Saturday September 29th, 1994…
In the hours following Harry's first practice with the Hogwarts Quidditch Team, he asked Dobby to deliver a letter to Fleur for him.
.
Dear Fleur
Earlier today I met Hogwarts's Quidditch coach for the very first time (It's NOT Hooch thankfully). I was excited to meet Gwenog Jones, who's an incredible Quidditch player, coach and very nice (the rumors are true). She was being harassed by business people all morning, which forced me to run the physical conditioning portion of the practice. Gwenog's little sister, who is apparently one of the Hogwarts girls that hangs out in the trees in the morning, informed her that I have a strenuous workout routine. Armed with that knowledge, Gwenog had me train everyone while she fended off the business types.
Before we mounted our broom's in the afternoon, I found out that Gwenog spent the entire morning sheltering the team from talent scouts for various teams. Apparently some of these scouts are high pressure and scary, so we were all advised to get representation as soon as possible. I've never given any serious thought to what Quidditch team I'd play for if I had the opportunity, let alone the business end of it.
The actual flying during the practice was some very intense drills, and Gwenog had me recreate a lot of what she'd seen in a Pensieve memory of my tryout. A lot of it wasn't so hard to pull off on a decent quality broom.
We received our new equipment and Jerseys, plus assorted training clothing, and it's all very impressive when put together. I have boxed you a Jersey, which at this point should be sitting on your lap.
What superpower (like a comic book) would you choose? What's your favorite song? Oh and on a serious note what foods should I have Dobby learn to cook on your behalf? I've already witnessed your violent dislike of English food. I'm not a fan of seeing such an unpleasant expression on such a beautiful face.
There's only one more week until the Tournament finally begins. Since I'm aware of the French flair for the dramatic, I'm sure your school will arrive at Hogwarts in some highly magical and show-offy manner... I can't wait!
Try on the jersey! If Dobby hasn't already done so, he can resize it for you before he leaves.
Your's Truly
Harry Potter
.
Fleur and Selene were hanging around in her suite of rooms, when Dobby delivered Harry's letter and a box. As Fleur read the letter, a wide and happy smile had slowly but surely bloomed across her entire face.
Since Selene rarely ever saw her friend so beatifically happy, she had no choice but to start making dramatic swooning motions with her hands. At first Fleur laughed, but soon enough she began pleading for her friend to stop with a set of puppy dog eyes. Since there was nothing personal in the letter, when Selene shamelessly begged to see it, Fleur eventually handed it over.
Once Selene finished reading the letter, she turned back towards Fleur and then leaned in extremely close. "So this 'Arry is extremely fit, highly powerful magically and a Quidditch prodigy?"
While Fleur knew that answering that question would make Selene's accusations of having a secret romance with 'Arry even more persistent, faced with her friends tortured, pleading expression, she finally just nodded an affirmative.
Oh wow, this was the best... Selene was positively thrilled that Fleur was finally playing ball and answering her questions. She immediately launched into her next question while she still had momentum on her side. "What does 'Arry mean about his tryout and recreating it?" Selene adopted the face of someone expecting an excellent story.
At first Fleur's mouth tightened just thinking about it, but then she shrugged and smiled at her friend. "'Arry has several enemies at his school, so the tryout test he took part in became very... violent. The test itself was unmitigated chaos, with practice snitches being released once a minute for thirty minutes, but beyond that, every single able bodied man from 'Arry's rival house entered the tryout, with the sole intention of smashing him off his broom and ruining his chances."
While Selene was shocked by what Fleur was saying, she was also wildly entertained, and she was leaning closer with every word. "This blatantly obvious cheating was allowed by the judges?"
"Judge," Fleur clarified, with smoldering anger evident in her voice. "Yes… The wildly incompetent woman more than allowed it. She quite clearly enjoyed every second of the carnage that followed…"
Selene's face bloomed into a massive smile when she heard Fleur's answer. "Carnage?... What Carnage?"
At that question, Fleur fell back onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She didn't know if she even had the words to describe what that Pensieve memory had shown her. "'Arry is… Well... 'Arry is a natural born flier. It's as if he's wasted as a human being with arms and legs instead of wings. He's agile like I've never seen before when he's on a broom, and it's a beautiful thing to see… He's also pathologically opposed to being victimized. He can't, he won't allow it, to the point that his reactions can get a little scary. Don't get me wrong, he tried to evade the boys attacking him for quite some time, but he began losing the tryout because he couldn't focus on the snitches. That's when he decided to... create some space for himself."
"Violently so, I gather…" Selene was bouncing around on Fleur's bed now, very clearly enjoying herself immensely.
"'Arry tore apart the flyers hunting him as if they were naught but babies on brooms, and even several days later, some of them were still laid up in the Hospital Wing of his school. He made them collide into each other, into the ground, into the goal rings and even into himself. He never noticeably broke any rules, but he destroyed the boys pursuing him completely." Fleur rolled around on the bed and briefly covered her face with a pillow, before finally turning back towards her friend. "After that, 'Arry went on a tear, catching all of the snitches one after another until the last second, to tie for first in the tryout. He destroyed his broom when it couldn't handle the strain he was putting it through. He rode the broom's destroyed, smoking husk, into a stylish free fall towards the ground, catching a snitch on the way. His peers at school and apparently several professional Quidditch scouts, have been talking about nothing else for six whole days now."
With a wide and happy smile on her face, Selene tackled her noticeably bashful friend onto the bed, hugging her tightly. When she finally pulled away again, she pierced Fleur with a very meaningful look. "The-Survivor (Le Survivant)... Ze-Boy-Hoo-Lived... Living up to his legends, no?"
"Yes and at the same time no." Fleur stared up at the ceiling again, because she didn't really know what she should reveal about her friend. So far she'd struggled to explain what 'Arry was like to Selene, because the girl persistently tried to Merlinize the boy. "'Arry is… 'Arry is as ordinary as his circumstances are," Fleur finally declared.
"What do you mean by that?" Selene was hooked again and was leaning in very close.
"Under normal circumstances, 'Arry is just a teenaged boy who likes ordinary things like movies, music, dancing, swimming, comic books, junk food, joking around and such... The only difference between him and other boys is that when he becomes afraid, desperate or angry, his reaction speeds seem to accelerate instead of slow down. When 'Arry is deep in survival mode or in my family's case truly terrified because we're in danger... I have seen 'Arry do impossible things as if they were completely reasonable reactions."
"Like what?" Selene was about as enthralled as it's possible to become, and she wasn't being the least bit subtle about it.
As Fleur took in her friend's desperate curiosity, a troubled expression formed on her face. Even though 'Arry and Dumbledore had released her family from their magically binding oath quite a while ago, Fleur was still reluctant to reveal 'Arry's secrets. Finally, Fleur made a decision and turned towards her friend. "I will tell you but you must understand something first... 'Arry doesn't want the following things advertised..."
Very suddenly and spontaneously Selene grabbed her wand, and before Fleur could stop her, she intoned "I Selene Budreau swear on my magic, not to reveal secrets about 'Arry Potter, until I am released from this oath, or they are no longer secrets. So mote it be… Lumos."
As a white light flashed out of Selene's wand, Fleur shook her head in exasperation. "That was not necessary Selene. I was only going to ask for a normal promise. I only wanted you to understand the importance..."
"Spill," Selene demanded simply, while beaming a huge smile at her friend.
Fleur sighed again, hugging some pillows against her body, deep in thought. "Well... I was a hostage at the time so I did not see everything that 'Arry did, but what I did see was impossible enough. 'Arry burst into my father's study, where my whole family was tied up and surrounded by three professional mercenaries. 'Arry was completely Disillusioned, which is no big deal… What WAS a big deal, was the massive Protego shield that he instantly erected like a bubble around me and my entire family."
"Harry was next to you?" Selene looked confused.
