Beauxbatons to the Rescue, a harry potter fanfic

Beauxbatons to the Rescue
by Healer Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

COMPLETELY AU!

It was a few days after the Goblet of Fire had announced the four champions who were going to participate in the Triwizard Tournament.

Ever since that fateful evening, Harry had been ignored by his supposed-to-be friends, belittled and glared at by all the other Hogwarts students.

'I just can't put up with it any longer,' he mused, as he went for a nightly walk around the lake. 'Why do all strange things occur to me?' He was so deeply engrossed in negative thoughts that he did not realise another presence before bumping into someone.

"Oh sorry," he muttered and was just about to walk on, when a female voice penetrated his ears.

"Wait," the voice commanded him. "You're 'Arry, ze fourth champion for 'Ogwarts, aren't you?"

Harry turned around, only to recognise Fleur Delacour, the champion from Beauxbatons. "Yes," he replied in a small voice. "I'm sorry. I really didn't want to participate."

"Someone must 'ave put your name into ze goblet," Fleur replied, seemingly pensive. "Now you 'ave to participate."

"I know," Harry moaned. "I wished there was a way around it."

"Zere sure is," Fleur said, matter-of-factly. "I closely studied ze rules before coming to 'Ogwarts. If you get 'urt or ill, you may appoint someone to participate on your be'alf."

"Really?" Harry asked in excitement. "But how…?"

In the faint moonlight that was reflected in the lake, he could see Fleur grin. "If you promise to not tell anyone zat it was me, I'll cast a spell at you," she offered.

"What spell?" Harry enquired, torn between feeling grateful for the offered help and suspicious at the same time.

"It gives you an allergy against magic," Fleur revealed. "It's a Veela spell, so ze people here won't know 'ow to cancel it. You must have a Veela cancel it, which I will of course do after ze first task."

"All right Fleur, please and thank you very much," Harry replied in determination. Somehow, he felt very grateful towards the older student, and he could not care less about the consequences.

"Prepare yourself. You will feel sick tomorrow in class when you cast magic," Fleur warned him before pointing her wand at him casting a spell.

"I hope it'll work," Harry said, not feeling any different.

"It will," Fleur promised. "Come to see me whenever you want me to cancel it."

Harry profusely thanked the Veela, and they both made their way towards their rooms, where they were supposed to spend the night.

As Fleur had promised, Harry began to feel ill right after casting the first couple of spells during his Transfiguration class, and the feeling only intensified, when he cast magic again during Charms.

By the time dinner approached, Harry felt outright ill. However, somehow, he could not find the courage to go to the hospital wing, even if he knew that all he needed to get out of the tournament was to let Madam Pomfrey check on him.

Suddenly, his head of house's voice penetrated his ears. "Mr. Potter, please come with me," McGonagall said in a no-nonsense voice and led him straight to the hospital wing, explaining to the healer that her little lion seemed to be ill.

Harry had to endure hours of prodding and spell casting that only ended when he admitted that he felt worse after every spell that was cast at him.

"Maybe Mr. Potter has developed an allergy against magic," Snape spoke up, whom the healer had called for assistance a while ago.

"That might be," Pomfrey reluctantly agreed and proceeded to allow Harry to rest overnight.

After two days of checking on him every now and then, Pomfrey and Snape were convinced that Harry had somehow managed to get an allergy against magic.

"You will be able to attend classes except for Defence Against the Dark Arts," Pomfrey informed him, emphasizing that it was his own decision how much magic he did in class. "You will not be able to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, however, so I will call the headmaster here for you before releasing you."

"You must name someone who must participate on your behalf," Dumbledore told him, sounding grave.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry replied, trying hard to contain his relief and happiness.

Snape quirked an eyebrow in clear surprise. "Are you sure Mr. Potter?" he enquired.

"Yes sir. From Malfoy's behaviour towards me, I guess that he'd like to participate on my behalf. If he refuses to do so, provided that he has a choice, I name Ronald Weasley. He definitely wants to participate, but I feel that Draco would be the more competent champion in this case."

"Very well, we'll speak with Mr. Malfoy and ask him," the headmaster said, concluding the conversation.

During the following weeks, Harry only attended his classes and the occasional meals but otherwise spent all time alone in an unused part of the castle, which he had explored during one of his nightly excursions. No one seemed to miss him, not even his former friends. Dobby had brought all of his belongings to him, however, charmed his bed and its surroundings, so that no one would notice that he was not residing in the Gryffindor fourth-year boys' dormitory anymore.

When Harry spent time in the Great Hall, where he used to either sit together with Neville or Ginny or just by himself at the far end of the table, he observed with growing nausea how Draco bathed in his fame of being a champion.

'Don't forget that you only became a champion because I named you one,' he thought, wondering if Draco knew the truth at all. At least, the Slytherin did not bother him anymore but proceeded to ignore him - just like his former friends did.

'What an idiot,' he thought, feeling utterly grateful towards Fleur, who had spared him a whole school year of at least mental torture.

