A/N: I'm a total sucker for all things Flowerpot. This will be the first of a few such pairings I have in mind. They'll all be one shots with definitive conclusions as so many Flowerpot fictions tend to leave readers hanging.
Disclaimer: Dont own HP. Duh. Just playing with other people's action figures in the sandbox of my mind. If JKR finds me too much of a bother, she has more than enough money to squash me. Nothing I can do about it.
"'Aaaaarreeee!" The large avian creature screamed out against the howling wind above and the rain pelting the courtyard stones powerfully. Her silver blonde hair was drenched and hung in tangled clumps around her face, her sky blue uniform in tatters, and her wings stretched out.
Harry remained as motionless as possible despite how terrified he was. He was under his invisibility cloak, but still stationary behind a pillar. His mind raced. What happened to the Beauxbaton champion? Why was she looking for me? Did it have anything to do with the Goblet of Fire exploding? Harry blinked and cleared his head. Safety first. Questions later.
"I can sssenssse youuu, 'Aaarreee!" Fleur cried out, her beak pointed straight into the air and inhaled deeply against the night sky, "Don't 'iiide. Come to meee!"
Harry stayed put and tried to calm his breathing. He shut his eyes tight and heard Fleur's footsteps splashing in the shallow water and her talons clicking on the stones below. Inside the castle, the screams of panicked children as the very magic around them continued to betray them.
"The children are in grave danger, Dumbledore." Firenze stated plainly. The centaur was covered in the hemolymph and silk of acromantulas. A great battle could be heard just inside the forbidden forest. The shrieks of acromantulas and the hoofbeats of centaurs filled the air.
"What do you know of this?" Dumbledore pleaded. It was obvious that the magical world had been dealt a catastrophe, but without further knowledge, there was no way to determine how he could help.
"Simply put, Magic is reclaiming her chaotic nature. Wizards have been bringing order to magic for far too long. Magic wants to be undefinable and a mystery again and it's taking all magical creatures and objects with her whether they want to go for the journey or not."
"Which means that every magical artifact we use based on the old system is going to start failing."
"Not just your artifacts and not just fail. Your wands for example. Some may stop working all together. Some may detonate. Some may work with unexpected results, others may indeed function with exceptional ability. But I fear that is not the primary reason why your students are in danger."
"What do you mean?"
"All magical creatures exist in equilibrium with the magical order according to our biological nature. We are also being thrown into chaos. My brethren's divination abilities are increasing and becoming more focused. The invasive acromantulas that Hagrid introduced into the region are becoming more bloodthirsty and ingenious with how they use their webs. Each creature is experiencing a chaotic redefinition of their very existence, but there is one thing the intelligent magical creatures still acknowledge… wizards… are orderly… by nature."
Albus' eyes widened at the implication.
"And they'll use wizards to regain their lost sense of order." Albus gasped.
"By any means necessary, according to their nature."
Albus and Firenze then noticed as singing began emerging from the nearby waters as the Merfolk began to call out with a siren's call. Then, from the shadows of the forbidden forest a large clutter of acromantulas emerged and began scurrying towards Hogwarts.
"The children are defenseless!" Albus exclaimed, "Please Firenze, I dare not apparate. Will you take me there? I beg of you."
Firenze nodded "We foresaw this coming…and had time to prepare." He raised his arm as dozens of centaurs emerged from the forest carrying bundles of spears and various hand weapons. "Whether the acromantulas get what they want from the children of Hogwarts or not, they'll eventually turn on the centaurs. We believe a unified defense from Hogwarts is our best option." Firenze lowered himself.
"Agreed. Let's go." Albus climbed aboard Firenze's back as several centaurs grimaced but said nothing. The band of centaurs began charging towards the castle.
Fleur hadn't budged more than a few yards from her spot. Harry was out of options and had to try and make his way across the courtyard. His invisibility cloak wrapped tightly around him, Harry took very small steps so not to splash or leave a trail in the thin layer of water pooling around him.
What Harry failed to notice was the cloak's effects had begun to bleed and expand around him. The pillar he had been hiding behind, the ground he was stepping on and the ground a few feet ahead of him had begun to vanish giving the visual effect that the ground around him had been dissolved. Fleur noticed and not knowing what to make of it, backed away.
