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Chapter 22 - Take Six: Birthday Surprises

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

After returning from their failed mission the day before, Harry hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, deciding instead to study his text books for the next year which had been bought for him by the Delacour's. He has promised to pay them back but they had refused quite strongly.

He had read late and only stopped when Fleur came in and told him that it was time for their last jump of that day.

Going through the usual temporal training ritual he performed at night he awoke at five thirty AM the next morning still feeling as bad as he had when they had left the colony.

It was all his fault, he was not good enough, if it hadn't been for him they would have the support of the Veela.

He laid on his back with Fleur snuggled up to his side until eight when Fleur began to rouse.

"Morning Arry." she said giving him a slight hug, which she combined with a stretch.

Harry always thought that she looked so beautiful sleeping, no make up (not that she used or needed any), no stylised hair, nothing just Fleur as she looked naturally, she always looked so innocent and care free.

Dragging herself out of bed she slid off the bed onto the floor, before gliding (or at least that's how it always looked to Harry) off to the bathroom.

When she returned Harry was still lying on his back staring at the canopy.

"Arry, are you alright?"

He rolled out of the bed.

"Fine." He said absently not really paying attentions as he went to take his turn in the bathroom.

Fleur watched him sadly as he entered the bathroom; she had guessed his mood was a result of yesterday's disappointment with the Veela, She didn't blame the Matriarch for her refusal, she had to think about what was best for her people.

She had to try to think of someway to improve his mood; she remained standing and slipped her dress over her head while she attempted to think of a solution.

After several seconds her eyes widened at a memory, she ran to the night stands and quickly rifled through the draws until she found a calendar.

Flipping through the pages she reached July and began counting days, as she completed her calculation her eyes widened accompanied by a look of annoyance as she mentally scolded herself for forgetting.

Replacing the calendar she ran towards the door, skidding to a halt at the door before returning to grab the Time Turner.

She bolted out of the door completely forgetting to put on any shoes.
________________________________________________________________________

Harry emerged from the bathroom several minutes after he had entered; he thought he had heard the door open.

Re-entering the bedroom he was just in time to see Fleur walk back into the room, looking considerably more awake than she did just minutes before.

"Is everything alright?" he asked dabbing his wet hair.

"Everything is Fine Arry," she reassured him "But I have something I would like to show you though, please get dressed quickly."

She walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of high healed shoes.

She then did something Harry thought was very strange, she picked up her wand and began to transfigure her appearance, her long straight silvery/blond hair turned red (a deeper shade than that of the Weasley's), curled and got several inches shorter reducing so that it was only just past her shoulders, her facial features changed as well, her eyes turned brown and her nose and lips changed their shape slightly.

If Harry had not seen her just change he wouldn't even know it was the same person.

Standing Harry could also see that she was also slightly shorter than him whereas she usually she was about half an inch taller, her dress also, far from being another of Fleur's beautiful silver or light blue numbers, was now in fact light blue, but unlike her normal attire, it was not plane, but was rather covered in attractive yellow flowers, giving her a slightly younger look, making her appear to be around his age.

She looked a bit like a cross between Hermione, Ginny and his mother.

"What's all that for?" he asked confused.

She turned to him and went to speak, remembering something she paused and pointed her wand at her throat before continuing.

"It's to allow me to go unnoticed, otherwise people will know who you are staying with." she explained in perfect English.

"Fleur this is supposed to be our day off." he reminded her as he did up the lace on his trainers.

"It is, but we can hardly have fun when everyone is asking you questions about being seen with me." she explained.

Harry accepted the explanation as she took his hand and led him out of the room to the main fireplace in the lounge.

"Where are we going?" he asked as she picked up a handful of Floo Powder.

"It's a surprise Harry, just remember if anyone asks, my name is April and you are staying with me and my parents, don't tell them any more than that....oh yes, and I am your girlfriend."

With that she threw the powder into the fire, said:

"Safe House."

And pulled him into the fire before he even had the chance to object or ask a question.
________________________________________________________________________

Harry always found Floo travel particularly horrible, he did not know if it was just him ot something that happened to a lot of people, but he always ended up getting thrown out at the other end.

Which was exactly what happened this time.

He and Fleur, or rather April (as she had been holding on to him), crashed out of the fireplace at the far end, landing hard on an old oak floor.

