Author's Note:
I do not write about non-consensual sex, or mind-control (which I see as the same thing).
The Morning after Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrived at Hogwarts, Harry was forced to shake the cobwebs out of his mind as he rose from bed for the first time all year. He hadn't fallen asleep until very late in the night because of all the thoughts that were rushing around throughout his mind. Fleur had avoided meeting his gaze all last night, even though Harry ended up sitting around at dinner for far longer than he normally would. Then, just as his friends decided to drag him from the room, Harry and Fleur finally caught each other's eyes.
In that one brief but intense instant in time, Harry attempted to figure out the extremely complex mixture of emotions that he could see reflected in Fleur's eyes. Fear primarily, followed by confusion, indecision and not a small amount of... was that longing? In the intensity of his focus, Harry spent just a little too much time frozen in place like a deer caught in the headlights, at which point he was pulled out of the Great Hall by George.
While walking down towards his usual running route, Harry ignored all of his usual gawkers as he started his stretching routine, and rubbed Aethir awake with little sweeps of his magic. The lady Gryffs hadn't been showing up to any of his morning runs since their daily Quidditch practices had begun and they called him insane for continuing to do them. Harry grinned at the memory even as he began his run with Aethir gusting at his side to keep him company. He wanted to struggle through the course today to release some of his anxiety, so he ran as hard as he could without any help at all
By the time Harry finished his lap around the lake, he was soaked with sweat and panting for air, but he'd also beaten his best low Aethir involvement time, and by more than a second to boot. As per the norm, immediately after he passed by the finish line, Harry Disillusioned himself to disappear from a scattered mass of poorly concealed stalkers, and he allowed Aethir to help him sprint at absurd speeds up the lawns.
It was time for Harry to meet up with Nev in the Room of Requirements.
When Harry entered the RoR, it was to find Neville lifting some truly impressive weights. The man was becoming thick with ropey muscle, which suited the formerly soft and pudgy boy to an extent that never failed to surprise Harry, but it also made him smile. Both magically and physically, Neville Longbottom wasn't one to be trifled with anymore, which brought Harry a sense of assurance and peace of mind that he hadn't known he was lacking.
Just as the brown haired teen was finishing his set, Harry was sitting down at a nearby bench-pressing bench.
Sometimes, when Harry allowed himself to become too wrapped up in his own drama, he forgot to keep tabs on the comings and goings of his friends, and he generally only noticed after the fact that he was failing to do his part. This was one of those times, and since it was a sucky thing to do, Harry was determined to rectify the situation. He leaned in towards Neville with his elbows on his knees, and he admitted his failure in a candid tone of voice. "I've neglected to check in on your progress with Hannah."
Neville immediately smiled and waved off Harry's concerns. "We've become an item, but we're not all that public about it yet."
Harry extended a fist and their knuckles collided cheerfully in the air. "I'm happy to hear it, Neville. You know… You really impress me sometimes with your particular brand of level headed charisma."
For just a moment, Neville appeared to become a little bit bashful, but then he corrected his posture and nodded with a smile.
Dropping onto his back atop the bench, Harry looked up towards the highly vaulted ceiling that the RoR was providing. He was having trouble shaking off his current anxiety, which was making everything else a little bit harder to focus on.
After finishing another set of bicep-curls, Neville looked over at Harry and arched an eyebrow in question. "Something on your mind?"
"I came in here determined to focus on your life for a bit. While I was running this morning, I realized that I wasn't keeping up with your goings on, and I started feeling selfish." At the tail end of those words Harry grinned, because he enjoyed the ultra-honesty of their friendship.
"Duly noted, Harry. My life's great right now and Hannah is the best. Now what's with the complicated expression on your face." Truth be told, Neville already knew exactly what was coming because he's neither blind nor deaf nor dumb.
While Harry shrugged and tried to smile for Nev's benefit, the expression faltered far too quickly to be effective. He finally just spilled his guts as he's prone to do in this 'safe space'. "You know Neville… Susan Bones was a sexual fantasy of mine for two whole years. Now she's standing out there every damned day and I just don't care. The woman that I do care about, has developed some form of stage fright and won't even look at me."
Neville had been waiting for this opening because Harry needed help… like… a lot. "Big bad Harry Potter," Neville began, with a smirk. "Capable of walking on broken legs, or flying on burning brooms at the speed of sound, and he's too damn afraid to approach a girl he fancies."
Rather than becoming defensive, Harry continued to stare up at the ceiling as he nodded in agreement. "Well Neville… You damned Casanova you… We can't all be as brave as you are…"
"Don't give me that bull," Neville interrupted, injecting some steel into his voice. "And don't say you're being considerate of Fleur's feelings either. The girl cares about you, but something has her frightened. You're the hero type here, so I expected you to have swooped in to rescue the damsel by now... Look, Harry… Just ask Fleur, in as casual a voice as you can manage, what you can do to improve the situation. Nothing melodramatic or flashy, just ask the damned question."
For several moments in a row, Harry continued to just stare at the ceiling, completely poleaxed in place by Neville's words. Then he abruptly launched to his feet as if he'd been electrocuted, and he stared down at his friend as if he was a unicorn. "Dear Gods!... Neville… You're… you're brilliant," Harry choked out. "It's so simple, and yet this place seems to make me forget simple."
"Aren't you the one who likes to point out that magic makes us lose our common sense," Neville pointed out with a very amused expression on his face.
"Love you Nev, never change." With a brand new sense of purpose, Harry jumped over to the bicep curl chairs, where he started tearing through his workout in double time.
"Casanova," Neville mused to himself... "Who knew."
Breakfast at Hogwarts was turning out to be an extremely busy affair, what with nearly three entire school populations stuffed inside of the Great Hall and stuffing their faces. Harry didn't want to cause a scene with Fleur, because that wouldn't improve their situation in the slightest. Stalking her around the school wasn't the answer either, for reasons that should be completely obvious. With all that being the case, Harry was left wondering what exactly he could do to approach the situation... Then, very suddenly, Harry snapped his fingers, smiled and whispered the words "Dobby invisible."
POP very small and silent
"Yes sir," an invisible Dobby whispered into Harry's ear.
"I was wondering if you'd be a dear and get a message to Fleur for me?" Sitting down, Harry quickly ate his food as he explained what he needed, because by now Dobby would most likely already know exactly what he wanted. He only said the words out loud because he felt it was rude to merely channel orders into one of his closest friends. "If you could discreetly let Fleur know that I'll be waiting outside, in a small forest clearing to the east of her carriage, I would be very appreciative."
"About damned time," Dobby whispered, somehow quite respectfully. "I'll get right on it."
"Thanks Dobby," Harry replied with a grin. "I'm projecting compliments towards you to pick up empathically."
