Ok so here's next chapter. Beta'd and reread by myself.
I personally like this chapter, and I want to thank all of you for your reviews, 95! I wlike 0_0 'that's a lot of reviews' in a really soft tone. Liked them all, read them and reread some of the advice, I like that it wasn' flames, it was actual advice, not just tearing me down.
Whoever the girl was from last night, she was beginning to toy with him and quite frankly it was starting to piss Harry off. He smelled her scent of coconut vanilla everywhere where he did not before. In the halls, his fellow Ravenclaws; it seemed that every girl had switched her perfume to that damn coconut vanilla scent.
Even more so frustrating was the fact that Harry was now practically confined to his room. He was determined not to even get near to Fleur Delacour. He reasoned that since she had stated it would get worse whenever he saw her that if he limited himself to only seeing her at the events of the tournament; he would have nothing to worry about.
Harry sighed and returned to the large tome that was open in front of him, without the privilege (or with for certain people) of being able to go to his classes or being able to ask a teacher for help he was restricted to fellow students and tomes, and since there was nothing that his fellow students could possibly teach him that he didn't already know, it was down to tomes and books. He had already ordered over 20 books via owl from Florish and Botts.
Harry closed the tome, stretched and checked his watch; it was lunch time. Again wanting to avoid Fleur, Harry decided to go directly to the kitchens. He could have summoned that deranged lunatic of an elf Dobby but Harry hated the creature, it wouldn't shut up and it was odd even for a house elf.
As he made his way to the kitchens he began to smell the coconut vanilla again. This time Harry decided that he would get to the bottom of this and stopped the girl that the scent was coming off of this time.
"Excuse me but where did you get that perfume?" he asked as politely as possible but with the emotionless voice he said sounded odd.
The girl blushed profusely upon realizing who had stopped her and let alone talking to her, "um this girl Daphne was handing out samples, her father runs a line of beauty products and they recently started making fragrances."
Harry thought analytically, there was a possibility that the Daphne this girl was talking about was the girl from last night or it could just a random Slytherin girl who had picked up the fragrance from this Daphne but not likely, he didn't know any other girls by name or face other than the ones that were in his house but he was almost positive that this was the girl he was looking for, he just needed to make sure, "Daphne, is she a Slytherin, my year?"
The girl nodded and Harry thanked her before turning and continued on his way to the kitchens, a plan already forming in his mind.
Both Daphne and Fleur were a bit disappointed and worried when Harry didn't show for breakfast and now lunch. Fleur knew Harry was going to do everything in his power to not be in her presence which would only make matters worse and Daphne knew that the reason that Harry was not in the Great Hall was because of Fleur, but why she couldn't quite place. She had tried to listen in on the conversation but she hadn't been able to get close enough to hear without being noticed.
Fleur on the other hand was trying her hardest to remain in the Great Hall and not bolting up to the Ravenclaw common room. She knew that Harry was up his dorm room, it was easy enough using her allure to get the information from a dorm mate. But most of all she just wanted to be near him, the bond was an essential part of her that, now that it was activated, it was like not being with the other half of herself, of course it didn't cause her any physical or mental pain, just a bit of an empty feeling, like she couldn't be completely happy.
Luna Lovegood had had a good two years at Hogwarts but this one was quickly starting to fall apart for her. It didn't help that her best, and now for a year her only, friend had shut himself in his dorm room letting her be at the mercy of her fellow peers. You see Luna Lovegood had, up until last night, been under the wing of Harry. She was like his little sister. When she had first arrived at Hogwarts the students had ridiculed and pulled pranks on her, whether it was taking her books or taking her clothes, both Harry and Hermione had seen this and knowing the pain of not having friends and being outcast put her under their protection, and being under the wing of the top two students in the school did wonders in making her life normal for once.
When the other students noticed that Harry wasn't around to walk her to class they started to purposely bump into her, causing her books to fall every time. In class they ignored her when she asked for help, not any different from before, but they were being straight-out rude to her and started calling her Looney again. She was quite upset and after going through it all morning, she ran off into an empty classroom, not giving her fellow students the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
It was in this state that Harry found Luna Lovegood, sitting in the corner of an empty classroom, crying. Harry had just been returning from the kitchens when he heard crying. He followed the sound and found it to becoming from the abandoned classroom. He immediately ran over sat down and pulled her into his lap and just held. He didn't know how long she cried and he didn't care, she could take all the time she needed. He knew she would eventually calm down and tell him what was bothering her.
