Author's Note: Welcome to part five of A Life by the Sea which is also my entry to the Harry/Fleur discord server Anniversary Collection. This is a first for me as this is the first time I will be uploading an incomplete story. Normally I upload the entire story all at once, but given the planned length for this fic and the time constraints of the collection, I decided to upload each chapter as it is completed. The entire fic has been planned out in great detail, it will be six chapters long and a chapter should be uploaded every ten days or so.
That said, I never would have gotten even this far if it were not for the support of many people over on the Harry/Fleur Discord server, the link to which will be at the end along with a fanfic recommendation. Thanks to DaveAthenai, Charlennette, and x102reddragon in particular for inspiring me and encouraging me to write these stories. If you enjoy the story please leave a comment telling me what you think worked and what didn't. Your feedback is crucial in helping me to get better as an author.
The Angel of the Sea:
Chapter One
Fleur's knuckles brushed lightly over the surface of the door, hesitating. She bit her lip, frowning slightly before shaking her head. She pulled the hand back and then knocked firmly three times on the red-painted wood. She heard movement from behind the door and squared her shoulders, putting on a mask of confidence. The door began to open… and then stopped dead as it caught on a still locked chain.
"Merde," muttered Aimeé Beaucourt from the other side.
Fleur's shoulders slumped and she raised a hand to her brow in exasperation, pinching the bridge of her nose while Aimeé hurriedly re-shut the door, undid the chain, and opened it fully.
"Fleur," said Aimeé in delight, "I wasn't sure you'd come."
Fleur shook her head, her amusement at Aimeé's struggle with the door driving away any lingering doubts she had.
"And I am not sure you'll let me in now that I have."
Aimeé blushed slightly and pouted, reminding Fleur for all the world of Gabrielle, and also triggering the realization that the two were the same age.
"Yes, yes, laugh at my misfortune," grumbled Aimeé good-naturedly, "but come inside while you do so, I am so glad you decided to come."
She moved back and Fleur took the last step over the threshold into Aimeé's home. Aimeé began to move away rapidly, heading towards the parlour of the Parisian appartement and the murmur of voices and music inside. It was a cozy place, with light wood floors, yellow walls, and cream coloured ceilings. The long table that ran along the wall opposite the parlour door was dark with a rich stain, and the rest of the furniture followed the same theme. There were strings of lights hung up along the lines where the walls met the ceilings, and they glowed and buzzed with warm, faintly flickering light. Aimeé paused in front of the doorway, turning back towards Fleur and gesturing silently for her to go in, her eyes wide with excitement. Fleur smiled at her friend's antics and stepped in.
For a second she didn't recognize a single person in the room, and then she realized that they were all smiling and her mind caught up to her eyes, placing the faces of her coworkers from the Department of Experimental Magics and Artifacts. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene, focusing particularly on Christopher Laurens, who was normally so completely focused on his arithmantic equations that he hardly remembered to make any expression at all, and on his partner by the table of drinks, Jean Claude Fournier, who was commonly seen pinching the airways of his sinuses closed by sheer willpower as he brewed his experimental potions. The two of them were laughing hysterically, Fournier even doubled over, leaning on the table for support as Laurens continued to struggle through his tale.
"A-and, and then," Laurens said between bouts of hysteria, "when the colour changing solution was suspended in the matrix and the flame ignited below, it blew up immediately!"
The Parisian native wizard's normally rich and smooth voice was broken up by the laughter struggling to escape from his chest.
"Splashed everywhere," gasped Fournier, "Christopher's perfect hair splattered into disaster, and his whole body covered in rainbows."
"Mind you, so was the entire laboratory so I was in good company," said Laurens with a grin.
"True enough," Fournier responded. "And you know the best part of all," he said, leaning forward and barely containing his giggles, "When Delacour came running at the sound and found us in the state she wasn't even surprised, said she'd known it would happen as soon as our report came across her desk."
"Didn't even mention it to us," said Laurens in mock despair, "Not an ounce of consideration at all."
"On the contrary, I simply assumed that two such well experienced masters of their fields would have enough sense not to need my supervision, young as I am."
