A/N It took a great deal longer than I had planned and promised, but here it finally is. I wish I had a decent excuse as to why it took me so long, but in reality I just didn't really feel like writing and you have my apologies for that.
I do have some good news for you: Peeves' Best Friend and I agreed that Thursdays are now our official writing days and with some luck things will start to progress again.
As always, I'm thanking my Beta's for all the hard work they do, and you, for bearing with me. If you have a moment, please leave a review. I would like to know what you think.
FLEUR DE LA MER
CHAPTER TWELVE: Rumours
GINNY (Great Hall, 28th of December, 08.47 am)
"Have you heard?" A Gryffindor girl three seats down from where Ginny was eating her breakfast whispered intently to her friends.
"About Delacour and Granger?" Her friend asked curiously.
"Yeah." The second-year girl nodded again "I heard Granger was so enthralled that she tried to kiss the Champion, and after Delacour pushed her away, Granger ran off in tears!"
Her friends laughed and Ginny leaned a little closer to hear, her face distorted in a worrying frown. This was not the first time she'd heard a rumour about Fleur and Hermione after the Yule Ball.
"Oh no." Another second-year said in disagreement. "I heard that Fleur Delacour kissed Granger, because Granger is madly in love with her and Delacour is trying to get Granger away from Potter so that Potter will have to do without any help."
"You mean without help in the Tournament?" A brown-haired Gryffindor boy leant his elbows on the table and Ginny shook her head in annoyance.
"Obviously." The girl whom had spoken first shrugged. "We all know that he learnt that summoning spell he used in the first task from Granger. The Slytherins said Potter is basically useless in spellwork without Granger."
"That can't be true." The brown-haired Gryffindor boy frowned again "I mean, why trust a Slytherin for information on Harry Potter?"
The little group of Gryffindors all agreed on that statement, and Ginny delicately sipped from her cup of tea while she continued to listen to the people gossiping around her.
"Fact remains." The first girl - Jane, as Ginny finally managed to recall, - shrugged again. "Delacour and Granger kissed."
Ginny sighed, that cat was most definitely out of the bag.
Instead of continuing to listen to the second-years murmuring excitedly on what Viktor Krum's reaction might be - apparently, they were all rooting for a duel, the Tournament clearly no longer fulfilling their desire for action - Ginny put down the porcelain cup and stood up from the long wooden bench.
Knocking the crumbs of bread off her jeans - thank Merlin for Christmas holidays - she made her way through the almost empty Great Hall. It was still early day, few people had made their way out of bed yet. And if it weren't for her dorm mates, Ginny would still be sleeping blissfully. But after last night, when Ron had almost trashed the Common Room after Hermione had walked away from him - refusing to answer his questions - her dorm was in an uproar.
It was common knowledge that Parvati and Lavender where the gossip queens of the Gryffindor tower, but Ginny's third-year roommates were a close second. And since Ginny was so close to what could only be classified - in their eyes - as the drama of the century, she got bombarded with questions from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning. You'd have an early breakfast for less.
It had been three days since the Yule Ball, and Ginny had never thought this would be the outcome. It had been a great night, even though Neville couldn't dance, they'd still had great fun together and all in all Ginny was glad she had been able to go. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. Except for Ronald's little outburst at the end of the evening, there had been no drama, no Fleur trying to kill Krum, no Hermione close to a depression. In fact, it had been going so perfectly that Ginny should have realized it was the calm before the storm.
Instead, she had gone to bed with a smile on her face, only to be woken up roughly in the morning by the words she, by now, had grown to despise.
Have you heard?!
No. She hadn't heard. Well, she had, because before turning to bed, Hermione had snuck into Ginny's dorm and told her with a bright smile that she and Fleur had made up. Finally.
Of course, thinking that the drama was therefore over, had been a bit of a stretch.
But no, she hadn't heard the rumour, at least not the rumour Lucy had told her excitedly the morning after the Ball.
Granger and Delacour kissed.