"SURPRISE," he heard several voices yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY."

"Birthday....whose?" he asked confused as he clambered to his feet.

"Yours silly." he heard a very familiar female voice say before he was engulfed in a hug by what looked like a mane of wavy brown hair.

"Hermione?" he asked confused.

"Who else." she answered brightly, pulling back only for him to be engulfed by a shorted mane of red hair.

"Oh Harry," he heard Ginny whisper "I though I'd lost you."

Harry noted her use of the word 'I'.

He hugged her back whispering his reply, quickly adapting to the idea that he was no longer in hiding "I'm ok Gin.....thanks to you."

He was sure he heard her sniffle.

"Oh come on Ginny he was only missing a couple of days," he heard what he thought to be one of the twins say "Your acting as though he almost died."

He glanced at Fleur who mouthed "They don't know.", nodding his understanding he released Ginny and looked at the room for the first time, they were in what appeared to be a wood cabin, not more than fifteen meters square containing a kitchen, a bathroom, several arm chairs and sofas, a long table covered in food, another table covered in presents, a wizard radio and about twenty people.

Apart from Hermione and Ginny he could see the twins, Ron, Bill, Charlie, Neville, Luna, Tonks, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Oliver Wood, Lee Jordan and Viktor.

Above their heads or beside them in the case of Viktor and the Weasley's males was a banner saying.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY

He was rapidly greeted by all as they all started hugging him, shaking hands with him or smacking him on the back if you were Viktor or one of the twins.

"When?....How?....What?" he managed to splutter out at the sight before him.

"This very attractive girlfriend of yours Harry," explained Bill "Came to The Burrow in secret last night and told Ginny about the surprise party, Ginny quickly told the rest of us younger Weasley's...."

"And we told out girlfriends." chanted the twins in unison directing their gaze towards Katie and Angelina.

"And we told Oliver and Alicia." the Katie continued.

"And I told Lee." added Oliver.

"While Ron and Ginny contacted Neville and Luna." finished Hermione.

"And what about you three?" asked Harry pointing at Tonks, Hermione and Viktor, interested to hear how Viktor had been included.

"April came to my house and got me personally," explained Hermione "It gave my parents a bit of a shock to see her on our doorstep at eleven O'clock in the evening."

"It took me half an hour to convince her that you were safe and that I was who I said I was." smirked Fleur.

He saw Hermione blush out of the corner of his eye.

"And I was with Bill at the time," explained Tonks with a seductive grin, dare he ask what they were doing, at least Mrs. Weasley's finally got her wish about the two of them being together "And I suggested contacting Fleur and her sister, unfortunately they were busy and couldn't come but Viktor was there and he agreed immediately."

Harry had to resist the urge to laugh as Fleur shifted slightly next to him.

"We didn't dare bring anyone else as they would probably tell Dumbledore," explained Tonks "And you do not need to worry Harry, I will not tell him that I saw you, as far as I am concerned if I do find you after tonight, it will be the first time I have seen you all summer....it also does not help that I do not have a clue where you are staying, where we are now or that I do not have a wand as your girlfriend has confiscated mine."

He saw Fleur blush beside him and suppressed a chuckle, it was very hard to get Fleur to blush.

"I see." he nodded, accepting the explanation, "But I am supposed to be in hiding and aren't your parents going to realise that you're gone?"

"I'm going to take care of that Harry," explained April; he had a feeling she would use The Time Turner but couldn't say it out loud encase the others heard "I have also forbidden them to talk about where you are staying or anything of the sort."

"She has," agreed Fred "Wizard Oaths...."

"At wand point." added George.

"It was a bit scary." nodded Viktor; Harry never knew he was such a good actor.

"Trust you Harry to find a girlfriend who looks cute, but can also appear more dangerous than a pair of dragons in heat." joked Hermione.

Fleur shuffled her feet embarrassed as the others chuckled.

"Anyway, enough chat," said Fred before his brother took over "Its present time."

Half an hour later Harry had finally managed to wade through all the presents he had received, there were more presents than people, the Weasley's had brought their parents gifts with them.

Among the masses of presents he had received some of the more notable ones included:

A Weasley jumper (of course) this time displaying the Tri Wizard Cup, which Harry and most of the other believed had not been well though out by Mrs Weasley.

