Harry Potter: The Slayer - Chapter 2 - Enter, The Sister (Patreon)

I don’t own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Chapter 2 - Enter, The Sister

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Harry’s alarm spell activated to wake him up bright and early the following morning… or what would’ve been bright and early back in Europe... As things stood, Harry was preparing to run his morning jog at what amounted to Ten Pm in British Columbia. Thankfully for Harry, magical redwood trees are bioluminescent and his boardwalk came complete with interspersed magical lanterns. When you take into consideration the clear night sky and the nearly full moon, he would have plenty of light to run by. 

It was a nice night, so Harry sat on the top step of his back deck, allowing the night sounds to ease away some of his current tension.

“I take eet you also run every seengle morning,” a feminine voice suddenly called out. 

“Magic can’t truly replace good cardio,” Harry replied in what he hoped was a cheerful voice. Damn… Having Fleur join him was going to defeat the entire purpose... 

“..............Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“No Fleur,” Harry called out, mentally cursing himself for forgetting Fleur’s skillset. Now he was going to have to be very, very honest to make up for his insincerity. “No Fleur... Never. I’ve missed you, and I know I’ll regret not taking any opportunity to spend time with you. I just... I need to sprint through the woods like a man possessed right now...”

“Eef you conjure me a decent pair of running shoes, zen I’ll race you,” Fleur whispered, allowing her voice to carry the same kind of tension that Harry was feeling. 

“Bring me those feet then,” Harry demanded as he collapsed onto his back on the deck. Soon enough, Fleur was sitting on a nearby railing with one of her feet resting on his chest. 

“So forward about your kinks,” Fleur teased as Harry grabbed her foot with one hand and then conjured a shoe with the other. 

“Says the woman who decided to step on me,” Harry immediately countered with a grin. 

Snickers, giggles and a single little snort filled the dimly lit backyard as Harry rose to his feet and handed over the running shoes. As it turns out, Fleur had already raided Harry’s wardrobe for exercise gear and then magically resized it all to fit her. 

“You always have had a thing about stealing my clothes,” Harry complained in a bewildered tone. “I’d run around looking for this sweater or that t-shirt, only to find you wearing it at a tenth its normal size.”

For several moments in a row, Fleur was far too busy laughing to even respond to Harry’s complaints. When she did, it was while shaking her head and wiping a tear from her eyes. “I did eet to get a rise out of you, ‘Arry. Eet was ze only time I ever saw you visibly flustered. I’d take one of your t-shirts, shrink eet down until eet was leetle more zan a sports bra, and zen watch you struggle to be nonchalant about eet. You were always such a faithful lover to Ginevra, eet made you an almost eeresistable target. Veela love to tease, but only when eet’s a challenge.”

“I always suspected you were teasing me on purpose,” Harry admitted, “but I always thought it was Ginny that you were trying to annoy. It’s possible you never noticed, but she used to sulk for hours when you did stuff like that.”

“A secondary bonus,” Fleur waved off with a malicious little smile. “Een a world zat ‘as so many varieties of eenstantaneous magical travel, I did not appreciate ze excuses Ginevra gave to justify staying away for long periods…”

“Makes me feel foolish when I think about it,” Harry admitted with a shrug. “Especially now, with my side career forcing me to Apparate all around the world several times a day..” 

“I can’t judge because I was equally blind regarding Bill,” Fleur replied while lacing up her shoes. “After I walked away, he came to France and tried to abduct me right out of my parents’ home.”

“Did you really kill him then?”

“.........Yes.”

“Good.”

“You’re my favorite, ‘Arry…”

“I know…”

As she rose to her feet, Fleur took a half step in Harry’s direction. Without a thought, Harry did the same. They froze just inches from each other. They stared at each other for an electrically charged moment in time. Then Fleur groaned and pressed her forehead against Harry’s diaphragm. 

“I’m sorry Fleur,” Harry whispered into the silence. 

“Non, ‘Arry. You’re good,” Fleur murmured without looking up from Harry’s stomach. “Wiz ze mojo my body’s currently throwing around, any ozzer man would be completely eensensate wiz lust.” 

Fleur was right. Even as they stood there, her allure was wrapping Harry up like a blanket. It was a cool morning but he felt hot. It was a humid morning but his mouth was dry. It was a mistake to go anywhere near Fleur, but he didn’t want to move away. The sad thing about it was that his magic was quiet. It wasn’t offering the passive protection it usually offered. It couldn’t. His attraction was real... 

“No Fleur… I am sorry,” Harry offered meaningfully as he took a single step backwards. “As it turns out, I am resistant to your allure.” Turning around, Harry started jogging into the woods.

Not long after he entered the forest, Harry heard Fleur running up behind him and then keeping pace about ten feet away. They ran the entire ten Kilometer route around his property in a silent but comfortable solidarity. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

“So… Where do you want the Runic Tattoos to be?” 

Now that they were back at the house, Harry was a hundred percent committed to staying focused on the task at hand. 

“Somewhere hidden, obviously,” Fleur immediately replied. “Eef I absolutely must make myself one of ze most eelegal zings on ze face of ze planet, I’d razzer not broadcast eet to ze world.”

“Okay that narrows things down a bit, but it still leaves you with some options,” Harry pointed out. 

“Does ze area ‘ave any significance to the power or utility of ze Runes?”

“Good question. For the most part no.” 

“On my back zen, on top of my shoulder blades.” 

“Good choice, tasteful, almost a shame they’ll be invisible,” Harry mused to himself as he placed all of his tools on the table. 

“Do I look like ze type of woman who would get a tattoo, ‘Arry?” At this point, one of Fleur’s eyebrows was arched up almost to her hairline. 

Harry just arched an eyebrow right back at the woman. “Fleur… You look like the type of woman who does whatever the hell she wants.”

After opening her mouth into a perfect little O, Fleur suddenly threw both of her hands straight up into the air. Gods damn eet, ‘Arry! I really liked zat line!”

“I’m sorry,” Harry called out in return as he dragged a foot-pump operated tattoo gun from a box. “If it makes you feel any better, I hate me right now to.”

“Just, knock me out already,” Fleur muttered as she flounced her entire body face down upon the table. 

“You okay with me removing your shirt while you’re unconscious?” Harry wasn’t being sarcastic. This was a valid question. 

After several seconds went by, Fleur finally nodded her assent right into the wood of the table. “Yes. Just do eet. At zis point, I zink giving you free reign to my limp and unresponsive body ees actually ze safest zing to do…”

“I don’t know if that’s trust or the opposite of trust.”

…..Snicker, giggle...

“No more, ‘Arry. I am done. Put me out of my misery…”

“Stupify” 

__________________________________________________________________________

“I don’t see any-zing different,” Fleur pointed out as she pulled down her neckline to stare at her completely ordinary back in a mirror. 

”Of course you don’t. I’m a magic man with magic hands.” Harry waved a pair of wiggling jazz hands in the air. 

“Now I feel dirtied,” Fleur groused with a comically embellished glare.

