Chapter – 9

From his hiding place, he could hear the sound of chairs scraping. He could guess that they were sitting at the same long table he and the three girls usually sit. He noticed that none of them brought books to the library which could only mean that they weren't there to study.

The organizing committee must had relax some of the restrictions imposed earlier regarding students from different schools mixing around with one another. Harry personally thought those restrictions were absurd.

He could hear them chatting from where he sat. Unfortunately since their whole conversation happened in French, he understood none of it. However, while they weren't loud – they were in a library anyway – he could hear his name spoken quite a few times. He could only guess they must had been talking about his escapade a day ago.

Minutes went by. Harry began to feel at ease. There was no way the girls knew about his presence there. Chuckling, Harry congratulated himself for his ability to go 'invisible'.

Shaking his head at his own unwarranted anxiety, Harry reopened his book and resumed studying.

One thing that Harry learned after he escaped the Dursley was that he could get too absorbed whenever he applied himself into anything he was doing. The same exact thing happened right there and then. He quickly became too absorbed in his studies that he failed to notice that the girls suddenly became quiet and that someone came over to him.

"Harry?"

Harry startled. He looked up and saw Daphne standing beside him.

"Are you alone? I didn't realize you're here," said Daphne.

It took Harry quite a while to come up with a response.

"Oh hi!", Harry greeted back in surprise. He didn't think that Daphne would find him. Welp, so much his ability to go 'invisible'. "Yeah I came here alone. Hermione is unwell. So you're here too? I didn't see you coming."

Daphne smiled. "You're sitting at the privacy table. Of course you didn't see us coming," she said. "Didn't I tell you to take a rest from studying this weekend?"

"Yes, you did. Just needed something to do, that's all. That's why I'm here," said Harry.

"I'm not surprised, given what you did yesterday," said Daphne, her smile grew wider. "I am glad that 'getting yourself into more trouble' isn't in your schedule today."

"Yeah that was quite unfortunate. I got a little bit too carried away. Anyway, are you here to study too?" asked Harry, despite knowing the obvious.

Daphne shook her head. "No. I'm the tour guide today," she said, glancing towards the table. "Just bringing some friends on a tour inside the castle."

"Oh, good for you. So how do you know I'm sitting here?" Harry asked.

"Saw your legs. I know those legs anywhere," said Daphne.

Harry looked down. He nearly face palmed.

While there were partitions above the table, there were none below it. His legs were completely exposed. He silently wondered what other parts of his anatomy that Daphne recognized.

"Ah, right. Should have thought of that. Oh well," he muttered.

Daphne raised her eyebrows. "Are you trying to hide from me, Harry?" she asked.

"Now why would I do that?" Harry defended himself. "I just...err... want some privacy. That's all."

"Right," said Daphne, her brilliant green eyes bored into his.

"So I take it you must be very busy attending to our guests, Daphne. There are a lot more places within this castle that they can visit, you know," said Harry.

Daphne again raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to get rid of me, Harry?"

"What? No! I'm just saying that it's best not keep our guests waiting. People you know, don't appreciate it if we keep them waiting," said Harry.

Daphne stared at Harry.

"You're right. There are a lot more places within the castle we have yet covered. The library is the first place they asked me to bring them to. And I'm glad that they asked me to bring them here first because of the opportunity it suddenly provides," she said.

"Oh? What opportunity?" Harry said blankly.

"An opportunity to introduce you to them. They have been asking a lot about you," said Daphne.

"Err…"

"And it so happen you owe my cousin an apology," Daphne continued as she reached out and grabbed hold of Harry's arm. "You nearly ran into her yesterday morning. She's the one who was standing at the door. Come. Let's not keep them waiting."

Having notice how Daphne threw his argument back to his face, Harry rose from his chair albeit reluctantly. His jaw nearly dropped to the floor as he was treated with a sight of beautiful girls sitting at the table he, Hermione, Daphne and Tracy usually occupied. Much to his surprise, Tracy was there too. He didn't notice her earlier.

All the girls silently watched him as Daphne guided Harry towards them.

"Ladies," said Daphne. "I introduce you, Harry Potter."

A few of them smiled at him. The rest however gave him a scrutinizing look, as if they couldn't decide whether they like him or not.

