A.N/ I'm back! Finally. If you have been wondering what took so long I had the most incredible writer's block that meant I could stare at the screen for hours and not type a single word. Also with the launch of Destiny: The Taken King that had sucked up most of my free time as I have three characters to run through the new content and I routinely get asked to help out with things. All in all this meant that I had little energy to write the rest of this chapter but hopefully now that I have finished this chapter the next one will come easier to me.
Chapter 9: The Second Task
It had been several weeks since Fleur had asked Harry to stay away from her and it hadn't got any easier for Harry to see his friend, but not be able to talk to her or even greet her in the halls when she passed. More and more students had approached Harry to apologise for what they had said or did to him stating that they didn't realise that he was under the control of Fleur's allure and that they were sorry that they thought he could act like he did, This attitude angered Harry as he got the impression from them that they believed that had Roger Davies or any other guy in Ravenclaw or any of the other houses shown an interest in Fleur and asked her to the ball, he would have simply stood aside and wished them luck.
There was also an increase in how much the other Hogwarts students were slandering Fleur and her heritage as she had in their minds harmed one of Hogwarts' own student even if he wasn't a particularly popular one, Fleur had still wronged him and they would stand by one of their own rather than an outsider. It was during one of the daily sessions over dinner that much of Ravenclaw house was slandering Fleur loud enough so that Harry could hear but not so loud that they would get in trouble for it. Harry supposed that they were doing this in a rather demented and misguided attempt to cheer him up from having his heart supposedly broken by the wicked Veela. However all it caused him to do was snap at people as his temper grew ever shorter as he tried to stop people from saying horrible things about Fleur, but any time he tried it was just treated as a side effect of prolonged exposure to Fleur's allure and he didn't mean what he said.
One of the victims of Harry's frayed temper was Neville who had simply asked Harry if he knew anything about the second task from Cedric or Aurelia.
"No Neville I don't and why ask me? Why not ask Cedric or Aurelia if you're such good friends with them. I'm sure they'll tell you all you need to know!" Harry snapped rather viciously at his Gryffindor friend. Neville looked rather taken aback by Harry's outburst that had come out of nowhere and was about to leave and rejoin the other Gryffindors when Harry spoke again.
"I'm sorry Neville, I didn't mean that. You haven't done anything wrong and I'm directing my anger at you and you don't deserve that at all. I'm just so sick of all these people asking me for details about the second task and harassing me about Fleur that it all got too much."
Neville had a sympathetic expression on his face as he responded to Harry's apology; "I understand Harry. Apology accepted. All these people asking questions that they don't have any right to know the answers to must drive you insane, but why don't you swear an oath in front of the school that Fleur has not been leading you on and what Skeeter said in her article was complete bullshit?"
Harry looked around him before he answered and both he and Neville could see that a number of people were eavesdropping both stealthily and blatantly so Harry shook his head and simply stated; "Not here, there are too many listeners. I'll talk to you after dinner." With that Harry went back to his food leaving a crowd of disgruntled Ravenclaws around him who had been hoping to find out the latest gossip from him.
Once he was finished with dinner Harry led Neville and the recently turned up Luna up to the seventh floor and into the Room of Requirement where he made sure that no-one else could enter and no-one could eavesdrop on their conversation, after which he sat down on one of the sofas the room had provided and began to speak.
"I'm not sure if I can make a magical oath because..." Here Harry trailed off and looked rather shamefaced at whatever he was currently thinking would prevent him from declaring an oath to clear up any problems.
"Because what Harry? What is holding you back from this?" Neville cut in seeing his friend's reluctance to finish his sentence.
"I'm...I'm afraid that if I was to make this oath and then I would find out through the oath that Fleur really had been using me this whole time and she didn't care about me at all it would just prove what Skeeter has written about to be true. Also if I was to word the oath even slightly in a way that might mean that I was certain that Fleur isn't deceiving me and she was the oath might take my magic as punishment."
Both Neville and Luna were rather wide eyed upon hearing this from Harry and Luna was faster to regain herself than Neville in order to ask a question; "How can you think that? Why do you think that Fleur could do something like that?"
"I know it seems insane and paranoid that I think Fleur might do something like that, but it isn't helped by the dreams I have been having about it." Harry said in a small voice that only could be heard by Neville and Luna if they leaned into towards Harry. Harry saw that they were motioning him to continue with his explanation and he sighed but he knew his friends needed to know and it might help to share his fears with them.
