Voldemort might be in Britain now, but, just as Grindelwald had, he would soon set his sights on more than one country and then both she and Harry would be back where they had started, only far more families would have died in the meantime.
'So why did you want to see me?' His hand slipped from her hair to encircle her lower back, pulling her close to him and leaving nowhere for her to look but into his emerald eyes.
'Can I not have just missed you?' He wasn't going to believe that, Fleur knew that he knew her too well. 'You'd never admit to that if it were true,' Harry laughed gently, 'you'd have thought up a reason for me to be here.'
'You're right,' she scowled, evading his kiss. 'My parents have stopped waiting for me to tell them what I'm doing with all my time.'
'So it's meet the Delacours time, is it?' Harry smiled. His smile didn't quite wipe away the anxiety in his eyes and Fleur felt very bad for being suddenly glad that she would never have to meet his family and go through this herself. It was bad enough when she was introducing Harry to her family.
'Sorry,' she apologised, very guilty.
'It was going to happen eventually, and we've been doing this for several months now.'
'I mean I'm sorry for being a little bit glad that I won't have to be in your shoes,' she embellished in a small voice, sure he would be disappointed in her.
He kissed her instead.
'I forgive you,' he teased, poking fun at her failing. 'I'm nervous enough that I'd be happy to put this off for a few more days, though,' he looked vaguely thoughtful, 'I suppose that would just give me more time to worry.'
'You should thank me for the surprise then,' she pointed out coyly.
'I do love surprises,' he sighed, more than a little sarcastic.
'Mmm, but this is a good surprise,' Fleur chuckled, 'not a basilisk, I promise.' Harry had managed enough nasty surprises in four years for a lifetime, and his seemed to be particularly horrible. Discover a new world to escape the one you hate, and there's a powerful megalomaniac waiting to kill you there.
He didn't really have very much luck at all. Except for her, of course, that made him very lucky. She smiled at the thought.
'Your mother isn't going to immediately try and immolate me?'
'Not if she knows what's good for her,' Fleur retorted. 'My family won't hurt you,' she assured him, in case he was genuinely nervous, 'they might be a bit protective, though.' She left the rest unsaid, Harry didn't need her to tell him why they would be protective of her. Fleur hoped that he wouldn't be too closed off from her parents and sister, he had grown up alone, she knew that much, but he'd reached out to her and she'd like him to trust her family too. 'Which way?' he asked, glancing curiously around him.
The house was not visible from down by the river, their willow tree was at the farthest end of the land that surrounded the house.
'The chateau is over the hill,' Fleur gestured up the grassy slope on their side of the river. 'It's quite a walk, though.' She extended one arm, allowing Harry to link his through hers, just as they had at the Yule Ball last year.
'What am I expecting?'
'I don't know,' Fleur tugged thoughtfully at her ring finger. 'I've never brought anyone to meet them like this.'
'That's encouraging,' Harry laughed, still obviously nervous, 'I feel like I'm back in the graveyard waiting for Voldemort.'
'Don't compare my family to that man,' Fleur frowned.
'Sorry,' he glanced down at their feet, moving in tandem, 'you can apparate us now.' Fleur squeezed his arm gently, to let him now she wasn't really angry with him.
'How did you know?' she asked.
'You're barefoot again, and neither your dress nor your feet are grass-stained, so you don't normally walk.' Fleur blinked.
Observant. I wonder what else he has noticed.
'You're right, since you aren't included in the chateau's wards I have to take you in with me.'
'I don't think I'm all that surprised you live in a chateau,' he remarked, shifting his weight slightly in preparation for apparating.
'All old french houses are called chateaux,' Fleur shrugged delicately. 'You'll see.'
She pictured the entrance hall of her home, with its open, sandstone walls and floor, the scatter of Gabrielle's shoes and the handful of tasteful landscapes of pine covered mountain slopes, enchanted to change with the seasons. Taking a slightly firmer grip on Harry's arm she twisted, and with a soft snap Fleur brought someone of the opposite sex home for the first time.
'It looks a lot like a chateau to me,' Harry murmured, smiling slightly. 'I think I'm beginning to see where Gabrielle's first scene in our story will start.'
'We don't have a tallest tower,' Fleur remarked, before his analogy developed any further towards the ridiculous, 'and I am not a princess.'
'You already dealt with your own dragon too,' he laughed. 'No self-respecting princess would interfere with the hero's task like that.'
'Perhaps,' Fleur smiled coyly, 'you should have let me deal with the Horntail then?'
'I seem to remember you not wanting to face that particular dragon, you were on of the lucky three whose dragon had actually been tamed.'
'A dragon is a dragon,' she responded tartly. 'Now come on, it's nearly evening and my family is waiting.' She kept a firm grip on his arm, just in case he tried to apparate away when Gabriella arrived. Harry couldn't physically apparate out, of course, the chateau was well warded, but if he tried it would be embarrassing, not that she would blame him if Gabby was in one of her more mischievous moods. 'Maman, papa, we are here,' Fleur announced in french, leading Harry through the entrance hall to the main room.
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