I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm doing this for fun, not profit. Please let that be a sufficient disclaimer!

...

Harry had been at the Delacours' home for five minutes, and therefore he was on his favourite sofa, burrowed into Fleur's side and happily chatting away.

"...and her hair kept changing colour! It was really cool."

"Was someone jinxing her? Was it Uncle Siri?"

Harry shook his head. "No, she said it was some magic she could do since she was a baby."

"I've not heard of that before. Maybe we should ask Papa about it. You said it was Uncle Siri's cousin?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, that's what he said"

Fleur smiled. "Then Papa might know her"

At that moment, Sebastian and Appoline appeared. "I might know who?"

"Uncle Siri's cousin. 'arry met her the other day, and says her hair kept changing colour but it wasn't a jinx."

Sebastian chuckled in recognition. "Ah, you mean little Nymphadora. She's a Metamorphmagus, which means she can change what she looks like whenever she wants."

Harry nodded. "That's her. But she didn't like her name, so I gave her a nickname."

Sebastian looked curious. "What nickname?"

"Cheveu" said Harry, matter-of-factly.

Sebastian sniggered, and Fleur laughed. "You named her "Hair"?!", Fleur asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Because her hair kept changing colour. And I think Cheveu sounds nice" said Harry, a little affronted.

Fleur valiantly tried to stop her giggles, and mostly succeeded.

"Anyway," Harry continued "she even said I could be her little brother!"

Fleur had an odd look on her face. "How old is she? She must be quite old to be Uncle Siri's cousin."

Appoline answered, "she'd be about nine or ten, I think."

Fleur felt strange. She thought Harry was talking about an adult, but now she knew he was talking about a girl a couple of years older than her, Fleur's stomach didn't feel very nice.

Still, she decided to ignore that feeling for now, and think about it later; there was a different thought swimming through her mind now. "I wish I had a brother or a sister", Fleur thought aloud.

Sebastian and Appoline grinned at each other – this was perfect!

"Well Fleur, that's actually something we came to speak to you and Harry about", began Appoline.

Fleur and Harry looked up at Sebastian and Appoline, curious.

"It turns out wishes do come true, angel, because your Mama is pregnant!"

Fleur blinked once. Twice. Then she squealed in delight. "Really?! You're really pregnant? I'm going to have a baby brother or sister?!"

"Sister probably, with our Veela heritage. But yes, angel."

Fleur extracted herself from Harry, stood up, and was then was pulled into a Delacour family hug. A few seconds later Harry joined in.

"That's so exciting!", exclaimed Harry.

Fleur just nodded, her eyes wet with happy tears.

...

The Delacours had a family celebration, and happy emotions were running riot during the day. But as evening approached, Fleur's mind went back to the earlier conversation about Cheveu, and by bedtime she was able to voice at least part of her worry.

"'arry?", came the voice from the other bed in the room.

"Yes, Fleur?"

"... are we still best friends?" Came the nervous question.

Harry was not expecting that question. Why would Fleur even ask that?

"Of course we are! We'll always be best friends!"

"But... but you talked a lot about Cheveu, and she sounds cooler than me, and you said she's going to be your big sister, and you'll probably go to the same school, and... and... it makes me sad that you won't be my best friend anymore"

Harry knew this was serious – best friend talk was about the most serious topic you could get at their ages, aside from cake. So he climbed out of his bed, climbed into Fleur's bed, and hugged her as tightly as he hugged his wolf teddy.

"Fleur, you'll be my best friend forever!" Harry proclaimed. "Everyone knows that. Even Dudley and my other friends at school know you're my best friend."

Fleur hugged Harry back, but her worries remained. "What about when you go to 'ogwarts? Or when we're all grown up?"

"I'll make sure everyone at Hogwarts knows your my best friend. And we'll be best friends even when we're all grown up. We could even live in the same house when we're older!"

Fleur looked at Harry, eyes full of hope. "We can live in the same house when we're older? And I would see you everyday?"

Harry grinned as a thought occurred to him: "Every day can be a sleepover day!"

Fleur giggled; she was feeling a bit better.

...

