Chapter 5

A few hours had passed with Harry and Penny still hanging around the castle generally avoiding everyone for as long as their responsibilities would allow. Penny was obviously a little emotionally distressed by her breakup, but the time to face the music had arrived. It was unfortunate that the Head students had promised their head of house to escort the Ravenclaws down to the meeting point for the foreign delegations, because the return to Ravenclaw tower and the assembling of the students had been a headache Harry could've done without.

Even with all the hassle, and regardless of having the furthest to go, Ravenclaw was the first house to assemble in their entirety. This of course made them get a smile from Dumbledore, and even an approving thumbs up from their head of house, but on the cold fall day the head students drew more glares from their housemates than anything else.

Harry saw his brother was among the last to arrive from Gryffindor, and the two made eye contact, causing Justin to give him a sheepish grin as he stood with Susan. The young couple just looked happy to be together and holding hands, so the older brother decided to excuse his little brother's frivolities.

Dismissing the young man from his thoughts Harry began looking towards the sky and surveying the horizon in search of the new arrivals. The young man breathed deeply as he stretched and expanded his senses hoping to be the first to detect the foreign delegations.

Penelope bumped him on the side a bit, "Think we will meet anyone special out of these groups?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "Never underestimate your enemies."

The girl scoffed, "They aren't our enemies yet, Harry they-"

Before she could finish he said, "They are here."

Everyone was still looking, and she said, "Where, I don't see anything?"

Harry pointed his finger towards the sky where a speck was in the distance, "Abraxan horses, two of them pulling a massive carriage."

She stared at the speck as it got larger, and after nearly two minutes passed she nodded, "Merlin!"

He grinned at the girl, and his housemates who were standing nearby heard him and began shouting in excitement pointing out the carriage. Dumbledore announced loudly, "It seems our friends from Beauxbatons have arrived."

The giant horses approached faster than Harry thought was possible, and they landed smoothly just a little way from the students. The first woman to step from the carriage was easily nine feet tall, and thin enough that a good gust of wind would pull her away if she didn't look so steady. She approached Dumbledore in just a few long strides, and was shaking hands speaking rapidly about arrangements while her students filed out. They were mostly female, and they were all wearing short blue skirts, and blue hats. Harry stretched his senses hoping to detect a powerful magical presence, but most were mediocre except for one powerful veela in the familiar form of Fleur Delacour.

They looked freezing wearing the short dresses, and Harry nudged Penelope to follow him towards the Beauxbatonsstudents, "Mademoiselle Delacour, it is good to see you again in good health."

The Veela turned to his voice in an instant, her face lighting up, "Monsieur Potter, a pleasure to see you again in much more pleasant circumstances."

Harry bit back the grimace that threatened to over take him as he recalled their last encounter.

Harry and his mother calmly stood there for a moment and gave witness to what they had done. Seven attackers total, four dead, and three that were very possibly knocking on the door, Lily turned to hug her son, and Harry just gently put an arm around her, "They deserved it, mom. They stood up to us, and we had to crush them. They were here to hurt us, and mostly you, I am sure. I have noticed who their targets have been tonight. I saw them throwing the Muggles into the air."

Lily Potter nodded, "I tried to avoid paying much attention to anything other than getting you two boys out, and let the rest of the Marauders handle it. We need to find Justin; the boy is a magnet for trouble."

Feeling the nerves kicking in and the desire to find his brother before something else went wrong Harry pointed his hand towards spell fire, "Looks like dad and the other Aurors are throwing up a hell of a fight. If I know Justin he will have run away from the spellfire. I saw you cast a tracking charm and that should give us the best idea."

Lily nodded at her son, and the two took off towards the forest where Justin had run off to. Lily's foresight to put a tracking charm on her son seemed to have paid off as they got further from the main group fighting, and Harry was grateful because this could've been like searching for a needle in a burning haystack.

