Chapter 31 - Chapter 28 - Growing Closer (To The Sun)

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

After leaving the Potter estate and Apparating back to Hogsmeade, Harry and Fleur entered the Three Broomsticks under Disillusionment charms, silently sat amongst their friends, and then revealed themselves with matching shit eating grins upon their faces.

"I'm getting pretty good at Apparating," Harry declared with a smile.

"You didn't," the twins gasped in unison, looking completely shocked.

"No, you're right, I didn't. The two of us just walked in here while invisible," Harry admitted while leaning in over the table and gesturing aside at his wife. "Fleur, on the other hand, actually can Apparate completely silently… Earlier today, she Apparated directly behind me like a femme fatale type assassin, and if she hadn't been hugging me at the time, I wouldn't even have known she was there."

By the time Harry finished delivering his explanation, all of the women at the table were turning towards Fleur with stars in their eyes, and he could easily see who the main protagonist was in the eyes of his female friends (Fleur was jokingly smug about it in the bond)….

"How does that form of Apparition even work, Fleur?" Hermione asked the Veela, as Madam Rosmerta arrived to deliver the lunches that Dobby ordered in advance for Harry and Fleur.

"Eet's quite difficult and magically costly," Fleur immediately answered in a completely candid tone of voice. "'Arry ees quite loud when 'ee Apparates, because 'ee pours a lot of power eento ze movement and zen arrives een place so fast 'ee violently displaces ze surrounding air. Going a leetle bit slower causes far less noise and ees quite a bit more magically efficient. Zis ees ze speed zat nearly all witches and wizards move when zey Apparate. Going even slower zan zat ees a tricky bit of magic, because eet forces your body to remain eensubstantial when you first arrive at your destination. Eet should take a little over a full second for your body to arrive een place, and eef you are able to pull eet off, zis technique allows ze air zat you are moving out of ze way plenty of time to vacate silently. Going zat slowly forces you to focus a lot of your will and magic on maintaining your body een transit, which ees why eet ees so difficult and costly. You also feel as eef you are stuck een a limbo for ze second zat your body spends materializing, which feels pretty unnatural and alarming. Eet ees a worthwhile skill 'owever, especially eef you are trying to become an Auror or a 'iitwizard."

"You want to work een 'Ealing, Charms or Wards as a profession zough," Selene pointed out with a look of confusion on her face. "Why learn ze scary, magically costly form of Apparating under zose circumstances?"

"Mr. Garner ees ze name of ze duelist who trained me zis summer," Fleur replied, with a nostalgic smile. "Ee stressed self-defense as an elective and was pushing me to learn zat form of Apparating. I wasn't eentending on making eet a priority until 'Arry began coming around, and I started making comparisons between 'iis work ethic and my own. 'Arry's physical training montage for ze summer was far more zan any-zing I 'ad ever seen, which, of course, made me feel lazy een comparison. I ended up pushing myself far 'arder zan I was up until zat point, and I learned 'ow to Apparate silently. At ze time, I completely resented 'Arry for 'iis eenvolvement een my life and ze time zat I spent focusing on 'iis actions..."

In the wake of her own story, Fleur began to look visibly upset, as she just reminded herself how poorly she'd treated Harry in the days after they first met.

Harry smiled at Fleur and patted her thigh, before returning his attention to the people ringing the table and the curious looks upon their faces. Finally, he came to a decision. "You've all been working hard on Occluding your minds, and at the very least have barriers in place, so I think you're ready to hear one of my biggest secrets. Only if you're interested, of course…"

Everyone immediately nodded excitedly, their food completely forgotten.

Pulling out his wand, Harry began erecting about two dozen privacy spells of different varieties all around their table. He took his time and said the spells out loud, specifically so that his friends would know exactly what he was doing. Finally, just to be sure that there were no magical means of eavesdropping nearby, Harry flared out a good chunk of his magic to push away anything that his core didn't recognize. Oddly enough, the only thing that appeared to be affected was a small beetle that scurried away after slamming into a window a few tables away.

Of course, if he'd wanted to, Harry could've performed all of the spells that he'd just completed both wandlessly and without saying a word, but his actions were intended to convey just how important it was that his friends keep this information to themselves.

It worked.

By the time Harry was finished with his little performance, everyone was leaning forward over the table as if he was about to reveal the cure for Dragon Pox.

"So… My secret goes like this…" Harry began before drawing in a deep breath and sliding his hand down and around his wife's waist. "Back when I was only a one and a half year old baby, one of Dumbledore's associates poisoned me, locking the vast majority of my magic within my magical core, choking it off to the point that I shouldn't even have survived infancy… I did, but at a cost. My growth was stunted, my magic was weak, and if things had remained the way that they were, I never would've reached my full potential… Two weeks before Fleur and I met, I ended up encountering quite the dangerous situation, during which time my magic managed to shatter the bindings on my core, but due to the sheer scope of the power that I gained access to, I had no control over it whatsoever. Dumbledore allowed me to stay at the school all summer for my own safety, and he introduced me to the Delacours, because Veela are experts at reigning in out of control magic."

Pausing in his story to release a long drawn out sigh, Harry looked up at the ceiling before he continued speaking. "I'm very grateful to the Delacours because I know I was quite the inconvenience to have around…"

At Harry's side, Fleur instantly shook her head in violent disagreement, her eyes growing wet in the intensity of her emotion.

"Fleur just disagreed with me, but I know what I said is true," Harry persisted, as he looked back down at his friends. "When Fleur and I first met, my magic was a massive hindrance because my aura shroud was a little less than sixteen meters in circumference and was saturating absolutely everything." Harry grinned again as he paused to drink some water. "Most of you have actually felt my aura shroud before, but you didn't know what it was that you were feeling at the time. I'm not some wizard musician genius, and I cannot create inherently magical piano pieces. The day that I played Clare de Lune on the piano in the RoR, I accidentally released my magic shroud into the piano, into the music, onto all of you, and the results, as they always are, were extremely... intimate. Try to remember how that atmosphere felt and how emotional it was. This summer, being around me was like that at all times. I was broadcasting my emotions and feelings to everyone nearby all day, every day, and it was awkward, which is why I couldn't fault Fleur for being frustrated with me."

Once again, Fleur was upset with Harry's description, causing the man to squeeze her hand under the table.

At this point, Alicia was leaning over the table towards both Harry and Fleur with a completely enthralled expression upon her face. "But… I mean… You can control it now… a shroud that gigantic?"

"Yes. For the most part, I have control over my magical shroud as well as how it affects the world around me," Harry assured with a wave of his hand.

Katie sprawled atop Alicia's back and waved her arm to indicate that it was her turn with a question. "Can you show us?"

After weighing in with his wife in the bond, Harry looked around the table again, only to find ten people minus Hermione, Neville and Cedric that were looking at him with extreme expectation in their eyes. Faced with that, Harry decided to just ask the question that needed to be asked. "Do you guys want to feel what I've begun calling the Hermione hug?"

Hermione blushed heavily and then beamed a massive smile at her friend.

There were several nods around the table. Even the men shrugged before nodding because sure, hugs are always welcome.

Over the next few moments, Harry released tendrils of his aura, cocooning everyone in his closest approximation of how it feels to be squeezed inside of Hermione's warmest regards. It's an extremely comforting feeling, which is why he wasn't surprised when he saw his friends going slack in their seats. Bella especially seemed to have been in need of a hug, because she melted into the feeling like a small child would.

"Dear Gods... You're so damned powerful," Roger choked out, startling even himself.

Everyone nodded in unison with both Roger's words and the way that he'd conveyed them.

"Harry... Just wow... This is really, really nice, but if I didn't know you, and you were always broadcasting like this... I can see why Fleur would've thought you were being..." At this point, Angelina was blushing and looking at all of the other girls around the table for help.

"You should've felt it when it first broke free from its bindings," Hermione pointed out with a grin. "It crashed out of his body like an explosion that managed to knock me right off my feet which I didn't even know was possible, and then it was thick enough that my hair stood on end as if I was being electrocuted."

