A/N Here is chapter five! As always, I would like to thank my amazing Beta, Peeves' Best Friend, who actually beta'ed this chapter out loud, in different voices. Hermione's was surprisingly high. Anyways, BIG thanks to him. I suggest you visit his story Harry Potter and the Elemental Changes. While it is rather crude at the beginning, it will become awesome, you just have to keep on reading.
Also, thank YOU, for continuing to read Fleur De La Mer. I keep finding inspiration because of your interest.
FLEUR DE LA MER
CHAPTER FIVE: Dragons
HARRY (Great Hall, Saturday November 21st, 6.53 pm)
Harry showed up half way through dinner, and judging by the look on his face, he had no clue what had just happened to him. As usual these days, his eyes first flickered to Ron, who was eating a sausage with lots of sauce yet without any vegetables, before he sat down next to Hermione. He looked tired and nervous and for a good reason.
Ever since the first article came out in the Daily Prophet, people had been pestering him even more than before. While the Hufflepuffs had taken to blatantly ignoring him, the Slytherins found it all hilarious. It had gotten so far, that every time Malfoy saw Harry, he offered him tissues 'in case he needed a good cry'. So angry about it all, the badges, the looks, the comments and now the tissues, Harry had finally just grabbed the box of tissues out of Malfoy's hands and thrown them away as hard as he could. Unfortunately, they had hit Snape in the face, earning him another Friday of detention, and ever since then he had just let it go. Which had of course been Hermione's advice in the first place.
He sighed thinking about Hermione. She had been there every time he needed her, but he knew he was getting on her nerves. He meant, why wouldn't she be annoyed by him. He was getting on hisnerves. But he just couldn't shake this stupid black feeling. Why would no one believe him? No one but Hermione. Hermione the rock. Hermione who stood by him.
Ron on the other hand, had decided after reading Skeeter's article, that he had been right about Harry just wanting the spotlight, and had gotten to the point of openly supporting Cedric as champion. He even started wearing a Cedric Badge, which Malfoy of course found fantastic, but Harry had yet to see it switch to POTTER STINKS. Nonetheless, if it hadn't been for Hermione, Harry probably would have punched Ron in the face by now. And he would have had a good reason. He would have never left Ron in the cold like this. He would have always supported him. His eyes once again flickered to Ron, who currently refused to acknowledge his existence.
Instead of thinking about his former best friend again - which would only make him more nauseous - Harry turned to Hermione. "Any idea why Hagrid would want to see me at midnight?"
Hermione looked up in surprise. "He wants to see you that late?"
"Yes. He told me in the hallway right before I came in." Harry sighed and whispered. "I don't know if I should go, I might be late for Padfoot."
Tonight, at the common room fireplace, Harry was supposed to meet with his godfather, who had his own thoughts on the Tournament and wanted to share them with Harry in person. While Harry and Hermione had tried to convince him by owl that breaking into Hogwarts wasn't really something a fugitive wanted to do, Sirius had answered with a one line letter.
Don't worry, just be there.
Hermione had snorted and had looked rather dismayed at the piece of parchment, but she hadn't said anything. Which was probably the best he could have hoped for from Hermione.
"Maybe it is important." Hermione said, bringing Harry out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm just going to go to Hagrid's." sighed Harry and stood up. Most of the students had left the Great Hall already, and while Harry hadn't eaten a thing, he too decided to leave.
"Are you going already? It is not nearly midnight." Hermione asked him worriedly. "And you haven't eaten anything again. You need to eat, Harry!"
Harry simply shrugged her worries away, turned around, and left Hermione sitting at an almost empty table. He knew it probably wasn't the best thing solution - since friends were hard to come by these day - but he really wanted to be alone.
Walking out on Hermione, he figured he'd wander around the halls some more. The common room had lost its charm a long time ago.
FLEUR (Great Hall, Saturday 7.22 pm)
A table further, Fleur could see Hermione sitting alone, sipping from a cup of pumpkin juice as the girl watched Harry Potter leave the hall. Fleur really could care less about the Boy Who Lived - he was her rival after all - but he was also Hermione's friend and she could see her shoulders sink as he left her alone. Ignoring Inès' joke beside her and to the surprise of her Beauxbatons classmates, she stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table.
"Bonsoir 'Ermione' Fleur said, and sat down. " 'Ow are you doing?"
