Chapter 6 - Chapter 5 - Bickering, Bantering, Fighting and Friends

I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise

Chapter 4 Synopsis

The following things happened in chapter 4:

-Harry and Appoline prepared to enter Harry's Mindscape together while he's asleep, as Veela are skilled empathic healers and can enter people's dreams

-Fleur decides she wants to help (even though she's still being all passive aggressive and pissy around him)

-Harry, Appoline and Fleur visit and take in Harry's supermassive Mindscape

-They enter an elevator and go to the location containing all of Harry's memories (a library), where they begin locating and reliving Harry's very worst memories

-During the Philosopher's Stone memory in the third floor corridor, Harry remembers that he fought off a full possession attempt by Voldemort, and then he speculates that he may have been Obliviated of the memory by Dumbledore

-Harry, Appoline and Fleur relive Harry's very, very abusive childhood with the Dursleys

-Harry, Appoline and Fleur relive Harry's near death as a toddler, until he figured out how to channel his magic

-Harry, Appoline and Fleur exit Harry's Mindscape, and then the Delcaours have Harry take off his shirt so that he can get over the trauma centered around his scarred up body

-Five days later, the Veela go on a trip to Privet Drive, where they curse the Dursleys into a living Hell that they won't be able to escape

-At exactly the same time, Severus Snape is Magically bound to scour the English countryside looking for Horcruxes on pain of death, because he defaulted on the terms of a Magical oath when he tried to kill infant Harry

Two weeks after the Delacour's helped Harry heal his mind…

Leaning back in a rather comfortable lounge-chair, Harry kept an eye on the littlest Delacour, so that Appoline and Adrien could go and see a matinee movie together. He was watching Gabrielle swim in their massive backyard pool, while trying to manipulate his magic in and around his body, and gently shaking his head at the girl's persistent attempts to draw him into the water…

Over the last couple of weeks, Harry had become quite tan in the sun of Southern France, but that didn't mean that he'd just been sitting around all day doing nothing. He'd continued his daily rituals of running the obstacle course, dueling with Lupin, weight-lifting, magic manipulation and Mindscape-meditation, altogether making this summer the most dramatic and rewarding period of time in his whole entire life.

Speaking of dramatic…

Harry was six foot tall… for the moment… Gods only knew how tall he 'd be tomorrow… He was smack dab in the middle of an extraordinarily dramatic growth spurt, and was developing the kind of body he'd only ever dreamed of having in the past.

A body he was making the most of by trying his hand at a ton of different things…

Over the last couple of weeks and mostly at Appoline's urging, Harry learned how to ride a horse and a bicycle as well as how to dance (and yet the woman still wasn't satisfied)… Appoline also wanted to teach him how to play tennis and golf, how to skate, how to ski, and how to play the piano. She claimed that his long, nimble seeker fingers would be perfect for the instrument.

At the very least, learning the piano would probably have to wait a little while longer, as Harry had like a quarter million other things to focus his attention on at the moment, but that reality was kinda tough for him to deal with because he didn't like letting Appoline down…

One thing that Harry definitely hadn't done yet is go swimming with Gabrielle. He'd been avoiding it even though the Delacour parents had quietly explained to the little girl that he had many, many scars. He knew for a fact that they'd brought the mini Veela up to speed because Gabby immediately ran up to him and assured him that he was beautiful to her and not to worry...

Even just remembering that, Harry smiled down at the innocent little girl bouncing back and forth in the water because "d'aww that's cute."

Yeah, Harry was feeling pretty at home at the Delacour household these days. He came over every single day to learn more about manipulating his magic with Appoline, but afterwards, he usually stuck around for two or three more hours, learning how to hobby, and or trying to finally relax his incredibly overstimulated body.

I almost never worked…

Beyond the fact that Harry's (in a state of flux and magically supercharged) body did NOT want to sit still, he rarely ever managed to just laze around the Delacour manse doing nothing, because to do so would make him feel lazy in comparison to someone else.

Fleur Delacour was moving like a bat out of hell…

In the two weeks since Fleur joined Harry in his Mindscape, the two of them had hardly ever spoken to each other, which Harry wasn't taking the least bit personally because Fleur Delacour was currently a very, very, VERY busy woman. On a daily basis, she was taking part in a never ending series of full contact duels, spell diversity puzzles, magical core strengthening drills, and high speed Transfiguration sessions, that had Harry shaking his head in wonder.

Unfortunately… or fortunately (Harry couldn't make up his mind which), the main reason why Harry knew just how hard Fleur was working and what exactly she was working on was because his magic was following her around like a ghostly cheering section... Of course, Harry would never admit as much to Fleur, as he already knew that she'd be completely incensed with him if he did, but over the last couple of weeks, his magic had taught him how to perform over three dozen useful spells simply by observing her in action.

And yes, Harry was well-aware that his magic was invading Fleur's privacy in a really big way, but there wasn't much that he could really do about it. His magic was determined to find different ways of affecting the world, and it wasn't cooperating when he told it to back off.

It was also informing him that he was about to have company…

"Just sitting around being lazy, 'Arry?"

After turning around in his seat in response to the beautiful feminine voice, Harry's eyes suddenly widened to the size of saucers, and his body temperature started skyrocketing... Fleur Delacour stood just outside the back entrance to her house, in all of her skintight, royal blue, competitive swimsuit wearing glory...

Deep within Harry's mind, a nuclear explosion of powerful arousal suddenly detonated, incinerating its surroundings in the flames of white-hot sexual desire (figuratively speaking)… On the outside, Harry merely released a tiny little urk noise, before his face grew warm with the beginnings of a blush. His Mind-Occlusions prevented his body from doing more, by helping him contain and regulate his more powerful emotions.

It was a new skill… It was a close call… and it was a level of self-control Harry was grateful to have just a single moment later...

After gliding up to Harry's side, Fleur carefully, noticeably, scrutinized the current state of his face, his eyes, and then his body, at which point a look of unconcealed satisfaction grew across her far too gorgeous face… It appeared the woman did actually desire that he be attracted to her, just not 'too' attracted to her.

Yeap… As per the norm, Fleur Delacour was being an exceptionally fussy young woman.

Or maybe Harry was the one being a little bit unfair.

It wasn't as if Harry couldn't understand Fleur's standards… Feeling desirable to the opposite sex is a positive thing for absolutely everyone, both men and women, and that included Fleur… On the other hand, being truly irresistible to a dangerous extent… is not… What Fleur wanted from him really wasn't all that complicated to figure out, and it also shouldn't be impossible to pull off.

At least in theory…

In practice… The woman's current attire was doing terrible things to Harry's body…

Well… No matter… From now on, Harry's body would do what he wanted it to do, not the other way around... A standard that Harry immediately enforced by slamming almost, but not all, of his lusty desires behind the extremely well-fortified walls of his Occlumency barriers, before drawing in a very deep breath, and then returning his attention towards the pool…

"I'm Gabrielle's lifeguard this afternoon," Harry finally replied in response to Fleur's earlier question... "Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever seen you swim before."

"No, you haven't," Fleur slowly responded.

Harry glanced aside at Fleur, expecting the woman to continue talking like... you know... a normal person would. It didn't happen... She just stood there, staring down at Gabrielle with an extremely complicated expression upon her face.

For the second time in less than a minute, Harry realized that Fleur wasn't actually trying to be difficult with him, and he was jumping to conclusions… Something had the woman a little bent out of shape at the moment… a little bit uneasy. It was time to ask a better breed of question... "Is there a reason for your sudden interest in swimming, Fleur? You don't look like you're aiming to relax…"

While looking down at the crystal clear water of the pool, Fleur unconsciously hugged herself in a nervous reaction that ended up showcasing the deep cleavage of her breasts by propping them up atop her forearms. Truly, she hadn't intended to do anything the least bit provocative, and she wasn't actually aiming to get a reaction out of Harry... this time… Still... When Harry's eyes immediately widened, his cheeks pinked, and he rapidly shook out his head, Fleur was forced to smother a full-faced smile. Goddesses help her, but she really did enjoy pushing the limits of Harry's magically-fortified self-control…

Now if only she couldn't figure out why...

