Knowledge is Power

by WulfStone

On that fateful day, Voldemort didn't attack the Potter family but sent his Death Eaters - James was killed but Lily was put in a permanent coma. Now an older Harry is joining Hogwarts on his journey to heal his mother. In this fic Harry is 2 years older then in canon.

27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: It's Been a Long Time Coming

"I don't know why you're looking so smug," Harry said to the beautiful blonde part Veela seated across from him, "the only reason you scored so well is because Bagman and Crouch were affected by your Veela aura."

Fleur shrugged indifferently, "And ze only reason why Cedric scored so well eez because you rigged ze task."

"Cheating in the actual task is part of the tradition behind the Triwizard Tournament," Harry pointed out calmly, "cheating after it to rig your scores, is not. You may as well give Bagman a blowjob sometime before the next task, he may even give you an eleven."

Normally, most girls would be highly offended by, well, anything Harry would say to them, or at them, hell, anything he would say at all. Especially when it concerned them giving blowjobs to ministry officials so they could rig a scoring system. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on which way you looked at it, Fleur was not like most girls. Being a different species could do that, not that Harry had figured out Veela well enough to be sure that is a factor.

"I tried," Fleur joked with a disappointed sigh, causing Archie and Stephanie to simultaneously spit their pumpkin juice and sandwich out of their noses and mouths respectively, "I do not think 'e was interested. Perhaps, 'e is batting for ze ozzer team?"

"He does seem a little too keen on Longbottom," Harry mused thoughtfully, "Either that, or you're just bad at sucking dick. You should ask Stephanie for some pointers."

Cries of 'Harry!' and 'Shut-up, asshole!' came from their abashed observes; Fleur merely sent an amused glance towards her friend.

"Oh I am sorry, you should ask Stephanie's girlfriend Archades for some pointers," He sighed in mock woe, expertly avoiding the morsels of food sent flying his way.

"Still, I don't know why you're so smug," Harry shrugged, "had you not stumbled a little to the left, you'd have been skewered by that Gorpack's spear, Cedric, on the other hand, came out completely unscathed."

"I did not stumble," Fleur replied indignantly, discreetly fingering the bandages covering her torso, "it was a graceful dodge in an incredibly dangerous situation, my skills are what kept me alive."

"Right," he replied, "and Archie still doesn't have tea parties with his 'Stephy-bear'," he sarcastically quipped, ignoring the horrified gasp coming from the brown-haired boy and the amused glance Stephanie sent in his direction.

"Stephy-bear?" she asked, "Tea parties? Do I even want to know?" Stephanie didn't look as peeved or annoyed as Harry hoped she'd be. Hypocritical of him? Maybe, but hypocrisy is a stupid concept anyways that people use to pretend to have the moral high ground.

Archie thought to deny everything Harry had just said, but the damage was already done, "No," he answered dejectedly, "you probably don't."

"I don't care what you think," Fleur snapped irritably, "'Ad I used my sword, ze situation would 'ave been completely different."

"However," Harry countered, "knowing that I was watching, you knew you'd rather almost take a mortal wound than finally prove me right by giving us proof of your sub-par swordsmanship."

"She's the best at Beauxbatons Harry," Stephanie reminded the ebony haired teen lightly, eyeing the angry part-Veela warily as she did so.

"I don't see how that helps her situation any," Harry shrugged, "it doesn't mean she's any good, it just means everyone else is that bad."

Archie let out a snort of amusement, one that he quickly had to hide as a coughing fit when Stephanie glared at him, "Something caught in my throat," he feebly explained.

"You shouldn't feel too bad though," Harry conceded, decided he'd had enough fun irritating Fleur for the afternoon, "at least you didn't do as bad as Longbottom." Not quite the best comparison to make considering no one did as bad as Longbottom, even Karkaroff did a better job scoring fairly than Longbottom did in the competition. If Moody was anything resembling a good advisor, he would advise Longbottom to give up and not risk his life, but it seems just because you are the most senior Auror in the country doesn't make you instantly eligible for a free common-sense-coupon.

"Oh mate," Archie exclaimed in amusement, finally feeling it safe to introduce himself in the conversation now that Harry and Fleur were done with their blatant 'flirting', "Merlin must be looking over him, I have no idea how he escaped from the Gorpack on two different occasions," he shook his head before continuing, "actually, I can't believe he got caught in the first place, given that he had an invisibility cloak…"

"Gorpack are extremely adept at tracking," Harry explained to his sometimes intellectually challenged friend – second smartest in the school or not he was still idiotic at times, "just because his body wasn't visible, and his scent masked, didn't mean he wasn't leaving a trail skilled tracker couldn't follow."

"I saw ze replay on one of zose Pensieve screens," Fleur spoke up, "'ad 'e used a silencing charm on 'is feet, and, perhaps, discovered a way to mask 'is footprints, zey would not 'ave been able to find 'im," Fleur said, absolutely certain.

"Which is why they are the hunters not you, just because your high-school education won't allow you to track him doesn't mean they wouldn't be able to," Harry shrugged nonchalantly, "I can't be certain, but until Krum killed one of them off, I'm fairly sure the Gorpack were just playing with you all."

"I got the same feeling actually," Archie agreed, surprising Stephanie and Fleur, "Despite the fact that Longbottom had legitimately gotten away from them by blowing up shit with blasting curses and running as fast as his chubby little legs could take him in the confusion, I very much doubt the Gorpack would normally be so careless as to let him do that in the first place – were they serious, that is."

"That and they normally would have skewered him the second they found him," Harry deadpanned, "Dumbledore probably had something to do with that, some compulsion wards around the main part of the forest to make them less aggressive or something…"

"Which were overcome when Krum killed one of them," Stephanie realized, "compulsion charms can usually be broken when the affected parties are under extreme emotion."

"Wait, how come it didn't affect Krum then?" Archie asked curiously, "He looked rather aggressive, if you ask me. Those traps he made would have killed anything with lesser tracking experience."

"One of the other champions, for example?" Harry asked rhetorically, "Compulsion wards or any spell wards need a more specific target than 'everyone in the area'," he explained, "they usually need a specific instruction if they're to work, it's why Curse-breakers need to be good at Arithmancy if you want to make your own wards. You need to factor what species or demographic the ward is going to be targeting when creating it. Dumbledore probably keyed the compulsion wards into the Gorpacks' auras, I suppose."

Archie and Stephanie were looking at Harry with blank faces, Fleur, on the other hand, looked intrigued, "Madame Maxime said somezing similar when I told 'er I wanted to be a curse-breaker," she mused, "Zat I needed to be very well versed in Arithmancy, and zat I would need to be able to use it to construct my own wards…"

"Wait," Stephanie looked confused, "didn't you tell me you wanted to be a healer?"

"Eet is a possibility zat I am still considering," Fleur shrugged, "my skills are in charms and Arithmancy zough, suggest a better career in curse-breaking."

"By better career," Archie said slyly, "you mean better money, right?"

"Of course," Fleur shrugged, "I do not intend to live off my parent's charity forever. I want to make my own way in ze world."

Harry sent an amused glance at Archie upon hearing those words. They seemed oddly familiar.

"Harry, Archie, there is a meeting in the Ravenclaw common-room," Catherine Spencer, one of the Ravenclaw prefects, informed the two boys, "Professor Flitwick said everyone needs to go."

Seeing Harry frown, Catherine quickly spoke up, "Professor Flitwick also said that it shouldn't take long, so you don't need to get annoyed."

The boys followed their house prefect back to their common room, ignoring the look Fleur and Stephanie were sending their way – it was a look of knowing, as if they already knew what this meeting was about.

Once the boys had left the Great Hall, Stephanie turned to Fleur with a curious frown, "Have you thought about what the parchment has told you yet?"

"No," Fleur admitted somewhat sheepishly as she pulled out the said piece of parchment from her pocket. When she had time after the first task, she had taken a glance at its contents to see that the writing had changed sometime after exiting the forest.

Unrolling the scroll, she glanced at its contents once more, wondering what it could possibly mean. It was another message, that was for sure, but it most definitely was not in French or English – or any other known language for that matter. It was obviously a code, as the words nothing short of unintelligible. The problem was, no matter how long she stared at it, she just couldn't tell how to crack it.

"Here," she pried the parchment out of her friend's hand, "Let me have a look at it."

Stephanie read the parchment with a frown on her face; she couldn't make much sense of it either. It was definitely a code, of that much she was certain, but she couldn't even begin to fathom how she could possibly crack it. Glancing over to a sullen Fleur, who was playing with her breakfast rather than eating, she took one last look at the parchment:

'Lw qa j pbzovangvba tk lzjww dsfbuvsft'

How in Merlin's name could she possibly make sense of that? How did they expect Fleur to? There weren't even any other clues on the page, just that message, unless you count the ingredients she gathered from the forest, that is. However, without knowing their purpose, those ingredients could be used for hundreds of different potion brews in a number of ways.

It was definitely a shame she didn't pick Harry as her adviser, this definitely seemed like something that would definitely be in his field of expertise. Fleur could ask Archie for his help with the ingredients, but without cracking the code first, he won't be much help. In fact they never even specified the professors would use the ingredients for the second task, they could be making anti-rash potions with them for all they knew, as unlikely as that is.

"You know," Stephanie mused, "just because you didn't pick Harry as your adviser, doesn't mean he's not allowed to help…"

"No," Fleur answered resolutely, "I do not need 'is 'elp."

"Yes you do," Stephanie argued, "don't let your pride get in the way of winning this competition!"

"I do not need 'is 'elp!" Fleur hissed again, "Ze Goblet of Fire chose me for a reason, I do not need 'is 'elp to compete in zis tournament."

Stephanie shrugged nonchalantly, a sly smirk on her face following, "You right, of course," she conceded, "I mean, while you're worrying about looking good in front of your new boyfriend, he'll get the answer for Cedric in a week, tops, and have him prepared months in advance," she took a sip of her drink, "not all of us can be Triwizard champions, after all." In actuality, Harry would probably glance at the parchment, and either lose interest leaving Cedric to fend for himself or solve it within a week and then hold it over Cedric for the sole purpose of wasting his time.

Fleur glared grumpily at her best friend, muttering a few choice French curses under her breath as she did so.

XXXX

"Ah, yes, thank-you all for coming so quickly," Professor Flitwick stood on top of one of the large tables in the common room as he addressed the fourth years and above, his Ravenclaws, for the most part, listening intently. Harry and Archie could still barely see him over the small group of students – he was incredibly short, even while standing on a table.

"What did you want to tell us, sir?" a seventh year asked their head of house, "Not to be rude, but I was studying for my NEWTs…" Clearly not well enough, if a short break threatens their grades then he hasn't been studying diligently for the past few years.

"Yes, I apologise for that, this won't take long," Flitwick assured the boy, "I imagine that the letters you received at the beginning of the school year asking you to bring dress robes have made you quite curious, understandable, of course, but I have called this meeting to finally tell you why."

The girls, Harry noticed, had suddenly become much more attentive. He had a bad feeling about this.

"The Triwizard Tournament brings with it a number of traditions that are to be upheld and followed," he informed the group of students, "one of those is the Yule Ball that will be held on Christmas day."

The attentive girls had now become extremely excited, if the whispering and giggling was anything to go by.

"This ball provides us with a great opportunity for us to be sociable with our foreign guests, one of the main purposes behind holding the Triwizard Tournament is international cooperation, after all," he explained, "Now, as you may have guessed by the fact that I asked the younger students to leave, the ball is only open to fourth years and above – no need for them to be envious, you may, however, ask a younger student to attend with you as your date, if you wish…" The students would be envious once they inevitably heard of it from someone else anyways, but the point is that Flitwick wouldn't have to be the one to deal with it.

The giggles only increased in magnitude as many of the girls in the room looked over to him and Archie. Archie looked excited, something that the girls in the room picked up on – none of them seemingly knew why though. They probably assumed that they actually had a chance… the poor optimistic fools.

"A partner is not mandatory, but strongly advised, and dress robes will be worn, nothing less will be acceptable," he informed them, "the ball will start at eight in the evening and will go on until midnight – however, even though this will be an opportunity for us to have a good time, the Heads of Houses have been advised to warn you that you are expected to be on your best behaviour. I will not have my house be the one to embarrass the school, leave that to the Slytherins and Gryffindors, please," any warning coming from Flitwick was funny in Harry's opinion. Sure, he respected the man's skills with a wand, but he wasn't exactly the most threatening person in the world – not that it really matters with magic in consideration, but it did amuse the more repressed primal aspect of his mind. The quip about the Slytherins and Gryffindors only caused to increase the amusement.

The stern warning seemed to have the desired effect on the other students though; the girls' giggling and the boys' leering had stopped as the tiny professor held their attention.

"That is all for my announcement, for those of you who wish to learn to dance, as the Yule Ball is exactly that," he explained to the shocked boys, "Professor McGonagall will be holding dance classes regularly until the night of the ball, consult her for times."

As the professor crawled off the table, Archades turned to Harry with a pained expression.

"This is bad," Archades said weakly, "I had hoped to have the entire year to get closer to Stephanie… this isn't bad… this is a disaster!"

"It could be worse," Harry shrugged, as he scrunched his face up in thought to think of a way to finish that sentence, "she could ask you to brew her some contraceptive potions after turning you down." Although, considering Archades' relationship with Stephanie, that might be the best thing for his friend…

Harry suddenly noticed how the majority of the females in the room were eyeing him hungrily. Feeling a headache coming on, he fetched his flask from his back pocket and took a swig before leaving Archie to the mercy of these 'vultures'.

He had better ways to waste his time, like smashing his head up against a brick wall, for instance.

Leaving the Ravenclaw common room silently, he failed to notice the contemplative look on his best friend's face.

"Harry!" Cedric yelled, catching up to the ebony haired teen in one of Hogwarts' many corridors, "You think you can help me with my clue?"

Harry snatched the offending piece of parchment out of Cedric's hand, eyeing it with a frown, or rather, eyeing the words on it. It was obviously a code, a rather simple one it seemed.

