Fleur’s Surprise

Training

The Great Hall was almost empty already. Harry and Hermione sat at the end of the Gryffindor table to start their lunch, not paying any attention to the few students still in the hall, knowing they all opposed Harry.

"Harry, Hermione, I was worried about you," they heard Neville. Raising their eyes they saw Neville sitting down across the table from them. "Are you two alright?"

Harry seemed surprised by the concern in Neville's voice. Nobody seemed to care about him before, except for Hermione. "We're fine, Neville. Why were you worried?"

"I've seen you go after that French champion and you then disappeared. You didn't come back to the dorms and I couldn't find you at the library or anywhere else for that matter. I was afraid she did something to you."

Harry smiled at his dorm mate. "She only talked with us, enlightening me on some of my family's history. I then went with Hermione to the library and then we had a discussion about what we've read. Nothing to worry about."

Neville looked still unsure of himself, which was no news really. "You know, I wrote to my Gran and told her about what happened. She wrote back, telling me that you're probably right, that somebody else put your name in without your consent. She also reminded me that the Longbottoms are long-time allies of the Potters and I should stick with you."

"Is that why you're suddenly interested in me?" Harry couldn't keep some sarcasm out of his voice.

"No, honestly. I believed you from the start. I was just not brave enough to say it openly. I needed my Gran's push for that." Neville's face fell. "I'm sorry to have disappointed you. I'll try to do better in the future."

Harry smiled at him. He knew Neville was always honest, although not as brave as he would have liked to be. "That's alright, Nev. I know it's not easy to be friends with me."

Harry offered his hand and Neville shook it solemnly. A moment later he took his leave. "I see you two need to discuss things some more. I'll be in the dorms if you need me."

Hermione looked a bit confused. "Do we need to discuss anything?"

"You still haven't told me about your conversation with Fleur," Harry reminded her.

"Oh, that... Well, how about we walk around the lake after lunch and I'll tell you about it?"

"OK, it's a date," Harry said jokingly.

Hermione missed the humour. "It would be nice dating you, except this tournament, or your part in it, makes it impractical."

This made Harry think. They had both confessed loving each other and they had stayed naked with each other. Hermione had even jerked him off, which he didn't know how to repay. That was more than most boyfriends and girlfriends his age were doing. And Fleur called Hermione his girlfriend. Could she be right? Well, he certainly liked the idea of Hermione being his girlfriend and as such, he was expected to date her.

"I believe we could squeeze a few dates in," he told her. "I'd like to give my girlfriend some good time, you know."

This earned him a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek, while Hermione's eyes promised some more to come.

They walked to the lake's shore soon after finishing lunch, staying away from the Durmstrang ship, where many Quidditch enthusiasts and even more fan-girls were waiting for a chance to see Viktor Krum. Harry reached for her hand and she was glad to hold hands with him.

"So, what have you two talked about?" Harry prompted, once they were far enough from others.

"About us – you and I."

Harry raised a brow.

"Fleur told me that you must be deeply in love with me, just as I am with you." Hermione blushed a bit when she said this. Talking about such personal matters didn't come to her naturally.

"How could she know?"

This was much easier for Hermione to talk about, repeating Fleur's explanations.

"So, what you basically say is that the fact that we two stayed immune to her allure proved that we're in love?"

"So she said."

Harry thought for a moment. "Well, I'm certainly in love with you, and it's not because I saw you naked. It just made me realize my feelings. I know you don't think much of yourself beauty-wise, but still, with both you and Fleur near me, I felt attracted only to you, although I'm fully aware of Fleur's beauty and s*x-appeal."

Whatever he intended to say next was stopped by the bushy-hair girl snogging him passionately as a reward for what he said. It was only a few minutes later that they could breathe again and some more time before they could talk.

"Fleur also told me that I should make sure you are engaged or married before your eighteenth birthday, so that you won't have to marry her or her sister unless you wanted to. That reminds me – we need to read the contract attentively to make sure you won't be forced to do anything you won't want to do."

"We can just sit here and read it," Harry suggested.

"No, that would be unwise. A gust of wind may take it out of your hand or somebody may come near. It's better if we go to that room we've used before lunch."

Harry didn't object. Although there was no need for Hermione to undress this time, just sitting close together and snuggling into each other was more than good enough.

