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[Back? Not Really] Chapter 35 - Confession (NSFW - lime)
🕑 Added 2024-03-10 22:37:18 +0000 UTCAN: I am finally posting the Harry x Fleur lime that I had removed from the FFN. It's the entire chapter, not just the sex scene. Enjoy!
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Chapter 35 - Confession
"Wait. I c-can't. Timeout! Let's take a break!" said Harry, his voice coming out in gasps.
Breathing laboriously, he threw himself on the ground, on his back, not caring about the dewy grass. If anything, it worked to cool down his overheated body.
"That's what 'appens when you're not consistent!" Fleur chided him.
Ever since he stopped playing Quidditch to focus more on regaining his Shamanistic strength he had also stopped coming out for morning runs with her. Having reverted to a sedentary lifestyle, now he was wheezing as if he were on his deathbed despite only jogging for about two miles. In comparison, she was still fresh, showing no signs of being winded out whatsoever. If anything, she was radiant, the slight rosiness in her cheeks from the cool air of the morning giving her an even livelier appearance than usual.
"New tracksuit? What's the occasion? Trying to impress me?" Harry said teasingly after getting his breathing under control.
"Yeah, I bought it especially for you," she said. Harry was not quite sure whether she was being serious or if she was joking. "Well then, 'ow do you like this new style?"
Unlike her previous sportswear, her current tracksuit was formfitting. It did a great good job of showing off her excellent figure. Harry had never been interested in fashion but, as far as he could remember, girls started wearing form-fitting clothes in his 6th year of school and later. Fleur was ahead of her time.
"Is this the new trend in France?" he asked, his eyes involuntarily lingering on her long legs for a second longer than it was proper. He quickly shifted his eyes upwards but as he followed the sinuous line of her wide hips and thin waist, he felt his face becoming warm. Her chest was well-proportioned to her frame too, creating what would become known as the ideal body type a decade later, in the 2000s, the so-called hourglass figure. For the current beauty standards, however, she was a little too athletic and her thighs a bit too thick. She would not be winning any beauty pageants at this moment if she were to participate in one.
"I take it you like it?" she asked with a grin when she saw the way he was looking at her.
Despite that he was a bit embarrassed at being caught in the act, his eyes did not shy away from hers. "Yes, I do. I like it. I like it a lot."
"Oh my! Is it you who is speaking or is it your 'ormones?"
"Both!"
She burst into laughter at his frankness. "I can't believe you could say that with a straight face!"
"And I can't believe you're still fishing for compliments at your age."
"I beg your pardon? When did I do that?!"
At her outcry, he stood up to his feet and then he brushed his hand through his hair and struck a pose with his other hand on his waist while speaking in a high-pitched voice:
"Do you like my new sexy clothes, 'Arry? What do you zink? I zink zey fit my 'biutifiul' silhouette-" he said and flicked his imaginary long hair over his shoulders.
"I do NOT speak like that!" she said hotly. After several years spent in the UK, she had lost most of her accent, the only reminder of it being that she still omitted the 'h' sound.
She drew her wand and a nonverbal Stinging Hex was instantly shot at him. But just as the spell was about to hit him, he quickly raised his hand and slapped the blue beam of light away with the back of his palm.
"???"
Her mouth ajar, Fluer was speechless for a few very long seconds. "Did you-... did you just slap my spell away?!"
"Err, yes?" he said, unsure of why she was overreacting like that.
"You've just slapped a spell away! If I didn't see this I would not believe it!"
"What's with you all of a sudden..."
"My god, are you being serious?! People don't just deflect spells with their 'ands, 'Arry! 'Ow did you even do something like that?!"
She was losing her mind. The fact that he had done it instinctively and that he was acting nonchalant about it told her that he did not even view what he had done as something extraordinary.
"Merlin, don't go mental on me now. Hold your horses."
At her glare that demanded an answer, he said: "How do you think that wizards and witches that don't own a wand duel?"
"What? Literally everyone owns a wand!"
"In Europe, Northern America, and Northern Africa, yes. Pretty much everyone has a wand. But what about Sub-Saharan Africa - they barely have any forests at all in the Eastern and Southern parts of the continent. Wand-wood is in extremely short supply over there. What about China? What about Central America? Oceania?"
She became stumped by his question. She had never really taken the time to think about other cultures from distant parts of the world.
"Wand users are on average superior to those who do not use wands. Wands make your spells stronger, faster, more precise, and easier to cast. Even so, despite the ever-increasing popularity of wands across the Globe, there are still many people who don't have wands, be it due to cultural or financial reasons. In other places, they use different tools like staves or rings or they use no magical focus at all. I'm telling you, Ministries of Magic have a great deal of trouble trying to deal with those that are breaking the Statute of Secrecy in countries like Nigeria or China for example. People come up with excuses like 'I just waved my hand, I didn't think I would cast a Levitation Charm, it just happened, it was an honest mistake'."
