(note) Well, crap. I have made a blatant mistake on Cho's age and year. Lol, thank you to… err… 'M' for pointing that out to me. Technically, she would be around 15 or 16 years old if she were taking O.W.L. exams. Haha, I saw her age as 17 in an internet source, but that might be the person who is playing her character in the movie. Oh, and as a side note, I am getting much of my information (about food names and character backgrounds) from both the books and that's a good place for everything Harry Potter. As for my fanfic! Err… Cho will be 17 but…um…HELD BACK A YEAR! Hell, I have no idea. She's 17, lets just leave it at that. How she ended up in 5th year, is up to your imagination.
Eyes of Blue
Chapter 3
Flaming nostrils with a scaly thick, green hide, stared at her as she paced about the tent anxiously. Fleur stared straight back at the small, moving figurine in her palm as she retraced Cedric's nervous path. Viktor, Harry, and her were the ones left in the tent as the Hufflepuff had gone out first.
Bagman had instructed them on what they were to do for the first task of the triwizard tournament. She had glanced around to survey the other champions' faces, and they all seemed to be very calm and relaxed. Especially that Harry Potter boy. That line that Cho said to her rang throughout her head, "He's a cheater, I just know it." It was funny, but most likely true. He was not even in the least surprised when he pulled out the Hungarian Horntail.
The Welsh Green was walking around on her hand, fire spewing out its nose and landing on her hand, producing miniature stings of pain. A number two was wrapped around its neck like a piece of jewelry.
I'm going to go on any minute now.
This first task, retrieving the golden egg from the dragon, seemed quite easy to her. Madame Maxime had told her about it ahead of time, so she had plenty of preparation work already arranged. She was going to use a heat charm on the dragon. Aim for the eyes too, since those were its weakest points on its body.
"Nothing I can't handle."
She stared at the moving miniature of the Welsh Green and tossed it on the ground before stomping on it with her foot. Smoothing out the few wrinkles in her skirt, she moved towards the entrance to the tent as a deafening roar from the crowd signaled the end of Cedric's run. Bagman's voice could be heard outside.
"One down, three to go. Miss Delacour, if you please!
Keep a calm composure, you're in control, you know what to do. That's what she kept telling herself. However, as she walked out with her head held high, she could feel her body betraying her. Knees shaking and hands clutching the wand with a vice-like grip, she could feel the fear pulsing through her body like some kind of insane drug.
She pushed open the curtain and entered into the bright sunlight. Walking past a row of trees on each side, she passed through a gap in the enclosure fence. What met her as she emerged was a sea of faces.
All around her, hundreds, if not thousands, of faces were all staring at her as she made her way to the field. Stadium seating for all to see had been magically placed on the outer ring of the enclosure, and from the looks of it, every space was full.
On the other end was the Welsh Green.
Just as its name suggests, the skin that covered the dragon was a green, mossy-like color, but the scales were smooth. It almost would have looked pleasant, had it not been for the fact that it had torrents of fire expelling from its viciously fanged mouth. About fifty feet in height, the towering monstrosity looked menacing with its bloody, cat-like eyes staring straight at her.
As she came into clear view, the crowd in the stands went wild.
"There are so many people…!"
She walked closer to the dragon and looked underneath its nesting ground. Multiple eggs were resting in a small, straw-covered area, but a single gold egg caught her attention. It was the object that she was to retrieve.
A whistle sounded somewhere off in the far distance, she couldn't tell. As she ran quickly up to the ferocious dragon, she pointed her wand straight at the eyes and attempted to cast the spell.
"Relashio!" Hot white sparks flew from the tip of her wand as a stream of searing heat shot directly at its eyes.
But she missed.
"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" Bagman's voice magnified by the sonorous charm echoed through the grand stadium. She could have used the incendio spell, but for some reason she had not, and the decision would cost her.
Her hand had been shaking without her knowledge and it hit above the dragon's eyes. Enraged at being hit by immense heat, the dragon rose on its two hind legs, wings outstretched. It seemed to enlarge itself just by standing up to an impossible height. Then, with all its tremendous might, its left clawed hand came crashing down upon her.