The two men spun round to face Fleur with slack jaws as she spoke, walking towards them with a smile.
"Oho," said Laurens, "I do believe we have been called old my dear friend."
"I think you may be right Christopher, and irresponsible as well," returned Fournier in mock outrage.
"Oh come on you old fossils, you're like a pair of toddlers when you get together and you know it." Said Aimeé, walking up to stand beside Fleur.
"Toddlers with over a hundred years of experience between us," said Laurens in faux haughtiness. "No respect at all for their elders is there, not among your wild generation."
"Respect must be earned, Christopher. You wouldn't have us give out our admiration to just anyone, perhaps a charlatan on the streets?" asked Fleur, smiling broadly.
Laurens clutched his chest and staggered exaggeratedly, "You wound me my dear, I shall never be the same after hearing such harsh rebukes. Jean Claude, my friend and compatriot, rescue me from these witches with their sharp tongues and winging words!"
Fournier, who had been beside himself with laughter, pulled himself together and wrapped an arm around the slightly taller man's shoulder, leading him away in mock defeat while the rest of their coworkers looked on in hysterics. Aimeé held a hand to her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle her giggles as she watched them go, and the crowd dispersed she leaned back against the table, reaching over to pick up a glass of white wine, the laughter not fully dead as she brought it up to her lips, taking a sip and shaking her head.
"Oh it's been awhile since you got going with those two, I'd forgotten just how funny it could be."
Fleur picked up a glass of her own, smiling bittersweetly as she relaxed into the table beside the younger woman. "I think I had forgotten too, it has been so long."
Aimeé's smile melted away fully, lost in thought as she cast her mind backwards. "A whole year, I think, since Charles left us."
Fleur shook her head, the bittersweet smile still fixed in place, "Not until tomorrow."
"Are you sure? I could've sworn it was today," said Aimeé with a frown.
"Oui, tomorrow is my wedding anniversary."
Aimeé's eyes widened and her head whipped round to face her, smiling wide.
"Really, oh that's wonderful, but," Aimeé frowned, her mind processing what Fleur had said, "But that would mean… Oh, last year, oh I'm so sorry. It was bad enough already, but on your anniversary, and I know how much it affected you, and-"
"Aimeé," Fleur cut her off, "it is fine."
She frowned, scowling down at the floor, and Fleur turned to look at her fully
"Look at me," she did so, "it is fine, it is in the past, I have let it go." Fleur felt oddly giddy saying it aloud, it was true.
Aimeé scowled for a moment before she sighed and the tension went out of her features, her shoulders slumped.
"Alright, I just find it hard to do the same when I keep hearing about new ways he ruined things for you." Aimeé looked away, "You've helped me a lot, Fleur, and it upsets me when you get hurt."
Fleur opened her mouth in slight uncertainty, not having expected her to say that. A warm feeling grew in her chest, and she stepped forward and wrapped one arm around the other woman, pulling her into a short but heartfelt embrace. Aimeé let out a slight eep as Fleur hugged her, and her eyes were wide as she let her go.
"Thank you, Aimeé."
"You're welcome," squeaked Aimeé, blushing crimson.
Fleur laughed, lighter and more freely than she had in a long time, and took another sip of her wine. "Forget about that for now, let us enjoy the party." Aimeé nodded quickly and stood up from where she was leaning against the table, walking forward to rejoin the festivities with Fleur following close behind.
The party lasted for another hour and a half, the beginning of the end being signalled by the departure of Laurens and Fournier as the gregarious duo took all their gravitas with them. Before long, Fleur was the only one left in the house, quietly sipping a glass of water and looking out the window as Aimeé saw Carol-Anne Moreau out the door.
"That went better than I expected."
Fleur arched an eyebrow, looking at Aimeé from the corner of her eye, "Oh, expecting trouble?"
Aimeé shrugged. "Not in particular, I just wasn't expecting our coworkers to be so lively."
A smile tugged at the corner of Fleur's lips. "That would be Christopher and Jean Claude's doing."
