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Chapter 5 - Chances

"Ron!"

Ron looked up to see George looking harassed. He frowned. George never looked harassed.

"What's wrong?" he said quickly.

"Fleur and Gabrielle, at least I think it's them... it's kind of hard to tell," George babbled.

"George, that doesn't make any sense," Ron said standing and following his brother as he raced out of the pub.

"They're fighting," George explained as they hurried along to the joke shop. "Like, seriously fighting. We heard explosions."

They pushed their way through the crowds that had gathered and Ron couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what the fuss was about. Gabrielle was shouting in French and gesticulating wildly at someone who looked a lot like Fleur except with evil looking talons and distorted features.

"Is that..." Ron stuttered in disbelief.

The Fleur creature summoned up a fireball and hurled it at Gabrielle. Ron tried to leap towards her but George had grabbed the back of his robes and held him back.

"Are you mental? You'll be toast!"

Ron struggled to get out of George's grip in vein. Somehow though, Gabrielle seemed to absorb the fireball and seemed more angered than hurt by it.

Two muted little pops heralded Bill and Hermione.

"Oh, no," Hermione gasped. "They'll kill each other.

"They won't. This has been brewing for a while now," Bill said shortly. "I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this."

"What's happening?" said Ron.

"What does it look like?" Bill said. "They've both completely lost it. It happens sometimes. We need to get them out of here before they hurt someone."

Ron looked on dubiously. A few passers by had tried to intervene and had ended up on their arses on the pavement. "How?"

"I'll take Fleur. You get Gabrielle and apperate her anywhere. They should calm down once they're apart."

Ron wanted to argue, to point out that getting close enough to apperate either of them wasn't going to be easy, but Bill was already sprinting over to Fleur. Ron took a moment to wonder why Bill assumed he was the right wizard for this particularly insane job before following suit. He ran over to Gabrielle who was still shouting at her sister. He didn't hesitate, he just grabbed her roughly and apperated to the first place he could think of.

They set down hard in the kitchen of Grimauld Place. Ron's arms were still around Gabrielle as she met his eyes with a predatory glint. Suddenly her mouth was on his and her hands were flung around his neck.

For a moment Ron was too stunned to respond but a low, satisfied moan from Gabrielle chased all rational thoughts from his mind. He kissed her back with a hunger he hadn't known he possessed. Vaguely he could feel her nails digging painfully into his shoulders as she desperately clung to him.

Ron didn't care. He just didn't want this mind blowing kiss to end.

Abruptly Gabrielle broke away, shattering the intense little world she had pulled Ron into. She was breathing heavily, they both were, and Ron realized that he was gripping her so tightly her feet were no longer on the ground.

He lowered her gently down and Gabrielle slumped wearily against him, letting out a shaky sigh.

"You alright, Gabby?" Ron asked in a deep voice. He cleared his throat and added, "Here, sit down."

Gabrielle collapsed into a chair by the fire and Ron went to the sink to get her some water.

Preoccupied with the explosive kiss he and Gabrielle had just shared, his hands shook a little as he ran the tap. He wondered if anyone had ever left him trembling before?

Nope, not even close.

But Gabrielle wasn't herself right now, Ron reminded himself, she was upset and not thinking clearly. It would be wrong to take advantage.

Even if all he wanted to do was touch her again and get another hit of that electricity.

He coughed again and once the glass was full, turned back to face Gabrielle. She sat staring unflinchingly at him, wearing an expression he couldn't read.

"Water…" He handed her the drink.

A few moments passed as Gabrielle sipped quietly. Ron sat down opposite her, painfully aware of how close they were and at the same time not nearly close enough. He couldn't take his eyes off her and would probably have been embarrassed if she hadn't been looking back expectantly.

Had she always been that beautiful? No, he would have noticed, wouldn't he? Thinking about it though, she didn't actually look any different it was just the arc of energy that was pulsing silently between them that made her the most fascinating thing on the planet.

Ron wondered if this new development had something to do with Gabrielle's veela magic but quickly dismissed the idea. For a start he had no desire to pledge his undying devotion or do something really stupid in a bid to impress her. His mind wasn't a foggy mess which had always been Fleur's calling card. Actually his sense were all sharpened and focused entirely on the young woman watching him with large melancholy eyes.

Ron didn't want to say or do anything that might frighten her so he waited and eventually she said, "Were are we?"

"Grimauld Place. My house, sort of. Technically it's Harry's house but he moved out when he married Ginny. They didn't want to start a family under this roof and I can kind of see why…"

Gabrielle listened intently, occasionally asking questions. Ron realized that the small talk was helping to bring her down from the raging high she had been on. So he continued to ramble until he was interrupted by a pop.

It was Hermione. Ron was not happy to see her. "Don't you knock?"

"Sorry," Hermione said, sounding anything but. "Ron, can I talk to you outside for a second?" She pulled Ron into the hall where she continued in a prudent whisper. "I've been speaking to Bill to try and figure out what happened."

"It's obvious what happened," Ron hissed back. "Fleur went all psycho-veela, with the mad teeth and the spiky claw things!" He was vaguely aware at the inappropriate level of anger behind that remark. This wasn't Hermione's fault and really, why should he be bothered about some sibling squabble when didn't even involve any of his own siblings?

"Yes, Fleur changed," Hermione explained patiently. "So did Gabrielle."

"No she didn't," Ron huffed, "I think I'd have noticed."

"Well, you'd think! Seriously Ronald, that's what happens when witches with veela blood loose their temper. I don't know why you couldn't see it in Gabrielle. Maybe the same reason her other veela characteristics don't make any impression on you."

Ron didn't quite know what to make of that. Hadn't Harry said something similar?

"Has Fleur calmed down yet?" he asked.

"Not quite. It might be better if Gabrielle stayed here tonight since you seem to be immune."

Ron thought about Gabby sitting quietly in the next room waiting for him to return and his body began to tingle. Immune? He didn't bloody think so!