Shaking his head, he looked back to Cedric, "We just got told about the Yule Ball," he frowned, "why aren't you all over ickle-what's her face yet?"

"Yule Ball?" Cedric squeaked in shock, "I'm supposed to be heading to the Hufflepuff common room for a house meeting, you think it's about a ball?"

"No," Harry answered, "Professor Sprout is just going to implore you, in a friendly manner of course, to trim her hedges – you know, down there," he motioned downwards, "being the loyal little badgers you all are, you'll all line up for the opportunity."

"That's… disgusting," Cedric deadpanned, "I need to go ask Cho before someone else does," he sighed dreamily, "she's so gorgeous…"

"Didn't pick you for the type to be into that Asian schoolgirl look," Harry quipped, "Whatever tickles your fancy I suppose…" he shrugged as he continued to try and make sense of the code on the parchment.

"Wait," Cedric stopped his friend incredulously, "you're actually going to try and figure that out? I figured I'd have to, I don't know, get Fleur to give you a lap dance or something before you'd even consider it…"

"Why would you think I'd… " Harry wasn't able to finish his question though, as Cedric interrupted him with a raised brow.

"You may be able to fool Archie and Stephanie, but trust me when I say that I know flirting when I see it," Cedric deadpanned, "you two are so hot for each other, I'm surprised you haven't just jumped her in the middle of the Great Hall and had your wicked way with her."

Harry frowned, "An exhibitionist you may be, I am rathe different. The answer is rather simple," he spoke as if talking to a toddler, "because I don't, like, her, like, that," he paused after each of the words to emphasise his point.

"But you do like her," Cedric pointed out triumphantly, "that's huge, coming from you."

Not even bothering to dignify that with a response, Harry just walked past Cedric towards one of Hogwarts' many empty classrooms. Cedric would no doubt come looking for him eventually, he'd rather not endure the onslaught of questions that was sure to arise if he became untraceable for large periods of time because he holed himself up in the Room of Requirement.

XXX

Cho Chang sighed irritably. Ever since the announcement of that stupid ball, she hadn't been able to get a good five minutes in of study time in peace. Her OWL examinations were this year, and if that wasn't bad enough, it had to coincide with the most hectic and busiest year she'd ever bared witness to due to the Triwizard Tournament.

At present, the Yule Ball only served to compound her problems.

If it wasn't the loud chattering going on in the common room that was making studying unbelievably hard, it was the ridiculous giggles and excited squeals coming from the majority of the girls around her. Even her friends, who she'd thought were just as concerned about their OWLs as she was, suddenly put them at the back of their minds and decided to focus entirely on the bloody tournament and boys rather than their studies.

Maybe what Cedric told her about what Harry thought of the majority of the girls at Hogwarts wasn't entirely as harsh as she thought. When Cedric had told her, albeit reluctantly, that the exact words Harry used to describe the majority of the girls at Hogwarts were 'Useless, talentless whores', she, as a girl who attended Hogwarts herself, had been rightfully offended.

However, the harsh generalisation of the female species of the school had caused her to become more aware of the situation, and much to her dismay, Harry wasn't far off in his assessment. Especially when you compared the academic performance of the girls in his year compared to his own – it was embarrassing, to say the least. Well, anyone's would come lacking compared to his own, the closest being some Luna girl in the year under hers, but even those were a far-cry.

At first, she'd chosen to consider the promiscuous nature of her friends and fellow house mates as them just trying to have some fun, and let loose – I mean, who wouldn't with all the studying being in Ravenclaw usually entailed. However, with Harry's comment forcefully opening her eyes, she'd actually begun to notice how much the girls around her actually spent time 'letting loose', instead of actual studying.

She found it embarrassing, especially when boys like Harry decided to bunch the large majority of girls together before even knowing them. Sure, he may be right ninety percent of the time, but that didn't mean she enjoyed being grouped in the 'slut' category he had seemingly created to place all but a few girls in.

It was easy for him to judge in an elevated position of incontestable superiority, but being right and being fair was not the same thing, a distinction Harry seems to overlook or not be concerned about

"Need help?" A voice called out from behind her. Recognizing the voice, she spun around in surprise to see none other than Archie Montague, one of the most popular boys in the school and one of Cedric's best friends, standing over her shoulder.

Before she could answer, he spoke again, "You may want to concentrate on how the properties of the separate ingredients relate with each other to create the desired effect rather than the effects of the potion itself," he advised, shocking the girl into silence.

Everyone knew that Archades Montague got a High Distinction for his Potions OWL, all High Distinctions received by English students were posted in the Daily Prophet after all, which is probably why his popularity had increased even more so over the summer break – not that he wasn't popular to begin with… good looks, extremely smart, funny, kind and one of the best minds when it came to Potions the school had seen in a long time; what wasn't there to like?

She could almost hear Harry quipping acidly at that proclamation.

You could imagine then, how shocked she was when he had simply waltzed over to her to give her tips on her Potions assignment.

"I-I've tried to focus on that," she stuttered, embarrassed at having her work assessed by someone like him so closely. He got the highest Potions OWL in the world! That definitely said something about his knowledge on the subject, "It's just that, well, Professor Snape isn't exactly forthcoming about said information, and I barely have enough time to research it myself… I just tend to stick with my school-books."

Archie made a thoughtful noise as he sat down in the seat beside her, taking her paper without asking and quickly scanning through it. Cho was a little too surprised by Archie willingly helping her to even care.

"If I offer to tutor you," he began hesitantly, "will you promise to do something for me?"

Cho was a little startled by his offer, so much so that she scrunched her face up in confusion as she scrutinized him, "You're not going to ask me to the ball, are you?" she asked him warily, "I thought you had the hots for Stephanie Zabini…"

"Oh, Merlin no, that's not it," he laughed a little before realizing that probably hadn't come out as he had intended it to, "not that I wouldn't ask you, you're a very pretty girl and all that, but Cedric already has his eyes on you, and then there's Steph, so yeah…"

Flattered that he thought her attractive, she turned away so her flushed face wasn't so noticeable, a fruitless effort, before calming down and speaking again, "It depends, what is it you need help with?"

Before he could answer, the Ravenclaw common room door opened and a group of second year girls came inside, "Cedric Diggory is outside Cho," the one in the lead called out to her across the room, "He's asking for you."

"I think we both know what that's about," Archie grinned at the flustered girl, "I'll talk to you later, but do we have a deal?"

"So long as you don't need anything I can't give you…" she accepted his outstretched hand, "I don't see why not."

"Excellent," he grinned, "you may want to make Cedric sweat a little before saying yes, that kid's head is entirely too big for his own good."

"What makes you think I'm going to say yes?" the question fell on deaf ears though; Archie was already rushing up to his room.

XXXX

A week of working on and off on Cedric's little code had yielded results. It had only really taken a few hours of working time, with a bit of trial and error, but he had solved it. It was surprisingly tricky, and he doubted any of the champions would be able to solve it on their own, which is probably the reason why it was given – make the advisers actually do something rather than just cheating for their partners – probably the real reason why Dumbledore was not allowed to advise, too much work? Please, part of the reason he accepted the position was because there wasn't much work. He determinedly ignored the part of him that realised Dumbledore would be more diligent in the job than he was.

He refused to believe simple bureaucrats could challenge him intellectually in any way, not that he was complaining – it was a good exercise for the mind, something shockingly bereft in a school, an institution whose role was meant to do just that.

Now all he needed to do was find Fleur and rub it in her face, she had proven to be quite elusive lately, much to his disappointment. He could have used her to ward off all the annoying fangirls asking him to be their date for the Yule Ball. Nothing like a beautiful part-Veela to ward off a group of insecure teenage girls, he mused.

Speaking of said girls, ever since Flitwick had announced that stupid ball, he'd had to turn down at least two to three girls a day, and no matter how rudely or cruelly he went about it, they never got the hint, well, hint would be putting it mildly. Him saying 'no' only caused them to try harder, a guy with that mentality would probably be locked up on Azkaban in a manner of months…

Wanting to avoid the girls for today, and do something productive with his time, he'd decided to go for a run around the lake. He'd seen Viktor doing it on a few occasions, and it had served to remind him that he'd been slightly neglecting his physical fitness ever since retiring from his illustrious Quidditch career – that just wouldn't do.

A single lap around the lake was roughly two kilometres, according to Professor Hagrid. He'd figured that at that distance, and with the pace he was setting, that he'd be able to do three laps before he'd have to stop.

How wrong he was.

After running the first lap, he'd been huffing and puffing as if he'd gone through a whole four hours of Quidditch practise. If that wasn't bad enough, the second lap had almost made him pass out from exhaustion.

Either he was overestimating his fitness or underestimating the distance he should be able to physically run without exhausting himself. Probably the former, he had heard horror stories of skipping leg day, and he had skipped the equivalent of twenty.

That didn't matter now though, it was definitely the best physical workout he'd had in a while. It was definitely something he'd missed doing ever since retiring from Quidditch.

"Potter!" a gruff voice barked. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Moody standing not far from him, he was heading back to the castle via the forest it seemed, but to do so, he had to pass the lake, "What are you doing out and about at this time?"

"Nothing much Alastor," he answered with a tilt of his head, "so long as I'm not breaking rules, I don't think I need to answer that question," not that he needed to, the fact that the front of his singlet was drenched in sweat and that he was wearing a pair of bicycle shorts was more than enough of a hint.

"Who gave you permission to call me by that name Potter?" Moody snapped, as Harry looked at him with a stony expression, "You'd best watch your tongue around me, I didn't care for your slacker father, and I don't much care for you either. Cowards are right beside Death Eaters in my book," he finished gruffly, as he stalked back to the castle.

Harry continued to frown in the direction Moody was disappearing into in silence, staring with a contemplative frown as if he were trying to solve another puzzle whose answer barely eluded him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of grunting coming from the distance. Curious, despite himself, Harry cautiously followed the sounds until he reached the border of the Forbidden Forest. It was around four o'clock in the afternoon and being that it was the middle of winter, that pretty much meant the sun was well on its way onto disappearing for the day. Due to this fact, the forest was already fairly shadowy, but the sound of grunting was still rather loud and prominent, despite the conditions.

Tracking the sound into the forest, sticking to the shadows less he be spotted, he finally was able to track the source of the grunting. It seemed he wasn't the only one who thought a good workout was in order.

Imagine his surprise when, in the clearing barely thirty feet into the forest, he saw none other than the ever-elusive Fleur Delacour, flowing through what seemed like a standard fencer's dance with a rather sharp and thin rapier. She was moving backwards and forwards in a straight line, while dodging and combating an imaginary opponent; on occasion, she would parry a strike and follow it up with a quick thrust that would, if she really was duelling an opponent, killed them for certain.

"Well," he decided to make his presence known, almost scaring the girl to death, "this is certainly unexpected."

Fleur too was surprised to see Harry in the place she had been spending the majority of her time this last week, even more so because he was clad in such form fitting attire and dripping in sweat, a sight that she wasn't ashamed to admit was a rather attractive one.

"'Ave you come to spy on me 'Arry?" Fleur asked with a grin, "Finally realized zat it is fruitless to try and oppose me in ze tournament?"

"Last time I checked," Harry said with a thoughtful frown, "it was Cedric that was opposing you, not me. Your projecting doesn't matter though, because with the answer to the code already presented to you, you'll have more than enough time to prepare for the task and rig the scoring to beat him again, right?"

Seeing the downcast look that briefly flashed across her features, Harry couldn't resist grinning superiorly, "Oh, you don't have it yet?" he asked innocently, "Shame."

"And you do?" she couldn't help but counter, but the lazy grin he was sending at her was more than enough of an answer, "Wait, do not answer zat," she sighed, hoping to preserve her pride but the answer was so obvious it didn't help, "What did you want?"

"Nothing in particular," he shrugged, "I'd just finished my run when I heard your little workout here," he motioned with his hand around the clearing, "I just came to investigate."

"Sure," she sighed, "I am sure eet 'as nozzing to do wiz ze fact zat you are trying to 'ide from ze other females of zis school."

"Hide is such an ugly word," he countered, "I prefer 'taking a leave of absence', personally. Are you trying to say that this isn't you, 'taking a leave of absence'?"

Fleur let a small smile grace her angelic features at that, "I am perhaps a little annoyed with ze boys of all ze school asking me to ze ball."

"Too bad you have to go," he unhelpfully informed her, "being a champion and all. You have to open the ball too with a dance, which means you'll need a date. No point in delaying the inevitable. I saw young Ronald asking you the other day during breakfast actually…"

Harry almost broke out laughing at the disgusted look that crossed the girl's face, "'E did not ask me anything, ze boy merely yelled something at me before running."

"Yes," Harry nodded, amused, "I happened to see that – rather amusing, I might add."

Fleur dusted herself off as the two shared a companionable silence, a rare thing as the two of them preferred to speak in insult and sexual innuendos.

"I 'ave a proposition for you," Fleur suddenly spoke up as she sheathed her blade.

"Oh?" he asked curiously.

"You say zat my swordsmanship is so poor compared to your own," she smirked in his direction, "Why not try and prove it? A duel, first to draw blood wins."

"The stakes?" he asked indifferently.

"I will," she paused, thinking over what she was about to say," I will give you a lap dance," she informed the suddenly amused teen. Fleur sounded fairly confident that such a thing would never happen.

"Against?"

"I want you to go to ze ball wiz me," she said, unsurprisingly, in Harry's opinion, "If I win, you must go wiz me."

"Two things," he said, holding up two fingers instead of answering, "First, it seems like a win-win situation for you, hardly fair, considering you've been wanting to get naked for me for a long time," he smirked at her cold expression.

"I merely offered such a thing because I am certain you will not win," she said rather stiffly, "do not flatter yourself."

Ignoring her, he continued, "Second, I won't be here for the ball anyway, so this duel is pointless."

"Zere is no reason why you cannot be," she said with conviction, which only served to amuse Harry further, "You can visit your mozzer as usual and be back well before ze ball begins, I already thought of zis."

