Chapter 22: Flambert

Harry stood calmly; his right arm extended to his side holding a simple looking blade with a lazy yet controlled grip. His opponent stood several feet away from him, a large and vicious looking two-handed sword held easily over her shoulder with a single hand and a predatory grin on her face, as if it weighed nothing at all. Harry knew better.

"You've never lasted this long against me Harry," she sounded both excited, proud, and, dare he say it, a little horny, "but do you have what it takes to beat me?" she purred the question while readying her blade.

"I have my last training session before the final in thirty minutes," he informed his sparring partner dryly, "you think we can speed this up a little bit?"

"Cheeky," she switched the huge blade in her hand so that it was in a reversed grip and pointed out behind her, "Am I going to have to discipline you again? Perhaps," her grin increased, "a spanking?"

"Or is it that you're stalling for time because you know I have you beat?" Harry fired back, "And are otherwise incapable of beating me without this little breather."

Lucile raised an amused eyebrow as she tensed in her stance, "You forget one thing Harry," she advanced on him slowly with calculated steps,, "you have yet to beat me," and with that, she charged at him and swiped her massive blade at his face, which Harry promptly ducked under, before swinging her massive blade around mid-air and bringing it directly down on the spot Harry was standing on.

Sidestepping the powerful vertical swipe, idly noticing how it created several large cracks in the marble floor when it made contact, Harry moved with the precision and grace he was famous for and thrust his blade right at Lucile's chest.

Harry pivoted on his left foot and spun in that direction to dodge the jab sent by Lucile to his face, forcing himself to reveal his back to her for a split second. It may have only been a jab for her, but that jab would have sent him back several feet had it made contact.

As he finished his spin, Harry swung his blade in a backhanded fashion towards Lucile's face; the sharp edge promising to cleave her head in two from the nose had it connected. The inordinately strong woman ducked low and rose quickly to perform an uppercut with her left hand, one that most likely would have separated his head from his body if he weren't prepared.

Harry dropped low and performed a sweep kick, hoping to catch her as she was in motion, but he was quickly forced to hop into the air to avoid the woman's huge blade. Lucile, after completing the motions for her uppercut, used the inertia her body had created to swing her heavy blade along a circular path around her body, bringing it back down towards Harry's ankles.

As she was recovering from the unbelievably quick and powerful manoeuvre, Harry lunged at her with three vicious and quick attacks. The first a rapid swipe from left to right at her chest, the second a mirror of the first swipe and thirdly, accompanied by a forward lunge, a piercing thrust. Lucile had to use the bottom edge of her blade to parry away the three quick and surprising strikes.

Before she could regain her footing, Harry lunged forwards again, but instead of striking with his blade, he used his right foot to kick out Lucile's feet from underneath her with a kick so powerful it caused her to spin away from him and land on the floor with a macabre crack, face up; the weight of her blade did her no favours in cushioning her fall.

Not willing to give the talented woman an inch so she could get on the advantage again, something he learned the hard way, Harry spun around again but this time, used his spinning motion to add power to the downward lunge of his blade, one that was aimed at the downed woman's face and went right past it, cutting her left cheek.

"So," she sounded out of breath "you finally win," she was licking her elongated fangs while grinning widely, something Harry had picked up on that meant Lestat would be in for a long sleepless night, again. He idly wondered if she was secretly a masochist, using her apparent sadism as a disguise before quickly discarding the idea lest it encourage his hormones.

"So I did," he grinned as he helped her up. He returned his blade to the table containing several other unremarkable weapons not even coming close to the quality of the behemoth Lucile wielded.

"When did you incorporate kicking into your fighting style?" she grinned, "it's… effective."

"Somewhere between when I realized I didn't like getting my ass handed to me and before we started sparring," he grinned, "It flows nicely, I think."

"Aww," Lucile wiped a fake tear from her eye, "little Harry is growing up; why, I remember when you first came here and tried sparring against me with that silly fencing style."

Harry winced and rubbed the back of his head in phantom pain while eyeing Lucile's massive and evil looking sword warily. The eye on the hilt swivelled around and looked right at him with unmistakable rapture – it wanted another round…

Harry had never read, or even heard about a sentient sword until Lucile had showed him the monster she wielded. He remembered once trying, foolishly, to parry the massive blade; he had broken his arm in three places for the effort. Lucile had also told him that it had a special power that she never used unless she was fighting the worst of enemies, and it was this power that strengthened the blade.

She was oddly tight lipped about it though, and Harry wasn't willing to ask anything about what could cause Lucile to act so mature – unless she wanted to tell him, of course.

"I've been alive for a long time Harry," she began to speak again, catching his attention, "and for as long as I remember, I've been what you could call a 'blade connoisseur'. You can name any blade you've ever heard of, myth or not, and odds are I'd have it or have once possessed it."

She swished her hands, and something suddenly appeared in her hands, but before Harry could see exactly what it was, she put it behind her back and slowly began to approach him.

"You know that I can't have kids," she spoke, and Harry was surprised to see she was becoming emotional, "but I've always dreamed what it would be like to have one, to share time with them like we do and teach them the ways of the sword while Lestat could teach them magic. You really don't need much help with the latter," she grinned saucily at him, "but it's been a pleasure to help you with the former, honestly."

From behind her back, she pulled out what she was hiding to reveal one of the most beautiful blades Harry had ever seen. It was simple, yet elegant and powerful, perfectly synonymous to his fighting style. The blade resembled a half-inch thick and perfectly straight sabre with razor sharp edges and a wicked looking point. The hilt was also covered with an emerald and silver looking hand guard and the pommel had a golf ball sized emerald attached to it. It could have seemed decorative if it were not for the enchantments that he could sense originating from said gems, disappearing into the metal.

Lucile held it before him with both hands as the sword lay gently in her grasp, "This blade," she motioned it to him and Harry cautiously took it from her grasp, "is called the Flambert. I stole it from some French family back in the seventeen hundreds, but I've never used it. Small blades have never been my style."

Harry gave the blade a few experimental thrusts and slices, admiring it for its perfect balance and weight. Unlike the plain blade Harry would use to spar with Lucile normally, the one that irritated his palm, scrapping unnaturally against him, this one felt tailored to him, as if designed with his hand as a mould.

"It's a nice blade," Harry admired it before grabbing it just below the hilt and holding it out to Lucile so she could take it back.

"Why are you giving it back to me?" she grinned, "I have no use for it, and you've proved that you'll be the perfect owner for it – it's yours."

Before Harry could even comprehend the severity of what just happened, a blue light shone from the emerald imbedded on the blade and flew directly into Harry. It was a similar feeling as to when he first held his wand, but, slightly different at the same time.

"That blade," Lucile began, watching as Harry admired it with reverence proudly, "is one of the finest made blades I've ever seen, and that's saying something, especially since I have literally over two hundred swords in my collection, including the legendary Excalibur," she chuckled at Harry's shock, "the blade is made entirely of Mithril while the hilt and guard are made of Orichalcum and melted emeralds to balance out the weight of the blade perfectly – truly, a work of art."

"You can melt emeralds?" Harry asked the vampire with a raised brow; he didn't know that… he couldn't even think of a way to do that actually.

"They're Dwarves Harry," she chided him, "arguably the best weapon smiths in existence, there's not much they can't do with the aid of Dwarven magic."

"So it's a magical blade?" Harry asked her, wondering if it possessed any powers like her huge sword.

"Yep," she grinned, "but I don't know exactly what it does except for it having a summoning charm on it, that, you'll have to figure out on your own."

Harry resisted the temptation to roll his eyes; the blade itself was made better than anything he had ever seen, that was good enough for him.

"How does the summoning charm work?" Harry questioned, "I saw you pull it out of thin air before, did you have it on you already? Was it under a disillusionment charm? Or is it something else?"

"That," she smiled at him, showing off her perfect teeth, "I can answer. You see, as you can imagine, when Dwarves make weapons, they make them with the fact that they have to carry them in combat, in mind. Around seven hundred years ago, they invented a runic charm that allows the true owner of the weapon to store it in a special pocket dimension whenever it isn't in use. All the user has to do if he or she wants to call their weapon to them is will it to them and it shall appear."

"Don't the Goblins do something similar with their weapons?" Harry asked her, "How is that runic charm exclusive to the Dwarven race?"

"The Goblins do something similar, but not entirely as effective," she lectured as Harry flew through a few practise swings with his new blade, "the Goblins have always been better at making armour while Dwarves specialize in weapons because of that, the Goblins never really deemed it necessary to expand their skills in the use of that particular charm. Their version only summons it from a location in this dimension, making theft of the item entirely possible if the thief could modify the runes."

Harry frowned and tried to will his new blade into this pocket dimension. Before his very eyes, the blade shimmered out of existence, nowhere to be seen. Testing it again, Harry willed the Flambert to appear in his hands, and in no time at all, in fact, instantly, it was there.

"That's fairly awesome," Harry said in an impressed tone, "Now, I need to leave and you," he eyed the perspiring and beautiful woman, "want to go copulate with your husband, so I'll leave you to it," he bid her farewell, absently dodging a half-hearted smack to the head from the beauty.

"It's called boning Harry," she scolded with a grin, "Oh Lestaaaat" she called out in that disturbingly sweet and sexy voice of hers, using magic to make her voice sound like it was coming from every brick in their home.

"Oh, and Lucile?" Harry stopped before exiting the room and leaving her to her devices.

"Hmm?"

"I really am appreciative," he said sincerely, "If I were a thousand years older, I might have even shown you how much," he commented cheekily, knowing how sensitive the woman was about her age, even though she didn't say it. If all the men around him were uxorious little menaces, it was his solemn duty to abuse that fact as much as he can.

"Humph, smart ass," she grumbled in French, as she stalked the halls in search for her husband, "thinks he's all tough now that he has that sword, no matter, I'll kick his ass next time…"

In another part of the castle, Lestat poured himself a glass of his strongest whiskey and was about to chug it down before the bottle won his attention.

'Screw it', he thought 'Potter's gotten her all riled up again, I'm going to need this.'

Chugging down the bottled alcohol, he felt a shiver go down his spine when he heard his wife's voice again, "You know I love it when you hide from me darling," she said in a sing-song voice, "but if you don't show yourself this instant and please me, you won't get any sleep for a year!"

Don't get him wrong; there was nothing more Lestat loved to do than make love with his wife. She was beautiful, sexy, the ultimate seductress, had a thousand years of experience at the art and his soul mate, it was just times like this, when she was feeling particularly…

The door to his office was smashed into millions of splinters as the love of his life entered with a psychotic grin on her face and having already stripped down to her exquisite looking black pantyhose.