"Lazy," Dobby replied in an offhand manner. It was clear he had an amused smile on his face despite the fact that he was invisible.
Pop, very small and silent
Harry scarfed down three eggs and some toast before quickly leaving the room.
The entire time Fleur ate her breakfast, she was very, very careful not to stare at Harry. She failed... kind of. While she may not have been looking in Harry's direction, her every sense seemed to be stretching to its very limits to keep tabs on all of his movements. That's the reason why, when the source of her anxiety suddenly bounced up to his feet and walked out of the Entry Hall doors, Fleur sighed and poured her focus back down towards her food. It was only when she was just wrapping up her meal that she noticed a white piece of paper edging out from under her plate as if pulled.
After just staring at the slip of paper for several moments, curiosity won over and Fleur unfurled it atop her hands.
My Lady
My master was wondering if you would consent to getting a bit of sun with him. He is currently enjoying the unseasonably warm day, just past the lawns east of your carriage. If possible, he would like to have just a few moments of your time.
Best Regards
Dobby
Even as Fleur carefully pocketed Dobby's note, she found that her hands were beginning to tremble. It was officially time to pay the piper. She wouldn't, couldn't blow this off, hurting Harry in the process. Slowly but surely, she rose shakily from her seat, and Selene looked up at her in surprise.
"Deserting me are you?" At first Selene was only joking around, but as Fleur pat checked both her uniform and her hair, she started becoming curious. "Uhh Fleur... What's got you so riled up?"
Without a word, Fleur withdrew the note and handed it aside to Selene.
After a quick scan of the note, Selene smiled and said a quiet "good boy" to the absent Harry. Then, when she turned towards Fleur, her smile widened even further and there was rapidly building excitement in her eyes. "Okay Fleur, I shall forgive you this one time, but I demand the whole entire story upon your return."
Although she did manage to nod at Selene's ultimatum, Fleur was starting to look completely shell-shocked, as well as completely unprepared for what she was about to do.
"Breathe girl, come on," Selene encouraged in a quiet but intense tone of voice. "'Arry is your friend, your family, right? He cares about you. Rip it off like a bandaid." By this point, Selene was running out of patience and was face palming her forehead in her rising frustration. "Fleur… So help me… I'm about to commit an unforgivable and Imperio curse you into walking out that door, out of love."
In the seconds following her friend's exceedingly altruistic threat, Fleur finally managed to smile. Selene was just too cute sometimes, so it simply couldn't be helped. Having regained some of her calm, Fleur took several deep breaths and then marched purposefully out of the Entry Hall doors.
Outside on the lawns, Harry was sitting on a flat patch of grass, looking out through a row of trees towards the northern side of the Black Lake. He was a big fan of this relatively unknown location, because it was miraculously both private and close enough to the school to be reached within just a minute or two of leaving the Hall.
At the moment, Harry was soaking in the peace provided by this location to meditate a bit and reign in on his mounting anxiety… A process that came to a very sudden end, when he began hearing light footsteps approaching through the grass, and then felt a warm back lean flush against his own.
For several seconds longer, Harry continued to stare at the lake as he tried to find the words that he needed. Finally, he just gave up completely on being smooth and addressed the body heat pressing against his back. "Did you have a pet as a child, Fleur?"
"Yes… I had a tawny kneazle named Belle. She was completely adorable," Fleur quickly replied. "Around my sixth birthday, my parents claimed that they Floo'd Belle to a place where kneazles are always happy. I don't suppose you had a pet, so this wasn't a well-chosen question."
When the chagrined facial expression on Harry's face didn't reach Fleur through their body contact, he shrugged dramatically and gently shook his head against her long elaborate braid. "No. No you're right. I never had a pet. I really didn't think that question through at all… I did cohabitate with a spider for a while though, and I think it might've been affected by my ambient magic, because it was both larger than normal and smart. We kept each other company."
"Why didn't you kill the creature immediately after encountering it," Fleur asked with the same energy that she brought towards eating English food. She was grossed out by the very thought of keeping company with an overgrown spider, a fact that became increasingly obvious just a single instant later, when she suddenly shivered into Harry's back... She wasn't a fan of bugs of any variety.
"It's because I was sitting in a cupboard at the time," Harry explained with yet another shrug. "In a truly bizarre bit of logic, I realized that I was actually the odd one out in that situation. Spiders live in small, dark, quiet places, such as cupboards… little boys don't… The spider tolerated my presence, and I was grateful. I was also extremely young at the time."
Fleur shivered into Harry's back again, but for a completely different reason this time. "That's black book 'Arry..."
"Pale gray," Harry replied casually and with absolute certainty in his voice. "Speaking of living spaces… How is that carriage treating you?"
"The Beauxbatons carriage may look merely large on the outside, but trust me when I say that it is absolutely gigantic on the inside. Most of the student rooms available are almost as large as they are back at our school. I, on the other hand, am a prized student, so my rooms are especially... decadent. My bedroom has a well-appointed en-suite bathroom and has been decorated to my exact specifications." Fleur couldn't quite keep her satisfaction from leaking into her tone. She really liked her bedroom.
"I saw you walking with Selene towards the castle last night," Harry continued, in a carefully neutral tone of voice. He didn't want Fleur to notice just how rattled he'd been the night before when she never looked in his direction. If at all possible, he also wanted to avoid looking needy or eager.. His goal was to keep his cool, which is why he knew that he was blowing it big time when a particularly bitchy follow-up question started slipping from his mouth. "Selene appeared to be struggling to maintain the regal snootiness that the rest of you were so committed to maintaining. Is she very down to earth?"
After wincing at Harry's somewhat expected rebuke, Fleur bit at her bottom lip and looked up at the sky. "It is exactly as you say, 'Arry. Selene is indeed extremely sweet... Trying to act aristocratic and haughty doesn't come easy to her, for she fails to see the point. Truth be told, the walk up to the castle was rehearsed several dozen times the day before, to Madam Maxine's extremely exacting standards. Our Headmistress very specifically told us all that we were not to look away from the Entry Hall doors for even a second. Still, Selene ended up looking around in wonder and having a fantastic time. She was grateful for the warming charm by the way."
"It was no big deal," Harry offered in a dismissive voice. I also helped out several other Beauxbatons students who were shivering. Something will have to be done about the blazers that your school wears. They're clearly designed for a much more Southern climate... You Fleur... on the other hand... didn't look cold at all… Fire affinity?"
"That's two for two," Fleur agreed, in an impressed sounding voice. "Under normal circumstances, I have excellent control of my core body temperature. Veela can heat up or cool down their bodies at will. The only drawback is that a Veela who does manage to catch a cold is a truly ugly thing… We suffer because our magic goes completely haywire. It is as if our inner thermostat is being turned up and down at random fast-paced intervals. It's all pretty counterproductive when we're trying to fight off a bug, and as a result we take quite a bit longer to recover."
