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Harry Potter and the Secrets of Magic	By : Jacenthedarkknight Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 39602 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter trademark/fandom, nor am I making any money from this story

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters or concepts – that’s JKR. Not making money off this story, simply writing for both my enjoyment and hopefully the enjoyment of my readers.

A/N:Hey there everyone, thanks for all the great reviews last chapter, glad most of you are liking the story thus far. This chap we see several confrontations (as the title implies), including the one I saw many were looking forward to between the Dursleys and Gabrielle. Anyway, enjoy, read and review!

Chapter 3: Confrontation

Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, June 16, 1996

          Harry woke up with a groan, and reached up to rub at the bridge of his nose before he reached out blindly to grab his glasses. He slid them on and started to move, but froze when he saw the young woman in bed next to him.

          Gabrielle was on her side, her head propped up on her hand, watching him intently with an amused smile. “Bonjour,” she whispered, her blue eyes running over his face.

          “Mornin’,” he said. “You sleep alright?”

          Gabrielle nodded, and shifted slightly, bringing her other arm forward to curl it up and rest her palm against his arm – the movement did rather interesting things to her chest, and she cheered smugly to herself when he blushed and tore his eyes away.

          “What time is it?” Harry asked blearily.

          “Just after seven,” Gabrielle said, after a glance down at the slim, leather-banded watch he’d not noticed her wearing before.

          His eyes widened and he sat up quickly. “Damn, I was supposed to be up half an hour ago, Uncle Vernon will be furious if he doesn’t have his breakfast.”

          She moved her hand from his arm to his chest. “Non, let me worry about that. I am going to go downstairs, and deal with your relatives.”

          He looked over at her with concern, his mind racing to try to figure out just how his uncle would react to that. “I’ll go down with you, in case he goes mad – “

          She shook her head firmly. “It will be best if I go alone, ‘Arry. ‘aving you there will only make it worse if they are like you ‘ave described them.”

          He hesitated, and it seemed to her he forced away a protest. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Oui, now why don’t you take a shower and I will take mine later. It looks like you need it more than me,” she said, her lips tugging upward in a smirk.

          He followed her gaze…. Down, down his body to his boxers and his usual morning condition. He gulped at the wicked twinkle in her eye, and turned over to hide it from her view, quickly standing and moving toward the door. “Okay,” he said quickly as he hurried out and toward the bathroom.

          Harry closed the door to the bathroom, locking it behind him, and rested back against it with a low sigh, trying to get his heartbeat under control. He moved forward and turned on the shower as cool as he dared before stripping off his clothes and diving under the stream of water.

          He shivered slightly as the cold water woke him up quite quickly, and dealt with his little problem almost as quickly. Harry grabbed a bottle of shampoo and poured some out onto his hand before lathering it in his now-wet hair, as he thought about the previous night.

          His only lingering doubts toward Gabrielle had evaporated when he had woken up the most content in weeks he’d felt after sleeping. He wasn’t sure if it was the Bond she’d told him about, or simply her presence, but he’d felt… safe… for lack of a better word, and hadn’t had any more of his usual nightmares.

He felt a twinge of guilt at that – the only other times he’d woken up content and safe like that had been the few times he’d fallen asleep on the couch next to Hermione.

He wasn’t certain of the totality of his feelings, but he’d finally realized just how much his best friend meant to him, the moment he saw her get hit by Dolohov’s curse. She was, really, the most important thing in his life, especially now that he’d lost Sirius.

He had realized then that the old saying he’d heard was entirely true – you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Fortunately, in this case she hadn’t truly been gone. That instant he’d thought she was dead had opened his eyes to see how much he cared for her. Thinking back, it should have been obvious earlier this last year at least, being willing to leave his date with his Cho just to meet up with Hermione who’d asked him to.

And now this guilt at feeling safe with Gabrielle… He shook his head, wondering if Hermione felt the same way – and if she did, just how she’d take hearing about this Bond. “Bugger,” Harry muttered, feeling like banging his head against the shower wall at the unexpected complications.

******************************************

          Gabrielle smoothed out the wrinkles her clothing had developed during her sleep, and then stood up, only then noticing a beautiful snowy-white owl resting on a perch in the corner of the room, staring at her with interest.

          She noted the open window and realized the owl had come in sometime during the night. She walked slowly toward the creature, and quickly recognized the spark of intelligence in its eyes – obviously Harry’s familiar.

          “’Ello,” she crooned softly, reaching out her fingers toward the white creature’s face.

          The owl stared at her fingers for a moment as they hovered near its face, and gave her a questioning look.

          Gabrielle gasped as she felt a tingle along her Veela senses as the familiar connected with her – the avian part of her magic leapt out to mingle with the owl. “Do not worry, beautiful girl,” she said softly to the owl. “Your master is my Mate. ‘e is safe, and I am ‘ere to help him.”

          The owl hooted once, and then bent her head forward to let Gabrielle’s fingers run over the feathers of her forehead as she fluffed up her feathers contentedly.

