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

...

"Fleur!"

"'arry!"

This time Harry picked Fleur up as they embraced, spinning her around with a joyful smile on his face. Fleur's infectious laughter could be heard for some distance, and when Harry put her down a few seconds later her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled.

Fleur kissed Harry's cheeks lovingly, then asked a question, still smiling merrily. "What was that for, my cherished?"

Harry grinned. "I just really missed you, Fleur."

Fleur blushed. He was so sweet; why was he always so sweet?!

"Come on, cuddle time!" Harry announced, and with that they raced upstairs together, into Fleur's room. Fleur lay down on her bed first, holding out her arms and with a beaming smile. Harry lay down next to her, one arm sliding under her neck, the other pulling her waist against him.

Fleur sighed happily. She loved cuddling with Harry, and was craving this more and more as the months and years went on. Her allure pouring off of her, eyes staring lovingly into Harry's, Fleur started one of her favourite conversations. "Tell me about our future house, 'arry."

Harry smiled broadly. "Which part, Fleur?"

Fleur leaned forward an inch or two to kiss Harry's cheek. Twice. Leaning back just enough so that she could gaze into his gorgeous eyes again, Fleur answered. "Where will we live?"

Harry grinned cheekily. "In the house!"

Fleur hit Harry's arm lightly, then caressed it – purely to emphasise her displeasure, she told herself. "'arry..."

Harry just giggled, before replying properly. "Maybe in France? Northern France, so it's easy to apparate to London?"

Fleur looked pleased at that answer. Nevertheless, she wanted to check. "Are you sure, my cherished? If you wanted us to live in England..."

Harry shook his head, still smiling happily. "It doesn't really matter to me – magic can get us anywhere! But you said before you'd like to live in France, and I want my best friend to be happy!"

Fleur nearly kissed him right there. She was so tempted, and given how close they were it would be so easy... but she wasn't yet sure how he felt, and she wasn't sure about risking everything over a long distance relationship. Instead, she squeezed him tight. "You're so good to me, my cherished."

After a few moments, Fleur asked another question. "Where in northern France? Would we live in a city, in the country, by the beach?"

Harry looked astounded, and answered in the only way a twelve year old would. "We can live by the beach?!"

...

An hour later, Harry and Gabrielle were walking hand in hand to a Surprise Location. Whilst Harry had missed Fleur the most, he had still missed Gabrielle terribly and was now on a quest to spend some quality time with her.

"Is it to the ice-cream shop?", asked Gabrielle, guessing for the seventh time.

"No, my little fly. It's too cold for ice-cream!", Harry responded, smiling at Gabrielle's enthusiasm.

Gabrielle shook her head vehemently. "'arry, don't say such horrible things! It's never too cold for ice-cream!"

Grinning, Harry squeezed Gabrielle's small, six-year-old hand affectionately. "Well, that's not the surprise. You can have one more guess."

"Two!" countered Gabrielle, with confidence.

"Ok, two more guesses", surrendered Harry, merrily.

"Are we going to the park?", suggested Gabrielle hopefully.

Harry shook his head with amusement. "Not today, but maybe later in the holiday?"

Gabrielle thought hard, then guessed her final guess. "Are we going to Disneyland?"

Harry laughed. "Not today. But that's a good idea for another time. Maybe when I can apparate."

Gabrielle squeezed Harry's hand excitedly. "Can we really go to Disneyland when you're older?"

Harry looked down into Gabrielle's adorable, hopeful eyes, and had no choice but to reply: "Of course. But only when I can apparate both of us!"

A couple of minutes later, and Harry tugged lightly on Gabrielle's hand, pointing to the location they had just reached. "Here we are, Gabrielle"

Gabrielle's eyes shone with joy. "Is this the surprise?"

Harry nodded happily. "I thought you might enjoy afternoon tea at Celeste's with your big brother. And you can have anything."

