Chapter 451
"My only other rules are: You must never do anything
that brings discredit upon the Houses of Potter or
Black; or me, personally.
"Next, you must never let a problem fester between
us. If you have an issue relating to our 'family', I
expect you to bring it to me... us... so we can discuss
it and try to solve it, together.
"And next, we have two house elves at the castle with
us, plus others at Potter properties. We three treat
them as family and friends. Mistreating them is one of
the fastest ways to really upset me."
Fleur nodded along and said, "I understand. Thank
you for telling me."
Two minutes later, Sirius walked back in and said,
"She organising it now. It'll be the apartment at the
end of the hallway in the Lords' Quarters. She said
there's only the one four bedroom apartment and it's
the end one."
He then paused and thought a bit as he sat. Finally, he
had a bit of a confused look on his face and said,
"When I tried to explain about why Harry needed it,
she actually laughed at me and called me an idiot."
Harry chuckled and said, "That's because you were
treating her like an idiot, by trying to tell her why we'd
need a four bedroom apartment. She already knew
why, remember?"
Sirius had the grace to look a little sheepish. "Oh,
yeah." A moment later, his eyes widened in alarm and
he said, "Now I have to add a room for Fleur on the
Potter floor, here!"
Harry grinned and said, "I'm sure you'll figure it out.
It's not as if you're skint for room here. And you've got
over three months before Hogwarts breaks for
summer."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When the Potter three returned to Hogwarts in more
than enough time to first return to their apartment
before dinner, they went as the Potter four. Fleur and
her parents joined them.
Stopping with the Headmistress for a while, where
Jean-Paul filled out and signed for his daughter to
transfer to Hogwarts but be taught by private tutors,
Marchbanks reminded them Fleur would need a set of
Hogwarts uniforms.
"You have my permission to come up, tomorrow
morning, to floo to Diagon Alley to be fitted," she told
the four. "You'll need them to be Sorted and sorting is
mandatory, even if you'll be undergoing private
tutoring."
Then Harry and his two - his first two - escorted the
Delacours up to the Lords' Quarters.
Once there, he led them down the hallway to the end,
where stood a lone door with the number '11' upon it.
Remembering the procedure, he soon had himself and
the three girls cleared for direct access and opened
the door.
Inside, they were immediately greeted by Dobby and
Betsy; who, on seeing they had company,
bowed/curtseyed and greeted them in welcome.
The living room was wider and longer, there were now
eight doors coming off the room, the dining room was
larger, the table now sat eight with three each side and
one each end and the kitchen was bigger with more
storage. However, the office was about the same size
as were the bedrooms, there was just one more of the
latter.
Harry learned he had the 'Lord's' bedroom on one
side, while the three girls had bedrooms side-by-side
opposite. It was easy to tell which was Fleur's
bedroom, as it was the one that wasn't already
containing unpacked personal effects.
As soon as they saw that, Daphne turned to Fleur and
said, "Give your effects to Betsy and she'll put them
away for you."
It was Apolline who drew them out of her pockets in
shrunken form and the elf popped away with them.
"So, Fleur," asked Harry. "Do you think you can be
comfortable here?"
She smiled back and immediately hugged him. "Yes,"
she quietly replied. "Thank you."
When she backed away a little, he smiled and said,
"Did you know your French accent is disappearing?"
"You're only just noticing that now?" asked Hermione.
"We noticed that at the Second Task," said Daphne.
Harry blushed a little and said, "I... had my mind on
other matters?"
"Or you weren't paying attention," said Hermione.
"Hey!" he whined.
The Delacours watched on, amused, and relieved by it
all. Here was a 'family' that were happy and
comfortable with one another.
"Right," declared Harry. "I'm going to go prepare
snacks for an afternoon―"
"Ah-hmm!" coughed the slightly high pitched voice of
Dobby, interrupting.
When Harry whirled to where he heard the voice, as
did everyone else, he saw Dobby standing there with
his arms folded and the hand of the 'top' arm pointing
the index finger at a large afternoon tea serving on the
coffee table.
There was a large pot of tea, half a dozen cups, plates
of little quarter-cut sandwiches - just as Harry liked
them - plus sugar, milk, etcetera.
"Do-obs!" he whined.
"Master Harry be entertaining," snipped Dobby.
"Master Harry be lettings Dobby and Betsy be doings
elf work when Master Harry be entertainings. It be the
rules!"
Before Harry even had a chance to argue back, Dobby
had already popped away again.
"Damn it, Dobs!" he said the air.
Jean-Paul stuttered and tried, "Errr... Signeur... I mean,
Lord Potier―"
Hermione, giggling, cut in and said, "Jean-Paul."
When Jean-Paul turned to her, she said, "Harry loves
cooking. Dobby and he have different views on just
who should be doing the cooking. Don't worry about
it."
Harry grumped, "The ratfink little hobgoblin won't let
me cook."
When the Delacours could see both Hermione and
Daphne were trying to stifle laughter and were
snickering behind hands, they didn't push it. They
understood it wasn't their place and a demonstration
of something they were unaware of was happening
before them.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After afternoon tea and the two adult Delacours left,
Harry was trying to figure out something to do when
Hermione and Daphne grabbed Fleur.
Hermione told Harry, "Us ladies are going to talk for a
while. It's Saturday. See if you can convince Dobby to
let you cook dinner."
Harry's eyes widened as he froze for a moment before
he suddenly ran for the kitchen, yelling, "I'm cooking
dinner tonight, you little mongrel!"
Fleur, stunned, was dragged into her room by Daphne
and Hermione.
As soon as they were inside with the door closed,
both Hermione and Daphne practically howled with
laughter as Fleur seemed totally confused.
The first to calm down, as she was more used to it,
Hermione said to Fleur, "Harry's relationship with
Dobby is... odd. But, it works. You'll come to
understand why it does in no time at all."
Still confused, but willing to learn why, Fleur asked,
"'Arry likes to cook?"
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Chapter 452
Hermione replied, "Harry is a very good cook; or, as
he prefers, chef."
Daphne tried to explain. "Dobby sees his role as
'servant', as would be considered proper. However,
Harry sees Dobby's role as 'friend'; a friend who
insists on waiting on him hand and foot.
"Now, Harry is okay with Dobby waiting on him. But,
he also thinks the elf overly-mothers him.
"Then there's specifically the cooking issue. Harry
loves to cook. It relaxes him. However, Dobby sees
that as house elf work; and Harry doing it, to him, is a
sign he is not being a good enough house elf for his
'master Harry'."
Fleur thought about that and then asked, "Then why
does 'Arry not dismiss 'im?"
"Because, as Daphne said, Dobby is also his friend,"
replied Hermione. "And Harry would never fire Dobby,
as he knows how it would make Dobby feel and how
he'd be treated by the house elf community."
Hermione walked over to the door, cracked it open
and peeked outside. She could hear what sounded
like a Happy Harry in the kitchen so softly closed the
door again.
Looking to Daphne she said, "He must've won his
argument with Dobby. He's happily working in the
kitchen."
Daphne smirked and said, "You mean, Dobby let him
win the argument and has decided to step out of the
way to let his master work."
That had both girls snickering again.
