AN: and here is chapter 7 straight from the factory. Special thanks to my beta SpiritHolly!
Disclaimer: I own nothing about the world of harry potter except for my enjoyment of it. J.K. Rowling owns all rights to Harry Potter, i am just playing in her world.
The next few weeks went by relatively quick. The girls were over at Potter Manor almost every day, while Harry taught them some of the more advanced techniques he himself used on his Occlumency. The girls had all of their new memories sorted within a week, and after locking up all of the memories that they no longer wanted to see, they spent many hours working on their shields and defenses.
After Harry illegally removed the tracking monitors from the girls' wands, they spent a few hours every day working on their dueling skills using their new knowledge. Harry himself had built up his mental defenses to where he thought he could sufficiently keep out both Dumbledore and Snape, but he wasn't about to stop there. He planned on building his defenses a little every day until he felt his mind would be impenetrable.
Relationship wise, Harry had gotten closer to both Daphne and Astoria and he had even came up with a way to make sure both girls would be safe while at Hogwarts, although as much as he hated to admit it, he would need to get Dumbledore's help. He had taken both girls to Diagon Alley and let them pick out betrothal rings from his vaults, and had been spending the last few weeks adding every protection charm he could to them. They would be protected from almost every minor to mid level hex, jinx, or curse. However, there were those within Hogwarts that would think they could get away with something a little stronger on them. The part he would need Dumbledore's help with would be for his permission, as he had control of the wards at Hogwarts, to turn the rings into portkeys that would penetrate the wards there.
The portkeys themselves would be a complex combination of portkey and intent based wards. The portkey would activate if anyone with ill intent were to lay even a finger on either girl. Once activated his betrothed would be portkeyed to the Hogwarts infirmary and the one who caused its activation would be stunned, disarmed, and portkeyed to one of the dungeons in Potter Manor. Seeing as how an attack on his betrothed would be considered an attack on an Ancient and Most Noble House he would, under the old laws, have the right to whatever punishment he saw fit.
He had also gotten both girls to join him for his daily workout routine with Sirius. He managed to convince them of the benefits of being in as good a shape as possible. You can save a lot of magic by dodging the spells you can instead of casting a shield to block everything. They would all three continue to exercise and train once they had returned to Hogwarts as well.
The one thing they touched on briefly but chose not to dwell on for now was his marriage situation, and the fact he still had to find two more wives. He had a year from his fifteenth birthday to have either a betrothal contract or be engaged for his other two houses. They would then need to be married by his seventeenth birthday, assuming the witch was at least fourteen years of age as the old laws still had the age of consent for women at fourteen. Wanting everyone to be able to get along, Harry of course asked the girls for help deciding on who he should seek out.
Harry had been practicing his Legilimency on the girls while testing out their shields and defenses at the same time; all three were making huge improvements. Clyde and Astrid, happy that their girls were getting along so well with Harry and wanting to encourage their relationship, gave the girls permission to stay over at Potter Manor on the weekends, but both made sure Harry knew they were not interested in grandchildren for many years yet, and would be highly disappointed if he was to 'take advantage of his little girls' as Clyde had told him. Of course they both doubted he would do anything of the sort, but he felt it pertinent to play the role of protective father figure. They had fell asleep together on the sofa twice more after talking to each other until the early hours of the morning a few times, but they all three still did not share a bed together; and Harry wanted to wait until he could make it special for them even thought he had no immediate plans for sex when they did.
This was how Harry woke up on the morning of the 27th of August, with two beautiful blondes using him as a pillow. Today was the day he was going to head to the Burrow in preparation for the Quidditch World Cup. Even though Ron and Hermione had been displaced as the two most important people in his life, not counting Sirius of course, thanks to Daphne and Astoria; he still missed his best friends and was anxious to see them again. He was of course a bit put out that the girls were not going to be attending the World Cup, but knew that he would see them in a couple days anyway.