Gabrielle looked ready to burst with excitement; Celeste's was a patisserie that specialised in Le Goûter – French afternoon tea – but it was very expensive and Gabrielle had only ever looked longingly inside. "Can I have a hot chocolate? And a Macaron?"

Harry schooled his face into a grave expression, or at least he tried to; thankfully it was at least good enough to fool a six year old. "No, Gabrielle, I'm sorry but you can't."

Gabrielle's face fell, but only for the half second until Harry continued. "Macarons are much too small, so you'll have to have at least two. And also maybe a cake."

Gabrielle squealed in delight.

...

By the end of the holidays, Harry had to admit he had splurged a little. But Celeste's was so good that he had needed to go back again with Gabrielle. Then with Fleur. Then with Dudley, though Vernon wasn't told. He might have taken Cheveu, but they had met up at Sirius', rather than the Delacours'; maybe another time.

All too soon, though, Harry found himself back on the Hogwarts express, sat with Neville, Hermione and Ron. They were just discussing their holidays – with Ron drooling at the sound of Celeste's – when the carriage door opened.

"Hey Ginny. Forget something?", asked Ron, clueless.

"Just coming to say hi. I though maybe... wait, were you talking about food again?", Ginny asked.

"What do you mean?", Ron asked defensively. Harry, Neville and Hermione just watched on, curious and hoping for entertainment. Ginny didn't disappoint.

"Your mouth's watering! I can tell!", Ginny pointed out, smiling mischievously.

"No it isn't!", Ron denied.

"Uh huh. Harry, settle this for me – what were you talking about just now?", Ginny asked casually.

Ron shook his head desperately, but Harry merely grinned and answered honestly. "The most delicious patisserie in France; about the cakes, the pastries, the hot chocolates, the..."

"Harry! You're making me hungry!", Ron complained.

"You're making us all hungry! I love the Patisseries in France, did you have Le Goûter?", Hermione asked curiously.

Harry nodded, smiling at the memory. Well, memories. "Soooo many times!"

"You were in France for Christmas?" asked Ginny, curiously.

Harry nodded. "That's where the Delacours live, so I'm there quite a lot."

Ginny probed more. "Who are the Delacours?", she asked, all smiles.

A few whispers, whilst Harry was distracted with answering: "Here we go..." "Watch his face" "I know!"

"Well, Sebastian and Appoline are my Godparents. Gabrielle is my little sister – not by blood, but sort of like adopted except I never adopted her. And then Fleur – she's my best friend."

Ginny fought to keep the smile on her face. "I didn't know your best friend was French. What's she look like?", Ginny asked, giving the game away to half the carriage's occupants.

"She's quite pretty", Harry answered with a bit of a blush.

Ron, however, stuck the knife in and twisted. "'Quite pretty? Are you daft?! She's gorgeous, mate! Absolutely gorgeous!"

Ginny, somehow kept smiling for the few extra second needed. "She sounds nice. Anyway, I'll leave you alone. Bye Ron, bye everyone."

Ginny hadn't disbelieved Katie per se, but you didn't just give up on a crush without being sure. Sadly, that conversation had confirmed almost everything Katie had said, and went even further – he'd taken her on dates to a romantic cafe already, and they weren't even together!

As the last remnants of her dreams were crushed, Ginny knew it was time to move on. Maybe there were other boys who weren't already all-but-taken.

...

A few days later, Harry was being pulled through Hogwarts by a very excited Hufflepuff. "It's going to be fun seeing the reactions; I don't know why no-one else tries this!"

Harry smiled at his big sister. "Where is it?"

Cheveu stopped in front of a painting. "Just through here", she replied. Then, addressing the painting, "Badger Friendship!"

The door opened, and Harry and Cheveu stepped into the Hufflepuff common room. The first thing Harry noticed was the yellow and black. The second thing Harry noticed was the silence.

"Erm, Cheveu, I don't think... I mean, other houses aren't allowed in our common room", stated an older student Harry didn't know.

"Says who?", replied Cheveu cheekily.

"Well... I mean... You see...", came the stuttering reply.

