Harry's P.O.V

August 19th

4:45 p.m.

Harry flew through the air and landed with a particularly unpleasant thud as his back impacted the smooth grass beneath him.

"You aren't staying on your feet nearly enough," Fleur taunted, standing lazily with her wand loosely held at her hip.

"Tell me something I don't know," Harry grumbled to himself as he rose to his feet.

"Well, if you spent less time trying to plant yourself in one spot and moved as you cast, you would not be 'it nearly so easily as you 'ave been," Fleur assessed with flippant ease.

"That was a rhetorical question," Harry shot back, not in the least bit amused. His temper was getting shorter and shorter as the days went by, and Fleur's Spartan training drained him of all civility, considering its ruthless effectiveness. She may be a pretty and thin young girl, but Fleur might as well be a drill instructor to Harry.

"Oh, I know," Fleur laughed, readying herself in a dueling stance motioning for Harry to do the same.

He sighed and fell into a loose stance that would allow easy movement and quick, decisive actions.

"Ready? Begin!"

Fleur shot a silent red spell at Harry, and out of sheer reflex he moved to the side, giving the spell a wide berth before sending his own. A white jet shot from his wand at a very quick speed, but Fleur was effortlessly ready. She pirouetted away from the curse, which narrowly missed her ear, and as she turned back to face Harry, a volley of curses were already headed his way.

A red spell flashed past his jaw as Harry tried to dodge with as little effort as possible, and while it had worked, he didn't look as effortlessly elegant as Fleur. Another spell narrowly missed his right shoulder as he turned sideways, but the third spell impacted the side of his ribs and sent him sprawling again.

"This sucks," Harry groaned from the ground.

"But you are getting better. It took me months to learn 'ow to dodge spells as narrowly as you are, and even longer to look graceful while doing it," Fleur sheathed her wand in the holster on her left forearm, and made her way over to him.

She unceremoniously plopped down beside him and laid her head on his shoulder, looking out over the small burbling stream they had decided to train in front of. The sun was high overhead and they had been training since nearly five in the morning.

At times Harry wondered why he was putting himself through the rigorous and painful dueling sessions, but he always remembered when he caught a glimpse of the ring on his finger. It seemed like every time he gazed at the bit of jewelry a piece of him broke off and howled in anguish at his almost certain fate. Harry knew his days were numbered, but Fleur would hear none of it and she instead opted to put him through her training regimen that left him tired and drained until they started all over again the next day.

Fleur's silky hair whispered against Harry's chin as a cool breeze blew over them, cooling the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead unpleasantly.

"I feel like zis still is not enough," Fleur whispered, her hand hovering uncertainly over his before falling back down into her lap," I do not think my training is enough. I may be rather accomplished for my age, but Voldemort is far more formidable zan some naive fourteen-year-old girl."

"Don't forget your plucky twelve-year-old sidekick, and besides in two months you'll be fifteen. So you're not too bad off," Harry grinned pushing his cynical thoughts away.

Although he couldn't see her face from her position on his shoulder, he could hear the smile in her voice," if anyone is ze sidekick it would be Terry, and we would be co-heroes."

"Oh? Co-heroes! I'm surprised you would share the glory so readily with me!" Harry gasped with mock wonder.

"Yes, I suppose ze boy to vanquish ze world's most powerful dark lord as a baby deserves a bit of recognition. But do not forget who ze real star is," Fleur threw a curtain of her hair over her shoulder and stuck her nose up so high her head was nearly vertical.

Harry laughed, forgetting his troubles for the moment, and he let himself savor the feeling of Fleur's warmth pressed into his side and the pleasant babble of the stream in front of them.

"That friend of mine is teaching me a few things," Harry plucked a stone up with his left hand and tossed it lightly into the stream.

"Like zat spell you used on ze troll?" Fleur was very perceptive when the need arose, and almost no details went over her head. It was one aspect of her that Harry admired, her attention for details.

