A/N: This was my first fic. Ever. As in, I posted this ten days after getting this account last April (ack!). But now it's back to haunt you all! And maybe revenge the sickening SIX reviews it got! This is a (fictional) account of Fleur Delacour's like (that I made up). It's written in the first person - as though Fleur is talking.
Disclaimer: The lovely Fleur Delacour belongs to J.K. Rowling. Hehe…
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The Life of Fleur Delacour
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'Ello. My name is Fleur Veblatour Delacour. I am trusting zat you English folk may become disgruntled by my accent, so I have politely requested zat my editors remove ze obtained flourishes.
I am from France. My grandmother was a veela, which is why I have such physical features. Regular veela characteristics include very long, silver hair and rather striking facial features.
Being even part veela is difficult. Hundreds of years ago, veelas were praised and accepted into most societies. In France, all-Veela villages were quite common. However, a group of highly regarded politicians from Turkestan hated the Veelas. Nobody knows why....some say they were envious of our beauty and charisma. Others note that France's War of the Wizards in 1593 included the mass murdering of all French veelas, and that those beliefs had now carried over. Nonetheless, this rather large group of witches and wizards were called Anti-Veelians. France's Magic Offices were so offended by these protestations and rebellions that they forced the Anti-Veelians to either change their beliefs or be killed. As a result, Living Death-Men, or dementors, as you English call them, were set upon many Anti's. They no longer exist. However, there are still people who seemed to be offended by our natures. Which is why there are so few of us. And I am part-veela, so I am susceptible to segregations and ethnic diversions. Now for my story.
I grew up in a Veelian village named Svyladia. The village was very tiny, and we all kept to ourselves, avoiding contact with the outside world. The houses usually held two or three Veelian families. No men. Men who marry veelas always die at a young age; they say it has something to do with having sexual intercourse with a veela. See, my grandmother married a normal man. Together they had my mother, who was 3/4 veela. Then when she and my now-deceased father had me, I turned out to be half veela. It was so warm and welcoming in Svyladia....I miss the act of turning around and seeing masses of silver-haired girls.
Dancing is the main part of veelian culture. Veelas feel very praised when they are asked to dance at special events, such as the Quidditch World Cup. I lived with my grandmother, Alia, my younger sister, Gabrielle, and Grestan, my mother. My mother died of the influenza when I was only eight, so my grandmother, sister and I continued to live with another family. They were a mother and daughter, who was exactly my age. Her name was Deloncre. I shall never forget her....for years we were the best of friends. And when we turned fourteen, we each received word from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic that we were to be accepted there. It was such fun, preparing for school with Deloncre and all my friends. We traveled there by carriage, and when we arrived, we were in great awe. Our school was a big, white, pointed building. There we learned so much....all kinds of magic and witchcraft. There was a good number of veelas there, too, and we all took a special Veela History class.
I excelled greatly in potions, as my grandmother had worked in pharmacy labs in her younger years. Her great knack of chemicals and elixirs was in my blood. However, I was horrible at charms. Many people have told me that wands with veela hair in them, as mine was, do not make for very good charm wands. There were other people there of different ethnicities. Not races such as black and Chinese, but creatures. Creatures slash humans. For example, our headmistress, her name was Olympe Maxime. All of us were very convinced she was half-giant. I later found out she was. I made a friend there called Bella. Bella's ancient ancestors were Land-Dwelling Merpeople. The point I am trying to make is that there were other beings rather than humans at Beauxbatons. A few students here and there were related to centaurs, or pixies, even.
During my last year at Beauxbatons, the seventeen- and eighteen-year old students were to go to Britain's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for an event called the Triwizard Tournament. A Bulgarian school called Durmstrang Academy would also be there. For nearly a year, we stayed at Hogwarts, which was somewhat of a dreadful place. Their academy was an actual castle, with dungeons and forests and such. Their headmaster, "Dumbledore," was a hundred-year-old fool who kept speaking as if the three schools had been friends all their lives. And the students! Many of them were loud and crude, romping through the corridors as they pleased.
It was difficult at this school, being part veela. I couldn't go anywhere without a large number of young boys gawking and gaping at me. I still remember that one boy who's eyes seemed to follow me everywhere I went. He had seemed so hypnotized by me, which was very obnoxious. I remember well his head full of flaming-orange hair, quite the rarity in France.
