Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 330: A Troublesome Goodbye
As usual, Fleur was accompanied by her two best friends, who came all the way from France just to cheer her on.
The two girls furrowed their brows after hearing Krum's comment.
"Fleur is not afraid of any British wizard, much less a boy like that one," one of them said.
"Yes, and what is so impressive anyway? Those were childish jinxes. I could do those too," the other one added.
Fleur clicked her tongue to show her disapproval while Krum just laughed.
"Those two are not the brightest of the class, yes?" Krum asked.
"What?!"
"How dare you?!"
"Enough!" Fleur smacked her palm on the table.
She glared at Krum. "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to have a friendly conversation with another champion about something that I found interesting… that's all." Krum raised his hands up.
Fleur glanced at him without saying anything for a few more seconds.
"You want to know how much I noticed? Is this your way to measure the competition?"
"Please, that's something that you would do. But it's not my style." Krum gave her a knowing glance. She had been using her good looks to gather information on the other participants since the first day. Of course, he knew about it.
"Hmph! I don't care for your schemes. Go away," Fleur said.
"Fine, I'll start." Krum took a seat next to one of the other girls, who immediately complained. "He first used a petrifying charm on the boy closest to him."
"Wait, he did?"
"When did he do that?" the two French girls asked.
Fleur sighed. She knew what he was doing already. "Wandless, chantless… he used his left hand."
Krum smiled. "Good eyes. I almost missed that one. But I found more impressive what he did next…"
"The ropes?"
"Ah yes, he put his hand on that boy's chest and then… those ropes came out. What spell was that?" The two girls asked Fleur.
"Transfiguration," Fleur said.
Krum nodded.
"No chant either. He must have done a free transfiguration. One of my professors is capable of doing that, and he said to me that it is one of the most difficult feats of magic that a wizard can perform, due to how much precision it involves in controlling your own magic to shape the material to the desired form."
"I can do it too, as long as it's something simple…" Fleur admitted.
"But not without a wand." Krum saw her flinch. "Don't let it bother you. My professor can't do it wandless either. In fact… I didn't believe it was possible until today."
"Now that you mentioned it… he never used his wand."
"Right!" the girls said.
"Who is he?… I've never heard of him before," Fleur asked.
"Then you have to get better sources for information." Krum told her.
"Harry Potter has quite a bit of fame in the school. I was already hearing about him on my second day here. Mostly about his time as Seeker for the Gryffindor team. Apparently, he broke a few records and won the House Cup that year. Then he didn't play again…"
"Quidditch… ugh…" Fleur made a disgusted face.
"I also heard that one night, he went into the Slytherin house by himself and made an absolute mess in there, sending several senior students to the hospital with grave injuries," Krum added.
This piqued Fleur's interest. "Did he?"
Krum shrugged. "It's only a rumor, you know how those are. I assume that if there was solid evidence, he would have been expelled. I know Hogwarts is not that lenient with those kind of things."
"If he is so incredible… why isn't he in the tournament?" Fleur asked.
"Well, he is only fifteen, so he is not allowed," Krum said.
Fleur raised an eyebrow.
"But if you want another reason…" Krum added. "Maybe he is not interested in money and fame."
"Everyone has something to prove…" Fleur did not like this. And she also hated the fact that, like Krum said before, she was glad that Harry Potter was not one of the champions.
"Let's go." She was no longer in the mood for cheap butterbeer.
"Eh? Already?…" Her friends were not very happy to leave this soon, but they still stood up.
"You're leaving now? We still haven't talked about the other champions," Krum said.
"What is there to talk about? One is a pretty boy with average skills and the other one is a little boy who should not be here," Fleur said.
"That's harsh… and what kind of boy am I to you?" Krum had a playful smile on his face.
"An asshole." She pushed him aside and left towards the stairs.
"I am also great at Quidditch, and kinda handsome according to the girls of my fan club," Krum told her as she left.
"Oh well… at least I learned something new." He looked to the floor below, just in time to see Cho Chang dragging Cedric out of the pub.
"The pretty boy is on a tight leash…"
<><><><><><><><><>
It was already dark by the time that Harry returned to the castle with Lyra, Ginny, and Neville.
It was close to curfew, so they couldn't waste any time before returning to the common room.
Harry noticed a familiar presence close by and stopped.
"Harry? We only have fifteen minutes, come on." Lyra turned to look at him.
"You guys go ahead, I'll be there soon." Harry said. The entrance to the common room was just around the corner.
"Okay but… just be quick. You don't want to get in trouble with that woman." Lyra said.
"Harry…" Ginny got a bit closer. "Thank you for today. I had a lot of fun."
"Really? I thought it was quite the mess with all those Hufflepuffs…"
Ginny made a complicated expression. "Yes, that was a bit… but the rest of the day was very fun!"
They did end up spending a good time at the Hog's Head before walking around the village and visiting a few shops, so he supposed it wasn't that bad in the end.
What Ginny did next took him off guard.
The girl leaned closer and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Let's do it again sometime." She did her best to cover her face before turning around.
Neville's eyes were as wide as saucers while Lyra was making victory signs.
Harry felt strands of magic stirring nearby… and he knew he was in trouble.
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