"That sounds really rough, but since I can't even imagine you with the sniffles, I can't help but want to see it for myself," Harry mused out loud. "Wow... You know, I'm really torn now, Fleur. I mean, I'd really rather you don't get sick of course, but…"
While listening to Harry's inner monologue fly right out of his control, as it tends to do when he's especially interested in something, Fleur began mustering up all of her inner strength... Apologies really didn't come easy to her, but she knew that Harry deserved one, thus, she needed to grow the hell up. When she was ready, she gently elbowed Harry and his one man conversation abruptly came to an end. "'Arry... I want you to know… I really do appreciate the warming charm you gave Selene... I… I was too preoccupied with my own issues to pay attention to anyone else's feelings. I wasn't being a good friend…"
While Harry found that he was satisfied with Fleur's 'a little too subtle' apology, her use of the word "issues" had also brought their conversation to a very sudden halt. A lack of momentum that both teenagers felt in every inch of their bodies, as they pressed even harder against each other's backs…
It was time… Now was officially the time for Harry to finally just ask the question that he'd been avoiding since the moment Fleur arrived. He pumped himself up in his head, as if he was about to play Quidditch or fight in a duel or something. The problem was the following… Harry was finding his current situation far more daunting than either of those activities combined…
Come on, grow the hell up Harry P! It's time to go, you got this!
With a nearly silent sigh of maxed out mental effort, Harry pressed his right forearm against Fleur's hip for a second or two, before dropping his palm down into the grass, drawing in a very deep breath, and getting to the point. "I've been meaning to ask you something, Fleur… Is there anything that I can do to... improve our current situation? I won't pretend to know for certain what's happening between us, but I will go to great lengths to... help you… be at ease with me."
Immediately after Harry finished asking his question, Fleur's whole entire body stiffened up and shivered violently into his back, causing a sinking feeling to grow in Harry's stomach. In that moment, in a fit of sudden paranoia, it felt like all of his most terrible fears were being realized, and Fleur didn't want anything to do with him… For a hellish split-second in time, Harry started preparing to make as classy a stage-left exit as he could... Then, very, very suddenly, he couldn't have moved a single inch even if he'd wanted to... In a lightning fast movement, Fleur had caught both of his wrists in a death grip, and she was yanking his arms out in front of her body. She continued to pull at his arms, until his back was pulled completely flush against her own.
"'Arry! You are not the problem here, do you hear me!" Fleur's voice was filled with both rising panic and unconcealed desperation. She was also clutching at his arms as if he was trying to run away from her.
After huffing out an explosive sigh of profound relief, Harry allowed his body to lean bonelessly against Fleur's back, and used the state of his newly slack body to convey his feelings on the matter… It was only several moments later, when his heart rate finally finished returning to a somewhat normal speed, that he gently pressed his head back against Fleur's, giving the woman a somewhat awkward nod of understanding… But then, that wasn't good enough either. It was time to use his words… "I don't... I didn't think that I'd hurt you, Fleur. I'm not implying that I've misbehaved. I'm saying, whatever your current hang-ups are with me... I want to help."
"Let me ask you something in return then, 'Arry. With you treating me as wonderfully as you do all of the time, what could I possibly have an issue with?" Fleur leaned her head back against Harry's just a little bit harder than he had, while tugging his arms even closer to her body.
In response to Fleur's clutching arms, Harry turned his palms inwards to place them on the outside of her thighs. He rationalized that Fleur's thighs were relatively safe territory, but really, at the moment, he just needed to be touching her, and he didn't actually care about where. He had a lot of things that he needed to say at the moment, and he was finding the physical contact comforting. "Uh, Okay Fleur. I'll admit, I do have a theory, but… Can I brainstorm out loud, free of judgment or perceived arrogance?"
Fleur tilted her head back against Harry's, in a nod that somehow felt more like the nuzzling of a cat. "Please... Please do 'Arry..."
After taking in yet another exceptionally deep breath only to find it didn't help him decrease his anxiety in the slightest, Harry completely gave up on remaining calm the good ol fashioned way, and started using Occlumency to control every little aspect of his body instead. Then, when he was as prepared as he could magically force himself to be, he began speaking in a very slow and gentle tone of voice. "About halfway through the summer, it occurred to me that I'd begun doing something pretty special for you, Fleur, and that realization made me happy. I'd realized that I was becoming important to you. I was becoming the casual intimacy in your life. I was the friend who you could share a dance with free of harassment, swim in the pool with, goof around playing board games or cards with… I was the friend you could tickle or hug, cuddle and watch a movie with, or have a nap with free of concern. I'd come to understand that I was becoming something precious to you, and I enjoyed that newfound knowledge because you're special, you're important to me, and you should never go without."
This next part was going to be the more difficult part to say, to the point that Harry could almost feel his anxiety pressing outwards against the sphere of his Occlusion barriers. "I've never lied to you, Fleur, but I haven't revealed all of my secrets either. I… I am… strong… I'm strong through sheer stubborn will, magic and some of the best mind Occlusions that the world has ever seen. I'm essentially impervious to outside influences as you well know, but… if I must, I can also hide... perfectly... all day, every single day, how I feel. Fleur... I could have two freshly broken legs right this very second, and if I really didn't want you to know… you wouldn't..."
When Fleur started gripping Harry's arms even tighter, he realized that he could actually feel her body beginning to tremble. In response, he began to rub slow paced circles around the outside of her thighs. He could understand Fleur's tension after all. Harry could feel his heart jack-hammering in his chest, and he had to drag in air as he arrived at the important part. "By the time my birthday came around... I began having thoughts, I began having feelings that I wasn't familiar with and was becoming extremely nervous about. I'd never, ever experienced these feelings before, and I didn't have the emotional maturity to deal with them. I also feared that these feelings were about to get in the way of the comfort that I was receiving from you and vice versa. For those reasons, I sectioned off these new emotions and treated them like I would any other new or foreign thing taking up residence in my mind. I segregated them, I contained them, and I carefully controlled them. This was a very useful skill, because I could clearly see that you wanted, no, that you needed me to be exactly what I already was... your friend."
All of the sudden, Harry realized that Fleur was beginning to curl into a ball at his back, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers in his alarm. He gripped at her thighs tightly as he barked out the words, "Fleur, enough! You did nothing to me! I dissected my emotions because I was afraid, because I wasn't mature enough yet, not because of anything you did! It's exactly the opposite, Fleur! I'm maturing because of you!"
At Harry's words, Fleur's posture slowly improved again, but she also bent his arms in at his elbows, drawing his hands as far as she could around her nonexistent little belly. One thing was immediately apparent… At the moment, Fleur Delacour was seeking whatever contact she could get.