We had to arrive in an enormous carriage pulled by enormous horses; we wouldn't have had to if Madame Maxime hadn't been so large. In the tournament, one student from each of the schools was chosen as "champion" (why they called us champions, I do not know, for we had not won yet!) to represent their school. I was the lucky girl chosen from Beauxbatons, and a boy named Viktor Krum represented Durmstrang. He was somebody else who was always followed around. Apparently he had been a spectacular "seeker" from the Bulgaria Quidditch team. I was very unimpressed, as I have always believed Quidditch to be a boring, repulsive game. I find it uninteresting to watch a group of ugly young men fly around stupidly on broomsticks, chasing after balls that seem to have lives of their own.
The curious part of all this was the champion from Hogwarts. Or, should I say, champions. Yes, the Goblet of Fire chose two young boys from Hogwarts. The first was Cedric Diggory. Deloncre, Bella, and all my Beauxbatons friends swooned over him like he was the bloody prince of England (who, I must say, is very good-looking). I felt no attraction toward Cedric Diggory whatsoever, although he did prove to be very helpful in preparing for our tasks.
The mysterious second champion from Hogwarts was Harry Potter. Yes, we had all read of him in our History of the Dark Arts books, but I didn't think he would be so strange and quiet in person. He seemed to always be with that red-haired boy, and the ugly girl with the bushy hair (I vividly remember Tratia Goktin poking fun at her long teeth). However, Harry Potter didn't seem as surprised as the rest of us when his name came out of the Goblet.
The first task of the tournament was to get past a dragon. Lucky for me, I did not have to defeat the Hungarian Horntail, as those dragons are the most dangerous of all. Mine was a Common Welsh Green. I tried to put it into a Sleeping Trance, yet I caught fire when it snored. I got good marks, but not nearly as good as Harry Potter's, who had no trouble at all in getting past his dragon.
Later in the year, I had to rescue Gabrielle from the Hogwarts lake, where Merpeople were taking her captive. I succeeded in using a Bubble-Head Charm, yet I was attacked by grindylows on my way into the lake. I received only 25 points. The nerve of those judges! My Bubble-Head was far better than the Diggory boy's. However, I do believe I should have deserved zero. What is the use of a good charm, when I did not even retrieve my little sister?
But the Potter boy. Harry Potter. He took much of his precious time down in the lake to make sure all of the hostages got back safely, including my sister. I must say that Gabrielle owes her life to him.
During the 3rd task, I had to get through a complex maze made of hedges. The Triwizard Cup was at the end; if I succeeded, I would win. I encountered several cruel, abominable creatures; most of them I fended off well.
Quite a while after I entered the maze, I encountered Viktor Krum, the champion from Durmstrang. At that particular moment, he seemed so cruel, so ruthless; his very eyes suggested he was about to do something very terrible indeed. And he did....he put the Cruciatus Curse on me. Pain: now I know what Professor Dwangly-Hop meant when he said there was no other way to torture somebody fully, no other way except the Cruciatus Curse. I do not know to this day what provoked him to do that, but I can tell everybody that the one wish of their soul should be to never be cursed with that single word: crucio.
Because of this, I did not win. Alas, for Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory had both reached the cup at the same time. Apparently, the cup was a Station-Shifter (you English folk have named them "portkeys") and he had an encounter with You-Know-Who himself. I know none of the details, but I do know that Cedric Diggory was murdered, and Potter was made winner of the Tournament.
I would say that the Triwizard Tournament was the most exciting and interesting event I have ever took place in or observed. After this, my life became rather drab. I finished my last year at Beauxbatons, and subsequently married a young wizard there by the name of Drett Grogre.
Did you Engleesh folk enjoy ze story? I should hope so. I now live wiz my huzband, Drett, and daughter, Ranel, who iz currently studying at Beauxbatons. Gabrielle has since passed away, due to a devastatingly deadly illness. As for my best friends, Deloncre married an American, named Jonathan. Zey live in Massachusetts. Bella, when she turned 18, started experiencing changes zat were changing her into a Land-Dwelling Merwoman. Although this is a bit rare, she nonetheless lives with her family of Merpeople in the depths of Fleax Lake in Marseille. Madame Maxine is still teaching at Beauxbatons, alzough I fear she is getting old and will soon be replaced by Ranel's charms teacher, Professor Miken Bikibles.
The grandest memory of my teenage years was ze Triwizard Tournament. I know I did not win....but it does not sadden me to remember so. For I am Fleur Veblatour Delacour Grogre, and to me, anyzing is pozzible.
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A/N: Wow, now I can sort of see why I got only 6 reviews. It's not the best story, is it? Oh well…call this my tribute to Fleur, the most ass-kicking chick in the whole series! See y'all!