NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33: Cuteness Overload
After contacting Dobby and having the elegantly dressed house elf pop off to retrieve his lunch, there was nothing left for Harry to do but sit around in the Delacour family dining room and attempt to control his nerves.
Harry was consistently having to imagine being on his Firebolt and cruising high above Hogwarts, in order to project just the right kind of atmosphere for their hosts. There was one major reason that Harry was as nervous as he was. The tall, graceful, regal, beautiful and above all else extraordinarily imposing Fleur Delacour, hadn't stopped staring at him even once since they'd entered the dining room for lunch.
Even as they'd walked through the various halls of her home, she'd tracked his every movement like a high power laser, and Harry was having trouble keeping his cool under her intense, unwavering scrutiny. They hadn't met under the best of circumstances and the situation didn't seem to be improving from that first moment. Fleur was calm, cool and in control the entire time that she stared at him. It was as if she were immune to such petty emotions as embarrassment or awkwardness. Harry didn't have the benefit of such a tolerance... He currently felt like nothing more than a particularly gruesome/interesting bug that the woman wanted to dissect…
While Adrien was also scrutinizing him, he was being both affable and polite about it, and Harry found that he liked the man almost immediately. He was aided in this regard by the fact that the husband and wife pair were quite obviously in love with each other, and Harry picked up on pieces of that with his magic.
Adrien and Appoline were active within Harry's aura shroud because they had a... bond of sorts, centered around Appoline's Veela abilities. Harry truly didn't want to be a voyeur, but he was picking up on the traffic between them and it was all very... sweet.
Adrien and Appoline's magical interactions had Harry wondering if his parents were this close and making comparisons with other married couples that he'd encountered throughout his life. The Dursleys just didn't do affection with each other, and if they had, it would've looked grotesque to Harry anyway. Molly and Arthur always struck Harry as being more like friends and roommates, but with Molly firmly in control… Long story short, Harry liked the Delacour parents right away, mostly because he enjoyed the fact that they enjoyed each other…
Harry also liked Gabrielle, to the point that she was in serious danger of being spoiled completely rotten... He was absolutely hopeless at deflecting her attention and constant prompting for answers about every single little aspect of his life. She kept tugging on his sleeve like little orphan Annie and being far too cute and innocent to ignore.
Harry obediently whispered the answers to her questions, but he secretly believed that knowing his favorite color or what he'd received for his birthday just couldn't be that interesting to a seven year old girl. At some point, he started asking her questions in retaliation, but that plan didn't work to deter her because she was visibly thrilled by his return attention.
She whispered back her age, her best friend from ballet's name, and her lucky number as if it was the code to a high security vault. Harry nodded and made himself look extremely serious every single time she imparted such little gems like her favorite food (pepperoni pizza).
Oh Gods! Gabrielle's cuteness level was devastating, and Harry was being rendered completely helpless!
When Harry finally locked eyes with Adrien, the man immediately gave him a smile that clearly conveyed the words "AHA you've caught my daughter's attention, and are therefore doomed to unrelenting cuteness." Then, when the man began laughing quietly to himself, it confirmed that Harry's instincts had been right on the money.
Appoline eventually took mercy on Harry and called out to her daughter. "Gabrielle sit een your seat properly. 'Arry's lunch will arrive any second, and zen we will begin eating." After giving Harry a similar look to the one Adrien had given him, Appoline also held his eyes as she nodded aside at her eldest daughter. It appeared she wanted him to know that she was also aware of his other pressing issue.
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