AN: Thank you for your support everyone. Keep reading.
Ch 8: Up to the Task
"Where are we going? Wait…this. Are you taking me outside Hogwarts again?"
"Non, 'Arry." Fleur replied with a huge yawn.
"Then…why are we here?"
"To introduce you to ze complementary course to yesterday's 'Target Practice'."
Harry swallowed and wiped away the thin sheen of sweat from his forehead despite the chilly morning air.
"Fleur, you don't really mean that you woke me up at six in the morning so that the Whomping Willow could beat the shit out of me, right? Right?"
"Well, of course not. It eez only ze best dodging practice I could theenk of."
Harry stared at the huge sentient tree with a look of absolute terror pasted on his face. He hadn't forgotten the time in his second year when the cursed tree had tried to kill him and Ron by smashing Mr. Weasley's car into a pulp. Neither had he forgotten the last year when he had lost his glasses and the blasted tree was throwing him up and down like a rag doll in the hands of a child. He had been somehow saved both times as those contacts hadn't lasted for more than a minute or two. But Fleur seemed to be planning to throw him to the world's only maniac tree's mercy for a much longer time.
He turned towards her with a pleading expression.
"Please, Fleur. You cannot be serious. This tree has a history with me. It definitely wants to succeed this time in killing me."
Fleur smothered another yawn. "'Arry, don't be an idiot. She 'az promised me not to kill you."
"She? Whomping Willow is a 'she'?"
"Of course. Why do you think 'she' iz a 'he'?"
"Well…"
"Anyway, don't waste my time. Move forward."
"Fleur, I am telling you. This isn't a good idea. Even if it doesn't kill me, it can seriously hurt me."
"Zat iz ze 'ole point 'Arry. Pain is a great motivator. And there iz not much magic cannot 'eal with, short of death."
Harry swallowed. "How much time?"
Fleur smiled. "Zat's my boy. Only three 'ours. Dodge as much as you can. Return to the 'ospital Wing when you are done."
Harry again looked up at the monstrous tree and tried to suppress his fear when he saw that it actually shuddered in anticipation. He turned towards Fleur but seeing the steely glint in her eyes, he knew that he had no choice. Steeling himself as well and taking a deep breath, he stepped forward.
And just as soon, a clearly transparent solid shield manifested itself behind him, circling the whole perimeter of the tree.
"What is this, Fleur?" he asked in panic as he turned towards her with wide eyes.
"An arrangement to prevent you from escaping 'Arry." she replied with another dazzling smile. "Three 'ours. And yes, I 'ave taken the liberty to take your wand from you."
"You can't be serious." he shouted.
"I am. Enjoy." she said as she turned around.
"Where are you goooooooooooooooooing….?" yelled Harry as he felt a very rough wooden surface, wood, impact on his back and throw him around like a piece of rock. He crashed painfully with the transparent shield on the other side of the circle and felt blood in his nose.
He distinctly heard Fleur's voice saying something along the lines of '…to sleep' and growled in annoyance before another branch took him by his waist and threw him back to where he had started.
His vision blackened for a moment and he saw stars before it returned as he saw a flash of silver hair entering a distinct carriage.
"You…"
He turned towards the angry tree and realized that it wasn't angry at all. It was merely playing with him, at least up until now. Another branch came out of nowhere at a great speed and Harry ducked at the last moment, the wood flying away from his head.
He sneered at the tree channeling his inner Malfoy and the tree most definitely took an offence.
Harry didn't even know how a couple of his teeth survived the next attack as he actually heard most of them fall to the ground below.
Pain enveloped him as he drank his own blood.
~X~X~X~X~
Exactly three hours later, a bloodied, broken and bruised Harry Potter was limping towards the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts with an arm around his female mentor who had, for some reason, deemed it necessary that they not make use of the levitation charm in the process.
A little more pain wouldn't kill him, she had said.
Harry had stopped scowling by this point and just took what she gave him.
The tree was done with him in only two hours actually. Apparently, Fleur was serious when she had told him that 'she' wouldn't kill him. He had laid another forty five minutes in a prone position, blood oozing slowly from the various cuts and scratches on his body as well as his nose and teeth.
She had dispelled the transparent shield and woken him up with a hand on his cheek.
"Enough for you, is it?" he had tried to ask but only unintelligible gurgles came out. Fleur though, apparently understood him.
"It waz necessary, 'Arry." she said with a sad smile. "You will learn faster this way."