A few times, he had the impression as if Hermione wanted to address him, however, she somehow did not get around to speak with him.

'Oh well, it's their own loss if they want to abandon me like this, although I'm not even a champion anymore,' Harry thought, feeling extremely annoyed at his former so-called friends. While he was only little surprised at Ron's behaviour, he could not believe that Hermione would sink so low. 'I always thought she'd at least value our friendship more than anything else.'

Originally, Harry did not intend to mix with the spectators for the tournament. However, the excitement about the first task was somehow contagious, and shortly before the beginning of the first task, he found himself sitting in a seat together with hundreds of other spectators.

It was shortly after the four champions had been called into a tent, where everyone who deemed themselves important gathered around the champions, that Draco's voice sounded out to the spectator seats.

"Dragons?" the Slytherin screamed in apparent horror. "Wait until my father hears of this."

Harry could not help joining everyone else in laughter, as he envisioned the blond boy standing in front of an adult dragon crying for his daddy.

'Thank Merlin I don't have to do this,' he thought, feeling extremely relieved and at the same time very grateful towards Fleur.

It was only during the Yule Ball that Harry saw Fleur again. Harry had completely missed the ball, not wanting to bother attending that stupid event, however, went out for a walk around the lake late that evening, just when Fleur was on her way back to the Beauxbatons ship.

"You look beautiful," he said, smiling.

"Zank you 'Arry," Fleur replied, returning the smile. "'Ave you not been at ze ball?" she then asked, glancing at Harry's ordinary clothing.

"No," Harry replied, shrugging. "No one misses me anyway. They only notice me when they need me to do the dirty work for them."

"Oh I understand. I feel so sorry for you, 'Arry. You really deserve better," Fleur said in a soft voice, and Harry realised once again how pretty the Veela was.

"How's the tournament going?" he asked in an attempt to change the topic.

Fleur let out a long sigh. "It's a disaster," she blurted out, causing Harry to look at her in surprise. "I won't be able to do ze next task at all," she then admitted. "I must swim srough ze water in the lake for a 'owle 'our, which is impossible for a Veela, even if I'm only one quarter Veela. I don't know what to do."

Harry remained thoughtful for a moment, before he was able to offer a solution. "Could I perhaps take Polyjuice potion to look like you and do the task for you?" he suggested.

Fleur's eyes widened in clear surprise and delight. She pulled Harry into a bear's hug. "'Arry, would you really do zat for me?" Seeing him nod, she added, "I'll speak wiz Madame Maxime right away. She will 'elp wiz ze Polyjuice potion. Will you meet me 'ere again on Sunday night?"

"All right," Harry agreed, somehow feeling happy to be able to help the kind Veela.

On the day of the second task, Harry pocketed the phial, which he had received from Fleur, and the gillyweed, which Dobby had brought him on the previous day, and hid under his invisibility cloak. Shortly before the beginning of the task, he hurried to the spot behind the first row of trees, where he had promised Fleur to take over for her.

Fortunately, no one saw them, and, while Fleur remained under his invisibility cloak, Harry gulped down the Polyjuice potion and quickly approached the lake, where the champions had to go into the water any minute now. He unobtrusively put the gillyweed into his mouth and got into the water, knowing that he had less than an hour's time, as he needed to be back at least two minutes before the Polyjuice potion was going to wear off.

To his relief, he did not meet any obstacles and after a short while of swimming, he reached the four hostages. Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister, was easy to spot due to her resemblance to her older sister. Harry quickly freed her and swam back with the young Veela, reaching the shore before any of the other champions.

Leaving Gabrielle with her mother, who pulled her younger daughter into a bear's hug, Harry hurried back to the edge of the forest, where the real Fleur was still waiting behind the tree, where he had left her.

"'Arry, I just can't zank you enough. You saved my little sister's life," Fleur told him, placing a soft kiss on his lips, just before Harry felt the Polyjuice potion wear off and his body return to normal.

Neither of them noticed a small garden rat that was trying to hide under a couple of dried leaves just in front of them.

"You must go. Everyone will wonder where you are," Harry urged the Veela, who quickly pointed her wand at him muttering an incantation, before she followed his advice and hurried back to where Krum as the second champion was just arriving, closely followed by Cedric.

'What was that?' Harry wondered, before realising that Fleur had probably cancelled the spell that had caused him the allergy against magic. Smiling contentedly, Harry hid under his invisibility cloak and returned to his own room in the unused wing, from where he had an excellent look over the grounds. He observed how Draco arrived from the lake with Pansy Parkinson in tow, long after the hour had passed. 'Thank Merlin everything went well and no one caught me. That was fairly dangerous,' he thought, feeling very happy that he had been able to do Fleur a favour.

'Her sister looks really nice,' he suddenly realised. 'I wonder how old she is.'

In an old manor, a rat quickly made his way to his allies and transformed into a plump wizard.

"I have news," he announced, feeling very important for once.

