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The Secret Society Chapter 22: Back to Reality
🕑 Added 2023-04-15 04:46:34 +0000 UTCAN: Chapters have been renumbered to match ff.net and royalroad
“Harry! Look at what I have!” Fleur flounced into the room and looked like she was about to leap onto Harry when she saw the additional guest smiling at her.
“Headmaster Dumbledore?” Fleur exclaimed with an incredulous expression.
“Ms. Delacour! I noticed my wayward student and, unfortunately, had to interrupt your time with him. However, I’m happy that the Triwizard Tournament had something good come of it!”
“… Thank you?”
Harry knew he should be thinking about ways to talk himself into a lesser punishment, but seeing the ever-confident Fleur Delacour in a flummoxed state made him smile widely.
“Ah, and never before have I witnessed Mr. Potter beaming so brightly! Simply splendid!”
“Er, Headmaster?” Harry asked carefully, “Do you think you could give us some privacy?”
“Right, I suppose it’s the least I could offer, considering I shall be parting the two of you.” Dumbledore, always sprightly for his age, smoothly got up from the plush seat and nodded at Fleur and Harry. Right before leaving the room, he made a sound of surprise and turned back around.
“Please accept this as my apology, Mr. Potter and Ms. Delacour. I sincerely hope this shall not cause any issues in your burgeoning relationship.”
Harry tensed when Dumbledore brought out his wand and pointed it at the opening to the auction. A simple wave from the old man formed a transparent bubble-like wall that separated the booth from the rest of the auction.
“That should do it,” Dumbledore nodded happily at his work, “Five minutes, Mr. Potter, Ms. Delacour.”
As soon as Dumbledore closed the door, Fleur strode to Harry before cupping his face and pulling him into a scorching kiss.
Harry could see that Fleur was frantically looking him over as if she was trying to burn his image into her mind. “I didn’t think your time in France would end like this….”
Fleur looked as if she was going to kiss him again before she forcibly shook her head, drawing Harry’s attention to her beautiful hair. “No, there’s no more time to waste!”
Harry watched curiously as Fleur conjured a piece of paper and a quill before quickly jotting something down. She pulled out a small, luxurious-looking box, once again hidden in places that shouldn’t be possible with her tight dress, and wrapped the paper around it.
“Take it!” Fleur unceremoniously thrust the haphazardly wrapped present into his coat pocket, “It’ll show you how serious I am about us. I know you still hold doubts but know that everything I did, was for you.”
Harry frowned at her worried expression. “Wha-”
“No,” Fleur cut him off by kissing him again, wasting no time adding her tongue to the mix and moaning into his lips before pulling back when she heard the door opening.
“I’m afraid five minutes are up. It’s time for us to depart, Mr. Potter.”
Harry glanced at Dumbledore before staring at Fleur’s worried expression. Ignoring his Headmaster, he gave Fleur a soft peck on her lips before smiling. “I’ll be waiting for your letters, and if I don’t get them for some reason like before, I’ll find a way to visit France.”
“Oh my, I seem to have heard a rather loud buzzing a moment ago,” Dumbledore said with a puzzled face, “Ms. Delacour, I’m afraid we must leave before I hear something other than a buzz.”
Fleur let out a little giggle at how Dumbledore acted oblivious before whispering to Harry. “Read the note, my love. It’ll only last a few hours before the magic fails.”
Harry nodded as he patted the bulge in his pocket. “Thank you for everything, Fleur. You derailed my trip, but in the best way possible.”
Fleur gave Harry a stunning smile and blew him a kiss as he reluctantly walked away. “I’ll see you soon, my love.”
Harry blinked when Fleur disappeared from his vision and was replaced with a closed door. He glared at an amused Dumbledore before quickly looking away when he remembered who he was angry at.
“I imagine that goodbye would have lasted indefinitely if I hadn’t done that.”
Harry shrugged but stayed silent as he followed Dumbledore, frequently checking his pocket to see if Fleur’s gift was still there.
“Forgive me, Mr. Potter, but I couldn’t help but overhear that Ms. Delacour changed your plans. I might have misremembered, but didn’t you say that you came to Paris to visit her?”
Harry pressed his lips together in frustration as his Fleur-addled mind once again caused him to slip up. With any lie only leading to more questions that Harry didn’t have an answer for, he did the next best thing. Pretend like he hadn’t heard a question in the first place.
Dumbledore chuckled, “I suppose silence is an answer in itself.”