Harry was currently taking part in what was easily the most awkward hug he'd ever experienced in his whole entire life. He didn't care in the slightest. If Fleur needed his arms right now, she could lop them off for all he cared. For his part, Harry was finally getting over his nerves from earlier, because he'd always been far better at acting, rather than waiting. With that exact thought in mind, Harry immediately launched right back into his story... "When I came back to Hogwarts and the two of us began sharing letters, there wasn't a reason for me to modify my feelings anymore, because you were no longer around to sense them in my aura. That's when I allowed myself to experience the full wealth of my emotions for the very first time, and I almost instantly grew afraid because of a role I've pigeonholed myself into. I feared that the situation would never change, because I knew that I was needed. I was, I AM, willing for that to happen, but that outcome seems... bleak. I wanted to subtly, cleverly, carry a message to you by sending you a gift. I think… I think that I overestimated both my cunning and my subtlety. I think the message was very thoroughly conveyed... and you've been suffering a week-long panic attack because of it…"
At this point, Fleur was holding Harry's arms in a vice-like grip, and she was trembling violently into his back.
"Judging purely by the physical reactions you're currently experiencing, I don't think I'm too far off the mark." Harry's nerves were returning now because very suddenly he knew that he was about to do something just a little bit drastic. He took a very deep breath and then just ripped that bandaid off. "Fleur... While keeping everything I just revealed in mind, my original question is still completely relevant. How can I help you best deal with me? You're extremely important to me, Fleur, so I'll be whatever you really need me to be. I'm in control of my emotions to an extreme degree, so I'm confident that I can be your brother for life, if that's what you need from me. However… First I'm about to say something just a little bit selfish. Fleur Delacour… I've been in love with you since the night of my birthday, when you fell asleep curled up in my lap. Since that night, my feelings for you have only grown stronger, even as I've carefully contained them. I'm yours if you want me, Fleur… I love you."
In an immediate explosion of tensile strength, Harry felt Fleur strangle his arms painfully tight around her stomach, waist and thighs. Then, just as abruptly, she went completely slack against his back, leaning all of her weight against his shoulders. Her head was laying bonelessly upon his right shoulder at this point, and her face was looking up at the sky. She was very clearly in the thick of it…
For almost twenty whole seconds, what felt like an eternity under the circumstances, Fleur drew in a series of very deep breaths, and Harry forced himself to give the woman all the time she needed to put together her response. He knew Fleur after all… The woman wouldn't want to rant her thoughts in an out of control jumble. She was classy, she was sophisticated…
She was driving Harry right off the deep end with anxiety!
"'Arry, I… 'Arry..." Fleur suddenly stuttered out before groaning in frustration, drawing in yet another deep breath and trying again… "I have a story much like yours, but I'm struggling to piece it together. Will you be patient with me?"
In a turnaround from earlier, Harry slowly nodded his head, gently rubbing their cheeks together.
"Good… Good then… I shall begin," Fleur breathed out in a teeny tiny little voice, before tensing up her muscles and mustering her resolve… "The day that I received your letter and your jersey, Selene was present with me in my room. I allowed her to read the letter because it held nothing private, after which she asked me several questions about you. As it turns out, I was far, FAR too complimentary in all of my responses, as well as the way that I looked while saying them. She eventually announced she could see why I was so very much in love with you. I immediately denied that, claiming that we are merely close friends. She disagreed in several different ways, but when her arguments got her nowhere, she ended up doing something to me in the cruel to be kind category. I am now absolutely certain that Selene's a very good friend, but that she's also completely terrifying sometimes…"
As Fleur spoke, Harry rested his head upon her shoulder, and rubbed her cheek with his own as he stared up at the pale blue sky.
When Fleur felt Harry comforting her with his cheek, a smile slid onto her face despite her rampaging anxiety. "Selene's voice is… melodic and sweet. She used this hypnotic voice of hers to describe a scenario. She created a scene for me with such skill that it became extremely visceral to my senses... I was there, 'Arry. I could picture everything. I could picture the people around me, the chapel, the atmosphere of joyous celebration, the smells, the lighting, the color patterns... everything. Selene created a scene, and I was forced to experience it. She described a future where you and I are still very close friends, we're family in every way that matters, and I watch another woman walk down a church aisle to meet you at the altar..."
Fleur suddenly paused in her explanation, as her body tensed up and then started trembling into Harry's back.
Harry also tensed after hearing the contents of Selene's scenario, and he pushed his cheek a little bit more insistently against Fleur's. Yikes, Harry thought. It sounded like Fleur's friend had gone straight for the jugular... Harry was feeling extremely conflicted about Selene's actions. This past week had been extremely hard on him, and he could see now that it'd been even harder on Fleur.
When Fleur finally calmed down enough to continue, she rubbed her cheek against Harry's in return and allowed her fingers to curl around his tightly captured palms. "Selene went into fantastic detail about how you look, what you wear, the adoration in your eyes, how much you love this unknown woman, how long it took to happen, why it finally did, your vows and how sincerely you meant them. She described that you will devote your everything to this woman, as you should, and I'll be sitting there witnessing it happen… Selene was so good at her scene creation that I truly felt as if I was sitting there in the second row. The scene continued until it was finally time... and... and you..." Very suddenly, Fleur seemed to curl in upon herself, and her words took on a tortured quality. "You leaned in and you kissed this woman. You were married to this woman forever, and in this scenario, I was trying so hard… so so very hard… to be content with you as my friend, as my family. I was desperate to be happy for you and satisfied with what I had, and I…"
Fleur trembled again as a sudden hiccup interrupted her words... "I.. I was unaware of it at first, but I was freaking out in an extremely dramatic fashion. I was releasing more and more of my allure as Selene's scene unfolded. By the time she described you kissing the bride, I was forcing out so much of my allure, Selene, who is a straight woman, looked like she was mere moments away from jumping me. I was freaking out in a panic at the very thought of what she'd described. She'd confronted me with the cost of my cowardice. She'd cut me to my core by showing me exactly what will happen if I continue as I am. I was trembling and on the verge of a nervous breakdown."
At the tail end of her story, Fleur gasped and then panted as she drew in a very deep breath, but she rubbed and Squeezed Harry's arms the whole entire time. Then, when she was ready to continue speaking again, she pressed her cheek hard against the side of Harry's jaw, speaking as much into his skin as she did for his ears to pick up. "Within the next few minutes, Selene managed to talk me into putting on your jersey, she was walking out of my room, and I was left behind, feeling… desperate, lost, scared, at an impasse... You see, one of the very rare things that you haven't realized about me without even being told, is just how afraid I am of losing you. Not that it's your fault of course. It's not like I've ever been truly honest with you about the strength of my insecurities. It's not like I've ever described the true impact that you've had on my life. It's not like I've ever told you that you're far, far more to me than just a friendly face, witty banter or a playmate in the pool... You're my step-back, my no-rush, my living in the moment. You're my attachment to the rest of the world when I feel... I don't know… uninvolved. You're simultaneously the person who builds me up and the humbling influence that keeps me grounded. 'Arry... You're my very first ever friend... and you've adjusted my outlook on the world in countless different ways. You've allowed me to begin seeing people as they truly are for the very first time since I was Gabrielle's age, and you've shown me that I can indeed take part in a social life… Because of you, 'Arry, I can make friends now. Selene likes me and I like her. By all rights I should feel less dependent upon you with her in the picture, but I'm not. I don't want to be… No. I seriously can't be... I can't lose you, 'Arry. I won't allow it. Not for anything!"