"No… No he wasn't," Fleur replied, while shaking her head. "He was still fighting in the doorway, while using his dominant wand to maintain an unbelievably massive shield around my entire family. He held this impossible shield in place even as he dueled with a second wand of poor compatibility that he'd stolen from another attacker, elsewhere in my home. Two of the attackers tried to end 'Arry's invisibility spell by casting Homenum Revelio spells at exactly the same time, and yet they failed for 'Arry was pouring out so much magic. 'Arry was also moving so fast that it looked like there were several people coming to our aid. Truly, because he was still invisible, my parents thought it was an Auror task force that was coming to our rescue. 'Arry knocked one of the mercenaries out with a stunning spell and then they began firing absolutely everything they had at him in futility. Soon after, he took out a second man by punching him in the face so hard he was knocked unconscious, which made the remaining mercenary very angry and desperate. The cretin began barraging the Protego shield that was covering my family with no less than fifteen high power offensive spells and we all thought we were doomed, but like a miracle 'Arry's shield kept holding and kept stopping the curses. 'Arry had not killed any of the attackers up until that point, but he abruptly decided that this last remaining man was far too dangerous to continue living. He used the extra wand he'd stolen earlier to fire a highly powerful blasting curse. The force of the spell blew up the poor compatibility wand that he'd been using, burning the palm of his hand."
"Wait!... The wand exploded but it still created the spell?" Selene was leaning forward again, on the edge of her seat.
"Yes…" While Fleur's voice was almost completely deadpan, there was a vast amount of emotion poorly hidden underneath. "'Arry demanded that the wand cooperate, and just like the broom from my earlier story, it destroyed itself instead of disobey. 'Arry's Blasting curse ripped through the mercenary leader's Protego shield like a hot knife through butter and the man was killed instantly… There was a human shaped crater in the wall of my father's study. 'Arry felt bad about committing such great violence in front of my little sister Gabrielle. My family and I all had to reassure him that he'd had no choice…"
Selene finally collapsed onto the bed next to Fleur, facing the ceiling. At this point, she was just trying to count the number of impossible things.
Fleur found it easier to talk now that Selene was laying beside her. "I also saw 'Arry perform several wandless spells, in order to save Gabrielle, when we were at the Quidditch World Cup, but mere seconds before the attack happened, he was pouting like a little boy, while Gabby and I laughed at him... 'Arry is a powerful wizard, yes, definitely, but his real talent appears to be dictated by his circumstances. Great danger or need makes him a much more powerful wizard. It unlocks his potential in ways I cannot begin to describe."
Selene was completely floored by all of Fleur's revelations, so at first she didn't know what to say. Then she suddenly perked up, rolling over to face Fleur from extremely close range. "I now understand why you're so very in love with this young man of yours."
"Selene, please stop!" Fleur threw her hands up towards the ceiling in supplication. "friend! 'Arry is extremely important to me, yes, but as a very close friend Selene!"
Selene had enjoyed that reaction immensely, thus, Fleur's desperate plea had fallen on completely deaf ears. It was painfully obvious that Fleur loved this boy far more than even she was aware of. The way she spoke of him and more importantly the look on her face when she did so… Not only that, but judging solely by the one letter that she'd read, it was completely obvious that 'Arry loved Fleur in return…
Selene squared up with Fleur and dropped a hand atop the girl's shoulders. "Oh I believe 'Arry is your friend now. I cannot say how long that will last... He is a rising star right now. He will no doubt find himself the center of plenty of female attention, no?"
Fleur smiled in amusement, even as she nodded her agreement. "This year for the very first time, 'Arry has a very large female following. They have even begun wearing lightning bolts embroidered onto their clothing."
Selene scoffed at the notion of anyone having a legitimate fan club, but then she put that thought aside for now. "Riddle me this Fleur... How long before your friendship is endangered by one of these fangirls, because the woman receives 'Arry's attention in return?"
"'Arry would never alienate me because of his love for another," Fleur replied, with a confident smile upon her face. "'Arry has decided that I'm family. It means far more to him than some arbitrary title." Fleur looked sad for several seconds before she visibly shook it off and looked back at Selene. "'Arry's relatives were inhumanly cruel to him growing up, so he has started building his own family around himself."
Selene looked like she might lose her train of thought due to that unexpected information, but she shook out her head and then persisted. "Fleur... You are, in my most humble opinion, the most beautiful woman in the whole entire world."
After smiling at her very sweet friend Fleur shook her head in a casual dismissal. "Veela Selene… I am cheating."
"Doesn't matter," Selene declared succinctly. "Any woman that 'Arry ends up romantically involved with, will either hate you or leave him because of you... If I've picked up anything at all from you, it's that 'Arry is a good man. For that reason, he may never point that truth out to you, but it will be true nonetheless. Also, even if I'm wrong… I have a request… just for the sake of science of course. I want you to imagine something for me. I want you to really put yourself into this scenario Fleur..."
Fleur had no idea where Selene was going with this, but she decided to cooperate anyway. "If I absolutely must, then I will picture what you have to say. Go ahead Selene."
Laying back on the bed, Selene dropped the timber of her voice until it was melodic, taking on a sleepy and mesmerizing quality. Selene had a younger sister, and she'd used this voice to ease her to sleep telling stories many times in the past. She was currently hoping to carry Fleur through an experience that might do her stubborn, dense brain some good. "Okay Fleur… You're currently sitting in a very large church, on a Sunday afternoon. The second row pew you're sitting in has smooth velvety seats, so you're quite comfortable as you wait and look around the audience. The air smells like the fresh herbs that have been artfully arranged throughout the room, to chase away the old church's musky smell. It is a nice warm spring day and the stained glass windows are all cracked open, allowing the nicest of cross breezes to flow throughout the room. From the back of the room you can hear soft organ music, playing modern renditions of the traditional music you expect at these kinds of events…. All of the sudden, there's an excited furor from the audience around you, and you know that the main event is about to begin. You turn over your right shoulder and catch sight of a tall, beautiful, confident woman, in a stunningly gorgeous white dress, walking down the aisle towards you. She smiles in a friendly fashion as she passes you, approaching a man in a black suit, standing a few feet to the right of the altar…"
Selene smiled in satisfaction because she could already see that Fleur was experiencing what she was describing. It was time... "Now that this woman has dragged your attention down the aisle, you look towards the altar for the very first time, examining the man who's currently occupying it. Immediately, your breath catches in your throat. You hadn't yet scrutinized the man standing there, because you'd already known exactly what you'd find, and something had stopped you from looking up until now... The man standing there looks extremely dashing and confident, which leads you to feel intense pride for him, along with another emotion that you carefully avoid paying any attention to. The man is tall and strong, and he has the nicest hair in an untamable black mass tied carefully down his back. He has those extremely vivid green eyes that you've come to know so well, only they're wiser now, more experienced. Those green eyes you've always enjoyed so much, are currently staring in open adoration at the elegantly dressed woman in white… 'Arry Potter is looking at this woman like she's the center of his entire universe, and as she approaches the altar, he looks almost overwhelmed with emotion. You Fleur… are present in this church to witness this woman's marriage to 'Arry Potter, as one of his 'closest friends'…."
Selene was well and truly in storytelling mode now, and she could see that she had Fleur, hook, line and sinker. She gave what she'd said so far a moment to sink in before she continued… "Soon enough the wedding procession begins. 'Arry Potter continues to stare at the woman across from him, the entire time the Minister is speaking. He is beaming at this woman, because over the years she has successfully captured his heart… This woman has offered 'Arry her unwavering love and acceptance, and he has come to love her to the ends of the Earth in return. Oh yes, there is another woman present today that 'Arry had hoped to become involved with, back when he was young and naïve… They'd always been extremely close friends, and he still loves her like a sister, but he'd always thought that they could've had something more... Some unidentifiable gap always kept their relationship from developing beyond mere friendship, so his hopes never came to fruition… At this point, 'Arry has long since put those feelings to rest. He is completely devoted to the woman who is standing in front of him. He is overjoyed to have found someone who truly loves him, and he is thrilled that she is becoming his wife…"
At this point, Selene could actually feel the fact that Fleur was starting to have a Veela style meltdown, but she's the type that's willing to go the distance if it means she gets real results. She never even considered sparing Fleur from the anxiety that she was currently feeling. Selene wanted Fleur to recognize her true feelings, because so far as she was concerned, this was the stuff that true friendship was made of.
