Harry Potter :Diamond Heart

The Owlery was not really the most romantic place to meet, but Harry supposed Fleur knew that and had chosen it deliberately. Their Yule Ball agreement was not a romantic thing, she was unlikely to want to actually date a fourteen year old and Harry thought that if she did then her taste in romance was ringing some serious alarm bells. Nobody should find the smell droppings and musty wood romantic.

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bird

He had agreed to meet her here, but she had not specified a time. He assumed, for the sake of safety, she meant early, but had rather resigned himself to spending some time in the dilapidated tower under his disillusionment charm.

He was rather proud of his mastery over it, even if his most effective spells did have a concerning parallel between them.

Harry put the basilisk of nothing out of his mind and focused on whatever Fleur Delacour expected of him.

Perhaps showing off my perfect invisibility is not the right way to start. He considered dispelling it, but there were a lot of people that came here over the course of a day and he did quite want to see her face when he surpassed her. Not all of that pride was superficial.

'That,' the soft, french voice of Fleur Delacour remarked from behind him, 'is an even better disillusionment charm.'

How amusing, Harry thought, abandoning his concealment. Our positions have reversed.

'How did you notice?' he asked, following the pattern of their previous and only real conversation.

'I am aware of the weaknesses of the charm,' she replied, with a smile altogether different from the perfect picture of proud politeness he was accustomed to seeing on her face from afar. 'I suppose I owe you an apology for laughing,' Harry began, wanting to get this out of the way.

'I would rather know why you thought it was funny,' Fleur cut in. 'I expected you to understand.'

'I was laughing at Ron,' he finished simply.

'And the first time?' Harry stared at her curiously, before remembering the incident that had cost him Katie had started with his laughter.

'I found some irony in not being the one who was stared at when I entered the room.'

'Ah,' there was flicker of something that might have been guilt in her blue eyes. 'Then consider my company tomorrow an apology for overreacting. I thought you were laughing at me.'

'If it were an apology I would not accept it,' Harry responded in a slightly cooler tone. 'I am aware that you chose to go with me for your own reasons, not to apologise for your part in destroying my relationship with Katie.'

'It is destroyed?' The same flicker appeared and disappeared and Harry was sure this time that it was guilt.

'Whatever becomes of my bond with Katie it will never be what it could have been because of you and Roger Davies,' Harry replied. He would not sugar-coat anything for the french witch. He owed her nothing.

'I am sorry to hear that,' Fleur told him earnestly, 'but perhaps, if such a small thing can do so much damage, it is for the best.'

Harry wanted to argue, but had nothing with which to refute her statement.

'Shall we go?' she suggested. 'The tower has an aura inappropriate for what could loosely be termed a date.'

'Where would be better?' Harry followed her down the stairs, keeping his distance ever so slightly. Every few steps Fleur would linger a little longer than was usual, taking her back inside the area Harry preferred people did not come. He got the impression she was testing him and his reaction, but could not fathom how she knew and had found something that made him so uncomfortable. He was not aware anyone had noticed his aversion to close contact, nobody had ever mentioned it, but Fleur barely knew him, and if she had picked up on it surely anyone could have.

'Perhaps I will think of somewhere as we walk, though I admit I am not fond of Hogwarts. It is cold, grey and wet.' Fleur took a long route back to the castle, one that avoided passing by where Harry knew the Beauxbatons carriage was.

'I hope,' she began calmly as they neared the Great Hall, 'you do not think less of me for using you as a shield.'

'A shield?'

'I am a veela,' she informed archly. 'You might not have noticed, but I attract a lot of attention in ways I would rather I did not. If I could, I would not attend this Yule Ball, but having a similarly minded date will be far preferable than the alternative.' There was far too much emphasis on the part about Harry not noticing her for him not to get curious.

'You dislike the attention, but find the fact I do not stare at you annoying too.'

'I dislike being dismissed,' she answered proudly, scrutinising him with her sky blue eyes. 'I do not enjoy being looked down on, either.'

'I would rather be dismissed than stared at,' Harry remarked. Fleur's hostility seemed based on rather conflicting feelings. If she did not want to be stared at she should not be so upset by people who did not stare.

'There is a difference between those who do not stare and those who display such an insulting indifference.' They stepped through the doors into the Great Hall and heads immediately began to turn in their direction.

'I do not know who they are looking at,' Harry said with a wry smile.

'I do,' Fleur sniffed. Harry took a longer look about the room and noticed the slightly glazed look in the eyes of most.

'I know somewhere most people do not,' Harry offered.

'Let's go,' Fleur agreed, shifting inside his area of comfort again. Harry flinched away slightly. He really wished she would not do that.

Harry led her higher and higher up the moving staircases, covertly keeping an eye on the Marauders' Map; he did not need to be ambushed again, until they reached the seventh floor.

Peter Pettigrew, he read from the edge of the quidditch pitch. The traitorous rat had started lingering around there far more than before and Harry was seriously starting to consider doing something about it. The longer he was left out there the more likely it was somebody else would get hurt. He couldn't tell Dumbledore, not anymore, his motives were unclear and Sirius couldn't find out, because he might risk himself trying to take revenge again. That just left him.

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