A/N: I wished I owned Harry Potter. Alas, I do not. Ms. Rowling, I'd be happy to take it off your hands
Chapter 46: Aftermath 2.0
February, 1995
Harry raced into the common room so fast that he almost ripped through the painting. He slowed as he reached the girls stairs. In his haste, he had not come up with a way to actually get to Hermione. He paused for a moment and then his eyes set upon Colin Creevey.
"Hey Colin!" Harry said. The boy jumped to attention his eyes shining. "Can you help me with something real quick?" The pieces of an idea were starting to come together in his mind, but he wanted to test it first.
"Absolutely!" Colin was almost bouncing with anticipation.
"Alright just come to the bottom of the girl's stairs." Colin did as he asked without a moment's hesitation.
"Hey Harry?" Harry heard Dean behind him.
"Hey Dean," Harry said, drawing his wand.
"What you doing?"
"Doing an experiment," Harry said. With a swish and flick and a "Wingardium Leviosa" Dennis floated over the girl's stairs. He smiled as the stairs did not instantly turn into a slide. "Winner Winner," Harry said, floating Dennis back over the floor and setting him down.
"Well, that's interesting," Dean observed. "Mind explaining how you are going to do that when you can't see what you are floating?"
"I don't care about floating," Harry said as he tightened the laces on his trainers. "I just needed to see if the stairs triggered if a boy was above them." He took a few steps back and then raced forward, jumping right at the base of the stairs. His momentum carried him into the wall, and with a kick, Harry jumped to the opposite wall, and he bounced again, vanishing out of view up the stairs.
"Well," Dean said, turning to head to breakfast, "That was interesting."
It took Harry a few more jumps to land on the landing outside the fourth door. He tensed as he landed, waiting for the landing to collapse, but nothing happened. It must be just the stairs, Harry figured as he knocked on the door. There was no response, and he knocked on the door again. He heard footsteps and the door swung open.
"Harry?" Lavender almost shouted in surprise. "How did you even get up here?"
"Long story," Harry managed to get out, his breath mildly labored from the effort without the benefit of his magic aiding his strength.
"I don't even know why I get surprised with you anymore," Lavender said. "And before you ask, I'm not letting you in to talk to Hermione."
"Lavender, I'm going to talk to my best friend," Harry stated. "I can get past you in a variety of ways, but I'd prefer to come in with you consent." Lavender just straightened. "Have it your way," Harry juked left and as Lavender tried to move Harry easily sidestepped her and walked into the girl's dorm room uncontested. "Hermione!" Harry called out, and he heard something start on one of the beds. He walked over to the bed and tore the curtains away.
"Harry stop!" Lavender said.
"Hermione?" Harry said, his voice quiet as he knelt down by the bed. Hermione curled up, but Harry had seen the red splotched under her eyes. Her hair was frizzy and untamed, and she had been crying. "Hey, are you ok?"
"Go away Harry," Hermione said quietly.
"You know I can't do that," Harry said, sitting on the bed next to her. He flashed a smile at Lavender, who almost growled at him but left nonetheless. "It's been a while since we talked. How have you been doing?"
"Ok," Hermione got out in between deep breaths. "Oh Harry!" She flung himself into his arms and started to sob.
"Hey it's ok," Harry said, putting his arms around Hermione gently. As Hermione cried, Harry came to a startling realization that so many men before had come to. He had absolutely no idea what to do with a sobbing girl. Hermione was his best friend, and he knew more about her than anyone in the world, but he did not have a clue as to how to make her feel better. "It's ok."
"Well, I'm sure you heard Cedric and I broke up." Hermione and Harry were sitting on the bed next to each other, Hermione was all cried out for the time being, having sobbed for a straight 10 minutes.
"Why do you think I rushed up here?" Harry said with a small smile.
"Yeah, how did you get up here?" Hermione said her eyes lighting up. "Victor was saying something about how you can apparently track magical energy now. Did that-"
"Hermione, as much as I would love to get into magical theory with you, and while I promise I will have some stuff to teach you over the rest of the year, I do want to know what happened. If you really don't want to talk about it with me that's fine, but you need to talk about it with someone."
"Did you talk about Daphne with someone?" Hermione accused.
