Author's Note: Nothing new to say since chapter one. That said, I would never have gotten even this far if it were not for the support of many people over on the Harry/Fleur Discord server, the link to which is in my profile. There will also be a fanfic recommendation at the end of the chapter. Thanks to DaveAthenai, Gearheadbsnist, Charlennette, and x102reddragon in particular for inspiring me and encouraging me to write these stories. If you enjoy the story please leave a comment telling me what you liked and how you think I could improve. I always read them and they bring a smile to my face every time.
Fond Goodbyes:
Chapter Two
The sun was warm, the wind cool, and the salt spray stung lightly in the corner of her eyes as the mist and drops of water hit her.
Fleur grinned.
"Hard to starboard!"
She moved swiftly at the sound of Isabelle's voice, taking hold of El Angel Del Mar's ropes and hauling to turn the sail as Harry let out slack on the other side, keeping her angled just so to the wind even as Isabelle turned the wheel.
A moment passed as Isabelle checked their heading and went through her list, then she gave them a double thumbs up, smiling wide.
They stepped around the windscreen, converging in the cockpit.
"You did amazing," said Harry, pulling Isabelle into a sideways hug. She beamed up at him.
"I barely needed the list this time!"
"Yes," said Fleur, swooping in to wrap her arms around her as Harry pulled away. "You did very well."
"How long will it be till our next heading?" came Harry's voice from over them. Isabelle broke away at her father's question, darting over to the console to check as Fleur stood.
"Thirty minutes," she said after a moment, checking back and forth between charts and the boat's instruments. "After that it's just the landing, can you do that Papa?"
"Of course, but are you sure you want me to handle it?"
She paused, biting her lip for a moment, then nodded. "Yes please."
Harry nodded too, and they both watched as Isabelle scampered away up to the prow, eager to watch the waves go by.
"She is becoming so confident now."
"I know, it's amazing."
Fleur's smile softened, the two of them watching as Isabelle leaned out over the prow and stretched her head high, the wind catching in her messy blonde hair. A twinge of concern rose within her, but she dismissed it with ease. It was neither the first time Isabelle had been on the craft, nor would it be the last. Sailing lessons with Harry had become one of her favourite pastimes outside of dance.
"Did Marie send a reply?"
"Non, but I did not expect her to."
She turned to look at him, one hand still firmly set on the side wall of the cockpit.
"My response did not merit one."
"So you're going?"
"Oui, though I am nervous. I have not seen them in years."
"People change. For the better, more often than not," he said after a moment. "There's little use in worrying over something that might not arrive."
"And yet we worry," she said, watching Isabelle laugh and throw her arms out wide as the ship rocked up suddenly upon a small wave.
"And yet we worry," he agreed, looking in the same direction as the prow came back down and Isabelle pulled herself back from the edge just as it hit the water.
~0~
That evening, the Longbottoms came over for dinner.
"Good soup," said Neville, nodding seriously.
"Thanks, Nev."
"Missus Potter, could you pass the rolls to me?"
"Of course, Frank," said Fleur, smiling as she reached to shift the bowl closer to where the boy sat next to Isabelle.
"Thank you!"
She chuckled, watching him tear enthusiastically into the bread and dip it in his soup.
A glance to across the table showed her little Helen sitting on a raised stool next to Diana, who was whispering something in Neville's ear.
His went wide and he nodded.
"I almost forgot. Fleur, I've been meaning to ask you, does a man named Christopher Laurens work in your department?"
She blinked, her mind taking a moment to switch gears from watching Helen, but she nodded.
"He does, he is the department's herbologist."
"Is he the type to be open to correspondence?"
This time the question came from Diana, and again Fleur took a moment to reply.
"He can seem formidable at times," she admitted, "but he is open to collaboration. But he does tend to get lost in his work and may not keep up well with letter writing. Why do you ask?"
"We read one of his articles recently and were rather inspired by it, we've begun a new project based on it."
"Just wondering if you could put a word in when the letter arrives," Neville added.
"I do not see why not," she said, somewhat bemusedly but seeing no reason to object.
