Second Task

Septima Vector paced and waited, and did her best to look impatient and worried, even though she wasn't. She'd rehearsed every incantation, every wand motion, every visualisation. She could get to the merfolk village in seven minutes in the ideal case. But she didn't have to get there in the ideal case, she only had to 'try' to get there in the real world.

But that was hogwash, she wanted to win. Some of her classmates were in the stands, and she wanted to perform so well as to wipe their nose in the fact that they'd never picked her for their teams.

But it wasn't time for that, it was time to pretend to be Harry Potter. And so she wouldn't be playing for the adults in the stands, 'he' would be playing for the children. The children who mocked him, threw jealous insults because of his fame, or dark insinuations because of his Parceltongue, or irritation because he out-shown them academically, or on the Quidditch pitch.

Well she'd just have to show them, that he deserved all the recognition he got in other sports by how well he did in this one too. Except maybe … if … had she deserved a spot on the team, and hadn't gotten it, did she represent Harry or his jealous detractors?

This was confusing, she might be losing too much of herself in this method acting.

Maybe she should just stick to impatience.

Finally the announcements started, and then they were off.

Victor ran and dove in and transformed into a shark. Fleur and Cedric entered more slowly with bubblehead charms. All three of them, it seemed, had researched each problem until they found a workable solution.

Septima had researched every problem until she'd found five solutions to each, and then chosen a set that were best compatible with each other, for maximum time efficiency, while maintaining an acceptable level of safety and comfort.

She walked deliberately to the edge, conjured a kayak and entered it, just to be sure, she cast a searching spell targeting Padma Patil.

Somewhere in the stands … didn't that just figure.

She tried Ron Weasley, same result.

Hermione Granger, That reading seemed much more likely. Though that did leave the question, which captive she was supposed to be rescuing.

She forcefully pushed that question from her mind and concentrated on the next step and only the next step.

She transfigured a strip of water across the length of the lake into a wrist diameter elastic band with the gum molecules already pulled tight.

As soon as the transfiguration completed she was rapidly drawn most of the way across the lake.

Two minutes.

She again cast the searching spell on Hermione Granger. Mostly down, but a mite to the east.

Bubblehead, then unconjure the kayak, and transfigure a block of water into steel with a handle. Down she went.

She cast the searching spell again, and tried to aim her descent in that direction.

I forgot the steering fins.

She arrived inside the merfolk village, and managed to cancel her transfiguration before it damaged anyone's house.

Part way there Hermione started moving.

Three minutes, Victor's shark form was fast, she'd be making second place at best.

If she didn't make any more mistakes.

She cancelled her search for Hermione and took a closer look at her surroundings. She knew the village well enough by now that she should be able to navigate without spells. She turned and swam in the direction of the town square.

She arrived to find three girls. One obviously related to Fleur, One seemed to be Padma but apparently wasn't, therefore must be her sister. And Cho Chang.

Septima went to Parvati and freed her, then held her close and transfigured a balloon, not a rubber balloon, but the old style of fabric balloon that some aerialists still used. That made it easier to fill with conjured air, without needing to seal it.

Ten minutes. She'd lost too much time finding her way.

They made it to the surface and she started transfiguring a catamaran, She'd tried a kayak for the way back, but it always seemed too awkward to use once her muscles had chilled through.

It was hard going with Parvati clinging too her and trying to wake and orient herself in freezing water.

Finally it was done and she boosted the girl onto the deck. Unexpectedly the girl had the presence of mind to immediately turn and help pull her aboard.

"Thanks, Parvati."

"No problem," said Parvati, drawing a wand, "paddles or sail next?"

"I was thinking sail," said Septima, "My method of towing works horribly on a two hulled craft."

"Go for it," said Parvati, "I'll make paddles too, just in case."

At least that would keep her busy and moving.

"Sounds good," said Septima and turned to the next phase of her rehearsed boat construction regimen.

When she'd turned back around to start making the first tiller, she found not ores extending from each side, but four foot diameter paddle wheels. With a gear drive and differential that didn't make sense, and Parvati was still conjuring.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" said Septima.

"Saw it in a dream," said Parvati, and she kept working.

There was only one thing with anything resembling a handle, "Is that for steering?" said Septima.

"Yes," said Parvati, "and this," she finished conjuring a rope between two heavy anchor points on each hull, "is where the horse gets harnessed in."

"What horse?"

Parvati conjured a padded leather harness and ducked into it, "Right here," said Parvati, and climbed onto the awkward wooden treadmill and clipped the harness to the rope.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Septima.

"Nope," said Parvati and turned into a horse.

"Oh," said Septima.

A very large horse.

The catamaran settled 3 inches deeper into the water.

Parvati took two steps until all the slack was out of the harness, then she kept walking, making the gears and axles groan.

Septima ducked under, over, and around the apparatus to get to the steering yolk and manipulated it until she had a feel for how it controlled which paddle wheel got the power. Then conjured grease into all the mechanisms and turned to watch Parvati strain and the paddle wheels turn and the boat go, slowly at first but soon faster and faster.

She steered toward the finish line. And contemplated Parvati. Parvati contemplated her right back.

With one set of gears the other direction, she could have let herself face forward.

But perhaps Parvati wanted to look at … her sister's boyfriend.

"You do realise that I'm not Harry Potter, right?" said Septima.

The horse nodded.

"Do you care?"

The horse snorted.

Septima didn't know enough about horses to be sure what that meant, but it didn't seem positive.

"Then what are you doing here?"

Parvati changed back into a witch and smiled, "Giving Padma a chance to help Harry do some spying." The treadmill caught up to her and she resumed walking, then she returned to horse form and went back to straining for more speed.

Septima summoned each important bit of line to herself, and cleated each into place within reach. Then she started trimming the sail to help move them along. It had turned out to be a windy enough day for this.

Luckily they were only sailing a bit upwind so the race to the finish could be done as just one long tack.

A minute into their trek back across the lake, Parvati perked up and nosed the air, then looked upwind and down into the water. A moment later she was human again.

"Harry, look there! Blood in the water!"

Oh bother, what the hell?

"You have to save them," said Parvati, "change my robes and I can help too?"

I am a teacher and do need to help, but I am also a pretend contestant. So, should I summon other professors not so encumbered by tight schedules?

What would Harry do? Thought Septima.

Harry would throw a Quidditch game to rescue a stray puppy, or more to the point, his first class with a new teacher to rescue his school rival from said rival's own stupidity, so he would almost certainly throw an international competition to rescue a fellow contestant, especially on the say so of his girlfriend's little / twin sister.

Damn.

