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Now, updates might take a leetle more time from now onwards since my Uni exams are starting in two days. Believe me if you will, that as an outstanding student, I naturally didn't study at all up until this point. So, in order to pass, I really need to read. And second read. And third read. An so on.

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Ch 7: Dancing with a Tree

As far as Harry could remember, his life had always been full of extremes. An extremely young age to become an orphan, an extremely hateful band of relatives to be dropped at, an extremely pleasant surprise when he found that he was a wizard and magic really was real, and of course, extreme situations of life and death opposite some extreme kind of monsters and Dark Lords, where one mistake or a little less amount of luck could end up in him being laid flat and meeting his parents.

However, all these extremes were never designed to hurt him as blatantly as of now. This time, he was thrust into an extremely ridiculous situation, at the watch of the entire fucking world nonetheless, for a year long depravity in the name of fun for Wizards.

The thought was enough to make him shudder in the privacy of his dorm.

He should have been grateful that Fleur had agreed to help him, her very own competitor. And instead, he had yelled, raved and ranted at her. She had only done something that might save his arse in the future. She had bloody taught him Apparition in just one fucking night.

And he had gone all out on her.

In the words of his Uncle Vernon, he had really acted like an ungrateful brat.

Harry sighed.

For a change, he had really done something to apologize this time.

He didn't know what torture Fleur had planned for him in the immediate future but he'll gladly accept it and try to really learn from the experience. So that, hopefully, she won't have to use some underhanded trick to make him grasp the difficult concepts of wizardry at a faster pace.

Well, at least he could Apparate now. Whatever she did, it was as good a start as any.

Harry ran a hand through his wet hair, getting ready for the day ahead of him, and determined that an apology was in order very soon. After lunch.

Nodding resolutely to himself, he picked his bag and walked out of the door.

~X~X~X~X~

Fleur, as expected, had her eyes closed when he arrived at their previously agreed meeting place near the lake.

This time though, she had also taken a little time to create a very comfortable looking hammock, of all things, to laze upon. It was a white netted piece tied to a couple of trees and spelled to sway a little on both sides very slowly. Or, it might well be the slow wind making her hair flow in all the directions.

She seemed to have something new up her sleeve whenever he met her.

He thought for a minute, standing still in front of her, not quite knowing how to make his approach after his show in the morning. Deciding to get the apology out of the way first, he cleared his throat. "Fleur…"

"Hmmm…" she answered as if she knew all along that he was there.

That was the way she was. Harry never knew the difference between whether she was really sleeping or not. It sometimes irritated the hell out of him and sometimes amused him greatly.

"I am sorry." he blurted.

"For?" she asked, never opening her eyes.

"For my behavior this morning. I should have known that you would take care of me." he replied softly and then added hastily. "I mean, you wouldn't let me die."

Fleur sighed. "True. I wouldn't. But you shouldn't trust someone so easily, 'arry. Not everyone has your good in zeir 'earts."

"Still…"

"OK. Apology accepted. Now-"

But he interrupted her. "And I promise I will try my best this time. I won't disappoint you again."

Fleur finally opened her eyes to take a look at him and smiled. "Thank you. Now, give me your books."

Harry visibly relaxed after that and handed his bag to her. She took out his Defense, Charms and Transfiguration textbooks and then threw the bag away. She then beckoned Harry towards her.

Harry moved a little towards her and stopped but she gestured again. So he went closer. And closer and closer. Soon, he was leaning down a little on her. He wasn't still as close to her as he wished. He couldn't feel her breath on him but it was enough to look directly in her eyes. They were blue, very very blue.

And then they blurred.

"What are you doing, Fleur?"

She had removed his glasses in a fluid motion of her hands.

"Ssshhhh…" she said and Harry could see her doing something with the pair of glasses but it wasn't clear what. He blinked and squinted and tried to make out what she was doing. She had her wand in her hand probably. Or was it a stick, he didn't know. It wasn't clear at all.

However, a minute later, he felt her fingers on his chin and he suddenly gasped. "It's me, 'arry. Do not worry."

Well, of course, he knew it was her. That was the reason behind his sudden intake of breath. Fleur was definitely doing something to him. He hadn't felt this way before. It was getting difficult to control his reactions in front of her.

And what in Merlin's name were these reactions anyway.

God, she had just touched him.

"Now, open your eyes wide."

He raised his eyebrows at her. For some reason, he could never raise a single eyebrow as he had seen other people doing several times. He just didn't have the required muscle control. Fleur, however, pulled that look with such grace…

"Why?" he asked her.

"Just do it, 'Arry." she said in her clipped tones.

Harry did as he was told, even as Fleur herself took the matters in her own hands and used her fingers to widen the gap between his eyelids gently. He saw her finger closing on one of his eye and resisted the urge to flinch. She gently touched her finger to his Pupil and withdrew.

And the world came back into focus.

