Chapter 05
“Ze foods are so fattening!” Fleur Delacour-Weasley announced, her upper lip curling in disgust. “I cannot eat zat! I must watch my figure!”
Ginny held a half-eaten funnel cake under her brother’s new wife’s nose. “Oh, come on now, Fleur, you can’t tell me you can resist something that smells this delicious.”
Fleur pushed Ginny’s hand away, causing the fried dough to tip precariously close to the edge of the plate. Ginny righted her hand, then broke off a piece and popped it into her mouth. “Yum!” she sighed, chewing happily.
An unladylike snort emitted from Fleur. “If you think for a moment zat I will eat zat... zat nasty fried dough, you are meestaken!”
Bill laughed uproariously. “Nasty? Why, my dear Fleur, just twenty minutes ago you ate a whole funnel--” he was cut off when Fleur slapped a hand over his mouth; Bill growled playfully and nipped her hand lightly, causing Fleur to screech and snatch it away.
Ginny’s eyes lit up with amusement. “Oho! Zee truth comes out!” she cried, mocking Fleur’s French accent. “You don’t want to eat this because you’ve all ready had your fill!”
Fleur glared at Ginny, who merely walked away, joining Harry who was standing in a line waiting for his own funnel cake. She noticed several people staring at Fleur and couldn’t help but wonder how Bill was able to stand the admiring glances or the outrageous declarations of love some men bestowed upon Fleur.
Ten minutes previous, a man, with an extremely unhappy wife in tow, presented a large stuffed bear to Fleur and told her she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Bill had laughed and replied, “Oh, this old thing?”
Fleur and the man were outraged, but the angry wife had laughed. When the man insisted that he won the bear especially for Fleur, Bill didn’t seemed miffed, though the wife looked incensed; she walloped the husband with her large purse and carted him off, screaming at him that he’d claimed he’d won it for her! Bill had to chase them down and give back the bear, which the woman no longer wanted!
So Bill now carried huge brown bear for his wife. She treated the thing as though Bill himself had won it for her, including lavishing Bill with kisses every few moments. Fleur’s silvery peals of laughter only served to draw the attention of every male in the vicinity--except for Harry and Bill.
Harry was handed his own funnel cake, for which he thanked the woman, then he and Ginny joined Fleur and Bill, who claimed he wanted some red meat. Ginny exchanged a worried glance with Harry; Bill had been bitten by a demented werewolf-man--Fenrir Greyback--weeks ago, and had recently begun craving red meat. He was currently taking a potion that a former Hogwarts Professor, Remus Lupin, also drank, though Bill was lucky and didn’t completely transform into a werewolf during the full moon, as Professor Lupin was unfortunate enough to do.
Harry bent his head and whispered, “It’ll be fine, Gin; the full moon’s not for another week--and Bill took his potion at dinner.”
Ginny nodded, feeling a bit relieved. If Fleur and Harry don’t appear to be worried, she chided herself, watching her brother trot off to the vendor selling hamburgers, then I shouldn’t be.
She glanced at Harry, who was absently munching on his food.He seems to be miles away, Ginny thought sadly. She wondered if there was something she could do or say to bring Harry around?
Maybe he believes I’m still angry at him, Ginny bit her lip thoughtfully. In a way, she was, but Ginny didn’t want to ruin this nice evening by sulking.
She turned to Harry and coughed. When he glanced at her, she took the opportunity to speak to him. “Harry, would you like to go on a ride?”
Harry’s green eyes now fully focused on Ginny and she felt her knees go weak. It hadn’t been long ago when those eyes looked upon Ginny with happiness and love, but now...
“I don’t know, Ginny; I just ate and...” Harry sounded annoyed.
“Oh.” Ginny tried not to sound disappointed, but it was difficult.
Harry sighed heavily, then dropped his empty paper plate into a nearby refuse bin. “All right. But you do realize that we may not find anything that won’t fling us about or spin in circles?”
That wasn’t leaving many options for Ginny, but she was desperate to spend some time alone with Harry. “Oh. Well, let’s look any--”
A commotion at the hamburger stand interrupted Ginny; she and Harry looked over to see Bill arguing with the vendor, asking for a very rare patty, but--as the vendor was trying to point out--it was against the health code to serve such a thing.
“I could get in a lot of trouble for serving an undercooked patty,” the young man explained in a sorrowful tone. “If you got sick...”
Bill shook his head. “But I won’t, I promise you. I happen to like rare meat and have been eating it quite often as of late; nothing horrible has happened!”
“Sir,” the young man sighed, “I cannot oblige you; I could have my vending license revoked!” He was growing nervous; they were drawing stares!
It was then that Fleur stepped in; she smiled brightly at the vendor, whipped her white-blonde hair over her shoulder, and laid a slim hand on Bill’s shoulder. “My goodness, Bill,” she chided her husband, “Zees man says no, so let’s not bother ‘im any more. Come, my darling.”
She steered Bill away from the stall. “Many apologies, sir,” Fleur called sweetly from over her shoulder. “I ‘ope you’ll forgive us.”
The young man, now tongue-tied in Fleur’s presence, merely nodded.
“Fleur,” Bill interjected sourly as the moved further away, “I still want some red meat!”
“Hush!” Fleur scolded. “You shall have zat red meat you crave in a moment.” At this, Fleur took out her wand and--holding it between herself and Bill--murmured “Accio ‘amburgers’”.
A moment later, Ginny spied three patties zooming through the air above everyone’s heads. Since it was dark, the patties looked like round bats flying in the air, so no one took notice--no one but Harry, Ginny, Fleur, and Bill, that is.
“You weren’t supposed to use your wand!” Bill scolded Fleur, after wolfing down the three raw hamburger patties. “Besides, isn’t that stealing?”
“Nonsense,” Fleur huffed. “When I retrieved you, I left some money on ze counter.”
Ginny laughed; Fleur might appear to be vain and selfish, but even the youngest Weasley could see that Fleur cared deeply about Bill--enough to risk using her wand around Muggles.
She then nudged Harry, indicating Fleur and Bill should have some time alone; Harry nodded, following Ginny away from her brother and his wife as they shared a semiprivate moment, kissing passionately under the blinking lights of the frozen custard stall.
Harry and Ginny glanced at one another then hastily looked away. As they moved down the lane towards the oblivious Muggles crowding the rides, each thought the same thing: If only that were us...