Disclaimer: I own none of the things you already know of.
Harry Potter and the Smallest Change.
Chapter 23. Fourth Year, Part 5. 1994.
The Great Hall stared in silence at the Headmaster.
Behind him, and to either side, both Madame Maxime, and Headmaster Karkaroff looked furious. Karkaroff's face was almost purple with suppressed rage.
'Neville Longbottom.' Dumbledore called, and the Great Hall turned as one to stare at the Boy-Who-Lived.
Neville was white as a sheet and looked like he would bolt any second. Ronald Weasley gaped at Neville, while Ginny sat on Neville's other side, and stared at him in disbelief.
Harry couldn't help but feel bad for the boy. Even after Neville had been such a jerk for most of their lives, he did not deserve to be entered into the death match the Tournament truly was. He thought it was obvious that the boy did not enter himself. If he had, he'd be boasting.
But instead, Neville was terrified.
'Neville Longbottom.' Dumbledore repeated, an edge to his voice.
Ginny nudged Neville, twice, before the Boy-Who-Lived blinked and stood. The Great Hall watched in silence as he made his way up to the three Heads of the schools, his movements wooden and stiff.
As soon as Neville walked through the door into the Champions room, the three Heads rushed in behind. They conducted a furious whispered conversation as they went.
Professor McGonagall stood and held her wand to her throat.
'It is now time for bed, everyone. We will announce any pertinent information in the morning. Sleep well.' She announced, her voice amplified to carry through the Hall.
There was a delay of a few seconds before somebody stood, the rest of the Hall followed suit and stood to begin the exodus back to their dorms or, in the case of the guest schools, their accommodations.
Harry turned to Susan and Hannah.
'Have a good night, you two. I'll see you in the morning. Keep an eye on your map's, okay? Something fishy is going on.' He whispered, and they nodded.
'Be careful Harry. This is the start of something. Neville didn't enter this thing, he was terrified.' Susan murmured.
Hannah nodded beside her, and Harry smiled.
'I agree. I think we need to be on guard.' He said, and they nodded before standing.
He followed the two out of the Great Hall before breaking off from the crowd and he placed a Disillusionment Charm on himself. With an inward sigh, he moved to sit on a bench near the entrance to the Great Hall and waited.
Once the sounds of students moving through the corridors faded, silence reigned in his area of the castle. Only then did he let his mind wander.
Something was happening on Halloween. Neville was chosen for the Tournament against his will and that set off all sorts of alarm bells in Harry's mind.
An hour later, Madame Maxime stormed out of the Great Hall. Fleur kept pace behind the large woman with a thoughtful expression on her flawless face.
A moment later, Headmaster Karkaroff strode out of the Hall, Viktor Krum by his side. While Karkaroff was an impressive shade of puce, Krum was impassive.
A minute or two later, Professors Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout all exited the Great Hall, whispering to each other.
Behind them strode Bartemius Crouch and Ludo Bagman.
'Isn't it exciting to have the Boy-Who-Lived himself competing in the Tournament Barty? A fourth Champion, wonderful.' Bagman gushed as they passed by Harry.
Harry narrowed his eyes and watched Cedric leave behind them, a puzzled expression on his face.
Finally, a few minutes later, Neville moved out of the Great Hall, still as white as a sheet.
'Neville.' Harry hissed and dropped his Disillusionment Charm.
Neville blinked at him, and Harry gestured for the boy to join him.
Harry led Neville to a nearby room. Once inside, a small smile appeared on his face. Every time something happened in the Great Hall, it seemed he went to this room. His smile faded as he turned to Neville.
'I know you didn't enter the Tournament brother, you're not that stupid.' Harry said, and Neville stared at him.
Neville glared and opened his mouth to bite back, but Harry held up a hand, gesturing for silence.
'Neville.' Harry said, and Neville blinked.
'I may think you're a fool most of the time, but you don't deserve to be stuck in this stupid Tournament. Judging by what I heard from the judges as they left, you can't get out of it?' he asked, and Neville shook his head.
Harry nodded and leant on an abandoned desk. He drew his fingers down his face and sighed.
'In order to get through this thing, you need to spend all your time training until the Tournament is over, no more chess, or Quidditch. For the rest of the year, study, and train.' He paused and ran a hand through his hair.
'There are some secluded spots around the Black Lake and plenty of abandoned classrooms in the castle.' Harry added, and Neville stared at him.