Finally her sobs subsided to sniffles and Harry spoke, "Luna, what's wrong?"
Luna sniffed a bit more and began to wipe her cheeks before Harry conjured a handkerchief and handed it to her. After she wiped her face she spoke softly, "They were being mean to me again. Why didn't you come down Harry? I waited for you…"
Harry felt his heart drop, in the madness of last night, with the mysterious girl, the Veela and her bond, and tournament; he had completely forgotten of Luna, his only friend in this entire school, one of his last connections to Hermione. Harry subconsciously hugged her a bit more tightly, "I'm sorry Luna, but I'm a bit off…more than usual."
Luna giggled; she had known Harry before he went…cold. He was a happy person when she had met him, there was so much love in his eyes that she was immediately smitten by the boy but kept that inside seeing him so happy with Hermione in his arms; of course the relationship had been innocent but it was a true relationship, one that was ahead of their age. When Hermione died, it tore her world apart but it completely shattered Harry's. He had poured every ounce of love that he had built in his one year of happiness into Hermione and she was brutally ripped away from him by the very man who killed his parents, his normal life that he had always wanted. From that day on, Luna lost the boy that she had come to love and he was replaced by this very secluded version of him. Luna had spent all of last year and the summer trying to help Harry deal with Hermione's death. What he was doing to himself was unhealthy and even though she was in a lot of pain herself, she worried about him more than herself. Her progress was painstakingly slow; she found that he would show emotions to her in private but not outside, although occasionally she could see it in his eyes.
"It's ok Harry," she quietly mumbled.
"No its not," Harry said as he lifted her chin, "come on, let's go get you some lunch and then off to class."
Luna smiled and nodded. Luna removed herself from Harry's lap, blushing but it went unnoticed in the dark room. Once Harry was up, they went arm in arm to the kitchens were they were more than happy to make her a couple of sandwiches and a cup of pumpkin juice. Once Luna had had her fill they made their way through the empty halls to her next class.
Unfortunately just as they were coming across the Great Hall the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Students poured out of the Great Hall and to Harry's great dislike, Fleur was one of the first out and spotted him right away.
"Shite," Harry murmured
"What is it Harry?" Luna whispered back
"Nothing, come on," he said as he pulled her quickly away from the Veela and towards Luna's Arithmancy class.
"Harry wait," Fleur called quickly seemingly to float across the floor to him, "we need to talk Harry."
Harry kept his eyes ahead of himself, "We have nothing to talk about, and as my fellow competitor we have even less to talk about. Good day Miss Delacour."
"Harry don't be rude," Luna said sternly halting causing Harry to halt by strength that Harry wondered where in the nine levels of hell came from the young and petite girl, "Fleur I'm sorry for Harry's behavior. How are you today?"
Fleur smiled and the young dreamy-eyed girl, "I'm…ok. I feel that I would be much better if Harry and I could talk a bit, I feel that there is a misunderstanding between us."
"There is no misunderstanding between us Fleur, everything was plain and simple and there is nothing to discuss about it. I told you this last night."
"No Harry, we did not come to an understanding because you refused to come down this morning and face me like a man, even now you cannot," Fleur said getting frustrated.
"Hey don't talk to Harry like that," Luna said furrowing her brow, "Harry was my first friend and you cannot talk like that to him."
Fleur looked sheepish, "I'm sorry Luna but Harry refuses to talk to me and I do believe we really have to talk."
"Well in that case you can talk," Luna smiled brightly. Luna did something that neither of them had been expecting, she opened the broom closet that they were standing next to and pushed both of them in; Harry first and then Fleur, with Harry catching Fleur. She closed the door behind them, "there you go," she said through the door, "I'll wait here," and with that she sat down next to the door and pulled a book out humming to herself a tune that only she knew.
Daphne was in shock she had seen the whole ordeal and began to question the sanity of Luna. It was obvious that Harry did want to see Fleur let alone talk to her and now he was in a closet with the girl. She marched over to the door and, ignoring Luna protests, ripped open the door; less than three seconds after it had been closed.
She grabbed Fleur and pulled her out of Harry's arms, "What are you doing with my boyfriend?" and proceeded to pull out Harry, "come on you." And with not even a backwards glance (it probably would have been a glare for the matter) marched away, basically dragging Harry with her.