As she saw the colossal shadow envelope her small figure, all sound seemed to shut out of her senses. She couldn't hear anything, and at that moment, all she could was feel. An intense pain, almost crushing, had impacted directly in her chest, knocking the wind out of her. She flew through the air like a pitiful rag doll, landing fifteen feet behind where she was standing. Three large gashes had appeared on her midriff, her clothes in that area shredded to nothingness. Blood was steadily pumping out, but due to the adrenaline, she couldn't care.
Running directly towards the dragon, a faint buzzing, even a humming sound was surrounding and clouding her senses. She realized that was the crowd cheering her on.
"I'm in control."
With a surge of energy, she aimed at the dragon's face once more and decided to try something else. Heat obviously was not the best decision.
She shouting something as loudly as possible, making sure the dragon could hear it through the roar of the crowd and the furious shrieks from the Welsh Green's fanged mouth. Slowly, its shaking body began to calm down as it went back down on all fours. Still keeping her wand trained on the dragon's eyes, she began moving it around in a complicated motion, keeping contact with the beast.
Its eyes began to droop slowly as it was lulled into a sleep-like trance. The swaying head came to a slow stop on its front limbs, eyes closing completely.
She was finally within reach of the eggs.
And then it hit her, in the skirt of all places too.
Fire was eating up the bottom of her delicate silk skirt. Apparently, this certain dragon snored. A rush of fire had emitted from its slit nose and had caught her clothes on fire. A searing wave of pain passed through her legs as she aimed at the menacing heat with her wand and shouted.
"Extinguish!"
A small stream of water shot at the flickering red-hot fury as smoke appeared from the contact.
"Curses." The hem of her skirt had flaked off in little pieces of black smoldering ashes. She carefully walked over to the nest and reached down for the golden prize.
More waves of pain.
She was shot back from the golden egg and hit the stadium seating with a sickening thud. The dragon had somehow resisted her sleeping charm just as she was about to grab the prize. Another cut had appeared on her right shoulder, but it was shallow.
"No superficial graze can hinder me!"
She grabbed her wand with her right hand, blood sliding down onto her wand, as ran straight for the monster. Aiming at the eyes again, she performed the same sleeping spell as before and made a mad dash for the egg. The spell had not been as strong as the one she previously performed, but it was all she needed. Forgetting grace and composure, she just ran at top speed and dove at the golden egg.
With the shining object in her possession, she sprang back up and dashed to the sidelines as the whistle blew.
As her adrenaline had worn off, sound started to flood her ears again. The crowd was roaring wildly despite all the injuries she took. She would get marked off multiple points, but she didn't care; she was alive. The entire crowd cheered and cheered, and from Fleur's standpoint, all she saw were smiling faces.
Then she saw Cho.
She paused a moment as she saw the smiling Ravenclaw in the stands. A sheet of black flowing behind her, she was pumping her fist in the air for Fleur's outstanding performance. The smile penetrated deep into her heart, and piece of the ice chipped off.
"What a beautiful smile she has."
Fleur's usually icy cold, blue stare had softened for a fleeting instant before she walked to the center of the enclosure to receive her scores. Madame Maxime had her wand pointed in the sky as a silvery stream shot out from the tip.
8
She laughed. Of course, her headmistress was biased, but she did not mind too much. The score was much more than she deserved.
Crouch was next as a silvery ribbon weaved itself in the air.
6
Bagman pointed his wand in the air and…
7
Next was Karkaroff and…
2
"What?" Fleur stared at the insulting number with her regular flaring, icy, blue eyes. Sure she had not done the best job, and she had many, many, injuries, but it was at least more deserving of points than a two!
"That old hag is such a…biased fool. Surely he'd give that Krum boy a 10, even if he had died! This is ridiculous!"
Her eyes narrowed at the Durmstrang headmaster as she stormed off the field. She had been in a triumphant mood, knowing that she had survived the ordeal with the dragon, but he had just ruined it completely. Madame Pomfrey came wobbling up to her with medical equipment. She grabbed Fleur's uninjured arm.
"Come on dear, I need to fix those nasty wounds of yours."
Fleur plucked her hand off of her arm.
"I do not need your help to heal myself! Go away." She spat as she stalked off to the castle grounds, still angry at Karkaroff's ridiculous score.
