Ontology of a Flower

Fleur pressed herself up against the lip of the crater, they had chased, been chased and fought Voldemort for over one hundred years and this is how it ends. She wished she could cry, her cold metal Arituzuka v15.6 optical enhancers did not need tears for lubrication so the cold comfort of tears was lost to her. She scanned over what was left of Harry, her display readout confirming what she already knew, half his head was missing and his lower half was a twisted wreck of metal and wires, of course he was dead.

He had not gone quietly into that good night, and neither had she. She looked down at herself, her missing right arm, thankfully had been the Aride arms enhanced articulation v3.2 now with real flesh feel! She had always kept more of herself as flesh and blood than Harry, Harry had loved her body, had loved her. The ground shook as the steps of Tom resumed, she cursed internally then pushed herself up, with a broken sob she fell to her knees.

She reached down to her belt pouch and yanked out her multi tool and jammed it into her Fabiochi Lady light v2.1 leg and saw the diagnostics run past her eye, she almost sobbed in relief when she was able to override the safeties on her legs and make them continue to function once accepting that she was breaching the warranty. She painfully crawled her way to Harry, and kissed his unresponsive lips. She touched his remaining cheek and twisted as she fell so his body supported her in a slumped sitting position. She mentally gave the command for her palm magnet to summon her wand, it zipped from over the lip of the crater smacking into her hand, she smirked with satisfaction, that one was a Fleur original, she might not be the best Cybersurgeon in the sprawl but she was the most driven.

The hulking form of what had once been Tom Riddle crested the hill, roughly thirty years before his aging followers had started to frustrate him, of course the twisted bastard had utilized the strength of magical creatures to enhance his abilities or life span before. So what was one last step? He ingested them one by one, their magical powers, flesh and for a time their very personalities became one with him. The result was what stood before her, a twisted mesh of flesh, stunted half-melted arms sticking out at odd angles, the remains of faces in pained shock and surprise could be seen here and there. But what really was the issue was the tree trunk legs and four massive arms with wands melded into unopening twisted masses of flesh that could still be called fists only because of their raw destructive potential.

Fleurs left optical unit destroyed itself as she sent the command to overpower the focuser and a tight beam of focused light lanced out ripping into Tom's flesh. Her wand came up and unleashed fell flesh-eating curses they had developed in an attempt to slow the rapid regeneration of Riddle's werewolf-enhanced biology. Tom chuckles as his flesh boils away reforming with the crackling of bacon on a griddle "I will eat you and the boy, take heart in knowing a small part of you will carry on."

Fleur lets out the ancestral shriek of her people, her remaining optic starts flashing with increasing urgency. She finds Harry's hand, she can feel the ragged ends of two missing fingers in hers. Tom towers directly over her as she connects her system to Harry's and sends an override to their cores, as Tom reaches down towards her the connected cores beat as if one for a brief second until the cold fusion cascade activates and the world descends into dissipating atoms.

|-OvO-|

Fleur felt a rush as her aura joined the maelstrom of chaos, she was unsure what came next, wizards had long known of some afterlife and Harry swore he had visited and come back with knowledge on multiple occasions. Fleur felt something among the flickering burning that was the world around her, a core of strength and resolve that felt familiar. She felt something calling to her up ahead but the soothing comfort of strength and resolve flashed from an infinite distance away, the call of the void was closer but Fleur could not turn away from the warmth in the distance. With a flash of insight, she recognized the way it made her feel, it was everything Harry had been.

She knew in her being that the call close by was the afterlife, but her Harry blinked away in the distance. An infinite distance of space away, true, but she would walk through oblivion for Harry. Together they had walked, stumbled and crawled across countless battlefields soaked with the blood of family and friends. He had pulled her from the wreckage of the Weasleys home, he had wrapped her in unfathomable understanding. They had shared their lives, their pasts and their futures. Their vows had been their own, she and Harry stood and promised to be together until the last embers of reality cooled at the heat death of the end of creation. She pushed towards her Harry, she would find him. The afterlife faded behind her, she may be dead, she and Harry may be atoms in a desolate battlefield, miles outside the sprawl that had become humanity's one megacity. But she could feel him, and wherever he was she wanted to be.