It was Daphne who began to wake up first. Deciding to help her along, he leaned down and gave her a deep kiss on the lips. "Mmm...I could get used to waking up like this." she said.
"Your wish is my command Milady." he leaned down and kissed her again.
"Don't forget about me," the sleepy voice of Astoria chimed in from his left.
"I wouldn't dare," He laughed as he leaned down to give her a kiss as well. "However, I have to be leaving for the Weasley's before too long and I really need to get up and get ready."
The two girls whined as he untangled himself from them and got up. They got up after him and they all went to get dressed for their morning workout. After showering he dressed in his Gucci jeans and black silk shirt before packing his trunk of all the things he would need for the next few days.
With a small pop, Harry appeared just outside of the wards for the Burrow. Walking up to the house, it was Mr. Weasley- who was coming out of his shed- who spotted him first. "Hi Harry, it's good to see you again," he said shaking Harry's hand. "I believe everyone is still in the house."
"It's good to see you too Mr. Weasley. How have you been this summer?" he replied.
"Everything has been just wonderful, and how about you? I hear from Dumbledore you have been very busy this summer." He said with a knowing smile.
"Yes sir. It has definitely been that." he said laughing.
"I bet. Emancipated, living out on your own, and already betrothed to two young women! Better watch out at Hogwarts this year, going to be a lot of upset young witches with that last bit," the two men we still laughing as they entered the backdoor of the Burrow.
"Harry! Oh it is so good to see you dear!" shouted Mrs. Weasley as she brought him into one of her patented bear-like hugs.
"It's good to see you too Mrs. Weasley. I must thank you both for inviting me over and for the tickets to the world cup as well."
"Oh nonsense dear, it was really our pleasure." said the Weasley Patriarch. "Now what's this I hear about you being betrothed already and living out on your own?"
Harry just smiled sheepishly. "You know me; always seem to find myself in these types of situations. This time at least it's something good in life instead of the yearly attempt to kill me."
"Yes well, I suspect you would like to see Ron and Hermione, they are just upstairs in Ron's room," she replied.
"Thanks Mrs. Weasley, it was good to see you again."
"Anytime dear, now go have fun!"
Harry made his way up the stairs, and headed towards where he could hear the voices of his two friends and what sounded like Ginny. He knocked on the door and found himself engulfed in a hug from Hermione as soon as the door was opened. "Harry! How have you been? We have heard so many rumors about you this summer. You have got to tell us what's been going on with you!"
"Take a breath Hermione before you pass out." Ron joked. "Hey mate, it sounds like you have had an interesting summer."
Harry just laughed. "Yeah you could say that again, but it has definitely been an amazing summer."
"So tell us, what's been going on with you, we overheard Professor Dumbledore telling Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that you had left your aunt and uncles?" Hermione asked again. It seemed that she was demanding answers and wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Well, I had a meeting at Gringotts and claimed My Lordships. I am now considered emancipated. It also turns out that I am also betrothed to not one, but both Greengrass sisters."
"You mean you have to marry those sleazy snakes!?" Ron shouted.
"RON!" Hermione smacked him on the shoulder at the same time Harry spoke up.
"First Ron let's get one thing straight. Those are my two future wives that you just called sleazy, and you would do well to not do it again. Second, you need to get it into your head that not all Slytherin's follow in Malfoy's footsteps." Harry was not too happy about Ron's verbal abuse of his two betrothed.
"But Harry, they could be Death Eaters! They could be plotting against you as we speak." it seemed Ron loved the taste of his feet in his mouth.
"Have you ever even talked to any of the Slytherin's outside of Malfoy's little group? I have spent most of my summer hanging out with the Greengrasses and yes Clyde does support pureblood ways, but he was never a death eater. They have been very friendly to me, and Daphne, Astoria, and I have really hit it off. For the first time in my life I have been truly happy, and I will not let anyone tear that apart or degrade it. Now this is the last I will say about my love life, there is no sense arguing and ruining what should be a fun weekend." Harry just wanted the subject to be changed before Ron could end up pissing him off any further then he already had.
