49 I’d Rather Deal With A Dragon. 

(Double Release! Drop your stones, make a comment or leave a review if I made you happier. Cheese!)

Magnus soon found out that the oh so glamorous lifestyle of a Newt level student involved a generous amount of time spent wasting away in Hogwarts infamous library.

He might be a Ravenclaw, but unless it involved obscure and potentially illegal magicks, Magnus was every bit as enthusiastic about studying than Ronald Weasley.

Thankfully for him and his grades, he had a much better work ethic.

That, and two Ravenclaws ready to help him slay his very own dragon. The triwizard tournament seemed much more tempting now that he started preparing for yet another unfair and entirely too extensive year skipping, maybe Delacour had the right idea after all.

"Alright, we need a break." Padma said, she exhaled a breath as if she held for hours on end; which isn't far from the time they spent covering the seventh year charms curriculum.

Magnus already went through the transfiguration, potions and advanced arithmancy on his own, and was almost down with his runework. So all that was left was charms, defense and perhaps care for magical creatures if he was pushing it.

The rest was too awfully boring to fathom, so he would be the perfect heir of house Black and make use of his occlumency to swallow vast amounts of information without understanding a sliver of it.

It was a temporary and inefficient solution which would provide him no value in the long run; Perfect for exams.

"Fine by me, the next chapter is about the Patronus charm so I should be set." He said, stretching his arms.

They heard no protests from Madam Pince, having already cast a muffilato around them. It was in times like this that he was truly grateful for Snape's ingenuity, at least when he was young, the potion master didn't invent anything these days.

In a corner of his mind, he wondered if he'd end up like him in a few years, but he quickly ended this thought process. He was younger, brighter and would one day pierce the secrets of immortality, he wouldn't end up sad and lonely in dark and damp dungeons...not to mention that he's much more handsome.

Looking up, he saw a glint in Padma's eyes while Luna giggled in a way too ladylike fashion...something was amiss.

"Spill it."

"Your admirer is here too." She giggled to herself, the two of them momentarily reminding him of Parvati and Brown...dark creatures by no other name.

Magnus didn't have to wonder about the identity of this admirer of his, not with how sharp tongued and persistent his friends were about this whole ordeal.

Fleur Delacour.

Half the school wanted to get in her good graces, the other half wanted her permanently disfigured...and it isn't because she is the Beauxbatons champion.

She sat far away from him and his group, back to the wall and in between two book racks. The older witch monopolized a table for herself, filling it with a dozen old tomes; Magnus recognised some of them, those were about previous iterations of the Triwizard tournament, her horrified and pale face proved him right.

Fleur wore her blue school uniform, though he could barely see it below all those coats; the girl seemed like she put two entire wardrobes on, it was adorable.

Ridiculous, yes, but still adorable.

The first part was lost on the others, the entire male population was torn between drooling and staring idly at her. The female equivalent was busy kicking them in the shin, huffing and puffing and being self-conscious messes.

Even here, in a corner, he could still feel her allure flowing through him trying to goad him into impressing her. It was light and passive, so he had no trouble squashing it down with other needs and feelings.

'Still it's a pretty nice feeling.' He thought, unlike his own, her magic was much...softer.

"You're smiling." Padma noted, her twinkling eyes betraying her dry tone.

Oh, that was bad. Magnus thought about denying, but even he couldn't gaslight someone that hard. So the young wizard resorted to the tried and true method of quick redirection.

"Her attire is pretty funny." He chuckled.

"She isn't used to the British climate." Padma answered. "But it wasn't that bad even for my parents."

"Might be a Veela thing." He shrugged. "Fire affinity and all that."

Magnus had no answer, beyond a few more giggles and conspiratory glances. Without even asking he knew a certain witch with silvery hair and way too much curiosity caught sight of him, and was now in the process of glaring at his back in an all too cute to be intimidating fashion.

"She really should stop doing it." He sighed. "I can't keep dueling idiots vying for her attention, there were three of them this morning."

Luna laughed lightly, while Padma only shook her head with a smile.

"Look at you, can't help but play the charming knight, defending her from weak willed fools." Padma said.

"You are helping her, like you helped me." The chipmunk said, "It means you care for her."

Magnus frowned.

"I certainly do not." He said.

"Then…" She unleashed a hell of puppy eyes at him. "You don't care about me?"

He just stared at her with a deadpan, holding his gaze while her previous adorable expression melted away, leaving behind a bothered face as she clicked her tongue.

"It used to work." She grumbled, "Guess dad's the only one I can manipulate now."

Magnus flicked her forehead, making her yelp.

"First, you never manipulated me, I just humored you." He chided. "Second, you should never break character, you never know if the person you're manipulating could access information about your discussions with other people."

"Got it." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I still think you like her."

"You want another flick?" Magnus said, eyes narrowing.

"No thanks." Luna chirped "But I don't see why you take it so badly, she is very attractive."

"You're playing for the other team now?" He raised a brow, letting out a grin.

"No." she said flatly. "Don't change the subject, I'm not Padma."

"Hey!" The other witch complained.

"I'm not taking it any more badly than if you'd suggested another witch, I simply don't know her." Magnus said.

Fleur could be great or awful, sweet or poisonous, loyal or treacherous.

He learned that he shouldn't judge the people here based on their character in the books, and Delacour was no exception. There was nothing on her but a lackluster performance in the tournament, many bad decisions and a minor involvement in the war.

That, and many fanfictions he'd rather not think about. There were sick people in the Harry Potter fandom, people would read the books and think Snape and Harry were a good pairing.

"She is French, a triwizard champion and extremely pretty, don't know what else you need." Padma chimed in.

"Her personality?" He suggested, but only received silence and a raised brow.

"…"

"Is she still staring?"

"What do you think?"

Merlin damn them all.

"Back to the charms." He said drily, trying to ignore the bird-lady behind him.

Cassandra's curse, that's good. Complicated magic he could deal with, troublesome social situations not so much. As he read through the chapters, only one thought resonated in his mind.

'God, I hope Sirius doesn't hear about this.'