Archive of Our Own ^beta

Summer of 1995, France

The sun was just about setting and Delphine had been dragging Harley through the crowded streets of Paris. The day was getting cooler as the evening made itself known, the street lamps flaring up with life. Harley had always been like her own personal sun, a ray of enthusiasm in her dim life, and Delphine orbited her in the most contradictory of ways.

It had all been a spontaneous trip after an ordinary conversation Harley had mentioned in passing—she had wanted to visit France at some point—and well, it was completely within Delphine's capacity. She'd taken portkeys on her own before, there were daily ones to France about four times a day, although the queues could be obnoxious in the Summer.

Generally, Delphine preferred to visit during any other break. In the Summer, France was flocked with muggles to ogle landmarks for an hour before realising it wasn't all that special. But Harley had wanted it, and she was only able to come around during the Summer, so Delphine had obliged.

They'd stayed at a hotel, charmed away from the muggle eye to accommodate exclusively wizards and witches. The only issue was Delphine faulted in neglecting to make a reservation for accommodation at the peak of the holiday season, and only after what Harley could interpret as condescending threats in French, placing great emphasis on the name 'Malfoy'. The best they could offer was a single king-bed suite. Harley was quick to agree once Delphine had shot her a look of questioning approval. She almost feared what Delphine may have done if she dared to disapprove.

They planned to portkey back in a week, they didn't have to, but it was what Harley had initially suggested and only packed accordingly to that period. It was the second day of their trip, Delphine's feet had been aching after walking around market stalls and boutiques. Another poor decision on her behalf had been choosing the wrong choice of footwear, her heels were blistered as she staggered into the elevator, holding onto Harley's arm for support. There was a momentary silence as the elevator magicked upwards.

"I know you're going to say it, just do it now." Delphine sighed exasperatedly, head hanging low.

"Say what?" Harley responded, batting her eyes.

"Oh, you know!" 

"I told you s–"

"–I told you so, yes yes, I hear you, I need a bath now." Delphine interrupted, the doors sliding open to the hallway that was much bigger than the building itself as Harley had observed.

It'd taken almost an hour for Delphine to emerge from the bathroom in sleepwear, her cheeks still rosy from the heat of the water and hair in the process of drying with the help of a charm. The small TV on a console table had been playing a muggle thing, Delphine had been rather surprised there even was one in a wizarding establishment to begin with. It must've been a recent development, she concluded, as Harley held a remote in hand. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, pressing buttons on the small rectangular device as the pictures changed.

"How does that even work?"

Delphine took a seat beside her, the mattress dipping under her weight. Their bed situation was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, Delphine had her share of sleepovers where she'd shared beds with other friends—Pansy being the most common victim. But there had been something different about it, as they'd laid there staring at one another, talking each other into sleep in the darkness of the hotel room. Harley had confessed about her nightmares and apologised beforehand that she might wake her up because she tended to wake up abruptly with a yell. Delphine comforted her, said she wouldn't mind it and had almost reached out to hold her hand for reassurance. She hadn't though, and perhaps thought it'd been better that way.

"It's a bit like the moving pictures in the papers, but you know, longer. The people don't respond or react to you either." Harley shrugged, eyes still glued to the screen, she'd spared a lot of the details, preferring to focus on the movie being played. Some low-quality romantic comedy with a decent enough plot to keep Harley semi-entertained. Delphine had been satisfied with the answer enough to prevent any more follow-up questions, opting to join Harley in watching.

—

The movie had reached the endpoint now, Delphine had been invested, a bit too much as she leaned forward. The protagonist and romantic interest finally resolving their misunderstanding in the most round-about way possible that had dragged the film on for longer than it should’ve. But they finally held each other—they held each other in the rain, faces drawing closer, before Harley spoke up, interrupting the trance the muggle TV had put Delphine in.

"Have you kissed anyone before?"