Hermione, ever the one to catch the smallest of details said, "Harry you said Lordships, meaning more than one. Just which Houses are you head of now?"
Harry really didn't want his Lordship of House Slytherin public knowledge, but at the same time he would need it to be to at least Dumbledore and McGonagall if he wanted to use the privilege's that came with it to fix up and eventually live in the Chamber of Secrets. So he decided to tell them the truth. "Well, first was House Potter of course. Then there was House Black from Sirius because he is a fugitive and is unfit to be a head of house. Next is the Peverell House which I am the last descendant of, and lastly is House of Slytherin by right's of conquest." In actuality it was by soul adoption and not right's of conquest, but that was information that would be kept close to the vest, and only five people knew that information outside of Gringotts, and only two more, once he found his other two future wives, would know.
"Slytherin!" Ron shouted.
"Yes Ron, I am Lord Slytherin. So does that now make me evil too?" he asked with a smirk.
"Of course not Harry, don't be silly." both Ron and Hermione exclaimed.
"Good." Harry replied. "Now let's get outside and enjoy the rest of the day."
The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly and uneventfully, before he knew it they were all sitting down to a huge dinner, complements of Mrs. Weasley and her amazing cooking. Conversation was kept relatively light, with people catching up with mainly Harry and to some degree Hermione as she had been there for a few days already.
Ron's oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie, were both there too for what they called 'a big event happening at Hogwarts this year.' Of course Harry already knew about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but they did not need to know that and he wasn't going to tell them, so he just played dumb with the rest of them. After dessert everyone headed up to bed early as they would be getting up before dawn to walk to Stoatshead Hill to catch their portkey. Harry decided he was going to head out later with Bill, Charlie, and Percy who were apparating later in the morning, just before noon. Of course Harry didn't have any idea where it was he was supposed to apparate to, but he did manage to coax the coordinates from Mr. Weasley, so he was just going to make an unauthorized portkey, same as he had been doing all summer, to take him there.
By the time Harry got out of bed the next morning, everyone save for Mrs. Weasley and her three oldest were already long gone. He put on his exercise outfit and made his way outside for his morning run. He had figured about ten laps around the entire property should be sufficient enough. As he was coming back in the house, the other four had just sat down to breakfast.
"Been outside running Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"Sure have. Since summer began I have been running close to five miles every morning and I have also been on a nutrient potion regiment for the whole of the summer to help fight off the malnutrition." he answered.
"Well, you certainly do look a lot healthier dear." she said.
"Thank you Mrs. Weasley." he said sincerely.
After breakfast had finished he went back upstairs to Ron's room to work on his Occlumency shields until it was time to head to the match.
Just before noon he followed the three older Weasley brothers out past the wards. As soon as they disapparated he pulled his portkey out of his pocket, said the activation word, and was gone. A few seconds later, he landed upright in the apparition zone right outside of the world cup stadium, dressed in his finest robes, the black with silver trimmed Acromantula robes with matching cloak and black dragon hide boots.
After a long climb to the top box, he entered to see it about half full. The Weasley's were all there along with a random house elf and Minister Fudge. There were a slew of other people whom he did not recognize. The moment that Fudge recognized who he was he called him out.
"Harry m'boy! So good to see you again, how are you?" he asked pompously.
"Very fine minister, and how are you sir?" he asked pulling on Tom's knowledge of pureblood customs.
"Doing just fine m'boy. This here is the Bulgarian Minister; afraid he doesn't speak English and can't understand a single thing we are saying however."
Harry turned to the Bulgarian Minister and after casting a quick translation charm on himself, greeted the man. "Good evening minister. Enjoying your visit to England?"
