Took longer than usual…buuut we continue! Book 4 was finished last chapter. Book 5 begins here. Thanks a lot for the responses for the last chap :) You guys rock! More of my rants later.
Normal disclaimer…-insert here-
Enjoy!
CHAPTER 14
Hot.
That was the only word that kept repeating again and again in his mind as Harry walked wearily down the streets of Privet Drive. His shirt clung to his body in a way that made him want to run to the nearest source of water and jump into it.
"My ice cream is melting!" A high pitched and distressed, yet strangely pleasant voice whined next to him and he grinned down at Leah who was pouting adorably with the beginnings of unshed tears in her eyes and looking at her ice cream cone with such sadness that made Harry want to do whatever was humanly possible to replace her expression with her cute smile.
Stopping and crouching down so that he could gaze into her light brown eyes he waited until she looked up at him. She finally tore her eyes away from the ice cream cone and locked eyes with him.
"So I'll get you another one." He murmured softly, grinning when her face lit up in a way that made his heart ache as he remembered someone else whose face lit up exactly like that.
"Promise?" She asked, her eyes huge and holding out her pinky with her free hand. Harry laughed and wrapped his own finger around hers.
"Yep." She smiled brightly at him and proceeded to eat her cone happily and clinging onto his hand, pulling him in the direction of the park.
"You are spoiling her you know…" Another voice said gently from behind and he turned to see one of his new found friends watching them with a smile on her lips, her pale green eyes twinkling.
"I can't help it. And you can't blame me! She does this to you too!" He shot back at the attractive brunette who laughed before walking up quickly to get into step with them.
"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Another voice shouted and a male ran up to them, panting slightly. "You two are so mean! Ditching me in that shop like that…anyone would think I was some kind of third wheel. You promised we were going to hang out all day long Linda!" He whined, fixing the brunette with a glare.
"Well…I didn't want to see my boyfriend drooling over all those...cartoon stuff you watch. And neither does Harry…right?" Harry nodded vigorously; it was truly an embarrassing sight watching his friend make a complete fool of himself. The drooling part…let's just say he has his moments when he goes into transports of delight and enters a world of his own. "And besides…" She continued, "Leah just happened to come by." Leah grinned and swung Harry's hand back and forth happily.
"Yeah yeah…you I can understand not liking them. But you! You are abnormal!" He said dramatically, pointing his finger accusingly at Harry who smirked. He was sure that whatever Linda had said after she mentioned that he didn't like the 'cartoon stuff' was lost in his disbelief of how any normal boy around his age wouldn't like it.
"Maybe I am."
"You definitely are!" Harry just smiled and shrugged. Matt was always like this. He wrapped his arm around Linda's waist as they continued to walk and Harry quickly turned away. The sight still managed to give him an ache in his chest and make him feel incredibly lonely as his thoughts kept drifting to a certain silver haired witch.
Matt, Linda and Leah were all new to the neighborhood. Matt and Linda were both 16 years old and had recently moved to Privet Drive. Leah was Linda's sister and they lived in the newly redecorated no. 2 house down the lane. Matt lived with them too since his parents had passed away in a tragic accident a few years back and Linda's parents had taken him in despite him dating their daughter as the two families had very close.
Today was the 6th day of his torturous week apart from Fleur. His Fleur. She hadn't even written to him over the past 6 days and that had been a very painful thorn at his side. He wanted to send Hedwig with a letter to her but something in him kept holding him back. His necklace kept gleaming brightly to the point that it was difficult to hide it from the Dursleys…or anyone else for that matter as he attracted many curious glances when walking down the streets. Yet he never removed it as it calmed him down whenever he got stupid thoughts like if she had gotten tired of him. He still couldn't understand why though.
He kept thinking he could hear her voice whenever he was lying in bed at night, staring at the ceiling absentmindedly while caressing the pendant tenderly. It sounded so far away and yet so close at the same time and it was always the same thing, her voice. Saying his name the way he had come to love, whispering it again and again.
He had a framed photo of her, set beside his bedside table which he gazed at for hours at night. He didn't have the one of both of them together, the sight of her in his arms only made it more painful for him. This one was of her in her Beauxbatons uniform and it was one he had acquired sometime after the third task. She looked so forlorn in that as opposed to the bright and happy smile she had just a week ago. He had taken to staring at it every night before he drifted off to sleep, it was calming seeing as her almost unblinking gaze was fixed on him too.
If there would be no problems, he would see her again tomorrow and they would have the rest of the summer together. It was almost too good to be true and Harry tried not to think about it each day. It would be too much of a disappointment if he wasn't able to go. The thought and the lack of contact still did hurt him a lot more than he was willing to admit. When did I get so weak…
"Earth to Harry…" A faraway voice sounded. He shook himself slightly and turned to Linda and Matt who were watching him.
"What's up man?" Matt asked, "You're always like this…happy at some points. Then you just get depressed." He forced a smile back to his face and shook his head.
"It's nothing." Linda caught on quickly though. He had no idea why, but he was easily readable to any woman who knew him.
"Thinking about her again?" She asked softly. Not knowing what to say he shrugged. They knew about him and Fleur, he had fun telling the two about his life as they in turn told him about theirs. His life that had nothing to do with crazed Death Eaters, Voldemort or death…or of the magical world for that matter…it was refreshing to be able to talk about it so openly and relive the memories. "C'mon Harry trust me on this, she hasn't forgotten about you or anything. She'll be there tomorrow." He sighed softly and nodded.
They had just reached the park and Leah was dragging Harry towards the ice cream vendor while the other two stood by, watching in amusement. Leah was very taken with Harry, something which amused Linda and made Matt a little jealous, although he had recovered when he'd seen just how clingy the little girl is. Having a little girl holding his hand took away the 'manly side' according to him.
The three of them talked a while longer as Leah ate her ice cream and soon Leah was fast asleep as the three continued to chat. Matt leaned against the tree next to him with Linda in his arms and grinned mock triumphantly at him, pointing at Linda in his arms and then at Leah who was asleep in his arms. Harry grinned and Linda elbowed her boyfriend good naturedly and settled down, watching the rest of the people in the park that were engaging in various activities ranging from sports to just relaxing.
Harry thought back to how much had happened since he had come back to Privet Drive. The days had been long. Too long. Far too many things had happened and there were far too many things on his mind that he had been given to ponder about.
The train ride back to London was uneventful; no one tried to seek him out as they did in school so he was left at peace mostly. Maybe it was mostly because he took refuge in Daphne and Tracey's compartment who were admittedly the only two whose company he enjoyed outside of the select few Gryffindors and Hufflepuff. Tracey had finally given up on her crush on him…or so it seems, but he didn't care. Either way, he had gained another friend and for that he was thankful.
Hardly anyone that wasn't a Slytherin would ever come in there and as even those two were detached from the rest of their house, they were left mostly undisturbed for the whole journey. Except Malfoy of course who considers a train ride wasted if he doesn't have a go at Harry on a train ride. It resulted in him and his two thugs getting stunned before he could get a single word out, leaving them unconscious outside their compartment for the whole journey with.