Yes, it was times like this, usually after a good spar, when she was feeling exceedingly violent and domineering, did their love making become… painful.

"Service me, husband," she grinned as she sat on his desk and almost pulled his hair out when she shoved his head into her nether regions.

'Fucking brat,' Lestat sighed as he began his evening job – being his wife's little bitch.

XXX

Life at Moony Nights had been exceedingly more subdued ever since returning from the end of their last school term. Cedric, Sirius, Remus and Tonks had been confused when the usually bubbly and energetic Archie merely stalked right passed them right up to his room when they arrived back at the inn, however, a few choice words from Harry cleared things up rather quickly.

Other than performing his duties for Remus and his own business, Archie rarely ever left his room for anything, and that included food; Cedric would usually bring up leftovers so the boy wouldn't starve himself to death. In fact, Sirius and Remus realized that he was becoming very hermit like, almost like Harry whenever he was on holidays.

When Sirius had realized this and tried to pull him out of his funk – giving him the whole 'there are more fish in the sea' speech – he quickly realized that by simply being in his presence, his own mood darkened as well. Harry observed this osmotic effect with amusement before shrugging and allowing him to deal with it along.

The only positive was that Stephanie, along with the Zabini's, and her guests were due to arrive at the end of the week so they could go to the game together. Harry had secured them a twenty-person magical tent for everyone who was sitting in his box to watch the game.

The stadium was designed to hold two hundred thousand people and had twenty private boxes to hold the families and friends of the players and important political figures. Harry had reserved one of the boxes for himself, as did every other English player. Everyone coming to watch was assured first-class treatment, five-class meals, free beverages, and luxurious surroundings as they watched the hopefully intense game.

Harry himself had to go to the stadium a week before the match was set to begin, as Bulgaria (their opponents) and England would share the pitch for daily training sessions before the match. Everyone else would arrive at their own pace during that week as two hundred thousand people all heading to one location was kind of hard to hide from the muggles.

Harry himself had left that morning, leaving the residents of Moony Nights alone there until they too had to leave. Remus was initially going to be forced to remain behind until Lizzy almost had to blast his ass against the wall for him to believe she capable of running the place on her own for a couple of days.

"It's weird here without Harry around," Sirius grumbled as he and Cedric sat at one of the booths eating their lunch.

"I know what you mean;" Cedric sighed as he played with his mashed potatoes, "he was never really down here that often with us, but he's usually always around if you need him for something, you know?"

Sirius nodded, frowning into his meal until a grin split his face, "So, Mister Diggory, you snag any more females this last term at Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts?"

Cedric's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as he ducked his head and quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening to their conversations.

"Aww, don't be shy. Seeing as my beloved godson is practically a eunuch and therefore the worst person to talk about this subject with, you're my next best bet, especially since Monty has become all broody and what not," he reasoned with a huge grin, "besides, from what I've heard, you're giving my record a run for its money."

Cedric managed a weak chuckle at the praise, "Yeah, there were a few girls," he giggled perversely, "okay, more than a few."

"Oh, do tell," Sirius rested his chin on his folded hands, "No cheating or anything, I hope?" Sirius grinned, "Not that I'm one to talk with my shenanigans when I was a kid, but girls usually get quite angry if you do," he shrugged, "imagine that."

Cedric let out a nervous chuckle, "Nah, no cheating, they all know it's just in good fun," Cedric reasoned, "Besides, I don't think I've found the right girl for a relationship yet."

"I hear you," Sirius nodded sagely before grinning perversely, probably interpreting it differently from how Cedric intended it to come across, "so, how many girls?"

"There were a few…"

Sirius gave him his best impression of a harsh gaze.

"Okay, maybe more than a few…"

Sirius didn't let up.

"Six and a half," he mumbled, he buried his face in his hands in embarrassment when Sirius let out a whoop of joy.

"I'm assuming you're going to tell me what that half means…"

"Funny story that," Cedric chuckled, enjoying this 'manly' bonding session despite himself, "you see, it was me and these two girls, right?"

Cedric yelped when Sirius jumped across the table and grabbed him in a firm headlock before proceeding to give him the noogie of a lifetime, "I'm so proud of you," he gushed several times loudly before Cedric was able to throw him off, "keep going."

Cedric then proceeded to explain, in very explicit detail, how exactly that half came about. At the end, Sirius was wiping fake tears from his eyes.

"That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," Sirius grinned, "because I was in a situation not too different myself, but it was with three girls, triplets, a month before you came back from Hogwarts…"

Before Sirius could launch into his actions of debauchery, their conversation was cut short when an owl dropped two letters at the table and continued on to fly upstairs, another letter in its talons for delivery.

The letters had both Harry's and Cedric's names on them.

"Oh, these must be our OWL results," Cedric muttered to himself more than anyone, "I wonder why Harry's came here…"

"They're cut off from all communications until the match is over," Sirius explained, "give it here, there's no point in looking though, we already know what it's going to say."

"Yeah, probably," Cedric snorted in amusement as he read his own results, "I'm not Ravenclaw, but I think I did pretty good, I got an O in Defence and Transfiguration, E in everything else except for History, I got an A in that."

Sirius looked impressed, "That's way better than me, I failed three of my classes back then," he frowned as he read Harry's report, "What in Merlin's name is a distinction?"

"It's when a student's mark is in the top three percent of all students' marks, why did Harry get one?"

Sirius ignored the question, "And a high distinction?"

"The top mark out of all the students tested, why?"

"Wait," Sirius frowned, "you're saying that as if Hogwarts isn't the only school tested with this system."

Cedric frowned, "Well, that's because they're not," Cedric looked puzzled, "didn't you know? The OWL system is used in all schools in the UK, North America and South America."

"So Harry got the highest mark against what?" Sirius frowned, as he read the report, "A thousand students?"

Cedric chuckled, "More like ten thousand, possibly more," he frowned, "I think there are a lot more schools in America than there is here, more people, you see?"

Sirius frowned, "Harry must be pretty smart," he chuckled, "well, I already knew that, but he must be really, really smart," he tried to emphasize but found his lacking vocabulary working against his efforts.

"What do you mean?" Cedric ripped the piece of paper out of Sirius' hands and read over the results with open mouthed shock:

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)

Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)

Acceptable (A) Troll (T)

HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:

Ancient Runes: O+

Astronomy: O

Arithmancy: O++

Charms: O++

Defence Against the Dark Arts: O+

Herbology: O

History of Magic: O

Potions: O+

Transfiguration: O++

Congratulations on your three High Distinctions and three Distinctions; any student receiving a High Distinction is rewarded a Scholarship for the school in which they attend for the remainder of the tenure.

Cedric was still looking at Harry's scores in open-mouthed shock while Sirius was grinning proudly.

"That's my godson," he needlessly reminded the boy, "Smartest fifth year in the world."

"We don't know that for sure," Cedric mumbled, "but it's fairly possible…"

Sirius continued to grin until the door opened, allowing the entrance of some people he had never seen before, but by the way they were dressed and the composition of their group, he had a fair idea of who they were.

"Say Cedric," Sirius whispered to the boy, "is that the girl Archie is moping over?"

"Huh?" he swivelled around to see where Sirius was pointing to see a familiar, if slightly more mature and beautiful face, "Oh, yeah that's Stephanie," he raised his voice, "Stephanie, over here!"

Cedric didn't fail to notice how the girl's hand was interlaced with the handsome boy's. He also noticed the stunningly beautiful blonde-haired girl by her side and her midget copy. The girl exuded an aura that made it seem like every other girl in the room was insignificant.

Stephanie approached their table, recognizing the boy from her time at Hogwarts; she motioned for her company to follow.

Cedric tried and failed miserably to stop ogling the blonde-haired French girl who looked at her surroundings with disdain, seemingly not approving of the inn.

"Hello Cedric," the girl greeted with a voice that held only a slight French accent, "where's Archie, I figured he'd be hanging around, or ready to do something to embarrass me," she shook her head fondly, not really meaning anything harmful by her words. Stephanie missed the dark look that crossed Cedric's features, though the blonde girl did not.

"He's busy," Cedric replied distractedly, "this is Sirius Black; by the way, he's Harry's Godfather."

"So you're the one Archie talks so highly of in his letters," Stephanie smiled, "I'm sorry for what happened to you, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he accepted her outstretched hand, "who are these three?"

"Oh, how rude of me," she pointed to the tall beauty to her right, "This is Fleur Delacour and her little sister Gabrielle," she then motioned to the handsome and somewhat snobbish looking boy with a smile, "and this is my boyfriend Jacques Philippe."

"A pleasure," Cedric said with a smile. "Would you care to join us? We were just having lunch."

The group sat in the booth alongside the two boys, Fleur and Jacques a little more reluctantly than Gabrielle, who seemed to be fascinated with the food on Cedric's plate.

"What are you reading?" Stephanie asked as she motioned to the paper still held in Cedric's hands.

"Oh, it's Harry's OWL results," Cedric handed it back to Sirius, "I don't think he'd appreciate it if I just showed it to just anyone though, sorry."

"Nonsense," Sirius grinned, "You can look, he did great don't you think?"

Stephanie accepted the piece of parchment from Sirius and read it with the same amount of shock Cedric did. She then handed it to Fleur with a smug grin, "See?" she sounded amused, "You thought Harry was like another Krum, 'the lights are on, but nobody is home' I believe you said," she joked, "I believe this says differently."

Fleur tried to look unimpressed, but the brief widening of her eyes as she read through Harry's scores said a whole other story.

"Where is this Archades you speak so much about?" Fleur changed the subject and asked her friend in French, "The way you speak of him would say that he'd be rather happy to see you, no?" she frowned, "He mustn't be too enthusiastic if he has yet to greet you. I thought you said he liked you, did he not?"

Sirius tried not to frown at Fleur's behaviour; it was rather rude of her to switch to her native tongue to speak with her friend when there were people at the table who couldn't understand her. He had heard her speak rather excellent English when she was talking to her sister, so he was certain she knew the language.

"That was a couple of years ago," Stephanie waved her hand, "we were just children then, I'm sure he's grown out of it by now – do you guys know where Archie is right now?" she switched back to English, "I wouldn't mind seeing him and introducing him to my friends."

Cedric exchanged a quick worried glance Sirius, but the man just shrugged his shoulders, "Archie is in Harry's room, I think," Cedric said amicably, "he was doing some research, I'm not exactly sure of the details, but he's kept himself rather busy ever since coming back from school."

