i. BOUNTY fleur delacour

14

FOURTEEN

" no one's here
to sleep. "
- naughty boy + bastille [no one's here to sleep]

THE DECEMBER air was beautifully fresh.
snow lightly fell around mari as she sat, engulfed in blankets and clothes, on a bench facing the great lake. she had just received a note from ludo bagman that told her what she needed to know about the future of the tournament —second task date was february twenty-fourth, the golden egg was the clue.
she knew eventually she would have to begin to think about the possibilities of the golden egg, but mari still ached from the tournament, and was mentally exhausted.
"'ow are you feeling?"
mari lifted her head up at the familiar voice. fleur delacour stood in front of her, cheeks and nose red from the cold. she looked insufferably innocent. "a lot better. i feel very guilty about the crushed eggs, though... i was supposed to be thrown from closer, so i would have had more control on my landing..."
"you did vary well, the eggs were unfortunate, but i do not theenk you should dwell on them too much." fleur sat down on the bench. her hands flitted to a corner of exposed blue fabric underneath mari's blankets. it was the beauxbatons blanket that she had woken up with, she had it tucked up underneath a durmstrang red one.
"do you want it back?" fleur jumped, and her lips fumbled.
"i- i, uh... 'ow did you know it was mine?"
"you're pretty much the only beauxbatons person i talk to, who else's would it be?" mari blushed.
"you can keep it. i have another one. i stopped by after the task, but you were unconscious... you had goosebumps, so i thought you might... you might- sorry. i can take it back if you want, it was stupid of me: why would you want a blanket from a rival school?" fleur gripped the blue fabric and tugged gently. mari's hand flew to the veela's, resting over her soft skin.
"don't. i like it." she looked down at the contrast of skin, a deep light brown a top a shimmering pale white.
fleur took a sharp intake of breath, "mari..."
"mari!" the called girl ripped her hand back from fleur's. ingrid approached the pair. she looked at the two with mild bitterness. "mari, we have to go back to the boat, karkaroff is going to talk to us about the christmas ball." mari looked to fleur, who's face was blank with unnerving emotion. she opened her mouth to say goodbye, but ingrid had taken her hand and begun towing her away.
"that was a bit rude, ingrid—"
"what are you talking about, mari? i'm helping you. that veela is trying to get under you skin, distract you from the tournament. they're horrible creatures, you can't trust them. no one that good-looking could be genuine."
"i don't think that's a fair thing to say, looks don't establish anything about one's personality." ingrid shook her off as they sat entered the boat. karkaroff was already speaking to the cohort, and gestured uncharacteristically kindly as the two entered late.
"ladies, i was just telling your fellow students of the yule ball. the yule ball is a traditional event within the tournament, one that focuses on hierarchy as much as unity. it is a dance, and honours the champions of the tournament.
"given that it is a dance, it is customary that you have a partner —of the opposite sex, of course— to dance with. it is not required that the partner be a durmstrang student, in fact, it is encouraged that you step out of your comfort zone and partner one of the rival schools' students. most of you, given the ball was announced quite some time ago, will already have appropriate dress robes. however, there will be opportunities to go to london within the next week to organise other options.
"there will be two rehearsals for the dance, and it is required that you go and take part —we will not look anything less than superbly put together. with that, i dismiss you." he looked to mari, "mckinnon! come
over here."
   mari pushed through the students to come to face her teacher. "yes, professor karkaroff?"
   he smiled down at her, "a dressmaker will be meeting you in the local village, hogsmeade, in a couple of days. i'm sure you already have a dress, but given your status as a champion, a dress is simply not enough."
   "oh, okay. what will i be wearing, then?"
   "a custom gown and dress robes, of the durmstrang colours." mari nodded at his words. a gown would be pretty fun, she thought.

the next day the school was buzzing. all conversations seemed to follow the same topic: the yule ball. 'who am i going with?', 'what am i going to wear?' became painfully over used terms, ones mari didn't wish to think of.
   ingrid had her arm weaved through mari's as they walked across the plush grounds of hogwarts. "i can't wait to see what you're going to be wearing! i'm sure karkaroff will spare no expense. you'll have to get your date to match you —it's only proper! who is your date going to be, anyway?"
   mari sighed, and was saved answering when kosta came into step with the pair. "hey." both girls chorused identical replies. "so... i heard these two hogwarts boys in fourth year —their names were like dean and sean- or seamus- or something— said they were going together to the ball." mari raised her eyebrows, a fluttering in her chest erupting. "they got smashed for it though," mari's heart dropped, "and the teachers told them it was forbidden. argued that it wasn't traditional."
   "that's disgusting." replied mari, referring to the actions of the teachers.
   "so disgusting. could you imagine? being like them?" ingrid shuddered, and mari contemplated her words. was she talking about the teachers? or the boys?

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