A pressure.
On her cheek.
A continued pressure on her cheek.
That is what greeted Fleur when she awoke.
The questioning look of Claude's seven-year old son looking at her with curious eyes.
"Tante Fleur, what are you doing sleeping on the couch? Is your bed not comfy?"
Wide eyes.
Childlike wonder.
Shit!
She must've fallen asleep on Claude's couch.
After discussing setting up a time and place for Fleur to meet her child by Katherina, Fleur had been taken completely by surprise by the witches sudden kiss.
She'd reacted a moment later to push her off of her.
Much to the dismay of the other witch.
Fleur had not said further words to her as she'd aparated.
However.
Not before seeing a wide smirk on Katherina's face.
Shit.
She'd come to Claude's manor.
To try to discuss the matter of her supposed child with her best friend.
They'd talked long into the night.
Had taken much longer to discuss the schematics and custody of it all.
Too long it would appear.
As Fleur found herself waking up to Claude's young son staring at her as she sat up and tried to take in her surroundings.
The sudden sound of footsteps causing her to look up.
"You had a bit of a rough night, I didn't want to wake you," Claude explained as he set a steaming mug on the coffee table by Fleur.
"Non I should have left last night, Hermione is going to kill me," Fleur said with a grimace as she took the coffee cup and brought it to her lips, taking a huge gulp.
"Ah that's right she had that press conference this morning non?" the french wizard noted earning a groan from his friend.
Taking one more sip from her drink, Fleur gets up and wishes Claude a good day before apparating back to her parent's manor.
Upon arrival she sets about to find her parents.
She is well aware of the current time and the whereabouts of her spouse.
A press conference.
A very important press conference.
She'd have to make it up to her.
So she gathers her things and cleans herself up in the powder room before making her way down to the sunroom.
Where her parents tend to spend their time at this time of the day.
She is greeted by the concerned looks of her parents.
Her father's a tad murderous.
"Papa, Maman," Fleur greets. She feels a desperate need to ask about Hermione's whereabouts as a sinking feeling starts to take root in the pit of her stomach.
"Fleur, we would like an explanation to this," Clement Delacour sternly demands as he holds in hand the day's paper.
On the front cover is a picture of Katherina's kiss.
The very one she forced on you.
'Conniving tart' you think to yourself as the front cover's words burn into your soul.
Delacour marriage on the outs? Fleur Delacour heir to the Noble house of Delacour caught mid liplock with a mystery woman,"...No word on how Decorated War Hero Hermione Delacour nee Granger is taking this blow.
Your father clears his throat to get your attention.
And you can't help but feel like a child once more.
Being scolded by your parents for doing something you weren't supposed to.
You sigh in turn before you begin collecting the previous night's occurrences.
Your parents both listen on in increased interest.
The mention of an 'illegitimate child' weighs heavy on their shoulders as much as it does yours.
In the history of your family there has never been a documented case of an illegitimate Delacour.
At least not in the last hundred years or so.
So it comes to a surprise to them as they are both well aware of the ramifications of what a scandal of this magnitude can mean to you and your family as much as the family name.
You watch as the lines of worry etch into your father's face.
His brow scrunched in thought.
He shares a quick glance with your mother before looking you in the eye.
"Is it a possibility that this could be true?" he asks as he stares you square in the eye.
He does not break eye contact.
You offer a shaky sigh in turn and can only offer him an uncertain response.
"I don't think it could be, but I can't be sure," this does little to quell the growing worry lines on both of your parents.
"You should head home to your wife, Hermione deserves to hear this from your lips before the tabloids continue to make a slander of your name," Your mother says in turn.
You can't help but agree.
By now this has most likely reached the shores of the English Tabloids.
And your spouse's.
As well as your children's.
Merde.
You had not thought it through before passing out on Claude's couch the night previous.
The ramifications of your moment of slouch.
You just hope Claude can find something of credence before Katherina and whatever scheme she'd potentially hatched up caused further disarray on your and your family's life.
You'd cut a bitch if any harm came to your children much less your partner for the actions of an overreaching wench.
