3,994Reviews:
SpiritLord89 : Here's some more chocolate...story, I meant story.
fallendemon248: Oh crap, I should have done that.
Story Artist: It won't happen quickly but I do have a plan in the works, I'll leave it to the readers to decide if its good or not.
Lord Chronus: Thanks, glad you like it.
Chapter 55 -
"Careful, Harry," Andromeda advised as she watched over Harry as he made a potion in front of her. "Just add a pinch of the crushed leaves, that will do, too much will slow down the potion." She explained patiently.
"Got it," Harry nodded, doing as she instructed.
"Nicely done," She smiled, looking satisfied as she stared down at the potion in front of her. She waved her wand over it, placing it in stasis. "I'll keep it like that till our next lesson, you can finish it then."
"Thanks, Mrs Tonks," Harry smiled back and the two began packing their stuff away when suddenly the door opened and Tonks popped her head in.
"Wotcher," She called with her usual grin, before stepping in. "Not interrupting anything, am I?" She asked.
"Not at all, Nymphadora," Andromeda replied, ignoring Tonks's mutterings about her name. "Harry and I are just finishing up, is there something I can help you with?" She asked curiously.
"Actually, I wanted to talk with Harry for a bit," Tonks replied awkwardly. "If you don't mind that is," She quickly added to Harry.
"Uh...sure, if you want," Harry replied with a nod.
"Well, I can see when I'm not needed," Andromeda said lightly as she packed her stuff with a wave of her wand. "I'll see you both later," She said before turning and walking out of the room, leaving the two alone.
"Alright, Tonks?" Harry asked once they were alone.
"Yeah, just fine," Tonks said, walking over and sitting on a nearby desk. "Just wanted to check on you, you know, you've been through a lot recently."
"Perk of being me, I suppose," Harry shrugged. "I'm surviving and I'll be fine."
"If you're sure, Harry. But you know that if you ever need some help then you can come to me. You know that, right?" She asked softly.
"I do," Harry confirmed, staring firmly at her. "I trust you, Tonks, more than I trust most people to be fair." He admitted.
"Good," Tonks smiled brightly at him. "So, how's the social life going?"
"Same old, same old," Harry replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. "You?"
"Same old," She shrugged. "Anyway, you going to the ball?"
"Not really decided yet, truth be told," Harry answered honestly. "I'm thinking about it,"
"There have been a lot of rumours around the school, you know, about you and that French champion. What's her name? Fleur?"
"Fleur Delacour," Harry confirmed. "And I'm not surprised, she asked me out the other day."
"And you didn't accept?" Tonks asked questioningly.
"I told her I'd think about it, I'm going to give her an answer today. The only problem is that I haven't really been able to come to a decision yet," He said with a deep sigh. "I thought about accepting but then...I...well..."
"You didn't accept because of me?" Tonks asked, giving him a knowing look.
"Yeah," Harry admitted softly, an awkward smile on his face. "I just...I don't know...it felt like a bit of a shitty thing to do, asking you out and then taking on the first pretty girl that asks me. I didn't want to make you upset,"
"Harry, I'm not upset. We're not together, you don't need my permission to go and ask someone out or even accept somebody else's offer," Tonks told him. "I appreciate you thinking about me, Harry, I really do. But I think it's a long time since you thought for yourself, would going with this girl make you happy?"
"I don't know," Harry said thoughtfully. "She's pretty, I suppose, I don't hate her personality or anything. But I don't really know her much,"
"Well, maybe you should get to know her," Tonks suggested. "Look, Harry, a guy at work has been asking me out for a while. I've decided I'm going to give him a try and see if anything happens. We're going to go out sometime this week,"
"Oh," Harry blinked.
'No! No! No!' Venom roared in his head. 'No! No! I refuse...No! No! HELL NO! No! NO!'
"I hope it goes well for you," Harry said. "Are you...do you like him?"
"I don't know, he doesn't seem like a bad bloke, we're just going on one date and seeing how things go." She explained. "Harry, I won't ever force you to do something you don't want to do. But I think that if you like this French girl then maybe you should give her a shot, who knows where it will lead."
