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"Woah there," Harry said, steadying Ron for the umpteenth time as they walked, watching closely to ensure that his friend didn't accidentally wander into the street. The cool night air was refreshing, far better than where he'd finally dragged the redhead from, many drinks after they'd arrived. Harry stopped counting after receiving a text from Fleur and getting lost in a debate regarding the Galactic Empire's military hierarchy.
"Mm fine," Ron slurred, pushing Harry's hand away as they continued to walk towards Ron's dorm.
The entire sportsball team had been looking forward to tonight for weeks, preparing hard to face the top team in the country. It was their chance to prove what they were made of, to show everyone that their little upstart team, with its middling record the previous year, was ready for the spotlight. They had the top recruit in Ron Weasley, so they were ready.
Despite a valiant effort, and last minute heroics by Ron, they came up short.
Ron had taken the opportunity to get absolutely pissed.
He stumbled again, nearly falling over, and Harry sighed. He grabbed Ron's arm, intent on leading his friend the rest of the way back. Ron would never say it out loud, but Harry knew he thought it was his fault they lost. That it was, somehow, all on his shoulders to make sure the team succeeded. He wouldn't admonish the redhead for getting drunk tonight; he had done all he could to win. The least Harry could do was get him home safe.
"Need some help?"
He turned his head, attempting to keep Ron upright, which was now proving to be a challenge, and saw a tall, black haired woman approaching him. Dressed in school colors, he figured she must be another student on the way back from commiserating their loss.
"Looks like you're struggling there with…everything," she said, casually gesturing over Ron, who, Harry noticed, was starting to fall asleep.
"Yeah, he's-"
"Massive?" she suggested. Harry nodded.
"I was going to say "a handful" but I guess massive works too," he replied, a small smile on his face. "Did you go to the game?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, such a shame. Your buddy there got us close," she said, looking at Ron. "He gonna be alright?"
Harry nodded.
"Yeah, Ron's just, um, well, he feels like it's his fault they lost."
She gave a small laugh. "And the more direct answer is…?"
Harry sighed, too tired to care that he had no idea who this person was.
"He stupidly thinks that everything is on his shoulders instead of the entire team. He took the loss hard." Harry shifted Ron's weight before looking back at her. "I actually could use some help, if you wouldn't mind."
She closed the distance, gripping Ron's other arm and assisting him in remaining upright. The redhead, for his part, seemed thoroughly unconcerned with being led, his eyes drooping as he allowed them to steer him towards the athletes dorms.
"Not at all, Harry."
His eyes opened wide and she laughed as they continued forward. He tried to think of everyone he'd met since the start of the semester, on campus and at work, wondering if they'd met and he'd forgotten who she was.
"Sorry, couldn't resist, and the look on your face was worth it," she said with a grin.
"Have we met before?"
"Nope, but I've heard about you, Green Eyes," she said, "Angelina Johnson, at your service."
"Ah," recognition passed over Harry's features, "You're Fleur's roommate."
Angelina winked.
"The one and only!" Her eyes darkened a bit and Harry saw a brief flash of anger in her face. "Though I'm cross with her at the moment."
Harry chewed his lip as he readjusted his grip on Ron's arm. Fleur had told him about Angelina, her wild roommate who loved to party, but he was unsure if it was his place to pry into their relationship or not.
"She stood me up for a party we were supposed to go to last week," she continued, either choosing to ignore Harry's silence or not noticing it, "so I'm not happy with her."
"Er, sorry to hear that," he said as they made it to the athletes dorms, or as it was unofficially called, sportsball city.
Harry directed them towards the third building where Ron stayed. Lucky for them, he was on the first floor. The elevator in this building was broken nearly around the clock and attempting to get him up the stairs would be difficult, at best.
"Eh, Fleur's been like this for a while now," Angelina said as they made it to Ron's door, either not truly upset with her friend or having long since accepted that aspect of who Fleur was. Harry leaned his friend against the door and began fishing around in his pocket for the key. "Though she seems to have taken a shine to you, Green Eyes."
Harry blushed.
"We hang out, but we've both been pretty busy with classes, so we mostly end up doing our assignments. Though we've swapped some comics," he said as he got the door unlocked and opened.
"Uh huh," Angelina mumbled. "Where are we putting him?"
"Couch," replied Harry, directing them to the couch and dropping his friend unceremoniously onto it with a thump. Angelina raised an eyebrow but Harry shrugged and led them back outside, locking the door behind him.
