The Coven 0007: Arrival

(A/N: I know the chapter number is different. That's because I originally wrote this fic for Fanfiction with 4-6 thousand-word long chapters. I initially cut them down for Webnovel because shorter chapters are the norm here. Now I'm too lazy to cut the chapters down. Expect weekly chapters for a while at this same time.

Thanks for reading my Ted Talk.)

The ride to Hogwarts was smooth, without any major incidents. Harry spent most of his time flirting with Fleur and pampering Gabrielle every once in a while. A few hours into their journey, Fleur and Gabrielle were sound asleep, both of them using Harry as a glorified bed. Fleur was hogging his lap completely and Gabrielle was lying on the seat with her head on a pillow right beside Harry. He was running his fingers through both girls' hair, caressing them as they let out light almost silent snores that sounded extremely similar. The lights had been significantly dimmed while the shades of the window had also been lowered since it was already late.

At some point, Harry's gaze went to Celine, who lying on the other seat covered in a blanket as a book floated in front of her, tilted in a sideways manner. She had her wand in her hand, having cast a controlled lumos spell that merely illuminated the surface of the book without disturbing anyone else in the room. Looking at the familiar textures on the cover, Harry identified it as one of the eighth-year course books for Transfiguration. "Hey, Celine," Harry called softly, not wanting to startle her.

It didn't work, "Huh?!" She was startled as she quickly closed the book and put it on the small table that was in between both seats before sitting up. Or at least she tried to sit up. Harry pointed his wand at her and used the levitation charm in a restraining manner such that it became very hard for her to move, "Calm down. You don't need to sit up." He said before dispelling the spell.

Celine had to take a breath to calm her frayed nerves as she pulled the blanket up slightly, almost wanting to hide herself, "Yes sir?" She asked, grasping the necklace that she'd taken off so that she would be able to sleep comfortably. It gave her a constant suppressive feeling and she couldn't go to sleep wearing it. Since Fleur and Gabrielle were asleep, she didn't need to wear it either.

"I didn't want to startle you," Harry sighed, "How about we talk a little about your confidence issues?" He asked her with a little smile.

"Confidence issues?" She made a questioning expression as if she had no clue about it, "I don't think have confidence issues, sir."

"You're a walking confidence issue in yourself, Celine," Harry joked, "I just called you softly and you got startled as if I was your drill instructor about to punish you with fifty push-ups."

"Drill instructor?" Celine asked, "Who's that?"

Harry coughed as he recalled his mother's strict expression as she woke him up at six in the morning while wearing a pair of khaki camo pants and a green tank top with a matching khaki camo jacket.

"Wake up, Harry," Lily shook Harry awake, "It's time for our morning track course."

"No!" Harry shouted and turned around, pulling the blanket over himself and trying to go back to sleep.

"Get up young man, you are not skipping out on your workout even if it's your summer vacation," Lily crossed her arms under her chest and looked at Harry disapprovingly.

"Lemme sleep," Harry shouted, "I came back yesterday!"

"This is the exact time when your true willpower is tested," Lily said before pulling away the blanket, "Now get up or I'll pull you up."

"Ughh…" Harry groaned as he curled up while holding his pillow tightly. Sadly, Lily yanked it away too, "I hate you…" He grumbled as he was forced to sit up.

"Sir?" Celine called him, pulling him out of that flashback of every single summer vacation from as far back as he could remember.

Harry had to take a moment to think how he should explain the term to Celine. Unlike the usual magical household that was clueless about the muggle world, his household had Lily Potter nèe Evans, who kept him up to date with all sorts of things about the muggle world while also training him to be very competent, both physically and magically.

Harry answered Celine's question in the most simplified form he could think of at that moment, "Someone who trains you with an extremely strict schedule and punishes you harshly if you mess up." He didn't want to explain to her how military regimens work and answer the questions that would come with that.

"O-oh…" Celine looked away with a quiver afraid of what would happen if she made a mistake.

"These are the confidence issues I'm talking about," Harry shook his head as he saw her reaction, "Look at me." His words made Celine turn to him with a scared look in her eyes. He continued, "I'm not going to hit you, am I? Why are you so scared of me?"

"You're not?" Celine raised a brow at his words.

"What kind of stuff have you filled your head up with about Fleur and me?" Harry asked with a little laugh that hid his cold expression after realizing that Celine was no stranger to being hit either, "Are you comfortable telling me your story, Celine?"

"I don't really have a story, sir…" She said while biting her lower lip nervously.

"Everyone has a story," Harry said, "But I can tell that you aren't familiar enough with me to be telling me this. And I can respect that." Just as Celine was about to respond, Harry continued, "I'll just focus on a specific person. Faust. Tell me about your relationship with him."

