I got this chapter ready a little sooner then planned but I can't help it. I can't wait for Harry and his friends to return to Hogwarts so that the story truly can begin. Now don't forget to review last chapter just because this got up so soon!

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Chapter 9 Feathers

The days past with out any bigger events, Ginny seemed to get over Harry somewhat and would at least speak in his present though never to him and definitely not to Fleur. Harry and Fleur knew each other so well that they almost could read each other thoughts, he was much closer to Fleur then he had ever been to anyone else. He became more and more sure that she wasn't a spy; in fact the mere idea of Fleur being evil was ludicrous. Tonks agreed with him; she and Fleur had become very good friends, they always went to bed at the same time and most usually ate breakfast together with Harry. Ron ignored Harry as much as ever but Hermione seemed to have lost some of her anger and didn't glare at Harry though she wouldn't talk to him. Harry missed them even though he had Fleur and Tonks as friends it wasn't the same as Ron and Hermione.

Bill was arriving tomorrow to stay for a few days as planed. Harry and Fleur were sitting in Buckbeak's room trying to sort out their feeling for each other.

"Harry what are we going to do?" She asked him exasperated. "He's coming tomorrow and I don't have a clue of what to do"

"I can't help you" Harry replied "You are going to have to tell him about us"

"It will break his heart" Fleur exclaimed "And I do love him"

"Why do I have to choose?" She wailed so loudly that Buckbeak flapped his wings indignantly.

Harry didn't know what to say so he remained silent.

Fleur approached him silently, with an expression that Harry had never seen on her face before. He couldn't quite make it out her expression was firm and yet very soft he noticed that her hair had started to move as if a wind was blowing in the room. She stopped a few inches away from him. She looked him in his eyes; Harry could see something in hers that normally wasn't there desire and for the first time in several days sadness. He realized what she was about to do a moment before she did it she was going to kiss him. She put her arms around him and pulled his face to hers. Harry could feel her lips make contact with his they were not as soft as last time he had kissed her, though they were still very warm and nice. Fleur took Harry a bit by surprise when he almost at once could feel her warm tongue licking his lips to gain entrance to his mouth, Harry allowed her. As Fleur almost violently let her tongue roam in his mouth she pushed her body close to his. It was nice, but not as exciting, as it should be Harry thought sadly but if Fleur wanted him she was going to get him. Harry started to kiss her back in the same violent manner. He put his arm around her back and started to hug her feverishly in the same way that she hugged him. After a few moments, Fleur broke the kiss. She looked Harry in his eyes and started to pull of his shirt, his glasses fell to the floor. Harry was a little surprised by this but he didn't mind he loved Fleur after all. Once his shirt was off Fleur kissed him again. He let his hands wander down her back and finally down to her but, he could feel Fleur kiss even more violently in response to this. She pulled away after a moment and started to pull off her blouse, Harry help her. He could se her chest more clearly then ever though she still wore her bra. She moved close to Harry again and kissed him passionately. He could feel her warm chest against his he could feel her softness. He moved her hands over her naked back. Fleur had a very nice back warm and smooth.

She broke the kiss for a moment "Take it off" She whispered Harry swallowed before she kissed him again.

Harry moved his hands over to the bra fastenings and undid them. Fleur moved away from him a few inches not breaking the kiss but allowing her bra to fall to the floor. She moved close to him again pressing her body hard against his. Harry could feel every little shape of her pressed against his body, he knew that he should feel desire and excitement but he felt nothing but the shape of her and her warmness.

Harry could feel something wet on his face he opened his eyes and saw that Fleur was crying silently. Fleur broke the kiss.

"Touch them Harry" She whispered to him. He knew what she wanted him to do but didn't.

"Why are you crying Fleur?" Harry asked her.

"Touch them" She begged him urgently.

"Why are you crying" He asked her firmly, he wouldn't do anything to her unless she told him what was wrong.

"You will touch them" Fleur hissed and pulled one of his hands towards her chest.

"No" Harry replied and pulled his hand away from her. Fleur's expression changed from angry to furious in a second and then he could se her sprout feathers all over her body. She wasn't remotely desirable any more. From her back, she sprouted two huge silvery wings, her arms lost their smoothness and resembled Buckbeak's front legs and her head had changed form slightly so that it resembled a bird head. In an odd way, she was still somewhat cute at least to Harry. She obviously thought her self much worse then she actually was Harry realised.

He couldn't help smiling slightly though the sight of a gigantic Fleur bird should be frightening. Fleur bend her head and glared at him with one eye the way birds do. Her eye colour was still the same though her eye was about twice its normal size.

