Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Sorry about the delay, moves are hard work. Adding another country into it that is literally on the opposite side of the world complicates matters. I will be honest though and say the delay was caused largely by how difficult I found it to write action. The funny thing is I love action heavy writers and stay away from romance novels. Turns out I am best at what I do not read myself, ironic. I hope you all enjoy it, it is the first time I actually went back and rewrote parts. I do officially have someone going over chapters and formatting them, I will be uploading the improved versions as soon as I have time.
As Harry walked up to the Delacours Gabrielle got away from him and grabbed her father by his hand. Appoline stepped forward and drew Harry into a hug, it was comforting in an indescribable way. Harry suspected it was what it felt like to have a mother, he hugged her back taking in the moment that ended too soon "We are glad you all did well 'arry. We only have a little before we must leave, but we simply could not pass up a chance to see our son in action." Harry smiled shyly and instead of acknowledging what she had said motioned behind him to Hermione who had just made her way over to them.
"Alaine, Appoline this is my best friend Hermione. She has agreed to be my best man this summer." Harry smirked as he watched Hermione's reaction to his continued use of best man "Only you Harry..." she muttered then stuck out her hand to Appoline "Hermione Granger, very pleased to meet you. I have read a great deal about your magical government would it be wrong to presume you are the Delacours?" Appoline bypassed her hand and gave Hermione a brief hug "Oui dear, the only Delacour we are aware of. That is simply our occupation, do not fret over it."
Hermione nodded, Harry thought she looked a little serious, he wondered what his new in-laws did for a living but decided they would tell him or he would ask Fleur later. Alain looked them over and pulled Gabrielle into a side hug "We are very proud of both of you, and grateful you rescued Gabrielle here so successfully. We are coming for the final challenge and have managed to convince both of your schools to let us take you home the next day. I am sure you will enjoy France Harry." Harry smiled and nodded, Fleur gave her parents a hug and her little sister a kiss on the cheek and then they were walking away.
"They always seem so busy," Harry thought out loud. Fleur simply nodded but Hermione shook her head "Well they would be Harry, the Delacours have been an important part of French government since the fall of their monarchy." Harry looked at Fleur in surprise, she simply shrugged "My family was nobles when zat meant anything, my ancestor managed to keep everything together when it was all going bad. Zey do what zey can now." Hermione looked like there was more to it but Fleur seemed done so Harry took their hands and walked off to the carriage, unnoticed was a small water beetle too far off to have heard anything.
'OvO'
The next morning Harry and Fleur were later than usual to breakfast, they walked into the entire Great Hall staring at them. They chose to keep their heads down and head for their usual spots where Hermione and the girls from Quidditch were waiting, as they sat down one of them slid Witch Weekly in front of Fleur "Told you Rita fights dirty." Fleur and Harry looked at the front of the magazine that had large bright letters that read "Boy-who-lived in a scandalous threesome! See pg. 17." Fleur looked at Harry with an offended look on her face "We are in a zreesome and you did not tell me 'arry?"
Harry looked momentarily startled until Fleur started laughing "'Arry, calm down. We spend almost all of our free time together." She looked at the cover again then back up to Angelina "So who is our illicit lover?" Hermione blushed and raised her hand half heartedly, Fleur grinned at her "Why 'arry, if you wanted to invite 'ermione…" Harry quickly covered her mouth with his hand sparing Hermione from whatever the end of that sentence was. Hermione blushed anyway and the girls laughed, Harry may have stopped Fleur from talking but her bright merry eyes were speaking volumes.
He slowly lowered his hand, she kissed his palm quickly and winked at him. Harry shook his head and ate breakfast then hurried off to classes. He should have expected Snape and Malfoy to be their usual selves, potions was a small slice of hell. He felt worse for Hermione who spent the entire time bright red and with her head down. When they sat down for dinner Fleur was waiting for them looking a little sympathetic "You know, in France, it is not unheard of for a man's mistress and wife to get along quite well." Harry and Hermione glared at her which only made her laugh.
'OvO'
The next morning at breakfast both Hermione and Fleur had dozens of letters dropped off by owls. Hermione opened one up before Fleur managed to slap it out of her hands quickly, it squelched spaying out a greenish yellow substance "Back away from ze table 'ermione. Are you expecting any letters?" Hermione shook her head, Fleur simply gave a short nod and waved her wand making the various letters glow and reattach to the owl that brought them. The owls flew back out of the Great Hall in one big parliament "We will see 'o is laughing…" Fleur grumbled.
