Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Fleur Delacour

Overview
Fleur Isabelle Delacour was once a student at the French magical school, Beauxbatons Academy. She was chosen to be her school's Champion in the Triwizard Tournament that was held at Hogwarts in book 4. A stunningly beautiful witch, she has wavy silver-blonde hair that seems to float behind her as she walks. Many males seem unnaturally attracted to her.

Fleur's rosewood wand is among the few seen in the series that was crafted by someone other than Mr. Ollivander. Its core contains a Veela hair.

Goblet of Fire
Fleur Delacour enters our story as the students from Beauxbatons arrive to take part in the Triwizard Tournament. She visits the Gryffindor table that first evening to ask for bouillabaisse, and Ron is stunned by her beauty. When Hermione seems somewhat nettled by this, Ron suggests that there might be some Veela in her ancestry.

The next evening, the Goblet of Fire selected her to participate in the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts, competing against Durmstrang's Viktor Krum and Hogwarts' Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory. She is openly contemptuous of Harry being selected, saying that "'E cannot compete. 'E is too young!" She is, however, overruled by Mr. Crouch's interpretation of the rule book.

At the Weighing of the Wands, it is revealed by Mr. Ollivander that Fleur's wand has, as its core, the hair of a Veela. Fleur says that it is her grandmother's, confirming Ron's earlier belief that she has Veela ancestors.

Although the First Task was intended to be a surprise, Fleur Delacour was forewarned of its nature by Olympe Maxime, headmistress of Beauxbatons, who discovered what was coming when Rubeus Hagrid allowed her to see the dragons. Fleur's first task was to seize a golden egg from the nest of a mother Welsh Green dragon. She attempted to put it in a trance, but her plan backfired when the dragon snored, lighting her skirt on fire and forcing her to put out the flame with a jet of water from her wand. She did however, manage to collect the egg.

As the Yule Ball approaches, Ron, desperate, asks Fleur to the ball; she does not even deign to notice him. Utterly crushed, he retreats to the Gryffindor common room. Harry reveals Fleur's Veela ancestry to him at this point, but he is so defeated that he does not seem to notice. At the Ball, Ron spends some time hiding from Fleur; he is so embarrassed that he does not even want to be seen by her. Fleur, however, is keeping Roger Davies entranced, and again does not seem to notice him.

In the Second Task, Fleur had to rescue her sister from the merpeople at the bottom of the lake at Hogwarts. She used an excellent Bubble-Head Charm, giving her a supply of air, but she was attacked by grindylows and was forced to forfeit. She earned twenty-five points. Like Harry, she had thought that the song of the merpeople was to be meant literally and was afraid that her sister, Gabrielle, would die or be kept underwater forever. So when Harry brought Gabrielle to the surface, Fleur was overjoyed, and ended up kissing him on both cheeks, twice, which left Harry feeling rather as if there was steam coming out his ears. Ron got kissed also, for helping, and seemed extremely pleased about it.

Being in last place, Fleur was the last to enter the obstacle course/maze of the Third Challenge, which was full of enchantments to break and magical creatures to fight. She lost her chance to reach the Triwizard Cup when Barty Crouch Jr. used the Imperius curse to force Victor Krum to Stun her.

As the Beauxbatons carriage is prepared for departure, Fleur comes up to Harry and Ron on the steps at Hogwarts to say goodbye. Ron becomes somewhat tongue-tied when she approaches, which seems to vex Hermione.

Order of the Phoenix
Fleur is largely off-stage here, although it is mentioned that she has stayed in England to "eemprove 'er Eenglish", tutored by Bill Weasley.

Half-Blood Prince
In the Half-Blood Prince it is revealed that Fleur will marry Ron's brother, Bill. The other characters dislike this, mostly Hermione, Molly and Ginny Weasley, who refers to her as 'Phlegm'. Ron, though, is delighted at this news; he seems to still secretly have a bit of a crush on her. According to Ginny, Mrs. Weasley hopes that Bill will instead become interested in Nymphadora Tonks, but everyone agrees, that particularly with Tonks seeming depression since the events at the end of the previous school year, there is little chance she will succeed. Fleur, for her part, staying at the Burrow getting to know the rest of the Weasley family, greets Harry enthusiastically, delivering him his breakfast tray, and kissing him goodbye when he leaves for Hogwarts.

When Bill is attacked by Fenrir Greyback and is disfigured, Mrs. Weasley laments that he won't be getting married now. Fleur passionately declares that she loves Bill and will marry him despite his disfigurement and that the scars will just show that her husband is brave. This statement seems to change Mrs. Weasley's feelings for Fleur and she even offers to persuade her great aunt to lend Fleur a goblin-made tiara for the wedding.

