Harry stared at the digital clock absentmindedly. Today was the last day of the year, it was almost insulting how fast time flew by. He couldn't believe so much happened in a two-week span and all the things that still needed to happen. It was overwhelming, he decided.

Christmas and Boxing Day had come and go in a blur. The only remarkable event during those days was the dinner with Madam Bones and her niece. He bonded with Susan surprisingly fast, but it was understandable when the two teens were ignored the whole dinner by the adults, who were too busy staring lovingly at each other. The mere memory made him shudder. At least he didn't go through that trauma alone, it was a hollow comfort, but it was better than nothing.

His trip to the Tribes went surprisingly well, a success even. He acquired what he needed and met the goblins from the Gringotts branch in the country. Overall, he was not banned, detained, or discovered, so a success on his books.

The investment he made was not exactly small so he hoped it was all worth it.

"Harry, it is time to go if we don't want to be late."

He was snapped out of his reverie when a hand rested on his shoulder and he looked up. Neville was smiling brightly, looking at the woman petting the cat on her lap. Justin was sitting beside a bed where a man was laying, talking to him despite of not receiving any response. However, the man's eyes were not glossy and Harry could swear the understood what he was being told.

"Fleur won't be angry if we are late," he told his friend.

"I know, but Gabrielle is more intense than her. Besides, Apolline is in charge of today's lesson and I kind of like to live."

"That's an excellent point," Harry conceded, "Fleur's mum has a temper."

He still recalled the altercation Apolline had with a random witch when he was giving them a tour of the alley. Yes, Apolline was in all the right to get offended when that woman insulted her daughters, but that was not the point. She showed exactly why no one messed with her. A sight to behold, indeed, one that Harry would be happy to never witness again.

"We have to go," Neville whispered to the woman, placing a gentle hand on her arm. "Mum, we have to go," he repeated in a whisper and Alice Longbottom looked up.

"Louie?" the woman asked in a croaky voice, still petting the purring cat.

"Don't worry, Aunt Alice, he can stay with you until he decides to leave," Harry told his godmother, smiling at the content sigh that escaped the woman's lips.

"I still don't know how you managed to convince mum to allow your fur ball in the hospital," Justin complained, glaring at the cat, who returned the gesture, much to the boy's indignation.

"Your mum said it will help with the treatment and it did," Neville answered, chuckling lightly at the glaring contest between the feline and the teenager, not something one saw every day. "It's unbelievable how you managed to reunite with your mum's cat, Harry."

"I know."

It really was unbelievable. The day of the meeting with Ragnok, while he was having lunch with his aunt, he discovered why his new furry friend was so comfortable in the castle. Apparently, it was his mum's cat. According to Aunt Eleadora, the cat disappeared after the attack and no one bothered to look for him when there were so many things to worry about. To think that, after thirteen years, the same cat found him in the castle and immediately recognized him was utterly unbelievable. If it was not for his elves also recognizing the cat and the pictures his mum left behind, Harry would believe the whole situation to be wishful thinking.

He was happy. Despite of his parents leaving behind so much for him to remember them, having yet another link to his family filled him with warmth.

"Hey, don't forget to tell your mum about tomorrow."

"I won't or she'll kill me," Justin muttered, sulking on his chair when he lost the battle with the cat. "Mum really wants to talk with aunt Eleadora about potions. Honestly, I think I'll have to join Fred and Flora with their potion obsession before mum forces me to."

"I think you will do great, I mean, you already do that magic thingy with really hard names so potions should be easy," Neville said in an effort to comfort his sullen friend.

"It is called chemistry, Neville," Harry corrected, smiling a little at the pained expression of the boy.

"That. Now we have to hurry up or we will be late."

"Good bye Aunt Alice, Uncle Frank. Louie, take care of them for me, okay? Go to the office if you want to leave, Justin's mum will call an elf," Harry told the cat, petting his head. "Ella!"

"You sure ugly will remember that?" Justin asked in a low tone, blowing a raspberry to the cat that managed to return the gesture. "Did you see that?!"

