Chapter Text
"Harry! It's good to see you mate, how's everything been?" Bill Weasley and Harry's most recent friend that he'd be visiting asked as he opened the door.
Behind him and lounging on a couch that Harry could only just see was the top of Fleur's head. Last he had heard, the woman was heavily pregnant with their first child. Harry couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate the end of Voldemort than to start making your family.
"I'm great, really great," Harry said with a smile as he shook Bill's hand. "How about you and Fleur, everything alright?"
Bill stepped aside as he began to answer, allowing Harry to enter as he spoke. "Oh yeah, we've been great. Fleur's expecting our first boy in the next few weeks, we also have a gu—"
"Harry Potter!" Came a slightly-accented voice from the stairs to his right.
He didn't have the chance to turn and see who it was before the woman it belonged to slammed into him; her thin arms with sharp nails he could feel through his shirt wrapped around his torso as she stammered.
"Harry! It's so good to see you, it's been so long and I can't believe how tall you've gotten. You remember me, don't you? You saved me from un—"
"Gabrielle," Fleur spoke up, the woman heaving herself to her feet from the couch as she came over to Harry, Bill and the now-known woman, Gabrielle. "Harry will be staying with us for three days to aid Bill, you will have plenty of time to visit with him."
Fleur's English was near-perfect, while Gabrielle's was good enough that the accent was only slightly hard to understand when she spoke too fast… as she just did.
"Sorry Fleur, sorry Harry," Gabrielle said, unwrapping her arms from around his torso and stepping a few feet back. "Hi Harry, it is very good to see you again."
This time, Gabrielle was very demure with her speaking and actions. She didn't look at him full on from the few feet away that she was, rather, she had her head looking slightly down with her hair hanging in front of her face to the point Harry could barely make out her blue eyes. He wasn't sure if it was her unnatural beauty she was born with or simply the young woman herself — for he knew the 'allure' wouldn't work on him — but the look was entirely too beautiful for anybody to witness.
She was like something from a dream, and after he and Ginny had broken up months ago, it was a very welcome dream.
"It's great to see you too, Gabrielle," Harry said with a smile as he held out his arms.
Gabrielle quickly darted back into them, and his hug with her lasted twice as long as the one he had with Fleur a few moments later. If he were a betting man, he would think Gabrielle still had a crush on him from the time he'd saved her. It was a good thing that as a Senior Auror, he took bets often whilst in the field; he credited that with his success thus far.
"Now that my little sister has greeted you, why don't you get settled in our newest guestroom, 'Arry?" Fleur said, her saying of his name the same way she had years ago with a teasing smile on her face.
With a fond shake of his head at the memories that she conjured up, Harry spoke. "That'd be great, thank you, Fleur. Thank you too, Bill, for letting me stay with you for a few days — this place really feels like a vacation."
Bill laughed and took hold of Harry's shoulder while Gabrielle walked off with Fleur back towards the couch, the former shot him one last look over her shoulder as Bill began speaking to him.
"Not a problem, Harry. You're as much of a little brother to me as Ron and the others are, you'll always be welcome with us," Bill then levitated the singular trunk that Harry had brought with him. "How about we go get you familiar with the room then? We've had a few changes since you last visited, and thanks to you, we'll have another few changes soon enough."
Harry nodded and began following Bill up the steps.
He had come to Shell Cottage for multiple reasons, chief amongst them was a much-needed vacation from the Auror Department, considering how worn out he was and aiding Bill in an expansion of his and Fleur's home. Harry wasn't all that well versed on that second reason, but with the Elder Wand in his possession and under mentorship from Bill, he was sure he would be of some assistance.
If he couldn't, he could always hire somebody to do it professionally for them. Merlin knows Harry had the Galleons for it.
As Bill began speaking about the new layout of the home and more importantly, the soon to be newest Weasley, Harry allowed himself to drift off to the man's words. He was with friends, family practically, and there was nothing better in the world than that.
"Good morning 'A- Harry, did you sleep well?" Gabrielle greeted him, the young woman had been waiting right outside of his door the moment he'd opened it; she even stammered with her greeting, her accent trying to come out when she said his name.
Very cutely, she squashed it from doing so, but all it did was make him more enthralled with her for a few moments before he shook his head. Fleur probably wouldn't be too thrilled if Harry began dating her sister whilst he was staying with them, the fact that he'd saved her would always be something that hung over them too. At least, he would think of it as such.
"I did, thank you," Harry said back to her after a yawn and rubbing of his eyes. "How about you, sleep well?"