“You should,” Harry immediately agreed. “While you were sleeping, I penetrated you hundreds of thousands of times.”

………………………….

………

………………….

Hahahahahahahaha!! X2

After finally calming down from one of those laughs that hurts your ribs and leaves you gasping for air, Harry and Fleur moved into the living room and Harry started charging the amulets. 

“I guess you can’t train me until you’re done wiz zose amulets,” Fleur groaned out as she melted onto his couch. 

“Channel magic into the central Rune just below your neck,” Harry instructed in a somewhat absent voice. “It’s an activator Rune that’ll help you control the other two. For now just focus on bringing that one to life, without doing what it’s going to compel you to do. If you fully activate all of the Runes, you’ll tear a Thunderdome sized hole in my living room. 

“Even Mad Max ees just a less dangerous version of ‘Arry Potter… Nowadays, I find non magical action movies a little… boring.” Even as she spoke, Fleur activated the Rune and then froze at what she felt. “Am I? Wow. I am! Ze Rune ees drawing upon ze ambient magic een ze air! I feel eet’s instructions. Zis ees such a complex and yet user friendly Rune cluster… Do you ‘aave zese Runes tattoo’d on your body as well, ‘Arry?”

“.....Nope.”

“…….Showoff…” 

After rolling onto her back, Fleur continued to study what her new Runic tattoos could accomplish. Harry spent the entire time staring at the amulets as if doing so accomplished something. It didn’t. He only did it because the alternative was to stare at Fleur’s lounging body, and in that direction lay madness…

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Pop.

“Why are we at ze strip mine aga… ohhhh. Do I get to try out ze Runes now?” Fleur bounced up and down in excitement the entire time Harry cast more warming and wind blocking spells. 

“Here and now is the best chance to try out the Runes before we re-enter society,” Harry replied with a nod. “When the Runes go live, they’ll tear the living hell out of both the floor and the walls all around you. Unlike when I do it, your defenses will solidify in a loud and extremely violent reaction, so it’s mostly suitable for life or death emergencies. With that said, please for Merlin’s sake don’t hesitate to use the Runes!” Harry couldn’t hide his concern from entering his face. He seriously hated the idea of Fleur being within even a hundred Kilometers of a Dark Lord.

“Your concern ees noted and appreciated, but France ees my country and you are… you. I’m not letting you fight alone again.” Turning away from Harry, Fleur ran about twenty feet away and then closed her eyes in concentration. It didn’t take long. 

Booooom!!

An explosion of rocks and sand flew into the air and began whirling around Fleur like a miniature cyclone. Fleur could just barely be seen inside of the mass of debris with her wand pointed at Harry and her other hand directing the rock. She looked angry, lethal, ready. 

Then Harry attacked. 

For the next two hours, Harry spam-cast hundreds of thousands of stinging hexes at Fleur, and watched her desperately direct the rocks to intercept them. At first she was atrocious at it and spent a lot of time recoiling away from his spells. Then, as befits a genius such as Fleur, she rapidly improved and began handily deflecting hundreds of spells in a flurry of frenetic movement. Over time, she even started casting back her own stinging hexes, and Harry smiled at her as he drew up some defenses of his own. Finally, when the ambient magic in the entire area was drained away to nothing, Fleur found herself completely exhausted and she collapsed to the ground on her knees. Her stone defenses flew outwards in every direction, and Harry leapt over them as he ran to her side.

“That was a fantastic start,” Harry enthusiastically called out as he scooped Fleur up off the ground and held her like a damsel. 

“A good… start,” Fleur questioned in an exhausted voice, her face leaning against Harry’s chest. She was already taking in a lot of Harry’s magic through the battery amulets that she’d forgotten to use, but it would take several minutes longer for her to bounce back. 

“Yes. A good start,” Harry repeated. “We’re done for today, but we need to do this once a day. I won’t be happy until you can block a string of Bombarda spells using only the magic that you channel from the amulets. 

“Ah, ohhh,” Fleur whispered as she realized just how difficult that would be. 

After Transfiguring a bench out of the ground, Harry lay Fleur down and then sat down next to her head. Within the next couple of seconds, the tired young lady wiggled up the bench to lay her head on his lap. 

“‘Arry… We need to talk.”

Harry immediately felt like Fleur’s head on his thigh was a ten ton weight rather than the cute and affectionate gesture it was just a single moment before. “Yes. I imagine we do…”

“Don’t be zat way, ‘Arry,” Fleur warned in an officious tone of voice. I’m not going to demand much of you.”

“This is the part where you swear me to secrecy regarding your body doing some unexpected things in response to my magic, which isn’t necessary because I’m not a jerk, and for good measure you’ll warn me not to be mean to your fiancé.” After completing a small throwaway gesture of his hand, Harry looked back down at Fleur’s pouting face. “Done. No worries.”

“My fiancé, Joseph Lareau, ees a decent man, especially given zat ee’s a full blooded male Veela and a Council member at ze enclave,” Fleur explained. “Given ‘iis rare ‘eritage and authority, ‘ee could be a terribly arrogant ass and no one would gainsay ‘iim.”

This time it was Harry’s turn to give Fleur a hard look. “Listen, Fleur… While I hold no Ill will towards your fiancé, I’m not a huge fan of people using the words ‘he could be a prick and he isn’t,’ as if that’s a glowing character reference. If this Joseph guy is good to you, then that’s all I need to know. His heritage and authority don’t mean dick to me…”

When Fleur started full power pouting with convincing amounts of real emotion on her face, Harry rolled his eyes and drew in a breath. “Fine! Fine… I’ll be super sweet to him, just you watch. You’re going to be completely disgusted with how shameless a kiss-ass I am.”

“Much better,” Fleur breathed out as a steady flow of Harry’s magic flowed into her body from within the amulets. 

Within the next twenty minutes, Harry and Fleur Apparated to the Three Broomsticks so that she could change clothes and shrink her luggage into a pocket. Then they were off to the Magical France customs terminal, so that they could enter the country in a legal fashion. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

“Welcome to France, Monsieur Potter,” a government agent called out in French as Harry and Fleur walked down the port terminal.

“It’s Lord Potter thank you,” Fleur corrected in an unbelievably polished, business professional voice. “And he has never had the inclination to learn French.”

“My apologies, Lady Delacour,” Harry interjected in flawless French as he gently patted Fleur on the waist. “Since the last time we met, I made an effort to study up on the language and admit that I’ve come to enjoy it.”

“Of course, Lord Potter,” Fleur immediately responded with just the smallest trace of frustration burning within her eyes. “I should have guessed.”

“Not at all,” Harry replied as he smiled mischievously at the unnamed functionary. “I admit, I enjoy your lightly accented English so much, I neglected to inform you…”

The male functionary immediately nodded his profound understanding of Lord Potter’s tastes, and then bowed nice and low to show the proper respect. “With compliments from Delegate Lord Anton Dupois, I have been sent to escort you to Law Enforcement Head Scheer.”

“Unfortunately,” Harry began in a truly devastated tone of voice. “There is something that I must confirm before I’ll know whether or not I’m even suited for this task. This confirmation will have to come first, before I can make any further arrangements.”

