La Fleur de la Vallée

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"Weasley, where'd you put the secrecy report?" Theus peered over a divider at Percy. It was two and half weeks after Fleur had began work, and the first cold day of the September. The office workers had just spent the better part of the last hour casting insulation spells on the windows within the department. Things had just started to settle down when Theus came over.

"I put it in the outbox, sir. It should be in your inbox. Unless you filed it." Percy shifted his glasses as he stood up. Theus nodded and frowned, mumbling to himself.

"Now who had filing duty last...?" Theus mused, talking more to himself than Percy.

"I did, sir. 'Za--that report should be in the 'M' drawer for Muggle Secrecy." Fleur put in as she came back to her desk from the cloakroom. Percy could only see the top of a blonde head from this side of the partition (the partitions were shoulder-high for Percy, but Fleur could only just see over them) but he recognized the careful speech.

"Right, thank you Delacour. Weasley, go get it please." Theus rocked back and forth on his heels, a nervous habit of his. Percy nodded and tossed his quill on his desk. As he walked past Fleur's desk towards the filing cabinets he could see her huddling into a thin, blue cloak.

While Percy was rifling through the 'M' drawer in a filing cabinet, Theus talked to Fleur.

"...One of the most important conventions of the year for this department. International Cooperation reps from all over the world meet once a year in a selected city. This year they meet here in London." Theus was saying when Percy came back. Percy handed him the report and looked questioningly at Fleur when Theus started flipping through it and walked away, mumbling absently.

"'E's gathering the data to be presented at the convention." Fleur said as she sat back down at her desk and picked up her own work.

"Ah, I see." Percy watched Fleur writing delicately with a beautiful eagle feather quill for a moment before going around the partition and to his own desk. Percy stifled a tiny yawn and picked up his quill. He gasped in the middle of his yawn as a hard pound came on his back.

"Hey there Weasley! Working hard or hardly working?" Greg Redford chuckled at his own joke, and Percy glowered slightly as soon as he caught his breath again. Redford didn’t seem to notice, and walked off, sipping his coffee and chuckling to himself. Percy pursed his lips, and went back to working, still glowering slightly.

Fleur shook her head, having heard Redford from her desk. ‘That man is annoying. I can’t even concentrate enough when he’s at this end of the office,’ she thought. She dipped her quill in an inkwell and carefully wrote. She jumped up in surprise when Redford’s voice came from her left.

“Hey there Delacour!” Redford said, chuckling again. “You’re as easy to surprise as Weasley!”

Fleur narrowed her eyes slightly, extremely annoyed at this interruption. “Per’aps it is becoz we actually work, like we are supposed to!” she said haughtily. Redford only chuckled again, infuriating Fleur further.

Percy could hear them and walked to the partition between the areas with each of their desks in it. He could see Redford babbling to Fleur, and Fleur looking more annoyed by the moment.

“Why, a pretty young thing like you could easily be working anywhere but a stuffy office…” Fleur’s jaw tensed and she looked over Redford’s shoulder at Percy, with a look that clearly said Save me. Percy nodded, understanding and cleared his throat.

“Fleur, ready to go to lunch?” he said loudly. Fleur looked relieved and quickly nodded.

“Sorry to end our conversation short but I ‘ave to go to lunch now.” Fleur said politely to Redford.

Redford grinned foolishly and nodded. It was all Percy could do to keep from rolling his eyes. Redford strolled away and Fleur looked at Percy gratefully.

“Thank you. I don’t think I could ‘ave put up with that man much longer.”

Fleur sighed and nodded in Redford’s direction. “’E’s watching us. I wanted to spend lunch hour working…”

Percy shared her dismay. “So did I. Well, let’s hurry and hopefully he’ll be off pestering someone else when we come back.”

Percy gestured for her to follow him and walked to the cloakroom. Fleur was already wearing her thin cloak and waited as Percy pulled on his heavy black one. He jammed his arms through the sleeves and proceeded to push open the door leading to the street.

The Ministry of Magic was an enormous building that sprawled nearly the entire side of the street. Across the street was a wooded, grassy area with a few benches and picnic tables scattered around it. The street itself was actually an alley off of Diagon Alley, opposite of Knockturn.

