Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! Summer winds to a close with the Junior Dueling League having their seasonal tournament with their nearest neighboring countries. Harry meets a very interesting person during the tournament! After that, it's back to Hogwarts for his Second Year! What awaits Harry and friends this school year?

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Chapter 13 – Junior Tournament, Second Year Begins

For all the excitement of the Junior Dueling League Tournament, Harry was honestly a little bored. Sure, it was interesting seeing Witches and Wizards from other countries, but that was a bit overshadowed by the fact that none of them knew any interesting Magic. Stunning Charms, Flipendo, Protego, some Transfigurations, a few Water Conjuring Charms, and some Fire Conjuring Charms, but nothing that Harry didn't already know.

"I'm the youngest one here too." Harry sighed a little as he watched his teammates Duel. Alexander Runcorn had been their Team Leader, as was expected, and he hadn't lost a single Duel yet. But in a team of five, three wins secured your advancement. Harry hadn't even had to Duel against the Belgian Team. Alexander and the others had swept the first three rounds.

The initial shock of the foreign teams at seeing a twelve-year-old on the British Team had been amusing, but it was less of a shock since the Prophet had once again blared his business across the front page. As he'd expected, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge had turned what was supposed to be a simple formality into a show for the Prophet. Harry was on the front page of the Daily Prophet shaking the Minister's hand with the headline loudly proclaiming: 'Harry Potter 'The Boy Who Lived' shakes Magical Britain by Becoming the Youngest Charms Master in History!'

'The reaction of the foreign teams would've been funnier if they didn't know about my Title.' Harry mused to himself as he watched the current Duel.

"Lata Expelliarmus Trio Maxima!" Alexander cast the heavily modified Disarming Charm at his opponent. The bright burst of Magic not only shattered his opponent's Protego, but disarmed him, and threw him from the platform at the same time. Thankfully, the area around the Dueling platform was covered in Cushioning Charms to prevent any falling injuries.

'So, it's come down to us after all.' Harry stood up from the bench and made his way towards the platform.

"You got this, Harry?" Alexander asked with a smile, raising his hand for a high-five.

"I've got it." Harry nodded, returning the high-five with a grin as they passed each other.

Now this particular match had Harry's interest. Not only because it was the final match of the Tournament and both the British Team and the French Team were now tied, but because of his opponent. Fleur Delacour was the youngest Duelist here, barring Harry himself. She was supposedly only fifteen, but her age was far less interesting than the girl herself. After all, Fleur Delacour was a Veela.

Both of the two had been looking at each other from time to time across the large building that the tournament was taking place in. Fleur had honest curiosity in her blue eyes when she looked at him. The older girl clearly interested in someone even younger than her that was on the Junior Dueling Team for Britain. Harry could imagine why, especially if she'd seen the Prophet article. It was probably hard for a lot of people to believe that he'd earned a Mastery at his age.

'She's also easy on the eyes, as Sirius would say.' Harry chuckled internally. Veela were naturally beautiful, almost ethereally so. Long silvery-blonde hair down to her waist, a face that was free of any blemish, bright blue eyes, and a very blessed figure that made her look a bit more mature than her years would normally allow for. But…her looks weren't of much importance to Harry, being twelve and only just starting his own path through puberty. No, what he was more interested in was her Magic. 'She's only Dueled three times during the tournament so far, but her spells are interesting. Fire Magic doesn't seem to work on her either. It's so interesting!'

The two Duelists faced each other in the middle of the long, narrow platform. Fleur looked him in the eyes and Harry returned her gaze. When the referee called for them to salute, Fleur raised her wand in front of her as standard while Harry raised his right hand before him. That had apparently been a shock to some of the foreign participants, and had required a brief discussion before the tournament could begin. But Harry's first Duel had seen him clear any doubt from the minds of their visitors rather quickly.

"I do not plan to lose, Monsieur Potter." Fleur spoke, her English had a noticeable accent, but was perfectly understandable.

"Neither do I, Miss Delacour." Harry replied with a nod. "Let's have a good Duel."

"Yes." Fleur nodded her agreement. "I'd very much like to see what the youngest Charms Master in History can do."

