A/N: Thanks again to EagleHasLanded for beta reading this chapter, and also a special thanks to all the folks on discord who helped give tips on dialogue/direction of my story.

The wizarding world was in uproar. News of the breakout in Austria had already spread across the globe. Grindelwald's release was across every headline in the wizarding news. The International Confederation of Wizards was already pushing to convene at their earliest chance. News had already reached China by the time they returned from the forest. Dumbledore was being called back immediately to Britain as their representative for the summit.

With hardly a chance to get settled, they group had split up as soon as they reached their hotel. With the news of Grindelwald, no one was of the right mind for a proper goodbye as they each set off by portkey.

Harry was taught a bit on Grindelwald during his lessons. Dumbledore had seen to it that his shared past with the dark lord was not a secret to Harry.

During their history lessons, they covered the topic of dark lords ranging from Voldemort to as far back as Herpo the Fowl. Grindelwald was one of the more discussed topics. Grindelwald had been able to create the largest following of all the past leaders. While his tactics and actions were deplorable, his beliefs were widely held by the larger part of the international wizarding community. He had support from all over the globe.

The idea that magic makes right had been appealing to a vast majority. Many other dark lords following in his footsteps held similar ideologies. Even after his defeat and imprisonment in Nurmengard, he still held support across the globe. This included high up members in the political system.

On the more personal level, Dumbledore had included Harry on his experience learning beside Grindelwald. In his lessons, he had never mentioned the Magus Guild by name, but the two had met early on in their inductions.

The two were nearly inseparable by their desire to learn and understand the wonders of magic. Their passion had far outstripped their peers and they had only found the respective other to be a worthy challenge. It was a longstanding argument between the two whether charms or transfiguration was more useful. While Dumbledore was the premiere transfiguration practitioner, Grindelwald was unsurpassed in charms.

It had come as a shock to Harry to learn that Dumbledore was the reason Grindelwald was defeated. Nether of the two wizards could bare the thought of striking the other down. Dumbledore had been sent in because he would be the only wizard Grindelwald would not kill on sight. It was only by a momentary hesitation that allowed Dumbledore to capture Grindelwald in restraints.

The betrayal of their friendship was one of the many regrets that Dumbledore still held to this very day.

Alastor Moody was not happy to be at Hogwarts. While he was retired, upon hearing the news of Grindelwald's escape he had immediately begun making preparations to return to the fray. With everything that occurred in the last war, there was little doubt he would be getting involved once again.

It wasto his immense displeasure when Dumbledore called in a favor. He still owed the old coot a favor from their last war with Voldemort when the elder wizard had saved his life during an impromptu ambush. Never one to shy away from debts, the grizzled hit wizard acknowledged his life debt and promised to answer if there should ever be the call.

Alastor had heard about Dumbledore's new protégé. Apparently, the kid was the next coming of Merlin from what he had been told. Dumbledore had been proactive in keeping the kid away from the press, so how of much of that was true and how much was false was all left to speculation.

Either way, his skills would be better fitted to training a squad of aurors instead of some snot nosed kid.

"Alastor, it's so good to see you," said Dumbledore as he greeted his old friend with a smile at the portcullis. The school year had yet to start, and the academy was relatively empty. Only the headmaster stood at the entrance to greet the former hit wizard.

"Skip the pleasantries Albus, you know there's a million other things I'd rather be doing." The grizzled wizard was already annoyed, but a debt was a debt.

"I assure you Alastor, if you just keep an open mind, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised."

"The last time I was surprised I lost my left leg, so I'm sure you'll understand when I'm less than impressed." Dumbledore just laughed at Alastor's disapproving look.

Turning his attention away from Dumbledore, Alastor looked around for any signs of Dumbledore's student.

"So where is the little shit anyways?"

Harry stood hunched over, his hands were braced on his knees. He was panting to catch his breath after his latest attempt to dual cast with Sylphie.

