The Serpent of Durmstrang
A/N: This is a rewrite of the Dragon of Durmstrang, where mistakes were made and are going to be corrected, while the story and writing will be improved. This is also my NaNoWriMo prep story, so all reviews are appreciated. Also, all my works are down at the moment. They will all be rewritten one at a time, so do not fret!
Chapter Nine
Harry wiped his face with the small towel he had brought with him. His morning runs were still a part of his daily routine, even here at Hogwarts. In fact, he enjoyed the Hogwarts grounds more than the misty Durmstrang one, especially since he could use the Black Lake's shoreline as his pseudo track.
The sun had just barely peaked through the sky, but Harry was already panting and sweating like a pig. He took off his clothes and gave a long sigh as the cold soft breeze kissed his bare skin. He slowly walked towards the small rock outcrop he had placed his water bottle at, not wasting time trying to summon it.
Adjusting his wrist-holder for his wand, sweat already pooling around the leather straps, he loosened them which elicited a sigh from the raven-haired teen. When he had first started his runs, he had actually taken his wand holster off, which resulted to his getting stunned and hogtied by Sirius. That was back when they had first started staying in the Black property on the Italian Peninsula. He learned his lesson. Constant vigilance, after all.
He grabbed the bottle and squeezed, letting the droplets of water cascade down his exposed torso. Harry sighed again, the cold water cooling his warm skin. He was about to pack up his stuff when a voiced called out behind him, "Aw, the show's over, Mister Potter?"
Harry turned back, his face heating up, and saw two figures just standing by the treeline. Zoe, if he recalled correctly, was bundled up quite warmly, with a thick cloak lined with white fur. Fleur accompanied her friend, wearing almost the same, except hers had a hood with her cloak.
"Just finishing up here," Harry finally found his voice, "Up for an early stroll?"
Zoe nodded, approaching Harry's position, while Fleur was a little more hesitant before following suit. The dark haired Beauxbaton's student was more brazen, from what Harry can tell, and seemed to be very upfront and had no filter for herself. She reminded him of Aleksander a lot, which was not necessarily a good thing.
Zoe eyed him up and down, nodding in approval after a few moments, "Fleur and I like to take this time to just walk around and talk. The weekend mornings are usually the least busiest at Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts too apparently."
"Yeah, Durmstrang is the same. Students are rarely morning people," Harry chuckled, remembering the times where Aleksander and Viktor had wanted to join his workout sessions. Suffice to say they never asked him to wake them up ever again.
There was a pregnant pause, and Harry stood there unsure of what to do or say next. Fog rolled in through the lake, creeping slowly, which made the atmosphere much colder, and Harry shivering. Fleur couldn't help it any longer and coughed. Zoe turned towards her, smirking, while still keeping an eye on Harry who she could see was not at all comfortable by the silence. Taking pity on both of them, she finally started, "Anyway, Fleur and I were wondering if you would like to join us in...what do they call it...Hogsmeade? Later on today? This girl has talked a lot about you," nudging the poor girl, as Fleur sputtered, "and as her friends, we would like to get to know you as well."
Harry scratched his head, unsure of what to say. In the end, he nodded, "Sure, I don't think I'll be doing anything afterwards," draping the towel over his shoulders, he continued, "Where and what time shall we all meet up?"
"In two hours, just outside our carriage."
"Sounds good! I'll see you both later," Harry waved a goodbye, letting go of the breath he did not know he was holding.
As they watched Harry walk back towards the direction of the Durmstrang ship, Fleur nudged Zoe hard enough that the girl stumbled, "Why the hell did you do that?"
"Do what?" Zoe replied with a smirk, crossing her arms and raising her chin proudly.
"Invite him? You…"
"Oh please, Amelie and I-"
"No, you don't! You're doing it again! You can't just keep butting into our lives and do whatever you want! You're…" Fleur huffed, and turned away from Zoe. Her chest was rising and falling in a fast pace, while her palms were starting to let off steam. Her Veela blood boiled, and she used the breathing technique taught by her mother to calm herself down.
Zoe slowly came up to Fleur, and poked her shoulder, "Fleur, I invited him because Amelie and I want to get to know the boy you had so often talked about the last two months. That's all, I promise."