Right away the twins looked back and forth at each other, because they knew exactly what they were going to be asking to see the next time they made use of the Pensieve.

"Why do you call this hugging feeling the 'Ermione hug," Bella suddenly asked after emerging from her languid sprawl.

"Because Mione was the first person to hug me, outside of my parents when I was a toddler, and this is how I felt at the time," Harry casually, almost dismissively explained.

Everyone paused at those words and then paused again a moment later when they fully realized what they actually meant.

Harry Potter had never, ever, not once, ever, been hugged, until he was already a pre teen.

After a few more moments passed, It was Angelina who said the words. "Good Gods, but I hate those creatures, the Dursleys," she declared, in a dark and poisonous voice.

"Zey are experiencing ruin een all eets forms as we speak," chimed in Fleur with a very self satisfied grin.

Everyone nodded in unison again, because if anyone could enact a long term, complicated and ultra-sadistic revenge plot, it would be a madly in love French Veela. Everyone at the table immediately knew that Fleur had brought down the wrath of the Gods on those monsters, and not one of them felt even a trace of sympathy whatsoever.

Harry, in turn, saw that the table had quieted at this latest admission, and he felt bad for ruining the mood, so he sought to change the subject. "Sooo… beyond the boundaries that you all created, how's everyone doing on the Occlumency front?"

"Even more boundary walls," Katie answered quickly. "I hate the idea of someone just casually perusing my mind. I've erected lots and lots of barrier walls but I'm not quite at the library stage yet."

"Same here," Alicia and Roger added.

Angelina gave her friends a shit eating grin before she returned her attention back to Harry. "I've created a fortified replica of my parent's home with a library in the basement."

Both Katie and Alicia stuck their tongues out at their team captain, while Roger performed an embellished courtly bow at her superiority.

"I have made myself a strong timber cabin, inside of an impossibly overgrown, thorny and confusing forest. and I've begun to construct a library," Bella said with a small smile.

"Thick, stone castle," Selene declared immediately after. "It looks like a stone version of Beauxbatton and 'aas a massive library zat I'm filling every day. I can already feel my memory eemproving." Selene looked completely stoked at this newest development.

The twins looked at each other before smiling at the table.

"We

Built

A

Labyrinth

In

Our

Mindscape," they finished in unison.

"We actually tend to believe it's just one Mindscape labyrinth that we share, but we haven't found each other in there yet," Fred continued.

"The reason we're certain there's just the one Mindscape is because the walls are made up of our collective memories instead of just his or mine," George added. "Either way, only we know where anything is stored. It would be a nightmare to find anything if you're an intruder, but we both just seem to know where we're going."

"That's soooo damn cool," Harry breathed out, blown away by the twins once again. "You know, your dad sent me a letter earlier this year, describing how happy he is with you two, and mistakenly trying to credit me. According to him, you two are among the top in your grade this year."

"Well you did push for us to take up Occlumency, but we only dabbled at first," Fred slowly replied.

Fred continued with, "we started taking it a lot more seriously when you became a potential developer for our company. All of the sudden, our dreams didn't feel like a fantasy anymore, and we've been feeling extremely motivated ever since."

Harry smiled and nodded at his very reliable friends.

Hannah, Cho and Cedric had already developed minor Occlumency skills long before Harry first began stressing their importance in their self-defense classes. Nowadays, the three of them were developing their shields to be stronger and far more resilient. Neville and Hermione now had some pretty damn advanced Occluded minds, and they were making excellent use of them in all of their classes. Unfortunately, Fleur's Occlusions didn't have strong barriers as a byproduct of her Veela nature. Gods help you if you entered her Mindscape however, because of that exact same nature.

By the end of lunch, Harry's unhappy backhistory was long forgotten and everyone was chatting animatedly about a wide array of different topics. A process that Harry helped along by shamelessly projecting happy thoughts at everyone via his newly revealed aura shroud, with the only downside being that the girls seemed to wilt a little when he finally dragged his magic back into his body.

"Eet ees time I take 'Arry for our afternoon appointment," Fleur announced as she rose to her feet with a wide smile upon her face.

The girls all looked excited but didn't say a word for fear of giving Harry a clue by accident.

Harry looked at the men but it appeared they hadn't been trusted to keep the secret from him. They all just shrugged that they had no idea, and Harry nodded his understanding.

"Come 'Arry. You get to practice even more Apparating, commuting us back to Paris," Fleur revealed with a soft slap to his ass in a shooing motion.

"Fleur... You hate large population centers," Harry pointed out in return.

"Yes. I do, but ze reason for my aversion doesn't even exist anymore, because I can completely contain my allure," Fleur countered with her arms crossed under her bust. "'Besides, ze appointment ees een Magical Paris so zere ees very leetle I can do about ze location."

Nodding his head, Harry grew determined to help his wife grow more comfortable in population centers, starting that afternoon in Paris, and nodded to himself as he rose to his feet... "Well, I can Apparate us to one of the smaller towns that we visited outside of Paris, but I'll need your help to actually enter the city.

Fleur smiled and nodded in return as the two of them exited the restaurant.

Both Harry and Fleur turned to their watching friends and waved before Harry Apparated them to magical customs for a trip across the ocean.

Pop (small and low volume)...

A freshly Apparated Harry struck a small guts pose, because the pop that his Apparition caused just now had been the smallest yet, and he was sure he would be pulling off the magic completely silently sometime very soon. He was actively trying to stay positive and upbeat regarding his efforts because something was bothering him more and more as he improved, and he didn't want it to slow down his progress.

Harry's Apparitions were slowing down more and more with every repetition, which was good because that was the whole entire point, but the process was beginning to feel... awful.

The slower that a wizard Apparates, the more incorporeal they are when they first arrive at their new location, and Harry truly, deeply did not like the way that particular state of being felt. Not in the slightest.

And belatedly, Harry realized the reason why.

Over the last half year, Harry had become used to feeling the world around himself, and not just in the breeze or air pressure surrounding his body, his clothing or whatever contact he had with the ground, but with the extrasensory perception brought forth by his magic. He felt the world around his body in hundreds of different ways, and he knew that he was a part of that world.

And as it turns out, the comfort that Harry derived from that knowledge was surprisingly vital to his newfound mental health…

During the time that a wizard maintains a state of prolonged Apparition, all of their senses are completely gone, leaving a wooden numbness that somehow feels distinctly... alien or other. It feels as if you exist in a world all your own or are trapped in a limbo of some kind, and it is a very disturbing feeling. More importantly, to Harry, it felt exactly like how he felt back when his magical senses were bottled up inside of his core.

Isolation from everything to such an extreme, you become afraid you don't actually exist... or maybe just that your life holds no real meaning to the world and the people around you…

Harry could only attribute ignorance to surviving for so long in that state of being because if he ended up that way now, he'd surely be driven mad.

What all this meant was that Harry absolutely hated silent Apparition, and while he was determined to learn the skill for the purpose of self-defense, he would only ever use it when doing so was absolutely necessary.

"I need to Apparate us into Paris now, but I also think I'll take over for the rest of the day," Fleur declared from Harry's left hand side, where she was hugging his arm to create as much physical contact as possible. "You are learning very quickly, 'Arry and there's no need for you to push so hard. No task is going to demand you Apparate completely silently, after all…"

"I'll get it very soon," Harry replied with a small but solid shake of his head. "Thank you for trying love, but I don't want to neglect learning a useful skill just because I find it unnerving."

"I know," Fleur sighed out in exasperation. "I only tried because you show much more restraint when I do…"

Harry nodded and smiled purely for Fleur's benefit, only for the woman to suddenly swoop in, pull him close, and kiss him hard upon the lips while squeezing his body with a surprisingly powerful grip… And Harry's mind was swept away, his emotional state forgotten as he was consumed by his mate, her lips, her body and the bonfire of powerful love that she was pressing into his soul through the bond. Then, several moments later, when they finally broke away, Harry beamed at his wife because… of course he did.

Fleur grinned in triumph because her mate was happy again… She would've taken her time and done whatever it takes, but it's always nice when the answer is simple.

"You'll always be enough to make me happy," Harry replied to Fleur's unspoken thoughts. "Care to show me around Magical Paris, wife?"