"Yes, and what a surprise that was," said Aimeé. "They're usually so serious."
"They are professionals in a dangerous field, but that hardly means they cannot have fun."
Aimeé hummed in agreement, joining Fleur in staring out the window. For a time they said nothing, both looking out over the small strip of Parisian skyline visible over the small park across the street. Aimeé broke the silence, sighing and pulling away as Fleur finished her drink.
"Well, I suppose it's time for you to be getting home now," she smirked, "we wouldn't want to deprive you of Harry's cooking after all."
Fleur shook her head dramatically and groaned. "Must you always speak of food," she asked rhetorically, leaning her head back to stare at the ceiling in despair. "Your focus on the carnal was understandable enough for your age, but this obsession with my husband's cooking will ruin you for all time."
Fleur shook her head sadly, studiously ignoring Aimeé's snickers.
"I have created a monster," she finished dramatically.
"Well, perhaps if you were inclined to share your precious delights each day I would not be so obsessed," Aimeé said airily. "After all, the heart craves what it cannot have."
"Oh, is that so? Perhaps I should share then, or perhaps not. Perhaps I should withhold it completely lest you gain a taste and decide to steal Harry away for yourself to cook for you every day."
She grinned at the rapid transitions of Aimeé's features, shifting rapidly from hope, to despair, to spluttering embarrassment.
"I would understand it if you tried," she continued, "I certainly would not wish to part with so grand a prize, but I am afraid you will encounter stiff resistance, the worst of which will not come from me."
Aimeé had regained control of herself by then and had adopted a curious look at Fleur's pronouncement.
"Really, and who would my greatest opposition come from then if not you?"
"Isabelle," Fleur said, immediately. "She would hunt you to the ends of the earth to get her father back, and his cooking."
Aimeé's face had lit up as soon as Fleur said her daughter's name, and it had softened into an expression normally reserved for puppies and small kittens playing with feathers or scraps of string as she went on.
"She sounds amazing."
"She is," Fleur agreed, smiling softly. Something occurred to her then, and she was oddly surprised by the realization.
"You've never met my family, have you?"
Aimeé tilted her head in curiosity as she looked at Fleur in mild surprise. "Not really, no. I saw Harry give a speech a few years ago but we didn't meet personally, and none of the kids have been in the parlour on the times when I've floo-called you. Why do you ask?"
She considered for a moment, turning the past two and a half years of friendship over and over in her head, but if anyone had earned her trust like this then it was her.
"Would you like to?"
Aimeé froze, stepping back in shock as she stared at Fleur wide-eyed.
"You're serious, really serious? I mean, of course you are, you wouldn't say something like that if your weren't, it's just that I know how seriously you and Harry are about your family's safety and I know that you have to be careful about who they meet and I never would have thought, never expected, I mean, I just work with you and-"
"Aimeé," Fleur cut her off as she began to ramble, smiling at her nervousness even as a strange excitement began to filter through her own being. "Yes or no."
Aimeé stopped, seemingly rooted to the spot and all but vibrating with repressed energy before she squeaked out a yes that was barely audible from how high pitched it was.
"Well then, shall we go?"
Aimeé goggled at her. "Now," she finally said.
Fleur laughed. "Why not now? Harry and I are going away tomorrow for a week and the children will be in Britain with family, there will hardly be a better time in the near future."
Aimeé's mouth opened and closed uselessly for a few seconds before she finally squeaked out an answer.
"Okay."
~0~
They appeared with a sharp crack on the dirt lane leading up from the gate to the front door. The sun was low to the west, just above the horizon, its light blocked by the olive grove. It was quiet, the background hum of Paris cut like a thread and replaced by the soft murmur of the breeze and the crash of waves on far away rocks, and the only sounds produced by living creatures other than them were the low hum of insects and the cry of a distant gull. The presence of the moment was shattered by Aimeé as she stumbled while settling on the uneven ground, barely catching herself by grabbing onto Fleur's arm and almost bringing her down too.
