3. Six Tears
Louise stared at Fleur with a shocked expression on her face. She had no idea that Fleur knew about the affair. Hermione and Molly were also left speechless.
“’Ow?… ‘Ow did you?” Louise tried to ask.
Suddenly, they could hear loud noises coming from upstairs. It sounded like a small war was going on. Things were breaking and exploding; there were also a few screams and yells.
“Not again!” exclaimed Hermione. She stood up and followed Molly, who was already halfway up the stairs.
What Molly and Hermione found upstairs was a scene they surely weren’t expecting. Gabrielle was running around wearing Fleur’s dress, which was on fire. Ginny was trying to put out the fire by casting a few spells, but it was hard for her to aim directly at the dress when Gabrielle was running around like a lunatic. Ginny decided to do it the Muggle way: by stamping on it.
“You’re stepping on my foot!” yelled Gabrielle.
“Stop moving then!” yelled Ginny back.
“Aguamenti!” sang Hermione, waving her wand.
Water came out of the tip of her wand and soaked Gabrielle. The fire was put out, but the dress was now completely ruined.
The four women stood there silently. Hermione and Molly were trying to understand what had happened. Gabrielle and Ginny were recovering their breaths.
“What happened?” asked Molly, in an angry tone.
Ginny was about to answer when Fleur and Louise came through the door. Tears started building in the bride’s eyes when she saw her dress, which was now ruined. It had black soot stains from the fire, it was ripped at the bottom, and it was completely soaked.
“It was her fault!” pointed Gabrielle at Ginny.
“How dare you?” asked Ginny with indignation.
In an act of anger and desperation, Gabrielle grabbed Ginny’s ponytail and started pulling it. Ginny screamed in pain and grabbed her wand to cast a hex.
“Leave ‘er alone!” yelled Louise. She tried to take Ginny’s wand, digging her long red nails into Ginny’s flesh in the process.
“Ginny, I’ll help you!” yelled Molly. She took out her wand and muttered a spell that made Louise let go of Ginny’s arm. Shocked because of the spell, Louise started walking backwards, without noticing that she had stepped on a broken vase. She tripped over it, fell to the floor, and one of her high-heeled shoes ended up flying across the room.
Hermione finally found a way to make Gabrielle let go of Ginny’s hair. Gabrielle was in complete hysteria; she kept swinging her arms and legs. She didn’t even know she slapped Hermione’s face with the back of her hand.
“Calm down!” yelled Hermione. “We’re acting like mad-women!”
The other four women looked at each other, realizing how ridiculous they looked. Fleur was still standing by the door. Slowly, tears started running down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry,” said Ginny, looking at Fleur.
Fleur knew Ginny wasn’t the one to blame. Even though she wasn’t close to Ginny, Fleur knew she wouldn’t be capable of ruining her own brother’s wedding. Fleur walked up to her sister and looked at her in the eyes. Before anyone could say anything, Fleur slapped Gabrielle across the face. The other women gasped.
“The wedding eez canceled,” said Fleur, in a harsh tone that was drowned in tears. Before anyone could respond she turned around and took off.
“Fleur!” cried Louise, standing up from the floor. “Wait!” She followed Fleur, walking awkwardly because one of her shoes now had a broken heel.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves!” said Hermione. “I’ve had enough of this circus. I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way to break this spell and get out.” She left the room with her chin held high.
Molly couldn’t believe what had just happened. Fleur had cancelled the wedding. She initially thought that it would be happy news, but she felt sad. Bill was going to be very upset once he found out about this.
While looking at the wound that Louise’s nails had caused in Ginny’s arm, Molly noticed Gabrielle. She was sitting on the floor crying, with her right hand covering her cheek where Fleur had slapped her. Molly wasn’t too fond of Gabrielle, but she couldn’t help, but feel sorry for the girl.
“It’s going to be alright, dear,” said Molly, resting her hand on Gabrielle’s head. Gabrielle was alarmed when she saw that Molly was coming towards her. She thought she would yell at her for fighting with Ginny, but there was kindness in Molly’s touch. It was something that Gabrielle rarely saw.
Molly stared at the ruined wedding gown and looked at Ginny with a disapproving look. “Did you have to burn the dress?”
Ginny looked at her mother, shocked. “Mum, I swear, I didn’t…”
“I did it,” admitted Gabrielle, cleaning her tears.
