Hey, everyone! Mystery Critic here, back at you with another chapter of Ma Fleur! I hope you all loved the last chapter, because I laughed myself quite a few times. It was a fun chapter to write. I have received so many positive reviews, and it makes my heart soar to see so many people enjoying the story. I'm so sorry I haven't been able to post anything lately. The pandemic has ripped away my muse and my drive to write. On top of that, I've been suffering from depression again. I can't promise the frequency of chapters, but I promise I will write whenever I can. On another note, I have started streaming on Twitch. If you want to come and interact and have fun with me while I play games, come and watch me on Twitch at ph03n1xphyr3. I stream most days at 8 pm CST. I hope to see you there! Please stay safe, everyone. With that out of the way, I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the rights affiliated with it. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy chapter thirty-five of Ma Fleur!

Chapter 35

Italics – French

As Harry and Hermione are about to walk out of Transfiguration class, she freezes in place with a sigh before placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Hold on a moment, Harry," she says, turning back towards Professor McGonagall. "I'm sorry for this, Professor..."

"No you don't!" Harry says, grabbing her wrist. "It's nothing, Professor. Come on, Hermione."

"Harry, what are you doing?" she asks after he pulls her out of the classroom.

"Like I'm going to actually let you keep that promise," he scoffs. "I'm an arsehole, not a sadist."

"Harry..." she sniffles, smiling at him. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I dreaded having to do that!"

"Oh, don't thank me yet..." Harry says, grinning evilly. "We just have to change the punishment."

"Harry, you're scaring me..."

Laughing maniacally, Harry leads Hermione off through the castle and to the doors of the Great Hall. Turning back to her, he smiles almost maliciously before speaking in a gleeful voice.

"So, here are your options, Hermione," he says, tapping his fingers together in anticipation. "You can either start a food fight in the Great Hall, or you can run in, make a rainbow appear in the air, scream that a dragon ate your buttocks, and run back out."

"Harry, please tell me you're not serious!" she squeals in horror.

"No, that's my godfather!" he quipswith a wide grin, earning a slap for the joke.

"I'll start the food fight..." she mutters, looking down in defeat. Walking into the Great Hall, she sits at the Gryffindor table and stares down at a plate of food for a few moments. Taking a deep breath, she pulls out her wand and waves it with a muttered 'Locomotor.' The food from her plate goes flying in five different directions, before slapping right into the faces of Ron, Draco, Fred, George, and Lee Jordon. Taking another deep breath, she prepares to scream out her battle cry before she's interrupted by the twins.

"FOOD FIGHT!" they scream simultaneously, everyone taking out their wands and flinging food around. Pure pandemonium erupts within the Great Hall, food and drink soaring through the air in all directions. Professor McGonagall walks in and gasps in shock at the disorder within the hallowed institution.

"That is enough!" she practically shrieks, trying to make herself heard over the mayhem. After a few overlooked attempts, Harry flicks his finger at a bowl of mashed potatoes from behind her, causing the mush to fly at a blinding speed directly into the face of none other than Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. The food stops flying in an instant, and a pin could be heard dropping if one were so inclined. McGonagall freezes as the food slowly flops off of the Headmaster's stoic face.

For a moment, not a single breath is heard throughout the hall before he smiles jovially, pulls out his wand, and sends another volley of mashed potatoes directly into the Deputy Headmistress's face. After a moment, all the teachers join in, Dumbledore creating animated food animals to pounce and smack into students and teachers alike, joy and mirth clear in his eyes. Everyone in the Great Hall, staff and students, continue in the all out food war. Shaking her head in disbelief, Professor McGonagall closes her eyes, breathes in deeply, and casts a Sonorus on her throat as her voice erupts within the Great Hall.

"STOP NOW!" her Scottish brogue causes the entire hall to freeze once more. "This is a place of learning, not some… Circus of mayhem and silliness! Everyone in this hall will begin to clean and not one person is leaving until I see the entire Great Hall SPOTLESS!"

"Oh come now, Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore says, waving his wand and causing all the destroyed food to disappear. Waving it again, the Great Hall is cleaned of all filth from the battle.

"See? Everything is alright now. There is nothing wrong with embracing your inner child once in a while, my dear."

"Do not be condescending to me, Albus!" she snaps, narrowing her eyes at him as she points her wand at him. "There is a difference between embracing your inner child and acting like a band of wild hooligans! You all should know better, especially you!"

She points across the staff table.

"You're all teachers! I am ashamed of all of you! Fifty points from all four houses for this… This foolishness that I would expect from a band of wild monkeys!"

Turning on her heel, she walks out of the Great Hall with a glare at Harry on her way out, her eyes promising pain and misery at a later time. 'Well, I'm dead,' he thinks, gulping audibly in fear.

"Forty points to each house for engaging in safe, school-wide fun!" Dumbledore exclaims with a grin. "I daresay, I have not had that much fun since I was your age, and I thank you all for letting me play a part in this merriment. However, Professor McGonagall is quite correct. I would not expect this to happen again in your lifetime, so I hope it is a joyous memory for you."