Instead of smiling, laughing or grinning like she wanted to, Fleur simply shook her head in a negative and then gestured down at the water. "I'm not aiming to relax, no. I must be prepared... Water is the polar opposite of a Veela's elemental affinity, fire, and I'll admit I don't like swimming. I will be swimming once a day for the remainder of the summer, in order to get over this weakness."

At the tail end of her explanation, Fleur turned her body to stare at the side of Harry's face. "You will join me in the pool, I think... I know you're completing a very taxing workout regimen every single day, so soaking in the water will be good for you."

Very suddenly, and for seemingly no reason, Fleur breathed out a small sigh of relief, as she released some of her most pent up allure, and allowed it to swirl around Harry's entire body. Then she wasn't the least bit surprised when his eyes immediately widened, his skin flushed a bright red, and his breathing quickened to match his heart rate... What did surprise her, was when he abruptly bounced to his feet, and then moved two meters behind her so that she was standing between him and the pool…

Fleur couldn't have contained it this time even if she tried. A wide, warm, and extremely amused smile grew clear across her face… Harry's reaction just now… He was unable to keep his eyes off of her body, but he was also determined to keep Gabrielle safe, so he moved to a location where he could keep an eye on them both… Chef's kiss… perfection… Fleur couldn't even imagine a better reaction even if she tried. Of course this just made it even more important that Harry do exactly as he was told…

"I won't be accepting no for an answer, 'Arry," Fleur asserted in an incredibly sultry little purr of a voice… Then she paused and drew a hand up to her own voice-box. She hadn't even known she was capable of producing that kind of voice…"

Of course, by the time Fleur was finished demanding that he join her in the pool, Harry was quite busy diluting her allure within a dense wall of his own magic, just so that he could continue breathing and thinking.

Holy Gods…

For the very first time since Harry met Fleur, she wasn't holding back her allure, which, when coupled with her off-the-charts baseline sex-appeal, was putting him at serious risk doing all manner of foolish things. Things that he simply couldn't afford to do if he truly wanted Fleur to trust him, to consider him different, to feel comfortable spending time with him… Despite the mischievous expression that Fleur just finished giving him, Harry knew that this was actually a very important moment for the two of them. Fleur was extending him some trust for the very first time, so now it was time for him to prove that she could.

As quickly as possible, Harry shunted as much runaway attraction as he could behind his Mind-Occlusion barriers, drew in a very deep breath, and then did his level best to look both calm and unruffled… Needless to say, he very seriously doubted that he looked anything but hot and bothered at the moment, but Harry figured it was his actions that mattered right now, not how he looked while doing them…

It was also around this time that Harry remembered what Fleur was actually ordering him to do, and he didn't know quite how to respond…. "Uhhh Fleur," he hedged in a slightly chagrined tone of voice. "For the most part, I'm no longer body conscious, but I haven't been swimming because I'm being... considerate of Gabrielle."

Even though she nodded seriously at Harry's words, Fleur didn't move to take control of her allure, and it grew thicker around his body over time... "I am not worried for my sister at all, 'Arry and do you know why?"

Harry merely shook his head.

"Gabrielle is an innocent. She won't even realize what your scarring truly means, and thus, she will be fine... I want to see if you can swim, Mr. Potter, so don't test me on this or we'll find out if you are in fact resistant to my allure." Fleur smiled at that idea, as it might even be fun.

Wait, what... Making use of the sensory abilities afforded him by his aura shroud, Harry checked the amount of allure that Fleur was actually hitting him with, and he was shocked by what he found. Fleur wasn't even releasing one third of the allure that Appoline had brought forth at the beginning of the summer, and yet it was chipping away at his self-control with a devastating efficiency.

Upon realizing that Fleur was still majorly holding back, Harry merely shook his head in abject surrender. "Fleur, I don't want to find out, so please have some mercy on me. I am myself, but my body's not feeling… cooperative..."

Fleur adopted a very pleased smile on her face, as she raised her arms towards the sky to stretch her back like a cat. "I understand exactly how you feel, 'Arry... Up until recently, I was finding your presence extremely tiring. Your magical power is very strong and it makes mine respond in strange and unexpected ways. I've been having a lot of trouble restraining my allure as it seems to want to pool around your body with a will of its own. Well, no longer... Now it will be you that has to fight the demands of your body. It'll be interesting to find out whether or not you're really a gentleman, 'Arry..."

Even as he nodded his head at Fleur's mixed explanation and challenge, Harry continued to bolster his self-control using his newfound Occlumency skills. He could already see that being completely swamped with Fleur's allure was going to be the norm from now on, and that it was going to take a lot of getting used to on his part.

At exactly the same time, Harry walked back over to the lounge chair, where he started unclasping his new Birkenstock sandals.

A movement that didn't go unnoticed by Harry's current charge…

At the speed of a bullet, Gabrielle bounced up the poolside ladder, and sprinted across the pool deck so that she could glomp Harry's side possessively. "Are you finally going to go swimming with me, 'Arry?" By this point, Gabrielle was adopting a pitiful little pleading voice while piling on the cuteness like a damned avalanche.

Of course, Harry could only nod in complete surrender as he rose back up to his feet, and then started pulling his t-shirt over his head.

"So pretty," Harry heard from a young voice from just a few feet to his right." Fleur had been right, after all. It didn't appear Gabby understood what it was she was actually looking at. "Your skin looks like a painting, 'Arry," she called out, in her enthusiasm."

"Yes," replied Fleur, in a teasing purr. "He is rather striking isn't he…"

And just like that, Harry found himself blushing again, but this time it wasn't because of Fleur's looks or allure… Instead, it was in response to the way that her eyes were scanning every last inch of his still growing body… Drawing in yet another very deep breath, Harry wrestled his body back under control (again), turned his full attention back towards the Delacour sisters, and then moved to give his new friend some assurances. "Fleur... Over the last few weeks, I decided I want to become more like your father. You know, like… a gentleman, a real one, with class and composure and maybe even some sophistication… I have no intention of letting your allure make me any less..."

Over the next couple of seconds, a very complex looking smile bloomed across Fleur's whole entire face. While at first it was both warm and genuine as she loved her father very much, it soon became noticeably mischievous and predatory instead... "We shall see then, 'Arry."

With a small but amused shake of his head, Harry turned towards the pool, approached the ladder and dipped his toes into the sun-warmed water. He was just about to enter the pool, when he was suddenly blasted from behind by a tidal-wave of allure so overwhelming he immediately stumbled forward, fell and clumsily splashed into the water.

For several different reasons, Harry took his time returning to the surface. The water was cool and refreshing and it was helping him regain control of his overheating body. When he did finally resurface, he looked back up at the pool deck only to see Fleur grinning smugly down at him.

With a scream of unbridled enthusiasm, Gabrielle leapt into the water next, and she was hanging off of Harry's shoulders a single heartbeat later. As per the norm, she was also throwing around her steadily growing allure, allowing Harry to see the direction that his summer was going.

He was doomed to hide behind his Occlusion barriers for the remainder of his vacation...

Truth be told, Harry was actually quite pleased that Fleur was beginning to relax her restraints around him. Appoline had explained that it was a sign of trust, and Harry was determined to take it as such. Oh sure, Fleur was currently couching these changes behind a battle of wills of some kind, but her words and intentions were usually a little bit (a lot) out of sync.

After grabbing a hold of the little girl snuggling into his back, Harry gave her a hearty toss across the pool. She squealed in delight and doggy-paddled back, eager to repeat the act. As Harry played with Gabby, he took in the rest of the pool, and decided it was about time he figure out his front crawl. The best he'd ever been able to accomplish was an advanced version of the same doggy-paddle Gabrielle was currently using, and considering how seldom he'd ever been to the pool, he was actually quite pleased with even that level of skill.

Gabby screamed her happiness as Harry threw her again, but this time she splashed into a vast pile of pool noodles that had her undivided attention just a single moment later.

