With the announcements made and the tournament introduced to the students, everyone was dismissed to move to their dorms. The Durmstrang students followed the Slytherin students to the basement along with the lanky man who had given Harry a malicious look. As for the Beauxbatons students, they followed the short goblin wizard along with the Ravenclaw students to their common room. As the Hufflepuff students adjourned, that left only Harry, Fleur, Gabrielle, and Celine on the side of Beauxbatons along with the Gryffindors and the vice-head Professor McGonagall whom Dumbledore had mentioned before.
"Miss Granger, I'll need you to lead the late admission first-year group to the seventh floor," Professor McGonagall said to a bushy-haired woman, "I have to talk to the Headmaster about the preparations."
"I'll do my best, Professor," The woman seemed to be more enthusiastic than necessary to have been given the responsibility of guiding curious eleven-year-olds whose parents had all been very iffy about sending them to Hogwarts.
As the Professor left the hall, the woman's gaze stopped the four people from Beauxbatons, "Did you miss the Ravenclaws?" She asked them.
"Hm?" Harry looked up with a little smile that hid his curiosity, "We'll be staying with the Gryffindors. We have a unique situation," His words made Miss Granger narrow her eyes at them.
"Is Professor McGonagall aware of this arrangement?" She asked, "Because otherwise, you are breaking more than just one rule."
Looking at the infuriating smile on the male Beauxbatons student's face, the bushy-haired woman felt an innate irritation, which only increased when he spoke to her, "Calm your high horse, honey. Even if there is a problem, then it's none of your business. Now be a good Prefect and lead us to the dorm." His tone took a condescending turn by the end.
"Ohh…" More than one person hooted from the group of eleven-year-olds as they noticed the argument getting heated.
Hearing the words, followed by the crowd's fueling of the fire, the woman's chest heaved up and down as she calmed herself, "Follow me." She knew when to back off and decided to take the situation up with Professor McGonagall later.
"Now was that—" Harry was about to continue, but Fleur pulled back his hand.
"What was that?" She asked him with a frown.
"What was what?" He asked cluelessly.
"Don't act coy with me, Potter," Fleur grabbed Harry's collar and pulled him close, "There was no need to be a dick to her when she was just doing her job."
"Hey, she saw through my concealment spell," Harry said, "I got curious. In all honesty, I wanted her to blast me with a spell so that I could engage in a duel with her."
"That's a shitty way to start a duel and you know it," Fleur said, "Talk to her and apologize for being a dick."
"Hey now, come on," Harry cowered, "I don't want to back down after coming on so strongly. I'm going to be the Beauxbatons' champion …" His resistance got weaker and weaker as he saw Fleur's stern expression.
"I will make you sleep in a separate bed if you don't mend your reputation and make things right. I don't want people to think of the Beauxbatons' champion as a douche." She put both her arms on her sides and looked at him with a stern expression.
"Fine…" Harry knew Fleur's threat had no weight, but he understood where she was coming from, "I'll make amends."
"Thank you," Fleur smiled sweetly and kissed his cheek. Her smile then took a sly turn, "Plus, she's totally your type. Brunette, rule-abiding stickler, and bookworm. Just needs to straighten her hair. She ticks all the boxes of your type. And as a bonus, she's a Prefect which I assume is the same as our Delegues."
Harry's expression darkened at Fleur's words. More so when he noticed the instant blush that appeared on Celine's face. Unlike the rest of the students who couldn't hear them due to the concealment spells — not to mention they were talking in French — Celine was essentially a part of the conversation and realized that she perfectly fit the criteria that Fleur mentioned.
"Fleur, I swear…" Harry said with gritted teeth, "I will tame your unruly arse one day."
Fleur giggled at his words, "It's already tamed, daddy…" She whispered in her ear, making Harry shiver as a part of his anatomy instantly reacted, "Not just my arse, but my everything is yours to do with as you please…"
Harry just sighed, "Time, place, and situation, Fleur…" Harry shook his head and wrapped his arm around her waist, ignoring her soul-stirring words, using his Occlumency as best as he could to minimize his physiological reactions. Fleur was going to continue to tease him, not caring about the situation, but Harry put his finger on her lips, "Stop. I'd rather not sleep in the halls today, let's go."
They quickly caught up with the bushy-haired brunette and the group of eleven-year-olds that she was leading. As much as Harry had riled her up, she was patiently answering the younger students' questions, coincidentally giving Harry some very necessary information. They exited the Great Hall from the main entrance and passed through the foyer to reach the stairs.
