Chapter Text
Harry's teacher told that class that they would all have a pen pal for the next 3 months. She explained that a pen pal was a person that you exchanged letters with. She told the kids that their pen pals would be French students learning English just like them, but unlike them the students would all be 8 years old.
For the first letter that would change his life he simply wrote "hello my name is Harry Potter and I am a boy from England and I live in the village of Little Whinging. I am doing well. How are you doing? I hope you will be my friend. I live with my aunt, uncle and cousin."
This was Harry's chance to finally have a friend since his first mistake of thinking his name was freak. After learning his name was Harry Potter he could not understand why his aunt and uncle hated him so much he tried so hard. Why could they not love him like they did Dudley?
Once he got back home he started to do his chores wondering if his pen pal would respond and what they would say.
he hated cooking and doing the gardening he always hurt himself; he could not reach the stove properly and after the first time when he spilled oil on the floor, his aunt was so angry and yelling at him that day he thought his uncle would beat him, he knew it would happen but in a miracle he could not understand; his uncle and aunt agree he would only prep ingredients for dinner from then on, because even if they did not want or like the boy they would at least never place hands on a child. They never celebrate his birthday but at least he was clothed and had a roof even if his room was the cupboard under the stairs.
Fleur was told by English teacher that in order to help them improve their writing and reading skills in English they would be writing letters to pen pals who were 5 years old in a school in England since their English would be at a similar level and they would be able to improve together, when fleur received her first letter from her pen pal she had no clue the changes that would come to her life from this simple exercise.
After reading the letter her pen pals wrote, she wrote back to her new friend "hello harry potter I am Fleur Delacour, yes I will be your friend, I live in Gordes in France with my mom and dad. I hope that we may write many more letters to each other over the next 3 months. What do you like to do for fun?"
When she got home she told her mom all about the new pen pal she had.
Apolline Delacour loved to listen to her daughter tell her about her day at Non-Magiques school. She may work for the French ministry of magic but she believed a lot of wizards and witches struggled with the Non-Magiques because they did not stop to understand them.
Apolline asked with a curious smile "so fleur was there anything else interesting that happened at school or is the pen pal the most exciting thing that happened today?"
Fleur went on with all the excitement she could muster "well we also learned more math, and science the Non-Magiques have such an interesting understanding about storms."
Harry kept exchanging letters with Fleur back and for the next 3 months talking about everything from how he liked to read and draw to how he did not enjoy gardening at all.
In his letter he slowly started to open up to Fleur and in some of them he even talked about how he wished his aunt and uncle liked him and how they liked his cousin Dudley.
As the 3 month period was coming to a close he told Fleur in a letter that he wanted to keep sending her letters and she would be okay with that because it was nice to have a friend.
Fleur also enjoyed writing letters to Harry and reading his letters to her, sometimes she would worry about him as it did not seem to her that his uncle and aunt liked him. One letter made her so worried that she showed it to her mother.
Apolline for her part was incensed at how she thought his aunt and uncle treated him; she had half a mind to go over to them and hex them for the treatment from the letter Fleur had showed her. She thought this poor boy could possibly be the sweetest boy he had ever heard of. She would have to talk to her husband about a trip to England so she could at least check on the boy.
Fleur's letters back to Harry talk about her life and how she enjoyed living in France with her parents, and about her neighbors, the old couple next door that she called grandpa and grandma. She talked about the ballet classes she tried and other activities that she enjoyed that were Non-Magiques in nature.
She sometimes wishes she could tell him about the accidental magic and other magic things she did like her trip to Place Cachée.
In her last letter of the 3 month period she told him she would love to keep exchanging letters with him and how nice it was to have a friend like him and that she would always be his friend. The last letter he sent broke my heart a bit. It seemed to her that she was his only friend which she could not understand why.
On the 3rd of November Apolline and Marius Delacour approached their daughter smiling "Fleur we have to tell you something to tell you. We will be going to London for vacation for 2 weeks. Did you want to meet your friend Harry while we are there?"
Fleur's eyes widened as she looked at her mother and father "papa really I can meet 'arry? I have to write to him to see if he wants to meet and hang out if his uncle and aunt would let him."
Marius looked at his daughter "yes Fleur you can ask your friend if he will meet us. We can all go to the British museum and see some of the artifacts there we can play. Is it magical while we are there?"
Fleur wrote to Harry to ask his uncle and aunt if they would be willing to let him spend the day with them as they would be coming to London and she would love to meet her friend.