"I'll...I'll consider it,"
'I bet I know exactly who asked out Tonks!' Venom ranted viciously whilst Harry calmly continued to eat his lunch. 'It was probably that prick auror we saw talking to her before! That bastard was asking her out then! He probably asked her out when our back was turned! Probably wore her down and tricked her into accepting during a moment of weakness! That cunning dickhead!'
'Venom,' Harry said with a deep mental sigh. 'We don't know that,'
'Like hell! There was obviously some trickery involved!' Venom insisted before gasping loudly. 'Little rat bastard could have used a love potion! Quickly purge Tonks's system!'
'Venom, my friend, I honestly doubt that Tonks has been given a love potion,' Harry said tiredly.
'Why aren't you more angry about this?!' Venom demanded furiously. 'I know you, Harry, better than you know yourself. You still care for Tonks, you want her.'
'I want her to be happy and if this guy makes him happy then so be it,' Harry told him before his face darkened slightly. 'Though if he hurts her then you better kill him before I do,'
'Atta boy,' Venom said proudly. Harry was about to respond when the noise level around him suddenly dropped, and a pair of light footsteps started walking in his direction. Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, there was obviously only one person who could draw such a reaction. Besides, the drool on the corners of the mouths of every boy around him was more than enough proof that he was right.
"Hello Fleur," Harry said before turning his head around to see the girl who had stopped behind him. "I'm eating lunch, please sit," He said, gesturing to the empty spot beside himself. She looked somewhat surprised by his offer, she stared for a moment before gracefully taking the seat next to him. "Have you eaten yet?" He asked her.
"Not yet," She admitted, a second later a plate appeared in front of her.
"Hogwarts house elves," Harry shrugged. "Go on, eat some, they'll appreciate it."
"Hmm," She stared once more at him as if he were an odd puzzle mixed with pieces from a different puzzle. After a few moments, she shrugged and started eating. The two ate in relatively peaceful silence, a silence that would have been much more enjoyable if everyone wasn't constantly staring at them. "I still prefer French food," She said once she was done.
"I haven't tried much French food, perhaps you could recommend some for me," Harry replied after finishing his own food. "Hogwarts typically doesn't serve much beyond English food, the only time I recall them doing so was when you and Durmstrang arrived. I'm sure the elves will make some if you ask nicely,"
"I'll remember that for next time," She told him. "Now, I would like to know what you're answer is to my question. Will you be my date to the Yule Ball?"
"Are you sure that I'm the one you want to go with?" He asked lightly as he stood up from the table.
"I am," She said confidently, standing up and meeting his gaze head-on.
"Then I would like to accept your offer," Harry answered.
'What are you doing?' Venom asked, sounding more confused than anything.
'Accepting a date offer from a very pretty girl,' Harry replied calmly. 'If Tonks's is out of our reach then might as well try to move on with life and see where it takes us,'
'Nothing is out of our reach,' Venom huffed but did not say more. He knew that despite what Harry claimed, he was far from over Tonks. If he wished to distract himself with this girl for the time being then so be it, but they would not be denied. His human wanted Tonks and he was going to get Tonks.
"Excellent," Fleur smirked, looking quite pleased with herself.
"On two conditions," Harry added, quickly wiping off the look from her face.
"You...have a condition?" She spoke slowly as if testing the words.
"Two actually," He corrected her. "Firstly, you're going to be teaching me to dance,"
"You want me to teach you?"
"Unless you'd prefer I step on your toes while you're dancing," Harry responded. "Second thing is, you're going to go and spend some time with me before the ball. I'd like to spend some time getting to know you and see if we're compatible with each other. If you or I feel that we don't enjoy each other's company then we can cancel our date as I have better things to do than spend time with someone I don't like." He told her bluntly. Fleur looked at him like he had just grown two heads and had started singing poetry in German.
