บท 10: Chapter 10: A Veela's Charm
It was loud as hell. The excited cheers of Students that are waiting for the First Task to play out in the forbidden forest. They were cheering for their own school, with Hogwarts being the loudest of course, though, they were cheering for Diggory's name, not Potter's.
In contrast of the students, the champions were depressed as fuck. They were anxious, nervous, scared… I am now with Fleur and Gabrielle, trying to find her parents that are in between the masses. While Fleur is definitely excited to see her parents, she's a nervous wreck right now. We could hear the roars of the dragons from the stands, it made her anxious, but the students loved it.
We then spotted a pair of wizards and witches standing at the foot of the stairs of the VIP stands.
"Papa! Maman!" Fleur shrieked along with Gabrielle, running towards their parents. They hugged them tightly, with Fleur hugging her father and Gabrielle hugging her sister, once they're satisfied, they switched.
I slowly walked up to them, not wanting to ruin the mood, as I quite know that I'm a sore topic in the family. I heard them talk in French a little bit, with Fleur trying to smile as wide as possible, but from afar, I could still see her nervousness.
She then turned towards me and gestured to come closer, before facing her mother again.
"Maman, this is Archibald…" she said to her.
"Your betrothed." she said, her voice sounds bitter.
Fleur just nodded at her words, so I came closer. I bowed slightly to her. "Madam, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise." she said noncommittally. "I must say, Fleur didn't lie when she mentioned that you are immune to our allure…"
I just smiled at her words, looking around to see a lot of boys staring at Mrs. Delacour rather… lustfully…
"Maman! Don't do that!" Fleur shrieked, embarrassed at the stares.
"I was just confirming your words ma fille, no need to get riled up." the mother said. "My name is Apolline Delacour Archibald, I am impressed with your immunity towards our allure."
"It's a family talent Madam." I said softly.
"Fleur mentioned that you 'ave been great to 'er so far." she sighed. "While I am still bitter for the fact that she was forced into a relationship, I am glad that it is a good boy like you, perhaps there is 'ope yet."
"Well I think there is plenty of 'ope in the relationship Maman." said Fleur quietly, looking at the champions tent to check if it is time already.
Appoline just smiled at Fleur and me. "Very well. Archibald, please, call me Appoline, calling me Madam makes me feel old."
Gabrielle then commented something in French, earning a giggle from Fleur and an amused pinch from Appoline.
"Well, I suppose it is time already," said Fleur nervously. "I will be going now."
"Good luck Mon ange." Sebastian said to Fleur, kissing both of her cheeks. Fleur also hugged her mother, before also hugging me, then, she ran to the tent. I could hear the announcement on the judge stand, but we decided to ignore it for now.
"I will take a seat with Gabrielle first." said Appoline to me as she grabbed Gabrielle's hand. "Do you want to join us, Archibald?"
"Ah, no thanks." I refuse politely. "I will watch on the side, so I could go visit Fleur if anything happens."
"Good thinking." Appoline nodded in approval. "Very well, then I will see you later Archibald." Appoline first stared at Sebastian a bit, before walking to the stands, leaving me with Sebastian.
"Monsieur Delacour." I greeted him.
The man just smiled at me before guiding me to the side of the stands. "Please, call me Sebastian Archibald."
Both of us stood beside the stand, watching the Dragon being handled from afar. "Merde… My daughter is going to fight that?"
"Don't worry about Fleur Mons– Sebastian… she's a capable witch." I comforted the dad.
"Dragons are known to be wizard killers Archibald, their thick skin is resistant to magic…"
"I know, but Fleur's not going to kill the thing…" I refuted. "She's going to sing."
"Sing?" Sebastian was flabbergasted. "In the middle of this packed stadium?"
"Well… yeah… a sleeping charm." I said. "For the dragon, not for the audience of course."
"That is… a brilliant idea." Sebastian nodded in approval. "She came up with that?"
"A few days ago." I shrugged. "Madame Maxime warned her about the dragons, at first she panicked, but managed to calm down to form that plan."
We could then see Cedric Diggory come out of the tent as the crowd cheered loudly, the dragons having been positioned on top of the egg.
"And you helped her?" he asked me.
"Well… a bit I guess…" I murmured.
"Don't lie to me Archibald." he chuckled as he patted my back. "Fleur isn't exactly secretive about you, she mentioned you in every letter she sent."
"She did?" I asked, curious. "All good things I hope."
Sebastian didn't answer my question, instead, she just pulled me closer and hugged me from the side, patting my shoulder. "Thank you, for being a friend to our daughters. I was scared when I recovered that magical contract, but now I know that it is a blessing to us."
"Well I didn't do anything… I just did what I thought was right…" I murmured, damn, I feel something in my chest… longing? It's not me though… it's… Whitlock, poor bastard, you've been alone all your life, now you have a father figure..
The crowd cheered as Diggory got the egg, slowly being escorted from the arena to be taken care of, as he was a bit bruised up.
"Being with a descendant of a Veela will not be easy Archibald, but I'm glad that you are a capable wizard."
"If you said that, why marry a part-veela at all?" I asked.
