NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25: A Surge of Magic
After taking a long hot shower, Fleur changed into a nice but simple blue sundress. She didn't go to any great lengths to impress, for she didn't want to encourage any man who may be pushing for her hand. Exiting her rooms, Fleur began walking as slowly as possible towards her father's study. Often she could miss the ugliness that followed her father's rejections if only she was just a little too slow in arriving.
Turning around a corner in the ground floor hallway and heading down the hall, Fleur saw her father's study and heard the sound of conversation from inside the room.
Well damn... So much for dodging the ugliness...
Wait… What?!...
All of the sudden, Fleur could feel a massive aura of unrestrained magical power emanating from within her father's study, causing a bead of sweat to break out on her forehead. Instantly, Fleur regretted her earlier cowardice, as she dashed down the length of the hall towards her father's study. It appeared that things were becoming heated within, and several different wizards were unleashing every ounce of their magic all at once! With no hesitation whatsoever, Fleur sprinted the last five meters of the hall and burst through the door of the study with her wand at the ready.
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Two Minutes Earlier…
Appoline showed Harry and Dumbledore to the Main Study, where they were to meet with her husband, the Noble Lord of the family.
As they walked, Harry took in the tasteful decorations, comfortable looking furniture and warm elegant colors. The house probably wasn't what you would call a mansion, but it was both large and impressive to someone from a cookie cutter suburb in old Surrey like him. Several professional looking servants quietly and efficiently did their jobs, as Appoline escorted them through the Halls. Then, when they were just about to enter the study, Harry couldn't help himself. He stopped, looked at Appoline and asked the question that was nagging him. "You have no house elves?"
"None. We employ a servant staff composed mostly of wizard-raised non-magicals (squibs)," replied a large and imposing man from behind a desk. "I and by extension my family deal very much with muggle politics in this house and it was always extremely hard to explain why the house was so inexplicably clean. I gifted my house elves to Appoline's sisters and mother when I married her. They're all very well taken care of now and the house elves are happy as well."
The man smiled as he gestured for Harry and Dumbledore to take seats in front of his desk. "My name is Adrien Delacour, and you have already met my lovely wife, Appoline... I knew you were here before I even saw you young man… I'll readily admit, I'm interested in how something this extraordinary came to happen." Adrien waved his arms around in an expansive motion regarding the magic free floating all around them. Then he smiled at the two of them and steepled both of his hands atop his desk.
After giving Adrien a nod in greeting, Dumbledore took a seat as if it was made of glass. He looked nervous for a few more moments and then visibly firmed up his resolve. "Adrien... Today's talk will work best if we've all exchanged magically binding oaths. Harry and I will swear that everything we are about to say in this study is true and you will swear to keep it a secret so long as it remains a secret. At Adrien's noticeably unhappy reaction, Dumbledore raised his hands to gesture for time. "It's not a matter of trust Adrien, because I do trust you. This is rather a matter of extreme importance and will be very hard to believe without the oaths."
Very suddenly and without any prompting whatsoever, Harry's entire body swiveled towards the study door and he adopted a startled expression upon his face.
SMASH!
With the loud crack of broken wood, the door was kicked right off of its hinges to fly halfway across the Study. Flying right alongside the door a teenaged blonde dashed into the room, with wand drawn and an offensive spell on her tongue.
Dumbledore was only just beginning to move by the time Harry had completed a roll out of his chair and yet another roll across the room. By the time the door crashed onto the floor, Harry was in a crouch behind an upended side-table with his own wand pointed back at the girl.
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone in the room stilled at the booming voice of Adrien Delacour. He stood with his hands outstretched, clearly demanding that the hostilities come to an immediate end. "This," he began, while gesturing at the heaving young woman who'd just burst into the room like a Professional Hitwizard, "is my eldest daughter Fleur. She must have felt Harry's aura shroud and thought that it was becoming hostile in here."
At first, Fleur didn't back down even an inch. She just stood there with her wand pointed at Harry and a fierce expression set upon her face. Then after several very drawn out moments, she slowly nodded her head at her father's words, and the ferocity in her eyes dulled just a bit.
It didn't take long for Harry to realize that even though this Fleur girl was aware that she'd misunderstood their circumstances, it would still need to be him that makes the first peaceful overture. Case and point, Fleur's wand was still pointing directly between his eyes and she wasn't budging in the slightest. What a brat... Ugh... Fine, whatever... Be the bigger man Harry P.
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