"'Arry does not know his 'ouse elf does that?" asked
Fleur.
"No," said Hermione. "It's part of the dynamic of the
relationship between Harry and Dobby. Everyone else
knows Dobby could simply take over at any time; but,
we all let Harry think he's getting one over on Dobby.
It's good for him and their relationship."
"Now, between us girls―" said Daphne.
And the light-heartedness was gone from the room
within a moment.
"Hermione and I, as does Harry, know what you need
to do with Harry because of this life debt," she
explained. "Your mother sent a book over and
everyone that needs to know about this now knows."
Fleur nodded.
"The first thing you need to know is..." said Hermione.
"Harry's a―"
"Vierge," added Fleur. "Virgin. Yes, I know."
While both Hermione and Daphne were a little
embarrassed by the topic, Fleur didn't even bat an eye
at it.
"As are you two," she said, glancing between the two.
Both, blushing a little more each, just nodded back.
"Yes, well," said Daphne. "Hermione is nearing the
point when she'll be ready to take that step in her
relationship with Harry; as is he with her. But, until we
learned about the life debt, that step was still... likely...
a couple months off."
Fleur nodded.
Hermione tried, "How soon do you need... with Harry."
Instead of answering directly, Fleur thought about it
for a moment before she replied, "You and 'Arry wish
to be each others 'firsts', no?"
When Hermione nodded, she continued, "Then I must
ask you to... 'urry that up... a lot."
Hermione sighed and asked, "By how much? Lay it
out for me, girl."
"Now that I am here and am nearby, now that I can
sense that 'Arry is not ready, no more than a...
month?" she replied. "'Owever, it would be much safer
and less stressful if it could be within the next
fortnight - two weeks. Sorry."
"No," sighed Hermione. "Never believe we feel this is
your fault; because, we don't. None of us do. As such,
you have no reason to apologise for it."
Daphne added, "All the people you met at Lord
Black's place earlier all understand you are even more
of a victim here than anyone else. No one holds you in
any way culpable."
Fleur could only sadly nod. She was full of gratitude;
not just for Harry accepting her, but these two ladies
also.
"You two are as wonderful as 'Arry," she quietly said.
That led to a three-way group hug.
A little while later, Daphne had her own confession to
make.
"I know that the original plan for me to become
Harry's concubine is to only protect me and House
Greengrass from... those putting pressure on my
father," she said. "However... Hermione, I have already
decided I do not wish to activate the escape clauses."
With a light smile, Hermione replied, "I didn't think
so."
"You know what that means, right?" Daphne pressed.
"Of course," she replied. "You will do, willingly, what
Fleur has to do, imperatively."
"Sleep with Harry," she firmly said.
"Have sex with Harry; unprotected sex," said
Hermione. "And, yes, that will probably include
sleeping."
Shaking her head slightly, Daphne said, "I don't want
it just to be for... procreating. Understand?"
"Daphne," said Hermione. "Believe me; I understand."
Relieved, Daphne nodded back.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Over in the kitchen, Harry was working on dinner that
night. Dobby had gotten for him a decent sized beef
roast and he was planning on steam-poaching it,
rather than roasting it, in a covered large pot in the
oven. That is, instead of laying down a decent swipe
of lard in the bottom of the baking tray, he wiped down
a very thin layer of pure olive oil, just enough to coat
the bottom, then upended a litre of water into it and
finally laid the roast in and on a slightly elevated rack,
before covering it with the lid.
With that cooking, he moved on to preparing the
vegetables. He'd be roasting the potatoes, sweet
potatoes, carrots and baby onions in with the beef
once the water boiled off a little; but be steaming the
corn, garden peas, broccoli and cauliflower. Later,
he'd make cauliflower cheese sauce and the beef
gravy, but that was a while off yet.
Next, he moved onto the soup starter dish. Expecting
a full-house sitting at their 'new' eight seater table -
Fleur brought their group up to eight - he knew he'd
need to probably also make an entrée. For that he
made a simple tomato soup with ground herbs for
flavouring. Dobby was 'allowed' to blend the tomatoes
right down to a smooth consistency and grind the
dried herbs into a powder. For richness and fullbodiment he added a little skim milk powder, rather
than water.
For desert he went with a cake. Cakes were always the
foodstuff of celebrations - such as weddings,
birthdays, graduations, etcetera - so he decided to
bake an extravagant cake to welcome Fleur to their
'group', in general, and the Potter household, in
particular. He went with a chocolate mud cake; always
a favourite. And added a thick hot chocolate sauce for
going over the top of it, something like an upside
down pudding.
He'd been working for about an hour when he first
noticed all three of his 'ladies' were sitting on stools in
the corner and quietly watching him and Dobby
working. He just grinned at them before turning back
to what he was doing; madly mixing the ingredients
for the cake.
Knowing they'd been spotted, Hermione called out,
"Chocolate cake?"
He called back, "Not telling you! It's a surprise for
dessert!"
"Have you let the others know that dinner is still on
tonight?" asked Daphne.
That caused Harry to pause. "Errr―"
She gave a little huff and said, "I'll organise contacting
them, so they know." And hopped off her stool.
"Tracey too!" he called back. "Us four, Neville and his
two and her makes eight. And we've now got a proper
eight-seater dining table."
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Chapter 453
Unknown to him because he was already focussed
back on beating cake batter, she rolled her eyes at
Hermione and walked out of the room. Hermione just
grinned at Fleur. Fleur, however, was simply amazed
at what Harry was doing and was watching him in
action.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Dinner was as good as ever and Fleur was amazed at
how wonderful all the food tasted. With Harry sitting at
the head of the table, Hermione sat to his left while
Fleur sat to his right. Daphne sat next to Hermione in
the middle with Susan to her left. Neville sat at the
foot with Hannah on his left and Tracey sat between
Hannah and Fleur in the middle and opposite Daphne.
With the slightly larger dining room they all had a bit
more room and it was quite comfortable.
Of course, all the girls, especially Tracey and Neville's
two, wanted to talk to Fleur and were just as willing as
Hermione and Daphne to welcome the newest 'Potter'
to their midst.
"Harry," said Neville, as he was savouring the taste of
the roast beef, "You've outdone yourself again."
Indicating the beef on his plate, he declared, "This is
fantastic."
Harry grinned back. "Make sure you leave room for
dessert."
"That's going to be a struggle," said Neville. "I don't
want to stop eating this roast."
Fleur was looking at Hermione and Daphne in
amazement. "This eez even bettair than our own 'ouse
elfs preepare."
"We told you he was good," grinned Hermione.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The Potters were up reasonably early the next
morning and went down to breakfast in the Great Hall.
For that morning they all sat at the Hufflepuff table, as
they knew the 'Puffs to be more accepting of unusual
visitors. The Ravenclaws, though, still weren't
completely accepting of how students could sit at any
of the House tables except for the feasts. Apparently,
it did not gel well with their sense of communal order.
Thankfully, as a weekend, students weren't dressed in
school robes. The oddity of Fleur sitting among them
would have been even more odd, if that was the case.
However, her attendance definitely wasn't missed.