Deathly Hallows
The plan to extract Harry from the Dursleys' involves multiple simulacra of Harry, each one traveling to a separate safe house, each with a protector. One of the mock Harrys is Fleur, who will be traveling on a Thestral with Bill as her protector. They are the last pair to arrive at The Burrow, as they were apparently detained by Auntie Muriel, and missed the Portkey that would have brought them to the Weasleys'.

At The Burrow, Harry finds himself in the midst of the chaos that is Mrs. Weasley's preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, set for the first of August. While both Bill and Fleur are present, and are occasionally being set tasks to assist in the preparations, we see very little of them until two days before the wedding, when Fleur's parents and sister Gabrielle arrive. It is mentioned then that Gabrielle is following Fleur around.

As Fleur walks up the aisle at the wedding, she is radiantly beautiful; and the radiance seems to make her attendants, Gabrielle and Ginny, especially beautiful as well. And they are wed, and they dance, and everyone dances... and then the Trio must make a hasty exit.

When Ron rejoins the Trio after Christmas, it turns out that he had been staying with Bill and Fleur at Shell Cottage. He does not say much about what had been going on there.

When the Trio escape from Malfoy Manor, they end up going to Shell Cottage. Fleur is present at the burial ceremony for Dobby. Then, Fleur takes care of the wounded, specifically Griphook and Mr. Ollivander. She is not terribly happy about caring for Griphook, as she feels that he is treating her as a servant in her own home.

Fleur is part of the celebration that ensues when Lupin arrives to report that Tonks has had her baby.

A month or so later, Bill and Fleur are among the people who arrive at Hogwarts for the battle at the school. They are still in the Room of Requirement when Percy arrives; the ensuing awkward moment, as Percy has been estranged from the rest of his family for years, is somewhat defused by Fleur, who asks Lupin how their child is doing. Lupin, in response, produces a photo, which he drops when Percy loudly proclaims his stupidity and begs forgiveness.

While we don't see much of them in the battle, we do see the entire Weasley family after the battle; and in the epilogue we hear mention of Victoire, who we assume to be Bill and Fleur's daughter.

Strengths
By being selected as Beauxbatons' Tri-wizard Champion alone, we can assume that Fleur Delacour was a reasonably talented student. Not only does she have this advantage over others at Beauxbatons, but, being part-Veela, she has a charm that brings many men to their knees. As Fleur's younger sister is chosen as the person Fleur will miss the most it could be said she is family oriented; particularly as she is greatly relieved when Harry rescues her sister.

Weaknesses
Fleur appears standoffish during Goblet of Fire, she makes underhand comments about the food at Hogwarts. Fleur comes across as a cold character.

Relationships with Other Characters
Ron Weasley accidentally asks Fleur to attend the Yule Ball with him; she ignores him. Harry suggests that this because she has turned on the charm to try to ensnare Roger Davies, and Ron had been caught in the flux of her spell. Fleur attends the Yule Ball with Roger Davies of Ravenclaw. Fleur is attracted to Bill Weasley and in Half Blood Prince it is announced they are to marry. Fleur has a younger sister Gabrielle who the Merpeople choose as the thing she will miss the most during the 2nd Triwizard Test. Hermione, Ginny, and (initially) Mrs. Weasley all dislike Fleur.

Much like most of the students, Fleur looked down on Harry, when he was selected as a Triwizard Champion, seeing him nothing more than a "little boy" and a person who was in it for the glory. However, after Harry was able to save her sister from the lake, Fleur started to act more nicer and friendlier to him. Because of this heroic action, she was more than willing to help volunteer to be a decoy for Harry and escort him to safety, as well as provide hospitality to Harry and friends.

Fleur, because of her Veela background, will tend to have some of the glamour of the Veela, and so will be extremely attractive to almost all males. Presumably, she will have learned that the only way to cut down on the number of admirers is to appear cold, to not be open to approach. This will make her seem aloof and uncaring, and yet she will still leave a trail of attracted men (and boys) behind her. This is bound to incite jealousy in other women, and it is likely this that we see in Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley.

Greater Picture
While Mrs Weasley does object - officially - to Bill and Fleur's quick marriage and quite possibly - unofficially - to Fleur herself, it is all but certain that Ginny's belief, that this was the reason for Nymphadora Tonks' frequent invitations to the Weasley home, was mistaken. It appears that the adults all know about the love between Tonks and Remus Lupin, and support it, and also know about Lupin's hesitation; with him being an old friend of the family, we can assume (and in one case are told) that he is regularly another person invited, so as not to let the relationship wax cold.

This does not mean we can totally rule out any intent whatsoever of Molly to bring both Tonks (seeing Lupin's doubts) and Bill to get other ideas, but in all probability this would then be a thought of an "And-if-that's-the-outcome-it-wouldn't-be-bad-either" nature, and one hidden rather deep in her brain, especially from Arthur Weasley who is an open supporter of a Lupin-Tonks marriage (though this is unknown to the children).