A/N: Welcome to my new story where I shall dump all my Ouran/HP feels. Feel free to give me ideas and plots as to enrich my plot bunnies. Mwahaha! First stop is a Tamaki/Harry fest. :)
Disclaimer: I thank Rowling and Bisco for creating such wonderful stories. I own not the story, nor the characters. I'm playing with them though and whatever pace they go is mine. ;)
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
Setting: HP/Ouran, post-Hogwarts, end-bit of Ouran anime
Pairing: Tamaki/Harry
Title: Little Thunder
Part: 1/?
Warnings: AU, of course
"Gabrielle."
A soft voice interrupted the duo by the piano; a tense young man with blonde hair and bright purple eyes, and a woman whose arms were wrapped around his back. She stiffened upon hearing the voice and withdrew her embrace, both of them turning to face the newcomer.
"Harry."
Despite the situation, Tamaki gaped. The man was lithe and willowy, effeminate, not in the same way as Haruhi's father Ranka, whose body would instantly give himself away as a man if he didn't dress as a woman, but the genuine 'you-could be-mistaken-for-a-girl-if-not-for-your-clothes-and-Adam's-apple' kind of effeminate.
Harry gave a sigh and moved closer, and Tamaki found himself staring. He moved with elegance, almost gliding, and Tamaki's eyes roved the soft-looking alabaster skin, the small hand that pinched a smooth nose while the other hand went to tug on silky shoulder-length black hair in annoyance. He could distinctly make out the silver outline of a lightning-shaped scar on the unmarred forehead, giving him a more mysterious feel.
But what caught the most of his attention were his eyes. Tamaki didn't much care for gems, outside of waxing lyrical sonnets to some of their customers to compare the brilliance of diamonds and pearls to the swooning girls.
But now he found himself immeasurably fond of emeralds.
Éclair Tonnerre, also known as Gabrielle Delacour, gave a catty smile as she watched her would-be fiancé turn into a steaming tomato in front of her big brother Harry, his eyes almost glazed as he drank in the sight.
'Well, well… This is a surprise.'
"Do you know how much trouble you're in, young lady?" Harry said in English, knowing that most of the students of Ouran were multilingual. It was rude to talk when others didn't understand, so it was a relief that the half-French boy who Gabrielle was molesting earlier seemed to follow.
Éclair pouted as she faced her self-appointed guardian, twirling a strand of hair. "I didn't mean it. And I go by Éclair."
Harry snorted, waving away the new name. "Of course you didn't. You didn't mean to leave everyone worried, lead us all into a wild goose chase, and get yourself into trouble by tying yourself down to a teenager."
"I am a teenager!" she said in petulance. Say what you want, but she was still young! She had plenty of reasons to look for a perfect husband. She ignored the tiny voice in her head that told her that she tracked said potential husband like a crazed stalker and threatened him with matrimonial chains.
Much like Ginny Weasley. Who she heard was doing quite well at St. Mungo's psych ward.
Harry wasn't listening. "And I suppose this is the unfortunate young man you trapped?"
Suddenly Tamaki found himself pinned by two stares, one mischievous and one gorgeous- no, sympathetic.
"I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier. Hadrian James Potter-Black, although you may just call me Harry." he said, reaching out to shake Tamaki's hand in a firm grip.
Éclair almost cackled (almost, since ladies didn't cackle) as Tamaki turned into a bumbling stuttering mess and… was that steam coming out of his ears? She thought that only happened in anime.
"Su-Su-Suoh…"
"Suoh Tamaki-chan, Harry-nii." Éclair drawled, saving the stuttering blonde.
Harry gave her a look, which she immediately translated to, 'you're loving this, aren't you?'.
She replied with an imperious smirk.
"Nice to meet you Suoh-san. I believe I had the pleasure of meeting your father already." Harry said, wondering if he was feeling feverish. He was turning quite red. He was a bit alarmed when Tamaki made a funny noise and backed away but he chalked it up to Gabrielle scaring the daylights out of another one of her boyfriends. "Alright, enough with the tantrum, Gabrielle. Your parents are worried-"
"Uh... who?"
