Basically you're advocating the damsel in distress route... I dunno... it has been done way too many times and Fleur has too much potential to be wasted on that. WYLB has taken a different route to establish their relationship and that makes it worth following.

 

Mind if I try my hand at that? I prefer keeping personalities the same, however, I also think that changing personalities can be fun if there is a slow build up. Frankly, I'm honestly surprised how much even canon Harry was able to stand up for himself. It comes to the issue of autonomy. Since Harry was raised with a family that hated everything he stood for, is it really surprising that he can be so socially awkward?

 

She is in distress in canon, and Harry does try to save people. It's sort of his thing. He warns Cedric about the dragons, he stays to make sure all the hostages are safe, attempts to find Fleur in the maze when he hears her scream, and he saves Cedric in the maze. Those are just from one book.

I'm not advocating that she fall in love with him because he saves her. That is far too easy and quite frankly boring. I'm just saying that it gives you a starting point for getting them to talk while staying fairly close to canon. Just because something has been overused doesn't mean you can't take the same starting point and turn it on its head to make it interesting.

WYLB has taken the route of completely rewriting the series, making Harry older, giving him a different childhood, new friends, and having Harry and Fleur meet at a younger age and develop a friendship. It works really well for what it is doing, but that isn't canon Harry. It is a rewrite that alters his personality which is perfectly fine, but that's not what I was talking about doing. I was simply talking about a starting point to build on from canon.

The blind prophet feel free to use whatever you like. Those are pretty general ideas that can go in vastly different directions depending on how you choose to write them. I would caution against making it too easy for Harry though.

 

At the start of 4th year I felt, that Harry could still be considered as smart and very competent, not in the academic sense, but as a talented protagonist.

He initially may have been overwhelmed by the situation he was forced in. But the moment it became dangerous and scary I felt he was even with the other champions. What is a Dragon compared to a Basilisk or dozens of Dementors? What is a maze or lake compared to the Forbidden Forrest and Aragog's Lair? A hostage at the bottom of the lake or the sister of his best friend with Slytherin's heir? Fleur or Cedric with their pampered and boring school years can't compare to Harry's experience with danger. Yet he stays humble throughout the whole time.

It isn't enough to evoke romantic feelings in Fleur, but enough to take an interest in Harry especially after he saved Gabrielle.

 

If you want to stick to canon about giving them a starting point, then the fact that he saved her sister during the second task should suffice. Anything more is plain overkill considering how grateful Fleur was to him in the canon.

 

Not necessarily. There's numerous ways one could go.

I have one last "guilty pleasure" Harry/Fleur fourth year fic in the plans. There's no saving her sister, that's been done to death for this pairing. I'm planning on going the "gaining my respect by constantly pissing me off until I readjust my own vision" route.

It makes for a much snarkier, tongue-in-cheek story. Hell, it might even be a pure character driven rather than plot driven story (And again . . . guilty pleasure).

 

I don't think you should say anything is overkill until you see how it is executed. You seem to be making assumptions based on how other authors have done things in the past or that the only reason for changing it would be to make it Harry/Fleur when it could be used to set up a variety of different things in addition to that.

I would have never thought a soul bond fic could ever come close to working until I read Error of the Soul. If you tell yourself something is overkill or that it can't work you are limiting yourself. Part of the fun and challenge of writing should be to take something that is overused in a direction nobody has ever tried before.

 

You know Sesc, you've been awfully inactive on the writing front lately ...

 

Inorite. If I want more Harry Potter I'll just read the books.

 

That was basically what I had in mind minus the saving her sister thing. I hadn't really decided what event would lead to them talking or how that event would potentially influence their dynamic or the events in the story, but the focus would have been the relationship and not the tasks.

I doubt I'll get around to writing it unless I make more progress on the planning side of things. I have other ideas that are far better planned out right now and writing romance isn't as fun for me as stories with a focus on magic and trying to create a sense of wonder.

 

There are exceptions to every rule and if the author can pull it off... well more power to them. It all depends on how big a part 'Harry's knight in shining armour' to 'Fleur's damsel in distress' plays in the story. If used as a plot-point to get them together then it feels a bit unnecessary('cause saving Gabrielle already allows the author to explore that avenue but I digress) or do you keep using that by having Harry constantly save her which can get annoying and it just feels wrong.
I am probably not the best judge of these things but I feel if an author can avoid those pitfalls it might be a story worth following.

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I'll totally read that. A story which evokes both humour and conflict is a story I know I'll like.

 

Yo! I just had the crazyest idea. So you know the cliche of Harry being a bounty hunter hired to protect Fleur or her family? I thought, wouldn't Fleur make a better bounty hunter?
I mean think about it. She has the power to distract men, and must have something going for her since she was Beauxbatons champion. I don't know. Maybe I came up with this idea since I am a little sleep deprived.

 

Wait thats a cliche? I've never seen a story with Harry being a bounty hunter and protecting Fleur. Seems interesting tho. Do you have a link to any story with it?

 

I think there is something called The French Conection on ffn. Also isn't Harry a bounty hunter or something since he is the wrong BWL in Deprived? I haven't read it yet, I will soon.

 

It does seem a bit harsh to call an plot idea with, to my knowledge, two fics created with it in mind a cliché.

Especially when there's also a couple of fics that I remember being in a similar vein to 'Badass Merc Fleur'.

I sometimes think the desire for uniqueness for its own sake is stifling many nice stories. Just because something has been done poorly before doesn't mean it should be avoided if you honestly think you can do it better.

 

Sorry, wasn't thinking straight when I wrote that. I agree, that it was harsh to say that what I mentioned was a cliche. Especially since only very few people can pull it off. The only reason I havent read Deprived is because I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I do know that there are good stories with a powerful Fleur. The French Affair comes to mind. There are only a few H/F stories that I havent finished, and they are wastelands of Time, and Deprived. Oh, damn, I only have two left? That sucks. I've read pretty much everything else that's just H/F.

 

I've been trying to think of a means of making Harry/Fleur work in a mostly canon environment and I've had the loose framework for a story in my head for a while now (whether or not I'm actually talented to write it or not is an entirely different matter, though). I'm curious if people think it actually sounds like it could work in practise so I'll detail it below. If it sounds terrible let me know cause I do want to write this eventually but I'd like to address issues with the overall idea in advance if I do.

Sorry in advance cause this ended up being a lot longer than I intended when I started detailling the idea.

Spoiler

The idea spans over Harry's 4th, 6th and 7th year with a bit set afterward just to tie things up - largely revolving around the times that we see Harry and Fleur interact in canon, but with the 4th year interactions massively altering their knock-on meetings in 6th and 7th years.

Age difference has already been pointed out and I agree that a 14 year old and 17 year old isn't really a workable proposition for a romance (I had a friend who was 18 and was going out with a 15 year old and at that age it is pretty wrong. 3 years is nothing when you're a bit older, but the differences in both physical and mental maturity between those two ages is very hard to get past). So 4th year largely just establishes a friendship and bond which paves the way for closeness further down the line.

Essentially the idea relies on the tiniest canon divergence during the 4th book - Fleur noticing Harry's exclusion by the rest of his peers in the immediate aftermath of being made the 4th champion. She doesn't act on this straight away but it influences her next meetings with him, making her scrutinise him more closely rather than just dismiss him outright like she did in GoF. This eventually comes to a head at some point (I'm working with this being the weighing of wands, when she saves him from giving a private interview to Skeeter or something along those lines, but I'm not 100% on what will cause this) and they end up forming a tentative friendship.

They don't really trust each other, still cautious of the fact that the other is a competitor, as well as the fact that they both have something the other could want to use (smokin' hot veela to boost image/famous boy-who-lived's influence) which leads to some interesting interactions. I'd aim to miss out most of the canon rehashing, instead focussing on how these changes would affect the characters. An example I'm thinking of here is that I kind of see Fleur as being a Slytherin type of character - maybe not totally exemplifying their qualities (it's already been pointed out that she sees herself as above cheating) but I see it as the house that is most closely aligned with what we know of Fleur in canon.

In turn Harry is forced to think a lot more, the intrigue of their interactions - both dancing around the other constantly, alternating between lighthearted banter/double-speak in regards to the competition forces him to adapt, something which we all know canon Harry is very capable of doing with the right motivation (ie one of the only friends he actually has at this point in time, solid motivation in line with canon Harry?).

Fleur is also influenced by Harry - recognising that he is more than capable despite his young age. This maybe causes her to re-evaluate her tendency to judge someone on appearances and understand that there can be more to someone than meets the eye. She also admires his tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve as she is aware that she has a somewhat "frosty" exterior which can turn people off. At this point she may still be thinking of how these changes could benefit her, but they're both subtly influencing the other and causing slight changes in the other's character, which happens in any good friendship, but in this case I think it's important because these changes bring them a lot more in line with the other and help make the viability of them as a pairing work.

This section basically just establishes a basic rapport between them both, they end up with a basic respect for each other as well as realising that they actually get along pretty well.

By the time the Yule Ball comes around Harry has enough of an understanding of both Fleur and the workings of the world to understand that two Champions attending the ball together would be highly praiseworthy in the public eye. Especially for him and Fleur, who would rightfully be seen as a power couple in the eyes of the media. He proposes as much to her, being clear that there would be no romance involved (which she is inclined to believe due to his being able to withstand her allure) - however she refuses, as she is still uncomfortable with how much younger he is than her. She does offer him some advice though, suggesting that he should do as she planned to and use the influence he has to find an easy date and use it as an opportunity to improve his image (ie don't mope at the side of the dance floor all night).

Following this advice, he invites a clearly delighted Ginny to the Ball. The Ball won't really be covered much by the story, maybe a little segment of Harry/Fleur interaction could be flung in but it isn't really important in the grand scheme of things.

Also by the way, I know this sounds like Harry is a lot more cold and calculating in these descriptions, but that isn't how I'd intend to write it. It would be a mild change to his character but it's more that Harry would be intrigued by the way Fleur thinks - mildly disturbed by her realist tendencies yet also recognising that she has a lot more to her than just being a cold and calculating bitch - her warmth to her sister, befriending him when he had no one else and refusing to go to the ball with him despite it clearly being the most beneficial plan of action on offer. He realises she still has this kind of morality to her and that draws him in. The way I see it is that it starts out as him seeing her as a lifeline when everyone else seems to have given up on him, but she very quickly becomes a puzzle that he wants to solve (Maybe not the best way to describe it, but there is context for canon Harry doing this in every mystery he's solved throughout his time at Hogwarts and especially in his HBP psycho stalking of Malfoy).

This is one of the points I'm kind of torn on though: He can conclude the Yule Ball by going out with Ginny (in the long term of the story as a means to give him more experience so he's not totally clueless by the time we get to the Fleur segment) as he's driven by teenage hormones and Ginny is more than happy to go along with this as she still hasn't canonically gotten over her crush/hero worship of Harry. Or he can move on, it's not really important in the long term, either way.

Fast forward to the second task. At this point Harry and Fleur are still not really close friends. They have a rapport, they talk quite often but their wariness of the other has led to them both holding the other at arms length (Harry is notoriously bad at making friend's in canon anyway, it normally takes a life/death situation to forge a bond with him). So when he decides to save Gabrielle in the lake it essentially breaks down the last barrier in their friendship, she's intensely grateful to him for saving her sister and begins to trust him enough to treat him as more than just someone to maneuver around to further herself, there's some warmth in their friendship. Can establish some back story for Fleur here and develop her character beyond the archetypes that have already been developed and make her somewhat closer to a real person. We know that she's intensely loyal to those she considers close to her ("'Arry, you saved my sister's life. I do not forget." ) but there's a lot of room to play with her character beyond this and it could be pretty fun to turn her into a real, flawed but ultimately likeable character at this point - this could also be the start of Harry being attracted to her (beyond the fact she's hot as fuck, which goes without saying).

I need to read up on GoF a little more at this point because I can't really remember if there's any major events between the second task and the third. Third task is pretty glossed over, Fleur will still take a fancy to Bill (for their 6th year meeting, but also because H/F hasn't developed enough to prevent her and, if anything, the fact that Harry is friends with the Weasley family would probably seal it for her).

After third task/resurrection she returns to France as planned, but they're now close enough to promise to keep in touch. Fifth year goes as in canon and so is basically skipped entirely, minus maybe opening the chapter leading into sixth year with a scene where Ron mentions Fleur will be at the Burrow during summer.

Now we're at sixth year. Harry is mature enough at 16 and we can assume that his development as a result of befriending Fleur would influence his development over 5th year enough that, by this point, there's a little more room to play with regard to his characterization. My plans for this point are a little more loose but I'm imagining that they both tried to keep true to their plans to write and stay in touch, but eventually it fizzles out/they run out of things to say whilst being so far away which leads to a strange kind of tension when they meet again in the summer of 6th.

Harry can't abide how the Mrs. Weasley and Ginny are treating Fleur, though, and this comes to a head. I'm actually inclined to keep Harry in a relationship with Ginny after the Yule Ball purely for this moment. It would be him seeing her in a completely different light to what has went before and would serve as a really good point for him to indicate a growing maturity by breaking up with her. It also works doubly well in a H/F viewpoint as he would be getting pretty rough treatment at the Burrow afterward seeing as he broke up with his girlfriend of almost two years by this point at her own house during summer.

This maybe slightly goes against his development in the fic to this point, but my thinking here is there are some traits that will outweight others and - in this case - Harry has never been a character who would idly sit by and watch people he cares about and is close to be insulted and ridiculed in such a manner. Plus at this point the story is massively lacking in conflict and it would be nice to inject some.

Anyway this provides the necessary ingredients for them to have some solidarity and a means to reconnect, we have our catalyst and now it's just a case of creating the reaction.