While enjoying this momentary reprieve, Harry caught sight of Fleur approaching the deep end of the pool in his peripheral vision, and he watched her pad atop a diving board at its center. Then, when the woman very gracefully dove into the water, he found himself rolling his eyes. Maybe grace is inherent in all adult Veela and they're incapable of being otherwise? Harry didn't know. All he did know was that Fleur was swimming a picture perfect front crawl in his direction….

"I have trouble seeing any weakness in your swimming," Harry noted, when Fleur rose to her feet in the shallower water.

"It's not swimming that's the problem, 'Arry. My Veela nature does not agree with water. The more I grew into my magical heritage the less comfortable I felt while submerged. While my physical strength is decreased only a little, my magic is very difficult to channel in here. Currently, I am barely able to perform a Lumos while submerged under water."

It was interesting to Harry that a race of magical beings would be so polarized by an element. "Does it follow then that you would be resistant and strong magically in heat or fire?"

Fleur looked somewhat impressed despite herself. "Yes, 'Arry. We are safe from all but the hottest magical fires and in our avian forms we can throw around a very specific type of magical fire called Passionfire."

"Are humans elementally aligned to something?" Harry was relaxing now as he became wrapped up in the conversation.

Fleur smiled even as she shook her head. "Most humans are not... Some are, but the element is random and associated with their nature as a person. I would associate you with earth, 'Arry… stubborn, immovable and most importantly, mundane." Fleur grinned at her own joke.

Harry put his hand to his chin in a thinker's pose. "I think that you'd be fire then even if you weren't a Veela then. Unpredictable, spirited and beautiful until there's no air left in the room."

As soon as those words left Harry's mouth, neither he nor Fleur could maintain eye contact anymore, and Harry started kicking the living crap out of himself. A moment later, when he finally managed to look back in Fleur's direction, he made sure to look contrite. "My apologies Fleur. I had good intentions just now, but that wasn't appropriate."

Fleur's face immediately broke into an amused grin as she found herself in a situation that she'd never experienced before. Harry was the very first person to ever apologize for complimenting her appearance.

"'Arry," she began, laughter filling her voice. "I'm not angry. I get it. Veela are beautiful. It is in their nature, in their magic. I do not dislike that part of myself, for that would be denying my heritage. What I dislike is the alienation I experience because of it. Your presence is annoying to me because around you my allure flares and I am helpless to fully control it. On the bright side, I am shamelessly pummeling you with my allure as we speak and you are doing just that... speaking. If it were any other man, they would be struggling not to drown while trying to impress me with some childish feat of strength. At my school, even my scrupulously contained baseline allure is too much for most men to handle for any real length of time. I have very few friends because of the complications this causes."

Harry had never even thought of Fleur's baseline allure as being a problem. It meant essentially nothing to him. He didn't even have to take notice of it for the little effect it had on his body. Knowing that made Harry arch an eyebrow as he asked a question. "Your baseline allure is essentially as strong as Gabrielle's best efforts right now correct?"

Fleur nodded.

"Gabrielle's current allure shouldn't affect people to the extremes that you're describing," Harry said, with his brows knit together in frustration. "Even without my magical shroud intervening, it only made me a little bit fonder of her in the beginning. I believe these men you're describing are using your allure as a convenient excuse. Either that or they're extraordinarily weak-willed and undeserving."

With a scoff that was part amusement and part resentment, Fleur crossed her arms under her chest. Tell that to the women at my school then, 'Arry. According to them, I'm a legendary home wrecker of some kind.

For the second time in less than half a minute, Harry found himself furrowing his eyebrows in frustration. "If a boy decides to dump his girlfriend merely because he's been exposed to your charms, I'm pretty sure he'd eventually have left her even without your involvement. I know how you operate around boys, after all. You're very… distant, cool, difficult to get close to..."

"You do have a point, 'Arry, but I'm pretty sure you're underestimating the strength of both my passive allure and your own resiliency at exactly the same time," Fleur immediately corrected. "When I walk down the halls of my school, random boys profess their undying love for me on a semi-regular basis."

"Well, okay, fine then, maybe I'm just having trouble relating, which isn't actually a new problem for me," Harry mused as if to himself. "Even before my magic was released, I found it hard to compare myself to most of my classmates. With me it's always been results may vary greatly. For instance, I can make a very strong Patronus Charm, but... I faint like a damsel in the presence of Dementors. I'm extremely susceptible to the way they affect their surroundings."

"'Arry, of course Dementors hurt you more than most," Fleur responded in a soft and understanding tone of voice. "I mean, they specifically target painful memories..." Fleur stopped speaking there because she already saw that Harry understood her meaning. Then a question she'd been meaning to ask for quite a while was suddenly slipping from her mouth. "You have experienced many Dementors then, 'Arry? You say they make you pass out. How do you know this?"

Unbeknownst to Fleur, she was moving a little bit closer to Harry, with every single word that she said.

At first, Harry struggled to find a way to explain the situation without making the government of Magical Britain sound like a bunch of imbeciles, but then he just gave up and said it like it is. "Dementors were stationed around the perimeter of Hogwarts last year. They were placed there in order to catch an escaped fugitive that they thought was targeting me. I'll explain that story to you some other time. Anyway... The Dementors were very poorly controlled and ran amok several different times. On three separate occasions, I ended up losing consciousness because the Dementors sought me out. It even happened once during a Quidditch match, and I fell fifty feet to the ground."

By this point, a hand was covering Fleur's mouth as she resisted a desire to curse out both Dumbledore and Magical Britain in general.

"Later, I ended up being introduced to a Boggart that liked to turn into a Dementor around me with very similar results," Harry continued with a sigh. "When I harassed a professor friend of mine for help, he began training me to perform the Patronus Charm, but for quite a while I didn't show any improvement at all. As it turns out, I was subconsciously seeking out the experiences that the Boggart/Dementor kept bringing me."

Fleur was stunned by Harry's words. "But why, 'Arry? Why would you seek out those awful feelings?"

Leaning in a little bit closer, Harry dropped the pitch of his voice so that he wouldn't be overheard by younger, far more innocent ears. "Until very recently... the memory that the Dementors forced me to relive was also the only time I'd ever heard my parent's voices."

Fleur's face transformed into one of both painful remembrance and yet more confusion. She'd seen exactly what memory Harry was describing and it was far too hurtful to be any form of reunion.

Harry saw Fleur's sad and confused expression, so he struggled to find a way to explain his self-harming behavior. "Fleur... I know it was unhealthy for me to seek out that memory, but... Look... Every single time I'm around a Dementor, I relive my parents' deaths. Imagine how complicated it was for me. The most painful memory that I have, also couched a very important idea."

"What idea?" By this point, Fleur had moved very, very close to Harry now without ever noticing her movement.

"My parents loved me and were willing to die for me." Harry breathed the half a foot it took to reach Fleur's ears. "I heard it in their voices over and over and it warmed my heart more than the chocolate ever could. My parents loved me so much their own lives became unimportant when I was in danger." Harry looked down and waved a hand at his scar crossed body. "I wear the signs of the Dursley's form of parenting and I always will. For that reason, it was overwhelming to me that my mom and dad cared so much about me. It also hurt like a knife to the heart, but I still sought it out over and over. I'm clearly not a good example of sound mental health, Fleur. Not yet anyway... I'm working on it every day."

As Fleur fell into deep thought, she absently reached out to run a hand along the smoothed out silver brand running across Harry's chest. They stayed that way for a while, just watching Gabrielle using a floaty mat to flutter kick her way across the pool (cute).

After the moment finally came to an end, Fleur turned back to Harry, and began pressing her hand even harder against his chest... "Here's what I think, Arry… I believe… that your life experiences so far will serve to add contrast to the life you'll live from this point forward. You have known sadness... great sadness, but that will allow you to feel the good that much more strongly. Life is all about the ups and downs, no? No one who's felt your shroud can deny that your range of emotion is incredible. You feel so much. You make even Veela, the most passionate of beings, look aloof."

"Is that just a kind way of calling me bipolar?" The lopsided grin didn't leave Harry's face even as Fleur lightly slapped his cheek.

In the end, both Harry and Fleur laughed as they moved closer to Gabrielle. The little girl had begun giving them both pleading puppy dog eyes from the shallow end.

