Metamorphose chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any profits from posting this fanfiction.

Warnings: Gender change. Fem!Harry…after a potions accident. Name changes for characters. Hurricane Sandy (use of artistic licence over the damage it wrought)

Pairings: LM/HP. DM/AG. RW/HG.

Authors Note: Thank you to those of you who reviewed the last chapter. This chapter has been one of my favourite ones to write though I admit to struggling on getting the arguing right. It has been a long time coming but in this chapter you see Harry (Henri) properly confront Lucas.


(Chapter 8)

March 4th.

Henri felt her sense of the world slowly settle back into place. The black curtain that had settled across her vision slowly lifted and the encompassing warmth that filled her muscles slowly ebbed away.

"Hetty? Hetty, can you hear me?"

"Mmm…Tori?" Henri asked the words forming slowly as if her muscles were just too sluggish to react properly.

"Yes Hetty. Can you open your eyes?"

"Mm." Henri pushed the rest of the curtain from her vision and slowly the world came into view. Colours swam together at first but then shapes slowly became sharper and Henri could see Tori, another model and her boss all crowded around her. "Hi. What happened?"

"What happened?! What happened?! Let me tell you what happened Hetty Black, you passed out! You just keeled over in the middle of a shoot, had us all thinking you were dead till we saw you breathing! You stupid little twig, you've been working yourself too hard! I told you this was going to happen! Here eat this." Tori shoved a bar of chocolate at Henri who took it without argument since Tori had barely stopped talking to breath. "What did you think was going to happen anyway? How long did you think you were going to be able to keep doing all that crazy shit you have been doing? You come to work, you go to the gym, go home and sleep then come back to work even on your days off! Let me tell you, you have become a right bore recently girl. I'm not surprised you burned out!"

"Tori please, let me speak with Hetty alone?" Mrs St Clair said slowly and Tori immediately shut her mouth, got up and moved away. Henri stared after her confused and upset by her words.

So what if she had been going to the gym every day? It was better than going home or risking bumping into Marion or Viola or even Lucas for that matter. It was bad enough that Henri had seen Lucas at the gym again. Sometimes he did a work out but some of the time he creepily just sat there and watched Henri.

"Hetty." Mrs St Clair began as she helped Henri get up to her feet. She wobbled a bit and frowned at herself before steadying her body and finding her centre of gravity again. She met Mrs St Clair's worried eyes. "You have been pushing yourself too hard. I admire your drive I really do but your collapse today has really hammered home how dangerous your behaviour has become. I've noticed sometimes you have forgotten to eat and from what Tori said you don't even eat after work. You need to feed your beautiful body. The world no longer wants skeletal models but if you carry on that way you will be skeletal and you will lose your job with my company which neither of us wants to happen. Look, I am going to give you the afternoon off, after you have eaten that candy bar. I want you to go home, rest and then I don't want to see you until Monday okay? Use the time to eat, rest and recuperate."

"I'm okay though, really."

"Hetty, I have worked with models for too many years to believe that. Go on, go home. I will see you on Monday."

There was nothing to it then. Henri went back to the changing area and took off the clothes from the photo shot and put her own clothes back on. Once she was dressed and her make-up was off Henri wandered back out into the main communal dressing room. Only a few models were there and they gave her a sympathetic smile. Henri sighed and collected her bag and other items before leaving. She supposed she could visit the gym now, since she had the afternoon off and everything.


Just as she walked into the gym she immediately came face to face with Lucas and their shared personal trainer Guy.

"Henri! I wasn't expecting to see you until later." Guy greeted.

"Yeah well I got off work early."

"That's great. Hey you fancy a fencing match? I'm going to run Lucas here through his paces but since I cancelled our training session on Tuesday perhaps you'd like to join in with Lucas that is if you don't mind Lucas?" Guy questioned. Lucas got a strange look on his face then.

"I don't mind, I think it's a good idea actually."

"I don't think so…" Henri hedged but Guy insisted adamantly and a few minutes later saw Lucas and Henri facing off on the fencing court. They were both dressed up in the white protective clothing made of tough cotton and nylon with Kevlar pieces over the top and helmets.