"In my dream it's the award ceremony for the Triwizard tournament and Fleur is champion. She's thanking everyone for their help and just as I'm thinking she's about to thank me for all the help I gave her she announces that it was Michael who helped her all along and that they were engaged. She says that her friendship with me was just a cover and that they had been dating long before Fleur came to Hogwarts. It all ends with the school laughing at me and my parents and even Sirius treating me like I'm not worthy of being part of their family. I know that it's just a dream, but a part of me won't let it go and a fear to find out that it will be what will happen."
Neville and Luna sat there for a while just taking in what Harry had said and trying to make sense of his fears and try and come up with some advice to give him, but they were unable to do so. In the end it was Luna who finally said something to Harry; "I don't think that you can know for sure if Fleur does care for you even if all the evidence points towards her feelings being real and not just a smokescreen. I also think that when the time comes you need to follow your heart and let go of logic and your fears, only by risking everything will you ever know for certain."
This was a rather deep answer from the usually dreamy voiced Luna which threw both Harry and Neville for a loop as they hadn't heard her say something like this since Harry had recounted the tale of how Cedric had broken up with Cho Chang to Neville and the strange quip that Luna had left Cedric with. However it had given Harry some pause for thought in what Luna could possibly mean by following his heart and it made Harry think that possibly Luna knew something that he didn't.
It had been a rough couple of weeks for one Fleur Delacour as without Harry around as a help with tournament preparation she was finding herself on her own most of the time. Sure enough Cedric and Aurelia still kept her company from time to time, but due to their increasingly serious relationship blossoming they were spending increasingly long times away from her to be together and Fleur simply couldn't find it anywhere in her to be jealous or resentful. Fleur knew that Aurelia had gone for almost as long as Fleur herself had without dating anyone as the type of attention that she garnered was from the sort of men that she wanted nothing to do with, so now that Aurelia was dating a true gentleman, Fleur was simply happy for her friend.
However this didn't detract from the feelings of loneliness and loss that Fleur was feeling at Harry's absence even if it had been at Fleur's own request that he stay away from her. Fleur wasn't stupid or deaf so she had known for some time what the other Hogwarts students had been saying about her behind her back and sometimes while she was in earshot. She longed to shut the masses up about how she was apparently the biggest, most cold hearted bitch to ever walk the ancient halls of Hogwarts, but she knew she couldn't as people would twist her actions around to her being the Veela that tried to subjugate the school or some other such nonsense that the students or the press might dream up. This also meant that Fleur was unable to speak to Harry as any conversation between the two would be seen as Fleur trying to regain control of her thrall and it would most likely be a rather unpleasant outcome. Fleur had convinced herself that the feelings of loss within her heart were simply due to the fact that she had lost a friend possibly permanently due to her being unwilling to stand up against the view of what seemed all of Britain, but in the back of her head was a voice that occasionally taunted her that she was simply deluding herself to her true feelings for Harry.
Without the support from Harry it had also become a lot harder for Fleur to find a way to stay under water for an hour for the second task, as the library in Hogwarts was vast and it was like looking for a knarl amongst hedgehogs with any information that would be helpful. The isolation from her new friends also meant that Fleur was unable to use the Black family Library like she had during the run up to the first task as again this would mean asking Harry to write to Sirius and if her request was leaked to the general population then it would just fuel the fire that said that she was simply using Harry.
Cedric had tried to help with the search for a solution to her breathing underwater problem by discreetly asking around including asking Neville and Luna for help and he had found out about the plant Gillyweed that might well help Fleur. It was a good idea in theory but alas it would not be a viable solution to Fleur's problem as Gillyweed did not react well with those of Veela blood or heritage, reports of other Veela using the plant had all ended with the unfortunate user drowning when they changed back prematurely or being stuck with gills permanently.
In the end it had been after many hours of fruitless searching through spell books that both Fleur and Cedric had found the bubble head charm that would allow them to breath underwater for as long as the bubble was undamaged. Cedric would also have to rely on the bubble head charm as Gillyweed was a rather rare plant and as such samples of it were expensive and had to be ordered which made it practically impossible for Cedric to get hold of unless he asked Professor Snape and Cedric felt he would rather declare his undying love for Michael Potter than ask Snape for help.