          The connection wasn’t direct like Legilimency was, but she was able to understand the spirit of the message the owl was sending – a thankfulness that her master would not be alone, and a sadness at how she had been able to do little to help him herself.

          “We will ‘elp ‘im together, little one.” She said. “I must go down to speak with ‘is relatives and put them in their place.”

          Hedwig seemed to nod, and pull back, looking rather pleased by her statement.

          Gabrielle smiled and turned back toward the bedroom door – her expression instantly darkening as the sight of it reminded her of the Dursleys downstairs. She growled softly to herself and strode out into the hall, where she could hear the hushed voices from the kitchen.

***

          Vernon Dursley glared at the newspaper in front of him, listening to Petunia trying to coax Dudley into eating a light breakfast of yoghurt and cereal. The Boy hadn’t been down yet to make their breakfasts so she seemed to be taking advantage of that to try once again to get their Dudders to eat more healthy.

          Vernon looked down at his watch, his temper growing. ‘Right, that’s it, that little ungrateful freak is going to get it,’ he thought to himself as he tried to gather up the energy to push his considerable mass up from where he sat at the kitchen table.

          As he started to brace his hands on the armrests to do just that, he heard footsteps on the stairs, and the creaking of the last two steps.

          “It’s about time, Freak,” Vernon bellowed, turning his head slightly so his voice could travel more directly toward the living room where the Boy would have ended up having cleared the last of the steps.

          “You should have been awake and making us breakfast half an hour ago! Don’t think that just because you got your peg-legged eyeball freak to threaten us at that train station that I’m gonna be scared of them – I think you need to learn your place again, Boy. Too many years we’ve been lenient with you because of your freakishness – perhaps I’ll remind you what my belt feels like toni–”

          His purple-faced rant was cut off when the figure that appeared in the doorway was not that of the Boy, but rather a bare-footed, beautiful young woman. She was captivating, seemed to pull at him to draw him closer to her - to stare at her blond hair and her piercing blue eyes before drawing his gaze down to more shapely areas.

          “D-Dudders, you didn’t tell us you were having a girl over,” Vernon said lamely, forcing himself to tear his eyes away to look at his son.

          Dudley, unfortunately, not having had the opposing emotion of hatred running through his veins unlike his father during the rant, was struck full-force with lust, and staring hungrily at the girl – a long line of drool dripping down his chin and onto his shirt, while Petunia watched her husband and son with confusion.

          When he got no answer from his son he turned back – it was so easy, he still felt the pull, and found himself slowly forgetting about Petunia, even as his wife walked across the room to stand next to him.

          “Hello, I’m Petunia,” she began, “It’s so nice to meet one of Dudley’s friends,’” she said almost nervously, and it was then that Vernon realized why.

          The girl was facing them with a stony expression on her face, but those piercing eyes he’d seen, he quickly realized were filled with anger.

          “I am not one of Dudley’s friends,” she said, spitting out his son’s name like it was dirty, and he noticed a distinct French accent.

          Vernon looked at her with confusion then. “What? Then who are you and what are you doing in my house?”

***

          Gabrielle looked at them, her expression reminding Vernon of a nature show he’d seen as a lioness stalked her prey.

“My name is Gabrielle, and I am staying with your nephew. The man I believe you called a ‘Freak’,” she said, her voice hardening as his rant stayed fresh in her mind, seething at the things he’d been saying when he had thought she was her Mate.

          “WHAT?” Vernon roared. “No bloody way! Get the hell out of my house!”

          “I think you will find that I am not easily cowed by threats from pathetic men like yourself, Dursley.” Gabrielle spat. “I will be staying here, with ‘Arry, for as long as I please.”

          “Now listen here you little harlot,” Vernon began, pushing himself up to a standing position as he tried to look imposing. “You’ll not be staying in my house, let alone doing God-knows-what with Potter under my roof. I won’t be bossed around by a Frog who thinks she can do what she likes. Get out before I make you get out!”

          The girl moved almost too fast for him to see, and he felt a sudden pain in his chest as the heel of her palm slammed solidly into him, shoving him off-balance. He fell back painfully into his chair which, unfortunately for him, wobbled backward and spilled him out on the hard kitchen floor. He was left to stare wide-eyed, up at the girl, as he clutched at his back.

She stood back, her fists clenched at her sides. “I would like to see you make me leave. I am quite creative in my ‘exes and curses.”

          She smiled to herself when all three of the Dursleys suddenly paled and looked frightened as they realized that not only was she with Harry, she was also a witch. ‘They fear magic,’ she thought to herself. ‘This will be fun.’

          “No, ‘exing would be too good for you,” she said slowly, allowing images of Harry’s door upstairs, the look of worry on his face before he let her leave to handle his relatives, the words of Vernon as he cursed at her Mate, all to come to the forefront of her mind at once. She let that begin feeding the anger already in her, slowly letting it lift the shield she kept over the darkest part of her Veela nature.

          She watched Petunia shrink back into her chair while Vernon tried to scramble shakily backward along the floor, and Dudley gave a whimper and wet himself. They watched in terror as her fingers became longer and more pointed giving the appearance of the beginning of talon-like claws, her features of her face sharpening, becoming more harsh and beaklike as fire flickered in the palms of her hands.