'Why are you helping me?' Neville asked, his voice soft.
Harry let out a mirthless laugh.
'We are brothers, of a sort. That means something to me.' Harry said before he let out a breath.
'Now, get some sleep. If you want to survive this year, you're going to have to train harder than ever to prepare.' Harry said.
Neville nodded, a look of determination on his face.
Neville left the room a moment later, a little colour in his cheeks.
Harry waited for a minute before he placed another Disillusionment Charm on himself. Then made his way up to the seventh floor, to the Room of Requirement.
Once in the Room of Requirement, Harry sat down in front of the fireplace he willed the room to create. He held off from activating the time function when he felt his mirror vibrate.
He pulled out his ornate mirror and answered it, and saw Fleur's worried face.
''Arry, I tried to call you a few minutes ago. Are you okay?' she asked, her eyes moving around his face, like she was looking for injuries.
Harry smiled at her.
'No, I'm sorry about that. I was giving Neville a pep talk.' He said, and she stared at him.
'How?' she asked, and he smirked.
'I was outside the Great Hall. I watched as you and Maxime were the first ones out.' He said, and her eyes widened.
'You can use the Disillusionment Charm?' she breathed, and Harry frowned.
'Of course I can. It helps me to get to and from this room undetected.' He said, and she blinked, then nodded.
Harry smiled.
'Sorry. Now, tomorrow, I want to show you exactly what I can do. This way, there won't be anything between us for you to worry about. You'll then know everything.' He said, and she lay back on her pillow and let out an explosive sigh.
'You are a very surprising person 'Arry.' She said after a moment.
Harry leaned back in his wing chair.
'I do try.' He grinned, and she shook her head at him.
''Arry, Madame Maxime is enraged that Hogwarts gets two Champions.' Her face held a worried frown, and Harry nodded.
'I know Neville, he's one of the better fourth years, but he's not a threat. He's just trying to survive, not win the Tournament.' He paused and looked into her ice-blue eyes.
'I'll make sure that you win.' He said, and she blinked.
'Are you sure? Your own housemate is involved.' She asked, and Harry smiled.
'You are my best friend; school pride means nothing beside that.' He said, and she blushed.
'Thank you.' She whispered.
Harry beamed at her.
'Now, I'm thinking that tomorrow, we figure out what we can help you with. I'm sure we have different skill sets.' He said, and she smirked.
'I won the Beauxbatons duelling competition last year, I defeated the seventh years.' She boasted, and Harry grinned.
'That is a great achievement, but we'll see if it matches up to years of constant training.' he said.
The two devolved to grandstanding for the next ten minutes before Fleur yawned.
'We should get to bed. I'll see you beside the lake at dawn if you're up for it?' he asked, and she gave a wide, sleepy grin, before she yawned again.
'Goodnight 'Arry.' She murmured before the mirror went dark.
Harry turned on the time dilation effect of the room and fell asleep in the bed he willed into existence.
The next morning, Harry sat on the shore of the lake after a days' worth of training in the room. As he watched the sun rise above the distant mountains, he wondered when the strangeness of time related shenanigans had ceased to amaze him. He wore a small grin as he thought about how it still amused him at times.
In the time that Fleur had slept in the real world, Harry had slept a full eight hours, then trained himself almost to exhaustion before taking a nap and leaving the room to meet her.
He felt a wand poke into the back of his neck.
'Your training must be lax.' whispered a smug Fleur into his ear and Harry grinned.
He turned to look into her eyes, then down to the ground.
She followed his gaze, and Harry grinned at the look of shock on her face.
A blazing stunning rune trap was under her feet like a landmine. Harry's hand held it back from triggering with his wandless magic.
'I wondered if you were going to try something like that after our grandstanding last night.' He admitted as he stood, facing her.
She pouted and Harry laughed.
'Would you like to join me in my training room?' he asked, offering her his arm.
She smiled and nodded, then took his arm.
Harry led her up through the empty corridors to the Room of Requirement. Once outside, standing in front of the portrait of the dancing Trolls, Harry turned to her.
'Do you think you can reach this point again without guidance?' he asked, and she scoffed.
'Of course I can. This silly portrait is a pretty clear landmark.' Her lip curled as she pointed at the portrait in question.
Harry grinned, then walked back and forth, thinking of what he wanted. After three passes, a door appeared and Fleur stared at it, then at him, then at the door again.
