Eventually it was time to go to the Delacour's, so Harry walked quickly towards Dumbledore's office. He had news to give his Headmaster, and he was eager to get it over with. As he entered Dumbledore's office, Harry saw the man eased way back in his chair where he was funneling an absurd amount of lemon drops into his wide open mouth. Thank Merlin for fantastic timing. Harry didn't feel like getting into an argument with the old Headmaster today and he knew his plan was going to worry the man.
"Hi Albus," Harry began cheerfully (Harry had given the headmaster a hard time about letting Gabrielle call him Albus until the man had eventually caved). I'm off to the Delacour's now." Walking into the fireplace, Harry prepared to make a fast exit. "Oh yeah, I'm going to start sifting through my memories starting tonight, so I'm sleeping over at their place. See you tomorrow."
Even while activating the Floo and dropping away, Harry still managed to hear Albus sputtering candy across the room.
Fwooooosh!
As per the norm, when Harry emerged from the Floo at the Delacour home, he promptly started to fall flat onto his face. This time however, in a desperate moment of extreme agility, he managed to throw out an arm and then perform a one handed cartwheel back up to his feet. Since he hadn't face-planted into the floor this time, Harry briefly wondered if he should consider what just happened a win or not. Unfortunately, that was the moment when he caught soft, sarcastic, golf clapping, coming from the sitting area directly at his back…
With a rueful little smile, Harry turned around, only to confirm that yes, Fleur Delacour was reclining in a lounge chair, with a book in her lap and a judgmental expression upon her face.
Ugh...
Whenever he first caught sight of Fleur, Harry always found himself unable to exist properly. The woman was so damned beautiful, she seemed to damage him deep inside, or maybe alter him in some subtle, metaphysical fashion. All Harry really knew was that he didn't have a good track record with these impromptu greeting slash rude comment sessions that Fleur seemed to crave so much. He wasn't aiming to be a Don Juan at this point, since he didn't have any delusions that he was charming the girl in front of him. By now, Harry would quite happily settle for being a gentleman or even just that bloke you can't quite remember, who was kind of nice, that one time, you think...
Ugh...
"Good afternoon Fleur," Harry began in a carefully casual tone of voice. "That's some very passive aggressive clapping you've graced me with."
Damn... He'd blown it again...
"I just couldn't figure out if I'm impressed or not to be honest," Fleur replied coolly. "The recovery really was spectacular, but it wouldn't be necessary if you could ever just stay on your feet in the first place."
Ouch…
It went without saying that Harry was no better at dealing with Fleur than he had been a week earlier when they'd first met. On the one hand, it did appear that something about him had caught Fleur's attention. On the other hand, it was painfully obvious that whatever regard she had for him was almost, if not all, of the negative variety. Yeah... No matter how you looked at it the beautiful French girl seemed determined to think the worst of him.
The aspect of this situation that made it extra uncomfortable for Harry, was the fact that Fleur was making herself just as unhappy as she was making him... More than anything, Harry wanted to understand what was driving the girl's current behavior, but he didn't understand, and she wasn't volunteering any answers. Armed with that knowledge, Harry squared up his shoulders, and tried once again to just speak to the woman on some normal plane.
"Well Fleur," Harry began in a casual tone of voice. "I've used the Floo exactly seventeen times today and that's the very first time I didn't smash into the ground. I've decided I'm going to call it a win... I suppose I just don't have your exacting standards."
Dammit!... That was one too many lines!
Abruptly deciding to cut his losses, Harry turned in place and started walking towards the door.
"You're still flooding the entire house with your presence," Fleur called out towards Harry's retreating back.
With a wince, Harry paused in his walking.
....
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