Harry rubbed her arm "What did you do?" Fleur sat down and served them both thinking for a minute "Zey were more zen likely mean letters, ze one 'ermione opened was certainly trapped. I sent zem back to sender, vigorously." Harry chuckled but Hermione looked slightly startled "What if one was actually for us from someone who meant no harm?" Fleur smiled "Zen zere is worse zings zen being hit with a letter in ze face. Unpleasant oui, but not awful."
Fleur looked thoughtful for a second "But if zey trapped it in any way… I imagine eating zere words will not be fun." Hermione and Harry shook their heads slowly, Harry started to chuckle "Our family motto should be 'Never mess with Fleur' I imagine in Latin it would be very pretty." Hermione just smirked "Flos numquam ad pulmentum. It is a poor translation and makes little sense in the first place Harry."
'OvO'
Harry and the other champions had been walked out to the Quidditch pitch a month before the final task, they had expected some sort of challenge involving deadly creatures and spells. In Hermione's research, she had turned up the fact that mazes were used in almost every single tournament since its founding. It was a pretty hard to miss hint, so the fact that they were looking over a half grown hedge maze had no exactly surprised the champions. They had spent the months between the second task and the last training daily.
As Harry stood by the others at the entrance to the maze with the others he looked around nervously, Appoline and Alain waved at him from the crowd Gabrielle rode her father's shoulders and waved in his direction vigorously. Harry reached out and grabbed Fleur's hand, he felt her fingers lace in with his and squeeze gently. He drew comfort from her presence, there was something about her that had always given him a peace. He caught her eyes for a brief moment seeing the trepidation hidden in their depths.
Harry shook his head hard scattering his thoughts, he could not afford to lose concentration. The first whistle blew, Indicating Harry and Fleur should have entered together having tied for first. They simply looked at each other exchanged hugs and took the time to kiss passionately, a twinned wolf whistle could barely be heard from the stands. They split apart and chuckled, the whistle blew again and Krum stepped forward and shook their hands. A third whistle sounded and Cedric stepped forward "What no kiss for me?"
Harry and Fleur laughed as Viktor stepped forward to embrace Cedric who received a brief buss on each cheek. Cedric grinned "Not quite the person I had in mind Viktor." Harry just shook his head and muttered: "You are pretty Ced but you can count me out." A fourth blast of the whistle sounded as if to tell them to get on with it. As one they faced the entrance and pulled their wands. Viktor and Harry stepped forward and led the group in, with Fleur proving shields and Cedric Transfiguring physical obstacles the maze proved to be not much of a challenge.
Blast-ended skrewts, giant spiders, and a minotaur were easily dispatched. They had agreed before even heading in that lethal force was their only option if they wanted to come out alive. Fleur had been called to the front a few times for her curse breaking skills, the rest had been taking lessons from her but only Harry with his Arithmancy background was making much headway. They found themselves staring at the cup itself, unsure what to do now that they had reached this point alive. They had never discussed how it would end Harry stepped forward and motioned at it with a hand "We came in together, we take it together?"
Cedric shook his head "You and Fleur warned us about the first task and still came out first, you two should take it." Fleur stepped forward and took Harry's hand "Non, we do this together or not at all, at the same time?" Without further argument, the four champions stood forward and at the same time grasped the trophy. Harry felt a tug behind his navel as they were all whisked away, he hit the ground hard three more thumps followed quickly.
Harry looked around having recovered first, he was in a graveyard, headstones headed off into the night they were old. "Our guest has arrived Peter, do make him comfortable," A cold high voice said from the other side of a small rise. Harry stood and almost immediately regretted it, Peter Pettigrew was heading towards him wand out. He looked at Fleur and the others on the ground "Stay down, they only know I am here. Go get help."
Without hesitation Harry strode forward and started slinging spells at Peter, they danced and weaved in the night for the space of a few seconds light of differing colors flashing around. "Enough," Harry heard that same voice say "Crucio!" His world filled with pain, he found himself on the ground twitching "Stun him and bring him to me wormtail." He could hear Peter stepping carefully through the headstones, suddenly Fleur was standing over him wand raised "You shall have to go zrough me if you want 'arry." A high pitched laughter that made Harry's skin crawl filled the graveyard.
"Ah the girl, what a surprise. I am happy to inform you we can accommodate you this night. Avada Kedavra!" Harry saw the green flash heading for Fleur, he forced his body to act jumping up and wrapping his arms around her. For a brief instant, he saw the shock in her eyes as Emerald met Sapphire and then he saw no more.
