AN: This chapter is almost twice as long compared to the usual. Enjoy~

Chapter 42 - Summer with the Delacours

Like many other wizarding families in France, the Delacours' residence was not in a Muggle city or village. With France having a roughly similar population of magicals to the UK in terms of numbers but with a territory more than two times larger, there was far more room for wizards and witches to extend themselves.

Located in Provence, Southern France, Fleur's home was surrounded by vineyards from all sides except for the front due to it being very close to the coast, the seaside only half a mile away. Unlike the haunting beauty of the Blackthorn with its Gothic architecture, the manor of the Delacours was not as impressive in looks, following the Mediterranean style: it was rather unassuming with its rectangular footprint, its unadorned, white-painted walls, and its low roof. However, that simple-looking manor, coupled with the vast vineyards surrounding it and the glistening blue water of the Mediterranean Sea, created a picturesque scenery.

Wearing a floral green dress, leather sandals, and a blue orchid flower in her long silvery hair, and with her previously pale face now sporting a tan, Fleur looked just like a cute and lively village girl.

Unlike Fleur, who had tanned beautifully, Harry's face, neck, and arms were a deep red. Looking at the crab-like colour of his face and the skin peeling off his nose, she giggled and pinched it lightly.

"Stop it, you, it hurts enough as it is," he complained.

"And that's solely your fault. I told you yesterday to put on some sun cream, didn't I? 'Men don't use that shit' - you said. Well, now suffer like a man! Haha! - Ahhhhhh!"

Her laughter abruptly transformed into a shriek of panic as they suddenly started falling head-first towards the ground.

"'Arry!" she cried out, her voice strangled by fear, her arms tightening around his waist almost painfully as she held on for dear life.

When the ground appeared to be only a few dozen feet away, Fleur involuntarily closed her eyes and clenched her fingers around the fabric of his T-shirt. She felt the wind being knocked out of her lungs, and a pit appeared in her stomach when they suddenly came to a halt.

Hesitatingly opening her eyes, she saw that the Nimbus 2000 broomstick they were riding was hoovering at only 6 feet above the ground. Realizing how close they had been to crashing, her heart was jumping out of her chest. The ordeal had been so stressful that she felt too drained to even get angry.

"Are you trying to get us killed?"

He chuckled in a self-satisfied manner.

"It's payback for pinching my nose. That'll teach you not to- ow, ow, ow!" Harry started crying out towards the end as Fleur sank her teeth into the nape of his neck and shoulder, biting him repeatedly.

Seeing as it was Sunday, there were no field workers in the vineyards and, with the closest Muggle village located several miles away, Harry and Fleur took full advantage of it. Their occasional bickering aside, flying together on a broom above the hills of Provence and the Mediterranean Sea was a fantastic experience for them.

Once she was satisfied with the abuse she had inflicted on his neck and shoulder, Fleur rested her head on his shoulder blade and hugged him dearly to her chest. He smiled at her display of affection and flew his broom at a relaxed pace, slowly taking in the beautiful scenery below them.

"I love it here," Harry said, and it was not just empty words. "Having such a simple and slow life in the countryside, with no worries other than tending to the vineyards... Going on flights by the sea and having fun with our family by the beach... how nice would it be to do just that forever?"

Despite how he looked - currently, he appeared to be in his early twenties due to an Ageing Potion - Harry was not a young man at heart. While most young men and women wanted to live in a large city with plenty of opportunities for fun and partying, Harry liked the tranquillity of this place way more. He had seen enough action and intrigue for three lifetimes. He would rather have some peace and quiet in this life for a change.

"Once we graduate, we can come 'ere," she said and rested her chin on his shoulder, their cheeks now touching. "My parents are not obscenely rich but we are doing fine. We'll buy a plot of land close by and build ourselves a small cottage, by the sea."

"Not too close to the sea, though, it could be dangerous for children. But not too far either. I think your home is set at the perfect distance," Harry said.

But Fleur did not hear the latter half of his words.

"Children?" she said in wonder.

