A/N: Here I am again, with the sixth chapter. I was quite anxious to upload again, and you have Peeves' Best Friend to thank for that, along with xtonguetied. (Whose story Once Upon A Time you really should check out.)
Thank you for your remaining interest.
If you have any feedback, I always welcome it.
FLEUR DE LA MER
CHAPTER SIX: Dreamless Sleep
HERMIONE (4th Year Dormitories, Sunday November 22nd, 03.07 pm)
"Ginny, I saw the article already, stop shoving it in my face!" Hermione cried out in frustration. Ginny wasn't the first person to show her the article on Fleur, no, she was the fifth person, and the novelty of the article had disappeared when the second person showed it to her. The next person who handed her a Daily Prophet could expect it to burn fiercely with a simple flick of her wand.
It had all started with Parvati and Lavender excitedly discussing the article over breakfast. According to them it was unacceptable that Fleur was allowed to use her Veela powers on the judges without anyone interfering. They'd easily ignored the fact that there had been no proof whatsoever for Skeeter's claims.
Then came Ron, waving the article in every direction, loudly claiming that he had known all along that she was a Veela. If he and Harry would be speaking, he would have known this ages ago. But naturally, that fact too was ignored.
Next was Hagrid, who she ran into when she tried to escape the ignorance of her classmates, and he was concerned about her friendship with Fleur. Apparently, he had seen them together on several occasions, and now he was worried that Fleur was using her for information on Harry.
Hermione still bristled when she thought about that conversation. It had taken her thirty minutes to convince Hagrid that Fleur was not a manipulative bitch. Thirty minutes and he still didn't really believe her. Seriously, what was wrong with everyone today? If she ever got her hands on that Skeeter woman, it wouldn't be her best day.
"Hermione.. listen to me, what do you actually know about her?" Ginny asked her. Luckily there was no one else in the room with them.
"I know that she is not the person that Skeeter paints her as!" Hermione retorted, although she realized she didn't know much about Fleur.
"Are you even listening to yourself?" Ginny asked concerned "Look, she is totally trying something here, okay? I know that you like her and all that, but it doesn't hurt to ask her now, does it?"
"Ask her what, Ginny?" Hermione mocked loudly "Ask her if she ever used her thrall on a professor? I'm telling you, she is not like that! And I don't like her! We are just friends!"
"Oh yeah, keep telling yourself that!" Ginny shook her head. "I saw the two of you together remember? And your face always lights up when Fleur enters a room. Did you even consider the fact that she might be using her thrall on you?"
"Enough! Ginevra! I thought you thought Fleur was nice?!" Hermione threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
"I never said that. Hermione. And I am just looking out for you." Ginny said calmly.
"Well.. don't!" Hermione yelled, and while she knew how stupid she sounded, she got up from her bed and left the dormitory, and Ginny, behind.
Maybe she didn't know much about Fleur, she thought as she walked down the stairs to the common room, but she did know that Fleur was funny and charming, polite and smart, beautiful and kind. What did it matter that her grandmother was a Veela?
This was stupid, Hermione thought barging through the common room, there was literally no point to this entire train of thought. Fleur was her friend, and she wasn't about to start doubting her because of one article. Especially after the load of crap Skeeter made up about Harry. She stormed through the Portrait, ignoring the Fat Lady's rants about being careful, and instead went down the stairs.
Mumbling about the stupidity of humankind, she ran face first into Harry. As usual these days, he looked about as happy as a melting snowman.
"Hermione?" He asked surprised, and she was tempted to ask if he thought she was Ron, but a split second later decided against it. Fragile as he was at the moment, bringing up Ron wasn't a particularly bright idea.
"Hi Harry." Hermione sighed deeply. "Were have you been?"
"Oh you know." Harry dodged the question. "Outside.."
Hermione sighed again and walked past her friend. She was about done with dragging him along with her when he didn't want to come with her. Which was why she was surprised to notice that he followed her all the way to the library. He dropped into a chair next to hers, took off his filthy glasses, polished them with his robes and said resigned "Hermione, I'm going to be facing a dragon for the first task."