Fleur snorted with laughter.
"...I thought wandless magic was for powerful wizards and witches only," she said, miffed by the new discovery.
"Not quite true. It's a matter of how are you conditioned, how are you used to casting your spells. Children don't have wands when they do accidental magic but they can cast some pretty powerful spells. You're not entirely wrong though because, after getting used to casting spells with a wand, it takes a high amount of concentration and skill to cast spells wandlessly. Anyway. That being said, it's time for payback!"
Saying that, he pointed his hand at her and a small vortex of wind burst forth. Fleur shrieked as the spell lifted her off her feet and threw her back. She crashed with a yelp on the ground, right on her butt. It was a simple Windy Spell. The irony was not lost to her: neither of them had forgotten the "just a windy spell" incident from the previous school year.
"Why you-!" she shouted as she got back to her feet and shot another spell at him.
He was about to deflect the spell again with his hand but a sudden vibration from his waist distracted him and made him lose his focus. He barely had the time to duck under the beam of light at the very last moment.
"Aye, I heard you the first time, stop yelling!" said Harry in annoyance as he took this fir and dragon heartstring wand out from its holster. Every time he cast any combat spells, be it when practising by himself or when he was tutoring Fleur, the feisty wand would act up, demanding his attention.
When Fleur had first heard Harry having vocal arguments with his wand, she had looked at him as if he had a couple of screws in his head loose. Nowadays, however, she had gotten used to his oddity.
Fleur began to earnestly shoot simple spells but in very quick succession. The time she had spent with Harry tutoring her was starting to show results as her spellcasting was significantly faster than before. However, the two of them were only casting harmless spells, minor hexes and charms, nothing that would injure the other.
It was half a minute later that a Leg-Locker Curse slipped past her guard and the girl fell on the dewy grass with a thud.
"Argh, would it hurt you to at least pretend to lose once?"
"I respect you too much to ever go easy on you!" he said with an air of self-righteousness. But his mask cracked not even three seconds later and he started sniggering. "Kidding. I love seeing your miserable expression when you lose too much to ever let you win."
"Ass'ole!"
She pointed her wand at her legs and, with a mumbled Finite, she cancelled the curse binding her.
Trying to be a gentleman, he offered her a hand for support to stand up. But the girl was heavier than him. When she grabbed his hand, his whole body got pulled down and he fell on top of her.
"You pulled me down on purpose, didn't you!"
She grinned at him unrepentantly.
"Why, 'Arry, if you wanted to hug me you just needed to say. Jumping on me like that goes a bit too far, don't you think?"
He stood up with a huff.
"You keep on teasing me like this and one of these days-"
"Heh~ One of these days, what? What are you gonna do?"
"Get up, let's finish our run. Breakfast is about to be served," he said and turned around. Then, he broke into a light jog back towards the castle.
"Coward! Don't run away!" she yelled after his retreating form.
"Shut up!" he hollered over his shoulder and broke into a sprint.
She giggled in delight at his embarrassment and started running after him to catch up. She had missed going together with him on their daily morning runs. But now that he was back, she was in a fantastic mood.
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Fleur's great mood, however, was not meant to last. Her happiness was dimmed only half an hour later, while she and Harry were having breakfast in the Great Hall. When the mail arrived, Hedwig also delivered her master the new edition of the Daily Prophet.
Wanted: Fenrir Greyback. Dead or Alive.
Harry's eyebrows shot into his hairline as he read the article.
"This makes zero sense," he said.
She leaned in closer and started reading the paper too over his shoulder.
"If they know his location, why make it public? Why not send the Aurors after him directly?" he also said.
To make a long story short, the DMLE made Fenrir Greyback's last location public and put a 3000 Galleons bounty on his head, inviting all licensed Hit-Wizards and any would-be heroes to capture or kill him or at least provide information about his exact whereabouts. The average salary of a regular Ministry worker in the British Wizarding World was about 300 Galleons a month. The bounty on Greyback's head was not a small sum.
"They don't know 'is precise location, only that 'e 'as been spotted in Birmingham. This is a great chance."
"...Are you after him too?" he asked quietly and then he discreetly cast a Muffliato around them.
"Yes. 'e and Lupin were the leaders of the werewolf pack that massacred the students when Gaunt attacked Hogwarts," she said. "Fenrir Greyback is, in fact, the last name to be crossed from my list."
"You've been keeping a list?"
"But of course! I've been preparing to act ever since I came back, 6 years ago. That's why everything 'ad gone so smoothly for me until now."