"Well... ...I mean, not now, I'm still too young, and you haven't gotten a career yet, but I thought that maybe, I don't know, in a few years, when we are in our mid-twenties..."

He was rambling in embarrassment for having gotten ahead of himself.

"I like the sound of that," she said, and she felt his body relax in her arms. "Mm, yes, a girl and a boy with silvery 'air and green eyes-"

"No, the boy needs to have black hair. No way I'm having a mini-Malfoy-look-alike for a boy."

"That was rude! What's wrong with a boy 'aving blonde 'air?!"

They chuckled together. Even after the couple's laughter died out, they kept grinning as they talked about the future. It was still several years too early for them to talk about marriage and children due to their young bodies, but it did not hurt to fantasize about it and learn more about what dreams and hopes each of them held for the future.

Half an hour later, the Aging Potion's effect wore off, and Harry returned to his original appearance as a nearly 13-year-old boy. His clothes were now too big for his frame, and Fleur giggled in delight at his expense. However, with a few deft flicks of her wand, she shrunk them to fit his current size. She put her arms around his waist again, but this time he was so short and thin that she felt no safety whatsoever in holding onto him.

"When are you getting your growth spurt?" she could not help asking.

"I'm sorry for being a midget," he said snarkily.

At this point, it had become a running joke between them for Fleur to poke fun at his height and for him to get annoyed.

"Do you have more of that Ageing Potion on you?" she pressed on.

"You're really shameless today, aren't you?"

"Aw, come on, don't be like that," she cooed and threw her arms around him. "I just like that wide and reliable back of your older self. And that chest, mm, I love laying my 'ead on it. I never sleep as well when I'm alone. But I guess you being this small and cute 'as its perks too. I can cuddle with you like a teddy bear," she added at the end and ruffled his already messy hair.

⁂

Living with the Delacours turned out to be one of the most relaxing and fulfilling experiences for Harry and Bellatrix. Unless someone badmouthed his wine, Mr Delacour was a relatively laid-back and warm person. As a wine connoisseur and a producer of Muggle and magical wines, Mr Delacour took great pride in his work.

As for Mrs Delacour, the best word to describe her was vivacious. Despite being a woman in her mid to late forties, she was full of energy and sometimes she talked so fast that Bellatrix, who was fluent in French, had trouble understanding her. Nevertheless, the two ladies had hit off well, with Bellatrix even taking up Apolline's hobby. Nowadays, the two of them could often be seen with a photo camera hanging from their necks, randomly snapping photos at their children or their surroundings.

The Delacours' home gave out such a warm and welcoming vibe that Harry had genuinely started to love it after only a few days. The fact that he was together with Fleur was like the cherry on the cake.

It was not all only fun and games, though. While they would fly on Harry's broom, or go on walks through the vineyards or to the beach, once evening came, the two of them would hole up in one of the basement's rooms and work on Fleur's project, the one for which she had asked him in her letters to refresh his knowledge on Ancient Runes.

A human-sized bronze statue had been laid on the floor, face-down. The statue was rough, the artist that had cast it seemingly an amateur. Nevertheless, its looks mattered little for Fleur's purpose.

A red light shining brightly at the tip of his Elder Wand, Harry was slowly and meticulously carving symbols on the back of the bronze statue's neck. Bending over his shoulder, Fleur was watching the process with rapt attention.

"Your hair smells brilliant," Harry suddenly said.

Peering over his shoulder as she was, tresses of her long silvery hair were brushing his cheeks, and he took delight in breathing in her beautiful scent.

"Sorry," she muttered and quickly gathered her hair in a ponytail. Then, she cast a nonverbal charm on it, her hair now being held in a tight bun. It was the same charm that she had used whenever she had gone to kill one of her targets to not leave even a hair behind, no evidence that could get her identity discovered.

"Noo! I don't mind. Scratch that, I love it when you-"

"Shut up and focus! Merlin have mercy on you if you ruin my statue!"

He chuckled, but he went back to carving the Ancient Runes in the back of the statue's neck. A few minutes later, the light on the tip of his wand extinguished, and he stopped.

"That's it, I inscribed the Unbreakable Charm on it. Do you want to carve the next spell yourself?"