"Those are your conditions?" She asked, staring at the boy in front of her. The first seemed reasonable enough, she supposed, Harry knew he couldn't dance and wisely decided to correct that problem as soon as possible, thankfully before he could embarrass either of them at the ball. It also made sense that the boy was asking her to teach him, they were both going to be dance partners after all, and it was the easiest option for him. But what had truly thrown her off was the fact that the boy wanted to spend time with her - which was obviously natural, he was a teenage boy after all - and then declared that if he didn't enjoy his time with her then he would cancel their date.
That was baffling for her on many levels, nearly every male she had met would gut their own friends just for the chance to go out with her. Here was a boy that she herself had asked out, who was practically warning her that if he didn't enjoy their time together then their date would be cancelled. Never in a million years would she even have guessed that such a thing could happen. At times she honestly suspected that this boy truly did not know who she was. She was Fleur Delacour, beauty incarnate, the dream of every man and woman who was even slightly attracted to the female gender. It was baffling that he didn't understand that. Confusing, irritating, annoying.
Refreshing.
It was a large part of why she was so interested in him, veela naturally craved powerful individuals and Harry Potter was indeed quite powerful, as evidenced by the dragon corpse he left behind. But he wasn't just powerful, he was cute and growing nicely into his body, he was handsome and Fleur knew that he would grow to be more handsome as he got older. And if that was not enough, he was the first male she had ever met besides her father who didn't stare at her like she was a delicious piece of meat. The boys she interacted with before were very amusing, they'd let her insult their own mothers for the chance to simply touch her. They'd empty their wallets for the chance to breathe her air, they'd jump as high as they could just for a moment of her attention. She was a goddess to them.
But not to him.
"Take it or leave it," Harry confirmed with a nod. "It's up to you,"
"I accept your conditions, but I have some of my own," She told him. "You will show up to dance practice exactly when I tell you to, you will also take me on a date to this Hogsmead place near the school. And if you recall our conversation before the first task, you'll teach me a spell in exchange for me teaching you one." She said, not willing to let him dictate all of the terms.
"Agreed," Harry said after a few moments of thinking. "I was hoping to go for a walk outside, would you like to accompany me?" He offered, holding out his arm
"I would," She placed her arm around his and the two began walking away, ignoring the rest of the hall with practised ease, they were barely ten feet away from the hall when it erupted with conversations.
"Did you see that? She asked out Potter!"
"Bet she used some sort of magic on him,"
"The prat had the audacity to consider not accepting! How many damn women must be lining up for him if he's okay with turning down a veela?"
"Damn it, I wanted to ask out Harry!"
"They're such a good-looking couple!"
"Isn't she too old for him?!"
"What's Potter got that I don't?!"
"Goodness me," Professor McGonagall said from the teacher's table. "The pair certainly know how to put on a show,"
"That's all Potter needs," Snape snarked. "More attention going to his big head,"
"Severus," Professor McGonagall huffed angrily. "Nobody is forcing you to like the boy! Will you at least attempt to show some professionalism as a member of this esteemed staff should?"
"Personally, I think they'd be a good couple," Professor Flitwick commented before the two heads of houses could start jumping at each other's throats. "I've met the girl a few times, she seems quite intelligent. The fact that she's a champion must mean she's pretty talented as well."
"Aye, her showing in the first task is proof enough," Sprout agreed.
"Miss Delacour is indeed a very talented witch," Dumbledore commented lightly, half-paying attention to the conversation around him. In the meantime his mind was working overtime, thinking about what had just happened.
A lot of his concerns around Harry were due to the fact that the boy seemed to be drifting away from his fellow witches and wizards, Dumbledore feared that one day the boy would be as lonely as Tom had been. But now it seemed that perhaps Harry had found a reason to stay grounded with his fellow wizards and witches. Though his choice did bring up some concerns, what if Delacour encouraged Harry to leave for France? The boy was needed here. Dumbledore didn't think that Delacour was a stereotypical veela who would seduce and use men, and if some sources are to be believed they kill the men after they're done. Still, it didn't change the fact that some veela were probably like that, was Miss Delacour? Did she know any that were like that? He wasn't sure, but he'd keep an eye out.