Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or Campione!.

Chapter 1

"Harry, could you please explain again what happened under the lake," Professor Dumbledore asked.

Nodding, though unsure of why he would need to explain all that had happened for a third time, Harry proceeded to recite the events again. As he spoke, Dumbledore nodded sagely; as if everything that Harry was saying made perfect sense. It bothered the teen, as no one seemed to deem it a good idea to explain it all to him.

When he had been woken up, by Dobby of all creatures, that morning, he never imagined that he would be facing off against a giant squid. At least, he hadn't thought that it would be the main draw of the task. But, when he had helped the Beauxbatons champion reach the hostages, and had begun his wait for the others, things began to get strange. Thankfully, he wasn't alone at that point. Fleur had decided to wait with him and was there when the squid suddenly showed up.

Cedric and Krum came in just as the squid began its attack. A strange magic seemed to wash over all of them as the water began to twist and turn. Harry had urged the others to head towards the surface, as he went to free Ron. The merpeople were initially dealing with the massive creature, so Harry hadn't put too much thought it into it. However, just as he had freed Ron, the squid had bypassed the merpeople and was coming after them. More specifically, it seemed to be targeting Fleur.

Dumbledore had stopped to take note of that piece of information each time they spoke. Professor Flitwick, who had been there as well, seemed to take very careful note of this information. However, Harry could care less as he was starting to get tired of repeating himself. There was nothing that fascinating about the story, at least by the third tell.

"Well Mr. Potter," Flitwick said, cutting Harry's story off. "I believe that's enough of that."

Both Harry and Dumbledore looked at the diminutive professor, confusion in their eyes.

"Fillius, I need to know exactly what happened down there," Dumbledore exclaimed, startling Harry.

"Not after he's told you everything twice already," Flitwick replied. "The boy needs to recuperate and have his friends and some very grateful champions, speak with him."

Dumbledore processed that quickly, and his eyes became downcast.

"You're absolutely right. I must apologize, Harry, for putting you through that retelling so many times."

Dumbledore's words were sincere, and Harry couldn't believe not forgiving the headmaster. Once he had accepted Dumbledore's apology, the two professors got up and left the hospital wing. Alone for the first time since he had woken up, Harry was finally able to try and process his thoughts.

When he had attacked the squid, things seemed odd; as if there were a strange new magic radiating from him. His spells seemed to be sharper and more potent, and he seemed to be damaging it with some of the more basic spells. With the fear and waves of immense power that had washed over all of the champions, he had expected it to be tougher.

"Harry, you're awake!"

Hermione's excitement interrupted the boy's musing as he was suddenly, and tightly, embraced by his bushy haired friend. Her head was buried tightly into his chest, and he could feel his shirt begin to get wet as she quivered. Cautiously, his arms wrapped around her as she let out all the emotion that she had been holding in.

"I'm alright," he said, all the while patting Hermione's back. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"You prat," she mumbled, her voice muffled by his chest.

Quitting his patting and instead tightening his grip on her, Harry relished her warm and familiar presence. Hermione was, after all, his best friend. She had shared in the most of his adventures and had stood by him when the rest of the school seemed to believe that he was lying. He valued her friendship above most others and never wanted to worry her, at least if he could help it.

A throat being cleared forced the two of them apart, and Harry's face burned with embarrassment at the show that the others in the room had just been given. A few sniffles from Hermione finished off her emotional moment, but Harry's eyes were drawn to the others who were in the room. Ron, and his twin brothers, were standing a small distance away from the bed; leaving enough space for Hermione's mad dash and recovery. Wide grins were on the twin's faces, and a relieved smile painted Ron's lips.

"I'm so glad to see you awake mate, when Charlie brought you back up and out of the water, we all thought you were a goner."

"Not much different from how I felt when the merpeople tried to stop me from saving everyone," Harry attempted to ease Ron's sorrow.

However, his words seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as Hermione whirled on him; brown eyes alight with a fire that neither Harry, nor Ron, liked to see.

"Harry James Potter, we were never in any danger. The merpeople would have let us go once the task was over. Professor Dumbledore promised that. What you did was dangerous and very nearly cost you your life. It's been two weeks that you spent in here, you know that… right?"

The brunette's rant came to a sudden stop as Harry's eyes widened. Two weeks? No one had told him that he was out of it for that long. Professor Dumbledore didn't say anything about it, nor did Professor Flitwick. That or Harry hadn't been paying very good attention when they had been speaking, which he feared was all too true.

"Was it really that long?" he finally squeaked out.

Ron and Hermione exchanged quick glances, before returning their attention to Harry.

"Yeah mate, it was," Ron said. "Diggory and Krum even stopped by a couple of times to check on you. No one knows whether Fleur did, or not."

"Ron," Hermione chastised, "Harry doesn't need to worry about his visitors right now. He didn't even know that he spent two weeks in here. We should catch him up on all that has happened around here first."