Salazar had been a major help upon their return to the castle. Apparently, Rowena had also had a sprite as a familiar, although her sprite was water based. Due to seeing some of the spells Rowena had cast in the past, he had given Harry a rough of idea of the possibilities. Although he had been lacking the knowledge of exactly how to cast the dual cooperative spells.

Sylphie floated off to the side looking no worse for wear. It had initially been easy to feel the potent streams of wild magic. Tapping into them to cast a spell was a different matter entirely. As soon as Harry would touch the streams, he found it immeasurably hard to keep the magic under control.

His own magic was practically an extra limb at this point. Magic was usually effortless and thoughtless except for the most difficult of spells, Salazar's signature spell being one of them.

Wild magic was entirely different. It was similar to the feeling of trying to funnel an ocean through a river. The wild magic did not want to bend to his desires, and any progress he made was grossly overpowered.

Just casting a simple Incendio has come out as a torrent of flames engulfing the chamber. Only the protective wards he had thought to cast beforehand kept Salazar from becoming a miserable pile of ash. The worst part was Harry could barely cast one spell before being rendered incapacitated. The magic in his body would buzz like electricity and cause spasms across his body as it attempted to exert some sort of control over the foreign magic in his system.

Sylphie had been concerned after their first attempts at casting spells and tried her best to reign in the streams, but she had little experience with restraint. Using wild magic was natural to Sylphie, she had never had to control the flow in the past. Now she was straining trying to keep the potent magic from hurting her bonded companion.

A knock at the chamber door announced the presence of Alastor and Dumbledore as they entered the Chamber of Secrets.

"Is somebody having a barbecue in here?" asked Alastor upon entering the chamber. The room was noticeably warmer than their previous corridor.

"Ah no, that would be Harry attempting to cast cooperatively with his new familiar. Hence the smell of burnt teenager and failure." Salazar couldn't help but make a quip at Alastor's comment.

Harry just fell over and sprawled out on his back. A single arm reached up to flip the portrait the middle finger before falling back down. Sylphie floated down to Harry's face and moved to lift his eyelids, checking to make sure her companion was still conscious.

"And who the bloody hell might you be?" Alastor shouted in indignation.

"Alastor, meet the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. I'm sure you've already heard from the news that he's our latest History professor," Dumbledore explained while waving the two over to one another.

"The news is full of shit," Alastor announced, as if stating a fact. He looked up and down at the portrait of the ancient founder before saying, "You don't look like much."

Salazar just raised an eyebrow in return. "Coming from the senior citizen missing half his body?"

The two held a staring contest as the silence grew on and on. Alastor was the first to crack a smile, "I think I like him." His missing teeth added very little to his charm.

"That's fortunate, because you two will be teaching him more combat oriented magic for the upcoming year," Dumbledore cut in.

"A whole fucking year?" Alastor asked in surprise.

"Welcome to the club," Salazar drawled with a roll of his eyes.

Dumbledore held up a hand in a gesture of peace. "You'll only be teaching Harry, worry not. I think your methods would be a bit… 'much' for our other students."

"Wait, I'm getting another teacher?" asked Harry, finally catching his breath. He had lifted himself off the ground and walked over to join their discussion.

"Don't I have enough teachers already?" Harry asked, voicing his concern. His schedule was already heavily loaded during the school year. Adding another instructor sounded like overkill.

His protests were met with a banisher to the chest. Harry went flying backwards as Alastor whipped out his wand faster than the eye could see. He casted the spell before returning his wand to his holster all in one motion.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE," Alastor roared in delight as he watched the young teen sail backwards and land on his arse.

Dumbledore just sighed as he rubbed between his eyebrows. Harry was learning a lesson firsthand on how eccentric the former hit wizard could be.

"Alastor is a former hit wizard, he was the captain of the aurors before switching to be a hit wizard after he claimed his team was just holding him back. I'll be leaving soon to the ICW summit and he'll be continuing your education in my absence. Not to make anything less of your lessons with Salazar, but there are certain things he can't teach you as a portrait."