Ginny, still in bed at the time, had pushed herself up instantly and had stared at her classmate with wide eyes. It had taken a second to regain her composure, but then she had frowned and asked "What? How do you know?"
Apparently, some idiot had seen them. Of course, no one knew who, it wouldn't be Hogwarts if you could actually find the source of a bloody rumour. Instead of listening to a rambling Lucy, she had quickly gotten dressed and had run off in search of Hermione.
Her friend was of course nowhere to be found. That wasn't so surprising, so Ginny had just given up after about an hour and gone back to the Common Room, which at that point, was just starting to come alive with all the rumours.
Granger is stuck in this love triangle between Krum and Delacour.
Ginny was surprised no one had thrown Diggory into the mix yet.
Delacour is trying to take Potter out of the Tournament by taking Granger away from him.
Because Delacour obviously needed to fall back onto sleazy tactics since she is such a useless champion on her own. Because, you know, who can't enchant a dragon?
Hermione is using love potions.
But what for, that was the real question no one had bothered to ask.
Three days later, and the rumours had only gotten wilder.
Krum and Delacour are trying to fight out the Tournament while using Fourth Years as expense.
Apparently, suddenly every fourth year had either kissed Krum behind a stack of books in the library, or had suffered through a make out session with Fleur by the side of the lake.
Granger fell under Delacour's thrall and is now a mindless but still very smart puppet helping Delacour cheat her way through the Tournament.
Once again, that dragon wasn't about to enchant itself without help from a fourth year.
Fleur Delacour is trying to bring the Great Legend Krum out of balance while seducing his girlfriend.
Basically, Ginny had heard the craziest things. One more amusing that the other. One side effect was the sudden rise of tensions all through the castle the moment two or more of the heavily discussed people entered the same room.
Yesterday evening, for instance, Krum had entered the Great Hall for dinner on his own, only to be followed seconds later by Fleur and her little gang of French princesses. In no time, the whole hall had grown eerily quiet and everyone had stared at Krum and Fleur who had started up a very polite conversation about Merlin knows what. Next thing Ginny knew, half the Gryffindor table had started murmuring and with feverish glances thrown at Hermione, her brother Ron had jumped up - ears bright red - and yelled "Leave her alone."
Of course, mere seconds later the rumour mill had a new contender for rumour of the day.
Hermione Granger was dating Ronald Weasley before she figured she could do better and had entangled not one, but two Triwizard contenders.
Enter Harry and the rumour was complete.
Hermione Granger decided dating Ronald Weasley was bleak compared to seducing three Champions at the same time. She is trying to catch them all, so Cho Chang beware, Diggory is next on her list.
It didn't matter what was true or was made up. Hogwarts was going wild. And - besides the occasional dinner - Hermione was nowhere to be found.
It was a horror, a true one, because Ron was grumpier than ever, Harry was looking all sad-snowman-like again and she had to dodge questions. But no matter how Ginny looked at it, she was slightly surprised that most of the circulating rumours were about how Hermione was such a slut, and not that she was - more or less assumed at this point - going out with a girl.
That was - of course - until Ginny heard Parvati and Lavender in the common room.
"It's disgusting." Lavender grimaced instantly when Seamus brought the whole subject up again. "I mean, I have to share a room with her."
"Yes." Parvati agreed. "We don't want her staring at us."
"What would stop her from kissing Parvati or me in the middle of the night?" Lavender made a face as she pretended to vomit. "I'll tell you, nothing. It's horrid, absolutely horrid."
"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Seamus joked loudly. "I'd pay to see that happen."
"Keep your trousers on, Seamus." Ginny decided to intervene. "It's not going to happen."
"That's right." Ron spoke softly from his place on the couch, and Ginny sighed, she had almost forgotten he was there. "It's not going to happen. She's with bloody Vicky."
"I think Viktor Krum is a little beside the point these days, Ron." Lavender grinned and slipped beside him on the couch. "Granger seems quite fond of the female champion."
