Inell's Fanfiction Archive

They all think that she is too young to understand, so they whisper or become quiet whenever she enters the room. Gabrielle might only be eleven, but she’s absolument pas bete. Fleur flitters around like royalty giving orders and making demands, but there are dark circles beneath her pale eyes and her words sound tired. It is tres clair something happened to Bill by the scars that now cover part of his face, but no one will say anything around her.

She tries to hear, sneaking around and listening at doors for words she understands, but her English is not so good and so many things she hears make no sense. That is why she starts carrying a small notebook that she borrows from ‘ermione and writes down words to look up in the dictionary Bill bought her over the holidays, before la situation est devenue tendue. Tense is how they say it, she thinks, but it is tellement difficile to know all the English words.

By the end of her first week at the Burrow, she has pages of notes with many words that she translates when she’s alone. She concludes that some sort of beast attacked Bill when Dumbledore died, which makes her sad because she remembers the kindly old man who spoke her language during her visit to Hogwarts. She is proud of Fleur when she pieces words together and figures out that she refused to end the engagement to Bill, who Gabrielle still thinks is tres beau even with the deep scars.

And she worries when her words tell her that Harry and his friends are planning to leave after the wedding, but she does not go to Fleur or Mama Weasley because Harry would not approve. He saved her life, and she is often teased by Fleur avoir le beguin on him. It is not that, though she does find him tres adorable. When she looks at him, she knows he is special, even knew it when she was eight and so curious about this English world.

No, she does not share her notes about Harry and his friends plans because she knows, somehow, that it is something they must do. It sounds dangerous, but she believes they will be safe because she sees their eyes and hears the firmness of the unfamiliar words they speak. So she doesn’t say anything to anyone about plans and leaving.

Instead, she smiles and pretends she does not understand anything because it makes them feel better, but she knows that she’s saving Harry. Not from underwater creatures or scary beasts, but from being stopped before he can do what must be done. The knowledge that she‘s able to be Harry’s heroine, in her own way, makes it all worth it.

End