Charms and Curses

And here is Chapter Next of Charms and Curses! And yes, the fluff will return in time... VERY SOON... just keep reading and reviewing ~_^

A deluxe mail-order "Hogwarts Hotties in Loincloths" gift set to my lovely beta-editor Dove, who is now collaborating with me on new fics! w00t!

As always, disclaimers apply. I don't own any of the cool main characters, only a few of the minor annoying ones. Since you don't WANT the minor annoying ones anyway, don't sue!

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Veela had some empathic, emotion-sensing abilities, and Fleur was no exception. And right now, as she followed Bill out, with a look of pain on her face, she almost cringed from the jealous rage and hurt that she sensed, rolling off of him in waves. Cautiously, she addressed him.

"Bill?"

"What do you want now? Am I another conquest, to ensnare and then to hurt?" He snapped at her, dark eyes bitter, "If that's what you're doing, forget it! Let me tell you something then, you're nothing to me... NOTHING! Just a frigid, fickle little wench, with the face of an angel and a heart of ice!"

Fleur staggered, as if the words were a physical blow, and felt tears sting in her eyes. However, her sadness was quickly replaced by anger to match his own, as she thought of what measures she'd had to take to ensure that she got all the information necessary for the mission. Savagely, she shoved the parchment full of notes in his face, face white with fury.

"ZERE! Ze part of town where ze Mausoleum stands is guarded by a sphinx, 'oo will give four riddles! Ze Mausoleum itself can only be entered between dawn and dusk! After ze sunset, ze rooms shall fill wis sand and bury 'ooever is stuck inside alive! Zere are two corridors wisin ze Mausoleum itself, one which leads to a dead end, one which leads to mortal danger and ze treazure as well. Zey say zat ze spirit of ze dead queen still remains in ze place, and she is a vairy powerful spirit, controlling fantastic beasts and still able to perform ancient spells. One of ze sings you will 'ave to pass before being able to get to ze treasure is an obstacle course of blades enchanted to move! Merde, do you sink zat I ENJOY 'aving to get information in zis manner?! Do you sink zat I am some type of 'ORE?! Fine! Eef zat is 'ow you sink of me, 'ERE, take zis! I certainly 'ave no need for it since you obviously don't want anysing to do wis me!" Saying so, she left the slightly rumpled sheet of parchment in Bill's hands, and stormed off, bursting into angry tears as she Disapparated.

It took Bill perhaps a minute to realize what had just happened. Then, a string of profanities later, he put the parchment that she had handed him into a pocket, and extracted his wand. Concentrating, he performed a locating spell. Three minutes later, another small pop was heard as he, too, Disapparated.

~ ~ ~

Fleur had Apparated to a sleazy little wizarding town about two kilometers to the east of Alexandria. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she had run toward a deserted alley, and leaned against the wall, head bowed, a funny pain in her chest as she let the tears fall.

A handkerchief was pressed into her hands, and she hastily wiped her face with it, looking up and preparing to thank whichever kind person offered it to her, but before she could speak, the person addressed her.

"You're a lovely little thing now, aren't you? What are you doing here, all by yourself?" Not liking the tone of his voice, Fleur swore to herself. Two in one day! This was NOT going well! Quickly, she drew her wand.

"Expelliarmus!" Her wand flew out of her hands, and Fleur gasped. The man was beefy, and towered over her by about a head. He had a camera hanging from his neck. Forcing righteous indignation and strength into her voice, despite the fact that he now held her wand in his hand, Fleur shouted at him.

"What ze devil do you sink you are doing, monsieur?!"

He leered at her, and chuckled maliciously, "Call me Chris. I like the way you look, but I'll bet you would look even better without the jeans and shirt on. Let's find out, shall we?" He shot out a hand towards her collar, intent on ripping downward. She dodged, feeling once again the rush of heat to her eyes.

"I'm an... artist... you might say. And you, luscious as you are, would make a lovely picture." The man dove for her again, this time managing to grab her wrist, as he indicated the camera on his neck.