An eternity later Fleur spotted a bubble of light, as she approached it appeared to be a soap bubble, an oil slick, a rainbow of color and texture. She could feel Harry within, she dove towards it, the surface resisted her. She had no option, she kept pushing, slowly, ever so slowly she found pushing through the rainbow surface was easier when she lined her efforts up with green and blue tones. She pushed, and pushed, and for a long time it was all she knew. With a sudden snap she felt something rebound then for a while she knew no more.

|-OvO-|

Fleur gurgled, struggling not to swallow her tongue, having a body again was both a shock and a relief. She felt like she was drowning but she felt the warmth and softness of a bed around her. With a struggled whimper and a sharp intake of air she finally managed to force air into her lungs, a few ragged breaths later the swimming in her head finally slowed. The smell of the room was comforting and familiar, her hands broke through her thought process and rupported pain. She realised she was clenching something tightly in her hands, so tightly it hurt. She opened her eyes, half expecting a status report to appear, the bright light snapped her eyes shut again. She didn't have dampeners anymore, she forced her eyes open and looked around.

Her hands, her entirely flesh hands were locked onto sheets, she was in her childhood bed. In her childhood bedroom, she could see the early light streaming in the window. This place had been destroyed in the cataclysm of 2049, her parents and Gabrielle had been washed away in the one hundred meter waves that assaulted the coasts of the world. She heard an excited giggle, she wasn't dead but where was she. She sat up slowly and looked at herself, she was small, she had the body of a young girl and she ran her hands up and over her young frame. She was wearing a demure cotton nightdress in white, her ears picked up a giggle again. It was Gabrielle, the gods had decided to haunt her with dreams past, she couldn't help it she started to weep.

She stumbled out of bed, and threw open her door, the hall was the same as she remembered it. She spotted her first attempt at a potion, spilled on the carpeting as she went to proudly show her mother, not even magic could remove the forest green stain on the wood. She fell to her knees and touched it with infinitely gentle fingers, tears wetting it. Another giggle from down the hall dragged her to her feet and pulled her down the hall, the door to the kitchen loomed in front of her she hesitated as if a firing line waited beyond. With trembling fingers she pushed open the door and took a single step into the room before her eyes fell on her mother and younger sister. She fell to her knees and wept, a pained howling ripped from her like a wounded beast.

Her mother's arms pulled her into a tight embrace "Ma Cherie, dry your tears, what is so horrible?" Fleur clung to her mother, and shook. The rose scent of her, the tickle of her hair, the warmth of her arms. Fleur spent long minutes being held again by her mother, she broke away and saw Gabrielle over her mother's shoulder looking on in stunned surprise. Fleur gave her mother one more tight squeeze then launched herself at her surprised sister, she held the squirming little girl tightly until she wriggled loose. She looked at the planetarium orb that sat on the kitchen counter, it told the position of the stars in the sky and the phase of the moon. She was taught at a young age how to tell the date using this method. She stumbled backwards into the kitchen chair, her breakfast in front of her and gaped at the planetarium on the counter, it was summer, 1991.

|-OvO-|

Fleur wiped her cheeks and took her fork, she slowly ate her breakfast, she savored every bite. She had not tasted anything but soy and algae for decades. Tom had caused a form of magical nuclear winter in an attempt to kill anyone without magic, taking out the biosphere but not the muggles. Fleur had come to respect the pure ingenuity of muggles, they had survived through an apocalypse they had no way of understanding. When Tom had attempted to wipe them out they invented Cybertech and fought back, Tom had always underestimated them.