Harry took a moment to looked away from Fleur and looked down at his feet. His eyes widened as he noticed he had been standing over what appeared to be nothing [insert Wile E Coyote reference here]. Harry panicked and ran for the doorway across the courtyard.
"'Arry, please don't leave me! I need your 'elp!" Fleur cried out to the wizard with sincere desperation in her voice.
Harry stopped and turned around and saw the Beauxbaton student lying in the water, drenched from head to toe, her clothes tattered and her arm outstretched and shaking.
"Please 'Arry! I'm so scared. I need you."
Harry thought back to all the anguished nights he had woken up scared from a nightmare at the Dursley's and not having anyone to offer him the slightest bit of comfort. He couldn't abandon her.
Harry quickly looked at his cloak and back at Fleur, grimaced and then ran over to her and wrapped his cloak around her and tried to help to her feet.
"You came to me. I knew it." Fleur whispered as her heart pounded, "I knew it."
Fleur flashed back to the champion selection ceremony. The students were all gathered to see who would represent each school. Everything was going as expected until it was time to draw the first name. It began with a low hum which gradually evolved into a deafening ringing. The Goblet of Fire began to shudder and crack. Several professors began casting shields around the malfunctioning artifact. McGonagall had been ushering students out of the hall when the device shattered.
Gasps and whispers were being spread amongst the assembled student bodies as the staff began to inspect the wreckage.
"Anyone got a hat we can draw names from?" Fred and George chimed in to the immediate amusement of those within earshot.
It was then that Fleur began to experience severe muscle cramps. Fleur winced, doubled over and cried in pain. Madame Maxime was summoned over to Fleur by another Beauxbaton student. Maxime immediately brought it to the attention of Dumbledore who, in turn, requested Professor Sprout to escort Fleur to the infirmary.
Fleur awoke later to very disoriented feeling. Her mouth was dry, she was sweating profusely and as soon as she was lucid enough, she began to be overwhelmed by an internal craving. Something was missing. Something she needed desperately. She quickly dismissed food as it wasn't hunger pangs she was feeling. Fleur drank the glass of water next to her bed and while it was refreshing, it didn't soothe her craving. She looked over at another bed and saw a young male sleeping two beds down and thought 'No, that's part of it… but not all of it.'
Madam Pomfrey saw Fleur sitting up and walked over to check on her. Pomfrey's words her a blur in Fleur's mind. Pomfrey used the back of her hand to touch the sides of her face and her forehead. Fleur leaned in slightly to her touch, somehow sensed her compassion and her mind said 'That's not quite right either.'
It was something close and yet far. Her magic needed it and Fleur couldn't ignore it or even focus on anything else. If the craving had been painful, it would have been on par with a migraine. And not knowing what it could be was even worse. She needed to find it - whatever "it" was.
Fleur slowly got out of the infirmary bed. She hadn't been disrobed and for the exception of her cap and shoes, she was still wearing her school uniform. She walked slowly and placed her hand on each bed she passed until one caught her immediate attention. Fleur felt a presence, almost like an emotional echo… but what an echo - a deep, unyielding compassion unlike anything she had felt before and yet an absolute desperate need for love. She reached down and touched the mattress and the reaction was instant. Her subconscious screamed 'YES!' to her. 'This is what you need. Find it. Find it NOW!'
"'Oo sleeps here?" Fleur asked melodically.
Madam Pomfrey smiled warmly and told her that is where she always puts Harry Potter.
"You know, The-boy-who-lived? But don't let him hear you call him that. It only reminds him of that day that was salvation for the rest of us, but only marked tragedy for him."
Fleur's heart hung on every word as Pomfrey continued.
"I just pray that poor boy finds some happiness in this world. He truly deserves it after all he's been through."
"Where can I find 'im?" Fleur asked.
"Caught your eye, did he? Well you and about two-thirds of the girls here."
Fleur sneered at the thought of other girls being around him. Pomfrey was changing the linens on a bed and didn't notice her reaction.
"He's probably at the Gryffindor Commons or hanging with his friends Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley. Thick as thieves they are."
Madam Pomfrey turned around and Fleur was already gone. Her cap and shoes were still by her bed.
