FIC: Guiding Harry Chapter 6: Hogsmeade (September 2024)

Summary: Fleur was not overly impressed by Hogsmeade during her first visit, but walking around the village with Harry is considerably more pleasant.

Content Warnings/Themes: No sex

“Just a little more, Harry,” Fleur said. “You’re almost there.” She held her arms out toward her mate and smiled invitingly. “Remember, don’t stop kicking your feet or moving your arms until you’re close enough to touch me without having to stretch.”

Harry swam the rest of the distance separating him from her, showing his progress over the last couple of weeks. The first time Fleur had worked on swimming with him, they’d been in the more manageable conditions of the massive tub in the prefects’ bath, and he still wouldn’t have been able to cover this kind of distance easily back then. But this afternoon, even with them taking their lesson into the much less pleasant waters of the Black Lake in order to properly prepare for what it was going to be like during the Second Task, Harry made it to her with even strokes. He kicked his legs and moved his arms through the water one at a time, just like she’d taught him, and he did not panic or doubt himself midway through, which had been one of his problems at the beginning.

As soon as he reached her, Fleur was there to take him into her arms and give him a congratulatory kiss. Once she’d helped him get the basics of swimming down, she’d found that having him swim to her and rewarding him with a kiss when he reached her was an effective way to keep him focused. Fleur, always happy to motivate her mate, kissed his lips and giggled as he put his arms around her waist to pull her against him. They stood at the edge of the lake and kissed for some time, neither of them bothered by the water dripping from their hair and into their eyes.

Had they swam in the prefects’ bath again, Fleur would have seen to it that this kiss of congratulations turned into something more. They were out at the edge of the lake in the early evening after classes, though, so she had to contain her desire for her mate. Besides, it was early January, so the lake water that soaked them both through was too cold to be comfortable. Fleur broke their hug, took his hand, and led him back onto the lake shore.

“That was very good, Harry,” she said while bending down to pick her wand up. “You show noticeable improvement every time we swim together.”

“I have a great teacher,” he said. She cast a warming charm on him, and he stopped shivering at once and gave her a grateful nod. “Thanks. For warming me up, and for working with me, too.”

“You deserve most of the credit for working so hard,” Fleur said after casting the same spell on herself. “I am pleased with all of the effort you have put in, not just with the swimming, but also with the Bubble-Head Charm, and the other spells I have shown you.” She was convinced that there was little that Harry Potter would not be able to accomplish as long as he applied himself, and as his mate, she was going to make sure that he put in the effort and lived up to his potential. “Still, I will not refuse any compliment you wish to give me, so you are welcome, mon chéri.” Harry chuckled while accepting the towel she handed him.

“I can tell I’ve gotten loads better,” he admitted while scrubbing his hair. “But I know I need to keep working on it; my endurance, especially.” Fleur nodded in agreement. His technique and confidence were much improved, but there was still work to be done if he was going to be able to make it through the Second Task. The riddle stipulated a time limit of one hour, but there was no telling how much of that hour it was going to take either of them to find whatever it was that would be waiting for them in the merpeople village in the lake.

“We will return to the lake for more swimming soon,” she said. “This weekend, perhaps? Saturday or Sunday?”

“Maybe Sunday,” he said. “Saturday’s a Hogsmeade day.”

“So it is,” Fleur said. The little wizarding village hadn’t made a significant impression on her during her previous trip, so she hadn’t paid much attention to the schedule for the next weekend in which the students of the three schools would be allowed to visit. She noticed Harry suddenly look away and bite his lip, though, which caught her interest. “Is something the matter, Harry?”

“Would you go to Hogsmeade with me?” he asked, turning his head back and looking into her eyes.

“If you would like to spend some time there, I will happily go with you,” she said, confused by how seriously he was looking at her. She saw him swallow deeply and look away after she agreed to visit the village with him, and it convinced her that they were not on the same page at the moment. She took his hand in hers once again. “Harry, I simply assumed we would spend time together this weekend, as we have every weekend and nearly every evening since the Yule Ball. But if me agreeing to go to the village with you would make you look away from me, I think I must not understand what it is you are trying to ask, and why it is important to you.”

“Well, I mean," he began before trailing off. Fleur gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze and whispered his name, and he looked back into her eyes. "Loads of couples go to Hogsmeade together. You know, just the two of them. I kind of thought it would be a date—our first proper date, really, since we didn’t actually go to the Yule Ball together.”