Harry was more than a little surprised at how relaxed Dumbledore was about him being in another country. It was as if what happened in his office hadn’t come to pass. It would be in Harry’s favor to keep the Headmaster in this current mood, though he was afraid of saying something and screwing that up.
“Here we are,” Dumbledore waved his hand to open a door to reveal a courtyard, “Maison Sorcellerie has undergone quite a few changes since my last visit many decades ago. I distinctly recall that we were once required to exit through the main entrance. Unfortunately, this led to numerous ambushes against those who had obtained an item of value.”
Harry eyed the sock that Dumbledore held out to him warily.
“Come now, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore urged gently as Harry hesitated to touch the sock, “I can assure you that I have procured an abundance of socks specifically for this purpose - to be transformed into portkeys. This particular sock has yet to be used.”
“… Yes, Headmaster,” Harry reluctantly held onto one end of the sock and immediately felt the unpleasant sensation of portkey travel. He prepared to utilize his occlumency to ride it out for a few minutes until he surprisingly found himself on his feet, with the beautiful sight of Hogwarts at night before him.
“Ah, I see you have just experienced the standard international portkey on your journey to Paris,” Dumbledore remarked. “I, myself, had an unfortunate incident in my younger years and now prefer to craft portkeys myself. Given your evident talent in magic, I would be delighted to teach you my method in a year or two.”
“Er, that would be terrific?”
“I’m sure,” Dumbledore chuckled as he led them toward Hogwarts, “I feel that I must offer you an apology, Mr. Potter.”
“Headmaster?”
“I understand that Ms. Delacour had been unable to send you letters in the past, and for that, I must take responsibility,” Dumbledore admitted solemnly. “I had to place mail wards at your home and in the Owlery to block the overwhelming number of dangerous letters being sent to you. Regrettably, the heroism your parents were known for was not appreciated by all.”
Harry immediately snuffed the flare of anger that exploded inside him. He might not like hearing that Dumbledore controlled who could send him letters, but he understood the reasoning. “Thank you for letting me know, Headmaster… Shouldn’t it be time for the wards to be removed?”
“Of course,” Dumbledore agreed, “In fact, I should have done that last year, but the events that transpired made me quite forgetful. I am, after all, a simple human.”
Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at Dumbledore calling himself a simple human. Maybe it was this humbleness that infuriated the purebloods. As much as he tried not to, he felt Dumbledore was quite interesting.
“It’s a shame to have to visit Paris under such circumstances,” Dumbledore said suddenly, “The son of the British ambassador suddenly passed away this morning.”
“... What happened, Headmaster? If it isn’t inappropriate for me to ask.” Harry could hear his heart thundering in his chest and was deathly afraid that Dumbledore could hear it too, which didn’t help his building panic.
Dumbledore grimaced as it seemed like he was thinking of what he saw. “It was rather similar to what happens when an unsuspecting wizard meets a newly turned werewolf. Only, there was no full moon last night.”
Harry’s stomach turned at the image, but he couldn’t stop his morbid curiosity. “… How were you able to identify him?”
Dumbledore turned just as they entered Hogwarts and stared right into Harry’s eyes, almost making him pull his wand out to protect himself.
“I’m afraid it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of magic.”
Harry’s shoulders dropped in relief after Dumbledore looked away, and the pendant didn’t warn him of a legilimency attack.
“This is where we part ways, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore stated as they approached the stairs leading down to the dungeons. “I will inform Professor Snape of your actions, and you will accept whatever punishment he deems appropriate.”
“Yes, Headmaster,” Harry readily accepted it so he would no longer have to be in his presence.
As Harry walked as quickly as was polite to the stairs, Dumbledore said something that once again caused his heart to nearly explode from his chest.
“And, Mr. Potter? I am an open resource for all the students in Hogwarts. My office is open if you ever wish to learn more about the mind arts.”
Harry froze but didn’t dare to turn and look at Dumbledore as he listened to the receding footsteps. He was able to eventually make himself move as he unsteadily walked to his dorm.
His mind was still reeling from frantically trying to figure out what Dumbledore knew when he entered the Slytherin common room, or rather, he was trying to figure out what game the Headmaster was playing.
It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Dumbledore had mentioned Alex, and even if it was, the mention of mind arts couldn’t have been. As for the former, Harry was furious that Fleur had gone to such lengths for no reason. Her version of ‘taking care of it’ was psychotic to the extreme. And more importantly, she lied to him.
“Well, well, well. Look who decided to grace us with his presence.”
