Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; everything is J K Rowling's.
This ended up being a little longer than I expected, I'm sure you'll all hate that, so it's about an hour later than I expected.
Chapter 53
'I thought you were meant to be at home for Christmas?' Harry asked, when Katie unexpectedly joined him for lunch.
'I came back,' she grinned. 'Ange and Alicia were taking their plans for my well being a bit too far so I told them I would go home when they did. I went home, had a really interesting conversation with my parents, and came back today.'
'What did your parents say?' He inquired. She seemed happy, certainly she was more cheerful than in the few days of being shepherded away from him before leaving.
'They cancelled their subscription to the Daily Prophet,' Katie beamed. 'Dad told me that I could go out with whomever I damn well pleased as long as he was kind, good-looking, rich and polite, and they both said that they knew me well enough to see the article was trash.'
'That's good,' Harry decided. 'It's about time more people realised how kind, good-looking and polite I am.'
'Are you rich?' Katie asked, giggling. 'Should I warn Daddy that I might have found someone who has designs on his darling daughter and fits his criteria?'
'I have a trust fund,' Harry told her, 'and my family is an old, pure-blooded one apparently, but I actually have no idea.'
'I guess it doesn't really matter until you're seventeen and emancipated,' Katie decided.
'Voldemort will have killed me long before then,' Harry agreed. 'It's not going to be a problem.'
'Don't joke about things like that,' Katie scowled, thumping him on the arm.
'Yes, Dark Mistress,' Harry inclined his head mockingly, rubbing his upper arm.
'Good boy,' Katie congratulated him, patting him on the cheek.
'Did you like your present?' Harry asked.
'Oh, yes,' she grinned, 'but if you keep giving me things like that then a girl's going to start thinking you want to be more than just friends.'
'Just don't tell Rita Skeeter,' Harry remarked. 'I can't use it, and I'm sure it was only a matter of time until Umbridge tried to confiscate it.'
'I might not give it back even if your lifetime ban gets wiped away,' Katie warned him.
'I knew I should have made you sign something in blood,' Harry sighed in good humour. He'd missed Katie's banter.
'For a Firebolt I would have signed almost anything,' Katie nodded.
'Well if you're willing,' Harry fished a scrap of parchment out of his pocket, 'how does eternal slavery sound?'
'To you?' Katie eyed him coyly and bit her lip. 'Do I get to call you Dark Master?' She asked in her smoothest, most dulcet voice.
'If you want,' Harry answered playfully, then, suddenly remembering what purpose he'd given this piece of parchment he turned it over. To his delight the address written upon the reverse clearly belonged to a house, rather than a workplace. He had Skeeter's home address.
'It's a shame you already gave it to me for the foreseeable future, then,' Katie responded slyly.
'You'd have been a terrible slave anyway,' Harry decided.
'Well your present was a lot better than mine,' Katie admitted.
'I always wanted a sneakoscope,' Harry smiled.
'Then why don't you have it with you?' She accused.
'Because it whistles constantly for no reason, I had to wrap it up in my socks and bury it in my trunk so nobody can hear it.' Since that had also proved unsuccessful he'd put it in the chamber with Salazar and it had finally stayed quiet.
'Been doing untrustworthy things have you,' Katie grinned.
'Every other second of every day?' Harry asked incredulously. 'When there's nobody in the room?'
'How do you know it was making a noise if nobody was in the room?' Katie glanced up at him from her food.
'Because I can hear it from the common room when it's quiet,' Harry explained. 'I did like the chocolate,' he smiled, 'my sweet tooth is getting worse, too many bad influences.'
'What did Neville get you?' Katie asked. 'I know you bought him that really rare, unpronounceable cactus, he sent me a letter that had the damn things name twice in every sentence. It took me hours to read it without tying my tongue in a knot.'
'Mimbulus Mimbletonia,' Harry corrected her, extending his forearm in her direction, and tugging up the sleeve of his robes to reveal the slim, dragon-hide duelling holster his wand was now in. 'He got me this, aurors use them.'
'Cool,' she exclaimed. 'How does it work?'
'I flick my wrist,' he demonstrated and his wand shot into his palm.
'What happens if you don't catch it?'
'I drop my wand and look like an idiot,' Harry grinned, 'and presumably lose whatever duel I was about to fight in. I've practised using it.'
It was a valuable gift, dragon-hide didn't come cheap, and being able to draw his wand faster and keep it safely within his sleeve was priceless.
'Enjoy your lunch,' he told her, retracting his wand and standing up.
'Going somewhere?'
