"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."
Francis of Assisi
Lucian looked over again to the section of the stands where most of the students dressed in green and silver ('Slytherins,' he reminded himself).
/What are you looking at?/ Isabelle asked her best friend's little brother.
/Him./ Lucian gestured with great subtlety towards the Slytherin section. /The one with platinum hair. He looks familiar to me. It is almost as if I should know who he is./ He shook his head, mussing is fine black hair. /But I can't seem to recall why./
/You should know who he is./ Isabelle stated quietly. She looked around to make sure that known of their school mates were listening. /Fleur told me earlier that he is being considered as a potential partner for you./
/But I'm only fourteen! I don't come into majority for another two years!/ Lucian was shocked completely. /How do you know about—Wait! Why was Fleur told about this search of potential partners but not me? I'm the one who has to live with my future mate./
/Your parents are just checking out their options for you and they asked for Fleur's opinion./
/Well, that's just brilliant! Fleur still hasn't been able to find even one possible potential mate of the ones that mum and dad have picked for her. How the hell is she supposed to help find mine?/ Lucian pouted, not noticing that the platinum blond was watching him again and thought that he looked adorable pouting.
/She does seem to like this Cedric Diggory fellow from Hogwarts. Do you think that your parents will like him?/
/How am I to know? I haven't even met the man! However, with the way that Fleur has been babbling constantly I would hope that he is acceptable./ Lucian turned again to look towards the Slytherin section. /I wonder who he is./
Isabelle smirked. /That is Draco Malfoy./
/The Draco Malfoy?/ Lucian looked at the blond yet again. /He is as handsome as all the veelas say…/ Lucian smirked at Isabelle. /for a puny fourteen year old./
/This coming from you!/ Isabelle punched Lucian slightly, laughing. /From what Fleur tells me, Draco Malfoy is prominent on the list of many families looking for a partner for their children./
/Yes, he is. I still don't understand why they are looking towards him though. He's only fourteen!/
/Of course, there is the fact that he is the heir to possibly the richest family in England. It is rumored that his family has connections with the ever elusive elves. And he will grow to be quite dashingly handsome if his family genes are anything to go by. That and most families start looking for potential partners for their children between the ages of sixteen to twenty-one. However, with everyone wanting a marriage with the Malfoys, people are looking into an alliance early./
/What other families are prominent in England?/ Lucian asked, curiosity striking him yet again.
Isabelle paused to think for a moment. /There are quite a few of them. The Black family has many properties and holdings however they have not been among the most fortunate with their members. The main family is all but dead except for Sirius Black. And he's much too old for you./
Lucian nodded. /I've heard of him before I think. A couple of the students were talking about how he was to visit again soon./ He gestured for Isabelle to go on.
/Then there's the Potter family. From what I've been able to gather from the people I've talked to here, they had a son around your age. I can't remember his name, but apparently the Dark Lord attacked them and took was destroyed by the boy. However, he was taken by the dark followers and many presume him dead although the search for him still goes on. He's been declared to be the downfall of the one people here call You-Know-Who./
/I wonder how Fleur is doing down there./ Lucian said smirking, effectively changing the subject. For some reason he didn't feel comfortable talking about the Potters. He'd already heard several of the Hogwarts students commenting on how he looked like the elder Potter who apparently was a teacher at the school. /You do know how Fleur despises murky water filled with dirty things./
Isabelle laughed at the reminder of a memory of when Lucian had pranked Fleur by somehow making her land on the bottom of the pond at their estate with a bubblehead charm. She'd had to fight her way back to the surface and when she'd gotten through with the punishment of Lucian he'd been purple with puke green spots.
Fleur was not happy. Not only had she been attacked by grindylows but she just saw Viktor Krum pass her by and she knew that Cedric just had to have already reached the top with that friend of his. 'What is the point of this?' she asked herself. 'I could be dry on the surface.'
But then she thought of Gabrielle stuck somewhere down on the bottom of 'the 'orrid lake'. And then she thought of her brother probably somewhere in the audience waiting with all her classmates who were cheering her on. She remembered when he had forced her into their giant pond at home. She used to be jealous of the adopted little brother who had so much magic but that changed over time. Especially now. She considered herself blessed to have a prankster little brother being that it was him that made her think of using the bubblehead charm. And she did have practice with swimming in dirty lakes. However, after she finally got out of the lake she was going to declare a war on all grindylows.
Fleur hurriedly started swimming faster. Perhaps if she really strained she could somehow manage to beat Krum to the surface.
"He's looking at Draco again!"
Pansy turned and slapped Blaise on the head. "Shut up or he'll hear you, and stop staring you idiot." That, however, didn't keep her from turning her turning to watch the 'gorgeous Beauxbatons boy' (as he'd been dubbed).
"So Draco," Blaise turned and looked at Draco with a grin on his face. "Are you going to be asking your father for more information about the Delacour family? Perhaps information to see about whether they are good enough to form a certain… alliance with, shall we say?"
