It was raining. The leafless willow tree offered little protection from the gentle rain, so Harry transfigured a fallen stick into an umbrella large enough for two and waited for Fleur.
He didn't have to wait long.
Fleur appeared only a moment later, and now that she was actually in front of him Harry couldn't tell if she was more angry or upset.
'What's wrong?' He asked, forgetting about his questions in the face of her distress.
'I did something stupid,' Fleur admitted.
Harry froze at her words, the umbrella shivered, spilling small streams of water onto the ground around him. They were the same words that Katie had used when she had made her mistake with Roger Davies. 'What did you do?' His voice was very quiet, he could barely hear himself over the rain.
'No,' she shook her head, realising the reason for his fear, scattering her silver hair about her face and stepping under the umbrella with him. 'Nothing like that,' she promised him fiercely. 'You are mine,' she took his face in her hands, cupping his cheeks tightly between them, 'and that means that I am yours.'
'What happened?' Harry's voice was only marginally louder. He knew it had to be bad for Fleur to be so visibly distressed. 'Is Gabrielle ok? Your parents?'
'They are fine,' Fleur assured him. 'I did something stupid. One of the girls here, one who came to Hogwarts, she has family in England, a cousin, or something similar, and she was talking on and on about what the Daily Prophet has been spouting.' Her hands slipped from his face to his shoulders, pulling him against her. 'I was so angry with her,' Fleur confessed, 'I still am. I used Cassandra's Curse, but it was stronger than I expected. The mediwitch thinks that the effects might last for almost a month.'
'So?' Harry tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. 'You told me you did not care what I did so long as I was yours, Fleur. I feel the same.'
'I am in a lot of trouble,' she fretted. 'The school has suspended me, I can take my exams, but if I fail I can't return and do them at the same time as everyone else. They wrote to my parents too.'
'You won't fail,' Harry reassured her. She was Fleur. She would never fail her exams, she created enchanted items that were more complicated than the final exams for fun.
'But my parents,' she whispered. 'They will realise why I did it, and they will blame you for influencing me.'
'I'm sure they won't,' Harry started, but Fleur cut him off.
'They're right,' she told him quietly. 'I would have never done something like that if I hadn't met you.' Harry let his fingers drop from her chin, shifting away from her, just in case it made things easier.
'It's a good thing,' she insisted, taking his hand and pulling it back around her. 'The only other person I would defend like that is Gabrielle, but they will be angry with me for doing it, and with you for being the reason I did it.' She pressed her forehead into his collarbone. 'I'm sorry,' she murmured into his neck. Her breath was warm, and tickled slightly, making him squirm.
'I don't mind,' Harry decided. 'I quite like that you wanted to defend me,' he kissed the top of her head. 'Does it change anything?'
'I was going to ask you come here for Christmas,' Fleur responded, 'but I'm not sure if my parents will allow it now, or, if they do, they might be unpleasant to you.'
'If you want me here, and I am allowed to stay, then I will come no matter how much your parents disapprove of me,' Harry told her gently.
'I was afraid you would not understand.' She laughed quietly, realising at the time as he did that their positions had reversed from their last such conversation.
'I will always understand,' Harry assured her, pulling her a little closer.
'Why did you want to speak with me?' Fleur asked, prompting Harry to suddenly remember his questions about Prophecies and the Bureau d'Énigmes.
'What do you know about the Bureau d'Énigmes?' He asked.
'A little,' she shrugged, 'it is a secret what they actually do, but most people know about the general fields, the mysteries are famous.'
'Oh?'
'The bureau was created by an English wizard who came to France after marrying a French witch, he designed the Bureau d'Énigmes on your Department of Mysteries, though the bureau is a half a century younger.' Fleur looked up at him quizzically. 'Why do you want to know so badly?'
'Are there prophecies in the Bureau d'Énigmes?' Harry asked her.
'Yes,' Fleur answered simply. 'The witnesses of the prediction are obligated to leave a memory in the bureau. There are only prophecies about French wizards and witches there, the Bureau d'Énigmes has no authority to keep any others.'
'But if there are prophecies in the Bureau d'Énigmes, then there are likely ones in the Department of Mysteries as well,' Harry surmised thoughtfully.
'Why are you interested?'
'When I escaped from Voldemort I surprised him with how much stronger I had grown since our last encounter. He mentioned a prophecy and implied that it was about, or at least mentioned me.'
'You want to hear it,' Fleur realised. 'Why not ask? You are legally entitled to listen to a prophecy that is relevant to you in France and I'm sure it is the same in Britain.' 'The Ministry would never allow me to view a prophecy that is connected with Voldemort, not when they're doing everything they can to cover his return up.'
'Tell me you are not planning to steal it,' she said roughly.
'I could,' Harry responded slowly, 'but I would have to lie to you. I need to know what it says, Fleur. I don't have to explain how important it could be.'
'How would you even get in?' Fleur demanded.
'I don't know,' Harry shrugged. 'I only learnt about it today. I might be able to get my godfather to help, he and the rest of Albus Dumbledore's followers are secretly guarding the department, though whether it is the prophecy or something else I don't know.' 'Don't rush in and do something reckless,' Fleur ordered. 'I will not have you die, or get sent to Azkaban because you wanted to hear some prophecy that might not even help you.'
'I will be careful,' Harry assured her. 'I won't go until I'm certain I can get in and out without being caught or seen, and I will wait until after I've completed the other ritual to make me stronger.'
'And you will tell me what it says,' she demanded. 'I can't help you if you keep me in the dark.'
'The dark is the last place you should be,' Harry grinned, eyeing her teasingly until she blushed.
'Are you sure?' She leaned into him suggestively, sliding her hand up his chest. 'There are all sorts of things we could do in the dark.' His skin was tingling from her touch and Harry had to let out a shaky breath or two to steady himself. Fleur was smiling triumphantly, even if she was still blushing, and Harry had to focus on his occlumency to clear his head. She didn't need her allure to captivate him, all she had to do was look at him and let some emotion into her eyes and he was hers.
It's ridiculous, he thought, trying to ignore how happy it made him.
'You didn't answer,' she chuckled, slipping her hands up around his neck and pulling him close to kiss him. The umbrella disappeared completely as his transfiguration wore out and his focus vanished. Fleur's fingers were trailing down his back, her left hand tracing a dangerously low path across his stomach, and up inside his robes onto his chest. Harry let the arm he had around her waist slip a little lower, emboldened by her wandering hands, and pulled her tight against him. She moaned in quiet satisfaction at the closeness and slipped her tongue past his lips. She tasted like marzipan again, a light sweetness that melted on his lips as she traced them with the tip of her tongue and elicited a shiver of pleasure from him. It fanned the flames within, pushing him to be more daring. Harry's other hand came to rest on her hip, slipping inside her uniform to slide his thumb in gentle circles across the smooth heat of her stomach. Fleur quivered in turn and closed her eyes at the sensation, kissing him harder until they needed to breathe.
'Gabby will be happy,' she sighed when they reluctantly separated.
Harry laughed when he realised her meaning, gazing around him at the rain, and their moment of novel worthy romance.
'I should make sure we're doing it just right,' he decided playfully. Harry gently bent Fleur over backwards until she was gazing up at him and laughing, then leant in to kiss her once more
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