Written for:
February Event at Hogwarts: (quote) "There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." - Sarah Dessen, and (emotion/feeling) frisky.
200 Characters in 200 Days: Fleur Delacour
If You Dare Challenge: 553. Road Untaken
Chocolate Frog Cards Challenge: Fleur Delacour - Write about Fleur Delacour
Writing Bingo: (rare pairing) Nymphadora Tonks/Fleur Delacour
Valentine-Making Station: Rainbow Sticker - Write about Tonks.
Words: 1198
Warning: sexual content. Non-explicit. Femslash.
Changing Boundaries
Fleur wasn't yet a part of The Order of the Phoenix, though she had intentions to join. All the same, she was an ally, and allowed access to the Safe House in Grimmauld Place. She wasn't allowed into the meetings, but she'd accompany Tonks all the same, and spent her time combing through the countless rooms of the house instead. Sirius warned her against it. Although they'd cleaned up, he'd said she couldn't be too certain what she might find. But Fleur was careful not to touch anything. She only wanted to look.
Her friendship with Tonks had started somewhat abruptly, on an uncharacteristically cold Tuesday morning in August, when Fleur entered her Gringott's office to find signs of an attempted break-in. Fearing Dark Magic may have been involved, the Ministry sent a rookie Auror to the bank to investigate and keep guard for a few nights. Tonks had, of course, fallen into the office after tripping on the door frame, causing the coffee on Fleur's desk to fall over and spill all over her accounts logs, but it was quickly cleared up.
Over the next couple of days, Tonks would arrive just as Fleur was preparing to leave, and the casual chit-chat of the first day resulted in Fleur leaving an hour late on the second.
They were initially revitalised by each other. Fleur, always poised and perfect, graceful in every movement whether she was intending to be or not, was the kind of woman Tonks had hardly ever encountered. Tonks, unapologetic and unassuming, honest in every sense of the word, was from a completely different world than anything Fleur had ever known. They should have clashed, and gone their separate ways, but they soon found they did have things in common. An intense curiosity of anything different, and an open-mindedness that lived without judgement or fear for the other's opinion.
But that had been six months ago, and the pair had been good friends since.
Today, the meeting was a quiet one. Sirius was there, as he always was, alongside Dumbledore, Bill and Remus. Bill and Remus had spent the weekend tracking a known Death Eater rookie somewhere in Norfolk, and were reporting their findings. Fleur should have come with Bill, really, seeing as she was dating him, but she hadn't, and he'd been surprised to see her there. Things had mellowed between them recently, and the stupid fight about the ice cream hadn't helped. Fleur was beginning to wonder if Bill had been the easy option for her, and if there were other, better fish in the sea.
In her wanderings, Fleur had stumbled into a bedroom. It had been locked, of course, but a silent Alohomora had solved that. The room was sat in the lap of luxury. An ornate bed, draped in fine satin and velvet curtains, stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by beautiful personal objects on the furniture. A hand-carved handle shone on a hairbrush alongside a crystal perfume bottle, half empty. She heard the usual sounds of the meeting finishing downstairs, but didn't want to leave just yet.
Tonks found her sat on the bed, staring about her.
"What are you looking at?" she asked, moving to sit by her friend after closing the door.
"Zis room. It iz beautiful. I waz wondering about the woman who must 'ave lived 'ere," Fleur replied, her accent as prominent as ever.
"This room was the most beautiful thing about her. She was my mother's aunt, Sirius's mother. She wasn't a nice woman. You've met her portrait," Tonks explained, slightly confused by Fleur's curiosity.
"I know, but there must 'ave been more to 'er zan zat portrait, if she kept a room like zis. She must 'ave 'ad zecrets," Fleur replied with a smile.
"I guess I've never wondered about her further than what I've been told. She didn't seem worth thinking about."
"Everyone iz worth thinking about," Fleur countered.
A strand of Fleur's hair chose that moment to fall out from behind her ear and into her face, obscuring her piercing dark blue eyes. Tonks wasn't sure why, but she found herself compelled to push the strand back softly into place.
Fleur smiled. "You are being sentimental," she told her friend.
"So are you," Tonks replied, gesturing to the room.
The mood between them began to shift. Tension gathered in the air as they looked at each other, and their smiles faded away. Their wake left a burning intensity in their eyes. Tonks took out her wand, pointed it at the door, and performed a series of complex incantations. They would not be heard, or stumbled upon. They would be safe. Fleur didn't protest.
In a heartbeat, both women leaned in towards each other, their lips crashing together with a passion they didn't know they'd possessed. Months of casual touches and telling smiles seemed to return to them in a flash of electricity, like they'd been denying themselves the forbidden fruit since Tonks crashed into Fleur's world.
Fingers tugged at clothes, gasps escaped lips and bodies crashed into the bedsheets, like a desperation had taken hold of them. It was like time was running out, like they only had a few short hours left and nothing in the world would stop them from spending them together.
Naked and writhing in pleasure, sweat gleaming on her forehead and belly as she worked upwards to the heavenly of highs, Fleur whispered words barely audible. "Tonks, je t'aime."
Tonk's knowledge of French was rudimentary at best, but she heard and understood. "I love you, too," she whispered back, feeling an intense elation wash over her as she took Fleur to the pinnacle.
As they lay in each other's arms, stroking hair and calming their pounding hearts, Tonks smiled. Fleur began to look worried, coming back down to reality like the last hour had been a wonderful bad dream.
"Zis iz not right," Fleur announced, sitting up suddenly, scouring the room for her clothes.
"What do you mean?" Tonks asked, suddenly confused and uncomfortable as she pulled the sheets around her.
"We are friends, not lovers. Zis is not how we should be together. I am dating Bill," she replied, seemingly confused by her own thoughts and emotions.
"Just because it's unexpected doesn't mean it's not right," Tonks argued, weakly. She knew what Fleur was like when she set her mind to something.
"No. It iz not right," Fleur stated. She stopped her actions, staring at Tonks half-dressed, and set her face hard. "I love Bill."
"That's not what you said a few minutes ago," Tonks reminded her.
"I know. I know what I zaid. But it iz true. I didn't know until now, but I do now. I love Bill. Maybe I love you both, but Bill iz the right path for me. I 'ave to do what is right for me."
"How do you know I'm not the right path for you? We've barely begun," Tonks replied, looking more crestfallen by the second.
"I just know," Fleur replied, turning away. Zis is the road untaken, okay? Zis is what might have been, but izn't. It iz the way it 'as to be."
