A/N Everything else still belongs to JK Rowling but I just wanted to mention the addition of new OCs. So yeah, Fleur's friends are mine I guess.
Chapter 31
"What was it you were going to tell me again?" Reece whispered to Daphne, remembering their conversation in the hall. He hadn't dared speak to her for a while after her slight blow up but intrigue was getting the better of him.
"Not here Reece. We're in lesson, and you're supposed to be translating that rune that everyone has already finished." She murmured in reply while continuing to copy down some notes that had been written on the board at the front of the room. To be fair he could translate the rune with ease if he wanted, but he couldn't be bothered. This single rune wouldn't affect his final mark in the subject and therefore a conversation with Daphne was more important.
"Come on Daphne, you've been on and off with me since the train." He pestered, getting shushed by an irritable Professor Babbling in the process. Reece pretended to go back to taking notes for a moment, and once the professor had turned back to her marking of fifth year essays he resumed his nagging. "You said at the feast you'd tell me."
"And you thought this was the best time to talk?" She snapped in an agitated whisper.
"Well yeah." Reece mumbled, shrugging slightly. "I mean, its only runes."
"Only runes?" Was her dubious reply. "I don't know how you keep up good marks and stay second in our year. Your academic attitude is awful." She scolded.
"Well I read." He muttered in reply. "And I guess being an heir of Slytherin has its perks- I see what you're doing you sneak, you're pulling me away from my question."
"Mister Lestrange!" Professor Babbling yelled from her seat at the front of the classroom. "Do you have anything you'd like to tell the rest of us?" She questioned furiously.
"Uh," Reece paused. An excuse. Any excuse would be golden right about now. Before Babbling bites his head off that is. "Well you see Professor," All eyes were on him and all he had to do was keep a straight face. "I was just wondering if I'd be able to go to the toilet."
"No." Babbling snapped in annoyance. "You may not mister Lestrange." He forced a frown to cover the comical smirk that was working its way onto his features. "You must go in your own time, and not during my lesson." Reece nodded at the enraged woman politely before going back to scribbling shapes on his parchment. As quietly as possible, he ripped a small strip off of his parchment and wrote the words 'This is not over' before discreetly sliding it across the desk to Daphne. She glanced down at the strip and snorted back a laugh rather loudly when she noticed a comical cartoon of their runes teacher drawn at the far side of the note.
"Miss Greengrass!"
"That was your fault." Daphne grumbled as the two exited the classroom after being issued a detention each. Reece simply laughed, snatching the parchment with her detention details out of her hand and ripping both his own and hers in half. "You know she'll tell Professor Snape." She sighed heavily. "We'll still have to serve the detention."
"Well at least it'll give me and you some quality time to talk about whatever you're not telling me." Reece replied in a charming tone as Tracey and Pansy approached them, giggling carelessly while shoving past Padma Patil and Mandy Brocklehurst of the Ravenclaw house.
"Lestrange I can't believe you actually got her told off." Tracey said as the four began moving through the school as a group. "I don't know what you did to get her shouted at in runes but-"
"All I did was make her laugh." Reece smirked arrogantly at Daphne, causing her to scowl in annoyance.
"It's not funny Reece." Daphne hissed. "If my family finds out about this they'll all be so disappointed in me, and Astoria will never let me forget about the time I got a detention."
"Oh don't be so uptight." Pansy nagged. "It's only a detention, it's not the end of the world." She teased snootily and Tracey giggled momentarily at the comment.
"Reece!" Reece looked over his shoulder immediately upon hearing a sultry French accent call his name. Fleur had suddenly appeared behind them and was approaching the group with two friends, one standing on either side of her. "I was 'ztarting to think I wouldn't find you." She said as the two groups stopped and blocked the corridor unintentionally. Both Pansy and Tracey looked at the girls with a sense of hostility whereas Daphne (Still irritated about the detention) appeared indifferent.
"Well you found me Fleur." He said politely while observing her two friends. The girl on Fleur's left had an enticing figure with curves in places that would make many of the Hogwarts and Durmstrang boys drool. Her skin was slightly tanned, and she had wavy chestnut hair that cascaded down to her waist. Everything about her screamed attractive and Reece couldn't help but wonder why all of Fleur's friends were so stunning. The girl on Fleur's right also did not disappoint. She was also blonde, however it had less of a shine than Fleur's and was perhaps more of a dirty blonde shade. This French witch appeared a little younger, possibly even just seventeen. "Are you gonna introduce me to your friends?" Reece put on his most charming smirk and ignored Pansy's scoff as he nodded at the three beautiful French girls.
"Ah of course." She smiled at Reece, pretty much ignoring the three girls that were watching on awkwardly. "This is Juliette Labelle." The stunning girl to her left nodded in greeting, smiling at Reece and flashing her bright white teeth. "And this is Danielle Rousseau." The pretty witch on Fleur's right beamed at him, and consequently Reece had to fight the heat that was creeping up his neck. Fleur really did have the most gorgeous friends.
"It's nice to meet you both." Reece said calmly, discreetly looking Danielle up and down while the other two French witches weren't focusing on his gaze.
"We were wondering if you'd 'ave lunch with us." Fleur eyed him suspiciously before looking down at the other Slytherin girls snobbishly. It was as if she could sense him eyeing up her friend, and Reece had to avoid eye contact with Fleur while giving her an answer.
"I'd love to." He replied.
"Then we'll be off." Pansy snapped from behind him. "Talk to you later Lestrange." And with that the three Slytherins turned and walked away eagerly, muttering amongst themselves once they were out of hearing distance.