An array of chocolates and sweets including a 3D Chocolate Dragon, that bites, flies and breaths liquid chocolate. Hagrid always had a good sense of humour, he had apparently given the present to the Weasley's in the hope that they would contact him.

A book entitled 'The Greatest Quidditch Players Of All Time' from Ron, looking to the back to see the most recent entries and gave a big smile to see the five most recent entries:

Viktor Krum

Obviously.

Oliver Wood.

Katie Bell.

Angelina Johnson.

Alicia Spinnet.

They had all been accepted by league teams.

And below that Ron had written

Harry Potter.

This earned laughs and sounds of agreement from most of the assembled group.

Hermione gave him a book (of course) on Duelling, obvious planning for next years DA sessions, assuming that they continued teaching after they get rid of Umbridge.

Viktor gave him a book entitled 'How To Get The Physique Of A Quidditch Player' which Harry found fairly amusing considering the fact that Viktor was built more like a Beater than a Seeker.

The twins gave him a complete set of their stock along with a very generous free gift of one hundred Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Shares which were apparently sky rocketing, they were in fact doing so well that since they started trading last year the shares had gone up from a knut to a sickle.

Tonks gave him a book called 'The Auror Training Guide', thanking her, he mentally noted to read it very soon.
The Quidditch Players and Commentator (Lee) had been caught of guard, not expecting to be attending a party had run around very quickly to grab presents and had not done badly considering the short notice.
Collectively they gave him a quaffle signed by all the members of the old and current Gryffindor Quidditch Team along with Lee's name as the commentator, and a set of robes from each of their teams; Puddlemere United from Oliver, The Falmouth Falcons from Angelina and The Chudley Cannons (much to Ron's approval) from Katie and Alicia who had both apparently been selected as Chasers for the team which they would join when they finished Hogwarts in a years time.
Luna and Neville, who were apparently a couple, had given him a little Globe that Harry thought was a Remembrall.

"I might be sixteen Neville but my memory is not that bad yet." He joked, earning chuckles and giggles from those around him.

"It's not a Remembrall Harry, it's a Feelings Sphere, it works like a Remembrall but you can choose what emotion you want stored in it." Neville looked proud at his own knowledge which earned him a kiss on the cheek from Luna. "All you do is get whatever feeling you want stored within it centred in your mind then tap the ball with your wand and say 'remember' and that emotion will be stored within it."

"When you touch it," Luna continued "You will feel the emotion stored within, my father thinks they were originally made by a secret group of wizard's intent on stealing emotions in an attempt to gain control over them before using them to overthrow the Wizarding World."

Harry smiled; it was one of the best presents he had been given; now he just had to think what to store within it.

Bill's present was probably the biggest surprise and earned the most laughs, it was the latest Chocolate Frog Card....and guess who it was of.

It read:

Harry James Potter

Harry Potter, born 31st July 1980, best known as The-Boy-Who-Lived. When he was but one year old he defeated the Dark Lord, more commonly referred to as You-Know-Who. He currently attends Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry in Scotland, his time there so far has been far from quiet. He has saved the Philosophers Stone, rescued a fellow student from a Basilisk and has won The Triwizard Tournament as the forth contestant, a contest that he shouldn't have been able to enter because he was underage, and he has led a party of fellow students which he trained to duel illegally into the Department Of Mysteries, where he rescued and saved a prophecy from the hands of the Dark Lord who he also told the world was back, even when no one but his Headmaster Albus Dumbledore would listen. We expect great things of Harry Potter.

Bill explained that they were only going to make around one hundred of these cards as it was a limited edition due to the fact that he was still young which meant his information would need changing.

He got down to his final three presents; he opened the largest first, it was from Charlie.

Opening it up, a piece of material fell to the floor with a thud.

Picking it up, he could see that it was in fact a beautiful black cloak, and a very strange one at that, it was heavier than most materials and thicker.

As he opened it several people gasped.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Tonks moving forward to feel the material.

"That depends on what you think it is." smiled Charlie.

Feeling the material Harry noticed that the outer side was made up of small hard plates, all roughly diamond shaped and no more than five centimetres in length. The interior lining was made of very fine dark red silk, it was probably one of the finest materials he had ever felt.

"It's a dragon hide cloak." explained Hermione in awe as she moved next to Tonks to feel the cloak, most of the others also moved forward, never having scene a cloak like this.