"Shut up." Ron bristled. "It's not true, you know it's not. Since when has Hermione shown any interest in a girl?"
"Does it matter?" Parvati grinned. "She kissed Delacour, isn't that enough 'interest showing'?"
"She didn't kiss that Veela, alright?" Ron snapped. "It's just a rumour."
"Rumours exist for a reason." Parvati shrugged. "I always knew something was off about her."
"About who?"
Turning her head, Ginny could see Harry whom had just climbed through the portrait. He was soaking wet, wearing his Quidditch outfit, but as for why he went flying in a thunderstorm, Ginny had no clue.
"Hermione." She said softly. "They are talking about Hermione."
She could see him grit his teeth and ball his hands before he stormed past the group of gossipers up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Not hesitating, Ginny jumped up and went after him. He was fast, taking steps three at a time. Not bothering to sprint as fast as him, she took her time as he disappeared further up the stairs.
Pushing open the heavy oak door to the fourth year dormitories, Ginny could see Harry sitting on his bed. Except for him, the room was empty, and obviously a boys' room. Choosing to ignore the dirty underwear on the floor - it looked eerily familiar, darn Ronald - she made her way towards Harry. He stared at her with his bright green eyes.
"You're dripping all over your sheets." She remarked softly. "That's not going to be fun later."
"I'm a wizard, Ginny." Harry frowned. "I'm sure I'll find a solution."
Grinning lightly, she sat beside him on his bed. "Yeah."
"Is it true?" Harry asked her. "About Hermione?"
"You need to ask her that, not me."
"So you know then, if it is true?" He said bitterly. "That's more than I do."
"I'm sorry Harry." Ginny swallowed. "But it's not my story to tell."
"It never is." He shook his head, and disappeared into the bathroom.
Somewhere in her head, Ginny knew that the worst was still coming.
FLEUR (Beauxbatons Carriage, 10.33 am)
"Who do you think talked?" Inès asked quietly.
They were all sitting in Fleur's tiny living room. As usual, the golden egg was resting on the coffee table, with Fleur's self made map of the lake beside it. But for the first time in a while, nobody was worrying about the Triwizard Tournament.
"Je ne sais pas." Fleur spoke while staring at the ceiling. "It could have been anyone."
In the corner of her eye, she could see Ozymandias the red lizard crawling out of his terrarium. For some reason, he found it more fun to wander around in her room. She could understand why it would be more fun to crawl around in the real world than in an artificially created - and rather tiny - terrarium. Maybe she should set him free, instead of keeping him as a pet.
"Ouai," said Isabella, "but who would have to gain from actually spreading the rumour?"
Fleur sighed and pushed an annoying string of hair behind her ear. "I'm not even sure if someone would want to gain something from this. After all, it's just juicy gossip."
"But still.." Inès tried and reached for the jug of coffee standing on the ground. The golden egg and map had taken up all place on the coffee table. "I would want to know. What does the fourth year say about it all?"
A deadly stare coming from Fleur made Inès pour coffee over her hand instead of in her cup. Cursing fervently she reached for a handkerchief in her pocket.
"Her name is Hermione." Fleur said with a frown. "Start using it."
Stopping in her movement to clean the coffee off of her hand, Inès looked at Fleur. "You're right." Inès said after a short pause. "I'm sorry."
Gazing at her friend, Fleur nodded and continued. "We've agreed it's best to stay on the down low for now, at least until the worst has blown over."
"She can't be too happy about it all though?" Isabella asked while her eyes carefully followed the crawling lizard.
"Non." Fleur sighed. "She is not. This is not how she wanted the world to find out."
When Hermione had first heard the whispers surrounding her and Fleur the day after the Yule Ball, she had come running to the Carriage in a blind panic. It did not help the rumours - as one could imagine - since Beauxbatons students themselves absolutely loved a decent piece of gossip, and the news that Hermione fled to Fleur's relative safety spread through the castle like wildfire.