"No, seriously, says who? I've never been told we can't have guests. I've never read it either. Have you?", replied Cheveu, challengingly.

The student stopped, trying to remember. It was the rules, wasn't it?

"Oh, leave them alone, she just wants to spend some time with her brother", came another voice.

Cheveu nodded confidently, then led Harry past the older student and towards the sofas. But before they got there, a hand grabbed Harry's shoulder to stop him.

Harry turned, and was engulfed in a tight hug. "Harry! Welcome to our common room!", exclaimed Susan.

Harry returned the hug, smiling. "Thanks, Susan. Cheveu invited me, and who turns down the chance to see their big sister?"

Harry sat down next to Cheveu, then as was habit he leaned into her whilst she put her arm around him. Susan followed, looking curious. "So what's that all about, anyway? I assume you're not actually... I mean, I assume you're not blood related, right?"

Cheveu smiled, then explained. "Nah, not by blood, but then you don't have to be blood to be family, right?". Susan nodded, so Cheveu continued. "The way my Uncle tells it, the first time Harry and I meet I declare him my little brother and he agrees, and it's been like that since."

Harry nodded happily. Susan, however, had an important question. "So... You two aren't dating then?"

Cheveu raised an eyebrow and Susan fought against a blush – difficult, given her pale complexion and freckles.

Harry shook his head very quickly. "You don't date your sister!", Harry declared emphatically.

Susan smiled a little at that. Cheveu sighed and shook her head; maybe she would have to have a quiet word later, for Susan's own sake. But honestly, just how many admirers would her little brother get?! She'd already had to pre-empt a couple of girls already – after all, those seventh years were clearly just after the fame – but maybe she would need to have some of her conversations with Fleur in the common room?

Harry spent a fun couple of hours with Cheveu, with Susan hanging around for a while and some other Hufflepuffs coming to say hi throughout. Eventually, though, it got uncomfortably close to curfew and one of the prefects came over. "Erm, Harry, you'd better get back to your common room. You'll get into trouble at this rate."

Harry smiled mischievously. "Don't worry, I won't be caught as long as I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

Cheveu laughed, though the prefect looked confused. Harry continued, "Don't worry, I'll head back. 'night sis, night everyone!"

With one big hug to Cheveu, and to a hopeful-looking Susan who had wandered over again, Harry pulled out a very special sheaf of parchment and made his way back to Gryffindor Tower.

...

A few weeks later, Professor Jones was excited. She had been looking forward to her next lesson for a while, as it would hopefully be a great reminder of why her subject was quite obviously the best. As the second year Gryffindors and Slytherins stepped into the classroom, they noticed a large rock, about a metre wide, sitting heavily on her desk.

"Good morning class, come and sit down", Jones said, excitedly.

Harry, grinning, sat down. He had done the "homework" that Jones had set him as part of preparing for this lesson.

Once the class had sat, Jones continued. "There's a large rock on my desk. That's weird, I know. But here's a challenge:", Jones paused to pull ten galleons out of her cloak and put them on the table, next to the rock. "Anyone who can lift the rock, without a wand, wins the galleons. Who wants to go first?"

Hands shot up into the air, and Harry and Jones' entertainment began. One by one, the whole class (except Harry) had a go, failing miserably – the rock must have weighed a ton! Once everyone else had taken their turn, Jones turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter? Want to show them how it's done?"

Harry, grinning, stood up. He walked confidently to the front, next to the professor. He took out a small vial. He uncorked the vial and drank it. He turned towards the rock. And then, grinning, he punched right through it, smashing it to pieces.

Cries of amazement rang out from the class. Jones started clapping, at which point the rest of the class followed suit.

"And that, class, is why potions are brilliant. What you saw Harry drink was a fourth-year strength potion – 20 points for Gryffindor, by the way, Harry – and as you can see, it's very potent.

"Now, when I set you homework about the uses of potions, you might think it's boring", Jones continued.

