Lily's Journal - Chapter 15

AN: Hey guys.

Had another busy week, but I finally managed to find a proper job again, so I'm no longer in danger of having to eat ramen two times a day.

In this chapter we see a visit to Godric's Hollow, where Harry finds a couple of interesting things.

As well as the ball, where he meets a few interesting people.

Hope you guys enjoy this one.

Chapter 15

Harry walked into the cemetery in solemn silence. Sirius finally agreed to take him to Godric's Hollow, and Harry was about to visit his parents graves for the first time.

He wasn't alone. Sirius and Remus were with him, and Hermione was holding his hand quite firmly. Harry was grateful that Hermione was willing to be with him, she didn't need to accompany him, it wasn't her family. But the fact that she was willing to be there for him in a difficult moment, made him like her even more.

They weren't going to stay for long, just a quick visit to the graves, and an even quicker visit to the house. They needed to prepare for the ball in the evening, or else Andromeda would probably keep cursing them for the rest of the summer. She made it quite clear that many of the guests were only going to the ball because they wanted to see Harry, not because they cared about the product they would showcase. It wasn't something that Harry liked, but he could understand and was even willing to use it to their advantage. The girls had all made it clear to him that it was ok to use his fame to help sell their products, it was almost free advertisement after all.

The weeks since his birthday party changed a lot of things for their group, both in magical and non magical society. The magical TVs were ready for launch, with quite a bit in stock ready for the start of sales at the ball. The werewolves made for a extremely motivated workforce when they had a way to earn proper wages, so they were able to quickly learn the runes and charms needed for the larger mirrors, and were able to implement them with almost no slow down from their work with the communications mirrors.

Padma and Parvati were able to finish their work on modifying the prophecy orbs and turn them into recording devices, so the TVs would launch at the ball with a nice little nature documentary filmed by Luna and her dad, with the help of Remus. If Luna was left alone with her dad to film the documentary, they would probably end up with footage of some random snowy field in Sweden, watching Luna and Xenophilius look for crumple-horned snorkack. But since Remus was there to direct them a little bit, they actually had some really nice footage of nesting mother dragons to show at the ball. Something that is extremely rare for the average magical to see.

On the non magical side things were also advancing quickly.

The new CEO of EE, Robert Lewis, had his meeting with the prime minister, the director general and the defence secretary, and he was able to get a pretty good deal for the company. EE would supply energy for military bases at a reduced cost compared to their public sales, which would make the cost for the military dirt cheap, since they expected to already cut down energy costs for the public by a little over 50%. The government would also buy a small 2% participation on the company. And in return, EE would be recognized as a company of strategic interest to the government, and using that status they would be able to ensure that any inspections from regulatory agencies would be performed by people 'in the know'.

With the major issue to operating in non magical society solved, Robert went into a recruitment drive. He ended up hiring a little over 250 employees in total, most of them for the upper management of the company with a few for the research division. Such important positions in the hierarchy of the company meant that every single one of those 250 people were 'in the know', which ended up with quite a few of those being hired from overseas. It wasn't too much problem hiring for the administrative positions, most of them were from the UK, with a few Irish and a couple of French, but the research division ended up being a lot more difficult to find people to hire. It was rare to find scientists that had magicals in their families. It shouldn't have been surprising since their first three scientists were from three different nations, but Harry still ended up being a little surprised at how multinational their research division ended up being.

Apart from the Uk, Ireland and the US, who already had representatives, the other nations added to their think tank were, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, France, Germany, Russia, Greece, Switzerland, India, China and Japan. The scientists had said that even with the problems with communication they were having, it was still a good thing to have such a multinational team. Apparently a different cultural background could help with looking at the research in a different way, which would help with new ideas. Most of the new scientists were still learning more about magic theory and runes, which were the primary ways they would be using magic on their research, but David, Catherine and Samantha were already starting to make a few experiments using runes, as well as helping Harry and his friends in their projects.