"Right. You call bleeding all over the floor and nearly dying 'smoothly'?" he asked, reminding her of the incident that had led to the two of them becoming friends.
She continued to speak as if she had not heard his remark:
"All the inner circle Death Eaters that I know of are dead now. The key people who facilitated Gaunt's rise to power are gone too. I am almost done. Once Greyback is dealt with, I can finally take a step back and relax."
Harry shrugged noncommittally. He was of a different opinion, he did not believe that things were over, not as long as Voldemort was still alive. But he did not want to start an argument at breakfast; the two of them had had that conversation too many times before. Still, he wanted to voice out something else that was on his mind.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
"What do you mean?"
"Something just doesn't feel right because I talked to Bella about what happened at the Ministry when she got attacked. Voldemort did not have any time to search for DMLE's cells and free Greyback. Also, if Voldemort freed him, what would Greyback do in Birmingham of all places? Shouldn't he, I don't know, wander the continent to form a pack? It is Northern and Southeastern Europe that have a large number of Werewolves. Not a Muggle city in the UK."
After making a small pause he added:
"Lastly, why would the Ministry make this information public when they could investigate the situation alone and save the glory of capturing Greyback for themselves? I've been a Hit-Wizard in my past life for almost 15 years so I know what I'm talking about when I say that the Ministry of Magic doesn't like Hit-Wizards. Not one bit. They see them as a necessary evil. The Aurors especially didn't like us. To think that the Head of DMLE would willingly disclose such a juicy bit of information to Hit-Wizards, all for the sake of capturing Greyback - since when did Scrimgeour become a saint?"
When he put things that way Fleur too started looking at the situation with more suspicion.
"But there is one major flaw in your thought process," she said. "You're assuming that everything is like in your past life."
Harry became silent at that. He knew he often made that mistake so he did not retort.
"Rufus Scrimgeour could be completely different from the one you used to know. The Ministry of Magic might be different too. I mean, both in your memories and in mine, Amelia Bones never became the Minister. So you don't know for sure. Maybe Minister Bones forced Scrimgeour's 'and to make this information public. There are too many possibilities," she said.
"That still doesn't change the fact that something fishy is going on. As I said, Voldemort had had no time to go to rescue Greyback. Hell, there's no way he'd ever risk endangering himself for the sake of a werewolf. Since that's the case, just how did Greyback escape from the middle of the Ministry of Magic?"
Neither of them wanted to back off from their position.
"I understand what you mean. I am somewhat suspicious too. But I can't just ignore this information, can I? What if it is legitimate? And what if Greyback does as you say and leaves the country to god-knows-where, when will I 'ave the chance to find 'im again? Regardless, you don't 'ave to come along if you don't want."
He threw her an unamused glare.
"How can I let you go alone...I promised I would be by your side and help you. I am a man of my word." After making a small pause, he added: "I'll go with you, we will go together. But we'll prepare some stuff first as a precaution."
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"You shouldn't stare."
Fleur ignored his words and took in his new appearance with an almost greedy look in her eyes.
"I did think you were cute before but this, well, this is quite the surprise. A very pleasant surprise!" she said with a grin.
The reason for her words was that Harry currently appeared to be around 20 years old. In contrast to his scrawny and short stature as a 12-year-old boy, his current self looked quite different. He was still not very tall, just of an average weight, but he was well built, his eyes were still the same striking green colour, and his facial features were more chiselled. Overall, he looked like a rather normal but handsome young man.
"Flattery won't get you anywhere."
"Won't it?" she asked and stepped closer to him, their faces only inches apart now. Her smile widened when he took a step back, flustered.
"Aren't you worried that I might get the wrong idea when you're acting so flirty all the time?" he asked.
"What makes you think that that is not what I'm looking for?" she said, the tone of her voice no longer flirty, but softer and kinder.
Fleur brought a hand up and caressed his cheek tenderly with her thumb. It was such a gentle and affectionate gesture that Harry found himself closing his eyes and leaning into her touch.
"I like you, 'Arry," she said gently but firmly. "And we are both adults, we don't have to dance around the subject like children. I want to be together with you. I want you to be mine. Mine and mine alone."
He involuntarily shivered at the possessiveness he heard in her voice when she said the last sentence. But he put his hand on top of the one still cupping his cheek and gently pulled it away from his face.
"I like you too. I think I am in love with you," he confessed but when she raised herself on her tippy toes and was about to kiss him, he stopped her by putting his index finger on her lips.
He almost cooed at the mixture of need and annoyance he saw in her eyes when he stopped her.
"But we can't do this. You are - or have been married."