"Is that right?" he kept silent for a moment, "It seems like I'll have to have a word with Archades about the importance of keeping a secret…"

"Do you accept the terms?" she replied, unsheathing her sword once again and getting in a ready stance.

"Let's spice things up a bit."

"Oh?" Fleur asked, a little insulted, "Do you not find ze reward," she posed a little to accentuate the point, "enticing enough?" She ended it with a sultry purr, seemingly trained to get men to their knees.

"Nah," Harry replied nonchalantly, "as objectively beautiful you may be, your proposition doesn't interest me, you over-estimate your appeal."

Slightly challenged and amused, Fleur responded, "And what would 'ou suggest to replace eet?"

"I am sure an investigation of your physiology would be sufficient."

"I thought 'ou were not interested?" Harry's suggestion was rather contrary.

"What?" Apparently, he didn't share her opinion, "Ah, I see your confusion, I meant physiology literally, as in Veela biology, a few diagnostic spells, perhaps a dissection…"

He observed her incredulous look, "I was joking." He was not, in fact, joking, but did figure that was out of the question.

"Actually, I take that back, you are confident in your sword skills are you not?" Was it unfair to abuse her pride? Perhaps, but morality was never his strong point.

"Zere is no way 'ou are winning, zo I agree." This is going to be fun.

Not willing to use Flambert in a meaningless spar, Harry drew his wand and transfigured a nearby branch into a sword just like it. Fleur was rightfully surprised by the brilliant display of Transfiguration abilities, turning simple wood into metal, especially into a fine piece of metal like the sword Harry was currently holding, was no easy feat – something to do with their molecular formation, she had heard, but was no muggle scientist. She supposed that's why he got that High Distinction in his OWLs.

Without so much as a word of warning, Fleur lunged at him, her rapier poised to pierce his shoulder if Harry did nothing to stop it.

Sidestepping gracefully, he casually battered her sword to the side before mirroring her movement and moving for a stab of his own to her shoulder.

Fleur was able to dodge under the thrust and go for one other of her own aimed at his midsection. Harry battered it away again with the flat side of his blade before pushing her back with a kick to the stomach.

Fleur seemed shocked by the kick, probably because it was not normally proper practise, especially in France, to use one's legs or arms while sparring with blades. This is why, in Harry's opinion, she'll never be able to beat him. Perfect that ridiculous fencing style all you want, use it to your heart's content, it will just make you all the more predictable, and easy to defeat – Lucile had beaten that lesson into him on more than one occasion.

Fleur began to increase the intensity of her attacks, only growing angrier as Harry continued to casually batter them away or push her away with a kick, or a shoulder thrust. It was so infuriating. It didn't even look like he was trying! He wouldn't even try to strike her anymore, content with just parrying and sidestep every one of her attacks.

It was then that Fleur realized something.

Harry was playing with her.

He wasn't even trying.

The thought angered her. Infuriated her, even. He wasn't even grinning at her like he usually did when the two of them would verbally spar with one another. He just looked on with complete boredom as he continued to push her back further and further while evading every one of her strikes – barely retaliating, an arm hanging lackadaisically at his side, as if he had already won and she didn't know it.

He was playing with her, and when he merely tilted his head in her direction, as if asking 'Is that all?' she finally snapped.

Foregoing her rigorous swordsmanship training, ignoring anything she had been taught about her form and precision, completely ignoring the warning her mother and grandmother had given her, she reared back with her left arm, as if ready to throw a baseball at him. Imagine Harry's surprise when her hand was engulfed with red hot flames just before she was about to release her throw, flames that went bursting in his direction with a yell of effort on Fleur's part – who followed up the fireball with another thrust of her rapier.

The fireball connected, causing a small explosion of flames and momentarily blinding her. She could have sworn her thrust had struck true though!

When the smoke finally cleared and her vision returned to normal, she was shocked to see Harry looking at her with an amused and, dare she say it, proud expression. Her thrust, however, was being held an inch away from the side of his face by his own blade while his skin remained unblemished.

It was clear that it was her final play, she was defeated by an enemy who didn't even seem to care.

Harry burst into motion. Lunging at her, she expected him to hit her in the face with the butt of his hand guard; however, he feinted at the last moment and swivelled around to deliver a leg sweep that removed her legs from beneath her.

As she fell to the ground, hard, she opened her eyes to look where Harry was once standing, only to come face to face with the tip of his blade being held right in between her eyes.

Wondering why her forehead wasn't bleeding, she raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Check your left shoulder," Harry stated, and her arm moved unconsciously towards it. "I scrapped it at the beginning of the duel and applied a minor numbing charm so you couldn't feel it," he offered as an explanation.

That shocked her even more, as her body joined her blade, lying haplessly on the floor, sweat making her clothes stick to her skin, and a now noticeable spot of blood next to a cut in her clothing.

"You didn't really think I would throw a duel due to over-confidence, did you? No, that is your job," he ended slightly mockingly, "Your 'form' makes you easy to predict, and thus, your swordsmanship will always be considered a joke if you rely on it," he started speaking to the startled Fleur – sure a form makes your movements as economical as possible, but it relies on you being faster than your opponent can react. In the muggle world this is not a problem, a sword moves much faster than any person's eyes can track reliably, but in a world of werewolves and magical titans, of perception enhancing potions, Occlumency, spontaneity is your most powerful weapon. You can't rely on moving faster than your opponents can react, but you can move faster than they can predict. You can't rely on economy of motion, but you can have a strategy. Duelling, like all things, is more of a battle of minds than of swords.

He continued his monologue, merely holding the blade so it remained inches from her face and pointed right between her eyes, cementing his point, "If you want to stop being a joke, don't stick to a form, fight in the way that's most comfortable to you. The closest you ever came to doing me harm in that entire 'duel' was when you launched that fire at me, something that caught me off guard – not that it did much good. Learn to use it at will and incorporate it into your style, then, and only then, will I consider not thinking of you as a poor swordsman." The fire could have done a lot of good, maybe even allowing her to hit in. Surprise is disorientating, it sharpens your subconscious but dulls your conscious. In that moment she had more power over him than she ever had, and most likely will in her life, but failed to take advantage of it, seemingly more surprised than he was, the victim of her tactics.

"I can use it at will," she informed him in a voice that sounded much more confident than she felt right now, "I just don't. Veela who can control zeir flame attacks are generally feared, especially considering ze fact zat ze power of said attacks increases as zey get angry."

Harry looked mildly surprised, but also disappointed by that, he didn't remove his blade however, "Do you have an avian form too?"

Fleur shook her head in the negative, careful not to cut herself on the blade as she did so, "Eet is somezing that happens when 'ou turn of age."

Harry held the sword in place for several moments before throwing it aside and allowing it to return to the shape of a regular branch. That was strange, unlike what people think, age has nothing to do with anything, other than the releasing of hormones at puberty and the fact that is marks the point when more cells die then are created at roughly twenty-two. 'Turning of age' is a societal thing, and society never has and never will have any bearing on biology. Unless turning of age is either a metaphor, or it marks a separate biological event unique to Veela, and Harry was willing to bet it is the latter.

"When do you want to do it?" He asked, seemingly out of the blue.

"What," she eloquently responded, feeling like she was missing some context.

"The investigation, the entire point of the duel, don't tell me I frazzled your brain so much your short-term memory has been scattered in the wind!"

She had in fact forgotten that.

"Now now Harry," she retreated to French to try to negotiate, "Let's be reasonable about this…"

"The reasonable thing to do is uphold your end of the bargain," he replied in flawless French, something he knew was flawless because Lestat, of all humanoid shaped creatures, complimented him on it. He was amused by her attempts to take control of the conversation by switching into a language she is more comfortable, though, like an allegory for their duel, she underestimated him.

Fleur shifted uncomfortably, she had agreed to his terms, foolishly, and an act of arrogance and due to bad information, but had agreed, nonetheless. She was stuck in a very tough situation, if she were to agree then her mother, and the rest of the Veela for that matter, wouldn't forgive her, but if she didn't, then she wouldn't be able to forgive herself, and it would likely give her possibly romantic relationship with the boy in question a premature end.

Seeing her internal debate, Harry sweetened the deal, "I will also fulfil your request of me, and accompany you to the Ball."

In the end, she agreed, "Ok fine, but don't tell anyone I agreed to subject myself to this, Archades and my family included, and after the Tournament has ended."

"After the Tournament encompasses a very large amount of time, care to be more specific?"

She shifted again, rocking on her heel, "…during the summer after."

Switching back to English, Harry finalised their deal, "Then we are in agreement, pleasure doing business with you, by the way, what colour dress will you wear?"

Thrown off, Fleur blinked in Harry's general direction.

"The Ball, just what has been frying your concentration during this discussion?" Harry commented condescendingly.

"Uhhh… off white, cream…"

"I know what off-white is," Harry rolled his eyes, and turned walked away, his patience having finally worn away.

XXXX

As Harry was walking back to the castle, he had much more important things on his mind than some stupid Ball. Like, for instance, how 'Mad-eye' Moody had never expressed a dislike for being referred to by his first name, ever. He had been calling the man 'Alastor' for as long as he'd known him, and not once had he ever attempted to correct him. He had a feeling Nymphadora has something to do with that, before filing that thought away as irrelevant.

Then there was the comment about his father. That didn't particularly sound like something the man would say, especially considering the fact that the man would often compare Nymphadora's performance to James Potter's, and use him as the standard at which she should be performing at should she wish to be a successful Auror.

The reluctance Fleur had towards completing the deal threw him off a bit as well. It was like there was some sort of social stigma influencing her decision, something more tangible than the 'sanctity of the body'.

Something didn't add up.

XXXX

Archie had never truly tutored someone in Potions before. Sure, he'd done the mandatory tutoring that was compulsory of all Ravenclaws so he could take his OWLs, but he never really took it seriously. He simply answered his old students' questions by referring them to the texts that had the answers they sought, rather than answering them himself.

Tutoring Cho Chang was a different experience all together, especially when – admitting that he was completely useless at the subject – Cedric had asked if he could tag along. The Hufflepuff promised to not bother him too much and simply try to glean anything he could from what Archie was saying. Tutoring them was a lot more complicated than referring them to texts, he'd found. Cho would ask him questions, or refer him to some of her assignment tasks, and then Archie would proceed to break them down, answering each individual query meticulously, making sure that both Cho, and especially Cedric, understood what he was talking about.

The main problem with their Potions skills was their lack of knowledge with how the different ingredients were supposed to react with each other, or rather, the individual properties of each ingredients. Students who did just good enough to pass their OWLs would be content with knowing as many Potions recipes by heart, and it would probably be sufficient if you just wanted to pass and get a grade. To be able to truly master Potions though, Archie had explained, one needed to understand why each ingredient was used, what its purpose is in each recipe, how it will specifically affect the brew, and how it reacts to other ingredients.

It sounded simple when he said it, but when one considered that there were literally thousands of individual ingredients, any many more unknown or yet to be used ones, it was understandable then that the respect the two had for Archie grew by leaps and bounds.

He himself, busied with Alchemy, a sort of zoomed in look at potions, which explored why ingredients had such qualities, and how to change them – something monstrously more complex.

"Archie," Cho paused in their studies after they had finished going through that last question, "A week has passed since you've started tutoring Cedric and me, and you've yet to ask me that favour you wanted…"

"Favour?" Cedric looked to Archie with a curious frown. He wasn't thinking that Archie was up to anything nefarious, his infatuation with Stephanie was more than enough reason to dissuade anyone to the contrary, this was just the first time he'd heard of Archie having made a deal to tutor Cho. It did make sense though; Archie didn't just go around and offer his services to anyone who asked, no matter who they were (except maybe for Harry), otherwise he'd be a much busier man, especially considering his OWL grades in the subject weren't exactly a secret.

"Right," he said uncomfortably, "about that, I guess I've been procrastinating, huh?" he asked rhetorically with a nervous chuckle, "what I wanted was," he paused, stumbling through his words, "I mean, what I needed you help with was… er," he looked to Cedric, a little embarrassed about bringing it up in front of his friend, but his desire to get what he wanted eventually won out, "I need your help."

"My help?" she asked incredulously, "you're one of the most popular guys in the school, only a few spots behind Harry when it comes to grades and can practically get whatever you want with a snap of your fingers – what on earth do you need my help for?"

Cedric grinned widely, finally understanding what this was all about, "There's one thing he can't get with the snap of his fingers," he explained to his Yule Ball date, and hopefully, soon-to-be girlfriend, "Stephanie Zabini."

Seeing Archie look away in embarrassment, Cho's mouth dropped open in surprise, "How am I supposed to help you with that?"

Archie coughed into his hand, not wanting this conversation to be overheard by the local gossip whores who were ready to spread the word at the drop of a Knut, "It has been brought to my attention that you are a girl," he started somewhat nervously.

Cedric grinned playfully, "Notice that too, did you?" he let out a surprised 'oomph' when Cho elbowed him in the gut and motioned for Archie to continue.

"Well, being a girl and all," he continued, "I was wondering if you'd help me with getting her to notice me as more than a friend…"

"Why are you so embarrassed about this issue?" Cho asked gently, a frown marring her features, "no offence, but you were more than ready to announce your love for her to the world back when she was still at Hogwarts, what's changed?"

Suddenly, a silky voice interrupted their conversation, no one had even heard his approach, "Back then, he didn't really think he had any competition when it came to Stephanie's affections," Harry said with a bemused expression, "Now that he knows that she can be interested in other guys, and has already had a boyfriend to boot, he's nervous."

"Merlin!" Archie gasped in surprise, "You fucking stalker! Who the hell goes around butting into people's conversations in a library!" he hissed at Harry in a loud whisper, not willing to incur Madam Pince's wrath by speaking too loudly.

"A stalker," Harry informed his friend dryly, as he takes the empty seat beside him, "continue, this is going to be rather good," he leaned back in the rather uncomfortable wooden chair, "would it kill them to add some upholstery in these things?" he grumpily wriggled in his seat until he was comfortable, "Okay, continue."