Oh. Now Fleur understood. To her, it was simply assumed that she would go to the village with him if that was how he wanted to spend his Saturday. Hogsmeade hadn’t made much of an impression on her, and it was not what she would consider a fitting location for a proper date, so she hadn’t thought of it as such when he first asked her to go with him. Aside from that, he didn't need to ask her on a date because their connection was already so much more than that of a mere boyfriend and girlfriend spending a weekend in the village together. But she could see what it meant to Harry to ask her on a date, and however she felt about Hogsmeade, he clearly saw the two of them visiting it together as a big deal. Knowing that, Fleur’s own excitement built quickly.

“I see,” she said, smiling at him. Still holding one of his hands in hers, she brought her left hand up to his cheek. “My answer is yes, of course. It will always be yes, and I will be happy to go anywhere and everywhere with you.” Harry gave her an adorable smile that made her want to gobble him up. “Give me a romantic tour of Hogsmeade, Harry Potter.”

She leaned in and kissed him, content to remain in her wet swimming costume for at least a little while longer.

--

“You’re sure you don’t mind going in there?” Harry asked. “You won’t be bored or anything? I want you to have a good time today, Fleur. That’s the most important thing to me.”

“I know it is,” she said, smiling and hugging his arm a little tighter against her chest. He was doing everything he could to make their date in Hogsmeade interesting for her, and she loved it. Harry was obviously trying hard to think about places in the village that she would like to see and spend time in, and the attentiveness made Fleur’s day. She would have been having a great time regardless of where she was as long as she was on Harry’s arm and receiving such attention from him.

He did seem to have a good understanding of her tastes and interests, too, because his choices had been sound so far. A shop like Zonko’s held no interest to her, and Harry had led her right past it without even a glance. She’d also previously expressed that, while she was fond of chocolate, the overly sweet chocolate she’d tried when she visited Honeydukes previously could not compare to the high-quality French dark chocolate she was accustomed to. She would have gone into the sweets shop with him if he'd suggested it, but he must have remembered her remarks on her chocolate preferences from weeks earlier because they walked right past it.

They did spend some time in J. Pippin’s Potions, though, despite Harry having little interest in the art of potioneering, and they’d even sat down for tea in Madam Pudifoot’s Tea Shop, which was a popular spot for couples to visit in the village. None of the couples in the shop had drawn as much attention as she and Harry, and Fleur had been happy to bask in it. She hadn’t consciously used her veela allure to cause any of the men’s eyes to stray from their date, but she received plenty of male stares and female glares regardless. When she felt as happy as she had while sitting in that tea shop with Harry, she glowed so much that she tended to leave men stupefied without needing to think about trying.

“I have been having a wonderful time, Harry.” She inclined her head toward the door of Sprintwitches Sporting Needs, the shop that sold sporting goods as well as various supplies for quidditch. “And I want you to have a wonderful time, too. That’s why I not only don’t mind spending some time in this shop with you, but want to do so. If you are happy, I am happy.” The shy smile that Harry gave her compelled Fleur to kiss his cheek before walking into the sporting goods shop with him, holding onto his arm all the while.

She’d walked right by this shop during her first visit to Hogsmeade. Fleur had never cared much for quidditch, flying or any other sports, so there was nothing to interest her in here. But holding onto Harry’s arm and walking with him while he browsed the quidditch supplies and mused about it being too long since he’d taken his broomstick out for a fly made Fleur happier than anything she’d done or seen during her first trip to Hogsmeade. As she’d said, if he was happy, she was happy.

--

Fleur’s first time ever going inside of Sprintwitches, or any sporting goods store of any kind, had been a very pleasant experience. She’d loved watching how happy Harry was to browse the quidditch supplies. They hadn’t really talked about quidditch before, but as they walked through the shop, she’d encouraged him to share stories from his first three years of playing quidditch at Hogwarts. She’d already known that he enjoyed playing quidditch and liked to fly, but when walking through that shop with him and listening to him describe his previous matches to her, she got a fuller understanding of how much it meant to him. Between the lack of quidditch this year, his reluctant involvement in the Triwizard Tournament, and now their new relationship, there hadn't been much time or opportunity for him to get any flying in. Fleur resolved to help him change that, and encourage him to take some free time to fly his Firebolt. Maybe she would even offer to go with him. She’d never enjoyed riding a broomstick, but cuddling up close behind Harry and hugging him while he took them on a ride might be just the thing she needed to give her a new perspective on broomstick flying.

She was in a lovely mood, but when she and Harry exited the sporting goods shop, they nearly ran straight into Draco Malfoy, the unpleasant blond boy from Slytherin whose quotes about Harry, Fleur, and their relationship had featured so prominently in Rita Skeeter’s article about them. He flinched back at first like he was surprised to run into them, but he soon adopted a sneer that Fleur had quickly become familiar with, having seen it directed at her and Harry several times as they sat together in the Great Hall.