"Ron's a heavy sleeper when he's sober. When he's drunk? Basically nothing will wake him up." He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, letting out a low groan at the time displayed. Living off campus meant he'd now be getting back to his place late.
"Ah crap," he said, sliding the phone back into his pocket. "I've got an early shift tomorrow and it took me longer to get him back here than I'd hoped. Going to be dead on my feet." He pointed past Angelina. "I'm that way."
"And I'm that way," Angelina said, pointing in the opposite direction before she started walking.
"Thanks for the help," he said, giving her a wave, "and nice to finally meet you!"
She looked back at him and Harry saw something cross her face, too quick for him to catch. "Don't mention it. Quick question, did you and Fleur hang out last Wednesday?"
Harry nodded, though he furrowed his brow in confusion. "Yeah, in the library. Why?"
Angelina shook her head and turned back around to continue walking away, sending a wave back.
"No reason. See ya around, Green Eyes."
Harry began his walk towards the bus stop, the trains having stopped by now, not hearing the mirth in her voice, or seeing the smirk on her face.
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Fleur slipped her laptop into her bag, double checking that she had her reference book, just in case he was busy and they had to do some work. She was meeting up with Harry in the library again, a regular occurrence at this point, though no less fun than that night the Batgirl comic had fallen out of her bag. By the end of that night, their long discussion about the various members of the bat family finally exhausted, she had once again apologized to him for her behavior.
Harry was nice enough to say it was "water under the bridge" though Fleur suspected he was just being nice.
In the time they'd spent together since she had noticed he was like that: kind, if a little awkward. It was endearing, in a way, to have someone be kind to her simply because that's who they were. It was refreshing, a nice change of pace from the life she had grown up in, where everyone was working an angle or expected something in return. Harry, she felt, was genuine.
Perhaps that's why she had started to look forward to their meetings in the library, because they allowed her to be herself around another person in a way she couldn't with anyone else. Even Angelina, for all Fleur loved the other woman to death, made her feel self-conscious about her hobbies. Her best friend had been there to get her through some of her worst family feuds and miserable college experiences, and yet, she felt that it was nice to have someone else to share that other side of herself with.
So what if Fleur Delacour was a nerd who enjoyed comics, games, TV, and movies? So what if she didn't want to fit the mold everyone had decided she should fill?
Harry didn't care, or was completely oblivious, to what the expectations of her were. To what her family expected of her. He just enjoyed watching movies on her laptop or swapping fan theories about his favorite shows.
That they met alone in the library did not, however, make them dates. She'd told Angelina that, firmly, multiple times.
Fleur checked her hair in the mirror, her blonde locks falling below her shoulders, styled just right, when her phone trilled from her bed. Walking over, she picked it up, seeing it was a message from Harry.
Sorry Fleur, I know it's last minute but I picked up another shift at work that I didn't think I'd get and had to run. Won't be able to make it. Sorry!
She growled, irritated at his text, tossing the phone back onto her bed. They were going to watch more episodes of The Marauders and she had been looking forward to it all week. She'd been stood up! A small part of her, the part that she wasn't listening to right now, reminded her that they weren't dating, so why did she feel so disappointed?
She sighed, going over to her desk and pulling out her laptop. She might as well get some work done.
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A couple hours later Fleur heard the door to her apartment opening and keys being dropped on the counter, a telltale sign that Angelina had made it home. Fleur bit her lip, a habit she was trying to break, before sighing and quickly closing her computer. They had fought last week, Fleur had stood Angelina up to go hang out with Harry, angering the other woman. Fleur rubbed her forehead, fully recognizing the irony in standing up her best friend only to be ditched at the last minute by a new friend.
Coming out of her room, she saw Angelina making a salad in the small kitchen, chopping a cucumber and adding it to the bowl, a small bottle of caesar dressing sitting next to it. She looked up, scowled, and went back to her bowl as she began mixing the contents.
"I'm sorry," said Fleur.
Angelina paused and looked up, a smirk forming on her lips.
Fleur scowled.
"You bet on if I'd apologize, didn't you?" Fleur hissed as Angelina dropped her fork, doubling over in laughter. Fleur folded her arms across her chest. "Well I hope you at least got something good."
"Oh I did, Blondie." Angelina said, still smiling as her laughter died. "I bet Katie four rounds at the place of my choosing that you'd apologize before Halloween."
Fleur narrowed her eyes.
"And what made you so sure I'd do so?"