'What?' she asked, and Harry grinned, opening the door, and gesturing for her to enter.
'After you, my lady.' He smirked, and she huffed, then walked into the Room of Requirement.
Once inside, Harry closed the door and watched Fleur gape at the massive room. Her eyes were wide as she took in the muggle exercise machines in the centre of the room, the training dummies on the far wall and a dozen desks, each piled with books and scraps of paper.
A table popped into existence in the middle of the room, surrounded by all the exercise machines. It bore a single book upon it.
Fleur turned to look at him and he smiled, gesturing for her to sit down at the new table.
She walked over to the desk and sat down in a chair. She stared at the cover of the book. Harry turned on the time dilation effect of the room, then walked over to stand beside the silver haired Veela.
'That book contains everything that this room can do.' Harry said, pointing at the cover which read, The Room of Requirement.
'The book covers the limits of what we can do in here. One such limit is anything made in here by the room, cannot leave the room.' He said, then pointed at the big red button beside the door.
'That button controls the rate at which time passes in this room. I activated it when we came in, so time is currently passing at one quarter the speed of the outside world. At this rate, we can spend eight hours in here before joining the others for breakfast.' He said and Fleur blinked.
She looked at him, then down at the book in her hands, then back at him.
'Did you want some breakfast now, before we get started?' Harry asked, and she nodded, her gaze still moving between him and the book in her hands.
With a thought, the room changed into a cosy library with a fireplace against one wall. In front of the fireplace, Fleur sat in a comfortable stuffed wing chair. Opposite her, another wing chair waited for Harry to sit on it while a small table sat between them.
Fleur blinked at the sudden change of the room, and in her seating.
'What?' she asked, her eyes wide.
Harry smiled and sat in the chair opposite Fleur.
'Judsy.' He called and a House-Elf appeared, its ears flapping as it almost quivered in delight.
'What does Mister Potter want this morning?' Judsy asked, and Harry smiled.
'Can we have a breakfast suitable for a French Lady?' Harry asked and Judsy popped away with a wide smile.
A few moments later, the table between Harry and Fleur filled with croissants, crepes, toast, and some kind of yoghurt and cereal combination that Harry didn't recognise.
Fleur smiled and looked up at the ceiling.
'Thank you Judsy.' She said before she leant forward to take a bowl of the yoghurt and cereal combination.
She leaned back in her wing chair; her eyes focussed on something far away as she ate.
Harry smiled and ate.
Breakfast passed in near silence, broken only by the clink of cutlery and when the two were done, Judsy popped back and reclaimed the dishes, leaving the table clear.
Harry stood.
'Would you like to begin?' he asked, and she nodded, a smile on her face.
'I've been looking forward to seeing what you can do for a while now.' She said, and Harry grinned.
'How about we test our conjuration skill first, then move onto other things?' he suggested, and she nodded.
With a wave of her wand, she conjured a comfortable and stately looking love seat.
Harry looked at it, his eyes narrowed for a moment before he smiled. With a wave of his wand, a near identical love seat appeared next to it, except it was yellow instead of her blue.
'It seems Hogwarts students have an attachment to their house colours.' She smirked, and Harry grinned.
'After years of being surrounded by those colours, they kind of stick in your head.' He admitted.
Fleur chuckled and met his gaze.
'I know you are good at Enchanting, what with the mirrors and the pendant-' here she gripped the pendant around her neck in her hand.
She beamed at him as she felt his emotions held within it.
'- But how are you with wards?' she asked.
Harry grinned and waved his wand in an intricate corkscrew pattern, broken in the middle with a harsh flick.
A few moments later, a light green circle appeared beneath his feet.
She knelt beside it to examine it.
The circle comprised two individual circles, one inside the other. Between the two circles, a faint sequence of runic letters replayed in a ten-rune sequence.
Fleur stood and gave him a smile.
'It's a good start 'Arry.' She said, then fired a Piercing Hex at the runic letters and hit the sixth letter.
A moment later, the ward collapsed, and Harry gave her a grin.
'I'm impressed you broke it with such ease. Looks like you win with wards.' He said, and she scoffed.
'Of course, I always win at wards. How are you at healing?' she asked, and he grinned.
With a thought, a dummy appeared on the floor of the library, bearing dozens of simulated wounds. Though it was a dummy, it still looked authentic enough to bleed all over the rug.