"What should I change them into?"

"Tulik suit?" said Parvati, "this is already charmed warm, if you can transfigure it without messing with that?"

"I can try," said Septima and did as she said, transfiguring rather something she was more familiar with, a muggle wet-suit to match her own.

They dove in together, then Septima conjured bubbleheads and a pair of tow bracelets to clip to another steel weight. This one with fins for better steerage.

At the bottom they found Fleur fighting a whole swarm of grindelows and a few other worse kinds of bottom dwellers.

Damn.

Three witches, who were soon back to back, proved to be a different kettle of fish than one witch alone, and soon the surviving bottom-dwellers were routed.

Septima conjured a third tow bracelet and another balloon and raised them back to the surface. A quick well braced summoner and they were sliding over the surface to their boat. By that time Fleur was hysterical.

But also starting to warm up, with a corresponding increase in the blood flow at her wounds.

Septima cast the requisite cleansing spells on Fleur, "grindelows are rather septic creatures for ocean dwellers," she reminded them as she noticed Parvati starting to heal herself, "clean your scratches thoroughly before healing them."

"Oops," said Parvati, and seemed to be using the correct order of charms on the rest.

The enforced stillness was obviously getting to Fleur, finally she was ready to travel.

"Are you still going to try to get to your sister in time?" said Septima, "or are you going back to the castle? She'll be at the hospital wing before you can get there."

Fleur took that entirely the wrong way. Obviously too cold to be thinking clearly.

"Fleur," said Septima, "calm down. Your sister is safe."

"No, she's not," said Fleur and pointed in the general direction of the middle of the lake.

"Yes, she is," said Septima firmly, "This is a secret that the teachers are not telling us: The captives that we don't rescue will be portkeyed to the infirmary, and woken up. They won't even know they were in danger."

Fleur stared, and finally sagged.

"Now," said Septima, "Most of the crowd doesn't know that. If you still want to put on a good show for them, be my guest, but don't kill yourself trying."

Fleur seemed to go into a panic attack. At least it was quieter than her earlier hysterics.

"Could you do that?" said Parvati.

"Could I do what?" said Septima.

"Pretend you don't know about the portkeys, and rescue them all," said Parvati.

"Oh dear," said Septima, "I suppose I should, damn."

"Language?" said Parvati.

Septima stuck out her tongue.

Parvati giggled.

It was only a contest, and she was already a rich woman, and until she retired she was a teacher. And what better way to teach than by example.

The captives would not be in appreciably greater danger with her than they would be asleep under the care of the merfolk.

The problem would be getting them away from the merfolk.

So they turned around and went back.

.

Fleur soon understood the mechanisms that they were using and how they worked, then she reinforced the mast and enlarged the sail and took over the sail trimming.

.

At the bottom they rescued Fleur's little sister, and on Parvati's insistence, the other captive as well. Though they'd had to stun two mermen to accomplish the task.

Though, on general principles, Septima would have been just as happy if not happier to give in to her fit of pique and reinforce the seaweed rather than cut it. Just to give the Quidditch players just a bit more trouble.

.

When they were again on the surface, they re-boarded their boat and headed for shore.

What a mess.

Cho was rightfully beside herself when she realised that Cedric ought to be there and wasn't. On the other hand she was cold and unprepared to be on the lake, though she soon borrowed Parvati's wand and rectified her temperature issues for herself.

.

On the shore Septima gratefully turned over all of them to the assistant healer's attention, though he mostly plied them with warming and drying charms and pepper-up. She was well aware that they must have mucked up the judge's intended scoring chart. But she no longer had any sympathy for their convenience. They'd gypped her points for harvesting the dragon.

Parvati had the wisdom (or paranoia) to ask the healer to look over the cuts she'd healed herself.

Septima excused herself to the loo beside the stands, and planned to stay there until her polyjuice wore off. By and by Parvati came and found her.

"How are things going?" said Septima.

"Cedric and Fleur lobbied for you to take second place with a big score, rather than second with a score a bit bigger than zero," explained Parvati.

"Ah," Septima nodded.

"Anyway, Harry and Padma are back and resumed their roles as themselves, so we're off the hook."

"You sound relieved," said Septima.

Parvati nodded.

"How are everyone else taking our performance?"

Parvati shrugged, "about how you'd expect, the ravenclaws and slytherins thought it was pathetic, the gryffindors and hufflepuffs thought it was impressive."

"How do you feel about it?"

Parvati shrugged, and thought.

Septima taught arithmancy, and was used to waiting to let a student think things through.

Parvati smiled and said, "it is not necessary to believe in the legend that is Harry Potter, in order to believe in and showcase that which the legend symbolises."

"Ah," said Septima, "That's an interesting point."

This time Parvati waited and said nothing.

"Are you proud of our performance?"

"Yes," said Parvati, "So is Harry."

"Good," said Septima.

Parvati blushed, then looked away, "I'm going to go see if my parent's came, some of the other parents did."

...-...

Meet the parents

A.N. As mentioned earlier Parvati and Padma regularly prevaricate to their parents. The question is, how much of that do their parents suspect? ;)

.

"Hello Papa," said Parvati, "it's good to see you, is Mum here."

"She's braving the crowd to get to your sister."

"Oh, of course," said Parvati.

"It's good to see you too, are you alright?"

"What?"

"That show was quite the shock," said Papa, "are you quite recovered, or do you need to go for a run?"

"I … I think I'll be alright," said Parvati, "but I could stand a warm meal and another pepper-up."

"Hmm," he said, "Let's head back to the castle."

"Yes, please," said Parvati, "Unless you think we should wait for Padma."

"I think we could stroll in that direction without unduly inconveniencing them."

"Yeah, alright."

"So," said Papa, "What can you tell me about Harry Potter."

Parvati shrugged, "He's an orphan, he's famous."

Papa nodded, "I'm well aware of his fame."

"Everyone tries to take advantage of him, he's pretty cynical about adults at this point, he wishes he'd been allowed to keep his parents and perhaps get siblings instead of fame for being an orphan. Sometimes he gets really guilty about some of the other orphans around not being as famous as him. Mostly he just studies with one of his study groups, and plays Quidditch with the Weasleys. From what I can tell … everyone thought that the Weasleys were trying to adopt him, but I think they'd have finished by now, if anyone was going to let them do so."

"How did the connection to your sister come about?"

"The story I heard, was that they helped each other take care of one of their mutual acquaintances when she was drunk at the yule ball, the contest rules were whoever each contestant left the yule ball with, and the judges chose not to use the girl he invited to the ball, or the drunk girl, so he ended up with Padma."