Naturally, she thought he was joking. But since he wasn't laughing with her, she quickly stopped thinking that. "Wait, you are not kidding?"
"No." He said resignedly "I'm not. Hagrid showed me yesterday night. Hermione, I'm done for, I'm going to die."
"Harry, stop being so pessimistic." Hermione said curtly, feeling sorry for her tone immediately afterwards. "Look, we'll figure something out okay, there are many books about how to deal with dragons. All we need to do is get you a game plan."
She stood up and started searching the library for material on dragons. Amongst these hundreds and hundreds of books, there should be something. There had to be something. Oh dear. This was Norbert all over again.
Eventually Harry calmed down, which, considering the entire situation, was a good thing. But even after hours of searching, they didn't find anything useful Harry could do against a dragon. She almost suggested playing dead, but she didn't think that suggestion would be appreciated.
Nonetheless, Hermione didn't mind spending her entire Sunday on what she by now perceived to be a pointless search.
She would do anything to stop herself from thinking about Fleur.
Fleur Delacour, the breathtakingly beautiful French witch.
Fleur Delacour, her friend.
Fleur, who spent all her Fridays in detention for something she didn't want to tell Hermione about.
Fleur, the Beauxbatons champion and Harry's rival.
Fleur, who made her smile every time she showed up.
Fleur, who could stop Ron from functioning properly whenever she was around.
Fleur, who had snorted derisively at Professor Dumbledore.
Fleur, who, according to Skeeter, had no morals.
Fleur the Veela versus Fleur the girl.
Hermione would do anything to stop herself from thinking about Fleur who, coincidentally, was also going to be facing a dragon.
FLEUR (Great Hall, Sunday the 22nd of October, 06.03 p.m.)
Going to dinner was a bad idea. While she was still surrounded by her usual crowd of followers, the whispers were difficult to ignore. Still, Inès was right when she claimed Fleur needed to eat. So Fleur did what she always did when people started to whisper behind her back, she held her head high and ate elegantly, not even bothering to start a conversation with Inès in public. If the world wanted a dysfunctional Veela Ice princess, they were going to get one.
"Fleur, calm down." Inès whispered next to her in French "People are starting to freak, you're letting go of your thrall too much."
Fleur sighed, it was always the same. Why on earth couldn't she simply not show it when she was angry or upset. Everyone always seemed to know what she was feeling, and she didn't want to be an open book like that. Either they were literally stunned by her beauty, drooling all the way, or they were feeling uncomfortable because they could sense every single one of her emotions.. Merde. She sighed unnoticeably and put her fork down.
Looking up from her spaghetti bolognaise, she stared right into the brown eyes of Hermione Granger, who was sitting at the next table. The fourth-year was obviously thinking about something, as she was only moving food around on her plate, and not actually eating it. The girl was frowning at Fleur, but didn't appear to realize that Fleur was looking back. Which was weird, since Fleur wasn't too shy about it.
Inès poked her in the side. She was whispering something about staying calm, and gestured for Fleur to look to her right. That's where Fleur saw Jacques Gaillard laughing with a couple of Ravenclaws holding a piece of paper in his hands. Naturally, it was the article. He turned his head and looked her in the eyes triumphantly. His mouth formed the word half-breed and while he didn't say it out loud, she could hear his disdain in her head.
Fleur instantly leapt to her feet, and she could feel a rush of electricity going through her. The air felt like it was crackling and suddenly she could hear nothing except for the pounding of her own blood in her ears. It took a couple of seconds, and Inès pulling aggressively at her left arm, for Fleur to get back to reality. The people sitting around her were eerily quiet and when she looked at their faces, she was surprised - and a little shocked - to see fear in their eyes.
Fleur swallowed and took a deep breath, desperately trying to regain control over her thrall. Looking around, she was immensely glad to realize only the people close to her were affected by her sudden outburst, and most of the Ravenclaw table was still eating. Luckily, it seemed like none of the other tables had noticed a thing. Swiftly, she turned around, ignoring Inès' worried face, and left the Great Hall as fast as she could.
Fleur never noticed the look of shock on Hermione's face.