Strangely enough, Hermione had calmed down almost immediately after flinging her arms around Fleur's neck. And after enjoying a calming cup of tea in Fleur's tiny living room, the bushy haired girl had almost managed to put things into perspective. Truth be told - and looking back onto that afternoon now - Fleur had never expected Hermione to be rather calm about it.
"Okay yeah." Hermione had mumbled while clinging to the porcelain cup. "It's not an ideal situation, but it's not all bad either, is it?"
"Isn't it?" Fleur had asked with her eyebrows locked in a frown.
"Well, yes. No." Hermione mumbled and her eyes refused to meet Fleur's "I don't know.. I mean," she had continued, and finally looked at Fleur "We were planning on telling people eventually.."
"Oui.." Fleur had answered carefully "But zis is not what I had in mind when we talked about zat."
"Neither did I.." Hermione had laughed nervously. "I suppose we'll have to deal with the rumours for now, but in the long run, this might actually be for the best." She had muttered next: "On the bright side, at least now everybody already knows."
"Mais.." Fleur had hesitated, "I zought you were afraid for your friends reactions?"
"Oh." Hermione had looked up in surprise. "But I still am, I haven't seen or spoken Ronald or Harry for that matter, and honestly, I'm not planning on doing that until things have calmed down a bit, but you see, I'm talking about the bigger picture here.. We were going to have rumours and gossip and all that misery anyways, best to have it all now, no?"
"I suppose so." Fleur had scratched her chin. "If you think so at least.."
"I do." Hermione had put down the cup and kissed Fleur on the cheek. "But I don't think we can see each other in public until I have had that dreaded conversation with the boys."
Looking back now, Fleur was surprised at Hermione's response to the whole 'Hogwarts in an uproar' situation, but that had of course been before Ronald Weasley had gone completely mad after Hermione refused to answer his questions in front of a full Common Room. Something Fleur had - of course - only heard about after the whole thing had passed already. Quite naturally, she was this close to hexing the boy the next time she saw him - there was no need to call Hermione names after all - but luckily for Fleur, Inès had stopped her in time. She was only just out of several weeks of detention, getting stuck with that again was not a particularly high priority on Fleur's list.
That was two days ago though, and Fleur had not seen Hermione since their last conversation. Partially because they had agreed talking in public was not a good idea, partially because Hermione had pretty much disappeared after Ronald bloody Weasley had put aside all tact and had slashed a centuries old Gryffindor Common room tapestry. So, all things considered, Hermione might not be so calm about it all anymore.
"Let's just say we're still figuring it all out." Fleur said, stood up from her armchair and reached for the map of the lake. "In the mean time, the second task is getting closer and I haven't even mapped ten percent of that stupid lake yet."
"Vraiment?" Isabella grinned "We are going to discuss the Tournament when we have a real mystery on our hands?"
"What mystery?" Fleur frowned deeply.
"Who ratted you out, of course!" exclaimed Isabella loudly, seeming slightly insulted that she had to bring it up.
Inès jumped up from her chair and enthusiastically yelled out "She's right!"
Incredulously, Fleur looked up. "Vous êtes sérieuses.."
"Well, don't you want to know? It had to be someone close to you after all." Inès suggested and started pacing.
"Pourquoi?" Fleur frowned "It might as well have been someone who accidently stumbled upon us."
"You told us you were all the way by the greenhouses." Isabella said "Who would be mad enough to go all the way out there in the freezing cold when there is a party going on inside?"
"Oh, I don't know?" Fleur mocked "Maybe they were having loads of drama as well? As I understand, the greenhouses are a perfect surrounding for trying to resolve problems."
"Fine." Inès grinned "But I still want to know who started it. Some of the purebloods are having a field day downstairs because they always knew something was wrong with you and I'd love to curse someone over this."
"We're not cursing anyone." Fleur said tiredly. "And I don't care if they think that something is wrong with me, it took them a while to get used to me being Veela, it'll take a while for them to get used to this and honestly, I don't care what they think."