"Here is it, a gorgeous Veela throwing herself at you, and you're bringing up her ex instead of taking advantage of it! 'Arry Potter, you are an incorrigible dumbass!" she burst in exasperation.
She took a step back and Harry momentarily breathed out in relief. However, the girl was not done persuading him.
"I have no intention of getting back together with someone that betrayed me. And even if 'e was a good person and if I still loved 'im, the current me could never be together with a normal man. Besides, I 'ave you now. You are my best friend. You are kind, brave, supportive, witty, and a man of great strength of will and self-control. I love you, 'Arry and I'd be a fool to let you slip through my fingers!"
They looked each other in the eyes, neither wanting to be the first to break eye contact.
"Alright, alright, you win!" he said in mock chagrin and threw his hands up.
Sporting a triumphant grin, Fleur brought her arms around his neck and Harry did nothing to stop her this time. On the contrary, his arms also wrapped around her svelte waist and he embraced her tightly to his chest.
When their lips finally met, it was as if fireworks went off in his head. He could normally resist a Veela's allure when in their presence but that could not be compared to the overpowering feelings he was going through at that moment.
He momentarily broke the kiss and attempted to catch his breath but Fleur pushed the back of his head with her hands and she took his lips again. His previous experiences with women had never prepared him for what was happening to him now. The intoxicating taste of her sweet lips, the spring scent of her hair overloading his sense of smell and the gentle but firm hands that set his skin on fire whenever she touched him... Harry had never felt anything like that.
She was devouring him. And he was happy to let himself drown in her passion.
Time lost its meaning during their love and lust-filled kisses and caresses. It was only when the skin all over Harry's body started to wriggle that he and Fleur came back to their senses and broke apart. Unknowingly, almost an hour had passed, with the two of them not noticing.
With the Ageing Potion's effect ending, Harry went back to being a scrawny and cute-looking 12-year-old child.
"That was..." he began to say.
"Wow!" she completed his sentence, her voice still breathless from their kiss.
Harry's plan had been to take an Ageing Potion and then also transfigure his and Fleur's looks before going out to hunt for Fenrir Greyback. It was so that nobody would be able to recognize their identities in case things went south. Otherwise, an attractive blonde girl and a short young boy would be too easy to identify.
Nevertheless, at that moment, the werewolf was the last thing on Harry's mind. Grabbing the vial of Ageing Potion from the table nearby, he chugged half of it down in one breath before handing the rest to Fleur.
It was a dosage big enough to last them the entire night.
Barely a second after his body returned to his previous appearance as a 20-year-old man, the blonde girl jumped into his arms. He lost his balance and was about to fall on the floor when the Room of Requirement conjured a bed for them at the very last second.
"Can't keep your hands off me?" Harry somehow found the presence of mind to tease her.
"Shut up and kiss me!" she almost growled at him and sealed his lips with hers.
She felt him grinning into the kiss but that was his undoing. In the next moment, he let out a muffled moan as she slipped her tongue through his opened lips. Suddenly, he rolled them until he ended on top of her and broke their liplock with a gasp, a thin trail of saliva still connecting their lips.
He brought his hand to cup her face, inwardly marvelling at the softness of her skin as he caressed her cheek. As a Veela, Fleur had always been attractive, even when just getting out of bed in the morning with eye boogies and messy hair. It was one of the reasons why so many women disliked and envied them - for Veela, looking great was as natural as breathing, it was effortless. It was not realistic for regular women to compete with them in that department.
However, at that moment, the beauty Harry was seeing at her was of a different kind. Her cheeks were coloured with excitement, her breath was coming out in gasps, the pupils of her bright blue eyes were dilated with need, and her half-open red lips were puffy and slightly bruised from the loving abuse that he had delivered on them. That was the charm and the beauty of a maiden in love. Years later, Harry would look back on this day and admit to himself that it was at this moment that he had irrevocably fallen in love with Fleur.
Though flattered at the look of pure admiration on his face and genuinely enjoying his tender caresses, Fleur wanted more than that. No, she craved more. Taking him by surprise, she pushed him to the side and then got back on top of him.
Straddling his hips, with her white-gold hair falling in a cascade to one side of her face and a teasing smile on her lips, Harry could not help blurting out the exact words that were on his mind right then:
"You are so beautiful!"
Hearing that innocent but heartfelt compliment coming from his mouth set her off as Fleur herself had never expected it. And Harry was the more than willing recipient of her passion.
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AN: I took some liberties in changing some aspects of the Ageing Potion. In the canon, the more of it someone drank, the older they became (but we are not told how long the effect lasts). In this chapter, the Ageing Potion drank by Harry has a set age and the amount he drinks only increases the duration of the effect, not the potency.