And then, at the same moment that her veela powers caused his hair to burst into flames, a blessedly familiar voice shouted "STUPEFY!" and her assailant tumbled nervelessly to the ground, wands falling out of his grasp, the stench of burning hair filling the air.

~ ~ ~

Bill had disapparated after her as soon as he located her. She was in a rather run-down wizarding town, a couple of kilometers east of Alexandria. Gazing around, he did not see any sign of her, and he started to worry. Then, all of the sudden, he heard an indignant, accented voice screaming, "What ze devil do you sink you are doing, monsieur?!"

Surprised at the rage that shot through his body, he started running towards the sound of her voice. When he found her a minute later, his rage increased ten-fold. Some BASTARD was pinioning her to the wall, saying lewd things, and without a second thought, his wand was drawn and he shouted "STUPEFY!"

The cad dropped to the ground, and it was then that Bill noticed something quite amazing. Fleur, despite the fact that she did not have her wand, had somehow managed to set the man's hair on fire. Bill smiled sharply. Well, he would make the arse pay dearly. "Ennervate!"

Fleur's assailant sat up, realized that his hair was on fire and that another wizard, wand drawn, standing protectively in front of the blonde girl he'd accosted, a look of absolute, murderous fury on his face, was facing him, and screamed. Throwing off his robe to smother the flames in his hair, he dislodged his camera and it fell to the ground, but before he could pick it up, Bill pointed his wand at it and it exploded with a bang. Standing somewhat away, Fleur suddenly looked thoughtful. But not a word was said at the moment, for she watched in wide-eyed astonishment as her assailant received two black eyes, a broken nose and several punches to the stomach, compliments of her enraged partner.

Finally, her assailant, blood dripping profusely from his nostrils, passed out cold on the ground. Bill walked over to where his fallen wand lay, and set fire to it. He picked up HER wand and strode over towards her. Before she could say a word, he had grabbed her hand and disapparated them both back to where they were before.

~ ~ ~

They stood there, regarding each other cautiously, with identical looks of discomfort upon their faces. Fleur spoke, her voice rather jerky and awkward.

"I--I just sought of somesing. You know zose shifting 'ieroglyphics zat are nearly impossible to read when you step up to ze mausoleum? I 'ave figured out a way to read zem. Since we cannot get wisin distance to ze entrance to read zem on our own, we can use a Muggle camera... take pictures of it, and ze pictures won't move. Zen we can decipher ze 'ieroglyphics from ze picture... I--got ze idea from zat... zat man... 'Ope zat will 'elp you..." Finished saying what she had to say, she turned to go, her head bowed. Bill hated her. He only came to save her because he was a gentleman. Well, she would rather... go... and... heal, instead of having to look at him scowling at her with an expression of disgust on his face every day.

"Wait!"

"What?" Fleur asked softly, turning around. He walked up to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. She saw what he was thinking in his eyes a moment before he spoke the words.

"I'm sorry. I've been an utter prat. You---you're really something else. I'm not usually such an obnoxious git, but... well..." He blushed slightly, not quite sure if he should tell her that he was jealous and infuriated whenever he saw her flirting with someone else. But she cut his words off.

"I'm a part-veela. I know what 'appens when I flirt wis someone in particular. Ozer males in ze area get jealous. Everyone wants to own me and own my beauty, no more, no less." She said tonelessly. "Oh, and sank you for saving me."

"You're welcome. And I'm sorry for yelling at you. I didn't mean any of it. You---you must know that I lo--- that I care for you very much." He blushed at what he had nearly said. Fleur smiled sadly. Yes, and so it began. He fancied himself in love with her. Well, she would help him complete his mission. Make sure that he came out alive and unharmed, because... the idea of him being killed in this mission was... very unpleasant. And then, she would go back to France, and never see him again, so that she didn't ruin both their lives.

"I forgive you. Now, let's go. If we 'urry, we can reach Alexandria in two hours, and 'opefully tomorrow we can really start ze mission."