Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on the Harry Potter universe. All recognizable characters, plots and settings are the exclusive property of J.K Rowling. I make no claim to ownership nor do I make any profit.
Acknowledgments: Thank you to my betas Umar, Luq707 and Yoshi89 for their work on this story.
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"Speech"
'Internal Dialogue
Parseltongue
Memories/Alternate Languages/In Story Text
Harry Potter and the Power He Knows Not
By ACI100
Book 1: The Reluctant Champion
Chapter 26: Proposals and Progression
The moments after Harry laid himself bare for Gabrielle were some of the longest of his life. Considering the fact that he'd faced down the Dark Lord, a basilisk, a werewolf, a hundred dementors and now a full grown dragon, that was saying a lot. Internally, Harry wondered what it said about him that of all those monstrous beasts, none of them nearly came close to scaring him as much as the female population.
Funnier still was that Gabrielle, the female who he was most familiar with, aside from perhaps Hermione, he grudgingly supposed, was the one who, at least in this moment, terrified him the most. He actually had to resist the urge to shiver as he looked at her, and he could practically imagine the fear and vulnerability in his eyes.
With a sigh, Gabrielle leaned forward and trapped his lips once more. This kiss was deeper than the peck she'd given him minutes earlier. Not passionate, per se, but certainly softer, more affectionate. When she pulled away, Gabrielle smiled gently back at him, reaching out and gently caressing his cheek. "'onestly, you look like you think I'm going to 'it you. Ze only thing I could be upset about is 'ow long it took for you to wake up and ask me in ze first place."
In spite of himself, Harry grinned broadly, waves of relief crashing over him like never before. Seriously, he was going to have to internalize why every interaction with Gabrielle seemed to have more of an impact on him than any Voldemort related matter ever had, and it wasn't overly close, either.
Several hours later, Harry and Gabrielle entered the Great Hall, hand in hand. As they neared the entrance, Harry's grip on her hand tightened marginally. For the last three weeks, he'd done his utmost best to avoid the Great Hall. While being ostracized, it was the last place he wanted to be. In response, Gabrielle gave his hand a gentle squeeze and shot him a brief, encouraging smile. Then, seconds later, they walked through the doors, and to say that Harry was taken aback by the reaction he received would be like someone saying that facing a Hungarian Horntail would likely be a struggle. That was to say, it would be the prime example of a drastic understatement.
Instead of booing him, or glaring at him, or expressing their vitriol in any other number of crass, crude or other uncreative ways, most of the hall actually gave Harry an ovation. The Gryffindors went as far as to give him a standing ovation. Perplexed, Harry glanced to his left, noticing with some mild confusion that Gabrielle wore a soft, almost knowing smile.
How flying against a dragon had somehow proven to the school at large that Harry was innocent currently eluded him, but at the moment, he was just going to take the break and run with it.
Gabrielle led him towards two open seats reserved by her friends. The three French girls watched the two of them like hawks, and Harry nearly gulped at the predatory expression on Sophia's face. Gabrielle just sighed, practically dragging Harry into the seat next to her.
"So…" Sophia began, eyes sparkling mischievously as she eyed the two of them finally letting go of each other's hands in order to pile food onto their plates.
"So?" Gabrielle returned, rendering a rather remarkable rendition of feigned innocence.
Sophia rolled her eyes and looked at Harry. "What do you 'ave to say for yourself?"
Harry blinked. "Uh…"
The three girls immediately burst into fits of laughter at both his response and his deer in the headlights expression. Gabrielle just sighed, firing a mock glare of annoyance and exasperation towards her now boyfriend. Wow, that would sound weird in Harry's mind for a long, long time. Assuming, of course, that he did not botch anything royally enough to render the relationship void.
"Seeing as 'e 'as already given it away," Gabrielle said with a roll of her eyes and a rather fond smile in Harry's direction, "we 'ave made up, yes."
Clearly not satisfied, the three girls continued to stare expectantly at Gabrielle. "And?" Sophia prompted. "Did you… you know, get togezer?"
Gabrielle rolled her eyes again. "Why you insist on putting a label on everything, I will never understand."
