Last time on Black and White:
"Yes sir! See you later." Harry called out excitedly as he rushed out of the door and decided to immediately go towards the library.
Dumbledore watched the young man and chuckled to himself before his thought as turned back to the tournament. Things were getting out of hand, and Crouch Jnr had still not revealed anything about Voldemort's plans. Why was he stationed in Hogwarts? What did the Dark Lord need that was here? Sighing he knew he wouldn't have the answers, as such he decided to go out for a little while, perhaps enjoy the sun that had decided to pay them a visit after weeks of dreary overcast weather.
Book 4 – Chapter 35: Psychology
The evening came much slower than Harry had been hoping, with everything going on he was happy to be able to finally learn some spells from Dumbledore. Andrew and the others had agreed to finally learning some spells and had agreed to meet on the seventh floor, near where he had said he had found a secret room.
Harry stood in front of the gargoyle and ran over the counter spells he had learnt per Dumbledore's orders. He still felt a knot of nervousness in his stomach that had been there since supper, but forced himself not to think on it too much. He thought back to his time in the Library, looking through many books, ranging from Transfiguration to Potions to find ways of countering the jinxes Dumbledore presented to him, and to his absolute astonishment he found that research was fun. He enjoyed the search and the subsequent joy that came from discovering the answer to the question posed.
"Ah, good evening, Harry."
The sudden appearance of the Headmaster caused Harry to jump a foot in the air and turn to face the older man. Dumbledore gave a short chuckle at his pupils shocked expression.
"I apologize for scaring you, Harry."
"I- It's no problem, sir."
"Righto, shall we head off?"
Harry nodded and together they made their way through the castle, Harry following closely.
"Sir, where are we headed? I don't imagine using a class room to practice spells would be appreciated by Professor McGonagall."
"No, no I suppose it wouldn't be." Dumbledore responded with a chuckle. "But, being Headmaster does offer me some benefits that students and even Professors don't have the honor of holding."
"Oh?"
"Yes, now this was before your time, I dare say even before your parents time here at Hogwarts but there was a room installed in the castle for something like this."
"Where is it?" Harry asked with a frown.
"In the dungeons, not too far from Slytherin house, in fact. Though I would not suggest you or your friends try to access this room on your own. I may seem ignorant to it, but even I am aware of the cruel nature some Slytherins have, and being in their domain without adult supervision would just be asking for trouble. Do I make myself clear, Harry?"
"Yes sir."
With that said the rest of the walk was rather uneventful, they didn't run into many students as many were more than likely in their common rooms studying or just relaxing with their friends. It didn't take long before finally they made it to the dungeons and stood in front of a banner faded over time, but defiantly refusing to fall off of its hold.
Harry watched as the Headmaster pulled his wand and lightly tapped a few bricks in a specific sequence; top, left, left, top, bottom, left, top, top, right, bottom, left. After a second the bricks gave a shimmer and faded revealing a door. With a frown he turned to Dumbledore who gave him a smile and motioned for him to open the door up.
Harry reached forward and grabbed the handle, and with a short breath gave it a turn and pushed the large door open, revealing a room - obviously. The room was rather spacious with what seemed like a ring in the center. On the far-left wall, Harry saw a board divided into two sections vertically and a couple of chairs lined up on the sides.
"Sir, what is this room?" Harry asked wonder filled.
"This, is the old dueling room."
"Dueling? Like what Lockhart tried to start?"
"Very similar, yes, but this was where dueling was properly taught, by competent teachers."
Harry chuckled at the dig at the phony ex professor.
"This was primarily used when dueling was more a way of life rather than a sport. This room was used to teach proper dueling etiquette in a calm and safe environment. Why if I'm not mistaken your great grandfather challenged another student for your great grandmother's hand in this room."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Harry asked with a frown, after initially smiling at a small tidbit of his family history. "Like, he won her? From someone else?"
"Different times Harry, it wasn't as scandalous as it would be today to win land, titles, reputation and even people in duels."
Harry frowned at that. "That sounds horrible."
"Oh, it was worlds worse before that. But I digress, we are here tonight Harry, to essentially see how you react in dueling situations and potentially break you of any habits that might be detrimental to you."
"Excellent, where do we start?"
"Hmm, I've found that the best place to start…" Dumbledore began walking away from Harry as he spoke, casually rubbing his beard before stopping on the other side of the room. "…is always the beginning." With that he whipped his wand out and began firing jinxes at the teen.
Harry's eyes widened for a second before he leapt to the side and dove behind a pillar in the room.
"What about dueling etiquette? I very much doubt firing before your opponent is ready is considered chivalrous."
"And who says your opponent will be chivalrous in their pursuit of you? Come Harry, the only way to learn is to do!" The ground beside the teen blew and rubble went everywhere causing the boy to roll out of the way and to once more be in the Headmaster's line of site.
"Pull your wand, Harry."
Not needing to be told twice Harry pulled out his wand and levelled it at Dumbledore, his nervousness once again rising to the top.
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"How go the preparations for the final task?"