Bidding your parents a goodbye you wish them well before using the nearest floo to return home.
You've opted to floo into your wife's office room in your spacious home.
Only you find that she's not alone.
If the murderous look on Ginevra Weasley is anything to go by.
And the saddened look on Harry's face.
They know.
News has reached your family's shores.
And you must do all that you can to keep it from further attacking your family.
"Fleur so glad you could join us," the oddly calm voice of Ronald Weasley catches your attention as he comes to stand beside you.
Something is odd.
Your wife has decided not to speak.
And her usually quick to anger friend has opted to speak for her in turn.
She looks up at you from the papers strewn about on her desk.
She looks positively disappointed.
But has not yet uttered a single word.
The sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach increases.
"How was your evening love," she says, breaking the silence.
Her tone is neither loving nor angry.
But almost monotone nearly cold.
Devoid of emotion.
This does not sit well with you but you understand it as your beloved's way of coping.
"Beloved I-,"
"I've received correspondence from our children," your wife cuts you off mid sentence, a tone of underlying anger laced into every word.
She lifts a piece of parchment, and you walk forward to take it in your hands.
Taking the parchment in hand you see the angry scrawl of your eldest, a multitude of questions scream back at you.
You can feel the anxiety and slew of emotions in her questions.
This is the last thing you'd wanted from all of this.
"I need you to tell me exactly what happened last night," Hermione asks you as she stares deep into your eyes.
Consternation etched into her brow.
So you set about explaining the details of the night previous.
You make sure to be as descriptive as you can.
Your spouse and her companions listen to you earnestly and you watch as a mixture of emotions ranging from affront to quizzical grace their features.
After several minutes of contemplation, does your wife look at you.
"Is there any way to find out if this child is really yours Fleur?" she looks both anxious and heartbroken.
You want nothing more than to wrap her up in your arms and dispel away the obstacles that dare to come between you.
But you must first resolve.
That which you didn't know needed resolvement.
For the sake of your love
And your family.
"Claude mentioned looking into some documents concerning ze child's birth at ze French Ministry," you respond.
This gets you a few nods from your beloved's companions.
"And Suzette is seeing what she can find from any of 'er back ally acquaintances," you surmise.
This gets you a small chuckle from your beloved before its replaced once more with the all to familiar look of concern.
"We will need to handle this with care and precision, we cannot afford any mishaps," she looks you square in the eyes as she says this, you nod in turn.
Opting to not have your spouse accompany you the night previous had come back to bite you.
You would not be as foolish as to make the same mistake twice.
"We need to be a united front on this," your beloved explains.
"And if this child is truly yours, then I will support you however I can," she ends, you can feel the hurt at the end as she tries to convey her support for your alleged past actions.
You could not be more grateful in this moment.
If this child truly is yours, then you will have to acknowledge them as such.
You weren't quite sure what Katherina was up to.
But you'd be damned if you allowed her to supplant your true-born children.
Victoire would succeed you as the next head of House Delacour.
And her children after her.
You would make sure that this "child" of yours had a place.
But not one of power.
You could only hope that they hadn't been warped and twisted by Katherina.
She'd always been power hungry and ambitious when you'd been together.
Ever grasping like the rest of the snakes of the nobility.
Meeting Hermione had been a breath of fresh air.
She was everything you'd wanted and more.
She didn't see Fleur Delacour the Heiress to the once Royal House of Delacour of France.
No.
She only saw Fleur Delacour.
Student of Beauxbaton that annoyed her in her 4th year.
You'd both grown together.
She'd relied on you as much as you had relied on her.
You'd been through so much.
A war.
Her near death at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.
You'd raised five beautiful children together.
You'd erred in keeping her out of talks with Katherina.
At the time thinking that she didn't need the added stress, as she had a press conference the following day.
You should have known that Katherina would try something.
You nod at her as you look into the eyes of your beloved.
Harry and Ron take a few steps to stand on either side of you and each give you small smiles.
Remaining beside your beloved's side Ginny gives you a small smile of her own.