Both of them let out sounds of surprise as they struggled to stay upright, Fleur's a gasp and Aimeé's an undignified, "Eep!" Aimeé let go of Fleur's arm after a second, holding out her arms like a trapeze to steady herself as she stood perfectly still. Fleur cocked a hip to one side and crossed her arms, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow in amusement.
"Are you finished?"
Aimeé glared at her.
Fleur chuckled softly and shook her head, setting off up the lane with a smile on her face as her friend grumbled along in her wake. The grumbling ceased, however, as they rounded the olive grove and the house came into view. Fleur had never walked this path at this time of day before, and she found herself agreeing with Aimeé's stunned silence.
The setting sun to the east cast a sharp, golden light upon everything in front of them. The house was rimmed in gold to the right and in purple shadow to the left, the countless diamond-shaped windowpanes reflected the light and seemed to glow like fire, the trellises of herbs and vegetables on either side of the lane were lit up in a rosy glow, and they cast long shadows which reached across the bare earth and left a path of shadowed darkness leading to the door between the golden seas of vine and fruit, and all was set to a heavenly horizon, the flames of the sun painting the western sky in bright orange fading to red, pink, and deep purple, the first stars shining brightly down from the western horizon.
"This is where you live?" Aimeé whispered, moving to stand by her side.
Fleur smiled, a tight warmth welling up in her chest as she caught sight of movement through one of the windows to the parlour on the western side.
"This is my home."
They moved quietly up the lane, neither wanting to break the spell of silence that held them in the beauty of the moment. As they approached the door the sun finally dipped completely behind the horizon, the day giving way to the peace of night as the golden light of the sun was replaced by the warm glow emanating from behind the threshold. The door opened with a gentle creak of hinges, the warm air inside welcoming them from the chill of the sea breeze as they stepped from cold stone to warm wood. Aimeé peered past Fleur in nervous excitement, practically vibrating with anticipation, and then Isabelle ran into the corridor and saw them.
Fleur crouched and held out her arms, and Isabelle darted into her embrace with a shout of, "Maman!" hugging her fiercely and babbling about her day. Fleur felt a life and energy fill her that was always missing whenever she was away from her family, and she looked over at Aimeé and smiled. Aimeé was standing open-mouthed with the same expression of awe that she had worn when looking at the sunset, beholding the pure joy of the union between mother and child. It was then that Isabelle noticed their guest, going very still and quiet, and holding Fleur tighter, burying her face in her mother's shoulder to hide from the stranger in their midst. Fleur hummed and pulled back slightly, smiling at her daughter and looking at her eye to eye.
"This is Aimeé, my friend from work. She wanted to meet you and I brought her here so she could."
Isabelle's eyes widened, and she stared up at Aimeé in excitement before becoming shy again and hiding behind Fluer once more. Fleur chuckled and gestured for Aimeé to join them. She did so, crouching and moving a bit closer but not coming too close.
"Hello Isabelle," she said with a smile. "Your maman has told me a lot about you and I'm so excited to meet you."
Isabelle mumbled something into Fleur's shoulder, too quiet to make out.
"What was that, dear?" Fleur prompted, pulling back a bit to expose Isabelle's face once more.
"You're very pretty," Isabelle mumbled towards Aimeé, just barely intelligible. She then darted forward and hugged Aimeé with sudden force before running away back down the hall, turning left towards her room.
Fleur looked in the direction her daughter had gone with a look of mild surprise on her face, though it was tempered by amusement. "It seems she likes you," she said, straightening up and turning back to Aimeé with a soft smile on her face.
Aimeé was also staring after Isabelle, her eyes soft, and a gentle smile on her open lips. "She's so adorable," she said, finally turning to look back at Fleur with an awestruck expression.
"Yes, she is."
Harry's voice came from down the hall, and Fleur's smile widened at the same time that Aimeé let out a sound of surprise and froze like a deer caught in bright light. "Harry Potter," she squeaked, staring at her husband with wide eyes. Fleur felt more than saw Harry's growing discomfort, and she found herself oddly disappointed. She had honestly thought this wouldn't happen. Aimeé floundered for several seconds of increasing awkwardness, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, before finally getting something intelligible past her lips.