"Yes, it's a disintegration spell, but it's not meant to be so slow. It's meant to be instantaneous, and not cause any pain. I've practiced and it's gotten faster, but it's not quite there yet."

"Zat sounds… rather dangerous for a second year to be practicing," Fleur worried, her hands absently twirling a lock of silvery hair.

"It is, but when is anything I do ever not dangerous?"

"Good point," A few seconds of silence settled before she broke it again," would you show me 'ow to cast it?"

Harry turned that over in his head, and while he really didn't want Fleur messing with something so dangerous, he couldn't be a hypocrite when he himself was.

"Alright," Harry stood to his feet and held out a hand to help her up.

She smiled gratefully and grasped his hand, her delicate smooth fingers were hot, almost burningly so.

"The incantation is rather easy, it's 'Decrusto' and the wand movement is a quick straight jab at the point of impact. I don't expect you to get it immediately, because I've been told by the person who taught it to me that even they never fully mastered it."

Fleur turned. concentrating on a large boulder a few feet away," decrusto!"

A small gray spark shot from her wand and pathetically fluttered down to the ground. The grass blades the spark fell onto curled and turned to dust.

"Well… it's a good start," Harry had to stifle a laugh at the look of annoyance on her face, but quickly shut his mouth when she turned her glare on him," but you can go at your own pace of course."

Turning away, Fleur focused on the spell and went back to work casting. Charms weren't exactly Fleur's strongest subject, at least not compared to enchantments and runes. But while her practical charms work wasn't as advanced as her other subjects, it still meant she was making steady headway on learning the spell much faster than the average witch or wizard. Her last attempt had actually impacted the boulder and corroded a portion of the stone in slow spreading spiderwebs.

"That's better, but it's meant to disintegrate the object it hits almost instantaneously."

"If it is so easy why don't you show me?" Fleur huffed, glaring at the boulder as if she wanted to set it on fire. Small tufts of indignant white feathers spread along her neck.

"Alright, but I haven't mastered it either," Harry stood beside Fleur, pulling his wand from the holster she had given him," decrusto!"

The gray beam impacted the boulder almost instantly, leaving no proof that it had even flown through the air except for the streak of gray as it rocketed out. Where the beam hit, there was no new crack or web of damage spreading out.

"Ha, see! It isn't so easy is it?" Fleur gloated, smirking at Harry childishly.

"Hold on," Harry picked up a small stone and tossed it lightly at the boulder. As soon as the rock hit the boulder, it fell straight through as if there had been nothing blocking its path. The boulder crumpled inward, sending puffs of thick dust upward. "It was supposed to basically vaporize, but for some reason the things my spell hit don't show any real damage until they were hit again by something."

"Does zat happen with living things as well?" Fleur asked, morbid curiosity and horror in her voice.

Harry shifted uncomfortably," not exactly. Living things can't help but move, so if it impacts something living it almost immediately crumples, but most inanimate things kind of just seem fine until you touch them."

"But you say it's meant to basically vaporize?"

"Yeah, at least that's what Sal- I mean my friend says is supposed to happen," Harry cursed himself for nearly slipping up.

"Perhaps a matter of familiarity with the spell is ze issue and not skill?" Fleur wondered as she poked her toe in the dust that had been the boulder.

"That's what I've been thinking, so I've been practicing it as much as possible. Obviously I've gotten better, but I've been stuck at this stage for months now." Harry sat back down where they had been sitting before, turning his wand in his hands.

Fleur sat back down beside him, and watched as Harry pondered his dilemma. She seemed troubled by something and Harry was about to ask, but she let her worries be known before he could," should we discuss our plan when we return to 'Ogwarts?"

"Not much to discuss really. I'm sure any of your teachers would let you into the restricted section, so we can look through for anything relevant at our own leisure." Harry sighed, lying back and crossing his arms behind his head.

Fleur seemed to worry over Harry's flippant dismissal of any danger where the forbidden section was concerned," 'Arry, you realize zat just because you 'ave faced far more danger, doesn't diminish ze possibility of something going wrong with this?"