She helped him up and then drew him closer to her. Harry was, even in his pain filled world, surprised by the brief hug she gave him. It wasn't like Fleur to be this emotional. Well, she probably really understood…
They made their way towards the hospital wing in silence, with Harry eliciting quite a few groans and whimpers of pain along the way.
Several students noticed the odd position of the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Probably-Won't-Soon in the corridors. On one hand, he looked quite seriously in pain and on the other side, he was completely leaning on the most beautiful French Veela. Some were also confused as to whether the Veela herself was responsible for the boy's condition and what had the boy really done to gain such treatment.
Harry had no doubt regarding the absurdity, and vulgarity as well this time, of the rumors about to grace the halls of Hogwarts very soon.
They finally reached the Wing and Madam Pomfrey bustled towards him.
"What have you done to yourself this time, Mr. Potter? I just treated you yesterday with magical exhaustion."
Harry silently pointed a finger, one amongst the few bones which were still intact, at Fleur.
The nurse turned her glare towards Fleur who answered the query, "He iz preparing for ze tournament. He weel visit quite often this year."
Poppy took a deep breath and motioned for her to take him to his regular bed.
It took two hours for Harry to get back to his previous health. Thankfully, it was much easier to attach bones with magic as compared to entirely growing them back using skele-grow as he had to do in his second year.
Though, the number of bones Poppy had to reattach was quite staggering.
"ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY. ARE YOU INSANE BOY? WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME WERE YOU DOING?"
He had to take a little skelegrow to regrow his teeth however, so this number did not include them.
"Wrestling the Whomping Willow." he answered truthfully.
"WHAT?"
Harry pointed his finger at Fleur again. "Ask her."
Fleur had sat by him during the entire process of his healing. Though she had a blank look on her face, he could the see the worry reflected in her eyes. He sighed in irritation. He just couldn't understand the girl. She would have been so adorable only if she weren't so…ruthless.
"Ms. Delacour, I do hope you know what you are doing with him."
"'e needs to learn if 'e is to survive."
"But he is a child."
"I am here, you know." Harry muttered but he was ignored.
"Children can not survive this tournament, Madam, I am afraid." said Fleur with an unusual seriousness on her face.
Poppy sighed heavily and left them alone. She knew that the French girl was correct. She just hoped young Potter would survive this as well.
Fleur turned to Harry who was staring at her unblinkingly. "What?"
Harry shrugged but then sighed. "How can you act so different one moment and then just turn around one eighty degrees the next? I know that you are doing this for me, I know that you are trying to make me tougher but still…who is the real Fleur Delacour. The one who breaks my bones or the one who sits by me for two hours when they are being healed?"
Fleur, as usual, turned this into a joke. "Ze one 'oo won't sit 'ere tomorrow."
"Fleur…"
"'Arry…"
"Fine. What do you mean by tomorrow? You want me to break my bones everyday now?"
"Of course. Az I said, Pain iz a-"
"-great motivator. Blah. Blah. Blah. I got it. How are you going to score me for this special variety of dodging practice though?"
"Simple. You are done when you don't need to come 'ere anymore."
"But-"
"Come along now. And I will teach you something fun this time. But first, we will get lunch."
That was that. One more day in the troubled life of Harry Potter.
So, Harry just followed her.
~X~X~X~X~
"Know any powerful fire shooting spells, 'Arry?"
"Incendio." He answered promptly.
"I said 'powerful'. Lost your hearing recently, non?"
"Nope. Nothing better than that."
"Fine" Fleur waved her wand and a wooden statue of a girl in Beauxbatons uniform materialized in front of Harry.
"Woah. That's some heavy magic. Who is she?"
Fleur raised an eyebrow.
"Wait! Now I remember. She's that Nicole girl, right? Your other champion?"
"Not my other champion. But yes, she iz."
"What do I do with her?"
"Burn her to the ground." Fleur replied with an unholy glint in her eye.
"What?"
"It's a statue 'Arry. I want you to perform your best 'Incendio' at eet and we will go from there."
Harry scratched his head. He had noticed the kind of looks that were traded between the two french girls. It had immediately reminded him of Malfoy. "What's between you two? I noticed both of you shooting glares at each other in the wand ceremony as well."
Fleur shook her head. "Why do you want to know everything 'Arry? You see, some people 'ave personal lives az well."
Harry shrugged. "Well, people do go out of their way to know everything about me. And turnabout is fair play. Besides, now that you are the only one who 'talks' with me in the whole bloody castle, I guess I am just hungry for conversation. And you seem to be interesting enough."
