Title: Hazard of ze Trade
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Cedric Diggory/Fleur Delacour
Rating: G
Summary: Cedric introduces his father to the Delacours, much to his own chagrin. (Established relationship. One-shot.)
Word Count: 1, 374

Authors Notes: Written for Livejournals Fanfic100 challenge community. Prompt 027 - Parents.

Cedric watched his father, a grim expression set on his face.

It was downright embarrassing, that's what it was. Plain bloody embarrassing. And there was no end in sight.

Cedric wished the ground would just open up and swallow him. Really. It was that bad.

He'd barely managed to avoid it earlier, back in the chamber. He'd kept his family on one side of the room, away from the Delacours. He'd seen the way his father's gaze kept drifting towards them – the man wasn't exactly inconspicuous. He might as well have been down on his knees and drooling all over himself for all the discretion he showed.

Thankfully, Cedric didn't think they'd noticed, and when Fleur left the room with her mother and sister, he'd been impossibly relieved.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a case of delaying the inevitable.

When his mother went off for tea and talk with Professor Sprout, Cedric's father had requested a tour of the school. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, a way to keep his father out of trouble. And whilst he hadn't been able to escape the man's sniping and griping about Harry Potter, he'd at least been able to avoid running the risk of humiliation in front of Fleur.

For a spell at least.

The second Cedric saw the Delacours coming down the corridor that he and his father were heading up, he knew it was over.

"Where are your manners, son," his father had said, throwing an arm around his shoulders, "introduce me to the competition."

And it all went downhill from there.

Cedric determinedly avoided Fleur's eyes. Gabrielle had the right idea - he wanted to take a leaf out of her book and hide behind Fleur's legs, too.

He had no idea what the hell his father was mouthing off about. Just a load of cock and bull, it seemed. Cedric knew his old man certainly hadn't had a hand in the invention of the Twigger 90 broomstick, despite the random claim that he had. And he definitely didn't own a share in Honeydukes.

But those were his fathers' stories and he was sticking to them.

Cedric thought it really was quite fortunate that his mother wasn't around to witness any of this, because if she saw the way her husband was behaving, she may well have hexed him with the features of a pig.

Cedric was rather close to doing just that himself.

If this was the Veela-effect, he was quite happy to be immune, thankyou very much.

Wearily, he raised a hand to his face and squeezed the bridge of his nose. His father slapped him on the back.

"You alright there, son?" he said, "Not nervous about that maze, are you? Oh, what am I saying? Of course you're not!" He wrapped an arm around Cedric's shoulders, pulling him into the conversation – as one-sided as it was. "Us Diggory's have nerves of steel, right lad?" He boasted loudly.

Hesitantly, Cedric met Madame Delacour's cool gaze; why she hadn't run a mile in the opposite direction, Cedric had no idea. Glutton for punishment, he supposed, or just impeccably well-mannered. He offered her an awkward smile, which quickly became a wince as his father continued speaking.

"Popular boy, is our Cedric," he said, "very popular. I was much the same in my day. He didn't get these good looks by magic, you know –"

Cedric heard a muffled giggle and saw Gabrielle peer out from behind Fleur. She grinned at him.

Wonderful.

Cedric covered his entire face with his hand this time, smothering a groan. He caught a glimpse of Fleur through his fingers. She, too, looked greatly amused.

That's it! Enough is enough.

" – very popular with the girls, of course, but he's concentrating on his education. There's a promising future ahead for this boy, I tell you. Much success. Plenty of time for love later –"

"I'm sure mum's probably wondering where we've got to, dad." Cedric blurted suddenly. His father blinked a few times (probably surprised by the sound of someone else's voice) and looked at his watch.

"Oh, I'm sure she's still –"

"Pleasure to meet you, Madame." Cedric nodded towards Fleur's mother, carefully guiding his father away. Again, he avoided looking directly at Fleur. Gabrielle, however, was still giggling into the back of her sisters' robes. Cedric knew he'd be hearing about this later.

Cedric's father called a quick 'see you in the stands' over his shoulder as Cedric pulled him round the corner.

Once they were out of ear shot, Cedric exhaled loudly. His father clapped him on the back.

"Outstanding!" he said, "Wonderful woman, that Madame Delacour, honestly. Your mother was a looker when she was younger, still is of course, but that -"

"Yeah, okay dad."

"Her daughter was chosen for her looks, quite obviously."

Cedric frowned. "And how do you figure that out?" He said, somewhat put out by the suggestion. He wouldn't dare mention it to Fleur. "The Goblet can't actually see who -"

"No, no, of course not, but it knows these things doesn't it? Powerful bit of magic, that Goblet." His father waved his hands about dismissively. "Not that it matters. We all know you're going to win. But I tell you what, son, if there was a girl that looked like that around when I was your age, I wouldn't waste any time in –"

"Hey! Did you read that latest article about Potter in the Daily Prophet?"

That did it.

It obviously wasn't the best subject change Cedric could think of, but it was the easiest.

Besides, if Cedric had to choose between hearing his father bang on about Harry Potter being a cheat, and hearing him gush about what he'd do with Fleur if he were twenty years younger, the former was undoubtedly the lesser of two evils.

Cedric hid himself away in the Hufflepuff common room for the latter part of the afternoon, going through spells for the third task. He didn't particularly need to read up on anything, he was quite confident that he was well prepared, but it was something to do - something that kept his mind off of that morning's Delacour-debacle. Barely.

He'd replayed it several times over in his mind, since, and each time he did, he felt just that little bit more mortified. His father had always been a man who spoke his mind, and usually, Cedric respected him for it (within reason). But placing an outspoken man in the company a couple of veela-blooded women did not make for happy memories. Not for Cedric, at least.

When the call came for everyone to attend the feast later that evening, Cedric reluctantly made his way up to the Great Hall. He found Fleur waiting for him outside the common-room entrance, standing against the opposite wall.

Here we go…

Cedric stopped in front of her, shoving his hands into his robe pockets. "Don't laugh." He grumbled.

"I am not laughing."

"Don't smirk, then."

Fleur sighed. "Eet was not zat bad." She said, kissing him briefly. "Worse theengs 'ave 'appened."

Cedric shook his head. "It was horrible."

"Men 'ave done a lot worse zan your papa," Fleur assured him, tugging softly on the front of his robes, "you 'ave obviously not 'eard ze stories of things men 'ave done to impress Veela."

"Do I want to know?"

Fleur inclined her head thoughtfully, then said, "Eegnorance is bliss, I theenk." Cedric nodded. "But you should know maman likes you."

Cedric felt a bit of weight lift from his shoulders. "Yeah?" He said, standing a little taller. Fleur smiled kittenishly, leaning closer to him.

"Eet eez rare," she whispered, "zat a man does not become a slave to ze Veela charm; and eet eez even rarer for zem to like ze woman for ze woman – not ze promise. Maman sees zat you are genuine."

Cedric grinned, standing taller still. "So…I'm a rare breed, then?" He said, and Fleur laughed adoringly.

"Ze rarest."

"I suppose you already know what my father thinks of you."

Fleur wrinkled her nose slightly as she looked up at Cedric.

"Hazard of ze trade." she said.

This time, it was Cedric's turn to laugh.

END