The girls were gorgeous. One of them however stood way above the rest. And that girl was the one Harry saw standing rigidly at the door when he was rampaging through the garden the day before. Like everyone else, she didn't wear the formal Beauxbatons uniform. She wore black polo neck knit sweater, paired with a black slim fit trouser. She wore light make up. Her blonde hair was tied in pony tail. Strands of silver wavy hair fenced her beautiful face. For some reason she looked basically a near facsimile of Daphne, only the later had dark hair and a little bit shorter and younger. The later's eyes were bright green and the former were bright blue.

Harry could already guess that this girl must be Daphne's cousin.

While they didn't wear their uniforms, they did have ID badges tied to a lanyard in which they wore around their neck. Those IDs Harry guessed gave them access into the castle.

The girls stared at Harry. And like everyone else Harry encountered before, their eyes went up towards his forehead where his famous scar resided.

There was silence.

"Urmmm…," Harry began in a manner not unlike the Joker in The Dark Knight movie, pointing towards the lightning shaped scar embedded in his forehead. "Do you know how I got this scar?"

The majority of them nodded. Still they remained silent, waiting for him to continue. The blonde girl cocked her eyebrows, as if she already knew what he was going to tell them.

Like Daphne, she looked at him with deep concern.

"Are you sure you're going to do this, Harry?" said Daphne softly. "We all know how the story goes. We know it's not a happy story. You don't have to do this."

"It's okay, Daphne. I can handle it. I will be fine. It's time for them to know the truth," said Harry.

"The truth?"

"Yes. The truth."

It took a while, but Daphne finally nodded. She still looked concern though.

Harry took a deep breath. Turning back to the girls, he spoke in a serious tone of voice, "Forget everything you ever heard. It's true that my parents are dead but there is a different story on how I got this scar. I got caught peeping into the bathroom while my aunt was in it one day. My uncle threw an ashtray at me. It flew across the room and hit me right at the forehead. That's where the scar came from."

All the girls stared at him with their eyes and mouth open wide. Daphne herself stared at him, her mouth opened and closed several times. She was completely at lost on what to say.

"Iz-… iz zhat what really 'appened?" asked one of the Beauxbatons girls who was sitting at the opposite of Daphne's cousin. Her eyes darted between Harry and Daphne.

Harry nodded solemnly at first. Then all of a sudden, he grinned.

"No, that's not what happened. I'm just messing with you all," he said, still grinning. "Ouch!"

Daphne punched him hard on his shoulder. "You. Are. An. Arse, Harry Potter!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry," said Harry, rubbing his shoulder and chuckling. Turning back to the girls, he said, "Sorry. I was nervous. Trust me, this is the first time I'm surrounded by girls. I mean, I was surrounded by girls before – I'm the only male in my study group – just not this many. And I don't know any of you. I just had to find a way to break the ice."

Daphne huffed.

"Zhat iz an odd way to break zhe ice, Monsieur Potter," said Daphne's cousin. "A lot of uz will zhink zhat you are a pervert."

"I'm not a pervert. If I am one, Daphne wouldn't dare to introduce me to all of you. She wouldn't even dare to be my friend," said Harry.

Daphne's cousin's eyebrows raised. "Iz zhat so?" she said, glancing between Harry and Daphne.

Daphne however remained silent.

Harry nodded.

"I guess it's time for a reintroduction. Hi, my name is Harry James Potter. I would like to welcome all of you to Hogwarts. I am deeply sorry for what happened yesterday. I'll try to make it up to you in any way necessary. I hope you accept my apology," he said.

Daphne's cousin considered him for a few moments.

"I am Fleur Delacour. Daphne iz my cousin. And Tracy 'ere-," she said, nodding towards Tracy who was sitting not far from her. "iz a dear friend of ours. I believe you know 'er."

Harry once again nodded. "Yes, I know her."

Fleur went on to introduce her friends to Harry. There were Cassandra Chastain, Marianne Desmarais, Adrienne Chamberlain, Camille Louise, Jeanne Penmeller and many others whom Harry couldn't remember their names. There were nineteen girls sitting at the table at that moment.

No matter. He'll remember their names one day.

Probably.

That is if he didn't suffer short term memory loss. He was quite hopeless when it comes to remembering female names.

"Pleez take a seat, Monsieur Potter," invited Fleur.

Harry obliged. He took a seat right at the far end of the table. Daphne meanwhile retook her seat which was beside Fleur.

He could see that the girls were still busy scrutinizing him.