"Well, did you though?" Josephine persisted. Even Sophie, who was usually the most innocent of them all was wearing an amused smile as mischief sparkled in her eyes.
Gabrielle sighed, just as Harry took a long swig of pumpkin juice, intent on avoiding this topic of conversation at all costs. "Yes, Sophie, we did."
Harry did not spit his beverage in every direction upon Gabrielle's blunt admission. And for that he was thankful, at least. He doubted that would go over well while sitting with a number of prim, proper French girls. In saying that, it was a near miss. He did splutter rather dramatically, bending low over the table as a coughing fit wracked his body.
Sophie, Sophia and Josephine were practically in stitches laughing uproariously at his reaction while Gabrielle sighed in an overly dramatic fashion and leaned over, rubbing Harry's back in a soothing sort of manner. "'onestly," she said when he gained enough control of his body to sit up once again, "you'd think I'd 'ave told zem we were getting married from ze way you reacted."
Harry supposed she had a point, but the mere concept of dating seemed so foreign to him. He supposed much of that could be attributed to the Dursleys. After all, spending most of your first eleven years of life in a boot cupboard did not exactly inspire confidence in oneself regarding future romantic prospects. Honestly, it was never an area of life Harry had put much thought into before he'd met Gabrielle. Even the Mirror of Erised had shown him his family in the most literal sense. There had been no additions, simply those who had been tragically lost to the ruthless, remorseless tides of time.
Absently, Harry wondered what he would see now, nearly three years later if he peered into the Mirror of Erised. After what Gabrielle had told him about the mirror, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to ever look into it again, but the prospect was still one that was naturally attractive. He supposed that was the entire point, after all.
Suddenly realizing that he was actually expected to provide an answer, Harry shrugged helplessly. "I dunno, just… the way you said it, I guess." Gabrielle's eyes narrowed at once. Somehow, Harry realized that he'd immediately been found out. She knew, at the very least, that there was more to the story than that, and that it had been more than a simple knee jerk reaction.
With a jolt, Harry realized the bond likely had something to do with that. Yet another oddity that his mind would have to learn to adapt to in time. Honestly, he pitied his poor, overloaded brain at the moment. It had been a stressful day, to say the least.
Sophia's grin turned feral once more. "So…" she began, "'ow long until you take your relationship to… ze next step?"
This time, Sophie and Josephine were too busy looking scandalized to laugh or show any signs of a mirthful reaction. For an embarrassing moment, Harry was confused. Then, for another, he almost said that they had already kissed. Finally, with a degree of horror, he realized exactly what Sophia had been implying.
Fortunately for Harry, he had nothing in his mouth this time.
And even more fortunately, his girlfriend was less flustered and a better speaker than he was.
"Sophia, we've been togezer for less zan three 'ours." Gabrielle said pointedly, making it very clear by the tone of her voice that a line of sorts had been crossed by her most recent joke. "Besides," she said, glancing from Harry back to her friend, "'e is fourteen, even if 'e doesn't act like it."
Harry wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the fact that Gabrielle had brought that up in the way she had, but he decided to make nothing of it.
Usually, Harry hated when somebody brought up his age as a sort of excuse as to why something couldn't or shouldn't happen. On this occasion though, he thought he was alright with it. For one thing… just no. His brain was not ready for that, it just wasn't. And for another, Gabrielle had done it to defuse a potentially volatile situation, so for that at least, he was thankful.
Before the rather awkward conversation could persist any further, a rather shy sounding cough from behind Harry drew the group's attention. When Harry turned, he saw somebody who's presence he had absolutely not expected.
"Neville?"
The boy glanced nervously from Harry to the group of French girls whom he sat with. "Um… yeah, hi Harry. Can-can I talk to you? Alone, if you don't mind?"
To Harry's slight surprise, Gabrielle did not insist on being present as she had done so in the case of Ron. Instead, she gave a minute nod when Harry shot an inquisitive look in her direction. In response, he shrugged, pushing his half-empty plate of food towards the center of the table and getting to his feet. "Sure, Neville, lead the way."