When Fleur ran out of oxygen again and was forced to pause to take another deep breath, Harry opened his mouth, intending to comfort the woman in some, so far unplanned, fashion. But that was the moment when Fleur finished hauling in the air that she needed to continue speaking, and she steamrolled right over his half-formed words.
"The strength of my feelings have made me afraid of a great many things," Fleur admitted both loudly and with great feeling. "I'm afraid of risk. I'm afraid of change. I'm afraid of complicating something that I've grown to cherish. I'm afraid that any love you might direct towards me is artificial, merely a status effect caused by my looks and my allure. I'm afraid of being swept up in the momentum of your life, in your fame, and the world altering magic that you can perform. I aspire to be a well-known and successful witch under my own initiative, and by that I don't mean 'Arry Potter's arm candy. These fears, as well as several others that I can't even begin to describe, have had me ghosting you all damned week, revealing the fact that something has changed… Something has changed, 'Arry…"
With no better way to offer support, Harry continued to awkwardly hug his arms around Fleur's waist and press his cheek softly against her jaw. It was pretty obvious that his friend was figuring out her feelings in real time, even as she said them out loud, and he didn't want to distract her away from her final decision. That resolution wasn't stopping the bead of sweat that was currently dripping down his face, as his anxiety skyrocketed up to unbelievable levels.
As Harry proved his worth yet again, simply by offering her a quiet but solid support, Fleur began burying her cheek into the skin of his freshly shaven face. "Something has changed 'Arry," she repeated yet again in a voice that was just above a whisper. "Despite all of my insecurities, I'm no longer able to deny how I feel about you… I'm… 'Arry… I'm so… I… Ugh… I'm in love with you, 'Arry Potter!.. I'm deeply and passionately in love with you!"
In the end, not only did Fleur rant how she felt in an out of control jumble, but her return confession was yelled out towards the sky as if she was forcing the words free from within a pair of fiercely resisting lips.
After a single moment spent listening to Fleur's confession echo back and forth throughout the clearing, Harry heaved out an explosive sigh of relief and then collapsed back against Fleur in a boneless heap of limbs. She loved him. Gods and Goddesses. Fleur Delacour was in love with him… She was also filled with anxiety about it, and Harry couldn't allow such a thing to continue. Turning his cheek right into Fleur's, Harry felt his lips brush against her cheek as he spoke. "I'm going to turn around now, Fleur…"
"Okay 'Arry," Fleur murmured in a soft and breathy little voice.
Rising up to his knees, Harry turned around while carefully supporting Fleur's back. Then, when he sat down behind her, he pulled her back so that she was sitting flush to his chest and in between his legs. By the time he had Fleur settled back against his body, she'd begun resting her head atop his right shoulder again and she was rubbing her face against his cheek. Harry wrapped both of his arms tightly around her tummy, near her belly button.
In response, Fleur's arms wrapped amongst his, and she slowly entwined their fingers.
While running his thumbs over her palms in return, Harry began whispering into Fleur's ear. "What I'd like is for you to try to put aside some of your insecurities, Fleur… I'm all yours... I could no more hurt you than I could lop off my own head."
Fleur nodded, held Harry's arms tighter and wiggled herself back against his body a little more completely.
A smile started forming on Harry's face, as he continued whispering softly into Fleur's ear. "Here's the plan, Fleur. I'm going to show you exactly how I feel, so that there can be no doubts. I'll be releasing my aura shroud in a few seconds... Before your allure goes completely haywire, it's important you understand that it has literally nothing to do with my feelings."
Nodding again, Fleur rubbed her forehead against Harry's cheek.
All at once, Harry released a one-meter length shroud of extremely condensed magic that enveloped Fleur's entire body like a glove. In response, she gasped as her allure immediately started pouring out of her body. Her allure was slamming into his body with her full strength, with absolutely nothing held back for the very first time, and Harry gasped before struggling for control. Fleur had never immersed him in such a concentrated burst of her allure before, but despite how overwhelming it was to his self control, this moment was far too important to be spent taking part in a battle of wills. Harry was ruthless against it. He felt it, isolated it and then negated it completely inside of his Mind-Occlusions.
When the deed was done, Harry drew in several ragged breaths and Fleur shivered at the feeling of him panting into her ear. "Fleur…" Harry breathed in yet another deep breath through Fleur's hair, settling his nerves and calming his voice. "I just completely negated the feeling of your allure for the moment, because I don't want what I'm about to do to be colored by the lust, love reaction it brings forth. It's the same process that allows me to ignore even excruciatingly painful injuries as if I don't even have them. It's very bad for me to consistently do this, but for now, it's important. I am myself, okay?"
After nodding for a third time, Fleur began trembling from head to toe in her mixed anticipation and anxiety.
Over the next half a minute, Harry slowly allowed his true feelings for Fleur to be released from where he contained them inside of his Mindscape. Softly at first and then more insistently, Harry pushed the feelings out from within his Mindscape Occlusions, until Fleur began to gasp and pant as if she was running a marathon.
Oh Gods! Fleur could feel it! She could feel all of it, all around her, cocooning her entire body! Harry loved her, he'd die for her, she meant everything to him! Gods and Goddesses above! Fleur started crying and pushing her face into the crook of her man's neck because it was just so unbelievably beautiful. In response, Harry hugged her tightly with both his arms and with his aura. He wrapped her up in love so airtight there was no room left for doubts or fears.
Fleur sobbed and smiled and trembled with emotion. She kissed Harry's neck and shoulder in dozens of little nips. She moved to his ear and then forward to his cheek. When Harry turned towards her in return, they met in a wet and salty kiss at a terrible angle... and it was beautiful. It was a perfect, clumsy first kiss for the both of them.
Even as Harry felt and tasted Fleur's completely incredible lips for the very first time, he drew up an arm to cradle her cheek, stroked it tenderly with the pad of his thumb, and then wiped away some of her last remaining tears. Then, half a minute later, when they finally broke apart, Harry gently withdrew his magic back into his body, and pressed their foreheads together so that he could stare into her eyes. "Okay Fleur… I think now's the time that we alter our plans with each other. No more mere comfort and satisfaction. I suggest we aim for disgustingly happy together. Sound like a plan?"