"You make really good sandwiches."
Fleur blinked in surprise, caught utterly off guard by the seeming non-sequitur. Aimeé blushed furiously, refusing to meet either of their eyes and beginning to babble an increasingly high pitched stream of words.
"Fleur brings them into lunch every day and they always look so good, not that you only make sandwiches, I mean, you made her soup last week and it looked really good and I wanted to try it and Fleur let me taste it and it was amazing and all your food is amazing and I wish I someone as good as you making my lunches all the time and I just really like your cooking and-"
"Aimeé, breathe," Harry cut in, his laughter audible in the way he was struggling to speak coherently.
"Okay," she squeaked.
Fleur was struggling not to laugh as well, though she was also rubbing the bridge of her nose in fond exasperation.
Harry stepped forward and held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you Ms Beaucourt, Fleur has told me so much about you." Aimeé nodded and shook his hand, still not speaking and blushing furiously. "I'm afraid you've missed James," Harry continued, "Andromeda and Teddy left with him just a few minutes before you arrived, though Isabelle won't be picked up until tomorrow morning. Would you like to stay for tea?"
Aimeé, who had been nodding along to everything Harry said so far, smiled enthusiastically before frowning. "Yes of course! Eugh, that is, I mean no, because I still have to clean up from the party, and then I have to go to sleep because I need to go in for a project tomorrow, and, eugh…" she trailed off lamely.
Harry smiled pleasantly, giving her hand one more shake and smiling warmly. "It's no trouble, we'll just have to have tea another time, or coffee if you prefer," he added, seeing her nose scrunch up slightly at the mention of the British beverage.
Aimeé smiled brightly, still blushing slightly from embarrassment. "Yes, that sounds delightful. I'll, eugh, just be going then." She gestured vaguely behind her as she spoke, towards the door, and moved awkwardly backwards smiling all the way. Just before she left she locked eyes with Fleur, mouthing a silent, "Thank you," before disappearing out the door. Fleur smiled after her, watching her start walking towards the gate as the door swung shut in her wake.
"She's nice," said Harry, "reminds me of Gabrielle."
Fleur let out a breath of laughter and nodded, looking over to where Harry was standing with an amused look on his face. He turned away from the door and began heading towards Isabelle's room with Fleur close behind. She watched from the doorway as Harry tucked her in, kissing her gently on the forehead and brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face as he pulled the covers up to her chin.
"Goodnight Isabelle," he whispered, "sweet dreams."
Harry moved to stand with Fleur in the doorway and she pulled one of his arms to her chest, wrapping herself around it, laying her head down on his shoulder, and tucking into the hollow of his neck. The two of them watched the slow rise and fall of their daughter's chest under the blankets, listening to the music of her steady breathing and wondering at how they had something so pure.
"I wish she could stay like this forever," Fleur whispered.
"What, and miss out on all the fun?"
She snorted, "You will not be saying that when we have to start fireproofing the entire house in a year or two."
Harry huffed in amusement, trailing off as Fleur didn't join in. "Will it really be that bad?"
Fleur shrugged. "It varies, but we are passionate beings. The extremes are always greater with Veela, both good and bad." Harry let out a displeased grunt and Fleur pulled back from her comfortable place on his shoulder, arching an eyebrow and looking him in the eye. "What is the matter, Mister Potter, are you not up to the task of raising a Veela?" she said, putting a challenging gleam in her eye.
Harry smirked, turning to face her and sweeping her into a close embrace. "Not at all, Mrs. Potter, you know how legendarily terrible I am with women. But," he leaned in close, the breath of his words brushing over her lips, "I'm sure I'll do fine so long as I have you." Their lips met, the kiss short and sweet but full of meaning. Harry pulled back and moved away from the door leaving Fleur to close it, sending one last long look at their sleeping daughter as she did so.
~0~
"So, are you going to tell me what you have planned for our anniversary now?"
Harry nodded, grinning like a loon as Fleur leaned back in bed, arching an eyebrow at him expectantly.
"I bought a boat," Harry declared.
"A boat…"
"Yes."