"Oh hi Fleur." Hermione smiled softly. "I'm okay I guess, and you?"
Fleur sent her a crooked smile and said "Well, not 'ungry anymore. And even 'zough your British food isn't really my style. I 'ave eaten very well tonight. And 'zen I saw you sitting 'ere and decided I needed to practice my English."
"Your English is pretty good, it's just the accent." Hermione smiled.
Fleur grinned and leaned forward, whispering in Hermione's ear. "I really just wanted to escape my 'orrible classmates.." Her lips almost touched the English girl's ear, and she was content to see a shiver run through Hermione.
"Are they really that horrible?" Hermione asked hoarse.
"Non." Fleur grinned again and pulled away "But 'zey annoy me sometimes."
She lazily leant back against the table, sitting close to Hermione. Fleur reached for an empty cup, still standing on the table and grabbed a jug of pumpkin juice. She felt strangely confident, with an almost empty great hall and a full stomach.
"They do always surround you.. I mean, when I see you in the hallway, you're never alone."
"Mais, oui. And for some reason 'zey 'ave gotten more persistent after my election as champion." sighed Fleur "Al'zough some are my friends."
"Not all of them?" Hermione asked surprised
"Merlin no!" Fleur yawned and laughed "Are all 'ze people you 'ang out wiz your friends?"
"Well.. yes. It's mostly Harry and Ron though. And Ginny, Ron's sister." smiled Hermione.
"Speaking of the devil." a girl in a Hogwarts uniform said, and dropped on a bench on the other side of the table. "Or are you not supposed to say that when you're talking about yourself?"
Fleur looked at the new arrival, the girl was younger than Hermione, with bright red hair and a contagious smile on her face. She looked like she was about to run a prank somewhere. Maybe she was related to those redhead twins striding around the school, the ones with the beards and all the underwater classrooms. Coincidentally, also the ones that had tried to change the Beauxbatons carriage' colour from blue to pink. They hadn't completely reached their goal, but the carriage was currently stuck on a very weird tint of purple. Naturally, Inès found it all fantastic. Anyways, this redhead girl definitely had the same devious look in her eyes.
"I didn't know you two knew each other?" The redhead asked Hermione, gesturing at Fleur. "By the way, I'm Ginny."
"Ello Ginny." Fleur said charmingly. "I am Fleur."
"Yeah, I figured.. You being champion and all." Ginny grinned. "So how come the Beauxbatons champion hangs out with a fourth year from Hogwarts?"
"'Ermione 'elped me in my second day at 'Ogwarts. Apparently she knows ze library better 'zan ze librarian." Fleur said, causing Ginny to laugh at Hermione's scowling face. Fleur smiled, she liked that scowl.
"She does spend an awful lot of time in there." Ginny agreed swiftly. "Which is a good thing, because this means I always know where to find her when I need help with my homework."
Hermione sighed. "You're just like Ron."
"You probably know him, he drools whenever he sees you." Ginny mocked her brother.
Fleur smiled tightly. Drooling people weren't exactly a rare occurrence around her, and the people at Hogwarts weren't that good at dodging her random lashes of thrall. Noticing that her classmates were leaving, she stood up, putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I 'ave to go. Maxime wants to see me."
Hermione looked at her in curiosity. "Detention again? On a Saturday?"
Fleur grinned, squeezing Hermione's shoulder softly. "Not detention, non. I 'ave no idea what it is zis time." She turned to Ginny. "It was nice to meet you. See you soon 'Ermione?" Fleur asked.
"Yes. Goodnight."
Fleur Delacour turned around and in a flash of silvery hair walked out of the Great Hall. She ignored Inès' inquisitive looks and instead smiled all the way to the currently purple carriage.
"Uhm." She heard beside her. "What was that just now?"
"Quoi?" Fleur asked innocently.
"Don't tell me you like her, Fleur." Inès sighed. "Aren't you here to win a Tournament?"
"Hmmm." Fleur smiled. "What does it matter?" She picked up her pace and forced Inès to almost jog beside her to keep up. Oui. She liked Hermione. She had taken a liking to the fourth year pretty much after their first meeting. Hermione was sweet and kind, loyal and funny, pretty and smart. She liked talking to her. She liked being around her. She doubted she'd spent as much time in the library researching pretty much anything, if Hermione wasn't around.
Although it was kind of obvious that Hermione hadn't picked up on any of her flirting.