With a large smile the Bulgarian Minister replied. "Yes very much so Mr. Potter. I must say you are the first person to think of a translation charm." apparently he hadn't been as discrete when casting it as he had thought. "I must say that pretending to not speak English and watching the foolishness people do and say when they think you cannot understand them is quite entertaining," they both started laughing hard. Harry could just imagine how much of a fool Fudge must have made himself out to be around the Bulgarian Minister.
"I must say minister that does sound like fun. No worries though, we shall keep this our little secret," the Bulgarian Minister gave him a huge grin before thanking him and wishing upon him an interesting match and a fun time and then heading off to mingle with the crowd.
Just as Harry was finishing talking to the Bulgarian Minister, he turned around to see the Malfoy family walking into the box and over to where they were all standing. "Ah, Lucius, it's good to see you. This must be your lovely wife Narcissa and your young son Draco?" Fudge greeted him like they had known each other all of their lives.
"It's a pleasure as always Cornelius," he replied pompously.
"Have you met young Mr. Potter yet?" Fudge asked him.
"How nice to see you again Lord Malfoy," Harry replied letting his head of house ring for the Potter and Black houses show.
Noticing the rings, Lucius had no choice but to give the proper reply to the head of two Ancient and Most Noble Houses. "Ahh, Lord Potter, pleasure to meet you once more," although the man sounded anything but pleased.
Harry decided to mess with the man a little. "And you must be Lady Malfoy," he took her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. "A true beauty that brings true grace to our house."
With a half blush, half scowl, she had no choice but to be polite to the Head of her House. "It's a true honor to meet you Lord Black. May you continue to bring glory to the House of Black," she said.
Harry turned to Draco, hoping to rub it in his face that he was now the lord of two Ancient and Most Noble Houses. "Ahh, Draco! So good to see you again," he gave him a wink that went unnoticed by everyone but him.
Going pink in the cheeks at the thought of having to be polite to his most hated rival he responded, "Pleasure to see you as well Lord Black."
Deciding he had had enough fun he decided to end the conversation. "Well I must be off, have a pleasant evening and enjoy the match." Not bothering to wait for a reply he turned to join the Weasleys who were all watching him, the four youngest and Mr. Weasley all sporting grins at the fact the Malfoys had been put in their place by a fourteen year old.
Not fifteen minutes later, Ludo Bagman stepped up to the huge bay window and got the match underway.
There were many parties and celebrations that night to celebrate the win by the Irish. Harry had had to endure Ron gushing like a man in love over the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum. Thankfully the twins and Ginny provided ample entertainment by teasing him about Krum constantly. Before too long it was getting late and they all decided to get some sleep before needing to head back to their respective homes in the morning.
Harry woke with a start staring up at the cloth ceiling of the tent. At first he thought he was somehow still dreaming, before realizing he was hearing screaming. He was quickly brought out of his reverie by a rattled Mr. Weasley.
"Boys! Time to get up we have to go!"
Harry sat up quickly his head almost coming into contact with the old canvas rooftop.
"'S' matter," he said tiredly.
"There's an attack," answered Mr. Weasley quickly. "Fred, George I want you to get your sister and head into the forest back toward the stadium. Harry and Ron, you take Hermione with you and do the same. Bill, Charlie, and Percy I need you three to come with me to help the others sort this out."
The five older brothers followed their father out of the tent, while Harry waited for a still sleepy Ron to get his trainers on. Once outside the tent Harry could see what looked to be two small children and what appeared to be their parents floating above about two dozen black cloaked and hooded figures. There were screaming people running away from the cloaked men towards the forest, and the trio quickly joined the rushing throng of people headed back towards the forest.
The three were being jostled around and soon Harry lost grip of Hermione's hand and her and Ron were lost in the crowd. Harry decided to just keep heading towards the stadium, hoping to get lucky and run into his two best friends soon.
Harry continued on deeper into the forest but the crowd was getting very thin so he assumed he must be headed in the wrong direction of the stadium. He was just about to turn around to retrace his steps to find the path, he heard the screams and cries of a girl from up ahead.