Samantha was able to help Harry improve a lot on his alchemical transmutation. She wasn't a chemist, but her degree in applied physics still gave her a good grounding in atomic bonds and molecules. With her help, Harry was able to learn the periodic table a lot quicker than he would be able to do alone, and when the chemist joined their team, a Brazilian woman by the name of Angelica Castro, she helped Harry improve even more. He now had a list rare elements and their exact composition that he was able to make for basically free, since he could make them from hydrogen and helium, which could be made from the air making runes. He was able to do that after their astrophysicist, a German man by the name of Lothar Völler, joined up with the two women and explained to Harry how both stellar nucleosynthesis and Supernovae work, and then the three of them proceeded to help Harry replicate both processes with alchemy. There were some fears of causing a nuclear chain reaction, but after careful tests, it was shown that the magic of the transmutation actively combated catastrophic failures.

And more importantly, just the day before Harry had finally achieved his first successful transmutation of an alloy with the same properties of vibranium. It was achieved by using the imperfect alloy he had created before, and adding a few trace amounts of other rare metals. All the initials tests he did showed that the metal was vibranium, and while he would need to do a lot more testing before he could say for certain that it was, there was something within his magic saying that it was. He was looking forward to the ball that night, where he would show the others the few samples that he had of the metal, and talk about a few ideas he had to use it.

Hermione also made some major advancements on her project.

Working closely with her cousin, David, she was able to improve the efficiency of her generators. It was still horribly inefficient, they were capturing only a fraction of the energy generated by the lightning runes. They had measured it, and every single lightning bolt generated by the runes always contained the same amount of energy, it didn't matter how old or worn down the runes were, the energy was always proportional to the size of the runes. With the help of the scientists for measurements, Hermione was able to standardize her runes to always produce a lightning bold measured at exactly one billion joules, after that, it was only a matter of effectively capturing that energy.

It was proving extremely difficult to build something able to capture all that energy and converting it into usable electricity, but even with only the small fraction they could capture at the moment, it was still the most efficient method of generating electricity that they had. The EE test facility in Lancaster was almost finished, the subtle magics used to help in the construction were enough to help it go faster while not breaking the statute. That facility would use the MK2 versions of Sue Li's steam powered generators, and it would have a nameplate capacity of around 5,000 MW, always operating at 100%, with no interruptions, it would be the power plant with the highest output in the UK, and it would open already outdated.

A facility of the same size using Hermione's generators would have a nameplate capacity of 15,000 MW, which would make it the power plant with the highest output in the entire world, and that was with the ineffective designs that they were currently using, it wouldn't surprise Harry if by the same time next year they would be able to build power plants that were twice or even three times more efficient. It was probably the most important project they had even completed, something that could bring unlimited clean energy to the entire world. Harry was immensely proud of his genius girlfriend for her achievement, because it was her achievement, many others helped build it, even Harry himself helped a little, but the bulk of the work was done by Hermione.

Having finished her project, Hermione decided to work on something new, but just as revolutionary. She even stopped working on her superconductor research, because her new project could end up making her current superconductor research obsolete. Her new project was creating metallic hydrogen.

The idea came from Harry's own comments about fuel cells. After the scientists told them about how inefficient hydrogen fuel cells were, at least for the current engines they had, they kept talking about making new, more efficient engines. Sure they could probably build a self filling fuel cell, they could basically make infinite fuel using runes, but they couldn't sell them in the non magical society. That was when Samantha made a comment about metallic hydrogen, and after she explained what it was and how it could be used, both Harry and Hermione decided to make it their next big project.

After all the tests were done on his vibranium, Harry would start working together with Hermione and a few of the scientists on creating metallic hydrogen. They would probably borrow a lot of the air pressure research Hermione was doing for her superconductor project, but they would need to take it even further than Hermione stopped it at. It was theorised that metallic hydrogen exists somewhere close to the core of Jupiter, so their current objective was to replicate those conditions. Metallic hydrogen would be an extremely efficient fuel source not only for use on earth, but also as a fuel for spacecrafts. Harry still wanted to create a magical spacecraft, but having an entirely mundane option, one that didn't depend on if they could get the RoR to create a working millennium falcon, and then reverse engineer it, was a good idea.

