The Most Beautiful Witch Chapter 7 (Patreon)

AN: Hello everyone! Once again, this chapter/series is commissioned by an anonymous user. We decided to take a break from the smut this chapter to help develop the plot along for a bit, but don't you worry, the smut will return in due time.

I hope you all enjoy!

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Astoria helped Harry stay on his feet as they settled after apparating, something he was very thankful for. He’d told her about his troubles with magical transportation—something which she took no small amount of delight in teasing him over—and he was grateful that she was helping him to not look like an idiot in front of her mother. 

They had landed at the base of some stone steps that had carvings of ivy and flowers around the edges of them. They led up to a beautiful pale, whitish-yellow stone manor that loomed high above their heads. Each level of the manor was littered with windows that let in tons of natural light. It looked both cosy and intimidating at the same time.

“Home sweet home,” Astoria smiled up at Harry as she took a step back from the group. The glow of the evening sun shone down around her like a stage light, illuminating her and making her skin glow healthily. It was times like these that Harry couldn’t help but gawp at her sheer beauty.

“Close your mouth,” Daphne mumbled to him as she walked by towards the front door to the manor.

“Ignore her,” Astoria said, shooting a glare at her sister’s retreating back. “Why don’t I show you around the grounds?”

“Supper first,” Anastasia said with a tone that said there’d be no arguing the matter. “You can show Mr Potter around tomorrow.”

Astoria looked like she wanted to argue the point, but she seemed to suck in her feelings and just sigh instead. “Alright. But you should call him Harry.”

Anastasia’s lips curled upwards in annoyance. “Perhaps, once we’ve become more familiar. Until then, propriety should always be maintained.”

As Anastasia strode off into the manor, Astoria let out a frustrated sigh. “Sorry,” she said to Harry. “She’s always been like this. Daphne gets it a lot worse than I do, but she still tries to maintain this ‘pure-blood’ formality around the manor.”

“It’s okay,” Harry assured her. It wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with a stuck-up pure-blood, and it wouldn’t be the last either. “I don’t mind putting up with it for our break. Besides, if we’re going to be together, I’d better figure out a way to get along with your family.”

That was the right thing to say because Astoria beamed at him and wrapped herself around his arm.

“Let’s go inside,” she said. “I’m sure that the table’s already set and everyone is waiting for us.”

The inside of the manor was just as grand as the exterior. The portraits littering the walls reminded Harry of Hogwarts, but the suits of armour were replaced by various busts placed sporadically down the long entry hall. A large, circular fountain sat in the middle of the entry hall with ivy climbing up the centre pillar towards the wide bowl, which had water spilling out of it into the base of the fountain.

Despite holding onto Harry’s arm, Astoria guided him through the manor comfortably. It wasn’t a far walk to the dining room, but there were several junctions that she took care to detail for him in case he ever got turned around while he was here.

The white double doors to the dining room opened of their own accord when they approached. Inside, the dining table was aglow with the warm radiance of a crystal chandelier that floated overhead. The crisp white tablecloth and beautiful green napkins stood out beneath the neatly arranged tableware. 

Anastasia sat at the head of the table, and a man—Astoria’s father, Harry supposed—was sat to her left. He was middle-aged, balding, but handsome and strong-looking. His robes looked velvety smooth and had the Greengrass family crest embroidered neatly along his shoulders. Daphne sat to the man’s left, leaving two vacant seats across from her and her father.

“Mr Potter,” the man said as Harry and Astoria entered the dining room, standing up and inclining his head slightly. “I am Cyrus Greengrass, Astoria’s father. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Harry leaned forward across the table to shake the man’s hand. “Likewise,” he replied as he fought not to cringe from the strength of the man’s grip.

“Why don’t you sit here?” Anastasia said, gesturing to the seat on her right.

Harry felt a little bubble of nervousness form in his stomach as he sat down. He’d never had enough luck with a girl to end up meeting her parents before. All he had to base his knowledge of propriety on was from those old comedy shows Dudley and Vernon used to watch, and he didn’t think they had much to offer him in his present circumstance.

