FIC: Guiding Harry Chapter 9: The Second Task (December 2024)

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Hope you enjoy your holiday, as well as this chapter.

Summary: On the morning of the Second Task, Fleur feels confident and prepared. But will she be able to hold onto her confidence and maintain her composure when she realizes what, or rather, who, she is expected to retrieve from the lake?

Fleur went to bed earlier than usual on the night of February 23rd, wanting to ensure she was well-rested before the Second Task. Part of her feared that she might toss and turn in the night as she had the night before the First Task with its dragons, but when she rolled over and glanced at the clock near her bedside, she was surprised at just how soundly she’d managed to sleep this time.

As she got out of bed, stretched her arms above her head, and gathered her things so she could use one of the two showers in the carriage, she could feel how different her mood was in comparison to the morning of the First Task. Some of that could be attributed to her not knowing of any creatures in the Black Lake that seemed half as frightening to her as dragons. But Fleur knew that the lack of dragons was not the sole reason she did not feel the same panic that she’d felt before the First Task. It had been three months since she’d charmed the Common Welsh Green into a trance to get its egg and suffered some minor burns for her trouble, but those three months might as well have existed in a different lifetime for her.

It was almost startling how much more confident she felt today, knowing that she had more people here to support her than just her fellow Beauxbatons students. Her classmates would root for her to do well in the tasks out of school solidarity while simultaneously feeling jealous that she’d been chosen to represent the school over them. She had no true friends or supporters at Beauxbatons, only cordial acquaintances. Their support during the tournament was superficial.

This time, though, her parents were going to be in the stands cheering her on, and so was her little sister. And Harry, even if he was technically her competitor in the tournament, wanted only the best for her, just as she did for him. Knowing that the people who mattered to her would be present when she went into the lake today did not cause her to fear disappointing them. Instead, she felt confident that she was going to succeed and make them all proud of her.

She’d also worked hard to prepare for this task, of course. Unlike the First Task, where her preparation had centered on what magic she could use to subdue a dragon and what spells she might need to rely on in an emergency in case her strategy failed, she didn't need to practice a variety of spells this time. The realities of using the Bubble-Head Charm to allow her to breathe underwater meant that she couldn't use any other spells to aid her once the task had begun. She'd worked to perfect the Bubble-Head Charm so it would be as strong as it could be and last, as long as she needed it to. Beyond that, her preparation for the Second Task was all about practicing her swimming while helping Harry get stronger with his, and strategizing for how she should approach reaching the mermaids and whatever object of hers they were going to take, and how to deal with whatever obstacles were placed in her way.

Attempting to fight her way through any creatures that might bar her path would be foolish since she couldn't use her wand or cast any magic. Had she been a full veela, with the ability to produce natural flames at will, she would have had a massive tactical advantage over the other champions, but that wasn't an option for her. Even if her emotions became heated enough for her to be able to summon her fire, a quarter-veela's flames were too small and weak to serve as an effective offensive weapon. They likely wouldn't do her any more good against the creatures in the lake than the small knife she was bringing with her, which she was bringing in case there was anything she needed to cut through while her Bubble-Head Charm was still active.

Completing the task was going to be all about her Bubble-Head Charm being strong and Fleur being able to swim capably enough to navigate around any obstacles or threats while making her way to the village to retrieve her item and make it back to the surface within the hour time limit. Keeping calm and paying attention to her surroundings was going to be key, and as she took a nice, hot shower to begin her day, Fleur felt up for the task. She smiled, imagining making it back at the end of the task just seconds before Harry, there to greet him with a kiss and congratulate him on finishing second, which was going to be quite an achievement given how hard he’d had to work on learning the Bubble-Head Charm and also improving his swimming. She had faith in him, though. She knew first-hand how much effort he’d put into getting ready for this task, and Harry Potter had already proven to her that he was capable of great things when he applied himself. If she, let alone Krum or Diggory, underestimated him as a competitor because of his age, they were foolish to do so. Harry might be three years younger than the rest, with three fewer years of magical education, but he was a genuine threat to win this tournament.

But she wasn’t going to make it easy on him, of course. She loved her mate and was far more concerned with his health and safety than she was with trying to win this tournament. Still, she hadn’t come to Hogwarts to lose. A bit of friendly competition to see who could make it back first could be fun now that there weren’t any dragons to worry about.

