Kapitel 25: Chapter 25
AN: I'm writing Fleur and Apolline's dialogues with a french accent, which means purposely misspelling some words. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone. Let me know if this is fine or if you prefer just straight forward conservation.
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Harry had always imagined the Quidditch finals to be the day of reckoning. The day when Voldemort and his merry band of thugs would finally taste just the flickers of his vengeance.
The anguish they'd caused him over the years, the people they'd taken from him, the pain they'd put him through…..Today was supposed to be his way of answering to all of them.
An answer made of blood and retribution.
The Quidditch finals was always supposed to be the day when Harry finally started his grand plan, setting himself loose upon his enemies.
Which was why when Harry says that the day's events had progressed in a way he would never have expected in his wildest dreams, he meant it completely.
"Fleur?" Harry called down softly to the witch who held onto him like a lifeline, hugging to his body tightly.
Her lithe but delicate figure fit under his chin perfectly, and not for the first time did he wonder why this life was being so good to him. Barely a couple of months in this world and he already had two powerful witches quite loyal to him.
And that tally did not seem to be stopping anytime soon, if the way Fleur Delacour was now holding onto him was any indication.
Just made him even more paranoid for the future to come.
His eyes flickered to the movement at the back, where the other witch was done comforting Gabrielle, and was now approaching them with cautious steps.
She seemed to stop inside the shadows, turning slightly to give a look at the beheaded Death Eater at her feet.
As if a nightmare was now over, she gave a slight shudder before walking towards them again.
"Fleur." The woman called out, her voice cautious, with just a hint of warning mixed in.
Harry frowned, squinting past the fire's shadows to make out the woman in full. And the moment her face finally came into his vision, he felt his breath leave him in a whoosh.
She sauntered with the nimble grace of a feline, an almost airy weight in her steps making her seem to be gliding. Her face had the kind of astonishing beauty he'd only ever seen on Fleur. And as she walked deeper into the light, his eyes drank in the delicate line of her collarbone, before moving down towards the straining bundle of cleavage just peeking at him from a very mussed up dress.
Her body was a work of art and perfection, unrivalled by anyone on this planet
'Well…maybe two rivals but that's it.'
A unique ethereal glow seemed to hang off of her, separating her as a divine amongst mortal.
'Did Fleur have an older sister in this world? Maybe a cousin?'
"Fleur, Ma fille…" She called again, her voice husky and arousing even through the worried tone.
'Why does this world have such hot women?' Harry sighed.
Her words finally seemed to break whatever spell Fleur was in, and the girl in his arms suddenly let go of him, backing away with wide eyes and a wince.
"Aee... apologize, 'Arry." Fleur said, hesitant and cautious. Dread and paranoia seemed to be fighting with pure desire inside her "A-Aee mean 'Mr. Potter. Je meant to...ahh...Aee did not mean to be so disrespectful...ahh…forward, zat is."
Harry stared at the girl, a bundle of confusion and bewilderment.
Multiple questions boomed inside his mind, all wanting to get out of his mouth as words. The result of all their mixture elicited the most basic response known to man. "What the fuck?"
The girl winced again, giving his sister a look that desperately begged for help. 'Please run some damage control', might as well have been written in her eyes.
Harry snorted, occluding away his confusion to glance around their surroundings. "I have many questions that need answering, but I must say...your choice for our first meeting leaves much to be desired."
That prompted a bashful smile out of the girl, some of her tenseness dying away as her cheeks reddened. "Aee…I Apologize for that."
'Holy Merlin...' Was he seeing this correctly? He made Fleur Delacour blush? The Fleur Delacour was blushing? He genuinely couldn't remember ever seeing that look on her face. Not even for Bill.
'Yep. She's definitely not the girl I knew.'
"Apology accepted." He graciously forgave her with a smile, before getting serious. "But now I really must ask, Fleur. Why are you here? And why were death eaters after you?"
The girl tilted her head, his earlier confusion reflecting back in her eyes. She opened her mouth to reply but her sister finally seemed to act, gently touching her arm to take the lead.
"Those were not death eaters, Mr. Potter." The woman, who he assumed to be the elder Delacour, said grimly, her tone still cautious. "The man you killed is…was, Henri Delacour."