Angelina winked and Fleur's scowl deepened. That damn wink always pissed her off. It meant her friend knew something she didn't, or at least thought she knew something.
"Let's call it a woman's intuition," she said, stabbing the lettuce and taking a bite. She chewed a moment before she looked back at Fleur.
"Ah ah," the blonde said, "chew."
Angelina swallowed the bite then stuck her tongue out before drinking from her water bottle.
"I forgive you, I always do. We're best friends Delacour, we're not gonna fight forever. Besiiiiiides…"
Fleur raised an eyebrow. "Besides what?"
"You. Now. Owe. Me."
Fleur uncrossed her arms and went over to the kitchen, grabbing a fork from the drawer and stabbing at the salad, taking a bite. It was quite good. It seems her own tastes had started to rub off on Angelina.
"Ugh, fine, what do you want?" Fleur asked.
"Come to the Halloween party with me at Raven House tomorrow night?"
Fleur opened her mouth to protest but immediately closed it as she received the most withering glare. She did owe her friend, Fleur knew that, and she really didn't like letting her down. One thing she prided herself on was her follow through and holding her word. She'd broken her word, so maybe she could suffer for a few hours to make up for it.
Besides, Angelina would probably find someone to pair off with and Fleur would be free to retreat back to her room.
"Fine," she said and stumbled back as Angelina launched herself at her, enveloping her in a massive hug.
"We're gonna have a great time, I promise," she told Fleur, eyes shining with humor. "Maybe we'll even find you a man?"
"Bleh, stop it," she replied, stealing another bite of salad before heading back towards her room.
"I need to finish some work, but we can go shopping in the morning, if you want."
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Harry sighed again, sipping the beer in his hand as he leaned back in the chair, listening to Seamus regale them with tales of his latest conquest with all the boastful bravado of a man who had done none of the things he was saying. Harry was pretty sure he was lying, though he doubted the people around him cared. The sportsball team was enthralled, caught up in the story like children being told a fairytale. Seamus would probably make a good writer, Harry mused over the thump of the music.
He'd let Ron drag him to the Raven House Halloween party, still feeling bad about his friend's loss, and Ron had been over the moon. That was one thing Harry loved about his best friend, the youthful exuberance with which he experienced most of life. The simple act of Harry saying he would go had turned Ron's mood completely around, lifting his spirit high. Who was Harry to take that away?
He'd been regretting his decision for the last half hour.
It wasn't that Harry was opposed to parties, he really wasn't, it just wasn't his favorite thing to do. Especially these college parties and all they entailed. When the keg had arrived, that's when Harry had decided he'd had enough, but Ron kept dragging him back into the conversation, so excited to have his "little bro" here.
"Fancy seeing you here, Green Eyes."
He turned around to see Angelina, his eyes going wide as he spotted Fleur next to her. Standing up, he approached the two.
"Angelina, Fleur. It's good to see you," he said with a smile. "I didn't know you'd be here."
"Since when do you two know each other?" Fleur asked, an eyebrow raised. Angelina shrugged.
"I helped a kind soul ensure the safe return of his best friend to the confines of his home after a long night of trials and tribulations," she said dramatically, placing a hand over her heart. Harry cocked an eyebrow at her before turning towards Fleur.
"Ron got drunk after the sportsball loss and I was trying to get him back to his room. I ran into Angelina and she helped me get him onto his couch," he explained, Fleur mouthing an "oh" in understanding.
"I heard my name," announced Ron, draping an arm over Harry's shoulder, a cocky grin on his face. "Fleur, it's good to see you again. Though your hand has no drink in it." Angelina laughed as Ron turned towards her.
"Ron Weasley," he said with a nod, "I don't believe we've had the pleasure, Miss…?"
"Angelina Johnson," she said with a smile as Fleur excuses herself to find a drink, "We've met before." Ron's face dropped and confusion replaced his easy smile.
"We…have?"
"You were quite shit faced would probably be the best way to put it," she said with a smile. Ron blushed, looking down slightly.
"Ah, that was, yeah."
"It's fine, Red," Angelina said, "I'd have gotten hammered too if I had played that game. I was just telling-"
"I said no Cedric!"
The three of them looked towards the source of the commotion, seeing Fleur standing in front of Cedric Diggory, her eyes alright with fire and her shoulders tense. Briefly, Harry flashed back to their first meeting, her seemingly towering over him, intimidation in her eyes.