Draco turned his head at that comment. "That's just stupid. I'm only fourteen. Father can't seriously be actually looking for a bride for me now. It's well known that Malfoys do not start the search until the age of sixteen."
"Officially." Pansy stated. "I overheard your mother talking to my mother over the summer about a potential alliance. But I don't think that it'll go through. At least, I'm hoping that it won't."
"And who's to say that it'll be a bride. It could be a groom." Blaise interjected.
"Have you gone daft?" Draco asked. "That could never happen. You know that it isn't that well accepted for any pureblood to marry one of the same gender. Only lower classes do that. And father would never see the Malfoy line called lower."
Millicent said, "You know, more and more purebloods are changing there ways now with that new potion that allows for a baby to be created between two men or women."(1)
"You could actually be a star example for the other purebloods. You must admit that it'll give you good press. Malfoy marries for true love found in the same gender; I can see the headlines on the Daily Prophet now."
Draco rolled his eyes. "You're all getting ahead of yourselves. First of all, I'm too young for marriage. Second, I don't even know the person you're all pairing me with. Third, my mother and father would never go for it anyways."
He didn't notice Blaise standing behind him gesturing and mouthing 'Yes, they would.' Instead, he turned to look once again at the 'gorgeous Beauxbatons boy'.
/What's taking her this long?/ Lucian asked worriedly as he stood up in the stands. /She shouldn't be taking so long with in the lake./ His worry was not eased when Cedric Diggory popped up a few minutes later with his hostage and still no Fleur in sight. /I'm going to go talk to him./
/Lucian wait!/ Isabelle called. /He doesn't even know who you are!/
Of course, he just ignored her and climbed down the stands to go to where Cedric Diggory was sitting down wrapped in a blanket by the shore of the lake. He walked up to him after much pushing and shoving. "'ello."
Cedric looked up and said, "Uh, hello."
"Did you 'appen to see Fleur?" Lucian asked quickly.
Cedric looked over to where Isabelle was before turning back to Lucian. "Are you her brother?"
"Oui. Did you see 'er?"
"No, I didn't. I must have passed her from the start. I didn't see her at all actually in the water." Cedric watched as Lucian started biting his lower lip in worry and started pacing around the water's edge.
Lucian turned to Isabelle. /It shouldn't be taking her so long to get out. I've dunked her into the pond at home so many times she should be used to it!/
/You are forgetting that she also has Gabby and this is a much bigger than your pond at home./ Isabelle said, patting Lucian on the shoulder. /Besides, the Durmstrang champion has yet to come out either./
Just then, ripples started on the surface of the lake, and Lucian watched as two blonde heads rose to the surface. /Fleur! Gabrielle!/
He ran into the water to help his sisters out.
/What took you so long? Do you know how worried I was?/ Lucian asked almost yelling it to his sister in relief. /I thought that you'd drowned!/
/Do be quiet./ Fleur said as she helped push Gabrielle towards the water's edge with Lucian supporting her. /I feel like a drowned rat. It's disgusting./
None of them noticed Lily Potter sitting in the stands. She watched as Lucian tossed his hat off to the shore of the lake and as he swam to help the two girls struggling out of the water. 'He looks a bit like James,' she thought and for a moment she had a flash of hope, thinking that just maybe this may be her baby boy. However, years of false hopes caused her to become pessimistic in her quick beliefs.
She turned to talk to Remus beside her. "Where again did you say that Sirius and James went?"
"Sirius thought that he had possibly found a lead on Pettigrew in somewhere in France so they went to go find more information. They wanted me to stay behind—"
"To keep me company?" Lily finished.
"Yes, that too." Remus said smiling. "They also seem to think that I need more than a week to recover from the full moon on the fifteenth. I don't really understand it. The Wolfsbane potion has been doing wonders for me."
"It's good to hear that. One day there is going to be a cure or at least a way to remain human during the time, you know." Lily said smiling. "James always said that when he was little, a seer told him that his firstborn who discover the cure." She frowned slightly at that. "Guess she wasn't a true seer then."
"You never know, Lily," Remus said softly. "It could still happen. Don't give up hope."
Lily nodded. "Tell me, Remus," she asked, "do all veela look as Fleur Delacour does?"
"Oh, no." Remus said. "She looks to be a Sidvyll veela. They are the most numerous. However, her little brother (2)there seems to be a Syndelle veela. They are not the most numerous—they are actually among the most rarely seen. I'm guessing that one of their parents is Sidvyllian and the other Syndellian."
'There goes all hopes of him being Harry.'
"However, it is a bit odd that there are three Delacour children being that it is almost impossible for Veelian women to conceive again after their second child. Perhaps, the human blood has allowed for a higher chance of a third birth. Precious little is known about Veelian life and society. They do not like to mix with greater human societies although they allow for individuals to enter theirs with the strictest honor code. They are much like the elves in that respect."