"Lets hope we can expose whatever this conniving bitch is trying to drag up,"
This earns her a reprimand from your beloved.
Causing snickers from the men beside you.
- x -
"Andre Brassard, age 19, eldest son and heir to House Brassard of Foix, father Alexei Brassard and Katherina Brassard," Claude read aloud as he looked over the documents pertaining to the parentage of Andre Brassard.
The supposed child of Fleur.
"Merde, he even falls within the realm of possibility in age," Claude muttered to himself as he poured over documents.
The boy had been conceived while his parents were finishing their schooling at Beauxbatons.
Around the time that Katherina had had to recuse herself from school.
They'd all wondered as to the reason.
Initially thinking that the shame of being publicly broken up with by the Heir to House Delacour had driven the girl to recuse.
Fleur had initially felt bad.
But no sooner had the feeling sunk in, than it had been revealed that Katherina was with child.
Alexei Brassard had acknowledged the child as his soon after.
Dealing a blow to Fleur as it was soon understood that Katherina had been shaking up with Alexei behind her back.
Fleur had been dealt a hurt blow as the knowledge of betrayal from her former long-time girlfriend settled itself within.
And it was with the resolve to get over the heartbreak that she had enlisted herself as a potential candidate for the TriWizard Tournament the following year.
The year that she would go on to meet her mate.
Her spouse, Hermione Delacour nee Granger.
Looking back over the documents, Claude held up the picture the Ministry had on file on the boy.
"There is no trace of Fleur on any of his features," Claude mused aloud as he took in the appearance of the boy.
Black of hair with green eyes and a wide set jaw, thin lips and a crooked nose, no.
There really was no trace of Fleur on any of the boy's features.
'At least Loras has some of Fleur's features,' Claude mused to himself thinking about Fleur's youngest son.
A son that did not resemble her maman but his british mum more in looks.
Even then did the son have at least some of the features known to be in the Delacour blood.
This boy however, didn't.
'If only we could get a sample of his blood,' Claude thought to himself.
If only, then they would be able to determine if the child was truly Fleur's or merely a ruse made up by Katherina and her grasping minor lordling husband.
No sooner had Claude pondered this, than the door to his office burst open.
Looking up at the commotion, the body of a man bound and gagged was thrown through.
Suzzette Evreux strolling in behind.
Clad in a dark pair of form fitting pants and long sleeved top with a jacket to match.
The erstwhile daughter of House Evreux strolled into the office.
"I hope there's an explanation as to why there's a man tied up in my office," Claude asked amused.
The man in question writhed on the ground as he attempted to no avail to free himself from his bindings.
Crouching over the man and wasting no time.
The woman in question crouches over the bound man and rips off a long strip of tape from his mouth.
The man yells in pain but is unable to speak as Suzette quickly casts a silencing charm on him.
Getting up from her crouched position over the man, Suzette looks Claude head on, one arm on her hip and the other gesturing to the man on the floor.
"This is the younger brother to the Lord of Foix," she begins to explain.
No sooner have the words left her lips than Claude's eyebrows shoot up in alarm.
Making to untie the man he is stopped by Suzette's hand on his chest, a silent ask to stop before taking any further action.
"I hope you have a good explanation as to why you have Lord Foix's brother bound and gagged on my floor," Claude implores as Suzette looks at him with an amused smile.
"I overheard him in one of the seedy bars down in Touraine, boasting about how his brother and his wife had cooked up a scheme to make their son the next head of House Delacour by passing him off as Fleurs," Suzette explained as the man on the floor stills in his writing.
The color drains from his features as he feels the witch and wizard peering down at him.
"Is that so," Claude starts to say as he looks down at the man.
The man looks up at him in abject horror.
"Claiming the heirship to a high house is punishable by summary execution," Claude muses aloud.
"Not that it's happened in many a decade, so there has never been a need to change such an archain law," Suzette agrees.
The man below frantically looks between the two.
Silent tears stream down his cheeks as he openly begins to sob.