"STOP SMILING" Fleur yelled at him and Harry could see sparks in her bony bird claws. Buckbeak had pulled back into a corner of the room his beak half-open ready to attack if provoked.

"Sorry" He said but he couldn't prevent his smile.

"I SAID STOP SMILING" She yelled again.

"I'm sorry" He said urgently but couldn't lose his smile.

"YOU FIND ME FUNNY" She bellowed, he could see small flames erupting from between her talons.

"No, of course not" He said seriously and was finally able to stop smiling.

"Why did you smile then?" She hissed dangerously.

"Because you are quite cute when you get angry" He admitted. Fleur looked at him curiously for a moment and then she started to cry. She lost all her feathers and became human again.

"What are you so sad about?" He asked her as he pulled her into a hug, he didn't notice that she was half naked or any of her shapes that touched his body. Fleur didn't reply she sobbed onto his naked shoulder. Harry patted her back gently, led her over to the bed and made her sit down next to him. Fleur continued to sob for a very long time. Harry who didn't even know why she was crying couldn't think of any thing to say to her so they just sat there.

"My dad used to tell me that" She said quietly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Fleur I didn't know"

"Don't be sorry Harry, it was a nice thing to say" Fleur replied still very silently.

"I meant it" Harry said softly.

"Thanks" Fleur whispered "wing-ban" she mumbled to herself.

"Why were you sad to begin with?" He asked her after a moment.

"You wouldn't touch me" Fleur said and Harry suddenly became aware of that she was half naked and had her body pressed against his.

"Oh" Harry said "But I mean before that"

"I'm sorry Harry but I used you" Fleur said sadly. Harry startled she had used him then Ron and Hermione were right. Harry's heart sank; he felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks. His dream was over and it was time to pay, and he would he thought bitterly. Then it occurred that she was sorry maybe she didn't like what she had done, maybe she was forced to do it but it didn't really matter she didn't truly love him.

"Oh Harry Please don't cry. I'm so sorry. I'm so stupid" Fleur exclaimed tears started to roll down her face again and she hugged him hard.

"Don't cry Fleur it was my choice I knew all along" Harry stated softly, tears were still rolling down his face but they were completely silent.

"Why did you?" He asked her after a few seconds.

"I'm sorry Harry but I needed to know…" She trailed of for a moment "if I wanted you"

"What" He asked her, why would she want him for any thing? Was she going to do some dangerous dark potion like the one Voldemort had used to get his body back?

"I needed to know if I want you the way I want Bill" Fleur explained.

"What" Harry asked her he didn't understand anything anymore.

"I thought it was a way to determine" Fleur stated and then added "but now I more confused then ever"

"What" Harry asked her and then added "determine what?"

"What to tell Bill of course" Fleur stated and looked at Harry questionably "What did you think I meant"

"You're not working for him" Harry asked his heart was beating very fast by now.

"Who?" Fleur asked him and raised an eyebrow.

"Voldemort"

"What?" Fleur asked him looking very shocked.

"Do you love me Fleur" He asked her just to make sure that he had misunderstood something.

"You know I do" She replied "What did you mean about Voldemort?"

Harry still had tears rolling down but now he was laughing out in relief. He didn't know why but this was all the evidence he needed to truly believe Fleur was not a spy.

"I love you Fleur" He said and pecked her.

"What are you on about?" She asked him.

"Well remember when you first got here and you told me that you loved me? Well anyway Hermione found out and told me that you used your evil veela powers on me to get information about the order" Harry said happily but Fleur looked as if she might turn into a bird again.

"And you believed her" Fleur asked him dangerously.

"What would a beautiful girl like you want with me otherwise" Harry explained.

"So you believed her" Fleur stated and started to cry silently again.

"I'm sorry Fleur, but I didn't know you then" Harry explained and tried to hug her but she turned away from him.

"So you just decided to get the evil veela back by pretending that you loved her too?" She asked him viciously. He could se that her skin would turn in to feathers any second.

"No" He said forcefully "I always loved you Fleur. The day Hedwig died I decided that I had to be with you even if you were Voldemort himself. Why do you think Ron and Hermione won't talk to me?"

Fleur's skin relaxed "I though they felt sorry for Ginny and that I'm Bill's girlfriend"

Harry smiled sadly "I told them that I wanted to be with you no matter what and that if you were a part of Voldemort's network it wasn't their business but the orders"

"Yeah I remember, you told me you told Hermione that you didn't care if I killed you" Fleur said and then added "But I thought you were joking"

"I wasn't. Anyway Ron got ten times angrier at me because I choose your sweet lies above Ginny's true love" Harry said sadly and added after a moment "Luckily Ginny doesn't know anything about that"

"What about Tonks?" Fleur asked him and tear started to role down her cheeks again.

