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Chapter 35
Harry pushed the knot of his tie up to his neck as he checked how it looked in the mirror. It was Christmas Eve and Fleur had suggested the three of them go out on a date. Nothing too elaborate, just a nice lunch at a restaurant. Hermione had loved the idea. So that was what they were doing. Hermione had Harry Stepped her down to the hotel where her uncle Steve worked. His restaurant was booked up that day but with a liberal application of puppy dog eyes her uncle did a quick phone call around some of the fancier restaurants in the city despite it being Christmas Eve they were able to get a reservation.
Harry was a little hesitant when he was told it was a six hundred Franc minimum. But seeing the look on Harry's face Steve just laughed and reminded Harry of the exchange rate. Once Harry did the basic math in his head it turned out that it was roughly forty Francs to the Galleon. So six hundred francs was only around fifteen gallons or seventy-five pounds. Not cheap but as a last-minute reservation for three people on Christmas Eve? Harry knew that was a good price.
After that, Harry had stepped Hermione back to their château where Fleur was entertaining her little sister with tales of what her life in Britain was like. Leaving out all of the gory bits of course. While Apolline and Sébastian were out for an hour doing a last bit of grocery shopping to ensure they had the freshest possible for the next day.
With the date confirmed, Hermione and Fleur decided that they would have to start getting ready almost immediately. Which left Harry with a hyper French tween to entertain. It had only been about four months since he and Gabby had last spoken but according to her. "Tu t'es bien amélioré en Français. T'es encore un peu lent et tu te trompes dans l'ordre des mots parfois, mais je suis surprise que t'apprennes aussi vite."
Harry grinned."J'ai besoin de réfléchir à ce que je veux dire en Anglais, traduire en Français dans ma tête, et ensuite le dire. Donc c'est un peu long. Surtout quand je dois me souvenir du genre d'une table en me demandant pourquoi une table aurait un genre. Donc oui je prends du temps." (I need to think what I want to say in English, translate it into French in my head, then say it. So it takes a little longer. Especially when I need to try and remember what gender a table has while also wondering why a table has a gender at all. So yeah that take a bit of time.) He teased the girl. "What about your English? Fleur said you were learning?" Harry asked, giving Gabby the time she needed to keep up.
"It's hard. English has a lot of rules it does not follow." Her words were slow and steady.
Harry nodded. "C'est parce que l'anglais est en fait cinq langues dans un imperméable." (It's because English is five languages stacked on top of each other in a trench coat.) That got the girl laughing.
They'd talked for a while about the differences between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, of growing in South England vs South France. Gabby expressed some difficulties she was having with her study at school. Harry tried to explain what she wasn't getting but holding a conversation in French and explaining magical theory were on entirely different levels.
Eventually the adults came back and Harry ducked out to go get ready. They were sat on their bed in their underwear doing their hair, obviously having already put quite a bit of time into getting ready. By the time he was out of the shower Hermione was zipping the back of Fleur's dress and Fleur helped Hermione into her tail sock while Harry pulled on his nicest mundane clothes. He was just checking his tie in the mirror when Hermione asked him to zip up her dress. Harry did, unable to keep himself from checking out his girlfriend as he did.
Fleur apparated Hermione to a spot close to the restaurant and Harry Stepped to them not wanting to risk falling on his ass or losing the contents of his stomach while dressed up. While it was true they could fix either easily enough with a wave of a wand, doing so in public was best avoided.
They walked the rest of the way to the restaurant arm in arm. Harry was in the middle providing a little extra support for the ladies, who had both chosen to wear some rather thin and potentially perilous high heels. The maître d' looked a little haggard and rushed off his feet when they walked in (name on the reservation?)
"Granger." Hermione answered for them. It was under Granger because it was what her uncle Steve had defaulted to when asking for the reservation.
The maître d' found their reservation and led them to their table. It was probably the worst table in the restaurant, outside in December with the surrounding buildings directing a draft right at them. It would probably be quite pleasant in the summer which explained why there was a table there but also explained why the restaurant had a space free on such a busy day.
After a quick look that communicated everything Harry needed to know he made a big show of seating Fleur and Hermione. While his body blocked the view of everyone else Fleur drew her wand and placed a few warming charms and a charm that broke the wind around them keeping them from being anything but comfortable.
Ordering was mostly simple because the restaurant was only serving an exclusive menu that day. The only way it wasn't was that the menu was written in French. Harry still couldn't read any French. Still as there were only three options for each course it didn't take much effort for Fleur to translate.