"Not until recently," Harry admitted. "I talked about it a lot over the last month, and it helped. I think even though we went out for less than a month, it helped me move past it. I'll still have those feelings for her, for the time being, and talking helped me rationalize that. I'm in a place where I can be friends with her without forcing it."
"Really?" Hermione frowned at him. "Prove it."
"By what? Opening up about how I felt?" Hermione nodded emphatically. "Sure. What do you want to know?"
"Why was it so hard to deal with? Like you said, it was less than a month."
"Well, it was hard because it was the first person I had ever opened to like that," Harry acknowledged. "Sure, I didn't tell her anything that other people didn't know, but she was the only person who could help me with that with physical contact. Also, you know I have a bit of a physical contact phobia. Daphne helped me get better with that. Flinching back from a friend is bad. Flinching back from a girlfriend is a million times worse."
"I never thought about that," Hermione conceded. "And it helps to say it out loud?"
"Yeah," Harry admitted. "So, do you feel like sharing something?"
"Only if you promise not to freak out and leave," Hermione said after a long silence.
"Hermione, I will never leave you when you need me."
"Ok." Hermione took a deep breath in, readying herself for the bomb she was about to drop. "Harry, I have had a crush on you since, well, since third year. When you decided to go out with Daphne despite knowing her for two months, it really hurt me."
"Wha-"
"Just let me get through this," Hermione interrupted. "This is hard enough without interruption. When Cedric showed interest, I thought that I could get over you with him. I knew that you would never feel the same way about me. For a time, it was fine being your best friend and trying to see what Cedric and I could be. Then there was the ball and I felt something really for him. But then you disappeared."
"I was going out of my mind with worry. For all I knew, you were dead and I would never know. I replayed every second of that fight in the hallway, looking for something I could have done. I came up with scenarios to sneak out of school to try and find. All I knew was that you might not be ok, that I had no idea what was going on with you. All the feelings I have kept down came back with a passion. And Cedric said he couldn't be with me while I was still crazy about you, and he was right, even if it hurt to hear it."
"Harry, I'm not asking you to feel a different way for me. I know that you didn't then, and you probably don't now. I know that you still have feelings for Daphne, and that Fleur is crazy about you. You have enough going on in your love life that I didn't need to heap on, but I think I needed to get this off my chest. And there is one other thing that you probably didn't know, which makes it all the harder to let go of you."
"I'm going to stop you right there," Harry said, holding up a hand. "Look, I said I'm not going to leave you no matter what, and I won't. But I think I have reached my quota of learning new things for the week." Harry just put his head in his hands. "Let me see if I get this straight. You have a crush on me, then it went away, and now it's back?"
"I think so," Hermione said. "To be honest, I'm not going to come out and say I love you like Fleur. That's far too impulsive. But it's more serious than a crush."
"Thanks for being honest with me," Harry said after a long pause. "You should have told me last year. It would have been easier."
"Yeah, it would have been," Hermione replied, leaning into him. "But I guess my chance is gone now?"
"No, I wouldn't say that," Harry told her. "There has always been something between us, more than friendship. There probably always will be. But when I close my eyes, your face doesn't pop into my head, not like that. It never has."
"Can you tell me who is in your head right now?" Hermione asked.
"You'll see soon enough," Harry said. Hermione glanced at him with a question in her eyes.
"It's never been me," Hermione said quietly, and Harry gave a regretful nod. "And it won't be me in the future."
"I don't think so," Harry admitted. A tear ran down Hermione's face. "Hermione, I'm sorry-"
"You don't have to apologize for your feelings," Hermione interrupted. "Can at we least be friends?"
"We were never friends," Harry said, and he saw shock flicker across her face. "We were best friends, and that will never change, no matter what happens." Hermione gave a forced smile, and Harry realized that this was as good as it was going to get for the time being. "But I need to apologize first. In fact, I owe a few people some serious apologies. I have a good idea of how to do it. Akira told me you started a training group?"
"Yeah, it wasn't too serious," Hermione said. "We started out committed, but I'm no leader. We have only met twice in February."
"Why didn't Victor jump in?"