Gabrielle nodded emphatically and smiled widely at him. "Oui, I slept very well!" Gabrielle didn't wait or say anything else to him before she grabbed his left hand. "Come, let's have breakfast before you help William — Fleur made crepes with fresh fruit, eggs and other foods too."
Harry smiled as he found himself taken away by Gabrielle through the various short halls and down the stairs. She hadn't lost her energy, and she still looked just as great as she did when he had met her at Hogwarts. He couldn't believe they were the same age with her lack of scars and wrinkles either, though he supposed that was what added to that unequivocal beauty she possessed in comparison to most other witches.
"I see you found your way to Harry's room this morning, Gabrielle," Fleur said as soon as he and the aforementioned girl entered the kitchen, her voice a different type of teasing than he'd witnessed the night prior.
"You said I could visit him as long as I did not wake him up," Gabrielle whined back to her older sister, her hand tightening around Harry's as she led the pair of them further into the room.
Fleur shook her head with a tutting sound emanating from her lips, but she didn't say anything more as she watched Harry and Gabrielle. Instead, Bill spoke up from his seat beside his pregnant wife, a Crepe still in his mouth as he did so… much to the annoyance of his wife who pinched his cheeks when he finished.
"Seeing anybody, Harry?" Bill asked with a wink.
Harry narrowed his eyes at Bill but shook his head nonetheless. "No, I'm not," Harry answered as he took a seat at the table and reached for the crepes and nothing else.
There was absolutely no chance he'd pass up on eating as many of those as he could, not with them made by a French witch who knew her food. Fleur was amazing in the kitchen, potentially more so than he was, and the deliciousness of her cooking the one other time he'd had it was more than enough to have him at their door daily if he could've been able to.
Gabrielle squeaked from her spot beside him, and Fleur across from him winked at the girl. He barely saw the latter action, and it was only because of the Auror instincts that he had. Moody, or rather the fake Moody with his 'constant vigilance', hadn't been wrong. It paid to keep your mind focused at all times.
Still, seeing that action from Fleur and hearing Gabrielle squeak didn't mean Harry knew exactly what was going on. So it was because of that, he turned to face the young French woman who was barely a few months older than him.
"Alright, Gabrielle?" He asked her, the redness of her face paling only to the strawberries sticking out from the edge of her crepes.
"Yes, I am well, thank you," Gabrielle said, avoiding his eyes as the redness crept from her cheeks and down her neck.
Fleur's laughing from across the table made him furrow his brows, but sure enough, Bill spoke to distract him from whatever it was that he'd missed. Well, that or the other bloke in the room was just as dense as he was… there was a very good chance that his latter guess was the more right of the two.
"Great," Bill said, "I'm glad you two woke up early enough to experience Fleur's famous breakfast food — she doesn't cook for people who lie in too long, as Ron learned a month ago."
Harry hadn't known that his friend had visited then, and when he looked at Fleur, he saw her raise her nose in the same manner she used to when he'd first met her. He had to fight to suppress a grin of his own, for the memories of her and Gabrielle that followed post-saving were very comedic. Gabrielle especially had been too cute for a teenaged-Harry to deal with.
"Tssk, William, I would never let 'Arry starve," Fleur said, her eyes darting to the girl beside Harry as she spoke.
Bill sighed and rubbed at his temples, and Harry… well, Harry just sat there looking confused as a silent conversation occurred between the two women in the room. It lasted for some time too, with Gabrielle making whines, squeaks or huffs while Fleur went from giggling to full-blown laughter.
Eventually, Bill had enough mercy or common sense to get the two of them out of the room while the two women continued eating.
Not before Gabrielle said goodbye though; she had stood up, pulled Harry into one of her very tight hugs and placed a small kiss on each of his cheeks. Only then, when she looked content with her 'goodbye' — one that lasted for barely an hour before she was outside with them offering drinks and snacks — did she let them leave.
Harry knew then that staying with Fleur and Bill would be extra difficult, for his crush on Gabrielle had begun to return and he knew that her crush on him was still so very prevalent in her actions. Surely Fleur wouldn't want him going after her sister whilst he was staying with them, right?
Was that the reason for the words, or rather, the expressive silence they'd shared at the table?
"Dreaming of a pretty bird, Harry?" Bill called to him with a laugh.
Oh right, Harry thought, we're still working on that new addition.
"Nah mate just got lost in the view," Harry said back, motioning to the water and minding it more attention than he had ever before.
"Right," Bill said, looking at the house rather than the lake, "It's certainly something."
Harry agreed.
"Harry, you can finish up for the day by yourself, right?" Bill asked as he nervously looked over to the large windows where an angrily tapping Fleur was.
"Yeah mate, I can finish our work for the day. Best get going before she pulls out her wand," Harry responded with a laugh at the other man's expense.
