"Good," Harry nodded, "Oh, by the way," Harry fished something out of his pocket and hung it on his finger, showing it to Celine, "Wear this necklace," He said, "It'll protect you from Fleur's allure as long as she doesn't focus it on you."
Celine widened her eyes when she heard his words and nodded before quickly taking the necklace from him, "Thank you, sir." She examined the latch for a moment before pulling the necklace around her neck and closing the latch. Instantly, Celine felt a sense of suppression wash over her entire being. She had to gasp as she felt as if she was momentarily drowning in a viscous liquid that made it difficult for her to even move. It took her a few seconds to shake off the illusive feeling and catch her breath, but the sense of suppression was still there and very much prevalent. "This is so uncomfortable…" She mumbled to herself.
"It's either this or you following us like a mindless puppet for the rest of the year, which would inevitably damage your brain and turn you into a permanent puppet who would spend her whole life listening to Fleur's whims," Harry shrugged, "I'm not exaggerating, Fleur's allure does have this potential."
Celine's eyes widened as she instantly clutched the pendant of the necklace protectively, no matter how uncomfortable it made her, "I-I'll protect this necklace with my life, sir." She said, making Harry chuckle.
"Let's go," Harry gestured and quickened his pace. Celine followed him close by, her expression much more positive than what was there before, even though her gait was now slower than before due to the suppressive feeling of the necklace. Harry thought to himself, 'This girl teared up just from a glare… What kind of crazy mind games has that Faust fuck been playing on her for so many years to make her so meek?' Thinking of that, Harry realized something else, 'This kind of weak personality and willpower should be affecting her magic too. How did she even get good enough to not only get nominated for a position of authority but actually get it?' Harry had a lot of questions, but they could only be unpacked slowly. He couldn't abruptly start grilling her about such a sensitive topic.
He and Celine were some of the last students to enter the carriage and they quickly made their way to their assigned cabin where Fleur and Gabrielle were already sitting. Their luggage had already all been taken care of by the house elves who had loaded everything into the carriage.
Seeing Fleur and Gabrielle sitting on opposite seats of the cabin, Harry capitalized on the opportunity and slumped down on the same seat as Fleur. He turned his body sideways, resting his head on Fleur's thigh, "Hi…" He looked up at her surprised face and smiled. Fleur was startled for a moment before pouting, "My seat…" She looked at him pitifully.
"Later," Harry said. He knew Fleur would instantly try to take his lap as her seat and did his best to delay it. Although these seats were high quality and large enough for one person to sleep on comfortably, Fleur was still not a fan of them, preferring to sit and sleep on Harry's lap instead. "We have a twenty-hour ride, you can sacrifice some of your lap time for my comfort." Harry then closed his eyes and ignored Fleur's pouty mumblings.
As for Celine, she couldn't help but gaze at Fleur and think, 'How can someone's voice sound this…soul-stirring? A-am I into women?' She had weird thoughts since the necklace prevented her from being turned into a mindlessly drooling puppet to Fleur's allure and allowed her to perceive the woman's natural charm, which was already ridiculously high.
"Celine, could you get us some coffee? Just for me and 'Arry," Fleur noticed the necklace around Celine's neck and asked with an impassive expression and a flat tone, "And please stop looking at me like that, it's creepy."
Fleur's words made Celine come out of her thoughts as she hurriedly nodded, "S-sorry, madam. I'll go get it."
"Get something for yourself too," Fleur said as Celine closed the door behind her. She then turned to Harry and asked him, "Did you give her the money with the necklace?"
"Not yet, I forgot about it," Harry said, "I'll give it to her once she comes back."
"'Arry…" Fleur frowned, "How could you forget about it?" She admonished him.
"We can just give her the money when she comes back," He shrugged, "What's the big deal?"
"You were very careless, 'Arry," She held his face and made him look at her, "Now she's probably going to be stressed out about the money, not to mention the possibility that she didn't even bring a lot of money with her."
Hearing her words, Harry had to cough, "My bad, okay?" He said, "I'll apologize to her once she returns."
"You don't need to apologize to her," Fleur said, "She should have enough money to get us coffee. We're already doing her a favor with all this, there's no need for you to apologize to her."
"Then why are you scolding me?" Harry asked with a speechless expression that said, 'What do you want from me, woman!?'
"Because you were careless and irresponsible," Fleur said, "I have to make sure that you don't mess up these things."
"Fine," Harry said, "I get it, now stop nagging me, I want to rest for a while." Fleur saw him close his eyes as he turned to the side and pressed the back of his head against her stomach. She was about to continue, but Harry glanced at Gabrielle, who was looking out the window, doing her best to ignore Fleur and Harry's little spat. He turned back to Fleur and gave her a look that instantly shut her up, "Hey, Gabi," Harry called out and the girl looked at him curiously, "Do you want something to drink? Celine is bringing coffee for Fleur and me, should I get her to bring some hot chocolate for you?" He asked her.
"The ones with chocolate frogs that Old Nan makes?" Gabi asked with an innocent smile as her eyes sparkled.
"Once she returns, I'll get her to bring you some," Harry said with an indulgent smile as he saw Gabrielle nod happily.
Once Celine returned with the coffee, Harry thanked her while sitting up, "Oh, by the way." He fished out a pouch from his carry-on and handed it to Celine, "Here."
"W-what's this?" She asked with a frown, not accepting the pouch.
"Your expenses," Harry said, "We'll be asking for quite a few of these kinds of things from you, and it's best to give you the money for them beforehand." His words made Celine much less resistant to taking the money. She was initially going to refuse by saying that they were already doing her a huge favor, but this made her realize that they would probably ask her to buy stuff for them which would probably end up digging a hole in her wallet that was barely enough for her to pay for herself.
"I see…" She accepted the pouch that was filled with Galleons, "Thank you…" She thanked Harry while looking down.
"We really need to talk about her confidence issues…" Harry mumbled before saying, "Also, could you call Old Nan? We need some stuff from her cart."
"Sure," Celine quickly stood up and left the cabin to call the old lady who brought around the sweets cart.
"How's the coffee?" He asked Fleur who was slowly sipping the coffee.
"It's good," She nodded with a smack of her lips. There was a brownish-white mustache on her lips that was formed of the foam that made Harry laugh when he saw it, "What?" She asked.
"Nothing…" He smiled before leaning forward licking the foam off of her lips.
***
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