HERMIONE (Great Hall, Saturday 07.55 pm)
She watched Fleur leave the Great Hall together with the other Beauxbatons students and couldn't help but smile as she saw Fleur glance back to her; right before disappearing through the doorway. The French witch had been more of a friend to her than Ron lately, who didn't want to talk about anything and most certainly not about Harry.
When Harry was sick of hanging in the library - which was most of the time - and she was sitting there all alone, that was generally the time for Fleur to show up. Always with some excuse about having to write some essay for Maxime - it seemed like her detention would last forever - she always asked Hermione for help with her research. Hermione had yet to see her write one word though, and mostly those short moments in the library were filled with jokes and teasing instead of studying. She liked it when Fleur appeared out of nowhere. It made her smile. The French girl, generally surrounded by a vast troupe of people, was always alone when she sought out Hermione. Hermione liked being sought out by Fleur.
"I didn't know you two were that close?" Ginny asked, snapping Hermione back to reality. "Well, frankly, I didn't know you had even met, or well, liked the French for that matter. You do have a vast assortment of special comments for the Beauxbatons lot."
"Yeah well." Hermione smiled softly. "We just see each other sometimes in the library. And most of the students from Beauxbatons are very arrogant, Ginny, I was just wrong about Fleur I guess. "
"Oh okay, Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, was wrong about Fleur Delacour, Triwizard champion, French, ridiculously beautiful and the topic of my brother's dreams? That's just gold." Ginny laughed, then a wolfish smile appeared on her face. "So, do you two always flirt when you see each other? Or was that just now a onetime thing?"
"What?!" exclaimed Hermione in surprise. "Fleur and I don't flirt. For Merlin's sake Ginny, she's a girl."
"So, girls can't flirt with each other?" Ginny asked, reaching for the jug of pumpkin juice that promptly disappeared off the table. "Bloody house elves." She muttered.
"Ginny! They are just doing their jobs! And I didn't say that girls can't flirt with each other." Hermione said haughtily. "She's probably just being French. French people aren't as stiff as us English." She clearly remembered how Fleur had greeted one of her friends with a kiss on the cheek. On the other hand, she also remembered the beginnings of jealousy forming deep inside of her. Shaking her thoughts off, she focussed on Ginny again.
"You can say all you want 'Mione. But I recognize flirting when I see it." Ginny grinned "And you don't let me sit that close to you."
"Ginevra Weasley! I do not flirt with Fleur!" Hermione cried out perplexed.
"Fine. But she definitely flirts with you." said Ginny amused.
"Who flirts with Hermione?"
Hermione jumped up, She had been so engulfed in the conversation that she didn't notice Ron standing behind his sister.
"No one." The two girls said at the same time. Ronald probably didn't even knew she hung out with his out of reach crush.
Ron frowned sceptically. "Yeah, sure. As if." Looking solely at Hermione, he seemed like he wanted to ask something, but decided against it, at the last minute. "Let's go to the common room." He sighed resignedly. "The food's gone and I still need to write that piece on the summoning charm for Flitwick."
Agreeing that it was time to go, Hermione stood up and left the Great Hall together with Ron, followed closely by a still grinning Ginny. Entering the common room, she noticed that Harry was once again nowhere to be found, but, given that Ron was in her company, that might have been a good thing. The last time she forced the two boys to sit together, red sparks had flown out of Harry's wand and Ron's ears had had about the same colour as said sparks. She was glad Neville had managed to diffuse the situation by tripping over the tapestry and falling head first into a massive pudding that Fred and George had brought up from the kitchens. By the time Neville had reappeared, all covered in pudding, Harry had disappeared into his dormitory and Ron couldn't stop laughing until thirty minutes after. Leave it to Neville to cheer people up by accident. A simple cleaning charm coming from her wand had made all the pudding vanish from Neville's clothes, and the twins had not shown their face, knowing Hermione was on the warpath. They still refused to show her the way to the kitchen.
After Ron had convinced her to help him with his Charms' essay, Hermione spent the entire evening writing it, while Ron played Exploding Snap with Seamus. Considering a whole evening had gone by without any arguments by the time she finished, she was for once happy to help Ron cheat his way through Hogwarts.
Honestly, she had forgotten how much fun it was, hanging out with Ron. He might be oblivious to so many things in life, he did still make her laugh. He smiled at her gratefully as she took the stairs to the girl's dormitories. She could feel his eyes on her back as she slowly went upstairs. All in all, it had been a good day.