"She came to me the morning Remus left and made sure that I wasn't under the Imperius. She also told me that you weren't under it either and that if I loved you, you couldn't be that bad" Harry explained.

"She never thought I was evil?" Fleur asked hopefully.

"Not a second" Harry replied and smiled. Fleur hugged him tightly. Harry once more remembered that she was half naked though he didn't mind and Fleur didn't seem to mind that much either they loved each other after all.

"So?" She asked him "I can forgive you for thinking I was using you if you can forgive me for using you"

They both laughed for a moment.

"Harry I'm sorry but I didn't feel anything" Fleur said apologetically "I though that if I just got going it would come natural… but it didn't"

"I'm sorry too Fleur you are wonderful and all but not" He didn't know if he dared to say 'exciting' but he didn't have to.

"Exciting" Fleur stated.

"Yeah" Harry said thankfully and then added sadly "Tonks asked me if I fancied boys"

"Well, you don't" Fleur told him.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked her.

"Trust me Harry you don't" Fleur replied simply

Harry sighed, he was sure that he fancied girls and not boys but something had to be wrong with him for not desiring Fleur.

"So what are you going to do?" He asked.

"I don't know" Fleur sighed "I'm more confused now then ever"

"It really doesn't matter does it? I'll be going to Hogwarts and I won't see you until Christmas" Harry said sadly "And if you still love me when I get back"

"I will always love you Harry" Fleur said sadly "I can't just pretend you don't exists because you're at Hogwarts"

"I'm sorry Fleur but if it is to any help I will always love you too" Harry said sadly.

Fleur sighed heavily.

"Let's get dressed" Harry said. He picked up Fleur's things from the floor and threw them to her.

"Didn't they do anything for you" She asked him curiously pointing her chest at him.

"You are very sweet and cosy" He said and then added sadly "You would drive Bill mad"

Fleur smiled sadly at him and started to get dressed. They didn't mention Bill for the rest of the day it was a silent commitment not to worry about Bill or what was going to happen when Harry had to leave for Hogwarts. They spend the rest of the day as usual Fleur went to bed with Tonks and left Harry alone in the drawing room. He got up after a few minutes and headed for bed, he wasn't rally tired yet maybe he should read some more in 'Dueling for Masters' he had read quite a lot lately in fact most waken moments that he didn't spend with Fleur he sat reading. He turned a corner and walked strait into Hermione knocking her to the floor. He completely forgot that they weren't talking to each other when he saw her surprised expression.

"Sorry Hermione" He said and quickly pulled her up.

"Its okay" She said and looked away from him. Harry noticed a flesh colour string along the floor leading towards the drawing room. The other end Hermione had in her ear.

"You have been spying on me" He asked her sadly.

"Well, you didn't expect me to let you get killed just because we aren't talking?" Hermione asked him angrily but sadly at the same time.

"Fleur isn't going to kill me" Harry said firmly "It's just ridicules"

"Harry you don't know what you are saying veela has been known through the ages to use men" Hermione said very quickly.

"Oh, so I suppose that Hagrid is evil too, after all, all giants are evil. Just like all house elves likes to be enslaved" He told her angrily.

Hermione didn't reply she looked sadly down on the floor. He knew somehow that Hermione had used the fact that Fleur was a part veela as a tool to get to him. He felt angry with her, he wanted to shout at her but she already looked very miserable so he didn't.

"If you and Ron don't like Fleur it's fine with me I'm not forcing you to like each other, but you have no right telling me what girlfriend to choose" He told her as calmly as he could.

"I know" Hermione said still looking down.

"Do you know that she isn't under the imperius?" Harry asked her.

"Yes" Hermione said shortly.

"Is it that unbelievable that Fleur would actually love me?"

"No" Hermione whispered.

"Why do you think she is trying to kill me then?" Harry hissed angrily.

"I don't" Hermione answered Harry couldn't see her face due to her bushy hair, but he thought he saw a tear fall from behind her hair down to the floor. Why did every girl he meets these days have to cry he wondered bitterly. He hated to see Hermione cry at that moment he couldn't be angry at her if she was crying it just wasn't possible.

"Don't cry, Hermione" He said as angrily as he could but to no good his voice was as soft as ever.

"I'm sorry Harry" She apologized.

"You don't have to apologize for crying" He stated.

"No I'm sorry for not letting you choose your girlfriend" She explained.

"Oh, but why were you spying on us?" He asked her.

"Ron won't talk to me" She sobbed still looking down on the floor.

"What is it with me, why does every girl I care for have to cry" He joked trying to ease the tense mood.