"So Fleur, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Harry asked.
"Mostly sleeping." Fleur said with a mischievous smile. Obviously Harry was missing something. Luckily Fleur didn't hold out. "We French do Christmas differently to you English. Most go to a midnight church service, then we start our Christmas celebrations when we get back. Then Christmas day is often spent sleeping late." She ran her foot up and down Harry's leg at the mention of sleeping late.
"Remind me to pick up some coffee before we go back." Hermione said, adding a coquettish wink for emphasis.
"Most go to church? What about your family?" Harry asked Fleur.
"Non. As you know most magicals don't exactly like the Christian Church. Too many witch burnings and they labelled the Veela as demons tempting men to hell with sins of the flesh. So we usually start around eight o'clock decorating the tree and putting the presents under it. We then have a big meal, play some games and have fun before opening presents. Then later on Christmas day some family may stop by for a visit." Fleur explained.
"You haven't rarely said much about your family outside of your parents and sister. I think you mentioned some aunts and cousins on your mother's side?" Hermione asked.
Fleur nodded before saying. "Oui. Grand-mère was one of the few Veela who managed to have three daughters. Mammon is the youngest by quite a lot so I never really connected with my cousins. They were getting married while I was excited for my first year at Beauxbatons. Grand-mère and Grand-père also moved away when I was younger so I haven't heard from them in years."
"Where did they go?" Harry asked. Curious and a little annoyed at people who could just abandon family like that.
"All over. Mammon gets letters but they are from a different location every time so we never know where they are to send anything back." Fleur shrugged. She had been hurt about it years ago, but time had dulled the pain and she barely considered them relatives now.
The first course arrived along with a bottle of wine Fleur had ordered for the table and the three of them got stuck in. For a few minutes there was no conversation as they focused on the food but soon enough it was going again when Fleur asked. "So Harry… any thoughts on anything you want to include in the wedding yet?" This had been a minor point of contention among the three of them.
Harry had tried to insist that he would be happy with whatever Hermione and Fleur wanted. But Hermione had pointed out that they wanted their marriage to be one of equals and that that needed to start from the beginning, with the wedding having input from all three of them. Fleur had agreed with Hermione.
But just because they agreed didn't mean Harry had anything to contribute. Harry hadn't ever attended a wedding, and so he had no idea about how a wedding could be personalised. Since then this question had come up fairly regularly and Harry still had only one idea… and he couldn't tell them the idea until after they had received their Christmas presents.
"Honestly, I don't really know what to add. Anything I can think of is either so stereotypical it's already assumed or you already came up with it already. Like Hermione wanting chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce and deciding that we should have all our favourite desserts on the menu. The obvious stuff like that you have already thought of. I'm not trying to be difficult. I just honestly don't know." Harry explained
The woman sighed and changed the subject. As frustrating as it was for them there was little use trying to squeeze blood from a stone. "So Harry, how is your rune carving project coming along?" Fleur asked.
Harry flashed Fleur one of his brightest? smiles, here was a subject he could talk about easily. "I have finished with the magical air compressor. So I have a working way to mass produce runic arrays. I just need to ensure it's calibrated correctly. If the copies aren't perfect then best case you lose some efficiency, worst for higher level more complex clusters it could explode."
The two women couldn't help but smile as Harry nerded out over what could be one of the biggest game changers in runes for this century. One of the biggest issues with runes had always been how long they took to copy. It didn't matter if you had a rune cluster to create a cauldron that always stayed at the perfect temperature if it took you three weeks to carve the runes. It was going to be very expensive to buy because you had to pay someone for the three weeks of Labour. Even the plates for Harry's drying doorway would take two days to create by hand. A minimum of sixteen hours of work meant over twenty galleons in labour alone, and that was before any costs were added! But with the modified engraver Harry could make three sets in an hour, making his labour costs less than a galleon a set. That changed them from something only rich magicals could afford into something everyone could afford.
With the taste of expensive French wine on their tongues, their starters vanished, soon replaced by their main course.. Harry was a little surprised to be served Champagne with the main course, especially as he and Hermione were underage by mundane world standards. Harry was still thinking of British standards not French and the French had a lower drinking age than the UK. Particularly around a drink with a meal.
-ϟϟϟ-
After dinner, they spent an hour just meandering through the city enjoying the festive atmosphere. As much as some places were rushed off their feet, others had a more relaxed enjoy-the-break feel to them. Fleur dragged them to a boulangerie she liked and insisted they try some chestnut tartlets, sweet, festive and absolutely delicious.