"My Lord, everything is set. I have just spoken to Lucius who has assured me that the Minister is prepared for your return."
"Excellent. Ah, Lucius, how goes my slippery little friend?"
"He is well, Master. He has amassed quite the wealth since your departure."
"Hmm, well, if not for that I would have murdered the coward and his pathetic father years ago already."
Yaxley bowed his head at his Master's words. Currently a Senior Auror in the DMLE Yaxley smiled when his Master's ire wasn't turned on him. Lucius was a… friend, in the looses sense of the word, but he happily threw the pompous prick under the hippogriff for his own survival.
"Soon, I will have my revenge and the wizarding world with once more quake at the mere mention of my name!"
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Harry lay on the ground panting, he had done rather well in his opinion; he had countered the incarcerous spell with an incendio but that just ended up with him covered in flaming ropes, so he went for the opposite direction.
"Freezing the ropes and banishing them back at me as a distraction was a novel idea, Harry. But can you tell me, where you went wrong here?"
"I waited until you dealt with the rope before attacking again." Harry responded with a nod. He realized his mistake the second he'd done it and he payed for it with more than enough bruises from landing on his bum.
"I would suggest Harry, that you learn more about spell chains, particularly from Charms and Transfiguration. Now I don't expect you to Master this skill for more than a few years, especially if you do decide to incorporate Charms and Transfiguration. You must pay attention in class. Listen for any spell that you think would be useful, or ones that just sound interesting, and write them down. For you never know, mastering the art of turning a bird into a goblet might be the deciding factor in a duel."
Harry thought about it and nodded. Dumbledore had a point and he would be sure that he utilized the advice given to him.
"Now then, I do believe it has gotten rather late. You, my young friend, should find yourself in your common room soon, lest you get caught by Professor Snape."
"True, well goodnight, Professor."
"Goodnight, Harry, and worry not, I will inform you of our next session. For just study, discover, learn and master."
Harry nodded happily at the older man and left the office with a grin on his face leaving Dumbledore behind sighing in content. It was a good day he just hoped all of this wouldn't have been necessary at all.
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"Hey, Hermione?"
"Yes, Ronald?"
The two friends were sat in the common room after their practice session in the Room of Requirement. Had they been talking Hermione would have yelled at Andrew for keeping such a room from her. She sighed as she thought to Andrew and shook them from her mind, she'd speak to him soon and they'd work through this. It was their first huge fight, so naturally they would just get back together and make up right? But why was it so hard for her to go up to him?!
"… ggle world?"
The brown-haired girl blinked as she caught the tail end of Ron's question.
"Sorry, Ron, could you repeat that?"
She saw him take a breath in and sigh a bit before speaking again.
"I asked, do you know anything about theripists? Lavender told me about them, and they're in the muggle world?"
She frowned, never thinking that Ron would be interested in anything like that in the muggle world.
"Err, yeah! Ther-a-pists, are people who study emotions and help people deal with their own emotions. It's a pretty interesting field actually, they have to assist people by leading them to breakthroughs of their own and help them just what they are feeling and how they managed to feel such emotions in the first place."
She saw Ron nodded his head in thought before turning back to her.
"How difficult is it to learn that stuff?"
Hermione blanched at the question. He wasn't possibly thinking about pursuing a career in Psychology!
"Very, it's years and years of studying and learning to recognize certain mental affiliations and learning how to properly convey what the patient needs in a specific way as to not undermine, offend or underwhelm them. You'd have to apply to a muggle university which is a third level school in the muggle world and you'd need documents to prove you attend such schools and your marks in your subjects."
"Hermione, Hermione, you just threw a whole lot at me, just now." He commented with a laugh as he raised his hands to stop her from going on a two-hour rant. "I was just curious. Thanks though." He said with a smile before he grabbed his book bag and made his way up to the boys' dormitories and Hermione felt stumped. Ron a therapist? Well, he was a lot more considerate of people's feelings this year, as well as a lot less confrontational. And all of that came from just reading Lavender's crappy Magazines? What the hell could happen if he actually did go into Psychology?!
The bushy haired girl shook the thoughts away and turned back to her own work, thoughts of Ron wearing a pair of formal pants, white button up shirt, with a beige jumper over it and a pair of rectangular glasses writing in a notepad as someone bared their soul to him almost made her burst out with laughter. She did smile at the image though and proceeded to get on with her Potions essay.
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The next morning the group met up in the Great Hall for breakfast before going on about their day. They were all feeling the effects of their study session from the previous night, particularly Harry. The case of Ludo Bagman's attack was the talk of the school, no one would admit it, but they had felt less safe in Hogwarts this year than they had any other. Last year had Dementors and most students found themselves missing those days, so far there had been a disguised Death Eater and a near death, not counting the tasks for the tournament.
Weeks passed without much happening other than learning, homework and investigations. Harry was constantly being pressured into talking to Fleur by his brother and Ron and Hermione, Su and Luna were on full investigation mode, looking for clues regarding Rita and checking the map for her whereabouts.
