AN: New chapter up, enjoy!
Chapter 45 - Reemergence
"Will you help me, Harry?" Neville asked after a while. "You're strong. Much stronger than myself or any one of our age. Will you teach me how to fight?"
"Naw."
No hesitation whatsoever, Harry's answer had been instantaneous. For a moment, Neville thought he misheard him.
"Huh?!"
Harry raised his eyebrows at him. "I said no. Hell no. Why would I do that?"
"What do you mean why?" Neville bristled. "You-Know-Who is bound to come after me one day. I have to be strong and stop him!"
'He can't even say his name but he thinks he can beat him if he just trains hard?' Harry inwardly thought, shaking his head.
"Voldemort has decades of experience and knowledge over you. Rumour goes that he had also been a rarely-seen prodigy in school. You think that training for 2-3 years is going to bridge that gap between the two of you? Or, do you think you are more intelligent and more hardworking than he was?" Harry said.
"Then what would you have me do? I have to start from somewhere, don't I?" Neville said in frustration.
"Yes, you're right, you have to start from somewhere. How about starting from learning what they teach us in class?"
At those words, Neville clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Listen, mate. Boy Who Lived or not, I honestly don't really care about you," Harry said, not mincing his words. He was losing his patience and he didn't like Neville's attitude either. "Look at things from my perspective, what would you choose in my place: spend more time with your girlfriend or go help some lazy guy that you don't know anything about? We're not even friends, are we? This is the first time you talked to me in three years and when you finally do it, you're asking for a favour. A very big and time-consuming favour. Why would I want to help you?"
Momentarily, Nevile did not know what to say in response to that. It took him a while to find his words.
"I understand you don't want to help me. But you have no right to say I'm lazy! You know nothing about me or how much effort I put in!"
"I don't need to," Harry said with a shrug. "Your grades reflect that."
"My grades mean nothing!" Neville said in annoyance. "Turning matches into needles won't help me fight against You-Know-Who!"
Neville was about to say more but the words were trapped in his throat when the belt around his waist suddenly transformed into a snake. As the snake left the belt loops of his pants and started to crawl up his torso, a sound between a sob and a sharp intake of breath came from the boy, his face livid from terror.
"Rabbits into a pair of slippers matches into needles and so on so forth. If you were adept in transfiguration, you could easily undo my spell and turn this snake back into a belt. Or, if you were very good at charms, you could Vanish this snake with but a thought. But you are not very good at either because you don't care about studying."
Harry waved his wand and the snake transformed back into a regular belt. Neville slumped in his chair, his back soaked with sweat.
"That's actually how I defeated one of the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley two years ago," he said truthfully. "I transfigured the mask he was wearing into a viper and ordered it to bite his face." (1)
Although Neville appeared to still be in shock, Harry's words could not resound any more clearly in his ears.
"Aunt Bella had told me once that during the first five years, Hogwarts teaches us the basics in all magical areas. We learn basic transfiguration and conjuration, elementary charms and counter curses, common knowledge about various magical beasts and plants, how to brew and identify common potions and so on so forth. It's only starting with our sixth year that we begin to specialize in various branches of magic. But, if you can't master the basic courses at least up to the standard of the OWLs, you'll never become a great wizard."
Harry himself had never put in extra effort when it came to his studies in his childhood. He did not want Neville to make the same mistakes as he had once done.
In Harry's defence, however, his situation had been vastly different from Neville's. During the summers, Harry had had to wake up at midnight and do his homework under the covers of his bed, with a flashlight, in secrecy, so the Dursleys would not see him. His uncle would also often lock up all his stuff in the cupboard so he would be unable to study. Furthermore, nobody had cared about guiding and scolding him when he was a child, nobody except for Hermione. But she was his age and her words had not held as much weight as the words of an adult that he respected would have held - like the words of a father or a mother, or even the words of Dumbledore if the old man had had the intention to guide him. Even so, Harry reckoned that if it had not been for Hermione's nagging he would have not become the man he was today.
