I give it 3 out of 5 stars, that was much too long' thought Harry as the Sorting Hat finished the song it was singing, not paying attention as Professor McGonagall started calling students up.
"Potter, Harry!" called out Professor McGonagall, breaking Harry of his nearly 10-minute internal musing. Realizing that it was his time to get sorted, Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"Can anyone see his scar"
"He doesn't look all that special"
"That bug defeated THE DARK LORD"
Harry ignored all of them and marched right up to the hat, sat down on the stool before McGonagall placed the Hat over Harry's head.
Suddenly, the voices of the Great Hall disappeared into the background, and Harry could hear only his own thoughts.
"My my, I am hurt that you only gave my song a 3 out of 5, but I guess I can agree that it could have been a little shorter." Whispered a small voice that Harry quickly put together was the Sorting Hat.
"Yeah well, I don't like social activities that much. I work best alone." Thought Harry to the Sorting Hat
"Hmm, you work best alone, you say? I can see that, but only because you've always been alone. No friends, no family, no support. That is a terrible way to live life." Replied the Sorting Hat
'You do what you got to do. Nobody liked me, so I liked nobody. In life you can't expect others to do anything for you that you couldn't do for yourself' thought Harry, trying to justify his shitty personality.
"You have a great mind, you are undeniably smart. You would do well in the colder, calculating house of Wisdom, Ravenclaw." Stated the Sorting Hat, but he didn't get a reply from Harry
"I could put you in Slytherin, where you're mentality would force everyone around you to either get on board or get out of the way as you could do great things there." Mused the Sorting Hat
'Don't I get a choice in where I go?' asked Harry
"Oh, so it does have emotions. I do not normally take sorting requests, but you are a special child Harry. I could put you in any house and you would be a rallying point for them. In Slytherin, you would be able to bring about a new era of cunningness and ambitious. You could be the leader that I once thought Tom was supposed to be." Said the Sorting Hat, ignoring Harry's question about who Tom was, continued speaking
"Or as I mentioned, you fit right in with the Ravenclaws, cold and calculating. You care about how you do more than anything else, something that most Ravenclaws feel about their grades. You would breathe some life into the bookworms.
How about Hufflepuff where everyone is loyal and hard-working. You would have an entire house that would stand beside you despite anything in the world short of you being a murder occurring.
Or should it be Gryffindor, like your parents before you? Are you brave at heart? I could see that, you being unbelievably mentally strong and stubborn to a fault. Courage is being willing to jump headfirst into a new world like the Wizarding world."
'How about you just put me in the house that I would draw the least amount of attention in' said Harry
"If that is what you wish my boy, but remember sometimes you find your destiny on the very road that you take to avoid it." Said the Sorting hat to Harry in Harry's mind before speaking to the entire Great Hall.
"BETTER BE GRYFFINDOR"
There was a roar of applause and the Hat was lifted off of Harry's head.
Harry yawned as he stood in the Room of Requirement, Hermione sitting on the grassy ground across from him. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, her panting form staring at Harry with amazement.
Hermione sent a stunner at Harry, only for the stunner to not meet his body, but twist around his body and shoot back at her, slamming into her stomach.
"So, that brings the record to what? 7 wins for Harry and 0 wins for you" tsk'd Harry as he stared at the downed girl.
Hermione watched as Harry sidestepped a stunner, slashing his wand at the ground. Hermione glanced down only to see nothing happen, but when she looked up, a red stunner slammed into her stomach once again.
Hermione dropped backward, now laying on the ground, staring up at the enchanted sky created by the room.
Hermione's shield survived the first stunner, but the blasting charm that slammed into it, made it shatter. Hermione watched as the charm, despite being weaker slammed into her body, sending her airborne. The wind wrapped around her body midair and slammed her into the ground.
The room was a large clearing in a generic forest, the colorful sky created by the permanent sunset that Harry had asked for.
Hermione looked up at the sky as a massive moon-like meteor came flying down at her.
"You got to be fucking kidding me" she swore as Harry's magic blanketed the entire world before things went dark.
"How are you this … this-" Hermione struggled to put together the words of her question, but Harry understood it all the same.
Harry wasn't holding his wand, his hands tied behind his back. His mouth was taped shut. Hermione held her wand at Harry and said "Ok, this should level the playing field"
Harry nodded and the duel started. Hermione sent a stunner, then a blasting charm, followed by a fiery whip at Harry.
Harry twisted out of the way of Stunner, before jumping over the blasting charm. The whip was about to slam into his body, but Harry kicked his foot at the line of fire, blasting wind through it.
Hermione shielded against the wind from the kick, but then Harry stomps his foot on the ground and Hermione felt a cold pair of cuffs around her ankle before she was yanked off her feet.
"I give" yelps Hermione before Harry makes the rope on his wrist get shredded by the sharp wind that he summoned with a flare of magic. He pulled the tape off of his mouth and summoned his wand back to his hand.
"When you've been training as much as I have, for as long as I have, you tend to grow to be either really powerful or just wasting your time" answered Harry
"That doesn't make sense" commented Hermione
"Yes it does" replied Harry
"I might need a bit of a further explanation," said Hermione
"Just because you have magic, doesn't mean that you have the same amount of magical strength or the same amount of magic to pull on for a spell," said Harry, "In the case of me, think of my magic like a massive lake full of thick oil. But Ron has a swimming pool of regular water. My spells are more intense because the nature of my magic is thicker or more potent and my reserves of my magic is much deeper"
Hermione's face took on a look of understanding as Harry finished his explanation. She took a deep breath as she started to climb back to her feet, a burst of wind assisting her as she was lifted like a weightless leaf and gently floated downwards until her feet were touching the floor again.