"I-, I'm not confident. I've never carved something before. If I make a mistake, I'll ruin everything," she said hesitantly.

"Didn't you get an O in your Ancient Runes OWL? This shouldn't be too difficult."

It was in the middle of June that Fleur had gotten the results of her OWLs - a perfect score, Outstanding, for all her exams. Getting an O in her Transfiguration and Charms exams was a given considering that she was a snowy owl Animagus and that she was Filius Flitwick's apprentice. Her O in the DADA OWL could also be caused by her being mentally in her 30s. But the fact that Fleur had gotten Os in Potions, History of Magic, Ancient Runes, Astronomy and Herbology as well was proof that she had studied diligently for each one of them. A total of 9 OWLs.

"This is different. Until the end of the 5th year, the Ancient Runes class only teaches theory. It's in the 6th and 7th years that we'll start applying our knowledge in practice," she explained.

"Ah, I see."

Harry had not studied Ancient Runes conventionally in school. He had learned it over many years, by himself, to become a shaman, so he did not know the way students were taught at Hogwarts.

"I'll guide you through it. The difficult part with Ancient Runes was always the theoretical knowledge - but you got that down. Actually using them only requires a steady hand, willpower, and decent control over your magic. Come, let's try it on something else first, for you to get a feel of it."

He summoned one of the stools from the back of the room and put it in front of her.

"Carve a Warming Charm formula on this chair. This should be one of the easiest."

Although not that confident in herself due to never having tried to do it before, she drew strength from the amount of trust he seemed to have in her. It encouraged her.

Just like when Harry had done it, a red light appeared at the tip of Fleur's white wand and, after taking a few seconds to focus, she started drawing symbols with it on the chair's backrest. She only carved two runes: one that meant "warm" and one that meant "air".

The exciting part about Ancient Runes was that unlike regular spell-casting with a wand that usually required a specific incantation, any sequence of words had the potential to become a spell when using the runes. It was both marvellous and extremely dangerous. That's because if the Ancient Runes formula was contradictory, instead of casting a spell, the runes would blow up. As an Enchanter or a Warder, the two professions that used Ancient Runes regularly, the risk of dying on the job was not negligible. A classic example would be to carve the runes for "hot" and "cold" after each other - it was the easiest method to create an explosion with Ancient Runes.

Done with carving the two runes, Fleur tapped them with her wand. They glowed with blue light, and then, her face lit up in joy like a Christmas Tree.

"It works!" she said in glee when she felt the chair warming up to the touch.

"Of course it does, I told you it's easy," he said with a laugh.

But, a few seconds later, the runes lost their glow, and the chair became cool to the touch again, as if its temperature had never changed in the first place.

"W-What 'appened?!" she asked bewildered. "I carved the runes evenly, perfectly. Where did I go wrong?"

"That's where your willpower comes in. In your case, you didn't trust in yourself enough and your will was weak so the effect of your magic did not last for long."

"Willpower? Is it that important?"

"If theory alone was enough for one to become a Warding Master or an Enchanter, any random nerd would do it. But, clearly, that's not the case. Very few people managed to become one because it takes more than knowledge and skill. Willpower, confidence, mental discipline, belief, intent - call it whatever you want. The point is that you need to imprint your will into your Ancient Runes formula. That's how Warding Spells can become powerful enough to even kill someone like me or Dumbledore if we stepped into their area of effect."

At Fleur's surprised face, Harry continued to explain patiently:

"That is the case for regular spell-casting too, not just for Ancient Runes. That's what separates a powerful wizard from an average one. You can't really quantify willpower, it's such an abstract concept, isn't it? But willpower can sometimes rise above logic and reason. This's how I even managed to get the upper hand against Voldemort in my previous life, as a child."

"You're not joking..." she said.

"We had brother wands - their cores were two feathers coming from the same Phoenix. When two brother wands are pitted against each other, they don't work well, they refuse to harm each other. Our magic spells were locked together in a beam - my Disarming Charm against his Killing Curse. I was only 14 at that time, a clueless teenager, yet, not only that I got the upper hand in that exchange, I even threw off his Imperius Curse before that. I did all that through sheer willpower alone. Maybe I will show you this memory one day. I will ask Sirius to let us use his Pensieve."