The unnamed functionary looked both shocked and appalled that Harry wasn’t going to come along with him, but he did look interested. “May I ask what this confirmation is?”

“Lady Delacour doesn’t harbor the extremes of emotion towards me that a half Veela requires to use all of her allure at full strength,” Harry smoothly lied. “I must seek out the Veela enclave first to confirm whether or not I am sufficiently tolerant.”

Fleur was doing an excellent job of concealing both her surprise and shock from her features, but her eyes were tracking back and forth between Harry and the functionary as if she was watching a tennis match. 

“Oh my… Oh Dear. How did we forget to make those arrangements for you, Lord Potter. Of course that would be your primary concern! Here. Take this.” The functionary immediately handed over a Floo address on a stylized card. “This is a communication only Floo address for those looking to make contact with Head of Law Enforcement Scheer. I do hope that you will be contacting him soon with the good news.” With yet another bow, the functionary turned in place and jogged away. It seemed the man had many calls to make and several heads were going to roll. 

“You learned perfectly unaccented French in the last three years, ‘Arry?” Off to Harry’s right, Fleur had her arms crossed under her chest, the white and pale blue dress she’d changed into making the movement a beauty to behold. 

“Of course not,” Harry immediately admitted with a grin. “A series of Runes that encircle my right foot do the same task as an entire series of translation bracelets. I can speak the languages of all the major powers and several of the little guys.” 

“So your right foot ees glowing a bright green right now,” Fleur finished in mollified English. “You don’t speak French because eet costs you a minor loss of stamina.”

“No, I don’t speak French because I enjoy your accented English,” Harry repeated with a shrug. Then he grabbed ahold of Fleur’s hand and began towing her towards a side street. Fleur could be heard grumbling in frustration as she was dragged along behind him, and when they entered the relative privacy of the sidestreet she hauled Harry to a stop.

“Tell me right now ‘Arry. Why are we truly going to ze Veela enclave? While eet’s true zat I’m not a full blooded Veela, I ‘iit you wiz every scrap of allure zat I ‘aave. My body ‘eld nozzing back.”

“Sorry Fleur, the Veela enclave isn’t actually your first stop,” Harry admitted, this time with enough grace to look sheepish. “After what happened in Magical Britain with Fudge, I don’t enter into these situations blindly trusting of the government, and that rule seems especially relevant against a brainwasher like Bastien. The reason we’ll be visiting the enclave later is because they’re the people with the most to lose in this situation, which makes them the most trustworthy. Still… No. I have another stop for us to make first. The only reason I allowed us to enter this country using legal means in the first place was for the sake of your career. Now I want to show you where my local hidden property is, just in case we get separated.”

“Ah, ohhhh,” Fleur breathed out, as her grip on Harry’s wrist slackened. 

“I apologize for not explaining beforehand, but I’ve become unused to working with others,” Harry offered. ”Are you at all interested in making a pit-stop at my very well hidden safehouse in Cassis?”

“I would be delighted,” Fleur responded, while smiling for the first time in several minutes. 

“Good because I’ll need you to side-along me several times all around the country before we can go to Cassis,” Harry admitted, completely ruining the moment. “I need us to shake someone hidden under a Disillusionment Spell about a half block to the South, and to tell you the truth, I have no idea where we are right now.” 

With a smile that was growing larger with every word that he said, Fleur pinched Harry’s cheeks. “Where would you be wizzout me, ‘Arry.”

“I don’t even want to know, Fleur. Not at all....” 

Pop!...

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

After turning a ten second trip to Cassis into a ten minute trip by making several dozen random detours, Harry showed Fleur around a medium-large estate with an ocean view that the rest of the world couldn’t see. Then with that done, and Fleur primed to use the location as a rallying point, they sat down at a table and talked about their short term plans. 

“Eet’s only been two days since I last saw my sister, but I’m still eager to go to ze enclave and check up on her,” Fleur admitted. 

“Then I think we’re in agreement,” Harry added, as he folded up a map of the country. “Paris is a war zone right now, so I don’t want to swan in there until I know what’s brainwashing the population. The Veela have been looking for answers so they might be able to help, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Gabby myself.” 

“She put away ze name Gabby for Gabrielle not long after we returned to France,” Fleur cautioned with a fond smile on her face. “She decided zat she needed to grow up een a ‘urry…”

“That’s kind of sad, but I’m proud of her for following through on her decision.” Harry’s easy smile suddenly slipped off his face as he snapped his fingers. “Oh! I think it’s best that we use the same excuse for my arrival at the enclave that we gave that functionary earlier. It’s best that we keep your… affliction, to yourself, and this way we can get my allure tolerance tested by an elder.” 

“‘Arry… you are one of, eef not ze most, experienced, battle tested and powerful wizards, een ze whole entire world…” Ze Veela of ze enclave are going to test you whezzer you ask for eet, or not.”

While Harry hadn’t really thought of that, he was confident enough in his magic and his mind Occlusions that he wasn’t overly concerned…

…………

Never mind. Harry really was kind of concerned...

Across the table, Fleur looked amused at Harry’s sudden case of nerves, but then she sighed in long suffering and clapped her hands on Harry's shoulders. “Look at me, ’Arry. Zere ees a reason I was pursued by a leader among ze Veela people. I am uncommonly strong een ze use of aura based skills. Eef you were fine after getting targeted by me, you needn’t worry.”

“No, no you don’t get it Fleur,” Harry responded in a haunted sounding voice. “I just pictured a community filled to the brim with hundreds and hundreds of Fleur Delacour wannabes, adopting your mannerisms, stealing my t-shirts and pouting at me in large numbers…”

“You are lucky when you get even a moment of my attention, you eengrate,” Fleur countered in a syrupy sweet little voice. 

“I’m going to be fine Fleur.”

“Of course you will.” 

Rising to her feet, Fleur offered Harry her hand. Harry had no idea where the Veela enclave was, even without the extensive find-me-not wards hiding its location. It would need to be her that Apparated them there. 

With a nod, a pair of clasped hands and a soft pop of displaced air, Harry and Fleur were standing in front of an elegant set of decorative iron gates. The forested lane around them was nice, but empty and nondescript enough to be almost anywhere. Harry Immediately approved. He’d built up more than enough secret properties to know a good one when he saw it, and the Veela were doing it right. The only thing that surprised him at all was that he could even see the gate. He expected to need Fleur’s help to even identify signs of civilization. That was how Find-Me-Not and Forget-Me wards work after all. You could be looking right at a thing and the magic would be telling you that you aren’t. Harry’s mental defenses were indeed strong, but it didn’t seem that the defenses were even trying to keep him out… 

Turning to Fleur, Harry arched an eyebrow in question. 

“You are expected, ‘Arry,” Fleur replied with a grin. “I ‘ad ze Security specialists put your name een ze wards een advance because I already knew zere was no way you would refuse to ‘elp. I vouched for you to ze Council een advance as well.” 