In contrast, Neville of this world had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, in a loving family, raised by caring parents, parents that also happened to be experienced and respected Aurors. Harry knew for a fact that the Longbottom couple wished their son took his studies more seriously instead of always fooling around with his friends.
With Neville continuing to be silent, Harry said, this time in a kinder voice:
"Before you learn how to run, you need to learn first how to walk. There is an order to things. For example, if someone can't even cast a proper Cheering Charm, they can forget about casting a Confudus Charm, it would be impossible for them. If someone can't cast a good Full-Body Binding Charm, they won't be able to cast a Stunning Charm either. Do you understand what I mean?"
Neville nodded his head reluctantly.
"I remember in our first year you used to be one of the better students in class, easily above average. I don't know why you've lost interest in school. But, trust me, if you show your parents that you are diligent in your studies and that you are better than the standard of your year, they'll stop treating you like a child. That's how it was with me and aunt Bella. When she saw how much effort I put in at school, she started giving me extra lessons, without me even asking for them, despite how busy she was with her own job. But when you look like you're struggling with schoolwork, your parents probably think that you aren't ready yet for the more advanced stuff. Or simply not mature and responsible enough for them to teach you powerful spells."
Saying that, Harry finished his cup of tea and stood up.
"I'm going to sleep now, I'll have to wake up early in the morning to go with Fleur for a run," he said and excused himself. "I hope you don't take badly what I told you. You need to become good at the basic stuff before you start learning advanced or dangerous spells. Besides, I'm still too young to train you, there are many things I don't know; I'm also still learning new things every day. I believe your parents would be much better suited to teach you - they are Aurors and war veterans too. Please think about what I said. Maybe stuff like Astronomy, Divination, History of Magic and Herbology aren't that useful in a fight. But Transfiguration, Charms, Defense against Dark Arts and Potions are vital. Care for Magical Creature is important as well, you never know when you might have to fend off a magical beast's attack in your life; knowing their weak points could help greatly."
Harry made a small pause before adding: "If you really care about becoming stronger, you should study hard in these classes. Anyway. That's all I have to say. Good night."
Through it all, Frank Longbottom had stayed silent, resuming himself to only watching their interaction from the side. Although he was startled and scared for Neville's safety at first when Harry had transfigured his belt into a snake, remembering that the boy was a Parselmouth made him relax slightly. Nevertheless, he still took out his wand, ready to intervene in an instant. In the end, however, it turned out that he had been worried for no reason. Not only that Harry did not harm Neville in the least, but the words that he had said also made Mr Longbottom look at him in a completely different light.
'I couldn't have said it better,' Frank thought.
He felt bad for how dispirited his son appeared to be after Harry left but he decided against going to console him. Sometimes, people needed to hear the truth, as hurtful as it was. He hoped that Neville would not simply brush Harry's scolding aside but that he would try to improve himself instead.
As Harry headed to his room, he shook his head when he thought about Neville's request.
'Training Neville now would serve no use. It took me nearly three decades to become as strong as Voldemort. Up until the age of thirty, I survived mostly thanks to my mother's love, Dumbledore's intricate plans, other people's sacrifices, Ron and Hermione's support, and sheer dumb luck. I was in my 30s by the time I could hold my own against Voldemort, and it was only when I got close to 40 years old that I finally became strong enough to kill him with my own two hands. If Neville thinks that he can become strong enough to beat Voldemort in 3-4 years only, he's delusional.'
Then again, Harry did not blame him for that. Neville was just a regular 14-year-old boy. He had never even seen Voldemort, unlike Harry who had clashed with him as a child multiple times, in his previous life. Neville had no way of knowing the depths of Voldemort's power, the profundity of his skill and knowledge in magic. That was not a level that one could reach in a few years. It took Harry many years of constant battle and fights with his life on the line for him to finally become that strong.
'Besides, since I decided to stand by Fleur's side and protect my family, Neville would never get a shot at Voldemort. The moment Voldemort comes out in the open, I will end him. Neville will be blessed to remain an innocent boy and enjoy his childhood in peace, like a normal person.'