For safety, she sat between Hermione and Daphne
with Harry outside of Daphne and closest to the head
table. Opposite sat the Longbottoms with Tracey next
to Susan and closest to the head end of the table,
opposite Harry. On the other side of Susan sat Neville,
then Hannah. It might have looked as if the seating
arrangement wasn't pre-arranged, but it was.
Sitting that way and in that order showed that Fleur
was both considered part of their group and accepted
by both Hermione and Daphne.
They did not know if the story of Fleur's Veela life debt
would break in the Daily Prophet that morning, but the
sitting arrangement would send a message if it did.
They'd be sitting in a similar organisation the next day
if it didn't and, instead, broke then.
They'd only been sitting and eating for a while when
Malfoy finally couldn't restrain himself any longer and
sauntered over.
"Potter," he sneered.
"Malfoy," said Harry. "Having a good weekend?"
"Why is the Beauxbatons Champion here?"
"Malfoy, that's rude," Harry firmly said. "Your question
should be; 'Lord Potter, may one as humble as I
enquire as to how Miss Delacour came to be our
guest, this morning?' Try that. Until you do, I suggest
you depart our presence until after you've reviewed
your uncouth behaviour." Then waved him off and
promptly ignored him.
Malfoy stood there for a moment, clearly unsure of
what to do. Eventually, he over-obsequiously and
smarmily asked, "Potter. How are you honoured by
the presence of th- Miss... Delacour among us, this
morning?"
Placing his cutlery down in a gentlemanly fashion,
Harry took his time to wipe his mouth with his napkin
before he looked to other boy and said, "Malfoy, it is a
family matter - of the Potters, rather than the Blacks.
However, as you are so curious, I will say that Miss
Delacour is a transferee to Hogwarts for the remainder
of the school year. You will learn more, tonight, at the
evening meal; and again in tomorrow morning's Daily
Prophet. I recommend to you that you read it. Will that
be all?"
Knowing he'd just got slapped down, though
exceedingly politely, and knowing he'd get slapped
down even harder if he pushed, Malfoy just sneered
back, spun about and walked away. That message of
family business meant he couldn't request/demand
more information, no matter how he worded it.
Daphne, with her head bowed a little, looked askance
to Harry with a smirk and murmured, "Very nicely
handled, Harry."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When the other girls found out Fleur needed to go into
the Alley to buy a set of Hogwarts robes, they all
begged to be allowed to go, too. Harry shrugged and
said, "I'm not the one you need to ask. You'll need
permission of your Heads of Houses. However, I'm not
going.
"With the threat of Dumbledore out there, plus the
girls should have some quality girl-time together to
get comfortable with one another, I've already begged
off. Hermione and Daphne will accompany Fleur to do
her shopping. And both girls have access to plenty of
funds to pay for it all."
Susan, Hannah and Tracey all looked to one another
before turning puppy-dog eyes on Neville.
"If you can get permission to go," he said. "And
Harry's ladies don't mind the company, you have my
permission to join them"
That had the other three excited.
However, such would not come to pass. All three were
refused by their Heads of Houses. Only Daphne and
Hermione were allowed to accompany Fleur.
They left about an hour later, again via Marchbanks's
floo.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When the girls returned to the apartment about fifteen
minutes before the lunch period, they were empty
handed. However, they were all happy and chatting
like old friends or close sisters.
Harry frowned in confusion and asked, "Where's all
your shopping?"
Hermione grinned and said, "Harry; house elves,
remember?"
Harry immediately winced and groaned. "Oh, gods! I
just had another daft moron moment, didn't I?"
She giggled at him, walked over and kissed him on the
cheek. "You're allowed to have them, every now and
again. You'd not be human, otherwise."
As she headed for her room, he called, "So what did
you three end up buying, besides school robes for
Fleur?"
Hermione grinned again and called, "Lay-dies!
Fashion parade for Harry after lunch!" And, giggling,
ran into her room.
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Chapter 454
"I didn't want a fashion parade," he muttered to the
table before him. "A simple itemised list, would have
sufficed."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
During lunch, the girls were excitedly telling the other
girls about what they bought in hushed whispers that
were obviously meant to exclude Harry and Neville.
Neither boy was interested, so just talked between
them.
On returning to the apartment after lunch, all three
girls headed directly for Fleur's room.
"Out in a minute!" called Daphne. "Don't go
anywhere!"
Harry sat back, sighed, then leaned forward and
packed up the assignments he was working on before
lunch into a neat pile.
It appeared he was going to get that fashion parade,
after all.
Ten minutes later, Hermione came out wearing a
wizarding outfit he'd not seen her wearing before. It
was upmarket casual, but of lighter material. Clearly,
more autumnal for the warming temperatures.
She walked over and did a slow twirl for him with a
wide grin. "You like?"
"Yes," he firmly replied. "The colours definitely suit
you. And I like the fit, too."
She gave a happy nod back and turned back to the
doors of the girls' bedrooms, "Next," she called.
Out came Daphne, wearing a very similar number. "I
hope you don't mind?" she asked. "It was a little
expensive."
"Not at all," he replied. And, he didn't. "It looks very
nice on you. Are you happy with it?"
She grinned and nodded.
"Next!" called Hermione, again.
This time Fleur came out wearing a plain Hogwarts
witches' uniform without House affiliation. Even her
tie was the flat black with the small Hogwarts crest of
an unsorted student. However, she wasn't wearing
long socks or low heeled shoes. Harry could see the
slight sheen of stockings on her legs and her feet
were in plain black high heels with covered toe, sides
and heel. Harry later learned they were called 'midheel pumps', as they weren't considered high heels
because the heel wasn't as high as some arbitrary
'set' benchmark.
That's when he looked to both Hermione and Daphne
and noticed similar footwear.
To Hermione, he happily said, "You've bought your
high heels and stockings!"
Clearly pleased he'd noticed, she grinned back and
said, "Yes, thank you."
When he stood and walk closer, he noticed she was
now not as short as him in comparison. Her head now
came up to about the bridge of his nose. The height
difference between he and Daphne hadn't changed, as
she'd been wearing mid heels since well before he
had his potion-induced growth spurt. However, it now
appeared Hermione was visibly taller than Daphne and
about the same height as Fleur.
"Next," Hermione suddenly said, and led the other two
back to Fleur's room.
For the next hour or so the three girls gave him a full
fashion parade. Harry was actually surprised by how
much they bought, especially Hermione.
He also found out a little later it was Daphne that had
put her foot down about the minimal wardrobe
Hermione had, to that time, of witches' wear and
practically ordered the girl to greatly increase the size
of it right then and there. Hermione was not prepared
to listen until Daphne explained how it made Harry
look like a 'knut-pinching bastard' if she didn't have a
wide and various wardrobe. She didn't want to do it
for herself, but she'd do it for Harry; and Daphne knew
that and played on it. She wasn't a Slytherin for
nothing.
He mentally doffed his hat to the girl, because even he
couldn't get Hermione to buy a lot more. She still had
some self-esteem issues regarding her appearance,
but Harry's love for her was clear. It was what others
thought of her appearance that still gave her issues.
After the fashion parade, the girls all disappeared
back into Fleur's room for a while. Then Hermione and
Daphne came out and sat either side of Harry. Both
appeared quite serious.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," said Hermione.