Her Pere came in and sat down and began to eat, Fleur restrained herself knowing she would get to hug her father once breakfast had finished. It was tradition for him to hug his girls. So it was the summer of 1991, she was thirteen years old, Harry was out there somewhere. Her eyes flicked to the planetarium, it was early July, Harry did not know who he was yet. Harry was still at home with the muggles who scarred his soul so deeply. Fleur knew from Harry's stories that he got his first Hogwarts letter on July 24th, but his uncle did not let him have it, he had been moved from a small cupboard under the stairs into the smallest bedroom. She had almost a month to figure out how to write a letter introducing Harry to the idea of magic and herself, and to train an owl to deliver it in such a way that Harry would receive it.

Or… she thought, she could go to him now. She dared not risk the timeline with too much contact but she could see him, look upon his face to be sure he was here. She could apparate, she knew she could even though she wouldn't get her license for another four years. She shoveled the remainder of her eggs into her mouth and hugged her father tightly, he absently patted her back, Fleur couldn't help it a few more tears escaped. She walked out of the kitchen, she hadn't seen her family in fifty years or more, but they were fine and she would be back, Harry needed her now.

As a child she often walked the beaches or found a quiet place and read the day away, she knew she most likely wouldn't be missed. She went to her room and quickly dressed in muggle clothes putting on jeans, a smock and her coat. England was always cold. Once ready a quick apparition to the Banque de France and following an older woman in the door and to the public international flu network had her popping out at Gringotts in Britain. She looked around slightly nostalgic, she had worked here for a time before it had been destroyed by Tom in retribution for them failing to protect a piece of his soul. She had been lucky, filing for divorce had kept her busy that day. She had been a fool, married to the first guy in a leather coat but her mistake had saved her life that day.

She shook her head, her platinum hair waving, she hadn't had long hair in years, sacrificed to practicalities and the realities of a battlefield. She mentally kicked herself forward, she could gather wool later. She stepped out of Gringotts, went behind a large pillar that was often used by bank workers for a quick smoke break and apparated away. She appeared a few blocks away from Harry's relatives house, she remembered it from a drunken escapade where they had laughed at the crater left by Death eaters as some sort of message for Harry, she had barely stopped him from sending flowers to Malfoy manor. She was early enough in the day to watch the household rise.

Her breath caught as she saw Harry through the kitchen window, he was rubbing sleep out of his eye and tossling cobwebs out of his messy hair. She wanted nothing more than to go to him, to hold him, to tell him what sort of man he was going to be. It took everything she had to hold herself back, she had to let Harry face some challenges. She had to make sure the timeline continued on track, at least enough that she knew what was coming for now. It would be years before she was ready. She watched as he cooked breakfast, as he served huge portions to his family and was left with scraps. She knew all this, long nights in bed and various foxholes had been spent sharing everything they were or had been, but watching it was a different matter.

Harry ate quickly and was chased out of the house by his uncle who threatened to backhand him. She watched him do yardwork for hours as those inside watched television or played video games. Eventually, Harry put away the tools he had used, wiped his brow and headed away from the house. Fleur was about to follow him when she saw a rat-faced boy knock on the door, wait for his cochon of a cousin, then point after Harry. They took off at a quick walk, which looked like the fastest pace the fat one could manage. Fleur remembered Harry mentioning that his cousin and his friends used to hunt him and beat him. She apparated a few blocks down into an alley and looked just outside for Harry, he was looking around for the source of the noise, she reached out and snagged his sweat-stained shirt and pulled him into the alley.

He stumbled backward and she shifted his weight pushing him with little difficulty against the brick wall, she might be tiny but Harry was emaciated. Harry opened his mouth to speak, his eyes meeting hers and widening in surprise, she quickly put a finger to her lips, she heard shuffling footsteps approaching. She silently cast a see me not charm, her finger barely touching her wand in her pocket, the world seemed to get a little duller around them, as if everything was the height of boredom. She and Harry watched as his cousin and his friend momentarily glanced down the alley, the little one saying "I saw him come this way Dud, he might already be at the park." They quickly moved on. She waited a dozen beats of her heart while listening carefully until she lowered her finger from her lips and looked up into Harry's bottle-green eyes.

