FOUR MONTHS PREVIOUS:

Fleur stood before her parents as they screamed at her in French, her face calm. They were standing in a vast, modern kitchen in the Delacour manor.

"How dare you bring shame on this family?" Her dad shouted, veins protruding in his neck.

"I don't get it, Fleur," Her mother shrieked, "You were doing so well, Triwizard Tournament, being a hero in the war of Hogwarts… now this?"

Her father shook his head and her mother continued.

"Fleur. Veelas attract men. That is the natural way. You have a good husband, you don't need to throw all this away"

"Bill understands," Fleur replied, "He supported the divorce so I can be who I am."

Her father hit the kitchen table with his fist as hard as he could.

"Goddammit, Fleur. If you insist on living like this, we have no choice but to disown you."

Fleur stood, defiant, "This is who I am."

X

PRESENT:

Fleur rubbed her eyes tiredly. She had been working long hours at Gringotts the past few months. Since her break-up with Bill life had been quite dull. The Weasleys were angry at her for leaving Bill so she was no longer welcome at the Burrow, and her parents had not spoken to her since she had come out to them as gay. She had got a good promotion at Gringotts so had decided to stay on in England. Besides, she didn't have a family to go home to in France anymore and had drifted a lot from her friends back home since the war.

The only people she regularly saw now were her coworkers and Bill, who though supportive, was still heart broken and only saw her about once a month. To his credit, he had at least kept her secret. After her disastrous coming out to her parents, she had decided she didn't want anyone else to know. To avoid the loneliness of her empty inner city apartment, Fleur threw herself into work, relishing her promotion and advancing her understanding of locking spells and financial protection spells.

This afternoon she was just finishing the touches on her report about lock-breaking at repossessed Death Eater properties. It was a long read, but comprehensive, and she was proud of how much she had managed to uncover.

There was a knock at the door of her office and a squat, balding wizard with a thick slug of a moustache on his upper lip entered. It was Fleur's manager, Henry Mallarick.

"Delacour, good work on the Greyback accounts, you're really teaching the younger staff some good things about lockbreaking magic," he grunted. Fleur thanked him.

"That brings me to my next point," he wheezed, "the Ministry has asked for some help training their front line forces with breaking locks, you're due to attend one of the meetings with their Auror team down there tomorrow. Its good for us to keep a strong relationship with the Ministry, as you know. That good by you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Bloody good," Mallarick grunted, and ambled out of the room again.

The next day, Fleur collected up some relevant papers and started her walk down to the Ministry. She was wearing some nice heels, a charcoal pencil skirt and a light blue blouse tucked into it. She smiled as she apparated into a discreet alleyway in muggle London before making her way down the street. She felt professional. There was finally something in her life that she could kind of chalk up to a win.

She weaved through the crowds on the street, enjoying the anonymity that the muggle world provided. She finally came up to the phone booths she recognised as being an entrance into the Ministry and plugged in the password into the keypad before being sucked into the entranceway.

After checking in at reception, she was directed to a meeting room just off the entrance. She entered and introduced herself to the room, smiling at recognising so many faces. So many of them had been in the Order with her during the war. She also recognised the faces of some fresh faced new aurors. Sitting near the front of the meeting room was a familiar thin boy with messy black hair and an unmistakable lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

After greetings around the room, she launched into her presentation on lock-breaking and particular problems that can be faced with Death Eater properties. It went well, there were lots of questions, and the lesson ended with a round of applause from the auror team.

As they were filing out, Harry approached her. "Hey Fleur, great seminar," he chirped and Fleur smiled back. "Would you want to get a coffee now to catch up? I haven't seen you in ages!" Fleur thought about the report she had back at her office to finish, but then reminded herself that she had been seriously antisocial for the past few months and needed to change that.

"Sure," she smiled.

Harry took her to a small muggle coffee shop not far from the Ministry. It appeared, he too enjoyed the anonymity that the muggle world afforded.

"So, obviously I heard about what happened with Bill," Harry said, addressing the elephant in the room as he sipped at his coffee, "I also heard that you fell out with your family. I'm sorry that you've been cut out of all of their lives. I didn't think people still felt so strongly about divorce these days."