Salazar shrugged his shoulders; the man had a point.

Harry grimaced from the floor. His newest teacher didn't seem like the gentle type. It was to his surprise when Alastor came over and offered him a hand.

"Come on, get up lad. There's a lot to teach you, and a year is barely enough time."

Harry smiled, maybe the learning under the former hit wizard wouldn't be too bad. He reached up to take the hand only to find the hand gripping his wrist stronger than normal.

Harry's eyes widened as the older man suddenly pulled on his arm and twisted so that his back was facing the young teen. He pulled Harry's arm over his shoulder and proceeded to lift him off the ground only to flip the younger teen over his shoulder and slam him to the ground on the other side.

The loud thudding noise made Salazar, Sylphie, and Dumbledore wince.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Never assume anyone is your friend, trust nobody including myself." Alastor barked, as he stood tall, looking down at Harry.

Harry's head was swimming as he tried to process what just happened. He retracted his previous statement; this was most certainly going to be horrible.

"So, let me get this straight."

Daphne rolled her eyes as she sat across her bed from Tracey. It was near the end of the summer and Tracey had dropped over unannounced. The two were currently relaxing in Daphne's room. She was one of the few friends that visited on a regular basis.

She would have liked to stay in touch with Blaise, but he often spent his summers in Italy with the rest of his family and Harry was usually gone during the summers.

"Harry is practically the next coming of Dumbledore. He's also coincidentally closest to you out of all the other students at Hogwarts. And last but not least, he seeks you out for comfort when he's tired instead of anyone else," Tracey threw her hands in exasperation. "You two are practically cuddling and you think you're just regular friends?"

Daphne just flopped back in bed, sprawling out as she stared at the ceiling.

"We're… not like that."

"That's bullshit and you know it, Daph." Tracey was just driving the point further. "You literally spend the most time with him out of everyone. Although the other day I did see Cho Chang making a pass at him, it was pretty funny seeing him all flustered."

"SHE WHAT?!" Daphne sat up quickly, clearly bothered by the statement. Her attention was locked on Tracey in a moment.

Tracey just fixed her a look before raising an eyebrow. She raised a hand to gesture up and down towards Daphne. "Just friends?"

Daphne turned away from her friend, pressing her face into the valley between her pillows. She tried her best to hide the red threatening to overtake her face. She was embarrassed to be caught out in such a way.

"Did Cho even hit on Harry?" Daphne's muffled voice could barely be heard out of the pillows.

Tracey laughed maniacally, "You and I both know Harry would actually have to make an appearance around school for that to happen. I wasn't kidding when I said he spends most of his time with you, we hardly even see him in class lately."

Tracey just watched as Daphne kept her head burrowed between the pillows. It was funny watching the black-haired girl refuse to even make eye contact with her. As fun as the silence was, Tracey reached over and began poking and prodding at her friend, hoping for a reaction. Daphne laid still as she tried her best to deny her friend further satisfaction.

"Is it really that obvious?" said Daphne in her muffled voice.

Tracey just patted her friend on the back reassuringly, "Only if you look closely. I doubt anyone besides myself and Blaise know."

Daphne's head suddenly shot up, "Blaise knows!?"

"The whole icy bitch persona doesn't work so well on your close friends," said Tracey with a shrug.

Daphne just groaned again into her pillow. Feelings were definitely not part of her life. Her parents had drilled into her the importance of marriage in politics. Feelings were the last thing her family held to any importance. It was times like this she wished her grandmother was still around to offer advice. She would always know the right things to say.

"So, what are you going to do?" Tracey asked, breaking her silent amusement at her friend's current state.

"What do you mean? It's Harry we're talking about. Unless it's magic on two legs, I doubt he would be interested in anyone. I don't think I've ever seen him look at anyone twice."