Fleur beamed at her husband because, yes, she was enough to make the man happy, and the thought made her want to cuddle him. At the same time, she was forced to shake her head in the negative. "Someday, yes, but we won't get to do a lot of sightseeing today because we need to be somewhere an hour from now," Fleur explained while looking down at her watch. "I really don't want to be late for this appointment, because I'm… eager… to see the results."

"Well I'm hooked," Harry replied with unfeigned interest in his voice. With Fleur preventing him from investigating her mind, he still had no idea what Fleur's appointment actually was. "Let's get to it."

Pop!

A moment later, when Harry and Fleur popped into existence upon an Apparition zone in what amounted to the Diagon Alley of Magical France, Fleur empathically explained that it was called The Blue Road in French, and that it was one of several color-coded streets. The Blue Road was apparently just off of Rue de L'Abreuvoir which is a very picturesque area of Paris with very little automotive transport, and as the name suggested there were many shades of blue on all the buildings from sky to navy and everything in between.

Harry looked at Fleur and jokingly asked in the bond if she liked this particular location because it honored her favorite color?

Fleur smiled even as she shook her head and pulled her mate down the street. It looked like she had a more specific destination in mind.

The two of them walked quickly, holding each other's hands as they wended around the corners and through thick masses of magical people. Once again, Harry was hearing some colorful language but it was nowhere near as bad as the Quidditch World Cup had been. He also didn't see more than one or two people show any signs of recognizing who he was, which was quite different from back in Britain, where people gawked at him everywhere he went.

Of course, it would be inaccurate to say that Harry and Fleur weren't garnering a lot of attention, but rather it was all just nonspecific staring because Fleur was so unbelievably beautiful…

One thing that Harry liked about The Blue road (and likely the reason for its name in the first place) was that the French magicals had somehow snagged a portion of lakeside property away from the muggles. There was a rather large park area off of a lake, where Fleur and Harry decided to kill some of their remaining time, because after all of their hustling about, they were early for their appointment. They walked through the park, taking in the scenery, and it felt pretty good to slow things down for a time.

Closer to the lakeshore, Harry and Fleur arrived at an area that was popular with young families, resulting in a pack of young children running around their legs as if they were the most interesting thing that any of them had ever seen. In response, Harry quickly Conjured a Frisbee, a big blue ball, and a large sandbox complete with sand for the children to play in as they walked by.

Then Harry saw it, and a wide smile began forming unbidden upon his face. There was a small band-shell equipped with a magically tuned and preserved piano for public use… Without ever needing to say a word, Harry and Fleur ascended the small flight of stairs up to the stage and then sat down side by side upon the bench.

The night before, when Harry and Fleur were goofing around in Harry's Mindscape, they ended up performing quite a few piano duets together, and as it turns out it's not so hard to perform a duet with someone that you're empathically bonded to, because you always know what section of notes that you are supposed to be taking part in, and you don't encroach upon your partner's hands. At this point, both Harry and Fleur were accomplished pianists, although if you asked Harry, Fleur still had the kind of polish that he was aspiring to.

Long story short, there was no reason not to play around, killing time with a song until it was time for their appointment…

When Fleur turned towards Harry for ideas regarding what song they'd play, he smiled, because he knew an upbeat and airy little piano piece that would be perfect for their purposes, as it was just shy of five minutes long in its entirety. It was also one of the most famous classical compositions ever made and might be completely unheard of here because its composer was a Muggle. Without a word, Harry Conjured a sheet of music complete from his memories of a music composition textbook and laid it out in front of them.

Fleur scanned the composition that Harry had in mind, and then she smiled because yes, yes that would be a fun piece to play together. Not too simple, not too hard, a catchy song that wouldn't require practice but would force them to move together in a way that made her smile. The piano piece was called Canon in D major Duet, and it was an adaptation of a piece created by a German composer by the name of Johann Pachelbel

In the moment that followed, Harry looked to Fleur, Fleur looked back at Harry, and then with no physical prompting, they both began to play...

If you've ever been to a primary or highschool graduation then you likely know exactly what song Canon in D is because it's almost always featured at them, and while it's definitely a relaxing song, it has an uplifting quality to it, as well as a drive to step forward, to grow, to evolve, all while holding close those people that are important to you.

Harry and Fleur's hands moved flawlessly together up and down the register, taking and giving up keys in a way that made it clear that they were coordinating far, far beyond the norm. In the midst of all of this, their upper arms rubbed together, Fleur pressed her body into Harry's side, he dutifully pressed her body back in the other direction, and they smiled as they playfully jostled each other for space atop the bench.

Four and a half minutes later, with the last few notes of the song still vibrating on the strings, Harry and Fleur closed the piano and then grinned at each other, just enjoying the moment. Then their moment was very suddenly interrupted, when a flash of light indicated the presence of a camera somewhere behind them, their attention was pulled away from each other, and they turned back towards their surroundings…

And Harry just barely managed to stop himself from groaning because there it was yet again...

A crowd.

Fleur appeared to enjoy Harry's chagrin, but she was quick to remind him that they hadn't done anything impossible or even all that difficult this time. It was just music.

Nevertheless, as Harry and Fleur rose to their feet and turned away from the piano, approximately thirty people began clapping as if they were an audience at an actual recital. Harry looked at Fleur, Fleur looked at Harry. They finally just grinned and held hands as they bowed together for the audience. A moment later, when they straightened, close together and smiling, there were several more flashes emanating from the gathered audience, and Harry sighed because he already knew that photo wasn't going to just be for some tourist's enjoyment.

He and Fleur were going to be in French papers again tomorrow.

After looking down at her watch, Fleur smiled, because choosing such a short piece of music was very wise. At the moment, the two of them had two blocks to walk and ten minutes to do so, which would prevent them from having to hurry. Fleur squeezed Harry in the bond and prompted him to follow her. Harry moved to follow with no hesitation, and by now she could sense his anticipation growing by the second.

Nine minutes later, Harry and Fleur were standing in front of a wood paneled shop with a very classy design and gold filigree, and yet Harry didn't see a name for the shop or any advertisements at all… which was telling. This shop, whatever it was, didn't have a shortage of clientele, and it didn't require any variety of advertisement.

With a smile and a sideways nod of her head, Fleur led Harry into the building, where they met a tall, thin man with a blond goatee. standing in the vestibule of the shop.

"'Arry, this here is Mr. Bertrand Dubois and he is the most famous artist specializing in magical tattoos in all of the magical world," Fleur explained, her smile widening as she saw Harry's eyes lighting up with growing excitement. "'Arry… I gathered from you that you wanted a sweaty man in Britain to shove ink under your skin and be done with it, but you were mistakenly thinking like a muggle again."

"That's right," Bertrand added with a thin but gracious smile. "Magical tattoos are of several magnitudes better both for you and on you, and I am the best of the best, to the point that I am forgiven for… most… of my arrogance."

"I agree with Mr. Dubois," Fleur added almost immediately. "In Magical France, if you tell people you had a tattoo put in place here, they just assume it's a life altering work of art. Even I know about Mr. Dubois, and I rarely ever set foot in this city."

"Thank you, Lady Delacour. Your praise has made my entire day," Bertrand declared with the kind of charm that comes with growing up in France, before turning back towards Harry and continuing his explanation. "Magical tattooists aren't merely artists, but rather they're Potions/Runes Masters as well, allowing their inks to bestow a wide variety of permanent, passive effects. Above and beyond the sophistication of my artistry, my ability to imbue more potent, more beneficial effects into my dye mixtures is the reason why I am considered the best in the industry."

"'Arry still doesn't know the best part though," Fleur pointed out with a smug little grin on her face. "What do you think magical tattoos and magical portraits have in common?"

"No...way…" Harry very slowly breathed out. "Animated?"

Fleur's smile widened until she was beaming at her mate even as she nodded her head.

"Oh... WOW," Harry enthused, with his head bouncing back and forth between Mr. Dubois and his wife. "Fleur… You're so amazing… but… how? When did you have time to apply and get a booking with such a famous artist with all of the training that we've been doing?