Fleur smiled. "Okay. I will indulge you this time. Potato, zat is Nicole, waz my best friend back when I had friends. She did something to piss me off very badly. Zat ended it for us."
"What did she do?" asked Harry curiously.
"Now, that iz being nosy."
"Please. Tell me. You can't seriously leave it at that."
Fleur looked at him for a second and then sighed softly. "Fine. She betted me away for a night with an older boy."
Silence.
More Silence.
"She did what?" growled Harry Potter.
"Calm down 'Arry."
"No. She did what?" Harry exploded. "That bitch. And she is strutting freely after…after what she did to you. Hell, she is a champion from your school. She should be expelled for what she did. Is your headmistress as mental as mine is?"
"You 'ave a 'eadmaster."
"Fuck his gender. And don't change the topic. Why is she still studying here? Why wasn't she expelled?"
"Eet was a long time ago. Maxi did not know about it. It waz not like I 'ad to 'onor her bet. Eet just waz."
Harry took a deep breath. "She should still be punished. She doesn't deserve-"
Fleur smirked. "Do you really think I did not punish 'er?"
Harry cocked his head. "What did you do?"
"'ung 'er naked in zat boy's dormitory and locked the door for the night. Even 'e wasn't interested in her. I suspect she 'ates me more because he did not do anyzing to 'er. Plus, I recorded everything and showed it to each and every girl in school."
Harry just stared at her for a minute before Fleur started fidgeting and then promptly burst into laughter. "I was right…You literally have a mean bone in you."
Fleur chuckled a little as well, remembering her revenge.
"Now enough. Incendio her." she ordered after a while.
"With pleasure." said Harry and incinerated the statue to ash with a look of glee on his face.
It took him three minutes of constant casting.
"Done."
Fleur nodded. "We 'ave to reduce that time and increase the power of your spell."
"How?"
"Sit down, 'Arry." she said, patting the ground beside her as she usually did.
Harry took his seat and listened.
"Now 'Arry, what I am about to teach you is dangerous magic. Do not tell about this to anyone. Anyone. Okay?"
Harry nodded seriously.
"You can think of this az a shortcut I devised just for you. Again, do not tell anyone about this."
"I promise. Now kill the suspense Fleur."
Fleur nodded. "You know why 'ogwarts 'as ze most powerful wards in 'istory? None, I am telling you, can breach them."
"Why?"
She drew the silence for a moment until Harry almost opened his mouth but then she whispered as if telling him a huge secret. "Because 'Ogwarts is built on the convergence point of three powerful magical ley lines."
"What are ley lines?" asked Harry.
Fleur groaned. "I should 'ave known. Don't you read anyzing? Fine. Now listen. Ley lines are magical, mystical alignments containing earth'z spiritual energy connecting ancient sites. If there is a place where there iz more than one ley line, it will be filled with great power."
"Got it. Hogwarts has great magical energy."
"Yes. And you can make use of eet."
Harry's eyes widened. Now it was getting interesting. "How?"
"I'll teach you. With practice, your spells will become much more powerful. Inside 'Ogwarts, that iz."
"Wow! I will be like Dumbledore." Harry marveled.
Fleur face-palmed. "No, you sot. You will not. It weel only amplify your own potential a little. If you try to access more magic from these lines, your body weel saturate and you weel die. What we don't want. "
Harry frowned. "I don't understand."
"'Arry. There iz a reason not everyone iz a God 'ere. Dumbledore iz a powerful man. 'e does not need ley lines to produce great torrents of fire. You need this to protect yourself. To gain an advantage over others in this tournament. Or at least to even the odds. "
"But how will I do that if I die?"
"Zat iz what we need to learn. To control zat power and draw only a miniscule amount." Fleur pointed out.
Harry asked tentatively. "'ave you done this before?"
Fleur nodded. "Twice. But I do not need it."
"Just like Dumbledore."
Fleur nodded once more, not even trying to go for modesty for once.
"Now, what you need to do iz…"
~X~X~X~X~
The next day, Fleur knocked on the door of her Headmistress's office.
"Come in."
Fleur pushed the door open and entered the ornately designed office of Madam Maxime. It was a mixture of style and expense that wasn't much common with magicals. The shelves were filled with all kinds of books, a large aquarium sat in one corner of the room and a lively statue of an eagle was fixed on the ceiling of the room. The most noticeable of all was the height of the room, in accordance with the requirements of the headmistress.
In the centre of the room, sat Madam Maxime behind her throne like chair. She had once told Fleur that she had copied that particular tidbit from Professor Dumbledore.