When Harry read Fleur's letter he dreaded asking his uncle and aunt if he could meet Fleur and her family. He thought they would just laugh at his face and tell him no he knew that they never let him have fun.
he decided to ask anyways he approached his uncle and aunt meekly during dinner "aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon could I possibly go to London to meet my pen pal to spend the day with her and her parents?"
Vernon and Petunia Dursley look at each other they were about to make fun of him and say no but they start to talk decide that if someone wanted the child for a while they could keep him for as long they want, they would have freak free time and they would enjoy it to there hearts content.
Vernon looked at Harry with contempt "Harry, how long will you be spending with them?" and asked them if he could spend a few days with them instead of one afternoon if they let you stay at least 3 days with them. You can and I will even drive you to London but any less and you can't as I will be very busy the next few weeks."
when fleur got harry letter back read it with her parents and as they read his letter it said "hello Fleur and Mr. and Ms. Delacour my uncle said that he will be very busy this week and I can only go if I could stay at least 3 days as he does not have the time to drive back and forth from London."
The Delacour all looked at each other Fleur with pleading eyes and her parents with worry in their Apolline was the first to speak "well Marius what do you think we could do all the Non-Magique things the first week and all the magical things the second week? it's too bad he is Non-Magique otherwise she could spend all 2 weeks with us."
Marius looked at his wife with a smile "yes I think that would work perfectly. Fleur please write to him and tell him we will be there on November 8th and we will meet him right in front of kings cross station at 7am."
When Harry received the new letter from Fleur he knew they would say no but he opened and read it a whole week they would let him stay with them for a whole week he showed his uncle the letter and his uncle agreed to drive him to King Cross at 7am the Friday with a bag packed.
and so Friday came and Harry was at kings cross station with his uncle at 6:50 am because his uncle was maybe a lot of things but late was not one of them. That was the only real saving grace about his uncle: he kept his word no matter what. So when they spotted a couple with a young girl and both the mother and daughter had silver hair he knew it was them from the photo they sent in the letter so he knew what they looked like. He approached them and with his mask of civility " hello the Delacours I presume."
When the Delacours saw Harry the first thing they noticed was how skinny he was. Mr. Delacour looked at Vernon while hiding their disgust with the man. " Hello, yes we are the Delacour. Thank you for letting Harry spend this week with us. We are sorry for the inconvenient timing, our daughter just would not stop talking about her pen pal."
They shook hands and after Vernon saw the family and decided they seemed like they would not harm the boy he said goodbye and let claiming he had to get to work.
Fleur tackled Harry with a big smile and with her accented English she screamed or at least started to scream "HELLO 'ARRY HOW ARE YOU? ARE YOU ......"
The rest did not come out as Harry panicked and in a bout of accidental magic silenced Fleur. He started to panic and start apologizing " I am sorry for being a freak I will leave. I can still catch up to my uncle.
both Apolline and Marius look at each other nearly laughing, what are the chances the boy is a wizard and they find out by accidental magic within a minute of meeting the boy.
They looked at Harry panicked and stopped him and with all the kindness they could. "Harry relax you are not a freak it was just accidental magic don't worry we are wizard we can give Fleur her voice back. you are not a freak, you are a wizard."
After undoing the silence charm on Fleur they told Harry multiple times he was not a freak and he calmed down.
and so they went to drop off all their stuff and the hotel they had booked, and then they would go to the museum.
Fleur had grabbed Harry's hand and they started talking about all the stuff they liked. fleur started to tell harry of the magical world with the excitement only a child could have " okay so we have a school of magic in France called Beauxbatons Academy of Magic it is the best in Europe, the British say their school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is better but how can it be better with it sounds like if you touch you will get warts in the shape of pigs? the chocolate frog are really good but you have to be paying attention and not get distracted by the people on the cards or the frog will escape."
Harry paid attention to everything Fleur said and he looked confused and asked "how does a chocolate frog escape if it is chocolate it can't move?"
Apolline chimed in "Fleur slow down you are overwhelming poor Harry please let us get to the hotel first when we get to the room we can explain everything and maybe call his uncle and aunt and see about him staying longer so he can see Diagon Alley with us."
After they got to the room they called the Dursley and Petunia picked up "hello this is Petunia how can I help you?"
Apolline said "Hello Petunia, this is Apolline Delacour. I was wondering if we could keep Harry for 2 weeks. Our daughter said we have to keep him for the ballet. We will be happy to bring him back at the end of the trip before we leave."