Rushing forward he saw a little silver-blond headed girl who couldn't be much older than ten or eleven years old, huddled up next to the trunk of a tree surrounded by five more of the black cloaked men, with her shirt ripped and a cut down one of her cheeks. He quickly drew his wand and fired off two quick stunning spells hitting one of the men in the back, dropping him instantly.
"There is someone behind us," one of the men shouted to the others.
The other two spun around quickly, firing off a couple cutting spells one of which just managed to clip Harry's non wand arm. The men were wearing solid black robes with black hoods on their heads. Below the hoods where a face should be were plain white masks, each with its own eerie design. Hissing in pain he quickly fired off a Reducto curse toward the man on the left as he turned to try and Enervate the fallen man. The curse hit the man in the shoulder shattering the bones and leaving his non wand arm limp, but kept him from being able to concentrate on his fallen comrade. He followed it up with another Stupefy, just missing as a bright flash of green light narrowly missed his right shoulder. Another Reducto shot over his left shoulder hitting a tree behind him splintering him with a dozen shards of wood into his left side. He fired another couple of stunners back towards the men managing to down another one.
Harry fired a Reducto at the ground just in front of the three men, and used the distraction of the dust cloud to sneak another stunning spell right into the mid section of one of the uninjured men knocking him out cold. The two remaining hooded figures were starting to get desperate now and were firing off multiple blasting and cutting curses, with Harry narrowly dodging them. When a nasty cutting curse managed to clip his right thigh, Harry knew he had to end this quick. He quickly fired off a Sagitto firing a bunch of arrows from his wand, followed by a Reducto aimed at the ground, and then another Stupefy through the dust cloud. Before the dust could settle, he smiled as he heard the soft thump of a body hitting the ground. Another bright green flashed by his face, so close he could feel the magic of it sparking off onto his face, mere millimeters from death. The last man he had downed had three arrows sticking from his chest, and the one left standing had been hit in the shoulder and leg, and then broken the shafts off to keep from impeding his movement.
Using the last man as a shield for the little girl, he hit the tree in front and to the right of the man with a strong Bombarda,the same time as the man sent a cutting curse that clipped the side of his face leaving about a 3 inch gash, and watched as chunks of the tree were blasted into the man's right side. Using the small distraction the pain caused the man, Harry quickly fired another stunner into the man's chest dropping him to the ground as well. Harry quickly cast several Incarcerousand summoned all of their wands to make sure they were truly down for the count.
Harry started making his way to the crying little girl but only made it half way before she went wide-eyed, pointed, and shouted, "Il ya un outré derrière vous!"
Not having his translation charm active, he did not understand a word she said but getting an idea of what she was trying to imply, Harry spun around as quick as possible and fired off a Lancea Fulgur point blank into the chest of another man wearing an intricately designed silver mask under the black hood, at the same time that sickly red cutting curse slammed into Harry's chest cutting him from his right shoulder, down and across his chest to just below his left breast.
Harry fell to his knees at the same time the masked man was fried to a crisp and flung into a tree and with a loud snap fell to the ground unmoving. Blood was starting to slowly flow from the gash in his chest and down his shirt. Raising his Occlumency barriers and ignoring the pain for now, he decided to get the little girl to safety. Applying his translation charm once more he walked over to her with his hands up palms face out showing her he meant no harm. He could tell by the silver-blond hair and grey-blue eyes she had to at least be part Veela.
"Hey little bird, what is your name sweetie?"he asked as friendly as he could leaning down close so he could talk to her.
She responded shyly and still scared. "Gabrielle Delacour. What is your name? You're not going to hurt me too are you?"
"Shh…don't worry little Gabby, my name is Harry Potter and I would never hurt an innocent pretty young lady"she gave him a small smile at his nickname for her. "If it is ok with you, I would like to get you out of here and some place safe so I can get someone to heal your wounds and make sure you will be ok. Then I will try to find your parents so they can come see you and take you home. Can you trust me? I promise I will not let anybody hurt you Gabby."