"And what of the girl he took to the ball?"

"She's the daughter of someone he's done business with, and was safe on paper, but they don't like each other, and don't pretend to, also she's like three years older."

"Two years, I heard."

"Oh."

"So he and Padma have no prior connection?"

"Well we see him in arithmancy class," Parvati shrugged, "other than that, he's in all of my required classes, but I mostly know him from watching how he responds when his various friends try to bully him into studying, or into not studying." Parvati shrugged.

"Just about every second thing you say about him is 'studying'," said Papa, "is that a good sign or a bad sign?"

Parvati shrugged, "Have I mentioned that he wins us a lot of Quidditch games?"

Papa shook his head, "you didn't need to, the newspapers have a footnote about that several times a year."

Parvati nodded, "then the last thing is probably that he trades hair braids with his very close friends, and … after Yule one of his friends started braiding Padma's hair in her version of his style, I don't think she's ever told me that she's let him do that. Then again, I'm not sure when she'd get the chance to let him."

"Alright," said Papa, "How are your studies?"

"They're going well," said Parvati, "my living transfigurations have showed marked improvement recently, if only a breakthrough in arithmancy was as easy to come by."

…-…

"Ha, we caught you up after all," said Padma.

"Well," said Parvati, "we were strolling slowly on purpose."

"You could have waited," said Padma.

"And presented a static target," said Parvati, "Where's the strategy in that?"

They smirked at each other and embraced.

"Everything go well?" asked Parvati.

"Yes, swimmingly," said Padma.

Harry groaned.

Parvati laughed louder, "Glad to hear it," She registered the angle of Padma's stance, and had an inkling, she concentrated on the desire to hide in Harry's shadow just long enough to see Luna's outline, She sent her a smile, then she relaxed and returned her attention to her parents.

"So how long can you stay?" she asked.

"Several hours," said Papa, "would you like to show us around?"

"Sure," said Padma, "Where to first?"

"If both of you are as dry as you each wish to be, I think the first thing should be the great hall for lunch," said Mum.

"Certainly," said Papa.

"Why are you following us, Harry?"

"Big scary woman appears and chased all my fans away, of course I'm sticking inside the bubble of protection," said Harry.

"Mom's not that scary," said Parvati.

"Maybe not," said Harry, "but my fans all thought so, which is sufficient for my purposes."

"Is that why you like my Aunt?" said Susan.

"One of several reasons," said Harry.

Susan nodded and hummed as if that answered several puzzles.

"What's this?" said Mum.

"Who's this?" said Papa.

"This is Susan Bones, the drunk girl I was telling you about," said Parvati.

"I have been drunk exactly once in my life," said Susan, "and I'm not planning to do it again any time soon."

"A wise choice," said Papa, "Though perhaps not as wise as you could have been."

"I still maintain that it was the most frugal night to find out what being drunk felt like," said Susan.

"And nothing bad happened to you?" said Papa.

"Nothing worse than yelling at someone before I knew what I wanted to say," said Susan, "I wish I'd been sober enough to remember that part at least. They say I was rather articulate."

Papa shivered.

Mum looked grave.

Harry's arm went up and around in a way that let Parvati know Luna was collecting a hug.

Soon after they made it into the castle, Harry said, "Thank you for the escort," and pealed off toward gryffindor table.

The chaos of visitors both international and domestic meant that any sense of seating consistency was even farther beyond the palings of possibility than usual, with the result that the whole family ended up sitting at the slytherin table. Mum seemed to revel in the sacrilege, while Papa remained stoic.

"Your birthdays are coming up," said Papa after a few minutes, "have there been any recent additions to the list?"

Parvati felt her face heat, Padma must have noticed but did not draw attention to it by staring.

"I cannot even remember what I put on the list before I left," said Padma.

"A safari to Indonesia to look at gibbons in the wild," said Papa, "and a chance to interview a barrister on what that kind of job is like."

"You can cancel both of those," said Padma, "I definitely want to be a barrister to support my spell crafting hobby. The animagus research is no longer as high a priority."

"And do you think you'll find someone … suitable who wouldn't be intimidated by such a profession?" said Papa.

Padma shrugged, "I no longer plan to marry, I plan for you to write Parvati's marriage contract, (assuming I find her choice acceptable,) such that I can use him for a consort to furnish myself an heir to your name."

"That is unusual," said Papa.

"It's not illegal," said Padma, "And it's what I want. Currently."

Parvati found herself staring at her sister.

"Padma are you sure?"

Padma shrugged, "Not entirely, but it's the best idea I've had so far."

Parvati blinked hard enough to push the fog out of her eyes and kept staring.

"But do you really mean that," said Parvati, "Or are you saying that just in case, so that Papa will let me marry first, in the off chance that an acceptable offer appears for me before for you."

"Both," said Padma, "if an acceptable offer appears for me, I'll consider it, but I cannot imagine one more acceptable than an equally acceptable offer appearing for you, and my change added to it."

"Is the whole point of this to spite my brother in law?" said Mum.

"No, it is the most acceptable form I can imagine for fulfilling my duties," said Padma, "But spiting Uncle Dori and his brats is an excellent side benefit."

Papa huffed.

"How about you, Parvati?" said Padma.

"Saddle and bridle?" said Parvati.

Padma stared.

"Points for making you speechless?" asked Parvati.

Padma tried to talk, then nodded. After a swallow and a deep breath she asked, "Seriously?"

Parvati shrugged, "I'm thinking more of a trick riding saddle, less of a side saddle, We're not as English as all that."

"Yes, well," agreed Padma.

"I think we'll let you two settle that between yourselves," said Mum.

Papa grunted agreement, then asked, "Do either of you have interest in duelling costumes?"

"What?" said Padma.

"Definitely," said Parvati, "European form or rakshaatmak nrty."

"Wasn't specified, but I wouldn't get your hopes up for rakshaatmak."

"What in Merlin's name?" said Padma.

"How much choice is there in colour," said Parvati, "or can it be from a dragon that can be dyed?"

"It said basilisk hide actually."

"Green," sighed Padma, then shrugged, "not my favourite, but I wouldn't turn it down just because of that."

"Harry Potter," said Parvati, "Last year they said he killed the monster but no one believed it."

Padma turned to stare at her, "What?"

"Theory was that he'd merely rescued the captive and got the chamber sealed again."

Padma continued to stare. Then after two seconds closed her eyes, "Harry … decided to repay … my inconvenience this morning, with basilisk skin duelling robes? That is completely out of proportion. Does he have any sense of … of budget."