"Can you forgive me Harry?" She asked him and looked up at him for a short moment. Her face was tear-streaked and her eyes were slightly red.

"Yes" He said and smiled slightly and then added "Want some tea?"

"Ok" Hermione said shortly and they were of towards the kitchens, they walked in silence. Hermione didn't say anything not even when they sat down drinking tea.

"So tell me why do every girl I care for cry?" He asked her smiling slightly.

"Well" Hermione said in a poor attempt of her bossy voice "it's not really that hard to figure out…" She trailed off unable to go on instead she took a sip of tea.

"What about Ron" Harry asked her seriously.

Hermione choked on her tea and sputtered it all over the table. He should have waited to ask her until she had finished her sip.

"Ron really cares for Ginny, Harry. He hates you for betraying us and he hates you even more for not giving Ginny a chance. Two days ago, I tried to explain that Fleur might not be using you and that you might actually be in love with each other. Then he started to yell all sorts off things and I yelled back and since then we haven't spoken he wont even look at me. So I started to spy on you so that I could prove that Fleur was as spy, but she isn't" Hermione said very quickly and then wailed "and now I don't know what to do!" she started to sob down in her arms.

"Hermione" Harry said softly. "Don't worry we'll think of something. He can't be angry at you forever, he loves you"

"That's the problem Harry I'm not sure that he does" Hermione sobbed.

"Why else would he say that he wished you still had your old teeth" Harry asked her.

Hermione blushed.

"You heard?" She asked him.

"Yes" Harry admitted "Later that day when I walked in on you sleeping, Ron had a huge smile on his face and you looked so peaceful"

Hermione smiled sadly "I told him he was an immature fool and that I never knew what I saw in him"

"Oh come on Hermione that's what you love about him" Harry said with a smile.

"I don't like him for being immature" Hermione said crossly.

"Yes, you do you absolutely love to tell him that he should worry about homework and NEWTS not to mention S.P.E.W" Harry stated

"I do not" Hermione said angrily her tears for the moment forgotten.

"Yes, you do and Ron loves to be told off by you for being childish. In fact he provokes you; you would think that he would learn and accept that you are very interested in getting god grades by now but he always acts surprised"

"And you told me girls were hard to understand" Hermione said dryly.

"Well, you would see it too but you are too emotionally involved" Harry stated and then added "So do you confess, you love to bicker with Ron"

Hermione didn't reply. Harry wasn't entirely sure that Hermione had realised this herself.

"I figured it out when you mentioned that we only have two years until our NEWTs and Ron just had to comment. That's why I was smiling if you remember" He said and then added after a few moments "That's how it started"

"I'm sorry but it would have happened anyway. And Harry, Ron and I have bickered since first year long before I ever thought of him that way"

"Oh, come on Hermione would you have told Neville that he made the levitation charm wrong in that way" Harry said teasingly.

"I didn't even know him then" Hermione protested.

"Admit at least that you wanted to set him strait more then everybody else"

"He was really annoying" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah maybe, but he still loves you" Harry said and he knew Hermione believed him.

Hermione took another sip of tea and so did Harry.

"So, how is Fleur?" Hermione asked him.

"Not to good Bill is arriving tomorrow" Harry stated.

"Oh… is she going to break up with him?" Hermione asked carefully.

"No idea, she says she is confused" Harry replied and took a long gulp of tea.

"Oh then she needs more time. I bet she knows perfectly well how she feels about Bill I mean they have been seeing each other for more then a year. She has just known you, for what about two weeks and that is not a very long time to figure out relationships especially as her family just died and she will be joining the order in a couple of days" Hermione said calmly.

"But we haven't got time, we're leaving for Hogwarts" Harry said.

"Don't worry about that, if you really love each other that won't matter" Hermione said "so tell me what is Fleur like? Is she like Cho?"

"No she's nothing like Cho, well she cries a lot" Harry said.

"No I mean what is she like" Hermione asked softly.

"She's smart and she's really witty and she's good at Arithmancy too" Harry told her happily all he knew and felt about Fleur and Hermione was very happy for him. They cleaned up after them self and walked up to their bedrooms.

"So how's Ginny doing?" He asked her as they walked up the stairs.

"Better, but not good, she's still cries sometimes" Hermione said sadly.

"Why is she so upset, I never led her on and she had a boyfriend last term" Harry asked her urgently.

"I don't know Harry. It's odd I think she is hiding something in fact I'm not even sure it's about you at all, but she won't tell me anything" Hermione said. They walked in silence down the corridor towards Hermione's room.

"Good night then" Harry said.

"Night Harry" Hermione said and walked inside her room.