As Hermione planted her feet on the ground again, she bit her bottom lip with a nervous look on her face that slowly twisted into a frown.
"If you have to have dense deep pools of magic to be powerful, what is the point of magical theory? Why is that so heavily studied at school?" asked Hermione
Harry hummed for a moment, trying to think of the best way to answer that question without sounding condescending.
"Think of it like a hose used by the Fire and Rescue services in the muggle world," said Harry, "The spray is unbelievably strong and wild. Understanding theory would allow you to control that spray. The water is your magic, you can reduce the amount needed to cast a spell by using the perfect amount instead of overloading a spell and hoping that it works"
"That sounds so simple," said Hermione
Harry yawned and nodded "Sometimes you think too much and miss the simple answer in front of you"
Hermione nodded and then looked at Harry and couldn't help but ask "You were in the TriWizard Tournament too right?"
Harry looked a bit off-put by the question but nodded "Yeah, I was in that, won the whole damn thing too"
There was a hint of pride in his tone as he said that, as if winning the tournament was something that he had enjoyed doing.
"That was last year for us, I can't help but wonder what you did compared to how our Harry did. I mean he out flew a dragon" said Hermione
"That seems so dangerous, I would never" claimed Harry with an annoyed look on his face
"What did you do then?" asked Hermione
"I tried the same thing, but ended up killing the dragon with a sword and some air" said Harry with a look of embarrassment on his face.
There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him from stands that had been magically put there since he'd last stood on this spot. And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, heaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, Harry didn't know or care.
It was time to do what he had to do… to focus his mind, entirely and absolutely, upon the thing that was his only chance.
He raised his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted.
He knew that it would take about 20-30 seconds before his broom would come to his location. He seemed to be looking at everything around him through some sort of shimmering, transparent barrier, like a heat haze, which made the enclosure and the hundreds of faces around him swim strangely…
And then he heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and began to make its way next to him, he was ready to mount it, when his danger senses went off.
The crowd was making even more noise… Bagman was shouting something… but Harry's ears were not working properly anymore… listening wasn't important. Not at the moment, as Harry jumped to the side and not a moment too soon. A burst of deadly dragon fire hit the spot that he had just been at and Harry saw it in slow motion.
His broom was still being pulled towards that location and he couldn't cancel the spell in time as his broom raced into the flames and burnt into nothing in less than a second.
"OUCH, IT SEEMS THAT WHATEVER PLAN, YOUNG HARRY HAD, IS NOW MOST CERTAINLY DOOMED." Said, Bagman.
Harry's eyes narrowed as his anger skyrocketed, and he turned to face the dragon.
"You know, I was trying to be a nice guy, trying to not have to kill anything today, but I guess that wasn't good enough for you. You took something from me that cannot be replaced, a gift from someone who actually cares about me. Well, guess what. Today dragon, you get to be part of a legend in the making. The Legend of Harry Potter, Dragon Slayer."
This time, Harry raised his wand and said; "Accio Sorting Hat" and this time he intentionally overpowered the spell.
"IT SEEMS THAT HARRY PLANS TO SUMMON SOMETHING ELSE TOWARDS HIM! I WONDER WHAT IT IS" Called out Bagman
The Sorting Hat zipped into his hand and Harry slammed it on his head.
"Huh? What's going on? Why am I here? Nobody should be able to summon me. Hmm, Potter. What a pleasant surprise, I guess I can help you this one time. You want it, you got it." Said the Sorting Hat, able to read and understand Harry's thoughts.
With a wave of his wand, Harry made a sheath for a sword and pulled the hat off of his head, and flipped it upside down. He pulled out a silvery blade that had a great red Goblin ruby, the Sword of Gryffindor. Putting back on the Sorting Hat, Harry put the sword into the case he made for it and began his march.
The Dragon let out a roar and Harry flicked his wand up. A wall of stone rose from the ground and just in time as the dragon let loose another burst of flames. The flames hit the stone and stopped. The Dragon seeing that the flames couldn't get past the stone spun. Its tail swept in and smashed the protective rock into pieces. Harry slipped behind another rock and the dragon began to slam its tail into each rock. As it systematically destroyed each rock that Harry was capable of hiding behind, Harry was hearing the Sorting Hat bitch and moan in his ear.
"You know, if you were going to get your ass handed to you by a dragon, you could have left me out of it. I very much enjoy not getting burnt into nothing."
"Shut your bitch ass up, you think this was my first plan. I wanted to out fly it, but it burnt my broom into nothing. So, here I am, stuck with you and the fucking dragon" spat an angry Harry. As the dragon destroyed the last rock formation beside the ass-kissing of Bagman could wait.
"Terebro Terrae (Earthly Drill)" said Harry as he pointed his wand at the ground. The spell hit the ground and drilled a small hole. The purpose of the spell became clear when it kicked up a bunch of dust, hiding Harry from the view of the dragon.
Harry pointed his wand at the crumbled stones all over the arena, transfiguring the smashed rocks into clones of himself. He must have created 20 clones by the time that the dust cleared, and the dragon could see again.
Another roar came from the mighty beast and a different type of roar came from the crowd. Harry slipped behind the dragon and began using a cutting curse to cut a circle into the ground.