Fleur gasped.
'It's all in the book.' Harry said and pointed at the book that sat on the table in front of Fleur's chair.
Harry dropped to his knees and worked on the dummy.
Fleur followed his movements with a critical eye as he worked on the dummy. It took five minutes of feverish wand work, but he eventually sat back and let out a breath. She smiled at him, her eyes sparkling, and they held a look he'd been seeing increasingly, hunger.
'Very good, but can you do any level three or higher healing?' she asked, and Harry let out a sigh.
'I haven't gotten that far yet; level two was where I stopped and focussed on other areas.' He admitted, and she gave him a warm smile.
'If you're not interested in being a full healer, level two would probably be the best place to stop, seeing as level three is where you start to delve into serious injuries like internal bleeding and amputation, or third-degree burns.' She said, and Harry nodded.
'I'm only planning on using it on myself or in combat situations.' He concluded, then let out a breath.
Harry ran a hand through his hair.
'I assume you are more advanced in arithmancy and runes because of your skill in Enchanting and wards?' he said, and she gave a dainty shrug which Harry smirked at.
'How are you with transfiguration?' he asked, and she narrowed her eyes.
'Due to your skill at conjuration, it might be a bit more even there. How about we have a transfiguration duel, using only transfiguration?' she proposed, and Harry grinned.
'Agreed, I have just the place for this duel.' He said.
With a thought, the library they stood in faded away and a moment later they stood in the centre of a replica of the Roman Coliseum.
Fleur gaped at the surroundings and Harry grinned.
'It's all in the book.' He said, and she shook her head.
'I'll read the book later, after you admit I am beyond you.' She smirked, and Harry beamed at her.
It was a strange sight, the two teens standing in the middle of the coliseum, with a pair of love seats near them, one blue and one yellow.
Harry grinned and fired a ball of light into the air that hung suspended above them.
The ball pulsed a vibrant red.
Harry leaned forward in a combat stance.
'When the ball turns green, we go.' He said and Fleur quirked a perfect eyebrow and nodded.
The ball pulsed yellow twice before it turned green.
In an instant, both wands flashed and where a moment before there was only sand between the two, an oversized cobra shot out of the ground in front of Harry. The cobra leapt at Fleur, who conjured a dozen birds. Each bore razor sharp beaks.
Harry marvelled at the customised animals she had made. They were birds, but their beaks glinted in the artificial light of the room like steel.
The flock of birds tore apart the cobra in moments. Harry transfigured the corpse into a bear, which crushed half of the birds before it was shredded by the remaining birds.
Harry conjured ice spikes and fired them at the birds, finishing them, and then sent the rest at Fleur. She turned them to water halfway to her, before she turned each streak of water into a snake and fired them back toward him.
He turned the snakes to stone and cursed as he remembered he could only use transfiguration. He stopped himself from using Runes or Enchanting his creations to strengthen them.
With a growl, he whipped his wand and conjured a heavy stream of water, like a fire hose.
She smirked and conjured a jet of fire that crashed into his water.
The water evaporated from the intense flames and a great cloud of steam exploded out and filled the coliseum.
Harry grinned as the steam cleared to reveal Fleur with a wide smile on her face, if a little out of breath.
'I think we can say we are about equal in transfiguration, no?' she asked, and Harry nodded.
'Are you up for a full duel 'Arry?' she asked, and he quirked an eyebrow.
'Are you sure you don't want to take a break first? You seem a little out of breath.' He asked with a smirk, and she scowled.
Fleur created her own pulsing red orb above them.
'Do you want to make it more interesting and have a bet on the winner?' she asked, and Harry grinned.
'Sure, what are the terms?' he asked.
'The loser must answer any one question asked by the winner.' Fleur said with a predatory smile on her face.
Harry nodded, his grin still in place.
'You have a deal.' He agreed.
Agreement in place, both faces turned stony.
Harry took in a deep breath, steadying himself.
The floating ball pulsed red, then yellow.
Harry narrowed his eyes. He wondered if he had found his training partner.
The ball turned green.
The two exploded into action.
Fleur fired a string of hexes at him. Harry recognised them all and dodged them, he rolled to the side and fired a string of jinxes back at her. None would cause any damage and only intended to keep her busy.
He conjured a wolf and between jinxes, he imbued the creature with a resistance to magic and physical attacks. Combined, those two enchantments used a great deal of magic. Then he enhanced the wolf's speed and, with a mental command to his creation to avoid her attacks until given the command to attack, the beast leapt into the fray.