'OvO'
Harry opened his eyes, he was standing in front of large gates set into an old stone wall. A small figure was chained to the gates, thin golden links coming from the left side of her chest. The chains held the gates closed and her in place, her hair was red and her eyes green like his. They glowed with an almost feral determination, through gritted teeth she snarled "Go back, tell that monster he will never have you." Her head drooped to her chest which heaved, a thin pair of arms wrapped themselves around her from behind the gates and lovingly stroked her hair.
Harry looked over her shoulder and into the eyes of his father "Dad…? What…" His father stood a little straighter "You have no time for this Harry, your mother gave everything she had so you could live. Your wife needs you more than we do, must run in the family to marry strong women." A bitter chuckle burst from his lips "Strong people can break Harry. Go." Harry turned and ran into the inky blackness, and back into the pain.
He could hear Fleur's cries up ahead but every step was agony. He gritted his teeth and started shouting her name. It seemed like an eternity that he pushed into the darkness, his throat felt raw. The pain was unbearable, suddenly with a feeling of sinking dread it all came back, it was chaos.
'OvO'
Fleur watched the green jet of light fly at her that was to be her death, like a deer in headlights she could not move a muscle. Time slowed and she could swear to feeling each beat of her heart, suddenly she was looking into her Harry's eyes. The emerald green seemed to spread from them and encompass his form, it was not until he went limp in her arms that she registered what had happened. A snarl bubbled up from her chest and she saw red, her wand fell from her hands forgotten landing on Harry.
Cedric and Krum were torn from their indecision when they heard the cry of a wildcat, they ran up the small hillock wands held high. Fleur stood over the crumpled form of Harry, her hair was wild and her hands were moving almost too quickly to follow spitting fire at an alarming rate. A small pudgy man was dodging and weaving sending a spell or two back at her. Cedric levitated a broken headstone into the path of a green jet of light. "We got to cover her Viktor," He received a nod in return.
Fleur hit the little man with one of her fireballs sending him sprawling minus a leg onto the ground next to a bundle. Cedric hardly believed his eyes when a small scaled hand reached out of the bundle and touched something on the man's forearm. Raw pained cries now filled the air from two throats, Fleur and the man's cries of sorrow, despair and pain were counterpoints in a chorus that would haunt Cedric for years to come. Figures started filling the graveyard wearing death eater regalia Cedric had only seen in old news articles.
"Kill them all my faithful!" A high pitched voice shouted from somewhere Cedric could not locate as it bounced off the headstones. Spellfire came from every direction, it was everything he could do to protect the three of them. Viktor had fallen into Fleurs role from the third task, Merlin it seemed like that was a million years ago. Fleur was lighting people up like candles, Cedric watched as she ended the lives of a half dozen masked men.
"Fleur!" tore from Harry's raw throat as he opened his eyes he saw her face, it was terrible and beautiful her pupils had taken over, her eyes were solid black without an ounce of warmth. She had a distant look on her face, her robes had been ripped and torn by spellfire. Harry heard Cedric summon a shield that blocked a spell that was heading at Fleur from her blind spot, from the corner of his eye he saw Viktor sending nasty looking curses back at their attackers but mostly utilizing defensive spells. Cedric grunted as a cutting spell took him in the side, there was a cheer from the death eaters and increased spellfire.
Harry rolled over to Cedric "Merlin, Harry? I thought you were dead." Harry grimaced at him and aimed his wand at his side "Vulnera Sanentur." The wound closed leaving an angry red welt surrounded by blood "Apparently I am not that easy to kill, can you and Viktor cover me and Fleur for a moment?" Cedric looked unsure but nodded standing again. Harry forced himself to stand holding his wand in one hand and Fleurs in the other he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck just below her ear "I am back Fleur, we need you. I Need you."
He felt her relax into his arms and grip his forearms for a second, the broken voice of a little girl tore at his soul "'arry? Am I dead too?" He gently spun her around and looked into her eyes after a second of searching her sapphire eyes filled with tears "'Arry, I saw you die." Harry gently stroked her cheek and pushed her wand back into her hand "Later Fleur, now we have to fight." She nodded tears now streaming down her face, they turned together. The four champions went to war.
'OvO'
Voldemort could hardly believe his eyes, his triumphant return had been spoiled by a half breed and two school children. He had at first been pleased to see so many of his disciples return to his side, and with such alacrity. Even that was cold consolation now, at least ten of his former followers were smoldering on the ground. The foreign boy had proven to be skilled with cutting curses and had removed the limbs of many others. He had propped himself up enough to watch the battle, suddenly the harpy flagged in her infernal assault a pair of thin arms wrapping around her.
