章 50: How do you do it?
(Yes, I did it.)
"Expelliarmus!" said the brown haired sixth year student from Hufflepuff, casting a red beam at Magnus.
"Too slow." He said, casually sidestepping while he transfigured the ground beneath his foe into mud.
Surprised, the older wizard slipped up before the jelly legs jinx could collide; when it did hit him he ended up looking like a particularly buffed up earthworm.
Magnus summoned the fallen boy's wand, giving it to his second while he left his fourth challanger of the day to deal with the consequences of his actions.
He was starting to get very irritated with this whole ordeal. Dueling Delacour's fan club was pretty entertaining at first, and served as good practice for his skills, but as time passed without them showing any sign of relenting he started considering ruining a few lives to set an example.
Not to mention how much Padma and Luna were enjoying his situation, it was only a matter of time before it reached Parvati's ears and fueled the Hogwarts rumor mill for weeks on end.
Magnus sighed, resigning himself to his fate and casting a disillusionment charm. He wasn't the best at it, but it should be good enough to avoid butthurt teenagers.
'At least until I find a solution.'
He intended to go to the Room of Requirements for some practise, and obviously a couple hours of planning and studying. But the sky was clear and the weather forgiving, a rarity in November as far the British isles were concerned, not taking advantage of it would be sinful.
So he walked by the Black Lake, carefully avoiding the few couples who had the same idea...though their execution was very much less modest.
'I wonder if I'll see the squid.' He wondered, watching the deep waters. On the other side of the shore floated the Durmstrang's ship, but he had no wish to study it.
They were after all much less restricted in the magic they could use, and even he wouldn't venture in their domain unprepared.
He felt the urge to transform and fly away, knowing it wouldn't be nearly as pleasant when winter sets in, and he almost did so before he saw a familiar glint of silver in the distance.
"Damn you." Magnus groaned, transforming his eyes to enhance his vision.
He could see it clearly then, wearing two doublets and winter cloaks over the blue stylish robes her school favored. Silvery blonde hair almost glowing, even in daylight. She was taller than most, and a good head taller than him, but he couldn't quite see it when she sat near the rocks.
It was a scene worthy of its own painting, a perfect woman hidden by the trees, reading a book as she sat on the rocks by the Black Lake.
Fleur Delacour
He was starting to think that she was doing it all on purpose, giving it her all to make his life as difficult as possible during her stay in Hogwarts.
Didn't she have a tournament to prepare for? Why would she take a break here when her life was at stake? Is she ready to die for some flimsy glory?
Magnus had no idea why his legs started working on their own, especially when he double checked three time to see if her allure was affecting him.
But they did, and he was getting closer and closer to the lone champion with absolutely no idea of what he should say. So he settled on the tried and true method of strategic retreat, carefully moving away before getting the fuck out.
'Thanks Merlin for the invisibility charm.'
…
One thing Magnus didn't know was that Veela could perceive the emotional state of those affected by their allure.
That morning, Fleur was graced by an unexpected amount of confusion coming from absolutely nowhere. After looking around to no results, she came to a not-so-incorrect conclusion and left it at that.
"C'est sûrement un oiseau."
…
When the fourth year who skipped most of his lessons was coming back from a rather fruitful session in the Room of Requirement, the last thing he wanted to think about was the Beauxbatons champion.
He focused on anything and everything around him, the stone walls and strange tapestries, the few students he met on the corridors, the first years unaware of the secret passages right in front of them.
Anything but her.
He had attributed his out of character altruistic bout to a mix of pity and the after effects of her allure, and left it at that. Distracting himself until he eventually stopped caring seemed like a good solution, one he embraced wholeheartedly.
'Fredrikk of Vlandia is looking good today.' He thought, looking at a tapestry he saw everyday since he 'found' the RoR.
Regardless of his efforts, he ended up thinking about Fleur Delacour. Rather intensely too, since she was standing right in front of him.
Unless it was another girl with silver hair, but those weren't that common, were they?
"How do you do it?" She asked, her accent slightly warping her words.
"Good morning to you too, Ms Delacour." Magnus said happily. "I had a very good day too, thanks for asking."
Unfortunately for him, she did not blush or stammer or even flee like he hoped. Only looking at him with those pretty, unnerving blue eyes.
"I was told you weren't fond of beating around the bush, as your people say it, non?" She said not missing a beat. "Will you tell me how you do it?"
A few students passed by, second years by the look of them. They saw him with her, which could only spell doom as far the Hogwarts rumor mill was involved...unless he murdered Brown, but that was a rather extreme solution.
He sighed, rubbing his nose at the ever increasing headache.
"Am I bothering you that much?" She asked softly, her expression unreadable.
"Yes, but it's not your fault." He said, for once being honest. "Hopefully."
The older witch didn't take it badly, surprisingly. He expected her to be outraged to see someone not being utterly servile, but she looked even more earnest.
He added that to the ever increasing list of things that didn't make sense about Fleur Delacour, which was getting more and more input with each passing day.
"It wasn't my intention." She assured him, the shadow of a smile on her lips.
Much to his disappointment, the same group of second years came back with reinforcements, they tried to be as inconspicuous as possible but there was a limit to the sneakiness of a mass of nosy students.
He had half a mind to curse them here and there, at least it would give them something gossip worthy.
'But no, I have to be civil and clean the name of House Black.' He thought morosely, it was a request from his dear aunt so he couldn't just ignore it. 'Don't see why she says that, that woman is even more violent than me.'
And he loved her for it.
"Can we go somewhere private." Fleur asked him, looking every bit as bothered as he was, but she didn't bother hiding it.
Looking back at the object of her disgust, he saw some of the older boys staring at her with all the subtlety of rhinoceros in a coffee shop and half the elegance; openly drooling with glazed eyes.
Why so many of his female classmates desired this particular trait of Veela was beyond him, it seemed like a burden more than anything. Given the choice, he'd much rather take the fire powers or transformation.
"Of course." He said softly, guiding her to an empty classroom.
For one moment, Magnus saw past his own pride and selfishness and could sincerely say that he felt for one Fleur Delacour. Maybe it was his own experience with sycophants and mindless self-serving fools? Or perhaps it was what remained of the old him before his grandfather took him in, a homeless child left to the wolves?
He didn't know, nor did he like her, but he understood.
It was worth a civil discussion, wasn't it?
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