It was at this point that he suddenly realized how similar both Daphne and Fleur were. Aside from the aforementioned differences, they look nearly like twins. They were both very beautiful. But their beauty instead of competing with one another, it complemented each other. They both glowed like a warm morning sun during spring time.

Harry silently suspected that Daphne would no longer be able to enjoy her anonymity once everyone found out she and Fleur were related. Men would want them both and they would want them badly.

"You don't look at all nervous, 'Arry Potter," said the one named Cassandra. "You 'ave done zhis before, 'aven't you?"

"Maybe just a little bit," admitted Harry. "I am not used to having to introduce myself to strangers. Most of the time, it's the other way around. They just know who I am. Yesterday's incident doesn't help either. I was expecting some kind of rioting to be honest. That will get me into more trouble."

"I thought you don't mind getting yourself into trouble," Daphne retorted.

Harry grinned. "You know me well, Daphne. But alas, even a troublemaker such as I have standards."

Daphne just shook her head. Several other girls just grinned.

"You are an interesting boy, 'Arry Potter," said Adrienne. "We 'eard a lot about you back in France. But seeing you in zhe flesh, you defy expectations."

"Can I know what those expectations are?"

"Well, for one you are 'Zhe-Boy-'Ho-Lived'. Everyone seez you az a 'ero. And we thought az a 'ero, you will be more calm, poise and collected. We expected you to act in a serious manner. We don't expect you to go around inviting trouble. But you are different," said Adrienne.

"You mean I'm supposed to be like Batman?" said Harry. "He's one of muggle's superheroes. I'm not sure if any of you know Batman," he quickly added.

"We know Batman. We watched 'is cartoons," said Adrienne. "I mean our brothers watched 'is cartoons," she quickly added after seeing Harry cocking his eyebrows.

"Right," said Harry. "Well I have no idea who this 'Harry Potter' you're expecting to see. He probably exists in another dimension but certainly not here. And to be honest, I don't really get this whole The-Boy-Who-Lived debacle. I don't even know how it happened."

"You seriously didn't know or remember 'ow it 'appened?" asked one the girls whom Harry already forgotten her name.

Harry shook his head. "I was a toddler. I don't think anyone could remember their toddler years."

"Nobody told you?" asked Jeanne.

"I asked around. No one could offer me any explanation. Not even Professor Dumbledore. Look, the thing is, whatever it is you heard about me, all of it are exaggerated. I don't know how it happened. Nobody knows how it happened. It could be a mistake made by Voldemort. He might said the wrong incantation and it back fired on him, who knows," said Harry. "It probably be as simple as that."

There were gasps all around when they heard Harry uttered Voldemort's name.

"You said 'is name! You shouldn't do zhat," said Marianne, cupping her mouth.

"Yeah sorry. I did that a lot and somehow it became a habit," said Harry.

"So you never see yourself as a 'ero?" asked Fleur who had taken to watch Harry all these while.

"No. Not at all. Just a lucky bloke who is now trap within a group of really beautiful girls he had ever seen."

Some of the girls let out a fit of giggles.

Harry just smiled at them.

"Not even after what you did last year? Iz zhat why you rejected zhe Order of zhe Merlin when zhey wanted to give it to you?" asked Fleur.

"You knew that?" asked Harry.

"Of course we know," said Cassandra. "It made news all over zhe world. Do you know zhat every Beauxbatons students wanted to come 'ere because zhey wanted to meet you? What I 'eard iz zhat nearly every other school iz zhe same. Everyone 'ho iz lucky to be 'ere iz eager to meet you. Zhey wanted to listen to your story."

Harry went silent and into deep thought when he heard what Cassandra had said.

"Are you okay, 'Arry?" asked Marianne when she saw Harry went quiet.

He looked up. He then sighed.

"Look, I did what needs to be done," he said. "Sirius Black is a dear friend of my parents. It's not about recognition. It's about saving one innocent life from a fate far worse than death. It's about giving justice to a soul never to receive one the last twelve years of his life. And seeing this person now walking around, getting his life back together, doing what he always wanted to do and enjoying everything life has to offer gives me far more satisfaction than any award could ever hope to give. An award is just a piece of metal they stick to your chest. The euphoria of receiving one wear off eventually. You will be left with nothing by then. But knowing that you had done something good for the world even if it was just a small thing, it stays with you forever. Anyway, Gilderoy Lockhart – I'm sure you know him – deceived a lot of people and received The Order of Merlin for his efforts. You can make your own conclusion in any way you like,"

Silence crept in.

