Women's laughter is sometimes compared to the sound of tinkling bells. The particular laughing sound that Fred and George Weasley heard when a woman stumbled into their shop one bright Thursday afternoon was nothing like that at all. It was a deep belly laugh followed by a very unladylike snort. Whoever the woman was, the twins determined she was immensely enjoying herself.
The brothers looked up to see that it was Fleur Delacour with their younger brother Ron tripping into the shop behind her. The unlikely pair looked too involved in their conversation to notice the twins staring at them in open-mouthed surprise from behind the service counter. As they finished their conversation, the French witch had put her hand on his arm while he smiled down at her.
Then Ron amiably addressed his brothers by announcing, "Fred, George! Fleur and I were in the area and we wanted to pick up a few things."
"What are you planning to do?" George asked. "If it's pranks, you know we have the best supplies there are."
"Do you have itching powder?" Fleur asked. "I keep telling Ron that he needs to put that on his boss's seat."
"You keep telling him about it?" Fred asked sweetly. "Just how often do you talk to our dear brother? We haven't seen you since you broke up with Bill."
"I saw her when she called me by Floo," George said self-importantly.
"Why did she call you and not me? I'm the good-looking one!" Fred said with mock indignation.
"She obviously likes me better than you, though perhaps not as well as she likes ickle Ronniekins," the twin replied in a stage whisper.
When neither Fleur nor Ron rose to the bait, George had to change his tactics and discuss business. "We can get itching powder for you in bulk quantities if you need it. We could help you make an entire village itch."
"Or a whole newspaper office," Ron said.
"I want some of that," Fleur replied, reaching into her purse to wave some money at them. "I think I also want some… I'm not sure what you'd call it, but something that could make anything someone touched feel both hot and cold."
Ron looked at her askance. "What are you thinking about, Fleur?"
"You could coat the darts with the potion, or whatever it is, and then he would immediately drop them because they would be uncomfortable to touch. Then your boss wouldn't take aim at you," she said logically.
"Yes, but then he'd just get new darts," Ron replied.
She had a contemplative expression on her face before stating, "Then you need something that will make his darts floppy. No man wants floppy darts. It makes him feel less virile."
The three Weasley men didn't answer, but they all swallowed hard as they thought of wobbly phallic equipment.
"Why do you need to prank someone in your office, and why do you need Fleur's help to do it?" Fred finally asked. He was determined to find out why she was suddenly acting so chummy with their younger brother.
"I hate my job. I hate my job," Ron repeated as a mantra. "She's just trying to help me release some tension."
"By release tension, does that mean you two are…?" George asked with his tone trailing off.
"Friends, George. Something that seems in short supply lately," the younger Weasley answered while Fleur nodded her agreement. "Did you know that Harry and Hermione are getting married? They didn't even invite me to their wedding. It's good to know who my friends are and who they're not."
"Look, we got our invitations. Yours probably got lost in the owl post," Fred said to try to placate him.
"I don't think so," Ron said what a shake of his head. "I've lived in the same flat for years. Barring that, they could have sent an invitation to Mum and Dad's. They just didn't want me there. They wanted everyone else but me."
The twins tried to convince him that he was wrong, but he was not to be swayed. Then short hairs on the back of Ron's neck stood on end right before the door to the shop opened. He turned to look over his right shoulder and saw Harry Potter standing in the entrance.
"Speak of the devil, and he will appear," the tall Weasley said snidely.
Harry stepped into the shop, greeting Fred and George first. Then he looked at both Ron and Fleur who were standing closer together thanks to the fact that the witch had hooked her arm through his.
"I wasn't sure you'd still be here," Potter said. "How are you doing?"
"I'm all right," Ron answered stoically.
Fleur leaned closer to Ron and whispered, "I could let you use some of my itching powder on him if you need it."
The man smirked at the thought, but didn't share what she had said with the others.
"You probably have heard that Hermione and I are getting married soon. There was an article about it in the newspaper. I haven't sent you a wedding invitation yet," Harry stated. "I was hoping to see you so I could invite you in person. I thought you deserved that. I also wasn't sure you'd read any owls from us."
"That's considerate," Ron said in a way that made it sound like his actual thoughts were quite opposite of his words.
"Look, would you like to come over for supper so we can talk about it? There's no reason we can't be friends again," Harry said. "It wasn't even the first time we argued, but we always managed to bounce back."