Harry's words had an authoritative and almost interrogative gleam that Celine found hard to contend against. She gulped and spoke without thinking much, "I met him when I was around twelve or thirteen, in the third grade. He was in the fifth grade back then. My nerdy personality didn't have much of a place at this school full of social butterflies. When he offered to be my friend, I was kind of stoked." She had an awkward smile on her face, feeling weird as she told him about her history.

"School full of social butterflies you say…" Harry mumbled as he glanced at Fleur who was tightly hugging him with her face nestled in his neck, having completely drenched his collar with her drool, "Real fucking social…" He mumbled, "Go on," He said after noticing that Celine had gone quiet.

"I was very lonely back then," She said, "He was my only friend for those three years." She had a distant look in her eyes as he continued narrating to Harry, almost reminiscing about that time in her life, "Eventually, I ended up becoming friends with two of the girls in my year, we took Arithmancy together and ended up finding common interests." She paused for a moment before continuing, "That was two years ago when I was in sixth grade. Faust and I, who were pretty much the best of friends before that grew somewhat distant. Well, more like he started distancing himself from me… I tried to keep in touch with him, but he completely ignored me."

"Go figure…" Harry said. He had a bit of an idea of what might have happened after that, but still waited patiently for Celine to complete her side.

Celine didn't seem to hear Harry and continued speaking, "I was friends with the two of them for a couple of months… I almost used them as a sort of crutch after he distanced himself from me. I'd just lost someone whom I considered the most stable pillar in my life. They were very supportive of me and did somewhat help me out, but…" She seemed deep in thought before continuing with a tremble in her voice, "One day, out of the blue, they just cussed me out and told me to go–go f– myself. They even started horrible rumors about me sleeping around…"

"By any chance," Harry spoke as he saw her being quiet, "Are their names Elodie and Aurélie?" Harry asked as Celine seemed stunned.

"How'd you know?" She asked him.

"Keep going," Harry didn't address her question and told her to continue, though he had a frown on his face as he waited for her to finish her story.

Hearing Harry's words, Celine quickly caved and continued telling her story, "The week after that was the worst week I've ever had in my life…" She said with a somewhat more stable voice than before. Harry's interruption had helped her calm down a little, "However, after the week, the rumors abruptly stopped. I was confused when I didn't hear those condemning whispers, but then he came back to me… My pillar returned and I finally had him back with me." She said with a fond smile on her face.

She continued speaking, "Faust told me how he'd taken care of the rumors and wasn't going to leave me anymore. I just clung to him as I bawled my eyes out." She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, "But it wasn't the same… He wasn't as patient with me anymore. That comfort that I felt with him was still there, but he didn't seem like the same person whom I remembered." She said.

"Let me guess," Harry said, "He regularly hits you for the smallest of things and takes out his frustrations with other stuff on you, but you just endure it because of how much his friendship means to you..."

His words left Celine wide-eyed as she said with a tremble, "Y-yeah… How do you know this?"

"Go to sleep, Celine." Harry said, "It's late." He slid the blinds to the side and glanced at the impressive view of the lights on the ground. The sky was pitch black with no moon and only the stars twinkling lightly.

Hearing Harry's words, Celine bit her lower lip and suppressed her questions, "Okay…" She said, "…sir."

…

By the time morning rolled around, everyone woke up and Fleur was finally forced to let go of Harry as he cracked his back to recover from the horrible posture that he'd slept in through the night.

"See what you did?" Gabrielle blamed Fleur, "You should've just lowered the bunk bed above and slept on it. Now 'Arry's all stiff."

"He wouldn't be able to sleep without me," Fleur snorted at Gabrielle, "Plus, he didn't complain at all, right, 'Arry?" Fleur fluttered her eyelashes at him, giving him a cute flirty smile.

"Stop bickering," Harry shook his head and sat between Fleur and Gabrielle after fixing his back, "Let's get the breakfast meal," He said while wrapping his arms around them. It shut both sisters right up as they felt the comfort of his caresses on their heads.

Although his back and legs were a little stiff after how he slept, it was nothing new to him. His trained physique and the concentration of his magic worked in conjunction to keep him at his peak physical condition most of the time. He only needed a minute or so of stretching his joints to fix himself back to top shape.

'It's at this kind of time that I can't help but appreciate Mum's research into all these things,' Harry thought as he felt Fleur wrapping her arms around his torso and leaning her head against his shoulder, 'Her unique spells to circulate my magic correctly are the only reason that I can deal with these clingy girls without being stiff all the time…'

"Mhm," Celine nodded quickly and stood up, "Definitely, sir." She left the compartment.