Minutes later, the two fourth year Gryffindors found themselves in one of Hogwarts' many abandoned classrooms. Harry could not help but notice that Neville looked exceedingly nervous.
No, that was not quite right.
Neville always looked exceedingly nervous. Harry supposed that an amended version of that statement might have been that Neville appeared noticeably more nervous than usual.
That did not bode well for the contents of this meeting, in Harry's estimation.
After an admittedly awkward air of silence had hung between the two boys for about a minute longer than was proper, Harry realized that Neville was unfortunately not going to be the one who broke the silence. Internally groaningHarry awkwardly attempted to start a conversation of which the desired contents were a complete and total mystery to him.
"So… uh, what was it you wanted to talk to me about, Neville?"
Neville hesitated. Then, he opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. After doing this two more times, his words came out in a gargled rush. "Msorryfernobeingoodfriendneverythinnwhatno."
Harry blinked. "Uh… Neville, in English?"
Neville took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for not being a good friend and everything. I… should have been better."
Harry frowned, confused. "Neville," Harry started, "did you ever wear a 'Potter Stinks' badge?"
Neville's eyes widened. "No!" he exclaimed. "Of course not!"
"Did you ever have anything to do with locking me out of the dorms?" Again, Neville answered in the negative. "Did you ever harass me, say anything negative about me, or in any other way try to make my life miserable?" For one final time, Neville answered with a no. "Then I have one more question for you, Neville." Harry told him. When the other boy nodded warily, Harry looked at him pointedly. "What on earth are you apologizing for?"
Neville looked sheepishly back at him. "Well… when Ron, Seamus and that lot were being complete gits to you, I never helped. I let them lock you out. I didn't help them, but I didn't say anything either. I never stood up for you even though you've always stood up for me. You've helped me with the passwords and Malfoy and a bunch of other stuff too." Neville suddenly looked rather downcast. "But I just let them do all of that to you."
Harry did not gape at Neville, but the impulse did arise. "Neville," he began slowly, "don't take this the wrong way, but you really are thick sometimes. Coming from me, that's saying a lot." Neville blinked, clearly confused.
"Neville, you're standing here apologizing to me right now for not going against hundreds of people and probably having a miserable life for three weeks because of it. Meanwhile, one of my former best friends still thinks I put my name in the Goblet of Fire. You're standing here apologizing right now when out of all of those guys who locked me out of the dorms, only one of them had the stones to actually apologize for it in the first place. What I'm trying to say, Neville, is that you have nothing to apologize for. You never did anything wrong. Honestly, if you got involved, what would've changed? You weren't going to change their mind and no offense, mate, but I don't like your odds against all of them at once. If anything, it would've just made your life hell, which doesn't help any of us. If they're going to make my life hell, I'd rather my friend's lives be decent, at least."
Unlike Harry a moment earlier, Neville was not so successful in resisting the impulse to gape. "You… really mean that?"
"Which part of it? I meant all of it, mind you."
"The… part about me and you being friends. I mean… you've always helped me but I've never done anything for you. I was never clever enough to help you, or anything. I've just been the loser kid in the corner while you, Ron and Hermione were off saving the school, or whatever the rumours say about you."
Harry felt his heart strings tug. He saw so much of himself in Neville. Not now, mind you. At least, not as much as he once did. In Neville, Harry saw so much of his eleven-year-old self. He very much doubted that Neville had ever slept in a broom cupboard, but his confidence resembled Harry's when he'd first stepped foot in King's Cross Station more than three years ago. He clearly did not have an easy life either.
The difference was that Harry had found Ron and Hermione early on. He still had confidence issues, but the more glaring gaps in his confidence had been patched by the rather magnificent medicine that was companionship.
Tragically, that olive branch had never been explicitly extended to Neville and suddenly, Harry realized exactly how much of a mistake that was.
"Neville, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but we've always been friends. You're no loser, Neville. A loser wouldn't have stood up against Malfoy and his goons and taken on the two biggest kids in our year to defend what's right. A loser wouldn't have tried to stop Ron, Hermione and I from doing something stupid in our first year. And a loser definitely wouldn't be standing in front of me right now being one of the nicest blokes I've ever met." Harry held out his hand, trying to smile winningly at his fellow lion. "I guess it was my fault for never making it official. Harry Potter, a pleasure to meet you. Looking forward to a long, happy friendship.