"Oh shit," muttered Angelina. Ron lifted his arm from around Harry and stood up, his demeanor shifting.
"That gonna be a problem?" He asked, though Angelina shook her head. Harry noticed the hesitation in her head shake and realized she wasn't quite sure.
"Fleur and Cedric dated a couple years ago, but they ended rather spectacularly. They're generally pretty okay around each other these days though," she said.
"I told you the last time I wasn't interested, what part of that wasn't clear?" Fleur snapped. They were drawing a crowd, Harry noticed, conversations and beer pong games having largely stopped to watch the fireworks.
"Come on Fleur, it's not that big of a deal," Cedric said smoothly, eyes glancing around as he drew the same conclusion as Harry had.
"To you, because you have no morals," Fleur said hotly, "But it does to me."
Cedric grabbed her arm. "Keep your voice down. Stop being hysterical."
She shoved him and he knocked over a small end table full of empty beers as he stumbled.
"Don't touch me," Fleur snapped before storming out, leaving everyone stunned. Nobody moved as Cedric rubbed his jaw with a smirk on his face. He laughed and looked around.
"Well, I guess I've got the next round, yeah?"
Cheers broke out at his words, the room once again resuming its normal energy, bolstered by the promise of more booze.
Angelina pressed two beers into Harry's chest, her eyes wide.
"Go after her, Green Eyes!" she said, head jerking towards the door.
"What? Why me?"
"Just go!" Angelina insisted, turning him around and pushing him towards the door, his legs carrying him away as he picked up speed to catch up.
She let her head drop briefly, a low sigh escaping, before she looked up and turned towards Ron. "Your boy as crazy about my girl as she is for him?"
Ron nodded.
"Probably, if not more so. Harry hasn't had the, well, easiest of times, but I don't think I've ever seen him as happy as he has been recently."
Angelina nodded before holding out her hand.
"Give me your phone," she demanded. Ron gave her an odd look, but complied nonetheless.
"What're you doing?"
"Memorizing your number and putting mine in your phone," she said as she typed her information into his contacts.
"What for?"
Angelina rolled her eyes as she handed him the phone back. "Because, Red, we might have to give these two a little push to get them where they should be."
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Harry was panting by the time he caught up with Fleur, cursing his lack of interest in physical activities for the first time in his life. Anger was, apparently, a massive boost to your stamina, as he could see that Fleur was still moving quickly.
"Fleur, wait up!" he called, attempting to close the distance between the two.
"Go away Harry," she said without turning around, continuing to march back towards what he could only assume was her dorm.
"Fleur, would you just slow down a moment?" Harry said, finally catching up and stepping in front of her. He huffed for a few moments to catch his breath before standing back up, looking at her with concern.
"Get out of my way, I want to be alone," she demanded, glaring at him.
"Fleur, I just want to make sure you're alright."
"I don't need your pity, Harry," she spat. Annoyance bubbled up in Harry's chest, the exhaustion of catching up with her and the unexpected hurt of the accusation boiling over.
"Dammit Fleur I'm not here to pity you, I'm trying to be your friend!"
Silence reigned between them, each looking away from the other, annoyance still simmering, though a bit of embarrassment began to creep into Harry's mind. He shouldn't have snapped at her, he knew that. She'd looked incredibly angry when she stormed out of the house, and he was sure the last thing she needed was another person yelling at her.
Eventually, they started walking again.
They wandered for a while, no particular destination in mind, allowing the gentle breeze to carry them anywhere that would put them further from the party. He vaguely recognized the engineering building, its modern architecture clashing with the old stone of the rest of the campus.
"I remember one time," he started as they continued walking, large oak trees lining the pathway they found themselves on, "It must have been right after Ron and I met. My cousin and his friends had roughed me up and Ron found me in the park. We fought, him saying I needed to stand up for myself, me telling him to butt out of it. Then he slipped on the ground and landed right on his arse saying, "Oi, who the fuck put this puddle here?""
He saw her visibly relax, the tension in her shoulders easing, and her brow loosening up.
"The next day, we found my cousin and his friends. Ron demanded they apologize but they weren't having any of it, and a lot of pushing and shoving started."
"What happened then?"
He gave a small laugh. "We got our asses beat. That was the first time I ever got a black eye. My aunt was furious, but it was fantastic, because they never bothered me again."
They looked at each other, both unsure.
"I'm sorry," they said at the same time before chuckling.
