Disclaimer: J.K Rowlings owns Harry Potter and Stan Lee owns Marvel. I'm just driving it like I stole it. To quote G. .
Chapter 4: An offer you can't refuse
Delacoeur Mansion
Harry rolled into the sitting room and joined Jean Paul, Apolline and Amelia for tea. Once he was settled, he turned to face Amelia.
"Hello, Madame Bones. How are you?" he asked casually.
"I'm fine Mr. Potter. I would ask you the same question." she said as she looked into his eyes.
"As well as can be expected, all things considered." Harry replied in a monotone.
But as Amelia looked into his eyes, what she saw caused a chill to run down her spine. It was almost as if he had died and this shell was all that was left. That was when she made up her mind to try and convince him to take this chance from the cousins of the royal family. If for no other reason than because she felt he was owed this opportunity to recover.
"Mr. Potter, I have something that I need to tell you. I wouldn't normally agree to this, but a cadet branch for the Royal family that has magic has made an offer to you." she started.
"What kind of offer?" Harry asked cautiously.
"He says there us a possibility that he can help you. But the offer comes with a price?" she added.
"What's the price?" Harry asked.
"He wants Bellatrix LeStrange. He will take both of you to the states where he will try to help you, Mr. Potter." she said.
"Where did the offer come from? And it's just Harry, Madame Bones." he said.
"The offer actually came from Her Majesty after she heard what had been done to you in the Wizarding community. She felt you deserved a chance to have a life and she wanted to try and to help you." Amelia explained.
"I don't know, Madame Bones. I've tried to trust before and you can see how well that went." he said skeptically.
"I understand, Harry. But I can honestly say that I think you should take the chance." Amelia said casually.
"Why? What does it matter anymore? If I let him heal me, Dumbledore and the Minister won't leave me alone. They'll expect a kid to face Voldemort for them. If I stay the way I am then they'll leave me alone." Harry said with some anger in his voice.
"Harry, Her Majesty offered this to you and it is her word of honor that you will never be forced to face someone else's trouble again." Amelia told him as Fleur joined them in the sitting room.
Fleur had heard part of the offer and she took Harry's hand as she sat beside him. He turned his head to look at her then Jean Paul and Apolline in turn, inviting them to comment.
"Harry, this has to be your decision. We can't make it for you." Jean Paul said as he spoke his mind.
"We will accept your choice, Harry. No matter what you decide." Apolline promised, then looked at her daughter.
Fleur was sitting quietly and trying to keep what he wanted to say to herself. But everyone there with the exception of Harry saw that she was holding something inside.
Finally Jean Paul decided to intervene, knowing that her words would be the turning point for Harry's future.
"Flower, this is the time when you must speak your mind. He will never know if you don't tell him." Jean Paul said as he studied his daughter carefully.
"No, Father. I can't. It wouldn't be fair to him." Fleur said.
"Would you let his heart become stone, instead?" Apolline asked.
"No. But I won't use what I feel to trap him into a decision he doesn't want to make." Fleur argued.
"No offense but I am sitting right here. Why don't you try talking to me instead of around me." Harry suggested a bit peeved.
Fleur looked abashed as she realized that she had been treating Harry as if he wasn't in the room. But she didn't know what to do.
She had gotten to know Harry during the tournament and yet she was afraid of her own heart.
Finally she lost the battle within herself and she turned to face Harry, raising one hand to caress his cheek as she looked into his eyes.
"You're right, Harry. I should be talking to you and there is something I need to tell you. But I need you to open your heart so you can hear me." she said, almost pleading.
Her words caused him to look at her with confusion in his eyes as he considered what he had heard, trying to work out what she was reluctant to say to him.
"Maybe we should go out on the porch and talk about this?" he suggested, reaching up to touch her hand.
Nodding, Fleur stood and went to the double doors that led to the porch off the living room with Harry following her outside in his chair.
They went to the patio table and he waited until she was seated before he rolled up to face her.
"Alright, Fleur. What is it you need to tell me?" he said bluntly.
Fleur looked into his eyes, then ducked her head as she tried to think of a way to phrase what she was feeling. She didn't want to drive him away and yet she was afraid of how he would react.
