I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise
Author's Note:
This chapter is actually two chapters that I cut down to size, and it's a relatively peaceful bridge or prologue leading into a much more action packed chapter 22.
With that being the case, there is a lot of character development and information imparted in this chapter, so I couldn't just cut it away (and personally, I don't mind simply following Harry as he goes about his training and hangs out with his friends).
Author's Note 2:
A little less than half-way down the page is a Page-break denoting a missing sex scene. If you intend to read this scene, briefly switch over to the companion story Harry Potter: Unleashed: Uncensored and then find the scene name referenced in the line-break..
After leaving breakfast in the Great Hall, where the Daily Prophet article was driving the student population into a frenzy, Harry and Fleur moved into the RoR, where they began working on Transfiguring and Banishing magical constructs. Of course, it didn't LOOK like they were hard at work, considering the fact that Fleur was sitting on Harry's lap, several meters away from the actual focus of their efforts.
On the floor in front of the two young magicals, a rock that Fleur Transfigured into a serpent was choking out Harry's rock transformed into wolf.
"I am always going to be better at this, I see..." Fleur's normal smooth French contained an absolute confidence in her impending victory over Harry, but that may have been because she was mercilessly squirming in his lap the entire time that they dueled. She knew very well what she was doing to her mate and she was enjoying herself immensely. "Come on 'Arry. Fight back. You clearly lack concentration..."
"I wonder if it's a lack of skill on my part or the feminine wiles that you're using against me," Harry growled back as his face flushed red and his body temperature soared. "I think you're at a distinct advantage at the moment, love."
"If you ever get good enough that you can win in this position, I will be confident in your focus 'Arry. This is for your own good, so stop complaining." Fleur wiggled atop her mate with even more enthusiasm… at which point, his wolf died a very swift and inglorious death.
Without a word, Harry Transfigured his newly returned to normal boulder into an eagle that picked up the snake in its talons.
Fleur's snake tore a deep gouge out of the bird's side with its teeth, but it was released at high speed and slammed into a stone lined wall at the far side of the room.
"Zat was better 'Arry," Fleur purred into his ear, before rolling her head back to lay it atop his shoulder. Harry took the opportunity to run his hands up and down her belly, which of course he knew she loved.
POP
"Appoline and Adrien have seen your memories, and Gabrielle sends a great number of charcoal drawings," Dobby conveyed with said drawings held up in his hands. "Would you like them put with the rest of them, sir?"
"Yes, Dobby. Tape them to the dormitory walls, exactly like we always do…" Harry and Dobby grinned at each other, as at this point, all of the walls around his dormitory bed were beginning to look like an enormous Fridge door. Harry was being completely relentless with all the drawings, and he'd even Warded them all, so that none of his dorm mates could take them down. It was secretly a great source of amusement to both Harry and Neville that Ron's bed was completely surrounded by an eight year old's doodles. At the tail end of that thought, Harry noticed something off about Dobby, and his grin widened into a truly knowing smile. "It looks to me like you were strangled, Dobby..."
"Gabrielle is quite affectionate sir," Dobby replied in turn, with utmost levels of dignity. "She is also… quite strong... for her age."
Harry and Fleur laughed as Dobby performed a very sophisticated bow and then popped out of the room.
Dropping his chin onto Fleur's shoulder, Harry squeezed his wife just a bit and sighed. "Have you read anything extremely interesting in the Potter family Grimoire? I hate to say it, but I may be just a bit bored with Transfiguration at this point."
"That's not surprising 'Arry," Fleur conceded with a grin. "You don't have to be any good at it in order to successfully pull it off, so the feeling of accomplishment isn't there like it normally would be. When I first successfully Transfigured a boulder into a fluid and lifelike animal, I was dancing in the streets happy."
"At the moment, I'm only using one and a quarter times the magic power required to perform all of this," Harry declared in his own defense. "I'm not quite THAT bad… Truth be told, I've almost halved my magic expenditure while performing most varieties of magic over the past three days alone, because I've been taking all of these new techniques straight from the source… my mate... At this rate, it feels like I'll be able to graduate by the time we finish this school-year."
"That is a thought, 'Arry," Fleur murmured with her eyes closed and a contented smile on her face. "I have no great desire for you to complete another three years at this school where I cannot reach you. All you really need to do is write your OWLS and NEWTS and I can drag you from this place… Which will be good for my mental health… as I don't like how often you're in danger here."
"Can't say the thought hasn't been on my mind lately." Harry admitted as he closed his eyes and dropped his nose into Fleur's hair, just enjoying the moment. "A few months ago, I'd have worried that Mione would miss me too much, but I've done a great job building up her emotional well-being and confidence. She and Neville are strong now and don't need me to support them like I might have in the past. Also, if I'm being honest, I already know that it'd be impossible for me to go two whole semesters without you by my side... I wonder where we'll live, when the time comes. I own several properties in both of my families' names, and I probably have at least one France-side as well. Want to go find out sometime soon? I need to get that tattoo that I've sketched out anyway..."
"With a bond as strong as ours, it wouldn't be good for our health to be apart for over six months," Fleur confirmed, while melting back into Harry's embrace. "You feel this and see it for what it is. You will need to be ready to do these Ministry final exams sometime in the next year, for I shall not suffer your absence. And yes, I'd like to go see these properties of yours. I'd like to begin figuring out what kind of time compromise we can make between Britain and France, as I know you're tied to your homeland by your responsibility to the Council."
In the seconds following Fleur's idea, Harry slowly shook his head into her hair... "Magic, Fleur... mAaAaAgiIic." Harry did some jazz hands to accompany his words. "We could live in China, and I'd still make it in time for work in the morning. Let's own two primary homes, one in both England and France, and then I shall connect the two by some fantastic wormhole in time or space or something… And don't act like I can't do it either, because we both know that I can."
At first, Fleur started giggling, but then she stopped, sobered, and then finally started nodding. "I do believe you, 'Arry, and so the joke ended early. You break the world for me. It isn't even rare with you…"
"I've already started dabbling with a very, very complicated Rune Script, with this idea in mind," Harry whispered into his wife's ear. "I started building it in my Mindscape, as soon as my Warding knowledge caught up with my ambitions. To make it work, I'll probably need several fully charged Ward stones, to siphon power off of. I've never tried to pull pure magic from an object before, but I imagine it's possible with some practice. It might even be easier that way as my core won't have to convert it."
"Everything you are saying is crazy, and yet it's all true and possible. Ugh... You make my brain hurt sometimes." In a perfect contradiction to her words, Fleur started sending Harry intense amounts of love through the bond, as she rose to her feet, put her hands on her hips and looked down at the man with a very 'I mean business' look upon her face… "Tonight I want you to sit at the Beauxbatons table with me and Selene. I want you to meet Bella in a place where she will be comfortable, because she very well might freak out. I've tried several times to invite her to the Gryffindor table, but she doesn't speak English and she's intimidated by your teammates."
Fleur quietly scoffed at that last part. Once you actually meet them, the twins were the least intimidating people in the whole entire world...
"Yes ma'am, I'll look forward to it." After completing a sharp salute, Harry leaned back on his elbows, looking up at his wife's fantastically alluring 'I'm the boss' type pose. "Any specific way you want me treating the catty bitches at your table?"
"If necessary, I will send you prompts through the bond about who I trust and who I don't." Fleur grinned down at her mate, because he was clearly enjoying her attempt at authority, and it was ruining the effect. "Other than that, just don't go all male Veela on them all. I don't feel like having an even larger fan-base to duel."
"Charming but not too charming, got it," Harry announced, with his arms crossed behind his neck.
Dropping to all fours, Fleur advanced on her man like a stalking animal would, until she was very close to Harry, and rubbing her cheek against his jaw like an affectionate feline. Then she whispered to her man very slowly, while releasing plenty of air directly into his ear. "Cedric ees spending time wiz Cho zis afternoon, 'Arry... You know 'ow I feel about social situations, do you not?"
Harry shivered because he did, in fact, know his mate's preferred state of being during such events, and very soon after, he was proven correct, when his pants started coming off…
At dinner that night, after walking up to their usual spots at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Fleur both just waited for their friends to notice them standing there and weathered the stares that they received from the rest of the student body. .