"IT SEEMS THAT POTTER HAS A PLAN. THE DRAGON IS SO CONCERNED WITH THE TRANSFIGURED ROCKS, THAT IT IS COMPLETELY IGNORING POTTER BEHIND IT. IT SEEMS THAT POTTER IS CUTTTING INTO THE GROUND …" Announced Bagman
Harry felt a shift in the wind and ducked as he avoided the tail. Shaking his head as he got a swarm of curse words pushed into his head by the Sorting Hat. He climbed to his feet, just in time to dodge the tail once again. Gritting his teeth, Harry look at the tail and pointed his wand at the base of the Dragon's back, where the tail and body met. A weak point on the dragon, if there was one besides the eyes.
"Slash Caelesti (Heavenly Slash)" cried out Harry. Much to his surprise, the dragon hopped into the air and flapped her wings. As the fire-breathing rampage. Harry took off running, ducking the tail of the dragon and avoiding the flames that it was unleashing almost nonstop at this point.
"OK, I had planned on winning this by out flying a dragon chained to the ground, you got any way that I could force it to land?" asked Harry.
"Hmm, give me a second. I remember that Godric fought and killed a couple of these things back in his youth. I just need to put together how he managed that."
"Oh, take all the time that you need, not like we are stuck in a match to the death WITH A FUCKING DRAGON!" screamed Harry. Harry jumped to the side as the Dragon attempted to land on him with a slam.
"OH! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, IT APPEARS THAT WITH THE DRAGON FREE OF THE CHAIN THAT KEPT IT GROUNDED, HARRY MUST DEFEAT THE DRAGON IN ACTUAL COMBAT." Said Bagman
"Okay, I need to go on the offensive, anything you can add to my knowledge of dragons would really help right now."
"Okay, I just remembered something important. The wings, aim for the wings. Not the bone structure or the part that connects to the back, like with the tail. The dragon skin that makes up the wings are more like a bat wing than anything else. The skin is stretched extremely thin and weakest there. If you tear a big enough hole in the wing, you can ground it and prevent it from taking off back into the air."
"I want you to know that if this works, I will literally do whatever it is that you want. I will owe you anything that you want, if I can make it happen, you can have it."
"I will keep that in mind, not just try not to get us killed!"
Harry stopped running and turned around to face the dragon. The magical beast was in the air, about 75 feet about him, the wings flapping, and its mouth opens for a roar. In a moment of quick thinking, Harry banished a large rock into the mouth of the dragon, forcing the mouth of the Dragon to remain open. The Dragon tried to breathe fire, but the fire was unable to get the air needed to ignite and backed up into the Dragon's throat in a burst of smoke.
Turning his attention to the wings of the dragon, Harry sent a couple of "Slash Caelesti" at the wings, hoping to clip them. He was not disappointed when he managed to cause a small slice on the left wing. The dragon didn't fall from the sky, instead, it spat the rock in its mouth out at him, forcing Harry to once again dodge.
Refusing to give up and get killed by a dragon, Harry continued his assault on the dragon's wings. He finally landed a blow that caused the dragon to fall, punching a soccer ball hole in the left wing, using the slice that he had put earlier as a basis to punch through the hole cleanly.
"Okay kid, you got it on the ground. Now, what's the next plan of action?"
"The new plan is the old pl- "Harry had begun to say something when he was met with the amazing pain of getting bitch slapped by a tail of a dragon. It sent him crashing into the wall of the arena, not too far from where he had been cutting into the ground. The only thing that had saved him from certain death was the last-second cushion of air that he used to soften the blow. But that only turned the blow from fatal to extremely painful.
"Please, tell me that you got the numbers of that bus?" asked a dizzy Harry
"Yeah, the number w DRAGON" shouted the Sorting Hat
"Fuck this, that's it, it dies now"
"DO YOU SEE THIS? HARRY POTTER JUST SURVIVED A HIT BY A BLOODY DRAGON. OH! THIS IS AN EVENT FOR THE AGES. THIS IS AN INSTANT CLASSIC … "Bagman continued on brown-nosing
Harry moved back to his nearly finished circle cut into the ground and looked as the dragon sent another blast of fire at him.
"ventilabis omnipotens (Almighty Push)"
The flames raced toward him before they might a magical barrier that stopped them. The strain this time was worse than before. Harry started bleeding from his nose as the magic draining spell was used for the second time in the last 6 minutes.
"You need to finish this circle and get into the air"
Harry agreed and as he maintained the barrier stopping the fire, he points his want at the cuts he made earlier and continued his work. The pressure inside his body twisted and he lost control of the barrier, luckily the fire from the dragon died out before it could reach him. He blasted the ground and the circle broke up from the ground. Harry jumped on top of it and levitated it up into the air.
The dragon roared once again, shaking the arena and the roars of the crowd below filled Harry's eyes, but he had a job to do, and that was to kill this dragon. Moving the slab closer to the dragon, Harry braced himself. The dragon seeing the flying piece of earth blasted it with its flames. Harry wobbled as the magic he used to levitate the stone platform was being disrupted. The platform tilted to one side, and Harry slipped and tumbled off of the edge. Grabbing on with his hands, Harry focused on keeping the stone airborne as he hung from the floating stone about 8 feet above the dragon. Letting go of the stone with his left hand, he grabbed the sword and pulled it free of the container that he made for it.
With the sword in hand, he began to swing his leg back and forth. Swinging, Harry used a burst of his wind elemental ability to speed up his moment and when he felt the time was right, he let go.
