I really just can not believe how long this story is taking me. Much love and thanks to those sticking with me!

This was not where she thought she would be. It had never even entered her mind. If someone had told her this future years ago, she would have simply dismissed them as completely insane.

As much evidence as there was to the contrary, she was never one of those little girls who imagined her wedding, pictured the perfect dream day, the fairy tale ending. She knew she wasn't the fairy princess everyone saw when the looked at her. The concept itself was a little ridiculous somehow.

But still, this is not where she thought she would be. Yes she was married and happy and in love but she was also in the middle of a war. She was in real danger almost all the time.

Bill had told her more time than she could count that he wanted to send her away. Never in front of anyone else but at night, when they were alone, he would plead with her.

"Go stay with your parents; go where you'll be safe." She had stopped answering him. She wasn't going anywhere.

Hermione, that girl who had been with Bill's youngest brother, had left. She couldn't understand why she had just left like that, without an explanation. Where was her loyalty? When she had spoken to Bill about it he had just said there was probably a lot going on that they didn't know about. He said that it was times like this that he realized how there was so much he didn't know about the lives of his youngest siblings. About what had really happened in their years at school. Fleur still didn't see what could drive that girl to go. To her what was going on around them, what they were now in the centre of, was much more important then any of them or their own little problems and disagreements. But these seemed to still get in the way regardless.

She realized part of it was her own struggle. That she had to stop herself from getting mad at what she saw as the selfishness of others. That she had to deliberately stop herself from dwelling on what she had to sacrifice. She wanted a baby. So much that she ached whenever she thought about it. The unrelenting want surprised her. But she never told anyone. She never let herself admit it out loud, because somehow that would make the pain more real. The pain that made her hate almost everything around her. She wouldn't let herself be that way.

Her birthday was coming up. She remembered when she was young what a fuss her mother would make. How silly she thought it all was at the time, her mother's lavish preparations. She was so used to the attention her looks gave her, by the she was teenager it bored her. People would fuss over her and praise her and she could would roll her eyes. Now all she wanted was a party. To, if even for a few hours, forget where she was. She actually wanted the attention. She hated how it all made her feel sorry for herself.

The day she turned 27 passed without event. Due to the circumstances, this was a good thing. No one had been hurt. No one had disappeared. No one had died. They had made it safely through another day. Or so she believed until that night.

She was waiting for Bill in their room, where she had been waiting for a few hours now. Annoyed, she went to look for him. Why hadn't he returned? Where was everyone? What was going on? The empty halls made her uneasy so she began to walk faster. By the time she made it to the stair she was jogging. Stepping into the dark foyer, she gasped as all the lights flashed on.