Fleur began making her way blindly through the corridors of Hogwarts trying to find Gryffindor Tower. When she had no luck finding the room on instinct alone, she grabbed the nearest male student and assaulted him with the full brunt of her allure. He was all too happy to reveal the location of the fat lady's portrait and was left in an unconscious pile of semen-stained robes.
Fleur had no luck trying to force herself past the Fat Lady. She did manage to scare the portrait, among several others in the area off when she started screeching like an angry bird trying to scare a predator away from its chicks, and emanating bright blue flames from her hands.
Fortunately for Fleur, the freaking out of a single stray Veela was not drawing enough attention for the staff to get involved. All manner of magical items began breaking down and going berserk all over Hogwarts causing all manner of confusion and destruction. The Sorting hat began spouting dirty limericks based on the secrets he spied on in the heads of each student he sorted. The staircases were trying to buck students off as they were being climbed. Brooms began marching out of their closets and through the halls. Some wands began malfunctioning while others were casting overpowered magic. The virus of chaos was spreading.
Fleur made her way back outside. Her mind was fixated on finding Harry. Her wings and talons ripped through her uniform leaving them in tatters. She had transformed into her bird form and was halfway up the tower before realizing that she had never had direct control over her transformation before. Before she needed to be provoked by intense fear or anger. Not that it mattered or remained in her thoughts for more than a singular moment. All that truly mattered was finding Harry.
Ron Weasley was sitting in his bed with the curtains surrounding his bunk closed, furiously masturbating to his hidden collection of Draco Malfoy pictures when the window to his room shattered violently. Ron shook in terrified silence as the silhouette of an avian beast walked with distinct purpose past his bunk. He scooped up all but one of his pictures and covered up his personal shame from prying eyes.
Fleur was drawn immediately to Harry's bunk. She approached in awe as if she had discovered treasure. She grabbed his bedding and held it against her face and smothered herself in his intoxicating scent. It was so much better than it was in the infirmary. As she drew more of Harry's scent into her, Fleur felt more in control of her abilities as her heart pounded in her chest and tears formed in her eyes. She nuzzled the bedding and giggled at the thoughts racing through her mind of all the things she was going to do to her Harry… but she still didn't have him yet.
Ron let out a small, almost inaudible whimper which quickly turned into the most girlish shriek a male could possibly utter this side of puberty as the curtains surrounding his bed were torn open. Fleur stood glaring at the Weasley boy. Her features were mostly human although her face and limbs were elongated with midnight blue bird eyes glaring at him.
Fleur looked down with a sneer and saw the semen covered photograph as she, with great disgust, picked it up by the cleanest corner.
"Tell me now where 'Arry Potter is and no one else 'as to find out about ZIS!" Thunder crashed above accentuating Fleur's demand.
It turned out that Harry had accompanied Hermione on a quick excursion to attempt to figure out what had gone wrong with the Goblet of Fire. Hermione had learned something interesting while in the library about Durmstrang Headmaster Igor Karkaroff and had asked Harry to investigate the Durmstrang ship with his cloak of invisibility at the boat docks. Harry's excursion was cut short by the storm and he was running back through the courtyard in the torrential rain, using his cloak as an impromptu umbrella when Fleur caught up with him and was eventually able to lure the young man to her side.
Fleur was now in physical contact with Harry and as she felt him physically, she felt everything emotionally as well - the endless depths of his compassion, the anguish of his childhood, how deprived of love he had always been, his strength of character, how lonely he felt. She wanted all of it and so much more. Absolutely blinded by her desire, Fleur attacked.
Fleur grabbed both sides of Harry's head and kissed him as hard and as deep as she could. Harry was in shock. Of all the scenarios that had run through his mind as he had approached Fleur, this was not one of them. The kiss was initially forceful and desperate at first, but as Fleur applied less pressure and more exploration, Harry began to enjoy what he could of his first kiss even though he would have rather been not soaked and out in the cold. As his eyes shut and he began to wrap his arms around Fleur, Fleur took further advantage and flipped Harry on his back. Immediately Fleur straddled Harry and began studying her captured prize. She studied every part of Harry's face and body and catalogued every discovery with a swift and purposeful kiss.
"Fleur?" Harry began to ask.