"Impressive," said Fleur moments later. "A 'ero 'ho never see 'imself az a 'ero. A man who pushed aside what 'e wanted to do, what 'e desires and only interested in doing zhe right zhings. A man 'ho never falls into self-indulgence and put ozhers above 'im. A man who never afraid to speak 'is mind and act on it. A man 'ho never afraid to be 'imself and knows what needs to be done. Not to mention 'e iz funny in 'is own way. You are more zhan meet zhe eyes, Monsieur Potter." She then turned to Daphne and said, "I am jealous. Man of such qualities iz 'ard to find zhese days."

Daphne stared back at her. She however said nothing.

Watching them both, Harry had a feeling that something was brewing between the two. He had no clue to what it was though. He also failed to notice that Cassandra was looking at Fleur with deep concern.

The girls excused themselves half an hour later. They were going to visit other parts of the castle. They invited Harry to join them. Harry however declined.

"I need to finish my reading. You girls go ahead. Have fun," he said.

Daphne glanced at him before she exited the library.

Little that Harry realized that he had accidentally left a long lasting impression on them.

Dinner that night was the usual affair except this time instead of sitting facing towards the other tables like always, he sat facing the wall. The visitors had begun having their meals at the Great Hall that night.

For some reasons, his conversations with the Beauxbatons made him feel uneasy. Even with his back facing the Guest Table, he felt multiples eyes were boring into him. Luckily for him, nobody came up to him while he was eating so he did get to enjoy a modicum of peace at the very least.

He, Hermione and Ron went to have a look at the Goblet of Fire after they done eating. The relic was placed within the small chamber right behind the table. Ron and Hermione wanted to show Harry the goblet during breakfast and lunch but the entrance into the chamber was overcrowded for nearly the whole day. Ron told him that the goblet would be the one to decide who would be worthy to represent their respective school. All an aspiring champion needed to do was to write their name in a piece of paper and threw it into fiery, blue and white flames that filled the wooden, roughly hewn wooden cup. They had until Wednesday before dinner to do that. Of course there were a few rules the aspiring champions needed to meet before they were allowed to submit their name for consideration. One of rules stated that anyone who wanted to participate must be above seventeen years old of age.

"And that's not all," said Professor Lupin who was standing right next to Harry. The four of them were watching several seventeen years old Hogwarts students throwing their piece of paper into the fiery flame of the goblet. "We placed many security measures too. One of them is to avoid anyone from tampering the goblet."

"Tampering?" said Hermione. "Is that possible? Why would anyone wanted to do something like that and for what?"

"Many reasons, Hermione," said Professor Lupin, smiling. "Playing pranks is one of them."

"Pranks?" said Ron. "Sounds like something Fred and George would do."

Professor Lupin chuckled. "Don't worry, Ron. They won't be able to. Now if you must know, hundreds of years ago, someone tampered with the Goblet of Fire. The whole Durmstrang delegates including their headmaster ended up becoming the champions of their school during the Triwizard Tournament that year. The culprit was never caught and until this day, nobody knows the motive behind it. The headmaster of Durmstrang at that time was a lot older than Professor Dumbledore. You can imagine the chaos that ensued."

Harry could imagine the headmaster accidentally displacing his hip while attempting one of the tasks.

"Yeap. That was a prank. No doubt about that," said Ron.

"So all of them had to compete including the headmaster? Weren't they able to do something about it?" asked Hermione.

Professor Lupin shook his head.

"You heard what Professor Dumbledore said last night, Hermione. An acceptance into the tournament constitutes a magical binding contract which states that the champion must see through the tournament until the end," he said. Turning to Harry, he spoke, "Speaking of last night, Sirius sent you his regards."

"Oh, how is he?" said Harry.

"He's fine. He's a little bit busy at the moment. He apologizes for not being able to meet you last night," said Remus, winking at Harry at the same time.

Harry gave Remus a sharp glance. The DADA teacher simply smiled at him.

"Harry was stuck inside the Gryffindor Tower last night, Remus. Besides, Sirius wasn't here as well. Of course they both won't be able to meet," stated Hermione, unaware of the covert exchange that happened between Harry and Remus.

Harry and Remus exchanged glances.

Harry decided not to correct Hermione. She better off not knowing what really happened last night.