Two Weeks Later...

It took a little longer than expected but, Harry's eyesight was no longer reliant on corrective lenses. After waking up this morning, he'd found that his glasses made his eyesight worse rather than better, at which point he'd tossed them aside with a smile...

As he went about his day, Harry enjoyed the sight of completely normal, mundane things, as if he were seeing them for the very first time, because everything was so clear and defined and detailed in the extreme. He performed his morning run way faster than his best record and blew through his weight lifting with gusto. Harry had a smile that just wouldn't go away, as he used the Floo to the Delacour home and then slammed face first into the floor...

Damn...

Picking himself up off the floor, Harry dusted himself off using a quick flare of his magic.

Then he stiffened and his head whipped towards the Entry Hall door.

In the split second that he'd flared his magic, Harry's normal eight meter range of sensory perception had become more like twenty meters instead. In that single instant, Harry had felt something extremely out of the ordinary…

After yanking out his wand, the first thing Harry did was perform a Disillusionment (invisibility) spell upon his own body. The second thing he did was force all of his ambient magic to occupy a much greater distance away from his magical core. He didn't force out more power, but rather he sought greater range for the magic that was already floating around his body. This successfully thinned out his magical shroud, to the point that he wasn't immediately noticeable to everyone within throwing distance. Of course, with his shroud spread so thin, it didn't serve very well at feeding him information, but at the moment, Harry needed invisibility far more than he needed people's shoe sizes and star signs.

Bam, creak, slam!...

The door to the Entry Hall suddenly burst wide open to slam against the adjoining wall, as a wand was pointed into the room. After taking a look around the room, a wizard wearing Muggle style military BDUs performed a Rebrum Revelio spell. Nothing happened. If there'd been anyone in the room using an invisibility spell, the revealing spell he'd cast would've painted them a bright red color. The unknown man shook his head at himself. He'd thought he felt a flare of strong magic in here, but now he was second guessing himself. Closing the door, he returned to his patrol.

The Rebrum Revelio spell had indeed worked, painting Harry's body a cheerful red color for just a single instant. Thankfully, by that point, Harry was already hiding behind the Entry Hall door, tucked into the corner of the room, and not even three feet away from the man.

Phew... That had been waaay too close.

A few moments earlier when he'd flared out his magic, Harry had sensed eight strange wizards walking around the Delacour home, with the Delacours themselves clumped together within Adrien's Study. This had felt extremely suspicious to Harry's newly sharpened brain, and he'd just barely managed to react in time.

Now that he had a spare moment to think, Harry started putting together a plan of action using his decreased magical senses. Despite how vague his senses currently were, Harry could still tell that there were two people patrolling the hall, two people patrolling the yard, one person near the front door and three people standing in the study with the Delacours.

It was time to get to work...

Sidling up to the Entry Hall door, Harry held his breath as he waited. He could just barely tell the direction the men were looking, as they moved up and down the hallway. It appeared their patrol route was from Study to Main Entrance and back.

Finally, when the moment was right, Harry made his move. After quietly easing open the door, Harry silently cast two stunning spells into the unaware mens' backs. Then, before they could noisily fall to the floor, Harry made them float them with a silent Levitation spell, brought them into the Entry Hall and Incarcerous spelled their unconscious bodies. After confiscating both of their wands, he hid them in a vase-like poker stand, near the fire.

Leaving the Entry Hall again, Harry cursed himself out as he belatedly cast a silencing spell down upon his feet. He needed to be perfectly silent, if he was going to have a single hope in Hell of making this work. Moving towards the front door, he waited until the lone merc looked in the other direction, before stunning him from behind.

Once again, Harry levitated the man back to the Entry Hall, where he cast the same magical bindings around his arms and his legs. Moving swiftly back towards the front door, he cast a silencing spell upon the window-casing before slowly and carefully easing it open. The two men outside were walking a patrol route while keeping each other in line of sight at all times. These men were professionals... What were they even doing here? Never mind, it didn't matter. They were attacking the Delacours… Their asses were grass.

Easing his wand out of the front porch-side window, Harry targeted one of the two patrolling mercenaries, and then he waited. He wanted to be able to put down the second mercenary before the man even knew that they were under attack. What that meant was he needed to do something a little more oblique than before.

When the mercenary that Harry was aiming at stood up straight with both of his feet planted, Harry immediately cast a silent Petrificus Totalus at him. Then, as quickly as he could, Harry aimed his wand at the second merc. He'd done it. His stunning spell hit the second merc long before the man ever noticed that his partner was frozen in place.

This time, when the second merc was rendered unconscious, Harry didn't catch him with a Levitation spell. He just watched as the man's head slammed against the pavement with a rather satisfying thwack.

Serves him right.

While levitating both of the newly unconscious men through the front door, Harry paid close attention to the three remaining mercs occupying the Study. Soon enough, he'd replicated his earlier actions with his most recent victims, leaving all of the mercs in an untidy and slightly homoerotic heap. Belatedly, Harry also collected all of the men's wands from within the poker stand where he'd stashed them. He wasn't dumb enough to justg leave that many wands laying around to be discovered.

Back in the hallway, Harry slowly approached the Study while looking for a place to stow the wands. He saw a maid's closet up ahead and pushed the wands into a bucket of dirty water. As he did this, he also checked each wand for magical compatibility with himself. He was going to have to be very fast when he finally entered the Study, so he needed to be as prepared as possible.

To Harry's surprise the last wand that he checked shot off some red sparks and a small lick of fire at his insistence that it take his magic. Good enough, he thought, as a grim look slipped across his face. Mercenaries have no right to complain when they get their wands destroyed...

As he slipped up next to the Study, Harry started hearing raised voices inside. It sounded like the mercenaries were making demands, and Adrien was persistently stalling. Good man. Adrien must be waiting for me to call for help...

Damn... I should've called for help!

During the next few moments, Harry shook off that thought for two very important reasons. He didn't even know the local law enforcement's Floo name right now and Dumbledore was off doing something with the ICW (International Confederation of Wizards). Harry shrugged off his self-recrimination and then continued preparing to enter the Delacour Study.

After silently approaching the door, Harry held out both wands as he took several deep, preparatory breaths. Okay plan plan plan, Harry P. Safety of the family comes first, so project a shield around them. Can I even do that? Most shields form around the wizard who casts them because that's where their magic is...

"Aura shroud," Harry said to himself in a very quiet voice.

Looking down the hallway, Harry intoned "Protego," while focusing his attention on some of his ambient magic, and a golden shield appeared floating in the air. Okay then. I can do amazing things now. Moving on... Plan A is enter the room shield stun dodge stun dodge stun break!

Harry moved towards the door and then waited for his moment.

The Delacour family had been eating breakfast when they'd been betrayed by someone on their servant staff. That was the only way this could have happened…

The wards around the Delacour Manse are very specific to only allow in certain individuals, but since Adrien employs a human servant staff, he also created several placards that could be used by part time staff to fill in for these people. The placards could be worn on a lanyard and would allow a worker to bypass the wards. A full set of these placards were normally kept secured in a safe in Adrien's Study.

Even as he and his family were being trussed up and tossed into his Study, Adrien saw these placards hanging around the attacking mercenaries' necks, and he realized exactly what it meant. It was someone under his employ who put this grand scheme together...

The mercenaries swooped in both quickly and quietly. They snuck in from both entrances at exactly the same time, and they hit the family en masse with a crossfire of Incarcerous spells. Within less than ten seconds flat, the mercs relieved the Delacour family of all their wands and then put allure dampeners on all of the women. All in all, it was an exceptionally well-executed operation…

Adrien would've been impressed if he weren't so completely incensed.

The men were big, tough, professional and they didn't speak at all unless spoken to by their leader. The leader himself was a large, blond man, who claimed his name was unimportant. Instead of introducing himself, he immediately started making demands for all of their money and jewel valuables. It looked like he wanted to clean their house out of valuables before he got to the real purpose of his little visit.

Adrien knew with a sick certainty that the mercenaries weren't really here simply to rob them of their valuables… Instead, their real targets were Fleur and Gabrielle. It was painfully obvious considering the fact that these mercs came prepared with three highly illegal allure dampeners.