Astoria smiled at him as she sat next to him. Suddenly, all of those nervous bubbles faded from his belly. Maybe her parents would like him, maybe they wouldn’t. All he could do was put himself forward as he was and the rest was up to them to decide. It didn’t really matter in the end anyway, not so long as he had Astoria with him.

Sirius’s words to him flowed into his mind: ‘Women love confidence.’

Well, if confidence was what had got him Astoria, it was what he’d use to try to impress her parents. He couldn’t let any nervousness or fear cover up who he truly was.

Just as he and Astoria got settled, there was a gentle popping sound in the room. Instantly, everyone’s plates were filled with roasted lemon chicken, smashed potatoes, asparagus spears, and a small herb salad with a lemony dressing. Their glasses were also filled with a deep gold-coloured wine.

“Thanks Hobsy!” Astoria called out cheerfully, earning herself a disapproving glare from Anastasia.

“You don’t need to thank her for every meal, Astoria,” Anastasia chided her. “She knows that she’s appreciated.”

“How will she know unless we tell her?” Astoria grumbled under her breath, but she didn’t challenge her mother any further.

“So, Mr Potter,” Cyrus said as he cleared his throat. “I must say that your performance in the Triwizard Tournament has been most exemplary so far. Few fully-grown witches or wizards would have managed to compete at the skill level you’ve shown.”

“Thank you,” Harry smiled kindly at him. Despite the rough first contact he’d had with Astoria’s mother, her father seemed to be a much more agreeable sort than he’d expected. “It’s taken a lot of hard work and practice to perform at this level.”

“No doubt,” Cyrus nodded. “Daphne tells me that the two of you have been working together on your defence skills as of late. Quite clever of you to rely on someone who can help support your theoretical knowledge in the field.”

“Daphne’s been a great help,” Harry replied, shooting a brief smile over at Daphne, who seemed thoroughly uninterested in doing anything more than eating daintily and quietly. “But Astoria’s been helping me for months now too. She does a lot of the research and planning for me.”

“I hope that your final performance will be just as spectacular. I’m sure that Daphne’s aid will help see you through,” Cyrus replied.

Harry frowned in confusion. Why was Cyrus avoiding anything to do with Astoria? “Yes, both her and Astoria will be invaluable to me,” he said, looking at Cyrus closely.

Cyrus turned and gave Daphne an approving nod, but then his gaze passed right over Astoria. Harry had been watching the man’s expression, and there wasn’t even a hint of care or acknowledgement in his eyes. Even worse was the fact that Astoria didn’t even seem to notice. Or, if she did, she just ignored it. She’d told him that her parents focused a lot more on Daphne, but she hadn’t quite made it clear to the extent that they ignored her accomplishments in favour of Daphne’s.

“I imagine that Dumbledore must be helping to prepare you as well, no?” Anastasia asked after she took a sip of her wine.

“No, he isn’t,” Harry answered.

“Hmm,” Anastasia hummed, though Harry couldn’t tell if it was done in approval or disapproval. At the very least, she seemed more interested in him now. Her gaze finally lifted from her plate as she examined him critically. “Tell me, what do you plan to do after Hogwarts?”

Truthfully, Harry hadn’t thought about it much. It was so hard to plan for the future when there was so much turmoil in his life. Though, he supposed that ever since Astoria had entered his world, he had started to picture the two of them together in the future, but that probably wasn’t the answer Anastasia was looking for.

“I think I’d like to work as an Auror,” Harry said honestly, or, at least as honest as he could be. Without having given his future profession more than a passing thought, it was hard to say whether or not he’d truly like to be an Auror, but the profession appealed to him nonetheless. Helping people and fighting against dark forces was all he’d ever known, and he’d gotten quite good at it if he said so himself.

“A respectable position,” Cyrus nodded approvingly. “One of your progenitors, Abraham Potter, was one of the original twelve Aurors in America, and several other Potters have held notable positions within the Auror Department and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement here in Britain.”

Harry perked up at the mention of his family’s history. “I never knew that,” he admitted, somewhat embarrassed that Astoria’s dad knew so much more about the Potter family than he did.

