i. BOUNTY fleur delacour

13

THIRTEEN

" you can't take
my youth away. "
- shawn mendes + khalid [youth]

MARI WOKE to a dim moonlight. she was lying on a soft white bed in rather grand room full of windows, revealing the dark outside and slight snowfall. her head felt heavy, and her mind was sleepy. she sat up painfully, the covers on her legs heavy —she looked down and saw she not only had a white cover on her, but layers of pale-blue knit blankets. the room she was in was filled with beds, and mari concluded it was an infirmary of sorts. she remembered, then, that she had injured herself during the first task —she had been thrown into the air by the powers of a dragon. it was the plan, of course, but it wasn't the plan to smash her head into the rocks in which she landed. she guessed that was why her head felt like a bag of knives, and her whole body felt raw. the room was silent, and she was alone.
she pushed the blankets off her legs and saw she was still in her tough track pants from earlier. they were burnt on one side and torn on the other, making her wonder why they had been left on —but then, it was most preferable for her, who didn't wish for strangers to undress her. her shoes and socks, however, had been taken off, leaving her freely barefoot, and someone had taken off her sweater (she had an undershirt on). slowly, with aching and icy limbs, she pushed herself up out of the single bed, her feet gently pressing onto cold concrete. mari winced as her joints unraveled noisily.
laughter echoed from the other side of a door a couple metres from mari. she froze and cocked her head to listen, she heard footsteps approach and the door moved slightly. mari shot back into her bed and wrapped the covers around herself, squeezing her eyes shut. she didn't know why —perhaps all those younger years at durmstrang when the hall staff would come to check that all the dorms were asleep.
"oi, lee, shut up." hissed a voice mari couldn't quite place.
"that wasn't me! that was fred!"
"no, it was george!"
"it wasn't me, i asked the question!"
"oh shut it lee!"
"that was george!"
   mari's lips fought to quirk up as they approached, but she kept the facade of sleep as to see what the boys were planning. she heard them at the foot of her bed, fiddling with something that made an awful squeaking sound. she opened one of her eyelids slightly to look.
   "i still think this is a bad idea."
   "it's not a bad idea! it's a great idea!"
   "what if she hurts herself or something when it explodes?"
   "you saw her out there, today. she's not exactly weak."
   mari watched as they tied a bright green balloon to her bed post. it read 'get well soon', but mari, having heard them talking about something exploding, didn't trust the balloon was only that of a nice gesture. she sighed, "what the fuck are you doing?"
   the three boys jumped back in fright, lee yelping in surprise. the twins recovered and rushed over to her. "nothing-"
   "nothing at all!"
   "you're only dreaming."
   "hit your head pretty hard, you did."
    "you ought to go back to sleep."
   mari began to sit up, but was pushed down quickly. "that makes no sense... you said i was dreaming, then told me to go back to sleep, but if i was dreaming, i'm already asleep."
   the twins frowned, "well! how are you feeling?"
   "good change of subject, real subtle," mari said, "but, i am doing well. how did i go? what place did i get?"
   "you don't know?" came lee's voice, "oh, well, i guess you were unconscious for the announcement... you came first, tied first. you were the most impressive, but you crushed the other eggs, so you got points off for that."
   "who did i tie with?"
   "potter."
   mari smiled, almost glad that harry had held up. "how did fleur go?" mari asked, "and cedric, of course?"
   one of the twins' eyes twinkled, "oh fleur did just all right, as with cedric. i'm not sure who did better out of the both of them, though." he paused, "say, what beauxbatons lad has caught you eye?"
   mari hesitated, "sorry?"
   the other twin tugged on the blue blanket on the bedspread, "this is a beauxbatons blanket, all of the students had them at the task —it looked a little pretentious, but we'll ignore that for the time being."
   "oh," mari began, "i haven't been awake, so i don't know who put this hear... i wasn't aware any beauxbatons students had caught my eye at all."
   "lee will be relieved to hear that."
   "what-huh? i'm right here!"
   mari sighed at their banter, "so, what did you to the balloon?"
   the twins exchange guilty looks, "nothing—" mari smirked and reached forward for the balloon.
   the boys yelled and pulled her hands away, screeching choruses of 'no!'.
   "you can't touch it! they'll here from the dinner hall and madame pomfrey will come in!"
   "so you did do something to it." mari laughed. the sound of footsteps approaching came into earshot and she shut her her mouth with a pop. she recognised those footsteps. "shit! karkaroff is coming! he'll curse you lot to hell if he sees you!" the boys became frantic, looking around for a place to go. the door began to open, and they shot underneath mari's bed. she tried not to sigh at their dimness, and laugh at how funny a sight it must be to see them all squished underneath a singles bed.
   as karkaroff entered, mari tossed her sheets over to the side, covering the underneath of the bed. he smiled when he saw her and put his arms out in a wide gesture. "mckinnon! you have done durmstrang proud. first place! tied, i know, but potter has got the judges favour, i'm sure you'll top him next time."
   mari stifled a laugh, "thank you, sir, your teachings led to my success." the statement wasn't completely true, her ability stemmed as much from her line of work as from karkaroff.
   her head master sat himself on her bed and placed a hand on her covered thigh. the seventeen-year-old stiffened under his touch. she cleared her throat, "ah, sir, i am still rather tired, and wished to be refreshed so i can begin studying and practising for the next task. would it be too rude to ask you to leave so i can rest?"
   bitterness flashed on his face for a moment, before he regained composure. she smiled through tight lips and nodded, standing up and stalking out of the room.
   when the door had shut, she pulled the covers of her bed back. the boys came scrambling out, all red faced and shining with sweat.
   "i never want to be that close to lee again."
   "same goes for me."
   "it's not like you two tomato heads were too pleasant either!"
   mari chuckled. "sorry."
   lee looked at her, "he's a bit creepy, isn't he?"
   "oh, you have no idea."

⟵
⟶