Liberté, Égalité, Felicité

Chapter 1: Felicité

Disclaimer: I am not Victor Hugo so I don't own any part of Les Miserables  except for Felicité Pontmercy.

January 2nd, 1831

Third Person POV:

Felicité Pontmercy's light brown hair becomes sprinkled with soft, white flecks of snow as she walks through the cobblestoned streets of Paris, France along with her older brother, Marius, at the early time of 7:00 AM. The winter chill threatens every person in the city, but especially the homeless.

"You know, Marius, I'd like to know where you vanish off to basically every night," Felicité says teasingly but sincerely.

"Lissy, I told you already," he responds, "I can't tell you. It's not important." Her eyebrow raises skeptically as they walk further along the streets. The twenty-year-old woman watches the poor struggling in the streets, face drawn in a pitying, dismayed expression. Felicité, even though a lady of wealth, has a caring heart, a heart made of gold. She walks softly up to a woman, tattered rags her only clothes and a belly bulging with child, and kneels down in front of her. Felicité reaches into her pocket and drops six francs into the pregnant woman's hand, smiling softly at the poor soul.

"Stay warm with this," Felicité whispers softly, smiling comfortingly. "Take care of your baby." 

"God bless you," the woman says gratefully and emotionally. Felicité stands up and walks back over to her brother, but not without giving the woman a hug.

"That was very risky," Marius warns his younger sister by one year. "Grandfather wouldn't be happy with you."

"I don't care, Marius!! She was suffering!" Felicité retorts harshly, taking the man aback at the outrage in his normally sweet sister's tone. "I wish there was something I could do to help more."

Marius sighs, by now used to his sister's exclamations, and tries to change the conversation. "Have you seen Éponine recently?" the man questions.

"No, I have not," Felicité replies teasingly. "Why, do you want to see her?"

"Yes...." Marius answers, confused. Marius is very oblivious, thus not realizing the woman in question's (Éponine) huge crush on him. Felicité is the self-proclaimed matchmaker of this "couple," as they haven't been courting or anything. "What does that mean? You're looking like the cat that ate the canary." Felicité grins widely and shakes her head, deftly avoiding the question.

"Never mind," she says coyly. The siblings stop in front of a large elephant, the Elephant of the Bastille, and stand next to it. Marius looks up at the Elephant, as if expecting to see someone. Then, the pattering of feet on the stone approach the two as Marius and Felicité look up at the person shouting Marius's name. The feet and the voice belong to a curly-haired man around two inches taller than Marius, about six inches taller than Felicité.

"Marius!!" the man cries, running up to the siblings. "Who's this beautiful mademoiselle? Is she your girlfriend?" Felicité and Marius cringe at that.

"Definitely not my girlfriend," Marius denies quickly. "She's my sister. My younger sister."

"Only by a year!!" Felicité buts in, annoyed. "And my name's Felicité." The man that still is unknown to the woman bows low and kisses her hand.

"Je m'appelle Courfeyrac," the man says smoothly (A/N: je m'appelle = my name is). Courfeyrac's jet-black hair has dustings of snow in it and his shoulders, encased in a maroon jacket, also are sprinkled with the white snowflakes. Felicité curtsies politely to him, smiling.

"How do you know Marius?" Felicité questions, perplexed. She always thought her brother was so awkward that nobody really liked his Napoleon speeches and whatnot, thus not liking him as a result.