"What's up Harry," Hermione finally asked when she noticed Harry just standing around as if he was lost… Then the look of confusion suddenly disappeared when she smiled broadly instead. "No! Wait! I'll figure it out." After resting a hand upon her chin for several seconds, she snapped her fingers and then pointed across the table. "Youuuuuu were trying out a new Rune set, and you reversed your personal time relative to everyone else on Earth. Now you're getting younger at a rapid rate?"
Selene instantly caught on and waved her arms in a me next, me next, motion. "Youuuuuuu created a new and 'orrifying magical species via Conjuration magic zat you performed by accident during a nightmare?"
Neville caught on next, and he bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Youuuuuu... Oh!… You didn't say the words Accio the Moon, did you? We aren't all about to die are we?"
The three student wizards and Fleur all started laughing at that point, and just like that a brand new joke meme was born.
Harry shook his head in defeat, but he'd have to admit that he was amused. "No, fortunately for all of us, none of those things have happened. On the other hand, Fleur and I will need Selene, for a rather dangerous mission."
Selene looked thrilled at this latest news and she eagerly launched to her feet. "Hoo do I need to kill, 'Arry?"
"No one, we 'ope," injected a grinning Fleur, from Harry's right. "We are going to sit wiz Bella today, at ze Beauxbatons table."
"Oh zis truly ees an onerous task you demand of me," Selene declared dramatically, with the back of her right hand melodramatically covering her forehead. A second later, she visibly firmed up her determination, as well as her shirt-sleeves. "Fine zen... Let us go shed blood togezer my friends!" Selene pumped her arm in the direction of the Beauxbatons table, as if it were the front lines of a world war.
Everyone at the table shook their heads at Selene's unique brand of extreme melodrama, but they were also highly entertained.
Harry, Selene and Fleur walked towards the Ravenclaw table, where they smoothly sat across from a younger girl who was currently very involved with her food, at which point the young witch caught on to their presence, and began turning a very pale and ghostly white.
Harry extended out just trace amounts of a calming aura towards the younger girl, so that she'd relax, and maybe even start breathing again. It appeared to work a little, because Bella drew in a deep breath several seconds later, and she even tried to communicate with them. " F. , ..."
Fleur smiled gently at Bella, and leaning forward, she softly touched her hand. "I made a promise to you Bella… I said that I would introduce you to 'Arry, and as it turns out, he wanted to meet you as well."
Bella looked at Harry for longer than a fraction of a second for the first time since he'd sat down. " wanted meet me?"
"I did," Harry replied simply, while smiling broadly at the girl and leaning towards her over the table. "I looked over at this table when Fleur was chosen as a Champion, and everyone from your school was either upset or resentful for reasons of their own. I know that you didn't lose anything when Fleur became Champion, because you're a younger student, and you won the right to spectate the tournament through high level scholastic excellence, but you still proved yourself to be an excellent friend, so I wanted to meet you."
Bella looked like she might hyperventilate at this point, because Harry was only a few feet away from her, but she did manage to smile and nod in response to his words. For several seconds following that, Bella's face screwed up as if she were fighting a war within herself. Then, all of the sudden, she blurted out a rapid string of quiet but high pitched words. "It's just as Fleur said... You speak wonderful French."
Bella had finally managed to say her first stutter free sentence in Harry's presence, so he took it as the win that it was. "Thank you, Bella. I was taught by the very best." Harry glanced aside at Fleur, at which point they locked eyes for a single electrically charged moment in time. Turning back towards Bella, Harry adopted a look of chagrin on his face. "Truth be told, I didn't even realize how sophisticated and clean my French was, until I went to the Quidditch World Cup. While there, I heard how colorfully everyone else was speaking for the very first time..."
Fleur started giggling into her hand at that, because sometimes Harry's interactions with her little sister were just soooo adorable. When everyone at the table looked at her in open curiosity, she decided to elaborate. "Arry wanted to put conjured earmuffs on my younger sister. He wanted to protect her innocence from the bad words some of the men were saying."
Bella's curiosity appeared to win another victory over her extremely shy nature, as she leaned in and looked Harry in the eyes. "That was when the men a..attacked Fleur and her sister, and you saved the day, isn't it?"
In the quiet following Bella's question, Harry noticed that he had all of the Beauxbatons congregation's attention at this point. "Well," he began. "I was…"
"What is HE doing here?!"
When an enormously pretentious screech of a voice suddenly rang out behind Harry's left shoulder, he knew without a shadow of a doubt in his mind that he was about to make an enormous pain in the ass of himself... Turning around, Harry exclaimed in perfect French, "Oh it's... you?... Damn. I'm sorry, I really am, but can you?…"
Snicker
…
Giggle
Francine went from zero to completely furious in record time, and it was clear only the fact that her Headmistress was sitting in the Hall was stopping her from pulling her wand. "You know exactly who I am, Potter! What are you doing at my table?"
After staring up at Francine for several moments simply to accentuate the fact that she had zero authority over him, Harry waved his arms at all of the girls in his general vicinity. "As you can plainly see... I'm eating with another school, in order to create relationships in our broader magical community. You know… Like this tournament is supposed to be all about."
Snicker
….snicker
One look and it was obvious that Francine was having a tough time keeping her cool. She was an angry type of person, and she wasn't used to being mocked. Well, tough. Harry was nowhere near done with the woman yet. At the beginning of the week, Francine Petit walked up to the Gryffindor table and called HIS WIFE a dark creature in front of scores of people.
Her ass was grass.
As Harry subtly extended his magical shroud all around Francine, he empathically asked Fleur to pick a harmless but intensely irritating problem.
Fleur immediately sent back just two words... rectal itch... In response, Harry was forced to use his mind Occlusions to smooth out his facial features. He wanted to laugh... BADLY. He forced his demeanor to remain both cool and composed, and he made sure to keep both of his hands together atop the table in front of him, when he silently and wandlessly cast the jinx from several yards away from his body using his shroud as a medium.
Harry'd become quite good at performing smaller spells wandless lately, thus, Francine would have no idea what he'd just done to her.
As planned, Francine's already angry face instantly began twitching in obvious irritation. Then she stormed over to an empty seat, sat down and began squirming into her chair in a way that had people giving her a series of very odd looks.
"Soo… Where were we before we were interup… Anyway, where were we," Harry asked with the best timing available, to convey that Francine was nothing but a pest without actually having to say the words.
"The Quidditch World Cup," declared a girl from a ways down the table. "You were in the papers for an event that happened there."
"Yes, I suppose I was," Harry responded, as he dragged his hands off of the table. "Selene told me about that news article a few weeks ago, but until then, I had no idea." Harry shrugged expressively. "I actually do remember some random guy taking a photo of me that day. The thing is, I look so vastly different than I did just a year ago, I didn't think twice about it. I'm not sure how that man even figured out who I am."
"That is a good question, but we wanted to know if the story is true and what you did?" This came from another unknown girl a little further down the table.
Harry turned towards Fleur and adopted a look of mild confusion. "Well, what did Fleur tell you?"
"That you saved her sister," another girl quickly added. "We just wanted to check with you, to see if it was all true."
Harry smiled at the girls, but then he shook his head as if they were misunderstanding one of the fundamental laws that govern the universe. "Ah I see.. You needn't bother asking me then... Lying does NOT come easy to my Fleur... I have learned a great many inconvenient truths since the first day that we met."
Selene started it, but soon after, several girls were snickering up and down the table, and Harry received a soft elbow to the ribs from Fleur (she was quite pleased with him in the bond however).
"I imagine Fleur told you I ran off and saved her sister." Harry put his hands up in front of himself in a vaguely defeated fashion. "That part's true and yet I don't know what the papers actually said. In my experience, journalists tend to exaggerate or even alter events for their own convenience."
"Much like they did yesterday," pointed out a twitching and squirming Francine Petit. "You obviously had those reporters in your pocket. I've never seen such obvious, fame pandering, ass-kissery before."