          She pulled back, letting the transformation hover there, just enough to keep the family frightened and silent. “Listen to me. You will let me stay ‘ere with ‘Arry. You will not ‘arrass ‘im, you will not insult ‘im, and you will not use ‘im as your ‘ouseslave. You are lucky I am giving you this warning – ‘ad things gone differently you would ‘ave woken up to much worse last night,” she said, raising her hands which flickered, wreathed in flame.

          “Leave ‘im alone, and I will not ‘arm you. ‘urt ‘im in any way, and you will see me when I am truly angered – and I will act next time, not just threaten. We will let you go about your business, and we will go about ours.”

          She shook her head. “You are despicable to treat such a wonderful young man the way you ‘ave.” She turned her gaze to Petunia. “Is this the way your sister would ‘ave treated Dudley, ‘ad you and your ‘usband been the ones to die? Think about that. You’ve ‘armed your own nephew, someone of your own blood – ‘ow can you live with yourself?”

          She mentally smiled with satisfaction when she saw Petunia’s face pale even further and look away, guilt on her features as she thought about what Gabrielle had said.

          “Now, ‘ave I been clear enough about ‘ow things will be changing around ‘ere?”

          When all three of them quickly and silently nodded, terrified looks on their faces, she slowly pulled her Veela nature back in, changing back to the girl they had seen when she had entered and no longer the frightening image that would be haunting their dreams for nights to come.

          “Trés bien.” Gabrielle said. “’Arry and I will be making our own breakfast later, so feel free to make your own.”

          Petunia slowly, hesitantly got up, as if expecting the other woman to leap at her any moment and claw her throat out, and then she hurried over to the fridge to pull out some eggs and sausage to begin cooking for her husband and son. She was far too flustered to even remember she’d been close to coaxing her son into his diet, and made the breakfast quickly, her hands shaking the entire time even after the frightening young woman had left the room.

          Vernon righted his chair and climbed slowly back into it, deathly silent. Petunia exchanged a silent, helpless glance with him several minutes later as she set their plates on the table, and he returned it with the same look in his own eyes.

****

          When Harry stepped off the last stair, his hair still damp from his shower, it felt as if he had gone into the shower and then emerged in an alternate universe.

          Rather than the tongue-lashing he expected from Vernon – who was sliding on his dress shoes and grabbing his briefcase – for sleeping in late and not making breakfast, all he got was a short glare.

          “Boy- Potter,” He corrected quickly. “Try to keep out of trouble,” he said gruffly before turning to kiss Petunia goodbye and quickly leave the house.

          Harry turned his wide eyes to where his aunt was sitting on the couch next to Dudley, and received a double shock when she began to discuss with his cousin what chores he would be doing today – Dudley never did chores!

          Dudley looked about to protest when she assigned him much of Harry’s usual duties, but Harry saw his gaze flicker over to the kitchen doorway with a hint of fear, and then he quickly nodded in agreement.

          “Good morning…. Harry,” his aunt said softly, the almost civil tone jarring from what he was used to.

          “Good morning Aunt Petunia,” Harry said slowly.

“We didn’t make you breakfast,” her eyes flashing over to the kitchen like Dudley’s, “your… your girlfriend said you two would make your own.”

Harry nodded. “Thanks,” he muttered softly, not bothering to correct her. He turned to stride quickly into the kitchen, away from the disturbing changes of the Dursleys and toward the girl who it seemed was responsible for them.

He pushed open the kitchen door, and was confronted with the smell of frying bacon. Gabrielle looked up from where she stood at the countertop. Her hair had been tucked back out of her face behind her ears, and she smiled warmly when she saw him.

“Hey,” he said softly, letting the door swing shut behind him as he took in the scene before him. She had been cracking eggs and emptying their contents into a bowl next to the stove. On the stove, rashers of bacon were slowly sizzling on a skillet across from a frying pan that was browning some hashed potatoes.

“I was wondering when you were coming down,” she said. “’ow would you like your eggs? I just made an omelet for myself, I thought you would like the same,” she gestured toward where she had chopped up onions and bell peppers sitting in a bowl next to a plate with an already-cooked omelet filled with the same ingredients.

He hurried over next to her. “Let me help, you didn’t have to make this all yourself,” he said as she took the broken eggshells over to the rubbish bin.

She smiled warmly. “It is no trouble, ‘Arry. I’m glad to do it for you, but feel free to ‘elp,” she said, leaning over to flip the browning potatoes to get an even crispness.

He grabbed the bowl she’d set aside, and poured out the eggs in the small skillet she’d already prepared with butter. “So… what did you do to the Dursleys? It was like walking down into a completely different world,” he asked, eyeing her with interest.

She laughed softly. “I told you, I simply ‘ad a talk with them. I explained that I would be staying ‘ere, and they were to leave us alone and we would leave them alone in return.”

          Harry raised his eyebrows, looking incredulously at her. “That’s it?” he asked doubtfully.