Not to mention all the other areas that the research could improve. To recreate the conditions of Jupiter's core, they would need to use runes for a lot of air pressure and heating. If they could safely recreate the conditions on Jupiter's core, it would be a short leap to recreate the conditions in a star for hydrogen fusion. With Hermione's lightning bolt generators they already had a more than adequate power source, but fusion has being a goal of humanity for a few decades already, and there are still many people that would want to work on it, and having more power sources is always better.

Harry was taken out of his deep thoughts when he saw a couple of gravestones with the names, Kendra Dumbledore and Ariana Dumbledore. He could see that Hermione had recognized it as well, and was even more curious than him.

"Dumbledore's mother and sister." Sirius answered before they could even ask the question. "Apparently his sister died to a stray spell in a fight between Dumbledore and Grindelwald before Grindelwald's rise to power. It isn't common knowledge, but Old Bagshot and Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, are always happy to talk about it, and Aberforth blames the old goat for the death of their sister." Sirius added, and neither Harry nor Hermione could hide their shock. They didn't even know that Dumbledore still had family alive, much less that his brother blamed him for the death of their sister. Harry could almost Hermione's mind working, probably thinking the same thing that he was thinking. It was weird, Dumbledore was mentioned in dozens of books, and not a single one of them talked about his family, much less that he still had a brother alive. It seemed the headmaster had many secrets.

They moved slowly through the graveyard, and Harry recognized a couple more family names from his history books. They passed a couple of old graves with the Peverell name on it, and after a couple more minutes, they finally arrived at their destination.

It was right there in front of him, side by side, James Potter, Lily Potter, the place his parents were laid to rest. It was almost impossible to see their names with the amount of flowers, lilies, and other magical items that were there, there were even a few open letters just there on the ground, he could see that many of the letters were thanking them for their sacrifice. Harry remembered Hermione telling him that many people believed that ghosts could appear on magically important days, even for those magicals that didn't leave ghosts behind. It was a nice thing to believe, the fact that maybe his parents' ghosts could read those letters one day.

"Mum, Dad, I'm... I'm finally here. I..." Harry tried to talk but he started crying.

Hermione held him in one of her signature hugs while he cried, she was also crying. Sirius and Remus put their hands on his shoulders, and Harry could hear they were also crying. They stayed a couple of minutes without talking, just holding each other and crying, but after that, Harry talked.

He talked to his dad about his Hogwarts quidditch career, he knew his dad was on the team once, and Sirius had told Harry how much his dad liked the sport. He talked about the single prank he had ever pulled in his time at Hogwarts, when he asked Dobby to put hair growth potion on Malfoy's pumpkin juice, and he even talked about how many school rules he, Hermione and Ron had broke over the years. Something that earned him a few slaps from his girlfriend and chuckles from Sirius and Remus.

And to his mum, he talked about how they were continuing her research. How much they had achieved by following her ideas, how much progress they made in things that could change the world for the better, how many other projects they were already working on and how many they hoped to work in the future. Even Hermione joined in, talking about how they had set up the team, and how many people were now following his mum's dream. She finished with a promise for both his dad and mum, saying 'I will always be right by his side'. He knew that already, Hermione was his best friend, girlfriend, and his biggest supporter, but it was still nice to hear her say it out loud.

Sirius and Remus also talked for a bit, saying things about the days they would run together in their animagus forms, or the many pranks that they had pulled when they were in Hogwarts, the many times that Harry's mum had hexed them all because they took a prank too far, and the few times she joined in when someone truly deserved it. They talked about the years after Hogwarts. How things changed a little after the school years, they didn't spend as much time together, but they still always made time for each other, how Harry's dad and Sirius almost died because they tried to prank an auror instructor called Alastor Moody during their time in the academy, and the man shot a blood boiling curse at them. Remus thanked Harry's mum for all the help she gave him when he wanted to learn enchanting, and remembered the 'good days' when they spent most of it reading from old books, learning ancient enchantments.