"Very well." Harry accepted without a problem. "But only if you show me more of that interesting Magic of yours."

The two turned away and walked to their respective ends of the platform. They turned to face each other, Fleur with her wand at the ready and Harry with both of his empty hands slightly raised at his sides. The referee looked between the two of them for a moment, then nodded to himself.

"You may begin!" The man began the match, his Sonorus amplified voice filling the area.

"Lata Protego Maxima!" Fleur's first spell was a modified Protego. Lata to widen the area the spell covered. Maxima to increase its power as high as she could manage without losing control of the spell. "Defodio Tria!" The tripled form of the Gouging Charm rocketed down the platform towards Harry. "Deprimo Duo!" The double Ground Blasting Charm was aimed at Harry's feet.

"Barrier." Harry used his unique shield as he studied Fleur's opening combo. 'She took care of her own defense first, then tripled the Gouging Charm to put pressure on me. The double Deprimo is to destroy my footing. Not a bad way to start a Duel.' He noted as the three Gouging Charms and two Deprimo Charms slammed into his barrier and did nothing. "Icicle." Harry conjured water, froze it, and shaped it into meter-long icicles in the time it took most people to blink. To the onlookers it appeared as if the icicles had formed out of thin air. With a thought, the eight spears of ice were launched at Fleur.

"Really?" Fleur cocked an eyebrow as the ice spears shattered against her empowered Protego. Did Harry really think that would work on her? "Inclinis Alarte Ascendare!" A nearly colorless spell flew from the tip of Fleur's wand and made a wide arc around the room. The spell struck Harry from behind and flung him into the air. "Descendo!" Fleur hit Harry with another spell at the apex of her last spell. Harry went shooting towards the platform at speed in what would surely be a debilitating fall.

"Float." Harry stopped his own descent roughly a meter from hitting the platform. "Interesting combo, not sure I've seen anyone use the Inclinis modifier before." He easily righted himself while his Barrier blocked a follow up Depulso that was intended to shove him out of bounds. "But I've seen you use more interesting spells since this tournament started." He smiled at Fleur, his green eyes alight with interest. "Shatter!" He pointed his right index finger at Fleur and a small bolt of Magic flew from him and touched her empowered Protego. The Shield Charm shattered and Fleur staggered back a step from the force.

"I guess I'll get more serious with you." Fleur acknowledged as she spun her wand in a triplet of loops. "Vigilem Sagittam Trio." From her wand three glowing orbs of white light floated into the air between herself and Harry.

The new spell put a grin on Harry's face, now this was something he hadn't seen before. The orb on the far left shot a small arrow of the same white light at Harry. His Barrier nullified it without issue, but then the other two orbs got in on it, all three now firing the same arrows at Harry and peppering the shield with sustained shots.

"Praesidium." Fleur cast, but this time her wand was pointed at herself. The teen glowed with a faint green light for just a moment. "Maior Potestas." This time her body was enveloped in a golden glow that just as quickly faded away. "Conscientia." A light yellow glow this time. "Maior Scutum." A diamond-like refraction of light covered Fleur's body before fading away.

"It seems you know more interesting spells than I thought!" Harry was ecstatic at seeing some new Magic for the first time at the tournament. "Tell me, where did you learn that Magic?" The young Sorcerer inquired with a wide grin on his face. The three orbs finally running out of Magic and fading away was apparently Fleur's cue to show Harry what her spells did.

"Flamma!" Fleur spoke while raising her right hand, palm facing Harry. From her hand a conflagration burst forth, but the flames looked slightly odd, burning not just yellow-orange, but with some purple tint to the fire.

"Barrier." Harry spoke and the Barrier in front of him shifted from a wall and into a sphere surrounding Harry. The strange fire washed over the spherical shield and continued on to hit the powerful Shield Charms being maintained by the tournament organizers around the cleared out area that surrounded the platform. "Is that the Veela Fire I've read about?" Harry questioned once the flames had dispersed. "Your casting seems a lot stronger all of a sudden? Why is that? Are those spells you cast earlier somehow amplifying the effects of your Magic?"