Percy and Fleur were now hurrying down the street towards Diagon Alley. The bitter wind bit at their necks and they walked quickly. Soon they turned the corner and entered the bustling wizard street. Fleur started walking, obviously making for the Leaky Cauldron, but Percy put his hand on her shoulder and pointed to a different restaurant, a few doors down from the Leaky Cauldron.

“That’s the Raven Wing Inn. It’s small and not too busy, but they’re good,” he said. His hand was warm on Fleur’s shoulder, and for a fleeting moment she thought longingly of the warmth of his body. His hand left her shoulder then, and she snapped back to the reality of the bitterly cold street. She shivered, and fell into step with Percy, walking down the length of the street.

Percy glanced to his side and saw Fleur walking in a hunched way, grasping her lightweight cloak tightly around her slim frame. Her long hair whipped wildly in the wind behind her, and Percy could plainly see her nose and ears reddened by the raw chill. The rest of her face was oddly pale.

“Here, take this.” Percy slipped off his own bulky cloak and held it out to Fleur. She looked up at him doubtfully but he smiled reassuringly. “My regular robes are heavy, they’re warm enough to make it to the Raven Wing without freezing.”

Fleur gratefully accepted the cloak and reached out for it. “Merci.” She slipped it over her own wrap and was immediately enveloped in the large folds of the cloak. Percy’s oversized cloak seemed huge on Fleur, as she was quite a bit smaller than him anyway. Her hair was tucked inside the back of the cloak and she didn’t bother pulling it free, not wanting the strong currents of air to whip it around her face. The cloak was very warm and Fleur clutched it around her, walking faster now that she wasn’t hindered by chill.

They walked the length of Diagon Alley rather quickly. Most of the magical community was at work at this time, but many of the older witches and wizards who were retired shopped at midday. They smiled at the young pair, and looked at each other knowingly, recalling memories of their own youths. Fleur caught sight of three elderly witches watching her and Percy as they walked swiftly down the street. Without realizing it, Fleur followed their example and smiled to herself. She felt oddly comfortable and peaceful trailing down the street next to Percy, wrapped in his warm cloak.

Fleur nudged Percy’s side, and he broke his gaze from their destination to look at her. She nodded towards the three women and Percy glanced over his shoulder at them. He chuckled along with Fleur.

“They must think that we are a couple,” Fleur said amusedly. Percy chortled and looked back at the women again. He turned away from them and looked up in front of him.

“Well, here we are,” he said gesturing to a small structure before them. The Raven Wing Inn was a tiny building squeezed between two, large shops. It did not look overly impressive but Fleur followed Percy up the narrow steps grateful that she was eating somewhere other than the Cauldron for a change. Percy pushed open the door of the secluded bistro, a tiny bell tinkling as they walked in.

The tiny inn was indeed not overly crowded; there were only two other guests in the small dining room area. Percy and Fleur made their way to a table in the corner and sat down.

“Hello! Welcome to the Raven Wing! I am Bram, owner of this Inn. How can I be of service to you today?” An enthusiastic voice boomed from behind Percy. He looked up and saw a plump, energetic man of about fifty smiling at him. Bram had round, rosy face, and thick, dark hair and mustache. Percy was rather taken aback by this vivacious greeting, and Fleur seemed equally stunned. They gaped at each other and looked back at Bram.

“Well…What do you recommend?” Percy finally managed. Bram grinned widely at him.

“I personally love the Breakfast meal. It is lunch, yes, but our cook Maria makes a great breakfast any time of the day!”

“All right, I’ll have that.” Bram nodded at Percy and turned his attention to Fleur.

“And for the young lady?”

“I’ll take the same.” Fleur said. Normally she would have bristled at being referred to as simply ‘the young lady’ but Bram was so cheerful that she didn’t mind this once.

Bram beamed and bustled off towards the kitchen. They could just hear him say, “Maria! Two orders of the breakfast platter please!”

Percy watched as he walked away and then turned to Fleur. “Well. He seems to be a cheerful chap, eh?” His brown eyes sparkled light-heartedly and Fleur laughed.