Matters of the Heart
The castle's new library was very different from the old one. Not only was it much larger and filled with taller shelves, but it was divided into four floors, with the first three completely packed with books.
The collection was at least twice, if not three times, as large as before, mostly thanks to the volumes donated by the Potter Library. That was why hiring an assistant had become necessary.
It could be said that the new library was a paradise for any Ravenclaw. It was perfectly normal to find most of the students from that house occupying every available seat, surrounded by dozens of books as they tried to absorb as much knowledge as possible. And, of course, if they could also steal a glance at the beautiful librarian's assistant, even better.
Fleur seemed to be handling her new job quite well: helping people find books, keeping track of the ones that had been borrowed, putting away the books some students tended to leave anywhere, and, sometimes, chasing away a few troublesome students before they caused any problems.
For example, a certain Mr Villain who tended to make an appearance at least twice a day.
"I thought you'd be in detention by now," Fleur said as she placed several books onto one of the shelves. Then she looked back at Harry, who was sitting nearby with his chin resting on one hand, clearly entertained by watching her work.
"You say that as though you think I deserve to be punished," Harry replied with an amused smile. "Sorry to disappoint you, but the only ones punished were Luna, Astoria, and... ah, Tommy too."
"So your competition is over?" Fleur asked.
"At least for now," Harry replied with a shrug. "It's a shame. I was very interested in discovering why our new library assistant joined Hogwarts, though it isn't exactly a difficult mystery to solve," he added with a meaningful smile.
Fleur placed the book in her hands onto a shelf and studied Harry in silence for several seconds.
"I think I made myself perfectly clear when I arrived in England. I only want to improve my English," Fleur replied naturally.
"Honesty isn't one of your strengths, is it?" Harry mocked.
"And it is one of yours?" she replied with a competitive edge.
"Well... at least I can say that I never lie," Harry said confidently.
Fleur took a step towards him and placed one hand on the back of his chair.
"Oh, really?" Fleur smiled with a playful glint in her eyes.
"Then tell me..." she asked with a mischievous smile. "What do you think of me?"
Her blue eyes met Harry's green ones.
With her standing so close, instead of becoming nervous or anything like that, Harry smiled slightly, his chin still resting on his hand as he kept his eyes locked on hers.
"Proud..."
Fleur kept smiling.
"Arrogant..."
Her smile began to weaken.
"Competitive..."
Fleur raised an eyebrow.
"Rather bossy..."
Her expression had already gone completely flat.
"And a complete psychopath."
Fleur gave him a cold, dry look.
The silence stretched on for several seconds.
Harry seemed to remember something.
"Ah, I almost forgot."
He smiled sweetly.
"You're also very pretty."
"THANK YOU!" she said in a voice filled with restrained fury.
"You're welcome," Harry replied with amusement.
"Hmph," Fleur let out before picking up the books she still had to shelve and disappearing between the bookcases.
Harry smiled as he watched her continue working with that irritated expression.
"Very pretty," he murmured to himself.
Though, judging by the way Fleur stopped between the shelves, perhaps he hadn't said it as quietly as he'd thought.
A book came flying from somewhere between the shelves. Harry tilted his head and let it pass beside his ear without losing his smile.
"And very violent," he added before leaving, just in case another book decided to aim for his head.
...
Over the following days, life at Hogwarts slowly returned to normal.
By Friday, the chaos that had once ruled the inner courtyard had vanished as if by magic.
Scarlet magic, obviously.
The tree in the fountain, however, had turned out to be a rather spectacular decoration, so they decided to keep it. They only had to make sure that too much water didn't reach its roots. Otherwise, it would begin growing again, and someone would have to prune it.
Meanwhile, the four houses were preparing for the Quidditch tryouts. The weather was perfect, and the teams were eager to finally test out the new facilities.
Harry and his friends had no intention of joining the Ravenclaw team, but Hermione insisted that they go watch the tryouts and, more importantly, that Daphne come with them.
When Harry and his group reached the stands, they found plenty of other students watching the Ravenclaw tryouts.
The new Quidditch stadium was so enormous that even many students who hadn't come for the tryouts were simply enjoying a picnic with their friends.
Among those who had decided to turn the tryouts into a picnic were Billy, Tommy, Astoria, and Luna. The moment they saw them arrive, all four raised their hands and greeted them cheerfully.
Three of them were supposedly still being punished, so they had probably arranged the picnic there to hide from their mothers.
Harry returned their greeting with a smile before looking towards the new pitch and the line of students waiting to try out for the Ravenclaw team.
Ever since they arrived, Harry had been wondering why Hermione had insisted so much on bringing Daphne along as well.
The answer came when he spotted a familiar figure near one end of the pitch.
"What's your plan?" he asked his friend suspiciously.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione replied with a smile, pretending to be innocent.
"That," Harry said, pointing towards one corner of the pitch.
Viktor was standing there, supervising the tryouts while several girls who had supposedly come for Quidditch gathered around him.
"And that," Harry added, pointing at Daphne.
Daphne looked towards Viktor, and her face immediately transformed into Edward 2.0, robotic movements included.
"If your plan is to break her, I think it's working," Draco added, giving Daphne a mocking look.
"Of course not," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "I only want to help her, now that she's realised how she feels."
However, when she looked at her friend, it was obvious the first attempt wasn't working particularly well.
Daphne suddenly turned her head towards them, not a single trace of emotion in her eyes.
"I still have Professor Snape's assignment on opals to finish. If there's nothing else, I'll see you later," she said in a completely monotone voice.
And without waiting for any of her friends to answer, she turned around and ran away at full speed.
"Well, it looks like your first attempt failed spectacularly," Harry said with an amused smile.
Hermione frowned at the teasing, but she didn't seem willing to give up.
"Maybe it would be better not to interfere. Sometimes helping only makes things worse," Draco added gently.
"No. We already know what Daphne is like. If we leave things as they are, she'll keep running away forever. Why put off until tomorrow what can be done today?" Hermione insisted.
Harry and Draco exchanged a look, knowing that nothing they said would change Hermione's mind.
"Just try not to corner her too much, or she'll end up biting you," Harry warned with a sigh.
"It's not like she's an animal," Hermione replied immediately.
However, after thinking about it for a second, she seemed to take the warning into consideration.
"And the two of you are going to help me," Hermione declared, looking at Draco and Harry.
Both of them accepted their fate without even trying to argue.
Harry realised then that the detective competition might never have been the greatest problem waiting for that castle.