Harry Potter, the Forgotten Son

Chapter 8: The French Connection

-X-

(I Own Nothing)

-X-

Arriving to his destination, Harry felt his feet firmly hit the ground and grunted with a small shake of the head before adjusting his glasses. Travel by Portkey was rather uncomfortable, which felt like you had a hook behind your navel that pulled you to your destination like a fishing hook reeled in a fish.

But it was better than the tossing and tumbling one felt when using the Floo and you didn't run the risk of leaving parts of yourself behind like you did when using apparition. And compared to the sensation of being forced through a very tight rubber tube, the hooking feel was much better.

Most portkeys could only take you to one destination but when most witches and wizards created them, they used some random object that they didn't care for. But his ring had been made for the soul purpose of being made into one and could not only transport him to his destination but back to his previous location when needed.

He found himself standing outside in front of a dull silver metal gate that had a golden 'D' in the center. The surrounding fence was made of the same metal but had stone pillars every seven feet and stretched on for a distance before turning and making a box around a large three story mansion with a large marble fountain in the front yard that still ran despite the little bit of snowfall around him.

The gate made a clicking sound, telling him that it had sensed him and unlocked itself before swinging open, allowing him inside.

It was chilly walk but his overcoat, which had been charmed to stay warm, kept him comfortable as he made it up to the front door and knocked.

Unlike the gate, it wasn't spelled to recognize certain people and let them in, so he had to wait until someone opened it.

"Oh!" exclaimed a maid dressed in a larger version of Twilly's uniform, complete with the little white hat on her head, "Monsieur Potter, Lord Delacour was not expecting you so soon,"

"Is that so?" he replied in fluent French, "Well is he in? He seemed rather urgent in his letter,"

"Of course, sir. Lord Delacour is out back with Lady Delacour and his daughters, please follow me,"

Following the girl through the elegant halls of the manor, passing priceless art and skilled craftsmanship everywhere he looked, they soon reached a door leading out to a stone patio overlooking a large open backyard where he saw two figures riding a horse off in the distance.

The maid opened the door, "Excuse me, but Monsieur Potter has arrived to see you sir." she spoke before stepping aside and letting Harry through, where he saw Lord and Lady Delacour sitting at a small round table sipping from steaming cups as they watched the two figures in the distance.

Both had turned at the sound of the door opening and the man had stood, setting his cup down before walking over.

He was an older gentlemen with dull black hair on the top of his head with graying sides, his nose was just a bit bulbous but one didn't really notice unless they looked too hard. The man wore long, comfortable looking leisure robes with matching pants and slippers on his feet.

"Harry!" the man greeted warmly as he approached and took the boys hand, shaking it with a large smile, "How nice to see you again, it's been too long, how's your sister, she should be in Hogwarts now right?"

"It's nice to see you as well Joseph, my sister has indeed started school and is doing well, thank you for asking," he greeted back without seeming the slightest bit awkward at speaking a different language, "But I've just gotten your letter and from what I've read I thought that you were in dire need of assistance... but yet..." he glanced around, letting the statement hang as he saw that the place looked peaceful and serene.

"Aw yes..." the man hummed before adopting a small look of embarrassment, "I may have overreacted a bit... but please, come sit with us and I'll explain."

The pair walked to the table where he was greeted by the woman. She was a bit younger than the man and had long silvery blond hair with gleaming baby blue eyes that matched the fluffy robes she wore over her body.

"Good afternoon Harry," she greeted as he took her hand and kissed her knuckles, "It's always a pleasure to see you,"

"Apolline, you look younger than ever," he hummed with a smile only for her to smile and playfully smack his hand.

"Now, now, Harry... not in front of Joseph." she joked before the two males joined her in sitting at the table, all three of them facing the back yard.

Harry looked out at the two figures, "I see you've spared no expense this year," he mused with a smirk, "Finally give in to little Gabby's pouting?"

Joseph smiled, "Gabby wanted one of her own but I've decided to get one and let them share, I don't think she's ready yet. But onto the letter, you see Harry. Each New Years the French Ministry holds a ball..."

Harry quickly caught on, "And due to our personal alliance, you want me to be Fleur's date and to protect her from those who'd try to harm her to get to you."

The man nodded, with Harry humming lowly.

He and and the young englishmen had been in a shadowy alliance for a couple years now, when he first met the youth, Harry had been ten years old and seemingly wondering the busy lobby of the France branch of Gringotts. Joseph had been out with his daughter while Apolline, who had been pregnant at the time, stayed home. But before he could inquire about the boy who seemed alone yet unafraid in the least, Fleur, who hadn't been looking where she was going, accidentally ran into a young Goblin that had been carrying a large stack of papers.

When the girl got up, muttering childish curses as she brushed herself off, the young goblin overheard her curses and took offense to the childish names.