"Victor didn't come," Hermione admitted. "He likes Cedric enough, and tolerates Fleur, but his only real friend here is you, Luna notwithstanding. He's actually quite similar to you. We had a long chat one day when he was waiting for Luna So many people want to be around him because of his fame, but you don't care in the slightest even though you both play seeker. It's quite refreshing to him. He told me he really likes being around you, and you are easily stronger than him. Out of all our friends, he probably missed you the most among all the guys."
"Huh." Harry's eyes went unfocused. "He never told me that."
"Guys don't ever talk about that stuff with other guys," Hermione said with a knowing tone. "Don't you know anything?"
"Hey!" Harry chided her with mock indignation in his voice. "I guess that means you don't want to learn any of the skills I picked up while I was gone?" Hermione's eyes started to shine. "Come on, let's get to class. I'll tell you all about it later this week. I'm interested to see what you all have been up to while I was gone."
"Oh my god, I skived off class!" Hermione almost shouted. "It was potions too!"
"Good point," Harry agreed. "Stick around me the rest of the day. When Severus comes up to yell at you, I'll take care of him."
"Harry, you can't pick a fight with a Professor," Hermione reminded him. "You could get expelled."
"Actually, I can't," Harry told her. "But I figured I'd try and destroy him with words first. He's a tough wizard anyways. One doesn't become a marked death eater by being a slouch with a wand." Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh, my bad. That really isn't supposed to be common knowledge."
"Professor Snape is a death eater?" Hermione was in shock, barely moving. It took serious effort for Harry to get her to promise to keep it quiet and drag her to the Defense classroom. Eventually Harry was surrounded by his friends, asking about his newfound lightning powers. Harry avoided most of the questions, citing an unbreakable vow, but did talk a little about how he had powered up recently, and was potentially going to take over Hermione's study group, which got everyone excited.
"Ok," Moody rasped as he stood in front of class. Harry glanced at Akira, who shrugged. Even if Akira had taught almost every class since the beginning of the tournament, Moody was still technically the DADA teacher, and it looked like he wanted to teach today. "Today, we are going to focus on shielding. Of course, you cannot shield from the unforgivable curses, but everything else can be stopped."
"That's not really true," Harry muttered to himself. But there was no point getting into it now.
"Bones!" Moody called out. "Why don't you help me with a demonstration?" Susan nodded and walked to stand in front of the class. "Show me your best shield. Stupefy!"
"Protego!" Susan said in response, and Moody's red jet hit her shield and dissolved. But as her shield dropped, Moody's second jet, cast silently stung her. The second hex had been a stinging hex, and Harry held back a smile. It seemed like the Master Auror wasn't all talk.
"What was her mistake?" Moody asked.
"She dropped her shield," Hermione said confidently.
"That's close," Akira said. "No one can hold a shield forever, not even Dumbledore."
"She should have transitioned," Neville said. Everyone in class looked at him. "I mean, she was passive."
"Expand on that," Moody said eagerly, his eye boring into Neville.
"Well, when you are fighting, you are either defending or attacking. Whether you are shielding dodging, or countering, that is defense. If you aren't prepared to do any of that, the best defense is a good attack. The moment she dropped her shield, she had to transition to attacking to stop you from hexing her."
"Excellent!" Moody exclaimed. "Take 10 points for Gryffindor, Mr. Longbottom." Neville nodded confidently. Harry wasn't overly surprised. The concept might be foreign to most wizards, but apparently Neville had kept up his training with his brother. Never being passive was key to the Hayashi school. Granted, while Harry had confidence in his ability to perform the necessary moves from the Hayashi school when practicing with Akira, his mindset was different now. His new skill set meant that sometimes doing nothing was the best move.
"Let's all pair up!" Akira said. "Someone different then you usually do. Work with someone who doesn't know your attack patterns, or how you like to shield."
"Potter," Moody snapped. "Fancy a bout with me?" Harry just shrugged. It was probably true that nobody in the class could match his magical strength, even if he just crouched behind a shield. Remus had told him at the beginning of the year that Moody could easily defeat him, and that Harry should be cautious of him. But the Harry of February was a different person than the Harry of September. This seemed like an excellent way to test how he had improved.
As Harry moved to stand across from the teacher, he resolved to make sure he just used magic. Nambung had stressed that while for most fights, it would make sense to pull his strength into his magic or to do the reverse to increase his speed, sometimes that could be dangerous. Besides, Harry had not fought magic to magic with no augmented power for two months. It wasn't how he trained, and this would be revealing.