"What the fuck…" Harry whispered under his breath.
"What the fuck, indeed…" Fleur couldn't help but grasp his hand, interlacing her fingers with his.
They saw the staircase that kept moving from one flight to another.
"Follow close by, everyone," The bushy-haired girl said, "You'll have trouble catching up if the stairs move."
"I cannot for the life of me understand what the point of this is…" Harry commented as he followed behind while holding Fleur and Gabrielle's hands. Celine was walking just behind them with one hand on Harry's shoulder, making sure that they were all close together.
"Visuals, I guess…" Fleur commented, "I don't mind these stairs, but I'm getting a severe case of vertigo."
Eventually, they climbed up to the seventh floor which led to a portrait of a Fat Lady who asked the woman, "Password~"
"The password to the Gryffindor common room changes every week," The girl told the students, "Make sure that you check it on the billboard inside before leaving otherwise you'll have to wait until someone comes to tell you the password." With that instruction, the girl turned to the portrait, "Dilligrout."
"Correct!" The Fat Lady said and the portrait swung backward.
As the students entered, Harry faced the portrait, "Are you going to tell on us if we break curfew?" He asked.
"Ah!" The Fat Lady was startled, "You just appeared out of nowhere." She patted her chest and took a few breaths seemingly to calm herself down.
"So?" Harry asked, prompting the Fat Lady to speak, "Of course, I'm going to tell on you." She said with a righteous tone, "You aren't Gryffindors, so I have to enforce the rules cleanly toward you all."
"Is that so?" Harry smiled with an almost predatory look that made the Fat Lady cower, "We'll see about that." He and his group then entered the room as the portrait door swung back to a close.
Entering the room, Harry couldn't help but whistle in appreciation as he admired the cozy atmosphere of the common room.
He saw the Prefect girl giving some more instructions to the first-years and waited for her to finish. As the students were all adjourned to their rooms, Harry approached the woman, "Hi."
"I'll lead you to your dorm…" She didn't seem to be interested in talking to Harry and turned to walk up the stairs.
"Hey, hold up." Harry grabbed her shoulder and held her back. She abruptly flinched away from his hand and turned around, stepping back, her palm resting close to her thigh. Harry raised a brow but didn't push her.
"Go on then," She said, calming herself and looking at Harry with a pointed look.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot," Harry said with a smile, "I had a concealment charm around myself and my group and when you broke it, I got defensive," He saw her calm down a little and continued, "My name is Harry Potter, I'm sorry for lashing out at you in the middle of the hall." He extended his hand as a gesture of peace.
The girl looked around and noticed that the people who were just hanging out around the common room were all looking at them. The girl just sighed outwardly and grabbed Harry's hand, shaking it, "My name is Hermione Granger," She smiled lightly, "I'm a sixth-year prefect. If you have any problems or questions, then you can come to me to ask."
"Definitely," Harry nodded with a smile as he let go of Hermione's hand, "This is my girlfriend, Fleur." Harry introduced Fleur who was still under the concealing spell. His action completely dispelled any and all spells that were around his group since the gazes toward Fleur were much more passionate than the ones toward him.
"Oh my god…" Collective gasps were heard through the entire common room as they finally saw Fleur's face. She had a look full of annoyance as she looked at Harry before she took a breath and controlled her allure.
"Bonjour," She smiled and extended her hand toward Hermione. Having restrained her allure completely, her voice didn't completely put the people in the room out of commission. Still, though, most of the students had mesmerized expressions on their faces as they looked at her.
"Bonjour," Hermione shook Fleur's hand and greeted her back, "Are you a Veela?" She asked abruptly. Harry would've cast multiple restraining spells on Hermione if she hadn't asked that in fluent French while enunciating the word 'Veela' so that no one understood it other than Celine, who was already aware of it.
Harry gave Hermione a dangerous look, but Fleur casually asked, "You can speak French?" She didn't confirm or deny Hermione's question.
"How about we talk once you show us our room?" Harry asked.
Hermione hit her head and apologized, "I'm so sorry. You must've been tired from the journey…" She turned and started climbing the stairs to lead them to their room, "Please follow me."
Harry and Fleur shared a look before following her to their dorm room. Entering the room, they found themselves in a small resting area that had four doors.
"This is one of the extra Prefect rooms in the Gryffindor Tower," Hermione said to them, "I don't think it's ever been used, so you are the first occupants here. It has already been prepared."
"Cozy," Fleur commented as she dropped her heels beside the entrance and hung her coat on the rack. She walked to the hearth and cast a spell to light the fire to warm herself up. She turned back to Hermione and asked, "How do you know French?" She was curious.