Once they reached King's cross, he was surprised yet pleased to find Lupin and Sirius (Animagus form of course) waiting for him to cross the border to the muggle world with. After saying good bye to the few he knew, which included Cedric's parents too who were rather taken with him, they crossed over, ignoring the Weasleys completely. It wasn't like Mrs. Weasley didn't try, she started making her way towards them but was forced to remain still by a glare from Lupin.
The Dursleys were pretty much withdrawn as they always were around his people. Vernon Dursley's eyes widened when Lupin approached him with Harry and explained to him in mild tones that he would only be staying for a week and that there would be consequences if he or anyone for that matter, tried to interfere when they came to take him. At first he looked like he wanted to argue. Harry was after all, their main source of labor for caring for the lawn and house at summer but he seemed to decide against it when Lupin discreetly flicked his wand with a very weak banishment charm which pushed him back when he made to take a step forwards.
Once they got back to Privet Drive, Harry was mostly ignored and not even asked to do his chores. This was a welcome change and he spent most of the day walking around in the neighborhood and the nights studying for the O.W.L's. They had tried to stop him when he tried leaving for the first time but it was only a halfhearted attempt from Aunt Petunia who didn't pester him anymore after receiving a glare in response. This was probably because of the knowledge that 1 week from then, more of the freaks would be arriving and she didn't want to give any reason to them to do anything other than to take Harry and leave.
To say the neighbors that saw him were surprised was an understatement. He may not have noticed it yet, but he was someone that stood out to anyone easily now and got more than a few appreciative glances from all around that left Dudley seething in anger. When he had been trying to chat up a pretty girl who lived opposite no.4, she spotted Harry coming out of the house one evening, went wide eyed and exclaimed "Is that your cousin?!". Gone was the scrawny little boy that could get lost in the crowds. He would never for the life of him realize it, but he had become a heartbreaker that made even Sirius proud although he didn't follow him in his footsteps.
It no longer seemed to matter to anyone that he was from St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. Indeed, people started questioning how a polite young man like him could be someone that attended a center for criminals. The neighborhood gossip mill was almost as good as the one in Hogwarts and he didn't know when or how, but it seemed everyone now thought he was just a very distant relative who attended a boarding school far away.
He started getting his nightmares again which was seemingly inevitable. He was only forced to endure them for a few minutes before his dreams were once interrupted by the white tree and the ever staring figure. Now though, things had changed drastically.
He had spent most of the night studying for the exams, fighting to stay awake so that he wouldn't have to face the nightmare. On the exams side, he felt confident he could do this after revising just a few more times, something which he kept telling himself despite the fact that he knew that there was nothing more he could do. The books were more like a distraction.
Usually time flew by or slowed to a drag whenever he had his nose buried in a book. But his sense of time was well and truly damaged. He honestly felt like he was traveling back and forth in time. The past 6 days were too long. It felt like he had spent months over the span of those few days and it was all because of his 'old friend.' His 'old friend' who finally revealed himself to him and gave him a whole new mess of trouble, filling his head with things that he made him unsure of who he was.
-Day 1, Death's realm-
Harry was as always, once again entranced by the tree in front of him. There were a few differences that he had recently started noticing though. The branches, or the tips of the branches which were once gleaming pure white were now darkened…almost grey in color. It looked like some kind of a disease. He had started noticing it some time ago but now it was becoming more pronounced. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the entire tree would be replaced by that color.
The thought puzzled him. In a way, he was curious to see what would happen once the new color hit the roots. He felt connected to the tree somehow and knew that whatever affected this tree, affected him in turn. He didn't know how he felt about it though, half of him was anticipating what would happen once the color spread and another half of him was screaming at him to do something to stop this from happening. These two thoughts always circled his mind, with the first thought dominating the other. He felt the urge…the need to see this happen. To find out what will change.
"You're back." A voice rasped. It was a statement and Harry had to control himself from rolling his eyes. It wasn't like he could control it and it seemed like a private joke between them.
"Yes." He replied. Then he turned, fixing the cloaked figure with a hard look. The memory of their last meeting during the awarding ceremony was still fresh on his mind. "What did you do to me that day?" He asked mildly.
"You will find out soon enough." Harry frowned. Deciding to try a different tactic he moved closer to the figure. It watched him as he drew closer until finally he was standing right in front of it. It didn't have a face, yet it seemed familiar and he needed to know why.
"Who are you?" It chuckled, an odd sound he decided.
"Death." It said simply. Harry felt a small grin spread across his face. Oddly enough he felt like his suspicions had been correct. Nothing more was needed to be said as he turned back. Things were getting interesting.
And things did get interesting. He started getting memories, memories which gave him glimpses into a life that he knew, yet wasn't his at the same time.
"Ignotus" A pleasant, melodious voice trilled and he smiled before opening his eyes and looking beside him. There, lying on the bed beside him was one of the most beautiful women in the world he had seen. Long flowing silver hair, startlingly blue eyes and strangely enough, pointed ears although it did nothing to diminish her beauty.
"Hey." He murmured, leaning over to kiss her cheek. She smiled a bit, although it was replaced almost immediately by a worried look.
"I heard about Cadmus…" She whispered. "Why did you hide it from me?" He grimaced and stared back up at the ceiling.
"I had trouble believing it myself." He voice cracked and she embraced him, holding him as he took shuddering breaths trying to calm himself. He was the last remaining member of his family now and despite the fact that he knew he had everything he wanted from the woman beside him, the loneliness was sometimes too much. The three of them had been very close and one by one, they were taken away from him. "He was a fool…we were all fools. We shouldn't have done what we did."
She didn't say anything but tightened her hold on him. He felt guilty, he knew she was worried at the thought of him being taken away just like his brothers were. "I will not make the same mistakes Cadmus and Antioch did." He said firmly.
"See that you don't." She said in a muffled voice, then without warning she rolled away from him and got to her feet. "If you're not down in a few minutes…" She left the threat hanging and he chuckled. She always knew how to cheer him up. She smiled softly at him before leaving him alone as she went downstairs.
He sighed and got to his feet, walking towards the cursed cloak that he made to cheat Death himself. It had, along with the other objects brought more grief to him over the past year than all his past years and that said a lot. Taking the cloak he let the watery material run through his hands. His vision slowly lost all color as he regarded the cloak which was now a dark black instead of colorless. First his inheritance…now this. Was he never going to have a peaceful life with his wife?
Harry could make neither head nor tail of what he kept seeing. Whenever he dozed off to sleep, be it for just 5 minutes, more memories surfaced. He still couldn't remember much though, apart from the very first memory. It felt like he was spending more time in his memories than what he was spending in reality.
