Happy Holidays, everyone!

This is another AU where Gabrielle is a few years younger than canon.

"C'mon Harry! Stop checking yourself out in the mirror or we'll be late!" Ron shouted from the kitchen of the flat they shared. He was snacking on a bag of crisps as he waited for his best friend and roommate.

"We're not even in the wedding, mate." Harry emerged from the bathroom, putting the final adjustments to his tie. "We could just show up to the reception." Ron put an arm over Harry's shoulders.

"Mate, if we go to the ceremony, we can scope out all the single girls." Harry chuckled at his best friend.

"Fine, whatever." The pair entered their living room and tossed some floo powder into the fireplace.

"That was a beautiful ceremony." Ron dabbed at his eyes. Harry just rolled his eyes as the girl Ron had met fell for his antics.

"It was." The girl was completely enamored by him.

"And their vows?" Ron gave an exaggerated sigh. "Breathtaking." Harry stood, already having enough of Ron's antics back at their flat.

"I'm going to get a drink." This declaration, however, fell on deaf ears.

Ron was right, however. Cho's and Cedric's wedding was pretty nice. The wedding ceremony was held in the middle of a Quidditch pitch. It's location was probably influenced by the fact that both were Quidditch players with extensive family backgrounds in the sport. The reception was held in a massive tent just outside the Quidditch field. The tent was massive to enough of to fill the Great Hall back at Hogwarts and then some. The wedding had hundreds of guests. Harry recognized many faces from Hogwarts and countless new ones.

Harry bobbed and weaved his way around the tables and people, making his way to the open bar. Finally, he reached the wooden bar.

"Butterbeer, please." He said to the bartender, who reached under the bar and pulled out a chilled bottle of the drink. Despite being a bachelor in the prime of his life, Harry wasn't much of a drinker, having an affinity for the popular non-alcoholic drink instead. Ron always poked fun at this, but was grateful for a sober friend when he could barely stand on his feet.

Harry leaned on the bar and sipped at his drink, watching the reception. Cho and Cedric were making their rounds around all the tables, greeting all their guests. Young children ran between the legs of adults, playing whatever games kids played at weddings. The older guests conversed among themselves or chatted with some of the younger crowd, who were trying their best to get away from them. Most of the people his age were on or approaching the dance floor.

He was on his second bottle when he noticed her. She looked to be around his age, maybe a little older. She sat down at one of the tables bordering the dance floor, watching a pair of kids dance around, apart from the main group of young adults.

She was gorgeous. So gorgeous, in fact, that she seemed to draw the eyes of most of the men (and some women), to the disdain of their dates.

One of the children she was watching seemed to be a miniature copy of her, so he assumed the younger girl was the older girl's sister. The other child he vaguely recognized. He believed it was the son of a former Hogwarts student from Cedric's graduating class.

"Hey mate." Ron appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey." Harry stole one more glance at the girl before turning to his friend. "What happened to that girl you were talking to?"

"Turns out she had a date." Ron shrugged. "Go figure." He called over the bartender. "Firewhiskey." Taking a sip of his liquor, Ron glanced at his friend.

"What?"

"Well, since I failed tonight, I'm going to help you out." The red head declared.

"What? No, Ron, there are plenty of single girls here tonight." Harry waved his hand over the crowd for emphasis. "You can try again."

"No mate. There's no getting out of this. Now, when's the last time you've gotten any?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

"Um-" Harry hesitated.

"Merlin! It's been that long?" Ron stared at his roommate.

"I mean, well, I do have to take you home from the pub a lot, and I guess I lost a few chances along the way." Harry scratched the back of his neck.

"Bloody hell, Harry!" A few glances were directed in their direction. "Now I feel even more responsible for helping you tonight, since it's my fault!"

"You don't have to, Ron. It's fine." Harry said reassuringly. Ron completely ignored this.

"Now, who to pick?" Ron's eye scanned the wedding attendees. "How about her, the brunette with the curly hair?"

"No, Ron, you don-"

"How about her? That red hea- nevermind, that's my sister." Ron sent a sideways glare at Harry. "If you touch my sister, I will break every bone in your body so hard that even skele-gro won't fix it."

Ron continued to choose girls from the crowd over the next five minutes for Harry, who vetoed each one. During this process, Harry continued to steal glances at the girl who was watching the children.

"What about her?" Ron pointed at the girl Harry kept looking at. "She's pretty hot, mate."

"Uhh..."

"That means yes, mate."

"No it doesn't!" Harry stated indignantly.

"Well it wasn't a no." Ron shoved his Firewhiskey into Harry''s hands. "Here, you're gonna need this. Just down it all in one big gulp."