"Love Archibald, love." Sebastian smiled. "I 'eard from Fleur that you are good with Runes. I 'ave read about the Whitlock family, Locksmiths and Runesmiths, Oui?"
"Apparently, yes. I just discovered that." I answered. "Locks that can't be broken down, and Runed items are our speciality, or at least were… it's only me in the family now."
"Yes, the war…" Sebastian smiled sadly, yep, they died in the war, or so the memory says. "You are always welcome in our estate Archibald, perhaps visit us during Christmas or Summer break?"
"Perhaps Christmas, but I could not go in the summer, as I will be busy taking care of family things." I smiled apologetically, it's true, Whitlock is busy as hell in the summer, maintaining the remaining businesses.
"Ah, well, that is a pity, then we will see you in our estate next Christmas then, as you cannot go back this Christmas because of the Triwizard Tournament."
"The Yule Ball right?" I stated. "Tournament Tradition."
Sebastian nodded. "Oui."
We then hear the announcer calling Fleur's name, which made Sebastian, and by extension me, tensed up. The Dragon had been positioned in the middle of the arena. Fleur slowly came out of the tent nervously. She was looking around the stand, trying to find someone. When she locked eyes with me, she only shot me a weak smile, and I gave her an encouraging smile.
"I know that look…" Sebastian chuckled at me, trying to hide his nervousness.
Fleur then turned towards the Dragon, swallowing her saliva. She slowly approached it, the Dragon already growling at her. But, she quickly steeled herself as she went into position. She pointed her wand at her throat, whispered something, and started to sing.
What came out of her mouth was not words however, no… it was something else… it's… a melody… a soothing and comforting melody that I for sure would make any man fall asleep in an instant.
She continued to sing, I could see an aurora-like event appearing around her, possibly from Veela magic.
"I didn't know my daughter could do something like this…" Sebastian murmured beside me. The Dragon quickly fell asleep in front of her, its long neck fallen on the ground, snoring loudly.
"Look, it's working!" Sebastian said excitedly. "And the audiences! They're… sleeping?"
I snapped my neck towards the stands, and what do you know, a lot of the audience were sleeping, only some with strong minds could resist the faint sleeping charm on the stands. Even though it was faint, it was still strong.
"You're not affected Sebastian?" I asked him.
He scoffed. "I lived with three part-veela Archibald, even visited by a pure Veela occasionally, of course I'm not affected."
I chuckled. "Fair point."
"But I didn't think that it would be this strong…" he murmured, looking at the sleeping audience around us.
"That.. would probably be my fault…"
"Your fault?" He raised his brow. "Why?"
"Well… I put a magic amplifying rune around her uniform's neckline… so it's been boosted."
Sebastian's eyes widened. "You can do that?!"
"W-Well yeah…" I murmured, a bit confused at his surprise.
"You can amplify magic? Really? At this age?" he repeated. "There is no way that can be done easily , Archibald."
Really? I just wrote a couple of lines and syntaxes using Elder Furthark… just like programming…
I was about to answer him, but then I saw that the Dragon snored fire, hitting Fleur directly. I could hear a couple gasps from people that were still awake, but then, as the fire disappeared, she wasn't hurt at all.
"Oh god…" Sebastian sighed in relief.. "Is that your doing too? Immune to fire?"
"It's just anti-flame runes…" I murmured.
"Then thank Merlin you put that there."
I could see Fleur run towards the Egg, grabbing it quickly before displaying it to the judge, earning cheers from the one who was still awake. Dumbledore then stood up, waved his wand, and the ones who were asleep jolted awake from it, except the Dragon of course.
"She must be the fastest so far!" Sebastian screamed in joy. "You go to Fleur Archibald! I will come to my wife first!"
Before I could answer, Sebastian just ran away towards his wife, leaving me alone. I just shook my head, proud dad huh, maybe I'll become him one day, who knows.
After that, I walked towards the Medical tent, towards Fleur.
—
As I walked towards the medical tent, I could see in between the curtains that Fleur was sitting on a bed, being checked on by Madam Pomfrey rather extensively. Before the healer could do anything however, Fleur saw me walking towards her and ran towards me, hugging me tightly.
She rambled in French for a little bit, not knowing what she said, I just patted her back, waiting for her to calm down. When she realized that she was rambling in French, she stopped hugging me entirely and peppered my face with kisses.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She murmured in between her smooches.. This is pure bliss… "You saved me!"
"I don't… really know how I saved you to be honest…" I said in embarrassment, as I noticed that a lot of people were watching.
"The runes!" she quietly whispered. "It worked! I didn't get burned!"
"Well that's the point is it?" I chuckled nervously, wiping her lipstick from my face.
"Miss Delacour!" I could hear a scream from behind Fleur. "Would you mind not running away before I checked you fully?"
"But I am fine Madame." she said, examining herself as she turned around. "As you can see, I am perfectly 'ealthy."
"Well there may be some internal wound, so please, come back to the tent." said Pomfrey in annoyance. "And you Whitlock, would you please not disturb my work by coming here?"
