I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm doing this for fun, not profit. Please let that be a sufficient disclaimer!
...
Harry was enjoying school. He and Dudley were making friends with several of the people in their class, and whilst Dudley was naturally more prone to distraction than Harry, Harry's good influence meant that Dudley at least tried to pay attention and learn. Most of the time.
But whilst Harry had some friends at school, it became common knowledge that Harry's best friend was someone he saw once a month. Harry hadn't meant for the whole class to know, it just happened because of a particularly observant teacher:
"Harry? You seem quite excited today. Is there something you're looking forward to?" asked Miss. Peach, Harry's teacher.
"Oh! I... well..."
Dudley, the more outgoing of the two, got there first. "Oh, Harry's always like this before a Delacour weekend!"
Miss Peach looked intrigued. "And what is a 'Delacour Weekend', Harry?"
"Oh, the Delacours are..."
"Dudley, give your cousin a chance to answer" Miss. Peach chided gently.
"Sorry Miss. Peach"
"Well, the Delacours are my Godparents. Well, Sebastian and Appoline are. Fleur isn't my Godparent, because she's only six. But she'll be seven soon. They live a long way away, in France, but every month I see them for a weekend. We always do fun things, and I get to see Fleur, and they're sort of like my family but not actually my family like related, but they say they're my family, and... And that's what a Delacour weekend is, Miss. Peach"
Miss Peach, who was used to such streams of consciousness, didn't bat an eye. She was about to ask a question when Dudley whispered (well, half shouted) conspiratorially, "Fleur is Harry's favourite. He talks about her the most".
Harry, trying to be polite, clarified. "Well, I love Sebastian and Appoline too, but I love Fleur just a bit more."
"She's Harry's best friend", nodded Dudley sagely.
Miss. Peach looked a little surprised. "Oh, I thought Dudley might be your best friend."
Again, Dudley got there first. "No, my mummy's my best friend and Fleur is Harry's best friend. But we're second best friends."
Harry nodded importantly.
Miss. Peach smiled affectionately – children could be so cute. "I see! Well, thank you for telling me about Delacour weekends, Harry"
Then, as the thought occurred to her, "Harry, if you spend time in France every month, does that mean you can speak some words in French?"
Harry nodded proudly. "Yes, I've been learning since I was three!"
"Very impressive!" exclaimed Miss. Peach. She had no idea what Harry just said, having never learned French herself, but she was a primary school teacher – she was excellent at pretending she knew what her pupils were talking about.
...
It was not that Delacour weekend, but the one after, when Fleur turned seven. It was also the first Harry visit that Fleur was not looking forward to.
"Fleur, I don't think you need to be so worried."
"But Mama, we don't know how 'arry will react!"
Appoline sat next to Fleur, putting an arm around her. "Fleur, angel, is there something you're worried will happen?"
"What if... What if 'arry can't talk to me anymore? Or if he goes all drooling?" A pause, and then Fleur voiced her main fear: "What if Harry doesn't like me anymore?"
Appoline pulled Fleur closer, kissed her head, then answered her. "Your allure has only just started to appear, and you will learn to control it before it gets too strong. Besides, I don't think it will cause 'arry a problem."
"How come, Mama?"
Appoline smiled. "Because I expect 'arry has gotten used to it at least a little, no? I control my allure most of the time, but 'arry has been exposed to it for years and he hasn't stopped loving me, has he?"
Fleur gave a small smile. Her worry was still there, but she also had a glimmer of hope to balance out the fear. Maybe Harry wouldn't be affected by her allure after all.
...
Harry was affected by Fleur's allure, in a way. Though not in the way Fleur had imagined.
"Fleur!" cried Harry, as he threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly.
Fleur hugged Harry back, but she was a little distracted, waiting to see if anything bad would happen.
"Fleur, are you ok? You seem a bit sad."
Fleur shook her head. "I'm ok, 'arry"
Appoline saved Fleur some embarrassment. "Fleur is just worried about something silly, to do with magic. She will be ok by tomorrow, I'm sure."
Fleur just nodded and held Harry.
"Why don't you two go catch up? I'm sure you 'ave lots to talk about." Appoline knew they always did.
Fleur led Harry to their favourite sofa, where they sat opposite each other and began to talk. It was only after a minute, however, when Harry moved to sit next to Fleur.