"You called me Maxi." said Fleur as she took a seat.
Maxi nodded.
"What is it?" Fleur asked eyeing the serious expression on Maxi's face. It wasn't like her to be that serious. Normally, the half-giantess had a jovial personality with those she knew on a personal level. Fleur was curious as to what had happened to put that kind of expression on her face.
She wasn't happy to find out.
"You must stop your acquaintance with Harry Potter."
As the words spilled from her mouth and presumably reached Fleur's brain, Maxi saw a flicker of uncontrolled rage on the beautiful Veela's face before it was covered with a mask of annoyance. Maxi let out an imperceptible breath as she controlled herself from reaching out to her wand and casting a cooling charm. She feared Fleur, plain and simple. She knew very well what an angry Delacour could do.
Fleur leaned back on her chair and allowed a ghost of a smile to grace her features. Inside though, she was trembling with Fury. For some reason, Maxi's statement had ticked a clock in her head.
"Can I ask you the reason behind this sudden command, Maxi?" she asked softly.
Maxi took a deep breath and nodded. "Nicole came to me yesterday-"
"Ah, the potato! I should have known."
"No! She came to me yesterday and told me about the rumours going rampant about you and the Potter boy. I confirmed them myself. You have been spending too much time with him these past days. He is your competitor. You must not allow him-"
Fleur narrowed her eyes just a tiny bit. "What I do with my time is my business and my business alone, Maxi. Or need I remind you a few facts better left buried in the past."
Maxime pursed her lips. "Fleur, you don't understand. If your fat-"
"I understand very well, Maxime." Fleur thundered. "Do not take me for a fool."
"But I just-" Maxime started.
"What happens between me and Harry is my headache. If you interfere or if anybody interferes, Morgana forbid me, I won't leave enough of that person to interfere."
With that, she stood up and turned. "Have a good day, Maxi." she said finally before kicking the door shut on her way out.
Maxime cupped her face in her hands. Why hadn't she chosen Hogwarts to be the headmistress? Why only France? Yes, yes, Dumbledore. Old man here.
Oh, this would be bad. She could just see it. Very very bad.
~X~X~X~X~
Days passed and Harry Potter continued his extensive and somewhat wonky training with Fleur Delacour.
He took his training from both the trees, he learnt what he called the technique of 'leyley' from Fleur and he applied those techniques in spells old and new.
He did everything he could think of, that is what Fleur told him, to improvise himself and delay his inevitable death for a few more years. And yes, he improved as well. He still managed to land himself in the Hospital Wing everyday but every time, the number of bones the nurse had to reattach decreased. Last time, it was 'only' eighty.
Fleur talked to him of her life sometimes and he shared his very own stories with her. She wasn't much impressed by the 'Battling with Basilisk' tale, attributing his win to sheer dumb luck but she had an odd look and a gaping mouth when she met Prongs of 'Patronuses and Prongs'.
Harry had smirked at finally leaving her speechless. He obviously wouldn't have if he had known the truth behind her reaction but Fleur somehow managed to contain herself.
Days passed and Harry Potter somewhere along the lines stopped caring or even thinking about his past friends and classmates. Nobody talked to him and he left them alone. Frankly, it wasn't even bad. If not for the looming death threat on his head, he would have said this was quickly becoming to be the best year of his Hogwarts life.
It was because of Fleur, naturally.
She was cool. She was beautiful. She was lovely.
And something happened to him when he saw her these days. But it was a foreign feeling. Similar to what he felt for Sirius and his Mum and Dad but a little more pronounced and centered around a specific organ on his body.
His Heart obviously.
Why did he blush so much these days? And since when had Fleur started using lipstick. So Red.
God, she just seemed to glow in moonlight. And sunlight. And lamplight. And wandlight.
And that smell. She smelt so lovely. Garden lilies and Roses and Jasmine, all in one. Fleur means flower, right?
"'Arry. 'Arry?. 'Arry?"
"Yes…yes Flower."
"What?"
"I mean. Yes Fleur."
"What happened to your nose?"
"Nothing…nothing at all."
"You all right, 'Arry? You are behaving…unusual, lately."
"Yes. I am perfectly fine. Nothing on my nose, see? No boogers."
"Umm…right. You do not need to feel scared."
"I am NOT scared. I am feeling above the clouds, just like the time you threw me from above."
"Right. Ready for the first task."
"Absolutely."
And Harry Potter went inside the camp, hand in hand with Fleur Delacour, sporting the biggest smile on his face for someone who is knowingly, most probably, walking to his doom.
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