'I have a promise to keep,' he smiled.
'France, then,' she surmised. 'You only smile like that when you're sneaking off to see Fleur.'
'That obvious?'
'Only to me,' she gave him a cheerful wave. 'Have a good time, if anyone comes asking I'll tell them you were with me all along.'
'Thanks,' he returned her wave.
He retraced his steps from the morning back towards the Chamber of Secrets. The corridors were emptier around christmas, especially this year, almost all of the students had gone home and he didn't have to worry about disillusioning himself.
A morning of trying to develop his duelling style, something he had been attempting off and on in his spare moments, had remained rather unproductive. He was faster, he could bend one wand motion into the next much more easily, he'd spent much off his time in Charms practising that when Flitwick wasn't watching him, but it didn't feel like enough improvement to be a match for the onslaught Voldemort was capable of unleashing.
Salazar was happy to remind him that being a lot faster, and capable of swiftly switching from one spell to the next was a serious improvement. He also reminded him that comparing himself to Voldemort, who relied on very powerful spells and speed, was not the right comparison when Harry's most powerful magic was often based in transfiguration.
You just need experience, he would shrug, then look unhelpfully blank when Harry asked him were he expected to get that experience from.
Myrtle was absent from her bathroom, so Harry gingerly crossed the puddle and opened the chamber.
'I thought you were spending the rest of the day with Fleur,' Slytherin remarked, hearing his footsteps echoing as Harry strode past the shadow of the basilisk the fiendfyre had left.
'I am,' Harry responded, wandering into the study.
'So why are you here?' Salazar asked, quirking his eyebrow. The serpent around his neck slithered forwards to eye Harry with equal curiosity.
'We've been together for six months,' Harry told him keeping a straight face, 'it's about time she met my family, don't you think?'
'You've never referred to your muggle relatives as your family before,' the founder remarked thoughtfully. 'You intend to bring her here.'
'You are the only real family I have,' Harry reminded him, 'painting or not, and I promised her no more secrets.'
'Tom Riddle never brought a girl to meet me,' Salazar considered.
'You think it's a bad idea?'
'No,' the painting eyed him softly, 'If you truly trust her, then I think it's a very good idea. However, without our bloodline she can only enter here by invitation.'
'Then how could Ginny, Ron, Lockhart, Fawkes,' Harry trailed off from his list at Slytherin's flat stare. 'I invited them all in some fashion, didn't I,' he realised.
'The Weasley girl was possessed by Voldemort and that would have likely acted as an invitation in her case, just as opening the door for your friends was one, and as for the phoenix, they're annoying creatures, interpreting odd meanings from anything if it benefits them. Helga's once came to give me aid in the middle of a feast, it relit the fire when it went out, but I'm certain it was just hungry and wanted an excuse to get past the wards to the food.'
'So I can just apparate us both here?' Harry asked. He didn't particularly want to find himself bouncing of anti-apparition wards into the Black Lake again.
'Yes,' Salazar sighed. 'Clearly I need to teach you a lot more about blood magic.'
'You've taught me next to nothing about it,' Harry reminded him, 'and I can't go asking my teachers either.'
'I suppose,' he grumbled, delicately pulling his serpent back onto his neck with two fingers. 'Go on then, you have my permission, approval or whatever it was you wanted from telling me.'
He apparated away to the willow tree, no longer needing the portkey now Fleur's parents had decided to include him in the wards.
To his surprise it was Gabrielle he found there, sitting on the white pebbles and tossing the small ones into the water.
'Fleur,' he greeted in mock surprise, 'you've shrunk!'
She laughed briefly before slipping back to a more sombre expression. 'Fleur is in her room at the chateau,' she told him quietly, choosing another perfectly smooth pebble from those around her.
'Lonely?' Harry asked, stepping down beside her at the river's edge. He knew the expression she was wearing well enough.
'You've stolen my sister,' she said after a while, tossing another stone into the river. 'I used to have all her attention to myself, but now I have to share her.'
'Sorry,' Harry apologised, sitting down on the pebbles and choosing a small, smooth one of his own. 'I didn't intend to steal her from you.'
'I don't mind,' she assured him. 'I just wish I had someone like she does. It's going to be a bit miserable for me at Beauxbatons when Fleur is gone.'
'I'm sure she'll come and kidnap you,' Harry smiled.
'She'll be busy with her own life, off being brilliant and strong and with you, like she should be, and I'll have to fend for myself. I'm not the same as Fleur,' Gabrielle confessed her. 'I can't ignore everyone around me so easily as she does. I can feel their emotions in the magic they cast, their jealousy, their pity, their anger.' Her fingers tightened on the stone. 'They affect me.'