"You said it yourself, you were only 14, no? 'Ow was your willpower that strong?" she asked, finding it hard to believe.

Harry's smile waned a little.

"Suffering, hardship, pain, loneliness - they breed character. If you can bear with it and survive, they refine you like precious metals are refined by fire. Your perseverance, your will to never give up, your confidence in yourself that you will pull through everything... you become tough. Your mind becomes strong. I did not have an easy life growing up. It was terrible. And even after learning about being a wizard, I've faced death every year at Hogwarts," he said and trailed off. "Anyway, let's go back to what we were talking about. Ancient Runes."

Fleur looked like she wanted to ask more about his childhood, but she felt that Harry did not want to talk about it.

"Infuse your magic into the runic formula again."

"Don't we need to carve another formula? she asked.

"No way, silly," he scolded her jokingly. "Imagine you were trying to enchant a magical material like, say, a goblin silver armor set; what would you do? Carve another set of runes on it? It would ruin the material. So no. The carving itself is perfect. You just need to infuse your magic into the runes again."

Fleur was about to tap her with the tip of her wand again, but Harry stopped her.

"Wait. Before you're doing it this time, take a moment to think about yourself. Who are you?"

"What do you mean?" she said, not sure what he was getting to.

"Just humour me."

"I'm Fleur. Fleur Delacour."

"Tell me, Fleur, what is the thing you are the proudest of? Your most important accomplishment?"

The girl scrunched up her eyebrows in thought.

"Making you fall in love with me?"

Harry burst into laughter, and she started giggling at her own joke too.

"No, seriously."

"I was being serious..."

He shook his head at her antics.

"Then, let me tell you what I know about you. You're Fleur Delacour. Someone who got 9 OWLs, all Os. You're also Filius Flitwick's apprentice, on your way to become a Charms Mistress yourself. But you are also Fleur Delacour - the relentless serial killer, someone who had routed the entire inner circle of followers of one of the most terrible wizards in the past few centuries. Wizards and Witches that had twice more experience and skill in magic still fell prey to your plans, to your assassination. Fleur Delacour, a decisive woman with a strong mind, someone who persevered in her actions and single-handedly changed the course of the future. You are a woman that I genuinely respect and admire. You should never think less of yourself. You are a brilliant witch, Fleur, and you have the potential to become even more exceptional. Trust me. I believe in you. Do not doubt your skill. Do not doubt your knowledge. Do not doubt your strength. Trust in yourself."

As he talked, Fleur found herself involuntarily looking away in embarrassment. Harry was not one to express his thoughts about her in such a manner. It was the first time she had ever heard someone say these kinds of words about herself. She felt heat rising to her face, and her heart began beating faster. The fact that she felt no deceit in his words, that Harry was genuine, made her not know whether to feel giddy with happiness or embarrassed at being praised face-to-face so blatantly. However, one thing was sure: something warm was burning in her stomach. At that moment, a feeling as if she could take on the whole world filled her heart.

Her confidence and fighting spirit were at an all-time high; Fleur's hand quivered with excitement when she touched the runes with her wand again.

The Ancient Runes started glowing with blue light, and, much to her's joy and amazement, they were still glowing the next morning, too, the Warming Charm still as potent as at the start.

⁂

The following morning, barely minutes after everyone had their breakfast together, Harry and Fleur excused themselves and stood up to leave.

《Where are you going? You two are sneaking out again, aren't you? I wanna go too!》 Gabrielle whined.

《We're going to the beach for a swim. You know you're too young to swim without supervising, and I don't want to babysit you the entire day!》

Like any young child, Gabrielle wanted to be included in everything they did. She wanted to play with them, too; she was tired of being left out.

Seeing her youngest starting to tear up, Mrs Delacour said in disapproval: 《That's was uncalled for, Fleur. You didn't need to be mean.》

《But, mum, I can't even go to the toilet these days without her following me around!》

《That is so not true!》 Gabrielle yelled.