"However," said Daphne, "Fleur needs you to accept
her through a special ceremony for Veela. For her,
Harry, you need to go with this; alright?"
"Ummm." he stuttered. "I'm not ready f-for―"
"This isn't sex, Harry," said Hermione. "It's an
acceptance ceremony that relates to the life debt.
Please, just go with it."
Warily, he nodded and said, "Alright. I trust you both."
With a breath of relief, Hermione said, "Thank you."
Then she got back to her feet and went to Fleur's
room. Daphne stayed sitting beside him.
"Relax, Harry," she said. "You are just to affix a
special ribbon around her neck. This is for her
protection. It means no other male, but you, is allowed
to touch her."
He took a deep breath, firmed up and said, "If it's for
her protection, I can do this."
She smiled back, pleased. She knew Harry would
accept it if she used the magic word, 'protection'.
A long moment later, Hermione came back out leading
Fleur. Instead of being properly clothed and looking
confident, Fleur was dressed in an almost gauzy,
sleeveless one-shouldered toga Harry was later told
was called a chiton from Ancient Greece, the believed
original home of the Veela people. And a pair of plain
leather sandals that laced up to almost under her
knees.
Through the chiton, Harry could see she was naked
underneath. Though covered, he could see that her
nipples were of lighter than normal colouration, as
Hermione described the differences back at her place,
and that her pubic hair was the same blonde as the
hair on her head. She also appeared to be carrying a
small cushion of a rich blue colour with something on
it.
Harry immediately blushed, looked away and tensed,
but Daphne tightened her grip on his arm to signal he
was to remain where he was and whispered, "Be at
ease, Harry. She needs this ceremony."
Hermione led a head-bowed Fleur around to stand
before him. As soon as Fleur was about three to four
feet in front of him, she lowered herself to her knees,
before resting back on her heels with her hands
holding before her chest the small blue cushion. Harry
could see the object on the cushion was a threequarter inch wide rose pink silk ribbon, with the Potter
crest in gold on a black background in the form of a
small metal pendant, medallion, affixed.
She softly said, "Harrison James of the Noble and
Most Ancient House of Potter, I, Fleur Isabel of the
Venerable House of Delacour, come before you in
supplication. Through chivalrous act, you saved my
life and caused between us a life debt to be formed.
My life is yours, my body is yours, my soul is yours. I
humbly entreat you accept me - life, body and soul -
into your hands, so I may live."
Daphne whispered into his ear, "Say, 'I, Harrison
James of the Noble and Most Ancient House of
Potter...'"
Harry repeated it.
"... accept you, Fleur Isabel of the Venerable House of
Delacour..."
Again.
"... into my hands."
Again.
"... Your life, your body, your soul are mine, so you
may live."
And finished.
Daphne next whispered into his ear, "Take the ribbon
and affix it around her neck, Harry."
Harry bent forward and did just that, plucking the
ribbon off the cushion and, bending further forward so
he could reach, used the clasp sections on each end
of the ribbon to affix the ribbon together behind her
neck. He even felt the two halves of the clasp almost
pulling toward one another, until there was an almost
snap sound and a muted flash of pink light from the
ribbon.
As Harry finished the act and sat back, Fleur raised
her head and smiled at him. "Thank you," she softly
said. Then she pressed back up onto her knees, as if
in prayer, and leaned forward, raising her head
slightly.
Harry didn't know why he was urged to do so, but he
just leaned forward to meet her and kissed her, long
and deeply. He didn't know both of them glowed a
little because his eyes were closed.
When she pulled back, she smiled again and rose to
her feet. Then walked away, back towards her room.
Daphne immediately leaned in and kissed him on the
cheek, before she pulled back and whispered, "Well
done, Harry." Then she rose and hurried after Fleur.
A smiling Hermione, who had been standing back
behind and off to one side of Fleur as the
ceremony/ritual took place, stepped forward, bent
over to him and also kissed him on the cheek. As she,
too, pulled away with a smile, she allowed her hand to
come up and lovingly caress his cheek for a moment,
before she, too, followed Fleur to her room.
She called over her shoulder, "We'll be back in a
couple minutes."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 455
When the girls returned a little later, Fleur was
dressed more... appropriately; she was wearing her
unaligned Hogwarts uniform in readiness of her
Sorting at dinner. This time when she sat, she sat next
to Harry. Both other girls sat opposite.
Fleur's eyes sparkled when she smiled at him and
took his closest hand in hers. "Thank you, 'Arry."
"I was happy to go along with that little... ceremony,"
he said. "But, what did it all really mean?"
"It means my magic recognises both of us have
accepted my life debt to you. I'm now bonded to you
through the debt," she explained.
"That was a bonding ritual?" he exclaimed.
"I was already bonded to you. This was more a
ceremony than a ritual," she explained. "One that had
a magical component."
He huffed and said, "A ritual, by any other name―"
"I understand," she said. "But, it was still necessary
for me."
He sighed and frowned at both his other two girls.
They now knew he was annoyed at them both, just as
he knew they'd effectively pulled the wool over his
eyes on this.
It would be something they'd discuss between them
after dinner. And they both clearly knew that.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At dinner, the now eight sat together at the Hufflepuff
table again. That House, at least, were being more
accepting.
However, before dinner was served, Madam
Marchbanks moved around to the front of the dais
where the Sorting Hat already sat on it's Sorting stool.
Before she stopped to speak, she already had silence.
Anyone with eyes could see that Fleur was currently
wearing an unaligned Hogwarts uniform and knew
what she and the Sorting Hat's 'attendance' meant.
"For those who have not already figured out what is
going on," she began in a clear voice, "We have a
Sorting to get through before we all eat."
"Sitting among you and currently at the Hufflepuff
table is Miss Fleur Delacour, late of Beauxbatons
Institute of Magic, but still the current Beauxbatons
Champion for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Miss
Delacour is here because of a unique magical event
that developed between her and Lord Potter at the
conclusion of the Second Task.
"In saving Miss Delacour's life, magic deemed Miss
Delacour owed Lord Potter a life debt."
That had a few people gasping and immediately
chatting with their seat mates.
Marchbanks firmly tapped her cane on the floor of the
dais three times, causing loud bangs each time. It got
her the silence she wanted.
"As I was saying," she snapped, before staring around
the room. "Miss Delacour found herself owing Lord
Potter a life debt. For one of Miss Delacour's heritage,
it is literally a matter of life and death.
"Lord Potter's family, together with other members of
the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, researched as much
as possible for a way for Miss Delacour to be free of
the debt without harm to her. They were unsuccessful.
"As a result, Lord Potter was not willing to allow Miss
Delacour to perish, when he could do something to
save her life. As such, he has accepted the life debt
owed to him by accepting Miss Delacour in
concubinage.
"Because Miss Delacour is now a concubine of Lord
Potter, she has transferred to Hogwarts from
Beauxbatons. However, as she only has a few months
remaining of her Beauxbatons education, she will not
be formally attending Hogwarts classes, other than to
audit them. Instead, she will be studying with private
tutors to complete her Beauxbatons education. She
will also be sitting her NEWTs in France this summer.