"WOW! IT SEEMS THAT HARRY POTTER HAS DRAWN THE SWORD OF GRYFFINDOR AND IS ATTEMPTING TO GAIN SOME TYPE OF MOMENTUM BY SWINGING BACK AND FORTH. OH! WHAT IS THIS? IT SEEMS AS IF POTTER HAS LET GO OF THE STONE HE WAS HANGING OFF OF! HE IS FALLING TOWARDS THE DRAGON, OH MY GODS LADY AND GENTLEMEN" ranted Bagman
Harry was falling towards the dragon, and with his extra control of magic, had a tiny rock slam into the dragon's belly and draw the attention of its head. Dripping the sword with both hands, Harry aimed as best he could while falling. His feet missed the snout of the dragon and he panicked a bit. However, where his feet missed, the sword in his hands did not. The swords slid into the roof of the dragon, like a hot knife through butter.
The force of him stabbing the dragon in the mouth and his body falling called the dragon to fall forward. The hanging 14-year-old panted as he fell another 20 feet and landed on his feet.
CRACK! CRACK! "AAAAAHHHHH!"
His left arm, the one that had been holding onto the sword broke at the elbow. His right ankle of his had snapped under the pressure of his landing. Somehow, he hadn't lost his wand and quickly he cast a numbing spell on his ankle. He reached out with his right arm and pulled the sword out of the dragon's snout.
"POTTER HAS DONE IT! HE HAS SLAIN A DRAGON! IF I HAD NOT SEEN IT WITH MY OWN EYES, I WOULD NOT BELIEVE IT TO BE TRUE! NEVER IN MY LIFE WOULD I HAVE BELIEVED THAT A BOY AS YOUNG AS HARRY POTTER WAS CAPABLE OF SLAINING A FULLY-GROWN DRAGON! LET ALONE LIVE TO TELL THE TALE!" Chanted Bagman.
Harry couldn't hear the chants of "Potter! Potter! Potter!" from the crowds, mostly because he pain in his elbow made him unable to hear the sound. It really hurt him, when he missed the sound of the dragon lifting its head from the ground. It was only after Harry heard the roar that he turned to see that while the dragon was on its last legs, it was still alive for the time being.
As it reared its head back, ready to set fire to the threat in front of it, the Sorting Hat spoke to Harry.
"Quick, before it can breathe the flames, do something"
Harry didn't need to be told twice, he dropped the sword and pointed his wand hand at the dragon.
The massive dome of air appeared around the dragon's head right as it unleashed the last blast of flames that it ever would. The flames hit the bubble of air around the dragon's head and created a limited supernova. The head of the dragon was cooked by the intense heat of the flames and after a minute, Harry watched as the charred head hit the ground and the Dragon laid dead.
"UNBELIEVABLE! I STAND CORRECTED! POTTER HAS ALL BUT SLAIN A DRAGON TWICE IN A MATTER OF MOMENTS!" Harry just ignored Bagman at this point. He walked towards the nest of eggs and grabbed the golden egg.
Hermione made a face but said nothing more as the two of them walked towards the exit and went their separate ways.
'Why didn't he use his elemental ability against the dragon from the beginning. Seems like he forgot that he could do that' thought Hermione with a shake of her head before she snapped her head back in the direction of Harry.
"Hey, you didn't teach me anything" she complained to Harry who stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
"I just taught you the difference between magical power and magical control, many would call that common sense, but that doesn't really exist in the wizarding world" said Harry before he turned back around and continued making his way towards Fleur's room.
The walk there was quite short … mostly because it wasn't really a walk. Harry skated through the halls on on a gust of wind, all but flying through the air to his designation.
He arrived and raised his hand to knock on the door, but it opened before he could make contact with it. Fleur stood in the doorway, dressed in a soft yellow pair of dress robes. Her platinum hair was slightly damp, but still combed out and flowed down her back.
"Well, I can't say I don't appreciate the effort, but this a bit overdressed for a walkthrough of a duel" commented Harry
Fleur frowned "The dress is not for a duel, 'Arry. I was planning on popping out to Hogsmeade"
Harry's eyes lit up and he couldn't stop the smile that graces his face, the bright showing of teeth stretching widely on his face.
"Let's go then," Harry said with a hint of excitement in his tone, "Why not have a night out on the town"
Fleur gave a soft smile "You would risk it for me?"
"Absolutely," said Harry pulled on the well of magic from inside of him and he turned to the window that was built into the wall outside of her room before he vanished the window with a jab of his wand in his left and took a step out of the window.
Fleur scrambled forward and reached out to grab him as he stepped out of the empty frame of the window.
"'ARRY!" screamed Fleur, only for her eyes to widen in shock as she saw Harry standing on the very air outside of the window. His green eyes glowed brightly as she could feel the magic radiating from his body, his magic flooding the air.
Harry grabbed Fleur's hand and she couldn't resist the tug from him and she stepped out onto the air. She found that the air was surprisingly solid underneath her feet.
"Now, let's go have some fun," said Harry as he summoned a strong current of wind to send them to the village outside the school. They landed a moment later, on the edge of town, hand in hand.
Chapter 8
Fleur felt quite relieved when Harry and her feet landed back on solid ground, the pair of them landing on the outskirts of Hogsmeade.
"Where do you want to go?" asked Harry as his magic stopped flaring and wrapped around the two of them, shielding them from the colder weather of the fall weather.
Fleur bit her lip, her silvery blonde hair was a bit of a mess due to the wild trip here, walking on air was not the ideal way to keep your hair in peak condition for a night out.
"How about we get a drink and a bite to eat, go from there" suggested Fleur after a moment of thinking.
Harry nodded and used the hand was was still interlocked with Fleur's, to lead her into the village.
