"It's about time!"
Hermione stood near the door where it was obvious to Harry she'd been interrupted mid-pace. He had opted, after only slight consideration, to keep Hermione and Ron in the dark about the subject of his lesson with Dumbledore. As predicted, it drove Hermione absolutely spare.
He would be lying if he tried to pretend it wasn't a little fun to play the mild joke on his studious friend. Fleur had even approved, in a roundabout way, simply pointing out her own penchant for teasing and how much delightful fun it could be.
"Sorry," Harry lied.
Fleur, it seemed, had missed him, and they had spent a few extra moments in an embrace beneath the invisibility cloak.
"I know it's fun to rile Hermione up," Ron said from where he sat in one of their usual comfortable chairs, "but even I'm getting curious. First half of the year was all stunners, then a boggart and some mystery lesson?"
Harry joined Ron in the chairs, with Fleur following suit if the rustle of invisible fabric was any indication. Hermione sat as well and crossed her arms.
"Well, I'm terribly sorry for wanting to learn what the greatest wizard of our age teaches you in your one-on-one lessons," she snapped. "I know you're going to tell us, so that means you're just being mean."
"I know that you have teased him from time to time," Fleur said on his behalf once he started to flounder. "And I understand the impulse, but you cannot begrudge him the same."
Hermione huffed but nodded, relaxing a little.
"Dumbledore and I worked on the Patronus," Harry said, grinning.
Hermione jerked upright and Ron's eyes came alight with interest.
"Blimey," he said, shaking his head. "Can you imagine it? Us, casting that."
His words earned him a condescending look from Hermione, who was clearly still a bit prickly.
"It'll take ages for us to master, if we can do it at all. I've been practicing sporadically since our third year."
"Of course you have," Ron shot back. "I'm just saying, it'd be neat."
A faint waft of cinnamon was all the warning he got and he jumped when Fleur's whispered voice brushed his ear.
"Why are you feeling so smug?"
"You'll see," he whispered.
He knew he wouldn't be able to keep the secret for long once they were alone.
"But why would Dumbledore spend a whole lesson on that?" Hermione asked after pointedly ignoring a remark from Ron. "Shouldn't it be more like homework?"
"You are correct, Hermione," Fleur said, her voice coming from her seat, though Harry was sure he could feel her invisible eyes on him. "It can take quite a long time for someone to manage even an incorporeal Patronus. For some, that is all they manage."
"Mum and Dad can do it," Ron said. "Bill and Charlie too. I don't know if Percy ever managed it."
"What's yours?" Hermione asked, looking towards Fleur's voice.
"I have yet to be able to make mine corporeal," she admitted. "Most Veela tend to have avian varieties, for obvious reasons."
Harry felt his cheeks warm.
"Can you show us?" Hermione asked, scooting forward to the edge of her seat. "The only ones I've ever seen was from afar during a Quidditch match during our third year. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had to chase a few dementors off the pitch."
Fleur's voice came out accented and frosty.
"Dementors? At a school? At a Quidditch match?"
Ron nodded.
"I'm surprised you didn't hear about it last year while you were here. It was pretty mental there for a while."
"I did not talk to many people, and 'Arry did not tell me. I had assumed your adventure into the Chamber was an outlier event," she said, her voice pointedly directed at him.
"Most school years are…a bit off," he admitted. "I can tell you later if you want."
"Very well," Fleur said, the front half of her wand appearing in the air. "I will hold you to that."
He heard her take a deep breath, then the wand flicked along with her quiet incantation.
Voluminous silver mist curled from the end of her wand, spiraling lethargically through the air to disperse in a shimmering pool against the stone floor.
"Oh, wow," Hermione breathed, her dark eyes wide.
"I am unsure if my memory is insufficient," Fleur said, her wand disappearing again, "or if my focus is lacking. That is part of the challenge."
Hermione nodded then badgered Harry for every last syllable he remembered of Dumbledore's lesson. When she was finished, he felt like a particularly unhelpful textbook as his friend frowned down at her wand.
"That is all mostly what I had read already," she said. "But I suppose practice wouldn't hurt. We should split up so it's easier to focus."
