Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter Franchise or its characters. All characters used are the property of their respective owners.

Rated M for violence, language, & sexual themes.

Harry Potter & the Dance Macabre XXII

Hogsmeade Station, Hogsmeade, Scotland

Sunday, 1 September 1996

Harry, Tonks, Hermione, Susan, Daphne, Neville, Hannah, Luna, and Tracy departed the train at Hogsmeade station, Professor Carlstrom had left the compartment as soon as the train had stopped and apparated to the Castle gates. Hermione shivered in the cold, causing Harry to shed his robe to wrap around her. Hermione smiled, giving Harry a kiss on the cheek.

The nine of them walked up past the first years who were being herded towards the boats. Harry raised an eyebrow as he walked, looking back to his girls. "Where is Hagrid?"

Hermione looked over at the first years and frowned. "At the castle?"

"I guess we'll find out."

At the castle, Harry gave Daphne, and Susan kisses on the cheeks before they departed for their house tables. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville sat together, while Ron sat down the other end, on his own. Once everyone was seated Professor Flitwick led the first years out in front of the Sorting Hat. The hat sang his song, and the students were sorted, once it was over the new Headmistress stood at the lectern.

"Good evening students, those of you who are joining us for the first time, welcome, to the rest of you, welcome back. There have been several changes in staffing over the summer, to start with, I have been appointed as the permanent replacement for Professor Dumbledore. He leaves a long legacy at this school; I hope to be at least as competent as he was."

Harry suppressed a smirk when he heard Hermione snort beside him. "As most of you know Professor Snape left Hogwarts at the end of last year to take up a position at St Mungo's, this left a vacancy as Potions Master. I am pleased to introduce Penelope Haywood, formerly of Hufflepuff house as his replacement."

A young a beautiful blonde witch stood and gave a wave to the students, several of the older boys whistled happily seeing the hot new addition to the staff. This immediately died when they caught sight of Professor Carlstrom glaring at them from the other end of the staff table.

"Regretfully… eh, Professor Umbridge also left to return to her duties at the Ministry at the end of the last term, in her place and with my approval, the Ministry has appointed Auror Nicholas Carlstrom, also formerly of Hufflepuff House as her replacement. Please give him a warm hand in welcome."

"I bet some of the witches here would like to give him a warm hand," Tonks commented from her position behind Harry.

"Thirdly, over the summer Professor Binns was finally convinced to start his next great adventure, so filling the role of History of Magic Professor will be Rowan Kanna."

A tall, dark-skinned wizard with curly dark hair rose and gave the students a short bow. Several of the older girls were seen to be checking him out. Tonks snorted a laugh, causing Harry and Hermione to glance back at her. "He's gay, he's also an ex-schoolmate."

"Fourth, Rubus Hagrid has decided to take a sabbatical from teaching to further expand his knowledge of Magical Creatures from across the world. In his place, for the next three years, I am pleased to welcome back former Gryffindor Charlie Weasley as your new Professor of Care of Magical Creatures."

Again, polite applause filled the hall, and even older witches craned their necks to check out the hot new addition to the Hogwarts staff.

"Lastly, joining us to teach Transfigurations, is Merula Snyde, formerly of Slytherin House."

A final round of applause echoed through the hall, which quickly died down and McGonagall resumed speaking. "Now, we have a final staffing change to address, over the summer Argus Filch was dismissed as caretaker, his role will be taken by the House Elves."

Harry felt Hermione shift beside him, but she remained silent. "All products of Weasley Wizarding Wheeze are banned for use during school hours, and you are encouraged to limit their use during off-hours. The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds for all students. A ward has been placed on the edge of the forest that will warn you if you're straying too close, if you continue you will be directed out of the Forest and a Professor will be notified. You will then receive an automatic detention. Any further breach of the rules regarding the forest will result in suspension, and if you still refuse to abide by the rules, you will be expelled. The forbidden forest is a dangerous area, and I was informed over the summer; it will be several years before all the dangerous creatures that have taken up residence can be relocated. Until then, we will observe strict rules around entry into the forest."

"The rules around bullying at Hogwarts have been allowed to become rather lacks over the past few years, that changes this year. As I have noted in the introduction of new Professors, we have an Auror on staff, any cases of serious bullying will be referred to him to be forwarded to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Also, from tonight, random searches will be conducted of student's belongings, contraband will be confiscated with points deductions and detentions issued for rule-breakers depending on what the items are. Any dark objects will be turned over to Professor Carlstrom for evaluation and the case forwarded to the DMLE."