“You’ve provided me with a soft landing then,” Harry remarked with a nod of appreciation. “That’s going to be a pleasant change of pace for me. At half of the places I’m sent to for... work, the people expect me to be just as scary as the Dark Lord I’m hunting.”

“Zat ees unfortunate but eet ees also understandable,”Fleur whispered back as she gestured at a pair of heavily cowled people walking towards the gates. “From zis point forward, very few people will know English. You will need to use your Runes.”

“No problem at all,” Harry responded in more of his completely flawless French. “You know me Fleur. I’m a highly educated, well traveled, sophisticated man of culture.” 

“‘You’re a cheater is what you are,” Fleur grumbled as she raised her hands in greeting to the two guards. “Fleur Delacour, escorting Lord ‘Arry Potter to meet with the Council.” 

Without a word spoken and without removing their cowls, the two guards moved to just within the gates and then aimed their wands at the two of them. 

Due mostly to the fact that he was using passive Leglimency to get an idea of the two Security Guards’ intentions, Harry was able to keep himself from reacting violently towards suddenly having wands pointed at him. Still… He didn’t like the lack of manners or common sense that was being shown by these guards. If he’d decided that he needed to defend himself, this could’ve been a pretty big problem… 

Looking aside at Fleur, Harry saw that she was of a similar opinion. 

“Neither Lord Potter nor I would’ve objected to the diagnostic spells that you two are currently completing if you had but informed us about them ahead of time,” Fleur called out, in a very officious tone of voice. “Instead, what you decided to do was pull out your wands and then point them at us without any warning. You are both exceedingly lucky that Lord Potter is as experienced as he is. If he were any less capable, he may have decided that you were attacking him and then moved to defend himself. I cannot allow this sort of incompetence to continue. What are your names?” 

The two cowled guards almost dropped their wands in their haste to point them anywhere else but at Harry, but then instead of answering Fleur’s question, they just stood there looking helpless.

“Please forgive the guards their lack of… training, Dearest,” a smooth and sophisticated sounding voice called out, as a man Apparated in place behind the cowled figures. “These two actually aren’t guards at all, but regular civilians who are taking a turn at the Gate. We are finding yourselves understaffed at the moment as the Security specialists pour all of their focus into the wards.” 

At the word “dearest,” Harry unconsciously found his focus on the speaker intensifying to an extent that he had trouble hiding. This had to be the Veela Council member Joseph… Fleur’s fiance… 

All things considered, there was nothing to complain about. The man was about Harry’s height and while he might have been less muscular, that wasn’t to say that he was scrawny either. What’s more, Joseph was easily the most strikingly handsome man that Harry had ever seen in his whole entire life. He was an honest to Gods male Veela, with a perfect bone structure concealed by baby smooth skin, flawless silver hair and blue eyes that were almost but not quite as deep a blue as Fleur’s. It was surreal to see a man so flawless, without him being noticeably pampered and effeminate like a Draco Malfoy type. Nope… This guy clearly wasn’t the type to primp. He was the real McCoy. 

Harry tried his very best not to be like all of the jealous women out there who hate Veela on principle alone. It was tougher than he expected, which gave him a new perspective he could’ve done without. In the end, the only reason Harry succeeded at all was because of the scrying pool. Every time he’d ever seen glimpses of Fleur in the pool, she’d looked happy. That alone was enough to tip the scales… Then Harry was interrupted from his thoughts, when the gates started opening and Fleur started moving towards the man. 

“You were right,” Joseph said to the approaching Fleur with a knowing smile upon his face. 

Fleur only shrugged as she moved up to the man and was wrapped up in his arms. “We could have sent the part time groundskeeper instead, and it would’ve ended up the same.” 

“I’ll take your word for it, dearest, but now isn’t the time to risk potential complications…” After kissing Fleur on the temple, Joseph released her from his arms and then turned in Harry’s direction. “Here goes nothing… My English is completely atrocious.” 

“Since I last saw him, Lord Potter has learned to speak French as if he was born here,” Fleur explained as she gave Harry a meaningful look. Her expression somehow conveyed how grateful Harry should be that she was willing to lie for him. 

“Ah… That is wonderful, and yet… Now I feel terrible about talking about you as if you weren’t here.” Joseph gave Harry a small, polite bow of apology, and then extended a hand in his direction. “My name is Joseph Lareau, and I am one of the so-called ‘Elders’ here in the enclave. 

“Harry Potter,” Harry replied succinctly as he shook the man’s hand firmly but not too firmly. “I don’t have any titles that are relevant at the moment, so I’m just going to omit them. Feel free to call me Harry.”

I appreciate that,” Joseph replied while nodding his head in understanding. “Most Ancient and Noble Lord Potter-Black, Marquis of Magical Derbyshire, and two time recipient of the Order of Merlin first class, would definitely be a hard string of words to get around.” 

After shaking his head in an amused negative, Harry released Joseph’s hand and gestured over at Fleur. “As Fleur may have told you, I leave the governing of my family land to highly trained professionals. With that being the case, it’s best that I don’t take pride in something I have nothing to do with.” 

“If what I’ve heard is true, the less involved you are with your domains the safer your population is,” Joseph pointed out.

“Well you’ve got me there, and that’s a very gracious way of looking at it.” With that much said, Harry allowed his eyes to drift to the rest of their surroundings. He was growing tired of trying to outnice Joseph, as the man was quite well informed and was trying very hard. 

“‘Arry’s main priority right now is to find a full blooded Veela woman to test his resistance against,” Fleur explained into the silence that followed. “As it turns out, I don’t hate ‘Arry nearly enough to successfully pulverize him.” 

The man probably attempted to stop it from happening, but Joseph still smiled just a little smugly at Fleur’s news and its implications. Fleur wasn’t attracted to Harry. Only the fact that he understood the man’s reaction allowed Harry to keep his resentment to a minimum. He knew very well that if he were engaged to Fleur, he’d be happy as all hell that she wasn’t attracted to another man. Still… Today was turning out to be just a little bit tiring for reasons that Harry refused to explore…

With a small jerk of surprise, Harry’s body temperature suddenly rose and his legs started wobbling. Someone was generating an extremely focused beam of relatively strong allure and hitting him square in the back with it... 

“Incoming from six o’clock,” Fleur called out in an amused sounding voice. 

Turning around as quickly as his rebelling body would allow him to, Harry was just in time to catch a blur of movement that was flying straight towards him. With yet another grunt, this time of effort, Harry managed to catch the mass of arms, legs, and golden blonde hair that impacted against his chest, before stagger-stepping back several steps. 

“Oh my Gods, oh my Goddesses, eet’s really you! I wanted to see you ‘Arry, I ‘ad to wait so long to see you ‘Arry,” Gabrielle squealed directly into Harry’s neck, while rubbing her face against his skin. 

