4,375Reviews:
tenga : Just the same things that every man wants.
Mando-Vet : That's typical for Harry Potter though, on the one hand this boy goes through a lot, on the other hand...he is Harry Potter.
GRNauman: Thanks, the chapters all have various lengths, some will be longer and some will be shorter, sorry.
Fire turtle: Venom can perform some magic thanks to Harry, so I suppose yeah, he can shoot magic out of his tentacles. However he typically prefers to deal with his enemies in his usual style (extreme violence).
Chapter 54 -
"I beg your pardon, what?" Harry blinked, staring up at the person who was undoubtedly the most beautiful student currently here in the school. The conversations nearby had grown silent, in fact, it seemed like the whole hall had gone silent as Harry didn't hear anyone saying anything. A quick look around showed that he was right, nearly everyone was staring at him and Fleur now.
"Exactly as I said," She replied, seemingly uncaring about everyone staring at them. "I am curious about if you have a date for the Yule Ball?" She asked.
"Um...no, no I do not," Harry said slowly with a small shake of his head.
"Excellent," She smiled brightly. "I was wondering if you would like to be my date to the ball,"
"You...want to go with me?" Harry asked, not bothering to hide his disbelief.
"Oui, I do," She confirmed, seemingly not sensing his disbelief. "I would like for you to go with me to the ball, do you accept?"
"Oh..." Harry paused to think about it.
He knew that all the other red-blooded males in the room and even a few of the females would be beyond irritated that he had the audacity to even consider not accepting a proposal from Fleur Delacour, the girl who was quite frankly a great catch even if she wasn't a person with a magical allure. Harry was pretty sure that being a veela didn't automatically make one look perfect, and Fleur was perfect looking, exactly the type of girl that everyone from both muggle and wizarding worlds would love to have walk arm in arm with them. She had an alluring hourglass figure, beautiful pale skin, perfect-sized pink lips, entrancing blue eyes and silver-blonde hair that pulled in the attention of everyone, regardless of whether the hair was in a ponytail or bun or simply naturally hanging down to her mid-back. Looks aside, she was also talented and a strong witch, even Harry's brief interactions with her had told him that she at least wasn't horrible to be around. Every single female-attracted student in the school wanted her.
So yeah, on the surface she was the perfect girl for Harry to take to the ball. So why was he hesitating?
'She's not Tonks,' Venom reminded him.
That was right, she wasn't the girl that he wanted, she wasn't the girl who rejected him, nor was she the girl who also refused to date another guy right after rejecting him. Merlin, he's such a mess.
"I'm sorry, Miss Delacour, but I'm not really sure that I am going to attend the ball," He said politely enough, soon whispers began spreading throughout the hall, it didn't take genius intellect to know just who the whispers were about.
"Harry, what are you doing?!" The Weasley twins hissed in his ears. "Are you mad?"
"If he's not up for it, I'll do it!" Lee Jordan quickly shouted from down the table, followed by many others.
"You are refusing me?" Fleur asked Harry, looking quite surprised.
"Yes, I am, I'm sorry but I'm not going to the ball," Harry said as kindly as he could.
"I was under the impression that you had to attend," She said in a questioning tone, staring at him like he was a rather complex puzzle with half of its pieces missing.
"The last time someone forced me to do something, a dragon died," He reminded her lightly.
"Hmm," Fleur smirked, looking like she was a few steps closer to solving the Harry James Potter puzzle. "In that case, I probably will not be attending either." She announced, much to the horror of the other students.
"No!" Several nearby people cried.
"Unless, you change your mind that is," She winked before walking off, with everyone staring at him. After an appreciative glance at her swaying hips, Harry shrugged his shoulders and went back to his food. At least he tried to.
"Potter, are you mad?!" One older Gryffindor blurted out. "She - of all people - asks you out on a date and you say no?!"
"Are you gay?" Another asked, quite seriously. "Not that there's anything wrong with -"
"I'm not gay," Harry rolled his eyes. "I just have my brain positioned in my head instead of between my legs like the rest of you," He said, deciding not to mention the extra-terrestrial being that had probably helped out whilst living rent-free in his head.
"Yeah, well...whatever you decide, Harry, just make sure to let us know and we'll start placing the inappropriate bets," The twins said in response.
"Don't you mean the - "
"We know what we mean...most of the time."
"Thank you very much for your help, Professor Flitwick," Fleur said, standing up from her seat. If there was one thing that she would miss about Hogwarts, it was her conversations with Professor Flitwick. The man was truly a charms master, one that she would dare say was a few spells better than the one in her own school. While she had many problems with this school, she had to admit that the teachers seemingly knew what they were doing. From what she knew, most of the teachers here were experts in their fields.