Slowly, Fleur was finally able to maintain a steady pace of breath. She thanked her mother for buying her the dragon-hide gloves she was wearing, which was resistant even to Veela fire. She turned towards her Zoe, who her her puppy-dog eyes ready.
"Fine, but you do not get to be a matchmaker," Fleur stood her ground on this issue with a fierce huff. She and Amelie had been the targets of Zoe's penchant for matchmaking, and suffice to say there was a reason they were all still single.
"Deal!"
While Fleur and Zoe were amiably walking back towards their carriage, Harry was similarly having problems with his friends. After taking a quick shower to freshen up, Harry had put on a gray sweater, and slim fitting jeans. Taming his hair unsuccessfully, he was now outside Viktor's room knocking.
After a few seconds of no answer, Harry slowly poked his head into the room. From his position, he saw Viktor's form snoring loudly, the sound only cancelled by the silencing charms on the walls and door. With Viktor out of the equation, Harry quickly went to Aleksander's room, and peaked, not even bothering to knock. Similarly, Aleksander was cuddling his own sheets, which would have been a cute sight if he were five. At seventeen, he looked ridiculous.
Closing the door as quietly as he could, he started to make his way into the small study area the students shared. It seems he was going to meet with Fleur and her friends alone, and the thought somewhat scared him. He was friends with Fleur, and while her friends seemed to be decent people, he still could not help a shudder. Amelie seemed like a nice girl, but Zoe was not someone to be trifled with. The girl gave Harry the shivers, especially how brazen she was.
"Harry!"
Harry was almost out the door, but turned around after hearing Alanna's voice calling him. Kassandra was with the girl, and both were dressed for winter wear, sporting sweaters with Durmstrang colours, and jeans with matching boots.
"Hey, where are you guys off to this early?"
"We wanted to visit the Hogwarts library. Last time we went we didn't have time to actually take a look around," Kassandra replied, brushing a stray hair off her cheek, "what about you?"
Harry scratched the back of his head, "Well, I was asked by Fleur's friends if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with them. I said yes," before Kassandra could cut-in, Harry continued, "would you both like to go?"
Kassandra was already starting to say something, but was cut-off by Alanna, who held the girl's shoulders tightly, "No, you go and have fun! We need to meet this Fleur soon too, okay?"
Harry nodded, his face dropping just a little. He was hoping some of his friends would go, maybe to help ease up some awkwardness. But a look from Alanna made him realize that maybe having his friends around would make it even more awkward. Kassandra's temper was legendary, and she was quite easy to rile up. Having both Kassandra and Zoe together might not be the best idea.
"Alright. Well, I'll see you both later then!"
With a smile, Harry left the ship and started his way towards the Beauxbatons carriage. It wasn't far, and it seems the fog has lifted somewhat, making it easier to navigate through the brushes and trees around the lake. He kept a steady pace, and while his face betrayed nothing, Harry's stomach felt like he had eaten a handful of butterflies, which were all fluttering about. With a long breath, he steadied himself. This wasn't a date with Fleur, it was just an outing with her and her friends. In fact, when did it even become remotely a date? It was Zoe who asked him, not Fleur. With that in mind, his stomach settled somewhat.
"Harry, over here!"
Harry saw the group of French girls all wearing winter cloaks with their signature powder blue school colours. Fleur seemed to be behind Zoe, speaking hurriedly with Amelie, while Zoe furiously waved at him. Harry waved back with a small smile, before jogging to meet up with them.
"Ready?"
"When you are," Harry replied, then turning to both Fleur and Amelie, "Hi Fleur, hello Amelie!"
"Hello, Harry!" Both of them replied with a smile, before they all started making their way towards the Hogwarts gates.
"So, tell us about yourself," Zoe glanced at him, before smirking, "we might have heard lots from Fleur, but it never beats to hear it from the man himself."
Harry glanced at a blushing Fleur, who had playfully shoved Zoe, "Uhm, I suppose you know my name, my school, and my age," Harry replied rather lamely, to the amusement of all the girls, "I can say I like playing Quidditch, even though Viktor always beats me when we play against each other. My best subject is Transfigurations, and I'm hoping to finish my mastery over in a few years."
