Marauders - Always - Part One

CXCVI: The First Task is Dragons

Fleur Delacor sat brushing her little sister's hair, singing quietly in French.

"Il y a longtemps que je t'aime... jamais je ne t'oublierai... chante rossignol, chante... toi qui a le coeur gai..."

Gabriella hummed along as Fleur's fingers laced through her silky hair, eyes closed with contentment. The room smelled of rosewater and lavender, an elixir of Fleur's own mixing, which steamed quietly from a diffuser on her vanity.

The chariot rocked lightly from Madame Maxime's footfalls as she climbed onto the chariot and made her way down the hall. Gabriella looked up, her eyes bright with excitement when the sound of Madame Maxime knocking on the door to Fleur's room. Gabriella had a deep infatuation with the Beauxbatons headmistress - and a very understandable one at that. For as largely sized as Maxime was, she carried herself in such a way as to be nothing short of enchanting in the way that elegant ladies of the past were famous for - Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn... Maxime was captivating and graceful and it was rare the one who did not fully admire her once they'd been around her. Fleur herself had once held the same deep fascination as Gabriella did now, once thrilled at the thought of learning under the woman's elegant care, and even now, in her final year of Beauxbatons, Madame Maxime seemed no less breathtakingly fascinating than she had on day one.

"Ah a special time between sisters!" Maxime exclaimed coming into the room to find Fleur brushing Gabriella's hair. Her face was flushed and a certain je ne sai que glowed about her that mingled with the urgency that she carried in her eyes, too, as though she were torn between being utterly thrilled and utterly horrified nearly equally. She glanced at Gabriella, "My dear, could you be so kind as to go and fetch madame a bottle of still water, my mouth is simply parched!"

Thrilled to be asked to do something for the headmistress, Gabriella launched herself out of the room top speed, squealing excitedly. A flick of Madame Maxime's wand had the door to the room shut and silenced, and she turned to Fleur. "My dear girl," Maxime said, her eyebrows cinching with worry, "Oh my dear Fleur!"

Fleur lay the hair brush down on her vanity table. "Whatever is ze matter, Madame?" Fleur's voice rose with concern.

"I have seen ze first task!" breathed Maxime, and she sank onto a stool she magicked, her hands grasping Fleur's urgently. "My girl zey have imported dragons!"

Fleur froze. "D-dragons?" She asked, and her voice trembled.

"Oui!" Maxime said, and she shook her head, "Oh la vanche! Zey are terrible!"

Fleur stared at the headmistress in disbelief.

"I break ze rules to tell you, but it is murder to send you to face zem wizzout warning! Eet is to save your life I must tell you!" Maxime's eyes glistened.

Fleur's hands shook and she struggled to stay calm, to breathe as evenly as possible. "How did you find out?"

Madame Maxime flushed. "Eet eez of no concern!"

Fleur was desperate, "Perhaps eet eez a misunderstanding! Perhaps zey are not ze first task?? Izznt there many, many tourists coming in to see ze task? maybe ze dragons belong to somebody!"

"I have it in good authority zey are ze first task," Maxime said, shaking her head.

Fleur felt sick. "You must help me! You must tell me how--"

"I cannot!" Maxime wailed, "We are bound by magic never to help our Champions! Zare is nothing I can do, I am breaking rules enough already telling you zat dragons are ze first task!"

Fleur stared, dazed and numb, her heart pounding ferociously.

As a child, dragons were her greatest fear. She had been plagued by nightmares of dragons consuming her entire family and setting their home on fire. How many times over the years had she awakened screaming uncontrollably, tears pouring over her cheeks, her mother stroking her hair and cheek and singing songs meant to calm her, meant to chase away imaginary beasts of scales and sinew that chased her through the darkest reaches of her mind? Those childish anxieties arose in her strong and fierce and crippling and she could barely breathe.