"I don't even know if I still like you," Ron admitted. "Who are you, anyway?"
"We could start with a clean slate," Potter said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. Then Harry finally acknowledged Fleur was standing beside his old friend. "You could bring her with you if you like."
"That's up to her," Ron said. "I wouldn't want to take one of my friends where she would feel uncomfortable."
"Ron," Fleur said, softly interrupting the conversation. "Come look at this with me. I need you to tell me how it works."
Weasley allowed himself to be pulled aside. Fleur was expertly selecting things from the shelves and talking nonsense to him about what was in front of her. Once Harry's attention was taken by a conversation with the twins, she stopped the charade.
"You should go see him," she gently urged. "I know you don't want to, but it could help. You could have your friend again."
He sighed. "I'm not sure that's a very good idea."
"I can go with you, and if it gets too horrible, we can leave. You can blame it on me," she said pragmatically. "I am also curious how Hermione turned out."
"I'm sure she's still the same know-it-all social avenger she always was," Ron said.
"But if she's changed you can put your curiosity to rest. Maybe I will bring some itching powder with me. If she ever got that in her hair, that might be funny," Fleur said, showing her mischievous streak.
The thought was odd enough to make Ron laugh. "Okay, I will tell him yes, but you've got to come with me. I'm not going to face them alone."
"Bon," she agreed. "Ask them what kind of wine they like. It is always good to bring the host a gift."
"While you're thinking of alcohol, make sure you get some firewhiskey," he said to her as he spun on his heel to go speak to Harry.
"We accept your invitation," Ron told him. "When do you want this meal to be?"
"Will Friday work for you? Come at eight to this address," he said as he wrote his new address on a scrap of parchment. "I'll tell Hermione to make two more settings."
"Why not four?" George asked jokingly. "We like to eat, too, you know."
"I'll tell you all about it later," Fleur placated the twin. "Or I won't. How much are the prices for the itching powder and these other items?"
Fred started ringing up the witch's purchases. Meanwhile, Harry looked at Ron as if he had more to say. He remained quiet and then slipped out of the shop as suddenly as he had come.
After Potter left, Ron asked his brothers, "Did he come in here just to talk to me? He didn't buy anything."
Fred wrapped up Fleur's purchases and said, "Actually, yes. He asked us to shoot him a super fast patronus whenever you showed up in the shop."
"Well, that's a surprise," Ron mumbled to himself. Then to Fleur he said, "Let's go get something to eat before we both have to go back to our respective hells."
"À bientôt!" she said with a wave to Fred and George as they walked out of the shop.
###
When the appropriate time on Friday came, Ron met Fleur at her flat. Her roommate Marie answered the door and immediately shouted over her shoulder that Delacour's boyfriend had arrived. At almost the same time both Ron and Fleur corrected the young woman that he was not her boyfriend.
"Well, you spend more time with him than you do on any dates," the woman answered. "If you're not playing hide the quaffle yet, one of you is gay."
Ron's eyes bugged at the thought of hiding the quaffle with Fleur. As a Quidditch fan, he loved any sport related innuendo, but he tried not to think of her that way. She still had that gorgeous veela hair, and the one kiss they shared had been very nice…
"Did you find out which kind of wine to bring?" Fleur interrupted Ron's thoughts as she finished putting on her earring.
"I forgot to ask," he admitted as he handed her the wrap she'd gestured for.
"I'll improvise," she said as she walked back to get her clutch.
The small purse had a charm on it to make it bigger on the inside. She had brought with her several prank items in case they would be necessary and several different bottles of wine and one firewhiskey.
"You do like to be prepared," he praised.
Once she had completed her finishing touches, the pair Apparated directly to Potter's new home. Ron stood before it, staring in open-mouthed surprise. The place could have been called Potter Palace because it was nearly as big as one. It seemed so utterly ostentatious for someone who had always claimed to be humble and want the simple things in life.
Without saying a word, Fleur took her delicately gloved finger and lightly pressed against Ron's jaw to close his mouth. When he looked at her instead of the opulent building, her eyes were twinkling with mischief.
"I don't belong in a place like that," he said.
"You don't, but maybe they do. Be courageous," she said as she slid her hand into the crook of his elbow. Together they walked to the front door of the mansion.