Ignotus…somehow Ignotus sounded so familiar to him. Ignotus's wife too seemed familiar, silver hair, blue eyes…while she was nothing like Fleur she did bear some resemblance to her and to top it all off, he felt like he knew her. A lot more than he was willing to admit with the way she reminded him achingly of Fleur. At times he felt like he was losing himself to this person. Once, he actually panicked when he woke, wondering where on Earth he was when he woke up to the darkened room when only moments ago he had been in his house, enjoying a quiet moment with his wife. It was only when he caught sight of the photograph of Fleur that he calmed down, remembering who he was.
Shaking himself out of his reverie he looked down to find Leah fast asleep and next to him the other two were no better either. Sighing he leaned closer to them and snapped his fingers loudly right next to Matt's ear and suppressed a laugh when he jerked awake with a panicked look. Growling when he saw that it was only Harry he gazed at his watch and gasped, shaking Linda awake too.
"What time is it?" Harry asked curiously.
"It's almost five! We need to start heading back." Slowly he started prodding Linda awake which took almost 5 minutes with the way she just closed her eyes immediately after Matt had been successful in opening them. Finally she was fully awake, something that was only made possible when Matt shoved his watch right in front of her face.
"Leah?" She murmured gently, trying to waken the little girl. She sighed and turned her face away making Harry smile at the sight. It was pleasant just having her in his arms and she reminded him of Gabrielle who was almost as clingy to him as her. Since they had to be going now he gently lifted her up and handed her to Linda.
"You're not coming?" Matt asked when he didn't get up. Harry shrugged and leaned back against the tree.
"I'll stay a while longer."
"We won't be there tomorrow will we?" Linda asked suddenly.
"Oh right…it just had to be tomorrow…" Matt grumbled. "You'll be gone before the afternoon right? We won't be there during the morning."
"I think so…maybe…" Harry muttered glumly. He was still unsure of whether or not he would be going. With the lack of contact with Fleur he couldn't help but feel afraid that they wouldn't be coming to take him. Linda rolled her eyes.
"Don't be an idiot. Hopefully you'll still be here when we get back. If not…"
"I'll write. But my methods of posting will be a little…strange." He said with a grin. She looked confused but nodded all the same and pulled him up and into a hug after giving Leah to Matt.
"Glad to have met you Harry." She said warmly. Harry nodded and was immediately brought into a manly hug by Matt.
"You're alright. A little weird but alright." He said playfully. Harry rolled his eyes and Linda smirked.
"Just because he doesn't like the stuff you do doesn't make him weird. I'd say he's normal." Harry had to control himself to not burst out in laughter. They had no idea just how far from normal he was.
"Whatever, hope we'll see you again next summer…if not tomorrow." Matt said cheerfully.
"Sure." Harry smiled. "And make sure you two stay away from Dudley and his gang. They're not the most pleasant sort." He snorted.
"Please…that whale of a cousin of yours and his gay harem? First time I saw him I had trouble believing you were related even distantly to him. And besides, let's not forget he tried to hit on Linda here." Linda grimaced and this time Harry couldn't hold in his laughter. The memory of the incident ranked as one of the best on his mind.
It happened on the same day he'd met the couple and Leah. Harry had just been taking a stroll down the park when Leah had run into him rather hard and fallen backwards. She had started to cry and he being worried had done his best to comfort the little girl. In the meantime Matt and Linda had come up and after quickly asking what happened they were extremely grateful for what he'd done and after a while Harry found himself making friends with the young couple.
They had just left Linda and Leah alone while Matt dragged him into a store that sold video games saying that he needed a fellow gamer with him. The look on his face had been priceless when Harry revealed he doesn't play anything and had zero interest in it. When the two had finally left the store they found Dudley, Piers and two of his other thugs cornering Linda and Leah who was hanging off her hand while looking at the boys in fear. From the distressed look on Linda's face and the perverse grin on the boy's faces both Harry and Matt knew what was going on.
Matt just strode straight up to Dudley, tapped him on his shoulder and punched straight at his jaw as soon as he'd turned around. For all of the boasting Dudley had been doing every waking minute about boxing, it was funny how he was immediately knocked out. Harry sighed and got in to help out as the other three were enraged at seeing their leader taken out. It was surprisingly quick and in less than a minute all three boys were lying unconscious on the ground next to Dudley. Harry mentally thanked Sirius for teaching him how to hold his own without a wand. Matt was a different story entirely, he was extremely protective of Linda and he didn't seem like the type of person Harry would want to pick a fight with without a wand.
Harry waved at the three and watched them go. If he wasn't so focused on going to France to be with Fleur, he actually would have preferred to remain in Privet Drive for the whole summer. Being around the young couple and Leah was entertaining and he had no doubt he'd found two…no three good friends in them.
He smiled as he thought of how they would react if they got mail from Hedwig. It would definitely be better than how the Dursleys would react. Or at least he hoped it would be…even though Hedwig was in his opinion, the best owl in the world, she had a huge ego and an insufferable amount of pride. Hurting any of the two meant less pleasant consequences. Harry found that out the hard way when he forgot to visit her for a month since he'd started being more closer to Fleur. He knew it was crazy, but he had a feeling the owl knew what was going on and was furious with him for it.
After waiting about hour more he finally got up and with a sigh started heading back to the Dursleys. It wasn't really all that bad this time, they acted as if he didn't exist…at least Vernon and Petunia did. Try as he might, Dudley was unable to ignore him. The main thing that was troubling him now was that he was jealous of the person who he thought of as a freak for 14 years. Throughout the whole week he had been taking multiple blows to his pride. Not like he had any to begin with on the social front, even without Harry any girl went out of their ways to avoid him by focusing excessively on the next boy on the street. Or even in some rare cases, other girls. Even Malfoy could land a girl faster than him.
"Boy!" Vernon called out as soon as he entered the house. With a grimace he went to the living room where Petunia and Dudley were watching TV while Vernon's attention focused solely on him as soon as he entered.
"Yes?" He asked coldly. He had long since stopped calling them 'Aunt Petunia' or 'Uncle Vernon'. There was no way he was going to acknowledge any of them as part of his family. As far as his mother goes, she could not have been born with the same genetics that created the eyesore of a woman known as Petunia Dursley.
"If those freaks that are coming to take you come the same way as last time, there's going to be trouble." Harry smirked.
"I'd love to see you try." Vernon's eyes narrowed and in a flash of inspiration he added, "If you think a gun can threaten any of us...by all means, try. I will enjoy the show." Petunia gasped and Vernon looked like he'd been slapped in the face. Even Dudley was staring open mouthed at him. He had hardly spoken to any of them since he'd gotten back and it was obvious to them that he was not the same boy that they had known, or thought they knew just about an year ago.
"You can't threaten us with the freak stuff you do! You will be expelled from that freak place." Harry kept his face blank and stretched out his left hand, holding his palm out to Vernon. Slowly, the tips of his fingers started glowing green until they were dancing embers of emerald green fire, lit on the tips of his fingers. Clenching his fist again he extinguished the miniature flames and suppressed a smile at the looks of fear on the faces before him.