Harry slowly panned his face to Francine and just stared at her again for several seconds in a row, as she twitched and vibrated in extremely off-putting ways. Harry's face was carefully deadpan, but because he'd slowly and subtly immersed everyone at the table in tendrils of his aura shroud, no one who saw him missed how he really felt about Francine Petit. Harry was projecting to everyone at the table that he thought Francine was truly the ugliest form of rude, and a tragic waste of magical human potential. Finally, Harry broke his silence, in a calm and cool tone of voice. "The Daily Prophet journalists have expressed an interest in meeting with you as well Ms. Petit… I'll deliver for you the message that you're not interested in meeting with them, because you question their journalistic integrity…"
Snicker
…Snicker…Snort…
In response to Harry's words, Francine instantly started experiencing a meltdown that was clear to see on her face. She started shifting through several different shades of red while bouncing in her seat as if they were in the midst of an earthquake, and her knuckles were white where they were squeezing the armrests of her chair. "I did NOT say that," she yelled out far too loudly, causing a wave of people from nearby tables to cast odd looks in her direction.
"My apologies if I was in error, Ms. Petit," Harry replied, in a completely congenial tone of voice. "Perhaps my French isn't as good as I've been led to believe… It might just be a French colloquialism that I'm not aware of but... I'm not sure how calling the journalists fame pandering, ass-kissers, can possibly be a term of endearment."
At this point, Selene was having a seriously rough time holding herself together. She had one of her hands firmly shoved into her mouth, to the point that she looked like she might suffocate because of it. The rest of the girls at the table were showing signs of cracking as well. A few giggles finally broke out from several directions, and the table felt like a bomb set to blow.
Finally, in the face of both Harry's persistent open mockery and the equally maddening and persistent itch in her asshole, Francine Petit completely lost her cool. "YOU SWINE," she screamed at Harry, for the whole Great Hall to hear. "I AM SICK OF BEING DISRESPECTED BY YOU! YOU SHALL RUE THE DAY THAT YOU MET ME!"
With her threat delivered, Francine instantly launched out of her chair and began marching out of the Hall, with an odd, twitchy, lurching gait that looked anything but natural.
Harry intensified the rectal itch as Francine exited the room, and then after looking back at the other occupants of the table, he adopted his most innocent looking expression. "You know what I find interesting? I haven't gone more than two weeks this entire year, without someone screaming at me in front of hundreds of people. I'll admit it's not something I ever hoped to get used to, but sadly it appears I have. This is, however, the very first time someone's used the term 'rue the day' on me (Harry made the bunny ears with his fingers). That girl acts like a cartoon villain... I just don't get it," Harry mused to himself, out loud. "I try to be as friendly as possible..."
Harry adopted an extremely insincere look of dejection upon his face.
It was during that moment, Selene officially reached the end of her will power, and she EXPLODED into mad, cackling laughter with her hands pounding the table over and over in a moment of purified joy, and it didn't take long for the rest of the women at the table to follow in her footsteps. Fleur maintained her composure because Madam Maxine was staring at them all, but she was also laughing within the confines of her Mindscape, and she was projecting as much to Harry through the bond.
It was only as everyone's amusement finally started dying down that they all noticed a purple robed man walking up towards the podium.
When Dumbledore stood up in front of the assembled students, quiet almost instantly settled all around the Hall, allowing him to speak in a very quiet voice that filled the entire space. "It is my pleasure to announce that this weekend will be the first Mini-Task for the Champions to take part in. They are to meet here in the Great Hall, just after lunch, on Saturday. There will be no advanced warning about what the Mini-Task will be. Thank you for your attention, now I'll let you all get back to your scrumptious meal." Dumbledore walked off, having added just the one weird word at the end (he's off his game).
Turning back towards Fleur, Harry smiled mostly because he's supposed to be confident and self-assured now. "Well then, I guess we have plans together this weekend. I hope the Mini-Task isn't transplanting mandrakes or milking flobberworms. I'm terrible at both of those tasks."
"I wouldn't want to meet the man whose one great talent is milking flobberworms," Fleur replied in an offhand manner.
"I didn't mind that task in Care of magical Creatures," Selene offered without a care. "It was oddly cathartic."
Surprisingly, there were three or four other girls around the table that nodded their understanding of Selene's words (Harry didn't know any of these girls at all, but he thought they might just be opening up).
Turning his attention back towards Bella, Harry leaned forward on one of his elbows. "What's your favorite class, Bella?"
Bella looked startled, because during Francine's blowup, she'd allowed herself to become a wall ornament. "Ummmm, I like Transfiguration best, followed by Runes."
"You've picked two very challenging courses for favorites, Bella... You must be quite sharp." Harry smiled gently as he spoke, so that she'd speak to him in return.
"I am in the class standings, in my ," Bella quietly replied... It looked like showing confidence somehow hurt her physically.
"I wasn't," Harry casually admitted. "During third year, I was of completely average placement in all of Hogwarts's class standings."
Everyone seemed completely stunned by that revelation. "Why," asked a girl, a little further down the table. "You're clearly quite strong."
Harry smiled and then conveyed through the bond that he was about to stretch the truth for Bella's benefit.
Fleur immediately approved, and mentally squeezed Harry, because she knew exactly what he had in mind.
Harry scanned the girls at the table, before his gaze rested on Bella again. "Last year at this time, I was shy, timid, nervous, and afraid of standing out. My relatively large magical stores were being squandered, because of my attitude, and that neglect reflected in my grades at the time. I was doing myself a massive disservice by not believing in myself, because INTENT is at least half of what it takes to perform any skill in magic. If you don't BELIEVE that you can cast a spell, neither will your magic, and that negativity will inevitably reflect in your results. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it gets worse over time, because every failure leads to even lower self-esteem... As soon as I committed to becoming more self-confident, my magic became both easier to use and more powerful. I also find I'm happier this way, for obvious reasons…"
By this point, Harry was giving Bella an extremely meaningful look.
Bella seemed to take what Harry had to say extremely seriously, because she visibly firmed up her posture.
Soon, the meal was over and Harry was pushing in Fleur's chair for her as they rose up to their feet. He smiled down at the girls at the table because many of them were being far friendlier to Fleur than they had been at the beginning of the meal. "Well... It was nice to meet you all. I have to continue training before bed, so I'll leave you to your meals." Harry turned towards Fleur next, and offered her an arm. "May I walk you to your carriage?"
"Yes. I would like that," Fleur replied, while allowing herself to be drawn from the Hall with her arm linked in Harry's.
Fleur was radiating warmth through the bond, and Harry was returning fire, to the point they never felt the chill, as they walked across the lawns.
About halfway down the ad-hoc boardwalk leading to the carriage, Fleur suddenly stopped in place, pulled Harry into a very tight hug, and whispered into his ear. "Zat was a very good zing you did for Bella, just now. She 'ero worships you, so your words will mean so much more zan zey would 'aave eef I 'ad said ze same zings."
Harry smiled and kissed Fleur's cheek as they began to walk again. "I could feel a desire deep inside of you to have an intervention with Bella. I did what I did in there, because you are far, far too perfect to explain the virtues of self-confidence. Of course you're confident, Fleur... You're Fleur Delacour... You're the most competent, accomplished, graceful, beautiful witch I've ever met. Bella needed an angle of approach for that conversation that she could relate to…" Pausing in his explanation, Harry gave Fleur a meaningful look. "I'm not saying that you've never been nervous before, because we both know that you have. What I'm saying is I doubt Bella can even imagine you feeling that way..."
Fleur abruptly stopped in place again and wrapped her arms tightly around her mate. "You read me so deeply een ze bond now, 'Arry... I never even thought about wanting you to do zat at a conscious level, and yet you knew what I needed... We 'aave such a strong bond, you may even end up knowing me better zan I do myself."
"That's a day I look forward to," Harry whispered, while running his hands softly along his wife's back.
"Will you sleep wiz me tonight, 'Arry?" Fleur was looking up at him from below his chin (Harry took an arrow to the heart). "I do not want to be away from you tonight."