⁂
It was Thursday, the 1st of September, 1994. The 9 and 3/4 platform at King's Cross was as packed with strangely-dressed people as it had always been around this time of the year. People of all ages could be seen hugging each other, saying their good-byes or even kissing passionately...as was the case for a pink-haired young woman and a red-haired man. They were attracting quite a few reproachful gazes from the people around them.
"That's quite enough, Nymphadora!" a woman who appeared to be in her mid to late thirties said sharply and the young couple was forced to separate. "Control yourself! I didn't raise you to act like a slag!"
The young woman in question chose to ignore her mother's reprimands and hugged her boyfriend one more time. Andromeda could only let out a sorrowful sigh at the behaviour of her daughter. In truth, she did not have anything against her daughter's choice of boyfriend. Bill Weasley was a handsome young man with a pleasant personality and a good job as well. But the way they were acting, as if to spite her, did push all her wrong buttons. In the end, she sighed one more time and turned her attention to the younger boy standing to her left.
"I hope you two have a bit more common sense than them. Don't follow their example, okay?" Andromeda said and ran her fingers through Harry's messy hair, trying to make it look a bit better.
"Don't worry, auntie, we know there's a time and a place for things like that," Harry said, not minding the way she was mothering him.
"Hey, Andy, what are you doing?" a rather eerie voice came from the side. "Are you trying to steal my position? Shoo! You have a daughter, go to her, Harry is mine!" Bellatrix said, her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
"I beg your pardon? Harry is mine, not yours. You, old ladies, don't even think about stealing him away from me!" Fleur said and embraced Harry from behind possessively.
Her words made Andromeda gape at her but Bellatrix burst into a fit of giggles. Still giggling, she came closer to them and took both Fleur and Harry in her arms, hugging them dearly.
"Promise you'll write to me every Wednesday," she said.
"I promise," Harry said with a smile.
"Better yet, how about you spend the weekends together with me, at the Blackthorn?" Bellatrix suddenly said. Then, she added: "And I mean both of you."
Now, it was Fleur's turn to be surprised. The meaning of Bella's words was not lost to her - years had passed with Bellatrix still not allowing anyone except for Harry, Sirius, Andromeda, and Narcissa into the secret of her residence, the Blackthorn. However, it looked like now she was ready to let Fleur in too. There was no better proof that Bellatrix had finally fully accepted Fleur than that.
In a move that left Bellatrix speechless, Fleur let go of Harry and wrapped her arms around the physical older woman.
"Thank you," she said in a quiet voice, almost like a whisper.
Fleur had not told anyone except for Harry the truth about how she died, the betrayal of her lover or the behaviour of her mother and sister-in-law towards her. Bellatrix had not expected the proud girl to show such affection for her, seemingly out of nowhere, because she had no way of knowing how much it meant for Fleur that Harry's family accepted her.
As for Harry, he was watching the two women with a smile on his face, feeling inwardly amused at the thought that only a bit over a year ago the two women had almost come to blows. Now they were hugging as if they were sisters.
Once she got over her surprise, Bellatrix returned Fleur's hug with a grin. Bringing her hand up to her face, she moved a few strands of Fleur's long hair behind her ear and whispered in a voice that only the French girl could hear:
"I'll be waiting for you to come next weekend at the Blackthorn, Dean Village, Edinburgh. Take care of Harry for me until then, okay?" Bella said and then pecked her on the cheek.
Fleur gave her a brilliant smile, forgetting about her charm in her happiness and making over a dozen men twist their necks to look at her.
《Fleur, dear. Be mindful of your Veela Charm, it is not polite what you are doing,》 Mr Delacour said in French, admonishing her.
《Sorry, papa,》 Fleur said and quickly got her emotions under control. Still, even her decent grasp over the art of Occlumency could not wipe away the radiant expression on her face.
Her father did not unnecessarily scold her any further. He knew that Fleur was her mother's daughter, every bit the passionate girl that Appoline was too.
In the meantime, Gabrielle was talking to Harry, her eyes already swimming with tears at the thought that she would not be seeing him in the following months.
《I'm going to miss you, 'Arry,》 she said, her voice shaking.