"As you probably have noticed with the lack of a letter, I no longer have that problem. So again, please feel free to use whatever means you have to…what was it?" He tilted his head. "Cause trouble?" Vernon looked like he was caught between a rock and a hard place and Petunia had her arms wrapped protectively around her Diddykins. All three of them were not looking at him with disgust or hatred, it was fear. This was a little disturbing to him but he dismissed it. Before the letter from Hogwarts came he was forced to endure what no child should have gone through.
Deciding to skip dinner he turned away from the frozen Dursleys. Stopping near the cupboard under the stairs he raised his voice so they could all hear. "I don't know when if any people will come tomorrow. They might turn up…might not. They won't be arriving like the way the others did last time either so you have nothing to worry about. Just keep quiet and no one will feel the need to do anything to any of you. And if I don't leave tomorrow just stay out of my way for another few days and I'll be out of here." Hearing nothing in reply he nodded in satisfaction and started up the stairs to his room.
A small smirk appeared on his face when he sat down on his bed. It was almost too easy to scare them. He couldn't perform any spells further than utility without a wand. So far he could only manage a select few spells ranging from his 1st to 3rd year and even that was difficult to pull off.
He was given a few books on wandless magic by Lupin who seemed to think he had a talent for it. Even the books offered very little instruction seeing as throughout history, there have only been only 1 in every thousand witches or wizards that could channel their magic wandlessly. Every witch or wizards is able to channel their magic without a wand at their childhood. Although, once they reach the age of 11, the first stage in magical maturity, they inexplicably lose that ability. Or more specifically, the ability itself is greatly diminished.
From what information he gleaned from a book, any being that had a certain type of magical core in their core had the means of channeling magic from any point of their body, meaning that even after the first stage of magical maturity, they retain that ability, being able to channel any amount of magic they fit without needing a magical focus point. The rarity of the core in question meant that little to almost nothing was known about it. This bit of information had him groaning mentally as it meant this was another thing that set him apart from normal witches and wizards…he had finally begun to accept from that point that no matter how hard he tried, he was just going to be different from everyone else.
Back to the matter at hand, even the few that were blessed with that type of core don't have much proficiency at it seeing as there is no one who can instruct them on how to go further in the art of wandless magic. As with any type of rare and/or possibly powerful magical ability it was rumored that Merlin and Morgan Le Fay were so well versed in it, that they didn't even need a staff or wand to channel their magic.
A few books did mention why it was so difficult to channel magic without an item of sorts reinforced with magical cores. With a wand, staff or any other item a witch or wizard might use, it's much easier to produce magic since you're focusing on producing magic through it whether consciously or not. Trying that without a wand is much more difficult because the area to channel it through is much larger and therefore, difficult to focus the energy.
He found that channeling magic to the finger is much easier than the rest, as per his trick with Incendio he used just a few minutes ago to scare the Dursleys. But that was it, the amount of magic one can channel to a finger is very limited as opposed to how much you can channel to a palm or even out of your whole body. As the book stated, if there was any witch or wizard who was able to channel magic out of any point of their body, that would make him or her one of the most powerful witches or wizards of their times.
This had however, made him a little reluctant to practice it over the past few days. The memories of the times when he had almost drained his core by mistake were still fresh on his mind so he didn't dare advance further than the few basic spells he knew to do already. It wasn't like he had a choice. It took quite a while to learn to cast an Incendio wandlessly and it wasn't even as powerful as the one he could produce with his wand.
Glancing at the clock on the wall he was surprised to see it was already 11pm. The lights were out from the entire neighborhood. With a sigh he crept out of the room (the Dursleys had stopped locking his room ever since they knew about his mass murdering godfather) and went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and changed into more comfortable clothes to sleep in. Returning to bed he spent over an hour wondering…hoping that tomorrow would be what he was hoping for. Turning to the picture of Fleur who was gazing at him with a small smile he smiled back and finally drifted off to sleep with a single thought running in his mind, I need to see you again.
His dreams took him back to Ignotus and his wife although he would remember nothing in the morning.
Harry woke up early in the morning and quickly flipped on the lights as it was still dark out. It was still only 5 in the morning. He was too excited of the prospect of seeing Fleur again to go back to sleep. Rolling off the bed he moved to start packing his things but after throwing in a few articles of clothing, stopped. He still had a small part at the back of his mind that kept thinking that they wouldn't come today. If he was packed and ready to go and they didn't turn up…the disappointment would be too much. He hated to admit it, but he would do anything to avoid additional emotional pain.
With a sigh he took out the few things he packed and after spending a few restless hours in bed until the sun fully rose he got up and ambled around the house listlessly until the Dursleys woke up and wishing to avoid running into any of them he was forced to go back to his room.
He was able to calm himself down and distract himself from watching the clock by reading a few books again, this was the way he spent most of the morning. Breakfast was forgotten and he was on his way to forgetting about lunch. It was Sunday which meant that all three Dursleys were at home.
He had just come down when there was a tentative knock on the door and he froze. Vernon came charging out of the living room dressed once again in his best clothes just like he had when the Weasleys arrived. Wrenching the door open what Harry saw made his shoulders sag visibly. It was only one of Vernon's friends. Turning around he went back upstairs, but not before chancing a glimpse into the living room where he saw that even Petunia and Dudley were dressed in clothes they usually used when they went out for dinners. Fighting the urge to laugh when he saw that Dudley was actually wearing a blazer he plopped back down on his bed. Sometimes the Dursley's stupidity shocked him.
He suffered constant disappointments today one after the other and wondered more than once if someone up there had a grudge against him. Today was a hotbed of activity for no.4 Privet Drive as more and more random people kept showing up, all of who were friends of Vernons or even some friends of Dudley's. The loud laughter confirmed his suspicions that they were poking fun of Dudley about why he was wearing an outfit like that while inside his own home. Even time was working against him again, it crept along at a slower pace than a snail.
By 3 in the afternoon, he was beginning to lose hope. By 4 he was hanging on by a few small threads and by 5 he had given up completely. He took a shower and threw on a shirt and a pair of jeans and started downstairs listlessly, tugging at a few locks of his shoulder length hair.
"Boy! When the hell are your freaks going to come?!" Vernon called loudly from the living room.
"They won't be coming." He muttered. "I'll be gone tomorrow anyway…" He had made up his mind. Since it was anyway deemed ok to leave the Dursleys he was going to catch the Knight bus tomorrow morning and spend the remainder of his summer at the Leaky Cauldron and send a letter to Dumbledore about the exams. To Fleur…he didn't know what to do.
Wanting to get away from the house and hopefully meet Matt and Linda he walked up to the front door and opened it. Looking up he froze as his eyes fell on two bright blue orbs, the same eyes that had haunted parts of his dreams. The same eyes he had been yearning to see. She was standing right in front of him, her hand half raised as if to knock on the door, silvery white waist long hair swaying slightly in the wind.
