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Ch 3: Weighing of the Wands

For a while, they both walked in silence towards the room where the other champions were waiting for them. Hogwarts seemed quiet during the classes as compared to the absolute ruckus students pulled in between, moving between one classroom to another. Harry decided to fill in the silence a bit and asked finally, "So, why did you do that?"

Fleur chuckled, "Your friend, Mr. Creevey, showed me to the classroom. 'e was too scared of that Professor. When I asked 'im, 'e told me 'ow the man terrorizes the students. I decided to 'ave some fun."

"You know, you could be in trouble when someone tells him that you called him a pig." said Harry.

Fleur shrugged carelessly. "Nah. Madam Maxime will not give me any punishment."

Harry raised an eyebrow but decided to remain silent. Fleur looked at him and asked, "So, was it all acting or did you really not put your name in the goblet?"

Harry's jaw immediately hardened. "I wasn't lying."

"Do not worry and please don't be angry on me, 'arry; I can call you 'arry, right?" she asked sweetly.

Harry nodded once.

"Thank you. You can call me Fleur as well. Hmmm…where was I? Oui. No need to be angry on me. I believe you."

Harry looked at her and tried to gauge her sincerity. "Really? Why?"

Fleur nodded. "You are not skilled enough to pull the feat!"

At Harry's look of affront, she laughed. She mussed his hair playfully once and remarked, "Just a leetle boy."

Harry did not know how to react to that, so he remained quiet.

~X~X~X~X~

As they entered a fairly small classroom; desks and chairs were vanished leaving a large empty space in the middle; Bagman noticed them and bounced forward clapping his hands enthusiastically.

"Ah, we have our youngest champion. Come Harry, come."

Harry was starting to dislike his over-cheerfulness.

He noticed the two Durmstrang champions standing off to a side, glaring at the surroundings in general. Cedric was busy in discussion with the other Beauxbatons champion. Harry also noticed that Fleur seemed to sniff at her sight. She unexpectedly took his hand and dragged him off to the other side of the room.

Midway though, they were intercepted by an ugly looking lady with a quill in her hands and a photographer by her side. She wore heavy jeweled spectacles, had curiously rigid curls and an entirely sickening smile. Bagman introduced her as Rita Skeeter, from Daily Prophet.

"Harry" she shrilled in a voice that made him very uncomfortable, "I wonder if I could have a little word with you before we start? The youngest champion, you know…it will add a bit of color to the article."

Before Harry could answer, Rita attempted to take his hand and move in the direction of the nearest broom cupboard. Thankfully, Fleur had a tight grip on him.

"What are we 'ere for then, Miss Skiter? I can add better color, no?" she asked in a sweet voice and looked at Harry. "Besides, 'arry is too leetle for the likes of you."

Rita spluttered for a second but the photographer seemed to be enjoying himself, clicking Fleur's shots in a hurry as if she was about to fly somewhere.

"And who might you be, young girl?" asked Rita in clipped tones and an entirely false smile.

"Fleur Delacour, daughter of Adelard and Apolline Delacour." announced Fleur proudly.

For some reason, Rita's eyes widened at her father's name and she gulped. Harry found this highly interesting but before he could raise any questions, Dumbledore came from upstairs somewhere with Mr. Ollivander in tow.

"Ah, we have all the champions with us here. Good to see you as well Rita. Now, Mr. Ollivander will call you one by one and check your wands for any defects. Xander?" he gestured to the old wand maker.

"Yes. Thank you Albus. Miss Delacour, if you please…?"

Fleur moved forward and handed him her wand.

"Hmmm…" he said twirling it in his long fingers, sending sparks across the room, "nine and a quarter inches, inflexible, rosewood and dear me…a Veela hair as a core."

Fleur smiled. "My grand mère's."

"Yes. Yes. I have never used Veela hair of course, makes for very temperamental wands you see…but to each his own."

Fleur's smile turned a bit…scary. It seemed she had taken offense. "Yes. It eez a pity English wandmakers are not skilled enough to use more distinct cores and usually end up running after shitting unicorns for zere tail 'air."

Everyone looked at Fleur as if she had gone mental and Harry saw Madam Maxime attempting to hide her grimace.

Nonetheless, after allowing the shock to register on his face for a second, Ollivander chuckled uneasily and gave her wand a wave.

A few more sparks and Fleur's wand was pronounced to be in excellent condition.

Fleur came back with a huff and conjured a chair for herself. Making herself comfortable, she sat down and stretched a bit. Another wave of her wand had a blanket draped over her. She sighed and muttered something in French and then promptly closed her eyes. After a yawn or two, to Harry it seemed she was asleep.

Harry gaped at her.

Meanwhile, Ollivander continued calling the other champions forward.

Somewhere along the way, Harry felt a tap on his bum.

He turned on his left and saw a grinning Cedric Diggory an inch from his face.

"You alright, Harry?" Cedric asked.

"Err…Yeah. Fine." said Harry, moving back a little to create space between the two.

"So…did you put your name in the Goblet?"

Harry was starting to feel a little irritated by the same old question being asked again and again. It wasn't as if he had not answered in front of the whole bloody school.

Still, he sighed and shook his head. "No. I didn't."

"Well, I'm sorry in advance if my housemates give you any trouble. I tried to lay them off you but they seem determined."

"Don't worry. Mine aren't any better either. So it doesn't really matter." said Harry.

Cedric nodded his head uncertainly and they watched as Ollivander gave Vlad Dumrov's wand a wave. "Hmmm…if I am not mistaken, it's one of Gregorovitch's."

"Yezzz." said Vlad in his deep voice.

"I do not generally like his designs. Makes for a restricting core." said Ollivander.