"Excellent," Diana said, smiling wide. "But that's enough of that, I've heard Isabelle here is going to be in a performance?"
"Oh yes," said Harry brightly, his voice directing their collective gaze toward where Isabelle sat beside Fleur, as quiet as she had been since their slightly unfamiliar guests had stepped in through the floo, now blushing furiously.
"I'm doing really well," she said after a moment's hesitation and some silent encouragement from Harry.
"What is the play," Diana continued, still smiling broadly at Isabelle's shy response.
"S-Swan Lake," she said, stumbling slightly.
"Well, I'm sure you'll be fantastic," Diana replied, taking pity on Isabelle's nerves and letting the matter drop.
"And what have you been doing, Frank?" Fleur asked, looking at the boy curiously and inwardly marvelling at how much he looked like Neville.
"I've been playing quidditch," he said brightly, still half-focused on his soup and the rapidly depleting bowl of dinner rolls.
"He's been thinking of joining a youth team," Diana added, deftly rescuing the bread from Frank's clutches.
"Really?" asked Isabelle, speaking up voluntarily for the first time.
"Yeah, I think it'll be fun," Frank said with a small smile. "Though, I am a bit nervous."
"It will! I've- euh, I've had a great time with all the other kids in my dance classes."
"But that's girls stuff, it's different."
"No, it's not! There's a boy in our classes too. His name is Leo and he does all the lifts cause he's strong."
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"Huh…"
Fleur's smile broadened, and she exchanged a look with the other adults at the table, all of them glad to see the two finally coming out of their shells a bit. Frank was normally less reserved around them, but with James gone and Isabelle quiet he had kept more to himself while the grownups chatted.
Later that evening, as Harry and Neville were exchanging last goodbyes, Diana came up to Fleur by the parlour in the hall.
"Thank you for a wonderful evening."
"You are welcome, though it is more thanks to Harry than me."
"Nonsense, your part is important just the same."
They exchanged a brief hug, turning to look back at the others. Harry with Isabelle practically glued to his hip, Neville with Frank on one side and Helen napping against his shoulder, resting on one hip.
"I am grateful for days like this," Fleur said quietly.
"They are the best ones," she agreed.
A moment passed in silence before either spoke again.
"It's good to see that Isabelle is less nervous around me, I know I can be somewhat intimidating."
Fleur nodded, both in agreement and to Diana's self-assessment. The Greek witch was tall, and she had a statuesque confidence that made her seem somewhat unapproachable, though she was as warm as the man she had married.
"She is not so nervous with men, perhaps Harry's doing, but you are right, and I am glad. It is important to forge such connections."
Diana nodded but had no time to respond, as Harry and Neville had walked up to them a moment later.
"Shall we crack on, then? Thanks for everything, Fleur. Feel free to call at any time, and we'll be in touch about Laurens."
"Of course, and thank you for coming, both of you."
They smiled, and soon were on their way.
~0~
They went out to brunch the next morning with her parents.
The resturaunt in Carcassonne was one Fleur had been to many times, and she was always reminded of days spent lazing around over the summer whenever they visited.
"Grandmere!"
Isabelle dashed forward as soon as Apolline and Alaine came into view, wrapping her arms around the older woman, babbling excitedly, before launching over to Alaine to do the same.
"It is good to see you both," her Maman said, and Fleur smiled as she too swept in for a hug and peck on the cheek with both of them.
"Come, come, let's find somewhere to sit," her Papa said, leading the group over to the maitré de and waving that they were ready, holding up one hand to show their party's size.
They were led to an outdoor table under the shade of a poplar tree, a waiter soon appearing to take their orders of coffee, tea, and apple juice.
"How have you been?" asked Harry.
"Quite well," her Papa replied. "We've just returned from a trip to Finland, their ministry is in talks with ours regarding the world cup next year."
"Diplomatic, then?"
"As ever, though I do more coordinating than actual negotiating these days."
"We had a chance to tour one of their magical preserves," her Maman said, cutting in smoothly from where she sat listening to Isabelle's recounting of dinner with the Longbottoms the night before. "It was quite beautiful, something to consider for after Isabelle goes to school, perhaps?"