Her lip trembled slightly and within the next second she was hugging him tightly, his vision completely obscured by her hair. At first he hardly dared to believe it, but when he saw Dominique and Sirius standing a few feet behind them grinning at the pair, his eyes widened when he realized what was happening was real. Returning the hug he buried his face in her hair as he had done so many times and breathed in her scent, unable to stop the wide smile that was spreading across his face.
She pulled back slightly and without warning he found her lips on his, it was demanding, needy and filled with raw emotion and he was only too happy to return it. He wasn't even aware that her father was outside and that the few neighbors outside were able to see clearly what was going on at the front door which was wide open. She fisted his shirt and pulled him as close as humanly possible and both of them ignored the small coughs coming from the direction of Dominique and Sirius.
"Boy! What th…" He heard Vernon's voice from behind which went extremely quiet as he observed what was going on before him. Unfortunately his outburst brought Dudley and Petunia to the small hallway. After what felt like hours, Fleur pulled away with one brief, final tug on his bottom lip. Her eyes were glistening, lips swollen slightly and more redder than he'd ever remembered and her cheeks were bright red. Judging by the burning sensation on his own lips and cheeks he knew he wasn't too far off either. The feel of her hand in his again made him feel like he had regained a part that had been missing for a while.
Harry couldn't break his gaze away from her just as she couldn't stop looking at him. After a long moment of silence Sirius coughed again.
"Harry…maybe we could get going?" He tore his eyes away from Fleur to look at his godfather and Dominique who seemed to be extremely interested with a bush at the side.
"Er…yeah…just give me a second." He made to let go of her hand to go upstairs but her grip was too tight. Looking at her for a moment he smiled softly and pulled her with him upstairs. Catching sight of Dudley he was both angry and amused to see that his eyes were fixed on Fleur, his mouth open, drooling visibly. It was disgusting.
As soon as they entered the room he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. The room was messy. His clothes strewn carelessly about the place.
"I just need to get this stuff packed." He said quickly. Before he could move again Fleur raised her wand and with a wave all his books, clothes and possessions arranged themselves neatly in his trunk. She even shrunk his Firebolt so that it could fit in the trunk. Smiling his thanks at her he moved to Hedwig's cage and prodded her awake.
"I'll be going to Fleur's place alright? Will you come with me or do you want to fly there?" The owl hooted excitedly and flew to his shoulder, nipping his ear affectionately. Then with another hoot he nodded and she took off, flying out of the window. Fleur, with another wave of her wand, cleaned and shrunk Hedwig's cage and put it inside the trunk too.
Acutely aware they were alone again he turned back to her who was watching the picture of herself at the bedside table, the only item she hadn't packed yet.
"I'm sorry 'Arry." She said quietly, turning back to him and he was startled to find that her eyes were watery again.
"For what?" He asked gently, moving closer to her.
"I tried…I wanted to write to you, I wanted to see 'ow you were doing living wiz zese muggles. But I didn't want to find out zat you were being mistreated. Zey wouldn't let me come before today and I didn't want to stand by and watch 'elplessly." He slowly drew her into a hug, cursing himself for being a fool for thinking she had forgotten about him. "I wanted to see you…" Her voice muffled as her head was buried in his chest. "I didn't want to see letters. I wanted to see you." Then she looked up. "And don't try to lie, I know zat you were worried zat I 'ad forgotten about you."
He grinned at her and she grudgingly returned the smile, god how he had missed her. "Guilty as charged."
"You…"
"It won't happen again. Ever." He said firmly. She nodded and pressed her lips against his again, this time more tenderly. They broke apart fairly quickly since they were pressed for time. Judging by the loud honks he knew that they had come in a car and knowing Sirius, it was probably him in the driver's seat. Leave it to him to grab the attention of the whole neighborhood.
He picked up the picture of her which was now smiling brilliantly at him and placed it carefully in his trunk while Fleur watched. When he was done he nodded at her and she waved her wand again, shutting it and after a flick, he was able to lift it without effort seeing as it was as light as a feather. Once downstairs he found Dominique standing inside the hallway who grinned as soon as he saw the pair coming downstairs. Taking the trunk from Harry and dragging it along the ground to fool the muggles outside he left. Fleur was hanging tightly onto his hand again and he at the doorstep he turned to the Dursleys to say goodbye when Dudey suddenly blurted out, still with the same glazed look, "Go out with me!"
Harry's rolled his eyes and Fleur laughed. Leaning against Harry she looked at Dudley. "I belong to 'Arry. And under no circumstances will I ever come near someone like you."
"See you around." He said quickly to the Dursleys, fighting to keep a straight face as he saw the hurt look pass on Dudley's face. It was disgusting that Vernon was eyeing Fleur hungrily too and it was taking all his self-control to not curse him to oblivion. Only Petunia seemed to be capable of conscious thought and she looked torn between anger and fear of the girl next to Harry. Oddly enough they were showing a lot more self-restraint than usual which made Harry suspicious if either Dominique or Sirius had cast a some charms on them. He was sure at least she would have blown a top by now, seeing their precious Diddykins getting rejected like that.
Outside he saw the car that was waiting for them. He had no idea about cars but this one was the sort that was being advertised constantly on muggle television, it was more of the luxurious types of cars. He caught sight of two people he recognized standing next to the car and grinned, pulling Fleur with him who was puzzled why he was bringing her with him towards two muggles.
"Matt, Linda…I want you two to meet Fleur. Fleur…Matt, Linda...they're good friends of mine." Matt who was momentarily stunned by the silver haired woman's beauty pulled himself back together again fairly quickly, an impressive feat to say the least, smiled and shook her hand. Linda imitated him.
"It's good to finally meet you…he has been talking about you a lot over the past few days."
"'E 'as?" She asked, playfully pinching his arm making him grimace. Linda's eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Yup, he's cute when he's brooding over something. Seemed to think you weren't coming." She said, ignoring the protesting look Harry was giving her and Fleur grinned evilly.
"I will sort 'im out." She said firmly and Harry felt a chill run down his spine.
"You guys need to get going now?" Matt asked, gazing at the car. "No time to hang out?"
"No…sorry." Harry said apologetically. "We don't have much time."
"All right then, see you next summer?" He asked.
"Sure." Harry grinned and took his offered hand as he pulled him into a manly hug. After saying his goodbyes to Linda they got into the car where in front was Sirius and Dominique. Without a word Sirius floored it and the car zoomed out of Privet Drive.
"Hey…Sirius…did you do anything to the Dursleys?" He asked tentatively after watching the scenery rush past him in the window. Fleur was sitting next to him with her head on his shoulder, their hands intertwined.
"Who?...Me?!" Sirius asked in a mock hurt voice.
"Did you?" Harry asked again as Fleur giggled.
"No. I'm not lying!" He added when he saw Harry roll his eyes from the rearview mirror.