Parvati shrugged, "I'm waiting to hear whether he's making this himself so I can guess whether it's an excuse to see you without your robes."

Padma glared at her.

But whatever retort she was coming up with would have to wait, Papa interrupted with, "The offer is for each of you," he said.

Parvati shivered.

"The question, is whether the offer can be accepted without incurring debt," he said.

Mum murmured in agreement.

"No, it cannot," said Padma.

Parvati shivered harder, and whimpered. He'd warned her that he'd offered too much, he hadn't said by how much. Or maybe he had, dragon hide wasn't very expensive compared to the bride price she'd estimated for him.

"The question might be," said Mum, "What debt he thinks he's buying with this gift."

"First refusal," said Padma, "If he hasn't said he's making a down payment on bride price, then he is not. He just wants to be first on the list when the time comes to be asked for an offer."

"Then it is even more excessive than I thought," muttered Papa, "he puts us at a disadvantage before he even begins negotiating."

Unsaid was, Papa resents that.

"Doesn't he have an adult to represent his interests?" said Mum.

Padma glanced around, "Sirius Black, Lord of Black, is the man sitting next to him."

They all looked.

"But you notice," said Padma, "the man was disowned at sixteen and hasn't married himself, so I wouldn't hold my breath that he'd be an improvement for negotiating anything."

Mum and Papa both winced and looked away.

"It is not excessive," whispered Parvati, "No one can buy his basilisk hide from him, so it is actually worthless to sell. Do not calculate it in gold and say that it is too much, calculate it the way he calculates it. In number of people that he can help to protect."

"He's a hufflepuff?" said Mum, "I thought he's in gryffindor."

"He's an orphan," said Padma, "The only people who have ever done anything to prove that they love him, have died proving it, he desperately wants a family to take care of him, and has a misplaced idea of how willing he should expect to be to die proving his love to the hypothetical family he wishes he could have."

"Well," said Parvati, "There's the Weasleys and Hermione," then she tried to imagine any of them risking their skin for him and faltered. So she shrugged, "alright, never mind."

"He thinks Hermione is his big sister," said Padma, "which is both hilarious and sad."

"But then Hermione might think of him as a younger brother, actually," said Parvati.

"Oh," said Padma, "I hadn't really noticed that somehow."

"Here Parvati," said Susan handing over a messenger tube, "compliments from my aunt, I requested them weeks ago but she only brought them today, Can you give one copy to Harry, I don't feel like fighting through that crowd right now."

Parvati shrugged then opened the tube and pulled out a sheaf of parchment, animagus registration form, name, species, distinguishing features, photo (must be kept updated every two years) etc.

"Oh, thanks!" said Parvati, "Yeah, I can … make sure he gets it."

"Thanks, see you later."

"What is it?" said Papa,

"Ministry forms for being an animagus, it looks like three copies."

"They got them to you that fast?" said Mum.

"Like Susan said," said Padma, "she requested them a while ago, but … since she asked for them through her aunt, instead of through the front office, it went slow, but probably faster than if she'd asked her aunt how to owl the correct office, and then we'd done that."

"What's the registration fee?" said Mum.

Parvati pulled out a form again and found it, "ten galleons, also the cost of getting a photo every two years."

"Bet Creevey would do it for free, at least until we graduate," said Padma.

"It would be the first time Harry ever willingly let that boy take his picture," said Parvati, "the child might die of shock."

"Possibly," said Padma, "Not that the sudden appearance of … haree aankhon vaale sher couldn't also cause heart attacks."

...-...

Regarding Gabrielle

"Potter, walk with me," demanded Fleur.

"I'm on my way to herbology, how about you walk with me?"

"Acceptable," she fell in beside him.

"What's up?"

"You don't get 'slow' from sudden blood reallocation from being around me."

"Blood reallo— No, I suppose I don't," agreed Harry.

"There's rumours as to why."

"You'll find that at Hogwarts the topic of my reputation is wide, interesting, and mostly fictional."

"Alright, never mind," said Fleur, "do you have veela blood?"

"Not that anyone has ever told me about, but I have been unable to consult my parents about it."

Fleur threw up her hands, swallowed loudly, then nodded, "I'm used to stupid men, I can deal with it, the fact that they think the allure is about sex, rather than about power. Things like that."

Harry shrugged.

She turned and stared at him, "you know it's about power?"

"I didn't until you just said it," said Harry, "an acquaintance at the ball told me that it was about 'status,' but I could not make anything out, perhaps because I am immune."

She stared at him.

"Or because I tend to be so cynical of status that it's rarely interesting enough to notice."

She nodded, "The only thing I've ever said to you that seemed to actually interest you was my participation in cross country broom racing."

He narrowed his eyes, "I think that was Victor and Cedric who were interested, I didn't know enough about that kind of triathlon until I looked it up after."

She nodded, "But you did look it up after?"

Harry nodded.

She smirked.

He shrugged, "seemed wise to know my competition," he said.

She smirked wider, but nodded.

"I want Gabrielle's first time to be with a non-stupid. I feared that would either mean a forty year old, or another part-veela, because full veela are stupid all the time, and young humans are stupid around veela and part veela."

Harry stopped and stared at her, she kept walking two steps then stopped and turned back.

"I understand wanting the best for your sister," said Harry, "(I hope for the best for all my friends.)"

Fleur nodded.

"I think you are working up to asking me whether my services are available for sex tutoring."

"That is an ugly name for it, but yes," said Fleur, "No subtlety."

"Before we get to that," said Harry, "how stupid are pure veela exactly, given that you were chosen by the goblet, I suspect you're above average in many ways, I don't know how far I trust your subjective estimation of them."

Fleur shrugged, "Historically the most complex pieces of culture pure veela tend to produce are carved wall panels or floor tiles, and embroidery, and poetry about power plays."

"That's not too shabby," said Harry nodding.

She shook her head, "No stonework, no roads, no running water, now-a-days they may hire done what they cannot do for themselves, but if they were to make first contact today, mages would almost certainly keep them in preserves like dragons and giants."

Harry frowned, "no roads? that's … odd, Oh … I suppose they can apparate?"

She shrugged, "well some can now, but no, they can fly."

"Oh," said Harry, "I hadn't taken that into account, I might be jealous actually."

She smiled and shrugged, "I can morph my hair to feathers, but I cannot change my bone structure enough to fly."

Harry nodded, "is it a question of magical power, or of dwindling genetics?"

"Some of both," she said, "I'm a bit young to be able to morph as many feathers as I can," obviously proud of her accomplishment, "I suspect I will not be able to go much further even as I mature and gain additional skill."

Harry nodded.

