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Chapter 17 - Take One: Professor Potter

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 31st July 2001 AD
Country: France - The French Riviera - Marseeleveyre Mountains
Location: Chateau Delacour
Time: Morning

As Harry's first day of training began, Viktor woke him at six am, informing him that they were going to run, changing into some Wizarding sports gear he found in his wardrobe; consisting of a red pair of trousers, a red shirt and a pair of sports trainers, all of which fitted him perfectly, upon closer inspection he realised that they were a pair of his Gryffindor Quidditch robes which had been adapted to fit him better.

He met Viktor in the Entrance Hall; he was dressed similarly except his clothes were in Bulgarian colours.

"You ready Harry?"

"Probably not, I have less muscle on me than a flubberworm."

Viktor laughed deeply before beginning the lesson.

He ran Harry through a series of stretches and explained to Harry why they were important.

After the stretches they started to run, Viktor led Harry out of the house and began to do a lap of the lawn.

It was the first time that Harry had been outside of the Chateau and he could finally get a look at the house that he was staying in.

The Chateau wasn't so much a castle, but a mansion, it was very large, built in a light grey or creamy stone (it was hard to tell in the dawn light), with white cornering and detailing. It was roughly rectangular except for the towers at each corner which were the same height as the Chateau and were capped with individual cone shaped roofs which were not quite as tall as the main roof.

From his knowledge of the inside of the Chateau he new that the towers were just room extensions, small window lined towers in the corner of rooms roughly one and a half meters in width that allowed an almost unrestricted view in all directions.

The Chateau itself was vast, about five stories tall at least one hundred and fifty meters in length and fifty deep, on one side of it a little way down the hill was a smaller building that looked more like sheds than actual rooms. Surrounding the Chateau on all sides, sloping of into the distance were endless expanses of grass, trees and lakes and to cap it all of, to the south and west the Mediterranean could be seen twinkling in the mornings rays.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

They ended up running the entire way around the estate, which had to be a good five miles, heaven knows how Harry managed it with as little muscle as he now had, it was probably only his Quidditch stamina that made him last.

As they reached the main entrance Harry literally fell to the grass in exhaustion.

"Very good Harry," congratulated Viktor breathing heavily "I am surprised that you managed even half that distance."

"I am just surprised I made it to the finish." replied Harry between gasps.

"Actually the finish is after another four circuits."

"Four!" exclaimed Harry "That's not possible."

"It's what a Quidditch player has to do if he wants to join the Bulgarian team, officially you only have to do it once but I like to keep my fitness level height."

He pulled Harry to his feet and helped him inside.

"Arry," exclaimed Fleur as she came down the main staircase "Vhat ave you been doing to im?" she asked Viktor, anger evident in her voice at the sight Harry gasping for breath and barely able to stand, his clothes soaked in sweat.

"Nothing much," gasped out Harry "Just the odd five mile death march, nothing special."

"Vive miles!" she exclaimed moving to his other side to support him "Ow on Earth did you manage it?"

"Stubbornness." answered Viktor with a chuckle as they made their way to Harry's room "Rest for the remainder of the day, next time we will start later, you did very well this morning."

They deposited Harry on his bed before Krum left the room; Fleur remained, moving into the bathroom she ran him a soothing bath, pouring some exotic oils into the water, creating a pleasant and relaxing aroma.

The bathroom was large holding a shower and a very circular bath, around one end of the bath were a series of knobs lined up around a set of three taps, one tap for hot, one tap for cold and one tap for all the exotic suds and scents that the knobs activated.

Returning to the room she moved to the bed and helped him into the bathroom

"Ave a bath, I shall return in a vhile vith your lunch."

"Lunch," he chuckled "I haven't even had breakfast yet."

She turned to him.

"Vhat do you mean you aven't had breakvast?"

"We have been running since dawn," explained Harry.