"I don't really see what they are so upset about anyway." Isabella spoke as she picked up Ozymandias from the floor. "I mean, most of Beauxbatons is French, aren't the French a bit fuzzy with the details?"
"They're just insulted Fleur is picking someone English." Inès grinned. "I'm sure that if you would have just chosen a nice girl from Paris, no one would have blinked an eye in this carriage."
"Except maybe Gaillard." Isabella added.
"Yeah. Except him." agreed Inès.
"And his pureblood buddies."
"True." Inès nodded, "I keep forgetting about those."
"Let's just forget about it." Fleur sighed and sunk back into her chair. "Unless someone purposely spilled the beans to harm me, I don't care."
Some ticking on the window made Isabella look up. When she saw the large brown owl patiently waiting for someone to open the window, she sighed and walked over.
"There is always that option." Inès thought out loud.
"Oui, but I refuse to acknowledge it." Fleur said dismissively, not willing to consider that option.
"Well, you better acknowledge it now." Isabella said with a sad smile, and dropped the Daily Prophet onto Fleur's lap. "Because here is your confirmation."
Fleur's eyes went wide when she saw the headline and hastily folded open the newspaper. No. This could not be happening.
"What does it say?" Inès asked rapidly. "Is it bad?"
"Quite." Fleur whispered. "Quite bad."
DRAMA AND HEARTHACHE AT THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
The story of the bewitching Fourth Year
by Rita Skeeter
When we all first got news of the new Triwizard Tournament, no one would have guessed the drama that would ensue in its wake. First there was Harry Potter, the unexpected fourth Champion, forced against his will to participate in a Tournament that many believe unsuitable for underaged students.
Then there was Fleur Delacour, whose Veela heritage shocked many, not in the least your reporter. The rumours of Delacour using her powers of 'persuasion' in her favour during this Tournament have only just died down, yet the lethally charming Ms. Delacour is already part of a new controversy.
Enter Hermione Granger, best friend - or as we reported earlier this year, more? - to Harry Potter, muggleborn, mysteriously first in her class and - all in all - just your average fourth year at Hogwarts.
You can imagine the cries of shock from the public when this average, and not too beautiful girl, entered the Yule Ball on the arm of none other than Viktor Krum. While your reporter is happy to report they were having a blast at the ball, it was not Mr. Krum whom Ms. Granger ended the evening with. Not at all.
"Yeah, I saw them." Jacques Gaillard (son of Antoine Gaillard - advisor to the French minister of Magic) told your reporter with an understandably disgusted look on his face. "Delacour and Granger, kissing."
"I always knew something was wrong with her." Young Mr. Gaillard added, "You can never find Delacour in the company of men, and whenever someone asked her out, she always turned them down. And now she has her claws into this fourth year, a girl no less? It's disgusting. I just couldn't keep this a secret, you know?"
But what about Ms. Granger then? Is she just innocent prey, fallen for the unnatural charms of a Veela? Or could she be toying with the feelings of many a champion? Her classmates seem to disagree on the matter.
"She's incredibly smart." Pansy Parkinson, a fellow fourth year from Slytherin told your reporter. "I wouldn't put it beside her to brew a Love Potion. How else would she have convinced Krum to take her to the Yule Ball? Maybe Delacour accidentally sipped from a wrong cup at the Ball. Granger obviously didn't mind the difference in Champion."
Not everyone agrees with the idea of Ms. Granger being a femme fatale, others portray her as the unfortunate collateral damage following the intricate politics of the Triwizard Tournament.
"I believe Krum and Delacour are trying to get rid of Potter so that he is not a threat in the Tournament anymore. Everyone knows that he relies greatly on Granger." A student who wishes to remain anonymous told your reporter.
The idea that Harry Potter might lose all chance of winning the Tournament because of a girl, is of course a disturbing one. But the idea that he lost his best friend - or more? - to a Veela is something that worries your reporter more.
We all have no choice but to wait as, undoubtedly, more drama will ensue.