Completely ignoring the joke in his proposal, Fleur nuzzled her cheek against Harry's as she nodded her agreement. She felt completely exhausted at this point, despite the fact that she'd only been awake for a little over two hours. Then, just as suddenly, she felt an over-abundance of energy, as her body reacted to Harry's presence. Rising up to her knees, Fleur quickly turned around and then straddled Harry's waist atop his thighs. She stared into his unbelievably brilliant green eyes, as she looped her arms around his upper-back and shoulders, and then wrapped herself around his body like a pale-blue cloak.
Wrapping his arms around Fleur's lower back in return, Harry started rubbing small circles with his hands in a way he knew she liked. Then their lips were meeting in their second ever kiss, which they were happy to discover was far, FAR better executed than their first. They moaned and they groaned as they clutched at each other's bodies, as if even pressing flush to each other was nowhere near close enough for either of their satisfaction.
After that, the two teenagers were locked at the lips for several minutes straight, and neither one of them were getting anywhere near enough oxygen in their excitement and preoccupation.
Unhappily, for the both of them, soon enough it was almost time to go to classes, forcing Harry and Fleur to disengage from each other with large, manic smiles upon their faces. At first, Harry took a hold of Fleur's hand as they moved, but she immediately decided that she wanted to link arms with him instead, and she walked while leaning flush against his side. It was only as they neared the castle that Harry turned towards Fleur and asked an important question. "How public do you desire we be about this?"
As Fleur stared up into Harry's beautiful emerald green eyes, she bit her bottom lip in thought (Harry's heart took some major cuteness damage at the lip biting thing). Finally, several moments later, she finished figuring out exactly how she felt, and she was visibly surprised by the conclusion that she'd reached.
"'Arry," Fleur hedged in a slightly hesitant tone of voice. "Now that I am being completely honest with myself, I find I have little patience for these Lightning Bolt women stalking you everywhere you go. I know they mean nothing to you, and I love you for that as well..." Fleur looked just a little bit sheepish for just a second before she once again firmed up her resolve. "As you would've read in that book that my mother loaned to you, full-blooded Veela are extraordinarily possessive and territorial… While I can already tell that I'm nowhere near as… radical... as they tend to be, I do feel a pull in that direction... For the very first time in my whole entire life… I desire very, very public, 'Arry."
"As you wish," Harry replied while smiling like a certain stable boy from a movie that Fleur loves. He was trying to help ease Fleur through this conversation, because yes, Veela were definitely possessive. He knew it, she knew it, everybody knew it, and yet it appeared that Fleur was just a little bit embarrassed about that aspect of her heritage.
Sure enough, Fleur grinned and then smiled warmly over Harry's picture perfect re-enactment of the stable hand from the movie the Princess Bride, smiled even wider when she caught on to his real intentions, and then curled into his body to wrap her arms around his waist.
"Okay. Here's the plan then," Harry whispered into Fleur's impossibly soft and silky hair. "I shall hold your hand in the Great Hall, introduce myself to this very scary but sweet witch Selene, and then kiss you on the cheek before I leave for morning classes. I'll also begin telling all of my friends how we met and that this isn't just some whim of mine. I've already started alluding to you, but I will be far more obvious in the future."
Fleur was nodding along by this point with a radiant smile upon her face. "I will tell everyone that you summered with us during which time we became close friends, and then you saved my life from the Black Band Mercenaries. I will also "let slip" that you and I were just moments from becoming an item, when we were separated by the new school semester." Fleur stopped her planning there because Harry was looking at her with an arched eyebrow. At first she worried that he didn't approve of her stretching the truth, but then she saw the amusement in his eyes and she calmed back down again. "What is it, 'Arry?"
"I don't have a problem with anything that you just said, Fleur, but I'm surprised you want to admit I saved you," Harry admitted with a grin. "I thought your aversion to being perceived as a 'damsel' would get in the way of you telling that story."
"You're right actually. It does appear that my perspective has changed now that I have a lover," Fleur mused before stopping in place, nodding her head and squaring up in front of Harry. "As you well know, I'm extremely competitive, and I want to excel… The difference now is that I also want you to excel, because I love you and I'm immensely proud of you. Also, and this last part's important… While I really do want people to know that you're my hero, what I want even more is to let them all know that you're taken. The story about you saving me is both dramatic and entertaining enough that it'll travel very fast and reach all of the relevant ears."
With her somewhat devious motives figured out, Fleur beamed another smile up at Harry, leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, and then began pulling him towards the school again.
The lion's share of Harry's brain had checked out when Fleur Delacour called him her lover. While he was peripherally aware that Fleur's motives were very in character with a Veela in love, it was the "L" word that had his undivided attention.
Long story short, as Harry and Fleur approached the Entry Hall of the castle, he was basically floating along without a single care in the world.
Ten minutes before the bell for first period classes went off, Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour waltzed back into the Great Hall where the breakfast rush was slowly coming to an end. True to his words, Harry held Fleur's hand as the two moved across the room, during which time a quiet began to descend upon the residents of the Hall. In ones or twos followed by much, much larger numbers, all of the students that were sitting around the various tables noticed the two of them walking together, holding hands, and smiling at each other, and then they froze in place with their mouths hanging open.
Unfortunately for Harry, among those children that were up and on their feet, was a boy that had zero self-control whatsoever…
After stuffing the last of a triple-sized breakfast into his mouth and rising to his feet with his cheeks inflated like a chipmunk's, Ronald Weasley followed Dean Thomas and seamus Finnigan across the Great Hall...
The thick mass of egg, sausage and syrupy pancake batter that was filling Ron's mouth was particularly hard to chew and swallow down, thus his focus was elsewhere as he followed his classmates across the Hall. That's the reason why, when Seamus suddenly froze in place like a statue in the middle of the aisle, Ron immediately slammed into the boy's back and spit a dense wad of food down the shorter boy's robe…
In the moments that followed, the brand new stain that was sinking into the back of the Irish boy's robe was the very last thing on Dean, Seamus and Ronald's minds.
The impossibly sexy French blonde from Beauxbatons that the three of them first saw just the night before, was walking across the Great Hall, in all of her flawlessly sculpted, excessively curvy glory…
As he watched the woman approach from several meters away, Ronald Weasley experienced what amounted to a sexual awakening, as for the very first time in his whole entire life, he didn't think that the woman was a nuisance that was better left avoided. No… No. Even with his two classmates obstructing the view of the left side of her body, Ron could see that this woman was sexy. She was so, so freaking sexy, and Ron wanted her… He wanted her with a fervor that left his skin flushed red and his eyes raking across her every hyper-erotic curve.