In the final few weeks before the second task all of the champions bar Michael Potter were starting to get nervous at what they would be retrieving from the Black lake and what they might encounter whilst in the rather foreboding lake. The last few weeks were also rather stressful for Harry as his brother was making it his daily duty to goad him about how Fleur didn't want anything to do with him anymore like it had said in Skeeter's article in the Daily Prophet and how he reckoned that Fleur had ditched him in search of a real man to please her. It had taken an inhuman level of effort for Harry to not snap and punch his brother in his smug face, but he had managed it as he knew his brother would win if he goaded him into violent action which in turn would prove just how much Harry had been hurt by Fleur's actions.
The evening before the day of the second task Harry had tried again to speak to Fleur in the Great hall during dinner just so he could wish her luck for the task that was in front f her the next day, but she averted her eyes and walked away. Feeling despondent that he couldn't even wish his friend luck Harry started to make his way up the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower, but before he had reached the top he heard his name being called.
"Mr Potter may I speak with you please."
Harry turned round to find Professor McGonagall at the foot of the stairs looking up at him so he turned round and made his way back down to her.
"Yes Professor. What did you need to speak to me about?"
"It is not something that should be discussed out in the open, so if you would come with me to my office."
"Certainly Professor."
With Harry's words of agreement Professor McGonagall started off towards her office with Harry following behind. During the trip he was wondering what he had done that could possibly merit a discussion away from prying eyes and open ears as to the best of his knowledge he hadn't broken any school rules recently. To further Harry's confusion as he stepped inside McGonagall's office after she had opened the door he saw Hermione Granger, Aurelia Beaulieu and Sophie Ridgewell already inside waiting.
Before Harry could voice his question he was cut off by Professor McGonagall; "Now I know you must be confused as to why I have asked you all here tonight, so I will be as blunt as possible to let you know what is happening. The four of you were selected as hostages for the four champions as you are something that they would sorely miss. As such you will be placed under a sleeping spell that shall not wear off until you surface again, whether or not you are rescued by your appropriate champion. This spell shall allow you to be placed underwater at no personal risk as you for all intents and purposes be in a form of petrification that is a side effect of this spell."
There was silence and four rather shocked expressions after Professor McGonagall had finished speaking and it seemed that no-one was going to speak until Harry finally managed to get his thoughts in order and breached the silence.
"Hold on a minute, you're phrasing it like we have no choice in this matter. And this tournament isn't exactly safe to begin with bearing in mind what lives in the lake so why should any of us agree to be placed under this spell?"
Harry's rather defiant expression was met only with a jovial tone coming from the door that was coming from the headmaster Albus Dumbledore; "Well Mr Potter it quite clearly states in the Tournament rulebook that any student that is not of age may be used in any task as long as permission is granted from that students parent or parents. In addition you may have your doubts about this task but I can assure you that you will be safe despite what the clue in the egg said, and if you insist of fighting this then we will simply have to obliviate this meeting from your mind and get Miss Delacour's younger sister here to act as her hostage."
"No!" Was all that Harry could say in response, he knew that Fleur would be weaker in the water than she was on land, but she was an adult and Fleur's sister was but a child and he didn't know what the cold water might do to a prepubescent Veela. However his unwillingness to let Fleur's sister be the hostage didn't detract from the fact that he was angry at his parents for signing off on this without even asking him first.
"Then I take it that you are willing to participate in this task as a hostage then Mr Potter?"
After receiving and affirmative nod from Harry and the others in the room, Dumbledore started to move his wand in an intricate pattern whilst chanting words in what Harry thought was Latin but he wasn't sure. Soon Harry began to feel sleepy and though he tried to fight it on instinct he soon succumbed to the spell and was asleep. The last thing he saw was the other students dropping down like puppets that had had their strings cut and a rather sinister looking smile on Dumbledore's face.
When Fleur awoke the following morning she could feel her stomach trying to force its way out of her by any means necessary, however she quelled the urge to vomit and showered and dressed before heading to the Great hall in Hogwarts to eat breakfast. Upon arriving at the Great hall she was met at the door by Cedric who looked worried and seemed to be keeping in his panic only just barely.
"Have you seen Aurelia this morning Fleur? I can't find her anywhere." Cedric said quickly as his voice betrayed the nerves that he was feeling.
