Breaking Point

"What were you thinking!" Ginny screeched.

"Ginny…"

"How could you just- just throw your life away like that! After everything we've done to save you!" She had suppressed her emotions while they dealt with the remaining Death Eaters, but now that they were alone, they came through all the stronger, heedless of the situation, or the presence of Neville and Hannah, who were watching on uncomfortably. Every sentence was punctuated by a stab of hurt from Ginny, who was aggressively baring her emotions to him, almost weaponizing them.

"What was I supposed to do? Just let him die?" Harry shot back.

"Do you have any idea what that would do to us… do to me?" She drew in a ragged breath as she fought back the bile in her throat at the thought of what almost happened… of almost losing him. "It'd destroy me! Do you want that!"

Of course he didn't want to hurt her, they both knew that. But… "This's about more than you and me!" He argued "I knew I could've died when I went to save the philosopher's stone, or when I went to the ministry last year, or when I saved you!" It was a low blow, he knew, but he couldn't stop himself. "I can't just let people die." He choked with emotion, but forced himself to continue. "I know we don't like Dumbledore right now, but he's too important. If he died…" His voice died in the air, letting the implications sink in. Without a wizard who could challenge him in a duel to oppose him, Voldemort would be able to act freely, maybe even start to tear the wizarding world apart.

"And you aren't important?" Susan piped in.

The logic of that statement made Harry pause where raw emotion had failed. "We all know just how important you are in the war. More important than even Dumbledore." Susan continued calmly.

He didn't like it, in fact he hated it. Every instinct he had was telling him to put other's lives before himself. He didn't feel important, he didn't want to be important, he certainly didn't feel he deserve special treatment, and the idea of using the prophecy as an excuse to let others die to save his own skin made him want to gut himself.

"Susan's right." Hermione agreed "You can't just take risks like that-"

"Or throw yourself in front of bloody killing curses." Ginny grumbled.

"-you're too important. Not just for the war, but for us too."

More acutely than ever, he felt the burden of the prophecy. It really was up to him. He had to do it. But how could he? He wasn't special. He wasn't like Dumbledore or Voldemort, two prodigies. He was in over his head, completely, and he felt like he was about to drown from it. There was no way he could defeat Voldemort. Maybe it would have been better for everyone involved if he just sacrificed himself like Dumbledore wanted.

The intensity of emotions that errant thought provoked from Hermione and Ginny made his knees buckle. "I didn't mean that." Harry backtracked quickly. "I really didn't"

Ginny just closed her eyes and looked away. Even though it had been just a thought, produced straight from his mind with no filter, he could tell that it had pained her deeply. It fell to Hermione to respond. "You can't do this, Harry. You can't do this again. You can't make yourself responsible for what happens to everyone."

"But aren't I?" Harry interrupted "Isn't that why you're all here right now, because of the prophecy?"

"No, you prat!" Ginny screeched, overtaken with outrage. "We're here because we love you!" Harry flinched, ashamed. He hated this. He wanted to take everything back, it wasn't a simple matter of apologizing when they both knew that there was still a small part of him that still felt it'd be better if he died, that still couldn't imagine how so many people would be willing to give up so much for him.

"I can't speak for anyone else, Harry, but it's not about the prophecy, not for me." Demelza said, her earnest eyes searching for and capturing his "I don't believe in some prophecy, I believe in you."

Harry shook his head minutely "You really shouldn't. I'm not special, or clever, or powerful. I'm just… just, Harry. Not some superhero. And- I- I have no clue what I'm supposed to do."

Ginny rapidly softened as she recognized the crisis that Harry was going through. "Oh, Harry, luv. You know it's not like that. You're not going to be alone. Not ever if I have anything to say about it. We'll be with you, every step of the way."

And that will just get you killed. His damn self-sabotaging mind produced, and once again Harry immediately regretted it. Ginny and Hermione both looked stricken, and neither knew how to respond to that- to something brought from the darkest corners of Harry's mind into the light. Neither got the chance to, either, because Demelza had flung herself at him. She couldn't read his mind, but perhaps she could tell from his, Ginny, and Hermione's reactions what he'd been thinking. "Please don't do this." She whispered "Please don't pull away from us now. We need you. I need you." She pressed her face into his chest, hiding her tears "I need you." She repeated.

Harry was utterly disarmed by her plea, and when he looked up he saw identical expressions from each of the girls, his girls. Luna looked like she might cry.

It was at that moment that he knew. He could never say no to them.