"Do you mind if we go up to see him?" she asked, sounding hopeful. Cedric figured that even though she had a boyfriend, Stephanie still must have missed Archie, they were best friends growing up, after all.

"I won't mind, Archie won't mind," he didn't add the 'I think' at the end of that merely because he didn't think it proper, "I'm not sure if Harry would be too pleased though, he doesn't like people going in his room. He gave Archie explicit permission to do so before he left for the arena."

"Please," Fleur scoffed, her English may be excellent, but she still had a very strong French accent, "'e is just a regular boy, I very much doubt zat his room is anything ozzer than a cow sty," she commented reproachfully.

Sirius resisted the urge to ask her to say 'honourable', knowing that it wouldn't win him any favours with the girl. Normally, he wouldn't much care, but this was Remus' place and he'd probably get pissed if he annoyed potential customers – especially ones that are guests of Archie's.

"If you say so," Cedric grinned slightly; the girl was in for a rude awakening, "Just knock loudly on Harry's door, Archie may not hear you otherwise."

Gabrielle tugged on her sister's sleeve and started to converse with her in French, she seemed to be asking a favour of the girl because the dreaded puppy-dog eyes came into play.

Fleur sighed irritably, "Do you mind if Gabrielle remains 'ere with Jacques?" she frowned, "She wants to know more about zis 'arry Potter she so admires."

"No problem," Sirius gave a charming smile, "anything for adoring little fans of my adorable Godson!"

"Sirius," Cedric pinched the bridge of his nose, "that sounded really gay."

Jacques seemed to protest to having to babysit Gabrielle, but one sharp glare from Fleur shut him up really quickly.

Stephanie, remembering where Harry's room was located from past experiences, led Fleur up the stairs and to the first door on the right.

"I don't see why you're so eager to see him," Fleur said with a frown, "it's obvious from what you've told me that the boy was very much in love with you when you were both younger, I very much doubt that's changed from what you've told me about him."

"Don't be silly Fleur," Stephanie chided, "we haven't actually seen each other in years, he should know by now that any possible relationship we could have had is just out of the question."

Fleur didn't get to respond as someone finally opened the door in response to their knocking. Objectively, Fleur had to admit that the boy was rather cute, and not that she'd ever tell Stephanie, but she definitely thought he was better looking that Jacques. The only problem was that the boy – who she assumed was Archie – had heavy dark rings around his eyes; it looked like he hadn't slept in ages.

"Stephanie?" he said with surprise in his voice, "what are you doing here?"

Stephanie frowned, "You invited us, remember?" she didn't sound too happy by his lacklustre greeting, "Or did you forget already?"

"No, I mean here, in Harry's room, you know how he is about people going through his stuff," Archie looked to the blonde girl standing beside his childhood friend, "you must be Fleur, it's nice to meet you, thanks for taking care of Stephanie over there while we couldn't."

His smile was infectious, and despite her better judgement, Fleur found herself returning it, "Eet is no problem, you must be this Archie I 'ave 'eard so much about," she held out her hand to him and Archie took it before placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles.

Stephanie was surprised with how Fleur greeted Archie. It wasn't that the girl was rude to everyone, she was just usually a little cold and condescending to people she hadn't met yet. Archie must have made a good impression. What surprised her more however was that Archie didn't seem to be affected by Fleur's Veela aura in the slightest!

"Um, do you want to come in?" Archie asked while scratching the back of his head before smiling apologetically, "I can't let you go in Harry's study or his bedroom – he'd castrate me – but you can come into the main room here," he opened the door properly allowing the girls entrance.

Fleur was about to roll her eyes at the mention of a study and a bedroom separate from the room. The inn itself may have been of better standard and style than she had expected, but it was nothing compared to Beauxbatons. Englishmen just knew nothing of style.

So imagine her surprise when Archie opened the door to reveal a Victorian style room that was beautifully decorated with expensive furniture and, to her everlasting shock, impeccably clean.

"This room is a lot nicer than the study now anyways, I've been rather busy in there for the past few weeks, it's rather messy," Archie replied sheepishly, "let me just clean up and I'll be with you really quick."

As Archie pushed the door of the study wide open so he could clean up after himself, Fleur and Stephanie got a good look of what lay inside. Hundreds of books were lining the walls while several dozen lay strewn about across the floor, most of them gathered around a cauldron that Archie seemed to be in the middle of using. That was all they got to see however before the door swung close again.

The two girls took a seat each by the cackling fire, taking comfort in the warmth it provided despite the fact that it was a rather warm day outside.

"Better than you expected then?" Stephanie grinned smugly, "It wasn't this nice the last time I was in here, but it was still nicer than I bet you were expecting."

"The last time you were in here?" Fleur grinned, "You slut!"

Stephanie's face turned bright red in embarrassment, "You know that's not what I meant you bitch! You have had more boyfriends last year than I have ever had," that being one, the words were harsh, but you could tell that the two were just playfully insulting each other. "Besides," Stephanie added, "he may be hot, but he's not my type of guy."

"And Jacques is?" Fleur asked humorously, "The boy is a coward and lacks a spine."

"Give it a rest," Stephanie sighed wearily, it sounded like they'd had this conversation many times before, "Jacques is really nice and he helped me a lot with catching up with my work."

"I'm sure the kissing has nothing to do with it," Fleur commented dryly as Stephanie's face lit up.

"Yes, well," she stammered, "I'm just making sure you French are as good at kissing as you claim to be."

"You seem to be compiling a remarkable amount of data to prove that claim," Fleur shot back, "I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't asked to move to the next base yet either, boys can be such pigs like that." A slightly unreasonable expectation, but it does happen when Veela logic is applied to something more foreign.

Stephanie flushed again, "He has," she relented, "but I told him I wanted to take it slow, see if I really like him enough before taking that step."

"And you don't like Archie like that?" Fleur asked doubtfully, "He looks much cuter than Jacques, and, as loathe as I am to admit it, he is much more charming."

"Archie's like my brother," Stephanie said unconvincingly, "Can we not talk about my love life? It's not like you are the perfect saint, you had three boyfriends last year!"

"They were all buffoons," Fleur said scathingly, "Easy on the eyes but completely idiotic or they only had one thing on their mind, and that was to get in my panties. I was just searching for someone that actually likes me for myself and not only for my looks."

Their conversation was interrupted when Archie re-entered the room, looking slightly more refreshed if a little hurried, "Sorry for the wait," Fleur noticed he didn't seem as cheery as he did before. She was an expert at reading people's emotions, in fact, she prided herself on the skill; however, this boy's behaviour was confusing her. What could have possibly happened in the short time apart that could dampen his mood further?

"That's fine," Stephanie smiled as she gave Archie a hug. Fleur didn't miss the boy stiffen slightly before awkwardly returning it and wondered if her friend was truly so naïve, or if it was a selective blindness, "Is that your OWL results?" she asked as she pointed to an unopened envelope on the table between them, "Why haven't you opened them?"

Archie shrugged, "I was busy and I don't much care to be honest," he grinned, "I don't want to sound arrogant, but I know I passed, I don't really care by how much," the girls didn't need to know that he was already on his way to becoming well off with his business well underway.

"Can I open it?" Stephanie asked with childlike excitement, she looked like a kid on Christmas. Archie chuckled and gave her a shrug, "Knock yourself out."

She ripped open the envelope and gasped at what she saw. It wasn't as impressive as Harry's, but he definitely did excellently. He did get the High Distinction in Potions, but somehow, Stephanie knew he would anyway.

"That good?" Archie grinned, "The OWLs were ridiculously easy, I don't take much pride in acing them to be honest," he mumbled as he read through his mark, "Oh, awesome, I get my last two years of school paid for because of the High Distinction!"

"You don't sound too excited about zee 'igh Distinction," Fleur pointed out, "Does it not surprise you to be the top student out of thousands in the subject?"

Archie just shrugged, not knowing how to answer that question without coming off as a complete dick. He wondered how Harry did it while not caring about what people thought all the time.

"Did Harry's scores come too?" Archie asked Stephanie who nodded in the positive and relayed his marks.

"Humph, smartass," Archie grumbled good naturedly, "So, where's this boyfriend of yours; I thought he was coming, as well as her kid sister?"

Stephanie suddenly felt very awkward as she heard Archie's tone and couldn't tell why, Fleur had to fight the urge to slap herself in the face at her friend's behaviour, "He's downstairs watching little Gabby while we came up here to check up on you."

"I see," Archie mumbled, "well, are you happy?" Archie looked deep into her eyes as he asked this, slightly unnerving her, "does he treat you well?"

"Err…" she didn't know how to answer immediately, "yeah, yes he does. He's helped me a lot with adjusting with the course work at Beauxbatons and he's really nice."

Archie continued to look into her eyes for a few more moments before smiling, "As long as you're happy, that's all I can ask for."

Stephanie was surprised by the response, unknowingly expecting him to say something completely different. Fleur however, nodded to herself as she reclined against the comfortable chair with her arms crossed as if something had just been proven to her.

"So," Archie grinned, "tell me about Beauxbatons, it can't be worse than Hogwarts."

XXX

The three talked for several hours that night before going their separate ways, two of them catching up while the third was more than happy to provide the embarrassing details when necessary.

"You love 'er."

If Archie was surprised that someone had snuck up on him in his room and interrupted his brewing, he didn't show it.

"That's not exactly a secret," Archie didn't bother looking up at the girl behind him, "can I help you with something?"

Fleur's beautiful features were marred with a frown for a moment as she sat atop the unoccupied desk before continuing, "Why do you not try to win 'er back then?" she said with confusion, "If you love 'er so much."

Archie sprinkled the next ingredient into the cauldron carefully before answering, "As long as she's happy, I don't care," he shrugged, "that Jacques seems like an okay guy, if Stephanie likes him, who am I to ruin that?"

Fleur slammed her hands on the desk she was sitting on and cursed loudly in French, Archie resisted the urge to snort in amusement, "You are making no sense and are being completely illogical!"

"Is that right?" Archie chuckled softly, "How so?"

"Eet is obvious that you are in love with 'er, you practically have it written all over your face whenever you look at 'er" she argued, "I've 'eard the stories of your antics when you were younger and I find it 'ard to believe that you are zee same person I 'ave 'eard about."

Archie shrugged, "I'm not going to cry and beg her to take me because she chose somebody else…"

"Zat does not count when she didn't think you an option to begin with!"

