The Story of Fleur Delacour - 7
"normal" - conversation in English
"italic" - conversation in French/Bulgarian/foreign language
italic - thought
She failed. She had to bail out. She only lasted fifteen minutes into the Second Task. Those nasty grindylows stopped her dead on her track.
The moment she solved the clue laid out by the Golden Egg, she could already foresee the problem. It not that she wasn't a good swimmer. Far from it. She wasn't worried about having to breath under water for a prolong period either. She knew what to do.
Her anxiety however centered around dark and gloomy places. She also disliked cold. And she feared what was hidden beneath the surface of the Black Lake.
Unfortunately for her, her fear indeed came to fruition.
And there she was, on the platform, shivering and crying. She cried for a her failure in completing the Task but most importantly, she cried because she wasn't able to save Gabriele. Madame Maxime and her friends tried to console her but to no avail.
The Hogwarts champions returned with his rescuee in about an hour. The Durmstrang champion returned a couple minutes later. At this point, she began to panic. She frantically looked around, wondering and silently pleading to anyone who would jump into the water and rescue her sister. But everyone else was too busy looking at the surface of the lake. They were waiting for someone.
They didn't have to wait long.
The moment she saw her sister, she felt as if a huge burden lifted off her shoulder. She was very happy. She was very grateful. She felt deeply indebted. And she felt remorse.
The 'false' Hogwarts champion, as she and her friends called him, was the most hated person among the Beauxbatons. She and her friends would called him a liar, A cheater. A scum. A celebrity who became so intoxicated with fame that he wanted more. Being The-Boy-Who-Lived just wasn't enough anymore. He craved more popularity. He wanted more attention. He wanted more glory. And what can be better than being a Triwizard Champion?
But this 'false' champion was the one who rescued her sister. This same person rescued Gabby when he didn't have to. The Beauxbatons delegates watched in silence as the boy pushed Gabriele out of the water and onto the platform. They listened to Dumbledore's explanation of what truly transpired when Gabrielle rescues was underway. They saw him shivering. They saw his lip turning blue. They saw him having difficulties in breathing. And yet the safety of Gabby and the red head boy was all he cared about.
No publicity craving celebrity would do such a thing.
They later found out that Gabriele wasn't really in danger, that a team of rescuers was already in place to retrieve the victim in the event of failures. Still it didn't stop them from changing their view about him. They stopped talking behind the boy's back soon thereafter. Gabby ended up having a huge crush on the boy. She couldn't stop talking about him. She even dreamt about him. As for her, she began to respect him. She even began to see him as a friend. Someone she could trust. Someone she can be loyal to.
And that was what she did. She became his friend and a loyal ally. She fought with him. She bled for him.
And it all because of what he did on morning 24th. February.
Daphne finished her story.
"You grew up, thinking that only your family and closest friends will look after you. They'll be the only one who would watch your back," she said. "I never expected that someday I'll be mistaken."
They both were sitting on Fleur's bed. All the while, Fleur listened with rapt attention. She held both her cousin's hands throughout the story telling.
"Through the years spent you lived a sheltered life. You thought that the world was never going to change. You believe that the world is going to get you," Daphne continued. "You stop believing that there are decent people out there. They never existed. They're just a myth. And then one day, he appears. And your world came tumbling down. The next thing you know, you questioned your own belief."
There was a pause.
"I never thought that-"
At this point, Daphne couldn't continue. She could only looked down, not willing to meet Fleur's eyes.
"Never thought of what?" Fleur asked gently.
But Daphne kept quiet.
"Daphne?" Fleur kept on prodding. She had a hunch. All she needed right at that moment was confirmation.
Daphne sighed. She bit her lip. Her face. Her expression, it looked as if she was in pain. Not a physical pain mind you, but more of an emotional pain. Something was bottling inside of her.
Fleur could see it.
It took a while-
"Did you know that Harry never see me as a friend?" asked Daphne moments later.
"I didn't know that," answered Fleur. "But I can see why. You're a Slytherin and he is a Gryffindor. I think you realize that too."
Daphne scoffed at that. She got off the bed, walked a few distance from Fleur and turned back to face her cousin.
"Your husband told you that?!" said Daphne, making an air quote when she spoke the word husband to Fleur. "I thought people when they get older they'll be more mature. They'll stop with this 'because you're in different houses in Hogwart so we can't be friends' nonsense eventually."
"If you must know, Harry and Draco Malfoy do become friends once they reach adulthood. It wasn't an easy friendship mind you but yes, they became friends," said Fleur. "On second thought, maybe acquaintanceship is a better word."
"Acquaintanceship," muttered Daphne. Her fierce expression softened and replaced by genuine sadness. She walked back towards the bed and sat beside Fleur. She stared down at her hands now resting on her lap. "Perhaps that's what Harry will always thought of me. An acquaintance. Nothing more than that."
"You never care about such a thing before, Daphne," Fleur pointed out. "Why now?"
Daphne didn't reply at first. She continued to stare down at her hands.
"Maybe I do care. Maybe I always care. Maybe I just chose not to show it," replied Daphne softly. She then slowly looked up. Her green eyes met Fleur's blue ones.
"Is it wrong, Fleur? Is it wrong for me wanting to be part of someone's life?" she asked.
Fleur went silent for she truly didn't have any answer for that.
The clock kept on ticking. Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes turned into hours. Fleur found herself unable to sleep that night. Laying on the bed, she stared at the ceiling for the past couple of hours. The conversation she had earlier kept on replaying inside her head.
One thing for sure, she wasn't the only one who was still awake.
Next morning...
They left the carriage early. Daphne parted ways with Beauxbatons once they reached the Entrance Hall. She headed straight towards the dungeon. There was no exchange of words between her and Fleur that morning. Luckily for Fleur, her friends failed to notice that.\
There weren't many people within the Great Hall when they entered. Fleur took a glance at the Gryffindor table. Harry wasn't there yet and neither was his friends.
Camille suddenly nudged her on her shoulder. "Your admirer is here," she whispered.
She turned to look.
There, waiting at the Ravenclaw Table was Roger Davies. And he had a bouquet of red roses in his hand.
To be continued...
A/n: Not exactly an ending to a chapter that I had in mind but I guess this will have to do. For now that is.
Work, health scares and my laptop giving up on me were among the reason I'm unable to write. Yeah I know it has been more than a year since the last time I update but I really couldn't do anything about it.
This chapter is supposed to be 20+k words long. My initial plan was to wrap up Fleur's side of the story in this chapter and proceed with Harry in the next chapter. Given everything that happened, that would be impossible. There'll be huge changes in the layout of the story. I need something to make my life a little bit easier.
Follow if you still want to follow. Leave if you think otherwise. Further author notes will only be written if needed.