###
After Ron knocked on the massive door, Hermione opened it, looking the vision of an extravagantly dressed lady from the past who might likely throw herself melodramatically on a fainting sofa at the slightest provocation. Her naturally bushy hair was barely tamed into a bouffant style that matched the rest of her outfit perfectly.
Ron stared at his former best friend, and he couldn't get a word of greeting out of his mouth. Fleur easily took the lead to smooth over what could be an awkward silence.
"Thank you for the invitation. I have a nice rosé for you. We weren't sure what would fit the meal, so I hope this will be sufficient," she said as she handed the bottle to Hermione.
The future Mrs. Potter looked at the French witch with mild surprise. Unaware of the cause, Fleur smiled at the woman in return with the genteel grace that usually made her a winner with the males of the population. Hermione remembered her hostess manners and stopped gawking at the woman.
"Thank you," she said as she accepted the bottle. "Please come inside. We have some hors d'oeuvres in the library, and we'll be taking the meal outside on the patio."
"Thank you," Ron said, finally gathering his wits enough to respond to her. "You look lovely, Hermione."
She put her hand up to her hair and whispered a blushing, "Thank you, Ronald. Well, please come this way."
The hall Hermione was leading them through was inordinately long and reminded Ron of a corridor in an old museum. He wondered to himself if that's what this house had been before she and Harry had made it into a home of it for themselves. Beside him, Fleur conversed with Hermione as they walked together to the library.
When asked what she had done with her professional life and aspirations since graduation, Hermione easily explained that she had become a wizard lawyer. "After all Harry's troubles with the Ministry, it seemed the most appropriate thing to do. At least he'd have someone on his side to get him out of trouble when he needed it."
"I would have thought you would have continued with your other advocacy work like SPEW," Ron said, somewhat comfortable with the professional discussion.
"I have taken pro bono cases where I can. There are still those who don't want the help I can provide them, even if I do have their best interest at heart," she said.
The discussion of social justice reminded Ron of something from their shared past. "Does Harry still have that house elf he inherited from Sirius?"
"No," Hermione said with a sad look on her face. "He died during the holidays last year. It was a hard blow to Harry."
"He has a very kind heart," Fleur said of Harry. She always gave the wizard the benefit of the doubt.
By that point, they had made it to the library where Harry was standing looking like a lord of the manor in a dressing jacket and holding a beverage in his hand. A cigar or pipe would not have been out of place in the tableau that Potter presented.
Upon seeing Ron and Fleur, he put down his drink and came to his old friend, grasping both his hands in his own and telling him effusively how pleased he was that he had come. Then Harry turned his attention to Miss Delacour and kissed her gloved fingers, which made her blush. Ron shot her a quick look, disbelieving that she could fall for such a ploy.
"Will you and Fleur be coming to the wedding together?" Hermione tried to ask delicately. Her curiosity was raging about the relationship that she and Ron might be sharing.
"I have not yet been invited to your wedding, Miss Granger," Ron said with a level head and an unflinching direct stare. "Fleur and I may do many things together, most of them enjoyable, but without an invitation none of those activities will include attending your upcoming nuptials."
Hermione looked at him with surprise and blurted the first thing that came to mind. "When did you learn to talk so fancy?"
"I grew up, Hermione. You missed it while you and Harry were playing lovebirds," Ron chastised.
Harry interrupted this with sincerity. "We can't fix the mistakes we've already made, but we can start new and become friends again."
"Yes, that's right," Hermione said. "A clean slate."
Weasley studied them both. They had been his best friends through his Hogwarts years and until the defeat of Voldemort. Unfortunately, they, like Fleur when he met her again, had become strangers with familiar faces. Ron glanced to the French witch whose hair shimmered as she looked mischievously in her small handbag. If things could turn out so well with Fleur, who he had not really known well when he was younger, perhaps it could be the same with his old friends. At least this time he would have no false illusions about a future with Hermione.
"Yes," Ron finally said quietly, and he let out the breath he was holding.
"Brilliant," Harry said with a huge grin. "So now we can invite you to our wedding."
Potter handed Weasley the beautiful parchment envelope with his name engraved on it in gold. When Ron opened it, a spell on the invitation proclaimed with trumpeters and flying birds the upcoming marital bliss of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. At the bottom of the invitation was a place to RSVP and indicate if he would be bringing a date with him to the wedding.
Hermione was still over-curious about Ron and Fleur's relationship, so she asked again, "Will Fleur be coming with you?"
