Extended Family

Chapter 51: French Filigree

Takes place after chapter 36

They walked off the train together.  Two of them, the man and the little girl, were a little overwhelmed by the crowds of people in the train station and he held her carefully and securely in his arms, her arms around his neck and her eyes wide.  The woman with them was more assured than they were and she led them confidently through the crowd, pushing past people easily.

"I'm so glad you're used to this," Harry laughed as he followed Katie.

"Oh yeah, pushing your way through a crowd of people is something you learn when you live here," Katie smiled.  "Though I'll admit, the whole process of riding the train here was very new.  Not much like the Express is it?"

"Close enough in some ways but yeah, very different in others.  How are you doing Dally?"

"There's so many people!" Dahlia exclaimed.

"And this is only a bit of it," Katie said.  "The other places are just as crowded if not more, but we're almost out of the station."  She led them out onto the streets of Paris and she smiled at the familiar sights and sounds.  "Gosh, I miss living here a little."

"It is very different and exciting," Harry said, looking around.  While he had visited the city before, he knew that Katie would be considerably more familiar with it having lived here for a little more than two years.  "Did you like the train, flower?"

"It was fun," Dahlia said.  "I'm sad we didn't get to see fishies under the water though."

"I guess the Chunnel wasn't built for that," Harry said.  "Would have been fun though."  He smiled at Katie.  "So, where next?"

"We're going to Fleur and Aimee's flat and from there we can Floo to Chez Delacour."

"Lead the way."

The Potters were in France on vacation.  The way the schedule worked, Portree played two games one week before and earned a gap week after so they ended up having three weeks without any games.  In the middle of that, they decided to listen to the Delacours' very polite demand to visit them for a vacation.  Sirius and the Tonkses would join them later in the week but the Potters were taking a whole week to visit.

For some reason, probably due to Hermione, they decided to take the first trip over the Muggle way, riding the train through the Chunnel.  It was a lot slower, two and a half hours compared to a few seconds, but they were able to just enjoy being with each other experiencing something new together.  Though they were all a little disappointed at the lack of fish seeing.

As they approached the building where the flat was, a voice hailed them.

"Tante Fleur!"  Dahlia squirmed until Harry put her down and she ran towards the woman that was waving happily at them.  "Bonjour!"  Dahlia jumped into Fleur's arms.

"Bonjour!"  Fleur hugged Dahlia tightly and kissed her on the cheek.  "How are you my sweet?  It is so good to see you!  It has been too long."

"It's only been a few months," Harry smiled.

"Like I said, too long," Fleur sniffed.  She hugged and kissed Harry and Katie with a free arm while holding Dahlia with the other.  "How was the train?"