"What did I do Pomfrey?!" I complained. The healer just huffed and walked towards the tent, not forgetting to remind Fleur to follow her once again.
Fleur just giggled. "I will see you in a couple of minutes." She walked back towards the tent, continuing her medical check up.
Not long after, the Delacours came down the stand and walked towards me.
"How is she?" Sebastian asked.
"She's fine…" I said. "Too filled with adrenaline perhaps."
"You have lipstick on your cheek dear." Appoline commented, pointing at my left cheek.
Oops… "Oh, sorry…" I murmured, quickly wiping what's left of the lipstick.
"Are we allowed to go in?" Sebastian asked me again.
"Surely yes, she's our daughter after all." said Appoline, walking shamelessly towards the tent, entering it. Sebastian just shrugged at me, and followed her. I chuckled, following them as well.
—
As Fleur finished her medical check-up, she was released from the place and we got to sit in the Champions tent to wait for the score announcement. Fleur was telling her parents how she did it. She told her mother that she used her Veela charm and mixed it with a sleeping charm. The song was to amplify the charm, but Appoline said that it shouldn't be that powerful, before Sebastian informed her of my… tinkering.
She was pleasantly surprised at the news, and perhaps I got some more good son-in-law points from that. The whole time Fleur was holding my hand, not wanting to let go as she was holding the egg on her other hand.
"Can you open the egg?" Appoline asked Fleur.
"Er… I don't think that's a good idea right now…" I quickly interjected.
"Why? Is it dangerous?" Sebastian threw another question.
"Well, let's just open it, see what is inside." Fleur smiled at me, releasing her tight grip on my hand. She just suddenly clicked the button of the egg and it created the most horrible screech I've ever heard.
Seriously what the fuck is this?!
As the others closed their ears, I quickly interjected to close the egg, ending the ear ra*pe.
"What was that?!" Sebastian commented.
"That is the clue to the second task apparently…" Fleur commented, still a bit shocked at the scream. "Well, a lot more work to do."
"It's still a long way to go." Appoline sighed. "Fleur, please don't push yourself. If you feel like you can't do the task, you should just give up, I don't want to lose you Mon ange."
Fleur nodded softly. "I will be careful Maman don't worry. Besides, I have him." she pointed at me, she seems to trust me a lot now…
"Yes…" Appoline sighed, perhaps finally relenting on me being her betrothed, seeing her daughter happy. "Take care of her, would you, Archibald? While she is seventeen, she still acts like a child."
"Maman!" Fleur complained in embarrassment.
I just chuckled at Fleur's embarrassment. "I will Mada– Appoline… I'll make sure she's safe."
—
The scores have been announced, and she was overjoyed when she got second place, behind only Viktor and Harry who were tied in first place. Fleur's parents quickly said goodbye to us, saying that they will meet us in the second task again and left, leaving Fleur and Gabrielle in Hogwarts.
It was noisy at dinner, with the Gryffindor and the Durmstrang celebrating their first place. The Beauxbaton is not so loud however, as they don't really have any brotherhood/sisterhood in that school.
After Dinner, and Fleur had sent Gabrielle to bed, me and her are now enjoying some alone time walking around the black lake. It's cold, but a warming charm would do the trick. She was holding my hand all the way, it seems to be a trend for today.
"I was scared when I saw that fire snore envelop me." she murmured beside me. "I thought I was going to die…"
"A bit dramatic, don't you think?" I said jokingly.
She ignored my joke, ouch. "But it didn't 'urt me at all… instead I just felt this warm…"
"Well yes, the anti-flame rune just made the flame warm." I shrugged.
Fleur looked at me, raising her eyebrow in amusement. "I don't need your lecture right now Archibald."
I chuckled. "Okay, okay, just continue."
She just pouted at my words. "You 'ave ruined it."
"Well that's disappointing." I laughed, looking at how cute her face is when she's pouting.
As I calmed down, we didn't talk for a little while, we just enjoyed the dark sky above, the wind blowing through our clothing, and most importantly, each other's company.
We walked around the lake for a little while, occasionally commenting on stuff we saw on the path, but as we realized that it was a bit late, we quickly walked back, first to Fleur's Carriage. When we arrived there, she just hugged me again, this time a little bit tightly.
"Thank you again Archie…" She murmured to my neck. "I would probably be 'urt if it wasn't for you."
"Hey, you asked me for help." I said, patting her back. "I just did what I was supposed to."
Fleur didn't let go, instead she just clung at me tightly for a little while.
Once she's satisfied, she hesitantly lets go. "I think… I think I want this."
I raised my brow. "Want what?"
"This… marriage…" she murmured. "Do you want it too?"
"Well, want or not want, we are stuck with each other right?" I chuckled jokingly, but Fleur didn't want that answer apparently.
"No. Do you… Do you like me Archie?" She asked me timidly. "Do you still feel forced in this arrangement?"
I smiled at her. "Of course Fleur. Of course I like you. You've been good company. And I don't feel forced at all right now."
She threw me a half smile and waved her hand. "Bonne nuit Archie." After that, she just walked to her carriage, while I went to Hogwarts to finish my day.
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