"What did you do?" he asked, amazed to feel no weight at all on his ears and still being able to see with such clarity.

"Contacts." she replied. "Let me do eet wiz the left one as well."

Harry nodded gratefully and she repeated the process with his other eye.

"How did you make them?"

She held up the frame of his glasses now sporting two holes in the center. "Magic." she said simply.

"Of course. Thanks." he nodded. "What are we doing today?"

Fleur sighed and pointed at a tree nearby. It was a very normal looking tree, nothing fancy. Harry didn't even know what it was called.

"What about it?" he asked.

Instead of answering him, she sat up and flopped down the hammock. She then led him to the tree and took out her wand. Harry noticed that the tree was the only one without any other companion in a long radius.

Pointing it at the tree, she started murmuring something in her breath as a light green glow started forming on her wand.

Harry watched with interest as the light grew more pronounced as she continued her incantation and suddenly she released the spell with a loud exhale and a shimmering green ball of light rushed towards the trunk of the tree.

Nothing happened.

Fleur took a deep breath and exhaled it. She was sweating a little. Harry concentrated on the tree and waited for something to happen; the tree to fall down or some plants to sprout nearby or the tree to enlarge to gigantic proportions or well, attack him but nothing of the sort happened.

Only a leaf fell.

"What were you trying to do exactly?" he asked her finally when she had steadied somewhat and was breathing normally again.

Fleur looked at him and raised that perfect eyebrow he was wondering about earlier. "Trying, 'Arry?" she asked with a snort.

"Yeah…I can't see any effect of your spell." Two more leaves fell. "Except that leaf, maybe."

Fleur smirked haughtily. "That waz ze point."

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded. "You poured that much magic so that a leaf could fall. I could have simply plucked it for you."

For emphasis, he went to the tree and plucked out a leaf. "See?"

Fleur just shook her head and muttered "Idiot" under her breath. "Come 'ere" she said with a scowl and Harry went back to her.

Fleur then adopted her lecture mode and started. "What I waz doing eez called enchanting. It eez a different form of magic which I do not think is taught at 'ogwarts since students 'ere are fools 'oo cannot wave zere wands properly, let alone understand the concepts of this fine branch, which only a few could 'ave a grasp in zeir entire lifetimes, let alone at seventeen years of age like myself."

By the end of her statement, spittle was coming out of her mouth and Harry was trying to wipe it without being too obvious. He too had his moments of subtlety.

"And take out a hanky for Magic's sake."

Well, there.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." he said raising his hands. "I was just asking."

"Zen why are you apologizing?" she yelled. "And I told you not to interrupt me, did I not?"

"Well…you are shouting Fleur." he pointed .

"I can do whatever I want. I am the teacher 'ere. It eez my right-"

"Are you on PMS?" Harry blurted before he could stop himself and quickly put both of his hands on his mouth.

Fleur's eyes widened and blood rushed to her cheeks. She stood absolutely still for a moment and then looked at him as if she would chew him in her dinner for the evening. But then, she closed her eyes, turned around and took a rather deep breath.

Harry considered running away when he had the chance but then her shoulders sagged and she spoke a word which was enough to stop him in his tracks.

"Sorry."

"What?"

"I said I am sorry. I sometimes become…irrational. You asked the right question but I…?"

"You really are on PMS?"

"Shut up." Fleur yelled, throwing her arms above her in exasperation. "Do you have a one track mind, boy?"

But then she snorted and a reluctant chuckle escaped her. Harry wondered if she had snapped and finally gone insane as she soon dropped on the ground and her slow chuckles turned into an elaborate full blown laugh.

He looked at her as she tried to stop herself but failed miserably and finally gave in. He observed her face, devoid of any worries, any pain, any exhaustion, any sleep…just simple miraculous beauty. She grabbed her stomach and heaved for air but did not stop until her eyes watered and she had to wipe the tears of laughter away with her fingers.

He noticed that she kept her nails long. Silvery polished.

A small part of his mind thought that Professor Lupin would have a heart attack if he ever saw her. She loved silver so much.

And a much bigger part of his brain just tried to commit, to imprint, this very important moment and the very tiny details related to this event to itself, in a way that he would remember this forever.

Her laughter was the single best thing he had ever heard. Better than a wind chime. Tinkling.

Harry grinned. Another memory for Prongs…

Fleur finally stopped and looked at him, looking at her. She didn't blush this time and instead patted the ground beside her.

Harry took the invitation and sat down.

"You are funny, 'arry." she said with a smile, after some time.

"Is it an invitation for another sleep over, Fleur?" he asked with a shy grin.

Fleur shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, non."

"You liked sleeping with me so much?" he asked, titling his head on a side.

"I like sleeping, 'arry. Period."

Harry's grin faded and he sighed exasperatedly. "And here I thought, you actually liked me."

Fleur just looked at him oddly and he smiled sheepishly, ruffling his hair. "Sorry. Bad joke."