She nodded her head and put her arms around his neck when he picked her up. "Thank you for saving me, my hero."
He gave a small chuckle. "It is my pleasure to help such a beautiful young lady such as you. Now hold on tight, I am going to apparate us back to Potter Manor and then get a healer to come take a look at you,"after sending up red sparks into the air, the two left with a small pop and disappeared from the darkness of the forest and into the sitting room of Potter Manor.
Harry lay Gabrielle down on the sofa and called for Dobby, "Master Harry Potter sir! How can Dobby help?" the little elf asked.
"Dobby I need you to fetch me a pain reducing potion and a calming drought please." Dobby popped away as ordered. "Now Gabby, can you tell me what your father's name is so I can get in contact with him to let him know where you are?"
"Jean Sebastian Delacour,"she said in a tired voice.
Dobby popped back in a few seconds later carrying the potions, which Harry convinced Gabrielle to drink. "Dobby I need you to go to the Quidditch World Cup and find Gabby's father, Jean Sebastian Delacour, and then bring him and his family here."
"Right away Harry Potter Sir!" and the little elf left again. He knew it would probably take him a couple hours to find them as there were still thousands upon thousands of people at the world cup.
Letting Gabrielle know he would be right back with a healer he went over to the fireplace and through some floo powder into it, "Hogwarts Infirmary" he shouted after sticking his head into the flames. This was his first time making a floo call and it was definitely a weird feeling having your head flying through the floo network but your body still back on the other side. A few seconds later his head came to a stop in Madam Pomfrey's office.
"Madam Pomfrey!" he shouted. Only about a minute later a grumpy looking Madam Pomfrey, who had clearly just been woken up, came rushing out to see what was going on.
"Mr. Potter! What is it? Are you alright?" she asked.
"There was an attack at the Quidditch World Cup by a bunch of people in Death Eater robes. I ended up fighting off six of them that were attacking a young lady, and am hoping you can come through and patch her up for me."
She started grabbing her supplies. "Of course Mr. Potter, I just need your floo address."
"Thank you madam, my address is Potter Manor. I will be waiting for you on the other side." with that he pulled his head back out of the flames and waited. It was only about thirty seconds later when she came stepping out of his fireplace.
"Good lord Mr. Potter! You will need immediate medical attention yourself," she said in a half panic after seeing the multiple small cuts and the large one across his chest.
"Please Madam Pomfrey you and I both know I have survived much worse. Can you please take care of young Gabrielle here first; I would like to have her patched up before her parents get here."
"Oh, alright." she said a little put off. "But the moment I am through with her you will be getting treatment for yourself."
"Of course and thank you for your help; there was nobody I trusted more to handle this then you," he figured a little flattery would help her mood at being awoken at nearly two in the morning. Of course he was being completely truthful, he did trust her as she had been his healer more times than he could count.
It only took her about fifteen minutes to have Gabrielle in tip top form. Pomfrey gave her a dreamless sleeping potion to get her through the night, and she was asleep on the sofa in seconds. Not wanting her parents to see her in half ripped clothing he transfigured her cloths into a modest night gown, and then conjured a very warm blanket to cover her up with.
Knowing that Madam Pomfrey would soon berate him if he didn't get treatment, he took his bloody shirt off and sat down so she could begin her treatment of him. No sooner did she begin when Dobby popped back with three very frantic and worried people. They appeared to be her parents and an older sister perhaps. The two women definitely had Veela blood as well, as they were essentially gorgeous grown up versions of young Gabby. The man he assumed was Jean Delacour was a short broad shouldered man with black hair that was starting to bald and beady dark brown eyes.