Tamaki's face flamed up again the moment Harry's gaze turned to him, although Éclair gleefully noted that the blonde darling was trying his best to distract himself by looking at her. She gave him a winning smile and giggled when he turned sort of green.
She did sort-of acted like a man-eater. Wait till Fleur got a hold of this!
"Yes. I suppose I better explain. And you as well Gabrielle."
"Do I have to?"
"You sound like a whiny child, you know?"
"Do not."
"I'm not falling for that."
Éclair huffed.
A loud bang interrupted them and with a dramatic flair of doors, a bunch of teenagers wearing Medieval get-ups that were as colorful as Dumbledore's robes went flying through the room, with a bellow of "MILORD!".
Vaguely, Harry noted the unfortunate butler that was being beaten up by a blonde toddler with a pink bunny and wondered how he got himself in this mess.
"Guys!" Tamaki scrambled away from the she-demon and the emerald-eyed beauty… no, the willowy angel… no, the gorgeous black-haired… NO, NO, NO!
Why was he feeling this way?
Tamaki was a lover of beauty. He found beauty in everything, his maman teaching him that there was something worth noticing in everything that had been created and that something should be shown for the whole world to see. Even the things that are unassuming at first can turn into a well-polished diamond. Just look at his daughter Haruhi. He even appreciated the male physique, of course he did, otherwise the Host Club wouldn't be so successful in the first place…
But this was the first time he reacted to another male this way.
"Milord!" Kaoru exclaimed, latching his arms with his twins to make a crude landing pad of sorts for Tamaki to fall on.
"Tama-chan, you're okay!" Hani beamed, stretching his neck.
"Woah! Oi, stupid lord you're burning up!" Hikaru complained. "What's with that face?"
"Help me…" he moaned. Why on earth was he, the Princely Type of the Ouran Host Club, known for being able to charm any girl, turned into this? An awkward, blushing jumble of emotions?
Hikaru and Kaoru blinked at their sniffling burden.
"Woah…" the twins said in unison.
"I know that we had to rescue him-"
"-yeah. But when we came here, heroically too-"
"-and we even risked the Chairman and that scary grandma-"
"-but I never thought that-"
"-milord could actually be this-"
"PATHETIC." they declared.
Harry laughed, eyes widening as he heard lightning rumble in the background, like some sort of verdict. "Bloody hell, Gab. What horrors did you do on that sorry sod?"
Éclair rolled her eyes. It wasn't her. Harry was as clueless as ever. He didn't know what effect he had on people. After those Deathly Hallows (family secret) clung to him like a leech, those three legendary items turned him into a beauty that any veela would envy.
Harry said Death was a bastard. She had no idea what that meant. Still he mostly ignored that his fangirls (and fanboys) tripled and began mobbing him in droves, insisting that his fame would die down.
Oh, my sweet summer child.*
'Case in fact.' Éclair thought, as the Hosts finally noticed the laughing Harry and more than one turned bright red.
"Uh… so who're you?" one of the twins said tentatively, dropping Tamaki to the ground with a loud thud, making some sort of human shield around him.
Kyouya coughed and caught Éclair's eye. "Miss Tonnerre, I would like to discuss the assets-"
Harry silenced him with a hand. The Hosts were astonished. Someone dared to shut up Dark Lord Kyouya!
"May we please discuss this in a more pleasant setting?" Harry asked, all smiles.
"So your name's not really Éclair?!" twin shouts echoed through the Third Music Room. Harry was entertained at the sight of the Hitachiin twins. Seems Éclair found herself another set of identical gingers. Maybe it was one of the reasons she didn't want to leave; they reminded her of the Weasley twins. She loved her twin uncles by marriage. Fred and George doted on kids after the war, and that included Gabrielle, even though she turned thirteen and insisted that she didn't need coddling. Didn't stop her from using the family discount in their shops, though.
