she heard an unwelcome voice calling her name. "'Ermione? Are you all right? I need to talk to you!"

Hermione was tempted to pretend not to be home, but she was too curious for her own good. What could Fleur possibly want with her?

There probably isn't a better source of first-hand information about Veelas... The stray thought had Hermione getting up to answer the door.

"You must understand how very sorry my family is for Gabrielle's actions, 'Ermione!"

Hermione was getting tired of this conversation already. This was the third apology she'd had in the ten minutes since she had let Fleur in. "It's not your fault, Fleur. It's not your job to apologise on her behalf."

"But she should have known better! She was raised to be more considerate of other people's feelings than that. You were engaged to be married! She should have respected that!"

"Perhaps she should, but she didn't. And Ron didn't, either – and he was the one who promised me..." Hermione didn't know how to finish without crying, which she certainly wasn't about to do in front of Fleur. Abruptly, she changed the subject. "Fleur, can I ask you something?"

"Certainement, 'Ermione."

"What can you tell me about Veelas? Veela men, specifically."

Fleur frowned. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything, I suppose. Everything," she amended when Fleur remained silent.

After a long moment, Fleur asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"Because apparently the people who developed the Hogwarts curriculum didn't think to include it. They forgot, as usual, that Muggle-borns don't just know this stuff from birth like purebloods and even half-bloods do."

"There's not much to tell," Fleur said. "The men all have dark hair, just as the women are all fair. Other than that, they're just... people, like any others."

"But..." Hermione allowed her voice to trail off – there really was no tactful way to ask whether the men were all ugly, or whether they really got better looking if you loved them. "Are there any books about Veela history you could recommend? I assume the culture has rich traditions of its own, distinct from either Muggle or Wizard culture?"

Fleur looked uncomfortable. "I'm not sure any of our own works have been translated from the Veelish."

"Oh." Hermione wondered whether her trip to Hogwarts was a waste of time, but quickly decided that if nothing else, it gave her a place to stay for a little while that was safe from the press. "Can you find out?"

"All right, 'Ermione. I will see what I can do." Hermione had the distinct impression that Fleur was only agreeing because she felt bad about Gabrielle and Ron, but Hermione would take it. She needed the distraction.

Fleur left a short time later, and Hermione spent the next few hours trying not to worry about what the headmistress would say to her request to use the library. She spent some of that time using her charm-protected computer to surf the web, looking for information about the Beauty and the Beast legend. She didn't find much that she hadn't already known, unfortunately, though she did pause to watch part of the Disney movie, which had been one of her favourites since she had first seen it the summer after she started at Hogwarts.

At lunchtime, she realised that she had never informed her parents that the wedding was off, so she Apparated to their house in hopes of catching them at home. They might not have heard yet – she wasn't sure whether they still maintained a subscription to the Prophet these days or not. She suspected not, or they'd have most likely been beating down her door already, wanting to console her.

Unfortunately, her parents weren't there when she arrived, and when she telephoned their offices, she was told they had taken a holiday to prepare for their daughter's wedding. She decided to leave a note, since she had no idea where to find them. It took several attempts before she got it right – she didn't want them to get tearstained parchment or to worry too much how she was handling everything. Just as she was finishing, they arrived home.

Banishing the letter and wishing she had gone with an earlier draft, she returned her father's hug as her mother asked, "Sweetheart, I'm surprised to see you! Don't you have a million last-minute details for the wedding?"

Whereupon Hermione burst into tears yet again.

She arrived back home around teatime despite her parents' repeated entreaties that she should stay with them for a few days. Her mother's fussing and her father's outrage had helped a bit. She smiled wryly as she enlarged the assorted foodstuffs Mum had pressed on her in the apparent belief that a good meal could cure anything that ailed anyone.

Busying herself putting everything under stasis charms and then storing it all in the pantry or fridge, she tried to decide what to do next. If only Professor McGonagall would reply...

Even as she had the thought, an owl tapped at her window. Hoping it was from Hogwarts, she let the bird in and offered it a treat in exchange for the parchment.

Seeing the seal with its familiar crest, she took a deep breath to quell her pounding heart before opening it.

A/N: Thanks so much to all who have reviewed. I hope to catch up on personal responses soon. And ongoing thanks to my alpha/beta/Britpick team. Love you all!