On the one hand, the prospect of a night spent in the carriage was a little taboo and exciting to him. On the other hand, Harry knew that his wife wasn't asking for some wildly passionate tryst, but instead what comfort he could offer her during a moment of extreme emotion. "Fleur…" Harry gave his wife an extremely honest expression. "If I had it my way, we would never sleep apart. How are we sneaking into the carriage?"
"Eet will be fine, 'Arry, follow my lead and become eenvisible." Fleur grabbed her husband's hand, placed it atop her right thigh and then started marching across the frost dusted grass.
While walking across the carriage's massive wooden balcony, and the heated lounge area that was sprawling across its surface, Fleur nodded at the many girls sitting around, while carefully ignoring all of the boys that were interspersed among their number. Quite a few of these boys followed Fleur's movements with their eyes, but they all carefully kept their distance, and they didn't say a word.
Soon enough, Fleur and Harry moved throughout the carriage itself, entered Fleur's room and Harry settled atop her bed.
"You're acting a little more demure tonight than usual," Harry softly pointed out.
"I know, 'Arry," Fleur admitted with a sigh. "I just desired this to feel a little heavier, and more meaningful. I am especially in love with you right now, and would squeeze you all night long. You make me feel exposed and vulnerable… and safe and loved. As if those feelings aren't completely contradictory. I am laid bare to my mate, and he takes such wonderful care of me…"
Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, before shedding the rest of his clothing down to his boxer-briefs. Then he looked up to find that Fleur had stripped down to nothing but one of his white t-shirts, and that it just barely covered her in the best kind of ways. Less than a week ago, Harry had joked that he really shouldn't own white clothing because he just gets them all bloody. Almost instantly, Fleur had eagerly taken his white t-shirts off his hands to use as pajamas.
Suffice it to say, the way Fleur wanted his scent closeby during those times when he couldn't physically be around made Harry's heart burn... Wordlessly, he extended his arms out to the blonde, and she slipped onto his lap.
After pushing Harry onto his back, Fleur fell forward onto the sheets because she was firmly wrapped around his waist… "'Arry… I have completely lost my composure, and am currently unable to let go of you."
"I'm not going anywhere tonight," Harry assured with a satisfied little sigh. "I can feel proximity Wards activating outside in the hallway anyway. If I were to try to get away now, I'd be caught by your Headmistress on my way out."
"I do not want to sleep without you anymore. We will be making this a nightly occurrence." Fleur furthered while wiggling down into her husband's body in beautiful, terrible ways.
"I'll figure something out then," Harry conceded.
"I'm being serious," Fleur asserted in the urgency of her need.
"As am I," Harry assured while conveying his seriousness in the bond.
Fleur didn't reply with words. She merely gave the man the Fleur Delacour snuggling treatment, to an extent that rendered him completely helpless…
Harry Potter: Unleashed: Uncensored - Scene in Fleur's Carriage rooms - CH 21
The Following Morning…
Harry arrived at the RoR just a little bit later than normal because he'd had a late start. He tore through his run to catch up, but he'd allowed himself a real lie-in earlier, as he woke up snuggled up with his wife, and he hadn't been able to make himself move from that position.
"Ah Harry, my very evasive and enigmatic best friend," Neville cheerfully called out. "I think you must have a story to tell me…"
Harry beamed at his steadily more confident friend, and announced, "you know what? Maybe I should… Fleur tells Selene every single detail, every single time, and the two of them ENJOY the fact that it makes me blush."
Neville smiled in amusement at first but then he blanched just a bit at Harry's honest look of long suffering. "Is what you just said true or just a joke? I'd have trouble ever facing Selene again if it were my sex life on display like that."
"Fleur is... complimentary," Harry hedged, with a bashful expression upon his face.
Neville's eyes brightened, as he rested the weights that he was lifting on a nearby cradle, and then sat down on Harry's right with an expectant look upon his face… "Harry… My friend… You are empathically linked to a fully-satisfied French VEELA, which means at this point, you must be among the very best lovers at this school, if not the country. You know what I want from you, correct?..."
"You want the details," Harry surmised with a simple nod of his head.
"Not a play by play, no, but I want to know what works, what doesn't, and what I need to focus on," Neville corrected with a shrug. "If I can make Hannah and my… our first time, better, smoother, less clumsy, then I want to do what I can..."
Harry looked into his highly Occluded brain, where he'd been compiling the memories of every movement that had ever been positively received by Fleur, purely for his own benefit. Then he turned back towards Neville and he nodded his understanding. "At some point later tonight, I'll amass a carefully obscured series of memories for you to access within a Pensieve, complete with a narrative explaining every trick, tip and movement that I've ever performed that was well received and consistently effective… You're right, after all. The fact that I can feel what works within Fleur's mind does give me an obvious leg up."
"That idea sounds… I won't say impossible because I know how organized your mind is… but it's far more generous than anything I had in mind," Neville carefully hedged. "And what exactly do you mean when you say… carefully obscured…".
"Artistically altered and indistinct outlines of a man and a woman having sex with no noises at all," Harry explained with a shrug. "I like you Nev, but I don't like you enough to share candid memories of my sex life. "
"I'd be alarmed if you did," Neville assured with a laugh.
"What I'm giving you will look real enough, it just won't look like me or Fleur," Harry continued with a small laugh and a smile. "It'll be a very generic mishmash of movements, not designed to be sexy, but instructional instead…"
"And now, I'll reveal why I DESERVE all the effort that you're going to on my behalf," Neville announced with a sigh. "Last night, after curfew, Ron ran off to Mrs. McGonagall's office, outing you for not returning to the Northern Tower. She even started getting a little bit angry with you, until I pointed out that you're exempt from most curfew rules, as both a Champion and an emancipated minor with a Lordship… To be honest, I didn't even know if what I was saying was true… but after considering my words for several moments, McGonagall suddenly decided I was right. Thing is... Mrs. McGonagall is showing you some leniency that I doubt she actually needs to afford you, and both Ron and I could see that much... That Ron is going to be a menace when next he sees you, because we all knew where you were last night and with whom. What are you going to do about that idiotic boy?"
Harry chose the weights he'd be lifting for the day even as he responded to Neville's question. "Last night, while I was asleep, I designed a Rune Cluster that when added to my Wards, will create an illusion of me sleeping in my thoroughly Warded bed. No one but Dumbledore is strong enough to even approach breaking my new Wards, so the plan will work even if Ron isn't convinced that it's actually me inside the bed. All I need you to do is say goodnight Harry, and the illusion will appear. If you don't say those words before ten Pm, the illusion will appear all by itself."
Abruptly, Harry had an idea and he gave Neville a very sly look. "In fact, Neville... If you want to get up to some… mischief… yourself. I can create the same Rune Wards for YOUR bed and teach you to Disillusion. I'll even loan you my invisibility cloak in the meantime."
At Harry's words, Neville looked both nervous and extremely intrigued. "I'm normally a very obedient student, Harry... but what you're describing is a little too tempting to ignore..." Neville squared up his shoulders, and gave Harry the beginnings of what would later become a rakish grin (Harry was extremely proud of his friend). "I would in fact love it if you could do the same setup on my bed and trunk, but I'll admit, I also have a second reason for wanting your Ward setup. Ron freaks me out these days… He behaves as if I stole you from him or something, even though he treats you with nothing but contempt. He's off his rocker, and I don't like sleeping exposed to his madness..."
"Agreed," Harry immediately declared. "By tonight, you'll have a full set of Wards, and I'll teach you to Disillusion whenever you have the time. Until then, use the invisibility cloak. I'll leave it on your bed. I owe you for standing up for me with McGonagall, and several other things beyond that…" Abruptly, Harry raised his hands, to forestall Neville's obvious arguments. "I know you're about to say that we don't keep track of favors, but this nature of task is easily done, and like you just said, you've earned it."
Neville had drawn in a deep breath to argue that Harry didn't owe him anything, but Harry beat him to the punch with picture perfect timing. In the end, Neville simply smiled, nodded his understanding, and went back to his lifting.