"An old acquaintance of mine from Beauxbatons approached me recently and asked on your behalf," Bertrand interjected with a grin. "His last name is also Delacour and he came at the behest of Fleur here."

"Adrien?" Harry slowly said the name in his disbelief. "Fleur… You had your father broker a tattoo for me?"

Fleur giggled and leaned into Harry's side before responding to his question. "And why not, mon amour? My father had a tattoo put in place right here in this very shop, thus, he is unable to judge you for doing the same."

With a wide and manic smile growing clear across his face, Harry turned back towards Mr. Dubois, where he saw the man pulling out several of his charcoal sketches and then revisions that the man had made in full color for the actual work that would be done.

Bertrand gestured at the sketches with a look of camaraderie on his face. "I was given your sketches to work with, but I hope you don't mind the creative license that I've taken. I've cleaned it up and added dozens of hidden Runes inside of the design for passive resistance to blunt trauma, cuts, burns, freeze damage, weak curses, and magical poisons."

"That's… completely incredible," Harry expressed as he looked at the gorgeous illustration in Mr. Dubois' hands, he felt his magic swirl through the various Runes hidden in the design, and he grew to understand just how ingenious the man actually was.

"The Runes are laid down in a very special ink made of magical materials that I've created just for this tattoo, and since they'll continually charge using trace amounts of your magic, they're permanent once laid down," Bertrand continued with a wave at a nearby work-table covered in colorful jars. "Of course, the strength of the effects that this tattoo can generate will be dictated by how much power you learn to run through the Runes, which means for most people the passive effect is quite weak at first, but if you apply yourself on a regular basis, you'll likely notice an increase in the tattoo's strength over time. Unfortunately, intentionally injecting power into the tattoo for a more immediate or dramatic effect is somewhat similar to chantless and wandless magic, but it is technically possible, so I do want you to try…"

Slowly turning towards Fleur, Harry gave his wife an extremely meaningful look. Then, when she subtly winked at him in response, he was once again reminded just how brilliant his wife really was.

A moment later, when Harry turned his attention back to Mr. Dubois, he saw that the man had paused in his explanation and that he was beginning to look pensieve, tense… uneasy.

"The ingredients for this particular tattoo were very hard to come by, because Lady Delacour was quite adamant that I only use the rarest and most powerful materials that are best suited towards protection and good fortune," Mr. Dubois revealed with a rather long indrawn breath. "The fact of the matter is, you'll likely end up with the most expensive tattoo that I ever create, but only because it will be the most powerful and multifaceted. I apologize for the cost, Mr. Potter, but I hope you'll understand that the ingredients dictate the final price rather than my goodwill…"

Harry was unconcerned, mostly because he wouldn't even be present in this shop if Fleur thought the tattoo's cost was going to break his bank account, but also because the Potter vault was currently overflowing with a frankly obscene amount of wealth…

And off to the side, Fleur was quick to assure Harry that he had nothing to worry about. For all that the tattoo was about to cost a legitimate fortune, Harry could definitely afford it, and what's more, the tattoo was going to be worth every - single - Galleon.

Nodding his understanding, Harry adopted a casual and unconcerned smile upon his face. "I understand and I thank you in advance for seeing me."

"Good, very good," Bertrand enthused while grinning in relief. "Well then… All three of these pictures are a final product that I have designed and together showcase what will be a moving image once in place upon your back. The tattoo doesn't wander around but it has a range of movement that it'll flow through at irregular intervals. I imagine you want your thestral furling and unfurling its wings as if it's about to soar free from your back, correct?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I've imagined it doing," Harry immediately agreed while looking at the illustrations made by Mr. Dubois and marveling at what the man created with the source material that he'd provided. "I'm completely blown away by what you've created from my meager sketches, Mr. Dubois. This is a stunning work of art."

While Mr. Dubois was quite pleased with the praise, he was quick to get back to business, pointing at the images on the paper and how they would be integrated together. "So you want the smaller stag and lily at the bottom bordered by the Potter family crest and this triangle, circle, line formation indicated in the charcoal sketch?"

"Yes, that all looks perfect," Harry enthused with the air of a kid on Christmas unboxing exactly what he asked for. "It's a mixture of two old family crests with some personal touches of my own."

"Anything specific you want the stag doing?" Mr. Dubois leaned closer to Harry in order to study the section of picture he was referencing.

"Only that it's interested in and focused upon the lily and vice versa," Harry responded after just a moment. "Those two images symbolize my deceased parents, thus, they are intimately connected."

"I understand and I already know how I can create the sense of connection you desire…" By this point, Bertrand looked excited to get started, but then, all of the sudden, he snapped his fingers as if he'd forgotten something and his eyes grew quite a bit more serious… "Mr. Potter, I must warn you about something before we begin. This process is quite a bit more painful than normal tattooing for the following reasons. Magical tattoos incorporate both Runes in the image as well as magical ingredients in the dyes. Due to the fact that I'm actually engraving quite a bit of magic into your back, it's not a pleasant feeling. Also, due to the fact that pain potions can potentially interfere with the process, they aren't going to be available to you. For that reason, the tattoo that I'm about to give you is about five times larger than most people receive even in multiple sittings. I've been repeatedly reassured that you will be very cooperative, but I'll admit I'm still concerned. I must implore you to remain very still while I'm working, even though this will be the furthest thing from comfortable…"

While trying and failing to conceal a grin of wry amusement, Harry waved a hand in a minor dismissal. "If you told me that I'd be getting a painless tattoo, I might even feel a bit cheated of the experience. I have developed a high pain-tolerance and will be fine."

"Very well then, Lord Potter," Mr. Dubois slowly, skeptically allowed while pointing at a nearby padded table. "If you could please take off your shirt and then lay face-down on the table…"

Off on the sidelines, Fleur watched Mr. Dubois' eyes widen to the size of saucers when Harry removed his shirt. A single moment later however, the man's countenance returned to normal, his eyes began burning with powerful intent, and Fleur grew to understand that the man wasn't the very best in the business merely because he was talented… Bertrand Dubois was staring at Harry's scarred-up body like a mountaineer would gaze at Mount Everest. A mixture of awe, anticipation, and a burning desire to conquer every single obstacle between himself and his goal…

Fleur could see in the tattooist's eyes that this afternoon's work was going to be his magnum opus… and she bit her bottom lip in growing anticipation.

Not long after laying down on the thin padding spanning the solid-steel table, Harry felt Fleur's hand slide into his from the side, and he felt her consciousness drift into his side of their bond, causing him to assure his wife that he had no intention of suffering unnecessary amounts of discomfort. He fully intended to shelve most of the pain behind his Occlusions, which meant he'd likely experience what amounted to a very normal tattooing experience.

Fleur appeared to be pacified by Harry's plan because a good portion of her consciousness returned back to her own body, allowing her to lean in over the table and kiss him on the temple.

Soon after, Harry felt Mr. Dubois start working on his back, and after a time, yes, he'd have to admit that it was extremely uncomfortable. With no further adieu, he decided to section off any discomfort that was beyond what he expected from a normal inking within his mindscape, after which, the process lost its hottest, sharpest, most brutal intensity.

All in all, the process took three and a half hours, and it was quite a bit more work from Mr. Dubois than Harry thought even a full sleeve tattoo would entail in a normal muggle parlor. Harry could sense all of the magic that the man was pouring into his work as he inscribed dozens of Runes into his upper back, revealing himself to be a Runewright of superlative skill, power and impeccable technique.

Truth be told, Harry spent a good portion of the time that he spent getting inked talking to Fleur in the bond, because he didn't want to distract Mr. Dubois away from his task… during which time he and his wife made plans for the rest of their day. Fleur had every intention of visiting a more mundane tattoo parlor, where Harry could get his ears pierced, and then pick out some simple earrings to use until he could fashion himself something more appropriate.

Apparently, the Veela was very excited about the prospect.