Storming out through the Hogwarts hallway, past the Grand Staircase, Fleur was on the brink of screaming out every frustration she felt as loudly as she could. What had just happened? She had never, not once, lost control that violently, and of course it had to happen right when people were already convinced she was an amoral Veela. Damn Gaillard, he had the most horrid timing.
Suddenly, she got hit on the back of her head by a piece of stale bread. She drew her wand, wanting to curse the perpetrator to hell, secretly hoping it was Gaillard who had dared to come after her. But when she turned around in fury, she saw nobody. Fleur was standing all alone in the empty large entrance hall.
"Show yourself!" She yelled out in frustration. "I know you are 'ere!"
A mocking laugh coming from above caused her to look up and she saw a sly grinning poltergeist floating lazily around. Peeves, Fleur remembered from a conversation with Hermione, found everything funny. That included throwing stale bread at Fleur's head. She lowered her wand.
"Go away." Fleur said in disdain. "I am not in ze mood for jokes."
A second piece of stale bread flew inches past her head and Peeves laughed loudly, clearly ignoring everything Fleur had just said.
"I said, leave me alone." Fleur growled, she had had enough of everything.
"Ooooh" Peeves teased mockingly "What are you going to do Veela girl? No thrall to use on poor Peeves. No way to scare me away. I'm having too much fun anyways." He aimed another piece of bread at her head and hit Fleur right in the eye.
"Score!" He yelled excitedly "10 points to Peeves, and zero for you, Veela girl!"
Furiously Fleur slashed her wand at Peeves, right-eye closed in pain, and her Skurge charm hit the Poltergeist right in his chest, sending him straight through the Slytherin-hourglass. Angrily and with her wand still raised she stormed through the front gate of the castle, hoping to find Peeves all the way on the grounds. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found. Growling, she lowered her wand, this day was the worst.
Ugh, she was glad her mother had once taught her a charm to clear an area of ghosts. That one summer they had managed to attract a Poltergeist had been the worst.
When she arrived in her chambers, she slammed the door closed behind her and grabbed a piece of parchment lying on her couch. She sat down behind her desk and started writing a letter to Julie, who's decision to stay at Beauxbatons was more understandable by the day.
FLEUR (Beauxbatons Carriage, Monday 23rd of November, 09.17 a.m.)
"Hypnotis Somnus!" Fleur yelled and made the intricate wand movement belonging to the charm. Unfortunately, the only reaction she managed to get from the lizard in front of her was a simple hop, causing Fleur to sink to the ground in disappointment.
"It's not working." She sighed deeply to Inès, who was weirdly enough wearing her Beauxbatons Quidditch uniform and was helping Fleur practice for the First Task.
"You just need to try harder! All the books say it's an immensely difficult spell." Inès encouraged her. "When I asked Maxime about Somnus yesterday, she simply shook her head and mumbled something about not having the capacities before walking on."
"That is not helping at all, Inès." Fleur spoke slightly annoyed.
"Oh come on." Inès grinned unrepentantly. "She was talking about my capacities, not yours. We all know she adores you." She scratched her head. "You didn't actually expect it to work after just trying for half an hour did you?"
Fleur scowled at her friend. "No, I didn't expect it to fully work yet. But I had hoped to have achieved some sort of effect by now." She gestured with her wand "It's not doing anything."
Rustling through the massive amount of notes she had taken on the spell, an entire night's effort, - researching sure had helped her forget about the article's negative input - she frowned as she read up on the spell once again.
"Hypnotis Somnus, or the spell of bewitched sleep, is a master-level charm, causing the intended target to fall under a deep, magical and dreamless sleep. Once under the charm, it is almost impossible to wake up without outside help. The target either needs to wake up by sheer willpower, or has to be woken up by a third party performing the counter-spell. Somnus is not an easy spell to cast, and unless you are a complete master of Charms, the intricate wand movement takes up valuable time in combat, which is why it is not often used in duels.
While the spell does not easily backfire, if not performed properly the intended target might suddenly wake up. Other common side effects of a not properly performed Somnus are: irrational and moody targets, the caster experiencing sudden sleepiness, hallucinating targets, and permanent sleeping disorder." Fleur read out loud.
"It says nothing about the actual casting of the spell!" Fleur complained irritated. "I'm doing the wand movement, I'm saying the words. Why doesn't it work?!"
"Remind me" Inès yawned uninterestedly. "Why are we using lizards as targets again?" She was looking at the blue lizard trying to escape through the only open window in Fleur's chambers.
Fleur waved with her wand, not even bothering to look up, and the window closed with a bang right before the lizard made its escape. "Because they are tiny dragons. Now focus! I need this to work. What could I be doing wrong?"
Inès sighed deeply "Look, Fleur, I don't know, this spell is way above my head. Maxime isn't shaking her head for nothing whenever I ask her something you need to know. Just.. go ask her for advice and stop being so damn stubborn."
Scowling again, Fleur practiced the movement once more. "I'm not asking Maxime."
"Okay then." Inès said, "I'm going to fly for a bit, you have fun practicing. It'll work eventually, don't give up."
Ignoring Fleur's accusing eyes, Inès pushed all her guilt aside and left Fleur's chambers to go and play Quidditch with some of her classmates who were, like her, ditching class.
Fleur on the other hand, spent the entire morning trying to figure out what she was doing wrong. By the time the afternoon classes had started, Fleur was literally no step closer to a solution.
Exhausted, she decided she needed a break. Putting the by now red lizard - he had mysteriously changed colour after Fleur had failed putting him asleep for the 31st time - in his cage, she left her chambers and went skulking around the Hogwarts grounds. Who knew, some fresh air might help.
She was glad to see that there was no one on the grounds except for a class whom were having Care Of Magical Creatures, and they were too busy trying not to get stung by gigantic scorpions, to notice Fleur walking around the lake. After the incident at dinner last night, she was - for the first time in her life - actively avoiding people.
It seemed that after the article, people no longer saw her as Fleur Delacour, Beauxbatons Champion, but as Fleur Delacour, evil, mean and dangerous Veela. And she wasn't even a full Veela! Yes, her thrall had always been strong compared to other Quarter-Veela's, but most of the time it was completely uncontrollable and mostly it was simply there. Fleur had learnt to live with it by now, and she had reached a point where she was able to more or less suppress the effects for the sake of the people around her.
Admittedly, sometimes, when she was angry or upset, she would let it roam free just to annoy her company. But that was more out of petty spite and it only happened like twice a year.
The whole Fournier incident had been a surprise to say the least. She had never expected it to work. But it had and now there was a bloody article going around saying that she was in the habit of manipulating teachers whenever she disagreed with them. Fleur scowled. If she managed to get her hands on Gaillard, she'd permanently stick him to the Pyramid of Giza.
The water surface broke as the Giant Squid decided to come to surface. Fleur completely understood why it was called that way, the beast was simply enormous.
Taking out her wand, she took a deep breath and started to slowly and surely cast the spell. "HYPNOTIS SOMNUS" Fleur yelled, but no visible spell left her wand and the Squid was having too much fun splashing around to fall asleep.
"It doesn't seem to be working, miss Delacour." A gentle voice said behind her.
"Well, zen you try it if you are so much better at it." Fleur turned around in annoyance, wishing she hadn't said anything when she realized that she'd just been rude to the Albus Dumbledore, who was smiling brightly at her.
He smiled warmly "I would, but I don't think the Squid would like me much after. And we were just getting along so well." He looked at Fleur over his glasses. "Do you know what you're doing wrong, Miss Delacour?"
"Non." Fleur sighed deflated. "I 'ave been practicing for hours and nothing 'appens. It simply doesn't work."
"Well," Dumbledore asked her, "Would you fall asleep if someone was yelling at you?"
Fleur frowned, what did that have to do with it? "Non. I would not."
Dumbledore folded his arms behind his body, and smiled at the French champion. "Miss Delacour, what makes a spell successful?" He asked sternly.
"Intent." She answered immediately. "You need to want it to 'appen or it won't."