He looked down at the trembling girl clutching him and slowly wrapped her in his arms. "I won't. I promise. I just… I'm just- scared." Not of dying, but of failing. Of letting you down. Of letting you… die. The admission extracted a toll from him, and even if most of it wasn't verbalized, it had been felt by every one of them. He found himself surrounded, as Ginny, then Hermione, then Katie, Luna and Susan huddled around the two of them. Arms coming to embrace them, offer support and comfort.

It was unfortunate that in the heat of their argument, they'd forgotten that they had an audience. An awkward cough interrupted their group hug, almost as one, Harry and his girls turned to see Neville and Hannah watching with matching blushes, looking like they wanted nothing more than the castle to swallow them whole.

-----

The Order responded in force, but the fight seemed to be in vain, only a few could be caught before they used their portkeys to escape. The group trudged to the hospital wing, bringing with them a few students who'd they'd gathered along the way. Some would need to be treated for minor injuries… others for exposure to the cruciatus. Dumbledore was sequestered into a warded room in the back, but Bill needed to only be treated for a head wound.

Harry himself had been forced into bed by Madam Pomfrey. The woman was completely swamped, and several order members were helping her with the less serious cases. He hadn't realized it, but he had multiple, bruises, gashes and cuts across his body from the shrapnel that the killing curse caused when it missed. He'd been so high on adrenaline that the pain hadn't even registered.

They'd been separated. Most of them corralled into their own beds, while Ginny had been pulled aside by the Weasleys and was sitting by Bill. Currently, she was trying to conceal her irritation with Fleur's presence.

Harry had almost believed they'd gotten lucky again, and that somehow everyone had made it out okay, until McGonagall had entered the hospital wing carrying someone. Her face was positively ashen, and the way the student in her arms hung limply… Harry stomach threatened to rebel. The image of Cedric's body, lying cold on the ground of the graveyard, was summoned unbidden into his mind. The kid couldn't have been more than a second year. Oh god.

Around him, people reacted. Tears, gasps, or just shocked silence, but Harry was numb to that. They took the kid out of the room, out of sight, and more people trickled in. And Harry stewed.

This is my fault.

That guilt- so familiar to him whenever Cedric or Sirius' names had been uttered- returned with a vengeance. He'd let himself get distracted. He knew Malfoy had been up to something, but he hadn't bothered really looking into it, because… because, he'd been having sex. How selfish was he? And now a kid was dead. Someone who had their whole life before them. Someone who needn't have been touched by the war. He should have done better. He needed to be better.

Its not your fault, Harry. Its not your bloody fault. Ginny protested with growing frustration. Harry's breathing became forced as he clenched the bed rails in his hands. Harry pushed himself up, arm's shaking as he tried to master himself.

He was brought back suddenly, by a hand gently touching his shoulder. For a split second, he thought that it was Ginny, but she was looking helplessly across the room while bearing the brunt of her mother's fussing.

No, it was Fleur. Her face was pale, but she was composed and was favoring him a sympathetic smile. She was barely touching him, but he felt it acutely. She inclined her head slightly "I think you should lay down." She said lightly in her mild French accent "I don't think Molly would let either of us hear the end of it if I let you out of bed." Mrs. Weasley's name came out somewhat clumsily, and Harry wondered if things still weren't good between them. Harry knew that Ginny still didn't approve.

Somewhat sheepish, Harry lied back down without complaint. He appreciated that she didn't ask how he was. "Not to be rude, but why…"

"Aren't I with Bill?" She finished for him, her eyes flickered over to Bill's bed, where Molly, Ginny, and several of the Weasley brothers had gathered "I can tell when I'm not wanted."

"Sorry." Harry shrugged helplessly "Its not fair to you. They should have given you more of a chance… er, don't tell Ginny I said that." He felt a flare of irritation from Ginny at that told him that the attempt at secrecy had been futile. She was trying to hide her emotions from him, perhaps she wasn't proud of her treatment of Fleur herself, but particularly strong spikes in emotion still bled through.

Fleur chuckled, which emboldened Harry "I did try to talk to Ginny and Hermione about it, not that it did any good."

"Let me guess, they assumed I charmed you." She smirked playfully- mischievously. It was altogether far too attractive for his own good. "Used my feminine wiles to turn you against them."

"Right in one. I guess Bill gets the same treatment?" Fleur pursed her lips in a small frown, and Harry wondered what he'd said wrong. Unfortunately, the conversation would go no further, because Ginny returned, and she was glaring daggers at Fleur.