"Non I thought zat she was with you?" Fleur replied in a confused tone. It wasn't like Aurelia to not be here to show support for her friends and boyfriend.
"No I haven't seen her since she was called away by Madam Maxime last night. Come to think of it Madam Maxime did look rather grave when she came to get Aurelia and I just realised that I haven't seen Harry this morning either."
The implications of this suddenly hit them and in unison they looked each other dead in the eyes and mouthed 'We've taken what you'll surely miss'. Like a speeding bludger the truth of the situation hit them as they realised with a dawning horror where their friends and in Cedric case girlfriend were. Forcing themselves back into the Great hall they made each other eat something despite the fact that both wanted to throw up from fear and nerves right at this very moment, but they knew that they would need their strength not only for the task ahead but also for saving those that were dear to them.
All too soon they were walking down to the dock at the edge of the lake before boarding a boat that would take them to the platforms that had been erected in the middle of the lake as the starting position of the champions. When they reached the platform they were ushered into changing rooms with Fleur in one, and Cedric and Viktor sharing with Michael Potter in the other one. Inside their named lockers were customised swimsuits that had their names on them along with school colours (Michael and Cedric's had house colours as well) for them to use during the task. Each of these swimsuits came with a wand holster that could be fitted to either their arm or their ankles depending on personal preference.
Whilst Fleur was changing into her slightly less modest than she would have liked swimsuit she was trying to keep the fears in her mind at bay. What if she couldn't save Harry? What if she lost him forever after this task was completed if she didn't save him? Fleur was pretty sure that they wouldn't allow that to happen but something about Albus Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman's rather unsettling enthusiasm at this task made her fear otherwise. That and the general way that most of Britain treated the brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, they treated him like he was a waste of space and that they wouldn't care at all if he was to die in some tournament task. These thoughts also set off a rather alien feeling inside of her that was more than just the hurt that she would feel over losing a friend, but she couldn't be sure what the feeling was, only that she was sure that she would not be losing Harry today.
Hearing Dumbledore speaking to the crowd Fleur knew that this was her cue to exit the changing room and assemble along with her fellow champions at the starting position.
"Last night something was taken from each of our champions, a treasure of sorts, now they must find this treasure within an hour or their chances of recovering this item becomes rather bleak."
Cedric, Fleur and Viktor all shared a look that spoke volumes at what they were all thinking that summed up as; "Shut up and let us get on with this." Which was combined with the other thought; "How can you take joy out of kidnapping people?"
As the four champions lined up on the platform Fleur saw that Michael Potter didn't look all that worried and this made her frown as a bubble head charm might well be far beyond the magic he had studied thus far at Hogwarts, but seeing her look Cedric filled her in.
"Cocky little git has got hold of Gilllyweed, must have used his families money to order some once he knew what the task was. Must be nice, to have everything handed to you on a silver platter instead of researching how to complete this task!" Cedric added rather bitterly as he frowned at Michael Potter who seemed to be basking in the attention that the four champions were currently receiving.
It was then that they heard a firecracker go off from the Headmaster and they all dived into the water whilst performing their own pieces of magic. Fleur and Cedric used the exact same enchantment and conjured bubble head charms around their nose and mouth respectively so as to have a steady supply of oxygen. Before he disappeared they saw that Viktor had transfigured himself into a part shark with just the head and gills, whilst leaving his arms and below his neck untransfigured. They also saw Michael Potter swimming away after he had ingested him Gillyweed and was now powering away from them with his webbed feet and gills.
Fleur and Cedric did try to stay together initially on the task, but the dark waters of the lake combined with the different speeds in which they swam meant that they were soon separated leaving Fleur alone as she tried to dive down deeper into the lake to find the Merpeople.
Fleur had been making good progress despite her dampened magical abilities when suddenly something grabbed hold of her leg and pulled her down. Looking down whilst pulling out her wand Fleur saw that the creature that had grabbed her was a Grindylow. This was bad as Grindylows were almost never alone and that there was likely many more hidden away amongst the underwater plant life of the lake. Despite this knowledge Fleur fired off a weak stunning spell that would simply knock the water demon out for a few hours before it came to. However despite the fact that the spell connected with its intended target, this seemed to ignite the wrath of the other Grindylows that had been hiding around her and they quickly swarmed her.