Delphine finally peeled her eyes away from the screen, blinking blankly at Harley. They never really talked about their romantic lives, which was odd considering it had always been Delphine's favourite topic with Pansy. However, ever since The Yule Ball and Harley's date with Cedric, conversations of romance seemed to boil something in Delphine at her core. It was a nasty slithering thing, she was bitter when Harley recounted her first kiss with Cedric. There was no reasonable explanation for it, maybe jealousy for Harley, Cedric had been popular among the younger years. 

Nonetheless, the question made Delphine's brows furrow. "I'm..." Her search for words was futile, eyes frantically searching Harley’s face. “I honestly don’t see how that’s any of your business, honestly Potter, could you be any more of a heathen? Mind your own business.” She snapped, averting her attention back to the TV in an attempt to regain her reddening composure.

“Don’t tell me you’re a prude.” Harley teased, playfully shoving her arm.

Delphine hadn’t said anything for a few beats of silence, and Harley almost feared she might’ve accidentally misstepped over the thin boundary they’d established.

"I can't really kiss any boys until marriage, it's some pureblood thing." She dismissed it with a vague gesture, trying to make little deal of the fact. If she were allowed she would've done it by now, it was a bit of a nuisance, hearing other girls start dating other boys. She wanted to desperately know what it felt like too instead of experiencing it vicariously through her friends.

Their sentences seemed to have delayed moments of silence between them. Harley's mouth had gone dry, she swallowed a lump of air. There was a glint in her eye, and she refused to remove her stare from Delphine.

"Have... you ever kissed... a girl before?" She whispered, it was barely audible and Delphine stared at Harley wide-eyed. The same slithering thing, flared up to life, no longer bitter but yearned and ached at even the prospect that- "No.” She answered blankly and planned for it to go no further than that. Their friendship was built on rocky foundations and Delphine wasn’t going to allow it to rot in her care. Curiosity was a fickle thing though, it scratched at the back of her throat, clawing for answers, it screamed that if she could not know she might as well die. “...have you?" She added shortly after. The room was spinning, Delphine felt dizzy, and she wanted to leave immediately. The voice in her head was yelling at her, urging her muscles to obey its commands, but they remained stubborn in their stillness—rooted in the dip of the mattress. 

Harley shook her head, it was a small gesture, and she was already leaning closer. She had always been Delphine's weakness, and she would without a doubt be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Delphine’s movements obeyed accordingly to Harley’s, finally facing her friend with a bewildered expression.

"Do you..." Harley trailed off, glancing at Delphine's lips momentarily. "wanna...?" 

Delphine was scared of the word too, scared of what it might imply exactly. Did she want to kiss Harley? Her heart raced, heat rushing to her head as her fingers crept over to slowly nudge at Harley’s before they’d intertwined. She couldn't find it in herself to say yes, she wanted Harley to kiss her. She had wanted it to be her instead of Cedric, to hold her close after the Yule Ball. Cedric had not seen the way Delphine had looked at Harley as she had laced the back of her loaned dress, doing her hair two hours prior in the girls’ bathroom. Or how hard she'd squeezed the tube of lipstick as she applied it to Harley with a shaky grip.

Harley took the gesture as a form of approval, and the planet and the sun had collided. The world fell apart in pieces and sewed itself back up together – their lips pressed into each other, Harley's head tilting to allow their faces to slot easier against one another. It pained Delphine to know that she could have only known such from another person, did Cedric tilt his head when he kissed Harley? They parted, Delphine's face a whole brighter shade of red.

There was silence again, as they stared at each other, surprised at their own actions before Delphine cupped Harley's face again– desperate to kiss as Harley's hands easily found their way to grab onto Delphine's forearms for support and reciprocated with ease. It was messy and imperfect from inexperience, but Delphine loved it all the same. 

They stopped when the music of the end credits began to blast, overly joyous and upbeat. They'd missed most of the ending, and Harley separated, turning the TV off with the remote and looking at Delphine bashfully. Her hands were shaky with the remote in hand, and Delphine had coughed awkwardly as she moved from her spot on the bed.

"Do you wanna get room service?" Delphine offered, after the silence began to taunt her, when the pang of guilt began making its course through her system.

"Yeah."

end.