"Venez ici, mon amour." Holding out his hands, he reaches for her. "Did I get that right? My french is horrible. Much worse than your english." Bill tugs her towards him. "I wonder sometimes how we've all come to be such pawns in this game and there's no doubt it is a game. Unfortunately, I'm not one of the players. Your insights are perfectly right: you and Harry and Cedric and Viktor were all used, although it started out as simple sport. It only shows that no matter the level of protection, no one's invulnerable. I'm not, you're not, Harry wasn't and isn't, Dumbledore isn't. That there are no guarantees in life is a lesson I've learnt. I don't give blind obeisance; I do it with my eyes open and I usually know full well what I'm about to get myself into. All it takes is the opposing player moving to cheat, however, and that's what happened to me back there, when I was taken and held."

His voice, quiet and melodic, echoes round the room. "When I was there I kept thinking: just one more day, one more day. One more, and someone will come for me. Someone will find me. Surely they've not forgot about me. Surely at least Dumbledore will send someone to look. I don't know exactly how long I was there, but I do know that day never came." He squeezes Fleur's hands. "I was afraid to think of you. Afraid it was a weakness they could exploit. And so I didn't. For all those months, I refused to let myself think of you."