I wouldn't go that far. I doubt that Hermione or Ginny welcomed her with open arms either. I don't disagree, that Fleur is anything but innocent, but I imagine, that it must be very uncomfortable for her to be in a different country and getting parked with almost-strangers, who don't mask their dislike for her.

Harry has no reason to dislike Fleur, but he is savvy/cowardly enough to say the things Hermione and Ginny want to hear.

 

Bitch is a strong word. She is a snob. She obviously had some standard of life that probably came from money and, to top it off, is graced with beauty, intelligence and magical prowess. You also need to remember that she is from another culture and that can change drastically how one act in front of what they consider family.

My mother is french and the first time my father went to dinner with her family, he thought they were going to fight at some point because of the yelling and the way they address each other.

So yeah, there's a lot of factors that could explain why she's not afraid to speak her mind even if it's not a popular opinion (which is basically what happens in most of the quotes mentioned before).

 

I say that because the second he even makes a token effort to defend her at all he gets jumped on. There are so many times in life where you are forced to support a girl you like in her grudge against a girl you have absolutely no ill-will towards.

My problem is that most of the scenes in the book show them being bitches to Fleur and not the other way around. All of her scenes apparently happen off screen and are filtered through the opinions of other girls after the fact. Plus the scenes like the ones Newcomb quoted don't even have her being that bitchy.

 

Hey now come on... I think you guys are being too hard on both Fleur and the Weasleys. The way they were sniping at each other was all the part of the process of getting to know each other. Fleur's bitchiness(if you want to call it that) has the kind of obliviousness to it which I find rather funny and adorable.
Mothers tend to have a hard time accepting women into the family especially if they come from a foreign culture. So the conflict was expected.
But at the end of the day she loves Bill... and that's all that matters

 

Fleur was pretty much introduced in the series as a snob and a bitch. Doesn't she put down the English at pretty much every opportunity? It isn't hard to see how that might rub everyone off the wrong way.

Fleur doesn't do anything too overt in HBP, but most of her lines come off as condescending anyway. She keeps putting down Tonks, who everyone seems to think of as a better choice for Bill. And the Celestina Warbeck thing was definitely Fleur being a bitch. I don't know how on earth can you read that otherwise.

Also, the Weasleys are good to pretty much everyone. Fleur is a snob to everyone. Fleur is the exception here, not the Weasleys.

As for Harry -- he doesn't seem to care much either way. He certainly has no compunctions finding amusement at Fleur's expense.

Overall -- All teenage girls are bitches to some extent or the other. Both Ginny and Hermione definitely have their moments. Fleur is just bitchier than most.

(Luna is obviously an exception to the rule. Unless you're Darth Marrs -- he manages to find a way to make even Luna a massive bitch.)

 

Easily. Like billions of other people she thought some certain music was shitty.

 

B-b-but she wasn't polite or nice and said snotty things to people she doesn't even know or have a history with....

Oh, do me a favour.

Look how she treats the people she loves. Compare that to Ginny, Ron, the Twins and Percy.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree in this thread friend.

 

In her defense, I believed they had announced their engagement already? How would you feel if you're engaged and all of your fiancé(e)'s family is trying to push you out and get him/her with someone else? Yeah, I'd be a bitch to the family, we have something good and you want to ruin it? Fuck you. She might also have been insecure, Tonks is a good witch after all and can look like whoever she wants so one of the biggest advantage Fleur ever had over any other girl (her beauty) is moot in the case of Tonks. So yeah, I can see why she'd try to put down Tonks, to put herself as better for Bill.

 

I don't think anyone was trying to get Tonks with Bill. It was all a misunderstanding on Ginny's part thinking that Molly kept inviting her over so that Bill may fall for her, when the actual reason was that she was comforting Tonks over her heartbreak over Remus.
Avoid misinterpreting canon events.

 

...by matching her with someone she deemed much more appropriate.

 

Yeah... I don't believe Molly is that devious. She seemed genuinely happy when Remus and Tonkd got together. I'd say it was Ginny who was hoping to have Tonks in the family.

 

Hooray for Tonks-Ginny femslash!!

 

Really? You consider that devious? That seems exactly the un-subtle and heavy handed sort of thing that Molly Weasley would do.

 

You completely miss the point. When Molly was trying to listen to the radio, she was talking loudly, purposefully pissing Molly off. When the song ends, she starts singing the same song she apparently dislikes, just to add insult to injury. That isn't being a minor annoyance -- that's being a massive bitch.

Is that an argument? Draco Malfoy loves his family -- doesn't stop him from being a bastard, does it? The difference is that most people Ginny, Ron and the Twins dislike are generally portrayed in a negative light, while Fleur dislikes the more sympathetic characters.

Also, is this thread supposed to analyze Fleur's characterization or be a Fleur wank thread? One of my pet peeves is Fleur not being bitchy enough in most fanfics -- which is why I'm posting in this thread.

Basilisk : Fleur had reasons for acting the way she did. I'm not trying to make her out to be the devil here. Its quite simple, actually -- Fleur acts her natural snobbish self, she rubs off Molly, Ginny and Hermione the wrong way, they dislike her instantly and make little effort to hide it, Fleur notices this and acts bitchier in retaliation, and it all sort of snowballs from there.

 

I'm pretty sure its a Fleur wank thread. I think we've finally found your problem.

 

What the hell is going on? I originally said that Bill should have defended Fleur, since he didn't, I don't like mentions of BW/FD. I never even said anything about Harry.

Anyway, I stand by what I said before. If you were in another country, knew that people like you (part humans) were being hunted and killed wouldn't you be a little defensive?

 

Fleur is a pretty interesting character in general. I think calling her a bitch is a bit harsh when in reality we don't see enough of the interaction between her and the others to know why she is acting that way. Realistically, she is a snob who is very well aware of the fact that she is good looking and talented.

I think people should really take into consideration this line:

She is in a country where she doesn't speak the language very well and she doesn't know many people. She even states she doesn't know Bill's family very well and that's why she is there to get to know them, but his family who also doesn't know her very well isn't very happy with them getting married. You can pretty much get that feeling from just reading the passage that quote is from.

Bill is gone more often than her so she is just stuck around people who don't really like her or even seem to want to accept the fact that she is going to marry Bill. They are calling her names and she has been there only a few days. How ridiculous is that? Now, she may have done something to deserve it and maybe not, but we don't see any of that. We only get second hand accounts from people who are already down right insulting of her before she even shows up in the book.

Is it any surprise that she would be insulting back or be even more snobbish than usual?

 

Draco Malfoy is also racist. Fleur is snobbish and condescending. Sometimes.

I can see your comparison.

 

I maybe wrong but wasn't Mrs. Weasley increasing the volume of the radio to drown out Fleur's talking? And to be fair no one liked Warbeck.

 

This is just stupid. If I was at a family party, and someone kept turning their shitty music up so no one could have a conversation I'd be annoyed too. Fuck Molly, if you want to listen to your fucking radio so bad take it to another room where, you know, there isn't a party of people trying to have a conversation.

Sorry, I might have a bit of IRL resentment over this issue. Some people are just not cut out to control the aux cord at house parties.