"For the duration of her stay with us, Miss Delacour
will be housed in Lord Potter's quarters in the Lords'
Quarters wing. However, Hogwarts rules still require
her to be Sorted into a House. That is the reason the
Sorting Hat joins us, tonight."
She gave that a few moments before she gestured to
Fleur. "Miss Delacour, please join me and be Sorted."
As Fleur rose and made her way to the dais, the noise
of students quietly chatting about this development,
rose.
Marchbanks moved slightly to her right and lifted the
Hat from its stool in readiness.
Having it already explained how it happens by Harry,
Hermione and Daphne, Fleur stepped up onto the dais
in front of the stool, smoothly pivoted and sat. A
moment later, Marchbanks lowered the Hat onto her
head.
"Ahhh... mmm..." said the Hat. "Interesting..."
A few moments later it bellowed, "RAVENCLAW!"
And Marchbanks lifted the Hat back off as Fleur
beamed in delight, looking back at Harry. The
Ravenclaws were clapping in pleasure. However, so
were the Heirs.
As she stood her robes, tie and under-uniform
changed from unaligned to Ravenclaw colours.
"And now we represent all four Houses," said a
grinning Harry to the others, just as Fleur returned to
sit between Daphne and Hermione.
Both girls were quick to wrap her in a hug from each
that turned into a three-way group hug.
No one could see the look of hate on Draco Malfoy's
face as he was sitting with his back to them.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Back in the new apartment, after first making the
mistake of returning to the first apartment, the group
sat talking for a while before Tracey left for the
Slytherin dorms and the three Longbottoms left for
their own apartment. Again, as per his orders, a
disillusioned Dobby followed Tracey.
With a curious expression on her face, Fleur asked
Harry, "You 'ave your elf follow Miss Davis to make
sure she safely gets back to 'er own dorms?"
"Yes," he firmly replied. "There are too many mini
Death Eaters in this school for my comfort. That is,
too many who are the children of known Death Eaters.
I would not put it past any of them to ambush Tracey
as a way of getting back at me.
"Her friendship with me places her at higher risk.
Therefore, I see it as my duty to ensure she is safe. I
do the same with Daphne's younger sister, Astoria,
also a Slytherin."
Daphne asked, "What do you know of the events that
led to me becoming a concubine of Harry?"
"Very little," the old girl replied. "It is considered
family business, so Papa never investigated further
than to learn the overall effects of it."
Hermione frowned and asked, "Your father
investigated it?"
"Oui," she replied. "Papa is the... in your terms 'ere...
Deputy Minister for Magic for Wizarding France. It is
part of 'is job to watch and know what is important in
other nearby countries. The concubinage of Heiress
Daphne Greengrass of the Noble and Ancient 'Ouse of
Greengrass to Lord 'Arrison Potter of the Noble and
Most Ancient 'Ouse of Potter and Heir Tertiary of the
Noble and Most Ancient 'Ouse of Black is an
important 'appening. Another, of course, was the
earlier betrothal of the same Lord to a muggleborn
witch named 'Ermione Granger."
Hermione sat back and said, "Hunh! That actually
makes a lot of sense."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 456
"When Papa and Maman first discovered the life debt,
Papa investigated the public records of both the
betrothal and the concubinage. 'E didn't do that earlier
as it was not important then. 'E was able to get 'old of
a copy of both documents and 'e said 'e was very
impressed," she said before she gave a little giggle.
"'E was even laughing at a couple of points."
"She turned to Hermione and asked, "Is it true you
only need to make one small statement for the
betrothal to be cancelled?"
"Yes," said Hermione. "The same applies for Harry."
"And similar are in the Concubine Bond Agreement
between Harry and me," said Daphne.
"So the real purpose of both agreements is... what?"
she asked.
"Protection," replied Hermione. "At least, that was its
original intent. However, both Harry and I are of a
different mindset now. We want this to work. As things
stand, neither of us intends to utter those words. We
will marry and I will bear the Potter children."
Daphne glanced at Harry and said, "Honesty time for
me, too, I guess." Turning to look more at Harry, she
said, "I know the reason for the Concubine Bond
Agreement was conceived from the idea of the
protection of me and my House.
"However, sooner or later I would still need a
Concubine Bond contract or another very willing
partner, who would be willing to risk not passing on
their own line through us. I'm sorry, but I cannot see
that happening. Therefore, the first option is the only
way.
"If I was to look around and wonder who would make
a good father... sperm donor, as Hermione put it... for
any children I was to bear through a Concubine Bond
contract, which I have already done many times, there
is only one who I can see fulfilling that role and me
remaining happy about it. That's you, Harry."
With an expression of self-deprecation, Harry gave a
grunt and shook his head. "You're fifteen, Daphne.
You have years before it would become an issue."
Daphne shook her head and said, "I don't think you
recognise what a 'catch' you are, Harry. You're,
without a doubt, one of the best looking boys in the
school, now. That malnourished, undersized... waif...
who wore hand-me-downs and poorly fitted glasses is
gone.
"On top of that, you are easily the most magically
powerful student in the school. Merlin, you're
probably the most magically powerful student this
school has seen in fifty years! That, alone, is an
aphrodisiac for one such as I, who is looking to bear
children to continue my House.
"And, on top of even that, you are kind, considerate,
chivalrous, and a whole heap of other similar words
too numerous to list out."
She gave a sigh and said, "My nightmares, until you
and my father signed that agreement, consisted of
things like... Ronald Weasley or Vincent Crabbe
coming into a room where I'm lying naked on a bed.
He leers at me, strips off and... cl- climbs on, you
know?"
Starting to clearly become more upset, she continued,
"Then, not even w-waiting until he knows I'm r-ready,
he just... sticks his... in me.
"Wh-Once he's done... not even wo-worrying about
how I felt about the whole thing, you know?... he just
climbs off and gets dressed. Then, just before he
walks back out the door, he looks at me and sa-says,
'Thanks for the fuck, Greengrass. Let me know if I
need to come back and give you another one'."
By the time she was finished, she was sobbing. She
curled up and rolled to her side on the sofa, clearly in
emotional pain. Harry silently rose from where he was
sitting, walked over, sat down beside her and wrapped
her in his arms.
"That will never happen, Daphne," he firmly said. "As
long as Hermione is alright with it..." he looked over
and could see she was nodding, "... then I'll be the
only man you'll need."
Gently moving her, he picked her up and placed her in
his lap, as she remained in a ball and sobbed her
heart out. He began to using soothing sounds and
rocking her back and forth as he rubbed her back.
A few moments later, Betsy popped in with a small
vial. Hermione accepted it and offered it to Daphne by
way of placing the opened mouth of it directly onto
her bottom lip. "Calming potion," she firmly said.
"Drink!"
As Daphne allowed her mouth to open, Hermione
upended it directly into her mouth.
Daphne wrinkled her nose for moment, gave a small
shudder as she swallowed and almost immediately
calmed.
'So much for telling these two off tonight for
manipulating me,' thought Harry.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After getting Daphne calm, she very soon drifted off to
sleep in Harry's arms.
Harry noticed and sighed, "Hermione, could you go in
and turn Daphne's bed down for me?"