Fleur did not get a response when she knocked on the door of the room her parents and Gabrielle were staying in while visiting for the task, but she didn’t think much of it. Her parents were early risers back home, but her father mentioned wanting to make the most of a rare opportunity to sleep in. Fleur would leave them to it and hopefully get a chance to speak with them before the task. For now, she left the Beauxbatons carriage behind and trekked up to the castle to grab a light breakfast, wanting to make sure she was properly energized for the day.

This was going to be her day! With her parents and her sister cheering her on, she was going to prove why she had been chosen to represent Beauxbatons.

--

Fleur was the first of the champions to walk down to the lake, coming to stand beside the judges at their table before they’d formally summoned her, and while the stands were just beginning to fill up with people ready to watch the task. She’d come out early mainly for lack of anything better to do. Her preparations were long since complete; her parents and sister hadn't ever turned up in the Great Hall while she was eating her breakfast or afterward, and she hadn’t seen Harry all morning either. Fleur didn’t read too much into the latter, assuming that Harry was off somewhere else preparing for the task, with Hermione’s help. It was peculiar that her family hadn’t sought her out to spend some time with her before the task, or at least quickly wish her good luck before they went to watch her from the stands, but Fleur didn’t want to let herself get distracted by that. She had a task to focus on. Perhaps her parents had even stayed away this morning because they wanted her to be free to prepare on her own.

Cedric Diggory was the next champion to arrive, and Fleur did not fail to notice that he received a louder and more obviously positive ovation from the people in the stands than she did. She noticed, but it did not bother her. She was used to most people, particularly women, not being fans of hers. Diggory gave her a slight nod as he came to take up his position next to the judge's table and facing the lake. Fleur nodded back but said nothing to him. Cedric, much like her, ignored the chattering of the people in the stands and looked out at the water. Given their conversation about the prefects' bath, where he'd given Harry the password, she assumed Cedric was well aware of what their task entailed. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, he did not seem overly panicked, even if he obviously had a lot on his mind.

Krum came down just a couple of minutes after Cedric, looking even surlier than usual. Karkaroff cleared his throat from the judge's table to get his attention, but Krum ignored his Headmaster completely. Krum did not give any nods of acknowledgment to either Fleur or Cedric, and he seemed indifferent to the students chanting his name as he took his place. Then again, an international quidditch star like him would be used to hearing his name chanted by roaring crowds just like this.

Harry was the last to arrive, and Fleur naturally watched her mate far more closely than she’d watched the other two champions. She smiled at him, and while he did smile back, he looked distracted.

“Is something wrong, Harry?” she asked, taking his hand. The chattering from the crowd seemed to get louder as they watched two of the champions holding hands minutes before the task was to begin, but it wasn’t as if their relationship was a secret to anyone in the castle by this point. It wasn’t a secret to anyone in the wizarding world, for that matter. “Are you nervous?”

“Not really,” Harry said. “I think I’m ready, thanks to you.” She smiled proudly, but he still seemed distracted.

“What is it, then?” she asked.

“I haven’t seen Ron or Hermione at all this morning,” Harry said. He blew out a breath, which was visible in the cold air. "McGonagall sent for them last night when we were talking in our common room. I went to bed early so I'd get a good amount of sleep. When I woke up, Ron’s bed didn’t look like it’d been slept in, and none of the other guys saw him come in.” He shook his head. “And right before she left last night, Hermione mentioned we could review the various creatures said to live in the lake at breakfast this morning. She never showed up, though. Neither of them did." Fleur frowned, unsure what to make of that and thinking it was a very untimely distraction given the task before them. Before she could think much on it, though, Cedric spoke, having heard them from his spot.

“You haven’t seen your friends all morning?” Cedric said, looking over at Harry. Harry shook his head, and his fellow Hogwarts champion frowned. “I haven’t seen Cho, either. We were supposed to eat breakfast together, and then she was going to sit in the stands with my parents. But she never showed up, and my parents said they never saw her, either.”

Now Fleur was frowning, putting these two things together in her head. It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Hermione and Ron, Harry’s best friends, and Cho, Cedric’s girlfriend, all missing on the morning of the Second Task...

Fleur’s head jerked into the stands, scanning the crowd desperately. With the knowledge that people close to two of the other champions hadn't been seen since last night, it suddenly became imperative that she made sure her family was safe and sound in the crowd, ready to cheer her on. Her mother, as always, was easy to find, no matter how large the crowd was. Once Fleur found her, it was easy enough to notice her father sitting to her left. But there was no sign of Gabrielle beside either of them. No matter how hard Fleur looked, trying to will her little sister into existence, there were only two members of her family there in the stands. Her mother eventually noticed her looking, looked back, and gave her a smile. But the little twinge of anxiety she saw in her mother’s smile did nothing to calm Fleur’s nerves. In fact, it did the exact opposite.