"You talk a lot, Monsieur Potter." Fleur remarked as she slashed her wand through the air. "Diffindo Maxima!" The overpowered Severing Charm sliced through the air and sparked when it hit Harry's shield.

"I'm just very curious, Miss Delacour." Harry replied before using his next spell. "Lightning." A bright white-blue light nearly blinded the onlookers before a sharp crack was heard. Those that were able to see watched as a bolt of lightning struck Fleur directly. However, the spell seemed to flow around the Veela teen and greatly reduced the effect. "Arrow." Harry was perfectly able to see his first spell seemingly defended against. He released his next one, a wave of arrows made of off-white Magic, at the Veela before she could regain herself. Once more, the spell didn't seem to do nearly as much as it should, several of the Magic arrows dispersing when they hit Fleur.

"Fumos!" Fleur cast and a thick, massive cloud of black smoke exploded from the tip of her wand to obscure everything. "Protego Tria Maxima!" She raised three powerful shields between herself and Harry. "Inclinis Bombarda Trio Maxima!" Fleur unleashed a barrage of Exploding Charms down upon Harry from behind her three shields. The triple explosions that followed rocked the Dueling platform and Fleur worried that she might have gone overboard.

"Very good…I usually have to roughhouse with Tonks to get this kind of challenge." Harry praised Fleur with a large smile. The Fumos was blown to the edges of the cleared area from the blasts, so the two could see each other again. "Now, in return for you showing me such interesting spells, I'll show you one too." The Sorcerer held his hands in front of his chest, both palms facing each other, and Fleur watched as the air began to twist between them. Harry slowly pulled his hands further and further apart, making the ring of swirling wind larger. "Everyone has seen my Primal Fire before, but this is something I've only shown my family."

Fleur would admit to being intrigued, but also knew that she should stop the forming spell before it was completed. Unfortunately, not even her most powerful spells had been able to break Harry's shield. She focused and increased the strength of her three empowered Protego shields to hopefully block whatever Harry was casting.

"This is wind with the Aspect of Dispersion applied to it!" Harry grinned wildly at the Veela teen. "I call it De-Spell!" The Barrier around him vanished right before Harry launched the swirling ring of wind towards Fleur. The first Protego Maxima scattered away into small points of light, as did the second, and then the third.

"Impossible!" Fleur could only cross her arms to cover her face as the ring of wind blasted her off her feet. She couldn't believe it when the spells she'd cast on herself were all stripped away too! The strange spell that Harry had used made the Magic fly away from her body like sparkling dust in the wind. She hit the platform with a rather undignified 'oof' and scrambled to her feet.

"It's my win, Miss Delacour." Harry stomped on the platform and the entire platform in front of him all the way to Fleur's end turned to sand and fell apart.

"Non…" Fleur slid down the shifting sands and her feet touched the stone floor.

"Out of bounds!" The referee called out; the smoke of the Fumos spell had faded away just as Harry had transfigured the majority of the platform into sand. The Shield Charms around the area were dropped as the referee made his way inside the area and up onto the remainder of the platform beside Harry. "The winner of the fifth Duel between the French Team and the British Team is Harry Potter! That gives the British Team three wins. This year's tournament winners are the British Junior League Team!" His announcement was met by applause from the crowd, especially the families of the four teens (plus Harry) that had won the whole thing.

"One sec." Harry focused and the sand gathered back together and reformed the shape of the platform. A moment later and the platform was back to its original form. With a nod at undoing his spell, Harry hopped off the platform and walked over to Fleur. "That was a great Duel, Miss Delacour." He smiled at the girl, his hand out for a polite shake. "Your Magic is incredibly interesting. I haven't seen anything quite like it before. If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me about it sometime?"

"Non, Monsieur Potter." Fleur accepted his handshake, but shook her head at his question. "Those spells are not mine to teach. They are Veela-made and we do not share them with non-Veela." She gave him a smile and the interest in her blue eyes was clear. "Your Magic is very impressive as well. I can see now how you've already attained a Mastery. I would love to ask about them, but as I cannot speak of my own, it would be very unfair to ask you to share yours."