"Non." the witch said with relish, ignoring the hosts' flabbergasted expression. Really, they were all such goofs in private. Only the Ootori with the stick up his ass and the Morinozuka remained calm. Even the cross-dressing female looked panicked.
"And that's not even her hair color." Harry said, pointing at the olive brown curls. Fleur would be aghast the length her sister went to give them the slip. Going so far as to dye her gorgeous, natural, platinum-blonde tresses.
Fleur's words, not his.
He watched with amusement as the twins raged and created general chaos at the revelation. Really, they were like Gred and Forge 2.0. The world would end if they met the original versions.
He looked at the teenagers huddled around the sitting area. The tiny blonde who did some complicated punches earlier, a stoic giant sitting beside the blonde, a troubled-looking female in a pink dress, and a serious-looking young man with glasses typing away at his Pineapple laptop who glanced at him once in a while.
The only one missing was Suoh Tamaki, who was crouched at the back of the twins' seat, and… Harry raised his brow. Was he shredding paper?
"So it was all a set-up?" the tiny 'butler-beating' blonde who was still holding the pink bunny asked calmly. Although he was anything but calm. Harry could sense his aura getting more and more dark, reminding him of the time Colin Creevey had his camera taken by Slytherin bullies. Bones were shattered. No magic used.
The twins shuffled beside the little blonde, joining their glares into one large blob of threatening dark aura.
"No. I believe Gab...er, Éclair has her own reasons for doing so." Harry said, eyeing her. He made his message clear. Your mess, take care of it.
To his surprise, she accepted the challenge with grace and panache. Her story was slightly true… with exaggerations in between. Harry was pretty sure she left on a bright sunny May afternoon, and not the dark, rainy eve of September. Also, he knew that she had nicked her father's Gringotts card, as Henri still grouched about receiving the large balance every month and she was not 'left to fend off her own' as she was saying. She weaved a sob story of being ignored for a long time without her family really meaning to, and the idiots listening ate it all up, that they were soon bawling their eyes out. Even the stoic giant was misty-eyed. Although judging by the snort from the young man with the Pineapple, not everyone believed it.
Thank goodness. Harry thought. At least someone here has sense.
Gabrielle was a good actress, that much he had to admit. She was taking Theatrical Arts so she had to be, and it was quite impressive that she was able to spin up a story this outrageous without looking stupid. And all without revealing who she was. He supposed that was the reason the guy with glasses looked ticked off.
'But really, the girl had a whole corporation at her beck and call and these idiots believed she was homeless? I mean look at her outfit. Worth the salary of twenty office men in three months.' Harry snorted.
There were holes as large as a crater in her story that made him wonder if these kids had common sense. Truth was, Gabrielle was going through teenage rebellion, snooty rich kid-style. Being the younger child of the French Prime Minister for Magic, she was spoiled while Fleur was given responsibilities which she shouldered admirably. That made Gabrielle a little conscious of her place in the family and began to do things that made her a headache for everyone all around. Little things at first. Until it escalated to her roaming around Europe unsupervised.
Harry had no idea why Henri and Apolline allowed it, even if they tagged a Tracking Charm on her. Still, it wasn't his place to say. Maybe it was one of those things rich people do to their children. He hadn't been rich as a kid, with his inheritance being restricted so he shut his mouth. If it was alright to the Delacours to let their under-aged daughter trek around the continent then he wouldn't meddle.
She usually stayed at one of the Delacour's vacation homes and guest houses so they could keep an eye on her. Then one day, he was greeted to the sight of French veelas running around like headless chickens because their youngest had apparently bailed and was not felt anywhere in Europe for months.
So imagine Harry's surprise when Anne-Sophie, the Delacour's governess hinted that she may be headed to Japan to trap her unsuspecting half-Japanese son in marriage.
It sounded crazy enough for Gabrielle to do. And so here he was, in a room filled with handsome young men who were more comparable to bawling hormonal women.
"How did you find me, exactly?" Éclair muttered, watching the drama in front of her with mild interest.
"Your governess was very accommodating." Harry murmured as Éclair cursed in French. "Not to mention… Tonnerre. Really?"
