tu sais qui: you know who
le grand tueur: the great killer
la plus sombre des sorciers: the darkest of wizards
Tant pis pour eux: too bad for them
se il vous plaît, quelqu'un, qu'est-il arrivé?: please, someone, whats happened?
Le vol de mort: the flight of death
Bill Weasley was born in a chilly November, the beginnings of war all around him. On his back it says Fleur Isabelle Delacour, and his Aunt Muriel sniffed and checked the ministry records and said that the girl was probably French.
Bill grows up quickly, fear nipping at his father's heals and settling at the base of his mother's spine. He is barely allowed to play outside and he is to look out for Charlie. Bill is to look out for Charlie, two years younger than him, and Charlie is to look after Percy when he is born, but Bill's eldest. He looks out for the both of them.
England feels cold and steeped in dread and sadness, the dementors given free reign. Bill dreams of someplace warm where he can save the day.
More siblings come, and Mum tells him he's such a good boy, taking care of his brothers. Charlie is seven and likes dragons and doesn't have a soulmate, just wants to climb trees and play pirates with Bill. Percy's three, mischievous and quietly rebellious, the kind that could be gotten away with. He asks Bill to read him his soulmates name, asks about the letters and copies them out on a sheet of paper, half teaches himself to read. The twins are babies and Bill takes care of them, but they're really Percy's, and Bill's fine with that.
He twitches and shivers, the countryside's chill in his bones, wraps himself up in the sweaters his mum knits. The letter comes, fancy parchment his family can't ever afford and an emerald green seal. His mum cries at the train station, his brothers at her side and his sister in her arms, his dad holding the twins hands and telling her that it was safe now, the war was over.
Bill hardly knew what that meant. The war over? How could it be? Everyone was suddenly so reckless, didn't they know it wasn't safe to let the twins be play quidditch by themselves, completely vulnerable to attack? The country seemed lighter and happier, the chill seeming to thaw, but Bill feared he would never get it out of his bones.
Gryffindor. That's what the hat shouted. The eldest Weasley boy. You're smart, I'll give you that. I know where to put you.You must remember that there's more to life than hiding and protecting.The hat instructs him, and my, does Bill learn.
Friends are made, wearing red and gold, blue and bronze. Quidditch is just a hobby, a childhood of his mum calling him back inside meaning that he couldn't ever develop much skill.
He wonders if the girls life has been as twisted by you know who as much as his had.
Fleur was four when tu sais qui, le grand tueur, la plus sombre des sorciers and his followers fell. They are only ever something distant to her, something to be discussed in political debates and in classrooms, used as examples when speaking of foreign threats and present day discrimination.
Fleur is twelve when she finally understands that those people who she had never given a second thought would have killed her, killed Gabrielle and her parents, because they didn't like that her grandmother, something harshly beautiful that they could never understand, had been mates with a human. They did not like that they had babies. They did not like that her charming mother shared a soul with her cheerful father. They did not like that Fleur or sweet little Gabrielle existed. Most likely, they did not like that Fleur was mated with William Arthur Weasley.
Tant pis pour eux.
Even in the halls of Beauxbatons, they knew the name of their Savior. 'Arry Potter. They said a lot of things about him.
Fleur catches the eyes of wizards and witches and wixens, her beauty making them forget that they have no future at all with each other. She accepts the gifts they bring her, allows some to take her out to dinners they probably can't afford, kisses more than several of the prettiest and most giving of those clamoring for her attentions.
They are always begging for just a drop of her. She knows she is beautiful. Boys tell her. Girls tell her. People stop her on the streets to tell her. It isn't something that goes to her head. It is just a fact. She is beautiful.
She is also dangerous. She forces her wand through complicated spells, forces it to hear her nonverbal commands. When her suitors think that because she has taken the flowers they send that means she is willing to speak with them, means she is willing to dance with them, means she is willing to gift her sweet singing, she burns them with the sparks shot from her hands.
Gabrielle joins her at school, and Fleur is joyous to have her best friend at her side again.
Fleur's always been passionate, always loved till it left a bruise when she let go.
A comfortable stay at Hogwarts. She cannot help but laugh derisively. She wasn't here to enjoy herself. She was here to compete. At the feast, their first night at Hogwarts, she decides to see who their savior was. She approaches their table, and asks if they've finished with the bouillabaisse. He is just a little boy. She expected different, but it makes sense. He's only fourteen.