Harry awoke the next morning by a knock on the door; he hadn't been woken in this way for several days. Fleur always went to breakfast with Tonks and he usually met them down there.

"Harry?" Hermione's voice sounded through the door.

"Yeah" He replied sleepily he wondered why Hermione would wake him up, but then he remembered that she had apologized to him last night.

"Hurry up or we'll be late for breakfast" He heard her voice say.

"Yeah hold on a minute" He stumbled out of bed found his clothes and got dressed quickly. He glanced at his Foe Glass as usual it had become a bit of a habit or rather a compulsorily action he had to perform every time he woke up and went to bed. He had never seen anything but distant dark figures in it and today was no different. He walked over to the door and left the room, Hermione was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor.

"Morning" She said.

"Morning" He replied "Aren't you going down with Ginny?"

"No, she got ready before me" Hermione told him.

"So what have you been up to these days?" He asked her.

"Not much been a lot with Ron and Ginny" She answered "And reading of course"

"Speaking of reading have you read 'Dueling for Masters'"

"No, but I know it's really great. Loads of other books refer to it and if you are want to learn how to duel it is the book to read" Hermione explained enthusiastically "I'd love to borrow it when you're done"

"Sure, you know the author was an Order member?" He asked her.

"No, Edgar Bones was in the Order? All I knew was that he was murdered by the Voldemort himself shortly after the book was finished. Rumour is that they duelled for hours, caused great publicity for the book so the publisher printed them in the most expensive paper and had dragon skin as cover and as that wasn't enough they only printed very few copies. Then when the unforgivables were forbidden again they were forced to stop printing the book" Hermione explained.

"So how did you manage to get this book?" Harry asked her.

"It wasn't easy I asked the shop-assistant in Flourish and Blotts for it, he told me that I shouldn't read book's like that but then I told him it was for Harry Potter and he said that he might be able to get the book through his private connections, if I had the gold" Hermione said.

"How much did you pay for it?" He asked worriedly.

"Remus donated 50 galleons from his heritage and the rest of us managed to come up with a galleon each" She told him very quickly as if hoping he wouldn't realise what she had just said.

"You paid 75 galleons for a book?" He asked her incredulously. No book was worth that much; he could easily get a Nimbus 2000 for that kind of money.

"Harry it's not just a book it's the 'Dueling for Masters' and we got it for a really low price since it was to you. I have seen some ads in the daily prophet were collectors offers as much as a 100 galleons. And I recon now that it belongs to the-boy-who-lived it's worth much more then 100 galleons" She explained. Harry felt the colour drain from him. He had a book in his trunk that cost about 100 galleons what if he accidentally had ruined it.

"I've been storing it in my trunk what if I would have spilled ink on it?" He asked her irritably.

"That book got about as many protective charms as your Firebolt, it would take a trained curse breaker to do any damage to it, for example we had to tear the old first page out to get rid of the old inscription" She explained.

"You tore a page out of a book that costs at least 75 galleons?"

"Yes but it doesn't matter the page will grow back when you close the book, so if you want to give any one a page of the book just tear it out"

"Are you sure?" He asked her, he had never heard of a 'page regrowing charm' before but then again it was Hermione he was talking to.

"Yes, I'll show you later" She said as they entered the kitchen.

Tonks wasn't there but it wasn't all that odd, he usually didn't get up this late. Ginny and Ron was sitting at one side of the table talking quietly. Mrs Weasley sat in the middle and Fleur was sitting alone at the far end.

"Morning Harry" Fleur said and then looked curiously at Hermione.

"Morning" Harry replied to all of them. He gave Fleur a look that he knew would tell her that Hermione has apologized and that she would be eating breakfast with them.

Fleur smiled slightly at him and gave him a look that told him that she needed an apology from Hermione first. Harry hoped that Hermione would have sense to figure this out by herself. He sat down next to Fleur and Hermione sat down next to him, he could see that Ron looked over at Hermione when he thought no one was looking, Harry didn't dare to look directly at Ron but he didn't have to he could se that Ron was furious at Hermione and also very sad.

They sat in silence for a moment and Fleur looked expectantly at Harry. Harry kicked Hermione softly under the table.

"Ouch" She said and looked at Harry half a second before she realized that she had to apologize to Fleur.

"Fleur" Hermione said quietly but firmly "I don't know if you noticed the way Ron looked at you before, it made me jealous of you and I jumped to conclusion about you. I am sorry for believing that you could be a spy." Harry felt proud of having Hermione as a friend, he doubted that any other girl except Ginny perhaps in Hogwarts could have apologized this well.

"Apology accepted" Fleur said and smiled at Hermione.