By the look Tracey returned, Daphne could tell her excuse was flimsy.

"Daph, I think you're forgetting the most important thing here."

"And what would that be?" she asked in a questioning tone.

"He's still a man, and men have needs," Tracey finished her statement by clapping her hands together as if stating the most obvious fact in the world.

A pillow whooshed through the air and landed with a loud thwack. Tracey fell backwards as Daphne's aim was spot on.

"Ha Ha Ha, very funny. Harry's not like that, and I'm more than a walking vagina." Tracey could tell her friend was not amused. The withering stare was probably a good indicator.

Tracey just held her hands up in placating gesture. "All I'm saying is, he'll start noticing the fairer sex soon. As far as I can tell, you're in the prime position to take advantage of that."

Daphne's brows furrowed at the statement.

"I don't want to take advantage of him though."

"Daph, you know that's not what I meant. It's just he'll start noticing girls soon and who knows? Maybe he might return your feelings. It's not as if there's any other girl he's close to."

Daphne took a second to ponder the statement. It made sense, while Harry might not be interested now, at least she could drop some hints. Maybe he would see her differently?

Still, Daphne couldn't help but think, wasn't there someone else Harry had mentioned in the past?

Fleur groaned, an ungodly sound emanated from her throat.

She tried to raise her head, but her body felt heavy and groggy. Her routine had been roughly the same since she returned from China that summer. There should have been no reason for her to feel the way she was at the moment.

She rolled over on her sheets to her side, hoping it would be easier to get up. This was the most difficult morning she had experienced in a while.

Fleur opened her eyes only to shut them again. The light peeking through her curtains was too bright. She blinked rapidly trying to adjust her eyes. Her head was pounding, she had never had a headache so intense before.

Bringing her hand up to massage her forehead she suddenly noticed something. Were her fingers always this long? She inspected her fingernails to find them looking polished and light pink. She couldn't recall ever doing her nails, usually they were much duller.

Her eyes trailed from her hand as they went further up her arm. Were they always this long?

"Fuck," she thought.

Fleur groaned as she came to realization. She had been expecting this, but her maman had given her no indication that it would have happened anytime soon.

Veela were different in the way that they experienced puberty overnight. Apolline, her mother, had made sure to warn her of the upcoming possibility. She had explained it happened whenever a young Veela had accumulated enough ambient magic. Usually this happened around the age of sixteen to seventeen. She was a year too early.

"Babette!" she called out, seemingly to thin air.

There was a loud pop off to her side. Babette, their house elf appeared and moved to her side at an instance. She worriedly checked over her young charge.

"Madam Fleur is yous okay?" the little elf cried out. She could sense her master was in distress.

"Oui, I am fine for now. Could you please bring my maman here?" Fleur grimaced, her voice even felt foreign to her. Her throat felt scratchy and parched.

The little house elf nodded vigorously before popping away.

The few moments after Babette left felt like hours. Apolline had not gone into details about what the change would contain. It was apparently a right of passage for one Veela to pass on the knowledge to the next, only after the change had occurred.

Fleur's head was swimming as she tried to calm herself. She knew this was a normal occurrence, but it was highly disorienting. She had gone to sleep in her body and woken up in a stranger's.

Fleur finally managed to sit up around the same time her mother had finally made it to her room. Upon seeing her, Apolline gasped as she brought her hands to her face.

"Ma Cher?"

"Maman," Fleur replied weakly.

Apolline walked over slowly as she gently laid a hand on Fleur shoulder.

"Ma petite fille, you've grown so fast. I wasn't expecting this for a little while longer. My little daughter is all beautiful and grown now," she said gently as she took the time to look over Fleur.

Fleur groaned again, "I certainly don't feel beautiful."

Apolline just smiled, "That's to be expected, you've received a large infusion of hormones overnight. Your body needs time to adjust."

"What's happening to me?"