Looking offended, Madame Pomfrey didn't even try a second time to persuade the Beauxbaton girl to come to the hospital wing. She hobbled off to tend to Cedric instead, shaking her head at the stubborn blonde.
Getting through the school grounds was a breeze, since all the students were still on the field thus making the hallways very deserted an empty. She arrived at the Ravenclaw tower with much ease, and she jumped up the stairs and into the comfort of her dormitory. Throwing herself onto the cushiony satin bed, she buried her face into the sheets face down.
No tears. She would not degrade herself that much, no matter how hurt she felt inside. It was humiliating to get such a low score, and in front of guests. Her Beauxbaton school was relying on her to be the best champion, and then she goes off and gets a two.
She flipped over on her back with much effort and groaned in excruciating pain. The cuts she had received were still sending waves of fresh pain like electrical currents. Grabbing for her wand, she aimed it at herself, and hoped she knew how to heal the wounds. She knew she had told the nurse lady that she could heal herself, but now that she was aiming a wand at herself, she began to doubt it. Anything could happen if she said the wrong thing, and aiming a wand at oneself is not exactly safe either.
At that instant, Cho burst through the door, her hair a mess and sweat dripping down her face. She screamed, ran, and tackled Fleur on the bed all in a split second.
"DON'T KILL YOURSELF! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!"
Suddenly very confused at what was going on, Fleur pushed the crazed girl off of her and grimaced in more pain as the wounds continued to ache.
"What on earth do you think you are doing?" Fleur was sitting on the far end of the bed scowling at the seemingly insane person.
Cho's face was flushed from both the running, and embarrassment. She sat upright on the bed and smoothed out her hair in her best attempt to appear composed. Laughing nervously she stared at a suddenly very interesting pillow on the ground.
"Um…after the first task…you walked away quickly and it looked like you were going to cry-"
Fleur interjected fiercely, "I most certainly do not cry!" Cho paid no attention, but merely stared at the pillow.
"-so when you came here, I thought you might have been sad. When I saw you holding the wand to your chest, I thought you were…going to…um…maybe…kill yourself? But that was a really, really, stupid thing of me to think. I tend to jump to rather irrational conclusions relatively quickly. So…what were you doing?"
Staring at Cho's apologetic face, Fleur's gaze hardened, her blue eyes their usual ice cold blue, "Hmph, you certainly are stupid! Well, if you must know, I was trying to heal myself. I do not need any assistance, so you need not worry."
Returning the angry frown, Cho pursed her lips, "Well sorry for worrying about you! I thought you died from all those cuts that dragon gave you…"
Fleur crossed her arms, but then unfolded them again to reach for her wand. "Stupid flaming beast, it ripped my clothes! It is the best of silk…" She pointed the wand again at her chest where the three claws had ripped through her torso and muttered something. Immediately grimacing in pain, Cho thought something was going wrong, but then watched as invisible 'stitches' sewed up the gashes all over Fleur's torn body.
"Now if only I could do my clothes…" she uttered as she shook her head and stood up.
She walked over to her trunk when Cho pulled out her wand.
"Reparo."
Fleur watched her clothes mend themselves, and she suddenly felt even more humiliated as she realized that she forgot the most basic of spells. The repairing charm, of course, but it had completely slipped her mind.
Her head whipped around sharply, "I said I don't need assistance!" She spat the words from her mouth a bit harsher then she had intended to, but she was annoyed at the girl.
After seeing the look on Cho's destroyed face however, she suddenly felt a wave of guilt. Her deep brown eyes were sparkling, but her eyebrows were curved upward into a look of regret.
"I'm sorry, I just thought that…you wanted them fixed so I…repaired them for you," stuttered Cho, who felt abruptly intruding.
Fleur stomped off to the door and opened it brusquely before she paused. She slowly turned her head just so that one, icy, distant eye could make eye contact before she spoke with harsh words.
"You annoy me greatly."
Cho's face seemed to sink within itself at what she had just said.
The ice melted at the expression as the cold eye turned soft blue before she turned her head back around.
"But thank you very much for mending my robes."
She closed the door behind her swiftly. Cho did not see the single drop of clear liquid hit the floor.