Fleur smiled sadly and picked up her cup, "It is okay, I am doing fine adjusting to life on my own,"

"Its not fine though, Fleur," Harry said seriously, "I know what its like not to have family. You really need your friends to get you through."

Fleur looked down at her saucer. She was too ashamed to admit that she had intentionally distanced herself from any friends she had.

Harry gave her an understanding smile, "Look, Fleur. I've been finding it a little hard to adjust to life in the inner city too. Why don't you come join me and some mates for drinks on Friday night?"

"Ah…" Fleur was hesitant. But Harry picked up on this too.

"Don't worry, Gin won't be there, she's home visiting the Burrow," he said hastily, "and Ron won't be there either, considering Hermione is coming."

"What do you mean by that, Harry?" Fleur asked curiously.

Harry chuckled. "You're not the only one avoiding the Weasleys right now. Hermione dumped Ron a month ago. I've barely seen her since she's been dodging Ron and Ginny left and right."

Fleur smiled knowingly, "They do have quite the tempers in that family."

Her and Harry both laughed. This was nice, Fleur thought. It was nice to have a break from the office for once and catch up with someone for a carefree chat about everything and nothing. By the time they were getting their coats on to leave the small coffee shop, Fleur had decided she would go to the Friday drinks after all.

X

When Friday rolled around, Fleur was in high spirits. Since her meeting at the Ministry on Tuesday, she had met Harry for lunch twice and was feeling buoyed by having a social life again. Even if it was just a minor one so far.

In fact, she found herself leaving work at 5pm on the dot for once, instead of working late on paperwork. She enjoyed the fresh wintery air on her face as she walked home, stopping to pick up a large bottle of red wine on her way to her apartment.

As she flicked her wand expertly in wordless magic to unlock her door, she found even her apartment didn't seem as depressing anymore. She walked inside and the industrial style apartment suddenly seemed fun and inviting, instead of a reminder of losing two of her families in one fell sweep.

She strolled into her bedroom to decide on something to wear to the drinks at Harry's place, feeling a sense of freedom as her depression continued to lift.

X

Hermione strolled out of her room at hers and Harry's flat and pulled a beer out of the fridge before sinking into the couch.

"God it really is quiet without Ginny here," she exclaimed.

Harry sat across from her in an armchair, stopping mid sip of his beer as he blushed heavily. "Erm, I thought the silencing charms…?"

"Oh my god Harry! I wasn't talking about your bedroom! And yes, thankfully those silencing charms are working."

Harry cleared his throat, awkwardly wanting to change the subject.

"So… I haven't really seen you since you and Ron broke up," he said "I'm glad you decided to move back in."

"Yes, well, its not my fault Ronald insisted on monopolising you for the post-breakup period. Its so unfair of him, its not like I can talk to Ginny about this." Hermione grumbled, "And trust me, its not like I enjoyed crashing on Luna's couch for a month."

"Don't worry, 'Mione, Gin and Ron are bound to cool off during their trip home." Harry said, flashing an encouraging smile.

"I don't know why he's acting so dramatically," Hermione scoffed, "It was never good between us. Just one long bad date that should never have happened in the first place."

There was suddenly a knock on the door and Harry flicked his wand at the door, which sprung open to let Neville enter.

"Hey guys!" Neville said cheerily, coming to join them on the couch. Harry handed him a beer.

"Who all is coming?" Neville said, taking care to sound casual.

"Just a bunch of old Hogwarts mates, few people from the Ministry," Harry replied, "Oh, and Fleur! She ran this seminar for the aurors at work and we ended up catching up a bit this week."

"You didn't tell me Fleur was coming!" Hermione said suddenly, "She's only like the leading writer on lock charm research!" Harry rolled his eyes and laughed. Same old Hermione.

"Erm, so with the bunch of Hogwarts mates…" Neville began.

"Yes, Luna is coming Nev," Harry sighed. He honestly didn't expect to see the day where he was the one that had things together the most out of his friends.

At that, there was another knock at the door. Neville choked on his mouthful of beer, spilling a splash of beer on the crotch of his jeans. Harry flicked his wand and the door opened to reveal Seamus Finnigan.

