Bill & Fleur Marriage - Part 6

Harry, on the other hand, was failing miserably at playing along. He couldn't just close off his feelings and pretend there was nothing wrong, no matter how hard he tried, and the effort was making him increasingly bad-tempered. It occurred to him that while he had failed dismally at mastering Occlumency during his fifth year, Ginny would probably be very good at it.

The presence of Jean-Luc Delacour certainly hadn't helped matters. Suave and debonair, Jean-Luc was everything Harry wasn't. He was only a year older, but he somehow managed to appear vastly more sophisticated. He had dark hair that he wore slicked back and robes that not only fit impeccably, but also were made of the finest material.

It gave Harry a new determination to go shopping for some Muggle clothes of his very own and in his own size for the first time in his life.

Jean-Luc had kissed Ginny's hand when he first met her, and always seemed to know the right thing to say or had some witty response to everything said to him.

Harry felt as if he were tongue-tied in comparison.

All the women in the house were fawning over Jean-Luc, and Harry had memories of being back in fourth year and trying to compete against Cedric to get a date to the Yule Ball. The only consolation was that none of the other Weasley brothers cared much for Jean-Luc, either.

Ron acted out overly exaggerated imitations of his prancing ways, and Harry suspected the twins were devising a major prank.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke, Harry thought savagely.

Despite her brothers' obvious disapproval... or maybe because of it... Ginny appeared quite enamoured with the dashing Frenchman. Every time Harry saw her, she was with him, laughing at his stupid jokes or listening intently to whatever it was he had to say. Harry had seen her take his arm on several occasions, and he appeared to take every opportunity to place his ruddy hands upon her waist.

The monster in Harry's chest had been roaring with such intensity that Harry was shocked no one else could hear it. He'd been in a right foul mood, and most of the Weasleys had been giving him a wide berth because of it. The only one who apparently wasn't bothered at all by his foul disposition was Gabrielle Delacour. She'd become Harry's shadow, following him nearly everywhere andhelping him with whichever task Mrs. Weasley or Mrs. Delacour assigned to him.

Gabrielle chatted incessantly as they worked, and Harry hadn't yet found a way to disengage himself from her presence. She followed him, laughed at nothing, and then blushed the deepest shade of Weasley red if he happened to answer one of her endless questions. He remembered when Ginny had a crush on him, back in his second year, but that had been different somehow. Ginny had never been this annoying.

It was as if he were assigned Colin Creevey as a Potions partner, only with more giggling. The only slight positive to the whole situation was that Fleur had stopped pushing Harry to entertain Gabrielle. It was as if ever since Harry and Ginny's shouting match in the back garden, Fleur had a new pet project. She purposely arranged tasks and insisted that both he and Ginny needed to work on them together.

Harry would have been eternally grateful to her if the circumstances had been different, but spending time with Ginny while she was acting coolly polite and detached was nearly driving him to distraction.

Hence the reason he'd imbibed so much at the stag party the previous evening.