Unbonded Veela are coveted by the very worst types of people in the world. Slavers and slave owners are notorious for kidnapping unprotected Veela for sexual slavery purposes. Adrien also knew that these slavers never leave witnesses behind, so if help didn't arrive soon, he and Appoline were both going to end up dead...

In the end, Adrien knew that his only real hope was to stall for time, so that when Harry arrived, he could call the Aurors for help. Thus, Adrien had become carefully stupid in his dealings with these men, drawing out the process of robbing him blind as long as he possibly could.

All of the sudden, Adrien felt Fleur stiffen in her ropes against his back and then just as quickly relax back into her restraints. She'd been discretely struggling against her bindings all morning without ever giving up, so Adrien was surprised when she suddenly stopped altogether. Then, when he took a look over his shoulder, he saw that she was gazing in the direction of the Entry Hall, where she seemed to be tracking some, so far unknown, movement. After about a minute, Fleur gave Adrien an exceptionally meaningful look, followed by a small, almost nonexistent, grin, and he knew...

Adrien knew that it had happened. He knew that Harry had arrived...

Slowly and discretely, Adrien started moving Fleur and Gabrielle in between him and his wife. He didn't know what the Auror's intervention would look like, but what he did know was that it was going to be very fast and violent. The French Auror service wasn't known for being subtle or even particularly skilled, causing Adrien to worry that his family would all be killed in the magical crossfire that was sure to follow.

With all those thoughts and fears swirling around within his mind, Adrien began the very difficult job of waiting and not making the situation worse. The house remained quiet. Harry had arrived a while ago, had he not? Where were the Aurors? Why was there no change?...

BOOM!... The Study door violently exploded open.

Out of nowhere, a golden glow was suddenly surrounding the entire Delacour family, in an impossibly large and full dome that throbbed with magical power…

Both the mercs and the Delacours looked to the ruined Study door just in time to see stunning spells being cast from an invisible someone, who was moving around just inside of the entryway.

A mercenary went down unconscious in the corner, as he'd been caught flat footed by the sudden attack, and didn't react in time.

The remaining two mercs were much quicker to raise Protego shields, and some of their poorly aimed return curses ricocheted off of the dome shield surrounding the family.

The remaining mercenaries were barely even aiming at this point, but were instead just spamming fast and deadly curses, in the general direction of the door. Scorch marks began littering the wall near the door, but so far, no shield had ever been erected in defense. Instead, many stunning spells came from several different places on that side of the room, indicating that there were at least two people coming to the Delacour's rescue.

The rescuers' stunners were all of excellent aim, so the two remaining mercenaries spent most of their time ducking behind their own Protego shields, rather than casting attacks of their own. Following a curse of both anger and frustration, the mercenary leader yelled out the words "cancel their invisibility!"

Acting together in a way that was obviously well-rehearsed, both of the remaining mercenaries tandem cast a Homenum Revelio spell to end the Disillusionment spell hiding the rescuers.

It didn't work… While an invisibility spell did actually waver to reveal the smudged form of a man, it somehow managed to hold up against both of the mercenaries' combined efforts, and the rescuer immediately disappeared again.

In the end, what the Homenum Revelio spell did reveal wasn't the identity of the Delacour's mysterious benefactor, but rather, a rapid series of footsteps could be heard coming from near the door. It appeared a silencing spell had been negated, and the unknown rescuer was much too busy to reapply it...

Now that the two mercs knew the general location of one of the rescuers, the follower merc yelled out an Incendio Maxima spell that sent a wide blast of fire hurtling towards the source of the footsteps.

The overly-large fire spell slid all around the dome shield surrounding Adrien and his family like a brilliantly bright orange blanket, as it soared across the room towards their savior, and there were several rapid thumps near the door, as an invisible rescuer dove and then rolled to avoid catching fire.

The unknown rescuer's roll slammed him/her into the bookshelves to the right side of the door, where books began to fall atop their invisible body, revealing their location, and for the first time since they first entered the Study, he/she silently erected a Protego shield in front of their body.

The shield formed in place just in the nick of time.

Within the next two and a half seconds, the Protego shield blocked no less than three cutting curses and two unknown dark blue curses, before the shield abruptly disappeared, and two Avada Kadavra spells ruptured open the wall. It appeared the unknown attacker had rolled out of the way of the death curses because he/she had known that no shield would work to block them…

All of the sudden, rapid footsteps could be heard moving in irregular directions all throughout the room. The mercenaries tried to follow the noise with their wands but the footsteps were moving far too fast and in irregular directions. Very abruptly, the follower mercenary was sent flying backwards, trailing a spray of teeth and blood from a massively broken nose. Adrien wasn't a boxer, but even he knew the signs of a hard haymaker punch to the nose when he saw them.

Now that he was all alone, the leader merc cursed loudly in both frustration and newly mounting fear, before turning his wand directly towards Adrien's face, and casting mass amounts of curses at the Protego shield surrounding his family. The merc clearly wanted possession of his hostages and he didn't care if he killed some of them in the process.

Over the following ten seconds, the shield warped and wavered but continued to hold against no less than five shield breaking curses, four blasting curses, a bone breaker, four cutting curses, two gouging curses and a boiling red spell that Adrien had never even heard of. The spells all exploded with light and color as they impacted against the shield like artillery fire. Every spell was cast in a scream and with the full might of the mercenary leader casting them. As more and more of the curses thundered against the shield, Adrien heard Gabrielle screaming in fear, from where she was curled up against his back, and he found his hand slipping into hers because it was all he could do... The shield started warping inwards until it was just inches from Adrien's face, but it still miraculously held.

At first Adrien didn't catch it in all of the chaos, but he finally caught on that one of their invisible benefactors was yelling at him. "Cover Gabrielle's eyes!" Adrien reacted immediately, throwing his body directly on top of Gabby to cover her entire field of vision.

Boom!

As soon as Adrien covered Gabrielle, an explosion could be seen from where the knocked out follower merc had been standing, a grunt of pain was torn from an invisible rescuer's mouth, and a massive boiling red blasting curse careened across the room.

The overpowered blasting spell crackled with unspent power as it slammed into the mercenary leader's newly erected Protego shield, ripped through the shield as if it was made of wet tissue paper, and then blasted the man back into the wall with all the force of a bullet-train. The mercenary leader's body smashed into the wall so hard that at first he was stuck in place like a swatted fly. The man's mangled body was cratered at least half a foot into the wall, where it was held in place by the splintered wood surrounding it. Then, after several moments passed, the mercenary leader slowly crumpled forward and dropped to the floor, followed by plaster and pieces of wood that covered his body like a blanket…

In the sudden silence that followed the duel, Adrien quickly scanned the room, looking for the invisible wizards that had just saved their lives. Whoever they were, they remained invisible, even as they moved about the room with the efficiency of house elves.

After the two follower mercenaries were Incarceroused, the golden shield surrounding the Delacours suddenly vanished. The unconscious men were then levitated out the door and laid out in the hallway. The ropes and allure dampeners that covered the Delacour ladies were severed by silent low level cutting spells and the fire that was growing near the Study door was put out with an Aguamenti spell.

Only then, when the Delacours were both free and safe, and it was finally okay to stop running around, did Harry Potter finally realize that he was still invisible. He suddenly appeared, seemingly out of thin air, looking just a little bit embarrassed.

Adrien's eyes widened when he first saw who their mysterious team of rescuers really was, but then he just nodded his head and put his surprise aside. Now wasn't the time for disbelief. Climbing slowly to his feet, Adrien immediately collected Gabrielle up into his arms. The poor girl had been far too brave for far too long and was now crying and trembling violently in his arms. As he ran his hands gently through Gabby's soft blonde hair, he turned to look at the young man again.

"Harry... What about the other men?" Adrien was speaking quickly and in a very quiet voice.

Harry's eyes were scanning the Delacour family closely, looking for wounds when Adrien asked his question, but when he saw that they were all unharmed, he turned to give the man his full attention.