Without further prompting, Ron scooted his chair away from the group without getting up, the feet screeching against the floor. His laughter rang through the room when Hermione levitated his chair from the ground.
"I shall practice as well," Fleur said, her voice suddenly next to Harry's chair. "Feel free to call out any questions."
His shirt behind his shoulder bunched and tugged, Fleur's invisible fingers prompting him to follow. Once they were out of earshot, she stopped him with a hand on his chest.
" Vous l'avez compris. N'est-ce pas ?" she said, her voice quick and excited.
It took him a moment to work through the phrase, but once he did, he smiled.
"Yeah."
"I knew you were feeling smug."
"Sorry," he said with a shrug. "I know you have trouble with it."
"You should not be sorry. You should be proud. Why did you not tell the others?"
"I will. I want to," he said, shrugging again. "I just don't want them to get discouraged if they can't do it too."
Her hand appeared in the air and reached for his, interlacing their fingers together.
"I doubt they would be discouraged. If anything, it would likely be inspiring."
Harry spluttered.
"Insp-? I'm not inspiring."
She squeezed his hand and let go at a summons from Ron.
"I know of precious few more inspiring than you, 'Arry," she said as she brushed past him.
The practice wore on with Fleur making rounds between Ron and Hermione every now and again until they had to call it quits due to Ron and Hermione's upcoming rounds before curfew. They both bid Fleur and Harry goodbye with Ron's smile being just wide enough to make Harry groan.
"You cannot tease Hermione, then get upset when Ron does the same about us," she said, pulling the cloak off once they were alone.
"I know," Harry said, staring transfixed as Fleur straightened her clothes and plucked long strands of hair from where they clung to the cloak.
Once fully disentangled, she dropped his cloak in one of the chairs and faced him, hands on hips.
"Well? Show me."
Her tone paired with an arched eyebrow brooked no room for disagreement.
Blue eyes watched him as he pulled his wand and dove back into his memory. An act made all the easier for the faint cinnamon wafting around him as Fleur took a step closer.
" Expecto Patronum ."
He let out a silent sigh of relief when his eagle burst into existence and began circling the room.
Fleur turned to follow its slow circles, almost dancing among the vapourous, mercurial wisps felled with each powerful sweep of the eagle's wings. When she finished her revolution, her gaze caught his as his patronus alighted on the back of the chair closest to her.
Her eyes held a depth that dragged him in, tempting him to fall into the ocean's depths. Instead of a cold, merciless storm, they promised warmth, life, and…
When he drew in a breath and blinked, she had turned to run her hand along the patronus's glowing feathers.
" C'est beau ," she whispered.
He didn't even try to stop the grin as he watched her stroke the bird. His Patronus's odd, ethereal light reflected off her hair, casting it with the same luminous glow. She stayed there for a time, transfixed.
It wasn't until Harry had altered the room that she snapped out of her admiration.
The room had grown smaller and more filled with furniture. He had opted to keep the chair that held his patronus, but replaced the others with a single loveseat and roaring fireplace. An ovular rug filled the in-between space with small dark tassels brushing the stone along its perimeter. A false window sat along the wall opposite the door, looking out onto a facsimile of the woods surrounding Delacour manor at night. He nodded, pleased with himself. It wasn't exactly the little cottage room Hermione had recreated in her early tests, but it was cozy enough. The room had even provided a bookshelf in the corner for entertainment while curling up by the fire.
Fleur's eyes went wide as she surveyed the room, then she fixed him with a smile of gratitude when she noticed the fireplace.
"This is lovely," she said, moving the loveseat closer to the fire with a flick of her wand, "but not a good enough distraction to make me forget that you mastered the Patronus in a single evening."
She dropped down into the small couch and motioned for him to follow.
"What is wrong?" she asked while simultaneously scooting across the couch to sit so she could lean against him. "You have been a mix of excitement and nerves ever since I arrived."
He managed to suppress his grimace. Thoughts had nagged at him the entire week leading up to their lesson, though not all had been unpleasant. New Years' was not long passed, but he keenly felt the absence of her smile and warmth. The lesson had been a fantastic excuse to ask her to the castle, but…
"Is it weird?" he asked, caving against the futility of keeping anything from her.