After allowing a few moments to pass again, Selene continued with her scenario... "Soon after, both 'Arry and this woman begin to recite their marriage vows. 'Arry says his vows with such intense sincerity and meaning in his voice, everyone in the chapel knows that he's doing far more than just reciting words from a script. 'Arry is making a magical vow because of how much meaning he's putting behind his every word. He's committing himself completely to his marriage, and he would tear the world apart to protect it. You can clearly see in his eyes that 'Arry Potter will love this woman for the rest of his life, in the truest Corinthian fashion. He will be faithful, dedicated and protective of this woman, until the day that he breathes his last breath. Her achievements will be his own and vice versa. He will never covet another woman, and because of his strong will and sheer magical power no force on earth can make him feel otherwise. When prompted by the Minister, 'Arry Potter steps confidently towards the woman, and they share a passionate kiss filled with a sense of extreme finality... It's appropriate that it looks that way because it is, in fact, final. In the eyes of both magic and society, they are husband and wife, tied together in holy matrimony… Everyone in the chapel launches to their feet, cheering for the happy couple and... it... is... all... over…"
Unbeknownst to Fleur her allure had been rising steadily throughout Selene's entire story. It was only at the end, when her allure suddenly spiked to full-power for just a few seconds that she finally caught on to what she was doing.
Oh Gods!...
Fleur had begun swamping the entire room with intense levels of allure, as if she was under attack or trying to paralyze a man into submission! Fleur swiveled her face towards her friend in alarm, and saw that even Selene, a heterosexual woman, had a face that was beginning to flush red with arousal. Fleur immediately clamped down on her allure and gave her friend an extremely apologetic look. "I'm so sorry Selene. I... I don't know what just happened..."
After just a few moments, Selene shook off her prominent blush with a nonchalance made possibly by her high levels of self-confidence. Following that, she smiled at her friend, patting her arm comfortingly for several moments without saying a word. Then, finally, when they'd both calmed down again, it was time. "Yes, yes you do, Fleur. You know EXACTLY what just happened..." Selene sat up on the bed, dropped her feet back to the floor, and then looked back at Fleur with a very meaningful expression on her face. "Now I have more Potions work to do, and you'll most likely brood for a while, resenting my involvement in your personal affairs. Before I go however, may I please see you try on the Jersey?"
Fleur didn't feel like cooperating anymore because she knew for a fact that she was being manipulated. The hang up was that she felt really bad about the allure assault she'd just hit her friend with. In the end, Fleur complied with her friend's request for two reasons. One was so that she could make up for her loss of control, and two was so that Selene would leave.
Fleur needed time to completely freak out, and Selene was getting in the way.
Rising to her feet and picking up the box with a pair of shaky hands, Fleur very slowly popped open the lid. Then, when she saw what was sitting inside of the box, her heartbeat sped up and she felt just a little bit faint… It was a black, Hogwarts Quidditch team, #07 Jersey, with POTTER written along the upper back and shoulders. It had the Hogwarts crest on the Front, the Gryffindor emblem on the right sleeve, and a capital letter A above the right chest. It was beautiful because 'Arry fought for it, and it was rare because he only had the two… He'd only had the one extra to give away and he'd wanted her to have it… That single fact and all of its possible meanings rampaged around inside of Fleur's head, as she slowly put on the jersey.
Sure enough, Fleur found that Dobby had already sized it to fit her perfectly (skin tight. Dobby's a gem).
Selene nodded and grinned in Fleur's direction. "Now that, Fleur... is one amazing article of clothing. Have a good night." With those parting words delivered, the scarily perceptive witch casually walked out of Fleur's room, as if she hadn't just thrown a live grenade into her friend's social life.
In the wake of Selene's exit, Fleur just stood there, staring at the closed door for several minutes straight. It took quite a while for her brain to start working again, at which point she very, very slowly, turned her body towards her wall-mirror. Despite having repositioned her body, Fleur's eyes still wouldn't turn towards the reflective surface. She couldn't do it. She was far too cowardly. After several more minutes passed, Fleur rapidly panned her eyes towards the mirror, as if the act was like ripping off a bandaid and best done quickly. Over the next half a minute, she slowly turned in place, so that she could see 'Arry's name proudly displayed across her upper-back. The jersey seemed to scream both the words possessing and possessed. It was unbelievably intimate because of what it would symbolize to others. This was an amazing article of clothing...
Fleur was terrified. Fleur was beginning to panic, and she thought she might even hyperventilate... Damn that Selene! She was right... Fleur did resent her involvement!
"Dobby," Fleur squeaked, in a very quiet and shaky voice.
POP
"Yes my Lady," Dobby replied, in a very soothing and soft tone of voice.
"Can you... convey to 'Arry... that I am exhausted and will send a letter to him at a later time?"
"Yes my Lady," Dobby replied, just as quietly as before. "Sleep well..."
Pop (even quieter than usual)
The week that followed the Quidditch team's introduction to Gwenog Jones was a blur of both movement and activity, which was exactly what Harry needed.
By this point, it had become routine for Harry to wake up extremely early every morning to complete his obstacle course around the lake. A bit of exercise that almost everyone thought he was insane for completing every day considering the intense Quidditch practices that he took part in with the rest of his team later in the afternoon. There wasn't much that Harry could do about it however, given the fact that his training sessions in the morning were actually quite a bit harder and more physically demanding than the afternoon practices, and were improving his physicality every single time he completed them.
Due to the fact that Harry's strength and agility was still improving on a daily basis, the obstacle course was evolving daily as well, incorporating both rungs to swing across, several walls to jump/climb over, and several other varieties of obstacles and traps.
Another routine part of Harry's morning always happened immediately after he was finished running the obstacle course… He needed to make himself scarce, and he needed to assure that he was both invisibility and silence spelled when he did so. He needed to go to those lengths to lose his female fans, because they weren't even being subtle about trying to follow him anymore... Everywhere that Harry went, all day, every day, there were several young ladies following him at a medium distance, or even worse, the very bane of his existence…
Collin Creevey.
In the days since the Quidditch Team tryouts two weeks earlier, Collin had slowly but surely transformed into an especially persistent variety of paparazzi, and he'd been taking any chance he could get to snap a photograph of Harry moving about the school. There was a small but booming business for anyone who had his photo and the completely shameless boy was making a killing.
With both his female fans and young Mr. Creevey being so in-close and grating nowadays, Harry's morning ritual with Nev in the RoR was becoming even more important. The boy was a bastion of calm within the chaos of the school, because he was generally soft spoken, he was kind, he was laid-back, he had a good head on his shoulders, and most importantly he kept Harry sane.
Meals were always extremely fun, and Harry was relatively safe from the gawking masses while surrounded by the Gryff team, Nev and Mione. Mione thought all of the commotion was a fantastic development, as she was a fan of any excitement that wasn't actively trying to kill them, and she thought that it was about damned time that good things started happening to her best friend. In return, Harry didn't know what he'd do without Hermione always having his back, and he was sure to let her feel that much through the medium of his shroud.
On the other side of the friendship spectrum, Ron had slunk off to the opposite side of the Gryffindor table, but only when he bothered showing up at all. According to Dobby, Ron had found his way into the House elf kitchens, where he was eating them out of house and home.