"Ouai." Inès whispered as Fleur angrily balled up the newspaper and threw it into the fire. "That is quite bad. I suppose we are cursing Gaillard then?"
HARRY (Gryffindor Common Room, 11.33 pm)
It was late at night, and the only light left in the Common Room was that of a slowly dying fire. The room was empty, safe for Harry sitting in the armchair closest to the fire. He was slumped over a piece of paper, reading it over and over again even though he already knew the text by heart.
The screeching sound of the Portrait opening made him look up. It was almost hard to see who it was, with close to no light, but he would recognize that mane of hair anywhere. He didn't say a word when she realized the room wasn't empty, instead he just stared as he could see her swallow before she started stepping towards the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
"Is it true?" Harry asked bitterly before she could run off again.
He had been looking for her ever since the first rumours started, but she would either just ignore him, or she would simply be impossible to find. They were alone now. He had to ask.
She refused to look at him and he stood up so he could wave the article in her face.
"Tell me." He asked - insisted - again. "Is it true?"
"The article is rubbish." She said instead of answering his questions, her brown eyes still refusing to meet his.
"I know it is." Harry said with contempt, balling up the piece of paper and throwing it into the fire. "It's written by Skeeter for Merlin's sake. But I can read between the lines, Hermione. And I'm asking you if it's true."
When she remained silent he sighed in exasperation.
"Are you dating Fleur Delacour?" He asked then.
The girl he considered his best female friend still didn't say a word. Instead, she stared at the floor. He waited for a couple of minutes, giving her time to find her answer, even though it was a simple yes or no question. Why didn't she want to tell him? When once again no answer came, he shook his head in disappointment and turned around to go to the dormitories.
"Yes."
It was a whisper, barely audible, but a whisper nonetheless.
He closed his eyes for a second, glad to see that her Gryffindor courage had won from keeping quiet.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" He asked when he turned around to face Hermione. "Of all people, I could have helped you, I could have done something in this freaking mess."
"Harry.." Hermione hesitated "I just.. I was scared."
"Ginny knew!" He said bitterly, almost angrily. "Ginny knew but not me. Since when do we not tell each other things?"
"I was afraid of losing you." Tears jumped into Hermione's eyes, but Harry didn't stop.
"Losing me? Over this?!" He raised his voice.
"You know how it is in the muggle world, and over here, even though they think differently, they're still against it." Hermione said desperately "You heard Ron, how angry he got at the idea of being seen as a fairy. What was I supposed to do?"
"Tell me!" Harry gritted his teeth. "You were supposed to tell me."
His face was a mixture of anger, shock, hurt and disbelief when he sat down on a couch. "If this had happened to me, I would have told you."
"You don't know that." Hermione sighed, sat down on the couch opposite of him and buried her face in her hands. "You don't know what it's been like."
"Because you didn't tell me!" Harry shook his head. "For all I care, you could date a house elf - even though that would be freaking weird - as long as that means you're happy, I'm fine with everything you do in life. But you should have told me."
"I didn't know.." Hermione started "I just.."
"You didn't think." Harry laughed bitterly. "Or you were over thinking."
He looked at her, at her hair all messed up, and her eyes bloodshot of crying.
"I don't care that you are dating Fleur, I care that you didn't trust me enough to tell me."
FLEUR (Great Hall, 29th of December, 07.22 am)
It was early, way too early in fact, but these days if you wanted a quiet breakfast it was either go early or simply don't go. Her friends had tried to keep up with that logic, but after the second day of waking up at the ungodly hour of six in the morning, Isabella had yawned apologetically to Fleur, and Inès hadn't shown up at all. But Fleur wasn't the only person who realized early was the time to go and her bright blue eyes followed the dark haired boy as he entered the Great Hall.
She grabbed another bagel and started to butter it slowly. Unfortunately, the house elves had given up on providing all of Hogwarts with fresh croissants every morning, so she was stuck with semi-dry bagels.