Staring at the Weasley twins, he raises his eyebrows with a smile at the two. "In addition, Messrs. Weasley, please do not take what I said as an active challenge to cause another food fight. You will be punished most heavily. With that, I will ask everyone to please continue on to their classes as lunch period is now over. Off you pop."

Inclining his head at Harry, Dumbledore stands and leaves the Great Hall through the door on the right of the staff table. Fleur walks up to Harry with a wide smile on her face before planting a searing kiss on his lips.

"Zank you for zat, 'Arry," she says as she hugs him. "I 'ave not 'ad zat much fun in quite a while."

"I aim to please, mon amour." He wraps an arm around her waist.

"I aim to please."

~Fleur~

Walking into the Charms classroom with Hermione, Harry walks over to their usual desk and pulls her seat out for her.

"Why thank you, Harry," Hermione says, patting him on his cheek. "I'll be sure to tell Fleur what a good boy you're being."

"Oh shove it, 'Mione," Harry says jokingly before taking his seat.

"I'll leave that to Fred," she responds, leaving Harry's jaw dropping.

"Good afternoon, students!" Flitwick says enthusiastically, interrupting Harry before he can splutter out a response. "Today we're going to be learning about the Severing Charm. Before we begin, I want you to all understand that this charm is potentially very dangerous. If used inappropriately, this charm can injure or even kill someone. I do not want to see this used on ANYONE while you are in this school. If I do, the consequences will be severe.

"Now," he pauses to look around the classroom. "Can someone tell me who invented this particularly useful charm?"

Looking around the class, Flitwick is slightly surprised to see Neville's hand raised among several witches. "Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"

"It was invented by a seamstress in the fifteenth century name Delfina Crimp," he says excitedly, happy to be able to answer a question. "It's one of the things my gran taught me when she was teaching me how to mend clothes. She told me I won't always be able to have someone mend my clothes, so who better to do it than me."

"A very useful mindset, Mr. Longbottom." Flitwick nods proudly at the young wizard. "Five points to Gryffindor. Now, let's learn the incantation. The incantation for this spell is Diffindo. Simply point and cast. Again, be very careful of the target, as this can cause severe injury or death. We're going to be practicing this charm on some thick lengths of rope. If I see a single wand pointing at something other than rope, you'll be in detention faster than you can cast, am I understood? Good. Now get started."

Waving his wand, a thick piece of braided rope shows up in front of every student. Pulling out his wand, Harry smiles at the small thrum of magic that goes through his hand. Pointing his wand at the rope, he speaks the spell, a small pink flash of light slicing through the rope in a single clean cast. Turning to Hermione, he sees another flash of pink cutting through her rope.

"Great job, Mione," Harry says, patting her on her shoulder. "I doubt there's a spell on the planet you couldn't do."

"Oh, stop," she says with a slight blush, bumping her shoulder into his.

"Quit being modest." Harry bumps her back. "There's a reason you're called the brightest witch of our generation."

Smiling at the compliment, Hermione leans over and hugs Harry.

"Thank you, Harry," she mutters into his shoulder. "I'm really thankful you're my friend."

"You better be," he jokes. "I jumped on the back of a bloody troll to save you."

"How long are you going to hold that over my head?'" she deadpans, pulling away from Harry.

"How long will it keep you as my friend?"

"Bold of you to assume that was ever going to change, Potter," she retorts, smacking his shoulder.

"Fair enough." Harry chuckles, smirking at her antics.

As the class passes by, Harry experiments with the spell, trying to increase the strength and width of the spell to test the limits of the spell. When the class ends, Hermione nudges Harry out of his concentration.

"Come on, Harry," Hermione says, putting her notes away. "Let's get to Potions."

"Oh, thanks, Hermione," he says, snapping out of his stupor. Standing up and packing his things away with a wave of his wand, he picks his bag up and follows Hermione out of the class. After a few minutes of walking, they hear muffled whimpering coming from behind a door to their right. Tugging open the door, Harry frowns to find a locking charm on it from the outside. Sending out a pulse of magic, Harry shatters the charm and yanks the door open to see Luna whimpering with her arms wrapped around herself. Her clothes are rumpled and ripped in quite a few places with bruises on her face and arms, along with her shoes missing.

"Luna!" Harry rushes into action, kneeling next to her and running his wand over her to check for any serious injuries. Waving his wand over her leg, he stops dead and growls before the temperature slowly starts increasing around them.

"Your leg is broken… Luna, who did this to you?"

"No one. I… I fell down the stairs," she mumbles.

"Luna, please tell me the truth," Harry says, motioning for Hermione to go and get help. Staying quiet, Luna shakes her head vigorously. With Hermione gone, Harry sighs and decides to open up.

