Chapter 17

          "What is it Fleur?" Wood asked concerned.

          "Uh…nothing." Fleur quickly answered and folded the parchment up, shoving it into her pocket.

          "Fleur let me see, are you in some kind of trouble?" Wood still persisted on.

          "No, I'm fine, I told you…" Fleur raised her voice slightly.

          "Fine, just trying to be this so called friend you refer to me as." Wood shot back.

          Wood backed away from her a little bit, with an injured expression on his face. He gripped his broomstick tightly and leaned against the dirty ancient wall by the Quidditch field. Fleur's expression suddenly changed from defensive to placid. She came towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

          "It's another guy isn't it?" Wood accused her.

          "No, it really izn't." Fleur comforted him.

          Wood looked into her eyes and saw the scared little girl coming out. Fleur's eyes looked glassy and frightened. Something was wrong, but it was obvious she wasn't willing to talk about it. Instead of bullying her about it he wanted to do what he had been thinking about for what seemed like a very long time now.

          "Oliver vhy are you looking at me like zat?" Fleur questioned suddenly noticing his direct observation of her.

          Wood said nothing but just smirked at her. Fleur giggled, taking this whole charade as a joke. She playfully pushed him and started to turn away. Wood grabbed her arm and swung her towards him. Her hair sparkled in the moonlight and framed her perfect face.

          "Oliver, what iz zis, vhat are you doing?" Fleur asked with a furrowed brow.

          Wood pulled her closer, cutting off her questions. He put a hand to her chin and lifted her face upwards. He knelt down a bit and kissed her. She seemed at first like she was going to struggle, but then became limp in his grasp. Wood held her up, gliding his hand against the small of her back. After a moment he gently let her go and she stared up at him with wide eyes.

          "You are beautiful Fleur." Wood whispered into the night air.

          Fleur straightened herself up and looked at him.

          "Oh Oliver, it'z the veela…you don't like me like zat." Fleur spoke solemnly.

          She dropped her arms at her side and kicked lightly at the ground.

          "No Fleur, you don't understand. It's not just what you look like. I love how you are witty and you never take shit from me. I love the way you wake up in the morning with your hair all tussled. I love the way you look at me with those eyes of yours. I didn't realize it at first, but now I know I definitely fancy you." Wood explained placing his hands on her arms.

          "Oliver don't zay zuch zings…" Fleur said looking away from him.

          "But I mean them Fleur, I do!" He exclaimed and gently brought her face back towards him.

          "Oliver I can't talk about zis right now." Fleur spoke with tears in her eyes.

          "But…" Wood started.

          Before he could finish Fleur pulled away from him and ran off into the night. Wood stood and watched her leave him. He couldn't figure out what was wrong, it wasn't normal for a girl to cry when a guy expressed their feelings out to them. At least not any girl he had ever known.

          Fleur gasped for air as she entered Hogwarts. She stopped to catch her breath and wiped the tears from her now rosy cheeks. Fleur tried to compose herself and began to walk up the stairs with more ease. She would write to Madam Maxime as soon as she reached her room.

          Fleur entered the darkened Gryffindor Common Room and found solace in the silence. She slowly opened the door to the girl's dormitories and saw no one was there as well. Fleur wondered where everyone could have disappeared to but dismissed the thought as she had more important things to accomplish.

          Fleur sat on the periwinkle seat and pulled out her powder pink stationary. She dipped her quill and began to write. She knew what she was going to do now; it was her only option for the meantime so as not to hurt any of her friends at Hogwarts. Fleur only hoped that it would set well with Madam Maxime for at least a week.

          Madam Maxime,

I have been enjoying the lovely landscapes and diverse culture of Hogwarts. The people here have shown me a lot of hospitality. Unfortunately since I have followed your advice on not making connections with anyone, I have yet to receive a sufficient amount of information for you. I suppose that with some more time I will gather much more, I could possibly work on Dumbledore. He is bound to let slip names of potential Tri-Wizard Champions and possible tasks. So I am sure future messages will be better.

                                      Sincerely,

                                                Fleur Delacour

          Fleur carefully folded the letter and placed it in a tan envelope. She gathered herself up and headed to the owlery. Fleur found that George, Fred, Hermione, and Harry had arrived to the Common Room while she had been writing.

          "Hey Fleur, where you off to?" Fred asked.

          "Oh the owlery, I have to send a letter to my sister." Fleur smiled.

          "Oh, I can walk ya up there if you would like." Harry offered.

          "No, ztay you just got back. I'm zure you're rather tired and I have been zere before. Not to vorry."

          "Okay." Harry agreed and slid next to Hermione on the couch.

          Fleur gave them all one last grin and then headed out. She climbed the gray steps to the owlery and found Hedwig sitting comfortably on her perch. Hedwig became excited when she saw Fleur though; she swooped down and landed on Fleur's shoulder. Fleur smiled and gently pet the bird's beak.

          "Can you take a letter for me Hedwig?" Fleur wondered aloud softly.

          As if Hedwig understood, she nipped lovingly at Fleur's finger. Fleur placed the letter in Hedwig's mouth and watched as Hedwig soared out into the sky.

          "Sending mail huh?" A voice suddenly broke Fleur's trance.

          Fleur turned around and saw Ron standing there with Pig zooming around all happy. Fleur smiled and relaxed.

          "Yez, Hedwig vaz kind enough to zend it for me."

          "Hedwig is well behaved, which is more than I can say for Pig." Ron spoke glancing at the tiny little owl.

          Ron put out his hand and clasped his fingers around Pig. Fleur laughed and walked towards them. She stroked Pig's head which made Pig excitedly chirp back at her. Ron then let Pig go fly off and rest.

          "Zo you vere just returning Pig?" Fleur asked.

          "Yes, but I'm glad I ran into you." Ron spoke with a gulp.

          "Vhat iz it, you zeem nervous." Fleur observed.

          Ron looked down at her and grinned. He suddenly grasped Fleur and passionately kissed her. They pulled apart quickly and Fleur started to pace around the room.

          "Was it that bad?" Ron asked.

          "No, not at all Ron, I just can't be vith anyone here. And vhat about your brother? Ron zis iz wrong, I don't want to get too close I vill only end up hurting you."

          "No you won't you're not like that I know it." Ron said and edged closer to her.

          "Ron I have to go to bed, I am very tired. I'm zo zorry Ron; just know I care about you a lot okay?" Fleur spoke and kissed his cheek lightly before walking out.

          Fleur rushed back towards the common room and tears began to fall again. She couldn't handle this, three boys were now throwing themselves at her and she didn't know what was real and what wasn't. She didn't trust herself in love whether it was with a boy from Beauxbatons or not. Fleur looked at the ground and then bumped into someone. She looked up and saw Dumbledore's kind face looking at her.