With an odd look of jumbled happiness and confusion, Neville eventually just decided to beam as he took Harry's outstretched hand.
When Harry entered the Room of Requirement the Friday after the first task, he was entirely unsurprised to see Professor Dumbledore waiting for him. In fact, it had been the man's summons which had brought the youth to the fabled room in the first place.
"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore greeted jovially. "How has your week of classes treated you?"
"Fairly well, sir." Harry told him. "It's been a heavy workload, but I've managed."
"I'd think you've managed quite well, even." Dumbledore complimented him. "Your grades have always been exemplary, but this year in particular, they seem to be quite splendid, even in spite of your prestigious position as one of Hogwarts' champions. Speaking of which, I must offer my most sincere congratulations on the first task. That was a very clever tactic. When fighting a beast as powerful as a dragon or anything of a similar magnitude, the direct approach is always the least prosperous. Why, I think you all did rather well, though your plan in particular was quite ingenious."
Harry flushed; after all, it hadn't been his plan at all. Gabrielle had been the one to come up with the idea of flying. What made it even worse was that while Harry was upset and conflicted about her, she had been actively trying to save his life. Again, he reflected just how lucky he truly was to have somebody like that in his life before he responded to Dumbledore. "Thank you, sir. I… uh, had help though. Not from a teacher, mind you."
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. "I think you will find that is quite within the rules, Harry. The rules state that no teacher or official are to interfere with the tournament. You are more than welcome to ask for help from your peers. After all, there is a reason that those from Durmstrang and Beuxbatons who were not selected were allowed to stay. Beyond the fact that they are fabulous additions to the castle, of course."
Harry nodded slowly. "So, what are we working on tonight, sir?"
"We are continuing where we left off." Dumbledore said simply. "That being with conjuration, of course. Have you made any progress with them?"
"Yes, sir." Harry answered eagerly, removing his wand and conjuring a full flock of birds without effort. When they had last met, he'd struggled to produce anything more than a small handful of crows. This time, he'd conjured a full flock of a more exotic species.
Dumbledore beamed. "This is excellent! Very good work indeed! This certainly does make things far more interesting now that I know grasping the concept will not be an issue. We will cover three methods of Battle Transfiguration tonight. Do not fret; I will be profoundly impressed if you manage success in either of the latter two methods tonight, but I think it only right I plant the seed in that splendid brain of yours." Dumbledore winked. "If you're having… trouble practicing on your own, I am sure your… friends could be off assistance."
Suddenly, Harry realized that somehow, Dumbledore knew which person had helped him with the first task. Or, at the very least, he had rather strong suspicions. Harry supposed he couldn't really say he was too surprised. This was Albus Dumbledore, after all. The greatest wizard since Merlin and the only one Lord Voldemort had ever feared.
"Firstly," Dumbledore began, "we will start with something… simplistic." Dumbledore paused. "For the sake of demonstration, I will teach you an extremely basic shield charm that you were supposed to learn in your second year. Due to… hmm — questionable qualifications on the part of your professor, shall we say, you never did learn the charm. It is very basic and you will have no trouble with it. There is no wand movement and the incantation is Vestementerum. It will not shield you from magic of any kind, but it will stop blunt attacks if there is not too much force behind them. Not practical in a wide range of scenarios, per se, but certainly useful in defending oneself against the first method I will be showing you. The positive side of this shield, however, is that unlike the Protego and Aegis variations, it takes very little effort to maintain. Why, I often walk around with a low-level variant of the shield around my person. It can be maintained for hours on end by most."
True to his mentor's word, Harry had no trouble at all with the blunt force shield. When he'd mastered that, Dumbledore conjured a flock of ravens. "Now, you could simply command these birds internally to attack your foe, but that would take an unnecessary amount of concentration that would currently limit your ability to cast other spells simultaneously. Instead, you could simply incant, Oppugno." As soon as Dumbledore uttered the last word, the ravens shot towards Harry like a flock of bullets. Fortunately, they slammed into his shield and reared back as if shocked. With a sweep of Dumbledore's wand, they were gone. "This is a fairly simple method and one that I do not expect will pose you any measure of difficulty whatsoever."