Fleur pressed a finger to Harry's lips, silencing him… and then upon looking at his silent lips, Fleur kissed him deeply and savored the feeling like a woman dying of thirst being given a life-saving drink of the purest water. Harry was deeply confused but somehow intoxicated by her affections, something absent from his life for so long. As a result, both Harry and Fleur moaned into the kiss.
Fleur pulled back and smiled warmly at Harry while biting her bottom lip. Her craving was beginning to reassert itself in her mind and her heart. Fleur held both sides of Harry's face, nodded at him as her smile grew brighter and spoke a single word.
"Everything."
Before Harry could as ask what she meant, Fleur tensed up and shot an intense look towards the entrance of the courtyard. Centaurs by the dozens were charging into the area.
Fleur immediately exposed her wings, grabbed Harry, and lifted off the ground. Fleur flew around in a few circles and crashed through a window into an empty classroom on the fourth floor. Harry was not so much holding on as he was merely ragdolled by his captor and then lost consciousness as they flew unceremoniously through the window.
Harry woke up some unknown time later and tried to make sense of his surroundings. He found his glasses a couple feet away and shockingly in one piece. He was in a dark room with the only light coming from a campfire in the center. As far as he could tell, he was laying on a makeshift mattress made of ripped up books and covered with torn cloth… possibly from the tapestries from the walls. There were sounds of fighting, screaming and inhuman shrieks coming from outside. The window was crudely repaired and the door was barricaded by several large pieces of broken furniture.
"You're finally awake, mon amour" Fleur's voice said melodically, "Good. I wanted you to be awake for zis." Harry looked around but with all the shadows in the room couldn't make our where she was or where her voice was coming from.
Fleur stood up from her crouched and nearly hidden position next to the fire. Her nearly flawless naked form was silhouetted by the fire.
"W-What's going on, Fleur?"
"You're going to save me, my 'Arry." Fleur spoke softly as she approached Harry. Her hips swaying side to side as her legs crossed each other with every step she took.
"I don't understand. How am I-I going to save you, Fleur?"
"I don't understand eet entirely myself, 'Arry. My magic ees going zrough a, 'ow you say, flux. I'm *giggle* growing feathers in strange places." Fleur said playfully as she carefully crouched down and began to crawl seductively towards her intended mate. "All I know ees zat I need you. Sooo much." Her hand reached to him, a couple of fingers touched his chest above his heart and then were dragged down his body. "I need your love. Your love is going to save me and, in return, my love ees going to save…"
Fleur pressed into Harry's lips with a long, and gently voracious kiss. Time was about to melt away as she pulled back and whispered, "you".
Fleur began using the talons on her fingers to cut away the offending clothes on her lover's body when Harry caught his breath enough to interject.
"Fleur, wait. This doesn't seem like you. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Oh, 'Arry", Fleur said as she began to place soft kisses on his neck and chest "Are you saying you don't want me?"
"I'm not saying that." Harry responded as best as he could as his breathing intensified, "I just don't want you to regret this. Are you sure that I can cure… YOU!?" Harry's last word came out stronger than he intended as Fleur found Harry's left nipple and latched on.
A thin line of saliva stretched from Harry's nipple to the tip of Fleur's extended avian tongue as she pulled back and met his eldritch, emerald eyes with her brilliant, sapphire eyes.
"'Arry, I *kiss* regret denying *kiss* my true *lick* Veela 'eritage *kiss* for soooo long. *bite* I've been *kiss* so alone and now somehow *kiss kiss kiss* I can feel your loneliness *suck* and *kiss* your potential *kiss* to love."
Fleur then held both sides of Harry's face and looked him in the eyes with the most sincere smile she could manage.
"So starting tonight, my dearest 'Arry, I am going to teach you 'ow to love and 'ow to be loved. But first…"
Fleur reached over and picked up a piece of Harry's torn uniform and placed it to Harry's forehead. As she pulled it away, the cloth had a small amount of a very visible and viscous, dark fluid on it.
"Yuck. I 'ope zat's ze last of eet. Your scar 'as been leaking since you passed out. At Beauxbaton, we are taught zat zis stuff can be left behind by ze dark curses zat inflict zem. I zink whatever curse created your scar ees finally letting you go."