"Ready?' Moody asked but fired two shots at Harry without waiting for a response. The auror was fast and his stunners had power. Harry couldn't get his shield up in time, but even without his magic augmenting his physical abilities, Harry was unnaturally fast. One of the shots was at his head, and Harry just snapped his head back, and swayed back the other direction to avoid the body shot. Moody grinned and fired another pattern at Harry, but this time the young wizard was ready, and he shielded all three shots.
Harry was forced on the defensive as Moody fired spell after spell, only to see them land on Harry's shield. Once Moody was able to crack the shield, but Harry simply ended the shield and cast again. Despite the barrage, Harry couldn't find an opening to fire back without being reckless. Both wizards were casting silently from instinct now. Harry realized he would have been done in already if he had to speak the incantations, and his estimation of the grizzled old man rose.
A yellow jet snapped out of Moody's wand and as Harry prepared to take it on his shield he saw the bolt accelerate. Harry had no idea what the spell was, so he dropped his shield and managed to roll out of the way. He heard Akira hiss and he glanced back for a moment and saw the wall melting. Harry didn't know the spell, but apparently Moody had gotten caught up in battle fever. It was time to take the fight to him.
As Harry came out of his roll he chained a few stunners and disarming spells together with a speed of casting that made Moody shield. But as he finished his last disarming spell, Harry allowed his arm to become loose and he swung in all the way around his body. Two stunners raced out of his wand, curving around Moody's shield. One of them was blocked as Moody expanded his shield to cover his entire body, but the second hit the shield and shattered it.
The auror looked shocked and managed to dodge the third stunner but Harry was done playing, and a cutting hex sliced through a hastily erected shield. The shield took enough power out of the spell to just causing a minor laceration and Harry frowned, reading to fire some more dangerous hexes after he dodged Moody's next salvo.
As the spells raced out of his opponent's wand, they impacted on a shield halfway in between them. Harry didn't look away as he fired a spell, but his spell was absorbed by the shield as well. Annoyed, he looked around for the person who had stopped his fun and saw Akira was his wand extended. Harry's fighting blood was up and he aimed his wand at Akira for half a second.
"Enough," Akira said quietly, and Harry forced his mind into the darkened lake, taking a deep breath. "You ok Harry?" Harry nodded, taking a few deep breaths. He wasn't drained, but his magic was certainly depleted. He glanced at Moody and saw the auror was drawing deep breaths too, but a tiny tendril of sensory magic saw that the professor still had plenty in the tank.
"Well played Potter," Moody barked.
"That boiling curse was out of line," Akira told the professor. "Cool off a bit." Moody nodded and started walking around the class, offering suggestions and criticisms. Harry turned to watch him still catching his breath and saw that the other students were busy with their own fight, and most had not seen the confrontation between him and the teacher. "Harry, just meditate the rest of class." Harry sat on the floor, finding his center and allowing his magic to replenish, reviewing the fight in his mind.
Harry was free until dinner and spent the time making up with Susan, Hannah and Lavender, hearing from them how the last two months had gone, and giving them a basic summary of his increase in power, without revealing anything about his newfound lightning or ability to seemingly flash in and out of any ward, including the Hogwarts wards.
Harry was looking forward to dinner for a variety of reasons. He slid into the table next to Hermione, smiling at her. He didn't have to wait long as Snape arrived at the Gryffindor table a sneer on his face and his cape billowing behind him. Harry had his wand out under the table and he had to hide his grin as Snape stared down at his best friend.
"Ms. Granger," Snape said, and then Harry hit him with a silent Silencio. Snape tried to speak, but found his voice gone. He angrily grabbed his wand and cast the counter spell as Harry slid his wand back into his holster surreptitiously. "Who dared to silence me!" Snape was irate as he looked around the table. "Diggory," Snape snarled at the Hufflepuff who was sitting a few seats down. "Defending your girlfriend, is it!"
"Ah, it was actually me." Harry turned and saw in surprise Fleur with her wand in her hand. "I was looking forward to a quiet dinner, and I had no interest in listening to you yell."
