The Ones Who Waited
The moment Harry stepped through the portal, he was still maintaining his good child act in front of his mother, who, incidentally, seemed entertained playing with a sphere that contained something that felt truly dangerous and evil.
Before Harry could ask what it was...
A platinum-colored blur and the scent of flowers suddenly appeared right in front of him.
And before he could even realize what was happening, he was trapped between two soft arms that hugged him tightly.
It was Fleur, who seemed to have been worried about him.
She had even run over to hug him without caring that her calf was still bandaged and giving off the smell of magical ointment used to heal it.
Harry froze the moment he felt her scent and her touch.
As if he had been Petrified.
Though it only lasted a second.
"Ahem..." he cleared his throat, feeling how every gaze from his family and acquaintances was now fixed on him while the beautiful veela hugged him.
There were even looks of envy and jealousy coming from several crowded sections.
Fleur, as if she had just realized what she was doing, and feeling that her body had reacted without her permission, opened her eyes before immediately letting go of him in complete embarrassment.
"Wow. And now you decide to feel embarrassed. Maybe I should remind you that during the maze there were probably quite a few eyes on us," Harry said while looking at Fleur's blushing face.
"Be quiet. Obviously it's not the same," Fleur immediately replied, looking at Harry with a hint of irritation.
"Oh really? I wonder if any of these Aurors are here to arrest you," Harry said, slipping right back into his teasing tone while looking around as if searching for someone who could help this poor young man who had been tainted by this evil veela.
He even raised both hands dramatically toward his shoulders as though overcome with sorrow.
"I'll never be able to get married now," he added, complete with fake tears in his eyes.
"You're an idiot. I already spent all my emotions worrying about you," Fleur shot back immediately while frowning and stomping her foot lightly in annoyance.
But the moment she did, her still recovering injury hurt, causing her to make a small pained grimace.
Which instantly made Harry lower his gaze toward Fleur's calf, noticing the bandages and frowning almost immediately.
"Haaaa..." he sighed before crouching directly in front of her and extending a hand wrapped in Chaos Magic.
Fleur instinctively took a step backward.
But Harry moved faster and caught hold of her calf.
Then he gave her a serious look, warning her to stay still.
Without asking permission, he gently ran his hand over it, red energy flowing softly as he finished healing the injury.
Fleur, who had remained silent under Harry's serious gaze, watched as the pain faded away.
Even if Harry had done nothing, the pain would only have lasted a few more minutes.
So it was unnecessary.
But seeing him crouched in front of her now, she could not stop the fluttering sensation in her chest.
And a sweet smile appeared on her lips.
Fleur slowly raised a hand, bringing it toward Harry's black hair, which at the moment was a complete mess.
Though it always was.
But that was part of his charm.
Before she could touch it...
She felt someone watching her.
So she looked up and realized once again that literally everyone was staring at the two of them.
As if they were enjoying a deliciously sweet story.
Which immediately caused her to pull her hand back and also step away, taking her calf out of Harry's gentle grasp.
"I'm fine now. I don't need your care anymore," Fleur said.
Harry, still crouching, looked up at her.
"Oh. Is that how you thank someone? Then again, you are a villainous young lady. You immediately throw away the person who helped you."
"And who says you weren't taking advantage of the situation to touch me?" Fleur shot back immediately.
"Am I the one taking advantage?" Harry asked with a sarcastic smile.
Of course he had felt her hand moving toward him a moment ago.
And of course he was not going to admit that seeing her pull it back so quickly had disappointed him a little.
But obviously he would never tell her that.
"Obviously. I already told you there are still three years until you come of age. If you can't wait, that's unfortunate. But as you said, I don't want the Aurors arresting me," she replied immediately.
And without waiting for Harry's response, she turned around and fled.
Because repeating those words now sounded genuinely embarrassing.
Harry was about to shout something after her, but he noticed everyone was still watching them.
Even Aunt Selene and Astoria had a bucket of popcorn.
So he simply cleared his throat and swallowed whatever he had been about to say.
Only muttering quietly to himself:
"I'm my own worst enemy."
Though Harry looked once more at Fleur's retreating figure.
Who did not seem to realize that a certain foolish red dragon named Red was currently following her as if he intended never to leave her side again.
He even seemed to give Harry a look that conveyed something along the lines of:
"Leave it to me, Master. I shall protect the Queen."
But Harry was fairly certain it had only been his imagination hearing that.
Still, he did not stop him, feeling that it would be very interesting to see what happened next.
Harry simply shook his head once more and turned around.
...