"Now, with the serious subjects out of the way, and as a reward for having to sit through those announcements, it is my pleasure to tell you that tomorrow night for students fourth year and up, we will have the first-ever Hogwarts Dance Party. With live music from the Hogwarts Alumni band, fronted by Weird Sisters lead singer, Myron Wagtail and featuring the musical talents of Professors Carlstrom and Weasley, among others. Now, let us eat!"

With a wave of her wand, the house tables were filled with food. With a smile at his friends, Harry dug in. Towards the end of dinner, Harry received a note from the head table, asking him to wait. After the other houses had left the Hall, Daphne, Hermione, Tonks, and Harry stood to wait for the Headmistress, she approached them accompanied by Charlie Weasley. "Good evening, Lord Potter, Miss Greengrass, Auror Tonks, and Miss Granger. It is good to see you all well."

"Good evening, Headmistress, congratulations."

"Thank you, Lord Potter, now you already know the man standing beside me, but I should do the professional introduction, this is your new Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and head of Gryffindor, Charlie Weasley."

"Good evening Professor." The four said together, while Tonks had a quiet laugh.

"Good evening."

"Now, I have been made aware of your circumstances Lord Potter, we will escort you back to the Lords Quarters near Gryffindor tower. The accommodation has been provided for you by the castle."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Headmistress."

Harry, Daphne, Hermione, Charlie and McGonagall quickly made their way up to the seventh floor where they bypassed the Fat Lady's portrait and instead stepped through a side door into the passage that led to the Gryffindor Lords Quarters. As soon as Harry had reiterated the password to the Lion and it was accepted, Charlie and McGonagall departed.

"Well, I guess this is where I leave you two," Hermione announced.

"Yeah, I wish you could join us," Harry stated casually, red crept up his cheeks when he realised the implication of what he'd said. "I, I, I meant, I didn't…"

Hermione and Daphne laughed, giving him a kiss on each cheek. "I know what you meant, Harry."

Hermione reluctantly let her hand slip from Harry's. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Hermione." Harry and Daphne said in tandem.

Harry, Tonks, and Daphne stepped into their accommodation, and the three separated to go into their respective rooms. Harry paused at the door and turned to face Daphne. "Are you ok with staying here, wouldn't you prefer to stay in the Slytherin Dorms?"

Daphne smiled and shook her head. "I'd much rather be here, with you. You're going to be my husband one day, Harry."

"As long as you're sure…"

Daphne walked over and took Harry's hands in hers. "About me staying here, or being my husband?"

Harry looked away, shyly. "A little of both, I care about you a lot, but if we're going to take that step in our relationship, I need to know its what you want. The betrothal contract doesn't have an expiration date. I don't know what's going on with the Nott's but I do know I will protect you for as long as I have too or as long as you'll have me."

Daphne smiled again, leaning in to kiss Harry gently on the lips. "You answered your own question, Lord Potter, yes, I'm sure I want you to be my husband."

Harry smiled. "I'm glad."

"Hands where I can see them you two," Tonks called out from her position lent against the door of her room.

"We were having a moment, Auror Tonks!" Daphne called out angrily.

"I know," Tonks replied with a grin.

"I think I'm going to bed now…" Harry mumbled his face bright red.

Great Hall

Monday, September 2, 1996

Harry and his friends were sitting at the Gryffindor House Table when a Hogwarts owl fluttered down to land in front of Harry. He raised his eyebrow and untied the note from its leg. After reading the said note he hurriedly stuffed it deep into a pocket of his robes, looking pensive.

"Are you ok?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded, taking a pull from his goblet of pumpkin juice. He was saved from responding by Cho Chang and Pavarti Patil approaching them. "Good morning Lord Potter," the two said in unison, bowing.

"You, really don't have to call me that," Harry replied as a blush crept up his cheeks.

"We do, but that's beside the point, we wanted to thank you, for your gift," Cho replied.

"I'll add my sister's thanks on her behalf."

"It's not necessary, you both deserved an apology a lot sooner," Harry replied.

"An apology for what?" Susan asked.

Harry blushed again. "For being a crap date at the Yule Ball for Pavarti and Hogsmeade for Cho. They're both beautiful witches, and I should have treated them with more respect."