'If there is anything I can do, you only have to ask,' Harry decided. It was horrible to see her so sad, a shell of her usual cheerful self.
'There is nothing anyone can do,' she shrugged. 'I will learn to survive it without Fleur, but thank you.' A glimmer of her usual mischief appeared in her eyes. 'My sister is waiting for you, she's been impatiently waiting since Christmas, what did you promise her?' There was nothing subtle about what Gabrielle was suggesting.
'Maybe you'll find out when you're older,' he replied, knowing that her birthday was actually before his. 'Or, if you're really eager, you can try following us and making another portrait.'
'I think Fleur would murder me,' she giggled. 'Can you apparate me back?'
'Of course,' he nodded, taking her proffered arm, and picturing the entrance hall of the chateau.
The world spun back past them with a soft crack, and he had to keep a tight grip on Fleur's little sister to stop her falling over all the shoes.
'Thanks,' she told him seriously, flashing him a grateful smile. 'I'll get Fleur for you.'
She had bounced off up the stairs towards the far side of the house before Harry could thank her, calling Fleur's name and cheerful casting all sorts of aspersions on what they might be about to do.
After a moment a slightly red-faced Fleur appeared, trailed by a slightly sooty Gabrielle who's wide grin stood out from her ash-streaked face.
'I take it this one of those happy surprises, you were referring to,' she commented, watching her little sister's back warily as she headed off towards the nearest bathroom.
'Soon has become now,' Harry answered, offering her his hand.
Fleur stepped around it and chose to wrap her arms around his waist instead.
'I've never apparated like this before,' Harry remarked.
'Don't you like it?' She asked coyly, pressing herself a little closer to him. Harry chose to kiss her rather than answer such an obvious question. If she pressed herself much closer against him she would find out exactly how much he liked it. His cheeks reddened at the thought.
'So where did you apparate Gabrielle back from?' Fleur asked. 'She was going on about the feel of your magic again.'
'The riverside next to the willow,' Harry replied. Fleur frowned and pressed her lips together, clearly Gabrielle only went there when she was unhappy. 'She's more cheerful now,' Harry added quietly, just in case Fleur's little sister was listening.
'Good, and thank you for helping her,' Fleur whispered, 'I worry about leaving her at Beauxbatons all alone.'
'We'll have to come and steal her away more often,' Harry suggested. Fleur shot him a grateful smile and tightened her arms around him expectantly.
Harry pictured the oversized bust of his ancestor and the serpent effigies of the main chamber, focusing on Fleur as the world swirled back past them and deposited them on the floor of the chamber.
'I think this method of apparition works well,' Fleur commented from her much more preferable position of on top of him.
She lingered over him momentarily, just long enough to tease, then got to her feet and stared around her in wonder.
'Where is this?'
'The Chamber of Secrets,' Harry grinned.
'Is it actually called that?' Fleur wrinkled her nose distastefully. 'And I don't know what that means.'
'The wizard who named it had a few issues with his ego,' Harry pointed at the giant bust of Salazar Slytherin.
'I heard that,' Salazar hissed in parseltongue from the study, and Harry chuckled. Fleur tensed at the sound, but Harry smiled reassuringly.
'The Chamber of Secrets was built by Salazar Slytherin to house a guardian to protect the school from attackers. It slumbered here until a descendant of Slytherin was able to enter the chamber, but Voldemort had his own purpose for the basilisk,' Fleur gasped, 'and set it on students instead.'
'Who puts a basilisk in a school of children?' She demanded, just as Harry had once done. 'It's not still here is it?' Fleur asked suddenly, paling.
He laughed. 'I asked the same question, and no, it's gone. In my second year Voldemort managed to unleash it on the school again, it petrified Hermione, one of my friends at the time, and dragged Ginny Weasley down here.'
'You went after it,' Fleur surmised flatly.
'I came down here and I killed it with a sword in a very dashing, heroic manner.' Behind him he caught a faint murmur about brainless Godricness from the painting.
'That explains why Ginny Weasley likes you,' Fleur muttered, scowling.
'There's not much left of the basilisk,' Harry smiled, pointing at the seventy foot shadow along the floor. 'It was starting to smell.'
'Merde,' Fleur whispered. 'You are such an idiot, anyone less lucky would not have survived.'
'He nearly didn't,' Slytherin called from within the study, 'the idiot got bitten and had to be saved by phoenix tears. Thankfully he's started acting like a member of my family should since then.'