"Why do you care so much?" Archie frowned, "From what Stephanie told me about you, you're hardly the person to care about such things, especially when it concerns 'silly leetle boys' like myself."

"Stephanie eez my best and only friend," Fleur said angrily, "that Jacques eez not good enough for her!"

"Shouldn't that be for Stephanie to decide?" Archie asked with concern.

"Zat girl is so blind zat she 'as no clue what she wants," Fleur argued heatedly, "she felt lonely and in need of companionship at Beauxbatons, so she latched onto zee first boy zat offered to provide it for 'er."

"And you think I'm the right person for her?" Archie said with amusement, "I don't know whether to be insulted for being used as an alternative to Jacques or flattered that you'd think so," he shrugged, "it doesn't matter though, I'm not going to ruin her current relationship because of what I want."

"So you admit you want 'er," Fleur said triumphantly, "then why not claim 'er for yourself?"

"Because she's not an object to be claimed!" Archie spat angrily at her, but he was confused when he saw her victorious grin.

"Good answer, unfortunately it eez not zee one Jacques would 'ave given."

"Why do you keep comparing me to him?" Archie asked, "Has he not been good to her? Is she unhappy? Did she lie to me?"

"No," Fleur shrugged, "but 'e is not the one she loves."

"She told you otherwise?" Archie suddenly sounded interested in the conversation.

"No," she relented, "but she does not 'ave to, I can see it in 'er eyes."

Archie rolled his eyes in annoyance, "When you have something a little more concrete, like words, then come see me."

"You act like you don't even care for 'er happiness!"

Archie rounded on her angrily, "Her happiness is the only thing I do care about," he almost snarled at her, "Don't ever presume I don't care about her feelings, she's obviously pleased with the way things are at the moment or she wouldn't be sticking her tongue down his throat!"

Fleur looked at him in stunned silence, trying to comprehend what Archie had just said to her. Comprehension suddenly dawned on her features, "You 'eard us talking yesterday," she murmured, "You can speak French? Stephanie never said this."

"That is because she doesn't know," Archie replied in perfect French, though his accent was still off, "I invented a potion, well Harry helped a bit but mostly me, that temporarily helps with information retention so I could learn it," he smiled bitterly, "for her actually, it was my way of showing my support to her."

"You're jealous," she smiled victoriously; she did not expect his reaction to that statement though.

"Of course I'm fucking jealous!" he snarled at her, "I love her more than anything in this world! I'd take a killing curse for her, without question! She knows that, she knows how I feel about her, I've never kept it secret from her, but the second she's away from me for more than a year, she finds solace in the arms of someone else!" Archie closed his eyes and took a few steady breaths so he could calm down.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to see her all snuggled up with that douchebag?! Every time I see her looking at him the way I want her to look at me makes me feel like someone just stabbed me in the gut, do you understand that?" his eyes narrowed, "Or are you just content in meddling with other people's lives while not understanding a thing about them yourself – you know, you're so much like Harry it's disconcerting, but at least he knows when to leave me the fuck alone!" Archie closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths to calm down before turning his back on her, "As long as she's happy, it doesn't matter what I feel."

Fleur stared at the boy in open-mouthed shock. She only figured it was a silly childhood crush that this boy had on her friend, and couple that with the fact that she didn't like the chauvinistic French boy, she figured she could break them up and get these two together. He seemed like a much better match for her than Jacques was, especially after what she had heard from Stephanie about the incident that landed her in Beauxbatons. She never once imagined that this boy was actually, totally and completely in love with her friend.

"Can you leave me please?" Archie asked in a quiet voice, "I'm busy and you're wasting my time."

Fleur didn't even think to criticise him for his rude behaviour, she had too much on her mind and simply left the room in a daze.

XXX

"Get up Monty, Diggle-dumpkins, up you get!"

Archie and Cedric both groaned in annoyance as Sirius' unmistakable faux-cheery voice roused them from their peaceful slumber. They woke up without much fuss though and fumbled around for their clothes to get dressed quickly; today was the day they'd make their way to the World Cup final, after all.

They already had their tent reserved, thanks to Harry, and their bags packed to stay for a week, maximum. To avoid being detected by the muggles, every fan would make their way slowly to the ground, in groups, to avoid suspicion. The British Ministry would organize the groups and portkeys so they could arrive though; they had already been given a pre-set location to arrive at so they could all take the portkey with several dozen other people.

Dressed in warm clothes, Cedric and Archie stumbled downstairs carrying their magically enlarged backpacks and wearing their England scarves to see everyone else ready and waiting for them.

"About time, you guys," Stephanie grumbled irritably, "we've been waiting for twenty minutes."

"Blame him," Archie sounded just as irritated, "fucking man-whore can't walk five meters without sticking his dick in something."

Stephanie looked to Cedric with surprise while Fleur scolded Archie for his use of profanity in front of Gabrielle. Stephanie frowned when she saw Sirius give Cedric a hidden low five, one he returned happily.

"That Spanish girl?"

"Mhmm," Cedric mumbled under his breath, "she had the best ass I've ever seen…"

"You two are disgusting!" Stephanie's face was a curious shade of red in a mixture of embarrassment and feminine fury.

"Hey, that's not nice," Sirius frowned, "it's not like we're asking you to listen to our conversations."

Stephanie turned on her heel and walked out the door, dragging Jacques with him by the hand. Tonks looked to Remus and then Sirius with a frown, "Did I miss something?"

"Best not get involved," Remus shook his head in amusement, "you ready to go, love?"

Tonks nodded and then giggled before pecking Remus on the nose and dragging him out the front door much like Stephanie had done with Jacques.

"Eww," Sirius cringed in disgust childishly, "You two are disgusting!" It was truly a wonder how Sirius classified displays of genuine affection as disgusting.

Archie sighed softly and followed Fleur, Gabrielle and the dastardly duo out the door and down the alley to their local Portkey point.

When they arrived, a Ministry official was there to mark their names off a roster. They only had to wait fifteen more minutes for the last group of people to arrive, the Zabini's, who were still five minutes early despite being the last ones there.

"Alright folks, just hold onto this rope and on the count of three, you'll be portkeyed away to the campsite; one – two – three!"

The Ministry official had said that so fast that Archie almost didn't grab the rope in time before he was suddenly overcome with the feeling of portkey transportation. He didn't much like it, in his opinion, it felt like being sucked up by a violent tornado and then spat out at a different location.

With a painful sounding thump, Archie landed on his back in a field of grass, his vision still slightly blurry and his world spinning from the uncomfortable sensations brought on by that method of transportation.

"You alright there, mate?" Cedric's amused voice assaulted his senses.

"Shut up and help me up," Archie grumbled, accepting his friend's hand as he hoisted himself up to a standing position before dusting himself off. Sirius was snickering at his misfortune, as were several other members of their little group.

Looking around, Archie figured that they were in some deserted moor with a large forest not too far off in the distance with several large fields surrounding them. The number of people, however, and the general hustle and bustle going on around him was mind-boggling.

"Don't look so shocked," Cedric said to him, "Over two hundred thousand people are going to this game; they have to rest and party somewhere, right?"

"Indeed Cedric," Remus said with a smile, "the majority of those tents you see lined up in the outer fields are probably each charmed to house fifty people, you can thank Harry for getting us a private one closer to the stadium."

And what a stadium it was. Even at this distance – Archie estimated it to be a few kilometres away – the monumental construct towered over the surrounding forest and marshlands. Its golden walls were glistening in the sunlight and truly made it a sight to behold. The lengths the government will go to show off to other countries…

"This way please," another Ministry official shouted at the group that had just arrived, "follow that path please to get to the campgrounds, if you need a tent to stay in, please remain behind for directions to the help tent that will get you assigned one…"

The 'Harry Potter' group, as Archie dubbed their little entourage, tuned the official out as they followed Remus, who seemed to know where he was going, across several huge fields and to their own tent. As they travelled, the general atmosphere seemed to get the best of them as they joined in on some of the festivities. People were outside of their tents cooking barbeques, children were running around and playing with each other and several groups of people were arguing over the supposed victor of this game.

Archie was surprised to see an equal number of Bulgarian fans as English fans, when he asked Sirius what was up with that, the man said, "Well, it wouldn't be entirely fair if either team had the more fans. It may be England's home final, but that doesn't mean they couldn't fill half the stadium for Bulgarian supporters."

Finally, after a fairly long and arduous walk, they arrived at a tent that had the words 'Potter' embroidered on the door flap. The tent looked as shabby and cheap as every other tent in the area, but Archie very much doubted that it would look anything like the outside once they all went in.

If a muggle was close by, they would have watched, shocked, as twelve people, one after the other all marched into a two-man sized tent as if it were the most normal thing in the world, and fit, quite comfortably.

Just as he'd expected, the tent was styled very much like Harry's room back at Moony Nights. Archie suspected Harry might have actually had something to do with the charms that went into creating it. There was a large main room with a small kitchen, eating area and lounging area with eleven doors leading to other rooms. Ten of those rooms were bedrooms, each with two Queen sized beds in them, and one of them was a nice bathroom.

"Alright folks," Remus spoke up so everyone could hear him, "The adults, minus Sirius, and I have discussed a few rules that you all must abide by while we're here," Remus ignored his glaring friend, "You can do what you like during the day, so long as you tell someone where you're going first, but you must be back here by ten o'clock in the evening, unless you get permission otherwise. We're all responsible for you and with so many people around, it wouldn't be hard for something to happen and for no one to notice."

Everyone gave their consent to the rules Remus laid down before heading off to claim their own rooms. Archie, happy he could get his own room for once, made his way over to the closest door and entered before locking it with as many charms as he knew.

Stephanie frowned at Archie's behaviour. Other than the few hours she practically forced Archie to spend with her when they first arrived, it seemed like the boy had been avoiding her. She had missed him terribly during the two years she was forced to spend away from her friends and family, and by what Archie said in his letters to her, she gathered he felt the same way.

Saddened and a little hurt by her childhood friend's behaviour, she followed Fleur and Gabrielle to one of the rooms while Jacques picked one out for himself.

XXX

In the few days spent lounging around the campgrounds, Archie barely ever left his room other than to eat or use the bathroom. He wasn't really in the mood to see Jacques and Stephanie act all lovey-dovey and he really wasn't in the mood to face the Spanish inquisition, which would be hosted by Sirius and Cedric, Fleur as well if her actions in Harry's room was any indication.