She had almost forgotten what Harry used to look like, the electrical scarring running from his hairline down his forehead and barely touching his eyebrows. His messy Raven black hair, and those eyes. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but beam back. "Blimey, that was close. You have no idea how much you just helped me out."

Fleur waited for him to finish then stuck out her small hand "Eet was not a problem, Zey looked like trouble."

Harry nodded and rubbed the back of his neck "They are, whenever they catch me they…" He faltered.

Fleur gave him a reassuring smile and moved her hand a little bit more towards him "My name is Fleur, what is yours?"

Harry looked startled then removed his hand from his neck and took her hand and shook it surprisingly gently "Harry Potter, thank you for helping me Fleur… Why didn't they see us?" he said in sudden realization.

"Would you believe I'm a witch?" she said with a wink that made Harry laugh. She smiled at him as he stood somewhat awkwardly "'Arry, would you mind if I wrote to you?" She watched a few quick expressions flit across Harry's face, he seemed hesitant, before he could reply she bounced on her feet and kissed him on the cheek and shot him a smile as she walked out of the alley, she saw him touch a hand to his cheek looking stunned. Fleur hurried away her heart beating rapidly, she found a quiet place and apparated back to Gringotts, she hurried past an exhausted bank intern and into the bank. She followed directly behind a businessman in nice robes and followed him into the Floo. She was out of the Banque de France before she knew it and back at her family's chateau only a little into the afternoon. She hurried to her room and threw herself into her bed.

She hugged herself, she was still not entirely sure why she wasn't dead, but she was here, and Harry was here, and she had a second chance. She could make it right, regrets had piled onto her until she could barely breathe before she died, at times she had blessed her optical enhancers, they had not allowed her to cry. She had no idea who or what had given her this chance, but she sent up a quiet prayer of thanks.

|-OvO-|

She had spent the last week with her family, soaking in every happy minute of her renewed childhood. When she was young she had loved her sister desperately but had also thought her a bit annoying. She could not fathom why now, every moment was precious to her. She caught her mother giving her appraising looks now and again, but she seemed happy enough to leave it be. Fleur's mother brought her new school books into her room when she returned from work, "Thank you maman!" Fleur said as she looked up from the letter she had been trying to write to Harry for the past day.

Apolline smiled at her and ran her fingers through her hair "Of course, ma puce. Do well in school, that is all we ask." Fleur nodded to her mother and to herself, she took the first book on the stack and looked at it. Damn right she was going to do well, she hadn't been the Triwizard champion for no reason, this time around she could do well with no effort. But Fleur was not taking this second chance for granted, she was going to be a prodigy, it would take nothing less to take Tom down. She was going to kill that man, she was going to dance on his grave and then she was going to live a long and happy life.

She looked back at her letter to Harry and tapped her lip with the quill then started writing.

Dear Harry,

We met a few weeks ago, I was happy to help you escape your cousin. He seems awful. I felt that you were a wizard when I met you, I don't want to be too forward but I could use a friend. I am a student at Beauxbatons, a wizarding school in France. I am going into my third year and I am very excited to learn, but sad to be going back. My friends abandoned me last year and it has been very lonely. I would love to hear from you Harry, write me back.

Your friend,

Fleur

She read it over twice, she didn't want to scare young Harry off, she wanted very badly to get to know him as he was. In a way, the man she got to know would be a different Harry, but she would take that risk to give Harry a better life. She went up to her family owlery and started working to train the brightest to wait at Harry's window patiently until it was noticed and to calmly indicate it had a letter for him. It was surprisingly difficult, mail owls were trained to be as quick as possible, they didn't take well to delays. It took her almost until she had to send Harry the letter, she timed it so he would get it on the evening of his birthday. She sent it off and pulled out her own books, she had a few days to go over her books.

|-OvO-|

Harry had had a whirlwind day, he had found out he was a wizard, had found out his parents were murdered by a magical mass murderer and he had gotten his first birthday gift. A gorgeous snow-white owl that apparently was used to send mail in the magical world. His relatives sullenly ignored him as he got home and dragged his trunk and his new owl up the stairs to his new bedroom. He pulled out his History of Magic book and started flipping through it, grew dark enough in the room that Harry could not easily read and his owl hooted at him quietly. Harry looked up at her and jumped with a start "I suppose I have to feed you!" He pulled out the owl food he had bought and poured them into a cereal bowl left by Dudley, he offered it to her "You need a name… do you like Hedwig? I just read it." Hedwig rubbed her head on his shoulder, Harry smiled at her and pet her carefully.