"Oh," Hermione felt a little self-conscious and answered, "I went there for a holiday with my parents and learned French."
"Impressive," Fleur praised her.
"Does this place have some kind of a privacy charm?" Harry asked Hermione. Seeing her confused expression, he clarified "Something that will tell the house elves and ghosts that they shouldn't disturb us."
Hermione had an expression of being impressed and said, "Unfortunately, we don't really have those. But you don't need to worry about privacy. The house elves rarely show their presence to us. As for the ghosts, the only problematic one is Peeves and he … he won't be bothering anyone." She said with a complicated expression on he face.
"I see," Harry nodded, "Thank you for showing us around."
"Yes," She said, "I'll be out of your hair." Turning around and walking to the door, she decided that it was better to not push them about her suspicion of Fleur being a Veela.
As the girl left, Harry turned to Fleur, "Happy?" He asked her.
"You're the best…" Fleur extended her arms toward Harry and showed a needy expression.
Just as Harry was walking toward her, Gabrielle came up to him and yanked his arm lightly, "'Arry … I'm tired." She looked at him with a tired expression.
"Then go to sleep, Gabrielle," Fleur said annoyedly, "Don't get in between me and my 'Arry!"
Gabrielle whimpered and hugged Harry, completely stopping him from being able to go toward Fleur, "'Arry, she's being mean to me …" She said with a pitiful tone.
Harry couldn't help but laugh at Gabrielle's acting, "All right," He patted her head, "You can stop acting now, I'll tuck you in."
Gabrielle smiled excitedly and gave Fleur a victorious look that only made the older Veela sister angrier.
"Come on," Harry pulled Gabrielle toward one of the four rooms before she and Fleur could start fighting.
A few minutes later, he came out to a pouting Fleur. As for Celine, she was awkwardly standing in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do, "Celine," Harry said, startling the girl as she looked at him, "That's your room." He pointed to the room beside Gabrielle's, "Your luggage should already be there."
"Okay, sir," She nodded and moved to her room.
Then Harry turned to Fleur who had her arms crossed and was looking away from him with her cheeks puffed. He walked to her and sat beside her, "Hi," He said casually while wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
Fleur snorted and looked away, not replying to him.
"If I help you undress without using any magic, will you be happy?" Harry asked her, making Fleur feel tempted.
"Maybe…" She still didn't look at him, acting mad.
Harry sighed, "I guess I just have to use force then." Fleur didn't even register his words completely before she felt him hauling her above his shoulder.
"'Arry!" She yelped with a panicky tone, "Let me down."
"Stop moving," He said, "I don't want to drop you."
"Damnit, 'Arry…" Fleur wanted to elbow his back but didn't want to hurt him too much so she could only let him carry her to their room.
Pushing open the door to the room, Harry unceremoniously dropped Fleur on the bed while casting a softening charm on the mattress. Putting Gabrielle to sleep, he'd realized that the mattress was woefully mediocre and hard. Fleur put her hands behind her to cushion her fall and looked at Harry angrily while supporting her upper body as her legs dangled from the side of the bed.
Fleur wanted to say something, but Harry grabbed her chin and made her look up into his eyes, "Be quiet and let me pamper my girl, okay?" There was a look in his eyes that made Fleur gulp as she nodded without saying anything.
As Harry gently started undressing her, a smile graced Fleur's lips as she happily responded to Harry's pampering in the form of multiple loving kisses.
…
The next morning, Harry and Fleur woke up and got ready in their usual silk Beauxbatons robes with an added matching cloak made of wool. As Gabrielle and Celine were still getting ready, the duo descended to the common room and encountered Hermione once again.
"Morning, Hermione," Harry greeted her.
"Good morning," The bushy-haired girl smiled, "Is your girlfriend not down yet?" She asked before her eyes honed in on Fleur's concealed form, "My bad, good morning, Fleur."
Fleur had a helpless look on her face as she greeted her back, "Morning," Her voice ended up stunning most of the occupants of the room, including Hermione, though she bounced back relatively quickly without Fleur having to intervene.
"Sorry…" Hermione blushed as she recalled her dazed state from before.
"Do you know about what classes we'll have?" Harry asked Hermione.
She looked at him and said, "I have the timetable for the sixth years, but for the seventh years, I'll introduce you to McLaggen or Bell." She'd assumed that both Fleur and Harry were in their final year.
"I'll still need that sixth-year timetable." Harry said, "I'm a ninth-year, and Fleur a tenth-year."