Voldemort smirked in triumph when she turned and weakly embraced a combatant, two fighters taken out of the fight. How weak, a battlefield was no place for weakness. "Macnair, Goyle, Crabbe put them down," He yelled as loud as his homunculus form could manage. His chosen strode forward, their masks flashing, as the girl and the boy who held her turned with their wands up. "Potter! I killed you," he said "Nagini, hunt him," He hissed. Voldemort could hardly believe his eyes. Within seconds Crabbe and Goyle, never the brightest minions he reflected had lost both arms from cutting spells shot from the two young men guarding Potter and his girl. Macnair turned to goad his comrades on when the Potter brat blew his head clean off with a blasting hex.
He had lost more than half his forces in this ill-fated plan. He had never needed the boy's blood, anyone who counted themselves his enemy would have worked. "Lucious! We are leaving!" The pale face of his lieutenant caught sight of his bundled form on the ground grabbed him up barking an order and apparated away from the ambush that had become a killing field.
'OvO'
The champions stood in the sudden silence gasping for breath, Fleur and Harry held onto each other as if worried the other may disappear in a cloud of smoke. Cedric coughed up a small amount of blood "Alive, and whole… I Think." Krum was hunched over his knees taking deep breaths but held up a hand in the okay sign. Cedric looked at Harry and Fleur "You two okay?" Fleur took a deep breath and squeezed Harry's hand firmly in her own "Oui, lost my 'ead for a minute zere. I apologize."
Cedric gave Harry a quizzical look then shook his head, he looked around the field then threw up. He had never seen so much carnage, he saw a form still moving and walked over to see a rat faced man whimpering on the ground. His leg had been burned off cauterizing the wound "Harry, we have a live one!" Harry carefully picked his way through the battlefield with Fleur trailing him. Just as he had almost made it over to Cedric a gigantic snake sprang out of the night at him. With Fleur and Cedric on either side he couldn't do anything but watch as it sailed towards him, he heard a hunting cry that seemed oddly familiar.
Hedwig swooped out from the night and clasped the snake behind the head with her talons and pulled the huge creature up short. Her wings straining to keep the front of its body held airborne "Sectumsempra!" Viktor cried, the spell shooting out and separating the snakes head from its body. A black shade poured from the creature like smoke and wailed its displeasure into the night before fading away. Hedwig dropped the head on the body and landed on Harry's shoulder headbutting him gently on the cheek. Harry reached up and stroked her wing in a daze "What the bloody hell…" Harry whispered looking at each of the Champions in turn.
Harry kicked the snake on the ground shifting it slightly, then stepped over it carefully. He turned and lifted Fleur over, she was unusually light he wondered if it had to do with her avian ancestry. She smirked at him as he set her down then as a pair they turned and looked at the man on the ground "Hello Peter." Fleur shot a stunner at his chest just to make sure he was out, they watched as his body arced slightly as if shocked "We should take 'im back with us 'arry. Sirius will be 'appy to see such an old friend." Harry chuckled darkly "Good idea Fleur, where are we? How do we get back to Hogwarts?"
Viktor called out from behind them "Cup still portkey." The others turned to see him poking the cup on the ground with his wand "We should gather around Peter here and make sure we are all touching, we can summon it over." Harry's idea seemed to meet with general acquiescence, everyone gathered around him and put their hands on his forearm. He grabbed Peter with one arm and aimed his wand at the cup "Accio Cup," as it flew towards him he put his wand in his mouth and snatched it out of the air. The world disappeared in a swirl of color and sound.
'OvO'
The crowd had started to get restless, the cup and the Champions had been gone for almost fifteen minutes. Dumbledore could be seen waving his wand around the stage where the winner had been to appear. Barty Crouch smirked at the display and hid behind part of the hedge maze, he carefully removed the spinning eye and the wooden leg. His body shifted uncomfortably back to his original form. He disillusioned himself and made his way to the gates his master was waiting to reward him greatly. Once out of the gates he turned on the spot and was gone with a pop, the sound lost in the uproar of the crowd.
With a flash of light and a roar of sound, the Champions stood on a stage, the noise of the crowd dropped off as they looked at the bloodied and disheveled state of the young Champions. Blood slowly dripped down Viktors arm onto the stage, the slow tip tap made Harry look at Viktors arm the smallest finger on his left hand was gone, the ring finger had a deep laceration. The stoic Bulgarian must have been actively hiding the wound. Harry shook his head as if dazed, then the world sprung into action as if it had been frozen for a few beats of his heart.