《Aww, don't be like that. We'll spend Christmas together this year too.》 Harry said in French and cooed at her. Crouching to be on the same eye level, he gently wiped the tears that started to roll down her tender cheeks.
Being in a relationship with a French girl and due to how much time he had spent in France, Harry had done his best to learn French so he would more easily communicate with his lover's family. His efforts had not gone unnoticed, Jean and Appoline's appreciation of him increasing yet again. No different than them was Gabrielle as well. Once Harry became fluent enough to make himself understood in French, the little girl quickly grew attached to him. It was Harry's fault really - he was treating her almost as if young Gabby was his daughter, spoiling her rotten and doing all her whims.
《But Christmas is many months away! I don't want you and Fleur to go and leave me alone!》
Making a show out of looking around as if to make sure nobody was able to see what he was about to do, Harry took out a palm-sized object from the chest pocket of his jacket. It was square, less than an inch thin, and wrapped in a white paper. Gabrielle's baby blue eyes were sparkling with curiosity as she tried to guess what exactly was inside.
《This is a present that Sirius gave me on my birthday. It was meant for me and Fleur to use it. But we don't really need it because we are always together. So we decided to give it to you.》
《Ohh! A present for me! Tell me what it is!》the girl exclaimed impatiently.
Handing the small gift to her, Harry chuckled as he watched her quickly rip apart the paper. Gabrielle looked at the mirror, slight confusion in her eyes.
《It's a charmed mirror.》Harry said.
《What does it do?》she asked and turned it and flipped it in her palms several times, unable to find anything special about it.
《Do you know how muggle phones work?》
《You mean that-》she started saying excitedly and Harry grinned at her enthusiasm as he said:
《Yes, this is like muggle phones. No, it's even better, because we can talk almost as if we were face-to-face.》
《Ohh! Tell me, tell me, how do I use it?》
《First, you have to say the password,》Harry said. 《Come on, repeat after me: 'Gabrielle is the cutest'.》
The young girl flushed at his words.
《You're such a dork, that's so embarrassing!》
Harry revealed a hurt look.
《You too, Brutus? It's not enough that Fleur laughs at me, now you're doing it too! I guess you don't need the present anymore...》
The girl giggled at his overreaction, her tears long forgotten. Her laughter was so delightful that Harry could not keep his facade any longer and joined her too.
《Okay, I was kidding. The password is 'Hedwig'. You will need to ask your mum to tap the mirror with a wand and then say the password 'Hedwig'. After that, the mirror on our side will make a sound that will let us know that you're calling us.》
《Eh, why do I have to tell mum? Can't you change it?》she whined.
Harry grinned and pinched her nose with his fingers. He could easily see through her thoughts. In fact, the original mirrors did not require one to tap with their wand and say a password. It was Fleur that had cast a modified version of the Caterwauling Charm and a Protean Charm on the two mirrors. It was so Gabrielle would not be able to prank them by calling them at inappropriate hours, like late at night or during class. Since Gabrielle was only 10 years old, she did not have a wand yet. Thus, she would need to ask her mother to activate the mirror if she wanted to call them.
Hearing the Hogwarts Express whistling, Harry knew he did not have much time left. As much as he liked to play around with Gabrielle, he had a much bigger family now and he had to give everyone a bit of his time. He shook hands with Sirius, Jean Delacour, and Ted Tonks, embraced Apolline Delacour, Bellatrix, and Andromeda, and lastly, he bid farewell to Arthur and Molly Weasley too who were standing close by due to their eldest son's relationship with Nymphadora Tonks. If the Weasleys were close by, it went without saying that the Longbottoms were not far away either. Harry said his goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Longbottom too before finally boarding the train together with Fleur.
⁂
《Penny for your thoughts?》 Fleur asked when she saw Harry's pondering face.
《Just thinking about Gabby. She's so sensitive and small and-》 he let out a groan, 《I feel bad whenever I see her cry.》
Fleur sighed. 《I swear, you're spoiling her too much!》
《I can't help it, she's so cute! If we have a daughter in the future, I hope she'll be just like her.》
Mentally, Harry was in his forties. He was so much older than Gabrielle that he looked at her almost as if he was a father or an uncle. He doted on her as much, that was for sure.