Fleur looked up in surprise.
'My ancestor,' Harry explained, 'his painting hangs on the wall through there, presumably to perpetually irritate all of his descendants who find his Chamber of Secrets.'
'You're descended from Salazar Slytherin?' Fleur asked curiously. Harry felt rather disappointed in her her reaction. If he'd told anyone from Britain they would have been shocked.
'Yes, though I'm not exactly sure how, presumably through my father as my mother was muggleborn,' Harry smiled. 'Salazar tells me that I wouldn't be able to enter here, or speak parseltongue otherwise.' He took Fleur's hand and led her away from the outline of the basilisk and into the study.
'This is where you got the books from,' she realised, gazing around the study in wonder.
'Yes,' Harry nodded. 'My latin is pretty poor, but I know enough to get by, and some of them,' he glanced at Secrets of the Darkest Arts, 'were helpfully translated by my predecessor.'
'So this is Fleur,' Salazar spoke up from over the door, 'it's a pleasure to meet you face to face.'
Well you could hardly say you were meeting her in the flesh, Harry thought wryly.
'It's an honour,' Fleur replied. 'I can see some of the similarities between you and Harry.' She inspected the portrait curiously, glancing between it and his face.
'There aren't many,' Slytherin said softly, 'he has my wife and daughter's nose, and there is a little of me in his cheek bones and jaw, but little else.'
'It has been over a thousand years,' Harry pointed out. That portrait nodded mimicked by his serpent, and Fleur chuckled.
'So this is where you kept sneaking off to last year,' Fleur deduced, 'no wonder I could never figure out where you were going.'
'Were you following me?' Harry asked, amused.
'No,' she denied, flushing slightly, 'well, maybe occasionally, you were different. I was curious.'
'That explains where Gabrielle learnt her stalking her behaviour from then,' Harry laughed. Fleur's flush brightened. 'You wouldn't have been able to get in anyway, not without an invitation.'
'The chamber is protected by blood magic wards,' Salazar explained, sighing at Harry's lack of detail. 'You have to be a blood relation to me, or invited by one, to enter my chamber.'
'Are there any others?' Fleur asked immediately.
'Just one,' Harry responded darkly.
'Voldemort,' she remembered.
'He will not be visiting here just yet,' the painting assured them, 'and I know how you can seal him out of the chamber when the risk grows greater. There is nothing you need fear in this place unless you make a mess of my my study again.'
'So is this the last of your secrets?' She eyed him speculatively and he shook his head, grinning slightly. 'I didn't really think so,' Fleur sighed.
'You know most of them,' Harry told her, 'in fact there's only really one left to tell you, but I have to be sure that you can defend your thoughts before sharing it.'
'Occlumency,' Fleur realised. 'I am passable,' she shrugged, it's a requirement for applying to the Bureau d'Éngimes. My veela magic helps as well, my allure affects the connection.'
'Could you defend your thoughts if someone tried to steal them?' Harry asked.
'I believe so,' Fleur decided. 'It would take a very talented practitioner of the mind arts to steal my thoughts.'
'Avoid Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort, and it will be fine,' Slytherin surmised. 'I assume this is the discussion about horcruxes.'
'Well if it wasn't it's going to be now, isn't it?' Harry pointed out acidly.
'So I'm right either way then,' the painting shot back.
Fleur blinked twice. 'What are horcruxes?'
'A very horrible piece of magic that tears a piece of your soul away and binds it to an object. It acts as an anchor against death until it is destroyed, and it is how Voldemort survived without a body.'
'So you're planning on destroying it,' Fleur guessed.
'There's likely more than one,' Salazar elucidated, glancing at Harry who shook his head ever so slightly when Fleur wasn't watching. 'It was a horcrux that caused my poor basilisk to be unleashed again before Harry killed the mad creature and destroyed it, but Voldemort survived its destruction to return to a body, so there must be at least one other out there somewhere.'
'The prophecy is just the first step,' Fleur realised. 'You're getting ready to kill him.'
'And anyone we have to in the process of getting to him,' Harry added quietly. 'He won't ever leave me alone, and I suspect the prophecy has something to do with it. Why would a powerful wizard try and kill a baby unless he knew that infant might be a threat for some reason.'
'What do we do?' Fleur demanded.
Slytherin laughed and Harry scowled at him. 'I need to see the prophecy, and I need to get the Ministry to accept the truth before Voldemort launches a surprise attack and crushes the majority of his opposition.'
'We,' Fleur corrected immediately.