She shrugged, "Veela are specialists, Humans are generalists, being both is … a balancing act."

Harry nodded, "So many things are."

She nodded.

Harry took a deep breath and turned again toward the path.

She followed.

"So is the veela social mind more specialised toward social hierarchy and less toward general society, the same way their body and magic is specialised toward flying?"

"Body toward flying and," she waved her hands in annoyance, "athlétisme à proximité," she shrugged, "err and magic toward a specific group of flame techniques and a specific self transfiguration."

"Understood," said Harry, "Alright, I can understand why you'd want her mixing with humans more than with … people of less … I can see why you're … why you estimate your own combination of heritages as more ideal than either one alone, I can see why, if you had to choose between the two, you'd choose humans, it annoys my sense of equality, but I understand."

"How can you understand?" she said.

"I'm a half blood," said Harry, "and some of the purebloods are stupid, not in the sense of mental deficiency, though some are, I mean they are wilfully ignorant of what an entire planet of humans have been up to for the last 400 years. And some of the muggleborns are just about as bad, seeing no cars or telephones, and assuming that mage culture has lagged and will be easy to take advantage of, but don't study the culture well enough to understand that between floo and apparition and portkey, it is perhaps cars and telephones which are behind the times."

Fleur stopped and stared at him, her eyes hooded.

Harry held up his hand, "I'm not saying that either technology is ahead or behind the other, I'm saying that the mages have had their tech for longer, and their society has adjusted to it, where muggle society is only just beginning to adjust to theirs."

Fleur nodded, but seemed to be gazing inward, and he hoped she was memorising in order to look things up later.

She shook her head, "mage society has not adjusted to portkey or flying carpet," she said, "They have made them highly regulated or outright illegal."

Harry blinked, opened his mouth, and then closed it again, "huh, I hadn't properly considered that."

She nodded.

"But my point stands, I am a half blood, I was muggle raised, so I can appreciate their point of view, I managed to get a pureblood tutor eventually, so I can also see their point of view. I think that the best of both worlds, is being open to appreciating and making use of, the best of both worlds."

She nodded, "You understand more than I expected," she turned away.

"I don't understand what the problem is with getting tutoring from another part veela or a 'forty year old human'."

She turned back, her face blotchy pink and yellow, he shuddered and stepped back. Then he registered the teeth and talons and took another step back.

She glared at him for an eternity of seconds and then relaxed, her talons shrinking away, her blood distribution returning to a normal so reminiscent of human as to be almost indistinguishable, "Because you are immune to status," she said, "Because your sense of equality only triggers for language and not for fact."

He raised an eyebrow.

"How old was your tutor?"

He had to calculate for several seconds, "Early forties."

She nodded, "And she didn't use her position to influence your politics or abuse or usurp your fame?"

Harry grinned, "Of course she has, but she was doing that long before sex tutoring was added to her duties."

She blinked, "You … enjoy the mind games?"

Harry shrugged and nodded, "I liked the tutoring about it, I have … less patience for it in practice. People should say what they mean. People should respect other people as equals, regardless of what role they each might have at the moment. Fame should be earned, not thrust on one because of one's parent's history."

"You are like … some kind of anti-veela, it is … intriguing."

To be labelled 'intriguing' should not sound like a threat. Or should it?

"Would you tutor my sister?"

"At least three questions," said Harry, "do you want her to learn to enjoy herself? to become acclimated to humans? Or to …" he shrugged.

"Both of those," she said, "and especially to know that she doesn't have to settle for a human that cannot stay alert in her presence, even if such are few and far between."

"Fine," said Harry, "how old is she?"

"Why do you care, people should treat each other as equals, regardless of the roles each of them is in?"

Harry shivered, "True, but … in humans at least it is generally agreed that there is an age at which a person is too young to experience sex without mental damage, even if there is an ongoing cultural dispute about what that age is."

"Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Is she physiologically as mature, or more mature than humans are at age … say fourteen?"

She turned and stared and narrowed her eyes, "You are fourteen?"

"I am, and all my err… direct tutoring has been since shortly before my last birthday."

She nodded, "Humans get their magic at eleven and their sex shortly after?"

"I guess you could call it that," said Harry, "I've had accidental magic since at least five, but I can understand why magic isn't taught without algebra readiness. Even if actual algebra isn't used directly in the teaching until thirteen."

Fleur nodded, "Veela get their flame and allure first. Yes, some as early as five. Doesn't mean they use it, doesn't mean they are confident enough of their social rank for it to manifest. Their sex is next, usually around six to eight, we are much bigger than humans by that point, much taller, never as heavy as humans."

"Ah, alright," said Harry.

"Magic next within a year or two, most of the rest of transforming, and therefore flying, a year or more and the veela uses of magic stopped absorbing everything, and I could begin to train for human magic also, only a year later than humans."

Harry frowned, "I'm confused somewhere."

Fleur frowned at him, then nodded, "most part veela at my age, … still don't have enough magic to transform feathers, only wings and membrane. Full veela can transform completely by ten, and never use their magic for anything else but fire."

"And allure," said Harry.

She nodded, "but that is a social cue, like you English and all your different accents."

Harry shrugged, "But it is magic?"

She shrugged back, "is it body? is it magic? is it mind? The veela have no muggles and don't pay attention to the distinction."

"Yes, but you are not pure veela, you're welcome to have an opinion about it."

She smiled but shook her head, "it is not a practical distinction, the state of my mind to summon or dispel it, and the state of mind I must induce in others to dispel theirs, that is practical to know."

Harry nodded, "So how old is Gabrielle?"

"She is twelve," said Fleur, "plenty old enough to attend school and learn whatever she wishes."

"Does she wish to learn sex?"

Fleur shrugged, "she noticed that you are immune to our allure, and instinct tells her that means you are higher status than either of us. Though her experience with humans is enough for her to know that 'too young' is also an option, but your place in the contest proves you are old enough. She requested my blessing to pursue you. I told her you were a rude English and I'd … take the brunt of explaining what you needed to know regarding what she wants."

Harry sniffed.

Fleur smiled, "I am pleased to find that your 'sense of equality' already extends to pure veela. Does it also extend to hags?"

"It might more easily extend to centaurs," said Harry, "but … perhaps I don't know enough about either to actually judge."

She gave him an odd look.

Harry nodded, "Is there a place in your sister's mind for equality?"

"There is," said Fleur, "But you might have to put the concept there for yourself, or at least teach her that it has a name."

"Ah," said Harry, "If she cannot accept me as an equal, I've a vague notion I'd rather she thought she was marginally my superior, but will have to prove it, rather than thinking that I am superior."