Classes continued to go extremely well... to an almost inconvenient extent in fact... As it turns out, there's a drawback to excellence that neither Harry nor Hermione had ever even considered. Over the last week, all of the Professors had enrolled the two of them into an accelerated curriculum that demanded they buy a brand new set of much more complicated textbooks, and they were being introduced to a series of advanced level spells that they wouldn't normally have learned until fifth, sixth or seventh year... It appeared that Hogwarts actually WAS prepared to cater to extreme genius, with a series of carefully arranged coursework, magic manipulation drills and projects… The one and only cost of this consideration was the time constraints that all of this extra coursework caused on Harry's already extremely busy schedule…
Unlike Harry or Hermione, Neville wasn't extremely far ahead in any of his classes… Instead, he was happy as a clam as one of the most accomplished students of their year. Harry, in turn, was extremely happy to have a confident and successful Neville Longbottom for a friend. He couldn't even believe the returns just a little bit of positive attention had done for the boy/man.
In the days since Draco Malfoy's attempt to screw over Harry at the Quidditch Team Tryouts, Harry had spell -charmed the boy's cloak invisible to absolutely everyone but him, Confunded his motor control functions (try moving an arm and a leg moves instead etc), gave the boy planters warts, made a persistent smell of rotten fish follow him around (only he could smell it so he looked insane), jinxed him so that every time a question was asked in classes he'd raise his hand (could've backfired if he was smart, but he's a dummy), grown the boy a set of antlers, and finally the boy's skin had inexplicably turned a bright pink color on five different occasions. Harry was activating all of these spells from the far side of busy hallways or classrooms using his aura shroud, so that he couldn't be pointed to as the culprit, and the plan was working perfectly…
Which made sense.
So many different Hogwarts students were targeting Draco Malfoy for revenge pranks this year, it was completely impossible to single out any one prank from the rest. The fact that Malfoy screamed Harry's name towards the Professors every single time he was pranked by absolutely anyone at all, was the inspiration for a new and wildly popular joke meme... In this new running joke, Harry was using three different time turners in tandem so that he could prank Draco more times in a single day than was physically possible.
The twins were wildly entertained by the brand-new pranking Renaissance that the school was currently experiencing. They also seemed to know exactly when a prank was one of Harry's, even though they wouldn't explain how...
Long story short, the twins were currently looking at Harry as if he was Merlin reborn.
Harry loved every single damned second of their daily Quidditch practices. He was working closely with Gwenog to get the most out of the team's physical conditioning, and he'd shown her Dobby's smoothies, which she'd immediately fallen in love with. She'd even suggested that he market them to the sports community, because they were just that incredible. Harry's reply had been that it would only happen if a company CEO could be a house elf. As it turns out, there's no law against it (Hermione had glomped onto him and wouldn't let go when he'd told her what he and Dobby were planning on doing).
The Hogwarts Quidditch Team was becoming stronger in leaps and bounds, with professional trainers and brand new training equipment being introduced with every day that passed. In the air, most of Harry's teammates were flying drills that none of them had ever even heard of before that were so impossibly complex it had taken days of repetition to accomplish them even at much slower speeds. Harry, in turn, had spent the lion's share of his practices paired up with a professional broom racer, who was pushing his speed and agility to its very limits, just to shave off fractions of a second while flying a prearranged track. He'd already been informed that he'd be among the leading pack, if he ever decided to become a professional broom racer.
Harry kept himself busy all day, every single day, both because there was a lot to do and because that was the easiest way to keep himself from thinking too much. The reason for this newfound aversion was simple…
Fleur had never sent him a response after he'd sent her his extra jersey.
Harry didn't like idle moments at the moment, because they allowed him to fret over the eldest Delacour daughter's sudden lack of correspondence, and left him trying to pinpoint exactly what he'd done wrong to make his friend back off in such a dramatic fashion.
Dobby kept repeating that Harry was wrong, and that it was of utmost importance that he be patient with his Lady. Dobby was being surprisingly close-mouthed about it all, but he was adamant that it was for Harry's own good. He was being very clear in his opinion that Harry had done nothing wrong and that pushing Fleur for answers wouldn't help their current situation in the slightest. Dobby said that he was helping Harry navigate his current situation simply by helping him give his Lady space.
Harry trusted Dobby implicitly, so if his house elf friend wanted him to wait, then waiting was the best course of action. The not so little elf was a bonafide genius, which meant that Harry just needed to have a little faith... That knowledge did not help Harry's brain however, which was currently a gerbil on a wheel, running and running and getting absolutely nowhere.
Finally, tomorrow, after their classes end, the other schools would finally arrive at Hogwarts. Harry was both anticipating it and dreading it.
"Everybody line up by year," Mrs. McGonagall yelled over the din of students.
The Hogwarts student body were all arrayed out on the lawns below the Entry Hall of the castle, where they were not so patiently waiting for the other schools to arrive. It was only a little bit chilly out tonight, but over time, the body heat of many of the smaller students had begun to seep out of them, and they'd started to shiver. Harry busied himself, Neville and Hermione, casting warming charms at all of the first year students, who didn't know how to do such charms for themselves yet. Those first year students who caught them at it, beamed smiles of intense relief at them.
Leaning back in a casual fashion, Harry whispered into Mione's ear. "It's been five whole days now since last I heard from Fleur..."
After looking concerned for one or perhaps two seconds, Hermione visibly relaxed again and smiled. "Harry, this girl may be both sophisticated and French, but she's still a teenaged girl. I've read a copy of the last letter you sent her, remember? You said nothing the least bit inappropriate, therefore she's just being a crazy, hormonal teenager. Even I'm one of those."
After wrapping Hermione up in his aura, Harry gave the woman a huge hug with it, while forcing her to feel just how incredible a friend and witch he thought she was... "You aren't JUST anything at all, Mione," he added in a soft but meaningful tone of voice. "Never forget that."
In the seconds that followed Harry's words, a wide and warm smile bloomed across Hermione's whole entire face, but she also poked at his chest as if his actions only served to prove her point. "Stuff like that Harry, is why Fleur's going to be happy to see you."
Neville nodded his agreement even as Hermione adopted a very smug and self-satisfied posture with her arms crossed over her chest, making it very clear to Harry (once again) that his friends thought he was worrying too much…
Shaking off some of his nerves (again), Harry smiled and then returned his attention back to the Black Lake, which was calm, and then up at the sky which was... Oh... Magical and show-offy for sure... "Up there," Harry offered, as he pointed off towards the mountainous horizon.
Harry's gesture brought everyone's attention to a very distant but growing black speck in the sky above the mountains. A speck that only very slowly grew in size until they could see that it was a super-massive... carriage. It was a gigantic carriage being pulled by several flying horses, but at that distance and that scale?
"They're Abraxon?" Hermione whispered, answering Harry's unspoken question. "They're very, very large, winged horses, with bad tempers. Hagrid's going to love this."
Harry laughed, while cocooning Hermione in his appreciation for her extreme genius. Ever since Mione gained control of her Mindscape, the poor library had been cut into quarters and devoured by the girl.
Over the next several minutes the carriage just kept getting bigger, until Harry started getting bored with the perspective illusion and wanted it to finally arrive already. By the time the carriage was coming in for a landing, its size had become completely astounding. Harry canted his head to the side, as he wondered how this was going to work. Rather than land, the carriage looked like it was going to crash into the lawns and kill them all. It was only when the carriage made contact with the ground that it became obvious it was preloaded with thousands and thousands of cushioning charms.
Instead of the impact crater that Harry half expected the carriage to create within the lawn, the massive wooden structure ONLY hit the earth with a huge, jarring impact that shook the ground beneath their feet. Then the Abraxon were stampeding all over the lawn, as if flat, green, grassy surfaces were their sworn enemy, leaving behind hundreds of sewer grate sized holes in their wake.
Eventually the carriage came to a halt, helped mostly by the fact that its wheels were creating twin trenches half a meter deep into the ground. For several very long moments after the carriage ran out of momentum, nothing happened at all, leaving the Hogwarts students to stand around feeling dumb. Finally, after about a minute and a half, a French boy popped out of a door that was two-and-a-half meters off the ground, to activate a crank system located on its side.