"That makes sense, but why Padma?"

Harry shrugged. "Weasley was never going to apologise, so I figured someone should act on his behalf."

"That's not your job, Harry," Hermione admonished.

"Yeah, but we were friends, just, at the time. We both should have pulled our fingers out and made sure Pavarti and Padma had a good time, instead we were sullen jerks. And I was brooding because you went with Viktor."

Hermione rolled her eyes, giving Harry a kiss on the cheek. "But I'm not Viktor's girlfriend, I'm your girlfriend, remember?"

"I know, I was still jealous..." Harry mumbled. He turned to the two girls. "Would you like to join us, there are plenty of seats."

The two girls caught the daggers both Hermione and Daphne were shooting them and shook their heads. "Um, no that's ok, thanks, Harry."

Harry smiled and nodded, giving Daphne and Hermione an odd look. "Did I miss something?"

Hermione patted Harry's head. "Just eat your food."

"Yes, dear," Harry replied, earning a poke in the ribs.

Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom

First Period

Harry, Tonks, Hermione, and Neville, and the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor and Slytherins entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts class unsure of what to expect. They found their teacher, Professor Carlstrom, sitting cross-legged on the teacher's desk his chin resting on his knuckles as the class filtered in. Tonks and Carlstrom exchanged a smile before she took her position at the back of the room. Daphne, Hermione, Harry and Neville, sat together at the front but Ron, sat at the back and sulked occasionally throwing a glare towards his former best friend.

"Good Morning class," Carlstrom announced when the students were finally seated.

"Good morning," was the best about half the class could manage. Carlstrom sighed, drawing his wand from his wand holster and holding it up to let out a cannon blast.

This immediately snapped the class to attention with every eye focused on him. "Good, now, let's try that again, good morning class."

"Good morning Professor," the students responded as one.

Carlstrom waved his wand at the blackboard behind him, and the chalk started writing.

"That is there for those who are interested. I will also not waste your time like other teachers who have attempted to guide these classes. Believe me, I took the same courses as you have with much the same mix of the incompetent and stupid 'Professors' as you had. Never had a professor up and die, lose their marbles or masquerading as someone else, twice."

At this, Hermione raised her hand. "Professor we only had one year taught by Barty Crouch Junior."

"You are correct, Miss Granger, but you also had a year taught by a toad disguised as a woman too."

This had several members of the class give a quiet chuckle as Hermione mumbled. "That's not very nice…"

"No, it isn't, Miss Granger, but Delores Umbridge isn't a nice person, to put it mildly. And because of her, 'teaching' methods or lack thereof. I am here. I am the compromise between the Minister of Magic, the Headmistress and Madam Bones, my boss. The Ministry has finally realised that we do not live in ideal times. Voldemort, or to use his real name, Tom Riddle, may be gone, for now, but his supporters are not. It could be another fifty or one hundred years, it could be tomorrow, but eventually, the forces of evil will rise again. It's my job to make sure you're ready to fight. Many of you will choose careers outside the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, for them, this class will prepare them to fight for their homes and their families if a Death Eater ever darkens your door. For the small number of you that aspire to a career in the Aurors, I hope this course will give you at least a glimpse of what Auror Tonks and myself had to do to earn our badges."

Carlstrom pointed to the board, and the last of his academic accomplishments lit up. "I want the next part to be perfectly clear. I am an Auror first and a Hogwarts Professor second. If I see someone pull a wand on another student you next stop won't be detention it will be a DMLE holding cell, where you will wait until your parents can come and collect you if you're lucky. Oh, and if you think running to your head of house will help, think again, this has the full support of the Headmistress. The days of Snape and Dumbledore are over."

Carlstrom waved his wand, and a series of parchment flew out and landed on each student's desks. "I am aware that you all have varying levels of knowledge regarding Defence Against the Dark Arts, so I have composed a list of spells you should have learned in the last five years. Please identify all the spells you know, and once you are finished, please turn to page two thirty-three of your textbooks. There is no time limit on this, nor is it a test, if you don't know all the spells that's fine, that's the fault of your teachers more than it is yours."

After classes, Harry broke off from his group of friends and pulled out the note he'd received. It was written in the same code he and Fleur had agreed when they were together during the Tri-Wizard's tournament, and the handwriting was Fleur's. But Harry didn't remember Fleur mentioning being at Hogwarts in their correspondence. But then, as Harry reflected, letters had been sent between them less frequently as time had gone on. Particularly after well... Harry paused at the entrance to the classroom marked on the note and frowned, wishing he'd brought the map along. As he reached for his wand, a hand-pulled him into the room and shoved him against the wall.