Fleur tried her best to fight them off with stunners and some weak blasting curses to try to scare them off but they just swarmed around her even more fiercely to the point that she couldn't get a clear shot on any other them as she might hit herself by accident. The situation took a turn for the worse when one of the horned water demons popped her bubble head charm as the bubble had weakened from Fleur being unable to focus on it while she was casting other spells. Panic soon set in as Fleur tried to recast the spell, but she kept being thrown off by the swarm of Grindylows that would keep knocking against her arm when she tried to make the proper motions to get the bubble head back. Soon Fleur couldn't hold her breath anymore and she started to swallow water, desperately he tried one last attempt at casting the spell before the world turned black as she passed out.
The next thing she was aware of was water being ejected from her lungs as she coughed and spluttered as she drew in breath. As Fleur came to she looked around and realised that she was back on the starting platform which meant that she had been rescued from drowning, but with a jolt she remembered that Harry was still in the lake somewhere waiting for her to rescue him. Fleur fought tooth and nail with the Hogwarts healer to be allowed to continue with the task, but the healer effused on the grounds that Fleur had almost drowned just minutes ago and that she had forfeited the task automatically after she had to be rescued. Fleur was devastated that she couldn't try to save Harry as the final words of the clue kept coming back to her as much as she tried to not think about it.
As time passed Fleur grew more and more worried about not only where the other champions were, but also on whether or not she had condemned Harry to death because she had failed. Fleur was nearby when Michael Potter surfaced with Hermione Granger in his arms and although the fourth champion did get some cheers for being first back, most of the crowd both supported Cedric or Viktor and were anxious to see where they were. Minutes before the deadline both champions surfaced, but with Viktor arriving eight minutes before the deadline versus the two minutes by Cedric, it meant that Viktor was in second place for the task with Cedric taking third. Fleur knew that she had placed fourth in the task, but she cared little for points right now as she knew that she had failed Harry and that there was a good chance that she would never see him again to tell him how she felt. It was only now after losing him that Fleur could admit to herself what she had been feeling for weeks now. The pain that she had felt at being separated from Harry as well as the heightened worried feelings of that morning at breakfast were due to Fleur's deepening feelings for Harry Potter. Fleur wasn't sure if she loved him yet, but she was sure that if she wasn't in love with him now, then she was close to being so and she hated herself for needing him to be taken away from her to finally admit that. Knowing all of this and that she would never get to see what might have been Fleur started to sob silently in her private room on the starting platform.
It was like this that Cedric and Aurelia found her and they were unable to get any information or explanation as to why she was crying apart from that "she had failed him". They both took this to mean Harry who Cedric had seen tied to one of the pillars in the village of the Merpeople when he had freed Aurelia, but he had not seen him since. They were unable to stop Fleur from crying so they simply stayed with her until they were both called away by Professors to attend to various duties as both needed to eat and drink plenty to regain what energy had been lost while they were in the lake. Fleur didn't stir when her friends left, instead she curled up into a fetal potion on the bed she had been sitting on. It looked like Fleur might well spend the rest of eternity on that bed, had Cedric not suddenly come back into the room with a bundle in his arms, that Fleur thought might be a person from her spot on the bed, and a smile on his face.
Cedric put the bundle down on the bed next to her and before Fleur could say anything he was walking out the door with the parting words; "Looks like someone found some lost treasure at the bottom of the lake and thought it was best returned to you!"
Fleur sat there stunned at Cedric's words and cheerfulness before she looked at the bundle that had been left on her bed and her breath caught in her throat when she realised the bundle was Harry. This sight caused all of Fleur's feelings to rush back at once and she resisted the urge to start crying again. The noise caused Harry to stir and he opened his eyes to see Fleur looking at him with red eyes that looked like she had been crying, but she had a look of unbridled affection in her eyes that Harry was confused by what had transpired since he had been put to sleep. Seeing that Harry was awake and that she hadn't lost him, Fleur threw caution to the wind on who could walk in at any second and as she pulled Harry upright she brought him in for a deep and emotional kiss. The kiss lasted for a good thirty seconds before Fleur pulled away leaving a rather dazed and even more confused Harry in front of her.
However before harry could make sense of the situation that had unfolded in front of him and ask his numerous burning questions, he was silenced by Fleur putting a finger to his lips.
"I'm sorry 'Arry. I 'ave been a complete fool in avoiding you for all zis time. I 'ope you can forgive me for not seeing it earlier, but I...I...I zink I am falling in love with you 'Arry Potter, I was so scared when I was unable to reach you I thought zat I 'ad lost you forever and zat I would never be able to tell you 'ow I felt."