At first she looked curious, then she clearly noticed
and smirked at him. "Alright, Harry," she said, rising
and walking to Daphne's room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 457
Standing up with a bit of difficulty, Daphne's mass
upset his balance, Harry rose and followed.
Walking into the room he thought to himself, 'The first
time in her room and I'm carrying her in, sleeping in
my arms.'
Hermione already had the right side of the bed turned
down for him to lay her on the bed with her head on
the pillow. Gently lowering her down, he said, "When I
leave, can you call Betsy to dress her properly for
bed?"
"Of course, Harry," she softly said.
Harry walked out and returned to the sofa, which he
collapsed upon with a sigh. Fleur hadn't moved. In all
honesty, he'd somewhat forgotten she was there. She
was sitting with one knee cocked up onto the seat,
sitting slightly sideways and facing him and with an
arm resting along the back.
"She needed to get that out," she quietly said.
Harry nodded. "Mmm."
"And you 'andled it quite well," she just as quietly
added.
He was quiet for a few moments before he tried to
explain his thinking. "I treat people how I would like to
be treated if the situation was reversed. In that way, I
hope I'm doing the right thing. If I treat someone the
same way I want to be treated, then I believe it must
be the right way."
"I think you're right," she said.
"There are only a few people I don't do that with," he
replied. "At least, intentionally. And then it's only
because they've proven to me they do not deserve to
be treated well by me. For some, it's because they're
being daft morons. For others, it's because they did
not or do not treat me well in return.
"I... have trouble tolerating mindless fools. I think
them no better than human-shaped sheep; someone's
proverbial dinner, just marking time until they're
devoured. I find most witches and wizards fill that
category."
"Ouch," she said. "I take it you treated me 'arshly on
first introduction because I called you a... 'leetle boi'?"
He gave a snort of amusement, smirked and replied,
"Knowing me now, do you think you deserved it?"
She blushed a little, but firmly replied. "Yes; I did."
He looked to her and she was looking directly back.
He explained, "It is your ability to recognise you did
wrong, and then apologise for it, which first had me
look to you as more than one of the sheep."
Hermione came back over and settled onto the sofa
next to Harry where Daphne had sat. She sighed and
leaned into him. "She's deeply asleep. She didn't even
twitch when Betsy changed her into her sleep robes
and covered her with her comforter."
Fleur said, "She will likely 'ave the most peaceful
night's sleep she's 'ad in a long time. Getting that...
burden of fear off 'er chest will give 'er peace."
Hermione said, "God, I don't know how she was able
to stand that sort of pressure and fear for so long."
"It would have built up over time," explained Harry.
"Ten years ago it would have been something to worry
about in ten or fifteen years. Five years ago it would
have started to become a concern, but not something
she really needed to worry about yet. Two years ago is
when the pressure started to really build up. And three
months ago she was living in terrified fear and unable
to find a way out of her... predicament.
"For her, it was like a pressure cooker, where the
pressure is building and building. Then came the First
Task."
"Then you reactivated the Potter-Longbottom
Alliance," said Hermione. "That reactivated the
Greengrass membership of that alliance. And Lord
Greengrass felt he'd finally found a way to save his
daughter and his House.
"You're approached, as you fully expected you would
be. The agreement is made. You both sign."
"Yes, but even then it wasn't enough," said Harry. "I
don't think it was until tonight she was ready to
accept she was now safe. That was partly my fault, by
including the escape clauses in the agreement.
Unknowingly, I made it feel for her as if I'd rip the
carpet out from under her feet at any moment."
"It was me," said Fleur. "'Arry being willing to accept
me... life, body and soul... means 'is promise to 'er is
real. It's 'onest. She no longer 'as to fear 'Arry will, as
'e puts it, rip that carpet out from under 'er feet."
Harry groaned and sat forward, "I am such a daft
moron. I didn't even realise that. I should have, and
didn't."
"No, Harry," said Hermione. "We all should have. You,
me, everyone."
"I need to make it clear to her, that is not the case," he
sighed.
"Unless you want to rewrite the agreement, or have
sex with her, I don't think you can," she said.
He sat back and sighed. "No," he quietly said. "I'm―"
"You're not ready," said Fleur. "Besides, I believe
'Ermione is always going to be, as you put it, 'first'.
You will be each other's first."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 458
Hermione seemed to think for a while before she
asked, "Do we have anything planned for next
weekend?"
"No," he immediately replied, then added, "Other than
cooking on Saturday night and completing
assignments." Snapping his head around to look at
Fleur, he asked, "Which reminds me; when will we see
your tutors?"
"When Papa organises them and lets me know," she
calmly replied.
Hermione asked, "You're not worried it's going to take
time? You're in your final months of your final year."
"'Iring the best should take time, 'Ermione," she
returned. "I can delay taking my NEWTs, if I need to."
That had Hermione thinking for a bit before she
returned to why she was asking about the
forthcoming weekend.
"I want you to keep this weekend as free as possible,
Harry," she firmly said.
"Because, between now and then, I want you to
consider the idea of having sex with me then," she
replied.
He looked at her in shocked surprise.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be ready by then," she
smiled. "I hope you will be, too."
"I..." he tried. "I... will give it much thought," he said.
"Thank you," she smiled.
Fleur just smiled as well. At a later time, she'd talk to
Hermione during a 'girl talk' session about what
potions could aid her on her 'night'.
It was not too much later that the three went to bed. It
had been an emotional evening and classes restarted
for a new week the next morning.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Fleur was not starting any classes or tutoring
sessions, the next morning. However, she still
dressed in her new Hogwarts Ravenclaw robes and
joined them for breakfast.
Today, they decided to sit at the Gryffindor table to
break their fasts.
Harry was very happy to see that Daphne had
recovered from her breakdown of the previous
evening and was actually showing, even now, she was
both happy and relaxed. She was sitting on Harry's
left with Fleur on his right and Hermione on Fleur's
right as the four sat opposite the three Longbottoms
and Tracey.
He was also very thankful no Gryffindor even batted
an eye at how two Slytherin Fourth Years were sitting
at 'their' table. He did not want that sort of bigotry in
front of Fleur, just yet, if he could help it. She was, as
with he and his, still new to their new dynamic and her
new 'station' in life.
However, before he could breath a sigh of relief, one
of the older Ravenclaw males approached. "Miss
Delacar―" he said.
"It's Miss Delacour," she replied. "What can I do for
you, Mister―"
"Miss Delacour," he said, with a slight bob of his head
at the correction. "I am Roger Davies, the new Sixth
Year Prefect for Ravenclaw. I have come over to
inform you Ravenclaw students are expected to dine
together for―"
Harry gave a loud snort of amusement.
Davies frowned at him and asked, "Something I said
amuses you, Potter?"
Harry cocked an eyebrow at the boy, set down his
cutlery and sat back before affixing the boy with a
stare.
"Yes, dead man walking, you did say something that
amused me; multiple somethings, actually," replied
Harry. "Then you said something that pissed me off.
Think about how you just addressed me with
disrespect and you may just be in time to apologise
and save yourself a very quick and probably unwilling
trip to the Infirmary and medi-wizard Robinson's
skilled care."
