Harry Potter Breaking Free

Over time, Fleur's father had answered her enthusiasm with his own, being a very protective man himself, with the end result being somewhat predictable… Adrien Delacour was usually a sweetheart, but where daughter was concerned, he became scarier than Merlin in a rage. Fleur had started almost feeling bad for those potential suitors that came demanding her attention... almost.

After flipping her hair behind her shoulders in a dismissive manner, Fleur returned her attention back to Arnould. "Tell my father that I will need a shower and a change of clothes, but that I am on my way."

Arnould nodded and left without another word. He was desperate to escape the heat of the day in his fully embroidered uniform.

....

Upon emerging from the Floo, for a single wonderful moment in time, Harry thought that he'd finally done it. He thought that for the very first time ever he was going to remain on his feet after exiting the Floo.

Unfortunately for Harry, that was the exact moment that his entire body seemed to tilt forty-five-degrees to the right, his feet completely left the floor, he dropped towards the ground like a sack of potatoes, and he slammed his right elbow into the carpeted floor.

Damn...

Harry muttered to himself about how dumb magical travel was from the heap that he was making on the floor. That was what, ten Floo uses under his belt? So far he'd never managed to stay on his feet even once! Harry consoled himself that he'd grown almost three inches in the last three weeks, which meant that there was a pretty good chance that his rapid growth was exacerbating the problem. While he was still extremely small for his age, he was growing at a tremendously fast rate.

It wasn't a very effective pep talk, but it was better than nothing, and Harry was ready to move again.

Groaning like a ninety year old, he pushed himself back up to his feet, and then slapped at his legs to clean the soot off of them. It was only when he'd managed to clean away the last of the evidence, that he heard soft, musical laughter coming from across the room, and he realized that he'd been performing for an audience.

Turning away from the Floo, Harry saw that both Dumbledore and a stunningly beautiful blonde woman were staring at him from near the doorway to the room. By all appearances, both of them were amused by his antics and they weren't all that concerned about whether or not he knew it.

Well... Damn...

After a split second where his frustration almost slipped out into his aura, Harry regained control of his temper and projected a glacial calm throughout the room instead. Oops. Apparently his imagery had been a little too effective. The stunning blonde woman just shivered from head to toe as if a cold draft had traveled up her back. Deciding to change tack again, Harry immediately pictured himself flying upon his broom instead. Up until now it had been his most useful mental imagery because it always seemed to create a healthy and vibrant atmosphere for the people around him.

Belatedly, the beautiful blonde woman seemed to catch on that her amusement had annoyed her guest, because her amused expression rapidly transformed into one of gentle understanding instead. "I apologize for laughing at you Monsieur Potter. Truly I understand zat you are not een frequent use of ze Floo. I admit zat I ate ze mode of travel as well, but after many, many falls I now manage to stay on my feet. As the beautiful woman spoke, she also approached Harry so that she could help him clean his shoulders and arms of soot.

It was literally the last thing that he would've chosen to do, but as the woman brushed her hand down the back of his shoulder, Harry flinched involuntarily at the casual contact. At the woman's startled expression, Harry immediately gave her his most apologetic look. To his surprise she'd begun doing the exact same thing, so they found themselves mirroring each other.

For a few extremely long moments, the woman continued staring into Harry's eyes, as if they could come to understand each other through sheer force of will. The moment of mutual staring only came to an end, when the woman suddenly started smiling at him again. Then, over the following moment, the woman completed a slow and nonchalant step out of his comfort zone.

....

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