In The Fight To Survive (Golden Trio Era) {4}

Resolve and Reconcile

With the knowledge that Mikayla was due to arrive at Shell Cottage in a hour's time for a wellness check and to have lunch, Harry decided that it was time to fill Ron and Hermione in on his revelation of what happened at Malfoy Manor. As he climbed the stairs towards the room that Hermione was resting in, he passed by Fleur on her way down to the kitchen with a tray of different potions. "Harry, can I speak with you for a moment? It won't take long." Fleur requested, stopping her descend down the stairs in front of him, "uh..." Harry began, looking towards the room to see Ron going inside while trying to come up with an excuse to ditch Fleur, which he failed miserably, "yeah, sure. I'll take that and you lead the way." Harry took the heavy tray from her, which made Fleur smile before continuing her journey to the kitchen with Harry in tow.

"I just wanted to speak about our discussion on Tuesday and apologise for the way Bill and I handled it. We do understand that you can't share any details of what you've been up to since our wedding, Mikayla gave us a very stern talk about it before you lot even arrived. Our goal for that conversation wasn't to get top secret information out of you, though we both know it came out that way, we were looking for information on how you were captured and to what extent were people tortured. Physical wounds are easy to mend, but all know that mental trauma is so much harder to treat and can destroy the best of us. We got our wires crossed when broaching this with you and we are deeply sorry that we upset you." Of all the things Fleur could've said to him, Harry would've never expected all of that. An angry part of him wanted to disregard the apology and just walk away, but a familiar voice in his head warned him not to.

"I'm sorry too for reacting the way I did, getting so defensive and snarky. I didn't even give you a chance to clear up the miscommunication, and thank you for clearing things up now and for apologising. However, I hope you both understand that it isn't my place to tell you other people's traumas, it's up to them to choose whether to share it with you or not, just for future reference." Fleur nodded to Harry's concluding statement, expressing that they allowed worry to overcloud their better judgment and won't ask anything of Harry that doesn't reflect directly on his own experience, physicality, emotions or mental state. "Good, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check on Hermione." Fleur waved him off, reminding him that lunch will be on the table in exactly a hour's time as Harry left the kitchen.

Harry rushed up the stairs, knocking on Hermione's door while announcing himself and waited until he was given permission to enter the room. "Come on in, Harry!" Hermione called a handful of seconds later, Harry twisted the doorknob and push the door open, walking inside and actively ignoring the flush on Ron and Hermione's faces that faced him. "Sorry to interrupt, just wanted to check in on you Hermione and tell you both some important information." Harry explained to them as he closed the door behind him, placing a Silencing Charm on the room to prevent anyone listening in. He made his way over to sit on the empty chair next to Hermione's bed, since Ron had decided to sit at the foot of Hermione's bed. No one spoke at first, Harry immediately picking up on the awkward tension in the room and how Ron and Hermione seemed to actively avoiding each other's eyes.

"How are you feeling today, Hermione?" Harry queried, wanting nothing more than to leave these two alone to figure themselves out. "I'm honestly fine, I don't see why Bill and Fleur are making such a big fuss about it." The annoyance Hermione felt from being coddled was crystal clear in her tone, and Harry gave her a small frown to show that he's empathetic to her situation. "They're just worried, you weren't in great shape when we got here, 'Mione. It was scary." Ron cut in, making Hermione huff childishly to show her discontentment with being given a logical answer. "I think they want Mikayla to give you the all clear first, they told me that she's been very adamant that we all take time to rest and recover before jumping into the next step of our mission." Ron didn't seem all that surprised by Harry's information, in his mind it made perfect sense after seeing Hermione in such bad shape.