Harry Potter Breaking Free

Fleur was frowning at yet another instance of Harry being neglected and marginalized. She and her mother had already talked at great length about Dumbledore and their suspicions about his actions. "'Arry... Have you ever wondered why the adults in England keep you unsupported and ignorant like they do? It is my opinion that everyone can see that you're special and they're actively trying to keep you small. I'm not exempting your Headmaster in this by the way... Yes, there are many stupid wealthy people in France as well. It has a lot to do with the how rather than the how much. My father is helping people and he is content with that. He is also very, very good at what he does, thus he makes a lot of money. I would like to be wealthy and influential within the circle of my own achievements. I don't want to be an accessory to someone else."

At this point, Harry wanted to turn around, but he didn't want to end the tenuous moment of peace that they were enjoying. "I've been describing myself for three years, to everyone who will listen that I am just Harry. I wanted to make myself small because of the hyphenated name that I've been so unceremoniously shackled with. At the time, I thought that I wanted to make myself more relatable. Now that I'm reliving my life through my Mindscape, I've realized that I'm just afraid of standing out, of not living up to the ideal… Other than being afraid of blanket acceptance, do you have any personal insecurities? I already know that you're confident."

Fleur was quiet for several moments before she finally answered. When she did, it was with a long sigh and shoulders that were just a little bit slumped. "I wanted to say no just now, but that wouldn't have been the truth. In my country Veela are accepted better than many a country, but even here we're still marginalized. I am seen as being arm candy. I am not seen as having my own merit beyond my looks. I seek to prove my worth to both my peers and my school. I'm about to take a great risk in doing so. A part of me is afraid that I'm not good enough, not strong enough, that others' opinion of me is correct."

"Fleur... Gods," Harry choked out in his surprise. "You can't be serious. My magic has been stalking you around these lawns for weeks now, and there's nothing weak or ordinary about you at all. You're so far above the norm, I thought there were impossibly high standards in France." Harry was completely incredulous at this point and was shaking his head against the back of Fleur's. "I was so certain of it, I even asked your mother about it. She had a really good laugh at my expense."

During the next few seconds, Fleur's elbows began digging into Harry's ribs, as she very abruptly lost her composure and started preparing for a rant. "Well why do you think I find you so frustrating, 'Arry! Here I was, cruising along, thinking I was capable of crushing everything in my path! Then this poorly dressed, broken glasses wearing, eleven year old looking, English, URCHIN waltzes into my home and oh so casually shows me magic that I can't even begin to explain let alone do! You disarmed and disabled seven men today! You saved all of our lives and you were apologizing for not also stunning the eighth! You reacted as if you failed! As if you were to blame in any way shape or form for the actions you were forced to take!"

Arry began to try to interject but Fleur immediately elbowed him back into silence as she continued. "I watched your every move today, 'Arry! I truly don't know why, but I can always sense your presence, and I always know where you are! You can downplay it to others if you want, but I saw it all! You were performing silent spell casting, using multiple spells in several different directions at a rapid rate, while under a silence spell, while Disillusioned, while running and dodging at high speeds!"

Fleur elbowed Harry again, just hard enough to punctuate her point before continuing. "If any of that isn't enough, you used two wands, one of poor compatibility and it caught fire and exploded instead of refuse to work! Or how about the fact that for the entire length of the duel you maintained one of the strongest and largest shields that I've ever seen, several meters away from your body! As if any of those things are possible! You were moving so fast that my father thought there were several people fighting! I was humbled, 'Arry, I was unmanned! I loved you and hated you with such extremes, I felt crazy in that moment! Afterwards, my mother thought that I was shocked by the violence of your actions, but she was way off the mark! I was shocked by how impossible you are and how arrogant I've been!"

Fleur abruptly lost her wind at that point, and was distracted by Harry's hand on her forearm.

Harry was silent for quite a while as he digested what Fleur had just ranted at him, because he'd never really thought about the level of skill he'd been operating at until now. He gripped Fleur's forearm a little tighter for just a second before letting it go, but he was silent for several moments longer before he finally replied. "Fleur... I honestly don't think I can become the baseline or the rival that you're trying to make of me, because as you've said, I'm a magical creature and I'm very, very far from normal… But I do know this… Every single day since I've met you, you've cast hundreds and hundreds of wildly different spells in endlessly complex patterns to perform extraordinarily specific and technical feats of absurdly powerful magic… You're a strong, ingenious and talented witch… and the fact that I exist doesn't negate how special you are. Not at all. Not even for a second…"

Fleur sighed, smiled, sighed and then smiled again because she hadn't been aiming for a pep talk just now, but it was working nonetheless. "I… Thanks, 'Arry..."

Now that hurricane Fleur had passed, Harry remained silent for several moments longer to let the tension fully drain. Then, when the timing was juuuust right, he added a little factoid about himself that might cut the tension in half. "I dislike snowball fights..."

Fleur cocked her head to the side in silent but somehow loud confusion.

"I was never taught how to throw a ball as a child," Harry explained in a defeated voice. "I throw like a six year old girl and it's embarrassing."

Fleur snorted loudly and then immediately elbowed Harry again. "You never heard that, 'Arry!"

"Oh yes I did," Harry replied, with a wide and amused smile in his voice. "It's the newest memory I'm keeping in the (for a pensieve) area I've created in my Mindscape." Harry started laughing as he started getting elbowed back and forth.

"Want to go watch Princess Bride with me?" Fleur sounded bashful, which caused Harry's heart to lurch painfully in his chest.

After immediately and emphatically nodding his head, Harry became grateful that Fleur hadn't witnessed the intensity of his eagerness. "Well that depends," he replied casually after a few seconds passed. "Is it a documentary about a princess becoming a bride?" (He injected the joke into his voice.)

"Yes, 'Arry. That's exactly what it's about," Fleur responded, in a voice just dripping with sarcasm. "You will watch it and you will love it." As she finished making that demand, Fleur spiked her allure up quite a few levels of intensity for just a single moment.

"Yes Mistress," Harry simpered with just enough of a zombie quality to make Fleur spin around in alarm.

Harry was just sitting there with a shit eating grin on his face.

"'Arry!" Fleur screamed, as she started pushing him around the lawn in mock affront. "No more faking obedience do you hear me! I expect real obedience." Fleur crossed her arms with an extremely fake pompous expression on her face.

They both laughed good and hard.

....

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