Yea Ron decided that Harry would go with Ginny and he would go with Hermione. Thats when they found out about Hermione allready having a date as well. (I think, like I said it's been a while since I read it)

 

You guys are mistaking Vesuvius' idea. He does not intend for Harry to ask Fleur to the ball, but for Fleur to ask Harry to the ball. And I don't see why not. Harry is the toast of the school after his heroics, enough to make her overlook his "leetle boy" image. Besides, she's probably had it with handsome guys turning out to be nothing but perverted lechers. At least she is certain Harry wouldn't be spending much of the ball drooling at her and trying to look down her robes because frankly, he doesn't have the guts, and it's just not like him to do so.

Also, if she wants to take the spotlight at the Ball, what better than to break tradition and bring another Champion as her date. People will be going, "zOMG these two champions are going together!"

As for the idea of them having a duel, I disagree that they will fight it out to a stalemate. Canon Harry, especially in the fourth year, is woefully pathetic in his spell repertoire, and is only beginning to start learning new ones. If he takes on Fleur, she will beat him hands down, no questions asked. If he is to impress her, he will have to do it with his resourcefulness and perhaps some diligence in comleting the tasks of the Tournament. Or perhaps the fact that he even dares to challenge her might shock her, what with being a quarter-veela and used to getting boys to do her bidding.

Maybe they could have a duel, but Fleur ends up defeating Harry in mere moments, which would inspire him to focus more on his education and seek to learn new spells and duelling techniques.

 

Actually we (or atleast I) were talking about perspicacitys' idea which specifically states that Harry would ask Fleur.

 

Just thought I'd jump in and mention one reason Harry would never ask Fleur to go to the ball with him (or, in Cockney rhyming slang, 'Wangoballwime'*); Ron already asked her and got shot down in flames.

Ron turned his back on Harry when he just thought he'd entered his name in the tournament. If Harry asked Fleur to the ball (and received a 'yes') after Ron asked her, the ginger would go totally nuclear apeshit.

Of course, most of us would probably ask her anyway and tell fickle Ron to go fuck himself but unfortunately Harry actually gives a shit what Ron thinks of him all throughout the books. God only knows why...

Then again, anything that gives Ron a reason to put on a death eater mask so Harry can obliterate his sorry ass, guilt free, is cool by me.

*Yes, I know that's not actually Cockney rhyming slang, you berk.

 

Hah! Anyone remember the so called indy fics following the 4th book? There was a lot of focus on his supercharged patronus and some magical animagus training that was never afterwards used. On the spellside not even fanon could make a decent warrior out of him. Imagine then his canon version.

 

Alright, for my basic outline, I've added a small Harry/Fleur fight scene. Fleur will basically whip his ass, but they'll develop a gruding respect for each other afterwards.

I also took Methene's advice, and hammered out a breif background for Fleur. It's pretty bare bones, but it covers her parents and some causes for her attitude. Here's the basics for it in bullets.

-Fleur's dad was practically a begger, but through hard work and dedication, managed to pull his way to an important government post (I'm leaning towards the French Minister of Defense). He swore that he'd never allow his precious little girls to work a day in their lives. So far, they haven't.

-Fleur's mom was a veela. She was, and still is, a tempermental bitch. She planned on seducing Fleur's father and leaving him, but she got pregnant. So she pretty much forced him to marry her (or get destroyed by angry vengeful veela), and they managed to have another daughter. Fleur's parents despise each other, by the way.

-Fleur is a natural at practical magic. However, she sucks at theory, in part because lack of talent. The rest of the reason she sucks at theory is because she's always been able to charm nerds into doing her theory homework for her.

-Fleur's one soft spot is for her sister, Gabrielle. Fleur was the oldest, so had to witness her parent's fights often. She's taken to protecting Gabrielle from them, and hoping to preserve the innocent outlook she has that Fleur lost at age six.

 

Personally I don't see why you’d want to add a fight scene, it's just too unrealistic. Harry's spent 14 years taking shit from the Dursley's, 4 years of dealing with the Slytherins, and everyone hating and distrusting him in 2nd year and despite that he's never struck out at anyone in a serious manner. Why would he start now?

Also, despite his moments of foolishness, Harry isn't stupid; he's not going to get into a fight with a 7th year student when the only useful spell he knows is Expelliarmus. Remember a lot of the spells he uses he doesn't actually learn until the preparation for the 3rd task.