"Why in Merlin's name do you look like you just ran a marathon?" Cho asked the first thing that popped into her mind at seeing the boy dressed in his running clothes with a hoody covering his torso.

"Because I did?" he countered sarcastically – he didn't, a marathon is much longer than two kilometres, but most people didn't sprint a marathon either, so he figured the two cancelled out, "This is about Archades though, pretend like I'm not even here."

"Kind of hard when we're now attracting the attention of every other female in the room," Archie dryly pointed out, as many of the girls had started whispering and pointing at their table excitedly.

"Anyway," Cho coughed into her hand to get their attention, "tell me what you know about her."

"That's a rather broad question," Archie said with a playful grin, "you want to be a bit more specific?"

"What does she like?" she asked crossly, as Archie raised his hands in surrender at seeing her temper.

"Not much," Archie admitted, "she loves her family, her friends and, as of recently, Beauxbatons…" he trailed off as he thought on the question a bit, "she likes duelling, or rather, watching the duelling championships. She loves strawberries, I kid you not, she'd eat a whole plantation if she wasn't stopped by peopled or biology… she likes the Dragon Hearts…"

"Wait," Cho interrupted him, "she likes the Dragon Hearts?" she asked, looking rather surprised. The Dragon Hearts were a well-known magical music group that mainly specialized in cheesy love songs.

"Oh yeah," Archie chuckled, "when I told her once that Harry had met them at one of his games, she sent me a howler for not getting her an autograph…"

"Is that what that was?" Harry said with amusement, "I figured that you'd just locked yourself in the bathroom to wank over Stephanie's scent on the letter…" Sending Archades a howler because he didn't get an autograph? Not a very rational move, but she was probably too used to blaming everything on Archades.

"Harry!" Cedric hissed, looking to the only girl in their group currently who was looking rather flustered, "There's a girl present mate, mind your manners."

"Right, sorry," he leaned forward conspiratorially towards Cho and said in an exasperated whisper, "wanking is another term for pleasuring one's self, some like to call it 'masturbation'…"

"Potter!" Cedric snapped at him again, as Cho's face started to resemble a tomato.

"Diggory!" Madam Pince yelled from her counter, "Keep your voice down!"

"Sorry ma'am," he apologised as sincerely as the situation would allow, ignoring the grinning Archie and Harry.

"Right," Cho spoke up, after clearing her throat, "are you good at anything in particular?" Cho asked, before realizing how crass that must have sounded, "What I mean is, something other than Potions, something you can show Stephanie and impress her with that she doesn't already know about."

Archie looked stumped, "There's not much about me that she doesn't know," Archie said in a deadpan, "we've known each other for as long as I can remember…"

"He can sing," Cedric pointed out with an excited whisper. Suddenly, a thump alerted their attention to Harry knocking his head against the hardwood table.

"You are not about to suggest what I think you're about to suggest," he said in a pained voice without raising his head, "because if you are, I'm out of here."

"It's a brilliant idea," Cho countered defensively, "And it's incredibly romantic too, if he can really sing."

"Oh, Archie's got a great voice," Cedric grinned widely, "Me and Harry heard him singing a couple of times while brewing some Potions, awesome voice."

"Harry and I," Cho corrected with a frown, "Is that true Harry? Or is Cedric being mean?"

"I refuse to comment," his muffled voice of protest countered.

Archie, meanwhile, was rather stumped.

"What has this got to do with anything?" he said, frowning, "Unless you want me to… oh no, no, no, no, no, NO!"

Cho and Cedric didn't share his sentiments though, they were grinning rather broadly, "Yes, yes, yes Archie," Cho said in a sing-song voice, "you want to proclaim your love for her in the most romantic way possible, you're going to do it by serenading her."

"This is going to fail miserably, and then I'll be the one stuck with a moping Archie for the rest of my, or his depending on how well his experiments go, life," Harry said in an annoyed tone, his face finally out from hiding in his arms.

"Care to make a wager on that?" Cho countered, "ten galleons says that not only will she be his date to the Yule Ball, but she'll kiss him too."

Archie definitely perked up at that, Harry on the other hand, looked at her with a frown, "You're that eager to lose ten galleons?" he said confidently, "there is no logical way that this will work, and I don't need ten galleons. So, when I win, I'm going to use the money to buy a dragon hide whip, then I'll charm it so whenever you hold it, you'll be compelled to use it on Cedric." A waste of ten galleons but it is about sending a message, a message that is worth way more than ten galleons.

"Kinky," Archie offered with a grin at hearing that.

"Do you realize how corny and crappy magical music is?" Harry asked her, "Stephanie only likes it because she doesn't know better."

"But I do," Cho said confidently, "I'm a half-blood and not ignorant to the muggle world, I prefer muggle music too."

"And how do you intend on getting the music he'll need when he sings?" Harry countered once again, ignoring Archie's feeble protests of 'who said I was agreeing to this'.

"I'm sure we can find something or someone to play some music," seeing Archie look to him hopefully, Harry shot him down with a harsh glare that immediately killed the idea forming in the boy's head.

Harry tilted his head to the side and leaned in closer, looking directly into Cho's eyes. The girl, a little embarrassed by being so closely scrutinized by him held out her arm confidently, "Do we have an accord then, Mister Potter?"

"Your loss," he shrugged, accepting her outstretched hand.

As they shook hands, Archie wondered to himself what in Merlin's name he'd gotten himself into.

XXX

Harry was making his way to his Ancient Runes class, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible to avoid as many people as possible. He hadn't told anyone yet that he was actually going to the ball with Fleur. His friends all assumed he wouldn't be making an appearance, as usual, while everyone else was either thankful, or still trying to get him to go with them. He had no intentions of dropping names either, despite how amusing it may be to divert everyone's attention away from himself and onto Fleur.

As he turned the corner, he let out an extremely loud groan of annoyance as he practically came face to face with none other than Rhona Simmonds. Situations like this made him seriously reconsider not dropping the F-word – Fleur's name, a curse word to hopeful and insecure girls.

"Hey Harry," she called his name excitedly as she approached him quickly, "I was wondering, if you don't have a date to the Yule Ball, would you want to go with me?"

"You've dropped Roger already, have you?" he asked as Rhona tried to keep up with his brisk pace.

"Roger was nice and all," she shrugged nonchalantly, "but we were both just looking for a good time, nothing serious."

"That's nice," he said, sounding anything but interested in what she had to say, "but I'm not interested, ask someone else."

"Come on Harry," she practically whined at him, it was utterly pathetic, "I promise you'll have a good time, and who knows?" she grinned in a sultry manner, "play your cards right, and I just may make a man out of you as well."

"I doubt I have to play my cards with any strategy what so ever," he said dryly, now that he definitively knew sex was not worth the hassle, the appeal to hormones was even less tempting than before, "as long as I'm in the hand, I'm fairly certain you'll come through on your promise," she didn't understand the poker analogy, it seemed, "The answer is 'no', go away," he pushed past her, ignoring the shocked girl's gaping features.

"It's that French girl isn't it?!" she asked angrily, running in front of him and blocking him off once again, "That slut got her claws into you, and you're blinded by her Veela charms."

"Fleur's a slut?" he asked curiously, by now they were drawing quite the crowd, "And that's supposed to be an insult coming from you?"

"You know you don't mean that Harry," she tried to get in his personal space, something Harry strongly disagreed with if his stepping away from her was anything to go by, "she's obviously gotten to you, Veela can do that, you know," she tried to sound sympathetic, but Harry really couldn't quell the feeling of disgust he felt for this girl.

"And you would know," Harry nodded in fake understanding, "seeing as we're such close friends, you thought it your business to save me from my terrible fate."

"Exactly!" she seemed ecstatic that he finally understood where she was coming from. The crowd that discreetly formed around the pair, who tried and failed to look like they weren't listening, were preparing themselves for what they were certain would be quite the show – they just didn't know what kind to expect, "That slut," she spat the word out as if it were a particular bad tasting food, much to Harry's amusement, "may have clawed her way into your life, but don't worry," she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I'll make sure she never gets near you again."

Harry grabbed her wrist with his index finger and thumb before removing the offending appendage from his person, "You keep calling Fleur a slut," Harry observed, "I find it rather amusing, especially coming from Hogwarts' resident whore…"

"Harry, mate," Roger spoke up from the crowd, making his presence known, "you know you don't mean that, you should apologise."

"You're right, of course," he nodding in Roger's direction, much to Rhona's relief, "whores get paid for shagging as many men as possible, you do it for free, so what does that make you?"

Rhona reacted to the words just as he wanted her to, like a slap to the face, "Don't answer that question, I don't want to get into a philosophical debate about what defines 'pay' so slag will do, so tell me, slag, if you're not a slag, how many guys you've slept with in the last two years."

Her mouth was opening and closing soundlessly as she tried to form words.

He didn't let her answer, "Can't count that high?" he asked with faux sympathy, "I'll make it easier, how many in the past year only?" the crowd around them were silent, nobody dared to speak, "still too hard?"

"I … he didn't let her get a word in though. He'd been seeing these girls whoring themselves out for far too long and think it was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe if he made one cry, they'd change their ways?

Who was he kidding? He just wanted to make her cry.

Hell, he didn't even care that much, even the more persistent ones like Rhona were easy to escape from, and he has no moral objections to other people's polyamory, it just made for a convenient excuse. In truth he just wanted to vent his frustrations, and poor Rhona was going to have to suffer for it – if she is lucky, she might even benefit from it.

"Harry…" Roger said, in what he must have thought was a warning tone.

"You're right," he said with a sad sigh, "I shouldn't be asking her such difficult to answer questions, I have one that should be much simpler – how many guys have you not slept with in the past two years?" he pointed to her hand, "I know your only real practise with numbers is with measuring the size of your next shag's butter stick, and I assure you, this one shouldn't exceed anything you've ever had to count to before, given your experience. In fact, I'm sure the four fingers on your hand will be more than sufficient."

Rhona's eyes began to water – he was getting close.

"You go around, shagging every guy that's willing to stick it in your loosened meatloaf-oven, and then you have the nerve to go around and calling girls like Fleur sluts because they don't?" He shook his head in disgust, "How does that even make sense?"

"No that isn't it, is it? You are offended by her natural appeal, something many times greater than your artificial one, and you know that she could do your job better than you, without even trying – you hope riddling her with slurs will keep her away from your chosen profession, is that it?"

Once again, his questions seemed to be rhetorical because he just continued with his verbal beat down regardless of what she had to say.

"Is this how you saw yourself acting when you were a child?" he asked, tilting his head curiously as he posed that question, "When you were younger, and an adult would ask you 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' did you tell them that you wanted to be Hogwarts' number one slag?"

Almost there…

"What about after you graduate?" he asked just as curiously, "if you graduate that is – Snape has to grow bored of getting your blowjobs for passing marks in Potions eventually, maybe he'll consider it if you entertain his friends?"

Rhona looked like she'd just been hit with a full body bind. Her skin had paled as she was receiving this verbal assault from the most popular guy in the school, the country, maybe even the world from his performance in the world cup. Her mouth also seemed to not be working, as she tried to form words, but nothing came out. Basically, she was too shocked to even think of a rebuttal.

"If you do take him up on his offer, and somehow, by some act of God, actually graduate, what then?" he asked curiously, "you'll find your skill at being a mosquito Animagus, except with semen instead of blood, isn't as valued out there in the real world as they are in here, with an entire school of hormonal teenagers to prey off of. Why would they care about a slag like you when they can pay a high-class hooker, who is most likely much better at her job, for the same thing? Oh, is that going to be your pitch?" he asked, a fake understanding dawning on his features, "Minister Fudge, don't pay that dirty whore to please you, I'll do it for free!"

"You know the issue with you people? I can overlook you throwing away your dignity, devaluing yourself, dragging potentially more skilled people down your hopeless future with you, I can even ignore you being a general nuisance towards me, but do you know what really annoys me? It is the mental gymnastics you go through, the hoops you jump through to maintain your world view, pretending you are worth more than the carbon you inhabit, the air you displace. You commit the most egregious cognitive dissonance every time you exhale your aerosolised semen into the air, you act like you are doing everyone a service, like a solider doing what other girls are not skilled enough or afraid to do, but you are not."

He paused for a breath, seeing a few tears starting to form around her eyes, before continuing, "Do you know what you really are Rhona? I would say you are a cog in a machine, something to be discarded once your use has expired, but you aren't even that are you? What you really are is lube, you make the other cogs turn smoother, you are the woman under the boss' desk when he hires someone, and then that new employee's stress relief when he tires of you. Like lube you slip through the system, doing the unsavoury things not because you want to, but because there is nothing else you can do."

"Once you are too deep in, if you act like a cog and try to turn on your own, then the whole system collapses, everything grinds to a halt. You have missed your chance to be anything other than lube. And right at the very end, you end up at the bottom of the system, dragged down by gravity. You lie brokenly at the bottom, staring at the gears above that have used and discarded you, until at last you are mopped up – thrown away for the very last time."

"But all this metaphor aside, do you know what you really are? You are energy released at the beginning of the universe that materialised as matter, matter that spread itself through the universe before being fused into the carbon inn your mother's ovaries. That energy grew into you, the only species we know of that is sapient, the only thing that can choose what it wants to do rather than being dragged around by actions and probabilities. You aren't a leaf carried by the wind, a photon speeding through space or one of those cheesy protagonists from Archades' romance books, because you have the ability to choose. And what did you choose to do? You chose to be lube. Have fun doing it, but know that no one will support you through your journey."

That seemed to do it.

Rhona let out a few soft and quiet sobs before finally breaking down and collapsing on her knees, crying uncontrollably.

"You've gone too far Potter," Roger warned with an angry tone, as he drew his wand on him.

