Date

"Do you have any place you want to visit?" Harry asked Fleur throwing her an inquiring look that the French missed.

Fleur's whole attention was on the cobblestone path they were following.

"Say, iz it me or is zere somezing magical wiz ze path we are taking?" asked the blonde, showing no signs of having heard Harry's earlier question.

Harry quickened his step, moved in front of the girl, and stopped.

Fleur almost bumped into him.

"Here, let me show you," he said with an amused tone before continuing.

"Oh, the tragedy… To think that the great dragon enchantress can't figure out the magic behind a simple cobblestone trail. What would madame Maxime say if she were to see you right now?" Harry finished dramatically, placing his hands in front of his mouth, and making a horrified face.

The blond seemed to struggle between laughing out and looking annoyed.

"On a second thought, I don't need your help," the French tri-wizard champion replied with a huff.

"You won't get it then," Harry muttered and beamed as she scowled at him.

'Adorable,' he thought absentmindedly, watching as the girl in front of him tried to understand the simple magic behind the path they were taking.

Harry moved back to her side and they continued their walk.

During the whole time, Fleur didn't utter a single word, hellbent on proving Harry wrong, whilst the boy himself was pondering about his upcoming ritual.

It didn't take the two youths long to reach the magical village and thus the three broomsticks.

"I've asked you before, but you didn't pay me attention… Do you have any stores that you want to visit?" Harry asked his date yet again.

The aforementioned girl was sporting a defeated expression.

"Non. I don't know anyzing about ze village. It's up to you," she answered lightly.

"Alright then. Let's keep going and leave this pub for last," Harry decided, pointing at Madame Rosmerta's humble establishment.

Fleur could only nod, not having formed her own opinion about the topic.

"Do you need to buy anything? School supplies, toiletries, anything?" Harry asked, trying to decide where to go with the fabled process of elimination.

Only God knew how many young boys and men used it to help many indecisive girls choose what they wanted to do…

"Of course not. I 'ave bought everyzing I need before ze start of `e school year. And even if I didn't, you know we can conjure things, right?" Fleur said, not particularly happy at being called irresponsible, albeit indirectly.

The youngest tri-wizard champion ignored the girl's annoyance and rolled his eyes at her antics.

"I doubt you'd want to go to Madam Puddifoot's just yet…" Harry commented off-handedly, prompting Fleur to throw him an inquiry look that went unanswered.

"What's your opinion on pranks?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Zey can be fun at times," the girl answered with a smirk, undeterred by her companion's intense gaze.

Harry positively beamed at her.

"Zonko's it is then," the son of James Potter and dogson of the dog marauder stated.

Gripped by a sudden burst of boldness, Harry reached out and gently took Fleur's hand in his own, making her follow him.

The French witch's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected gesture, but she didn't pull away.

A faint blush coloured both of their cheeks as they started their walk towards Zonko's, their fingers intertwined.

Thankfully, or not, neither saw the other's face whilst they were walking.

'She doesn't seem to mind,' Harry thought and decided that grabbing Fleur's hand was the right decision.

'Thank Morgana, he doesn't look at me,' the aforementioned girl thought, trying her best to get grab a hold of her fluttering emotions.

Making their way through bodies of students and masterfully ignoring their pointing and whispering, they reached Zonko's at last.

"Woah," Fleur exclaimed.

They stood in front of a whimsical establishment that stood out from its surrounding buildings, mostly due to its bright colours.

"Woah," the girl exclaimed again as the dazzling display of light suddenly changed colours.

The entrance door featured the shop name with bold, quirky lettering.

As one might expect, it also featured large windows that managed to display a wide variety of the magical prank items sold.

"Let's go in," Harry said, pulling the girl with him; they still held hands.

As soon as the boy opened the door and took a step in, a sharp honk sounded above his head, making him jump back.

'What's going on?' he briefly wondered and took a breath, trying to stop the adrenaline from pumping inside him.

Hearing Mr. Zonko's laugh from somewhere inside the store was all it took for Harry to calm down.

A glance above the entrance of the door revealed some kind of transformed trumpet that he missed before.

"Well, that's new," he murmured, hoping he didn't embarrass himself too much and risked a glance back.