 

A lot depends on how close to canon you wish to stay. Canon HP is so far outclassed by the other champions and so wimpy that it's difficult to imagine a credible way to make the HP/FD pairing work. He only manages to survive the tasks as he did through liberal use of deus ex machina on Rowling's part, which doesn't lend itself to a strong character to whom Fleur could find herself attracted.

That said, it doesn't take much to tweak Potterverse to avoid some of these problems. Post 3rd year HP could respond to the new Trelawny prophesy by redoubling his efforts to prepare himself for Voldemort 's return. He can contact Lupin via owl and commission him and Sirius to help him train over the summer. SB could share what he knows of the first prophesy with Harry, which would impel even more as he learns that facing Voldemort is his fate. A summer of side-along apparation to Grimmauld Place where Harry, SB, and RL train ruthlessly and relentlessly could leave Harry much better prepared come the start of the year. Especially so, given Harry's latent talent towards defense and his natural speed and agility.

This is essentially a variant of the "after 5th year Harry goes indie and becomes an ass kicker following Rocky training with some Mick-wannabe mentor(s)" motif [cue Eye of the Tiger], just accelerated a couple years. My own WIP fic plays along these lines somewhat, if only because it's more fun to write a Harry who knows stuff and can do stuff.

Again, I apologize for misreading an earlier post and distracting the thread.

 

Yes, but it reminds me of the gazillions of bad Post-OOTP/HBP Indie!Harry fanfics where Harry either reads a ton of books or receives some training because of some stunning 'revelation' and becomes some kind of magical god in a couple of months. Highly unrealistic if you ask me.

I feel you should keep to canon with regards to Harry's magical abilities at first, then have Harry beginning to study and learn more spells because of necessity and Hermione's prodding, ala canon. After his dismal failure at trying to outduel Fleur, along with the influence of their friendship thereafter, he could begin to step of the intensity of his learning process. Then you can begin to deviate from canon on his power.

 

I’m sorry to say it again, but I feel it needs repeating. It would be incredibly unrealistic for Harry and Fleur to duel at all, it just wouldn’t happen.

If you still want a way for Harry to realise that he’s outclassed by the other champions you could simply have Fleur say it in one of their arguments, and prove it by asking him some common piece of magical theory, it doesn’t even have to be incredibly advanced 5th year work would be fine.

Harry of course doesn’t know the answer and at this point realises that luck might not be enough to keep him alive through the tournament, never mind winning. Self preservation is an excellent motivator after all.

 

The hope with my WIP is to avoid yet another SuperHarry 2-month extreme makeover fic, but rather introduce intensive dueling training with qualified mentors that could make a big difference in Harry's ability and confidence, two things he will need if he wants to play with the "big boys" (and girl) and eventually woo the most talented young witch France has to offer.

With proper tutelage, Harry can unlearn bad habits that inhibit his unleashing his full power (nonnegligible in canon, given his ability to conjure a megapatronus, but also rarely expressed in canon for some odd reason). And he can pick up techniques to improve his facility with magic that will allow him to learn more efficiently later on. But not the "learn animagus transformation, silent apparation, occlumency, achieve master status in charms, defense, transfiguration, develop his metamorphmagus skills, read fifteen hundred books, become a martial artist to put Jet Li to shame, and expand his magical core to the point that his raw power rivals that of Dumbledore" tripe we've seen all too often. I liken learning magic to learning a musical instrument--quality mentorship, raw ability, and drive can express talent far faster than classroom learning. But it can't work miracles and mastery still takes years of devotion, regardless of talent.

 

I'd like to see someone show that an elaborate training regime with mentors is unnecessary to achieving a competent!Harry. If Harry learns spells at a reasonable pace, and if the author doesn't forget to make him apply them cleverly in combat, then it'd be just as well.

 

I think that the importance of the probability of a specific event happening is exaggerated here.

For example, we have a large debate over whether Harry would duel Fleur and how well he would do in it.

In my opinion, this doesn't really matter at all. You should do whatever so want regarding the scene, although you still ought to listen to suggestions. As long as your story is written well and the events depicted could conceivably occur, the readers won't care about the actual chances of the event happening in canon.

 

The problem is most authors aren't clever enough themselves to come up with clever things for Harry to do in battle.

My personal opinion is that there are a lot LESS battle-specific spells than most authors postulate. Why is a majority of modern magic all about battle? I like the idea of making a personal dueling spell, can't remember the fic it was from.