"I shall be aving vords vith Viktor." she said more to herself than Harry, though he could see the scowl on her face. "Now bathe."

She left him there; he slowly stripped of his clothes and slid into the tub, the warm water and exotic suds soothing his aching muscles.

Twenty minutes later he managed to heave himself out of the still warm bath.

Donning a red dressing gown he wandered back into the bedroom, some of his strength having returned to him.

As he laid down on the bed, he noticed for the first time that there was a door on the far side of the room.

Getting up he went and opened the door, immediately behind it was a wall.

Before he could investigate further, the door opened and Fleur glided in carrying a tray.

"You look better," she complimented with a smile.

"Thanks, what is...." he began, gesturing to the room.

"It is a special room, most of the bedrooms have one, you simply think what you want the room to be and it becomes it....within reazon."

"Oh," He replied moving back to the bed "It sounds a bit like The Room of Requirements at Hogwarts."

Harry sat on the bed beside Fleur but paused when he saw the tray of food.

"What are those?"

"Croissants," she said picking one up "Do not vorry, you vill like vem."

Harry picked one up and looked at it sceptically, seeing Fleur looking at him expectantly while delicately eating hers, he cautiously took a bite.

Munching the pastry he tested the flavour.

"Vell?" asked Fleur

"It's a little....dry."

Fleur rolled her eyes

"This from the people who eat sconez."

"Scones have large quantities of cream on them." defended Harry.

Fleur shook her head in amusement and uncovered a small plate of butter on the corner of the tray.

"I took precautionz."

Harry smiled as they settled down for brunch.

An hour later Harry and Fleur wandered down stairs heading towards the sitting room.

Fleur had brought a Pepper-up potion with the meal so Harry's was currently feeling relatively energetic, despite having run five miles.

They opened the doors to the sitting room and came to an abrupt halt as they saw who was sitting talking to Dimitri and Delphine.

"Madam Maxime!" exclaimed Fleur.

"Oh dear."

The half giant elegantly turned and stood, mild surprise on her face.

"Mr Potter, so thiz is vhere you ave been iding out."

"Madam Maxime." Harry greeted bowing.

"I must confess I vas curious to vhere you ave been iding out ever since Albuz contacted me."

"Fleur rescued me from my relatives hospitality, brought me back to health and have been caring for me ever since." he explained.

"Rezcued you?" she asked frowning "Don't most studentz enjoy there holidayz?"

"They had beaten and tortured him," explained Dimitri "When he arrived he was a walking bruise, or at least he would have been had he not been crippled by Wizarding Flu and left to die in a locked room."

Madam Maxime turned red in fury, her lip quivered as she tried to restrain herself from exploding, eventually she managed to force out.

"I zee."

"Very restrained of you Olympe." commented Dimitri trying hard not to smile at the colour of her face.

"I truzt that they ave been taken care of." she said turning to Dimitri.

"Legal proceedings are under way as we speak."

"They are?" questioned Harry surprised.

"Yes," confirmed Delphine "They were arrested and are now out on bail, they are due in court in two weeks time, you do not need to see them again Harry, Viktor volunteered to go in your place using Polyjuice Potion, as he has seen your memories it seemed like the best way."

"There is no need....I will go myself." He said with a degree of certainty.

"Are you sure Arry?" asked Fleur.

He nodded slowly, determination evident on his face; he was going to be there when their world came tumbling down, just like his had, except for them....there would be no way back up.

"Anyway, coming back to the current situation," he said turning to Madam Maxime "What are you going to tell Dumbledore now that you know I am staying here?"

Madam Maxime pondered for a moment before answering.

"As you are alive and vell and obviously in safe handz," she sent a glance at Fleur who still had her arm through his "I vill tell im nothing, that man lovez to be in control of everything, that is vhy the first Tournament was eld at Hogwarts....it would be nice to zee him at a loss for vonce."

Harry gave her a one sided grin.

"Ow ever."

