wl_mods (wl_mods) wrote in wizard_love, @ 2011-03-08 01:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | *fic, 2011, bill, fleur |
Special delivery for karasu_hime
Title: A Bit of Adventure
Author/Artist:
Recipient's LJ name: karasu_hime
Pairing: Bill/Fleur
Rating: NC17
Summary Bill isn't impressed by a Veela, or by Veela charm, but Fleur… that's another magical creature. She adds interest to the life a bored curse-breaker leads in a dull bank while waiting for a war to get under way.
Warnings/Content: Apart from the rating? Vanilla, baby.
Word Count: 6067
Disclaimer: Characters and settings belong to JKR and various assignees; plot belongs to me.
Author's notes:karasu_hime asked "How exactly did Fleur land Bill?" The poor mod was very long-suffering, and my obliging beta-reader/cheerleader almost as much so.
Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour... I expect that's why he's gone for [Fleur]. Ginny in HBP chapter 5
Bill told her about it much later, when they knew each other. At the time, her new supervisor just said Gringotts London would provide her a wizard guide, to help her get settled. Before long this cheerful, friendly, quite good-looking English wizard had appeared and invited her out to have ice cream, so that he could start introducing her to whatever she didn't already know of wizarding Britain. She thought ice cream more suited to her little sister than to herself, but having confirmed that this was the anticipated guide, Fleur went with him willingly enough. It was a pleasant day for late winter, mild and sunny; and a little attention was always acceptable. This Bill Weasley neither leered nor panted nor salivated, so he was not simply adult, but also courteous and self-controlled.
The ice cream proved to be remarkable, so Fleur enjoyed it, and admitted that what she had mostly seen of wizarding Britain was Hogwarts.
She didn't say that she distrusted its headmaster (who had put Gabrielle in serious danger without a word to her parents or even her older sister less than a year ago), and despised the school's ability to protect any of its students (given what had happened to Harry, and worse to Cedric, and even to someone who was supposed to be an old friend of Dumbledore's, but whose impersonator had contrived to teach for most of a school year before he was discovered).
She had learned from her supervisor in Paris the uses of observing strangers before she confided anything to them. He had pointed out that he was sending her to London to improve her English and to learn more of the Gringotts organisation, not to embarrass herself or the Paris branch. Also, though she was certainly free to charm anyone willing to be charmed by Veela allure, she was not to tempt anyone who might be made uneasy or resentful. Her grandmother and aunts had drilled that into her years ago, adding (as her supervisor didn't), "Unless one wishes to irritate or to distract, naturally."
Fleur listened, and asked questions, and answered his (which were interested rather than intrusive). He told her a few stories about curse-breaking in Egypt, which sounded more exciting than catching French wizards trying to cheat the bank. However, she made the most of her couple of stories of misplaced ingenuity, and Bill seemed to find them amusing, so she was moderately pleased with both of them.
Before they returned to the bank Bill had asked her out to dinner on Friday night. She knew hardly anyone in London, so had more than one reason to accept with pleasure.
She learned later that their first meeting had seemed quite different, to Bill.
His supervisor had hopped up onto the desk where he was comparing two small Egyptian figurines, giving, as he so often did, that unsettling impression of a spider Apparating to its prey, and said abruptly, "Leave that."
Since Telanik was crouched before him and staring into his face from a few inches' distance, Bill set both figurines down carefully, then sat back in his chair to give himself space. Telanik didn't follow him, so Bill knew he himself was not considered at fault.
Telanik, satisfied he had Bill's attention, went on, "We brought you to London to give you wider experience in management beyond an excavation site and its opportunities for analysis and efficiency. Now we have a trainee for you." Telanik's grimace was horrible, but Bill knew it was congratulatory rather than vindictive.
"French, female, very young (just out of Beauxbatons, of course), in the finance wing with six months in the Paris office, here to improve her English and her negotiation skills. Part-time. Start by making her comfortable here. Then get rid of that silly accent of hers. She is intelligent, and like most witches and wizards has a good ear; she does not need to sound like an idiot. She has learned Gobbledygook with no problems, and already has a pure accent; make her work on her English."
Telanik cocked his head. He added, "She is also part Veela, and of course very beautiful as wizards rate beauty. She may talk like that to reduce envy, or to distract attention from her sharp wits. Who knows. Train her out of it, at least when she speaks in the bank. If she wishes to be disregarded in the street, that is her affair, I suppose. But she is (or will be) a finance officer, not a spy, and our clients should respect both her and her skills."
"What else do you want me to concentrate on?"
Telanik grinned even more horribly. "I will leave that to you to decide."
So this was a test, as well as a learning opportunity. Surprise, surprise.
Bill had heard about Fleur Delacour from three of his younger brothers (though Ron had been fairly incoherent), so he went to find her (first speaking to her supervisor Nimchuk) with interest and considerable caution.
She was, indeed, a beauty. Bill found her stunning, but had no intention of letting her see that. She accepted his invitation politely, and shed some of her reserve on discovering that Fortescue's ice cream could please the tastes of an adult quite as well as a school child. She also sounded witless, but what she said was not just acceptable, but intelligent and witty. Nor was she vain, though she was pleased by his appreciative glances, carefully directed at her face rather than her form.
It was no hardship to invite her out to dinner. He wasn't surprised she accepted; he thought she was just beginning to feel lonely, isolated even from the small group of witches and wizards she would have had for company in the Paris office, and not yet having made friends in the comparable London group, most of whom would still be wary of her.
He could do with interesting company too. Though perhaps he had needed a rest, after curse-breaking in the shadow-shrouded tombs of Egypt, the bank was dull, and waiting for either Dumbledore or Voldemort to act made him want to curse both of them roundly.