"Bonjour, ma belle," Harry greeted and dropped next to Fleur.
Fleur smiled delightedly and craned her neck to give him a peck on the lips as he slid into the seat next to her.
"Beautiful, 'uh?" she replied with amusement.
"Well, not to boost your already inflated ego love, but yes, you make quite a sight," Harry said affectionately and grabbed a toast from the table.
Fleur's response was an elbow to Harry's ribs.
"I must admit, your French is improving, mon chéri," she said with a smirk, enjoying the apparent pain that Harry was in.
"Yeah, the language lessons were definitely the way to go," he offered while rubbing his sides.
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Perhaps we should continue your... lessons then?"
"I must insist. Your teaching methods are quite... effective," Harry replied a bit louder than he intended.
"Cough. Cough," Hermione cleared her throat loudly, causing Harry and Fleur to stare at her.
"Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but I'd rather not hear about your bedroom activities while reading. Also, you're not alone," she said, gesturing towards the rest of the table.
Following her gaze, Harry and Fleur noticed that most of the Gryffindor table's attention was on them.
Harry cleared his throat and reached for a plate of scrambled eggs, trying to act as if nothing happened.
"Right. Do you have any plans for today Hermione?" he asked right after finishing his toast.
Harry looked as Hermione's eyes trailed her book's pages, finishing the paragraph she was reading, before looking back to Harry.
She shyly tucked a strand of bushy hair behind her ear and a smile blossomed on her face.
'Something's going on,' he realised and leaned in closer to hear what Hermione had to say.
"Well, I was planning to spend some time in the library-" she said, prompting Harry to gasp in mock shock, which she scowled at, "-researching for a Potions essay. Neville mentioned he might join me," she replied, her eyes darting briefly to the Gryffindor sitting opposite to her.
Harry raised an eyebrow with a knowing smirk on his lips.
He glanced at Neville, who was suddenly very interested in his porridge.
"That sounds lovely, Hermione. I hope you two have a very productive study session," Harry said and you could almost hear the quotation marks in his second sentence.
Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, but she met his gaze head-on.
"Oh, stop it, Harry. We're just friends helping each other out," she said, but a first-year could tell that her tone lacked conviction.
'Yes, keep digging your grave,' Harry thought with a sudden sadistic glee.
"I bet Neville has enjoyed your research sessions. I'm sure he finds your help very... illuminating," Harry teased, his grin widening as Hermione's blush deepened.
Neville choked on his porridge and coughed violently, his face turning red.
He was about to say something but, Fleur, who had been quietly observing the exchange, burst out laughing, her silvery hair bouncing as she shook with mirth.
As if a cork waiting to be unscrewed, roars of mirth spread throughout the Gryffindor table, with even Hermione and Neville joining in.
Slowly, the laughter subsided and the chatter resumed around them.
As if on cue, the Weasley twins appeared, sliding into seats next to Harry and Fleur, effectively sandwiching them.
"Well, well, well," one of them began, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"What do we have here, George?" Fred, or was it, continued, mirroring his brother's expression.
"Looks like our little Harrykins is not quite Harrykins. He is all grown up and up to no good, Fred," George replied with a wink.
"And we couldn't-" Fred said.
"-be any prouder," his twin finished, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.
Harry rolled his eyes at the once magical display.
"Our little protégé-" George started, and the other followed.
"-mastering the art of-"
"-mischief and romance all at once," they finished together, exchanging a look of mock pride and eliciting laughter from all around.
In his three years at Hogwarts, Harry had become quite accustomed to the twins' twin talk.
It was unnerving as it was fascinating.
Their ability to finish each other's sentences was a thing of legend and no one knew how they did it.
'Until now,' he thought while looking at a narrow red line that travelled between their heads.
Mage sight, as he chose to call it, was showing to be more useful by the day.
'It looks like the soul bonds I share with the others,' he thought and deducted that they were probably born that way.
"What can I say, you shouldn't have made me solemnly swear that I was up to no good," Harry quipped with a grin, causing the twins to burst laughing.
Feeling bold, he decided to try something.
Allowing his magical awareness to relax a little, he was still under the sense-dampening spell, and let it brush with the twin's bond, gaining a subtle sense of its nature.
'It's not a soul bond,' he happily realised, missing the brief frowns that flashed across both redheads' faces.
"We wonder though, did you always-" Fred began, leaning in conspiratorially.
"-have such a way with the ladies?" George continued, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"A gentleman never kisses and tells," he replied with a wink, causing Fleur to giggle beside him.
As he answered though, he tried to subtly recreate the magical connection between the twins, with Fleur…
As he concentrated, he felt a faint tingle of magic establishing between them, but wasn't sure if he had succeeded.
Fleur's eyes widened slightly, before frowning deep into concentration.
A moment passed, and her expression cleared, replaced by a look of wonder and excitement.
'Did you just-' she trailed in her thoughts.
'Yes,' Harry replied easily, he was well-versed with shared thought streams.
'Mon amour, this is amazing,' Fleur thought, and Harry felt her excitement.
Their silent exchange was interrupted as George cleared his throat dramatically.
"Oh, come now, Harry-" Fred said, and George leaned in closer.
"-surely you can share some of your secrets with your mentors?" he pleaded.
"Oh, we don't know Fred-" Harry replied whilst looking at the twin who was said to be George with a mischievous grin, knowing for sure he was talking to the right twin; another perk of the mage sight.
Fleur, who was listening to Harry inside her head, knew exactly the sentence he had in mind.
"-we are not sure if you two could 'andle our secrets, Fred," Fleur chimed in smoothly, looking at 'George'.
The twins' jaws dropped simultaneously, their eyes widening in shock.
They looked at each other, then back at Harry and Fleur, clearly trying to process what had just happened.
"Did you just-" Fred began, his voice trailing off in disbelief.
"-finish each other's sentences?" George completed, his tone matching that of his twin.
"I don't know George-" Harry started, mimicking their usual tone perfectly.
"-did we?" Fleur finished with a playful smirk.
The twins exchanged another shocked glance, their hopes of Harry and Fleur's twin talk being a fluke, crushed
Meanwhile, the rest of the table who was watching the heated exchange erupted into laughter.
Some of them even stood up to pat Harry's and Fleur's backs.
The sight of the infamous Weasley twins being outdone at their own game was just too much fun.
'I could get used to this,' Fleur shared in Harry's head.
That's what she tried to say at least, the thing that Harry heard was a jumble of French words and emotions.
It took him a moment to translate that into something understandable.
Harry couldn't help but smile at the warmth and excitement radiating from Fleur's mind.
'Don't worry, we'll definitely abuse this new ability. I can already think of a few ways it could come in handy,' Harry replied mischievously.
Fleur's mental laughter echoed in his mind as the twins tried to get them back.
.
Chapter 54, the latest on patreon, ends in an intimate scene. I can do a follow-up and start chapter 55 with a sex scene. What are your thoughts?
Jake Dunham, Gapir58, RedStark and ben widdison, thanks for keeping me going :]
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