"How so? You want her to actually listen to your lessons, correct?"

Harry frowned, "Yes, but I don't want her to listen to my words and memorise them and obey them rote, I want her to listen to my words, pick them apart for hidden meaning, and clues to the power struggle we're pretending we are good enough friends to not be having, and remember the concepts not the words."

"Sex with you must be very … stochastic, do you have any sense of cooperation at all?"

"With equals, yes," said Harry, "you saw how well … Miss Patil and I worked together."

She blinked and nodded, "you don't want Gabrielle trying to rape and seduce you, … you just want her not letting you do that to her."

"Exactly," said Harry, "I'm more than willing to wait until she's older, if that will help."

Fleur frowned, "that might help you, it will not help her, she is already five years older than is generally considered healthy for a first affair, if she waits much longer she will certainly change to narcissisme or lesbien."

"Not that there is anything wrong with those," said Harry.

"There is much wrong with narcissisme," frowned Fleur, "veela should experience sex before they reject it, it is fine to reject it, most veela do eventually, it is not fine to turn inside out and hermit, there is … ."

Fleur stared at him, "cooperation and equality only barely exist in the mind of young veela and only as learned ideas. Not as instinctive ideals, until they are burned in by the sex. To be a modern citizen a part veela needs to experience and value at least one sexual act that was not … controlled either direction, by social status."

"Oh, Merlin damn it," said Harry.

"It is usually not a couple's first act, when it is pure veelas," said Fleur, "I think it could be for you, but I'm not sure it will be plain enough to her so soon, it must be plain enough to burn in. It might take a week or two."

"Does she know all that?"

Fleur nodded, "she's probably heard the words, she will not understand them until she wakes up several months later and notice that a 'co-worker' or a 'fellow citizen' is both possible and at least sometimes desirable. And it might be months or years more before she notices in herself, or in the development of other veela and part veela, that virgins are just … really unsocial."

Harry shrugged, "She seemed social enough to me."

"She acted subordinate to a peer of her sister whose attention she desired."

Harry frowned, "it was less demeaning and offensive than several of my fans."

Fleur nodded, "You admired my little sister as a little sister, did you ever admire me as a big sister?"

Harry frowned, "only when I've observed you focused on your sister or other part veela."

Fleur nodded, "That is fair."

"I think I missed your point."

"I think you made it excellently," she frowned, and looked away, "Would you want to teach her anything else before teaching her to allow equality as a concept and cooperation rather than dominance or submission or competition as the social structure necessary to freely share ideas?"

Harry frowned, "Successful teaching requires the student to value the possible 'knowledge to be passed' enough to pay attention."

"Agreed."

"And the possibility must exist that the student could learn, and the teacher must value that possibility enough to attempt the instruction."

"Agreed."

"I … I've had bad experiences with teachers who don't know or care if you're paying attention, and one who assumes you're not paying attention and doesn't offer any instruction until you do something exceptional to prove that you've studied his subject with intent and without him, then he comes through, sort of."

She nodded.

"I've … similarly been the student who'd been kept up too late to stay awake in class, and I've been the student who read the whole book before class started."

She stared at him.

He stared at the ground, mostly because straight ahead was her chest and he suspected she'd be annoyed if he stared there. And staring at her face would be too distracting while he thought.

"You're trying to say, that the student and the teacher must respect each other, and must cooperate, for the teaching to be optimal."

"Yes," agreed Harry.

"You won't try to estimate the optimal difference in status between teacher and student, because you are immune or allergic to status difference, and so have not made particularly good observations before now."

"Probably," said Harry.

"I still want you to teach her," said Fleur, "yes, the first lesson or two might be about 'how to have sex,' physically. The rest will be 'how to cooperate with a partner.' Until she starts trying to cooperate with you about tasks besides sex. Then you disappear until she figures out that cooperation isn't just marriage, it is a skill for everyone about everything."

"That sounds excessively cruel," said Harry.

"After she's twenty, you can come back and marry her, if you and she want that, but at that point it will be two adults making friends, not using the first half of pair-bonding reflexes to burn in the possibility that cooperation is even an option."

Harry shuddered, "is that … really the most humane way of socialising veela?"

"Often even that doesn't work on full veela. It works on part-veela. Veela basically aren't social enough for equality or to cooperate with anyone other than their mate until their first mate dies, and even then, it often takes some other unique circumstances to … bring them all the way up to something resembling a good subject."

"Then where do part veela come from?" said Harry.

"Originally?" said Fleur with a shudder, "or modernly?"

"Either one?"

Fleur shrugged, "feral veela meets feral human, at compatible ages, pair-bonding occurs, by and by, pregnancy occurs, by and by there are sufficient children to feed or a sufficiently high tribute demand in the area, that the human who doesn't hunt well enough to keep up and is fed to the children."

Fleur shrugged, "Modernly, veela are caught in the wild, de-clawed and shipped globally for pets, curiosities, or sex toys."

Harry growled.

Fleur nodded, "therefore it is the human who brings home the food and pays the taxes, usually when the children reach four or five and begin developing in ways their human parent is not prepared for, that the human parent starts researching the life cycle of young veela and chooses between selling them for another generation of sex slaves, or socialising them sufficiently so that they can be raised as children and subjects. Some choose one, some choose the other. By the second generation, it is generally impossible to keep them down, they've got too much human intelligence by then, even when they don't have enough social acumen to be a threat."

"Which generation are you?"

"Depends on how you measure," said Fleur, "My mother is nominally half-veela, my father is nominally less than an eighth at which point the law stops keeping track, but once you have part-veela marrying part-veela, the fractions do not always breed evenly."

Harry nodded, "yeah, I've seen how hybridisation arithmancy works."

"I'm more human than my sister is, though we're from the same parents."

"You're somewhere between second generation and third, and she's somewhere between first and second."

Fleur nodded.

"She needs this more than you did?"

Fleur shook her head, "we both needed it. Years later, I said something I shouldn't have, before I understood most of this, and it sabotaged her selection process. She's noticed you, could you please take care of her."

"How long do I have to decide?"

"Right now, she's already back in Beauxbatons, can you visit this summer?"

"Oh," said Harry, "That's not … I don't know."

"Yes, you do," said Fleur, "The question is how much beyond travel expenses you're going to charge."

Harry stared at her. Then he shook his head, "you're assuming … several things, such as that I don't already have plans, and that no one else who I value cooperating with, already has plans for me."

"Then add their inconvenience fee to your own," said Fleur.

"You think that because you have enough money, you get to set the status negotiation."