"'arry?"
"I want a cuddle. You feel sort of warm and relaxing like Appoline sometimes does, and I like it."
Fleur looked a little apprehensive, but when Harry merely burrowed into her side and carried on chatting away like normal, she started to feel better. Her allure making Harry a bit more cuddly – sort of like a large teddy bear, really – was actually nice.
...
By the end of the weekend, Fleur actually quite liked her allure. Harry clearly enjoyed the warm, relaxing feeling it gave him, but he was still her Harry, and they were still best friends. Also, Sebastian had commented that Harry kept acting like a cat that wanted head scratches, which made Fleur giggle whenever she thought about it.
Appoline was delighted. She hadn't said it to Fleur, but she had been a little worried herself that the allure would affect Fleur's most treasured friendship. As it was, that friendship was clearly fine.
Appoline did wonder briefly if this meant Fleur would monopolise even more of Harry's time in future, but she smiled and shook her head fondly – Fleur and Harry were adorable together.
All too soon, however, the weekend was over and Harry was being given a month's worth of hugs from the Delacours. Fleur, especially, hugged Harry for an extra long time, with Sebastian having to practically peel them apart in order to get Harry back for bedtime.
"You will see 'arry soon, angel. You can let him go for now", teased Sebastian.
Fleur just sighed, and gave Harry one last squeeze goodbye.
...
Elsewhere, a different family was spending time together, though one member of the family was currently experiencing a shocking betrayal of the highest order.
"You know Harry Potter?!"
"Erm, yes? I'm his Godfather, after all."
"Dad, Uncle Siri is messing with me isn't he? This is like that time he told me that I could turn into a badger, isn't it?"
Sirius laughed loudly at the memory. He didn't even know whether Metamorphmagi could turn into an animal or not, but he had said it so confidently that Nymphadora believed him. And spent the next 2 hours giving it a go. The fur on her back had been particularly impressive.
Ted Tonks smiled. "Actually dear, he's telling the truth this time. Sirius sees him quite regularly, too."
"WHAT? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Nymphadora, why are you shouting?", asked Andromeda, coming into the room.
"Mum! Uncle Sirius knows Harry Potter, and dad knew, and neither of them told us!"
Andromeda looked confused. "Of course he knows Harry, Sirius is his Godfather after all."
In that moment, Nymphadora Tonks felt the full force of the betrayal. "YOU KNEW TOO?!"
In order to mollify Nymphadora, Sirius had to promise to introduce her to Harry. Of course, that just meant that she was excited.
"When can we go meet him?", she demanded.
"Well I might not have mentioned this earlier...", began Sirius.
"Yes?"
"...but I've already met him, so it's really just 'you', not 'we'", he finished cheekily.
Nymphadora whacked Sirius on the arm and scowled.
Sirius laughed. "Ok, ok. Well not this weekend, he's seeing his other Godparents. Maybe he can come for dinner one evening this week, and you can join us?"
"Yes! Do that!"
...
Harry was happy to spend time with his Uncle Woof – the nickname now a shared joke between them – but he was currently a little confused.
"But why does your cousin want to meet me?"
Sirius was about to correct Harry, but then realised that explaining second cousins was a waste of time. And he'd probably get it wrong, anyway. "Because she's heard all about you, of course!"
"What have you told her about me?"
"Well, it turns out not all that much apparently. She was quite miffed about that."
Harry just looked more confused. "But you said she's heard all about me!"
Sirius joined Harry in looking confused. "Well, of course she has, pup. You're Harry Potter."
Harry looked blankly at Sirius. Sirius was being very strange!
Realisation began to dawn on Sirius. "Wait... Hasn't Sebastian or Appoline explained it to you?"
"Explained what, Uncle Woof?"
"That you're famous in the wizarding world, pup."
"Really? Why?"
After Sirius had given a brief overview to Harry, and after Harry had taken a few minutes to try to understand what it all meant, it was still too confusing. "But I can't remember any of that night!" declared Harry.
"Yeah, I know. People are weird sometimes. But Nymphadora will be all excited to meet you."
"Oh. Ok."
...
Nymphadora arrived with Ted and Andromeda – Sirius had figured he might as well invite the whole family – and to say she was excited to meet Harry was an understatement.