Again, Dumbledore was correct.
Within five minutes, Harry could easily divert his concentration to other spells while sending the birds loose on a target with the simple Oppugno incantation.
"Very good." Dumbledore commended. "Now, for something more… complex. Firstly, we will stick with the idea of conjurations. I believe this year that you have had some time learning the three Unforgivable Curses in Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Harry nodded. "In that case, you should also know that those three spells are impossible to directly defend oneself against?"
Again, Harry nodded. "I actually had a question about that, sir."
"Ask away then, Harry."
"Why is it that they can't be blocked? Is it just because they're too powerful?"
Dumbledore frowned. "Sometime soon, the two of us are going to need to discuss the concept of power and the fundamental pillars of magic. For now, it is suffice to say that power is a concept which is drastically overrated by witches and wizards around the world in regards to magic. It circles back to the guiding principle of magic, Harry. Magic is not about incantations. It is about intent and the ways in which witches and wizards guide the force with the intent we each possess. This principle is particularly applicable when summarizing esoteric magic. Do you know what esoteric magic is, Harry?"
"It's magic like the Patronus charm and the boggart banishing charm, right? Magic that won't work without emotions, or something?"
"Correct, if a bit oversimplified. Esoteric magic is magic that will not work unless its intent is rooted in emotions in one way or another. The three Unforgivable Curses all fall under this categorization." Dumbledore ran a hand through his beard. "What is the intent needed to cast a shield charm, Harry?"
Harry frowned. "The intent to protect."
"Ah, and there lies the answer, I'm afraid. Due to how powerful the intent to destroy must be in order to cast any of the Unforgivable Curses, it will always be fundamentally more powerful than the intent to protect." Dumbledore paused. "Except in the very rare case of your mother and others like her. That is one of the reasons her death served to protect you, after all.
"But in any case, we have digressed from the topic at hand. Those spells cannot be blocked by any force of magic, per se. There are other powerful spells, too. Spells which can be blocked but are so taxing to shield against with magic that the benefits of doing so are negligible. As such, one should look for an alternative method to protecting themself. Conjuring objects in the path of the spells is quite the useful trick, for instance. The most basic example of this is to simply conjure a brick wall, because you are not conjuring it at all. You are simply using the Commuto incantation, which can be used to transfigure air into stone. This is a rather one dimensional defense, however. For instance, it would not serve you well against a blasting curse."
"Neither does Protego." Harry muttered. When Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, he flushed. "I, uh… had a Protego shield blasted apart by that curse at the World Cup."
Dumbledore's lips twitched. "How thankful we are to have upgraded your defensive repertoire, in that case. Now, the reason I taught you Avis first is because birds are a possible offensive weapon with the Oppugno modifier, but they are also a potential defensive tool if you wish to mentally command them to intercept a curse's flight path. In any case, it is one of many options. If it is a simple spell barrage with no blunt curses, a brick wall or any similar barrier would work. When you are more advanced, you will be able to conjure physical barriers and enchant them to be nearly unbreakable…"
For the next ten or so minutes, Dumbledore lectured on a countless number of examples. Then, Harry practiced using his birds to intercept Dumbledore's stinging hexes. He did manage to transfigure air into a wall with practice, though it took too long to be useful, at the moment.
Something to work on, for certain.
After this, Dumbledore decided to show him something a bit more… offensive. Conjuring arrows which could be banished at your opponent was certainly useful. Harry struggled a bit with it, but by the end of the session, he could do it, though admittedly it was not a swift process. Dumbledore also informed him of the Ignam modifier. This would conjure flaming arrows, which Harry had thus far been unable to conjure. He was also told to think of other things that could be useful in combat and then learn to conjure them.
All in all, it was a rather enlightening night. Then again, such a thing was typical when training with the venerable Hogwarts Headmaster.
