Chapter 22: F
It had been a long day at work.
One of the many long days that she had had recently.
And she knew that it would continue.
She sat at her table sipping her tea (something that she had become quite used and had replaced wine with, much to the amusement of her family) and wondering about the events that had unfolded recently.
Things seemed to have happened at a far faster pace than what she had expected.
Especially after the Triwizard Tournament.
Fleur Delacour sighed.
That wasn't something that she wanted to think about. She had signed up for the glory of being a Triwizard contestant and then the Triwizard Champion.
But the whole experience had been something that was totally different. Something that her seventeen year old self had not been expecting. It turned out, in a way, to be the coming of age ritual for her.
Cedric's death. Harry's anguish. Viktor's befuddlement.
Everything kept coming back to her during her dreams on the nights that she was particularly tired.
She had wanted to do something in the year after the Triwizard Tournament was held to help Harry. Fleur couldn't understand how petty the British Minister of Magic was behaving. The French Minister of Magic wasn't great at his job either, but she knew that in a situation like this, he would have investigated the matter thoroughly before coming to any conclusion.
But that hadn't been the case here. There had been so much press attack on Harry that she had felt extremely sorry for him, but had been unable to do anything to help him out.
And then she remembered meeting him at the Gringotts.
It had been a pleasant surprise for her to see him again and she was happy that he too seemed to take an interest in keeping their budding friendship alive. The meetings that day had been eventful, with both parties alternating between walking on eggshells around each other and sharing jokes like old buddies.
In the end though, they had not managed to get through everything that Ragnok had wanted to discuss. Harry though had given Ragnok his word that he would think about it and would keep in touch with them all one way or the other. In fact, by the end of the meeting, it became clear to everyone there that there was only one possible go-between Harry and Ragnok.
Who was also sitting there.
And who was helping Bluntaxe with the Blck family account.
Herself.
She knew it placed her in an unique situation. The goblins knew that she was an unofficial member of the Order of the Phoenix as well, having signed up recently to help in whatever way she could to bring down Voldemort. It was unofficial because the Order itself was not recognized by the Ministry and she had not yet been involved in missions to be able to cement her place in the Order.
In fact, Fleur herself was of two minds. On the one hand, she wanted to help wizarding Britain of the scourge known as Voldemort while on the other hand, she wasn't sure if the Order was the best organization to go about it. Sure, it was headed by Albus Dumbledore, who she had a smattering of respect for. But based on what had transpired at the Triwizard Tournament, and in particular that the man who had been Alastor Moody had been a pretender and had managed to fool Dumbledore, had eroded a fair amount of the awe she had had for the man.
On the plus side though, Bill Weasley was also in the Order and being a part of it allowed her to spend time with him there when she couldn't hang out with him at Gringotts.
On the minus side though, she had to deal with so many other characters who she thought were particularly shady and weak minded - Mundungus Fletcher for one could not resist her Allure even when she had turned it down to the lowest she possibly could. And then there was Snape.
She scowled into her cup of tea as she thought of the man.
He had always sneered and carried an attitude that reeked of way too much self-importance. She had disliked the man during her brief period at Hogwarts itself and was surprised that the man was part of the Order.
She had been told that Snape was firmly on the side of the Light.
She didn't believe a word of it.
She hadn't been tasked into doing anything major for the Order till the night at the Department of Mysteries. Unfortunately or fortunately, she had not been in the country that day, having been sent to the Paris branch of Gringotts. As a result, by the time she had reached London, everything had finished.
She had heard the story from Tonks and Bill. Remus had been catatonic while she had not been allowed to contact Harry or any of the others involved
She had had half a mind to disagree and contact Harry or the others, but she decided to take a wait and see approach.
In fact, on the day that Harry had visited Gringotts, if she had been the one to drop him back, she would have told him that she wanted to contact him but wasn't sure if she should or not.
But she hadn't been the one to Apparate him back.
And so she hadn't told him that she too was part of the Order.
She had noticed, and she was sure the others had as well, that whenever the Headmaster of Hogwarts' name was mentioned, Harry's eyes would tighten slightly.
As a result, she wasn't sure if letting Harry know that she was part of the Order would be a good thing or not.
But one thing she was certain.
She would definitely fight the good fight.
If Voldemort won in Britain, it would not be long before he took over in France as well.
And that, among other things would make her an Undesirable, as she was already seen as being a half-breed and thus unfit to carry a wand.
And if it came down to a choice between Harry and Dumbledore, even though she hoped the Light wouldn't fracture itself this way, her choice was clear.
Harry.
He had selflessly (perhaps needlessly as well) saved her sister's life in the Black Lake.
The least she could do to repay that gesture was to be on his side when the final battle took place.
Yes, she was sure of it. Her parents may not approve of it, Bill (if they did eventually end up getting married) would not approve of it.
But she was clear in her thinking.
She would follow Harry.
Just as she had set her mind on the topic and had begun to appreciate the taste of the tea that she had been sipping absent-mindedly for the past fifteen minutes, there came a rather unfamiliar Patronus.
She had never seen the Patronus before, and she had no idea who would send a Patronus to her for help.
But she needn't have worried about the who.
For, the moment the message recorded in the Patronus played, she recognized the voice and rushed out to grab her wand.
The person would definitely need all the help they could get.
Seeing that its work here was done, the otter Patronus moved through the walls and disappeared as a beam of light to its next entrance.
The Patronus had achieved its purpose here.
Fleur Delacour would rush to the aid of Hermione Granger.