Fleur/Viktor discussion

[Kaitlin]

No: HPFGUIDX 4741

Fleur Delacour
French for "Flower of the court."  A student at the Beauxbatons 
Academy in France.  Obviously seventeen or older.  The guys are crazy 
for her because, as we later find out, she's part veela.  We discover 
that her grandmother was a veela, and that one of her hairs makes up 
the magical core of Fleur's wand (9 ½ inches, inflexible, rosewood).
She comes to Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard Tournament and 
gets selected as school champion for Beauxbatons.  She's very good at 
charms.
Fleur starts out not being too impressed with Harry, but in the end 
she is very grateful to him for having saved her sister's life in the 
second task.  
I personally was unimpressed by Fleur (perhaps it is because I am a 
female?).  She had some trouble in the competition.  I would have 
been happier if Fleur was at least a threat to the others, but she 
remained in fourth place for nearly the whole thing.
My favorite scene with Fleur is at the Yule Ball, when she is with 
Roger Davies of Ravenclaw.  Roger, like every other guy who tried to 
ask Fleur to the ball, is going absolutely gaga over her.  It's like 
he's under a spell:  "Roger Davies was watching her talk with a very 
dazed look on his face, and he kept missing his mouth with his fork.  
Harry had the impression that Davies was too busy staring at Fleur to 
take in a word she was saying" (418).
Anyways, in the end, Fleur thanks Harry for having saved her sister's 
life and tells him and Ron that she wants to come back and "
get a 
job `ere, to improve my Eenglish" (724).  Ron's excited, Hermione's 
really not.
So that's it with Fleur.  There wasn't really a whole lot about her, 
but I think we'll definitely see her again.

Viktor Krum
A student of the Durmstrang Institute in Bulgaria.  The star seeker 
for the Bulgarian National Quiddich team.  He catches the snitch at 
the World Cup final to
lose the game for Bulgaria.  I still don't get 
it.  As I said before, he's like Durmstrang's Harry Potter—the 
miraculous Quiddich seeker and the Headmaster's favorite boy.  
However, he is very impressed by Harry's flying.
(An aside:  Does anyone ever wonder why, when speaking to each other, 
the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang speak English?  Yes, I 
know, if she put it in French or Bulgarian we wouldn't understand it, 
but still
it's the whole concept that bugs me.)
Viktor comes to Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard 
Championship.   No big surprise when he is selected.  The girls, who 
were crazy about him before, are even crazier about him now.  They 
follow him around, trying to get his autograph.  Surprisingly, Ron is 
also one of his adoring fans.  However, Viktor stuns them all by 
falling in love with Hermione and taking her to the Yule Ball.  It is 
because of him that we learn how to really pronounce her name:  Her-
MY-oh-nee.  
He is the biggest competition for Cedric and Harry.  However, I do 
not really understand what is going on in the end
does someone use 
Imperious Curse on him to get him to put the Cruciatus Curse on 
others?  I got a little confused in the explanation.
Anyway, that's about it with Viktor.  I can't think of anything else.
Questions?  Comments?  You guys are getting good at this.
Enjoy!
~Kaitlin