"It's just that they looked like they were struck dumb. I thought they would have done something. From what I could tell last night, Vernon was getting ready to cause trouble for everyone."
Dominique said from the front. "He asked me if I was a member of the French government. I am a little deep inside the muggle government too." He grinned, "He might have seen me on muggle television sometime so…"
"Oh…" It was making sense now. If there was one thing that scared the wits out of Vernon it was crossing anyone from any government. They lapsed into silence again while Sirius and Dominique conversed quietly at the front. Harry was quite content with having Fleur by his side and from the way she was snuggled up at his side, he knew she was enjoying it too. After about half an hour he asked another thing that was nagging him.
"Where are we going?"
"France." Sirius replied cheekily as Dominique chuckled.
"No…really?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"We're going to take a portkey Harry." Dominique answered. "Can't make one without authorization from the Ministry of Magic here and something tells me the less people that know you're not in England the better. We're going to a rather secluded location to find the portkey we've set up. I've already sent your trunk to our house though."
"Thanks." Harry said gratefully. For the remainder of their journey which took a surprisingly longer amount of time than he was used to on a car, about 2 hours exactly, he decided that one of the things he would do once everything was over would be to get a car like this. He could understand Sirius's fascination with muggle bikes and cars. There was just something about them that brooms could never give.
Fleur started listing excitedly all the places she wanted to go with him which left him mentally groaning at the sheer size of the list while Dominique and Sirius smirked at his expense. The only reason he was groaning was because she listed shops in between and he had heard enough horror stories of girls and clothes shops to know what to expect to some degree. While he wasn't at all opposed to seeing Fleur model clothes, he knew he was going to be a dress up doll for her too. At least he stopped Sirius from grinning when he asked her if Sirius could come sometime since he could use some new clothes too.
From what he could gather, In France, he wasn't as famous in the magical community as he was in Britain. This was something he prayed with all his might was true. He longed to be able to walk anywhere he pleased where no one would stare at him or want to meet him. This also meant he could go anywhere he wanted, to both the magical and the muggle part of Paris (Fleur's home is in a smaller town near Paris).
To his pleasant surprise, Fleur wanted to spend as much time as possible in the muggle part of France rather than the magical one. This reduced the chances of him being recognized a lot more and he quite liked the thought of being detached from the magical community for a while. He was also quite curious about the points of interest in Paris that Fleur was describing so excitedly such as the Eiffel Tower and so on. She kept forgetting and slipping into French from time to time in her excitement that had Dominique chuckling every time it happened along with Harry. He loved it, those quirks were what made her and he didn't want her to change. Ever.
He had a small surprise for her too on the French part, he had been learning French little by little ever since the day he had surprised Fleur and the others one morning with one sentence he had learned from Basile. After the third task, in between his revising for the O.W.L's he had put more time into it for the sole purpose of not letting his head have any rest in order to prevent memories of the graveyard and the night his parents died from surfacing. While he couldn't speak it fluently yet or without a horrible accent, he had been improving. He also found that he rather liked learning new languages so that helped him quite a bit as well in his endeavor.
They finally reached their destination which turned out to be a deserted hillside. They all got out and Dominique placed a small glowing blue object on the car which immediately disappeared. Then, the four of them trudged up the hill, enjoying the view and the cool wind. The skies were dark grey but Harry loved it. Apart from when he wants to play Quidditch, he disliked blue, cloudless skies. It was just…unnatural.
The portkey turned out to be an old tin can. They all gathered around it, Harry somewhat reluctantly. He was notoriously bad with all forms of magical travel. As soon as Dominique said "Now!" they grabbed hold of it and he felt the now familiar sensation of being pulled by his navel. After what felt longer than usual his feet slammed onto the ground and immediately lost his balance, toppling over while Fleur was trying hard not to laugh at him. Blushing when he saw that even she had managed to remain upright he pushed himself off the floor trying and failing to look angry at her.
"Not very good with ze portkey Meester Potter?" A man asked, smiling genially and striding up with his hand outstretched.
"Err It's Harry sir." He said shyly, shaking the man's hand. It was then that he noticed they were standing in a large hall, almost as large as the Great Hall back in Hogwarts. It was filled with people appearing out of seemingly nowhere with random objects in there hands and he could hear the general murmur of those around him although it was difficult to understand as it was all French.
"In zat case you may call me Jaque…'ead of ze Department of Magical Travel of ze French Ministry at your service." He returned easily. Turning to Dominique he addressed him in French to which he smiled and nodded in thanks. "Ze floo network iz ready for your next destination, for now I must bid you farewell, but I zink I will meet you again later."
"Thank you." Harry said gratefully and the man nodded with a smile and left, disappearing through the crowd. Dominique then took lead and Sirius beckoned Harry to follow.
"Where are we?" He asked, looking at Fleur who was walking next to him. He had a suspicion where they were but he still had trouble believing it seeing as Sirius was walking around in the open seemingly without a care in the world.
"The French Ministry of Magic of course!" It was Sirius who answered cheerfully.
"Is it alright for you to be…you know…you?" He asked tentatively.
"Nope. All thanks to Dominique here…I'm protected by the law here."
"How?" He asked weakly.
"It's quite simple really. I am a citizen here." Sirius waggled his eyebrows but Harry continued to frown. He still had a lot to understand on diplomatic matters, something that Sirius vowed then to teach Harry as soon as possible and launched into an explanation. "In England I was sent to Azkaban without a trial. I didn't even have my rights or I could have easily avoided going to that infernal hell hole. Over here I'm safe. Dominique has vouched for me and I am 'innocent until proven guilty'. It also helps that France and Britain don't exactly see eye to eye, Fudge is seen as a joke around here."
"So as long as you stay here you can't be captured and taken away?"
"Yeah." Sirius answered with a grin.
"That's brilliant! Stop going back then."
"And leave you with that dark tosser? No. The fighting's over there and that's where I want to be." Harry knew from the firm tone in his voice that it was useless to argue. As they were walking along he spotted two more silver haired witches that, from the way there were a few wizards gazing at them hungrily, were most definitely Veela. As Dominique took them down another hallway, this one filled with paper airplanes flying everywhere that seemed to be memos going to different rooms he asked another question that had been nagging him. "Why won't France and Britain see eye to eye."
"Number of reasons." Dominique said from the front. "We disagree with many methods the English use, their inactivity, incompetence, (thinking of Fudge he grinned), mostly though it's because of the campaigns they carry against non-humans." He felt Fleur's hand which was laced in his stiffen slightly. He squeezed it reassuringly making her smile and they continued walking in silence. He had no idea just how bad the English ministry of magic was.
Sirius who had been frowning for a while suddenly spoke. "You know…Dumbledore probably wouldn't like this. But what if you became a citizen of France? With the way things are shaping up in England it doesn't look like a bad choice at all." Fleur looked up and he saw there was a trace of hope in her eyes as she gazed at him.