More aurors were coming on the scene in the distance to combat the largest group of what was left of the Death Eaters. People were still panicking, knocking each other over trying to escape trampling a few, but those people weren't his problem. He continued following his mother, still launching spells into the distance at groups of Death Eaters who were trying to keep the continuously growing Auror force at bay.

As Harry followed his mother towards the tree line, he heard a scream that shook him. It was loud and piercing, but worst of all it seemed to touch the magic inside of him. He stopped instantly and his mother did as well. Harry stared in the distance where the sound had come from, and then he heard it again, and his heart leapt. He could feel the magic in the air begging him to go help. He didn't understand, but he turned to his mom, "Mum, go get Justin, and protect him I have to go help."

Lily Potter immediately protested, "You're not an Auror, Harry, you may be powerful, but you cannot go off on your own!"

Harry heard the scream for a third time, "I have to go, mom, and you have to get to Justin. He should be safe, but we can't risk it and let you come with me, nor do we have time to look and go back. Just go!"

With that Harry didn't wait to converse any more as he apparated to the furthest point that he could see hoping to put him close enough to the source of the screaming. His decision proved to be wise, for when the next scream for help came less than fifty yards to his left he scrambled in that direction to see a group of Death Eaters tormenting two girls.

One appeared only about 12 or 13, but the other was around Harry's age, and she had a face that could not be mistaken. Even covered in grime and sweat her beauty was radiant enough for him to know that it was unnatural. The girl was tossing spells blindly to try and keep the men back away from her and her sister, who was clearly panicking, but when one got close enough to shove her from behind they all laughed when she tumbled to the floor scrambling to protect her sister.

Harry felt his fury bubble as he saw the girl scrambling around trying to get away from the sick Pureblood psychos that were now kicking her hands out to keep her on the ground. He listened closely to what they were saying knowing that he would not allow anything bad to happen to the girl, "Look at this boys, this is the daughter of the bastard that killed my brother in the last war. Apparently she is under the delusion that she is better than the rest of us if that haughty smirk she had earlier today was any indication. Stupid half-breed bitch, doesn't seem to know her place among her social betters."

Another death eater laughed, saying, "On her knees?"

The lead death eater smiled, "Yes of course. Now Ms Delacour we are going to make you bow down to Pureblood Supremacy the hard way."

With that the man attempted to swat her across the face, but instead the light left his eyes as a green curse struck him in the back. In the confusion, the young man took another immediately out of the fight with a violent orange curse. The remaining men tried to scramble together a defense but Harry managed to break one's shields, and blast another out of the way. The last man drew his wand and raised it with the clear intent to duel as he began launching curses at Harry. It was clear this man had some skill as he fought against him.

The level of magic and speed that determined the duel was something Harry had never experienced outside of training with his mentor in a relatively safe environment, and he was thrilled by the challenge. When he felt a bone breaker catch him in the right shoulder, he shouted in pain, and then flung blasting curses so hard and fast the man groaned as he tried to hold it all back with his shield. Harry was pushing to get closer to him as he could not break the shield, but did not give the man opportunity to run, or counter. Another stray Death Eater joined the fight and Harry was whirling his wand around in large circles creating advanced shields trying to close the distance while still protecting the girls behind him.

Suddenly spells started coming from behind, and he was glad he did not whirl around to protect himself because the woman had managed to find a wand, and began screaming French at the stray Death Eater. This allowed Harry to close enough distance to nearly be toe to toe with the man that he couldn't dodge as he kicked him in the chest, knocking him backwards. The man grinned, spitting out, "Do you plan to fight me like a muggle?"

This may have originally been Harry's plan but as he got closer to the Death Eater he realized that the man had a monstrous build, and this changed his tactics immediately . So instead of countering the man's words he merely grinned, as he whirled his wand around to form a head to toe shield blocking the man's last ditch effort to keep him back. He closed the distance quickly, and as soon as the shield dropped he rushed the man, summoning a knife from his own back pocket.

The man threw a haymaker at Harry's face, but he easily dodged under it and came up with a devastating swipe of the knife cutting straight through the man, and then wandlessly blasting him backwards.