Harry prayed Vlad wasn't as sensitive to insults of his countrymen as Fleur was. It seemed the old wandmaker had a huge superiority complex. Someday, that was sure to get him into trouble.

Thankfully, either the Durmstrang boy was not affected or he wasn't much good in English, so he kept his gob shut. Though, it seemed he was glaring a little. But then again, he was always glaring whenever Harry looked at him. So it probably didn't mean anything.

"Polished your wand recently, Harry?" asked Cedric from his side, wiggling his eyebrows for some reason.

"No. Was I supposed to do it?"

"Well, we should always keep our wands clean." said Cedric but then he grimaced. "Though, I guess it doesn't really matter if you look at what they soak it into after putting it together."

Cedric waited for him to ask. "What?"

"It's a mixture of all humors Harry. Blood, spit, piss and shit."

Harry blanched and looked at his wand, making a face. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's fine as long as you are not in the habit of taking it in your mouth once in a while."

Harry felt as if he was going to be sick right then and there. He kept a hand at his mouth as he fought to keep the bile inside.

Yuck…and it wasn't even mine.

"Want me to do it for you?" asked Cedric with a wink.

"What?" asked Harry without taking his hand off his mouth.

"Polish your wand."

Swallowing once, he shook his head and quickly moved towards Ollivander. "My wand next"

He looked at him for a moment and then shrugged. "As you wish, Mr Potter."

Harry tried to keep the grimace from his features.

~X~X~X~X~

After the wand weighing ceremony, Bagman called everyone for a photoshoot. It took a little time for Madam Maxime to wake Fleur up. She kept telling her off.

Harry thought the headmistress would be incredibly angry when Fleur finally woke up. But it seemed Maxime was used to her antics. "Maxi…"

'Maxi' just sighed and waved her wand to make Fleur's hair back to how it was before she went to sleep on a chair.

Harry noticed that Nicole, the other girl, was incessantly glaring a hole into Fleur's head. It seemed the two were bitter rivals from Beauxbatons. Harry could tell as it was incredibly similar to the looks Malfoy gave him sometimes.

When Fleur was ready, the photographer called for individual shots.

Harry gritted his teeth. Why the hell were they waiting for so long if they were to take individual shots first?

It was Harry's turn first. And he hated it.

Not once did he followed the instructions he were being given regarding his facial expressions. He firmly kept attached a scowl that could give the two Bulgarians a run for their money.

Afterwords, all the six champions were shot together. Since he was the smallest and Fleur was a girl and the photographer liked her better, they both were made to sit together. With the others standing behind.

Then it was the Headmasters with their couple champions.

Then the three Heads together.

Then Bagman with each of the three Heads.

Then Bagman and all the three Heads.

Then someone remembered that Ollivander was present as well, standing in a corner, waiting for someone to remember that he was the wand expert and it was the Weighing of the Wands.

So, then it was Ollivander and the three Heads.

Ollivander and Bagman.

Ollivander and Bagman and the three heads.

Ollivander and the Champions. Fleur was sleeping again by then and again 'Maxi' had to wake her up.

Just when Harry was about to punch the photographer, he called for the final shot.

It was a group photograph with the headmasters and Bagman present as well. This time, Madam Maxime was made to sit between Harry and Fleur.

Harry was amazed to see that her head was clearly still a couple feet above his. The photographer was amazed to see this as well.

He kept backing up so that he could somehow take her in the frame but it was getting difficult. Though he persevered, and somehow, it was finally over.

And Harry ran!

He just did not want to take any shit from the reporter now as well.

~X~X~X~X~

He was just about to reach the gates of the Great Hall when he heard his name being called in a peculiar way.

"'ARRY"

He turned around and watched as Fleur came to a stop just before him, taking huge heaves of air. It seemed she was running behind him as well. He could see a thin sheen of sweat forming on her forehead. He had to admit that she was a little too beautiful and it was all too well that he wasn't affected by her allure as much as other boys.

He was affected but just not that much!

"Hoof! Hoof!" wheezed Fleur "You…run too…fast."

She conjured another chair and promptly sat down.

Harry looked around and saw that others were noticing them out of the corner of their eyes and some were outright staring at her.

"Why were you running behind me?" he asked, keeping his voice. "And why are you sitting at the gates of the Hall? Come inside if you have to sit."

"Non. Non." she said. "I waz just tired of running. Zat's all."

"But why?"

"Will you show me the library please?"

Harry looked at her as if she had grown another head.

"Library?"

"Yes. Show me, please."

With that, she got up, took his hand and dragged him in some direction.

~X~X~X~X~

As they entered the library and Harry looked at the huge shelves filled with thousands and thousands of books, he could not help but wonder the reason he hadn't spent more than a few hours in here.

It would have certainly helped him in this time of trauma!

Fleur somehow understood the arrangement of the library just by a look and took him to some unknown section down and further down the shelves.

"What are we doing here, Fleur?" he asked.

"Just wait 'arry." she said. She seemed to be looking for something specific.

"Aha!" she cheered as she apparently found what she was looking for. "You sit zere." she said pointing to a nearby table.

Harry did as she told and waited for her to reappear.

She did, after five minutes, with a handful of books and dumped them in front of him. The she pulled out a seat across from him and sat down with a sigh of comfort. "My legs, killing me…"

Harry looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What is this…?" He said pointing to the books.

He took out one and read the title.

Deaths in Triwizard..

Next one read Monsters of Triwizard.

Another one read When no one remained to play.

"Hem. Hem." Fleur cleared her throat.

"What, are you trying to scare me?" he asked her.

Fleur shook her head. "You are already plenty scared. I can see it in your face."

Harry turned red and spluttered. "What…?"

"I am just showing you that you will die."

Die. Die. Die.

Die.

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