Fleur smiled, exhanging a thoughtful glance with Harry, who shrugged in a vaguely positive sort of way.
"It'll certainly be interesting to have so much time on my hands."
"It is a strange experience," her Maman agreed, "but it can be enjoyable once one relearns how to take time for oneself."
"As long as you are content," her Papa interjected.
Fleur grinned. "Happy husband, happy life," she said, earning smiles from her parents and a chuckle from Harry.
They paused for a moment as the waiter returned with their beverages and to take their orders, crepes suzette for Fleur eggs, ham, and a croissant for Harry and her Maman, a parfait for her Papa, and an omellette with fruit on the side for Isabelle.
"But what of you, what have you been doing of late?" asked Maman once the waiter had gone.
Harry glanced at her and she gestured for him to go first.
"Well, the gardens are flourishing, but mostly I've been spending time with Isabelle."
"Papa takes me to dance, and we go sailing," Isabelle said brightly.
"Is that so?"
"Oui, I'm learning how to do it all by myself without magic," she said proudly.
"Impressive," Maman replied, glancing at Harry and smiling when he mouthed something about a little bit of magic.
"And you, Fleur?" her Papa asked.
Her first thought was of the meeting later that day, but she quelled it for the moment in favour of other news.
"I am publishing again," she said, feeling a spark of pride within her at the way her parents' eyes lit up at the news.
"Oh, will they be printing new runes textbooks soon?"
"It is nothing so groundbreaking," she said, a faint blush coming to her cheeks as her Maman's tone mixed pride and teasing instantly transported her back to how she felt when she announced her intent to publish for the first time.
"It is a new spell, actually. I am working on it with Aimeé Beaucort, she is the department's charms master."
"Really? What sort of spell?"
"A note taking charm, it allows the caster to make a surface hover along with them and write with the tip of their wand."
"She got tired of losing quills," Harry said, causing her to blush slightly, unable to defend herself as the food arrived, the waiter conducting the plates to float along in front of him as he wove through the cluster of tables to where they were sitting.
There was brief lull as they ate, Isabelle's culinary experimentation with her fruit and omellette non withstanding, but soon their initial hunger waned and the pace of conversation resumed once again.
"There was one other thing that happened recently," Fleur said, garnering her parents curious looks. "I recieved a letter from Marie this past Friday morning."
Her Papa frowned in puzzlement, but her Maman's eyes widened in recognition.
"What was it about?"
A small spike of anxiety rose up within her, though it was far less powerful than it had been the day the letter arrived.
"A meeting. Of old school friends."
Her Papa's eyebrows rose and her Maman sat back in her chair.
"Is that so, is it?"
"Oui."
"When is the meeting," her Papa asked.
"This afternoon, at one o'clock."
"We were wondering if you might like to join Isabelle and me for the day, and all three of us for dinner this evening," said Harry, interjecting into the silence.
Her Maman glanced at Harry, but her Papa's gaze was fixed on Fleur's and she felt some of the anxiety ebb away even as an entirely different sort of strangeness rose in its place at the feeling of being seen through.
"Of course," he said after a moment, exchanging a look with her Maman before continuing, "We have nothing to terribly urgent planned for this afternoon."
"It would be a delight, I think," she added.
A wave of relief swept through, catching her entirely off-guard at its sheer intensity, but fortunately her parents seemed more prepared for it than she was.
"Now, Isabelle, what's this you were saying about a performance with your dance school?" asked her Papa.
Isabelle's head shot up instantly from where she had been focused on her food, and she smiled broadly as she began to talk about the play her school was putting on.
Harry squeezed her hand under the table, and she turned to see him giving her a soft look to which she replied with a shaky smile. He nodded, turning back to the conversation and taking a sip of his tea. But, for the rest of the meal, his hand never left hers.
~0~
She arrived ten minutes early.
The weather was just on the warmer side of neutral, and even standing in shade she could still just feel it in the air, the mild breeze zephyring its way down the cobbled streets of Place Caché.