He had felt his magic channel straight through the knife as it cut through the man and knew major damage had to have been done before he had even blasted him away. This had effectively ended the five on one/two brawl as he spun around to throw the killing curse at the remaining Death Eater. He stopped himself however as it became clear that the woman had already ended her opponent with some type of piercing spell straight through the chest. As the man dropped to the ground so did the young woman, and Harry quickly ran over pulling off his cloak and offering it to her, wrapping it around her shoulders as her body wracked itself with shivers, sobs, and an adrenaline dump, "Shhh, it's okay, you're safe. I've got you. You both are safe."

The girl sobbed her thanks as she hugged Harry tightly, only to let go and embrace her sister. Harry kept his wand in his hand prepared for more attackers, but the sight of his father and the other marauders allowed him to lower his wand in relief.

The memory ceased immediately, and briefly recalled speaking with the girl and learning her name was Fleur Delacour hours later. She was from a prominent French family, and her father was the equivalent to Amelia Bones in France.

Trying to distract himself from the memory Harry offered her a smile and turned to the rest of the students. Addressing them in French, Harry said, "Excuse me. You ladies look cold. My name is Harry Potter. I am the seventh year Head Boy here at Hogwarts, and this is the Head Girl Penelope Clearwater, we were wondering if you would like us to cast warming charms on all of you?"

Everyone looked at the boy in surprise, and Fleur graciously accepted on behalf of the group, "Thank you, Mr Potter, my friends give their thanks as well for speaking to us in our native tongue and your offer, which we would be pleased to accept. I am afraid that I am unaware of how to cast the charm as it is quite warm in France most of the year, and since Beauxbatons is under powerful climate control wards we haven't needed it."

A red headed girl looked at Harry in surprise and spoke with a thick accent, "This ees zhe man that helped you at the World Cup?"

Fleur nodded with a slight coloring to her cheeks, "Oui, Aimee, this is Monsieur Harry Potter. Monsieur Potter, this is my best friend, Aimee Beaucort."

Harry greeted the girl with a kiss on the back of the hand, "A pleasure mademoiselle."

The girl had stunning blue eyes, and the grin that came over face was something of a playful evil as she turned back to Fleur, "ooh la la, Fleur, you better lay claim before moi. I won't share."

This caused Fleur to scoff, turning to Harry, "Don't mind her. She is a terrible flirt."

The girl batted her eyelashes at Harry, "We would greatly appreciate being warmed up though monsieur. We were not prepared for the cold English weather."

Harry and Penelope drew their wands and began casting the warming charm repeatedly on every student, and they all gave their thanks to the pair when they were done, "You are welcome to join us at our house table for dinner tonight if you wish. We are unsure what arrangements may have been made but you would be welcomed with us." Penelope offered to the group in French, allowing Harry to give her an impressed look.

Fleur thanked them one last time, and joined the rest of the students by their headmistress feeling much more comfortable now. Harry and Penny stepped back in line with their housemates, and a beaming Professor Flitwick. Harry then sensed a massive presence coming from the water, and looked out towards the lake. He stared at the water, and several followed his eyes to witness the water begin to bubble, before a massive ship came to the surface. Dumbledore clapped his hands, "And there is our final guest. Durmstrang!"

It took a few minutes for the boat to dock, and a few more for all the students to get up the castle. Harry recognized two of them instantly. One was Viktor Krum, the international Quidditch star, and the other was Igor Karkaroff, and this made Harry's blood boil at the sight of him. Igor was a Death Eater and a coward, and Harry hated both Death Eaters and cowards.

The Durmstrang students were much more appropriately dressed, and were all wearing warm cloaks. Dumbledore and the Headmaster of Durmstrang shook hands, and then led the students inside to the Great Entrance Hall.

It didn't take long for the festivities to begin once everyone gathered in the Great Hall, and the feast had started splendidly. The Beauxbatons delegation was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, allowing Fleur to grab a seat across from Harry and Penelope, and she was chatting freely with them and the rest of the French students. Durmstrang sat with the Slytherin table, much to the Gryffindor's displeasure Harry noted with a slight grin at the sour look on his brother's face.