"Good then, Hedwig it is." Hedwig turned her large luminous eyes and looked at the window, to Harry's surprise another owl was staring at him from outside. He walked over and carefully opened it to make as little noise as possible, the tawny owl raised a leg towards him, he spotted a scroll tied to it. He quickly untied it, the second it was free the owl took off into the sky, Harry watched it go for a minute before unrolling the letter and aiming it towards the fading light so he could read it. Harry was thunderstruck, he walked over and turned on the room's lights risking his relatives' anger at wasted electricity to read the letter again.

The pretty young girl he had met had been a witch, he remembered her saying as much. He had thought she was kidding. She was in a higher year than him and went to a school in France, he hadn't really thought about it but it made sense that there would be different schools all over the place. She wanted a friend, a deep ache in him wanted a friend as well. This is one that Dudley couldn't chase away. He carefully pulled out the writing kit that Hagrid had helped him purchase, he nervously looked at the quill and the ink, shrugged then started to write.

Dear Fleur,

Thank you again for saving me from my cousin. I would like to be your friend, I would never abandon a friend. I did not know there were wizarding schools in France, until today I did not know there were any at all. I am going to Hogwarts this year. Isn't magic cool? Well, you are going into your third year. You have done magic, that is so neat! How do you do magic? What is it like? Have you always known magic? I grew up with my non-magical relatives. How do you know if you are going to be good at magic? The wand maker and Hagrid seemed to think I would be good at it, but I feel pretty lost.

Your friend,

Harry

It was scratchy, but he thought it was legible. He had never written a letter before, so was not entirely sure how, but it matched hers well enough. He rolled up the scroll and walked over to Hedwig, he snatched the bit of twine that had tied her letter to him to her owl and carefully tied it to Hedwig. He opened the window and realised he did not know her address, he looked at Hedwig "Er, can you get this to Fleur?" Hedwig gave him a calculating look and took off out the window, Harry hoped that meant yes and that she wasn't just going hunting.

|-OvO-|

Fleur was halfway into her third school book when Hedwig showed up at her window, she opened it and let the large beautiful white owl into her room "I 'eard good zings about you 'Edwig!" She pet the large bird and carefully removed the letter from her leg. She opened a bag of owl treats for Hedwig and slid it to her then opened the letter and read it. She sat down at her writing desk and pulled out a new piece of parchment. Harry was so much kinder than he should be for how he was raised, she thought as she pulled out her quill and dipped it in ink.

Dear Harry,

You just got into Hogwarts? Congratulations! There are wizarding schools all over the world, a handful more in Europe. Magic is very cool, I was raised with it around me but it is infinitely amazing. I think it is just as cool that muggles have made phones and television. You should carefully read your school books before school starts, some teachers will expect you to already know what is in them. They should explain how to cast spells, but the basics are easy, you hold your wand, imagine very firmly what you want to do and then imagine very firmly that it is happening. Words and movements help you make mental shortcuts, kind of like muscle memory when you learn how to reliably kick a ball. I am sure you will be a great wizard, just read your books, listen in class and do your very best. I can imagine it would be easy to feel lost coming to school as a muggle-born, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

What do you think of the magical world so far?

Your friend,

Fleur

When she finished she saw that Hedwig was waiting to take the letter back "You are smart for an owl 'Edwig." Hedwig looked her in the eye and raised a leg, Fleur could almost feel herself being judged "Very smart?" She offered. Hedwig rubbed her head briefly against Fleur's shoulder then bobbed her leg out again for the letter. Fleur chuckled and tied the letter on and watched the large owl fly into the sunset, once she was out of sight she sat back down at her books.