Seeing the three female Delacour arguing rapidly in French, Harry asked after a while:

"What's going on? Why are you fighting?"

It was Bellatrix that answered him:

"Fleur wants to be alone with you at the beach, probably for you two to have sex, and young Gabby insists on-"

"Miss Black!" "Bellatrix!" "Professor!" Jean, Apolline, and Fleur yelled, scandalized at the same time.

A very, very awkward silence was instilled. The only saving grace was that Gabrielle's English was not good enough to really understand what had evoked such a reaction from the rest of her family.

"I actually wanted to go diving with 'Arry. There are some great underwater places close-by," Fleur muttered, but there was a hint of pink in her tanned cheeks, making everyone present suspect that while that may have been her 'official' purpose, Bellatrix's guess was most likely not too far off the mark either.

"How about we make this a family activity?" Mr Delacour said, "I think it would be nice to go diving together, what do you say?"

Although inwardly put off at the fact that she would not be alone with Harry, Fleur did not let it show on her face. On the other hand, Gabrielle became jubilant once her mother told her what they were going to do in French.

⁂

《Why so moody? It's not like Gabby will steal your boyfriend, is it?》 Apolline asked Fleur, who was watching Harry riding with Gabrielle on his Nimbus, two leather belts tying her securely from her midsection to Harry, making it impossible for her to slip off and fall.

Feeling the gaze of her sister, Gabrielle turned her head and stuck her tongue out at her. However, her merry giggles ended up making Fleur break into a smile, too, instead of getting annoyed. As irritating and nosey Gabrielle could sometimes be, she was so cute that Fleur could not stay mad at her for long.

While Harry and Gabrielle were flying on his broom, Bellatrix and the Delacours sat cross-legged together atop a large and luxurious Persian carpet.

《Aren't flying carpets banned by the French Ministry of Magic too?》 Bellatrix said in curiosity.

《What the Ministry doesn't know won't hurt it,》 Mr Delacour said with a shrug of his shoulders, making his wife smile at his words. She loved that nonchalant attitude of his. 《Of course, I won't go parading in Paris on my flying carpet. But here, in the countryside, with no Muggles around, there's no harm in using it. Brooms are faster and more agile, but they don't come close to the comfort of a flying carpet. Besides, you can even fly together with your family too. For a family man, a flying carpet is superior to a broom from all points of view.》

Seeing as the beach was about half a mile away and Gabrielle was too young to side-Apparate, they decided to fly over there. That said, even despite travelling at a leisurely speed, their trip barely lasted a few minutes. Once they arrived at the beach, Apolline opened the lid of her straw basket bag and started taking out many things, one after another: a huge umbrella, blankets, towels, sun cream etc. - that unassuming bag had had a Space-Expansion Charm cast on it.

A few minutes later, everyone cast a Bubble-Head Charm on themselves, with Fleur being the one to cast it on her little sister too. The Delacour couple was no longer surprised at someone as young as Harry casting another advanced spell effortlessly. After seeing what he and Fleur were working on in the basement, they realized that he was far from average and that Bellatrix's high praise for him was not unwarranted.

Gabrielle started fidgeting nervously as they stepped into the sea, and the water level came to her neck. But when her elder sister and Harry took one of her hands each, relief was shown on her face.

《Don't worry, we are here, with you. Don't let go of our hands, okay?》 Fleur said gently and squeezed her hand a little.

《Yes.》 Gabrielle nodded obediently and tightened her hold on Harry's and Fleur's hands.

Gabrielle was very young, only 7 years old. It was going to be her first time diving. The little girl was equally excited and apprehensive. As they started walking further away from the shore, she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet. If not for Harry and Fleur holding her, she would have panicked. Even then, she kept her eyes closed in apprehension.

《Open your eyes, Gabrielle,》 she vaguely heard her sister saying.

But when she did as she told, the saltwater made her sensitive eyes hurt, and she quickly closed them back. Only a few moments later, she broke into sobbing.