"She seems a little weird," Fleur noticed, "Did you talk to her last night?"

"I did," Harry nodded with a rare solemn expression, "Remember that incident with Faust?"

"The one where he was caught fucking those two sluts in the broom closet right beside the dinner hall?" She asked uncaringly, "What about him?"

Harry had to cough at Fleur's words, "Yeah, real subtle," Harry looked at her with an annoyed expression as he glanced at Gabrielle who didn't seem to have heard anything wrong. He'd cast a spell to silence Fleur's surroundings the moment he realized that she was going to speak like that.

"Sorry…" Fleur mumbled sheepishly as she noticed Harry dispel the silencing spell.

He shook his head and said to her, "He seems to have been grooming Celine for himself…since she was in the second grade."

"Hm?" Fleur scrunched up her face a little, "What?" She asked.

"Exactly that," Harry said, "It's a bit of an unfortunate situation for the poor girl."

Fleur sighed before shaking her head, "Whatever," She said, "She's going to stay away from that creep for a year, and that too in a warzone. It should change her personality right up."

As Harry smiled at Fleur's words, Gabrielle asked him from the side, "'Arry…" She pulled his sleeve.

"What is it?" Harry looked at her.

"What do you mean by grooming?" She asked, making Harry cough again, "I thought grooming yourself is a good thing…"

Her innocent question made Harry smile wryly as he regretted dispelling the sound isolation spell. He had to think for a moment before he answered, "Grooming is when an older person with impure intentions toward you acts close to you and starts teaching you things, slowly influencing your personality and manipulating you to suit their own taste."

Gabrielle frowned, "I don't get it…"

Harry patted her head with a smile, "Let's talk about what I said to Fleur. Faust was grooming Celine intending to make her dependent on him. Have you noticed how she abruptly lowers her head and immediately apologizes before even knowing if she did something wrong?"

Gabrielle nodded, "I do… So it's because of this person grooming her into being so meek?" She asked.

"Exactly," Harry nodded before patting her head and praising her, "You're so smart…"

Gabrielle giggled at Harry's compliment, "Thank you…"

"Now don't go around talking about this," Harry warned, "It's a sensitive topic, right?"

"I know," Gabrielle said, "I'm not stupid."

"You definitely are," Fleur snorted.

"I'll fight you," Gabrielle tried to lunge at Fleur, but Harry grabbed her and pulled her back to the seat, giving her a look that made her shrink back.

"Sorry," She lowered her head. Harry shook his head and put his hand on her head lightly caressing her hair as her downcast eyes turned into happy crescents.

The sound of the door to the cabin opening made Harry look up and he saw Celine coming in with Old Nan following behind her, "Morning, Old Nan." Harry greeted, followed by Fleur and Gabrielle doing the same.

"Good morning, kids," The old woman greeted them back as if she was completely unaffected by Fleur and Gabrielle's allure. She unloaded four breakfast meals onto the tables before pulling the cart out of the compartment, "Have fun…" She closed the door behind her.

"How was she unaffected?" Celine couldn't help but ask after seeing the exchange between Old Nan and Fleur. She could understand Gabrielle's allure not affecting the woman, but Fleur's allure was strong enough to even affect some of the teachers from what she'd known and seen.

"That's because Old Nan is an accomplished Occlumens," Harry answered Celine's question as he grabbed a handle under the small shared table between the seats and pulled it out. The small shared bedside table turned into a full-sized table that could easily allow them to put their food on it, "Let's dig in." Harry unwrapped his tray. The meal consisted of a croissant and a serving of coffee along with a baguette and some jam and butter to spread on the baguette. There was also a serving of mango yogurt with it.

As Harry took a bite of his croissant, Gabrielle noticed the almost melty texture of chocolate inside it and exclaimed, "Chocolate croissants! My favorite." She smiled excitedly before grabbing her tray and unwrapping it. She quickly took a bite out of the croissant and hummed happily, amusing everyone in the room.

Celine's question wasn't completely clarified, "What do you mean by Occlumens?" She asked, "I've never read about it, nor have the professors mentioned it."

Harry sipped the coffee that had come with the breakfast meal, "The study is Occlumency," He said, "It's a relatively obscure branch of magic that deals with the defense of the mind from outside influences. People who can use Occlumency to resist influences that affect their mind are considered Occlumens."

"Are you also an Occlumens, sir?" Celine asked, "Considering that you don't need the necklace…"

"Yes," Harry nodded, "I'm not a master yet, but I do have absolute control over my thoughts, emotions, and memories so that no external influence can affect me. Including Fleur's allure."