Harry reached out and, with a hand placed gently under her chin, raised her face so he could see her eyes again.
"Fleur, it's okay. There's nothing you could say that would make me angry or make me hate you. Your mother and father have given me a priceless gift that I could never repay when they took me in. But you did the same when you chose to spend time with me." he told her warmly.
"I don't know how to say this, mi amor." she said as he lapsed into french, but he caught the last.
"Fleur," he started calmly, "Do you realize what you just called me?"
"Oui. But it is the truth." she said as she lowered her eyes again, afraid that he would reject her.
Harry stopped himself from saying anything that she might take the wrong way and considered this revelation very carefully before he tried to phrase a response to her.
'Come on, Harry. Gryffindors charge forward' he thought as he realized that he had also started to feel something for her as well.
"Fleur, this isn't something that you just blurt out to just anyone. I don't know what to say." he stammered around.
"Oui, I understand and I can't tell you what to say, Harry. But I need to say this to you." she said as she looked at him through half lidded eyes.
"Alright, Fleur. Go ahead and say it." he said with a nod of his head.
"Harry, when I first met you in that tournament, I wasn't very kind to you. But when you rescued my sister in the second task and helped me in the third I didn't know what to think of you. Gabrielle and I are both Veela and most wizards would have tried to use what you did as a way of using us. But you acted without any thoughts of rewards. I talked to some of the people that knew you before and they said that you are always thinking of others. Leaving England was the first time you have done something for yourself." she started and he ducked his head.
"I suppose you think I'm being selfish." he muttered in a low voice as if afraid of offending her.
"No, I think you did what was right for you for once in your life. When you first got here I enjoyed the time we spent together. Maybe I'm being selfish now, but want that man back." she said as she reached out to take his hand, making him look at her sharply.
"I'm just a boy." he said in a tired voice.
"Non! No one who has lived through what you have can be called a boy! You, Harry James Potter, are a man. During the time you've spent here though, something happened that I didn't expect and now I'm going to be selfish. You see, I liked the boy I learned about but I came to love the man he has become. I just want to know if you can love me like that?" she finished.
"I could...I do. But its not safe to love me, Fleur. You've seen what has happened to me and those that get close to me." he said miserably.
"Harry, look at me." she prompted and he raised his head to look her in the eyes. "Do you love me? Put everything else aside and answer me that one question. Please!" she was almost begging.
Harry looked at Fleur and considered the time he'd spent with her, then he threw everything else out the window to think about that one question. With all that she had said and the feelings he carried for her, he had to admit that he was in love with her.
"Yes, Fleur de Lis. I love you." he admitted as he took her hand in both of his.
"Then do this for me, for us. Accept this gift you are being offered. Just this once, be a little selfish and take the chance. I promise that if you want, I will go with you. You won't have to face anything alone." she vowed, moving over and kissing him with a passion that could ignite hearth-fires.
When they broke he looked into her eyes and the old familiar lop-sided grin came out.
"Now that's an offer I can't refuse. You really know how to bribe a guy." he chuckled.
"Of course. I am a woman, after all." she laughed throatily.
"Now that's hardly fair, using feminine wiles on a poor defenseless wizard." he teased.
"But it worked. Now should we go inside and talk to the others?" she suggested.
"Yeah, I suppose so. But I'm going to hold you to going with me." he said as they went back inside.
Once they were back in the sitting room, Harry looked at everyone.
"Before I say anything one way or the other, Madame Bones, there is something I need to know. I need to know if someone can travel and stay with me there and I need to know if we can wait a week. I have to go to Gringotts before I can leave." he explained.
"That shouldn't be a problem. I'll make the arrangements. Does that mean you're going to say yes to this?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, ma'am. I need to do this. But I don't want anyone else knowing." he said.
"Very well, Harry. Then I'll leave you to handle things here while I take care of things on my end." Amelia said as she stood and turned to her hosts. "Jean, I'll take my leave."
"Of course, Amelia. I'll walk you out." he said and escorted her to the floo while Apolline looked from her daughter to Harry with a knowing gleam in her eyes.
A/N: Maybe life isn't as hopeless as it looks if a veela is willing to join him. Now you know and knowing is half the battle.
