Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and I don't intend to earn any profit out of it.

Author's Note: This fan-fiction story starts at the beginning of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. This will be a smart, mature, eventually powerful Harry. Hope everyone likes it. Hey, I don't know how to write Fleur's and Hagrid's accent. So, I am most probably writing normal English for their dialogues. But still, I can give a try.

Dumbledore was puzzled. There was a noticeable change in the way Harry behaved with him when he went to collect Harry at private drive. Dumbledore had expected Harry to be morose, and still upset about Sirius's death. Instead, Harry seemed quite cheerful and even apologized to him for breaking his office furniture at the end of last year. But nevertheless, he had no hesitation in convincing Slughorn to teach at Hogwarts. It seemed as if he had taken Sirius's death fairly well and had moved on. But what surprised Dumbledore was that Harry showed no animosity towards Kreacher when he mentioned to Harry that Harry should inherit Kreacher. And moreover, Harry somehow knew that Slughorn was the potions teacher and not the DADA teacher, as he wanted Harry to believe.

"Professor, is Professor Slughorn going to teach Defence against the Dark Arts? Because, Sirius had once told me that he is a potions teacher" said Harry looking seemingly confused.

Dumbledore blinked his eyes before replying.

"You are right Harry that Professor Slughorn is a Potions teacher and he is going to teach potions from now on" said Dumbledore his eyes twinkling.

"So, does that mean Snape is resigning from his job?" asked Harry hopefully.

"Call him Professor Snape Harry" chided Dumbledore. "And, I am afraid that is not the case Harry. Severus will be relegated to Defence against the Dark Arts, a position that he had been aspiring for years" said Dumbledore merrily.

Harry mastered his frustration only thanks to the daily meditation exercises that he had been doing for the past two weeks. Or else, he might have again shouted at Dumbledore for loosing his marbles.

"Very well Professor" said Harry unhappily, but he was determined that he would not take Defence against the Dark Arts this time, not if the greasy git was teaching the subject.

This reaction of Harry stumped Dumbledore. He expected that Harry would go into a rant again about how he had lost his marbles or something like that. But this calm and collected Harry was quite unsettling.

Something was amiss here, and Dumbledore wanted to get to the bottom of it.

He left Harry at the burrow after promising the boy lessons from this year.

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The next day, when he got up in Fred and George's room, the first thing that he saw was Hermione's bushy brown hair as she hugged him tightly. Ron thumped him on the back and welcomed him.

After the greetings were over, Harry spoke.

"Hermione, Ron I am really sorry about how I put all of you in danger last year. I shouldn't have shouted at both of you like that just because you were warning me that Voldemort might be trying to lure me into a trap" said Harry regretfully.

Ron and Hermione were surprised by Harry's apology but waved them off.

"It's okay Harry. You don't have to formally apologize to us. We are your friends and we will always follow you" said Hermione warmly.

"Yeah mate, you were sounding like Percy here. No need to be so stiff here" said Ron grinning at him.

Harry's heart warmed immensely on seeing the loyalty of his friends, and he smiled at both of them.

Then he noticed that Hermione was biting her lip worriedly and Ron looked uncomfortable. He wondered why? Then, he understood that they wanted to comfort him about Sirius but were hesitant to speak about it, because they were worried about his reaction.

He smiled reassuredly at them and spoke.

"Is there anything that both of you want to tell me? I promise, I won't shout" said Harry smiling at them.

"It's that Harry..." began Hermione uncertainly, but Harry encouraged her " We are really sorry about Sirius. We wanted to tell you that please stop blaming yourself for Sirius's death. It will only hurt yourself" said Hermione in a subdued voice and Ron nodded vigourously.

"Yes Hermione you are right, I will not blame myself for Sirius's death anymore. Instead, I will learn from my mistakes and avoid any reckless actions next time. Sirius was a great person who loved me immensely and I will honour his memory by being a better person, by being a godson that he would be proud of. Because, I know that mourning him and blaming myself won't bring him back" said Harry wisely.

Hermione and Ron were stunned with Harry's response and so was Ginny who had just arrived then.

"That's was so mature Harry" said Hermione looking impressed.

"Mate, you are starting to sound like Dumbledore now. It seems spending some time with Dumbledore had some effect on you" said Ron grinning at him

"Yeah, all that is missing is a long beard and a crooked nose. We can give him that by punching him" said Ginny playfully.

All of them laughed. Harry felt a bit guilty of hiding some information from his friends, but he was forbidden from doing so.

Then, they asked him about Dumbledore accompanying him. Harry told them the truth.

"He wanted me to convince Slughorn, an old potions professor to come and teach at Hogwarts. It seems Slughorn will teach potions now and Snape will get his favourite post" said Harry truthfully.

"What? That evil greasy git is going to teach defence now?" asked Ron appalled, causing Hermione to say "Language Ron"

"Yes Ron, that is why, I will be dropping DADA" said Harry casually.

"WHAT? Harry James Potter, you just can't drop defence. It is a very important subject if you want to become an auror" said a shocked Hermione.

"Yeah I agree that defence is a very important subject Hermione, which is why I will be doing a self-study of the subject and directly writing the NEWT's for it. We are allowed to do that according to the ministry examination charter. But I won't sit in another class with Snape because that man simply hates me just because I look like my father. He has no hesitation in taking points from me and assigning me detentions simply because I exist. Sirius once told me that he was a good friend of my mom but she broke off friendship with him when he accidentally called her a mudblood in their fifth year. They further drifted apart when my mom married dad, who was a sworn enemy of Snape since 1st year. It seems as if he loved my mother very much and was disappointed when she ditched him and married my father" said Harry casually.