"En garde." Guy said and Henri took up the basic stance like she had been taught. The next command came and Henri tensed her muscles ready to either lunge or parry depending on whether Lucas left her an opening or whether he went on the offensive. "Pret."

Henri saw Lucas' body tense, she was almost sure she knew what was coming next.

"Allez!" Guy ordered and Lucas strike forwards in an advance-lunge, his sabre stabbing through the air. Henri parried and tried to flick in a hit at Lucas. He parried too and the fight was on.

The sound of clashing sabres filled the air and Henri started to overheat as the match went on. She and Lucas lunged, parried, attacked and counter attacked. As the match progressed she felt more and more anger at Lucas bubble up to the surface and she did her best to concentrate on the fight and not let it rule her. When Lucas attacked and nearly earned himself a point Henri felt the rage come to the surface. She put more force behind her attacks and defended fiercely with speed and more forceful parries.

She soon led a series of advanced lunges which had Lucas backing up too far. Guy called a point but Henri and Lucas kept slashing their sabres, starting a dance. They no longer remained linear with their fight, they darted from side to side, and using careful footwork they had learned from duelling. Lucas slipped left and Henri countered right, clashing her sabre against Lucas' lunge. They became a blur of motion, forwards, backwards, sideways, circling. A crowd gathered and their spectators cried out or booed with every near miss or strike. Guy had given up shouting stop and was now threatening to call security or the police.

"Don't interfere!" Henri had shouted at the same moment that Lucas had shouted it to the man. Out of the corner of her eye Henri saw Guy throw his hands up in the air in a hopeless gesture before having to concentrate fully on her footwork again to evade Lucas' advancing lunge.

The sabres clashed and clanged through the air, sliding metal sounding harsh and grating in Henri's ears. It set her teeth on edge. However her anger kept her hot and ready and the adrenaline and her heartbeat blocked out the cringe worthy noises.

She parried again as Lucas made for a strike. She lashed out in retaliation then had to back up as Lucas once again lunged. Something caught her foot, her backwards momentum from her defensive manoeuvre sent Henri sprawling backwards to the ground, the impact knocking her sabre from her hand.

"Ah!" She gasped and reached for it. Lucas flicked it away with his sabre then placed the tip of the sabre to Henri's collar bone. Beneath her mask Henri glared up at him.

"Pitiful footwork. Always be aware of your environment, it is the first rule of duelling!" Lucas instructed. Henri knew that, but duelling rules weren't the same as fencing rules.

"No, the first rule of duelling is to bow to your opponent." Henri said sarcastically.

"Show respect to your opponent but know them. Know your opponent but also know yourself. You let anger rule you."

"Oh and you didn't?" Henri snapped, glaring harder at the man who still held her at sabre point to the floor.

"No I did not. I have no reason to be angry at you." Lucas said calmly and pulled off his mask. A small gesture with his sabre had Henri copy him and remove her mask. She was better able to meet his eyes now and try to impress all her anger in her stare.

"Oh yes I forgot, you are an emotionless, poncy git!" Henri insulted and tried to brush at the sabre to remove it from her collarbone. Lucas flicked the sabre back again and Henri's glare intensified.

"The sabre only moves when you admit defeat to me. Yield!" Lucas ordered sharply. Henri felt her mood darken.

"Never!"

"You are outmatched and unarmed. Yield!" Lucas demanded again.

"NEVER!" Henri screamed. "I will never yield to you! I'd never give you the satisfaction!"

"And yet you gave Mrs Van Der Burgh the satisfaction of yielding to her." Lucas sneered, pressing down with the sabre.

"I never! I never yielded to that bitch!"

"You turned and walked away." Lucas accused. "You stopped fighting."

"There was nothing to fight for!" Henri protested voice nearly hysterical with rage, and something terribly like hurt. Lucas pressed the sabre a little harder on Henri's collarbone.

"There is always something to fight for." Lucas insisted. "You always find something to fight for."

"Maybe I was tired of fighting." Henri tried to reason but the turbulent emotions inside her made her voice wobble slightly and sound raspy. Lucas gave her another sneer.

