Disclaimer: DO NOT OWN!
A/N: I would like to Thank my Beta 'Sharnorasian Empire' for all the work she did in editing this chapter.
Chapter 26
They had woken up in plenty of time but had spent more time then planed in the shower. Once they finally managed to get out they knew they were running late, so instead of taking the time to gather their things they had called Dobby to them and asked if he would mind moving their things back to the castle, only to be informed that the Castle had changed the location of their beds to the Merlin tower.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused, "The tower is not supposed to open until I command it too."
"I cannot explain it, Mistress." Dobby answered honestly. "You know the power of the castle assigns each student their rooms after they are sorted and that the knowledge is then passed to the elves so that we can properly deliver the trunks and the laundry through the year." When Harry nodded the elf continued, "This morning we received word that Merlin tower had been opened and that three rooms were open; one for Mr. Longbottom, One for Ms. Lovegood, and one for Mistresses. Your things have been relocated to the tower."
"Alright." Harry eventually said, still slightly confused. They had planned on waiting, but it seems that the castle had other ideas. She knew that they would still be able to wait before resorting the school and that's really all that mattered. "Have our colors and crest been changed on our school robes?" she asked as an afterthought.
"Yes Mistress." Dobby nodded, "and the new banner has appeared in the great hall."
"Great." she groaned at the thought and looked at Ginny, "That means we will have to give some kind of explanation to the school."
"We'll talk to the others at training." the red head offered. "We need to leave or we are going to be late." When Harry nodded in agreement she turned to Dobby. "Dobby, Harry and I are running a little behind this morning. Would you mind doing me a favor?"
"Certainly, Mistress Ginny." The elf said excitedly.
"There is a black kitten poking her nose around this house somewhere. Her name is Emerald." She stopped and thought for a moment, "Actually there might be two. Emerald and then Luna's cat, he's a white and tan kitten and I believe she named him Dusty. Would you find them and move them and their things to our new tower."
"Right away, Mistress." Dobby was literally bouncing with excitement. "I would be happy to." He disappeared with a crack.
"Poor cats. He's just excited about something being smaller than him." Harry laughed shaking her head. "Come on, love. We need to go."
Harry and Ginny were the last one's to arrive at the quidditch pitch the next morning. The others were gathered around talking quietly and both young women were surprised to not only see Ron sitting next to the twins, but Fleur talking with Neville and Luna. As they approached Ron was the first to greet them. "Morning Harry, Ginny. I hope you don't mind that the twins brought me along?"
"Of course not little bro." Ginny smiled giving her youngest sibling a hug. "I'm surprised to see you up this early though." She teased him gently.
"Well I've been getting up about this time the last few days in order to study." He admitted with a blush. "Fred and George found me in the common room and asked me if I wanted to join."
"Well I'm glad you did Ron." Harry smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder. She then looked over at Neville and Luna. "Why don't you get this lot started on stretching? Ginny and I want to talk to Fleur for a moment."
"Did you know that our stuff is no longer in our rooms?" Luna asked softly and Neville led the others away. "I went to drop Dusty off this morning and it's empty. I took him back to headquarters for the time being."
Harry nodded, "Dobby told up this morning that the Castle opened up Merlin Tower and opened up three rooms for us there. We asked Dobby to take care of the cats for us." When Luna's eyebrow shot up she added, "We'll talk about it in a little while." Luna simply nodded in understanding and went to join the others, leaving Harry, Ginny, and Fleur alone.
Harry indicated the player's bleachers on one side and the three made their way over. Once they were seated Fleur spoke first. "I'm sorry to barge in on your training, but I was concerned about the two of you and wanted to talk to you in private, so when I saw the other's gathering I came on over." Harry continued to look at her, she suddenly felt like she was being judged. Swallowing her nervousness she went on, "I could sense something different about the two of you the other morning, but couldn't figure out what it was. When the Owl came and you four rushed out in a hurry I grew concerned. It took me a while to figure out what I was sensing, but once I did I was worried about how you were handling it."
Fleur took a deep breath trying to explain herself. "I know we haven't known each other long and you really have no reason to trust me, but I just feel close to the two of you. It…it feels similar to the relationship I share with my little sister. Does that make any sense?"
"Actually it does." Ginny said after a moment. "We noticed the same thing." She glanced at her wife and reached out to take her hand. "I think you can understand that we do not trust easily. We were raised with many secrets to keep and to never reveal too much. Even our true magical levels were hidden until last night, all in an attempt to protect ourselves and those we care for." Fleur nodded in understanding, she like everyone else could feel the new levels of power radiating off the four fifth years, but she suspected they were still containing it somewhat. Ginny went on. "The truth was we were going to seek you out this morning to discuss some things with you."