Murmurs of agreement could be heard. "But you're thinking about it wrong. Who wants to fight Harry, right now?", Jones asked, suddenly.

Silence.

"Who wants to arm wrestle Harry?"

More silence.

"Who would want Harry's help moving heavy boxes?"

Hands shot into the air.

Jones continued teaching. "There are thousands of uses for potions, and you're limited only by his boring you are. Today, Harry proved that you can use a strength potion for teaching, destroying rocks, and showing off. When I next set you homework, be creative – after all, nothing is stopping you brewing these anytime, when you can afford the ingredients."

The class sat, stunned. They hadn't thought of potions like that before.

"Now, we'll be learning about a strength potion today – weaker than the one Harry made, but still quite potent. Pay attention, and learn. Harry – go brew something interesting, but please be careful not to punch my supplies", Jones finished, smiling.

...

Towards the end of term, whilst Harry was in the common room late one evening studying some fourth-year potions, he had an unusual call on his mirror.

"'arry?", came a familiar voice.

Quickly dropping what he was doing, Harry picked up his mirror. "Aunt Appoline! How are you?"

Appoline gave a tired smile. "I'm doing alright, Harry, how about you?"

Harry gave a concerned look. "I'm doing well. But is something wrong, Aunt Appoline?"

Appoline shook her head. "Nothing big; Gabrielle has had a nightmare, and she's convinced something terrible has happened to you. Can you speak to her, so she knows you're ok?"

Harry nodded, eager to help. And to talk to his sister. "Of course!"

Appoline smiled, then passed the mirror over to Gabrielle. "Harry! Is that really you?"

Harry nodded, smiling. "It's really me, my little fly."

Gabrielle started crying happy tears. "I was so worried! Mama was teaching me about seers, but then I dreamt that you'd eaten too many pastries from Celeste's, but not our Celeste's but one in 'ogwarts. But then that made everyone mad at you because there was none left for anyone else, then you got into a duel, but then you lost, and you were badly hurt, and I was so worried!"

"But if you knew it was just a dream, why were you so worried, angel?", asked Harry, a little confused.

"Because what if I was a seer, and it had really happened?! And the dream seemed so real, so I thought it might be!", Gabrielle explained, with the logic of a six year old.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "There's no Celeste's at Hogwarts, so it's impossible. And besides, I wouldn't eat all the pastries – I'd save many for you!"

Gabrielle laughed a little, through the tears. Harry continued, "But just in case, if Celeste's ever moves to Hogwarts, I'll try to share the pastries nicely with everyone."

Gabrielle was cheering up at this point, but Harry knew there was one thing he could do to really help, and to get her ready for going back to sleep. "Now, shall I tell you a story?"

Gabrielle nodded excitedly. "Yes please!"

Harry began. "Once upon a time, there was a princess named Gabrielle, who had a dragon as a best friend..."

Twenty minutes later, after Appoline had quietly thanked Harry for cheering Gabrielle up and getting her back to sleep, Harry looked up and found several eyes in the common room looking at him.

"What?", Harry asked, eloquently.

"Were you just reading your little sister back to sleep after a nightmare?", asked Katie, her expression unreadable.

"Erm... Yes?", replied Harry, a little uncertain.

Katie threw her arms around Harry affectionately. "That's so cute!", she exclaimed. Those watching nodded their agreement.

Harry blushed, but would have coped. Hermione, however, made it worse. "Were you making up a story about her being a princess? And making friends with a baby dragon? And going on adventures?", she asked amused.

Harry started to blush deeper; he'd forgotten Hermione could speak French. "Well... Erm...", Harry explained clearly.

Katie just ruffled his hair. "You're so sweet!"

...

The Easter holidays, and the rest of the year, passed without anything else unusual. Harry won his Quidditch games, with Susan pouting at him when he beat Hufflepuff. He continued to do well in his studies, coming top of his class again in Defence Against the Dark Arts and excelling in potions – where he could brew all the third year and many fourth year potions. He had spent a few evenings in the Hufflepuff common room with Cheveu, and had even had her visit the Gryffindor common room twice. And Harry had, of course, spent many, many hours talking to his magical family.