"I don't think-"

"Shut up, Harry." Ron interrupted him yet again. "Drink up and go to her while I go find whoever is playing the music."

"Wait, what?" Harry asked, but Ron had already disappeared into the crowd.

With some liquid courage in his belly, Harry approached the girl, who was still watching the kids.

He had decided to circle around and approach her from the side, rather from her front or from behind her. He figured that approaching from the front was a bit too forward and from behind a bit too creepy. Therefore, the side had to be a neutral zone, right? As he approached, he felt the tug of something. He couldn't really describe it, but it felt like her was being gently tugged in the girl's direction. Whatever it was, it seemed to have canceled the effects of the Firewhiskey on his stomach and replaced it with anxiety.

"H-hey."

"Bonjour." The girl broke her gaze on the children to look at him. The feeling of the tugging intensified.

"Uhh," Harry was at a loss for words. "Nice weather we're having?" Smoother than gravel, Harry. Smoother than goddamn gravel.

"Pardon?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"I mean, umm, nice..." Harry looked around for another topic of conversation. "...wedding?" Better, but if only by a little, Harry.

She simply stared at him, confused as why her allure wasn't making him try to show off his masculinity. Instead, it seemed to have resulted in a nervous mess of an admittedly good-looking young man. This piqued her curiosity, so she continued the conversation.

"Oui, it iz a very nice reception." She saw him let out a visible sigh of relief. "I'm Fleur Delacour." He pulled up an unoccupied chair and sat down.

"Harry Potter."

"Gabrielle, soyez prudent, d'accord? "She spoke to the younger girl she was watching.

"Oui, grande soeur!" The younger girl, Gabrielle said cheerfully as she danced around with her playmate.

"So 'ow do you know Cho and Cedric?"

"I went to Hogwarts with both of them, we were all in our respective house's Quidditch teams, so we played against each other a lot." Harry smiled at the old memories. "It was hilarious when Cho and Cedric started dating and had to play against each other." Harry took his mind out of the memories and returned to the conversation at hand. "What about you? How do you know them?

"'onestly, I don't." Fleur shrugged.

"What do you mean you don't?"

"It means exactly zat. My fazzer has known Cedric's fazzer for years. I saw him every so often when I still lived wiz my parents, but ze last time I saw Cedric, I 'ad barely learned to walk."

"Still lived? You don't live with them anymore?"

"Of course not! I'm a grown woman!" She looked at him strangely. "Why? Do you?"

"N-no! I don't!" Harry wanted to curl up into a ball and die. "I-I meant..." And then the cavalry came. Well, sort of.

Slow dance music began playing and the rowdy crowd slowed down. Across the tent, Harry spotted Ron giving a thumbs up. Ron made wild gestures and movements that Harry translated as 'dance with the girl'. So that is what he meant by finding whoever was playing the music.

"May I have this d-dance?" Harry stuttered out. He offered his hand, which Fleur took. She rose from her seat, her height reach just above his shoulders. They walked out to the dance floor and began swinging to the rhythm.

"So where's your date?" Harry looked down at Fleur. He internally thanked Ron, he felt more at ease dancing than sitting.

"I don't 'ave one." She stated plainly.

"Why not? A girl like you-"

"What do you mean, 'a girl like me'?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, uhh, it's like-" Harry sputtered. "I buggered this, didn't I?" He stated dejectedly. He began to drop his arms and pull away, but Fleur stopped him.

"Non, non, it's alright." She waved off his concerns with a giggle. "I came to visit my parents ze day before yesterday. Zat's when I found out about zis wedding. Zere wasn't nearly enough time to find a date. I barely 'ad enough time to find a dress!" She shrugged. "Eh, c'est la vie. What about you? Where's your date?"

"I don't have one either. My roommate and best mate got it into his head that we should go to this thing alone." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Also, I may have accidentally destroyed his invitation, so he's my plus one."

"'arry!"

"What? It was an accident! Who knew that our neighbor's cat would be attracted to my cooking and tear up Ron's mail?"

"Cooking? You cook?"

"Yeah, someone in our flat has to. A pair of mates can only survive on takeout for so long. And the last time Ron cooked..." Harry shuddered at the memory. "So yeah, I cook."

There was a lull in their conversation as the two swung around in the sea of couples.

"Say, Fleur?"

"Hmm?"

"Seeing how as we're both dateless, will you be my date to this wedding?"

And there you have it. This is probably the longest chapter I've written in the shortest amount of time. I started this last night and finished it now, like 14 hours later. And just in time for Christmas!

I want to thank you all for being such a great audience for the past 20-some chapters. Here's to hoping for a great and story-filled year!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

As always,

Feedback and Criticism is always appreciated.