Harry deflected the Stinging hexes Gabby happily threw up at him with less and less force until it seemed he was simply flicking them away off from the tip off his wand. Fleur cast a few of her own, reducing the time he had to think in between spells, but he kept going even when when stretched, sending spells scattering away from him into the walls until there was smashing sound, and Gabby squeaked despairingly.
'My hot chocolate,' she moaned, lowering her wand to gaze mournfully at the pieces of china and spreading puddle.
'I think that might be karma,' Harry remarked, as Fleur waved her wand to repair the mug. Sadly the spilt hot chocolate couldn't be saved and continued to steam on the floor.
'You spilt my hot chocolate,' Gabrielle accused him. 'You owe me,' she decided, turning the full force of her pleading look on Harry. Her beau met Gabby's big, blue eyes with his own calm stare, then smiled triumphantly and turned to Fleur.
'It doesn't work for her either,' he grinned. 'I can ignore it.'
'I'm not using my allure,' Gabby protested, throwing nervous look in Fleur's direction. 'I promise.'
She had better not have. Her sister had given a promise never to direct it at Harry again, not because Fleur was afraid it would affect him, but because it was not done for a veela to deliberately charm the companion of another veela, little sister or not.
'You mean that's natural?' Harry looked faintly disturbed, and Gabrielle's lower lip quivered dangerously. 'Alright,' he caved. 'I owe you.'
'Can I touch your extending a hand.
wand?'
Gabrielle
asked,
'I don't think your sister would approve,' Harry responded with a completely straight face. Gabby spluttered, red-faced and Fleur had to fight back her flush.
'Revenge is sweet,' Harry decided triumphantly. 'You can,' he grinned, 'but don't try and cast anything with it, Neville got burnt when he tried. It's very closely bonded to me.' Gabrielle took the ebony wand from his hands, holding it between her forefinger and thumb.
'It's cold, like I'm gripping an icicle,' she frowned, 'I don't think it likes me holding it. Do you mind if I listen to it?'
Harry glanced at her quizzically.
'You remember I told you that we can feel magic to a certain extent?' He nodded. 'I can tell whose magic is whose, as long as the casters aren't too similar, so I'd have trouble with similar people who were close relations, but Gabby is a lot better than me.'
'Let me explain, Fleur,' Gabrielle interrupted. 'You always make it sound so strange.'
'It is strange,' Fleur jibed, 'but go ahead and explain to Harry.' 'I can feel the magic when I listen to it,' she chirped happily. 'As long as I focus on it I can find out what it's like. Most of the time I just get an impression of what the spell feels like, but sometimes, if it's strong enough, I get more. Fleur only gets a fraction of what I do.' She stuck her chin in the air and Fleur couldn't suppress her smile. It was good that Gabby was quite a different veela than she was, she wouldn't want another version of herself as a sibling.
'What do you feel from a wand?' Harry asked, suddenly looking very curious.
'Wands are meant to feel like the magic of their owner,' Gabrielle answered. 'If I listen to the wand then I can feel what your magic is like.' She pulled a slightly anxious face. 'It's quite a personal thing, but you're Fleur's now, and Maman said I can listen to anyone's wand if they're part of the family.' A strange, soft smile, flickered across Harry's lips for an instant and he closed his eyes briefly. 'Listen away,' he decided. 'I'm curious to hear what you feel.'
Gabby took his wand in both her hands and pressed it tightly against her chest, scrunching her eyes tightly shut.
'It's cold,' she complained.
She stayed silent for a long minute, listening, an enraptured, fascinated expression on her face, her eyelids flickering.
'It's so alive,' she whispered.
Fleur blinked, surprised. Gabrielle had done this to her, several times, and told her that her magic felt like running her fingertips across warm silk, or hot, dry rose petals. It was soft, but strong. Her mother's magic had been described as similarly warm and smooth, like all veela influenced magic was, even if their mother was not so gifted as they were. Her father's had been the most different so far, Gabby had told him that it was like warm wool, less fine than their magic, but still strong.
'It's like holding my hand in the river in winter,' Gabby smiled, still not opening her eyes. 'The current is strong, and it's ice cold.' Her voice was full of fascination. 'I can almost hear the water whispering.' She squeezed her eyes more tightly shut. 'I'm sure if I could just listen a little harder I would hear it.'
Harry frowned and pulled his wand from her grasp. 'I think that's enough,' he decided, smiling slightly. Gabby looked disappointed, but Harry glanced pointedly at her hands that were pale, and purple-nailed from the cold his wand had been exuding. 'Don't try stealing it later,' Fleur warned her sister. 'Harry's wand is quite unique, it has a liquid core and seems to be very closely bonded to him. It was reluctant to respond to you were pouring your magic over it to listen, and that was when he gave you permission, please don't try it later.'
'It burnt Neville when he tried to use it even after I gave him permission,' Harry added. 'It wasn't particularly painful, but it looked quite uncomfortable.'
'I wasn't going to,' Gabby sulked. Fleur knew that she had been planning to do exactly that and gave her a sharp, disbelieving look. Her sister giggled mischievously.
Harry slipped it back inside his sleeve.
'Getting back to why we actually came down here,' Fleur reminded them, 'Harry's got the idea. It won't be as easy deflecting different spells at different speeds and still be able to control where they go, and you could probably do with working on your reflexes to make sure you're as fast as you can be.'
'Has the lesson ended? Are we free to leave, Professor Fleur?' Gabrielle asked cheekily.
'Shoo, Gabby,' Fleur smiled, watching as her sister snatched her mug and set off to replace her lost hot chocolate.
'Your mother runs a potions shop, doesn't she?' Harry mused.
'Yes,' she answered. 'Why?' Harry had never shown any particular interest in potions beyond what he needed to know for his exams.
'Did you mean what you said about not caring what I did?' He asked quietly. 'As long as you're mine,' she reminded him softly, moving across to lean herself against him.
'I know a way to improve my reflexes, and my eyesight,' he told her hesitantly, 'but I need a few things that I don't know how to get hold of.'
'What do you need?' Fleur asked, dubious. She knew of most of the potions that might help him, but none of them lasted very long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/