And much to his displeasure, he would've been hard pressed to do much to protect his child and the rest of his family, as a blow to goblin honor, no matter how small or immature the reason could result in major problems.

But salvation came in the form of a very... very old goblin wearing a red suit with gold trim, buttons, and a frilly white blouse in the company of that same young man that he saw before. The older goblin was very important by the fact that every goblin near had stopped what they were doing to kneel, speaking something in their language of Gobbledegook before it spoke, having them return to work as if nothing happened.

The ancient goblin exchanged words with the younger one and to his shock, the young man made a few remarks of his own in the same language as if he'd been speaking it his whole life with a smooth and assuring tone to his words.

The younger goblin huffed but turned to growl out a small apology before gathering up his files and stalking away.

Needless to say, Joseph quickly struck up an alliance with the boy, a secret one but an alliance none the less. This young man seemed to have done the impossible and was held in high regards with the Goblins.

While the alliance hadn't seemed like it would be useful until he grew, Joseph had been surprised when the boy showed a surprising amount of maturity, intelligence, and competence concerning their dealings at the beginning. But as they dealt with each other more, introducing the boy to the rest of his family, Harry became more of a friend than anything else, even spending time with Fleur to the point where they were great friends.

"I trust that the usual precautions will be used by the Ministry." he asked, although it sounded more like a statement than anything.

"If you can call it that," Apolline muttered with an unladylike snort, making Joseph sigh while Harry hummed.

The French Ministry of Magic, like Britain, had started slacking after the last dark uprising many years ago, in the form of the Nazi with Hitler leading the muggle armies and Grindelwald leading his dark wizarding army in what the muggles called World War II, but it would forever be known to the Wizarding world as the Global Wizarding war. Like the UK, France also had groups of Pureblood that despised 'Half-breeds' and any who married them. Apolline was in fact a half-blood Veela and her marriage into the pureblood Delacour family had caused the racist purebloods to set their sights on them.

They had been attacked more than once by extremists and each time they had been caught, but bribery got them out just as easly as it did for former death eaters back home. One such occasion had nearly gotten him (Harry) hurt and was the motivation for acquiring a gun, which was much better for quick self defense than a wand in most cases.

"Well I'm free until then, I'd be happy to be Fleur's escort and protector, but I'll have to return the next morning for class."

"Of course," the man spoke with a nod, "You have my thanks Harry, you have no idea how much better it makes me feel... oh and before I forget, this year is a Masquerade ball, remember to dress accordingly.

-X-

The origins of the masquerade ball can be traced to the Italian Renaissance, which were especially popular in Venice. The dances were held for the upper classes and nobility, but the special attraction of the mask was that people could flirt and dance with anyone, which would not have been allowed under any other circumstance.

Over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, masquerade balls became popular throughout continental Europe and England, and eventually in colonial America. There were those who railed against the balls, claiming that they were a negative foreign influence that encouraged immorality and shamefully allowed "commoners" to consort with the aristocracy. Fortunately, the lure of the balls was too strong to allow such views to gain much traction.

Soft, aristocratic music filled the air as men and women mingled around the large ballroom, some eating small finger food and drinking while others danced and talked.

Dressed in a old fashioned green suit with a matching half mask designed to look like a court jester, but without the bells and puffballs, Harry held the hand of blond goddess as they danced.

"You look beautiful my dear," he cooed to the girl as he smiled at her golden mask, which only covered the top half of her face, much like his. A rose was attached to her right temple while extravagant silver loops and designs covered the surface, sparkling and shinning in the light.

She spun, causing him to wrap his arm around her as her side met his chest, "And you look delicious my Jester," the girl whispered back with a longing look in her eyes.

It was tradition never to mention their real names, so he went with 'my dear' while she called him Jester. They danced for awhile, stopping to get something to drink before the girl whispered something in his ear.

Apolline smirked behind her own mask as she watched her daughter lead Harry away, she had known that the girl had been pining for the teen for some time now and came to expect this, after-all, veela were sexual in nature but geared to find that one special person and it seemed that Fleur had made her pick.

Offering a small preyer to her mother, who had been a full blooded veela, she thanked her for teaching her various contraceptive charms and knew good and well that Fleur would be using them soon.

"Honey," Joseph muttered after a minute, not having seen his child drag the boy off to find a nice lonesome place to be alone, "Remind me to buy one of those muggle shotguns,"

"Why ever in the world would you need one of those?"

The man shrugged, "I'm... not sure... just got this strange feeling that I might need one,"

To be continued...

-X-

I don't know why but I just couldn't continue this chapter without having problems, so please forgive me for this short update but I'll be adding a new one soon. Anyway it's the same as always, please review and tell me what you thought, I'm always open to ideas or suggestions