Ron nodded, acquiescing with Hermione's decision. Harry grinned at that, if Ron could maintain that sort of attitude more often with her, then repeats of his jealous outburst at the Yule Ball wouldn't be repeated. Thinking about the Yule Ball, Harry grimaced in his own embarrassment. He had been an ass during the ball, providing Parvati with a terrible time. Once he got back to the common room, he'd definitely make amends.

As he finished his thought, Harry's vision blurred momentarily as a wave of nausea washed over him. He thought he was going to throw up, at least before it cleared and he felt as fit and ready to go as ever.

"Is everything alright?" Hermione asked.

She must have noticed his reaction, but Harry decided to blow it off.

"It's nothing to worry about. I'm just a little dizzy. Now, let's hear what's happened since the task."

Hermione narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but, to Harry's thankfulness, she didn't push him. Instead, she and Ron began to narrate the events that had occurred while he had been unconscious. The twins even interjected periodically, adding information on some prank or another, which had helped to liven up the tale.

The familiarity of their meeting provided Harry with a sense of ease. He had feared during his talk with the professors that his life was about to make a radical turn. However, with the arrival of his friends, none of that had come to fruition. Listening to the stories that his friends told, he started to drift off again, and was vaguely aware of Madame Pomfrey arriving and shooing them out of the room.

"Rest easy Mr. Potter, you'll be out of here shortly," she said; a grandmotherly smile on her face.

He nodded tiredly, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

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Charlie Weasley twirled his wand between his fingers as he sat inside Fillius' office. It had been two hours since the professor had left to go assist Dumbledore in his questioning of Harry, and Charlie was beginning to worry that he wouldn't get the information he needed in time. Thankfully, his fears were unfounded as Fillius soon returned to his office, looking slightly frustrated about something.

"What happened?" Charlie inquired.

"Our illustrious headmaster had the poor boy repeat his story three times. I luckily managed to stop him from finishing it a third time, but he's obviously trying to find something in Mr. Potter's words," Fillius said.

Stepping over to his cabinet, the diminutive professor pulled out a couple of glasses and filled them with a couple mouthfuls of firewhisky each. Passing one to Charlie, he returned to his desk and sat down.

"What could he have to say? Do you think he suspects that I'm a Campione?"

"Calm down Charlie, I highly doubt you're suspect for much right now. Well, other than in Severus' books."

Groaning, Charlie placed his head into his palms. He had always hated getting on Snape's bad side while in school, but to do it while he was an adult, it was embarrassing.

"Anyway, moving on from that," he said quickly. "What do you think he was looking for then?"

"Hints of You-Know-Who, I believe," Fillius answered. "Albus swears that the blighter is still around. And while I don't doubt the man's instincts, I do feel that he is looking in all the wrong places."

"You mean Njord, right?" Charlie asked. "The heretic god that attacked the champions in the lake, he believes that was a plot of You-Know-Who's?"

"He wishes to believe so, yes," Fillius continued. "However, if he found out that Harry had killed Njord, rather than some dark creature, I fear that things may have started working backwards. So, I needed to cut him off before he pieced everything together properly."

"And now we wait for Harry to wake up again, I'm assuming?"

Fillius nodded. Sighing, Charlie sipped his glass of firewhisky as he leaned back in his chair, wand once again twirling in his left hand.

"I'll be ready then. We need to make sure he's aware of what he now is. Accidentally activating an authority on the campus, especially one of Njord's deadlier ones, could be disastrous."

"And you'd rather not drag the Copper-Black Cross or Bronze-Black Cross into this?" Fillius asked.

"It's kind of hard not to, when they have agents already in the castle," Charlie mumbled. "But, yeah. For the most part I'd like to not get them involved."

Fillius nodded, taking a swig of his drink. Charlie did the same and the two of them enjoyed the rush that the alcohol gave them. The discussions that would soon follow were going to be long. Especially since neither of them knew how Harry would take the news about his… changes.

"You do know that she's going to be an issue," Fillius finally said.

Charlie tilted his head inquisitively, was there something that he was missing with the whole situation.

"Just go and wait in the hospital wing tonight and you'll see what I mean," Fillius chuckled, his grin illuminating his face.

"I'll take your word for it," Charlie muttered as he took another drink.

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Gagging and coughing; Harry emptied the limited contents of his stomach onto his sheets. He had been awoken from a terrifying dream with this action and found himself alone in the hospital room. The stench of his bile began to provoke another wave of nausea as he struggled to prevent himself from collapsing.

He wasn't sure how he had done it, but he had managed to wake himself up in time, rather than choke on his own vomit. The answer to how he had managed it came when he realized that someone was rubbing his back, a soft feminine voice singing something he could only assume was meant to be soothing.

"Are you feeling better?" heavily accented English asked.

A wave of embarrassment washed over Harry as he figured who it was that was with him. Even though he could, for the most part, fight off the Veela magic that caused men to go slack-jawed; that didn't mean he didn't realize how beautiful the Beauxbatons champion is. And it was for that reason that he suddenly felt ashamed of himself.