"And yet you will not yield!"

That was it, Henri had had enough. Her emotions waged open war inside her body, she had been through enough stress recently and to top it all off she did not like being held at sword point…sabre point…whatever. Henri, in a very uncouth move, raised her leg and slammed it into the back of Lucas' right leg. The man lost his balance making his grip on his sabre slip. Henri shot her other leg up this time, catching the man's arm and dislodging the sabre completely. It clanged as it hit the floor then crashed as it bounced. Henri contracted her stomach muscles smoothly so she sat up and rolled onto her knees. She grabbed Lucas who was on one knee because of her previous attacks and threw him to the ground. Putting one knee on his chest, Henri held the front of his uniform, just below the collar and scowled down at the man.

"I never yield, especially not to arrogant, supercilious, emotionless cads like you and your stupid, egotistical friends!" Henri cursed, the words both a balm to her soul to release and at the same time a stoker for the fire burning inside of her.

"You already yielded."

"It wasn't my battle to fight! It was your battle and you lost even before you knew you were fighting! You were the one who yielded Lucas. You rolled over and bared your belly the moment they set their eyes on you. I hoped for more, but I should have expected you would fail."

"You are assuming I was ignorant." Lucas scowled and tried to force his body up and dislodge Henri's grip. She applied more pressure to his chest.

"If you weren't ignorant to it then you are an even bigger fool than I took you for!"

"I am no fool, Henrietta." That educating tone was back and Henri's face tightened into a fierce glower once again. Lucas continued speaking before she could make a sound however, and his next words broke some of her anger off. "My grief made me vulnerable."

"Your grief made you…well poor, poor you! My grief makes me stronger!" Henri countered trying her best to cling onto the anger that tried to dissipate at the look Lucas gave her.

"Grief makes people react in strange ways. You and I have held this conversation before."

"Yes so? Are you trying to claim that your grief clouded your judgement? What am I supposed to believe now then huh? That overnight you've had a change of heart?" Henri scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Like I would believe that! Never in a million years."

"Good because it is untrue." Lucas said his words were calm but serious. "It took me two days."

What? The tone had changed; there was no longer the erratic anger filled atmosphere between them. Lucas had changed the rules of the game and he had issued a statement in the new emotions which threw Henri completely.

"I beg your pardon?" Henri questioned. Lucas gave her a meaningful stare.

"My change of heart took me two days. On the Friday after you fled the ball I contemplated what could have set off so much anger in you that your anger affected the physical world. When I arrived home I confess to overhearing you speaking with your friend Tori on the telephone and crying. That set my mind spiralling with different ideas, concerns and dismissals. Saturday was when my theories were proven and my change of heart was completed. Now here I am, with you, and all the anger and bitterness."

"I…you…" Henri's anger dissipated then, leaving behind only confusion and the hurt she had so desperately ignored which had been the source of her anger. "You listened to me?"

"I did." Lucas agreed.

With a swift bit of movement, using Henri's shock and confusion as a means of distraction, Lucas surged up, twisted and threw Henri to the ground. The change in her position barely registered, Henri was still trying to get her head around what Lucas had just told her. He had listened in on her conversation with Tori when she had been in floods of tears? Then on the Saturday he found evidence? Lucas stared down at her no longer with a fierce stare but an imploring one instead. His blue eyes were so full of the warmth that had been present in his eyes all those months ago.

"Eavesdropping is inexcusably rude and never garners the full truth, however what I overheard was enough to bring me out of myself and consider the situation I was in and the situation I had placed you in. I am truly regretful that it took me so long to comprehend the truth, and that my languor caused you distress." Lucas said and the sincerity in his words was matched by the honesty shining in his blue eyes. Henri searched desperately for a sign of hidden agenda or lies but couldn't find any, it didn't mean it wasn't there but Henri could find only truth.

"So you know what they have been doing?"

"Yes I do."

"Then why didn't you stop them?" Henri asked imploringly.