Bill scoffed. "As if she needs her wand, she'd walk to the front door and toss fire at me," Harry began to laugh but Bill's next words stopped that very quickly. "Good luck when little Gabby starts doing the same to you."
"Wha—" Bill was gone, and Harry was left by himself.
That didn't last long.
Little Gabby very quickly found her way outside and over to Harry once the other man had left him. She idled near him for a few seconds in silence with another pitcher of water in her hand, then she spoke to him in that sweet voice of hers.
"Hi 'Ar- 'Ar," She stopped and huffed, sticking out her bottom lip cutely as a look of frustration and concentration took hold. "Harry," she finally said.
Harry smiled at her and took the pitcher when she offered it to him, the heat was a killer even in the evening as they were.
"Thanks, Gabrielle, and hi," Harry paused to take a few long and greedy gulps of the ice-cold water. "What did Fleur want Bill for?"
Gabrielle's cheeks went pink and she averted her gaze from him as she answered his question. "Pregnancy cravings."
Harry didn't get what was so embarrassing about that, but he shrugged and moved topics. With a proud motion towards the expansion of Shell Cottage, he asked her thoughts on it.
"You did well, you and William both. Fleur and I watched from z-the windows for a lot of it," Gabrielle answered, her eyes staying strictly on him even as she stomped her foot once in annoyance at her near mispronunciation.
"Thanks," Harry replied with a smile.
He was glad the work had come along as nicely as it had, especially with how worried he had initially been that he'd mess up their home. Bill's assistance and guidance had saved him a few times early on, but as Bill had said, he took to the job very easily — Harry was luckily gifted with magic as a whole.
"Would you like to go to the beach?" Gabrielle asked out of nowhere, eyeing him and then the water.
"I didn't bring my swimming trunks," Harry said, offering that excuse up to keep himself from doing anything too stupid with Fleur's sister whilst he was staying with them.
Gabrielle whipped out her wand and laughed. "That is no problem, Harry, I can take care of it for you."
Harry wanted to make another excuse, but he didn't. How could he when Gabrielle wanted to go swimming with him so badly?
He remembered that they'd sworn to be friends from the moment he'd saved her onwards. They'd written to one another over the years, keeping in touch and swapping pictures of the few instances they had them taken. It wasn't until last year that they'd stopped talking, and that was as much her fault as it was his; his new owl, Foxglove, had returned the last letter he'd sent to her.
"Done," Gabrielle said as she slid her wand back into her pants.
Harry blinked. Nothing felt any different, he sti- wait, he felt a breeze on his legs and lower thighs. When he looked down, he saw the swimsuit Gabrielle had transfigured for him. It looked great, she certainly hadn't lost her sense of style… but it went a bit high for his liking.
When he looked up after a minute of observation, he saw that she was in a bikini not unlike the one that Muggles would wear, only it covered a bit more skin, similar to Fleur's school bathing suit. He called it that for lack of a better term too, since it was how he remembered it.
"That was quick," He remarked as he took in the girl's figure.
Gabrielle was tall like Fleur, thin as Fleur used to be, filled out perfectly in a way that barely any woman did and her long silverish hair flowed freely down her back. He tried — and failed — to avoid looking at her cleavage, though it was very generous with the suit she'd picked for herself.
"I was ready to swim, Fleur said you would be agreeable," Gabrielle said to him as an explanation as she took hold of his hand and began leading him down the wooden steps that led to the sandy beach below. "You look healthy and fit, by the way. Your job must be a good one to keep you looking so good."
Harry nearly coughed when she called him fit, as he wasn't sure if she knew the second meaning of the word. All too often it was used in Gryffindor Tower between the other blokes and him when they were discussing witches they fancied. He cursed himself, not for the first time, about his lack of understanding of the fairer sex.
If he was half as insightful with witches as he was with his job as an Auror, he'd be married by now, he knew it.
"Thanks," he eventually said to her, maintaining eye contact with great willpower. "You look great too… what do you do for work?"
Gabrielle giggled and did a little twirl whilst maintaining her grip on his hand. He looked, he looked a lot.
"I am glad you think I look great," she said with a wide, dazzling smile that showed off her dimples. "I work as a curse-breaker as my sister does, it is thanks to her that I was able to move to Magical Britain. That is why I am here too, as I have not yet had the chance to buy or build my own home with the money Papa and Mama gave to me."
"Where do you think you're going to buy or build your home?" Harry asked, genuinely curious. "What's it like being a curse-breaker too? Fleur and Bill don't talk about it all that much."