"Mysterious." Harry's grin wouldn't fade at all. Veela-made spells! How cool was that? Perhaps he should see about finding other Races that could use Magic and see what he could learn. "You're quite the Duelist and you have interesting Magic. I think that makes you brilliant, Miss Delacour."

"Merci, Monsieur Potter." Fleur smiled at him again. She was inwardly shocked that he hadn't responded to her Allure. She always did her best to control it, of course, but this close to her and most males tended to start getting glassy-eyed or boastful. 'Perhaps he's just a better quality of male?' The Veela teen mentally noted.

"Harry! That was great!" Sirius came up behind Harry with a bright smile. "We couldn't see anything after the big Fumos Charm, but we saw the end results!"

"You did good, Harrikins!" Tonks ruffled his hair with a laugh.

"That was splendid, Harry." Andromeda smiled, lightly smacking Tonks's hand to make her stop messing up Harry's hair.

"A brilliant show, Harry, top notch Dueling!" Ted patted his shoulder with a nod to the boy.

"Fleur!" A small girl nearly collided with Fleur's legs. The rapid fire French was lost on Harry, but Fleur only giggled and picked up the small girl. With their faces side-by-side, the family resemblance was unmistakable.

Two adults were quick to join the sisters. A dark-haired man in nicely tailored robes, and a gorgeous woman that could only be Fleur's mother, based on the similar looks and the ethereal Veela beauty that the woman practically radiated. The family spoke in French for a moment before the two adults faced Harry and his family.

"You were impressive today, Monsieur Potter." The man congratulated Harry on his victory. "Ah, I forget my manners, my name is Marius Delacour, pleased to meet you." He gave a slight bow to the group. "This is my lovely wife, Apolline, and our youngest daughter, Gabrielle." He introduced the rest of his family.

"Charmed." Sirius stepped forward, shaking Marius's hand and then laying the barest of a kiss on Apolline's knuckles like a proper aristocrat. "Your daughter is an amazing Duelist. Only our Nym here usually gives Harry such a workout." He motioned to Tonks, who was glaring lightly at him. "Let me introduce everyone." He returned the favor to the Delacours. "This is my cousin, Andromeda." He motioned to Andy. "Her husband, Theodore." Ted stepped forward to shake Marius's hand after Andromeda had greeted the Delacours. "And their daughter, Nympha-"

"Tonks is fine." Tonks interrupted Sirius with a nudge of her shoulder. The Metamorphmagus was now full-on glaring at Sirius with eyes that promised retribution if he spoke her full name.

"A pleasure to meet you all." Marius smiled at them.

"Very lovely indeed." Apolline smiled lightly, the woman's beauty making the small gesture absolutely stunning. "I don't believe we've ever seen a Duelist younger than Fleur actually defeat her since she joined the Under 17 League. You are very talented, Monsieur Potter."

"Thank you very much, ma'am." Harry accepted the praise as graciously as he could. He was wondering if his automatic Occlumency was blocking out the supposed effects of a Veela's allure. Without forcefully stopping his Occlumency, Harry didn't have a way to check. 'Ah, what the heck, why not?' He thought to himself and stopped his Occlumency for a moment.

The foreign feeling came quickly. It was a sudden desire to impress Fleur and Apolline. The two Veela suddenly seemed even more beautiful than they already were. Strangely, he didn't feel compelled to do these things, as he'd read of some accounts, but the feelings were definitely there. Harry let go of his control and his Occlumency returned, blocking off the feeling.

"Monsieur Potter." Fleur spoke to Harry, the adults having their own conversation off to the side.

"Harry is fine, if you'd like." Harry offered to drop the formalities.

"Thank you." Fleur gave him a small smile. "You may call me Fleur as well then."

"Thank you for the privilege, Fleur." Harry returned her smile with one of his own.

"I was wondering if you might wish to exchange letters?" Fleur asked, her blue eyes showing her sincerity. "It would be nice to have a pen pal that is so knowledgeable about Magic."

"I'd like that." Harry agreed to write to Fleur without hesitation. "But if you try to learn my Magical Secrets, you'll find that I'm quite the enigmatic one." He joked with the girl.