They ate them while sitting and watching the Mediterranean Sea. Apparition made the miles between the bakery and the coast dissolve into nothing. The winter weather made the sea choppier than the last time he remembered seeing it. They relaxed together just enjoying the view of the waves crashing against the rocky shore.
"So… how are you holding up after what happened with the cup?" Fleur asked Harry.
They had already talked about it over the mirrors but this was the first time Fleur had asked about it in person. It was one of the parts of their relationship they all hated, the separation. Sometimes one of them would just need a hug and while Harry and Hermione could seek each other out for comfort Fleur didn't have that option and unsurprisingly felt more than a little jealous of how Harry and Hermione could be together like that. But as frustrating as it normally was, it made the moments like this when Harry instinctively leand into her for comfort all the more significant.
"I've… I've been having nightmares. Nothing that's keeping me from sleeping. But the idea of having a part of him living inside me… it's… wrong. Worse is knowing that while it's there Voldemort is immortal. And it's entirely possible the only way for Voldemort to be defeated may be if I die first. I may have to fight him for the rest of my life. If I'm constantly fighting an immortal murderer how many fights can I survive before he gets lucky?" Harry didn't sound beaten as he spoke but he sounded closer to it than he would be willing to admit.
"The worst part is I think I may know what the prophecy meant about darkness taking root in my soul now. It's not even the Horcrux. Now that I know I can't kill Voldemort all I can think of is breaking him. Remember the Longbottoms, Neville's parents? I keep thinking if I can Crucio Voldemort until his mind snaps and he becomes a drooling vegetable then it won't matter if he is alive, dead or somewhere in between. He won't be able to hurt anyone else."
Fleur surprised them by saying. "It's a good plan. But maybe we should keep that as a last resort. You can probably talk to Minister Bones and get an amnesty for using Unforgivables on Voldemort specifically, especially if you tell her about him not dying until all his Horcruxes are destroyed. However, let's at least try to find a way to rid you of the Horcrux first. Maybe someone like the Flamels knows something, or if they don't, maybe they know someone who does."
Harry turned to look up at her. "You wouldn't think me an unredeemable monster if I tortured a man to the point his mind broke?" Hope and disbelief warred in his voice for victory.
Fleur leaned in and placed a kiss on Harry's temple, the only place she could reach without moving both of them. "Harry, if it comes to it I'll do it myself. Though if it ever comes to that we may need to get back here fast. A French Veela, using Unforgivable magic, on a British magical citizen. I won't be rolling the dice on the Wizengamot." The level of conviction in her voice surprised the other two teens. Fleur would be prepared to do that just to save either of them the burden.
Though as they thought about it, they both independently realised they shouldn't be surprised at all. Fleur loved with her whole heart. Within weeks of knowing Hermione while Hermione had done nothing but be catty and downright aggressive Fleur had stepped in front of a firesnake for Hermione. Within months she had stepped into and had taken an unknown curse for Harry. Fleur didn't have much battle experience compared to the other two, but that didn't mean she lacked resolve.
The three of them quietly watched the waves until the fading light drove them home.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry, Hermione and Fleur were a little late getting back to the Delacour's place and the four parents and Gabby were all waiting for them. Almost as soon as they walked through the door the little bundle of energy that was Fleur's sister was drawing them into the main living room of the house where someone had set up a tree ready to be decorated. Sébastian handed them each a mug of hot mulled wine that tickled their noses with the aroma of infused spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, clove. The perfect antidote to fighting off the December chill that had seeped into them, even in the south of France.
Gabby drew everyone into decorating the tree. Thanks to the young witch, by the time they were finished the whole thing was an explosion of colour. Fleur and her mother both gave the younger girl an expression at the lack of elegance but nobody said anything against it. Harry thought it was perfect. Christmas, Yule or even Noël as Harry had heard plenty of the French referring to it as, was about family not apprentices. If you sacrificed even a moment of joy just so something would look better then you weren't doing it right.
After decorating the tree they all put the presents they intended to give out under it. Harry's, Hermione's and Fleur's gifts were up with their things in the other house so Harry Stepped up to grab them all. Luckily, they were all already gift-wrapped except for the bag of sweets he had gotten on the train but a quick spell to transform the cheap bag into something more sparkling and festive was easy enough.