Her presence surged back in his mind, and he felt her confusing mix of emotions. She was angry, but not particularly at him, insecure, and threatened. Given how enthusiastically she'd taken to their unique arrangement, Harry was confused by these emotions. There had to be something more than jealousy at work here.

"Ah, Fleur." She said crisply "Thank you for keeping my boyfriend" The word was accented possessively "company. I'm sure Bill would love to see you again."

The dismissal was obvious, but there was a spark of rebelliousness in Fleur's eyes that made Harry nervous. "Thank you, Harry." She smiled. She then took his hand and pressed her lips to it, as if she were a knight kissing the hand of a fair maiden.

Harry's heart leapt. His skin tingled where her lips made contact and he valiantly fought to keep the blush from his cheeks. For her part, Fleur seemed to be as affected as he was. A slight flush had spread across her face as her eyes narrowed on him, and he felt utterly pinned by the intensity of her gaze. Her allure surged against his mind, but he beat it back without too much trouble. The compulsion wasn't as strong as a love potion, or even an imperious curse, and he honestly found himself more affected by the way she was looking at him. He knew that expression, he'd seen it enough times to know exactly what it meant and given her relationship status it made him distinctly uncomfortable.

Harry was wondering if he should say something when Fleur shook herself and jerked back suddenly, her expression unreadable. Her eyes flickered from him to Ginny briefly, but oddly she didn't say a word, she simply left. Even as Fleur retreated, Ginny seethed in the background of his mind. Her smile was so forced it was painful, and it was almost as hard to look at as it was to feel her discordant emotions. In a flash, she tamped down on the link, only letting a bare trickle through to him. Nevertheless, she sat by him.

Harry sighed as he sank back into his bed. It was going to be a long night.

-----

Fleur pulled away from Harry, nearly stunned as she returned to Bill.

She could have sworn… but that was impossible. Harry wasn't like that.

Harry was noble to a fault. He'd stayed behind and rescued her sister during the second task even though it would have hurt him in the competition. The notion that he would cheat on Ginny was ludicrous to her. And bless his heart, but he was rather clueless when it came to women. She remembered how he had fumbled and panicked as he had tried to find a date for the Yule Ball, it'd actually been cute in a way- his fame would have made it trivial to find a willing date, but in this one arena he seemed to lack the confidence that most boys his age possessed. Neither was he weak willed. The way he treated her was a testament to that.

But her senses didn't lie. As much as she wished she could shut it off, her sense of smell was acute, and what she had smelled on him in that brief second that she leaned in had been unmistakable. He reeked of sex, with several women, no less.

She clenched her fists, reeked wasn't the proper term. It implied the smell was unpleasant, but to her senses, and to her shame, it was anything but. She couldn't ignore the sudden flush of arousal that had momentarily overtaken her senses, and she had been forced into the all too familiar struggle of mastering herself. There were times when she was proud to be part-Veela, and there were times when she hated her ancestry. This was one of the latter.

It left her with a difficult choice to make. She cast a speculative look at Harry- could he really be capable of cheating? She didn't want to believe it. Strange as it may seem- she considered him her friend, one of the few she had. One of the few who had bothered to look past her heritage and treat her as she was.

He hadn't noticed her gaze, but Ginny certainly had, and tensed up much like a belligerent kneazle. Sadly, even if she told Ginny, Fleur didn't think she'd be believed. Still, didn't she have a moral obligation to try? But what if she was wrong? She'd only picked up the smell for a fraction of a second before she had pulled away. Maybe… maybe…

She was drawn from her thoughts by a wail from across the room. Belatedly, she realized that she hadn't even been paying attention to Bill or anyone else around her. "-by Greyback! You mean… you mean…" Her soon to be mother in law's voice rang out. She was being pushed aside by the Matron as she levitated a redhead into one of the beds.

It was Ron, and Fleur saw why Molly Weasley was so distraught, half of his face was mangled and covered in blood. Greyback, that meant he'd been bitten.

"It's not a full moon!" A student that had accompanied them said hopefully, a younger boy who was sporting a bruised cheek "Doesn't that mean?" She trailed off uncertainly.

"Yes, I doubt Mr. Weasley will suffer any ill effects, aside from some scarring." Pomfrey uttered absently as she tended to the redhead. Fleur wondered what the story behind that encounter was, but she was sure she'd hear it later. Sighing, she looked away from the pair and returned to the decision facing her.

There was nothing for it. She'd have to get close to Harry again it confirm her suspicions. Even if Ginny didn't believe her right off, eventually she would find out, vindicating her.

Maybe then she'd finally stop acting like such a bitch.