Feeling a little uncomfortable, he looked around and spotted that same tree which had started everything. "So, what did you really do?" he asked as he saw another couple of leaves fall.

"Ah, I forgot." Fleur chided herself. "As I said, I enchanted it. An Enchantment essentially means adding a permanent effect to a spell. Or at least, a long term effect. For instance, I enchanted zis tree to never run out of leaves. Even during winter."

"Er…what has this got to do with me?"

Fleur nodded to herself as if she knew he wouldn't stop interrupting. "You know the stunning spell, 'Arry?"

Harry nodded. "Of course. It is actually a fourth year spell here. But Moody kind of skipped it in favor of the unforgivables…so I had to learn it myself."

"Unforgivables?" Fleur asked with another raised eyebrow.

She looked very cute when she did that.

But Harry shook his head and answered her. "Yeah. The man loves them for some reason. Especially the imperius. He put everyone in the class under it in the name of practice."

Fleur looked at him as if he was dumb and shook her head. "You must be mistaken. Unforgivables are unforgivables."

Harry shrugged. "He took Dumbledore's permission. Said it's better we learn it here than in some dark alley from some death eater."

"Dumbledore 'as no right to give 'im permission. It eez the matter of international treaty."

"I don't know. Dumbledore is the head of ICW, isn't he?"

"Still…I don't like it." she said. "How did it feel like?"

"What?"

"Imperius."

Harry grinned. "Well, it was an intensely pleasurable experience at first. I felt so happy that I would have done bloody anything to retain that happiness, but then…"

Fleur leaned forward. "But zen?"

"Then I threw it off and I was normal again." he said proudly.

"Impossible" she scoffed.

Harry scowled. "I did it. Ask anyone."

"It must have been a low powered curse then." she replied.

"Hehe. Very funny. For your kind information my lady, I was the only one who could do it." He said and then stuck his tongue out like a kid. And then added smugly, "In the entire school."

Fleur sighed. "Fine. Good for you. Now back to the stunning spell…"

"Yeah. Yeah. What about it?"

Fleur swished her wand once and Harry looked up to see more of the leaves falling from the tree, at a little accelerated rate this time. Five or so leaves per second. He looked closely and realized that as one leaf fell, another would instantaneously take its place. Fleur really had done something incredible if this could actually go on for years.

"Now 'arry, what you need to do is simple. Stand up. Take a position and start hitting ze leaves with stunning spells."

"What? I have to hit…leaves of all things?" He raised his wand and a single leaf incinerated as his magic connected with it. "It's simple."

Fleur smiled condescendingly. "It eez not."

"Well Fleur…"

"Stand up, 'Arry." she ordered in a no nonsense tone.

Harry made a face but complied.

"Now, you will not stop moving at any cost. You will 'it as many leaves as you can running in circles around the tree. Eef you can 'it fifty in an 'our, I weel increase ze rate they are falling."

"And you will do what exactly in the mean time?"

"I will study ze books you gave me, no?"

Harry nodded with a sigh and took his position. Fleur stood up and moved back towards her hammock calling a 'start' over her shoulder.

Harry stood for a second and then aimed his wand at a leaf shouting 'Stupefy', grinned at his success, aimed at another leaf and again shouted 'Stupefy' and pumped his fists. "This is too damn simple."

Fleur just snorted. "Keep you voice down and move."

It wasn't too damn simple after two hours.

He was sweating profusely, his throat was dry, his legs hurt by all the running around, his muscles were sore, his hands refused to raise his wand one more time and his butt cheeks were stinging from the curses Fleur was throwing his way negligently. She had apparently forgotten to mention that part of his so called 'Target Practice'.

Another stinging curse came his way and he managed to roll on his side just enough to dodge it by a centimeter.

"I will die…" he gasped.

"You weel if you don't stand up." said Fleur from her position on the hammock, not looking up, but throwing another couple of stinging hexes his way.

They both made an impact this time and Harry's eyes watered.

He looked up and cursed the person who was responsible for planting this tree.

Bloody hell, the worst part was that although he had lost count pretty early in the exercise, he knew well enough that he hadn't hit more than forty leaves casting the stunner at least two hundred times. That meant, at most twenty percent accuracy. God, he was pathetic.

Taking a deep breath, he raised himself on all fours and stood up with great care. He raised his wand with both his hands and actually growled in anger.

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

His hands buckled but he kept on going. Gotta do fifty, that became his mantra.

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

A stinging hex came towards him but he side stepped.

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

Only one more.

"Stupefy"

He turned towards Fleur with a big smile on his face. "Done."

She looked up from his book with a blank expression and asked. "What?"

"Fifty…" he wheezed. "Done. Fifty leaves."

"You were supposed to do them in an 'our 'Arry. It's close to three."

And Harry Potter fainted.

His last thoughts were utterly simple, one word really.

Bitch.

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