"…Right." Harry nodded slowly, growing even more confused. "So…he's your long lost cousin? Here to have his revenge for all the times you bullied him at school?"
"If only zat were so." A slight smirk lit up her grim face, brightening the darkness around them on its lonesome. "Zat man, Mr. Potter, was Fleur's father."
It took him a second to understand 'Father' as it sounded more like Faath-air. Bur he knew he had his priorities all wrong right now.
'Focus on her words, not her voice fool.' He chastised himself. 'And definitely not on her lips.'
"He wasn't my father!" Fleur snarled out suddenly, her words nothing but throaty sounds to Harry. Albeit quiet attractive, even more so in their fury.
"I see." Harry coughed, thankful for his Occlumency's presence. He glanced at Fleur, taking her thin lips wobbling in fury, before turning back to her…sister? Cousin? "And you are, Miss….?"
"Apolline Delacour, Mr. Potter." She extended an arm cautiously, her eyes staring deep within his own. Had he not been applying some passive occlumency already, he would've worried she was trying to get inside his head. "And you have my gratitude for freeing me from my captor."
'Apolline Delacour?' Harry barely kept his eyes from widening as he shook her hands. 'This was Fleur's mother?'
'But that meant the man I killed was her husband...'
Harry shook his head, letting occlumency reign over his mind completely this time. Cause he'd just realized that he was witnessing something far more deeper than he could afford to get into right now.
Whatever their deal may be, they needed to get going. Tommy wasn't gonna wait for anyone.
"Right, you three," Now all business, he beckoned them over while bending down to pick up a piece of rock. "Whatever your story is, I think we can discuss that later. First, I must send you to a safe house...unless you have some prearranged Portkeys? Or know any destination to Apparate in England?"
The two witches glanced at each other before the older one took the lead. "Zat will not be necessary, Mr. Potter. We thank you for saving us, and know zat we shall do our best to repay the debt. But we are more than capable of taking care of ourselves."
Harry dismissed her words, waving his wand over the rock with a silent 'Portus'. "There is no time. The camp is being attacked by Death eaters, and soon it's gonna be a real shit storm. You won't get a chance to escape again. If you truly wish to risk your life, you are free to do so. But I must ask you to let Fleur leave with her sister. They shall have no part in this."
The woman looked stunned for a quick second before worry and trepidation replaced it. "You do not jest?"
"I have no reason to." Harry gave a shake of his head.
Apolline turned to her daughter, and a whispered conversation rapidly took place between the two witches. She looked to be trying to convince Fleur of something, pointing at the littlest one. He did hear his name being thrown around by Fleur, but with his own growing impatience, he paid it no mind.
"I really don't have the whole day to spend here, Miss Delacour." Harry interrupted the two. "And even if I had, I would not wish to spend it like this. Your decision now, please."
His words gained their attention and almost immediately both the females spoke out loud.
"We shall leav-." Apolline started, but was quickly cut was by Fleur's loud, "Will you come with us?"
Apolline shot her daughter a look of annoyance, which quickly morphed into a sigh of exasperation when she realized Fleur's eyes were stuck on Harry.
"That...is a very tempting offer, Fleur." Harry let a smile curve up his face at the renewed blush over the quarter-Veela's face. "But I must politely decline. I have work to do here."
It was almost comical the way her face drowned in disappointment. "Oh. Aee…Aee see."
With the now enchanted pebble in his grasp, he started approaching the group, intending to get them out of here quickly.
As if by reflex, Apolline came to stand in front of Fleur, a wand rising at Harry's chest.
He was sure she wasn't aware of her own actions, but he couldn't afford to be taken by surprise. The moment he saw it aiming toward him, he released a quick wave of wandless magic towards the woman.
Unprepared, she couldn't do more than gasp as her wand left the grasp of her fingers and snapped into his hand. "Please don't point that at me."
Widened eyes glanced at her fingers then at his hand, before turning to his face warily. "I apologize, Mr. Potter. It was not my intention to sreaten you."
As he reached them, he offered her wand back, along with the portkey. "Understandable. But I must get going now, so if you could please see yourself to safety."