"I'd like that yeah." He replied immediately thinking about his new found disgust over Britain. He had a feeling it would do him a lot of good to sever ties if possible from England and besides, this seemed to be something that made Fleur happy for some reason. "What do I have to do?"
"You have to marry Fleur. This summer." Harry and Fleur both froze in place while Sirius and Dominique kept walking until they stopped a few feet in front when they realized they weren't being followed. Harry was struggling to get his voice working.
"Wha…what? Wait…I have to ma…no I'm still…I mean…not that I wouldn't like that but…No! I mean…I'm still…" His eyes narrowed when he saw the huge grin forming on Sirius's face and even the usually composed Dominique had an identical one. Slowly realizing what he'd just said he found himself unable to look at Fleur and instead growled, glaring at Sirius who he could have sworn flinched slightly before perking up again.
"Well that's good to know but there's no need to rush things right? So easy there tiger." Harry looked positively murderous and Sirius's eyes widened when he saw the tell-tale sparks forming around his godson's hands and a hint of grey in his eyes. "I was only joking!" He added in a rather small voice.
"If we were anywhere other than here..." Harry whispered venomously. Dominique took the chance to step in and dragged Sirius, moving him out of Harry line of sight and retreated further in leaving Harry and Fleur alone. An extremely embarrassed Harry halfheartedly started forward but was held back when he felt her arms wrap around him from behind and her breath on his ear.
"Good response." She whispered sending delightful shivers running down his spine. He felt his cheeks redden when she planted a kiss on his cheek before pulling him with her after her father and Sirius, hiding her smile from him. He'd never know just how much his slip up had made her happy.
They finally reached their destination which turned out to be another magical transportation chamber although this time he recognized the fireplaces and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He hated magical travel and this one was by far the worst.
Still, it was a sight to behold as the fireplaces kept roaring in green flames almost every 3 seconds as someone used it. It was just like the train stations in the muggle world, harassed looking people intent on getting to their destination were hurrying about around the room. Harry noticed again the slight difference in laws in the French ministry as he could see that the so called non humans had mixed well with the normal wizarding community. He caught sight of gleaming fangs on a man who was talking with someone else.
A group of 4 Veela suddenly appeared from the fireplace on their right as they walked past it making Sirius's eyes glaze over and immediately turn towards them. He wasn't alone as many of the wizards around them had similar reactions. Fleur's grip tightened on his hand for some reason but Harry didn't feel anything at all, the only thing he could feel was the pull from Fleur and it was something he had long since accepted. The Veela looked irritated at the crowd that gathered up and Dominique, who was the only one unaffected apart from Harry in the vicinity, tried valiantly to pull Sirius away but was unsuccessful.
As much as Harry wanted to see his godfather humiliated for what he did to him earlier, he strode up to him and knocked on his head hard with his knuckles snapping him out of his daze and turn away immediately in shame. One of the Veela who saw this giggled and mouthed her thanks to which he smiled back.
The fireplace they were supposed to take was only a few feet away apparently and they soon came up to it. Once the crowd around it dispersed Dominique took the small container lying next to it which was filled with floo powder and offered it to Harry.
"Guests first…just say, 'Maison Delacour'." Harry stared at it for a few seconds before dipping his hand into it, taking a handful of the powder. Taking a deep breath he moved into the fireplace and before his nerves failed him he uttered clearly "Maison Delacour!" and dropped the powder at his feet as the green flames roared to life around him. The next second he was engulfed by a sickening sensation as he was spinning fast and struggling to keep his eyes open as different fireplaces flew past him. It was barely a few seconds before he was wishing it would stop when quite suddenly, it did and he slowly became aware that he was lying on his back on something soft.
He barely had enough time to fix his glasses which were lying crooked on his face when there was an emerald flash and someone came tumbling out of the fireplace and fell right on top of him. From the flowery scent and the trace of silver he immediately recognized her and with a grin put his arms around her preventing her from getting up.
"You're bad at this too." He murmured softly in her ear.
"Seems so." She whispered back with a small smile playing on her lips. "And I zink you 'aven't seen my muzzer standing be'ind you." Quickly letting go of her he got to his feet to the sound of laughter behind him and sure enough, there was Apolline Delacour watching them with mirth dancing in her eyes.
"Umm…hi Mrs. Delacour I…" She closed the distance between them and pulled him into a warm hug sparing him from further embarrassment.
"Welcome to our 'ome 'Arry." She said brightly. "I 'ave made a room for you…Fleur will show you to it soon."
"Thanks." Harry said shyly. Something else shot out from near her legs and slammed into Harry, hugging him tightly and knocking the wind out of him.
"Hey Gabrielle." He said softly, smiling at the miniature version of Fleur. The little Veela smiled brilliantly at him before letting go. Another emerald flash and Sirius appeared, lying sprawled on his back on the rug in front of the fireplace.
"Very eloquent Meester Black." Apolline said with a smirk as he got to his feet dusting himself off and muttering curse words under his breath.
"Bloody thing, never could stand travelling like this." He grumbled, then his face broke into a charming smile and strode up to Apolline. "Of course it's worth it being able to see your fair face again my lady." Harry covered his face with his palm and half wished Dominique was here to see this while Fleur laughed beside him. This didn't seem to be the first time his godfather had done this.
"Flattery will get you nowhere. I am not introducing you to my friends yet." Sirius's face fell.
"But why? You know me well enough." He whined. Apolline winked at Harry.
"Oui, zat's why I won't. Reach your godson's level of maturity and I'll see what I can do." Sirius pointed an accusing finger at Harry.
"He's Lily! You're asking to do something impossible!" Harry couldn't stop smiling while Sirius continued to whine and another flash later Dominique appeared behind them. He wasn't any luckier than Sirius and Harry sent a prayer of thanks that at least with floo powder, nobody had an inhuman capability of remaining upright on their feet. Getting to his feet he eyed Sirius warily who still hadn't stopped whining.
"Same thing again?" He asked looking at Fleur and Apolline who shrugged noncommittally. Seemingly noticing Dominique only now Sirius walked with his shoulders slumped towards him.
"Your wife's mean." He said in an undertone and Apolline rolled her eyes before walking away while Fleur started pulling him after her.
The Delacour home was large. Two floors and outside all he could see were trees making him feel like they were in the countryside although Fleur said they were really close to the town. He spotted two house elves who bowed low when they saw him.
Fleur took him upstairs where she showed him to his room. It had a large bed, desk and chair on the side, a fireplace directly in front of the bed and out of the window he had a rather nice view of a river and further away, the town which he recognized by the clock tower which stood out in the horizon. The sky was dark and there was a pleasant breeze blowing and he took a moment to just enjoy the view.
"Thank you for getting me here." He said softly as Fleur joined him, leaning against him with a smile as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I 'ope you aren't planning on studying all summer." She said after a while.
"No…well, just a little…but I'm all set." He said with a grin.