Harry stopped his idle wand spinning to look over at her," I understand that just because certain death isn't involved, that doesn't mean something bad couldn't happen. But in the grand scheme of things, getting a detention or even being expelled is preferable so long as we find even some scrap of information about what's happening to me."

Before Fleur could say anything in reproach, as she seemed poised to do, Apolline called from the tree line," Fleur, 'Arry! You both 'ave a young man calling over ze floo."

"Well, it seems our time is up. Shall we?" Harry sat up and stood to his feet in one fluid motion; he would have found it difficult to pull off such a move a year ago. He held his hand out to help her up as she had done earlier.

"Oui, I 'ave a few suspicions who might be calling," Fleur huffed, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Oh?" Harry rose a single eyebrow and turned to walk toward the Delacour manor.

"Either it is Terry," Fleur seemed not to mind this idea, but immediately adopted a sour pinched look at her next guess," or that Weasley boy."

Harry laughed," you really don't like Ron, do you?"

"Not particularly, but I do not much care for most of ze people zat ogle me so openly," Fleur glared severely ahead as if a crowd of her gawkers were right in front of her.

"Well, you can't really blame them," Harry laughed, looking at her perfectly pale porcelain skin, her shining silver hair, and the gentle supple curve of her lips. He said, "Look at you."

"Oh? And what, pray tell, do you mean by zat 'Arry?" She blinked in a slow doe-like manor that made Harry fidget uncomfortably as they walked.

"Just that even if you weren't a Veela, you would be a very pretty girl." Harry knew he was slowly, but surely, putting his own foot in his mouth, so he shut it before he jammed it in any further.

Fleur giggled at his adopted stoic expression," calm down, I am just teasing. I already know you think I am quite pretty."

Harry's face grew very hot and he turned his head away from her pointedly. Apolline smiled at them as they approached, and picked up on Harry's embarrassment.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to be the parent Fleur had gotten her teasing nature from; instead, she turned her attention to the matter at hand," it is a boy named Ron Weasley. 'E called 'Ogwarts knowing you were staying zere over ze summer, and Professor Vector told 'im you were 'ere."

Harry nodded, thanking Fleur's mother as he moved past her into the foyer, and then they walked through to the sitting room. In the fireplace was a moving amalgamation of soot and cinders that pulled into a human-like face Harry recognized," hey Ron!"

"Harry!" The face in the fireplace called, sending sparks shooting out over the mantel," where the heck have you been? You've been sending letters, but we haven't hung out once!"

"Er, I've been a bit busy," Harry knew he would regret saying this, but he didn't feel like lying would be any better since he had already learned he was at Fleur's house," I've been at Fleur's for a few weeks, practicing for dueling club."

Ron gawped at him, and then seemed to catch sight of Fleur a few feet behind Harry observing the conversation. Ron had an odd expression on his face that Harry couldn't readily identify," well do you want to come over to The Burrow?"

"The what?"

"The Burrow, that's what we call our house. Fleur is welcome too, of course," he added a bit fast.

Harry looked over to Fleur and shrugged in return," Sure that sounds good to me. I'm coming over now, so watch out."

Ron's face disappeared from the fire. Harry stood, gathered a bit of floo powder into his hand, and stepped into the fireplace," The Burrow."

The powder barely touched the floor of the fireplace before the world was spinning and jerking around him. Apparating had been terrible, but compared to floo travel, it was a nice, calm ride on a low, slow broom. Dozens of fireplaces passed, and what felt like cold, clammy hands slapped at Harry's face. Just as Harry was sure he would lose his lunch, a familiar, pale-red-headed person flashed into his vision, and he stepped out, slamming to the ground painfully.

"Wow," Ron tried to stifle a laugh," talk about entrances."

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, and we'll see how far you get this year without me helping with your homework."

Harry nearly laughed at the pale horrified expression that crossed Ron's face," you wouldn't."

"Try me," Harry grinned evilly as he stood up and shuffled away from the fireplace.