“Your family has a long tradition of serving the Ministry faithfully, albeit outspokenly at times when they disagreed with official policy,” Anastasia explained with a slight crinkling of her nose in disapproval. “Besides their work in law enforcement, many of your family also served in the Wizengamot. Your great-grandfather, Henry Potter, was the last Potter to serve on the Wizengamot.”

“The Potters have always done well for themselves despite going against public opinion from time to time,” Cyrus added with a slight smile. “I certainly believe that we can expect great things from you.”

Harry felt a slight beam of pride in her chest at that. Things seemed to be going much better with Astoria’s parents than he feared.

Naturally, that realisation caused his luck to change as it so often did.

“Perhaps,” Anastasia began coyly. “However, I must say that it was quite reckless of you to have made yourself an enemy of the Malfoy family.”

There it was. Anastasia was eyeing him curiously, watching him like Daphne did whenever she was looking for a chink in his armour. 

“What do you mean by that, exactly?” Harry asked, keeping his cool.

“Rejecting young Draco’s offer of friendship and then offending his father the year after,” Anastasia answered. “I don’t know quite what happened, but the man has made clear his opinion of you and your allegedly uncouth behaviour.”

Harry knew that he couldn’t buckle or shy away under Anastasia’s accusatory tone. “Perhaps the animosity between myself and the Malfoys has more to do with the fact that they’re devout followers of Voldemort than with any supposed behaviour on my part,” Harry replied strongly. He did his best to keep his tone even but firm as he replied, but even his best couldn’t keep out a slight bit of heat when he said Voldemort’s name.

Cyrus let out a quiet gasp at Voldemort’s name, but the rest of the table was silent. Anastasia held Harry’s gaze, and he tried so desperately to figure out what she was thinking, but she had an even more unreadable face than Daphne did.

Under the table, Astoria squeezed his hand that had unconsciously balled up into a fist. “This isn’t exactly proper talk over supper,” she snapped sharply with a glare towards her mother.

Anastasia held Harry’s gaze for a moment later before she broke eye contact. “No, I suppose it is not. My apologies, Mr Potter.”

Harry dipped his head slightly in acceptance and that was that. The sound of cutlery scraping on plates filled the air for a moment before talk resumed, mainly Cyrus and Anastasia questioning Daphne about her year. Cyrus and Anastasia occasionally asked Harry about similar things as well, always sticking to safe topics. Anastasia’s tone was much kinder than before too. Throughout it all, Astoria remained silent.

“Are you alright?” Harry whispered into her ear once the conversation shifted back to Daphne. She’d barely said a word all night, and he was starting to get worried.

Astoria just nodded her head in reply and continued eating quietly.

Harry grimaced and rubbed her back comfortingly for a few moments. Astoria brightened a bit at the physical contact, and it was enough to make Harry keep doing it for a little bit longer even with Anastasia’s disapproving stare on him.

When the delicious meal finally finished, Harry felt full without being stuffed. As much as he enjoyed dining until he was stuffed at the Weasley’s house, these were the portions he was more comfortable with. He polished off his glass of wine just as Astoria ate the last of her salad. 

“Thank you for the wonderful meal,” he said to Anastasia and Cyrus. 

Before either of them could reply, Astoria suddenly stood up.

“I’ll get you set up in one of the guest rooms,” Astoria told Harry, ignoring the looks from her parents. She almost seemed anxious to get out of there, so Harry got to his feet too.

“That won’t be necessary,” Anastasia interjected before they could leave the dining room. “Hobsy has already prepared one for him. She can show you the way to it.”

“Thank you.” Harry smiled at her, but Anastasia had already turned away to whisper something into her husband’s ear.

There was a gentle pop as Hobsy appeared before them. The young house-elf was wearing a set of finely-tailored robes that almost reminded Harry of a muggle butler’s uniform. “Mr Potter,” Hobsy bowed. “I can show you to your room now if you’d like.”

“I would, thank you,” Harry replied to Hobsy after a confirmatory nod from Astoria.

Hobsy led them out of the dining room and back through the manor. It didn’t take more than one turn before a frown came over Astoria’s face.