Harry in turn, very much wanted to embody the 'bad boy' image that his wife was getting so very excited over, but he also wanted to pick up several sets of crystal earrings of the Swarovski variety for a much more practical purpose. Crystals were the perfect medium for the communication earrings that he wanted to design, both because they perfectly conduct magic and because they create sound when energy is applied to them in a phenomena called 'acoustic radiation', which would likely make them more fuel efficient from a magic perspective.

With that idea in mind, Harry began writing a Rune-script within his Mindscape, because if he must lay around, then he might as well get something productive done.

Harry was both laying down getting a tattoo and designing his next magical invention when he felt the bond become increasingly…warm. Earlier that day, when Harry jokingly described himself as a Tony Stark style billionaire inventor, he didn't know just what kind of effect that reference was going to have upon his wife. Between what Harry was currently doing and the comparisons that Fleur was making to a certain comic-book anti-hero, Harry's mate was currently maintaining her composure by channeling her arousal directly into the bond, which had the unintended side-effect of channeling it deep into his body.

Long explanation short, if Harry wasn't getting inked at the moment, he was a hundred percent certain he'd have an overexcited Veela tearing off his pants.

Needless to say, after coming to that particular realization, Harry was forced to use Occlumency to control the state of his body, not because of the pain, but because Fleur was in danger of making him look like a high level masochist.

Finally, the tattoo was finished, and Mr. Dubois was handing Harry a vial full of bright yellow potion. "This potion will not interfere with the rest of the dye ingredients and will heal your back within the next half an hour, after which time you can go about your business like normal," Mr. Dubois explained with a professional demeanor that finally cracked into a self-satisfied smile. "The tattoo on your back is, bar-none, my finest work, and it will solidify the fact that I'm a genius all around the world. If, as I suspect, I receive increased renown because of you, I'll refund the cost of the tattoo, as at that point, it'll have paid for itself many times over."

Harry beamed a smile at the man even as he shook his head in a negative. "Don't bother... If the work's as good as you're implying, then it's worth every Galleon that I've spent on it. I can't wait to see it. Thank you, Mr. Dubois."

"Thank you as well, Lord Potter," Mr. Dubois said in a voice that was noticeably more respectful, likely because Harry never even twitched, not once, during the entire time the man spent torturing his back with needle, exotic dyes and an ongoing injection of foreign magic.

Over the following forty minutes, Fleur and Harry walked hand in hand down the street to a more normal tattoo shop, where they asked for a piercing service. Not long after, Harry had both of his ears pierced, and the lobes were healed as if the piercings were made several months earlier. For the most part, Harry's right ear was only pierced so that he could use it for the communication earring that he was about to invent, while in his left ear, he was sporting a medium thickness emerald band that curled tightly around his ear-lobe, which he planned to replace with something homemade as soon as he found the time.

In the meantime, Fleur was already exceptionally pleased with the earring that he'd chosen, which she made obvious when she drew him into the lip of an alleyway, and started fussing at his ear with her mouth.

At this point, Harry desperately wanted to pull Fleur off to her rooms or just anywhere that they could be truly alone, but unfortunately, they were already running late and had promised to meet with their friends in the RoR. With that knowledge in mind, Harry stared into Fleur's eyes while conveying how close the woman was to breaking his mental fortitude.

At first, Fleur licked and bit her bottom lip, displaying an almost cruel disregard for Harry's poor, long-abused composure… but then her shoulders slumped and she drew out a sigh of long suffering. "'Arry… I promised the girls that they'd get to see you model the new tattoo today as payment for their silence. They'll be expecting us back in the RoR by now…" Fleur leaned into Harry's side hard then and whispered hot air directly into his ear. "Tonight, mon amour. Tonight... I shall 'aave my way wiz you..."

With Fleur's so-called 'threat' to bolster his willpower, Harry wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her on the forehead. "I can wait if I absolutely must, but do you really want me to parade around shirtless for the girls?"

"Nothing so risqué," Fleur replied while grinning and kissing Harry's neck in return. "The girls will get to take a look at you while we all play in the pool. Nothing like the Chippendale production that I demand from you tonight."

Harry nodded his understanding. "That's a two way street."

Nodding her head into Harry's shoulder, Fleur licked the hickey that was still going strong upon his neck. "Deal… Now take me back to Ogwarts, before I lose all reason and make a liar of myself…"

Nodding his head in return, Harry hugged Fleur's body tightly to his own, and then concentrated on their next destination.

Pop (very small and almost inaudible)

"Ah, Fleur, zere you are! I zought maybe 'Arry was sobbing een your rooms due to ze pain of getting ze tattoo," Selene instantly called out when she saw Fleur and Harry end their Disillusionment spells in the threshold of the RoR. "Everyone says zat magical tattoos are extraordinarily painful during ze eenking process, after all."

"The inking was the very least of my discomforts this afternoon," Harry assured, with a quick sideways glance at his wife.

Although Fleur didn't noticeably react to Harry's split-second attention, the smile on her face was both angelic and predatory in the extreme.

"Have you seen the finished product yet," Hermione asked while walking up with a look that was both curious and a little bit concerned.

Harry smiled at Mione because she was both wholesome and maternal, but was trying to be cool with the idea of tattoos purely for his sake. "No… I haven't seen the tattoo yet, but it's almost time to take off the bandages."

With that much said, Harry sat down next to Fleur and Hermione on a lounge chair and gratefully ate a hotdog that was handed to him by Fred who was manning a nearby barbecue.

"We didn't know you were going to get your ears pierced, Harry," Alicia pointed out with a bemused shake of her head. "You one upped your plans again in order to surprise us…"

"I think it looks good on you," Hermione added with a candid and impartial variety of appreciation. "Fleur was right. You really can pull off bad boy now when you want to… but how are you going to hide the earring during meals?"

Harry smiled at his very sweet friend, shrugged and then waved a hand dismissively. "I'll Disillusion it."

"Only you would maintain such an advanced spell all day long merely to hide jewelry," Angelina replied with a laugh.

"Maybe, but I suggest you guys start practicing doing the same," Harry hedged, his voice very sly and mysterious. He didn't plan on telling anyone what his next invention was just yet, but the time was right to begin laying out clues.

"You are going to expand on that, aren't you," Katie asked/begged.

Harry merely smiled and shook his head.

Even as all of Harry's friends adopted looks of long-suffering, Fleur slid across the seat to Harry's back. "Eet ees time for ze big reveal, 'Arry… and I am growing eempatient."

After taking in the expectant looks on all of his bathing suit wearing friends' faces, Harry nodded and drew his t-shirt up and over his head.

Slowly, carefully, just in case the unexpected had happened, Fleur removed the bandages affixed to Harry's back, revealing the man's new magical tattoo to the world.

When nobody made a peep in response to his newly revealed tattoo, Harry started becoming nervous, at which point he looked back over his shoulder and saw everyone just standing there like people tend to do at the end of his large-scale, high drama events. No wait, this was a little bit different...

"'Arry," Fleur whispered a little bit breathlessly. "I was right. This is, in fact, Mr. Dubois' crowning achievement."

"So striking, so gorgeous," Selene began.

"The way the thestral unfurls its wings outwards towards the caps of your shoulders," Neville agreed.

"And it's a Potter family reunion," Hermione quietly added. "I don't know how I know that… I just do."

"Eet's eencredible, 'Arry, and unlike any tattoo I 'aave ever seen," Fleur concluded..."

In the moments that followed, Harry manipulated the RoR's magic to provide a stand of mirrors facing each other off to their right, he took in the tattoo spanning his upper back, and then he smiled because it was everything he'd wanted and so, so much more…

Then the quiet moment came to an end, when the twins said what needed saying.

"That," began George.

"Must've hurt like a bitch," Fred finished.

Everyone instantly nodded their agreement, because magical tattoos were notorious for being painful to apply and were normally extremely small in comparison to the one that Harry was sporting.

"Occlumency," Harry replied in a dismissive voice. "I shunted off all of the extra discomfort to an out of the way area of my mind."

Once again, with a series of determined facial expressions, everyone in the room recommitted themselves to their pursuit of powerful Occlusions.