Harry laughed at the scene helplessly. The little girl had been so adamant about following them to the beach, not knowing what diving actually entailed. Her first contact with diving in the sea had hit her in the head like a bag of bricks.

"Let's go back to the shore for a moment, I 'ave an idea," Fleur said.

"Okay," he replied, and the other adults also stopped advancing deeper into the sea, keeping themselves floating on the surface.

Fleur grabbed her wand from the holster strapped at her right thigh and sat silent for a few moments, just watching Gabrielle sobbing silently. Meanwhile, Harry was trying to pacify her. His English words sounded like meaningless garbles to her ears, but the way he was gently rubbing her back was soothing, and she eventually stopped crying.

《I'm sorry, Fleur. I ruined everyone's fun,》 she apologized, her expression downcast.

Fleur knelt in front of her sister and hugged her dearly. Sometimes, she might get annoyed with Gabrielle, but she loved her more than words could tell. One of the biggest regrets about her past future was how her sister had died. Seeing her truly sad - not her usual temper tantrums - was breaking her heart.

《Don't worry. I will take care of it. I'm going to become a Charms Mistress, don't you know that? What kind of Charms Mistress would I be if I couldn't make a spell to protect you from the water completely?》

Gabrielle perked up her words.

《You can really do that?》 she asked in wonder.

《Of course I can.》 Fleur said and squeezed her cheeks in her hands, making the little girl giggle. 《Alright, are you ready? I'm going to cast the spell.》

Getting a fierce nod of acknowledgement from her, Fleur performed an Ω-shaped wand movement in front of Gabrielle's face. It was the standard wand movement required by the Bubble-Head Charm. However, unlike the standard effect of the charm that created a bubble only around the nose and the mouth of the target, the charm that Fleur cast on her little sister this time expanded to cover her entire head, quite similar to an astronaut's helmet.

"That's amazing," Harry said, surprised at the way she modified that spell on the spot. That was no small feat.

"Confidence. Willpower. Intent. What you told me last night made me understand magic to a much deeper level than before. I couldn't even sleep last night, I had to take a Pepper Up potion from mum's secret stash this morning. It's like a new world was opened in front of my eyes, a world filled with endless possibilities."

Even so, Fleur was also brimming with excitement at what she had just accomplished.

When they returned to the sea, it was not only Fleur's parents that were amazed at the new spell, but even Bellatrix was impressed. Fleur ended up casting her improved version of the Bubble-Head Charms on everyone else at their request. This new charm is much better at protecting their eyes from saltwater and allowing them to breathe.

Soon enough, everyone submerged, and a beautiful world spread below them. The crystal clear water of the Mediterranean Sea did not obstruct the sun's rays, allowing them to illuminate the seabed perfectly. And it was not only young Gabrielle that let out "oohs!" and "aahs!" of amazement at the sight in front of her eyes; Bellatrix too was sighing in amazement at the beauty of the subaquatic scenery, never before having experienced anything like it. Similarly, Harry was equally amazed; the Black Lake was nowhere as beautiful as what he saw at the moment. The clean water, the multicoloured corals, the numerous schools of fish swimming in a spiral, and the colourful jellyfish were an image that he would be hard-pressed to forget any time soon.

Eventually, Harry let go of Gabrielle's hand, letting the two sisters take the chance to deepen their bond without his interference. He recognized that it was an emotional moment for both Fleur and Gabrielle. He sat back and watched how the young girl pointed with her finger in a direction, asking Fleur to take her there. Then, he smiled when the Gabbyu started letting out a dense stream of bubbles as she talked in excitement when Fleur transfigured her feet to look like that of a duck - as someone who had become an Animagus, partial human transfiguration was not difficult for Fleur.

Mr and Mrs Delacour also smiled joyfully at the sight of their daughters getting along so nicely. In contrast, Bellatrix had a wistful smile on her face as she swam next to Harry. Her time with the Delacours was brilliant, but when night came, and she went to her bed, alone with her thoughts, it all served as a bitter reminder that her own aunt had cursed her to never be able to have such a thing.

Harry took her hand and gave her a smile. He did not say anything but the meaning of his actions were clear: 'You have me. We are family.'