"Would it be possible for me to learn it?" Celine asked without thinking much. She grasped the necklace that she had been forced to wear first thing in the morning. She didn't want to be affected by Fleur's allure, but the suppressive feeling of the necklace was horrible for her.

"I guess you could," Harry said thoughtfully, "Sadly your mentality isn't the right kind for learning Occlumency. You don't have the kind of willpower and self-confidence to be able to bring yourself to a state of absolute control over your mind." Harry shook his head.

Celine didn't even seem offended at Harry's words and merely looked down. He noticed her reaction and only shook his head, "Come on, eat your meal. Otherwise, Gabrielle will eat your croissant." He pointed to Gabrielle who was eying Celine's plate as if she would leap over the table to grab it.

"I-I don't mind," Celine said, "I can just eat the baguette with jam…" She said before offering her croissant to Gabrielle who quickly grabbed it.

Just as the girl was about to eat her newly acquired chocolate-filled croissant, Harry grabbed her arm, "What do you say?" He asked.

"Thank you, Celine…" Gabrielle smiled sweetly at Celine, making the eighth-year student embarrassed.

"It's no issue…" Celine looked down.

Gabrielle turned to Harry and looked at him with a raised brow. Harry nodded, "Yes …" Gabrielle took a bite out of her croissant before Harry completed his sentence, "… you can eat it now." He smiled wryly and continued eating his croissant with the coffee.

As they continued eating, Harry looked at Fleur who was eating her meal while looking out the window, "What's up?" He asked her.

"Nothing much," She said, "I'm just a little peeved about this…" She grabbed the chain of the necklace that she was wearing. It was the one that her mother had sent her and Harry and told her that they needed to wear them at all times.

"Is your necklace trauma acting up?" Harry asked with a little laugh.

"I don't have necklace trauma," Fleur said defensively, "I just don't like the necklace that suppresses my allure."

Harry chuckled lightly before grabbing her chin and gently making her look at him. Looking into her eyes, he said, "Talk to me…" He subtly grabbed his wand and cast a subtle silencing spell around himself and Fleur along with a spell that would make Gabrielle and Celine ignore them subconsciously.

Fleur sighed with a helpless expression, "I'm scared, 'Arry…" She said, "I don't know what's going to happen in Hogwarts. If it was just the two of us, it would've been fine, but Gabi too…"

"Leaving Gabi without either of us in Beauxbatons would've been even more dangerous, no?" Harry asked, cupping her cheek.

"I know," Fleur leaned into Harry's palm and smiled lightly, "I just can't help but worry for her."

"I'm worried too," Harry nodded, "But we'll take care of everything that comes our way. As we always have, right?" He asked, "You remember what we went through in my first year, right? I was ten back then, now though, we are so much stronger."

Fleur bit her lower lip and showed a pained expression as she remembered some bad memories. "Yeah..." She spoke with a soft voice after a few seconds, "We'll steamroll through whatever comes at us."

"That's the spirit…" Harry nuzzled his nose with hers, making her recoil with a cute squeal as she grabbed his shoulders and held him back.

…

The rest of the ride went by without any hitches. By the time it was close to dusk, Harry saw the silhouette of a massive castle from his window as it continued getting larger and larger.

"At least it lives up to the hype," Harry mumbled as he looked at the huge structure that was slowly getting clearer to his eyes.

Fleur didn't seem impressed, "We have a castle too," She said, "And ours isn't as dark and dreary seeming at the very least."

"Hold your discrimination back a little," Harry laughed.

"Yeah, I know," Fleur said, "I just don't see the appeal of this place. Hogwarts is so dangerous and has multiple accounts of death in the school, but it's still considered the best school in Europe…"

"The thousand-year history of the school may have something to do with that," Harry said, "A couple of low years cannot shake the thousand-year foundation of trust that the wizarding society has in the school."

"I guess…" Fleur rested her chin on her hands and looked out the window to examine the huge castle that was now close enough for her to be able to see into one of its spires.

The Beauxbatons carriage soon reached the school and made a round along its boundary before landing on the grounds with the guidance of a large man with two large planks in his hand to guide the horses. Harry could see that the man had a huge bushy untamed beard and a worn-out cloak over his body. He was waving the planks, guiding the abraxans toward himself. They lost sight of the man as the carriage turned toward him and moved into a landing position.

No matter how shaky the carriage was, the insides were as calm as ever with no one being disturbed in the slightest. From the window, Harry could see some sort of pavilion where the students were gathered to see the view of their carriage landing. He could see them pointing and talking amongst themselves. "How uncivilized…" Fleur commented with distaste, "It's just a flying carriage."