"I actually have a Floo call to make, but it should only take a few minutes at most," Harry suddenly announced, before walking several meters away and summoning a fireplace along the wall next to the door. One of the nicer aspects of the RoR was that it could provide a Floo for communication purposes (apparently, the school's barriers prevented it from being a viable mode of transportation).

It was time to warn the Goblins that Harry had a new project in mind and that they would need to organize their involvement with Appoline. It was time to create a brand new invention.

Over the history of the Magical World the Protean charm has been both celebrated and vilified in equal measure, because it's a connection charm that in essence links several different objects and if completed correctly, the things that are done to one object are done simultaneously to all of the other objects connected by the charm.

Of course, the reason the Protean charm is currently treated almost as if it's a Dark Spell is because of its perversion by Voldemort in the creation of the Death Eater dark mark tattoos. Voldemort used his tattoos to bind his men to his side, to call them to his location or even to cause them intense pain like one would experience under a Cruciatus curse.

In Harry's opinion, vilifying the protean Charm was some of the dumbest logic that he'd ever heard of, as considering how it's used, any magic can be turned towards dark purposes. Hell, even a Wingardium Leviosa charm can be used to float a heavy object over a person's head, which just goes to show that wizards make judgments using their feelings rather than their logic.

The Protean Charm, like every other charm in existence, is a tool that can be used for a wide array of purposes, both good and ill, and Harry was about to make use of it in his crystal earrings in order to create the world's first magical cellular telephones.

Needless to say, turning an earring into a cell-phone is not a simple or straightforward process, but in theory, Harry could enchant a 'sending' crystal to catch and fill with sound vibrations, and the vibrations would be released at exactly the same time from the 'receiving' crystal that it's connected to by the Protean Charm. It was theoretically doable, but it was technically difficult.

There were five technical roadblocks that Harry needed to take care of in order to make the earrings a useful, practical, and secure product, suitable for commercial use:

1 - The sounds that the earrings caught, transmitted and then released needed to be clear and accurate through the medium of the vibrating crystals.

2 - The earrings needed to be able to contact a specific earring or a few different earrings at once, rather than always contacting all of them at exactly the same time.

3 - The messages needed to be conveyed privately into the recipient's ear, rather than broadcast out loud for everyone within earshot to hear.

4 - In response to Hermione and Angelina's remarks earlier in the day, Harry decided to grant the earrings the ability to turn invisible via Runes that replicated the Disillusionment spell.

5 - The earrings needed to be a proprietary technology that would be magically resistant to all forms of deconstruction and reverse engineering, incorporating Runes that would melt the earrings into a sludge if you tried to magically or physically divine how they work (a fact that would be clearly outlined on the packaging of the product).

As per the norm, Harry only had a rough outline of how he'd accomplish what he had in mind, which was forcing him to sketch out the Rune-script with the guidance of his magic and the comprehensive catalog of Runes that he'd amassed within his mindscape. A pastime that left him sitting on the sidelines as his wife and the rest of his friends played a game of baseball off in the distance, which he playfully acted relieved about, stating the fact that he threw like a little girl (in reality, his throwing arm was much improved nowadays).

Sitting on a side table next to Harry's seat were thirty crystal earrings, which were about to become the very first network of communication earrings that he created, with extras going to everyone's parent of choice, and two more that Appoline could reverse engineer. A reverse engineering that Harry knew would be necessary, because even as he finished drawing his Rune-script, he could see subtle flaws in its design that would force his magic to intervene on his behalf… And since he didn't know just how much magic he was going to need to expel in the process, Harry decided to err on caution and summon himself another vat of liquid lava.

As Harry rose to his feet and stretched out his body, Fleur started moving in his direction, and since the woman knew best what Harry was up to, everyone else followed her lead. Soon enough, Fleur, Selene, Neville, Hannah, Hermione, Fred, George, Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Bella, Cedric, Cho and Roger were standing in front of Harry's newly summoned work-table with expectant looks upon their faces.

Harry waved cheerfully at everyone as they walked up, and then darkened the room even as he summoned a giant vat of lava on the far side of the room. "Thanks for coming over, although the magic I'm about to perform shouldn't be anywhere near as dramatic as making the CD player, because I actually have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing this time."

Hermione instantly threw up a hand as if Harry were a professor, causing the boy to point in her direction exactly like Professor McGonagall does. "Can you explain to us why you need lava heat, now that we're all Occlumency protected?"

"I zink maybe we should tell zat story around a campfire," Fleur injected from Harry's side with a mischievous smile upon her face. "I want to tell ze story like a campfire 'orror story, and 'Arry can use ze fire to 'elp me…"

"You heard the lady," Harry agreed, as his wife's idea aligned perfectly with his desire for a fun reveal. "If you're all interested, we can make the sun set and then have a campfire when I'm done here."

Everyone nodded because this story was beginning to sound completely epic, and the twins bumped fists without ever even looking at each other.

After turning away from everybody and levitating all of the crystal earrings into the middle of the Rune-script that he'd designed, Harry took one last moment to mentally prepare himself, as he was about to perform at least two different magics at exactly the same time. The Protean Charm was a spell rather than a Rune-script so he'd be completing that portion of the project with his wand while simultaneously controlling the Rune-script with his aura shroud. It was going to be a little bit tough, but once again his mindscape was going to allow him to multitask to an inhuman extent, which is why he was confident that he could pull it off.

With one last smile back at his friends, Harry pulled out his wand and extended his second hand palm down over the table.

"Same deal applies as last time," Fleur whispered while following Harry's thought process in the bond. "Zis will be pretty magically draining and 'Arry will be focused on a minimum of two zings at exactly ze same time, so no jumping around or talking."

Everyone nodded in unison.

Without further adieu, Harry activated the Runes at the same time that he began casting a strong Protean charm on all the objects on the table. The Protean charm was a warm golden color that pooled around the earrings on the table, obscuring them from view when Harry continued feeding magic into the charm on a continual basis. At the same time, the index finger of his other hand followed the Rune script that fed into the Runes underneath the earrings, leaving green tracery lines that bloomed outwards in its wake.

Over time, the air above the work-table began to fill with different dialog boxes full of glowing green Runic script, one for every earring on the table, while Harry's attention was focused on a much larger box floating in the middle where he was creating the link that would connect all of these objects… except calling it a link was somewhat misleading. What Harry was creating was a series of separate links between each of these earrings to every other earring individually, which meant there would be more of them than there are people on Earth, but since he was having these links create themselves automatically using the Protean Charm, he didn't need to actually stress about the details.

Which was good, because when you input thirty to the power of thirty into a calculator, it fills the entire screen with numbers before abbreviating well over thirty omitted zeros.

What this number of connections did mean to Harry was that the spell was power hungry, forcing him to siphon off much more lava heat than he'd expected before it finally settled down and entered into the manufacturing stage.

Over the next ten minutes a familiar dome began to appear over and around Harry's crystal earrings, as the Runes that Harry inscribed replicated themselves upon the surface of every crystal as well as its setting. Then, with a bright flash of light, the green dome disappeared, and in its place were thirty earrings that were covered in hundreds of tiny, green lit Runes on all sides, and were quite obviously works of art.

Harry beamed at his wife as she moved to his side, curled her arms around his waist, and softly kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh wow," Hermione murmured while looking upon the stunning jewelry in awe. "They're completely beautiful, Harry, but...?"

After drawing an earring up from the table, Harry looked to his wife, slid the earring into the unused hole in his right ear, and then marched out of the room before banishing the door.

With a smile and a shake of her head, Fleur donned an earring of her own and then turned back towards the waiting audience. "Eef you 'aave pierced ears, please put on an earring please."

All the girls put on an earring and surprisingly so did Neville.

Fleur was prompted by Harry through the bond to show everyone how the invention worked, so she put her hand to her earring and said in a calm, clear voice, "call Alicia, Katie, Angelina, 'Annah, Cho, Bella, Selene, Ermione, Neville, and 'Arry."

At the tail end of Fleur's words, everyone that was wearing an earring felt them vibrate gently and warm just a little bit, and they looked to Fleur for instructions.

"Touch ze earring, and say ze word answer," Fleur explained with an increasingly excited smile growing on her face.