“Gabby,” Harry gasped out in surprise, as he tried to reconcile the innocent fifteen year old girl he’d once known with the sophisticated young lady that currently had her legs wrapped around his waist. Then, he finally saw it, and his arms tightened around the woman with nearly bruising force. She had the same sunny blonde hair, button nose and rare lavender colored eyes that he remembered, but her features had gained maturity with the loss of a tiny bit of baby fat. She also had the same slender body type and rail thin arms that he remembered, but while she’d looked fragile as a teenager, now she possessed a leonine kind of flexibility instead. Then, almost against his will, Harry noticed that little Gabby’s new willowy body only served to accentuate her very well developed curves to an almost outrageous degree… Not Gabby but Gabrielle, Harry suddenly remembered. 

Gabrielle… wasn’t a kid anymore.... 

“Non, no ‘Arry. Gabby was but a child,” Gabrielle murmured happily into Harry’s neck. “I go by Gabrielle now…” 

“So I was warned,” Harry laughed out in French as he carried the young lady in a tight circle around the drive. “I just had trouble changing my perceptions until now.”

“Good Goddesses, ‘Arry! You learned such beautiful French! When? Why? Was it for us?” As she slipped from around Harry’s waist, Gabrielle gestured back and forth between Fleur and herself. 

Harry couldn’t stop the smile that entered his face as he realized that Gabrielle was still very much like he remembered her. She had the same unbelievably free spirit and unbridled enthusiasm that she’d always had, as well as the ability to charm a smile out of a stone. “You and your sister were definitely among the contributing factors,” Harry replied with a mischievous smile on his face. “You should’ve seen your sister’s face back at the port authority. She tried to act as a translator for me, only for me to step up next to her and start speaking the language.”

Gabrielle immediately threw a hand up to cover her mouth as her eyes slowly tracked over to a rather frustrated looking Fleur. Then the giggling started leaking out despite Gabrielle’s best efforts to contain it. She wasn’t the type to poke fun of others, but she’d always enjoyed the back and forth between Harry and her sister. 

Fleur, alternatively smiled at her sister and glared at Harry before clearing her throat for her sister’s attention. 

Gabrielle immediately stopped laughing at her sister’s nonverbal cue, but she also snaked an arm through Harry’s as she turned to look back at her. 

“I was wondering when you were going to stop assaulting ‘Arry with your allure,” Fleur commented with a trace amount of severity in her voice. “Even from here, I can feel it, so don’t even try to tell me it's only your baseline.”

“Huh... yeah. Now that you mention it, I am generating a lot of power right now,” Gabrielle mused out loud. “Well let’s see... Hmmmm… I just tried to stop myself and failed. I think I’m going to have to just wear myself out or something.” 

“And what about ‘Arry’s comfort, Gabrielle?” Fleur questioned, while pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “Have you given any thought to the fact that you’re actively seducing ‘Arry with your magic?”

After turning so that her body was pressed flush against Harry’s chest, Gabby stared directly into his eyes. “How do you feel right now, ‘Arry? Am I seducing you?” 

“My heart’s beating quickly, my body’s warming up and I’m experiencing hypersensitivity wherever you’re touching me,” Harry described as calmly as he could. “Those things aren’t the reason I’m impressed though. I’m impressed because I have strong mind Occlusions and I’m actively trying to resist your influence. You’ve grown strong...” 

Hidden behind Harry’s open smile and calm appearance, was the mind of a very, very shaken up young wizard. Due to the prolonged physical and magical contact that Gabrielle was making with him, his magic was beginning to catch snippets of her mental state. The emotions currently residing within Gabrielle’s mind didn’t feel anything like innocence, ignorance or naivete. Instead, she felt like fierce devotion, a predatory type of intense desire and iron hard determination... Gabrielle Delacour definitely wasn't a kid anymore...

After turning back to look at her sister, Gabrielle hugged herself around Harry’s arm even tighter than before. “‘Arry ees experiencing all of the physical effects of an allure to a certain extent, but he is mentally unaffected. I am not going to be banished from his presence over something that I cannot control.”

With a small sigh of frustration, Fleur turned her attention to Harry so that she could spear him with her eyes. She didn’t say a word, but the message was clear. Do not sleep with Gabrielle…

Without being able to respond in any meaningful way and with a serious lack of better options, Harry found himself seeking out an ally. After noticing that the Security guards had withdrawn, his eyes finally tracked over to Joseph, only to find that the man was going to be of no use to him at all. He was standing off to the side, adopting the same displeased mannerisms as Fleur only for completely different reasons. Now that… That was annoying. 

“Unless Gabrielle is secretly a full blooded Veela, I still need to test my allure tolerance,” Harry suddenly pointed out. “If I’m going to take down this Bastien guy, I need to know that he can’t just change my sexual orientation mid-fight.”

Gabrielle snickered….

Fleur bit her bottom lip to stop from doing the same…

Joseph scowled. He most likely perceived Harry’s comment as being disrespectful towards male Veela. 

Harry didn’t care. He gestured ahead of everyone with an ‘after you’ look on his face.  

“Follow me then,” Fleur ordered with a wave of her own. “I have just the person for you…”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

The ladies that made up the majority of the Veela enclave’s population were beautiful. All of them were perfect ten out of tens and a good number of them had several physical similarities to Fleur. It seemed Fleur was some kind of a throwback, as a half Veela that was somehow stronger and more visually similar to their ancestors than many of the full bloods. What surprised Harry the most was how there were several other hair colors and skin tones interspersed among the general population. He didn’t ask about it despite the fact that he wanted to. 

The enclave itself was picturesque, featuring colorfully painted, medium sized homes with nice little gardens and rooftop porches. If it weren’t for just one thing, Harry would’ve thought the location was a perfect little vacationing spot. 

He was having trouble thinking. 

Every single beautiful, wonderful woman that they passed, was taking cheerful little pot shots at him with their allure, which, when you take into consideration Gabrielle’s continual assault on his defenses, was beginning to grind his brain to a halt. Every few minutes, Harry was forced to take a moment to sweep his mind clear of temptation, as if the accumulated allure was sand collecting in his shoes. 

This didn’t bode well…

Despite the mental toll the trip took on Harry, soon enough they were nearing the central portion of the enclave, where a community of larger homes began stratifying the entire area. While Fleur listened respectfully to Joseph’s claims that a village elder on the Council should be the one to test Harry’s tolerances, for the first time in Harry’s presence she chose to openly disagree. In the end, Fleur continued to move with both purpose and a sense of extreme familiarity as she approached a nearby gate and pressed her hand to an identification plate. 

“Wait, then this is…” Harry started nodding his head as he suddenly realized exactly where they were. “I should’ve known…”

“Yes darling. You should have,” a husky feminine voice called out from off to Harry’s right. “If anyone is going to finally make you submit, it really has to be me.”

Harry smiled as he turned to see a nearly perfect replica of Fleur descending a set of steps in their direction. It was kind of amazing how a woman in her early seventies could look so young, with her wider hips and slightly larger bust being the only clue that she wasn’t in her twenties. “Appoline,” Harry greeted in a voice containing unfeigned happiness. “It’s been far too long.”