“Gabrielle,” Fleur whispered. “I see my parents in the stands, but Gabrielle is not with them.” Her voice was shaking from all of the emotions hitting her at the awful realization of what had surely happened and where her little sister was.

“We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,” Cedric muttered, reaching the same obvious conclusion she had. Watching Harry’s face tighten, Fleur knew he understood, too. Krum did not turn to look at any of them, but his scowl as he faced the lake grew even more severe.

But past an hour, the prospect’s black. Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back. Even after Diggory and Krum looked away, lost in their own thoughts now that they had a fuller understanding of the task, Fleur did not dare to speak the most ominous lines from their hint aloud. She was sure that her throat would close off if she attempted to utter the warning about what would happen if their hour ran out before they made it back. Just thinking about Gabrielle being taken and put in the lake made Fleur’s heart feel as if it would shatter to pieces.

She’d felt so prepared and confident, but that was when she’d expected the tournament organizers to place an object, perhaps one with some degree of sentimental value for her, in the lake for her to retrieve. Now, everything had changed. This was no longer a competition, a chance to show her skill and prove her worthiness as a Triwizard Champion while her family cheered her on. She felt no excitement about completing the task and earning points now.

It was only panic and fear flooding through her body now, and it was not going to be soothed by earning points in some stupid tournament. The pageantry of the Triwizard Tournament and the honor of being chosen to represent her school no longer mattered to her in the slightest. If Fleur thought she could get away with it, she’d have dove into the lake then and there so she could go find her sister as soon as possible. She would have gladly traded a zero in the task, or even disqualification from the tournament altogether, in exchange for being able to hug her little sister in her arms and reassure herself that she was safe. Every second that she waited for Ludo Bagman to explain the task to the audience and give the champions the countdown to start felt like an eternity to Fleur.

Just when she was seriously considering diving into the lake early, tournament be damned, she felt Harry’s hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to stare at him through narrowed eyes, daring him to stand in her way. Not many men would have stood resolute with an angry veela staring at them, but Fleur’s mate was not just any man. Harry did not flinch, and he did not let go of her shoulder.

“We’re going to get them back,” Harry said to her. He squeezed her shoulder tighter. “All of them. No matter what.”

Though Fleur did not believe that she was going to be able to feel any true calm until she could put her arms around her little sister, hug her, and see for herself that she was safe, she did draw some slight comfort from the determination she saw in her lover’s eyes.

--

The water in the lake was bitterly cold, colder even than it had been when she and Harry swam in it previously to prepare for their task. Fleur's body certainly felt the cold, but her mind pushed it away and refused to let it become a distraction. Her mind was on one thing alone: finding the mermaid village as soon as possible, freeing her sister, and bringing her back to the surface.

All of Fleur’s mental preparation for this task over the last three months had been discarded. Over and over again during the lead-up to this day, she'd reminded herself of the importance of keeping her wits about her, prioritizing finding the smoothest path in the water, and avoiding the most significant obstacles that could slow her down. She was confident in her ability to hold the Bubble-Head Charm for as long as she needed it, and as long as it held, an hour should theoretically be plenty of time for her to make her way through the lake until she found the village of the merpeople. Rushing ahead without exercising the proper caution to keep her eyes peeled for any potential threats was unwise, and Fleur had stressed this both to Harry and to herself.

None of it slowed her down now, even with her visibility being limited by how dark and foggy it was in the lake. It had been easy for Fleur to tell herself that she was going to approach this task patiently, take her time, and make sure that she looked around carefully so she didn’t swim into any dangerous areas in her haste to reach her goal. Perhaps she would have been able to stick to this prudent strategy if she had been going into the lake to retrieve one of her possessions, as she’d expected all along. But all reason, caution, and strategy were forgotten in her haste to reach her sister. She’d been nervous before and during the First Task, knowing how easily she could get hurt if something went wrong with the dragon, despite whatever safety precautions the staff took to try and protect the champion. But the fear she’d felt when she tried to put the Common Welsh Green into a trance could not compare to the bottomless terror that consumed her now. Reaching her precious little sister and bringing her to safety was far more important to Fleur than avoiding the dragon’s fire or claws could ever have been.