Harry would be dominated by Fleur at the beginning of the duel, but he could impress her by overcoming her power wise at some point. Still lose, but demonstrate that his potential for magical destruction is greater than everyone in the 'verse whose name is spoken on a regular basis.

 

I gotta agree with Hasty. Not a chance that Harry will fight fleur.

 

I don't know why most of you say "He can't do that" or "Harry wouldn't do that".

For fuck's sake, people, most of you want to write it, then do it. You're the writers. If it's justified and logical, who's to complain? You can explain it with thousands of different things or plot devices, all you need is a bit of imagination and a coherent mind.

It's your version of HP, not JK's. As long as it is coherent, if you say that it can happen, it can, and get the hell over with it.

 

I have to agree with TMN here. Canon Harry would not fight Fleur, but then again, he would not date Fleur either. It is your version of Harry/Fleur story and you must do as you see fit.

One suggestion I may have though, is that you can use Harry's emotions in battle. He gets angry at being called little boy, he uses that anger in his spell work, much like one would do with the Dark Arts. I am not saying you should have Harry use the Dark Arts from day one, but he can use the theory behind them, subconsciously, to power up his spells. And voila, he impresses Fleur.

 

Mysterious Nobody has a good point. Sometimes you don't have to justify every iota of your characters actions. Just have them do it.

Here's a possibilty for those of you looking for a way for H/Fleur to begin to connect - Ginny. Instead of going up to her room and moping that she's already agreed to go with Neville, she leaves the common room and takes a walk. Fleur stumbles on to Miss Weasley and is curious why she's so hung up on Harry.

Ginny tells her about the Basilisk, the Dementors, and what little she knows of the Philospher's Stone.

It piques Fleur's interest. Perhaps she still goes with Roger, but spies Harry over there with Parvati looking bored and decides in the spirit of fostering interschool good will, she goes over and drags him to his feet for a dance. During it she can't help noticing that he's still mooning over Cho, which is rather unusual since he is dancing with a 1/4 Veela.

This piques Fleur's interest further. Naturally, when she says something along the lines of "shouldn't you be paying more attention to your dance partner" he can be awkwardly clumsy, but not overwhelmed by her.

Perhaps instead of him rescuing Gabby during the second task, Harry instead helps Fleur fight off the Grindylows when he sees that she's in real trouble. (More heroic than the idiotic - I can't leave a hostage down here thing and likely to leave a better impression on Fleur.)

Maybe Fleur and Harry have more difficult times with their dragons than in canon. Put them in the Hospital Ward together for a few days. You don't just have to focus on the Yule Ball as a means of combining the two. There are several jumping off points that can be used.

If you want to go back to the beginning of year 4, when Fleur arrives at Hogwarts, she demands a tour of the castle and the grounds and Harry gets assigned to be her tour guide. Better still, she demands him since he is famous and/or she simply wants to meet the boy hero.

Why is it always the younger girls that grow up on fairy tales of Harry? Fleur was only 4 at the time. Maybe she wants to meet her famous childhood hero and is stunned that her charm doesn't really affect him. Maybe he is "all that and a bag of chips?"

Instead of asking "why?" ask "why not?"

Jim

 

Those are some pretty cool ideas.

While I agree that you should write the story as you want to I would still advise against H/F having a full blown dual. I like the idea of the insults but keep it at just insults and off hand comments that develop into grudging respect as the tournament goes on.

As mentioned before, the tension point doesn't have to be the Yule Ball. It could start when Fleur calls Harry a "leetle boy" and Harry replying with a "ditzy airhead" comment (or something).

 

If you need probable cause, delay harry in the great hall. He gets hit with that blast of Veela magic that Ron got in cannon and asks her out. She was going for Cedric (if I remember cannon right) but changes her mind for a shot at being seen with tBWL.

For those of you who are about to cry 'foul' because of Harry's 'Incredible mental fortitude' and the fact that he can apparently ignore their charm in cannon, I would like to remind you that he fell to it at the Quidditch world cup. to the best of my memory the other times he's confronted Fluer he's known that she was there and could prepare himself. Add to that the fact that (to the best of my knowledge) Fleur never really cranked up the charm around him in cannon and you have workable scenario. Granted he's got to have at least a passive resistance to it or he'd be acting like Ron whenever she's around, but do we really know that he can resist a determined veela? or is that just fannon?