"Confident are we?" She asked playfully. He shrugged and moved to put both his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck making her giggle. He wanted to keep her close to him for now, he just remembered again that after the summer was over he'd be going back to Hogwarts and this time they were going to be separated for months. He didn't want to even think about how he was going to deal with that.
"Just a little." She hummed softly and they stayed like that for a while longer until she slowly wriggled away from him.
"Take a shower; we need to go down for dinner soon." He groaned but immediately perked up when she kissed his cheek. "Now go." She said sternly, pointing at a door that he hadn't noticed at the side of the room. After making sure he'd gone in she left the room to get ready herself.
Almost as soon as he was done changing into what he deemed were presentable clothes for dinner, there was a knock on his door and he opened it to find Fleur outside, her hair looking a little wet and looking just like she'd come out of the shower and wearing a shirt and a pair of shorts that did nothing to diminish her beauty.
"You need to get more zings to just wear when you're at home 'Arry." She said, eyeing him with a smirk. "Zat's going to be one of the main zings we'll do tomorrow." He couldn't stop himself from groaning. Laughing she pulled him through and set off downstairs. Stopping first to show him her room which was right next to his. It wasn't much different from his although her wardrobe was much larger than his.
He was struck by how normal the house looked. Perhaps this was why the house was so inviting and warm. While the Burrow had been a fun place to be in, it was still strange to him. Coming from years of living with muggles it had been a strange experience and a little uncomfortable living in a house that was by no means normal. The Delacour home was a mixture of both muggle and magic. The Living room looked no different than one from a muggle house. They even had a TV, radio and all the usual muggle electronics.
"I see you got here alright." A mild voice sounded as soon as he and Fleur came into view at the living room where Dominique, Sirius and someone else were seated.
"Remus!" Harry exclaimed happily.
"Nice to see you again. Muggles gave you trouble over the past week?" He asked, pulling him into a brief one armed hug.
"No. They were fine." He nodded. "I need to talk to you about something." He looked apologetically at Fleur who huffed before stalking off in direction of the kitchen making him chuckle.
Harry eyed Lupin curiously as he led him a little away from the others. "Anything wrong?" He asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the others.
"No…no its nothing important but…" He looked like he was struggling to find the right words. "The full moon is next week."
"Why does that…I…oh…" Harry looked up worriedly. "I thought I wasn't turned….so"
"No, no you weren't turned. Don't worry, you definitely will not turn furry at night." He managed a small smile at this. "But nevertheless I think it might affect you a little at the full moon."
He didn't speak for a few moments. "Will I be dangerous? To the others I mean…"
"No you won't. Stop thinking like that! It most probably will be small things, like some of your new senses will be augmented…things like that. Your mind is your own so you don't have to worry about anything like that." Harry nodded slowly. He had told Lupin about his improved hearing and other subtle changes, like his new found cravings for meat, faster reflexes and higher awareness of what went on around him.
There were small changes that he himself hadn't noticed but others had. There was something inexplicably feral about him now. The way he moved was slightly different, his movements were too refined to be 'normal'.
"Just take a while, get help if you need it. It will take some time getting used…that's all I wanted to warn you about."
"This will only happen at night yeah?"
"Yes." Harry nodded again. They talked for a while longer as Lupin was curious about how much more he had progressed in the wandless magic side, smirking as he described how he had been able to scare the Dursleys with a cheap parlor trick.
Soon it was time for dinner and they all retreated to a large dining table. The house elves kept hanging around as they ate, trying to help in any way they could. The food was actually better than what he'd eaten at Hogwarts and that was saying a lot. It was an enjoyable and lively affair as Sirius kept taking every available opportunity to ask Apolline about her Veela friends (Fleur had explained to him while they were upstairs what Sirius had been whining about). Harry had more fun listening and having quiet conversations with Fleur as he ate. Soon after the plates were cleared and taken away Sirius sighed.
"Gotta start heading back." He muttered, getting to his feet with Lupin. Harry looked up in confusion.
"Where are you two going?"
"Meeting…we'll explain later." Sirius added quickly before Harry could open his mouth. "Oh and when do you want to go to Diagon Alley? I heard something about Ollivander…"
"Yeah, I need to get my wand checked up. There is something else to do too." He said softly, unconsciously touching his chest where his necklace was. Sirius nodded and glanced at Dominique.
"Do you need to go tomorrow or anytime soon?" He asked.
"No…around next week or the week after should be good." Fleur looked relieved at this.
"Alright. Later then folks. Thanks for dinner" Sirius said brightly. Lupin nodded and added his thanks. They were almost at the front door when Sirius turned back with a mischievous grin.
"Be good Harry. I don't want to hear anything about you sneaking into…"
"Sirius!" But with a wink they left, closing the door leaving a blushing Harry while Fleur and the others laughed. Soon afterwards Apolline left to put Gabrielle who had fallen asleep at dinner to bed. Dominique left to get an early night's sleep as he had to leave for work early the next day leaving Harry and Fleur alone. They went up to his room where she snuggled up next to him with her head on his shoulder like she always did back when they used to spend time in her room in the carriage. He proceeded to tell her about his week, which mostly involved how he'd met Matt, Linda and Leah. He didn't tell her about anything else, the things he'd seen…but he decided he would slowly let her know one way or the other before summer was over.
She left very reluctantly when she noticed he'd started stifling yawns, demanding that he get some sleep. After giving him a rather long good night kiss which ensured he got his lopsided grin etched to his face she walked away, her hips swaying seductively. Stopping in front of her room she shot a mischievous grin back in his direction before slipping inside, leaving him to close his door and collapse back into his bed. Try as he might, he couldn't keep his eyes open for long and he was fast asleep within minutes.
Nothing troubled him for the night again as his dreams were centered around the woman next door.
AN: Sorry for taking a while to put this up. I ran into a lot of problems on my first week of classes. Got dropped from a few for no reason, spent hours trying to track down professors to get added…it was hell. Head wasn't in the correct place to concentrate on much else but yeah…seems like it's all sorted out now.
So as you guys have noticed, I will not be putting up another story as a sequel. Gonna keep going with the chapters so treat this as the chapter 1 of book 5 if you like :) There was one of you that sent a review asking specifically if I was going to be doing this or putting up another story as a sequel…here's my answer xD. I made a mental note to reply to that ages ago but I guess it slipped my mind...sorry!
It's not even funny how I seem to be missing out on replying to the people who had questions and stuff. Please believe me when I say that I tried : I just…forget stuff and get distracted a lot. Last two weeks were full of distractions and all that.
As always please leave anything you guys have gotta say :) They are my main source of inspiration after all and I love reading what you guys leave behind for me. I especially like how even the criticisms I get are very constructive and you guys point out what I do wrong and give suggestions on how to improve. Thank you so much for those and keep being critical!
Gonna start working on the next chapter pretty soon. Hope this was a good read!
I will read through this again tomorrow and edit errors then…I've already tried my best to minimize 'em but I know there is always something I miss.
Later!