She pushed her body hard through the water, swimming as fast as she could and ignoring the dark shapes visible around and in front of her. Her pace did not slow so she could check to make sure that none of those threats would pose a problem. Fleur’s eyes searched only for the mermaid village, where Gabrielle was sure to be held.

Fleur swam around rocks, went over weeds, and pushed herself through the water with speed that eclipsed any of the fish she glimpsed out of the corner of her eye. She had not seen any of her fellow champions, Harry included, and she did not know if this meant that she had outpaced them all or if they had gone in different directions once in the lake.

Though they’d originally agreed that they were going to treat this task as a friendly competition and not work together once they were in the lake, teaming up with Harry likely would have been the reasonable thing to do, especially now that the stakes had been raised significantly once they realized what the thing they’d sorely miss actually was. But even if they’d tried to change their strategy and worked together, Fleur felt such urgency that she wouldn’t have been patient enough to stick by Harry’s side or employ anything approaching caution. Every second she spent swimming through the lake felt like it both passed by in the blink of an eye and lasted for an eternity at the same time. Fleur's desperation and panic were not going to cease until she had rescued Gabrielle.

She felt a sharp tug on her left ankle that halted her momentum, but only for a moment. Fleur shook off whatever had just grabbed her by wildly shaking her leg around, and she was free to continue swimming. Had she been thinking clearly, Fleur likely would have altered her path in some way at that point, whether that meant getting higher up in the water or going to the side. But, in her panicked state, Fleur spared no thought for getting higher or altering her route. She knew that Gabrielle was at the bottom of the lake, she was free of whatever had grabbed her, and there was nothing visible in front of her that would stop her forward progress. The desperate veela swam on in search of her sister.

Fleur did not make it more than two strokes farther before she felt another tug on her left ankle, and this one was not so easily shaken off. She turned her head around quickly, seeing a Grindylow grabbing her ankle. Fleur let out a frustrated huff, attempting to shake the small horned water creature off, but more Grindylows emerged from the thick grass she had been attempting to swim over. A second grabbed her left ankle, bolstering the grip of the first water demon, and others grabbed onto her right leg as well, removing any possibility for Fleur to simply swim away. Their long fingers ended in sharp claws, and Fleur could feel them leaving cuts in her legs as they tried to grab at her.

She tried with all her might to shake her legs and kick the Grindylows off of her, but their long fingers were stronger than they looked. If she had only needed to pry the trip of a lone Grindylow off of her body, she could have done so without much difficulty. One Grindylow on its own was no trouble; even four or five of them coming for her simultaneously wouldn't have been an overly difficult obstacle for a witch of Fleur's skill level. But her haste to reach her sister had landed her in the grasp of a swarm of the small water demons, and her chance to break away was dwindling by the second. The Grindylows were trying to drag her down into the weed they had risen from, and they were succeeding through sheer strength in numbers.

Fleur screamed inside her protective bubble, but it was not fear of her own fate that caused her to scream and rage. She was aware that Grindylows were known to occasionally eat humans if they managed to capture one, but Fleur spared no thought for her own safety. It was her little sister that she was concerned about. Gabrielle was somewhere at the bottom of this lake, alone, vulnerable, and waiting for her big sister to come and save her. Fleur was not going to fail her. She could not.

Her options were limited, but that would not stop Fleur from attempting to escape with everything she had. She tried to reach down with her arms to pull the Grindylows off of her legs, and when that failed, she actually struck one with a closed fist, punching it just to the right of the horn on its head. That Grindylow let go of her right leg and floated away, looking dazed, but when Fleur tried to pull or punch off the others that were holding onto her right leg so she could regain full use of it, yet more water demons emerged from the weed to replace their fellow, and also grab onto Fleur’s arm to prevent her from doing any more grabbing or punching.

She could feel their clawed fingers cutting into the flesh of her wrists and forearms, but the pain was nothing to her. It was her continued lack of progress that made her desperate. There were Grindylows grabbing all four of Fleur’s limbs now, and she could do nothing to break free of their grasp. With a scream of rage, she tried to will her veela heritage to help her, attempting to summon fire as her weapon, as her grandmother could have done in this situation. But Fleur was quarter-veela, and the weak flame she was capable of producing was no help to her here. Fleur continued to struggle, and even when she felt the bubble that allowed her to breathe underwater failing under her duress, she thought only of her sister.

