COUGH COUGH SURPRISE ANNIVERSARY DOUBLE POST! HERE WE GO!
The Observers - To the Sky and Wind
Fleur Deaclour tried her best to keep from flinching as she walked through the halls of Beauxbaton. The jealous glare of the girls, and the lustful gaze of the boys normally would have slid off her back like water, but after the disaster that was the Triwizard Tournament, her nerves had been shot, and apparently, so had her control of her allure.
It was a blessing whenever she met someone who was oblivious to it. Like William, who had taken the time to teach her English while she in turn taught him French during their dates. And Harry, who never really asked for anything in return for the good deeds he had done. And strangely enough that Malfoy boy. And speaking of the Malfoys...
Fleur came to a halt in front of an ornate door, white as snow, carvings that resembled a gust of wind decorating it. Knocking the door, she announced, "Professor Malfoy? It's Fleur!"
"Ciel will you stop bugging me about England?! Fleur? You may come in!"
Fleur giggled when she walked into the room, spotting her brown haired, blue eyed, underclassman pouting petulantly at the young, blond and equally blue-eyed professor that was his cousin.
"'Lius, I'm telling you we need to move to England soon!" Ciel Malfoy continued, "You've seen signs of the World reawakening, England is going to be in the centre of it!"
"Ciel, I can't simply drop everything at once, quit my job here and move to England for your sake. And you know perfectly well the main branch of the family won't welcome us," Aeolius Malfoy replied, not looking up from his paperwork. A flick of his hand sent a gust of wind to shut the open door to his office.
It was one thing that always astounded Fleur. The sheer control over wind her former professor had, wandlessly commanding it to do his will.
Aeolius Malfoy, unlike his British relatives, was well respected in the French Wizarding Community not because of his money or his blood status, but because of his skill in magic. A Mastery in both DADA and Healing by the time he had turned 20, he was most well-known for his complete control over wandlessly and silently cast offensive wind magic and healing magic. Calm, cool and collected, he was the role model for all young French wizards, and held the title of Most Eligible Bachelor among the French witches.
Ciel Malfoy, on the other hand, was Aeolius' adorable little cousin. Cheerful, kind, and surprisingly competitive when it came to Quidditch, everyone loved Ciel for the simple fact that he was the light of Beauxbaton. He made friends with everyone, even those who would normally be his enemies. Sure, Ciel wasn't that good of a student when it came to written assessments, but he always made up for it with his sheer skill in practical assignments.
Ciel was also surprisingly good at elemental manipulation, for someone who, from what she knew, had a neutral affinity, unlike his wind aligned cousin. Fleur herself was of the fire affinity thanks to her Veela heritage, and even then, her ability to manipulate her natural element seemed less controlled compared to the unaligned Ciel.
Other than that, both were some of the few in Beauxbaton to not be affected by her allure. She treated Ciel like a second sibling, and Ciel in return did the same, and played with Gabrielle whenever her little sister visited. Aeolius was a confidant she could always go to whenever things got too exhausting in class.
(Ciel had also been the first and only male to ever ask to be her friend. Honestly, the rather innocent and sunny child had approached her out of the blue during his first year and his fifth year to ask just that, completely ignoring the allure, to the astonishment of everyone around her. She would have fallen for him if it weren't for the fact that Ciel had confided in her about his feelings for someone else.)
"Anyways, welcome back Fleur. I'm surprised you aren't at home with your sister for Christmas," Aeolius hummed, as he looked up to properly greet her. "Is something the matter?"
And he saw through her as always. Ciel on the other hand was grinning, "I heard from Gabrielle that you found some English gentleman who wasn't affected by your allure and liked you!"
Fleur huffed, "Ciel, why did you have to give it away?"
His blue eyes shone with delight, "Well, considering this person saw through your allure to see the beautiful heart you hold, I don't see the problem!"
Hearing the compliment Ciel gave made her blush. She was really blessed to have met William.
Aeolius smiled, "I'm guessing that you're here to ask me to teach you English?"