Harry and Neville marched down to breakfast, with huge smiles upon both of their faces, springs in their steps, and a level of enthusiasm that carried them to the Gryffindor table in no time at all. An infectious happiness that only grew stronger when Harry sat down on Fleur's right, kissed her on the cheek, and allowed his left hand to be pulled down into her lap.
"So what are you two training today," Hermione immediately asked Harry while leaning atop the table with an extremely curious look upon her face. "I know that you've been blowing through the charms and curses because I saw all of the check marks that you drew on the list. I'd have liked to see Harry complete a training montage like that, but SOME of us actually have to go to classes."
"Yesterday, we worked on Vanishing and Transfiguring animals," Harry replied with a smile. "Today we're tentatively going to spar with each other, and use the various Simulacrum dolls. Then I have some interesting reading for us to do from my family vault." Harry grinned at Fleur before returning his attention back to Mione. "At some point, I'm also supposed to read a book that's illegal to even have in my possession."
When Hermione's eyes immediately snapped in Harry's direction, she found him already pointing at her and grinning.
"I knew you'd find that idea sexy, Mione." Harry laughed out with a fond shake of his head.
Hermione pouted, and crossed her arms in an elaborate sulky look. "I like books, yeah, we know this. You WILL show me this book, Harry."
"Done," Harry easily conceded. "I can't just carry this book around though. It's concealed and heavily Warded in my trunk."
Hermione looked as if she'd ask more questions, but she was interrupted when...
Ronald Weasley marched into the Great Hall for breakfast, saw Harry sitting with Fleur, and reacted without a second thought. "OH, IF IT ISN'T HARRY POTTER THE MANWHORE AND HIS SLU!..."
Ron didn't get to finish his sentence. By the time he'd said the words "and his," Harry had turned towards the boy with his wand out, and he was taking care of the problem. Quicker than thought, Harry Silenced Ron, Petrificus Totalized him, Levitation spelled him several times, Jinxed him to lose all of the hair on his body, jinxed him to be covered in acne from head to toe, written the words jealous ponce on his forehead in bright green ink, Disillusioned his robes down to his underwear, and applied a few more jinxes on his body that he wouldn't even notice were there until much, much later…
With that done, Harry turned his attention towards the twins, and gestured at the once again floating Weasley. "I didn't go too far just now, and I won't hold back from punishing him again in the future. From this point forward, Ron will be extremely sorry if he cannot control himself in my presence. Do you get me?"
The twins looked stunned at first, but then they rapidly began nodding their understanding. Fred smiled and leaned forward so that he could keep his voice low. "We heard what Ron was in the midst of saying, so we're grateful that you stopped him before he could start a family blood feud. Although... If that were to happen, our father would probably have been forced to kick Ron out of the family, and at this rate that might be for the best…" George pitched his voice towards Ron, while glaring at him meaningfully.
Fred continued talking as George continued giving his brother the stink eye. "Ron's already very close to being removed from the family. He's yet to apologize for his contribution to that garbage news article, and he's running out of time. According to the letter we received from our father, if he doesn't apologize before December the thirteenth our family will be forced to pay a significant amount of money."
George was still staring daggers at Ron, as he shook his head in immense frustration. "Ron... You just don't get it at all, do you? You were about to grievously insult an honest to Gods Ancient and Noble Family Lord's intended in front of several hundred people. RON you imbecile! Harry would've had every right to demand satisfaction from you!"
Ron's eyes were once again rolling in his head, and he looked completely insane.
The twins were clearly losing their patience, to the point where they were having trouble caring about Ron's circumstances. One of the twins Disillusioned Ron so that they could finish their meal for once, without having to babysit him. The other twin nodded his thanks, and continued eating as if nothing was amiss.
"We are finished with this nonsense," George suddenly declared. "We have no idea what to tell you, Harry, except that Ron will soon be failing out of school anyway, so if you're patient, the problem will resolve itself."
Fleur caught Harry's hand under the table, and once again drew it firmly into her lap, but other than that, she never even paused in her eating. She was thankful that Harry acted so quickly, but he knew that much already, so she didn't bother fussing over him.
"So," hedged Fred in a desire to change the subject. "Anyone have any idea what the first Mini Task will be?"
"No idea at all," replied Harry in a casual tone of voice. "What was it you told me the other day, Fleur?"
Fleur smiled at Harry and leaned against his shoulder as she answered his question. "Ze Mini Tasks are usually but not always less dangerous, and are always specific skill centered. Spell strength, accuracy, diversity and speed, Transfiguration, Apparition, Resistance to outside eenfluence, problem solving, spell-deconstruction, etcetera. Ze trial truly could be a thousand different zings, and unlike ze primary Tasks, zey often have ze Champions face off against each ozzer more directly."
"They'll be hard to prepare for then," added Alicia, in a distracted tone of voice. She was still looking at the invisible Ron Weasley, while clearly enjoying the fact that he was trussed up and forgotten (Ron thinks that women are only brought on to professional Quidditch teams so that the team can sell sexy merchandise, like calendars and action figures. Alicia HATES Ron for believing that).
"Eef ze first trial ees speed or strength based, 'Arry will be een ees element," Fleur declared, with confidence.
Everyone at the table just nodded because Harry was FAST, and they'd all just witnessed that.
Fleur continued speaking, but she was looking at Harry now. "Eef ze task ees centered on spell diversity and problem solving, 'Arry will need to work very 'ard to overcome ze ozzer champion's greater experience. Zat will be my area of expertise."
Hermione and the Gryff girls looked at Harry with mounting concern on their faces. The twins seemed to have faith that he would pull through, even if he had no idea what to do. Selene looked like she thought doing bad on a task was small potatoes, and she was having fun.
"Like Mione implied earlier, I've actually made huge leaps of improvement in spell diversity over the last week," Harry pointed out to give his friends some peace of mind. "While It's true that Fleur easily eclipses me in terms of spill diversity, I'll most likely still end up looking okay. It's all relative really... Fleur knows thousands and thousands of spells, but she's taught me over two hundred of the most important of them over the last couple of days."
"Wait... How in the name of the Gods would you learn the techniques and psychological mindset involved to perform two hundred spells that quickly?" Katie was leaning forward and her face was a mixture of both awe and confusion. "In classes, we learn maybe fifteen new spells a month and even then it's rather hard to keep up sometimes."
When Harry looked aside at Fleur, she nodded. Having been given the go ahead, he leaned forward over the table, and waited until the Gryff girls and twins mirrored him. "Okay. Here's the deal," he whispered conspiratorially. "I imagine you've all noticed that Fleur and I are... close?"
"Is that
What
Kids
Are
Calling
It
These
Days?" Once again, Fred and George finished asking the question together, with perfect timing.
Everyone laughed at the twin's antics, before looking back at Harry.
"Well... Fleur and I... are in fact a fully bonded, mated pair now," Harry quietly admitted. "In fact we're connected by a rather strong empathic bond now, and can relay a huge amount of information back and forth in real time. Usually, I can perform a new spell that she has demonstrated for me after only a minute or two… So, you see... I'm shamelessly reliant on my sugar momma over here," Harry concluded while smiling and game-show prize reveal gesturing at Fleur.
Fleur blew Harry a kiss in return, and didn't seem the least bit annoyed at being called a sugar momma.
"Zat really ees very romantic," injected Selene from the sidelines. "Fleur 'aas eemplied 'owever, zat you are 'elping 'er een return… She wouldn't tell me ze exact details... for once," she added, with a wink.
Neville snorted out a laugh on the sidelines, before quickly smoothing out his features.
"Yes, I AM helping Fleur, but that will have to remain a mystery for now, because it's one of those HARRY POTTER things." Harry had a shit eating grin on his face, as he said that.
Alicia leaned forward, alone this time, and looked questioningly at everyone else at the table. "Wait... Is Harry allowed to just call things HARRY POTTER things from now on, and we just nod our heads and move on?
"You guys started the joke meme," Harry pointed out. "I'm just using it to my benefit."
"Damn," began Fred, all of the sudden.
"The man has a point," ended George.
Everyone at the table laughed at the twins, as they packed up their things for classes/training.