Hermione made the sofa and the table as before, not needing the other pieces of furniture she had previously transfigured. They sat on the sofa and read the contract. It wasn't too bad, really. As it had been drafted with only good intentions, it left many a leeway for the affected persons to get out of the contract in case they had previous obligations or the age difference was too big, transferring the contract to the next in line.

"I think Fleur's sister is more than five years younger than you, so she could reject you or you could reject her based on age difference only. You won't be able to do it with Fleur, though," Hermione noted.

"If Fleur gets engaged before she turns eighteen, then she would be exempt from this contract, unless she and her mate would like to share," Harry added. He knew he wouldn't like to share whomever he married, which seemed to be Hermione at the moment, and his tone reflected this.

"Well, you also could get engaged before turning eighteen. The contract will then pass to your children," Hermione added.

"I don't think I'd like to burden our children with such a contract," Harry responded, not noticing the implied meaning.

"What do you think to do then?"

"I think I'll marry you as soon as I can, if you accept me, of course. We then may consider adding Fleur as a second wife, if we both find her acceptable."

This gained him another snog session, much longer than before.

With the marriage contract out of the way, Hermione set her mind back to the more pressing problem – the first task of the tournament.

"Are you sure they didn't mention what it would be?" she asked.

"I'm sure. They stated that it should stay unknown as it is intended to test our courage," Harry replied, not sure where she was heading.

"I can't help you train without knowing what you're going to face. There are just too many possibilities to cover in such a short time!" She thought for a while before sighing. "Well, we shall have to work on using the most powerful charms and curses, so you may handle whatever danger lurks there."

They continued to use that room daily, only now it served as a training room, with transfigured target dummies, some of them animated. Hermione would spend hours in the library, researching all spell books she could find, and then some more time in the room, teaching Harry how to use those spells efficiently. Neville would join the training once in a while, proving to be more powerful than anybody suspected.

Hermione tried to help by duelling Harry, only to find she was no match for him. His fast reflexes proved to be more important than her superior knowledge of the spells. He could shield or dodge quicker than she could cast and she never managed to beat him in a duel. Neville proved to be a better match. Although not as agile as Harry, he was still much faster than Hermione and almost as powerful when using spells he knew well.

They were surprised when the Weasley twins offered to help. "We know you don't want to compete, and most Gryffs are finally starting to understand that as well."

Harry accepted their help. They knew more spells than even Hermione and their twisted way of thinking proved beneficial in preparing him for the task ahead. Still, he could duel any of them and quickly win. He had more problems when duelling them both, but not for long. Harry was soon able to win even these duels. Adding Neville and Hermione in only slowed him a bit, yet it proved very beneficial for them.

As the training progressed, Hermione's speed increased and her aim improved. She would probably never be as agile as Harry, but she was slowly turning into the best dueller in their year, except for Harry. Neville was also improving, mainly in confidence. He even tried duelling the twins a few times. He managed to win some of the duels, even against the two of them together. This earned him a lot of respect and raised his confidence considerably.

Hermione was quite proud of Harry's progress, but was still apprehensive of not knowing more about the task ahead.

It was after Friday dinner that Fleur approached them once again. She didn't use her allure this time. "May we talk after dinner?" she asked.

"Same class as before in half an hour," Harry suggested.

Fleur nodded and returned to her table.

They met as agreed. Hermione cast the locking and privacy charms before they sat again to talk.

"My father was looking at the situation from the legal side. As you may eventually turn his son-in-law, he is very concerned about you. One thing he is already sure of is that by being forced to participate in the tournament you were officially emancipated. This means you can gain control over all your possessions and titles; you are no longer restricted by the underage magic laws; you need a guardian no longer and you can legally marry if you choose so."

Harry was silent for a moment. "Wow! That's a lot to think about!"

Hermione was more practical. "What does he need to do to gain all his rights?"

"Well, my father knows the French system best, not the British one. He suggests going to Gringotts first. The goblins would be able to tell you exactly what you already own and what you need to do."

"How can we go to Gringotts? We're stuck in school until the end of term," Harry noted.

"You're not. You have Hogsmeade weekends. I can apparate with both of you to London and then back, if you want me to, or you may just use the Floo."

Harry knew that he could use the Floo from the headmaster's office, but he didn't feel like letting the old man know of all that was happening in his life. "I'd rather trust you to take us to London," he said.

"We can just go to Hogsmeade tomorrow morning and apparate from a secluded place there," Fleur suggested.