"Beauxbatons has ten years of schooling?" Hermione asked, "What a different system..."
Eventually, Gabrielle and Celine came down the stairs as Harry and Fleur separated from Hermione before moving ahead.
The duo, along with Gabrielle and Celine, made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, after navigating the moving staircase with some difficulty.
"At least classes don't resume until Monday, after the champion announcement," Harry said to Fleur.
"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," Fleur said, "I saw that most of the subjects were similar enough. Except for Study of Ancient Runes, I never took that elective."
"It should be similar to the runes that we use in Alchemy," Harry shrugged.
Fleur couldn't help but scoff, "You and your Alchemy hard on…"
As they talked, their gazes were constantly moving to the top of the hall where the Goblet of Fire stood. They had already seen multiple groups of students putting their names in while also seeing some of them failing. They saw people using Aging potions, Human Transfiguration to make one seem older, and other methods, all of them failing.
"Do you want to add some fuel to the fire?" Harry asked Fleur with a devious smile.
"Are you going to help people break through the line?" Fleur asked.
"Why not?" Harry asked, "I think some drama would serve us well. If I'm going to participate in this scheme, I might as well turn it over its head completely."
"I don't think anyone underage would be chosen without them having significant merit," Fleur said.
"I have a plan for that…" Harry smiled, "Let's put my name in first." He turned to Celine, "Celine, take care of Gabi, Fleur and I will be back in a bit." Harry stood up with Fleur, the parchment with his name already in his hand.
Just as Harry and Fleur stood up, everyone's gazes were directed toward them. With the concealment charm having been dispelled, Fleur's allure was enough to affect the entire population within the Great Hall. She kept it controlled just enough that everyone's attention would be directed toward her and Harry without them turning into drooling idiots.
Fleur crossed her arm with Harry's as they moved toward the Goblet of Fire. The crowd automatically parted for them as they approached the center. Even the potential participants were caught up in the rhythm and moved aside to let Harry and Fleur go first.
"Walk quickly," Fleur whispered into Harry's ear as he deliberately walked slowly to make the impact of his actions greater. She didn't want to keep her allure controlled for too long.
"Shh…" Harry calmed her down, "This is important. We aren't on home grounds and need to establish some prestige. This is the best way."
Fleur wanted to pout at Harry's thoughts but still kept a haughty expression on her face as if she was greater than the peasants who were obediently making way for her and Harry. She wasn't a fan of Harry's idea, but she was going to support him with everything — even if she felt the process to be suffocating.
Having made slow, deliberate steps toward the Goblet, Harry and Fleur had, by themselves, brought the entire Great Hall to a lull as no one made even a peep. They all held their breaths and watched the duo approach the Goblet.
Passing the age line, they found themselves in front of the magical blue flame. Harry held the parchment with his name and school in his fist and brought it in front of Fleur's face, "For good luck," He said with a smile.
She gave him a smile with many hidden meanings within her eyes before kissing his fist, "May you win us the cup, my love."
Harry then put the piece of parchment in the fire before turning around. Fleur crossed her arm with his again as they moved back to their seats. Until they took their seats, the entire hall seemed to be completely frozen, after which, it burst into a cacophony of sounds, some cheers, though most of it was outrage. The anger was mostly directed toward Harry who seemed to have turned a literal goddess on Earth into an insignificant trophy woman.
"I hate you…" Fleur buried her head in her arms as Harry laughed at her embarrassment. She said with a muffled voice, "You made me kiss your fist like some kind of escort for a gambler…"
"What's an escort?" Gabrielle, who was mostly clueless about the situation heard something that she felt was incriminating and interjected, making Fleur choke on her words as Harry started coughing.
"Fleur…" Harry put the blame on Fleur, "This is on you."
"'Arry…" Fleur started, only for Harry to get up and cast a temporary silencing charm around himself and Fleur.
"Take care of Gabi and Celine," He said, "I'm going to go explore."
"I wanna come with…" Fleur said as she tried to get up, but found Harry's hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Honey, I need you to take care of Gabi and Celine," He said, "They aren't as proficient as us in concealing charms."
His words made Fleur back down, though she still wanted to stay with him, "We can move together," She said weakly.
Harry gave her a gentle look, "I'm going to scout this place out and would rather have more freedom to run around. We can manage when it's just the two of us, but Gabi and Celine can't, you know that."
"Fine," Fleur pouted, "Go cheat on me with that Hermione bitch." Fleur crossed her arms and huffed.
Harry had to groan at her words, "Where did that even come from?"