Hear it comes thought Harry Always a catch.

"You could do zomething for me." she continues with a smile.

"Yes?" asked Harry slowly.

"My school iz currently in need of a flying instructor....az vell az a Defenze Profezzor."

Harry stood for several seconds staring at her before bursting out laughing.

"You want me to hahaha....to, to teach."

In between bouts of laughter he looked at the expression on her face, his laughter died in his throat.

"Your serious."

"Yez."

"I'm only here for another five weeks or so and I am supposed to be using that time to train up and then after that school star...." confusion crossed Harry's face "Wait, it's the holidays, how will I be able to teach students if they are at home?"

"It iz holiday for the Eenglish schoolz Arry," explained Fleur "Rulez state vat Beauxbatons has to be open for a zertain number of veeks every year, there voz a period lazt year vhen the school voz forzed to cloze due to staff shortagez , the studenze were zent ome, zo they are completing those veeks now, bazically vey got an early holiday."

"That's why Gabrielle was in her school uniform." realised Harry.

"Yes," continued Dimitri "We asked that she be allowed to return home so that she could see an old friend, she has developed a bit of a crush on you."

Harry blushed slightly, causing Fleur to giggle.

"Returning to the point, you will be able to teach at Beauxbatons Harry," explained Delphine "We just use the same technique we were going to use for compressing your training into five weeks?"

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but realising that it would work closed it again and returned to the issue of teaching.

"Regardless of how I could do it, I am supposed to be remaining hidden, I can't do that I am teaching, plus the fact that I have no teaching experience."

"Vhat about the DA?" asked Madam Maxime "You taught vem how to fight."

"How on Earth do you know about the DA?" Harry asked seriously, if he didn't already know her he would probably have been fingering his wand now.

"Your mizzion into ve Department of Mysteriez iz vell known Mr Potter." she explained.

"And you can uze magic to alter your appearanze." suggested Fleur.

"I can't speak French." tried Harry again, there had to be someway that he could get out of this and there was no way he could learn French in time.

"Viktor knows French, we can use his Occlumency skills to transfer his knowledge to you and French children learn English as soon as they start school anyway."

Harry glared at Dimitri for suggesting it; he was met with a beaming smile; that was his last argument shot down.

Harry tried desperately to think of an excuse, anything to stop him from teaching, his mind failed him.

He sighed,

"When do I start?"
________________________________________________________________________

That evening rolled around, Madam Maxime spent the rest of the day explaining what his job would entail.

The previous flying instructor had apparently been very....well, for lack of a better word, traditional, brooms were apparently meant only for getting from one place to another quickly, as a result most of the students could barely fly and those that only knew because they had leaned at home, even the seventh years. Madam Maxime had decided to

On the plus side, the school had just been upgrading and replacing its ageing brooms with newer affordable Nimbus 2000's, which of course Harry was familiar with, this would aid his disguise as he could use one of them instead of his Firebolt, which he remembered Umbridge still had in her office, though he doubted she would still be teaching.

As regards his other teaching role, he discovered that Defence was not as he had believed it to be; Defence Against The Dark Arts, instead it was a separate subject Defence Against Assault.

The class was basically just like the DA, teaching the students how to duel, this made Harry feel a bit better as it meant he did not need to drone on about grindylows and boggarts and he could just focus on spells.

After hearing all of this his spirits lifted, it made him actually look forward to his first day....sort of.

He was to start work in a week or so of his time, to give him a chance to settle in and to get his training properly organised.

As midnight rolled around Fleur entered the room they had agreed to meet in.

"Did your father get it?"

Fleur held out her hand, the object lay on her open palm.

"It wazn't eazy, he add to call in a lot ov favourz."

"Let's just hope it's worth it."

Fleur looked at him disapprovingly.

"For you Arry, anyving is vorth it....ready?"

Harry nodded and took hold of the Time Turner and wound it backwards twenty four times and they vanished.