          She nodded solemnly, but then he spotted a smile tugging at the corner of her lips before she chuckled at him. “You should ‘ave seen your face,” she said mirthfully. “The truth is I did say all of that to them, but I may ‘ave… threatened to ‘ex them and then frightened them with a little glimpse of a Veela becoming angry. I ‘ave never seen someone’s skin become that pale – and I think your cousin ‘ad to change ‘is trousers after I left.”

          Harry’s eyes widened, remembering the Veela at the World Cup, and then he laughed as well. “No wonder they were so quiet when I came down – they’re afraid of magic, but they know I can’t use it here without being expelled.” He chuckled again. “My Aunt even said good morning to me, and she and Dudley kept glancing at the kitchen like they were expecting an ax murderer to come charging at them if they said something wrong.”

          Gabrielle smiled for a moment at that, and then sighed. “Your uncle thought I was you when I came down. The things they call you… ‘Arry,” she said, reaching out to place a hand on his arm, “you know they are not true in any way? You are not a ‘freak’, you understand that right?”

          “Yeah,” he said quietly, not really convincing even himself with his answer.

She felt a surge of embarrassment and shame come over their bond, and his slight involuntary flinch when she said ‘freak’ told her that his relatives had been using the word for a long, long time. She fought to keep tears from coming to her eyes, realizing she had even more work set out for her than she’d even imagined last night after their talk, repairing the damage to his sense of self-worth and self-esteem that the Dursleys had done over his childhood with them.

          She squeezed his arm, and then leaned in front of him to pour the filling in on top of the omelet before folding it in on itself moments later. “When I ‘eard what they said I wanted to ‘urt them very badly. No one deserves that treatment, ‘Arry, especially not you.” She shrugged. “So I threatened them with some ‘exing, and then a bit of fire – I don’t think they will be bothering you again this summer.”

          Harry smiled weakly as he accepted the plate she handed him with the freshly made omelet. “You’re brilliant. Thank you,” he said, and let her place a pile of bacon on his plate as well as a heaping of potatoes before she followed suit with her own plate and led him over to sit down at the table

***

          “Do your mum and your dad know you’re here with me?” Harry asked her quietly as she searched her bag for her favorite hair brush. They were back in his room after their luxuriously long breakfast – one of the biggest breakfasts he’d had in years at Privet Drive. He was sitting on his bed, his Transfiguration text open on his lap but ignored in favor of watching her and asking the question that had been burning in his mind the whole morning.

          Gabrielle looked up, surprised. “Oh, oui, I am ‘ere with their blessing. Maman is a bit more approving than Papa. But, that is because she is Veela as well, and knows the Bond. Papa… ‘e just didn’t want to let ‘is ‘Princess’ go, and didn’t understand why I ‘ad to come here. ‘e and Maman only Bonded after they ‘ad dated, and it is not like ours – Maman told me they were twenty; and Fleur ‘as not Bonded, so ‘e ‘ad no real experience with a Veela like me who Bonded so young.”

          “I’d have expected them to come, though,” Harry said, thinking of the stereotypical ‘meet the parents’, “especially not knowing me…”

          Gabrielle smiled. “Do not worry, they do wish to meet you, but this was my quest, to complete on my own. I am considered an adult, and they trust me to stay safe. They are also terribly busy, so they will not ‘ave time to come over ‘ere until late in the summer.”

          “What do they do?” He asked her, giving up on finishing his Transfiguration homework as he closed the book and brought his full attention to the younger girl.

          Gabrielle’s hand grasped her brush once she spotted it, and then she came over to sit next to Harry. “Maman started off as a journalist, and ‘as written many articles for newspapers in the Muggle and Magical worlds. She is now the chief editor for Le Monde Magique – that is the main magical newspaper in France. She ‘as also taken over editing for some magazines, but she’s well respected for the newspaper, and for keeping the content very balanced and not biased.”

          Harry snorted. “We need someone like her over here – the Daily Prophet’s a piece of garbage.”

          Gabrielle wrinkled her nose. “Oui, I know – over in France our family subscribes to it, and some others do, mainly to get a laugh at their constantly changing bias. One day they are showing you as a ‘ero, and the next as a maniac.” She muttered the last part darkly. “I must ask Maman to make sure we get copies of ‘er paper – not everyone ‘ates you or treats you like that: only your paper, and some of the more… conservative Pureblood countries on the Continent that follow Britain’s lead.”

          She shook her head. “Anyway, that is Maman. Papa chose to be a…. I think you call them ‘it Wizards? ‘e became one of the best in our force, and one of the most respected commanders. Now ‘e is the ‘ead of the MJM – that is like your DMLE.”

          “Wow, pretty high up,” Harry said, a vague thought entering his head of what exactly his own parents might have been by now had they lived. “I’d like to meet them when they do get free time, they sound brilliant,” he finally said.

          Gabrielle beamed at him and brushed his cheek with a featherlight kiss. “I will tell them when I write to them. I know they will be ‘appy to hear that,” she said before pulling back, and bringing the hairbrush up to begin brushing her hair out until it fell neatly around her shoulders.