Apolline lowered her hand on top of Fleur's in reassurance. "Your body couldn't contain all of your magic anymore. You'll find that your body is now constantly saturated in magic. It's one of the reasons you've never seen a Veela in a salon, our magic takes care of everything for us. Unfortunately, it'll change to what magic deems optimal. So, you're now limited to whether or not your hair is up or down for variety."

Fleur just rolled her eyes. A detail like this may have been important to her mother but looks had never been very important to her. It wasn't like she had any friends at Beauxbatons to show off to.

"W-what about the other stuff?" Fleur asked cautiously.

Apolline patted her daughter on the head reassuringly. "We'll let your father know and head off (to) the enclave as soon as possible. It'll be easier to teach you everything there with the other Veela as well. You'll probably miss a few weeks of school, but I'll let Maxine know."

Fleur felt relieved, hopefully she would feel normal again by the time she left the enclave.

Fleur was miserable. She was actually beyond miserable. She had been back at school for over a week now after returning from the enclave. The time she had spent at the enclave was well spent. Between her mother and the other coven sisters they had managed to explain the majority of her changes to her.

The rest of the Veela had been very receptive to her when she had first entered the enclave. They could practically feel the magical saturation rolling off of her. Some of the Veela had mentioned her magic had a warm and inviting feeling to it.

They had kept things brief due to school having already started, but at the minimum they made sure to have her allure to a level where she could be around others. There hadn't been enough time to cover her battle form but had given her a bracelet that would keep it restrained should she lose control of her anger.

Fleur had thought the bracelet unnecessary at first, but had come to realize how insightful the other Veela had been. The first week back to school had been hell so far.

She had been so used to being labeled as a teacher's pet and left alone for the majority of her first two years that it had come at a shock at first. Students gawked at her appearance and gossiped needlessly over her.

While Fleur could understand up to a certain extent, it was quickly grating on her nerves. She had practically aged from looking ten years old to looking well over sixteen in one summer. She stood almost a whole head taller than her classmates whom had once towered over her.

The enclave had explained that her height was the last thing to change, at least that part wouldn't be changed all at once. She still had a few inches to grow and was glad it would be more gradual.

The part that bothered her most was the… boys.

Boys seemed to fit best; she had refused to acknowledge any of them as men. Those that had never turned a blind eye to her in the past were suddenly approaching her by the hoards. Every word sounded false and every compliment was insincere.

Of the boys she brushed off, they immediately came to their friends claiming they had been ensnared by her allure which was never the case. She could lock down her aura as well as any other Veela, the claims were as false as the words they gave her.

The worst part was if this had happened the year prior, she would have loved to hear any of those words. To know that someone had actually wanted to be close to her outside of Harry would have been a boon for her mental health.

Those same words were now poison to her ears. She hated every bit of it. The girls that sought to get close just to gain the same attention were below trash in her eyes. To some extent she knew they were just being immature, but she detested them all the same.

Fleur had never thought of herself as cold person, but this was quickly changing. She found it hard to blame herself though.

After all, she was just a product of her circumstance.

Harry was ready to collapse.

He was trudging through the Slytherin common rooms looking for Daphne. Training with Moody had made him beyond paranoid. The former hit wizard took every opportunity to attack him. He had been attacking during his breaks, in between classes, and even while in the bathroom.

There were times he swore he would wake up screaming with the words 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE' echoing in his nightmares.

Moody wasn't the only one running him ragged though. His lessons with the other professors had all ramped up upon Dumbledore's request. The recent escape of Grindelwald had shaken the old headmaster more than he had realized. While the lessons with Moody were leaving him mentally drained, his lessons with Salazar were leaving him physically drained.

The ancient founder was attempting to help Harry better use wild magic. After channeling a few spells, they quickly found out his body was having trouble conducting the magic. After a few spells he had felt like his body was being torn apart by the arcane energies.

