Chapter — The Unspoken Farewell (Part 2)
"Of course, I still don't know why you gave me a fake name back then. Ray von? That name was really strange. I still remember it. After I got home, I spent a long time asking around in France, but no one had ever heard of that surname."
"Coincidentally, I ran into you again at the Quidditch World Cup. You were still dragging my sister around. Before I saw your face, I really wanted to curse you, thinking you were some kind of human trafficker. Well... after seeing your face, I wanted to curse you even more."
"But you never gave me an answer to my question."
"You were just as cold and indifferent at Hogwarts."
"I planned to have a good talk with you during the Triwizard Tournament. I knew you would definitely become a champion."
"The first few events went relatively smoothly without any major incidents, but then came the third event..."
"I really couldn't believe that you and your hostage had switched identities. I should have just left you there. That was my first kiss!" Fleur emphasized every word. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she smiled sweetly.
"With the opposite sex."
Fleur added that last part with a knowing smile. Obviously, Gabrielle and the other members of her family didn't count.
"I didn't know how to face you after that. I couldn't keep giving you the cold shoulder."
Fleur's cheeks flushed with an alluring blush, though no one was there to see it.
"But I couldn't bring myself to go looking for you either. Veela don't have any ridiculous rule about sealing a relationship with a kiss. Even if they did, I wouldn't bother following it. Besides, back then, resentment was still the dominant emotion."
"I also found out not long ago that Azkaban no longer uses Dementors as guards. Otherwise, I wouldn't have cared about you. You 'voluntarily' let yourself be kidnapped, so you should have spent a few years in prison before learning your lesson."
Fleur's tone became strangely willful, almost like she was whining.
"But what happened next was even more unexpected."
Fleur paused for a moment and sighed helplessly.
"Now, I think I can probably guess what you were thinking."
"You didn't want me to get involved, but I was determined to walk straight into this mess anyway, wasn't I?"
"That's stupid, isn't it?"
"Actually, I think I'm pretty stupid too. I'm clearly not very capable, yet I'm still this stubborn."
"Now I understand."
"Even if you didn't want to accept me as your dance partner, you wouldn't deliberately humiliate me like that. I could only interpret it as you deliberately drawing a line between us."
"Of course, I was furious back then! I'd never invited a male companion before!" Fleur said with a carefree chuckle.
"And then came this trip that wasn't really a trip."
Fleur breathed a quiet sigh.
"Dumbledore is a highly respected wizard, and I believe he has no evil ambitions. So naturally, he wouldn't associate with a Dark Wizard."
"Of course, the most important thing is that I believe in you. Even after hearing the conversation between the three headmasters, my first reaction wasn't to believe them."
"After saying all this, I actually want to say goodbye to you."
"I think it's better to leave gracefully than to be driven away by you."
"Just think of me as a poor hostage who happened to escape from those vicious kidnappers."
Fleur looked at the letter and smiled bitterly.
"Suppose... I mean, suppose we can be together in the future. Don't use the excuse that we've already traveled enough to avoid going on a honeymoon, okay?"
"Besides, I don't think I can keep these secrets inside me. I think I'll be in a lot of pain if I simply leave like this."
"So you'll have to keep them for now. Don't lose them. I'll come back for them after everything is over."
"Don't try to renege on your promise."
The girl made up her mind.
She took a deep breath, then raised her wand to her temple and carefully drew out a silvery strand.
Fleur carefully placed the long strand of memory into an exquisite, empty glass bottle. The silvery memories grew thinner and longer until, as though they could no longer bear the strain, they finally snapped.
The silver threads curled inside the bottle before slowly unfurling, swirling like mist.
This method had also been secretly taught to her by Dumbledore.
Fleur, having just removed her memories, looked around in confusion at her surroundings. It took her a long time to finally regain her bearings.
She didn't care where she was.
At that moment, she had only one thought.
She wanted to go home.
In reality, when Dumbledore and the others stored memories in a Pensieve, they were essentially leaving an imprint in their minds rather than completely extracting those memories.
Obliviate did not truly mean deleting a memory. Instead, the modified memory was hidden deep within the mind and could potentially be awakened by a sufficiently strong stimulus.
For example, Lord Voldemort had once done this to Bertha Jorkins. Barty Crouch also used a Memory Charm on an unfortunate employee to prevent the abuse of his authority from being exposed, causing irreversible damage to her mind.
Even so, Lord Voldemort was still able to extract the complete truth from Bertha through the use of Crucio.
This proved that a Memory Charm did not truly erase memories. It merely concealed them.
Fleur eventually left.
But she left her memories behind.
She had thought everything through carefully. Perhaps this experience of being controlled had made her realize that sometimes, even she herself could not be trusted.
The stone guardian remained kneeling on the ground, completely unaware that the person it had been ordered to protect had already "escaped."
A piece of parchment covered in dense writing slowly drifted to the ground.
"Fleur?"
Malfoy frowned.
When he returned, he didn't find the girl beside the burning campfire. Only the blanket remained on the ground.
For a moment, he thought something had happened to her.
Then he found the note he had left behind, now covered with writing on the back.
After quickly scanning it, Malfoy understood what had happened.
She had left.
This surprised him somewhat.
"That's a good thing."
He looked at the transparent bottle filled with silvery mist in his hand.
Yet at the same time, he felt a strange emptiness inside.
Perhaps it was because he had grown accustomed to having someone beside him, talking to him.
"From now on, I'm fighting alone."
Malfoy took a deep breath, calming himself down.
He placed the prey he had just brought back from the wilderness over the fire to roast.
Oil dripped onto the flames with a sizzling sound, releasing the distinctive aroma of roasted meat.
Outside the cave, torrential rain began to fall.
He had no idea where Fleur had gone.
He had originally planned to take her home safely after everything was over, but the girl had left without saying goodbye.
Malfoy idly turned the roasting meat with a stick, staring blankly at the dancing flames as the blue-green fire gradually cooked the raw meat.
How much longer would they have to endure this?
Who knew?