Harry’s attention was brought back to the present, and unfortunately, the first thing he saw was Draco Malfoy.
“And where were you for the past day, Potter?” Draco spat, “Crying in some corner about not having any friends?”
Harry hadn’t even realized what he had experienced happened in a day. Or maybe the better way to describe that was he was too lost in Fleur’s presence to keep track of time. He frowned as he reminded himself that he was angry at her.
“Are you deaf, Potter?” Draco sneered as he casually flung a spell at him.
It was what Harry was waiting for. There were ways for Malfoy to escape if Harry was the one that first cast a spell at him. The most obvious is to get the help of his newly acquired protectors instead of challenging Harry himself.
However, it seemed that Malfoy had forgotten why he had never come on top against Harry and dared to give such a public challenge.
Harry’s eyes twitched when the stinging spell instantly swelled his forearm, making it throb in pain. He didn’t take his eyes off Malfoy and pointed his wand at the affected area before reverting it to normal.
“Good,” Harry hissed as his green eyes gleamed with satisfaction, “I accept your challenge, Malfoy. What are the stakes.”
Harry could feel the magic lock him in place until the terms were set. The same applied to Malfoy.
“I want you to grovel in the Great Hall during dinner,” Draco’s voice grew more gleeful as he spoke, “Of how you’re ashamed of your mudblood mother and traitor father. Of how your whole existence was a mistake!”
Harry heard the sharp gasps of some eagerly watching the show, and almost wanted to join them. He found it hard to believe that Malfoy actually said that sentence out loud.
However, Harry had to admit that it was rather clever of him. Malfoy was trying to make sure that he was isolated in Slytherin, but if Harry was to actually do such a disgraceful thing in the Great Hall, the other Houses would follow Slytherin’s example.
Of course, that was only if Malfoy somehow won the duel.
“Very well,” Harry said with surprising calmness, “Time?”
“I’ll give you the minimum time I’m allowed to let you kiss your dignity goodbye, Potter. One hour and we start.”
Harry simply smiled, knowing only one thing left before the sadistic magic that enabled this behavior was satisfied. He had to state what he wanted from Malfoy.
“When I win, I want you to walk to your room, head held high, knowing you survived your foolishness.”
Harry smirked when Malfoy flushed with rage as the magic holding them hostage accepted the terms.
“We’ll see if you think it’s funny after you lose,” Draco sneered before storming away.
Harry stared after Malfoy for a moment before taking in the multitude of eyes watching him. It was at this point in the past that he casually lounged around before stomping his opponent in the upcoming challenge, but he couldn’t be bothered at this point.
He had far more important things to think of instead of playing childish games to stroke the egos of the idiots in Slytherin. And he hadn’t forgotten the other thing that was time sensitive.
Harry grazed his fingers over the box that Fleur had given him. Whatever she wrote would disappear in an hour or two.
He hoped it would satisfy his questions about what she did to Alex. And if it didn’t, Malfoy would be there to vent his anger on.
Comments
Supporter
I did a re-read and omg, your writing is brilliant. "Harry nodded as he patted the bulge in his pocket." At first, I was thinking about the note and the gift that Fleur gave him, but on the second read, it could have meant something entirely different. Saucy, haha.
Chris
No it's pretty good as well. You are an excellent writer!
Markus Ellis
Hope this doesn't mean you think the smut is shit lol
Chris
Honestly I enjoy the plot of the fic more than your usual smut. Excellent writing!!
I really want to know how Dumbledore found out… but now I’m on the edge of my seat ready to see/read about the duel.. he really needs to go wild and put Malfoy in his place. Slytherins bow to power and, it would help his standing. Can’t wait for it!!!!
Markus Ellis
Yeah. I was thinking about how to write Fleur and wanted something different than the perfect witch she's generally characterized as. I didn't exactly mean to turn her into this, but holy hell, I'm going to have fun writing her
Markus Ellis
I'm in the process of writing it right now. It'll be posted in a day or two
Zitronen tee
Yeah, that one fits a little better than I would have expected. A girl that can get literally anything turning out not spoiled but very very warped in the head. I like it.
CookieMonster
Omg it can’t end there D: I was hoping to see what was written >_<
Robert
I can't wait for Harry to humiliate the ponce. This story is getting more and more interesting. I love how you are writing all of these characters. Dumbledore casually putting Harry on the back foot to an insane degree while maintaining his typical grandfather mask is brilliant. Fleur seemingly becoming a lovestruck Bellatrix is quite fun to read. Thanks for the update! Looking forward to what's next.