As Dean and Seamus side-stepped to the left of the aisle, moving quickly and with enthusiasm in their haste to make way for the woman, Ron's view of her outrageously lewd body improved, allowing him to study the way that her sky-blue blazer hugged her every curve like a glove, the way that her skirt billowed and swayed around her perfectly formed thighs, and how her elegant blue stockings somehow showcased far more than they concealed… And he found himself smiling as a fully-formed plan suddenly materialized in his mind.
This sexy as all hell French girl was how Ron would prove to his brothers that he wasn't the loser they were claiming he was. The blonde bombshell standing in front of him was how Ron would prove them all wrong…
Ron was going to make the French broad his.
Of course, that was the exact moment that Ron finally clued in to the fact that the gorgeous French girl wasn't actually alone… After noticing that the target of his newfound lust was holding someone else's hand, Ron's eyes quickly trailed up the length of a well-toned arm, shoulder and neck, at which point he found himself looking up at an extremely familiar face.
And Ronald Bilius Weasley immediately felt his vision tunneling and his blood beginning to boil, as a spontaneous fit of red-hot rage exploded into place within his mind, leaving him panting for air as if he'd just run a marathon. A fit of extreme anger that only grew stronger over time, as Harry drew the blonde in the direction of the Ravenclaw table, and he fully realized what he was looking at.
In less than twenty-four hours, Harry Potter had managed to meet, seduce and become romantically involved with the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen in his life.
By the time Harry and Fleur were standing beside an exceptionally happy looking Selene Boudreau, hundreds of teenagers were staring fixedly at the sides of their heads, and you could've heard a pin drop absolutely anywhere in the entire Great Hall. The silence was profound, it was heavy, it was exactly what Fleur intended to have happen when the two of them first entered the room, which helped Harry maintain a full force smile even as he made a gigantic spectacle of himself.
With a nonchalance that was extremely impressive under the circumstances, Fleur waved a hand down at her best female friend, and then spoke in smooth quiet French as if the three of them were all alone in the world. "'Arry Potter… This here is Selene Budreau."
After completing a small bow that was appropriate for his station, Harry immediately broke into a smile and then moved to a crouch down next to Selene's chair. Then, when he spoke, it was in very low volumed French, so that he'd be inaudible to anyone else. "It's nice to finally meet you Selene. I'd heard a lot about you in letters before they inexplicably stopped... I just heard how you almost broke my Fleur... I'm conflicted whether or not to be grateful. It was a very, very thorough job you did..."
Selene put her hands on her face and groaned. "I have apologized several hundred times in the last week. I meant to help and I am not used to the intense emotional reactions of Veela teenagers."
While chuckling at Selene's look of long suffering, Harry beamed up at the girl and nodded his agreement. "Now that I can certainly understand. You'll no doubt be happy to hear that your machinations have had their desired effect. We are now most definitely an item… Thank you, Selene."
While Selene immediately shook her head, implying she'd been no help at all, she also smiled affectionately and patted Harry on the shoulder. "Thank you as well for being worth all the drama."
After rising back to his full height, Harry stepped to within a foot of Fleur and then took up one of her hands in his own. "Fleur… I will leave you with your scary clever friend here." Harry spoke in a casual volume as he winked at his… woah… his girlfriend… just woah.
Fleur smiled back at Harry and she looked truly beatifically happy in that moment.
Even if it hadn't been scripted in advance, Harry would've kissed Fleur because of her super adorable happiness. As it was, it took all of his willpower to merely kiss her softly on the cheek and then withdraw to whisper into her ear. "I shall send Dobby to arrange a meeting between us soon."
Feeling Harry's breath on her ear, Fleur shivered, turned slightly pink and then nodded.
Gods help him, Harry really did try to walk away from the Ravenclaw table with an air of nonchalance. He didn't make it. After taking only about five steps towards the Gryffindor table, he abruptly stopped in place and then turned around again. He seriously just couldn't even… Immediately after turning around, he locked eyes with Fleur because she'd been staring at his back. They shared a very long moment of mutual staring before he finally tore his eyes away again. This time Harry just barely managed to get back to his table to rejoin his friends. He had a noticeable spring in his step the whole entire way.
Finally finding her seat, Fleur tried her level best to compose herself like a sophisticated lady should. She completely and utterly failed. Instead, she began blushing a brilliantly bright red. Then, as she waved her hands at her overheated face, she started panting for air and biting her bottom lip. Fleur Delacour was a hot mess right now and anyone with even half a brain in their heads would've noticed right away.
As smart as she is, Selene only had to take a single look at her blushing, breathless, clearly overwhelmed best friend, to exclaim, "My God's in heaven! Tell me absolutely everything!"
By some fluke of good timing, Neville, Hermione, and the rest of Harry's Gryff teammates were still present in the Great Hall, where they were not so patiently waiting for him to return to the Gryffindor table. While Nev and Mione were smiling like loons, it was the twins who looked like they were ready to scream his name at any given moment. "Okay, okay," Harry began, when he finally drew close enough to speak at less than a yell. "Alright, deep breaths, calm down you guys. We all knew that I had an interest in the stunning blonde beauxbatons student. Her name is Fleur, and we became close over the summer…."
"YOU COMPLETE GIT!"
Completely out of nowhere, Ron stormed up to Harry's side while spitting out a rapid-fire series of loud and angry words. "NOTHING CAN COME TO HOGWARTS WITHOUT YOU TAKING IT FOR YOURSELF, YOU SELFISH BASTARD! FIRST THE QUIDDITCH TEAM, AND NOW THE FRENCH GIRL! I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU JUST HAVE HER LIKE THI…"
While Harry wasn't quite sure at what point his wand had ended up in his hand, he didn't hesitate at all when he cast both a silent sound-muting spell and then a silent Petrificus Totalus on his ex-best friend. In less than a tenth of a second, Ron Weasley went from fully mobile and screaming, to frozen in place and silenced.
Waving his wand in a somewhat dismissive fashion, Harry managed to catch Ron's falling body with a multitude of silent levitation spells, which left the boy floating in the air beside him like a furious looking statue. All of the sudden, silence was restored throughout the Great Hall, but now Harry was left there with a captive teenager floating at his side… Then Harry was moving in the twins' direction, and he was giving them both an extremely pointed look. "Guys, I'm in an extremely good mood right now, and I don't want to ruin it. I'll owe you a favor for this, but can you deal with this unsightly mess?" At the tail end of his words, Harry gestured towards the frozen, floating and visibly enraged Ronald Weasley, and the way the boy's eyes were currently rolling in their sockets.
"Right," George and Fred announced, at exactly the same time, with the same high level of frustrated resolve present in their voices. "Excuse us please," they called out to the people gawking from the sidelines, as they bodily hauled their frozen brother out of the Hall.