She accepted the wand with the same caution as before, before giving a thankful nod. "You have our gratitu-"
He raised a hand, silencing her, his senses extending as he felt just a flicker of magic in his range.
The forest now laid in an unnaturally thick silence, giving the feel of spooked animals. The sun had gone down completely now, plunging the entire area outside of the bonfire in darkness.
His battle hardened instincts were warning him of an imminent danger, and his enhanced hearing was working in overdrive, trying to hear even the drop of a pin.
And he heard it. The sound was low, very much so. But in the empty woods, it echoed like the crack of a muggle bullet, the lone snapping of twig beneath the feet of multiple people, all walking towards their direction.
Then came the murmuring. Soft buzz of talking, too soft for human ears…buthe picked it up. Just the very last notes of those mutters, growing louder by the second.
But the last…the last was what confirmed to him their identity as wizards. He felt it with his magical senses, just the slightest impression of Lumos charm. The feeling was tender, like a flicker of spark in a never ending darkness. Far, perhaps a hundred meters away or so…..
But it was there, and it was growing stronger. Coming closer.
"They come." He whispered to the women. "Quickly, to me."
Now, there was a chance that it may just have been some Aurors coming to investigate…
But Harry wasn't willing to take any risks. His gut said they were enemies, so he will treat them as such until proven otherwise.
The females must have understood the grimness in his words because they didn't even question him, gathering Gabrielle and quietly coming to stand behind him.
With a wave of his wand, he silently casted the extinguishing charm, completely putting out the bonfire. Instantly, the entire area was plunged into darkness, lit up only by his own lumos.
"You three must get out." Harry commanded quietly. "This is not your fight. I will engage whoever it is, take that chance to slip away. The Portkey is set for 5 minutes."
"It was nice meeting you, Fleur. See you later." He didn't wait for their answer, shooting a quietus on his legs and taking off into the darkness. He heard Fleur calling after him but a quick and powerful imperturbable charm around them cut her off.
The cool wind of the night glided over his long hairs as he tore through the forest. His legs moved with inhuman dexterity, easily jumping over logs, and skipping through vines and shrubs. The magic guided him to their exact spot, the feeling of multiple lumos acting like a marker for him to follow.
When the sound of his future-victims grew stronger, he slowed down to a saunter, circling their position to observe them from the side.
There were three of them, all walking side by side on a narrow path with their wands held aloft, gentle lights glowing around their immediate surrounding, washing the darkness in a blue hue.
Harry followed after them slowly, always keeping to their right. He must've been just about a dozen meters or so away from them, but his feet were silent as a feather, and he traversed through the forest with practiced ease.
Compared to him, the three might as well have been drunk giants for the amount of noise they were making.
'Why haven't they charmed their shoes?' Harry frowned, puzzled, observing the trio of wizards closely.
Two of them were dressed in troll-skin dueling robes, something Harry was very familiar with, while the last one was wearing a simple black robe that most assuredly wasn't meant for dueling. One of the specialties of the dueling robes was that they were specifically designed for complete mobility. Normal ankle-length robes were one of the most impractical things to wear for any physical activity, no matter what type of protective enhancement they may have.
'Arrogance.' Harry finally concluded, his eyes scanning the three with contemptuous eyes.
They didn't bother with subtlety, they didn't bother with protection. 'Typical dark wizards.'
Harry would be sure to punish them for their mistakes.
The trio of wizards came to a sudden stop as their right-most member raised his hand. There was a small twig hovering over his palm, seeming to guide him along Harry's previous path.
'They may be heading for Fleur.' He realized, tsking at the unexpected complication. 'I'll have to take them out before that.'
"He must've Apparated again from here." The robed-figure muttered in a male's voice, his hood doing a good job of hiding his face. "Strange kid. His path is almost like a skipping stone."
"I don't give a shite." The middle one sneered, his wand now loosely grasped between his fingers. "And give that leaf to me. We're close enough to the boy. You two stay here, I'll handle him myself."
"It's not a leaf." The right one's absent mutters were ignored as the left one folded her arms, the impressive swell of her breasts giving away her gender. "We've our orders, Krafft. We can't afford any mistakes today."
The middle one, Krafft, suddenly whirled around, his wand coming to poke the woman below her chin.