"Luna, I know you didn't fall down the stairs. I've been beaten up enough to know what it looks like. Please. Tell me who did this so I can help you."

"You can't do anything, Harry Potter..." She doesn't meet his eyes.

"Not if you don't tell me, Luna Lovegood," he responds, wrapping his arms around her. "Please tell me who hurt my friend so I can make sure it doesn't happen again."

Silence follows his declaration for a few moments before she speaks up. "The girls in Ravenclaw..." she whispers. "Marietta Edgecomb, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Cho Chang are the ones who usually do it. They beat me up and shoved me in here. They told me that loons like me should sleep in the closet because they don't want me to spoil the air near them..."

The temperature continues to rise as Hermione and Flitwick come running down the hallway where Harry is carrying Luna out of the closet, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her face buried into his shoulder. Seeing a student of his House in such a state causes Flitwisk to gasp in shock before bursting into action.

"Miss Lovegood!" He rushes up and starts examining her, waving his wand over her body. "Your leg is broken! What in the world happened to you?!"

"She's been bullied by the girls in Ravenclaw, Professor," Harry growls out through barely contained rage. "I'll ask you once. Did you know?"

"Of course not, Mr. Potter!" the diminutive professor snaps, offended by the suggestion. "If I had even the slightest idea of this, I would have put a stop to it faster than you could draw a wand!"

"I believe you," Harry says simply. "I'm taking her to the hospital wing."

Shimmering into the hospital wing, he places Luna gently on a bed. "Madame Pomfrey!" he calls out, not taking his eyes off Luna.

"Mr. Potter, I will thank you not to yell in- Miss Lovegood!" Rushing up to the young witch, Madame Pomfrey immediately begins running diagnostic spells.

"Mr. Potter, what happened to Miss Lovegood?"

"Flitwick will be here soon, he'll explain," Harry growls out. "I have some people to see."

"Mr. Potter!" Madame Pomfrey exclaims, trying to stop him from Shimmering out in vain.

"Merlin help those children..."

A few minutes later, the doors of the infirmary burst open. Flitwick spots Luna and runs up to her with Hermione right behind him.

"What happened to Miss Lovegood, Filius?" Pomfrey asks, grabbing potion vials and continuing to wave her wand over Luna's body.

"According to Mr. Potter, she's been bullied for quite a while," Flitwick says sadly, rubbing his temple. "I can't believe I never saw it."

"It wasn't your fault, Professor." Luna smiles weakly at her Head of House. "I've gotten very good at hiding things. Go stop Harry before he does something he'll regret."

"Use the Floo in my office, Filius," Pomfrey says simply before turning her attention back to Luna. Hurrying into her office, Filius tosses powder into the fire and mutters out his destination before stepping through the fireplace. Rushing out into the Ravenclaw common room from his office, he sees Harry standing in the center of the common room. Crimson tendrils of magic swirl around as students cower in fear behind the furniture.

"Mr. Potter, please stop this!" Flitwick pleads with the young man. "If you try to harm any of the students, I will have to stop you."

"I don't want to hurt you, Professor," Harry says, looking around the room. His wand shakes in his hand as the air ripples around him from the heat. "I just want the ones who did this to Luna."

"Mr. Potter, I can promise you they will be punished appropriately! However, you cannot break into another House's common room and threaten fellow students with violence!" He slowly approaches Harry, his hands in the air in a gesture of peace.

"I understand how you feel, Harry. I've had friends hurt, too. I know how angry you are, and that anger is justifiable. Let's do this properly, and ensure they are punished without you getting in trouble, Mr. Potter."

After a few moments of silence, Harry speaks up; "You promise they won't ever touch her again?"

"I will swear on my honor that they will never touch her again," Flitwick agrees, moving closer.

"You have to stop this now, though. Don't stoop to their level, Harry. They're not worth it. Go back to Miss Lovegood and let me take care of this."

The magical tendrils disappear with a sigh of defeat as Harry nods before disappearing. Turning back towards his students, Professor Flitwick shakes his head at them in disappointment. Reappearing in the infirmary, Harry grabs a chair and sits next to Luna silently.

"Harry, I'm going to go find Fleur, okay?" Hermione places a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder. With a silent nod from him in confirmation, she turns and walks out of the infirmary.

"Thank you, Harry Potter," Luna says drowsily, smiling up at her friend as sleep begins to take her.

"For what, Luna?"

"Being my friend," she mumbles before falling asleep.

Shaking his head with a smile, Harry holds his sleeping friend's hand before speaking the words that will leave her smiling throughout her entire sleep: "I'll always be your friend, Luna Lovegood."

Well, everyone! There's chapter thirty-five! I'm so sorry it took so long to make and that it's not too long. I will try to write more, and I hope you'll all bear with me as I continue to struggle with life, stories, and games. On an incredible note, Ma Fleur broke 3,300 followers! I'm so excited and thankful for every single one of you! As usual, read, review, and spread this story like wildfire! This is Mystery Critic, signing off.