Inside of a very powerful dueling barrier in the center of the RoR, was a square area of floor that was a pitted, cratered, fiery mixture of burning vines and ropes, icy patches, dagger sharp rock-faces, and electrified water-filled fissures. It was a barely habitable danger zone, and it would be for at least another hour unless someone returned it back to normal.
While Harry and Fleur were both leaning against a nearby wall and breathing heavily, it was Harry who looked way more out of breath and sweaty. One thing was becoming certain to Harry, as he dropped to his butt and drew in several much needed breaths. If he and Fleur were ever forced to duel each other in front of an audience, it would end up being quite the spectacle. They could read each other's intentions faultlessly, and predict each other's movements with picture perfect accuracy...
While at first it was hard to get Harry motivated, he and Fleur did eventually try to have a serious spar against each other... The problem was that the 'duel' they ended up having looked like a highly magical, dangerous, and perfectly choreographed dance… At first, they'd bobbed and weaved around each other's clever little spells, and negated each other's Transfigurations with ridiculous ease, because they always knew exactly what was coming. As more time went by, they'd started using larger and larger spells, until eventually they'd ended up completely destroying the landscape of the dueling platform. Even with all of the devastation happening all around them, they still hadn't been able to catch each other for the finishing blow that they'd needed.
As expected, Fleur was the more experienced, more technical spellcaster, while Harry was much, much faster and far more instinctual. Fleur had all of the simple and elegant solutions, while Harry was enough of a powerhouse that he didn't necessarily need the same kind of repertoire. Irrespective of their level of training and personal dueling styles however, their strong empathic connection still meant that it was nearly impossible to land a solid blow. What that meant was that it was hard to end the duel without using so much force they'd end up killing each other by accident.
Harry hadn't been able to surprise Fleur even when he tried using time-released, non-verbal, wandless, manual spells, started far away from his body using the magic in his aura shroud... Performing that kind of spellwork in front of an audience would NEVER be allowed to happen, but Harry had been getting desperate to finally connect a spell to his wife… And there was a REASON why he'd been in such a hurry. Of the two of them, it was Harry who was quickly being driven to the point of magical exhaustion.
More and more as their spar progressed, Fleur ended up dipping into Harry's magical stores, when her own magical power started running low. On the one hand, this outcome allowed Harry to both identify and learn Fleur's far more versatile and obscure attacks. On the other hand, he'd begun losing strength at an extremely rapid rate.
Eventually, when Harry was just moments away from collapsing, Fleur raised both of her arms up towards the ceiling, calling a halt to the duel.
In the moments that followed, Cedric paced forward with a face that held shock, awe and incredulity in equal measure. "Well... damn guys... That was beautiful and... terrifying, but... Who would've won?"
Harry immediately pointed at Fleur.
Fleur just shrugged because Harry was probably right, but not for the right reasons. "Eet's actually a leetle bit complicated... Remember 'ow we explained zat I am able to take een 'Arry's power?"
Cedric slowly nodded his head as a theory started growing in his mind. He'd been brought in on many of Harry and Fleur's secrets throughout the morning, because they'd be working closely together to train. Now he suspected that Harry had just fought one Hell of an uphill battle...
Fleur saw Cedric's dawning comprehension, and she nodded her approval. "Yes. Eet's exactly as you surmise. I 'aave more experience zan 'Arry at dueling, and I 'aave a wider repertoire of spells, but sadly, zat's not why I would win. While we duel, I find myself using 'Arry's magic, which of course means I am draining iim dry, and I will win when ee collapses. Eet ees almost a certainty zat ee will drop unconscious eef we duel... but eesn't zat cheating? I am magically tied to 'Arry, and using ees own magic against 'iim een multiple ways. I'll admit, I do not like eet at all. Eet ees still excellent practice of course. 'Arry can learn many spells while also working on 'ees finesse, and I can stretch my magical muscles, but..."
Fleur looked at Harry, and shrugged in defeat. "What will we do eef we need to duel een ze Tournament? I find eet completely eempossible to avoid receiving your magical power now, and even eef I could, ze Tournament contract would compel me to take what I can."
Harry smiled at Fleur, and shrugged back in an equally defeated fashion. "It only makes sense to duel using all of our resources, so I'm glad you have little choice in the matter. If I can't think of a safe and gentle way to choke off our bond, which is an idea I'm not all that eager to investigate, then you'll win when I drop unconscious from magic expenditure. Thankfully for me, no one truly expects a fourth year to beat the seventh year Champions."
"Yes, oh yes, some people most certainly do," Cedric cut in with a grin.
Harry gave Cedric a look of long suffering. "The Lightning Bolts don't count, Cedric, and you know that. The girls still hiding in those trees in the morning don't have as much common sense as I think a human needs."
Both boys grinned at each other before Harry turned back towards Fleur and continued his explanation. "I have no intention of tapping out under the guise that you and I are courting and I'm a gentleman. I hate that idea because it implies I don't respect your skills."
"I would not like ze eemage zat conveys of me eizzer." Fleur looked at the magically sunny day around them in the RoR as if it held all of the answers.
"Well, let's tackle that particular problem if and when it ever comes up," Cedric cheerfully offered. "In the meantime, let's take turns using the Simulacrum dolls. I've got them all set up to professional Auror levels at this point."
Fleur looked excited at the idea, and Harry picked up through the bond that she was super jazzed about destroying their enemies. The duel that they'd just finished, had been just as eye opening as Harry had claimed it would be for her... Fleur was an ingenious spellcaster who knew thousands and thousands of spells, and now that she had an extremely vast well of magical power to cast them with, she was coming to understand exactly how dangerous she actually was. Dueling with Fleur was more like fighting against a fiery tornado now. Harry was forced to rely on both his superhuman speed and reflexes paired with their bond, just to stay ahead of her attacks.
Far from being upset about it, Harry was both excited and relieved. He frequently found himself worrying about Fleur's safety, in light of Halloween.
Long story short, the sooner Fleur started casting impossible magics far faster than the eye could follow, the happier Harry would be. With that objective in mind, Harry started quickly converting light/heat energy into his own magical reserves, so that the two of them could return to their training. Fleur really had been draining him dry earlier, and he was still feeling pretty whipped…
Fleur merely smiled at her mate from her spot on the floor to his left. The man's concern for her made him selfless, except not. The two of them were bonded. He needed her safe, which meant that he needed her channeling his magic. No duel, no matter how public, mattered in the grand scheme of things, and they both knew that with a solid inner certainty…
Still…
Fleur leaned sideways, pressing her shoulder into Harry's arm, and when he turned to glance down at her, he caught a sweet little kiss on the cheek.
Later that afternoon, Harry sat on a Conjured couch, writing in a notebook on his lap. Fleur expected her mate to begin reading the Potter Grimoire this afternoon, so she was curious about what he was working on, and she drifted in his direction.
"What are you so focused on, 'Arry?" Even as she asked the question, Fleur pushed his notebook aside, so that she could lay her head back atop his lap.
"I intend to make a gift for Bella, so that she can hang out with our group easier." Harry dropped his notebook to the couch cushions, as his wife snuggled further into his lap like a cat. He was highly distracted by his wife's cuteness.
"Oh?" Fleur rubbed her face against her very thoughtful husband's stomach. "What is this gift?"
"English translation version of my French learning aid," Harry replied with a smile. "Bella won't end up with your enchanting French accent this way, but she'll be able to converse with everyone without any issues."
Fleur smiled and positively draped herself atop her man's lap as he began running his hands up and down her stomach. "That's very kind of you, 'Arry. I already know that she'll love it. How hard will it be to create?"
"I don't think I'll need to outsource for power," Harry replied while gesturing up at the ceiling. I already have the juice required after recharging in this sunny day all afternoon." Harry shrugged and his face went a little sheepish for a moment. "The only thing really holding me back right now, is a desire to understand exactly HOW I'm doing what I'm about to do. I'm becoming bored with being completely clueless all the time."
Fleur giggled at first, and then laughed when Harry's hands began tickling her ribs.
"Okay, I think I'm ready to go but I don't own any bracelets... "Dobby?"
POP
"How can I help?" Dobby was smiling at the two of them, as he smoothly delivered a purely rhetorical question.