She had proven plenty adept at making him want to spill his secrets to her.
"Being in school…with me?"
She shifted to face him.
"That was not what I was expecting."
"What had you expected?"
"I had thought you were nervous because I had prodded you about your boggart the other night. You changed the subject so suddenly that I thought I had upset you."
"We can talk about it…if you want. It's just a little embarrassing."
"We can talk about it if you want," she said, squeezing his arm with a warm hand. "To answer your earlier question…are you asking if being in school somehow…what is the word…amplifies the difference in our age?"
He nodded and she squeezed his arm again.
"From what I have seen, you are not a different person in school than you are when we are alone."
He opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him with a finger on his lips that sent electricity straight to his brain.
"You may be more open and free with yourself when we are alone, but that is to be expected. It is the same for me. So no, it is not strange to be here with you because I am simply happy to be with you."
A twinge of disappointment jumped through him as her hand dropped. It was replaced almost immediately by a spike of anxiety that had her tilting her head in confusion.
"That makes you anxious?" she asked.
"No! Er…no, it doesn't. It's hard to believe, but it makes me really happy."
"Then what-?"
"My boggart was…" he licked dry lips and glanced to the floor, searching for the creeping pool of water. "It was you. In the lake."
Her hand grasped his arm with a near-painful grip and her eyes went wide.
"I am sorry," she breathed.
"It's not your fault."
"Even so…" she shuddered, a hand going to her neck in a placid mirror of the frantic scraping of her doppelganger.
She smiled weakly.
"I have not been able to swim since. Most summers, Gabrielle and I would often spend time in the lake at my parents' house, but…even before you came to stay with us, I could barely get near it. Even sitting next to it with you made me anxious at times."
He remembered, with startling clarity, the awkward way she had lowered herself onto the wooden pier and had scooted back so her feet barely touched the water beneath them.
Her gaze dropped to her lap where one hand bunched her loose trousers.
"Mine is that…thing that lives inside me," she whispered. "It is furious and violent and burns the people I love before being consumed by its own flames."
It was Harry's turn to squeeze her arm.
"But you can't be hurt by your own fire."
His words earned him a weak smile.
"Not all fears are rational. Are they?" She shook herself and brightened. "Regardless, this is not how I want to spend my limited time with you. Tell me more about your Patronus lesson with Dumbledore. Was he shocked when you performed the spell?"
Her grin infected him and he smiled back. Yes, it had definitely been a good thing he had hidden his ability if it made for an excuse to invite his girlfriend to the castle.
They spent the remainder of the evening talking and sharing stories, with Fleur extracting a promise from Harry to tell her about his other years at Hogwarts sometime when they hadn't been discussing their deepest fears.
The fireplace never dimmed as they talked long into the night, casting its flickering orange glow when Fleur, rather insistently, closed the gap between them during a lull in conversation and drew Harry into a long kiss.
It was with reluctance that he walked the halls beneath the invisibility cloak with her to escort her outside of the wards. The warmth of her against him and the overpowering cinnamon air turned his mind to mush while each step brought them closer to parting.
She steamed as she stepped out into the winter air, the exposed skin of her hands and face leaking wispy tendrils of heat into the night. She bid him goodbye with a final, lingering kiss and disapparated with a quiet pop.
As he walked the castle to get back to Gryffindor Tower, he was surprised to find Luna wandering the halls, breath fogging the air and bare feet padding across the stone. He hesitated, caught between his desire to help the odd girl and keep from revealing his ownership of such a valuable magical item. He settled for rounding a corner and pulling off the cloak, then pretending that he too had been idly wandering around.
"Hello, Harry," Luna said as he approached, though she didn't slow her slow, dainty steps down the hall. Each footfall fell in the center of the stones, leaving her gait somewhat irregular.
"You're out late," he said, trying to keep pace with her.
"So are you," she said, watching him as he drew nearer. "You smell nice."
He felt his neck flush.
"Er…thanks."
She nodded, her unkempt sunny blond hair bobbing with the motion.
"Aren't your feet cold?" he asked, noting that her toes had become a vibrant red as she stepped on tiptoe to stay in the middle of a particularly small stone.