While the older men were talking, Harry spent his time just listening to them talk while holding Hermione in his arms. It felt nice to hear about the happy days of his parents, and he wanted to learn more. He usually only got to hear people talking about them in a sad tone, remembering their deaths, instead of the time they were alive. By the time they left the graveyard, Harry was feeling pretty good. He had learned a lot of little things about his parents from both Sirius and Remus, and visiting their graves seemed to have lifted a weight from his shoulders. He had finally visited them, to both say his goodbye, and to show them that their sacrifice wasn't wasted, that their son was not only alive, but living life as he wanted. The Dursleys didn't managed to break him, and neither would Voldemort, no matter how many dreams he had about the snaky bastard killing people, like the one he had earlier in the month.

They moved through the town, visiting the memorial statue, and the house, where Harry read a few other messages that people left there, and after that, they visited Batilda Bagshot. The old woman seemed to be losing eyesight, but her mind was still sharp. She told Harry about how she was one of the firsts to hold him when he was born, and how she once had to cast an immobulus on him, because he somehow managed to escape his mum and was flying his toy broom on the street, Sirius even laughed at that, saying that he was one of the aurors accompanying the obliviators when they came to Godric's Hollow to clear that up, and how the obliviators almost cursed him when they learned that he was the one to give the toy broom to Harry.

They spent an hour and a half with the old lady, most of that time was spent with Hermione asking her what seemed like a million questions about magical history. But the old lady seemed to like the questions, she even gave Hermione a priceless gift, a signed, first edition copy of A History of Magic. They finally managed to leave Bagshot's house after ten minutes of Hermione constantly thanking the old lady while hugging her new book like it was the most precious thing in the world. But just as the door closed behind them, and Sirius and Remus were getting ready to apparate them back to Grimmauld, Harry started to feel a push towards his parents' house. He wanted to look at it again, this time going inside and seeing the place where it happened.

"I want to see the house again. Go inside and see where it happened." Harry said, and he could feel Sirius flinch, the grip on his shoulder where Sirius was preparing to apparate, getting a little stronger.

"We can go if you want to see it." Sirius responded, but Harry could hear the pain in his voice. The last time Sirius had walked into that house, the body of his best friends were there to greet him.

Remus nodded his head in agreement, and Hermione just pressed his hand a little harder to show her support, so they walked towards the burn down house again.

Opening the rusty gate, they stepped carefully inside the fenced area in front of the house. The area was a little overgrowth with magical plants, but none of them were the dangerous kind. Sirius pointed out a metal bench almost hidden under the vegetation.

"This was Lily's garden, where she grew her potion ingredients. She used to seat on that bench with you on her arms, Harry, and just watched her garden. Sometimes she even let you play with a few of the more harmless plants." Sirius said. His eyes fixed on the bench, almost as if he could see Harry's mum still there.

Moving on, they cleared a few plants on the path towards the door, or more accurately, the hole where the front door once stood. Walking through the hole, Harry started to feel a pull on his magic, almost as if it was directing him towards something. It was also giving him a feeling of peace, as if welcoming him home. He must have shown something because Remus said.

"Lily's work. She was always a genius, and her warding is a work of art. Even after all this time the wards are still as strong as ever."

Harry nodded his head, and started walking towards the place where his magic was pulling him to. It was just a blank stone wall, it was empty just like the rest of the house, but something about this blank patch of wall felt important to him.

"There is something here. Something about this wall feels important to me." Harry said, his voice filled with certainty. He felt Hermione press his hand again.