It was after a particularly nasty trip to Pomfrey's that the older witch instructed him to be extra careful. While Harry was used to using large volumes of magic, his core wasn't suited for wild magic. He was at risk for burning out his core should he push things too far.

Sylphie had been nearby and heard the older witch's warning and refused to even help him practice using wild magic the next day. It had taken Harry a couple hours of reassurance and promises that he would be extra careful before the little sprite would agree to work with him again.

His lessons had been perfectly scheduled so that he would have exactly two thirty-minute breaks for meals and exactly seven hours of sleep per day. Outside of those small breaks he had literally no free time. Even his weekends were being taken up by Salazar and Moody.

Since classes had started back up, he hadn't even had time to see Daphne, Blaise, or even Tracey. Even his meals were being sent to whichever lesson he was currently in via house elves. Harry understood Dumbledore was worried, but he couldn't help but feel his grandfather figure was overreacting.

Harry was at his limit and it was Moody that first noticed. As he entered the chamber for his usual weekend lessons the former hit wizard had taken one look at him and dismissed him.

"You look like shit, you smell like shit, and that's saying a lot considering my nose barely works. Get the fuck out of here and you better come back Monday smelling like daises and roses."

If it weren't for the incessant cursing, Harry could almost swear the grizzled veteran cared.

It was the sight of Daphne, Tracey and Blaise sitting around the fireplace in the commons room that gave him immediate relief. He ignored their looks of surprise as he trudged over. His feet were dragging on the deep green carpet.

"Harry!" Tracey was the first to notice him approach. Her voice alerted the other two members to Harry's presence. Slyphie could be seen hovering nearby his shoulder. The little faerie looked to be tugging at his shirt and pulling him along. Harry's eyes were barely open.

Daphne rushed up to his side and grabbed an arm before throwing it over her shoulder and supporting him over to the couch. She settled down beside him as he slumped over, his head landing in her lap.

Tracey and Blaise raised an eyebrow at the all too comfortable action. Daphne fought down a blush as she glared at them, daring them to say a single word.

"What happened to you Harry?" Blaise was the first to ask. Choosing to divert their attention away from Daphne and towards Harry instead.

"Mmmm Traimmning," Harry's voice was slurred as sleep threatened to overtake him. He wasn't sure where the pillow came from, but it felt soft against his head. He twisted a bit trying to burrow his head in further.

Daphne's head looked ready to explode at the amount of blood rushing to her face. Blaise and Tracey were having trouble keeping their giggles silent. Even Sylphie looked exasperated at her bonded's actions. Sometimes he really just didn't have a clue.

"Have you been overworking yourself again?" Daphne said softly, just out of hearing of Tracey and Blaise. She leaned in, getting a closer look at his face.

"Mmmmhmmm," Harry was barely using words at this point. Daphne was even having trouble hearing his soft murmuring despite being so close.

"You're going to have to speak up a bit, Harry."

There was no reply this time, Daphne leaned in closer and head the sounds of his breath evening out. Tracey and Blaise shot her a questioning look. Daphne just rolled her eyes before continuing their previous conversation. She picked up where they had left off discussing Grindelwald's impact on Britain's pureblood society.

She could question Harry later when he woke up. She frowned while thinking of the fact he's been missing since classes started. He owed her a few weeks of answer anyways. They were always supposed to reconnect after summer.

Always.

Dear Harry,

I miss you already. Despite everything that happened in ZhanJiang, it felt really good to see you again. I hope you know you're my only friend, so I'm depending on you to always be there for me. It's only been a few weeks, and this year has already become unbearable.

I think everyone's been infected with some sort of virus that makes them extra stupid, or maybe I just never noticed it in the past. Please write back soon, I have a big surprise for you the next time we meet.

Yours always,

Fleur

A/N: Happy fourth of July weekend to everyone. I have a few messages in my inbox about beta readers still. I'm okay for now, EagleHasLanded has been great and for the time being I do not need another beta reader.