FLEUR (Beauxbatons Carriage, Sunday November 22nd, 01.33 am)
Dragons, Fleur thought when the door closed behind Madame Maxime, leaving her to sit alone in her living room. Large, dangerous, fire-breathing, murderous dragons.
She could barely believe that they were somehow going to be her first task. She had listened stoically to Madame Maxime, who had barged in slightly panicky, at an incredibly late hour. She was lucky Fleur never went to bed before one, or today, after this news, probably not at all. Nonetheless, Fleur had managed to keep a straight face, and Maxime had calmed down after seeing that her champion seemingly wasn't bothered by the news. Well, at least on the outside.
Dragons. Putain.
She had some concerns after Maxime told her this news.
It wasn't very kosher to find out about the task, before the task now, was it? And was she the only one who knew? It didn't seem like it, Karkaroff obviously wanted to win as much as Maxime did, so she couldn't imagine him not being around when her headmistress had seen those dragons. That left the two boys from Hogwarts. Or maybe Dumbledore had told them like Maxime told her. Although that seemed unlikely. Wasn't Dumbledore this rather noble and honourable person? Would he cheat?
She guessed not.
Brilliant. Now she had a moral obligation to tell Harry Potter and Diggory. Oh merde. It would have been so much easier if she hadn't found out about the task. Still though, what could you do against a dragon?
On the bright side, there was literally no chance that the task involved slaying the dragon. Dragons were notoriously hard to kill and not to mention extremely expensive. She doubted that the schools were willing to pay for four dead dragons. She didn't know Karkaroff or Dumbledore well enough, but Madame Maxime was in fact known for always spending the least amount of gold possible.
It was far more logical that the dragons were going to be used as a guardian of some sort. Get passed the dragon, claim the prize, that sort of thing. All the while trying not to get hurt or - Merlin forbid - die.
That still meant she needed to find a way to distract a dragon.
Fleur snorted out loud, she could not believe she was actually logically trying to figure out how to get past a dragon.
Dragons were tough beasts, enormous, mysterious, powerful and - according to some - they were magnificent. And while Fleur might not agree with dragons being magnificent, she did know that you didn't simply distract a dragon. Nor could you tame one without being immensely magically powerful. Sure, Fleur was above average in magic, but she wouldn't go as far as to think of herself as someone who could actually tame a dragon.
Tricking or confusing a dragon was almost as difficult as taming one, honestly, the Confundus charm wouldn't get you anywhere. Dragons were known to simply shake it off, and most of the time, only get angered more. There had been many stories of witches and wizards who were trampled or burnt to a crisp after they had tried to confound a dragon. Fleur Delacour refused to get trampled.
As far as Fleur knew, the only spell to actually get a dragon more or less under your control without having to actually tame it, was the Imperius Curse. Yet somehow she doubted that that would get her the respect she wanted. Not that it mattered, she had never even performed an Imperius Curse, and she wasn't going to start with that now. Non, she needed to find a different way.
Three hours later and Fleur wasn't any closer to a solution. Beauxbatons Carriage' library owned exactly two books on dragons - one of them being a fairytale - and they weren't as much help as she had hoped. So far she had learnt how to clip a dragons claws and how to keep their scales clean and healthy or how to recognize if your dragon is sick by the colour of its fire. But since she wasn't planning on owning a domesticated dragon any time soon, that information didn't help her one bit. Basically, the last three hours had been wasted.
It was around three-thirty in the morning and Fleur felt more tired by the second. Honestly, she thought, as she rested her head on the book in front of her, if only that dragon was asleep during the task, she didn't need to worry about getting trampled, burnt or bitten.
Her eyes instantly flew open.
She had found her answer.
THE DAILY PROPHET - Sunday Morning edition
CHAMPION FOR BEAUXBATONS -
THE VEELA WHO USED HER POWERS
This Halloween Fleur Delacour, top student of the Beauxbatons Institute de Magique, was elected Champion in the Triwizard Tournament. The daughter of Pierre Delacour, high functionary of the French Ministry of Magic, is the number one ranking student in her year and is known to have a prominent future ahead of her.