"Fleur…" Harry called her out, "It's a unique view nonetheless. You tell me if you weren't mesmerized by the view of the carriage landing in front of you when you first saw it?"

"Sorry…" Fleur looked away, "I don't like seeing people pointing at me and whispering among themselves."

Harry smiled and hugged her shoulder. That was when the bell to start dismounting the carriage sounded, "Let's wait for a minute or so, let some of the crowd here clear out first," Harry told Celine who had already grabbed her handbag from the top storage compartment.

"O-okay…" Celine felt a little embarrassed and quietly hugged her bag in front of herself, almost as if wanting to hide.

A few minutes later, Harry stood up and grabbed the extension charm enchanted luggage case that contained everything that he, Fleur, and Gabrielle brought, "Let's go, the coast is clear now," Harry said as he opened the door.

"Is this all your luggage, Celine?" Harry asked as he saw her handbag.

"N-no, sir," She held the heavy handbag with one arm with some difficulty, "I sent my main luggage to the storage unit." Harry noticed her difficulty and cast a lightweight charm on her bag, causing Celine to almost fall as the weight of her bag all but disappeared, "T-thank you, sir," She stuttered out.

"Clumsy and underconfident…" Harry sighed, "I'm going to fix you, Celine." Harry's words seemed to contain more weight than Celine realized, "I'm going to fix you…" He turned around as Fleur giggled and told Celine, "Ignore him, he's cute like that…" She grabbed his free hand and grabbed Gabrielle with her other hand as the three of them walked out of the compartment with Celine closely following behind them.

"We might have to talk to the headmistress about Celine's luggage," Fleur said to Harry, "If it's sent to the usual dorm rooms then we'll have to go through all sorts of hoops to find it."

"I'll talk to her once we get off…" Harry said as he stepped out of the main door of the carriage and was instantly hit in the face by the cold wind. The silk uniform of Beauxbatons barely stopped the chill from spreading to them. He felt Fleur's hand shiver and knew that she was feeling cold, "Here," Harry conjured two fur coats over both her and Gabrielle that they gratefully wrapped around themselves.

"If this is the start of October, then how cold is December going to be…" Fleur said while hiding her arms inside the coat. She still didn't let go of either Harry or Gabrielle's hands.

Harry chuckled lightly before looking back, "Are you okay, Celine?" He asked.

"I-I'm fine…" She said with a little smile, though she had her arms wrapped around herself, clearly cold.

Harry just conjured a coat over her too, saying, "It's going to be a while before you get your hands on your luggage."

"Thank you…" She said gratefully, wrapping the cloak around herself.

"Aren't you cold?" Fleur asked Harry.

"It's a little chilly, but I don't really mind it." Harry shrugged before looking around. They were currently in an empty ground as the students were quickly shuffling through their handbags for something warm to wear. Many of them just picked out scarves and wore them around their necks and heads.

"I really need a shower…" Fleur commented as she looked around the place. After getting warm, she realized that they hadn't showered since the previous day when they departed.

"We all do, honey," Harry laughed, "We all do."

He saw Madame Maxime talking to the large man whom he'd seen guiding the horses before she turned to the students, "Form a line students," She said with a light sonorous charm so that everyone would hear her, "We will be moving to the temporary resting area as they prepare our accomodations."

As everyone was shuffling into a line, Harry noticed something on the horizon, a sort of tip rising above the water. He gently nudged Fleur to look at the spectacle that was about to appear and she turned to see the scene of a ship's mast rising above the water.

The ship's rising was slow and magnificent as more and more of it got unveiled from the water. From the distance, it seemed to have a dark aura around it. A pitch-black construct with dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes that looked like ghostly eyes, it gave an eerie feeling to the onlookers.

As the ship completely emerged from the water with a sloshing sound as the water splashed all around it, Harry spoke to Fleur, "So? Is it just the Hogwarts students who are uncivilized?" He asked her.

"Fine, you made your point," Fleur said with a tired sigh as she turned to him with a little smile, "It's a magnificent view…" She said while looking into his eyes, unclear if she was referring to Harry or the ship.

"I still think you're more magnificent…" Harry said and touched the tip of his nose with Fleur's before moving away. Fleur was about to pout but then noticed the few gazes that were directed toward her instead of the spectacle of the ship. She instead developed her usual cold expression and ignored the gazes.

"You forgot to cast the charm?" She asked Harry.

"Yeah," He said with a little laugh, "It's fine though, they're all our people."

"Right," She rolled her eyes annoyedly, "Definitely our people."

As the Durmstrag ship docked at the port, Madame Maxime and the large man started leading the Beauxbatons students toward the temporary accommodation.

***

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