"You dare?" Snape had his wand in his hand, and Harry realized that a harmless prank was quickly spiraling out of control. With a tiny touch to his holster, Harry rose, stepping in between the potions master and the French witch. "Potter, of course you'd have something to do with this."
"Letting the boy fight your battles for you," Harry heard a Beauxbatons boy he didn't recognize say. "Pathetic," the boy spat at Fleur, and Harry felt her magic spike behind her. Then Harry felt a familiar discharge and without even looking he snapped a shield out, catching the hex right before it hit the blindsided Fleur.
"Malfoy," Harry said, firing a quick disarming spell at Malfoy, who dodged the spell. "Why am I not surprised?"
"I'm just teaching the Veela whore a lesson," Malfoy snapped. "She's as useless as your mudblood friend." Harry cocked his head curiously at Malfoy as if confused. "Delacour and Granger, both scum."
"What did you say?" Everyone at the Gryffindor table stared at Harry's totally blank and impassive face. Neville and Dean rose, grabbing Harry's wand hand, but the boy wretched his arm clear. "Say that again."
"That French whore-" was as far as Draco got. Even Akira at the teacher's table didn't see Harry move. One moment Draco was at the Gryffindor table and the next he was slammed up against the far wall, Harry holding him up the wall, his wand in his face.
"That's it." Everyone stared in horror as light pooled in Harry wand. The impassive looked was gone from his face, and a new emotion covered his face, one that made Draco terrified. He had seen Potter mad before, constantly. Not as much this year, but Potter beyond mad. He was furious, his muscles tense and his eyes wild with fury, and there would be no more insults from the Potter heir. His next spell would not be a stunner. "You were on your last warning, but you never seem to learn."
"Harry, no!" Krum yelled, reaching just in time to knock Harry away from Draco. The spell fired anyway, but the wand was now aimed at the wand next to him. The wall next to door simply crumbled, leaving nothing there as the door collapsed. "What was that?"
"Draco, count your lucky stars," Harry said, regaining his calm. "Victor, that was unnecessary."
"You would have killed him," Victor said, the noise in the hall rising to a fever pitch.
"Happily," Harry countered, "but that spell is a little different."
"It wasn't a vanishing spell," Victor said. "The wall simply disintegrated."
"Correct," Harry said. "Draco would not have died. He simply would have ceased to exist."
"How dare you?" Snape had his wand pointed at Harry. "I'll have you expelled for this!"
"No, you won't." Harry was totally calm now. He would have been fine destroying Draco, but this was just as good. "I am well within my rights to respond to that attack by the Malfoy scion. In fact, we are just getting started."
"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore said, forcing Snape to lower his wand. "Please consider-"
"Draco Malfoy," Harry said, cutting Dumbledore off and pitching his voice to extend to the entire hall. "Your behavior is beyond the pale, and I will not tolerate it anymore. I call your bloodline to account. You will face me in a blood duel or will be revealed as a coward."
"Draco-" Dumbledore tried to intervene, but Malfoy just sneered back.
"A blood duel? I accept. As the challenged I name the terms."
"What the hell is happening?" Hermione asked, her voice quiet as the hall was silent, every eye on Malfoy.
"Harry just challenged Draco to a duel with their family honor on the line. Draco gets to name the terms, and then Harry gets to name the wager. An arbiter will decide if the wager is fair," Hannah whispered back. "This is insane. There has not been a blood duel in years. Draco can name any terms."
"All spells allowed," Draco said. "No body to body contact. Let's see how good you are without your martial arts. Fight until the other party cannot fight anymore. One week. Quidditch stadium, no crowds. Only family or invitation allowed."
"Fine," Harry said. "As a blood duel, you may choose a champion from your bloodline. Go ahead, I'd love to break your father in two."
"Anyone of my blood? Fine. Name your terms."
"If I win, you will swear a magical oath that will take your life and magic if you use the word mudblood, blood traitor, and others," Harry said. "We will write it down, and you will sign it with a blood quill."
"Harry, be reasonable," Dumbledore implored.
"That is ridiculous," Snape said. "There is nothing equal to Draco's magic."
"In return," Harry continued, "if I lose, the Malfoy's will gain the Potter, through the Peverell family, Wizengamot seat." The hall went wild at the declaration, both that Harry Potter had a seat on the Wizengamot and that was willing to wager it. "How's that for equal? Go call your father, since it is all you are good for. He'll accept. Wash your neck and wait, Malfoy. If you want to fight yourself, no need to sign the contract. You won't walk out of that stadium alive."