The crank system seemed to achieve a lot for the amount of effort that the small, thin boy was putting into turning the little wheel. It began by automatically leveling the carriage to flat, but when that was accomplished and the boy didn't stop turning the wheel, it became obvious that the mechanism had far more to accomplish. Sure enough, over the next half a minute, several awnings, a roof access patio, and dozens of small tinted windows magically appeared on all sides of the carriage.
Harry had to admit that the sky blue mobile home was pretty damned swanky. The French could really redneck in style.
The carriage's transformation was only finished when a huge trellis complete with roses and a large wooden balcony fit for nearly fifty people slid into place from some pocket dimension underneath the carriage.
Harry whistled his appreciation, only to be shushed by Mrs. McGonagall.
When all of the impressive magic was finally finished, a completely enormous woman daintily and gracefully emerged from within the carriage. She was a little more than Hagrid's height and yet she moved like a dancer. Harry was impressed, despite the fact that Fleur had told him stories about Madam Maxine several times over the course of the summer.
Dumbledore confidently walked up to the very large woman and greeted her like an old friend. He also went in for a hug, which she obviously returned only begrudgingly.
Harry wasn't surprised by the woman's reluctance at all. Her entire image appeared to be trying to negate her impressive size, and hugging Dumbledore was broadcasting it to the world. Harry thought that for such a supposedly wise man, Dumbledore was frequently both careless and thoughtless.
Dumbledore and Madam Maxine traded a few moments of low volume conversation before Dumbledore finally pulled away with a wide and gracious smile on his face. When next he spoke, it was quite a bit louder and in French. "If it pleases you, your students can head inside to the Great Hall and take a seat at any one of the tables."
Madam Maxine replied in English with a graceful and demure smile upon her face. "Zank you Dumbeedore. I will do exactly zat." With that much said, she turned towards the lead student, still standing in the carriage door and barked out the word "come" in extremely commanding French.
As if he'd been electrified, the boy immediately bounced out of the door, and the procession of students from the carriage began.
The French school students were a picture of grace and poise, as they exited the carriage and flowed up the hill towards the school. It looked kind of like what you'd picture a group of elves from Lord of the Rings looking like while walking in a line.
Harry knew for a fact that Beauxbatton was a co-ed school, and yet it all looked so feminine to him, it was hard to picture any of the approaching people as boys. As Harry watched the Beauxbatton students sedately walk towards him, he felt the stirrings of a new concern growing within his mind. He began to worry that Fleur thought he was clumsy and barbaric, in comparison to the rest of her classmates. He pictured her laughing beautifully at all of his rather disastrous Floo attempts, and for the first time in quite a while he felt like he might blush in embarrassment.
Then... very abruptly, Harry decided to stop stressing himself out... The fact of the matter was that he was clumsy and barbaric... If Fleur had a problem with that, then there was nothing to be done about it. He knew that Fleur liked him as a friend, but in the end, whether or not she wanted more from him was out of his control.
Despite all of his fears, (or maybe because of them) Harry found himself wanting to seek Fleur out with his magic. He didn't do so because it would only cause her problems. To this day, every time Fleur senses his magic, her allure becomes a bonfire of activity. Harry didn't want to embarrass his friend by accident.
With nothing else to do, Harry went back to doing what he'd been doing a few minutes earlier. Several of the students walking towards him were openly shivering, so Harry began casting several dozen warming spells. When Hermione caught on to what he was doing, she joined in and soon enough Neville did the same. As the French students walked by, Harry did in fact confirm that there were men in the group, but they were a visible minority at the school that they were attending.
If he had to be honest, Harry didn't know if he was jealous of these boys or not. The women at his school were becoming very demanding and nosey these days, and they never gave him any space... At the tail end of that thought, Harry wished for just a single moment that he wasn't hopelessly in love with Fleur, so that he might actually enjoy all of the female attention that he was receiving, but then, he shook his head at the direction of his thoughts, because the heart wants what it wants…
As if to rub in that fact, Harry finally caught sight of Fleur gliding up the lawns in all of her platinum blonde glory. She wasn't shivering and she was... of course... beauty incarnate. The girl walking next to her WAS shivering however, so Harry hit her with a warming spell from about twenty meters away.
As if she'd already known exactly what Harry was about to do, the girl's head suddenly snapped up, and she immediately caught sight of him with his wand held out discreetly at his side. Then, when the girl started smiling knowingly at him, Harry realized that this girl just had to be the very competent and clever Lady Selene.
In the end, Harry was reduced to smiling sheepishly at the dark-haired girl, as he pocketed his wand and stifled a blush.
Sheesh... French women are scary…
As Selene walked next to Fleur towards Hogwarts's Entry Hall, she cast a glance aside at her friend, suppressed a sigh of long suffering and started pondering how exactly she might address her newest concern. Fleur was very, very carefully not looking at any of the Hogwarts students that they were walking past, and she wasn't fooling herself about the reason why... After shaking her head at the girl, Selene brushed the back of her hand against Fleur's to get her attention.
"Remind me again why it's necessary that we look like the snootiest bitches on the face of the planet?" Selene asked quietly, but with a noticeable air of impatience.
The ghost of a smile appeared on Fleur's face as she whispered her reply. "Our Headmistress desires an image of class and sophistication from us dear Selene."
"Well if it's classy you want, then I just encountered your young Lord Potter, when he hit me with a warming spell..." Selene forced herself to continue smiling in a carefree manner, even as she carefully scrutinized Fleur's body language and facial expressions. "Somehow, 'Arry noticed me shivering while I was still over fifteen meters away... I wonder if he was looking in my direction for any specific reason..."
"That does sound like something 'Arry would do," Fleur whispered, in a tight and pitiful little voice. Despite the intense emotions hedged within her every word, she'd still kept her eyes locked upon Hogwarts's Entry Hall doors.
After once again shaking her head at her friend, Selene bit her lip in her rising concern. "Listen Fleur... I've apologized for what I said that night over and over. I know I'm at fault for this and I am sorry, but now I'm also getting worried. Why are you still having this panic attack of yours?"
"I have no idea what to say, do, or think. No idea what I want, need or have. No clue at all," Fleur whispered again. "You just don't get it, Selene… I am terrified of risking what I have with 'Arry… I cannot, will not, lose him… He has become essential to me now… He's so important to me I can't even begin to…" for the first time since exiting the carriage, Fleur broke her carefully controlled poise, to wipe at her cheeks with her palms. "I'm also acutely aware that ignoring 'Arry for five whole days while freaking out hasn't helped, and although I highly doubt he's angry at me, he'll definitely be worried by now. I feel as if I am in quicksand and with every second that passes I sink even further."
After gazing up at the castle for several quiet moments, Selene returned her attention to Fleur. "You know, I'm really quite impressed with this enormous old castle. Just look at these huge, ancient walls and bold, somewhat barbaric English architecture... Doesn't it inspire bravery and daring? Warriors lived here; battles have been fought and won. I can see someone seeing these walls and finding new courage, saying things they're afraid of saying... It might do them a world of good..."
Fleur smiled just a little even as she shook her head. "Selene… I love you but you're not quite as clever as you think you are."
Selene just nodded and shrugged. "I guess it depends on how subtle you think I wanted to be. Maybe I just wanted to keep you from immediately rejecting the idea before it sank in. I would say I succeeded."
"Touché," Fleur muttered quietly.
After that, the two girls walked into the castle in silence.
As Harry watched the Beauxbatton students walk into the school, he found himself looking down at his feet. Fleur never once looked at anyone from his school. In fact, she never looked in their direction at all, which is not something the Hogwarts students could say in return.
