Je Regrette Rien

-6-

Gabrielle didn´t come down to dinner when she found out that Malick was staying. This greatly disappointed him because he was hoping to convince her at dinner. "So, Virginia, would you like to go to Dauphine´s party with me?" Malick asked Ginny at dinner in this suave voice that really freaked her out.

"I...er...I´m afraid not," Ginny said twitching a little.

"Well, why not?"

"Because I´m going with...er...Neville!" Ginny grabbed Neville by the arm and he looked at her with an extremely shocked expression. "That´s right. I´m going with Neville."

"Oh, I see a pity date," Malick said with an obviously fake yawn.

"He is not a pity date," Ginny said defensively as Neville began to turn crimson.

"Vous êtes étrange," Malick muttered, shaking his head.

~*~

The party really snuck up on everyone of them and before they knew it they we standing in the entrance hall of the Aulait manor with an overexcited house elf dancing around making everyone sign in. When he approached Gabrielle she shuddered, hesitant to sign her own name and be alone without a date. And Malick was obviously waiting inside to gloat. Then, without warning, Ron stepped up beside her and signed his name next to her own. Gabrielle looked at him gratefully and he smiled broadly. The house elf headed onward to the others and another servant of the Aulait´s prepared to begin announcing names.

"Merci," Gabrielle said to Ron.

"It´s no problem. I never got a chance to ask you to come with me anyway," Ron said happily. This made Gabrielle glow.

"Ahem," the servant said to quiet everyone in the entrance hall. The announcements had begun.

`Bryce Aulait and Padma Patil.´  There was a polite applause as they glided into the ballroom arm-and-arm. This continued with all the others until they finally got to their party.

`Seamus Finnegan and Parvati Patil.´

`Ron Weasley and Gabrielle Delacour.´ Ron and Gabrielle got a few `oohs´ and `aahs´ as they came into the ballroom. The pair smiled at each other and then they turned to watch the others come in. Gabrielle was anxious to see her sister and Ron had a sudden though, `Harry didn´t have date.´

`Neville Longbottom and Virginia Weasley.´

`Percy Weasley and Fleur Delacour.´ Ron and Gabrielle looked at each other, shocked. That was who they least expected. Gabrielle had seen them together in the garden but she hadn´t thought that Fleur had liked him. They had to admit though, their siblings made an adorable couple. Percy was dressed very sharply and looked surprisingly handsome as he held tightly to Fleur, who looked fabulous in her violet gown.

`Harry Potter and Susan Bones´ Ron and Gabrielle exchanged another glance to show that this was also unexpected. Ron took Gabrielle by the hand and went off the meet Harry and Susan as they came in.

"Harry?" Ron asked as soon as he and Gabrielle had fought their way to him.

Harry smiled at Ron´s expression; he was enjoying it so he didn´t even make an attempt to explain what happened. "We were both fretting about not having dates, so we decided to go in together," Susan said, speaking for Harry.

"Sounds like everyone´s problem," Gabrielle said with a smile, "Except for my sister´s." They all turned to see where she was looking; directly at Fleur. Only, Fleur didn´t notice anyone was looking at her at all. She was just walking on cloud nine with Percy, and that was what made Gabrielle smile.

The orchestra began to play a sweet haunting melody to announce that the party had begun. Gabrielle looked at Ron to say `Let´s dance´ and he took her out on the floor grinning the whole time.

Harry´s eyes followed Ron and Gabrielle to the dance floor. The two of them vaguely shocked him; he could swear that they weren´t just together because they wouldn´t let them into the party otherwise. He looked at Susan standing next to him. She looked a bit dazed, watching all the couples dancing. Or maybe it wasn´t dazed that she looked, maybe it was a twinge of jealousy. "I hate dancing," he decided to say abruptly.

"Oh," Susan said not turning her head to look at him or anything. Then she suddenly sighed out of what seemed to Harry as embarrassment. Harry looked at her again not sure of what to make of that. He didn´t want to have another girl who considered him the worst possible person to go to a dance with. Parvati obviously did, she kept glancing at Susan with a weird sort of pity on her face. "They´re ridiculous," Susan said to explain herself.