《At this rate, I won't be surprised if next year maman and papa will be forced to send her to Hogwarts, with you, instead of going to Beauxbatons.》
Harry laughed at her words. But after that, he said:
《Come to think of it, this is your last year at Hogwarts.》
Fleur leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. Having gotten his growth spurt, Fleur could no longer tease him about being a scrawny little twerp. Now, they were of similar heights, around 5'6, and Fleur could comfortably nestle herself against him.
《We'll just have to make the most of it,》 she said and raised her head a bit to kiss his cheek.
Silence was instilled in the compartment - they had taken one of the empty compartments towards the end of the train and charmed it so other people would stay away from it - but it was not awkward. Being friends and then lovers for over two years, their relationship was stronger than ever. Harry did not feel the need to act out and pretend he was super interesting to make her laugh, nor did Fleur try to say something just so there would not be silence. They were grown-ups, not teenagers. Sometimes, they loved just cuddling in silence, basking in the comfort of being held by the other.
A few hours later found Fleur sitting with her head in Harry's lap and a book floating above her face, courtesy of a spell that she had cast on it. Furthermore, the book's pages were flipping automatically whenever she finished reading. It was a book named "The Art of Enchanting". In the meantime, Harry was playing with her long and silky tresses of hair.
"I've never seen anyone with hair as beautiful as yours," he unknowingly said in English, the tone of his voice speaking volumes of his amazement.
Generally, when they were alone, Harry and Fleur decided to speak in French. They planned on doing that for maybe one or two more years until Harry became as fluent in French as a native. They were not sure what language to settle on using after that but Harry had a suspicion that he would end up speaking in French for the rest of his life if their plans to build a home on the Southern Coast of France were to come to fruition. Not that he minded it, French was a pleasant-sounding language.
"I've seen other Veela women too but your hair is still the most beautiful. It's gorgeous."
It was far from the first he had complimented her hair but Fleur's face was still lit up by a brilliant smile.
"You've let it grow so long! It's even longer than your waist now, reaching your butt. Silvery-blond, almost glowing and so soft to the touch," he said and rubbed a few strands of her hair against his cheek. "It also smells so nice. That spring-like, fresh scent of yours, Merlin, I'll never get tired of it."
Harry reckoned if he were to smell the vapours coming from an Amorentia potion, this spring-like fragrance of Fleur would definitely be the most dominant smell he would feel.
Fleur could no longer focus on her book. Harry was not stingy when it came to complimenting her appearance but even so, it was not that often that he praised her like that, out of the blue. She was feeling somewhat shy but elated too.
"Come to think of it, it was this scent that gave out your identity as the killer of Snape," he said and laughed.
Noticing Fleur's slightly pink cheeks, he felt his heart flutter and he bent to plant a soft kiss on her forehead.
Soon after, the Enchanting book was forgotten and the two were making out, sharing slow but deep and passionate kisses, with Fleur straddling his lap, her arms around his neck and her hands in his messy hair. Time lost meaning in their little world.
However, the sudden apparition of a ghost-like silhouette in their compartment made both Fleur and Harry jump up to their feet startled, their wands in their hands. It was a raven or a crow-like ghostly bird, glowing in a warm, silvery-white light.
A woman's voice came from the bird:
"Gaunt has appeared at the Ministry, just as Fleur said he would. I need you two at the Blackthorn asap!"
The woman's voice belonged to none other than Bellatrix Black and that silvery raven was her Corporeal Patronus. Fleur and Harry shared a look before taking each other's hand. A loud crack rang in the compartment as the two Disapparated away.
AN: It was so funny reading your reviews after the previous chapter. So many of you were like "pls Harry say no" lol. Where did that come from, I didn't think he'd get such a big reaction from y'all. Funny shit. lol. Anyway. Gaunt (Voldemort) has finally come out of hiding. No more fluffy moments for a while. Action and violence coming up. Until next time~
(1) It happened in chapter 20.