Davies frowned before Harry saw he got it and stood
up with an almost sneer on his face. "I am a Prefect,
Potter."
"And you're also an idiot," Harry shot straight back.
"What... is going on here?" asked Professor Sinistra
in an annoyed voice. She had just come down to find
out what was going on.
Davies whirled on her and replied, "I have come over
to inform Miss Delacour that we Ravenclaws all dine
together for meals, Professor."
"Keep going!" said Harry. "Tell her the rest of where
you completely shoved your foot into your mouth."
Davies scowled at Harry a moment before returning to
the Professor. He continued, "Potter seems to think
something I said was amusing and, when I asked him
to explain, threatened me."
Turning to Harry, she asked, "Mis... no, Lord Po... oh,
crap," she said before she raised her off hand to pinch
the bridge of her nose and sigh. It was a gesture very
similar to the one Madam Bones often used.
"I see you've just recognised one of Mister Davies's
errors and why I told him I was on the verge of
creating a situation where he'd be in the Infirmary,
with great alacrity and under medi-wizard Robinson's
care, Professor.
"His first error was believing he had any right to
practically order... my bonded... Miss Delacour, to sit
at the Ravenclaw table for meals. His second error
was to act in complete defiance of the school rules,
where it states students are to be encouraged to dine
at other tables to promote inter-house unity within the
school. His third error was referring to himself as the
Sixth Year Ravenclaw Prefect, when I must assume
there is a second Sixth year Ravenclaw Prefect, one
who is female. His addressing me simply as 'Potter'
was his fourth, fifth and sixth errors. From that you
can accept he's now done that three times in less than
five minutes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 459
"Therefore, I have to ask, Professor," he continued.
"Are all your new Prefects this stupid?"
She sighed, looked at Davies and said, "Answer my
question only with a yes or no. Do not extrapolate.
Keep you mouth otherwise shut... Is what Lord Potter
just told me, true?"
Davies looked ready to shout and visibly reined in his
temper before he gritted out, "Yes."
She just shook her head at him and sighed. Then she
raised her off hand, palm out and flat, and said,
"Badge. Now."
When he gaped at her in shock, she said, "Now;
Mister Davies."
Clearly angry, Davies removed his Prefects' badge and
almost slapped it into her hand.
"Right," she said, closing her fist around it. "It
appears I now have to address the entire House, yet
again, to let them know they most certainly are not
required to sit at the Ravenclaw table for every meal,
except the three feasts; and that it is, in fact, a breach
of the school rules for anyone to tell them otherwise.
"Secondly, if you had bothered to open a book on the
subject of life debts, as a true Ravenclaw would have
done first, you would have learned that Miss Delacour
is expected to sit with Lord Potter and that no one
may interfere in that. It is the law, let alone also being
a school rule.
"Thirdly, it is Lord Potter; not Potter. He is entitled to
the address and you will use it when addressing him
or referring to him. Right now, Lord Potter is fully
within his right to hex you into next week. And there is
nothing I, or the rest of the staff, can do to prevent
him from doing that other than ask him not to. Only
after he has finished punishing you can medi-wizard
Robinson step in and set you to rights, if he can.
"Fourthly; yes, you are no longer a Prefect. As Lord
Potter incanted you are clearly too stupid to hold the
position. I'll have to see if I can appoint another.
"Now, return to your breakfast and do not bother Lord
Potter or his bonded again."
Davies stood there, at first, angry. However, as
Professor Sinistra laid out what he'd done wrong, his
anger abated and he became embarrassed. When she
finally sent him on his way, he muttered, "Sorry,
Professor." Turned tail and hurried away, back to his
seat.
The Professor then turned to Harry and said in a clear
voice, "Thank you, Lord Potter; for not just dealing
with the idiot as you could have done. Five points to
Gryffindor." Then she spun to stare at Davies, who
had managed to get back to his seat and hunch over,
"And ten points from Ravenclaw for your unRavenclaw behaviour, Mister Davies."
Then she spun away and walked back to her oversized mug of black coffee she often sipped from each
morning.
Harry had to give her credit for turning up for each
and every breakfast, considering she was the
Astronomy Professor and her classes went on late
into the early hours of the morning. Harry guessed
she'd sleep between breakfast and lunch, but not if
she was drinking so much coffee.
Relaxing with a sigh, he took up his cutlery again and
returned to his breakfast. As he did, Fleur gave him a
nudge and smiled at him.
"He was one of the boys whom my allure turned into a
dribbling idiot," she softly said.
"Not possible," he returned. "I'll give you the
dribbling, but he was already an idiot."
She gave a light laugh back.
When the mail owls entered Harry was one of the first
to receive the Daily Prophet. Hedwig delivered his.
Before he even opened it up, he could see the lead
story was the 'discovery' of Fleur's life debt to Harry.
Reading through it, with Fleur leaning over his
shoulder and also reading it, Harry could see Ted
Tonks's hand in it. It was a near perfect copy of the
press release Ted had HEEDed to Harry, with only a
few additions.
Clearly, Ted had been in and dealt with the idiot
Skeeter woman. He could no longer see her byline, or
even a byline that had any anagram of her name
including 'Kate Erister', her latest. He'd forgotten
'Teaske' had been outed, fined and, a short while later,
fired.
The article again included the wizarding photograph
of Harry rescuing Fleur from the lake, but included
another of him helping in saving her on the stage and
a third as he whisked the canvas flap of the tent aside
as medi-wizard Robinson carried her into the tent and
Harry following close behind. It was from that photo
he saw when the auror was first stationed outside the
tent. It was within two seconds of him following
Robinson inside.
"Well, it's a fair article," he said. "It includes the truth
and only lightly embellishes. Even then, it clearly
states how that embellishment is guesswork with 'We
believe...' and 'It appears...' used to show it isn't
purported as straight fact."
"The Daily Prophet are afraid of you, aren't they?"
asked Fleur, in a manner which suggested she knew it
to be the truth.
He smirked and replied, "They're afraid of my Lawwizard of Record, Ted Tonks. He's very good at
threatening Barnabus Cuffe, the current Editor, to get
him to toe the line and not print lies and fabrications
about me."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Because Fleur did not yet have her tutors at the
school, she decided to join Harry for his classes that
day. So, directly after breakfast, she joined him and
the other Heirs, except for Daphne and Tracey, in the
walk out to the greenhouses.
When she asked if she could join the class as an
observer, Professor Sprout had no problem with it.
Neither did Professor Senkinhall in CoMC, Professor
and Deputy Headmaster Goodstone in History of
Magic after morning tea, or Professor Claystock in
Muggle Studies before lunch.
For lunch the Heirs all sat at the Hufflepuff table. Then
the Potters, now including Fleur, went to the Ancient
Runes double period. Again, Fleur was not refused
attending.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
That evening, after dinner, Harry sat his three ladies
down and had a firm talking-to with them all.
He spoke to them about how they, Hermione and
Daphne, had manipulated him into that bonding ritual
with Fleur and how he really did not appreciate it.
"Yes, I know it was important," said Harry. "However,
you led me to believe it was just a tradition... simple
ceremony... and something Fleur wanted. That was a
misdirection. That was very unfair of you pair.