Fleur blushed, "Yes. I wish to be able to properly converse with him when I return to England, and to show him how much I improved."
Ciel blinked, "You're returning to England?"
She nodded, "The Minister said it was to improve the relationship between the French and English. Why do you ask?"
"You heard what I said earlier, right?" Fleur nodded, and Ciel continued, "I was telling Aeolius that we needed to move to England soon."
"Yes. I was wondering, what exactly are the reasons you need to head to England so soon?" she asked.
"Well... One of the reasons was the events that occurred during the Triwizard Tournament. The other was because of the news about new magical creatures appearing, which is rather worrying. But the truth is..." Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Ciel answered with a nervous grin, "Riku is somewhere in England right now."
"What," Aeolius said with a blank face.
'Riku? Is that the name of Ciel's...' Fleur frowned, "I thought you've been trying to contact him for years and it hasn't been working?"
His cousin started looking panicked, "Ciel, what did you do?"
"Umm... I just wrote my yearly Christmas letter to Riku? And Arthur came back without the letter for once? And the letter has a tracking charm?" Ciel responded nervously, bracing himself for his cousin's reaction.
"CIEL!" and her Professor reacted as expected.
"Aeolius, please!" Ciel begged. "Riku's going to be in the middle of whatever mess that will happen in England! You know he's going to need all the help he can get!"
Aeolius sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Look Ciel, I know you want to find Riku. I know. But as I said earlier, unless the main family has had a change of heart, we don't have allies in England we can stay with."
"But-!" Ciel protested.
"At least wait till the end of the school year, Ciel," Aeolius said, causing Ciel to blink in surprise. "I'm not saying that you can't go to England. I'm asking for you to give me time to request for a transfer for you, as well as to find you lodgings."
"So… you'll let me go to England next year?" Ciel's eyes widened into puppy eyes.
Fleur laughed as she watched Aeolius groaned a yes to the compromise and Ciel jump up and down cheering. It seemed like she would have someone she knew in England with her next year. The fires of her heart burned with delight, knowing that her junior will finally reunite with this Riku after so long.
She wondered, however, why the letter never reached Riku for all those years. And what had Ciel been referring to when he said the world was awakening.
Shaking her head, Fleur smiled. Even if her instincts screamed at her that the balance of the world had tipped, that the epicentre would be in England, it didn't matter. Somehow, seeing the sky-blue eyes filled with hope and glint in happiness over the news that he would be able to see his friend again, was enough to give her hope that everything would turn out alright.
Fun fact, while typing up this Observer chapter, Aeolius's nickname Lius, for some hilarious reason, got misstyped as Liusy, Liusiosois and others mainly due to a glitching out keyboard (May use them in the future. Particularly Liusy).
And another fun fact: To be honest – I forgot I wrote an observers chapter for Fleur much earlier, in fact it was two years ago. This one I wrote as I was writing Chapter 23. I ended up having to pick between the two versions I wrote. This one is more direct, while the other was a little subtler with its introductions. I… prefer this one for being a bit sillier. And for an anniversary chapter, I felt it should be a bit more light-hearted.
You probably guessed, this is the chapter where I introduce the names of the FINAL pair of reincarnations that everyone should be familiar with! I hope everyone is surprised by the heritage of these two! These past two chapters were not exactly plot relevant, but it was somewhat needed. As the events of Book Five start drawing to a close in the second semester, I needed to start preparing for events in the 6th Book. Hence the introduction here.
Fleur is interesting to write. Being a quarter Veela isn't fun. You have to deal with the jealousy of the girls and the lust of the boys. Finding someone who loved her for who she was AKA finding William/Bill, was pure luck, especially since if she never became the Beuaxbaton champion, she would never have met the Weasley Clan in the third task.
I hope this little surprise chapter made your day! Happy Valentine's Day as well! Leave a review before you go and I thank you for reading!
Kiri Kaitou Clover
(Oh gosh I just realised the irony of me posting a chapter on Fleur and Sora on Valentine's Day of all days)