"I don't know," Ron said as he lifted his head up from the invitation in his hands to look at Granger. "I haven't asked her yet, and I wouldn't want to assume."
"Ronald and I are not dating," Delacour said softly. She then shot a humorous look at Ron and told him, "Marie thinks we are."
"I heard her, but I don't take much stock on Marie's opinion," Ron replied with a chuckle. "She's the one who keeps setting you up on dates with idiots. I don't understand why you tolerate her meddling. All you have to do is walk into a room, and you'll get noticed. Just breathe near men, Fleur. If they like women, they will throw themselves at you."
"Like you did to her when you were fourteen?" Hermione asked as she looked at them.
"Exactly!" Ron agreed, not at all embarrassed because of it.
"What kind of wizard are you looking for?" Hermione couldn't help but ask the witch. "Maybe I could set you up on a date. I have many eligible wizards in my law practice."
"I have had beautiful men and stupid men. Many times they are the same man. I have even had a Weasley man," she said as she waggled her eyebrows. "I want a man who can make me laugh. He must have strength and courage."
Harry looked back and forth between the two of them and said as he looked at Ron, "Someone like that isn't always so hard to find."
Weasley realized what Harry was hinting at, and he stopped the conversation right there. "I know what you're trying to do, and just because you two have found love with each other does not mean you should be pairing up everyone around you. Fleur and I are friends. Respect that."
"Sometimes friends change and become something else," Hermione told him as she took Harry's hand.
"Not necessarily. Besides, I already know what she's like in bed anyway," Ron said with a teasing twinkle in his eyes.
Hermione gasped, and Fleur leaned in to Ron to threaten him with some of the itching powder she had brought if he did not behave. He laughed down at her and whispered that it was quite satisfying to see Granger jump to the wrong conclusions about them, much like his mother would.
"So if you're not with Fleur, then who are you dating?" Hermione asked. "Is there someone we could meet later?"
"No, I'm single right now," he said, feeling annoyed at the questions about his love life or lack thereof. Fleur had actually introduced him to many women she knew. A few of the dates seemed promising, but there hadn't been that key spark with any of them.
"His standards are too high," Fleur said.
Ron said something French just for her ears before saying to the whole group in English, "Unfortunately, it seems she is right, but I don't wish to talk about it."
Hermione doggedly pressed on about Ron's high standards, and his patience with her grew weary. "Do you want me to tell you that I loved you from afar for years and that no one can measure up to you? Is that what you want me to say? It would be true, but what importance is that to you now? You have Harry. Stop trying to pry into my personal life. We have only just repaired our friendship, and there are things I am not willing to discuss with you. It's as simple as that."
"I'm sorry, Ronald," Hermione said, looking surprised at his emotional maturity. He was so different than the boy who couldn't hold the depth of his emotions in a tablespoon.
"Fleur," Harry said as a distraction, "how is your sister Danielle?"
The French witch looked pleased to be asked, so she told him of her sister's success with potions. At such a young age, she was making great strides in research and creating new potions of her own. The Delacour family was pleased with her brilliant success.
"You are equally brilliant," Ron said as if annoyed with the accolades Danielle was getting.
"I may be brilliant, but I will receive no recognition for it while working at Gringotts. For goblins, it is all about treasure," she said.
"I should introduce you to Gideon Mason," Ron told her. "You could give him the veela charm."
"He wrote that wonderful article about our engagement. I normally hate newspaper articles. Harry does, too, but Mason did a great job," Hermione praised.
Ron's eyes flashed with burning anger, and Delacour diffused the situation by offering him a piece of finger food. She stated loudly enough to distract them all that she had enjoyed it very much. Ron appreciated her efforts and let himself relax.
A servant walked into the room a few minutes later to tell Potter and his guests that supper was ready to be served on the patio. Ron held his arm out to Fleur as they followed Harry and Hermione outside for the meal.
###
While they ate, conversation continued light and easy with Fleur helping run interference for Ron when topics were getting close to something that was an emotionally touchy area. She did it so smoothly that he almost hadn't noticed how well she knew him. He wondered at how easily she had learned him, and he was caught staring at her when Hermione had to ask him a question more than once.
"I said, how long have you and Fleur been seeing each other?" she asked in her exaggerated and nosy fashion.
"A few weeks," Ron said while looking back and forth between the women.
At the same time, Fleur answered smoothly, "A few months."