“I agree,” The elder Veela responded as she glided up to the wizard and stared up into his face. “You, my dear, are just barely holding your magic in check these days. I’m quite impressed that you’ve pushed your limits so hard, but I’ll need to teach you some allure containment techniques before you grow any stronger…” 

With a warm smile filled with genuine appreciation, Harry leaned forward and pulled Appoline into a gentle hug. “I missed you Appoline, and I’m very happy to see you doing so well.”

“That I should be doing well is to be expected,” Appoline pointed out as the hug came to an end. “It is you that has a bad habit of fighting demons.”

Harry didn’t bother to hide his wince at the rebuke in Appoline’s words. In the past, the two of them had spoken at great length about the ethics of heroism vs self preservation. Appoline was a firm believer that Harry needed to ‘hang up the cape’ as she said it, and live a life of his own. The sad part about it all was that Harry didn’t even disagree with the Delacour Matriarch, he just found himself doing the same things over and over again, as if he was stuck in some kind of time loop…

In the end Appoline winced as well, and Harry wasn’t all that surprised. Much like Fleur, she was almost uncanny at reading people’s body language. She most likely saw the helplessness that he felt, as well as the fact that he agreed with her. 

“Well, come inside young man,” Appoline said to Harry in a resigned tone of voice. “My husband will want to catch up and I still need to make you fall in love with me. Thank you Joseph, that will be all…” 

With a few words and a curt nod, Appoline had just effectively dismissed Fleur’s fiance as if he was the help... youch. All of the sudden, Harry knew exactly why Joseph attempted to keep them all from coming here. While Harry did manage not to stiffen at the sudden tension in the air, it was a close won thing. He could see Fleur glaring at her mother to his right and Gabrielle acting completely oblivious on his left. That’s when he decided that the smart thing to do was to just do what he was told. Over the next few moments, Harry walked through the gates into the Delacour property and started moving up the lawn towards the front porch. 

“Sweet Merlin but she hates that man,” a gruff but quiet voice called out from a comfortable looking lawn chair next to the door. Adrien Delacour smoked an elaborate looking pipe as he waited for Harry to join him on the porch. 

Personally, Harry had never gotten into smoking beyond the odd magical cigar, but tobacco didn’t have the same hangups here in the Magical world that it did in the Muggle one. Through liberal use of charms and enchantments, the pipe that Adrien was smoking made the tobacco both benign to his body and unable to stick to the inside of his lungs. 

“I noticed the tension in the air, but I didn’t stick around to find out why,” Harry admitted. 

“Those finely honed instincts of yours are part of the reason why you’re still alive,” Adrien pointed out with a smile. “It’s not my business to say anything. Not when you’re already struggling to tolerate Joseph, but my wife isn’t even trying.“

“Am I that transparent,” Harry asked as he sat down on a lawn chair to Adrien’s right.

“No, Gods no,” Adrien replied with a scoff. “You’re one of the most self-possessed men I’ve ever met and I don’t have the benefit of the Veela body reading stuff. There is one exception though…”

”The women of your family…”

Adrien only nodded at first, as he allowed a cloud of smoke to slowly escape his mouth. Then he smiled and eased back in his chair. “You’re noticeably solicitous of my daughters. You care about them. You don’t… more likely you can’t, hide it. Which is probably why I haven’t seen you in over three years…”

“So I let my annoyance with Joseph show on my face then,” Harry prompted. 

“Naw, not really,” Adrien assured as he repacked his pipe. “It’s just, Fleur was supposed to come home last night and she didn’t. Everyone else thought that you were being a bit of a hard sell, but my wife and I, we knew better. We figured you two were just dragging your feet cause you were finally reuniting.”

“While I’ll admit that a lot happened, I’m getting the impression you think we...”

“Nope. Neither of us think that,” Adrien interrupted in an extremely unconcerned tone of voice. “Appoline, she... Never mind. More importantly… You and I need to talk about Gabrielle…”

Harry only nodded his head at first. Then he sighed and eased further back into his chair. “How long?”

“Scoff! All along, ‘Arry. All along…” Adrien grinned as he watched the family squabble occurring down near the gate. “As soon as Fleur came back to the enclave, dragging Gabrielle behind her, we knew that the girl was going to give us trouble. All of the sudden Gabs couldn’t go visit big brother ’Arry, and she was being a real pain in the butt about it… adorable though… My wife, she decided that enough was enough, so she told lil Gabs to just grow the hell up and then take you for herself. To be honest, I think she was actually trying to egg on Fleur, but the girl wasn’t a receptive audience at the time.”

”My magic has somehow managed to learn Leglimency through me, and under certain circumstances it tends to feed me information that I’m not looking for,” Harry admitted in an offhand tone of voice. 

“Huh… neat,” Adrien offered in return. 

“I felt a little of what Gabrielle has in mind when she swamped me with her allure,” Harry continued. 

“I imagine that came as something of a shock.” 

“Strained my mind Occlusions to near the breaking point,” Harry admitted. “Do you have any thoughts on the matter?”

After putting down his pipe and sitting up a little taller, Adrien gave Harry a look that was hard to describe. “I suppose I could try to explain some of what I’ve seen… You see, both of my daughters have had a hard time dealing with the danger that you’ve found yourself in over the last three years. For Fleur, this manifested in her pushing her magic to the limit and training like a triathlete every single day. For Gabs… Well... She started looking at the situation with a bit of an odd slant. She doesn’t think that you’ll ever be able to retire from the hero business because she doesn’t think anyone else is capable of doing what you do. She thinks you’re eventually going to die doing what you're doing, and your family line will die right along with you. She’s decided she’s going to help you in a way that suits her interests...”

“Gabrielle’s probably right about my life expectancy,” Harry pointed out. “Knowing that, I'm extremely surprised that Appoline hasn't put a stop to this.”

“You’re seriously underestimating just how much Appoline likes you,” Adrien replied with a small, amused smile on his face. “According to my wife, we’re extremely fortunate that our Gabby has chosen you, even if all we ever get from you is a grandchild. You, young man, are a physically capable, mentally resilient, ingenious, magical powerhouse of a wizard, and a class act with a pedigree almost as impressive as mine. According to my wife, we’re just lucky that our ultra free spirited youngest daughter hasn’t taken a fancy to a Muggle rodeo clown.”

“Fleur seems pretty logical when it comes to romance,” Harry pointed out, as if in consolation. 

Adrien’s eyes closed as he drew in a long and weary breath. “Yeah. She’s both logical and dutiful. As soon as her engagement to Bill fell through, Fleur became eligible to take part in a three generation old marriage contract that she’d been extremely determined to avoid. At this point, to break off the engagement would mean parting with the Delacour family wealth, Lordship and Council seat.”

“So I need to have Elder Council Member Lareau ‘disappear’ then...” Harry whispered, in little more than a growl.

“While normally I’d agree with you, there's one last thing that you need to know,” Adrien furthered, in a dry tone of voice. “Fleur claims that she’s fallen in love with the man. “You see, ‘Arry, my daughter thinks that she’s being oh so clever and subtle, but her plans are basically common knowledge to everyone in our household. What Fleur really wants out of Lareau is to secure our family an heir. My daughter is hell bent on having a baby boy so that he can be the next Lord Delacour.”