'You're not coming to the Department of Mysteries,' Harry reminded her, 'you promised.'
'It is still our goal,' she told him firmly.
'Fine,' Harry relented. 'There is so much to do,' he told her. 'I need to be so much stronger, stronger than Dumbledore and Voldemort, but they're so far beyond what I can do.'
'Why do you need to be stronger than Dumbledore?' Fleur asked. 'Is he not on your side?'
'He believes I am part of his side,' Harry explained bitterly, 'but he is not on my side. Dumbledore keeps me in the dark, if I had done as he hoped I would have been dead in my first year.'
'Why don't you show her how far you have come?' Salazar suggested mildly. 'It will be easier.'
'We can duel,' Fleur agreed excitedly, eyeing him speculatively and striding back out into the main chamber. 'I will see how long you last against me,' she called back.
'Proud, isn't she,' the painting commented in parseltongue.
'With good reason to be,' Harry replied in kind.
'She reminds me of my wife a little,' the founder remarked. 'I hope she is as good for you as my wife was for me.'
'You make it sound like we're married,' Harry frowned uncomfortably.
'You seem close, even if you didn't want her to know that you were a horcrux.'
'It would just upset her and make her worry unnecessarily,' Harry shrugged. 'She's going to get a surprise,' he finished, reverting to english as he left the chamber.
She was waiting in the middle of the chamber with her rosewood wand, extended out to her right.
'Don't worry about the chamber,' Harry smiled. 'I've broken the effigies many times.'
'Normal rules,' Fleur decided, conjuring a glowing circle across the floor. 'Nothing too dangerous, and no speaking anything but spells to try distract your opponent.'
Her wand snapped up without warning, and Harry immediately flicked his into his palm in preparation.
'Good reflexes,' she commented, 'the other ritual?'
'I haven't done that yet,' Harry admitted, 'it takes time to recover afterwards and I don't need Madam Pomfrey getting too suspicious of me when I'm injured again and mentioning it to the headmaster.'
'Shall we begin,' Fleur returned her wand arm to its original position and Harry mirrored her, forcing himself to look away from her eyes and consider her an enemy.
Fleur struck first, unleashing a trio of jinxes that Harry didn't recognise, her wand movements sliding from one spell into the next without halting.
He deflected two of them back at her, side-stepping the last and attacked himself, throwing every one of the borderline useless spells he had learnt to teach to Neville back at her, but Fleur proved impossible to touch.
She stepped around them, weaving fluidly, almost dancing amongst the beams of magic, deflecting the few she could not dodge back at him and constantly turning and twisting him along the edge of the ring stretching the angles he could deflect her spells at to their limit.
Harry couldn't seem to pin her down, no matter how fast he cast, and his spells were slicing across the air from his wand tip twice as fast as Fleur could send them back. She was glorious in action. It was hard to ignore the way she moved to avoid his magic, the way Fleur curved away from his hexes was almost hypnotic.
Abandoning his assault for a moment, he animated the effigies along the walls, commanding them to bind her still, and weathering her renewed attacks behind his Shield Charm, deflecting those he could back at her, carefully choosing where he placed his feet to prevent her from trapping him along the edges of the ring.
She gasped with surprise when one of the stone snakes curled around her leg, but shattered it with the Blasting Curse and stepped along the edge of the ring, forcing Harry round towards the horde of serpents so that her stray curses destroyed his supporting animations.
Her back was to the pool now, so in between casting he Impedimenta Jinx and the Stunning Spell he conjured his shield of butterflies, ignoring Fleur's gasp of surprise when the swirling insects swarmed into existence around him.
A unwavering stream of transfigured butterflies hissed across the ground between them, forcing Fleur to hold her ground and shield herself for the first time. Slashing his wand across his chest he drew the water from the pool behind her, conjuring a liquid serpent the length of the bridge that twisted forwards through the air to encircle and shatter her shield.
'Expelliarmus,' Harry murmured, just as her defences faltered, and then it was over, and Fleur's wand was in his hand.
Grinning triumphantly he waved it at her.
There was a bright flash of blue and something hot struck him on the chest, knocking him out of the circle and across the floor.
'I do not need my wand to conjure fire, Harry,' she reminded him, waving back. Her hand was coated in bright blue flames and glowing menacingly.
'I had already disarmed you and won,' Harry pointed out, standing back up. 'You said normal rules, that includes no sneaky veela attacks.'
Fleur scowled, but shrugged in what Harry assumed was agreement.
'So what did you think?' He asked.