The next morning, Appoline went to wake up Fleur and Harry; that in and of itself was unusual, as the two were usually up early on a Harry weekend. When Appoline walked into Fleur's room, she was met by a surprising but adorable sight – Harry and Fleur were sat up together in Fleur's bed, leaning against each other and fast asleep.

"Fleur, 'arry, it's morning" Appoline called softly. Harry stirred first, blinking his eyes and looking around confused. His small movements woke up Fleur, who also woke confused.

Appoline smiled indulgently. "Shall I assume you were in bed a little late last night?"

Harry, having his bearings first, answered. "Fleur was feeling a bit sad, and we had to talk about best friends, and then she felt better, and then we fell asleep."

Appoline felt she was clearly missing a key detail. "You had to have a conversation about best friends?"

Fleur looked a little embarrassed at that question, so she let Harry answer. "Fleur was a bit worried that we might not be best friends, but I told her we would always be best friends, even when we were grown ups. We're even going to live in the same house when we're older, so we can have sleepovers every day!"

Fleur looked moderately embarrassed, but gave a small smile and nodded. Appoline, on the other hand, laughed a little before she could stop herself. "I see! Well thank you for explaining that. Anyway, breakfast is ready, so hurry up and come on down."

...

For the next few Delacour weekends, Harry saw Appoline's stomach get bigger and bigger. By Harry's sixth birthday, her stomach looked huge, though Harry was told there were probably a couple of weeks left until the baby was ready to come out.

Appoline had explained that because the baby was nearly ready to arrive, she would rest at home while Sebastian took Fleur and Harry out for the day. The trip would be Harry's first trip to the zoo.

"Let's go look at the birds! Then the penguins! Oh, and then the otters!" exclaimed an excited Fleur.

Sebastian chuckled at Fleur's enthusiasm, then gently reminded her, "It's 'arry's birthday, angel, don't you think he should decide?"

Fleur muttered a quick apology, but Harry just smiled and squeezed the hand he was holding. "Let's look at everything!"

...

Harry had not been exaggerating - he really did want to see everything. Sebastian had planned something else in case they finished early at the zoo, but that clearly would not be needed! By late afternoon Sebastian, Fleur and Harry approached the remaining area of the zoo they hadn't yet explored – the reptiles.

Fleur had claimed the reptiles were the least interesting of the animals at the zoo, and so far Harry had to agree – the turtles barely moved, the crocodiles were being lazy, the lizards were hiding somewhere and the snakes were asleep. Harry had turned to leave when he heard a voice.

"Just a bit longer mate, and then the idiot humans will leave and we can stop pretending to sleep."

Harry turned back suddenly, looking around. "Who said that?"

"Oi! Geoff! That human almost sounded like he was speaking to us"

"Have you eaten this month? You know you always hear things when you're hungry, Barry"

"Who's speaking? Who's there?", asked Harry.

"Bloody hell, Barry, it's a speaker!"

"What? No way! We haven't seen one of them for ages!"

The two snakes nearest Harry stopped pretending to sleep. They were now very much awake, and facing each other him.

"Hey you! You must be a wizard, and a special one at that if you can hear us! I'm Geoff" the left snake nodded.

"And I'm Barry." The right snake nodded.

"I'm Harry. And this is my best friend Fleur and my Godfather Sebastian."

"Nice to meet you Harry!"

"Yeah, nice to meet you, Harry."

"Say, Harry?"

"Yes, erm, Barry?"

"Any chance you can conjure a vole? I'm really craving vole."

"I knew you were hungry!"

"Yeah, but I wasn't imagining things, was I?"

"Well I haven't started magical school yet, so I don't know any spells, but... Sebastian, do you know how to conjure a vole?"

...

Harry had a pleasant chat with Geoff and Barry, and once Sebastian had overcome his initial shock he proved he was, indeed, able to conjure a vole. Fleur was fascinated by the snakes, and Harry's ability to talk to them, but she was a little disturbed by the feeding. Still, she did enjoy it when Harry offered to act as a translator for a minute.

All too soon, however, the three humans had to leave - especially when another family entered the reptile area. So with some goodbyes - "Visit us again Harry!" "Yeah, and bring the Vole Wizard!" – Sebastian, Fleur and Harry left the zoo and returned back home... Although not before a trip to the gift shop to spend some (but oddly, not all) of the money Sebastian had given them both.