Fleur frowned when they walked pass The Three Broomsticks and up the small walking path into the other side of the town.
The Hog's Head was not where Fleur had been expecting them to stop, this place was far from the gleaming shiny Three Broomsticks that they had passed on the way here.
A worn-out wooden sign hangs over the door, advertising with a "wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it"
Fleur glanced at Harry who opened the door for her and allowed her to walk inside ahead of him.
The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be earthy, maybe it was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries, who could say.
Harry led them to a booth and slipped into one side as Fleur slipped into the booth across from him.
"So, why did you chose this charming place" said Fleur as neutrally as she could as her eyes wandered over the dirty bar room.
"This place is actually really great" said Harry, "I love it here, it's private and nothing that happens here will ever be mentioned outside of this place"
Fleur made a "hmm" noise, she could appreciate the idea of a slightly shittier place if it would allow her to lower her guard.
The barman came out of a back room and made his way over towards them. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long gray hair and beard, he wore a plain black robe. He looked rather familiar to Fleur, but she couldn't put her finger on where she had seen him before.
"What can I get ya" he asked in a grumbling tone
Harry gestured for Fleur to order first, which was something she did without hesitation.
"I would like a pitcher of Butterbeer and a large basket of frites" ordered Fleur with ease and Harry dropped a trio of galleons on the table that the bartender swiped off the table and matched back to the kitchen, most likely to whip up Fleur's order.
"So, french fries huh?" asked Harry with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"They are … I believe the term is 'guilty pleasure' in English" replied Fleur with a slight blush on her face.
"No need to be embarrassed, I like it" said Harry, "it makes you more approachable knowing that that the Perfect Fleur Delacour eats something as normal as french fries"
Fleur pouted, "I'm not perfect"
Harry reached across the table, grabbing her right hand in his left hand, a surge of worth as his magic washed through their touching hands to feel her own magic. For Fleur, it felt much like when she first got her wand, a flooding of pleasant warmth that reminder her of a gentle spring breeze.
For Harry, the feeling was more like when he first realized that he could control winds as an elemental, a feeling of euphoria bubbled in his stomach, begging to be released out into the world.
"You might not see it, but to me, you are perfect" the words left Harry's mouth before he could stop them.
Fleur's face twisted into one of surprise and she wanted to pull her hand back, but the mingling of their magic was creating a feeling that she didn't want to end, if she was being honest. While Harry's words were far from ideal, they weren't a let down either.
"Perfect is a lot to live up to" muttered Fleur, "People love to throw that label at me like I have no flaws"
"When I saw perfect, I don't mean flawless Fleur" replied Harry, "I mean when I look at you, I see how great you are, I see your weaknesses along with your strengths and I accept all of it"
"And what do you think my weakness is?" asked Fleur, more than curious about what this young man across from her thought her weakness would be.
"I think that your weakness is that you think that you have to do everything alone. Your Veela nature has made you weary of people trying to use you, people want to be able to stake a claim to you, say that they've had you under their belt. It's disgusting that so many people are interested in how you look that nobody is interested in getting to know the real you" answered Harry
Fleur was a bit taken back by how accurate Harry had managed to read her, even if that was only a surface reading of who she was.
"I would say that is mostly right" confirmed Fleur with a small smile, "But what do you think is my biggest strength then?"
The bartender came back and placed a large webbed basket of fries in between the two of them. There was a thin piece of wax paper between the webbed basket and the steaming lengths of potato, the paper dripped with grease.
A second later, a large pitcher of bubbling golden liquid and a pair of cups were also placed on the table.
"If ya need anything else, give me a wave" grunted the bartender before he walked off, leaving the two of them alone once more.
Harry reach out and poured himself a cup of butterbeer, taking a sip before looking at Fleur who had a handful of fries in her left hand and was popping them one by one into her mouth with her right hand.
"As for what I think your best strength is, I would say it is the same as your weakness" answered Harry
"How does that work?" asked Fleur between munches of fry
"You're your own pillar of strength, you don't need anyone to do anything for you. You are very much your own person, you're not looking to blend into the crowd, you want to be yourself." explained Harry, "There is something special about not faking who you are to fit in"
Fleur chuckled, " I needed you to get the job that I currently have now, I would be homeless without your help"
"I'm not 'anyone', I'm me" replied Harry with a cheeky lopsided smile, a gleam of laughter in his green eyes.
"Okay, so you have a decent grasp on who I am, but what about you?" asked Fleur as she helped herself to some butterbeer.
"My greatest strength is that I know what I must do and how to do it" answered Harry, "I know that I have to defeat Voldemort and I have a pretty good idea of how it needs to be done, the time just hasn't arrived yet"
Fleur raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you die?"
Harry let out a laugh, "Me? No. Voldemort has never managed to kill me. The dude fears me more than anything"
"But he sent your severed head back after the tournament" protested Fleur, "If that's not killing you, what is?"
"Actually killing me" said Harry with a smile that said something that Fleur didn't understand.
Fleur rolled her eyes and sipped on her glass before asking, "And your biggest weakness?"
"I like to think it's my charming personality" joked Harry before the smile slipped from his face and he grew a bit serious, "When you know what you have to do to save the world, there is a lot of pressure to do what everyone knows you have to do. The issue with me is will I have the will to do what needs to be done, will I be able to cast the spell when I have nothing left to give"
Fleur nodded, her eyes looking at bit spaced out, "I guess I never thought about it like that. Everyone is looking at you to save them, that's a lot for a 15 year old to deal with"
"16 years old and I turn 17 in a couple of months, or do we still go by the calender date? Time turners throw off a lot" mused Harry after he corrected Fleur's claim of his age.