Why the schools had decided to schedule the first task on a bleeding Tuesday, Harry would never know. At the time, it had seemed a nice break for those students fortunate enough to not be locked in an enclosure with a fully grown dragon. Those students, as well as the champions were quickly brought back to reality upon their return to classes. In truth, all that scheduling the event on a Tuesday had done was make it far harder on the students in the long run. As a result of the missed classes due to the necessary build up to the first task, the teachers had to pile on work like never before. Harry didn't have too much trouble keeping up in his stronger subjects, but he did find himself struggling a bit in his weaker subjects.
The oddest part of all was not having Hermione to lean on. Thankfully, he did have Gabrielle. Honestly, he was pretty sure his Charms work was going to see a drastic increase just from being around her. Though in fairness, the two of them had not been able to spend a whole lot of time together that week due to the aforementioned work load. This meant that Saturday night, the two of them spent quite some time alone together in the Room of Requirement. Most of it was spent doing homework and with Gabrielle helping Harry with his weaker subjects, but after what felt like an age, they got done with that.
"'ow do you feel?" Gabrielle asked him.
Harry yawned. "A bit tired, but alright as a whole. Why do you ask?"
"I was going to suggest you 'ave your first Occlumency lesson. But if you don't feel up to it-"
"No," Harry cut in, all wariness wiped away by the simple suggestion, "I'm fine."
Gabrielle studied him intently. A second later, she reached out and took hold of his hand, physically pulling him to his feet and towards her. When they stood, the desks they had been working at vanished and a couch materialized behind them. Gabrielle took a seat, guiding Harry down beside her. Then, she turned towards Harry.
"Right, Occlumency. If you ever want to succeed with Occlumency, you're going to need to understand your mind." she frowned. "Zat's a terrible way of explaining it. You're going to need to know your mind well enough so zat when something unnatural is intruding, like a Legilimency probe, you can pick up on it. Zis part is also ze most important for emotional control, which is 'onestly what I think you need more zan anything else."
Harry nodded. "Ok, how do I start?"
In short, meditating was much more difficult than Harry would have liked. His mind was a chaotic place at the best of times, so forcing it into submission was not easy. He thought Gabrielle's alternative method had merit. Rather than focusing on nothing, he would focus on a specific image and allow it to consume his mind entirely.
The problem was, no image Harry had tried thus far was having any success.
"You're being silly and overthinking it." Gabrielle told him gently. She leaned forward and gently raised her hand towards his face. Harry stiffened for a fraction of a second. He didn't like people touching his face, of all things. But after a brief pause, Gabrielle gently rested her hand over his eyes, completely obscuring his vision. "What's ze first thing that comes to your mind? Zat is ze image you need to use."
Harry was unsure whether it was a natural reaction or one brought on by the bad memories summoned by implications of negative physical contact. Either way, the first image that came to his mind was one that he would really rather forget. Clearly, Gabrielle could sense his mood. Whether that be from touching him, the bond or both, Harry wasn't sure. Usually, the truth lay somewhere between two extremes, so he thought a combination of the two to be the most likely option.
"What's wrong?" Gabrielle asked him, concerned.
"Nothing." Harry said quickly.
She frowned. "'arry, I know it isn't nothing. I could feel you were anxious before I covered your eyes and it got worse after zat. What is it?"
"It's nothing, honestly." he told her. "Nothing to worry about, anyway. Just… memories."
Gabrielle frowned. "More things you 'aven't told me?"
Harry sighed. "Gabrielle, it's not like that-"
"I know," she said, "I'm sorry, zat came out wrong. I just wish I knew more. I just want to be 'elpful."
Harry felt more than a little bit conflicted in that moment. There was a small part of him that wanted to reveal things to her that he had told nobody else. There was a small part of him that was screaming the fact that there may never be a time more opportune than this to do so. There was another part of him, however, that was terrified to reveal anything of the sort. A part of him that had tried so very hard to bury such things away. A part of him that wanted more than anything to separate himself from the boy who had spent all those years at the mercy of his relatives.
"I'll tell you," he said, his voice oddly quiet and lacking in the strength it normally carried, "just… not now. You are being helpful, Gabrielle. You've been more helpful than anybody I've ever met. You're being helpful right now, so let's just keep up with this, ok?"