***

          Harry watched her quietly, resting his chin on his knee, until she finally glanced up as she set down the brush, and flashed him a soft smile. “What are you thinking about?”

          “You,” he found himself blurting out, before snapping his mouth shut with a blush. “I mean, just… I’d always figured Veela could just, I dunno, turn on their powers and fix up their hair.”

          Gabrielle laughed. “That would be a wonderful gift, but we sadly do not ‘ave that. We must work ‘ard to keep our good looks. Although, if we use the Allure, it doesn’t matter that much to the person under the influence what we look like. You may not know it, but there are ugly Veela, those who don’t take care of their appearance. While our heritage often gifts us with a nice appearance, it is up to us to maintain it like any other girl.”

          Harry smiled. “Makes sense, I guess. Speaking of Veela, though, I was thinking that… maybe we could start training, helping me figure out what this magic you were talking about is, and how to use it?”

          Gabrielle’s eyes lit up, and she tossed her hairbrush onto her bag, and moved so she was sitting fully on the bed. “I would like that. It… may take a while to get anywhere on the power, because first I must teach you to see it.”

          Harry nodded – he was more than used to having to work hard to get to a goal, his Patronus had been similar. “How do we start?”

          “First, we must teach you to meditate. This is the most important part – you ‘ave to learn to clear up your mind from all of the thoughts distracting you, so you can focus on simply the magic. This is used for many of the more difficult magics, like Occlumency, before you build your mental shield. Once we get you to that point, we work to get you to See our Bond and magic like I can.”

          Harry grimaced slightly at the mention of Occlumency, and then made a mental note to ask her if she knew how to do it – perhaps another thing she could teach him. “Okay.”

          She reached out, and grabbed his knees, pushing them down so he was sitting cross-legged like she was. “Alright, ‘Arry. Back straight – we want you to meditate, so you can’t slouch or you will be more likely to fall asleep than meditate.”

          Gabrielle smiled when he quickly adjusted his posture. She reached out slowly, and carefully removed his glasses from his face. “Good. Now, let your eyes fall mostly closed. Don’t force them shut, just let your eyelids rest. Then just breathe slowly and naturally, and start focusing your attention only on that, trying to breathe through your nose, and just focus on that feeling.”

          He let his eyelids slide shut, and felt his breathing slow at her words, trying to keep his mind trained on the feeling of his breath entering and leaving his nostrils.

          It seemed like his mind was going wild with thoughts suddenly, each thought trying to grab his attention and bring his consciousness down each pathway, each one clamoring more and more loudly for his attention.

          He snapped his eyes open after several minutes of trying to focus on his breath. “It’s not working, it’s like my mind is even less clear,” he said, feeling annoyed at himself.”

          Gabrielle nodded, and placed a hand on top of his own. “I know ‘Arry, that is natural. Your mind isn’t less clear, you’re just starting out and as you are focusing, you are realizing just ‘ow busy your mind already was. Just, do it again, and keep trying – the noise will disappear slowly.”

          Harry let his eyes close, and tried again. And again. And again. The whole thing was becoming frustrating, but he made sure to keep it from seeping into his voice – he wasn’t frustrated with her, but rather himself. “I don’t know, I guess I’m rubbish at this,” he finally said after what had to be the twentieth attempt in three hours.

          She looked at him with concern at the dejected sound in his voice. “Non,” she said firmly, “’Arry, you are not the type of person to just give up. This is ‘ard, and it’s only natural that you are ‘aving problems. I ‘ave been watching you, and your magic as you tried, and I think the worst of it is because of this,” she said gesturing at his forehead. “This curse scar ‘as some ‘armful effects on your mind, and that is causing your magic to flow oddly around it, and I think it is keeping your mind in conflict. It will be ‘arder for you than most to meditate, but I know you can do it,” she said, reaching up to brush her fingers along his forehead.

          His eyes widened as the fingers caressed the scar, and he felt a wash of sudden peacefulness come over him that lasted only until her fingers moved on, and she started pulling her hand back.

          She let out a startled squeak when his Seeker’s reflexes let his hand dart out like lightning, and catch her wrist. He pulled her hand back up, and she didn’t resist as he pressed her fingers to his scar, the look in his eyes intense.

          “That… I don’t know how, but when you’re touching my scar, it’s like most of what I’ve been having trouble with just disappears. I – I think your right, it’s what is causing the problem,” he said.

          He slowly let go of her wrist, but she kept her hand where it was, chewing her lip in thought. “If it will ‘elp,” she said, moving around on the bed until she was almost behind him, letting her full palm rest comfortably on his forehead. “I am not sure either why it ‘elps, but I think we can start out like this, and then work on doing it without once you get the idea.”

          Harry nodded, and let his eyelids shut again, and started focusing on his breathing. He let her soft voice guide him once more, and while he found his thoughts were still calling for his attention, there were much fewer, and much easier to ignore, without his scar throwing his mind into disarray.