Le moulin Vert sat at the intersection of two such streets, on the broad side of a T, the pale green-painted exterior of the cafe illuminated by the bright white of the awnings and the umbrellas in the exterior seating, which sat behind a low lattice fence whose posts were topped with small wicker baskets filled with hay small flowers.
A calm had settled over her ever since speaking with her parents and, to her surprise, it held in place as she approached the maitre d's podium just outside, where a young man stood waiting dressed in green slacks and a loose, white shirt.
"Good afternoon, will you be dining with us today?"
"I shall," she said, nodding courteously. "I am to meet a party here around this time, has a group of women around my age arrived ahead of me?"
"I would not presume to know," he said, smiling slightly. "Though I can tell you that no large groups have arrived in the past hour, of any description. How many would be in this party?"
She paused a moment, considering.
"Four or five."
"Then it appears you are the first to arrive, would you like to wait for them or choose a table?"
"Choose a table, I think."
"Very good. Would you like to sit indoors or outside?"
"Outside, today."
"Right this way."
He led her over to the exterior seating, gesturing her toward a larger table near the back corner, closest to the street, and setting the table with napkins, silverware, and menus with a flick of his wand.
"Merci."
"Avec plaisir," he replied, bowing slightly before turning and disappearing inside to fetch the waiter. They came, a young woman just out of Beauxbatons, and Fleur ordered a small coffee for the wait. It smelled wonderful and she took an experimental sip, finding it not too bitter and with a vaguely floral undertone, like wildflowers.
She expected the anxiety to return during the wait, but it did not. There was a building anticipation within her, but it lacked the characteristic paralysing sting and she found it easy enough to endure. And then, some four minutes after she had sat down and ordered her coffee, she heard a voice from the street.
"Fleur, is that you?"
She turned. Standing there was a woman in muggle attire, an expression of both happiness and mild surprise on her features.
"Lucie?"
"Yes!"
She darted forward as Fleur stood, and the two exchanged a brief hug across the low fence before Fleur gestured toward the entrance and guided her in.
"It's been a while," Lucie said as she sat down.
"It has, I was not sure I would come."
"Nor I, though I expect for different reasons."
Fleur smiled sadly at that, nodding, but didn't answer as the waitress returned then to take Lucie's order.
"Are the others coming, do you know?"
"I do not, though I would expect Marie at least."
Lucie nodded, and a silence settled between them. It was awkward but not suffocating, and to her surprise, or perhaps her surprise at being surprised, Fleur found breaking it easy.
"How have you been?"
Lucie grinned, the half-smile holding more than a hint of knowing as she answered.
"I've been well, I found my place in the world. Not until after Beauxbatons, I admit, but I found it."
"As did I."
They were prevented from any further conversation by the arrival of Marie. Lucie saw her first and called out, waving and beckoning her closer.
"I thought I would be here first," she said as she drew near.
"It seems the nerves got to us all," Fleur said as she stood, drawing Marie into a brief hug and then pulling back to allow Lucie to do the same. "Do you know if the others are coming?"
"Anäis said she would, but I didn't get a response from Catherine."
The name prompted a jumbled mix of emotions to surge briefly through her, but they were somehow more distant than before.
"It's good to see you either way," Lucie replied.
"And you," came a voice from the street.
They turned and saw Anäis standing there.
"I thought I saw you at the apparition point Marie," she continued. "I take it this is the place?"
"It is, come on in."
Anäis hesitated a moment before entering, and Fleur was somewhat surprised to see Anäis' apprehensive gaze turned briefly onto her before doing so, but it was gone in a flash and she was smiling by the time she reached their table.
Soon enough they were gathered and sitting, and the waitress came back with Fleur and Lucie's drinks and to take Marie and Anäis' orders, as well as appetizers for the table to share. The awkwardness returned then, and they settled into a silence that was heavier than before and which Fleur found herself more reluctant to break.
"No need to ignore the elephant in the room," said Lucie, cutting throug the silence. "Should we wait for Catherine or begin without her?"
They looked to Marie, who sighed and shook her head. "I don't think we should expect her to appear."
Anäis slumped in her seat slightly. "I don't know if I should be disappointed or relieved."