Finally, after another week, Harry finally decided to swallow his anxiety and address the girl he'd shared his first kiss with. He found her sitting outside the courtyard laughing and talking to a few school mates of hers.
"I can't do this."
"Harry, dammit." Andrew grabbed him before he could flee.
"She's with her friends, I couldn't possibly interrupt them."
Andrew and Ron shared a look of disbelief.
"Yeah, sorry mate, but that's bull and you know it." The redhead laughed.
"Look, she looks busy, maybe I should do it later."
At that exact moment as if the universe agreed with his best friend and his brother the blonde beauty turned and saw them, giving a bright smile and wave. She turned to say something to her friends and immediately turned to the three boys and started making her way over.
"Of course." Harry breathed in defeat.
He heard his brother choke and assumed he was holding back his laughter.
"One day something like this is going to happen to you and I cannot wait to be in your position right now."
Andrew chuckled out loud in response. Before Harry could retort, the object of his anxiety walked in front of him.
"Bonjour 'Arry!" she gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Hi Fleur."
"Well, we're gonna go."
The girl turned to Andrew and frowned in amusement.
"Not very subtle, hmm?"
"As much as I'd love to love to watch my brother sweat bullets, I don't want to."
Fleur laughed, sending shivers of delight down the raven-haired boy's spine. He wanted to hear more of it.
"Well zen, I suppose, I will see you again soon?" her eyebrows were risen in a manner that was meant to convey that she was not asking for his permission.
Andrew sighed. "Yeah, okay, I'll find you later, maybe." He said while subtly glancing at his brother.
"Oui, okay."
As the two boys walked away, talking about something or other, Fleur glanced back to her Yule date and gave him a smile.
"Hi."
She smiled. "Bonjour."
"So, err…"
"You wish to talk, oui? You 'ave done a good job of avoiding me."
Harry swallowed. "I'm- I'm not avoiding you… per say."
"Come, let us take a walk, oui?"
The two found themselves walking out of the courtyard and were mindlessly wandering towards Hagrid's hut. There were a few smatterings of students here and there, but their walk went mainly uninterrupted. The silence between was one of patience as Fleur waited for Harry to collect his thoughts before he spoke.
"So… about the whole, Prophet and Skeeter thing…"
She gave a small smile. "Ze papers will always print somezing people find entertaining."
"Yeah, I figured, I'm just sorry that you were dragged into it."
She gave another laugh. "'Arry, I was prepared for such a zing. You and your brozzer are quite well known, it was… unavoidable." She responded with a shrug.
"Yeah, I- I guess you're right."
"You will soon find, zat we women often are."
Harry chuckled at that and found himself relaxing a bit.
"So, did you just want to apologize for zat? Again?"
"Oh, err, no. I actually… I was talking to Ron and Andrew, Ron's the redhead who was standing with me not too long ago."
"Oui, I figured."
That damned smile again. "Err, yeah. I suppose you would've. Well, I was talking to them, about what happened at the end of the Yule Ball. You know. With us?"
"Oh?"
He waited for a moment for her to continue and when she didn't he suddenly felt his heartbeat rise once again. Was she testing him? Did she know what he wanted to ask? Or was she just waiting for him to ask first so that she could respond? Was she planning on turning him down? Oh God it was Tonks all over again!
"'Arry?"
"What? Sorry, right. Well, I guess they were, you know, for purely educational purposes wandering if- they were wondering, what it meant."
"What "what" meant?"
Harry steeled himself for a moment before turning to look at the girl who had a sly grin on her face. Damn her beautiful lips and mesmerizing eyes.
"Well, the kiss."
"Hmm, yes. That is somezing someone would be curious about."
"Yeah, well, I mean… Wh- What did it mean?"
Fleur's smile went from sly to sincere in the matter of a few minutes. She pulled Harry to a small hill and sat down, patting the ground beside her for him to join.
"'Arry, I do not mean for zis to sound mean 'earted, but sometimes a kiss is simply just a kiss."
Harry felt his stomach drop and swallowed again.
"Right, of course. Sorry."
"Zat does not mean zat I did not enjoy it, even if you weren't very good."
"Oh, well. I'm sorry, I don't- I'm not really, err, I don't really do a lot of kissing."
Fleur smiled again. "Well, maybe we can give you a little more experience?" she responded as she leaned in slightly and softly caught his lips.
Harry was shocked for a moment before he slowly started kissing back. He still felt a large amount of confusion around their whole situation, but he figured that this wasn't so bad. He really enjoyed kissing and Fleur seemed to enjoy kissing him too. So… maybe he should accept whatever this was and focus on the soft pair of lips that were currently on his own.
Yeah, this took a turn I was not expecting... either way! Hope you enjoyed.
Quick lil plug here, I've started a podcast with my friends! It's called "Two Wrongs and A Writer". You can find it on all streaming platforms! We have a prompt and each of us have to write a story around that prompt. I suggest it and the next episode is coming out soon! So if you would like to give it listen that'd be great!
Anyway! That's all, thank you for reading! Happy Black History Month and soon to be Valentines Day!