“Why?” Molly asked in a shocked tone.
Gabrielle stood up quickly from the floor and looked at the other two women. “You don’t know ‘ow it is! To live under ze shadow of ze great Fleur!” She took a deep breath and continued. “Since I was born I ‘ave been compared to ‘er! Fleur did zis, Fleur did zat, you should be more like ‘er. I’m seeck and tired of living up to everyone else’s expectations!” And with that, Gabrielle fled from the room.
Ginny and Molly looked at each other in astonishment.
“And I thought our family was weird,” said Ginny.
Fleur was sitting at the kitchen table with a blank look on her face. She had finally surrendered. From the beginning the signs that she shouldn’t marry with Bill were everywhere. Both mothers disapproved of the marriage, they came from different societies, and the final straw was the werewolf attack on poor Bill. She had initially decided to ignore these signs, but she couldn’t fight anymore. She had taken one of her mother’s cigarettes. Fleur usually didn’t smoke; she only did this when she was very stressed or sad.
The kitchen was the only part of the house that wasn’t entirely decorated. In fact, it was quite ugly. The furniture was old and poorly maintained, and the walls were dark grey. On the kitchen table rested a vase with dead flowers. Louise didn’t bother on decorating it since Mimi was the only one who ever used the kitchen.
Louise walked into the kitchen holding her ruined shoes. “Fleur,” she said. “I didn’t know you smoked.”
“I didn’t know you were cheating on Dad,” replied Fleur without looking at her mother.
“’Ow did you find out?” asked Louise, sitting next to her daughter.
“Mimi told me two weeks ago. She was drunk.”
“So she’s drinking again?” asked Louise, not very surprised. It wasn’t a secret that the house-elf had a liking for Butterbeer.
Fleur shook her head and stood up, still avoiding her mother’s eyes. “With all ze men out zere, you ‘ad to cheat him with Monsieur Farnoux. ‘E and Dad ‘ave been enemies since school,” she said while putting out her cigarette.
“I’ll ‘ave to ask you to be discreet about zis.”
Fleur finally looked at her mother in the eyes and said, “Promise me you’ll end it.”
Louise didn’t say anything. Now she was the one who was avoiding her daughter’s eyes.
“Mother!” said Fleur angrily. “Promise me you’ll stop cheating on Dad!”
“WHAT?” yelled Gabrielle, who was standing by the kitchen door. She had changed into the clothes she was wearing before.
Fleur closed her eyes in desperation and covered her face with her right hand.
“Ma petite,” said Louise. “I didn’t want you to find out like zis.”
“Why would you do such a zing?” asked Gabrielle. “You’re destroying zis family!”
“Gabby, calm down,” said Fleur.
“No!” replied Gabrielle. “She’s a ‘orrible person!” Gabrielle started shaking in anger and her face was turning red.
“Gabby!” called Fleur, losing her patience.
Gabrielle rushed towards Louise, grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her violently. “’Ow could you do zis to Daddy?”
“Zat’s it!” said Fleur. She took her wand out of her purse and pointed it at Gabrielle. “Petrificus Totalus!” she yelled. A light came out of her wand and hit Gabrielle in the back. She fell to the floor, stiff as a board, with a loud thud.
“I’m tired of zis madness!” said Fleur. She opened the broom closet and dragged Gabrielle inside. “She’ll calm down in zere,” she said while closing the door.
Louise was still sitting at the table; she had an expression of remorse. Gabrielle’s words were rushing through her head. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“In time,” Fleur said. She took a deep breath and looked at her mother. “But I will never forget.”
Ginny was still in the room where she had found Gabrielle wearing Fleur’s dress. Molly had left her a while ago to look for Hermione. Ginny was looking at herself in the full-length mirror that was now cracked because of one of the jinxes that Gabrielle had aimed at Ginny. Ginny looked at her hair that was tied with a ponytail, and at her clothes - a white T-shirt and a pair of old jeans.
She wasn’t fond of the Delacour women, but they sure were beautiful. They had class, and they embraced their femininity.
I can be feminine, thought Ginny.
Maybe Harry wouldn’t have left her if she were girlier, if she groomed herself a bit more. Ginny had spent the whole summer thinking of ways to get Harry back and why they had broken up. Sure, she knew he was on a mission and that it was dangerous, but she still wanted to be with him. If only he knew that she would do anything for him.
Harry…