How to Get Invited Without Asking
Harry was sitting on the edge of the fountain in the castle's inner courtyard, completely at ease, feeling the breeze brush softly against his face. He looked genuinely relaxed, a faint smile resting on his lips as he stared at the letter in his hands, which only seemed to make that smile grow just a little more.
Before he lifted his gaze.
Just like him, the other students turned to look at the newcomer, who, notably, had a bit of chaos to her appearance. Her platinum blonde hair was being tossed by the wind, completely out of control. Her clothes were slightly wrinkled, her breathing uneven, her hair sticking to her skin from sweat, and her expression rushed.
A strange sight, considering this was the normally perfect and composed Fleur Delacour. For a moment, even Harry couldn't help but look slightly surprised… before a genuinely amused smile formed on his face as he watched her approach.
As her light blue eyes met his green ones, her gaze quickly shifted to Harry's hands, where the still-sealed envelope rested. It was easy to notice how she tried to hide her urgency, forcing herself to appear calmer. But her appearance, obviously, wasn't helping her much right now.
Harry couldn't help but feel genuinely entertained seeing her like this.
"Oh? Looks like someone can't live without me," Harry said, that smile on his face already enjoying the situation.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Fleur replied as she approached, catching her breath while trying to fix her hair. But her eyes never left the envelope in Harry's hands. "Did you open it?" she asked, looking straight into his eyes again.
"Oh. This?" Harry said, lifting the envelope slightly and giving it a small shake. "Not yet. It's a howler, right? I wanted to listen to it properly. After all, I don't get one every day," he said calmly.
"It wasn't for you," Fleur said instantly, trying to snatch the envelope from his hands as she got close enough. But Harry moved faster, easily pulling it away as he stood up.
"Oh? But it says here: Harry Potter. Sender: Fleur Delacour. And the date… hmm. Not the same day Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived. The same day you seemed a little drunk," Harry said as he took a few steps back, smiling as he watched the changes in her expression.
Which quickly shifted through several emotions, the most obvious being anxiety and embarrassment.
"Maybe in that state you actually wanted to send me something really embarrassing," Harry added, a full villain-like smile spreading across his face as he looked at her.
"N-no," Fleur said, trying to stay composed, but her slight hesitation didn't help. Especially not when she made another attempt to jump at him and grab the envelope, only to fail again.
"Oh? Really? Then it's fine if I open it. Maybe we can listen to it together," Harry said, tilting his head slightly with a charming smile, already moving as if he was about to undo the knot on the howler.
"No!" Fleur shouted, raising both hands to stop him. "Please," she added, her voice softening into something close to pleading.
To be honest, Harry hadn't expected that. He looked at her for a moment.
The proud Fleur Delacour.
But before he could even decide if she was overreacting, Fleur suddenly lunged at him like a leopard, a sly smile on her face.
Just as she was about to grab him, Harry suddenly dissolved into red mist and shifted a few meters back before reforming.
"Wow, almost had me there, Miss Villain," Harry said with a grin, while Fleur made a slightly annoyed face at failing to catch him, even with that trick.
"That's enough. Give it back, Potter. That wasn't supposed to reach you," Fleur said quickly, her tone urgent and serious.
"You know, your behavior is just making me want to open it more and more," Harry said, casually playing with the seal again as if he was about to break it.
"Give it to me." Fleur said. And it wasn't a request.
Harry tilted his head slightly, watching her with mild curiosity.
"Hmm… what if I don't want to?"
Fleur's gaze sharpened, becoming slightly dangerous.
"I'm not playing, Harry." Her voice dropped just a little.
Some nearby students watched them closely, not entirely sure what was going on, but clearly interested.
"What, does the howler say something strange? Maybe a confession?" Harry added, raising the envelope slightly.
Fleur tensed, her eyes widening for just a second, something Harry seemed to catch.
"Harry. Give it to me. Now." Fleur said, staring straight into his eyes.
For a moment, everything fell silent, while the atmosphere seemed to tighten slightly, as if watching something interesting unfold. Yet both of them ignored it, as if, right now, they were the only two people in the world.