So Sirius was aware that Harry returned to their flat last night. Something must had triggered him. Harry wondered if Sirius was aware that he visited Dudley at the hospital too.

"Yes I know. Sirius will be coming to Hogwarts this Wednesday. You'll see him then, Harry," said Remus.

Harry just nodded and smiled.

Later that night at the common room, Fred and George announced to Harry that they were no longer seeking to enter the tournament.

"We have decided that there are better options for us to make money," said Fred.

"Yeap. Eight schools. Imagine that. Our market just got bigger," said George.

"So you're saying that you're going to promote your merchandises to our guests? Clever," said Harry, giving his approval.

"Thank you, Harry. We gave it a thought long ago. We decided that it's the best course of action we should take. Imagine if they love our merchandises. They could help market our products back in their country. We could start selling via owl post. If this works, we're going to gain a lot more than what winning the tournament can offer us," Fred explained.

Lee who had been watching the twins with great amusement leaned towards Harry and whispered, "Actually they only thought about it last night. They saw their potential competitions and nearly crapped in their trousers. If one of them got selected, we'll be lucky if we found one of their eyeballs once the tournament is over."

Harry just sniggered.

It was Monday afternoon.

Harry and his classmates were on their way back to the castle after the Care for Magical Creatures class ended.

Harry's action on Saturday morning brought marked changes. No longer were Hogwarts students restricted from entering the garden. They could now enter it freely. The only places out of bound for them were the visitors' residences. Here and there, Hogwarts and the foreign students could be seen mingling with each other. The aurors still kept guard of course but they were no longer as strict as before. The rules and regulations were also loosened, much to the student's relief.

Harry and his friends still had to circumvent the garden though, no thanks to the fences built surrounding it. But Harry no longer mind about it. He was happy that things went back the way it was.

At least most of it.

Ron and Hermione wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon inside the garden. They wanted Harry to join them as well.

He however hesitated. He remembered the conversation he had with the Beauxbatons students. He refused to become the center of attention. If he ever walked into the garden, he wanted to be treated like everyone else.

Harry however knew that that would be impossible.

They walked past a group of students that was just coming down from the castle when all of a sudden, someone called out to him:-

"Hey! Are you Harry Potter?"

To be continued…

A/n: Can't believe I have to do this.

Okay first of all about Across the Time fic. All the issues regarding that story has been resolved. I am now free to republish it. This however came at the heel of some other newly resurfaced issues.

I received some criticism regarding the way I handled Harry in this story. I had to reread chapter 8 several times to see if I really made Harry an asshole or as some would say, rude. Some of you also said they rather drop this story and wait for me to republish Across the Time. That's fine but here's the thing:-

I found nothing that says that Harry was being an asshole or rude.

Is it in the scene where Harry was flying inside the garden? Remember that he aired his grievance to the teachers in a proper manner before and that flying inside the garden was his last resort and he only did it after no action was taken. And he had to do something about the aurors.

The scene with McGonagall? I don't see him being rude. He didn't fight back McGonagall. He fully accepted the consequences of his actions. He knew what he did was wrong but at the same time he knew that he had to do something. And Professor McGonagall realized this.

The scene with the Dursley? The Dursley acted like a prick in Deathly Hallows even when they know Harry was trying to save their asses. It's the same thing here. Harry didn't hated them. In fact he wished that Dudley would get better because he knew how much his cousin meant to his aunt and uncle.

The Harry inside Across the Time is a lot more angsty compared to Harry in this story which is understandable given the monumental challenges he has to face. He has no idea how he got there. He has no idea the true reason behind his return. Please remember that he was working based on unproven assumptions. While he has the knowledge of the series of events, there is no way he would know if he would succeed or even survives. He also has no idea if he will have a future with Fleur. There are so many things that work against him. I could go on but I'm just too lazy. You'll get the idea. I have several endings that would fit perfectly with the story. Across the Time might get a bittersweet ending, who knows.

Whereas the Harry in this story has a lot more confident in him. He's jovial. He's not afraid to speak his mind. He acts on them. He's protective. He cares. He can be clueless sometime but then again he's just a teenager. I'm not going to make him a fourteen years old adult who is all knowing because that doesn't make sense.

If you can't accept the Harry in this story, how can you accept the Harry in Across the Time? I've been giving it a lot of thought this past weeks and I'm beginning to feel that bringing back Across the Time is an absolutely terrible idea.