Capítulo 24: Chapter 24: Harry is punished
When Albus Dumbledore had called Fleur to Gringotts and told her what happened with Harry, she was momentarily frightened, and then anger came.
Albus understood that she was indeed aware of what Harry was doing. He didn't know everything, but he understood that Harry expected to be attacked at some point, though perhaps not with the Cruciatus Curse.
Fleur immediately asked him to take her to Harry, which Albus did not deny. They left Gringotts immediately before apparating outside the Hogwarts grounds. From there it wasn't too far of a walk, especially since Fleur walked quickly, almost running.
And when the two entered the medical wing, they immediately caught attention. Poppy glanced at her before she returned to inspecting Harry. Hermione and Ron looked at her in bewilderment.
"Fleur? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
"I came to see my fool of a boyfriend, what else?" Fleur huffed angrily before walking over to Harry.
"How is he, Madam Pomfrey?"
"The pain has faded a bit, though he'll still be sensitive."
"Look into my eyes, Harry Potter," Fleur demanded, noticing Harry staring at the ceiling. And licking his lip a bit, Harry moved his eyes slowly.
"Hello, Fle-", Harry couldn't finish when Fleur took a strand of his hair in her hand and squeezed. Normally it shouldn't have hurt, but with his body being more sensitive than usual, it caused him a bit of pain.
"What are you doing?!" Poppy exclaimed angrily.
"Are you satisfied?" Fleur asked coldly. Her face was just inches away from Harry's.
"A- Ahm..."
"You knew she would attack you. You've been seeing into her mind for days now. And when she was in front of you, you should have known she would cast a crucio. You taught me that, Harry. Using legermancy to foresee the enemy's attack."
"Why didn't you dodge?"
"She... needed to get off the board," Harry replied with a grimace. "Not letting her cast that curse would make the plan take a little longer. Now she'll be prosecuted and sent to Azkaban for attacking a student; not even Fudge will be able to stop her. It's not long before Voldemort can't hide anymore, and there can be no flaws in that."
"Besides, with Umbridge gone, Fudge won't be able to get out of the trouble he's in. After all, she's the one who helped that fool become Minister."
Fleur's eyes met Harry's bright orbs for a long moment before she let go. She grabbed a nearby chair and sat down before crossing her arms.
"You're grounded."
"Huh?" Harry looked at his girlfriend in disbelief. Punished? How? There was nothing to punish him with, was what Harry was thinking.
"No kisses. No cuddles. And most of all, no sex. For two months."
Harry's mouth dropped open and he gaped, not knowing how to respond to that. Was that a punishment? Harry didn't quite know. Of course he enjoyed intimate moments with Fleur, but he wasn't someone who would suffer from not having sex for two months.
Hermione wasn't too different from Harry. She had her mouth hanging open, staring in shock at the conversation. Beside her, Ron had his eyes wide open, totally shocked by what he was hearing.
"Now, putting aside the danger you were in..." Fleur frowned a little. "How are you feeling?"
"..." Harry looked at her silently before sighing a little. "I'm fine, Fleur. My body hurts a little, but nothing serious. I used Occlumency so the pain wouldn't affect my mind as much."
"Was it really necessary for you to go through that pain, Harry?" Fleur asked quietly. Her expression softened as she looked into his eyes.
Harry deflated a little before smiling bitterly.
"No. This would just make things go faster. But I want to get this over with. All that's left is for Madame Bones to do her part. I'm getting tired of having to wait for a battle, or trouble with the Ministry. Or pointless wizards and witches."
"Why wait? You could take that idiot down even now, while he's injured."
Harry snorted.
"I could. But what about his followers? Even with my magic, I have limits. When Madame Bones is ready, it means there won't be any more Death Eaters or foolish Voldemort worshippers. "So, when I'm done with Voldemort, I won't have to worry about silly revenge anymore."
"And when were you planning to tell us?" Hermione asked angrily.
"When it was all over," Harry answered immediately. "We've been through some trouble in previous years. I didn't want to involve them when I could avoid it."
Hermione gritted her teeth.
"Fool."
"Okay," Fleur nodded.
Harry just sighed a little tiredly.
. . .
"I didn't think you'd approach me like this," Harry commented as he looked to the side of his bed, right at the door to the medical wing.
"How did you think I'd approach you? No, wait, I'm more curious about what you don't say verbally. You knew I'd come. Or rather, you knew I'd seek you out at some point."
"I recognized that you were a little different than you let on. And with what I heard around the manor, well, I figured you'd want to talk to me."
"Hmph," huffing, Draco Malfoy walked over before taking the same chair Fleur had sat in a couple hours ago. He sat down and crossed his arms.
"Mr. Malfoy, I hope you're not here to cause trouble," Poppy narrowed her eyes as he appeared.
"No. I just want to talk about some things with Potter. You don't have to worry, Madam Pomfrey."
Poppy looked at him before nodding and going back to her small office, leaving the door open for anything.
"Okay, Potter. I'll talk and you'll stay quiet until I'm done. You can say whatever you want after that."
Harry just raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I don't know how you became an expert in magic and battles, but what you did was both good and bad. On the one hand, my mother is calmer in the place you gave us, but she's still a little worried about my father. The... charms you gave us, they work like a charm, by the way."
Draco looked at Harry seriously.
"Still, everything you've done for us, doesn't take away the fact that you're planning to take down my father. Indirectly or not. But, just the same, just because you're planning to do whatever to my father, doesn't take away the fact that you helped us."
"For that reason, I thank you."
Harry stared at him in silence, noticing that Draco wasn't saying anything else, so now he opened his mouth to speak.
"I thought your mother would be furious about what Lucius did to the Black family."