"The little f..ker got away again. But we know that he's definitely in France somewhere." James stated as he walked into his and Lily's suite at Hogwarts with Sirius following behind. "Who's winning in the Tournament?"
"Cedric Diggory is winning with 47 points. Fleur Delacour has 45 points. And Viktor Krum is pulling up third with 40 points." Remus answered from his spot on the couch next to Lily in the living room.
"Only a two point lead?" Sirius said. "Diggory's going to have to step it up."
"So what else is going on?" James asked, jumping onto and stretching on another of the leather sofas. Sirius just decided to sit backwards on one of the chairs from the dining table.
"Albus has decided to allow for the two other Delacour children to be allowed to stay and study at Hogwarts." Lily said. "Apparently, their parents thought it prudent for their younger children to get a varied education and a year spent studying at Hogwarts would be ideal."
"The year abroad will look good for any potential partners and the Delacours have money to spare when supporting their children." Remus continued. "The two, Lucian and Gabrielle, are to be sorted and placed within a house in the school. Fleur is to remain as a Beauxbatons student with her other seventh years. They take lessons in that large carriage of theirs."
James kissed Lily on the cheek as she moved to sit in front of him on the couch. "So have all the female students been mooning over the boy Delacour as they have been with the sister?"
"Yes, quite."
Sirius walked down the halls of Hogwarts towards the Great Hall for lunch the following day. As he walked he heard various people all talking and discussing the Delacours.
"Have you seen Lucian Delacour?"
"He's absolutely gorgeous!"
"I know! They're the most beautiful family ever! But Mark's now completely following around one of the Delacour sisters and ignoring Amy. Now she's all upset and ranting to me!"
"Oh, please, that's not as bad as …"
Sirius blocked out the rest of the conversation as he walked in through the Great Hall doors. As soon as he sat down at the staff table between Remus and James with Lily being on the other side of her husband, he saw the Weasley twins walk through the doors.
He gestured towards the twins and said, "I wonder what they're up to…"
The four of them watched as the twins quickly spelled something above the door and turned. When they saw the four at the staff table watching them, they just winked.
It was only just as the twins sat down that two people came walking through the doors.
"What the hell?" Draco yelled out as he found that he couldn't move into the Great Hall or back into the Entrance Hall behind. He also heard a melodious voice beside him angrily cursing in French. He turned to see Lucian Delacour stuck beside him.
Fred and George Weasley just stood up. Fred turned to the two boys and said with great flourish, "You have both been declared our newest guinea pigs. We know that this is a little late for Valentine's Day this year but we only just finished our new product."
George continued on, "This is… Kissletoe! Our version of mistletoe specially made for our favorite day in February and any other special occasion—"
"Birthdays, sleepovers, weddings!"
"The only way to get out would be to… KISS!"
"Hence the name. And before you try to spell it away, our most beloved teachers, I'm afraid that it won't be working."
"So, Malfoy and Delacour…pucker up!"
Lucian started yelling in French towards the twins once he heard they're plan. Of course, he didn't understand half of what was said so quickly but he did get the words 'mistletoe', 'kissletoe', and 'kiss'.
/I can't believe this!/ Lucian said. While he did love attention sometimes and in moderation, he didn't like all the staring going on towards him.
/The Weasel twins take time getting used to./ came a soft voice next to him.
/You speak French?/ Lucian asked in shock. But then he realized who he was talking to. Of course, the Malfoys would know French being that they were practically nobility and had summer homes in France.
Draco nodded. /We're going to just have to kiss. There's no way out of one of their tricks./
"Embrasse moi?"
Draco smiled and leaned in. He placed a quick and gentle kiss upon Lucian's lips before pulling away and looking into his eyes. Then they both just smiled a little to each other silently before walking away to their respective groups.
Both were touching their mouths having each felt a little jolt at the touch of the lips.
There's some interaction! Alright, they didn't really talk to each other much, but they're now both in there. It is time for more interaction and a relationship to actually form from more than just kissletoe.
(1)That can be interpreted as mpreg or not. I'm not planning on going to great detail with it.
(2)Lucian doesn't look like the canon Harry Potter. He's grown up in a different environment so he's not so scrawny as James was. Also, living as a veela, tends to slightly alter appearances.
Remus doesn't think of Lucian being Harry because he looks to be a Syndelle veela.
Just about Lucian's birthdays.
July 31, 1980 born
October 31, 1980 celebrated birthday
October 17, 1981 Gabrielle's birthday (different than the book I know)
October 31, 1981 date of adoption
Fleur 17
Lucian 14
Gabrielle 13
I really don't like uploading my fics now. All of the markers I want to use aren't allowed and it freaking sucks!!! I protest! I bite my thumb at thee! (Romeo and Juliet--for people who think I'm going crazy)
Well, Happy Chriswanikah to all of y'all!