"You don't tell me what to do, girl!" The man hissed, and Harry wondered why he even bothered to sneak in here.
He could've simply walked beside them and he doubted they'd have noticed.
"I was alive when your grandmother was still spreading her legs to pop out your pig of a father!" Krafft continued, snarling in the woman's face. "Just because those English freaks stuck the same number on us doesn't make us equal!"
The woman didn't back off, straightening her spine and looking ready to engage…until the other wizard lodged himself in the middle of them. "If the boy escapes, you two better have some retirement plans. Cause returning empty handed is a sure death sentence."
Harry tilted his head. 'For a mission with such grim consequences, they sure don't act like it. Might as well have come on a picnic.'
Were they truly underestimating him to such a degree?
Brilliant.
The two, who'd been looking close to a fight, seemed to finally calm down at the interference.
Or so it seemed as Krafft suddenly surged forward, his hand making for the twig…only to be smacked aside by the twig-carrier. "Krafft, don't be-"
"This is my mission!" Kraff bellowed, furious eyes glaring at his teammates, completely unaware of the real enemy. "I do this alone, my way! You two can stay guard here and let no one come after me. But waste by time anymore and I'll carve a bloody smile on your pretty necks."
The woman seemed ready to fight back but the last wizard raised his hand, signaling for calm. "Alright, Krafft. Your way, it is. But I'll need you to take an oath with me. Should you not succeed, the blame for your failure will fall solely upon your own head. Also, this you will confess before the Lord."
"Coward." The man, Krafft, spat on the ground, but obliging to the demand all the same. "Have your fucking oath then."
Harry readied himself, sheathing back his Holly wand and palming the Elder one. A quick plan brewed in his mind as his magic coursed through him in preparation for the action that was about to ensue.
If he understood correctly, the oath will require all three of them to participate. Two oath takers and one bonder. And in that moment, he will...
All his plans came to a sudden halt as Krafft pointed his wand to his palm, and dragged it across to lay a solid cut. The man then closed his fist, moving it up in front of his face. "I, Gideon Krafft, do swear to take all the responsibility for the mission's failure...or success."
'...Well, that was a bummer.'
"Now give me the leaf!" Krafft barked, snatching the delicate green twig between his blood-drenched fingers while his wand came up to point at it.
"Avenseguim." The man cast impatiently, his wand movements rough but quick.
At once, the charmed twig flew over for Harry's position with long leaps.
Harry frowned, not remembering the specific spell. 'That's how the bastards were following my path. Avenseguim... I'll have to remember that.'
He briefly wondered why exactly they were following him in the first place. He wasn't The-Boy-Who-Lived here.
But he had more urgent problems right now. Mainly the fact that the twig seemed to find his exact hiding spot, flying over rapidly to close the distance.
"What?" Came Krafft's confused mutter. "Where in morgana's soggy arse is that thing going?"
Harry paid them no mind, his mind whirling to take an urgent decision: Fight or flight.
If he fought now, the other two were guaranteed to support their teammate once defeat looked imminent.
'...Retreat, it is.' He reluctantly settled.
The twig was close now, very close, and his occluded mind came up with a simple plan: lead him away.
The darkness around them supported his decision, enabling him to quickly slip away from his position. He turned around and took off for the opposite direction with silent leaps, mixing in with the woods to cover his retreat.
"It seems you were leading us wrongly from the start, little Matty!" The loud taunt of his chaser rang through the forest, originating from somewhere behind him. "I knew you two would be utterly useless!"
The darkness was now becoming a hindrance for Harry, as his enemy's lumos finally stopped supplying even the slightest hint of light. Both of his wands were strapped to his holsters and he did not wish to slow down even a little.
As if reading his mind, his mysterious Phoenix suddenly materialized before his eyes with the quietest whooshes of flames, matching his pace as it flew beside him.
"Just in the times of need, eh?" Harry smiled, giving the bird a quick scratch under its chin while still running..
Harry didn't bother questioning its presence, not looking the gift horse in the mouth. "Will you lead me to a clearing, Buddy?"
It chirped at him softly, before taking off faster with a flap of its tiny wings.
Harry followed after its blaze, the twig of doom right on his heels.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein