Dying of Midnight Flowers
By: pottersweetie
Author's Note: I've always thought Fleur Delacour was a cool character so I thought I'd write a fan fiction about her and I've never really done something with Harry Potter that doesn't have to do with Harry and Hermione which is slightly pathetic, haha. Any mistakes in my French and you'll have to blame freetranslation for that one. Hope you like it, Enjoy, Read, Review!
Fleur looked at herself in the full-length mirror propped up against the wall in Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom. Her dress was simple, it was made of the softest, white silk, sleeveless and straight down to the floor. There were no sequins running down the skirt, no flares in the fabric along the train, nothing flashy, simplicity was all she had wanted. The only piece of her dress that showed any sign of glamor was the inch of silver and gold beads that circled her waist and were almost too tiny to differentiate and an elegant tiara that was perched at the crown of her head.
She didn't care for glitz or show-offy things today. Her hair was pulled into a simple, elegant bun at the nape of her neck and not a golden hair was astray on her head. Her veil was pinned to the inside of her bun and secured tightly with a simple spell so it wouldn't fall out. Fleur felt herself shaking slightly with nervous anticipation.
Mrs. Weasley appeared in the room, mumbling to herself.
"Now
you've got something new, your veil just came in from Paris,"
she nodded to herself.
"Something blue... Do you suppose the
color of your eyes count?" Before Fleur could reply Mrs. Weasley
carried on, "No I don't suppose they do-"
"Molly, I 'ave somezing zat is blue," she lifted the hem of her dress just a little and revealed a petal of a blue flower tucked inside her shoe.
Molly let out a deep breath,"That's wonderful! Now, you have Great-Auntie Muriel's tiara, and that's frightfully old... Now something borrowed."
Fleur met Mrs. Weasley's eyes hopefully, she hadn't thought to borrow something from anyone.
"Do you have something borrowed, dear?"
Fleur shook her head bashfully.
Mrs. Weasley thought for a minute, then, "I have just the thing!"
Fleur watched as her future mother-in-law walked over to her dressing table and removed the top of her jewelry box. After sifting through it for a moment she pulled something out, held it in her left hand while replacing the top to the box with the right. She then walked back to the bride and beckoned for her to turn around. Fleur did as she was told and Mrs. Weasley put something around her neck. Once the necklace was clasped Mrs. Weasley told her to look in the mirror.
She did so and gasped quietly.
The necklace was composed of a thin gold chain in the center of the chain were three, white lilies with gold painted on the edges of the petals.
"Oh Molly, eet is bee-you-tee-full!" she threw her arms around Mrs. Weasley's neck. "Merci beaucoup!"
"It's no trouble dear, no trouble at all," she patted Fleur's back. "Now we better finish up, Gabrielle and Ginny are ready and your father's waiting to walk you down the aisle!"
Mrs. Weasley disappeared out of
the room and Fleur started shaking more. Memories washed over her as
she thought about walking down the aisle with her father. She had to
contain herself from crying and ruining her eye
make-up.
Fleur was lounging on her bed, watching her pet cat, Ami, grab at a thread she was dangling above his head. She laughed when the cat's eyes widened and he tried desperately to get the thread away from her and between his teeth.
Suddenly the door burst open with a loud slam, Ami jumped up and lunged off the bed and ran under it, hiding behind the skirt of the bed. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, stood in the doorway, her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail but many strands were falling out around her pale face. She was wearing floating pink pants and a white sweater, she was barefoot and gasping for breath.
"Gabrielle? What is it?"
Gabrielle swallowed, "Papa's 'ome."
Fleur sat up quickly, "Is 'ee..." she trailed off, the question hanging in the air.
Gabrielle just nodded.
Downstairs they heard the large front doors to their mansion slam open and their father let out a loud groan, he was stomping around the entrance hall. They heard something shatter and one of their maids yelp.
Fleur shot up from the bed and went to the door, "Gabrielle, allumer," she beckoned for her sister to follow her.
They crept through the hallway until they finally reached the family library. By then their father had upturned the entrance hall table and stamped on the lilies that had been on the same table. They heard him cursing and screaming at the staff and their mother was crying. Fleur quietly closed the library door as she realized her father was stomping up the stairs.
"Where are zay?" he screamed. "Zose spoiled brats!"
Gabrielle let out an almost silent yelp and Fleur ran across the room, pulling back the carpet and opening a trap door that only she and Gabrielle knew about.
"Gabrielle, go!" she hissed and her sister scrambled into the dark hallway that lay under the stairs.
Fleur heard her father forcing doors to open, her bedroom, Gabrielle's bedroom, he was coming to the library next. She climbed in after her sister, pulling the carpet to rest on top of the trap door so once the door closed the carpet would conceal it.
And then the library door slammed open.
Fleur froze, looking into the gloomy darkness of the secret hallway they stood in. Her little sister watched her, waiting for some kind of instruction. Fleur was trying to think whether it would be better to quietly run through the hallway and up to the other secret door that opened up behind the rosebush in their garden or maybe it would be better to just stand where she was, ensuring that they made no sound.
Gabrielle tugged on her older sister's arm, hoping to silently get her attention. Fleur was aware of how dangerously close her father was getting to the trap door so she nodded, grabbing Gabrielle's hand and quickly creeping through the hallway. Once it reached the end of the house they climbed down a dark, narrow staircase, and through another corridor.
"Where za 'ell are zay!" her father screamed.
