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Chapter 25 - Our Hearts Are One

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 1st August 2001 AD
Country: France - The French Riviera - Marseeleveyre Mountains
Location: Chateau Delacour
Time: Morning

Harry was the first to awake the next morning, the memories of the previous night quickly returning to him.

Looking down he could see Fleur, curled up exactly where they had fallen asleep the night before.

Harry's mind began to race....HE had made LOVE to Fleur Delacour, but more importantly Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons Tri Wizard Champion, the Legendary Veela Beauty has said that she....LOVED....him.

Harry began to panic as his mind turned to Fleur's parents.

They would murder him, let alone throw him out.

He had just slept with their daughter.

He had to leave....NOW.

Very carefully he rolled her off him and tucked her under the sheets.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, before kissing her on the forehead.

Using his wand he quickly retrieved his trunk from the cupboard and packed the few things that had been extracted from it before shrinking the entire thing down to fit in his pocket, he mentally thanked Fleur for teaching him that.

He changed into jeans and a t-shirt, wrote Fleur a note of apology, before quietly slipping out of the room.

He passed along the corridors quietly, passing several doors, being as silent as he possibly could, after a few minutes he realised he was lost, Fleur had always led him to the rooms he could never remember where they were each day.

"Morning Harry." greeted a small voice in English behind him.

Turning he saw a bleary eyed Gabrielle stepping out of a room, dressed in her school uniform, minus the hat and the blazer.

"Hello Gabrielle." he said smiling.

Harry mentally swore, he was trapped now, the small amount of time he had spent with Gabrielle had told him that once she had seen him:

'A' He would not be able to get away from her without the assistance of either Dimitri, Delphine or Fleur

And 'B' That that adorable smile of hers could convince anyone to do anything.

"What are you doing?" she asked walking up to him.

What could he say, he couldn't tell her that he had just slept with her sister and now he was leaving.

"I was....I was looking for the bathroom....I got lost."

"There is a bathroom in your room silly." She said smiling up at him sweetly.

"Oh yeah."

She giggled at him causing him to inwardly groan, there was no way he was leaving now, no way on Earth, she was just too adorable to say no to, as her next question would just prove.

"Let me show you my room Harry." She said smiling, her eyes beaming up at him.

"Ok." Harry cursed himself as his mouth answered automatically.

She smiled and did a quick celebratory jump before taking his hand and leading him into the room she had just vacated.

The room was slightly larger than the ones he had been staying in during the time jumps; around the same size as the room they put him in on his first night.

The entire room was painted in shades of light blue, the carpet, the walls, even the ceiling,

There was the usual four poster bed in one corner; there was also a couch, an arm chair, a large bay window with a window seat along it, a couple of chests and one of those weird bed/chair things that had an arm at one end but were open at the other, allowing you to lie down or sit on it., loveseats he thought they were called.

On a couple of the walls were wizard posters including one, he noticed containing an image of him lifting the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. The other posters ranged from things like Witch/Wizard music groups to other famous young wizards and witches, including Viktor and one which had a picture of all four of the Triwizard Champions on it.

"Nice room."

"Thanks Harry." She beamed as she pulled him to the sofa, sitting him down beside her.

"Do you want to see me make fire?" she asked eagerly.

"Ok." Harry answered cautiously; he had not yet seen how Veela's made fire and he was curious to see how it worked.

He watched fascinated as she held one of her palms flat; screwed her face up for a second before a small ball of fire flashed into existence above her hand.

"Wow."

She grinned at him sweetly breathing out; it obviously wasn't that easy to do.

"It's harder because I am only ten, I have tried to make the ball bigger but the last rime I tried I set the bed on fire. Fleur and mum can do it easily and even make the fire grow in their hands rather than just appearing....look what else I can do with it."

She raised her hand and threw the ball at the door.

"Gabrielle its time for Ahh."

Delphine ducked just in time as the fire flew through the doorway and impacted on the wall outside.

"Gabrielle! What have I told you about. Oh....Good morning Harry."

"Morning Delphine, the fireball wasn't Gabrielle's fault, she was just demonstrating to me."

He could see the worried look on Gabrielle's face.

"I see," said Delphine smiling "In that case I'll let you off....THIS time."

Gabrielle visually gulped.

"As I was saying, it is time for breakfast."

Gabrielle pecked Harry on the cheek and muttered a thank you before taking his hand and leading him out of the room, Delphine following behind.

They arrived in the Dinning Room, to see Viktor and Dimitri already eating.