"Fine," Draco replied. "One week, Potter. Then I'll take that seat over your dead body." Draco turned and left the hall, his cronies right behind him.
"Well, that went well," Harry said, sliding into his seat again."
"You planned that?" Dean asked.
"Not exactly," Harry said. "I was hoping he would name Snape as his champion right now. He is his godfather, after all. I'm curious who he will choose, a blood relation."
"His father is a dangerous man," Cedric said. "Harry, have you thought this through? Especially if you can't use your fighting techniques."
"It will be fine," Harry stated with a dismissive shake of his head. "For now, dinner is calling." He grabbed some food and put in on his place. "I'm going to eat. Let's leave everything alone for now." The talk of the hall for the rest of dinner settled on the consequences of the fight. Regardless of the conditions, everyone expected only one contestant to leave the stadium alive, with no spell restrictions. Harry heard the twins whispering about setting up bets, before their girlfriends smacked them over the head.
"Harry, you idiot," Daphne said. "Malfoy's dad won't hesitate to cast the unforgivables."
"I sure hope so," Harry said. "Oh, by the way, Susan, Hannah?" The two girls looked at him. "Why don't you take Daphne to get situated in your dorm?" Everyone looked at him curious. "She and her sister got resorted. Speaking of which," Harry rose, leaving all his friends stunned behind him. He walked over to a familiar face, knelling down next to her. "Hey Natalie."
"Harry," Natalie breathed out in surprise. "You remember me?"
"Of course I do," Harry said. "Can you come with me?" Harry took the young girl to the corner of the table, where Astoria was sitting with her eyes wide open, somewhat isolated. "This is Astoria Greengrass. She's in your year, and she is a Gryffindor now. I think you guys could be good friends. Can you do that?" Natalie and Astoria both nodded emphatically. "Good." With that handled, Harry left the hall.
"Wow!" Susan exclaimed. "What just happened?"
"Hurricane Potter," Dean replied. "It's about time someone put Draco in his place."
"Dean, someone could die," Lavender said. "That doesn't worry you?"
"Sure it does," Dean told her, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "But what's the advantage of fear or the benefit of regret even if death is coming for you? My mom always says that life is only precious if you make it worth something. Harry is standing up for us all, making his life worth something. Do you truly enjoy life, allowing everything to pass you by, or do you take a stand?"
"I don't know," Lavender answered, every eye on the couple.
"Well, I can't tell you the answer to that." Dean set his napkin on the table. "But if this is where Harry wants to take a stand, I'll take it with him."
"We all will," Krum said, rising. "He's right. The bigotry needs to stop somewhere. It is our moral imperative."
"At the cost of someone's life?" Cedric argued. That shut everyone up.
"Yes," a voice sounded out. Everyone stared at Luna. "To Harry, to Draco, to Malfoy Sr., the war isn't over. It was just a ceasefire. The dark mark still exists, and Voldemort will return one day." Almost everyone shuddered the name.
"Luna," Krum said quietly.
"I know I sound crazy," Luna told him. "I may be."
"You aren't," Daphne said. "Harry believes it too." Now every eye was on the newly christened Hufflepuff. "That's why he helped me and my sister get resorted. "It isn't safe in Slytherin for people who will stand against a family like the Malfoys."
"This is all so crazy!" Hannah exploded. "I feel like I'm going to wake up from a dream, and it's going to be the beginning of fourth year."
"Uh, this may be off topic, but the judges never did assign scored for the second task, did they?" Cedric asked. That set the table off in laughter. "Crazy is definitely the right word, Hannah."
"I think I need some sleep," Daphne admitted. "Maybe tomorrow, everything won't look insane. What did you call it, Thomas? Hurricane Potter?"
"When he gets going, he unfortunately brings chaos," Dean said. "But at the moment, I'm worried about my transfiguration essay on Wednesday. Just because the world turned upside down with his return, doesn't mean that everything else changes. Our lives still go on." With that wisdom the group broke up, some heading the library, others like the 4th year Hufflepuffs going back to their dorm to help their new housemate settle in.