Harry hadn't been alone in the act of staring at Fleur. As she'd walked by, ripples of excited boys discovered her, stared at her, and then whisper/yelled to each other about how unbelievably beautiful she is. Harry managed to tolerate his school peers' reactions only because yes, Fleur is beautiful and Gods does he know it. Reacting poorly to every man who admires Fleur would lead to genocide, and at his core Harry is a very kind soul. He still felt several moments of intense frustration however. Nev and Mione had already put their hands on his shoulders, because they truly are the very best of friends. Lifting his eyes from his shoelaces, Harry smiled at them both, at which point he heard a quiet gurgling sound coming from the direction of the water. After gesturing for his friends to look towards the lakeshore, Harry began watching a growing disturbance in the water
Over about a minute, more and more students noticed which direction Harry and his friends were focused on. Soon enough, the student body was watching the water, as a bubbling mass of ejected air deformed the surface of the lake. Then it happened. Slowly but surely, several masts rose out of the water, complete with rigging and sail. The most interesting part was that the parts of the ship that rose out of the water were completely dry as if the whole ship was water proofed through magic.
Harry was reminded of the spell Hermione had cast on his glasses during his ill-fated, Dementor attack, Quidditch loss to Hufflepuff the year before. The ship's mast's were black, the sails were black and the hull that followed was... you guessed it... black. Harry shook his head at the senseless drama of it all. Any entirely black ship on the ocean would be a complete death trap to operate.
A moment later Harry shook his head at the very muggle direction of his thinking. For all he knew when on the ocean at night, the entire damned ship was bioluminescent. The Durmstrang ship might light up the ocean for miles in every direction. Must not assume, Harry thought to himself. You don't want to make an ass out of u and me. Once the ship was bobbing on the water, it was completely enormous just like the Beauxbatton digs, but it didn't look anywhere near as comfortable. It rocked even at rest, so sleeping on it would most likely be a nightmare.
After a gangplank was magically lowered from the ship, a rail thin man with a goatee waltzed his way onto the grass, with all the flair of a cartoon villain.
Tilting his head towards Neville, Harry arched an eyebrow up towards his hairline. "That man looks like several book's description of the devil."
After choking out a surprised laugh, Neville covered his mouth with a hand. Finally when he'd contained any further laughter inside of his body, he whispered through his hand. "Best keep that observation between friends Harry."
"Sound advice as always Lord Longbottom," Harry replied, in a return whisper. He stared in morbid curiosity as Dumbledore embraced Karkaroff, because it was like a mixture of two genres of movies, mainly a Disney cartoon and a Steven King horror.
"I bet you a thousand galleons the Durmstrang students will look like Nazis," Harry offered into the quiet. Several muggle students standing nearby broke out in quick laughs before getting shushed again. Sure enough, when the Durmstrang students emerged they looked like a gray and black uniform wearing military unit. Harry performed a small bow both left and right, even as the Durmstrang students marched by, all pomp and circumstance. The Durmstrang school had a different brand of snootiness than the one Beauxbatton had displayed, but it was a somewhat similar flavor.
All of the sudden, Harry heard Ron's voice for the first time in quite a while. "Oh my God, it's Krum!" Harry rolled his eyes at the loss of his school's dignity in that moment, but yes it was in fact Krum and yes it was in fact pretty damned cool.
As the obviously northern school marched into the school, the Hogwarts students were left to their own devices. Telling them where to go next was completely unnecessary. With the Great Hall containing two schools of strangers to stare at, everyone started marching towards the Entry Hall completely unbidden.
Fleur sat down with the rest of her school at the tail end of an extremely long table. It appeared that the Great Hall had been magically expanded to be twice as long as normal, because her entire delegation, a couple hundred students, only took up half of the Ravenclaw table. As they sat down, Fleur beat herself up, because she was both upset and relieved that she wasn't sitting at the Gryffindor table. Gods, she ranted at herself, in a moment of purest self-loathing. Something must be done about all of this indecision!
Fleur figured that at some point, she'd have face to face contact with Harry, at which point she'd know with more certainty what she truly needed from him. While it was obvious that she was just stalling for time, it was the best that Fleur could do under the circumstances.
As the Beauxbatton students settled in and dinner time approached, Fleur's silver bracelet warmed, and she was given the impression that if she wanted something made, Dobby was all over it. Fleur smiled for the first time since she'd walked out of the carriage, because it was safe to assume that Dobby had become an excellent Parisian chef. According to her parents, the house elf had camped out in their kitchens most of the week, discretely observing their chefs. Apparently Harry had made these arrangements when she failed to specify which foods Dobby should learn to cook. While Fleur wasn't surprised that Harry would go to great lengths for her comfort, such treatment only made her abandonment of him that much more painful to think about.
The Durmstrang students arrived next, marching directly towards the table adjoining the Slytherin banner as if they'd made prior arrangements. As a whole, Durmstrang was both hugely pompous and stern. Fleur wondered how much of that demeanor was public image and how much of it was lifestyle. They marched up to their places and then dropped into the provided chairs, as if that was their version of parade rest.
Soon after, the Hogwarts students started filing into the Hall, with no discernible order or direction whatsoever. Fleur thought that the school's lack of discipline was appropriate, considering they had someone like Dumbledore in control. While she didn't have any proof of Dumbledore's worst crimes, what she could quite easily prove was that the man was criminally negligent. The Headmaster's consistent inaction and laissez faire attitude had forced Harry to pay the price for his foolishness far, far too often in the past.
Damn…
In that moment, Fleur wanted to go just five damned minutes without thinking about Harry, but such a thing clearly wasn't in the cards. As if to rub in that fact, Harry suddenly entered the Hall, surrounded by several very fit looking boys and girls on all sides. At first, he was chatting quietly with a good looking older boy, but as they reached their different tables, he patted the teen's shoulder in farewell…
Wait... Was that Cedric Diggory Harry was just speaking to?! How, when had the two of them become friends after that tryout?
Sure enough, the older boy smiled before running off towards the Hufflepuff table. When Harry pulled out a chair for a girl with intense bushy brown hair, she gave him a wide and appreciative smile in return. Then, when Harry sat down himself, he didn't even seem to notice the rest of his group settle around him like a cloud. He has no idea, Fleur realized. He is magnetic to them.
After quietly clearing her throat didn't work, Selene gently poked Fleur from the side, startling her. Then, when Fleur's eyes snapped towards her, Selene leaned in and spoke very, very quietly. "I don't think staring at 'Arry is the wisest course of action, if at other times you're going to avoid his eyes as if he's a basilisk. It's not a tactic I'd suggest, because it makes you appear... insane. I'm not even saying that you shouldn't stare, I'm only suggesting you pick an approach..."
While gasping at her own loss of control, Fleur tore her gaze away from Harry's table. She also nodded her thanks to Selene, as if the girl had saved her from a terrible end.
Sighing for the third time in less than an hour, Selene rubbed at Fleur's arm in solidarity.
Harry entered the Great Hall with the Gryff members of his team, Cedric, Neville and of course Mione. When Cedric ran off to go back to his table, Harry pulled out Mione's chair purely by reflex.
Hermione smiled at Harry's newly ingrained genteel behavior. The Delacours had done good work on him over the summer. Speaking of the Delacours… "Don't look now," Hermione began, in a low voice. "But for the entire time we've been in here, a certain stunning blonde beauty has been staring at you. Her friend had to poke her to get her attention."
Harry tried not to react in a noticeable way, but he couldn't quite catch the beginnings of a blush with his Occlumency.
"So some girl was looking at our Harry here," Gred replied, sounding extremely unsurprised. "What's new? He's been flooded with female attention this entire year."
Neville smiled as he leaned over the table on his elbows. "The major difference this time is that Harry might actually give a damn. We've all seen his lack of reaction towards the girls of our school."
"Ah," said Forge. "You're referring to the silent treatment Harry received pre his growth spurt and prophet model good looks?"
"Exactly," Neville replied confidently. "I've got a theory that Harry isn't too impressed with this one-hundred and eighty-degree turn around he's receiving."