"Thanks" Hermione replied and started to fill her plate with bacon.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you not with Ron?" Fleur asked Hermione carefully.

"Oh, well, we had a disagreement" Hermione said and looked up first at Fleur and then at Harry. She seem to realize that Harry would tell Fleur every thing and that she might just as well tell Fleur herself "As you probably know Ron cares very much for Ginny and he seems to think that it is your and Harry's fault that she is unhappy. I tried to tell Ron differently and we ended up yelling at each other the other day we haven't spoken since"

Fleur sat silent for a moment before she spoke "Ron is a very boyish boy and on top of that a Weasley. If you kiss him he will forget that he was ever angry at you but you should add a 'I don't want to fight with you' just to make sure"

Harry was surprised by Fleur's direct solution to the problem, it was not girlish or full of emotional explanations it was strait to the point and no fluff.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked her she too seemed a bit surprised by Fleur's cold solution.

"Yes, it's in my blood. I know how to seduce boys" Fleur stated not looking up from her plate.

Hermione looked very guilty "Wouldn't that be like cheating, I mean to play on his emotions like that and use them to make up with me?"

"Yeah a little, but to not would be to torment him, just look at him he is heartbroken" She said and nodded sadly in Ron's direction. Harry and Hermione looked over at Ron, he really looked sad even sadder then Ginny; he hadn't eaten his toast or drunk any of his juice.

After breakfast, Hermione left Harry and Fleur alone in the drawing room to go and make up with Ron.

"So what would a girl need to do to seduce me?" Harry asked Fleur playfully.

"You're not as easy as a Ron because you don't act your emotions like he" Fleur replied with a teasingly smile. "At least not those emotions"

"Don't tell me you don't have a clue?" Harry asked her also grinning.

"Well, if you really want to know. She would have to get to know you first; it could easily be done by playing at your compassion. Technically she just has to figure out a very sad story and then pretend to be brave. She would do well admiring you for your courage and Quidditch skill as well. Physically you tend to favour girls… but you probably already know what you like"

Harry was a little shocked when Fleur wriggled her seducing, she was right of course Harry always tended to look at a girls hips first. He wondered for a moment if she had seen him looking at her hips or if she just could feel it somehow with help of her veela powers.

"Right I will look out for that combination then" He said.

"You better" she warned him smilingly but after a few moments she lost her smile. Harry knew she was thinking of Bill.

"Hermione told me what to do" Harry said.

"What?" Fleur sighed.

"She said that you need more time to figure out your feelings" Harry said, he knew it didn't sound as much but it was the only right thing to do.

"That's it?" Fleur asked sadly "I could have told you that myself"

"Yeah, but that's what you have to tell Bill it's the right thing to do so don't worry about it" Harry said comforting. "Either Bill accepts this and waits for you to find out how you feel or he doesn't love you enough to do that"

"You make it sound so simple" Fleur said and sighed. Harry didn't reply, he could barley imagine how Fleur must feel.

"I'll stay in my room mostly while he is here. I recon he'll hate me" Harry said after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah, it's safer that way" Fleur agreed sadly.

As the day progressed, Fleur got more and more nervous. Bill would be arriving for dinner. Fleur was breaking into little pieces every time someone walked in the stairs think it would be Bill. When it finally was time for dinner preparations Harry pulled Fleur down to the kitchens and had her drinking tea while he help Mrs Weasley. Ginny was there too and she actually managed a small 'Hi' when they arrived. Harry greeted her back and smiled. He was very happy that Ginny was starting to talk to him again. He missed her almost as much as Ron he realised even if he never really were close to her she had always supported him. A few minutes later Ron and Hermione entered the room, Ron was looking at him and Fleur when he thought that nobody saw him. Hermione on the other hand beamed at Fleur, apparently, Fleur's solution had worked much better then Hermione had dared to hope. A few moments later Tonks, Mr Weasley and Bill entered the kitchen. Tonks and Mr Weasley greeted every one cheerfully but Bill didn't he was hardly looking at Harry when he said a short 'Hello'. Harry thought he would feel jealous towards Bill but didn't he sorry for him instead and guilty, he managed an equally short 'Hello' back.

Harry didn't pay much attention to anyone during dinner; he sat between Tonks and Hermione. Neither of them forced him to have any conversation, he ate quickly in silence and excused himself early and left. He walked up to his room and continued to read 'Dueling for Masters' he had now finished the first section and was about to start reading about offensive dueling when Hermione knocked on the door and entered.

"Hello Harry" She said "Don't worry Fleur won't give you up that easily"

Harry sighed.

"Are you reading?" Hermione asked him after a few moments changing the subject.