Before Harry had time to reach a pair of familiar lips were on his, and his hands acted, placing themselves on Fleur Delacour's round hips. When they came up for air Harry could see a hungry look in Fleur's beautiful blue eyes.

"Fleur, what are hmph!" Harry tried to ask a question, but Fleur's lips were on his again. She was pulling at his robes trying to pull them away and get to the clothes underneath.

"Fleur, hey!" Harry protested, pulling himself free of the eager French witch.

"What's wrong, Arry, don't you want me anymore?" Fleur asked with a pout.

"That's not it, things are different now," Harry replied, walking away from her.

"Why, because you are betrothed? Most Wizards Veela have encountered don't care whether they're betrothed, married or have a girlfriend, they're happy to have a Veela trying to seduce them," Fleur spat angrily, sounding both hurt and insulted that she'd been spurned.

"I'm not most wizards," Harry replied with a hint of anger.

"I know that I wouldn't have confessed to you if you were an ordinary wizard, or did you think I would forget?"

Harry groaned, rubbing his face and sitting down on one of the desks. "Fleur..."

Fleur walked up and sat on Harry's lap, kissing him again. "Arry, I can make you very happy. I love you, I've been in love with you since we were together. Why would you reject me...?"

"It's not that simple, I do care about you, and I am very attracted to you. But Daphne and I are betrothed, Hermione is my girlfriend and uh, Susan Bones and I... I'm not sure yet, but something is there, between us," Harry explained as he reached up to caress Fleur's cheek. "You're a beautiful and smart witch Fleur, you shouldn't be forth in anyone's heart. I want you to be happy, I just don't think you'd be happy with me."

"Why can't I decide that for myself?!" Fleur demanded angrily climbing off Harry's lap to pace.

Harry watched her looking bewildered. "F-Fleur, I don't understand, I thought what happened between us was... I thought it ended when the tournament did."

"Well, you were wrong! I never stopped caring about you, I never stopped loving you, but obviously, you stopped loving me!" Fleur replied tearfully.

"That's not fair, Fleur, I do care about you, a lot!" Harry bit back angrily hopping off the table.

"Really? Do you love me, Arry?" Fleur demanded walking up to stand in front of him.

Harry took a deep breath and rested his hands-on Fleur's arms. "I don't know, but I think it would be effortless to fall in love with you, but things are very complicated."

Fleur started kissing Harry again. "They don't have to be, I can be whatever you need me to be, I can be your wife, your concubine, even your mistress," Fleur said, leaning into his ear. "I can even be other things too if you're a good boy," She added licking his ear, which sent a shudder down Harry's spine.

"Fleur, why are you acting like this?" Harry begged.

"I think I can answer that," Another voice answered, Harry quickly pulled away when he saw who spoke. Hermione, Daphne, Susan, and Tonks were standing at the door of the classroom, Hermione was watching Harry and Fleur with a thoroughly unimpressed look on her face.

"H-hi…" Harry squeaked, looking into the angry eyes of his girlfriend.

"Hello Harry, Miss Delacour," Hermione replied, Fleur simply glared at the brunette witch.

"Y-you said you knew why Fleur was acting… different?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but not here, we need to talk to the Headmistress," Hermione explained which caused any remaining colour in Harry's face to disappear.

"I-is that really necessary?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Unfortunately, I'm sorry that we must talk to Headmistress McGonagall about your sex life Harry, but it's important. Once we explain, you'll understand."

Harry groaned, dropping his face into his palm. He'd always considered Headmistress McGonagall as a stern Grandmother type figure in his life, he did not relish the idea of sharing the details of his sexual conquests with her. But if Hermione felt it was necessary, then he couldn't really argue.

Susan reluctantly departed and Fleur and Harry followed Hermione, Daphne, and Tonks up to the Headmistress's office. On the way, Tonks gave Harry an earful about sneaking away to snog hot French witches. Harry wasn't sure what bothered her more, the fact that he'd snuck away, or that he'd not included her. He tried not to think too hard about the latter, in case it caused him, discomfort.

Finally, they arrived, and Hermione knocked, announced them and entered. "Good afternoon Miss Granger, is something wrong?"