“Hobsy,” she said slowly, getting the house-elf’s attention. “Where exactly did mum set up Harry’s room?”

“In the eastern guest wing,” Hobsy answered cheerily.

“That witch,” Astoria cursed.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“There’s a few guest rooms close to my bedroom that could have been used instead,” Astoria scowled. “Seems like she wanted to keep you away from me at night since she’s put you on the other side of the manor.”

“Clever woman your mum is,” Harry replied playfully, but the effect seemed to be lost on her.

The rest of the walk was quiet as a storm cloud formed above Astoria’s head. Once they reached the first floor and were walking down the long corridor lined with closed doors, Hobsy rushed ahead to the bedroom that’d been reserved for him. Naturally, it was at the very end of the corridor, as far away from the other side of the manor as possible.

Hobsy had barely reached the doorway when she suddenly popped away only to return seconds later. “Miss Astoria,” Hobsy said carefully. “Lady Greengrass would like to speak to you in the family parlour.”

“Okay,” Astoria nodded. “Tell her I’ll be there once I’ve made sure Harry’s gotten settled in.”

Hobsy grimaced awkwardly. “She said to say if you said that: she wishes to speak to you right this instant and that no dawdling will be excused.”

“It’s okay,” Harry quickly said to Astoria. “You can go see what your mum wants. It’s getting late anyway. Maybe we can meet up before breakfast in the morning?”

Astoria didn’t quite look happy with the arrangement, but she didn’t seem to have a better alternative. “Alright,” she replied begrudgingly. “I’m sorry about my mum’s behaviour tonight”

“It’s okay,” Harry assured her. Honestly, he’d feared that it’d go far worse than it had.

 “I’ll come get you in the morning, so just stay put round here if you wake up before then. Mum and dad don’t like it too much when guests wander off by themselves.”

“Noted.”

Harry leaned forward and kissed Astoria then. It did a bit to brighten her spirits as she hurried off towards her mother.

“Please call for Hobsy if you need anything,” Hobsy told Harry as she pushed open the door to his bedroom. Then, she disappeared before he could even thank her.

The bedroom was as grand and stately as the rest of the manor while still retaining a somewhat quaint charm with the various plants that hung from floating pots just below the ceiling. Thick green leaves with violet flowers blooming between them draped down the sides of the pots, creating a beautiful atmosphere above the grand window that would have a perfect view of the rising sun. A light canopy was draped above the bed with similar curtains tied to the four posts of the bed, allowing for some protection from the bright light that was sure to shine in. An open door in the far wall connected to a small bathroom with a glass-windowed shower, a free-standing porcelain tub, and the various other common implements of a bathroom.

Harry drew his trunk from within his robes and returned it back to its normal size before setting it at the foot of his bed. The rug scrunched up beneath his feet, moving the trunk right into the perfect position, before smoothing itself back out. 

As Harry got changed into his bed clothes, he reflected that the night hadn’t gone too terribly. He’d been worried that Astoria’s parents would reject him given his status as the boy-who-lived. Even if they believed him to be a hero like so many others did, it could still be a dangerous thing to have him connected to their daughter, especially given the recent Death Eater activity at the Quidditch World Cup last summer. But, instead of pushing him away, they’d seemed relatively pleased with him. Cyrus had been kind from the start, and Anastasia had certainly warmed up to him as the meal went on.

Hopefully things would continue well in that regard. He knew that Astoria’s relationship with her parents was strained to say the least, and that they’d caused much of the rift between their daughters, but if there was any hope of reconciliation, Harry hoped to do his part to further that goal. Astoria deserved nothing less than a happy family who valued her for who she was. 

She deserved all the happiness in the world really. After all, that was what she’d given him.

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A faint rumble woke Harry the next morning. He sat up in bed, bleary-eyed and confused, and quickly thrust his glasses onto his face. There was another rumble, only this time he spotted the door to the bedroom shake. 

By the time he had quickly gotten dressed, the door had shaken four more times and then stopped. After a once over in the mirror to make sure he was decent, he turned the door knob. There was a near-silent click when he turned it, and then he heard the shouting coming from the corridor.

