He was woken by a warmth on his chest, a soft, pulsing heat that he knew to be from the locket Fleur had gifted him.
Groggily he searched for his wand under his pillow, casting a tempus charm once he had retrieved.
Nine.
Harry blinked, rubbed his eyes, and checked again.
The numbers didn't change.
Normally he was long since awake and up by now, he woke up at just after seven every day without fail. The extra use of the time-turner was tiring him out quicker than he had anticipated. At least this morning was without lessons, he had Runes and Herbology in the afternoon, but only History of Magic now, and he never, ever, went to that lesson.
The locket pulsed again, and Harry swiftly cast a silencing ward over his bed, transfigured his clothes and made an attempt to control his hair. Fleur would not be fooled, but he didn't want to look completely awful to her.
'Morning, Fleur,' he smiled, opening the locket.
'You finally answered,' she frowned, scrunching up her face.
'Sorry,' Harry apologised. 'I was asleep.'
'So I can see,' she smirked. 'You look quite attractive like that, come and see me, I have your polyjuice and things we need to talk about.' 'That sounds ominous,' Harry grinned. 'Have I done anything deserving of being scorched?'
'No,' she said slowly, pursing her lips to consider it, 'though I still owe you for your joke in Gringotts.'
'I was hoping you had forgotten,' Harry told her. 'If it's any consolation Katie definitely knows that I'm yours.'
'Oh,' Fleur managed to pull off complete innocence for longer than Gabrielle, but only for a moment.
'You made your mark,' Harry laughed. 'She found it funny, and then hit me over the head with a book for making the joke.'
'Good,' Fleur smiled, 'you deserved it. Now hurry up and come here,' she eyed him deliberately demurely, 'I've missed you.' 'Coming, ma princesse,' he said, holding the mirror out so she could see him bow. Fleur tried to scowl at him, but ended up smiling helplessly and shaking her head.
'Do not let Gabby hear you call me that,' she warned.
'Will it really make her interest in our romance any worse?' Harry asked.
'No,' Fleur admitted, waving goodbye, 'but she'll insist on being given the same nickname since you saved her from the lake.'
No saying that in front of Gabrielle, Harry agreed.
The inevitable moment of explanation to Fleur's parents that would follow him being seen calling both of the Delacours' daughters princesses was to be avoided at all costs. Stripping off his pajamas, he quickly changed into a fresh set of robes, one of the few pairs he actually kept in the dormitory rather than with the rest of his things in the chamber, and pulled back the hangings.
Everyone else had gone, presumably to the Great Hall for breakfast and then back to the common room.
He disillusioned himself, sneaking out past his friends seemed easier and preferable to having to lie or mislead them. It also gave him him an alibi for the few things that were on his to do list for the day.
Harry slipped quietly downstairs, closing the hangings around his bed and warding them before he left, just in case anyone tried to check on him. Pretty much the entirety of Gryffindor House was in the common room, as was now normal with Umbridge, her silver-badged lackeys, and Filch stalking the corridors searching for excuses to punish anyone they hated. The caretaker was particularly bad, dragging every single student he could even try and accuse to Umbridge for detention.
He was the second thing on Harry's list for the day. Argus Filch needed to be reminded just how much of a privilege in Britain it was for anyone close to non-magical, even a squib, to work at a place like Hogwarts, especially when it was the house elves that did all the work and he just got to wander around the castle yelling at nervous first years.
That, however, could come later, and he hurried a little faster along the empty corridors towards the Chamber of Secrets. 'Hi Myrtle,' he announced himself, giving the ghostly girl a cheerful wave, as he waited for the entrance to open.
She flushed and waved back.
Harry stepped into the stairwell, beyond the school wards, which he was almost certain Umbridge couldn't check since she was conveniently locked out of the Headmaster's Office. If she were not such a danger to everyone within the school he would be tempted to leave her be, as her ignorance worked in his favour.
He gave a nod to Salazar, who rolled his eyes, already having guessed where Harry was going, and snatched a sufficient handful of galleons from his slowly depleting Triwizard winnings.
With a soft snap the world spun back past him and he stepped into the atrium of the Delacours' chateau. Fleur was waiting for him, dressed casually, with her veil of silver hair swept back over one shoulder and twirling a single vial of polyjuice potion in her hands.
'I'm here,' he smiled. The second part of his greeting was cut off by her kiss.
'You did miss me,' he commented, when she pulled back to let him breathe.
'I am unaccustomed to not being able to be with you for such a long time,' she scowled, 'it's… unpleasant, but I would be far worse if we did not have these lockets.'
Harry understood exactly what she meant. The locket was little more than temporary relief from the ache of being apart, a brief tonic that only made things all the worse after their conversations came to a close. 'I have your polyjuice,' she said, leading him up to her room.
'Thank you,' Harry exchanged the handful of galleons he'd taken for the vial. 'This looks an awful lot like badly cooked porridge,' he remarked, 'why is it that potions are always so unappealing.'
'Not all of them are,' Fleur told him absently, 'amortentia will smell exactly like what you desire most.' She frowned, double checking her counting of the money he'd given her. 'This is to much,' she told him.
'I don't have any change,' Harry shrugged. 'It doesn't matter.'
He was busy wondering exactly how amortentia would smell to him, burnt holly, he imagined, with maybe a hint of marzipan and roses. 'You are not listening.' Fleur poked him in the side, and dragged him down to sit next to her on the edge of her bed.
'Sorry, I was wondering about something,' Harry admitted.
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