"Now what to do with you," Suzette muses aloud as Claude watches the man continue to sob into his carpet.
She flicks her wand to release her silencing charm as the mans sobs begin to filter through the office.
"Please, I beg your mercy," the man pleads.
Irritation gracing her features Suzette delivers a swift kick to the man's stomach.
"Mercy? Did your wretch of a brother and his whore of a wife show mercy to Fleur when they decided to run her good name through the mud?"
She makes to kick the man once more before her companion motions for her to stop.
"Now, I'm sure this man has seen the error of his ways," Claude suggests.
Suzette across from him gives him a huff in annoyance but allows him to play his games.
The man in question furiously nods in agreement.
This had been a means to help their floundering family's financial troubles.
He'd thought it a good idea at the time when his brother had let him in on his and his wife's schemes.
He never thought they'd get found out.
"Now, I'm sure you're a reasonable man," Claude begins.
The man below nods in agreement.
"Yes sir, anything you'd like to know, I'll tell you anything,"
This earns him a slight grin from the man looming over him.
The woman not so much as she looks down at him with disdain.
"Good, now tell us what exactly your brother and his wife had in mind for this ruse," Claude asks
"And don't lie or I'll cut your tongue out," Suzette threatens as the man furiously nod in understanding.
The message clear.
He needs not know that neither one of them would stoop to such a barbaric form of torture.
"It all started with my brother's wife -
- x -
It'd been exactly two weeks since the happenstance that had occurred at the reunion at Beauxbatons.
Hermione's campaign was in full swing, her campaign manager and team working round the clock to vouch for their candidate of choice.
Fleur had been in correspondence with her two friends in France, both reporting their findings.
Most importantly the information that they had been able to uncover from Katherina Brussard's brother-in-law, funny what the threat of death could do to a man.
The man in question was currently in a cell.
He would face trial for his actions, albeit to a lesser degree for his cooperation.
But punishment nonetheless.
Upon learning of this ruse, Fleur had promptly informed her spouse.
Hermione had looked outraged at first.
But had soon turned mournful.
Mournful for the child that was innocent in all of this.
The young man that was possibly being lied to by his mother and his actual father.
They'd decided to devise a plan to catch the Brussard's on their ruse.
A way to expose the ruse that had dared to threaten their family.
And so they'd decided to invite Lord and Lady Brussard to their humble abode in England.
They'd no sooner sent the invitation, than a response had been promptly sent back.
Requesting that they be allowed to bring Andre, Fleur's supposed "son"
They'd hoped to shield the boy from the wrongdoings of his parents.
But in that regard they'd have to accept the collateral damage.
The boy's parents had certainly not thought of the effects this would have on their children after all.
All five of their children had yet to write Fleur.
Much to her dismay.
Hermione had taken her in her arms at this and assured her that they would come round in due time.
As the truth was uncovered.
Fleur could only hope that her children would not turn away from her when she went to pick them up from the train station.
In their haste to uncover the truth behind the supposed "child" that Fleur had by Katherina Brussard, they'd overlooked the Winter holidays.
Their children would be coming home for the holidays.
They'd both been looking forward to having all of their progeny home as this had been the first year they'd had an empty home.
Now all Fleur could do was dread the cold-shoulder she may receive from them.
Victoire most of all had been very vocal in her letters to Hermione, and the rest followed her lead in most things.
She could only hope that they'd be amicable at best.
At least in public, as Hermione's campaign was winding down to the final days.
The race to become Minister for Magic was fast coming to a close.
And they had Hermione's political career to think on.
Feeling a soft touch to her arm, Fleur looked to the eyes of her beloved.
"It'll be ok," she reassured as she gave Fleur a kiss on the cheek.
Leaning into her wife's touch, Fleur gathered the shorter woman to her.
Her wife in turn returns the affection by wrapping her arms around her in turn.
Choosing to not include Hermione in discussions with Katherina had nearly cost her, her spouse.
Had resulted in this whole mess in the first place.
She'd not make the same mistake again.
Together they were stronger.
Yes.
Together.