"Who´s ridiculous?"

"Them." Susan pointed to her mother and father, who were swing dancing. The music was defiantly not right for swing dancing, even if the two dancers could actually dance properly.

As soon as the music paused for the orchestra to take a break, Mr. And Mrs. Bones hurried over to their daughter. "Susan, who´s this young man?" Mr. Bones asked his daughter.

"Dad, you heard us announced, you know who it is," Susan said in an extremely aggravated voice.

"I know," Mr. Bones said, smiling at his daughter, "I just like to rile you, Susan."

"Jonathon, don´t embarrass our child," Mrs. Bones said coming up behind her husband. She smiled brightly at both Susan and Harry. "Although it would be nice of her to introduce us."

"Harry, this is my mother and father," Susan said.

"Hello," Harry said nervously. The only thought that crossed his mind was that Susan was very lucky to have her parents and here she was acting as though she never wanted to see them again. He didn´t have much time to pursue this train of thought however because Dauphine had started to make a ruckus nearby.

"Je ne peux pas vous croire ne m'ai pas dit! J'aurais sauvé tellement le humiliation pour les tous les deux nous!" Dauphine started screaming at Dean.

Dean looked toward Harry, Susan, and Mr. And Mrs. Bones with an extremely frightened look on his face. "What is she saying?" He asked.

"I have no idea," Harry replied, his eyes wide. There was something about a hyperactive adolescent screaming in French that was extremely frightening.

"She can´t believe you didn´t tell her something," Mr. Bones said to Dean, "She thinks it´s humiliating."

"But what...oh." Dean shook his head. "I didn´t want to come with her anyway."

"Je vais aller propre moi-même. Je me sens si sale," Dauphine shouted. And Dean looked to Mr. Bones for another translation.

"She´s going to go clean herself up, she feels dirty." 

"That´s so stupid," Dean said, "just because I´m not a ruddy pure-blood." He shook his head and walked over to Harry and Susan. "Well, at least I didn´t like her. Then I´d feel bad." They all laughed a bit nervously as the orchestra decided it was going to start playing music again.

~*~

The ball continued late into the evening, without a single sign from Dauphine, not that many of the guests minded all that much. Harry had even danced with Susan. "I can understand why you hate dancing so much," Susan had said, "You´re too nervous. Just relax. If you worry so much about stepping on my feet you will step on them."

Fleur and Percy had understandably been the real talk of the ball. Most of the guests knew Fleur and wondered amongst themselves who that attractive red-haired boy could possibly be. Gabrielle had been exceptionally happy for them. "They do look cute together don´t they?" She asked Ron as they watched their siblings dance and hold each other tightly.

"Yeah, sure they do," Ron said absentmindedly.

"You know when I first knew they were perfect for each other?" Gabrielle asked again, a happy smile on her face. When Ron didn´t answer her, she decided to continue anyway. "I realized it at the second task. When he came running after you, like you were the only thing that mattered on earth, and she felt the same about me. That´s kind of how I feel now...about you."

"Je conviens, Gabrielle. Je t'aime avec toute mon âme," Ron said lightly as he stared out one of the huge windows in the hall at the stars.

"With all your soul?" Gabrielle asked shocked, "You love me with all your soul? How can you know that?"

"Because Gabrielle, you sat with me when I was at my worst. And..." He stopped himself from continuing because he was afraid of saying anymore.

"And?"

"You have the most perfect blue eyes I´ve ever seen. And I don´t mean just pretty, I mean deep and wonderful." The smiled at each other and went out to dance again, this time sure of what they were feeling in their deepest hearts.

Just as the orchestra began to play its last song for the evening something happened that not a single soul in the hall expected. From the kitchens came the screams of several maids and the lights went out. Percy held onto Fleur as though nothing else mattered as everyone looked for the source of the disruption. A messenger came running in quickly, straight to Mr. and Mrs. Bones. After a few quick mutterings, the Bones turned to their daughter. "So much for a quiet holiday," Mr. Bones said.

"Susan, darling, I want you to stay with Mme. Delacour until we return," Mrs. Bones said , tears forming in her eyes. She hugged her daughter and hurried out after her husband.