"Of course they are."
"Don't you have shoes?"
"Of course I do."
"Why aren't you wearing them?"
Her next step hesitated only a fraction, and the barest of frowns passed across her normally placid features.
"I don't know where they are."
"Oh."
Maybe he could lend her his socks? Or his shoes?
Not for the first time, he made a promise that he was going to learn the warming charm, especially with how often Fleur needed to use it. At least then maybe his socks could have helped keep Luna warm until she made it back to her dorm.
"Do you need help finding them?" he asked instead.
"They'll turn up in the morning. They always do."
"Then…aren't you worried about getting caught?" he asked, unsure how to follow such a statement. "It's after curfew."
"Aren't you?" She fixed him with her light blue eyes and halted her forward momentum. "We are close to Ravenclaw tower and I can duck inside if someone comes. How did you come to be so far from Gryffindor Tower so late?"
He nearly jerked in surprise at her words. Had Fleur really put him in such a daze following her goodbye kiss that he had wandered so far away from the path back to his dorms?
The answer was a quick and definite yes.
"I like to take walks at night," he said, not untruthfully. "I guess I lost track of time."
Luna simply nodded again and took another step forward to a large stone that easily fit her foot.
"I…should probably get going then," Harry said after a few silent moments. "If Filch catches me this far away from the dorms, I'll get detention for sure."
"He is easy to avoid," Luna said, a slight smile touching her lips. "Mrs. Norris is partial to tuna."
"That's…good to know," he said with a grin. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Harry. Thank you for spending your time with me."
"Sure…anytime."
Her peculiar stare followed him until he turned the corner and donned his invisibility cloak. A sense of unfulfillment festered in him as he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower.
How had Luna managed to so obviously need help, yet make it seem as though she would be perfectly fine in the frigid halls without even a sweater?
He made a note to ask Hermione's thoughts. He could admit he was skilled at reading people, but understanding them was another matter entirely.
XxX
Hermione had an idea she wanted me to run past you.
She can write to me, you know. I do enjoy getting letters.
I might have volunteered to pass along the info. But I'll tell her.
Are you jealous that someone else would talk to me? How cute.
No! I just like writing to you. I'm not trying to keep her from sending you letters.
I know, Harry. I was teasing. What was her idea?
Well, she thought maybe we could invite someone else to our study session.
Someone else? It would need to be someone you trust to know that you have an invisibility cloak and that you sneak your girlfriend into school regularly. Not to mention that you expressed appreciation that you do not have to hide your past from anyone in our group.
I hadn't thought about that.
Are they a friend of yours? I am not sure I recall you mentioning your other classmates very often.
Sort of. She's a Ravenclaw. Luna Lovegood.
I remember her! Yes! She should absolutely join us.
You know Luna?
I do not really know her, but I remember her from the few times I could join everybody for meals. She seemed lonely. I tried to interact with her a few times, but I think I may have not expressed myself well. I am not sure she understood me.
I think that might just be how she is.
What prompted Hermione to want to invite Luna?
It doesn't seem like she has a lot of friends.
I gathered the same. Personally, I would be happy to have her. I can certainly understand her situation.
We'll see what she says. I'll let Hermione know.
I will look forward to it. This is a sweet thing you are doing.
It was Hermione's idea.
I somehow believe that you are the one who noticed Luna's predicament and reached out to Hermione for ideas. No?
Maybe.
I thought as much. It is in your nature. Unfortunately, I must go. I have to be in to work early tomorrow.
Sorry for keeping you. Goodnight.
I am happy to be kept. Goodnight.
XxX
Luna's first lesson with them came the following weekend. Her agreement had come quickly, as was natural for her, but it was with a tentative step that she followed Hermione and Ron into the Room of Requirement.
"Do you come here often?" she asked after Hermione finished demonstrating the room's abilities by having it produce a dozen bookshelves.
"Only for the study group," Hermione said, concentrating to bring five chairs into existence in the center of the room.
"Really?" Luna asked.
She twirled slowly to look at the room, then stopped at Ron who nodded his confirmation.
"I would spend all my free time in your lovely room if I could."
"It's not ours," Hermione said, frowning. "And we can't exactly go missing for hours at a time on a regular basis."