"Important how?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, it just feels important to me. Ever since we entered the house I felt a pull towards this place." Harry responded, and both Sirius and Remus started to cast detecting charms on the wall. Nothing seemed to be happening until a couple of seconds later when words started to appear on the wall.

"Mister Prongs and Miss Flower kindly request Messrs Padfoot and Moony to stop dragging their mangy selves into other people's business, and bring little Prongslet to receive his gift."

"Harry, point your wand to the wall and say the map's password." Sirius said with a little excitement in his voice. Harry did so, an opening appeared on the wall, and then his mouth opened in shock.

"Took you two long enough to bring Harry here, it is nice be finally be out of this hole and see my baby boy all grown up"

"And he already has a girl with him"

Said the portraits of James and Lily Potter.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"I hope you enjoy the products we are about to present." Harry said to the Greek representative. Both he and Hermione bowed their heads a little and then left, looking for others to talk to.

The ball seemed to be a success. There were important people from all over the world, representatives from governments and major business owners, and all of them seemed interested in the mirror TVs, and that was before they even presented the things. But no matter how good this was for their business, or the fact that it was planed months in advance, Harry still didn't want to be there that night.

The portraits of his parents that they found earlier in the day were the only thing on his mind at the moment. Harry spent almost every single second since finding the portraits, until the time of the ball, talking with them. It wasn't nearly enough for him, he finally had the closest thing he would ever get to talking to his parents, and he wanted to catch up on the years that he missed.

The portraits of James and Lily Potter were also more than happy to talk to Harry, and in the couple of hours they had together, they must have answered hundreds of questions Harry asked them. The first question was about when the portraits were made, and the answer was, just a week before they died, Harry's dad was the one to paint them. Harry also asked how the portraits were hidden there, and the answer showed Harry how brilliant his mum was. It was her idea to make a modification to the wards, separating the defensive wards, from the 'quality of life' ones, and in doing so, she was able to put a little ward to hide the portraits, one connected to Harry's magic, so it would only be felt by him.

They talked about other things as well, the portraits only activated once they died, making an imprint of their soul into the portraits, similar to how ghosts are made, and while that was an extremely impressive use of soul magic, and at the time, Hermione was almost vibrating with her need to know, they had time to talk about those things later. What they talked about was everything that happened since they died, and Harry almost saw a portrait trying to bring the person they represented back to life again when he told them he grew up with the Dursleys, his dad was a little stunned, but his mum looked furious, her legendary short temper in full view as Harry learned a few new curse words she used to describe Dumbledore.

The fate of Sirius and the Longbottoms made them sad, but Harry's dad almost burst out of the portrait in laughter once he was told about how Sirius escaped from Azkaban, declaring it the greatest prank a marauder has ever pulled. He also immediately received a slap on the back of the head, courtesy of Harry's mum, who jumped frames to slap her husband.

Speaking of Lily Potter, she was really happy that they were continuing her research, and also stunned at how much progress they had made. She congratulated Harry and Hermione, and said she wanted to meet the rest of the group. She also told Harry of another one of her journals hidden in the ruins of Potter manor under the same ward she used to hide the portraits. It was the journal that had all of her notes from the time the previous one ended, to just a few days before she died. She wasn't sure how much it would help, saying that they had already surpassed anything she had ever thought of doing, but Harry still wanted to recover it, it was written by his mum, and that was enough for him to want it.

The three of them talked about everything the group had achieved, and how they were hoping to commercialize it, while Harry's dad, Sirius and Remus talked amongst themselves, since they didn't want to get involved in 'boring bookworm talk' as Harry's dad put it. It was almost enough to make them late for the ball, and Harry would be perfectly ok with that, but his mum ended up putting an end to the talks and making them go get ready to the ball. It was a little weird to be scolded by a portrait, but Harry still left with a smile on his face. It was nice to have some type of interaction with his parents, even if it wasn't really them, and now, with the portraits moved to the library at Grimmauld, Harry would have the rest of the summer to talk to them.