The sheepish grin she gave him reminded him of the times when she was younger. And harmless. Where had those times go?
"Ah, well. It reminded me of before."
"When you had that crush on me?" Harry ducked as she slapped him lightly, laughing.
"Easy there, little thunder."
"I hate you." she muttered, embarrassed.
Eclair, as a little Gabrielle, had developed a devoted sort of admiration for the Boy-Who-Lived during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, going so far as to call herself his 'thunder' since he already had a lightning bolt scar. According to her eight-year old logic, they were a pair that should always be together as 'thunder' always followed 'lightning'. It had been cute for everyone involved. Mortifying for the adult Eclair.
"Eclair-chan!" Ah, the Suoh blonde was up. Harry watched as he clutched Gabrielle's hand, his eyes dewy, and… where did those sparkles come from?
"Your story has deeply pierced mon coeur! I ask for forgiveness for my ungentlemanly ways and vow to be your knight in shining armor, to be the Arthur to your Guinevere, to be the Paris to your Helen-"
"You do realize Guinevere ditched Arthur? And Paris and Helen caused a war." Harry said mildly. To his interest, Tamaki gave an 'eep' sound and turned bright red again and scuttled away, seemingly struck dumb. Really, was he ill?
The twins, much to Eclair's amusement, finally caught up to whatever Suoh was feeling and gave each other devilish grins. They caught her eye and gave her a polite nod and a small smirk. They knew that she was in on it, but wasn't willing to work with her.
Harry noticed that Ootori (Gabrielle whispered his surname) finally shut his laptop, which made all conversation stop. He steadied his glasses and gave Harry and Gabrielle a polite yet chilling stare.
"It seems I am unable to get any other information on the Tonnerre Group of Companies-" Ah, so he was looking at their backgrounds. Pretty bold to do it in front of them. "Except for the fact that the name does not exist till last year."
He looked irritated that he only stumbled on that tidbit today.
"So you were using that name all year long?" Harry asked Gabrielle. "What, did you just remove the Delacour symbol all over your inheritance and just fancied yourself another one?"
"Delacour?" Tamaki piped up from his pile of stripped papers, looking everywhere but Harry's. "I know that surname."
"Same here." One of the twins drawled.
"I am also familiar with the Delacour family." Ootori said, with the little blonde and the giant nodding along.
"What's the Delacour?" the female in pink was the only one who looked clueless.
"The Delacours," Harry began for her sake. "are a family originating from France. They are descendants of the former royal house and currently have a great influence over most businesses involving art, beauty, music and cosmetics, and recently, the export and import of rare medicinal plants and herbs."
The girl nodded vaguely, although Harry doubted that she was interested. Anyway…
"So you are related to the Delcaours?"
"I am a Delacour." Éclair said, enjoying their expressions. "Gabrielle Faline Delacour to be exact."
"So you are a princess who was not appreciated for who you were!" Tamaki was on his element again.
'He's really good at getting back on his feet.' Harry thought, grinning at the uncomfortable look on Gabrielle's face.
"Sure let's go with that." she said flatly.
"We still haven't heard your name." Ootori said, pointedly looking at Harry.
"Oh…" Tamaki's voice turned timid. "Wasn't it um… Potter-Black Harry-san?"
Harry smirked. The shocked look on Ootori's face was probably one in a million, based on how the others were gaping at his expression.
"Yes, it's very nice to meet you all. Please call me Harry."
A/N: So yes, first stop. I probably focused to much on Gabrielle/Eclair and got a bit of wording wrong but I'm really just returning to the hang of things and just stretching my writing. If you must notice, whenever it is Harry who is the focal point, I address her as Gabrielle but call her Eclair in her POV and in general. I'll probably call her Gabrielle throughout the whole story so this was just a one time thing.
So! Tell me what you think and let's make nice with each other. Hopefully no flames, but correct me as gently as possible. Thanks for the courtesy. I'll update as soon as I can.
*GoT, yes. It's from that series. It ain't mine either, just borrowing the line.
~Review~