"Yes, I do suppose people would start to miss you." Luna wandered over to one of the bookshelves and cocked her head to the side, tangled hair falling down across her side. "You are quite fortunate."
Ron sidled over to Hermione, a distinctly uncomfortable grimace crossing his face.
"I don't know about this," he muttered. "Is she capable of keeping a secret? She seems to spout off whatever is in her brain. On the way up, she asked me if I had washed my pajamas recently."
"I'm sure she had a reason. She's…unique, that's true, but I don't think she's crazy like people say."
Luna turned from her examinations with a probing expression, her eyes inspecting the room around her before resting on Ron and Hermione.
"Have you…done any tests…on the room?" she asked, her usual lilting speech replaced by careful consideration. "I would think it could be…useful."
"Some, but nothing too stringent. Harry's the one who always has control of the room while we're here and he tends to be pretty focused."
Luna frowned at that.
"But you said the person outside picks the room."
"They do, and then they're in control once they're inside. But when Harry gets here, he just sort of…takes over. I don't think he even realizes he does it."
"He does seem the type to accidentally take charge. He is rather unassuming in that way."
She turned back to the books and Ron made a generous 'you see?' gesture. Hermione could only shrug and dropped into one of the chairs.
Luna was still browsing the books when Harry stepped through the door, holding it open for an overlong moment before shutting it.
"Luna, it is good to see you again," Fleur said, causing the younger girl to peer around the room.
"I wish I could say the same, Professor Delacour."
"I am not…I am not an instructor."
"But you are instructing us, so I believe it fits."
"Professor Delacour," Harry mused aloud, grinning over at where Fleur's voice had come from as he found a seat.
"Perhaps for my second career," Fleur said, an invisible hand pinching his upper arm and making him jump. "Professor Potter has a nice ring to it, no?"
His shrug spoke of guilt and indecision, but he still offered a small smile into the air.
"Yeah, maybe."
"I will take 'maybe,' for now." There was a rustle of fabric as Fleur shifted. "Now, who wants to see a Patronus?"
Harry choked in his seat and Hermione leapt to her feet.
"I knew it! You were all sorts of cagey about your lesson with Dumbledore." She grinned at him when he shrugged awkwardly. "That's incredible, Harry! I can't wait to see it."
"It's not like…a butterfly, is it?" Ron asked, laughing when Harry shook his head frantically.
"You will see what it is," Fleur said, her clear voice settling Hermione and Ron's excitement.
Luna, rather than joining in, simply watched from behind her chair, her eyes trained on Harry.
"You said we would lead into it," Harry grumbled as he stood and pulled his wand from a pocket.
"I may have gone a little too far with my teasing, Professor Potter," Fleur whispered, her voice close enough to send a shiver rolling down his back. "I apologize."
"It's okay. I probably just would have been nervous the whole time anyway."
To his utter relief, his Patronus appeared on the first cast, despite the nervous leaps of his stomach. His friends watched, wide-eyed, as it soared across the room in its now customary circle before settling on the ground between Harry and where he suspected Fleur was standing. He answered what questions he could, then watched, a touch guiltily, as Hermione and Ron separated off to continue their Patronus practice.
"Any tips for me, Professor Potter?" Luna asked, her eyes still focused on the shining eagle at Harry's side.
He heard Fleur stifle a quiet laugh and he sighed.
"Don't get too hung up on getting one memory to work. You'll probably be able to tell when one is close to working, but even then, don't stick on it too long. At least, that's what worked for me."
Luna nodded her head and moved away, dragging her chair behind her to a secluded corner of the large room. Harry watched her go, her gait somehow…pensive, rather than the airy step he was used to seeing from the girl.
"I am glad you invited her," Fleur said once Luna had dropped into her seat and was holding her wand in both hands like a sword in front of her. "I think she desperately wants to be here."
"She does?" Harry asked, surprised. "I can't tell what she's thinking at all."
"I do not believe she has many friends," Fleur said, the cushion of one chair dimpling in as she sat. "Based on what little I know, I would guess that she is trying very hard to fit in."
"Do you think?" Harry asked, watching Luna tap her forehead with the tip of her wand.