Harry saw that Fleur was tearing up again at the thought that she had almost let all this go unsaid because of the vindictiveness of one reporter. However in Harry's opinion Skeeter could go swivel if she thought that Harry would be brow beaten into not dating Fleur.
"Shh Fleur it's ok, I forgive you. At least you've told me now and if you were afraid that I would hate you for the last few weeks I won't deny that you hurt me by your actions, but it's behind us and the feelings are definitely mutual."
Fleur's eyes were watery with tears again even though these were happy tears as she answered him; "Zank you 'Arry." She cut off anything more he was about to say by kissing him just as deeply as she had before which was not something he was going to complain about. After several more minutes of just enjoying the truth about their feelings being in the open to each other and their closeness, Harry and Fleur knew that they would have to leave this room eventually, but now they would face anything out there together. So with that thought in mind they entwined each other's hand in their own and walked out the door to meet the rest of the world head on.
As the two left the room they immediately picked up on how much noise the crowd had been making in their absence but both Harry and Fleur knew that they would need to face the rest of the schools eventually. However when they reached the edge of the platform again they were able to get a clear look of what was happening and it looked like all of the spectators were currently being shipped off back to the dock in small boats in groups of five at a time. The sudden reappearance of Fleur made several students stare at her as they had witnessed her being rescued from the lake and had heard that she had finished fourth as a result of her disqualification. Unfortunately for Harry and Fleur the students also saw how close Harry and Fleur were standing together and their entwined hands began a flurry of whispers so severe that you could mistake it for steam escaping or someone speaking Parseltongue.
Soon however one of the boats came back when Harry and Fleur were near the front of the crowd and they were able to climb aboard. Rather against their wishes to be left alone by everyone else, some of the Hogwarts students tried their best to get aboard the boat that Harry and Fleur had just commandeered but only the closest three who were all girls of similar age to Harry were able to get aboard.
The boat set off as soon as all five of its passengers were seated securely which allowed the Harry and Fleur to draw the other closer for warmth and comfort, but they refrained from doing anything else as they had an audience and they didn't feel like sparking off any more rumours after what had already happened that day. However the peace that they were craving was broken by one of the girls who had been eyeing Fleur suspiciously from the moment that she had boarded the boat.
"Hey Delacour, what did you do to ensnare Potter so that he would still want you after all you have done to him?" The girl stated rather rudely while she was glowering at Fleur like her mere presence was an insult.
Fleur felt her anger rise to almost eruption status and she was about to give the Hogwarts girl a piece of her mind when Harry cut in with an answer; "Nothing. She did nothing to ensnare me as you so rudely put it. What Skeeter said in her article was nothing but lies and slander!" Harry said rather forcefully whilst glaring at the girl that dared to challenge the couple on how they felt about one another.
"Like we're just supposed to believe that! For all we know you could be under her influence right now and she's making you say all this to defend her and hide her actions!" The girl retorted sharply and Harry noticed while he was icily glaring at her that she was a Gryffindor student possibly one year below him. However Harry knew what to do now when it came to people calling his fledgling relationship with Fleur into question so he pulled out his wand and smiled softly at Fleur before he spoke.
"You want proof that I am not under control? Fine then, I Harry James Potter do swear on my Life and Magic that Fleur Delacour has not ever tried to control me or manipulate me in any way nor have I tried to control or manipulate her in any way. So mote it be!" There was a flash of light as magic accepted the oath and the other occupants of the boat looked o in horror like they were sure that Harry was going to drop dead at any second. Seeing the looks on the Gryffindor student's faces Harry cast a simple lumos spell.
"There is that enough proof for you?" Harry asked the Gryffindor girls rather smugly that he had finally got one over on the rumour mongers of the school with something that couldn't have been faked that proved that what Rita Skeeter had said all year was false.
The trio of girls juts looked on in shocked silence over the epiphany that the object of many males within the castle's desire Fleur Delacour and the unknown brother of the Boy-Who-Lived harry Potter really did have feelings for each other that had nothing to do with either using spells or potions on the other. Upon reaching the dock and disembarking the boat Fleur pulled Harry off into the Beauxbatons carriage which caused a few raised eyebrows and some catcalling courtesy of the Weasley twins but Harry didn't really hear them as he was suddenly worried that what the girls on the boat had said had upset Fleur and she was trying to keep her calm facade up until she reached the sanctuary of her room.