Gabrielle positively preened thanks to his interest. "I would like to live close to Fleur, maybe even alongside her. She didn't seem to dislike the idea of me living a hundred yards away in my own type of Shell Cottage. Being a curse-breaker is fun too, we are able to travel the world with expenses paid by the sponsor of the trip. We delve into ancient crypts or shrines to scavenge artefacts — it is dangerous, very much so, but the reward and sense of wonder you get are worth it."
Harry wasn't sure if he was all that fond of so many friends of his diving underground into these long-forgotten places of the world. Gabrielle said it was dangerous and he didn't doubt it, especially with how much dark magic existed in the world. He wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there were illegal items that came from places that they went too… maybe he would get to work with them sometime.
That'd be fun.
"It is beautiful, non?" Gabrielle asked as she came to a halt, her hand making him do the same lest he pulled her down the stairs.
Harry found himself looking at her rather than the water, and he very nearly said yes. When he saw that she was pointing to the sunset and the way the water slowly moved, that same answer came forth from his lips. "Yes, it is."
"We have as much time to swim as we should want, Fleur and Bill do not eat until the late evening — that will come after they finish their current activities," Gabrielle once more blushed, the redness spreading from her face and down her neck beautifully. "Should I call for a snack from my elf?" She asked, looking away from him entirely.
"You have a house-elf?" Harry asked, blinking and looking confused; he hadn't seen nor heard one during his stay.
Gabrielle nodded a few times and looked back, her blush receding. "Mama and Papa didn't want me to be alone, so they bought a house-elf named Laddey. It was when we arrived at the Ministry and made our way to Diagon Alley, there's a wonderfully large amount of shops. We should shop together someday, your style was always lacking, 'Arry," She finished saying his name in the way she did when they were younger whilst maintaining eye contact.
Harry didn't register how breathy her voice was. He didn't notice her lack of annoyance with her pronunciation either. All he noticed was how close they'd gotten whilst watching the sunset and during the conversation that followed. They were so close now that when she exhaled, it splashed against his face.
He could smell the fruit she'd had for a snack before coming to see him, and it was wickedly alluring.
"Gabrielle?" Harry found himself asking, the girl's eyes stuck on his as she moved ever so slightly closer to him still.
"Hmm?" She hummed to him, their eye contact breaking as she looked to his lips and back up again.
Harry swallowed nothing and his hesitance nearly made him pull back from her, but Gabrielle didn't allow that. She didn't even give him the chance, as one small hand of hers sought out the back of his neck while the other curled around his waist.
"Non," Gabrielle said, "Stay close, I like it," those final few words were practically purred.
He swallowed again, and this time, before he could say anything, Gabrielle pulled him the remaining distance between them. What he first registered when their lips made contact was the softness of hers, it was… indescribable. Gabrielle's lips were too soft to be anything but a dream, and her skill in kissing matched that too.
What followed was how soft she was when her body pressed against him, those whines of hers, the groans, all of it was impossibly perfect.
Gabrielle pulled back to allow the both of them to breathe. She looked flushed, her — amazing — chest was heaving, and her hands had begun exploring him. His chest, his back and other areas too, all of it felt so very great to him.
As angelic as she looked with that silver hair and flushed features, the heat between them was the polar opposite of such a word. Her touches, her noises, all of it would be described as wicked to any onlookers. Gabrielle was aggressive in her affection in a way that Harry could've never imagined from such a shy-seeming girl, and he loved it.
"Let us go back to the Cottage, ouais? Please, 'Arry?" Gabrielle asked, one hand tugging on his arm and the other tracing a circle below his belly button.
"I thought you wanted to go swimming?" He asked with a teasing, confident smile; he wasn't sure how he pulled it off considering how fast his heart was beating.
Really, how often did he have the most beautiful woman in the world in front of him after a heavy snogging session? The fact that it was his crush from years and years ago only made it all the more exhilarating.
Gabrielle vehemently shook her head, and her skin pressed against him felt hotter. "Non non, we shall go back to the cabin. I want to explore my new boyfriend."
Boyfriend?
Harry wasn't complaining, no, he rather liked the sound of that.
She didn't seem to like the pause he had though, and her grip tightened further as that southern hand went another inch downwards.
"You are my boyfriend now after that kiss, are you not," Gabrielle leaned into him, her lips right against his ear, "'Arry?"
He was lost from that point on, as there was no chance he could say no to Gabrielle. Not after such a long amount of time… Merlin could only hope Fleur had mercy on him when she found out he'd snogged her sister at her home.
Harry lost himself in Gabrielle's arms that evening, and as time would tell, many more nights in the future.
