A/N: This story was written for The Reviews Lounge "Birthdays" challenge. You should also find it posted under The Reviews Lounge account.
Also, I do not speak French, so if you see a mistake in the French parts, then I'm sorry!
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you could recognize to be JKR's work.
Springtime for Fleur
There was something about her birthday that always made her head spin. Whether it was the true arrival of spring that always came with April, or just the simple giddiness she always felt in the air, she loved her birthday.
Each birthday was different. Before she left for Beauxbatons, it was just a simple lunch, sometimes a picnic, with Gabrielle and her Maman and Papa. There was the wonderful cake her Maman always made, with its creamy vanilla and sweet, nearly flower-like icing.
In Beauxbatons, it was different. She had her friends, Amalie and Hélène, who always worked extra hard to throw her a party that everyone in their year attended. They were caring, and always made her feel loved on her birthday.
It all changed her final year. Her final year, she found herself not at her lovely Beauxbatons, but instead at the blasted ''Ogwarts'. She found herself stranded and alone, though Amalie and Hélène had also come on the trip. She was the Beauxbaton champion, yet she could do nothing. She barely escaped that dragon, and if it hadn't been for that Harry Potter – who knows what would have happened to Gabrielle. No one knew what was like to be her, and no one could seem to help.
Still, that year, Hélène found her outside, sitting by the lake. It was a Saturday, and they didn't have their classes.
"Fleur?"
Fleur turned toward her friend, smiling slightly at the sight of her.
"Oui, Hélène?" She pushed her blond hair back from where it had hung over her eyes, when she was lost in thought. Hélène produced a small silver box from behind her back, a silver bow on top of it.
"Bon Anniversaire," she said, giving her the present. " 'Appy Birzt'day." Fleur smiled, accepting it. It was a small locket, heart-shaped and dangling on a silver chain. Inside were two pictures – one of her and all of her friends, and one of her with her family.
Fleur gasped, and hugged Hélène.
"Merci, Hélène!" she cried. Suddenly, Fleur noticed singing, and it was coming towards her. Behind the tree she found Amalie and the others, holding a giant cake. Suddenly, Fleur wasn't so lonely anymore.
Years later, it was like that again. She had had Bill for her last two birthdays, there by her side to comfort her, and she him when times got bad. But in April of '98, Fleur felt something missing. She now had what she wanted so badly – the love of her life, but she had expected to spend her birthday only with him, not with all of the other people taking refuge in her house.
It was a beautifully sunny morning when she awoke, and she went downstairs to make breakfast like she always did. However, this morning she found Hermione and Luna, standing and arguing while breakfast was already cooking. Their bickering stopped when Fleur walked in, and Hermione smiled when she saw her.
"Happy Birthday!" she exclaimed. "I thought I'd make breakfast for a change, since you always do it." Fleur was sure that Bill put her up to this task, but simply smiled and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Hermione, you should still use a bit of crushed daisy roots on that bacon – it's been proved to increase a person's happiness!" Luna whispered to Hermione. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Luna, I told you, daisy roots are used in Shrinking Solutions. There'd be no way that they'd be beneficial to food!" Hermione replied.
"Filles," Fleur said sternly. "Do not argue about zee food. Daizes would look nice on ze table, oui, but not on zee food." The girls looked at her nodded, and Luna slipped outside to pick daises in the small garden while Hermione laid food out on the table.
Fleur's vision was suddenly blocked as two large hands covered her eyes.
"Bill, ztop eet!" He chuckled, and then sat down next to her. He kissed her on the cheek, and handed her a bouquet of tulips and fleur-de-lises, her favorite flowers. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out the back door, where they wandered in the sunlight. He kissed her softly, and they wandered around until they could see the ocean below them.
"Happy Birthday," Bill breathed in her ear. She leaned against him, watching the horizon. As far as birthdays went, this one didn't start off too badly. There were years to come still – she'd spend her next birthday as big as a whale, but the war would finally be over and she would be happy.
"Merci," she replied softly, whispering the word into the sky.