"I thought I had made it very clear in the past how
much I despised Albus Dumbledore for his
manipulations and how I was very much relieved he
could never try that again. And, now, you two have
been doing it.
"Stop it!"
Both girls didn't argue as they'd done precisely that.
Instead, Hermione said, "Sorry, Harry. But, I thought
there was a slight risk you might have refused."
"And, is that not my choice?" he pressed.
"Dumbledore kept taking away my choices because of
his much self-vaunted greater good. Is that going to
be your excuse; we did it because it was for the
greater good?"
That had both girls wince.
"Have faith in me," he snapped. "I'm not an idiot. If it
was explained to me in a logical fashion, I would have
gone through with it. Haven't I already stated I was not
prepared to let Fleur die?"
"Sorry Harry," both girls returned.
"And I apologise for not ensuring Hermione and
Daphne told you," said Fleur. "I should have."
"No, you didn't know," he sighed.
"Anyways," he said. "What's done is done and I will
not belabour the point. Just know you upset me doing
that."
Both girls nodded.
"Well, moving on," he said. "What's happening with
the rest of our family? How are your parents coping
with discovering I have a second concubine? I felt
Wendell and Monica were holding back out of
politeness on Saturday."
"They're fine with it, actually," replied Hermione,
grateful for the change of topic. "And that actually
surprises me. I was actually worried something was
wrong and they were being very good at covering it
up, but they weren't."
He gave a nod and turned to Daphne. "And what about
Astoria and your parents, Daphne?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Chapter 460
"My parents were only worried about what Fleur's
debt would have on my relationship with you. They're
now happy it has had minimal effect," she replied. "As
for Stori, she wants to meet Fleur, but won't come up
unless she gets an invitation to do so."
"Then invite her," said Harry. "She's family; no matter
how much of such an oddball family we're turning out
to be."
"I will," she smiled.
"Now that I have all that off my chest - and thank you
for listening and accepting - I guess we should make a
start on the rest of today's assignments."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Later, after Harry had gone to bed, Fleur grabbed
Hermione and dragged her into Daphne's room.
"What's going on?" asked the Slytherin.
"We need to talk," said Fleur, 'And I do not want to
involve 'Arry in this. As far as 'e's concerned, it is 'girl
talk'. Something it is clear 'Arry does not want to know
about."
"Alright," said Daphne, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"What is so important it could not wait until
tomorrow?"
Fleur turned to Hermione and said, "'Arry was right
about 'im not being informed prior to the bonding
ceremony what it would mean. I 'ad thought either or
both of you would 'ave explained it to 'im, first. Please,
do not put me in that position, ever again."
"We won't," said Hermione and Daphne agreed. "He
was right. It was wrong of us to do so."
Fleur gave a nod of acceptance and said, "From
recent discussions it is also apparent you have both
chosen to soon engage in sexual intercourse with
'Arry. Are you aware of certain potions that can make
that first night easier for you?"
Hermione frowned in confusion and annoyance that
she didn't know something, but Daphne appeared to
know.
Noticing their expressions Fleur said to Daphne,
"Which one's 'ave you been told about?"
Though a little uncomfortable, Daphne replied,
"Maiden's Relief, Prima Nocte and... Witch's Pleasure.
Oh... and, of course, Ne Gravidam."
Hermione said, "I'm on Ne Gravidam, already. Madam
Pomfrey recommended all post-menses witches be on
it, just in case. Healer Robinson is of the same
opinion. I don't know what those others are."
Fleur nodded and said, "Ne Gravidam is, of course,
the anti-pregnancy potion. Maiden's Relief is for that
time of the month, to alleviate cramp―"
"Wait, what?" asked Hermione. "There's a potion that
gets rid of the cramps?"
"Yes," replied Fleur. "See the school 'ealer about it. If
your cramps are that bad you should be on the
potion."
Hermione frowned and muttered under her breath
about old biddy Heads of Houses keeping secrets.
"Prima Nocte is the one I wanted to talk to you two
about," Fleur continued. "It is useful for reducing the
amount of pain you may suffer as a result of... your
first time. I recommend it to the both of you if you are
soon to give your virginities and, especially, if you still
have your... maidenheads.
"And, then there's the remaining one Daphne
mentioned. I do not recommend you take it for your
first time, or even at all, if you can get away with it. It
is to enhance and promote... la petite mort... the little
death... what you call an orgasm."
"Oh!" said Daphne. "Mother said I should consider it
if... and I think her exact words were... 'If you found
Lord Potter wanting'. I did not know until now and you
explained it, what she meant by that."
Hermione said, "I don't think Harry is going to be the
sort of wizard to hop-on-shag-and-hop-off. He's been
reading... let's just say, a certain kind of book. One
which talks about not just receiving pleasure, but also
providing."
"You've made sure of this?" asked Fleur.
She nodded and replied, "His godfather, Lord Black,
recently gave him the book to read. It's laughingly
called a book on how to 'woo' your witch." Then she
firmly nodded and said, "Oh, yes. And let's just say, I
told him that if he finishes the book I'll be giving him a
practical examination on what he read."
"In that case," said Fleur, grinning. "Don't even think
of taking WP. If you do you might not end the night
conscious, or un'ospitalised."
That had all three laughing.
Finally, Fleur said, "Tomorrow. After classes. Us three
shall take a short excursion to the Infirmary to discuss
matters with 'ealer Robinson.
"If 'e asks where we're going we'll just have to tell
'Arry the three of us need to see the 'ealer dealing with
latent witches' 'ealth issues. It will be true and 'e
should not press for details."
"He won't," said a confident Hermione. "Harry finds it
very difficult to speak plainly about issues dealing
with sex in general, other than the clinical biology of
the act. If you try and press him, he's likely to run for
the hills.
"When it comes your time, you're going to need to be
careful with how you interact with him in the... lead up.
He is very insecure about the subject and dealing with
it in an intimate manner. And it's taken me months to
get him to this point with me."
Both other girls nodded back and took the advice onboard.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With Fleur now settled into the Potter household at
the school, the rest of the week, to Harry, appeared to
get slower and slower... and slower.
By the time Friday came around, he was so distracted
in Potions he'd nearly made a terrible mistake with a
brew that would have had severe consequences. The
Professor, Potions Mistress Grimsfield, yelled at him
for a good two minutes about inattention, before
throwing him from the room 'with a T for the day' a
good twenty minutes before class should have
finished.
The mark didn't bother him, as it was irrelevant to his
OWLs. He was just thankful neither Daphne, who was
working with him, nor Hermione and Neville, who were
working at the station in front of them, were injured
due to him causing a potion to explode due to
inattention.
It was actually having Hermione sitting in front of him,
knowing what either that night or the next would
bring, that had him so badly distracted.
At lunch and as the Potions lesson was a combined
Gryffindor/Slytherin one, only the two 'Puffs and Fleur,
the latter of whom had been attending various
Seventh Year lessons for the last three days, were
unaware of Harry's distracted state in Potions.
However, it seemed Fleur already knew from her
abilities as a Veela, as she just smiled at him in an
expression that reflected understanding. Neville also
knew Harry was distracted, but would not ask. He
knew he'd be told why in due course, if Harry felt he
should know.