Harry was in complete shock, Luna his 'supposed' best friend had just thrown him into a broom closet with Fleur; only to be pulled out seconds later by a beautiful blond (with dark brown, almost black, roots), who claimed that he was her boyfriend. After being dragged down and around the corridor his senses finally kicked in and he came to a sudden halt, causing the girl to stubble a bit. Harry caught her before she fell and pulled her up right so that her face was inches from of him. Emerald eyes meeting greyish-green ones. Both of them held their breaths at the close proximity of each other. Harry then removed his hands from her waist and took an overly large step back but not before catching a whiff of coconut vanilla.
"Thank you for getting me out of their, but that will be all," Harry said.
Daphne quickly recomposed herself as well giving him a smirk, "All business as usual eh Potter?"
Harry only stared her blankly before giving her a slight nod and turning to return to Luna, hoping that Fleur had already taken her leave and he could scold Luna for putting him in that situation.
"Not so fast there Potter," Harry stopped mid stride, "I just did you a favor, now you owe me a favor," Harry turned to see her smiling at him
'It's the exact same smile from last night' Harry thought to himself
Harry smoothly walked over to stand in front of Daphne, "So what is it that you want, money? 100 galleons should do nicely."
Daphne's smile faded into a scowl, "I don't want your money Potter."
"200 galleons," Harry raised it
"No Potter, I don't want your money. My parents have ordered me to have dinner with them this upcoming Hogsmeade. Unfortunately they are hoping to finalize a marriage contract between the Malfoys. The marriage contract gives not only me but my sister Astoria to one Draco Malfoy. You will join me on this 'diner' and act as my boyfriend. Of course you just being there will no doubt annoy the living daylights out of the Malfoys but if we are kissing and flirting, it will utterly destroy the contract. Draco might want what you have, more money and fame, but I know for a fact he will not take 'sloppy seconds' from you. Mind you I'm not 'sloppy seconds' to anybody; any boy would be lucky to get a second glance from me, let alone date me. So consider yourself lucky Potter."
Harry stared blankly at Daphne. He took a deep breath…, "1000 galleons."
"Come now Potter," Daphne said with a smile, "it'll be fun. Plus it's me you get to kiss and, if you're lucky and Draco isn't getting the message, grope me."
"5000 galleons"
Daphne frowned, "Am I really that unpleasant Harry?" she said her eyes watering.
Harry cursed under his breath, he never could keep his cold demeanor around a crying girl let alone a beautiful one like this one; it was worse when Hermione had been alive, if she so much as sniffled or her eyes started to water Harry was going out on a limb just to make her happy again. He didn't like that about himself, it was contradictory to who he was.
"Fine," Harry said emotionless as possible and basically gritting through his teeth, he turned to walk away before he stopped, "what's your name? If I going to pretend to be your boyfriend I will need to at least know your name."
Daphne gave a beautiful smile, "Daphne, Daphne Greengrass."
Harry nodded, "I thought so, it was nice to see you again Greengrass," satisfied with the look of shock on her face he walked away.
"Wait!" she ran up and wrapped her arm around his, "if we're going to make this believable to Draco, we're going to have to pretend to date before then, otherwise it would look suspicious."
Harry looked at her, stoic as Krum, "Fine, I have to walk Luna to class as well though."
Daphne mock frowned, "Not cheating on me already are you Harry?"
"No, because we're not even dating, so how can I be cheating on you," Harry said not missing a beat, "and since when are we on first name terms Greengrass."
"Since we started dating," she whispered in his ear smoothly before planting a chaste kiss on his cheek.
"We're not dating," he hissed back. Daphne just smiled back and Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes. Finally turning the corridor he saw Luna standing there talking to Fleur. Harry was surprised to see both girls smiling to and talking to each other and as he got near he found their conversation strange
"…so this summer maman and papa are going to let me spend the summer with you and Uncle Xeno," was all he heard of the conversation before they both looked and Harry and Daphne together.
They both frowned when they noticed Daphne's arm wrapped around Harry's though his was just hanging to the side, in no form returning the gesture. Harry watched as rage built up in Fleur, her features becoming more angular before she turned and stalked off, students parting to make way for her. Luna's however was more thoughtful and sad.
"Are you two really dating?" she asked a bit weakly
"Yes/No" Daphne and Harry said at the same time. Harry removed his arm a bit roughly and put his arm around Luna's shoulders, "come on let's get you to class."