          He found himself following his thoughts once or twice, and forced himself back to his breathing, until finally, that’s all there was – in, out, in, out. Just peace.

          Harry blinked after what felt like a few minutes later, that same relaxed feeling from when he’d woken up with Gabrielle earlier that morning seeping through his body. He looked over and grinned at Gabrielle. “I think I got it,” he said excitedly.

          She shot him a wry smile, and pulled her hand back, massaging her arm as if it were sore. “Oui, I figured that out two hours ago,” she said.

          Harry looked at her with confusion before his watch caught his eye. “One o’clock?” He said incredulously. “But, it was – how could it have been two hours? It felt like just a minute or two.”

          Gabrielle nodded. “That is ‘ow it often is. It gets a little better with more practice, but the first few times you will not ‘ave any sense of time passing.”

          His eyes widened, realizing why she’d been rubbing her arm. “You kept your hand on my scar all that time?” He asked, looking at her with guilt and concern in his eyes.

          Gabrielle shrugged nonchalantly. “I will only need to do this a few more times, it was nothing.” She saw him about to protest, so she continued. “But, if you are feeling bad about my arm being sore, you could make it up to me by making us a late lunch,” she said, grinning at him.

          With a start Harry realized his own stomach was growling, and then he nodded, and grabbed her hand. “I’ll head down and do that, and then I want to go on a run. Thank you,” he said sincerely.

          “You are very welcome, ‘Arry. Maybe after your run we can do this again. And you can ease your guilt by making me dinner as well?” She said, a teasing grin on her face.

          Harry laughed, and then nodded. “Sure,” he said, getting up slowly from the bed. “I’ll let you know when lunch is ready.”

          He paused a moment when he stood and felt the wands in his pocket, and then reached in to grab the unfamiliar one, and handed it to her. “Here, forgot to give this back to you this morning.”

          She smiled brightly, taking it as a symbol of his trust in her, and watched him fondly as he left the bedroom.

*************************************************************

          Harry closed the front door behind him as he stepped out into the warm heat of the day. While last night he might have felt worried about leaving Gabrielle on her own to fend for herself with the Dursleys, she’d shown she could more than take care of herself, leaving him feel free and at ease to go for his daily run. She’d originally wanted to come but finally agreed with him that it would be best if the Order didn’t know about her presence.

          Harry bent down, touching his toes several times, stretching his legs as he did so, and then jogged down the driveway, making his turn past where the Order member on watch usually concealed themselves, and started to pick up speed until he was running at the next driveway along his usual course.

          He was slightly surprised when, several dozen yards later he heard the echoed sound of a second pair of footsteps running behind him evenly. He’d run the Order members ragged for the first week as they tried to keep up with him and follow him for all of his run – his favorite had been listening to that step-clunk noise of Mad-Eye trying to keep up with his wooden leg – but they’d quickly given up trying to follow once they realized he was staying within the neighborhood. So he was slightly taken aback that someone was running along with him and seemed to be actually able to keep up with him.

          As the sound of the footsteps neared, coming almost abreast of him, he grinned slightly to himself and picked up speed into a full-on sprint, holding the pace for the next half mile as he heard his Order minder try to keep up, slowing slightly to his regular run for another half mile before sprinting again.

          Finally he took pity on them after they’d kept the pace for slightly more than half his usual run, and slowed down to a walk as he approached the broken-down park that he used to always come and play with. The swings in the park still looked broken, but he knew that they’d been replaced just as he’d gotten back from Hogwarts, so it appeared Dudley and his gang had been on their usual property-destruction patrols.

          “Surprised you managed to keep up,” Harry said as he caught his breath, letting his runner’s high wash over him as he grinned over at the patch of empty air that he could hear a similar heavy breathing coming from.

          There was a moment’s pause, and then an invisibility cloak swiftly slid off the tall, slender man who’d been following him. Remus was looking rather haggard – and had more grey in his hair than when Harry had last seen him – even though Harry knew it was just a day or two after the half-moon, it looked like he’d just undergone one of his transformations.

          Despite the exhausted look in his eyes, he still managed a quirked grin at Harry through his rough beard. “One of the few benefits of being a werewolf. Heard how you were tiring everyone out when they tried to follow you,” he said.

          Harry smiled somewhat bitterly, his mind instantly jumping to what Remus might be here to talk him about. “So, come to tell me I can’t run anymore or something? Just tell me what it is, Professor, I’m just too tired of Dumbledore’s games – he’s already taking my mail, not much more you guys can do.”

          Remus looked at Harry in confusion, and a bit of concern and hurt at his tone. “Your mail?”

          Harry glanced over at him skeptically, and raised a hand to point at a speck high in the sky. “I hope it’s Dumbledore. Otherwise it’s someone else keeping it from me – Hedwig got attacked and managed to save half a letter I was sending yesterday,” he said with a sigh and walked slowly over to a bench at the edge of the park.

          Remus’ gaze followed up to where Harry had pointed, and he squinted, his keen vision picking out a hawk soaring through the air. He frowned. “A Mail Interception Hawk?” He muttered.

