Apolline Delacour considered herself a practical woman. She understood that love wasn't a pre-requisite for a successful marriage, and unlike her husband, she approved of her daughter's decision to enter a betrothal with the English wizard.

Sure, they barely knew each other, but according to Louise's description, the boy was a fine specimen of human species, came with a considerable inheritance, and was even willing to let her daughter play at politics through his Wizengamot seat.

Louise's regular updates on their courtship definitely made it obvious that the young couple wasn't in love. They had a mutually beneficial agreement, with a touch of friendship, some interest and a generous helping of teenage hormones. However, Apolline believed  that given some years they would grow to love each other, or atleast develop respect and understanding.

With this understanding of her second daughter's relationship, she arrived with her husband at Hogwarts on Christmas day (which curiously coincided with both Louise's and Aries' birthday), to meet her future son-in-law for the first time.

Therefore, she was understandibaly surprised to sense that in a span of a day since her last talk with Louise, she had somehow managed to form a soul bond with her fiance. It wasn't obvious but Apolline had studied the obscure magic of Veela bonds for years. Fleur's report ( or basically tattling) about an uncontrolled transformation that morning also made sense in this context. Apolline had raised her daughters to be better than the uncultured rabble that couldn't perfectly control their form and allure.

She didn't share her observations with anyone and opted to simply wish Louise and Aries a prosperous year ahead. Her husband would decipher something malicious in the sudden bond,but she knew that soul bond wasn't the kind of magic that could be forced by any means. It could be possible, however unlikely, that she wasn't aware of the depth of her daughter's feelings.

Her husband, bless him, wasn't a sharp man, but even he had noticed the tenderness in their interactions, which caused him to thaw out a bit towards the young man.

His request to move up the wedding to Easter, however, evaporated all that good will in an instant. An earlier wedding date didn't faze Apolline, though. As far as she was concerned, Louise and Aries were already bonded. A human marriage meant nothing in the presence of it.

"You're not pregnant, are you?" Fleur interjected, making her father sputter harder.

Apolline sighed. It seemed Fluer still harboured jealousy towards her sister. She had hoped that their 'adventure' in the morning had been able to bridge the gap that had emerged between the two becuase the tournament, but sadly, as she could see now, that was not the case.

Louise rushed to explain to her father that they had remained perfectly 'proper' during their courtship. Apolline actually had to cover a snort at that. She wondered how Louise managed to keep a straight face through that.

It took a bit of persuasion on Apolline's behalf, but they were able to fix a date during the week of Easter holiday, and thankfully the subject was changed in favour of the triwizard tournament. Apolline was curious about the couple's dynamics while competing with each other. The previous challenge had involved individual task ( in which Louise had performed admirably, using her creature heritage to be able to use leglimency against the dragon. Not that the Brits would have been able to understand or appreciate it.) But the tournament was bound to contain a task which would pit them against each other. To her disappointment, both her daughter and future son-in-law had very cavalier attitudes towards the competition.

"Winning doesn't matter much to me, neither had participating. Karkaroff basically forced me to participate." Aries revealed.

"The tournament is a sham anyway." Louise pointed out carelessly.

The comment didn't go particularly well with Fleur. "Why did you enter it, then?" She snapped, before visibility trying to calm herself and continuing in a softer voice, "I promised myself that I wouldn't be upset about it anymore, but you're not making it easy for me. You were aware of the fact that I wished to become the Beaxbautons champion. If the tournament didn't mean anything to you, why did you put your name in the goblet?"

Louise blinked at that. "I never said that the tournament didn't mean anything to me, that was Aries. Just because I'm not concerned with winning an obviously partial competition, doesn't mean that I don't care about the media exposure that comes with being a champion. If you'd actually listened to me while I talked about my goals, maybe you'd already know that. I'm sorry that you didn't get your dream of being the Beaxbautons champion, but I didn't do anything to sabotage it. Both of us had equal opportunities to be chosen. You don't get to be mad at me because I was and you weren't."

Apolline didn't miss how Aries grabbed her daughter's hand as she came close to losing her composition, and how quickly Louise relaxed after having the contact.

Fleur also, apparently hadn't missed the hurt in her sister's voice. "In sorry. We made up just this morning and I'm already messing this up, ain't I? I promise I'll try to be a better sister."

"Me too." Louise whispered back, her eyes showing forgiveness.

Well, look at that. It looked like Apolline didn't need to force them to make up anymore. Oh, how fast they grew...