"Correct." He chuckled lightly "Intent is very important when casting a spell, but it is not the only thing that matters. The goal you want to achieve, influences the way in which you cast your spell. Most of the time, yelling out your spell loudly and slashing ferociously with your wand will get you the result you desire because many curses or charms don't require anything else." The professor explained.
"For instance, if you want to sent someone flying through the air, yelling and slashing is perfect. But if you want someone to fall asleep, yelling would work counterproductively, because noise is what wakes a person up, just like aggressive movements do." Professor Dumbledore clarified, using an example Fleur could sympathise with, as she'd thought of doing exactly that to Gaillard just a few hours ago.
"You also need to stay calm, unnerved and quiet. No one is able to fall asleep if they are stressing over something and in this case you need to project your emotional state onto you target, so that it has the chance to fall asleep." The Hogwarts Headmaster continued, looking out pensively at the Lake, where the Great Squid was happily clapping two tentacles together.
He looked at Fleur and spoke lightly.
"The Hypnotis Somnus charm is a slow charm. It requires time, as falling asleep when not tired always does, it requires a soft and monotone voice, a slow but steady wand movement, a calm and quiet emotional state of the caster and the intent of wanting your target to fall asleep."
Dumbledore took his wand out of the left sleeve of his bright purple robes and raised it. Slowly but surely he started the wand movement and started casting Hypnotis Somnus in a monotone and slow voice. Over and over again he made the same movement with his wand, repeating Hypnotis Somnus every time.
The wind gradually grew silent around them, birds stopped singing and the water stopped rushing to the shore. Eventually, everything around Fleur and Dumbledore was asleep. In awe, Fleur watched as the genius professor slowly lowered his wand.
"Zat was.. amazing." She couldn't help but whisper.
"Intent is not the only thing that matters, miss Delacour." Dumbledore winked kindly, "I hope this helps you a little further in casting - in what is without a doubt - a very difficult spell to cast, even for a master at charms."
He bowed towards her and started walking away, leaving Fleur in a world that was slowly waking up again.
DUMBLEDORE (Headmaster's office, 09.01 p.m.)
The knock on the door disturbed him out of his thoughts and he called for his guests to enter. The door opened up, and Olympe Maxime and Igor Karkaroff walked through. Both of them were clearly not amused by his summons.
Dumbledore did not smile at his fellow headmasters, nor did he welcome them in. He simply gestured for them to take a seat across his desk.
"What's the meaning of this Albus?" Karkaroff asked displeased. "Summoning us to your office as if we're misbehaving students of yours." Igor Karkaroff's eyes were cold but for all his false bravado, Dumbledore sensed fear in the former Death Eater.
"Oui, Dumble-door, I do not wish to be treated 'zis way." Maxime said dismayed. "Now why did you wish to see us?"
Dumbledore folded his hands and looked at the two people in front of him, then he smiled. "I simply wanted to remind you of your impartiality as judges during the Tournament."
"Remind of us of our impartiality?" Karkaroff said slightly insulted "You do not need to remind us Dumbledore, we're perfectly aware of that."
In a corner in the office, Fawkes started to emit an uncomfortable heat from his perch. The phoenix' dark black eyes seemed to stare right at Karkaroff and Maxime, making the latter shuffle uncomfortably in her chair.
"Well I was just worried a little, especially since both your champions are already aware of tomorrow's task." Dumbledore smiled lightly, leaning back in his chair. "I thought you might simply have forgotten that no one was allowed to inform them, it could happen to anybody."
Maxime and Karkaroff exchanged a nervous look, because while Dumbledore was smiling, the smile did not reach his eyes. No, his pale-blue eyes were freezing over and his face seemed oddly dark.
"I trust this will never happen again?"
HERMIONE (Black Lake Shore, 10.23 p.m.)
Hermione Granger didn't escape the castle often, but today she had done so. She simply had to get out, even if it was just for a walk. Skipping out on the curfew - something she rarely did - she had borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak and decided on a stroll by the lake.