"I'm sure that's against the rules, isn't it, Professor Snape?" he motioned to the boy who'd drawn his wand. Like lightning, he'd sheathed it in his pocket once again to avoid any trouble cursing people would get him into with the normally vicious Head of Slytherin house. To his surprise though, when he turned to look for the greasy Potions master, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Gabrielle, do your thing!" he called to the little girl, who was standing not so far and observing the crying girl curiously. When she turned her big, innocent and clueless eyes onto Harry, he merely motioned to the surprised Ravenclaw Quidditch captain and motioned to his nether regions.

Understanding immediately, and a little angry that the boy had wanted to harm her, now, venerable hero, she approached him inconspicuously, like only a cute little nine-year-old girl could, before grabbing his attention with her Veela charm.

"You really weren't going to curse Harry, were you?" she asked with that cute little devilish frown Harry adored. Unfortunately, Roger couldn't understand what she was saying, so he foolishly nodded his head in acceptance to whatever she was saying.

Like a blade, little Gabby planting the toe of her shoe into Roger's testes, just like they'd practised.

Was this how a parent felt when their kid walked for the first time, or said their first words? She was just so damn cute, kicking people in the balls the way she does, with so much enthusiasm. He was so proud.

Harry let out a content sigh as he looked at the crying Rhona and the whimpering and sickly-looking Roger one last time – today was a good day.

"Good work Gabrielle," he praised the beaming girl who was at his side in an instant, clutching onto his waist affectionately, "you know, you're my favourite little nine-year-old, part-Veela, who is related to a hot sister, in the world, right?"

Pleased by the praise, Gabrielle clutched onto him tighter as Harry made his way to class, both missing eyes of said hot older sister watching on with no hidden amount of amusement, having just arrived to see the commotion.

XXXX

News of what Harry had done to Rhona spread like wildfire, and to the boy's pleasant surprise, it seemed to stop any other daring females form asking him to the ball, lest they receive the same treatment. Had he known that was all he needed to do to get them off his back, he would have made them cry much earlier.

Many were angry with him about it though, especially Flitwick and the majority of the guys at Hogwarts – well, the ones who'd shagged Rhona that is.

Flitwick had told him crossly during their meeting after his verbal attack on Rhona that this was his last warning. Any other reports of him running his mouth off to anyone, especially Madame Maxime or High Master Karkaroff, would result in a large number of House Points being removed along with several detentions.

It was pretty funny, to Harry anyway, how the little man thought such a threat would dissuade him from doing anything. He couldn't care less about some retarded House Cup that everyone else seemed to hold in such high esteem, and he just wouldn't go to any detentions he was given. What were they going to do? Expel him?

Even if they did, he'd just have to take his NEWTs without the school's help… not that he much needed their help. The private Arithmancy lessons with Septima would probably be missed, especially since the woman was the only professor really teaching him anything at the school. Septima Vector was a genius in her field of expertise, and the only person alive he'd given permission to see the entirety of his spell-crafting notebook. More specifically, his work on the Amaterasu spell he'd been developing for years.

Needless to say, she was astounded with his progress and would often help him by allowing him to bounce ideas off of her as he worked on it. She called it an honour, being able to help with the creation of something that would be remembered through the ages, but Harry thought otherwise. She'd earned the right, in his opinion to be a part of its creation. She was the only professor in Hogwarts who was teaching him something, and teaching it well, surely, she had a right to bear witness to his private projects if she was the one that was helping him with them.

Of course, he'd sworn her to secrecy before showing her, but that was for her own good as well as his – and she understood that.

Even her substantial help didn't make up for the sheer frustration of being stuck here while his mother was slowly wasting away.

Harry's thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when he saw Cedric and Cho up ahead, standing next to what looked like an old-school record player, the kind that had those huge bronze coloured horns attached to them. It was basically the Wizard's answer to a portable music-playing device that ran completely on magic.

Why they didn't just recreate CD or MP3 players like the world outside of Europe, he'd never know.

"Planning on having a Karaoke night tonight then?" Harry asked as he approached the two teenagers who were looking at something below them in one of the courtyards within Hogwarts.

Cedric spun around and relaxed when he saw it was only Harry, "Nah mate, this is what we were talking about in the Library the other day…"

"You're actually going through with that?" he asked incredulously, the other two didn't seem fazed though.

"Of course we are," Cho shook her head in amusement, "don't try skipping out on our bet either Potter, I'll be expecting those ten galleons soon."

"You actually think this is going to work?" Harry asked in amusement, "What fantasy world are you two living in? This isn't some cheesy romance novel where this nonsense always happens, and works, for the protagonist of the story. The boy is actually in love with the girl, and you're going to make him look like an idiot in front of her and…" he looked over the ledge himself to see that the courtyard was rather crowded. Stephanie and Fleur were sitting beside each other on one of the benches towards the middle of the seating area, "What looks like the rest of the school. Guess who has to put up with his moping then?" he shot at the two.

"I didn't know you read romance novels Potter," Cho shot back with a grin which then turned into a frown when she saw he wasn't amused, "Archie putting himself on the line like this and letting her know of his feelings for her, irrefutably, is the bravest and most romantic thing he could do. There's nothing like music to convey one's feelings to another," she said, sure of herself, "Have you seen a musical before?" at his nod, she continued, "Then you know that the feelings of the characters in a musical are much better portrayed than they are when one says them normally."

"She knows his feelings for her," he reminded her, "she's just too stupid to accept them – this won't work. And you have a skewed sense of bravery if you think this is brave. This isn't bravery, it is desperation."

"Well, there they are," Cho said with a tone of finality, "it's now or never I guess, Archie's already in position, though I don't know what we're going to do about Jacques, he's been bugging Stephanie ever since the announcement of the Yule Ball."

Harry frowned and looked over the ledge one more time, indeed, Jacques was standing not too far from Stephanie with some of his friends, eyeing her with lust and clearly making the girl in question uncomfortable. It seemed that he hadn't learned his lesson after getting an Archades fist-sandwich to the face.

"I'll deal with him, if only I can see this little plan of yours fail spectacularly," he informed them before walking off briskly to supposedly take care of the problem that was the ex-boyfriend.

"Alright," Cho said with excitement clear in her voice, "let's get this show on the road."

With that, she pressed a button on the device next to them, which filled the courtyard and the corridors surrounding it with music.

XXXX

Stephanie was not in a particularly good mood.

First, ever since Madame Maxime had told them about the Yule Ball, her ex-boyfriend had taken it upon himself to pretty much harass her about going with him, non-stop, without taking no for an answer. She wasn't going with anyone else, as of yet, so according to him, there was no reason why she should say no, over and over again.

Then there was Archie. She hadn't realized how much she'd grown to rely on his presence as of late, especially in regard to venting her problems at him. Fleur was always there if she needed her, but Archie always provided her with a different perspective, and even though she and Fleur were very close friends, no one knew her like Archie did. Now, over the last few days, he'd practically disappeared off the face of the earth to Merlin knows where.

Then there was her schoolwork. Fleur may be exempt from her exams, but she definitely wasn't. The two had both discussed taking the entrance examination to become apprentices at Saint Marie's Hospital, France's number one medical institute, however, to do so, she had to score in the top five percent in the entire school to be allowed the opportunity – which was top five in the year. She praised her luck that there weren't any Archies or Harrys in her year or there would only be three spaces to battle over, and she was barely scraping onto fifth.

Needless to say, the pressure was mounting, and with Archie not around to lend his support, it was no surprise that she was rather stressed as of late.

"You don't need to worry Stephanie," Fleur assured her friend as they took a seat in one of Hogwarts' many courtyards. Jacques was hanging around close by with his friends and eyeing Stephanie in a way that was making her understandably uncomfortable.

"Why won't he just go away?" Stephanie asked with her head in her hands as she let out a frustrated groan.

"If only Harry and Gabrielle were around," Fleur joked, hoping to lighten Stephanie's mood, "he's trained her to be his little attack dog, it's rather amusing."

"Is that right?" Stephanie asked with a chuckle, "How so?"

"You know that boy Roger Davies who keeps asking me to the Yule Ball?" Fleur began to explain, a little too eagerly.

"The one who had to go to Madam Pomfrey to get one of his testes removed from his stomach?" she asked with a weak grin.

"Gabrielle was the one who kicked him there in the first place," Fleur informed Stephanie a little too smugly, "He pulled a wand on Harry, and at his demand, Gabrielle used her Veela charm to stop him before kicking him in the balls."

"Fleur!" Stephanie reprimanded her friend, though the smile that lit up her face was worth it in the blonde girl's opinion.

Suddenly, everyone in the courtyard was surprised to hear a piano playing from, seemingly, all directions. Looking around wildly, Stephanie turned a wary eye on her friend.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling that this has to do with me?" Stephanie asked Fleur, who was grinning at her with a mischievous look in her eyes, "Fleur, do you know what's going on?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," she informed the girl a little too innocently.

Stephanie eyed her shrewdly before realizing that, for the first time since arriving at Hogwarts, they had decided to spend their break in one of the highly populated courtyards, "Why exactly are we sitting in this particular courtyard Fleur?" she asked her friend warily, "It's fairly out of the way of everything, especially considering where our next class is…"

Fleur shrugged before turning her attention to the courtyard's newest occupant. Stephanie followed her gaze, and to her shock, Archie stood there looking directly at her holding a magiphone, the magical world's variation of a microphone. The thing worked like a portable Sonorous charm that could have its volume adjusted – it was a clever bit of magic.

The music increased in volume as the song was about to begin, and to Stephanie's shock, Archie put the magiphone next to his lips and began singing.

'Look into my eyes, he sang, you will see… what you mean to me. Search your heart, search your soul… and when you find me there, you'll search no more.'

Stephanie, finally understanding that Archie was not only singing to her, but also singing a love song to her in the middle of a crowded courtyard, became understandably flustered. Fleur tried to get her attention by nudging her in the side, but Stephanie slapped her hands away like she would a fly, not interested in what her friend had to say as she gave her undivided attention to the boy who was giving it his all to get a message along.

'Don't tell me, it's not worth trying for, he continued to sing, you can't tell me, it's not worth dying for… You know it's true, everything I do… I do it for you.'

Fleur, who was trying to inform Stephanie that Jacques was making his way over to Archie, his wand drawn and a pissed-off expression on his face, calmed down when she saw a familiar blonde terror approach him innocently and land a perfect toe-bash into his testes, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

"That's a good girl Gabby," Fleur only barely heard Harry say over the music, singing and general consternation, "Who's my favourite little warrior princess?"

"I am!" she cheered happily, beaming proudly at her idol who was all too happy to praise his own personal little attack Veela.

'Look into your heart, you will find, there's nothing left to hide,' Archie soldiered on bravely with a surprisingly good voice; surprising to Stephanie anyway, who had no idea that Archie was a good singer, 'Take me as I am, take my life, I would give it all, I would sacrifice.'

Fleur may have been made privy to this plan beforehand by Cedric and his little girlfriend, but she hadn't expected Archie to have such a great voice, or for Archie to sing with so much emotion. It was a rather emotional scene, and, she thought with a hidden smile, by the look on Stephanie's face, it looked to be working…

'Don't tell me, it's not worth fighting for, he started to approach her slowly, never breaking eye contact once, I can't help it, there's nothing I want more. You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you.'

Archie was barely standing ten feet from her now as he stopped and took a deep breath before continuing, 'There's no love, like your love… and no other could give more love… there's nowhere, unless you're there, all the time… all the way.'

Stephanie felt a shiver run down her spine as Archie held that last note and sung it powerfully. Seeing Fleur's confused look, she turned to her with a smile and answered her unasked question, "Goosebumps…" she simply answered with a smile. Everyone in the courtyard seemed to have a similar reaction, except Harry who either disguised it well or had no soul.

'Oh, you can't tell me it's not with trying for . . . I can't help it, there's nothing I want more, Archie continued to walk closer to her until he was barely a meter away, I'd fight for you, I'd lie for you, walk the wire for you, yeah I'd die for you . . . you know it's true, he got in real close to the now beet red Stephanie and brushed a strand of her out of her eyes affectionately, Everything I do, I do it for . . . you.;

Archie didn't even get a chance to comprehend what was going on until he was hit by something with the force of a cannon ball. After the cobwebs were cleared from his head from the fall, he realized he was on his back, on the floor, looking up into the teary eyes of Stephanie.

"That was beautiful," she told him softly with watery eyes, "you really feel that way about me? Even after I've been such a total bitch to you?"

Feeling tears coming to his own eyes, Archie answered her, "Stephanie… you know how I feel," he told her somewhat embarrassingly, "that hasn't changed, not even for a second… why are you crying?"

She let out a sound that was a mixture between an amused sob and a strained laugh, "I'm laughing because I'm happy you twat," she said affectionately, "Why are you crying?" she countered, seeing the tears in the boy's eyes.

"Your knee," he answered with a high amount of difficulty, "it's digging into my protective testes plate," he answered with a strained chuckle "it fucking hurts."

Looking down with confusion, Stephanie leapt back in shock when she realized that she had, as she leapt at him, accidently kneed him in the balls… just like old times. To her surprise, Archie stuck his hand down his pants and pulled out a flat iron metal plate, "Probably not my best idea," he answered with a nervous chuckle, "I wasn't sure if you'd get angry or not by doing this… it definitely didn't help much…" He missed the coughed, "Cushioning charm," from Harry a few metres behind them, watching the spectacle unfold with a rather dispassionate gaze.

Before he could continue rambling, Stephanie locked her arms around his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

For Archie, the world seemed to slow down to a snail's pace. He didn't care what was going on around him; he didn't care about anything other than the girl that was kissing him right now. He could say, with absolute certainty, that he could die a happy man right now, and be dead serious about it.

Catcalls, wolf whistles and cheers broke out from those watching who were either Archie's friend, or just neutral towards the pair and had enjoyed the show. Those who had a vested interest in the pair, and were not pleased by the sight, were glaring darkly at the two. Unfortunately for Jacques, he couldn't do either as he was incapacitated by Harry's little attack dog.

When Stephanie pulled away from Archie, slightly surprised by her forwardness yet not regretting her decision at all, she almost giggled at the spaced-out Archie who still had his lips in a kissing motion.