"How was it with the Greeks?" Andromeda asked as Harry and Hermione approached her.

She was wearing a dress in slytherin colours that looked like it cost the same as a small house, her dark hair was impeccable, flowing down in an elegant and elaborate way, she looked every bit the daughter of house Black that she was. By her side, Ted wasn't putting his wife to shame, his nice three piece suit looked just as expensive as her dress, and he even found a way to hide his thinning hair by wearing an expensive looking wizard's hat. And for the first time ever, Harry didn't see She-who-must-not-be-named wearing ripped jeans and band t-shirts. She was wearing a deep purple dress that went really well with her purple hair and yellow eyes. She was even letting a few of her base features show, something she never did, despite the purple hair and yellow eyes, she looked exactly like her mother.

"It seemed to be good." Harry responded. "You know I'm not that good it this kind of thing, but he seemed to be hinting at buying fifteen hundred communication mirrors for the Greek government, and depending on how good they are, one hundred mirror TVs." He added, and Hermione nodded her head in agreement by his side.

She looked beautiful in her baby blue dress, her hair was tamed into soft curls and her eyes shining in excitement. She was clearly enjoying the ball, even if before the thing started she seemed to hate it almost as much as Harry, but Hermione being happy made him happy, so Harry wouldn't complain.

"I'm actually a little surprised at how many mirrors all those foreign dignitaries are committing to buy." Hermione said, and Harry could understand what she meant. The number of mirrors they sold during the ball was larger than all the sales they had already made since the mirrors started being sold.

"You shouldn't be. Despite our history, Britain has one of the lowest populations of magicals in the entire world." Andromeda responded, and Harry and Hermione's surprise must have shown because she added. "Between Grindelwald and Voldemort, we lost over 90% our population. That's why they are still so feared, not for their power, but because of the cost that two back to back wars took on our country."

Harry thought that this was an interesting piece of information, and something that they should've known. But it is probably something that should be explained in history class, and Binns is only interested in goblin rebellions, so he didn't think that any Hogwarts graduate learned that information in the school.

"Mister Potter, it is an honour to meet you." Harry heard a voice that he could only describe as 'dusty'. He turned around and saw a middle aged man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, by his side was a woman with red hair and deep blue eyes.

"Thank you sir. May I know who I'm speaking to?" Harry asked, doing his best to be polite.

"I'm Newton, and this is my wife, Paracela." The man said, and the woman with him smiled a little. There was something weird with the man. He looked the same age as Ted, but his voice sounded ancient.

"It is good to see young wizards and witches keeping the flames of knowledge and discovery alive. Your mirrors are interesting objects, and massive achievements for ones as young as your group is." The woman, Paracela, said. Her voice sounded just as ancient as her husband's.

"Thank you for your kind words." Hermione responded, smiling a little at the woman's praise.

"We are looking forward to see what you can come up with using the noble art of alchemy, Mister Potter." The man said, and Harry looked at him a little suspiciously. Only the group and a few others knew that Harry was learning alchemy. This man shouldn't know anything about it.

"Using alchemy, especially transmutation, leaves a certain mark on one's magic, Mister Potter, almost a taste, one that is quite easy to see for an accomplished alchemist like myself, or my wife. I'm sure your headmaster would tell you the same thing, he is quite accomplished in the art as well." The man said, giving an answer to the unasked question.

"I'm still learning the basics at the moment, so it will take some time for me to have something I'm comfortable with selling to the public. I still have some troubles with measuring the base ingredients sometimes." Harry said, being purposefully vague and not giving the man much. There was something about him that was putting Harry on edge.

"Yes, it is a difficult thing to learn for beginners." The man said in what Harry imagined was a jovial tone, but his raspy old voice made it sound a little weird. "My advice is to use magically powerful numbers for the base materials, it works on both transmutations and alchemical potions. One of my greatest achievements used seven base materials divided in seven pieces each." The man added, and his wife gave him a weird look, then she looked at Harry and nodded her head a little, more to herself than to him.