Less known is her heritage as a Veela, which your reporter learnt firsthand at the Weighing of the Wands a couple of weeks ago. And even lesser known is her fondness of using her powers as a Veela to her advantage. A student from Beauxbatons, who likes to remain anonymous, recently told your reporter about the several incidents that have happened while Delacour has been attending class at Beauxbatons.
"Only recently she used her thrall on a professor to get out of detention for falling asleep in class." The student said, "Madame Maxime is fond of her so she got away with it pretty easily, as she always does. I wouldn't be surprised at all if she started using her thrall on the judges during the Tournament."
The news that the Beauxbatons Champion might cheat her way through the Tournament, worries many. Not in the least Harry Potter, who already has a big disadvantage on the other Champions. More on page 6.
HARRY POTTER (Great Lake, Sunday, 08.30 am)
Staring at the calm and dark water, Harry was panicking. Sirius could say all he wanted, dragons were scary as hell. He officially realized he was in way over his head with this Tournament. And if that wasn't enough, one of the judges was a bloody Death Eater. He was doomed. What on earth was he supposed to do now?
He wondered what would have happened if he had seen the dragons for the first time on Tuesday, he'd probably pass out in front of the entire school and not wake up until the task was done. Secretly he hoped that was still an option, less risk of dying that way. But Ron would have a field day if that happened. And with the Daily Prophet reporting on every move he made, he could already see Skeeter's next headline.
"Potter passes out after Dragons remind him of You-Know-Who."
Probably something like that, maybe a little more dramatic, presumably someone would testify he burst out in tears and laid in foetus position on the ground. Presumably, it would be Malfoy, or Snape. Snape would totally do that.
Next up: "Potter's biggest fear: Potions class."
Yeah, that would be grand.
Harry snorted. He needed Hermione to wake up, quickly, he needed her help. He needed her to figure out what he could do against a dragon. He needed her to calm him down. By Merlin's biggest mistake, Harry was even willing to live in the library if it meant that he wouldn't die on Tuesday.
The Giant Squid broke the calm waterline of the Black Lake, splashing water all over the Durmstrang ship. He wondered how Krum wasn't sick all the time, that ship looked about as sturdy as Neville's flying. Water was probably leaking through every corner, small miracle it didn't sink. The wonders of magic.
"Bonjour." Harry heard softly behind him. He looked around to see Fleur Delacour standing next to him, her normally very radiant face looked very tired and her beautiful hair was slightly dishevelled. She was not wearing her standard Beauxbatons uniform, and instead she was walking around dressed like a Muggle. Harry was surprised, somehow he hadn't expected Fleur to wear Muggle clothing. Okay, maybe he could see her in a Muggle cocktail dress, but the worn-out jeans were a surprise. It seemed a little too down to earth for the witch who had enchanted half of Hogwarts.
"'Arry." She frowned at him. "I need to tell you some'zing."
"Hi Fleur." Harry said slightly surprised that the Beauxbatons champion was talking to him. "What is it?"
"Dragons. 'Ze first task involves dragons. I 'zought you needed to know 'zat."
Completely baffled Harry spoke: "I know. Hagrid showed me." Before he had even finished his sentence, he could hit himself. He should never have mentioned Hagrid. He didn't want to endanger his friend. Damn it, why did Hagrid so stupidly put his job on the line in the first place? Harry knew why, stupid idolization of Maxime. God, the dragons had probably been able to smell the cologne all the way from the other side of the grounds.
Fleur sighed and sat down in the grass, and after a short hesitation Harry sat down beside her. The grass was still wet from last night's rain, yet Fleur didn't seem to notice her jeans getting damp. Harry on the other hand, was glad he was wearing his long and thick cloak. He shivered.
"Krum knows too, I ran into Karkaroff yesterday evening. He had followed Hagrid and Madame Maxime into the Forbidden Forest." Harry said, deciding to be honest. Truth be told he didn't really care what Fleur knew or didn't knew. He figured she wasn't about to say anything about Hagrid if it would hurt Maxime in the process.
" 'Zat leaves Diggory." Fleur said carefully.
"Yes." sighed Harry resignedly. "I'm planning on telling him when I run into him, it wouldn't be fair to not say anything.."
"Bon." Fleur said. "Zat makes it easier for me."
The French witch stood up and knocked the remaining dirt off her jeans. She nodded a goodbye to Harry and was about to leave for what Harry presumed was the carriage.
"Fleur, wait." He said and she looked at him inquisitively. "Did you see the Daily Prophet this morning?"