Everyone immediately complied and then waited for what would happen.

"Can everyone hear me?" Harry's voice, carried into everyone's ear via the earrings, as the man asked the question from out in the hallway.

Everyone but Hermione (who knew what a phone was) gasped loudly and jumped in place.

"You didn't," Selene choked out in her disbelief.

"I did," Harry answered in a perfectly clear and self satisfied voice.

"Telephone earrings," Hermione breathed out, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open.

"Got it in one, Mione," Harry exclaimed, as he marched back into the room, smiled at Fred, George and Cedric who were falling behind in the conversation, and then gestured at the earring in his ear. "With these earrings, you can contact each other separately or all of us at the same time, anytime anywhere. They're discrete and silent unless you're the person wearing them, and distance is irrelevant because they're based on an extraordinarily strong Protean Charm cast by yours truly. I could be in Japan right now and it wouldn't make a speck of difference."

With that much explained, Harry gestured to the extra earrings resting on the table. I've made some extras so you can stay in contact with the parent or relative of choice."

"Oh

My

Gods," the twins declared in unison.

"Harry you are going to be sooooooo rich," Hermione groaned with her hands pressing in against the sides of her head.

Over the next twenty minutes, every one of Harry's friends bounced around the RoR, taking turns calling each other while they were in different summoned rooms, until finally they came to terms with the convenience and utility of Harry's new invention, and then very slowly calmed back down.

Which is the moment that Harry raised a hand in the air because he had just one more reveal to make, and he needed to give credit where it was due. When everyone paused and looked over in his direction, Harry pointed towards Hermione and Angelina and then shrugged his shoulders in an apologetic fashion. "I'm sorry girls, but no one's ever going to know that you helped me design this product, as I intend to produce it through the Goblin's and my company in secret. Instead, I'll give you credit in the design process and pay you accordingly."

"But… what do I have to do with your product," Angelina slowly asked.

Lifting his hand up to the earring in his ear, Harry quietly said the word "invisible", and when he pulled his hand away, the earring was... gone.

Unsurprisingly, Hermione and Selene caught on first, exclaiming the word "Disillusionment," at exactly the same time.

At the same time, Angelina caught on, and she smiled as she remembered her words earlier in the day about how jewelry wasn't allowed in school, and Disillusionment was a hard to accomplish and maintain, high level spell.

"Eventually, the professors will figure out a way to screen for these so that kids don't cheat on tests," Harry predicted with a shrug. "But for now, we can wear these at all times without anyone being the wiser."

"Sooooo cooool," the twins roared in approval.

George began with, "anyone care to...

Pierce our ears," Fred finished.

Everyone began laughing then because the thought of the twins with pierced ears was completely hilarious for reasons they couldn't figure out.

With a smile and a shake of her head, Hermione began manipulating the RoR, setting the illusory sun even as she summoned a campfire and then conjured various seats and logs for everyone to sit upon. Finally, she turned back to Harry and gave him an extremely pointed look. "Massive vat of liquid lava... spill!"

Harry's only reaction was to turn to Fleur, because she'd seemed interested in telling this story. He was right. She looked excited. With a nod of understanding, he sat down on a nearby log, Fleur followed him down to sit flush to his side, and everyone followed suit, encircling the fire..

"Ees everybody ready for an 'Arry Potter style, adventure myth," Fleur asked with a widening smile, and a Lumos spell aimed up towards her face as an homage to Cedric's brand of storytelling.

Everyone leaned in to rest their elbows atop their knees, because the way Fleur was pumping this story was extremely effective.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Fleur performed a superbly acted out and extremely harrowing rendition of Harry's visit to Gringotts, during which time she went into fantastic detail describing his line test, finding out about potentially being the Lord of House Peverel, trying to access the vault, the Runic test and portal, almost being drained to death, his fear for her safety, pleading for her to stay back, desperately casting out for more magic power, finding it in the form of ambient heat, and finally the Goblins contracting him to cool down lava for them in the future.

Then, when the story was coming to an end, Fleur wrapped it up with the answer to Hermione's question… "My 'Arry ees ze very first Lord Peverel een over three 'undred years because only 'ee 'aas ze bloodline ability to siphon off magic from outside sources."

For the Gods only know what time that day, no one made a noise. Everyone was far too stunned by what they'd all just heard to do or say anything at all.

Fleur glanced aside at her mate and then gestured at the fire.

Harry smiled, pointed his free hand at the fire and siphoned off all of the energy from inside of it, instantly snuffing out the flames. Immediately after, he cast a low power Ignis spell into the logs to restart the fire. Then, when the flames lit their simulated clearing, Harry waved that same hand complete with a newly revealed Lord Peverel ring.

Everybody gawked some more, incapable of speech.

"Why do you guys think I have a big damn thestral tattooed on my back," Harry asked with growing amusement in his voice. "It's the magical creature featured in the Peverel family crest, which is a triangle inside of a circle, bisected by a line."

"I am soooooo overwhelmed," Fred announced while looking up at the starry ceiling.

"Can't even begin," George finished, in time with his brother.

"Seriously though," Fred continued into the persistent silence, a solemn seriousness affixed upon his face... "Someone has to pierce my and my brother's ears for us, because neither of us can be trusted with sharp objects."

After a split second spent with an affronted expression upon his face, George merely nodded as if his lack of self control simply couldn't be helped.

Over the following half minute, snickers and then stifled laughter broke out all around the fire, as once again it was the twins who brought the group back to normal.

Pop

"Dobby," Gabrielle screamed in her enthusiasm as she scooped up the elf and began marching towards the living room with him in a strangle-hold style hug.

Dobby was an excellent house elf, and he was aware that Gabby loved him… which is why he focused on breathing through a crushed windpipe with as much class as possible.

Appoline immediately came to Dobby's rescue as soon as she saw him being dragged into the room. "Gabrielle! Stop suffocating our friend Dobby please," she called out in alarm.

Gabrielle looked down and saw that Dobby was in fact turning a little blue, at which point she immediately released him and was throwing out many heartfelt apologies within the next few seconds.

"No need to worry, young miss. I do appreciate that you're fond of me," Dobby soothed in a calming voice as he rubbed the young lady on the head. She was near tears now and it broke his little elvish heart. "Like many things in life Gabby... It's the thought that counts."

"Well said," Appoline agreed while sitting back down on the couch. "What brings you here this evening, Dobby?"

"My very industrious and clever master has created the communication earrings that he was planning earlier today," Dobby informed his very gracious host, before revealing four of the earrings and a Rune script that would negate the earring's defenses. "Same deal as usual. This Rune-script will allow you to circumvent the security Runes inscribed upon the earrings. Anyone else who tries to figure them out will turn their earring into a warm puddle of goo."

"Already?" Appoline looked surprised in the extreme. "The man only had the idea this morning."

"Yes, but my master has more magic than he has common sense and he was eager to complete this project. He loves and misses the family when he's back at school and is continually shocked that no one addresses these so-called simple problems," Dobby described. "He's also already contacted Gringotts in regards to warding his new houses and he wanted to be able to keep you informed of any and all progress."

"Harry Potter," Appoline said in a low voice, before snapping out of her fugue with a shake of her head. "He works so fast when he gets an idea in his head. How do they work?"

"Put the earring in the ear of your choosing, touch the earring, say the word call followed by the name of the person or persons you want to talk to, and then you'll begin talking to them as soon as they answer the call," Dobby informed. "In this case, I suggest you call Harry, Fleur and Gabby at the same time to get everyone involved and trying out the devices."

"That simple," Appoline mused, even as she slipped the earring into her ear.

"They also Disillusion themselves if you say the word invisible while touching them," Dobby continued.

"Of course they do," Appoline giggled out as she very slowly, very delicately, put an earring into Gabrielle's ear, and then lifted her hand up to her own… "Call Gabrielle, 'Arry and Fleur.

Turning towards Gabrielle, Dobby whispered the words, "touch the earring and say the word answer."

After following the house elves' instructions, Gabrielle instantly heard Fleur's voice talking enthusiastically in a very clear voice through the earring, and she reacted in a fashion in keeping with her character. Gabby immediately began rolling around the couch in her excitement with her mother bouncing around in a similar fashion.

