La Fleur de la Vallée

Percy was lying awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling and contemplating what just happened. He had always though of Fleur as friend in the short time they had known each other, and then, out of the blue, he kissed her.

It was just the with the moon shining in the dim hall and he standing alone with Fleur, something just seemed right. For the first time since his long relationship with Penelope, Percy felt his loneliness disappear which usually only happened if he overworked himself and was too busy to be lonely. But he was, of course, just caught up in the moment, Fleur was a friend and nothing more - Right?

Percy frowned, not liking his lack of comprehension of the situation one bit. Long he stayed awake, staring at his ceiling as the amorous moonlight peeked in though his blinds, making lines across his bed. After a couple long hours of mulling things over he slipped off into a uneasy sleep.

For several hours there was no disturbance in or around the sleeping pub, neither on Diagon Alley that Percy's room overlooked nor on the Muggle street that Fleur's room was facing. It was eerily quiet and it wasn't until a couple hours before dawn that any sign of life disturbed the stillness.

Dark shapes appeared in the sky above the Muggle street. They swooped down towards The Leaky Cauldron, becoming level to the second floor of the tavern.

Fleur groggily woke up, a faint buzzing sound in her mind. She sat up and after a moment the buzzing grow clearer until she identified it as hissing. Low, dangerous hissing. She suddenly leapt out of her bed, realizing it wasn't in her mind. The window. That's where it was coming from!

Fleur's heart began beating rapidly as she looked at the window above her bed, not taking her widened eyes off it. The hissing grew louder and she became aware that whatever was out there, there was more than one.

And then, unexpectedly, it stopped.

Fleur strained her ears but heard only utter silence. She stood immobile for a minute and when no further sound came, she resigned herself to imagining it. She relaxed slightly and turned to go downstairs and sit, knowing she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep with her nerves like this.

Just as her hand touched the door handle, there was a thunderous crash behind her and she was showered with broken glass. The head of a large serpent burst into her room, its huge jaws gaping open and wings beating furiously. Fleur screamed as it soared though the window and started for her, its massive jaws still open. She frantically turned the knob behind her, still screaming, and whirled around out of the room though the tiny opening in the door. She slammed it behind her and turned to crash right into something in front of her.

"Fleur?" It was Percy. His glasses were tilted as though he had put them on in a hurry and his eyes behind the glasses were wide with concern and confusion. "What's going on?"

Before she could say anything, there was another loud crash from inside her room and Percy instinctively pulled her with him against his own door, getting further away from the danger. Another loud crash, this time against the door which shook visibly from whatever hit it. Fleur knew what was behind the door and she shrunk against Percy as it collided against the door again and again, the door shaking violently each time. Quickly though, only a few seconds after it began, the thing stopped and there was silence, yet again.

Fleur let out a muffled sob and buried her face in Percy's shoulder. She had never been so terrified in her life, not even when she had faced off with a dragon in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The serpents had been different from any creature she had come across; they seemed to radiate evil and malice, and they had made for her as soon as they crashed through the window.

By this time people had gathered in the hallway, having heard the loud bangs and crashes.

"You young people ought to take your doings elsewhere rather than wake the whole street," an elderly warlock began to tell off Percy and Fleur, looking irate. "Or at least be quieter -- is she crying?"

He had just become conscious to Percy's white face and grip on the girl's shoulders and Fleur's muffled sobs. His face softened.

"What happened?"

Before Percy could answer, Tom and two wizard officials pushed through the crowd to them. Two more officials were attempting to disperse the crowd, telling them that had been a break-in but it was taken care of. When all the guests had gone back to their own rooms and Fleur had calmed down considerably, she and Percy were questioned by the officials.

"Flying snakes?" One official, Trista Dandridge, a blond woman in her forties, looked thoughtful. She looked at one of her colleagues, a wizard named Brendan Davis, who was an athletic-looking wizard though only a few years younger than Trista.

"Could be normal winged snakes, wyverns, or lindwurms. Winged serpents are the least dangerous but they're pretty rare. There hasn't been a sighting since 1986. Wyverns are very large and dragon-like so I'm guessing it wasn't those. Lindwurms have last been reported when He-who-must-not-be-named used them in his ranks--" Brendan trailed off and frowned deeply. "Did you happen to notice what colour the serpents were?"

Fleur nodded. "Greenish gold."

Brendan's frown deepened. "Definitely lindwurms. You're lucky you got out of there on time."

Percy frowned at this. "Why, what would have happened if she hadn't gotten out?"

"Well... Lindwurms have two main sources of food. Cattle and humans."

Fleur paled and Percy's hand went to her shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly. Trista looked at her other two colleagues and quickly spoke to them in a low voice. They nodded and headed down the hall and down the stairs, as Trista began scribbling away in a notepad.

"The damages in your room are pretty bad, young lady," Tom announced, emerging from Fleur's bedroom just then. "But don't you worry, the house-elves can fix it up in a jiffy. They're all off duty at night though so it'll have to wait until morning. I'd give you a different room but there aren't any spares left."

Tom looked apologetically at Fleur. Trista, not looking up from notes, spoke up.