'What do I think?' Fleur repeated incredulously. 'I am a talented duellist, eighteen and did the best I could, but I still got overpowered by a fifteen year old. It's annoying.'
Harry looked at her helplessly.
'I am not angry with you,' she relented. 'I just expected to win. I didn't expect you to be this good.'
'So I did well?' Harry inquired. 'I've never duelled anyone other than Voldemort above the water and to the best of my ability.'
'I use a counter attacking style,' Fleur began, waving her wand to repair the damage they had done to the chamber. 'It has proven effective against every opponent, and is even more effective without the ring, but I never even came close to touching you. You're defences were simply too powerful,' she said simply. 'Every spell just dissipated against your shield, and those that did not you deflected away like they were nothing. It was very frustrating,' she added in french.
'That's pretty much how I felt while watching you weave around everything I did no matter how fast I tried to go,' Harry commented.
'You were casting spells incredibly fast,' she told him, 'only the duelling instructor at Beauxbatons is close to being that quick, and me, perhaps,' she decided. 'You are a very dangerous duellist,' she continued, 'powerful, fast and creative. I don't even know how I could defend against what you did at the end.' She scowled angrily, the wrinkling her nose very attractively. 'I can't dodge at that speed, I can't transfigure them myself because your magic is too strong for me to overrule and I can't block them without leaving myself vulnerable.'
'Those two pieces of magic are among my best,' Harry admitted. 'The butterflies are a shield foremost, but they are quite versatile.'
'A shield?' Fleur frowned. 'Surely a Blasting Curse would go straight through?
'They are meant to defend against things like the Cruciatus Curse,' Harry replied. 'I can deflect most other spells.'
'At least I know you can look after yourself,' Fleur decided after a moment. 'I still can't believe you beat me already,' she sighed.
'Already?'
'I expected you to win eventually, I'm good at duelling, but I'm better suited to enchanting and other subtler aspects of magic. I wasn't expecting you to surpass me at fifteen though,' she griped. 'Gabrielle is going to laugh at me.'
'If it had been real what would you have done differently?' Harry asked.
'I'd have had more room to move, and I could have used my elemental medium spells, but there's not I could have done other than making it a bit more difficult for you. That's why it's annoying,' she sulked, looking for all the world like a lightly older Gabrielle. 'What about you?'
'I probably would have been casting some much more dangerous spells,' he answered as Fleur closed her eyes, 'and I could have made more use of my surroundings.'
'This place is amazing,' Fleur said after a moment. 'I can feel the magic around it, it's almost as strong as the Room of Requirement.'
'Don't let Salazar hear you say that,' Harry laughed. 'He designed this himself and Rowena and Godric created the room, they were quite competitive about things like this.'
'I can understand that,' Fleur smiled. 'Gabrielle is always trying to outdo what I was like at her age.'
'Does she?'
'We have different magic,' Fleur shrugged, 'so sometimes she does, and sometimes she doesn't. Her enchantments weave together better than mine, but my magic is stronger and holds for longer.'
Harry sat underneath one of the effigies, leaning his back against the smooth stone, then shifting along to give Fleur space when she moved to join him.
'I feel quite selfish,' she said, leaning into him.
'Why?' Harry asked, slipping his arm around her shoulders.
'I asked you for all your secrets, but I have none to share with you in return.'
'Clearly you're just not as mysterious as I am,' Harry grinned.
'Apparently not,' Fleur agreed. 'I have all our secrets to keep now, though. There are so many problems we have to solve.'
'I know,' Harry nodded. 'It's daunting. I try not to think about it and just focus on the next small step.'
'What is the next step?'
'Speaking with Rita Skeeter,' Harry replied lightly.
'Skeeter? The one who writes the articles?'
'She's an animagus, and likely an unregistered one. I'd like to persuade her to write something more useful. I sent a letter to her and used it to procure her home address.'
'I am coming,' Fleur decided.
'It's not worth the risk,' Harry disagreed. 'If things go wrong you might get hurt, or worse. You're actions would have huge repercussions for your family.'
Fleur didn't make any sound, but Harry knew she was scowling again. 'Then I will come with you under your cloak and nobody will know.'
'Only until I see Skeeter,' Harry countered.
'Why?'
'Because once she has written the article for me she will no doubt take steps to make sure I can no longer influence her, and once she has I will be making headlines again. I'd rather you weren't sharing those sort of articles with me.'
'Fine,' she acquiesced.
'Nuh uh,' Harry smiled, 'you have to promise.'
'You are worse than Gabby sometimes,' Fleur commented snarkily, 'but if you want, I promise.'