"Merci, Harry, I promise not to ask for your secrets." Fleur chuckled a little, the sound pleasant to the ears.

"Fleur, Fleur…" Gabrielle got her sisters attention. "Est-il votre ami?" She looked over at Harry.

"Oui." Fleur answered, bouncing Gabrielle on her hip and making the little girl giggle.

"I'll assume that was good." Harry chuckled at the interaction.

"She asked if you were my friend." Fleur informed him with a grin. "I said yes."

"Brilliant." Harry nodded at the explanation. Fleur giggled lightly at the grin on Harry's face.

"Making the moves on your new friend, Harrikins?" Tonks leaned next to Harry's ear from behind.

"No Nym, we've just agreed to start being pen pals." Harry killed Tonks's attempt at teasing immediately. There was no telling where it would go if the Metamorph was given anything to work with.

"Yes, Harry is a bit young for such things." Fleur let Gabrielle down and the small girl was quick to go to their mother. "I'm sure he'll be rather charming in a few more years though." The Veela teen gave Harry a grin.

"You'll have to do better than that to get a reaction from me, Fleur." Harry turned up his nose in a faux pompous manner. "I live with this one." Harry pointed at Tonks. "So, I've built up a bit of an immunity towards teasing older girls."

"Wait until you're older, Harrikins." Tonks had a smug smirk that Harry wasn't sure he liked. "I'll have you blushing just like I did when I teased you a couple years ago."

"Lovely." Harry remarked while side-eyeing Tonks. Her smile promised that she'd get the reaction she wanted when the time came.

"Perhaps in a few more years I'll assist you with that, Miss Tonks." Fleur giggled and the two girls shared a smile.

"Teaming up seems unfair, but if you must." Harry let out a put-upon sigh, as if he was allowing them to have a handicap.

"You just keep digging that hole deeper, Harrikins." Tonks ruffled his hair again. "We girls don't forget, you know."

"I'll keep it in mind." Harry rolled his eyes and Fleur laughed at the byplay between the two of them.

After exchanging addresses, and the adults finished chatting, the two families separated and the small award ceremony started. Britain was given the first place trophy, France had earned the second place trophy, and the Netherlands took third place. The Daily Prophet photographer and journalist were there to cover the event, along with the leading Magical Newspapers from the other three countries. Dueling was a very big thing in Magical Europe, after all. Every country was hopeful to see up and coming talent from their young Witches and Wizards.

-Diagon Alley ~ Last Week of August-

"Maybe we shouldn't have waited so long." Harry mentioned as he and Sirius made their way through the crowded street.

"We were a bit busy this summer." Sirius replied with a chuckle. "So, we'll have to put up with the crowds."

"I just need my textbooks and we'll be done." Harry mentioned looking over his school list. "Why do I have to get one of every 'Gilderoy Lockhart' book though? Is the new Professor some kind of fan or something?"

"Who knows?" Sirius shrugged as they walked towards Flourish and Blott's. "Unfortunately, it looks like today was the wrong day." Looking up, Harry was greeted by a long line outside of the bookstore and a large banner proclaiming that Gilderoy Lockhart would be signing copies of his new book 'Magical Me' today.

"Ugh…maybe I'll be able to slip through the store unnoticed at least?" Harry asked with a little hope.

"I'll be with you, Harry, no worries." Sirius smiled at his godson. If anybody tried to mess with Harry, they'd be dealing with Sirius Black and it wouldn't be pretty.

The trip through Flourish and Blott's was easy enough, only really made difficult by the large crowd there for the book signing. Harry grimaced at the stack of books that they had to buy. Even the titles of the books sounded more like fanciful tales rather than any kind of actual coursebook. Harry was actually surprised at how few people noticed him at all. Gilderoy Lockhart was apparently able to draw all attention to himself.

'If it makes my shopping easier.' Harry shrugged with the stack of books floating ahead of him. He made sure to keep his line of sight clear, he didn't want to run into anyone.

"Going to be hard to get to the till." Sirius looked over the heads of the gathered crowd to try and find a way to the checkout counter.