"Yeah, want me to read aloud? I was just going to start on offensive dueling." Harry told her.

"Yeah okay, just give me a quick resume of defensive dueling first" Hermione said.

"The book starts with the importance of not being hit; it describes several different reflex enhancing spells. After that, it is the importance of not being seen. And then shield charms and counter jinxes" Harry explained.

"I count do with some reflex improving charms" Hermione ventured.

"You got great reflexes when you hit Malfoy" Harry replied smiling slightly.

Hermione smiled slightly "I can't rely on getting mad to duel"

"Do you want me to tear the first pages instead?" Harry asked her nervously, he didn't like the idea of tearing pages out of a so expensive book.

"If it is okay?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Yeah" Harry said and flicked back to the first pages. There was a blank page in the beginning of the book. "I better try with this first" Hermione nodded and smiled. He tore the page out of the book and closed it. When he opened the book again, he saw that there was a new blank page in the beginning of the book. He smiled to himself.

"How come there aren't loads of copies of the book if you can just rip all the pages out?" He asked.

"It doesn't work like that, the pages aren't real. They disappear after a few hours" Hermione explained softly not in her-know-it-all tune at all.

"Oh" He said and opened the book, he didn't dare ripping out more then one page at a time from the book so he ripped the introduction out first then closed the book waited a second and then opened the book again and ripped the second page out. For every page he tore out, Hermione looked happier and happier as if she was a seven-year old counting Christmas presents.

"Here's the first chapter" He said handing her a bunch of papers. He could se Hermione practically shivering with excitement.

"Thanks Harry" She exclaimed as she took the torn out pages from him, skipped over to Ron's bed and started to read eagerly.

Harry opened the book again and saw that the first chapter looked much newer then the rest of the book. He flicked over to the second section of the book 'offensive dueling'.

'This section covers most of the spells, curses and jinxes used by modern wizards and witches' The section started. The first chapter in the section was about determining what kind of force that was necessary to be victorious and if the opponent had any hidden abilities, for example if the opponent was an animagus, knew how to become invisible or was a parselmouth.

"Hrm" Hermione cleared her throat. Harry looked at her she looked expectantly at him.

"Already done?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, he's a great writer" Hermione exclaimed happily.

"Hold on a moment" He said and flicked to the second chapter about agility charms. He tore the pages out one after one and after about a minute, he was done with second chapter. He handed it to Hermione who grabbed it eagerly, skipped back to Ron's bed and started to read again.

He continued to read about discovering what kind of hidden abilities a wizard could have, and how to figure out what these might be. There was no way of being sure, so the book suggested not to take any chances. If you managed to figure out that your opponent was an animagi then you could lock their animagi power with a simple charm. They continued to read the entire evening.

"Hermione it's late" He said sleepily he had the habit of going to bed early.

"I know just let me finish this" Hermione said urgently. He let her continue for a few minutes.

"I'm tired Hermione, why don't you finish tomorrow?" He asked her. "If you get up early you can just sneak in here and take the book"

"All right" She gave in. Ron's bed was covered in papers; some Harry noticed had started to fade and had become slightly transparent.

"Guess I won't have to pick them up" Hermione said sleepily, got up and walked out the door bidding Harry a good night.

Harry fell asleep almost at once. He was so tired that the fact that Fleur had spent the evening with Bill didn't bother him, too much. He awoke the following morning by the sound of pages in a book being turned. He glanced over at his watch it was almost 6:30.

"Hermione" He groaned.

"Oh, sorry Harry did I wake you?" Hermione's voice said though she didn't really sound sorry.

"Yes" Harry grunted, sleepily.

"If we hurry we have a chance to eat breakfast before everyone else" Hermione said.

Harry was at once clear awake; with any luck he could eat breakfast before Bill. Bill like Ron had a tendency to sleep as long as possible before getting up and hopefully to day wouldn't be an exception.

"Right, turn away" He told her and started to get dressed he glanced in his foe glass as usual but there was nothing unusual in there. Good he thought bitterly at least Bill doesn't want to kill me.

"When did you wake up?" He asked as he pulled a comb trough his hair trying to make it lie down.

"About half an hour ago, I just couldn't sleep those shielding charms are really fascinating" Hermione exclaimed. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah" Harry said and walked together with Hermione down for breakfast. To Harry's great relief Bill wasn't in the kitchen, in fact the kitchen was almost empty only two persons were eating breakfast Tonks and Fleur.

"Morning" Harry said stiffly as he entered.

"Morning Harry, Hermione" Tonks said happily.

"Morning" Hermione replied and after a short moment, Fleur said a stiff "Morning".