Gabrielle pulled Fleur's sleeve, "Tell me…" She asked again, causing the silencing charm that Harry had cast to get dispelled.
"Have fun," Harry laughed and walked away from the three girls before Fleur could stop him.
"I'll show you fun…" Fleur's expression darkened as she swore to make Harry regret abandoning her.
…
As Harry walked out of the Great Hall, he walked forward to the courtyard where he noticed the presence of two students from House Slytherin whom he recalled from the previous night. Their gazes toward Fleur had been particularly disgusting.
He shrugged uncaringly and cast two discrete hexes on the two of them before walking away as they instantly started hurling.
As Harry kept walking, further outside, he eventually ran to some stairs overlooking a cliff that he started descending. He didn't have any specific thoughts in his head as he continued walking down, enjoying the scenery. He noticed a small boat house at the bottom of the long flight of stairs and decided to check it out.
Halfway down the stairs, he found himself in front of a door that presumably led back into the castle. Curious to see what was on the other side, he pushed it open. Coming face to face with someone familiar. A pale blonde man with some light stubble with Hogwarts robes and a familiar green necktie. He was one of the people whose expression toward Fleur was the most mellow in comparison to the rest of his house.
"This day just keeps on giving, doesn't it," Harry commented as he pulled out his wand, ready to cast a spell at the man. Just because he had a positive impression of him didn't mean he would let down his guard.
"Wait!" Unlike what Harry expected, the man was quick to surrender. He held his arms up in a gesture of peace, not bringing them close to his wand.
Harry narrowed his eyes, "Wand," He mumbled lightly and the man's wand was summoned to his hand, "What is it that you want to talk about?" He asked.
The man looked at the two wands in Harry's hands before meeting his eyes, "My name is Draco Malfoy." He extended his hand outward.
"Harry Potter," Harry said, shaking his hand after holstering his wand, leaving only Draco's wand in his other hand.
"I was looking for you," Draco said, "To give you a warning."
"Your housemates are going to come after my girlfriend, are they?" Harry smiled.
Draco raised a brow in surprise, "Correct," He said, "Try not to break curfew, they aren't the most subtle bunch."
"Malfoy, right?" Harry asked with a cold expression on his face, "I guess 'like father, as son' isn't always true."
Draco chuckled, "That's not how that phrase goes,"
"I was raised in France," Harry said with a shrug before handing Draco back the wand, "Thanks for the heads up, I guess."
They shared a nod before Harry moved into Hogwarts — changing his mind and being curious about the way inside the castle — and Draco walked out, down the stairs approaching the boathouse that Harry had been previously planning on checking out. Looking around, Harry felt like he was in the basement, 'Or the Dungeon. I guess this is the way to the Slytherin quarters.'
He kept walking forward before running into a portrait of an intimidating-looking man, "Password?" The man asked.
"I think I'm lost," Harry said, "I need to go to the Great Hall."
The portrait merely grunted and closed its eyes, not paying Harry any attention.
"The portraits here are dicks…" Harry commented as he took a turn, hoping to be led to the way upstairs.
He didn't find the upstairs, but he did run into a corridor filled with statues that probably had some significance that he wasn't aware of. He opened the main door and was greeted by the smell of herbs and fire wafting at him, "Potions classroom. Nice." Harry wanted to check the place out but decided that it was better to get out of this dungeon first.
His intuition turned out to be correct, as he heard a chant that had annoyed him to no end throughout the years of his life as his mother trained him in Occlumency.
"Legilimens."
"Motherfucker!" Harry turned as he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his head attacking his Occlumency barriers.
He came face to face with a pair of ice-cold eyes on the face of the man who had given him a very distinct malicious look during the feast in the great hall. Seeing the oily hair that stuck to the ham's forehead in addition to his crooked yellow teeth, Harry felt a sense of disgust rise up within him, not only because of the man's expression but because he dared to try and read his memories.
"I'll kill you," Harry spoke with a suppressed voice marred with a venomous tone that didn't belong to a student who was still in school. He could still feel the man's Legilimency probes acting on his mind as he defended against the magical invasion with his practiced Occlumency.
Looking at the man's inexpressive face, Harry felt some weight appearing on his waist, right beside his holster. He instinctively knew what was going on and grasped the handle of the Sword of Gryffindor before pointing the sword at the man.
Before the man could react to the display, Harry chanted with a tone dripping with hatred toward a mortal enemy, "Crucio."
The man didn't even have the time to make a surprised expression as his pained scream followed Harry's spell, reverberating through the deserted corridor.
***
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