Fleur swallowed, "I'm not asking you to be a prostitute, I'm asking you to be a doctor," she shrugged, "doctor's assistant."

"I realise that," said Harry.

"Oh, then … why won't you agree?"

"Because I have responsibilities that I cannot shirk, ."

She stared at him, "to whom?"

Several answers slid across his mind, until one refused to budge, "The people of Great Britain."

"You are fourteen," she shouted in confusion.

He shrugged.

Then the waves and curls fell out of her hair, leaving it limp and straight, and her mouth dropped open, a moment later her hair completely vanished away, even her eyebrows, probably the reverse of the process from turning it into feathers.

She put one knee on the ground, and her head down slightly, "I'm sorry mi-lord, I mistook your teaching of equality to be an affectation of the common people, forgive me, I won't trouble you further," then she hopped up and scampered away.

"Damn," muttered Harry and went to class, "What the hell?"

.

"You're late," said Hermione.

"Sorry," said Harry.

"Where were you?" said Parvati.

"Fleur demanded a moment to talk my ear off about … care of magical creatures."

"Is that what they're calling it now," said Ron.

"Shut up Ron," said Hermione.

"More cheating?" said Professor Sprout stopping at their table, "I mean, more 'international cooperation,' dears?"

Harry stared at her, then nodded, "Yes, more international cooperation."

"Good for you," said Professor sprout, "I won't take points this time. If you cannot finish your work on time, you may stay after class to finish it."

"Thank you." said Harry.

.

When they were revising in the relative privacy of Harry's office, Parvati asked, "So which creatures?"

"Which creatures what?" said Padma.

"Did Fleur Delacour give Harry an unexpected lecture about 'caring for' specifically that he found interesting enough to miss a quarter of Herbology."

"Veela," said Harry, "Specifically her younger sister."

"You're going to, right?" said Padma, "When?"

"The request was for this summer hols," said Harry.

"Going to what?" said Hermione.

"Sex tutoring," said Padma, "It's different for veela, harder to find candidate tutors, I'm intrigued she considered Harry. I'm intrigued that it's taken this long to find someone for her, she looked at least nine."

"She's twelve, and I think undersized for some reason," Harry shrugged, "I'm still not sure whether Gabrielle picked up on Fleur's respect for me, or if she developed Stockholm for Professor Vector in the course of half an hour, or something else, or a combination."

"Probably a combination," said Hermione, "what are you going to answer? Or have you already?"

"I haven't answered, I asked how long I had to make up my mind and she got weird. Like Lockhart only different, didn't try to touch me at least."

"Well yeah," said Padma, "She's not used to being told 'no' and she … did she go through the trouble to explain why?"

Harry nodded.

Parvati nodded, "and Professor Vector, in the process of pretending to be like you, gave up half an hour and a clear shot at second place to rescue Fleur from a real threat, and then rescue Gabrielle from a danger that the Professor had just finished convincing Fleur was non-existent."

"I never did hear a complete explanation about all that," said Harry.

So Parvati explained.

Harry nodded, "alright, so next question, given the reputation Fleur believes is mine, what was she thinking I'd say? well 'yes, I'll rescue your sister from the danger of going feral later,' obviously, and possibly 'I need help covering travel expenses, and fees for rescheduling several appointments,' or something to that effect."

"Oh good grief," said Hermione.

"What did you tell her?" said Padma.

"I told her I needed to check my calender and those of my allies," said Harry, "When she got even more pushy than I found within the realm of politeness, I told her flat 'no' that I could not promise anything without verifying what I'd already promised and to whom."

"Well … granted," said Padma, "But none of us have tried to schedule you for anything this summer, or … not that I know of."

"I'm not sure if the relic problem will be dealt with by then or not."

"Fair enough," said Hermione, "Yeah, but how long will it take to stick a basilisk fang in four things?"

Harry shrugged, "The theory is nice, but sticking a basilisk fang into parchment is different than into metal, so I have no idea, nor do I have the expertise to cast fiendfyre, or guess how often Bellatrix could handle doing so in a controlled environment."

"Has dragon fire or venom been investigated?" said Parvati.

"Or veela fire," mused Padma.

"Hmm," said Harry, "I should ask," he went through his pouch until he found his mirror.

He breathed on it and intoned, "Padfoot."

Less than a minute later the mirror cleared to show Sirius face, "Sure cub, I can use an excuse to put off finishing this report."

"Do we know if dragon fire or venom or veela fire could destroy any of these relics?"

"No idea, dragon fire is known to melt the softer metals no problem, I have no idea how hot veela fire can get."

"Hot enough to fire some clays," said Harry, "which is I think, a wider range of variation than the melting points of different metals."

"Hmm," said Sirius, "could be, and we were theorising fiendfyre should work based on the way it eats magic, not based on the temperature it reaches."

"Alright," said Harry, "another question on an almost unrelated topic, Fleur has invited me to France for about two weeks sometime over the summer."

"I didn't hear a question," said Sirius.

"A) do you care which two weeks? B) how much will it cost to travel there and back? C) how much trouble and publicity and who knows what all are we talking about, and how much of that can we avoid?"

Sirius looked thoughtful for several minutes, then shrugged, "Don't care, don't care, just enjoy yourself, keep your name to yourself and tell your hosts why you wish to do so, it shouldn't be a problem, will there be wild passionate sex with your cute veela friend? And if so, why haven't you already started? And why are you talking to me?"

Harry sighed, "Because neither of us are particularly impressed with each other, the question is whether I'll tutor her younger sister."

"Oh," said Sirius, "Yeah, that's a bit more delicate a topic, do … you know enough to negotiate for yourself or would you prefer I step in?"

"I hadn't considered that might be an option," said Harry.

"It is," said Sirius, "given that the Delacours were with the foreign service before they retired, I … would not fault you at all if you prefer not to negotiate with them without help."

"So far my negotiations have been with Fleur not with her parents, which seems … odd to me."

"That is odd," agreed Sirius, "Then again she's old enough to be acting as her parent's agent."

"And she also feels some sort of debt to, or about, her sister regarding the topic."

"Intriguing," Sirius shrugged.

Harry shrugged.

"First of all," said Sirius, "decide what you want, second tell me and Fleur what that is, third tell her whether I'm authorised to negotiate on your behalf, and find out whether her parents are on board with the whole arrangement, they probably are, but you should check."

Harry swallowed, "right, I don't really want you negotiating without me present."

"That's fair," said Sirius

"Or Nim, I suppose, but so far Fleur hasn't given me to believe that sort of misdirection could be helpful, she's just made a request and acted surprised that I didn't treat it as an ultimatum."