"There's nothing to fret about 'arry, I wouldn't be surprised if you were suffering some sort of trauma," she said softly. "We've all visited you since the task, and seen you in worse moments than this."

"And I cannot thank you enough for what you did under the lake," she whispered. "I was so worried for Gabrielle; I could barely think straight."

The rhythmic rubbing on his back stopped, and Harry almost made a sound of protest before he felt a towel wiping at his face. Sapphire blue eyes met his as Fleur settled down in front of him. Her ministrations were gentle as she cleaned him up, and Harry felt his blood rush to his face again; this time with more force. Someone like her shouldn't be doing that for him.

"I want to do this," Fleur said, as if she had read his thoughts. "It's the least I can do for what you did for me and my sister."

"But you got Ron to the surface for me, you don't owe me anything," Harry finally spoke up, his voice unusually hoarse despite all the conversing that had gone on the previous day.

"I wouldn't have been able to without your actions under the water. You were brave and 'eroic, don't believe any differently."

Harry was about to argue that, he hadn't done anything special; others would have done the same in his position. However, the wave of magic that Fleur sent his way told him not to argue. Keeping quiet, she finished cleaning off his face, before standing up.

"I will go and get your mediwitch; she will want to check up on you again. And she might be able to help you with the sheets," the witch said.

Moving away, she disappeared in her search of Madame Pomfrey, leaving Harry alone again. At least, Harry thought he was alone, until a wolf whistle told him otherwise.

"Nice bird you've got there Harry, didn't realize you had it in you," Charlie Weasley said as he sat on the bed beside Harry's. "Anyway, we've got a lot to talk about and not much time. So, I need you to come to Flitwick's office after lunch tomorrow. We'll speak there."

"What about? Ron told me that you got me out of the lake. Why did you do that? Did you stop the squid?" Harry asked rapidly.

"We'll discuss that tomorrow, please just show up," he pleaded. "We need to explain the events to you."

"Couldn't Professor Dumbledore? He was very thorough with gathering what I remembered," Harry inquired.

"Please Harry, trust me this one time. That's all I'm asking right now," Charlie replied.

Footsteps were audible to the two young men and Charlie stood up. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a tightly knit fabric and threw it over top of himself. Harry's eyes widened as he disappeared from sight. But that shock was quickly replaced by the appearance of Madame Pomfrey as she entered into the room.

"Mr. Potter, stay still and I'll get those sheets changed for you. I need to run a few tests to…"

Her voice trailed off as Harry's eyes started to get heavy again. The burst of energy that had followed his sudden wakefulness had dissipated. As they began to close, he barely noticed Fleur enter the room. Drifting off, he returned to sleep again, Madame Pomfrey's voice mumbling spells as she checked him over.

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Charlie waited out in the hallway, his invisibility cloak draped over his body. It had cost him three paycheques to get a hold of it, but now the worth of the purchase was going to be proven. He was waiting patiently for the blonde witch who had been with Harry to exit the room again.

Her initial departure to get Madame Pomfrey had given him a chance to speak with Harry. Now, he would be able to fulfill his secondary objective: observing the veela. After Fillius had explained to him what he had meant, Charlie had agreed to the idea that finding out more about the girl would be vital to Harry's protection. At least while he was coming into his newfound power.

The witch showed herself after fifteen minutes, letting Charlie begin his objective. He would make sure of her motives and work to protect Harry himself if push came to shove. There was too much at risk now that another Campione had appeared at Hogwarts; especially with the Triwizard Tournament going on. Their reputation wasn't very good and the headmasters of all three schools could turn on Harry in an instant if they knew.

"Well then, let's see what your intentions are," he smirked.

End Chapter 1

A/N: Okay… It has been far too long since I posted the prologue and I apologize for that. Work took up 90% of my Christmas Break and now I'm once again in classes, so I'll update whenever I can. Aside from that, this chapter was… interesting to write. Mainly because I had to figure out what elements I wanted to introduce now and what I'm still going to hold back. And now that I've determined what is what, I'm ready to really jump into the story.

As a forewarning, the next chapter will be a flashback chapter that deals with the two weeks that Harry missed; mainly the aftermath of the second task and some events surrounding the reasons for Fleur's presence in this chapter. After that, the story will come back to the present and move on with Harry's meeting with Flitwick and Charlie and the start of his path to becoming a… Well, if I told you that, it wouldn't be much of a surprise when it happens.

Oh, and before I close off this Author's Note, the primary pairing of this fic will be Harry and Fleur. She will be the Erica to Harry's Godou (in many ways). So, as the story continues I may allow other girls into the mix, but don't expect it.

Anyways, I hope this chapter was worth the wait (though with its length, I know I will disappoint some people) and that the next chapter will also be enjoyable. So, until the next time we speak:

This has been Merchant Prince. I'll speak with you all again in the next chapter.

P.S. Thanks for all the follows, favourites and reviews. I didn't expect the story to garner that much attention, so I apologize again for the lateness in this being posted. The next one shouldn't take as long, but I won't make any promises due to my life schedule.