At the same time Harry was being attacked by a beautiful veela the moment he stepped onto the Hogwarts grounds, there were still two other champions who had arrived alongside him.
Luciel and Draco.
Draco gave a glance toward the exhausted Luciel, who was staring fixedly at the sphere in Aunt Wanda's hands, and then looked over at Harry.
Who had not even managed to last a full minute before starting to flirt with his veela.
And Draco could not help rolling his eyes briefly.
"Draco."
Hermione's worried voice sounded nearby.
She was coming over with Daphne.
Who looked far more relaxed.
Perhaps a little too relaxed considering their friends had just faced a dangerous enemy who wanted to kill both of them.
Obviously, he had failed.
But it was still annoying in its own way.
Since Harry was already lost in his little pink world with Fleur, it seemed neither of them could get close to him.
So they simply headed toward Draco.
"Are you alright? What happened? Who attacked you? Are you hurt? We couldn't watch the whole magical broadcast because it got cut off halfway through," Hermione, in her nervous state, fired off so many words that every time Draco tried to open his mouth to answer, he had to close it again and let her continue her verbal machine gun barrage.
Of course, Draco understood it was worry speaking.
So he did not interrupt her and simply stood there looking directly at her.
While she kept talking without letting him answer.
Looking at her face, so worried right now, Draco stared at her.
And the memory of the illusion Lucius had trapped him in earlier surfaced in his mind.
Not only that.
He also saw the image Lucius had shown him.
That horrible image of her with the word Mudblood written in blood across her body.
Lifeless in front of him.
With her gaze filled with hatred.
As if simply being close to him had been the cause of it all.
Draco's eyes lowered slightly for a moment.
But Hermione raised a hand and grabbed his arm.
Then she started checking him for injuries.
"Are you sure you're really alright?" she asked.
Standing so close now that Draco could smell the scent she always carried with her.
Old books.
Ink...
And a faint trace of...
"Mint," Draco said.
Hermione blinked.
"What?"
"Your hair. I never paid attention before, but I can smell it... mint," Draco said calmly as he gently took hold of one of Hermione's unruly locks.
And slowly twirled it between his fingers.
While a smile formed on his lips.
A smile so soft and intoxicating.
On a face that was usually always under control.
Unlike Harry, who seemed to wear all of his emotions openly.
Though obviously the great villain only did that to manipulate people.
But on Draco, behind his Occlumency, it was genuinely rare to see.
Hermione froze completely.
Only her mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to say something but no words would come out.
While her face was now entirely red from having Draco standing right in front of her with that smile.
One that could only be described as demonically attractive.
"Hermione. Your face is red."
Daphne interrupted out of nowhere while already holding a bucket of popcorn in one hand.
Like every woman in her family.
Perhaps the popcorn vendor was paying for his children's education solely because of them.
"What?"
Hermione snapped out of her frozen state and took a sharp breath.
"Of course it isn't," she defended herself immediately.
And quickly smacked Draco's hand away so he would release her lock of hair.
"If you're alright, that's good. And if you're not, Madam Pomfrey is treating the injured over there. It's probably better if she checks Harry too."
Hermione spoke rapidly in a single burst.
Then turned around without waiting for Draco's answer.
And immediately fled in a completely different direction from where Harry and Fleur were, incidentally.
Draco watched her escape and could not help the faint glimmer that appeared in his eyes.
Then his gaze shifted toward Daphne for a moment.
Who was still holding her popcorn bucket, with one piece hovering near her mouth.
She paused for a second and stared right back at him.
"What?" she asked innocently.
But Draco only gave her that look before walking away.
"Tsk."
Daphne clicked her tongue while watching Draco leave.
Then looked toward Harry, still trapped inside his pink little world with Fleur.
Looking at both of her friends, her face could not help twitching.
"Men," she added with mild disdain.
She grabbed another piece of popcorn.
And her gaze drifted toward the treatment area, the improvised infirmary.
Though most of the people there were only present because they had injured themselves while running, or because once the time-freezing magic had ended, they were suddenly hit by overwhelming dizziness.
As if all that lost time had crashed into them at once.
But there was also someone who, for some reason, was completely wrapped in bandages from head to toe.
While those bandages continued spinning around him on their own.
Even though he kept trying to free himself and convince the bandages that he was already fine after drinking a potion.
But they refused to listen.
It was none other than Viktor Krum.
Now free from the control curse and recovered from the injuries he had suffered during the maze battle.
Daphne looked at Viktor and tossed the popcorn into her mouth while a smile spread across her face, making her teeth gleam faintly.
Then she started walking in that direction.
Fully prepared to enjoy mocking her favorite little slave.