The others were shocked into silence on hearing his tale.

"Blimey, your mom was friends with Snape?" asked Ron shocked by the information.

"Yes Ron, they were childhood friends and lived very close to each other" said Harry.

"But why didn't you ever tell us this Harry?" asked Hermione curiously.

"I must have forgot" said Harry sheepishly.

Soon they started discussing about other things. Harry came to know that Fleur was engaged to Bill and that she was staying here at the burrow. Apparently, Ron was immensely delighted about this, but Hermione and Ginny were unhappy about it.

After some time, Fleur came to their room.

Harry looked at her. She looked immensely beautiful and it was only thanks to his recently developed occlumency shields, that he had perfected for the last few weeks that he maintained his decorum and did not drool.

"arry" said Fleur smiling at him as she swooped down upon him and kissed him on two cheeks. Harry's face burned in embarrassment, but he understood that it was simply Fleur's way of welcoming him. Ron was openly gaping at her with drool coming out of his mouth, much to the annoyance of Hermione and Ginny.

"ow are you?" asked Fleur.

"I am fine Fleur. It is nice meeting you after one year. And congratulations to you and Bill" said Harry sincerely.

"Thank you 'arry. My sister is very excited to meet you Harry. She has been talking about you non-stop ever since you saved her life" said Fleur smiling at him in amusement.

"Oh… I will surely meet her during your wedding. Anyway, Bill has taught you good English. You are speaking quite well now" said Harry smiling warmly at her

"Thank you Harry. Well I have to go to help Molly now. See you later then" said Fleur.

"Yeah bye Fleur. See you later" said Harry waving back.

As soon as Fleur went away, Hermione swatted Ron on the back.

"Behave yourself Ron. I just don't understand why so many boys drool at her like idiots. She is not that great" said Hermione in an irritated and slightly jealous voice.

"Yeah, that phlegm just makes me sick. Honestly, she thinks she is the Queen. Even mom is not that fond of other" said Ginny bitterly.

Harry's eyes darkened on hearing Hermione's and Ginny's words.

"Hermione, Ginny; It is not Ron's fault. Fleur is indeed a Veela. So, even the toughest and the most celibate among boys will have difficulty in resisting their allure. It is not her fault that Ron is drooling here. Veela's allure attracts males and repulses females. It is only because I have recently started learning Occlumency and meditation that I managed to resist her allure" said Harry firmly.

"Bah, I don't think she is a veela Harry?" said Hermione at the same time as Ginny demanded "Why are you so intent on defending her Harry? I suppose you like the way she says 'arry', right?" said Ginny scornfully.

"Stop it Ginny Weasley. I am so intent on defending her because I don't like dirty cheap gossiping . She doesn't deserve to be ridiculed and insulted by you all because she looks prettier and beautiful. Yes Hermione, I know that she is a veela. I heard it at the wand-weighing ceremony and even if she isn't, does that give you the right to insult somebody who is about to become a member of your family? By the way, Veela's situation is not that different from houseelves or muggleborns. They are regarded with scorn and contempt in many places, especially in our country where blood purists like Lucius Malfoy are dominant. Veela are either regarded with undue suspiction or treated as sex-objects, all because they have the flaw of being more beautiful than others. Why do you want to make her life more difficult here, just because she is different from both of you?

By the way, I was regarded with the same contempt and suspiction by my muggle hating relatives in my childhood, just because I was different from them, just because I was a wizard. Still do you want to give her the same treatment? Because, if you do so, I will no longer remain your friend" said Harry sternly.

Ginny and Hermione wisely remained silent. They didn't want to provoke Harry any further. By the way, Harry's points made a lot of sense.

Harry now spoke a bit more gently.

"See, I am not telling both of you to suddenly be friendly towards her. But at least before judging her as too proud or something, please try to get to know her better. After all, we don't know the hidden story of anybody. So, what right or qualification do we have to label or judge somebody?" asked Harry rheoterically.

Harry then turned to Ron who was looking at him somewhat gratefully.

"Ron, I understand that her allure is so strong and that made you drool. I won't blame you completely for that. But just think about how she might be feeling if so many boys stare at her unflinchingly. Will she not feel uncomfortable? And is it not disrespectful to women if we continue to stare at them unblinkingly? Veela are also living souls who feel pleasure and pain like all of us, and they too deserve to be respected just like we respect our fellow human beings. But instead if we start objectifying veela or even any other woman, that makes us even worse than the blood purists. So, we should also do our best to avoid staring at them in whatever way possible. Am I not right Ron?" asked Harry gently.

Ron nodded at him. "Yes you are right mate" said Ron quietly

"Good then, I will finish my morning duties after which we will go for breakfast" said Harry smiling warmly at all of them.

Unknown to all of them, Fleur had not gone away from the door. She had been standing outside all this while. Her heart went out for Harry when he passionately defended her against his own friends. Suddenly, she felt quite guilty for calling him a little boy two years back when his name had come out of the goblet. She felt very bad for her scornful attitude towards him before the 2nd task. Tears of gratitude and happiness leaked out of her eyes. Here was someone other than her family and Bill who had understood her plight. He had not just understood her plight but even made others understand. From that moment onwards, Fleur Delacour would always consider Harry as an honorary brother and she swore to support him in whatever way that she could.

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That night, after everyone had gone to bed, Harry woke up carefully from his bed , pulled out a mirror from his pocket and whispered " I solemnly swear that I am upto no good"

Immediately, the grinning face of Sirius Black came into view.

"What's up Harry?" asked Sirius.

Author's Note: That's all for now folks. Until next time.