"Master, I brought these for Miss Alice and Mister Frank!" the elf explained, "Leah made their favourites."

"Thank you, dear," Harry told his elf, ignoring Justin's outburst. "Put them on the table, a nurse will help them to eat later, let's go."

When the three teenagers left the room, the cat jumped off Alice's lap and walked towards the table. After all, he was a good cat and he deserved treats too.

"You did great, Blaise! Does it still hurt?"

"A little. My joints hurt when turning back, but my teeth are the ones that really bother me," the boy explained, rubbing his jaw.

"I guess it has to do with your animal. Perhaps you would benefit from flexibility exercises, in any case, continue taking the mandrake essence. I will teach you how to brew fortifying essence to help with the process," she told the boy, "now go back to meditating and try the transformation again."

Apolline smiled a little when the boy did exactly what he was told, even though he looked tired. But who could blame him? She made the kids practiced for almost four hours now. With a sigh, she focused on her students for the day.

Being honest, Apolline was surprised by how far the kids managed to get on their own. Most of them could finish their respective transformations, but couldn't keep them for long and were still clumsy in their new shapes.

The sweet girl, Luna, tried flying while in her owl shape, but she was forced to turn back because of the pain of torn muscles in her arms. Theo had the same problem, though the boy was also loosing an alarming quantity of hair in each transformation, he needed to control that before turning bald. Thanks heaven Fleur was helping the young kids with that. Ironically, Apolline's eldest daughter inner animal was a harpy eagle, thing that perhaps helped her with her veela transformation.

Ah, there was also the gallant Neville. She was speechless when the gentle kid turned into an intimidating lion, but weirder things she witnessed. The boy would be someone to be reckoned with once he was able to control his other form and stopped tripping with his own paws.

The younger twins were also advanced, however, they had yet to master turning back. Both of their animals had really sharp claws and when stopping the transformation, the poor girl's nails fell off. Adrian and Terrence were having similar problems, though the former had to also deal with constant muscular pain because his bear form strained his body. Then, Apolline remembered the oldest twins and had to contain a groan.

Both boys were able to fully turn and keep their shapes for a few minutes. However, they caused so much mischief it was a hazard to leave them unattended. They were not even bothered by the pain their transformations brought. Reluctantly, Apolline admitted she admired the boys. They were almost adults and, yet, they managed to keep their connections with their inner animals alive. An admirable feat indeed.

"Bloody hell," a girl hissed, breaking Apolline's train of thought and she approached the teen.

The pretty girl, Daphne, spat blood to the grass and she immediately began examining her. With a relieved sigh, she concluded it was nothing serious, just the canines retracting.

"Drink this and take a break," she ordered Daphne, handing her a vial that contained a thick liquid the girl gulped without hesitation.

"At least my nails are no longer falling off," Daphne muttered in a barely audible tone.

"You are almost there," Apolline confirmed, patting the girl's shoulder and walked over the panting while cat that soon enough turned into a panting teen. With a grimace, she uncorked another vial and helped the boy to drink it, "stop practicing for today, you will hurt your fingers otherwise."

As a testament of how tired the boy was, he simply collapsed on the grass and mumbled a thank you. Apolline took out a handkerchief and wetted it with a spell, cleaning the blood on the boy's fingers. She had to admit Draco was determined. His pain tolerance was relatively low and yet he kept pushing until someone forced him to stop.

Apolline began walking again when she heard a pained yelp. One look at the boy was enough for her to know she would be forced to end the transformation. With a flick of her wand, the boy collapsed and she began examining him. Nothing serious aside from exhaustion and skin abrasion. Gently, she forced him to drink two vials of potions.

"You should rest now."

"But I still haven't managed to transform," Justin muttered in complaint.

The boy was right, he was having trouble with the transformation, just like the other two boys, Cedric and Marcus. In their defence, it was hardly their fault. Justin wasn't taught how to connect with his magic so the connexion with his inner animal was not strong enough and maybe he would never be able to complete the transformation. However, that knowledge didn't deter his efforts. The older boys' case was different, and perhaps harder.