Madame Pomfrey had appeared as if by teleportation waving her wand over Cedric and Viktor, Harry felt Fleur's hand pulled out of his and looked around to see Gabrielle in her arms with her parents running up closely followed by Hermione. He looked around slightly stunned he had almost taken a step away from Fleur when he felt the arms of a mother pull him into a tight embrace "We were so worried, are you whole?" Appoline was looking him over closely as Alain was doing the same to Fleur. Alain summoned a cloak and swept it around Fleurs shoulders, her lingerie had been peeking through holes in her robes. "'Arry? Are you 'urt?" Appolines quiet words pierced his reverie.
"I am fine Appoline, we both are… I think." She held him out at arms length then pulled him in for a comforting hug, Harry realized in that moment that she too smelled like fresh rainfall, but where Fleur smelled of spring flowers her mother had a rosier scent. It was comforting and warm, he hugged her back and cried the image of the red haired woman chained to a gate filling his mind. "Harry, I apologize for interrupting. But I am afraid we must know what happened this night." Harry looked up from Appoline and into Dumbledore's eyes, Alain squeezed his shoulder from behind "Harry, the measure of a man is not what he does when asked. But what he does when no one would dare."
Harry was not entirely sure what Alain meant, but something about the words resonated inside of him. He gave Appoline a last squeeze and straightened his back and looked Dumbledore in the eye as an equal "We were portkeyed into a graveyard." Fleur stepped forward and laced her fingers into his "It was an ambush," Harry simply nodded and continued "Peter Pettigrew and Voldemort laid in wait. I confronted them and was briefly tortured, Fleur tried to stop them." Fleur snorted "No tried 'arry. I did stop zem." Harry squeezed her hand and gave her a loving look "Fleur stopped them, Voldemort cast the killing curse at her and I attempted to leap into its path."
The Delacour's gasped as Fleur once more interrupted Harry's version of events "Non, you jumped in front of it and it killed you. I watched the light and love leave your eyes, I watched you crumple to ze ground." Dumbledore looked older, worried "You are quite sure Harry was struck?" Fleur gave Dumbledore an irritated look and nodded "Certain." Harry managed to finish the rest of his story without interruption, he noticed a growing look of pride and respect in the eyes of Alain Delacour as he looked at his daughter. Harry had left out what he saw while he was dead during his telling he was not sure why but it felt personal.
Dumbledore nodded "Thank you, both of you for reliving it for me. I know that is a most difficult thing to do. It appears the wizarding world has much to thank you all for, Tom has lost much of his support base and the element of surprise." Minister Fudge appeared out of the chaos of the crowd carrying a large bag "Dumbledore, I have been looking everywhere for you," Dumbledore looked down at himself then up at Fudge "I shall endeavor to make myself easier to spot in a crowd Minister. What can I do for you?" Fudge looked irritated "You can tell me who won, and why an international competitor has lost parts of his body and possibly his mind. Thank Merlin the Bulgarian Headmaster has yet to find me, how do I explain that his student is missing body parts and raving about dead dark wizards?"
Harry looked around and noticed that Cedric and Viktor were no longer on the stage or behind them then back to the Minister of magic when Dumbledore started to speak "Harry, Fleur, I suspect I know the answer but who was the first to touch the cup?" In unison, Harry and Fleur spoke: "All of us touched it at the same time, Voldemort…" Harry and Fleur looked at each other and smirked, Fudge did not seem to find it nearly so funny "Don't you start on about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! We can't have four winners!" Dumbledore looked into Fudge's eyes for a few moments then shook his head "Voldemort has returned Minister, we must prepare for the war to come. And as for the winners, a tie is not unheard of, simply extending it to four rather than two should be of little consequence."
Fudge swelled up his face going brick red "You want my job Dumbledore? I can see you trying to grasp for glory again, you can not summon another Grindelwald to defeat and waltz into my office! I will have you up on charges of causing a public panic!" He tossed the bag at Harry, knocking the wind slightly out of him as he righted it with his fast reflexes and clutched it to himself "You can figure out what to do with that. I will not stand here and have my intelligence insulted by a scheming old man and his patsies." Fudge stomped off into the crowd leaving the small group behind him in stunned silence. "He may be the death of us all, the order must be reformed," Dumbledore's statement seemed to be more for himself than anyone else.
Alain stepped forward "Headmaster, we are going to take our family and go now. I believe we all need time to recover." Dumbledore simply nodded cast "Mobilicorpus" on Peter and walked towards the school, the crowd breaking around him unconsciously giving way to the once great man.