By the time Harry Stepped back Apolline was serving the first bit of food, salmon, cream cheese blinis, prawn vol au vents. Being French there was no Queen's Speech to listen to and being a magical home there was no Christmas television either. What the Delacours had was a magical radio and a sense of fun. It was actually not too different from how Harry pictured mundane Christmas in Britain during the 1800s: games, conversation, alcohol and eventually even singing along with the radio at least from Gabby and Sébastian who both knew the lyrics and seemed to enjoy singing.
When they finally sat down to dinner Harry didn't think he had ever had such a heavy meal this late before. Apolline, who had done all the cooking at her own insistence, had done an absolutely amazing job. Harry had expected everything from the large roast turkey to the sides to be very French, but he was surprised to see a few British twists added. While there were no Brussels sprouts there were small cocktail sausages wrapped in streaky bacon and honey-roasted parsnips amongst the cauliflower gratin and roasted aubergine.
It wasn't until everyone was full of food and more wine that they finally turned to the matter of presents. It seams that Dan and Emma seemed to have had a lot shrank down that Harry and Hermione hadn't known about until today. If Fleur had been the one to help shrink them then she wasn't saying anything. But it was just as likely it was her first time seeing them as well given that the two dentists were living with Sirius, and not only could he have done it, he might have even suggested it. For the mischief of it if not for the practicality.
There was also the rather excessive pile that the Delacour's had gotten their own daughters. Like parents the world over, a holiday like Christmas was an excuse to buy their kids not only trinkets they would enjoy but practical items as well. Within ten minutes all four teens had a pile of new clothes each that would fill a small suitcase. Practical things from jeans and t-shirts to robes and everything in between. Fleur even got a present that she instantly shoved into the middle of her pile, hiding it from everyone with a small blush as she shot her mother a glaring look.
Soon they were on to more interesting gifts. Dan and Sébastian laughed as they opened each other's gift to them revealing a bottle of Scotch whisky and a bottle of French brandy, it seemed the two men had thought along exactly the same lines.
Apolline handed a present to Hermione that was obviously a book saying it was for all three of them. Hermione unwrapped it sitting next to Harry and Fleur, revealing what looked like a handwritten potions journal at first. But once Hermione started translating the French she realised it wasn't potions or magic of any kind but the metaphorical. It was a book of family recipes.
"It's not the complete collection. There is another one, but it's traditional to only pass that along when you are married. You will have to copy it out for your children when they are in a serious relationship."
That fact that Apolline gave the book to Hermione to hold told them that she meant any kids of Hermione's as well as Fleur's. It was a subtle way to say that she would consider any children of the marriage her grandchildren even if there wasn't a blood connection with any children Hermione gave birth to. Understandably to everyone there that earned Apolline her first ever experience of a Hermione style hug.
Gabby was ecstatic with her selection of British magical sweets that Harry gave her from the trio, while Fleur had gotten her sister a necklace that she also said was from the three of them.
While on the topic of jewellery Harry took the opportunity to give Hermione and Fleur their presents. The jeweller he had gone to over the summer had come through spectacularly. Each set looked spectacular at least in Harry's opinion. He watched holding his breath as the two girls ripped away the brightly coloured paper revealing two identical velvety boxes. Hermione and Fleur both eyed up their obvious jewellery boxes each larger than Harry's hand, opened them up and their eyes went wide as they took in the designs. Each had a matching necklace, a ring and a pair of earrings.
"The stones are the same colour as my eyes." Hermione commented first
"Oui, mine is the same. I mean mine match my eyes." Fleur said without looking up from her own gift.
"Yeah they are matching sets but custom designed for each of you. Fleur yours have turquoise for your eyes as the main stone with malachite and golden tigers eye accents to represent Hermione's and my eyes, set in white gold for. Hermione, yours has tiger's eye as the main stone with the other two to represent Fleur and I as accents set in yellow gold." Harry explained.
The two young women actually had to blink away tears as Harry finished explaining. Even though he hadn't said it, it was obvious to them what the choice of stones meant to Harry. The three of them together.
The two mothers came rushing over to see the jewellery and Harry found himself being pulled aside by Dan and Sébastian. The "You did good." And nods of approval from the fathers had a wide smile appearing on Harry's face.
Moments later Harry was helping Fleur with the clasp of her new necklace while Fleur was helping Hermione with hers. They had already put on their rings so next came the earrings. They handled the earrings themselves and once they were done Harry found himself tackled into the sofa by Hermione quickly followed by Fleur who was more gentle even if just as insistent that she get as close as humanly possible to Harry as she could without removing all their clothing.