They were finally at the end of dark tunnel and Fleur lifted the second door open and her eyes were flooded with bright sunlight. She climbed out of the darkness and grabbed Gabrielle's hand and pulled her out as well. She closed the ivy-covered door and crept out from behind the roses.
The Delacour's garden was very extravagant. There was a cupid fountain in the middle of everything that shot water up into the air and down into the surrounding pond. The walkways were filled with white, shimmering gravel, and flowers of every shape and color grew around them. The garden was surrounded by a high stone wall that was thick with ivy and other vines, and there was a single golden gate that reached the top of the wall but opened and closed as a door.
The commotion in the house was still in earshot and Fleur was shaking all over.
"Fleur, where will we go?"
"Grandmere's, now 'ush," she pulled the golden gate inward and ushered her younger sister through it, closing it behind her.
Fleur began running across the lawn, her sister followed. Charms had been cast upon the Delacour property so no one could apparate in or out and she silently wished this hadn't been so. The bright green grass stretched on for miles, no other houses in sight. Trees were visible, a lake, a stable, they could see the drive that twisted away from the mansion and that was where they needed to get. The sky was dark and the moon was bright, this helped guide them to the driveway but also helped people within the house to see them. It wasn't so much about being seen anymore, it was about getting to the drive, walking a fair distance to the safe point, and then apparating to their grandmother's house.
They hadn't even reached the drive when one of the back doors burst open. They froze, their breathing ragged and their eyes wide. Their father stomped out over to them and they were too scared to even move.
"G-Gabrielle," Fleur breathed. "Aller-GO!"
Gabrielle started running but Fleur couldn't even move a centimeter, her father gripped her upper-arm and threw her back onto the grass. Her head hit the ground and white sparks glittered above her eyes. She groaned almost silently, getting up as the throbbing in her head increased. Gabrielle had stopped a few yards away and she was staring at the scene fearfully.
"You," her father barked. "You spoiled little wretch!"
"Gabri... GO!" she screamed, the little girl looked from her sister to her father and shook her head. "Listen, I'll be all right on my own, vous allez-" Monsieur Delacour slapped her across the face.
"'ow dare you try to run away!" he grabbed her by the neck, his voice shaking with drunkenness. "'ow dare you disobey me!"
Pains shot up and down her neck and she was having trouble breathing as her head began to blossom with renewed pain, "Papa... Let me go, s'il vous plait..."
He shook his head, "What is wrong with you! Why can't you just obey me? You 'orrible girl!"
"Gabrielle, GO!"
"Shut up!"
"I ask you, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" he pushed her and she fell on the ground again.
It was then she noticed the staff of servants and her mother standing outside the back door, they couldn't do anything and they knew it... Perhaps they had called someone to help.
"You're killing us!" Fleur screamed from the ground, her voice shaking with tears, she stood up. "I'm not a 'orrible person because I try to survive your torture! You are a 'orrible father! Je vous deteste," she said the last part slowly. (A/N: I would have written 'I hate you' in English, but with her accent it would have been 'I 'ate you,' and that just doesn't work as well, haha.)
Monsieur Delacour slapped her across the face and several audible gasps could be heard from the servants watching.
"Get out of my sight," he spat.
Fleur and Gabrielle grabbed each other's hands and ran with their mother into the house.
The memory sent chills running up and down her spine and she began to shake more fervently. The event of that day had not been anything new really, her father had come home drunk many times and rampaged the house, breaking things and spewing threats at everyone. On several occasions he had actually hurt Fleur and her sister but never had either of them said anything back to their father, until that night.
It had happened many times after that, the girls were happy to go away to school and feel safe where they were. And now Fleur was marrying Bill. She never had to go back to the Delacour mansion and she never had to feel unsafe while she had Bill around. But she refused, she simply refused to have her father give her away. She knew that was the way things were supposed to go and she knew scandal and gossip would arise from some of the guests but it was her wedding and she wasn't her father's to give away.
Suddenly the door opened and Ginny appeared, dressed as a bridesmaid and looking slightly peeved, "Fleur you have to hurry, Mum says we have to start."
"Ginny, could you please tell your mother I need to speak with 'er for a minut?"
The redhead looked flabbergasted, "Now?"
Fleur nodded, "It's very important."
Ginny noticed how genuinely distraught Fleur looked so she nodded and disappeared behind the closed door.Minutes later, Mrs. Weasley was back in the room, looking worried and questioning.
"What is it dear?"
Fleur swallowed, "Molly, I need to speak with my father."
"Now?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking a good deal like Ginny.
Fleur nodded.
Mrs. Weasley left the room and came back within a minute with Monsieur Delacour.
"Fleur what is zhis all about?"
"Should I go-" Mrs. Weasley began to ask but Fleur cut her off.
"No I want you 'ere. Papa I don't want you to give me away, you don't deserve to be a part of this wedding and you know it."
"Fleur, don't be-"
"No! I've made up my mind, you're not giving me away, after what you've done to my life, Gabrielle's and Mama's, I'm not yours to give away!"
Monsieur Delacour was speechless.
"Who will give you away dear?" the older woman asked, almost afraid to interrupt.
Fleur took a deep breath, "I know it is terribly unorthodox but I want you to give me away, Molly. If zhat is all right?"
Mrs. Weasley's eyes teared up considerably, "Dear, are you sure?"
"Oui, very much so."
"Dear, I'd be honored."
Fleur smiled at her, feeling more at home then she had ever felt.
Author's Note: Hope you liked it! Please review!