"What is it?" Crouch Junior asked, giving him a suspicious look.

"I hope it's good news," the strange creature that was supposed to be his lord added.

"I just found out that Harry Potter is doing the tasks of the tournament for the Delacour girl," Peter blurted out. "He used Polyjuice potion to look like her and did the second task, while she was waiting for him to return in the forest."

"Are you sure?" Crouch asked in apparent disbelief.

"Yes, absolutely," Peter replied in a firm voice.

"Oh well, then maybe it'll work as intended," Crouch replied. "I need to go back to Hogwarts in any case. I'll see you. Thanks for the information, Peter."

Harry realised soon that Gabrielle was as friendly and beautiful as her sister, even if the younger girl, who on the following evening asked him to join her for a walk around the lake, did not have Fleur's strong Veela aura yet.

"Fleur told me zat it was you who saved me from the lake," she said, sounding very grateful. "Zank you very much. I don't like being in the lake, alzough I was asleep ze whole time."

"You're very welcome, and please don't tell anyone about it," Harry replied, smiling. "It's supposed to be Fleur who rescued you."

"Yes, I know zat, and I won't tell," Gabrielle confirmed, reassuringly. "I'm going to enter Beauxbatons after ze summer," she told him, sounding very proud about the matter. "I just received my letter a few weeks ago."

'She must be eleven then,' Harry thought, finding the young witch very attractive even if she was a few years younger.

Apparently, Gabrielle also enjoyed Harry's company, and the two agreed to meet for a small walk again the following evening.

During the following weeks, Harry and Gabrielle spent every evening together, and Harry even visited the Delacours on the Beaubatons ship from time to time.

However, the more time passed, the unhappier Harry became. 'I'd love to ask her to become my girlfriend,' he thought over and over. 'But they're going to return to France as soon as the Triwizard Tournament is over. Maybe I should leave with them and attend Beauxbatons the last three years until the NEWTs. No one is going to miss me here anyway.'

"Harry," Gabrielle said one evening, "tomorrow is a 'Ogsmeade visit. Will you go to 'Ogsmeade wiz me?"

"I'd love to go with you, but are you allowed to go?" Harry asked, giving the girl a surprised look.

"Yes," Gabrielle replied, cheerily, and admitted, "Fleur helped me to convince Mum zat I could go wiz you. Zerefore, I want to go wiz you to ze village. Fleur said zat it was small but interesting."

Harry chuckled. "All right then," he agreed, feeling excited at the idea of going to Hogsmeade with the Veela. "Let's go on a date then."

"Sank you, Harry," Gabrielle said, smiling happily, and the two friends agreed to leave right after breakfast the following morning.

During breakfast, Fleur stepped by the Gryffindor table, where Harry was sitting just by himself on one side, and motioned him to follow her. Leading him out into the entrance hall, she said in a soft voice, "I hope zat Gabrielle is not bozering you. If she demands too much, you must tell her. Or tell me, and I will speak wiz her."

"Ah no," Harry replied, honestly. "She's not bothering me at all. In fact, I enjoy being together with her."

Fleur grinned. "Yes, she's a big fan of yours, 'Arry."

Glancing around to make sure that they were still alone, Harry admitted in a small voice, "I really like her a lot. If she was older, I'd ask her to become my girlfriend. Too bad that she's only eleven."

To his surprise, Fleur was neither taken aback nor glared at him because of his comment. Instead, she smiled. "'Arry, Gabrielle would love to be your girlfriend. She's only eleven, but Veelas are much more developed than normal witches. Even if she's only one quarter Veela like myself. Ze only problem is zat we will return to France after ze sird task," she added, sounding strangely sorry about the matter.

"Do you think I could attend Beauxbatons from the next school year onwards?" Harry blurted out, having pondered the matter a few dozen times during the last few weeks.

"I must speak with Madame Maxime and ask her, but I zink she will agree," Fleur promised, pensively, only to add, chuckling, "Everyone on our ship zinks zat you're a 'ero for rescuing Gabrielle."

"Please tell her to not speak with Dumbledore about it," Harry added as an afterthought. "He might try to prevent me from leaving here."

"All right," Fleur reassured him, smiling, just when a bunch of students filed out of the Great Hall.

The thought 'I wonder what Sirius would say if I went to study at Beauxbatons,' suddenly crossed Harry's mind, and he decided to try to contact his godfather right after his excursion to Hogsmeade.

Ten minutes later, Harry and Gabrielle were on their way to Hogsmeade. Harry showed the girl around, noticing that Gabrielle was most interested in the bookshop as well in a small shop that sold all kind of decorations.

"Zey are different from zose at 'ome," she explained, smiling, when she left a very small shop after almost an hour of looking at this and that with a shrunken box containing several purchases in her robe pocket.

"I'm glad that you found something interesting," Harry replied, smiling. In fact, he had left the shop fifteen minutes earlier to make a short trip to a jeweller which was just around the corner. To his relief, he had quickly found what he was looking for and had bought a pair of friendship rings. They were plain silver with a tiny, light blue stone, and its colour matched Gabrielle's eyes in a way that Harry had immediately decided on them.