The trip to Luna's Arithmancy class was silent and not the comfortable kind. When they finally arrived Luna looked at Harry with sadness in her eyes. Harry immediately knew what she was trying to convey, "Me and Greengrass are not dating Luna, you know I would never lie to you Luna," Harry said sternly
Luna nodded but her face still fell and before Harry could say anything ducked into the classroom. Harry angry punched the stone wall, causing it to crack; shocking the students as they saw the action before he, like Fleur before him, stalked off.
"Come on Harry, pull yourself together, you're getting weak," he murmured under his breath. Ignoring the looks he was getting from the other students he put his mask on once again and excited the castle taking the road to Hagrid's. He passed the hut without the slightest glance at it and stalked off into the Forbidden Forest. For the rest of the day, unnoticed to the other students, green, purple, and red flashes were seen inside the forest.
"My dear Hagrid why aren't you eating?" Dumbledore said as he popped a tentacle tart into his mouth
Hagrid snapped out of his blank stare to look at the headmaster "Sorry Headmaster sir, it's just that, well I was walking inter' the forest 'gain like I always do and I found some Blood-Sucking Bugbears dead, a whole lot of 'em, wolves got to them by the time I saw 'em. Whate'er was killing them wasn' doin' it for survival, it was jus' ruthless killin' that there was."
Albus nodded sagely, "Do you have any idea why someone would be killing them Hagrid."
"In self-defense I reckon, they ain't got no uses really, annoyin' is wha' they is," Hagrid sighed, "but some of the ways they killed them, brutal it was."
"Well you be careful Hagrid and tell me if you find anymore," Albus said
Hagrid nodded, "Will do Dumbledore, sir."
Albus returned to his deserts as he scanned the Ravenclaw table in search of the raven-haired boy but found him to be missing, "Filius, where is young Harry."
"Up in his room studying," Flitwick responded between bites
"Has he come down at all?" Albus inquired
"He came down for lunch, from the rumors I heard," Flitwick replied
"Rumors?" Albus repeated
"Well, it was said that Harry was escorting Luna, as he always does, to her next class. He was then seen being pulled out of a broom closet by Daphne Greengrass, with Miss Delacour coming out after, I know nothing more than that," Flitwick, lied but he also didn't believe what had be said happened next because it was contradictory to everything that Flitwick knew about Harry, there was no way he was dating Daphne Greengrass, or that he had caused the wall next to the Arithmancy room to shatter by a mere punch (the magic of Hogwarts had repaired the damage moments later).
Albus nodded taking in the information, "please inform Mr. Potter that I require his presence in my office this evening at 7 o'clock."
Flitwick looked at the headmaster trying to discern why he wanted Harry in his office later this evening but let it go.
Fleur was on her way to the carriage, lost her thoughts of Harry, when she was suddenly stopped by her headmistress, "Come with me," was all she said and she obeyed immediately.
Daphne was in the library, her 4th year Arithmancy and Runes book open, while she wrote notes rapidly for the exams that were a little more than a month away, when she was rudely interrupted by one Severus Snape, "What were you thinking involving yourself with Potter?"
Daphne didn't look up, "Sir, it's nothing…"
"Nothing? Then perhaps you can explain why the Headmaster requires your presence in his office tonight?" Snape sneered, "He has already summoned Delacour and Potter, so this is a lot more than nothing!"
Daphne's stomach hit rock bottom, this could not be good, in any shape, way or form.
"Harry," Flitwick knocked as he opened the door.
Harry nodded, "What can I do for you Professor?"
"Albus asks for your presence in his office tonight at 7," Flitwick said giving him a sad look
Harry knew it wasn't a request, it was an order and considering that in the past year Harry has not so much as talked to the Headmaster, except for last night, this could not be a pleasant meeting, "Thank you professor," Harry said with a nod
"Be careful Harry, Albus has a way of trying to get what he want, no matter the cost," Flitwick said as he closed the door
Harry thought this was an interesting comment to make out of the blue as he pulled on his robe, clasping it so that only a bit of his blue and bronze tie and his white shirt showed and with and that he walked down the corridors of Hogwarts, his cloak whirling behind him, a skilled he learned from Snape.
There you go, so next chapter should be up…when I get the chance to write it, got some chapters for my other stories that I have to put up. Review por favor