Listening to the three, Fleur felt a sudden sense of intrusion. Not from an outsider looking in, but as if she were the outsider herself, and in that moment she had a flash of clarity. That for all the years she had spent at times blaming and reminiscing, she owed these three an apology as well. She had just opened her mouth to say as much when Marie spoke again.
"You have probably been wondering why I invited you here today."
Fleur nodded, glancing around to see the others do the same.
"It begins a month ago, when I was going through a box of my old school things and saw a photo of the group of us over the summer after our fifth year. I realised… I realised how long it had been since I had thought of any of you, how quickly the years had begun to pass me by. How much of all we had was overshadowed by how it ended as well as how much I wanted to change that. How the parts of the past I wanted to carry with me were the good ones, not the bad, and that I wanted to know if you all felt the same way."
She wasn't looking at any of them by the time she finished, Marie's gaze fixed on the depths of her espresso, though her voice remained strong.
"It's strange, seeing you all again," said lucie as they turned to look at her, listening quietly as she continued. "I thought for sure that part of my life was just history, just another lesson to be learned from. And I did, I learned so much, and I have my regrets, but I thought it was done."
She paused for a moment, but she didn't look at them. Not from a lack of confidence, but from it's presence. And as she gathered her thoughts, Fleur began to realise just how much she had changed. How the Lucie she remembered would never have taken her time but waited on them instead, almost uncertain that she was really in the room, never daring to impose upon their focus for long.
They waited for her now, as perhaps that should have but hadn't then.
"I wish I had done more," she said eventually. "I wish I had known back then that it's okay both to fight for what you want, and to let it go when others don't. More than anything, I wish I could go back and tell her that it was going to be okay, that it gets better, and that life moves on."
She looked at them, first at Anäis and Marie, and then Fleur, holding her gaze.
"I wish I could tell her that she would be okay without you, but that she didn't have to surrender to letting you go."
Anäis turned to look at Fleur as well then, the same apprehension from earlier in her eyes, but it melted away as Fleur nodded, a sad smile on her lips.
"I wish I had done things differently also. I never meant to hurt you, any of you."
"But you did," Anäis interjected, her expression one of immediate regret as the three of them turned to look at her, but she carried on.
"I wonder, sometimes, about what was going through your head back then. How after five years you just let it all go like it was nothing. How nothing we did, nothing we could ever do, changed a thing."
Fleur remembered, the entire latter half of their sixth year, the days spent in awkward silences and split company. The times Anäis would seek her out alone, to try and bring her back, only for Fleur to run away.
"I did," she said softly, her gaze unfocusing slightly as she turned her sight inward at last. "I had never had a friend before Catherine. I thought, in some small part of me, that such perfect things were for forever, and that we would both be perfect with each other for as long as we lived. I gave her everything, placed upon her everything, not realising it was unfair to do so. Nor to expect everything in return."
"And after?" asked Marie.
Fleur's smile turned sardonic, and she sighed. "I ran away. From her, from him, from each of you; I ran all the way to England, and I never came back. I never even let myself look back. I did not know how."
"I hated her, for a time," Lucie admitted, shrugging as they all turned to her again. "The four of you were the best thing that had ever happened to me. I'd always felt strange, different, out of place. Even if it was never quite the same as what you all shared, I was just glad to be there."
Fleur felt a twinge of guilt and frowned.
"I'm sorry, we should have done more to make you feel included."
But Lucie was shaking her head even before Fleur had finished speaking, and she trailed off uncertainly.
"Don't wound yourself on my account. You could never have given me what I was looking for, even if I didn't know it at the time."
They all frowned, and when Marie spoke her tone was equal parts confused and doubting.
"What was it you were looking for?"
Lucie hesitated, the first time she'd done so, and Fleur could see a struggle taking place behind her eyes before she closed them, looked down, and smiled ruefully.
"Fleur," she said, looking up at last, a challenge in her gaze.
"Me?"
Across the table, Anäis let out a quiet gasp of shock. Fleur and Marie turned to look at her in confusion, but she said nothing, simply staring at Lucie with a look of dawning comprehension.