'I'll wait for Fleur's response before giving her the ring and ask her to become my girlfriend,' he decided, when they slowly headed back in the direction of Hogwarts. 'It would be great if I could go to Beauxbatons with her and lead a life just as a normal student,' he thought.

"Sank you 'Arry for bringing me here today. Zat was much fun," Gabrielle said, when they reached the lake, where she had to turn from the main path to get to the Beauxbatons ship. Standing on tiptoes, she placed a small kiss onto Harry's cheek, blushing as she hurried away.

Harry stood there in surprise for a moment, before he slowly walked back to his room.

At dinner, one of the school owls approached Harry handing him a small parchment.

'Harry,
please meet me in the entrance hall after dinner.
Fleur'

Harry unobtrusively nodded in the direction of the Beauxbatons students, who were as usually sitting at the Ravenclaw table, and hurriedly finished his dinner. All of a sudden, he felt much too excited to be hungry anymore. 'I hope Madame Maxime said yes,' he thought, as he waited in one of the small alcoves near the entrance hall for Fleur to arrive.

"'Arry," Fleur addressed him, smiling. Glancing around to make sure that they were alone, she continued, "Madame Maxime said you would be more zan welcome to attend Bauxbatons. You might 'ave to take a French course first, but she sinks zat you will be able to attend fifz year after zee summer 'olidays. I've also spoken wiz my mozeer, and she said you're very welcome to come wiz us when we leave. Sink about it, 'Arry. We'd be 'appy to 'ave you."

"Thank you so much," Harry replied, suddenly feeling very happy. "I think I will go with you then. Good luck for the third task by the way."

"Zank you, 'Arry," Fleur said, smiling. "I 'ope it goes well."

A couple of days later, the third task took place. In contrary to Draco Malfoy, who had neither managed the first task, where Charlie Weasley had had to rescue him from a very angry dragon, nor the second task, when he had arrived far beyond the time limit, Fleur was on the first place and thus was allowed to start first in the final task.

'I hope she wins,' Harry thought, as he observed the task from his window. Unfortunately, he was not able to see any more than the spectators who were sitting or standing around the former Quidditch pitch.

'The only interesting task was the first,' he mused. 'At least everyone could watch the spectacle. In the second task, everyone could only see the champions come out of the lake with their friends or whatever, and today, no one is able to witness anything. How boring,' he thought, once again being happy to not have to participate.

In the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's office, a rat changed into a man. "Harry Potter is not among the spectators, so we can assume that he's participating instead of the Veela again. Please go ahead with our plan."

"Very well," the imposter replied, gulping down another dose of Polyjuice potion, before he headed out to fulfil his task.

Fleur hurried through the maze with the intention of winning the tournament, however, met several obstacles on the way. While she was well able to fight most of them, one strange creature hurt her badly enough to almost have to give up and send for help. However, she managed to get a grip on herself and, after what seemed to be an infinite time to her, she finally reached the trophy.

To her immense shock, the instant she reached for the trophy, someone else came from behind and grabbed it at the same time. Before the two champions realised what happened, they were whisked away from the safety of the Hogwarts grounds, as a Portkey was activated by their touch.

At first, Fleur was not even worried, however, when the uncomfortable movement finally stopped, she found herself not in front of the jury on the Hogwarts grounds, as she had assumed, but on what seemed to be a graveyard. To her surprise, it was Draco Malfoy, who had joined her for the Portkey travel, but before she could exchange a word with the fourth champion, she succumbed to a stunning spell.

"Kill the spare," she heard someone hiss, and a mere instant later, a killing curse travelled in the direction of her companion.

'Oh no,' she thought, horrified, wondering what was happening. She noticed that the man, who had just killed Draco, was hovering over a large cauldron that was standing in front of an open grave. A strange creature, 'maybe a baby,' was lying on a blanket next to him on the ground.

"The Polyjuice potion has not worn off yet," the man finally said, causing the baby to let out an impatient hiss.

"It doesn't matter. Go on with it," it commanded.

"Yes my Lord," the wizard replied and proceeded with what seemed to be a magical ritual. He then came over to Fleur and cut her left arm just to take a huge amount of blood from her.

'Not with me,' Fleur thought in anger and, fuelling her Veela magic through her right hand, she silently cast the spell, which she had cast at Harry a few months ago, at the small creature on the blanket that was just being lifted into the cauldron. 'Oh well, if it's a man, he's going to have problems with my Veela blood anyway,' she thought.

She observed, horrified, how a tall man stepped out of the cauldron.

"Give me my wand," he instructed the other man, who bowed deeply.

"Yes my Lord," he then replied and handed the new-born man a wand.

"Harry Potter," the newborn man then addressed Fleur, freeing her from the ropes that had bond her to a large stone.

Fleur stared at the man in confusion. 'Do I look like Harry?' she wondered.