The conversation was mostly pleasant, and thankfully Fleur did not bring up anything further from their encounter at the Quidditch World Cup nor did her classmates. Whether it was because they knew about the incident or not Harry was unsure, but he was grateful regardless that he wasn't going to be hassled. He noticed the rest of the Beauxbatons students had yet to introduce themselves, but Aimee had been in constant conversation with Harry. She had been a charming witch, and clearly either had a thing for Harry or just enjoyed riling up people. Her innuendos had certainly turned both Fleur and Penny interesting shades of red throughout dinner.

During dinner Fleur asked Harry to pass the bouillabaisse, and Harry made the girl color a little when he offered it to her with a smile, levitating the dish to her wandlessly, "I have never had this dish. What is it like?"

The girl was clearly impressed by his display of magic, but tried to regain her balance and spoke back quickly, "It is like a fish stew. It is a very light dish, but quite delicious. You must try it."

Fleur conjured an extra bowl with her wand and delicately transferred half of her soup stew into the new bowl, then levitated it over to Harry all wordlessly.

Many were baffled by her casual display, and even more so than they were by Harry's. The boy gave her an impressed nod as he continued the game and waved his hand one time and the spoon enchanted itself to do a smooth dip into the bowl, and then levitated itself to his mouth. The boy grinned at the looks giving an exaggerated moan, "I concur. Delicious."

Fleur no longer gave any emotion to the display of power, but now several of the Beauxbatons students were openly staring. She spoke evenly, "Wandless enchantments. Impressive."

"I liked your silent conjurations too. You have a talent for charms."

"Merci." The girl said with a big smile, "Charms is my favorite subject, but enchanting is the love of my life. I wish I could do it wandlessly."

One of the girls nearby, who had yet to introduce herself, interrupted before Harry could comment, "Monsieur Potter, how is it that you can resist Fleur's allure?"

It didn't take much of a glance for Harry to see that many of the boys in his own house, and a few of the others nearby had been staring at Fleur. Harry shook his head, "I can sense it, but it does not tempt me. I am competent in the magic of the mind arts so perhaps that is why."

Penny rolled her eyes as she now seemed to notice how many guys were eyeing Fleur like a piece of meat, "Harry can resist the imperius curse, so a little Veela magic will do nothing to his Occlumency shields."

Harry wanted to chastise the girl for revealing one of his strengths to these strangers, but before he could, Fleur retorted, "I assure you there is nothing little about Veela magic. It can be as dangerous as it is beautiful.

A boy that Harry really didn't want to hear from then chimed in, "And it is certainly beautiful at that."

Fleur's eyes raised as she looked a few seats over from Harry where Roger Davies was sitting. She looked at him with slight interest, "You think you can resist me?"

The challenge in her tone made Harry want to laugh, and Roger seemed haughty in his response, "I can barely feel the pull of your allure."

Harry rolled his eyes, "This is nothing more than her passive allure. This is something she radiates by merely living, and she has fantastic control over it. Most short of a master in the Mind Arts would be unable to resist the full might of a Veela's magic."

Fleur gave him a surprised look, "You are very well informed in the ways of my heritage, and you are entirely correct."

Trying to recover his dignity from the lack of knowledge he clearly possessed Roger tried to take a shot at Harry, "I suppose you think you could resist the full allure then?"

Harry nodded his head, "I have from other Veela in the past. I am uncertain as to the extent of Ms Delacour's abilities, but I have tested it against others."

It was Penny who spoke next with shock evident in her voice, "When did you meet other Veela, Harry?"

The food began disappearing off the tables at that moment saving Harry from having to explain any further and Dumbledore stood, "Now that we are done feasting I believe it is time for the tournament to begin."

Barty Crouch stepped down from the table with a tall artifact which Dumbledore pointed his wand at and the crowd watched in awe as it melted down to a cup, "Eternal glory!