Marcus was able to visualize his inner animal, but until the moment, he was only able to transform certain parts of his body. Cedric was an even more serious case. The boy was not even able to visualize his inner animal, neither to meditate for long periods of time unless he was practicing his wandless magic. Being honest, she would have already given up in teaching those three if they weren't his daughter's friends. Also, there was another reason.

The young Elizabeth was fairly experienced in animagi transformations. Not entirely surprising, considering the girl was being taught in the Northern Tribes. That country could perhaps turn anyone in an advanced animagi. The girl was currently helping the three boys with their transformation and Apolline would be lying if she said that she wasn't curious.

At the moment, the two older boys were sitting around a fire that created horrible quantities of smoke had a strange scent. Elizabeth was randomly placing a finger on their foreheads to help them in the process. Heaven only knew what the girl was doing, but it seemed to be working because even Cedric was deep in trance.

"Rest, you can try again tomorrow," she ordered the boy that was composing himself and inching towards the fire. "If you get magically exhausted then it will take you a few days to go back to practice."

"Okay," the boy mumbled, looking mutinous. Despite of this, Apolline knew she took the right decision when Justin slumped on the grass.

She was about to order the boy to head inside when a large Siberian tiger sped through the garden, followed closely by a white owl. There was also a ginger cat following them at a sedate pace, Apolline could swear the small feline's features were contorted in an exasperated mask... Or perhaps she was projecting her own exasperation on the misshapen creature.

There went the person responsible for Fleur's newfound happiness: Harry Potter.

The boy was nothing if not perfect, far too much for her peace of mind. He seemed to be so mature and kind, awfully talented in anything related to magic, courteous and polite to a fault. If that was not enough, he had the looks that would make many swoon and family background that granted him a comfortable life. All in all, the boy seemed far too perfect to be true and, if life taught her something, it was to be distrustful of appearances.

The boy spent an awful amount of time in his study, but he was rarely alone. There were always elves coming and going, carrying different folders, or at least, the ones she saw did. Also, his large group of friends went in the room for hours, including Fleur. His daughter would never really tell her what they were talking about, which only led her to be more suspicious. Perhaps she was overreacting, but her instincts were rarely wrong. Therein laid her conundrum.

Apolline never saw her daughter so happy. Her new friends were incredibly kind and supportive, barely even remembering her heritage, thing that surprised her the most. In a sense, it was refreshing because it gave Fleur a taste of what a normal life was like. On the other hand, it was worrying. Veelas were terribly territorial and loyal to a fault, thing Fleur inherited in spades. As a mother, Apolline could already see the fiery protective glint on her daughter's eyes when she interacted with her friends. Something that was only extended to her small family before. This is what worried her the most.

Maybe she was being paranoid, but she had a feeling that Harry Potter was far too involved in the coming conflict with Voldemort, which meant Fleur would also be involved. The idea of her eldest being in peril was horrifying to any mother.

Her sombre thoughts were interrupted when she felt a familiar pair of arms snake around her waist.

"What is bothering you?" her husband asked in a hushed whisper.

"Look at Fleur."

"She is happy," Augustine concluded after looking at their daughter, and indeed, Fleur was happy. She was openly laughing at the antics of one of her friends.

"I'm worried."

"You always are, but remember she is her own person before being our daughter."

"I know," Apolline sighed in defeat and her husband's hug tightened.

"Get a room!" one of the devilish twins howled, dramatically covering his eyes and breaking the couple's moment.

"Don't exaggerate," Daphne hissed, "you are embarrassing us."

"No, he is right. Mama, Papa, please, do get a room," Fleur requested in a polite tone, though her eyes were glinting in mischief.

"Okay, you all! End of the lesson. Get some rest and be presentable for dinner," Apolline ordered and, much to her satisfaction, she heard the kids groan.

She may be worried, but it was undeniable, Fleur was happy and that was the only thing that mattered. If her daughter decided to participate in whatever machination Harry Potter was planning, then she would support her. Fleur's happiness was more than worth it.

Apolline only hoped she never came to regret her decision.