"Good." Reece had no idea if Fleur was answering his reply or talking about what Pansy had said. But he wasn't bothered either way in all honesty. "Follow us to 'ze 'all. I want a privé talk with Reece." (Private) Fleur put her hand on Reece's shoulder, pushing him forward and allowing the two girls to trail behind them. "I 'ave a question." She continued before he even got a chance to reply. "'ow old are you?"
"Fifteen." Reece answered cautiously as they neared the hall. "Had my birthday a couple of days after school started; why?"
"You may 'ave thought I wasn't watching, but I was." Fleur said smugly as they entered the hall. "I saw 'zee way you looked at Danielle. She's very pretty, and as your friend I'm telling you she's available." She said as they took a seat at the Slytherin table, keeping their distance from the rest of the house. "Eet might 'elp you get over that girl."
"I like the way you think Fleur." Reece smirked at her as Danielle and Juliette joined them at the table, sitting opposite the two with beaming grins as the four began to tuck into their lunch.
"Fleur told us about the tournament," Danielle began, speaking in impeccable English with her thick, warm accent.
"You muzt be vairy good." Juliette finished. "Fleur iz amazing at duelling." The brunette had a gleam of admiration in her eyes as she spoke about her friend and to Reece this group of French witches seemed like a monarchy, with Fleur sitting comfortably on her throne.
"Well I guess I'm alright at it." Reece told the three as he reached for his goblet.
"Modestie ne fonctionne pas for you Reece." (Modesty does not work) Fleur said reasonably. "You know you are good, don't deny eet."
"Right fine." He said in defeat, purposely making eye contact with Danielle for a little longer than necessary. "I won the tournament, so I guess I'm a pretty good duellist."
"Pretty good?" Danielle questioned incredulously. "We saw some of the pictures of you and Fleur fighting in the papers. You 'ave brilliant technique." This witch was literally setting his hormones on fire. Everything about her was gorgeous and yes maybe a small part of him wished that he could be spending time with Granger right now, but Danielle was an enticing alternative.
"Well thank you." Reece said, glancing to the Gryffindor table for a split second out of habit. "So Danielle, Juliette, what do you think of Hogwarts?" He asked while trying to keep his focus on those seated in front of him.
"Eets amazing," Juliette replied happily, flipping her chestnut hair over her shoulder gracefully while eating some yoghurt.
"But it's cold." Danielle continued for her friend. "I visited England in summer a few years ago, and it was a lot 'otter." That explained her good English, but her facts were still at fault.
"That's where you've gone wrong Danielle." Reece smirked. "This is Scotland, not England. It's even colder up here than it is down south." She pouted in annoyance and he couldn't help but think she was cute. It was a cute pout, he mused to himself while giving her another one of his charming smirks. Fleur was most likely right, as per usual. Maybe Danielle Rousseau could steer his mind away from Granger- The name Granger is French he pondered thoughtfully. Oh Christ nope. Stop. Snap out of it idiot. Reece began to internally slap himself as his gaze veered back to the Gryffindor table, noticing that she wasn't even there. Bloody Granger wasn't even in the same room; which meant it was getting even worse.
"Do you own a house-elf?" Reece had managed to catch her attention once again. And now the two were inhabiting their quiet space at the back of the library just as they had done the previous year. It seemed he couldn't stay away from the Gryffindor, and now he was about a metre in front of her, holding a book that explained the theory of Occlumency that he planned to take from the library for light reading. She blurted out her question randomly and Reece couldn't help but be amused.
"Yaxley has one." Reece muttered as he leant back against the table in front of the bookshelf and folded his arms across his chest. "Her name's Arrow."
"I'm doing some research for S.P.E.W-"
"Oh Christ almighty Granger don't give me the speech about how elves need to be paid and how they're mistreated." She seemed stunned. Not offended, but shocked that Reece knew what was coming. "Look I'll tell you about Arrow, but there is no way I'm joining your club."
"How do you even know about it?" Hermione questioned incredulously, crossing her arms defensively and mirroring Reece's stance.
"Gossip." He stated simply in reply. "Come on Granger don't look so surprised, you know I spend more time with the girls and Zabini than I do with Malfoy. Pansy and Tracey can't keep their gobs shut, they talk about everything."
"So your house-elf," Hermione said shortly, changing the subject. "Is Arrow a boy or a girl?"
"Girl." Reece answered automatically. "Look I'm just gonna be honest with you here, she's respected and she was there for me growing up. Mr Yaxley isn't around an awful lot, and when he wasn't Arrow would look after me and entertain me. She taught me to cook and she woke me up in the mornings and she even helped me escape my house after… that incident." He paused, took a breath, and then forced a smile at her. Hermione was giving him that sympathetic look again and he didn't want to see it. "Honestly Granger; Arrow doesn't give a shit about wages and good clothes, she cares about me and Yaxley and she's content. Most elves are content and happy because they don't know – and don't want to know – different."
"You said most." She argued. "There's still some elves out there that are horrendously mistreated." Reece had to agree with her on that one. The only Malfoy that had respect for their house-elves was Narcissa, and she would often leave Lucius to do as he pleased with them due to her position within the household.
"That's how it's always been," Reece replied calmly. "There is literally no point in trying to change anything now, maybe in a few years but not now." And that appeared to be the end of the conversation for now. It was far from over, the gleam in Hermione's eyes told him that, but for now the debate on house-elves was put to rest. "We should probably go Granger, and get to the hall before the champions are chosen."