"I am intimately familiar with the hurdles one leaps in an effort to endear themselves to prospective friends."
"But you were so…nice, and friendly."
Warmth spread on his knee, muted by the fabric of the cloak separating her hand from his leg.
"'Arry. When I invited you to come talk with me, I lectured you for hours on what it is like to be Veela, so that you would not be afraid of the parts of me you did not understand. That is a bit of a desperate move."
"But…it worked out though, didn't it?"
"It did, but I somehow doubt the…eccentricities of our relationship will be a parallel to your friendship with Luna."
"The 'eccentricities?'" he echoed, reflexively glancing over to where she was sitting. "That's an interesting way to describe, drowning, torture, and the a-"
His throat closed over the word as sure as a constricting fist. Pain swelled in his neck as he tried to swallow the unspoken word.
"-the letters."
Her hand squeezed tight on his knee before she spoke again.
"I prefer not to consider such things as a part of our relationship, merely obstacles we overcame together."
He smiled and nodded, her oft-repeated word touching that same unknowable warmth that swelled in him when she hummed, her crystalline voice harmonizing with something deep inside him.
"Yeah. Together."
Their saccharine moment was tarnished by a frustrated grumble from Ron that sounded suspiciously like a string of irritated swears.
"Perhaps we should return to working on non-verbal stunning spells?"
"That's probably a good idea. Focusing on feeling the spell might help Luna too. That's probably why Dumbledore started there," Harry said, feeling foolish.
Luna was sitting in a corner, trying her hardest because a near-stranger had told her to, and he hadn't had the decency to instruct her properly.
The rest of the lesson was spent showing Luna the exercise they had used to practice the stunning spell. Her already-wide eyes grew wider as the layout of the room shifted around them at Harry's unspoken command, lengthening into their practice course.
They all ran the course a number of times, though Fleur removed herself after the first run-through where she very nearly fell after stepping on the hem of the invisibility cloak. A string of curses floated from the air as she sat in the seat, all in French, some of which were brand new to Harry.
Ron volunteered to go next after Fleur's debacle. Blinding red jets of light burst from the end of his wand as he ran, sending more than one of the dummies to crash against the far wall.
Luna flagged first, wispy strands of blond hair plastered to the side of her flushed face. Her shoulders heaved as she sucked in breaths after her final run.
"Come, sit," Fleur said from her side. "You are liable to pass out if you do not slow your breathing."
Luna could only nod, allowing herself to be led to the chairs for a rest.
"That was fantastic, Luna," Hermione said while Ron ran another set, stunners flashing furiously from his wand. "It took me weeks to get my spells as fluid as yours."
The younger girl smiled, a tiny quirk of her lips, rather than the wide dreamy smile she often wore around the school.
"Were you able to feel the spell?" Fleur asked.
Luna nodded, her breathing finally back to a more normal level.
"It is not my first time experiencing this method of teaching. I do wish it was explored more here at Hogwarts."
"I am surprised it is not," said Fleur. "At Beauxbatons, we focus on the rote memorization more than the empathetic spell casting, but both are at least taught."
There was a rustle of fabric as Fleur stood, and Luna's shirt bunched at the shoulder.
"Are you feeling better?"
Luna peered down at the invisible hand, then up at the air next to where she was sitting.
"You smell nice."
Harry turned away to hide his burning face.
XxX
True to her word, Luna kept both Fleur's visits to the school and Harry's possession of an invisibility cloak a perfect secret. He had wondered if he would go down to breakfast the following morning to be met with jeers and comments about 'landing a Veela.' To his pleasant surprise, breakfast was as mundane and uneventful as it ever was.
To his eternal chagrin, he ended up being the one who spawned the rumor that he was dating Fleur Delacour, the Veela.
It had followed a particularly grueling revision with Hermione for their OWLs. According to her, the first half of the year spent dawdling had been an uninspired waste. Lessons with Dumbledore were all well and good, but they wouldn't help them pass the written portions. She had managed to rope Luna into an occasional study session, though the flighty girl often wandered off before Hermione's typical stopping time, citing the undeniable fact that she had quite a lot more time to waste than they did.