Fleur rolled her eyes again and continued to devour the french fries until there was none left, before they ordered another and another in between bits of casual chatter, nothing even close to as serious as Harry's words on his weakness.
"You ready to head out?" asked Harry as Fleur drained the last of her butterbeer.
"Yeah, this was nice. I needed this break from being locked away in a tall tower" joked Fleur
"I would have freed you, but you already dealt with the dragon" added Harry, "You've already ruined my fairytale"
Fleur gasped in mock horror, "I don't know how I will ever live with myself for robbing you of the opportunity to be a hero"
She put both of her hands over her heart and fake fainted in the most dramatic fashion that Harry had ever seen. And yet? It only made him smile brightly as he slid out the booth and stood up, twisting his torso to stretch, his body stiffer than normal from sitting for the past couple of hours.
"Come on, let's swing by the chocolate shop before we head back up to the castle" said Harry as he extended his hand to help her out of the booth.
She linked arms with him and as the two of them walked out of the shady bar, she said, "Chocolate? You're most certainly a villain for my waistline, first the fries and now sweets."
Harry let out a huff of laughter at the french witch's words as they walked out into the chilly evening night.
"It's a bit darker than I would have thought" commented Fleur, "Isn't it only 6?"
Harry nodded and he withheld the frown that threatened as he something in the wind. But he let it go, this was a magical city filled with magical people. It could literally be anything in the world.
The duo walked down the path back towards the more popular part of the town, Harry let out a sigh and allowed his wand to slip into his left hand.
"You can come out now, I wasn't sure what or who was out there, but you can't hide from me anymore" said Harry as he gripped his wand, stepping in front of Fleur as he prepared for the fight.
A dozen people allowed their disillusion charms to drop and Fleur hissed in surprise at seeing the number of people surrounding them. They all wore black hoods and masks with snake-like eye slits to cover their faces. These were the infamous Death Eaters that followed Voldemort, she had seen pictures of them in the newspaper, but this was her first time seeing them up close.
If Harry was any type of nervous, he didn't show it as he glanced around at the 12 people and shook his head.
"Is Tom that afraid of me that he willing sends 12 people to their deaths?" he asked with mock pity.
"Ickle Potty should watch his mouth" hissed one of the masked death eaters, an anger in her tone that left zero question as to who it was.
"Is that little Bella?" asked Harry, "I almost didn't recognize you, maybe if you turn around and let me get a good look at your ass, I'll recognize you quicker because I'm used to seeing you run away"
Bellatrix snarled but didn't make a move against him, which was a sign that something was wrong.
"You're acting like a leased dog, Bella" commented Harry, "So, you've come to see me in person, Tom"
The tallest of the group removed their mask, revealing the pale snake-like face of Lord Voldemort, his red eyes narrowed in a glare as he looked at Harry.
Harry gave Voldemort, a cheeky smile and said "Nice, to see you too Tom, you're looking slender. I have to ask about your diet before we part ways"
"Harry Potter" greeted Voldemort
"As I live and breath" replied Harry
"You shouldn't be doing either of those, Potter" spat Voldemort, "I killed you and yet here you are"
"Dying only makes me stronger" joked Harry as his face twisted into one as sinister as any that Voldemort has ever made.
"Let's put that to the test then" said Voldemort as he raised his wand and a pitch black bolt of magic shot out at Harry faster than a blink of the eye.
But it didn't connect as when it got close to Harry, it warped around his body and shot off at the death eater on the right, slamming into his chest and sending him crumpling to the ground, hissing in pain.
"Ouch, was that a blood boiling curse, Tom? That's gonna leave a mark, but don't worry, I have a solution" said Harry darkly as he pointed his finger at the downed death eater.
"Bang" said Harry as the air in front of his finger grew so cold that it created a shard of ice that shot forward and punched right through the death eater's mask.
Voldemort looked at Harry with anger, and all Harry could do was shrug in response.
"His blood isn't boiling anymore, I said I had solution. I never said you would like it" snickered Harry before he yawned and everyone stiffened prepare for another wind based attack.
"You're different" commented Voldemort, "You're not the same Harry Potter that I faced in the graveyard"
"I grew up" replied Harry as he looked at the ten death eaters that still surrounded him before slashed his wand in a large arc, sending pure kinetic energy at the death eaters.
A flick of his wand caused the earth in front of him to rise up in a large protective wall.
A spell slammed into it, but Harry used the chunk of the earth wall in a banishing spell to slam the debris into the one of the remaining death eaters that were to the left side of the wall.
Harry whirled around as one of them tried to flank him by coming around the edge the wall, but a pure white ball of flames slammed into their chest and Harry didn't have to look back to know that Fleur had launched the flames at them.
Turning to the wall, Harry slammed his open palm into it and sent a series of earth spikes shooting out at death eaters.
Harry felt the magic warp the wall and pushed Fleur back a couple of steps as the wall vanished and Harry saw that 4 of the death eaters were dead on the ground from the earth spikes.
With the one that Fleur killed and the one that got stabbed by the ice, a total of six of the death eaters were down.
Voldemort no longer looked angry, no he was looking at Harry with a fascination that Harry had never seen from Voldemort back in his world.