Halfway through dinner Fleur had disappeared going down to the lake. She cast a few notice-me -not charms, but she wasn't surprise that they did not turn him away. He sat next to her in silence for around 20 minutes. No one else bothered them as they looked over the lake. Fleur waited for him to say something, but apparently, he was more than content to let her start the conversation.
"So, you couldn't even say hi, let us know you were fine for almost two months?" Fleur asked the love of her life, her voice tinged with irritation.
"I really couldn't," Harry said. "I'm guessing I'm sorry doesn't cover it."
"Of course, it doesn't" Fleur fired back. "Don't get me wrong, I was serious when I said I love you, and nothing has changed in that regard. But I'm angry."
"You have every right to be," Harry agreed. "I'd be surprised if you weren't." They sat in silence for another minute. "I was supposed to go back to class, have a normal week. Guess I messed that up."
"You think?" Fleur's tone was acidic. "Fighting for your life in a week? I assume you have a plan."
"Fight and win," Harry assured her. Fleur glared at him. "Depends on who his champion is."
"Since it's a blood feud, you could choose someone too." Fleur eyebrow rose. "Sirius could take your place. He is your godfather, right?"
"That's an idea," Harry admitted. "A good idea. In a blood duel against another noble house, supposedly a higher power is involved. The consequences of that is that anyone convicted of a crime, if their blood is noble, is absolved of all crimes. Sirius would be free to return, but I can't ask him to fight for me. This is my fight. Besides, by the time a letter reached him it would be too late for him to prepare properly."
"Not entirely true," Fleur said. "I talked to Daphne this afternoon. She told me that you flashed her to her parent's house last night using her memories."
"True," Harry conceded. "I'm a little confused what that has to do with Sirius.
"He is still at the house of my parents," Fleur explained, and Harry raised an eyebrow. "You could flash us there right now."
"I guess it would be weird if I showed up to classes," Harry acknowledged. "But for a long distance flash like that, to somewhere I have never been, I'll need multiple memories. I used Daphne and Astoria's. Strong ones too. Your family already went home?" Fleur nodded. "Well, that's a problem."
"Not entirely," Fleur said. "Someone else has strong memories, and has been there a few times. I would never have thought of it until you said it. We should have someone owl us the scores though." Harry was confused at that. "You know, from the second task."
"I totally forgot," Harry revealed. "Funny how perspective changes. But no need. Once I get the location from the flash, it's not that hard to go back and forth. I do need to spend some time here. Just because I've got stronger doesn't mean I can stop learning."
"Even with your life on the line?" Fleur said. Harry nodded. "You are quite the puzzle, Harry Potter. So should we get going?"
"Look, I appreciate the idea, but I'm still not going to let Sirius fight in my place," Harry told her. "Besides, he has been on the run for a year, preceded by 12 years in a living hell. He's in no condition to fight."
"He doesn't deserve to know?"
"We honestly aren't that close," Harry told her. "We haven't spent too much time together. I will always appreciate that he offered to have me come live with him, and I'd like to get to know him better. I'm sure that I'll visit him a few times this year."
"Remus is there as well." Harry's eyes widened at that. "At the very least, he would be a good sparing partner while you prepare."
"And you don't have ulterior motives for going to France with me?"
"I admit, the idea of having you to myself for a week when you are not training is appealing," Fleur said. "But you wouldn't still be listening if what I was saying was totally crazy."
"No, I wouldn't," Harry agreed. He leaned back on the rock, allowing Fleur to slide her hand over his. "They deserve to know. Remus and Sirius. But I won't let him fight on my behalf, even to gain his freedom. There are safer, better ways." He looked at her, meeting her eyes. "So, who is the other person with strong memories?"
It was a brief conversation, and Susan agreed almost instantly. Harry wrote a quick note and left it on the Gryffindor common room table. Susan cautioned against it, so Harry also dropped by his grandmother's room to explain things and after yelling at him for five minutes for being insanely reckless, she agreed he should leave to go train as long as he came back to school at least a few times before the duel, and that they would perhaps convene a war council over the weekend.
"Get a clear picture in your minds," Harry said as he grabbed both girls. "Alright. Let's go." Then a blue crackle of lightning formed around them, and as the lightning vanished, so did the three young wizards.