Sirius eyes brightened, "Her parents each earned their places, before they married and became famous for being even more effective together. I rather suspect she doesn't often get told 'no'. Or not by anyone other than her parents."

Harry nodded, "That's the impression I've gotten also. Rather like Draco in some ways, not like Draco at all in others."

"There's rumours of veela heritage in the Malfoy line," said Sirius, "But they're rather vague and I haven't seen much evidence that it's more than rumour."

"I meant about amusingly immature status management," said Harry, "Never mind."

"Alright," said Sirius, "How soon are you going to be calling me back to tell me that you're going?"

"Probably ten to twenty minutes," said Harry, then realised what the question had actually been, and smirked.

"Alright, see you then," said Sirius and closed the connection.

Harry put down his mirror.

"Alright," sighed Harry, "thoughts?"

"If you don't say yes, I might … I reserve the right to lose my temper at you," said Padma.

"Good grief," said Harry.

Silence.

"Are there any objections to … Padma's assessment of the ethics of the situation."

"Can we back up to the part where Gabrielle is twelve and a fan and you're going to say yes," said Hermione, "but Luna is thirteen and you've been telling her 'no'."

"Luna has not yet asked me for a physical encounter," said Harry, "also no one has told me she has veela blood, no one has told me she had puberty five to seven years earlier than the human average, nor is dangerously close to tripping over a developmental milestone without first successfully navigating a particularly delicate previous milestone."

"Oh," said Hermione, "Fine, then you can skip ahead to the part where this is somehow your responsibility now instead of, an actual friend of the family or whatever several years ago."

"I think," said Harry, "preparations were made, and Fleur accidentally sabotaged them, and … I'm not clear why additional preparations have not been made since, but Fleur feels responsible for the bungle and thinks I'm a chance for her to redeem herself. I'd like her parents perspective on that part."

"I'd like her parents perspective on all of it," said Hermione, then frowned, "Or rather, I'd rather you got her parents perspective on all of it."

Harry nodded, "Presuming her parents and Gabrielle are as hopeful as Fleur, do any of you veto this?"

They all shook their heads.

"Do any of you have a preference as to the part of the summer that this were to take place?"

"The earlier the better," said Padma, then shrugged.

Again there were no objections.

"Alright," said Harry, and called Sirius back.

"We're agreed that the beginning of the summer seems most ideal," said Harry, "and we're … 'suspicious' is the wrong word, but I want to know what Fleur's parents think and expect before I show up on their doorstep. Also how does the French version of the reasonable statute for underage sorcery compare, in the letter, and in the enforcement."

"Summary is something like: what happens behind muggle repelling wards, is not a threat to the statute of secrecy, what happens behind and properly contained by private wards is not a threat to the public order," said Sirius, "And yes it is kind of pathetic that France is beating us at liberty, but such it is at the moment, on that topic at least."

"Alright," said Harry, "So it's less about having an adult handy to reverse my mistakes before a muggle sees them, and more about, I'd better just wait for home before changing out the charms on my clothes, or whatever?"

"That's it in principle," agreed Sirius.

Harry nodded, "either way I can work on my homework at home, and either way I should not draw my wand in public. It's just the shape of the loopholes that are different."

"I'll assume the 'work on homework at home' refers to my house and not Petunia's house," said Sirius with a strange look.

He's an auror, also I didn't tell him that part yet.

So redirect.

"Well obviously," said Harry, "Mrs. Weasley is a stickler for 'the rules,' to the point of forgetting that there are loopholes baked into the law for a reason, and adding the law and the loophole together is the best way of determining what the spirit of the law intended before it was simplified sufficiently to be put on parchment."

Sirius gave him a completely different puzzled look, then nodded, "well, obviously." He said, "So do you or don't you want me to contact the parents before the end of term?"

"Let me talk to Fleur first, and then we can plan that."

Sirius nodded, "so be it."

"Thanks Sirius," said Harry and ended the connection.

...-...

{End Chapter 15}

A.N.

Yes, I made Gabrielle a year older in '94 than she is in canon in '97, my excuse: it was my head-canon and I didn't catch it until after I'd written the rough draft, and I kind of like it this way. Seems like I could change it back without modifying the physiology lecture, the only thing that would absolutely have to change is Padma's sense of urgency, and my sense of squick.

Regarding Veela physiology and development, no excuse only these explanations: 1) in the muggle world, to my knowledge humans are the only ape that matures later than age 3. It is perfectly reasonable that any new ape we were to run across with 'near human intelligence' would mature somewhere between age three and the age that humans do. 2) I've been so tired of fics that either portray veela as hyper-sexual creatures even in the absence of humans. Or as (female only?) sexual predators / parasites, feeding on the human race. As in, vampires but different. So I've tried something different, I want to portray them as people too, souls trying to get by in the least bad way possible, yet in the grips of a hyper-adapted biology, they just happen to be adapted to a different ecological niche than the one humans occupy: We're endurance predators with a predilection for violence and a contradictory set of territorial and nomadic instincts that we try to build safe zones around with laws about 'property' and 'access to public way' and 'public order'.

Feel free to hate my art. Feel free to tell me about it in the reviews or by PM. Equally, feel free to skip the first few chapters of Year 5.

More on the 'female only?' aspect in a few chapters. ;)

.

P.S.

As I edit this I notice parts of Fleur's speech, parallel the rhetoric that's been used for decades to justify 'conversion therapy' and similar persecution of homosexuals and asexuals. Rest assured that I mean nothing of the sort and neither does she.

Fleur's point is not to "pray the gay away" nor proposing, as some have, that "if you'd just give normal sex a chance you wouldn't want gay sex / no sex." You can tell that in fact she and her family believe the opposite, by how they have acted for the last six years: When Gabrielle resisted the previous attempt to provide her with a learning experience, they've given her time and space. Though obviously Fleur has been concerned enough about it to approach Harry, with only a tiny bit of prompting from her sister.

Another interesting thing to note (I did not do this on purpose, but it fits): Fleur's sport of choice (cross-country-ish broom triathlon) is not a team sport. Harry's sport (quidditch) is a team sport, but in canon (and in this fic so far) we haven't see him / the seeker position being played as a team player, but rather as a one-on-one race between seekers with the team sport happening in the background. Therefore, Harry has not acquired a taste for 'the cooperation addiction' from playing quidditch (more on this later), he has however become attached to the friends he's made on the team and it is for him something of a friend group mid-way between his best friends and the rest of gryffindor house in general. And in canon in later books we see him get closer to the quidditch players in other houses, especially the seekers he's directly competing against.