The Great Hall was empty save for her and two Slytherins conspicuously whispering to each other at their table on the other end of the hall. Every once in a while they glanced over to her, but frankly, they didn't care about Fleur, nor did she care about them.
When the boy entered, he was alone, as if no one else in Gryffindor thought it appropriate to show up before nine on a holiday. But the fact that he was alone worried her. Hermione was not with him.
If his redhead-with-a-temper best friend had been with him, Fleur would have understood why Hermione wasn't there, Ronald Weasley had not been taking the entire situation too well. But he wasn't, so Fleur couldn't help but wonder.
"Bonjour 'Arry" She spoke as he walked past her.
The boy abruptly stopped walking and stared at her with wide eyes. He seemed to be debating internally while Fleur raised one eyebrow and took another bite out of the bagel.
"Hi." He then finally said, pausing awkwardly before continuing "I know." He awkwardly scraped his throat. "I know about Hermione and you."
Chuckling lightly, Fleur shook her head. "Ouai.. I am pretty sure 'zat by now everybody knows."
"Well yeah.." Harry scratched his chin, skittishly looked around and suddenly sat down. "But she actually told me."
This made Fleur lower the bagel in her hands and she looked up in surprise. "She did?" She asked in a weird, high-pitched voice "Ermione actually told you?"
"Ahm - yeah." Harry muttered "I sort of had to drag it out of her but she did tell me."
"Oh." Fleur smiled "I did not see 'zat coming. Al'zough I am glad she did."
"I suppose you are." Harry smiled weakly.
"Look.. 'Arry.." Fleur started, but Harry interrupted her.
"I'm fine with it." He said abruptly "It's just going to take some time to get used to the idea of Hermione not trusting me."
"But she does." Fleur frowned at the hurt in his voice "Ermione was just afraid of your reaction."
"She shouldn't have been." He said, grabbed some toast and stood up again. "Anyways, I'm off flying for a bit."
The dark-haired boy walked out and left Fleur sitting on her own at the empty Ravenclaw table. She sighed deeply and finished eating her bagel in silence. This day did in no way feel like it was off to good start.
The truth was, Fleur should have known this day was going to escalate. She should have realised it the moment Harry had walked away, she should have realised it the second she got coffee all over her hand-drawn map of the lake and she should have realised it the instant Ozymandias escaped her room, causing her to look for the damn pet all over the carriage.
But unfortunately for her, she only realised the day was doomed to escalate when she ended up standing eye to eye with Jacques Gaillard when she was on her way to the castle to meet up with Inès and Isabella.
He was all alone and clad in a half long black woollen coat with a dark blue scarf around his neck to protect him from the chill wind that was howling around them. It was cold, the sky was a depressing dark grey and the ground was frosty beneath Fleur's feet. She stared at him standing about 7 feet from her, surprised at running into him, surprised and slightly wary. Wary of what might happen next if she confronted him about the ugly truth.
Yet Fleur would not be Fleur if she didn't press him. There was no way she was going to let him off the hook for ratting to the press. School rumours were one thing, going public to the outside world another and it was impossible to believe after all that had happened between them that the pureblood did not have an ulterior motive for creating this entire mess.
"Why did you do it?" She asked him as a soft snow started to drizzle from the sky. "Why did you tell everyone? You made everything so much worse."
"I asked you to come to the Ball with me." He said icily, "And you humiliated me for what? Her?" He spit. "At least now you know what it feels like."
His eyes filled with triumph when he noticed Fleur's face distorting in a scowl.
"So you told the whole school about me and Hermione?" Fleur shook her head in anger. "How pitiful."
"I am not pitiful!" Gaillard laughed bitterly and shook the snow out of his hair. "I tried to tell you before but you wouldn't listen."
"What?" Fleur bit harshly. "Enlighten me! What did you try to tell me then?"
"You should be with me." He said and started walking closer to Fleur. "Instead of with that whore of a fourth year."
Jacques Gaillard stopped dead in his tracks when Fleur pointed her wand at him. He smiled bitterly and drew his own.