Seeing that the man pointed his wand at her, she used a Veela spell to wandlessly stun him, before she hurried back to where the Portkey was still lying in the grass. 'I better take Draco with me,' she thought and quickly touched the boy's foot, before they were both whisked away.

By now, even Harry had realised that something had to have gone terribly wrong. From his charmed window, he had seen how Cedric and Viktor had returned from the maze, however, even after the green walls of the maze had been banished completely, there was still no sign from Fleur and Draco.

'Where are they?' he wondered, toying with the thought of heading out to the grounds to receive answers, just when he noticed a huge commotion and realised that Fleur and Draco had just arrived with a Portkey.

Nevertheless, something seemed not as it was supposed to be. While Fleur spoke with Dumbledore and then hurried away to where her family was waiting for her, Draco remained on the ground, unmoving.

'Oh Merlin, what happened to him?' Harry wondered, instinctively knowing that whatever fate had occurred to Draco, it had been meant for him. 'I hope he's not dead,' he thought. 'Otherwise, I'm a murderer.'

With mixed feelings, he observed how a couple of wizards, 'Probably Aurors,' took Draco away, right before the Minister of Magic announced the end of the Triwizard Tournament and handed Fleur the prize in a large bag.

'I need to speak with her and ask what happened,' Harry thought, not feeling in the mood to attend dinner in the Great Hall.

Hidden under his invisibility cloak, Harry made his way out to the lake, knowing that he would not miss Fleur on her way back to the Beauxbatons boat. He watched a large group of Beauxbatons students return to their ship, before the group whom he knew to be Fleur's best friends followed. However, neither Fleur nor Gabrielle were among them.

Harry quickly banished the invisibility cloak and asked, "Excuse me, I'd like to speak with Fleur. Is she still in the castle?"

"No, Fleur was hurt today during zee tournament. She's on zee ship," one of her friends informed Harry.

"Come wiz us," another girl invited him, and Harry immediately agreed.

Fleur was together with her mother and her sister in their small family room on the ship, when Harry hesitantly knocked at the door.

"Harry!" Gabriele was the first to greet him, immediately pulling him into a hug.

"Hi Gabrielle," Harry replied, smiling, once the girl released him. "Fleur, what happened?" he then asked, worriedly.

"Ze bad wizard, Voldemort, was resurrected using my blood, and Draco Malfoy was killed," Fleur explained, teary-eyed, causing Harry to stare at the Veela in shock.

"Voldemort is back?" he asked, incredulously. "I'm so sorry, Fleur. He probably wanted me. That's probably why someone put my name into the Goblet of Fire."

"I sink they sought zat I was you," Fleur recalled. "Voldemort said to me 'And we meet again, 'Arry Potter.' But I did not correct 'im. And it's not your fault of course."

"Mr. Potter," Madame Delacour joined their conversation. "Due to recent 'appenings, my daughters and I am sinking about returning to France tonight. Fleur and Gabrielle 'ave told me zat you wish to accompany us and attend Beuxbatons."

"I'd like that," Harry replied, smiling.

"Are you ready to leave wiz us?"

"Yes," Harry decided. "Excuse me, may I call my elf here and ask him to bring my belongings?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Of course, and you may also take 'im wiz you if you wish," Madame Delacour replied, smiling.

"Dobby," Harry called the elf and asked for his belongings, before he invited Dobby to join him, and the elf happily agreed.

"Don't you need to inform anyone else?" Fleur asked, gently, making Harry shake his head in determination.

"No, it's fine," he replied, smiling. "I will contact Sirius, err… my godfather, when we're in France. Do you have a branch office of Gringotts in France?" he suddenly remembered to ask.

"Oh yes, it's very big," Fleur informed him and assured him that the Paris branch was closely working together with the one in Diagon Alley. "We can take you zere tomorrow if you wish," she promised.

"Okay, then I'm ready to leave," Harry replied, feeling very much reassured by the Delacours' kindness and also by Dobby's promise to accompany him. 'Hedwig will surely find me,' he thought, just when Madame Maxime came into the room to say good-bye to Fleur and her family.

"I see you at Beauxbatons," she told Harry. "Please come to see me after our return, which will be on the first of June."

Harry happily agreed, before he held on to the Portkey with mixed feelings, thinking, 'Off to a new and hopefully happier life.'

Albus Dumbledore observed, smiling, how his youngest colleague stepped out of the fireplace.

"Severus, my boy, did everything go well?" he enquired, knowing better than to offer his spy a lemon drop on that fateful day.

The Potions Master nodded, curtly. "About twenty Death Eaters showed up. He's indeed back, however, I believe that something is off with him. First of all, his head is not really human, but somehow looks like a combination of a human and a bird. Secondly, he has problems with his magic. I didn't tell him this, but it looks like Potter's problem with his allergy against magic, and thirdly, he seems to be unable to cast dark spells," he explained. "He cast the Crucio at us, however, the effect did not exceed a mere tickle."