"I stunned and Incarceroused five men that were patrolling the building before I came in here," Harry quickly assured. "My magic is informing me that I've caught them all, and the manse is safe…. All of the mercs are trussed up in the Entry Hall for pickup by the French Auror Service."

Harry briefly looked sheepish before he continued his explanation. "I uhh. I don't know the Floo name for the Aurors in this country. I apologize for acting on my own, but I couldn't think of any alternatives." After a moment, Harry's expression became stoic again as he gestured down at the two unconscious mercenaries. "I'll add these two to the pile for pickup and..." Looking down at the leader's mangled corpse, Harry sighed quietly. "And I'm sorry that Gabrielle's being exposed to this. I was looking to cast non-lethal, but in the end I just wasn't good enough, and that last man was tearing down my shield..." Harry's tone made it very clear that he was trying to convince himself rather than Adrien.

Nodding his understanding, Adrien gently placed a hand on the young hero's shoulder. "What you've done is not an evil act. It was in defense of others. You should feel no remorse for protecting those important to you."

At Adrien's words, Harry stopped studying the bloody, torn knuckles of his right hand and the scorched, bloody mess of his left, he turned towards Adrien, stepped a little closer, and allowed a somewhat troubled expression to grow upon his face. When he replied, it was quietly, seriously, and for Adrien's ears only.

"It's not the remorse I feel that bothers me Adrien, it's the lack thereof."

After a few moments passed, Adrien nodded solemnly before giving the young man a very meaningful look. "And that too Harry... is human."

With a small nod of his head, Harry turned away from Adrien and made himself busy again. Within the next ten seconds, he'd cast a Reparo spell on the Study door, and was levitating the two unconscious mercenaries towards the Entry Hall.

As Harry marched out of the room, Adrien was engulfed in the arms of his newly sobbing wife. He returned Appoline's hug with Gabrielle sandwiched tightly in between them, and turned towards Fleur, intending to drag her into the hug as well. He found her staring down at the broken body of the mercenary leader. It was hard to say what she was thinking about, but she was in the thick of it, and she wasn't pulling up…

"Come," Appoline suddenly called out, as she hustled everyone to gather around her eldest daughter, pulled Fleur into a tight hug and began smoothing out her stubbornly still perfect hair. "Listen Fleur... 'Arry is capable of doing what is necessary when it must be done, and that is all. Let us be grateful that he is who he is."

Appoline paused then and gave the girls a serious look. "I'm willing to bet that 'Arry isn't in a very good place right now... We will give him space for an hour, and then thank him when we've all calmed down." Appoline gave Fleur a significant look and the girl nodded her understanding. With that sorted out, the Delacour matriarch tugged her daughter close again, squeezing her tightly.

Fleur finally caved and put her head in her mothers chest like she did when she was just a little girl.

Less than an hour later, the French Auror Service had come and gone, and for the most part, the investigation was complete.

As it turns out, the mercenary who'd been standing watch in the hallway outside of the Entry Hall was the elder brother of a part time cleaner. The man's brother had worked for the Delacours off and on for about six months now, and he'd stolen the placards a few days earlier.

A warrant was being sent out for the ex-cleaner's arrest.

When scrutinized under Priori Incantatum spells, the mercenaries' wands all revealed that they'd performed many illegal and dangerous spells, further confirming their guilt. That was a good thing too, since the Aurors weren't all that impressed with Harry's less than detailed recounting of his involvement.

Which made sense…

In an attempt to keep matters from being a humongous spectacle, Harry tried to portray the mercenaries as poorly trained and easily bested. Unfortunately, no one believed him. It seemed the Aurors present knew these men, so they knew that Harry was oversimplifying his story in the extreme. They also gave him some very pointed looks when he'd handed over a wand that was burned to its core and falling apart.

"You used this wand?" The Auror who asked the question looked disbelieving.

"Yes. It was of poor compatibility and didn't last long," Harry replied.

"If it was that bad a compatibility to you, then how did you manage to get it to do anything?" The Auror was arching his eyebrows and clearly didn't believe a single word that Harry was saying.

Harry just shrugged in response. "A few stunning spells and such, nothing major... I don't remember very well because it all happened very fast."

Adrien interposed himself on Harry's behalf and squared up against the Aurors. "Harry here saved the lives of my entire family today... Can we not nit-pick small details like this?"

After just a few seconds' hesitation, the Auror backed off out of respect for Adrien, but he did end up giving Harry another disbelieving look before he turned away. A situation that was made even more awkward, when the Auror was forced to make five separate Floo trips to remove the seven unconscious mercenaries and the diseased merc leader from their home.

Harry approached Adrien while cleaning his newly healed hands with a wet paper towel. "Can you confer my apologies to Appoline for skipping lessons today? I'm going to meditate out in the nice weather for a while." Harry shrugged with a look of chagrin on his face. "I've gotten in the habit of staying on top of these kinds of memories, now that I'm able to. I'll be outside working on my tan."

Adrien nodded and smiled at the teenaged hero. "I'll tell her, Harry, but before you go... You once told me you owed my family a debt for services rendered. We are even now, I should think. Harry... What you did today... was the single most amazing act of bravery I have ever seen in my life."

At first, Harry looked a little embarrassed, but after a few moments passed, he finally nodded his understanding. He also accepted Adrien's clap on the shoulder.

"Now, you may go get your brain squared away," Adrien drawled while gesturing out the door. "Don't worry. I'll keep Gabrielle occupied."

Harry smiled at Adrien, who really was good people, before walking towards the house's back doors. Not even a minute later, he'd made his escape to the backyard, where he was confronted by a truly beautiful summer's day. The day was sunny and warm but not too warm and Harry thought that it was all very interesting. He finally decided that English weather is always suitable for violence and death. All this sun on the other hand, was counter to his current mood. Then again, as he looked at the sunbathed, beautiful landscape all around him, Harry decided that he couldn't complain.

Over the following fifteen minutes, Harry entered his Mindscape, where he quickly found the one medium gray memory book that was laying around unsorted. After reliving his actions from earlier, Harry filed the memory away under violent and traumatizing, in a vault in his library. He wouldn't forget his actions but the memory was kept far away from his subconscious. He didn't want to give himself gray hairs or an ulcer later by neglecting to deal with bad memories.

When Harry came out of his meditation, it was to the feeling of long smooth hair against the back of his neck, a warm back pressing against his own and a strong allure blasting against his consciousness like the heat from a furnace. Fleur clearly... Gabrielle might get close to him right now, but the allure... "Are you by any chance attempting to distract me from my brooding by giving me a nosebleed?" Harry had asked the question as casually as he could, but he was also being serious. His body was currently doing some very dramatic things, because of the allure coupled with the feeling of Fleur's back against his own.

"No... I'm not consciously doing anything with my allure right now," replied a beautiful voice from behind Harry. "Your magic is everywhere right now, 'Arry. It's filling the entire property, and since it's making me lose control, I came here to its source…"

Harry only realized in that moment that Fleur was right. He was actively campusing the entire property with his magic and keeping an eye on everything. He was surprised by Fleur's reaction though. His magic shouldn't have bothered Fleur, because it was so widespread and thin. Harry arched an eyebrow unseen by Fleur.

"I see... You're reacting to it still," Harry hedged in a carefully neutral tone of voice. "To be honest, when I first figured this out, I was hoping that it would be an improvement for you. My magic's spread so thin right now, it's barely visible even to my own senses. Granted, it's still an invasion of your privacy, but I thought I'd become more... subtle."

At the tail end of his words, Harry suddenly dragged his aura shroud as close to his body as he could, and he felt Fleur shiver into his back at the sudden influx of his magic. He also felt the amount of allure that she was releasing increase, even as its effect on his body decreased. Harry's magic made Fleur's allure leak out of her body, that much wasn't new… What was new was Fleur's ability to sense trace amounts of his magic, and it had him dying with curiosity. "Hey… Fleur… How do you still feel my presence when my magic is spread so thin?"

When Fleur shrugged again, Harry could feel the movement against his back. "I am no expert in magics never before seen on this planet, 'Arry. I felt you spike your power as soon as you entered the house, and I could follow your movements while you decimated those goons. I was an obedient damsel in distress. I allowed you to swoop in to save me. I truly resent and dislike you for saving me, of course, but only because I felt powerless and weak while it was happening."