“Out for a walk with your veela, Potter?” he spat. Fleur could sense his natural attraction to her as well, but he avoided making a fool of himself like more than a few men did even when she wasn’t actively trying to affect them with her allure. She noticed that he never kept his eyes on her for long before putting his head down or closing his eyes for a few seconds, so she assumed that someone had instructed him on how to resist a veela’s natural charms. Looking away was the first point of instruction for someone trying to learn how to behave normally around a veela, and in fact, was something Fleur, Harry, and Hermione had been working on with his friend Ronald over the last week or so. Malfoy probably felt like he’d accomplished something, but if he kept having to look away like this when she wasn’t even consciously using her allure, she knew she would be able to mesmerize him with very little effort if she felt like doing so.

Fleur felt Harry tense beside her, and she put her hand on his arm to try and keep him calm. Nothing would put a foul boy like this Draco Malfoy in his place more effectively than Harry brushing him off as if he was too insignificant to respond to. The blond Slytherin seemed to have a natural ability to get under Harry’s skin, though, so she needed to be prepared to step in if this threatened to spill into more than mere words. The last thing she and Harry needed was for him to get into a magic duel in the middle of Hogsmeade. She had every confidence that he could handle himself against this boy, who was all talk as far as she could see. But a detention was not worth whatever fleeting satisfaction Harry might get from shutting this arrogant arse up. And listening to her mate’s stories about Professor Snape, the unpleasant Hogwarts potions professor would seize any opportunity to punish Harry. Harry raising his wand or swinging his fists in the middle of Hogsmeade would certainly qualify, and not even the privileges of being one of the Triwzard Champions would fully shield him from consequences.

“I hope you have that thing trained, Scarhead,” the dark-haired witch standing by Malfoy’s side said. Fleur was pretty sure Hermione had mentioned her name at least once, but Fleur couldn’t remember it. Whoever she was, she was holding onto Draco’s arm like this trip through Hogsmeade was a formal ball thrown by important figures in the government, and she was dying to be noticed and have her picture taken. “It’s not allowed to relieve itself in the middle of the street, you know.”

“Shut your mouth, Parkinson, you ugly cow!” Harry snapped. Fleur smiled slightly. While she still wanted to stop this before any wands could be drawn, she appreciated how protective Harry was over her.

“Ignore her, ‘arry,” Fleur said, turning her head away dismissively. “This little girl, whoever she is, is not worth our attention. And Monsieur Malfoy clearly is trying to cover for his jealousy.”

“Jealous?” Malfoy said, cheeks reddening. “You think I’m jealous of Potter?!”

“Why, yes, of course,” Fleur said. “I should think that is obvious. He is a Triwizard Champion, and he performed marvelously in the First Task. Not to mention, Harry has the honor of showing me around the village.” Fleur fixed the girl, who Harry had referred to as Parkinson, with her best critical stare, looking her up and down like she was little more than dirt beneath her shoe. It was a look she’d gotten very good at giving since entering her maturity and becoming a woman who could draw the attention of men, even men who already had girlfriends, without actively trying.

“You, on the other hand, have to settle for walking around Hogsmeade with such an unremarkable girl clinging to your arm,” Fleur went on. The girl honestly wasn’t ugly, at least by the standards of a normal witch. But she paled in comparison to Fleur, of course, and when it suited her, Fleur wasn’t above exploiting the obvious insecurity many women felt in her presence. The way that she scowled at both Fleur and Harry now didn’t do the appearance of Parkinson any favors.

“Like Draco would ever associate with a creature like you!” Parkinson said. Fleur could see the girl’s cheeks flushing in anger, and she now had to consider the possibility that it might be Parkinson who drew her wand rather than Harry or Draco. But if any of them started slinging spells around, the boys were sure to follow. “We all read that article in the Daily Prophet, you know!” She hugged Draco’s arm tighter. “Thank Merlin Draco was strong enough to keep you out of his mind, unlike Potter!”

“Is that so?” Fleur, seeing a way to end this argument before any wands could be drawn and Harry could do anything that might get him in trouble, focused for the first time on actively trying to attract Draco Malfoy's attention. He was affected immediately and obviously. He gasped, his mouth hung open, and he started to drool. Fleur didn't deign to look down or examine his body, but her veela side could sense Draco’s arousal as a tangible thing. The dark-haired witch couldn’t fail to notice her drooling partner either, and she gasped and tugged on his arm.