"Can you guys stop fondling my cloak for a minute and back up? I am feeling a bit claustrophobic here."

There were several apologises as Hermione, Tonks and the rest moved back.

"This sort of cloak is very rare Harry." explained Hermione "And are very expensive to buy, almost as rare and expensive as invisibility cloaks."

"Unless you work at a Dragon sanctuary," smiled Charlie "Then you can get the scales from the source. We normally sell the cloaks we make to help maintain the sanctuary, but the rest of the staff from the reserve and I thought you deserved this as a reward for getting passed that Horntail."

"Thanks." smiled Harry has he ran his hands over the surface.

"We apologise for it being so late but we had to wait for the Horntail to shed enough of the right size scales to make it, the scales that go into gloves are shed all the time, these scales are shed at a rate of about one or two a week."

"These scales are from the Horntail I faced?" asked Harry.

"Yes," confirmed Charlie "We though it would be ironic for the scales of the creature that tried to kill you to now be protecting you."

"Dragon scales are virtually impenetrable Harry." explained Hermione "And Horntails have some of the hardest scales there are. They are impervious to blades, bullets, magic, fire, in fact almost anything you can think of."

Harry was astonished; with the exception of his invisibility cloak he had never owned anything so exquisite.

"I don't know what to say." exclaimed Harry.

"Try 'thank you'." giggled April.

"Thank you Charlie." He smiled as April took the cloak and slipped it around his shoulders before doing up the clasp.

That left two presents; he opened the largest first.
________________________________________________________________________

Ginny was terrified, he was down to the last two presents and was about to open hers.

After he had sent her that thank you letter she had come to the conclusion that yes, she was still in love with Harry, much to her annoyance.

What made it worse was that she knew that April was really Fleur but more importantly she seriously doubted that Fleur would assume the role of a girlfriend if there was not something behind it.

That made her challenge all the harder, after Fleur had told her about the party she had taken them all on a secret trip to Diagon Alley to allow them to buy presents, she had to find something really impressive or really personal to show Harry her feelings.

She had finally found something, but had had to borrow heavily from the twins to get it.

She just prayed it did what it was supposed to.
________________________________________________________________________

Inside the packaging was a small box, containing a model of a Phoenix with its wings spread.

Made out of silver, the craftsmanship was incredible, the way that rubies had been set in the birds head as the eyes while every single feather seemed to be carved individually, each somehow managing to look both silver and the colour of the feather on the real animal.

As soon as he touched it, it came to life and gave out a sweet note, its wings flapped slightly before returning to its original posture.

Harry pulled it out of the box, to find it attached to a chain, which he instantly slipped over his head.

Before looking at the youngest Weasley.

"Thank you Gin." He said giving her a hug, before turning to his last present.

No one seemed to notice the look of relief on Ginny's face as he had put on the necklace or the excitement when he had called her Gin, a name that she hated being called so much that the last boy to call her it had been on the receiving end of her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex, they hadn't been able to remove the hex for over an hour, no one had dared call her Gin since.

No one except Fleur though to much into the fact that Ginny was giving Harry a necklace, they all knew that Ginny had feelings for him, Fleur's suspicions on the other hand were raised immediately upon seeing the piece of jewellery, there was magic on it, she could sense it, but she did not know what, she wondered what the youngest Weasley was up to.

Her attention was brought back to the present as Harry opened her gift.

It, like Ginny's was a small and square, though slightly smaller, everyone had got closer when he began opening this present, interested to see what his girlfriend had got him.

Opening the box Harry discovered a small crystal set in a band of silver with intricate inscriptions had been written around it.

"It is a soul ring," explained Fleur, causing Hermione and several of the other females present to gasp "Inside it is a bit of my magic, it will allow you to feel me even when we are apart, it also changes colour depending on my mood or feelings at the time."
________________________________________________________________________

Ginny's felt like her heart had just been ripped out.

She had been trumped.

After spending all that time thinking what to get him and finally finding something that he would love, she had been beaten at the last hurdle by that French tart.

Now she really hoped that the necklace did as it was intended.
________________________________________________________________________

Fleur took the box from him and extracted the ring, Harry held out his left hand, allowing Fleur to slip it onto his third finger.

He looked at the ring on his finger for several seconds seeing the crystal changing from its clear state to green.