Harry decided that he needed to take part in this conversation so he shook his head and waved a hand in the negative. "I can see why you would think that guys, but I think the lion's share of my past women troubles were of my own making. I was a troublesome mixture of quiet, isolated and shy. I was afraid of being noticed because of the infamous hyphenated name. I think even before my most recent physical transformation, if I'd just had some self-confidence there would've been an interested girl in here somewhere."
"Then why the lack of interest in the Hogwarts female fanbase?" Gred looked extremely curious now that his own pet theory had been debunked.
"I'm the last guy on earth to ask about matters of the heart, guys." Harry shrugged in a defeated fashion. "I wasn't shown much care growing up, so I'm a mess when it comes to sorting out those kinds of feelings. I do know one thing for sure though. The Lightning Bolt girls are wasting their energy on me, because there's already a woman who has my undivided attention. She's sitting down at the Ravenclaw table, wearing a blue blazer style uniform. We became friends over the summer and we've become quite close."
Mione beamed a smile at Harry, for both his honesty and his bravery. "Oooo I love it when Harry talks about his feelings like that. If Harry Potter can do it, any man can. There's hope for us all."
Most of the women at the table grinned and then sniggered into their hands.
The twins weren't laughing. They were leaning over the table, completely captivated by Harry's admission. "You're into a French broad then," Forge quietly pointed out... "Have you no sense of self-preservation? What about the language barrier?"
"Our Harry's a linguist," Hermione explained, with a grin.
"A what?" Gred didn't hesitate to show his confusion.
Harry replied in French because that in itself would answer Gred's question. "The lovely, ingenious, auburn haired beauty is saying that I'm quick to pick up languages."
While Hermione blushed a brilliant bright red, she also smiled proudly at Harry's charm.
Forge canted his head to the side while studying Harry closely. "Is that... like being a parseltongue?"
Harry, Neville, Alicia, Katie, Hermione and even Gred, laughed like fools at the supreme idiocy of that question. Only after the fact, when Forge grinned mischievously, did they begin to suspect that he'd been less than serious.
"Oh Forge…" Harry cupped his face in his hands as he laughed a second time. "That was a very clever thing you just did, and I appreciate it."
Both Gred and Forge looked very satisfied with themselves.
"Will you point out the girl Harry?" It was Alicia's turn to lean over the table in her enthusiasm. She looked like she was dying to know who he was talking about.
"Harry probably doesn't even need to tell us," Neville replied through a laugh. "Chances are, all you need to do is find the girl who looks both difficult to impress and impossible to romance. That kind of woman should be right up our Harry's alley."
After just a moment of consideration, everyone nodded their complete agreement, while the twins declared in unison "HARRY POTTER."
Then everyone was laughing again, proving that the joke meme was going strong.
When shaking his head just wasn't enough to convey his long-suffering, Harry cupped his face in his hands. It still wasn't enough. His shaking shoulders were giving away his amusement and ruining the effect.
Dumbledore suddenly approached his podium, where he was joined on either side by Madam Maxine and Karkaroff. The Great Hall quieted down just moments later, as everyone turned in their seats. "Good evening," Dumbledore boomed out in a quiet voice (how does he do that?). "It is my greatest pleasure to invite you all to Hogwarts, for the first Triwizard Tournament in several hundred years. Historically this tournament has meant to foster a sense of kinship between the various magical communities of Europe. With that in mind, I invited both schools to come three weeks early so that you may all get to know each other. The goal is that you all become familiar with each other, before the following competition creates an atmosphere of us versus them. I very much hope you will use this time to get to know your magical brethren, so that you can compete against friends. Three weeks from now is, of course, the first Hogsmeade weekend, for those of you old enough to take part. Anyway, enough doddering from me. Let the feast begin!"
After taking in the smell and look of it, Fleur could immediately tell that the food sitting in front of her was of far better quality than the food entering the rest of her table. She was careful not to react in a noticeable way while dishing up her food and then she passed the rest directly to Selene. When Selene arched an eyebrow at her out of character pushy behavior, Fleur just arched an eyebrow in return. She gestured down at the food with her eyes, and then turned away as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Made curious by Fleur's reaction, Selene took a bite of the stew that she'd just handed her. As soon as the spoon entered her mouth, her eyes widened at the obvious quality difference. It tasted like what her grandmother made, which was bizarre because they were clearly somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. How? Why?
Almost immediately, Selene's surprised expression melted away, as she attempted to look nonchalant. It wasn't easy. She dearly wanted to know what events had transpired for them to receive Five Star caliber French food, instead of the failed reproduction being given to the rest of their school. Fleur would be answering those questions by the end of the day.
Fleur had a small, almost unnoticeable, grin of amusement upon her face, as she enjoyed the freshly made Bouillabaisse and crusty bread that Dobby had cooked for her.
As they ate, Selene pointed out all of the girls around the room that were wearing lightning bolts sewn onto their uniforms. Despite Fleur's concerns in regards to Harry, she still found the immaturity of his fanbase amusing. It was as if this half-baked gathering of girls were trying to share Harry equally amongst their numbers. Of course their idea was as ridiculous as it was counterproductive. In fact, there was an obvious problem with their logic that they appeared to be ignoring on purpose. Simply put, Harry really wasn't the type to play around. Despite his laid back demeanor, Harry was actually a very serious and studious type of guy, as well as a potential family man. Not only that, but these aspects of his character were completely obvious for anyone to see.
Armed with that understanding, Fleur was able to ignore all of the buzzwords that Harry's fan-club would likely use to substantiate its existence, such as 'support' and 'loyalty,' to see what their true purpose really was. These Lightning Bolt girls were making a claim of some kind on Harry that skipped such trivial matters as consent or the right to privacy. Their group was above such minor nuisances as courtesy or forbearance.
Long story short, these girls were harassing her Harry…
Very suddenly, Fleur was forced to reign in on the growing chaos of her emotions. At the rate she'd been going, she was about to lose control of her allure again, and such a thing simply could NOT be allowed to happen. Thankfully, a distraction suddenly presented itself with perfect timing…
"Just look at all these ragamuffin Hogwarts boys," declared Francine, from just a few meters down the table. "The English are so uncouth and unsophisticated. They probably don't even speak French," she scoffed.
"Do you speak English?" Fleur asked the question very suddenly, and she stared at Francine as she waited for a response.
"Of course not," Francine replied immediately, with distaste dripping from her voice. "English is a barbaric language."
"I just find it interesting that you judge them so harshly for not being bilingual, when you yourself aren't either." Fleur's reply was very casual, as if she weren't openly mocking the girl.
Francine blushed a bright red even as she stared daggers at Fleur. "Am I to assume then that you speak English fluently?"
Turning to look at Selene, Fleur switched to speaking English. "I wouldn't say I speak eet fluently... Zat leetle bit of French accent ees far too sexy to get rid of."
Selene chortled out a laugh as she also switched to English. "Oh Fleur, now zis ees an eempressive bit of mockery eendeed. I suggest we don't lay eet on too thick though."
Both girls laughed.
Francine was a rather good looking girl from Fleur's grade. She was considered sexy by the men at their school, because of her extremely curvy body. Nonetheless, many boys stayed away from her because of her semi-permanent scowl and resting bitch face. She was constantly trying to rival Fleur and she didn't seem to notice that Fleur thought her unimportant. The rivalry wouldn't be a big deal at all, if Francine weren't in a constant state of impotent rage over getting in second. She was a very talented witch and aggressive as well, but she lacked any and all finesse. She wasn't above underhanded tactics to get her way however, and Fleur'd had to use Pensieve memories at least twice to defend herself from accusations of cheating.
All in all, Francine would fit right in with the Slytherin house, if she were a Hogwarts student. Fleur knew that she was going to be her school's champion, but she also knew that Francine Petit was going to lose her mind in a fit of rage when it happened.
When the Great Hall was suddenly filled with loud and healthy laughter, the French witches turned towards the Gryffindor table in their surprise. Harry and his friends were sharing a moment of heartfelt laughter that easily stood out, especially in the overly tense atmosphere of the crammed Great Hall.