“Get out of his mind, you filthy veela!” Parkinson screeched.

“So much for his mental strength,” Fleur said casually. “There are times I’ve released this much of my allure without even realizing I was doing it, and he’s already been reduced to nothing more a drooling imbecile.” She pulled back on the sliver of allure she was using, and Draco let out a shaky gasp before stumbling and hurrying away from her as quickly as he could without breaking into an outright run. Parkinson held onto his arm and did her best to glare back at Fleur and Harry while keeping up with him, which was both difficult and completely ineffective with how fast she had to move to keep up with Draco.

“That was brilliant,” Harry said through his laughter. Several other people either leaving or coming into Sprintwitches had also seen a part of the exchange and were joining in that laughter. Fleur was used to being the center of attention because of her beauty, but this wasn’t bad either.

“It was nothing,” she said, inspecting her fingernails. “They are pests, and nothing more. I don’t wish to waste another moment of our day together on them.” She hooked her arm through Harry’s again. “Now, what do you wish to show me next?”

--

“Have you read this one?" Hermione asked, holding up a tome that looked to be at least a century old and could very well be closer to two centuries. Fleur had to squint to read the tiny script on the cover page, but once she had, she nodded. She had read too many books over the years to instantly recognize all of them, especially an old book like this one that had just a plain red cover and small writing. This was not a tome that had been designed to catch the eye, but now that she’d looked at it and translated the title into French in her head, Fleur could attest to the knowledge contained within.

“Yes, I read that one several years ago,” Fleur said. “It is difficult to find, particularly the French translation. But my father was able to borrow a copy from one of his business associates. There are some very interesting insights into the theory of wandcrafting in that tome. If the subject is of interest to you, I highly recommend the tome.”

“I’m pretty sure every subject is of interest to Hermione,” Harry said. A comment like that could have been taken as an insult, but Harry’s light tone and the smile on his face showed that he hadn’t meant it in a mean-spirited way. Hermione didn’t react to it that way either, so the friends were obviously comfortable enough to tease each other without taking it personally.

“I’ll have to skip lunch to be able to afford it,” Hermione said, chewing her lower lip. “But it’s worth it.” Hermione added the book to her basket to be purchased, along with the three others she’d picked up since Fleur and Harry met her in Tomes and Scrolls.

“I am sure you will find it fascinating,” Fleur said. “Let me know if you would like to discuss it as you read through. I wouldn’t remind a refresher on the theories.” Hermione’s face lit up as she made the offer, and she nodded quickly.

“I’d like that very much," Hermione said before turning away and examining the shop’s shelves again. Maybe it was Fleur’s imagination, but the bushy-haired girl seemed to be almost bouncing on her feet as she resumed her browsing and hunted out new finds. The smile remaining on her face definitely wasn’t Fleur’s imagination.

“I’m really glad you two are getting along,” Harry said quietly after Hermione had gotten a bit out ahead of them.

“Did you think we would duel over winning your favor, Harry?” Fleur whispered playfully. She grinned when she saw his cheeks heat up.

“Definitely not,” he muttered, still blushing. “If anything, I’m the one who’d have to fight other blokes off from getting to you. And Hermione and I aren’t like that anyway.”

“So it seems," Fleur replied while picking up a book on security wards she hadn't seen before. She'd been skeptical at first, but Hermione hadn't given any indication yet that she fancied Harry or that she was envious of Fleur's position in his life. As long as that didn't change, and the other girl didn’t start treating her like a rival and a villain as most women eventually did since she’d entered her maturity, she had no problem being pleasant with Hermione.

“Hermione could use another friend, I reckon,” Harry said. He looked away for a moment and then turned his head back toward Fleur, looking like he was summoning up the courage to say whatever was on his mind. She nodded her head slightly, encouraging him to keep going, and he nodded back. "I reckon you could use one, too."

Fleur immediately opened her mouth to deny this and assure him that she was fine as things were in her life, but Harry took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Having his gaze on her and feeling his fingers stroking the back of her hand kept her from voicing her rejection right away. It was clear that he'd put some thought into this and had more he wanted to say.

“I know you love your family, and you know I love spending as much time with you as I can,” he said, which made her nod with a smile. “But maybe you and Hermione could both use a friend. You know, a girl you can go to about stuff I’d be hopeless with, or a friend to talk about books with.”

“Perhaps,” Fleur said slowly. She hadn’t quite known what to make of Hermione Granger, the girl who played such a vital role in the life of her mate. She was used to girls treating her with suspicion and jealousy for monopolizing the attention of the boys they liked, even if Fleur herself had no interest in the boys in question. And friendships with boys were even less plausible for her, given how easily she could turn most of them into drooling, slack-jawed fools with little to no effort. She knew from experience that showing the slightest bit of friendly attention to one tended to make them think that she wanted to shag them.