"Good morning." greeted Dimitri in French, while Viktor decided to test Harry's memory.

Viktor ratled of a sentence in his native tongue that Harry easily responded to.

"Can you translate that for us?" asked Dimitri looking at the pair expectantly.

Viktor and Harry smiled before Viktor began answering.

"I said 'Good morning' to Harry in Bulgarian, before asking him if he slept well."

"And I responded by saying 'Yes, thank you Viktor.'"

The others nodded their understanding except Gabrielle.

"You spoke Bulgarian?" she gasped.

"I speak German and French too." Harry replied in her native language.

She did a very good impression of a fish before Harry led the stunned girl to the table and they began eating.

They sat talking quietly and eating for several minutes before Gabrielle left reluctantly to return to school while the others continued chatting.

Several minutes later Harry remembered that he had left Fleur with nothing but a note, thinking that if he moved quickly he could remove it and pretend like nothing had happened, he moved to get up from the table and had got as far as the back of the door when Fleur ran into the room, dressed only in a dressing gown, looking distraught, completely missing him as she passed, the door hiding him from sight.

"Mother, father, he's gone, Arry's gone!" she shouted panicked "We have to find him! He's going to go back! I know he is! If we don't find him quickly he will...."

"Fleur!" shouted Dimitri, stopping the French beauty mid sentence "Start again please, but slowly this time."

"Last night I told Arry how I felt about him and how I knew that he felt the same for me, but when I woke up this morning he was gone, he left me a note saying that he didn't deserve to be with someone like me and that being with me would put our lives at risk, he said that he was going because he couldn't bare to see anyone else hurt. We have to find him!"

"Fleur," said Delphine quietly "Please look behind you."

Fleur turned, her face confused until she saw Harry behind the door, her face immediately turned to relief and she threw herself at him, holding him so tight he sure his neck would snap.

"Why?" she asked, her voice less steady than usual "Why didn't you leave?"

"Gabrielle caught me." he replied her head still buried in his shoulder, "You know it is impossible to get away from her once she has seen you." she laughed slightly causing Harry to smile. He stroked her hair soothingly and tried his hardest not to smell the wonderful lavender scent upon it.

She finally separated from him, moving back enough so that they could look into each others eyes.

He could see a pair of tears stains running down her cheeks which he wiped away with his thumbs as be brought his hands to her face.

"I am sorry; I just can't bare the thought of seeing you getting hurt....That is why we can't be together."

"Arry," she began unsteadily, more tears threatening "I am afraid that after last night....we always will be."

"What?" asked Dimitri, the calm and relaxed demeanour he had been exhibiting during the whole event rapidly changed at her words, Delphine too had leant forward at her daughters phrasing.

Fleur turned to her parents.

"Last night...." she tried hesitantly, knowing that her parents would not want to hear what she was about to say "Last night I.....mated with Arry."

"WHAT." roared Dimitri "Fleur how could you, with out even asking his consent; he doesn't even know what mating is!"

"Yes I do." replied Harry calmly, stopping Dimitri from continuing to shout at his daughter, Harry's face was as flat as a plank, as if he had actually been hit by the new revelation about last nights activities.

The words of the book he had read drifted back to him.

Veela are occasionally known to 'mate' with their partners. Despite what this sounds like it is actually a very deep magical bond that binds the souls of the pair to each other for all time. It is a great honour to be chosen as a Veela's mate as less than one in ten of coupled Veela's mate.

Mating prevents either partner from ever even wanting to cheat with another being.

While it considered something that never happens for an unmated Veela to cheat, for a mated Veela or Veela's partner to cheat is considered impossible.

He turned to Fleur, his face still unreadable.

"Why?"

"Because no matter what I told you, you still refused to accept that we can be together and that I do want to be with you and that I want to make you happy," she answered quietly, her eyes dropped to the floor "It was the only way."

Harry saw a tear trickle its way down her cheek, he felt a pang of guilt for causing her to cry, why did he always have to hurt people, why couldn't he just be normal.

He sighed and wiped the tear away.

"Tell me about the mating."

She looked into his eyes and smiled sweetly, relief evident on her face that he was not mad at her.

They moved into the Sitting Room, Viktor offered to leave but they said that they did not mind him hearing what was to be said. They sat down in the same places as last time, the Delacour elders in the armchairs, Viktor on one sofa and Fleur sitting next to Harry on the other, the only difference being that she was sitting facing towards him, her hand in his looking like a child who was about to explain why she had been naughty.