"Can you pop over to Diagon Alley and procure a modest, feminine, silver bracelet, thick enough to inscribe something on, for me?" Harry didn't know if he was asking for a lot, but he did know that Dobby would figure it out either way.
"Yes sir. I'll be back in about one minute," Dobby replied.
POP
"A minute, huh," Harry mused out loud. "Nothing quite rivals a happy house elf's productivity."
"Love Dobby," Fleur murmured, with a somewhat sleepy smile on her face. "Did you know that he can empathically convey things to me using the bracelet? We used to make fun of you quite frequently when I was bored in classes."
Harry grinned at the thought of that. "I knew he could do that with me through our connection, but I didn't know the bracelets allowed for a similar effect. Dobby's really something special. When you stopped sending letters, he was the first to tell me that I'd done nothing wrong and to be patient. I can see now that he saw you were sorting out your feelings. He was exactly right and I'm lucky to have him."
POP
"Yes sir I am quite spectacular." Dobby spoke in a very professional tone that was nonetheless laced with mock extreme arrogance. "I actually had Winky pick out a bracelet for me just now, because I figured she'd have better taste in women's jewelry. Thank you again for taking her on like you did me, as she's helped a lot as an assistant at the smoothie factory. It goes without saying, I am much happier to have my friend back from that Butterbeer abyss that she was flying into, and she's really quite happy with the changes your magic made of her." As he finished speaking, Dobby handed over a very tasteful silver bracelet.
"No problem at all," Harry replied, while studying the bracelet. "This is quite nice, Dobby, and exactly what I needed. Thank you, and thank Winky for me."
"You're quite welcome sir and I will," Dobby replied, before he suddenly realized that he had far more work to do.
POP
Putting the bracelet down atop a nearby coffee table, Harry took a good look at it. Then he extended a hand and the bracelet suddenly split open to create a flat piece of decorative silver plating. After studying the silver plating for several moments, he finally started inscribing Runes into the air above it. Four minutes later, he was sweating lightly, but almost done. He compressed the Runes with far more ease than the first few times that he'd completed this kind of work, and they floated over the bracelet atop his outstretched hand. Slowly, over the next minute or two, the bracelet was covered in intricate Runes from top to bottom and then reconnected at its ends.
With a smile, Harry turned towards Fleur and handed her the newly created English translation/learning tool.
Fleur studied the now quite elaborate and beautiful magical artifact, and noticed that it had the insignia HJP discretely incorporated into its design. Right away, she knew that Harry was trusting Bella with a secret by signing this bracelet. She also knew that she was going to have to impress that fact upon Bella when she handed it over. If Bella wasn't careful, Harry would become a world famous inventor at only fourteen years of age. In the end, Fleur figured Harry just didn't see how special his new creation really was. She wondered how her husband was so dense about such things, when he spends so much time honing his self-awareness.
"Can you give this to Bella from the two of us," Harry asked, as he pulled Fleur's body back to his side. "Oh and could you ask her to keep it a secret from strangers? I would normally leave my initials out of the design, but Bella will get a kick out of it, and this will assure that she uses the item. By the end of the year, she might be well on her way to learning English, and I like the idea of opening up more opportunities for her." Harry smiled down at his French blonde, as she wrapped herself all over his waist again in a very thorough hug.
"I'll find Bella right this second," Fleur enthused after detaching herself from Harry's waist and rising to her feet. "I might as well get to it now while you help your very diligent and rule-abiding friend begin his rebellious phase." Needless to say, Fleur knew all about Harry's intentions regarding Neville and his new bedside Wards.
"I consider it of vital importance that Neville make the most of his Hogwarts years," Harry replied with a shrug. "Some people need a friend like Hermione to keep them on the straight and narrow… Neville... He needs someone like me, who almost ended up a Slytherin…"
Harry, Neville and Hannah walked down to dinner together, chatting animatedly and carrying on.
If for some reason, Harry hadn't won over Hannah before, he'd definitely done so today. After Ward and Rune inscribing Neville's bed up to the nines, Neville and Hannah ended up asking him for a favor that was actually a bit of an adventure to pull off…
Hannah Abbot's bedroom (Hufflepuff kids all get their own little bedrooms) was now Barrier Warded, climate controlled, sound and scent-proofed, and set up with an illusion of her entering her room on a ten o'clock timer.… If/when Neville managed to sneak into Hannah's dormitory room, the two of them would be in a very, VERY private place…
As Harry, Hannah and Neville entered the Great Hall, the first thing that Harry noticed as per usual was Fleur. The second thing he noticed was the girl that was sitting next to her. Sitting on Fleur's left was little Bella, and while she wasn't talking much, she was responding to the Gryff girls who were talking animatedly in her direction. Harry smiled in satisfaction, as he sat down in his customary spot on Fleur's right.
"...and that's when Harry's broom started dancing, and jerking around all by itself, and he couldn't do anything but hold on for dear life, forty feet high in the air," Angelina explained, dramatically.
"First year?" Harry asked Fleur in the bond. He was being quiet because he didn't want to interrupt Angelina or freak out Bella.
Fleur nodded, but she didn't turn her attention away from Angelina. Fleur knew the story that Angelina was telling, but she always enjoyed other people's renditions of her mate's various misadventures.
Bella looked captivated and had her hands wrung tightly into her chest. "What did he DO?" (She squeaked the question rather than asked it. It was pretty cute).
Angelina was really into her story now, and she was gesticulating the broom movements back and forth in the air. "Harry's broom was being jinxed by someone, and whoever they were they'd have to be strong, because brooms have pretty strong anti-jinx counter measures. What did he do? He did what any of us would've done in such a situation... He screamed like a frightened little girl, and held onto his broom for dear life."
Harry and Fleur both laughed with everyone else at Angelina's creative license.
Angelina was neck deep in her story and couldn't wait to get to the climax. "Harry rolled and bucked with the broom and at one point he was almost thrown completely, but managed to somehow, just barely, hold on with only one hand." Angelina's enthusiasm for Quidditch stories was unrivaled and she was going for gold at the moment. "All of the sudden, the jinx must have run out of power or was interrupted, because the broom stopped bucking like wild. Harry was back in the seat almost immediately after, and not even forty-five seconds after that he'd caught the snitch."
"No WAY," gasped Bella. "He still won?"
"I know right," agreed Angelina while pumping a fist in the air. "It was a hard day to be a Slytherin that's for sure. Harry's actually won games under worse conditions than that though."
"What, how?" Bella looked both overawed and incredulous.
"Ah, ah, ah. You will have to wait for tomorrow to hear the next installment of the ballad of Harry Potter." Angelina was having a great time with the cute second year French girl.
Harry decided to announce his presence now that the story was at an end. "I screamed out in a very manly fashion, thank you very much."
Angelina just smiled at her favorite Seeker, and then shook her head in a dismissive fashion. "Harry... Several of the North Tower's windows shattered. Your scream was a perfect high C note."
Everyone giggled, and Harry took the verbal abuse with as much class as possible.
Katie leaned onto her elbows on the table, and looked at Harry with an intensely curious glint in her eyes. "What were you up to all day, Harry?"
"I worked on several Rune and Warding projects," Harry replied, with a smile.
Mione held up a hand, and declared "I've got this one guys. "Yoouuu created four more of yourself by accident and they're all standing around us Disillusioned as we speak?"
Fred and George looked at each other and then George took the lead over his brother. "Youuuuu turned Hogwarts sentient by accident, and now she calls you daddy?"
George had been visibly waiting for his turn and waved his arms to go next. "Yoouuu tried to Rune Enchant a broom to fly faster, and it's now traveling back through time as a result. It'll finally stop thousands of years in the past, where it'll be the rubric used by the wizards of the time to create the first wave of flying brooms?"
Alicia went next and as always she looked really excited to take part. "Yoouuu reversed gravity for the entire continent, and we'd all be flying into space right this very second if you weren't magically holding us down."
Everyone at the table giggled like little children at their truly wonderful new game.
Turning towards Fleur, Harry attempted a pouty face, despite the fact that it never works. "You know... I did some cool things today, and now they'll all seem boring. This is unfair."