"Harry I have to warn you about being an auror" Tonks said as seriously as she could. "You have to stand guard for hours and after that you have to fill out forms saying that nothing happened for several more hours and on top of that you don't get weekends off if something happens"

"You wouldn't have to fill out forms for hours if you didn't have to spill ink on them all the time" Fleur said teasingly.

"It's not my fault I'm clumsy" Tonks replied tiredly.

"Why don't you buy a quick quotes quill then?" Hermione asked her.

"I always break my quills one way or the other and those quills are rather expensive" Tonks said sadly "I bought one once but I broke it after a few hours"

"How did you break it?" Harry asked her curiously.

"Well it could have happened to anyone I guess" Tonks said and sighed "Anyway I really liked that quill, it was really beautiful all fluffy and pink, so I was examining it in the elevator and it was really long so that when the door closed it got stuck between them. I tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge and then someone must have called for the elevator because it started to move upwards and my quill disappeared down. Never saw it again"

Harry had to fight down a laugh he didn't think that anyone else could have lost a quill that way. He saw that Fleur had similar problems because Fleur looked very hard down at her plate with a concentrated expression. Hermione on the other hand looked sympathetic at Tonks.

"Got to go" Tonks said as she glanced down on her watch. "Is my hair alright today?"

Harry hadn't even noticed Tonks hair today, it changed too often to keep up with today it was black and curly.

"Yes" Fleur agreed "but I still think that you looked better in blond hair"

"But that's no fun" Tonks exclaimed "See you later" she pulled out her wand and with a crack she had disapparated.

Hermione had eaten very quickly all breakfast and was done before Harry, she looked at him for a moment as if waiting for him to finish.

"Will you be okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah go read" Harry said and almost at once Hermione stood up and left.

"What's she reading?" Fleur asked him, he knew that Fleur didn't care much what Hermione was reading but that she asked to avoid more difficult subjects, such as Bill.

"Dueling for Masters" Harry stated.

"She got that book?" Fleur asked Harry curiously.

"She gave it to me for my birth day" Harry said "Do you know of it?"

"Yes of course I do" Fleur said dismissingly and then added "she gave you that book for your birthday is she rich or something?"

"No, loads of people collected for it and Remus paid 50 galleons" Harry explained shortly.

"It's really a great book. Beauxbaton have one copy that Maxime forced me to read before the third task" Fleur explained. Harry now felt the same urge to keep the conversation away from Bill that he knew Fleur felt.

"You know the author was in the Order?" Harry asked her.

"No, I didn't" Fleur said in fake enthusiasm.

Harry couldn't think of a way to continue the conversation his brain became fogged with emotions so he sat in silence as did Fleur.

"How did it go?" Harry finally crooked out, what if Fleur would leave him?

"I don't know" Fleur said sadly.

"You told him?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I said I loved someone else" She said. Harry felt his insides come to life again as if they had been frozen. He couldn't help smiling slightly, he knew he was selfish but it couldn't be helped.

"He walked out?" Harry guessed.

Fleur sighed "Yes" and then Harry could see tears building up in her blue eyes "I really hurt him Harry" Harry leaned over and hugged her at the same moment Mrs Weasley walked into the room.

"Oh" Mrs Weasley said, turned around and left. Harry guessed that Mrs Weasley had gone to see if Bill was all right, and then she would know for sure that Harry had stolen Bill's girlfriend. But it was a small price to pay considering the circumstances he thought. He wondered if this made them a couple officially now, and then he thought that Fleur would be an easy target to get to him if it got out that she was his girlfriend.

Bill left that afternoon without saying good-bye to anyone but Ginny. Ginny then informed Ron and Ron informed Hermione who in her turn informed Harry who told Fleur when he had dragged her of to Buckbeak's room for some privacy.

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Harry and Fleur finally got together, officially. Hopefully Harry can get some stability in his life now, he will definitely need it.

Please everyone who claims that Harry and Fleur would have had sex in this chapter, remember that Harry is just sixteen. Also Harry is a noble (foolish if you like) Gryffindor. Even though he would love to have sex with Fleur, he wants it to feel completely right (especially as it is his first time) and he certainly does not want Fleur to cry. It is very off putting if your partner cries after all.

So what do you think of Fleur's veela transformation? I am quite happy with the description of it especially the way she is glaring at Harry with one eye instead of two.

Thanks a million for all the wonderful reviews I hope to get… and thanks for just reading even if you don't review.

Also it's quite late as I write this and make the final corrections in the chapter so if you find any grammar mistakes or something else that is wrong please inform me so that I can fix it.

In next chapter ("Hem, Hem") Harry goes back to the ministry to witness of Umbridge's misuse of power.