Of course, there were rumours she heard about other teachers that were quite concerning. Apparently, the divination teacher was consistently drunk and the things she had heard about the potions professor were truly concerning. It didn't really help that most of the rumours around him also involved one Harry James Potter.
"It was no problem, my dear," Professor Flitwick chuckled. "I am always happy to talk with eager students. If I didn't have a class in a few minutes then I'd be happy to talk longer."
"Same, I shall be by at the same time tomorrow," She told him before walking out of his office, she had barely made it halfway down the hallway when she stumbled upon a group of arguing students.
There was a gathering of students here, likely for Professor Flitwick's next charm's class. The green and red clothing let her know that they were Gryffindors and Slytherins, probably a few years younger than her. Most of them were staying quiet, as she walked closer she saw the red-headed boy and the bushy-haired girl who were Harry's 'former friends'. The former was being held back by the latter as he appeared to be wanting to lunge at the sneering blond boy that was standing a short distance in front of the pair, backed up by two boys that looked like they were far too closely related to gorillas. It took Fleur a moment to recognise them as the imbecilic group of boys that tried to flirt with her earlier, or at the least, the blonde boy had done. She remembered now that his name was 'Malfoy', a name that literally meant 'bad faith' in her language. Just perfect.
"It must be a shame," The blonde-haired boy drawled, looking distinctly amused. "Potter was the only thing keeping you relevant Weasley, now you're just back to being an unimportant peasant."
"Screw you, Malfoy!" Ron spat. "At least I don't have to hide behind Daddy's skirt and your two boyfriends!"
"Ron, leave it, he's not worth it!" Hermione pushed him back, putting herself in between Ron and Draco.
"Not worth it? You're one to talk," Draco scoffed. "Tell me, Granger, now that Potter's no longer watching you're back, are you going to finally do us all a favour and leave? The place is bad enough without keeping around filthy little mudbloods like yourselves."
"Go and spend an hour trying to come up with something original, you class-A twit!" Hermione snapped at him. "You went stale in our second year and haven't even realised it yet."
'Drama is really so interesting when I'm not involved in it,' Fleur thought to herself before she tried to discreetly walk past. Unfortunately, it was hard to be discreet when you had a strong allure attached to you. Instantly, the boys turned to face her, drawing the attention of the girls as well. Resisting the urge to scowl, she continued walking, only to stop when the blonde imbecile stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
"Miss Delacour," He smiled widely at her, giving her a charming look. "How good to see you again, I was very impressed by your performance in the first task."
"I'm sure," She said, trying to take a step around him when he stepped so that he was still in front of her.
"I was wondering if you'd still be interested in that tour I offered," He grinned at her.
"I know the castle well enough by now," She told him, unable to sound more uninterested if she tried.
"There are always secrets to be found, you know. But that's fine, I would like for you to attend the yule ball with me."
"Not interested," She said, less than a second later. A brief look of rage came upon Malfoy's face before he quickly wiped it away.
"But you asked Potter and - "
"Harry Potter is far more of a real man than you are," Fleur sniffed.
"Harry Potter is nothing more than a stupid brat who gets lucky!" Draco snapped. "That's all it is, the little prat is just lucky!"
"Is that so?"
Draco damn-near jumped as he quickly turned around to find an unamused Harry Potter staring blankly at him, the tension in the hallway increased by tenfold. Draco took a step back, knowing that the other Slytherins were not likely to jump in and help him, they weren't the Hufflepuffs after all. Crabbe and Goyle might, but those two were ultimately useless against Potter unless they could catch him off guard and get close enough. Though Draco would never admit it to anyone, he knew that Potter was a powerful wizard, and damn was that an irritating thing to acknowledge, even to just himself.
The filthy haf-blood had grown in leaps and bounds, he might not be the most academic student but he was clearly pretty good at the practical applications of magic. Draco had been able to ignore the fact for the longest time, he had been able to push it off as Potter getting lucky and receiving favouritism from the other teachers. After all, potion's class was the only class that Potter didn't receive favouritism in and he was clearly rubbish at it. But now...Draco had seen Potter fight a dragon, and not just fight it, he had beaten it, soundly. And then he had the gall to kill the damn thing!
Draco knew that his own father, the great and powerful wizard that he was, could not defeat a dragon, not by himself at least. Unless maybe he could hit it with a killing curse, providing the beast's hide wasn't too thick or magically resistant.