While shaking his head at the actions of his former friend, Harry started looking around the Great Hall, taking in the stunned silent and staring student body. As he'd feared, at this point every single eye in the Great Hall was firmly trained on him alone.
Well… Damn.
Despite his improved self-esteem, Harry still wasn't a huge fan of being the center of attention. On the other hand… Fleur was more than worth him getting over his stage fright…
Okay then. It was time to bring on the showmanship.
While straightening out his tie, Harry prepared to make a grand romantic gesture... of sorts.
"Yes, I agree. I'm selfish," Harry began, in a very casual voice that nonetheless magically traveled to every corner of the Great Hall (Dumbledore eat your heart out). "I have officially started courting the very accomplished and wonderful Fleur Delacour... I am selfish enough that I've asked her to be mine, and I - will - not - share! Now... Since I'm well-aware of Fleur's many desirable qualities, I can understand how several of you might be feeling frustrated with me... However… I expect that this (Harry gestured to where Ron was standing just a few moments before) will be the very last violent outburst I will experience from any of you. That boy… just used up the very last of my patience... Thank you."
After sitting down amongst his friends, Harry blew out a deep and frustrated breath. Then, when a sobbing Ginny jumped up to her feet and sprinted out of the room, Harry could only shake his head again at the girl's retreating back.
Neville and Hermione both put their hands on Harry's shoulders in silent support.
Slowly but surely, Harry turned his attention back towards the Ravenclaw table, where thankfully he saw both Fleur and Selene beaming back at him. He broke out into a return smile in his intense relief. He'd made a judgment call that Fleur may not have appreciated, but she seemed happy, and that was all that mattered.
A few moments later, when Neville finally released Harry's shoulder, he regarded the completely quiet students at their table and then snorted his amusement. "Harry… You just made that embarrassing little circus act look completely heroic... How do you do that?"
Everyone at the table laughed and a good portion of the tension was dispelled. The Gryff girls were the ones who took over for Fred and George, when they looked at each other and declared in unison
"HARRY POTTER"
Harry laughed at the girls along with everyone else, but he also wanted to change the subject and he knew exactly who the real hero was this morning. "Nev, you complete Casanova you..." Harry turned towards the boy on his right and looked at him in awe. "The advice you gave to me this morning allowed me to change a really bad situation into one of open dialogue. I don't know what I'd have done without your wise counsel, but I know it'd have been far messier and much more drawn-out."
Leaning into his friend's shoulder, Harry continued in a whisper. "I'm serious Nev… If things work out the way I want them to between Fleur and I... You should expect my first born son to be named after you."
Neville merely guffawed at first, but then he began laughing in honest to Gods joy when he realized that Harry was being completely serious… After a few moments and while still laughing, Neville finally choked out, "If that's the case, Harry… use my father's name, Joseph... My name's nearly as uncool as yours."
Soon enough, both Harry and Neville were snickering their amusement as they collected all their school gear.
Two Minutes Earlier…
After Fleur finally managed to settle down enough to speak coherent words, Selene hung off of every word, as she rapidly described everything that had just happened outside with Harry.
"He Occluded all of his emotions that thoroughly this whole entire time?" Selene whispered out in a completely enthralled sounding voice… Selene looked like she might just swoon herself at this point, as this was a ten out of ten on the cuteness scale! A few seconds later, she rallied her mental faculties and then began beaming a wide and happy smile at her friend. "I imagine all of your insecurities have vanished then?"
"Yes, yes, they are all gone as if they never even existed..."'Arry loves me more than anything in the world... he loves me more than flying." With that much said, Fleur began blushing again and she returned to fanning her face with both of her hands.
"Wow, just wow," Selene breathed out as she jokingly waved one of her notebooks at Fleur's face as if to help cool the woman down.
"YOU COMPLETE GIT!"
When an outrageous wall of sound filled the entire Hall, Fleur's attention snapped towards the Gryffindor table, where Harry's oafish, ex-friend Ronald Weasley, was berating him loudly enough to be clearly heard by absolutely everyone. Not only that, but the incredibly stupid boy was calling Harry selfish for taking her away from him. Needless to say, Fleur immediately started launching to her feet, with the intention of raising all hell, when a hand suddenly clamped down on her thigh and held her in place.
Fleur's head immediately whirled to the side, where to her surprise, she found Selene with a mischievous smile upon her face.
"'Arry is strong, no?" Selene turned back towards Harry without even waiting for an answer.
"No sooner had Selene and Fleur finished turning back in Harry's direction, was Ronald silenced, frozen stiff and floating in place like a ghost. Harry had cast the spells so quickly and so discreetly that it just looked like he'd willed it to happen and his magic made it so. Soon enough, Harry asked the boy's brothers for a favor and that idiot Ron was carted out of the room like luggage.
Selene had an amazingly large grin upon her face as Harry announced that yes, yes, he was indeed selfish for taking Fleur off the market, but the rest of them would either have to deal with it or face his wrath. Harry was perhaps just a smidgen more polite than that, but in the end, the message was the same.
For the Gods only know what time, Fleur was becoming red in the face as she felt herself becoming more and more hot and bothered. Harry's words just now... Courting, mine, not sharing…
Goddesses.
Suffice it to say, Fleur was feeling extremely… passionate… about Harry Potter at the moment. It wasn't the first time that she'd felt this way, of course, but in the past she'd almost always blamed the boy's powerful magic for the effect that he had on her body. Well not this time. Fleur was burning up over her brand new boyfriend and there was just no denying it anymore. Then Fleur started blushing even deeper as Harry turned in her direction, because he looked both worried and thoughtful, and she loved him dearly for his care and consideration.
"That," Selene pointed out while looking aside at Fleur. "Is not just some boy..."
"No," Fleur replied back, while smiling in extreme satisfaction. "He isn't even just a wizard…"
"Then what is he?" Selene asked with the beginnings of a grin.
When Fleur's face panned towards her friend from where she'd been staring at the Gryffindor table, her face was somehow both love filled and openly predatory at exactly the same time. "He... is… mine."
Selene's joyful laughter peeled out across the entire Great Hall.
To Be Continued
Author's Note:
For those of you that think this chapter is too sugary sweet... When I wrote this story back in my teens, this chapter was a hot, hot mess that read like a love sonnet written by a lovesick degenerate. Believe it or not, this is the watered down version, with far, far less protestations of undying love and assorted heavy petting.
Long story short, editing this chapter was a mentally draining experience for me.
On the bright side (for me at least), now that the 'will they won't they' aspect of the story is over and done with, we can all pull out the popcorn and watch the tournament unfold…
Author's Note 2:
Yes, I am aware that Neville's father's name is Frank, but I don't want Harry's purely hypothetical son's name to be Frank, so I exercised my creative judgment.
To Be Continued
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