          Remus sad down on the bench next to Harry and shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything about this from Dumbledore – I can’t imagine why he’d be keeping your mail from you. I’ll ask him when I head back to Headquarters, alright?”

          Harry shrugged. “Go ahead, not like he’ll change his mind.” He ran a hand through his sweaty hair and glanced over to Remus with a little guilt in his eyes. “Sorry for snapping at you, but I’m just a little frustrated at things with him right now. I assume you’re here on Order business, Professor?”

          Remus shook his head. “Please, Remus or Moony – I haven’t been your professor for two years now. And no, Harry - well, I’m sort of here on Order business. I was taking my shift of watching you, but I was just going to stay back there while you went on your run.” His expression became unreadable. “Who’s the girl, Harry?”

          Harry felt his heart leap up into his throat. “Huh? What are you talking about?” He asked as calmly as he could.

          Remus scowled. “The Veela girl that’s been all over you. I smelled her the minute you passed me on the driveway – the wolf in me is going crazy just sitting here next to you. Tell me who she is and what the hell she’s doing with you.”

          Harry swallowed heavily, and then sighed. “Her name’s Gabrielle Delacour…”

          Remus’ eyebrows tensed as he tried to remember where he’d heard the name. “The… the Beauxbatons champion from the World Cup?”

          “That’s her older sister, Fleur. Gabrielle’s the one I saved from the lake in the Second Task. She’s… helping me. Giving me someone to talk to. Bloody hell, she finally got the Dursleys to stop treating me like rubbish. Please don’t make her leave,” he said passionately.

          “Harry,” Remus began carefully, “she’s… she’s a very powerful Alpha creature, that’s what’s driving the wolf in me so wild. She’s strong – she can easily be influencing you.”

          Harry shook his head. “She’s not.”

          “Harry, she’s a Veela. You might not realize it. Veela can be… dangerous,” he began, wincing slightly when he heard his own choice of words.

          Harry turned his gaze on him, his emerald green eyes looking as if they were aflame. “You’re the last person I’d thought I would have heard garbage like that from, Prof- Remus.” He quickly corrected himself. “Sure, Veela can be dangerous, but so can werewolves or giants. You don’t see me running away from you or Hagrid, do you?”

          Remus sighed, and rubbed his temples. “I know, I’m sorry, that was a very, very poor choice of words. I just… I don’t want you hurt, don’t want to risk that she might be using her Allure on you.”

          Harry looked away for a moment. “There must be some sort of spell you can use to test for that – do that if it’ll make you feel better,” he finally said softly, understanding in his voice. “But you won’t find anything – she’s not Alluring me, we’re Bonded.”

          Remus’ eyes widened, and he pulled out his wand to cast several obscure Revealing Charms, and found that to be exactly the case – not a hint of the Allure, and clear evidence of a Bond existing.

          Harry shrugged. “She’s helping me, teaching me things that I need to know with Voldemort out there after me. Things that the Headmaster should have been teaching me. I’ve already got more of a handle in one morning on what I should have learned for Occlumency than I had after an entire year of that greasy git Snape trying to teach it to me.”

          Remus’ eyes flashed quickly over to Harry at that. “Harry… did you just say that Severus was teaching you Occlumency?” He asked slowly, wondering if he had somehow misheard.

          He certainly hadn’t known that. While he had no grudge against Snape like Sirius had, and even trusted him enough not to poison his Wolfsbane while he was at Hogwarts, why would Dumbledore trust Harry’s mind to Snape? He’d seen clearly the hatred and contempt Snape held Harry in just from the year he’d been there, obviously due to his similarities to James. ‘What had Dumbledore been thinking?’ He wondered to himself.

          Harry snorted. “If you call that teaching. He’d just shout ‘clear you mind’, and then use Legilimency on me. At least now with Gabby I know what I’m supposed to be doing to clear my mind….”

          Remus’ expression hardened, and he reached over to grab Harry’s shoulder firmly. “Harry, look at me,” he said roughly.

          Harry looked up at him, startled, and Remus was struck once more at how similar to James he looked – an almost spitting image except for his eyes. This young man was all that he had left – James, Lily, and now Sirius were gone, Pettigrew was a traitor, the only thing left was Harry, and he was no longer surprised at the protective instincts that welled up within him at that thought. His inner wolf understood it even better than he did – Harry was his pack, and he would protect him at all costs.

          “Harry, if that’s what Severus was doing…” Remus shuddered. “Harry ,that’s illegal mental assault – that would have destroyed any natural shields you had or were starting to build. He could be arrested for that, for using full active Legilimency on a minor without a license and legal permission, especially in such a destructive manner – that sort of thing is only for when you have full mental shields set up and you give permission to test them. No wonder you said you didn’t learn anything from him – if anything he would have made your mind even more open.”

          Harry paled suddenly, and Remus saw his fists clench. “Voldemort. S-Sirius. Remus, that fake vision…. Snape opened up my mind and I went on that stupid trip to the Ministry after Voldemort tricked me…”

          Remus swallowed heavily, and nodded. “Yeah. Now the question is if Dumbledore wanted him to weaken your mind to get a better idea of what Voldemort was doing, or if Severus was just doing it out of spite, or if he was doing the Dark Lord’s bidding.”