"Quite the peacock, isn't he?" Harry mentioned of Lockhart as the man posed for photos that would be in the Daily Prophet tomorrow.

"That's one way of putting it." Sirius snickered with Harry as they tried to get through the crowd so that they could purchase Harry's books and be done with their shopping.

"Harry Potter?" Lockhart spoke up just before Harry and Sirius could reach the line for the till.

The entire crowd turned to look at Harry and the young Sorcerer merely raised an eyebrow. His stack of books floated before him without a care and Sirius was at Harry's side, the look on the man's face daring anyone to approach. Unfortunately, it turned out that both Lockhart and the cameraman from the Daily Prophet were apparently blind to such visual cues. The blonde peacock of a man was quick to move across the floor and sidle up to Harry. As was the cameraman following behind to get the two in a photo together.

"Big smile, Harry, the two of us together warrant the front page." Lockhart whispered just loud enough that only Harry and Sirius could hear him.

"Back away from my godson…" Sirius's words were cut off by the loud flash of the camera going off. "Oi!" He glared at the Daily Prophet cameraman. "Who said you could take a picture of my godson?"

"It's fine, Sirius." Harry had a little grin on his face that Sirius had seen many times before. "I don't think any pictures taken of me will come out at all." Sirius would make sure to ask what prank Harry had managed to pull off after they left the store.

"Ladies and gentlemen! What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time... I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Lockhart announced, still standing beside Harry. The surprised gasps and murmurs of the gathered crowd were only briefly drowned out by the Daily Prophet cameraman taking another photo.

"Why in the world would Dumbledore hire you?" Harry couldn't help but ask in shock at the news.

"Well, I do have an Order of Merlin Third Class, and I'm an honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League as well. Who better to teach you and all of the other students at Hogwarts?" Lockhart boasted, puffing himself up a bit and enjoying all the attention that he was getting.

"Really?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the blonde Wizard. "You seem like a bit of twit to me." The stunned look on Lockhart's face was something that Harry would save in his memory for a good long while as he and Sirius moved away from the stunned man.

They paid for the books and Harry shrunk them all with a snap of his fingers. After putting the shrunken books into his pocket, Sirius and Harry were heading for the exit, still hearing Lockhart waxing on about his accomplishments and his new autobiography 'Magical Me' that he was signing today. It was just a bit before they got to the door that a commotion caught their attention.

"What's going on?" Harry wondered as the commotion got louder.

Sirius was able to look over the heads of the people watching whatever was going on. It appeared to be two Wizards in a brawl with each other. From the distinct hair colors, it was rather easy for Sirius to tell who the fighters were. As he was close, Sirius went to help separate his red-haired acquaintance from the Death Eater he was punching. Though not before giving some encouragement, of course.

"Hit him harder, Arthur!" Sirius crowed happily watching Arthur Weasley punch Lucius Malfoy while the two men tussled on the ground.

"Sirius?" Molly Weasley questioned before raising her voice. "Don't encourage him! Stop them!"

"Come on you two, break it up!" Sirius hollered as he pulled Arthur off of Lucius. "Good punches there, Arthur." He whispered to the man with a grin as the Malfoy Patriarch was standing up from the floor.

"Black." Lucius greeted stiffly.

"That's not very polite of you Lucius, you forgot to address me with my title." Sirius replied regally, though the amusement in his eyes was impossible to miss.

"Lord Black." Lucius greeted a second time, his face carefully controlled but his eyes burning with cold rage.

"How are you today, Malfoy?" Sirius questioned as Molly fussed over Arthur.

"Well, thank you. Come along Draco." Lucius answered brusquely as he ushered his son out of the bookstore.

"Potter." Draco's near scoff couldn't really be called a greeting, but Harry had learned that Draco didn't seem to care for him. It was no loss to the Spellcrafter if Malfoy had some issue with him though.

"Still an arse." Sirius chortled to himself seeing the two Malfoys leave the shop. "How've you been Arthur?" He greeted his acquaintance, making the older redhead smile and shake his hand.

"Doing well Sirius; we read about Harry's Mastery in the Prophet. Molly and I were so amazed by his accomplishment." Arthur smiled even as a small bruise was forming on his jaw.