“Part Veela can only have male children if they manage to form a mated bond with a full blooded Veela,” Harry remembered out loud. 

“Except in exceedingly rare situations where the wizard they choose is astonishingly powerful,” Adrien finished with a small grin upon his face. 

“Fleur would never forgive me if I let Gabrielle have her way with me,” Harry suddenly pointed out. 

“Fleur has no real say in the matter… or does she?” Adrien tilted his head towards Harry with his eyebrow arched right up to his hairline. 

“Fleur punched me in the mouth just last night,” Harry deadpanned. 

“Yeah… Fine. It’ll be hard,” Adrien finally conceded. “My eldest daughter screams to the sky that she loves you like a brother, but she’s screaming about it, so no one believes her. The crux of the issue is that Fleur really can’t afford to be honest with herself. Not without making her future marriage with Mr. Lareau an extremely uncomfortable one. To explain what I mean, I’ll need to share something about Veela mated bonds. I know every single little detail about every man that my wife has ever fancied. The bond that we share allows me to browse Appoline’s memories as if they’re pay per view movies, only with a lot of added emotional context. I know my wife very, very well... If Fleur allows herself to recognize the strength of her feelings for you, even if she never acts on those feelings, Lareau will eventually find out, and he’ll grow to resent her for what he perceives as infidelity.”

“That sounds… stifling,” Harry replied with a noticeable lack of emotion in his voice. 

“The bond is a two way street and it’s only stifling if you have something to hide. You do have a point though. The bond is why Fleur focuses a lot of her attention on Joseph’s positive qualities, while studiously ignoring every other man on the planet. For almost two and a half years now, she’s been hard at work making Joseph a king in her mind, to the point that she’s basically brainwashed herself. You’re her only weakness, ‘Arry. She completely adores you. Always has.” 

Adrien suddenly paused in his explanation to draw the pipe up to his lips and take a long pull. Then he turned back to Harry with a wry grin on his face. “There’s one more thing that you need to know before the girls join us... Fleur has no idea about Gabrielle’s little… ambition.”

Well… Shit… The way Harry saw it, he was damned if he didn’t in the form of hurting Gabrielle, and he was damned if he did in the form of Fleur’s passionfire flames. Of course, this meant that there was only one really appropriate thing to say. “You know Adrien… Bastien isn’t going to be the death of me at all... Your daughters are.”

“Well… I did tell you that the Delacours trump the Potters.”

Despite absolutely everything being in an unbelievably tangled mess, both Harry and Adrien managed to end up laughing like hyenas. They’d always enjoyed each other in the past and it was nice to see that nothing had changed. Not only that, but Adrien was the husband of a full blooded Veela and lived in the enclave. If anyone at all could understand what Harry was currently going through, it would be him...

……………………“And I told you to stop disrespecting my intended,” Fleur quietly yelled as the ladies walked up the lawn. 

“I am the one who decides who enters my home,” Appoline replied in a tone that brooked no argument. 

Even before they were halfway up the lawn, Gabrielle’s eyes locked onto Harry, and he felt his body begin receiving a heavy dose of allure. To his right, he heard Adrien snort out a small, almost unnoticeable laugh, as the man felt the intensity of his daughter’s magic from well over a meter away. 

“Welcome to the enclave, Harry,” Adrien drawled before patting him on the back and whispering to himself. “And may the Gods have mercy on your soul…”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

A river, a tide, an entire ocean of syrup thick allure suddenly washed over Harry, almost making him stumble back despite the fact it wasn’t a physical force. Right away, he felt himself experiencing an epiphany of sorts. Appoline Delacour, was the single most wonderful, beautiful, awe inspiring woman in the entire world, and if he couldn’t fill the role of a second husband or a concubine for her, he should at the very least be allowed to serve at her feet. Then Harry was shaking his head as his magic helped him dispel the obsessive devotion that had overtaken his mind. When he finally felt like himself again, his magic had once again broken free from within his body and was billowing throughout the entire room in barely visible waves of ambient power. Harry looked down at his shaking hands as he forced his breathing to slow and his heart rate to calm. That… That hadn’t really felt like an improvement... “How long was I out this time?”

“About f.five seconds this time,” Gabrielle stuttered out while waving the magical timer in her hand. “Once again, you managed to shave off half a second.” 

“It’s nowhere near good enough, ‘Arry,” Appoline commented from across the room. “I still could’ve killed you five times over. 

“I agree with both Gabrielle and my mother,” Fleur offered from her spot in the alcove leading to the hallway. “Still… You cannot walk around with your magic constantly flared up like this. You stand out like a Lumos Maxima to a Veela’s senses.”

“I’ll say,” Gabrielle breathed out, as she wiggled her bottom deeper into the cushions of the couch. 

A few moments later, when he was certain that Appoline had withdrawn her allure back into her body, Harry did the same. Then he immediately began gritting his teeth as his skin started feeling sensitive and his body temperature started rising. Gabrielle was… oh… Fleur as well. Both girls were hitting him with moderate levels of allure at exactly the same time… Gabrielle at least made sense, but Fleur? This was starting to get a little old…” 

Off to the side, sitting in the living room’s ‘dad chair,’ Adrien wasn’t even trying to conceal how amusing he found Harry’s suffering. The man was highly, highly amused.

“Well, we’ve been at it for almost an hour now, so I suggest we take a break,” Appoline sighed out with an eye on her watch. “Magical Rome wasn’t summoned from a parallel universe in just a single day, after all, and lunch will be served in less than twenty minutes.”

As if those words were the gunshot that starts a race, Gabrielle dashed across the room to grab ahold of Harry’s arm. “Come, ‘Arry. I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping tonight.” 

“‘Arry owns his own property here in France,” Feur pointed out in a loud and unusually stern voice. “He has no need to stay with us.” 

“Gasp! ‘Arry... You own local property and you’ve never come to visit me?” Gabrielle had a truly devastating injured expression upon her face. 

“Well… yes,” Harry quietly admitted. “I’ve always been far more concerned with your safety than anything else.”

“Let me make one thing abundantly clear to you Mr Potter,” Gabrielle began in a voice that was suddenly both cool and completely unyielding. “I - am - not - a - child. I will make up my own mind regarding what is and is not safe, and I will not allow you to keep me at a distance. I’m not going anywhere, ‘Arry. Get used to it.”

“A true adult would understand and appreciate the sacrifices that ‘Arry has decided to make,” Fleur interjected from the sidelines.

“Like the sacrifices that you’ve decided to make,” Gabrielle spat out, after wheeling to scowl at her sister. “No! I refuse! I’m no coward! I will never allow the world to keep me from my heart’s desire!” 

“Wai… What? You can’t mean that you… No… Mother, talk some sense into this girl,” Fleur demanded, shock momentarily stealing all of her maturity. 

For the next few moments, Appoline just stared at her eldest daughter as if the woman suddenly had two heads. Then she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just how absurdly hypocritical are you, Fleur? How can you stand there and demand that I control Gabrielle’s decisions? You, yourself have only ever scoffed at me when I order you to do anything.”