While Fleur did pat her husband's leg consolingly, she was also grinning like a loon, which was ruining the effect.
Abruptly, Bella held up her bracelet covered wrist, while beaming a smile at the people around her.
In response to Bella's excitement, Harry quickly cast a series of sound-muffling and privacy charms around their group using his wand under the table.
"'Arry created this for me," Bella happily chirped. "I'm supposed to keep it a secret from strangers, but I'm sure I can tell you guys. It's a learning tool. It translates English words that I don't understand into French and conveys meaning at the same time. Until today, I knew like three English words in total. I can't be sure how much of the language I've learned yet, but I'm sure I've picked up a ton. Look, it even has 'Arry's name hidden in the inscribing." Bella looked like she'd never take off the bracelet, even after she became fluent.
Everyone suddenly became very interested in Bella's bracelet, and she shrank just a bit, before firming up her resolve.
"Harry… I read about a variation of these products selling like hotcakes out of... France... Since late this summer... Oh good lord! Harry, you didn't invent these this summer, did you?" Hermione looked as if she was only asking the question rhetorically.
Damn, Harry thought to himself. Mione... is... sharp.
When Harry didn't immediately refute Hermione's question, everyone at the table looked in Fred and George's direction, gesturing for them to do the honors.
"HARRY POTTER"
"Oh come on guys! I didn't break physical reality with this. It's just an invention." Harry groaned, even as he could already tell his friends weren't buying any of his denials.
"You're fourteen years old, Harry," pointed out Angelina in an exasperated tone of voice. "Who starts inventing the newest, most well received magical gadgets at that age? Not to mention the Runes on this bracelet are so enormously complex... Under normal circumstances, you'd need a full inscription lab and a fully charged Ward Stone to put this together in under a week." Angelina leaned back in her chair and waved her hands in front of herself in defeat. "I'm willing to bet real Galleons that you made the bracelet that Bella's wearing on a whim, this afternoon, in between training sessions, because Bella's adorable."
Bella blushed a bright red, but then she smiled at both Harry and Angelina.
Fleur could see right away that Angelina was perfect for Bella's self esteem.
With a sigh and a heavy shrug, Harry leaned back in his chair, and regarded Angelina's words. "Okay Look. I didn't even mean to invent and distribute a product when I created the first bracelet. I just wanted to learn the French language as fast as possible and I'd been given a basic translation bracelet that was never going to teach me anything. It seemed like such a huge waste of both the bracelet's potential and my time, so I altered it for my own convenience…"
The explanation that Harry ended up giving had the opposite effect than he intended, because it proved to everyone at the table that Harry Potter was too damned magical to be human. They realized from his story that Harry makes magical artifacts without having any damned idea how they even work.
Bella, on the other hand, had stars in her eyes as she actively hero-worshiped Harry, at which point Fleur pulled her into a hug because she was giving off unmistakable Gabrielle vibes.
As Fleur's sudden outpouring of maternal affection distracted everyone at the table, Harry drew in a deep breath and then manned the hell up. By the time everyone turned back in his direction, he was ready. "Okay. Here's the thing. I'm very good at Runes," Harry admitted, with a shrug. "In fact, I'll most likely invent items in the future as a side career. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, just approach me and we'll discuss it."
Katie immediately lifted her right arm straight up into the air and exclaimed, "I suggest you finally figure out how to run muggle devices in magical settings! I would looove to listen to my music while here at Hogwarts."
"Ooooh, good one," Fleur enthused with a rapid nod of her head.
Harry rested a hand against his chin, and leaned further back in his seat as he visibly mulled the idea over. "The way I see it, to make Muggle tech work in magical settings, you'd have to rebuild the item using magical foci as components rather than copper wire and silicone. If you run the entire device on magic through Rune Script rather than electricity, it won't have any of the problems it does right now. With the right Rune Structures in place, you could even put down a muggle CD player next to a wide variety of magical foci, and then just let magic do the work replacing all of the hardware. Granted, it'd be extremely magically costly for the one doing the first swap out, kind of like Conjuring something extremely complicated with only a vague idea of what it should actually look like. Powerfully magic draining, but technically possible."
Harry was looking up at the ceiling by this point, musing out loud to himself, and completely oblivious to his surroundings. "Katie, if you can get me your muggle CD player, I'll have it up and running by the end of the weekend."
Having put all of the pieces together, Harry smiled in satisfaction, looked across the table at Katie, and finally caught on to the expression on everyone's faces.
Everyone was openly staring at Harry as if he was a zoo animal again.
"Oh come on," Harry groaned with an expression of long-suffering on his face. "Are you telling me that nobody's EVER thought of just reproducing the technology using magical foci? What about the wizarding wireless?" Harry was completely incredulous now.
"Harry... Those magical radios, the wizarding wireless... They're nothing but a signal receiving Rune, attached to two cones to boost the sound emitted." Hermione put her hands to her face and then leaned heavily against the table. "Oh my Gods, Harry's going to be sooooo rich someday. Now I know why he was always so unmotivated before. A motivated Harry Potter is scary."
By this point, Fleur had a distinctly wolfish smile upon her face, as she was thoroughly enjoying every single second of her mate's cross examination. Her husband was a world class inventor… and she was sooo freaking proud of him!
"Harrykins," Fred hesitantly hedged, looking far more serious than anyone present had ever seen from him before. "The two of us (he gestured at his brother) wanted to open a joke shop when we graduated Hogwarts, and we have many product ideas that we need to develop over the next few years. We have a good idea with most of them how they'd work, but our area of expertise is potions... Can we approach you for consultation regarding the Rune work that we'll need?"
Instantly and with enthusiasm, Harry leaned forward across the table, because this was a huge surprise and it had his undivided attention. "I'd be glad to help you with anything you need, guys. I have to ask though... No real interest in professional Quidditch?"
"We were going to try to play a few years of Quidditch to pay for the store," Fred began.
"We'll probably still play for the starting capital," George continued. "What we were worried about was building a product line and the development costs involved. Those costs aren't such an urgent problem any more."
"Now it sounds like we have a genius developer friend who can help us out," Fred added, while beaming a smile.
"We'd definitely make you a partner, or maybe an anonymous partner like you've done with the Translation Bracelets... It's up to you which one you want," George finished, sounding excited.
"Sounds fun," Harry immediately replied. "Zonko's has never had any competition, which is why they haven't made a new product in like fifty years."
"EXACTLY," Fred and George agreed in perfect unison.
"There's a need for some fresh ideas in that market," finished George.
"Is it always this exciting around 'Arry?" Bella had asked the question very suddenly, after being completely quiet for several minutes, so a lot of the people at the table had forgotten she was even sitting there.
Everyone at the table looked around at each other until finally it was Katie who answered for them all. "Well, yes. I've been in Harry's house for more than three years now, and in all that time, I have yet to see him have a normal semester. Not one… EVER. There's always a runaway snake, or criminal, or duel, or attack, or something. He's a magnet for that type of stuff."
Neville continued to explain when Katie ran out of steam. "Harry used to be painfully shy, so all the attention he received used to really bother him. I'd have hated to see how Harry would've reacted to his involvement in the tournament last year..."
"Well, I definitely wouldn't have thought to actually defend myself in front of the amassed students in the Great Hall," Harry pointed out while gesturing at the crowds of people sitting all around them. "I used to be quiet and mysterious completely by accident. Quiet and mysterious is nice in stories, but it doesn't work out all that well in real life situations."
You were too small and cute to be ze mysterious bad boy back zen," Fleur agreed with a nod and a kiss to Harry's shoulder. "A bad boy eemage might work for you NOW 'owever." Turning towards the rest of the girls at the table, Fleur grinned knowingly. "'Aas 'Arry told any of you zat 'ee desires to get a tattoo?"
The girls at the table were immediately captivated by this new news, and they instantly asked Fleur for all of the details. By the end of the meal, everyone knew exactly what tattoo Harry wanted and where. They'd also discussed getting Hogwarts Quidditch team tattoos, and the conversation was returned to normal.
To Be Continued
Author's Note:
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