For this point I've actually kind of stole an idea I saw a few pages back, in that Harry encounters Fleur crying late at night after being treated particularly rough by the female Weasley's (this could even have been exacerbated by the fact that Harry broke up with Ginny over it - although I'd imagine he'd have been a bit more tactful than just using that as his reason). In his attempting to console her Fleur begins to realise that she's becoming disillusioned in her relationship with Bill. The passion is there and she does care about him deeply, but there is something lacking in her relations with him that she doesn't realise until she reconnects with Harry. They could maybe spend a few night's bonding until she eventually realises that she needs to split up with Bill and leaves the Burrow afterward.

Sixth year would then largely go as in canon.

Seventh year would be different as obviously there is now no wedding. This is the part I've not really developed at all but I'm thinking here that Fleur would still have been approached by Dumbledore to join the Order, as he would have recognised through her friendship with Harry that she is someone who could be trusted plus her position in Gringott's and status as a foreign national can both be positively exploited for the cause. Instead of crash landing at the Tonks residence, they'd land at Fleur's instead. (Who let's say was partnered with Dung instead of Bill and flew home after he fucks off at the first sign of danger). This gives Harry the whereabouts of where she lives for later on and I'd imagine this could be a good comedy scene with Harry interacting with a Fleur polyjuiced to look exactly like him. Seeing as they're a lot closer in this story this is a good opportunity to have some fun.

Now everything goes as canon again, although maybe Bill (who would have been polyjuiced as Harry in place of dung) would have died along with Moody? That could be interesting as a source of conflict and would definitely serve to kill off the competition, but I'm not sure if I'd go with that or not.

Anyway it goes along with canon again for now and thus would be ignored until the Shell Cottage scene in canon. With Fleur and Bill now not together all we need is a slight tweak to make Harry the one to apparate and the first place he thinks of being Fleur's house. At this point the war is in full flow, they arrive with a dead Dobby, Luna, Ollivander and Griphook. At this point Fleur is forced to confront the feelings which have grown for Harry since she first befriended him.

She, perhaps for the first time, recognises the very real chance that Harry might die and this is when they fuck for the first time. Neither really knows what their feelings are toward the other, the both just know that they might not get another chance to act upon their feelings. There isn't a declaration of feelings or anything, it's purely borne out of a realisation of their own mortality and perhaps confusion. Harry leaves as in canon, and their tryst is for a time forgotten.

Romance then picks up again after the battle. I basically just envisage this as a single chapter or maybe two which would establish an actual relationship between them and then that would be it.

tl;dr: I have an idea for a H/F fic. I have no clue if said idea is actually good or if I've just been trying to think of a way to make Harry/Fleur work for so long that I've completely overlooked how boring this would be. Please read my idea and let me know your thoughts

I'm aware I've developed the 4th year segment a lot more than years 6 and 7 and that's mostly just down to the fact that I've only read HBP and DH once each and seen the movies one more time each also. By the time we get to the DH part I'm hoping that it will have departed enough from canon that I'll have a lot more leeway to write outwith canon constraints, seeing as she'll be broken up with Bill so the section where they go to Shell Cottage in canon will be something completely different now and mark the beginnings of their actual relationship. And as I say, the parts where it's rehashing canon are totally skipped out, it would focus solely on the changes this would cause.

I'm just worried that it could be pretty boring, there's not really any conflict. It would be entirely character and dialogue driven and I'm not sure if I'm capable enough to pull something like that off - this was just in my mind the way I managed to achieve them in a believable relationship while still operating mostly under the confines of canon. I'm thinking it maybe adheres a bit too closely to canon. If I wanted to develop this outwith the romance aspect I could look at how these changes to Harry's character as a result of the friendship would affect other aspects of canon, I doubt things in Fifth, Sixth and Seventh year would go exactly as they do in canon with the changes to his character so there's a lot of potential to explore the ripple effects this would cause, I guess.

Anyway, sorry about the insane length of this, any thoughts people have on this would be appreciated.

 

I don't like the idea of changing Harry's age either, but we have to accept that the age barrier is probably the biggest one standing in the way of a relationship.

Unless Fleur is a total creep who's into younger boys, she's very very unlikely to have any interest in Harry at 14.

However. There's nothing to prevent them from being friends, which I think is where the story should start off. Let Harry grow up over the course of said story and once he's older and more mature, then she might be interested in him.

The harsher the circumstances, the faster he'd be forced to grow up.

 

I don't get the complications. Don't start the bloody stories in fourth year if you want their relationship to be the focal point/ a major part of the story.

I'm bored of canon and Dark Lord Shelvy anyway. Start a story in their twenties, find a new conflict outside the Isles. Be creative.

Random response: B-b-but Hugplx, Fleur's married!

Preemptive response: Don't write FanFiction if you can't even contrive your way out of that.