“—an’t just lock me out like this!”

“Did you really think that they’d just let you sneak into your boyfriend’s room after they deliberately put him on the other side of the manor from you?”

“I’m not trying to sneak in; I’m trying to go wake him up.”

“Well, he is now.”

Harry opened the door all the way up to see Astoria and Daphne standing there. Astoria had a look of fury etched across her face as her white-knuckled fist gripped her wand tightly. Daphne looked far calmer than Astoria as she stood with her arms crossed beneath her chest and a disapproving look on her face.

“Harry,” Astoria huffed. “Let me guess: they put a silencing charm on your charm?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t realise it until I heard the rumbling.”

“That’d be Astoria’s break-in attempt,” Daphne explained. Her eyes locked onto the door, and Harry followed her gaze to see several large scorch marks on the front of the door. Then, her gaze returned to her sister. “You should have just waited for Harry to get up or you could have gotten me.”

“Gotten you?” Astoria frowned. “For what?”

“To unlock his door,” Daphne replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

You could practically hear a pin drop in the icy silence that followed Daphne’s words. Astoria looked so mad like she was going to punch something.

“Why did they give you access to my boyfriend’s room?” Astoria asked coldly.

“Because they have enough trust in me to not go cavorting about the manor as I see fit,” Daphne retorted. “And besides, there was always the chance that you’d somehow sneak into Harry’s room, and then we’d need someone to deactivate the security system that’d activate.”

“A security system!” Astoria snapped.

“Maybe if you hadn’t stepped off the train home looking freshly fucked, mother wouldn’t have bothered with these measures,” Daphne pointed out.

Astoria’s cheeks reddened slightly. “It’s none of her business what I get up to in my free time; I’m an adult.”

“One who’s grown all the more bold since you’ve started dating Harry,” Daphne argued. “Don’t think mum and dad haven’t noticed the change in your letters back home. They’ve been worried about you.”

“Because I’m not the quiet, demure princess they want me to act like,” Astoria snorted. “That’s not me.”

“No, it’s not anymore,” Daphne replied slowly. “Last year, you were modest and reserved at home, albeit with a penchant for sarcasm. Harry’s made you open up—and I’m not talking about just your legs.”

Even Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at Daphne’s obscene, deadpan joke. Astoria looked like she’d just been struck by her sister’s words, but then she just snorted and shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said before she sighed. “I shouldn’t be mad with you; it’s mum and dad I should be mad at.”

Daphne shifted uncomfortably at her sister’s words. Harry wasn’t sure if it was the apology that had gotten her like that or if it was the fact that she was feeling defensive of her parents.

“It’s fine,” Daphne said after a moment. “We should get going though; mum wants to see us in the duelling room downstairs.”

“The duelling room?” Astoria repeated in confusion. “Why—?”

“Ostensibly it’s to see how I’ve progressed so far this year,” Daphne interjected quickly. “But,” her eyes flickered over onto Harry, “I suspect that she has another person in mind as well.”

Astoria realised what Daphne was getting at and sighed. She turned to Harry with a frustrated look. “You don’t have to go along with this. I’ll tell her—”

“It’s fine,” Harry said as he took her into his arms. She seemed to calm almost instantly as he hugged her, and she hugged him back in seconds. “I’m here to get to know your family better, and if this is what it takes, then I’m happy to go along with it.”

“You’re the best,” Astoria murmured as she planted a chaste kiss on his lips.

“That’s my line,” he winked back at her.

As he pulled back, he spotted a familiar pain in Daphne’s eyes. She didn’t have anyone the way Astoria had Harry to cherish and support her, and it was clear that she wanted that in her life so badly. The look was gone in only a second, but it was becoming easier for Harry to recognise. Even if she wanted to hide it, she couldn’t.

But Astoria had had her back to her sister and hadn’t seen a thing. “Let’s get this over with then,” she said as she turned back to Daphne half a second after Daphne had gotten her expression under control.

It was easier to remember his way through the manor this time as they retraced last night’s steps. Astoria kept pointing out the various junctions and where they led—particularly the one that led back to her bedroom on the other side of the manor. They descended the stairs back to the main floor and walked over to the western side of the manor where a large, open ballroom sat with open doors.