"I don't know what has gotten into you, but I look forward to our next meeting Potter" said Voldemort
"Running away already, Tom?" asked Harry, but it was already too late as Voldemort popped away with Bellatrix, leaving the other death eaters behind to battle Harry and Fleur
"Are we really doing this?" asked Harry, "You guys saw what I did to the other death eaters right? Like you don't have to throw your life away for some guy who doesn't have a nose to smell how full of shit he is"
A death eater growled and sent a killing curse at Harry, how willed the air in front of him and Fleur to turn to ice, the spell hit the thin wall of ice and Harry banished the shards at the death eater who cast the spell.
7 of the 12 that had arrived were down for the count and Harry was growing more and more annoyed with the remaining bunch.
With Voldemort and Bellatrix gone, the three remaining death eaters quickly popped away themselves, leaving behind their defeated comrade's bodies.
Harry turned to Fleur, "Are you okay?"
Fleur nodded, "I think so, that was …"
Harry cut her off, "It was less than ideal, I know but there was nothing that I really could have done about it. I mean, I had no idea how they knew where we were or -"
This time, it was Fleur, who silenced Harry and his rambling by stepping closer to him and kissing him.
Her lips were soft, the trickle of her french fry and butterbeer breath into Harry's mouth was equally sweet and intoxicating. She widened her lips slightly and swiped her tongue across his bottom lip and he got the message, opening his mouth ever so slightly more, her tongue slipped into his mouth.
It was gentle tho, there was no angry aggressive wrestle like Harry had experienced back in his home world from plenty of different woman. No, Fleur's tongue entered his mouth and slowly, playfully made its way around. Harry's hands reached out and grabbed Fleur by the waist, tugging her closer until her body was firmly pressed against his own.
The only reason that they stopped was the coughing that was used to draw their attention. They separated and Harry turned to glare at whoever had interrupted them. But he couldn't be all that angry when he saw Dumbledore and several of the staff members accompanied by an entire squad of Aurors.
The reason that he couldn't be mad was that he had indeed made the place, a bit … corpse-y. The dark magic cast by Voldemort, on top of the killing curse must have alerted Dumbledore and the Ministry to the attack.
"Hey guys" greeted Harry, his hands leaving Fleur's waist as he stepped forward towards the group.
"As you can see, the situation is all good" continued Harry with a wave of his hands, the gesture pointing out all of the dead death eaters.
"It seems that Mr. Potter has indeed dealt with the situation, even if it is not the method that I would prefer" stated Dumbledore
One of the Aurors, a smaller man with a face that looked like he spent a lot of time squinting, stepped forward, "We're going to need to get your statement and then perform Prior Incantato Maximus to see all spells cast in the last 15 mins"
Harry rolled his eyes, but still handed over his wand, showing that he didn't cast anything dark or dangerous. Fleur did as well after the short auror turned towards her, with his hand extended.
The aurors split them up and took down their individual statements before regrouping and comparing them. They must have been very similar because the auror released them to Dumbledore and they started roping off the scene and examining the death eaters' bodies.
Harry looked over the group of Hogwarts staff present, noting that it was core group from his world. Professor Flitwick, McGonagall, and Sprout were all present, which was normal for the situation. No, it was who was missing that drew Harry's ire, because in his world and every other world that exists, Snape was always present, the creepy potions master never missed an opportunity to take a dig at Harry.
They walked back to the castle in silence, the professors threw glances at Harry every now and then as if he was going to go on a murderous rampage. Once they arrive, Harry informed Dumbledore that he was going to walk Fleur back to her room before meeting with him in the headmaster's office.
And thus began a super slow walk back up to her room tucked away in the tower, Harry didn't want to part from Fleur's company, but he had to have a discussion with Dumbledore about something he felt was important.
"I'm sorry about what happened" said Harry, once again apologized, but Fleur was having none of it.
"You need to stop, there is nothing that you could have done to prevent this" countered Fleur, "You already saved my life today, save my ears from your apologizes"
Harry gave her a soft smile as they climbed the stairs, her room going ever closer and he wanted to drag his feet but he knew that there would be time later.
"I'll make it up to you" promised Harry as they stopped in front of her room, they both turned to face each other but Harry wasn't the one to make the first move once again.
Fleur's lips were upon him in an instant, they were desperate and hungry, but in the time that it took for them to attack his lips, they were gone.
Despite Fleur pulling back to pull herself from Harry's lips, she leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"You're lucky that you have a conversation with Dumbledore or I would rock your world" hissed Fleur in his ear before she pulled back and opened her door, slipping in and closing it without looking back at Harry.
Harry bit his lip in disappointment before he shook his head and a sly smile graced his face.
"That sly minx" commented Harry before he turned around and made his way back through the castle towards Dumbledore.
The gargoyle leapt to the side as he approached and he climbed the spiral staircase, making his way to the door at the top and opening the door to the headmaster's office without waiting for Dumbledore to do his little trick and say to come in.
Dumbledore was already behind the desk, his attention trained not on Harry, but on a journal in his hands.
"Busy?" asked Harry
Dumbledore looked up, "No, this is just an update provided to me by my network, it seems Voldemort has a new mission at the moment."
Harry looked at the journal, "Is that a two way journal? Allowing you and whoever has the other one to pass along information by writing in it?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes and the ruins on it make it impossible for anyone other than myself and the person I give it to, to read and write in it"
"Interesting" commented Harry
Dumbledore closed the journal, placing it down on his desk and sat up a bit straighter in his chair, "As marvelous a piece of magic that this is, you did not come to my office to get inspiration on how to pass notes in class more efficiently. How can I help you?"
Harry yawned before asking, "The wards, who is able to access them?"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "Not the question that I thought you were going to ask. If you are referring to the castle's wards, only I am able to make an alternation to the wards."