Some women were still at least cordial with her, but the friends she'd had prior to her maturity distanced themselves from her once she became the object of attraction for every guy they liked. Her few attempts to create new friendships with the witches who didn't openly scowl at her had never ended well once the inevitable argument over a boy the girl liked staring at Fleur happened, so she'd stopped trying. She'd had years to adjust to life as a matured veela and the lack of genuine friendships that came with it.

When fate first brought her and Harry together, Hermione Granger, the girl who was closest to her mate, would have appeared to be one of the least likely candidates for friendship in the castle. But no matter how closely she scrutinized Hermione, she had yet to see any of the usual jealousy and scorn that she had become familiar with from other women. If anything, Hermione seemed to be examining her much the same way, like she was trying to figure Fleur out and perhaps separate the truth from her preconceptions about veela. It was not behavior that she would expect from a witch who had any sort of romantic feelings for Harry, or who had already made up her mind about Fleur. There hadn’t even been signs of any general envy or feelings of inadequacy that so many women exhibited when they were around Fleur.

Fleur was used to living life without anyone she was truly close to emotionally outside of her family. Having just recently found her mate, she had even less reason to seek out friendships than before. But she did want to make an effort to at least be cordial with those whom Harry was close to, and she saw a potential ally in Hermione if she wasn't going to be in competition for Harry's affection. Was an actual friendship possible? The concept of friendship itself was so alien to Fleur's life at this point that she wasn't even sure what to think about the idea or how to broach it if she tried to do so.

Her silent contemplation was abruptly cut off by a yelp from Hermione. Mere seconds later, while Fleur was still recovering from the surprise of the sudden noise, Harry already had his wand drawn and was moving toward the sound with purpose, prepared to come to Hermione’s aid if she needed it. Fleur drew her own wand and followed behind him, cursing herself for her slow reaction even as she was impressed with Harry’s instincts.

That Harry had already relaxed his stance by the time she caught up to him was a fair indicator that Hermione was not in any danger, and the fact that Hermione was clutching a book in her hands and bouncing in place excitedly confirmed it.

“So, any reason you yelped like that and almost gave me a heart attack, or—”

“I found another option!” Hermione said, talking over Harry’s question. She held up the book in her hands, and Fleur stepped closer so she could make out the writing on the front cover.

“Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties,” Fleur read off. “I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with that book. Herbology has never been one of my stronger subjects.”

“Look, look,” Hermione said, flipping the book back open to the spot she’d been marking with her finger. She turned the book around to show it to Fleur and Harry. “Gillyweed! This could be another option for the Second Task, Harry!”

Fleur quickly read through the passage on the magical plant, and it didn’t take her long to see Hermione’s point. With gills to let the person ingesting it breathe underwater, webbing between their fingers and toes to improve their swimming, and the ability to let them more easily handle cold water temperatures, Gillyweed might be an even better option for the task than the Bubble-Head Charm. That went double for Harry, who was both trying to master the Bubble-Head Charm and improve his swimming. Whether or not they would be able to easily acquire the plant was another question, but it certainly seemed like a very viable option to consider.

“This could work,” Harry said slowly after finishing his own reading of the passage.

“Yes, it could,” Fleur agreed. She threaded her fingers through his and kissed his cheek, happy that there was another option for them to explore in their preparations for the Second Task the following month. It did not matter to her whether Harry succeeded in the Second Task thanks to her helping him master the Bubble-Head Charm and working with him to improve his swimming or if he completed the task with the help of a magical plant Hermione found for him. The only thing that mattered was preparing him to handle the task and retrieve whatever the school was going to take from him.

“Thank you for finding this, Hermione,” Fleur said, giving the other girl a grateful smile. “As I said, herbology has never been of great interest to me. And I settled on the Bubble-Head Charm as a solution early enough that I didn’t research much else.”

“I’m always happy to help,” Hermione said, smiling back at her. “You’ve heard enough of Harry’s stories by now to know that we’ll have to work hard to look after him.”

Fleur didn’t fail to notice that Hermione had said we, meaning she understood and accepted that it wasn't solely her responsibility to help point Harry in the right direction anymore. Could this girl become an actual friend to her, as Harry obviously hoped for? That remained to be seen. But if Fleur was going to have an ally who helped her look after her mate, she could do much worse than Hermione Granger.

“Yes,” Fleur said. “We will, won’t we?”