Petunia felt like she had just won the lottery not just one week without the freak but 2 weeks she quickly said "sure keep him for as long as you want."
Fleur was sitting with Harry in the bed they would apparently be sharing as she said even if there was a second bed right there next to this one her parents started to laugh when Harry just gave in as he could barely get a word in.
He combed his hair with his hand when he was nervous and boy was he nervous. No one had ever been this nice to him and he did not know how to handle it. Then he noticed the fleur got quiet and her parents stopped laughing and he remembered his scar. It was freaky and he hid it again; but it was too late . They were all quiet.
Fleur screamed when her brain caught up after she saw the scar "YOU ARE THE HARRY POTTER? THE BOY-WHO-LIVED?"
Apolline and Marius both gasped they were confused by this turn of events they had come on this trip to both check in their daughter friend and take him out to do something nice since by his letter his life was fairly hard and to possibly report his uncle and aunt if they were abusive.
Harry too was confused and explained he was just Harry potter he was no one famous.
Apolline explained to him about how he got the scar and about his parents, the basics at least which made him happy.
He explains it's because his aunt and uncle said his parents were drunk and died in a car accident and that is how he got his scar but her telling made him happy that at one point in his life he had someone that cared about him so much.
that broke Apolline heart she already care about this boy she would protect him she decide; but they were not expecting him to be the boy who lived this would make their trip to Diagon alley difficult they would need to hide the scar maybe a simple disillusionment charm would work since no one was expecting to see him there.
so their week started with them getting breakfast which Harry thank them for and said it was the nicest breakfast he ever had then they went the museum and Marius told Harry about they game he and Fleur played called spot the magical item "okay so here is the rules you look at an item if it speaks to you if it pulls at you it is probably magic if you think it is magic just tell me and I will quietly and sneaky check with a spell and if you are right you get a point."
Fleur realized something if they were not eating she would not let go of harry hand she did not know when she grabbed it but she decided this is how it should be; she didn't noticed what that her parent had noticed that she had been holding Harry's hand the whole time and they looked and each other knowing what they would do at the end of the trip but also knowing that this would be a big change for them and they would have to be careful later.
Harry was looking on the other side of the room with a mask that spoke to him. He approached Marius " I think I found a magic item," he said quietly."
Marius raised his eyebrows. They had been at the museum for nearly 4 hours and none of them had found anything yet. so Harry might win this if he was right " alright show me the item and I will check."
Harry noticed for the first time that Fleur had been holding his hand when it start. he pointed "Fleur we need to go over there I found one."
Fleur followed Harry really hoping he did she didn't find anything yet but she also kind of wanted him to win. He was shy and scared when they first met so she wanted him to get a win, maybe it would help him be more outgoing.
Marius did the spell simple spell he created all it did was tell him if an item had magic of any kind this worked so well that he had started to use in his work and the French ministry's department of muggle affairs part of his job was finding magic were magic should not be and having auror take it away or replace it if necessary; he be damned if Harry was not right it the mask was magical and powerful if the magic hiding the mask magical potential was anything to go by Harry must be very sensitive to magic. "One point for Harry he is right."
Fleur look at he dad "really I don't feel any thing and I am very sensitive to magic."
Marius smiled "well I guess Harry is even more sensitive to magic then even you."
So the day went they had lunch and then walked around London doing some shopping Fleur and her mom played dress up using Harry and by the end of it he had some clothes that fit him properly and even after he told them they didn't have to he didn't want them to waste their money on him.
when the week of Non-Magiques London came to an end and so they would go to Diagon alley the next day.
Apolline looked at her husband with a look that he understood as worry but mixed happiness "we are going to have to have the Veela allure talk with Fleur earlier then we thought if this is how she acts around him. have you noticed what I noticed that she has only let go of his hand when one of them is going to the restroom or when they need both hands. mean look at this she has not let him sleep on his own bed this whole week they even sleep holding hands it is adorable but this could be trouble if we don't keep on top of it."
Marius looked at him with a smile "do you think she has figured she likes him yet or do you think it will take her a while? and I know, but Veela allure normally is not something you really have to worry about until they get to the age where they are interested in boys but she seems to like him. but also have you noticed how even the allure that normally makes people think young Veelas are adorably cute has no effect on him, normally that only happens with occlumency shields being up but he can't have any training so he might be a natural occlumens. Also another thing I notice is when she is around him her Veela allure is much better controlled."