"Well, Miss Delacour told me that she cast two Veela spells at him," Albus replied, pensively. "I'm wondering why Voldemort used a Veela for his blood anyway. That's surely the other reason for his problems."

Severus chuckled, causing Albus to give him a questioning look. "Apparently, Peter Pettigrew was roaming the forest in his rat form to get a look at the second task and by chance found out that Harry Potter under Polyjuice potion did the task for Miss Delacour," he informed the headmaster of what he had heard at the Death Eater meeting.

"Oh, I see," Albus said, thoughtfully. "Well, Veelas are known for their problems with water and their non-existent swimming abilities. In fact I was surprised at how she managed that task so well. That's very noble of Harry though, especially since he did not want to participate in the tournament himself. Even if it was cheating," he added as an afterthought.

"Anyway, neither Voldemort nor Crouch or Pettigrew knew about that and assumed that Potter was doing all the tasks for her, especially since he didn't show up among the spectators. That's why they captured Miss Delacour, apparently assuming that it was Potter under Polyjuice potion."

"I see," Albus said in understanding.

"Malfoy got rid of Pettigrew, by the way," Severus added, "and told me after the meeting that he wasn't going to serve the Dark Lord anymore, considering that he killed his heir. He said he was going to make an alliance among the Death Eaters against the Dark Lord."

"Oh Merlin, that's the best that could happened, considering the circumstances," Albus said, pleasantly. "Where is he now? I'd have thought that he'd come here and try to make me responsible, knowing that Draco was taken from the school grounds."

Severus smirked. "I suppose that he's at home trying to make a new heir," he replied before taking his leave.

'Malfoy could be a valuable ally, if he gave up the Dark Arts,' Albus thought, absentmindedly popping a lemon drop into his mouth, as he realised, 'That's probably nothing more than a nice dream.'

Hermione Granger was having breakfast together with Ginny and Ronald Weasley, wondering where Harry Potter was. During the last few months, she had not even spoken to him, not daring to address her obviously angered classmate. However, she could not help caring for the boy, whom she still deemed her best friend, and had quietly been watching him. Therefore, she noticed that he once again was missing a meal, just like the previous evening and lunchtime. 'I wonder where he's staying anyway,' she thought. 'He barely ever returns to Gryffindor at all.'

Hermione nearly jumped in surprise, when all of a sudden, Professor McGonagall addressed her from behind. "Ms. Granger, do you perhaps know where Mr. Potter is? I haven't seen him since breakfast yesterday morning."

"Neither have I," Hermione replied, giving her favourite professor a concerned look.

"Mr. Weasley," the deputy headmistress now addressed the red haired boy, who was devouring his breakfast as if the matter did not concern him at all. "Do you know if Mr. Potter was still asleep, when you left the dormitory?"

Ronald looked up from his breakfast with a clueless expression that made Hermione inwardly groan.

"Professor, Harry hasn't be returning to Gryffindor on a regular basis…"

"… because his former so-called friends upset him too much," the Weasley twins spoke up in their usual sing-song that used to drive Hermione nuts.

"Is that true?" McGonagall enquired, her expression turning into anger.

"Yes Professor," Hermione replied in a small voice, feeling extremely guilty. 'I should have spoken to him in spite of what Ron said,' she thought, feverishly trying to suppress the tears that were welling at the back of her eyes. "I'm sorry," she added.

"Very well," the Gryffindor head said in a stern voice. "Please look for him, and if you find him, tell him that I wish to speak with him."

"Yes Professor," Hermione promised, resolved to search the castle for her still best friend.

When Harry arrived at the Delacours' house, he was offered to stay in the guest room until he was going to attend Beauxbatons together with Gabrielle.

As hesitant as he was to bother the Delacours, Harry gratefully accepted, deciding to head to Gringotts the following day to enquire if his parents had left him some place to live in France. 'I think Sirius said something about a manor somewhere at the Côte d'Azur,' he thought, as he retired for the night.

First thing in the morning, he wrote a letter to Sirius, only to realise that he had no way to send it. 'Hedwig, I hope you're going to find me here,' he thought, longingly.

"Excuse me, but is there any way to send an owl?" he asked, hesitantly, when the family gathered in the dining room for breakfast. "I've written a letter to my godfather and would like to send it."

"We 'ave an owl, Abacus," Fleur replied, smiling. "You can use 'im to send your letter."

"The faster way though would be to ask the goblins at Gringotts to post it for you," her father threw in. "They have a way to make an owl arrive at its destiny right away."

"I didn't know zat you had a godfazer," his wife spoke up, giving Harry a questioning look.

"Sirius Black," Harry admitted and explained that he was a fugitive in Britain in spite of being innocent of everything that he was accused of.

"Bring your godfather to my office," Mr. Delacour offered. "We can question him under Veritaserum and allow him to be free here in France."

"Our fazer is ze Ministeer of Magic," Fleur explained, causing Harry to stare at her father in disbelief.