"There's one boy guaranteed to know at least a little French, a smaller witch down the table pointed out, in a timid little voice."
"Who?" Francine whipped her attention towards the younger witch, demanding the answer as if she didn't believe such a thing was possible.
The young witch was startled by both Francine's tone and her attention, and she froze as a result.
"'Arry Potter," Fleur quietly answered, aiming to spare the younger witch Francine's wrath.
Francine's head quickly swiveled back towards the crowd of Gryffindors from before. They weren't hard to find. They stood out because they were the only people having a fantastic time. "Which one is Potter? I thought 'Arry Potter was small in stature?"
"He appears to have changed drastically over this past summer," another girl nearby explained, in an excited voice. "The French papers couldn't get enough of him even though he was only seen in public the one time. He's the tall, handsome boy, with long black hair, in the middle. The rest of that group formed around him when he sat down."
"Hmmph! Just another entourage for the celebrity," Francine declared dismissively.
"I don't think so," said the smaller witch, who shrank again when the table's attention swiveled back towards her. "I... I have been w..watching. I too, have seen 'Arry's picture in the p..papers, and I was looking f..forward to seeing the man. He is inclusive n..not exclusive. I don't think any of his group are merely f..followers."
'That's very observant of you... I'm sorry, what is your name?" Fleur was impressed with the cute little witch, despite her nervous stutter.
"Bella Fournier," the girl replied, while meeting Fleur's eyes for the very first time.
"Well, Bella, I agree with your opinion, Fleur said, while smiling gently at the younger witch. The people sitting around 'Arry appear to be having a good time, which isn't the case anywhere else in this super tense atmosphere. They're all very confident people, which makes it unlikely they're merely followers."
Francine scoffed. "What do you know about the boy?"
Fleur let only the very beginnings of a scowl appear on her face. She wasn't some child to be baited by the likes of Francine. "The things I know and how I know them are none of your concern Francine Petit (Francine hated her last name which means small in French). You've been arguing with everyone within earshot ever since we sat down… If you don't want to be here, then why did you volunteer to come?"
After turning a deep red yet again, Francine visibly restrained herself from pulling her wand. Over time she regained control of herself, at which point she smiled salaciously. "You're correct as always Fleur. I think I'll make the best of this. I think I'll become acquainted with our handsome friend Mr. Potter over there."
While Fleur did arch an eyebrow, other than that her expression remained as still as a statue. "If that is your prerogative Francine, then do what you must. I fail to see why you made such a grand pronouncement though..."
"I think you do know our Mr. Potter," Francine announced with a grin. "I would be interested to know how 'intimately' you two know each other."
While smiling in amusement, Fleur bowed in her seat, complete with a courtly arm flourish. "It will be a long year Francine, so I imagine by the end of it the fact that I'm acquainted with 'Arry Potter will no longer be a secret. He's a family friend and we occupy the same social circles."
Fleur let the fact that Francine is not in those circles hang unsaid. Instead, she turned her attention towards little Bella, dismissing Francine as unimportant. "You are correct Bella. 'Arry is indeed completely fluent in French. He is very smart and had very little trouble learning our language." When she finished her explanation, Fleur returned her attention back to Francine, but this time she had a vaguely contemptuous look upon her face. "Francine, your implications that something improper is happening between 'Arry and I just proves that you have loose... morals." (implied meaning she's loose period)
By biting into her knuckle, Selene managed to keep herself from laughing, but if she'd desired to go unnoticed she'd failed miserably.
Francine was currently a very complex mixture of embarrassment and rage. She was simultaneously white like a sheet and red like a tomato (don't try too hard to picture it just go with it).
It was Bella who came to the table's rescue, when she spoke with an excited voice for the very first time. "Is 'Arry really powerful like the papers have described?"
After shrugging her shoulders, Fleur lifted her arms in a helpless gesture. "I'm not sure how helpful I can be. While I do know that 'Arry's quite strong, I only recently found out about those news articles through Selene here." Fleur turned to regard her still very amused friend… "What did the articles say he did again?"
Selene looked at the ceiling in a grand I am dragging out a distant memory look. Then she re-emerged and snapped her fingers. "Ah, I remember! He took out ten mercenary slavers single handedly according to what I've read. Supposedly his testimony to the Aurors majorly downplayed his involvement though..."
Shy little Bella was sliding into full blown hero worshiping mode, with stars in her eyes and everything. Fleur thought that it was Gabrielle levels of cute. While smiling at the younger girl's enthusiasm, Fleur steepled her hands on the table like a businesswoman would. "Okay Bella. At some point soon, if you're patient, I'll introduce you to 'Arry Potter. Only if you'll let me hug you first though. You Bella… are adorable."
Selene instantly threw a hand up as she exclaimed "oh me too, me too! You're just soooo cute!"
There was light laughter up and down the Beauxbatton table, allowing quite a bit of the tense atmosphere to drain away
"You might have to get in line if you want some of 'Arry's attention," Selene suddenly pointed out, while looking around. "I've counted no less than thirty-five lightning bolt patches embroidered on witches' sleeves, and if I'm not mistaken it denotes your competition."
Several witches suddenly scanned the room taking in all of the embroidered patches.
By the end of dinner, the Beauxbatton witches all wanted to know what the Hell was going on with Harry Potter?
As Victor Krum sat at the Slytherin table amongst all of his servants and underlings, he scoffed at all of the fatty and decadent food being served within the school's overly-opulent and soft looking hall, he took in the mediocre and untrained students sitting all around him, and he rolled his eyes in a fit of completely unconcealed disgust.
Then he caught sight of someone sitting across the hall from him, and his mood performed a one-eighty-degree turn in but a single instant.
Sitting amidst her classmates over at the Ravenclaw table, there was a French blonde affecting an air of sophistication, as if she could somehow hide her outrageously curvy body and overt sex appeal under a veneer of elegance and dignity. It wasn't working… At least, not on him… The woman was clearly a high level, hoity toity whore, as well as a Veela sex-toy, and she was going to become one of his…
Over the years Victor spent acting as the Bulgarian Quidditch team's Seeker, he'd grown used to getting whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and with no concern for such paltry matters as consequences or laws… Not one of the full-blooded Veela cheerleaders that worked for the team had denied any of his advances for any time at all. At least, not after they attempted to use their allures to fend him off…
Suffice it to say, any Veela that attempted to manipulate or charm Victor Krum using their allure, would soon find themselves… regretting… their decision…
Victor Krum wasn't actually a human, at least not completely... He was in possession of an ancient secret, a generations old, inhuman pedigree that his family obtained after mixing their bloodline with the Mortha Mountain Sky-serpents. A genealogy that no one else in the Magical World even knew was a possibility because the mountains that it originated from were covered in a thick, powerfully cursed miasma… The sky-serpents were dark, they were inherently evil, they were a sure-fire means to attaining strength… and generation after generation of Victor's predecessors had sacrificed their humanity upon the altar of power, culminating in the most powerful genetics on the face of the planet…
Him.
Victor Krum wasn't just a man. He was a beast, an alpha predator, an undeniable force… He was also the recipient of several… appetites… that he was in the habit of feeding with zero regard to the people around him.
As Victor Krum stared at the beautiful blonde sitting across the hall from him, he already knew exactly what effect he was going to have on the woman's life and future prospects... At some point over the next few days, he was going to approach the snooty, elitist bitch, he was going to demand that she serve his needs, she was going to resist (as they always did), and then she was going to learn her place in the world.
Yes… It would be done, as it always had been in the past, and with both Karkaroff and the Bulgarian Ministry sheltering him from consequences, no laws would get in the way…
To Be Continued
Author's Note:
I do now write stories that involve non-consensual sex.
Author's Note 2:
If you like my writing, want to check on my release schedule + want to help support me, consider visiting my P-a-t-r-e-o-n page
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