The cup chooses her and she can feel her mixed blood sing through her veins; she is the most worthy.
Bill Weasley wakes up on the second of November to a Daily Prophet and three notes from his mum, all increasing in urgency. His mate was French. Fleur Isabelle Delacour. She was at Hogwarts. She was her school's champion. He didn't know her, but he felt a swell of pride.
When the redheaded boy asks her to go to the ball with him, she laughs. Of course she laughs. She had asked after him, always seeing him at the side of 'Arry Potter. Ron Weasley she was told. Weasley. Her mates little brother, asking her to the ball in the middle of a crowded corridor. Funny, no? Her laugh was perhaps cruel, in hindsight.
Gabrielle is at the bottom of that lake. Gabrielle. Her best friend, her little sister, her bruising love. She is at the shore and no one will let her go back, and she has never wished for the full force of her Grandmother's powers as much as then. She wants to open her mouth and let her terribly lovely song pour from it, wants to call the merpeople to the top and beg them to release her, please, don't you know that she is your kin? Can't you feel it in your scales? The water is my element just as it is yours, please give her back!
The little boy brings her back to her. Her bones and her heart tell her that this is a debt she cannot repay.
Before the third task they all meet their families, and this is the first time they see each other. Their spines tingle as they speak with their people, both glancing over. She doesn't want to speak with him yet. Oh, but isn't he handsome? A fang earring and a red pony tail.
It was possible that seeing him threw her off. The maze is suffocating and she is trying to push him out of her thoughts when she hears Krum behind her, and feels the terrible lethargy just before she falls.
When she wakes up, everyone is half hysterical. What's happened? se il vous plaît, quelqu'un, qu'est-il arrivé?
His mum is frantic. What's happened? Where's Harry? Is Harry alright? His mate is in the medical tent, she is alright, what's happened?
They return to Beauxbatons the day after the feast, and he has hardly seen her and she has hardly seen him. Cedric Diggory, the handsome Hogwarts Champion, was dead. Murdered by Le vol de mort.This is what Dumbledore tells them. This is what 'Arry tells them. This is what she believes. 'Arry saved Gabrielle.
They return to their lives, their heads full to the brim with worry and she was there, he was there, I could write to her, he must live there, I don't know what to say, I have to get back!
She takes a part time job at Gringotts. For her English, of course. He gets a desk job in London. For the order, of course. A year later, they are engaged.
His mother does not like her. His sister does not like her. They don't bring it up. No one dares. Even if Mrs. Weasley doesn't like her, she would never attempt to keep a met pair away.
Fleur can tell though. She's spent her life being given suspicious glances and cold shoulders from other women. His mother doesn't like that she's dated people other than Bill, they don't like her clothes, don't like her bluntness, don't like the way she speaks.
Tant pis pour eux.
Bill was one of the order members patrolling Hogwarts during his absence. It feels like hallowed ground. It feels like the last truly safe place on Earth. Fenrir Greyback is on him and drags his claws across his face and Bill's already down, could hardly shout a hex.
Fleur feels her breath catch in her throat when she hears that Bill is hurt, and it doesn't come loose until she sees him.
"Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks…. It's not r-really important… but he was a very handsome little b-boy… Always very handsome… And he had a soulmate! He was going to be married!" his mother wailed.
Fleur has had people presuming things about her all her life, but she will not take this. "And what do you mean by zat?" Her voice is loud, nothing musical about it, but she can feel her grandmothers inherited magic pulsing. "What do you mean ''e was going to be married' ''e 'ad a soulmate'? Neizer of us is dead!"
His mother tries to make it sound better than what it clearly was.
"You theenk Bill will not wish to marry me anymore?" she demanded, heritage surging through her. "You theenk, because of these bites, he will not love me?"
The older woman tries again, stumbling over an explanation.
"Because 'e will!" She drew herself up, throwing her long hair back. "It would take more zan a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!"
"Well yes, I'm sure, but I thought perhaps-given how- how he-"
"You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or perhaps, you hoped? Did 'e get my name ripped from his back? 'As his been cursed off of me?" She demanded, nostrils flaring. "What do I care how 'e looks? I am good looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my soulmate is brave! And I shall do that!" She seized the ointment from his mothers hands. That is the end of that. They even help another pair.
When they get married they are beaming, and people are dancing, and the war is at their doorstep.