Finally looking around, Harry saw the Burrow was a bustling hive of noise and motion. The Weasleys shot in and out of rooms. Fred and George chased each other with fireworks that exploded into foul-smelling clouds that drifted dangerously close to Ron and Harry. Percy rushed around, shouting after the twins about his prefect badge; he made the mistake of not looking where he was going when he stepped fully into one of the stinking clouds. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen washing dishes while a broom swept up dirt behind her, and she shouted at all the bustling children.

Harry grimaced at the large volume of the house, and the number of people. But before he could think about it a small red blur slammed into his gut driving the air out of his lungs and sending them both to the floor. Cobalt tumbled from Harry's shoulders and hissed a few feet away.

"Ginny," Mrs. Weasley shouted, bustling over to fuss over the pair as they sat dazed," I keep telling you to watch where you're going."

"Sorry," Ginny groaned and turned her bright brown eyes to stare up at the person she'd hit. But as she met Harry's eyes, a look of beet-red mortification turned her half-started apology into a twisted squeak of fear. She shot to her feet and ran away without saying another word.

Harry was taken aback, had he scared her somehow? And then the memory of Susan Bones telling him last year that a lot of students were intimidated by him Flashed in his head; so he worried that he might have scared the girl. A cold pang of regret shot up Harry's spine remembering all too well what fearing another person could do to a person.

"Is she alright," Harry asked, standing up to look worriedly at Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh yes, it's not your fault, dear," Mrs. Weasley laughed in an odd way that seemed as if she knew exactly why Ginny had reacted that way.

Another flare from the fireplace heralded Fleur's arrival in The Burrow. Almost everything in the house crashed to a sudden stop as Fleur's arresting presence washed over everyone nearby. Fred and George gapped at her, Percy Weasley adjusted his carefully pressed white shirt, Ron goggled at her in much the same manner as the twins, and Mrs. Weasley seemed to stiffen as Fleur placed a hand on both of Harry's shoulders.

"I'm so glad you made it! I forgot zat you 'ave only used ze floo once and I was worried you may 'ave trouble," Fleur patted her hands on his shoulders, smoothed the unruly tufts of hair that always stuck out on his head, and brushed away the soot he had caked his green sweatshirt in.

"Are you my mum or my friend," Harry groaned not caring if his hair was a bit unruly or if his sweatshirt was a little dirty.

"Well, if you showed more care I would not need to act zis way," Fleur chided as she stepped back from him and turned to Mrs. Weasley," 'ello ma'am. I am Fleur Delacour, 'Arry 'as been staying with my family."

The smile Mrs. Weasley had was a bit strained," of course dear, Ron had said you're a good friend of Harry's. But he forgot to mention how pretty you are."

Harry could practically hear the "or that you're a Veela" in Mrs. Weasleys voice, but the woman seemed too polite to say something so rude out loud. Harry had picked up on her distrust, and he thought maybe there was some truth to what Fleur had said about a lot of witches and wizards being afraid of her kind.

A long awkward pause filled the air before one of the twins, Harry didn't know which, broke the silence by blowing up a firework in Percy's face. The normally well-behaved boy spat and cursed at the offending twin, making threats to wring his neck and charm him bald when he caught him. Mrs. Weasley capitalized on the distraction and bustled after the pair to stop Percy from following through on his threats.

"Well that was awkward," the twin who hadn't run said, sauntering up to Harry. "Sorry about Mum. She's been hearing about how much Ginny wanted to meet you all summer and she got it in her head somehow that you and Ginny were a match made in heaven."

Harry felt very uncomfortable at the now revealed reason for Ginny's reaction earlier," please don't tell me you're serious…"

"Fred. And only partially, mom is fairly certain Ginny likes you, and she's always been protective of the only girl in the family, so she's been a little edgy knowing how close you were with Fleur. I think it's a little worse seeing Fleur is so… different."

"Well, zat is neither Harry's nor my problem," Fleur huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

"Of course m'lady," Fred bowed lowly with a high false upper class accent," I would never dream of implying such!"

