Chapter 86: CH 86
'I might as well,' Harry decided, indicating the wine bottle. He had quite enjoyed the Firewhiskey.
I hope Katie is not drinking.
Harry had the horrible feeling that a drunk Katie might just manage to find a way to ruin not only his evening, but Fleur's, Roger Davies' and her own, not that he particularly cared about Roger Davies. He glanced out into the crowd, but saw nothing of the Gryffindor chaser.
'Searching for someone?' Fleur followed his line of sight into the crowd. Harry counted himself fortunate that he had not managed to catch sight of Katie. Platonic shield or not he imagined the proud french witch would not take kindly to him spending the evening looking for another girl. 'Avoiding,' Harry smiled wryly.
'Ah,' Fleur responded. If anyone understood the benefit of evading some members of the opposite sex it would be her.
They found a spot further towards the end of the tables where it was mostly empty. The usual furnishings that had been pushed back against the walls of the Great Hall to make space for the dancing. Once seated Harry helped himself to a wide ranging selection from the nearby piles of Christmas food. Fleur was more picky, avoiding the heavier meats and potatoes in favour of the sweeter, lighter dishes.
'Hogwarts is very different to Beauxbatons,' Fleur told him, sipping her wine, and gazing around the room at the slightly confused style of decoration. Harry felt they probably should have removed some of the original decorations, the suits of armour, for example; they looked a little out place in a ball.
'I imagine it is,' Harry replied earnestly. He had gathered as much from the elegant, renaissance influenced architecture of the Beauxbatons' gallery Fleur had summoned from then Room of Requirement.
'We have ice statues at Christmas in France instead of this.' If Harry had not been paying close attention to the slight changes of expression that betrayed Fleur's true feelings he would have thought she were belittling Hogwarts. 'I learnt last year the enchantments to prevent the ice from melting, so I could make one for Gabrielle.' Most of Fleur's first wine glass was gone, her food too and Harry was left to marvel over when exactly she had managed to eat or drink it while speaking and watching the room. He'd barely touched anything of his own.
'You miss your sister.' Harry could hardly empathise with missing a sibling, or any part of his family, but there had been a time, not so long ago, he had considered his housemates siblings. He understood missing that company well enough.
'She is coming with my mother to see the second task,' Fleur announced, reaching for the bottle. Harry prudently drank some of his own when she glanced away. Half the glass went down very easily, far more smoothly than the sickly pumpkin juice he was used to.
On the far side of the hall Peeves caused momentary chaos, bursting into the room to shower nearby dancing couples with white berries. Harry guessed they were mistletoe, but knowing Peeves they could have been stolen from the more exotic end of Snape's stores.
He was, however, delighted to see that Dean and Ron, who were standing surlily and alone against the wall were among the poltergeist's victims.
'Beauxbatons does not have a poltergeist either,' Fleur remarked, proffering the bottle to Harry. There was a spark of mischief in her eyes as she watched the pearly figure of Peeves beat a hasty retreat from the hall when Dumbledore's eyes turned upon him.
Harry topped his glass up with the burgundy liquid. It looked and tasted perfectly innocent, but so had the Firewhiskey he had drunk with Katie.
'I believe there is a debate every year over whether he should expelled from the halls or not,' Harry said. 'He doesn't cause too much chaos, just enough to be a nuisance every now and again. The caretaker, Argus Filch, hates him.'
'From what I have heard your caretaker hates everything except his pet.'
'There is some truth in that,' Harry admitted, lightly sipping his drink and eyeing the rather delicious, but still untouched Christmas cake. He rather wanted a piece, but was very reluctant to be the first person to take a slice.
'Do you want some?' Fleur had none of his reservations about the cake. She stood, transfiguring the knife she held to something more suitable for cutting car-sized confectionery, and cut a very thin slice.
'Thank you.' Harry gratefully accepted the slice, noting that Fleur had cut herself one almost twice the size. 'I have a sweet tooth,' she confessed, 'most veela do.'
'Is that playfully.
your
weakness?'
Harry
asked
Fleur laughed softly. She had a very smooth, throaty chuckle. It was the first time that Harry had really heard it.
'No,' she shook her head. 'It would take more than the offer of something sweet to persuade me to let you win, though I am very fond of marzipan.'
'I would never have guessed that veela were partial to sweet foods,' Harry mused, watching Fleur's slice of cake vanish in a series of elegant forkfuls.
'Most wizards know very little about veela,' Fleur shrugged, 'and witches know even less.'
The bottle was emptied into Fleur's empty glass when Harry politely declined her offer of more.
'I have to admit that the only thing I know about veela is the effect of your allure. I felt it at the World Cup.'
'So you do feel it,' Fleur murmured, amused. 'I wonder, then, why you are so resistant to mine.'
'I heard that you were part-veela, perhaps your aura is not as strong?' Harry suggested.
'You were correct that the only thing you know about veela is the feeling of our charm,' Fleur told him with a frown. 'You should have really gone to the library once you knew I was veela.' 'I've had a lot on my mind,' Harry replied dryly.
'Well, so that you do not embarrass yourself, or me, in the future I will tell you something about veela.' She flipped her silver hair back over one shoulder and shifted her chair around to face him.
'You'd throw away your advantage?' Harry asked her.
'Don't be naive,' Fleur smiled. 'It would take less than hour for you to find out what I intend to tell you and this way I control what you know.'
'I do not think you would tell me that if you had any intention of actually using the opportunity,' Harry smiled. Fleur's eyes flicked towards the bottle momentarily.
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