She had been making notes, her first time through school she had been an exceptional student. But in rereading her books she was finding that she had certainly failed to fully understand or had simply failed to fully utilize their lessons. She pulled out the books from her first two years, years that were a hundred years and a death away for her, she could barely remember what she had learned in school. At least specifically. She had to do better, be better, this was a chance for her and Harry.

|-OvO-|

Harry was relieved to see Hedwig waiting for him when he finished his chores, at first he thought she may have just gone hunting when he saw parchment still tied to her leg. But the color of the paper was lighter than what his writing kit had, he managed to untie it while she snatches up a few morsels of food from her bowl. He sat down on the floor and leaned against his bed and read, it sounded like being a wizard was going to be a lot of work.

He pulled the kit towards him and hunched forward on the floor.

Dear Fleur,

Thank you for the thorough explanation. I will do my best, without you I would have shown up to school with only having read a bit of history. The magical world is amazing. So far I have been treated well, everyone seems to know me, which is weird. It is like I am a zoo animal. My parents were killed by a dark wizard… when I was a baby, I don't remember them. Well, you already know my name… do people outside of Britain know who I am? Did you when I met you?

Your friend,

Harry

Harry wasn't sure if it mattered whether she knew who he was the first time they met. But a deeply defensive part of him had to know, he tied the letter to Hedwig "You can take a break first." He said. She looked at her food, then the window, then back to her food, then she took off. Harry chuckled, he sometimes wasn't sure if he wanted freedom or food either. He opened his school trunk and pulled out his books, he very badly wanted to do well at school. He didn't want to give them any excuse to send him back here.

|-OvO-|

Fleur had spent the last day finding her old school notes, deciding they were useless to her now and then buckled down and started to read each subject in order. At least the first-year books were pretty short, she remembered they had taken a long time on each spell to really learn the basics of casting. She had a month before school started, and then she would have months to finish this year's books before the class caught up with her if she needed it.

She had lost all of her muscle memory, she would need to train. And she would need to read everything she could get her hands on, she waited until breakfast the next morning "Maman, Pere, I noticed my school books keep referencing information in the books to come. Could we order next year's books?"

Her parents' eyes met and a shared conversation took place, Fleur could almost read it. Her father looked at her "Of course ma Cherie, we will support you doing well in school any way we can. After all, you would need them eventually. I will pick them up on my way home." Fleur shot out of her chair and gave them each a hug, she was taking every chance she got to hold them.

She was surprised to see Hedwig waiting for her at her desk, she retrieved the letter and gave her a quick pet "Go take a break in ze owlery 'Edwig, I will be a minute. If you need a longer rest I can use a family owl." Hedwig brushed her with wing feathers as she flew out the window. She read the letter and was unsure how to reply, she eventually settled on as much of the truth as Harry was ready for, his young life had enough lies in it.

Dear Harry,

Yes, most of the wizarding world would know your name. I understand the feeling of being a zoo animal. I am part human, my grandmother was a Veela. I doubt it would be in any of your books. They are creatures from the ancient world, some say the gods cursed my ancestors. I would believe that. They are, or rather we are a race of beautiful women. Does not sound so bad, non? But something about the magic of our race ignites passion, we have been enslaved, or treated horribly for our beauty. We are classified much like animals and some wizards treat us so. I am lucky to be a quarter Veela, the laws at least protect me. I am sorry if you feel like I deceived you.

Your friend,

Fleur

She had thrown herself at the mercy of the court. It had been a risk to see him, but she had to know he was here, and alive. Harry was a kind and generous soul, he would forgive her. She rolled up the letter and before she was done Hedwig was back, she tied it to her leg and gave the owl an appraising look. She wondered if the owl was some sort of early evolution of a magical owl; she knew Hedwig had died before having a clutch of her own. She mentally marked it down for future research and went back to her studies as the owl flew off towards Harry.