The dynamic between the two of them had changed, Draco had no qualms about messing with Potter before, he believed that Potter was nothing but Dumbledore's goody-two-shoes puppet. A weak half-blood relying on better wizards to keep him above water. But that wasn't the case anymore. The Potter in front of Draco was more violent than before, and less restrained, now actively defying and going against Professor Snape and even Draco himself. Potter was not weak anymore, and Draco knew that.
"Is that so, Malfoy?" Harry repeated, slowly pulling out his wand. "I'm just lucky, am I? Well then, Draco, you want to try out your luck?"
"I'm...not afraid of you, Potter," Draco fidgeted, resisting the urge to move back. Harry gave him an amused look before he leaned forward so he could whisper into Draco's ear.
"Yes, you are, Malfoy," Harry whispered. Calmly, coldly. "You're so scared that I can practically smell it, 'Daddy's boy'. But don't worry, I won't kill you if you don't give me a reason to." He pulled back, smirking at the now-pale Malfoy before he stepped past him, shoving him in the shoulder as he did so. "Miss Delacour, I'd like to formally apologize on behalf of Hogwarts for the behaviour of my class fellow." He told her as he put his wand away. "His father didn't give him enough attention as a child, unfortunately."
"That's quite alright," Fleur smiled at him. "I've already realised that he's a special type of idiot," She said, causing Draco's face to turn an alarming shade of red. She was about to say more when Professor Flitwick arrived.
"Ah, Miss Delacour, you're still here?" He asked.
"Just having a quick talk with some of your students, Professor." She explained.
"Right, well, I'm sorry to cut in but I'm afraid that class is about to start," He flicked his wand and the classroom door opened. "Come along, class," He said before he walked inside, the students slowly following in after him.
"Have you thought about my proposal?" Fleur asked Harry quietly before he could move to join the others.
"I'll give you an answer tomorrow," He told her in response.
"Very well," She said, giving him a curious look before she turned and walked away.
"Eyes in your head, Draco," Harry said to Malfoy who was staring at Fleur's retreating back. So far it was just Harry, Malfoy and his two goons outside, the others had just gone into the classroom.
"Screw you, Potter!" Draco glared heatedly at him. "It's a shame that dragon didn't burn you to a crisp!"
"It's a bigger shame that your father didn't pull out," Harry retorted. "Do us a favour and stay out of our way, we...I've got better things to do with pathetic little prats like you," Harry added before he turned and started heading towards the classroom.
"Pathetic?!" Malfoy hissed under his breath before drawing his wand, Crabbe and Goyle quickly copied him. Draco aimed his wand at Harry's back and fired, followed by the other two. Their spells shot towards Harry, and Draco was positive that they'd hit him right in the back. At least...he was.
Harry's wand shot into his hand, he raised it in the air and without looking he flicked it behind his back, batting away one spell, he moved his wrist and batted away a second. He leaned to the left and the final spell shot past him and down the hallway. A dangerous look appeared on Harry's face as he slowly turned around to face the now three stunned boys.
"Want to try that again?" Harry offered with an evil smirk, raising his wand. Draco quickly spun around and started running away like the hounds of hell were at his heels, Crabbe and Goyle following after him. Harry huffed before he turned and walked into the classroom, luckily Professor Flitwick was still setting up for his lesson and had not started yet.
'We should eat him,' Venom suggested. 'He's an annoyance,'
'At the moment that's all he is,' Harry replied. 'Don't worry, as soon as he gives us a reason, you can have him. And knowing him...you'll probably get a reason at some point soon.' He added as he sat in his seat in the classroom, he had barely sat down when Lavender and Parvati sat on either side of him.
"Hi Harry," The two smiled brightly at him.
"Umm...hi," Harry said, slightly confused. He knew the pair of them, having lived in the same tower as them for the last couple of years, not to mention sharing many classes with them. But the two were now looking a bit more friendly than they usually did, this became even more obvious when Lavender leaned in quite close to him.
"I was wondering if you could help me out, Harry," She said in a breathy tone. "I could do with some help in class, I'm sure that a smart and strong boy like you knows a thing or two about charms."
"Maybe you can help me out too," Parvati said quickly, placing a hand on his forearm.
"I'll think about it," Harry said blankly. 'Venom, what the fuck's going on?'
'They want your wand,' Venom said bluntly.
A moment later, Professor Flitwick began reading the register, and thankfully the two girls separated from Harry to respectable - although barely - distances. It didn't take long for Professor Flitwick to notice that he had a few students missing.
"Where is Mister Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe?" Professor Flitwick asked the class, looking confused. "I'm sure I saw them here earlier. Does anyone know? Mr Potter, you were the last one to come in, right? Do you know where they are?"
"Not a clue, Professor." Harry shrugged.