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Her sister's carefree laughter pulls her out of her reverie, temporarily chases away those glum thoughts of loneliness and softens the bitter aftertaste of having been so utterly wrong about someone. And as an added bonus, it also distracts her from the dread of the impending third Task; at least for a little while.
Thus far, Fleur hasn't a clue what that Task will entail, but it's bound to be even more dangerous and difficult than the previous ones were.
As she considers that, she almost wishes she could forfeit, but that's hardly an option. The school and Madame Maxine would be ever so disappointed in her, and besides, Maman never raised her to be a quitter.
At least Fleur is very relieved to see that Gabrielle seems to be her happy self once again, the ordeal in the lake not having lumbered her with any lasting trauma. The girl has even made a few friends amongst the Hogwarts students; an unexpected development, but definitely not an unwelcome one.
Funny, Fleur thinks, how a language barrier is clearly so much less of an obstacle when you're mostly a child.
"Excusez-moi," a voice says behind her.
Fleur fights the urge to roll her eyes in irritation.
Him again. Well, of course. That would stand to reason.
She knows she should finally tell him to go away and to leave her alone once and for all, and she's also dead set on telling him exactly what she thinks of him, in no uncertain terms and even in English if need be, but as she turns around to face him, her fingers clenching at her robe pockets as though they are the last remaining shreds of her patience, his shy, disarming smile immediately stops her in her tracks.
In an instant, her anger vanishes into thin air and she's left speechless. At least for a full seventy seconds or so.
“Er— Fleur, je crois—" Cedric takes a deep, bracing breath.
"Vat do you vant now?" she asks, but the words don't come out as snippy as she intended. In fact, they sound as worn and resigned as she, herself, feels.
Why did she have to go and develop an interest in this... selfish boy, she wonders? How on earth could both her female intuition and her Veela senses have betrayed her this wretchedly?
"There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up," he says, hesitantly. The anger in her eyes is all too apparent and makes him feel small and nowhere near as brave as a Triwizard champion should. "And er—"
"Qu'est-ce que c'est... 'ogsmeade?" she asks, sounding rather suspicious with a hint of having been offended, as if he’s just made her some kind of indecent proposal.
He blushes when something along those lines occurs to him too, and replies, "Er— a village near here. People go there to shop and have ice cream."
"Ze people ‘ere are not yet cold enough? Zey need ice?" she asks, crossing her arms.
He smiles. "There's warm apple pie too, with fresh cream. Or buttered scones or—“
She raises a skeptical eyebrow.
"—and there’s a clothes shop with beautiful dresses. You might like their stuff; it’s pretty popular with some of the girls here."
Fleur's eyes widen. This isn't France of course, but who knows? Some of the female Hogwarts students looked rather nice at the Ball, even that Hermione Granger person. Perhaps it's worth considering...
But still, that continues to leave one question unanswered. One she knows she must ask. She will not play any part whatsoever in anyone's deception or heartbreak.
"But vat about... Cho Chang?"
Cedric smiles. "She's just a good friend."
Fleur narrows her eyes. She still doesn't believe him. He pulled Cho Chang from the lake, therefore the girl has to be important to him.
"She vas ze one you 'ad to rescue," Fleur points out reasonably.
He shrugs. "I didn't decide those specifics, and besides, I could hardly rescue you, could I? You were also competing, and—" The words are out of his mouth before he realises it and he feels like kicking himself because this is exactly the kind of social blunder Hufflepuffs – and to a lesser extent, Gryffindors – are known to make and are often mocked for, but then he notices her smile. It’s relieved, friendly and altogether too dazzling for such a dreary, drizzly Wednesday afternoon.
"You voud 'ave preferred to rescue me?" she says.
He just nods.
She looks at him then and wonders: Could she have been this wrong? Misjudged him so?
Perhaps her mother's cynicism about men has tainted her judgment. Cedric appears to be a nice boy who studies hard and seems well-liked by his peers.
"Zere is one more problem," she finally says when she’s had some time to contemplate the matter.
"Your headmistress won't allow you to leave the grounds," he guesses, because such a rule would make a lot of sense, especially for someone like Fleur.
"Non. Not zat. It's Gabrielle. I promised Maman I'd always look after her, so I cannot leave 'er 'ere on her own. She 'as made friends, but—"
Cedric shrugs. "She's more than welcome to tag along,” he says simply and then adds with a grin, “Maybe she would like some ice cream.”
"Per'aps."
"That's settled then,” Cedric says. Entirely on impulse, he leans closer and kisses Fleur on the cheek.
An odd tingle runs through both of them. It's unexpected and it makes Cedric blush.
To his horror, he realises he's been blushing a lot today. Thankfully none of his friends are around to see. This sort of thing wouldn’t go down well with his Quidditch chums.
Fleur nods. She hears Cedric mumble something about Herbology. As she watches him leave, her cheek is still tingling. She feels warm and she wonders….
Perhaps she should have put more faith in her powers from the start.