All too soon, though, Harry was boarding the Hogwarts express, ready to spend four weeks with the Dursleys and two weeks with the Delacours.

He sat with Neville, Hermione and Ron for the most part, but dropped by a few different carriages to say goodbye to some other friends – Katie ("Let's meet up again this summer!"), Cheveu ("Don't forget you're having dinner with me, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus this Thursday!"), Fred and George ("Do you want a chocolate?" "No, Harry, not that one - only the round ones are safe"), Daphne ("Don't forget to write back... this time!" "Hey! That was the house elf!" "Haha, I know!"), and Susan ("Will you write to me, Harry?").

Eventually, the train arrived in London, and Harry saw Remus waiting on the platform. Running up to him and giving him a warm hug, Harry asked, "Uncle Remus! Are you here for me?"

Remus smiled. "Of course! I had the day off, and Sirius was... busy... at the last minute, apparently. Now, can you tell me who Susan Bones is? I have a suspicion."

Harry pointed out the redhead to Remus, though he was a little confused. "Uncle Remus? What was Uncle Sirius busy doing?"

"I think you mean who, not what", Remus muttered with a grin, though Harry didn't quite catch it.

"Huh?", asked Harry.

Remus shook his head. "Nevermind. Now, is she ok? I can't see her guardian anywhere, can you?"

Harry had no idea what her guardian looked like, but Susan clearly couldn't see her, and looked a little lost. Catching sight of Harry, Susan came over. "Hello Harry. Can you see my Aunt anywhere?", Susan asked, a little worried.

"Hi Susan. What does she look like?", Harry asked.

Susan answered, starting to look around again. "She has red hair like mine, she sometimes wears glasses but sometimes just one glass, she..."

Remus pointed to someone who just apparated in, looking fairly disheveled. "Is that her?"

Susan nodded, a relieved smile on her face. "Yes! Thank you Sir! Bye, Harry!"

Harry looked confused, especially as Remus chuckled and muttered, "I knew it!"

...

Tom Marvolo Riddle barely clung onto life. His wraith form was so weak, and he was in near-constant agony. What had gone wrong with his Horcruxes?! He needed to know! But as he tried to recall them all, he felt his memory slipping. There was the snake, the ring, the locket... but what else? Something to do with a notebook, or journal? Something else to do with a cup? Tom panicked anew – were his memories failing?! He had to get back to England, he had to check on his Horcruxes! But how? He needed one of his followers, but where were they?! WHERE WERE THEY?!

...

Author notes:

I haven't mentioned it before, but whilst Fleur's age difference from canon was a mistake, Cheveu's was deliberate – I needed her a couple of years younger for the scenes I wanted to write. Thanks to LilTwisted6 for checking!

I know many of you are waiting for Harry to wake up with regards to Fleur. I'll just say that in canon, Harry didn't appear to notice girls until partway through third year... and we're now end of year two...

I'm continually delighted by the reaction to Delacour Godparents. Thank you to those who favourite or follow – knowing there are several hundred people interested in this story is a massive motivator. But even more so are those who review. Thanks to MiseryWolf97, Guest, Garnetio Solozari and justareader21; and to the phenomenal Arnie1701, HughJasz, alix33, Spider of Dreams, Urgazhi, rishi547, MauserTeleri, bahnannah, insanecoop, amortentiate, magitech, Magnus Whitlock, BradyC, Earth Guardian 28 and SKFF for re-reviewing since last chapter.

Guest – ah. Good point. I'll resolve that soon.

Alix33 – as always, thank you for your efforts! I will need to sort them soon, I've got quite the backlog now.

Bahnannah – Sirius has been free since Chapter 3, though I'm sure he wouldn't consider himself innocent. :-p

Earth Guardian 28 – thanks for that; I think just a minor change will make my meaning clearer, so I'll go back and do that at some point soon.