"Does that mean you'll go to the Yule Ball with me?" he asked hopefully, causing Stephanie to roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Yes, it does," she answered, enjoying how it made Archie's eyes light up wondrously.

"Does that mean…" he paused, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer to his next question or not, "that you'll be my girlfriend now?"

"Yeah," she answered fondly, "I'm your girlfriend now…"

Out of all the responses to her statement, especially after having just sung to her his feelings in a most passionate and romantic way, you couldn't really blame Stephanie for being surprised by Archie's actions.

"WOO!" Archie leapt into the air and cheered, scaring the shit out of his new girlfriend, "You hear that suckers! I've got a girlfriend, STEPHANIE ZABINI IS MY GIRLFRIEND WOO!"

She watched, unable to contain her mirth as Archie began to perform the most ridiculous happy dance she'd ever seen. He was waving his arms about above his head and shaking his hips in ecstasy, making weird cheering noises while doing so.

"You hear that Jack?" Archie asked the downed French boy who was still cradling his damaged twig and giggle berries, "Stay away from my girlfriend!" he emphasised his point by kicking the already downed boy in the ribs. Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, Archie came to another realization, "Sweet Merlin!" he touched his lips, "Stephanie kissed me! YOU HEAR THAT BITCHES? STEPHANIE KISSED ME!" Retroactive realisation could be quite amusing.

The overwhelmed girl in question was so shocked by his behaviour, she didn't even put up a fight when Archie picked her up off the floor and planted another kiss on her lips, not that she'd want to, for some reason, getting kissed by Archie was incredibly liberating, as if a huge weighed she'd never known existed had been lifted off her shoulders "I can do that now," he hollered to the crowd, after letting go of the shocked girl, "because she's my girlfriend! WOOOO!"

Many students who had stuck around for the show continued to watch in amusement as Archie jumped and danced around. Harry noticed that Stephanie's smile looked rather fixed.

Fleur found it highly amusing that the majority of the girls in the area were watching the scene with jealousy – and for good reason too, as she too watched the happy couple, a small smile gracing her features.

"What are you grinning at you annoying girl?" Harry snapped at Cho irritably, "This means nothing."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she shrugged with a smug grin, "I gave him my plan, I assured him it would work, and it did – now pay up, ten galleons."

Harry reached into his pocket and tossed the small number of galleons at her smugly grinning features. Seeker reflexes kicked in and she caught it easily, "This means nothing, it only worked for them because they're the two most retarded people on the planet – I mean, statistically, that kind of shit is bound to work eventually."

The grin on Cho's face didn't dim one iota, it was starting to annoy Harry.

"You've got your damn galleons, so stop freaking grinning," he snapped irritably, "I'm still right, contrived nonsense like that would never work in a logical situation, with logical people – which those two can definitely not be described as."

Harry turned and walked away, annoyed at by more than just losing a single bet, staring darkly at the way Stephanie cradled his euphoric friend.

"I think someone's jealous," Cho said in a singsong voice once Harry was out of hearing range.

"I very much doubt it," Cedric, who had remained out of their conversation, said with a chuckle, "he just hates being proven wrong."

The two watched on happily as Archie spun Stephanie around happily, planting random kisses on her lips, completely oblivious to their spectators and lost in their own little world. Several silent moments passed between the two until Cho decided to break the silence.

"So," she began, "why didn't you sing to me when you asked me to be your girlfriend Mister Diggory?"

Cedric made a show of looking at his watch and backing away slowly, "Would you look at the time, Harry and I promised to have a…" he never finished his sentence as he bolted away from her at top speed, leaving his highly amused, if slightly annoyed, girlfriend behind.

XXX

Ever since Archie and Stephanie had officially become an item, it was very rare that you could see the two apart. Whether it was Archie helping her with her final examinations, Stephanie sitting in when he tutored Cho to simplify his explanations when she could, in between classes, or even during them when they shared the same ones and even during their meals.

Heck, even now, as they were mostly lounging around in the Ravenclaw common room after Harry returned from another run around the lake, he spotted the two seated together on one of the single couches by the fire. Stephanie was sitting in Archie's lap as the boy was playing with her hair affectionately.

It was so sweet it could make your teeth rot.

Fleur, while not being totally ignored, was seated on one of the other single seater couches while looking intently at a piece of parchment, in fact, it looked like the clue sheet that was given to them at the end of the First task. Did she honestly think she'd get it by staring at it? Like the answer would pop right out of the page like some magic-eye illusion if she refused to blink or look away?

He needed two whole blackboards and a ridiculous amount of counting to get the answer himself, not that he'd tell her. She was chosen as the Beauxbatons champion for a reason; let her prove that the Goblet's selection was a good one – she even had Maxime to help, and it really shouldn't be difficult for any adult with a basic understanding of ciphers.

Gabrielle was seated on the floor by the fire, which was unusual considering that she mostly spent her time with the Ravenclaw first years when she could, reading some magical fantasy book she seemed to be captivated with.

Sneaking up on Fleur wasn't so hard considering she was focusing intently on the code written on the page and ignoring her surroundings. Using her lack of attentiveness to his advantage, he literally plopped down on her lap in the same way Stephanie was sitting on Archades' lap – the difference was, however, that Stephanie wasn't drenched in sweat like he was, nor was Archades opposed to her placement there, nor was Stephanie substantially heavier than Archades, three differences Fleur wasn't at all pleased about.

"What the fuck?!" she all but hollered as Archie and Stephanie collapsed in a simultaneous fit of giggles, "Get off me you baboon, you stink!"

"Don't say such mean things, dear," Harry said sarcastically as he snuggled closer into her, "I have just been on a five kilometre run, I'm drenched in sweat, my feet are sore, is it so wrong to seek some comfort so I can relax? A little foot rub, perhaps?"

Fleur stopped struggling for only a few seconds to look at him in shock before resuming her efforts to get his much heavier frame off of her, "I swear to Merlin Potter, if you don't get off me this instant… I'll, well I'll… I'll tell everyone in the school that the only reason you are not interested in a date for the Yule Ball is because you're gay!"

"You're not the first person to try such a thing Fleur, darling," he made sure to rub his sweaty cheek against hers as she shrieked in disgust, "I believe Stephanie tried that back in our third year, what did I do to prove you wrong Stephanie?"

Trying to contain her mirth as Fleur tried helplessly to push Harry off of her – a rather pointless task considering he had his arms wrapped around her waist – Stephanie answered with a thoughtful expression, "I'm pretty sure you randomly got up during class and made out with Professor Vector."

"You hear that?" Harry told Fleur who was looking at him in shock and revulsion at the same time, "I made out with the hottest professor in the school at thirteen years old just to prove a point – you think I'm scared of you?"

"If you were so desperate to snuggle up with me, all you had to do was ask," Fleur shot back smiling sweetly at him, "I would have been more than happy to allow you if only to use you as a wall to shield myself from the lecherous eyes of the other boys in this room."

"Don't flatter yourself," Harry rolled his eyes, "You're just sitting in my chair, no more, no less." The last time Archades sat in his chair, the ward he put on it ejected him in a most painful manor. It was interesting that it didn't work on Fleur though, it should target every human other than him… Did Veela really differ so much that the chair didn't even recognise her as human?

"Those two have it for each other bad," Archie whispered to Stephanie under his breath as they watched on with amusement.

Seeing Fleur try and desperately spasm her way out of Harry's grip brought a large smile to her face, too many guys were too scared to do anything like that with her simply because she was a Veela, it was refreshing to see them acting that way, "You can practically cut the sexual tension with a knife," she joked, "Speaking of sexual tension, what do you think when you look at Fleur?"

"That she's French and blonde? What am I supposed to think?" Archie asked with a clueless frown.

"You're not attracted to her?" Stephanie asked curiously, though the underlying worry in her voice was clear enough, "she is the most attractive girl in school, that much is obvious."

"It is?" Archie asked incredulously, "because from where I'm sitting, it definitely doesn't look that way… did I say something wrong again?"

Stephanie's eyes were slightly watering as she looked at Archie with adoration, "No you idiot, you didn't say anything wrong."

"Oh, I get it," Archie said triumphantly, "this is one of those times you told me about where I need to shut-up before you lose that admiration you're currently feeling for me, right?"

"Right," she said with a deadpan, as he pretty much hit the nail on the head, although like dissecting a frog, he ruined the moment once again, "you need to work on spotting those 'times' a lot more without mentioning them if you want more snogging sessions."

"I do like snogging sessions," he said in a mischievous way as he looked up at her.

The door to the Ravenclaw common room suddenly opened with a bang allowing in a pissed off looking Minerva McGonagall.

"Mister Potter, stop attacking Miss Delacour this instant or I'll…"

"Good evening Minerva, what can I do you for?" Harry cut her off as he finally got off of the now thoroughly flustered Fleur, who pretty much smelt like Harry's sweat, or rather, 'Eau de Potter', as he liked to call it. He had in fact never called it that, but it is what he had begun to refer it as in his mind.

Annoyed that she was being cut off once again in a conversation with the most frustrating student in the school, she quickly remembered what she had come here for, "That boy from Beauxbatons was the fifth boy this month that the younger Miss Delacour put in the hospital wing by attacking them in a most…"

"Self-defence, Minerva, you'll find that if you question her, she'll tell you that she was just protecting herself each time," Harry patiently informed the Transfiguration professor. By now, the entire common room had quieted down to listen to the conversation going on between Professor and student.

"You will cease to call me by my given name Potter, I will not tolerate…"

"If you're not interested in questioning Gabrielle, then why are you here professor?" Harry interrupted her yet again, "She's right over there, after all."

Glaring angrily at the sweaty teen, she stormed on over to Gabrielle and was about to question her when Harry interrupted once again.

"Before you start, you may want to explain to her why she needed to run half way across the castle to escape Draco, Vincent and Gregory," he suggested, "she's been rather confused and scared as to how three of Hogwarts' students were able to do such a thing without reprimand when they clearly wished to do her harm."

"Such a thing was never…"

"It's not my job to run the school, now is it professor," Harry reminded the cat Animagus, "Did you not think to question the three boys further when they told you a random nine-year-old toe-bashed them…" amused by McGonagall's harsh glare that clearly said 'finish that sentence and your ass is mine', he continued, "in their nether regions?" As if he would be as unimaginative as to swear.

"There was no reason to suspect them, they were the victims…"

"So you looked for no motive behind a normally perfectly behaved little girl viciously attacking them so?" he curiously asked, "You don't think that would be important information?"

Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, less she do something she'd regret, she composed herself and countered his point, "What about Mister Davis and Monsieur Philippe?" she asked, "Did they threaten to cause her harm also?"

"Negative Professor," he pleasantly informed her, "Roger had his wand drawn on me, ready to curse me, while Jacques had his wand drawn on Archades, ready to curse him," he looked over to the confused Gabrielle with a fake smile, "I'm so proud of her, don't you think we should award her at the next feast for her services?"

"You want to award a girl for hospitalizing five boys by kicking them in their…"

"Nether regions," he finished for her, "sure, why not? Who knows what might have happened had we allowed those attacks to take place – for all we know, Stephanie and Archades may not have become an item had Jacques been allowed to attack him," Although he had a sneaking suspicion that it might have been for the better.

McGonagall stretched herself to her full height and straightened her robes, "Congratulations, Miss Zabini, Mister Montague," he saw Stephanie disguise a small frown with a half-heated smile, "make sure, Mister Potter, that Miss Delacour does not attack any other students in such a manner again, less we be forced to inform her parents."

"I promise she won't attack anyone else without due cause," he promised the annoyed Transfiguration professor, who was peeved at his choice of words, "Now, if you haven't noticed, I'm rather sweaty and need a shower – you wouldn't want me to pass my stink off to anything or anyone else would you?" he didn't wait for an answer, though he did grin as Fleur sent a dark look in his direction, "I thought not, good evening."

With that Harry left an annoyed McGonagall and Fleur in the common room as he went to go and take a shower, he really did smell bad…

XXXX

After McGonagall had stormed out of their common room, Stephanie turned an amused glance to her friend.

"You know, you looked like you were enjoying that a little too much Fleur," Stephanie informed her friend with a grin, "Did you enjoy Harry's muscled and sweaty body pressed up against yours like that?"

"I don't know why you two keep dancing around the issue," Archie joined in with his girlfriend, "it's obvious you have the hots for each other, you may as well do something about it – actually, Steph, do you think what Harry just did counts as making the first move?"

"I don't know," she said with a grin, "It certainly seems so."

"Oh shut the hell up," Fleur snapped irritably, if anyone made the first move it was her in the club god damnit! "You two are together for a week and you act like experts in love, when in reality, you two are the stupidest people on the planet when it comes to the subject," she stormed off towards the girl's showers, ignoring Archie's and Stephanie's amused gazes.

"Going to join Harry in the shower, are you?" Stephanie called out to Fleur.

"How about re-enacting your performances during the holidays, I'm sure Harry would love to sod…" Archie was cut off by an irate Fleur.

"SHUT UP STEPHANIE, ARCHADES!" they heard her call from the other side of the room, before the two broke down laughing at the hilarity of the situation.

"Oh man, she's so easy to annoy," Archie said, whipping a tear from his eye.

"Hey, have you gotten your dress robes for the ball yet?" Stephanie asked curiously, "I'm having a little trouble with getting my dress from my mum, but it should still be in the same colour…"

"Relax Steph," he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest, "I've got my dress robes already, and they match your gown, don't worry. Everything will be fine, I promise."

Stephanie smiled warmly at him and gave him another kiss before resting her head on Archie's chest, content with watching the fire cackle and burn while resting in his arms.

XXXX

"Oh man, tonight is going to be awesome," Archie exclaimed giddily as he was getting ready for the ball that evening, "I've always wondered what it'd be like to take Stephanie to a ball… Bianca used to always give me these pointless dance lessons, but now I can put them to good use!"