A series of huge glass windows ran down the length of the western wall. Harry imagined that this room must be beautiful at night when the sun was setting. Just like at Hogwarts, there was a raised rectangular platform in the centre of the room with the phases of the moon marked on it to indicate various positions. Anastasia stood in the centre of it in a set of light, form-fitting robes and wielding her wand in her hand.

“Good, you’re all here,” she said before focusing her gaze directly on Harry. “In my home, we do not allow breaks to be wasted. I expect my daughters and their guests to study and practise magic daily in order to maintain their proper standings in school.”

“That’s perfectly fine by me,” Harry replied sincerely. The studying might be a bit rough, but actually doing magic was one of his favourite things in the world.

“Then you won’t mind a little sparring to start the day?” Anastasia asked challengingly with a raised eyebrow.

“Not at all,” Harry answered.

Astoria grabbed his arm before he could make his way over to the platform. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” she told him.

“It’s fine,” Harry smiled back. He kissed her cheek before leaning in close to her ear. “I’ll try not to kick your mum’s butt too badly.”

There was a maniacal glint in Astoria’s eyes as Harry pulled back. “I’ll be cheering for you,” she grinned at him.

Harry climbed onto the platform as Astoria and Daphne moved carefully out of range from it. Anastasia had walked the length to the opposite side of the platform from Harry and had readied herself on the opposite side. As soon as Harry stepped onto the proper spot, Anastasia gave him a respectful bow, and Harry did the same in return.

Anastasia quickly shifted into a highly-refined duelling stance. Her legs were spread wide apart, giving her a solid foundation to block any powerful spells he sent her way, and readied her wand in a close defensive position. Seeing how she was positioned, Harry took on a more aggressive stance as he stood side faced with his wand up high and behind his head, ready to strike.

Suddenly, a small explosive went off in the centre of the ring. The surprising noise and puff of smoke caught Harry off-guard, and he didn’t realise that it was the signal to start the duel until Anastasia’s first spell was flying towards him.

Evidently, she had decided to take advantage of his distracted position by launching a Full Body-Bind Curse his way. The white-coloured jet of light soared right for his chest. Rather than block it and waste precious seconds that could allow Anastasia a follow-up strike, Harry leaned forward and to the side, allowing the spell to pass right by him. He stepped forward towards the edge of the platform and planted his foot solidly before he struck back with a devastating flurry of hexes and curses.

Whatever Anastasia had been expecting from him, it wasn’t this. In the time Harry took to dodge, she had already flung her second spell at him, but it faded as Harry’s first spell crashed into it. The rest of his chain of spells followed quickly as each wand movement flowed smoothly into the next. A steady stream of multicoloured lights flowed from his wand right towards her, and Anastasia barely got her shield up in time before the first one hit her.

Although Harry hadn’t known what to expect with Astoria’s mother, he hadn’t expected her shield to hold up under the assault like it did. His four spells washed over her shield without ever breaking it. It was almost silly to watch a move he’d spent so much time practising have so little effect. However, when the lights faded and only the shield remained, he did see a noticeable spider web-like crack in the centre of Anastasia’s otherwise perfect shield.

“Very good,” Anastasia said approvingly. “Though, I had expected better given the wild rumours about you.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t put such stock in rumours,” Harry retorted, not unkindly.

“Perhaps,” Anastasia agreed before suddenly lunging forward and sending a blast of crackling golden light. The spell travelled far faster than either Harry’s or her previous ones, so he had little choice but to shield against it.

The second the spell collided with Harry’s shield, he realised that he had made a mistake. There was such power behind the spell that it felt like his shield was going to cave inward and crash against his chest. But just as Harry felt like his shield was about to shatter, the spell faded.

Anastasia was panting lightly for air as she watched him with an appraising gaze. Harry was doing the same, but he was still standing strong and ready to fight.

A moment passed where Harry was waiting for Anastasia’s next strike, unwilling to let himself get caught off-guard again, and Anastasia was watching him with newfound respect in what magical power and skill he had. But the moment had to break eventually.