"Molly, how're you? The kids doing well?" Sirius asked and the Matriarch of the Weasley Family smiled and confirmed that she and the family were doing well. Sirius listened with a grin as Molly told him about her children. Bill and Charlie were supposedly giving her gray hairs with their dangerous career choices. But being a Dragon Handler was a very dangerous job for Charlie to pick. Not that a Curse Breaker for Gringotts was much safer. Bill had apparently chosen that path and had been in Egypt for the last two years on assignment.

"Wicked, didn't think we'd get to meet you here, Harry." Ron Weasley greeted the Ravenclaw as he and the twins stood before Harry. The red-haired girl next to them must have been their sister.

"I was honestly hoping to not have a spectacle made of just shopping for my school things, should have known better I suppose." Harry shrugged with a sigh at what Lockhart had done.

"Certainly, likes to hear himself talk, eh?" Ron rolled his eyes at Lockhart. "Mum fancies him a bit." He whispered to Harry.

"We read about your Mastery, oh great Sorcerer." Fred (after Harry had subtly cast his Identification Charm) spoke up with an exaggerated bow.

"Truly a once in a century prodigy." George continued on, also dramatically bowing low to Harry.

"Keep that up and I'll make sure that your first initials are stuck on your foreheads for the next few weeks." Harry jokingly threatened the two twins with the loss of one of their favorite running gags.

"Harrikins! How could you?!" Both of the twins reeled back, their hands over their foreheads as if they were feeling faint.

"I don't believe we've met." Harry gave the girl a polite smile. "Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

"G-Ginny Weasley." Ginny introduced herself with a stutter and flushed red cheeks. Harry noticed that she had a cauldron in her hands that was loaded with books.

"Ginny might have a bit of a crush on you." Ron warned, none too quietly, and Ginny stomped on his foot before nearly rushing away. "Gah! What was that for?!" He called after his little sister.

"You were asking for that one." George informed his little brother.

"Indeed, you shouldn't get on Gin-Gin's bad side, Ronnikins." Fred nodded his head in a faux sage-like way.

"I was just being honest." Ron complained, not putting weight on his injured foot.

"Ready to go, Harry?" Sirius called out.

"Coming." Harry nodded to his godfather. "Nice seeing you all, but it looks like we're heading out."

"We'll see you at Hogwarts." Fred and George bowed again, making Harry snort at their antics.

"Later, Harry." Ron waved as Harry departed.

-Outside of Flourish and Blott's-

"So, what did you do to the camera?" Sirius questioned, a knowing grin on his face.

"Strange how a simple Color Changing Charm can turn a clear lens black, huh?" Harry smirked as they headed towards the Leaky Cauldron for a quick lunch.

"Ha!" Sirius barked a quick laugh before stifling his outburst. "Oh, I'm sure that cameraman is going to freak out if he doesn't notice soon."

"He should learn not to take photos of people without their permission then." Harry didn't feel bad for the other Wizard. What he'd done was rude and if some lost pictures helped him learn that lesson, then it was a cheap lesson.

"Ah, Harry, if you were older, I'd buy you a Fire Whiskey for that." Sirius was always proud to hear about any pranks that Harry pulled off.

"How about a Butterbeer instead?" Harry looked at his godfather with a grin.

"Done. You've earned it." Sirius chortled as they approached the wall that separated Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron.

-End Chapter-

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The End of Summer Tournament was a bit of a bore for Harry. Until he met Fleur Delacour that is! It was Harry's first time meeting a Veela and you could FEEL how curious he was, right?

Unfortunately for the Spellcrafter, Fleur would not reveal the secret Veela-made spells to him. But he did get a new pen pal out of it! So, that's nice too!

However, the ever playful Tonks may just have an accomplice to her teasing in the future!

Oh, poor future Harry, what ever will he do with two beautiful girls teasing him?

Second Year is about to begin! But a lack of an appearance by a certain House Elf means that Harry is going in blind.

How will this particular change pan out for our Spellcrafter and youngest Charms Master and Sorcerer?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!