"Wow! You're Harry Potter! I can't believe I'm meeting you! It's so cool that you stopped an evil wizard when you were one! And look at your scar! It's just like the books said; it's so cool! What cool magic can you do?"
Harry was amazed. Not at the fact that this girl said all that without breathing (impressive though that was), but at her hair! It was cycling through the colours of the rainbow several times a second!
"Nymphadora, how about you introduce yourself to start with? I'm Andromeda, by the way, and this is my husband, Ted"
"Hello Harry, it's good to meet you."
"Hello, I'm Harry" replied Harry, a little shyly.
"I'm Tonks!" said Nymphadora
"No" "Too confusing" "Vetoed"
"What? What's the matter?" replied Nymphadora a little crossly.
"Too confusing. The three of you all have the same last name, you can't use that as a nickname when your mum and dad are right there", answered Sirius, getting there first.
"Urgh! But my name's silly!"
"It's a lovely name" "It's a fine name" "..."
"See! Uncle Siri agrees!"
Harry, by this point, was enjoying the show. Not the discussion, of course, but how the girl's hair seemed to change so often! It was fascinating.
"How about a nickname instead?"
"Uncle Siri, I will whack you if you call me 'Nymph' or 'Nympho'"
"Erm... Dora?"
Nymphadora just glared.
"Ok, maybe a nickname that doesn't have anything to do with your name?"
"Like what, Uncle Siri?", said Tonks, suspiciously.
"Cheveu" offered Harry, surprising everyone.
"Cheveu? What made you think of that?" asked Nymphadora.
"It's French for hair, and your hair is so cool! It keeps changing colours!"
Nymphadora gave an embarrassed smile. "It's just something I could always do. It's a special magical thing I was born with"
"Wow! That's really cool, Cheveu!"
"Not as cool as beating up an evil wizard when you were a baby."
"But you can do your hair thing all the time, and I don't even know how I beat the evil wizard!"
The girl stopped for a moment in thought, then came to a decision. She stuck out her hand towards Harry, and introduced herself: "Hi. I'm Cheveu. Nice to meet you."
Harry grinned and shook Cheveu's hand.
...
By the end of dinner, Harry had decided that he quite liked all of the Tonkses, but Cheveu in particular. And when Cheveu had declared that Harry could be her little brother, Harry was delighted.
Harry would have liked to stay and play longer, but Sirius knew it was getting towards Harry's bedtime and that he needed his sleep. So, reluctantly, Harry said his goodbyes and Sirius apparated Harry back home.
A couple of minutes later, Sirius was back. "So, what did everyone think of Harry Potter?"
"He's really cool! And he's going to be my brother!"
"I didn't know you wanted a little brother, dear"
"I don't want just any little brother, mum. I want a cool brother! And now I have one!"
"I liked Harry. He seems like a nice boy", offered Ted.
"Yes, he does. Even if he has pretty much guaranteed that our daughter will never use her given name", said Andromeda, disappointedly.
Sirius laughed. "Well, at least Nymphadora is happy"
The girl in question gave a haughty look. "My name isn't Nymphadora, Uncle Siri. It's Cheveu."
...
Author notes:
I'm writing this story faster than expected. Why? Because of all the wonderful people who favourite, follow or review – I'm delighted by the reaction to Delacour Godparents, and it motivates me to write at pace. Thank you.
Special thanks to spicyanimechick, Reason13 and Smutley Do-Wrong for the reviews, and to Arnie1701, FrostyTheDopeMan and BradyC for additional reviews – I really appreciate you taking the time.
BradyC – I hadn't given Sirius that much thought. I hadn't considered Wolfstar before, but might now. If you have any other ideas, feel free to share and I'll see what my subconscious feels is most natural.
Spicyanimechick – I know Neville and Harry being Godbrothers is popular in fics, but I didn't think that was cannon. Either way, not sure; I don't want to try and squeeze too much into pre-hogwarts, but we'll see.
Smutley Do-Wrong – thanks for the lengthy review! My only comment is that Sirius not knowing about Peter seemed necessary, even in canon: whilst he knew about Peter by book 2, I can't make sense of his laughter when he's captured unless he thinks Peter is dead at that point.