"Thank you so much, Minister Delacour," he said, gratefully. "That would be amazing."

After breakfast, Harry quickly scribbled a note about Mr. Delacour's offer to his letter, hoping that Sirius would accept, before he allowed the Delacours to accompany him to the Allée de la Magie, as the French counterpart to Diagon Alley in Paris was called. After a short detour to the Ministère de la Magie to register Harry, Mr. Delacour suggested for his three witches to go shopping, while he would accompany Harry to the Banque de Gringotts.

His account manager at the Banque de Gringotts, a goblin with the name Verdubois, informed him that he indeed owned a house in France.

"The house is called La Niche, and it's situated in Nice, facing the Cote d'Azur," Verdubois informed him, smiling. "It's connected to the French national Floo network. However, international travel is not possible."

"Thank you very much, Verdubois. May your gold flow and your enemies fear you," Harry said to the goblin and took enough money from his vault to last for about a year, before he left the bank.

Together with Minister Delacour, he travelled to his house through the fireplace, only to find out that two house-elves had been looking after the house for him. Both were enthusiastic to meet Harry, especially after hearing that he intended to stay.

"Dobby," Harry called his favourite elf and introduced him to Mona and Sisi, the two elves who were living at La Niche. To his relief, the two elves readily accepted Dobby and eagerly popped away to show everything to their new friend.

After Minister Delacour returned to the Ministry, instructing Harry to call him or his wife when he had any problems or if Sirius showed up, Harry set to exploring the house, which was quite small and very cosy. He was just finished and had made Dobby fetch his belongings and put them into the bedroom he had chosen for himself, when Sirius stepped through the fireplace.

"I remember this house," he told Harry. "Your parents spent their holidays here quite a few times and invited Remus, Peter and me over."

"So Peter knows this house? Maybe we better put it under the Fidelius then," Harry said, thoughtfully.

"Yes, that's better," Sirius agreed, and Harry leaned into the fireplace to call Minister Delacour and ask who could cast the Fidelius charm and how to proceed to get Sirius pardoned.

An instant later, the minister flooed over for the second time that day and questioned Sirius under Veritaserum, before he determined that Sirius was innocent and that the French Ministry would issue a document for him that allowed him to lead a normal life.

"If you're interested, we're always looking for good Aurors, especially now that Voldemort is back and your country will probably be pulled into a war. Sadly, France is not too far from Britain," the minister informed him.

"Accept it," Harry instructed his godfather, knowing that Sirius was still too stunned from the sudden happenings to jump at the opportunity.

"If you can offer me such a post, I'll accept it," Sirius replied to the minister, who instructed him to come to the Ministry of Magic first thing the following morning.

Finally, after a short discussion about possible Secret Keepers, Delacour cast the Fidelius charm with Dobby as the Secret Keeper.

During the following months, while he visited a day school to learn proper French, Harry thoroughly enjoyed living together with Sirius. During the weekends, Gabrielle used to visit Harry, and by the time they had to leave for Beauxbatons, their relationship as girlfriend and boyfriend was already very stable.

Harry immediately liked Bauxbatons. Beginning from the exterior, it was completely different from Hogwarts. The walls were white, and the whole building was large but did not have more than two stories in height. The students did not live in dormitories but only had to share their rooms with one other student. Harry's roommate was Pierre, and he was very friendly. Somehow, Harry felt that Pierre reminded him of Neville Longbottom, and the two boys soon became good friends.

Although Harry had left Britain to live in France by his own free will, Sirius gave him a subscription for the Daily Prophet, stating that Harry should still know what happened in their home country.

It was half-way through his final year at Beauxbatons, when Harry one morning read something disturbing in the Daily Prophet. There was an article about Horcruxes. 'What's that?' Harry wondered in bewilderment.

The article stated that Albus Dumbledore together with Lucius Malfoy had destroyed all of Voldemort's Horcruxes but one, and that in order to vanquish the last one and make Voldemort vincible again, Harry Potter had to be found.

'What the f…' Harry thought and immediately wrote a letter to Sirius.

The response arrived late in the evening, when Sirius contacted him through the two-way mirrors. "Harry, I'm trying to find out something. I believe that Voldemort might have put a Horcrux behind your scar, and I've spoken to the Paris Hôpital de la Magie and to the Banque de Gringotts, and the healers and goblins are trying to find a way to destroy it without harming you. Please give them some time and don't worry."

"All right," Harry replied, thinking that it was easier to say not to worry than to do. To his relief, however, Sirius came to pick him up and take him to the bank as soon as Saturday morning.

He was instructed to take a seat in a comfortable chair in Verdubois' office and frowned, when three goblins and two healers came to stand opposite of him.

"Don't worry, Monsieur Potter, we will not harm you, Verdubois promised, before the three goblins simultaneously waved their hands in his direction.

Harry felt only pain, worse than any pain that he had experienced ever before – until suddenly, a golden flash engulfed his body, and he felt something being pressed out of his head. At once, the pain vanished, and he felt completely free and happy – more than ever before.