When Harry saw Anastasia’s wand hand twitch, he moved faster than her. His disarming charm fired quickly from his wand, nearly engulfing Anastasia in its scarlet light. She only managed to block it at the last moment, and then she was forced to block the stunner he followed up with.

Anastasia tried to shoot spells back at him, but Harry quickly realised that she’d put her all into that spell before. Her spells were weaker now, and Harry felt his confidence grow as the stamina he’d increased from his training for the Triwizard Tournament held up under pressure. He easily shielded against the spells he recognised and dodged the ones he didn’t. His own spells forced Anastasia to block more than dodge. It was clear that she was trained at duelling, but her shields were far better than her offensive spells.

A minute passed, and then another before Harry managed to find an opening in Anastasia’s defences. Her heavy breathing and slightly-sluggish wand movements left her with an imperfectly-cast shield when Harry sent a trio of low-powered blasting curses her way. The spells crashed against her shield and filled the air with thick, dark smoke for little more than a second, but a second was enough.

Harry closed some of the distance between them, intent on using this shorter gap to reduce the travel time of his spells so that Anastasia wouldn’t have a chance to drop her shield. When the smoke cleared, she saw what he was doing, but she couldn’t drop her shield without risking getting hit by one of Harry’s spells. So, she bid her time and watched.

Despite his significant advantage, Harry made a mistake. He hadn’t realised his mistake until Anastasia took advantage of it. His spellfire was too accurate. All of his training drills on small targets had helped him improve his accuracy to the point that he could hit a target no larger than a quarter of a metre across even when he was running at a light jog twenty-five metres away. At this short of a distance, there was no chance of missing the point he was aiming for, and Anastasia realised that.

So, when Anastasia dropped her shield and ducked, she knew that the three spells headed her way weren’t going to hit her. They sailed overhead, and even though Harry was already readjusting his aim, Anastasia had sent a silently-cast spell his way.

It was a shock when a snake suddenly conjured in the air in front of him. The thick, heavy, dark-coloured snake crashed against his chest and started cursing up a storm as it crashed against the floor.

“It’s okay,” Harry told the snake. “You’re safe.”

Anastasia's wand soared out of her hand as Harry’s disarming charm struck her. She hadn’t even bothered to shield against his final spell; her eyes had been locked onto the snake who was currently curling up at Harry’s feet.

“You really are a Parselmouth,” Anastasia muttered to herself.

“I told you so,” Daphne said, having apparently overheard her mum, as she went to collect her wand.

Astoria hopped up onto the duelling platform and kissed Harry soundly. The snake hissed and protested as it dodged out of the way from Astoria’s incoming feet. When it was about to bite her, Harry intervened.

“Don’t,” he told the snake warningly.

“She tried to step on my pretty scales,” the snake grumbled.

“She didn’t mean to,” Harry replied kindly. “She’s sorry.”

“What are you saying to it?” Astoria asked curiously as she glanced down at the snake.

“I’m apologising to him because you almost stepped on his pretty scales,” Harry chuckled.

“Sorry,” Astoria said to the snake, sounding genuinely a little remorseful.

“She said sorry,” Harry translated.

The snake bobbed its head up and down. “I’ll forgive the witch this time.”

Harry glanced up at Astoria. “You’re on your last chance with him,” he said with an amused tone.

“Would a little mouse make you feel better?” Astoria cooed down at the snake.

Harry repeated the phrase in Parseltongue, and the snake eagerly responded. “He wants a big one,” Harry chuckled.

“Got it,” Astoria grinned as she pulled out her wand. A simple wave and flick conjured a fat, dead mouse in front of. As it dropped to the floor, the snake leapt at it and struck, opening its mouth wide and swallowing the mouse whole. It landed right at Astoria’s feet and curled up happily as it let its food begin to digest.

As Astoria sat down beside the snake and began to gently pet it, Harry felt someone staring at him. He looked up and saw Anastasia’s eyes on him. Unlike before, he saw what was on her mind plain as day. She was impressed with him. More than impressed.

But more than that, he could see a plan taking shape in her mind.