'What were you thinking about that was able to captivate you so?' Fleur asked curiously.
'How amortentia would smell to me,' he confessed, inspecting the titles of the many books on enchanting on the opposite bookshelf.
'And how did you think it would smell?' Fleur teased, whispering her words against his neck.
'Probably a lot like you,' he decided, turning to catch her lips with his own. 'I am listening now,' he smiled.
'I was accepted by the Bureau des Énigmes,' Fleur told him.
'That's brilliant,' Harry congratulated her softly. 'I told you that you wouldn't fail.'
'I asked to delay the beginning of my role their until I had completed my contract at Gringotts,' she continued, confusing Harry completely.
'You have a contract at Gringotts?' Harry asked. 'This isn't payback for the marriage agreement joke is it?'
'No,' she poked him again, harder. 'I signed it a few days ago. I start in a few weeks as a liaison between Gringotts and the private magical artefact retrieval groups. I'll be based in London,' she smiled warmly. 'This way we won't have to endure another year like this one, and I'll be there to help you.'
'Have you spoken to your parents?' Harry inquired gently. There was nothing he would like more than to be able to openly spend time with Fleur as often as he could, but he didn't want her to sacrifice her family for him, and he certainly didn't want her in harms way, even if she was capable of defending herself. 'I did,' Fleur admitted. 'They were not ecstatic about it. They knew straight away the reason I had taken the role, I have little interest in being a liaison for Gringotts, it's basically part time and not very challenging.'
'What did they say?'
'They told me that they hoped I would reconsider, but that if I didn't they wanted me to be careful in Britain.' She laughed suddenly. 'Maman suggested that I try and apply for a role at Hogwarts if I wanted to be near you because it was safer.'
'And your father?'
'He asked about what your plans were. I think he understands that anything we plan will be for the both of us now.'
The idea gave Harry a warm, comforting glow, that melted across his chest and into his stomach.
'I told them that Voldemort would not leave you alone, that the quicker he was defeated the better and safer we would be and that I was not going to leave you alone to fight such a wizard on your own.' Fleur slipped an arm around his waist. 'I meant it, and they know that.'
'But they still aren't happy that I'm the reason you're leaving France to go somewhere that is not only prejudiced against you, but actively dangerous.' Harry had hoped that her parents had begun to accept him, they had certainly seemed to, but it seemed he might have been wrong.
'No,' Fleur nodded sadly, 'but they have accepted it. Maman certainly understands that I would be happier in Britain with you, than in France without you, and I think Papa does too. He just hopes that there might still somehow be a solution that works for all of us and keeps me safe.'
'You've decided then?'
'I have,' she kissed his cheek, 'I will work at Gringotts, it pays well enough to live off, and the percentage cut I get from any agreements I liaise on should eventually cover the cost of renting or even buying somewhere to live.'
'Have you chosen anywhere?' Harry ran a hand through his hair, thinking furiously. 'I could ward the place to make sure it's much more safe.'
'How?' Fleur quirked an eyebrow, a habit Harry was sure she had adopted from him. 'I am better with wards than you are, remember?'
'Blood magic,' Harry smirked. 'It will leave me a bit under the weather, but it's worth it to keep you safe.' 'Us,' Fleur corrected, smirking. 'I wanted to talk to you because I rather doubt you want to continue living with your relatives.'
'You want us to live together?' Harry couldn't keep the surprise from his tone, and winced slightly when Fleur looked upset. 'I just didn't expect something like that so fast,' he explained. 'I'll be sixteen.'
'We will have been together for over a year,' Fleur told him softly, 'if you include all the time we spent not speaking about how we felt the almost a year and a half. It's not such a short time, and I feel I know you well enough. If you don't want to, then I will understand.'
'I want to,' Harry said immediately. Fleur was wearing the slightly hopeful, slightly vulnerable and completely irresistible expression she always wore when she really wanted something. 'Really?' She pressed. 'I know it's a big step.'
'I want to,' Harry repeated. 'I'm more concerned about how I would be able to manage it without anyone finding out. I'm sure Dumbledore keeps an eye on me over the summer.'
He wasn't sure exactly how, but there was no way the former headmaster would allow his most important pawn to be unattended for so many months.
'Can't you just leave?' Fleur asked, puzzled.
'I am still a minor,' Harry reminded her. 'I would need the permission of either my relatives or Dumbledore, my magical guardian, and I doubt I will get either.'
'So we do it in secret,' Fleur decided. 'You go back, then you just disappear and come to live with me.'
'He will find me,' Harry disagreed. 'The Dursleys will tell him I left if he asks, and that I'm able to use magic outside of school, they have no reason to keep my secrets.'
'Memory charm them,' Fleur countered. 'I know how to cast the Fidelius Charm, with a few months practise I'm sure I can learn how to cast it, then we can't be found even if he knows you're gone.'
'We'll need a secret keeper,' Harry mused, starting to take to the idea. If they were under the Fidelius, something that Voldemort himself could not get around without the assistance of the secret keeper, then he doubted anyone would be able to find them.
'I know just who to choose,' Fleur smiled, pulling him into her. 'Someone with no obvious connection to you, but every reason in the world not to give us away. Someone who nobody will ever suspect even for a moment.'
'Who?' Harry was very aware of the consequences of choosing the wrong secret keeper.
'Gabrielle, of course,' Fleur laughed. 'Even if our relationship becomes well-known they would never expect us to entrust the secret to my baby sister, and she is well protected in France out of the eye of either Voldemort or Dumbledore.' She pulled a face. 'Why are you so worried about Albus Dumbledore?'
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