Harry gave off the impression that he was listening as he rested on his bed, going over some Arithmancy work. He'd rather not get ready for the Ball in front of his friend and be asked a million questions because of it regarding whom he was going with and why he told no one; let him find out when he arrived that evening. It would only take him ten seconds maximum to transfigure his attire anyways, twenty if he actually put effort in.

Speaking of the Yule Ball, he was relieved, to say the least, that he didn't have to wear dress robes. Flitwick had told him that so long as what he was wearing was considered formal in either muggle or the magical world, anything would be okay. Dress robe were horribly baggy and incredibly ugly, in his opinion. He wouldn't be caught dead in them. Archie didn't seem to mind them though, as he looked at himself in the mirror over and over at different angles.

"Archades," Harry cut off his friend with a frown, he had just realized something while looking out of the window into the cloudless winter sky, "when was the last full moon? I don't remember you transforming any time recently…"

Archades froze in the middle of fixing his tie as Harry posed the question. Turning to his friend slowly, his face suddenly pale, he walked over to a calendar he left by his bed at all times to inform him of such details, he let out a yell of frustration before punching the stone wall, cracking the heavy stone in several places when his punch made contact.

Archades' strength always increased the closer it came to a full moon, especially if one was that very evening.

"You know you can't go tonight Archades," Harry suddenly broke his friend out of his despair; he had slid down the wall and was now cradling his head in his hands.

"She'll be so upset," Archie said softly, mainly to himself, "she's been looking forward to this ball ever since agreeing to go with me, heck, she caused such a much fuss just to get the right dress from home sent over too… you had to see it. Bianca was so proud though, so she didn't mind helping…"

"Take your Wolfsbane," Harry instructed Archie, who took out a vial of thick brown liquid from his pocket and drank it with one swing, grimacing as the horrible smell and flavour assaulted his senses, "If she really does like you, she'll understand and not be upset," Harry informed Archie in his most comforting voice. Usually Cedric, or as of recently, Stephanie, to cheer Archie up if he ever became down about something, but with only the two of them in their dorm room at the moment, the task fell upon him, unfortunately, and he wasn't the best person to do such things.

"Tell her for me will you?" he cast a disillusionment charm over himself, disappearing from sight, after he had changed into some less expensive clothing, "Tell her, no matter what she looks like, that I think she'd look beautiful no matter what she is wearing, she can't be anything but…" Harry couldn't see him anymore, but he could tell he was smiling nonetheless, "Tell her that I'm really sorry too, and I'll find a way to make it up to her," he finished as the door to his room closed and Archie left to take up residence for the evening in the Shrieking Shack, as per normal when he had to spent the night in his werewolf form.

Looking at the clock and seeing that it was now almost seven thirty, half an hour before the ball was scheduled to start, he figured he had forty minutes before he needed to start getting ready.

As if he'd ever arrive to any party on time – it was always important to be fashionably late, especially when you have an anxious Veela waiting on you, counting on you to make an appearance.

Harry arrived in the entrance hall ten minutes late for the Yule Ball to see Cedric with Cho, Neville with the youngest Weasley and Viktor with House Elf girl.

"Harry?" Cedric asked, surprised by the fact that not only was the boy making an appearance, but he looked like he was to be attending. He'd never seen his friend dressed so formally, and it was definitely a humbling experience, especially when you couldn't help comparing yourself with him.

Harry was dressed in a rather stylish cream tuxedo jacket with a black collar and a single black button keeping it closed. It was rather form fitting, as was his preference with all of his clothes, apparently. The tuxedo was topped off with some black slacks, a white shirt, black tie and a pair of black pointed dress shoes that he seemed to be so fond of. Cedric couldn't help but try and stand taller and try to flatten out the creases in his robes so he wouldn't look as plain compared to him. Little did he know that it was all transfigured, as if Harry was going to use his personal wardrobe on something so dull!

"Fleur's not here yet?" he asked, annoyance clear in his voice – he going to make her wait the next time something she considered important came up, he ignored the fact that he was going to make her wait this time, fact were unimportant. Before Cedric could respond to that, Hermione gasped when she saw two familiar faces walking down the stairs in the entry hall towards them. It was a gasp of awe, and the reason why was clearly apparent.

Harry turned with a raised brow to see Fleur walking down the stairs dressed in a simple, yet extremely beautiful and elegant cream gown that reached the floor. He was pleasantly surprised when he noticed that Fleur's gown was strapless, just how he liked it, and it had a split running along the side and up to her upper thigh, accentuating, in his opinion, her most attractive body parts. The colour contrasted with Harry's jacket perfectly. Her hair was done up in a bun for the occasion, while her ears, neck and wrist were adorned with silver and diamond jewellery.

Beside her, looking equally as radiant, if a little more conservative, was Stephanie. She had opted to wear a black gown, matching her curled black hair that fell around her shoulders. Unlike Fleur, she had decided not to put her hair up in a bun, but let it hand loosely at her back instead. Her look was a stark contrast to Fleur's, Harry noticed. Where Fleur's clothing matched her pale skin colour, Stephanie's was darker, matching her tanned skin and dark grey eyes.

They both looked beautiful, too bad one of them would have her night ruined.

As Fleur and Stephanie finally reached them, Fleur looked at Harry's choice of clothing in confusion.

"I thought 'ou would 'ave the same colour clothes as me?"

"Colour coding pairs is retarded and I refuse to conform to societal pressure," the real reason is that darker colours are easier to transfigure, something that usually doesn't make a difference, but considering the material he had to start with, it would have made him have to expend some more effort than he wanted to.

"I need to speak with you, come with me for a second," he waved off Fleur and dragged Stephanie over by Hogwarts' main entrance. The door was completely open, as the outside seemed to be decorated as much as the inside for the occasion, most likely in case couples wanted to get some 'fresh air' during the evening.

"Harry," Stephanie asked, worry clearly in her voice, "where's Archie? Did something happen to him?"

Harry didn't answer, merely looking up at the night sky as she asked her question. Eventually, Stephanie mirrored his action and gasped at what she saw.

The full moon shining benevolently down at them, its light bathing Hogwarts' grounds in an ethereal glow that made the grounds and the castle itself look extremely romantic – at least, that's what Stephanie would have thought had it not been for the implications of said moon weighing heavily on her mind.

"He said he was sorry for ruining this night for you," Harry turned away from the moon and looked directly at the crushed girl. He was about to re-join the others before the opening of the Ball until he decided to do his one good deed for the year.

"Archades spends his transformations in the Shrieking Shack," he informed the surprised girl, "he's taken the Wolfsbane, so he should be fine, but I'm usually there to keep him company through it… must be pretty lonely out there all by himself."

With that mysterious message, he was about to walk off towards his date for the evening until Stephanie pulled him back by his elbow, she looked at him pleadingly, "Harry…"

She trailed off, "…what do I do?"

Harry sighed at the delay, but turned back regardless, "There's a passage under the Whomping Willow, you may want to consider using a rather long branch on the lowest knot of the tree to stop it from killing you though…"

His instructions were cut off when he felt another, weaker tug at his robe, "Not that Harry, I-this…"

She gathered her thoughts, "This relationship… with Archie, I-I, I love him you know? Of course you do, you knew since before I left Hogwarts, before I knew, before anyone else did. You never confronted us, did you? Not really, that isn't your style, right?" Seeing Harry ready to interrupt, she shook her head and continued, "If us idiots can't figure out how important we are to each other, we don't deserve the happiness from being together right? I have a feeling you would say something like that…"

She spent a second collecting her thoughts, "You know… sometimes I think you are right… idiots like me don't deserve happiness." Harry stared at her, wondering where this emotional tangent was going.

"Remember, what you said, before you-I, I mean, before I left, y-y-you said I don't deserve Archie, I don't deserve the happiness that comes wi-with being with such a great person, and you are right aren't you? You always are…" A few tears trailed down her cheek.

"Stephanie," Harry followed the tear going down her chin, about to offer empty words of comfort he heard was so popular, before deciding against it. This has been brewing for quite a while and it was time for him to finally address it, he might be going against his philosophy, but for Archades? He would make an exception.

"I didn't like you much, you know? Out of all the people I talk to on a regular basis, you are the one I disliked the most, or at all really… I put up with you for Archades' sake, and over the course of your Hogwarts career, that never changed, and do you know why Stephanie?"

She shook her head hesitantly, now that it was brought to her attention, he did always seem short with her. Harry continued, "You were ruining Archades, my best friend, you took advantage of him. Both of us know that you and Archades aren't equals, you never will be, but Archades has deluded himself into believing something different, he believes in you, he idolises you."

"Rapt with the sight of his abusive father and dying mother, he looked inwards, and realised he didn't want to go in that direction, he would do everything possible to avoid it, but all he saw was darkness, until you appeared, a portal to salvation in an ocean of black, you gave him an option out, and he latched onto you, desperately, like the strong nuclear force, grasping stronger the further the tides took him. You were an angel to him, his hope, you could do no wrong, he did everything wrong, he saw himself as the father he so desperately wanted to avoid becoming, and you as his mother, giving him a way out, illuminating his path."

He paused for a breath, ignoring the gaping and tear marked face beside him, "And he would follow you around, wouldn't he? Like a lost puppy seeking attention or a lost person seeking confirmation, he followed you, annoying you with his body whilst his mind would scream for help. You ignored that, only reacting when it suited you, reacting with violence when it became too much – understandable for a little girl, I can't begrudge you of that. But instead of retreating, he would latch on to you even stronger, sobbing out apologies – you were his poor abused mother after all, and he was his violent father – any vindication was well deserved. He didn't see the poor boy rolling around the ground in pain, clawing at an agony he had never experienced, but rather the poor girl, eyes blazing in annoyance, you were the victim, he was the perpetrator."

The tears were coming in streams now, an avalanche of salt soaking into her pore as she listened to a mostly accurate and depressing recounting of her childhood, "This mentality carried on when you arrived at Hogwarts, a deified icon to a tormented soul until you met me, an oblivious boy, a child your age who would not bow down to you, towards whom you had developed a crush on. The characteristics that cemented Archades' subservience to you were noticeably absent, something that drew you in. Archades, of course, noticed the lack of attention he was getting, and grew bolder and more outrageous, hoping to draw your eye, your ire, like a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, he yearned for you. He associated pain with you, pain with justice, as revenge for his mother. As much as I joked about him becoming a masochist, I truly believe he became one…"

"His mindset towards you extended beyond himself as well, a good example would be Jacques. Instead of seeing the scared boy running for his life, he saw the girl he had left behind in his panic. This doesn't excuse his later actions of course, but unlike what Archades would like to believe, there was very little morally reprehensive about leaving a girl you are incapable of protecting. He doesn't understand, incapable even, that people don't hold you in the same esteem he does, and somewhere along the way, you adopted his mindset as well."

He stared at Stephanie with cold and blank eyes, "You ruined him, Stephanie. People say children are innocent and ignorance is bliss, children can be the cruellest in their ignorance and due to your thoughtless inaction, the Archades who could have been is dead."

Stephanie was sobbing in earnest now, the two only remained undisturbed because of the privacy charms around them.

"It is little wonder why I didn't like you."

"However," Harry started again, "Archades is happy with you, a result of your previous actions or not, the current Archades is most happy with you. As much as your thoughtless actions will always haunt you, it would be remiss to deny him of a fulfilling life due to your guilt. I remember in the conversation before you left, me berating you about your uselessness, how despite how much you may change or improve, your only contribution to the world would be making someone with more potential, happier and more content."

His eyes turned softer, "Maybe that isn't such a bad thing after all."

Stephanie was in turmoil, the conversation had taken a turn she did not expect, and when faced with the harsh reality of what she did, not out of maliciousness but callousness, it was difficult to bear.

Any onlooker would have been witness to a very peculiar scene, a crying girl breaking down in panic and guilt, her spine bowed in defeat, next to a stoic teenage boy, muscles tightened to maintain his expression, one that was carved into a rather ugly form – trying to keep emotions off whilst they fought to be expressed, sometimes sending a bead of sweat cascading into the crevices of his taut face.

Stephanie turned back to him, almost drowning in tears, phlegm and saliva, and asked an ambiguous question, "Why?"

Harry understood instantly though, "Because Archades matters to me, more than he could ever imagine, because I won't hold back his happiness out of some misplaced vengeance-inspired rant, because, despite all this, you have become a familiar face, and one… one that I would miss."

"I-I am still confused…"

"That confusion is good Stephanie, embrace it, it means more than you would ever know. Do you know what confusion means in the academic world Stephanie?" Harry offered rhetorically.

"When you learn something new, if you have learnt it properly, as well as anyone in the world could, the first emotion you should be feeling is confusion. If you don't know something well enough to ask questions about it, questions that have never been answered, you don't know it as well as you should – people say the most learned man in the world is the most confused, and they would be right. Being confused means that you care, it means that you value something so much that it is more important than your own peace of mind, than your intellectual prowess."

Stephanie thought that over, for a man of academic, Harry did romanticise things a lot, though she had to begrudgingly admit it did help her think. It was nice to know how, despite his harsh words and implicitly calling her a bad person, he did value her somewhat, now more than ever. She knew she would never forget this conversation, and her relationship with Harry, and Archie, would never be the same again.

Suddenly, she thought to pose on last question, "What non-academic thing are you confused about then?"

Harry glanced at her, and responded in an uncharacteristically teasing tone, "Are you worried about me Stephanie?" His face hardened again, "Don't worry about me, I know exactly what I am doing…"

They stared at each other for a while before Harry shot a quick cosmetic charm at her and cleared the air of privacy charms, indicating the conversation had ended. Stephanie quickly hurried towards the Whomping Willow whilst Harry re-joined the other champions, each pondering their conversation in different ways.

XXXX

Once everyone except the champions and their dates had settled down in their seats inside the hall, McGonagall came out to them, sending a disapproving, if somewhat surprised, glare at Harry as she did so.

"Champions and their dates, please form two single lines and follow me into the hall to your seats," she said as formally as possible. Fleur practically dragged him to the back of the line, seemingly a firm believer of leaving the best until last. As McGonagall led them into the hall, they were met with applause as they were led to a large round table at the head of the hall where the Judges and officials were already sitting.