A few seconds' struggle, grappling with it in her head, and then…
"I do not understand," Fleur admitted.
Lucie sighed, then laughed softly as she shook her head.
"I'm a lesbian, Fleur, and throughout all our school days I was madly in love with you without even realising it."
Her brain stopped working.
"… Oh."
Lucie laughed, the sound cutting through Fleur's shock and sending a sudden blush surging through her cheeks.
"Yes, I… I suppose that is not something I could have given you."
"I didn't think so, no," Lucie finally replied, her own blush fixed upon her face, though not quite so deep as Fleur's.
"Have you, euh, found anyone?" asked Marie a moment later, still clearly off balance but trying to persevere.
Lucie stopped laughing and looked at her, something warm and fragile in her eyes.
"Oui, Marie, I did find someone."
"What's her name," Marie asked a moment later, her voice deliberately even.
"Isabelle, and she is the best thing to ever happen to me."
Fleur choked slightly, letting out a cough as she tried to gasp at the same time as she was letting out her breath from earlier.
Lucie's head snapped over to her, disappointment and resignation warring in her eyes.
"Non, non," Fleur said hurriedly, not wanting to give Lucie the wrong impression. "It is just, that is my daughter's name."
Anäis and Marie choked on air as well then, and Lucie's face flushed.
"Ah."
"It seems we have all found someone then," said Anäis. "Unless the ring I see on Marie's finger is just for show."
"It is not," Marie replied, relaxing slightly as she held her hand up to show them the delicate band with its pale blue gem. "I met him two years after I graduated, we have a daughter as well." She looked over at Lucie, grinning still perhaps a bit uncertainly. "Not named Isabelle, I'm afraid."
Lucie's blush flared up again as she sat straighter in her chair, clearing her throat and turning deliberately to look at Anäis.
"And what about you, how did you meet your husband?"
"Husbands, you mean. I got married the first time a year after we graduated, but it didn't last long. I met my second husband just over five years ago, we married last spring."
"How is he," asked Fleur.
"A better person than me," Anäis said, smiling wistfully.
"I know that feels," Fleur said without thinking.
"Oh, and who is this man?" asked Lucie, hearing the understatement in her tone.
For a moment, she hesitated. It was so familiar, almost natural the way they had fallen right back into their roles, and yet so much had changed. They had changed.
Lucie glanced over at Anäis and Marie exchanging looks of mild confusion with the other two.
'…For the better, more often than not…'
"Harry Potter."
No matter the place, no matter the day, no matter the company she was with, her husband's name never failed to elicit a response. Lucie froze, Anäis' jaw dropped, and Marie blinked hard and leaned back as if the words themselves had taken up all the room between them.
Lucie recovered first, and now it was Fleur's turn to wait with uncertain apprehension at just what her friends would say.
"Well, you always were an overachiever."
Marie let out a strangled sound halfway between a laugh and a desperate gasp for air, and Fleur felt the tension vanish from her body in a kind of giddy euphoria.
"He is quite the catch," she agreed.
"How did you meet him?" asked Anäis, a slight frown curving her lips.
"They were in the Triwizard Tournament together," said Marie before Fleur could reply.
"Yes, when he was fourteen," Anäis shot back, confusion twisting into exasperation across her features.
"I did not romance a fourteen year old," Fleur said, cutting in before the conversation could devolve any further. "I actually treated him rather poorly throughout most of the tournament," she admitted, "and we were merely friendly acquaintences by the time I returned to Beauxbatons."
Now it was Marie who looked at her in confusion, though Lucie was the one who spoke.
"How did you get together, then?"
A sudden chill ran through her as the trajectory of the conversation registered in her mind, and the others' looks of confusion deepened into concern as they saw Fleur's expression change to one they had never seen on her in all the years they had known her.
"I fought in the war."
Realisation spread out from her like a wave, and one by one the others sat back in their chairs with sober looks on their faces.
"The history books can tell you how it went. Suffice to say, we got together when he was leading the resistance against Voldemort and remained together after all was said and done."
"I can't imagine," said Marie, her voice filling the silence briefly.