Gabrielle. Gabrielle is waiting for me! I must get free! I must break free from the Grindylows and make it to Gabrielle, no matter what it takes! If my bubble fails and I cannot make it back to the surface, at least I can free her and make sure that someone else can--

The blow on the back of Fleur’s head was gentle, but it knocked her out in an instant nevertheless.

--

Fleur gasped and coughed as she sat up, looking around quickly. She didn’t immediately remember what had happened or where she was, but she knew that her heart was pounding as hard as it ever had in her life, and she had been doing something incredibly important.

She was dripping wet despite the thick blanket wrapped around her body, and she was sitting on the bank near the table where the judges sat, ready to assign their points for the task after--

“Gabrielle!” she gasped, horror setting in as she realized where she was, and remembered what she’d been in the middle of. She tried to scramble up to her feet so she could hurry back into the lake, but two massive arms grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her in place.

“Do not panic, Miss Delacour,” Madame Maxime said to her in French. “You failed in your task, but you are safe now. The merpeople returned you to the surface, and—”

“Gabrielle!” Fleur repeated, shouting her sister’s name now. Didn’t her Headmistress understand that Fleur could not have cared less about the task, her points, or even her own safety? Her only concern was her little sister. If the merpeople hadn’t returned her from the bottom of the lake at the same time they brought Fleur back after her failure, and no one else was going to go and get her, Fleur was going to go right back into the lake to bring her sister back, no matter what it took out of her. The soreness in her muscles, the unhealed cuts on her arms, legs, and face, and the chill seeping through the blanket would not stop her. Not even Madame Maxime, strong as she was, was going to keep Fleur out of the water.

“She is perfectly safe, I assure you,” her Headmistress said. Fleur was struggling so hard that her Headmistress had to let go of her shoulders and put her arms around her waist instead, holding her in place.

“She’s okay, Fleur,” Hermione said softly, coming over and crouching down next to her. “Your sister agreed to do this, just like Ron, Cho, and I did. They put us in a magical sleep. Dumbledore wouldn’t let any of us drown down there. He’s got the merpeople watching over the hostages. She’ll be fine.”

Fleur shook her head, refusing to accept it. Hermione’s words were meant to reassure Fleur. She’d clearly seen how terrified her friend was, and she’d come over to soothe her. Deep down, Fleur did appreciate Hermione’s concern for her, and she wanted to accept the logic behind what the other girl said. It made sense that Gabrielle had volunteered because there was no chance that her parents would have simply been watching in the stands all this time if they thought Gabi was in any danger. They, like everyone else, Madame Maxime and Hermione included, believed that Dumbledore had the situation under control.

But Dumbledore, as Fleur was painfully aware, was not infallible. The stories Harry had told her of his previous years at Hogwarts were a testament to the danger that his students sometimes got placed in, despite his best efforts. And the spells he'd placed on the Goblet of Fire had not prevented someone else from putting Harry's name in and getting him chosen as a fourth champion, had they? Everyone else might be calm, but Fleur continued to struggle to break free from Madame Maxime’s arms. She was not going to believe that Gabrielle was safe until she could see her with her own eyes, and there was still no sign of her. Hermione was obviously back, and she saw Viktor standing nearby as well, staring over at them. Fleur could also see Cedric and his girlfriend, Cho, wrapped in blankets of their own and sitting close together, talking. But there was no sign of Harry, Ron, or her sister.

“Let me go!” Fleur pleaded, trying to break out of Madame Maxime’s grip. Her Headmistress was a very powerful woman, but even she had to let out a little grunt of exertion and adjust her grip to stop Fleur from breaking free. It did not matter how much they tried to convince her that everything was fine. She had failed her sister, and she was not going to believe a word of their reassurances until Gabrielle was back. “Let me go! Gabrielle! I need to get to my sister! Please, let me go! She needs me! Please, please, please!”

“Look!” Hermione said, grabbing Fleur’s shoulder with one hand and pointing toward the lake with the other. “Look, there’s Harry!”

Fleur followed Hermione’s finger and saw that her mate was indeed swimming toward the bank. His friend Ron was there with him, but Fleur’s eyes went straight past the redhead, and her heart leaped into her throat when she saw that both boys were pulling her sister through the water along with them.

"Gabrielle!" Fleur shouted. She felt her lungs burn as she shouted, but she did not care about herself. She could see her sister with them, but they were too far away, and she was too small for Fleur to be certain of her condition. She had to remind herself to shout in English because Harry would not understand if she reverted to French. "Gabrielle! Is she alive?! Harry, is she okay?!"