Harry was just thinking that he could be stuck there for a while, not that he had a problem with cuddling with his two affectionate loves for the rest of the night, when Apolline called over to them. "As much as you like your gifts, I'm sure Harry would appreciate his gifts."
That got both Hermione and Fleur to realise that in their excitement over not just the jewellery but the symbolism of the stones that they had forgotten about giving Harry his presents. Hermione rushed off to grab the present she had for him while Fleur decided she would wait a bit and hang off Harry for a little longer. Hermione came back with two of the brightly wrapped packages he had brought down from the château earlier and she handed the first one to Harry and the second to Fleur.
They pulled away the tasteful wrapping paper to reveal two identical wooden boxes. Simultaneously the pair of them flipped open the catches and opened the boxes. At first Harry thought Hermione had bought him a pocket watch, but it was different. For one it was thicker than a pocket watch and both sides, front and back, looked like they opened. Harry examined it a little more and one side was golden and polished to a mirror shine and the other side silver and was just as polished. Harry opened the silver door and saw that it was a compass. He was just about to close it and open the other side when he noticed something strange. The needle wasn't pointed north.
Being in the mountains over Nice made knowing the points of the compass easy to know. The sea was to the south, a nice view. He had looked from his château over at the sea a few times. His château was north-ish of the Delacour's home. He could see a little of the Delacour's back garden through a window in front of him and even a slither of the path that led to what could be called his vineyard if one was feeling generous. So that direction was roughly north. Yet the needle was pointing to his right.
He flipped it around and looked at the other face trying to work out the mystery for himself. This revealed a second compass this one pointed roughly where he suspected north to be though if this compass was right he was about twenty degrees off. Hermione was actually standing directly to his north if this compass was correct.
Then an idea struck him and he opened up the siver side again and just as he suspected the needle wasn't just pointed to his right it was pointed at Fleur.
He was just about to say something when Fleur beat him to it. "They point at you and Harry. So we can always find each other."
Hermione nodded with a smile on her face. "Yeah. It took quite a bit of effort to enchant them. But Fleur yours points to Harry and I. Harry, yours points to Fleur and I. And I have one-" she pulled a similar looking compass from her own pocket, "-that points to each of you."
It was Harry's turn to tackle-hug someone. He sprang to his feet and wrapped his arms around Hermione. With everything that was happening in Britain, one of Harry's biggest fears was that something could happen to one of them and while this wasn't perfect it was a great comfort. Seconds later Fleur joined him, turning it into another group hug.
"They are so cute together." Gabby commented. "Any opportunity to cuddle and they jump at it."
Fleur poked her tongue out at her sister, just enjoying being silly. They stayed together longer this time as nobody felt like saying anything that would split them up. It was enough to just see them all acting like what they were supposed to be: Young people in love.
Reluctantly, they untangled to let Fleur retrieve the gifts she had brought. Unlike Harry and Hermione, Fleur had focused on each of them as individuals. For Hermione, Fleur had gotten her a charm bracelet, but every one of the six charms on it was a book. Each charm could hold a book, even keeping it open to the correct page. It was the perfect mix of elegance, practicality and Hermione's interests.
Harry ripped the wrapping off of his present and found a gold signet style ring with the triquetra rune in silver with the three outer loops being filled with cut glass gems the exact same colour as his, Hermione's and Fleur's hair with a small diamond sitting in the centre.
"The symbol that brought us together. The coloured parts are custom obsidian made by goblins. It was the only way I could get the right colours." Fleur sounded nervous, worried Harry wouldn't like it.
Harry slipped the ring onto the smallest finger of his left hand and the ring resized to fit him perfectly. Then he pulled Fleur into a deep searing kiss. When they broke for air he said. "It's perfect. Thank you"
A/N
I'm not one hundred percent sure of the conversions in this chapter but the Google search I did said at the time this was set 1.00 British pound was worth 8.74 Francs. With the galleon set at about 5 British pounds. So forty Francs to the Galleon as mental maths without the exact numbers in front of you seems right. If the information I got on the exchange rate is wrong sorry (Editor note: He's not sorry. Deal with it! Suspend your disbelief!) but it's what I had to hand and how I calculated the prices. Also remember we have had over two decades of inflation since then so that also affects prices.
French law. The legal drinking age in France was raised from 16 to 18 in 2009. That is 13 years after the time this chapter was set.