He did notice though, when he left the privacy of his room, that Fleur kept sending him weird looks. They weren't the kind of looks most guys would kill to have a Veela send at them; they were more the curious kind. It still unnerved him, but not in the way many would have thought. He really didn't like people knowing a lot about him and his emotions – Harry was different, the guy could read him like a book regardless of how much he tried to hide it, so it was pointless. With Fleur, she caught him with a weakened state of mind and he just let some things slip.

It was amusing though to hear Cedric and Sirius brag about their exploits, the former doing so in a less discrete way than the other – though he supposed that wasn't saying much considering Sirius practically jumped on the dinner table and pronounced his conquests to the world whenever he could. He had to laugh whenever he heard Sirius or Cedric say that they were going out on the prowl to hunt for their next victims.

Another source of entertainment at the dinner table was little Gabrielle. The girl was probably 'Harry Potter's' number one fan; the fact that she was able to meet people that were close to him and ask questions about him was like a dream come true for her. Archie probably would have found the little terror quite annoying if she wasn't so damn adorable – he figured everyone shared the same thoughts regarding her. He couldn't wait to see how Harry would react to her, hopefully in a confused way not in a mentally-scarring-to-adults-let-alone-young-children kind of way.

Dressing in some clothes he pilfered from Harry's closet though, and his England scarf, Archie was ready head off to the box earlier than the rest, wanting to enjoy the first-class accommodations for as long as possible. The game wasn't scheduled to start for a few hours yet. Harry's clothes, surprisingly, were a pretty good fit, if just slightly baggy. Where Harry had him beat in muscle mass, Archie had him in height, so it wasn't too much of a problem. He did particularly like how the double-breasted black coat looked on him though.

"Bianca, I'm heading over early so I can avoid the crowd, is that okay?" he called to the beautiful woman who looked up from her magazine and regarded the boy.

"My, my, don't we look charming this evening?" she asked with an appraising eye. Despite being like a mother to him, and an older woman, Archie couldn't help but blush – Bianca Zabini was the kind of woman that could do that to a man with a simple compliment. Quite a few of the females around him were actually, his good looks obviously kept them gravitating around him.

"I 'borrowed' them from Harry's wardrobe," he used air quotations where necessary, "I'm sure Harry won't mind, the kid has so much clothes I doubt he'd notice." Harry would care, he was almost draconic in his possessive nature so he hoped he could return the clothes during Harry's post-Quidditch exhaustion.

"Well, you look very handsome dear, go along, we won't be leaving for another two hours. Don't get into any trouble and stick to the path, you hear?"

"No problem," he called back to her as he exited their tent. He was almost home free too until a cannonball struck him in the leg, causing him to stumble. Looking behind him, he realized that the cannonball was in fact Gabrielle Delacour and she had latched herself on to his leg.

"Can I come wiz you?" she asked, using her adorable puppy-dog eyes, "Please?"

Sighing, he looked over to Bianca who was laughing at his plight, "Go on, take her," she smiled, "she's been waiting all week for this, I suppose it won't hurt any."

Archie sighed again, "Make sure you let Fleur know," he winced, "I don't need no angry Veela out for my blood because she thinks I kidnapped her baby sister."

"I am not a baby!" Gabrielle protested as she clambered up onto his back so she could be piggybacked instead of walking, "I am a beautiful young woman."

Archie grinned at the little nine-year-old; she really was just too cute, "All the boys are going to be jealous of me for having such a beautiful young woman on my back you know that?"

Crossing her arms and sticking her nose up in their air in a show of mock snobbishness, she said, "And zo zey should be."

Archie chuckled at the girl's antics and hefted her higher on his back, so she was in a more comfortable position. She wasn't too heavy, but she was gripping his neck rather tightly so she wouldn't fall off his back.

"Away my noble steed," she giggled, "the stadium awaits!"

He humoured the little girl by making a horse-like noise before making his way through the other half of the campsite and to the path that lead to the stadium. Once they reached the end of the campgrounds, a trail leading into a dark forest that was lined with lanterns became visible. People were already making their way over, but Archie was certain it wasn't as busy as it would be in a couple of hours.

The walk through the forest only took ten minutes before they reached the other side. The second the two were free of the damp and dark forest, Gabrielle gasped in wonder as she was finally able to see the stadium up close.

"Amazing," she breathed out in wonder, Archie had to agree. They were so close to it now that he had to crane his neck up so that he could see the top.

"Did you remember to bring your ticket Gabby?" Archie asked the little girl, who nodded against his back in response as they made their way to one of the entrances.

The line was rather short considering he had the foresight to come earlier than the rest. So after two minutes standing in line, the female official called them over where they both presented their sparkling tickets. Their tickets were much nicer than the average fans' ones as they were going to be seated in one of the players' boxes.

"Oh, guests of Harry Potter's then?" the woman asked with a kind smile while validating their tickets with a wave of her wand, "Take the stairs to the right, a house elf will be waiting for you at the top to escort you to your box."

"Thank-you," Archie accepted his and Gabrielle's tickets back, "Do you happen to know if anyone else is in the box yet?"

She scanned through a sheet of paper attached to a clipboard before answering, "Yes, a Lord and Lady d'Auvergne have been here for an hour already."

Gabrielle gasped quietly, but Archie was the only one to hear it as the girl was resting her head on the back of his neck when she did so.

"Thank-you, let's go Gabby," he hoisted her a little higher again and ascended the stairs he was directed to before being met by a well-dressed house elf who lead the way to their box.

"You recognize the names Gabrielle?" he asked the girl, he certainly did but he wanted to know how she knew of the two vampires.

"Yes," she spoke quietly, "they are very influential people back in France, grandmamma talks of them often, she does business with them, I think."

"Have you ever met them?" he asked the girl in her natural tongue, she seemed more comfortable talking French than English anyway.

"Yes, once," she answered, "Mister Lestat is very attractive, but his wife scares me."

Archie resisted the urge to laugh, most guys usually had the opposite reaction to the vampires, it was amusing to hear a girl say the exact same thing but reversed, "She's not so bad," Archie assured her, "a little crazy sometimes, but she's really nice once you get to know her," he figured he throw in a bit of information Gabrielle would really enjoy to know. "You know, she's like a mother to Harry, not that he sees it that way, but she certainly acts very protective of him."

"Are you serious?" she sounded excited to hear about her hero. The two boarded an elevator that would most likely take them up to the level their box was at, "I never knew that, she must be really nice then."

Archie wanted to laugh at her childish logic, "I'm not exactly sure I'd call her nice," he joked, "but her heart is definitely in the right place – most of the time – usually – on occasion…"

The youngster giggled at his antics as the house elf addressed him, "We is arriving at your box sir," the elevator door opened with a 'ping' revealing a rather large and beautifully decorated room. The entire wall directly in front of him was entirely made of glass, and it was curved slightly to allow for maximum visibility of the entire pitch.

The dining table was already occupied by someone he easily recognized as Lestat who seemed to be eating some dinner. Scanning the room briefly, he also found Lucile sitting at the bar slowly, and sensually, eating olives. Sweet Merlin, how could she make something as bland as eating olives seem like the sexiest thing in the world?

When Lucile saw that she had his attention, she grinned seductively at him and made a show of slowly eating another olive, making sure he saw her wrap her tongue around the little snack. Archie couldn't help but flush in embarrassment. The fact that she was dressed in a black, almost skin-tight, dress with an extremely low-cut didn't help matters either.

Lucile laughed elegantly and turned to her husband, "I like this one Lestat, can we keep him?"

"Leave Archie alone dear," Lestat said wearily, "and stop teasing him with those damn olives."

"But he's so fun to tease," Lucile pouted playfully, "much more so than Harry anyway." She pouted even further at that thought, it wasn't like she wanted to give him an Oedipus complex, but any reaction now and again, more than minor glancing, would have been nice. Alas it seems that she has desensitised the lad to her female wiles.

Lestat rolled his eyes and smiled at the little girl clinging to Archie's back, "Don't I know you from somewhere, little one?"

Gabrielle replied in kind, "Yes sir, you do business with my grandmamma."

Lestat made a show of trying to remember who she was before grinning brightly, "Why if it isn't little Gabrielle Delacour, you were just a cute little girl last time I saw you; it was hard to recognize you now that are a beautiful young lady."

Archie raised an eyebrow and looked to the midget clinging to his back with a smile as she flushed in embarrassment and crawled deeper into his back. She muttered a quiet thank-you before leaping off Archie's back and running to the window to see the pitch.

"Archie, take a seat, have you eaten?" Lestat greeted the young man as he motioned to his food, "The steak is exquisite, you must try it."

"I am a little hungry, now that you mentioned it," Archie sat near the vampire who was seated at the head of the rectangular table, "how do you order?"

Lestat merely clicked his fingers as a house elf arrived to take the order, "So, what brings you here so early?" he asked conversationally, "Lucile and I had finished business earlier than expected today so we figured we could take advantage of these tickets and sample the food here before the game."

"The olives are divine," Lucile suddenly whispered in his ear, causing Archie to startle and flush once again.

"I noticed," Archie coughed into his hand, "I just wanted to avoid the crowd and little Gabby wanted to see the stadium as soon as possible," he grinned as they all looked over to the little girl who was making noises of amazement while looking out different sections of the window.

"You're a horrible liar, you know that Archie?" Lucile said with a grin as she sat directly opposite him and randomly plucked food of Lestat's plate.

Archie matched her gaze and asked, "What makes you say that?"

"Depression isn't one thing that would come to mind if I were asked to describe you Archie," Lestat replied dryly while glaring at his wife who had snatched the piece of steak he was about to eat right off his fork.

"I'm not depressed," he hurriedly denied, only to be met with a raised brow from Lucile.

"And I'm not horny," she countered convincingly before smirking, "but I'm a much better liar than you," to accentuate her point, Lestat started in his chair before shooting a glare at his wife who tried and failed to look the perfect picture of innocence.

With a sigh, Archie told them of Stephanie being back from France and the fact that she brought a boyfriend with her.

"Are you not going to try and win her back?" Lestat asked immediately after the mentioning of what happened.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Archie asked rhetorically.

"That's because it's incredibly easy," Lestat answered anyway, "believe it or not, I had the same problem with Lucile way back when."

"That's completely different, my love, and you know it."

"How so?" Lestat asked with a frown.

"For one, I was in an arranged marriage against my will that I could not break out of," she lifted a finger as if starting a list, "Secondly, this Jacques isn't some fat, perverted, scum of a man – as far as we know – and thirdly," she grinned, "I very much doubt that beheading the boy to claim Stephanie would win him any favours with anyone."

