15 underappreciated ladies of Harry Potter

Fleur Delacour

Fleur Delacour is condemned by women in the Potter-verse for frivolity. She’s picky, and beautiful. She’s part veela, which makes her especially enticing, and she has a thick French accent that makes her seem “interesting.” Ron asks her to the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, because he’s so entranced by her that he can’t help himself. She shoots him down, and he flees in embarrassment. Then, much later, she gets engaged to his older brother Bill.

Ginny nicknames Fleur “Phlegm,” presumably because of her accent, and Molly Weasley makes her distaste for her son’s fiancée well known. There’s definitely an overprotective streak in both of them when it comes to Bill, especially for Molly — he’s her oldest son, after all. This disdain toward Fleur still feels unwarranted. Much like Lavender Brown, Fleur proves time and again that she has layers. She’s brave enough to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, brave enough to fight in the war. Her younger sister is the most important person in the world to her. She cares, deeply, even if she often comes off as rude.

She also doesn’t care about Bill’s horrible scarring from Fenrir Greyback. They marry, survive the war, and have three children together. They provide a safe space for Harry and his friends after they escape from Malfoy Manor. Fleur is endlessly brave and significantly less shallow than she is assumed to be.

Fleur Delacour is a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it. That doesn’t make her worthy of condemnation; it makes her worthy of admiration.