Harry reached up to his scar. He had been so taken aback and so hopeful with Fleur's ministrations that he simply didn't notice. The dull ache that had always come with carrying the scar simply was no longer there. Had Harry had Hermione's booksmarts, he might have realized that correlation does not equal causation and in truth, unbeknownst to anyone, several horcruxes across the land began to crack, dissolve and implode from the strain of the new chaos. Instead Harry began to break down and sob with joy at the only conclusion he could draw.
"Your love IS saving me." Harry placed one hand over his eyes to cover his tears as the other reached out to Fleur who immediately took his hand and placed his palm on her heart as she nodded knowingly to her mate with tears in her eyes.
"Eet ees true love, non? We need each ozzer as we need ze air to breaze and we will never be apart."
"You promise?" Harry begged. He never felt as though he would ever find someone who could truly love him. The near emotional annihilation he had been smothered with from his time with the Dursley's and then the psychological isolation he had received from his fame had left him nearly hopeless and now there was this angel, this light, this flower in front of him offering him everything he could want.
"Oui, my love. Oui." Fleur responded.
"Show me how to love you." Harry insisted softly, "Show me everything."
Fleur launched herself into Harry with all of her passion, holding nothing back in her embrace or her kiss.
At that moment, at the Ministry of Magic, file cabinets erupted into flames. Magical contracts and documents of every kind were self-destructing as if they were an affront to the rules of magic itself including one specific file noting the legal guardianship of one Harry Potter was reduced to cinders and its ashes were blown across the room and out the door.
Outside the classroom, children, staff and centaurs were fighting off an invasion of bloodthirsty acromantulas and learning how to survive without their chosen one or their magic.
Dawn came.
By the end of the battle the few remaining acromantulas had fled the castle and scampered off back to the dark forest. One acromantula turned around, waved a pedipalp and cursed the wizards in acromantulese only to get a rock lobbed at it. The rock bounced off its carapace between its eyes which immediately caused the spider to run back to the forest whining like an injured dog.
The grounds of Hogwarts was covered in corpses. Some students. Some centaurs. Mostly giant spiders. In the wreckage and carnage, two unlikely heroes sat back to back, exhausted. One with a head of red hair, the other blonde.
"You did good work out there, ferret." the redhead held out his fist to his side.
Draco laughed, and replied "Not so bad yourself, weasel." as he bumped Ron's fist with his own.
The two had accidentally found a winning strategy that allowed them to take down more spiders than anyone else. In a desperate gambit to not be eaten, Draco managed to lift the acromantula's chelicerae with a spear and Ron stabbed a killing blow from beneath. By the time they had killed their tenth acromantula, they had gotten into a rhythm and other students were taking the role of support and making sure the two didn't get flanked.
"Draco!" Pansy Parkinson cried out as she ran over to Malfoy and kissed him. Ron turned his head and grimaced. Had anyone asked him at the moment why, he would have falsely claimed it was due to over exertion, but the reality was that he knew Draco was straight and friendship was as close as he was ever going to get to him. It would have to be enough.
Hagrid was webbed securely to an archway and left there by both sides after it came out in the battle that it had been his negligence that introduced acromantulas to the region in the first place. As far as the various students and staff were concerned, he could get himself unstuck.
Back in the abandoned classroom, Fleur awoke first and stretched as many of the kinks out her back as she could. She hoped that the next time she and Harry had a night like that they would have an actual mattress to play on. She looked down at her beloved mate and savored the warm feeling inside her. Her magic as well as her heart was still drawing her to him but it was nowhere near as strong of a reaction as it was the day before. Her heart skipped a beat in joy at the realization that she would always need him and need him close.
It was when she stretched again that she realized that something was off. Something was different. She turned her head from side to side and had a momentary anxiety attack. She ran about the room searching for a reflective surface and found one in a dusty shield. Fleur frantically wiped away the dust and gasped at her reflection.
Her face, eyes, teeth an body was back to normal, but it was what was behind her that startled her.
Wings!
Fleur now had bright blue wings. She tried to contract them but they wouldn't go back inside her. She stretched them out and then focused hard and attempted to pull them back in, but they remained on her back as if they had always been there.