"This is incredible," Appoline announced in an overawed voice. "From original idea to perfect execution this took only ten hours to make, and that was with a sightseeing trip through France and a barbecue in the middle."

"My 'Arry doesn't even understand how amazing this is and is confused by everyone's intense reactions," Fleur replied quite clearly over the device.

"That's not true," Harry denied over his own device. "I understand that it's never been seen in this form before, but I just remade the wheel. I'm no Alexander Grand Bell."

"You're better," Fleur declared while laughing like a fool. "You're a wizard Tony Stark, 'Arry, and you're going to change the entire Magical World!"

Both Gabrielle and Appoline laughed at the uncharacteristically mad enthusiasm that they could hear coming from the most reserved female in the family.

"'Arry… Thank you for making these for us. I won't have to be so lonely and bored all the time now," Gabrielle quietly chimed into the conversation.

"Your welcome, little sis," Harry replied in a soft tone of voice, clearly disarmed by the little girl's slightly sad but cute declaration.

For the next several minutes, the four of them chatted about Harry's properties, their impressions and then just their day in general, during which time Fleur warned Appoline that the two of them would most likely end up in the French Papers the next day (causing a groan from Harry).

By the end of the conversation Appoline and Gabrielle were in stitches laughing because, yes, Harry would be in the paper tomorrow, and that much was obvious.

"We need to end the call now," Fleur finally sighed out while performing a very well-delivered fake yawn. "It's been a very long day, and unlike 'Arry, I do need a full night's sleep."

"I do agree that you're going to bed," Appoline agreed with a smile in her voice (the implied meaning of her tone was that Fleur was not interested in sleeping).

"Sleep well sister," Gabrielle added, showing that she was either still an innocent or she was a brilliant actor (Harry sincerely hoped it was the former).

"Good night Appoline, little sis," Harry chimed in with a touch to his earring, and the words 'end call', which of course ended the call.

In the moments that followed Fleur ending the connection on her earring, Harry and his wife simply stood there, all alone, out on the lawns outside of Hogwarts' Entry Hall, simply staring in each other's direction.

Then the moment ended when a blur of silver hair dashed across the clearing.

With a feline snarl of animalistic need, Fleur leapt up to wrap her legs around Harry's waist, and her arms curled around his back just in time for him to start running in the direction of the Beauxbatons carriage. A feat that required he make the most of his purely magical senses as his more mundane senses were far too wrapped up in the Veela that was devouring his mouth with lips and twining tongue…

In the intensity of his need, Harry's magic poured from within his body, achieving a great many things without ever needing to be directed at a conscious level. It Disillusioned his and Fleur's body to conceal them from the beauxbatons students sitting outside of the carriage, it created an aversion field around the two of them that coerced even more students to move out of the way of their approach, and it opened up the carriage door ahead of them so that they never needed to slow down.

Harry Potter's magic was moving on all cylinders, crashing around the carriage in a way that made everyone's hair stand on end until the door closed behind them and the feeling ebbed away.

Finally, with just one more hallway between Harry and his wife's bedroom, his magical senses caught on that it was a little too late at night for them to be entering the carriage, because the intruder Wards built into the walls and floor of the hallway were in the process of activating, which meant he was about to set off quite the racket throughout the carriage.

Thinking quickly and guided by his magic, Harry immediately did the opposite of what he and Fleur do every single day during training. Drawing a small amount of Fleur's magic into his core via the bond, he cocooned his body in it like a skin, because the intruder alarm functions by sensing magical signatures that aren't keyed into the Wards.

By the time the various Runes built into the carriage thrummed to life, Harry's body was cloaked in a thin layer of Fleur's magic which would hypothetically camouflage his magic from the Wards, but since this was the first time he'd done anything like this, he knew he needed to get into Fleur's bedroom ASAP, and he needed to avoid using any of his magic in the pursuit of that goal.

Well then… Fine.

With a growl of unleashed aggression and a loud wrenching crack, Harry bodily slammed his shoulder into the wood of Fleur's locked bedroom door, raining wooden splinters all over the two of them as they barreled into the room along with a door that was just barely hanging on its hinges. Harry didn't care. He didn't give a rat's ass about the door or the loud noise that he'd just created, because he and Fleur were successfully inside of her room and that's all that mattered. With an outpouring of magic that filled the confines of Fleur's room, he wandlessly levitated the door back in place and then makeshift fused it to the door jam that was built to contain it, and the students that came running to investigate the noise, never saw anything out of the ordinary…

Harry Potter: Unleashed: Uncensored - Scene After Day Trip to France - CH 28

Two Hours Later…

In the wake of very… enthusiastic… lovemaking, Fleur and Harry lay upon her bed, their sweaty bodies cooling under a thin Conjured sheet..

"'Arry…" Fleur sighed out before her mind gave up completely trying to explain… She knew that her mate knew how she felt, but a part of her wanted to convey her thoughts out loud. This was... Fleur was about to cry because it was so... Her husband just took her hard against her newly broken door while her room's soundproofing charms were more than likely destroyed, and it had been... beautiful. "'Arry, you... to me," she tried again.

Harry slowly nodded and whispered the words, "I know."

"Can't even... too much," Fleur tried again.

Harry nodded again and said something that they both knew to be true. "I'm yours, Fleur, all yours, forever."

Fleur nodded into her husband's chest then and then she really did start crying. She wrapped around her mate and cried into his chest because well... too perfect to happen anywhere but heaven, too happy to be real, too fortunate to last, too much intensity to exist, too close to ever be apart, too much love to ever, ever lose him.

Fleur was so blissfully happy with her mate that she was becoming equally terrified that a single hair on his head should ever come to harm. She was beginning to want to hide him in a dragon guarded dungeon, near the center of the planet, hidden using a Fidelius Charm. This was beginning to feel like she was Icarus flying too close to the sun and mere moments away from bursting into flames. Fleur was madly, madly in love with her husband and was becoming truly terrified of the big scary what ifs of the world.

"This is why I obsess over protection, love," Harry whispered quietly into his wife's impossibly soft hair. "On a semi-regular basis, I find myself in my mindscape filing away scary what ifs about losing you, but it's not working, because of course it's not. If something were to happen to you, I'd have a heart attack and die on the spot. I'm a hundred percent certain of it…"

Fleur nodded her understanding and started crying again, partially because their relationship was beautiful, and partially because she was scared.

Harry slid his hands down Fleur's back and began rubbing the same small circles that had brought him so far with his Lady. There was nothing else to be done at the moment, and rubbing Fleur's back had never failed Harry yet. When in doubt, rub it out, would be a fantastic motto… if it didn't sound like a slogan advocating frequent masturbation.

Chuckle, giggle, snort...

Fleur's face instantly pressed down into Harry's chest again and she straight up refused to look up towards his face. As Fleur waited out his amusement at her expense, she idly wondered if Harry had thought up that wonderful line to distract her away from her fears, or if he was just an idiot savant of comedy.

"I may or may not have thought that on purpose, but I will conceal the truth deep inside of my mindscape from this moment on," Harry declared out loud.

In response to her mate's words, Fleur finally looked up at the man's face, only to find him grinning at her in the way that he does whenever she...

Dammit...

"'Arry," Fleur began, her voice all business. "Am I, or am I not, an angel straight from 'eaven miraculously walking around on Earth?"

"Every day, I wake up expecting to find feathers," Harry allowed.

"Do angels do zis unbelievably unladylike zing you call a snort," Fleur asked while making herself look the very picture of class and sophistication.

"I have empirical evidence gathered that they do, and I would be willing to testify under Veratiserum about it if I'm allowed to use a Pensieve," Harry replied in an extremely serious tone of his own, as if he was on a stand in the Wizengamut.

Fleur tried... She really, really, truly tried, but it was impossible. Her snooty demeanor cracked, she started giggling, her cheeks flushed red, and she bit her lips while rising to straddle her husband's waist….

Fleur Potter nee Delacour was nowhere near finished spoiling her husband.

To Be Continued

Author's Note:

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