Harry idly noted that the walls of the halls were covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. Instead of the four large house tables that usually decorated the hall, they were replaced with around a hundred, smaller, lantern-lit ones. Each one looked to seat about a dozen people or so, and each were decorated with white or cream decorations.

Harry noted with amusement that Krum, who had taken the front position right behind McGonagall, or more particularly, his date, Hermione, was receiving harsh glares from the Bulgarian seeker's fan club. As amusing as it was though, he and Fleur seemed to be receiving similar treatment, he for being with the gorgeous girl and her for being with him. Cedric and Cho, who were walking behind Krum and Hermione just looked happy to be there, and in each other's presence, while Neville, and his date, looked horrendously out of place next to them.

The head table, Harry noticed, was devoid of Mister Crouch, despite the fact that the other officials and advisers were there. In his place was a familiar pompous red head Harry could have lived the rest life happily without seeing again – though that statement applied to a multitude of faceless and nameless people. Karkaroff was looking at Hermione with great displeasure while Madame Maxime, dressed in the biggest dress he'd ever seen – one that seemed to have been more transfigured than even his, looked torn as she looked between Fleur and himself.

"How does it feel?" Fleur said smugly, taking in the appreciative glances she was receiving from around ninety percent of the male population in stride, "To be going to the ball with the best-looking person in the school?"

Raising his brow in her direction at her smugness, he answered in kind, "I wouldn't know, I'm going with you, aren't I?" he quipped, much to her annoyance, "I'm definitely not taking myself so I can't answer that question," seeing Fleur looking amused by his statement rather than offended confused him somewhat, "If you're fishing for compliments, you're doing so in the wrong lake, you won't get any from me on your looks, I'd imagine they get old eventually."

Despite the fact that he hadn't complimented her, Fleur was more than pleased by his honest admission.

"Percival," Harry addressed the orange haired boy brightly as he and his date took a seat, "what an unpleasant surprise."

"Potter," he returned the greeting darkly, "still a troublemaker?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," he replied amicably, as a round of menus floated around to each of them as they took their seats.

Fleur looked at the menu with a frown, clearly not liking the option, "You think they could have tried a little harder than usual for the Yule Ball's menu," she said, "This is almost exactly what we had served to us at the welcoming feast."

"Don't get out much, do you?" Harry asked her dryly, "There has to be around two hundred people to cater for, or more, it'd be rather difficult to individualize each person's order on the spot like they do now," he looked at the menu himself with a small frown, "though a little diversity would be appreciated…"

"I'll have the Pork Chops," Dumbledore said in a loud clear voice, after examining his menu. No sooner after he had said it had his plate filled with what he asked for, along with some potatoes and salad as a side.

Everybody else followed suit, ordering their meals and eating their dinner. Harry watched on with disgusted fascination as Neville seemed to get more and more food on his face and shirt as time went by. Décor aside, one would think he would follow basic sanitation, he could imagine the headlines, 'Boy-Who-Lived beaten by Typhus Fever,' or whatever the magical variant of the disease was called. Wizards and witches had too high of an average body temperature to be susceptible to muggle diseases.

Krum and Granger were talking about Durmstrang, and the difference in its surroundings in both winter and summer – something Karkaroff wasn't all too pleased with, and he let Krum know as much. The location of Durmstrang was a closely guarded secret, no one but those who attended knew of its location. He wondered how the tournament was held at their school if no-one knew where it was at, it was like the school could hand out portkeys, because firstly they didn't exist back when the tournament was still held, and skilled practitioner of magic to trace their destination.

Cho and Cedric seemed stuck in their own little world as they looked around the Hall while pointing and laughing at people that amused them for one reason or another. It was rather annoying really, he preferred man-whore Cedric personally; at least then he wasn't surrounded by all this fluffiness.

Fleur, noticing his frown and getting rather bored by the lack of conversation decided to strike one up.

"Why do you look so nervous?" she asked in her native tongue, "Are you perhaps nervous about opening the dancing for the evening with me? Not so confident in your abilities now, perhaps?"

Harry eyed her dryly, though he couldn't help the grin that graced his features, "If your goal in life now is to find a flaw in someone as seemingly as perfect as myself, you'll only find disappointment, I assure you."

"Full of yourself, much?" she asked with a grin as she took a sip of her wine.

"Maybe a little," he answered distractedly, taking a bite of his steak as he did so. He had hung his jacket on his chair and rolled up his sleeves as he ate (so he wouldn't have to wear uncomfortably wet clothes for the night), revealing to Fleur for the first time a tattoo of a European Dragon on his inner right forearm.

"What is that?" she asked with distaste, looking at the marking that blemished his otherwise unmarked skin.

"Quidditch thing," he answered dully, "England is known as the English Dragons, it was kind of a rite of passage when I joined," Fleur blinked owlishly when the dragon tilted its head and winked at her, "hurt like a bitch, but it looks kind of cool, so I don't care. It is also temporary so if ever I feel the need to remove it, I can."

"How is this the first time I've noticed it?" she asked incredulously, "I've seen you in lesser stages of undress…" Harry tried not to burst out laughing when Madame Maxime started choking on her wine that had suddenly gone down the wrong pipe.

"Only back at Moony Nights," Harry conceded, "I keep a glamour on it so I can prank Remus into thinking it is permanent sometime in the future."

"Have you had any luck deciphering the code on the parchment yet?" Harry asked her, this time being the one to instigate the conversation.

"I might have," she lied smoothly. The truth was she didn't know where to begin. She wasn't really a fan of puzzles, and this one was a particularly difficult one.

"Have you ever heard of a Shift Cipher?" he suddenly asked her out of the blue, seeing through her falsehoods.

"Vaguely, during one of my Arithmancy classes," she answered him, "why?"

"No reason," he answered as he finished off his steak. Dumbledore rose from his seat at that point, motioning for everyone else in the hall to follow his example. With a raise of his wand, the tables were all pushed to the sides of the hall as a raised platform was elevated with a whole array of instruments on it. Suddenly, the Weird Sisters, a popular magical band entered the great hall to thunderous applause and took to the stage.

Dressed in his jacket once again, having removed it before the table disappeared from beside them; Fleur dragged him to the dance floor, followed closely by the rest of the champions, as they opened the dancing for the evening with a rather simple waltz.

"You know," Fleur spoke as the two continued to waltz, "You're not as bad as I thought you'd be," she commented lightly as she allowed him to lead her around the dance floor in tune with the music.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he retorted dryly as the two continued their dance, oblivious to the jealous stares they were getting.

"You do know," Fleur began, with a large smile, "that now that I have you out here dancing with me, that I won't let you stop until I'm done for the evening," she informed the black haired boy happily, "I don't really fancy dancing with any of the other boys tonight."

"Not even Ronald?" Harry asked her innocently, as he spun her around so she could get a better look at the boy who was openly gaping at her, a little drool escaping the corners of his mouth. To be fair though, he wasn't alone in that.

"Unfortunately, no," she replied sarcastically, "You're mine for tonight, Mister Potter, and I intend to take advantage of that." She finished that sentence rather sultrily, extending her tongue towards his ear teasingly, trying to repeat the events of the last ball they went together.

Harry caught the extended appendage, "Taking advantage of someone implies they don't know the consequences of their actions," he grinned at her warningly, pulling her head closer to his, "if anything, I think it will be the other way around…"

With a large smile, the two of them continued to dance as more and more couples joined them on the dance floor now that the evening's festivities had officially begun. Numerous people attempted to cut in on Harry and Fleur's dancing, only to be turned away with an icy glare or an acerbic comment consistently.

He could definitely think of worse ways to spend an evening.

Though, he could also think of better uses of his time…

XXX

Stephanie found herself in a run-down and dark shack after coming up out the end of the tunnel below the Whomping Willow. At first, she had no idea what knot Harry had been talking about when she approached the huge, menacing tree, but upon closer inspection, it was clearly visible right next to the passageway, lowest to the ground.

She'd almost added more tears to her face in despair when she'd ripped her dress in several places while trying to get through the tunnel, but the thought of failing Archie again, and treasonously going back to the Ball stilled her protests – she was in no position to complain about anything, especially after the verbal beatdown she received from Harry.

The shack, she noticed upon entering, was full of dust, broken furniture and large scratch marks on the walls, floors and even ceilings. It was rather clear merely by looking at it what this macabre location was often used for.

As she tiptoed through the house – she'd removed her shoes because her feet were rather sore from running in them for so long – she started to hear the sound of loud breathing. It sounded as if it were coming from a large beast, or rather, a werewolf.

Finally, coming upon the last room in the house she had yet to explore, she pushed open the door slowly, cringing as it creaked incredibly loudly in the silence of the night, causing the creature inside to snap its head in her direction the second she stepped through the door.

Seeing the werewolf curled up in the corner, looking at her the way it was, brought back memories of that horrific night at the Quidditch World Cup. She all but froze when dark grey eyes met startling blue ones. The only thing that kept her from screaming, or running in fright, was the fact that this werewolf staring at her incredulously was her boyfriend.

Upon recognizing just who had walked through the door, the werewolf's eyes opened wide in shock as it tried to backpedal away from her as far as possible. In the end, Archie was merely pushing himself, hard, against a solid wall, and trying to move further away from her, as Stephanie advanced on him.

"Shh," she tried to placate him as she reached out to touch him. The more she advanced, the more Archie realized that Stephanie wasn't going to turn away, so, in a last-ditch effort, he started growling menacingly at her, baring his fangs in the hopes that she'd be scared and leave.

"I've never been scared of you in my life Archie," she said crossly, not approving of his behaviour, "Don't think because you're hairier and have big teeth that you scare me now."

Archie ducked his head at that, not sure what else to do as he let out a very canine like whine. It was rather high pitched and depressing, Stephanie could tell, as if Archie was ashamed of this situation. Incredibly, she felt even more ashamed, and when staring down at his cowering body, she decided not to add to his woes with Harry's words.

"Harry told me that you were sorry," she said as she approached her boyfriend slowly, "Forget about the full moon, did you? Why am I not surprised?" she joked, finally invading his personally space and patting him on the nose. His fur was nice and smooth, despite its scruffy appearance, and Archie seemed to enjoy the attention, despite the positive response, she only felt more guilty – Harry's words echoing in her mind, her arms in autopilot despite wanting nothing more than to wipe some imperceptible tears from her eyes.

"Did you honestly think I could enjoy myself tonight if you weren't there?" she asked him incredulously as she took a seat against the wall beside Archie. Slowly, she guided his wolf-like head into her lap so she could continue to pat him affectionately, "Sure, I wanted to go tonight, but only because you were going with me and it was kind of like our first date – I never wanted to go until you asked me… you know that."

Archie let out another whine, as if trying to speak to her, but his new transformed state didn't allow for it.

"Did you really think so little of me that you'd honestly think I'd be disappointed or upset that you didn't come tonight?" she asked him softly, though no malice or disbelief was really in her words, "What a silly question – you've been so nice to me, loved me, for your entire life, and all I've done for you in return is treated you as if your feelings didn't matter… as if you were an extension of myself only needed for self-validation."

Seeing Archie raise his large head to try and form some form of protest, she shushed him by scratching him behind the ear, his tongue rolled out of his mouth as he started panting at the treatment. Stephanie tried to suppress a giggle at the sight, he was like an overgrown puppy right now, a humanoid, and extremely large, creepy and dangerous puppy, but harmless, nonetheless… at least to her. If Harry were to be believed, he didn't have a choice in that regard.

"Even now, when I come to be with you and keep you company tonight, you want me to stay away for my own happiness," she said softly, tears threatening to poor out of her eyes, "you're so selfless… I don't think I deserve you…" She is certain every happy couple wonders whether they deserve each other, she just knows for sure that she doesn't.

A loud growl snapped her out of her depression as she saw startling blue eyes staring into her own. Archie rubbed his nuzzle against her face, effectively wiping the tears from her eyes with his knuckles, before clasping her wrist and placing it back to where it was earlier, scratching his ear.

"You like that do you?" she asked with a choked sob, as she continued to scratch the happy werewolf behind the ear. She resolved to do anything to make Archie happy, she may have ruined him, but she is going to make sure he is the happiest ruined version of himself he can be

The two were enveloped in silence as Stephanie continued caressing his ear, just how he seemed to like it, in a loving manner.

Hours passed the two by without comment, until the time finally caught up with them.

"You know," Stephanie spoke, barely above a whisper, "I think spending the night together like this is much more romantic than going to some ball where we'd be surrounded by hundreds of people," she chuckled, "I rather like the idea of spending the night with you, here, like this."

Archie unwrapped one of his long furry arms from his waist and tried to get a message to her through hand signs. They were terrible, but he got the message through easily enough. It was rather hard not to understand a moon going down and the meaning behind what that meant, added with the pointing to his body…

Stephanie let out a giggle when she got the message, "You're going to be naked in the morning, aren't you?" she joked with him. If a werewolf could blush, she was certain that he would have, "I've got to see it some time, right?" she said with a wink, half-serious, as he buried his head in her lap. She couldn't help but laugh at his childish antics being performed through the body of a large, scary looking werewolf; it just looked so ridiculous.

"By the way," she just remembered something, "did you know Harry went to the Ball with Fleur tonight?"

His head snapped up at that as he gave her an incredulous stare, "Oh, I know, they both looked pretty hot together, I'm not going to lie to you…"

Archie's werewolf features morphed into what she assumed was a frown as he moved away from her and looked into her eyes. Suddenly, he let out a loud and frightening howl before flexing his werewolf muscles for her.

Stephanie broke down laughing at the absurdity of the situation, "Don't worry, I think you look awesome Archie – way better than Harry anyway." After tonight? In more ways than one, in more ways than Archie would ever know.

The boy gave her what she assumed to be a cocky grin as he snuggled back into her embrace; enjoying the warmth her body provided him and vice-versa.

Stephanie smiled fondly at him as she continued to scratch the back of his ears. Archie really was amazing; how could she have been so thoughtless?