The unlikely pair laughed, and Weasley conceded to her that a few weeks could also be interpreted as a few months. Then Ron became somber as he thought that Harry and Hermione had become engaged to each other at nearly the same time that he and Fleur came in contact with each other again. If it had already been a few months, that was a long time to avoid him. When Fleur wanted to see him, she had been supremely resourceful and found him immediately. The same could not be said of those two.
With unspoken understanding, the French witch put her hand over Ron's and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Tell me more of the wedding plans. Will it be extravagant?" Delacour asked Hermione.
The younger witch began telling her all about the plans from the location to the people involved in the wedding party. She then began to expound in detail about the decorations and food menu. She was so exacting and organized that Ron's head was spinning just listening to it. He shot a conspiratorial look to Harry to see if he felt the same thing. Potter acknowledged the force of nature that was Hermione Granger with a project, but he also seemed pleased with it.
Ron shook his head and looked down into his dessert. Fleur took that opportunity to tease him.
"And you wanted to marry her?" she whispered as she put her hand on his arm.
He smiled devilishly wide at her and asked aloud for the benefit of the others at the table, "Miss Delacour, surely you've thought of your wedding before. What types of things do you want to have when you get married?"
She gave him one of those looks that showed he was going to pay for that later. Then she answered the question. She said her family had a small mountain villa near a lake, and she had always dreamed of a small intimate ceremony there with family and a few close friends. It would be the very model of simple elegance.
"That sounds so French," Ron said.
"What do you know of France? You have traveled much, but you have not been there. I should bring you with me sometime," she said so casually that it didn't surprise Ron. It did seem peculiar to Harry and Hermione who were realizing again how close the two had become.
###
Once the meal was over and conversation was wrapped up, Harry spoke to Ron again how grateful he was to have his best mate back. He endeavored to spend more time together doing things with him. He also reminded him that there was going to be a pre-wedding rehearsal dinner.
"I would like you to come to that, and please feel free to bring Fleur with you if she's your chosen date," Potter said sounding super formal. "Just come. I could make you one of my groomsmen."
Weasley looked at him directly, "Harry, mate, I don't need to be one of your groomsmen. I want to be friends again, but that would be too much too soon. Maybe I will say a toast for you at the reception afterward."
The four said their parting remarks to each other, and then Ron and Fleur walked out the door to the street where they would Apparate away from the Potter mansion. On mutual agreement, they went to Fleur's flat first. A quick look around showed Marie to be completely gone.
The French witch pulled the itching powder out of her purse and handed it to Ron. "It seems I did not have to use this after all."
He turned it over in his fingers contemplatively and replied, "Save it for the wedding ceremony. There will be more people to terrorize then."
Fleur looked at him and then tousled his red hair as she walked to her bedroom where she changed her clothes. She emerged from her room a moment later to find Ron still sitting on the bar stool turning the can of powder over and over in his hands.
Taking the itching powder gently from his fingers, she sat down on a low chair in front of him and asked, "What's wrong, Ronald?"
"I had a nice time," he admitted. "It felt odd somehow. Maybe I've been too angry too long."
She reached out her hand and entwined her fingers with his. Offering a soft smile, Fleur said, "Thank you for your honesty."
"Does it ever bother you that people keep assuming we are dating? If I wanted to be around people who would drop hints like that, I would invite you to a family meal. Then my mother could quiz you and tell you embarrassing things about me," he said. Ron was clearly in a contemplative mood.
"No, it doesn't bother me," she said softly with a tired smile.
That smile from Fleur Delacour was one that Ron realized she did not show very often. She was usually all polish and veela charm. He liked that insight into her when she let down the shield of her "mystique."
"Miss Delacour, will you do me the honor of being my date to the wedding of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger?" Ron asked as he stood.
Fleur mimed a fake yawn as if the very idea would be boring. Then she relented with a wicked smile and said, "I reserve the right to bring itching powder with me and to claim my innocence of any wrongdoing when the day is over."
"I would expect no less," he said smiling down at her.
Impulsively, Ron leaned down and kissed the top of Fleur's silvery head. Then he let himself out of her flat and Apparated home to his own.
A/N: Yes, I got the title from The Cure. It was the only thing that came to mind.
Thanks to many people who read and liked this story and gave me feedback encouraging me to write the other parts. A special shout-out goes to Marvey4 who helped beta read some of this over Christmas. Any mistakes that remain are my own.