Title: Remembered Past
Rating: T
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Fleur Delacour, Apolline Delacour, Monsieur Delacour
Warnings: past sexual abuse
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.
Word Count: 922
Summary: Fleur has a deep rooted fear, but she doesn't know why. That's about to change.
Notes:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Charms – Write about someone forgetting something or someone important. Prompts Used – Fleur Delacour, a photo album
The Phobia Character Competition: Character Used – Fleur Delacour, Phobia – Agraphobia (fear of sexual abuse)
All Those Characters Challenge: Character Used: Fleur Delacour
Represent the Character II
Anything You Can
Feedback: Yes
Sixteen-year old Fleur is running. She's running, far, far away. She had been flirting with a seventeen-year old, and things were going really well between them. Fleur was feeling anxious or jumpy at all.
Suddenly, his hand had reached out and grabbed Fleur's hand. The sudden fear hit her, like a sword through the heart, and when he attempted to pull her close to him, her part-Veela nature revealed itself.
She managed to get it under control, and as soon as she was back in her proper mindset, she ran.
It's not the first time something like that has happened. Anytime a guy touches her, even if it's completely innocent, Fleur reacts similarly.
She's scared of guys touching her. She's scared what they might do if she allows them to. The thought of a guy touching her, having his hands simply hold her hands, makes her shiver in absolute revulsion.
Fleur isn't sure where this fear has come from. The more she tries to think about its origin, the more it seems to evade her. She feels as if there should be a memory attached to the reason, but the closer she gets to the memory, the farther it moves out of her grasp.
She makes it home, thankful it's summertime so she's not in school. She knows her parents aren't home, so it's up to her to calm herself.
She paces, trying to rid herself of the fear.
No one is going to hurt me. No one is going to touch me.
It has become her personal mantra, but it's not effective. As soon as a guy's touches her, any common sense she possesses leaves her immediately.
To distract herself, she goes into the library and begins looking through all of the books. There are rows and rows of them, so it's a good way to keep busy.
She works her way to the very back bookshelf. The books on it are dustier, as if they haven't been touched in years.
She looks over them curiously and realizes they're family photo albums. Some of them date back to the 1700s. "It must contain the family history, in photos," she whispers. The noise sounds foreign in the quiet of the library.
Intrigued, she looks through some of the oldest photo albums and recognizes women and men who are on the Delacour family tree.
She puts the old ones away and picks up a more recent album, something that would have pictures of her in it.
She looks through it and sees pictures of when she was a baby. She flips the pages and pauses when she gets to a picture of Gabrielle and her mother. It was the day Gabrielle was born. She was an absolutely beautiful baby, but then again, most part-Veela babies are.
She flips the pages. There's nothing that really catches her interest until she gets to a certain picture. She looks to be about nine in the picture and there's a man who has his arm around her shoulders. He looks familiar, but Fleur's having trouble putting the face to a name.
She stares unblinking. The man's smile is wide as he holds her close. It's her smile that has her unnerved. Fleur knows her own smile, and the one in the picture is a fake. It's forced, as if she would rather be anywhere but there.
She flips through the book and there are more pictures of her and the man. He never poses with Gabrielle, but she does see some pictures of him with her father and mother.
When she looks at his picture, she fears fear. She feels as if there's something under her skin, and she needs to scratch it out of herself.
She stops at another picture. She's with the same man and looks to be about eleven, probably before she went to school for her first year. She's staring up into the man's face, and he's softly stroking her cheek. His other hand is on her waist.
She drops the book as everything comes back to her. That man...he's Jacque Astuleo, her father's once best friend. Until he...he...
She collapses into herself, holding her shaking body. That man...he hurt her...touched her...took away her innocence...and then mocked her about it. He made her dirty and never once did he feel any regret. He only feigned regret when he was caught and then tried to make excuses for himself...said she tempted him with her Veela allure.
She stays in the library. She doesn't move from her knees. That's how her parents find her.
"Dear, what's wrong?" her mother asks.
Her father comes over to her and picks up the fallen photo album. She hears his sharp intake of breath. "Fleur..."
"I remember everything," Fleur says calmly despite the fact she feels anything but calm on the inside. "Why did I forget in the first place?"
Her mother comes over to them. She kneels on the ground next to Fleur. "We thought it would be better this way. If you didn't remember, you wouldn't have to go through that pain."
"So, you had me Obliviated. Even though there's always a chance of it being triggered."
"Fleur –" her father tries.
"No. I remember now and never had the chance to work through it, to heal. And that's your fault."
"We'll make it better," her father promises.
"We'll get you help," her mother adds.
Fleur looks at them. She doesn't know if there's anything that they can do to help her now. She just doesn't know.