In actual fact Harry was part right about Fleur keeping a calm demeanour until she had reached her room aboard the carriage, however it was not because she was upset like he had feared. Harry was brought up to date on how much Fleur was not upset when she pulled him into the room before she pinned him against the door and started giving him a kiss that would put a dementor to shame. For very obvious reasons Harry was not going to object to his girlfriend showing his affection in such a manner but he was forced to stop when oxygen was becoming an issue as well as Fleur's rather lithe body being pressed up against him was causing some rather embarrassing reactions from Harry which was slowly making him turn bright red.
Fleur seemed to pick up on the fact that Harry was soon going to pass out from lack of oxygen so she withdrew from kissing him whilst tugging slightly on his lip as she withdrew. Harry seemed rather dazed and had a goofy grin on his face but he was still capable of coherent thought and speech which surprised him slightly. "Not that I am complaining Fleur, but what have I done to deserve such treatment?" He said with mock fear in his voice.
Fleur smiled at him before she replied; "You surprised me 'Arry. You cast an oath against your life and magic zat I 'ad not been controlling you in any way or manipulating you either. You showed a level of trust zat I 'ave not seen outside of my family or Aurelia in many years and if anything I loved you a little bit more after you cast zat oath."
With her words finished Fleur pulled Harry back into a kiss to which Harry gave no resistance as all conversation was soon forgotten.
It was a rather relaxed and happy Harry and Fleur that entered the entrance hall of Hogwarts with their hands gently grasping the others as they made their way through the doors into the Great Hall. What greeted them was an almost solid wall of stares that originated from all four of the house tables that soon turned into a wall of whispers as they sat down at their usual spot at the Ravenclaw table. Both Harry and Fleur knew that the oath that Harry had sworn would now be common knowledge as they would have been extremely surprised if the three Gryffindor girls had not spread what they had witnessed as soon as they had gotten off the boat and had found people to gossip to.
Soon they were joined at the table by a grinning Cedric and Aurelia who when they had last seen Fleur she had been on the verge of a break down, but was clearly know very far away from that place of sadness that she had been earlier. "So Fleur you finally decided to admit the truth then?" Came the rather sly question from Cedric who was still grinning at Harry and Fleur.
"Oui Cedric I 'ave."
"About time too. I wasn't sure I could put up with another day of Mr Broody here!"
"Hey, I resent that!" Came the indignant response from Harry.
Cedric turned to face Harry before he replied; "Well it's true! I hate to break it to you Harry but you were one mopey git when Fleur wasn't speaking with you."
Fleur turned to look at Harry with concern in her eyes that such a simple action had caused him such pain and she immediately felt guilty for what pain she had caused him. Harry though saw the turmoil that was passing behind Fleur's eyes and he soon put a stop to it; "No Fleur, don't blame yourself. You were only doing what you thought was best and me moping around was not your fault, its mine for being pathetic."
Fleur's eyes watered slightly upon hearing Harry's words and she pulled him into a chaste kiss whilst ignoring the quiet cat calls coming from Cedric and the newly arrived Neville.
In various places around the hall saw different reactions to the knowledge that Harry and Fleur were in fact dating now and what Skeeter had been writing was nothing more than fabrications and lies. Over at the Gryffindor table there was a split amongst them as a lot of the anti Michael Potter part of the house were happy for Harry as he had been overlooked many times in favour of his brother whilst the faction that included his brother was jealous beyond all reason that, at least in Michael and Ron's minds, the completely unremarkable and far less appealing Harry Potter had done what no other male in Hogwarts had done and become the boyfriend of Fleur Delacour. The jealously that was present at the Gryffindor house was also present at certain places on the Ravenclaw table also as a group headed by Roger Davies looked on in jealousy and envy with the unspoken promises to themselves that they would make Harry Potter pay for defying them and that they would one day call Fleur Delacour girlfriend or wife.