When Fleur was finished delivering her explanation, the two of them simply sat there together for a good long while...

"I wonder if I will ever have an uncomplicated emotion regarding you, 'Arry." Fleur's voice was very, very quiet, but the question sounded genuine.

Harry smiled as he shrugged into Fleur's back, but because their current mood felt somber he kept his voice low. "I'm not so concerned about that, Fleur... I like the way you explain your complicated feelings, the whys and hows are of interest to me. I also know that you care in your own way and as often as you can... What's a little bit of dislike between friends?"

Fleur shook with silent laughter into Harry's shoulders and smiled for the first time since coming outside. "There is a reason I'm so honest, 'Arry. I understand the effect that fickle people can have on a person. I have several so-called "friends" at my school, who secretly hate me. They value me as a resource and are respectful because I demand it, but they do not like me. They envy what they do not understand."

Looking up at the sky, Harry took in a very deep breath. "I have one friend that I can count on. She's my sister in every way that counts and without her I'd be all alone in a crowded room. We share another friend named Ron. Once he sees that I've become physically large and magically powerful, he'll inevitably react as if I've done it specifically to make his life harder."

Fleur didn't respond or move this time. Her allure didn't go away either, but Harry hadn't expected it to. It seemed to pulse like a heartbeat and for some reason that made Harry smile.

"Will you duel me at some point this summer?" Fleur asked the question without any warning and her shoulder withdrew from Harry's back while she asked it. Once the question was asked however, she collapsed back into Harry's shoulder again, as if she'd used up all of her energy.

"I will if you'll forgive me something first." Harry was nervous about what he was about to reveal to Fleur, but he wanted to be honest with her.

"Depends," replied Fleur.

"My magic is... nosy. It's been following you around during your training sessions, learning your spells and your movements. I'm not consciously doing it, but I'll admit that I'm not fighting it tooth and nail either. Despite your greater skill, I'd probably have an unfair advantage the first time we duel."

"You ask too much," Fleur declared in an immediate huff. "I am well and truly furious with you, 'Arry..."

"I'm sor…"

"That's enough, 'Arry... Don't apologize." Fleur sighed heavily as she felt all of Harry's muscles tense up at her outburst. "'Arry listen... I think the reason I find you so infuriating is because I am angry at you, but I also realize that I have no real right to be. You are a magical creature, 'Arry… Your magic does what it must both for you and despite you. I don't think calling you a wizard is even the correct term anymore."

As Harry relaxed again, he leaned back against Fleur a little harder for a second. "Now that, Fleur... was a very complex thought, and I enjoyed every single second of it. I have no idea what that means in regards to our deal though. Once again you're describing textbook conflicted emotions. You're a psychologist's wet dream." With that Harry started laughing and Fleur joined him after just a few seconds.

When the two of them were done laughing, they lapsed into silence again because as per the norm there was a disconnect of some kind between the two of them. Harry wondered how two very similar people can have such a gap to cross all the time. Fleur wondered why she couldn't be more straightforward. She had questions she wanted answered. She was compelled to know more about Harry, but she didn't fully understand why, and she couldn't seem to get past her pride.

"My favorite color is green," Harry announced, at great length and for seemingly no reason.

"Royal blue," Fleur replied immediately and in a single gasp of air. She flushed a bright red in the seconds that followed, because her response had revealed exactly how eager she was.

"I like flying," Harry pointed out.

"I like flying... slowly," Fleur replied, in a much more genteel tone of voice.

"My favorite food is treacle tart," Harry tossed out.

"Anything sweet and baked is fine by me. I am blessed with a Veela metabolism... So are you, I suppose." Fleur smiled.

"Up until now, my best course in school has always been Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry declared.

"Charms or Runes," Fleur replied.

"If I can't play Quidditch, I suppose I'll try to be an Auror." At the tail end of those words, Harry sighed when he realized he wasn't being completely honest. "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure if that's what I really want to do anymore. I don't like the idea of a career that puts me in dangerous situations. I end up in those naturally and seeking them out on purpose just seems stupid. It's just... Defense used to be my only good subject and I wanted to play to my strengths. There's also the fact that my dad was an Auror back before the war. According to my house elf, at the very least I have a seat on Magical Britain's wizard's council waiting for me."

"I want to work on Wards, Charms or become a Healer," Fleur listed off in an offhand kind of way. "I haven't made up my mind yet, but I have the Masteries to pursue an apprenticeship in any of those careers. I do not see being undecided as a sign of weakness. A person's career should be their passion, so I'm still debating my options." Fleur shrugged into Harry's shoulder.

"Woah. Literally everything you just said was completely inspiring," Harry offered, in as sincere a voice as he could muster.

"Yes, yes I know, I'm amazing..."

"Uhhh yeah, sure," Harry drawled out, as if he'd just lost all of his former enthusiasm. "I'm going to continue with the tit for tat revelations now..."

"Please do."

"Well then here's a juicy one. I've never had a romantic relationship before because all of the girls at my school stare, whisper and giggle, and it freaks me out." Once again, Harry realized that he was only telling a partial truth so he amended his statement. "There's also been a huge obstacle in the form of my legendarily awful self-esteem. I've never felt worthy of anyone's time or care. I've only recently started fixing my poor self-image in my Mindscape... Have you ever had a crush or a romance?"

"Short answer, no," Fleur began in a dismissive tone of voice. "Long answer... All of the men that I've met at school become incapable of rational thought around me, and my father would probably murder them if they could," After a short pause that was similar to Harry's, Fleur also expanded on her answer. "There's also another issue that I rarely ever talk about. I don't like, trust, or find most men appealing... I... I don't socialize well with either sex..."

"I've always been deeply afraid of rejection, so I've never extended anything... to anyone... ever," Harry added.

"I am afraid of deep water... and being accepted for all of the wrong reasons. I don't accept anyone because I question their motives," Fleur explained.

"I want a wife and a couple of kids someday, but it's hard to imagine... I frequently think that I won't live a very long life," Harry admitted.

"I want a family as well, but I also find it hard to imagine... Finding a very strong wizard who can function around me is one thing. Having him come to accept that our children will most likely end his family line is another thing entirely."

Fleur seemed to sag into Harry's back as she continued her explanation. "Hybrid Veela like my mother and myself almost always have daughters, thus we are very rarely chosen to be the primary wife in an old or noble family. I already know that I'll never accept being merely a concubine. My mother has suggested that I find someone with a humongous family with many sons so that the issue isn't relevant..."

…

"I was obviously never able to, but if I could have I'd have played the muggle sport football (soccer)," Harry injected into the newfound silence.

"I took dance, equestrian sports, figure skating, the piano, the cello and I'm very good at football. I am tall and fast." For a single second, Fleur smiled at her win over Harry, but then she felt bad immediately after. Damn the boy.

"You would be beautiful dancing and figure skating, but I can't seem to picture you playing football," Harry admitted.

"I'm a center forward in football, all offense, not helpful in any other way," Fleur immediately countered. "Yes I am beautiful while dancing and figure skating, naturally. Veela remember?"

"Just take the compliment, Fleur," Harry said mildly. "Today's the very first day in my natural memory that I don't need to wear glasses to see. I've been staring at everything in wonder all day. Even while stunning the goons."

"There has never been a Veela that needed glasses until they are several generations removed from the bloodline. There's a beauty focus in our genetics and it dictates that we be free of physical problems. It is all very convenient." Fleur sounded satisfied and kind of wistful at exactly the same time.

"I have no particular desire to disappear from the muggle world," Harry added, in an attempt to move away from the subject of the physical. "I like the music and movies and the world is absolutely enormous. I want to see it all, not just the so-called reputable magical locations. I have no idea what my favorite movie is. I haven't had the opportunity to find out yet. I suspect it'll be Star Wars."

Fleur shook her head at the stereotypical movie choice before she responded. "Muggle fashions are always a hundred years ahead of the magical world, thus, I will always be current in muggle matters. I dislike wizarding music in the extreme and prefer muggle all the way. My favorite movie is Princess Bride. We have a media room underground, well outside of our wards, and accessible by tunnel. My father's a genius."