"That was all," Verdubois informed him, and Harry opened his eyes, which he had squeezed shut during the process, only to see a strange creature almost looking like a baby being vanished by the healers.

He profusely thanked the goblins and the healers, before he returned home to La Niche to spend the weekend with his godfather, only to return to the school on Sunday evening.

"That was a great weekend. Thank you so much," he told Sirius, before he stepped into the fireplace.

"Take care Pup," Sirius replied, when Harry vanished in the flames.

On Monday evening, Albus Dumbledore called the four heads of the houses as well as Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley into his office.

"I just received the information from Madame Maxime that Harry has been attending Beauxbatons ever since he vanished here," he informed his visitors. "Unfortunately, we need Harry here, as first of all, the Horcrux within his head must be destroyed, so that Voldemort can be vanquished, and secondly, there is a prophecy clearly stating that Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort."

"I'm sorry, Headmaster, but if there was such a prophecy, you should have trained Harry accordingly instead of putting him with his abusive muggle relatives," Hermione replied in a surprisingly icy voice. "No wonder that he ran away from your manipulations."

"Ms. Granger," McGonagall admonished her, however, it was a very weak reprimand, and everyone in the room knew it.

"What are we going to do?" Dumbledore enquired, however, no one knew a solution – or they just did not bother to reply due to being upset at him.

Before anyone at Hogwarts could even think of an appropriate way of action, Snape informed Voldemort of Harry's whereabouts, and a few weeks later, Voldemort attacked Beauxbatons with twenty of his most valued Death Eaters in tow.

Harry was just in the middle of his History of Magic NEWT, when Madam Maxime's voice sounded through the school. "All students, please go back to your rooms and remain zere until further notice. British Death Eaters are attacking our school."

"Viens.. come," Pierre told Harry, who shook his head in determination.

"No Pierre, they've come for me. This is a fight which I have to fight," he told his friend and motioned him to return to their room, before he made his way towards the main entrance.

Fortunately, Sirius had been aware of the prophecy and, even if he did not knew if it still applied considering that Harry had fled the country, had used all school holidays to share his Auror Defence knowledge with his godson.

Therefore, Harry easily made himself invisible and stunned a couple of Death Eaters, only to become distracted when he recognised Severus Snape among the ones standing around Voldemort.

"You bastard," he growled at the Potions Master, while summoning as much magic as he could to cast an exploding charm at Voldemort, which pulled the Hogwarts head of Slytherin into death together with his Master.

By now the Aurors had arrived and quickly got rid of the remaining Death Eaters.

Harry just knelt on the floor and sobbed.

"'Arry, are you all right?"

He looked up upon hearing Gabrielle's voice, seeing her looking at him in apparent concern.

"I killed someone," he whispered, "I'm a murderer."

"No, you're not. Zey came to kill you, and you defended yourself," Gabrielle countered.

"Exactly," Madame Maxime spoke up, as they approached the couple. "On ze contrary, you're a 'ero for saving ze school from un monstre. Come now," she added and led Harry into her office, not bothering to make Gabrielle leave.

The last ten days of the school year passed in a blur for Harry. To celebrate the school's victory over the most evil wizard of the time and to conduct repair works in the half destroyed entrance hall, Madame Maxime cancelled all classes until the end of the school year, and the only students remaining were those who still had to finish their OWLs and NEWTs.

On one his last days at Beauxbatons, he received a letter from Amelia Bones, the British Minister of Magic. She congratulated him to his victory over Voldemort and offered him the Order of Merlin first class along with the position of the head of the Wizengamot, stating that Dumbledore had retired in favour of Harry.

However, Harry denied the award along with the position, stating that his girl-friend, who would be his wife in four years' time, was only a fourth-year student at Beauxbatons, and that he would prefer to spend his future in France, a country that had fully supported him from the beginning.

"You will stay for me?" Gabrielle asked, pulling Harry into a bear's hug. "And we will marry?"

"As soon as you finish school if that's what you want," Harry replied, smiling.

"Yessss," Gabrielle shouted in apparent excitement that brought her father into the room.

"Is everything all right 'ere?" Minister Delacour asked in apparent amusement.

"Yes," Gabrielle repeated and informed her father about her and Harry's discussion.

"Congratulations my dear," her father replied, grinning broadly. Looking at his future son-in-law, he said, "On be'alf of ze French Ministry of Magic, I offer you ze position of ze ambassador for Britain. I 'hope zat you won't turn me down like you did wiz Amelia. As ze French ambassador for Britain, you will closely work togezer wiz her."

"I gladly accept," Harry replied, smiling, "and I don't have any problems working together with Madam Bones. I've known her as a very correct witch. I merely despise manipulating bastards and Death Eaters. I love France, however, and I owe Beauxbatons and the French Ministry greatly for rescuing me three years ago."

Whatever he wanted to add was drowned in Gabrielle's squeal "'Arry, I love you too!"

The End - I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I had fun writing this.