Fleur frowned. "Non, I did not."
"You should read it. There is an article in it about you." Harry spoke softly. "Rita Skeeter wrote about you, I guess she picked up on some rumours and decided to write a story about it."
The quarter-Veela scowled. "Putain. Que ce-qu'elle a dit?"
"Something about using your Veela powers to influence the outcome of the Tournament. There is a rumour going on that you have most of your professors in your pocket, because you use your thrall on them." Harry said carefully and he quickly added. "I don't believe it, I know firsthand that Skeeter makes up most of her stories, but many people do, so, I guessed I should warn you."
Fleur visibly paled and sat down next to him again. "Merde." She whispered and together they stared at the Black Lake in silence.
INÈS (Beauxbaton Carriage, Sunday 09.41 am)
Whenever you needed Fleur, she was missing in action. And this definitely was a time where Inès needed to find Fleur. She had looked everywhere. Fleur was not in her chambers, she was not in the kitchen - not that there was food in it anyway - she was not in the library in the carriage, and she was not in the library in the castle. She had looked everywhere. Except for all the places that she forgot.
Recently, whenever Fleur disappeared, she was in the company of a very bushy haired fourth year from Hogwarts. Coincidentally, that fourth year was friends with Harry Potter, the Unexpected Champion. Originally Inès had presumed that Fleur was being cunning and was trying to get information on the Boy Who Lived via his friends, but when she tried to congratulate her friend on her commitment to the Tournament, Fleur had gotten very upset. Anyways, while the bushy haired fourth year, Hermione, was currently in the library, Fleur was for once - strangely enough - not in her company.
Sighing, she dropped into one of the cosy armchairs surrounding the open fireplace in the middle of the central hall of the carriage. All around her, people were whispering ferociously about the article in the Daily Prophet. Truth be told, there had been rumours about Fleur using her thrall on Fournier before they left. But Inès could not believe someone would actually talk to that horrendous reporter. And while most Beauxbatons students knew that Fleur couldn't actively control her thrall, they weren't about to waste such a delicious piece of gossip. Nonetheless, it wasn't the Beauxbatons students that she was worried about, they weren't about to leave their queen bee hanging out to dry. Non. But she had seen the reactions to the articles about Harry Potter all around Hogwarts, and she didn't want that to happen to her best friend.
The front door of the carriage opened up and a dishevelled looking Fleur appeared through the opening. Immediately, the people in the hall went quiet. Her friend, while slightly more sloppy looking than usual, held her head high as she walked through the hall.
"Fleur!" Inès quickly called out and leapt to her feet. "Let's go to your chambers!"
Fleur nodded and together they climbed the stairs, leaving all the gossip behind.
Once inside Fleur's living room, Inès tried to explain the whole article situation to her friend, but a very calm Fleur just said "Je sais." and dropped into one of her armchairs.
"You do?" Inès asked surprised, she didn't actually think Fleur read the Daily Prophet.
"Harry Potter warned me about it earlier." Fleur sighed. "I haven't read it though."
Inès shook her head and said "Well, I know it was Gaillard who told that Skeeter woman. He just bragged about it by the fire. I knew he was a fils de pute, mais.. I didn't think he would lie that blatantly. Everyone knows that you can't actually control your thrall."
"Except that I did." Fleur answered ashamed. "I don't know what came over me, but I did. That is why I have been in detention every Friday. Maxime was furious, and rightfully so."
Honestly, that was not the answer Inès had expected. Fleur had been her best friend since their first day at Beauxbatons, and while the two of them weren't always living on the right side of life, they had mostly followed a code. True, Fleur always had been really convincing - and it had been thanks to her that they had gotten out of several nasty situations - but as far as Inès knew, she had never once used her thrall that blatantly to her advantage.
"Okay I did not see that one coming." Inès grinned uncomfortably. "But, you know, they can't prove anything. It'll be fine. You're obviously sorry or you wouldn't be sitting here, this deflated of your natural flair."
Fleur smiled sadly at her friend, "I'm so sorry, Inès." She said quietly. "It will never happen again." Fleur buried her face in her hands and tried to repress a sob.
Inès nodded and engulfed her friend in a hug. This was obviously one of these "for better or for worse" moments.
"Also" Fleur whispered hesitantly "The first task will involve dragons."
Well, it can't get any worse, Inès thought and said: "Don't worry, I'll bring the burn salve."