'Thank you,' Harry kissed her gently on the cheek.
'I won't keep promising things like this,' she warned. 'I refuse to hide while you take all the risks.'
'I don't expect you to,' Harry told her. 'I would have to be an idiot to refuse the help of a witch like you.'
'You are an idiot,' she decided. 'You tried to kill a basilisk with a sword.'
'I didn't have my wand,' Harry defended.
Fleur stared at him incredulously, then shook her head, sending ripples through her veil of silver hair. 'Are we going then?'
'Going?'
'You said you had Skeeter's address,' she continued slowly.
'Now?'
'Do you have something more important to be doing?'
'Well…' Harry eyed her suggestively until she blushed faintly.
'Be careful Harry,' she warned, 'or I might take you up on that later.' She stood up and pulled him to his feet. 'Now where are we going?'
'We'll have to apparate to Diagon Alley in London,' Harry told her, then make our way from there. It isn't far, I remember seeing the street name when I first visited Diagon Alley.'
He reached out for her arm, but she shook her and winked, wrapping her arms around him again.
'Like this is better,' she told him.
'Not when we fall over at the other end it isn't,' Harry grumbled half-heartedly, but he made no move to dislodge her. It was worth the bruises.
Flicking his wand out he swiftly disillusioned them both and apparated them away to the same point outside Ollivander's that he had first travelled to.
'Are you missing anything?' He murmured, carefully checking himself.
'Not that I can see,' she replied dryly.
'Follow me then,' Harry instructed, casting a few silencing charms over the pair and walking towards the end of the Alley taking Fleur's hand so he didn't lose her.
From memory Rita Skeeter lived on a street that was only about a mile from the exit of Diagon Alley, a short walk under his Disillusionment Charm.
'She won't be there when we arrive, will she?' Fleur asked, as they weaved in and out of the groups of muggles on the pavement, walking quickly.
'No, we'll have a chance to look around first,' Harry responded, ducking an enthusiastically waving tourist.
'There,' Fleur said, 'where I'm pointing.'
'We're invisible, Fleur,' Harry reminded her, trying not to laugh so hard that the muggles heard.
'Eleven o'clock,' she told him, 'and stop laughing, I forgot.'
Harry pressed his free hand over his mouth to muffle his chuckles, and starting towards Rita Skeeter's street. Her house was number five, so he hoped it would only be a few metres down the road; else they would have to walk to the other end of the street.
The journalist lived in a surprisingly small, modest looking house with a lime green door and a loose step that Harry avoided stepping on just in case it was a security measure.
'Here,' he whispered, unfolding the cloak and passing one end to Fleur. Underneath it they would remain undetected.
'Diffindo,' he muttered, running the tip of his wand along the edge of the door. There was a metal click as he severed the lock.
Rita Skeeter was a tidy individual, her house was neat, clean and well ordered with soft carpets and worn, cosy furniture.
'Have a look for anything that might be useful,' he suggested to Fleur, 'but please stay under the cloak.'
She nodded, and Harry stepped out, dispelling his disillusionment and exploring the lower rooms. He found a lovely set of porcelain china, and some homemade cakes, but nothing that might prove useful.
'Harry,' Fleur hissed from right behind him. He jumped, and glared at where he assumed she must be from the sound of chuckling. 'I found a whole cabinet of files upstairs, come see.'
There was a file for almost every name that Harry knew of in the wizarding world, and a hundred more that he did not.
'Perfect,' he grinned, flicking through Lucius Malfoy's.
'Make her write an article about all the Death Eater's in here,' Fleur suggested.
Harry considered it. Skeeter would probably write the article if he stayed here and forced her to, but she'd never send it to the Prophet. A very different plan to his original one began to form in his head.
The fire place in the room across from them flared green. He'd have to ask Fleur for forgiveness later.
'Go,' he told Fleur, 'I'll come to France and see you as soon as I can.'
She disapparated silently, leaving the cloak to fall to the floor next to him. Harry gathered it up and folded it away before choosing to lean casually against the door frame.
'Rita,' he smiled politely, when she stepped out of the fire. To her credit she didn't even flinch.
'Mr Potter,' she quirked an eyebrow, 'this is unexpected, and illegal too.'
'Now now, Rita,' he admonished, ' don't go throwing stones from your glass house.'
'Muggle phrases,' she acknowledged, 'but I'm afraid I don't understand.'
'I believe they sentence unregistered animagi to Azkaban, don't they?'
Her eyes narrowed. 'You must have proof to make an open allegation like that,' she commented bluntly.