She stretched out with her magic and indeed, her magic had accepted this new form of hers. Fleur tried to be upset, but found to her surprise that she couldn't. The idea of not being able to fit in with other humans ever again just wouldn't stick in her mind. Every time she tried, the thought was replaced by her love for Harry. Her magic simply would not allow her to feel sorry for herself and only happiness and pride from what she had gained, but would he accept her looking like this?
Fleur scurried over to Harry's side. Her mind raced with how she was going to break the news to him. She bit her lip only for a moment and then pressed her lips to his.
"Wake up, my love. I 'ave somezing to show you."
Harry awoke suddenly from his deep sleep. His mind rattled as he attempted to discern what parts of what happened last night was dream and what parts were real. As his eyes focused as much as possible without his glasses he was able to make out the soft, insecure smile on Fleur's face.
"Good morning, Fleur. What's up?" Harry looked down, saw his morning wood and turned bright red. He scrambled to find something to cover himself up with and put on his glasses.
Fleur giggled at Harry's adorable embarrassment but turned serious for a moment and stood up in front of him.
"'Arry… look at me." Fleur said somberly as she stretched out her wings, "Your love… 'as turned me into an angel."
Fleur's eyes looked at Harry for any sign of acceptance or rejection. She may have been forced to be happy about her new form, but she was terrified that Harry couldn't love her anymore. Fleur closed her eyes and waited. Every second passed like an eternity.
Then she felt it. Skinny muscular arms wrapping around her and Harry's scent and form pressed into her own. Her eyes shot open. Harry was holding her with as much strength and tenderness as he held her last night. Fleur broke down with relief as she held him back.
"Y-you don't zink I look ugly, like zis?" Fleur asked, pleading for confirmation.
Harry held Fleur tighter and then looked in her eyes.
"I could never find you ugly and your wings are so beautiful. You're so much more than I deserve. I'll never leave you for as long as you want me. Fleur, I want to learn how to love from you so that when I tell you how I want to feel about you, I'll be able to mean it with every fiber of my being."
Fleur gasped at her mate's confession and wrapped her wings around him. They would belong to each other forever and Fleur's magic pulsed inside her as if to say 'I told you so.'
"Ack! Fleur! What are you doing?" Harry suddenly yelped.
"You said you wanted to learn 'ow to love. Zis ees lesson two: 'Ow to deal wiz morning wood."
"Unfair! Oh, Merlin! I can barely move!"
"Non, 'Arry. What ees unfair ees zat zis bad boy 'as been poking me while we were 'aving a moment."
"Oh yeah? Well then take this!"
Fleur squealed with laughter as she and her mate played with each other for the rest of the morning.
"So where are we going?" Harry asked as he was getting his pants on and wrapping his cloak of invisibility around his arm. His shirt was a total loss, but his robe was more or less in one piece.
"To a Veela colony near ze souzeastern border of France, 'Arry dear. I don't know 'ow strong my wings are, but eet should not take us long to get zere. My maman 'as relatives zere and zey should be able to 'elp us get settled. Any luck?"
"Nope. The transfiguration isn't working for some reason. Think it has something to do with what happened to the Goblet yesterday?"
"Maybe. Let me try somezing." Fleur concentrated and materialized a stunning sky blue robe that accentuated her curves perfectly.
"Very nice. How'd you do that?" Harry crossed his arms.
"I merely zought of somezing that would make you 'appy. Did eet work?"
"You make me happy by being you." Harry walked up to Fleur and kissed her gently on her lips as they each smiled into the kiss.
"So you think your magic is tied into your feelings for me?"
"Eef eet ees, zen my magic ees destined to be very, very strong, non?" Fleur picked Harry up bridal style and carried him towards the window.
"I'm so lucky to have you in my life." Harry conceded.
"You are not going to miss all zis?"
Harry shook his head.
"We can visit the few friends I have if I feel the need to, but right now I need to be with you. Your love is healing me but I have a long way to go. As far as the school is concerned, if Hogwarts is to stand, it has to stand on its own."
Fleur smiled warmly at her true love as she focused her magic on the window which reopened up at her command. Fleur then spread her wings, lifted off and carried her Harry to their new lives.
In the courtyard, a frazzled professor McGonagall was attempting to get a head count of students. She pivoted with her wand raised when she heard a noise on her left. On the ground was a wand without a wizard. Eleven inches long, holly, with a phoenix feather core.