"Nor would I wish you to," Fleur replied, a sudden warmth rising through her as she looked at them, and at the sorrow on their faces on her behalf. "But enough of the past," she said, drawing their gazes up once more. "It is done and gone, tell us what your lives are like today."
And so they did.
Marie told them how she had opened an enchanted furniture business with her husband Phillipe, then later stepped back from most of ther work to raise their daughter Léa. How she missed the work and did her best to get back to a few projects here and there when she had the time, but wouldn't trade her daughter for the world. In reply, Fleur told them about Harry and Teddy, James, and Isabelle, laughing at their surprise to learn that Harry Potter was the stay at home parent, and smiling sadly as she told them that she wished she got to see her children more.
Anäis told them how she had first married Thomas, who had been in the class one year above theirs, but divorced only two years later after they both realised that they had been hasty, and had grown in entirely different directions as they came into their own. She had travelled the world, slowly building a reputation as a magical historian writing about the cultures and everyday lives of the peoples and places she found there and going against the "great sorcerer" narrative that so many historians perpetuated, eventually meeting her husband Danilo while working in the Philipines. In reply, Fleur told them of the many people she had met and worked with in the Department of Experimental Magics and Artifacts, as well as both the discoveries and the relationships she had found there.
Lucie told them how she had wandered aimlessly through magical France for a few years after graduation, only to fall by chance into the company of a muggle woman named Isabelle after being caught in a rainstorm in muggle Paris and thus unable to use her wand. How she had been reluctant at first, but had slowly had her eyes opened by Isabelle's company, eventually realising the truth about her sexuality and choosing to enter fully into the muggle world, joining Isabelle in her dreams of exploring art and fashion from unique and strange perspectives. In reply, Fleur told them about how much her perspective had been changed by knowing Harry and participating in the tangled web of chosen family with which he had filled his life.
But all good things end, and as the sun disappeared fully behind the pale green roof of Le Moulin Vert and cast the street in shadow, they all sensed that it was almost time to go.
"I am glad, for this." Fleur said to all of them, then turning to Marie in particular. "And thank you, if you had not sent that letter I doubt I ever would have had the strength to try."
"You're more than welcome, Fleur. And thank you for coming back, even if only for a day."
"Not just for a day, I hope," she replied.
"When next should we meet?" asked Anäis
"The thirteenth of November," said Lucie, instantly.
They all turned to look at her, and she blushed fiercely but held their gaze.
"I know you are all already married, but for Isabelle and I… well, it hasn't been legal in the muggle world. It still isn't but the vote is being held in May, and we decided that one way or the other, we'd be getting married on that day, even if no one could be there to see it."
Fleur blinked, her brain taking a moment to catch up to her ears.
"And you want us to be there?"
Lucie nodded. "If you're willing."
A sudden feeling welled up within her, and Fleur took a quick step across the gap between them and pulled Lucie into a hug.
"Of course I will Lucie, I would not miss it for the world."
Lucie turned to Anäis and Marie expectantly.
"I'll be there," said Anäis, and, "I'd love to come," said Marie.
Lucie beamed and let out a short laugh.
"I love you all!"
Fleur chuckled.
"Do not let Isabelle hear you say that."
Lucie's expression softened.
"Isabelle will love you too."
"November thirteenth, then?" asked Marie.
"Before then," Anäis said. "It's a wedding, we have to show up in our best."
"Your best muggle," Lucie cut in.
Fleur frowned, thinking of the limited assortment of fully muggle clothing she possessed.
"I admit I do not have much."
"No worries," Lucie said with a mischievous grin. "I happen to know an excellent designer."
~0~
That night, as she lay in bed with her husband's arms wrapped around her and his head resting gently against hers, Fleur couldn't help but smile. For the first time in years, happy with how she'd said goodbye.
AN: Thank you for reading. If you liked the story, please leave a comment telling me what worked and what didn't. I see and read every single one, even long after the stories are posted, and I appreciate them all!
Harry/Fleur Discord Server: Link in my bio
Fanfic Recommendation: No recommendation this time, I've run out of fics. Any suggestions? Leave a comment to let me know.