Bella returned his smile and tightened her hold on his hand. She might never have her own children, but she did have a family. She loved Harry like her own son, she had her two sisters, her cousin, Sirius, and the Delacour's were slowly growing on her too. She was not alone.

⁂

A snowy owl glided on the currents of wind above the beach in a circle, hooting repeatedly. If Harry was there, he would have recognized the meaning of her sounds: Hedwig was very displeased.

Unfortunately, Harry was not there - and that was the very crux of the problem. Hedwig's senses told her that her master was around that area, but she could not catch sight of him. She was a very busy owl; she had mail to deliver! Hedwig took her job seriously, and she hated when unexpected circumstances prevented her from doing so. Alas, the reality is often disappointing. Despite what a hard-working and punctual owl she was, sometimes, things were outside of her control. There was no helping it; she could do nothing about it. And if her master said anything to complain, she would show him how sharp her talons were.

Hedwig let out a quiet hoot to say that she did not mean to do what she was thinking. She just wanted to see her master soon and hear him praising her for a job done well again. Nothing else felt quite as good as his fingers gently caressing her head. Okay, maybe bacon was better, but only slightly, not by much. Head pats were a very close second!

Bearing such thoughts in mind, Hedwig flew at the large umbrella on the beach and sat in its shade. Valiantly, she waited for nearly 10 minutes for her master to appear, but the long trip all the way from Paris to Provence and the fact that it was the middle of the day - owls were nocturne creatures - lulled her to sleep. The pretty owl closed her big yellow eyes and fell into a much-deserved slumber.

⁂

Having cast an Alarm Ward spell on their little camp before diving, Harry sensed the appearance of the intruder. At first, he did not think much of it, thinking that it must've been a seagull or some other kind of bird. However, a bird wouldn't stay around for too long without for that long when there was no food. After 15 minutes of the Alarm spell repeatedly ringing in his head every minute, he decided to go and check the situation on the shore. Once he let the others know where he was going, he Disapparated - eliciting a gasp from Mr and Mrs Delacour, who had not expected a 13-year-old boy to suddenly do that.

The crack made by his Apparition on the beach startled Hedwig awake. The snowy owl's first intention was to launch herself at Harry but seeing how he was dripping wet, seawater pouring in streams from his hair, down his chest and back, she decided against it.

"Oh, it was only you."

Hedwig hooted in indignation as if she meant - "is that all you have to say?".

Drying himself up with a wave of his Elder Wand, Harry took the owl into his arms in a hug, and the beautiful bird became incapable of pretending she was mad at him. She rubbed her face against his chest, snuggling deeper into his embrace, all the while letting out soft chirps of content as he petted her on the back of her head.

"You flew all the way to Paris and back, all in just a few hours, didn't you? Working so hard every day, I could never hope for a better owl." Harry said and cooed at her.

Hedwig barked happily at his praise, feeling as if half of her tiredness had melted away.

Momentarily putting the owl down, he went to Mrs Delacour's straw basket bag, and after rummaging through it for a while, he took out the lunchbox that she had prepared for him. Removing the lid, he grabbed one of the two portions of rabbit steak in the box and gave it to Hedwig.

After nipping his fingers a few times affectionately, Hedwig threw herself at the piece of rabbit steak and tore into it with her talons, eating one tiny piece of it at a time. Harry had seen many things in his life... ...however, seeing an owl act almost like a human in the way she was savouring her meal bite by small bite was a first. He decided it was better for his mental health to not try too hard to make sense of it. Hedwig was Hedwig, his cute snowy owl. Anything else was irrelevant.

Gently untying the rolled paper from her leg, Harry unfurled it and saw that it was the newest edition of the Le Sorcier, the leading newspaper in Wizarding France, similar to how the Daily Prophet was in the UK.

A huge title in bold covered nearly a quarter of the first page, with the rest being occupied by the black and white moving photo showing in slow motion the largest of the three pyramids from Egypt, Giza, blowing up spectacularly, as if a bomb had been detonated from within.

"No...this can't be!" he whispered, so shocked that he could not even find his voice for a while.