Back in their dorm, Fleur started putting up her newly bought frames all around the dorm when Harry doused cold water on her enthusiasm, "We'll be leaving in a month unless you're planning on filling all of the canvases during this time." His words made Fleur stop halfway as just as she was pulling out the third frame to set up.
"You're right…" She said, "We need to go back, I didn't get enough materials for the trip, I'm sure that those boorish people won't have anything close to what Gaspard's has."
"Hey, my mum is one of those boorish people you speak of…" Harry said, irked at Fleur's disdain.
"Your mum is an exception," She said, "She's the most refined lady I know after yours truly," She curtsied with an arrogant expression on her face.
Harry had an unimpressed look on his face before saying, "Sure," He wasn't in the mood to contest Fleur's words, "I'll drop these things in our luggage and we can make another trip at noon." He told her before walking to the suitcase that contained both his and Fleur's luggage. He opened the case and emptied the bag into it before casting a spell to organize things inside. He then dropped the bag on the side. before walking back to the couch.
Harry slumped down on the couch in front of the fireplace. He put his feet up on the couch and leaned his head on the armrest so that he could view Fleur setting up her canvas and the paints that she'd brought.
"You know, Fleur..." Harry said with a suggestive tone, "Gabi is out for her orientation," His words made Fleur turn to look at him as she developed a sly smile on her face.
"Does Monsieur Potter have something to say?" She asked him while taking slow steps toward him, putting one foot directly in front of the other in a catwalk that emphasized her curves. She was currently wearing her pastel blue inner shirt and matching skirt that went under the blazer that was hanging on the coat hanger.
Just as she approached the couch where Harry was looking at her with an enamored expression, there was a suppressed crackling sound within their dorm as a house elf appeared beside Fleur who got startled and stepped to the side, "Willy, you startled me..." Fleur recognized the elf and calmed herself down.
"Willy apologizes, Mistress Delacour," The house elf bowed in apology, "You didn't have the privacy ward activated so Willy thought that there would be no problem…" The tiny creature looked genuinely apologetic.
"It's all right, Willy," Harry said, "What happened?" He asked, "We didn't call you."
"The Headmistress has called both Mistress Delacour and Master Potter," The house elf named Willy said.
Fleur and Harry looked at each other and sighed before Harry got up from the couch, "Fine, can you take us to her, Willy?" Harry asked while extending one hand to Fleur and the other to Willy.
"It would be Willy's pleasure to serve Master Potter," The house elf enthusiastically held Harry's hand and brought him and Fleur directly to the entrance of Madame Maxime's office, "Willy will be off, Master Potter. Otherwise, the Master Maxime will scold Willy…" Willy mumbled to himself before slowly turning transparent and disappearing.
"I seriously love how Willy can apparate silently like that," Fleur said with an envious tone.
"All house elves can do that," Harry said before knocking on the door, "They have access to both methods of apparition while we only have a single one."
"Yeah, whatever," Fleur shrugged it off, "It's still cool. Every time I apparate, people two blocks away think that there's been some kind of explosion…" She complained.
"Get better," Harry said as Madame Maxime answered his knock with a muffled, "You may enter."
Fleur gave him a narrow-eyed look while scrunching her nose to express her annoyance and pushed the door open, almost shoving Harry to the side, making him chuckle while shaking his head as he followed her into the office.
"Morning, headmistress," Harry greeted the large woman who was glaring at him and Fleur with eyes full of annoyance.
"It's the first day of school and the two of you already have a violation to your name," She said.
"That snitch…" Fleur cursed the orientation professor under her breath. When she looked back up at Madame Maxime, the half-giantess' glare almost sent a shiver down her spine as she stepped behind Harry and looked down.
Harry patted Fleur's hand to calm her down and faced the headmistress with an embarrassed smile, not seeming intimidated by her glare, "I apologize headmistress. Something came up and Fleur and I couldn't attend the orientation. We had to go to the infirmary."
The woman looked at Harry and then at Fleur who was hiding behind Harry for a few seconds before shaking her head, "If your story doesn't match with Madame Séraphine, detention for both of you."
"Thank you for understanding headmistress," Harry smiled and continued, "Before you dismiss us, I wanted to talk to you about Celine's arrangements."
"What about it?" She asked with a raised brow.
"I don't know where we'll all be staying, but I wanted you to let Celine stay with me, Fleur, and Gabi," Harry said.
"You both were completely lost during my briefing, weren't you?" Madame Maxime sighed with exasperation, "The students will all be sponsored within Hogwarts' dorms to allow them to mingle better with the crowd there. I'll inform the respective faculty about the situation with you, Fleur, and Gabrielle…and Celine, apparently," She said, "All of them are going to be your responsibility, Potter. I can only protect you from the explicit dangers, the rest is up to you. As I told you before, Hogwarts may be a fortress, but it's also the center of the storm right now." She looked at Harry with an intense gaze for a few seconds, "Dismissed," She said before leaning back in her chair.
"I appreciate your concern, headmistress," Harry nodded with a solemn tone and held Fleur's hand before they both left the office.
Once the door closed behind them, "She's warned us twice about Hogwarts now," Fleur said, "Something is very wrong with the oldest magical school in Europe…"
"It'll be fine," Harry said, "We always keep our respective Portkeys close to us," He raised his hand and showed Fleur the ring on his middle finger. Fleur had a similar ring with a matching but more feminine design.
"Still, I was thinking of something…" Fleur seemed deep in thought.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I don't know yet," She said, "I need to ask my mother about it."
"Is it a Veela thing?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Fleur said, "I remember hearing her talk about a special brand of magic that the Veela possess that my grandmother specialized in. I don't know the exact details, but I'll owl my mother to ask her about it." She finished and moved her hand a little such that she was able to interlace her fingers with Harry's.
"Let's go to the academic hall," Harry said, "I think Professor Violette will appreciate our presence after she went through so much effort to get us to attend." There was an imperceptible smile on his face as he spoke those words.
Fleur's expression seemed to mirror his as she agreed wholeheartedly, "I like that idea… But first, to our dorm, we need to get Madame Séraphine's favorite chocolates to thank her."
***
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