He looked at her questioningly.

"Happiness." she explained moving to give him a peck on the cheek.

In a moment of mental insanity for which he had no explanation, he intercepted her mouth with his own pulling her into a kiss.

Fleur was startled as Harry kissed her, she wasn't complaining, but she thought Harry was too noble to even conceive of the idea of kissing someone without written consent of both them and every other living family member the other party had.

Lots of cheering and wolf whistles could be heard in the background while the pair kissed, there were no tongues, it wasn't passionate but it was nice as the brighter green on Harry's ring proved.

As they separated Harry, realising that they had to keep the fact that they were not a couple a secret, he did his uttermost not to be appalled by his actions, he had just kissed her.

Luckily someone turned the wizard radio as others pulled him to his feet, saving him from trying to think how on Earth he was going to avoid being chastised by Dimitri and Delphine, not to mention Fleur, he really did not want to get in the way of an angry Veela.

For the next three hours Harry was pulled around the cabin by the various girls (though noticeably not Ginny) who seemed determined not to let him sit down for a moment, at one point he thought he had escaped as the twins grabbed him, but this ended up with him being pulled into a can-can line.

He finally managed to make a break for it towards the food table about four hours after his arrival, only to find himself coming face to face with Hermione, who look happy but also noticeably thoughtful.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked as he picked up a stick and stabbed a chocolate profiterole before holding it under the chocolate fountain that the twins had brought with them, apparently they had been looking into Muggle artefacts for ideas, unfortunately that included watching a lot of TV comedy sketches, he wondered how long it would be before they finished every sentence with 'Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.' Harry pulled his mind back to present as Hermione moved to answer his question.

"I'm just wondering who your girlfriend really is?" she said keeping her eyes on him, watching his reaction.

Harry paused as he was about to bring the profiterole up to his mouth, instead letting it get drenched in chocolate (not necessarily a bad thing).

"Why do you think April isn't my girlfriend," he asks carefully "Aren't I handsome enough?" he said jokingly trying to move away from the subject.

"Oh you're handsome enough," she said shyly, not used to commenting on her friend's appearance "But I have been watching her and she doesn't seem quiet right."

Harry followed her gaze to where Fleur was chatting to Krum; Harry silently prayed that Hermione didn't put two and two together as the pair talked.

"Firstly she looked slightly surprised when you kissed her," Harry mentally cursed himself again for doing that "She also keeps misjudging things, she has only been slightly less clumsy than Tonks so far, she just hides it well, and lastly she is presumably who you are staying with and as I believe that you wouldn't become romantically involved with anyone that you had known for less than two weeks I am led to assume that A. She is someone you already know and B. She is using either charms or a Polyjuice potion to alter her appearance, which is why she seems to be so clumsy, as she is not used to the body,"

Harry mentally cursed Hermione's brain, she had seen through the disguise since the beginning.

"And don't try telling me I am wrong Harry Potter." She said firmly.

Harry realising that she already knew with 100% certainty that she was right, rapidly he tried to think up an answer, after several seconds he settled on a solution.

"You will find out who she is on the first day of school," he told her, by then it wouldn't mater if he told them as would no longer be staying with the Delacour's, the glimmer of an idea crossed his mind as a way to distract Hermione from the subject.

"Mrs Weasley." he added.

Hermione almost sprayed out her drink at his last comment.

"Harry....we're not...." She began spluttering; now it was Harry's turn to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Hermione, I have known you and Ron since our first day of school, I have been noticing the signs for an entire year, if only one of you would get up the courage and ask the other out, you could stop the dance that you two have been doing around each other since you started school."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times before regaining her composure, picking up a cocktail sausage and smiling at him "Happy birthday Harry.", with that she walked back onto the dance floor.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"You ok dear."

He jumped so hard that he sent the profiterole flying, causing it to land, by some pure fluke, on the plate containing profiteroles; the throw though did leave him with chocolate splashes on his fingers, where the stick had landed before rolling onto the table.

"Jumpy Harry?" asked April teasingly, wrapping her arms around him from behind.

"Please don't do that." he requested looking down at her arms around him, not quite sure if he should be breathing in sharply or relaxing and breathing out.

"Why, it was fun, it means I get to clean you up." she said reaching for his chocolate covered fingers, taking them into her mouth one at a time.