"Hey Har'!" Finnigan loudly shouted from the doorway, "Since your missus is away, I thought I'd bring something to liven the night up with!" He grinned and produced two large bottles of firewhisky from his coat pockets.

"Mate, its just some casual drinks," Harry said, standing up.

"Not anymore," Finnigan bellowed, "Oi, Dean!"

Dean Thomas emerged through the doorway, levitating a keg of beer in front of him. Harry sank back into his armchair, giving up.

"Sorry guys," Harry said to Neville and Hermione.

"That's okay," Hermione replied, "I think I actually really need a good night of drinking." Harry wanted to say something, but bit his tongue, as Hermione turned and waved for Dean to come and bring her one of the shots he was pouring in the kitchen.

X

Fleur arrived late to Harry's, wearing a form fitting dress under her coat. She had really enjoyed dressing up for something other than work. She knocked neatly on the door, which promptly swung open for her. She entered and was met with a throng of people milling around the hallway, drinking. Music was playing from deep inside the apartment.

She ran into Harry as she made her way through the crowds in the hallway.

"Fleur! Glad you came" he smiled, "By the way, Hermione really wants to talk to you about your research work you did at Gringotts."

He turned to gesture to Hermione through the crowd and they both looked as she clinked shot glasses with Neville and threw back another shot.

"Erm," Harry turned back to Fleur, "Like I said the other day, she's had a rough break-up."

Fleur laughed, "Haven't we all?" and moved to the kitchen to pour herself a wine.

Hermione bounded over and threw an arm around Harry and Fleur, "Harrrryyyy! Its Fleur!" Hermione slurred.

"Yep, that it is, Hermione" Harry said, smiling at seeing his usually straight-laced friend drunk.

"Fleur! I love your reports on lock spells!" Hermione shout-talked into Fleur's ear. Fleur laughed and took another sip of wine.

"Oh, she's serious, Fleur" Harry replied, laughing as well.

"You have to tell me allll about your research…" Hermione said loudly, pulling Fleur by an arm to a couch.

"It was nice knowing you, Fleur!" Harry called after her, giggling.

Fleur sat down beside Hermione and happily appeased the drunk witch with tales of her research, only rising to refill her wine glass.

"Fleur, your English is so flawless now!" Hermione stated drunkenly, and Fleur chuckled.

"Was it not good before?" She joked. Although she understood, she had been back to France far less over the years and as a result her accent had become less intense.

"I haven't seen you around since…" Hermione stopped, pausing awkwardly.

"Since I broke up with Bill, destroying his life and upsetting all of his family members and friends?" Fleur said with a smile. Somehow it was less depressing to joke about it now.

Hermione made a really wide drunk smile, "Ah, a familiar situation to mine…"

They hung out for the rest of the night, meeting up with old friends from the war and meeting new friends from around the city.

Fleur enjoyed herself immensely. It was her first proper night out since ending things with Bill and she felt like things finally felt normal for the first time in ages.

Eventually she felt she had drunk enough wine that she was becoming too sleepy, and told Harry and Hermione that she would be heading home.

"Wait, I put your coat in Hermione's room," Harry called across the room. Fleur waved her thanks and walked into the room, where Hermione was rummaging through a handbag.

"Oh! Fleur! I thought you'd left!" Hermione slurred happily.

"Ah, momentarily," Fleur replied, picking up her coat.

"Well, I just wanted to know I really enjoyed spending time with you and think we should hang out again sometime soon!" Hermione chirped.

"Me too," Fleur smiled, feeling the best she had in months. "I would love that. Well, goodnight."

"G'night" Hermione mumbled, throwing her arms around Fleur. She kissed Fleur's cheek, then as Fleur pulled away, unexpectedly kissed Fleur on the lips.

Fleur suddenly felt a strange sensation come over her, something she hadn't felt since she was a teen and coming in to the Veela powers that she had inherited. She felt a hotness prickling at her neck. She had the strongest urge to stay rooted to the spot, to stay standing in front of Hermione. But she shook her head and pulled away, mumbling goodnight again.