Gabrielle sighed but nodded. "You 'ave your image, zen?"
"I… think so, yes."
It took a long time to get the hang of the process, but by the end of the night, Harry had a decent enough grip on the process of clearing his mind. One needed to allow their chosen image to consume them entirely and allow any and all thoughts to wash over their image as they were paid no mind.
The upside to Harry's chosen image was that it naturally created a numb, dull feeling within him. This feeling made the ignoring of other, more hectic thoughts surprisingly easy.
The downside was that after Harry's concentration broke and his mind was no longer clear, he felt rather down.
After all, allowing his mind to be wholly and completely consumed by the underside of a very specific set of stairs in Surrey was a rather morbid way to spend his first date, all things considered.
A week and a half later, Harry had something else suddenly added to his plate.
Hogwarts would be hosting the Yule Ball this year, a traditional component of the Triwizard Tournament, according to Professor McGonagall. As a Triwizard Champion, Harry was going to need a date to the occasion. Of course, he had no doubt who his date was going to be. The hard part, for him, was going to be asking her.
Oh, and learning to dance… that was also a thing he would need to do at some point.
Amazingly enough, that was not necessary.
When he entered the hall, he noticed that Gabrielle and her group of friends were seated at the Gryffindor table, as usual. Harry walked towards them at a more mundane pace than normal. To his surprise, he never got there. Before he could, Gabrielle got to her feet and met him halfway.
"Would you like to go for a walk?" she asked him, tilting her head as if to portray curiosity. "Unless you're 'ungry, of course?"
Truthfully, Harry was anything but hungry at the moment. The moment the Yule Ball had been mentioned, he'd been pretty sure that hunger wouldn't be something he felt for days. "It's fine." he said faintly. "I can eat later."
As they left the hall, Gabrielle reached down and grasped his hand, gently guiding him towards the large front doors leading out of the castle and onto the Hogwarts grounds. As they walked through said doors and were hit by a blast of cold air, Gabrielle withdrew her wand. With a few twirls, both of their clothing had been transfigured into far more suitable attire for the current climate. As soon as she did that, she peered sideways at Harry. "You're very anxious again." she noted.
His mind raced for a moment, but he decided on a half-truth. "Can I... admit something to you?"
Gabrielle just gently stroked the back of his hand. "'arry, you can always admit anything to me."
He sighed. "You know how the Yule Ball was announced, right?" she nodded. "I… uh, have no idea how to dance. Like… none at all." In spite of herself, Gabrielle giggled. She tried to stifle it with her free hand, but she was unsuccessful in the endeavour. "What?" Harry asked, incredulous. "It's not funny!"
"No," Gabrielle said, gaining a modicum of control once more, "ze fact zat you don't know 'ow to dance is not funny at all. Every child should get ze chance to learn 'ow to dance. Ze funny part is 'ow worried about it you are."
Harry frowned. "That seems pretty natural, seeing as it's a ball."
"'arry, I spent ze first fifteen years of my life taking dance lessons." she informed him as the two of them began to near the Black Lake. "It isn't going to be difficult for me at all to teach you some basic dances and ze like." She smiled back at him in a manner that was almost coy. "Actually, I think it will be a nice way to spend time with my boyfriend."
Again, Harry felt his face flush red at the word. It was something he was just so unaccustomed to hearing, let alone in relation to him. Of course, that reaction just caused Gabrielle to giggle once more. "'onestly, it is so silly ze things you blush at. You should probably get used to zat one, you know? It will probably come up a lot."
"I will… eventually. It's only been like… two weeks, you know?"
"Mmm," Gabrielle mused, "it feels like much less zan zat."
Harry graced her with a smile as they came to the oddly abandoned bank of the Black Lake. He knew that this was the moment. This was the moment in which he was supposed to ask her to the Yule Ball. The scenery was perfect, the moment was perfect. Hell, it may have been the entire reason why she had dragged him out there in the first place.
But he couldn't do it.
His throat was constricted and his heart felt as if it would beat out of his chest.
Gabrielle obviously sensed it through the bond, or his touch, or both, for she began to stroke his hand reassuringly once more.