"You bought us a boat."
"That's correct."
Fleur's face felt warm on her palm, and she groaned in exasperation.
"What kind of boat?"
"An enchanted forty four foot sailing yacht with an expanded interior, custom made by a hundred year old boatwright in Xàbia, Spain."
Fleur froze, replaying what he just said in her head, and then goggled at her husband in blank shock. Harry smiled back beatifically.
"How much-" she couldn't even finish the sentence. Harry shrugged noncommittally, "About forty thousand galleons."
"I… You… What!"
Harry's smile faded and he looked away for a moment while Fleur spluttered incoherently, then turned back to face her with a sad expression on his face.
"I don't use my money, Fleur."
She stopped speaking, the whiplash of confusion and incredulity still playing through her brain, but the seriousness of Harry's voice brought her back to earth.
"I have a lot of it. I have what my parents left me, I have what Sirius left me, I even have the gold of the Death Eaters whose assets defaulted to the Blacks' after they were killed and eventually came to me," He raked a hand through his unruly hair and lay down beside her on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Hell, I didn't think much of it at the time but my investment in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes brings in more money than I know what to do with all on its own."
He turned to look her in the eye, his eyes drooping and face sagging with exhaustion. "And that's just it, Fleur, I don't know what to do with it. I tried investing to secure Teddy, James, and Isabelle's futures financially, and that lasted just as long as it took for me to realize that they could spend ten galleons a day and never run out. I tried philanthropy, but the wizarding world is small and bigoted. There aren't many needs that can be addressed with charity, and half of those are directly illegal to address because they help people that those in power don't want to acknowledge. Hell, we don't even spend much money because we grow most of our own food, and the rest of our expenses are covered by your salary. No matter what I do I seem to end up with more and more gold collecting in my vaults, just sitting there uselessly."
He stopped talking for a while, and Fleur could almost see the gears turning in his head.
"I don't want to grow old and grey with a dusty dragon's hoard, I'd rather die without a knut to my name than pass on to the next great adventure having more money than I know what to do with and having never shared a bit."
He smiled wryly, looking her in the eye again rolling onto his side to face her fully.
"So yeah, I bought a boat. I bought a boat and I left it in Spain, and I had it stocked with supplies, and I made reservations at ports and cities along the Spanish coast between here and Xàbia. And tomorrow I intend to take you to that boat and sail us back home along the coast, stopping at every marvel along the way, showing you the little slice of the world that we see out our back door and bringing back the wonder that used to fill your eyes with every sunrise and set because it's been far too long since you smiled like you were free."
Harry leaned forward and kissed her gently, first on the lips and then the forehead, and he pulled her into a tight embrace, whispering in her ear, "I'd trade every galleon I have for a second of your happiness, Fleur, so let me do this for you. Let me take you away for a journey on a magic boat, let me leave your worries behind, let me show you the world," he paused, pressing his forehead to hers and looking deep into her eyes. "Let me make you smile again."
Her mouth felt dry and her arms felt weak, and as she stared unblinking into his eyes she found no doubt lurking there, nothing to disrupt the pure and unyielding intent of his plea, only love.
"Okay," she whispered.
He smiled and, even though they were lying in bed in a dark room with the blinds closed, to Fleur, it lit up the world.
AN: Thank you for reading. If you liked the story then please leave a comment telling me what you think worked and what didn't. Your feedback is crucial to helping me improve as an author and is always appreciated. Also, I recently discovered that embedding links in things is more complicated than I thought, so the links for the server and the fanfic rec will be more complicated as well. For each one, get rid of the spaces and they should work.
Harry/Fleur Discord Server: discord . gg/6EdQrSUjTB
Fanfic Recommendation: Touched by the Arcane by lisbeth00, it might not be obvious at first but I am an avid fan of the Soulsborne franchise of games and this is the best crossover I have ever read between one of those games and any other media. It is an ongoing crossover between Bloodborne and HP with an amazing Fem!Harry Protagonist and it is thoroughly worth reading.
Www . fanfiction s/ 13587308/ 1/ Touched-by-the-Arcane