Fleur waited patiently for one of them to continue. When they did, this time it was Harry, "We were going to ask if you wanted to join our training groups in the morning. I know that you and I are technically playing against each other, but nothing says that we can't train together or even work together when events allow."
Harry paused for a moment and then continued slowly. "I think you can understand when we say that we will not be able to tell you everything. Not because we do not trust you, but because it is necessary to protect ourselves." When Fleur nodded she stood up, "We really need to join the others but you are welcome to stay and watch. Get a feel for what we do and then decide if you want to join. Whatever you decide we would like to continue to remain friends."
She cocked her head to the side in thought, "I think you should know that things are about to get very interesting around here and many will probably accuse me of showboating and being a spoiled little rich kid use to getting her way. I hope you know it's not true, but sometimes you just cannot hide from your responsibilities." She shot the French girl a smile and before turning away to join her wife who was walking towards the others she added, "And just in case you aren't already aware. The first task involves Dragons. I'm not sure what we have to do, but they are the main part of it." She chuckled at the girl's shocked look and turned to leave, "Let us know when you decide. Maybe you can join us at breakfast."
Harry had made it no more than a dozen steps when Fleur came running up beside her. She stopped to look at the other girl and was surprised when she drew her wand and gave an oath of secrecy and silence from anything she might hear or learn while around the group. At Harry's shocked expression she explained, "I can understand the need for privacy and trust. I know what it's like to always have to be on your guard, so I thought this would be a good way to put us all at ease." She shrugged a little and smiled slightly.
Harry smiled back and nodded. "Come on let's get going." Fleur followed her and quickly took a seat with the others to begin stretching. Harry was please that no one even batted an eye at her inclusion. She really wished to explain why they all felt so comfortable around the part Veela. While Ron was affected partially by her, he did a pretty good job of controlling it, and the twins just weren't affected at all. Sitting down next to her wife she said, "I think since we have so many new members we will just run and then go over what we usually do so you know what to expect, but before we do that there is something you need to know."
Looking at them she continued, "The school has opened its fifth house and moved our things there." She indicated Neville, Luna, Ginny, and Herself. "It seems that the four of us will be living there for the rest of the year."
"Wait…" Ron interrupted, "That house is real?" That surprised them all because Ron was the last person they expected to know that legend.
"You know of fifth house?" Ginny asked. "Where did you hear about it?"
Ron actually blushed lightly, "The Merlin House, located in Merlin tower, right?" when Harry nodded he explained, "I was in the Library the other night looking for some history books to help me with an essay. I found a very old addition of 'Hogwarts A History' and got curious. It talked about the legend of Merlin House in there." He shrugged, "But it said it was only used when the School was in trouble."
"That's mostly true." Harry admitted. "The hat wanted to put the four of us in there our first year, but I told it not to. I didn't want anyone figuring out my status as Mistress of Hogwarts until I was ready." When he nodded in understanding she added, "At the beginning of next year I will be offering resorting to the whole school. Any who wish are welcome to see if they would be resorted into the new house."
"What does it mean if you're not?" Ron asked.
"Nothing really." She wanted to make it clear to him from the start. "Students who are sorted into Merlin are the ones who can fit into any of the other houses equally. If you aren't resorted it just means that your house trait is stronger than the others and you clearly fit into that house the best."
"For those people the hat is usually forced to make the best choice it can," Ginny added, "They had to go somewhere so the hate chooses a place. With the fifth house open it just gives them somewhere else to go. That's all."
"Alright" Harry said standing up, "No more talk. Let's get going." She watched as they all immediately stood and started out a slow jog in order to warm up. They ran at only half their regular speed to allow Fred, George, and Ron to keep up. It seemed that Fleur was use to the exercise.
Once Harry had deemed that they had run enough she pulled them the center of the pitch for some cool down exercises. For the rest of the time she and the three others demonstrated some of the things they would be working on while in training. It was around seven that morning when they finally broke up to go get cleaned up and ready to go to breakfast. It was closer for Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna to go to the Founder's study. As she suspected a new door had appeared that she knew would lead to their new dorm. It was directly in between the doors leading to the Founders' private quarters. They quickly dressed, deciding to wait to explore later, and returned through the Founders' study to meet Ron and the Twins to head down to breakfast.