"Oh, she's angry..." Draco nodded. "But they've been together for years, Potter. Their marriage may have been an arrangement, but they both learned to love each other, regardless of what either of them has done. Be it bad or good. And perhaps, that's a curse that love carries."
"Sometimes you can't help what you feel."
Harry was impressed with what he just heard. But Draco might have a point. Narcissa didn't know what her husband had done when she started falling in love with him, so it was hard to get rid of those emotions now. Sometimes, you couldn't get rid of the love you feel for someone, and that could be both good and bad.
It was like Draco said, love could be a curse, but also a blessing.
"I guess he's not wrong. If Dumbledore were here, he would agree with Draco's words. He, after all, went through a really complicated love."
"So, what else do you need? I don't think you came just to thank me. You could have done that with a letter."
Draco frowned before he relaxed his expression and sighed a little.
"I need your help, once again."
"With what?"
"There's a person who's suffering. I want to help her, but I can't. I don't know enough. I don't have the means to do so."
"Oh... Oh... So it's a girl. Strange... though maybe not that strange," Harry muttered a little as he thought.
"Why exactly do you want to help her? There has to be a reason."
Draco pressed his lips together as he looked away. He was thinking about whether it was a good idea to tell the truth. But then again, he was here asking for help. If he wanted to get what he wanted, he needed to be honest.
"Ever since I was little, I looked up to my father. A boy will do what his father says, or at least try to make him proud. I did that, I tried to follow my father in what he did..."
"Until you realized it wouldn't lead to anything."
Draco nodded a little sadly.
"I was getting tired. I was giving up little by little. I saw my father slowly crumbling into nothing more than a slave, and the worst of all was that he wasn't dissatisfied with it."
"So, when I met someone who might be worse off than me, but still smiled and lived happily, I felt... weird, to put it mildly. I couldn't understand how this person was happy with their life."
"Maybe she wasn't happy. Maybe she was just pretending," Harry said quietly.
"Or maybe she understood her situation and was willing to be happy as long as she could," Draco replied.
Harry sat up a little pained, but now looked at Draco more seriously.
"So when I finally understood that, I started to go against my father. Maybe I didn't do it verbally. Maybe I didn't act as much as I should have, but I questioned a lot of things. And that's one of the reasons I thank you personally as well. If it weren't for you, I might have joined Voldemort just to keep my mother safe, even when I understood how bad that was."
"You're in love."
Draco frowned immediately.
"Idiot. You don't know this, but she's younger than me. I want to help her for the simple fact that she helped me understand things and be my own person. Yes, I would have joined Voldemort, but it would have been my decision, not one my parents made for me."
"No. You, Draco Malfoy, are in love," Harry smiled. "I can see it in your eyes. You don't notice it, but your expression changed when you talked about her. Your gaze too, it's much softer and brighter."
"You're not the type of person who would have that expression when helping someone, even a person who helped you."
"You're quite prideful. If it were up to someone else, you wouldn't come to me so soon. You'd try other means, maybe make me meet this girl 'by chance'. You'd try to pull strings and manipulate certain things. But you're here, asking for help personally and being sincere."
"You may be an idiot at times, but you're not that much of an idiot. At least not to the point of forgetting your intelligence and cunning."
"And please don't deny it anymore. I know what it feels like to be in love. I've seen my face in a mirror before, Draco. And as long as age isn't a big difference, then I don't think it's a real problem. Just look at me, my partner is three years older than me."
Draco looked at him in surprise before he looked down with a frown.
"My mother was right. You can read a person to a terrifying degree. I seem to have underestimated you," Draco said before sighing and lifting his head to look Harry in the eyes.
"Astoria Greengrass is her name. She has a blood curse."
"Ah... so that's her," Harry muttered as he looked away. A slightly complicated look passed over his face at that instant.
"You know her?" Draco asked a little surprised.
"Daphne Greengrass' younger sister. Part of a pureblood family and a member of the sacred twenty-eight," Harry commented lightly, although in his mind he was thinking some things.
"Damn it. Dealing with that curse won't be difficult. In fact, it's easy. But according to the memories I received, that distant ancestor was cursed by... tch, to think that, in the end, things would turn out this strange."
"I'll help you, but I'll take something from her, not from you."
"What? Wait a minute, Potter. I'm the one asking for help."
"I'm sorry, I think I explained myself wrong," Harry shook his head. "I'm not taking anything from Astoria, but from her family. The Greengrasses have quite a few connections, as well as the power they hold inside and outside the Ministry."
"As long as they do me a favor, then I'll remove their curse."
"You're putting me in a bad position."
"You know her sister better. And I'm sure you've had interactions with her parents. It's not that hard for you, especially when you want to help her."
"What exactly do you want?"
"Land in Diagon Alley."
Draco opened his mouth before he closed it and frowned.
"Don't you have money? I understand you have plenty."
"Money is sometimes not enough. Matthew Greengrass has what it takes to give me a nice place in Diagon Alley. And I wouldn't have to pay anything."
"Don't you think that's easy and cheap compared to his daughter?"
"It is," Draco nodded.
"There it is," Harry smiled.
"How much chance do you have of curing her?"
"One hundred percent. I can remove her curse without any flaws or side effects."
"You do your part. Make sure Matthew Greengrass does his part. And I'll do mine."
Draco looked at him for a few seconds before letting out a slightly tired sigh. He stood up before nodding at Harry. But, as he was about to leave the medical wing, Harry said something that almost made him stumble.
"Make sure you're not a proud idiot! Maybe I can make her wedding dress in the future! Hahahaha!"
"Stupid Potter! I knew I shouldn't have done this!" Draco shouted angrily before slamming the door shut.
"Ah~... Damn, now I'll have to ask Dumbledore for the wand," Harry groaned a little before lying down.
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