Harry had to resist the urge to moan as she ran her beautiful tongue over his digits, then the urge to blush as a pair of wolf whistles emanated from the other side of the room.

When she finished the last one she reached for Harry's dropped stick and picked up his profiterole, twirling it ensure that she lost none of the chocolate, she (thanks to her transformation for giving her a slightly bigger mouth) in one swift and well planned movement slipped the chocolate covered globe into her mouth, moaning in pleasure at the taste.

"Remind me to buy one of those." she said around the profiterole pointing the stick at the fountain.

Harry was not quite sure if he should be worried or impressed by Fleur, in real life she would never lick chocolate of his fingers (not that he would object if she did) or eat a profiterole whole, which meant that either she was a very good actor or she was flirting with him.

He quickly decided that the latter would only ever happen in his dreams.

"What were you and your friend talking about?" she asked moving in front of him replacing her arms around his middle.

"Hermione knows you're not who you say you are."

Looking temporarily surprised before a smile crept onto her lips.

"How did she know?" she asked.

Harry explained what he has just been told, watching Fleur's smile grow as he repeated Hermione's points.

"Viktor was right, she really is intelligent," she said glancing over to where Hermione and Viktor were now dancing with Ron glaring at him from the sidelines "What did you tell her?"

"I said I would tell her who you really are when I return to school as it means that you and your parents will not have to worry about the housing being invaded on a rescue mission if Dumbledore finds out."

Fleur nodded as a slow paced song came on, she looked at what had been christened the dance floor, where Neville and Luna, Bill and Tonks and Viktor and Hermione (much to Ron's annoyance) were slowly rotating.

A smile spread on her face as she looked up at Harry and pulled him onto the dance floor.

Harry looked at Fleur nervously as she put her hands around his neck, seeing his nervousness she reached down and but his hands on her back before replacing her hands and moving close to him.

Harry was as stiff as a plank, he was terrified and in an impossible situation, he desperately wanted to move closer to Fleur, taking advantage of the situation at hand, but he also wanted to pull back to avoid ruining there friendship, but most worryingly he could not do either of these things because if her moved forward, Fleur would definitely feel his 'wand' poking into her stomach, and likewise he couldn't move back as the rest of the room would see the reaction his 'wand' was having.

In the end they ended up with Fleur's head resting against his chest while he awkwardly rested his on top of hers.

The party continued for several more hours, he only began to worry about two hours later when the twins and Ron began asking about April and whether they had got passed kissing yet, luckily Hermione came to his aid and managed to bail him out.

By the time the sun had set the, party had finally begun to wind down and the others thought that is was best to call it a day.

April took them outside in groups blindfolded them then using a portkey and the Time Turner as the same time, returning them when they left without them ever knowing.

Finally it was just the two of them.

"Thanks for that." he said drawing Fleur who still looks like April into a hug.

"After seeing how down you looked this morning, I thought you could use a little cheering up, so I used the Time Turner and got all your friends together, unfortunately I only really knew about the Weasley's and the Granger girl, I have to admit that I had not expected that many to turn up, but then again I was forgetting whose party it was." she finished with a giggle, something else that was unlike Fleur.

"Thank you again, it was a wonderful surprise, though it does explain why you looked so much more awake when I re-entered the bedroom."

"I'm not surprised, I had been up for over four hours by then." she smiled, her eyes coming to rest upon the Phoenix around his neck.

"I thought that the Weasley's were....were.....a bit short on money?" she asked carefully, trying to avoid making the question sound insulting.

"They are, well....all except Fred and George; they are rolling in it, as those shares prove."

"Yes they do seem to be doing well, I was just wondering how Miss Weasley managed to afford this, it must have cost a small fortune."

"I have to admit that I was a little surprised." agreed Harry, picking the necklace up between his fingers, examining it closely "I wonder what made her think to buy me a necklace."

"Probably the same thing that made me make you a ring." she replied with a smile whilst looking straight into his eyes.

Harry opened his mouth to ask about the ring but was prevented as she kept speaking.

"Come on Harry, the evening has not even begun," she said brightly, pulling him towards the fireplace, all his presents (bar his cloak) had been shrunken down and were now inside a small bag in Fleur's other hand.

As soon as he was through the other side she walked him up to their room where an expensive looking set of black tie evening dress was hanging from the end of the bed.