"That is what zis is about, isn't it?" she asked softly, reaching her other hand across to his far shoulder and pulling him around to face her. The fact that he had to crane his neck a bit upwards to look her in the eye did not do any favours for his confidence. "I knew you would be stressed out over zis, you know?" she told him, pulling him closer to her and wrapping her free arm around his waist. "I knew you would be stressed out about zis whole Yule Ball nonsense and I knew you wouldn't realize 'ow silly it all was." she smirked. "Which is exactly why I'm just going to save you ze trouble, since it's not worth you stressing over it."
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, allowing her grip on his hand to falter so she could reach up and place her hand on the back of his neck, gently deepening their kiss. For a split second, Harry did not react. Then, mercifully, his brain caught up with the situation at hand and he returned the kiss, wrapping his arms tightly around her in return. It was the deepest and longest kiss the two of them had ever shared, but he would not necessarily define this one as passionate, either. It was slow and soft and it spoke not of lust and desire, but of compassion and understanding.
After about a minute, the kiss broke. Still, Gabrielle kept Harry close, managing their distance by taking his face between her two hands. Harry noticed how unnaturally warm her hands were. It was the end of December's first week and neither of them were wearing gloves. As a result, his hands were numb with cold…
Actually, come to think of it, only the hand that had not been in Gabrielle's a moment earlier felt numb with the seasonal cold of the Scottish highlands.
Her hands warmed his face and he could not help but sigh contentedly at the relief from the cold, leaning into her touch as he did so.
"I knew you were going to stress so much about it and not realize 'ow silly it was. I knew you would make it such a big thing when I really don't care about some grand proposal. And I know you 'ate ze attention. I know you're going to 'ate the attention we get at ze ball." Gabrielle said in little more than a whisper. "So, I thought I would just do it myself in a place that nobody would see us. 'arry Potter, would you do me ze pleasure of being my escort to ze upcoming Yule Ball at 'ogwarts?"
Harry could hardly think. Gabrielle had read him perfectly. She'd known before she had even seen him. And she had given up any chance at some dream like proposal simply to make him happy.
That fact also didn't seem fair to her.
"Shouldn't it be me who-" but he never finished. She placed her finger to his lips.
"Stop being noble, 'arry. Just be selfish for once and answer ze question, please. Zat is ze best way you can make me 'appy, so don't try to do it in any ozer way."
Gabrielle shivered at the emerald fire in his eyes when she said that last part.
But not as much as when for the first time, it was Harry who initiated a major kiss.
And this one was indeed filled with passion… lots and lots of it.
Gabrielle couldn't help it.
She smiled amusedly against his lips.
Harry was such a mess sometimes, but he was her mess, and that would not be changing anytime soon.
Author's Endnote:
Ok, let's address the elephant in the room, shall we?
Yes, it has been four months since I've updated this fic. That is due to a lot of things. Primarily, it is due to me maintaining weekly uploads without fail on my two main stories, which takes an absurd amount of time, if I'm being honest.
Part of it is also a motivation thing. Motivation is never completely lost for this fic, but it definitely comes and goes. What I've learned while writing fanfiction is that if you want the best story possible, you should write whichever story you feel like writing, within reason. If you force a story, you will not only decrease its quality, but you will burn yourself out entirely, which I don't want to happen here. There is also the fact that a lot of this was written when I was 14, almost three years before I even started posting it. As a result, I now cringe at pretty much everything I did in the first half of this story, so there is also that.
But, for the sake of progression and the excitement I have for the rest of this story and its sequels, we are going to push forward. I am done promising uploads. I write this in between my other stories, so it will likely be sporadic. Just know that however long it takes to update, this story is going nowhere and will not be abandoned.
The good news is that this chapter was originally meant to be much longer. Thing is, I couldn't not end this chapter with that scene, so I have 4.3k words written for the next chapter already, which should mean it is out soon and prevent any month-long breaks.
After that chapter… we shall see, :)
Please read and review.
Oh and PS: The earlier chapters for this story are slowly being revised. Currently, the first four have been updated. Thank you to Luq707 for his help with that seemingly incermountable endeavour.