On the way back, Sebastian explained that Harry's special talent meant he was known as a parselmouth. He also explained that in Britain, parselmouths had often been evil – Lord Voldemort as the most recent example – so he might wish to hide his ability.

Fleur was impressed, and also happy that Harry now had a special talent that even most witches and wizards didn't have – just like she did. The only thing she didn't like was the idea that Harry would have to hide his talent – that seemed silly to her.

When they returned to the Delacour home, it was to find Sirius and Remus had already arrived.

"Uncle Woof! Uncle Remus!" "Uncle Siri! Remus!"

"Happy birthday pup! And hi Fleur" "Happy birthday Harry. Hello Fleur."

After a round of hugs, and a period of both Sirius and Remus chasing Harry and Fleur around the house, the conversation turned to Harry's newly-discovered talent.

"That's really cool; Parselmouths are really rare, pup" stated Sirius

"Indeed", smiled Remus, "though we'll have to be careful who knows about it; the stigma around them in Britain is quite strong."

"Hey, how about we conjure a snake, and then Harry can show off his ability?"

"No, not in the 'ouse"

"Agreed. Not where Appoline could see."

"Sebastian!", Appoline half shouted, half laughed. He could be incorrigible, but she loved him dearly.

"'ow about some nearby woods?" Sebastian suggested more seriously.

...

It was becoming tradition for Harry's birthday dinner to be late. Harry was excited to try out his new talent, Fleur wanted to talk to another snake, Sebastian wanted to witness parseltongue again, Sirius wanted to see if snakes could understand barking (they couldn't), and Remus just wanted to see his honorary nephew and his best friend having fun; as such, it was later than planned when the five returned to the Delacour home. Appoline had expected as such.

After dinner, and after Sirius and Remus had left, "love you both, pups!" "Bye Fleur. See you soon, Harry", Fleur had a serious question she had been pondering on and off all day: "Mama, Papa, how much do houses cost?"

"Quite a lot, angel. Why do you ask?"

"Well, we need one for when Harry and I are grown ups and we want our own house for sleepovers."

Harry nodded solemnly, fully in agreement.

Sebastian barely managed not to laugh, though his eyes showed his amusement. "I see. Well, houses cost more than most things – more than toys, games, books; even more than broomsticks."

Fleur was a little surprised – broomsticks were very expensive! – but the knowledge was helpful. "So we would have to save for a long time?"

Appoline smiled encouragingly. "Yes, but saving is a good habit to get into. You might even decide, after a while, that you want to use the money for something that costs a little less than a house"

Fleur nodded. "Could we use the money we didn't spend at the zoo to start saving?"

Harry nodded, earnestly. "Yes, could we?"

Sebastian chuckled; this explained the leftover money from the gift shop – those two were smart! A wordless conversation between Sebastian and Appoline, and then: "Yes, you can; that's a very sensible idea. You realise with exchange rates that would be about four galleons?"

Harry looked pleased, Fleur too. They hadn't expected francs to be worth so much! They knew there was a lot more to save – broomsticks could be hundreds of galleons, so houses must be even more – but this was a good start.

Fleur and Harry had one more question they wanted to ask, and this time Harry voiced it: "Can we set up a shared Gringotts account for Fleur and I?"

...

Author notes:

Uncle Google tells me that 1 galleon is about £5, which is what I used as a guide for determining the leftover spending money Fleur and Harry had (albeit considering francs to Galleons, not pounds in this case).

Thanks to those who follow or favourite – knowing there are now hundreds of people who have done so is a huge encouragement that I really value.

As always, special thanks to those who review – to Pteaset, Mintaro, magitech and mrducking; and to the champions that have reviewed again since the last chapter: Z-Arc34, Arnie1701, Spider of Dreams and BradyC

Z-Arc34 – Yes. Yes they will. :-p

Mintaro – thanks for the review, and the suggestions. I'll have a think - I'm less likely to incorporate the superhero idea as I'm trying to keep this relatively light on action and drama, but the other idea is something I'll see how I might incorporate.

Spider of Dreams – I aim to keep the tone broadly consistent during the story, and within the categories it's listed under. So pretty feel-good!