          Harry looked guiltily over at Remus who was struggling with the mention of Sirius. “Sorry, I… I didn’t think of how you’d feel if I mentioned him. I knew him for a few years, but he was one of your own best friends.” Harry looked down, struggling against tears in his eyes – he’d been selfish these last weeks, not even thinking about how Sirius’ death would hurt others.

          Remus managed a small smile, and clapped a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Harry. It hurts, and I know it hurts you too, but I don’t think he’d want us wallowing in our grief feeling sorry for ourselves. We… we’ve still got one another, and I’d like our relationship to be closer.”

          Harry smiled slightly, and looked up at Remus with vulnerable eyes. “I’d like that too, Remus.”

          Remus sighed with relief, and then squeezed Harry’s shoulder before letting it go. “I’ll talk to Dumbledore about this, figure out what the hell he was thinking dragging Snape into this, and figure out if Snape’s a traitor.”

          Remus rubbed his forehead. “I’ll push to get you out of here as soon as possible, but I think you might still be in for a week or two. When you come to Headquarters I’ll help you with your Occlumency if you’d like.”

          Harry looked at him with surprise. “You know Occlumency?”

          Remus nodded. “Started learning it when I was about your age, actually. It helps, a lot, dealing with my transformations, especially when it gets close to the full moon.”

          Harry smiled lopsidedly. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”

          Remus nodded, making a mental note to grab some books from his personal collection to give Harry in the next few days to give him a good start on Occlumency, if the Veela girl wasn’t very experienced with it.

          He finally sighed. “Do you trust the Vee- this girl, Gabrielle? You know what this Bond means, right?”

          Harry nodded. “She explained it to me. I know that I can break it if I want to, and we’ve agreed to just start off slow and see what happens from there.”

          Remus nodded absently, the fact that she’d told him he could break the Bond was definitely a good sign, in his mind.

          Harry continued. “Do I trust her? Yeah, I really do. At least as much as most of my friends. Maybe as much as you or Hermione,” Harry said, and Remus noticed – with interest - a slight blush at that.

          Harry shook his head. “Remus, she came last night, into my room, while I was sound asleep. She got past whatever guard you had out there-“ He paused for a moment while Remus growled “Mundungus” under his breath, and realized he was glad he wasn’t Fletcher for the foreseeable future given the look in Remus’ eyes.

          “Anyway, she could have slit my throat, or any number of things, then, or at any time later on in the night after we went to sleep afterward, but she woke me up while I was having a nightmare. She even gave me her wand. That’s not even counting all the stuff she’s done for me. I trust her, Remus.”

          “Okay, Harry,” Remus finally said, a mischievous grin coming to his face. “I get it, you’re crazy about the girl, and you trust her.”

          Harry’s face flushed instantly, and he stared at Remus with his mouth hanging open. “I – Remus, it’s not like that, we’re just friends –“

          Remus chuckled, and raised a hand. “It’s okay, Harry, I was just teasing you. If you trust her, that’s good enough for me. I won’t tell the Order about it when I report in, but I suggest you keep her inside while she’s here. You know Moody will spot her right away, right?”

          Harry sighed. “I know. But at least I’ll have had someone to talk to for that long.”

          Remus frowned, and looked down. “Moody’s next shift is Friday night and Saturday – if you can get her out of there for then, and figure out how to sneak her back in after, I’ll let you know his shift after that… I wish I could stay with you like that, but I… I have work to do,” he said helplessly.

          Harry smiled. “I know, it just gets so lonely.   Don’t even get the bloody Post anymore…”

          “Even if I’m not around all the time, you know you can still talk to me, right Harry? Whenever I’m on duty here, I’ll be all ears for you. I’m actually guarding on Tuesday, making up for a shift I’m going to miss for the full moon.” Remus said.

          Harry nodded. “Thanks, Remus. I’ll take you up on that.”

          Remus glanced down at his watch and grimaced. “Hestia’s shift starts in ten minutes. I’ll be sure to let you know when I get on for Tuesday so we have more time…” Remus stood up from the bench. “What say you race this old werewolf back to the Dursleys? See if you can beat me, eh?”

          Remus suddenly took off with a loping sprint, and Harry laughed, and then started running to try to catch up to him. “Oi, that’s cheating!”

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A/N: Well, hope you all liked that. The Dursleys got off a little easier than I’d planned, but they will be getting what’s coming to them in full eventually – a woman scorned has nothing on an angry-protective Veela :)

I really like the Harry and Remus relationship in the books, and my only wish was that JKR had made it stronger, so I’ll be working on that in this fic.

Next chapter, Remus has a talk with Dumbledore, Harry has a few conversations and starts sorting out his feelings, Harry and Gabby work a bit more on his Power, and Hermione finally stops pulling her hair out with worry. :D

That and more next chap – thanks for all the reviews last time. See you all next week!
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Harry Potter and the Secrets of Magic