"What is that for?" he asked cautiously, not quite sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"That iz for you Arry, ve are going out to dinner." her French accent and Veela looks returned as she undid the charms upon herself.

She picked up the suit and walked back to him.

"After all, it vas you who zaid that I invited you to show you zome proper food."

"That was just so that your sister didn't ask questions."

"Tough," she said grinning, handing him the hanger and directing him to the bathroom, while she went towards the requirements room letting it become a second bathroom which she walked into carrying another hanger, though the garment was concealed inside the white plastic cover.

Inside the bathroom he found a box with a note from Dimitri.

If you are going out to dinner you may need this

Dimitri

He opened the accompanying box; inside was a comb made out of ivory, looking slightly confused Harry walked over to the mirror, wanting to see what miracle the comb was going to perform on his hair.

He ran it through his hair from front to back and was astonished to see that the hair stayed back, he tried it again, the same result, he looked at the comb as if it were the Holy Grail and made a mental note to thank Dimitri later.

Realising that he probably didn't have much time he quickly removed his clothes and showered, about ten minutes later he emerged from the bathroom, his hair back and dry (another effect of the comb), dressed in one of the most expensive sets of clothes he had ever seen let alone dreamed of wearing.

As he exited the bathroom he saw Fleur brushing her hair at the dressing table on the other side of the room.

When she heard him enter, she looked at him in the mirror before standing and turning to him.

She looked amazing, her hair flowing elegantly over her shoulders, rolling down her back, the dress was equally as incredible, like a lot of Fleur's dresses it was silver, made out of silk, with two thin straps holding it on her shoulders, it rode low at the front showing off her exquisite cleavage, and the back rose no higher than her hips leaving her back completely bare, there were no distinguishing features to the dress, it was simplicity itself, but somehow it made her look even more like and angel than usual.
________________________________________________________________________

Fleur gazed at the man standing before her, he looked wonderful, black really suited him, showing off his rapidly returning athletic form, his hair also for the first time she could remember was combed back and not waving around his face wildly, she would have to remember to thank her father for buying the comb.

"Wow, you look....you look...." he attempted.

She walked over to him slowly.

"Thank you, kind sir." she said in a regal tone, straightening his bowtie slightly "You look very handsome yourself."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when we get there, but first I have a much more important Question?"

"Yes?" he asked curiously, albeit slightly wearily.

She took a few steps back.

"Do you prefer my hair up or down?"

"I'm sorry?" he said, wondering if she was being serious.

"Do you prefer my hair up or down?" she asked again, holding her hair up behind her head in demonstration.

Harry thought for a moment before answering:

"Down....definitely down."

She let go of her hair allowing it to fall back to its original place, leaving no evidence that it had all just been bunched up.

"That's what I though." she said smiling, walking to his side.

Thinking on his feat Harry held out his arm to her which she took with a smile before leading the way out.

"While we are out Arry, you better not speak English, it will help disguise you."

"It's a shame I can't get rid of the scar." he joked.

"That's not a bad idea." she commented, stopping him by a conveniently placed mirror and drawing her wand, she screwed up her eyes in concentrations and muttered something in Latin which Harry did not catch.

Harry felt his forehead tingle followed by his hair, looking at himself in the mirror he could see that not only had his scar disappeared but his hair had also got slightly lighter and had grown so that it was now about the same length as Bill's and was now tied back, Harry wondered if there was something in this similarity, he also wondered if she was transfiguring him to be more like what she looked for in a man....not that she would look at him anyway.

"There, that should suffice." she concluded in French, smiling at her handy work "I don't think those charms will conceal your scar for more than a few hours before the its magic undoes the spells, but the rest should last until you stop them.

He ran his fingers over the place were his scar had been, even though there was no indentation he could still feel it, a permanent reminder of his past, of who he was, but significantly, tonight he and Fleur were the only ones that knew that.

Turning to her he gave her a gentle hug, not wanting to crease her dress.

"Thank you."

She smiled at him.

"Tonight, you are no longer the Boy-Who-Lived....you are just Arry."

Offering his arm again they walked down the stairs and passed into the sitting room where Delphine, Dimitri and a portkey was waiting for them, after wishing them a pleasant evening and exchanging a knowing look Delphine and Dimitri left to go and eat their own dinner, while the pair portkeyed out.