“Fleur, where have you been all this time? We have been looking for you for weeks. We have looked everywhere for you. On the continent, the British Isles, even in the old country we have searched for you,” Gabby demanded, her voice laden with hurt.
Fleur raised her tired eyes to her sister’s. The similarly blue hue in them hidden in the darkness.
“I was...I needed to...find them,” the elder Veela began, her gaze now averted, looking at something far beyond the walls that surrounded the siblings.
Gabby swallowed knowingly, aware of whom her sister spoke. The images were still clear as day behind the darkness of her eyelids. No matter how hard she would try and squeeze the life out of the memory, they had always come out regardless.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Fleur began anew, unaware of her younger sister’s own struggles. “I couldn’t forget for even a mere moment. I would lie awake in bed at night and find myself turning to his side, forgetting that he wouldn’t lay there with me, feeling my palm touch cold linens instead.”
“Oh Fleur-”
“He was supposed to be here with me,” she rasped harshly. “He promised he would always be here...with me.”
The Vow, Gabby remembered. He had given her a solemn vow on that day in the garden of the family estate. It was sunny then and the wind had picked up suddenly, blowing the petals of Apolline’s flowers around them. If one had dared utter words in that moment, they would have claimed it to be made by magic. Only Harry had bent his knee and all other thoughts had made way for gasps.
“I know,” Gabby replied. “He promised.”
An eerie silence befell the shaded space again, not even the sounds of insects or the whistle of the wind blowing through the open windows could be heard.
“And I found them,” Fleur admitted, her voice sounding happier.
“Who did you find, sister?” Gabby asked, taking another few steps closer to her elder sibling.
“I found the people…those monsters who’ve robbed me of my husband,” the older Veela continued.
Almost standing next to her, Gabby could not quite make out her sister’s appearance. The moon was full tonight, and would the clouds have permitted, she would have been able to make out Fleur’s face.
Reaching to touch her, Gabby’s hand felt the crispness of the dress. Looking down in confusion, she could not quite discern what it was she sensed. The dress looked eerily similar to the dress Fleur had worn on the day of her wedding. But it made little sense to her now. The dress clasped in between her fingers was dark…dirty.
Letting go of it, she felt a powdery substance stain her skin. It felt like dust to her. Dried dirt from wherever it was her elder sister had escaped to.
Raising her hand to her face, Gabby smelled.
Non, Fleur. What have you done?
“I found them, Arry, mon amour” Fleur suddenly coed, ignoring her little sister’s horrified face.
The moonlight finally broke through and brightened the space, revealing a marble gravestone and a deep crimson wedding dress.
Fleur turned to her and smiled. “And I made them all pay.”