"As I said, I only discovered their true scheme on the Saturday during which you turned away. I didn't have time to enact my counter attack upon them for their actions. I hoped I would have you on side before I confronted them." Lucas withdrew then and stood up straight. He held his hand down to Henri, palm up, offering more than just a helping hand to stand. "It would be an honour and a privilege to fight in your corner, deliver revenge and divulge the true meaning of worth to those who dared to harm you."

The offer lay there for a moment. Henri couldn't decide what to do. She wanted to show the Van Der Burgh's what for but she didn't want to hurt them. She kind of wanted to ignore the whole thing but then again that wasn't how Harry would have handled the situation. She wouldn't ignore an injustice. She would tell the truth, as she always did. She supposed if the Van Der Burgh's couldn't handle it then that was their problem, at least Henri was honest.

"I don't want to hurt them." Henri said quietly.

"It was not my intention to physically harm them. Their weapon of choice was words, it is only fitting that our retaliation is done with their chosen weapon only executed more sophisticatedly. We shall do this together, or with your permission I will deliver our revenge. Either way I require you by my side." Lucas still held his hand out to Henri, still had that patient sincerity and warmth. Henri considered. Oh how she wanted to just take his hand and agree. Anything to get some semblance of normal back in her life, anything to get rid of the loneliness and isolation she had felt overwhelmingly lately. But what if? That was the big question wasn't it, the problem with all good plans. What if?

"What if you change your mind again?" She asked and Lucas' lips tightened and he clenched his jaw. Henri thought it was all over then. The barely masked anger appearing on Lucas' face must be an indicator of his loss of patience with her uncooperative actions and questions. Instead he surprised her again.

"I am a greedy man Henrietta. I also have a record for decisions and actions of a morally dubious nature. I am aware of my faults and of my strengths. However, your character contradicts my own so much so that together we balance each other out. I should like to believe I have learned from my recent mistakes and knowing the root of the errors I can prevent more failure. However should I change my mind or should I be swayed again in a moment of weakness then I know that your goodness, sense of morals and your selflessness will correct me, with force if necessary."

Lucas was asking for forgiveness but also for help, in the only way an ex-Malfoy could ask for help. He was using logic and charisma to make her arrive at the same conclusion he had arrived at; he had set his mind on a goal but would potentially need help along the way to leap the hurdles.

Henri reached up her hand and slid it into Lucas'. "Okay." She said.

Lucas smiled. An honest to Merlin, real as the truth, and plain as the nose on your face! It was a smile. It light up his features brought a sparkle to his eye and made him radiate happiness. He gently pulled Henri to her feet then held her face in his hands, holding her face still and tilted up so she could see straight into his face. He looked hard at her eyes trying to impress extra meaning to his words.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Henri whispered. Lucas smiled again before straightening up and walking over to collect Henri's sabre from the floor. He lifted it then tossed it to her. Then he retrieved his own sabre and began replacing his mask.

"Guy!" He called to the personal trainer who jumped at suddenly being addressed. "We are ready to continue the session now."

"I do not think that is a good idea. I think it would be best if we cancelled for the rest of the day."

"Nonsense!" Lucas dismissed. "As inappropriate as the timing was, Henri and I had something of vital importance to discuss. We are now in a better state of mind to continue our exercise without being influenced by emotion. Come. Henrietta, engarde! Guy, count our scores."

Henri got into position and got readied for another sword fight. Hopefully the fencing this time would be more controlled. With the relief in her system she felt a lot more collected and mentally able to puzzle out a fight against the man before her.

"Allez!" Guy announced, reluctantly but nonetheless he allowed their fight.


Authors note 2: I understand the impatience many of you have felt over what has happened with the characters in my story. The normal Harry would have stood up to everything long before they reached this point. But that is the point isn't it, this is a fanfiction so it will not keep exactly to the original characterisation.

As a writer I do struggle with maintaining a pace. I loathe reading things that jump ahead so much that points where you would see character development are glossed over or mentioned in a sentence. I do, however, try very hard to put things in that might make you want to read on to the next chapter. It's hard to find a balance. I hope I improve and manage that better however until then I hope you put up with the slow moving development. On the plus side, at least you get to see everything happen.