Harry had been practicing non-stop on his summoning charm in empty classrooms all day, and she had to admit, it was finally amounting to something. But after five hours of giving encouragement and advice, she needed a breather. Truthfully, she thought Harry's plan was madness, but he was right when he had reminded her that all his other mad plans in the past had worked. And, truth be told, she had yet to come up with something better. Besides, what could go wrong with flying past a dragon?
Except for a burning Harry obviously. Burning followed by imminent death.
Shaking off her dark thoughts, she kept on walking by the lake's shoreline. While the lake was gigantic, and she could in no way walk all the way around it, she didn't yet know when she was going to turn back.
A small light by the side of the lake, covered mostly by trees, drew her attention. Picking up her pace, she quickly walked over, wondering who else would still be out on the grounds so late at night. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and held her breath.
Hermione was able to feel the magic in the area. Someone was performing some serious magic by the small, light blue light and that someone was Fleur Delacour.
Mesmerized she stared at the captivating beauty elegantly casting a spell. Her face was set in intense concentration as she slowly moved her wand. While Hermione could not hear the words Fleur was whispering, the air went quiet around her and the leafs on the trees stopped rustling.
She watched how Fleur lowered her wand and kneeled in front of a medium-size boulder in between the trees. Picking up something tiny and red in her hands, Fleur started to smile.
"What spell was that? What did you do?" The words left Hermione's mouth without thinking and she had let the Invisibility Cloak slip off her body.
Surprised, Fleur looked up and smiled as she recognized Hermione. Walking over, she showed the bushy-haired girl the tiny red lizard in her hands.
"I enchanted him to sleep." Fleur said almost relieved. "Isn't he beautiful?"
Frowning, she asked: "'Ermione, what are you doing out 'ere? Don't you 'ave a curfew?" Fleur put the lizard softly on the ground.
"Yes, but.. I needed to get out for a second." Hermione smiled apologetically "It has been a crazy day, so I borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak for a walk." She held up the silvery cloak, showing it to Fleur.
Feeling the soft fabric between her fingers, Fleur grinned. "I wish I 'ad some'zing like 'zis. Sneaking around would be so much easier."
Hermione hesitated, "Some people would think you wouldn't get in trouble anyway."
"People 'oo believe your Daily Prophet I imagine." Fleur spoke softly, still looking at the cloak.
Nodding, Hermione swallowed.
"So, 'Ermione, do you?" Fleur asked quietly, eyes focussed on the cloak.
"Do I what?" Hermione asked hoarse, but she knew what was coming.
"Do you believe ze article zat woman wrote on me?"
Fleur looked up for the first time, and Hermione found herself staring into Fleur's immensely deep blue eyes.
"No.. I don't" Hermione spoke softly, slightly hesitating. "I don't see how I could."
Fleur let go of the cloak, letting it drop to the ground, and before Hermione could react, Fleur's arms surrounded her, engulfing her in a hug.
"Merci." Fleur whispered intensely.
For the first time since the article came out yesterday morning, Hermione thought on how hard it would have been for Fleur. Somehow, she had not bothered to imagine that Fleur, who she had - ever since the first time they had met - perceived as this incredibly strong person, would suffer from gossip like the rest of the world. Hugging Fleur back, Hermione could hit herself for forgetting something that important.
"You smell like apples." Hermione said surprised as she let go of Fleur.
Grinning, Fleur sat down in the grass. Hermione didn't hesitate for a second and crawled next to the blonde. Banishing Ginny's you like her from her head, she leaned into Fleur's comfortable warmth.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" asked Hermione quietly.
"Oui." Fleur said confidently. "Weirdly enough I am."
Suddenly, everything came pouring out and Hermione listened to Fleur talking about the last two days. On how Maxime had stormed in talking about dragons, on how she had figured out a way to get past the dragon, on the article, which had made Fleur's life horrible. On Gaillard's pestering, on the temporary loss of control of thrall and the shame and disappointment Fleur had felt. On the magic behind Hypnotis Somnus and how Dumbledore had helped her figure it out.
Hermione couldn't help but smile as she let Fleur's stream of words flow over her while the two girls sat close to each other. And for a second there, she forgot the danger her ever getting closer friend was about to face.
Never mind tomorrow, Hermione thought, today was perfectly fine.