"Oh yes, Fleur did say something about that. Battle Transfiguration, was it?"
"Yeah, I'm currently studying under Petyr Gregorovitch, and possibly Albus Dumbledore as well."
"No! Really? Dumbledore is going to be teaching you?"
"Yup!" Harry nodded, the shock and awe of having someone being taught by the famous Albus Dumbledore was not new to him. His friends had the same expressions when they first met the old man, "Not as much as Professor Gregorovitch, but Albus had said he will be taking over sometimes."
As they reached the front gates of the school, they spotted the carriages that carried the students to the village all lined up. Approaching the first few ones, they saw a half-empty carriage that was filled by Beauxbatons students. Quicker than anything Harry had ever seen, Zoe was already in the first empty seat, while Amelie was in the second.
"There seems to be no more room. You both don't mind catching the next one, right?" Zoe smiled sweetly at both Harry and Fleur. Harry for his part, just nodded and turned to look for the next carriage. Fleur, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at both Zoe and Amelie. Zoe gave her friend a playful smirk, while Amelie whispered sorry before smiling softly.
"Fleur, this one seems empty," Harry waved her over, with the door already open. Fleur sighed and calm herself before heading in his direction.
Harry helped Fleur into the carriage, and hopped in himself. Finally sitting down opposite to Fleur, he finally realized what situation he was in. He a heavy inward sigh, he cursed Zoe's name. Him and Fleur had been set-up.
"I'm sorry about this, Harry. I did tell you how much of a handful my friends are, especially Zoe."
"Don't worry about it, Aleksander would do the same, you know," Harry placated the girl, giving her his best nervous smile. Fleur returned the smile with her own, and they settled into a silencing.
"So...how has your term been so far?" Harry asked, and if he was being honest, quite stupidly. It was reinforced by the fact that Fleur chuckled a bit after he had asked the question.
"Not too bad. It's mostly been seventh year classes, although now I also have the Tri-Wizard tasks on top of that."
"Yeah, I hear you. It's only been a week since we got chosen, and the work is already overloading me somewhat. But that's on top of my mastery training."
Fleur perked up, "Oh! How has your training been so far?"
Harry rubbed the latest bruise he had gotten from his training, and winced, "Professor Gregorovitch has been running me hard after my name came out of the goblet. It's...not pleasant."
Fleur frowned, noticing the wince Harry had when he rubbed his forearm. Whipping out her wand, she gave Harry a do-not-question-me stare and said firmly, "Show me."
Knowing that arguing would do him no good, Harry rolle dup his sweater sleeve. The black-ish red bruise was the size of an egg, but thankfully was not swelling. Fleur inched forward, and studied the bruise for a moment, before casting a charm on it that helped the blood flow and reduced the blood clot.
"That...feels better! What spell was that?" Harry asked with wide-eyes, rubbing his bruised forearm, and looking back at Fleur inquisitively.
Before Fleur could answer, their carriage came to a sudden stop, and Fleur was thrown into Harry.
"Sorry, I didn't even know we had started moving!" Fleur pulled herself back and looked out the small window of the carriage. They were definitely not at the Hogwarts gates anymore.
"Me neither, but I guess we're here!" With a smile, Harry opened the door of the carriage and motioned for Fleur to exit first. Fleur smiled back and took Harry's hand as she exited, before being followed by Harry.
Looking around, they saw the small village seemed to just be waking up. The stores were barely lit, and the streets only had a handful of people milling about. The noisiest establishment seemed to be a pub of some sort, with loud music and yelling echoing through the early morning streets.
"Where's Zoe and Amelie," Fleur muttered to herself, not noticing that Harry had planted himself beside her, both hands in his pockets.
"I think they might have planned this," Harry echoed her thoughts, feeling the butterflies in his stomach come back with a vengeance. He glanced at Fleur, who was still looking around for her friends. It was now or never, he surmised, "You know what, let's just enjoy the day."
Fleur looked back at Harry, whom she could see was chewing his lip in anticipation. She herself had been nervous being left alone with Harry. It wasn't because she didn't trust him, but more so because he was a boy, and one she actually liked speaking and spending time with.
With a nod, Fleur smiled back tentatively, "We should. Where do you want to go first?"