"Not exactly Headmistress, I should start from the beginning. During the Tri-Wizard's tournament Harry and Miss Delacour…"

"Professor Delacour, Miss Granger," McGonagall replied, gently reprimanding Hermione.

"Oh, we didn't know," Hermione explained.

"I see, yes, Professor Delacour has joined us this year to be the Assistant Charms Professor, she will be studying with Professor Flitwick and taking over some of his duties as he takes over mine as Deputy Headmaster."

"I see, that would explain some things," Hermione replied only for McGonagall to raise an eyebrow. "Yes, so Harry and Professor Delacour became lovers during the latter half of the tournament…"

"That is fascinating Miss Granger, but I don't see why you've brought this to me, Miss Delacour was not a Professor at this school at the time. And while I would admonish her to not continue such behaviour while a Professor, that is all I can do."

"Headmistress, they became lovers in the carnal sense," Hermione explained blushing.

"You don't mean to imply…?" McGonagall began but let herself trail off.

Hermione turned and faced Harry. "I need an honest answer when you and Fleur first had intercourse did you ejaculate inside her?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Hermione!"

"Harry, this is important, I can't put it delicately for you, so did you…?"

"Yes! Ok, yes, I did… I did… that. I-I was excited… a-and it just happened… And now I want to bury myself in a deep hole," Harry finished, Hermione silenced Daphne with a look.

Hermione groaned, rubbing her face. "I was afraid you'd say that…"

"I don't understand, Fleur said…" He turned to Fleur. "You said you knew the contraceptive charm…"

"Oui, Arry, but that's not the problem," Fleur explained looking shamefaced. "I never meant for him to… It wasn't my intention. It was the first time a man had ejaculated inside me. I had never let anyone do that before."

"We believe you, Professor Delacour," McGonagall assured her.

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Harry demanded angrily looking from his girlfriend back to the Headmistress.

Hermione sighed, resting her hands on Harry's arms. "When a male wizard ejaculates inside a Veela their magic becomes intertwined, the two bond on a magical level."

Harry went pale again, turning to Fleur. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean too…"

McGonagall sighed. "It seems we will have to make some adjustments to your accommodation requirements Professor Delacour, although this does explain why you were so eager to apply for this role."

Harry turned to Hermione again. "The bond is permanent Harry; Fleur is yours for life. Nothing can break the bond you share. Her magic draws on yours, without it, she will die."

Harry's gaze returned to Fleur. "That's why you were so eager earlier, and why you told me you loved me in those letters. Your magic is pulling you towards me…"

"That is partially correct. My magic is pulling me towards you, but it cannot make me love you. That is something I can still decide for myself. I could have stayed away and let my magic kill me, but I wanted to come here and be with you. I would have been here sooner, but I needed to finish my studies in France, and the tone of your letters told me I would only have made things more complicated for you here last year."

"Professor Delacour, I admit to not being an expert in the field of Veela's, but in my limited research, it was my understanding that if a Veela is separated from their bonded wizard for more than a couple of months, they will die. But you stayed away for an entire year?" McGonagall asked.

"Oui, your research is correct. However, my Grandmother, the head of my Enclave, developed a potion, a stopgap, that allows Veela's who are forced away from their Bonded wizard to live away from them for extended periods. I could have survived for another month without seeing Arry, but thankfully I do not need the potion any longer."

Harry took a deep breath. "Yep, this got more complicated…"

To Be Continued…

So, we need to talk about the schedule for this story going forward. I will absolutely be finishing this, bar extenuating circumstances. However, there are other projects I want to work on this year. Mainly they're Harry Potter stories, and they're all but one Harmony or Harmony+.

So, going forward, I will be reducing the release schedule to once a month. In the meantime, I will be doing hopefully regular updates of other projects.

If you haven't checked them out, they're available from my profile page.

Dangerous: An angsty Romance/drama set during the Tri-Wizard's tournament. Harry/Hermione/Fleur

Don't Dream its Over: One-shot Angst/Drama, Harry/Hermione (warning: Dark.)

There will be other stories coming out soon, but only one at a time.

Lastly, I wanted to address part of the reason why I haven't released anything for this story in a couple of months. I got a review that really bothered me, and it played on my mind for a while. But I finally decided that if this reviewer doesn't like the story, or the characters, whether original or otherwise, I use, then they can go read something else.

Thanks for reviewing:

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