“But she…” Fleur’s angry reply was abruptly cut off when Harry dashed across the living room, tore open the front window and shoved both of his hands out into empty air. 

“Protego Maxima,” Harry intoned, with a steely intensity in his voice that shook everyone in the room. Then two things happened almost simultaneously. An extremely dense wall of golden yellow tinted magic grew outwards from Harry’s splayed out hands to cover a large portion of the house, and half a dozen Implosion curses rebounded off of the shield to fly outwards in every direction.

“The wards protecting the enclave are down and a group of wizards are Apparating onto the property,” Harry called out into the sudden cacophony. “Gabrielle, Appoline, Adrien, come here and grab my shoulders, now!”

“Even as she drew her wand, Appoline pulled Gabrielle across the room to Harry’s side. “What are you going to do, ‘Arry?” 

“Just trust me,” Harry called out as he continued to maintain the massive shield in front of the house. 

Soon enough, Adrien, Gabrielle and Appoline were standing just behind Harry with their hands resting atop his shoulders. 

Pop! 

Fleur peered out the window at a group of cowled figures that were approaching the house, but when the Protego shield in front of her suddenly disappeared and a loud popping noise rang out, she whipped around to look. Harry was still standing there, right where he’d been just a moment earlier, but the rest of her family was gone. “How,” she asked in a voice that was a little too calm given their current circumstances. 

“I Apparated myself and your family to my property in Cassis, but I left a large chunk of my magic behind and used it to pull myself back,” Harry explained as he pulled out his wand. ”Technically, I just deserted you here for a fraction of a second.”

”I’ll try to forgive you someday,” Fleur drawled out as she allowed Harry to draw her away from the window. “But only because you didn’t carry me away like a damsel. Now… Do we have a plan?”

“There’s eleven men on the front lawn and six in the back, all men, all normal human wizards, all middling level,” Harry explained after briefly closing his eyes. “I won’t need to lay waste to your house this time. We’ll use standard defensive tactics with your allure out as a smokescreen.”

“You make with the defenses then, and I’ll lower their IQ by sixty percent,” Fleur immediately promised.

Even before Fleur finished her statement, Harry was hard at work. Dashing to the central hallway, he littered the entire back half of the house with invisible curse traps and Rune snares designed to render people unconscious. Next he returned to the front hallway, where he conjured two solid metal barriers, one just inside the front door and one directly behind the two of them. Standard procedure in most law enforcement training programs is to secure yourself in a way that attacking wizards can't just Apparate directly behind you. Back in the early days, when he was still an earnest and dutiful Dark Lord slayer, Harry was subjected to several Auror, Unspeakable and Paranormilitary training programs, during which time, some habits became second nature. Over the next couple of seconds, Harry cut twin arrow slits into the front door barrier, and Transfigured a jagged wall of spikes out of the wood of the front porch.

“Are you even planning on letting the men get that close?” Fleur asked in a skeptical tone of voice. 

“No, but the best kind of preparation is too much preparation,” Harry Immediately replied. Then, as if to prove his point, Harry pointed his wand at Fleur and started casting Military recon spells all around her body. Soon enough, they were both sound and scent washed, invisible to the naked eye, and they were capable of communicating with each other through a short term empathic link. 

”On the count of three, I’ll banish the front door and we’ll fire at will,” Harry thought to Fleur, while tapping her on the shoulder. 

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

The eleven men that were tasked with assaulting through the front of the house, were being drawn towards the jagged spikes protruding from the front porch by an inexplicable lust. Two or three of the men were doing a better job of resisting the allure’s pull and they were beginning to cast cutting curses at the wooden spikes. 

None of them were prepared for all hell to suddenly break loose. 

With no sound to warn them that an attack was about to take place, the front door suddenly completely vanished from existence and the entire lawn went up in a laser light show of stunning, petrifying and Incarcerous rope binding spells. Seven out of the eleven men were dropped within just the first volley of spells, leaving only four men left to dive to either side of the front deck.

“Apparate behind them silently,” Harry thought to Fleur. “I’ll take the right side, you take the left.”

Fleur didn’t bother thinking a response. She merely tapped her understanding into Harry’s shoulder. 

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Pop X2

“Stupify, Stupify!” Petrificus Totalus! Stupify! Stupify!”

Thump, thump, thump, thump…

Without a word, Harry incarcerous spelled the newly unconscious attackers, tying them all up in an impossibly complex knot of ropes. Then he mentally poked Fleur’s shoulder to get her attention. “The other group, six strong, broke in through the back door and are trying to navigate their way through my trap spells. Let’s Apparate to the back door and come up behind them.”

“Understood.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.” 

Pop x2

“Stupify, Petrificus Totalus, Stupify, Petrificus Totalus, Stupify? Stupify, Stupify, Stupify!”

Fleur turned aside to give Harry a triumphant smile, only to remember that they were still invisible. Then Harry suddenly revealed himself standing next to her, knee deep in the middle of a pile of unconscious men. Over the next couple of seconds, Harry dispelled all of his various trap spells and Fleur felt the cool layer of invisibility slip from around her body. 

“I don’t sense anyone else in the general area, but I don’t like how these men are wearing the cowls that your Security team wears.” With a wave of his hand, Harry cast a series of the same rope binding spells he’d used outside. Then he pointed at the ground at his feet and intoned, “Accio, attacker’s weapons.”

During the next five to ten seconds, over twenty-five wands and just as many daggers landed at Harry’s feet. Not only did they wiggle free of hands, pockets and holsters, they also flew in the back door from the attackers on the front lawn. Without even a second of hesitation, Harry cast over twenty rapidfire cutting curses into and through the pile of wands. What was left couldn’t even be used as kindling. 

“We need to question these men, but first we need to assure the safety of the rest of the enclave,” Fleur conveyed through the link. 

“One moment please,” Harry thought in return.

“‘Arry, we don’t have time for this!”

“Enervate, Leglimense,” Harry intoned with his wand pointed at a nearby man. Right away, the man’s eyes snapped open and he sat up, only to have his eyes roll back into his head a second later. With a strangled cry, the man’s twitching body dropped back to the floor. 

“These men have been ordered to murder Appoline and Adrien and then abduct Gabrielle to use against me,” Harry conveyed in a dark and hostile growl. “Thankfully for us, your attackers thought that you and I were heading to see the Veela elders. I’ll need more time if I want to get more information. This man’s mind is completely clouded by fanatical devotion.”

The entire time that Harry was giving his explanation, Fleur was visibly trying not to freak out at him for committing an extremely Illegal and immoral mind intrusion. In the end she didn’t say anything, but it was obvious that she was having trouble coming to terms with his actions.

Harry merely nodded his understanding without ever even trying to defend himself. He and Fleur were still linked to each other telepathically, so she’d know right away if he tried to lie to her. Instead, he wandlessly cast a tracking spell on all of the men that were laying in the room, he Disillusioned himself and Fleur again and began pulling her out of the house.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

To Be Continued

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________