"Thank you for the advice, sir." Harry thanked the man, since it did sound like good advice.

"Of course, I'm always happy to help a bright young mind." The man responded, again trying for a jovial tone. "We will take our leave. Have a good night, Mister Potter." He added, and then he and his wife turned around and Harry quickly lost then in the crowd.

"Who was that?" Hermione asked, a little confused.

"I don't know." Harry responded.

"I don't either, and I don't like it. I should know everyone invited, and I don't remember ever inviting him or his wife." Andromeda said, her tone a little suspicious.

"Maybe he is here to see if he can kill Wonder Boy later. You know, scouting the prey." Tonks said.

"You're spending too much time with Moody, Dora." Ted said in a tired tone, and Dora grinned at him.

"I agree." Andromeda added, making Dora pout a little. "Now turn around Harry, Hermione, and mind your words. The man approaching us is pretty important in the French government." She added, and Harry turned around again.

The man looked around the same age as Ted, with dark hair and icy-blue eyes, his suit was impeccable and his presence just screamed 'power'. With him was a woman with silvery blonde hair, blue eyes and a figure other women would kill for. She seemed to be his wife, but she looked younger than him, around the same age as Tonks, which was a little weird because Harry was sure that the two girls with them were their daughters, and the woman barely looked older than the older girl.

The older girl looked to be around the same age as Harry's teammates, Angelina and Alicia, maybe a little older. Harry had to admit, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, with the same silvery blonde hair and blue eyes as her mother, but there was something more to the girl that made her even more beautiful than her mother.

And the younger girl looked quite cute, like a child actress. She was almost jumping in place, and it seemed that the only reason she hadn't jumped into Harry and tried to kill him with death by hug, was because her mother was holding her hand. In other situations Harry would be mad about someone being so excited to see him, it usually meant that they were a little too obsessed with him, like Ginny used to be. But the girl was so adorable that Harry just couldn't be mad at her.

"Monsieur Potter, it is an honour to meet you." The man said in a faint, almost non-existent French accent. "I'm Jean-Paul Delacour. The beautiful woman by my side is my wife, Apolline, and at her side are our daughters, Fleur and Gabrielle." The man introduced his family.

"The honour is mine, Mister Delacour." Harry responded, bowing his head slightly.

Harry was a little confused by the brief expression of surprise and then the intense looks that both Apolline and Fleur gave him, and it was at that moment that he heard Ted hissing in pain and Dora trying and failing to hide her snickering. Looking behind him he saw Andromeda giving the Delacours an apologetic look, she seemed to have punched Ted on the side, judging by the fact that he was rubbing his ribs. It took only another second for Ted to forget his pain, and Harry understood why Andromeda punched him when he started giving dopey looks to Apolline and Fleur. Dora was also acting a little weird, alternating between snickering at her dad's behaviour, and giving Fleur an intense look.

Harry shook his head and turned his attention back to the Delacours, but something he saw stopped him from turning his attention completely to the French family, and he finally understood why Dora always called Hermione a pervert.

Harry might not know much about girls, but even with his lack of experience, he could still recognize the look Hermione was giving Fleur. It was the same one Harry had on his face that one time he walked in on Hermione in only her underwear. He might be a little slow with girls, but when his girlfriend is looking at another girl and almost drooling, even he would understand what that means, and judging by the smirk on Fleur's face, she knows exactly what is happening as well. Now he has to worry about losing his girlfriend to a French beauty.

AN 2: Harry finds the portraits of his parents, so now he can learn a bit more about them.

He also meets an enigmatic couple during the ball. Maybe their alchemy advice will be a good one.

He also finally understands why Hermione is always looking at other girls, and freaks out a little bit.

In the next chapter we see Harry trying to learn a bit more about both Hermione and Fleur, and maybe stop his girlfriend from leaving him for a French girl.

I will see you guys in the next one.