Dean and Seamus had met him and Ron, a united front standing in the middle of the dorm room. Neville sat on the end of his bed, watching the mild conflict with distant interest.
"So, Potter," Seamus said when the door closed behind Ron. "Thought you could slip one by us, didn't you?"
Harry frowned, halfway towards dropping his books on his bed. He looked back at Ron, who shrugged.
"We know we're not Ron or Hermione," Dean added. "But we thought you'd at least let us celebrate a bit with you."
Harry frowned even deeper.
Were they talking about his lessons with Dumbledore? It was interesting, but he wasn't sure it warranted a celebration. Maybe…Sirius? But how would they know?
His internal search must have shown on his face because Seamus stepped in to provide the answer.
"Your girlfriend! We know we haven't had much luck," he said, gesturing between him, Dean, and Neville, "but it's okay if you rub it in our face a bit. I know I would have."
Harry stiffened, swiveling to look again at Ron, who frantically shook his head.
"Who told you about Fleur?"
The room went utterly silent as the pair simply stared at him, while Neville gaped, open-mouthed.
"Well, bugger me," Seamus finally said with a slow shake of his head. "Fleur Delacour…"
"You're messin' with us," Dean said, sharing a look with his friend. "There's no way. We heard it was Lovegood."
Harry tried to plaster a smile on his face, a poor facade for his sudden boiling anxiety.
"You got me."
"Bloody hell," Dean all but whispered, eyes wide. "You aren't kidding. How in the hell did you manage that?"
His attention shifted immediately over Harry's shoulder to Ron and he pointed an accusing finger.
"You didn't tell us!"
"What? Of course I didn't. He said not to."
"Some help you are," Dean grumbled, turning his attention back to Harry. "So?"
"'So,' what?"
Seamus was a decent enough friend, but too often toed the line between friendly banter and nosy gossip for Harry to feel comfortable.
"So, how is it dating a Veela?" he asked, diving into the gossip with a grin on his face.
"None of your business is how it is," Ron cut in, taking a step forward. "How'd your date with Bulstrode go?"
"All right, Papa Hippogriff," Seamus said, earning himself an angry growl from Ron. "We get it, we get it. But Bulstrode? Really?"
Ron shrugged a single shoulder and dropped his armful of books onto his bed.
"You know how people can get with rumors about him. Next thing you know, we'd be reading about how France was trying to steal him away with pretty women."
Harry blanched but Dean laughed.
"That's all it'd take for me to transfer to Beauxbatons. A lot of the girls here are nice, but someone like Fleur Delacour…"
"You can quit saying her full name like an idiot," Harry snapped, kicking open his trunk with a foot and dumping his books inside. "Nobody's stealing me anywhere."
At that, Dean and Seamus finally broke their interrogative stance and threw themselves onto their respective beds.
"Fine," Seamus said, drawing out the word into one long complaint. "Be that way. I'll just find my own pretty girl to snog."
"Not before me," said Dean.
"Yes, before you. I'm foreign."
"Barely."
Seamus propped himself up on his elbows and stared across the room at Ron.
"Then what about you and Granger?"
He managed to dodge the flying book, though it was a near miss.
XxX
Barty shuffled around his office, doing his best to keep his anxiety from carrying him out the door and off to Karkaroff's department. It wouldn't be too strange for him to show up there. Just a bit of a friendly visit, rather than anything official.
But no.
Nothing could jeopardize the Dark Lord's plan, not when something as valuable as the prophecy was on the line.
So he resumed his pacing, grateful that the hellish test upon his patience had finally left her office to go home for the night. He didn't need any assistance. He wouldn't have even needed Karkaroff's help had he not needed a wand that night at the World Cup.
His hand found its way into his jacket to brush the holly wand held inside. It was a poor match for his old blackthorn wand, but having liberated it from such filth…well, a little charity never went amiss.
A knock sounded at his door and he jerked towards it, scowling. It wasn't the coded knock that meant Karkaroff had come for a report, or that Narcissa had come to grovel for more scraps of information so she could appear useful. No, it was a mundane cheery knock of someone who was far too happy to be at the Ministry so late into the evening.
With a sigh, he plastered on a smile and opened the door.