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Harry continued to stare with a strange grimace at Krum and his peculiar situation, but he was quickly pulled out of his thoughts by Fleur, who raised her wand high and sent a few red sparks into the sky.
The red sparks that shot out from the tip of her wand then rose up into the sky, breaking through the layer of mist that covered the maze and shining brightly in the night sky, visible to all those outside.
"Well, with that some teacher or ministry employee will quickly come here to get Krum out of the maze, and after seeing this message they will know what to do with him" she said, putting away her wand.
Hearing the part about a message Harry blinked in confusion for a moment, but then he looked down and saw that in an area on the floor next to Krum was written "Imperius Curse" in magic, which was obviously Fleur's work.
"Do you think they'll believe us about Krum being under the Imperius Curse?" Harry asked uncertainly.
The reason for his uncertainty was that he was so used to the adults around him disbelieving and doubting him, that he was expecting the same thing to happen again now.
Especially in the current situation involving an Unforgivable Curse, one of the worst dark magics, something that should not be taken lightly.
"Well, it would be stupid if they didn't believe us, since we wouldn't talk about something like that as a joke."
"And besides, the people in the stands must have watched everything that happened, and I doubt they didn't notice Krum's abnormality either," Fleur replied, shrugging nonchalantly.
And she was sure that even if the people at the Ministry of Magic or Durmstrang and Hogwarts didn't believe her, the people at Beauxbatons and her parents would.
Fleur's response caused Harry's eyes to widen slightly in surprise, "Oh! I had forgotten that people were watching us!" he said, before looking up at the two-way mirrors that were floating above the walls of the maze.
And he then began to wonder if his family had seen the whole fight between him and Fleur against Krum, and if they had found his performance satisfactory and good.
'Uh, would it be really weird if I waved to my family through the mirrors?' he wondered, knowing that it wasn't just them watching him at this moment.
But shaking his head he pushed those random thoughts aside, looking back at the French blonde beside him.
"Well, since everyone is watching us then I guess we shouldn't worry about Krum anymore" he said, now feeling more at ease.
"Yeah" and Fleur nodded at that.
After that, the two no longer knew what to do or say, falling into a slight silence.
However, this silence did not last long, as it was soon broken by Fleur.
"You know, the two of us make a good duo," she commented.
And remembering how efficient and powerful they were in the fight against Krum, Harry couldn't help but nod.
"I agree," he said, before pursing his lips, "But I guess I can't take too much credit for it, since a lot of our good performance was because of you."
"Harry, don't underestimate yourself," Fleur began, "The main reason we defeated Krum was because of you… And I actually have a feeling that if you were fighting him alone you would still beat him."
"And besides, I'm the one who can't take much credit for our victory, since I didn't do much, neither when I was fighting alone nor after you showed up," she said, shaking her head with a self-deprecating smile.
"Now you're the one underestimating yourself, Fleur" Harry said, "It was you who planned our strategy, you who led us in the fight, and it was you who dealt him the final blow"
"Well, since that's the case, it was you who saved me, you who kept Krum on the defensive for practically the entire fight, you who suppressed him when I was already weak and without magic, and it was you who disarmed him," Fleur said back, with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"If we consider the whole fight, you were very important, and that is something you cannot deny," she concluded.
Hearing this, Harry shook his head, smiling wryly, "You know what, how about we accept that we were both important in the fight?"
"Hmm..." Fleur pretended to think for a moment, before nodding, "Okay, I think I can accept that," she said, with a small, amused smile.
And it was even a little strange and funny to see the two arguing while trying to give all the merit and importance in the fight to each other, saying that the most significant and main role was not theirs.
And the Gryffindor golden boy and the French Veela knew how strange they were being, because after they finished talking they stared at each other for a few seconds, before starting to laugh.
And at this moment, while the boy who had always considered himself inferior and less important than others, and the girl who had always felt insufficient and belittled laughed, they couldn't help but feel that the understanding between them and their friendship had become stronger and firmer.
'Having real friends is really nice' Fleur thought happily as she stopped laughing, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
And in her mind she already considered Harry one of her main friends, not that she had many friends to begin with.
Of course, she still considered Ethan her best and most important friend, with him being the one she trusted, depended on, and felt most comfortable being around.
However, the feelings she had for him went far beyond friendship, blossoming into a clear and strong feeling of love and affection that only grew with the passing of time.
And considering the fact that she planned to turn her and Ethan's friendship into something more romantic, it wouldn't be wrong to say that there was a free friend spot for Harry.
But returning to the present moment, after Harry and Fleur's laughter stopped they felt the atmosphere around them become lighter.
And then, without saying another word, the two looked at Krum again, who was still tied up as if he had been the victim of some sex maniac.
"Well, since we've already dealt with our grumpy colleague here, I think we'd better get back to looking for the cup," Fleur said, reminding them both that the task was still going on.
Realizing that they had been there for a long time, Harry nodded, "Yes, I agree," he said.
He was then going to ask Fleur what they would do next, but her next words made him freeze for a moment.
"In that case then I guess this is where we part ways," she said.
And that sentence made Harry feel the light atmosphere quickly dissolve, suddenly becoming more tense and heavy, making him nervous.
However, he didn't want Fleur to notice his nervousness, so he nodded slowly, "Yeah..." he said, a forced smile appearing on his face.
And Fleur, who was preparing to go back to looking for the cup, stopped, noticing a certain strangeness in Harry's tone of voice.
Then with a curious look she turned to look at the Boy-Who-Lived.
'Huh?' She raised an eyebrow, noticing that Harry seemed strangely tense and anxious, even though he tried to hide it.
'We've already defeated Krum, so why does he look like he's worried about something?'
'Strange... It's not like he's still in danger,' she thought.
But as soon as she finished that thought her gaze fell on Krum again, and she realized that in fact the danger had not passed, since Krum was just a puppet, and whoever was controlling him was still out there, probably planning something else.
'Wait a minute...' and it was in the next instant that Fleur's eyes widened slightly, as she remembered something that almost everyone seemed to have forgotten.
She remembered the Halloween night that started the entire Triwizard Tournament, where an underage boy had his name spat out by the Goblet of Fire, turning him into a champion in the competition.
However, this boy, who was Harry, was an anomaly in the tournament, and he should not be competing.
That strange situation caused many to theorize about what had happened, and everyone's assumption was that someone had put Harry's name in the goblet with the intention of putting him in danger during the tasks, so that he would be seriously injured or even die.
And Fleur realized that now in the third task it would be the mysterious criminal's last chance to actually do something against Harry.
And the cursed Krum they had just defeated proved that this criminal was already acting, and he obviously had no qualms about using dark magic as evidenced by the Imperius Curse.
'Wait, but if the criminal wanted to hurt Harry, why did he stop Krum from attacking him?' she asked herself confused.
But then she began to theorize that perhaps this was part of a much more evil and dangerous plan involving Harry, and that was certainly more worrying.
'Well, it doesn't matter what this criminal's plan is, what matters now is that Harry is in danger' she frowned.
And with this notion, Fleur, who had developed a strong friendship with Harry, realized that getting the cup and winning the tournament was no longer that important.
'Well, it's not like I have any hopes of winning the tournament with Ethan competing too' she thought with a small snort.
End.
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