"Please explain what exactly you did to me?" Harry asked.

Fleur inwardly winced at his phrasing before taking a deep breath.

"Mating is a very unique process Arry, it occurs when two people, one of whom is a Veela or part Veela bond their soul to the other. The process occurs during intercourse, the Veela, to put it simply, opens her mind and heart during the shared climactic event allowing her powers to permanently bind her to the being she is mating with."

Dimitri seeing how awkward his daughter looked took over.

"The bond allows the flow of magic, thought and feeling, it will allow you to communicate although you are far apart, it also will allow you to feel what your mate is feeling as well as allowing you to access each others magic."

Delphine continued.

"The bond can be a great source of strength, boosting your magic greatly, but it can also be a weakness, if one of you falls ill the other will also be affected, but more importantly, your life forces have also been bound together, if either of you die, the other will follow shortly after, which is the reason Dimitri and I never mated, we couldn't bare the thought of our daughters loosing both parents at once, if anything were to happen."

Dimitri leaned forward and took his wife's hand in his own.

"It is considered a great honour to have a Veela choose you for her mate as it shows absolute trust, as you now hold part of her soul, as she does yours, this means that you can hurt your partner without even thinking it, they feel your pain, your pleasure and it effects them."

"The bond also enhances your feelings for each other, as well as preventing you from having similar feelings for others." finished Dimitri.

"So," Harry said turning to Fleur "If I didn't love you and I had feelings for someone else, I would have no choice now."

Fleur looked torn, for a moment she wondered if he was deliberately trying to make her feel bad, but she rapidly quashed this thought, he would never do that, he was to honourable.

"Yes," she said guiltily, trying hard not to cry "But if you could leave me, then it would either drive both of us mad or kill us."

Now Harry felt guilty again, he hadn't meant that to sound as it did, he did feel for her, he really did, they had really connected while he had been staying with her, she had become like another part of him, and she knew more about him than anyone else, even Ron and Hermione. He just didn't like the idea that he didn't have a choice in the matter, even if he hadn't wanted to be with her, which he did, though he wouldn't if there was even the slightest chance she, or her family could get hurt, he now had no choice in the matter. Leaving her would kill her or drive her and himself mad, therefore condemning the Wizarding world to Voldemort's rule.

An image flickered in his mind; he sat crouched in the corner of a padded cell muttering under his breath, the door opens to reveal Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

They walked towards him as Voldemort raises his wand.

"Good bye....Harry....Potter."

A flash of green light before he returns to the real world.

Fleur still has her head bowed in sorrow.

"Fleur," he said kindly, she slowly raised her head "I do love you....as much as I understand what love is, I just wanted to know why....I'm sorry....I didn't mean to make you feel bad.....I just don't understand why you would chose me of all people....you could have any man in the world....and you chose me....pathetic, useless....a killer....a murderer."

"Oh Arry," she cried, her eyes filling up again "You are not a killer....I thought we had proved that to you, those deaths were not your fault, you are not pathetic or useless, you have done to much to be called either."

"Fleur," he began "I...."

She cut him of by kissing him forcefully. Harry's initial surprise soon past as he gave into the kiss, both pouring all they could into it.

For the first time since they had matted Harry understood what the Delacour's had said.

He could feel Fleur, her emotions, her feelings, he could see her thoughts, her memories, he could actually feel the ring on his finger glowing gold.

But most of all he felt her love for him.

He did not believe it possible for her to love him as much as he loved her, he felt like a twig that had been washed out to sea by the tide, he felt powerless against her, so great was her love for him.
________________________________________________________________________

Fleur was in heaven, she could feel the emotions radiating from him, his love, it felt stronger than the earth they stood upon, any doubts she had had were now washed away.

After several minutes they parted slowly, resting their foreheads against each other, enjoying the feelings the contact was creating.

"Three minutes forty two seconds." stated Delphine "Viktor, Dimitri, you both owe me ten galleons."

Fleur and Harry turned to look at the three.

"After the first thirty seconds I bet Dimitri that you would keep kissing for at least a minute and a half," explained Viktor "Dimitri bet two minutes and Delphine bet over three and a half."

The pair laughed at the trio.

Harry turned to Viktor.

"Can we forgo the exercise and just do the Occlumency training today."

Viktor grinned at him.

"I think we can manage that."

"Thanks," he smiled turning to Fleur "Because I think I need to get to know me mate a little better."