'I would not be here if I thought it might go wrong,' Harry bluffed calmly. 'I was hoping we might come to an arrangement.'
'What sort?'
'The sort where you write a highly controversial article and I keep your secret,' Harry elucidated. 'The article will even have the benefit of being true, for once.'
'Who would you like me to enlighten my readers about, Mr Potter?'
'There's a whole list of very interesting files in that cabinet. I had a brief read through and I think Mr Malfoy would make a very nice subject for you.'
'No,' Rita shook her head, 'not worth the risk to me.'
'How about you write the article, then I will swear an oath, an Unbreakable Oath, to never mention your little secret again before I leave. Would that assurance be worthwhile?'
Rita Skeeter's eyes gleamed and she stepped across to catch his hand in between hers. 'We have a deal,' she answered hurriedly. 'I don't particularly want to spend anytime in Azkaban.'
'I've heard it's an unpleasant place,' Harry agreed. 'Now, the article?'
'Of course,' Rita smiled wolfishly, her acid-green quill already writing away on her note-pad. 'Perhaps you'd like some cake while I write?'
'That would be lovely,' Harry agreed, following her down into the kitchen.
'Pound cake,' Rita smiled, cutting him a generous slice, 'a personal favourite of mine.'
'It's very good,' Harry complimented her, taking a bite. 'Is it home baked?'
'Yes,' a touch of genuine pride coloured Rita's tone.
'I'm impressed,' Harry laughed. 'There's a hidden side to Britain's best journalist.'
'To you as well it seems, Harry.' She eyed him curiously. 'How did you get in undetected?'
'Now that would be telling,' he smiled brightly, 'but rest assured that your wards are not flawed, I simply found a way to bypass them. There aren't many wards that can keep me out if I really need to get in.'
'How fascinating,' Rita exclaimed. The quill had moved from notepad to paper entitled with the Daily Prophet's title, writing a more official looking version of the article, presumably that was what her submissions actually looked like.
'May I see?' Harry asked, leaning across to skim the article.
'Of course,' Skeeter waited until the quill passed before proffering him the sheet.
'How scathing,' Harry grinned. 'It's perfect.'
'And now for your side of our deal,' she pressed tentatively.
Harry nodded, finishing his slice of cake, and gently placing the plate back on the table.
'We need a magical witness,' he decided. 'My house elf should suffice.' He didn't wait for Rita to disagree, not that she would, Dobby would be bound by the oath of his master. It was the perfect witness for her.
'Dobby,' he called.
There was a crack and the house elf appeared, looking around in confusion.
'I need you to witness an oath for me, Dobby,' Harry instructed softly. 'It's very important.'
'Dobby will not disappoint Master Harry Potter,' the elf responded enthusiastically.
'Now,' he drew his wand, passing it to Dobby, 'what are your terms, Miss Skeeter?'
Rita reached forward with her right hand, clasping his hand firmly as Dobby held the wand closely to the two of them. 'Will you, Harry Potter, agree to never speak of my animagus abilities again?'
'I will.'
A tendril of fiery, white magic flared from the tip of his wand to encircle their hands. It was cold, and tighter than he anticipated. He could almost feel it binding his life.
'Will you, Harry Potter, agree never to break into any property I own, or into anything that contains my belongings?'
'I will.' A second tendril joined the first.
'That is sufficient,' she decided, releasing him. 'You have your article, and I have my assurance.' Harry nodded mildly, and Dobby disappeared with a loud crack after returning his wand.
'I'll be leaving then,' Harry told her politely, 'it was nice doing business with you.'
Her face spread into a victorious smile at his perceived mistake. She knew that the oath he had sworn fully protected her, but that she had no obligation to actually get his article printed.
'There is one last thing,' Harry paused in the door, his wand flicking out into his palm. 'Morsmordre,' he commanded, and then the top floor of her house was gone, torn away by the conjured skull and serpent.
'The Dark Mark,' she gasped, paling rapidly, her eyes darting to the article that would provide the reason for her death at the hands of Voldemort's supporters and then back to him.
'I see you understand,' Harry smiled coldly. The cracks of apparating aurors were audible all around the house, but he would be long gone by the time they broke through the wards.
'Your vow,' she tried desperately, but she was bluffing and they both knew it. The terms of his Unbreakable Vow were clear and would no longer be relevant in two words time regardless when her magic no longer existed to bind him.
'Avada kedavra,' he intoned, embracing the icy intent in his chest.
There was a single, bright green flash and when it was gone, so was Harry.
AN: Please read and keep on reviewing! Thanks to everyone who does.