"But what about other things? Like sensing students coming and going from the school? I know that when dark magic is cast that all of the teachers are alerted to the casting of said spell" questioned Harry, probing Dumbledore for answers.
"Yes, each professor in the school has the ability to feel when a student leaves the grounds. It is to make sure that if any of the students were to ever go missing, we would instantly know who it is" answered Dumbledore
Harry nodded as if he already knew the answer that Dumbledore gave, like he wanted to hear it for himself.
"Ok, last question of the day before we both head off for bed, where is your little pet death eater? I couldn't help but notice that when you and the aurors came to check out what was happening, that he was missing" asked Harry
Dumbledore frowned, "Harry, you don't understand Professor Snape's role and importance. He plays a vital role in making sure that we stay in front of the Voldemort situation"
Harry scoffed, "I think I understand more than you think, Professor"
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and sighed, "Professor Snape risks his life every day for the greater good of the world, Harry. While I understand that the Snape in your world left a lot to be desired, you'll find that this world's version is a much different person"
"And why do you say that?" challenged Harry
"Because Severus Snape betrayed his dark lord master because of his love for this world's Lily Potter" answered Dumbledore
Harry let out a laugh that echoed off the walls of the room and his magic flared as he lost control of his emotions.
Dumbledore stared at the laughing teen, waiting for him to regain control of his ability to breath, waiting for him to say anything.
"You're joking Dumbledore, right?" said a recovered Harry after a moment of regathering himself, the question being rhetorical
"I'm afraid that I am not saying that in jest, Harry. The only reason that your parents of this world even knew of Voldemort's attention and desire to attack them was because Snape came to me to warn them" answered Dumbledore anyway.
"Only after he told Voldemort about the part of the prophecy that he overheard, the same prophecy information that put the target on the backs of my parents, right?" asked Harry
Dumbledore didn't answer, his face unreadable, but Harry didn't care about the old headmaster's emotions.
"Allow me to tell you a tale, Professor" said Harry before he continued on without waiting for Dumbledore's permission.
"There was a young boy and girl who were the best of friends, the boy comes from a broken home where his mom and dad don't like each other and the girl comes from a very ordinary home with a whiny sister and busy yet doting parents.
Both of these kids were magical, the boy expecting it coming from a magical family, but the girl is a first generation witch. They're set to go to the same school and they do, but they get sorted into different houses. The girl, the house of the brave, the boy, the house of cunning. They remain friends for years, while things go different ways for them both.
The house of cunning is full of dark promises of power and an allure for those who which to grow strong. The house of brave is full of self righteous bullheaded people who would sooner run through the wall than walk around it.
So, what happens to the boy and girl? Well the boy falls into a crowd and seeking their approval, starts to adopt their various mindsets and practices. He becomes racist, practices and creates dark magic, magic that has but one purpose, to hurt people.
He get bullied by those same people for being this guy who hates muggleborns, yet has one as his best friend. He is bullied by other houses for hanging out with future death eaters and being a little creep. Then he ruins his friendship with the long of his life by calling her a racial slur.
Then what does he do? He finished school and joins the magic Nazis, being nothing more than an terrorist harming the demographic of the person he claims to love. And then he really fucks up, overhearing a prophecy and delivering it to the big bad boss, not caring that he is putting a massive target on a baby and its parents.
He finds out that his boss is planning to attack the woman that he so called loves and begs his boss to spare her but kill the husband and child. The boss agrees to it and yet, he runs away to the other side's boss, pleading with him to save her. The leader of the light agrees, but only after reminding the little snake that there is more than just the woman, but her husband and child as well.
The family is attacked, the dark lord offers to spare the woman if she steps aside, but she can't just let him kill her baby, so he kills her. Then the snake arrives at the aftermath scene, steps over the dead husband, walking up to her dead body as her living child cries in the crib in the same room. Yet he hugs the dead woman, ignoring the baby, before ransacking the house for things to keep, things that remind him of her.
But the story doesn't end there, no the snake is given a second chance. The leader of the light always sees the best in people and offers him a lifeline. The snake gets to hide from the world in the massive shadow of leader of the light and work at a school. But instead of making the best of his chances, he's a bitter man who emotionally and verbally abuses 75 percent of the school children.
From allowing his house's students to attack other students, to giving detentions for breathing too loud, to threatening to test bad potions on students' pets, to looking at hexed students and saying he sees no difference.
And the worst part is, when the dark lord returns, he can't even lie to him about certain things, his oath bounds him to provide the dark lord the truth about things he is asked. Like say, when the child of prophecy leaves the school grounds. How do you think that the death eaters knew where I was Dumbledore?" finished Harry
Dumbledore was very pale by the end of the rant and he seemed disappointed to hear Harry's words.
"There is more to Severus than that" whispered Dumbledore
"But was anything that I said incorrect" challenged Harry
"I think I am ready for bed, Harry" said Dumbledore as he stood up, the somber expression on his face made Harry feel a flash of guilt but the massive pit of anger that he carried that for Snape consumed it instantly.
Before Dumbledore walked into his bed chamber connected to his office, he looked over his shoulder at Harry who had his back turned to him as he opened the door to leave the office, and said "Sometimes you do everything wrong and never know it Harry, Snape knew he was wrong but felt he had no choice but to do what was wrong. Someday, you'll understand that his path might be even worse than the first"
Harry didn't say anything as he opened the door and left. Dumbledore sighed and entered his own chamber, the mental exhaustion catching up with him.