"Come and get it," Harry said with a smile.
Fleur immediately pulled her wand from her pocket and, without hesitation, pointed it at Harry.
"Stupefy!" she shouted as the spell shot straight toward his chest.
Harry seemed to watch the attack with amusement, and just as it was about to hit him, his body once again dissolved into red mist. The spell passed right through it, striking a nearby student who had been watching the spectacle out of pure curiosity.
Seeing this, everyone around them instinctively took a step back, just in case.
Meanwhile, Harry reappeared right on top of the fountain where he had been sitting before, a mischievous smile on his face.
"A surprise attack worthy of a villain… but too slow," Harry said mockingly, just before a barrage of spells of every color flew toward him, forcing him to turn into mist again to evade the furious half-veela's attacks.
But her spells, thrown without much care, struck some of the nearby students, hitting several of them and making the rest realize that even just watching could be dangerous.
Some quickly hid, while others stumbled as they tried to run, bumping into each other as water from the fountain splashed everywhere from the impacts… and more than one voice shouted for someone to get a professor before things got worse.
But the two lunatics at the center of it all didn't seem to care in the slightest.
One of the nearby benches was even knocked over by an impact, while the water in the fountain trembled every time a spell passed too close.
"Has anyone ever told you that violent girls will have a hard time finding a partner in the future?" Harry said as he reformed his body again. "Is this how you expect guys to ask you to the ball?" he added, just as a spell shot straight for his face.
At the last second, he tilted his head slightly, letting it graze his cheek.
For a brief instant, even his smile tightened… before his body dissolved into red mist again to avoid the next attack.
Even he couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly before turning into mist once more to dodge the next volley.
"It's your fault. If that happens, you'll have to be my partner for the ball!" Fleur shouted, looking around as Harry's mist surrounded her slightly. She kept casting spells, but they passed right through it, doing nothing, only increasing her growing frustration as she stomped lightly against the ground.
But in that exact moment, Harry appeared right in front of her and grabbed her wrist before she could cast a spell at point-blank range.
"Fine," he said with a soft smile.
That seemed to freeze Fleur for a moment, especially with him so close, as if her breathing had stopped for just an instant.
"What?" she asked, staring at him.
"I guess I'll have to lower my standards a bit and accept being your partner. But don't get too excited. We'll just be dance partners, nothing more," Harry said.
"You… what?" she replied, her anger rising again.
"But if you don't want to, then maybe we can just listen to the howler together, right?" Harry added, taking a step back while raising the envelope in his hand.
"No," she said quickly, grabbing his hand at last. She finally caught him, holding onto him with her whole body, afraid he would turn into mist again and escape.
But when she grabbed him, he didn't disappear.
She let out a small sigh of relief, not noticing that, for a brief instant, Harry seemed to freeze slightly before snapping back to himself. In the next second, the envelope vanished from one hand and appeared in the other.
Making it very clear to Fleur that he could hide it whenever he wanted.
"Alright, alright, just give it to me," Fleur said, realizing that.
Harry's amused smile returned as he handed the envelope over easily. "Wear something nice," he said as he gave it to her.
Fleur took it immediately, as if afraid he might change his mind.
Once it was in her hands, she finally let out a breath of relief.
"You're unbearable," she said, looking straight at him, her gaze full of complaints as she hugged the howler tightly so it wouldn't escape her grip.
"I know," Harry replied calmly. "Don't be late," he added before turning into red mist and disappearing right in front of her.
Meanwhile, Fleur's heart kept beating fast, making her bring a hand to her chest for a moment. She looked down at the howler… and her face turned completely red with embarrassment.
"He didn't hear it, right?" she muttered to herself, worried, before grabbing her head with both hands just from the thought that Harry might have heard what she said back then… and letting out a scream of pure embarrassment.
The students hiding nearby glanced at her for a moment, but none of them seemed particularly eager to ask if she was okay. If anything, many quietly moved away, careful not to become her next target.
It felt like… the more beautiful a woman is… the more dangerous she might be.