Apolline smiled "I noticed that too I know some books in the Veela enclave talk about how if a Veela can find someone they truly love from an age before they start to notice boys in a romantic way they will subconsciously start strength their control but it is extremely rare for a Veela to find someone while they are that young."
the next day they went to Diagon alley for the first time Harry was amazed by everything from the moving brick to the new hotel were staying at after dropping their stuff off they went to get ice-cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour Harry could not decide on a flavor so Mr. Fortescue gave him the every flavor cone and cone the changed flavours as it was eaten.
Harry was amazed by this. He could not believe how good every flavour was and he still had more to try. Harry looks at Marius and Apolline and smiles very happily "thank you for letting me join you on vacation this is the best time I have ever had. It is so nice to have people care about me." he started to cry, overwhelmed by the happiness he was feeling.
Apolline hugged Harry "we love you, all of us do, you are such a sweet and kind boy."
After everyone hugged Harry he felt better Fleur was still hugging him having gone last and not wanting to let go just yet.
Marius looked at Harry and realized they were having magical foods without making sure Harry was properly inoculated for magical sickness "Harry we have to go to the magical hospital to make sure you have your inoculations okay?"
Harry just bobbed his head and so they went to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
while there the healer ask for his name they check his inoculations finding out he had already had as a baby and the were surprise it was harry potter; but seeing the fact is had as being held a young girl hand they figured that he was with trusted adult, specially when said adults as the healer to do full health check what they found sadden them they boy who lived was malnourished when the healer told the Delacours this they decide to follow through with the plan they had made.
The rest of the week was fun as they went to different magical stores and Harry got a set of robes and some books about magic. Some Marius and Apolline told him he had to study and some for fun.
On the last day of the week Harry became extremely sad as this joy was coming to an end and he would be going to the Dursleys.
Apolline approached Harry as he was standing there waiting for Fleur to come out of the bathroom so they could go play an exploding snap "Harry could I talk to you alone for a second?"
harry look at Apolline fear she would say they never want to see him again "yes ma'am"
Apolline took Harry to the balcony, bent down to be at his eye level. "Harry, I have a question: if we could convince your uncle and aunt to let me and Marius be your guardian, would you like to come live with us in France?"
Harry was stunned for a second. They wanted him. They would take him from the Durley if they could. He said yes after what felt like forever to him "please I would love that I promise I will do everything you ask I will never do anything wrong."
Apolline smiled at Harry "Harry you just have to be you, you don't need to do anything special just try your best and keep being the kind person you are okay?"
Harry just nodded his head, too happy to even speak.
Fleur held Harry's hand as they approached 4 Privet Drive he was shaking. She hoped mom and dad were right and they could convince the Dursley to let Harry go with them.
The door bell rang and Petunia opened the door knowing this would be the end of their 2 weeks free of the freak. she just wished they would keep him then her and her family could be free of the freak. "Hello Delacour's, Harry, welcome back."
Apolline look at Petunia "may we come in we were wondering if we could have a quick chat with you and your husband?"
Petunia looked put off but decided it was best to talk inside "please come in"
as they sat around the table the Durleys noticed that Harry looked healthier and happier " what can we do for you?
Marius stared "we talked with Harry and from what he said and what we noticed it seemed like you do not care for the boy or want him. We would like it if you signed guardianship of him to us and we will take him with us back to France."
Vernon looks red with anger "look I know it might not seem like we care for him from the outside but there 2 things you have to understand one is we do our best we are not rich and I work hard to make sure he has food and a roof over his head, second we were not ready for a second kid when he came so were resented him for that a bit we may never have let that go but you need to understand I will still make sure he is safe that is the promise I made and I keep my promises the only reason I am even entertaining this is because he looks both healthier and happier then he left so here is what we will do I will ask the boy some questions , boy do you want to go with them? do they know about your freakiness?"
Harry looked at his uncle "I am not a freak, I am a wizard and yes I want to go with them."
Vernon looked at them "so you are magic folk well you can have him we will sign the paper but don't come back after."
Petunia looked at Harry and in a moment that would stick with him "Harry be careful the wizard world is dangerous it took your mom from me to be safe. Please try and not hate us. I tried but I just could not be kind to you, you remind me too much of your father."
Harry looked at her and knew one thing he had to say to her "auntie I forgive you. be safe to remember the magical world has things this world doesn't if you ever feel like writing to me you go to Diagon alley and send me an owl okay."
With that and the fact that the Delacour's solicitor got everything settled quickly they left for France via portkey.
Harry said that for him because at the end he knew she was telling the truth.