i. BOUNTY fleur delacour

15

FIFTEEN

" a happy soul
is the best shield
for a cruel world. "
- atticus

"DO YOU think kosta will ask me to the yule ball?" ingrid's voice came annoyingly into the ears of an exhausted mari mackinnon, she smashed her pillow of her ears and groaned.
   ingrid sighed, "sorry, i was just curious. mean, you would know, he tells you everything."
mari shifted to face ingrid, who was in the bed parallel to mari's, "he hasn't mentioned anything about taking you, but i don't know... you guys don't have that sort relationship, really."
"oh, i know!" cried the angular girl, "but it would be nice know i definitely had a date, you know."
   "you're hot, sweetie," said mari, in an americanised english, "of course you'll have a date," she added in norwegian.
   "thanks, what's chances someone like poliakoff asks me."
"poliakoff isn't... awful to look at... but his personality is definitely a miss, could you compromise?" mari chuckled.
   ingrid threw light pillow at her, "fuck you."

the dress maker looked mari up and down. she felt the immediate need cover herself. they were meeting a room at a bar motel in the wizarding village hogsmeade, and ingrid had come for "moral support'. the dress maker was taking her measurements and looking at her body analytically, he was a flamboyant man, a feat for a  wizard, but was not very talk ative. "you have a very nice figure," he said, "i was going to go empire waist, but it think i have changed my mind... a corset, perhaps? no... no, that won't do. a fitted torso, yes..."
   mari blushed, the idea of a grand gown eating away at her. "what colour will be it be, may I ask?"
   the dressmaker didn't look up, but answered, "the main colour will be grey, with... brown details. and a deep red cloak. that fits to your school colours, doesn't it? your teacher told me it had to."
   mari purses her lips, "yes, yes it does." she paused, "that sounds beautiful, i can't wait," she added politely.

☇ ☇ ☇

"so he's really making you wear school colours? don't you get a choice?" lee jordan walked alongside mari, a pale moonlight washing over their features.
   "no, no choice for me... he showed me the fabrics he's using, though, and they do look lovely."
   lee grinned, his captivating smile echoing in the white light. "you will look beautiful either way." he stopped smiling and his hands moved nervously to the hem of his shirt. "say, would you perhaps..." he took a sharp breath, "like to go to the ball with me?"
   mari said nothing at first, her mind instantly thinking of someone else. she suppressed those thoughts and looked at lee. he was gorgeous, in the sense that his cheeks were always round with joy, and that his smile showed his beautiful personality. mari's heart fluttered, and she knew she was doing the right thing.
   "of course, lee. i couldn't think of any other guy i would want to go with."

☇ ☇ ☇

mari was enjoying yet another peaceful walk on the hogwarts ground when a blue covered arm looped onto her own.
"'i, mari." mari shivered, the french accent going through her.
"hello, miss delacour. wonderful day, isn't it?"
"oh, absolutely stunning." fleur stopped walking and turned to mari. her lips stretched into a smile. "so," she began, "the yule ball... what are your plans?"
oblivious, mari smiled, "lee jordan has just asked me! i said yes..." she spoke as teenager would.
fleur's happiness hesitated for a barely noticeable moment, before her smile and peppy behaviour returned. "oh, great! 'e is vary nice, i 'ave 'eard."
"indeed," replied the norwegian, "he is very nice, and charming." fleur nodded. "what about you?"
fleur looked mari intensely in the eye, "i do not know... no one's really caught my eye," she drawled. mari looked deep into her eyes.
"too bad," she said, as slow and controlled as fleur had been. "i'm sure, perhaps, cedric diggory might make a good date?"
"maybe so, shall i go see?"
"see?"
"yes, feel out ze situation. will you
come?"
mari chuckled as if it was a joke, but soon stopped herself, "yes," she said, "of course."

mari wished she hadn't come with fleur.
   the norwegian had stood awkwardly beside the french whilst the latter flirted aimlessly with a boy who was obviously not interested. still nice, nonetheless, he was still cedric diggory.
   fleur had just placed her arm on cedric's when a red faced boy came into mari's view. after a moment, she recognised him to be a friend of harry potter's, the brother of her own friends, fred and george weasley. she nudged fleur.
   fleur turned quickly at mari's touched. she stared at mari who jerked her head towards the boy a couple metres away, staring intently at the veela.
   fleur grimaced, a conflicted expression on her face. "oh, 'e is going to ask me to the yule ball."
   mari frowned at the statement, "how do you know?"
   "instinct. when you are a veela you come to know when your charm is attracting people strongly."
   "i doubt he would," mari said, "not that i doubt your instinct, at all... but he's only a fourth year."
   "the power of a veela 'as nothing to do with age. one does not even 'ave 'ad to 'it puberty, yet zey would feel drawn to me. older men, even if their morals were aligned, would still look at me 'ungrily."
   silence ensued. fleur looked defiantly upward, cedric gazed down at his shoes, and mari looked at fleur. she reached out gently and squeezed her hand. fleur reacted immediately, tightening a grip onto mari's rough fingers. the blonde girl pulled mari into her so that their hands were hidden by their skirts.
   mari swore she felt fleur lean into her for comfort as the weasley boy ran forward.

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