The first thing the Delacour's noticed was little Gabby sound asleep on the sofa with a soft smile on her face. The second thing they noticed was an athletic young man with messy black hair and deep emerald green eyes, who had a few cuts over his body including a moderate sized one on his cheek and a deeper, longer one across his chest. Both his cheek and torso had a lot of blood on them. In front of the young man was who they assumed to be a healer, who was treating his wounds.
It was Dobby who broke the silence first. "Master Harry Potter Sir! I has found yous little Gabby's Family sir!"
"Thank you Dobby you did great," Harry answered. "You must be the Delacour's, I am sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances then this. I apologize for not standing and greeting you properly but Madam Pomfrey would be rather upset with me," he gave them a small smile to try and lighten the mood a bit, while Pomfrey was forcing a blood-replenishing potion down his throat.
The two women went over and sat down on the sofa on either end of Gabrielle, her mother at her head and the girl he assumed was her sister at her feet. It was Jean who spoke up. "Mr. Potter I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping my little angel safe, but I must ask you how it is you both came by these wounds."
"You're very welcome sir, despite the injuries it was the very least I could do to help keep little Gabby safe. I had gotten separated from my friends and was about to turn around to find them when I heard her scream. I took off in her direction to find her being attacked by five Death Eaters," all of them gasped, including Madam Pomfrey, and the two women sitting near Gabrielle had tears forming in their eyes. "I engaged them in a fight, while taking most of my wounds from them before incapacitating them; I got this one," he pointed to the large gash on his chest, "from the sixth one that was hidden behind me before I took him out as well. I took young Gabby back to my home here at Potter Manor and sent for you as well as Madam Pomfrey here to look her over and heal any wounds she had received."
It was Jean's wife who spoke up. She, like her husband, spoke flawless English. "I am sorry for not introducing ourselves, but my name is Apolline Delacour, Gabrielle's mother. This is her sister Fleur, and it seems you already knew my husband Jean's name. I would like to apologize for the troubles you went through tonight saving my little girl, but thank you so very much for doing so."
"Please it was no trouble at all. I would gladly take ten cutting curses to keep anyone from hurting such a beautiful and innocent young lady."
It was Fleur who answered next. "Never ze less, eet was a very noble zing to do. Most people would 'ave chosen to save zer own selves and left 'er to fend for 'erself; so zank you monsieur Potter."
"You are very welcome. Now it is very late, and it would be terribly rude of me to not offer you all to spend the night here. I assure you it is perfectly safe here, and you are more than welcome to stay the night. Dobby will have breakfast for you all in the morning, and quite frankly I would love the company."
"Thank you for your hospitality Monsieur Potter," replied Jean. "It is very late and our little angel seems to be sleeping just fine, so I think we will take you up on your offer."
"Dobby." the little elf appeared. "Please prepare rooms for the Delacours, they will be spending the night." He added in a lower tone so the Delacours wouldn't hear, "and let Padfoot know that we have guests."
"Of course Master Harry Potter sir" and with that the little elf disappeared again.
"All done Mr. Potter, I expect you to keep out of trouble this year, this old woman does get tired of seeing you every couple months you know," she gave him a small smile.
"Thank you for your help Madam Pomfrey, you have done an excellent job as always. Of course I will try, but you know I am bound to visit you a few times this year, after all I wouldn't want you to forget my face," he gave her a cheeky smile, and she left back through the floo to get back to sleep.
"Well I think I will head upstairs and wash this mess off of me, you are all free to sit down here as long as you would like. When you are ready for bed just call for Dobby and he will show you to your rooms; it was a pleasure to meet all of you, despite the current circumstances, and I will see you all for breakfast in the morning. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Monsieur Potter and sweet dreams," Apolline said, and with that Harry left the family to have some alone time and headed off for some much needed sleep.
AN: well this leads us to the end of the summer, next chapter will be Harry and company headed back to hogwarts, where i have many a great things planned for you all. i hope you have enjoyed the story so far, though i am sure some of you have not.