Fleur fired curses and hexes, then used transfigured walls to block many of his low powered hexes. Harry whipped up a sandstorm and sent it toward her, carrying the sand of the coliseum toward her and obscuring her view.
Her accuracy was spot on as she fired at him. Harry dodged and deflected more than he attacked.
He wasn't used to fighting a single skilled opponent, and it showed as she punished any minor mistake he made in his footwork or his casting. She kept him on the back foot for a full minute of the fight.
Harry noted the predatory grin on her face and knew she thought she was about to win their little contest.
He grinned before he sent out the mental command to his wolf to attack.
A moment later, Harry heard a scream over the wind of the sandstorm. He dissipated the storm to reveal Fleur pinned to the ground, the wolf standing on top of her, snarling.
With a wave of his wand, the wolf dissipated like the storm, leaving Fleur alone on the ground, breathing hard. She sat up and looked at him, the panic in her eyes fading.
He sat down beside her, leaning back with both hands in the sand.
'Are you okay?' he asked, and she took a deep breath before sighing.
'I really thought I was going to win.' She admitted, with a huff.
Harry nudged her shoulder with his own.
'You almost did. You were probably twenty seconds away from a win.' He said, and she turned to look him in the eye.
'What do you mean?' she asked and gave a small smile.
'When I train, I use the dummies that this room provides. I have them at their best, but each one is probably at a fifth-year level. The room needs a dozen to make me try.' He explained, and he frowned as she continued to stare at him.
Harry sighed.
'I've only trained against lesser opponents until now. Any time I've fought anyone stronger, they've beaten me into the ground. I've about reached the limit of what the Room can throw at me.' He admitted and Fleur gave him a warm smile.
'Perhaps we can train together then? I need to prepare for the Tournament after all.' She suggested, and Harry nodded.
'I was thinking along the same lines. Until now, I've spent the entire weekend between Friday after dinner and Monday morning breakfast in here.' He said and Fleur's face fell.
'Madame Maxime will require me back at the carriage by curfew.' She murmured.
Harry nudged her shoulder with his once more, then motioned up to the wall of the coliseum where a large clock appeared.
'That clock shows the time outside of the room. It's only been a half hour outside since we came in here.' He said, and her eyes widened.
'As long as we keep an eye on the time, we can finish up training with enough time for you to return to your carriage before curfew. We'll be fine.' Harry smiled at her eyes as they sparkled.
Then her eyes narrowed, but still held joy.
'You're going to continue in here while I sleep, aren't you?' she asked.
Harry grinned, and rubbed the back of his head.
'Yeah, that's the plan. You can just join me when you wake up in the morning.' He suggested, and her eyes remained narrowed before she let out a soft laugh.
'Do you do anything like normal people do?' she asked, resigned.
Harry screwed up his face in faux disgust.
'Normal is for plebs.' He sneered and her soft laughter grew louder before she let out a snort, then froze, mortified.
Harry burst into laughter, a wide grin on his face.
'You have a cute snort.' He said, and she turned red and looked like she wanted to hide from the world.
After a few seconds, she gathered herself and met his gaze.
'As the victor in our little bet, you have a question for me to answer.' She declared.
Harry gave her a warm smile, and lost himself in her eyes for a moment.
He took a deep breath and settled himself. The air between them turned serious, laughter forgotten.
'I was going to ask at the Cup, but you know…' he trailed off and she nodded, a flash of pain passed through her eyes.
'What does the feather you gave me mean?' he asked.
Her face turned bright red, and her gaze fell to her lap, where her fingers picked at her skirt.
'It's silly.' She muttered and Harry reached out to take her hand and gave it a squeeze.
She took a deep breath.
'It's sort of a promise ring. It's an old custom where a Veela gives a feather from her transformed state to her intended mate.' Her words came out as barely a whisper.
Harry reached out his free hand and lifted her chin up so their gazes met.
'Would you be my girlfriend?' he asked and looked deep into her eyes.
She beamed and leapt forward to kiss him, forcing him to the ground in her exuberance. The kiss was full of passion and emotions Harry wasn't aware of before then, and neither resurfaced from the kiss for a few minutes.
When Fleur pulled back, pinning Harry to the ground, each wore a goofy grin and uttered the same word.
'Wow.'