"Is there a sofa in the young man's room? The girl can sleep there for the remainder of the night."

Both Percy and Fleur looked surprised and slightly uncomfortable for a moment, but Tom answered before either of them could say anything. "Yes, there is! That's a perfect solution."

Trista nodded and finished her writing. She flipped her notepad shut and looked at Percy and Fleur. "Okay, that's about all we can do for tonight. You two should try to get some sleep for your trip tomorrow. You'll need your rest. Any further incidents, contact us immediately."

She nodded at them and she and Brendan turned to leave. Tom smiled obliviously at them and ushered Percy and Fleur to Percy's room.

"Goodnight! Or should I say good morning? Well, there's only a few hours 'til breakfast but try to get as much sleep as you can," Tom said before he left.

Percy and Fleur stood awkwardly for a minute before Percy spoke.

"You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch." He sat down on the short couch and Fleur nodded, sitting on the bed.

"Um... About that... incident earlier. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... It was just a spur of the moment thing, I guess. I'm really sorry." Percy looked at her an expression that could be likened to puppy dog eyes. Fleur smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it. It was just a spur of the moment kiss, as you said. We can just forget it ever 'appened."

Percy looked relieved and smiled. "Okay, good. Well, I guess we really do need to go to sleep now. We have that trip to the conference tomorrow, like Ms. Dandridge said."

He frowned suddenly and Fleur looked questioningly at him.

"Wait. How did she know about that?"

"About what?"

"The conference. Theus said it was supposed to be a secret."

"Oh! Then 'ow could she 'ave known?"

"I don't know."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, each to their own thoughts. Fleur yawned.

"Oh, now we really need to go to sleep," she said as she laid down. Percy nodded in agreement and stretched out over the tiny sofa. Fleur muttered a charm and the lights went out.

"Night, Fleur," Percy said as he tried to situate his long limbs on the short sofa. Fleur murmured an answer before falling asleep. Percy, however, took much longer before falling into slumber.

******

Trista Dandridge and Brendan Davis stood silently in a private room in the Leaky Cauldron. They were both watching the fire, waiting. Soon the familiar green coloured the flickering tongues of fire and the approaching whooshing sound let them know that the person they were waiting for was arriving.

Albus Dumbledore stepped from the fire without stumbling and stood straight, brushing a tiny amount of soot from his deep blue robes. He smiled at the two officials.

"Hello Trista, Brendan. You have news for me?"

"Albus." Trista returned the greeting with a slight nod of her head before getting to business. "I apologize for disturbing you at this hour but we just discovered that the Dark Lord has dark creatures in his service and he's discovered at least one of the potential members in the battle against him."

Dumbledore looked grave. "Better tell me the whole story. There are currently six potential allies staying here and one more at the Raven Wing. Who is the one discovered?"

"The part-veela, Fleur Delacour. Her room was attacked by lindwurms."

"Lindwurms? Then it must be Voldemort who sent them." Dumbledore began to pace slightly, his hands folded behind his back. Trista gave an involuntary shudder at the name "Voldemort" and a muscle in Brendan's jaw jumped. "Miss Delacour was indeed one of the people selected to attend the Ra Conference but I can't imagine how Voldemort got this information. Spies must be planted all over Diagon already. When you check into headquarters, make sure you tell everyone to be on watch for them. We mustn't make the same mistake as last time."

Brendan and Trista nodded, Brendan looking especially sombre. Dumbledore continued his routine, back and forth over the private parlour.

"It's strange that Miss Delacour was targeted. Her room used to be on the wizard side of the Cauldron and was switched just a few weeks ago to the Muggle side of the street. How could they have known what her new room was?" Dumbledore mused more to himself that to the two agents standing before him.

"A coincidence maybe?" Trista offered. "The lindwurms could have been sent to attack any room and it was chance that one of the Order's candidates was attacked."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "It's a possibility to be sure and we can only hope that was the case. It won't do that our secrets are leaking. Did you happen to check on the other five?"

Brendan nodded. "The redhead with glasses was with Delacour when we arrived and the others were among the crowd. I popped over to the Raven Wing and the seventh is still okay."

Dumbledore nodded. "Good, good. They should all be fine in the time between now and when they step onto the Knight Bus for the conference. Trista I shall see you in a couple weeks, Brendan, farewell until the Conference -- I expect I'll see you there."

Brendan nodded. "I will certainly be present. You know how I feel about Voldemort." A dark look passed over his face and Trista cringed. Brendan was from that original group of resistance against the Dark Lord and it always made her uneasy that all living members of the faction were still adamant about using His proper name. She didn't bother to say anything about it though, knowing it futile, and shook Dumbledore's hand in way of farewell. She went right after him to the floo fire too but paused a moment to look back at Brendan who was sitting sullenly in the darkened room and made no sign of moving.

"Aren't you going home?"

Brendan was stirred from his thoughts and looked up. “Yeah, I’ll leave in a moment. See you in a few weeks, Trist."

Trista nodded and said, before disappearing into the fire, "Tell Lynna hello, and Tracy too in the next owl you send her."