"Good," Fleur sneered imperiously and over exaggeratedly," so long as ze riff raff knows not to make ze same mistake, I need not punish you."

A few seconds of Fred staring astonished passed, and then he burst into laughter and Fleur let an amused smile spread across her face. It may as well have been a beaming smile as far as Fleur's interactions with the average person was concerned.

"I like your girlfriend, Harry. She's fiery!" Fred grinned and threw an arm around Harry, making him tense under the contact." Let's go outside and have some fun! It's been ages since we've had visitors."

"What kind of fun?" Harry asked, trying and failing to ignore the arm slung around his shoulders.

"We can fly on our brooms or we could de-gnome the garden. It's boring, but having contests to see who can throw the little buggers the farthest is fun."

"What are we talking about?" George asked as he walked in with a shiny bald head that he wasn't addressing.

"Oh nothing, just coming up with ideas for what to do to pass the time," Fred answered.

"Sounds fun, let's go Fred!"

"You've got it Fred!"

"Wait, which one of you is really Fred?" Fleur frowned pointing between the two.

"I am," they both cheerfully answered, walking out with arms looped in either of Harry's as they dragged him out.

Fleur's P.O.V

7:30 p.m.

The rest of the day had passed with nothing but relaxing talk and light exercise, if tossing gnomes over a hedge or flying slowly on outdated brooms counted as exercise. In Fleur's opinion it didn't, so a large portion of the later hours of the day seemed a bit of a waste to Fleur but she was glad Harry was making friends outside of herself and a few others.

One of the twins had had a plan to start a bonfire but had realized there was no wood to start one and none of them were past the age of majority to use magic.

Of course Fleur and Harry had been using magic at the Delacour manor, but since they were under a sort of diplomatic immunity and the trace wasn't so precise it could tell the Ministry which witch or wizard was using magic; they could get away with Harry using his while staying with Fleur's family. But that didn't extend to the Weasleys' house, and so someone had come up with the idiotic situation Fleur now found herself in.

"Is zis really necessary," Fleur huffed as she stood in the middle of a circle of redheads and Harry, who was the only one not toasting marshmallows in a fireball she held.

"Quite necessary m'lady," the bald twin cackled as he pulled his marshmallow back and blew out the fire that had engulfed it.

"This is quite the necessary activity! Roasting marshmallows over a nice roaring fire with friends is an essential part of adolescence," the twin with hair beamed as he pulled his own crisp marshmallow back.

"Zat is all well and good, but being the fire is a bit demeaning," Fleur grumbled looking to Harry for help.

"I don't know, I rather think you make a good bonfire," he laughed patting her on the shoulder, and holding his hands over the fireball to warm them. His only saving grace was that he himself had not taken to spearing marshmallows and roasting them on her.

Fleur was nearly about to douse the flames but saw the youngest Weasley sibling, Ginny, fidgeting with an untoasted marshmallow at the edge of the circle. She sighed and gestured for the girl to come up.

After she had toasted the last marshmallow, Fleur extinguished the flame and walked over to stand beside Harry. He leaned into her and shuddered at the cool night air that settled around them. Just as Fleur's eyes adjusted to the quickly growing darkness, a fire blazed in the middle of the circle.

The twin with hair grinned up at everyone from a collection of smoking logs Fleur hadn't seen when she was being used as a bonfire.

Fleur glowered down at him, feeling the air quickly rise in temperature around her," where did zat come from?"

"Oh, it was here the whole time!" The twin chirped innocently.

"And why did we not just use zat for a fire!?"

Both twins looked at one another and grinned churlishly," because it was funny," they both beamed at her in unison.

Fleur barely contained her indignant rage, but it quickly boiled over and a fireball burst against the ground at the feet of the twins.

"I think you should both start running," Harry panicked trying, and failing, to hold Fleur back from setting the pair alight.

The twins ran away without a seconds hesitation, and barely made it in the nick of time as a fireball sailed over their heads as they disappeared behind a pigpen. Fleur's anger sharpened her jaw, turned her hands into scaled hooked talons, and feathers rose along her arms.