However, instead of the lovely-looking girl he expected to see, he was met with the sight of a beautiful battle-ready woman.

The initial embarrassment quickly faded as Harry realised that something was wrong.

Fleur's stance had shifted, her body tense and alert, her wand already in hand, and she sported a haunted look in her eyes that he couldn't figure out.

"Relax," he whispered, leaning into her ear.

Finding her hand again and grasping it, Harry offered a gentle squeeze.

Slowly, he watched as recognition returned to her eyes and her posture began to relax.

"Sorry," she said with a low voice and Harry gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's alright," he said softly and pointed inside.

"Shall we?"

After getting a nod in return, Harry smiled and took a step.

He flicked his wand in his hand and pointed to the weird-looking instrument.

"Immobulus," Harry cast, watching as the blue beam made contact with the offending alarm.

With the alarm temporarily disabled, Harry and Fleur stepped into Zonko's.

Unlike Lockhart's, it did its job, and no sound was heard that time.

The shop was bustling with students, their eyes wide with wonder as they perused shelves stocked with an array of magical pranks and novelties.

Harry felt a surge of excitement, reminiscent of his first visit to the shop the year before when he didn't have permission to visit the village and had to walk around under his invisibility cloak.

He couldn't help but grin as he watched Fleur's eyes dart from one curious item to the next.

Fleur quickly forgot about the earlier incident as the two walked through the shelves filled with all kinds of magical items meant to bring mayhem.

They plotted and schemed, each coming up with a different way to utilise the insidious objects.

Harry's eyes lit up as he spotted a particular item on a nearby shelf.

He nudged Fleur, pointing towards it with a grin. "Now that looks like it could cause some real trouble," he whispered conspiratorially, his green eyes twinkling with excitement.

In the end, the two youths didn't buy much, much to their dismay.

"Do you zink we can pull ze prank off?" she asked, unsure about the scheme they chose to go forward with.

It would require a lot of planning and coordination and neither of the youths had time to spare, that being the reason they settled to a single prank.

Harry grinned mischievously at Fleur, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Of course we can," he assured her confidently. "We just need to time it perfectly and make sure we're not caught in the act."

As they exited the shop, Harry's mind was already racing with all the hows of the plan.

"I loved the shop," Fleur said, her eyes bright with mirth.

"Shall we go in again, 'Arry? Perhaps more carefully ze next time?" she said with mock haughtiness, getting a grunt from the boy.

"Maybe," he replied and closed the distance between them.

As they walked around the shop, Harry concluded that the older girl liked him.

He was sure about it, after all, friends didn't just hold hands and initiate physical contact…

He was less sure about what he was about to do though.

Harry took a deep breath, steeling his nerves.

With a gentle tug on Fleur's hand, he pulled her even closer, their eyes meeting.

He could feel her breath on his face.

It was sweet, intoxicating.

Time seemed to slow as their lips drew closer, the anticipation building with each passing moment.

.

An annoyed hiss reverberated through the walls of the chamber of secrets.

"Damn it boy," Ash cursed and got an excited trill in response.

The snake looked his companion up and down, deep in thought.

He was debating whether he should make a run for it, fight the proud chicken or plead for Harry's assistance.

'As if I'd fall so low…' he thought and decided to just get it over with.

Letting out a sigh, Ash used his tail to throw a small pouch towards Fawkes perch.

It didn't quite reach him and fell down, but it didn't matter.

Trillllll.

"Did you seriously bet a hundred galleons on them not kissing? Stupid lizard. It was obvious they liked each other," Fawkes mocked the serpent through their bond.

Ash coiled tighter around himself, hissing curses under his breath about "insufferable birds" and "rigged bets".

Meanwhile, Fawkes took flight and landed on the pouch.

He then proceeded to preen his feathers, looking entirely too pleased with himself and flashed away, with the pouch.

Ash glared at the spot where Fawkes had disappeared.

Next time, he vowed, he'd be more careful about making bets with that crafty phoenix. For now, though, all he could do was sulk and plot his revenge.

"Who knew the egg-making chick was so sly," Ash grumbled, his scales rustling with irritation.