"It would with me," Lestat said honestly before sending a grin at the exasperated Archie.

"Archie, what is that?" Gabrielle called from the window in wonder while pointing to the massive Pensieve screen.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to return to my master," he replied dryly, "You'll call me when my food gets here?"

"No problem," Lestat waved his hand as if dismissing the boy who took his queue to leave and attend to the amazed girl.

"He's an interesting one," Lucile mumbled to her husband, quietly enough so that the other two occupants of the room couldn't hear them, "the boy wears masks as if it were second nature to him."

"As is custom for those who have experienced severe hardship in their lives," Lestat responded equally as quietly, "he's quite the expert at the art though, I must admit."

"Today is the first time I've actually seen him visibly upset, I guess it just goes to show how much that girl is affecting him."

Lestat nodded, "I myself usually have a hard time reading him, and I'm an incredibly skilled Legilimencer," he stated, knowing Legilimency predisposes the practitioner to more subtle ways of reading people, "a feat, if I ever saw one. The fact that he is visibly depressed right now is… disconcerting."

"Disconcerting how?"

"You have heard of the very few things Harry has eluded to in regard to the boy's work and studies," Lestat chided his wife, "should he actually succeed in any of them, even just one, it could be tremendously helpful in the future."

Lucile frowned, "I think he mentioned something about the boy being an incredibly skilled Potions brewer and a budding Alchemist."

"I have not heard of someone studying the art of Alchemy since Albus Dumbledore," Lestat frowned, "many think it a colossal waste of time," he sighed, "and they would be right, considering how many years of hard work it requires to be even somewhat sufficient in the art."

"These kids are just so interesting," Lucile grinned excitedly, "I haven't been this excited about the future since we discovering the wonderful drug that is Viagra."

Lestat resisted the urge to palm his face. Sometimes, his wife was just too much. Despite being the nymphomaniac that she is though, he honestly wouldn't have her any other way.

"There you are Monty!" Sirius arrived at the box with the rest of the group behind him with a huge smile, "Wow, this is amazing."

Lestat, Lucile and Archie were sitting on three subsequent recliners while Gabrielle was perched on Archie's lap quite comfortably. The four of them were amusing themselves by watching the pre-match festivities until the rest of their friends arrived.

"Gabrielle," Fleur scolded angrily, "Why did you run off without telling me? Do you know how worried I was until Mrs Zabini told me where you went?"

"I'm sorry sister," Archie almost sniggered when he saw the girl use her most lethal weapon, those damn puppy-dog eyes, "I wanted to see the stadium as soon as possible and then I learned that Archie was coming early – will you forgive me?"

All the wind seemed to be stolen from Fleur's sales, "Did you take good care of 'er?"

Archie realized he was being addressed so he raised his hand dismissively, "I was this young lady's noble steed, how could I let any harm come to her with such an important job?"

Fleur frowned at him, "She was not any trouble, was she?" she sent a disapproving frown at her sister, who was still the perfect image of innocence.

"She was fine," Archie said dismissively, "Have you guys eaten? I'd try the steak if I was you, it's really good."

"Is that why you came early?" Remus asked, speaking up for the first time after finishing with his inspection of the room and talking with the bartender now manning the bar, "I thought you were just getting bored waiting," he said with a chuckle.

"Why not take advantage?" he said, "We can stay in a tent whenever we want, but these Ministry boxes are a once in a lifetime kind of thing, right?" Archie reasoned.

"Sure," Tonks grinned happily, "you recommend the steak?"

The group all sat down for their dinner while Stephanie and Fleur kept shooting weird looks at Archie who was playing with the little girl on his lap and keeping her entertained by pointing out random things they both see through the large window.

"Those Veela are not as pretty as Fleur and me," Gabrielle said haughtily, earning an amused chuckle from Archie.

"Of course not," Archie joked, "but it wouldn't be proper for a refined lady such as yourself to dance for all these hooligans like those girls are, right?"

"Of course not," she crossed her hands and looked at him imperiously, "I am much too beautiful to waste my talents on such riff-raff."

"Oh?" he asked, getting a wicked idea, "and who would you waste your beauty on then, Gabby?"

"'Arry Potter of course!" she sighed dreamily, "When I grow older, we're going to get married and have lots of beautiful children that will all be Quidditch stars!"

Archie really tried to hold in his laughter, imagining just how Harry would react if he ever meets Gabrielle. He wasn't very fond of little kids, after all, especially the cute ones.

Fleur and Stephanie looked on with interest as practically all the males in the room, except for Archie, and Lestat, were affected, in some way, by the beautiful Veela that were dancing on the field. Jacques, Sirius and Cedric were all practically drooling like dogs and Fleur resisted the urge to scold them; they were acting in her favour, after all.

"Look at Archie," Fleur whispered to her friend, "He does not seem to be affected in the slightest by the Veela, you know they say that our charm is completely useless against those who are truly in love with someone," she was embellishing a little, quite a lot actually. They had to be rather powerful too, but even powerful wizards are susceptible to their charm.

Stephanie didn't have an answer to that as she looked at her boyfriend reproachfully. Twenty minutes passed by quickly as they ate until Gabrielle's voice caught their attention.

"Look!" Gabrielle squealed excitedly, "They are starting, the Bulgarians, they are coming!"

Those who didn't speak French were quickly clued in by those who did as they all rushed to a chair to watch the pre-match entertainment.

From over the stadium walls, red and black fireworks were set off that took the shape of a large swooping raven. The Raven's body burst in a miraculous display of light, revealing the Bulgarian team from within who sped around the pitch in a 'V' formation. The one at the head of their formation, their Star seeker Victor Krum, broke away from his team and performed a handstand on his broom before stopping in front of the Bulgarian cheer squad who all held up a piece of magically enhanced card, that when combined with the hundreds held up by the people around them, created a huge picture of Krum in all his glory.

The chants of the fans repeating 'Krum, Krum, Krum' was almost deafening, even from within their box.

"Look, there are the English!" Gabrielle was really good at spotting these things, it seemed, because true to her word, a team garbed in mostly white shot out from the opposite side of the stadium that the Bulgarians arrived from. Unlike the Bulgarians, the English flew in a straight line, led by their captain, around the pitch before one of their ranks broke off and flew to the dead centre of the ground. It was fairly easy to see who said person was, especially when the entire stadium was chanting that player's name.

Amidst the chant of 'Potter, Potter, Potter', Archie watched as Harry shot up like a bat out of hell into the night sky holding something large under his arm. When they couldn't see him anymore, several people started murmuring with each other wondering what was going on. Suddenly, a huge fireworks display lit up the night sky that took the shape of Harry Potter himself, standing in front of an English national flag with his arms crossed and his hair blowing in the fake wind.

The crowd gave their approval with thunderous cheers, but it seemed he wasn't done yet, because from the night sky, a huge fireball seemed to be descending like a meteor at a rapid pace towards the centre of the pitch, earning several shrieks and cheers alike.

Just when the fireball was about to make contact with the ground, the fire was dispersed in a grand display of magical prowess, blackening the ground below, and revealed Harry Potter, lounging lazily on his broom with his hands behind his head and his feet crossed as he circled the pitch one last time before returning to his teammates.

"Merlin that was awesome," Archie breathed wondrously amidst Gabrielle's cheers. Everyone had to agree with him.

"Pfft," Lucile scoffed in a very unladylike manner, "what a showoff."

Remus chuckled, "Normally I'd agree, but Harry told me something about it being a part of his contract to do some showmanship like before every game – it keeps the crowds coming apparently."

He glanced around at the completely packed stadium, "And it seems to have worked too!"

Both teams were in position and ready to begin, the crowd's cheering and chanting seemed to have reached its apex when suddenly they were hushed as the Minister for Magic approached the podium on the top box.

Using a sonorous charm to amplify his voice, he said, "Welcome, to each and every one of you, to the one hundred and thirty fourth Quidditch World cup!" he waited for the cheers to die down before continuing, "The first World cup was hosted at this very moor exactly five hundred and thirty six years ago, and now, it has returned, and what a tournament for it to return in!" the crowd seemed to appreciate what he was saying as they cheered loudly again, "Now, without further ado, let the match… " the crowd seemed to all take an intake of breath at the same time "BEGIN!"

With a flourish of his wand, the balls were all released to the players as the game started amidst thunderous approval from the crowd. Two hundred thousand screaming fans was certainly a sight to behold, in Archie's opinion; it was all just so surreal.

"Potter makes a grab for the Quaffle first – AND HE'S OFF!" the announcer said, earning roars of approval form the English fans, "Potter, to Cole, Cole passes it to Young – intercepted by Ivanova!"

The Bulgarian fans cheered wildly while the English fans booed.

"Ivanova to Levski, back to Ivanova who passes it long to Dimitrov – intercepted by Potter!"

The English fans went wild while the Bulgarian fans grumbled.

"Potter with a long, downfield pass, catching a wide open Young, young catches, Young shoots, YOUNG SCORES! Zograf didn't stand a chance and was caught daydreaming!"

The English fans erupted in cheers and Gabrielle bounced up and down on Archie's lap excitedly.

"Yes! Go England!" Gabrielle cheered in French while standing up on Archie, turning around and tackling him in a hug.

Archie let out a yelp of pain, which was picked up by Lestat, "Can you get me a pillow?" the boy wheezed through his pain.

Lestat, taking another look at the boy seated beside him almost broke down laughing when he realized the little girl, in her excitement, stomped right on Archie's balls. The girl was confused at first why Archie placed a pillow on his lap but shrugged it off in the end; it was more comfortable like this anyway.

Cedric and Sirius had their Omniculars glued to their faces as they watched the game in awe. It was one thing to listen to the high-level games on the radio but being able to see these players play really served to humble you. The speed at which they flew, the quality of their passing and the power of their shots was like nothing he'd ever seen.

"Cole grabs the Quaffle as the three English chasers pile on top of each other – what are they doing, where did the Quaffle go?!" Indeed, all three players separated from each other, each pretending to be holding a Quaffle hidden under their arm as they advanced on the goal. The Beaters weren't sure who to send the Bludgers at, so they just naturally assumed Harry had it.

Unfortunately for them, they were expecting for them to shoot Bludgers at Harry, well, at least Harry was, because he led them straight to Zograf, the Bulgarian keeper, forcing the man to dodge them less he be smashed into bits. Unfortunately for Bulgaria, this left the goal wide open for Young to easily slot the Quaffle through the hoop and score England's second.