Just as she was about to follow after the pair Harry took her non fire-wreathed hand, carefully avoiding the sharp claws at the ends of her fingers. Her eyes had grown wide and predatory with her anger and the pupils had nearly blackened the entirety of her sclera, but a bit of blue returned as they shrank, looking into Harry's emerald orbs. He hesitated for a moment, but eventually he gripped her arm with the other hand and gently tugged her down to sit next to him where he had sat next to the fire.

Fleur knew Harry's hesitation wasn't meant as a slight against her or her inhuman nature, but the natural reaction he had when initiating contact. He rarely flinched when she touched him, but it was rare that he initiate contact himself.

So Fleur slowly let her anger fade into the back recesses of her mind, and she drew her features back to their human appearance.

"Sorry for stopping you," Harry whispered, rubbing his thumb lightly against the rough scales that still lined the back of Fleur's hand. "I didn't want you to change in front of everyone and worry about them seeing you like that later on. I know how you can be."

The memory of them sitting in the fountain courtyard as Fleur had changed flitted across her mind. She sharply remembered her fear at Harry seeing her fully transformed, and back then she had been immensely surprised that Harry hadn't even flinched at her inhuman nature. A rosy blush rose on her cheeks as she remembered Harry intensely pouring his gaze over her as she had been changed, and his gaze now reminded her of that.

"Thank you, 'Arry. You are alway so thoughtful," Fleur leaned lightly against him and let her eyes droop lazily as she gazed into the fire.

"I was hoping you'd set them on fire," Percy lamented, obviously still sore about the stinking firework from earlier," even if it is dangerous throwing around fire."

"That's not very nice, Percy," the bald twin grinned, throwing an arm around Percy's shoulder.

"Indeed Fred," the twin with hair threw another arm around Percy's other shoulder, sandwiching the older boy between them uncomfortably," not very nice!"

Percy and the twins argued about personal space and the merits of either listening or not listening to peoples boundaries. Ron seemed content to keep spearing marshmallows and gulping them down as fast as he could.

Fleur turned her gaze to look at Harry as she leaned against him. He was getting taller. He was nowhere near Fleur's own height but he was maybe at her shoulder now where he had been more at her chest. His unhealthily thin frame was far more full and healthy than it had been. His ever unruly hair was the same as ever, but his eyes seemed drawn and tired. That was understandable; they had been busy all day with training, and then they hadn't really rested much before they had come to visit the Weasleys.

"Fleur," Harry's quiet contemplative whisper startled her and she jumped slightly.

"Y-Yes?"

Harry smiled lightly at her and she felt the familiar flutter in her chest that he seemed unaware he elicited," Septima told me something a few weeks ago before I came to stay with you and your family."

Fleur raised an inquisitive eyebrow waiting for him to continue. After a few drawn out seconds of him fidgeting with his hands and turning what he was about to say over in his head he finally looked into Fleur's eyes again.

"She told me about a girl she was very close with when she was at Hogwarts. She was really good friends with the girl and helped Septima get over a bad situation with her mother. By the time Septima realized how she felt about the girl, she was too scared to lose the relationship she already had with her, and eventually she stalled so much that she ended up pushing her away," Harry turned his gaze down abashedly and fiddled with the hem of his sweatshirt," I'm scared. After what happened the first day I came to stay with your family, I was convinced it would be best if I stayed away, but I can't."

A longer pause than before settled between them, and the only noise now was the crackle of the fire and the loud bickering of Fred, George, Percy, and Ron. Fleur watched the complicated series of expressions that flitted across Harry's face; worry, pain, fear, and finally determination," I want you to know, I love you."

Fleur's breath caught in her throat, and tears nearly spilled over her cheeks; they did fall when Harry's hand laced comfortably through her own and his lips met hers.

Not even the loud hoots from the twins startled them enough to break the soft contact, and the fire roared in front of them as if their own magics entwined around them to stoke the flames.