"I wanted to check out Honeydukes Sweetshop. I hear they have a great selection!"
"Sounds like a plan. Afterwards, can we visit the quill shop? I need to stock up," Fleur replied, making a mental list of what she needed to buy.
Harry nodded, and they both started their way towards Honeydukes. The place only had a few customers, mostly Beauxbaton students. They still did not see a hair on both Zoe and Amelie, but in the end they decided that they'll see them later on. Harry browsed through the shop and bought a small bag of Chocolate Frogs for Aleksander, and a variety of other sweets for the rest of his friends. Fleur got some Sugar Quills, and was paid for by Harry, to Fleur's embarrassment.
Scrivenshafts was less populated, and it seems that only Fleur and Harry were the customers that early. The store was layered in dust, to Harry's dismay and Fleur's enjoyment as he sneezed every three steps. Fleur grabbed a few quills and a stack of extra parchment, which was once again paid for by Harry, with much resistance from Fleur.
"Fancy grabbing Brunch at the pub?" Harry asked as they finally left Scrivenshafts, much to Harry's delight.
"I don't see why not."
They both entered the pub, and the smell of butterbeer interlaced with Fish and Chips hit both of them like a truck. Finding a corner booth, Harry and Fleur quickly took their spots as they saw more and more students come in.
"What can I get for you two today?" the barmaid materialized out of nowhere, smiling at both of them. Harry could not help but notice her curvy features, and compare them to Fleur's own features, which he mentally decided was the better of the two.
"I'll get a Shepherd's Pie, and two butterbeers for the both of us," Harry replied, while Fleur indicated she wanted the same as what Harry had ordered.
As the barmaid left their table to serve another, Harry quickly placed silencing charms around them to protect them from eavesdroppers. Fleur saw this, and raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry," Harry muttered, "Force of habit."
"You can't be too careful, I suppose," Fleur smiled reassuringly at Harry, "So, I didn't want to ask, but I am very curious...do you know about the first task?"
Harry raised his own eyebrow at the question. Technically, they weren't supposed to know anything about the First Task of the tournament. From what Harry understood, however, the schools generally cheated.
"Do you know about it?"
Fleur gave him a look, "Drag-"
"-ons"
"So you did know!" Fleur stuck her tongue out at Harry.
Harry laughed at her antics, "Yup! And you were just about to tell me! That's cheating, you know…"
"I just didn't want you-" Fleur caught herself, before blushing just a tinge, "I didn't want you to be unnecessarily injured, or worse."
Harry nodded at that. The weight of the Tri-Wizard tasks were heavy, and the price of not being prepared was death. Certain, and agonizing death.
"How are you? I mean, how are you dealing with all of this?"
Fleur sighed, placing her hand on her forehead, rubbing her temples in the process, "I can't lie. It's been very stressful. This is probably the only day off I'll get until after the First Task. And my family is both proud and worried, they send me letters almost every day."
"Yeah, I hear you. I don't think I'll be getting any pause from my training until after this task as well. And both my godfather and my pseudo-uncle have sent me tips and tricks on how to deal with big overgrown lizards."
"Truth be told, I'm not sure about all of this any more. When they first told us about this competition at Beauxbatons, I was determined to be chosen, to prove myself. But now, I don't know anymore...Is it eternal glory really worth all of this?"
"It's not. But we're here, and all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best," Harry took Fleur's hand into his and gave them a squeeze, "If you ever need anything, Fleur, all you have to do it ask, okay?"
Fleur nodded, and all her doubts seemed to vanish as she gazed at Harry's confident smile. She had been very stressed prior today, and now that she was with him, able to share all of her worries and stress, and finally being able to vent out, she felt better. And with her hand in Harry's, she was confident she would be able to get through this.
Harry saw the confidence slowly ebb back into Fleur's eyes and demeanour. He was glad he could pick her up when she was down, but in all honesty, he himself used his own words to pick himself back up. For all his friends had done to help him, he felt they just could not understand everything that he was going through at this point. All the worries and stress, the pressure to do well, and most importantly, to survive. Sitting here with Fleur, being able to talk about it with someone who knew what he was feeling, he felt relief. They both knew what challenges they will be facing, and after today, they will both be ready, not just to survive, but to do their best to win.