"Dimitrov grabs the Quaffle, passes it to Levski, Levski to Ivanova, Ivanova back to Levski, Levski shoots, SAVE by James," Archie watched with rapt attention, slowing down the play when applicable with his Omniculars, they were moving so fast sometimes that it was hard to follow the play, "James passes it long to Cole, Cole advances towards the goal, dodges a Bludger, he's forced to pass it backwards lest he get destroyed by the Bulgarian beaters. Potter receives, passes it to Young, he's motioning to an empty spot fifty yards out from the goal, is he going to do what I think he's doing?!"

Archie watched, entranced, as Harry sped to an empty spot on the park as Young sent a pass at him backwards at a blistering pace. Harry used his broom like springboard and jumped high into the air; using the Quaffle's speed against it he smashed the ball with his foot towards the goal. Archie couldn't believe the speed at which it travelled towards the goal, Zograf got a finger to it, but the Quaffle barely changed course as it zoomed through the left hoop, and in for another goal!

"What an amazing goal!" the commentator cheered, "England, thirty, Bulgaria, zero."

The game continued on in a very similar fashion, with the English chasers dominating the field play with Krum having to forgo his seeker duties to make sure the game wasn't blown out of the water. At seventy to zero though, Krum finally saw the snitch.

"It looks like Krum's seen the Snitch," the announcer shouts excitedly, "look at him dive, Shearer can barely keep up."

Archie's eyes widened when he saw Harry give off the Quaffle to his teammate and chase after Krum. What was he doing?!

Krum sped faster and faster towards the Snitch with Shearer not far behind, hot on his tail. Just as Krum looked to be able to slam into the ground though, he pulled up last second, showing to the cheering crowd that he had performed a Wronski Feint! He had not seen the snitch at all!

Shearer looked doomed to slam into the ground, having fallen victim to Krum's famous move. As he was about to crash into the ground at over 60 miles an hour, Harry zoomed passed and plucked him off his broom before he could make contact and injure himself!

"What a save by Potter!" the announcer cheered, "Shearer will be thanking him in the morning for that one, Krum doesn't look too happy though!"

An hour and fifty minutes passed before the next sighting of the Snitch occurred with the score at one thirty to ten. It was a mixture of Harry's brilliance and the Killer Harpies that halted Krum in his pursuit of the ever-elusive golden Snitch.

"This is amazing," Sirius breathed in wonder, "I never imagined an international Quidditch game could be so intense."

"England will lose unless they can get a one-hundred-and-sixty-point lead soon," Lestat observed, "they cannot hold off forever, eventually, Krum will catch the snitch no matter what Harry does."

"And if Harry devotes too much of his time trying to stop Krum, they won't be able to get that lead," Antonio pointed out, "Quidditch has definitely changed from what I remember it to be, back then it was all about the seekers, it's more of a team game now."

"Harry says that all the time," Tonks chuckled, "he thinks it's stupid for any team to rely on one player and forgo the other positions; he thinks they're all equally as important."

"This game would be the ultimate test to that theory," Sirius pointed out, "despite Harry's skill, England is still a well-rounded team, whereas Bulgaria is all about Krum – they won all of their matches leading up to this game by catching the Snitch within an hour or less. As you can see, the rest of the team aren't that good."

It was true too; the English Chasers were flying circles around the Bulgarian players when they weren't blocking Krum.

"What are the Bulgarians doing?" Cedric asked as he tried to get a closer look with his Omniculars.

"It looks like they're on the defensive," Remus theorized.

"They're not on the defensive," Archie spoke up, "they're going for the win. They're corpse blocking the hoops making it almost impossible for England to score no matter how good they are. With three chasers, two beaters and a keeper corpse guarding the ring, Krum can fly around free and eventually catch the Snitch, they'd win too, England's only up by one fifty."

"Wouldn't that make it a draw?" Stephanie asked, not really following what was going on.

"No, in the World Cup final, if the scores are a tie, the team who caught the Snitch wins the game," Sirius lectured, "and if the English can't focus on Krum either, because no matter how well they block him off, he'll eventually catch the Snitch, they need to score and they need to score fast."

Indeed, the Bulgarians were literally using their bodies to block all shots from the English chasers. Even trying to knock them out of the way first with their Beaters didn't seem to be working, because the Bulgarian Beaters would have their teammates' back.

"Hey, did you see that?" Archie yelled to the room, "Harry just did something!"

"Unless 'e put a bludgeoning curse on zat Bludger, I cannot see 'ow it will matter," Fleur said dryly, but Archie wasn't fazed.

"It's Shearer, he's motioning to Shearer!" Archie jumped from his seat and yelled excitedly. Almost simultaneously, everyone turned their Omniculars to the veteran English Seeker to see him slowly, but surely making his way around behind the Bulgarian defence, trying to make it look like he's searching for the Snitch, but his eyes were on Harry and no one else.

"What could he possibly be planning?" Cedric frowned, but his question was soon answered when Harry gave the ball to Cole and flew over to the left side of their hoops, he wanted his captain to prop the ball up for him, that could only mean one thing, he was going for the shot!

"Potter seems to be setting up his famous sphere shot ladies and gentleman," the announcer called excitedly, "but will it be enough to pierce Bulgarian's iron tight defensive wall?"

With blistering speed, Cole sent a pass a few meters above Harry's broom in preparation for the shot. Harry, once again, used his broom as a springboard and launched into the air, his back facing the goal.

Harry performed an aerial scissor kick putting all his power into the shot before his foot made contact with the Quaffle. After contact was made, Harry dropped down and caught his broom with one hand; he hung there and watched, hoping his plan would work.

"The shot's too high!" the announcer cried in shock – Harry Potter never misses! "To be safe though, the Bulgarian defence is rising to intercept the shot, these folks aren't willing to – SWEET MERLIN! SHEARER ENTERED A STEEP DIVE RIGHT ABOVE THE BULGARIAN GOAL!" the announcer shouted excitedly as the veteran zoomed in front of the Bulgarian defence to snatch the Quaffle right out from in front of them; the aged Seeker continued his dive to right below the Bulgarian defensive wall before putting forward a not so powerful yet extremely accurate shot. The Bulgarian defence was powerless to stop it as the Quaffle passed from right underneath them and went straight through the middle hoop.

"SHEARER SCORES!" the announcer cheered merrily, "ENGLAND IS UP BY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY POINTS!"

If Archie thought the cheer of the crowd so far was deafening, he was most definitely not prepared for what assaulted his ears that second. The large glass window of their box almost shattered from the vicious assault from the crowd's cheering, and impossible feat but he was certain it was happening anyways, though they weren't any better within. Gabrielle was dancing on his lap, Remus, Tonks and the Zabini's minus Stephanie were laughing and cheering merrily, Sirius and Cedric were hugging each other and dancing a jig, Fleur, Stephanie and Jacques were smiling while watching everyone's reactions and the Vampire duo were merely smirking victoriously.

"Look, Krum's going to end it, he's almost got the Snitch!"

"What's zee fool think he is doing?" Fleur asked with a frown, "Does he not know that if he catches zee Snitch his team will lose?"

"It's not about that," Archie answered the beautiful girl, "he wants to end the game on his own terms, he knows that if he lets the game last longer, England will only get further ahead. This way, at least they lose with a reasonable score."

"AND KRUM'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH! IT'S ALL OVER! ENGLAND WINS, ONE SEVENTY TO ONE SIXTY!"

Archie looked on the pitch in interest as Harry saluted Krum from the opposite end of the field. The Bulgarian seeker grudgingly nodded in respect while the English team, sans Harry, began to celebrate.

"That was the greatest game ever," Sirius sighed, "and to think, Harry Potter is my godson."

"Yes, we heard you the first time Sirius," Archie grumbled irritably.

"And the second through seven hundredth times also," Tonks added with a giggle.

"I don't think you all appreciate how much action I'll get just from that little fact," he sighed dreamily as Cedric's eyes lit up.

"Hey, I'm Harry Potter's friend!" he shouted, as if he just discovered the meaning of life.

"Yeah you're Harry Potter's friend," Sirius laughed evilly, "he bought you your Firebolt!"

"He bought me my Firebolt!" Cedric agreed with a grin as the two linked their arms together by the elbows and danced a merry jig.

"Yes, zat is sure to win all zee girls," Fleur remarked dryly, "'Arry Potter technically owns my broomstick, very smooth."

The two celebrating gigolos stopped their dance and glared at the French witch good naturedly.

XXX

"Where's Stephanie?" Archie asked with a frown, "It's not exactly safe to be outside all on her own right now with all the drunkards partying."

Fleur shrugged, "She went for a walk with Jacques," she looked to her watch, "zey left 'alf an hour ago."

"Oh," he looked just as depressed as he sounded, which caused the people to lapse into an awkward silence until an explosion caused the floor to rumble.

"It sounds like the English are getting their party on," Cedric attempted to joke, but Sirius looked anything but amused as Remus walked through the door looking pale.

"That wasn't the English," Sirius mumbled distractedly, "what's going on Moony?"

"Death Eaters, they're attacking the camp sites," he looked around to the shocked faces in the room, "and werewolves, they've found a way to force their transformation without there being a full moon, hurry up and pack, we need to leave now."

"Stephanie!" Archie rocketed up from his seat and rushed straight out the door, ignoring the shouts of protest.

The second he got outside, he spotted Jacques running towards the tent looking like a scared little child; Stephanie wasn't with him.

"Jacques, where is Stephanie?!" he yelled over the chaos that was caused by the scared people running around trying to find their loved ones. The pale boy pointed in the direction he was running from, too scared to speak. Archie's stomach turned to ice when he heard the howl of a werewolf coming from the direction the boy pointed from.

"YOU LEFT HER YOU MOTHERFUCKER?!" he howled in rage, "IF I MAKE IT BACK HERE ALIVE, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" he shouted as he punched the French boy in the mouth, knocking out three of his teeth before the boy passed out on the ground.

"Ringo!" Archie called loudly to the night air, as he made his way in the direction Jacques pointed earlier. With a small pop, his 'employee' appeared right beside him with a worried frown on his face, before he could speak though, Archie was already barking orders at him.

"Ringo, I need you to find Harry, tell him that Death Eaters and Werewolves are attacking the camps and that Stephanie is in trouble, do it quick!"

Without a word of protest, the terrified House elf disappeared with another pop, off to fetch Harry. Archie just hoped it wasn't too late as he made his way deeper into the forest and in the direction Jacques pointed him to.

