Chapter 166 - 166- before the task

FLEUR'S POV

Walking up from her sleep, it take long for nervousness to fill her stomach.

Today was the last task of the tournament, and this time she won't have any help, as the three champions already talked about it and decided that they will let the best win.

She might didn't like to admit it, but she had a feeling Harry would be the final winner.

Victor might know more spells, she might be better at magic, but whenever she talked with Harry she can always see he KNOWS how to use each and every spell of his.

Eating breakfast, Fleur tried to calm her nerves when her headmistress came to her.

"Ms Delacour, we need you to come to the side chamber, we have a surprise for the champions in there."

'Why on earth would madam Maxime would tell something like that to me on such a nerve-wracking day?!' Fleur thought as she walked there, seeing Marcus Potter, Victor and Harry moving toward the chamber also.

As she arrived first, she hesitantly opened the door, only to rush into a hug when she saw her parents and sister were there.

"maman! papa! Gabrielle!" Hugging her little sister and then her parents moon of who she saw since the second task, when the tournament organizers decided to use her sister as a price.

"Que fais-tu ici?" (What are you doing here?)

"nous sommes venus vous voir gagner ce tournoi" (we came to see you win this tournament) her younger sister said in excitement.

As she continued to talk with her family, she watched from the corner of her eyes the other families talk.

She saw Victor hugging his younger sister, talking rapidly in Bulgarian, she saw Marcus Potter hug his father, telling him he would do his best.

And then she saw Harry, who sat on the side, and seemed to look in contempt and anger at the Potters, something totally understandable, as they kicked him out of the family, but to see it on the face of Harry, who seemed to always be filled with good emotions and happiness was too bizarre for her.

Taking her parents toward him, Fleur introduced them to Harry "Maman, papa, this is Harry, the wisest wizard I have ever met, Harry, those are my parents."

When Fleur started talking and Harry's head turned to her, she saw a glimpse of the emotions Harry had for the Potters before he smiled to her, and honestly, it made her heart jump.

No, it wasn't the hatred that affected her, it was the smile, and the transition in the emotions in his eyes.

Veelas are people that are extremely attuned to emotions in people's eyes.

They can tell what a person is thinking of them by taking one look at their eyes.

Which is how she knew it wasn't natural.

People shouldn't be able to do it.

They shouldn't be able to shift from one emotion to another without the connection, which meant either one of two things.

Either he has a split personality, one that deals with darker emotions like sadness and anger and the other that deals with happiness and joy.

Or, he has extremely well developed Occlumency shields, lettering him bury his emotions whenever he feels like he needs, either way, it means he truly suffered, as it is the only way for one of those two things to appear.

"Nice to meet you." Harry said shaking her mother and father's hands before doing the same to Gabrielle.

"So Fleur," he said "ready for your ass to be kicked?" A small smile appeared on his face.

"I think you're the one who's gonna lose, little boy." The smirk on her face showed she was joking, as the nickname she gave him every time they had an argument appeared.

"I really think that age shouldn't count when I'm as tall as I am." Harry said rolling his eyes.

He was right of course, not only was he a head taller then her, he also looked a lot older then his age, with his old eyes, broad shoulders, defined muscles... Fleur has to shove her blush down, she might have a small crush on Harry, but it doesn't matter, every person with eyes can see Luna is in love with him, and she won't let her friendship with the girl be destroyed by going after Harry, unless Harry makes the first move.

"It doesn't matter how tall you are, you aren't going to win." She said.

"Oh, I know I'm not," Harry said "but neither do you."

"You think Victor would win?" She asked surprised, both her and Victor talked about it and both felt Harry would win.

"No, I think Potter would, if only by cheating."

That made her and her parents to frown.

"You think Potter is going to cheat?" Her father asked

"Not him, Dumbledore. The headmaster wants him to win."

"And how do you know that?" Her mother asked.

"Because I was made to swear an oath to help him." Harry said looking sadly at Fleur. "Which is why if we meat at the maze I will have to knock you out, I'm sorry."

Fleur felt this kind of anger Only a few times in her life.

She felt it when her friends abandoned her for being a Veela.

She felt it when she heard students in Hogwarts making fun about her headmistress.

And she felt it now.

It was a righteous anger about favoritism and acts of looking down on people for something out of their control, like birth or in Harry's case, a dark wizard choosing to kill his brother first, instead of him.

Before she even noticed, she hugged Harry, whispering in his ear "Don't worry, I will knock you out first and win this stupid tournament, before giving the bird to Dumbledore."

Harry laughed, and it was like the world was right again, yet, before he could say something, he tensed, and a voice was heard from behind her back.

"Hey Harry, can we talk?" Turning around, she saw James Potter standing near them, looking embarrassed.

JAMES' POV

James wasn't sure what is he going to say.

After all, what do you say to a son you abandoned twice, even if the first time was out of your control.

He wanted to drop on the floor and beg for forgiveness, for a second (or more correctly third) chance.

He wanted to act like it never happened, hugging the boy as he did when he was a baby.

He wanted Harry to look him in the eyes, see his emotions, forgive him, cry and reunite with his family.

He knew non of it would eve ever happen.

The boy, no the young man that was hugging the Veela (and how proud was he of the boy!) would never agree to forgive him right away.

No, he needed to slowly insert himself to Harry's life until he was one day just forgiven, and it all starts with one sentence.

"Hey Harry can we talk?" He saw the guarded look his son had when looking at him, and it broke his heart, because he knew he deserves it.

"What do you want?" The temperature in his voice was something James never heard, it wasn't like heated hatred, something Snape has, nor was it like the apathy, an even temperature voice that was uncaring, like how Lucius Malfoy talked to him, it was ice cold fury, something that seemed like there was nothing there, but with one step too far would cause an avalanche, making everyone a causality.

"To talk, privately." His voice was smaller now.

"I can't, I need to focus on the task."

"So can we talk after? It's important" James said, adding 'to me' in his head.

"Fine, an hour after the task, right here."

James almost jumped in joy, getting Harry to listen to him Would be the first step, but he is sure that one day they l the four of them would be family again.

HARRY'S POV

Getting out of the chamber and near the toilets, Harry called Dobby before popping away, only to return five minutes later, with a grin on his face.

'Let the game begin.'