Harry held out one of the beers to her, long since warm, which she accepted gratefully. Neither spoke as they continued to walk, letting a comfortable silence fill the air between them. Harry didn't know what more to say, and honestly, he got the sense that she didn't want him to say anything. He knew that all too well.
The sense of someone just being there for you when you needed them was as powerful as an ear to listen to your troubles.
As they rounded the corner of the psychology building, at some point having made their way back towards the center of campus, they stopped, looking up at the wall of the computer center. Harry chuckled as he stared at the projection, My Neighbor Totoro covering the wall.
"This was my favorite movie as a kid," he said softly as they reached the grass of the quad. "One of our neighbors had a VHS player and while all the other kids were playing in the yard, I'd sneak into the house to watch it. I wore out that tape from watching it so much."
Harry instinctively took a seat, Fleur following him.
"What makes it your favorite?" she asked.
"I dunno. I guess it's got this sense of hope. Like, everything would be alright in the end, ya know?"
The two watched the movie for a while, sipping their warm beers, as another comfortable silence fell between them. Eventually Fleur laid down on the ground, her head pressed against Harry's outstretched leg. Finally, he spoke:
"Do…do you wanna talk about it?"
She was silent at first, staring at the movie so long that Harry was certain she wouldn't respond, unwilling to share or unwilling to burden him with her thoughts.
"Cedric and I dated. Sophomore year. We got together early in the year and had a good time. He was sweet," she said, a small, sad smile crossing her face. "It was towards the end of the year that I found out he was working for my father."
"Your father?" he asked.
"My father loves me, but his desire to cement his legacy can be overwhelming," she said. "He approved of Cedric, having taken a liking to him when they visited me early in the year. He liked him so much that he gave Cedric an internship."
"And that's bad," Harry said.
She nodded.
"It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't tried to get Cedric to convince me to change my major. To abandon my dreams and come back to the family business."
Fleur paused, wiping a few strands of hair out of her face.
"Cedric and I fought. My father had convinced him I would be better off working towards "fulfilling the expectations surrounding my obligations to the family business" were the exact words used. That conversation was…explosive."
Harry didn't say anything, because, what could he? Nobody had expectations of him, and they hadn't his entire life. He was just a nobody who's only pressure to succeed came from himself and his own desires for where he wanted to go in life. Telling her that he understood would be a lie, empty words, uttered out of a misguided attempt at pity masquerading as concern.
He respected her too much to pity her.
Honestly, he couldn't even imagine what it's like to have so many expectations thrust upon her shoulders. Everyone knew Fleur Delacour because of her family, Delacour Enterprises being the sprawling, multinational conglomerate that it was. So, by extension of her name, they expected great things from her. They expected her to not just succeed, but excel, far beyond the rest of the student body. They expected her to give more than perfection, whatever the hell that was.
It wasn't lost on Harry just how unfair that was.
"And what is it?" he asked softly, "Your dream?"
He saw a smile spread across her face.
"I want to be a world class designer."
Her voice took on a warm quality, the words clearly coming from a place of passion.
"I want to design advertisements, billboards, websites, you name it. And I want to be the best, I am going to be the best. I want to be "Fleur Delacour, Graphic Designer Extraordinaire" not just "Fleur Delacour, Daughter of the bloody Delacour Dynasty" like everyone seems to want me to be."
Harry stared across the quad, the catbus winding its way through the countryside, his favorite part of the movie, and a small smile came to his lips.
"Back when I was younger, when our class was at that age where we were starting to get asked what we wanted to do with our lives, one of our teachers said something that resonated with me.
"She said, "Everyone has a passion for something, and if that passion translates into a career, then you owe it to yourself to pursue it with everything you've got. Others may believe you're a fool, or simply not understand your drive, but the only person you should worry about disappointing is yourself, because at the end of the day, you choose who you become, no one else.""
Fleur squeezed his calf before the two settled into another comfortable silence, enjoying the last act of the movie. Just as the two little girls stepped off their friendly transportation, Harry looked down and smiled. She had fallen asleep, her breathing steady and her eyes closed, head pressed against his leg.
He didn't move, even as the credits began to roll, because she looked peaceful, like some of the weight she carried had been lifted and her night hadn't been ruined by the long reach of family expectations.
If he were being honest with himself, Harry would also admit that she looked beautiful in that moment, her blonde hair, perfectly styled, shining in the moonlight as if it gave off a magical glow. So, he simply sat there, allowing her to rest, hoping that, even if in just the smallest way, he had made things better for her.