"That's the single coolest thing I've ever heard," Harry enthused with a laugh. "You know, spending time with your family is like the ideal that I always thought living in a magical world could be. Ron, the guy that I described before, he has a large magical family and they're all good people, but they act like muggle technology is bizarre or as complicated as rocket science. I've never seen Princess Bride, but it makes me want to ask if you were ever a princess for Halloween. Do you celebrate Halloween?"

"Yes, my family is very progressive and current in muggle matters, but since my papa deals politically in both worlds that's only natural. No decent parent would keep their children away from Halloween, and yes I was a princess twice and a ballerina and every other stereotypical girl costume you can imagine." Fleur didn't need to ask if Harry had taken part in Halloween, so she didn't.

Harry shook with quiet laughter into Fleur's shoulders as he thought about Fleur dolled up like a princess. Then he really did picture it and the laughing abruptly came to an end. "I don't think my heart can even take seeing Gabrielle in a ballerina costume. I know it's at least partially the allure but she's so damned cute it hurts my heart. Did you look exactly like her? She looks like a younger you."

"If Gabrielle is giving you problems, I would've killed you," Fleur declared with extreme levels of confidence. "I used to bankrupt our father at Christmas."

"When I first met Gabby, I thought she'd cause me money problems too. Turns out I'm extremely wealthy and it was a house elf that told me..." Harry rallied from his darker thoughts and then blasted Fleur with positive emotions. "Do you want to be rich and influential? I was about to say or happy, but that's not quite right. It's just that the wealthy people back in England seem to hate each other and take satisfaction from their perceived superiority. I don't think that's a life, it's just a sham. Your parents seem to achieve both and it's helping me change my attitude."

Fleur was frowning at yet another instance of Harry being neglected and marginalized. She and her mother had already talked at great length about Dumbledore and their suspicions about his actions. "'Arry... Have you ever wondered why the adults in England keep you unsupported and ignorant like they do? It is my opinion that everyone can see that you're special and they're actively trying to keep you small. I'm not exempting your Headmaster in this by the way... Yes, there are many stupid wealthy people in France as well. It has a lot to do with the how rather than the how much. My father is helping people and he is content with that. He is also very, very good at what he does, thus he makes a lot of money. I would like to be wealthy and influential within the circle of my own achievements. I don't want to be an accessory to someone else."

At this point, Harry wanted to turn around, but he didn't want to end the tenuous moment of peace that they were enjoying. "I've been describing myself for three years, to everyone who will listen that I am just Harry. I wanted to make myself small because of the hyphenated name that I've been so unceremoniously shackled with. At the time, I thought that I wanted to make myself more relatable. Now that I'm reliving my life through my Mindscape, I've realized that I'm just afraid of standing out, of not living up to the ideal… Other than being afraid of blanket acceptance, do you have any personal insecurities? I already know that you're confident."

Fleur was quiet for several moments before she finally answered. When she did, it was with a long sigh and shoulders that were just a little bit slumped. "I wanted to say no just now, but that wouldn't have been the truth. In my country Veela are accepted better than many a country, but even here we're still marginalized. I am seen as being arm candy. I am not seen as having my own merit beyond my looks. I seek to prove my worth to both my peers and my school. I'm about to take a great risk in doing so. A part of me is afraid that I'm not good enough, not strong enough, that others' opinion of me is correct."

"Fleur... Gods," Harry choked out in his surprise. "You can't be serious. My magic has been stalking you around these lawns for weeks now, and there's nothing weak or ordinary about you at all. You're so far above the norm, I thought there were impossibly high standards in France." Harry was completely incredulous at this point and was shaking his head against the back of Fleur's. "I was so certain of it, I even asked your mother about it. She had a really good laugh at my expense."

During the next few seconds, Fleur's elbows began digging into Harry's ribs, as she very abruptly lost her composure and started preparing for a rant. "Well why do you think I find you so frustrating, 'Arry! Here I was, cruising along, thinking I was capable of crushing everything in my path! Then this poorly dressed, broken glasses wearing, eleven year old looking, English, URCHIN waltzes into my home and oh so casually shows me magic that I can't even begin to explain let alone do! You disarmed and disabled seven men today! You saved all of our lives and you were apologizing for not also stunning the eighth! You reacted as if you failed! As if you were to blame in any way shape or form for the actions you were forced to take!"

Arry began to try to interject but Fleur immediately elbowed him back into silence as she continued. "I watched your every move today, 'Arry! I truly don't know why, but I can always sense your presence, and I always know where you are! You can downplay it to others if you want, but I saw it all! You were performing silent spell casting, using multiple spells in several different directions at a rapid rate, while under a silence spell, while Disillusioned, while running and dodging at high speeds!"

Fleur elbowed Harry again, just hard enough to punctuate her point before continuing. "If any of that isn't enough, you used two wands, one of poor compatibility and it caught fire and exploded instead of refuse to work! Or how about the fact that for the entire length of the duel you maintained one of the strongest and largest shields that I've ever seen, several meters away from your body! As if any of those things are possible! You were moving so fast that my father thought there were several people fighting! I was humbled, 'Arry, I was unmanned! I loved you and hated you with such extremes, I felt crazy in that moment! Afterwards, my mother thought that I was shocked by the violence of your actions, but she was way off the mark! I was shocked by how impossible you are and how arrogant I've been!"

Fleur abruptly lost her wind at that point, and was distracted by Harry's hand on her forearm.

Harry was silent for quite a while as he digested what Fleur had just ranted at him, because he'd never really thought about the level of skill he'd been operating at until now. He gripped Fleur's forearm a little tighter for just a second before letting it go, but he was silent for several moments longer before he finally replied. "Fleur... I honestly don't think I can become the baseline or the rival that you're trying to make of me, because as you've said, I'm a magical creature and I'm very, very far from normal… But I do know this… Every single day since I've met you, you've cast hundreds and hundreds of wildly different spells in endlessly complex patterns to perform extraordinarily specific and technical feats of absurdly powerful magic… You're a strong, ingenious and talented witch… and the fact that I exist doesn't negate how special you are. Not at all. Not even for a second…"

Fleur sighed, smiled, sighed and then smiled again because she hadn't been aiming for a pep talk just now, but it was working nonetheless. "I… Thanks, 'Arry..."

Now that hurricane Fleur had passed, Harry remained silent for several moments longer to let the tension fully drain. Then, when the timing was juuuust right, he added a little factoid about himself that might cut the tension in half. "I dislike snowball fights..."

Fleur cocked her head to the side in silent but somehow loud confusion.

"I was never taught how to throw a ball as a child," Harry explained in a defeated voice. "I throw like a six year old girl and it's embarrassing."

Fleur snorted loudly and then immediately elbowed Harry again. "You never heard that, 'Arry!"

"Oh yes I did," Harry replied, with a wide and amused smile in his voice. "It's the newest memory I'm keeping in the (for a pensieve) area I've created in my Mindscape." Harry started laughing as he started getting elbowed back and forth.

"Want to go watch Princess Bride with me?" Fleur sounded bashful, which caused Harry's heart to lurch painfully in his chest.

After immediately and emphatically nodding his head, Harry became grateful that Fleur hadn't witnessed the intensity of his eagerness. "Well that depends," he replied casually after a few seconds passed. "Is it a documentary about a princess becoming a bride?" (He injected the joke into his voice.)

"Yes, 'Arry. That's exactly what it's about," Fleur responded, in a voice just dripping with sarcasm. "You will watch it and you will love it." As she finished making that demand, Fleur spiked her allure up quite a few levels of intensity for just a single moment.

"Yes Mistress," Harry simpered with just enough of a zombie quality to make Fleur spin around in alarm.

Harry was just sitting there with a shit eating grin on his face.

"'Arry!" Fleur screamed, as she started pushing him around the lawn in mock affront. "No more faking obedience do you hear me! I expect real obedience." Fleur crossed her arms with an extremely fake pompous expression on her face.

They both laughed good and hard.

To Be Continued

Author's Note:

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