Up at the Head table there was also a split in opinions as Professors Sprout, Flitwick and McGonagall were rather happy to see that one of their favourite students had indeed found some happiness despite most of the school having changes their minds about him on a weekly basis. However further down the table a certain Headmaster sat in deep thought about this new predicament of one of his back up Boy-Who-Lived candidates was dating a part Veela which Dumbledore saw as an obstacle if Harry was needed to fight Voldemort as he would want to protect Miss Delacour which would be counterproductive to his plans. Dumbledore knew that he might well need a replacement for Michael Potter soon as the boy was only just performing well enough to get through the tournament through sheer dumb luck and his family's money. The headmaster was also certain that at some point during the final task the servant of Voldemort would make his play and Dumbledore needed to keep a close eye of the fake Alastor Moody so that he could catch him and receive the credit for catching whoever was impersonating the old Auror. Finally at the head table was an opinion that would have shocked many students into thinking that they had been drugged if they knew that these thoughts were coming from one Severus Snape. He was also happy for Harry Potter as he didn't have anything against the boy himself and if it just so happened to cause Michael Potter's ridiculously over inflated ego to deflate even a little then it was a force for good in his book. Snape knew he give up almost anything to see the look on James Potter's face if his self thought Casanova son came home to tell his father that there had been a beautiful woman at school the entire year who had also been a fellow Triwizard champion who had not only gone out of her way to avoid him but had begun dating his brother. Severus allowed himself to chuckle mentally at what this would look like and made the mental note to use this for any further patronus memories as it gave him such a warm feeling.
For the next few days at Hogwarts all any of the students seemed to be talking about was the relationship between the beautiful Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour and the still relatively unknown brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. The fact that Harry had sworn an oath upon his life and magic that neither he nor Fleur had bewitched or potioned the other in any way just added more fuel to the fire as Rita Skeeter's article on them just after the Yule Ball was still somewhat fresh in people's minds and they were looking for any loop hole in the oath that would allow for an outside influence.
Both Harry and Fleur found this extremely irritating as they were constantly being harassed while they were inside the castle by students who wanted answers from them and thought that by just confronting them in public they would immediately tell them as to what nefarious plans they had been up to. This in itself seriously cut down on the amount of time Harry and Fleur could spend together to help build their relationship on top of the time that they couldn't be together as Harry was still in lessons whilst Fleur was preparing for the Final task.
However something to distract Harry from how annoying the majority of the school was being was the news from Neville from inside Gryffindor tower that once again a certain female red head was rather angry at Michael Potter. From what Neville had heard of the arguments was that Ginny Weasley was still extremely angry that Hermione Granger had gone with Michael Potter to the Yule ball when it should have been Ginny who did so. At least in her mind that was what should have happened. Add on to that fact that Hermione had been someone that Michael would sorely miss and as such had been Michael's hostage during the second task made Ginny, in her rather deluded mind, think that Hermione was encroaching on what was her territory and that as her friend she shouldn't betray her like that.
The response from Hermione Granger had been initially one of placating Ginny's feelings whilst both Ron and Michael were around but Neville swore that as soon as the two boys had left Hermione was threatening Ginny under her breath that she was poised to become Michael's girlfriend and potentially the future Lady Potter and no silly little girl was going to take such a thing from her. According to Neville the expression on Ginny Weasley's face was a mixture of shock and dark anger at a girl who used to be one of her best friends and after Hermione left, with a rather smug expression on her face truth be told, Ginny was muttering all kinds dark and violent thoughts about what she was going to do to Hermione in order to reclaim the Boy-Who-Lived.
It was several days later that Harry was once again accosted by the infamous Weasley twins while he was heading back to the Ravenclaw tower one evening. Instead of speaking to him they simply knelt down in front of him and started to bow comically whilst chanting; We are not worthy! We are not worthy! Which caused Harry to chuckle at the duo's actions before one of the twins began to speak to him.
"Oh great and powerful Lord Potter we humbly request you train us in your arts so that we might also attract beautiful witches to us."
Harry grinned evilly at them before he responded; "I'm afraid I must decline my loyal subjects. You are not yet ready for what I would have to teach you, but in time you may prove yourselves!"
The twins adopted mirror image looks of mock adoration as they spoke in unison; "We will become better Dark Lord Potter. We will make you proud my Lord!"
With that the twins leapt up and with one more bow they hurried off and Harry felt slightly worried for whoever crossed their path now would either be serenaded if they were female or pranked if they were male, or perhaps they would do both of neither. Either way Harry only lasted until the twins had fully disappeared before he cracked up laughing at the absurdity of the last few minutes.