"Point me Stephanie Zabini," Archie laid his wand on his palm as it spun around like the pin of a compass before landing on one direction. He run as fast as he could, hoping against hope that Stephanie was okay.

XXX

Harry Potter sighed appreciatively as the warm water from the showerhead splashed against his face and soothed his aching muscles. He thought that ridiculous reward ceremony would never end, though he did receive the Golden Quaffle award for scoring the most goals in the tournament, as well as a World Cup championship ring, it was made of white gold and diamonds and looked rather badass, in his opinion. It was most likely originally made of silver, but they probably changed it knowing that his guardian was a werewolf.

His teammates had all already left for Three-sixty, the new club run by Lucile and owned by Lestat and he. Lucile told him that he was more than welcome to come, age restrictions or not, but Harry had other ideas, like resting at home in the comfort of his own room doing some research by the fire.

Yes, a nice relaxing evening was just what the doctor ordered.

It was quite a complicated game and judging by the concerned glances his teammates shot him, they figured something was on with him. He definitely did not play as well as he could have.

In the end the match was closer than it had any right to be, they have devised many countermeasures specifically against Krum, but he had been too distracted to employ some of them.

How could he, when suddenly thrust upon such a great mystery?

Today was the second time he had seen a Veela, and the first time he had seen them whilst self-aware of his own magic.

Sapient life emanated magic in an extremely peculiar way, as if telling the universe, 'I am here,' whilst simultaneously saying, 'Please don't notice me.'

All of that, whilst mysterious, did not preoccupy his mind with the sudden revelation he had discovered.

Some of the Veela, the ostensibly older ones but it was difficult to be certain, emanated this signal from two sources, on just above where their uterus would be and one from their brain, meaning there was another sapient creature that cohabited older Veela's bodies.

He discarded the possibility that they were pregnant, foetuses weren't sapient and even if they were, it would be quite the coincidence for all of the forty Veela who were above twenty (as he found out later) to all be pregnant, and also just past the conception stage as none of them showed any signs of being bloated.

After the match he had discovered that it had an individual heartbeat, completely separate from its host's.

Extremely peculiar.

With a pop, the pondering in his mind was disturbed by the arrival of Ringo, one of the elves he had purchased for Archie to help run his business.

Harry let his head smack against the tiled wall of the shower; this was not his day at all. Quickly getting dressed as the House elf informed him of what exactly was going on, he left the changing rooms and apparated away to the campgrounds with a near silent pop, hoping to have the honour of killing Archie himself before someone beat him to it.

XXX

Stephanie was on the verge of hysterics. Not only did her boyfriend leave her to this pack of werewolves, but she had to watch as they viciously and systematically tore apart any person that came in their path.

It was brutal to say the least.

The wolf like creatures only shared one real similarity with their canine cousins, and that was their heads. Their heads were that of a wolf, but their bodies were more human like than a wolf's. They had large muscle filled torsos with lanky yet powerful looking limbs that let them move extremely quickly and leap very high.

She had been avoiding three of them for the past ten minutes as they meticulously hunted her down. If she didn't know any better, she would she would guess that they enjoyed hunting her down and smelling her fear.

Stephanie couldn't believe that someone as beautiful and kind as Archie's mother was one of these creatures.

Right now, she had covered herself in mud and branches, hoping to throw off their senses and get them to run right past her. It was a good idea in theory, but she didn't account for the fact that their eyesight was just as good as their senses of hearing and smell.

Quicker than she could react, a single werewolf burst out of the dark bush not ten meters away from her and charged right at her, teeth bared and claws ready to strike.

She futilely threw her arms up to cover her face in preparation for the attacks, letting a few silent tears escape her eyes as she waited for the end. She saw how these beasts treated their pray, she would be joining the countless mutilated bodies that littered the campgrounds in just a few moments – she was sure of it…

"STEPHANIE!"

The familiar voice shouting her name to her left caught her attention, like a cannonball, something or someone slammed into her side, saving her from the werewolf's strike and taking her out of harm's way.

When the stars finally cleared from her vision, she saw shocked to see a cringing Archie leaning over her, a hand on each side of her head with blood seeping through his white t-shirt.

"Archie," she exclaimed softly yet with immense relief, "you came… I thought you hated me."

Archie smiled, and Stephanie was shocked to see the pained look on his features, "Hate you Stephanie?" he chuckled at the absurdity of the idea, "you know how I feel about you, you always have."

Without another word, Archie stood up from his position over Stephanie and turned away from her causing her to let out a shocked gasp.

Archie's back was drenched in blood and his t-shirt was almost ripped completely to shreds. Through the damaged material, she could see something that looked like a bite mark on his shoulder and three large and vicious looking scars travelling diagonally across his back. The werewolf had gotten him!

"I usually don't like hurting people," Archie spoke to the three werewolves circling him, "I try to avoid it at all costs actually, especially werewolves."

Stephanie watched as Archie took out two vials from his pocket and downed them quickly, the effects were instantly noticeable. The blood that was pooling out of his wounds stopping flowing, almost instantly, it must have been a very advanced temporary wound sealing potion, especially if it was able to seal werewolf bite wounds. She also noticed, though it was ever so subtle, that Archie's lithe muscles seemed to tense and become more defined, as if they were growing stronger extremely quickly.

"But no matter what," Archie spoke up once again before shouting, "I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!"

Stephanie's eyes almost popped out of her skull when she saw Archie move at speeds that were practically impossible for any human to achieve. She then had to force herself to stop gaping at him when one of his punches not only connected with the werewolf on the left, but it sent it spiralling into a tree and dazing it temporarily.

The two active werewolves pounced on him as a single unit, slashing at him on one side while biting at him on the other. Archie moved with a speed that was almost impossible to believe while his strikes seemed to do more damage than humanly possible.

Archie locked both his hands with one of the werewolf's, leaving him wide open to attack from the other. Before the second werewolf was able to attack the defenceless Archie though, Archie kicked it in the chest with his free leg, sending it sprawling back several feet.

Stephanie noticed that Archie, at first, seemed to be winning the battle of strength with the werewolf, but to her horror, slowly, the werewolf seemed to be overpowering him.

"Stephanie," he cried urgently, "why are you still here, you need to run before my Strength and Agility Elixirs run out!"

"I'm not leaving you Archie, shut up!" she cried as she realized the futility of the situation.

"Dammit!" Archie groaned with a colossal effort as the werewolf leaned closer to him, its opened mouth dripping with copious amounts of its saliva, as he drew closer and closer while steadily overpowering him.

If his situation wasn't bad enough, three more werewolves appeared out of the shrubbery and started approaching them menacingly while the other two gained their bearings.

"STEPHANIE!" Archie hollered at her "YOU NEED TO RUN, NOW!"

"I told you I'm not leaving you, you idiot!" she shakily took her wand out of its holster and levelled it at the closest werewolf, knowing how futile it was at the beginning. Werewolf hide was notoriously spell resistant, well, especially to anything she could conjure up anyway.

Suddenly, there was black flash as something zipped right in front of Archie and the next thing he knew, the Werewolf he was wrestling with had its arms cut off at the elbows.

"You are both as useless as a politician, as well as completely unreasonable," Harry growled as he supported Archie on his shoulder briefly before tossing him at Stephanie, hoping she was coherent enough to tend to his wounds.

Harry held the Flambert in a loose grip in his right hand as the werewolf who had its arms recently severed howled in pain. Its friends, however, were more than happy to advance on him, slowly getting ready to flank him before they struck.

Harry frowned at the creatures surrounding him. On his way here, he had encountered several mutilated bodies and was hoping against hope that there weren't many more to be found in the forest. Good news was there wasn't, the bad news was that these werewolves were probably the ones responsible – well, it was bad news for them at least.

Some of those bodies were those of young children, he had to hold a fierce growl, and there wasn't much that affected him.

"You pieces of shit just couldn't contain yourselves," he said viciously with a twirl and a swing as he decapitated the armless werewolf. Flambert moved through the cartilage and enhanced hide like a hot knife through butter.

One of the other werewolves lunged at him as Harry hopped back one step to avoid the strike before grabbing its right forearm and unleashing a series of viciously quick strikes at its torso before kicking it in the chest and sending it sprawling to the forest floor, dead.

"I probably would have felt sympathetic towards you bastards if it weren't for the fact that I can tell you're in control of your actions," he growled as he stepped backwards again to avoid two more swipes from the enraged beasts before he lunged forwards and severed the legs of one of the werewolves, he quickly ended his suffering with a stab to the eye before turning to the second werewolf that just lunged at him and struck it three times – once with a swipe across its throat, again with an opposite swipe across its chest and finally a stab right in its mouth.

Harry eyed the last two werewolves with disgust while Archie and Stephanie looked on with grim satisfaction, "It's your eyes, you see," he advanced on them as the pitiful beasts retreated a few steps in fright, it was clear who the stronger being was, "they are not amber, you have used the wolfsbane potion to remain in control after someone forced your transformation, probably that filth Greyback." More telling was their magic, it had the same cautiously exploratory feeling any sapient creature did, and sapience was not a trait naturally transformed werewolves possessed.

He could tell that the beasts wanted to flee, but he wouldn't let them, not after what they did to those poor people. Rushing at the werewolf on the right, he performed a move that was similar to a football slide tackle and swept its legs out from beneath it before ramming the tip of his blade into the bottom of its jaw, killing it instantly.

He then turned to the last werewolf before advancing on it menacingly, "Luckily for me it actually isn't a full moon," he speed up as he approached the quivering beast mercilessly, "because then, you might actually be a challenge!"

The second he was in the beast's range, he stomped his foot on the ground and spun, performing an upwards twirl slash that sliced open its torso. Before it could die, however, he flicked his wrist and brought the sharp edge of his blade down on its skull, cleaving its head in two.

Harry turned around calmly as Stephanie was almost in hysterics. One would think that it was because of what he had just done, how he had just executed six perfectly sentient beings, but that wasn't the case at all.

Archie seemed to be going into shock. This couldn't be good; there was no way Harry would let his friend die from some weak ass bite or scratch wound – if anyone was going to take the responsibility for killing Archie, it was definitely going to be him!

To make matters worse, a beautiful blonde witch was standing on the other side of the clearing looking almost ready to throw up at the carnage that lay before her.

"I don't believe we've met," Harry greeted dryly, his clothes looking like they'd been dyed red from the copious amount of blood squirting out of the werewolves' wounds, "the name's Harry Potter."