Harry opened his mouth and tried to say something, but his voice must have been too weak at the moment. While supporting her sister with his right hand, he held his left thumb up and nodded his head several times while looking at Fleur. She sobbed, feeling something settle in her chest. Her mate would not lie to her, not about this. Her sister was safe. Harry had saved her.

Now that there was no risk of Fleur diving back into the water, Madame Maxime let go of her. The instant Fleur was no longer being held back, she scrambled toward her mate and her sister, nearly stumbling in her haste. She engulfed Gabrielle in a tight hug as soon as Harry helped her onto the bank. Her sister hugged her back, and those little arms circling her body were the sweetest relief of Fleur's life. She sobbed, kissed the top of her sister's head repeatedly, and babbled out apologies and explanations as to why she hadn't been there to help her.

“I’m fine, Fleur,” Gabrielle said, patting her back. “Harry and his friend helped me.”

“Yes, Fleur agreed, looking over at Harry, who was being wrapped up in a blanket by his school’s matron. “They did.”

Ron Weasley was being fussed over by another redheaded boy, that one who was filling in for Crouch. Fleur would thank him later for helping get her sister back to safety. But she knew who was truly responsible for Gabrielle being out of the lake and back in her arms. Harry met her eye and held eye contact with her as Fleur took Gabrielle by the hand and led her back over toward him.

“Look after my sister, please,” Fleur said to the matron, who nodded and wrapped a blanket around Gabrielle’s small body, leading her over to take a seat. That left Fleur standing alone in front of Harry. The thick blanket was wrapped around his body, his wet hair was sticking up in too many different directions to count, and water dripped off of the shorts and tank top he’d worn into the lake. He had never looked more handsome to Fleur. He was her hero. He’d saved her sister when she could not.

She threw her arms around his shoulders and smashed her lips against his, kissing him as hard as she ever had. Harry hugged her body tightly and kissed her back. She was sure that loads of people were watching them in the stands, but they were mistaken if they thought this was a passionate snog of congratulations between lovers at the end of their task. This was Fleur clinging desperately to the man who had brought her back up when she was at the lowest point she could have ever fathomed reaching in her life. Fleur had never known despair like she’d known when she believed she’d risked losing her sister forever thanks to her failure, but Harry had brought her precious Gabi back to her and breathed life back into Fleur at the depth of her anguish. If they hadn’t already made their connection at the Yule Ball, she was sure would have fallen in love with him the moment she saw him approaching the bank and pulling her sister along with him. Harry being Harry, he probably would have brought Gabi back even if Fleur had never approached him during the Yule Ball.

Fleur felt him shiver slightly, so she let go of their hug and looked him over while running her hands along his body, looking for any injuries. He chuckled lightly and put his arms on her shoulders.

“I’m fine, Fleur,” he said. Fleur looked into his eyes, searching for any untruths, and nodding when she saw none. He’d made it back, and he was okay.

“You saved her,” Fleur whispered, feeling emotion clog her throat as she put her hands on Harry’s cheeks. “I failed her. But you saved her.”

“You didn’t fail her,” Harry said, shaking his head. “Why do you think I made it through the task, Fleur? I’d have been hopeless without all your help. And of course I saved her. I promised, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Fleur said, nodding. “You promised.” Fleur wasn’t used to being able to rely on people outside of her own family—but then, Harry was part of her family now. He was her lover, he was her mate, and he was the man she would spend the rest of her life with. Her veela side had already recognized his worthiness, and Fleur had come to see his potential as she got to know him better and saw what he could do when he applied himself and worked hard. But until now, Fleur had viewed her younger lover as the one in need of guidance and support from her. Now, after what he’d just done, she realized that even if he was still in his 4th year at Hogwarts, her mate was capable of supporting her, too. She could guide him, help him, and protect him, and he could help her and protect her, and those she held most dear. They were a team. She would not have to face any danger alone again because she had him.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She kissed his cheek, rested her forehead against his, and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Harry. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Harry said, blushing slightly. It made her smile that something as simple as saying he loved her with a group of people around them could make him blush even now. But his lack of experience with public displays of affection did not hold him back. He put his arms around her again and pulled her into another hug. “You’re welcome. And thank you.”

Fleur did not feel particularly worthy of thanks from him or anyone else after the morning she’d had and the mistakes she’d made in the lake, but she let Harry hold her and finally began to relax in his arms. Whatever she’d done to earn his love or his thanks, Fleur would forever be grateful that Harry Potter was her lover, her mate, and her partner.