Harry found himself waking to the sound of conversation, a very loud one. Unsure of why that was, he blinked the sleep from his eyes, reached to the end table for his glasses and pulled them on all within a few seconds. Immediately he recognised that he wasn't in his given room, for it wasn't nearly as girlish or messy.
He didn't pay it all that much attention considering the main point of focus was the conversation that'd woken him and the two people who were taking part in it; Gabrielle and Fleur. It didn't help that with his glasses, he could make out a topless Gabby standing with her face against the door as she spoke to her sister. That door was barely open an inch for her to look at Fleur with too, and even then, Gabrielle was giving him fifty per cent of her attention, if not more.
Merlin, the wink that she shot at him was horrible considering who was right outside their — her — door.
Speaking of that, he could hear the words Fleur was saying too, and they most definitely pertained to him.
"-ou seen Harry, Gabby? He is not in his room and Bill cannot find him outside," Fleur's voice took on a tone that was entirely too knowing even to Harry's ears. "Did you kidnap our guest, little Gabby?"
Gabrielle, still looking at him and with only her bikini bottoms on, giggled silently. He didn't like the objects that jiggled during such an action, or rather, he liked it entirely too much for his own good.
"Non, Fleur. I found him asleep outside on the bench by the beach and brought him to my room, he still sleeps. Would you want me to wake him for dinner?" Gabrielle's voice gave nothing away even to his Auror senses; it was then that he knew "angelic" most definitely didn't fit the topless temptress still gazing at him.
Fleur made a noise that wasn't entirely too believing of Gabrielle's words. "Let him sleep a half an hour longer, dinner is not ready yet — it is something I'm sure Harry will find a level of nostalgia in, should his memory be good," Fleur sounded like she was finished, but she spoke again in a hushed enough manner that he couldn't make out what was said.
All he could determine was that those words were as mature as the activities he'd done with Gabrielle had been; it was very clear based on her blushing and the stammering back she did.
After those words, whatever they were, Harry was left alone with Gabrielle. Her grin and the cat-like prowling she made towards him told him that she knew that too.
"Did you sleep well, mon amour?" Gabrielle asked as she crawled on the bed and atop Harry, forcing him onto his back with her hands.
Harry wasn't sure what those words meant, but the purring tone in which she'd said them let him know things could very well go the same as they had earlier.
Merlin help him.
After nearly an hour had passed, Harry found himself in the kitchen with Gabrielle once more. Needless to say, they'd found themselves lost in snogging and more to the point that time had been forgotten, which included the dinner Fleur had spoken of at the door. Their food was well past the ready stage and had begun to cool. Fleur and Bill were already eating too, but that stopped when the pair of them made their presence known.
Bill, for his part, shot Harry a hesitant look of congratulations.
Fleur was far less subtle, and by that, well, she was openly laughing as she took in her little sister's blushing face. That laughter was so loud and true that tears formed in the corner of her eyes. It went on for nearly half a minute before she finally regained control of herself.
"You are aggressive, my little Gabby, and forgetful," Fleur said with the most mischievous grin on her face that he'd ever seen.
"What're you talking about?" Gabrielle asked casually, her hand squeezing Harry's as the pair of them finally sat down across from the older couple.
Harry had to give it to Gabrielle, she sounded very innocent. It was unfortunate for her that the person she was trying that on was her older sister, the person she'd learned much of that from.
"Silencing charms were made for a reason, Gabby," Fleur said, saying her little sister's name teasingly and sticking her tongue out for emphasis — she then looked to Harry. "It's about time that you end up with my little sister rather than William's, 'Arry," Fleur said, his name spoken in much the same tone as Gabrielle's.
If that wasn't enough for either of them, she giggled for another few seconds post-teasingly saying Harry's name.
She was having far, far too much fun with it.
Harry would rather face Voldemort again than a teasing, knowing Fleur.
"Well then," Bill said after clearing his throat and looking between the other three occupants of the room. "Why don't you two tuck into dinner? Fleur made a wonderful meal as always, I'm sure the both of you are hungry too."
Fleur snorted and whispered something to her husband, it sounded an awful lot like 'Just like us' to Harry's ears.
Still, Harry was more than happy to accept the out as it was offered by the other bloke in the room. "Wicked, Fleur's a great cook — what's for dinner?"
"I made your favourite, Harry," Fleur said, finally smiling instead of laughing or giggling crazily as she'd been doing. "Bouillabaisse. "
Harry laughed at the name and immediately he understood Fleur's earlier remark whilst she was at the door. Hearing her say that food definitely brought him back in time.
Bill winked at him and turned to Fleur. "What's the sauce base made from again, Fleur?"
Fleur snickered and looked across the table at the happy young couple. "Clam juice — Harry should love it."